randy Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I am only on my third week of using this operating system. But so far I like it. I was on NT 2000, then XP pro, and now Windows 7 pro. I loved NT, to me it was the most stable of any microsoft operating system to that date. Then XP pro came out and in my environment it worked very well. Now I am hoping window 7 pro ends up being just as stable and long lasting as my NT and XP systems were. We have upgraded these machines to 6 gigs of ram, and with windows 7 pro my users notice an improvment even in just excel and MS access usage. Link to comment
smiller Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I made some (positive) Windows 7 comments in a thread a few months ago and in the meantime I've only been more impressed with the stability and capabilities, just have nothing bad to say about it. Maybe MS finally learned a hard lesson with Vista. I had been messing with Ubuntu and had the occasional thought about OS X but frankly those have disappeared as I now simply have no motivation to change. With Win7 MS has inexpensive hardware from countless vendors and a good OS to go with it, not a bad place to be in the this marketplace. I'm only waiting to see how they manage to screw it up... Link to comment
BanjoBoy Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I've been on the 64 bit 7 for about a week, (Actually I bought an Studio XPS LT for the lucky Mrs.) and it's been fine. I only have 4G of RAM, but we're not power users either. Have you guys done the "Godmode" yet? I set it up yesterday, but haven't had time to play with it yet. Sounds cool. Link to comment
beemerman2k Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 God mode? :confused: I remember those all night network Doom sessions in the 90's...talk about fun! Link to comment
smiller Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 It's a Win7 trick/tip that's been going around recently. If you create a folder and change the name to: Extended Control Panel.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} then it will change to a control panel window that allows you to adjust just about any OS parameter from one place. It doesn't really add anything new but it does bring every setting into a single window instead of having to look around for it, which is somewhat convenient. Link to comment
Couchrocket Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 OK, so I'm a big computer "user" but very very far from a tech savvy person. I've been wanting to ask this question, and this thread looks like it might be an appropriate place. I'm currently running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit and for the most part it has been OK. I'd like to upgrade to W7 64 bit, but am ignorant of whether I can just "upgrade" my existing setup w/o wiping and reinstalling all my programs, drivers for photo printers, scanners, laser printers, etc. My machine has 8 gigs of RAM and a quad core processor. Can I just buy an upgrade package and upgrade it? Will it see / keep all my drivers etc.? Link to comment
Lets_Play_Two Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 OK, so I'm a big computer "user" but very very far from a tech savvy person. I've been wanting to ask this question, and this thread looks like it might be an appropriate place. I'm currently running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit and for the most part it has been OK. I'd like to upgrade to W7 64 bit, but am ignorant of whether I can just "upgrade" my existing setup w/o wiping and reinstalling all my programs, drivers for photo printers, scanners, laser printers, etc. My machine has 8 gigs of RAM and a quad core processor. Can I just buy an upgrade package and upgrade it? Will it see / keep all my drivers etc.? I am not a power user but I upgraded from vista 32 to windows 7 64. I think the answer to your question is that you can upgrade---you don't need a clean install. Link to comment
smiller Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Yes, you can upgrade from Vista. You must do a clean install if upgrading from Windows XP or earlier. There is a utility you can download from Microsoft that will examine your system and flag any potential issues, but if you are already at Vista 64-bit then you will probably have few if any. Link to comment
beemerman2k Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 The short answer is 'yes'. The longer answer is, "upgrades over previous installs rarely work without problems. You can buy the upgrade and simply install Windows 7 to its own folder. Over time you can get files you might want from the Vista install folder which will still be there but no longer in use. Now, if Vista is working well for you it might be best to just leave well enough alone. I did install Windows 7 on my Vista 64 computer and I love it, but that's only because my family finds it easier to use and therefore I get fewer tech support calls! Link to comment
BanjoBoy Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 The short answer is 'yes'. The longer answer is, "upgrades over previous installs rarely work without problems. You can buy the upgrade and simply install Windows 7 to it's own folder. Over time you can get files you might want from the Vista install folder which will still be there but no longer in use. Now, if Vista is working well for you it might be best to just leave well enough alone. +1 to that! I did install Windows 7 on my Vista 64 computer and I love it, but that's only because my family finds it easier to use and therefore I get fewer tech support calls! Yeah, I've never understood the problems with Vista. I've been using it since it came out, and haven't had any problems. It's a "resource pig" compared to XP, but other than that, it seems great to me. It's actually better for networking than XP. And you can install this God mode on the 32 bit version of Vista too, but not the 64 bit version. Speaking of tech support, my SO has another question 'bout her Win 7, got ta go Link to comment
Pennys Dad Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 The interesting thing about Windows 7 is it is Windows Vista with a friendlier interface and access to your C drive. Microsoft removed a few security blocks and gave the installer access to their own c: drive. Otherwise it is just Vista looking better. Link to comment
UberXY Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 A very senior citizen friend of mine recently bought a new laptop with 7 on it, and asked me to come over and see if I could get his printer to work. We spent 45 minutes scouring the MS website and the manufacturers website looking unsuccessfully for the correct 64 bit printer driver. We did find some Vista drivers but they wouldn't make it thru the install. Finally we said WTF, and went out and bought a cheap printer that was listed as "Windows 7 Ready". Some things never change. Link to comment
Couchrocket Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Thanks all, for the excellent feedback. Since all my stuff is "working" I think I'll leave well enough alone for now. Link to comment
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