Convince Me To Upgrade To Windows 7 From Xp!

[jaideeguy]

I've been resisting the upgrade [?] to a newer OS from my old trusty XP, but I can see that it is maybe the time to change as most of the glitches hopefully have been worked out by now with Windows 7??

What will I be gaining ???

BTW, I'm just a casual internet dummie and use it mostly for downloads, internet, news......no gaming or any really techy stuff.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.......

[h90]

If you install a SSD, need more than 3 GB Ram or your new mainboard doesn't has WinXP driver, than make an update.

IF you want a stable good and slim OS and don't care about eye candies than keep WinXP.

I use both. Win7 looks nice at the first moment, but there aren't many real advantages.

[Mighty Mouse]

You are advised to first check as to whether the software you are now using under XP will still work under 7.

If everything is stable on your machine under XP, why change it?

[ThaidDown]

Why not try Win 7 first and then decide?

Download Genuine Win 7 .iso and burn to DVD. Create a separate partition on the system drive and install win 7 in that.

When you next start up you will be able to boot into XP or Win7. You will have 30 days, from downloading the .iso before you have to register, think this can be extended a couple of times. (see Google) before finally having to enter a key (or use Google to find other ways)

.iso downloads available here http://malwaretips.com/blogs/download-windows-7-sp1-iso/

Note...these are genuine MS files NOT cracked and need a valid key for continued use.

This way you can decide.

[PoorSucker]

Win XP support ends April 8, 2014

Install the 64-bit version of Win 7.

[Cloggie]

If you are happy with XP, leave it like it is - no need to upgrade. I know support will end next year but that does not mean "it's the end of the world" for your PC.

If you also accept the fact that MAYBE new hardware will NOT support XP anymore then I would just stay with XP (make sure you have a good virus scanner like Avast)

Just my two satang

[Tywais]

Install the 64-bit version of Win 7.

And hope he can find drivers for his legacy hardware. Too many times I've had to trouble shoot hardware issues at the lab only to find they have 64-bit version running and no drivers for the device. Needs to check every piece of equipment connected - video card, printer, scanner, etc. to make sure he will be able to use them after a 64-bit install. Windows 7, 32 bit have not had a driver problem except for an occasional ancient device.

[CharlieH]

One saying springs to mind, if it aint broke why try fixin it?

If it does everything you need, without oroblems, and you cant see your needs changing, leave it alone.If on the other hand you want to improve, or an attached device goes down, you might find at that point you have to update for compatability etc.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Does the machine have a brand name and model number?

[givenall]

Don't bother with win 7. Go to. Win 8 and relax for few more years

[PoorSucker]

Install the 64-bit version of Win 7.

And hope he can find drivers for his legacy hardware. Too many times I've had to trouble shoot hardware issues at the lab only to find they have 64-bit version running and no drivers for the device. Needs to check every piece of equipment connected - video card, printer, scanner, etc. to make sure he will be able to use them after a 64-bit install. Windows 7, 32 bit have not had a driver problem except for an occasional ancient device.

Had no problems with drivers on my DELL.

I installed the 64-bit version because the 32-bit version supports max 4 GB RAM and only allowed me to use 3GB RAM.

Check your drivers here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/win7/CompatCenter/Home?Language=en-US

[falang07]

Windows XP is just fine with your old hardware and upgrading it does not make any sense. If you buy a new notebook, it will have Windows 8 already.

[PoorSucker]

Windows XP is just fine with your old hardware and upgrading it does not make any sense. If you buy a new notebook, it will have Windows 8 already.

Notebooks in Thailand are sold without operating system.

[Digitalbanana]

You are advised to first check as to whether the software you are now using under XP will still work under 7.

If everything is stable on your machine under XP, why change it?

No patches or security updates? 'nuff said.

[MichaelJohn]

I'm not a geek but it's a "no brainer".I loved XP but Win 7 is in a diferent league (better faster more stable .....)

Just do it, you won't regret it :-)

[WhizBang]

There is no logical reason to upgrade, unless you have to.

Having to, means there are no XP drivers for your hardware or you NEED 64 bit.

I have both and prefer XP by a wide margin. There are still far too many bugs in 7 and far far too much eye candy. 7 is much harder to tame than XP. Microsoft is making it harder and harder to tweak the OS to work your way, thereby forcing the official M$ view on everyone.

Linux looks better with every new M$ release.

[worgeordie]

Hi Jaideeguy, If it works ok dont try and fix it,theres nothing wrong with XP, dont worry

about end of support from Microsoft, as those updates and Patches can cause problems,

I have never updated my XP machine in 5 years ,and have had no issues at all.

Lack of system restore on Win 7, I know you can do backups ,but system restore is easier

for me to use.

Millions of other people will be sticking to XP for years to come.

regards Worgeordie

[JetsetBkk]

There are a few reasons why I will not upgrade to Win 7 or, God forbid, Win 8 .

Here's one bug that hit me within minutes of using a friend's PC running Win 7:

http://bit.ly/ghdXjf - have a read, it's really quite funny.

So that bug stops me navigating around my hard drives using Windows Explorer's left folder pane.

But, no big deal, I thought I'd get around that annoying limitation by sticking a few auto-hiding toolbars on the left, right and top edges of my desktop, just like I have on my XP PC. Here's my right side toolbars:

I've got one on the left and on the top, too. All I do is move the mouse to the edge, click on the expander symbol under the appropriate toolbar name and I can navigate to any drive, folder, shortcut or file.

But, wait a minute! I can't do that in Win 7 because... because... you just can't. Thanks MS. Another excellent feature thrown away.

I won't bother going into all the unnecessarily renamed system functions, stupid page layouts in Control Panel, reorganising of functions into groups so you can't find what you want.

The only good thing about using Win 7 is that it has a brilliant "Search" facility.

And the reason it has that search facility, is because you can't find anything - it's all been moved around, renamed, put in some obscure location.

As many have said already, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[schondie]

If you're happy enough with it I would suggest sticking with XP. I quite liked it compared to other M$ products. I imagine that there will be unofficial updates as there was with Windows 98 for many years after the support finished.

[Digitalbanana]

>The only good thing about using Win 7 is that it has a brilliant "Search" facility.

There are numerous changes in Win7 since XP which is now a decade old. If you have a decade old PC that never connects to anything else, including the Internet, maybe you'll be ok, but I wouldn't chance it.For the rest there are the latest O/S systems with security patches and updates.

Some of my personal likes of Win7 over XP, purely a personal thing, is the use of libraries, task bar jump lists that all make my life easier. Besides that it comes in 64 bit so runs much faster.

[nikster]

I am admittedly a very light user of windows - let's just say I avoid it like the plague. But sometimes, I do work with it.

Windows 7 is the best Windows yet, upgrade from XP and you won't regret it. To me the biggest feature is that "search" actually works. It... just works, period. Which is funny because search had been around, in non-working form, since before Windows XP. But with W7, they finally made it work and it works well.

That means you can use it like this: Hit the windows button and start typing any application name, it'll auto complete. You will find that that's the fastest way to launch applications; quicker than the quick launch toolbar, and much quicker than the dreaded start menu or shortcut icons. Search is seriously a big deal.

So OK they've moved around all the preferences for apparently no reason at all (Vista did that, actually). It's still OK as thanks to search you can still find everything.

Windows 8 - skip that until they bring back the start button. Everyone I've talked to - all hard core PC people - hate it. It seems to be even more hated than Vista was at the time, which is a bit of a feat. But this is Microsoft, they will eventually revert those few horrible ideas they wanted to force on people, and Windows 8.1 or 9 or whatever will be just fine again. Just at the moment, W8 is a bad choice.

Another more techy detail - Windows 7 also has a proper disk cache; this makes it operate much faster than XP. I noticed that compiling a huge Java project - with equal hardware, a full build would take over 5 minutes on Win XP vs. 30 seconds on the Mac. W7 also does it in 30 seconds. I monitored system stats and this particular test was all due to the much better disk cache in OS X and W7.

So yeah, even under the hood, Win 7 is much better than XP.

[jbrain]

I am admittedly a very light user of windows - let's just say I avoid it like the plague. But sometimes, I do work with it.

You mean sometimes you switch to Windows when you want to use a software program your glorified Icrap doesn't allow you to use

[Stradavarius37]

Because its 2013, not 1998...

[angiud]

Win 7 never crash on my pc for 2 years (or more?)

Go for it!

[bdenner]

Throw in a 2nd HDD and dual boot! You'll still have your active OS and applications as well as the ability to trial W7 on your hardware at your leisure.

Been doing it since W7 was introduced --- BTW Xp is still my preferred OS and who cares if MS stops supporting it. Haven't downloaded a security patch or update since SP3 NO WORRIES!

[jaideeguy]

Seems that the consensus is about 50/50 to change or not to change. To be honest, I am quite happy with my bootleg XP, but notice a few bugs that MAY{?} be OS related. I used to use Internet explorer, but that started getting silly and slow on me, then changed to Firefox and was flying for a while and now, it's doing the same as IE....getting slower, crashing etc. Will going to Chrome improve my search engine??

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Make and model?

[sammycic]

I think it may be time for you to catch up on all the new technology. Win 8 is great once you get use to it. which takes at least a couple of hours.

Edited April 25, 2013 by sammycic

[Tywais]

Troll post removed. If you have nothing constructive to add then stay out.

[johnnynmonic]

Meh, just keep xp 'til this computer breaks. I'll just guess you get two more years before something goes belly up (heat and dust related since we live in the tropics). Then go 7. Or Ubuntu since it's free, secure, and if all your doing is casual web browsing, why shell out bucks for windows?