Windows 7 sucks....just my opinion.

[John Schmidt]

I've been working with this new 'puter with Win 7 installed and absolutely hate that system. I've been working with computers at home and work for the last 20 yrs., and this so far is the least "user friendly" I've ever been exposed to. If it's supposed to be simplified....it just ain't so. At this point, I've given up trying to use any of the former programs I had on the old unit, even after downloading updates for the W-7 system. The next move that I'm seriously considering....remove the 80g hard drive from my old computer and install a much larger one, along with increasing the memory. Then go back to using it in place of this abortion.

As was suggested...yes, there is a learning curve. But that to me is a far cry from simply being user friendly. I have pretty much got the operation figured out, I just simply hate the way they go about it. The last straw was all the short videos sent to my wife of her new grandbaby....they're all sideways. As a test, I even had some resent to us on the new unit and they're still sideways....as are some of the photos. While still other photos are right side up....what with that? Same thing with some of the photos in my Bike Projects folder....some right side up, others sideways. And, when I go in and flip them upright and try to save them....it won't.

I have a grandson in Louisiana that might consider buying the new unit after I get the old one up and running. I'll give him a great deal on a new boat anchor. I have no idea why they took a simple methodology and screwed it up. They could have just as easily kept the method of operation and added the new features seen in W-7. Excuse the rant, this has been driving me nuts for nearly three weeks now. 

[Titan]

Disclaimer... please be advised that I do not wish to get into a PC vs Mac argument or discussion.

I'm only offering this as something for you to take a look at and consider.

Sometimes change can be exactly what you need.

Take a look at the Mac. I do not sell computers.

If you have questions just drop me an email and I'll be happy to answer them.

http://www.apple.com/why-mac/

[Jess Tolbirt]

I had to buy Bev a new puter,,,we do a lot of studio work on them,,,so far we have had no problems that you speak of,,,it works great, even with the old programs,,even some of the old programs we couldnt use on xp will work on W-7,,,
i wish i had an answer for ya,,,,

[John Schmidt]

I've never had a problem in the past going from one OS to a later version, but this fool thing is nothing but grief. At this point, I've been totally unable to get any of my XP programs to work, even with update downloads. In many cases, I can't even get the darn thing to complete an installation off the disk. I still have the XP OS disk, I'm almost tempted to see if I can wipe this disk and install the XP on it. With my luck that probably wouldn't work either.

[barbarianthemadserb]

John, here is another option (which I also did to my pcs).  Get another hard drive and install to your pc. Disconnect the drive that has Windows 7 on it. Now install xp onto the other drive.  This way you will have the best of both worlds.  After you have loaded xp successfully, power down the pc, hook up the drive with windows 7.  Now upon boot up, get into the bios to choose which drive you want to boot from.

[Chattanooga Mark]

I use Windows XP for everything at work and Apple products for my home. I was just listening to someone talk about the Windows 7 upgrade from Vista last night. All went as good as can be and that's been the story with everyone I know thats done it. If available, see if you can talk to someone in your IT department at work. You may also ask one of the Geek Squad guys at your local Best Buy for their suggestion. Must be something on your system as what you're experiencing is not the norm.

All the best,

Mark

[Hoosier Valk]

I had to buy Bev a new puter,,,we do a lot of studio work on them,,,so far we have had no problems that you speak of,,,it works great, even with the old programs,,even some of the old programs we couldnt use on xp will work on W-7,,,
i wish i had an answer for ya,,,,

My experience has been the same as Jess. I loved XP. But, my latest came with Windows 7 and would have cost me more to have it built with XP, so I went with the less expensive alternative.
Other than having to download new drivers for some of my old programs, no problems. Good luck.

[GreenLantern57]

On everything I have tried, icing the HD and doing a clean install always worked better for me.  Too much crap gets left over because MS doesn't care if your program works or not. When my kids were in college, they kept ghosts of working set-up and would clean and re-install HDs on a monthly basis.

[bradnw]

I am willing to bet that the version of windows 7 is 64 bit,  makes old programs cringe.   It is a shame that most PC makers push the 64 bit version, but performance is better, but backwards compatibility is practically gone.  Now you can run a XP virtual machine inside 7 and load the programs there, i have had very good luck with that route. 

[Robert]

John I tried to look at your old posts and see if it 7 64 version if it is, that may be some of the problem. I agree that alot of the old XP programs in this version will not work unless run in XP mode. Which I didn't do on mine because I did get new programs. That is also why for work I continue to use XP because alot of programs are not designed to work on 7 64 and I really dont want to go through the hassle. Ddi you turn off all the warning banners.

[John Schmidt]

Yes, it's Win 7/64 bit. Just wondering, how do you run a virtual XP inside the 7 OS? This thing has a 1TB harddrive so I have plenty of room to mess with it. I have yet to figure out how to load pictures and videos off my external HD onto the new one so I can view them. I've tried to copy them into their stupid Library setup, hoping I can then view them on the Media Player. This afternoon I went to Barnes & Noble book store and bought a copy of Windows 7 for Dummies, plus while there I paged through a few other books. In all of them they talked about the sideways pictures I mentioned earlier and gave directions on how to correct that. I followed the directions to a "T" and guess what....doesn't work. If I go into Irfanview and flip a picture 90 deg. so it's upright, then try to Save As....it won't. Says "it can't open the file." Trouble is, I'm not trying to open something that's already open, I'm trying to modify it and it won't let me. 

I'm beginning to consider getting a second HD of comparable size and install XP on it. But, since XP is 32 bit oriented I think I'll start looking at replacement parts for my old computer. Either that or see if I can find a refurbished one with larger/faster capabilities. I know file transfer would be a heck of a lot easier.

[Robert]

I would remove all the programs that say for 32 bit or XP till you can verify that the newer editions of these programs have 64 bit software available. See how many of your troubles go away and then decide what to do. I have not had any problems with any files transferring them to 7 from XP and I go back and forth all the time. If you are downloading or viewing from a program on the hard drive then that may be the problem but all other files no problem. Most of the time there will be no real problem from installing the wrong 32 bit program but other times it can cause real problems even to having to reformat the computer. Also the Macs do have the same problems with the pics sideways.  But these two will explain the xp mode and provide a download for it, the other site is the 7 forums which may help also. There is a program out there that transfers all files and folders to 7 for you and have heard its pretty good Ill try to find that for you. I ve also had problems with older versions of AOL which I personally dont like, you may have to get some new programs to really keep your system up to date and running well. But there are alot of free programs out there to more than likely do all the things you need to do. There is a real difference between 32 and 64 bit operating systems and most of the time a program that was 32 will not run on 64 they tell you it will but I have not found success in that.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode

http://www.sevenforums.com/

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer

There are alot of programs out there I just picked one for you
http://www.laplink.com/pcmover

[Jess Tolbirt]

In windows explorer,, in win 7 i think they call it the library or something like that,,,she has 2 places for programs,,,one says 32 bit and the other says 64 bit,,,when you install a program you tell it where to put it if doesnt do it automatically...

you dont by chance have windows 7 starter do you?

[John Schmidt]

In windows explorer,, in win 7 i think they call it the library or something like that,,,she has 2 places for programs,,,one says 32 bit and the other says 64 bit,,,when you install a program you tell it where to put it if doesnt do it automatically...

you dont by chance have windows 7 starter do you?

Jess, I've not seen anything pop up that gives me the choice of 32/64. This is just the Win 7 Home edition. I have a storage case for the CD's of the various extra programs I had on the XP unit....I can't get any of them to work, or even begin to install in most cases so I'm out some cash right up front. I tried to get my webcam to install...no dice. It's about 24 mo. old, but Logitech doesn't have any downloads for it so I'm out even more $$. I called MS and was basically told "looks like you're going to have to start over with new software" when I asked about older programs. If I had known all this from the start, it would have been cheaper and easier for me to just upgrade my old unit. More and more, it looks like I'll do just that and dump this new unit with Win7. If my grandson still wants it when I have the old one up and running, he's welcome to it. Not sure why he wants it, he sold his boat so doesn't need an anchor.

[Bob E.]

To run XP in the virtual operating system, you need to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, which is about a $90 upgrade from Win 7 Home Premium.  Then you can download the Virtual OS (free) and the WinXP (also free).  Win 7 Home Premium will not do it.  I just went through this with my new laptop so that I could run an older version of AutoCAD and my older GPS Mapsource software.  It's still not perfect though.  The pointer is screwed up in AutoCAD, and I usually have a hell of a time getting the laptop to recognize my GPS.  But it was better than buying another new GPS and AutoCAD software...on top of the new laptop.