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Get a Windows 7 Home Premium 3-user upgrade for $79.99

That's the lowest per-PC price I've seen. But with Windows 8 just around the corner, does a Windows 7 upgrade still make sense?

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read
Nothing But Software

As you learned earlier this month, Microsoft plans to offer a Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39.99 -- a surprisingly decent price.

That said, not everybody is looking forward to the radically redesigned new OS. In fact, plenty of users are still plugging along with Windows XP or Vista -- perhaps just biding their time until a decent Windows 7 upgrade offer comes along.

That offer has arrived, though not from Microsoft: Nothing But Software has the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-PC) for $79.99, plus $3.99 for shipping. That works out to about $27 per PC, making this the best non-student upgrade deal I've seen.

It may not be perfect, but Windows 7 is without a doubt the best version of the OS Microsoft has produced to date. It's fast, stable, and secure, and vastly superior to Windows XP (yeah, I said it).

Speaking of XP, Microsoft famously (or perhaps infamously) neglected to offer a direct upgrade path, meaning this will require some extra effort on your part -- namely, backing up all your settings and data, then reinstalling all your software after the upgrade. Vista users have it much easier, as Windows 7 allows for an in-place upgrade.

This boxed version of the software includes three licenses for either the 32- or 64-bit versions of Windows. (I believe you can mix and match, too.)

So, there you have it, probably the last Windows 7 deal I'll ever post. Like it or not, time marches on, and most people will turn their attention to Windows 8 in the coming months.

That said, this is a very affordable way to upgrade three PCs to Windows 7. Anyone still interested?

Bonus deal: Remember the security software deal from way back yesterday? Newegg just added one major player to the free-after-rebate list: Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2012 3-user. Pay $40 now, get a prepaid Visa card for the same amount in about eight weeks.

Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.

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