Upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista

one man clappin

Hi folks
I have been searching on line checking is there a way to upgrade a laptop from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium. The laptop has 3GB of RAM and a Dual Core Processor.
All I can find however is links to download Windows 8 which I do not want.
Is there a way of actually purchasing a product key for Windows 7 anymore or have you to to with 8?

Overheal

Windows 7 is still available to order online from some channels but Windows 8.1 is what's widely available now.

Personally though my advice is to stick with the newest thing and keep yourself from lagging behind in matters of software. Nothing quite like watching people ready to punch a hole in your wall because their 13 year old computer died and they're going to have to adapt from using Windows XP and Office 2003 to using Windows 8.1 and Office 2013. It's not that these programs are bad, it's that the user has opened themselves up to a sharper than necessary learning curve. The same laws of physics govern how Earthquakes work.

In addition to that, 8.1 can actually benchmark better than 7 in some cases, you can boot to desktop and for an extra $5 there is a 3rd party start menu you can modify your operating system with. But you will be much better off ripping the Band-Aid.

kryptonmight

Amazon uk seem to have windows 7 product keys to buy, as well as the software on dvd. Search for windows 7 on their site.

200motels

one man clappin wrote: »

Hi folks
I have been searching on line checking is there a way to upgrade a laptop from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium. The laptop has 3GB of RAM and a Dual Core Processor.
All I can find however is links to download Windows 8 which I do not want.
Is there a way of actually purchasing a product key for Windows 7 anymore or have you to to with 8?

Whatever you do don't go near Windows 8.1 it's a disaster.

Overheal

200motels wrote: »

Whatever you do don't go near Windows 8.1 it's a disaster.

How is that? I'm happy to let anyone hold whatever opinion they want but for the sake of contribution, when impressing our opinions on others hows about including a supporting argument for your view?

one man clappin

Thanks for the replies folks.
I would not say that Windows 8.1 is a disaster. I have worked on a few laptops with it on. I installed Classic Start to give it a more user friendly interface. IMHO I think that 8.1 is maybe a year or two ahead of it's time. It is suited perfectly for touch screen devices and probably younger users who are more used to smartphones and tablets.
For more mature people who work in offices etc I don't think it is a user friendly piece of software and with XP not being able to receive updates from early next year, I think that Microsoft missed the boat a wee bit with this particular Operating system.

visual

Business loved XP and probably would stick with it if supported. But as XP support comes to an end most business are or plan to upgrade to windows 7

No heard of any large business considering windows 8

200motels

Overheal wrote: »

How is that? I'm happy to let anyone hold whatever opinion they want but for the sake of contribution, when impressing our opinions on others hows about including a supporting argument for your view?

The start button is my main issue, I know about 3rd party start buttons and their not up to much as I've used most of them, the tile screen is a Vtech styled screen, you have to look for everything, intermittent wifi problems, updates that update when you least expect it. I just don't like it on either a PC or laptop, but a friend of mine has it on a touch screen and it's much better to use.

28064212

Do people still navigate through "All Programs" from the start button? I can't remember the last time I clicked All Programs. Start button => type name/substring of program name => Press enter. It's been the same from Vista through to 8.1

Alun

28064212 wrote: »

Do people still navigate through "All Programs" from the start button? I can't remember the last time I clicked All Programs. Start button => type name/substring of program name => Press enter. It's been the same from Vista through to 8.1

Yes, I do quite often, as I have so much stuff installed, I can't actually remember what half of them are called

yoyo

Whatever you do don't go near Windows 8.1 it's a disaster.

It's identical to 7 except without the old style start menu. It's actually quicker than Windows 7. I was reading recently the Direct X 11.1 native support is making newer games run much more smoothly on 8/8.1 than on 7 on the same machine.
Battlefield 4 was the example here, stutters on Windows 7 and plays perfectly on 8, the devs confirmed the performance on 8/8.1 is better.

visual wrote: »

Business loved XP and probably would stick with it if supported. But as XP support comes to an end most business are or plan to upgrade to windows 7

No heard of any large business considering windows 8

Businesses had little choice with XP really, as support for 2000 was killed off shortly after XPs launch. 2000 was also a good OS back in the day, however both were very bad in the early days with virus and stability problems. It was only after SP2 XP I would consider stable.

Alun wrote: »

Yes, I do quite often, as I have so much stuff installed, I can't actually remember what half of them are called

Pin the icons and add to a group on the start menu . I find it many times easier than the old fly out folders once you get used to the change. The larger icons also stand out more. In 8.1 you can also name each group, like folder names in the old start menu

Nick

Alun

yoyo wrote: »

Pin the icons and add to a group on the start menu . I find it many times easier than the old fly out folders once you get used to the change. The larger icons also stand out more. In 8.1 you can also name each group, like folder names in the old start menu.

Yes, I know that. I'm still using Windows 7 (have 8 and 8.1 but can't be bothered to actually upgrade) and I have my most often used programs pinned to the taskbar, some less often used ones pinned to the start menu, but there are many other obscure things that I rarely use, maybe only once or twice a year, and as I said I can often never remember what they're called either.

200motels

yoyo wrote: »

It's identical to 7 except without the old style start menu. It's actually quicker than Windows 7. I was reading recently the Direct X 11.1 native support is making newer games run much more smoothly on 8/8.1 than on 7 on the same machine.
Battlefield 4 was the example here, stutters on Windows 7 and plays perfectly on 8, the devs confirmed the performance on 8/8.1 is better.

Businesses had little choice with XP really, as support for 2000 was killed off shortly after XPs launch. 2000 was also a good OS back in the day, however both were very bad in the early days with virus and stability problems. It was only after SP2 XP I would consider stable.



Pin the icons and add to a group on the start menu . I find it many times easier than the old fly out folders once you get used to the change. The larger icons also stand out more. In 8.1 you can also name each group, like folder names in the old start menu

Nick

I'm not a gamer so it makes no difference to me if it is better, I just think with Windows 7 Microsoft got almost everything right, then they go and try and reinvent it and make a pigs ear of it, I've used Windows 8 and 8.1 and even though 8.1 is better than 8 and probably more user friendly it just doesn't match 7 in my opinion, maybe just maybe 9 will be the next 7.

fryup

is it possible to upgrade from xp to 7 ?? is there an upgrade disc??

Overheal

fryup wrote: »

is it possible to upgrade from xp to 7 ?? is there an upgrade disc??

There had been, at one point. Harder to get now if you've been shnoozing on upgrading your gear.

Whether you do an upgrade from 7 to 8.1 though I'm pretty sure you're required to do a clean install either way. Check the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, here

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor

beauf

200motels wrote: »

The start button is my main issue, I know about 3rd party start buttons and their not up to much as I've used most of them

Classic Shell works pretty much like what ever start menu you want from XP to W7. It can turn off the rest of metro also. I'd be curious what you you find hard about windows 8 after trying Classic start. With that installed its just like Windows 7, but slightly better.

one man clappin

An update on this.
I had to install Windows 8 because our supplier was not able to get a Windows 7 disc on time.
I upgraded from Vista to 8 and it kept all the files and folders but not the programs. Luckily I had used Belarc to get product keys for Microsoft Office etc.
Today the client rang me to say that her Toshiba printer is not recognised by Windows 8 and she was advised by a Toshiba rep to downgrade to Windows 7.
I am looking online for drivers for the printer for Windows 8 but there does not seem to be any.

Overheal

Thats a balls.

How old is the printer, and does it have special functionality (wide format, dot matrix, etc)? If you're talking bog standard printer or All in One and if its older than 4-5 years you typically get better ink yield, not to mention better features, out of upgrading.

one man clappin

I got talking to a rep from Toshiba after that yesterday. It turns out the printer is an A3 black and white printer but it is over 6 years old and has been discontinued by Toshiba.
I will see if I can get anywhere with Microsoft about a downgrade to Windows 7 but am not going to hold out much hope on that.

yoyo

one man clappin wrote: »

I got talking to a rep from Toshiba after that yesterday. It turns out the printer is an A3 black and white printer but it is over 6 years old and has been discontinued by Toshiba.
I will see if I can get anywhere with Microsoft about a downgrade to Windows 7 but am not going to hold out much hope on that.

I had issues trying to get a Toshiba printer working with XP "Designed for XP" in the past. The issue was SP3 (or 2 can't remember) broke the drivers. They also seem to have no place to download drivers, and the support (which only came from the suppliers from memory) don't seem to know or care.
The solution in this instance was to replace the printer. It was a photocopier with PC connectivity iirc. Pain in the *** so it was. I wouldn't rush into getting 7 unless you can be 100% sure it will work on it. I'm surprised a Windows 7 supported device won't work on Windows 8, as 7 drivers should work ok. It could also be a 32 vs 64 Bit driver issue even, if you went from a 32bit to 64bit OS

Nick

beauf

I have had a few devices that I could get working in W7 but not W8. That said they were all very old.

200motels

beauf wrote: »

Classic Shell works pretty much like what ever start menu you want from XP to W7. It can turn off the rest of metro also. I'd be curious what you you find hard about windows 8 after trying Classic start. With that installed its just like Windows 7, but slightly better.

I just don't like it really, but in saying that 8.1 is a big improvement, anyway lately I've being using Linux more often and it's way way better than anything Microsoft has to offer and best of all it's free.

beauf

Is there a driver for the Toshiba printer on Linux?

Overheal

being 6 years old, ask the client is it really worth the hassle to get something that old working again:

-toner/ink cost will be better on a new machine
-more difficult to find aftermarket repair or replacement parts
-as you can see, more difficult to get software support for the unit
-plus, you could go through all that trouble and a year later the unit dies anyway.

beauf

Be a bit of crack getting it working with linux though.

Capt'n Midnight

one man clappin wrote: »

An update on this.
I had to install Windows 8 because our supplier was not able to get a Windows 7 disc on time.
I upgraded from Vista to 8 and it kept all the files and folders but not the programs. Luckily I had used Belarc to get product keys for Microsoft Office etc.
Today the client rang me to say that her Toshiba printer is not recognised by Windows 8 and she was advised by a Toshiba rep to downgrade to Windows 7.
I am looking online for drivers for the printer for Windows 8 but there does not seem to be any.

Depends on the printer
a toner cartridge can be good for thousands of pages and if the printer was a proper workhorse then it could go for years yet if well cared for.

A really old printer would probably be able to emulate a HP laserjet or proprinter or somesuch - if have lots of time you could play around with generic postscript.

Might be easier to go back to 7

yoyo

beauf wrote: »

I have had a few devices that I could get working in W7 but not W8. That said they were all very old.

It can happen alright. Windows 8 enforces driver signature verification, and you need to reboot in a different mode to disable it. This has caused problems with some older devices.
In saying that I do recommend testing the printer on the machine if possible with a trial version of Windows 7 to verify that it is indeed compatible with Windows 7. I did have issues in the past with a Toshiba machine and the drivers may still be as problematic as they were back then.
Many people use go back to the previous Windows as a cop out when a user has problems, it doesn't always mean it will resolve the issue

Nick