Windows 7

[Murdoch]

So now Microsoft say they are not going to issue any more "fixes" I'm guessing they assume we are all going to upgrade to Windows 10 or newer

So what are people here planning?

My work laptop is W7 and I need that to run Quickbooks 

Our home PC is W7 and we use it for email, music and photos 

Time to get the credit card out?

 

[Andy™]

So what are people here planning?

nothing

Time to get the credit card out?

free from the right places

 

[ProDave]

SWMBO has W10 on her PC.

I HATE it.

My own "new" laptop I have just installed Zorin, one of the variants of Linux that is made to look more "windows like"  Loaded onto a new SSD it runs like a rocket with none of the waiting around that I have had with all versions of windows before.  It's a well presented simple and logical user interface.  If you fancy trying it, download it from here https://zorinos.com/download/#core

Regarding W10.  The HDD crashed on SWMBO's laptop late last year,  In order to get a copy to re install I bought from ebay for £15 a USB memory stick with W10 install and a product key (we had lost the original sticker that came with the pc)  As it happened when I went to register it, it did not ask for the product key, it somehow found it from somewhere and is running with it's original product key again.  But the point is, even if starting from scratch you don't need to pay more than £15 for W10.

Personally if you like W7 and it does what you want, I would just carry on with it. At least it won't keep wasting time updating itself any more. It will just carry on doing what it does now.  You won't find an issue until some considerable time in the future when e.g you need to update your web browser and find the current versions won't work on W7 any more.  Remember something like 8% of pc's are still running XP

 

[Geoff1946]

I've been running W10 for some time now and don't have any issue with it.  It came "free" as a W7 upgrade, and the early updates were frequent and extensive but it's fine now it has settled down.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I've been running W10 for some time now and don't have any issue with it.  It came "free" as a W7 upgrade, and the early updates were frequent and extensive but it's fine now it has settled down.

+1...

Doesn't Win 7 date back to July 2009?   Bit old-hat in my book...   :C

I guess I did the free Win10 upgrade option ages ago like Geoff.. Must be getting on for 3 or 4 years now?

As even Win 10 is getting on a bit now..   (Jul 15)..

Can't see what any issues are?   As you can still keep the basic desktop looking much like Win 7 if that's your preference..

But for those still liking old flavour Win7, I would think the only significant issue is if your antivirus provider is still actively supporting Win7 OS...?  

https://news.thewindowsclub.com/most-antivirus-vendors-to-support-windows-7-for-at-least-two-more-years-97137/

Could be a bit of a Kick Up the Ar5e if you have no up-to-date Antivirus and things go belly up!!    

I cannot think of any advantages at all to being on Win7 compared with Win10 for what I use the PC's for??

opcorn

 

[Evans Electric]

This PC is still Win.  Vista   Most people say that its rubbish  , as a renowned "expert"   It  seems fine to me .   

I think I was quoted £30  to upgrade  or was it  deemed not possible  , cannot remember .  

I know that W10  wanted paying for the various things that are free with Vista  , like Word  .  

I downloaded W10 into the wife's laptop  about 3 yrs ago, worked for a week  ,  the whole layout looked like a child's  game display  TBH   , after a week  a processor on the main board melted .   Its still in the corner where I dumped it TBH  .  

 

[ProDave]

This PC is still Win.  Vista   Most people say that its rubbish  , as a renowned "expert"   It  seems fine to me .   

I think I was quoted £30  to upgrade  or was it  deemed not possible  , cannot remember .  

I know that W10  wanted paying for the various things that are free with Vista  , like Word  .  

I downloaded W10 into the wife's laptop  about 3 yrs ago, worked for a week  ,  the whole layout looked like a child's  game display  TBH   , after a week  a processor on the main board melted .   Its still in the corner where I dumped it TBH  .  

You could still install your old original version of word on W10 and it would still work just the way it always used to.  If you don't like any aspect of the latest versions of Microsoft Office, including the pricing structure, then the free Libre Office will do all you want.

 

[Evans Electric]

I'll make a note of that Dave,    but if i've got loads of documents , invoices etc  stored on my PC  ,  and I no longer have Word  installed ,   would they still open ?   

 

[ProDave]

I'll make a note of that Dave,    but if i've got loads of documents , invoices etc  stored on my PC  ,  and I no longer have Word  installed ,   would they still open ?   

Yes. Libre Office reads and writes files in the same format as Microsoft Office (and many other file formats as well)

https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/

 

[Evans Electric]

Thanks for that  , could be  very useful.   Downloaded. 

 

[CW33514]

You should be able to upgrade a desktop or laptop PC running Windows 7 to Windows 10. The upgrade should detect both hardware and software incompatibilites, if there are any.
You may have to buy a Windows 10 licence, for the existing desktop. But I would try it, before spending your money.
Firstly, Windows 10 can be downloaded, without a licence and you then have 30 days to activate it.
Secondly, I have upgraded a Windows 7 PC recently, and did NOT have to buy a new licence for Windows 10, despite what Microsoft says.

Have a read of the following:-
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
Note the comments about USB / DVD / ISO.
The tool does a huge download and writes it to a ISO image file that can be copied to a DVD or USB drive.
Personally I use one of those little SD cards used by the likes of a Nextbase Dashcam and put the SD card in a USB adapter from StarTech.com.
A 8GB SD card is large enough for the biggest download I have got from Microsoft recently.
Depending on which download option you take some downloads will be bigger than the capacity of a DVD (4.7GB)

Doing the download will do no harm, it is only when you start to use it to try to upgrade do things get scary.
Whatever you do, make sure you have a full back up of the desktop PC before you try to upgrade; not just your data.

You should only need to spend money, if after the move to Windows 10, you decide to, for instance upgrade from Windows Home to Windows Pro.

Even so, it is still a lot cheaper than buying Windows 10 brand new.

 

[Sidewinder]

A legitimate Win 7 install still gives you a free Win 10 upgrade, but it is like for like, eg home to home, pro to pro etc.

Win 8 the same.

I am getting used to 10 now & actually quite like it for my office type work.

Will probably never upgrade some of my site laptops, but then one is still on XP & another is on 2000.

 

[Phoenix]

Will probably never upgrade some of my site laptops, but then one is still on XP & another is on 2000.

I wouldn't be supprised if some of the stuff you needed to run was legacy 16bit stuff?. I bet a lot of the kit you interface to does so over a 9pin serial port and the best thing would be a laptop that still had such a port without needing a USB dongle, and all the hastle that can involve with many out that there using counterfit chips that the vender of the official one tries to break....

Certainly a lot of fire alarm panels upto almost current still have a serial interface, USB is coming in with newer ones, but I'm not sure whether or not its altually a good idea.... these days, if you come across some early 90s kit, then you could probably deal with it with using an older laptop and usb to serial converter, even if you had to run windows 98 to do it, at a real push, you could get an older pc set up and talking to it, and with a decent scope with serial decode, reverse enginner the requried commands and come up with a replacement app.

In 30 years time, what will we be able to do with the USB stuff they make today?

 

[ProDave]

I wouldn't be supprised if some of the stuff you needed to run was legacy 16bit stuff?. I bet a lot of the kit you interface to does so over a 9pin serial port and the best thing would be a laptop that still had such a port without needing a USB dongle, and all the hastle that can involve with many out that there using counterfit chips that the vender of the official one tries to break....

I am selling such a laptop on ebay at the moment, ending on Monday, real 9 pin serial port and a fresh install of XP service pack 3.  And a useable battery with about 2 hours life.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I am selling such a laptop on ebay at the moment, ending on Monday, real 9 pin serial port and a fresh install of XP service pack 3.  And a useable battery with about 2 hours life.

Ah.. yes... but... no.... but...

9-Pin... serial.. Is that real?

OR..

was the real serial port the full pukka 25pin D-type?

inc all the secondary channel bumf!?

Just complicating!

:C opcorn

:coat

 

[ProDave]

The original PC's had COM1 as 25 pin and COM2 as 9 pin.  I have plenty of the 9 pin to 25 pin adaptors.

 

[kerching]

Ahhhhhh serial links.  1,2,3,5,&7

wasted hundreds  of hours soldering  25 pin plugs on....then we went on to crimp pins, what a revelation that was 

 

[ProDave]

And then there was the endless fun of sorting out what protocol, how many data bits, now many stop bits, Xon, Xoff, handshaking or no handshaking, baud rates etc.
 

Not to mention the fundamental of which way was it wired DTE or DCE and do you need a straight cable or swap over cable?

No two serial devices were the same, the most "non standard" standard known to man,

 

[kerching]

And then there was the endless fun of sorting out what protocol, how many data bits, now many stop bits, Xon, Xoff, handshaking or no handshaking, baud rates etc.
 

Not to mention the fundamental of which way was it wired DTE or DCE and do you need a straight cable or swap over cable?

No two serial devices were the same, the most "non standard" standard known to man,

Welcome to my ( previous )!!!!!! Life

hate to think how many I must have done....got very fast at it though!

did network install,and commission at CMB Sonoco in Droylesden.....don't know if it was the solder fumes or the fact that I had been concentrating on doing  25 pins all day BUT I couldn't focus on the road only on the windscreen. Had to stop,and let my mate take over

happy days???

then there was 10 pin RJ45s for IBM 6150s.....no tooling available in this country so I had to make one, which was nice!

thin Ethernet, thick Ethernet, Token Ring, ScEADs the list goes on!.....tell the kids nowadays and...........