Windows Hate (or very nearly)

I finally got around to installing Windows 7 today which I bought a while back. I thought I'd better wait until I found I had a day free - the last time I had to reinstall XP it took me about 2 days to even remotely get a system up and running that I could use, so I didn't see why 7 should be any different.

 I read around the subject first and came across the Windows 7 Easy File & Settings Transfer thingy and the corresponding "Upgrade Adviser". "...yes, of course you can upgrade to W7 in one easy mouse click..."

 I took today off as I had an annoying cough and it was raining - perfect conditions for the upgrade.

 I ran the adviser. "You might want to upgrade a few device drivers, but otherwise everything's fine!". I thought it wise to take a ghost (copy) of the hard drive before starting, you never know do you?

 I started the transfer wizard. "Please come back in a few hours..."

 I went downstairs for yet another cup of tea, and coughed a lot.

 Time passes...

 "Right, done that. Now what?"
"Boot the W7 Install DVD?"
"Good plan."
"Upgrade or Custom Install?"
"Upgrade please."
"Can't do that, you need to use Custom if you're coming from XP."
(why the f*** didn't you say that in the first place then?)
"Sorry. Upgrade or Custom Install?"
"Better be Custom then(!)"
"Thanks. Please come back in about 40 minutes."
"What no 'what keyboard are you using?', or 'what time is it?', or any other stupid questions interspersed throughout the install?"
"Nope, that it's. See you in 40 minutes."

 Time passes, plus another cup of tea and a coughing interlude.

 "Please enter your Product Key."
"Ok, here it is."
"Nope, that's wrong. Please enter your product key."
"No, this really is the one on the certificate."
"No, that really isn't a valid key."

 Looks like the backup was a starting to look like a good idea.

 Sadly, I shook my head and cancelled the key entry, letting Windows start. I then noticed the "you don't have internet access icon" in the tray. The penny then dropped, "Oooh, *that* device driver needs to be updated then, I'll just nip onto the internet then to get the latest Windows 7 NIC driver and..., ah, no internet access..." Good job I still had the motherboard drivers DVD :-).

 I reentered the key. "Thanks. You haven't stolen this copy. Have a nice day."

 I ran the file transfer wizard and, ta-da, everything reappeared on the desktop.

Brilliant.

 Well, no. What the wizard does is to restore your data, but crucially, not any of the applications. So, you can have gigabytes of MP3 files and the like, but nothing to play them with. I started the upgrade at 09:00. It's now 22:30 and I've only got about half of the programs back. Looks like 2 days is about right.

 Still, my cough's gone.

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