Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 can be pretty simple.

If you are updating from a 32 bit version of Windows Vista to a 32 bit version of Windows 7, then the process is pretty straight forward.  However, I would still have an external hard disk with enough space to use Macrium Request (Free Imaging Software) to create an image of your Vista installation.  This will allow you to go back to your Vista installation and start over if there is an issue while installing Windows 7.

All you have to do after you create an image, is put the Windows 7 DVD in the drive and click Upgrade.  Then just follow the instructions.

If you are upgrading from a 32 bit version of Windows Vista to a 64 bit version of Windows 7, then you must do a clean install, in which case, follow the same instructions for upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

64 BIT NOTE: if you have 4 gigabytes (GB) or less of RAM, then there is no reason to upgrade to the 64 bit version as you will not see a significant increase in speed.  If you have a 64 bit processor and plan on adding more then 4 GB of RAM, and you want to go through the process, by all means do so.  You will then see a nice increase is speed.

It may be confusing to some, but you can be running the 32 bit version of Vista on a computer with a 64 bit processor.

Make sure you know from what version you have to what version you want to upgrade too.

If you don’t know if you have a 32 bit computer processor or a 64 bit processor, download and run Securable from GRC.com.

If you don’t know if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows Vista, click on Start, then right click on Computer, then click on Properties.  The version of your Vista will be displayed under the System section.