Upgrading Windows 7 - Ultimate Success & Sacrifice

Wow. I wrote an email to the MS-Captain championing the upgrade programme to Windows 7 in Singapore and was surprised that they were able to check my record, contact me within 24 hours and had an engineer (Ramaesh) speak to me to arrange an online remote assist session the next working day. Firstly, that is "tops" and next, is that the engineer Ramaesh is the eptiome of patience and logic, and a sheer inspiration to work with. I can only imagine how tough a job like his was, dealing with a dozen thousand calls and a myriad list of weird (and maybe wonderful) problems that need to be solved daily. You must enjoy working with the maze of the OS and the manufacturer's specifications to successsfully troubleshoot and present a working, efficient, solultion.
Anyway, after a tireless session, the laptop seemed to jerk back into working fine, being able to shut down and log off a few times.
Sadly, after we got offline, and I let the Windows Updater download the latest updates, the laptop simply eased back into the redolent self and refused to shut down properly.
So, I forced shut-down after letting the CPU try and work itself through the processes for about one hour. Then starting it up again I decided that "enough is quite enough" and it was time for me to handle the situation I felt was best, and was prepared to try. Here is what I did:

>Control Panel >Recovery
Then indicated that I was wanted to reinstall Windows (7) and had the disk at hand.
Inserted the disk but found that it was not needed yet. FYI.
The system then successfully shut down and rebooted with a new light blue screen with command selection options on it.
First was, to reboot from CD or DVD, and >DVD, inserted the Windows 7 disc into the drive and waited.
It booted up and the 1 - 2 - 3 task bar begin filling out as the DVD whirred to life. Good!
Then I had a choice to select where to load the OS.
I selected "advanced" to view the options and could see the manufacturer partitions:
0 partition 10GB for OEM content - which I , and
1 partition 490 GB for program content - which I .
Then with these all cleared, I allowed the Windows loaded to download the new OS into <1 partition>, letting the original OEM 0 partition of 10 GB to be sacrificed. It was empty and that was more important. Within that cache, I knew I lost some cool stuff (PowerDVD) but also finally got rid of some very intrusive and troublesome application software (MyWinLocker).
The Windows 7 loaded perfectly and before long, after keying in the Product Key, the Windows 7 Home Screen popped up and I checked the Programs list and found everything clean.

So, the tip about upgrading your laptop with Windows 7 is this:
Wipe your OEM apps clean. Smarter folks can save some of these drivers and apps in a HDD and then reinstall these with an updater online. I just wanted to see what an average Joe with low IT EQ can do.
So far, what I did worked beautifully.

The added tips:
(a) ensure there is no Internet Security installed beforehand, and do not wire up/connect to the Internet until after you have successfully installed the new OS;
(b) do download ALL required/essential update content in sequence and DO NOT use your PC while this is being done. Just be patient. Do shut down or restart the laptop after each successful download.
(c) download any updated driver for your hardwire after Windows is well-updated and stable (no further essential updates). I avoided ALL optional updates until the last stage when I had loaded in other software I needed.
(d) now I loaded in Office 2007 and its updates. There was a small problem with the service pack 2 not being successfully installed, but I knew this was not an issue, as the system will notify me later on when I needed to do this.
(e) then I loaded back my Easy Transfer File (5GB) from my back-up notebook, so that basic preferences and favourites will be automatically transferred to this upgraded laptop. During the migration process you must not (absolutely NOT) use the PC until the process is complete. Accept and skip any errors, if you can.
(f) after restarting to put the migrated content into effect, I was now prepared to install my Windows Live Mail and its essentials. (Or do this before your Migration process. Either way, just one installation at a time is safer, but takes a longer time.)
(g) Now I opened up Ramaesh's last email to me which linked me to the updated Windows 7 ESET Smart Security 4 version for download online. (Thanks, Ramaesh. By going back to your software support site, you usually can view and download new drivers etc. but have your product key or password/ID at hand and ready). I did not even need my ESET disc as inputting the password and ID immediately recognised my valid account and the download went ahead smoothly. After my ESET was launched, I awaited some time before running the updater and it worked sweet!
(f) I restarted again, and now looked around to prioritise what other application software I needed and had to get the updated version online. My HP C5280 All-in-One printer had the biggest cache of files to download and I did this overnight. Then next was my SONY PMB software for both my videocam and two cameras (a850 and NEX-5), and wonderfully, SONY.jp had a notification screen that popped up after you have installed the software and launched it, to download the updated version from their website. This is being done as I blog this. Sweet again.

So, ultimately, it means this:
1. OEM applications pre-installed in your laptop is very likely to have elements which can be disruptive to your Upgrade to Windows; you can back-up drivers and apps into a separate back-up drive if you know how to do this;
2. Be prepared to wipe and reformat the laptop HDD and work from scratch to rebuild your PC.
3. Do it progressively, and take your time, doing each task successfully before the next.

So, now, there are just a few more applications to work on, and so far, all my drivers are working via the Microsoft platform and not the manufacturer's pre-installed drivers. I think that says something about Windows 7, and of course, that terrific after-sales customer support service! I am happily back with MS as a fan.