Windows 7 the first 5 days.

[bfitzgerald]

I think the image below sums things up rather nicely!

The scale of 1-10 for reliability is produced by Win 7 to show how things are..10 being reliable and 1 being dismal. Reminds me of a Vista update I did for someone a few years back..it just did not want to work and we ended up replacing the board processor and memory to get there.

I won't list all the failures there are so many it would take up most of this page. Blue screens, explorer shutting down randomly, issues with CD burning and data corruption, sometimes it's great and then it can just fall apart without even stressing the system.

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And I used the rather good snipping tool for that grab as well..lots of nice ideas there shame it's not really working. I'm sure Win 7 is great on some hardware, it's just not very happy on mine. Feel free to add your "good Win 7" experiences I need cheering up before I re-install Win Xp lol

[pakodominguez]

I'm sure Win 7 is great on some hardware, it's just not very happy on mine. Feel free to add your "good Win 7" experiences I need cheering up before I re-install Win Xp lol

Hello Barry,
I think Microsoft provides a tool that scan your computer and tell you if the hardware is Win Vista/7 ready or if you need to change parts... My "Vista" desktop needs a new video card and more memory in order to do the upgrade -I decided to buy a new computer built for Win 7.

What I'm thinking is 'downgrade" (...) the Vista machine to XP that I find more useful, specially because drivers for my scanners, and compatibility with the backoffice of my website. Then, I never made Dimage master run properly on vista or 7, I have some 7Hi and 7D images that I want to re-process...

Regards

[bakubo]

I bought a new 17.3" notebook (Intel i3-330M, 4gb ram, 500gb hd) with Win7 home premium about 3 weeks ago. So far no problems. Good luck with yours!

[bfitzgerald]

I did run the compatibility tool from Microsoft and everything was fine bar a "creative game port" which I don't use (it's on the sound card and easily disabled)

I managed to overcome some issues including a logitech webcam and a Canon Lide 50 scanner..both seem to run fine installing them in XP compatible mode.
For newer machines I think you're much more likely to have a stable pc. The annoying aspect is I've extensively tested the hardware and can find no obvious problems (HDD, PSU, RAM etc) I gave Vista a miss as I felt it was a bit heavy on resources, Win 7 is no question better in that regard, but when you find yourself in a desktop environment thinking "will it work or when will I blue screen" that's not good for your confidence!

Looks like I'll have to go back to XP for this one. I'd have less concerns about a new pc with Win 7 already on it..but it's still a bit disappointing when MS say you're good to go and you have more problems in 5 days then I had in years using XP. XP is dated and not the most eye candy OS around, but it did seem to be reliable (at least after service pack 2)

[Javelin]

at work our first windows 7 machines are comming in next week but the Vista and XP machines haven't exactly been a problem. the trick is the get good hardware I think, the only machines we have had trouble with on XP or Vista have been these bargain basement machines the sales guys like to buy.

[bakubo]

For newer machines I think you're much more likely to have a stable pc.

That is probably the key. The Mac is a hardware/OS combo. If you get a ready-built PC from HP, Sony, Gateway, etc. with Win7 then you are in much the same situation as a Mac since the manufacturer has usually tested it pretty well along with all the drivers. Windows has the flexibility to build your own machine or put it on older machines with a huge assortment of hardware of various ages and often that works pretty well, but not always.

I wish you luck. Some people enjoy fooling around with computers, but for those of us who just want to turn it on and use the darn thing it is usually easier to just get a whole computer off the shelf.

[Headcell]

Never had any problems with Vista Ultimate x64 (upgrade from XP) on the PC I built for myself. Very rarely crashes (the only time it does is when something happens in one of my Sony Vegas Pro projects), and is pretty quick.

Win 7 - this came pre-loaded on a PC I bought for my father in law. Although that PC is rated slower than mine, win Win 7 it feels so much faster. Not a single crash, and everything just worked when loaded or plugged in to the USB ports. Very impressed with it. The only thing that really puts me off is the lack of a complete Windows Classic theme... can't change the start menu. It it weren't for that, I'd be tempted to go for it.

I wonder what it is about your system that has got Win 7 so tizzed up.

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For screen captures I use Light Screen - freeware.

[bfitzgerald]

It could be a number of things a driver or a software package/program that it does not like. I know one thing and that if I run Linux Mint 64bit on it..and I have it is rock solid. Never had a Linux problem so that convinces me it's not hardware related.

I do miss the classic start menu, not a huge fan of some things either (control panel is messy not a patch on XP good job you have the search function) As for speed it's pretty quick booting and shutting down if it's faster than XP I don't really think it is (running applications) might be quicker launching software (seems more optimised in this regard) I prefer the simple functionality of XP being honest though Win 7 is def better than Vista no doubt about that.

I''ll do some more playing around to see if I can get this nailed down (or figure out what might be causing the problem) At this stage I have little energy for a full XP re-install but I will have no choice if things don't improve in the next week or so. Strangely it never crashes doing intensive CPU or memory loading..only stupid things like closing a browser, very strange.

I would add no components are low quality all branded stuff no el cheapo memory or HDD's in this one.

[Greg Beetham]

I don't have any problems too speak of with either of my two Vista systems, very stable, but I sometimes wonder why Microsoft loves too change things that work just fine already, they like too mess around changing the location of and the appearence of various items so you need too re-find them again on the new system. One of my latest pet hates is Folders, what's with this Folder crud? what was wrong with Directories/Sub Directories/Files? that was something I could understand easily...now everything is a Folder and things are much more difficult too find.
There, I feel a bit better now...Baz, it looks like something happened too your system on or about 05/07/2010, I'd be inclined too try system restore and restore to 04/07/2010 and see if that improves things. I did recently receive a Vista system notification on my No 1 system that the Gigabyte Video Accelerator driver was no longer working properly and I needed to download and install the updated video driver (link provided) to fix the problem, of course my immediate question was, if it was working fine before with the same hardware, why was it not working fine now? A question I will never get an answer too I suspect.
IE was acting a bit funny though on occasion before the update, and now it's fine, so I guess there was a problem of some sort. It might also pay too check the video card driver on your machine as well just too be sure it's definitely a Win7/Vista driver that's being used.
Greg

[Javelin]

It could be a number of things a driver or a software package/program that it does not like. I know one thing and that if I run Linux Mint 64bit on it..and I have it is rock solid. Never had a Linux problem so that convinces me it's not hardware related.

Don't be so convinced. In Linux if the hardware is supported it will work because they have enthusiasts improving their ..."drivers".. Continuously or the thing isn;t supported at all period.. Windows is inflicted with manufacturer supplied drivers and third party software and it would be a much better place if MS like Linux didn't allow support for non certified software. Of course they would get fined if they tried that. so in the end if you have a bargain basement NIC or Modem or VC with non compliant drivers your going to have a pack of trouble.

[Greg Beetham]

I've got a suspicion some, (or probably many) of the problems still relate to security issues, MS is involved 24/7 fighting the digital vandals, hence we have (at least I do) fairly frequent 'Critical System Updates' I think you will have more of these if like me you have MS Word (don't use it much, but it can be useful), Word and Excel get security patches, the Operating system gets them with it's Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2 etc., and some security patches apply too IE as well.
Thing is, all this moving of the goal posts by MS too foil the Ratbags will have repercussions on other things eventually I'd expect, like various component drivers for example, even though originally they were tested and listed as fully compliant with all the necessary certificates etc.
Then there is always the possibility of an actual hardware glitch somewhere of course, in addition to software problems.
Greg

[Javelin]

Greg you've definaly hit the nail on the head. a modern OS is definatly a moving target. pour Vista install today might be vastly diferent 2 weeks from now. The issue is that when a software engineer sits down to to driver or harware access work, he can take the steps MS lays out for him to acheive what he wants to, or he can take some shortcuts that work just as wel to aceive the same results with a lot less work. Then a patch comes out and that routine doesn't work anymore ... it could cause trouble for ages and it's only symptom is a slightly slower execution or it could fail completely and sudenly.

You hear the users .. "man that last partch really slowed things down"

Or

Jeez it worked fine and then I rebooted and suddenly it doesn't work anymore.

[bfitzgerald]

I moved one of my ram sticks to another slot and bingo no more blue screen problems. Apart from the odd explorer crash now and then (pretty much the norm for windows) seems just fine.
As far as the OS is concerned some nice bits there but I would not call it a revolution in any way. I only put in on the pc as somebody got it for me as a gift I would not rush out to buy one for an upgrade..a new pc fair enough.

[Javelin]

You should run MEMtest on that for .. 24 hours and see if that RAM passes. lucky you spotted it ram errors are tough to diagnose which is why the RAM compaies are feeling so free to give away lifetime warranties. You shouldn''t tolerate any crashes application or oherwise.


http://www.memtest.org/

been around for ever. and the only thing I know of that will expose bad ram usually in 24 hours and gives you a report you can send along witht he ram for a warranty replacement.

[bfitzgerald]

Already done that I had ram problems a few months back and did an RMA on a faulty stick. All 3 sticks are brand new and fully tested by myself. All I have to do is put Linux Mint back on and I'm ready to roll again.

Still like XP though I'm sure many users will stick to it but in the longer term with memory sizes increasing all the time it's inevitable for newer machines folks will be tempted to Win 7. It will take a long time to wipe out XP though as it was around for so long. Win 8 will be here 2012 the Redmond boys won't make the mistake again of leaving an OS out there and losing cash!

I'll keep this one bashing along for a bit no doubt I'll build a new one next year. That will be fun to see activation issues..sigh.