Windows 7 on a Pentium 4 Machine

Hexagon12 · 12 Sep 2014

Can you post a CPU-Z screenshot? I installed Windows 7 on 2 Pentium 4 HT machines, and it runs just fine. What is your graphics card model? Because mine is a Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 and it runs Aero just fine.

bigmck · 12 Sep 2014

I have an old laptop, P4 with 1.8 ghz processor. I installed Win 7 and it runs, but very slow. I just finally gave up on it and it is living out its final days in my closet.

Berton · 12 Sep 2014

I've found some of the older Notebooks need to have their power-saving features set to either Always on or Desktop, keeps the CPU from throttling down to about half-speed. It has worked for me on a couple of older ones but not great for the battery charge but then I wasn't needing to carry them around very often.

dbtmellis · 12 Sep 2014

My neighbor is an older gentleman, and has a fixed income. All he wants is basically an "email machine". I doubt he will never have a need for more than what a 32 Bit CPU can handle. So, Windows 7 Basic would be the best fit? I could try and see if I can get him to buy and install a GPU/Graphics card, as he has an empty AGP slot.

gregrocker · 12 Sep 2014

Since the only retail copies MS allows sold now are Premium and Pro, might as well get Premium when it goes down to $89 at Tiger Direct or New Egg. It likely won't run Aero but that's OK. Just be sure to do the effects edits I gave you and stick with the same tips, tools and methods as in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and you'll give it every advantage.

Delete all partitions during booted install and have your Ethernet driver for that model for Win7 if possible in your backup to get online and run all Updates which should include most drivers. The tutorial shows how to find the rest. We can help.

dikbozo · 12 Sep 2014

Consider an alternative as his machine is a bit older than it could be and his finances are quite limited.

Burn him a copy of Puppy Linux and boot it with him. Walk him through the process and help him do things with it. Check some webmail and surf a bit too. No changes to his box and a free trial run. It seems to me to worth a try.

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