Hi folks

I've had enough of my laptop freezing up and having to restart the thing if its left for any more than a few minutes.

Also it runs waaaay too slowly.

So tomorrow I reckon I'll up the RAM on my Vaio to 4GB and undate the OS.

Which one should I buy do you reckon?

I've been on Vista for 2 years now,and my Laptop,has never had a freezing up problem!

sounds more like a processor overheating problem to me,or some other hardware malfunction.

increasing the Ram is always worthwhile to gain some extra speed.

Seems that Windows 8 OS is getting good revues,i'm thinking of upgrading myself,

presumably it will be able to be installed straight over Vista,without losing too much.

It would be worth checking to make sure Windows 8,has all your Drivers included,before purchase.

I've been on Vista for 2 years now,and my Laptop,has never had a freezing up problem!

sounds more like a processor overheating problem to me,or some other hardware malfunction.

increasing the Ram is always worthwhile to gain some extra speed.

Seems that Windows 8 OS is getting good revues,i'm thinking of upgrading myself,

presumably it will be able to be installed straight over Vista,without losing too much.

It would be worth checking to make sure Windows 8,has all your Drivers included,before purchase.

Hmmm overheating could well be the problem...anyway I've decided to upgrade. How can I check whether the drivers are included please?

I've had enough of my laptop freezing up and having to restart the thing if its left for any more than a few minutes.

Run a memory test.

Also make sure the laptop isn't overheating.

Ditch Vista and go for Win7. Performance will improve without any change on the hardware.

Compatibility and stability too...

Ditch Vista and go for Win7. Performance will improve without any change on the hardware.

Compatibility and stability too...

That's what I was thinking but with Windows 8 out there maybe that would be better still...?

I've had enough of my laptop freezing up and having to restart the thing if its left for any more than a few minutes.

Run a memory test.

Also make sure the laptop isn't overheating.

I'm currently running Vista.

Ditch Vista and go for Win7. Performance will improve without any change on the hardware.

Compatibility and stability too...

That's what I was thinking but with Windows 8 out there maybe that would be better still...?

Windows 8 release date is still not announced... Win7 has demonstrated stability and security over the past few years. I'd say it would be a safer bet rather than being an early adopter.

Windows 8 release date is still not announced... Win7 has demonstrated stability and security over the past few years. I'd say it would be a safer bet rather than being an early adopter.

Ok Windows 7 it is then.

Another question...any thoughts on the best antivuris software at the moment?

Windows 7 is lighter and 100's of times more robust than Visa ever was. It morel like vista should have been. It has been release for nearly 2 years now.

Windows 8 release date is still not announced... Win7 has demonstrated stability and security over the past few years. I'd say it would be a safer bet rather than being an early adopter.

Ok Windows 7 it is then.

Another question...any thoughts on the best antivuris software at the moment?

I usually recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

Pretty lightweight and has been recognized as among the best by many specialists: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/features/software/3284387/five-of-the-best-free-security-suites/

I've had enough of my laptop freezing up and having to restart the thing if its left for any more than a few minutes.

Run a memory test.

Also make sure the laptop isn't overheating.

I'm currently running Vista.

You should run a memory test to rule out faulty RAM. Memtest86+ is run from a bootable CD or USB stick. The tutorial I linked to will show you how to do it.

I've had enough of my laptop freezing up and having to restart the thing if its left for any more than a few minutes.

Run a memory test.

Also make sure the laptop isn't overheating.

I'm currently running Vista.

You should run a memory test to rule out faulty RAM. Memtest86+ is run from a bootable CD or USB stick. The tutorial I linked to will show you how to do it.

Ok thanks. I'll do this tonight.

Ditch Vista and go for Win7. Performance will improve without any change on the hardware.

Compatibility and stability too...

+1 as a developer I never migrated to Vista from XP, but now run 64bit win 7 and have to say after a few early teething problems it works really well, apart from my old sound blaster card, no win7 drivers available

Windows 8 release date is still not announced... Win7 has demonstrated stability and security over the past few years. I'd say it would be a safer bet rather than being an early adopter.

Ok Windows 7 it is then.

Another question...any thoughts on the best antivuris software at the moment?

I usually recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

Pretty lightweight and has been recognized as among the best by many specialists: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/features/software/3284387/five-of-the-best-free-security-suites/

Yes I would agree with MSE.... some thing free from Microsoft! Been using it for years, even when one did have to pay for it.... But it must be legit Windows... or you'll get nabbed....

JIB store on Samui, usually has best price on W7... just so you know... now you'll have to decide which version of W7 you want!

Ditch Vista and go for Win7. Performance will improve without any change on the hardware.

Compatibility and stability too...

That's what I was thinking but with Windows 8 out there maybe that would be better still...?

W7 is the way to go.

All my programs works perfectly on WinXP, including Kaspersky anti virus.

What would be the reason to change ?

Wait... no Windows 2000 (aka NT5) ??

W2K was another 'good' operating system by MS. Much better than Win98, IMHO.

I had compatibility issues with win 2000, the only OS that truly has worked as a charm is win XP

All my programs works perfectly on WinXP, including Kaspersky anti virus.

What would be the reason to change ?

Windows XP is 10 years old and is 'extended' support phase (which ends in April 2014 - no more updates). Plenty of reasons to upgrade to Windows 7...

1. Better performance and security

2. Supports a wide variety of devices out of the box

3. New and improved Taskbar

4. Jump lists

5. Virtual XP Mode

6. IE9 (if you use Internet Explorer)

Lots of under the hood changes - networking, search, etc.

1. I believe security would have gone up since less time has been spent understanding/hacking w7.

But performance ? historically every next gen. OS demands ever increasing hardware, so did that all change with w7 ?

2. I think those same devises are plug&play with winXP, but yes, there was one wireless program with my new phone that required w7, so i had to buy a wifi router.

5. Virtual XP mode: The most important one : I have some old programs that reportedly are a pain to work with w7, is that a add-on program ? is there any article or forum debate somewhere where i can read up on this issue ?

All my programs works perfectly on WinXP, including Kaspersky anti virus.

What would be the reason to change ?

I hear what you're saying...but why would I downgrade?

That just doesn't make any sense.

@Supernova....I can't get the file to burn to disc. Not that I'm particularly worried....I think that issue really is due to overheating.

I'll get the RAM module over the weekend and install Windows 7 on Monday. Hopefully this will improve things.

Also plan to ditch a lot of the Vaio crap.

Still looking for a decent antivirus program....?

Is Windows essentials the best do you reckon?

http://www.avast.com/en-gb/free-antivirus-download

Good and free.

http://www.avast.com...ivirus-download

Good and free.

Thanks for that mate!

All my programs works perfectly on WinXP, including Kaspersky anti virus.

What would be the reason to change ?

I hear what you're saying...but why would I downgrade?

That just doesn't make any sense.

Thousands of businesses would disagree with you. They paid $$ millions to downgrade their entire company's computer population when they found out how bad Vista was. My company computer (less than 2 years old) is still an XP.

@Supernova....I can't get the file to burn to disc. Not that I'm particularly worried....I think that issue really is due to overheating.

I'll get the RAM module over the weekend and install Windows 7 on Monday. Hopefully this will improve things.

Also plan to ditch a lot of the Vaio crap.

Still looking for a decent antivirus program....?

Is Windows essentials the best do you reckon?

Another +1 for Windows essentials, before Win 7 I used AVG free then paid for version, but it's slow and cumbersome and uses to many resources now. MSE free, pretty lightweight on resources, I don't even notice it at boot time or while it's running in the background.

wow there's me recommending a piece of Microsoft ware, never thought I'd see the day while I'm at it MS Visual Studio 2010 version is pretty good as well, not that it has anything to do with this thread...

http://www.avast.com...ivirus-download

Good and free.

Thanks for that mate!

I was having similar problems with my laptop. A good, professional cleaning did the trick. Laptops and desktops pick up a lot of dust inside. In the close confines of a laptop, a small blockage can make a big difference.

When I cleaned my desktop as well, and for the first time in many years of use removed the fan from the processor, I found the heat sinks to be so packed with lint that is was like felt.

Oh well I tried once and it seemed to stop for half an hour so ...here goes again....hopefully Windows 7 sometime tonight...

I did have to uninstall my Intel PROset/Wireless program though....

Surely if you install another OS you will lose ALL the original Vaio stuff? I ask because I'm no expert, but also run Vista and am encountering problems recently. In HK the other day the Sony shop told me that if I installed W7 I would lose all the original factory-installed Vaio programs. True or not?