The first line of this thread:-
"First off....could I politely request that all MS haters please not comment unless it is relevant. I get your message loud and clear
Pusser please read it again......some of your stories are great....but why the sniping???
As I get older I see more clearly those who have ripped the common man off and Microsoft is one of the companies. The sort of company can be sussed out without too much effort at the number of companies and governements that have sued MS and MS has lost and paid but only adds on cost to Josephine Public.
Leaving aside that, MS have bring out new versions and like Intel, blackmail the box builders to use their products only thus giving Joanna Public little absolute choice except those PC savvy.
MS is actually an example of how America conducts its political interests which primarily are blackmail or backhander and there are many examples around the world for that. Indeed the Brits have done the same in some cases.
So I snipe at everything or everybody whom I believe to be making a killing out of Johanne Public and will carry on doing so as it makes me feel better. I have a need.
MS aka Bill Gates is one of the biggest, most effective and best run charities in the world.........but that's off topic......for which I apologise to the OP......unlike others
MS aka Bill Gates is one of the biggest, most effective and best run charities in the world.........but that's off topic......for which I apologise to the OP......unlike others
Very valid point but that does not negate him trampling over many companies with the power that money has. At the very least anybody with loads of money should be doing something for charity even if its just boasting about it or for an ego trip.
If one of us on here gave one pound to charity, it would be like Bill Gates donating a farthing to be given in parts over 10 years.
Therefore when I give to charity I know I am making a bigger effort than Bill Gates which gives me an ego trip and broadens my self esteem.
And then there are those people who are not on here because they cannot afford motorhomes and some cannot afford anywhere decent to live and yet they help their fellow man.
Pray tell who is the most charitable. Who should get the "Do gooder of they year award"? To be fair and unbiased I think it is me.
At work i have a couple of laptops running the release candidate of windows 7, we often participate in beta testing MS operating systems as, in reality, this is important. because the code base is so large it would be impossible for a product like this to be tested to any sort of extent without the public taking part, there's nothing negative to this.
Windows 7 is an enormous improvement over vista, i hate vista and would not recommend it at all, xp is far better, going by what i've experienced so far with windows 7 i would recommend it for home use, at work we won't be moving to it quickly because it would cost us many thousands and it can't be justified, we also wait until the os has matured further, but for home use this won't be an issue.
the speed increase over vista is remarkable, it's very responsive and impressive to use, the task bar has been improved a lot, a friend at work tells me it is very similar to the mac task bar (i don't use MACs much but he does at home, he is seriously considering moving to windows 7 at home).
IMHO the best feature is the backup system, it now supports full system imaging, which removes the need for software such as acronis and norton ghost etc, if you're not familiar this means that the hard drive can be essentially copied at the byte level into a file on another hard drive, network, dvd, external drive etc. this means a full copy of everything including os, applications, settings etc is all backed up in one go, in the event of corruption or something, this image can be restored turning the whole system back to how it was, exactly, when the image was created (there are also other uses for this). even better the image format is a .vhd file which is a Virtual Hard Disk file, this means it can be mounted by systems such as windows virtual pc or vmware, once mounted it acts like another machine and individual files can be restored etc. it also supports the traditional backup schemes.
in summary; xp is very good, vista is absolute rubbish, windows 7 is very good. if i was you i would wait and get a system with windows 7, ensure that drivers are available for any peripherals you have etc first, if you want to be extra careful you could wait until the first service pack is released but it's not really necessary for home use.
at the moment when we get new systems the first thing we do if flatten them to get rid of vista and then install xp, we have a volume license, next year windows 7 will most likely be going on new machines instead.
Thanks for the reply which was really interesting and helpful. It seems that the company my husband works for also have Windows 7 running in the way you describe and one of the IT guys there has offered to run through it with him which will be really useful to us. Neither of us are very experienced on OS systems so apart from what we are told have no real thoughts on them either way. Windows 98 and Windows 2000 both worked fine for our fairly basic home needs. All this talk of problems with Vista was a bit of a worry as if we did get any problems then we probably wouldn't have known how to deal with it.
I am just using the laptop at present to browse the internet and see how the latest Word 7 works. The laptop is an Acer Aspire and it came loaded with McAfee which I'm not sure I want so haven't clicked yes to make it operational yet. Also there is an option to set up an Acer backup disc which I need to find out a bit more about. We have AVG the free version running on this PC and that is probably the one I will go for on the laptop.
One of the problems for me is that I have Broadband with BT and their package comes with Norton security which I know causes conflicts at times with other stuff but I have no idea if it is possible to get it removed when it comes cobbled together with the browser and broadband set up. I think it would pay me to get someone in eventually to sort it all out for us as we just don't have a clue where to start.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain so well the details.
Bigfoot.....thanks also for your message. I did know it is due to be released in October but was a bit confused about the Beta and RC versions and also how it compares with Vista so thought it worth asking.
Cheers
Maura
______________________________________________________________ Being nice costs nothing.
...One of the problems for me is that I have Broadband with BT and their package comes with Norton security which I know causes conflicts at times with other stuff but I have no idea if it is possible to get it removed when it comes cobbled together with the browser and broadband set up...
I haven't got BT+Norton myself but the following guide might be worth a read:-
Only registered users can see links on our Forum Join Now or Login
and select the line "I have a Norton product that was purchased from my service provider"
Thanks for the reply which was really interesting and helpful. It seems that the company my husband works for also have Windows 7 running in the way you describe and one of the IT guys there has offered to run through it with him which will be really useful to us. Neither of us are very experienced on OS systems so apart from what we are told have no real thoughts on them either way. Windows 98 and Windows 2000 both worked fine for our fairly basic home needs. All this talk of problems with Vista was a bit of a worry as if we did get any problems then we probably wouldn't have known how to deal with it.
I am just using the laptop at present to browse the internet and see how the latest Word 7 works. The laptop is an Acer Aspire and it came loaded with McAfee which I'm not sure I want so haven't clicked yes to make it operational yet. Also there is an option to set up an Acer backup disc which I need to find out a bit more about. We have AVG the free version running on this PC and that is probably the one I will go for on the laptop.
One of the problems for me is that I have Broadband with BT and their package comes with Norton security which I know causes conflicts at times with other stuff but I have no idea if it is possible to get it removed when it comes cobbled together with the browser and broadband set up. I think it would pay me to get someone in eventually to sort it all out for us as we just don't have a clue where to start.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain so well the details.
Bigfoot.....thanks also for your message. I did know it is due to be released in October but was a bit confused about the Beta and RC versions and also how it compares with Vista so thought it worth asking.
Cheers
Maura
Hi Maura
Try not to get too wrapped up regarding which os to use or it will spoil the event of getting the new system, it is worth taking the IT guy up on his offer, pay attention to the responsiveness of windows 7, it's very snappy and quick which makes it better to use, as opposed to being frustrated by a slow interface. regardless of what you get, i'm sure there are many people here that will try to help if you have any problems.
Anti virus wise, i prefer symantec but it's corporate softeware, although i haven't used it for a long time i would then look at norton as it is owned by the same company (symantec) but it would need to be very cheap, of the free products i recommend AVG which you are already familiar with. the most important thing with AV software is keeping the virus signatures up to date, i'm sure you are already aware of this but i really can't stress it enough.
Regarding the bt broadband package; there really isn't a need to install anything, with a little knowledge (maybe a friend or family) it should be easy to setup. if the laptop connects with a network cable to the router then it should be a case of connecting the router and turning it on, connecting the laptop and turning that on (that's pretty much it). if you're going to use wireless then it's slightly more complicated as the wireless connection between the router and laptop needs configuring, but it's not hard. if you do install bt software; the norton installation should be optional, if you use the norton software then i recommend only installing the anti virus and leaving everything else.
when it comes to setting this up; you know where we are
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