Installing Win 7 on slow XP machine

cherivo said:

I have an old (3.5 years) XP machine that is maxed out on RAM, with 3.5 GB. But it is still slow. I've done all that needs to be done and it still thrashes a lot. I'm thinking about putting Win 7 on it. What is the general consensus of installing Win 7 on a slow, older machine? Thanks for any advice!

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well W7 runs even on the older machine.

You say you have 3.5 Gb of ram whihc implies a not too ancient machine.

I upgraded two machines ( 1 is 2 years old IBM 9120CTO & the other is 5 years old 8291-E2U ). Its like I have two new PC's. I am happy ....

Dzomlija said:

The moral of the story: STAY AWAY FROM REGISTRY CLEANERS AND FIXERS! They do more harm than good.

I tend to agree with you on this one. I've come across quite a number of problems myself which develop after running things like ccleaner and the like which are supposed to make things better.

Allright, point well taken on the registry cleaner. I'm guessing the same holds true for the Norton 360 registry cleaner....? What's the best way to clean it out then? Take it to somebody who knows? And if so, I'm not sure I'd trust it to any techie around here.

cherivo said:

Allright, point well taken on the registry cleaner. I'm guessing the same holds true for the Norton 360 registry cleaner....? What's the best way to clean it out then? Take it to somebody who knows? And if so, I'm not sure I'd trust it to any techie around here.

Either clean it out manually, or just leave it alone. If you aren't comfortable in there, don't venture in as you can certainly mess it up if not careful. I've had bad experience with cleaners so I avoid them. I have no qualms going into the registry to make changes, but that's me. It's smart to back up the registry before working on it--something I sometimes do--it depends on what I'll be doing in there.

Hi guys, great forum! I am about to install on an old Compaq Presario 1500 running XP Home SP2 with 2.4ghz P4 and 768mb with 32mb(?) ATI. Any advice for a newbie? I can't wait to see how this goes. :)

Peng

[QUOTE=Dzomlija;392583]

cherivo said:

The moral of the story: STAY AWAY FROM REGISTRY CLEANERS AND FIXERS! They do more harm than good.

Amen!

Tews said:

Run the Upgrade Advisor, though I would max out your RAM right off the bat... Good Luck!

Thanks Tews, the old lappy is now up and running, no issues as of yet aside from not seeing my network at home, which I will address this weekend. It does seem faster. I will update you guys as soon as I get everything re-installed. Happy turkey day everyone!

Peng