Windows 7, Have you upgrated?

[SteveH]

Does your maker have a diagnostic disk that you can download? With it dying on something related to PnP you may have an internal (assuming you've disconnected it from everything else) peripheral device acting up. Something like your glidepoint, card reader, etc.

You should also try the memtest86 memory diagnostic which is more comprehensive than most: http://www.memtest.org/

memtest is extermely good. My son built a new desktop for me in Dec., quad AMD processor, 8 gb RAM, Win 7. Started having BSOD at random times. All sorts of reasons, never the same one twice. Win7 has built in memory diagnostics that never found any issues. I ran memtest for 16 hours and it registered 76 errors. Removed one memory module and ran memtest again for 3 hours with no errors. At least, I removed the right one. :gomer: Now to get the manufacuter to replace it.

[SurfaceUnits]

Some grate free utilitees fer yer windoze peecees


O&O Software is offering a few Windows system utilities for free.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/31144/Free-Download-of-OO-Defrag-Professional-11--Unerase-2--CleverCache-6-Pro--Safe-Erase-2--DriveLED

[nrc]

"Upgrated" was right. Grrl needed a new PC because I busted her old one. After a little consideration for the fact that I just wasn't enjoying hacking together systems any more I went the Dell route. Bottom shelf Alienware unit. Still nicer than anything that I could put together at that price.

On Windows 7, for every moment of "Gee, that's nice" there are still two instances of Windows Rage. Why do you keep warning me about things and not telling me how to fix them? Why do you complain about my security settings and not tell me which part of them you don't like? No drivers for our scanner, and missing functionality on our printer. Nice. :irked:

[SurfaceUnits]

"Upgrated" was right. Grrl needed a new PC because I busted her old one. After a little consideration for the fact that I just wasn't enjoying hacking together systems any more I went the Dell route. Bottom shelf Alienware unit. Still nicer than anything that I could put together at that price.

On Windows 7, for every moment of "Gee, that's nice" there are still two instances of Windows Rage. Why do you keep warning me about things and not telling me how to fix them? Why do you complain about my security settings and not tell me which part of them you don't like? No drivers for our scanner, and missing functionality on our printer. Nice. :irked:

i'll bet you didn't have those problems with your TRS-80 :laugh:

your scanner will register as a USB2.0 imaging device, unless you have a parallel or serial connection. the Action Center is your friend.

[SurfaceUnits]

Has anyone else used Windows Fundementals for Legacy PCs? It's a thin client stripped down version of XP. I have it loaded as a multiboot OS, and it loads in under 100MB. The minimum install reportedly loads in less than 64MB. Would make a good VM for minimal needs purposes.

[SurfaceUnits]

Does anyone miss the applets from the Vista Quick Launch toolbar? Like Window Switcher & Show Desktop

[KLang]

Does anyone miss the applets from the Vista Quick Launch toolbar? Like Window Switcher & Show Desktop

There is a way to put those back. I did it on mine. I think you have to add a toolbar back into the taskbar, it adds it on the right. Then you can drag it back over to the left.

This (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/add-the-quick-launch-bar-to-the-taskbar-in-windows-7/) is what I was thinking of.

[SurfaceUnits]

RocketDock is a pretty nice little app too

[WickerBill]

Does anyone miss the applets from the Vista Quick Launch toolbar? Like Window Switcher & Show Desktop

Did you know that the new skinny rectangle to the RIGHT of your clock is "show desktop" in Win7?

[SurfaceUnits]

Did you know that the new skinny rectangle to the RIGHT of your clock is "show desktop" in Win7?

cool, now there's one on either side you can also right click the task bar for mo options

[nrc]

Valve finally released Steam (their game delivery platform) for the Mac and they've provided a couple of teasers for the hardware survey data that they've gathered so far.

- Portal (with the same code base across platforms) is one fifth as likely to crash on a Mac than on Windows.
- And one week after launch, already more than eleven percent of all Steam purchases are for the Mac.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3837/

It would be interesting to see how much better 7 fairs than XP in that department.

I finally had to bite the bullet and go dual boot since none of the Wine methods were keeping up with the games I play. At first I thought, "Gee, they've really improved boot time," then I saw that they'd just pushed a bunch of it into the background and it still takes forever to actually boot and login.

[gjc2]

We run 7 on one computer and XP Pro on two others. We like XP much better. Since you can still buy a new computer with XP I assume 7 still have issues.

[pchall]

I bought the newest and best iMac available at the end of March.

I have no pity for those of you who willingly chose the IRL of personal computing. :p

[ChampcarShark]

I bought the newest and best iMac available at the end of March.

I have no pity for those of you who willingly chose the IRL of personal computing. :p


Since I am not a "MILLIONAIRE", I have to settle for windows. The only apples I can afford are those in the produce department at the grocery store...

[dando]

I bought the newest and best iMac available at the end of March.

I have no pity for those of you who willingly chose the NASCAR of personal computing. :p

Fixed. Considering market share... :gomer: :p

-Kevin

[Methanolandbrats]

I bought the newest and best iMac available at the end of March.

I have no pity for those of you who willingly chose the IRL of personal computing. :p

Why pay two or three times as much for a slower computer?:confused: My latest i7 screamer cost me 1k and will run rings around any Mac. The only reason to buy a Mac is if you must have iphoto, imovie, etc...

[Indy]

Or because they are funner. :gomer:

[Ankf00]

Fixed. Considering market share... :gomer: :p

-Kevin

quality, not quantity

APPL = top 3 market cap in USA.

:gomer:

[Methanolandbrats]

Or because they are funner. :gomer:

Why they funner? My PCs been fun since 1980.

[Indy]

Truthfully, I have thought a lot about this. I am a student of business, and it is amazing how clever they have been to continue to capture market share. I am not made of money, and they are expensive, and yet I can not imagine not buying their products.

There is a type of person who simply prefers to be different. This person probably has an artist's temperament and he loves beauty for the sake of beauty, elegance for the sake of elegance. He buys cars based on their feel. He appreciates tools for their intrinsic goodness and not just their function. He sees life as performance art. This person does not labor over columns of pros and cons or point by point comparisons to make his choices. He just knows beauty and grace when he sees it, and buying anything else is not an option.

[Indy]

Or, if that explanation seems irrational to you, which it probably will if you have not chosen to see the computer as a component of lifestyle rather than a collection of functional parts, ask yourself this. Why are VW's better than Toyotas? Because, frankly, I have owned both, and from any rational, practical point of view they are not.

[Methanolandbrats]

Truthfully, I have thought a lot about this. I am a student of business, and it is amazing how clever they have been to continue to capture market share. I am not made of money, and they are expensive, and yet I can not imagine not buying their products.

There is a type of person who simply prefers to be different. This person probably has an artist's temperament and he loves beauty for the sake of beauty, elegance for the sake of elegance. He buys cars based on their feel. He appreciates tools for their intrinsic goodness and not just their function. He sees life as performance art. This person does not labor over columns of pros and cons or point by point comparisons to make his choices. He just knows beauty and grace when he sees it, and buying anything else is not an option.

That would be the kool-aid drinking "look at me, I bought a Mac, I'm cool now" type of person. All designer crap is sold that way by convincing a certain kind of person that they just have to have the "best" socks, polo shirts, overpriced coffee, etc....

[Methanolandbrats]

Or, if that explanation seems irrational to you, which it probably will if you have not chosen to see the computer as a component of lifestyle rather than a collection of functional parts, ask yourself this. Why are VW's better than Toyotas? Because, frankly, I have owned both, and from any rational, practical point of view they are not.

:rofl: Prius + ipad + Starbucks :rofl: = sheeple being led around by marketing departments

[dando]

quality, not quantity

APPL = top 3 market cap in USA.

:gomer:

Apples and oranges...no pun intended. :gomer: APPL is a hardware mfg as well...iPhone/iPon/iPod is the vast majority of their cap.

-Kevin

[FTG]

:rofl: Prius + ipad + Starbucks :rofl: = sheeple being led around by marketing departments

This guy must be your idol then.

http://commons.tongminh.nl/poty/thumbs/P7032101_small2.jpg

[Methanolandbrats]

This guy must be your idol then.

http://commons.tongminh.nl/poty/thumbs/P7032101_small2.jpg

Oh, that's clever. Look how defensive you Mac Cultists get. Proves my point. Reminds me of my douchebag neighbhor with the "think it's patriotic" bumper sticker. Self affirming ********, all of it.

[cameraman]

Why pay two or three times as much for a slower computer?:confused: My latest i7 screamer cost me 1k and will run rings around any Mac. The only reason to buy a Mac is if you must have iphoto, imovie, etc...

Bollocks. I run both machines all the time and there are plenty of instances where the Macs handily outperform the Windows boxes. The converse is also true.

I have analysis pathways that run data through a Mac app-> Unix app ->Mac-> XP Pro-> XP Pro -> Mac ->Unix and finish up in a Mac application, all on the same cpu using the same data files in the same directory. You can't do that on your Windows machine. btw the Mac software doesn't exist on windows, the windows software doesn't exist on the mac and the Unix is also unique to Unix.

[FTG]

Oh, that's clever. Look how defensive you Mac Cultists get. Proves my point. Reminds me of my douchebag neighbhor with the "think it's patriotic" bumper sticker. Self affirming ********, all of it.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/images-3/catcher-in-the-rye-cover.jpg

[nrc]

Settle down. They're just computers. People like different things. That's good. Placing value judgments on appliance choices is silly.

Because that's really what they are now - information appliances. That has as much to do with why Apple has done well as their industrial design. People want appliances that just work.

As one who dislikes both Microsoft and Apple, I'm just happy to see more choices emerging.

[Insomniac]

Truthfully, I have thought a lot about this. I am a student of business, and it is amazing how clever they have been to continue to capture market share. I am not made of money, and they are expensive, and yet I can not imagine not buying their products.

There is a type of person who simply prefers to be different. This person probably has an artist's temperament and he loves beauty for the sake of beauty, elegance for the sake of elegance. He buys cars based on their feel. He appreciates tools for their intrinsic goodness and not just their function. He sees life as performance art. This person does not labor over columns of pros and cons or point by point comparisons to make his choices. He just knows beauty and grace when he sees it, and buying anything else is not an option.

I think that all of that growth in market share is from notebooks. Their 13" MacBook is priced at $1,000 which isn't prohibitively expensive compared to similarly featured notebooks. The 13" MacBook Pro is $200 more for an aluminum chassis, more RAM (and I think some other minor features). Getting into the 15" and 17" (and SSDs, really any upgrade) is where it starts to get quite a bit out of line from their Windows counterparts.

The release of Boot Camp (and better competitors like VMWare Fusion and Parallels) makes it very easy to run Windows along side OS X, and for the minority who simply feel there isn't a PC laptop that looks as good as a MacBook Pro (I like the Dell Vostro V13), they can just run Windows on it.

Apple has shifted their platform and lowered their prices enough that they are moving laptops.

I'd also say that their visibility due to the iPod and iPhone has also helped tremendously. Apple has priced the iPod to sell since the beginning and quickly brought the iPhone pricing to better compete as well. They can price anything they make to move a lot more units when they please.

Their growth has been driven by iTunes and the App Store. They also had the sense/vision to create products that spurned the creation of those ecosystems. Laptops/PCs/OS X just aren't going to drive that kind of growth so they aren't willing to get into a price competition with those minimal gains.

Ohh and on topic, still using Windows XP for work, but we are all pushing to move to Windows 7. I haven't bought a new personal PC since 2004 but will be soon. I will surely be running Windows 7 on that.

[oddlycalm]

Ohh and on topic, still using Windows XP for work, but we are all pushing to move to Windows 7. I haven't bought a new personal PC since 2004 but will be soon. I will surely be running Windows 7 on that.
Agreed with your comments on Apple. We're in about the same place with XP about to give way to Win 7 at work. I like PC's and Macs for different things so we have both. The day I got the iMac for my wife was the last day I had to spend time supporting her computer in any significant way and that alone was worth twice what I paid for it. :) That said, I ended up using it quite a lot myself and at this point I'd not want to be without it.

oc

[Methanolandbrats]

Bollocks. I run both machines all the time and there are plenty of instances where the Macs handily outperform the Windows boxes. The converse is also true.

I have analysis pathways that run data through a Mac app-> Unix app ->Mac-> XP Pro-> XP Pro -> Mac ->Unix and finish up in a Mac application, all on the same cpu using the same data files in the same directory. You can't do that on your Windows machine. btw the Mac software doesn't exist on windows, the windows software doesn't exist on the mac and the Unix is also unique to Unix.

That's right. For my application which is intensive photo editing the PC i7 is faster. The point is they are appliances, they both do about the same thing. It has nothing to do with being a "special kind of person" or any of that crap or one system being handed down from God and therefore superior.

[Insomniac]

Agreed with your comments on Apple. We're in about the same place with XP about to give way to Win 7 at work. I like PC's and Macs for different things so we have both. The day I got the iMac for my wife was the last day I had to spend time supporting her computer in any significant way and that alone was worth twice what I paid for it. :) That said, I ended up using it quite a lot myself and at this point I'd not want to be without it.

oc

I'm likely getting a 13" MBP when the free iPod promo starts. I really wanted to get a Vostro V13 and turn it into a Hackintosh, but I got $400 in Apple GCs last month. MBP for ~$700 is too good to pass up. I'll get Paralells (or maybe give VirtualBox a shot) and install the copy of Windows 7 Ultimate I have to run my Windows applications. I'm looking forward to having the best of both worlds. (Plus I'll be getting an Intel SSD!)

(Also, one other advantage, 10 hrs of battery life.)

[nrc]

I'm likely getting a 13" MBP when the free iPod promo starts. I really wanted to get a Vostro V13 and turn it into a Hackintosh, ..

I recently got a Lattitude 13n which is the same thing as the Vostro except they allow more options on the Linux version. Got the base CPU with an SSD and Linux for use as a super portable for web, mail, and documents.

I'm pleased. It's very solid, although not quite as ingot-like as the MBP. Ubuntu boots in about 10 seconds on the SSD and your grandma could use it for most stuff.

[Indy]

:rofl: Prius + ipad + Starbucks :rofl: = sheeple being led around by marketing departments

Well, no, in my example of Toyota v. VW, my point is that a Toyota gets you there for less money, uses less gas, and is more durable, yet you and I both know that we would still rather buy the VW. Why?

Bottom line, beauty has value, and the Apple, to me, is more beautiful.

[Ankf00]

if Ansys & Solidworks Pro came on Mac, I'd switch...

[oddlycalm]

Ubuntu boots in about 10 seconds on the SSD and your grandma could use it for most stuff.
Yup, SSD's are a :D regardless of OS. Biggest single hardware improvement I've every experienced. I imagine it is amusing with something as low overhead as Ubuntu. :cool:

oc

[pchall]

Praise be to Job! You are saved! ;)




Agreed with your comments on Apple. We're in about the same place with XP about to give way to Win 7 at work. I like PC's and Macs for different things so we have both. The day I got the iMac for my wife was the last day I had to spend time supporting her computer in any significant way and that alone was worth twice what I paid for it. :) That said, I ended up using it quite a lot myself and at this point I'd not want to be without it.

oc

[Insomniac]

I recently got a Lattitude 13n which is the same thing as the Vostro except they allow more options on the Linux version. Got the base CPU with an SSD and Linux for use as a super portable for web, mail, and documents.

I'm pleased. It's very solid, although not quite as ingot-like as the MBP. Ubuntu boots in about 10 seconds on the SSD and your grandma could use it for most stuff.

I'll have to look at the 13n. The base for the V13 is pretty bad. Have to get Windows 7 to for a decent CPU.

I can also assure you that whatever tech comes along, my grandma won't be able to use it. She much prefer the grandkids do it for her. :D

[extramundane]

Tangentially-related handgrenade:

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3916/pissonappleblackxdock.jpg

:D

[dando]

Tangentially-related handgrenade:



:thumbup:

Apple vs. GOOG (aka: Phone Wars) is gonna be fun to watch.

-Kevin