Possible XP > Windows 7 Upgrade

[Clive]

Easily done with all those numbers and letters to type in!

[Simon]

I really must get some reading glasses! 

[psp83]

You should of waited for Windows 8.1.

Desktop is nearly the same as Windows 7, just better..
Enable boot to desktop option to bypass the Modern UI..
Install one of the many free or paid for programs to bring the start menu back..

Memory management in 8/8.1 is much better than Windows 7 & is faster..

[Simon]

I'm still tearing my hair out, now trying to download iTunes, which I can't seem to do in any browser.  Can someone check that the download link is working here?

http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/download/

The links on the left have side don't look right to me.

[Steve]

That is the link, well I've managed to download the windows version.

[Simon]

I think I must have a browser plugin missing, as that side where the download link is, is all plain text, and the actual button itself is missing.  Strange it's like it in all browsers, though.   Still, I managed to find it via another source, and it's installed, but it still won't show any content. 

I really am getting too old and grumpy for all this.  Next time I need a major upgrade, I'll get a professional to do it.  I've built PCs from scratch, but I just don't have the patience for this now. 

[Steve]

It does seem that there are more important things in life than installing an OS, more so I feel as I get older. 10 years ago I used to enjoy the challenge , now it's just a pain, if it's not straightforward.

[talos]

It does seem that there are more important things in life than installing an OS, more so I feel as I get older. 10 years ago I used to enjoy the challenge , now it's just a pain, if it's not straightforward.

Strange that, I feel the same and I know many others in my age group likewise. I thought it was a sort of "been there done that " kind of thing, but it may be because nothing has really improved since the ZX81 days installation wise, it was a pain then and it still is. It took hours to feed in the disks in dos/win 3.1 days, now it takes hours to download and install the patches and upgrades needed, or are we just becoming impatient grumpy old men/ women ?

[Gary]

TBH using a tablet is easier for me as its simpler, rarely dodgy updates etc. I hate the new OS with bugs malarkey, argh it all gets to much, these days I just want an easy ride and not to muck about with upgrading unless its easy, and so far on the mac it has been  give it a few years and I'll probably not want to use a computer at this rate at all. 

[Gary]

I think I must have a browser plugin missing, as that side where the download link is, is all plain text, and the actual button itself is missing.  Strange it's like it in all browsers, though.   Still, I managed to find it via another source, and it's installed, but it still won't show any content. 

I really am getting too old and grumpy for all this.  Next time I need a major upgrade, I'll get a professional to do it.  I've built PCs from scratch, but I just don't have the patience for this now. 

That sounds like a Javascript issue Simon.  Have you installed the latest drivers for you Graphics card just in case its some nonsense with that, best to never use the ones from Microsoft.

[Simon]

That sounds like a Javascript issue Simon.  Have you installed the latest drivers for you Graphics card just in case its some nonsense with that, best to never use the ones from Microsoft.

I haven't installed Java yet, so it may just be that.  Anyway, I blame you for all this, Gary.  If you hadn't posted that bloody Register article, I wouldn't have thought about doing it!   

[Gary]

I haven't installed Java yet, so it may just be that.  Anyway, I blame you for all this, Gary.  If you hadn't posted that bloody Register article, I wouldn't have thought about doing it!   

Not Java, Simon, javascript. TBH unless you use Java specifically for a webpage or program don't install it. Blame me?   

[Simon]

I think I have the latest graphics drivers, as it actually took me to the nVidia site to get them.  How does one resolve a JavaScript issue?

[zappaDPJ]

How does one resolve a JavaScript issue?

Which browser and have you installed any browser plugins? The download button is Javascript driven so I'd take a guess you've either installed a browser plugin that's blocking Javascript or scripting needs to be enabled in your browser: http://www.enable-javascript.com/

[Simon]

It's IE, Firefox and SeaMonkey, Zap, so it's either a global setting or something's blocked them all. 

[zappaDPJ]

Do you have an Anti-Virus product installed?

[Gary]

Make sure that the version of Antivirus you are using is for Windows 7 some older may support xp but not windows 7 maybe? I would just use Windows security essentials  and the windows firewall tbh, clean and simple.

[Simon]

I have F-Secure 2014, so it's definitely Windows 7 compliant.  Funnily enough, the iTunes website issue seems to have rectified itself, although, I haven't a clue how.  This system is still downloading updates, so maybe things will just take a while to bed in.

[zappaDPJ]

I'd imagine F-Secure was the culprit because there's nothing much else I can think of that would have that effect at a global level. It doesn't mean the product is not compliant, but it does suggest it's somewhat aggressive.

[Simon]

Probably better to be over protective than under protective, if it was that.  But SP1 has just downloaded and is installing, so I think perhaps it may have just been that updates were required that it hadn't grabbed at that point. 

I'm getting more to grips with it now, but I still find the text hard to read, in comparison to XP.  ClearType is turned on and optimised as best I can, but the fonts seem really 'light', if you get what I mean. 

One big annoyance is that it won't let me have my Windows Start music, as there's no option to change the startup sound, without a fairly iffy registry hack.  Why would they remove that option?   

[Simon]

Oh, and the other thing is, it seems to have cordoned off the right hand edge of the desktop, by about an inch and a half, which is irritating, as I like my icons around the circumference of the desktop, and they don't look central. 

[Gary]

Id not worry about a music hack, its not worth it leave it as it is. Also cleartype I found it made things blurry on some monitors, try turning it off and see. Have you set the screen resolution correctly because I dont remember Seven looking that way, I know the icons were changed, try giving it time, Simon. Its bound to look different, and check the screen resolution is set right because the icons looked okay to me on all the seven desktops I remember seeing. 

[Steve]

Regarding the music , if you disable the Windows startup music,I believe you can select a Windows Logon music of your choice.

[Clive]

As you know Simon, F-Secure gave me a lot of grief and I had to abandon it.  Now I use the free version of Avira. 

[Simon]

I have had the odd issue with F-Secure, and had to abandon it in 2012, but they offered me a free six month trial of the pre-release 2014, so it seemed rude to decline, and so far, it's been working well on both XP and 7.  Of all the suites, I find it's the least intrusive and it doesn't slow the system down.  I'm not convinced it was F-Secure causing the problem.

However, restoring backups is once again proving problematic, with Outlook 2007 so far refusing to accept my backed up calendar and contacts data.  This is probably the most difficult and time consuming upgrade I've ever had to perform.