Upgrading to Windows 7

[swiftie]

I'm trying to help a couple of elderly neighbours upgrade their appropriately elderly systems, a Dell Inspiron 1525 and a HP CQ5011UK. The Dell is on XP, the HP on Vista.

Apart from buying new hardware, the only appropriate move I can suggest is to move to Windows 7. It probably has more life than my neighbours, so they should be OK.

If this seems like a workable solution to you, then can you tell me where I could come by the official upgrade materials? Or at least find something which is guaranteed not pirated?

I've downloaded the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor so I can see if I'm going to run into problems.

Any other suggestions welcome... well, most of them. This is the Internet after all.

 

[Megahertz07]

You will only find Win 7 Pro OEM for sale. And they aren't cheap.
windows 7 - Newegg.com

Don't buy from ebay as most are fake.

Edit.:

"The best software is the one you know how to use"

As the computers are from old people, don't upgrade them.
- You can save their data on an external disk and do a factory recover.
- You can buy a refurbished computer (not powerful but good for internet and text editing) with win 7

 

[swiftie]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I migrated to Windows 7 after using XP for years (IBM had a support agreement with Microsoft to extend the support of XP for a while). I found it very easy to make W7 look almost identical to XP, which is another reason that I'm recommending it to these elderly people.

The Dell laptop has a keyboard which supports Swedish National characters, and that may be hard to replicate, forcing me to look for a legal upgrade path.

 

[Megahertz07]

You can install any keyboard layout (language) to any Windows installed in any language.
Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Region and Language and on Keyboards tab, select the keyboard you want.

 

[torchwood]

Hi old git,
if your from pompey im not talkin to you

Up the Saints.
Wembley here we come 1976 again, I WAS THERE

You could try either Novatec, or box.com
about £120 for pro.

Roy

 

[Megahertz07]

Remember, Win 7 32 requires at least 1G of memory (recommend 2G).

 

[swiftie]

Remember, Win 7 32 requires at least 1G of memory (recommend 2G).

Well, at least that's one aspect where I'm in the clear. The existing systems have 2Gb and 3Gb.

 

[swiftie]

- You can buy a refurbished computer (not powerful but good for internet and text editing) with win 7

How would I go about buying a refurbished computer (laptop and desktop)? I have very little experience in this area.

I've only ever bought one PC in my life, when I retired from working for IBM in 2012. I'm using it to write this post.

 

[Alejandro85]

My first question would be, why to suggest an upgrade at all?
If they're comfortable with the current system and it works as it should for the intended usage, then making unneded changes may only create problems where there is none. Unless the systems have some kind of serious problems, I would consider leaving them alone in the first place.

 

[swiftie]

My first question would be, why to suggest an upgrade ?

One system is XP, which is out of support. Something is pestering to upgrade driver's, for a charge. This sort of thing upsets people in their 80's.
The other is on Vista; I'm unsure of the support stance on that.
Both systems are quite slow (the PC equivalent of being in it's 80's), and the owners keep mentioning this.
I'm not young myself, but I've become the IT support for much of my village. If I fix one person's performance issues, I'll get inundated with similar problems. So, replacing the hardware with refurbished systems is the best solution for me, and probably for them.
I'm drawn to Windows 7 as it can be made to look the same as XP and Vista. This will reduce the amount of time I spend showing them how to do things.
It's an interesting task. I like the responses I get when showing them that the right mouse button really does have a use!

 

[swiftie]

You will only find Win 7 Pro OEM for sale. And they aren't cheap

I'm finding Windows 7 packages on Amazon (UK) for less than £50. People installing them report success, including 100% verification genuine.
However, I'm likely to go with the refurbished systems, with Windows 7 installed. This will fix performance issues as well as support.

 

[Barman58]

A lot of these ultra cheap windows 7 packages are of such a nature that they will initially show as genuine, until the regular checks are performed by Microsoft, which will show duplicates and result in all copies of the keys being blocked.

The only truly trustworthy key these days is one that is physically shipped in an original sealed Microsoft package, where the key cannot be seen - and there are even some good counterfeits of these

 

[torchwood]

Hi Swiftie,
If your near southampton, have at look a JamiesComputers, Charity operation that sells refurbs, MS accredited.


Barman is correct the first major validation check takes place 30 days AFTER install, and most of the sellers sites only give a 30 day return policy. sneaky EH


Roy

 

[swiftie]

Not exactly near, 25 miles away, but that would only cost me £1 in my electric car.
Thanks!

 

[Megahertz07]

I totally agree with Alejandro on post 9. In fact, it's the same I wrote on post 2.
I still have an old laptop with win XP. It works the same way, despite it has no more MS support.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Make sure the machine has a oem sticker that matches the version of windows it's installed with

If not make sure you post this information and insist the seller uses it and it says System builder and is a genuine win-7 activation key get this in writing too
Windows Genuine and Activation Issue Posting Instructions

 

[Alejandro85]

One system is XP, which is out of support. Something is pestering to upgrade driver's, for a charge. This sort of thing upsets people in their 80's.
The other is on Vista; I'm unsure of the support stance on that.

Microsoft support means NOTHING for the user, it's totally irrelevant for the normal day to day use, as long as it can perform the tasks its intended to do, it will continue to do so well after the developer no longer cares about it. As for the drivers, disabling some autoupdate will probably stop the pestering (as always, automatic updates of anything are best left disabled).
That alone is a very poor reason to think of a change.

Both systems are quite slow (the PC equivalent of being in it's 80's), and the owners keep mentioning this.

That's a much better reason for a change, or at least for some action. But replacing XP for 7 will only make matters worse (its requirements are near 10 times more memory/hard disk/cpu power to get the same result) so if hardware is under pressure in XP, it will crawl in 7. As for Vista, it's almost the very same OS, I won't expect serious changes.
But a clean install is a sure way to speed up things somewhat.

If I fix one person's performance issues, I'll get inundated with similar problems.
So, replacing the hardware with refurbished systems is the best solution for me, and probably for them.

With all due respect, that doesn't looks like a professional way to act. Instead to approach a concrete problem, to suggest to throw the whole thing away and buy a new one. I would really try some of the many optimization things, and a hardware upgrade as the last resort if the computer is really too old to support even XP decently. Look here for some tips on that, most of them being also applicable to XP and Vista.

 

[torchwood]

Hi @Alejandro85,
ive never had a pop at a member before BUT

Your lookin at it from >>your<< point of view not his, and certainly not his "customer".
From what i can glean reading between the lines is that thier WORRIED and frightened and certainly not computer literate, thier in there 80's way outside there comfort zone,
AND W7 is more secure than XP & Vista.

READ STOP AND THINK, thier certainly NOT comfortable >>quoting you<<, before you make such comments

Whatever suggestions we make its STILL up to the user and "customer" which way he/they go's at the end of the day

OH and by the way the link you posted that relates to W7, which thier not running

I've given Swiftie 2 choices
purchase of genuine OS discs
or an Up and running Refurbed computer
Both with prices
He can then ask and MORE IMPORTANTLY show his "customer" whats available.

Roy

 

[AddRAM]

One system is XP, which is out of support. Something is pestering to upgrade driver's, for a charge.

That would be a driver program that someone installed, unknowingly, just uninstall it.

It`s garbage.