Upgrading XP for my parents without them noticing?

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Deleted member 68110

Deleted member 68110

I'm wondering if anyone can help, or give me some pointers on where to get help?

My parents are not really very tech-savvy. They have a creaky old Dell running XP which is getting to the end of its life.

I want to buy them something new but I really don't think they can handle the change from XP to the newer Windows versions.

What would you do?

I've seen tutorials on how to make 7 look like XP, but this will be a ballache, and its likely not to include several changes that will utterly throw them.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
I think you've got two options for a new computer tbh.

1) install XP & deal with the limitations (usable ram, etc)
2) Install 7 and they can just deal with the change
 
get a second hand dell 755 2.13 or better dual core CPU, from the bay for about £80 if it happens to have vista on it just grab any dell xp install disk and upgrade it to XP...
 
Windows 7 basically IS the same as XP, just has a bit of a fancy skin and a few things are in different places.

If all they use it for is email and solitaire then they probably wont be able to tell the difference, especially if you use the classic theme etc.

I'd just leave Win7 standard and help them with the few changes that might bother them, there's not going to be much :)
 
Shortcuts. If my mother can use an Android tablet, your folks can surely get their heads around a well sorted Win 7 install
 
Disappointed folks, nobody has asked for the model. OP find out the model, most made from the 745 onwards can run Windows 7 fine with just a RAM upgrade.
 
I gave 2 uncles some old dual core laptops with windows 7 on. Neither know how to really use anything electronic. But were able to demonstrate basic usage with windows 7.

I taught them how to google search, check bank, use e-tailers and send/recieve emails.

They were then a week later still able to show me those skills and also had fun exploring and both noted how it was easier than their old clunky and slow XP machines.

I think they will like windows7.
 
I upgraded my Grandad's PC back in February, went from XP which was the only OS he'd ever used, to Windows 7. Bearing in mind he's 76, he picked it up pretty quickly, and a lot of features on W7 are more user friendly.
 
Going to agree with the general "windows 7 will suit em fine" opinion.

Show em where the basics are and then that they can start typing what they're looking for and it will search for em as it goes. It's a VERY straightforward OS.
 
My mum is in her 70's, she made the change to Windows 7 from XP easily.
Took her a couple of days to find her way around, but no major problems.
 
Find a place that runs a computer course or spend the time with them to go through any changes and any problems they face with Win 7.

If they're stubborn and reluctant to change then there's nothing you can do.
 
My parents found 7 more user friendly compared to XP.

+1 to let them test 7 for a bit on a spare PC and see how they feel about it.

But yes, what's the model OP, need to know if there's actually some drivers for it.
 
the bigest problem is they have renamed a lot of things from xp to win7
so you may get it looking like xp but not sure if it will change the names back to xp as well
 
I got my old dear a new PC with Win7 on it and she hated it. She got someone to put XP back on it before I could even explain that I could make it 'look' like XP.

You are fighting a losing battle. Just get a cheap SSD and do a fresh reinstall. I doubt they are likely to ever need to exceed the limitations of the current PC anyway.
 
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