Been running XP home edition for several years but as windows are no longer providing updates or patches, it's starting to look potentially vulnerable. I've also started getting a message on the bottom tool bar saying 'windows has blocked an attempt from an unknown source to alter your default search engine' Bill Gates I'm not - concerned I am. So I've today ordered the above operating system and wondered a) how people get on with it and b) any inherent problems I may encounter which may not be issues on XP. C) Obviously I shall back up music and photos before formatting the hard drive but is there anything else crucial that will get wiped out? That needs saving / backing up. Sorry to sound like a wuss but changing operating systems is not a daily occurrence for me - obviously
Windows 7 is (probably) the best option you could've gone for when upgrading from XP in my opinion. Download and run this https://www.malwarebytes.org/ before you move your files over. It should get rid of some of the potential nasties that have slipped in under the radar.
It's fine. Better than windows 8. Like any microsoft package it's a target for viruses so make sure you get decent anti virus/ spyware stuff. Using AVG free works fine for me. Am strongly considering Linux next time I upgrade. Anyone use that?
Would definitely agree that Windows 7 is fine. I actually did upgrade from that on to 8.1, which despite being very different from previous O/S, I'm now beginning to get used to I suppose. I wish I'd have stayed on 7 though. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I've got full Kaspersky cover but not sure if I'll lose it when formatting hard drive. If I do I still have the activation code for this year, so should be able to carry on ?? <Fingers crossed emoticon>
Generally I'm a Mac user forced over when Vista was so poor, Window 7 is however a very stable OS like XP was and is a good choice. Windows 8 which I've used a bit is horrible to the point of wanting to put my fist through the monitor and is very much best avoided.
Like Kent said above, you'll be fine getting 'AVG' or using 'Microsoft Security Essentials' (or both), so don't fret about the Kapersky code. By all means try it though.
Agreed, and Win7 is indeed arguably the best Windows OS. However, 8.1 has rectified a lot of the annoyances of the original version of 8.
You should be able to reinstall it with the activation code. With regards to backing up you should aim to back up everything (including setting flies and software) and there is no doubt some good software to help with this, failing that just the files that you have created so all you documents, photos, videos and music. Ive have a system that probably seems paranoid but i back up to a 1TB hard drive every 30 minutes and it then stores daily back ups so i can go back through things, i then also back all my documents and music up to various cloud services (Dropbox and google drive for documents, iCloud for computer settings, Flickr for photos, and iTunes match for music).
Thats good, I haven't used 8.1, but the whole interface language seemed wrong for a desktop, things like if you open IE from the desktop and open a few tabs, then go into the live tile menu and open try to open IE its a completely different program and the tabs that you just opened aren't there. it seems mad
Yep, it was madness. They've reintroduced something similar to the original Start Button, Taskbar etc in 8.1, so it's much more usable for the desktop crew nowadays.
Cromer bor, first question is do you play games on XP. W7 is supposed to offer compatibility with previous OS but is far from perfect. I like to play old games going back decades like Colonisation and Dungeon Master. Have to use an emulator Dosbox to achieve that purpose. Virtual Box is another program that allows you to switch to a previous OS. I currently have XP running under the control of W7. Using Virtual Box means my W7 runs XP when I select that mode but you do need a MS copy of XP to load it onto your computer.
I have got used to 8.1 now, and think I may have finally mastered it. I did lose some functionality though, particularly with my touch screen. Windows weren't at all interested (no surprise there) and I had to scrabble around for a workaround. It's still not as it was though.
You can partition your laptop for duel booting so you can have both linux and windows on it, if you still want the home comforts of windows but the flexibility and power of linux. I'd vouch for linux as being the safest OS around and my next laptop will be linux (currently got a 3 year old Mac which is pretty good and still running well with some basic anti-virus software) but use a linux desktop for work. But it depends on what you want to use the laptop for... but as JK has suggested, I have heard that the malwarebytes.org software is free the best around (better than paid for software, as is often the case) for removing malware... AVG is also up there with the best anti-virus software as others have also suggested.
In addition to my mumblings above, for some this is common knowledge but others may make their online lives a little bit easier. Adblock plus (I sigh when people tell me about adverts on youtube etc) block adverts effectively: https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome and Ghostery (which I only heard about recently but stops companies, mainly adverts from tracking you): https://www.ghostery.com/en/
I'll second adblock, can't believe anyone doesn't use it. Very effective. And if you're worried about small sites you like not getting ad revenue, you can whitelist them so only their sites show ads.
it's odd isn't it, 8. i tend to use desktop still as it don't like the front screen that looks like an i-phone luckily my work PC is on win 7
Cromer bor, looked up info on W7. There is a program entitled Windows Easy Transfer that moves data etc from one computer to another. Type in . . . Windows Easy Transfer . . . in Search box to see how to do it.
You can change settings so it goes straight to desktop on start up. That's what I did as I also didn't like the new look. I bought a new pc with Windows 7 installed, and a free upgrade to 8 when it came out. I suppose I rather naively thought it was a logical progression, not realising how very different it would be. The 8.1 did improve things, and I think I'm actually rather getting to like it now.
The best thing 8.1 did was add a power off button to the home screen! I'd been searching around to go back to 7 but 8 is pretty much hard wired to my Laptop and it's a major faff to get rid. 7 is the best I've used. Very quick, very reliable.
