Windows 7

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Maxus
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Windows 7

Post by Maxus »

So I'm getting a new computer and got a decent deal on it. (Dell Inspiron 580, 1 Terabyte hard drive, something like 4 gigs of RAM, Windows 7, 2.93GHz, etc etc, for $800 USD after tax and shipping).

Problem is, I've never messed with Windows 7. Is there I should know about making it do what I want? Anything annoying about it?

(Example: Vista's sidebar thing gets on my damn nerves, so I tend to disable it in every computer I get.)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by RobbyPants »

I'm curious about this as well. I have an old box running XP, and I'll likely get a new one in six months or less.

I have a lot of old games I like to run on it (old, as in early 90s era), so I'm worried about compatibility issues. Perhaps a Windows 7-friendly version of DosBox will fix that...
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Post by Cynic »

I hate vista and i really like 7.

I disable the gadgets because the wife doesn't like them.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... ets-643861 gives the skinny on all the new features and stuff.

the dell also has Stardock on it which is an awesome application.
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

I haven't had any problems at all with 7, with the exception of not being able to play some games that get borked by data execution prevention. Aside from being pretty, it wakes up very quickly. For the most part the GoG version of DosBox works perfectly.

I don't know anything about sidebars or gadgets; Either I disabled them as soon as I installed it or they came disabled (I'm running an MSDNAA 'upgrade' copy of 7 pro).

If you're used to XP, some of the interfaces might take some getting used to. If you want to get to some program of option that you can't seem to find, just use the search box in the start menu.
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Post by Blicero »

I have only limited experience with Vista, but I like 7 a lot. It's still kinda bloated (in terms of system size and the number of clicks you need to do things) but it just feels nice, if that means anything.
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Post by Utterfail »

On the whole, I'm pleased with 7. It's what Vista should have been. I haven't had any problems with games not running yet, but I haven't really tried to play any massively old games. Unlike Vista, it seems snappy and responsive, it doesn't crash, etc.
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Post by Blicero »

I was totally unable to play Gothic II, and Torment kinda tanks at times. But I don't know if that's because of the OS or just my videocard.
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Post by Crissa »

Isn't saying 7 is what Vista should have been like pointing out the feature list of XP was what they sold Chicago as having before releasing 95?

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Post by Cynic »

blicero: it takes more clicks to do things? one of the main features they seem to have implemented in 7 is the ability to shorten the click-trail. some of the stuff might seem counter-intuitive at first but most of it is less clickety-click
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Post by Utterfail »

More like "7 pretty much bills itself as having the same features that Vista was supposed to, but it actually works this time."
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Post by ubernoob »

Blicero wrote:I have only limited experience with Vista, but I like 7 a lot. It's still kinda bloated (in terms of system size and the number of clicks you need to do things) but it just feels nice, if that means anything.
I've noticed this on a few things as well. In order to pop up an IM window I have to hover over my chat client icon for a second or two before the mini-windows pop up and I can slide to one of those and click it open. It's actually quicker for me to just click the icon and then click a second time to get the specific window.
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Post by Crissa »

Strange, all I have to do is swoop my mouse to the trigger point, then click over the window, and bam, I'm there. Of course, been doing that for a few years...

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Post by Surgo »

I haven't noticed any system size bloat myself.
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Post by Cynic »

Surgo wrote:I haven't noticed any system size bloat myself.
mrr it takes up 120 gigs on a new machine with the very basic win 7 home.
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

Cynic wrote:
Surgo wrote:I haven't noticed any system size bloat myself.
mrr it takes up 120 gigs on a new machine with the very basic win 7 home.
That seems like a pretty incredible claim to me. My windows partition is 60gb (out of 500). My windows directory is 13gb, but of course the base install uses more than that. The swap file and hibernation file take up another 5gb. Microsoft programs and data take up another 2 gb, for a total of 20 gb.

If you started off with an unformatted disk, installed Windows 7, and found 120gb filled, I think the most likely cause is that you have a very large hard drive (on the order of 500+gb). NTFS has a fairly high overhead on large disks, and I could see the formatting of the disk alone taking up 100gb on a large enough hard drive. My hard drive is 500gb and the NTFS formatting takes up almost 10% of that (although not all the partitions are NTFS formatted).
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Post by Crissa »

Well, operating systems come with alot of programs and extras that can filling space, and there is also an option to load all the container files on your drive which speeds installation of the OS and using devices. But it does eat drive space like crazy...

Personally, I'm okay with a gig of 'extra' language fonts and stuff like that, but the extra programs like 'free' office and games I'll never buy are kinda annoying.

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Post by Surgo »

Those 'free' office and games programs generally come with the computer, not the operating system.

Microsoft's official position is that it dislikes that practice, a lot. But hey, it keeps the price of computers down.
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Post by Crissa »

They come with the OS, too.

And I'm not big on it, either. But Microsoft was the one that started plonking trial and full versions of their own version of a competitor's product. So we're gonna have to live with it, as it's better than letting Microsoft (or Apple) run roughshod over other software publishers.

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Post by Maxus »

Thanks, everyone.

The computer's arriving tomorrow.

If anyone cares to look, here's what's arriving:
Inspiron 580

Inspiron 580, Intel Core i3-530 processor(4MB Cache, 2.93GHz)

4GB DDR3 SDRAM AT 1066MHz-4X1GB

Dell USB Entry Keyboard

20.0" Dell ST2010-BLK HD Monitor with VGA cable (supplied), 20.0" viewable image size

Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD

1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM

Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader

Dell Connect 2.1

Dell Support Center 2.0 64bit

Dell Dock Consumer

Download Store Links

DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron

DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic

PC-Restore, Dim/Insp

Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface

You have chosen a Windows 7 System

Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup

1Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

Dell USB Optical Mouse

1Integrated NIC card

No modem requested for Dell Dimension

ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE

16X DVD+/-RW

Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Playback

Dell Software,Roxio 1.0

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

No Speaker Requested (I have my own

McAfee SecurityCenter 15 Month Subscription, English

Microsoft Works 9.0, English

1 Year Limited Warranty

Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus Bantech Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year

Bantech Onsite Service, After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year

No Warranty, Year 2 and 3

Software, Soft Contracts Dell In-Home

Dell Limited Hardware Warranty 7X24 Technical Support, Initial Year

Solution Station, Data Migration 1 incident for 30days

2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS

DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB

To activate your online backup account, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online

S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom for DHS Desktops
There's a lot of things I wish I could have left out, non-essential extras and the like.

But, well, for under $800 USD, I'm not complaining.
Last edited by Maxus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Crissa »

Yeah, but they make 'em look good to people who don't know better. Hope it comes with no loose wires!

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Post by Maxus »

Crissa wrote:Yeah, but they make 'em look good to people who don't know better. Hope it comes with no loose wires!

-Crissa
Same here.

I should be able to handle it, in any case.

I will make a geek confession right here: I'm not excited by electronics specifications or the minutiae of computer performance. I don't get excited by the difference between 3 GHz and 2.69 GHz. I just want it to WORK, dammit.

So as long as I get a decently-functioning computer that will last me a few years...

I'm good.
Last edited by Maxus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Crissa »

Well, it means it processes direct instructions on a faster pace. The Core X means there are parallel processing, meaning more complex instructions can be managed more efficiently; which usually refers to threading in programs.

Not all programs are threaded. And bigger numbers aren't always better. But yeah. Just working does mean buying the right product for the right job, and all.

Anyhow, the most likely time for some solid-state or assembly issue to show up is right out of the box, hence the wish ^-^

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Post by Calibron »

I recently got a box with 7, and the only problems I ever encountered were having to run Total Annihilation windowed instead of full screen and at one point it wouldn't let me run Firefox in anything but safemode; I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I just deleted and reinstalled. Overall I'm at least as satisfied with it as I was with the last two XP PCs I've used regularly.
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Post by Maxus »

Well, the computer works great.

I'm using my old monitor because the new one did not work right out of the box. And, yes, I tried it in different outlets and with cords I know work.

So I'll see about getting that rectified. Other than getting used to the new operating system and how the icons have stacked windows, I'm liking this
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by The Man Who Killed Death »

Go onto the Dell website and find their monitor drivers.

That should tell you if there is any hardware issues with the monitor or if the system wasn't configured correctly.

That does sound strange though, I've had Windows 7 support pretty much everything I've plugged into it. Of course that hasn't been much, but still I think Dell should ship it's computers with the correct drivers for its own monitors.
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