# Win Vista or 7?



## fabrk8r

Do you like Vista? If you do, and the only problem is lack of disk space, I would either install a larger hard drive or add an external drive...both cheap options over buying a new OS.


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## mahjohn

Windows Vista has been a dog for quite some time, Microsoft couldn't get Windows 7 finished fast enough to pull Vista from the shelves. I like XP, lots of drivers, compatible with virtually all Win software, but it does bog down after awhile. Windows 7 is also nice, however, there are some software incompatibilities which can usually be resolved fairly quickly and easily. Of the two, I prefer Windows 7. Also, note that Windows XP is rapidly approaching end of life support from Microsoft.

Another option which I've found quite handy. Install Windows 7. Install Sun Virtual Box and create a WinXP PC. Once you have your software installed and configured, take a snapshot. Setup a shared folder between 7 and XP so when working in XP you have somehwere to save files. Once a month, revert back to the original snapshot, run Windows update, take a new snapshot. If you ever get a virus/malware, revert back to the clean snapshot


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## MagicalHome

> Do you like Vista? If you do, and the only problem is lack of disk space, I would either install a larger hard drive or add an external drive...both cheap options over buying a new OS.


In fact, I dun like Vista, and I prefer to Win 7 more than Vista  and obtaining a new OS isn't a problem with me, I have a free key for Win 7 Pro when I was a Computer Science student, and there's MSDNAA program of Microsoft that provides us a free key 



> Windows Vista has been a dog for quite some time, Microsoft couldn't get Windows 7 finished fast enough to pull Vista from the shelves. I like XP, lots of drivers, compatible with virtually all Win software, but it does bog down after awhile. Windows 7 is also nice, however, there are some software incompatibilities which can usually be resolved fairly quickly and easily. Of the two, I prefer Windows 7. Also, note that Windows XP is rapidly approaching end of life support from Microsoft.
> 
> Another option which I've found quite handy. Install Windows 7. Install Sun Virtual Box and create a WinXP PC. Once you have your software installed and configured, take a snapshot. Setup a shared folder between 7 and XP so when working in XP you have somehwere to save files. Once a month, revert back to the original snapshot, run Windows update, take a new snapshot. If you ever get a virus/malware, revert back to the clean snapshot


Yah, you're rite. There are lots of problem with compatibility when running a software on Win 7. Your suggestion sounds great. Hehe, I'll try using virtual PC  Thanks!


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## GGConn88

WIN 7:thumbsup:


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## PortlandRemodel

Win 7. Vista is a Bust

Hey - not many people know but you can get the OS very cheap if you go to the components section of a computer store like Fry's. No boxes or instructions but the full install and licenses.
www.portlandhomeremodeling.com


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## bigcaddy

7 is from heaven


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## SirGSS

I know, it's not really terribly helpful for which to choose, but this particular post just reminded me of the image. I couldn't help myself.


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## Rustedbird

Vista made Windows ME look good. I'm running Windows 7 Pro. Built a new (mostly) machine at the time so I got a builder's deal. My two years with a Vista powered laptop were enough to put me off. Also really dislike anything configured by the factory. 

The old saying, "If you want it done right, you got to do it yourself." has never been any truer.


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## poppameth

http://www.tweakguides.com
Download the free version of the Tweaking Companion for the version of Windows you use. This guide has hundreds of pages on how to optimized your computer for much better performance than the default configuration.


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## lendosky

Updates shouldn't eat up all of your hard drive space so you might want to analyze your hd first by looking at your installed programs and removing what you do not use. 7 is much better than vista unless you need drivers to old hardware or use older software. xp is awesome but it is not going to have much support in a short while so quickly switch. if the computer is a tower/pc you should be able to install another hd. don't buy a hd greater than 1 tb, they tend to fail. 1 tb hitachis are like $80 usd or so so it's won't break the bank either.


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## 6stringmason

adding an extra harddrive is cheap, but then you need to know how to configure your parameters, and can be confusing to some folks.

Also, you can get an OEM version, or a 'builders' version of WIN7 for around $100.


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## RedHelix

I think it's generally accepted that Win7 is a superior product over Vista, but hotly debated over whether Vista is a superior product over XP.

A few years ago, my big draw to upgrading to Vista was DirectX10, better x64 exposure (I ran XP Pro x64, and... bleh,) and the massive improvements to memory management. 

Some will say "oooh, Vista uses a ton of memory even when it's idling," but the important thing to understand is that's what an OS _should_ be doing, so jobs are rapidly cleared out of CPU time. Ideally, an OS should always be using memory.

99% of the flak pointed in Vista's direction is poor driver support at launch time. Hardware vendors have caught up over the years in driver support, and that has basically become a non-issue. The rest of the issues are just garden-variety user complaints, which you'll run into with any Windows operating system. "Boo, Windows updates broke my Vista box." Yeah, welcome to Microsoft land. If you haven't seen a Windows operating system killed by vendor updates, you haven't been using computers long enough.

Finally, any comparison between Vista and ME is stupid. When you're running ME, you're living a life where you reboot your PC with no real confidence that you'll ever see your desktop again. Even seasoned IT guys - who can rebuild their OS from the recovery console - are afraid to run ME. There is no comparison.

Anyways.

Win7 is basically everything I like about Vista and more, and the performance on equivalent hardware is better, supposedly. (I haven't tried this firsthand and have only used 7 for building VDI at work.) If you can afford it, buy it. If not, no big deal. Vista is pretty swell too.


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## Wildie

Here's my 2 cents worth!

On my desktop, I was running XP-SP3 with an ATI Radian 9200 video card.
I decided to clean install Win7 and when I did, I found that the Win7 driver wasn't compatible to the ATI video card. All circles were egg shaped.
ATI never offered a Win7 driver as the the card was a couple of years old.
I down-loaded the Vista driver for this card and forced Win7 to accepy it.
I was lucky that this solution worked for me.
I retrospect, I wouldn't advise a Win7 up-grade for a computer designed for XP.


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## rusty baker

I like Vista. Once you turn off the annoying stuff, it's fine. I have thought of upgrading to 7 simply because it's newer, but I don't know that it's worth it.


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## Wildie

rusty baker said:


> I like Vista. Once you turn off the annoying stuff, it's fine. I have thought of upgrading to 7 simply because it's newer, but I don't know that it's worth it.


 I upgraded from XP to Win7 as I was curious as to what Win7 was like.
I have a Vista laptop and after my experience with Win7 I have no immediate plans to up-grade it.
Vista has the same foundation as Win7, so its just the whisles and bells that are different.
One thing that I have just discovered with Win7 that has p**sed me off, is it refuses to burn DVDs because my VIDEO card is OLD.
Why its important for this to occur, escapes me.
I was attempting to make a Win7 repair disk on a DVD disk, when this happened. When I used a CD disk, all was good!


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## hyunelan2

Check for firmware updates for your DVDRW drive, that sometimes helps.

After using 7 since beta stages, I'm almost physically sickened when I have to use an XP machine. If you have software that won't run on anything other than XP, just install an XP Virtual Machine on Windows 7:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

In the dropdown, make sure to tell it you have Pro. or better. If you say you have "home" it says it's not made for you, but it still works just fine on home machines.


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## poppameth

You video card has nothing to do with burning a DVD. Probably a firmware issue or a software problem.


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## Wildie

poppameth said:


> You video card has nothing to do with burning a DVD. Probably a firmware issue or a software problem.


 Yah! Thats what blew me away!

I see that Win7 SP1 is now available. (out of BETA). I'm thinking maybe I should dowb-load this and see if it resolves the issue.

I do like WIn7, but its really annoying that hardware manufacturers won't bother issuing drivers for 'older' hardware, cause there's no money to be made.
ATI is a Canadian company and now, this Canadian will be buying Chinese!


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## kanepe

Latest versions are the most secure ones. 

Besides of that, there is nothing special I found on 7. It looks cooler, though. 

:wink:


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## fungku

Windows 7 is basically a _working_ version of vista


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## rusty baker

My wife just bought a new laptop with Windows 7. I don't see much improvement over my Vista and she got all the bells and whistles.


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## fungku

visually it's much the same. but functionally it's much better


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## Wildie

fungku said:


> visually it's much the same. but functionally it's much better


 I think that the key is to have MS scan your machine, to see if it is capable of supporting Win7.
If its not adequate, don't do it.

I wanted to try Win7, but my computer was a couple of years old and its video hardware wasn't up to requirement.
I went ahead and did it anyway and ran into a problem.
If I bought a new video card, perhaps I would be OK, but I'm not too excited about doing this.

If I were to advise someone, I would suggest that they would buy a new machine that comes with Win7.


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## alongston

Windows 7. Don't waste your time with Vista, it crashes constantly.


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## rusty baker

alongston said:


> Windows 7. Don't waste your time with Vista, it crashes constantly.


I have had a computer with Vista for 4 years with no problems.


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## trav2001

I have windows 7 ultimate. I must say for a windows OS this is by far my favorite. However, with that being said, I am really beginning to dislike microsoft products all together. I have a 200 GB hard drive that I literally just formatted and reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate onto and I've already used nearly 50 GB of space in just updates and a few programs I've installed.

My motherboard is dying slowly so I've been backing everything up to an external drive. When this baby dies altogether I'm going to a Mac.


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## poppameth

I'm dual booting Win7 x64 and Snow Leopard Hackintosh on my current rig. Snow is taking up about 35 GB with my time capsule on a separate drive. I can honestly say that while MAC is okay, it doesn't really impress me any. The lack of software that is so easy to find for Windows is a real pain.


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## trav2001

Even tho the lack of available software is lower than on a Windows machine. The stability and overall experience imo is far greater and easier.


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## poppameth

Safari had major lockups right out of the box due to Flash issues. Firefox and Chrome worked fine though. Just wait until you get the little spinning beachball a few times and talk about how stable it is. They just crash different than a Windows PC. MAC just tends to lock up forever instead of flat out crashing. If you are actually going to pay for a real MAC then yes you'll have a bit more stability since you are severely limited to over priced under performing hardware.


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## trav2001

I have close friends and family that have bought Mac's within the last several months and have never had a single issue. I personally have played around with those machines for hours and also have not had a single issue. I know that everyone will have a different experience. The same goes with anything. I could have a horrible experience with T-Mobile and hate the company, and you may never have a single issue with them. It's jut the way it is. So I'm not horribly worried.


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## lcrm__

Windows 7 hands down if anything just for the hardware compatibility.
I repair more unexplainable vista problems than any other version of windows.
Although win 7 64-bit might nit be your best option at present simply due to software developers not providing support for that platform yet.


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## poppameth

I've been using Win7 x64 for quite a while now and no issues with anything not working on it. 32-bit applications will install and run fine under most circumstances.


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## lcrm__

Then you have had a good experience my friend.

I was merely stating that the may be certain developers that have not provided support for 64-bit platforms yet.

Try installing office 2010 64-bit and using quickbooks 2010 to send out an invoice and let me know how you get on.

If you also have an opportunity try troubleshooting installing iTunes on a 64-bit XP platform. The dissambler option was very interesting for me.

Anyway thanks again for sharing your experience.

10-4

Visit lcrm.co.uk - providing support when IT counts.


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## poppameth

lcrm__ said:


> Then you have had a good experience my friend.
> 
> I was merely stating that the may be certain developers that have not provided support for 64-bit platforms yet.
> 
> Try installing office 2010 64-bit and using quickbooks 2010 to send out an invoice and let me know how you get on.
> 
> If you also have an opportunity try troubleshooting installing iTunes on a 64-bit XP platform. The dissambler option was very interesting for me.
> 
> Anyway thanks again for sharing your experience.
> 
> 10-4
> 
> Visit lcrm.co.uk - providing support when IT counts.


I've got Office 2010 x32 installed on a Win7 x64 machine with no issues. Never tried the x64 version of Office. There may be issues I am unaware of there.

I have run QB 2009 through 2011 on Win7 x64 with no issues at all as well. If you have issues with QB it's generally because QB is a lousy product. It use to be excellent but it's been on a downhill slide for the past several years. Take a look at the MAC version if you really want to see problems. 

As for iTunes, it's a garbage program on Windows anyway IMO. Works okay on MAC, but I'll take MediaMonkey or Songbird on Windows. And let's be honest about Windows XP x64. That was a sad attempt at a 64-bit OS. Never should have been made to begin with. I have no doubt there are tons of issues on WinXP x64.


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## Rhizando

Another vote for Windows 7.


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## mickey cassiba

alongston said:


> Windows 7. Don't waste your time with Vista, it crashes constantly.


My Vista machine has had no issues, nor has my old XP machine. The next box will likely be Win7 simply because I'm too lazy to fool with Linux(though I used it at work for a couple years) and too cheap for Apple.
Mick


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## vsheetz

Vista is poor in most every aspect - I would take WinXP over Vista. Win7 is much better, and the best Windows yet - features, stability, etc. Win8 is coming - we'll see how it works out.


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## rusty baker

Vista works OK. You just have to do some alterations.


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## Rhizando

Windows 7 is definitely cleaner, although Win XP is simple and a proven stable OS


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## Wildie

Windows 7 is a good OS. no doubt about it!

However, I have run into a couple of problems with it. These are on older, upgraded machines.

On my XP desktop, I installed a video card with digital output to match my Viewsonic monitor.
The card is only about 2 years old.
When I up-graded to Win7 the default Win7 driver wasn't suitable. The video card manufacturer (AMD) does not have a Win7 driver available (they want me to buy a new card) I found a Vista driver and forced it into use and it resolved my problem.
On my friends computer the m/b died (came with Vista) and I installed a replacement m/b that came froman XP machine. (older) 
I made a clean install of Win7 and for the most part all was good. But,with one exception! The onboard audio would not function completely with the Win7 divers. Again, WIn7 drivers are not available for this vintage m/b.
The point to be made is that your hardware must be checked to see if its compatible with your hardware.
If its not, its best to keep what you have or upgrade the hardware that is not Win7 capable.


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## sippinjoes

I put Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit on a Dell E510 purchased back in 2005. Worked better than XP MCE did on it and never had driver issues, a few software issues because of 64-bit, but no hardware/driver problems.


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## mdawson3k

My 2 cents is that Win7 is the best OS ever, all things considered, from speed, ease of use, support, and endless amount of software choices for everything you want to do.


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## D5T_Designs

W7 FTW, I used to be a hardcore xp enthusiast, never even bothered with vista from all the problems i heard. Bought a laptop that had 7 premium on it and decided that my desktop should get a makeover the very next day. At the moment I'm running win7 ultimate on my desktop, i've done countless installs and computer builds for friends and family and everyone likes win7. Yea there are compatibility issues but it's never anything that cant be fixed.


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## Wildie

Win7 is so stable that MS engineers are working over-time to design Win8. How come?


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## rusty baker

Wildie said:


> Win7 is so stable that MS engineers are working over-time to design Win8. How come?


Money.


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## CeilingTiles

I would recommend going with windows 7. I have been using it for months and really have not had 1 error message or problem that I can remember. It also runs really fast compared to windows xp. I never used vista but most people I know that used it had tons of problems.


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## Wildie

CeilingTiles said:


> I would recommend going with windows 7. I have been using it for months and really have not had 1 error message or problem that I can remember. It also runs really fast compared to windows xp. I never used vista but most people I know that used it had tons of problems.


 I have a Vista laptop (HP) that I'm using right now! Its slowed down a few times because of the crap that I installed. However, after I cleaned up the START menu it runs good again.

As Win7 is built on the Vista foundation, I wonder how long it will be, before complaints roll in about Win7.

I wouldn't be surprised that most of the Vista problems are self induced.


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## poppameth

Vista is a resource hog plain and simple. Win7 was basically a redesign of Vista with performance being the biggest improvement.


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## Wildie

poppameth said:


> Vista is a resource hog plain and simple. Win7 was basically a redesign of Vista with performance being the biggest improvement.


 I think what you say is true, as I also have a machine that I up-graded from XP and its 1 gig memory runs well well with Win7. I have lots of memory on my laptop so its not so critical.


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## Marty1Mc

Make sure if you decide to upgrade that you run the microsoft compatibility check. There are many devices out there (older ones) that are not supported. 

Win 7 is far superior to Vista, by the way. I think you have read this many times already.


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## Red Squirrel

Windows 7 hands down. Vista is like windows ME and should be forgotten and left to rot in the depths of mount doom.


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## rusty baker

Any upgrade available for Vista to Windows 7?


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## Wildie

rusty baker said:


> Any upgrade available for Vista to Windows 7?


 Don't bother! Wait for Win8!


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## Marty1Mc

Wildie said:


> Don't bother! Wait for Win8!


I would upgrade Vista to Windows7. Every other release of Windows tends to be lousy. 
Windows 95 - lousy
Windows 98 - good
Windows Millenium - lousy
Windows XP - good
Windows Vista - lousy
Windows 7 - good


Considering Windows 8 is going to radically change the user interface to be more like the Windows phone software, it will be pretty messy, confusing to use. I am sure Microsoft will move everything around again so it's hard to find and everyone will have to re-learn the OS...


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## poppameth

I have a feeling Win8 is going to feel a lot like the Unity interface in the new Ubuntu Linux does. I can't stand that so far, so I went back to Mint. There are upgrades available for Vista to Win7 but I'd just buy an OEM disc at Newegg. You get a full copy that way. Upgrades never work well on a Windows OS. A clean install will do much better.


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## rusty baker

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110602/tc_digitaltrends/microsoftofficiallyunveilswindows8


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## poppameth

They keep comparing it to iOS in that write-up. The thing is iOS is a mobile OS and OSX is a desktop OS. It looks like MS is trying to do both in one package. And it'll fail miserably.


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## Kriggio824

Vista is a memory hog. Check microsofts site and see if you computer running vista will have any issues with windows 7. If not then upgrade, if there are issues then upgrade to xp. Yes I know I said upgrade. Xp runs far better then vista and has a lot less problems. Also probably wouldnt hurt to upgrade the hard drive as well. Good luck


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