I finally took the plunge and upgraded to Windows 7. I kept hearing from everyone just how much better than Vista it was. And Vista being such a dog, it sure sounded like nirvana was just around the corner; nope.
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Let’s start with this; Vista was one of the worst operating systems ever. Yeah, I said it. With this computer I have it would freeze up, it wouldn’t save any of my settings, it didn’t like certain programs or certain hardware I’d attach to it… just a litany of things I hated about it. So, the upgrade to Windows 7 is certainly better than what I had before in that regard.
At least partially. The first time I loaded it (yup, had to load it more than once) it took more than 4 hours, even though everyone said it should only take an hour, if that. I didn’t lose any real work time since I started loading it around 10:30 in the evening but I also couldn’t go off and do anything else, including going to bed and just ignoring it, because like all other operating systems I knew there would be questions I’d have to answer and things I had to do.
It loaded, and I tested it for about 30 minutes before shutting it down and going to bed. It looked pretty good, everything moved around okay, but I didn’t notice anything better or worse.
The next day it was time to load all the updates, and there were a lot of them. It took 2 hours to load them all, not including the service pack or the new IE 9. I was able to work while all that was going on so it didn’t impede anything I had to do. Of course when it was done it wanted me to reboot, so I did; so far no real issues.
That is, until I decided to load the service pack. That sucker took 2 hours once again, and when it was done I had to reboot. The computer never came back… that is, it rebooted, then immediately went to a black screen, and it stayed like that for 2 hours. I let it sit there, thinking it was processing something, but I figured 2 hours was long enough. So I forced it to reboot, which it did, and when it came back to the wallpaper I figured that it was all fine.
But I have Mailwasher, my email program, automatically load and open at startup, and it didn’t start. I tried opening it and got an error message. Matter of fact, every program I tried to open, except for the explorer folder, gave me an error message. And once I got the explorer folder open, it wouldn’t let me open any files, executable or not. It wouldn’t even let me get into the control panel or system restore. I eventually had to boot up in safe mode so I could remove the service pack. I tried it a second time a week later; no dice, but this time I was able to get into a repair module which removed the service pack. I’m not trying it again.
There’s also a feature in Windows 7 that allows you to select which program you’d like to use to open certain types of files. Only it doesn’t work; it opens file with whatever it’s decided it wants to use. Especially irritating is Windows Image Viewer, which comes with Win 7, but you can’t do anything except view images with it. I use a different program for images, but the settings won’t remember it and won’t use it. I’ve researched it online and found that many people have this same complaint but no one can do a thing about it. I even went into the registry to look around and I thought about removing every reference to it, but then I might have to load Windows 7a third time.
Oh yeah, why did I load it a second time? It was working better than Vista but there were still some wonky things going on. A tech friend of mine suggested loading it again, so I did. Overall resources seem to be handled pretty well but I’ve noticed that, for whatever reason, if I’m not at the computer for a few hours sometimes it freaks and decides to shut itself down, then upon my return and reboot it says it recovered from an unexpected error; aren’t all errors unexpected? I’ve also tried to research this, but to no avail.
I paid more than $100 for this? Nope, I’m not satisfied, but I’m still not going Mac so y’all that are about to tout it don’t even bother. lol Well, at least I’m not going that route yet I’ll say, because I also said I was never buying a smartphone and of course I did.
Maybe technology just hates me; sigh…
I was just about to start an Apple commercial when I got to your last paragraph. How did you know? I’ve been using a Mac since 1990 and have never owned a computer that ran Windows — until a couple of months ago. I got myself a little HP Netbook with Windows 7. I use it mainly for word processing when I’m away from my desk and going online if there’s a Wi-Fi connection, but that’s about it. I would never experience your level of frustration because I wouldn’t even know to try most of the things you do with your computer. Also, because I’m new to Windows, I have nothing to compare Windows 7 to — except Mac OS 10.6.7. Any frustrations I do have could be the result of inexperience. I hope you get things worked out soon, Mitch. These things are supposed to help us be more productive, after all.
Charles, I have been able to get it working better, but not quite perfect. Thing is, when something happens you’re not totally sure if it’s the operating system or the program, and that’s problematic as well. My one and only experience with a Mac was in 1991, and I hated it so much that I’ve never given it another chance.
Hi Mitch
Just been on Christian’s site and enjoyed his interview with you. Nice one Mitch.
I prefer Windows 7 to Vista that’s for sure! But unlike you, I didn’t set my new program up.
A techie friend uploaded all my programs and set everything up for me. Sp can’t really comment on any problems cos if there were any they fixed them for me.
I’m sure there are features I’m not taking advantage of, but I try and keep it all simple. Especially as I don’t want things going wrong and not being able to work on my biz or blog. Hope you get it sorted Mitch.
Patricia Perth Australia
Thanks Pat, and thanks for the comment on the interview as well. These things are supposed to be easy, and as someone with some tech knowledge, it should have gone smoother than it did. I still have no idea why the service pack won’t work for me but I’m not missing it right now.
Dennis, that’s the main package all the stores are selling. If you want to go to Win 7 home premium I think it’s only an upgrade. The other versions are standalone packages.
Nope, that had to be incorrect.
Hey Mitch, so basically what you’re saying is it sucks :D. I’m still using XP on the PC but I’m happily typing away on my MacBook Air. I love this baby, it does everything but display iframes which is no biggy.
As for XP I’m happy with that so I’m sticking with it. The only way I’m ever updating to a new operating system is when I buy a new PC. I think most of the problems come from when you change systems and not when you buy one already installed.
Sire, the thing is that XP will only go for so long before you start noticing some stuff just isn’t working anymore, and I’m talking the new technology. I upgraded to Win 7 because Vista was a dog. Win 7 is better than Vista, but I can’t say great. If I could just get rid of a few things I’d be much happier.
When I win the lottery, I am buying you an iMac. Other than that, I have no comment 😉
Jessica, if I win the lottery I might think about an iPad. lol
Hey Mitch, How old is your computer and are you running any old software?
I help friends with computer stuff and all of the computers I’ve upgraded to Win7 have gone really smoothly with only 1 exception – a computer that was about 10 years old and had some really old programs that choked on the advanced OS. :>
If you keep having strange issues, it might benefit you to do a full backup, wipe the drive and do a clean install. You may be having issues due to lingering junk from old software and/or hardware. This is especially true if you use non-standard software that might not behave as cleanly as it should.
Good luck!
Hi Marianne. It’s only 2 years old, and it’s got enough RAM so that it should be running pretty smoothly. Yeah, someone else stated the full install story as well; I’m really fighting that. Actually, since doing some minor maintenance it seems to be running a little bit better so I’m going to keep my eye on it. Thanks!
You could have waited a little longer for Windows 8 to come out. It is said that it is going to solve all the issues left behind by Windows 7.
Trust me Mia, I couldn’t have waited. The problems with Vista were just too many and difficult to overcome. That plus I’ve read about Win 8 & it doesn’t seem to be addressing any of the needs and issues I have right now.
I just started window 7 and so far, I am liking it, and yeah you are right about the vista. I just used it for a month or less!
For Window XP, well i did use it for years actually and didn’t have any serious trouble with it.
Win XP was pretty good Maxine, but no one seems to remember that the original version of it was a dog. I didn’t load it until the 1st service pack came out, which encouraged me to buy the professional version of it.
Mitch,
I do not like it either.. I especially hate the inability to kill non-responding applications. Old task manager was better.
However, it’s better than Vista I think.
I still love XP 🙂
Ajith, it’s definitely much better than Vista. For me, the only program I couldn’t ever close through the new task manager was Firefox, but I haven’t had that particular issue since I’ve been on Win 7, though I’m not doubting that it could happen.
There is some incompatibility with software with 64bit version of Win 7. For my work I mostly use XP, but I have installed 64 or my desktop and 32 bit version on my laptop. Honestly Windows 7 and Vista are the same, but the new one is a bit more lightweight regarding hardware resources.
You know Carl, the programs it said I was incompatible with I removed, so I shouldn’t have had any issues after that. If there were other programs I didn’t know about them.
There is one more thing, the programs that are moved from previous version of windows sometimes required new user permissions. I am not sure what exactly I did, but I found this info on internet.
Overall, I like Windows 7 just like XP. I never tried Vista because of all the bad comments I heard about it. There are some XP features that I like that I didn’t see in Windows 7. Also there are some softwares that are not yet compatible Windows 7. But overall, Windows is an excellent product by Microsoft.
It’s okay, Raymund. I was expecting more, and some of the stuff they say you can do I can’t do and that’s troubling. And I’m usually someone who finds my answers, but thus far I’m not finding any that work, and it’s irking me to no end.
Hello Mitch, I don’t know but since I switched to MAC i don’t even care about windows! Mac OS is something extreme, something different, something awesome! I would highly recommend it to everyone!
John, you’re like the other Mac people here, and I’m resisting because, well, it’s my way. lol Thing is I’d also have to break down and deal with the higher cost, something that, if I’d gone for that kind of price with the Windows computer, I might have avoided all the same.
Mitch, that really blows. You know which operating system was my favorite? The Commodore 64! The entire OS was on a chip. It would be copied to RAM so that you could tweak it, hook into the routines, whatever. If you or an errant program hosed the memory, you just rebooted and you were golden.
I’m not being facetious, either. Apparently, so many people loved the old C64 that the company has been revived! I’m sure that most of the love was for the aesthetics of the design case. Still, I hope they decide to put the OS on a chip. That would put the Antivirus industry out of business!
As for Windows, I loved the 98SE, as it was the last OS I could totally wrap my head around. Plus, it was small enough that I could burn Norton Ghost images as backups. Then, if things went haywire, I could reload the image and be back in business … just like a Commodore 64.
I’ve had my share of head-scratching moments with upgrades. Thankfully, the laptop I’m using came preloaded with Vista, so I have no complaints.
Good luck getting everything sorted. Ian awesome community is available to help you at http://windowssecrets.com/forums/
Cheers,
Mitch
P.S. That darned site is down at the moment, otherwise, I’d have tried to find a relevant forum for you.
Mitch, the best computer I ever had was the double floppy, my first computer in 1985 I believe. Didn’t use it much initially, but later I found lots of software and data processing programs and had a pretty good time. Of course you remember how bad dial up was but weren’t we just the most fascinated people back then?
1400 Dennis? Heck, I rocked my 56K that only ever found 28,800; I never went for the cheap stuff. lol
Hi Windows 7 is the best Operating system I’ve ever installed on my system. The window live updates are really important to fix some bugs and errors on the long run and at the same time will suggest some important installers that will speed up the process of the whole system as a whole.
Glad it works for you Andrew. To me, the best Windows operating system ever was Win 2000; that sucker never crashed and I was extremely happy with it. If it had stayed compatible with some programs I suddenly wanted to run I’d have stuck with that a lot longer.
Windows seven kicks XP’s butt. I love windows 7 it is choice. The theme is pretty cool too!
I’m not sure which theme you’re speaking of, Peter, but for me the jury is still out.
Hi Mitch, I use Windows 7 and so far, it suits me very well. It’s better than XP and of course, Vista. 🙂
Hey Mitch,
Windows 7 still is a huge improvement on XP. It’s taken a long time to get XP stable. I like the functionality of windows 7 and the look. Not quite the Mac but getting there.
Joanna, I just keep having issues with it for whatever reason. Even now, every once in awhile when I try to shut it down it doesn’t do it, then it ends up crashing, rebooting, and giving me error messages that I can’t do anything about. Sigh…