Soldato
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- 5 Jun 2003
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im sure they will like that lol
that would be harder to get there head around than win 7
im sure they will like that lol
that would be harder to get there head around than win 7
Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 7,940
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- Glasgow
Build a nice new fast pc and stick xp x64 on it?
Ick. No. Driver support was terrible.
If they can use a typical tablet type interface, maybe wait until Windows 8 is available and get them a touch screen PC.
Windows 7 is as easy to use as XP if not slightly easier for novice users.
Being barely computer literate, what is the need for an upgrade. I'm guessing they use it for internet and emails? Would it not be easier to just give it a clean bill of health with a reinstall of xp.
Or alternatively, get a machine a few years old off fleabay for them and whack xp on it.
Being barely computer literate, what is the need for an upgrade. I'm guessing they use it for internet and emails? Would it not be easier to just give it a clean bill of health with a reinstall of xp.
Or alternatively, get a machine a few years old off fleabay for them and whack xp on it.
Deleted member 68110
Deleted member 68110
OP
Thanks a lot for the replies. I'm really torn, because part of me thinks they need to be able to adapt a bit, but another part of me remembers when the solution to a potential virus was to cut all the wires coming out of the PC with garden shears...
I think perhaps the best soultion is the two machines side-by-side option that Nightglow and others suggested.
I'll have to hunt out those "make it look like XP" tutorials.
I think perhaps the best soultion is the two machines side-by-side option that Nightglow and others suggested.
I'll have to hunt out those "make it look like XP" tutorials.
The first question I would ask is why they need to update to Win 7 ?. The only legitimate reason, if they are happy with Win XP, is if the support updates for WinXP have or are about to stop coming.
Grab a copy of XP from somewhere (eBay or the like) if you have not got the original disks, get them an atom based machine, tiny, compact and is likely to do all they need and it will be low power as well. I have a D2700 running win 7 HP happily. Took a bit of time to install but it runs fine.
If you really must upgrade them then the two machine approach to show how to do the same things on the newer OS is a good way to go rather than dropping them in at the deep end and then fielding the support calls.
I actually got my folks a Dell business machine for the simple reason that it had more than 1 year warranty on it and they were very upset when their Dell home machine failed after just 1 year. Being in a different country there is little I can do to help when it all goes wrong like that.
RB
Grab a copy of XP from somewhere (eBay or the like) if you have not got the original disks, get them an atom based machine, tiny, compact and is likely to do all they need and it will be low power as well. I have a D2700 running win 7 HP happily. Took a bit of time to install but it runs fine.
If you really must upgrade them then the two machine approach to show how to do the same things on the newer OS is a good way to go rather than dropping them in at the deep end and then fielding the support calls.
I actually got my folks a Dell business machine for the simple reason that it had more than 1 year warranty on it and they were very upset when their Dell home machine failed after just 1 year. Being in a different country there is little I can do to help when it all goes wrong like that.
RB
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How old are you (just curious) because installing a new OS and thinking you parents wont notice is pretty ludicrous, what if you lose some important files/settings that they haven't told you are on there and completely wipe them off with the reinstall?
You can make win 7 look like XP but IMO its pretty easy to tell the difference when you start navigating around.
Can the old 'creaky' (your words) PC even handle a copy of Win 7? it is a more demanding OS than XP
This is a bad idea with bad things waiting to happen. If its your money why not just tell your parents? No need for all the secrets
You can make win 7 look like XP but IMO its pretty easy to tell the difference when you start navigating around.
Can the old 'creaky' (your words) PC even handle a copy of Win 7? it is a more demanding OS than XP
This is a bad idea with bad things waiting to happen. If its your money why not just tell your parents? No need for all the secrets
Not significantly so, and it's a better memory manager. You're more likely to run into driver issues.