Need help with IT volunteer gig. Rolling out windows 7/ PC Maintenance

I’m volunteer with a local non- profit organization and I offered to help with basic Pc maintenance and looking into the possibilities of rolling out Windows 7… I have few questions regarding this
Pc Maintenance question
1. Is Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit a good tool to use? Also, is this a good tool to use to install updates that haven’t been installed? This is what they want me to use.
2. Would this be another good tool to use? www.stevengould.org - Features and benefits
Windows 7 questions:
What I know about their systems
Server 2003
Office 2003
Windows XP
1. Should I run this on their systems?
2. Download details: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
3. Does server 2003 work with windows 7? I can hardly find any info on server20 03, but Microsoft has tons of info on windows 7 and server 2008. I tried looking up server 2003 on Windows 7upgrade advisor but I didn’t have much luck
4. … Looks like office 2003 works with 7 though.
5. The biggest concern the director had was having employees/ volunteers transfer all their applications from Windows XP to Windows 7. Isn’t there a XP compatible mode though for these applications?
More questions
1. What will be the hardest part of rolling this out? I think finding drivers?
2. What would be the best possible version of 7 for an organization? She told me cost wasn’t a big issue since organizations can get software at a discounted price.
3. 32 bit or 64? I’m thinking it’s 32 just because most pcs don’t/won’t need the 64 bit processing
4. Will Windows 7 work on server 2003? I’m having trouble finding documentation on this.
5. Will office 2003 work on 7?
6. One issue I did see was with XP you need to copy all the info on to a external hard drive, and then wipe the internal drive..then install 7, and then reinstall applications..does this sound right?
7. Has anyone rolled out Windows 7 for an organization before?
8. Any list or articles on the added benefits of upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7?
9. Is this a good book for upgrading Windows 7? I bought at Microcenter..
10. InformIT: Switching to Microsoft Windows 7: The Painless Way to Upgrade from Windows XP or Vista

11. Is there any good proposal free/ or possible paid software that kinda lays out all the details of rolling out windows 7? Something I could give to her that maybe she could use…. Any ideas?
Any help is greatly appreciated!!

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Comments

bellhead

I love your spirit, but I will no longer do any volunteering for non-profits after I did two back to back Saturdays at one doing some phone work and found out almost everybody there but the secretary made over a 100k a year...Also they took a lot of junket type trips...Sours you to a certain extent on giving your money each year.

excalibur1814

1 - You should. For an easier life each machine should have 2Gb ram, but, 1Gb will be suitable with probable pain. Use ReadyBoost for machine with low ram
2 - One second search in Google

Download details: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
3 - Server 2003 does work with Windows 7. Group Policy object configurations will benefit from Server 2008 amongst other advantages
4 - Yes, it does and works well

5 - Make a spreadsheet with each persons PC, name etc and software. You can then start to check compatibility and/or, replace with updated software. NOW is the chance to make things right. Foxit instead of Acrobat, 7-Zip instead of WInzip etc. Make an effort to re-name the Windows 7 installs : Example, PC001, Pc002 instead of CLivesPC.
6 - Dangerous. There will be moments where someone screams, "Where is this?". Windows 7 will wipe the drive for you. I'd suggest a trial on a spare pc

. I gather you know which folders to backup?
7 - Yes, lots have done so and many will provide more indepth replies.
8 - There's plenty out there but the best way of experiencing the benefits might actually be to get a Windows 7 Press book. Heck, after reading and taking the Vista exams, I realised how much better Vista was compared to XP (Obviously minus the millions of people that didn't like it lol)
9/10 - A clean install is always the prefered method just in case. I really would trial run all of this before touching one user pc.

excalibur1814

100k! Makes me feel damn mad when I hear things like that...

Devilsbane

How many computers are you rolling out to and how different are the models? If these are all the same dell then rollout is easy with 1 image. If each one was individually donated and is completely differet, you will have to take a different approach.

Devilsbane

bellhead wrote: »

I love your spirit, but I will no longer do any volunteering for non-profits after I did two back to back Saturdays at one doing some phone work and found out almost everybody there but the secretary made over a 100k a year...Also they took a lot of junket type trips...Sours you to a certain extent on giving your money each year.

Sadly most companies are like this. If they weren't it is difficult to find someone who can do a good job. Ben and Jerry's several years back hired a CEO with the restriction that they would only pay 100k I believe it was. They advertised to the public that they didn't want to pay one person a load of money and raise the price of their product to pay for it.

Long story short, they had a bunch of crappy applicants but they held to their promise and hired one. He only lasted like two months and did a horrible job, forcing them to go back on their word and hire someone for more money.

bellhead

Devilsbane wrote: »

Sadly most companies are like this. If they weren't it is difficult to find someone who can do a good job. Ben and Jerry's several years back hired a CEO with the restriction that they would only pay 100k I believe it was. They advertised to the public that they didn't want to pay one person a load of money and raise the price of their product to pay for it.

Long story short, they had a bunch of crappy applicants but they held to their promise and hired one. He only lasted like two months and did a horrible job, forcing them to go back on their word and hire someone for more money.

The nonprofit managers the ones who begged for free labor and treated you like a 2nd class citizen all could have starred on one of the real housewives shows. They were moving into a new building and I needed to put in some volunteer work for work "don't you love that" and they were recommended. I found out later that week almost all of them were trophy wives or recently divorced older trophy wives who were in the "in crowd" high rollers crowds and could put together a $100,000 dinner once a month if they needed to in order to keep their jobs. The pay was a status symbol only to them they didn't need the money that badly "the current trophy wifes" but it was a reflection on their status.

Also they didn't even bring coffee or donuts either bunch of cheepies...