Don't do Windows!!! Windows 7 that is.

[TMan]

So a few weeks ago while we were having breakfast and preparing to go to the range, my buddy informed me that he was having a horrible problem trying to install Windows 7 on his old XP system.

Being such a nice guy, I offered to help him. Yeah, right. If you believe that send me a PM, I have a bridge to sell you. What I said was: "Nobody ever listens to me (I think that sounds better than 'I told you so'), I've said time and time again that you should stick with whatever operating system that the computer came with."

After the HP died, I bought the cheapest Toshiba that I could find, and 4 years later, after carrying it around with me all over the world and running on all kinds of AC power, I decided to get a new Toshiba based on my satisfaction with this one.

It came with Windows 7. Instead of putting so much money into TV ads, Microsoft should have put some more money building a compatible system with XP.

One of the main programs that I run is SSIWIN, which was developed by Sports South, a leading distributor. It downloads their data, and then I use that for updating local and remote databases. Guess what: it won't even install on Windows 7. The main problem is with SQL Server 2005, which is developed by guess who - Microsoft. So now I'll spend countless hours on the phone trying to get it to work, and talking with their support group in Bangalore. Fortunately, I can understand the Indian English dialect.

My advice - if you decide to buy a new computer, see if there is something around that still has Windows XP. Windows Vista was a nightmare that I avoided, but a lot of other people had.

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; I started out building this forum with Window 98, with Dial Up. I switch to a powerful system with Windows XP and DSL. I now have the Windows Vista with more memory, than I had with my XP system.

So far, I haven't had any trouble, but I only use the computer for things like our forum.

["DoubleAction"]

By the way; My HP Vista came with a Norton Anti-Virus with a 60 day trial; on the day the Anit-Virus protectin expired, My computer was wreaking havoc; the Security Program took full control of my computer and all kinds of warnings came on telling me that the computer was being attack by worms, viruses, hijackers, and my personal information files at risk.

When I went to renew my Norton Protection, by credit card (they didn't accept Pay Pal ), the Bank denied it. The next Day I called the bank and they told me that three different sites tried to withdraw money from my account.

I had to put the computer on Safe Mode to find the program to remove it. Norton had nothing to do with the Security Program. It was just a scam.

[5ontarget]

I've heard many bad stories about upgrading xp to 7. Much less so, but still a few upgrading from vista to 7. Had a friend upgrade from xp, then to vista, then installed 7 without much problem. His theory was there was crap that 7 was looking for but couldn't find with xp, but it was there on vista. he had more technical vocabulary, but his point was that 7 was not made to go back to xp, but will go back to vista...mostly.
On a side note, I've used Microsoft's products since the early 80's, before there was windows, back with various DOS versions. I demo'd vista, I liked xp and it is stable, but I needed/wanted a laptop. after using vista, I bought a mac, installed xp on it, and run both the mac and windos OS on it. My wife likes Mac, and has adopted it. I have since caved and bought a discounted HP vista system, but still don't like vista much. I'll wait for the first major patch with 7 before I consider it.

[MLB]

I have a Dell system at home that originally came with Win98, and I upgraded to XPPro. Its a dog now, but I'll wait a bit longer and get a new box with Win7 installed I think.

[TMan]

My HP Vista came with a Norton Anti-Virus with a 60 day trial

I really hate this. If the stores would say the computer comes with trial versions, I would be okay with it, but there is a lot of false advertising going on out there.

Verizon has really made me angry with their 3G vs AT&T maps. They imply that if you are in one of the areas that AT&T doesn't have 3G, you won't have any coverage. It is false, you have coverage, but it is the slower GSM coverage. In fact there is more total coverage with AT&T than there is with Verizon. As much as I'm against government controls, I wish the FCC or FTC would do something about it.

DA, I think it was a coincidence that you got burned by the fake anti-virus popups about the time your Norton expired. I've gotten them too, when going to certain web-sites, there is one gun site in Russia that has a lot of information, but has adware on it. The best thing to do when those pop-up is just to use Alt+F4 to close the window. If they have a "Close" button, don't click on it because it frequently will capture information and take you somewhere else i.e. it isn't really a close.

I use the Prudential Financial Mastercard because it comes with a software program that allows you to generate a new card number for each on-line purchase. However, I had the main card number stolen several times even without using the card. So what I do now is to never activate the card. According to the FIA rep, people try combinations of numbers and dates for something like iTunes until they get a good hit, and then use that for a bunch of on-line transactions. FIA (they handle the transactions for Prudential) called me one morning while I was in Shanghai. The guy on the phone was rather surprised I answered the phone because he called the number in Texas, and according to their computer information, I was in Shanghai. I explained my complex call-forwarding via Skype and that it only cost me 2 cents/minute to receive calls in Shanghai.