Windows 7 - The new XP

Fuzz, there's something strange going on in your XP ...we have 3 XP machines here and none of them behave like that.

Win 7 seems to be a smart upgrade for Vista users, as most of them already have a somewhat robust PC. But for those of us with older P4 machines with a gig of RAM (or even less) and legacy graphics cards, there's no considering Win 7 (even if I could think of a good reason to do so).

 

Yes. The strange is that with newer hardware, i haven't had so much easy time with XP. For me each OS is best when it's dealing with hardware of its generation. After that, drivers trouble start.

- In my previous motherboard (i 've changed a lot of configurations), i was getting an error for the infrared device. There isn't a reason to do that really and MS doesn't have a cause. The fix is to manually add a registry entry to the registry of live with the event viewer full of errors.

http://alexwho.com/2007/07/event-id-7026-i8042prt-fails-to-load-on.html

(The "cause" of this error, is absurd, but for me shows the "age" of XP. Of course back in 2002, it was unimaginable not having ps2 keyboard and mouse and a motherboard with IR port was exotic...).

- It's notorious among Realtek HD users, a problem with successive versions of their HD audio drivers for XP in some configurations . Not all had it, i had it. Brand new mohterboard BSODing randomly. The cure came out only after many drivers update. Why? Probably incompatibility with older drivers of other devices... You know how XP is. One software can brake the other.



- In my current motherboard in XP, installation of "My Lockbox", would disable the audio driver. Tried everything, even freshly installed XP. Nothing. The only cure is not to install it.

- In XP running Optidrive control's quality test while emuling, results in emule going down to almost 0 in download. Why? Because probably the SATA drivers for XP aren't so happy with my SATA burner and interfere with GLAN's driver or simply my chipset doesn't like that driver combo... For the same reason, when expecting to open a dvd in XP , there is a lag after i see the icon. While no in 7. And then the freeze when buffering the and spinning up for dvd burning in XP. I changed software in 7, but i can't help thinking that SATA controller works better in 7, without me adding the driver myself.

Hardware and drivers are a matter of luck.

You 're probably right. I use an onboard VGA too, but it's a recent one (HD 3300 ATI) and i get the lowest performance score there (3.9). With older ones, probably aero will be (or should be) disabled.

 

Hi Aaron,

I have in home second 'test' machine with this configuration:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz
RAM: 1,5GB
GPU: Radeon 9250 ('oldie' graphic card - no aero effect)
HDD: 40GB ATA Seagate

... and Windows 7 RC1, works very well on this PC.
Also when I was testing Win7 RC1 on my virtual machine I shared only 512MB RAM for that, and it still worked good.

 

For those who see no reason to stop using windows xp, but yet may be tired of seeing the same old desktop, themes, icon packs etc, check out this site:

"Transform Windows XP into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack"

http://www.askvg.com/transform-windows-XP-into-windows-7-without-using-customization-pack/

I'm running xp on one of my laptops and thought i'd try the things described in the guides - they turned out to work really well, I changed the icons to those of windows 7, the desktop theme to windows 7, the boot screen, logon and shutdown to those of windows 7. It's pretty interesting to see something new on this laptop without actually changing the operating system.

 

In deed! Myself i can already see me switching back and forth between XP and 7 64bit, just for the change. To tell the truth, although 64bit is a viable option already, i do miss some software that doesn't work properly (First Defence PC Rescue for once) and there is also the fact of limited support from software native for 64bit. Most of my programs i use on 64bit are still x86. There isn't even a Flash Player x64 plug in around, meaning you can't use IExplorer x64, which is a shame. Until x64 becomes mainstream, XP will be good.

 

Creer, that's interesting - but hard to believe that 7 would run nearly as fast as XP in that box!

 

Hey chrome, what are the specs of that laptop? Have you noticed any 'performance hit' after the transformation?

 

Yeah I know what you mean but honestly I was surprised also how 7 works on this machine. I didn't noticed any slowdowns. Probably XP could works a little bit faster but hey its 8 yrs old OS and parts from this computer has ~6 years old. Summary It's not so bad. Always you can try (90days trial) it by self and check how 7 works for you.

 

While that might be tempting, I just don't see any valid reason for me to abandon XP and make yet another deposit into Gates/Balmer's bank account.

 

That's OK I just thought - from your previous posts, that you would like to change your current OS but you not sure if your computer can handle 7

Cheers,

 

aaron - that laptop is a 1.9 processor, 1.5 gigs ram. there's no difference really in performance, because the changes i made were just cosmetic, i used a windows 7 theme, changed the icons and boot screen, and these things just dont affect performance per se. that laptop is a bit dated and it's best i think to keep windows xp on it till its (the laptops) end of life.

 

The worst thing in 7 is this dwm.exe, which basically is the desktop manager and handles the visual effects. It sucks CPU cycles all the time... I disabled some useless animations, even disabled transparencies, but kept going. So turned transparencies back on, kept animations off.

Damn you aero! (but it's nice!)

 

In fact as long as you find hardware drivers for XP and you are not a gamer, i can't see any urgent reason to upgrade. (Other than helping mother MS get over the economic crisis easier ).

 

And also don't forget that the RIAA will also rejoice that everybody is going over to an operating system that is full of DRM crap. Hell, look how hard it is to get stereomix on some Vista laptops now (HP and Compaq especially). Downgrade to XP and POOF!, its back. Also, In this economy, I don't think you will see too many IT departments willing to spend the time and money to upgrade all those P4 machines out there, especially if they already have everything locked down, security wise. People in a company don't even get into the OS. Turn on the machine and start the program. That's it. Can you see a person at their desktop trying to get into XP mode in order to run an incompatible program? With security updates available until 2014 for XP, I am still a happy camper, especially since I really don't need the latest and greatest eye candy. XP was indeed a great operating system before it's time; already eight years old and counting.

 

We put Win7 on one of our service department techs older computers, a Dell Optiplex super small form factor. It is an early Pentium 4 HyperThread...2.6 GHz I believe, and only 1 gig of RAM. Onboard Intel video. Yes...not even a dual core Pentium, and only 1 gig of RAM. It ran XP on it for years, very cleanly kept...always ran great.

Windows 7 runs better!!!

I think they hit a home run with Windows 7, I have installed it on 2 of my rigs so far. Fantastic on my laptop which was running Vista, runs so much snappier than Vista, and hibernation 'n all that work 100%.

 

Sticking with XP into the foreseeable future. Perhaps, when I buy my next computer it will be Windows 8, and great, hopefully.

 

You 're right about DRM, but i am afraid the future Windows releases will only get uglier to that end... For me, it's better to have Win7 as an heir to XP for many years to come than the heir of Win 7, whenever that comes.

There is also certainly problem with several applications running in Win7 x64.

-Ashampoo burning studio 9.12 doesn't run.
-Fastone screencapture 5.3 (the last freeware version), can't capture scrolling window.
- FFDshow can't become default decoder for WMP, because Win 7 has locked down the decoders and uses its own by default. You need 3rd party "intelligent" player like MPC-HC. Which i don't like in its interface.
- Pop Tray won't run.
- Pop Peeper crashes.
- Game NO CD Patches have problems if they use 16bit (happened to me already).

And the list goes on. Personally i see this in a similar way as you, the timing being different. I upgraded my PC a few months ago. So i don't think i will go for Win 8, which will certainly be heavier and stick with 7 for many years to come. It's hard that MS repeats the miracle of releasing an OS (Win7) which is lighter than its predecessor (Vista) and almost as light (if you disable aero) as its "grandfather" (XP). Plus it has a modern interface and eye candy, that should keep one happy for years.
In your case, since you plan PC upgrade later on, yes, getting Win8 while you wait with XP is logical.

If one disables the Aero theme, i think it can run on almost any PC that XP runs on. Well, over 1Ghz. It's in deed very well made.
Almost all processes i have are always at 0% CPU except for that wdm.exe that handles aero that keeps eating CPU all the time.

 

Well, seems that through Shark's config utility i can make FFdshow work, but only in WMPx32 . In WMPx64 i can make it work for H264 but not for AVIs. Hopefully the x64 issue will be fixed. But now i am happy i got rid of WMP's default ultrasmoothing postprocessing and i can again apply my beloved unsharp mask from ffdshow.

 

I will be buying Windows 7 as soon as it hits the market here.
The only downside I see is that I will be buying the x64 version and that might give some problems because I am not familiar with Windows x64.
As long as Windows 7 runs as great as the betas and the RC's I think it will be a decent OS.

 

Well, there are some things that look "weird" when you first run x64 (like having 2 program folders, 2 IEs, 2 WMPs) , but once you learn which programs are incompatible, it's not much different than x32.


Use the stickies here as guideline, although some of the "compatible" software for Win 7 , haven't proved compatible to my Win7 x64 or were unstable.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/

 

The good thing about Vista and Windows 7 is that I am being given multiple versions of XP retail by family members and friends who better enjoy Vista or Windows 7 to XP!!

This free windfall was earned by helping them with problems with XP thru out the years and as I am considered an "oldtimer" ( in simple terms an XP veteran) --- thus I get the old stuff!!!

To my needs and habits, XP has everything I need and see no need (other than experimentation and curiosity) to spend more money on OS's that I do not need (wanting is a completely different subject).

I do want to get Vista and Windows 7 but my older machines still work (Damm those added ventilation fans [ yes I was forewarned that these would double the life of my machines!!!]) and I am hesitant to buy new machines simply due to WANT.

Perhaps Dual processor machines will also be "donated to the old timer" (that is me ) and I can get at least "Vista" to see what their enthusiasm is all about.

Sometimes being a senior citizen has its perks!!!

 

That,s really nice.

 

My grandfather lived through the Great Depression and always told me buy what you need and not always what you want. I will be staying with Xp until my ancient machine dies, since it does what I need it to do. No gamer here.

 

Basically the same here. I ran the Win7 RC's on my machines are it worked fine, even great. However...

• Upgrade cost is an issue. I didn't even blink at jumping on Snow Leopard and ordering a copy prerelease for my MacBook. That cost was at an impulse level purchase. If the window on the prerelease order upgrade of Win7 had been longer, I may have considered it. I may have gone for it if Win7 Pro was around $60-75, but for multiple machines even the prerelease Home Premium preorder was adding up and looking a bit costly for the return.
• The migration from Win XP is pretty pathetic if they really want people to upgrade. To me, this is the biggest stumbling block. If the benefits were huge..., maybe. However, they're not. They're incremental.
• Legacy software - shouldn't be an issue, but it would take some time to verify it.

My own bottom line - it's a great OS for a new machine. I'd have no hesitancy jumping for a new machine loaded with Win7. Right now the upgrade from XP or Vista (particularly those of us who have Vista Ultimate and have been pretty much left out in the cold with respect to promised Ultimate features and the cost of the version equivalent Win7 upgrade) to Win 7 is not compelling.

Blue

 

Thanks for the feedback c_s ...that does look inviting, so I'll try giving one of my XP machines 'a Win7 makeover' (after first backing-up of course)! On the surface, this appears to be a novel approach for those of us with older WinXP PCs.