I know I'm late but WIndows 7

[malaise]

is quite delightful.
That is all :D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear malaise...

Yes, it is!

:woohoo:

[malaise]

22. It's way better than that crazy Vista

:hi:

[guardian]

37. Never a problem with Vista

Got it preinstalled on a computer 2-3 years ago. Works fine. Never a problem for me. For me has been more robust than Win XP

[elocs]

43. Me too. My motto: leave well enough alone and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I stick with Vista.

[Better Believe It]

47. Same here. You just need a powerful enough computer that can handle Vista

With plenty of Ram.

The Intel Core2 Quad works well with it.

[HughMoran]

61. As many problems as I had with Vista at first

It's been the most solid operating system ever since. The first few months ruined Vista's reputation (& I was one of the people in a famous thread on the internet bashing the Christ out of it), but Microsoft eventually fixed it.

[slackmaster]

2. After suffering the abortion that was Vista, anything would seem like a dream

I do agree that Windows 7 has some nice features.

FWIW I'm still running Windows Server 2003 on my home system, and have no plan to change it any time soon.

[malaise]

18. Vista crashed my laptop two weeks ago

I just purchased my new replacement. I did promise to move to the Mac but this will have to work for the next two years.
I'm in love with Windows 7.

[WhiteTara]

3. I know I'm happy!

:)

[givemebackmycountry]

4. I agree-

I recently bought a home desktop off of Craigslist and while I am VERY satisfied with the computer, I am LOVING the Windows 7 Professional OS that came with it.

There is nothing that I have loaded, installed, downloaded, ran, plugged in, attached, added, deleted that did not work flawlessly the VERY first time.

I stand freaking amazed.

Last NEW computer I bought had Windows ME on it.

OMG.

[SpiralHawk]

14. Runs flawlessly, first time, all the time...sounds like a Mac

...donning flak jacket...LOL

[gateley]

44. I was thinking the same thing. The words "crash" and "restart" have been

eliminated from my vocabulary since becoming a Mac snob. :7

[rox63]

5. Hmm, maybe I can start thinking about upgrading from XP soon?

After hearing the horror stories, I avoided Vista like the plague.

[Renew Deal]

8. Yes

As long as your HW can handle it.

[LiberalFighter]

11. XP requires a new install.

You will need to do a backup off of the harddrive if you want any chance of minimizing reinstallation of other programs.

Vista apparently does not result in files being destroyed.

[Old Codger]

42. A lot easier

To run it as a dual boot unit, I have XP Pro and win7 64 bit installed, still mainly running with XP as I need to get a new video capture card to run on 7, but other than that 7 seems to be pretty decent....

[malaise]

21. We still have XP on the PC but I rarely use it

XP is a good system but Windows 7 is a dream.

[villager]

6. Is it as good as the latest Ubuntu?

;-)

[Ex Lurker]

16. I'm running both

I use ubuntu 80% of the time. I would ditch Windows altogether, but it doesn't support a couple of things I can't live without, like ESPN360. That said, Win7 is a vast improvement over Vista. And Firefox for Windows has a couple of features I wish the Ubuntu version had.

[Warpy]

35. I don't find Win7 to be a significant improvement over XP

although it manages to use a lot more resources. It's only different.

[villager]

36. Actually, I do the same thing

... in about the same percentages, for the same reasons!

only difference is, Windows side is still XP....

[pokerfan]

41. Have you tried this

http://technologycrowd.com/2010/01/13/watch-espn360-in-ubuntu-linux-using-wine/

[Ex Lurker]

46. thanks for the tip! gonna check it out n/t

[Renew Deal]

7. It's mostly good

The "jump lists" menus are a little annoying.

[spanone]

9. but the mac is like crack

:7 :patriot: :hi:

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. Sweaty and smells kinda like ass?

Just couldn't help that, sorry.

[Jamastiene]

23. Zing!

:spray:

:rofl:

[spanone]

32. i set you up too good!!!!

[Statistical]

50. DUZY

[Canuckistanian]

58. Yowch

:rofl:

[malaise]

25. I fell in love with one of my nephew's Mac but we just

can't afford that right now. And yes the mac is addictive - love the keyboard. :hi:

[spanone]

29. i know,....mine was a gift.....

:yoiks: :hi:

[gateley]

45. Someday, malaise, you'll have the $$$ to get one -- and do it. The more you

have your Mac, the more you fall in love with it.

I'm so pleased that the new version of Windows is running so well for all of you! :hi:

[Xithras]

10. I'm still not a fan of the new task bar buttons, but it's a minor gripe.

Generally speaking, I've found it to be a huge improvement from Vista.

[The Revolution]

24. You can adjust the taskbar properties

If you go to the task bar properties, you can make it use smaller icons and display the labels again. I kind of like the new buttons though :)

[tridim]

28. It took me awhile to get used to the new taskbar.

Mostly because I had turned off ALL the eye candy initially.

When I turned it back on everything made sense. I love it now, especially the stacked instances of apps. I still have labels and large-icons turned off. Keeps things tidy. I also enabled the XP style "quick launch" menu that is disabled by default for some reason.

[Statistical]

52. You can make taskbar look and act like XP or Vista

Right click Taskbar > Properties

by changing the options and not docking apps to taskbar it can be made to look & feel like XP.

Personally I would stick with new taskbar style for a couple months I have found once you get use it using old XP style seems sluggish.

[JackintheGreen]

12. Anybody stripped it for netbook use?

[Statistical]

53. Works just fine on a netbook.

I got an HP mini. Just turn down some of the eye candy and I would strongly recommend 2GB of ram (ram is cheap though).

[LiberalFighter]

13. My major problem was installing it and it not working.

Turned out that the memory I bought was defective. So I put the old memory back in and it worked.

[opihimoimoi]

15. Yup, its a good up grade....love it... :o)

[flyarm]

17. i have what might be called a silly question..

but do i have to buy a program for windows 7 and download it? My computer came with Vista that i hate ..i liked my old computer with the xsomething program ..ok so i know..I am computer illiterate..i run it the way it came...right out of the box..

but can i down load the new Windows 7 from somewhere..or do i have to buy the new program and download it?

Thanks for anyone answering my simpleton questions.

[malaise]

27. My recommendation would be to find a student relative who can purchase

the upgrade for you from a campus bookshop (dirt cheap). Careful though because I was downloading an upgrade from Vista and that crashed my laptop.

[The Revolution]

30. You would have to buy it

Windows 7 is a whole new operating system, so it's something you would have to buy. I think the 'upgrade' version is cheaper than the full version, but I usually stay away from upgrading the OS. I always wait until I get a new PC, or reformat, or install in a new partition. I'm sure the upgrade works fine for most people, but I've had some bad experiences the only times I've tried it.

[Jim__]

20. Yup - I like it. - n/t

[tridim]

26. It's still not as fast as XP was, but I do like it.

I turned off all the eye candy initially (for speed), but turned it back on because IMO the new taskbar doesn't make sense without animated windows and such.

[yodermon]

31. I had a BSOD this morning

oh well

[malaise]

33. What is that?

I'm clueless

[TCJ70]

38. Definition:

B - Blue
S - Screen
O - Of
D - Death

It's that screen that warns you of a fatal error and forces you to restart your comp.

[malaise]

39. LOL

Thanks

[pokerfan]

40. Blue Screen Of Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36TcG5XZDg

[Warpy]

34. My XP box fried two weeks ago

so I've been using Win7 nonstop on my laptop. It's OK. It's still like somebody moved my food dish most of the time and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which XP programs work and which don't.

Since I still want those old progs, I've ordered a refurbished XP box and I'll piggyback the fried HD into it to be able to use those old progs. I'll try to resurrect the old box (which was kind of marginal, at best) with a new HD and recycle it to charity.

One thing that is not on any box and won't be is NORTON.

[ElboRuum]

49. The compatibility mode is pretty good in Win7

Have you tried that?

Most things that won't work are testing the OS version (installer programs are notorious for this) and most will work with XP compatibility (remember that some require admin privileges for installation, so make sure you are running as an admin user).

[alfredo]

48. Have you had any RAM problems?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9158258/Most_Windows_7_PCs_max_out_memory

Most Windows 7 systems consume nearly all RAM; less than half of XP PCs do
By Gregg Keizer
February 17, 2010 04:07 PM ET

Computerworld - Most Windows 7 PCs max out their memory, resulting in performance bottlenecks, a researcher said today.

Citing data from Devil Mountain Software's community-based Exo.performance.network (XPnet), Craig Barth, the company's chief technology officer, said that new metrics reveal an unsettling trend. On average, 86% of Windows 7 machines in the XPnet pool are regularly consuming 90%-95% of their available RAM, resulting in slow-downs as the systems were forced to increasingly turn to disk-based virtual memory to handle tasks.

The 86% mark for Windows 7 is more than twice the average number of Windows XP machines that run at the memory "saturation" point, said Barth. The most recent snapshot of XPnet's 23,000-plus PCs -- taken yesterday -- pegs only 40% of XP systems as running low on memory.

[Generator]

51. There's a naughty nurse on the Soup that can help

[alfredo]

56. I need a sponge bath.

[Statistical]

54. Gregg Keizer seems to be an idiot.

Windows 7 does a lot of prefetch (puts programs, files, resources) you are likely to use in RAM to speed up performance.

However if needed they are dropped and the app you launch is loaded instead.

Unused RAM is a waste of money. I will say that again because it often confuses non-IT people. Unused RAM is a waste of money.
If you regularly have 2GB of free RAM then you could have paid less money and bought a computer with 2GB less RAM. :)

Having free ram is like having money in the bank you never spend, it just sits there and looks pretty (and depreciates).

My system this second only has 717MB of 8GB free. However if I launched something memory intensive like Visual Studio Win7 would simply drop stuff I am not using to disk cache and there would be enough memory to work without slowing down.

[alfredo]

60. I was wondering that if it was a real problem for users, we would have

heard something about it weeks ago.

[Fearless]

55. I've had no such problem myself now going on six months. n/t

[IDemo]

57. Win7/XP Pro/Linux Mint multi-boot

XP, only because some in the house are slow to change. I'm evenly divided between time on Windows 7 and Linux Mint 8 (think Ubuntu+). Both are light years ahead of XP.

[Initech]

59. I like Windows 7 a lot. Even better than Snow Leopard.

[Terra Alta]

62. my netbook came with Windows 7 Starter.

and it works great; much better than Vista. I'm thinking about upgrading to the full version.