Windows 7 How would you rate Windows 7

[wildbillwallace]

So, after just reading through some more of the earlier comments, it appears that there are other people who are having issues with programs when trying to use them with Windows 7. And they worked well on the OS that they had previously....amazing. Maybe it is NOT the operators after all. Or maybe not all of us are as computer savvy as some of the contributors to this forum. And in reply to the luna who suggested not using Windows 7...you got it in one. I certainly will not be using it when this computer gives up the ghost like the previous one did. As I said, there is always the library and college and they have computers which are free to use.

 

[Super Sarge]

Yes they may have been, but many have had no problems running Office 2007 or Roxio Creator on a Windows 7 64 Bit. I know I never did. You should have explained in detail what the problem was with each software program you were having problems with, screen shots also could help. Just to say it does not work does not give any idea what the problem is.
Go to following page and use Item 2 it is a problem steps recorder you then can post it here or on other forums so your problem can be seen, as they say a picture is worth a thousand words

Link Removed

One of the coolest new tools in Windows 7 is the Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) — especially for those of us who provide tech support to Windows users. No matter how hard they try, users often have problems accurately describing the problem they’re experiencing or the steps they took before or after experiencing it. Sure, Remote Assistance can be a godsend in those situations. But you can’t always connect to the user’s computer in real time. That’s when the PSR comes in handy.
It’s really a type of screen capture software that records all actions — keystrokes, mouse clicks, etc. — and saves the sequence of events in an MHTML page that documents every step the user took, along with screenshots. You start the PSR by entering psr.exe in the Start menu Search box or at the command prompt. The interface is shown in Figure D.

 

[kemical]

And in reply to the luna who suggested not using Windows 7...you got it in one. I certainly will not be using it when this computer gives up the ghost like the previous one did. As I said, there is always the library and college and they have computers which are free to use.

Your welcome


You can though, if you so wish, try using this forum to find a solution to your problems with Windows rather than just to bash it. Mind you, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and as the saying goes, 'You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time'.

 

[Mortiferon]

After getting a bad taste of a shoddy OS, Vista (for us, on a Dell Inspiron 1525 it gave us NOTHING but issues and errors)... 7 is great! I still wish however that 7 consumed less system resources like XP. I find a RAM usage of 1GB-1.50GB on system idle after booting unacceptable (and that's after using a startup utility to stop 95% of non-crucial threads from even starting in the first place). But I do like it better than XP in most respects... it looks pretty, it's a very smooth OS and easy to adapt too... but IMHO it still uses too much system resources for what it does. And I find most older games don't like to run on it, even with compatibility mode (as is often the case with all new OS's and old games).

 

[tanzanos]

Have you run your games in Administrator mode? I had the same problem with older games even though I ran them in compatibility mode. Also when installing do so with Administrator rights.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I've been able to run pretty much all of my old games including my old Tomb Raider games going clear back to the 90s.
Many have patches to make them work in later versions of Windows. You might check that.

Boy the graphics look dated now, I remember when it looked state of the art.

Mike

 

[Mortiferon]

Yeah, I use the Admin account (despite knowing full-well that it's safer not too, just don't like using a regular account). I only have a few older games but half don't like 7, Warcraft II.BNE is the main one. The colors and sounds get all distorted and it's just not that enjoyable. Too old for a patch I think lol. Even newer games like to CTD more often, but I suspect that's due to poor/rushed programming rather than being 7's fault. And I kind of wish they'd include some sort of official DOS support for the truly older games. I find those better than most of the new ones (DOOM etc.), because they had a good storyline and don't focus almost exclusively on the graphics.

Agreed. I kind of don't like where the graphics are going with this ultra-realistic stuff though. I know, that's a minority consensus but to me the PS2-like graphics were good... now they look almost real. And it's getting expensive in the extreme to keep up. >_<

 

[catilley1092]

Windows 7 is absolutely the very best OS that MS has produced. It does all that I need it to do, with little maintenance to keep it running smooth (I have paid utilities, such as Perfect Disk 12.5, that helps with this). It was an adjustment from XP, the OS that I had used for many years before taking the plunge with Windows 7 & 64 bit computing. I have no regrets towards either.

In fact, when Windows 7 was released in 2009, there seemed to be more 32 vs 64 bit & 64 vs 32 bit install topics than Windows 7 itself. That is exactly why I hope that XP is no longer supported when 128 bit CPU's are released. We don't need 3 different CPU's to bicker over at the same time.

I gave Windows 7 the highest rating on the voting, because after 2 years of running Windows 7, I could no longer rollback to XP for everything. Especially conducting transactions. If there was no Windows 7, I'd use either Linux Mint or Ubuntu for shopping & other transactions. The one thing that I wished that Windows 7 had done better on, and is being addressed with the next version, is virtualization. Windows Virtual PC with XP Mode could have been done better. First off, a simple registry modification has to be made within XP Mode to give it a True Color (24 bit) option. Secondly, and there are no options, one cannot use 2 (or more) cores for VM's. Third, Windows Virtual PC only allows certain Linux installs. It doesn't allow for the popular ones, such as Ubuntu & Mint.

One other thing, as another poster above mentioned, is the RAM issue. Even with several items disabled at startup, my desktop idles at almost 50% of my available RAM (4GB DDR2). That's with nothing running but virus/malware/firewall protection, and whatever services that Windows depends upon to run. On my notebook, that jumps to over 2GB, but being that there's 8GB DDR3 10666 RAM installed, that's not an problem.

Windows 7 is a great OS, and hopefully the next version will be even better, especially with the RAM usage & virtualization options. Also, it's my belief that Windows 7 will be the next XP. In that when the time comes (& it will), many users will cling to the OS just as they are with XP now. The true die hards won't let go until the wheels fall off. Windows 7 is simply put, that good of an OS, one that has provided for 28 months a great experience, with many years to follow. But just don't expect Windows 7 support to last for a total of 13 years, like XP will. Blame that one on Vista.

Cat

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I found when I was beta testing Windows 7 in a dual boot setup with Windows XP that once I had used Windows 7 for a week I never went back to XP again.

When I got my new computer with Windows 7 64 bit it got a little more complicated as far as comparability with some of my software and my scanner, but it all worked out in the end.

The ram usage is about what I get, not as a percentage but it uses about 2 Gigs of my 8 Gigs when just sitting here online.

My friend Paul just got a new Falcon NW PC like mine but two years newer, he has 16 Gigs of ram and still uses about 2 Gigs just sitting there.

Mike

 

[catilley1092]

It's not so bad on my notebook, where I have 8GB DDR3 10666 RAM (wow, $29.99 was a great price in November at Newegg for GSKILL brand RAM). On my desktop, where I have 4GB DDR2 RAM, is where it shows. But it's not only a RAM issue, it's the 1.5GHz AMD 3250e CPU also. If I upgrade anything, it'll be the desktop, as I understand that Windows 8 runs well on low spec computers.

My notebook is my powerhouse. I'll run Windows 7 on it until either support runs out or the notebook goes DOA. The dedicated graphics helps too.

Personally, I don't think that Windows 8 will outsell Windows 7. So many users bought Windows 7 in such a short time, it's hard to see, in this economy, the majority of it's users taking the leap.

With Windows 8, MS is probably looking to get a few more users off of XP, hopefully get some businesses to move forward to Windows 7, and have a legit OS to compete with Apple for tablets. I really don't feel that many users will drop Windows 7 until 128 bit CPU's emerge.

Regardless of what Windows 8 does, it won't be the long term OS that Windows 7 is setup to be.

Cat

 

[MikeHawthorne]

And next year all new computers will come with Windows 8.

I don't know if I will update, probably not, but I'll run it as long as the beta lasts.
If I see real advantages then maybe in a year, but I'll probably just wait until I get a new computer in two years.

Mike

 

[catilley1092]

You may be right as to new computers shipping with Windows 8, but it would seem that MS would be taking the chance of shooting themselves in the foot. Ballmer is good for this anyway. Too impatient with new ideas that may have worked out & other poor decision making. But to force a change in their hottest selling ever OS? He's trying to pull a Steve Jobs (where he cannibalized his #1 selling OS some time back, to make room for the new). Ballmer isn't slick enough for this, nor is his intelligence level is high as Jobs was. While I was never a Apple customer, I still respect it's former leader for the accomplishments made during his years there. With one product, not even a computer, he all but wiped Sony off the map.

MS should sell a mixture of the two, not everyone is going to like Windows 8. Going with a full blown effort to force Windows 8 to sell could backfire. They sold XP computers for at least 9 years. Giving up on Windows 7 computer sales in 3 years won't be good. There's still many computers in homes & businesses with years of life left in them.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, that's for sure.

Cat

 

[Drew]

Cat,

Windows OSs are on 3 yr life cycles, as far as new version releases. But, that "forces" nothing. Unless it is viewed as such because new machines (in this case starting late 2012) will carry a new OS. But, yes, 7 will be around for a long time, too. As of the end of August 2011 adoption of Windows 7 had, already, surpassed XP & Vista by a big margin.

There are huge differences w/ Windows 8/IE10. 1st there obvious things like it's Touch-able, Tile Start Screen & no Start Menu, Metro Apps, Ribbon Technology throughout Windows Explorer windows, Spell Check everywhere in the browser, native security & on by default, really cool Search functionality, terrific new Task Manager & the overall covenience factor is boosted (clear, simple & easy to use the Win8 OS), along w/ interesting navigating possiblities. However, it's the under-the-cover stuff that's outstanding... it's extremely fast & 'light', stable & secure, some very clever processes for CPU & RAM handling, software & hardware compatibility is super vast & it will run on damned near anything...various devices & hardware, even if not new or robust.

Check this out:
First Look at What's New in Windows 8

I suggest you can expect quite noticable strides between the DP (developer Preview) & the 1st Beta or what the public will see as the Consumer Preview.

Cheers,
Drew

 

[catilley1092]

What I'm hoping for is just what that article stated: Light on resources. If it turns out as described, I'll install it on my desktop, but will leave my notebook with 7 Pro as is.

It should be as light as a Linux OS is, many of which aren't as light as they once were. I'll buy the OS, but not a new computer with it pre-installed on. When I bought this desktop in 2009, 3 weeks after Win 7's release, I said that I'll make it last through 2 Windows releases, Windows 7 & the next. That would be 6 years.

It's my hope that by then, 128 bit CPU's will hit the market, I can't wait see those. BTW, what happened to the rumors that Windows 7 was going to be the last 32 bit OS? Everything but netbooks & tablets runs 64 bit, since Win 7 hit the market. I guess MS has to wait until XP support ends to dump 32 bit support after all. It was originally hinted that Windows 8 "may" have a 128 bit option.

I was actually hoping that the last 32 bit version was with Windows 7. 64 bit computing has been available to the general public since 2005, business use since 2001. That's 11 years that we've had 64 bit, no forward progress yet. We know the date that XP drops, by which chance was born the same year as 64 bit computing, but no date has been announced as to when 32 bit support ends.

Actually, according to this article, XP won't be considered officially "obsolete" until January 14, 2020, due to downgrade rights that certain Windows 7 users had. What's really totally BS is that support for Windows 7 will end on that same day. WTF??? Are we stuck with 32 bit until then?

Windows XP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cat

 

[Mitchell_A]

What I'm hoping for is just what that article stated: Light on resources. If it turns out as described, I'll install it on my desktop, but will leave my notebook with 7 Pro as is.
Cat

I have to say, from what I've experienced thus far in the developers preview, resource usage is very similar to what it is in Windows 7. That said, I'm content with it and anyone else who has sufficient hardware to run Windows 7 should be as well. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the Consumer Preview turns out.

 

[catilley1092]

We'll see soon enough. I got an email notification that the downloading will begin at 9AM EST on Wednesday.

I'm looking forward to some of those great virtualization features that being reported on. That is supposed to be one of the featured components of Windows 8. My download manager (Down Them All) will be ready to roll.

Cat

 

[McGehee]

I have to admit I'm glad that the previews at least are available in 32-bit. The only working 64-bit computers in my house are both primary machines and I can only spare an old 32-bit laptop for testing a Windows preview.

The developer preview is working better on this old contraption than Win7 did.

 

[Drew]

Hey, but, @ least, you know not to use a production machine.

As for 8 on that old machine... I have spoken to this elsewhere in the forum; ppl will find it downright bizarre on what gear Win8 can happily run, even old & thought to be not very robust. Not really surprising it's doing better than 7 on that old box. I think some are missing the meaning of the impressive technologies in Win8... tending to get overshadowed by start screen (hype) & not have focus on some amazing performance attributes.

Drew

 

[catilley1092]

It's been reported that the actual hardware requirements for Windows 8 will be less than that of 7 & Vista. I suppose meaning that it will use less resources. Too early to know that, but I hope it's true.

There's many older computers that should be able to run Windows 7 & 8 right now. Still lots of P4's & Core Duo's in homes/businesses. For many, those with tower PC's that has the port for a video card addon, this can be done. It's just that in selecting one, the user will have to make sure it fits the PC (there are some "low-profile" ones). And has enough power. The ones in the $50 to $75 range shouldn't consume a lot of power, but still check it's needs (and what you can spare) before buying.

If one doesn't do any serious gaming/crunching numbers, a 256MB card will be fine. Too, being that it's a dedicated card, more of your RAM goes to other parts of the OS. So for an older PC that maxes out at 2GB RAM, this will help a lot. No need to throw away otherwise a still good, working PC. This also would be a good time to clean out the inside of the PC's case, as excessive dust is an insulator for heat, which is any computer's (or other electronics) worst enemy.

While it's almost impossible, and impractical due to the cost involved (a new MB), there are still many working notebooks that supports the Aero theme. Anything made to run Vista will do. There were many Vista users who downgraded to XP Pro, so check your card to see if it supports Aero. A good place to check would be the same place that potential Windows 7 users went to.

Link Removed

This is the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor site. If whatever computer passes this, it should be good to go for Windows 8.

Cat

 

[McGehee]

This one I'm testing on, originally came with XP and was upgraded to 7 using the discs I'd previously used to upgrade a 64-bit desktop PC that was subsequently killed by a lightning surge or something (which, if repaired, would have been on its fourth motherboard -- I don't buy that brand anymore).