Win 7 on a 300 Series motherboard

[ShaunWhite]

You can configure Win10Pro to look and feel like Win7.

and you can put lipstick on a pig.
I'm just a bit jaded about the whole, "if it isn't broken, break it" thing these days.

Interestingly W10Pro is cheaper than W10 on the key only sites, probably because they're decommissioned business licences and they are easier to acquire. I use softwaregeeks for licences, have done for ages, never any probs, 5 stars. Instant download of the iso, burn it to a usb/dvd with something like Rufus to make it bootable and you're away.

Note on old CD-RW reliability. I needed one the other day and found one kicking about with 20yo files on...still worked fine. But ended up being no use as it was only 640Mb, how times change.

[Dallas]

I've never even had a CD-Rom in my PC for years let alone possess any CD's or CD-RW's

[ShaunWhite]

ok i took the plunge with w10 and trying to embrace the change.

...but does anyone know why Excel (64bit 2016) is soooo slooooooow. It does the recalcs at light speed, then sits there 'Not responding' for about 10s. Similar when I load files, they appear quickly but then hang for about 10s before they're usable. Ditto when I save files. In fact everything I do seems to need a lot of thinking about.

I found an article that says switching Cortana off fixes it, but it didn't for me.

[ShaunWhite]

I'm not loving win10.....when you go into any settings, apart from the screens being so badly organised the Accept & Cancel buttons have gone! If you make a change, it's changed and if you can't remember what the setting was, tough.

Task manager seems to have gone way back to the old sparse Win Server 2012 style. Printer config is poor too. It also runs a 32 bit 'surrogate' version of COM (dllhost) instead of a 64 bit version which is bizzare.

It's all such a massive leap back from Win7 and clearly aimed at casual users rather than IT savvy people. The only good bits are where you eventually drill down to a form they couldn't be bothered to change like the Folder Options dialog (unchanged since XP!) and the Group Policy editor. Then there's issues with MS products running slow on an MS OS.

Gotta say that after about 10hrs use.....it's a pile of cr&p.

[MemphisFlash]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kFXnomRWQ


some settings that should be changed included here

[ShaunWhite]

thx Memphis I'll check that out.

I like the way they give you two places to get to the same thing , one is called 'Apps & features' the other is called 'Programs and features'....and they both show different lists of what you've got installed !! It's a real illustration if you need one that when people started calling programs by the snappier name 'apps' we were heading for a massive dumbing down. The right hand (orig) one is useful, the other is shambolic and lacking any useful info.

Notice too how you get access to certain 'Video playback' options on the new style 'Apps and features' form.....so much better to have them there rather than with the rest of the video/display settings eh

Is there a pro version of windows 10 ? Because it looks like I've downloaded the Junior 'My first computer' version by mistake.

[MemphisFlash]

this is the "God" mode hidden menus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNvmq5qDHFY

[bennyboy351]

this is the "God" mode hidden menus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNvmq5qDHFY

Thanks for this info, Memphis. I'm 'lucky', in that I'm still using Widows 7, but with support being stopped in January of 2020, I ain't got too long to enjoy it!

I use Windows 10 on a laptop, but until you posted this link, I was more than a little annoyed with the way it operates. Hopefully, when the time comes, I can set up my new trading PC (running Windows 10) in such a way that the change won't make me TOO angry! Once again, thanks for the info.

[ShaunWhite]

I'm still using Widows 7, but with support being stopped in January of 2020,

I haven't had Win7 update switched on for years and never had any issues...have you ever known an update to do anything other than make things worse? I just use a range of good 3rd party security tools, and don't install crap I don't trust 100%.

The only downside with 7 is that it's not aware of how hardware is progressing, but it's going to be a lot of years before people stop using 7.

I'm just about to install it again now actually, as a dual boot option. If I can just stay on 7 until a decent new version comes out (presumably with a dreaded 365 payment plan) then I will. 8 was dreadful, 9 didn't even make it out of the door, 10 looks like a bodged version of 8....maybe Win11 will be better. But I guess it will be called something like Windows Dogbiscuit or some other wanky name.

[MemphisFlash]

My laptop is dual bootable with Windows 10 and good old Windows XP

[ShaunWhite]

My laptop is dual bootable with Windows 10 and good old Windows XP

I somehow picture you with a laptop built into the case of an old Dansette Memphis, and buying windows updates on vinyl.

[MemphisFlash]

I somehow picture you with a laptop built into the case of an old Dansette Memphis, and buying windows updates on vinyl.

.

Your not that far from the truth. I own a Dansette and purchased some vinyl only last week.
I purchased reproduction copies of Roy Orbison's first LP on Monument records and Elvis first LP on RCA Victor.
Did a bit of bopping round the room as well. Happy days.


WHO BUYS WINDOWS UPDATES!!!!! not that i condown that sort of thing.

[MemphisFlash]

alternate greyhound setup.png

Not a bad screen layout for a Dansette!!!!, lol

[ShaunWhite]

Just a quick update on this one. There are utilities out there to patch your Win7 install disk image to include the USB3.0 drivers you need to prevent the Win7 install from being unusable. BUT they only work if your board has a Z series chipset (Z360 & Z370). If your board uses any other chipset then I'm afraid it's "computer says no". I can testify to that as mine is a B360.

So I've had no choice but to press on with Win10 and I have to say there's some things I really like (as well as some really clumsy stuff they've done). How come I never used Virtual Desktops in Win7 !? (available as an MS PowerTool I think), they're great. Probably a godsend for people runnging multiple BAs.

One strange issue was how slow Excel 2016 ran on it, the number of Google hits on the subject shows I wasn't alone and for me anyway, none of the suggested fixes worked. In desperation I got myself Office 2019 Pro Plus as it promised a raft of improvements to Excel (therefore it had been tweaked so hopefully might be different) and it's improved things a LOT. Some features are a bit sluggish the first time you use them which gives you a bit of concern but they seem to fly on subsequent uses. If this 2019 perp licence lasts me as long as my other Office licenses did then it'll be money well spent. (£64 for Office 2019 and Win10 was £20). The only chore now is moving all my other software licenses over via pleading emails as they're still active on my now deceased Win7.

So after nearly two weeks of hardware and then software issues, it looks like I'm back in business (although the vps has been doing it's stuff so I wasn't entirly shafted)

[bennyboy351]

My laptop is dual bootable with Windows 10 and good old Windows XP

You ol' traditionalist you! LOL I reckon XP was one of the best......