Windows 7, another step backwards

[Tews]

Frustration, I would imagine, though now that he has requested some actual help, we are glad to provide it... Really, thunderbird is a full featured email client that does what outlook express did and more... it deserves a look....

Also keep in mind that with any new OS, you need to keep an open mind long enough to give it an honest evaluation... Its a different mind set from what you were used to, and once you get familiar with it, the battle is won...

 

[LPDad]

Besides....microsoft is SHOVING Windows 7 at us. Their ultimate goal is to stop supporting XP as soon as they can. Up till now they have been pretty much forced to provide ongoing XP support, but with a successful Windows 7 launch they are probably, even now, planning a quick demise for XP. Just something to keep in mind.
Once you take the time to learn Windows 7, you will never go back. (I basically went from XP to Win7, and it was not too hard to get used to. I am a convert now.)

 

[netguysc]

You can send me your windows 7 cd and serial key if you want to

 

[noyb]

Really, thunderbird is a full featured email client that does what outlook express did and more... it deserves a look...

Not really .. But Thunderbird or Outlook is about as close to OE as you can get...
That I've found so far.

If you don't organize your contacts in folders ..
And expect to be able to operate from .. or restore from a wab file.. conveniently ..
You'll be OK

 

[wysiwyg]

Can't understand why people find Live mail difficult, I suppose getting used to a new idea is hard at first, but not difficult to use.

I use Windows Mail in my Vista, and Live mail in Seven.

 

[Johnston7]

Thanks for th tips guys, I'll search for thunderbird when I get home.

Anyone hep me stop the explorer window appearing at start up???

 

[DocBrown]

You can lead a lot of users to Window 7 , but you can't make them use it.

But the ones that really make the effort, will enjoy it & be happy with it !



" Doc "

 

[Ex_Brit]

Besides....microsoft is SHOVING Windows 7 at us. Their ultimate goal is to stop supporting XP as soon as they can. Up till now they have been pretty much forced to provide ongoing XP support, but with a successful Windows 7 launch they are probably, even now, planning a quick demise for XP. Just something to keep in mind.
Once you take the time to learn Windows 7, you will never go back. (I basically went from XP to Win7, and it was not too hard to get used to. I am a convert now.)

Rot..! Microsoft tried something entirely new with Vista and unfortunately got caught with their pants down, because few software/hardware manufacturers kept up their side of the bargain so at launch time there was a barrage of criticism, much of it unfairly directed at Microsoft.

IMHO they didn't need to rush headlong into an even newer system (Windows 7) so fast as Vista is now working quite well for the most part.

The life cycle of Microsoft Operating Systems is published for all to see on the web and XP's extended support has always had an expiry date of 2014. Nothing has changed. Just Google it.

 

[Jacee]

Here's a tutorial on how to re-instate http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5481-windows-mail.html?ltr=W

 

[Jordus]

There was very little wrong with Vista that wasnt fixed by the first Service Pack.

XP is awfully long in the tooth. It was a great OS but its 8 years old and its time to put her down.

By saying that you are a novice user, you arent really qualified to decide which is better.

I could ramble off a couple hundred reasons why Vista and 7 are better than XP but you probably wouldnt understand them anyway.

 

[noyb]

I’ve been here about 6 months now .. And as near as I can figure ..
You might like, and be able to use Windows 7, over XP …
As long as you do NOT ….

►Know the difference in the Display of ... And the purpose for ... Icons and Thumbnails …

►Want to Customize your right click context menus …

►Operate multiple monitors thru a KVM switch …

► Want to make a new task bar and park it on any edge of your Screen(s) …

►What to manually organize the contents of a folder …

►Expect an office 2003 file Icon to stay on your desktop where you put it …

►Expect the new Windows Movie Maker to have all the features the old one …

►Mind the loss of OE’s Features …

►Expect Windows 7 to remember the size and position of Windows.

 

[Johnston7]

Jacee, thanks for that but it's double dutch to me.

E.G. How do I go to Vista folder when Vista is no longer on my computer?.

 

[H2SO4]

...
By saying that you are a novice user, you arent really qualified to decide which is better.

I could ramble off a couple hundred reasons why Vista and 7 are better than XP but you probably wouldnt understand them anyway.

The humility is only surpassed by the bedside manner

 

[Johnston7]

...
By saying that you are a novice user, you arent really qualified to decide which is better.

I could ramble off a couple hundred reasons why Vista and 7 are better than XP but you probably wouldnt understand them anyway.

The humility is only surpassed by the bedside manner

I disagree, the fact that novice's like myself could work and operate XP without any major problem, but struggle with Vista/7 is exactly where it's gone wrong. Microsoft should be making things easier for the home user not more complicated.

 

[Jacee]

Have you thought about using GMail?
https://www.google.com/accounts/New...4e17a86a574c1ce387a6b02de44d783f5eaabb&type=2
or
Yahoo? Yahoo! Mail

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

Anyone hep me stop the explorer window appearing at start up???

In the past (as in under XP) I have seen this behavior when there is a program in the startup folder or otherwise configured to start at Windows start-up that is no longer valid.

In this case, the Windows Explorer window would pop up, as if to say, "Okay, what did you want me to start again?"

There are two ways to check for this case:

1) Click on the ORB (lower left corner) and go to All Programs > Startup and see if there are any program shortcuts there that may be corrupted or not valid. Delete any bad ones.

2) Click on the Orb again and at the "Search" box right there above the orb, type in "MSCONFIG" (without the quotes) and then hit ENTER.

When the window appears, click on the START UP tab, as seen in the attached screenshot, then scroll through the list and see if there are any odd entries.

As sort of a big bang test, you could simply click the DISABLE ALL button at the bottom right (annotated in the screenshot with the red box), then reboot your computer to see if the Windows Explorer window still appears.

If it does not, then something in your startup is amiss. Bring up MSCONFIG again (startup tab) and then add back one or two at a time manually, rebooting after each (click on the checkbox in this window). A bit tedious, yes, but you would find your answer.
​

Post your results to this iif it works or not.

 

[Johnston7]

Thanks Jaycee, but I don't want a new email address, just a client like Outlook Express or Windows Mail that is 'user friendly'.

 

[landozelig]

My own view is that MS stumbled out of the gate with Vista by offering "free Vista upgrades" on hardware that couldn't run Vista properly, so it got a bad reputation pretty quickly and people avoided it like the plague. Put Vista on a powerful machine however and there were virtually no problems with it.

Now that Windows 7 is out and appears to be a hit, I think it's crazy to remain with XP which was released to retail Oct 25th, 2001 - over 8 years ago. You know MS is just itching to stop supporting XP, so it's time to take the plunge and move to Windows 7.

The biggest problem with moving from XP to Win7 (as it was from XP to Vista) is that it's NEW and DIFFERENT and people don't like change. Well guess what, everything changes. All you need to do is open your mind a bit and not be so negative about the new stuff. New doesn't automatically mean bad. And in todays world with Seven Forum and Google, you can find an instant answer to almost any problem you're having with Windows 7.

Finally, my 66 year old father has used XP since it came out. He had to use it for work and now uses it for email, etc in his retired life. He went on a vacation recently and I gave him a Windows 7 laptop to use. I figured he wouldn't be able to do much on it, but when he got back, I was surprised to hear him talk about how much he liked it, how easy it was to use and how it was pretty much like XP, only prettier. Now I have to upgrade his desktop to Windows 7.

 

[SURF]

Why dont you quit being so lazy and check it out and you will realize that it is alot better organized than XP and way more user freindly

 

[pparks1]

With regards to the comments made by the original poster....after working briefly with my inlaws this weekend who purchased a new laptop computer that comes with Windows 7....I can understand where he is coming from.

My inlaws have a computer that came with Windows XP. Prior to that, I think their home computer had either 98 or ME. They are in their 60's, aren't very technical and often get themselves into trouble with the computer. They aren't the types that are going to buy a book or read websites to learn how to use their computer. They are going to just sit there and click around and hopefully figure it out.

After 2 days with the computer
--They couldn't even remotely come close to getting their wireless network connected
--The UAC prompts confuse them
--They don't understand the superbar or where their open programs have gone.

Adding insult to injury, their new computer came with 4GB of RAM (which they didn't know), and it also came with Windows 7 64-bit (which they don't have any idea whatsoever that 32-bit or 64-bit even mean anything). I cannot even wait to see what issues they start running into when they try to install drivers for the printer, camera, etc. Or when they download applications from the web and don't run the 64-bit equivalents. For example, with 7zip you don't get Windows explorer context menus if you load the 32-bit version on a 64-bit Windows 7 host.

They aren't really complaining yet...but I know that it frustrates them that the things they actually know how to do, they cannot do as locations and such of these things have changed. And I'm not trying to say that we need to keep everything exactly how it was in Windows XP.......but for those who don't really enjoy their computers and aren't hobbyists...these changes are not always more intuitive for them.

Windows XP will be supported with updates and such from Microsoft until 2014.