How to prepare for and install Windows 7

With Windows 7's launch just a few short weeks away, both individual users and businesses will soon be preparing to install and upgrade the new Microsoft OS on their PCs. But the process is not that easy.

To help both individual users and IT pros successfully deploy Windows 7 with minimal pain, InfoWorld.com is offering a free, 15-class course via e-mail on installing and fine-tuning Windows 7. Windows 7 Boot Camp starts on Monday, Oct. 26, and you must sign up on or before Sunday, Oct. 25.

[ Learn how to deploy Windows 7 the right way in InfoWorld's Windows 7 Boot Camp online class. | Download our editors' 21 page PDF guide to Windows 7. ]

In addition to the class, InfoWorld has put together a set of resources to help people prepare for the upcoming transition to Windows 7:

For medium-size to large businesses, be sure to read “Ready for Windows 7? Here's how to deploy it right,” a tutorial by InfoWorld's Enterprise Windows columnist J. Peter Bruzzese.

For individuals planning to shift from Windows XP to Windows 7, be sure to read “XP users: How to upgrade to Windows 7.”

For even deeper insights into Windows 7, get InfoWorld's “Windows 7 Deep Dive,” a 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, including deployment tips on security, Windows Server 2008 integration, and Windows XP migration, all from InfoWorld's editors and contributors.

For a tour of what's new in Windows 7, watch InfoWorld's “Hands-on video guide to Windows 7” and “The top 20 features of Windows 7” videos.

See how Windows 7 actually performs compared to XP and Vista based on the InfoWorld Test Center's benchmarks in “Windows 7 RTM: The revenge of Windows Vista.”

Windows Sentinel users also can run InfoWorld's OfficeBench tool to benchmark their own system's Microsoft Office performance and compare it to the average performance of thousands of other users.

Readers can also monitor the current state of Windows PCs — what users have installed, what apps they run, and so forth — at InfoWorld's Windows Pulse page, which provides real-time snapshots of Windows usage based on contnuous readings of more than 10,000 PCs worldwide.