Win7 Does it run good

[Balagor]

After some months of Win7 64-bit, I am at a point of disapointment,

strong enough to consider a reinstall of WinXP.

Though Win7 indeed has nice grafics, nice features also some new ones,

I still get pulled down by the burden of all these little annoying

obstacles that keeps the joy from being entire.

 

I have been using WinXP ever since its release in 2002, and after a few

years with beginners troubles, XP was actually the most stable OS that

ever left the Microsost buildings. I have running WinXP at least since

2005 without any troubles at all.

 

Now I am stuck again with a new OS with all the "baby desease".

Will it be better, I have to ask my self, and when, and do I want

to wait for it? Statistically there should be a service pack late this year.

Untill then, I think I will go back with my good old XP. :sweat:

 

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WIN7 ISSUES :blink:

All issues are compared to WinXP ServicePack3,

and are issues that did not apear in WinXP

 

Minor annoying issues

 

1. Folders when set, return to default interface after restart.

2. Slow indexing when mutiple harddrives are installed.

3. Windows imageviewer extremly slow.

4. When creating shortcut folders on processbar, half an icon is shown from the next

subfolder when bar is locked. Minor issue, but aesthetic.

5. The window interface/colour does not work through out all applications.

Some are influenced by Win7, some by Office 2007.

 

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Major issues :verymad:

 

1. Boot time is now 55 sec, on WinXP 30 sec in my build.(from hit the button,

untill desktop/AV is ready)

2. No FlashPlayer support for 64-bit browser. One must use the 32-bit browser.

3. Stops working, or at least tells me so. Happens with many kind of applications,

though compatible.

4. Overall slowly

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====

 

Windows Live Mail

 

This is not a part of Win7, but an application to download for mail handling.

 

1. Having multiple mail accounts, causes problems to seperate incoming mails

and guide them to the proper destination. Errors happen often

2. Mails to inactive mail accounts do get through too.

[jaysus]

dunno, i just fixed some totally annoying bugs for friends who use it, im still on xp... old pc lol...

 

one of these bugs totally irritates me, you have to set a distinctive ip adress for wireless lan clients or theyll get kicked out from the router from time to time, never had this happen on xp or any other os, "fetch ip automaticly" worked till windows 7 came along... had to set it twice on win7 pcs yet

ever tried to run win7 in non admin mode? my cousin has to due to his parents and its a hell to do anything in it lol...

 

however i believe its at least better than vista... which is not hard... have it on a laptop and it utterly sucks in all aspects...

 

pity is that xp wont get any updates anymore including the soon to be vital directx11

[Balagor]

Haven´t tried wireless on 7, since I live a place where it does not work.

By the way it´s very similar to Vista, wich I never had, but know from my PC building.

They have removed Sidepanel, and placed Gadgets on Desktop, probably to enhance boot.

Also the Usercontrole function (wich is very annoying in Vista) has been radically changed.

Help functions are still useless.

Otherwise it´s very close to Vista. I think I actually read they build it over the Vista pattern,

but now I can not find where I read it. Maybe in the readme when I betatested it.

[jaysus]

the interface is truly quite similiar to vista, but i thought they build it from scratch as vista is basicly a DOS application still but win7 is not? well i might be wrong here lol but i thought i read somin like that...

however since i had to install a wireless lan network on max osx a few weeks back i must say windows is truly user UNfriendly... its soooo much easier on a mac lol... though i must say i lost all my faith in apple since they started using intel cpus and 2yr old gfx cards... not even speaking of crap like iphone or ipad...

ah i miss the days when we had ot fight for every K to get programs running back in DOS lol... or setting all colors to white in win311 on school pcs hehe, good ol times lol :D

if youd play such a prank nower days youd be utterly screwed -.-

[Vagrant0]

Minor annoying issues

1. Folders when set, return to default interface after restart.

2. Slow indexing when mutiple harddrives are installed.

3. Windows imageviewer extremly slow.

4. When creating shortcut folders on processbar, half an icon is shown from the next

subfolder when bar is locked. Minor issue, but aesthetic.

5. The window interface/colour does not work through out all applications.

Some are influenced by Win7, some by Office 2007.

Havn't noticed any of these issues. Then again, I'm one of those people who strips things down to be as non-visual as possible.

 

1. Havn't noticed this problem, then again I don't use anything special like folder icons. Other things like folder view settings (thumbnails for folders containing images, ect) seem to work for me, so might be some sort of settings or UAC issue on your end preventing those settings.

2. Havn't noticed this problem, have 2 harddrives and a USB external one. Aside from the fact that occasionally my non-system drive is not always active, and may need to occasionally be woken up (due to mobo powersaving settings), havn't noticed any issues. USB external drive works about as good as it should.

3. Image viewer seems fine for as infrequently as I use it. Again, sounds more like a hardware or settings issue on your end.

4. Don't use folder icons or grouping on the processbar, never had a reason where I needed to lock it, so no comment here.

5. Probably because it's office 2007. It may not detect your interface settings properly, especially if you are using anything other than the oldschool blocky windows format.

 

Major issues :verymad:

 

1. Boot time is now 55 sec, on WinXP 30 sec in my build.(from hit the button,

untill desktop/AV is ready)

2. No FlashPlayer support for 64-bit browser. One must use the 32-bit browser.

3. Stops working, or at least tells me so. Happens with many kind of applications,

though compatible.

4. Overall slowly

1. Boot time can be dependent on many different factors, Windows itself needing more resources than XP being the most obvious one. You can't really expect it to be both more and faster, and would consider a 25 second increase to be well within what is acceptable. As you're also working off the standpoint of everything being done loading, this can also depend rather greatly on what else you have starting up (antivirus in particular), and how many special visual things you have enabled.

2. That's an issue with the flash player, not windows itself.

3. That's an issue with applications (mostly older ones), and not windows itself.

4. Again, more resources needed by the system to run the OS, and largely dependant on what you have installed/running. Also dependent on how old your hardware is, and how you have your system configured. Is less of a problem with windows, and more one with your system and software choices.

 

Windows Live Mail

 

This is not a part of Win7, but an application to download for mail handling.

 

1. Having multiple mail accounts, causes problems to seperate incoming mails

and guide them to the proper destination. Errors happen often

2. Mails to inactive mail accounts do get through too.

It probably exists as a separate system because Outlook was one of the major security holes that most in the know not only avoided it like the plague, but also often went out of their way to disable nearly every component related to it. If you have multiple e-mail addresses, you can either forward them to a central account, or just make it a common practice to check each of them individually. However, you would probably be best off adopting to checking your e-mails at their online sources instead of having them sent to be saved locally. Although it might not be as convenient to check e-mails online, it is much safer from a virus/malware standpoint and doesn't require having to setup any sort of local inbox for your e-mail accounts so that someone can read them, or steal information about you when you aren't looking.

 

It's also possible that the problem lies with the application/service you are using and not anything related to windows 7 itself.

[Balagor]

@vagrant0

Thanks for your reply :thanks: . At least you gave me a hint that my HHD index issue can be some power save wake up issue. I´ll look into that.

 

I am aware that boot time differs, Win7 has a lot more to boot.

 

If my folder issue can be dealt with in UAC, I am not sure, but I will look into it.

 

As for my apps. stopping it´s MS, being Explorer and Excel (2007). I am aware a Office2010 will be released, were such issues should

have been dealt with. I even skipped all old apps. and spend a lot of money on Win7 compatible apps.

 

My build is Asus M4A78-PRO-AMD / Phenom IIx4 955 / 6 Gigs of Ram, wich should indeed be enough for Win7 to run properly.

[LHammonds]

After some months of Win7 64-bit, I am at a point of disapointment,

strong enough to consider a reinstall of WinXP.

I'd suggest having a dual-boot system so you can still benefit from having a DirectX11 platform if needed.

 

I have been using WinXP ever since its release in 2002, and after a few

years with beginners troubles, XP was actually the most stable OS that

ever left the Microsost buildings. I have running WinXP at least since

2005 without any troubles at all.

I'm right there with you but XP support is dying out...it is really time to move on. I evaluated Vista to replace XP in our business when it 1st released and it was utterly shameful how bad it was. Again, after Vista SP1 was released, we re-evaluated the upgrade possibility and it was actually WORSE than before! We are currently evaluating Win7 to replace our XP machines and all existing PCs which were running XP are doing quite well running Win7 (including compatibility issues with some ANCIENT software we run).

 

WIN7 ISSUES :blink:

All issues are compared to WinXP ServicePack3,

and are issues that did not apear in WinXP

 

Minor annoying issues

 

1. Folders when set, return to default interface after restart.

2. Slow indexing when mutiple harddrives are installed.

3. Windows imageviewer extremly slow.

4. When creating shortcut folders on processbar, half an icon is shown from the next

subfolder when bar is locked. Minor issue, but aesthetic.

5. The window interface/colour does not work through out all applications.

Some are influenced by Win7, some by Office 2007.

1. I have not seen this problem.

2. I disable indexing as a rule. The "patch" that introduced Windows Search on our WinXP and Win2003 Servers caused major headaches with backups and database operations! grrrr.

3. I have not seen this problem...although I have always noticed that going in reverse order always made windows think a bit harder. Might want to try a different viewer.

4. I have not seen this problem.

5. The interface issue really depends on how the application was designed and compiled. Pre-Win7 applications might not be able to integrate very well with the Win7 interface in terms of inherited properties.

 

NOTE: One thing I avoid like the plague on any PC that I want top performance from is any version or Microsoft Office or related products. That product tends to gum up a system quite effectively. If possible, check out the apps at portableapps.com to see if you can utilize any of them. If a program can operate without "installing" itself onto the operating system, your OS performance won't be affected at all if the application isn't even running. ;)

 

1. Boot time is now 55 sec, on WinXP 30 sec in my build.(from hit the button,

untill desktop/AV is ready)

2. No FlashPlayer support for 64-bit browser. One must use the 32-bit browser.

3. Stops working, or at least tells me so. Happens with many kind of applications,

though compatible.

4. Overall slowly

1. This has already been explained in prior posts.

2. Irrelevant. Has nothing to do with Win7 64-bit or WinXP 64-bit...it is not available to either one and is an issue with the program, not Windows. NOTE: If you are using a 64-bit browser, ALL plugins must be 64-bit. For Java, I install the 32-bit and 64-bit versions so they work with either browser that I pick. I am guessing it has not been a big issue for Adobe/Macromedia to support 64-bit browsers mainly because of there not being much advantage with 64-bit code for browsing...#1 Browsing won't be any faster, #2 browsers shouldn't be using gigs of ram!

3. If Windows Explorer is "hanging up" on you, make sure you do not have failing hardware or bad drivers. The only time I have seen Windows Explorer hang up was due to the kind of hardware attached to the system (via software drivers) such as an All-In-One fax/printer/scanner that eventually was trashed but the drivers left in the system still caused problems...and required a re-format to resolve the problems the drivers created. NOTE: I noticed in a separate topic that you seemed confused about Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) and Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe)

4. If the problem is related to graphics, disable the aero interface and see if it gets back to XP-like performance. If not, your PC seems more-than-capable of running it very well. Look at other issues that might be causing the problem such as device drivers, failing hardware, etc. I have a Dell Optiplex 745 with an Intel Core2 2.66GHz CPU and 4GB of ram and it is running my system just as good as when XP was installed...if not better!

 

Windows Live Mail

 

This is not a part of Win7, but an application to download for mail handling.

 

1. Having multiple mail accounts, causes problems to seperate incoming mails

and guide them to the proper destination. Errors happen often

2. Mails to inactive mail accounts do get through too.

I am not familiar with that product but I suspect it is just about as useless as Outlook Express and should probably be avoided as if it were malware. hehehe. I've used Outlook (full product) and it handles multiple accounts without a problem...and has delivery rules you can fine-tune. Something as basic as "If incoming mail from Mail Account #1, place in mail folder #1", etc.

 

I have an Exchange mail account for work, a GMail account for friends and family, a hotmail account for places that require I give them an email address (and expect SPAM and misuse) and a Yahoo account for miscellaneous testing (rarely accessed).

 

My iPhone can access and manage all my mail accounts...except Hotmail.

My Firefox plugin called WebMail Notifier can also keep me informed as to when mail is available to read.

 

The really nice thing about GMail is that it can be configured to act like a POP3 server so you can download your mail but also configure it so that once the mail is downloaded, instead of being removed from the server, it simply places it into an archive area so you can still find the messages when out-and-about and not at your PC that downloaded the messages! I use Mozilla Thunderbird at home to download my GMail (which is the only personal mail that I keep).

 

LHammonds

[Balagor]

@LHammonds

Thank you for taking the time to pinn all this out for me. It is very usefull, and I can get a little futher in adjusting my pc.

Bad news about Office. I need Excel and Word for my work, and it is not possible anymore to just install the 2, and skip the rest, like we did in old versions.

Actually I have kept Excel 7 and Word 2000 until now, for that reason, but Win7 refused to cooporate with them.

I will also look around for another mail handler.

Thank you. :thanks:

 

 

EDIT:: By examinating my Office DVD a little further, it seems I CAN install Excell & Word separetly.

Sorry, didn´t know, one of the things I just purchased recently for my Win7.

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[jaysus]

@aero theme

in regards to vista this was actually the only theme (including deactivated themes) which could deploy the gfx cards hardware acceleration and to what ive read so far even the new 7 still has its problem with using it...

its a bit more complicated than i could explain since i just flew over the article at toms hardware guide but it seems to be a real problem if you need top notch 2D performance (CAD, PS, MultiTasking etc)

[LHammonds]

Bad news about Office. I need Excel and Word for my work, and it is not possible anymore to just install the 2, and skip the rest, like we did in old versions.

I've got good news for you then.

 

Download Microsoft Virtual PC and create a Virtual OS and get it configured how you like it. Shutdown the virtual PC, make a backup of the virtual disk file (to be saved as a clean install), and then load MS Office and any other software you need that might "slow down" your PC. Once you get that one configured the way you like it, shut it down and make a backup of that virtual disk and keep it as your base restore point. Whenever you need to do Office-type work, fire up the virtual PC.

 

Keep the primary OS for things such as gaming and such. But if you have a habit of downloading and trying out demos, the virtual box is a GREAT place to test out software before clogging up your primary OS with install/uninstall files and registry problems. This is also great to mitigate issues while "cruzing" the web and evaluating downloads. ;)

 

EDIT #1: Your virtual OS can be WinXP if you like. :D

 

EDIT #2: I don't know if MS Virtual PC will let you run Win7 or not so it might be better to use VMWare Player which allows all kinds of OS's to be run...not just Microsoft Windows.

 

EDIT #3: Apparently you can run a virtual Win7 inside Win7. Here is how: My Digital Life

LHammonds