Windows 7 upgrade

this thing is a total waste of time and money.
this is what PC World printed about the problems

http://www.pcworld.com/article/1743...boots_and_product_key_problems.html

Would not even consider upgrading...clean install is the way to go, if you do.

I'm waiting on the disc to arrive, and will be doing a clean install as soon as I get everything backed up to the external drives.
I upgraded from Vista to Win7 with the RC1 and never had any problems. Must be what they were talking about with the "student download"... which I have on my computer (Pro version), but it won't let me downgrade from Win7 Ultimate to Win7 Pro. Clean install is the only way to go. Still don't think it's a waste of time or money though.

Bran <><

from everything I've read,  they say a clean install is the way to go.  upgrades have to many issues that microsoft
either isn't willing to deal with,  or is not prepared to deal with  JMO

Agreed!

Bran <><

Need it for SAS research.

[you have to follow the directions.]

I went to the Best Buy website to see what their price on the "7" was and noticed they had about 51 comments posted from buyers of the new upgrade.  I got about 38 comments read before I got side tracked and had to log off.  Of those 38 comments, only about 4 of those were truly negative as in "Score of 1 or 2" out of 5.  The complaints didn't make any sense to me by their verbage.  The other commentors were strongly supportive.  They were divided up into folks who had performed the straight upgrade and those who did the clean upgrade. 

The main thing is you have to follow the directions.  That seems fundamental, but how many people actually DO that.  If you're running Vista, and an antivirus, you have to turn off the firewall and the antivirus.  You can ONLY upgrade from 32 bit to 32 bit and 64 bit to 64 bit.  If you're running a 32 bit program and want to go to a 64 bit, you have to do a wipe of the HD and a clean load of the new OS.

I was really wondering about the "7" until Bran gave it a glowing report on another thread and I got to read all of those other reports.  I WILL be upgrading, but not by downloading from some site.  I'll get the CD and do it like that.

Get a grip. Buy a Mac and quit worrying about all this virus ridden catastrophic mess 

Get a grip. Buy a Mac and quit worrying about all this virus ridden catastrophic mess 

With Avast Anti-virus & Ad-Aware on my system... I haven't had a virus in about 3 years now.

It is quite amazing how Mac users think they aren't prone to viruses, yet they tend to ignore completely the virus software that's made and sold for Mac's... and keep saying "Mac's don't get viruses." You do realize that Mac's do get, and have gotten, viruses... they just aren't on the same scale as PC's, because they don't share near the same market usage as PC's.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Mac's aren't good systems... they're just over-priced, and over-rated.

Bran <><

Just thought I'd give you the link to where I got my copy of Windows 7... you just need a valid college or university student e-mail address. If you aren't a student, just find a family member or friend who is and see if they would mind you using their e-mail and have them forward to purchase link to your e-mail. It's that simple.

http://windows7.digitalriver.com/st...EWB18kAAAAF&rests=1256965772339

Also keep in mind, there's a place where it allows you to purchase the Professional version for the exact same price as the Home version! I would suggest bucking up for the extra 13 bucks for the official Microsoft DVD to be mailed to you, so you're able to do a clean install without any problems.

Bran <><

OK, got my copy of Windows 7 Upgrade for Vista 64 bit today at Wally World; got home and let'er run.

Had to delete a couple of minor conflicting apps and restarted the computer to clear out the conflicting things from the Register.  After that, it ran itself 1,2,3..........no problem.  I DID get a WARNING message about running out of buffer space, but I just closed that message window and the upgrade kept on working like a champ.  A buffer is a temporary storage place that flushes right away as new info comes in.  I knew that so I didn't panic. 

This OS is definitely going to take a little getting used to, but no big thing.  The hardest thing is going to be getting use to the new Mail app "look".  If is wakes up faster than the sloooooooow assed Vista, hey, OK!!!!!

I just want to know when some of these people who do the upgrades and new Windows programs are going to quit taking the half-baked approach, and start writing code that doesn't end up taking up all your free memory to install.  (not literally, but these programs do NOT have to be so huge).  I've lost hundreds of mb's, just doing the Vista patches.  It's ridiculous and unnecessary.  And, the more code you write, the more things there are to screw up.

What's that thing Scotty said in one of the StarTrek movies?  "The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain?"

Windows is certainly a great example of that.

I like that Mac commercial where the pc guy is saying, over and over "we've fixed all the problems with windows95, you can depend on it, we've fixed all the problems with windows98, you can depend on it,  we've fixed all the problems with Windows XP, you can depend on it............."

Geesh!



B

After HAVING vista screw up on three lappies for me I wouldn't buy another Microsoft Product!  Actually there should be a class action suite against Microsoft for Vista. Bill

Get a grip. Buy a Mac and quit worrying about all this virus ridden catastrophic mess 

That's right! Why wait for a virus to delete important files, when Snow Leopard will do it for you without ever getting one virus.

Sorry, Mac is having a big issue with a buggy new OS . . . but everyone there is on the attack instead of fixing their problem

Snow Leopard is deleting files . . . wiping them beyond recovery.

-------------

My first experience with the completed OS Windows 7 was yesterday . . . and a  very positive one. Especially with the videos I was working with. Seems to be much faster.

That's right! Why wait for a virus to delete important files, when Snow Leopard will do it for you without ever getting one virus.

Sorry, Mac is having a big issue with a buggy new OS . . . but everyone there is on the attack instead of fixing their problem

Snow Leopard is deleting files . . . wiping them beyond recovery.

OUCH!!! Really?!!! Well I better let my girlfriend and the rest of her family know, because her and her brother just upgraded both of their Macbooks to Snow Leopard... and their dad just got the 21.5" iMac (desktop version?), which I also believe has the new OS also.

Eh, I'm not a huge Microsoft fan... but I'll go with what works, and has worked for much longer than Mac's... not to mention, what's more widely accepted world-wide.

Bran <><

As I wrote above, I HATE this new Windows LiveMail / att / yahoo mail goatrope with it's damn advertising blinking and jumping and carring on.

Does anyone have or know of a simple mail app?  With NO advertising?

As I wrote above, I HATE this new Windows LiveMail / att / yahoo mail goatrope with it's damn advertising blinking and jumping and carring on.

Does anyone have or know of a simple mail app?  With NO advertising?

Eudora. Has two modes: ad sponsored, and paid. www.eudora.com

I know that Mozilla (the firefox folks) has one too "Thunderbird" which I hear nothing but good stuff about. http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Hope this helps.

Over the years, we have found several good (rephrase - thought was good) email programs, that was fairly benign (none completely adfree), and have joined.  Most either crashed and burned, or decided to charge a fee for their email services.  Anyone remember "freeyellow"?  It was unadorned with dancing characters and you didn't have to click on "skip this" forty times - it had a decent sized mailbox, and they promised they would stay that way forever.  Forever turned out to be about 2 years, and then they decided that, since we had been around with them for quite awhile, certainly we wouldn't mind paying a nominal fee each month - $20.00 a month.  They were wrong.

I think the ads support the sites.

B

MAC

Yep, that dollar is important Mrs. O and nothing is free anymore. Even the macs are getting greedy. Their built in email is about like the old "outlook express" or free version of Eudora.

Personally, I use Gmail. I have Firefox with the "adblock plus" addon, but even with IE I don't remember seeing any ads there . . . plus 8 gigs of storage is pretty nice, as well as attachments up to 3 meg attachments (I think it is actually more, but I know I have sent some 3 meg pictures to a client).

Over the years, we have found several good (rephrase - thought was good) email programs, that was fairly benign (none completely ad free), and have joined.  Most either crashed and burned, or decided to charge a fee for their email services.  Anyone remember "freeyellow"?  It was unadorned with dancing characters and you didn't have to click on "skip this" forty times - it had a decent sized mailbox, and they promised they would stay that way forever.  Forever turned out to be about 2 years, and then they decided that, since we had been around with them for quite awhile, certainly we wouldn't mind paying a nominal fee each month - $20.00 a month.  They were wrong.

I think the ads support the sites.

B

Well, I think that the amount of money I pay AT&T each month for tele and DSL charges ought to rate an ad free email.

I have a yahoo account, a gmail account, and a hotmail account.

You are right - the gmail account doesn't have anything dancing around.  But it must have a cookie, or tracking device that my Norton doesn't catch, because, every once in awhile - it will pop up with an extra google toolbar with a bunch of options.  I have turned it off - this has been an issue only since I got this new 'puter (Vista).

B

DANG, I miss Outlook Express.  A POX on Microsoft for getting away from it. 

I just like Mac. I use a big seperate plug in Lacy Back up drive and keep two copies of everything.Never lost any files yet. Have the snow lepard but not installed it. No hiccups. Could not ever imagine going back to a windows based system. Its weird not having to de-frag all the time and run virus programs. I enjoy running multiple programs with a couple browsers open. Think I am going to use that split screen thing so I can see two pages side by side
 To each their own and what ever makes you happy 
TnMtns

I just like Mac. I use a big seperate plug in Lacy Back up drive and keep two copies of everything.Never lost any files yet. Have the snow lepard but not installed it. No hiccups. Could not ever imagine going back to a windows based system. Its weird not having to de-frag all the time and run virus programs. I enjoy running multiple programs with a couple browsers open. Think I am going to use that split screen thing so I can see two pages side by side
 To each their own and what ever makes you happy 
TnMtns

My experience w/ a Mac
---my first one lasted 5 years with no viruses and only crashed twice and that was in the last half year
---my next Mac was gotten used and has lasted 4 years for me and is still going (just is too slow now so its backup)
---my current Mac is about 3 years old now (1st gen Mac mini) and is still going strong w/ Snow Leopard on it.  Haven't noticed it deleting any files.

And all 3 of those have never had a virus.  And the 2 times the 1st Mac crashed I just had to put in the recovery disk and all was happy again.  Haven't played with all the features of Snow Leopard yet but am having fun with it so far.  TechTools is a great program thats for sure.

I have a yahoo account, a gmail account, and a hotmail account.

You are right - the gmail account doesn't have anything dancing around.  But it must have a cookie, or tracking device that my Norton doesn't catch, because, every once in awhile - it will pop up with an extra google toolbar with a bunch of options.  I have turned it off - this has been an issue only since I got this new 'puter (Vista).

B

Mrs O --- If you have installed Adobe flash player, adobe air, adobe "anything" or any program downloaded from the internet as of late, they always offer you a "Free Toolbar" but in a very sneaky way.

Your page will load quickly . . . then about 10 or 15 seconds later . . . it will show a check box on a line giving them permission to install that "toolbar" on your computer. It is done that way on purpose.

Firstly, they make a small amount on each toolbar succesfully installed, so the more installed the better for them.

Secondly, if you don't want that toolbar and the box showed up as quickly as the rest of the page, or not ticked, they lose out on "helping" you. After all, they know better what you want than you do (at least that is how they look at it).

And, depending on where you get them, the "updater" that comes with the toolbar is a form of self-protection for the toolbar. Surely you would not want to delete such a valuable thing as a toolbar, so it will reinstall it to make sure you are able to continue to use the stoopid thing. If you don't want them coming back up, delete googleupdater or yahooupdater (don't remember the files offhand) as well as the programs which claim to be "searchprotection". Surely we would never want to change our search engines, so if we do, it corrects our mistake and puts it back.

Isn't that nice of them?

Thanks!!!

I will definitely look for that file that keeps it off forever - it is probably under that file "Googleupdater" - or something similar.

Its strange that it didn't happen with XP - not really strange, just different.  It's annoying, much like the new Yahoo "shopper' that this computer had when I first got it.

B

I really think the next computer will be a Mac - my daughter has been using a Mac for years - she even uses a Mac professionally and she has not had half the problems that our PC's have had.

The great thing about Mac's - which has not always been the case - is that they now can run window-based programs.  My daughter runs everything she wants.

I will give up Windows XP, when they pry my cold dead fingers off the mouse.

Vista is the worst OS since ME, and sucks big time, Windows 7 is just MS trying to correct a #$&% up OS. Just MS way of getting more money from us, not going to happen from me.........

Get a grip. Buy a Mac and quit worrying about all this virus ridden catastrophic mess 

Or get linux 9.04.  Done.

what to run some windows dependent software... then forget it (unless your into configuring virtual machine ware.. and if you are, chances are you don't have a problem with your PC software).

A friend of mine just upgraded to 7, and he absolutely hates it.  It think XP is going to stay around for a LONG time.  Perhaps microsoft needs to expand there business model away from 'operating systems'.

I will give up Windows XP, when they pry my cold dead fingers off the mouse.

Vista is the worst OS since ME, and sucks big time, Windows 7 is just MS trying to correct a #$&% up OS. Just MS way of getting more money from us, not going to happen from me.........

That was my first impression about Window$ 7, but after using it a couple of days, not so much right now, may change if things start going nuts. Has been really fast, I have premium installed on a notebook, no problems so far.

Get a grip. Buy a Mac and quit worrying about all this virus ridden catastrophic mess 

Or get linux 9.04.  Done.

what to run some windows dependent software... then forget it (unless your into configuring virtual machine ware.. and if you are, chances are you don't have a problem with your PC software).

A friend of mine just upgraded to 7, and he absolutely hates it.  It think XP is going to stay around for a LONG time.  Perhaps microsoft needs to expand there business model away from 'operating systems'.

I bet you're talking about Ubuntu Linux. Easiest version of Linux I've used so far, although if my machine at home was 64 bit I would be trying Elive. Seen it run, and it looks even better.

Dontcha just love them Mac folks though  --- I work on computers. Repair them, build them for workstations and gamers, build PC based surveillance systems, etc. No one comes to me for a "Mac based" gaming system, no one comes to me for a "Mac based" surveillance system. I have had requests for both under Linux.

Gaming? nope. Surveillance? There is a version of Linux that is installed on a PCI card. You can be booted in seconds, and looking at your video.

I will say this about the Macs though, VERY well built hardware. Great design. Seldom have to work on them, but don't believe the "no viruses" stuff. The correct statement is "not the same viruses". Kinda like "purity scan". Bunch of nice church women downloaded it because it promised to remove the porn from your computer. It worked pretty much according to the customers . . . and after a few days (I know because all of the folks I cleaned up had installed it 2 weeks before the trouble started) it went out and got plenty of FRESH porn popups for their computers. Nobody wants old stale porn on their machines! They want the new "Fresh" stuff.

Yep, I have an ubuntu media server at home that's been up for about 5 years now (the same as a te-vo but on steriods).  I use a micro-atx board that uses about 15 watts (a night light).  I never have to do anything to it but log in every once in a while (via webpage) to tell it what shows to record.   It's also my internet server storage...  (read: internet).   Linux is soo savvy.   Where ever I'm at in this crazy world, I'll mount my remote drive likes it's a part of my local computer.  Streaming video from it is just now taking shape too (past beta phase).  Hulu?  forget it.   Just log into my home server and stream.... (granted you have to have a fast upload speed, or at least let it buffer up).

I have almost no knowledge of the intrinsic values of a Mac, except that she is a graphic artist, and manages a firm that is fairly well-known, and not only does advertising, but book covers and such.  She has been doing this since her last year of college (she is 42 now), and 100% of the set-ups and actual graphics are all done with a Mac.  I used it a couple of times while helping out when she had to cover for 3 people who were not at work - and it ran wonderfully - anything she designed and scanned, came out wonderfully - never screwed up, or put things out of context or order, unlike the Windows system they had several years before that.

That's my entire experience with a Mac - except for in the very early computer days when Procter & Gamble used Macs for our statistical information and reports and inventory shipping.  (They went to Windows after about 5 years - don't know why), and that use was for very specific programs only.

I do want to buy a Mac - just because.

B

[XP is still the most reliable OS.]

Nero 9 as Nero 8 and older are not compatible with Windows 7 and will stop working once Windows 7 is installed.

No Upgrade Install From XP to Windows 7.

Control Panel Is a Mess. The Simple layout literally hides what you're looking for, while the All view masks it with the camouflage of multiplicity. Control Panel is no longer really the single central hub for getting everything done.


Windows 7 is really a build of Vista with GUI enhancements along with other OS enhancements. The GUI is designed to run faster than Vista's that is all. XP is still the most reliable OS.

Windows 7 is a refined version of an operating system that sucked from the get go.

Should have named it VISTA II or maybe Windows ME II ? 

I am writing this from a Windows 7 laptop. Got it Monday, been using it since. Tomorrow I may curse it and use it for target practice, but so far --- SO FAR --- not one hiccup. Didn't get 1 day with Vi$ta or Millenium before the wheels started falling off.

The results here are that it feels more like the "out of box" experience I had with XP. So far, so good.

You can set up a "virtual machine" and have another operating system there (according to one website I visited) like XP. Looking forward to trying "elive" in that virtual machine.

Try using Sun Microsystem's VirtualBox... it's a really amazing Virt program, and will probably outperform VMware or the Windows XP Virtualization from within Win7. Since my work's Cisco VPN isn't currently supporting Win7 until sometime later this month, I've been using VirtualBox to run XP Pro everyday for work from within my Win7 system.... and it works flawlessly!! Best of all, it's open sourced & FREE!

http://www.sun.com/software/products/virtualbox/index.jsp


Bran <><

If you wnt a good non-web-based email program that is free go with Pegasus Mail.

http://www.pmail.com/

They have been around for over a  decade and always been free. I used it for many years before going to gmail.