Now that Windows 7 is here, the three out of four users who have rejected Windows Vista and clung to the tried and true Windows XP can breathe a sigh of relief and consider moving to the new flagship operating system.

Upgrading or switching operating systems often comes with some trials and tribulations and the Windows 7 upgrade is no exception. Microsoft has tried to provide the tools users need to make the transition as easy as possible, but you may hit some snags. Here are five things you should be aware of as you upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7.

1.       You can’t upgrade directly. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not provided Windows 7 with the capability to upgrade directly from Windows XP. The explanation is that so much has changed between Windows XP and Windows 7 within the operating system kernel itself, the Registry, the drivers, etc. that trying to get from Point A to Point B just won’t work.

That isn’t as horrible as it sounds. Frankly, although in-place upgrades are convenient, experts always recommend doing a fresh install when moving to a new operating system in order to ensure the best performance and overall experience. Just think of it like Microsoft did you a favor by forcing you to do it the right way. You’re welcome.

2.       Or can you?? You can’t get from Windows XP to Windows 7 directly, but there was a little known operating system that came out between the two. I know you have blocked out that part of your memory to avoid horrible Windows Vista flashbacks, but surely you could make the switch to Windows Vista if its only for an hour or two.

Windows XP users can work around the upgrade issue if they have a copy of Windows Vista. It doesn’t even have to be licensed since you won’t be activating it and won’t have it loaded for more than a few hours– well within the 30-day trial period. Just upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, then upgrade the Windows Vista system to Windows 7.

I make no assurances that this will go off without a hitch. I will add a disclaimer: refer to the first tip where I reminded you that it is recommended that you do the clean install.

3.       Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. If you bought your printer when Clinton was still in office, or your graphics card when Michael Jordan was still ruling the NBA, you might have a hard time finding software updates and drivers to make them work with Windows 7.

Thankfully, Microsoft has an app for that. Microsoft created the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool which scans your hardware and software and identifies any known compatibility issues. It provides guidance on how to resolve identified issues, and makes recommendations for what you should do to ensure a satisfying Windows 7 upgrade experience

4.       Windows 7 Easy Transfer. Whether you do the clean install or some sort of crazy work-around to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, arguably the most important part is making you’re your data and personal preferences stay intact. That’s where the Windows 7 Easy Transfer tool comes in.

The actual file is migwiz.exe. You can find it on the Windows 7 DVD under Support\Migwiz. First you run it on your existing Windows XP system to migrate your user profile(s) to some external storage. Then, after Windows 7 is installed you run it again to import the user profile(s) to Windows 7.

One small caveat. If you have 32-bit Windows XP and you are taking the opportunity while upgrading to make the switch to 64-bit Windows 7 you might run into some problems. I was unable to transfer user settings from a 32-bit to a 64-bit system using this tool during a previous upgrade.

5.       Security software. If you’re running Windows XP I assume you have invested in some security software– antivirus, antispyware, personal firewall, etc. Because of changes that Microsoft has made to protect the operating system kernel, those Windows XP-era security programs will most likely not work in Windows 7.

The good news is that the Windows 7 firewall is significantly better than the Windows XP firewall, and Microsoft provides adequate security protection for free with Windows Defender and the recently released Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus program. You may still want to explore alternatives and install more robust protection, but these tools should provide sufficient protection for the time being without costing you any money.

If you don’t want to spend all that time alone, maybe you could throw one of the Windows 7 parties and you and all of your Windows XP friends can have ice cream and cake (or pizza and beer) while you make the transition.

Of course, you might better off to simply invest the extra money and get a whole new system with Windows 7 already installed. If you have held on to your computer hardware as long as you held onto the Windows XP operating system then you are really skewing Moore’s Law and its time you upgrade.

It seems that Microsoft has finally taken Internet TV out of beta and released a final version to public users. Not only does this give Windows 7 Media Center users support for Internet TV but also adds Netflix and Adobe Flash support to the package. Netflix was an entirely expected addition with the retail release of Windows 7 finally upon us as Windows Vista users have had access to Netflix for quite some time now. What wasn’t as expected however is the addition of Adobe Flash support, required to take advantage of the addition of some full length episodic content.

Upon first entering Internet TV from the main start menu, listed under the TV strip, you’ll be required to agree to the first in a series of end user agreements. Several sections of the new application require you to agree to extensive user agreements, a small price to pay to finally get the functionality Media Center needs to stay relevant in a world of ever more powerful cable and satellite company provided DVR boxes.

The new Internet TV application’s most apparent change is an extremely improved interface in terms of both design and functionality. The most popular shows are listed in a large format at the top of the interface, allowing you to quickly select and watch full episodes from a number of channels including CBS, PBS and the Zune Videocast library. This new interface is very reminiscent of the menu systems featured on the Xbox gaming consoles from Microsoft and it’s likely the company is finally utilizing it’s stable of talented interface developers for Media Center projects (or they’re at least talking to one another).

Scrolling down to the lower menus you’ll find a listing of previews for upcoming shows, available channels featuring full episodic content, top shows and a full lineup of news content. Hopefully Microsoft will be working on developing relationships which other networks such as NBC, ABC and Fox who’ve already shown a willingness to develop relationships with other internet broadcasting services such as Hulu. Here you’ll also find a listing for the popular Netflix movie service.

Entering the Netflix application you’ll need a Netflix unlimited subscription to enable downloading and viewing movies from your Windows 7 Media Center. Just agree to the Netflix user agreement and enter your username and password to enable Netflix viewing. You’ll also see a popular Netflix movies strip in the main Internet TV interface listing a handful of popular selections from the service.

To the actual meat of the application, streaming full episodic content, the first thing you’ll notice is the addition of Adobe Flash support to the Windows 7 Media Center program. This is important being easily the most popular format for distribution of broadcast network television over the internet. Most networks are now providing flash episodes through their corporate websites as well as other third party services. For years Microsoft has resisted this addition to the Media Center arsenal but it’s an integral part of the streaming TV revolution and was only an eventuality if Media Center was to remain the product it aspires to be.

After updating Media Center to include Adobe Flash you’ll be able to select recent episodes from a show listing, whether by channel or show. Each channel even includes a few sorting options to help you locate the program your interested in, though the listings are per channel. Perhaps as time progresses we’ll see a longer timeline of shows available as the product matures, currently only the most recent episodes are available. This, of course, is a vast improvement over the previous Internet TV offering however.

Launching an episode you’ll be presented with the customary commercial introduction along with an episode name and description. Selecting the content box will enabled full screen content viewing once the commercial has finished.

Typically this is about the time we get around to the downside and in this case it’s downright huge. In an era of HD everything and high quality video even on sites like Youtube the quality of content provided by Microsoft’s Internet TV application is still utter crap. There’s no sidestepping or candy coating the situation to be had. Watching NCIS or How I Met Your Mother inside Internet TV is almost painful, especially for those accustomed to watching those shows in HD.

We had hoped that the addition of Flash to the Windows 7 Media Center arsenal would lend itself to an improvement in video quality and perhaps it will in the future. For those truly desperate to catch the latest episodes of their favorite shows from the handful of partners provided there are much better methods to get your content fix. The convenience can’t be beat, free streaming internet TV from your couch, but the video quality seems almost defeatist.

Source Article:
Windows 7 Media Center Gets Internet TV, Netflix and Adobe Flash Support

According to the U.K. Telegraph, Microsoft has confirmed that computer users will be able to test the new Windows 7 operating system for up to 120 days before they need to buy it.

Once the four month trial period ends, users will be asked to enter an activation code, which proves they have bought the software.

Windows Vista, the predecessor to Windows 7, contained a similar loophole, and Microsoft has given users tacit consent to exploit it. “A total of 120 days total time is available as a grace period to customers that take advantage of rearm,” a spokesman for the software giant told Computerworld.

Windows 7 goes on sale on October 22, and Microsoft is hoping it will be better received by consumers and commentators than Vista, which was widely criticised for being slow and processor-intensive, and for failing to work with many peripheral devices.

The new operating system has sought to address some of these concerns by introducing faster installation and boot times, improved out-of-the-box peripheral support and easier access to drivers, intelligent power management, and a smaller, less power-hungry footprint.

Windows Secrets, the website that first alerted the web community to the activation loophole, has issued instructions for the “rearming” process. Users must first pull up a command line by going the Start menu, selecting All Programs, then Accessories, then Command Prompt.

Once the Command Prompt appears, users must type “slmgr -rearm”, without the quote marks. Once the computer is rebooted, the activation calendar will have been reset to zero, giving users another 30 days of free use.

Some commentators have speculated that Microsoft is allowing a period of grace to users in order to let them fully get to grips with the new operating system, and to experience themselves the benefits of upgrading from Windows XP or the unloved Vista, and to reassure them that Windows 7 offers an improved user experience across the board.

Source Article:
Windows 7: ‘free 120 days’

If you’re a student with a valid .edu e-mail address (non US students see below), Microsoft is offering Windows 7 for $30 USD for a limited period. Microsoft also has a growing list of approved US institutions that don’t provide their students with e-mail addresses.

The price tag has been reduced from the lowest Windows 7 retail price of $120 (USD) for a Home Premium upgrade and the special promotional price can be obtained through win741.com, which was launched this week.

This is not a lightweight student version, it’s the full retail version and Microsoft recommends that anyone upgrading from Windows XP should perform a clean installation and recommends they purchase a backup Windows 7 DVD.

US students can pre-order their copy of Windows 7 now, and can download the OS from October 22nd (general availability).

Students in the UK can pre-order their copy beginning September 30th for download on October 22nd.

Students in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korea, and Mexico can participate in this offer on October 22nd. In most markets, the offer ends on January 3rd, however in Australia the offer has been extended until March 31st.

Many college and university students can already get Windows 7 Professional for free through the MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) but this is offer is aimed at students without this access .

Source Article:
$30 Windows 7 For Students

In addition to increasing the number of TV tuners from two to four in Windows 7 Media Center, Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 Media Center users in the US, with the blessing of CableLabs, will now be able add CableCARD tuners (e.g. ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner) to their PC without any hacking. What’s more, Windows 7 will integrate “Copy Freely” or CF functionality to allow users to transfer/stream CF-marked digital cable recordings to other PCs, devices, and portable media players.

CableCARD is the US cable industry’s standard for getting digital content to supported devices such as TVs, and in a few rare cases PCs, instead of having to rely on a dedicated cable box. Previous PC options saw very limited uptake due to Microsoft only allowing OEM PC builders to create CableCARD compatible computers.

Things have now changed with Windows 7 Media Center being able to natively handle a CableCARD providing the hardware can decode all that digital goodness.

Press release details:

ATLANTA — Sept. 9, 2009 — Today at CEDIA EXPO 2009, Microsoft Corp. discussed key Windows Media Center features for Windows 7 and announced a series of initiatives that enhance the digital cable experience in Windows Media Center. With the addition of native support for additional international broadcast TV standards, including QAM and ATSC, there will now be support for switched digital video (SDV), a new tool that will make it possible for end customers to add a digital cable tuner with CableCARD to their PC, and for existing digital cable tuner with CableCARD customers to enjoy more portability for digital cable TV that is marked as “copy freely” (CF). In addition, Microsoft and the Media Center Integrator Alliance (MCIA) announced the winner of the 2009 Windows Media Center Ultimate Install Contest, showcasing the many ways Windows Media Center can be used in a whole-home solution.

“We’re continuing to work on creating opportunities for partners that will enable great entertainment experiences on the PC,” said Craig Eisler, corporate vice president of entertainment client software for the TV, Video & Music Business at Microsoft. “Consumers understand that having access to content via the PC is critical when it comes to entertainment experiences, and with these announcements, we’re underscoring our broader commitment to deliver a rich experience with Windows Media Center.”

Switched Digital Video (SDV) Support Added for Windows Media Center

In response to customer requests and cable providers’ deployment of SDV, Microsoft now supports SDV in Windows Media Center for Windows 7. In conjunction with a device known as a tuning adapter, supplied by a customer’s cable provider, Windows Media Center and a digital cable tuner with CableCARD will be able to tune to SDV channels. Customers can enjoy SDV broadcasts on PCs running Windows Media Center in Windows 7 and a digital cable tuner with CableCARD.

End Customers Can Now Add Digital Cable Tuners With CableCARD to Their PCs

Microsoft and CableLabs announced that customers will now be able to add digital cable tuners with CableCARD to a Windows 7-based PC with Windows Media Center. A new tool will be provided by Microsoft that assesses the PC’s ability to support the solution. This tool will analyze the customer’s PC and enable digital cable support if the PC meets requirements, opening digital cable options to Windows Media Center customers across the country. Microsoft also announced that, with Windows 7, it has increased the number of TV tuners that can be connected to the PC from two to four per tuner type, thereby allowing customers to simultaneously record or watch as many as four digital cable TV channels.

“We are excited that digital cable customers will now be able to take advantage of this new opportunity to bring great cable TV programming to the PC,” said So Vang, vice president of OpenCable at CableLabs. “We are dedicated to helping customers get the most from their cable service, and this will be a great win for both the customer and the cable operators.”

Digital Cable Customers Can Now Enjoy More TV Portability in Windows Media Center

Microsoft and CableLabs also announced that they worked together to enable digital cable tuner with CableCARD customers to enjoy more portability for digital cable TV that is marked as “copy freely” (CF). Customers will be able to play CF-marked digital cable recordings, such as those from local channels, on other PCs, devices and portable media.

Windows Media Center Features in Windows 7 Highlighted

Using new Windows 7 features such as Windows Touch, HomeGroup, Remote Media Streaming and PlayTo, sharing recorded TV, videos, music and pictures throughout the home, while on the road and to remote locations has never been easier. There is also support for the AVCHD format. This allows customers to view HD video from many popular HD video cameras.

In addition, support for the international broadcast TV standards that was released with the Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 will also be included in Windows Media Center in Windows 7. This includes native support for both ATSC and QAM, the ability to remap channels, and support for subchannels.

New Firmware for ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuners

In conjunction with the Microsoft and CableLabs announcements, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) will be providing a new firmware update that is available to all ATI TV Wonder digital cable tuners being used with Windows 7 and Windows Vista. This firmware update will allow existing digital cable tuner with CableCARD customers to enjoy more portability for digital cable TV marked as CF. Customers will be able to play CF-marked digital cable recordings, such as those from local channels, on other PCs, devices, and portable media. In addition, the firmware will contain support for SDV. When installed on a Windows 7-based PC with a digital cable tuner with CableCARD and a tuning adapter from a cable provider, it enables access to switched digital channels in locations where SDV has been deployed.

< snip >

Also on Display at CEDIA EXPO 2009

At the Microsoft booth at CEDIA EXPO 2009, Microsoft will show additional hardware and software installations that enhance the digital cable experience. Demonstrations include these:

• The new Zune HD portable media player using the Zune HD AV dock to display 720p content on an HDTV. The Zune HD and updated Zune PC software will launch on Sept. 15.

• A home server powered by Windows Home Server software. The upcoming Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, currently in beta testing, will add enhancements for Windows Media Center. Power Pack 3 features include the option to move recorded TV content to the home server in a variety of resolutions, and the ability for users to see statistics about the home server through Windows Media Center.

• A technology preview of the new Multi-Channel Cable TV Card from Ceton Corp., which enables PCs with Windows Media Center to play or record multiple live channels of premium HDTV at once, and stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple TV sets throughout the home, all with a single CableCARD.

About CableLabs

Founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry, Cable Television Laboratories is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains web sites at www.cablelabs.com; www.packetcable.com; www.cablemodem.com; www.cablenet.org; www.opencable.com; and www.tru2way.com.

About the Media Center Integrator Alliance (MCIA)

The MCIA is an open and independent non-profit consortium formed to advance and administer the support, promotion, and enrichment of the media center ecosystem. Charter members of MCIA include AMD, Crestron, HP, Intel, Life|ware, Microsoft Corp., and Niveus Media.

Source Article:
Native CableCARD For Windows 7 (US)

There may come a time when you want to edit the metadata of a WTV or DVRMS file manually. Luckily, Windows 7 includes a built-in editor allowing the editing of metadata of both file formats. Much like music metadata editor provided in previous versions of Windows the metadata editor for WTV and DVRMS files can be accessed by right-clicking the file in Windows Explorer and selecting the properties window. From inside the properties window, selecting the Details tab will bring up a basic editor for viewing and modifying the current metadata of the file.

Just hover over the value area for any given detail and a text entry box will appear allowing editing of that value. Unfortunately, not all the values are displayed or editable inside this basic metadata editor. There are a number of additional meta values that can be used to customize the categorization of files such as genre and whether or not a particular file is a movie.

Fortunately, there is a third-party program created by Steven Toub that’s perfectly capable of editing these hidden metadata values in both DVRMS and WTV files. His DVRMS metadata editor is quite old at this point but still works quite well with both file types. When opening a WTV file you’ll just need to adjust the file filter dropbox to show all file types and select the WTV file you’d like to edit.

As you can see, Toub’s editor provides a much more comprehensive listing of metadata values available inside DVRMS and WTV files than the built-in editor. Having access to the genre and movie meta tags and well as title, description and HD designations makes this an excellent tool for anyone looking to convert their movie collections to the new WTV format standard in Windows 7.

There are a few reasons some may be considering converting their collections to WTV, not least of which is the ability to play the format on any Windows Media Extender. This means not having to deal with the issues that seem to plague other formats such as .mkv on extenders. We’ll be covering more on this movement as software becomes publicly available to facilitate the switch such as the next version of DVRMSToolbox from Andy VT’s blog.

When you’ve finished editing metadata details inside Toub’s editor just hit the Save Metadata button to commit the changes and that’s all there is to it.

Around here we love when someone comes along and creates an application to take even the simplest processes and refines them into an even easier single solution. Previously we covered creating your own bootable USB Windows 7 installation manually and today we’ve got a couple of applications that make the entire process a snap. Even better, both applications are entirely free of charge. Installing Windows 7 from USB makes the perfect method for installation on that home-brew movie streaming box in the bedroom or even a drive-less main media center machine.

The first application is from Tweaking with Vishal which provides a very streamlined interface for creating your new bootable Windows 7 installation. To get started you’ll need to download and install the program from the askvg.com page. By default the installation will create a desktop icon from which you can launch the program.

On the first run of the program a handy Help guide will appear walking you through the steps to create your new installation disk. The process is incredibly simple, first insert the USB drive into the USB port. Next press the Check USB button and select the disk from the dropdown box. After selecting the proper drive press the Format USB button, note that if you’d prefer to do a fast format saving quite a bit of time be sure to enable it in the Options before pressing the Format button.

After formatting has completed select whether you’d prefer to create the installation from a DVD drive or an ISO file. This is a handy feature that the other program we’ll be looking at doesn’t have, the ability to copy files from inside an ISO without mounting it first. After choosing ISO or DVD and selecting the proper location of the files press the Start button to begin the process of copying the files to the USB drive. This will take some time depending on the disk’s speed and whether or not the program will need to extract files from an ISO.

Afterward you should now have a complete Windows 7 installation USB drive. Just pop it into the destination machine, make sure that the BIOS is set to boot from USB and get started.

The next program we’ll be looking at is WintoFlash, a program first featured on Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows. The process with this program is fairly similar. Begin by downloading and extracting the program to your hard drive then launch the wintoflash.exe file to begin. Once opened you’ll have the choice of running the program as a wizard or manually by selecting the Welcome! or Task tab.

Under the Task option, select the option to transfer Vista/2008/7 setup to flash. The next screen will prompt you for the USB drive type, file system format and format type. The default selections are adequate and shouldn’t need changed. Under the setup files path you will need to select the DVD drive or mounted ISO image to load the files from. As mentioned earlier this program doesn’t offer the option to load an ISO file directly. Next select the location of your USB drive and press Create to get the process started.

Another super simple way to transfer Windows 7’s setup to a flash USB drive! Both these programs performed quite well for the task they were designed to perform though the “A bootable USB” program’s ISO option certainly gives it an edge.

Many Windows 7 Media Center enthusiasts have forgone the built-in Movie Library for something a little more sophisticated and feature packed. Plugins such as Media Browser and Open Media Library can provide a much more evolved move browsing experience than the native Movie Library. The problem is that, although these packages typically install a basic start menu strip of their own, they don’t include some of the default features of the native movie strip or allow you to customize the tiles appearing on the strip.

Luckily we can take our favorite movie plugin, Media Center studio and a simple plugin from Mikinhosoft we can recreate the original movie strip experience while using our custom movie plugins. To get start you’ll need to download and install your favorite Windows 7 Media Center movie plugin, Media Center Studio and the extra Mikinhosoft plugin to add some of the default functions to our new strip.

Once installed open up Media Center Studio and select the start menu tab to begin editing our start menu strips and tiles. You’ll also need to enable the start menu toolbar to allow us to add and edit new start menu strips.

Next press the Insert Menu Strip button and a new strip with the title Custom Strip will be added to the end of the menu strip listing just above the auto play handlers. Start by renaming your new strip, probably to something like “Movies” since we’ll be replacing the original “Movies” strip. Then, using the arrows to the left and right of the menu strip title rearrange the strip and place it just below the original movie strip.

Begin adding tiles to your new start menu strip by expanding the Entry points menu at the bottom of the Media Center Studio window. From here you can add any entry points available, with the exception of the default tiles. Some of the default tiles can be dragged from their original place on the native movie strip onto our new strip. Others, such as the copy disk tile may need to be added from the Entry points listings under the Mikinhosoft plugin. Don’t forget to add a tile linking to your favorite movie plugin to replace that default movie library as well.

Once you’ve finished dragging new tiles onto your custom start menu strip, disable the default strip by unchecking the box next to the title of the original strip. Then be sure to save your changes as well (Media Center must not be running to save these changes). Finally, relaunch Windows 7 Media Center and check out your new customized Media Center Movies start menu strip.

That’s all there is to it! This isn’t limited to movie strips either, build custom strips for your music, video and games and launch them all directly from the Windows 7 Media Center start menu.

Source:  Hack7MC.com

Most people buy a PC preinstalled with the edition of Windows that meets their unique needs. However, for some customers their needs may change over time.

With Windows Anytime Upgrade (or WAU), we make it super easy and convenient for the small number of customers who’s PC needs evolve to need a higher edition of Windows 7.

There are a couple of specific situations where we think WAU will prove useful:

Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium: $79.99

A customer may purchase a netbook thinking they would use primarily it for email. Over time, they find they are using that netbook as their primary every-day PC. That person decides they want their netbook to do more. If the netbook is running Windows 7 Starter (or Windows 7 Home Basic in select markets), WAU makes it super easy to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. Moving to Windows 7 Home Premium will allow that customer to take advantage of features such as Aero Peek and other enhanced functionality in the Windows Taskbar in Windows 7 such as Taskbar Previews. Desktop themes are also enabled and so is Remote Media Streaming.

Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional: $89.99
Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: $139.99*

* You’ll note that we’ve reduced the price of moving from Home Premium to Ultimate 12% in the US as compared to Vista pricing

Another case where WAU may come in handy is when a person wants the ability to connect to a business network (a “domain”). Using WAU to move up to Windows 7 Professional enables the customer to take advantage of the ability to join a domain and use Windows XP Mode to run older programs. When using WAU to move to Windows 7 Ultimate, you’ll get everything from the other editions plus BitLocker to keep your USB devices encrypted and secure and the ability to run your PC in any of 35 different languages (via Language Packs).

After Windows 7 is released to market on October 22nd, you will be able to buy a retail package that contains an upgrade key at a store near you for any of the 3 paths I highlighted above.

If you live in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK or the US (13 countries) – you will be able to purchase the upgrade from Microsoft online directly within Windows 7.

Whether you buy a WAU retail package from a store or online directly within Windows 7, the upgrade takes as few as ten minutes. This is because it only requires an upgrade key (no media). Your current programs, files, and settings will remain intact.

Now let’s talk about the Windows 7 Family Pack. Last week I confirmed we were doing a family pack for Windows 7 consisting of Windows 7 Home Premium for installation on up to 3 PCs.

Today, most homes have more than one PC in them. When you run Windows 7 on more than one PC on a home network, you can do more with features like HomeGroup. HomeGroup allows people to connect to PCs on their network and share files, music and photos with the whole family – easily. The Windows 7 Family Pack is an easy and affordable way to get all your PCs in your household running Windows 7 through licensing to install Windows 7 Home Premium on up to 3 PCs.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available starting on October 22nd until supplies last here in the US and other select markets. In the US, the price for the Windows 7 Family Pack will be $149.99 for 3 Windows 7 Home Premium licenses. That’s a savings of more than $200 for three licenses. This is a great value and we’re excited to be able to offer it to customers.