You can buy an upgrade version, but it should still allow you to do a clean install. I'm pretty sure the only difference between the full and upgrade versions is that the upgrade version is cheaper (and requires you to own xp or vista)

I've been using Vista for 2 years on my laptop with no issues.

However, very soon I will attempt to put Ubuntu on my PS3.

Thora Wrote:Good timing. I'm thinking of getting Windows7 for my Dad for his birthday this week. Pls excuse the basic questions - I'm not particularly techy and find myself trying to help out someone who's getting a bit older.

After reading this thread, I understand that a clean install is better than an upgrade. Am I correct to assume that 2 versions are available (upgrade and complete) and the complete version would cost more?

Dad has 2 computers - one XP and one Vista. Things are working fine, but having to remember 2 different systems can be a bit much and there are some networking issues. Will I have a problem installing Win 7 (upgrade or complete) on the 2 computers? Appreciate any advice.

Edit: I've since read that clean install is the only option for XP.

Save yourself some money and don't buy overpriced software =)

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Wow, I realized I bought my Windows XP box 7 years ago! I'm still running an Athlon 2 5000 (2.6Ghz?), and a 8800 GTS config I built 2 years ago. Time to upgrade !

I skipped Vista so I have my W7 box (just 70 euro on amazon.co.uk incl. shipping). I'm leaning on Intel this time, eyeballing an Intel Core i5 750. I'll wait a few more months to see what nVidia comes up with. Otherwise GTX 285 is not DX11 ready.

Zarxrax Wrote:You can buy an upgrade version, but it should still allow you to do a clean install.

Thanks. Good to know. Saved $$.

Bombpersons Wrote:Save yourself some money and don't buy overpriced software

Does this mean we can look forward to your arrival in Canada this week to set us up on Linux, train us and stick around for support? But I agree - it seems the Ultimate version is needed for languages... and 2 copies to upgrade 2 computers. $220x2=$440! hmm I don't get the one computer only license. It almost makes more sense to buy a new Win7 computer (with 50% off second win7 license).

You don't need Ultimate to type in languages... Just to shift around from multiple languages. There is alternate software that can do it for you, though... Khatz posted about it once.

Thora Wrote:But I agree - it seems the Ultimate version is needed for languages...

Vistalizator (http://www.froggie.sk/notes.html) seems to support Win 7 now.

Ah! That's the one. Vistalizator. It takes a long time to download the language packs, but it is well worth it

Perfect. Thanks! I've gone from $640 for 2 ...to $420 for 2...to $150 for 3!

I wish I'd know about Vistalizator before. (I foresee a name change) With Japanese MUI, I think I can use my own Tablet laptop for Japanese handwriting recognition. Be fun to at least play around with it. Has anyone tried it?

A final question (re 32-bit vs 64-bit): After reading a few sites, I understand that even if the computer has a 64-bit processor, I'm better off installing the 32-bit version of Windows 7 if there are old peripherals (drivers might not work) and/or software and no plans for heavy multimedia use. If I shouldn't be following this advice, perhaps someone could let me know? http://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-64-bit...-t484.html

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Added to wiki.

EDIT: That's really good news. I thought it sucked that you can't freely install other languages into the OS. Hopefully this doesn't mess up the Windows update or your _legal_ licensed copy of Windows.

Thora Wrote:I'm better off installing the 32-bit version of Windows 7 if there are old peripherals (drivers might not work) and/or software and no plans for heavy multimedia use. If I shouldn't be following this advice, perhaps someone could let me know? http://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-64-bit...-t484.html

What sort of old peripherals? Anything made in the last few years should work fine (unless you got a printer from the 90s or something). There's also the option of changing the compatibility mode for certain drivers (worked well with my old ati drivers before I updated).

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Thora, I would do a round of the internet's and look if you can findan updated 64 Bit driver (Vista or 7 or maybe even XP 64?) for each one of those peripherals. Then if you have a decent 64 bit CPU, and 2 GB mempry I think it would be a waste to lock a legal copy of Windows with the 32 bit version.

AFAIK once you install the 32 bit (or 64 bit) you can no longer install the other one, your key becomes tied to the 32 or 64bit version. If in doubt, don't rush to activate Windows.

OK, I'll do some searching first. I might be dealing with a few relics however. :-)

I thought compatibility mode was just for programs, so good to know I might be able to use it for drivers. Thanks again friends.

No one use Win98?

I use it till today, it's one of the best and fastest operating systems ever.

Do you believe that I don't have anti-virus, firewalls, or any other security software installed in the PC which is running on Win98? It's connected with the internet, and I never noticed any problems!

The second one is XP. I hate Vista, and I'll never try Windows 7.

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ahibba Wrote:No one use Win98?

One of my friends does, I mean.. he turns off the xp theme so it looks pretty much the same

I'm using a vat-grown bacterial OS in a ruggedized TRS-80 retrofitted with a Zero Point Module.

I do the same thing in all my xp PCs, but I do the contrary in one of my Win98 PCs. I use a software called Aston with XP theme

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See, you don't like XP either.

I love my XP play-skool blue taskbar with the big smoothy green Start button and the pretty little rounded corners. I thought I hate the transparent windows as in Vista but since I have no choice over the OS at work, I have become used to it.

On a completely unsustantial tangent.. I am eager to use Windows 7 and to try the Stickies-lookalike app (apparently a Vista gadget that became an app of its own, which is a good sign that it will be improved over time, still very sparse feature wise compared to Stickies, but looks very sweet).

I just installed Windows 7 on my Vista machine a few days ago as a separate OS.

So far so good, but I haven't installed anything in Windows 7 yet, so there's nothing to do. All of my goodies (=games) are in Vista, which I have loved using since day 1. Before Vista the only OS I trusted was XP, but I think Vista is definitely superior to XP in a lot of ways, such as a sound mixer (control the volume of different programs separately? Yes, please!), the UI in general (so pretty!), speed (Vista boots faster than XP on this computer, and I've used both about the same length of time now using pretty much the same programs. Vista's also been super good about waking up from sleep (quick!))...etc.


I hope I can see all these good points in Windows 7 as well. One of these weekends I'll spend some time in 7, installing software that will make it nicer to use (mostly, firefox).


And although just a minor detail, I like that I can change the entire system locale into Japanese or Korean. This way I have to know words like "delete", "paste" or "administrator" in Japanese to use my computer o_o.

Vista has some vast improvements over XP for sure but it suffers the same fate that ultimately it just tends to degrade over time and little things just begin to ***** up.

But seriously... win98? That thing was horrible. The reason being the old Kernel was far too prone to freezing which is why the moved everything over the NT Kernel which could still function if a program stopped responding. 2000 was great. Windows has been prone to fewer and fewer complete system lock ups as newer ones get released but it's just such a shame that Vista has to take up so effing much space and what not. From what I've seen of 7 it looks like a much more "finished" product all round. There looks like some nifty features that have been a long time coming and seriously how bloody hard is it to actually think of this stuff too? They've probably had all the features of 7 already planned out since they released XP but they just wanna drip feed the market new products.

Windows 7 is basically what Vista should have been the first time round...

Probably, Vista was horribly slow...

I had to roll back to XP from Vista after one of my RAM sticks went faulty, XP was going as fast as Vista was with half the RAM! The only thing I miss from Vista is the sound mixer

Sometimes it's not how good the OS is, it's how good your computer is. My old computer ran horribly with XP, and my new one runs very nicely with Vista. My old computer was failing all around even after buying new parts and a newer version of XP.

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Well.. Windows 7 at its core _is_ Vista, that's why you can easily update from Vista to Windows 7, but not from XP. Vista just couldn't get a second chance to make a good impression, despite all the updates and service packs that have fixed the majority of the prolems that casued the bad reputation of Vista at its launch.

Windows 7 adds "core parking" which is nice if you buy the newer Intel CPU's that have "turbo mode" (Core i5 / i7).. so if only one or two cores are being used, they are automatically overclocked. I'm not sure what other major changes there are in the OS, since DX11 has been backported to Vista.

There are some differences actually. Windows 7 actually uses up less memory because in Vista, each window (surface) needed to have a buffer to store a picture of itself in main memory at all times. Windows 7 was changed so that wasn't needed (except in certain instances, such as having multiple video cards of different types). It's called WDDM 1.1. This also allows graphics to be faster because it can utilize acceleration on the video card once again:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Dis...l#WDDM_1.1

Vista will be able to use WDDI 1.1 drivers but they'll act like WDDI 1.0 drivers. (Forward compatibility?) They're also updating stuff on Vista so that you can develop for Windows 7 and it'll still work with Vista.

Of course, the new taskbar is pretty awesome too, (in my opinion).