Anyone gone from XP to Win7?

Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2006
Posts
5,677
Location
Stockton on Tees
Anyone done it?
Afew q's if you have:

- Has it drastically changed?
- Are you forever finding settings which have moved?
- Is it still set out like XP i.e. is "control panel" accessed via start -> control panel?
- Good bits?
- Bad bits?
- As easy to setup and customise as XP?
- Setting up networking as is in XP?
 
Anyone done it?
Afew q's if you have:

- Has it drastically changed? Yes - however this isn't a bad thing, XP is old, we needed to move on
- Are you forever finding settings which have moved? No - Yes, certain things are a level deeper than they used to be, like network adapter settings, but on the whole, it is intuitive so you don't get lost navigating round
- Is it still set out like XP i.e. is "control panel" accessed via start -> control panel? It is set out like Vista, yes control panel is still where you'd expect, but a heck of a lot of front end changes are apparent
- Good bits? All of it
- Bad bits? Unless you count higher minimum specs than XP, none.
- As easy to setup and customise as XP? Yes
- Setting up networking as is in XP? No - but it isn't any more difficult
 
Anyone done it?
Afew q's if you have:

- Has it drastically changed? From XP - Yes
- Are you forever finding settings which have moved? No, Very easy to use.
- Is it still set out like XP i.e. is "control panel" accessed via start -> control panel? Start menu has changed slight but its similer
- Good bits? Very reliable, Fast, Easy to use.
- Bad bits? It's not retail yet.. Althou 7600 is as close as you'll get.
- As easy to setup and customise as XP? Yes easier IMO
- Setting up networking as is in XP? It includes the 'Network and sharing centre, Similer to Vista, Networking is much simpler than XP I think

Overall its an excellent OS and id highy rec it.

I completly skipped vista, Sticked with XP x86 untill the RC of windows 7, Few months after install I decided the dual boot with XP also wasnt needed so I'm just running Windows 7 7600 x64 now and its excellent.
 
Last edited:
serioulsy considering it but dont want to format and then find my home network isnt working. I have 2 PS3's and a HTPC all networked to my PC.
 
networking works as seamlessly as before..

I have Vista, 7 and XP machines all working together with no trouble


\\computername, works the same, so do permissions etc
 
i heard people are having problem disabling the internal codecs and having problems trying to get things like CoreAVC etc to be default....?
 
Had the RC as a secondary OS, but have now taken it up as my main in place of XP Pro. Excellent OS, very impressed by it. If you're apprehensive, then try a dual boot to start with, you don't have to jump in with both feet. Networking in particular I have found to be improved, with the ease and reliability of Homegroup being noteworthy.
 
Anyone gone XP -> Win7 either

- attempted to keep installed apps

- attempted to keep settings from existing apps (in particular I'm thinking about the grief I'll get from my kids if/when I upgrade their PC and they find they've lost all their saved games/FIFA manager careers/etc .... I get enouhg grief as it is as anything that goes wrong is immediately blamed on my upgrading the PC to a dual core earlier in the year with request of "can't we have the old machine back")

I'm sort of resigned to having to reinstall all the apps but any tips on the best way to keep saved data would be appreciated ... is it just a matter of copying the "Applications Data" or whatever the folder is called to the new win7 location?
 
I just installed 7 instead of XP on my aging desktop PC [athlon 3200, 1GB RAM, Geforce 6800] and was amazed at how well it ran. Definitely nippier all round than vista, and so far I'd say a lot less flaky - thats with all the bells and whistles too. Also seems more intuitive in use than Vista.

As soon as it was installed I was online - somewhat strangely didn't need password etc. Only drivers I needed were for graphics and soundcards.
 
Networking I found very easy to get going.
Customising is probably a lot easier in explorer now as well.
 
I love it but so far I haven't replaced XP with it since it's not out until the 22nd for home use. :o

However my main bugbear is I can't (for the life of me) get sounds to come out my speakers and headphones at the same time. I have to choose either headphones or speakers as default device and the other one cuts out.

Sometimes I'm listening to music etc or playing a game and wanna switch to headphones I now have to got to volume control right click it select playback devices and set default to headphones to get the sound through the phones.

Other than that and xvid codecs screwing up Media center it's been problem free.
 
Ive Recently just changed still getting used to it cant get all my favourite programs at the minute like kaspersky super antispyware but hopefully this change come october 22nd.
 
Thanks for the input guys.

I would move to Win7 tomorrow but the only thing putting me off is having:

- to reinstall all app's again,
- configuring them,
- configuring hardware,
- setting up the home network for PS3's and HTPC,
- remembering all my user-names/passwords for websites (anyone know if firebox can output this information to a file for easy reference???)
- optimising Win7 (although this would be a gradual process as i'd have to get familiar with it first)
- etc etc

Basically getting Win7 to the level I have WinXP now. It would be a chew :(
 
- Has it drastically changed?

Yes, it's much smoother, the sounds are nicer, the whole GUI is easier to use.

- Are you forever finding settings which have moved?

Not as much as I though, the GUI is updated a lot but all the functionality is still there really, once you've learnt where they are I think it's much easier than XP.

- Is it still set out like XP i.e. is "control panel" accessed via start -> control panel?

Pretty much! The actual layout has changed of the control panel, but it is essentially very similar.

- Good bits?

Pretty much everything! It's very pretty to look at, very stable, easy to adapt to and according to the speed tests, it's roughly the same speed as XP on the same system.

I like the animation of things, like the minimizing and maximizing, it's all very nice indeed.

- Bad bits?

I don't like the Start Menu layout, the system of clicking on folders to open them rather than hovering takes some getting used to, but once I'm used to it I'm sure I won't even notice.

- As easy to setup and customise as XP?

Yes, if not easier. The theme selection thingy is really good.

- Setting up networking as is in XP?[/QUOTE]

Pretty much, although I don't like the network manager thingy at all, it's overly complicated for me. But once it's working, you just ignore it and let it do it's thing.
 
Well I've been impressed with the RC version, so I've installed my version of W7Pro on its own HD and so far so good. have to say the troubleshooting thingymajig was impressive this morning when installing the printer, self-diagnostic on the problem and then sorted it all by its self, good - but could be worrying as its taking control away from me (well at least at the moment).

The only thing I'm unsure about atm is the control panel, I think I'd like the ol' classic view back.
 
Back
Top Bottom