Chapter 2 Operating Systems 59
settings, apps, and user configurations are lost.
Only the standard apps that come with the
operating system are reinstalled. The advanced
options located under
Advanced tools
in the
Recovery
dialog box allow you to create a recovery
drive, open a system restore point, or conFigure a
system restore point. These three features were
available in previous versions of the operating
system.
Microsoft Windows Installation
When installing Windows, you can perform
an upgrade or a clean install. An upgrade means
that you can install Windows on an existing
operating system and retain files, settings,
and applications. A clean install means that
the previous operating system is completely
replaced and you will lose all files, settings, and
applications. Windows 7 and Windows 8 use
the term custom to refer to a clean install. Before
performing a clean install or custom installation,
you must back up all data. After the installation
process, the data can be restored to the system.
Sometimes, upgrading from a previous
version of a Windows operating system to a newer
version requires a clean install. For example, to
upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, you
would need to do a custom install, which would
wipe out all data on the hard drive and perform
a clean installation of Windows 7. Be aware that
hardware, software applications, and drivers
used for the previous operating system may not
be supported in a newer version of Windows. So,
before performing an upgrade or clean install,
run the Windows Upgrade Advisor to ensure
compatibility.
The CompTIA A+ exams often ask questions
requiring you to match which operating
system edition can be upgraded to another.
For example, to which edition of Windows 7
can Windows Vista Business be upgraded? Be
sure you can answer these types of questions.
A+ Note
It is recommended that in most cases, you do
a clean install after partitioning and reformatting
the hard drive. This will eliminate any file
fragments and most registry corruption from
the previous operating system version. Before
you perform a clean install, be sure you have all
hardware device drivers available and a copy of all
previously installed applications. Back up all files
and be sure to turn off any antivirus programs.
Always back up of the
entire computer system
before performing an
upgrade or a custom install. Anything might go
wrong. Without a complete backup, you may not
be able to rescue the system files or data files.
Windows Vista Editions and
Requirements
The editions of Windows Vista you will most
likely encounter are Home Basic, Home Premium,
Business, and Ultimate. The requirements in the
following table will give you a good idea of the
hardware needed for a Windows Vista Premium
Ready PC and Windows Vista Capable PC. The
terms premium and capable are another way of saying
recommended and minimum hardware. Windows Vista
Premium Ready PC hardware requirements support
advanced features, such as Windows Aero. A
Windows Vista Capable PC will run Windows Vista,
but without the special Aero effects. Some
software capabilities will be limited also.
Hardware Windows Vista
Capable
Windows Vista
Premium
CPU 800 MHz 1 GHz
RAM 512 MB 1 GB
Hard drive size 20 GB 40 GB
Hard drive free
space
15 GB 15 GB
Installation
media
CD/DVD DVD
Graphics card DirectX 9, SVGA
800 × 600
DirectX 9, 128
MB RAM
Optical drive CD drive DVD drive
Tech Tip