11-22-2009, 09:02
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#1
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Ft Benning
Posts: 707
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Windows 7: Who's got it?
Finally got my "free" Win7 from Dell and installed it. Holy cow and I'm glad I got it. I have...HAD...Vista on my oldest's Dell laptop (I know, I know why still using a PC) and it appears to have "fixed" many of the problems encountered with Vista. The feel is a little different but it SEEMS more stable than Vista (have only had Win7 48 hours).
Here's the " getting started" link.
Overall, my initial impressions are good but I would have preferred a hammer & chisel to Vista. I think most of the "improvements" are underlying and invisible to the typical user.
Anyone else have other experience with 7?
Lindy
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lindy is offline
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11-22-2009, 09:18
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#2
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
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lindy,
Did you get an upgrade or the full?
Still working off XP here; is that upgradeable?
Thanks!
RF 1
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Red Flag 1 is offline
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11-22-2009, 09:50
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#3
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Ft Benning
Posts: 707
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I got the Premium 64BIT upgrade. I also have to other laptops on my LAN that are running XP, which I still love. All my external components always worked very well with XP and it wasn't until I introduced Vista into the network did things start messing up.
I don't see why you wouldn't be able to upgrade from XP except that Win7 requires the following ( from MS web):
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) <------ COMMENT: I'm the most impatient person in the world so I like at least 6 GB.
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
HTH,
Lindy
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lindy is offline
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11-22-2009, 10:08
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#4
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: DFW Area
Posts: 401
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I was using the beta and release candidates at work for 6 months without issue.
At the house we have two Dell laptops that came with Windows 7 Home Premium. I also upgraded my machine at the house to Windows 7 Ultimate. My home machine is from 2003 and uses the Intel D865 chipest, so it is a relatively old machine in computer years. The upgrade from Vista took several hours and worked perfect. I know many people don't want to upgrade but instead want to install new, but the upgrades are different than they were from going from win95 to 98.
The new upgrades essentially back up the whole OS, install a clean new OS and then copy your settings over. The only thing I needed to do after the upgrade was a windows update for a SB Audigy driver and share my printer.
Earlier in the year I tried to do an upgrade of Vista to Windows 7 Beta and that upgrade did not complete due lack of a sound driver for my older sound card. The upgrade failed and the system restored itself back to Windows Vista and I just went on with life.
The only reason I have Windows 7 Ultimate is that is what MS gave us as a gift. I think most people only need Home Premium. Windows 7 Ultimate does have the BitLocker feature though.
There is no upgrade path from Windows XP to 7 - it needs to be a clean install, but as I alluded to above, the upgrade from Vista to 7 is awesome. I just upgraded the mother-in-law's machine yesterday from Vista to 7 and that also went off without a glitch.
If you want to go greater than 4 GIG ram, you need to use the 64 bit version, which most computers are being sold with now anyway. I did 32bit because my processor is only 32 bit.
Last edited by BigJimCalhoun; 11-22-2009 at 10:46.
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BigJimCalhoun is offline
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11-22-2009, 10:34
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#5
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
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This knuckle dragger thanks you both!!
RF 1
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Red Flag 1 is offline
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11-22-2009, 11:33
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#6
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Guest
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fyi
I signed up for Win 7 in July. They said they wouldn't bill my card until then. Long story short, I got it and up in the corner in the little blue triangle, it said "for upgrade from Vista". When I purchased my current computer I paid EXTRA just to have XP Professional instead of Vista. I called and was told the only way to go from XP to Win 7 is to purchase the full package. There has been some discussion about a possible work-around, but I am shipping Win 7 back. It seems to me that Vista user should get the Win 7 upgrade for free.
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11-22-2009, 11:49
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#7
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Occupied Pineland
Posts: 4,701
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I lost my hard drive last week (something ate the FAT) so I went ahead and bought 7 Ultimate for the new HD. Wound up with the upgrade so I had to install my old XP Pro then upgrage to 7. So far it's been painless. Took some time because of the double load but I was going to have to re-install everything anyway so it was a window of opportunity. So far, I'm happy. Restarting my email was painless. Now it's a matter of rebuilding all my addresses and bookmarks. Anybody need a 250 GB paperweight? 
__________________
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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Peregrino is offline
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11-22-2009, 11:57
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#8
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,045
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Quote:
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Still working off XP here; is that upgradeable?
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You'd be better off wiping the drive and starting clean rather than trying the upgrade. Which is exactly how it was going Xp to Vista.
__________________
"Are you listening or just waiting to talk?"
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
Optimus Prime
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Kyobanim is offline
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11-22-2009, 12:05
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#9
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,810
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyobanim
You'd be better off wiping the drive and starting clean rather than trying the upgrade. Which is exactly how it was going Xp to Vista.
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Kyo:
Will most of the XP aps still run under 7?
Wouldn't an upgrade migrate my documents, pics, videos, music more easily than trying to transfer them manually?
TR
__________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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11-22-2009, 14:11
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#10
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,045
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Outside of a few games, I haven't found any common apps that won't run under 7.
An upgrade from Vista to 7 will work good. Every test we've run to upgrade from XP 32 and 64 have failed miserably to the point of thanking the deities that we ghosted the old system prior to upgrade. I've had the same problems upgrading from XP to Vista.
@ all,
Did you ever wonder why 7 came out so fast? It wasn't because they've been working on it for years. 7 is Vista SP4 with all the security shit stripped out, driver incompatabilities fixed, etc. Essentially, fixing all the crap that people hated about Vista. 7 and Vista are essentially the same OS. Which is similar to the architecture that they used for Server 08. Vista is a stable OS that works well, if you can submit to living withing the restrictions it places on the user.
__________________
"Are you listening or just waiting to talk?"
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
Optimus Prime
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Kyobanim is offline
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11-22-2009, 20:25
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#11
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Guest
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyobanim
7 is Vista SP4 with all the security shit stripped out, driver incompatabilities fixed, etc. Essentially, fixing all the crap that people hated about Vista.
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I just KNEW it. 
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11-22-2009, 21:59
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#12
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
Posts: 931
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I have it and it rocks!
__________________
- Retired Special Forces Officer -
Special Forces Association Lifetime Member
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Basenshukai is offline
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11-23-2009, 05:50
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#13
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,045
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Yes, it is a very stable platform.
Remington Raidr, if they called it "SP4 with all the crap taken out" and released it as an update, everyone would complain about "another update", there'd be lots of negative news reports, blah, blah, blah. This way they avoid the complaints, get a nifty new marketing campaign, and get to charge us again for something that should have been the original release.
What a plan!
__________________
"Are you listening or just waiting to talk?"
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
Optimus Prime
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Kyobanim is offline
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11-23-2009, 07:29
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#14
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Fayetteville NC
Posts: 3,533
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Hell, that plan has been working since MS-DOS!!!  
__________________
Hold Hard guys
Rick B.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing it is great on a hamburger but not so great sticking one up your ass.
Author - Richard.
Experience is what you get right after you need it.
Author unknown. 
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longrange1947 is offline
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11-23-2009, 19:26
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#15
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Guest
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and as they were so fond of saying
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyobanim
Yes, it is a very stable platform.
Remington Raidr, if they called it "SP4 with all the crap taken out" and released it as an update, everyone would complain about "another update", there'd be lots of negative news reports, blah, blah, blah. This way they avoid the complaints, get a nifty new marketing campaign, and get to charge us again for something that should have been the original release.
What a plan!
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in one of my favorite movies, "Tremors", "you gotta have a plan"
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