Windows 7

[Trickee]

Are all you lucky W7 users finding that your applications are running faster?

[spinner]

Hardly, damn upgrade has crashed my main PC. It installed on my laptop fine but got all the way to finalizing the settings and stopped. I'm trying to restore Vista now.

[picsfor]

OK - the upgeade disc finally arrived, and failed to work as Toshiba said.
Put this disc in and follow the instructions, uninstall this, then that - change this setting then that.

I put the disc in and booted to CD and performed a fresh install. I have to say i was impressed with how simple the install process was.
Haven't seen antything that simple since DOS 6.22!

Sadly, that was where my joy ended.
I am now writing this from a Windows 7 equipped laptop - and it is bloody horrible.
If i ever get hold of any of those morons on TV telling that Windows 7 was their idea i'll bloody swing for them.
It's bloody horrible - i loathe it with a vengeance. Awful muck.
Worse still it came with IE pre-installed. I thought they weren't allowed to do that as part of an EU ruling?
Needless to say it will be toast before the weekend is out and i move over to Firefox...
Now i need to starrt installing other software so i can moan about it even more. Where's a Mac when you need one?

[spinner]

I have to say, my other two upgrades insalled flawlessly. 
It does seem faster than Vista.

[anglefire]

My dads PC is now working ok on W7 - though I had to put in a new video card as the one it had in was so old I couldn't find drivers for it, so just playing solitare (My mothers favourite game!) was just so slow!

And the motherboard has extended IDE channels - also not supported, so one drive can't been seen in W7 - none of which were mentioned as problems when the compatability program was run!

[Al Birmingham]

In my humble experience all versions of Windows run faster when newly installed. Things return to normal after a few weeks once the cache has got clogged up. I shall wait a while before upgrading.

[picsfor]

In my humble experience all versions of Windows run faster when newly installed. Things return to normal after a few weeks once the cache has got clogged up. I shall wait a while before upgrading.

Yes quite agree - it always does run faster on a new install.
For all the fuss they had trying to make W7 comply with EU directives, it is the most Microsoft centric version of windows so far.
Media Player and IE being shoved in my face in more than in previous versions (both subject of EU investigations) and the ability to switch back to classic view seems to have disappeared.
So now i'm stuck with having to make sense of the newer menu system - which i never liked in the first place.

They've clearly tried to implement some of the better Apple ideas to varying success, and i've not had any hardware or software issues so far.
That said, the laptop is less than 6 months old so i think it was already configured for W7 to a degree, and most of my software is pretty much standard stuff - no freebies or work round software.
I have also set about uninstalling as much as possible. Even without the Manufacturer muck - Windows installs enough tat of its own and off loading any unnecessary stuff will always help it run better.
No different from the days of DOS when you had to configure your base memory to get as close to 640k as possible - now it's unloading as much unnecessary software and options as possible.

Oh yes, a good thing - better report them as i find them cos i'm not expecting to find too many.
The wireless internet set up is vastly improved over previous versions. On install it prompted me with all the wireless set ups and offered to configure it all with the aid of a required password or similar.
A huge improvement over Vista or even XP/ 2000.

Ah well, i'm destressing now, cos i'm writing this from my Mac! 

[Malcolm1938]

I run 2 computers

!. Fujitsu Siemens Laptop running Vista with a copyright date of 2005
2 An Archos Netbook running XP with a copyright date of 2005

I still get regular updates for both of these fully 5 years after the copyright date suggesting that they are still not perfect  so what makes anyone think that Windows 7 can really be finished.

When asked about new operating systems I usually say dont even consider it before SP2 is launched and even then it will not be finished.

I dont care how much faster an operating system is claimed to be - If it can save me a few minutes in a day I would not know what to do with  the time it saved. To me a good operating systems are about reliability - not speed.

[picsfor]

Sadly, i have people who i help with their computer stuff - and the questions have been asked.
For £20+ i'm hardly gonna pass up the opportunity to try it out...

I didn't expect miracles because ultimately we are still talking about a system built around the x86 architecture from way back when my daughters were the age of my youngest grandson - and he's still in nappies. What was even more obvious about this release was the absence of an included e-mail application. A way of getting people to buy into 'Office' or sign up to the Windows Cloud computing ideal maybe? Not that i wish to sound cynical! What the heck - i am being cynical!

Well, back to the Mac - enough testing and learning for one day. I have pictures to process and high scores to achieve! 

[anglefire]

No email client? I can't say I'd noticed - though thinking about it, it did say Outlook express wasn't included - though I did assume something was!

Whilst I don't necessarily think that you should be tied into what the OS provides, I think the basics should be - but easily removable if not required.

To be honest, why aren't Apple being done by the anti-competition lot? I mean, it comes with pretty much everything built in.

[spinner]

well to honest, I simply wanted to take advantage of this new 3 licence family pack as my daughter was talking about getting Win 7 for her PC and I had been running the RC version already on my 2nd PC and it expires in july of 2010.

[picsfor]

To be honest, why aren't Apple being done by the anti-competition lot? I mean, it comes with pretty much everything built in.

I think the approach to how the 2 companies do business is somewhat different.
It's hard to accuse Apple of accusing their monopolistic position when they command such a small share of the market!
Also, i think Apple have sailed very closely to the legal muddy waters on a few occasions but have responded to public opinion before it got that far.
Finally, i do not think Apple inhibit people developing for their platform or demand that suppliers include Apple stuff when selling the kit.

Now go into PC Wold and see what he Windows variety come with.
The phrase 'WINtel' was not coined for fun - it reminds us that 2 companies almost have total control on the home computing market.

[SimonW]

VIRGIN !

I've upgraded one of "my" (office) machines from Vista to Windows 7 and assisted with several others, and they're all the better for it, the upgrade being simple and trouble free. But helping one neighbour, the installation stopped almost at once and reported that it could not proceed until we first removed Kaspersky. I know that's an anti-virus thing, but the machine did not have it installed; it used software supplied by the ISP and branded by them - Virgin. A call to Virgin (quickly and efficiently answered) confirmed that their security software was not compatible with Windows 7 and they expected issue a fix by late December. So we can't do the upgrade till then. I'm only mentioning this in case it might help anyone else using Virgin software - you might initially be as puzzled as we were.

(And full marks to Windows 7 for preventing an upgrade which might have caused all sorts of trouble.)

[picsfor]

Isn't that strange - i have Kaspersky and when trying out the initial upgrade install it mentioned nothing about that.
Historically i have fond Virgin to be slower at supporting upgrades to OS - but when they do - they seem to know their stuff.

But i'll bet your info will save a lot of frustrated and broken hearts.

[spinner]

Is it just me, or have any of you experienced changes to how some software works post Win7 upgrade vs. pre Win7? I've found a couple of programs seem to have been altered? The latest was Audacity. It's not that they stopped working it's that their workflows appear to have changed.