Windows 7

[1955]

Originally Posted by Emil

Did an XP to Win 7 Home Premium install on one of my two machines, all in all it's positive.
Of course I'm one of the millions who don't know how to read which added a bit to the install time .

I wanted to go from 32 to 64 bit so of course I put in the 64 bit DVD. I clicked on setup.exe and got it's not a valid win32 something or other. I figured something was amiss and I booted off the CD which allowed me to install. There wasn't an option to not save my old system in windows.old and it also left the non-system root folders intact but locked as read-only. I figured out the permissions thing and got them unlocked and cleaned up what I didn't want.

I did read the booklet but missed where it was clearly stated use the 64 bit disk only if you have a 64 bit system already installed - not if you want to install a 64 bit system, duh.

It's actually nice to get a fresh start and it seems everything I'm adding works so far. I even have an old DOS bills program that I ran in XP working in DosBox (although I need to run with administration rights to get the disk writes unlocked).

It looks great, runs nice and quick. The second machine install will go even smoother.



BTW,
I do have a shutdown issue where I have to actually push the button for it to completely shut down but it's an Asus board problem which I have a supposed solution to that I'll try when I get home.

I'm considering whether or not to go from XP Pro to 7 and from what I've read, it doesn't sound like a picnic. Great to hear from someone that doesn't sound like a computer weenie...or are you? Did you have to do a complete reinstall of all your software?

[Emil]

Originally Posted by 1955

I'm considering whether or not to go from XP Pro to 7 and from what I've read, it doesn't sound like a picnic. Great to hear from someone that doesn't sound like a computer weenie...or are you? Did you have to do a complete reinstall of all your software?

Been doin' this for awhile.

You do have to re-install everything but so far it hasn't been a big hassle for me, for others with a lot of apps however I'm sure it will be but such is life . From what I understand you can restore the settings of the apps so that's cool.
Do it once and you're back but this time with a pretty cool OS.

[1955]

Originally Posted by Emil

Been doin' this for awhile.

You do have to re-install everything but so far it hasn't been a big hassle for me, for others with a lot of apps however I'm sure it will be but such is life . From what I understand you can restore the settings of the apps so that's cool.
Do it once and you're back but this time with a pretty cool OS.

I think that I'll go for it, thanks!

[Emil]

Got a second chance to install Win 7 this time on my wife's computer. I used the proper 32 bit disk and the install went smoothly.
There was no option to go from 32 bit to 64 bit however! I read on-line that after loading the 32 bit system to boot off the 64 bit disk and install again.
This did work but I expected for some option to ask me if I wanted 32 or 64 bit instead of having to find it on the internet!
I was having a network problem to my backup server but the next day a patch came out for my LAN chip that corrected it .
In XP I was having a problem with I suspect my 4g ram in a particular game but with Win7 it runs flawlessly!

[NonMcTubber]

Its all well and fine to report a success story, but the hardware of some computers simply will not allow that jump from XP to Win7. Plus it may require quite a few motherboard driver upgrades to make the switch or things like video, networking, and other hardware simply will not work until the drivers are installed.

Fortunately microsoft has an win7 upgrade program that will tell you if your PC is hardware capable and what hardware upgrades you would need to be fully ready.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e-advisor.aspx

I have run it on my PC and I am semi ready, but because I have on motherboard video, I would need a video card to properly run aero.

As it is, I am in no hurry to spend a pile of money to have the latest OS, as it is, I see no compelling reason that windows 7 will do anything extra I need. And IMHO, its often best to wait at least six months to allow microsoft to remove the inevitable bugs from a new OS.

Just MHO, as for everyone else, its your money and your decision.

[1955]

Originally Posted by NonMcTubber

Its all well and fine to report a success story, but the hardware of some computers simply will not allow that jump from XP to Win7. Plus it may require quite a few motherboard driver upgrades to make the switch or things like video, networking, and other hardware simply will not work until the drivers are installed.

Fortunately microsoft has an win7 upgrade program that will tell you if your PC is hardware capable and what hardware upgrades you would need to be fully ready.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e-advisor.aspx


I have run it on my PC and I am semi ready, but because I have on motherboard video, I would need a video card to properly run aero.

As it is, I am in no hurry to spend a pile of money to have the latest OS, as it is, I see no compelling reason that windows 7 will do anything extra I need. And IMHO, its often best to wait at least six months to allow microsoft to remove the inevitable bugs from a new OS.

Just MHO, as for everyone else, its your money and your decision.

I'll probably procrastinate for the next 6 months anyway, so I should be safe...

I ran that program, and it showed that I might have some issues, but it's hard to interpret the statements that it makes...."known issues, etc." and if they can be fixed. I have a Dell workstation that's only a year old, but it has XP Pro because at the time I really didn't want Vista and knew that XP worked with all my programs already.

Now, I would just love to know what kind of problems I might encounter.

[Emil]

Originally Posted by NonMcTubber

Fortunately microsoft has an win7 upgrade program that will tell you if your PC is hardware capable and what hardware upgrades you would need to be fully ready.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e-advisor.aspx

I have run it on my PC and I am semi ready, but because I have on motherboard video, I would need a video card to properly run aero.

Unfortunately the advisor is not always correct (anyone surprised ).
It said my vid card would not do aero either but it's wrong, it does.

[PFC5]

I have way too many programs I need access to and several DOS apps that I still use almost daily for my business so doing a new install of everything would take weeks to find all the update patches etc. for my programs that can get updates sometimes every week for 4+ months out of the year.

Not offering a upgrade without reinstalling all programs makes it a no go for me. I use to always get the latest/greatest OS when it came out, but no way am I going to risk something not being updated if i cannot find all the patches on my mission critical apps.

What the hell was MS thinking when they did this?

[oblioman]

Originally Posted by PFC5

I have way too many programs I need access to and several DOS apps that I still use almost daily for my business so doing a new install of everything would take weeks to find all the update patches etc. for my programs that can get updates sometimes every week for 4+ months out of the year.

Not offering a upgrade without reinstalling all programs makes it a no go for me. I use to always get the latest/greatest OS when it came out, but no way am I going to risk something not being updated if i cannot find all the patches on my mission critical apps.

What the hell was MS thinking when they did this?

Same thing they were thinking when the released Vista. $$$
PFC5 there is absolutely no reason for you to migrate to WIN7. Yours is a business computer and will see no gain in performance. The one tangible would be the snap feature if you are constantly opening and resizing multiple windows,,one might find this a bit useful but not a performance gain. Ooops,,,you be using XP,,correct?? If your current OS is Vista,,,then yes,,migrate.

[PFC5]

I have XP but sometimes my mission critical tax software forces me to update win versions and/or Service packs to even install the current year software. They even required me to install Netframe and also update Netframe one year as well. It is a PITA when they do this because it happens when I absolutely would not want to install software that could cause problems and have me miss a deadline.

I also have mission critical DOS apps so this can put me at odds between the two companies/software. I tried to upgrade the main MC DOS app to the latest windows version but it stinks and takes 3x as long to do data entry with the windows version and they do not allow a separate drive for the data so it is easier to back up with everything in the same location. Much of my software is vertical market stuff and not off the shelf software.

[Ducky & Ruby]

shoot my gateway is from 2003 and runs win7 beta just fine except my video card is crappy the rts version should not be any different

[Emil]

Originally Posted by PFC5

I have XP but sometimes my mission critical tax software forces me to update win versions and/or Service packs to even install the current year software. They even required me to install Netframe and also update Netframe one year as well. It is a PITA when they do this because it happens when I absolutely would not want to install software that could cause problems and have me miss a deadline.

I also have mission critical DOS apps so this can put me at odds between the two companies/software. I tried to upgrade the main MC DOS app to the latest windows version but it stinks and takes 3x as long to do data entry with the windows version and they do not allow a separate drive for the data so it is easier to back up with everything in the same location. Much of my software is vertical market stuff and not off the shelf software.

FYI, DOSBox works well. I have an old Bills program I wrote for myself a bunch of years back. DOSBox lets me run in on Win7 64.

[PFC5]

Originally Posted by Emil

FYI, DOSBox works well. I have an old Bills program I wrote for myself a bunch of years back. DOSBox lets me run in on Win7 64.

But some DOS programs can do things that Windows doesn't allow and I have had some programs that do not work in even XP that I had to replace.

It is a non-starter anyway since Win7 does not allow me to keep all the programs already installed with patches etc over the years. No way I can find all those discs or get new downloads for the programs I need then for so I simply cannot do Win7 regardless because of this, unless they change the setup program to allow old previously installed programs to remain and work. They were very dumb to not allow this and I am sure I am not alone with others using vertical market software extensively.

[Trudint]

I'm running Windows 7 x64 on my desktop and laptop and i'm loving it.

[Emil]

Originally Posted by PFC5

But some DOS programs can do things that Windows doesn't allow and I have had some programs that do not work in even XP that I had to replace.

It is a non-starter anyway since Win7 does not allow me to keep all the programs already installed with patches etc over the years. No way I can find all those discs or get new downloads for the programs I need then for so I simply cannot do Win7 regardless because of this, unless they change the setup program to allow old previously installed programs to remain and work. They were very dumb to not allow this and I am sure I am not alone with others using vertical market software extensively.

You do keep the files in a window.old folder. What you lose is the relocation of .dll's and registry entries. If need be you could probably figure out the .dll's but the registry stuff especially if it's encrypted would be overwhelming.

You're absolutely right, in your case stick with XP.

Unless you want dual boot .