Question: I would like to upgrade from XP Professional to Windows 7 Professional. Could someone give me a few basic steps of the process? I keep reading about "clean installs", "migration", and saving everything before upgrading. What specificly, must be saved...or should I not have skipped Vista all these years?

Answer: 
Your friend [How-To-Geek](https://superuser.com/users/4102/the-how-to-geek) has a step-by-step guide entitled [Migrate XP to Windows 7 with Easy Transfer and a USB Drive](http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3179/migrate-xp-to-windows-7-with-easy-transfer-and-a-usb-drive/) available on [HowToGeek.com](http://www.howtogeek.com/).
Use the Migration Wizard (aka Windows Easy Transfer) that comes with the Windows 7 media. In the `support\migwiz` directory run `migsetup.exe`. This will help you transfer your files to an "External Hard Disk or USB drive".

Perform a clean installation of Windows 7 on your machine and then restore your data again running the same tool.