XP Now what to Upgrade too?

[garrycol]

My older PC does what we want but the great XP operating system is getting a bit long in the tooth and I am beginning to find that along with it no longer being supported some newer programs will not run on it. I have two laptops that came with Win 7 installed and they work great and am very happy with Win 7 even though it is getting a bit old - it is still relevant.

Not heard good things about Win 8 and the same about Win 10 - I can update the laptops to Win 10 for free but will not be taking up the offer.

So ideally I would like to update the old PC to Win 7 but it is no longer sold at my local computer shops. They are for sale on ebay but I have been burnt buying software from there before - advertised as genuine and when received were clearly not and activation keys that do not work.

So does anyone have a recommendation where I can get Win 7 from and not get ripped off - also what version should I get - I have Win 7 Home Premium on my laptops and they are fine.

Thanks

Garry

[Dishtrackted]

I miss my xp
Ive gone to 8
I have 10 on a laptop and a set top box micro computer for the tv
I dont want to upgrade to 10 on the regular puter

[TZB]

10 is fine. Go for it.

[mtv]

I've had no issues with 10, just as reliable as XP and 7 was for me.

[spook]

You could try a linux distro and step into 21st century computing.

[typan]

As I know it MS does not support W7 any more so security updates for W7 will be a problem

[irwazza]

Windows 7 security update support finishes in 2020.
Windows XP security update support officially finished in 2014...... BUT they are still providing the security updates for POS editions until 2019 and there are ways of applying these updates to regular XP.

[Uncle Fester]

My older PC does what we want but the great XP operating system is getting a bit long in the tooth .....

If it does what you want then you should stick to it.
Perhaps just do a fresh XP install and it should perform like a rocket.

The OS should match the hardware and it is unlikely you will find proper drivers for newer Windows versions and it will perform slow and laggy because later Windows have higher hardware demands to handle all the bloatware that comes with it.

If newer software does not work then it is highly likely that your hardware might not handle it either, especially if it has to struggle with the newer operating system.

Of course it depends on how old we are talking about. PCs around 8 years or less should not have trouble with Windows 7.
10 years would be borderline.

This whole 'security update' business has been too sus for me for years.
For safe internet activity and banking I only use Linux since 2005, along with other protection measures.
My Windows is used only offline or sandboxed in a virtual machine

[Dishtrackted]

I miss my xp
Ive gone to 8
I have 10 on a laptop and a set top box micro computer for the tv
I dont want to upgrade to 10 on the regular puter

Sorry my one is 7 not 8
8 is rubbish

[Dishtrackted]

I was just a little concerned about 10s privacy to have it on my regular computer

[garrycol]

Thanks for the feedback.

Xp works fine but more and more newer programs will not work with it even though the hardware is fine.

I had heard 8 is not good - nearly as bad as Vista. Most people I know have gone from 7 to 10 have then uninstalled 10 as they consider it a backward step.

I guess I will have to take my chances with the ebay sellers of Win 7.

Thanks for the input - I appreciate it.

Cheers

Garry

[lsemmens]

As Spook has suggested, a Linux distro might work for you. What apps are you having trouble with that won't run on XP? As far as 10 is concerned, I've no issues with it and have upgraded all of my machines to it. Even a couple of old XP machines which I did not bother upgrading to w7 way back when.

[tristen]

I honestly do not know why so many people vehemently denigrate the various versions of Windows.

Yes, I know that Windows is not perfect and these days it has evolved into an efficient data gatherer for Microsoft (however this CAN be turned off!).
But Windows does a reasonably good job when you consider that it is used over a very wide range of hardware options. It is not a custom-designed OS for one specific hardware platform. If it was, there would be far fewer problems running it. Overall, I think that it does a good job.

In general, I am very happy with Windows and have machines running versions from XP to 10 without problems. I find Windows 8.1 Update 1 to be extremely good, while Windows 10 also runs trouble free for me.

Yes, Linux is a good and largely trouble-free operating system, as are other Unix derivatives, but the majority of programs worldwide are written to run under Windows.....and therein lies a problem.

That said, there are many Linux applications nowadays, which do much the same job as the equivalent Windows application. This satisfies the majority of Linux users.

[spook]

Was thinking of something else whilst watching the girls beat India, so deleted it.

[Philquad]

yea was always happy with xp
except the odd bsod (tiny)
i trialed 10 3 times, give up
recently went to 8 full on with new ssd (1st 1)
but honestly, i dont use apps, i use programs
& im sick of clicking the view button, i like some windows in list, some in thumbnails,

[spook]

I honestly do not know why so many people vehemently denigrate the various versions of Windows.

Yes, I know that Windows is not perfect and these days it has evolved into an efficient data gatherer for Microsoft (however this CAN be turned off!).
But Windows does a reasonably good job when you consider that it is used over a very wide range of hardware options. It is not a custom-designed OS for one specific hardware platform. If it was, there would be far fewer problems running it. Overall, I think that it does a good job.

In general, I am very happy with Windows and have machines running versions from XP to 10 without problems. I find Windows 8.1 Update 1 to be extremely good, while Windows 10 also runs trouble free for me.

Yes, Linux is a good and largely trouble-free operating system, as are other Unix derivatives, but the majority of programs worldwide are written to run under Windows.....and therein lies a problem.

That said, there are many Linux applications nowadays, which do much the same job as the equivalent Windows application. This satisfies the majority of Linux users.

You can't turn off microsoft data gathering, unless you turn of updates and because microsoft owns your computer system, not you, you have no say in what they do. You only have a licence to use it and that's it, they can do what they want and take what ever data they want and use it how they want. All you have to do is read thoroughly the terms of use and you will soon see the reality.

With linux, you own the system, have full control over it and can do what you want with it.

Windows has very narrow hardware compatibility, which is why those who want to upgrade to win10 may need to update their hardware, because of microsoft non backwards compatibility.

With linux, you can run a compatible up to date distro flavour on just about any hardware there is, even 15 year old laptops with 256k ram.

The majority of applications on the planet are linux, windows and apple come a long way back last. Especially science and professional programs. Then we have the fact just about all commercial CGC is linux, lord of the rings and all the most popular video's are linux and the biggest multimedia companies on the plane are all linux, including recording and graphic studios. All major science institutions are linux, all NASA of planet system are linux, as are every space orientated systems linux. All your smart appliances are linux, vehicle and transport computer systems are linux based.

The majority of military and security are linux and 90% of all world servers are linux. I'm using the same software for my video editing as those who made lord of the rings, the difference is my ability to use the programs to the maximum. But as just about every linux program is interactive with ever other one, it's very simple to put together a custom anything.

[tristen]

Yawn....

The netherworld appears to be in a bit of a fluster this morning.

[loanrangiel]

Hi Garry, fancy meeting you here. If the hardware will cope then win7 is as good as XP was IMHO, if the hardware is ancient then Ubuntu works well on machines that ran XP.

[ol' boy]

My older PC does what we want but the great XP operating system is getting a bit long in the tooth and I am beginning to find that along with it no longer being supported some newer programs will not run on it. I have two laptops that came with Win 7 installed and they work great and am very happy with Win 7 even though it is getting a bit old - it is still relevant.

Not heard good things about Win 8 and the same about Win 10 - I can update the laptops to Win 10 for free but will not be taking up the offer.

So ideally I would like to update the old PC to Win 7 but it is no longer sold at my local computer shops. They are for sale on ebay but I have been burnt buying software from there before - advertised as genuine and when received were clearly not and activation keys that do not work.

So does anyone have a recommendation where I can get Win 7 from and not get ripped off - also what version should I get - I have Win 7 Home Premium on my laptops and they are fine.

Thanks

Garry

Although it does seem you are looking for a Windows solution.
I went from Win XP to OS X
(I had to work on a few Vista Machines and that was it for me, never again)

OS X is UNIX based if you are a nerd that loves to use big words.
Personally, i just find it works, i get no virus's, run no anti virus, i have all the same Win programs on Mac
It boots faster
Its opens things faster
Its simple
And it just does what ever i need it to do, without fuss or missing dll files etc.

Its not for everyone, but its made my life with computers a whole lot less hassle.
I think in 5 years, i have found 2 bits of software that needed Windows to run (and it had to be Win XP) and they were Car Diagnostic tools.
So i keep an old Win XP lappy for those jobs.

[Uncle Fester]

+1
OSX arguably the best 'Linux" out there, dare I say best OS

Now 6 systems running it in my household with second hand original hardware cheap from Ebay and two Hackintosh versions including an old Asus eeePC.
So if anybody has an old PC that needs "Upgrading" maybe give it a try. Google Hackintosh or iAtkos.

For me it is the most user friendly OS and there is also Microsoft Office for MAC if you really need to

...but what I love most, if there is anything about the OS that I am not particularly fond of, I just sudo rm -rf it away, like:

cd /Applications/
sudo rm -rf iTunes.app/

err, hmm.... Apple does not give a damn about any authentication of OSX software.