GEEK!

The latest tech news, reviews and random discussion from a teenager – but in English not Binary!

Posts Tagged ‘upgrade’

Windows 7 almost here – will you be rushing for the upgrade?

September 27th, 2009

Well, now we’re less than a month away, I’m beginning to think about whether it being worth it upgrading from Vista.

At the moment, I’m actually not too bothered about it. I think I will upgrade eventually, but I don’t think there’s and rush to do so. Windows 7 only has a few major features over Vista – speed and a couple of handy interface upgrades. But for now, I think I can wait and will do the upgrade towards the end of the year.

What are you thinking of doing? Of course, if you’re planning to get a new PC or laptop, you’ll get Windows 7 included – either by a free upgrade on October 22nd or included automatically after that date. But what if you already have XP or Vista and you’d like to upgrade. Do you think it is worth it? Can you see any big advantages in Windows 7?

I’m kind of stuck in the middle – not sure what to do. I do really like the new Start bar and the cool interface, but I don’t really want to spend £60 (or whatever it is) to upgrade…

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Posted in In the News, Software

Tags: cost download rush upgrade windows 7 worth it

[FIX] Wordpress Automatic Upgrade woes – “Installation Failed”

August 6th, 2009

Wordpress is brilliant, undoubtedly, but there are some things that really drive me insane.

Ever since Wordpress 2.8.1 was released, I haven’t been able to use the automatic upgrade feature in Wordpress because it simply does not work. This problem has been identified by many other Wordpress users, but I know that not everyone has the problem.

Here’s what I mean – every time I try to upgrade Wordpress the following problem arises:

It is as simple as that. No error messages, no PHP warnings, just “Installation Failed”.

I’ve been searching everywhere for a fix but I can’t find one anywhere. It’s beginning to really annoy me now. I’ve just ignored it for a while and upgraded Wordpress manually – but it really drives me mad having to take down GEEK! and then put it back up.

Has anyone found a fix for this problem?

Update 13.9.09: A big thanks to “lujcas”, who has posted a comment with a fix to this problem. I’ve tested it and it seemed to work for me. To make it easier for everyone, I’ve uploaded the file he added to the GEEK! download server, so you can download a copy here. You just need to unzip the file and place it in the wp-includes directory on your Wordpress install and overwrite any previous file.

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Posted in Quick fixes and tips, Rants, Software

Tags: 2.8.2 auto fail upgrade wordpress

Rumour: Windows 7 Free Upgrade Program starting 26th June?

June 6th, 2009

There’s a little rumour going around the internet at the moment.

If you remember, when the launch of Windows Vista was approaching, Microsoft did a ‘Free Upgrade’ program, meaning that users who bought a PC with Windows XP Media Center 2005 from a certain date (I think that was the case – maybe it was all versions of XP… I can’t remember) would get a free express upgrade to Windows Vista when it was launched.

Well, it would appear that Microsoft are taking this approach again, but for Windows 7. So, if the rumour is true, if you buy a Windows Vista PC (Home Premium, Business or Ultimate I think) anywhere from June 26th and October 22nd (Windows 7 launch date), you’ll get a free upgrade to Windows 7.

So if you are thinking of buying a new PC or laptop, hold off a couple of weeks and wait for the campaign to start.

Here’s another little rumour going round too: As well as Windows Vista preinstalled machines having a free upgrade to Windows 7, it would appear that Microsoft is planning to start the Upgrade Program on boxed versions of Windows Vista too. So if you buy a separate copy of Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate, the chances are you’ll get a free upgrade to Windows 7 too.

Bare in mind this is all rumours – Microsoft still hasn’t confirmed what is happening with the Upgrade Program this time round as yet, so we’ll have to wait and see if the rumours are true.