Although Windows 7 is out and it's been a long time since Windows distributed the Windows 7 RC for free, many people still have problem in doing a clean install of Windows 7 on their computers. In this article we will tell you how to do a fresh install of Windows 7 perfectly on your computer. You can also have a look at our other Windows 7 guides.

Step 1. First and foremost, run the Windows Upgrade Advisor to find out if there are any known issues with your computer that could affect the installation and whether you should install the 32 or 64 bit version of Windows 7.

Step 2. Next, you have to back up your files and settings. Using the Windows Easy Transfer Tool you can copy your information (but not programs) from your PC and then put them back after you install Windows 7. You won't be able to use Windows Easy Transfer Tool if you don't have an external hard drive. In such a case you can simply copy the files that you want to keep on a USB flash drive, or on CD/DVD.

Step 3. Have the installation disks and any associated product/license keys for the programs currently on your computer as you'll need to manually reinstall all your programs after you install Windows 7.

Step 4. Now Insert the Windows 7 DVD into your PC. When asked "Which type of installation do you want? click "Custom (advanced)" to start the installation. Select the partition you want to install Windows 7 to and continue.

Step 5. After you install Windows 7  on your computer, you can use the same Windows Easy Transfer Tool as you did in step# 2 to restore your files & settings, and use your installation disks to install all your programs.

You should note that putting the swap file on a different partition won't speed up Windows 7 but putting it on a separate physical hard drive will help you improve the speed and overall performance. The default swap file size will work fine (make sure it is not below 1GB). The steps mentioned above are according to Microsoft.