Whenever you're upgrading your operating system, it's always a good idea to back everything up and perform a "clean install." This is the OS equivalent of a fresh canvas – it almost always seems to work better than the alternative, which installs the upgrade on top of the old OS.
Microsoft customers who purchased the upgrade version of Windows Vista yesterday (the OS comes in several flavors, and different install discs exist for upgrades and for full versions) found that they couldn't easily perform a clean install.
According to Daily Tech:
This isn't a huge deal, but it involves the extra hassle of installing Windows XP, verifying it through Microsoft, then installing the Vista upgrade on top.
Thankfully, Windows guru Paul Thourrott dug around on Microsoft's support site and discovered a workaround that lets you perform a clean install of Windows Vista using the upgrade version. Daily Tech has confirmed that this works. So, have at it!
Also, please post your own experiences installing Microsoft Vista here in the comments. Whether you're using the "no-key" workaround or the "install XP first" workaround, we're curious to hear how those clean installs are going. I'm going to attempt mine later today.
