Windows 7 vs XP - MAJ please advise

[Gretel]

I am hanging on to my XP like dear like. Unfortunately my computer is in it's 5th year and getting very slow. I have 3 options:

1. Reinstall my operating system and then install only what I need now. I probably can backup and use current setting for some applications (How exactly is that done? I probably can use my Acronis Backup program for this)

2. Switch to Windows 7 - How do I find out which of my hardware and software are compatible?

3. Buy a new Windows 7 computer and install XP again (I have an extra OEM copy) and then install my applications. Any way to copy settings or does everything than need to be done from scratch?

[dyne]

I purchased a new computer which uses Windows 7 and I like it but found it difficult to LEARN. Microsoft Word 2007 works with it but nothing else that I had is compatiable with it.

[outwest]

Just finished that on 4 computers here..

We finally made the jump from xp to Win 7. Here are my observations:

1. Get Win 7 Professional 64 bit to access memory above 3 gigs and to leave lots of room to run a xp "virtual Machine"
2. Working backwards, try installing programs in native Win 7 mode logged in as a Administrator. When that quits working..

3. Setup a XP virtual machine. (the wizard makes this very easy)

4. Install into the XP virtual machine those necessary programs that won't run in Win 7. In my case: lacerte 2006 and earlier. Note that Win 7 will run those directly from it's menu almost like they are native Win 7 apps. Pretty slick.

Rather than migrate via a tool, I decided that clean installs would be better due to accumulated junk on my xp machines. I'll note that this meant programs like Quickbooks had to be installed then the updates applied which took some time to download and install.

We had our data files on a server, so all I had to worry about was programs. Even cloning three of the machines off a master copy took most of the week for me. START NOW....

[FEDUKE404]

Plan B

Gretel,

If your computer is "running slow" I would first take the simple approach.

Be sure you have no viruses/malware present.

Remove any "unneeded" stuff from your startup menu.

Run the usual Disk Cleanup stuff.

If you have such software, use it to check/clean/compress your registry.

Consider defragmenting your hard drive.

And be SURE you have all current Windows updates installed. The most current (XP) updates arrived yesterday, and IIRC there were about a dozen security updates.

The major issue with Win 7 is you must reinstall all software. My limited understanding is that most recent software should run in Win 7. But first you have to find all of the installation disks, save/transfer your data files, and the like.

Fortunately, I never went to Vista so I'm still holding on with Win XP.

(And I even have an older computer that runs a still useful DOS program - First Choice. Sure wish there were some way to run that on the XP. Calling all computer gurus?)

Good luck!

FE

[Gretel]

Thanks. FE, I tend to hold on to my XP. I have done everything you suggested, but disk clean up tools. Are the tools coming from Microsoft and installed on my computer any good?

I have the free version of Advanced System Care, maybe it is time to upgrade to Professional.

What are you using for disk clean up?

The slowing down of my computer got a jump recently, that made me think of viruses etc. but my softwares (Avira, Malwarebytes, Advanced System Care) did not find anything. I am not aware that I installed any new program around that time. Maybe I need to have someone test my computer with other software.

[FEDUKE404]

Disk clean up options

Thanks. FE, I tend to hold on to my XP. I have done everything you suggested, but disk clean up tools. Are the tools coming from Microsoft and installed on my computer any good?

I have the free version of Advanced System Care, maybe it is time to upgrade to Professional.

What are you using for disk clean up?

The slowing down of my computer got a jump recently, that made me think of viruses etc. but my softwares (Avira, Malwarebytes, Advanced System Care) did not find anything. I am not aware that I installed any new program around that time. Maybe I need to have someone test my computer with other software.

I just use Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter from what Microsoft provided (start -> all programs -> accessories -> system tools). Some commercial software has similar functions, but they may just be piggybacking to save you some keystrokes.

For a computer that is merely "slow" something as simple as Disk Cleanup can do wonders! Truth be known, that is probably the first thing I would do after finding no viruses/malware. It will first give you a list of what can be removed (be careful of your choices), but generally speaking you can safely remove all temp files, empty the trash files, and probably delete the internet cached stuff. Having a lot of that unnecessary stuff rattling around on your computer can really create disk storage problems and/or stress out your available memory resources.

If you have run the antivirus stuff and have adequate firewall protection, you should have that area adequately covered.

Oh yes: If you start doing too much, be sure to establish some "restore" points!

Good luck....again!

FE

[Gretel]

Oh, this is what disk clean up is. I do this on a regular basis and there is not much to clean up right now. Thanks again.

[ChEAr$]

Oh, this is what disk clean up is. I do this on a regular basis and there is not much to clean up right now. Thanks again.

But do use the defragment program at least once a month.

Another good and free program to have on hand in addition to your anti virus software is
Super AntiSpyware. It tracks down and eliminates malware and a whole bunch of cookies.

And MAJ, when you read this, check your private messages, please.

[outwest]

As long as we are talking clean up..

with some care, you can use msconfig to turn off background programs that hog resources at startup. Typical extras include various messenger programs & media players. Also background updaters for Adobe, Quickbooks and so on. (this will mean you need to check for updates manually though)

Click Start -> run and type "msconfig", click the startup tab and uncheck the extras. When you restart, the changes will take effect. Being somewhat comfortable with this, I tend to do several at once, but you might want to do one at a time or have a tech do the project. The changes are easily reversed. I've seen this make a dramatic improvement in speed.

You didn't mention how much ram you have, but bumping to 3 gigs will help.

FWIW, everyone here is really liking their quad core Win 7 machines...

[joanmcq]

I'm liking my Win 7 Quadcore beefier-than-Schwarzenegger new machine. I've installed all my ATX back to 1998 with the exception of 2003 & 2004; neither will install or run. I'm going to try the XP virtual machine function; I tried installing them in XP but am not sure if that is the same thing. Somehow, I seem to be getting a lot of nonfilers right now, and need the older programs. But I'm going to do them on my old laptop running XP.

Can't figure out why I had no problems with ATX 1998-2001 (installed on a whim just to see if they would), but the later ones have been a total ^&%*-up.

[Gretel]

Thanks everyone. As I mentioned earlier I have done pretty much everything (defrag regularly and limited my start ups).

RAM is up to 3 gig, but when I did this about a year ago it did not make any difference, I also have 115 GB space left on my hard drive (total available 148).

Anything else?

[geekgirldany]

I'll just add that if you are having problems with windows 7 and programs you can select to run that program in XP compatibility mode. I believe that is what OutWest was talking about doing.

I have vista on my main computer but I got a laptop for my DJ'ing equipment. Windows 7 and the program would stall during a song. So I had to run it in XP compatibility mode. So far no problems.... wish I would have had the dough to get a Mac.

[MariaR08]

just to chime in, i upgraded and bought a new win 7 pro 64-bit laptop late jan 2010 - didn't take long before i was familiar with everything and was perfectly up and running just in time to start doing returns the second week of feb!

if buying a new comp, make sure it's beefed up (good specs) to run the xp virtualization mode!

i love my new laptop!

~maria

[oceanlovin'ea]

Windows Task Manager

This is what my son-in-law taught me. He was on my computer and said it was running slow.
He opened Windows Task Manager and looked at the perfomrance tab. My CPU usage was very high.
So he told me I probably had something running in the background, like a virus or something. I took it to a technician. He had to redo my whole hard drive.....wipe it clean and reinstall everything but it has worked fine since.
Now it is running at very low percentage.

You might check that to see if you have something running in the background.

Linda

[FEDUKE404]

Hard drive reprogram

This is what my son-in-law taught me. He was on my computer and said it was running slow.
He opened Windows Task Manager and looked at the perfomrance tab. My CPU usage was very high.
So he told me I probably had something running in the background, like a virus or something. I took it to a technician. He had to redo my whole hard drive.....wipe it clean and reinstall everything but it has worked fine since.
Now it is running at very low percentage.

You might check that to see if you have something running in the background.

Linda

WOW - Doing the complete erase/restore option to a hard drive is usually one of last resort. Anything "bad" running in the background should be taken out with a good antivirus scan, as well as by some of the material included in the Microsoft updates (the "August" ones showed up on Tuesday). Anything else that was simply running and using space can be selectively turned off by the user.

As a point of reference, I had similar issues and was offered a similar solution by an "expert." (I guess it's their equivalent of "your car is not running well so instead of replacing the spark plugs I believe you need an engine overhaul.") I deferred, and did some more work on my own. The contributing factor to my problems was related to registry issues - did a little "repair" and defragmenting (yes, the registry) - and soon thereafter everything worked fine. Good repair software will also take out defective links that your computer is trying to connect.

You really need to monitor/select what programs "automatically" run in the background as they can easily consume a large amount of processing power (aka memory). Even excessive icons in the tray in the lower right of the monitor can safely be removed. Check very carefully what is in your start up files - you may well not need all of them on a regular basis.

From experience, I have found that IM stuff and similar "fluff" (like the weather) that you choose to have running can create serious issues with available memory.

And then, of course, it may just be time for a newer computer. But in general, a computer that "was" running fine and then starts running "slow" likely has too much stuff going on and/or not enough RAM to handle things.

One final thing: Be VERY careful of what you use to "check" your system. Aside from the nuisance "do you have a problem - let us check" web sites that download their partially operative (until you pay a fee) software to your computer, there is also malware out there that will start flashing that it has found all kinds of problems with your computer. Some are so bad that even "closing" the window with the red X will still download the malware!

BTW: Which internet browser are you using? IE 8 or 7 ??

FE