If it's a PC you're using, simply install a second hard drive and install Win 7 on that. That way, you'll have a dual boot system.

If you're using a laptop, you can remove XP, install Win 7 and then shrink the partition by 40GB and reinstall XP on that. Again, you've got dual boot system at your disposal which might be useful someday.

Please note: there is a serious known issue with dual boot systems using Windows 7 and Vista with an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. For example whenever you boot in Windows XP, then reboot in Windows 7 all the restore points in Windows 7 are lost.

See this workaround from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185

Better to install Windows XP as a Virtual Machine in Windows 7.

Before I get hit with all the "XP Mode is not available Windows 7 Home Edition" comments. Yes, that is true.

However you can actually run Windows Virtual PC on any Windows 7 computer, even ones running Home Premium that aren't eligible for XP Mode. You could install XP in it, then install Virtual PC's integration components, and it will work exactly like the default XP Mode.

There are two other free and legal Virtual Machine alternatives VirtualBox and VMware Player in which you can install a legal Windows XP virtual machine.

When you download Windows Virtual PC from Microsoft you need to be sure to select Professional as your edition of Windows … even though Home Premium is licensed to run Virtual PC and can run it fine, the download isn’t offered by default

You can also legally download Microsoft Virtual PC from sites such as Softpedia (http://www.softpedia...irtual-PC.shtml) Note: this is not the same as Virtual PC 2007 which is not compatible with Windows 7.

VMware’s integration solution easier to use and much faster to setup. Here are some very simple instructions to install Windows XP in Windows 7 Home using VMware Player.

Be aware that when you use a Virtual Machine 2 GB should be the minimum amount of RAM installed.

Neither do I like the Win 7 control panel. It's a jumbled up mess and requires you to claw your way through 4 columns of data and read from left to right across each column which is complete madness in my opinion. It would have been much better to list each column alphabetically, but oh no, why make things easy when you can make them difficult. That's been Microsoft's philosophy from day one and it continues to this day.

The icons are alphabetical by row.

Why don't you use the search? As you type the letters an alphabetical list in a column appears such as this:

Or why do you don't you switch to category view Same view as on Windows XP?

IMO Not a valid complaint.

IMO Not a valid complaint.

And you work for....??!

IMO Not a valid complaint.

And you work for....??!

No One! I retired over 15 years ago.

If it's a PC you're using, simply install a second hard drive and install Win 7 on that. That way, you'll have a dual boot system.

If you're using a laptop, you can remove XP, install Win 7 and then shrink the partition by 40GB and reinstall XP on that. Again, you've got dual boot system at your disposal which might be useful someday.

Please note: there is a serious known issue with dual boot systems using Windows 7 and Vista with an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. For example whenever you boot in Windows XP, then reboot in Windows 7 all the restore points in Windows 7 are lost.

See this workaround from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185

Better to install Windows XP as a Virtual Machine in Windows 7.

Before I get hit with all the "XP Mode is not available Windows 7 Home Edition" comments. Yes, that is true.

However you can actually run Windows Virtual PC on any Windows 7 computer, even ones running Home Premium that aren't eligible for XP Mode. You could install XP in it, then install Virtual PC's integration components, and it will work exactly like the default XP Mode.

There are two other free and legal Virtual Machine alternatives VirtualBox and VMware Player in which you can install a legal Windows XP virtual machine.

When you download Windows Virtual PC from Microsoft you need to be sure to select Professional as your edition of Windows … even though Home Premium is licensed to run Virtual PC and can run it fine, the download isn’t offered by default

You can also legally download Microsoft Virtual PC from sites such as Softpedia (http://www.softpedia...irtual-PC.shtml) Note: this is not the same as Virtual PC 2007 which is not compatible with Windows 7.

VMware’s integration solution easier to use and much faster to setup. Here are some very simple instructions to install Windows XP in Windows 7 Home using VMware Player.

Be aware that when you use a Virtual Machine 2 GB should be the minimum amount of RAM installed.

Well, I never knew that. Thanks for the tip!

Please note: there is a serious known issue with dual boot systems using Windows 7 and Vista with an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. For example whenever you boot in Windows XP, then reboot in Windows 7 all the restore points in Windows 7 are lost.

See this workaround from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185

Interesting... I didn't realize this was a problem. But then again, I don't use System Restore and have it disabled on all my machines. (I have my own reasons for doing this.) Still very useful information nevertheless.

Thanks for the heads up.

Please note: there is a serious known issue with dual boot systems using Windows 7 and Vista with an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. For example whenever you boot in Windows XP, then reboot in Windows 7 all the restore points in Windows 7 are lost.

See this workaround from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185

Interesting... I didn't realize this was a problem. But then again, I don't use System Restore and have it disabled on all my machines. (I have my own reasons for doing this.) Still very useful information nevertheless.

Thanks for the heads up.

funny they know about it...they write a workaround instruction (that sucks) and still they don't cure it....

Martin

If one can't see any bright light during the day, what a nightmare it should be during the night.

Win 7 is a vast improvement on XP and especially Vista, but don't be conned with this "fast startup" nonsense. XP starts quickly too - until you start loading apps in the startup, and Win 7 is not much better once you have an aged system.

But IE9 is out in beta and will not be released for XP, so if you want to take advantage of Microsoft's (by all accounts greatly improved) browser, you'll have to make the switch anyway.

I like it because hardware that stopped working when I went to Vista for want of a driver suddenly worked again in 7, much to my surprise.

It's a learning curve if you're steeped in XP, but once you get used to it, it's actually much easier.

Please note: there is a serious known issue with dual boot systems using Windows 7 and Vista with an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. For example whenever you boot in Windows XP, then reboot in Windows 7 all the restore points in Windows 7 are lost.

See this workaround from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185

Interesting... I didn't realize this was a problem. But then again, I don't use System Restore and have it disabled on all my machines. (I have my own reasons for doing this.) Still very useful information nevertheless.

Thanks for the heads up.

funny they know about it...they write a workaround instruction (that sucks) and still they don't cure it....

Martin

Martin, You'll probably be interested in this:

I have a backup/restore program that is Linux based (so it can be used with a completely dead system). I've notice that when I restore an image of the Windows 7 system drive and reboot into Windows 7, again all previous system restore points are lost. So I suspect the problem would also occur with a dual boot system using Linux.

In my case, I'm restoring from a crashed system. So I could care less about the previous restore points. I'm aware of it and immediately make a system restore point.

Martin, You'll probably be interested in this:

I have a backup/restore program that is Linux based (so it can be used with a completely dead system). I've notice that when I restore an image of the Windows 7 system drive and reboot into Windows 7, again all previous system restore points are lost. So I suspect the problem would also occur with a dual boot system using Linux.

In my case, I'm restoring from a crashed system. So I could care less about the previous restore points. I'm aware of it and immediately make a system restore point.

Yes I'm interested... I usually use Partimage for backing up whole partitions... should be said Partimage has some flaws and the NTFS support is experimental so don't use it unless you know what that means...

Am I being rude If I ask what backup program you use?

If you are using a partition backup system and the restored win7 looses the restore points then I just don't have a clue why...

I know that you can run into odd stuff if the hardware changes, for example if you restore a clone on a new HD but you leave the MBR as it is on the new drive... MS is using a part of the MBR to store a number... But that was on WinXP...and the symptoms was boot up to the login screen and then gracefully shut down.... no matter what i did... then I copied that MBR from the old disk and it worked again... I used dd for that.

If it is a filebased backup system you use, I can think maybe the creation date of the files or some other metadata are messed up... this should be a pain for other programs as well, if they use that info...

I;m trying to stay away from partition backups as much as I can but it is handy if the installation procedures are complicated... I'm dealing quite a lot with older machine controllers based on DOS/Windows and it makes sense to back them up by partition....

On the other hand, I need to track parameters and some machines are not networked DOS tcp/ip stack is conflicting with some applications... floppies are out of fashion and USB sticks and DOS form a dysfunctional family....

Dual boot...into something else... do the backup and push it over the network and reboot into DOS again... it sucks too (manual work) but it may be useful if the machines are not on a 24/7 mission.

I love these off topic spin-offs...

Martin

Am I being rude If I ask what backup program you use?

No problem. I use Paragon Hard Disk Manager to backup my hard disk partitions.