Change operating system

[Swamp Thing]

Our home computer is still running on Windows XP and, disregarding my rule of if it ain't broke, don't fix it, I have decided to change it to Windows 8 before we get security issues.

My inexpert plan for doing this without losing our documents etc is to put our folders onto an external drive. I will then install Windows 8 onto the computer, and reinstall the folders.

Will this work? Can I also transfer the programs we have on our computer to the hard drive and reinstall them?

Any advice on this is very welcome.

[JSixpack]

Win 8 will probably retain your data (never trust software) but yes you should definitely back everything up first. Fact, I'd just do an image of the current installation in case you later miss it (sniff!). Verify the backup! Issue will be whether Win 8 drivers exist for all your hardware including peripherals. Even your BIOS could be out of date. "Windows 8 requires Data Execution Prevention (DEP), a feature of CPUs and motherboards that helps prevent malware or poorly designed applications from running program code out of parts of memory specifically allocated for data. The motherboard BIOS, in particular, must offer a DEP setting, which has to be enabled."

Most all programs should work one way or the other if you install them. You don't "transfer the programs" unless you're talking about portable programs or original installation files (like the setup.msi or setup.exe's) that you subsequently run for the installations--and you'll need serial/activation numbers as applicable.

Edited August 25, 2014 by JSixpack

[Chicog]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-from-windows-vista-xp-tutorial

[Swamp Thing]

Thanks for the replies.

Having read some of the information on the link provided by Chicog, it appears our old clunker doesn't have the required specs for Windows 8.

So a new computer is needed.

[Aachen]

Wait a short time for Windows 9 to be released. Troublefree-er than 8...

[Aachen]

Wait a short time for Windows 9 to be released. Troublefree-er than 8...

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Thanks for the replies.

Having read some of the information on the link provided by Chicog, it appears our old clunker doesn't have the required specs for Windows 8.

So a new computer is needed.

It ain't necessarily so. Does this thing have a brand name and model number? If not, we can identify the components manually.

[JSixpack]

Thanks for the replies.

Having read some of the information on the link provided by Chicog, it appears our old clunker doesn't have the required specs for Windows 8.

So a new computer is needed.

It ain't necessarily so. Does this thing have a brand name and model number? If not, we can identify the components manually.

Yeah, why not? More!

Or, how about upgrade to Win 7?

[Swamp Thing]

Wait a short time for Windows 9 to be released. Troublefree-er than 8...

You can say that again. Good point, though, I'm not in a rush and at the moment the computer is working perfectly. I can wait for a new computer with Windows 9.

It's an HP Pavillion p63721.

[Pib]

You might want to consider putting Win 7 on your clunker....I have an 8 year old Toshiba A100 series laptop running a one core old ass Celeron CPU with 2GB of memory (but it only recongnizes 1.5GB) and it runs fine with Win 7....and I didn't even load any of the Toshiba specific laptop drivers...just used the Win 7 drivers that automatically loaded. Also put a SSD in it which gave it a very nice boost in performance.

[Chicog]

Yes, Windows 7 is an option, still supported and runs OK on lower powered processors as long as there's 2Gb of RAM or more.

[schondie]

I agree with others here. Go for Windows 7 as it works quite well with older computers.

I'm quite computer savvy but that Windows 8 is a strange beast. I use Ubuntu as I've found it much more user friendly than Windows, just my opinion as I never have to hunt around for drivers.

If I have to use a Windows computer I'd choose one with Windows 7 first closely followed by XP.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Wait a short time for Windows 9 to be released. Troublefree-er than 8...

You can say that again. Good point, though, I'm not in a rush and at the moment the computer is working perfectly. I can wait for a new computer with Windows 9.

It's an HP Pavillion p63721.

I remember discussing this machine before, but you weren't ready to update it to Windows 7. Are you ready now?

[JSixpack]

Wait a short time for Windows 9 to be released. Troublefree-er than 8...

You can say that again. Good point, though, I'm not in a rush and at the moment the computer is working perfectly. I can wait for a new computer with Windows 9.

It's an HP Pavillion p63721.

No Win 8 drivers for that machine, it seems. Only 2 GB of RAM, so just go w/ Win 7 32 unless you wanna add more RAM as well, which you probably don't as you're planning to get a new machine pretty soon.

You can search around and learn how to continue getting some updates for your XP for a while. I assume you're using Firefox, say, or Chrome rather than the outdated IE browser.

Somebody mentioned Linux. If you haven't yet, you might mess around w/ a live DVD (or bootable flashdrive) and possibly install it if your testing goes well. Recent thread about that here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/751257-linux-for-dummies/#entry8294937.

Edited August 25, 2014 by JSixpack

[danbradster]

Files are easy to back up and transfer, software are not. When getting a new computer or OS, I always back up the files but reinstall any software I still feel the need for.

[Turkleton]

If I change/reinstall the operating system after a few years, I usually don't bother with backups.

If I don't swap the whole machine, I usually buy at least a new harddisk for the new OS.

Depending on the machine (PC or Laptop) I connect the "old" HDD as a secondary one, or via external USB.

So I can restore my old data on demand.

And if something goes wrong with your new OS, you can just swap the HDD's, to get back a running machine within a few minutes.

[Swamp Thing]

I remember discussing this machine before, but you weren't ready to update it to Windows 7. Are you ready now?

I'm impressed with your memory. I can't remember discussing it, but then I occasionally find myself staring into my tool cupboard wondering why I came there. I'll certainly take your word for it.

For the moment I'll follow JSixpack's advice and search around for XP updates. Windows 9 is planned to be released in 2015, which will come around sooner than we think. I like Turkleton's idea of adding a new harddisc to my machine so I've still got the old data.

Thanks to all for the replies.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Swamp Thing

[crabdog]

A lot of people are recommending upgrading and file transfer software. In my opinion if you are changing OS you should always do a HDD format and fresh install. Over time Windows gets cluttered with old information and data / broken shortcuts, registry errors etc. Some transfer software carries problems from your previous OS onto the new one so if possible it's always better to do a fresh install. Same thing goes for upgrading Windows - don't bother. Backup your files first and start from scratch. You'll end up with a cleaner, faster and less problematic system.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

I remember discussing this machine before, but you weren't ready to update it to Windows 7. Are you ready now?

I'm impressed with your memory. I can't remember discussing it, but then I occasionally find myself staring into my tool cupboard wondering why I came there. I'll certainly take your word for it.

For the moment I'll follow JSixpack's advice and search around for XP updates. Windows 9 is planned to be released in 2015, which will come around sooner than we think. I like Turkleton's idea of adding a new harddisc to my machine so I've still got the old data.

Thanks to all for the replies.

Forget about XP updates. Bring your machine into the 21st century. It has a lot of potential and you are wasting it.

Windows 9? Are you joking? Even when that is released, you'll have to wait a while until the bugs are 'ironed out'. So that means you are going to be using a fifteen year old operating system by the time you move to Windows 9.

Take an afternoon and I'll show you how to upgrade your system to Windows 7.. It's costs nothing. You just need to understand how HP licencing works. I remember the machine because it is a HP Pavillion p6372l(P6372L), not P63721.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Jiu-Jitsu

[DickS]

Consider upgrade to 7.0 just like Bill Gates did in the link below.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/gates-spends-entire-first-day-back-in-office-trying-to-install-windows-8-1

[JSixpack]

I remember discussing this machine before, but you weren't ready to update it to Windows 7. Are you ready now?

I'm impressed with your memory. I can't remember discussing it, but then I occasionally find myself staring into my tool cupboard wondering why I came there. I'll certainly take your word for it.

For the moment I'll follow JSixpack's advice and search around for XP updates. Windows 9 is planned to be released in 2015, which will come around sooner than we think. I like Turkleton's idea of adding a new harddisc to my machine so I've still got the old data.

Thanks to all for the replies.

Forget about XP updates. Bring your machine into the 21st century. It has a lot of potential and you are wasting it.

Windows 9? Are you joking? Even when that is released, you'll have to wait a while until the bugs are 'ironed out'. So that means you are going to be using a fifteen year old operating system by the time you move to Windows 9.

Take an afternoon and I'll show you how to upgrade your system to Windows 7.. It's costs nothing. You just need to understand how HP licencing works. I remember the machine because it is a HP Pavillion p6372l(P6372L), not P63721.

Much to be said for this.

If you're just doing basic stuff, that old HP may remain all you need for years to come. It's amazing what antiques just keep on tickin'. I'd keep close watch on that old HD or switch it out as one poster suggested.

In the Linux realm, Zorin is getting a lot of love these days: http://linuxaria.com/recensioni/zorin-os-9-core-review-as-good-as-linux-mint-17

[Swamp Thing]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

[Chicog]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

If you do a complete install of Windows 7 on a separate disk, it should detect your existing Win XP installation on the other disk and add it to the Boot menu, so that you can dual boot Windows 7 or XP, yes.

Take a backup first, obviously, and do some reading.

[Paul944]

Phase 1) Buy an external disk. 350 Gb - 1Tb are reasonable cheap these days.

Phase 2) copy all your data to the external disk and start working with the data on the external disk

Phase 3) buy a new computer when this one starts to annoy you being too slow or you get the feel it is getting unreliable.

You can upgrade memory, put in a ssd, install windows 7 but unless you enjoy doing this as a hobby, it is a bit a waist of money and you want to buy a new computer a few months later anyway.

Windows 8 is touchscreen oriented and most people using it without a touchscreen are getting annoyed by it and go back to windows 7or install extra software to get the windows 7 feeling back.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

Programs can be re-installed. You are going to have to tackle it at some point. Why wait until you are forced to do so?

List the programs?

[JSixpack]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

If you do a complete install of Windows 7 on a separate disk, it should detect your existing Win XP installation on the other disk and add it to the Boot menu, so that you can dual boot Windows 7 or XP, yes.

Take a backup first, obviously, and do some reading.

Exactly. You'd have to dual boot, not so convenient. On a new machine, this won't work because of the different hardware. If your XP is a retail version, you could work around that problem, but you probably have an HP OEM version tied to that machine.

A slick solution would be to convert your XP installation into a virtual machine as described here (though that may not have been an OEM's XP) but it's complicated and your software may not run so well, esp given the low spec of your current machine.

You could give us a list of the programs in question and somebody might have some insight about working around your problem.

Edited August 26, 2014 by JSixpack

[Jiu-Jitsu]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

If you do a complete install of Windows 7 on a separate disk, it should detect your existing Win XP installation on the other disk and add it to the Boot menu, so that you can dual boot Windows 7 or XP, yes.

Take a backup first, obviously, and do some reading.

Exactly. You'd have to dual boot, not so convenient. On a new machine, this won't work because of the different hardware. If your XP is a retail version, you could work around that problem, but you probably have an HP OEM version tied to that machine.

A slick solution would be to convert your XP installation into a virtual machine as described here (though that may not have been an OEM's XP) but it's complicated and your software may not run so well, esp given the low spec of your current machine.

You could give us a list of the programs in question and somebody might have some insight about working around your problem.

It's not a low spec machine. Processor is capable of virtualisation. RAM can be increased significantly and easily. Inexpensive Graphics card can be fitted. All simple and relatively inexpensive. As long as the hardware is sound, there is a lot of life and expandability in that machine.

[JSixpack]

This is getting very interesting, if a little mind-boggling. I appreciate being able to ask fellow computer users direct questions.

Let's see if I've understood this correctly.

The problem I have is that I've got various programs, music studios etc, on the computer for which I have no disks. I could do a custom install of Windows 7, but I would lose those programs. That may have to happen and if so, I can live with it.

But, from reading the replies on this thread, I have come up with a cunning plan. (But I don't know if it's possible).

I could install an additional hard drive in the computer. I've checked out some vids on YouTube and I think I might be able to do it. I could then install Windows 7 on this hard drive and use it to access the internet. I would then still have my programs available on the other hard drive.

Cunning or crap? Opinions please.

If you do a complete install of Windows 7 on a separate disk, it should detect your existing Win XP installation on the other disk and add it to the Boot menu, so that you can dual boot Windows 7 or XP, yes.

Take a backup first, obviously, and do some reading.

Exactly. You'd have to dual boot, not so convenient. On a new machine, this won't work because of the different hardware. If your XP is a retail version, you could work around that problem, but you probably have an HP OEM version tied to that machine.

A slick solution would be to convert your XP installation into a virtual machine as described here (though that may not have been an OEM's XP) but it's complicated and your software may not run so well, esp given the low spec of your current machine.

You could give us a list of the programs in question and somebody might have some insight about working around your problem.

It's not a low spec machine. Processor is capable of virtualisation. RAM can be increased significantly and easily. Inexpensive Graphics card can be fitted. All simple and relatively inexpensive. As long as the hardware is sound, there is a lot of life and expandability in that machine.

Oh--we're gonna expand the currently low-spec machine!

Yep, sure could.

[Swamp Thing]

I've just done an online search to see if I can find any of my programs on cnet etc and I'm glad I did. The only one I can't find available for free is Photoshop, which I will buy, if necessary.

I've visited the HP website, as suggested by Jiu-Jitsu, and I can do a custom install of Windows 7 from there.

I will buy an external hard drive, which I've been intending to buy for some time, and put my documents on there.

Thanks again to all for your input,.A few days ago i was clueless as to what to do and could easily have blundered into complicated problems. With your help, I have a good plan.

Cheers.

[Swamp Thing]

I've just done an online search to see if I can find any of my programs on cnet etc and I'm glad I did. The only one I can't find available for free is Photoshop, which I will buy, if necessary.

I've visited the HP website, as suggested by Jiu-Jitsu, and I can do a custom install of Windows 7 from there.

I will buy an external hard drive, which I've been intending to buy for some time, and put my documents on there.

Thanks again to all for your input,.A few days ago i was clueless as to what to do and could easily have blundered into complicated problems. With your help, I have a good plan.

Cheers.