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Post by Lynnrose on Jul 2, 2009 16:42:43 GMT
"Windows 7 details emerge.... We've seen enough of Windows 7 to be enthusiastically waiting for its release, and now there's more good news. Microsoft has announced that users who pre-order Windows 7 in July will only pay £50. After this special offer, Windows 7 Home Premium will cost £79." More...
Anyone on CIT going to buy it? or
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Post by martytoo on Jul 2, 2009 18:23:07 GMT
Strongly Tempted
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Post by ken on Jul 2, 2009 23:11:38 GMT
I see they have stuck it to us again, as it only $50.00 in the US. So we get the cut down version for £50.00. I'm all in favour of having the cut down version, but it should be £32.00 not £50.00. If thats the cheapest I can get it, it looks like I will have to pay it.
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Post by mikkh on Jul 3, 2009 6:19:49 GMT
With at least 9 versions available, not including a recently announced USB version for installing on 'netbooks' with no optical drive(s), it seems clear Microsoft have learnt nothing from the confusion generated by the many versions of Vista.
Surely there's no need for much more than a 'home' and 'pro' version, like in XP?
Admittedly I don't use Windows that often, but I did run every version of Vista and the differences between 'basic' and 'ultimate' are hardly noticeable once you ignore the 'eye candy' and gimmicks. I should imagine the same situation will apply to '7' so don't be fooled by words like premium and ultimate and just get the cheapest 'basic' edition
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Post by ken on Jul 3, 2009 9:19:22 GMT
Anything above basic is wasted on most people, as most of the extra is only networking. Then it needs to be international super network. Even Win98 will network quite easily, if you just want to hook a few computers together.
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Post by Angelstardust on Jul 3, 2009 12:01:47 GMT
I'm still using XP and can't see a good argument to change. On the other hand, I do have access to American versions .....
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Post by elvisuk on Jul 3, 2009 14:27:32 GMT
Well i use XP sometimes but only because i have not figured out how to do some things in Linux Mint and i mostly use Linux Mint anyway ;D
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Post by martytoo on Jul 4, 2009 17:37:49 GMT
I contacted Microsoft about prices for volume licences of W7( The Community Association I volunteer in holds volume licences for XP and Vista) and was told that
"There are no definitive details of cost and pricing available in the UK at present.
I would imagine more information will be available in late summer. " Not very helpful or encouraging.
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Post by johnnybee on Jul 9, 2009 11:44:16 GMT
Quick question here folks; I'm still dual-booting W7 with XPx64 on this rig, so what happens when 7 is on general release? Will my W7 load still work or not? JB....
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Post by elvisuk on Jul 9, 2009 12:54:57 GMT
It will work for one year i think it's June 2010
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Post by martytoo on Jul 9, 2009 19:06:07 GMT
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Post by movieman36 on Jul 10, 2009 6:59:30 GMT
If your buying a new system soon that comes pre-installed with that old hunk of junk commonly known as Vista, many (possibly all) are now offering a free upgrade to 7 on release.
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Post by muskrat26 on Jul 10, 2009 12:09:29 GMT
Excuse my ignorance but what is so different about IE7 and what wonderful things will I get for my money? (apart from patches and patches for patches) upgrading is all very well but I don't know what this IE7 will give me that IE6 does not have. To consider paying for an upgrade I really want to know what I'll find for my money.
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Post by buzzy on Jul 10, 2009 13:31:11 GMT
Muscrat - Are you perhaps getting confused? This discussion is about the next incarnation of the Windows operating system, "Windows 7" which will replace Vista. It is not a discussion about 'Internet Explorer 7.
Forgive me if it is me that is getting confused !!
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Post by muskrat26 on Jul 10, 2009 16:04:02 GMT
Sorry Buzzy, I did mean Windows 7 !
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Post by ken on Jul 10, 2009 17:06:43 GMT
A lot depends on your computer and what you want to do Von. I would advise anyone running Vista to upgrade, Win7 works like Vista should have. My Intel powered laptop runs beautiful on Win7 x 64 bit. The Beast however being an AMD powered machine, doesn't do so well. This is the top speed I ever got out of The Beast, on Win7 x 64.This is its speed now it's back on XP x 64.Actually you can add another 500 to that, but I cant find the screen print. They have brought out new Radeon drivers, which seem to work with paired graphics cards, but not with my triple GPUs. I'm running ATI Radeon HD4870 1 gig RAM x 3, and the CrossfireX wont work properly. I'm going to pre-order a copy in hopes they might fix the drivers.
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Post by muskrat26 on Jul 12, 2009 7:49:12 GMT
Thank you Ken. I know with my XP and my laptop that both are Vista compatible BUT I would need to install additional hardware first. Can't remember the report now but it more or less said that, so I would be unsure whether I could put on windows 7. I think I can live without it.
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Post by jojo on Jul 12, 2009 9:01:17 GMT
Sorry Microsoft. Been ripped off by you before.
Need some convincing that there is any point in changing.
Especially when Google is planning an OS of their own.
Taken too many years to iron out all the stupid wrinkles in XP. Vista was so utterly bad as to indicate that you have completely lost the plot.
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Post by nike on Jul 12, 2009 9:15:18 GMT
Sorry to say this to all the naysayers and knockers, but i've been trialling Windows 7 in 32 bit form as well as the 64 bit edition, and I love it! It's a very worthy replacement for the much loved XP. It's actually the way Vista should have been! I have installed it on a P4 1.6ghz Celeron powered machine with 512mb of ram and it ran as it should, with no problems at all.
I've even installed it on customers computers and they love it! Of course I told them the pitfalls first about having to pay for it in July next year, and gave them the option of going back to XP if they wanted to, but they are quite happy to keep it and pay for it in July 2010.
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Post by jojo on Jul 12, 2009 9:38:28 GMT
If it's any good, then all's well.
I personally have never particularly loved XP. But I have gradually managed to iron out the wrinkles.
More importantly, I gradually managed to learn how it worked. How to access a specific directory, (folder). and file.
Vista, whatever its strengths, tried to introduce an entirely new way to do everything. I don't doubt for a second that Vista's way was the most sensible notion since God decreed that only women should have babies.
But getting use to, not just a new way of doing everything, but not being able to do things that I have become acustomed to, such as musing through my music selection to see what I fancy.
If W7 has a heap of Swell new tools to do really Neat things to aid your intuitive computing experience, then no.
But no dount, in a few years, we'll all be using W7.
But nothing by Microsoft is well loved. It's just tolerable.
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Post by ken on Jul 12, 2009 10:13:00 GMT
You might find your computers will run Win7 Von, even if they wont run Vista without upgrading. Its not as bloated as Vista.
We are all going to get caught by the software companies before long, there is already software on the market that wont run on less than Vista. Everything will become 64 bit as well, in the not so distant future. All modern computers are 64 bit capable, with the exception of a few note pads. Once we were held to ransom by hardware, now we are getting reamed by everybody.
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Post by nike on Jul 12, 2009 22:31:28 GMT
The reason I said "much loved XP", is because having used all of M$'s incarnations since the Dos days, it was the most stable and forgiving program they ever came up with next to 98SE. I've been using XP since it was first released, and have had all the versions through the initial one, then SP1, SP2, SP3 to XP Pro SP2 x64. They have all worked well for me with no major problems found.
I refused to use Vista as I felt it was a bloated piece of garbage compared to XP, and decided to wait until W7 came out and trial that. I can honestly say, it's their best one yet, and it will run on just about any computer, except a real dinosaur.
Instead of mucking around with all varieties and flavours of different OS's, I like to get to know the main one that the general public use, and know it well, and that has been XP. I know the program reasonably well, and now that W7 is on the scene, I am setting out to get to know all about it's workings as well. At least then I can sort out a customers problem if one arises. In all the time I have been fixing computers, there has only been one occasion where a customer brought in a computer with anything other than Windows on it, and that was last week. The young guy had been experimenting with Fedora. I have upgraded his computer, and installed W7RC x64 on it. I put his old 120gig hard drive back in as well, and he can fool around with a dual boot system if he wants to, but I think he's going to like W7 meself!
It's been a bit hard sorting out computers with Vista installed, but that won't be the case soon cos W7 will take over from it, thankfully! I'll be encouraging everyone with a Vista powered computer to upgrade to W7 as soon as they are able to.
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Post by ken on Jul 13, 2009 8:25:41 GMT
The US pre-release finished Saturday and its $119.99 for the Home upgrade now. The UK pre-release prices start on Wednesday, with Home Upgrade at £49.99. Pro Upgrade £99.99 and they dont give a price for Ultimate, but I think its about £199.99. Add 100% if you want the full version. Offer ends 9th August.
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Post by muskrat26 on Jul 13, 2009 13:17:33 GMT
Thanks for the advice Ken. I really hate it when members brag about programs and how better they/the updates are without explaining why or giving links to examples.
No disrespect to anyone here but why should I take their word as proof when I cant check out for myself what they say?
I would update my ie but I really don't want icons in one area and the names somewhere else. If someone can give me a patch so that any update shows names with icons underneath (as I currently see) then I'll update.
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Post by Lynnrose on Jul 15, 2009 19:23:22 GMT
Received two emails tonight for Windows 7 Home Premium...
- Dixons £44.97
- PC World £44.99
- ......if you go through Quidco you will get 2% cashback for PC World and up to 2.5% cashback for Dixons via Fatcheese. There is p&p to consider, so when you work it out, might be still cheaper to go to the store yourself.
Go to our Money Saving board for details on Quidco and Fatcheese
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Post by ken on Jul 16, 2009 9:06:04 GMT
Starter Edition comes preinstalled only on netbooks that meet certain restrictions. It has many user-interface limitations - as befits its rock-bottom price, which is intended to reduce the list price of new netbooks running Windows.
Starter won't play DVD movies. Hardware makers, however, will undoubtedly bundle DVD software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD with their optical drives. As an alternative, you could install the highly acclaimed free VLC media player and play movies till the cows come bungee-jumping home. You'll find a download link for the program on the VideoLAN site.
Bottom line: Starter works fine if you're on a budget. Before you choose that bare-bones edition, however, consider that Win7 Home Premium may be available on a netbook for not much more money than you'd pay for Starter.
Ultimate Edition is for people who have way too much money tearing a hole in their pockets. Avoid this version unless you desperately need the ability to scramble all the data on your hard drive (using MS's proprietary BitLocker) or you want to be able to change your copy of Windows so all of the menus, help files, dialog boxes, and so on appear in a different language (multilanguage support).
Actually, Ultimate is so expensive, it may be cheaper to buy a second copy of Windows 7 Home Premium in the second language you wish to use and dual-boot between the two versions.
The big decision is Win7 Home Premium vs. Pro
That brings us to the first of our two key purchase questions: Can you live with Windows 7 Home Premium, or do you really need the added features of Windows 7 Professional? It boils down to whether you're willing to pay the extra money for Premium's handful of extras.
The following items are the things you can do in Windows 7 Pro that you can't do in Windows 7 Home Premium:
Join a domain. If your PC needs to participate in an organization's "domain" network, you need Win7 Pro or Ultimate.
Back up to a network drive. Both Starter and Home Premium have fully functional backup and restore programs that run automatically with very little fuss. These two versions also maintain "shadow copies" or previous versions of files - snapshots typically taken once a day.
Windows 7 Pro adds the ability to store backups on your network. With Home Premium, you can store backups only on local drives, including removable drives. Of course, if you have Windows Home Server or some other form of network-based copying, you're already covered for remote backup.
Act as a Remote Desktop puppet. Every recent version of Windows includes the ability to control another PC via a feature called Remote Desktop. But to be able to have your PC be controlled - if you want it to act as a puppet, with another PC pulling the strings - it must be running a Pro or Ultimate release.
There are several free or low-cost services - notably LogMeIn Free and GoToMyPC - that pull off the same remote-access trick, and they don't require a Pro or Ultimate version of Windows.
Sync files offline. Windows 7 Pro's built-in file synchronizer lets you designate a file or folder on another networked computer as being "offline." That automatically sets up caching and updating, so the file(s) are updated every time you reconnect your computer to the network.
As you might imagine, there are many ways to sync files and folders, including Microsoft's own free SyncToy, which you can get from Microsoft's download page. SyncToy has many more features than Windows 7's built-in file syncher but doesn't work as easily.
Run in Windows XP Mode. In theory, this feature lets you run Windows XP programs - unaltered - on a Windows 7 Pro PC. This version includes a fully licensed copy of Windows XP and Windows Virtual PC.
In my July 2 column, I described Win7's XP Mode as a pig in a pre-release poke. If you really need to run an XP virtual machine, get the free VMware Player, which you'll find on the VMware site, and use an old retail copy of XP.
Encrypt files and connect to projectors. Among the other quasi-notable features in Windows 7 Pro are two that may interest you. The Encrypting File System offers strong encryption of files and folders, although many people use the encryption techniques already found in applications such as Word and Excel.
If you commonly give presentations, Win7 Pro lets you connect quickly to a network projector (by pressing WindowsKey+P) and automatically disable screensavers and IM clients for the duration of a presentation. Ho-hum.
If you can look at the above list of features and say, "meh," then Windows 7 Home Premium is for you.
Make the move from 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Win7
A far more-pertinent question for many current Vista users is whether they should upgrade to the 32-bit version of Win7 or install the 64-bit version. All indications are that both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows 7 will ship on the same DVD.
Keep in mind that if you opt for an in-place upgrade - which I recommend against - you must stick with the bittedness of the original product: an old 32-bit version of Windows will upgrade only to 32-bit Windows 7, and 64-bit only to 64-bit.
If your system uses an Intel Core 2 Duo/AMD Athlon 64 or newer processor, you can run 64-bit. But choosing between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows has more implications than you might think.
Yes, the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 can handle more memory - 32-bit versions top out around 3.4GB. Yes, 64-bit applications frequently run faster than their 32-bit brethren.
But the devil's in the drivers: many manufacturers adamantly refuse to spend the money to create 64-bit drivers for older hardware. After all, they make money by selling new hardware, and 64-bit compatibility doesn't rate very high on the profit-center scorecard.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to tell whether your Vista machine and its peripherals support 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your computer and tells you whether Microsoft-approved 64-bit drivers are available for your equipment.
Addressing readers' Windows 7 questions
I received dozens of questions from readers following my July 2 article about Windows 7 upgrades.
One interesting conundrum on the minds of many future Win7 users is whether using the Windows 7 upgrade DVD to install Windows 7 invalidates your old copy of Vista or XP. While Microsoft's End-User License Agreement certainly implies that this is indeed the case, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will actually "turn off" the old key.
That could become an important consideration on a dual-boot system with Windows 7 and Vista (or XP). It also raises the question of whether you can give up on Windows 7 and reinstall your old version of Vista or XP. Since we haven't seen the upgrade version yet, there's no way to tell for sure whether the old authorization key gets zapped. Stay tuned for details.
Several readers complained about the lack of in-place upgrade paths for Vista Ultimate. To recap, if you have Vista Ultimate installed, you can perform an in-place upgrade only to Windows 7 Ultimate, which costs two arms and three legs. The Microsoft Store verbiage on the topic is confusing. Rest assured that the picture I painted in my July 2 column is accurate - if you have Vista Ultimate, MS supports only an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate.
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Post by Lynnrose on Jul 17, 2009 14:06:53 GMT
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Post by nike on Jul 17, 2009 21:49:00 GMT
Anyone want to swap a copy of XP Media Center 2005 Edition with a copy of Vista Home Premium upgrade, for a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium? (I got 2)
Don't rush me now!
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Post by ken on Jul 18, 2009 4:16:18 GMT
I have ordered a copy from Tescos. Amazon and everywhere else are charging £80 now by the looks of it.
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Post by jorg on Jul 18, 2009 15:58:41 GMT
I see John Lewis are selling at £49.99 pre-order, I was in the Peterborough store today, jorg
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