Stuck for a While

[EchoVamper]

Computer troubles this week. So sluggish and choppy lately...and I finally quit blaming game servers for it. The video card was heating up and the power supply probably failing. So I'm going to replace the whole box... it's going on four years old.

I got to preview the new machine. Wow...I totally skipped the 4 gig RAM window and went from 2 to 8. It just arrived here at home so I'll be starting to set things up this evening. Should be nice...but I've got a couple of monster downloads in store. I'll probably not make it for LOTRO this week either.

Any tips on Windows 7 from anyone? It's new territory for me.

My communication for the next few days will be from work...and all that entails.

[Morreion]

Great you got a new PC Echo! I'm still using Windows Vista with 2 gigs RAM...am looking forward to this summer when I get a Windows 7 rig with all of the RAM it is possible to stuff inside. I limit myself to a new PC every 3 years, and the 3 years is up this summer

Keep us updated on what's happening!

[EchoVamper]

Yeah. I was hoping to limp along for a little longer. I'm not really a computer guru of any sort, but once I got out shopping, just seeing the specs on what was out there now got me a bit pumped: 8g ram! 1 tb hard drive! From core duo to quad! And I get to skip Vista (lol).

I'll reformat windows on the old one, stick an extra fan and a new power supply in it ... and it will make a great computer for my young son. I think it will still handle SpongeBob and Wall-E.

I'll be checking in with you online all ASAP.

[ariesel]

Can't wait for you to get back, Echo!

<gets more electrical tape and sticks her fan back onto her stupid video card>

[ariesel]

Hope all your installs are going well, Echo!

Grig has Windows 7 for the business and he seems to like it a lot.

Because I have Vista Home Premium, I would have to either backup my computer, wipe my drive and install 7; or I think Grig said I could get another hard drive and install it on that. But, since I haven't had any real problems (knock on wood) with Vista, I'm staying with what I have for the time being.

He spent the last weekend rigging up an old computer he had sitting in the office and now we have an awesome media center as part of our set up! He even bought a new dvd drive so we can watch dvds on our big tv! What a guy!

Hope we get to see you soon in game!

[cirig]

Sorry to add my two cents so late in the game, but I'm very, VERY happy with Windows 7. I have it on 2 of 3 PCs so far, and it's light years better than Vista was - I can transfer files without crashing my network, and without it taking orders of magnitude longer than it should.

The best parts of Windows 7, though, are accessible only if you have multiple PCs with Windows 7 on them. I particularily like the remote features of Windows Media Player - I can now *send* media (music, videos, pictures) to one of our other PCs, and play it through the Media Player there. Also, sharing your media libraries and files between your other computers is much, much easier.

The speed at which files are shared is much improved as well. For example, I have some HD video (file size averages just over 1GB for an hour long TV show) on my main desktop PC. I can stream it over our wireless network to my laptop anywhere in the house (or through the laptop to our tv, if I happen to have it hooked up at the time) and watch the video as quickly and clearly as if it was actually a file on the laptop. I can pop a Bluray disk into my laptop (only Bluray player in the house) and play it on my desktop instead of my laptop, or even in addition to (although I haven't tried playing a file I'm also streaming at the same time).

Also, should I be sent away for training or other work functions, I can take my laptop with me, and access all the media I have stored on my desktop PC at home over the internet, without fuss, muss, or additional software. I'm looking forward to trying that out as well.

The final step for me is to get a media centre remote, and get my laptop's tv tuner card up and running, so I can turn my laptop into a PVR.

Most of these things you can also do with Vista or XP, it's just SO MUCH EASIER with Windows 7.

And Arie, if you want to upgrade to Windows 7, you can use an upgrade edition, and not have to reformat. I've upgraded both of my PCs from Vista (which was on there the shortest amount of time humanly possible), one of them I reformatted, the other I just in-place upgraded. Both installs turned out just fine. Apparently you can also upgrade from XP, although I haven't tried that yet (the 1 PC I have left to upgrade is XP).

If you have multiple PCs to upgrade, I can't recommend the Family Upgrade edition of Windows 7 enough - three installs/upgrades of Windows 7 for just over a hundred bucks ($CAD).

Cirig

[EchoVamper]

After finally getting the time to boot up the new box, I'm fast becoming a fan of Windows 7 too. I'm an interesting case in that I completely missed the Vista era both at home and at work. Most people tell me that was a very good thing.

My initial impressions: I like Windows 7 and IE 8 is a much better browser too. I'm a Firefox believer and I don't think it's necessarily better than that, but it's a lot closer than all previous IE versions were. This is my first experience in a long time with a AMD processor, and so far I'm happy with that too.

So far I'm quite happy. This rig is not exactly a high-end gamer's dream machine, it's just one peg below. The way it's running now and with 8gigs RAM, a 1TB HD, and a video card just one notch below top of the line, I don't expect to have any issues with gaming on it.

Loading up and troubleshooting LOTRO tonight. Should be ready to go Thursday.

[Regolyth]

Echo, did you go with 64-bit? If not, you should think about going that way. It's great. I love it (and Windows 7 too).

Gack, instead of getting a new PC every three years, maybe you should try upgrading parts as you need it (RAM, graphics card, etc.).

[Morreion]

Looking forward to a 64-bit Windows 7 machine with at least 8 gigs RAM myself- this summer I'll get one!

Rego, there's a little story about my PC habits. A few years ago I built my first PC from scratch, it was a real learning experience. Unfortunately, after building it, I was constantly tweaking and upgrading it and one day while in the machine I made a catastrophic error that trashed the PC. I'm a bit gunshy on messing with them now

64-bit technology is a quantum step forward over the old 32-bit systems many of us have, so a totally new PC is justified for me!

[cirig]

Putting together a new machine is like Christmas for me! Unwrapping all the little packages, ooohing and aaahing over the contents, and then shoving them into the box . . . I could do that all day. It's formatting, installing and reinstalling software that I loathe, and avoid like the plague.

So far, I'm still a 32bit-er, but only because I've only got 4GB of RAM anyway, so it makes no difference to me. Our next upgrade will be to 64bit, though - our current processors can handle it.

You're not entirely alone in skipping the Vista era, Echo - I almost did as well. I purchased a new laptop last summer, though, and Vista was what it came with. So I used it for a few months, and happily switched to Windows 7 as soon as I could lay hands on the Family Upgrade edition.

You didn't miss anything AT ALL, except a lot of the pain and suffering of those who could not turn off the User Account Control. I pity those poor bastards!

Cirig