Windows 7

[NightHawk]

The forthcoming release of Windows new operating system has been mentioned in the following thread -

http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,1064.msg6540.html#msg6540.

It is still in beta stage but copies are available to test it.

I thought it may be worth starting a new topic for it here.

Microsoft's current OS is Vista, but there appears to be mixed feelings about it between users.

One of George's work colleagues are currently beta testing it, so if you or someone you know is also testing it, then please post the results so far.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Yes, good idea Laurie.
Ive tested Bank Genie on the beta version of Windows 7 and it works as normal.
Id like to hear the comments of anyone who has managed to get to testing that new OS.
Read about it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

[bossgard]

In this morning?s Seattle Times Newspaper:

Windows 7 RC Tally

Microsoft said more than 3 million customers are trying out the near-final version of its Windows 7 operating-system soft-ware. Those using the release candidate have provided a list of 175 points for Microsoft to review, said Eddie Wu, general manager for Microsoft?s Original Equipment Manufacturing division in Asia.

- Toby

[ideasguy]

I hope they make a good job of the new OS. Last one caused me a lot of grief.

[NightHawk]

I second that George.

That's why we've never gone over to Vista, and stuck with XP.  Have heard a lot of customer complaints about the structure of Vista and its lack of user-friendliness.

Laurie.

[roiphil]

I second that George.

That's why we've never gone over to Vista, and stuck with XP.  Have heard a lot of customer complaints about the structure of Vista and its lack of user-friendliness.

Laurie.

wish i had stuck with xp personally

[Eric Hardy]

I have Vista on my laptop and XP on my computer. My main gripe with Vista is that many of my computer programmes which I would also like on my laptop just don't work with Vista. I don't generally find it all that unuser friendly. It will be interesting to see how Windows 7 develops but as things stand I am fine with XP.

Eric H

[TKR99]

I love Win 7 SO much I've just gone and preordered it given they've been selling it off dirt cheap in comparison to the final price - I nearly died when I heard that MS has a price of near £200 for the Pro version - frankly somewhat ridiculous IMHO given it's only a few points up from Vista and hasn't an awful lot of additional stuff in it, more just fixes seemingly.  But it's highly enjoyable for me coming from XP and I'm certainly SO glad I never bothered upgrading to Vista - can but hope that I don't feel otherwise in a few months' time.   I'm very into gadgets and glitz so love the desktop themes and sound sets etc.  I've loaded on plenty of older software into it and got it all to run just using Vista drivers - haven't had anything yet not work, which is a big plus.  And it's a ton better at finding solutions to problems than XP that's for sure.   I've also appreciated the excellent forums and websites available that provide a ton of support and information for anyone interested in taking it on as an OS.  I'm fortunate perhaps too in having 3 hard drives, and a separate OS on each of them, so I know if one goes down, I can still work on 1 of the other 2.  I'm also very comfortable working "behind the scenes" as I've built 2 PCs from scratch now and killed my OS more times than I know what to do with - great learning experiences so I now have no worries if things go somewhat pear shaped, as I know I've all my important stuff backed up in multiple places - long learnt THAT lesson!!!

And just as an aside - the worst thing I ever did was to decide to use XP's file encryption which I think should have a lock on it - it's too easily done from a right click in file properties and can have disastrous consequences when it goes wrong as it did with me.   I'd encrypted ALL of my medical notes, my personal folders (my LIFE!!!) my correspondence, and lots of other fairly vital info and at no time did I get any warnings about anything that could ever go wrong with it, so never thought anything of it when I then had to reinstall XP because of some problem that had arisen that really a reinstall was the only solution.   You can imagine my shock and horror when I then tried to open up one of my encrypted files only to be told I didn't have the right key (or something to that effect) - I thought "What key??!!" - took me hours of asking on forums and searching around to discover that lo and behold when you set up that encryption, XP sets up a Key for you linked to THAT installation of the OS - if you don't know to do so, you're supposed to back that up and then when you reinstall, replace the new key with the backed up one.  DUHHH!!!   And of course, being a security issue, there's NO way back from it if you haven't and so I was well and truly sunk.   Some of the stuff I was able to get paper copies of and retype or rescan, but much of it has gone forever and I was FURIOUS!   More at how there was absolutely nothing mentioned at any point about that key until I ran into the problem.    You go try it sometime on an unimportant file and see what I mean (In Win explorer, right click on the file, select Properties, select Advanced, and opt to encrypt JUST the file and not the parent folder, and see whether you get any warning).  So I'm more than ready for an upgrade to a more careful OS and hopefully Win 7 will be it.   I've not yet checked this particular option out in it yet, but given how many other warnings there are when you try to do things, I'm hopeful it'll be much better with this option too.

But like I say - best way to learn

[ideasguy]

I don't know whether to say you are brave and adventurous or downright heroic!
If you proceed, please keep us informed on how that exercise goes, Romayne.

Thanks for the tip about that key. Gosh and begorrah!
What a disaster to lose all that precious information

[NightHawk]

That's a great piece of information about Win 7 Romayne, thanks for sharing that with us.

Kathy and I are currently XP users and were dreading the day that we had to buy new PC's with Vista on them.  That was until Win 7 was announced.

At the moment our current PC's are performing well (touch wood) so we're not looking to upgrade just yet.  It's comforting to know that by the time we need new PC's, Win7 should be available in it's full version.

I'm not really concerned about the extra bells and whistles that accompany new Operating System releases from Microsoft.  My main concern is that it is a stable Operating System.  Only time will tell on that one.  

I was pleased to hear that you know your way around the innards of PC's and you are not daunted by them.

A few years ago I put myself through some college courses for my, and Kathy's, benefit so that we didn't have to rely on calling on computer engineers help and incur expensive repair bills.  At the end of the courses, which I passed with flying colours, I was then able to build PC's from scratch and diagnose hardware and software faults.

After that, I was no longer intimidated by any errors appearing, and I was confident to install new pieces of hardware when it became necessary.

It will be nice to follow the progress of Windows 7 here, through its beta stages and through its final release.

Laurie.
  

[NightHawk]

Windows 7 has now been released, so I thought it would be a good idea to revive this topic.

To read more about it, visit the Windows 7 Compatibility Center.

Here you can download a small program that will scan your computer for compatibility.

The scan I did for my current PC showed it is not fully compatible - more memory required and updates of various hardware drivers, etc.

I'm not too concerned about that at the moment, as I'll be looking to get a new PC some time in the future.  The thing that was concerning me though was new PC's were previously shipping with Vista pre-installed.  Certain issues have come to light about this version of Windows, so my upgrade had been put on hold.

I am somewhat relieved to see that Windows 7 has now appeared, so it is time to ask our members for their experiences so far about the latest Operating System, and any comparisons (good or bad) to Vista.

Let's hear what our members thoughts are please.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Yes, a good idea to revive this topic, Laurie.

Nervously awaiting feedback, folk!
I hope it doesn't have the implications Vista had.

[liveman]

HI I am new to this forum and would like to comment on windows 7,firstly both my son and i have installed windows 7 home premium and we both say what an improvement it is from vista,please be aware that xp programs may not work as none of mine do even though some worked under vista,not to concerned at this as they needed upgrading anyway,my main reason to write is that my bank genie 2008 would not even load? but no need to worry as i down loaded the web free version and it works although it would not accept the license number i had,which a quick email to technical sorted this problem out,as the new bank genie version comes out soon i will definitely upgrade,hope this helps you tech is out there.

[Eric Hardy]

I am sitting here hoping that my computer with XP stays alive and well for a long time to come. With 2GB of memory a 400GB hard drive and two external 500GB hard drives for my photos, I don't fancy any changes yet! 

Eric H

[ideasguy]

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting that information Bryan.

I am mystified as to why the CD (issued in Jan 08) wouldn't run the Auto installer, and why you couldn't even see information on the CD.
You have reported that your computer is 64bit.
I await feedback from others on CD installations.

You did the right thing in downloading Bank Genie and trying that.
I'm delighted that the download version installed perfectly.

I'm also delighted (and very relieved!) that the new Registration Program worked on Windows 7.
The new Reg Program is to solve the problem that reared its ugly head when Internet Explorer 8 was released.
 
It was nice talking and I was pleased to hear you are finding Bank Genie useful.
Now you are a member of the forum you will receive broadcast messages. I'll announce the new edition of Bank Genie as a broadcast as soon as its ready. That will be a happy day

I am sitting here hoping that my computer with XP stays alive and well for a long time to come

So am I Eric, and so are many more. I was talking to my IT colleagues today and they sat it out on Vista due to the problems. Lets hope Windows 7 is good. That is some kit you have there! 

[Palustris]

Since we have had so much trouble with Vista and Dialup we are wondering about going the whole hog and buying a new machine with Windows 7. Trouble is nobody seems to have tried it with anything other than Broadband. Salesman assured me that Dial up is dead. Was not happy when I pointed out that 25 percent of Britain cannot get Broadband at all and that meant 1 in 4 of his potential customers.
Mind if programs will not run under it, then it is no use anyway. I use Photoshop 7 and some extension programs and would hate to lose them.
What I would like though is someone to tell me what specifications I should be looking for in a new machine. ie, best processor, best graphics card, best sound card, memory etc. Did ask my son but he came out with a load of technobabble which left us even more confused.

[TKR99]

For those intending on installing Win 7 and haven't yet done so, I'd suggest a couple of measures to help out - firstly download a program called Driver Max which will enable you to get a copy of all of your current drivers - then when you're ready to install Win 7 follow this walkthrough: 
In Driver Max head to Export Driver. Here the best way is to export all drivers to a folder of another drive or partition or offline onto a USB key whichever suits best.  - Install Windows 7- Install Driver Max again.  Import the Driver file from the folder - Wait for the process to complete - Click OK, and hopefully all your XP/Vista drivers should all be loaded in and hardware functioning fully.   I had to do this with the RC copy as I'd no sound drivers initially and couldn't find any fix for that in Win 7 itself, until I read about this and it worked a treat.

On the concept of Win 7 and dial-up, I'd be a bit dubious - last night my RC copy downloaded (apparently) 160 updates on my ultrafast broadband which seemed to only take about 2 mins, but if the full copy is likely to do anything similar I'd dread to think how long you'd have to wait for it to complete.   And given it's only just been released, I would expect there to be a TON of updates almost daily for the next few months as people start reporting issues not previously found in the beta/RC copies. 

I've yet to find a program that won't run on the platform using Vista drivers other than some that are really quite old and don't have even XP drivers let alone Vista ones.  And personally, I've not yet found any problems using the OS which is why I'm just about to go and ditch XP today and install the 7 Pro version and more than happy to do so.   But this doesn't mean that everyone else will equally sail through - so much will depend on your current setup, the spec of the machine you're using, how much memory you have, and what other programs you have that you want to run.   

Given the RC copy (to my knowledge) is possibly still available to test the OS, I'd be inclined to try and do that on a separate partition or drive first if at all possible, so as not to lose anything important.  If you're unsure how to partition your drives it is a very worthwhile exercise to learn this skill as it will allow you to split your drive into more manageable sections where you can then organise your data more effectively.  Check out http://www.pclicious.com/how-to-partition-hard-drive-easily/ for a good walkthrough on how to use a good Partitioning program - Partition Master.   However, do make sure you back up vital information before you begin such a project.   Lots to think about no doubt but I'm hopeful this OS will be their best one yet.

[NightHawk]

A great piece of information there Romayne, thanks for sharing that with us.  I'm sure it will prove invaluable to our members. 

What I would like though is someone to tell me what specifications I should be looking for in a new machine. ie, best processor, best graphics card, best sound card, memory etc. Did ask my son but he came out with a load of technobabble which left us even more confused.

I'll try to answer this Eric without throwing loads of specs. at you.

The first, and probably the most basic, question you need to ask yourself is - what do I want to do with my computer?

This may sound a little silly, but the use you intend to put it to will determine what specification of computer you need to be looking at.

For example, if you simply want to surf the Internet and do a bit of online shopping, then you would not need a PC with the biggest and best components installed, as the processing power is not demanding for such tasks.  Therefore you could save a lot of money in your purchase.

On the other hand, if you do a lot of graphics work, video editing, playing games (online or offline) then you would need a more powerful specification - i.e. faster processor, more system memory (RAM) and a fast graphics card with lots of on-board memory.

The thing to do Eric is look at the programs you are currently using, and see what the minimum system requirements are to run them.  This will be a good guide as what to look for as a minimum specification in a new PC.  You mentioned you use Photoshop 7.  As I recall, the current minimum spec to run that is - (a) Pentium III class processor, (b) 128 MB memory (192 MB actually recommended), (c) Video card with at least 16MB of on-board memory, and the following Operating Systems - Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0 (service pack 6a), Windows 2000, Windows XP.

Whether or not Photoshop 7 will run under Windows 7 is questionable.  Photoshop 7 is an old version and as such is probably no longer supported by Adobe for updates.  They have newer versions available now which will have been updated to support Windows 7 - CS4 being their latest release.  As an example, I have currently been using Photoshop Elements 7 which was released prior to the release of Windows 7.  I have just upgraded this program (this morning actually) to version 8, which Adobe report will now run with Windows 7, this being one of the new features in this version.
As I don't have Windows 7 at the moment, I couldn't check if PE 7 would run under it successfully or not.  And like you Eric, this is one of my favourite programs that I need to keep using.

You have a difficult choice to make Eric.  Either stick with your current PC which Photoshop 7 and your other programs run with quite happily, get a new PC with Windows 7 and install your existing programs and hope they run okay (and if they don't, check if program upgrades are offered anywhere), or get a new PC and buy the latest Photoshop, etc., that will run with Windows 7 (admittedly, a much more expensive option).

As regards what the best video card is, this is subjective.  I have only had personal experience of two well-known brands - NVIDEA and RADEON - both of which I have found to be reliable performers.  The important thing to look for in the video (graphics) card is the amount of on-board memory it has.  In this case, more is better.  I would say at least 128 MB, but 256 MB is better.  This would also speed up the viewing of web pages that have a lot of graphics on them, and they are not that expensive.  If the PC you eventually buy has a lower-memory video card for example, you could ask them to put a different one in, and pay the difference (if any).

If you buy a Desktop PC, as opposed to a Laptop, you can easily have them upgraded later on.  Add more memory (RAM), get a better graphics card, etc.  And I'm sure your son could help you with that.

Another option you have is to go into a reputable computer shop and tell the sales staff exactly what you want the new computer for and see what they recommend.  You could also tell them the programs you have, and ask if they know if they will or will not work with Windows 7.

I hope this has been helpful to you Eric.

Laurie.