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XP or Windows 7? - Page 2

post #31 of 54
11/18/09 at 7:21am
I'm on XP and I've gotten security updates as recently as last week.

Briefly tried Vista. Did not like. I'm sure it was a very nice video game but I wanted an operating system.

Haven't tried 7. Its most interesting feature (to me) is that it's not Vista. I would be willing to take a look at it, but my laptop is hanging in there quite well for being 2 years old, so I'm not in a hurry.
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post #32 of 54
12/18/09 at 6:47am
I abhore Vista, so was thinking about going to Win7, just so I don't have to deal with Vista anymore. It's a nightmare for me; the way I have to remove cookies and temp files....it's just ridiculous, even though I do have IE 8 set up to automatically remove cookies when I log-off. When we got the new computer, I almost begged Dell to install WinXP Pro, but they said they couldn't. I found out last night that a GF who had also purchased a new computer from Dell around the same time I did does have XP on hers. Frustrating.....I really like XP Pro.

Plus, I had a perfectly good HP printer that I loved and couldn't use because it was parallel port and the new computer uses USB. And try as I might, I couldn't make Vista accept the old printer, even though it had the HP driver. But when I hooked it back into DH's computer, I can use it on the network. Go figure.

I was seriously considering removing Vista and replacing it with XP Pro, but now that Win7 is out, I'm not sure I should go that route.

My husband's desktop has XP Pro and I asked him if we could switch computers....he could take the new one and I'd continue with the old computer. He hates Vista as much as I do and refused. Darn it.
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post #33 of 54
12/18/09 at 6:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by valanhb View Post
As far as compatibility issues with software, Windows 7 also has a super-beyond-way-cool feature - Compatibility Mode. You can tell it to run an older piece of software in XP mode, so it sees it the same as XP would. So all those proprietary pieces of software that weren't reconfigured for Vista but that people still use can actually be run on Windows 7.
Just so you know, Vista also has the Compatibility Mode.

Vista Compatibility Mode

I think Vista got a bad rap when it came out, and Windows 7 is having some of the same problem--techies who got used to doing it one way, and don't want to change.
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post #34 of 54
12/18/09 at 10:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winchester View Post
When we got the new computer, I almost begged Dell to install WinXP Pro, but they said they couldn't. I found out last night that a GF who had also purchased a new computer from Dell around the same time I did does have XP on hers. Frustrating.....I really like XP Pro.
Time computers come out doesn't mean that much. Unless they are identical computers it very well could be that your's would have had problems with XP. Why?

No hardware support for it in XP.

I have a motherboard that didn't have XP drivers for most of it. The company(s) simply didn't want to make them and intended it as a Vista board. Ironically it runs great under debian.
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post #35 of 54
12/19/09 at 5:26am
I still don't understand what all the negative hype for Vista is about? What's wrong with it?

I went from Windows '98 to Vista. I've never had a speck of trouble with Vista. It's fast and efficient for my needs. I don't play games or make spread sheets, my computer is used for the internet, research and shopping, on line communities, photos and movie making. Some word processing.

My Acer Laptop Vista machine is now about 14 months old and I love it as much as the day I started on it.
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post #36 of 54
12/19/09 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
I still don't understand what all the negative hype for Vista is about? What's wrong with it?

I went from Windows '98 to Vista. I've never had a speck of trouble with Vista. It's fast and efficient for my needs. I don't play games or make spread sheets, my computer is used for the internet, research and shopping, on line communities, photos and movie making. Some word processing.

My Acer Laptop Vista machine is now about 14 months old and I love it as much as the day I started on it.
If you went from 98 to Vista, I can certainly understand why you would like Vista. However, XP to Vista? Not so much.

I guess my biggest complaint is that there was really no reason to make most of the changes that were made in Vista. None (unless there was something funky with XP that I'm not aware of, which is possible). XP Pro was stable and it was a good OS. So why make it more convoluted to delete cookies and temp files? This is a necessary step when doing computer maintenance and keeping a clean computer...at least in my mind.

Often when I'm trying to do something in Explore (Not IE, my computer's Explore), I find that I don't have access to certain folders. Why? It's MY freakin' computer! And I'm the only one using it! I'm so tired of being told that the "application data is not accessible". And no matter what I do to try to change it, I can't. Why in the world would one make things more convoluted? Because you can? How idiotic is that?

Grrrrrrrr. I really, really, REALLY hate Vista!
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post #37 of 54
12/19/09 at 10:26am
The complaints there have to do with permission and what you're running as. Microsoft (finally) pushed people away from running completely as admin all the time. You should never be logged in as admin for just regular use. They were trying to make things more secure - except they goofed up a bit.
Some of what they did does seem like they were taking hints from -nix os's, which could be confusing to many.

Believe it or not, they were trying to make improvements and most of what they've been doing is carried over to 7, it was just that they rushed.


My issues with vista was just how they goofed up several things, bloated it up more (XP was bad enough), and just that it was another windows os. I don't like XP, either.

A friend who does a lot of stuff with audio recording had major issues with how they changed audio in Vista making it slower.
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post #38 of 54
12/19/09 at 11:15am
Just talked to my son....he recently bought a new computer that had Vista on it and he removed it and put XP Pro on it instead. I'm going to back up what I need from my hard drive and, since he's coming home for Christmas weekend, we're going to remove Vista and put on a new Win XP Pro OS in it instead. Finally! I'm tired of dealing with Vista.
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post #39 of 54
12/19/09 at 11:19am
Check your computer's model - HP and Dell have some boards made just for them which makes driver issues for it more of an problem. Look up the specific board + XP to see if others have done it.

Or you could go the other method and just hope it works - then face not having support for sound or something more vital.
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post #40 of 54
12/19/09 at 12:01pm
Thanks for the heads-up....I'll do that. Better to play it safe than run into problems later. My son didn't have any problems, but I know the way my luck runs!
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post #41 of 54
12/19/09 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winchester View Post
Thanks for the heads-up....I'll do that. Better to play it safe than run into problems later. My son didn't have any problems, but I know the way my luck runs!
Yep. The problem is that XP is from what? 2001-ish? and you're computer is probably less than two years old.

Service packs could fix some issues, but what if there's no patch/fix or you can't even get to that stage?

Good luck with that.
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post #42 of 54
12/29/09 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone, OP here.

Right about the time I decided I could get one, my car insurance took out $150 extra from my account. So Yay! Haha. The clearance netbook (with xp) was gone right after that. So I just decided to research. I could get a full sized laptop for $350, or a netbook for $300. I decided to get a laptop. It would have to wait until january, if I wanted to eat ramen noodles the entire first month of the year, so preferably february. Then this stupid netbook started giving me trouble, so on saturday, I ordered an older sony vaio on ebay. It has 512mb ram (sufficient), 40g hd (this netbook has 4), dvd, wireless internet, and it works. For $117. It shipped out yesterday, and my netbook must have gotten word, because it jumped of the couch (dog might have helped), and broke it's screen. Today. So if there are typos, it's because I can't read part of what I'm posting.
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post #43 of 54
12/29/09 at 7:58pm
I really like Windows 7. It almost seems a bit Mac OS-ish.
If I could afford a Mac, the PC would be trash.
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post #44 of 54
1/1/10 at 8:57am
My mom has windows xp on her main computer and windows vista on her laptop. I prefer vista the most. I have heard good and bad about windows 7. The best thing to do is research it on the internet by looking up windows 7 reviews and read the view points of other people who have used it. Just put in google search engine "windows 7 reviews".

Hugs,
Anne
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post #45 of 54
1/1/10 at 5:34pm
I really like Windows 7
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post #46 of 54
1/2/10 at 7:59am
I'm an I.T. person in the real world ... I find that many large companies are still sticking with XP Pro. Even though it is an old OS, it is quite stable, and MS is still supporting it with updates/patches.

You can still order computers with XP Pro licensed and installed (on the mfg websites, like Dell/Gateway/HP/Acer, check the section on business computers). You can also order a computer with Windows 7 and an "XP downgrade" - meaning that you are licensed for either, but the computer comes with XP installed. The fact that MS still offers this "downgrade" is a good indicator that XP isn't going away any time in the immediate future.

AFAIK, Windows 7 is a "new-and-improved" version of Vista - the "kernel" is unchanged (from Vista), but the user interface and some of the features have been streamlined and/or fixed.

If you're starting from scratch, ie, a new computer, Windows 7 is probably a good bet. If you love XP and don't like change or don't care to have to get comfy with a new OS right now, then get a new comptuer with XP.

If you are in a situation where you might need to join a computer to a Domain (as opposed to a "workgroup"), then be sure to get the "Pro" version of the OS.

Just my $.02 !!
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post #47 of 54
1/2/10 at 8:05am
I am hearing that one big improvement in 7 over Vista is that they put the fax program back into 7 after taking it out of Vista.
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post #48 of 54
2/5/10 at 9:44pm
Bumping this up from a month ago, I just installed Windows 7 on my laptop. I love it, it runs soooo much faster than Vista. Even scrolling up and down seems to be faster.
I also got a 2010 beta version of MS office, which I am loving also.

Getting a new OS is almost like getting a new computer, it feels really nice at first But we'll see how it goes...I doubt it is without any problems.
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post #49 of 54
2/8/10 at 7:18am
My new laptop has windows 7 and so far I love it!
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post #50 of 54
2/8/10 at 1:57pm
I've used both and I would go with XP, hands down, no contest.

The company I work for also uses XP and refuses to upgrade their systems. They like technology that works.

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post #51 of 54
2/8/10 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fisheater View Post
They like technology that works.
So why are they using Windows? (I know, that's a cheap shot ) They'll have to upgrade their computers eventually. There's not really any way around it unless one wants to run outdated software and at a very slow pace with no support for any sort of new hardware.
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post #52 of 54
2/21/10 at 7:00pm
Hubby bought me the Acer Netbook for Valentines Day. It was $299 at Staples. We took it back because it is so small it was hard for both of us to type on. In place of it we bought a Compaq, 15.6 inch screen that with the $30 rebate only comes to $50 more. I know it has Windows 7, but we only got it yesterday so I can't really make any comparisons yet.
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post #53 of 54
2/22/10 at 6:45pm
Well so far I'd take a mac over windows any day (snow leopard is excellent) but between XP and 7, I'd go with 7. It is different and takes some getting used to, but after I played around with some of the settings for some programs, it's working great. It loads faster, there are some neat little things you can do (like "shake" and "snap"), and it's easy enough for the average user but it also has it's advanced qualities for more experienced people. It may not be as compatible as other versions of windows, but with a bit of effort, almost anything can work with it.
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post #54 of 54
2/22/10 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOnTheProwl View Post
Well so far I'd take a mac over windows any day (snow leopard is excellent) but between XP and 7, I'd go with 7. It is different and takes some getting used to, but after I played around with some of the settings for some programs, it's working great. It loads faster, there are some neat little things you can do (like "shake" and "snap"), and it's easy enough for the average user but it also has it's advanced qualities for more experienced people. It may not be as compatible as other versions of windows, but with a bit of effort, almost anything can work with it.

I don't use mac on an everyday basis, but unfortunately you can't really play any games using a mac OS It's a pretty big downside for me...
But of course there is parallels which is so convenient and you can switch to windows 7 quickly just for the game...
I agree Windows 7 loads much, much faster!! I really like it. I think the graphics are improved too, I don't know anything about this, but the wallpapers I use are much clearer and better looking.
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