So we spoken about some of the features of Windows 7, like the touchscreen support. We’ve discussed the potential pitfalls of the upgrade process. And we also know how Windows 7 can save your business bacon.

So now yoou want to know if it can all work for you. Or if only some of it will work for you. After all, it’s an important question, isn’t it?

Here’s how to tell…

Firstly, let’s look at the basics of the hardware and the devices you have attached to your computer. Does it have enough memory? What about hard drive space? Is the grapics card up to snuff?

The easy way to tell is to download and install the Windows Upgrade Advisor directly from Microsoft. It’ll run a few tests on your machine, and give you simple, easy to read results. For my own computer, it told me that I had all the RAM I needed, but I was short on hard drisk space (no shock there). I can run all the pretty bells and whistles, however I might need new drivers for my printer.

The thing to keep in mind is that the upgrade advisor takes a bit of time to run. If your machine is on the slower side in starting up, you’ll probably want to give it a few minutes to do its thing. On my machine, which is pretty powereful, it still took 8 minutes to run the tool.

And what about the Windows XP-mode for Windows 7? Well the upgrade advsor doesn’t talk about it. However the tools at this Microsoft page tell you what you need. Of course, you need to know if you’re starting with an Intel processor or an AMD chip…….

Getting hardware virtualization running isn’t always clear or simple (see our article from a few weeks ago for more on virtualization). And knowing that your computer can do it is  different from knowing that the functionality is turned on. This part can be tricky, so always check with your IT support people before playing around. And get ready for the future.