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Phill
26-Oct-10, 10:28
Is it just me or is Windys 7 the most unstable useless piece of poo Microshaft have delivered to date?

Has anyone had any issues with removing W7 / Vista and installing XP?


Cheers

Niall Fernie
26-Oct-10, 10:53
if you are going to be installing XP, as long as you format the drive and don't try to install over the top you should have no issues.

If you have a good sized hard drive, I'd be looking to partition it during the XP install so that you can have a separate partition for XP, one for your own files and one for the page file (virtual memory) and perhaps another for an installation of linux so you can boot into that if you have problems with windows. Linux was a brilliant for me when I had to repair windows after a nasty rootkit took hold. It also means you can still get to your own files should windows die on you. Or you could go back to windows 7 if a big patch fixes all your issues without having to move all your own files first.

I now switch between XP and Ubuntu (linux) depending on what I'm doing. As linux is pretty much virus free I use it for my e-mail and website stuff and I use XP for gaming.

Phill
26-Oct-10, 12:26
Cheers Niall

Tried Ubunto but unfortunately some of the programs I have to use require the MS environment.

It's been a while since I did any major re-installs of OS systems and I just wanted to check there wasn't any nasty catch outs like reverting (or inability to revert) drives from NTFS or similar.

Thanks

Niall Fernie
26-Oct-10, 22:18
I have the same issues thats why I have them both installed for dual boot and recovery of windows if required.

Bobinovich
26-Oct-10, 22:35
One issue I've come across was with a new Win7 laptop was trying to identify suitable XP drivers to download and install. The manufacturers website only held the Win7 drivers and it was only through some major searching that I was able to find them.

IT CAD Master
27-Oct-10, 19:52
What is the problem you are having with Windows 7, just think if it wasn't for Microsoft what OS would you be using then.

Please provide any details of the problem or problems you are having, and I will give you as much help as possible.

Phill
27-Oct-10, 20:48
Hi ICM

Welcome to the .org.

Maybe I am being a little harsh to MS. I just think they peaked with XP and Vista & W7 are too much like hard work to get basic functions to work.

I have had to do some messing about to get programs installed, some will not install properly. I think this may be due to a backwards compatibility issue.
I've had the blue screen of death already.
I find the OS system difficult to use for my basic needs.


Thus I have decided to revert to XP and just wanted to check there wasn't any nasty stings in the tail for doing so as I have not done any OS intalls/re-installs for a few years.

Cheers
Phill

IT CAD Master
27-Oct-10, 21:10
I can't understand why you have had the blue screen of death with Windows 7

Assumming that you are running the 32bit version, and you mentioned not being able to get drivers I would suggest that you try using the Windows Vista Business Drivers as this seems to have worked on various machines that I have had dealings with.

Which version of Windows 7 are you currently running?

You can run Windows XP as a virtual machine within Windows 7.

If you need any further assistance just ask and I will be glad to help.

Bobinovich
27-Oct-10, 21:37
... I just think they peaked with XP and Vista & W7 are too much like hard work to get basic functions to work...

...Thus I have decided to revert to XP...

LOL I can totally relate to this. Despite having owned a quite beefy i7 based Win7 box with 6Gb RAM for a few months now, I find I'm still doing the bulk of my work on my trusty XP tower which is a lowly Athlon XP3200 with 2Gb RAM :lol:

orkneycadian
30-Oct-10, 09:59
Last week, was removing the remainder of files from my old laptop (~8 years old, Win2KPRO) onto the more recent desktop (WinXPPro, ~6 months old) and was tickled to note that the old 1 GHz laptop, probably choked up with MS Autobloat Autoupdate and all the applications, still ran faster and opened files quicker than the relatively clean XP install on the much newer, faster machine!

All our recent machine purchases came with a choice of Win7 or XP on first start. Needless to say XP was chosen.

Niall Fernie
30-Oct-10, 12:18
You could also look into Slipstreaming XP for future installations, its saves loads of time and a bit of disk space.

http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream-service-pack-3-into-your-windows-xp-installation-cd

Green_not_greed
02-Nov-10, 20:27
Is it just me or is Windys 7 the most unstable useless piece of poo Microshaft have delivered to date?

Cheers

No that was Win ME - remember it?

I have had a rather annoying share of driver problems with Win7, but I do find it better than XP and both a quantum leap above Vista. XP is probably more stable but I must admit I prefer Win7.

It took some tinkering but once you personalise it to remove the "big brother" aspects, it grew on me enormously.