Windows 7

cpu-dude

Amazon sent me a copy today for free, happy days!

I pre-ordered it but I've only ever used Amazon with a free voucher I got last year

5uspect

Boo hiss!

EKRIUQ

If I have XP installed on my computer can I load Windows 7 on to a new partition then transfer all the files I want from the XP partition. I would then delete the files on XP and resize it giving Windows 7 more room. I have done this on my laptop with Windows 7RC and it worked fine as Windows 7 could see all my files on the Vista partition.

Next I have windows 7RC installed, can I upgrade this or does it have to be wiped for a fresh install

Thanks

Biggins

EKRIUQ wrote: »

Next I have windows 7RC installed, can I upgrade this or does it have to be wiped for a fresh install

Thanks

I think not. Your supposed to have an already legitimate full operating system on your pc/laptop before upgrading.
The 7RC release was the equivalent of a demo for users and trial testers.

Paulw

I'll probably be installing Windows 7 tomorrow.

Any major things to look out for?? I'll do a fresh install.

What about anti-virus and firewall? I assume that AVG and ZoneAlarm will still be ok (paid versions).

I think the vast majority of my apps will be fine. Should be a fun day or two doing all that.

Any advice, tips, etc would be great.

DevilsBreath

Nothing much you need to look out for.
If you were on vista you'll know all your external hardware will work fine.

In terms to software. i haven't had any problems. I use Avast and works fine.

One thing you should love is the fact that it will recognise 99% of your hardware of the bat and once it has your Nic loaded it can get all the othere drivers of the web.

You going 64 or 32.

Ginger

I am running Win7 x64 RTM since August. I havent found 1 program that doesnt work.

I did it as a clean install and its just works out of the box. I had to do a small hack with the Terratec sound card but in fairness to the upgrade scan it said it would have a problem. I am running on relatively old hardware 4 years and its zippier than Vista and XP easily.

No issues with my dev software VS2008/VS2010 at all, SQL Server installed fine with no issues (SP1 has to be applied after)

Using AVG free and its fine. Even have Warcraft 3 working happy out.

No issues I could say watch out for, but do yourself a favour run the Win7 Advisor just to check.

Using PowerISO as my disk mounter and its fine, at the time Daemon tools didnt at the time have a compatible driver. Its ok now.

Blisterman

Anyone know if Adobe CS2 works on windows 7 64 bit?
Also I've heard that with the 64 bit version of windows, programs which access a lot of memory will run faster. Would this be the case with Photoshop CS2?

The computer store are currently upgrading my laptop as we speak, and I'm a little worried.

cherryghost

I'm having a few Windows 7 problems. 1 of which is solved for now

1. Punkbuster support for windows 7 is STILL NOT supported. Some people find it lucky and have no problems running pb enabled games, others not. I was one of them. I had to dig into the system32 folder and run PunkbusterA and PunkbusterB in Vista compatibility in order to play BF2 and COD4 without any issues.

2. Bluetooths PAN network seems to be broken on Windows 7 for me. Having installed the bluetooth drivers when I plugged the adaptor in and installed Bluesoleil with no problems, I paired my phone with the pc and was able to do file transfers no bother. The PAN network, however, would not initialize, and the program insisted that PAN is disabled, which it is not. So no remote desktop control for me for the time being... still havent figured a way around this yet

Ginger

Blisterman wrote: »

Anyone know if Adobe CS2 works on windows 7 64 bit?
Also I've heard that with the 64 bit version of windows, programs which access a lot of memory will run faster. Would this be the case with Photoshop CS2?

The computer store are currently upgrading my laptop as we speak, and I'm a little worried.

I know CS4 will work and when I installed it on a machine, it installed the 64bit edition of photoshop which allows access to more memory when editing files. Dunno if it works any faster tho

Biggins

Paulw wrote: »

I'll probably be installing Windows 7 tomorrow.

Any major things to look out for?? I'll do a fresh install.

What about anti-virus and firewall? I assume that AVG and ZoneAlarm will still be ok (paid versions).

I think the vast majority of my apps will be fine. Should be a fun day or two doing all that.

Any advice, tips, etc would be great.

"Microsoft Security Essentials" should be good enough for the average user.
Just released and is anti-virus, malware and spyware protection.
...And its FREE!

See here: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

Combine this with the already built in firewall in your operating system, it a good start.
If you want extra protection if your really worried, also install Ad-aware Anniversery edition - also FREE and is an exceptional tool also which quietly runs in the background.
Found here: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Paulw

I got Windows 7 Professional, 32bit and 64bit . Not sure which to install.

I prefer AVG and ZoneAlarm, and have a valid license for the next 2 years, so might as well use.

Currently, I'm running the easy transfer tool, backing my data up to an external disk.

Ok, I've 3 physical disks in my PC - 1 with OS and apps, one with app data and one with just photos. Will I only have to format/wipe the main disk with the OS? I know I'll have to reinstall the apps, but I guess I then use the Easy transfer tool to restore the app config and data?

This will be fun.

Biggins

Paulw wrote: »

...Will I only have to format/wipe the main disk with the OS?

If you want a complete fresh install then yes, you will be wiping the main drive that has the windows directory, etc on it. Usually drive "C".

Paulw

Dummy's question - why would I installed 64bit or 32 bit?? I have both.

I know that a lot of my apps are 32bit, but some would love the 64bit option.

What are the limiting factors?

Looks like I've a hell of a lot of work ahead - backups, install, etc.

Would an upgrade be a bad choice, and then I can come back and do a wipe/fresh install at a later stage??

Stephen

The main benefit of 64-bit is the ability to access more than the 3.5-or-so GB of RAM that the 32-bit version can access. I've been running Win7 x64 on my gaming PC at home since the public beta with no problems.

Also, if you are doing an upgrade, there is no upgrade path from 32-bit to 64-bit, it requires a clean install. Personally I'm never happy with upgraded Windows systems, they always seem slower than clean installs.

cpu-dude

Paulw wrote: »

Dummy's question - why would I installed 64bit or 32 bit?? I have both.

I know that a lot of my apps are 32bit, but some would love the 64bit option.

What are the limiting factors?

Looks like I've a hell of a lot of work ahead - backups, install, etc.

Would an upgrade be a bad choice, and then I can come back and do a wipe/fresh install at a later stage??

Backup and fresh install is always the best advice, will take less time and be so much more worth it. Upgrading can always lead to issues with software and settings etc. Best to make a list of the software you have... make a backup of Users/Name/App Data and all your files, music, videos etc. and then start with a nice new clean install - your computer will thank you!

I would suggest 64-bit alright if your computer would favour it (i.e Dual Core, 4GB+ RAM). If not, 32-bit is fine. You can't upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit.

AIR-AUSSIE

Hi

I have Windows 7 on a laptop and wanna connect an external monitor to it. I have done this before when I had XP on the laptop. But now the laptop can't see it...

Could it be a driver issue or is it that my laptop is old and its graphics card can't handle putting out two screens?

Here is my system below (its OLD) prob shouldn't be even using win7 with it really but it is running fine. But any help would be appreciated.

DELL Latitude D600
1.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium M
512 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Cheers

Paulw

Seems I can't upgrade. That means a fresh install is my only choice.

So ... I need to back up my data, and then give it a go.

I might as well try 64bit.

Here goes nothing.

For someone who works in IT, I've always a lot to learn.

Biggins

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Hi

I have Windows 7 on a laptop and wanna connect an external monitor to it. I have done this before when I had XP on the laptop. But now the laptop can't see it...

Could it be a driver issue or is it that my laptop is old and its graphics card can't handle putting out two screens?

Here is my system below (its OLD) prob shouldn't be even using win7 with it really but it is running fine. But any help would be appreciated.

DELL Latitude D600
1.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium M
512 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Cheers

Have you tried the following already?

When you plug the monitor in, is it showing up in "Device manager" with/without a small exclamation mark on its icon?
If it is showing up one way or the other, in device manager, when you double click on it, go to the "Driver" tab - see the "update driver" button?
Once at that point, can you select "search automatically for updated driver software" ?
This will (if your connected to the net) go to a number of possible helpful net sources and look for an appropriate driver.

If its not at all showing up in device manager, come back to us.
By the way, ensure you plug the second monitor in at the back BEFORE you turn on the system.

AIR-AUSSIE

Biggins wrote: »

Have you tried the following already?

When you plug the monitor in, is it showing up in "Device manager" with/without a small exclamation mark on its icon?
If it is showing up one way or the other, in device manager, when you double click on it, go to the "Driver" tab - see the "update driver" button?
Once at that point, can you select "search automatically for updated driver software" ?
This will (if your connected to the net) go to a number of possible helpful net sources and look for an appropriate driver.

If its not at all showing up in device manager, come back to us.
By the way, ensure you plug the second monitor in at the back BEFORE you turn on the system.

In device manager I can see a 'Generic PnP Monitor' but it doesn't have an exclamation mark beside it. Is this the monitor I have attached? I have checked and it says it driver is up-to-date.

Biggins

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

In device manager I can see a 'Generic PnP Monitor' but it doesn't have an exclamation mark beside it. Is this the monitor I have attached? I have checked and it says it driver is up-to-date.

I suspect that's referring to the actual laptop monitor.
Have you tried in control panel the "Add a device" (under "Hardware and Sound") option?

What make is the second monitor?
Do you still have the original supplied driver for it?

AIR-AUSSIE

Biggins wrote: »

I suspect that's referring to the actual laptop monitor.
Have you tried in control panel the "Add a device" (under "Hardware and Sound") option?

What make is the second monitor?

Its actually a Samsung LCD tv with a vga slot. i'll see if it comes up in add a new device

AIR-AUSSIE

Nope windows can't see it in 'add a device'

MartMax

Paulw wrote: »

Seems I can't upgrade. That means a fresh install is my only choice.

So ... I need to back up my data, and then give it a go.

I might as well try 64bit.

Here goes nothing.

For someone who works in IT, I've always a lot to learn.

Go with 64-bit version. Paul, I have Lightroom running it is noticeably faster with extra memory enabled on the 64-bit. Played around with Photoshop trial version and it starts in no time really (no I lied.. take less than 5 sec thou!). I used to have Vista 32-bit with 2GB until I recently upgraded to 4GB of RAM.

Biggins

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Nope windows can't see it in 'add a device'

Its a tough one alright!
Have you checked the BIOS to see if any setting in there is disabled for secondary monitors or further Plug and Play abilities?

Paulw

mart_max wrote: »

Go with 64-bit version. Paul, I have Lightroom running it is noticeably faster with extra memory enabled on the 64-bit. Played around with Photoshop trial version and it starts in no time really (no I lied.. take less than 5 sec thou!). I used to have Vista 32-bit with 2GB until I recently upgraded to 4GB of RAM.

Seems my PC is 32bit. Just doing some backup of data now.

This is going to take a while (3-4hrs) and tomorrow I will hopefully get around to doing the install.

nameproblem

I got a Vista machine, due a free 7 upgrade from HP next week or so, my machine is currently running 32 bit, but i'd like to upgrade to 64 bit and do a fresh install of 7 when i get it. Anyone know if this is possible from the free upgrade to windows 7 disks, with the program for comps bought after june 26th? or will i just have to wait to get my disks to see?

nick23

Im looking to install windows 7 on my laptop

I have a Dell Studio 1535 running vista 32-bit
Stats:
4gb RAM
Intel dual core 2.6 GHz processor.
300 Gb Hard Drive

Sould/can i run windows 7 64-bit or should i just stay with 32-bit?

ED E

nick23 wrote: »

Im looking to install windows 7 on my laptop

I have a Dell Studio 1535 running vista 32-bit
Stats:
4gb RAM
Intel dual core 2.6 GHz processor.
300 Gb Hard Drive

Sould/can i run windows 7 64-bit or should i just stay with 32-bit?

To use all of your ram you need to use 64, though 32bit drivers are easier to find, not that you'll have muc trouble with a stock dell.