windows 7 home premium old version

brianbb2 · 17 Feb 2013

Can someone please help. Iam 70 years old and have a computer since i was 68. When i first got it 2 years ago i had windows home pemium since a month ago i have a new version due to the renewal of my hard drive after it broke. they saved a small amount of data and when i restarded it up and entered my product code etc i now have a new version. Can someone help me get the old one back as it is not in memory of my computer. Please forgive me for not beeN able to get this accross properly
Regards,
BB.

TVeblen · 17 Feb 2013

Does it look drastically different? I'm wondering if you have Windows 8 installed instead of Windows 7.

If it is still Windows 7, is it that the desktop looks different? Or are installed programs and/or your personal data missing?

brianbb2 · 17 Feb 2013

It says it is windows 7 but it is all in colour and it seems far more complicated than my previous version.

TVeblen · 17 Feb 2013

It sounds like your desktop has changed.
Does it look like this?:

windows 7 home premium old version-desktop-1.png

Or cluttered with icons like this?:

windows 7 home premium old version-desktop-2.jpg

bobkn · 17 Feb 2013

brianbb2 said:

It says it is windows 7 but it is all in colour and it seems far more complicated than my previous version.

If you go into the System control panel, what version number does it state? (It's near the top of the window.) It shouldn't matter much, as long as it's Windows 7.

I've used Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Enterprise (at work). They all looked about the same. The only major change in Windows 7 since it was released in October of 2009 was Service Pack 1, but that didn't change the overall appearance and operation of the OS (operating system).

My guess is that your new Win7 installation is configured differently than your old one. If you right-click on the desktop an select Personalize, you'll get a window that allows you to select a variety of "themes". Some of them are more colorful than others. If you don't know how your PC was set up before the repair, you may have to spend some time experimenting to get back to where you were before. It's too bad that the shop was unable to save your settings.

The main point is that if you still have Windows 7, the shop didn't give you a wildly different version, because no such different version exists.

brianbb2 · 17 Feb 2013

it looks like the cluttered one

TVeblen · 17 Feb 2013

OK. Those are all shortcuts. They are not completely necessary. Every one of those programs will be listed in your Start > Program list, and you can open them from there if you don't want or need a shortcut on the desktop to do so.

Deleting the shortcut does not delete the program.

To delete them, right click on the shortcut > then choose: Delete.

A bigger issue may be that someone set up your computer for you previously and had cleaned all the BLOAT-WARE that manufacturers install on new computers to help increase their profits.
Now, someone else has restored the factory installation and all that system slowing crapola is back. If this is the case then we have other solutions for you.

brianbb2 · 17 Feb 2013

[QUOTE=bobkn;2295775]

brianbb2 said:

It says it is windows 7 but it is all in colour and it seems far more complicated than my previous version.

It says microsoft office outlook 2007

TVeblen · 17 Feb 2013

I'm not sure I understand. That's all you have on your desktop? Or are you having a problem when you open Outlook 2007?

gregrocker · 17 Feb 2013

If you got a new HD then your OS was either reinstalled or they ran Factory Recovery from disks to set it back to factory condition. These are two different types of install, one loaded with preinstalled bloatware from the PC manufacturer, the other a clean version of only the OS.

Look in your Start>All Programs folder to see if there is a bunch of programs from the computer manufacturer to know which you have.

Whoever restored or reinstalled your OS should have provided you with any data from your old install which was able to be rescued from the failed HD. If not then none of that will be there. It is up to you to set up a backup program so these files are backed up externally or to the cloud - we can help you do this so you won't lose your data in the future.