Windows 7

Hey Joe,

Upgrade to Windows 7 - you'll love it. You may not need to spend the extra $$ for the "Ultimate" version. Take some time to compare Home Premium and Professional. My advice is only pay for the features you'll use.

Another good thing to know for upgraders is the driver model for Win7 is basically the same as Vista so chances are if your periferals worked with Vista they'll continue work with Win7. On the other hand if you couldn't get that old printer to work in Vista then don't expect it to magically work in Win7.

Hope that helps,
Larry

Upgraded 2 of 3 machines today using Windows 7 Family Pack (3 updates for the price of 1 1/2) and all is great so far.

In limited use it appears both start up and shutdown are faster than Vista (but of course anything was).

The other good news was even though my NIC cards and video adapters were compatible with Win 7, the drivers were automatically updated via Windows Update on my first boot up after Win 7 installation.

I heard that windows 7 was vista with less stuff in it.

It is very different than Vista. Much faster in startup and shutdown. Less security reminders bugging you. The only thing less I have found is the Windows Mail is no longer there. I use Oulook so it made no difference to me. Every piece of software and hardware I have just worked without any driver problems.

Some of the base code from Vista was used but the end product is better and easier to work with.

Think I'll wait till I new a new computer before I go Windows 7 direction. Besides, they might have Windows 10 out by then! (LOL)

I have upgraded 5 machines for other friends of mine, some had Vista and other's had XP, each upgrade went very smooth. I personally have been dual-booting Vista and 7 for sometime now and Microsoft finally got it right...

Just another note for anyone that has an .edu address or knows of someone going to school, Microsoft is offering a upgrade to Windows Home Premium for $29.99 and it is good until Jan.2010
http://www.win741.com/

You have to wonder where stuff like that starts. Windows 7 blows the doors off of Vista in very way. It's what Vista should have been in the first place.

Students are having major problems with the Windows 7 upgrade - Microsoft finally admits it has "issues".

http://www.itvoir.com/portal/boxx/modules/blogs/Blog-Detail....

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/10/windows_7_stude...

http://news.google.com/news/story?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4...

If anyone is having problems (and there are thousands) with Windows 7 here is a link to a forum with Microsoft Technical Support, Software Support and Engineering Support staff trying to help people:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/wi...

I'm a chicken. I think I'll stick with XP for now. It works fine for me.

With no Windows mail - what do you do if you want to use your ISP mail? That sucks

Download Windows LIVE mail. Personally I like web based mail.

I was at the Windows 7 IT Pro tech briefing in Orange County, CA earlier today. During the presentation Microsoft representative did say Windows 7 uses Vista codebase. It is Vista with a lot less craps. Btw, everyone who attends the event gets a free full version of (not a trial) Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit edition (or 64-bit). I'm happy

This is what you want: http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Works with practially all web based / isp emails.

I downloaded Windows 7 Professional from my edu address on the morning of the 22nd and had absolutely no problems burning the files to a DVD. I had also ordered the backup disk that they offered just in case but it has not arrived yet. I installed with the disk I burned and configured Windows Live Mail to handle my email. I had been using Outlook Express for years and was afraid that I would not like Live mail but was presently surprised by how nice the new mail handler worked. Much more control over contacts and mail then Outlook Express ever had.
Bottom line is I had tried Vista several times and had always went back to XP. Now that I have been using 7 for 5 days and have it all installed and configured and can see what it does, I ain't going back to XP this time. I like it!
The only negative was since I was updating from Windows XP, I had to do a clean install. That required starting over but it was not that bad. The computer needed a good cleaning out anyway after many years of accumulating "stuff" in XP.

Does it work on old laptops which were made for XP ?

Is it 32bit or 64bit like Vista? Or does it matter with this windows version?

I have the Windows 7 Pro (haven't installed it yet). It has both 32 bit and 64 bit DVD's in the box.

Yes but you can only install it once as there is only one product key.

The 32 bit version is for machines with a 32 bit processor and the 64 bit version for 64 bit processors. You can't install the 64 bit version on a 32 bit processor PC.

First, download the Windows 7 Upgrade adviser from Microsoft.com and run it. This will tell you what problems you will have upgrading from XP.

If you can correct any problems then the upgrade will work fine on an old XP machine with at least 1GB of memory. You will have to install your software again as there is no direct upgrade path from XP to Windows 7.

I installed Windows 7 Home Premium onto a 5 or 6 year old Toshiba laptop and to be honest I don't think it has ever run so well. I think Microsoft got it right this time.

Simply set up a Windows Live account and configure it to receive your POP3 mail.

I don't see anything negative about that. I'd never upgrade an OS installation even if it's technically possible.

FYI

You can move your program from XP to Windows 7 by using Laplink's PC Mover. Supposely it is the only product to help you upgrade to Windows 7 smoothly from a previous Windows version.

Upgraded my 3 computers (2 - 32 bit, 1 - 64 bit) using the Family Pack, and had only minor problems (compatibility with some software). If you were one of the subscribers to Windows One-Care, you'll have to uninstall that program before you can upgrade. Fortunate for me, my ISP (Cox) offers a free security suite that I installed immediately after upgrade. Makes networking all home computers easier than was possible with Vista. Was rather disappointed that the flag came up in the task bar indicating that updates were available already, so downloaded them (12 of them) to keep "7" current. There are times (in this process) that I wish I could afford three good Apple machines that don't have these problems.........

Cheers...... Joel

You have been watching too many Mac commercials

An update is not a negative it's a positive!

I do consulting work for both PC's and Apple computers and believe me considering that the Apple's account for only about 6% of the operating computers they have more than there fair share of problems with hardware and software also. In the recent times the apples have moved closer and closer to being a PC and a lot of the old time Apple people feel they have been abandoned with little to no support or compatibility for their older Apple computer.

From what I have observed in the last 20 years most of the people that I have seen switch from a PC to an apple switch back to a PC within 12 months and they are a lot lighter in the wallet than before they made the switch.

The majority of the people that I run across that are long time apple people started with an apple and most never have owned a PC. They really hate it when they have to admit that they also have problems with their Apple computers.

How many of them were driver updates. In the 3 machines I upgraded it automatically downloaded drivers for hardware that the 'compatibility review' had flagged as possible problems. Instead of complaining about these immediate updates I was more than happy to get them.

I could do the same with Gmail or Yahoo mail, but I like having my email separated for various reasons, so the Thunderbird client does exactly that and is a great solution.

Are you saying all Macs don't have problems? They don't need software updates?

I missed the whole Vista thing, but windows 7 seems to be working very well for me so far. Boot times are good, but I put it on a newly built computer

but you don't want to hear me swearing!!! #%%**@*##@!!

Thanks for all your comments..

I hear ya. lol.
I'm staying in XP for now.

I upgraded my November/2007 vintage HP Pavilion notebook with Vista Home Premium 32 bit to test the waters and all worked well.

Then I went all in and bought a new WD 320GB Scorpio Black 7200 RPM SATA hard drive and did a custom install to the 64 bit version, to take full advantage of the 4GB of RAM, as the 32 bit OS will only address up to 3.1GB.

I am extremely happy with the performance - Vista 32 to Win 7 32, then the increase from the 32 bit to the 64 bit version.

All apps are running fine. No crashes - very stable and fast.

It's like a new machine, well it actually is

Happy with the performance here.... X64 rules!

Larry

Well, I guess I did, but as somebody else suggested in this thread, I guess I've seen too many of the commercials. As I logged on this morning, Windows 7 had 2 more "critical" updates. Just seems like a daily affair (same as Vista). I'll be quiet now, and not wish for anything from Apple.

I was one of the 2million plus beta testers and after using Win 7 I knew it was a better product than Vista. I currently am using Win 7 Ultimate on my Dell Laptop that was designed for XP and have had a few issues, mainly with video playback but for a machine that you use to surf the web, update/ install POIs on the Garmin, and check email Win7 works great. The boot up times and shut down times are faster than XP and Vista and it has some very nice features. Also UAC is easier to control and it also is able to see/ use more peripherals than Vista. I would definitely upgrade from Vista to Win 7. As for XP, it's tried and true and works well but you will find that things aren't going to be supported or updated for much longer.

Win 7 is definitely a home-run for Microsoft. Vista was a disaster 32 & 64 bit versions all work nicely.

Installed 64bit ultimate edition and am very pleased with the performance. No issues and very smooth performance on a Thinkpad T60. I would recommend Home Premium for most folks. The 3-pack at Costco goes for around $130? I think - worth the investment. Also recommend a clean install vs. upgrading over an existing install.

That would be correct. go check it out @ Best buy on the demos you can clearly see it is based of the vista platform.

win7...
I've been running it for a few months (RTM code.. I'm at IT guy..so I have access thru work).

Verdict? It sucks less than vista.

I'm running it to take advantage of the 8GB of memory tho. (C2D @ 4.2Ghz 8GB memory, GTX280 video)

Alot of quirks..
For as many things they 'fixed' since vista, they broke or omitted others.
I'm not impressed.

I still dual boot to XP to keep things 'normal'

LoL It is a funny coincidence that when installing W7 on my Dell XPS M1730 that the DVD failed, so Dell sent me a new DVD. That worked long enough to get it installed. Then it quit again, this time Dell sent a (so called) Tech to install a motherboard and another DVD. Well that worked fine, but once I started W7 I realized that my keyboard lights and sever other ones didn't light up. So Dell sent the dame (&^%& Tech and replace the keyboard, speaker/light assy and palm rest. Well the tech install it, after he was done, one speaker light was lit and nothing else. He also had an extra screw. (Maybe he should have put it in his head to replace the missing one) Well my laptop with W7 installed and on it's way back to the Dell depot to be repaired. In the meantime I am on this little 8200 from Dell running XP just fine. Good luck all....

Maybe, if MS can get adoption by businesses and governments. They failed massively to do that with Vista, if they can't do it with Win7 then they're going to have to go on supporting XP until their major customers don't want it anymore.

Upgrading an OS in a company with thousands of PC's isn't a trivial or low cost exercise, and for most businesses XP does the job required just fine. Also XP > Win7 requires a clean install - corporate nightmare time. I think XP is going to be around for some time yet.

Sounds like an Apple commercial. Never had any such luck with any of my Dells and I've never bought any maintenance package.

I've been running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on a home built PC and have no issues with importing POI's for my 765T.

That's what happens when you buy a proprietary machine like a Dell. I have to agree with you it did sound a lot like those stupid commercials. You see it's not windows with the problems, it the Dell machine and it compatibility to drivers not bent (written) to fit the dell quirks. Dell's are over priced and lock you in to their updates of hardware and software.

I have been running 7 since early RC (beta) days with absolutely no problems what so ever. All drivers and programs have complete compatibility. I have now updated 5 of my friends machines, it's painless and fast, and makes them very happy.

hands down, windows 7 is better than vista. UPGRADE, don't wait!

It's not perfect, but is better than Vista.

I just received a promotional Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit setup DVD. I got it from a tech briefing that I attended in Oct. Installed it on a brand new Quad core HP desktop machine. Not a single hardware device is left without a driver. They're all detected and installed properly. The whole setup routine was completed in about 20 minutes from start to finish.

I also have an ancient HP LaserJet 4 Plus printer. No problem installing a driver for it. I'm definitely NOT going back to XP. I love it.