How to get Windows 7

[frogpipe]

and which "flavor" to get? I'm thinking Home Premium since it has the XP mode and I have lots of XP programs. I know I need to get past them, but as a transition I thought it might help.

I had resigned myself to get "Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit", but lo and behold when you go to MicroShafts website it's all about Windows 8, and even articles that speak of buying a windows 7 key send you to a page about Windows 8.

So it seems MS has kicked it to the curb.

I'd look elsewhere, but that leads to a confusing mess. I want to get a good deal obviously, but most sites list odd titles that leave me wondering if I'd get the right thing, or say "NO PRODUCT KEY" which is useless....

It's all very confusing...

 

[pcas1986]

I prefer Win 7 Pro but that's because I'm an ex software engineer and like to tinker. It's been a while since I've been to CA but when I was there I liked to visit one of the Fry's stores for computer stuff. You may still be able to buy an upgrade from your present Windows installation from them - assuming the stores are still around.

I've already "upgraded" my netbook to Win 8 and dislike the interface but I guess I'll get used to it. The upgrade for this PC is going to have to wait until some of my other applications become Win 8 compliant.

Win 7 64 bit Home Premium should be fine.

 

[William0d0]

A quick check at www.tigerdirect.com shows they are still selling it.

I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, but professional 64 bit is the better choice because of virtual xp.

I tried using the upgrade anytime option from within windows but Microsoft no longer offers it.

 

[SuperFudd]

I heard that the virtual XP is only useful for business software.

 

[RacerTodd]

and which "flavor" to get? I'm thinking Home Premium since it has the XP mode and I have lots of XP programs.

XP Mode is not available in Home Premium.

I have Win7 Professional 64-bit and am in the process of transitioning from XP 32-bit to Win7. To test which programs would and would not run in Win7 I created a new partition and setup a dual boot situation. This allowed me to still have my "old" XP system and be able to thoroughly test all my programs out in Win7. Almost all of my old programs worked fine. I have more than 80 separate programs on my system. And I have some real antiques - Wordperfect 8 (from 1997), Eudora 5.1 (from 2000). Bet not many people are still using those! I ended up with 1 or 2 that'll need XP Mode, everything else works fine.

Newegg is still carrying Win7, that's where I got mine. Beware of FleaBay, though. Some Chinese hacker stole thousands of activation keys from Microsoft's Technet and MSDN site. They are 90-day evaluation keys meaning they only work for 90 days then Windows deactivates. Thus the site is littered with counterfeit copies. The sellers know that you'll buy their copy, activate it, give good feedback (which helps lure in the next sucker) and by the time you have problems, it's too late to open a case with FleaBay and the seller is long gone.

Todd

 

[lewisner]

I would suggest Ebay if you want Windows 7. The fact that most consumer laptops are being shipped with Windows 8 - - has driven the price down quite a lot.You can also download it from "My Digital Life" http://www.mydigitallife.info/downl...cial-32-bit-and-64-bit-direct-download-links/ but you still need a product key to activate it of course. I lost my 64 bit disc (still have the box and 32 bit disc) so I downloaded it from here and it works just fine.

 

[Robert2d6]

Windows 8 is a smart phone -tablet OS that has been configured to run on a desktop. I would stick with Windows 7 unless you are running trainz on a touchscreen device. MS has bet the farm with Windows 8 so they are probably doing everything in the world to discourage people from buying 7 instead, but for a desktop, Windows 7 is the Gold standard for Windows OS in my opinion and many tech experts agree. Many people buying new PC's from companies like Dell, are asking for and getting Windows 7.

http://www.softwareking.com/windows-7-home.html?gclid=CLis0anXx7QCFcyf4AodSj8AxQ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...la-_-NA-_-NA&gclid=CPGsysvXx7QCFQyk4AodLAUAsw
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...kwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=CO3Xh-7Xx7QCFQyk4AodLAUAsw

 

[frogpipe]

No I want NOTHING to do with Windows 8. Shame, since it's so cheap...

Sounds to me like the smart move would be Windows 7 Home Premium / WinXP in a dual boot.

Can Windows 7 64bit be setup in a dual boot with WinXP 32bit?

 

[frogpipe]

I prefer Win 7 Pro but that's because I'm an ex software engineer and like to tinker. It's been a while since I've been to CA but when I was there I liked to visit one of the Fry's stores for computer stuff. You may still be able to buy an upgrade from your present Windows installation from them - assuming the stores are still around.

I've already "upgraded" my netbook to Win 8 and dislike the interface but I guess I'll get used to it. The upgrade for this PC is going to have to wait until some of my other applications become Win 8 compliant.

Win 7 64 bit Home Premium should be fine.

And yes, Fry's is still around, I live about 5 mins from the "Sci-Fi" themed one next to Burbank Airport.

 

[Robert2d6]

No I want NOTHING to do with Windows 8. Shame, since it's so cheap...

Sounds to me like the smart move would be Windows 7 Home Premium / WinXP in a dual boot.

Can Windows 7 64bit be setup in a dual boot with WinXP 32bit?

It's cheap because MS knows nobody wants it. Law of supply and demand in action.

 

[JCitron]

I heard that the virtual XP is only useful for business software.

Actually it's not. It's a download that's available for those with Windows 7 Professional and up. This is a Virtual Machine and runs under Microsoft Virtual PC. I use it to run older games that don't need the graphics - it only runs 32-bit graphics and some older programs that definitely won't work in Windows 7.

The alternative is to use Virtual Box from Oracle and a copy of XP. This is actually better because you can increase the color depth using their extensions. The speed is subtstantially faster too, and the software supports other operating systems besides Windows, including Solaris of course.

Window 8 no longer comes with XP Mode, but there is Hyper-Visor bult-in which is MS Virtual PC, but better. In this case, you'll need to install a separate copy of XP jut like you would with VBox as mentioned above.

Just remember. This is a virtual machine and virtual machines are constrained by the total amount of RAM and disk space you have on your host (real PC).

 

[clam1952]

Hmm read here about XP Mode http://blog.tune-up.com/windows-insights/setting-up-and-tuning-windows-xp-mode-part-2/

Old-school gamers might run into issues trying to run their classic games that came out before Windows 7 or Vista. However, instead of running XP on a separate partition in dual-boot, XP Mode might be a viable alternative. The question is—do they work in XP Mode, and if so, do they work well at all?
To be honest, 2D games will be okay, but sophisticated 3D games will run very poorly—if at all. The reason behind this: the virtual environment. Keep in mind that XP Mode is essentially a simulated Windows XP PC and all that comes with a PC, including a processor, memory, sound chip and graphics card. Now, while XP Mode is actually able to directly access the processor and share parts of the memory, it does not directly access your graphics card. It simulates a very low-end S3 Trio graphics card with just four MB of memory (remember, these days graphic cards have around 256 MB to one GB of graphic memory!).

 

[RacerTodd]

Can Windows 7 64bit be setup in a dual boot with WinXP 32bit?

Yes. My system is current setup with XP 32bit and Win7 Pro 64bit in dual boot mode.

Super easy to setup, see this page: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html . It has instructions for installing Win7 after XP and for installing XP after Win7.

Removing a dual boot is a little trickier. See this for instructions: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/210983-dual-boot-delete-os.html

Todd

 

[RRSignal]

The easiest way to dual-boot anything is to simply have a hard drive with your OS of choice installed on it e.g. an existing XP drive and plug it in to the motherboard as a second drive. Most machines nowadays have a method of letting you select the boot device at startup (usually, hitting the F12 key). You can check the owner's manual, motherboard manual, or sometimes even the initial POST screen when you turn your computer. The advantage of this is that it is easier than re-installing the OS and one can usually use existing equipment, makes repair and recovery easier should something happen, as well as avoiding the aforementioned issues with compatibility modes/virtual machines, etc. Pretty much all my machines multi-boot in this fashion.

 

[frogpipe]

That's a good point. Plus it would leave my current system "intact" in the event anything goes haywire with the Win7 side of things - it is Microsoft after all.

 

[Euphod]

While the maximum RAM limit for 32-bit Windows 7 editions is 4GB, when it comes to the 64-bit editions, the amount of memory that the OS can address depends on which edition you are running.
Here are the upper RAM limits for the different editions of Windows 7:

• Starter: 8GB
• Home Basic: 8GB
• Home Premium: 16GB
• Professional: 192GB
• Enterprise: 192GB
• Ultimate: 192GB

These limits are similar to those for Vista editions, expect that Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate have had their upper limits raised from 128GB to 192GB.
The one to look out for there is the 16GB limit on Home Premium. If you're building a Core i7 system then it's quite easy (if you have the cash!) to exceed this limit. As long as you're aware of the limit and plan your OS accordingly you'll be OK.

I installed the professional version in my new build last month with the limits in mind and knowing that while I only have 16GB installed now, I may want to increase that amount in the future. And I did buy it at Tiger Direct, with no issues on installation.