Time to upgrade! - Windows 7

[Apex]

Anyone have Windows 7?

The reason I ask is because:

This involves my new XP computer I built around the end of summer last year. Quad-core processor, EVGA GeForce GTS 250 graphics, a decent gaming system. It is my main gaming machine, which I have spent many hours playing WoW on, has finally ticked me off. It started when I went to myspace to delete my account. I went in there and right where I was clicking a window popped up. It made the computer freak out and Norton popped up saying it blocked attacks. Well it didn't get them all. Somehow some malware found its way onto the computer. I ran a program that quarantined it and I thought all was well. Next thing I now my browser would not fully load any pages, it just freaked out. I still played WoW because it ran it just fine, I just had issues accessing web pages. I even ran SFC with no luck and CHKDSK. No luck there either.

During that time something happened to my WoW account and I could not access it. Somehow my authenticator got messed up and I sent in a ticket to remove it, well it never happened. I was not able to access battle.net or play for a month, then someone got my CC number. I cancelled the card my account was on, which officially disabled my account. I know Blizzard saves the data, so I'm not too concerned.

A new game came out, Rift, and I really wanted to give it a try. I activated a 7-day trail, then downloaded the game. It gave me a few errors, and none of which are easy to fix. DirectX started freaking out as well and said it didn't have access to a cabinet file. I made sure the settings were correct and they were. I am finally fed up with it and I am looking to upgrade to Windows 7.

A friend has W7 (64-bit) and he really enjoys it (running the sandybridge i7). Just curious if any of you have experience with it. I will be using it mainly for iTunes, WoW and maybe Rift (Diablo 3 as well when it releases). Now I got my new Macbook Air, that is my main surfing machine. The desktop will simply be my gaming machine. That same friend has an unopened copy of Windows 7 (32-bit) that he got for free, but it was not the 64-bit so he did not use it. He said I could have the unopened copy. So I plan on installing W7 later this week. I went to newegg and ordered a new 640GB hard drive (so I'll have a fresh drive to do the install on), an extra 4GB of ram (which will put me at 8GB total), and a new SATA cable to make sure it fits on my board.



I just wanted to know if there are any issues I should be aware of or if it is a pretty straight install and easy to run. All my parts shipped out today and should be here Wednesday, at least I'd be able to get it up and running that evening.

Sorry so long winded! hahaha

[Vampyre]

I just built a new pc with Windows 7 and I do IT for a software co. I have done many installs. Windows 7 is fairly easy. It should have most drivers already, and any other that it are missing have been generally easy to find. Unless you have some old hardware (I had and old old and I mean old webcam that I couldn't get to work) it should be a pretty straightforward install. From XP you cannot upgrade. It will copy your old windows install and put it in a windows.old folder off of your OS drive that you can retrieve pictures and files off of if need be. My new pc is i7, quad core, 1GB vid card and 6gb ram.

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Vampyre

I just built a new pc with Windows 7 and I do IT for a software co. I have done many installs. Windows 7 is fairly easy. It should have most drivers already, and any other that it are missing have been generally easy to find. Unless you have some old hardware (I had and old old and I mean old webcam that I couldn't get to work) it should be a pretty straightforward install. From XP you cannot upgrade. It will copy your old windows install and put it in a windows.old folder off of your OS drive that you can retrieve pictures and files off of if need be. My new pc is i7, quad core, 1GB vid card and 6gb ram.

I won't have an old windows install. The install is going on a new drive, then I'll connect up the old drive once the install is done, transfer files, then format the drive. I figured that would be a simple way of doing it.

As for hardware, the oldest item I am running on there is a 1.5 year old printer. Everything on the computer was brand new when I built it in October (verified the purchase date). I even upgraded the monitor to a 21" LED around December.

Good to know it is an easy install. Having a second opinion never hurts!

[Liber]

The only problem I've had moving from XP to 7 is that HP doesn't make drivers for my printer for 7. This is a non-issue if the printer if the printer were hooked up to my machine directly, but it is hooked up to another XP machine on the network. Since HP's workaround doesn't work in this situation, i have no printer on my rig, which really isn't that big of a deal.

You won't have an old install? copy the files you want to keep, including your Ethernet driver files, onto a flash drive.(I can't remember if Win7 had the ethernet port drivers already or not) Then, Just install your old copy of windows xp on the new drive and then upgrade to 7.

FYI: Win7 32 won't detect more than 4gigs of RAM. You need a 64bit OS to detect more than 4gigs of RAM.

If you want to be able to use all 8 gigs, upgrade to Win7-64 Professional(I recommend Professional, but Home Premium is just fine). You are a student right?:

http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/...s/default.aspx

it's 30$ with a valid student e-mail address. I've used this for Office 2007 and Win7-64, both work great.

[Apex]

Good call on the memory Chris. I appreciate that tip. I may just go ahead and spend the little cash to get the proper OS so I can use all my memory.

[CThunder-blue]

I agree. Get the 64bit OS. The extra memory will make boot times so much faster than XP you'll love it. I installed a win7 64bit on a new drive in the same computer as my XP drive. You can totally tell the difference between load times and how much faster each program loads as well. Graphics rendering and video editing is also much faster as well.

[CynicalC]

Windows 7 is superior to xp in almost every way. The only thing that can be a pain in the ass for experienced users are the new security features (User Account Controls), but from the sounds of it you will probbaly benefit from them.

Get windows 7 Ultimate 64 and never look back. The first thing you should download is microsoft security essentials. You don't need any other antivirus or anything. Use 7zip instead of winzip or winrar. Use Foxit reader instead of adobe garbage. And if you use any IM clients, (aim, msn, facebook) get Pidgin. Ad free, lightweight, and retains 100% functionality of each individual client.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by Liber

The only problem I've had moving from XP to 7 is that HP doesn't make drivers for my printer for 7. This is a non-issue if the printer if the printer were hooked up to my machine directly, but it is hooked up to another XP machine on the network. Since HP's workaround doesn't work in this situation, i have no printer on my rig, which really isn't that big of a deal.

You won't have an old install? copy the files you want to keep, including your Ethernet driver files, onto a flash drive.(I can't remember if Win7 had the ethernet port drivers already or not) Then, Just install your old copy of windows xp on the new drive and then upgrade to 7.

FYI: Win7 32 won't detect more than 4gigs of RAM. You need a 64bit OS to detect more than 4gigs of RAM.

If you want to be able to use all 8 gigs, upgrade to Win7-64 Professional(I recommend Professional, but Home Premium is just fine). You are a student right?:

http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/...s/default.aspx

it's 30$ with a valid student e-mail address. I've used this for Office 2007 and Win7-64, both work great.

Just get the vista 64 driver

[Alex]

Big fan of Windows 7 here. Upgraded all of our PC's a few months ago (from a combination of Vista & XP), and each one from the most ancient to newest is working quite well. 7 is what Vista should have been. I have pangs of fear about Windows 8, only because I don't want to change anything right now it's working so well.

[Apex]

Well if Microsoft continues with their current trend, then Windows 8 will suck, and Windows 9 will rock. Because 98 sucked, 98se was leaps and bounds better, ME sucked, XP rocked...they tend to hit and miss like that.

[Liber]

Then don't. I skipped vista.

Ill try those vista 64 drivers. I don't really think he needs ultimate...unless there is a student version, I don't think its very cost effective. The only reason I rec 7 pro is because I use the XP virtual PC.

[SSR]

Upgraded to Windows 7 first day it came out and can't say enough good things about it. It's almost painful to go back to XP. You'll be kicking yourself that you waited this long to upgrade.

[Boom King]

Windows 7 user and fan myself. Just hated those "Windows 7 was my idea" commercials. They should have just told it straight;

"Windows 7... way better than that last $hit".

[CThunder-blue]

Originally Posted by Apex

Well if Microsoft continues with their current trend, then Windows 8 will suck, and Windows 9 will rock. Because 98 sucked, 98se was leaps and bounds better, ME sucked, XP rocked...they tend to hit and miss like that.

It's usually how it goes. Release a product that's "ok" earn some money from the noobs who run out and buy it cuz it's new. Then read the feedback from the techs as well as complaints from the noobs and release a new version based on the previous version, but with the major bugs worked out.

[Apex]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

It's usually how it goes. Release a product that's "ok" earn some money from the noobs who run out and buy it cuz it's new. Then read the feedback from the techs as well as complaints from the noobs and release a new version based on the previous version, but with the major bugs worked out.

It's called "cheap R&D".

[nattygirl]

Make sure you have a full version of windows if you plan to install on a clean hard drive. Usually the cheaper versions are upgrade version and require an existing OS (XP or vista) to already be installed in order to upgrade to Windows 7.

[Vampyre]

Originally Posted by nattygirl

Make sure you have a full version of windows if you plan to install on a clean hard drive. Usually the cheaper versions are upgrade version and require an existing OS (XP or vista) to already be installed in order to upgrade to Windows 7.

You can trick them. You just need to put in the older OS cd during the "upgrade" and it will proceed with a normal full install, and there are other options to get an upgrade disc to work if you do not have a copy of the older OS.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Vampyre

You just need to put in the older OS cd during the "upgrade" and it will proceed with a normal full install, and there are other options to get an upgrade disc to work if you do not have a copy of the older OS.

There are ways to get around it, but putting in the older OS cd no longer works with 7 as it did with Vista.

[Vampyre]

Well pluck me bald and call me drafty!!! I haven't actually tried an upgrade. I get Windows 7 cheap through work.

[Apex]

I got a full 64-bit version of Win7 Pro yesterday. Just waiting on my parts to do the full install.

[CZroe]

Windows 7 takes as many backwards steps as forward steps but it's better than Vista and more supported now than XP, so it makes sense to have it on your primary PC. I upgraded my Q6600 to Win7 though I had several hardware issues at first (Abit WiFi drivers would blue-screen until I installed hacked drivers, strange nVidia AMD+Intel chipset combination in an Asus P5N32-E SLI PLUS never even offered final Vista drivers, etc, but I like it the way it is set up now. My compatibility system is an XP notebook and I have XP mode in Win7 Ultimate x64 if I need it. My Alienware M11x shipped with Win7 Premium and I've rarely had a Win7-specific problem.

[Apex]

I installed Win7 on the PC Saturday. Very nice. Yeah it is windows, yeah it won't be perfect, but it is better than Vista and Me EASILY!

I was rather impressed with the simplicity of the installation. Put it on a fresh 640GB drive, 8GB ram, just running without any issues. My Asus PQ5-EM board is definitely dated since the SATA ports are pointing right at my EVGA GeForce GTS250 video card. Very tight space, but I got it to work. If I had anything more than my optical drive and my two hard drives, I'd have been in trouble!

Needless to say, the easiest install in quite a long time. Updated my drivers, added my SteelSeries WoW mouse driver, EVGA driver, and now just need to download my games tonight so I'll be all set to play come Wednesday. I also need to check for any driver conflicts as well.