How long should I keep Windows 7 and delay upgrading?

lol NICE @TechnoMage2016

yeah... I have only done fresh installs on New OS..
like when I did XP Pro 64bit,

then Win7 Ultimate 64bit... on my last PC...
then the same on a old laptop a friend gave me AND NOW on my ELITE GAMING RIG!! MWHAHAHA
new HDD and copied file from the old HDD..

I make regular backups of the REGISTRY HIVES.. especially.. as follows..

• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__ClassRoot_(2017-08-09).reg
• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__CU-Software_(2017-08-07).reg
• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__LM-Software_(2017-08-07).reg
• PC_(Laptop)(2008Toshiba)(Win7)_RegBackup__ClassRoot_(2017-07-30).reg

These are the most recent backups I have made...

My Dell Inspiron 1720 had been running full bore for 10 years and I just upgraded it to Win 7. I have been also upgrading parts to try to keep it running as long as possible. Recently stuck a trial copy of Windows 10 on it and for the most part it worked ok. Not great but ok. I had updated all the drivers that I could and had enough memory at 4 gb.
The WLAN card did not work in WIn 10 and would need to replace it if I go to 10 but I don't know if the Bios would take it.
I decided to revert to Win 7 because it does run very well with it and why push it. I have a machine with Win 10. Win 10 is nice and the new operating system nifty but most things can still be ran in Win 7 very well if you keep your machine up to date.

Melchior said:

HEAR! HEAR!! WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE SP1 x64 F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!!! lol

I just built my new Gaming Rig last June (June 2016)
so I'm GOOD for an ETERNITY OR TWO....

Win10 is the WORST M$ has ever done, followed by Win8, WinVista and WinME.. uuggh!!

it Win7 OR BUST!!
ps:
I LOVE OPEN-SOURCE/FREE-SOFTWARE,
I just don't like the Linux/Unix Architecture/API....

i just learned that you can actually make win 8 to look and even feel like 7 but i know i'm going to have to do some digging eventually. what are you looking at for when 7 is no longer safe to use?

TechnoMage2016 said:

XLCGROUP,

I must agree with at least one of the responses to far. I've run every MS OS since DOS 2.0, and I have copies of every version of Windows OS from Windows 95 to Windows 10 Pro/64. But out of them all, I run Windows 7, Ultimate/32 on my main/everyday PC. And I have the same OS running on this little laptop that I'm on now.
When I got this laptop, from a friend who thought it was dumpster food, it needed a new HD, DVD Drive, and more ram. I did all of the above, installing a new SSD, new DVD drive, and I maxed out the ram, and then had to make that hard decision, "What OS do I use?". I picked Win-7/Ultimate/32.

Something that nobody has mentioned,,,,,when you put a newer OS on an older PC, you might find out that the PC's manufacturer never did post drivers for their hardware for the newer OS's. So you might wind up with an upgraded PC and not have any sound, LAN or suitable video drivers. I've already been there and done that, because I'm a computer tech of 37 years, and I personally have 20 computers. Several of them, where I've tried a newer OS than they were made for, would have serious driver problems, and I wound up restoring the original OS, to get everything working again.

One very important step in EVER upgrading your PC to a newer OS, (any OS) is to make a clone copy of your existing HD, so if the new OS falls flat, you can restore your backup to your hard drive and mark that failure up to experience. I've had to do that way more times than I even care to recount.

OK, lets say that you have an older program or a really old 16 bit game that you dearly love to play.
You can just forget ever running that on any Windows 10 PC. It just ain't a gonna happen!

Windows 7, Ultimate/32 is my all time favorite, because it runs all my old programs and looks and acts very much like XP, my life long favorite. One very old saying that I like to live by, "If it works, don't mess with it!". (you know I cleaned that saying up a little bit....Right?)

So my closing remark, "as long as your Windows 7 is still running, make regular backups of C: and run it till it just can't run any further.
I have a car that I love, and I'm going to drive it till the wheels fall off.

Happy Trails, Mate!
TechnoMage

thank you for your advice. i too have had to deal with much misery upgrading OS's too soon without considering the after effects, whether on my macbook pro, ipad, android, iphone and even ipod. the excitement of change is not worth the risk anymore... unless you take proactive steps like you mentioned. getting the hang of backing up androids and ipads are easy compared to laptops and desktops so it took me a lot longer to try. i have done some research on paid programs but they seemed really complicated just a few years ago. i have tried cloud storage and it was decent until the company went bankrupt and my lifetime subscription was worthless. in the case of corrupted or inoperable OS, that would not help at all but it was better than not protecting anything.

i ended up wasting a lot of money on software and games that no longer worked on the upgraded OS and have refused to upgrade OS's the past few years until absolutely necessary. Now that i think i know the basics of secure back ups, i can at least wait a year or two later after a new release so it gives the devs some time to work out the bugs, make improvements since i can now go back to familiar OS.

your post makes me want to use 7 on my laptop until for as long as XP has been running on my antique DELL desktop but every year, malware is multiplying and getting more dangerous and its becoming more and more common. restoring an OS is one thing but sensitive info that gets stolen is another. i have VPNs installed to help with that.

although i've been using computers since i was 15, i used it for games (who remembers wolfenstein 3d and doom), browsing and using apps like excel, i have never installed any hardware myself... at all until last year and that was just to upgrade RAM in my laptop. so yeah, i'm pretty useless when it comes to fixing serious issues or doing anything hardware related.

i REALLY do want to thank this forum for all the help in the short span i've become a member. not only do i have confidence in my machines now but i am slowly starting to realize i can fix my own issues if i am one step ahead of the dangers. i think i'm going to try to upgrade my primary HDD to a SSD soon. who knows, i may even try to upgrade my processor in the desktop too.

computer repair shops and geek squad will be

Melchior said:

lol NICE @TechnoMage2016

yeah... I have only done fresh installs on New OS..
like when I did XP Pro 64bit,

then Win7 Ultimate 64bit... on my last PC...
then the same on a old laptop a friend gave me AND NOW on my ELITE GAMING RIG!! MWHAHAHA
new HDD and copied file from the old HDD..

I make regular backups of the REGISTRY HIVES.. especially.. as follows..

• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__ClassRoot_(2017-08-09).reg
• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__CU-Software_(2017-08-07).reg
• PC_(Desktop)(NewPC)(Win7)_RegBackup__LM-Software_(2017-08-07).reg
• PC_(Laptop)(2008Toshiba)(Win7)_RegBackup__ClassRoot_(2017-07-30).reg

These are the most recent backups I have made...

would a system image using reflect cover that too or do i specifically have to do that myself? please excuse the newbness.

defrag1720 said:

My Dell Inspiron 1720 had been running full bore for 10 years and I just upgraded it to Win 7. I have been also upgrading parts to try to keep it running as long as possible. Recently stuck a trial copy of Windows 10 on it and for the most part it worked ok. Not great but ok. I had updated all the drivers that I could and had enough memory at 4 gb.
The WLAN card did not work in WIn 10 and would need to replace it if I go to 10 but I don't know if the Bios would take it.
I decided to revert to Win 7 because it does run very well with it and why push it. I have a machine with Win 10. Win 10 is nice and the new operating system nifty but most things can still be ran in Win 7 very well if you keep your machine up to date.

when you say you push it, does that mean you leave it on overnight too? i too have a dell and these things are really solid, at least the ones from 10+ years ago. i haven't made a single change to it from day 1 which is pretty damn amazing too. what to do with this system has been on my mind for a while. someone suggested i just pull the HDD from it and install it into my new desktop but i like having one for researching and spreadsheets and the other for 3d rendering, surfing, and games. i do want to replace it completely but that's an impulsive thing and not out of necessity.

xlcgroup said:

i just learned that you can actually make win 8 to look and even feel like 7 but i know i'm going to have to do some digging eventually. what are you looking at for when 7 is no longer safe to use?

UNLESS.. M$ plans a NEW/GREAT Windows OS to replace the crap that is Win10...
I will will probably stik with Win-Ultimate-SP1-x64 F.O.R.E.V.E.R. AND EVER AND EVER!!

xlcgroup said:

thank you for your advice. i too have had to deal with much misery upgrading OS's too soon without considering the after effects, whether on my macbook pro, ipad, android, iphone and even ipod. the excitement of change is not worth the risk anymore... unless you take proactive steps like you mentioned. getting the hang of backing up androids and ipads are easy compared to laptops and desktops so it took me a lot longer to try. i have done some research on paid programs but they seemed really complicated just a few years ago. i have tried cloud storage and it was decent until the company went bankrupt and my lifetime subscription was worthless. in the case of corrupted or inoperable OS, that would not help at all but it was better than not protecting anything.

i ended up wasting a lot of money on software and games that no longer worked on the upgraded OS and have refused to upgrade OS's the past few years until absolutely necessary. Now that i think i know the basics of secure back ups, i can at least wait a year or two later after a new release so it gives the devs some time to work out the bugs, make improvements since i can now go back to familiar OS.

your post makes me want to use 7 on my laptop until for as long as XP has been running on my antique DELL desktop but every year, malware is multiplying and getting more dangerous and its becoming more and more common. restoring an OS is one thing but sensitive info that gets stolen is another. i have VPNs installed to help with that.

although i've been using computers since i was 15, i used it for games (who remembers Wolfenstein 3d and doom), browsing and using apps like excel, i have never installed any hardware myself... at all until last year and that was just to upgrade RAM in my laptop. so yeah, i'm pretty useless when it comes to fixing serious issues or doing anything hardware related.

i REALLY do want to thank this forum for all the help in the short span i've become a member. not only do i have confidence in my machines now but i am slowly starting to realize i can fix my own issues if i am one step ahead of the dangers. i think i'm going to try to upgrade my primary HDD to a SSD soon. who knows, i may even try to upgrade my processor in the desktop too.

computer repair shops and geek squad will be

DOOM and Wolfenstein 3d CLASSICs lol had those myself back during the early 90s...

I started 2nd grade in fall of 1990 so... I was pretty young.. it was a
Compaq Presario.. Intel 486SX (SX didn't have the Math co-processor integrated into it back then.. the DX model did lol its called the FPU (Floating Point Unit) these days..
2-8MB of RAM (YEAH JUST SOO LITTLE LOL )

and we added a Creative 4x speed CDROM and it came with an ORIGINAL Sound Blaster AUDIO CARD LOL

it came with a CD game pack...
my favorite to play back then from that disc was
Syndicate Plus..
https://www.gog.com/game/syndicate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game)

Melchior said:

UNLESS.. M$ plans a NEW/GREAT Windows OS to replace the crap that is Win10...
I will will probably stik with Win-Ultimate-SP1-x64 F.O.R.E.V.E.R. AND EVER AND EVER!!




DOOM and Wolfenstein 3d CLASSICs lol had those myself back during the early 90s...

I started 2nd grade in fall of 1990 so... I was pretty young.. it was a
Compaq Presario.. Intel 486SX (SX didn't have the Math co-processor integrated into it back then.. the DX model did lol its called the FPU (Floating Point Unit) these days..
2-8MB of RAM (YEAH JUST SOO LITTLE LOL )

and we added a Creative 4x speed CDROM and it came with an ORIGINAL Sound Blaster AUDIO CARD LOL

it came with a CD game pack...
my favorite to play back then from that disc was
Syndicate Plus..
https://www.gog.com/game/syndicate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game)

yeah, those games broke the mold for all the first person shooters. lol, the only things i remember about my first desktop was it was a 486, there was a button on the tower that was named "turbo" and when you pressed it, the digits went from 16 to 64 and the tower was 3 feet tall. i seriously don't even think the turbo button did a damn thing, just a gimmick but i could be wrong. not soon after the "free aol discs" came into play. pretty impressive you remember the specs.

never heard of that game but man are those graphics sweet, 8 bits of heaven! seriously, the game does sound interesting and unique, even compared to today's games and that's saying a lot.

YEAH I have a good memory

if your wanna try it you could BUY it from GoG.com... for.. $9.98 for both games..
it runs in DOS box so it should run on Win7....

Game detailsGenre: Action - Real-time - Tactical

Works on: Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10) and Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Languages: Audio and text: English. Text only: español, français, italiano

Released: June 6, 1993 (June 6th also happens to be my Father birthday)


Size: 31.4 MB

Company: Bullfrog Productions / Electronic Arts

I own a copy of it on GoG.com
its like Steam by Valve.... GoG Galaxy Client that is... lol

ooH yeah the days of AOL HELL lol ;p

pretty sure this was the one my mom had...


Because it DIDN'T come with a CDROM at first... lol

as I mentioned above my mom and her friend bought a 4x CDROM/audio card combo..
which came with the above game(s)

well Bullfrog Productions did go outa biz a long time ago.. theymade a few games more. but only tose two of the Syndicate series...