Possible XP > Windows 7 Upgrade

[Simon]

Steve, yes you can, but the music only plays when you actually log on with a password, and I don't bother with that as it's just me using it.  I just don't see why they've removed the option, as you can set different sounds for virtually everything else, including Windows shutdown.

[Clive]

One thing I had to come to terms with was the loss of Outlook Express which I had used since it first came out.  Changing to Live Mail was a huge effort.  But you should be fine with Outlook though.

[Simon]

Yes, providing it will import all of my contacts and calendar data.  I don't use Outlook for email, as SeaMonkey covers that, but my contacts and calendar are essential.

[Clive]

Absolutely.

[Simon]

And it has, but now I've got weird fonts all over the place!   

[Gary]

I always downloaded my graphics drivers and sound card drivers first, then wiped drive, installed windows, then with Windows firewall up only installed graphics drivers and sound card drivers, then patched than added AV, otherwise some AV's corrupt installs of things like graphics drivers I found. It shouldn't be this messy though, Simon. 

[Steve]

Not with all the pre planning involved.  

[Gary]

Not with all the pre planning involved.  

Also chipset drivers I downloaded in advance as well, most of these used to say to turn off your AV before installing as once again they could get corrupted. Mind you with a thumbdrive/disc I used to have it set up and running quite quickly, then just waited for one of the patches to fail installing  Then installed a decent defrag program and waited for it to all defrag, generally involving a bootime defrag too. I really don't miss those days I have to admit.

[Simon]

I did back everything up, including all drivers, and have also reinstalled the graphics drivers from the website.  I think the fonts thing is because I've been fiddling about, trying to find a font that I can actually read!  Trouble is, when you change the font for one thing, it affects other things, and you can't always tell what is affected until you come to it, by which time you don't know which change caused the effect.   

The Outlook thing was that the backup was restored to separate calendar and contacts folders, so they didn't show in the default folders.  I've now copied that over, so that's sorted, and so is iTunes. 

[Steve]

So apart from the hassles and the fonts how does the machine feel to use?

[Gary]

The fonts should be legible out of the box so to speak. I have not personally seen one that is hard to read. Even on small laptop screens. Then again I wear glasses  Seven should be pretty nippy, I cant remember what hardware you have though.

[zappaDPJ]

I'd be interested to see a screen shot of the font problem.

[Simon]

Here's a couple of screenshots - the buttons look odd, and also, some of the smileys have their sides shaved.   

[zappaDPJ]

Here's a couple of screenshots - the buttons look odd, and also, some of the smileys have their sides shaved.   

I can see some rendering issues which suggest a browser or possibly OS/browser compatibility problem. The font however looks correct to me, it's identical to what I see in both Firefox and IE as per the attached screen shot (I couldn't quite replicate the zoom factor).

It's impossible for me to know what you are actually seeing via your VDU so the font problem might well be something graphics card (hardware/driver) or monitor (hardware/driver) related. As all you've changed is the OS it's most likely to be a driver related. All I can tell you for sure is that the output sent to your graphics card is consistent with any other Windows 7 output.

[Technical Ben]

No, I definitely entered the product key, but I must have done it wrong as I rebooted and it asked for it again, and this time it's activated. 

Not to worry. I'm certain you'll love 7 in the end. Much like 8, it's the previous incarnations under the hood (kind of), and can be set up just like those too. I actually prefer 7 over Vista because it reverted a lot of the options and layouts more like XP and less like fail.

[Steve]

I always thought Windows 7 was very slick and polished, with of course the added security you don't find in XP.

[Simon]

That's what I'm trying to do, Ben!

Zap, I'll try it with IE later, but I have a feeling they were all displaying the same. 

What I think the problem is, is the screen resolution is now a lot higher than I'm used to, but if I set it lower, it letterboxes the desktop, or stretches all the icons out of proportion, but I can't read the small fonts on the higher resolution, so I've got to adjust them somehow, and as I said before, it's virtually impossible to work out what else is going to be affected by a font size change. 

[Gary]

That's what I'm trying to do, Ben!

Zap, I'll try it with IE later, but I have a feeling they were all displaying the same. 

What I think the problem is, is the screen resolution is now a lot higher than I'm used to, but if I set it lower, it letterboxes the desktop, or stretches all the icons out of proportion, but I can't read the small fonts on the higher resolution, so I've got to adjust them somehow, and as I said before, it's virtually impossible to work out what else is going to be affected by a font size change. 

The screen resolution should just match the monitor size, Simon. Most modern monitors are 16:9 is your monitor 4:3? If yours is 4:3 this may help http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/windows-7-aspect-ratio-is-on-43-how-do-i-change-to/a26ebacf-329f-4d8a-8ace-810c253a3970

[Simon]

Yes, 4:3, Gary.  I'll check that link our later, thanks. 

I was setting up Mailwasher today, and even the dialogue in that was very small.  All I want is the same as it was in XP. 

[Gary]

Yes, 4:3, Gary.  I'll check that link our later, thanks. 

I was setting up Mailwasher today, and even the dialogue in that was very small.  All I want is the same as it was in XP. 

That link may help as most modern monitors are HD now 1920 x 1080  resolution and Windows 7 I think has a handshake with the monitor to determine optimum resolution. Since yours is 4:3 it may have issues I guess. It would be an idea to get a newer monitor maybe at some point. The higher resolution is much better. My Macs screen is 1920x1080 and the font is fine, some are higher like the 27" iMac, but then the font becomes really tiny.

[Simon]

It has certainly detected the monitor, and adopted the native resution, which I can't remember right now, but it's 1920 x something.  I was used to 1024 x 768, so this is quite a leap. 

[Steve]

I think Simon it's time for some glasses. Age related presbyopia gets us all eventually, in fact once it starts I found things deteriorated quite quickly before it then stabilised.

[Simon]

Well, it must have deteriorated bloody quickly for it to have got so bad just in the time it took to install an operating system!    I could read everything fine on XP.  But you are right, Steve, I do need an eye test, because I've struggled with small text for ages now.  This isn't just my eyes, though.  I guess they don't provide a magnifier app for nothing. 

[Steve]

That resolution seems quite high for a 4:3 monitor  what size screen is it?

[Simon]

17", Steve.  Not really got room for a much bigger one.