Is anyone still using Windows 7?

[siliconbeaver]

my Rule is simple

Any device with SSD, then ok to run Windows 10/11. Otherwise. very low. Slow boot. slow start. slow search. . . slow forever.
non-SSD device (IDE PATA , , ,) better stay with W7. good support on drivers. good performance. This has been proved by many W7 users.

 

[ssokolow]

non-SSD device (IDE PATA , , ,) better stay with W7. good support on drivers. good performance. This has been proved by many W7 users.

That's what $3 Aliexpress IDE-to-SATA converters and inexpensive SATA SSDs are for. Ensuring that every computer, whether DOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows 9x, Windows XP, Windows 7, or the newer "got fed up and migrated to Linux" era can enjoy the benefits of SSDs.

(And IDE-era macs too. For the earlier stuff, you'll need one of those SCSI-to-SD Card converters.)

 

[spapakons]

There are rare IDE SSDs for old computers but cost too much. The best is to upgrade to a SATA SSD with a SATA-to-IDE adapter if the motherboard is too old to have SATA ports. I have done it with a SATA HDD and it worked great. I haven't tried with a SATA SSD, but it should be OK and work at the maximum speed allowed by the IDE 80-pin port. Much faster than any IDE disk. Just make sure you use a 480GB or less capacity, it might not work with very large disks, and always set it to master for best performance and compatibility, not slave.

 

[SAVVYSCLUTTER]

Yes. It does nearly everything 11 does except AI and doesn't come with spyware.

 

[MisterEd]

There are rare IDE SSDs for old computers but cost too much. The best is to upgrade to a SATA SSD with a SATA-to-IDE adapter if the motherboard is too old to have SATA ports. I have done it with a SATA HDD and it worked great. I haven't tried with a SATA SSD, but it should be OK and work at the maximum speed allowed by the IDE 80-pin port. Much faster than any IDE disk. Just make sure you use a 480GB or less capacity, it might not work with very large disks, and always set it to master for best performance and compatibility, not slave.

There should be no need to use IDE drives anymore. I have a 20 year old computer that originally only came with IDE ports. I installed a PCI card that has 2 SATA ports. I have 2 SATA drives connected to them. I boot from one of them. However, the SATA ports on this card don't support ATAPI which means I have to use a IDE port for the CD/DVD drive.

Note I have two old computers that I boot from SATA drives instead of their original IDE ones. They are running Windows XP instead of Windows 7. Their CPUs don't support SSE2 which is required for Windows 7 updates beyond a certain date. The updates will try to install but crash. I have to run system restore every time that happens which is a real pain.

BTW, I tried a SATA to IDE adapter but it trashed a perfectly good SATA drive when I tried to format it.

 

[siliconbeaver]

Can SSD work well on XP? no trimming?

I wouldn't try new technology on very old computer. my XP will run what it has. DDR2, SATA II HDD, NIC , , , I was using PCIe slot for CLOVER Windows 11 boot. but no longer. native XP is good and stable.

However, my Windows 7 will be upgrading. DDR4, NVMe SSD, WIFI, , , no old technology any more. If needed, could switch to Windows 11 in second.

According to SIW2's note, those old items (8th gen CPU or older) will be land-fill soon when Microsoft ends support on Windows 10.

https://www.sevenforums.com/hardwar...dware-wont-allow-windows-7-a.html#post3530755

There should be no need to use IDE drives anymore. I have a 20 year old computer that originally only came with IDE ports. I installed a PCI card that has 2 SATA ports. I have 2 SATA drives connected to them. I boot from one of them. However, the SATA ports on this card don't support ATAPI which means I have to use a IDE port for the CD/DVD drive.

Note I have two old computers that I boot from SATA drives instead of their original IDE ones. They are running Windows XP instead of Windows 7. Their CPUs don't support SSE2 which is required for Windows 7 updates beyond a certain date. The updates will try to install but crash. I have to run system restore every time that happens which is a real pain.

BTW, I tried a SATA to IDE adapter but it trashed a perfectly good SATA drive when I tried to format it.

 

[Bree]

According to SIW2's note, those old items (8th gen CPU or older) will be land-fill soon when Microsoft ends support on Windows 10.

Not necessarily, it's easy enough to bypass the compatibility checks when installing or upgrading to Windows 11. The only hard requirement for W11 24H2 is that the CPU must have that SSE4.2 instruction set. For Intel that started with the 1st gen CPUs. I have W11 24H2 running well on a 1st gen i5.

 

[noelw]

Yes me

Hi all and thanks for the ad. I have today returned to Win 7. Simply all above it is rubbish, I have gotten 99% of the updates from MS so all good. I had forgotten how good 7 was/is. I have put it on a dell Optiplex 9020 and it runs beautifully. 16 gig of ram and a 1tb ssd. The os came from Dell. Thats it for now i guess. I am a 69 year old Aussie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUngQcyOXIw

 

[SIW2]

Can SSD work well on XP? no trimming?

According to SIW2's note, those old items (8th gen CPU or older) will be land-fill soon when Microsoft ends support on Windows 10.

https://www.sevenforums.com/hardwar...dware-wont-allow-windows-7-a.html#post3530755

8th gen is fine. 7th gen and earlier are not.

 

[torchwood]

i luv it,
running it on my old Acer 6930, only got 4gig of ram, but with a 500 ssd, little bit slow of course
bitdefender free AV, Opera GX and Palemoon browsers, wifi is a 300mb card (5ghz)
Man my 6930 is the best laptop i've ever had, its a beast if i could hack the Max Ram i'd use it as my daily
(had Xp/Vista/10/11/Mint on it give me 7 anyday)

 

[spapakons]

If you are running Windows 7 32-bit, you can use patchpae3 to enable using the full 4GB, in fact up to 128GB RAM. It makes a difference in performance going from 3.25GB to 4GB (if you have a discrete graphics card with its own RAM) and even bigger going from 2.93GB to 3.9GB (if you have an onboard graphics card sharing RAM with the system).

 

[teckneeculler]

Windows 7 Was a good friend......but the apps stoped updates in windows 7 so i changed to windows 10 on my main but i still have a old desktop runs win7

You don't need updates for W7 to run well. Mine hasn't been updated since the last reinstall six years ago. If you need help, post again or PM me.

 

[MisterEd]

If you are running Windows 7 32-bit, you can use patchpae3 to enable using the full 4GB, in fact up to 128GB RAM. It makes a difference in performance going from 3.25GB to 4GB (if you have a discrete graphics card with its own RAM) and even bigger going from 2.93GB to 3.9GB (if you have an onboard graphics card sharing RAM with the system).

Why would you want to do that? Just install Windows 7 64-bit. While you are at it add more RAM so you at least have 8GB.

 

[spapakons]

Why would you want to do that? Just install Windows 7 64-bit. While you are at it add more RAM so you at least have 8GB.

You are right, but there are some computers that cannot be upgraded, such as old Pentium 4 systems which are 32-bit only and can reach 4GB RAM if you use four 1GB DDR modules. Also some office computers with thousands of user data and expired support for their ERP application cannot just reinstall it, they would have to pay for support to activate the ERP application again and also risk losing their customer's data. I could think of some more cases, but you get the idea. For all of those trapped in Windows 7 32-bit (or 8, 8.1, 10 32-bit) they can use patchpae3 to enable using the full 4GB RAM. For systems with DDR2 or newer modules they can see up to 128GB RAM.

 

[torchwood]

My little beast is running 64bit, and the Max DDR2 Ram allowed, a lot of OEM's capped this

 

[teckneeculler]

Recently upgraded my W7 Ultimate SP1 from 16G to 32G. Dunno that it's made a huge difference, tho. Board is Asus 310M-E R2.

 

[townsbg]

If you are running Windows 7 32-bit, you can use patchpae3 to enable using the full 4GB, in fact up to 128GB RAM. It makes a difference in performance going from 3.25GB to 4GB (if you have a discrete graphics card with its own RAM) and even bigger going from 2.93GB to 3.9GB (if you have an onboard graphics card sharing RAM with the system).

I would advise against this. Windows had PAE enabled on XP but disabled because of stability issues with the drivers. Physical Address Extension - Wikipedia Doing this takes Windows past the physical capabilities of the computer. Besides you also have to consider what the motherboard is designed for with it's limits.

 

[spapakons]

Yes, I know there is a chance for BSOD, but it 2-3 systems that I enabled PAE I didn't have any issues, so I will accept the risk and improve performance.

 

[rocketman122]

yes, still using w7 on daily pc. 2 other pc for editing and gaming, are running 10 and they are and will always be offline.

I only use w10 for loss of support for programs games in w7, but if I have to do this with w11, same thing. pc will never be connected to the net.

 

[spapakons]

You can connect an old secondary PC to the internet and download whatever you want. Then scan files for viruses and malware, then transfer them to a USB flash drive for use with the other offline computers.

Workaround for a single PC: Disable the ethernet card or disconnect the cable. Create a Virtual Machine (I read elsewhere that VMWare Workstation is now free for all), connect a wireless USB dongle and pass control to the virtual machine. This way the host has no Internet to get infected and the guest is isolated and very hard to infect the host. You can do whatever you want online in the virtual machine using the wireless USB dongle directly. Then copy-paste the files you want to the host after you have scanned them.