Windows 7: Problems since upgrade to Windows 7

I have a HP Pavilion which I purchased from Best Buy with the Vista operating system installed. This was of course prior to Windows 7 being released. I ordered the free upgrade disc but postponed doing the upgrade until just last weekend. While I like Windows 7, or at least what I have seen of it so far, I have encountered several problems that I have been unable to resolve.



1. When trying to restart or shut down the computer, it will log me off but then hangs at the "Shutting Down" screen. I have to force the shutdown by holding the power button.

2. I cannot copy and paste or cut and paste anything. Even in Windows explorer when working with files, explorer stops responding and I have to go to the task manager to close the program. This happens whether I am trying to copy and paste one file or a batch of 400 articles. It also does not matter if I use the right click menu or keyboard Ctrl C /X/ V.

I have run all of the Windows updates and installed all but a few optional updates that seemed to be unrelated to any problems that I am encountering, or related to hardware that I do not have installed on my system.

Please help.

Thanks,
David

Quick update: I can copy and paste in my email program, Thunderbird, but the copy/cut/paste problem seems to be limited to Windows Explorer.

It sounds like you did the inferior in-place Upgrade. You'll get better performance by booting the Windows 7 installation DVD to do a Custom Clean install: Clean Install Windows 7

MS forced manufacturers to provide a clean copy Installation DVD with these Upgrade kits so they couldn't force us to reinstall all of the sponsor's bloatware and useless factory utilities which have better versions built into Windows 7.

Here are tips to get a purrfect clean reinstall: re-install windows 7

If you want any of the HP preinstalled bloatware or useless utilities make your HP Recovery Disks and extract any which you can't locate on the Support Downloads webpage for your model by using this method: HP 3rd Party Software After Clean Win 7 Install

Until you can get around to the superior clean reinstall, you can use the Installation DVD to run a Repair Install. Steps for troubleshooting problems with Windows 7 are here: Computer lags every couple seconds

Thanks for the reply. I hate to think about doing a clean install for fear that I will lose some of my data, such as music files, photos and all of my documents, but I guess if I just back up my libraries in Windows 7 onto my external hard drive I should be okay right?

Is the clean install on the hp upgrade disk that was sent out? I was sent two disks. The HP Upgrade Assistant and Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Media- which says "For use only as an upgrade to a qualifying HP Windows 7 Upgrade PC."

Definitely make copies of your personal files and folders, dtilbury, and put them on an external hard drive (as you mentioned) or you could copy them onto travel drives. In fact, you really should back up all of your data, especially including your SWSETUP folder (which has your Vista preloaded apps and drivers. You may need some of them, others may have been replaced with Win 7 versions on HP's download site for your model, however that said, if they are Vista compatible, they should run in Win 7 with no problems. If any Win 7 app doesn’t work, you can use your backed-up data to bring it back.).

I would think that HP's upgrade disks would NOT be clean and free of HP bloat. gregrocker gave some excellent advice, which I think would be well heeded. Great post gregrocker. Rep + to you!

The Windows 7 upgrade media DVD is a bootable Windows 7 installer.

Here's how to test it to be sure: Boot from CD - How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD - Boot to CD

Make sure the screens loaded look like this:

If so, click the red X to bail out. Note that you have the Repair Console on the last screen pictured which is how you would Repair Windows 7 if it becomes unbootable in the future.

There are more detailed steps in the link, but be sure to make your factory Recovery Disks first, back up all of your files, then either wipe the HD to get the cleanest install, or using the Custom install Drive Tools delete all partitions except the Recovery Partition and create new one(s), format and install to first partition. re-install windows 7

Factory upgrade kit DVD should also allow the Product Key to be installed upfront even if you wipe the HD first. Confirm that the Product Key is on the Installation DVD.