I have Win Vista SP2 on my computer and I really have no need to upgrade, except it’d be nice to have the extra features of Win8 like a shadow copy and you can get the upgrade to Win8 Ultimate, fairly cheap now.
My question is this. When I had a good job, my employer paid for me to get several expensive programs. I had MS Office 2007, Adobe CS4 Suites, Corel Draw (The big fancy paid one) and a few others.
Now I know when you upgrade from Win Vista to Win8 it won’t allow you to keep your programs, you have to reinstall.
That is my question. I have the serial numbers for all those programs. To reinstall them from Win Vista sp2 to Win8 would I need anything else. Could I just download another copy of MS Office 2007 and then just put my same registration key?
The MS sight tells me the MS office 2007 and Adobe CS4 should still work in Win8.
The problem is I don’t work for that company anymore. The programs are mine to keep. The licenses were in my name not the company. They bought it for me, for my work and told me I could keep the programs. So it’s not a matter of my former employer owning them.
Basically I downloaded them, paid for them and my ex-eployer gave me my money back on them.
So would I need anything else? I have the serial numbers, but I am unsure if I’d need an activiation key or what?
The thing is I don’t NEED to upgrade, and under no circumstance do I want to lose my copies of MS Office and the Adobe Suites, even though they are old versions, they work perfect for my needs.
Or, y’know, go to Windows 8. It is an interface change, but after the first couple of hours, you’re used to it and its fine. I’m not going to argue that anyone should pay to upgrade from 7 to 8, because for a non-touch computer its not a terribly big upgrade, but neither should you pay 3x as much to go to 7.
In Adobe CS5 there’s a command to “deauthorize” the installation. It disables CS5 and frees up the license, so you can then use it on another computer. I don’t know if CS4 works the same way, but you should check.
Thanks I’ll look for this. I have seen Win8 where I work and it seems like it’s Win7 with a few minor changes and wrapped up in new package. I really don’t see what the big deal about losing the start button is. You don’t losei it, it’s still there, you just have to hit the desktop button on the login screen and it looks like Win7.
Not really. What many people miss out on with all the whining about the interface is that Windows 8 was designed from the ground up to run on slower computers, due to wanting to support tablets. I’m running Windows 8 right now on a five year old netbook (single core Atom), and it’s nearly as fast as XP. I also have an old single core Sempron that was released before Vista even came out, and Windows 8 is faster on it. Better graphics drivers, and even a software DX9 GPU really helps speed up a lot of things.
And if you are concerned about the interface, you can get the free ClassicShell, or pay $5 for the (slightly) more complete Start8. Both will let you run entirely in Desktop mode, and will give you your Start Menu back (although it will look a little different by default with ClassicShell.) You even get access to Modern UI (aka Metro or tablet) apps from Desktop. Some tweaking programs from WinAero.com will allow you to fix little things, too, including getting rid of the charms bar while in Desktop mode. The only real casualty is the loss of transparent window decorations, but even that has an apparent workaround. (“Apparent” because I haven’t tried it.)
Plus Windows 8 Pro (with Media Center if you want it) is $39.99. Windows 7 upgrades officially start at $99.99 (though you find it at $79.99), and only get you to Home Premium. Sure, there’s the added benefit that your programs will transfer over, but the OP says they’ve got all the serial numbers and are willing to reinstall things, so that’s not a big issue.