Windows 7 Vista Frustration - Do I switch to 7?

tonyd48

Honorable Member
I'm a novice. I've read lots of posts at this web site and figured I'd just ask those who seem to know more than I.

With my limited knowledge, I've been in regedit & bios (big whoop!) a couple of times when instructed by tech support people but that's about it. I set up the home network and keep it running. Should I trashcan Vista and just go with 7? Drive is not partitioned nor do I know how to partition nor do I relish the thought of reformating and reloading all the software to create the partition but Vista is just so damn unstable.

I'm on Vista 64 bit (HP Pavilion dv5 Notebook w/4 gb ram, HP w1907 monitor, more machine specs are listed in my profile) and having all the fun rebooting a couple of times a day to keep this beast running. I'm working in CorelDraw & Paint mostly, Dreamweaver, some Illustrator. I try to keep the number of programs running similtaniously to a minimum (2 to 3 at a time). In the background Outlook is grinding away sucking 75+mg as is Media player (it's not in use) as well as another 300mg of who knows what.

What I'm hoping to improve is:
Freezing - just locks up, doesn't matter what program but Outlook & IE is the biggest culpret. Both IE & Firefox are unstable, IE locks up daily. Whenever I mess with fonts (type) in Corel it freezes like a deer in the headlights for 30 - 40 seconds (this also happens with Illustrator but not as long a freeze). Dreamweaver works fine except when I start building forms and then the screen jitters like it's on steroids. I've had the video card checked and it's fine (however you check a video card). Minimal usage of Word & Excel and they work fine. Boot time in Vista is OK once I turned off all the 'at start up' programs, Adobe software loading time is twice as fast as others and QuickBooksPro by Intuit is ridiculus, I have time to downstairs,outside, smoke a cigarette, pet the cat and when I get back it's almost done loading.

So, whaddaya think? Stay with the can of worms I've got or will 7 be an improvement and how much time will I spend with frustrations because of my limited knowledge?

Thanks
 
back up all ya data,

if you use an addin wifi card remember to download the vista drivers beforehand, id recommend downloading every driver your machine needs from the manufacturers website prior to starting and burning them to a cd/usb stick in case you need them, you probably wont but its better to be prepared, put the dvd in (you might need to change the boot priority sequence in the bios) and just go for it.

theres plenty of guides out on the net if you want some extra information but 7 is very easy to install and mostly intuitive.
(print out a guide if you think you need it or if you have another machine you can use then just come ask questions)

even if the worst happens you can always go back to vista (shudder).

also suggest - switch to gmail instead of using outlook, and use chrome or firefox instead of ie.

edit - should also mention that most issues i see posted here are about win7 64bit, so if your a bit unsure id suggest go for the 32bit instead.
 
montyuk has said it well..

The only thing I'll add to that for now is just keep in mind that Windows 7 is in Beta stages.. and as such you may encounter some unforseen problems.. some of which you may not be able to fix until the final release comes out.. ;) But this is a standard precaution for any Beta software.. I would do some research first and make sure that all the apps you regularly use do in fact work and work well with Win 7 Beta.. as well as the drivers for all your system's hardware... there are plenty of threads on this forum that contain that information and plenty of sources on the net (as montyuk said) that also contain this information... other than all of that you should be good to go.. partitioning is not hard to do.. and that might actually be a better way to go about using Win 7 for now.. if you have the space to do so, you may want to setup a dual boot config for now.. that way you can try 7 and make sure all your apps/hardware devices are going to work problem free.. that way is a little more time consuming but in the long run it could save you alot of headaches... ;)

Whatever you decide to you, if you need more help feel free to ask us, we're always glad to help out...
 
Thanks. What I'm hearing with just two replys is 7 is worth the switch but...
Sounds like burning a weekend, partition the hard drive, re-install Vista and all software on partition 1, then 7 on partition 2 and install the squirrelly stuff which is non-MS (whodathunk!) graphics: Corel X4 & Dreamweaver 3. I'll do some ferreting and see what I see. I tried a MAC but only lasted 6 weeks, it was just a case of SSDD as they have their own quirks.

Thanks again

Also, have both Firefox and Chrome. Firefox is definitely better than IE but also hangs. Chrome works wonderfully but doesn't work with numerous websites I use for business, specifically Constant Contact and the company intranet. Firefox also has issues at the company intranet. Considered G-mail but can't link e-mails to address book without building another address book. Having better luck with ZohoMail but it does not link to contacts either (yet).

Also, have both Firefox and Chrome. Firefox is definitely better than IE but also hangs. Chrome works wonderfully but doesn't work with numerous websites I use for business, specifically Constant Contact and the company intranet. Firefox also has issues at the company intranet. Considered G-mail but can't link e-mails to address book without building another address book. Having better luck with ZohoMail but it does not link to contacts either (yet).
 
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on the point of address books you can do a outlook export using comma seperated values (.csv) which is compatible with gmail contact importer. just remember you will wipe out your outlook folders unless you back them up.

my personal opinion for the simplest and easiest way to do this is to wipe out everything, using the installers hard drive settings to wipe out all previous partitions, make one big one and let the installer format it, and just get rid of vista full stop. making new partitions just complicates things so if you want to dual boot id suggest going the route of separate hard drives for the different os's.

remember this isnt a permanent transition and once you've done it once it just gets easier so you can always restart and do a dual boot once you know win7 works and decide you still want a bit of vista.

windows 7 takes 30 minutes or so to install completely from start to finish, so once everythings off that you want to save, put the disk in, get it running, and then go have breakfast, by the time you come back it should be almost ready to use.
 
on the point of address books you can do a outlook export using comma seperated values (.csv) which is compatible with gmail contact importer. just remember you will wipe out your outlook folders unless you back them up.

my personal opinion for the simplest and easiest way to do this is to wipe out everything, using the installers hard drive settings to wipe out all previous partitions, make one big one and let the installer format it, and just get rid of vista full stop. making new partitions just complicates things so if you want to dual boot id suggest going the route of separate hard drives for the different os's.

remember this isnt a permanent transition and once you've done it once it just gets easier so you can always restart and do a dual boot once you know win7 works and decide you still want a bit of vista.

windows 7 takes 30 minutes or so to install completely from start to finish, so once everythings off that you want to save, put the disk in, get it running, and then go have breakfast, by the time you come back it should be almost ready to use.

If your doing a clean install of Windows 7 Beta and don't run into any conflicts, be it driver or hardware related, the total time for install is about 20 mins from start to finish.. ;) The applies to both the 32 bit version and 64 bit version...
 
Address Book - understand exporting cvs etc. My issue it tying the e-mail to the contact. I must maintain records of all communication on all sales. "Why are these blue, I thought I ordered green? You did order green but then you sent an e-mail on xx/xx/xx telling em to change the color to blue". I gotta have that record 'cause sometimes customers forget the changes they request. Zoho is the only CRM I've found that allows me to track customers, vendors, orders, prospecting everything involved. It's just a matter of time before ZohoCRM integrates with ZohoMail and I'll survive until that happens.

On to Vista - your second paragraph and beyond, haven't got a clue what you're suggesting but I'll take a guess. Add a second hard drive and install the 7 os onto it? It's a laptop so I'd have to use an external hard drive which would have to access via a USB or some other port, starting to sound complicated beyond my abilities. I think I need to do a lot more googling. Bottom line deal breaker if Dreamweaver or Corel won't run on 7 it's a moot point 'cause 3/4 of my day is spent in those two programs.

Thanks
 
blarg had forgotten you were using a notebook, recommended reading for dual booting - Windows 7: How to Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista

(this just about works in outlook, not sure with zoho)
do you have all your emails in folders? a cheeky backup option (im not guarranteeing it by any means) is to put all your emails into folders, then copy the files representing those folders (in documents and settings\application data folders), on the new installation you make a new folder on outlook with the same name, then close outlook and switch the files over, when you boot up the emails will be there.

im sure theres other ways of doing this, might want to test it first prior to deleting ANYTHING.
 
Just checked last night, Zoho is autolinking outbound so now just have to wait of linking inbound and outlook is history. Don't have files in folders, have all relevant e-mails linked to their respective contact by name. Have to maintain a record.

How to dual boot, looks perfect, I will review.
 
I'll skip all these dissertations and say I had vista hated it went to xp went to windows 7 and love it.

If windows 7 is no better than vista then this whole forum is a bunch of %@#$@$@.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Montyuk! Windows 7 - How to dual boot said it all. Vista has already partitioned my hard drive so it should not be brain surgery. I'm loading it this weekend and we shall see.
 
Just finished the install which was not the piece of cake everyone stated; was pure battle. Actually the install did go seamlessly it was getting the download burned to a DVD that was the battle. Ended up using some obscure burner at 2x to get a clean burn and then it flew.
Software seems to be working a lot better, haven't really loaded everything yet but the two I was concerned about - CorelDraw X4 and DreamweaverCS3 both loaded and booted fine. Played around just a bit and video more stable; on vista the screen seems to be on it's 4th double shot expresso of the morning but on 7 images are rock solid. As stated, haven't really worked much in it, just opened and putzed around for a minute. I'll know more as the week progresses but at first blush, 7 is definitely a major improvement!
 
Upgrading seems to work so far...

If you are concerned about reinstalling everything then consider upgrading, running cleanmgr (as an administrator) to thoroughly clean out the disk, and then defrag over night, you should not have any problems.

I too am disgusted with Vista, tried downgrading to XP on a new XP-unsupported laptop and spent 3 days digging and installing all the drivers, just to find out there was none for my Firewire or Express card. I reinstalled Vista and then installed Win 7 as a upgrade. So far everything runs fine and all peripherals and software works. I will experiment with the upgrade for a while before I decide to do a clean install, if all continues to go well. FYI...Due to work I am again using MS Windows after 5 years of using OS X (which I still use on my desktop). It was very simple to install and after cleaning and defragging my C drive I regained over 30 gigs of hard drive space.

Here is a quick rundown of what I run and have tested that works fine:
Office 2007, OpenOffice 3, Firefox 3, IE 8 Beta (Both web browers hang slightly though), Safari, iTunes, Quicktime 7, Adobe CS3 Premium, VirtualBox with Mandriva 2009 as guest OS (installed using iso disk image with eSATA adapter from external drive in <10 minutes), BOINC, AutoCAD 2008, Norton Internet Security 2009, and all ports, printer, scanner, Wacom Tablet work as they should. So far I am very satisified. I hope this helps you.
 
7 installed after 3 attempts (actually 2 attempts and 1 do) at burning a DVD. That done, the install went as touted - seamlessly. Current problem - can't locate my external monitor. I'm on a laptop and have an HP w1907, connected via HP QuickDock. Keyboard, mouse & internet (ethernet cable) work fine thru QuickDock, no monitor. Dug up the drivers from HP (pain in the butt to find 'cause everything drove me to 'driver detector' which i tried but it did not work on 7). Eventually found the driver, downloaded and installed - still no monitor. I disconnected the monitor from the QuickDock and plug directly into the laptop, still no monitor. It shows in Control Panel/Display as the only monitor but it says "no input signal" on the monitor. Laptop display works fine. Am I missing something else I should install - Nvidia & HP Display controls (which suk)? When I flip back to Vista the HP monitor works fine.

Input appreciated, I'll flip back to Vista and see what I see and maybe load some more whatever to get it to work.
 
I just set up my 2nd monitor on my HP laptop using a DVI cable and after rebooting it works fine. However, I did notice the processor working a lot more. I did not need to install any driver, just had to adjust the display settings to change from mirroring. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
Just had to load the NVidia drivers and it works fine. Now chasing the Bluetooth mouse, shows a link established but mouse doesn't respond. I'll mess around with it for a while.
 
try right clicking the desktop, selecting screen resolution, on that page select detect.

now on the top drop down box select the second option.
this should open up the bottom two drop downs,
the first one is probably greyed out, so select the drop down labelled multiple displays (saying no display detected)
should give you an option to 'try to connect anyway on:VGA' - select this
this will force windows to recognise a second display - hit apply and this should then open up the resolution select box.

hope this helps.

edit - ah well, at least ya got it working, also your not the first person ive seen with problems with windows 7 and bluetooth mice, ill look around for a solution.
 
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