Windows 7? - Page 3

**9876543210** · November 5th, 2009, 06:17 AM

buttsie,

Thanks for the link. Gave it a look and was finally able to find the quotes you had. Not a lot of help but I'll be seeing her machine tomorrow and I'll give that a try but I'm not real enthusiastic.

I was just on the MS Technet Forums and there was a bit more info there but not a lot. It seems (as usual) that the Adobe apps are being their usual pain in the arse. Who knows how long this will take for them to fix.

**billybunter** · November 5th, 2009, 07:08 PM

Installed w7, great, but can't get an image host to work!?

**Rick Danger** · November 5th, 2009, 07:36 PM

I am maintaining three Win XP and one Vista machine at home. While I have little doubt (this time) that Windows 7 works well, I'm not getting ready to trip down the garden path.

It took me about a year, including a full reinstall and lots of patches and tweaks to get Vista stable (i.e., not crashing every other day !). If anyone thinks I'm going to pay to upgrade to 7, they're crazy. In my mind, Microsoft should be issuing credits to those customers who suffered through this abomination instead of spending $300M on advertising. Basically if and when my existing hardware can no longer be maintained, then I'll replace those machines with whatever "flavor of the year" OS is out there. And I don't know whether it will be Mac OS, Windows, or a Linux deriative.

I read an interesting post about Win 7 running in 256Mb of RAM. Well, it was claimed back in 2005 that Vista would run in 512Mb. Anyone who has gone through the Vista Wars knows you need at least 2Gb for it to run. Also, remember all the advertising claiming that Vista was the most stable, most secure Windows ever ? I can tell you that when Microsoft releases security updates, I download as many per machine for my Vista machine as I do for my XP systems. Bottom line, DON'T BELIEVE THE PRE-RELEASE CLAIMS.

If you are going to upgrade, pay close attention to the hardware compatibility lists (HCLs) put out by Microsoft and your computer and peripherals vendors. At the very least have extra memory installed in your computer(s). If you are having this done for you go ahead and max out your system with memory. If you have printers and other peripherals that are three years old or more, be prepared to lay out $$$ to replace those devices. Of course, since many new PC offers come with printers included you might save yourself money and headaches just dumping both PC(s) and printer(s).

Ditto any software that is three years or older. Also, be careful if you are trying to install an old version on a new machine and then looking to skip to a new version. I remember years ago we ran into problems trying to upgrade from Office 95 to Office 2000, because the upgrade path assumed you were moving from Office 97 to 2000. You would probably be better off with a clean install of the latest version of whatever product you are using.

If anyone wants more of my two cents, drop me a message. But for right now, I have no intention on going down the Windows 7 upgrade path.

MrKinkade · November 6th, 2009, 06:38 PM

You guys think windows 7 is better/quicker etc ? then think again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay-gqx18UTM

**billybunter** · November 6th, 2009, 07:03 PM

Well I upgraded to 7 and so far it blows vista away. That said I had uninstall/reinstall my printer and a few other things. But MS owe a lot of people big $$££

Psx0005 · November 7th, 2009, 05:27 AM

I'm just fine with XP SP3. Only OS I'll be upgrading will be from OS X Leopard to Snow Leopard

**Rick Danger** · November 7th, 2009, 06:36 PM

MrKinkade wrote:

Quote:

You guys think windows 7 is better/quicker etc ? then think again

Far be it for me to defend Microsoft. But from the numerous blogs and reviews that I've read, Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista. Then again, anything would be ! So on a subjective basis, it is definitely "better". Is it better than Snow Leopard, Red Hat, Ubuntu - ? I can't say.

That's not to say there aren't problems with 7, or for that matter any operating system. How many of the problems are Windows and how many are caused by "the lose nut behind the keyboard", who knows ?

Some of the comments I've read state that Windows 7 is a less portly version of Vista. If that is indeed true, it couldn't help but be faster.

Couple of things I'm not fond of. First, the Users Account Control (UAC) is good in concept but poor in execution. It is carried over into Win 7, but it now allows you to dial down the 'sensitivity'. Still, UAC is dumb as dirt, since it never updates itself or 'learns' what software the user does want to execute. Windows Firewall does learn, so it can't be that the programmers at Microsoft don't know how to write adaptive code. Secondly, I hate the "tech support by blog" approach. I'm pretty experienced with Windows (and Unix). I don't need to waste time reading a dozen entries telling me to do what I have already tried to fix a problem ! The "blind leading the blind" approach doesn't work for me. Third, it's obvious that either Microsoft or the OEMs underestimated the resources needed to run Vista. I bought a new laptop with 1Gb of memory and it performed very poorly until I upgraded the memory and dumped alot of the Vista features that I didn't need that were nothing but system overhead. As I said in my prior post, don't trust any claims that Windows 7 needs less memory than say Windows XP.

I think trust is the true casuality of the Vista Wars. For example, I DO NOT take automatic updates from Microsoft anymore. I read the details of each release, then decide. Why ? First, I have tried at least ONE DOZEN times to install Vista SP1, even after rebuilding my machine. Even if it installs without errors, the machine crashes a few hours later and I have to back SP1 out. So I've stopped trying. The Windows XP SP3 definitely introduced more overhead to those systems, and I am running Internet Explorer 8 only on my Vista machine.

One other caution: Microsoft routinely removes features from each iteration of Windows which you might not know unless you are fond of pouring through hundreds of pages of release notes. I have seen Microsoft remove fonts from new versions of Windows, apparently not for technical reasons but for licensing issues. So, if you have a lot of Word documents and Microsoft removes fonts that you might be using, you may notice changes in the appearance of your documents.

I am not going to get into any 'religion' arguements. To me an operating system is exactly that. I want it to boot my system, load my apps, and stay out of my way while I work. Any other features are nothing but window (or is that Windows ?) dressing. Vista for me failed my criteria. Having said that, one machine/one user is not a representative statistical sample. But it's clear from the reviews and Internet chatter that Vista was a major disaster, and so far Windows 7 is not a sequel.

Frankly, I would love to see a major tech publication compare Win 7, Snow Leopard, Linux, et. al. side by side. But Redmond would probably sue to keep that from happening. Whatever happened to freedom of speech ?

They took a survey - why men get up in the middle of the night. Ten percent get up to go to the bathroom and ninety percent get up to go home! - Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004)

**billybunter** · November 7th, 2009, 08:02 PM

Great post Rick Danger. I have used windows since '95. All worked ok apart from 2000 & vista. 7 to me seems better. But XP was great and after installing vista I was appalled at how bad it was. I think Mac will overtake microsoft sooner rather than later.

**billybunter** · November 14th, 2009, 01:50 PM

I bought a new computer yesterday with Vista installed on it, so with it I also bought the Upgrade too Windows 7, I used Vista for about 3 hours and it gave you that nervous feeling. Soon after I loaded Windows 7, I must say I was rather impressed. Not one single sign of it stalling, locking up and doing weird and wonderful thing too the machine and your mind. Always been critical of Microsoft products, but this time I think they have got their act together.
So, Windows 7

That's the way I felt as well mate. So far so good!

Don't know how you have found it so far,
I've had it for 3 weeks now, and i must say for once I'm impressed with a microsoft product. I've gone out of my way too try and wreak it. I'll be burning a DVD, have iTunes running, be on chat and of course be downloading some huge file and have fun on the forum at the same time and see no sign of it stuffing up. It is stable the whole time. The only time it came close was when i was doing all the above and at the same time i was transfering 20 gig from the C drive too an external drive, but I was pushing it. If ya tried all that with Vista, the PC would go China Syndrome Anybody had any problems yet?

PS, Nero 7 won't work

but that's not unexpected

xxxlover · November 14th, 2009, 07:03 PM

I've installed W7 Pro 64bit on fairly hi-spec new computer and apart from a glitches with ATi drivers which seem to have been resolved by installing the newest ones, it works fine. I can't tell if it's intrinsically faster than XP SP3 because the computer is so much better but I like it and recommend it, especially if you're using Vista.

November 5th, 2009, 07:36 PM	#23
Rick Danger Vintage Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: In the Chill lounge..... Posts: 1,725 Thanks: 6,794 Thanked 30,852 Times in 1,714 Posts	Not going to move to Win 7 anytime soon......... I am maintaining three Win XP and one Vista machine at home. While I have little doubt (this time) that Windows 7 works well, I'm not getting ready to trip down the garden path. It took me about a year, including a full reinstall and lots of patches and tweaks to get Vista stable (i.e., not crashing every other day !). If anyone thinks I'm going to pay to upgrade to 7, they're crazy. In my mind, Microsoft should be issuing credits to those customers who suffered through this abomination instead of spending $300M on advertising. Basically if and when my existing hardware can no longer be maintained, then I'll replace those machines with whatever "flavor of the year" OS is out there. And I don't know whether it will be Mac OS, Windows, or a Linux deriative. I read an interesting post about Win 7 running in 256Mb of RAM. Well, it was claimed back in 2005 that Vista would run in 512Mb. Anyone who has gone through the Vista Wars knows you need at least 2Gb for it to run. Also, remember all the advertising claiming that Vista was the most stable, most secure Windows ever ? I can tell you that when Microsoft releases security updates, I download as many per machine for my Vista machine as I do for my XP systems. Bottom line, DON'T BELIEVE THE PRE-RELEASE CLAIMS. If you are going to upgrade, pay close attention to the hardware compatibility lists (HCLs) put out by Microsoft and your computer and peripherals vendors. At the very least have extra memory installed in your computer(s). If you are having this done for you go ahead and max out your system with memory. If you have printers and other peripherals that are three years old or more, be prepared to lay out $$$ to replace those devices. Of course, since many new PC offers come with printers included you might save yourself money and headaches just dumping both PC(s) and printer(s). Ditto any software that is three years or older. Also, be careful if you are trying to install an old version on a new machine and then looking to skip to a new version. I remember years ago we ran into problems trying to upgrade from Office 95 to Office 2000, because the upgrade path assumed you were moving from Office 97 to 2000. You would probably be better off with a clean install of the latest version of whatever product you are using. If anyone wants more of my two cents, drop me a message. But for right now, I have no intention on going down the Windows 7 upgrade path. Last edited by Rick Danger; November 6th, 2009 at 01:42 AM..

November 14th, 2009, 01:50 PM	#29
billybunter R.I.P. Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Gone But Not Forgotten Posts: 14,404 Thanks: 51,687 Thanked 252,369 Times in 14,171 Posts	I bought a new computer yesterday with Vista installed on it, so with it I also bought the Upgrade too Windows 7, I used Vista for about 3 hours and it gave you that nervous feeling. Soon after I loaded Windows 7, I must say I was rather impressed. Not one single sign of it stalling, locking up and doing weird and wonderful thing too the machine and your mind. Always been critical of Microsoft products, but this time I think they have got their act together. So, Windows 7 That's the way I felt as well mate. So far so good! Don't know how you have found it so far, I've had it for 3 weeks now, and i must say for once I'm impressed with a microsoft product. I've gone out of my way too try and wreak it. I'll be burning a DVD, have iTunes running, be on chat and of course be downloading some huge file and have fun on the forum at the same time and see no sign of it stuffing up. It is stable the whole time. The only time it came close was when i was doing all the above and at the same time i was transfering 20 gig from the C drive too an external drive, but I was pushing it. If ya tried all that with Vista, the PC would go China Syndrome Anybody had any problems yet? PS, Nero 7 won't work but that's not unexpected __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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November 5th, 2009, 06:17 AM	#21
9876543210 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 4,044 Thanks: 24,638 Thanked 34,288 Times in 4,008 Posts	buttsie, Thanks for the link. Gave it a look and was finally able to find the quotes you had. Not a lot of help but I'll be seeing her machine tomorrow and I'll give that a try but I'm not real enthusiastic. I was just on the MS Technet Forums and there was a bit more info there but not a lot. It seems (as usual) that the Adobe apps are being their usual pain in the arse. Who knows how long this will take for them to fix.

November 5th, 2009, 07:08 PM	#22
billybunter R.I.P. Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Gone But Not Forgotten Posts: 14,404 Thanks: 51,687 Thanked 252,369 Times in 14,171 Posts	Installed w7, great, but can't get an image host to work!?

November 6th, 2009, 06:38 PM	#24
MrKinkade Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 211 Thanks: 467 Thanked 1,452 Times in 205 Posts	You guys think windows 7 is better/quicker etc ? then think again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay-gqx18UTM

November 6th, 2009, 07:03 PM	#25
billybunter R.I.P. Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Gone But Not Forgotten Posts: 14,404 Thanks: 51,687 Thanked 252,369 Times in 14,171 Posts	Well I upgraded to 7 and so far it blows vista away. That said I had uninstall/reinstall my printer and a few other things. But MS owe a lot of people big $$££

November 7th, 2009, 05:27 AM	#26
Psx0005 Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 182 Thanks: 1,429 Thanked 3,658 Times in 178 Posts	I'm just fine with XP SP3. Only OS I'll be upgrading will be from OS X Leopard to Snow Leopard

November 7th, 2009, 08:02 PM	#28
billybunter R.I.P. Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Gone But Not Forgotten Posts: 14,404 Thanks: 51,687 Thanked 252,369 Times in 14,171 Posts	Great post Rick Danger. I have used windows since '95. All worked ok apart from 2000 & vista. 7 to me seems better. But XP was great and after installing vista I was appalled at how bad it was. I think Mac will overtake microsoft sooner rather than later.

November 14th, 2009, 07:03 PM	#30
xxxlover Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 12 Thanks: 41 Thanked 62 Times in 8 Posts	I've installed W7 Pro 64bit on fairly hi-spec new computer and apart from a glitches with ATi drivers which seem to have been resolved by installing the newest ones, it works fine. I can't tell if it's intrinsically faster than XP SP3 because the computer is so much better but I like it and recommend it, especially if you're using Vista.