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It's time to leave Windows XP behind.
Farout Foolio
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Fill me with glorious options, H/A!
I've heard that windows 7 is pretty nifty, and I've since I haven't done a nuke'n pave in...well forever, I figure I can format 2 birds with one stone here.
But, I'm not terribly well informed on the subject, so:
1) Are there concrete benefits to 7 over vista?
2) When I reformat, how do I keep all my totally awesome stuff?
3) Is there someway to get a good deal on an upgrade? I had heard something about sometimes students getting neat deals or somesuch.
I've heard that windows 7 is pretty nifty, and I've since I haven't done a nuke'n pave in...well forever, I figure I can format 2 birds with one stone here.
But, I'm not terribly well informed on the subject, so:
1) Are there concrete benefits to 7 over vista?
2) When I reformat, how do I keep all my totally awesome stuff?
3) Is there someway to get a good deal on an upgrade? I had heard something about sometimes students getting neat deals or somesuch.
Farout Foolio on
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http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/software/windows-7.aspx
I went from xp to 7 and so far I like the change, but there are some minor differences that may take some getting used to. I haqvenh't done abny formal testiung, but it does seem like things do operate faster. It sure is a snap to install, beats the pants of xp.
Pardon the typos, got gloves on.
My work machine = Vista. An exercise in torture daily.
My home machine = 7. An exercise is awesomeness. It's great! So stable, and fast, and sexy.
Windows 7 is a lot of eye candy and nice icons, several applications need to be upgraded to work, after playing around with it I still consider Windows XP faster for the many things I do.
2. Depending on what totally awesome stuff you have. If you have totally awesome data files (pics, music), your best bet is to burn them on DVD, CD, copy them to a large thumb drive, or invest in an external HDD. If you have totally awesome applications and programs, you're probably going to have to reinstall once you've made the switch.
Do you have a backup hard drive? If so, download and run Microsoft's Easy Transfer program before you start installing Win7 and it automates the process nicely. You'll need to reinstall the programs themselves, but that's why we have the internet.
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Is 7 Pro Upgrade for $40 a good deal? What's the difference between an Upgrade and the actual thing?
If you're gonna upgrade just to get a new experience then go Linux or Hackintosh (buy a OS X license and run it on your PC).
Not much. It's basically just a licensing thing. You get it cheaper because you're upgrading a previously purchased MS OS to the new one. The only actual difference is the installer. Upgrade media is meant to be installed over the top of the existing OS. So doing a clean install takes some finagling (doing a double install then putting in the product key. A few other ways to do it. Paul Thurott's site goes into it). Since there isn't a (technically, legally is fine) supported upgrade path from XP to 7, you have to do a clean install, even from upgrade media.
Because 7 has a substantial number of improvements over XP, many of which are in the realm of security.
there are a ton of simple UI improvements that work with DX10, too. where I work, I handle a bunch of WinXP, Vista, and 7 machines. 7 is BY FAR the best of the lot. I've found it to be the most stable, which is saying A LOT for a Microsoft OS. but it's even more stable than an equivalent OS X machine.
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Of which the relevance depends on the environment you run your computer. A XP machine with a free firewall on top, free anti-virus and a user being smart about where he goes on the web and how e-mail, facebook and so on is handled is very secure. Win7 is not really bringing anything in such a case.
For a none tech person that surfers the under belly of the internet, uses all Microsoft software and has friends which act the same it is another story. But in such a case no OS is really safe enough :P
SEARCH BAR.
I cannot even use Windows again without this infinitely helpful tool. It has reduced the amount of time I pour through folders by 99%.
Really, 7 is a great product. If you have the horsepower to run it, there is absolutely no reason not to get it, unless you're someone who just can't let go.
Windows 7 doesn't even require much of a system to run. Certainly less than Vista.
With the kinds of exploits out there that don't require user interaction or stupid surfing (like legitimate sites hosed by SQL injection attacks which then hit you with a drive-by exploit) running a version of Windows newer than XP is becoming a better and better idea every day.
What's this search bar you speak of?
in the start menu, theres a little bar where you can type things. This searches your files and programs and lets you launch them from the start menu, rather than digging through the start menu folders to find it. Its great for things like calculator that you don't use often. I just hit windows key type "calc" and hit enter and its up.
that said, start menu search is really just a vista feature that worked just as great there -- XP holdouts have been missing out for years
Well, that's pretty cool!
I've got access to a 500GB external HD, so the file transfer should go smoothly. Add that to a sweet student discount and it seems like a good idea to switch now.
I should mention that one of the main reasons I'm motivated to switch is that someone got me Just Cause 2 as a steam gift for me but I can't run it. :'C
One last question! I've noticed that my start-up time has slowly but surely been increasing. Will the upgrade process help this? I had assumed it was because my registry is probably a wasteland by this point.
Another question I thought of!
What's the best way to transfer my steam files? I would rather not have to re-download 200GB of games if it can be helped. (Also don't want to lose my savegames).
To that end, programs that save data to places OTHER than their directories are SILLY SILLY GEESE.
(For instance, hitman blood money puts profile/save data in 'My Documents'
I don't like the way that clicking on a quicklaunch button won't open a second instance (pulls up IE instead of opening a new window), but I'm prepared to assume that there is a way to change that I just haven't found.
All in all, I feel like 7 is an apology for every "upgrade" MS released from Win 98 to present.
Right click on the icon, and click the program name again. A little tedious, and out-of-the-way, but really not that bad.
I gotta say, on the same computer, WinXP, fresh install, took easily 2 minutes to get into Windows.
29 seconds timed from when you press the on button on the computer until you can start doing something in 7. After many months, going on a year now, with tons of extra shit installed, I think it takes another 5 seconds more now than it did after a fresh install.
You should try finding the DOSbox config file for the Steam version of XCOM in Vista Home. I just about threw my friend's laptop trying to get access to that file to tweak some settings. Virtualized directories and registries are nice for compatibility, but can really suck sometimes.
To answer your questions, I think Steam has a cloud service, though you have to go into your account settings to turn it on, and then you can save your games to the server. I haven't played with Steam as much, but I think if you just copy the contents of the Steam folder in Program Files over it'll dig through there when you start it up in the new install and find what you have. I think I've heard that somewheres.
These guys probably have the definitive answer.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=122063
Your best bet is to backup everything you intend to keep on a separate hard drive. Steam stuff is iffy...you might be able to back it up as is and hope Steam recognizes the folder, otherwise I'm sure there's some article on it. Really your largest concern should be that game saves typically are saved in your Documents somewhere, usually in different spots. You're going to have to format your main drive and reinstall your applications/games. You might forget and lose a couple things, but pre-format backing up can be quite a task if the files you want are all over.
You'll need to do a bunch of file searching and some obsessive documentation to move all your saves and stuff over, because that's still left up to the developer as to where it gets placed. Look all over your user folder (including %appdata%... especially %appdata%) or whatever other fucking retarded places saves get stored.
edit: if you don't have room on an external drive to save all your steam folder on, then there also exists a backup tool within steam that lets you divide game images into DVD sized backups. i don't recommend this for your purposes -- you'd probably spend more time backing up games than it'd take to just backup the games you really like onto HD-based storage and redownload the rest
It must be all in hidden files, because There's nothing else I can find that's more than a few megs in size.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Middle-click (mousewheel click) on it to start another instance. When hovering over open instances, middle-clicking on one will close it. Super-handy!
A large chunk is your virtual memory swap file (pagefile.sys) and another huge chunk will be your hibernation file (hiberfil.sys - if hibernation is enabled, and if it is, the size will match the amount of RAM in your system).
Edit - to see these files, uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" in the folder options. (And obviously, no need to back up the pagefile and hiberfile)
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
You might try using spacemonger (freeware) to show you where all that space is.
*cough*
System Restore reserved space is another good one, and Recycle Bin reserved space.
you know how i can tell when a Vista user hasn't used Win7 at all?
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