Window 7 Advice

I just bought an HP Pavilion p6210f Desktop Computer With AMD Athlon™ II 620 Quad-Core Processor.

I've been running 32-bit XP for six years and all my software is for XP, so I'm guessing that all my old software is going to be useless, whether I bought it or downloaded it free from the internet.

This is going to be a pain in the behind, but I needed a new computer with more RAM to run a new software that I'm going to use in my volunteer work and, well, W7 is the new reality, like it or not, so it was time to bite the bullet.

Of course, I haven't even tried to set up the new machine yet and so I've been researching software compatibilities and the existence of new drivers for my peripherals.

The hardware looks good, but I'm a little worried about a lot of neat little free programs that I'm going to lose.

First, I'd like to get some feedback of the unit I bought and, secondly, I'd like some advice about switching from ancient technology to the new and also how best to preserve and transfer the data on the old machine to the new.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

If you need more info, just holler.

Yes, I know that I bought a PC, so don't hassle me about that. I have my reasons for going with MS, so nothing is going to change that.

[edit on 2009/11/16 by GradyPhilpott]

Actually don't toss out all that software just yet... Yes I have found a few odd things that stopped working when vista came in (I've had XP pro, then vista ultimate for a short while and several versions of 7, the beta, the RC and now 64 bit 7 ultimate)...

Now maybe your bigger problem will be getting some of the 32 bit stuff to work on a 64 bit system... That's not really to do with windows though, that's your system architecture (although I believe 7 is being shipped with both 32 and 64 bit versions?? I don't know about the OEM version that your comp manufacturer gave you tho - but you could always run a 32 bit os if you really liked... You'd be missing out on the benifits of that 64bit processor you've got there)...

Also windows 7 came with an XP virtualization mode for specifically your problem! - (no need to dual boot with XP... Although that is always another option.

Thing is some processors cannot support that... I will post this now and then find out about your processor

edit: Yes your processor will support virtualization no problem - I assumed it would... So that's gonna be a big advantage... Personally my AMD athelon x2 +3800 dual core does not... But it's an oldie compared to yours... I can run XP in VMware (virtual machine) though - so maybe I'm wrong there... But I have a terrabyte hard drive so I'm thinking about triple booting this one Win 7, XP and a linux...

Hope that helps!

[edit on 16/11/2009 by Now_Then]

Thanks.

I'm running Home Premium, which I believed would be best for my needs, but it doesn't have XP mode.

I've seen where XP mode can be downloaded, but I think that was for the beta versions during testing.

Has anyone used one of these to transfer data?

Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows 7

Vista and 7 64bit will let you install 32bit programs. It runs them under a windows subsystem. In the past it was called WOW or windows on windows. You end up with two program files directories but it all works ok. Give it a shot as your system is good and 7 64bit will rock on it.

reply to post by staple


Yep - but I'm running into a rather annoying problem with some applications that will run just fine on a 32 bit machine but they won't on my 64 bit...

The problem is that with Windows 7 x64, Microsoft has introduced mandatory code signing for drivers... I believe that the developers have to throw a bit of money at microsoft for this to happen... Ergo some apps like Peerguardian 2 and sandboxie won't work - although I think there is a work around, disabling the code signing something like that - I'll post back if I find it

Thanks for the advice.

I've been playing around with W7 for a week and last night, feeling that I'd gotten the drill down pretty well, I did a system recover and started over afresh.

I've had to buy a new version of PS Elements for W7 and find a few new drivers and such, but 64-bit is compatible with 32-bit, so I feel prepared for whatever the future has to throw at us.

I used an external HD to back-up and restore my data, but when I did the system recovery, I decided to keep most of my old data on the external drive and transfer only the essential stuff.

W7 makes it easy to do a drive image for recovery purposes, but for some reason, my Seagate external drive doesn't do images. I wish I'd known all about that before I shelled out a bundle for that drive.

All in all, I'm very impressed W7. It is very much the direct decendant of XP, instead of the bastard child that I often heard Vista referred to as.


[edit on 2009/11/29 by GradyPhilpott]