Still using XP, Windows 7 advice please

Zzenith

Zzenith

Zzenith

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29 Nov 2008
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Iam now at the point where Iam seriously considering doing a complete wipe of mt computer and putting on Windows 7.

But Iam not sure which version to buy as I have a lot of old games that I would still like to play, so do I get the full version which has a windows XP compatible
mode or do I get the normal version and have a dual boot setup ?

Also most of my computing time is spent on games so do I install 32 or 64 bit.

If there is othere advice you can offer to a Windows 7 noob I welcome it.

thanks
 
First off if you have a 64Bit CPU and 2gb+ of ram ALWAYS go for 64bit. Installing a 32-Bit operating system on a 64-Bit capable machine is crippling it for no reason.What are the specs of the machines you're considering installing Windows 7 on? What games do you use which you're worried about?

Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system that will be a breath of fresh air compared to the terribly dated Windows XP.
 
My current processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, I curently have 2 gb of ram but will increase this to at least 4 gb the games I play are a mix of old and new such as silent hunter 3, Evil genius, Kights of the old Republic etc..
 
Your spec is more than adequate for Windows 7, and 64-bit is pretty much a no-brainer.

The edition of Windows 7 is up to you, though I would probably recommend Home Premium. Professional and above does have XP Mode, but you can't play games using it.

If you are worried about a game, simply search Google. I have never had a problem with any of my games, though none are particularly old.
 
If you are worried about compatability, you could always dual boot with XP till your sure everything works. I've had Win 7 64 bit since release day, and have yet to find something that won't run.
 
I've been dual booting for a long time now between XP and Windows 7 and the most problems I have are with Windows 7.
My PC does have heavy use such as video encoding and Sonar Production Studio and to be honest I can't see much difference except that XP always works.
Over the last 3 years I've had to re-install Win 7 at least 5 times where XP just keeps going.
Honestly, you're not missing anything.
 
Why the reinstalls? I deal with over 20 Windows 7 machines and only one has needed to be reinstalled, and only then due to the HDD being replaced! :p

And he is missing plenty. ;)
 
SiriusB said:
Why the reinstalls? I deal with over 20 Windows 7 machines and only one has needed to be reinstalled, and only then due to the HDD being replaced! :p

And he is missing plenty. ;)
Click to expand...

My NHS Trust has got over 2,500 PC's and probably none of them have re-installs because guess what? - they run the same software day after day after day.
I'm pretty sure your 20 computers aren't changing software weekly.
Geek computers on the other hand have everything thrown at them and invariably trip but XP has tripped up less than Win 7.
I have quite a few programs that won't run on Win 7 and have to boot into XP to use them.
I also still have the problem where any ZIP or EXE I download through ANY browser ends up corrupt in Win 7 so I have to boot to XP to do it or hopefully find it on Newsgroups.

Ooh, tell a lie about my first sentence and my work computer.
I have access to every piece of software that deals with patient records which at the moment comes to around 20 individual software programs accessing different secure servers and I have major problems.
It's got so bad I think IT are taking no notice of me now and I reboot or hard reset at least 6 times a day.
I had no problems with XP but they've just 'upgraded' me to WIN 7 so I've asked them to take it off along with Office 2010 but they won't downgrade me :(
 
Throwing a new OS into the mix without testing is a bad idea. If you are having big issues at work it sounds like your IT guys haven't been doing their homework.

I have 3 Windows 7 machines which I am always messing with and they never miss a beat. I have more trouble day to day with the XP machines. But XP was a great OS, and is still rock solid for many - it is just old and needs to be replaced. Can't flog a dead horse forever!

It is just a shame that some vendors/developers wont upgrade their software. Similarly a lot of businesses wont pay for upgraded software.

Your corrupt file downloads is a really strange issue. As I recall the NIC didn't appear to be to blame. Only other thing I can think of is AV software maybe.
 
I've agreed to start testing Windows 7 at work, but the test period will be around 6months as I'll have some volunteers check all our systems etc and being NHS we have a huge array of third party apps and web apps which must work before it's rolled out. Ultimately though people have to accept that upgrades are essential, just as developers have to realise that getting things working with IE7+ would be nice!! :)
 
SiriusB said:
Your corrupt file downloads is a really strange issue. As I recall the NIC didn't appear to be to blame. Only other thing I can think of is AV software maybe.
Click to expand...

Interesting - Windows 7 uses MSE where XP uses NOD32.
My Usenet newsreader probably doesn't put the files through the AV software until it actually unzips them!
I'll turn the Scan Downloads function off tomorrow and try it again.
Good call.
 
Corrupt downloads tend to be ram. I've had ram which will pass memtest every day yet pull it out and no more corruption :-/
 
Azuse05 said:
Corrupt downloads tend to be ram. I've had ram which will pass memtest every day yet pull it out and no more corruption :-/
Click to expand...

It's possible, though somewhat strange in that his XP install is perfectly fine and usenet downloads are also fine. I would expect a RAM issue to be a little more random - pardon the pun.
 
Cost V benefit ...

what benefit will W7 give you?

I would jsut reinstall windows XP to speed things up

I would save the £80 (and you are not even supposed to buy the 80 copy you are supposed to get retail @ £120)

new PC = buy W7
hookey copy of Windows xp needs sorting = buy W7
spare copy of W7 lying about = install it
old PC working fine with a legit XP serial number and no real issues = keep XP
want dx 10/11 = install w7
 
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