22nd October - W7 Day

**stlewis** · 23 October 2009, 08:57 AM

Dell No 1 done last night. This is an old machine but again with 2GB RAM. This had been running the RC version so I was confident it would be ok. Went really well; it found the graphics and screen drivers without intervention. The main thing that takes the time is reinstalling software and allowing Microsoft Update to pull everything in. As it is a home PC I have put Avast! Home on it (NIS 3-pack is on the other three). Loaded fine.

One neat trick is that if you have a networked printer, W7 picks it up perfectly - no need to install a driver manually on each machine.

Next job will be to get PHP and MySQL on the Sony laptop. Then I can be happy to move my main work PC...

**gracehjs** · 23 October 2009, 03:47 PM

I think I am going to wait until I buy a new 64 bit machine. Every time I buy a new machine my husband thinks its the last one I'll buy

. At least 64 bit should hold us for a while. When I started as a software programmer I worked on a Burroughs B5500 that was a 48 bit machine and that architecture is still going strong after 40 years.

**mossman** · 23 October 2009, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by covoxer

No, no, no. Well, yes it is faster than Vista, but no - it's still slower than XP.

i have to disagree here. i have been running it since beta and it is faster than xp. Microsoft finally got it right,

**Scotty** · 23 October 2009, 07:05 PM

Hi,
contempalting the upgrade and read the steps posted on Microsofts site..which makes me nervous, some informationn required from TG members.
Which programs installed on your computers did you have to re-install, (if any) as I have programs that the registration limit may have expired? for 32bit system.
Jim Mac

**steve.ledger** · 24 October 2009, 05:14 AM

Of particular interest to all TG members migrating to Windows 7 should be the Display Color Calibration Wizard.

I have two 24" LCD monitors attached to my system, they each have different type and quality panels (which isn't the best mix). Glancing from one then to the other always makes one look cooler or warmer than the other.
Using W7 'DCCW' I was able to calibrate the two much closer than I have before.

See this article which saves me explaining more

**ren2980** · 24 October 2009, 05:59 AM

I have been using Windows 7 (Ultimate 64bit, evaluation edition) for a couple of months without major problems, much improved than Vista and faster than any other Microsoft OS. Personally, I think Windows 7 is the best ever OS created by Miscrosoft.

**stlewis** · 24 October 2009, 06:05 AM

Scotty/Jim Mac

In most cases it is a complete wipe/reinstall. I think this is a good practice anyway - you get rid of all the crud from old versions of software and software you try, don't like and chuck.

But you do need to keep all your registration numbers and install disks! You may be able to recover these from the registry - use regedit to look for them.

**Scotty** · 24 October 2009, 04:36 PM

Hi Simon,
thanks for the advice...I am at this time gathering the Serial # and/or moving them to an External 640MB USB drive. Just hope I don't miss any...
I was Curious also about the "back up of the operating system that the retailer does now instead of getting the 'Windows operating system CD', the backup that is created on a separate partition of the main drive.
JimM

**stlewis** · 01 November 2009, 02:04 PM

Dell No 2 done now... Because this is a critical PC I got another disk drive and swapped the disk with Vista on - so then if I hit a problem it can go back in.

Still impressed with W7 - once it has spotted a driver is missing it can generally find it faster than I can with Google. So my tip is...if you get a notification, leave W7 to do the work.

If you like to cluster icons on the taskbar by role eg graphics ones, web ones, text ones, you can still assemble folders with the shortcuts and then add a toolbar for each folder - I leave the title showing but hide the text.

The ability to save searches works well.

I am resisting the temptation to reinstall various utilities that I have collected over the years - Norton File Manager, XnView (picture browser/organiser) and VueScan for an old Epson scanner. With various imporvements over Vista, I think I may no longer need them; yes they do some tricks that the Windows tools still don't do, but the complexity they add may outweigh the benefits.

And while I was spring cleaning I rebuilt my Windows phone - new upgraded ROM and full install. Another tedious job but runs better...

**stlewis** · 04 November 2009, 01:36 PM

A couple more tips...

If you are setting up a Home Group, make sure you use the password generated when you add your second, third etc PCs. They are happy to create Home Groups of their own but of course nonje can then talk to each other! I guess it means you could have one work home group and a second family one, all on the same network.

And printers... If you have a networked printer, don't take the option to share it - you don't need to and they all get in a tangle - from each PC you will see 4 printers on 4 PCs. If you have the same braincells as me, you need to remove all the copies on Device Stage, and probably reboot all the PCs and restart your router otherwise the PC still thinks the printer exists.