Author Topic: windows 7 (Read 5426 times)

dtw · « **on:** November 17, 2009, 19:14:06 »

I just bought it today to upgrade my laptop and get rid of ghastly Vista which stops a few bits of my hardware from working (the manufacturers aren't supporting vista).
So I will be able to transfer old home movies from mini-DV tape via USB and connect to my new phone.

So if you don't hear from me for a while you will know it went horribly wrong and I will have to restore a backup or start from scratch rather than upgrade.

Anybody else got it?
What do you think so far?

GRACELAND · « **Reply #1 on:** November 17, 2009, 19:18:25 »

keep us updated :D

BarriedaleNick · « **Reply #2 on:** November 17, 2009, 19:19:26 »

Got it installed on my new PC and love it.
Be aware though that if there are no drivers for it under Vista then it is unlikely that there will be support in Win 7.
However support for legacy applications (not written for vista or 7) is better under 7 as it basically runs it under an XP mode.

Also I wouldnt upgrade as you tend to inherit problems and Win 7 upgrades are often problematical.
To see if your existing setup supports winows go here.. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15&displayLang=en

It may save a lot of heartache.. >:(

Chrispy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 17, 2009, 19:21:10 »

I have used the beta on a friends laptop, did not see anything that would want me to upgrade from XP.

GRACELAND · « **Reply #4 on:** November 17, 2009, 19:34:04 »

:)

I have xp

But The pc is 8 years old now so might have to soon :-\ :-\

lewic · « **Reply #5 on:** November 17, 2009, 20:25:35 »

I've tried the beta version on an old PC and it was fine. Way way better than Vista on a new laptop so I think you will get a pleasant surprise if you upgrade (which is probably just how Microsoft wants it, as they have now sold you two operating systems)

From past experience I would always format the hard drive and install from scratch rather than upgrading and trying to keep the files intact.

I'm waiting for it to appear at our local car boot sale before upgrading ;)

dtw · « **Reply #6 on:** November 23, 2009, 22:29:39 »

I finally got my pc the way I want now after loads of hassle.

I did a full backup before upgrading, installed 7, it failed starting services and wouldn't go any further.
I had to use my Vista recovery disks then attempted to restore the backup to get all my data and applications back, the backup wouldn't restore.
I had to start the recovery again, installed vista SP1, SP2 and loads of updates.
I found out the original failure was due to my antivirus and antispyware.
I didn't install these or any apps.
Then the upgrade worked.
I restored my data and re-installed my applications.
I haven't connected my new video camera yet.

When you type the product key, don't type the dashes. GRRRRRRR!!!!!

watch this space...

dtw · « **Reply #7 on:** November 25, 2009, 18:39:02 »

It didn't connect to the camera, as the original disk which came with it is needed and cannot be downloaded. :(

I shall have to record from the firewire port direct to my television dvd recorder and convert from DVD to AVI using flaskmpeg.

BTW the new version of flaskmpeg doesn't work with windows 7, luckily I still have the old version. :D

If you want it, it's on my website http://www.davethewave.co.uk/Flaskmpeg-that-works-on-windows-7/flaskmpeg.zip

GRACELAND · « **Reply #8 on:** November 25, 2009, 18:50:45 »

:D :D

FUN N GAMES

lewic · « **Reply #9 on:** November 25, 2009, 19:04:44 »

Against my better judgement I suckered myself into buying the full 64bit version yesterday. Upgrade-itis ::) Thought I was doing a clean install from XP but it just copied the XP files into a folder called 'windows.old' and installed W7 on free space. Which turned out to be quite handy when copying documents and pics back.

Scanner and 2 year old printer don't work. Is possible Canon will bring out a print driver eventually but the scanner is probably destined for Freecycle as its quite old. So I will probably have to buy a new multifunction jobbie. Will try installing/running the scanner under virtual XP-Mode, but suspect this might be rather annoying in practice. On the positive side, my ancient version of Photoshop that everyone said wouldnt work, starts up in a flash!

Seems rather more user friendly than Vista so far.

GRACELAND · « **Reply #10 on:** November 25, 2009, 19:10:15 »

;)

Seems rather more user friendly than Vista so far.

Good to know

greenfists · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2009, 22:07:45 »

Ive been using it for a day or two and its brilliant.
I did an upgrade from Xp and it went fine.
Ive never used Vista as the early reports were so bad.
Windows 7 however is how things should be.
Its feels modern and smooth and this is on a 3 year old laptop.
By the way if anyone you know is a student they can get it for £30 from here
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

dtw · « **Reply #12 on:** December 11, 2009, 20:38:55 »

I still use my old version of photoshop (7.0), I find that the newer versions don't have any useful extra features anyway. (and would involve extra expense) ;)

It's still running ok, I had to run some older software in XP mode, but once the icon is setup that's it.

chriscross1966 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 13, 2009, 07:02:40 »

Almost any Linux distro will kick it into next Tuesday for speed, especially on older hardware... I switched to Mandriva at home a year or so ago and wild horses wouldn't get me back to windows now... I have to test using it all day at work, when I get home I want an OS that doesn't need to use half the available processor time just to run security apps....I'd agree 7 is better than Vista but you really are talking about it being nicer to have urethritis rather than syphilis......

chrisc

BarriedaleNick · « **Reply #14 on:** December 13, 2009, 09:17:39 »

MMmmm typical Linux evangalist! ;D

Let me see how much AVG is using at presnt - 1500k of mem and 0% processor. Think I can live with that.
Linux is fine if you like spending your life finding drivers and messing around with config files but I just want to come home - Play Call of duty at full res - check my mail - mess around on the web etc - My Win 7 sys is fast and, for me, productive. Linux is like giardiasis - quite rare but messy and unpleasent none-the-less!

dtw · « **Reply #15 on:** December 13, 2009, 10:27:19 »

Linux is ok if you just want to browse the internet, but when it comes to installing applications, it is ridiculously complicated and instructions for doing so are very hard to find.
I have tried various versions of it and just can't get along with it.
I use a lot of applications which aren't available to run on it.

emmy1978 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 13, 2009, 18:57:22 »

Quote from: greenfists on December 02, 2009, 22:07:45

By the way if anyone you know is a student they can get it for £30 from here
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

Good to know ;D
Glad 7 better than Vista. I reinstalled my xp after despising Vista more than anchovies. By the way...Windows 7 was MY idea!

dtw · « **Reply #17 on:** December 15, 2009, 23:45:37 »

Batch files work correctly in 7, I still use them for opening multiple programs in one go.
Vista would pause on certain types of file (e.g. txt) until you had closed it then continue.

Garden Manager · « **Reply #18 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:59:58 »

A while back we bought a new laptop installed with vista but with an option to upgrade to 7 as it wasn't long until 7 came out. To cut a long story short we thought vista was causing problems with our otherwise XP wireless network, so decided to take up the offer of the 7 upgrade (£18 for shipping and insurance but otherwise 'free'). It duly arrived and was about to install it when i read on the internet about a problem that had come up with 7. The 'black screen of death' in which the computer screen without warning would go (unsurprisingly) black and the computer would then need rebooting to restore function. Apparently some windows update had caused it. Consequently i decided not to install 7 on my machine for the time being.

I was wondering if anyone else had come across this business of the black screen of death and if so has it been fixed/be fixable. i like the look of 7 and think it would be worth having but not if it causes my computer problems.

BarriedaleNick · « **Reply #19 on:** December 21, 2009, 12:05:31 »

GA - the black screen of death was not caused by an update but by some malware issues and also affects othe Windows systems lke XP..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8388253.stm

I'd go for it - Windows 7 is nice - back up your pics/docs/music first tho...

News:

Author Topic: windows 7 (Read 5426 times)