Microsoft has finally made its latest operating system, Windows 8, available to everyone. You can go to any online store or your nearby computer store and buy a copy of Windows 8 DVD. But before you spend money on buying Windows 8, you should make sure if Windows 8 can be installed on your system, if it supports your current hardware and see if it would work with your system and other devices. Microsoft’s Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant can help you confirm that your hardware is compatible with Windows 8.
Before upgrading to Windows 8, you should run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. It scans your current PC to see if it is ready for Windows 8 and then provides a compatibility report and optional steps for you to buy, download, and install Windows 8. You can download it from the Microsoft Windows 8 website. It is a portable standalone program that you can run without having to install anything. After scanning your hardware, devices and apps, it displays the report of compatible and incompatible items found.
You can click on the See compatibiliy details link to see details of all the items found. It shows if there is any hardware or application incompatible or missing. On my PC, it told me many things like a missing DVD player program (although I had VLC Media Player installed). You can print this report on your printer or save it as an HTML file.
If your hardware is compatible with Windows 8, then you would be able to go to the next step. In the next steps, it would suggest which edition of Windows 8 would be best for your system. On my PC, it suggested Windows 8 Pro edition. You have to choose whether you want to keep Windows settings, personal files, both of them or nothing.
Based on these preferences, you would be shown a suggested edition of Windows 8 including its price in your local region. You can also click on the Order button to visit their website to purchase the suggested Windows 8 edition online.
If you are thinking of upgrading to Windows 8, then you should consider running the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant tool first. It scans your system and tells you if specific Windows 8 features (like Windows Store, snap, secure boot, and multi-touch) would be able to run on it. It scans your hardware, apps, and connected devices to see if they will work with Windows 8. This tool can save you from disappointment of buying Windows 8 only to find that it cannot be installed on your PC.
You can download it from the Microsoft website at http://windows.microsoft.com/.