Jul -- Computers and Technology: Windows 7 vs Windows XP

Bagel

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Posted on 02-10-11 04:46:39 PM

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XP is approaching the age of ten years. It is only still in use because the original release of Vista was unresponsive and had compatibility problems, and even after two service packs ended up being really bloated. Vista's original negative reputation at release time plagued its entire lifespan even though Service Pack 1 made a huge difference, so XP is still the dominant version of Windows.

Windows 7, while not itself bloat-free, is still as fast as XP in almost any situation, and in some situations is even faster. It's also been more stable than XP ever has been in my experience. XP also feels like I'm using something primitive in comparison, somehow.

I only use Windows for games, though. It'd be a waste of my video card and RAM to run XP when I can use a version of Windows with DirectX 10/11 support and a larger addressing space. Windows 7 gets my vote. Hell, Vista would be okay, too, I suppose, since I end up not actually using Windows at all, just Steam running on top of it.

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Posted on 02-10-11 04:56:13 PM

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I still use XP and am quite used to its style of organizing files and such. However, I must say I really like the improvements in 7's interface, notably the ability to quickly stick windows to fullscreen/halfscreen by dragging it near the edges. Previews of the windows shown in the taskbar and outlines when switching windows is really useful when you have a lot open. Upgrading to it from XP will take getting used to, as will any change, but it will be worth it.

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:25:04 PM

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Paulguy's Post configuration

I prefer 7. Quick, modern and decent compatibility with newer hardware/software. XP is also way to reminiscent of like, early 2000s era horrible crap cheap machines (emachines, gateway). 7 is also a decent step towards improved system security. Still not great, but a definite step in the right direction.

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:29:03 PM

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Windows 7, definitely (unless it is something like Starter, which is just stupid)

Vista also wasn't that bad, after about a million obscure tweaks :specialed:

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Bagel

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:37:49 PM (last edited by Bagel at 02-10-11 02:39 PM)

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Originally posted by Peardian's comment
That said, I'm sticking to XP as long as I can, because I don't want to have to re-install everything.

That brings up something I've always wondered about. How much software do people have that actually requires a formal installation? I'm not used to Windows for daily use anymore and I barely use anything that is "installed" (with like ... a wizard) at all with it.

For me, if I got a new machine or something, after running Windows Update, I'd just toss my steamapps folder and maybe some savefiles on a backup drive and ... I'm done. If I got a new machine I'd just install Steam, put the backed-up steamapps folder into the Steam directory, launch Steam, and I'd be like 90% done. After that I'd just download Firefox and MSE, adjust some of Windows' annoying defaults to more reasonable settings, and I'd be good to go.

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:39:44 PM

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It's an enigma
----------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Peardian

www.ninite.com should take care of... 80-90% of the basics.

At this point, I jump between 7 on my desktop to linux on my laptop. Been using 7 ever since it came out though... and even in Beta. Runs better on my hardware than XP ever did.

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:52:25 PM

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Nobody's ever done a foxgirl, to my knowledge. And Disgaea's awesome, so... yeah.

XP by far.

Windows 7 is nice and usable, and the UI makes XP feel primitive unless you use visual styles. However, my experience with 7... varies, and unfortunately it's more bad than good. Stability overall is a step down from XP (but only a step - it's not like you take a cinder block to the OS and smash it), wireless issues plague my portables, and apparently if the files aren't on very specific positions on the HD you might as well just consider all your files wiped. (This was the killer for me. The HD is fine - XP and Ubuntu have been running on it with absolute zero issue after that explosion.)

What I can say is... when 7 wants to behave, it behaves. And quite well. But, unfortunately, for me this isn't all the time.

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Posted on 02-10-11 05:57:22 PM

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Windows 7 broke Unicode. That is an immediate no-go for me as I need it for my work.

Windows XP, patched with Vista SP1 files seems to be the way to go.

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Posted on 02-10-11 06:33:29 PM

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Originally posted by Prince Kassad
Windows XP, patched with Vista SP1 files seems to be the way to go.[/quote

How do you pull that off?

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Posted on 02-10-11 06:35:13 PM

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For the kind of stuff I do, Windows XP is the best.
As for 7, It is good, but lacks the features and support for various things I need.

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Posted on 02-10-11 06:59:57 PM

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I find it funny people use the argument that Vista7 uses less resources and doesn't support certain things which I always managed to get working on my XP. I personally would prefer XP largely because I am used to it, plus it never annoyed me with notices and asking me all the time if I really wanted something to run. It was obedient to my needs.

...Up until my tower suddenly decided to refuse it entirely.

All my experiences with Vista7 only made me dislike it more as well. Many of the things I liked to control in XP are harder to locate or removed even. If my machine would accept XP again I'd probably be happier with it too since they are changing the autorun handling for it as well.

And yes, I call Windows7 Vista7. Deal with it >:T

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Posted on 02-10-11 07:18:05 PM

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Originally posted by PYRATROOPER
How do you pull that off?

Certain files from Vista SP1 work in XP as well if you copy them over. You first need to kill off the system file protection of XP, then you can just do a copy-paste.

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Posted on 02-10-11 07:32:35 PM

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Metal_Man88's Post

XP x64. It possesses some data from later versions of Windows and runs faster, and is also compatible with most new hardware. 'Primitive' UI can be fixed with the proper patching, although I prefer to keep it that way.

It can run pretty much anything 7 can, except the latest version of DirectX--but developers are slow to abandon XP, so it's unlikely that'll effect me.

Also, if you know all the shortcuts to it like I do, the improvements in 7 are not necessary at all. I can move stuff and stick it to places however I want to.

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Posted on 02-10-11 09:35:20 PM (last edited by Milly at 02-10-11 06:39 PM)

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#59

Reminds me when I replaced some of XP's files with 2000's, but not a lot of them worked

Windows XP for me as well, purely by choice (this quad core could easily handle Windows Vista or 7, and the only old hardware I have that might not work is my webcam from 2001) ... although that's more from experience with Vista at work, Windows 7 looking mostly the same except the new taskbar, and me being used to XP after 8 years

Of course, the XP I got to love after all this time has been tweaked quite a bit, and I'd be doing the same with Vista or 7, but there's still too many reasons not to update:

- I always hated Vista's buggy/bloated/uncustomizable Explorer (I don't want the breadcrumbs, command bar or search box, why can't I disable them? And why is the filesize display still broken after 2 service packs?), and 7's doesn't look like much of an improvement ... sure, XP's defaults sucked too, but it could at least be changed to this

- I don't want to infect my system with the winsxs virus (supposedly a "feature", but whatever), which tries to fix "DLL Hell" (when was it a problem on XP, again?) by introducing another hell, and eats gigabytes of disk space ... even though Vista seems to run fine with most of it gone (and more)

- Aero does look better than Fisher-Price, but I use classic anyway ... and if I wanted a theme that bad, a custom one on XP would do the job as well (minus the transparency)

- Most of the "new in Windows 7" features listed on microsoft.com (last I checked anyway) were things I can already do on XP or just don't care about

- When I tried Windows 7 RC1 (not sure if that still happens with RTM or SP1), my desktop background was blurred a bit

- I multitask on XP with under 1GB RAM usage most of the time, about what Windows 7 needs for the average startup (but I have 4GB anyway, and no use for more yet)

I admit I haven't really given Windows 7 a chance yet (barely tried RC1 or used any computer running it), and it does have some real improvements, but I just don't have enough reasons yet ... maybe when I'll really need 64bit, or too much stuff drops XP support, or if my next computer (in a few more years?) can't run XP

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Posted on 02-10-11 09:39:10 PM

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Neither, I use Vista.

And I'm kind of serious there... I don't see any reason to upgrade this particular machine from Vista to 7, but on the other hand, Vista does have some improvements over XP that are worth having... (the search function is the first thing that comes to mind)

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Posted on 02-10-11 09:40:43 PM

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Originally posted by Milly
- When I tried Windows 7 RC1 (not sure if that still happens with RTM or SP1), my desktop background was blurred a bit

This does indeed happen. Very, very irritating - there's no possible reason it should be doing this, is there?

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Posted on 02-10-11 09:47:15 PM

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I think I've read somewhere that Vista and Win7 automatically JPEG-compress the desktop background.

(Not that I've really noticed on either of my Vista setups, but then, I haven't paid close attention to the backgrounds.)

Prince Kassad: Win7 broke Unicode? How so?

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Posted on 02-10-11 09:51:08 PM

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Hrm.

I have Win7 on my Boot Camp partition (I managed to chance into a free copy of Win7 Pro). Considering that I have a computer with 4GB of ram now, moving to a 64-bit OS for my game playing seemed like a sensible idea.

It feels a bit cleaner than XP, but I still can't find some settings I've needed to change without extreme difficulty.

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Posted on 02-10-11 11:57:34 PM

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