To start off its Windows 7 pre-order program, Microsoft is offering a discount of at least £100 on both the Home Premium and the Professional versions. Altough you’ll have to be quick as this is a limited time offer.

The launch RRP is £149.99 for Home Premium and £219.99 for Professional. However they are now available for £49.99 and £99.99 respectively, which is a massive reduction.

The pre-orders are via retail partners such as Amazon, Argos and Comet.

"Windows 7 does not come with a browser in the UK and also requires a clean install… You will need to back up all your files before starting and you will need to have a browser such as Internet Explorer 8 or a browser from another software manufacturer saved to a CD/DVD or external storage device before starting."

You’ll need a PC with these minimum recommended specifications to run Windows 7:

    * 1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
    * 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
    * 16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20GB (64-bit)
    * DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

To check if you computer is compatible with Windows 7 you can run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

*Update*

The Microsoft Store is not currently available due to the number of people trying to pre-order Windows 7

A notice on the Microsoft Store says the following: "Due to the eagerly anticipated Windows 7 pre-order offer we’re experiencing a higher level of demand on our website than usual.

"This means you can’t access the site right now and we’re sorry about that. We’ll be back up and running as soon as we can so please try again soon to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7!"