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Thread: WINDOWS 8 release date?

  1. #11
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hmmmm,

    @ua549

    Late last year I replaced my wife's PC and peripherals because what worked on XP failed on Windows 7. The culprit was drivers. There were no updated drivers for the scanner, printer, biometric device and rfid proximity hardware. I tried the XP drivers, but they didn't work.
    The onus for providing updated drivers rests with the hardware vendor not the OS provider, particularly when it comes to exotic items like biometrics and rfid.

    The printer is a slight surprise as the manufacturers usually make their money out of ink, rather than the hardware; so it is in their interests to support older equipment.

    I have a scanner that will only run on Windows 2000 Pro or earlier but it is very old...........same thing with a sketch pad.

    My HP Laserjet 6L is recognised by Vista, Win7 and Win8, and that printer is getting on for 15 years' old. I didn't even have to go to HP for the drivers

    I am sure that you tried this, but sometimes a Vista driver will work for 7 as well.

    @Anna12:

    Well my friend was using some old Dell 1501 and had some serious issues with Windows XP. When typing on the laptop, it will write with a delay. So, we installed W7 and works OK. Well, it freezes sometimes, but at least works, let's say... acceptable. It seems it was something about the SP.
    Yes, 7 & 8 are much more forgiving than Vista, although that laptop is below specification if it is as shipped (in the UK at least). I would guess a 1.8GHz Sempron with 512MB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM.

    You might try this:

    <Control Panel>
    <System>
    <Advanced System Settings>
    <Performance>
    <Settings>

    Check the "Adjust for best performance" option.

    Click on the "Advanced" tab:

    <Virtual memory>
    <Change>

    Set the virtual memory to 2,000MB if it is lower than that already.

    Remember to click OK or Apply as appropriate to have the settings remembered.

    When in use remember to close applications once you have finished with them and do not have FireFox running in the background.


    @ Foxy~

    And you also have to think of hardware costs.

    I did hear that there was going to be a "corporate" version of Win 7 that was aimed at low spec machines?

    Like yourself (and most of the pundits it would seem) I just cannot see Windows 8 as an upgrade for Windows 7.

    As a case in point, my wife uses Windows 7, but the other day used Windows 8 pre-beta. I had logged in so all she saw was the Windows desktop.................she didn't even notice the difference.

  2. #12
    They call me the Hunted foxyloxley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    <Virtual memory>
    <Change>

    Set the virtual memory to 2,000MB if it is lower than that already.

    Remember to click OK or Apply as appropriate to have the settings remembered.
    just to add on virtual memory, MS best practice was to put 1.5x installed RAM size as START value, with 3x installed RAM as END value

    however I have seen / read where this can lead to fragmentation of HDD for PC's that are generally left running [corporate workstations etc] and so I have found that giving 2x installed RAM size as START and END value will create a virtual partition at startup, that will help to mitigate fragmentation as PC will have created a FULL non moving partition

    for 512 MB of RAM = 1GB / 1024 MB for both start and end value, have also found that if you are using a newer [read more RAM ] that the values seem to work best at 3x installed RAM

    from physical observation, have seen a PC that user was ready to hurl from nearest window turn into a smooth[er] running little sweetie, that although never going to be a speed demon, was well able to cope with users daily demands without their standard fare of freezing / crashing several times a day

    obviously, it wasn't just the virtual memory settings I tweaked, but in short it was CCleaner run to tidy up users profile. Plus, I would run the CCleaner's registry cleaner too, it just does a 'gentle' sweeping of the worst in there, and so far, after 000's of instances where I have done this, I have had ZERO problems with usability. On PC's with roaming profiles, I would also delete all users not actively using PC that DAY, plus a de-frag if I found it to be necessary.
    Last edited by foxyloxley; February 28th, 2012 at 12:49 PM. Reason: spell checking
    so now I'm in my SIXTIES FFS
    WTAF, how did that happen, so no more alterations to the sig, it will remain as is now

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  3. #13
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Yes, when I manually allocate virtual memory I always give a minimum and maximum value of the same amount.

    This machine is running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and has 8GB of installed DDR3 1333MHz RAM. 7676MB is available, and that is what Windows 7 has set virtual memory to.

    I have checked Windows 8 Ultimate 32bit with 1.5GB of single channel DDR1 333MHz RAM, and it has set the virtual memory to 1.5GB. The processor is an Athlon XP3000+ single core at 2.17GHz.

    I have XP running on a similar processor and on a 1.8GHz, and you really can't tell the difference, so I don't think that it is the Sempron that is the cause.

    I don't believe in these fixed ratios that people spout on the internet............. if you have a small amount of RAM you need more virtual memory and vice versa. In this case the Dell has a half of the recommended minimum RAM so I recommend trying setting the virtual memory to a fixed 2GB, which should give you all the benefit available or an out of memory message?

  4. #14
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    Yo,

    The Consumer Preview is now available for download. Here are the links

    64bit version
    http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/B...it-English.iso

    32bit version
    http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/B...it-English.iso

    Have fun!!

  5. #15
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Nice one mate!

    Now downloading at 1MBps which is the fastest I can get in copper wire sticksville

  6. #16
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    Yea, downloaded the 32bit version in like 10 mins. The 64bit version wasnt so lucky, Im floating around 800Kb/s on this one

  7. #17
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Well, I guess I got lucky as my 32bit download was going at 700MB~800MB

    I am running the 64bit version on this machine right now

  8. #18
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    which will account for new desktop style
    Ever since XP began to make start buttons "round" I've hated them. I always try to make it appear to have that classic 9x/NT themes as possible. They need to FIRE whichever gnome rejects they hired to create these desktop styles.

  9. #19
    Only african to own a PC! Cider's Avatar
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    Any tried the customer preview?
    I played with it in a VM and i hate it . Not liking the metro way. I guess i didnt give it much time but I dont see myself changing.
    The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
    Albert Einstein

  10. #20
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hmmm,

    Got the 64bit version going on an Athlon II x2 @ 2.8GHz and a Bulldozer 4 core (FX4100BE) @ 3.6GHz

    Still have to try the 32bit and load the 64bit onto the Phenom II 965BE quad core @ 3.4GHz and the 2.8GHz Sempron 145.

    The Phenom performs better than the Bulldozer, despite its higher clockspeed, DDR3/1600 as opposed to 1333MHz RAM and the turbo boost to 3.8GHz.

    They have tidied up the fondleslab front end so it doesn't look quite so horrendous, but as it is only one mouse click to get to a traditional desktop I don't really mind it that much.

    It now seems to have a default that locks your account after a certain period of inactivity and you have to enter your password to get back in.

    The Windows experience Index now goes up to 9.9 rather than the 7.9 with the pre-beta. That does make my test rigs' scores seem a lot more realistic given what hardware is currently available.

    It did not make a very good job of preserving my files on the box I tried the "upgrade" install on . They are there, but only a couple of games and a .pdf format manual made it to the desktop. I guess it only really does data files rather than applications, but why the two old games.....I guess it thought that they were data like the .pdf?

    To my surprise it actually recognised an external USB connected 3.5" floppy as the "A:\" drive.

    It has since updated drivers for the ATI/AMD and NVIDIA graphics.

    The clean install went so quickly I thought it had failed, the upgrade one took much longer.

    As I have said before it is just an enhanced version of Windows 7 as far as end user experience is concerned. I really can't see anyone wanting to make the transition?

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