Microsoft Windows 8 Update: Guide to What All Will Be Required to Run New OS in Your Windows 7 Upgraded PC

Software giant Microsoft has officially kicked off the registration process for new Windows 7 users. According to the company, the users who purchased Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012 – January 31, 2013 will get an upgrade to the latest operating system Windows 8.

The Mountain View Valley Company is offering the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99. Relatively, for the Indian consumers the downloadable upgrade to Windows 8 Pro can be obtained at a price of Rs.699. The company has announced the release date of Windows 8 operating system as October 26. The latest announcement regarding the availability of update at an affordable cost comes as a relief for users using Windows 7 PCs. The latest upgrade offer will be made available across 140 countries.

Interested users can register for the offer before February 28, 2013 at www.windowsupgradeoffer.com. Microsoft has claimed that the promotional price could vary depending up on the region users are located in, because of a number of factors like currency exchange rate, local taxes and duties, applicable fee and local market conditions. 

These factors might make the actual price to vary from the advertised price. Microsoft further stated that an e-mail will be sent to users with a promotion code up on the release of Windows 8 on October 26. This promotion code has to be used for availing the promotional offer while upgrading the Windows PCs to the latest Windows 8 operating system. The e-mail will have downloading instructions and a link towards the ordering website. The company is releasing the new operating system with compatibility for both traditional PCs and tablet computers. 

If you want to run Windows 8 on your PC, below are listed the system requirements:

• Processor: 1 GHz or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2


• RAM: 1 GB (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)


• Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)


• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch


• To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768


• To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768


• Internet access (ISP fees might apply)


• Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database


• Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance


• Microsoft account required for some features


• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software


• Windows Media Center license sold separately 


• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)


• BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)


• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8 Pro only)


• A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)


• Free Internet TV content varies by geography, some content