What does everyone think?

tallin · #1 (**permalink**) 26-10-2009, 05:28 AM

I am running Windows Home XP/SP3 on my systems...very happy with them, all going very well.

I am interested in learning whether we should upgrade to Windows 7, if so why, and what are you all thinking of doing broadly speaking.

In my case it would mean new systems as they are February 2005 through to June 2006 age group.

XP is supported to 2014 however.

Very interested in all comments

Best regards,

Digerati · #2 (**permalink**) 26-10-2009, 03:33 PM

Quote:

In my case it would mean new systems as they are February 2005 through to June 2006 age group.

I think that's the key thing. I think everyone should plan on upgrading to Win7 eventually because of the enhanced security features alone. But I don't think everyone should immediately go out and buy new computers or run through major (read: expensive) upgrades just to get there. I never migrated my systems to Vista for the same reason you mention, my XP Home and Pro systems are working fine AND, since I have total control of my systems, my XP systems are secure. I also did not feel MS did a good job with Vista.

Win 7 is what Vista should have been, plus more and I see no reason, other than budget, to not upgrade. And if buying a new computer, I see no reason (other than in some corporate situations) not to get one with Win7.

That said, in your case, Vista was released in Jan 2007 so your 2006 system may be "Vista Ready" which means there's a good chance it is Win7 ready too. I recommend checking the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see how your system(s) fares.

tallin · #3 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 01:23 AM

Thanks Digerati,

I had that link but had not installed and run it on my systems. Now I have and there is good news if one wanted Windows7 and some bad news. I will stay with what is presently going so well without going into long details here.

One interesting item is that Windows 7 does not support Acronis 10 which turned me off in the very first instance.....funnily enough the older the system the more comparability with the new OS talking in general terms in my case. Ghost 12 passed the test with flying colours.

best regards,

townsbg · #4 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 04:52 AM

The main thing to make sure you have for Vista/7 is ram. I strongly recommend 2 gb; 1 gb absolute minimum. Also a fairly decent graphics card for aero. A 2 ghz CPU of pretty much anything; dual core would be better. Of course if you do lots of processing and/or games you need need more powerful components than those. As for drivers both have more built in than XP; for example I can use my ethernet port without chipset drivers which I don't even think I installed. With the RC most of my Vista drivers worked on 7 with the exception of my sound card. I haven't used 7 enough to decide for myself if it is better than Vista.

cavillas · #5 (**permalink**) 12-11-2009, 05:12 PM

Can't fault Win7. It has, so far, run everything I have installed on it. It has had no reboots since installed on Oct 22 and I use sleep mode. Backup idea is great and unobtrusive. It runs just as fast on my machine as XPpro sp3 did, in some things it runs faster. Any prog thathas had slight problems I run in compatability mode and no prblems at all.

I suggest everyone to upgrade to Win7 preferably with a clean install as this is the quickest way.

Ztruker · #6 (**permalink**) 12-11-2009, 11:56 PM

Hi Tallin ... long time no see.

I use Acronis as well and updated to ATM 2009, only to find out a month and a half later that is it "not supported with Windows 7" either. They also changed their support policy to 1 month of free support which "inhales vigorously" so to speak.

Well, I'm using it with Windows 7 and it works very well. The only thing I can't do is mount the restore image which is not a big deal as I can do a full restore or simply browse to a specific backed up folder or file using Windows Explorer.

I've also started looking at Windows Backup which comes with Windows 7. It's not bad but lacks many of the nice features of ATM, like F11 at boot, deletions of old backups, speed of backup ...

tallin · #7 (**permalink**) 13-11-2009, 05:02 AM

Hello Rich,

Good to see you about too. Crank up your YM sometime for a chat.

Re Windows 7, I really would need to have another system built to have it so I am not that keen to be honest. Very satisfied with what I have, all working well along with Ghost and Acronis backups weekly.

Keep in touch,

Best regards,

townsbg · #8 (**permalink**) 13-11-2009, 06:14 PM

What are you system's specs?