So how much different is Win7 vs Win XP in practice?

Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer (probably a
laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people miss when going from XP to
Win 7 in terms of its usability and customizability (for those who like to
tweak and have access to things at the file or registry levels, and not
dumbed down).

On 8/20/2013 6:11 PM, Bill in Co wrote:
Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer (probably a
laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people miss when going from XP to
Win 7 in terms of its usability and customizability (for those who like to
tweak and have access to things at the file or registry levels, and not
dumbed down).



There are two flavors of Windows 7 Pro --- 32-bit and 64-bit. The
32-bit version can be considered to be Windows XP-SP4, and behaves
pretty much like XP itself. The 64-bit version has been described
as "Windows XP on steroids" but will not run the older 16-bit apps.
My Windows 7 64-bit machines have 12 GB of high-speed RAM installed.
Neither are "dumbed down"; customize and tweak to your heart's content.

GR

Ghostrider01" wrote:
On 8/20/2013 6:11 PM, Bill in Co wrote:
Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer (probably
a
laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people miss when going from XP
to
Win 7 in terms of its usability and customizability (for those who like
to
tweak and have access to things at the file or registry levels, and not
dumbed down).



There are two flavors of Windows 7 Pro --- 32-bit and 64-bit. The
32-bit version can be considered to be Windows XP-SP4, and behaves
pretty much like XP itself. The 64-bit version has been described
as "Windows XP on steroids" but will not run the older 16-bit apps.
My Windows 7 64-bit machines have 12 GB of high-speed RAM installed.
Neither are "dumbed down"; customize and tweak to your heart's content.

GR

By dumbed down, as just one example, when we transitioned from 98 to XP,
windows explorer stopped listing the actual file extensions in a sortable
column, and instead "replaced" that with a more generic "TYPE" (which is
dumbing down).

And, of course, it took a fair amount of tweaking to get Win XP to more
closely resemble the more fundamental Win98 interface (start menu, etc). I
gave up on its built-in file search applet, and installed Agent Ransack and
File Locator Pro.

On 8/21/2013 11:14 AM, Bill in Co wrote:
Ghostrider01" wrote:
On 8/20/2013 6:11 PM, Bill in Co wrote:
Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer (probably
a
laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people miss when going from XP
to
Win 7 in terms of its usability and customizability (for those who like
to
tweak and have access to things at the file or registry levels, and not
dumbed down).



There are two flavors of Windows 7 Pro --- 32-bit and 64-bit. The
32-bit version can be considered to be Windows XP-SP4, and behaves
pretty much like XP itself. The 64-bit version has been described
as "Windows XP on steroids" but will not run the older 16-bit apps.
My Windows 7 64-bit machines have 12 GB of high-speed RAM installed.
Neither are "dumbed down"; customize and tweak to your heart's content.

GR

By dumbed down, as just one example, when we transitioned from 98 to XP,
windows explorer stopped listing the actual file extensions in a sortable
column, and instead "replaced" that with a more generic "TYPE" (which is
dumbing down).

And, of course, it took a fair amount of tweaking to get Win XP to more
closely resemble the more fundamental Win98 interface (start menu, etc). I
gave up on its built-in file search applet, and installed Agent Ransack and
File Locator Pro.



I did not think of your example as one of "dumbed down" but it is true
that with each iteration of Windows, some things do get misplaced, if
not for a better word. You are right...it takes a little bit of effort
at maintaining the "look and feel" of the prior versions. That is why
I wrote "customize and tweak to your heart's content". There are far
more options in Windows 7 for such activity.

As for me, I will always be happy being in control of the OS and not the
dictates of Microsoft's programmers by "dumbing down" the system. I do
like to continue to maintain my systems the way I have for the past 25
years...manually and whenever possible via the command prompt.

GR

On Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:49:35 PM UTC-5, Ghostrider wrote:
On 8/21/2013 11:14 AM, Bill in Co wrote:

Ghostrider01" wrote:

On 8/20/2013 6:11 PM, Bill in Co wrote:

Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer (probably

a

laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people miss when going from XP

to

Win 7 in terms of its usability and customizability (for those who like

to

tweak and have access to things at the file or registry levels, and not

dumbed down).







There are two flavors of Windows 7 Pro --- 32-bit and 64-bit. The

32-bit version can be considered to be Windows XP-SP4, and behaves

pretty much like XP itself. The 64-bit version has been described

as "Windows XP on steroids" but will not run the older 16-bit apps.

My Windows 7 64-bit machines have 12 GB of high-speed RAM installed.

Neither are "dumbed down"; customize and tweak to your heart's content.



GR



By dumbed down, as just one example, when we transitioned from 98 to XP,

windows explorer stopped listing the actual file extensions in a sortable

column, and instead "replaced" that with a more generic "TYPE" (which is

dumbing down).



And, of course, it took a fair amount of tweaking to get Win XP to more

closely resemble the more fundamental Win98 interface (start menu, etc). I

gave up on its built-in file search applet, and installed Agent Ransack and

File Locator Pro.







I did not think of your example as one of "dumbed down" but it is true

that with each iteration of Windows, some things do get misplaced, if

not for a better word. You are right...it takes a little bit of effort

at maintaining the "look and feel" of the prior versions. That is why

I wrote "customize and tweak to your heart's content". There are far

more options in Windows 7 for such activity.



As for me, I will always be happy being in control of the OS and not the

dictates of Microsoft's programmers by "dumbing down" the system. I do

like to continue to maintain my systems the way I have for the past 25

years...manually and whenever possible via the command prompt.



GR

What have you found in XP that you could not customize ?

I think "dumbing down" is inaccurate.

Taking away choices would be better.

Fortunately, there are some excellent Linux choices that run circles around Windows in terms of protection and speed.

:-)

Bill in Co wrote:

Just wondering. I was thinking about getting a backup computer
(probably a laptop), and wondering what, if anything, people
miss when going from XP to Win 7 in terms of its usability and
customizability (for those who like to tweak and have access to
things at the file or registry levels, and not dumbed down).

You are apparently not getting correct answers here, largely because the
people here don't remember the sort of files-system access that they
used to have on Windows 98 and (to a slightly lesser extent) XP.

My only exposure to Windows 7 is that my SO has W-7 home premium
installed on an HP-netbook, and I've added custom settings to the hosts
file so that she sees no advertising when streaming video like TV shows
and movies from the internet.

My short summary - Windows 7 is a pain in the ass - even 32-bit
versions.

If you want to do most anything the way you can do it on win-98 or XP,
you need to "take ownership" of files or entire directories.

Want to edit and save your hosts file using notepad? Don't forget to
rename the file because there is no way to get notepad to drop the .txt
extension when you save the file.

Mixed-system network sharing and access is a huge pain. Far too many
settings distributed across too many different menus. You want to
enable "simple file sharing"? It's in folder-view settings, even though
it's got nothing to do with how you view a folder.

I've installed XP on a FAT32 file system, so I know it works perfectly.
That gives you the ability to dual-boot into DOS 7.1 / XP upon startup,
so it allows you to browse the file system using a true command-line
interface if you need or want to. I don't know if you can do the same
with Win-7.

Back in 2010 I got ahold of a bootlegged copy of Microsoft Multipoint
Server and installed it on a high-end PC that had multiple video cards,
keyboards and mice connected to it. This enabled several people to use
a single computer and access the same files from the hard drive. It's
targeted at schools (mostly primary schools / children) as a viable
classroom-based computing solution, but it's perfect for a soho
operation also (something Macro$haft doesn't want to become known and
doesn't market to). Multipoint Server is based on Server 2008 r2, and
it was my first real exposure to a Windows-7-like experience, and that
when I began to notice the differences from XP, and hate them.