What should we do after January 2020

I am sticking with Windows 7 as well...

Melchior said:

I am sticking with Windows 7 as well...

Yep me too, in fact my new build which i will be putting together soon will definitely be running on Win7 aswell.

I know the OS very well at this point and can't imagine being as productive as i am on win7 on any other OS - Everything about it feels right. My current config has some issues with saving folder view options but one of these days i'll run a fix on that too, it's not a dealbreaker in any case.

Switching to Linux is not an option imo, it's not even binary-compatible. I've tried out and worked with Ubuntu, knoppix et al in the past but can't imagine using it as a private daily driver-type OS, it looks ugly imo and is anything but intuitive to use GUI-wise.

Some time back i also read something about a whitelist/filter program which can make even older OS's more secure (basically a secondary type of UAC which only lets user-whitelisted exe's run IIRC), totally forgot what it was called though but after 2020 and MSE definition updates being depreceated on Win7 i will maybe try it out, along with switching to a new malware live protection program.

i have a 2009 machine. is it possible to get a brand new beefier machine and put my old machine's OS on it?

MourningStar said:

i have a 2009 machine. is it possible to get a brand new beefier machine and put my old machine's OS on it?

all depends.. is your current PC a custom build with a retail Windows license?
if not probably not.. you would have to buy a brand new copy of Windows off of say eBay... and that is a far cry of getting a license that has not already been activated...

Melchior said:

all depends.. is your current PC a custom build with a retail Windows license?
if not probably not.. you would have to buy a brand new copy of Windows off of say eBay... and that is a far cry of getting a license that has not already been activated...

no, not custom. If I buy a custom build with it's own W7 would I be able to import my current 'user' with all associated customization, i.e. theme, docks, customized desktop and custom configurations etc.?

MourningStar said:

no, not custom. If I buy a custom build with it's own W7 would I be able to import my current 'user' with all associated customization, i.e. theme, docks, customized desktop and custom configurations etc.?

you should be able to do that using the built in program called...
Microsoft BackupAndRestore I think that was what I used...


There are plenty of other users here that could better answer that probably...

I have a dual boot with Windows 10 but I'm on Windows 7 90% of the time. I only use 10 when I have to use an app that won't run on 7. I plan on using 7 until the wheels fall off

MourningStar said:

i have a 2009 machine. is it possible to get a brand new beefier machine and put my old machine's OS on it?

yes. You can do this and the result will be a system that looks exactly like your old system, same programs, same tweaks, same settings, same data, but runs at the speed of a new system because its on new hardware. To make this transfer everything below must be heeded. Otherwise your only option is a Clean Install on Win7 on the new system.

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Make sure the new machine has an SSD drive, which is the number one thing that will speed you up.

The below specs are not in production as of 2019 so you should probably buy a used or refurbished system.

Make sure the new machine has an intel skylake cpu and NOT a later cpu (like intel kaby lake, intel coffee lake, or amd ryzen - all of which present annoying driver challenges for win7, plus, the fastest skylake cpu is very close in single-user speed to the fastest cpu of 2019 anyway. skylake = 6xxx, kaby lake = 7xxx, coffee lake = 8xxx. I recommend the i7-6700k)

Make sure the new machine does NOT have a motherboard chipset of 370 or 390. Go with 170 or 270, both of which are driver compatible with Win7.

If you follow the above, you can clone your old hard drive right onto the new system's ssd drive. The only requirements to ensure compatibility are:

- make sure your new system's drivers are downloaded onto your old hard drive's desktop before the clone. That way you can load them easily once you boot from the new system.

- BEFORE shutting down the old system one final time, change its device driver hard drive controller to the "Standard AHCI 1.0" driver. The way to make any Win7 boot drive able to be rebooted on any different win7 hardware system is to make sure you are using the universally-compatible hard drive controller, which is the Standard AHCI 1.0 driver.

- make sure the hard drive bios setting in your old machine AND your new machine is AHCI. That is, not raid, and not IDE.