Windows 7 on a windows 8 laptop

thecelt

I am not a fan of windows 8,
It crossed my mind to put windows 7 on my laptop,
but I have seen mixed opinions about doing this,
I have seen people saying that their laptops seem to be locked to stop you going backwards as such, in so that they only work with windows 8.
Anyone tried this ?

Capt'n Midnight

First you need a windows 7 license.

pre-installed windows 8 doesn't allow downgrade unless you paid extra for a version that does


as for it not working, that depends on whether the manufacturer released drivers , check their web site

smcgiff

Not a fan of it either. Fecking hate it. Seems like change for change sake, but best move on and get used to it imo.

thecelt

Would it be possible/not overly complicated to put a partition on there to have both win 7 and 8?

aujopimur

I got one of those comp. repair guys to do mine, €40 problem solved.

yoyo

aujopimur wrote: »

I got one of those comp. repair guys to do mine, €40 problem solved.

A Windows license costs at least double that. It may work fine now but if Microsoft detect the copy is counterfeit then it's another matter.
If the start screen in Windows 8/8.1 causes confusion, you can use this to bring back the start menu. I really cannot understand the Windows 8 hysteria. Its more secure, has cool new features like file transfer dialogs combine if multiple operations, better task manager etc. It also boots quicker than 7 as well..

Nick

unkel

yoyo wrote: »

I really cannot understand the Windows 8 hysteria. Its more secure, has cool new features like file transfer dialogs combine if multiple operations, better task manager etc. It also boots quicker than 7 as well..

+1

And it uses a smaller footprint on the hard disk and uses less RAM

I have Windows 8.1 Professional running on a 8 year old laptop with just 1.5GB of RAM, running great!

PropJoe10

Just install Classic Shell in Windows 8. It basically turns it into a better version of Windows 7.

http://www.classicshell.net/

thehouses

Classic Shell is your solution.

janeparker

Let me know Classic Shell is secure? Another thing, is it certified by any reputed governing body?

GarIT

janeparker wrote: »

Let me know Classic Shell is secure? Another thing, is it certified by any reputed governing body?

No, not even windows is.

crazygeryy

Could you not just format the hard drive and install the copy of windows 7 onto it?

thehouses

janeparker wrote: »

Let me know Classic Shell is secure? Another thing, is it certified by any reputed governing body?

You can download the file (on a virtual machine if you are really, really worried) and upload it to virustotal.com. This website uses 48 or so virus scanners from the likes of Bitdefender, Kasperskys and Avast to analyse the file and will tell you if anything is wrong with it.

It is a legitimate file as I tested it on Windows 8 the other day and there was no problem, many people use it on their machines and there is nothing to worry about.

yoyo

crazygeryy wrote: »

Could you not just format the hard drive and install the copy of windows 7 onto it?

Of course you could, but you'd also need a Windows 7 license first. The question you have to ask is it really worth spending over €100 to downgrade to 7? Probably not, as 8 can be made look like 7 with Classic Shell

Nick

danger_mouse_tm

I'd say stick with windows 8 (or 8.1 if you have done the free upgrade in the windows store). There are great apps in the store - which I think is the real selling point of the OS. DO your system recovery discs because if that hard drive fails you're in trouble. There's an update planed in a couple of months to give you the option of launching directly into the desktop interface if you don't like the tiled start screen. OEMs must stop selling windows 7 by October.