Older Versions of Windows / General Windows Discussion

[me and my metro]

All my windows based computers are 7. Of course I am using my IPad to write this. LOL

[redpoint5]

I couldn't get Techstream to work on my Win7 x64 laptop either, so I just used an older laptop that had Win7 x32 installed on it.

I thought the OP was joking about Vista. When it first launched, it had network problems that cut my file transfer speeds by 1/4. How it took so long to launch and still suck, we'll never know.

My work PC is running Win7 Enterprise x64 with an XP virtual PC. This was done to get certain software to run that was incompatible when Win7 launched. Now that everything I use is compatible with Win7, I never use the virtual XP.

This laptop that I've had for the past 5 years (Lenovo x220) came with Win7, then I ran Win8 for a year and hated it for many reasons (charm bar pops out when swiping left on touch pad, inferior search tool, metro screen). The 8.1 update asked me if I wanted to keep my programs and files, to which I responded in the affirmative, and it proceeded to wipe out my programs. That was the last straw, and I went back to Win7.

One of my favorite games, Red Alert 2, uses NetBEUI network protocol which Microsoft stopped supporting after Win XP. As old as XP is, it's still the most commonly found OS at my work.

[gone-ot]

It's dual-boot Win7.1 here:

• Auto-start brings up the WIFE's hard disc drive with her data...and her (many, many, many) bookmarks.

• Boot-start brings up MY hard disc drive with my data...and my (rather few) bookmarks.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

If only Win XP was still supported, I'd give a lot to have it! It had the best of both worlds: Not as old-fashioned as the previous versions, but still simple. More control, less resource hogging.

That's maybe the best thing about Linux: a large part of the system is a defined standard. You can upgrade the internals all you want to improve performance, but the basic interface stays the same. And GUIs &c are user level programs on top of that, so it's up to you which one you run. (I think there's even one that mimics WinXP.)

In fact, I ran into one of those changing user interface problems just this weekend. I have a bunch of pictures (JPEG format) on a thumb drive that I need to get onto my neighbors' Windoze PC. It's one of those all-in-one things (HP, IIRC) running a recent Windoze. So I finally figured out how to see the thumb drive, and view the pictures on it, but I simply can't figure out how to copy them to the machine and put them in the correct directory so they can view them there.

[markweatherill]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

If only Win XP was still supported, I'd give a lot to have it! (

You can still have it. Just use a third-party antivirus and web browser.

As an aside, I remember the days of the 'it's now safe to turn off your computer' screen. But I don't particularly miss them!

[The Other Andy]

I do like the virtual box idea, I may have to set that up.

Frankly, I find all of the Vista hate and XP love rather funny. I always found Vista to be a very nice improvement over XP, which had a nasty habit of going BSOD if you so much as looked at it wrong.

Considering how many people like Windows 7 (Vista with an ugly taskbar), I doubt many of the haters actually used Vista.

Originally Posted by sid

All five of my computers are running some version of Linux. Two are also dual boot with Windows XP. One (the one I'm using right now) is dual boot with Windows 7 (though I'm using Linux right now). Automatic updates are turned off on all my Windows operating systems.

I almost always use Linux when on the internet. I have a manual switch which connects the desired computer to the internet. If I'm not actively on the internet, the switch is turned off so there is no hardware internet connection. My modem is also only turned on when I'm actively on the internet.

I've been a fan of Linux for some time too. I started out with Ubuntu 7.04 and have jumped around distros quite a bit. Unfortunately my laptop has very poor hardware support from any Linux distro, so that's Windows-only.

I just installed Zorin on the desktop, to dual-boot with Windows. I'll likely be using this for nearly all of my internet-ing.

Originally Posted by markweatherill

You can still have it. Just use a third-party antivirus and web browser.

As an aside, I remember the days of the 'it's now safe to turn off your computer' screen. But I don't particularly miss them!

Ah, the good old days. I stumbled on a forum not too long ago of people still using Windows 9X. They're modding it and everything. Figure that out.

[ninetynineSC2]

My desktop runs win8.1 but I use startisback and managed to make it almost exactly like XP, right down to the system sounds.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by markweatherill

You can still have it. Just use a third-party antivirus and web browser.

Third-party browser? That's a no-brainer The sole purpose of IE is to download a different browser