Hello from Window 7

[Smokey]

Well finally bought the Compaq last week ($280), and sat it up this weekend.

Let me say that is a big jump going from win 98 (my old computer) to Window 7. Everything look so smooth, high tech, colorfull and fast. It took 15 minutes to initialize the set up and get on line.

So far I like win 7. IE8 run pretty smooth and although haven't got to bolt and nuts of this browser, the new design make browsiong a pleasure with tabs and thumbnail views to keep track of everything. Win 7 comes with Window Media Player 12, and so far have played everything thrown its way. And picture quality is outstanding especially with higher resolution videos.

The computer is dead quiet and if it wasn't for led light in front, one can't tell whether it is on or not. The computer does not come with either an owner manual (just a general guidance set up) nor the restoring disc/DVD. I have to make disc my self off hard drive.

So far so good and a happy camper.

[kexodusc]

Windows 98 to Windows 7? Wow.
What's next? Trading in the Plymouth Reliant?

Glad you're enjoying your new computer, Smokey.

[Woochifer]

Windows98?!

I guess you just blew your HDTV budget with the fancy new PC! But, without a working computer, I guess buying a new HDTV would mean you couldn't start new threads on this board talking about HDTVs ...

[basite]

Windows 7 is a big improvement over vista indeed, as is IE8.

yet, it took microsoft a couple of years to come up with something that "that other browser", Firefox, already had from when it first came out: tabs.

apart from that, firefox is faster in use and more flexible.

And I never was a big fan of media player, I always used Winamp, because it's faster and actually plays FLAC, even without the plugin...

I do like Windows Media Center, we're rigging the attic now, building a media room, and for easily going through all the music, movies and even pictures on the pc's, servers,... it works pretty good. There are more adjustable media centers, not from microsoft, but so far I haven't found one that is worth it to upgrade from the intagrated media center...

and good luck with your new pc

Edit: I just saw that you came from windows 98: you're going to discover an all new world.

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[JohnMichael]

I also made the jump from Windows98 with dial up to Windows7 and DSL. Yes it was very easy to set up and has been working trouble free. I love being able to store my photo's and watch Youtubes. Congratulations and enjoy.

[Feanor]

Well finally bought the Compaq last week ($280), and sat it up this weekend.

Let me say that is a big jump going from win 98 (my old computer) to Window 7. Everything look so smooth, high tech, colorfull and fast. It took 15 minutes to initialize the set up and get on line.

So far I like win 7. IE8 run pretty smooth and although haven't got to bolt and nuts of this browser, the new design make browsiong a pleasure with tabs and thumbnail views to keep track of everything. Win 7 comes with Window Media Player 12, and so far have played everything thrown its way. And picture quality is outstanding especially with higher resolution videos.

The computer is dead quiet and if it wasn't for led light in front, one can't tell whether it is on or not. The computer does not come with either an owner manual (just a general guidance set up) nor the restoring disc/DVD. I have to make disc my self off hard drive.

So far so good and a happy camper.

Are you using the computer for music at all, Smokey?

I won't echo the other comments about Win98 that others have made, but you do realized '98 was twelve years ago?!?

I just assembled a new computer for my daughter; (she paid):

• Asus upper-mid range motherboard with AMD chipset and ATI Radeon HT integrated graphics
• AMD Phenom II x4, 3.4MHz CPU
• 4 Gig of RAM
• One 320 GB drive for the O/S plus one 1.5 TB drive for data
• Window 7 Home Premium
• Netgear 802n USB wireless

I loaded AVG free verion anti-virus, and Open Office suite.

She also bought and Asus EeePC netbook.

[Pat D]

Well finally bought the Compaq last week ($280), and sat it up this weekend.

Let me say that is a big jump going from win 98 (my old computer) to Window 7. Everything look so smooth, high tech, colorfull and fast. It took 15 minutes to initialize the set up and get on line.

So far I like win 7. IE8 run pretty smooth and although haven't got to bolt and nuts of this browser, the new design make browsiong a pleasure with tabs and thumbnail views to keep track of everything. Win 7 comes with Window Media Player 12, and so far have played everything thrown its way. And picture quality is outstanding especially with higher resolution videos.

The computer is dead quiet and if it wasn't for led light in front, one can't tell whether it is on or not. The computer does not come with either an owner manual (just a general guidance set up) nor the restoring disc/DVD. I have to make disc my self off hard drive.

So far so good and a happy camper.

Congratulations. We got my wife a new laptop with Windows 7, 4 GB RAM, and 500 GB hard drive. Real easy to set up. Our internet provider provides an anti-virus program. I made a back up disc as per instructions. It keeps prompting me to make another, so I suppose I will do that every once in a while. Windows 7 actually seems an improvement on Windows XP but experts on the net say it requires quite a bit of memory, at least 2 GB and better 3 or 4. The new laptops run much cooler.

Wit the desktop, I get along with Windows XP and 512 KB RAM and 74 GB hard drive, but I don't go for all the games and pictures my wife does. I generally use Firefox.

The older laptop has Windows XP but the power connection is intermittent, so it needs repair. I have been debating whether to send it back for repairs or if that costs too much, to get another new one.

[Smokey]

Thanks Kex, basile, Wooch, John and Feanor for comments. I wouldn't blame you for making jokes about win 98. Even my co-workers making jokes about my antique CP. Computer didn't want to die, so kept using it. And hard drive sure filled up fast with only 8 GB of hard drive. But I would say that a 11 year run is pretty good record.

Win 7 is very media friendly and it seem to cater to that effect. Previous versions of Windowmedia players were notorious for not be able to play variety of video on net with different codecs. But with WMP 12, looks like microsoft did its home work.

But as basile said, there is yet alot to discover.

I guess you just blew your HDTV budget with the fancy new PC! But, without a working computer, I guess buying a new HDTV would mean you couldn't start new threads on this board talking about HDTVs ...

It is like a double edge sword. Although my TV budget is blown, but new computer did opened up whole new world of entertainment that did not exist before. Hopefully by the time excitment wear off, the budget will be up (and Walmart will have another price drop ).

[Smokey]

Congratulations. We got my wife a new laptop with Windows 7, 4 GB RAM, and 500 GB hard drive. Real easy to set up. Our internet provider provides an anti-virus program. I made a back up disc as per instructions. It keeps prompting me to make another, so I suppose I will do that every once in a while. Windows 7 actually seems an improvement on Windows XP but experts on the net say it requires quite a bit of memory, at least 2 GB and better 3 or 4. The new laptops run much cooler.

Wit the desktop, I get along with Windows XP and 512 KB RAM and 74 GB hard drive, but I don't go for all the games and pictures my wife does. I generally use Firefox.

The older laptop has Windows XP but the power connection is intermittent, so it needs repair. I have been debating whether to send it back for repairs or if that costs too much, to get another new one.

I never used WinXP, so can't comment on that. I have heard that win 7 will take 1 GB of RAM memory without any programs running. Compaq desktop cp came with only 2 GB of Ram (500 GB hard drive), so an upgrade to 4 GB of RAM seem like next step.

Computer came with few usefull software like Norton anti virus, but it will expire in 60 days. So pretty soon have to look around to see whether any free anti virus programs are as good as Norton or not, or firewall programs.

As for repair, I would say go with new one

[kexodusc]

Computer came with few usefull software like Norton anti virus, but it will expire in 60 days. So pretty soon have to look around to see whether any free anti virus programs are as good as Norton or not, or firewall programs.

As for repair, I would say go with new one

RAM is relatively inexpensive and if you have only 2 GB or less, can make a pretty noticeable differene in speed. Worth the upgrade.

For free antivirus, I've used AVG Free for years now with no issue - compared to McAfee and Norton it seems to slow things down a lot less. Easy to use, and frequently updated. I think some others here use it to:

http://free.avg.com/ca-en/homepage

There's other free ones I've tried that work well too, but I keep coming back to AVG.

[3LB]

Don't feel bad Smokey. Not being a computer geek and never being a technology chaser, I only care about functionality. If I get used to how something works and it ain't broke, I don't fix it. I hated Windows ME so bad I went back to '98. I waited until I bought a new computer to get one with the XP version. I might be in the market for a new computer this year, so its good to hear that Windows 7 and IE8 aren't AFU.