Best way to upgrade NIS 2011 to 2012 (3 PCs)

I'm currently running NIS 2011 on 3 PCs (2 with Windows 7 64-bit; 1 with XP Home). I'm planning to upgrade to NIS 2012, but would like opinions as to the most efficient way to do this.

 

The subscription has just under 8 weeks still to run. Last year I renewed by purchasing a new boxed copy and just using the code, and if it's the cheapest way I'll probably do the same again.

 

1. I know I could simply upgrade each computer one at a time through 2011's check for upgrades. However...

 

2. I'm on a fairly slow connection with limited bandwidth, so is there an upgrade file that I could download just once and run manually? (It would need to be for both W7 and XP.) And if so, are there any instructions I could read through first?

 

3. I could buy a boxed copy of 2012 (which I may well be doing anyway to get a renewal licence), but I'd like to know if there would be any problems using that to upgrade. Specifically:

(a) would I need to uninstall 2011 first and run the removal tool before installing 2012 from the disc? (In other threads I've seen warnings about backing up Identity Safe, but I don't use that.)

(b) if so, would I have to re-register/reinput the licence details?

(c) if not, would the 2012 version work on my existing licence, and I would then input the new code nearer the renewal date?

 

Thanks for any advice on this.