Time to Close the Windows?

[btq96r]

I'll run Windows 7 until it dies or the next Windows OS comes out and hopefully keeps the MS trend going of a bad OS followed by a good OS.  I have a 64-bit version of Windows 7 with 16GB of RAM; I'm good to hook for anything I need.  You couldn't pay me to install Windows 8 on my laptop.

 

For those of you on the fence with older, soon to be unserviceable hardware, I'd recommend looking into a Windows 7 Computer while they're still available.  Sooner or later you won't be able to find a vendor selling one and may have Windows 8 forced upon you.

[mikegideon]

I'll run Windows 7 until it dies or the next Windows OS comes out and hopefully keeps the MS trend going of a bad OS followed by a good OS.  I have a 64-bit version of Windows 7 with 16GB of RAM; I'm good to hook for anything I need.  You couldn't pay me to install Windows 8 on my laptop.

 

For those of you on the fence with older, soon to be unserviceable hardware, I'd recommend looking into a Windows 7 Computer while they're still available.  Sooner or later you won't be able to find a vendor selling one and may have Windows 8 forced upon you.

 

When Vista was in its prime, we wouldn't buy enterprise class machines unless they had XP drivers available. So really, Microsoft was able to force that crap on consumers, but not the big business folks. There's no reason for a big company to go with Windows 8. In fact, there's at least one HUGE reason to avoid it. We don't need to stick our users with that learning curve.

[btq96r]

When Vista was in its prime, we wouldn't buy enterprise class machines unless they had XP drivers available. So really, Microsoft was able to force that crap on consumers, but not the big business folks. There's no reason for a big company to go with Windows 8. In fact, there's at least one HUGE reason to avoid it. We don't need to stick our users with that learning curve.

 

Microsoft couldn't force Vista on me. I stayed with XP until I upgraded to Windows 7 in early 2012  I was fully prepared to keep XP until Windows 7 proved itself a stable platform for my needs.  I'll do the same as I roll with Windows 7 while they keep trying to nudge people into Windows 8.

[mikegideon]

Windows 7 has already proven itself to us, even though we moved into it slowly. Still don't have a problem with XP. We would continue to run it if they weren't killing support.

[Guest TankerHC]

Big business will all be moving to 8 and will be doing so soon with Microsofts announcement yesterday.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

[mikegideon]

Big business will all be moving to 8 and will be doing so soon with Microsofts announcement yesterday.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

 

We won't.

[Garufa]

Big business will all be moving to 8 and will be doing so soon with Microsofts announcement yesterday.

 

They will be moving to 7.  No big company in their right mind would deploy 8 on a wide basis unless they have some massive in-house training program and IT staff who will even fool with it.  Large organizations will be on 7 until a suitable replacement is released.

[DaveTN]

Your hardware will be the issue, so you won’t gain much by upgrading unless you get a new computer.

Win 7 is a good stable OS; I doubt many companies that are Graphic, CAD, network intense will be switching to Windows 8, I suspect a new more significant version aimed at them will be coming soon.

I run both 7 and 8.1, both are fine, but 8 is different; some people don’t like change.

[analog_kidd]

If you don't have the funds to upgrade to Win7, then I say stick with XP, but follow a few simple rules.

 

1. Make sure you have a good Antivirus, and keep it up to date. MS Security Essentials is a great, free A.V. but it won't be supported on XP anymore either. 

 

2. Don't open email attachments you aren't 100% sure about. If an email even looks a little bit suspicious, don't open it. get a 2nd email account and use it just for signing up for stuff on the Internet. Give out your real email only to friends that you trust.

 

3. Don't go anywhere stupid on the Internet. Pirate sites, Porn, Anarchist, etc. These places are a cesspool of malware and you will get a virus from them. Just stick to TGO and you'll be OK.

 

4. Google "no spam host file" and install a custom hosts file. This will prevent your PC from even being able to connect to a ton of bad sites.I do this on every PC I'm ever asked to fix, and on my own PC's, and most people never have to bring them back.

[mikegideon]

They will be moving to 7.  No big company in their right mind would deploy 8 on a wide basis unless they have some massive in-house training program and IT staff who will even fool with it.  Large organizations will be on 7 until a suitable replacement is released.

 

Yep

[btq96r]

Your hardware will be the issue, so you won’t gain much by upgrading unless you get a new computer.

Win 7 is a good stable OS; I doubt many companies that are Graphic, CAD, network intense will be switching to Windows 8, I suspect a new more significant version aimed at them will be coming soon.

I run both 7 and 8.1, both are fine, but 8 is different; some people don’t like change.

 

There are workarounds for hardware as well.  I only get a new computer when the old one is on its last leg.  I've made all my laptops run for about 4 years with some mid-life services, and I use my laptop all the time for personal and professional reasons.  Usually that involves a new HDD and a RAM upgrade if I had a 64-bit OS.  In 2012, I jumped from XP to Win7 along with a new HDD and doubled the RAM and was good for another two years.  I also keep a fresh ghost image around for emergencies and make sure to backup my Libary folders to an external drive (I'm not in love with the cloud yet) at least once a week as a general practice.  For me, buying a new computer is a rare event and a last resort.

 

Concur with the others who think business will wait for Microsoft to give them something better than Win8 while Win7 is still more than adequate for their needs.

Edited April 4, 2014 by btq96r

[enfield]

My current laptop (my wife's old one) is 8 years old and running Win 7.  The only hardware upgrade was to max out the RAM to 2 Gigs.  Performance is acceptable.

[peejman]

They will be moving to 7.  No big company in their right mind would deploy 8 on a wide basis unless they have some massive in-house training program and IT staff who will even fool with it.  Large organizations will be on 7 until a suitable replacement is released.

 

 

... which pretty much guarantees that my employer will go to 8.   :-\

[mikegideon]

... which pretty much guarantees that my employer will go to 8.   :-\

 

Thank God our corporate IT guys aren't complete idiots. 

[Oh Shoot]

If you don't have the funds to upgrade to Win7, then I say stick with XP, but follow a few simple rules.

 

1. Make sure you have a good Antivirus, and keep it up to date. MS Security Essentials is a great, free A.V. but it won't be supported on XP anymore either. 

 

2. Don't open email attachments you aren't 100% sure about. If an email even looks a little bit suspicious, don't open it. get a 2nd email account and use it just for signing up for stuff on the Internet. Give out your real email only to friends that you trust.

 

3. Don't go anywhere stupid on the Internet. Pirate sites, Porn, Anarchist, etc. These places are a cesspool of malware and you will get a virus from them. Just stick to TGO and you'll be OK.

 

4. Google "no spam host file" and install a custom hosts file. This will prevent your PC from even being able to connect to a ton of bad sites.I do this on every PC I'm ever asked to fix, and on my own PC's, and most people never have to bring them back.

 

Use a router, even if you only have one puter online and don't network between your boxes. Of course password protect access to it.  Make the Wifi WPA2 encrypted and turn off SSID, or turn off Wifi entirely if you don't use it.

 

I may have one last desktop built at some point, but plan on just keeping XP on this old baby, and will keep it networked as secondary even when I do. Hell, I've got an old Win98 SE box still networked now.

 

- OS

Edited April 4, 2014 by Oh Shoot