Windows 7 Family Pack

If you have two or more PCs running Windows Vista or XP, and you’ve been thinking about upgrading them to Windows 7, you may have been put off by the cost of buying two (or more) copies of Windows 7. (No, one copy won’t do if you have two PCs: you need one licence per computer, and each copy you buy comes with only a single licence.)

The solution is something called the ‘Windows 7 Family Pack’ which has just gone on sale. It’s a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, but it comes with three licences allowing you to upgrade as many as three PCs from Vista or XP to Windows 7. There’s just one Windows 7 disk in the box, but a little yellow label inside the package contains three different serial numbers, rather than the single serial number you usually get. During the installation, you type one of these serial numbers when prompted (making sure you don’t reuse one you used on one of your other PCs!).

The cost saving is surprisingly generous, particularly if you really do have three PCs. A single license for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade would normally be around £75, whereas you can find this Family Pack at Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) and PC World (www.pcworld.co.uk) for a penny under £121. However, this Family Pack is available ‘only while stocks last’, it isn’t something Microsoft expects to keep on sale permanently, so if you have been waiting for this arrive, now’s the time to grab it!