Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Starter to Home Premium]

Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Starter to Home Premium]

February 28th, 2010

Microsoft

Customer Rating: Rating 3.0 out of 5

(17 Reviews)

List Price: ~~$79.95~~
*Buy New: $65.94
*You Save: $14.01 (18%)
FREE Super Saver Shipping (Details)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
20 new Offers available from $57.88

* as of Thursday July 29, 2010 21:45:39, UTC

Product information Creator: Windows Xp
Brand: Microsoft
Publisher: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
Release Date: October 22, 2009
Model: 4WC-00040

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Features

Move up to Windows 7 Home Premium from Windows 7 Starter with Windows Anytime Upgrade
Make the things you do every day easier with improved desktop navigation
Start programs faster and more easily, and quickly find the documents you use most often
Make your web experience faster, easier and safer than ever with Internet Explorer 8
Watch, pause, rewind, and record TV on your PC

Accessory

Editorial Reviews

Product Description: With Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System Software, you'll get the best entertainment experience on your PC!. Windows 7 Home Premium makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. You can even watch, pause, and rewind TV or record it to watch whenever and wherever you want.* For the best entertainment experience on your PC, choose Windows 7 Home Premium.

Amazon.com Product Description: If you want more features than you currently have in your existing edition of Windows 7, you can upgrade to another edition using Windows Anytime Upgrade. Upgrades from Windows 7 Starter edition to Windows 7 Home Premium.

With Windows Anytime Upgrade, you can upgrade to a more advanced edition of Windows 7 in as little as 10 minutes. Click to enlarge.

Windows Anytime Upgrade

No disks, no delays. And no leaving the house: With Windows Anytime Upgrade, you can upgrade to a more advanced edition of Windows 7 in as little as 10 minutes. That way, you get to take advantage of extra features while keeping your current programs, files, and settings intact.

In the past, upgrading Windows could be a bit of a hassle. In Windows 7, the software you need comes preinstalled. All you have to do is purchase an upgrade key from Microsoft or another authorized retailer to unlock those shiny new features.

Get more now. Move up to Windows 7 Home Premium.

A small notebook PC running Windows 7 Home Premium is even easier to use. The new taskbar and advanced navigation features make launching programs, opening files, managing windows, and getting around your PC faster and easier. Personalize your PC to be just the way you want it with helpful gadgets and desktop themes--even turn your desktop into a slideshow of your favorite photos. And you get the best entertainment experience on a PC. With Windows Media Center you can watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV.*

Simplifies everyday tasks

Improved desktop navigation features like Snap, Peek and Shake, make it easier to manage all of your open windows.
Creating a home network has never been easier. You can even share files and printers with all the PCs with Windows 7 on the network.
Find virtually anything on your PC--from documents to songs to email--just by typing a word or two with Windows Search.

Works the way you want

Designed to make your PC sleep and resume quicker.

Takes full advantage of the power and multi-tasking capabilities of the latest 64-bit PCs.

Makes new things possible

Watch, pause, rewind and record TV with Windows Media Center.
Includes integrated video and Dolby audio codecs.

* Additional hardware may be required. Not available in all countries. http://windows.microsoft.com/products/windows-7/system-requirements/.

Windows 7 Home Premium. The best entertainment experience on your PC.

Windows 7 Home Premium makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. You can even watch, pause, rewind, and record TV. Get the best entertainment experience with Windows 7 Home Premium.

More work, more play, and more of everything in between. Click to enlarge.

Manage lots of open programs, documents, and browser windows easily with thumbnail and full-screen previews of open windows. Click to enlarge.

With Snap you can arrange two windows side-by-side just by dragging them to opposite sides of your screen. Click to enlarge.

Open files you use regularly in just two clicks with Jump Lists on the improved taskbar.

Easiest Windows to use ever

Simplify your PC with new navigation features like Aero Shake, Jump Lists, and Snap.
Customize Windows to look and feel the way you like by changing themes and taskbar programs.
Setting up a home network and connecting to printers and devices is easier than ever.
Windows 7 Home Premium supports the latest hardware and software.

It's faster

Designed to make your PC sleep and resume quicker.
Takes full advantage of 64-bit PC hardware and memory.
Connecting to wireless networks is fast and easy.

Best PC entertainment experience

Watch, pause, rewind, and record TV with Windows Media Center.
Blu-ray read/write support for data files.
Includes integrated video and Dolby audio codecs.

Simplifies Everyday Tasks

Simple to use

Preview
Manage lots of open programs, documents, and browser windows easily with thumbnail and full-screen previews of open windows.

Pin
Open files and get around your PC faster with the improved taskbar. You can easily pin programs you use often to the taskbar and launch them in just one click.

Windows 7 lets you peek behind open windows to get a quick look at your desktop. Click to enlarge.

Instantly locate and open virtually any file on your PC right from the Start menu with Windows Search. Click to enlarge.

Turn your PC into a TV with Windows Media Center, and enjoy your favorite videos and music with Windows Media Player. Click to enlarge.

Jump Lists
Open files you use regularly in just two clicks with Jump Lists on the improved taskbar.

Snap
Windows 7 has simple new ways to manage open windows. For example, with Snap you can arrange two windows side-by-side just by dragging them to opposite sides of your screen.

Peek and Shake
Windows 7 lets you peek behind open windows to get a quick look at your desktop.

Windows Search
Instantly locate and open virtually any file on your PC, from documents to emails to songs, right from the Start menu, with Windows Search.

Easy to connect

Setting up wireless connections is easier with consistent, one-click connections to available networks. Click to enlarge.

Enjoy the photos, music, and videos on your home PC when you're away from home with remote media streaming. Click to enlarge.

Windows Touch makes PCs with touch screens easier and more intuitive to use. Click to enlarge.

Manage Backup and Restore and other features through Action Center. Click to enlarge.

Search, organize, and edit files across a network in the same way you would a single folder.Click to enlarge.

Wireless setup
With Windows 7, setting up wireless connections is easier with consistent, one-click connections to available networks, whether those networks are based on Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, dial-up, or corporate VPN.

HomeGroup
Connect Windows 7 PCs on a home network in just four clicks and easily get to the photos, music, and files on each one--even share printers--with HomeGroup.

Easy to browse the web

Internet Explorer 8
Visual search helps you quickly find the information you want by adding visual cues and previews to search results from top search providers including Live Search, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, and others.

Internet Explorer 8
Use Web slices to conveniently keep up with changes on frequently updated websites, like eBay auctions or traffic sites, directly from the IE8 toolbar.

Easy to communicate and share

Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Photo Gallery makes share your photos to your favorite photo site easy.

Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Mail makes managing multiple email accounts easy.

Windows Live Family Safety
Keep your child safe by managing what sites they can visit and who they can send/receive emails and im communications from.

Note: Windows Live components need to be downloaded separately.

Works The Way You Want

Faster and More Reliable

Resume from sleep
We designed Windows 7 to help PCs sleep and resume from sleep more quickly by improving the way Windows 7 manages drivers, programs, and power.

Faster and more reliable
We reduced the amount of memory your PC needs for open windows and to execute commands to help it be more responsive to commands.

Fewer clicks and less interruptions

Makes New Things Possible

Media on your terms

Windows Media Center
Turn your PC into a TV with Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center
Watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV.

DirectX 11
DirectX 11 technology delivers breathtaking game graphics so real, it's unreal.

New ways to engage

Windows Touch
Windows Touch makes PCs with touch screens easier and more intuitive to use.

Media on your terms

Windows Media Player
More and more consumer electronics, from TVs to digital photo frames, can be connected to home networks. With Play To in Windows 7, you'll be able to easily send music, photos, videos from your PC to a networked device throughout your home.

You can enjoy the photos, music, and videos on your home PC when you're away from home with remote media streaming.

Work anywhere

Location Aware Printing
Windows 7 will automatically pick the right printer for you when you move from home to work networks.

Work anywhere with less effort.

Instantly locate virtually any file, email, or document on your PC just by typing a word or two.
Get around your PC faster with the improved taskbar.
Open programs you use regularly in one click and files you use regularly in just two.
Manage lots of open programs, documents, and browser windows easily with thumbnail and full-screen previews of open windows.
Manage multiple email accounts, including Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo! Mail Plus, all in one place with one simple program.
Get to the files, photos, and music on any PC with Windows 7 in the house from any other.
Print to any printer in the house from any PC with Windows 7 in the house.

Safeguard your hard work.

Windows Internet Explorer 8 helps keep your PC safer from malware and you safer from fraudulent websites designed to fool you into divulging private information.

Customer Reviews

Great for netbooks, but little else

by Curtis J. Katinas 2009-12-08, 98 people found this review helpful

This product is only for computers running Windows 7 Starter, so if you are hoping to upgrade from XP or Vista with this kit you are out of luck. If you bought a Windows 7 netbook, chances are you have Windows 7 Starter and have already noticed a few shortcomings of the "netbook-friendly" OS. Among those are the inability to change the background or theme without assistance of 3rd party software, no Windows Media Center, and lack of Aero enhancements such as Glass (translucent borders) and Peek (thumbnail previews of open windows). Starter also lacks a 64-bit version and caps memory at 2GB, but the Atom processors in most netbooks are 32-bit and only support up to 2GB RAM.

Windows Anytime Upgrade is a convenient way to increase functionality without spending extra on a full upgrade kit. The case contains only a product key, no disc, so no external DVD drive is needed. Windows 7 installs all of the components for all versions regardless of which is being installed, locking features to all but their respective variant. This means that there is nothing extra to be installed and allows for the entire upgrade to finish in roughly 10 minutes.

The biggest problem with the Anytime Upgrade is that it can only be used to go from Starter to Home Premium. With regular upgrade packs, you can move to a particular flavor of Windows 7 from Vista, XP, or a lesser version of 7. If you wanted to, you could revert to your previous Vista/XP/7 and use the upgrade on another eligible computer. For a savings of roughly $40, you lose a lot of flexibility. If you decide to transfer the upgrade license, it has to be to another computer running Windows 7 Starter. [Note: I have not tested to see if you even can transfer an AU license, but a regular upgrade can be moved]

Bottom Line: If you missed out on the upgrade kit preorder sale, this is the cheapest way to upgrade your netbook to fully-fledged Windows 7 and take advantage of some of the new features. The fast, painless installation is perfect for netbooks preloaded with Windows 7 Starter, but useless for anything else.

---EDIT: According to the license agreement, if you use an Anytime Upgrade (not a retail upgrade) on a computer, the license is inherited from the previous OS. If you AU an OEM build, the kind that comes preinstalled on retail computers, the AU is now an OEM product and not transferable to a new computer. HOWEVER, that does not mean that if your netbook breaks, your upgrade is lost forever. As long as the base hardware (read: motherboard) on a replacement is the same model as the original, it should work. This is based strictly on the licensing agreement; I have not tested to confirm.

---EDIT 7-09-2010: I finally had the need to test out the transfer of an Anytime Upgrade license and I can confirm the above. Since Windows 7 Starter edition only comes with an OEM license, ANY upgrades (AU, Upgrade, or retail pack used as an AU) to it inherit that OEM license and cannot be transferred from one computer to another. Use caution when using any form of upgrade with Windows 7 Starter. That said, this is the cheapest option to upgrade Starter to a full version, so if you are going to lock in that upgrade, no sense wasting the extra money on a more expensive set that will provide the exact same results.

Decided to forgo the upgrade

by David M. Wenning 2010-03-19, 27 people found this review helpful

So far, I am very happy with the Windows 7/Starter on the eeePC. I installed the 2GB upgrade, but I have decided I don't really need the upgrade to Home/Premium:

Screensaver: I have read that these have little use with flat panel displays. The best approach is to turn the display off to extend the life of the back lighting. This you can do with 7/Starter.

Desktop Background: Don't these tend to become invisible after a while anyway?

Aero Effects: Can I live without it? Yeaahhh.

Themes: Again, so what?

I use the netbook for net surfing, ebooks, forums, email and a little blogging. Bookworm Adventure runs nicely. 7/Starter does all of these things very well. The look of Starter is attractive and pleasing. I can't see how a $77 desktop background will make these things perform any better.

Does what it says

by R. Aggen 2010-01-30, 8 people found this review helpful

Its too bad they don't just charge a little more and install the right operating software from the manufacturer. The upgrade gives you more options than windows 7 starter. It is easy to install, and took about a half an hour.

It does what it was designed to do.

by J. Phillips 2010-06-24, 3 people found this review helpful

I do agree with some other reviewers that W7 Starter should be omitted and offer W7 Home Premium as the starting level of W7. Essentially you are paying $70-80 for a nice plastic box with a product key card inside. I somehow doubt that the air inside the case is "special" enough to warrant the cost.

I'll try my best to stick to the review of this product and not MS's architecture and release strategies. The install is pretty easy by finding the anytime upgrade icon in your start menu. The initial change will take about 10 minutes and a few reboots. Another initializing sequence will follow when you start up the computer and probably takes 10+ minutes to complete. You will also have to validate the product key online within a few days. Just click on the link in the control panel screen. Probably most of you will be using this on a netbook that was built with W7 Starter to control the build cost. I doubt many desktops or notebooks are sold with W7 Starter.

Microsoft Windows 7 update software

by Paul F. Dolby Jr. 2010-07-04, 1 people found this review helpful

A very good piece of software, a vast improvement from windows 7 starter, I am vey well pleased of this product, its the difference of black and white to color.

If the Web site is not working, this option does

by Alexandre Polozoff 2010-05-25, 3 people found this review helpful

Wife's Asus EEE PC was running Windows 7 starter. We tried to upgrade to Home Premium on the Microsoft web site. No luck. The site was constantly resulting in errors. We bought this package on the hope it would work without the website and it did. Installed and upgraded. If you want features in Home Premium like Sticky Notes this will work for the Asus.

Upgraded from inferior product

by D. Vajdak 2010-07-28, 0 people found this review helpful

Does what it's supposed to do. The "No discs, no delay" is deceiving. When you order from Amazon, you don't just get the upgrade code emailed to you instantly, you actually have to wait for a package to be delivered. There is no disc, just the upgrade code. Seems like it could be done online so you don't have to wait several days for a little card to be delivered. A waste of time and packaging. The delivery method is the reason I'm giving it a lower number of stars.

Windows 7 Starter needs to be done away with. Just because you have a small portable laptop does not mean that you want only a few basic features. Shame on Microsoft for making this version that almost forces an experienced user to upgrade. It's just a ploy to get more $$$.

Who will Stop this Robbery?

by M. Lundy 2010-07-24, 0 people found this review helpful

JUST READ THE REST OF THE ONE STAR REVIEWS....>

such A RIP OFF!

Reliable, Validated, at Discount

by C. Thomas 2010-01-09, 1 people found this review helpful

This is the most economical way I could find to view protected Cinema.
Quick delivery via First Class mail.
Exceeded my expectations on delivery of a MS product I would not have bought without this offer.

Shipping ??

by J. Tsuzuki 2010-07-19, 0 people found this review helpful

I bought this for my newly purchased Lenovo S10-3T.
I need to upgrade to Premium from starter.
Starter is not only limited version, it seems Beta or un-finished product to me.
(my wife's PC is running with Win7 pro)

I won't comment about product.
(There maybe tons of comment at computer related site)

My One star rate is for "Shipping".
Anytime upgrade is "No CD, No disk upgrade" right?
Go online then enter key (or pay at site) then download to your PC.
it takes just few minutes (or even few hours at most).
When I order to Amazon, it asked me shipping method.
I thought it doesn't matter because all I need is key.
They can even e-mail me a key right after I pay, I thought.
So, I click as Super saver shipping.
Just like when I buy song, I don't expect them "ship" download key to my house by UPS.
Nothing happen after I received order confirmation.....
few days later, I receive e-mail "your order was shipped"
They actually "Ship" product !!

I saved few dollars by ordering to Amazon instead of going online.
But I have to wait one week till physically receive box.
I'm still waiting for Stone age "Shipping".
Again, All I need is product key not box.
if you want to upgrade now, today, tomorrow, this weekend....go online.
Don't wait for UPS come to your house.
Just like when I buy song, I don't want them "Ship" download key to my house by UPS.