Well as I started this thread I will in the words of mastermind, finish. I have now completed the installation using windows easy transfer system. I backed up everything on the comp to an ext H.D. and expected the worst. I have used XP since its release and wasn't sure what to expect. I have to say it was a relatively painless experience, simply following the instructions and being led by the hand as all the mostly automated programmes installed themselves and with the exception of my epson printer and scanner everything just 'worked'. The easy transfer took care of bookmark and email transfers etc and any drivers W7 needed it found for itself. I have to say in fairness my computer is less than 2 yrs old which probably helped and I managed to get my epson stuff going with Vista drivers but all in all fairly painless. I have now had it up and running for 2 days and am starting to feel comfortable with it. Not a Vista experience, for me anyway!