Weekend Open Forum: Have you upgraded to Windows 7 yet? What is there to like/not?

[JieMan]

I've been on win7 since the RC launch and love it .. in fact I used an upgrade disk on the RC, the start/toolbar is awesome
I have been able customize it with anything I want, it could have been easier tho as many of my icons on the startbar reqired tricks to do it..
I have had no problems with gaming or multimedia work.

and remember ,, windows 7 was my idea.

 

[Concorde]

I am still using XP so it will interesting reading for me regarding Windows7. I do not plan to upgrade just yet.

 

[magaman598]

Cash is keeping me from getting Windows 7, that's the only thing, lol.

 

[Regenweald]

I'm an Ubuntu user but it's great to see windows desktop users finally happy. I may install it for a few of my friends having problems with Vista on their laptops. The more I research 7 though, the more it seems like a vista service pack, but whatever, it's the service pack to rule them all.

 

[VitaminC]

I actually did a fresh isntall of W7 Ult, replacing vista home premium on a Toshiba Satellite L305 a couple of months back. I've been impressed with my little 400 P.O.S. machine's performance ever since. Vista seemed to lag quite a bit with little things, such as opening folders with more than 50 images, and opening up huge PDFs, and just plain clicking around the folder structure. And thats with the RAM maxed out and a new Western Digital Scorpio Blue under the hood.

W7 SEEMS to actually be putting everything to work. I even get about an extra 15 to 20 minutes of battery life out of it with W7 as well.

I probably won't be installing it on my desktop anytime soon though. I would have to be damn sure that ALL my software has a W7 version update ready to go before i make that jump on the man-rig.

 

[TomSEA]

Just installed the full-blown version today, but have had the beta release running in a dual-boot for quite a while. I really love this operating system. Very fast, the new task bar and windows snap, keyboard shortcuts, magnifier, font management, etc. are terrific enhancements. So far, zero conflicts with any of my devices unlike Vista where 50% of my stuff wouldn't work upon install. Like most others, I'm deep into tweaking the system and discovering the nuances of the OS. On it's own with zero tweaks IMNHO it's the best OS that Microsoft has put out.

Some tips for installers out there. I built my new rig about a year ago. And when I tried to reinstall the MOBO (Gigabyte) drivers, many wouldn't install including the LAN driver as they were meant for Vista. And even though 99% of Vista drivers work with Windows 7, the CD version of the drivers simply wouldn't allow it. So I had to head to work and download the current drivers on my jump drive then return back home. Be sure to get all current MOBO, video card and sound card drivers before doing a clean install - don't count on the CD that came with your hardware to do the trick.

Also, even though I double-checked all of my backup stuff, I still missed my saved games folder for "Oblivion" which I was about 20 hours into. So I have to start from scratch on that game.

Lastly, I downloaded a couple of Steam games and was under the impression that Steam saved all data from previous play. Apparently not unless I'm missing something. Fired up "Plants vs. Zombies" and like Oblivion, have to start from scratch.

But these are problems I could have resolved with a little detective and homework prior to doing the clean install. As far as Windows 7 - if you don't have it, go buy it. NOW.

 

[bigd353]

I have performed three installs of Win7 HomePrem, two of them 64-bit. (Free upgrade, half price upgrade and neighbor's PC.)

All three PCs have improved performance and the interface is hard to beat - the best Windows since Win2000 (That was a great corporate OS.). The only problem is on my Lenovo T61, and many have had the same issue. The strange thing is that RC1 did not have these issues!?!?

"Two base devices cannot be configured." Waiting for Lenovo to solve this issue - otherwise PC works fine, all devices seem to work fine. Will update this site when resolved.

Overall, Win7 is a great OS!

 

[RickD]

My PC is a bit old (but still does what I need). While it runs XP fine, it won't run Vista so it certainly won't run 7. My wife's netbook is the same. My son's new PC came with Vista and supposedly we get a free upgrade to 7. We'll see. I probably won't use 7 until I buy a new PC that comes with it. XP works fine -- why switch? And, like the Mac ads say, since the switch from XP to 7 essentially requires a new machine, why switch to 7? Why not also consider MacOS or Linux?

 

[Guest]

I have a ~5 year old desktop with XP Pro. At purchase, this desktop was a server level machine and, over the years, I have upgraded memory and disk capacity. This desktop still suites me well and satisfies all my needs (email, web development and Photoshop edits). I purchased a 32 bit laptop last summer to take on a planned road trip. The laptop came with Vista and a free Win7 upgrade. The upgrade came last week.

My sense is that XP was/is a stable workhorse and Vista was an attempt to add visual, razzle-dazzle to that workhorse. Win7 keeps the Vista visual razzle-dazzle but tones down most of the poorly implemented security features in Vista.. That said, XP is 32 bit and Win7 is 64 bit and that (the ability to address more memory) may be the real value of Win7.

I feel no compelling need to upgrade my desktop to Win7 but I think I may replace my desktop to a new machine, with Win7, when Adobe releases CS5 (or CS6).

 

[CrisisDog]

I've had bad luck with Windows 7 so far. The system goes "unresponsive" from time to time, seems when I go into any new preference setting it takes two or three minutes of hard drive chugging before the properties show up. One it does whatever it needs to do for the first time, it then seems fine afterwords when relaunching the item. However, by biggest issue is video game studdering, I have a five second freeze every 20 to 30 seconds. On top of those issues, I miss my Media Player toolbar and my X-Fi sound card doesn't have an official Windows 7 application set. I manged to load the sound applets by setting Vista compatibility mode, but the volume applet in the system tray keeps disappearing on me now. And to top it off, one of my video games wanted to go through a re-activation process, only to tell me I used all my licenses. I've already reverted back to Vista and am having none of these issues I saw on 7. I guess I'll give it another try at some point when enough patches come out, or even Service Pack 1.

 

[Guest]

Likes:

1) More stable than XP, by a long shot.

2) If you search the net you can find many kool tweaks for win7.

3) Win7 looks.... well, prettier.......

4) Aero shake. Though not really useful for me, It is kinda humorous.

5) Cheaper than Vista.


Dislikes:

1) Context Menu (Right-Click Menu) Problem: Options for VideoLan and WinAmp do not appear in file context menu. Media Palyer 11 does not share this issue. And yes, I am using the latest versions of my media players.

2) I really do not like the "over sized" start menu.

3) Some of my old favorate 3rd party utilities do not offer x64 support, yet.

4) Longer Boot time. To be fare, part of the problem is hardware. My core i7 920 system takes longer to initalize than my previous systems but even with factoring out the hardware, my Pentium M laptop running XP-Home boots up in about half the time.

 

[ET3D]

Haven't upgraded to 7 yet, though I've had the license for a while, thanks to being a beta tester. I didn't stay with the RC because it had enough issue, and was a less complete system than my Vista install.

I then didn't install 7 because I couldn't get it to network with Vista on my Wife's PC. Not 7's fault probably, since I didn't have any luck networking Vista and XP, either. Only Vista-Vista works.

Finally solved that by buying a wireless printer (printing was the major networking issue), but still, upgrading is always a hassle, and Vista is working fine for me. When I used the 7 RC it still had some problems, and though I'm sure the RTM solved most of them, I don't really care to waste a day or two of my limited time to upgrade, configure everything to my liking, and then iron out the incompatibilities.

 

[Guest]

For companies Windows 7 is not at all essential. Windows XP still has the most compatibility with software and also hardware. Windows 7 has some graphical enhancements that are not needed in companies, like Windows Aero, and other graphic intensive features. They need a plain-looking OS like Windows XP had when themed to Windows Classic.

 

[psycholexx]

I've upgraded to windows7 on a older notebook, Toshiba L20, by using a Starter edition trial, just to see if the old hardware can keep up with the new software, and i'm amazed... The notebook, is not far from the fairly standard netbook configuration from today. It has a 1.73Ghz Pentium M4, 1.5GB DDR2 memory, and an Intel 915 chipset. i had some trouble to find a suitable driver for the sound, but the XP driver worked as a charm!!!, yes the XP version from 2006!!! also i've used the vista 32bit version for the graphic chipset, and worked just fine. Now the old thing runs as a dream, very speedy in internet browsing, office work, file browsing, it feels rejuvenated, that i'm really considering to buy the cheapest version of 7 to install it on the old machine.
On the main PC I have a Vista Business license on which I spent a big amount of money a year and a half ago, and i'm not considering to upgrade it, at least for now.

 

[Guest]

What there is to like?: better hardware support out of the box (automatic driver searches via Windows Update), faster in all common tasks (menu's, etc.), libraries are nice (saves you some work on creating your music/movie/photo collections...

Really what Vista should have been, but that's easy said for me off course...

 

[Badfinger]

I like Windows 7 64-bit coming from XP 32-bit, I loaded the Win7 32bit first, but I decided to try the 64-bit after hearing it was faster and mainly to use 6gigs instead of 3.5. (had 2 1gig sticks of same make as the other 2 to use and have had Win7 itself test them all)
Hard drive speed IS MUCH MUCH faster! (this alone will prevent going back to 32-bit on this PC)

The bad? Incompatible software, 64-bit issue only:

Avanquest's System Suite Pro 9.0 is basically Fix It Utils now, its firewall I liked so much, is toast.
Win7's firewall sucks, I'm using Comodo's now, their Internet Security is free, includes AV, very extensive Firewall, pain in *** while first using, due to all the approval popups, but I can handle it, I made it even more anal then it defaulted to, you can adjusted it to make it easier, but then I believe you lose some of it's advantages.

Thankfully Auslogics Boost Speed is fully Win7 compat and surprised me with a lot of valuable Win7 config settings. (try the trial, lasts 15 days I think, $29.95 for 3 PC license, bargin!) I'd been using it for about 6 months in XP, made up for SSP9 functionality death.
[version 10 of which I ran across mention of, but not sold by them atm]

Casual games I had loaded are a mixed bag, even using troubleshooting compatibility within Win7 I got immediately BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH on many of them.

Peggle Nights (Peggle's sequel) black screens no matter what, Peggle works but only if I load it within the troubleshooting compat feature (but don't close it during 'the testing' phase, that's bizarre!
The TC says it's not compatible at the end, but I just played it, sir!
So I made a folder on my desktop called: Games req'n TC.

EQ2, Vanguard, Legends of Norrath, Dream 3D Pinball, all work fine.
Just tested Painkiller Black Edition, and it works, loads 25x faster than before!

All eGames products got BSOD (Black) and I had bought a lot of those cheap over time. 8(
16-bit Windows games? Forgetaboutit!

Definitely check this thread out for tested Win7 freeware: www.sevenforums.com/software/92-free-great-programs-windows-7-a.html
Good place to discuss Win7, many people having issues, that BSOD thing is really the only major gripe atm. I suppose XP Mode might run more of those games, if I had it? (I have Home Premium, which doesn't, haven't heard XP Mode mentioned much, read beforehand that is was mainly for companies that need compatibility with old specialty apps)

Learning curve/adjustment time, I do have XP still on another hard drive that I can just load with a few changes in my BIOS, when needed.

SO overall: B+ (would have been A if it at least gave me recoverable error instead of BSOD on the games)

Peace and good luck!

 

[DarKSeeD]

Haven't upgraded but I want too, still the price is too high for me, it's my paycheck for a month.

 

[JudaZ]

I'm running it on 3 machines now .. its brilliant . One computer is an older laptop 12" with only 768MB RAM (its max on that one) and a celeron processor ... Windows 7 still runs smooth as Xp, even a bit faster so far. Only issue i had on that laptop was the drivers that W7 added for the soundcard could not find the speakers and only worked on external speakers. Easy to fix with new drivers from realtek. so no biggie . Microsoft have really made a great product here ... no issues what so ever yet ... simply love it.

 

[Puiu]

I'm currently downloading Win 7 PRO x46 from MSDNAA (win products for free for students). After i reinstall windows later today maybe i'll leave a comment again. (currently on vista)

 

[Future1]

I am very cautious about Microsoft. Way back when and even now, they do in fact draw information from your system via the internet, even when you do not authorize it. Of course they deny this and have "almost" always.

Microsoft is if anything, one of the best marketing companies out there. I'm not very happy with the OS product however. The course has been one beta OS after another and they charge you for 'the privilege' of an unstable, bug ridden software?

I have been a quality assurance person for many years now as well as a service tech most of my life. I can tell you that it has cost companies far more than imagined. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) statements of Microsoft that I shredded in my public response years ago, hold true to this day. Savings? No... in fact it serves to bring business to the I.T. staff around the globe. Think of the business lost in I.T. if Microsoft maintenance and support was not an issue. I kept myself employed most of my working life thanks to the MS operating system and other MS software like MS Office.

Its no wonder people with nothing more to loose have been migrating away from Microsoft products. I wonder if MS and the Federal Reserve elite have a common agenda. To spirit your money away from you any way they can.

We upgrade from one Microsoft OS after another trying to get what we were promised with each previous version. Trying to get out from under the problems, the frustrations, and the bravado incompetence which sold us on the last version. When you spend years of your own money to staff up against Microsoft issues which stifle productivity and idle workers, you begin to question your loyalties for such a product.

So at the moment, Windows 7 may be better than XP, perhaps what they promised in Vista but didn't deliver. No doubt, the next Microsoft OS will be there to bring what was intended in Windows 7 but didn't deliver.

But then again, Microsoft didn't promise that much this time around, so maybe its another marketing strategy in the making.

 

[maestromasada]

I you haven;t try win7 you just can't say that. I have tried both Vista and 7 and can assure you the difference in performance is sustancial. Use the student offer and get it.

 

[Guest]

looks like all the fan boys are posting again instead of working on the bugs. truth be told, stick with XP it`s still faster than W7 so no need to upgrade. all programs still work fine. maybe they get W* right and yit`s actually worth spending $$ to upgrade but for now stick with what you got

 

[raul_bejarano]

I just installed Win7 last Friday. I bought a new Dell laptop last August so I had the free upgrade option from Vista to 7. Actually when I received the laptop, I removed Vista because it sucks and installed the RC version of Win7 Ultimate. Worked flawlessly for 3 months until my final Win7 discs arrived. I really like the new taskbar, the Aero features are cool although I don't use them that much, just the Aero peek every once in a while. The installation went on for about an hour, hour and a half tops and everything ran smoothly, no need to get extra drivers. I think this is a great advance in OS, finally MS came out with a good product. I recommend upgrading either way from Vista or XP by making a clean install. I loved XP but Vista was a major pain, so this new OS has hit right in the spot.

 

[raul_bejarano]

Oh I forgot. I'm running Win7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

[PUTALE]

I just got my copy of win7 pro but have not yet to install windows. it's always a big job to do the new installation.