Is anyone still using Windows 7?

[videobruce]

Why would I want to run a M$ O/S that has 57 svchost.exe's running at startup when 14 basically do the same thing?? Run the O/S.

(I counted between the entries using Research Hacker in W7 & W10 and you guess which is what. Talk about bloat??

 

[spapakons]

You can disable most bloatware to save resources. For starters, open Task Manager, go to Startup section and disable all startup applications, except third-party antivirus, if any. You don't need Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, Google Chrome, Adobe Reader and others loading at startup, you can always start them manually when you need them. A further step it to press Win+R and run msconfig. Go at the Services section, check the box to hide all Microsoft Services and then uncheck the boxes from services that are not essential (such as Google Updater), so they won't load at startup. Then you can go to Settings, Apps and disable certain apps running in the background consuming resources.

 

[videobruce]

But they are still there.
Striping them out using one of the recognized customizing O/S boot modification tools would make more sense. Less is better.

 

[spapakons]

But they are still there.
Striping them out using one of the recognized customizing O/S boot modification tools would make more sense. Less is better.

You have to be careful what you get rid of. For example Edge is not just a browser, is part of the GUI. Getting rid entirely of that might cause issues. What if you decide you want one of those you stripped? It is not that easy to get them back, so I recommend to leave them alone and just disable the ones you don't use. It's much safer, plus they are available in case you need them. Besides, most of us did exactly the same with Windows 7 Ultimate. Did we ever use ALL of the features? Hardly. But we didn't like the idea that we are missing something with Professional or Home version, so we installed Ultimate to get the most out of Windows 7.

 

[chuckbam]

I am using it now. I have a couple Win10 setups and a Win11 with an MBR boot. All on my current system. Win7 is my choice for everyday use

 

[ssokolow]

About a week ago, I upgraded my Windows 7 "game console but not a console" to a GeForce GTX 670 that I picked up for around $35 (CAD) after taking into account the combined shipping cost for buying two of them, and I'm considering dropping a few more dollars on a faster 65W TDP LGA1155 chip from China.

If that doesn't show that I'm planning to continue using it that way, I don't know what does.

(It's one of those HP prebuilts that can't go above 8GiB of RAM, with the early, buggy UEFI that refuses to POST with any GPU new enough to have UEFI GOP support instead of just VGA BIOS... Given the kinds of games I play, I'm happy enough with the GTX 670's performance that I haven't checked if it's one of the boards with unofficial patched "prefer VGA BIOS over UEFI GOP" BIOS updates available on archive.org.)

 

[spapakons]

About a week ago, I upgraded my Windows 7 "game console but not a console" to a GeForce GTX 670 that I picked up for around $35 (CAD) after taking into account the combined shipping cost for buying two of them, and I'm considering dropping a few more dollars on a faster 65W TDP LGA1155 chip from China.

If that doesn't show that I'm planning to continue using it that way, I don't know what does.

(It's one of those HP prebuilts that can't go above 8GiB of RAM, with the early, buggy UEFI that refuses to POST with any GPU new enough to have UEFI GOP support instead of just VGA BIOS... Given the kinds of games I play, I'm happy enough with the GTX 670's performance that I haven't checked if it's one of the boards with unofficial patched "prefer VGA BIOS over UEFI GOP" BIOS updates available on archive.org.)

If I understand correctly, you currently have an Intel socket 1155 CPU. I had Core-i3 3200 and I upgraded to the maximum supported by my motherboard, an Intel Core-i7 3770 (bought used). I saw much improvement in performance, so find out which is the maximum supported CPU for your computer and go for it. I also saw an improvement from my nVidia Geforce GTS 610 to nVidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti.

- - - Updated - - -

I was recently experimenting with various Operating Systems (OSes) in VMware. I first installed latest Ubuntu Linux. I then unlocked Mac OS support and installed Mac OS 12 Monterey (maximum supported for my 3rd generation Intel Core-i7 3770 CPU, later versions require AVX2 or higher that is available in 4th generation or higher CPUs). Lately I installed Oracle Solaris and the respective Open Indiana. After using all of these OSes for a while, I can confirm that Windows is the nicer looking (Mac OS is NOT that nice as they want you to believe), the easiest to use (Mac OS requires the Terminal for some tasks) and of course Windows has the highest hardware and software compatibility of all other OSes. So I would rather use an old Intel Pentium 4 with Windows 7 32-bit than use Mac OS or Linux. Solaris is the worst of all in terms of ease of use and compatibility. So don't make the mistake to install Linux because your PC is not Windows 11 compliant! You can bypass compatibility check and install Windows 11 up to 23H2 to ANY 64-bit system. If it is 1st generation Intel Core-i3 or newer you can also bypass compatibility check and install Windows 11 24H2. Read all about it in the respective sticky thread of Elevenforum.

 

[ssokolow]

If I understand correctly, you currently have an Intel socket 1155 CPU. I had Core-i3 3200 and I upgraded to the maximum supported by my motherboard, an Intel Core-i7 3770 (bought used). I saw much improvement in performance, so find out which is the maximum supported CPU for your computer and go for it. I also saw an improvement from my nVidia Geforce GTS 610 to nVidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti.

*nod* I have plans to order a Core i7-3770S (fastest LGA1155 CPU I could find at 65W on PassMark) once my leisure budget has recovered from jumping on a bunch of retro-hobby collectables on eBay and various used book sites.

(I finally have a print copy of the 1992 Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines that didn't cost an arm and a leg! Still the best book on UI design ever written and you just don't get the full effect of the masterful typesetting and layout from the PDF off the Wayback Machine's archive of Apple's early 2000s developer site.)

It's not urgent urgent because 99% of the games I have any interest in playing work beautifully at the 1080p native resolution of my hand-me-down central monitor, with the main exception being that I think a faster CPU might help A Hat In Time if I decide to go back and run through it again for completion and it may help cut down loading time on some games that feel like it's not the SATA3 SSD holding them back. (The main thing it can't do is emulate PlayStation 2... and my 2023 Ryzen running Linux can do that.)

I was recently experimenting with various Operating Systems (OSes) in VMware. I first installed latest Ubuntu Linux. I then unlocked Mac OS support and installed Mac OS 12 Monterey (maximum supported for my 3rd generation Intel Core-i7 3770 CPU, later versions require AVX2 or higher that is available in 4th generation or higher CPUs). Lately I installed Oracle Solaris and the respective Open Indiana. After using all of these OSes for a while, I can confirm that Windows is the nicer looking (Mac OS is NOT that nice as they want you to believe), the easiest to use (Mac OS requires the Terminal for some tasks) and of course Windows has the highest hardware and software compatibility of all other OSes. So I would rather use an old Intel Pentium 4 with Windows 7 32-bit than use Mac OS or Linux.

Funny you should mention that. I'm an equal-opportunity retro-hobbyist with an interest in UI/UX design, so I have comparable experience with various different OSes and my opinion is:

1. Mac OS X and above are a masterclass in how to throw out everything that made Mac OS 9 special while simultaneously locking down UNIX in a way that shows you completely missed the point, leaving behind a soulless "yet another modern OS". (eg. ResEdit was brilliant and being able to make a bootable disk by dragging and dropping the system folder was beautiful. RIP Copland.)
   
   WIRED complained about that back in the day.
   
   I have a couple of hand-me-down Intel macs in my collection dual-booting Mac OS 10.6 and 10.13 and I rarely ever turn them on... I'm thinking of using Boot Camp to triple-boot the 2010 iMac into Windows XP with the default blue Luna look and ClearType turned off because the abomination-ness would amuse me.
   
   (I'm of the opinion that, if a mac can't be downgraded to Mac OS 9, then its most practical use is as a harder-to-repair Linux box which probably can't have the monitor removed and replaced with a KVM switch either.)
2. Aesthetically, my OS of choice is Windows XP with X-Setup and the Inexperience Patcher bridging that last little gap to make it convincingly pretend to be a more stable Windows 98SE with a longer application support window. Mac OS 8/9's Platinum appearance is a close second.
   
   ...but I use KDE's default Breeze theme on my Linux workstation because people who make themes underestimate how difficult it is to pass through the uncanny valley and replicate either of those successfully.
   
   (Among other things, when sitting side-by-side, the results of the "true-to-print-kerning over display crispness" focus for fonts in more recent OSes is embarassing when placed side-by-side with Windows 98SE or Mac OS 9. I don't want to spend the money on hardware, electricity, and cooling, just to drive a HiDPI display to get back to what was already good enough for me the old way.)
3. To this day, if you're not using a DRM platform like Steam, the "as many games as possible are most likely to Just Work™" option for a gaming machine is Windows 7. You'd be surprised how many "System Requirements: Windows 11" games Just Work™ on Windows 7 and how weird and inconsistent the exceptions are. (As in "it turns out to be weird niche indie games with custom game engines where the developers set their Visual C++ compiler flags wrong", not powerful, demanding games.)
4. For daily work, I run Linux with KDE on a 2023 Ryzen with 64GiB of RAM and an RTX 3060 12GB because I'm the kind of programmer who can and has ripped out and rewritten OS components to get exactly what I want, but I want to take the path of least resistance.
   
   (I've been daily-driving Linux since I got fed up with LiteStep on Windows XP being flaky in 2002 and quit Windows and gaming cold-turkey for over a decade... though, to be fair, Dungeon Siege was also to blame. Finally getting the aesthetics I'd wanted for so long in a boring game kind of killed my faith in the industry until the first Humble Indie Bundle and a GOG.com deal on Psychonauts lured me back from my other interests.)

 

[spapakons]

First, I think Core-i7 3770S is less powerful than the "regular" 3770, so think twice before choosing it. Also yes, you CAN emulate PS2 on your PC. Just download PCX2 Emulator. You then need at least one PS2 firmware (I cannot tell you how to find it) and then you can either run games directly from your DVD-RW drive or from ISO images. I couldn't make the latest version work for some reason, so I used an older version 0.9.8 click the option to show older versions.

Downloads | PCSX2

You can even emulate PS3 with the RPCS3 emulator. Again you need the latest firmware which you can download directly from Sony (second link). You select to use a computer to install the firmware and you download the PS3UPDAT.PUP file. You select this file from the Emulator which installs it in the virtual PS3 console. Before you can play any games you must first boot the firmware. This is like replacing the HDD of the PS3 with new and it has to install the operating system, it will take a while, let it do that. Once finished you can load a game either directly if you have a BD-R drive, or an ISO. This, like on a real PS3, will first install the game locally and then let you play it. This is done only the first time you play each game. Then it starts faster. If I remember correctly, the Emulator cannot open ISO files directly, so you must mount it first and then tell the emulator to use the respective virtual BD-R drive.

Regarding your old Macs, how old are they? You may be able to install Windows 7 on them instead of XP. It will be much better than running either a VERY old version of Mac OS or Windows XP. If the CPU is 32-bit go for Windows 7 32-bit. MUCH better than XP or old Mac OS. I would also test if I could install Windows 10 32-bit. Better than 7 32-bit, at least for supporting new hardware and software. You can customize 10 to look like 7, if the flat interface bothers you.

RPCS3 - Download

How to update PS3 console system software

 

[ssokolow]

First, I think Core-i7 3770S is less powerful than the "regular" 3770, so think twice before choosing it.

Not by that much (6193 vs. 6416 for multicore)... and the difference is trivial in the single-thread performance I care about most (2043 vs. 2074)... and those marginal gains would cost me a bump from 65W TDP to 77W TDP.

This room gets warm easily if I close the door to keep noise out. Half the reason for a CPU upgrade is that, if you bump the performance and keep the TDP the same, but you're still doing the same amount of work, the CPU can idle more and generate less heat.

(I was even considering a 3770T because it's a 45W part that's still faster than what I currently have, but I decided to aim for more flexibility.)

Also yes, you CAN emulate PS2 on your PC. Just download PCX2 Emulator.

Thanks for the advice, but no need. I already know of PCSX2 and it runs fine on the Ryzen 5 7600 (there's that 65W TDP again) that I run Linux on as a daily driver.

It's just curiosity about whether a Core i7-3770S upgrade would be enough to get SSX to stop stuttering on the slower machine I run Windows 7 on.

You can even emulate PS3 with the RPCS3 emulator. [...]

I don't currently know any PS3 games that I have an urgent desire to play, but thanks for the instructions. I'll note them down.

Regarding your old Macs, how old are they? You may be able to install Windows 7 on them instead of XP. It will be much better than running either a VERY old version of Mac OS or Windows XP. If the CPU is 32-bit go for Windows 7 32-bit. MUCH better than XP or old Mac OS. I would also test if I could install Windows 10 32-bit. Better than 7 32-bit, at least for supporting new hardware and software. You can customize 10 to look like 7, if the flat interface bothers you.

You're missing the point.

1. I'm a retro-computing hobbyist. The whole point is to have a variety of vintage OSes. (Half of my macs are PowerPC machines I bought specifically because they're old enough to multi-boot Mac OS 9 and various PowerPC versions of Mac OS X... either officially or with the help of patched ISOs from MacOS9Lives.com... and the top item on my Christmas wishlist is an even older mac so I can also run at least System 7 and, ideally, dual-boot System 6 and System 7.)
   
   
2. My opinion on Windows 8 and above is "only on a company laptop and only if I can quarantine it off from my LAN". (I consider anything too new to have Windows 7-compatible drivers to be "worthless until Linux has successfully been installed".)
   
   
3. The only reason I'm even considering triple-booting the 2010 iMac to Windows XP is because I think it would be a good laugh to have something as designed-to-look-classy as this thing displaying something as tacky as Windows XP's Luna theme. (I thought it was "Fisher-Price OS" in 2001 and I still do.)

Basically, I'm talking about RGB-modding my Super Nintendo and my Nintendo 64 and you're wondering why I don't trade them in for more Switches.

 

[spapakons]

If I remember correctly, you can run Classic Mac System 7 on an Amiga computer with ShapeShifter emulator, so you have 2 in 1, Legacy Mac System 7 AND Amiga to play old games. I play them on WinUAE, but I imagine using a real Amiga would add to the experience of retro gaming.

The Official ShapeShifter Home Page

PS: Yes, I know more that you think. I just cannot afford the money and space to use real vintage computers and games consoles, so I use emulators for everything. A plus is that I can tweak the performance of vintage systems to look better or faster than the original, should I want to. Some years ago, when I was a teenager, I was dreaming of a "magic" computer that could boot in any system I like (C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Master System, you name it) and play whatever games I want. Today my PC is powerful enough and I have the respective emulators to make my dream come true Yes, all of these including "demanding" systems like PS3, run on my humble Core-i7 3770 16GB RAM, GTX 1050 Ti system. No bad...

 

[ssokolow]

If I remember correctly, you can run Classic Mac System 7 on an Amiga computer with ShapeShifter emulator, so you have 2 in 1, Legacy Mac System 7 AND Amiga to play old games. I play them on WinUAE, but I imagine using a real Amiga would add to the experience of retro gaming.
The Official ShapeShifter Home Page

True... but you can also emulate System 7 in Mini vMac or BasiliskII without an Amiga at all. We'll see how I feel about it once I have time to interact with WinUAE more.

As-is, I experienced PCs and Macs in my childhood but not Amigas and I still need to finish spiffing up the Atari 520STFM that someone put out by the side of the road on garbage day a while ago.

 

[spapakons]

True... but you can also emulate System 7 in Mini vMac or BasiliskII without an Amiga at all. We'll see how I feel about it once I have time to interact with WinUAE more.

As-is, I experienced PCs and Macs in my childhood but not Amigas and I still need to finish spiffing up the Atari ST that someone put out by the side of the road on garbage day a while ago.

Spoiler: In terms of graphics Amiga is the winner. To compare it with PC, Amiga is like VGA with 256 colors (not quite, but close) and Atari ST is like VGA with 16 colors. Better that EGA sure, but not as good as VGA with 256 colors. Closely follows C64 in terms of graphics and behind is Amstrad CPC which is exactly like EGA 16 colors. No match for C64. In old consoles, I find Sega Master System has better graphics than Nintendo Entertainment System (aka NES, aka Famicom for Family Computer). Yes, Sega consoles are always better than Nintendo's.

 

[ssokolow]

Yes, Sega consoles are always better than Nintendo's.

It depends on what you compare to what. The Genesis/Mega Drive was designed to be better than the NES, and the SNES has a more advanced sound chip, more scrollable background layers, and Mode 7. The whole reason for that "Blast Processing" marketing is that slightly faster DMA was the only thing they could find to trumpet.

Same problem the Dreamcast had. It was designed to be better than the generation before the one most people place it in.

 

[spapakons]

It depends on what you compare to what. The Genesis/Mega Drive was designed to be better than the NES, and the SNES has a more advanced sound chip, more scrollable background layers, and Mode 7. The whole reason for that "Blast Processing" marketing is that slightly faster DMA was the only thing they could find to trumpet.

Same problem the Dreamcast had. It was designed to be better than the generation before the one most people place it in.

I compared SMS (Sega Master System) to NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). I know they have similar capabilities, but I find the Sega graphics nicer. Again if you compare Sega Genesis (aka Mega Drive) to SNES, I think Genesis has nicer graphics. I remember taking our cousin's SMS console at our grandparent's home one summer and connecting it on the TV. My grandma was asking what time were the news on TV. What news? This wouldn't happen since we played almost all day! Nice times. Thankfully I can use Fuse Sega Emulator to play all these SMS and Genesis games on my PC on Windows 11.

- - - Updated - - -

yes. I am still using Windows 7. matter o' fact, I am browsing this forum with Windows 7.
I use Slimjet as a browser, MSE with Malwarebytes. and a complete image of Win7. after
browsing and shutting down, the Win7 image is used to re-image the system on startup.

Windows 10, 11 and 12 are rarely used on other computers here.

I still use Windows 7 at work and the latest Microsoft Edge for Windows 7 browser (version 109). I can browse almost whatever I want without issues. Of course Netflix, Disney+ etc require newer browser, but we are not supposed to watch movies at work. There are also alternative browsers such as Supermium and My Pal that are based on Chrome that are of higher version and can open almost everything.

GitHub - win32ss/supermium: Chromium fork for Windows XP/2003 and up

Mypal - Official Website

 

[ssokolow]

I compared SMS (Sega Master System) to NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). I know they have similar capabilities, but I find the Sega graphics nicer. Again if you compare Sega Genesis (aka Mega Drive) to SNES, I think Genesis has nicer graphics. I remember taking our cousin's SMS console at our grandparent's home one summer and connecting it on the TV. My grandma was asking what time were the news on TV. What news? This wouldn't happen since we played almost all day! Nice times. Thankfully I can use Fuse Sega Emulator to play all these SMS and Genesis games on my PC on Windows 11.

I think they were different but I'm not sure if they were nicer.

For me, it was that I became obsessed with Super Mario World and, when my grandmother gave me a Super Nintendo for Christmas, I then wound up concluding that I'd made the right choice since I have absolutely no interest in sports and the Super Nintendo had things like Super Mario Kart, Harvest Moon, Donkey Kong Country, Legend of Zelda, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, etc.

I also felt that the Super Nintendo controller's extra buttons enabled better control schemes.

 

[siliconbeaver]

Second,

Sega graphics looks nicer, I have hundreds of Sega games.

I compared SMS (Sega Master System) to NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). I know they have similar capabilities, but I find the Sega graphics nicer.

 

[ssokolow]

Second,

Sega graphics looks nicer, I have hundreds of Sega games.

Oh, wait. NES vs. SMS? You caught me before I had caffeine. Yeah, SMS had better graphics... but I think my point about controllers and available franchises still holds.

 

[townsbg]

The only reason I'm even considering triple-booting the 2010 iMac to Windows XP is because I think it would be a good laugh to have something as designed-to-look-classy as this thing displaying something as tacky as Windows XP's Luna theme. (I thought it was "Fisher-Price OS" in 2001 and I still do.)

That is exactly the imac that I had except I had the 3.2 ghz i3. I even switched it to Windows 7. I lost it though when the graphics card went out. If graphics starts getting flaky be prepared to replace the graphics or lose the computer. I looked into a compatible graphics care and on ebay and they where $75-300 USED. Nope. I never tried XP on it. That model was designed for 7. I haven't had XP as my base since I gave away a computer I built with a AMD dual core processor. Even with that I started using Vista more. I didn't start using 7 as a base until my mac.

I'm still using 7 but I'm considering 10 as the primary OS on a second drive if I can get a copy. I've tried Linux and it just frustrates me. My latest attempt is with elemental OS and although I love the look it seems harder to install software than any other distribution I've tried. I can't get Firexfox esr installed. The instructions I've found fail because they don't allow using repositories. I don't think that I'll ever be able to depend upon a linux os.I don't know how it is now but I found mac more user friendly than any other Unix based OS that I've tried. I haven't used Mac though since High Sierra.

 

[ssokolow]

That is exactly the imac that I had except I had the 3.2 ghz i3. I even switched it to Windows 7. I lost it though when the graphics card went out. If graphics starts getting flaky be prepared to replace the graphics or lose the computer. I looked into a compatible graphics care and on ebay and they where $75-300 USED.

Not the end of the world if it happens. I got it for free as a hand-me-down and I don't use it much because I find Mac OS X relatively boring and I've got better options for running Windows.

It's the PowerPC macs and, if I can get some, the 680x0 macs that I care about... hopefully, by the time something goes bad with my Power Mac G4, I'll have had time to practice with my through-hole desoldering tool, save up for the hot tweezers on my wishlist (for desoldering two-lead surface-mount things like those capacitors Apple likes), and practice with those.

I'm still using 7 but I'm considering 10 as the primary OS on a second drive if I can get a copy. I've tried Linux and it just frustrates me. My latest attempt is with elemental OS and although I love the look it seems harder to install software than any other distribution I've tried. I can't get Firexfox esr installed. The instructions I've found fail because they don't allow using repositories. I don't think that I'll ever be able to depend upon a linux os.I don't know how it is now but I found mac more user friendly than any other Unix based OS that I've tried. I haven't used Mac though since High Sierra.

I've been daily driving Linux since 2002, which says a lot of what I was willing to tolerate back then, and how used to it I am now.

The only distros I've used are MandrakeLinux 10.x, Gentoo, and various versions of Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Debian, and Slax, so I can't speak to your distro specifically, but feel free to ask me if you're having trouble. I'll probably generally know.

In the case of Firefox ESR, which installation method were you trying? You mention repositories, so I suspect it might have been a set of Ubuntu-specific instructions.

Normally, if I'm not just installing Firefox through Flatpak, I'll just use Mozilla's download which just unpacks into a folder and runs, like a zipped/non-installer EXE on Windows would.

Given how reskinnable the desktops are, and how most distros offer most desktop environments as secondary options, I generally pick a distro based on software support and then adapt the UI, rather than the other way around. After all, the package repository is the core of what a distro is.

Mac OS X and beyond are definitely more geared toward less experienced users, but it's also much more rigid, which means you'd better already like the choices Apple made for you.