Windows 7 End of Life Announcement

[MontyVeda]

My advice would be to keep going with Windows 7. Don't use it to view porn. When it does get a virus, install Linux Ubuntu. Just go to W H Smith, find a copy of. Linux magazine, which has an installation DVD in it. Then stick it in your laptop and just accept the defaults. I recently had to reinstall Linux on my PC. The first Linux magazine disc had Arch and Centos OS Linux. Centos OS would not install, while you need a degree in computer science to install Arch. Ubuntu is usually painless. I think Mint, OpenSuse and Fedora are too.

you can save a few quid on magazines and just download ubuntu from their website and burn it to a disk/usb... I have one just in case windows goes tits up so i can still gain access to my drives and data.

 

[keithmac]

I bought a second hand i5 laptop with SSD and Windows 10 for car related diagnostics and to be fair it flies. The SSD counteracts the bloatware!.

Bought another 2nd hand one for work, i5 again 8gb ram and 1tb SSD for £180 with fresh Windows 10. Same again that is very quick, sub 20 second boot times.

As far as Apple, none of my programs at work or at home for vehicle diagnostic have a Mac equivalent so that's dead in the water.

 

[keithmac]

Worth noting if you go too mad upgrading Windows will require you to buy another Activation Code

 

[DCBassman]

I have a Sony Vaio with windows 10 and I hate it. It is so slow. I am thinking of changing the system to Linux. It's either that or get rid of the dam thing.

I may well take the plunge with Linux

Have you done, in this order:
Uninstall anything you don't use.
In Explorer, right-click on your C drive.
Select Properties
Select Disk Clean Up
Once it's told you what it can do, select the system files option instead of delete.
When that presents its findings, check all boxes and press delete, this must include previous Windows installations.
When complete (may take a while), download and install Auslogics Disk Defrag, version 8. Any problems with this, pm me and I'll email you a copy.
Skip this step if you have a solid state drive.
Install it, expand to fill screen. On the left drop-down, select Defrag and Optimise and let it run. Again, may take a while. If the analysis shows above 15%, you'll likely see a big difference in speed.
PCs get slow because, like cars, they need regular maintenance , not just because they are old. None if my PCs are newer than about 2009, and they all run pretty quickly, just because they stay tuned.
If anyone thinks it worthwhile, I'll write up the process for a sticky post. Works with any Windows from XP onward.

 

[DCBassman]

If you're set on Linux, 64-bit Mint is pretty good.

 

[Pale Rider]

I am a fan of Apple.

iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro. Their gear appears expensive, but, in my experience, it lasts, and, it works. So, overall, not as expensive as it first appears.

My wife has a two year old Windows 10 Laptop, which I hate using.

We also have a couple of old laptops running Ubuntu, with free Office type software.

Have not tried a Chromebook, yet, but, I am tempted. Maybe, I will install the Chrome OS look alike on one of the old laptops, just to try it and see.

If you just want to use a laptop, and not "play" with it, I would opt for Apple.

Agree about Apple.

My MacBook Pro is 10 years old and still rocking along.

Chromebooks are well worth a try if you don't do a lot more than internet surfing.

They boot up fast, literally a few seconds, the battery lasts all day, virus protection is taken care of automatically by Google, and they don't self-clog like Windows machines.

In fact, Chromebooks do pretty much all the things that other laptops don't do, unless you pay thousands and are computer literate enough to keep them running at top speed.

Not bad for £200 or less.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I am not a fan of Apple. My problem with them is their stuff does not always fit with other stuff. My brother bought me an iPod for my 40th, which to be fair still works. However iTunes kept trying to erase all my tracks. I could not play any of my non-ITunes- downloaded tracks on anything other than iTunes. My employer gave me an iPhone, but I can't tether my Windows 7 laptop to it, the camera does not detect infrared (remote controls) and it does not have a 3.5 mm jack output. So it's overpriced shoot in my opinion. Windows is better than Apple IMO.

 

[MontyVeda]

I bought a second hand i5 laptop with SSD and Windows 10 for car related diagnostics and to be fair it flies. The SSD counteracts the bloatware!.

Bought another 2nd hand one for work, i5 again 8gb ram and 1tb SSD for £180 with fresh Windows 10. Same again that is very quick, sub 20 second boot times.

As far as Apple, none of my programs at work or at home for vehicle diagnostic have a Mac equivalent so that's dead in the water.

each time I've upgraded my PC, I've gone from dual core to quad core processors, doubled or quadrupled the RAM and each time they've been 'a bit' better than the previous PC... it's only the move to an SSD that made a big difference, even after all these years, i'm still impressed at how quickly photoshop boots up. New SSD for the laptop cost £20 inc P&P... it's peanuts!

 

[Mr Celine]

I'm going to try to upgrade my old laptop from 7 to 10 and have got a new SSD to put in the laptop... does anyone know if I'll have to reinstall Win7 then upgrade to 10, or can i just bung the Win10 install USB straight into to an empty machine?

Set the BIOS to boot first from USB and second from your new SSD. Install win10 from the USB on to the SSD, it'll then boot into win10 when you restart. You then have to input your licence key for win7 and it then downloads all the various upgrades etc.
If it goes tits up go back into BIOS and change the boot drive back to your original HD.

 

[MontyVeda]

All done and seems to be running well... the 'twenty questions' on set up was a bit annoying... Do you want to share your location and browsing data with microsoft? NO! Do you want to connect your phone and tablet and everything else and share the data with microsoft? NO! Do you want to share your internet searches and social media profiles with microsoft? NO! Do you want to let microsoft look in your underwear drawer? NO!

now I've clicked 'no' to all the sharing/snooping stuff.... time to start installing the software (AKA apps to anyone younger than 40).

 

[aferris2]

Anyone going to stick with Win 7? We have 3 PC's in our household. 2 have been nothing but trouble. One has worked without fault - that's the Win 7 machine. I won't be downgrading it to 10 if I can help it. Tried Linux several times and just don't get on with it. Never tried Mac but I think I'm too old to try this sort of thing now.

 

[MontyVeda]

Anyone going to stick with Win 7? ...

Possibly... Win10 doesn't seem to have a homegroup and my laptop (now on Win10) is next to useless if I can't access my hard-drives via the homegroup on my PC (Win7).

[edit] accessed the homegroup now ...this is what i hate about new operating systems, all the faffing about. And I'll have to do it all again when upgrade my PC to Win10

 

[DCBassman]

@aferris2 and @MontyVeda , the cleanup and defrag operations mentioned a few posts up also apply after every upgrade and major updates. That way, one does see the benefits. It would be nice not to have to do it, but the alternatives are either even more fiddly system (Linux) or a closed ecosystem that only realises its full potential if you embrace it totally (Apple).
If your PC works flawlessly with Win7, and meets the upgrade specs, then there's no reason it shouldn't work just as flawlessly with Win10. The exceptions to this are older laptops with AMD graphics chips. These tend to be just fine with Linux, but AMD have rarely made Windows drivers available past Win 8.1.

 

[swee'pea99]

Anyone going to stick with Win 7? We have 3 PC's in our household. 2 have been nothing but trouble. One has worked without fault - that's the Win 7 machine. I won't be downgrading it to 10 if I can help it. Tried Linux several times and just don't get on with it. Never tried Mac but I think I'm too old to try this sort of thing now.

Yup. My laptop runs just fine with Win7, and I see no reason to change it. I have 10 on my desktop, but TBH I barely notice the difference - the programmes I use - Chrome, Word and one or three others - work indistinguishably between the two Win versions, so it makes no odds to me. So I'll stick with my regular policy of 'it it ain't broke...'

PS Actually, thinking about it, having 7 sometimes proves a clear benefit - I have a number of old MP3 players, some of which (my favourites, as it happens...ancient Creative Zen Touches) aren't recognised by the Win10 machine at all, so I'm glad to have the W7 laptop for file transfers.

 

[keithmac]

I hate Windows 10 but unfortunately forced to use it for certain things.

You can delete most of the rubbish off the START menu and make it useful again rather than a tiled mess.

Same with navigating around folders, the more you use it the easier it gets but it's also a complete pain at times..