Nobody is coming across as rude in these threads its all good I don't bicker at the small stuff :)

I have a 32 bit operating system with 1.25gb of ram. I wanted a more modern OS that received security updates still beyond the date Windows XP was cut off. Windows 7 was given to me for free via the college IT department download system (now known as DreamSpark Premimum)

I could go for Windows 8 Pro but I'm not that fancy yet. I just want to be able to install the latest office program for when I take that class next semester and XP won't let me install the latest office.

No what's going to be awful is when they stop supporting Windows 7. I don't care what abominations they have in store for us if I can keep using 7 for eternity. I will have to consider linux, but old game support has to get much better on linux.

Microsoft already has a gaming OS; it's called the Xbox One.

Microsoft's gaming focus is for mobile-style games on the Windows Store and Windows Phone with the big games on Xbox One. Desktop PC games don't factor into that. Steam OS is primarily meant to threaten the consoles, not PC gaming in its current form.

Steam OS could perhaps be successful enough to threaten the Xbox One but I doubt it will challenge Windows' market share among PC gamers on traditional hardware since it means sacrificing most backwards compatibility for no real benefit beyond theoretical performance gains. Windows isn't exactly bloated for gaming purposes; Windows 7 started a tradition of having each new version run faster on the same hardware (despite adding new features along the way) and now with 8/8.1 even the startup time is significantly optimised.

XP had the tentative benefit of working better on old systems with very low RAM. There is no benefit to clinging to Windows 7 since Windows 8 runs better on the same hardware.

The interface isn't even a valid concern. Install Windows 8.1, set to boot to desktop, install Classic Shell if you really must, and you've got a faster, better Windows 7.

Windows 7 must not become the next XP, especially among PC gamers, since there is no valid reason for not upgrading to at least Windows 8.1 prior to Windows 7's support ending.

I don't think Windows XP is compatible with the Famicom.

He was referencing 5¼ floppies, which were sometimes double-sided.

I was going to recommend a clean install instead of an _upgrade_, but then that's what you seem to have done, ie. installed Win7 from scratch.

I had one case on an older (probably similar age as your HW) where Windows 7 didn't seem to have suitable audio drivers for it, so it was silent. Overall to me it would appear that new Windows versions don't necessarily support old HW that well (vendors not making new drivers for old products). Linux seems to offer better compatibility with old HW, possibly due to open source drivers and stuff.

Anyway, with my older PCs, if I decide to remove the old OS (like XP) and replace it with something newer, it is Linux. But I keep XP on some PCs, as they are my retro-gaming PCs. But if that is your only PC and you need Windows on it, I guess that was the only real option.

EDIT: And since you got Win7 license for free, and it seems to work fine on your aging PC (driver support, amount of RAM etc.), I guess it could be considered the best option in this case.

If your laptop supports Vista then in all likelihood you'll be able to install Windows 7 on it just fine. Whatever drivers Windows Update won't supply will likely be accessible from the chip makers' sites. Googling for your laptop model and Windows 7 should find something. I have a Dell Inspiron 1720, which also has only Vista drivers, and it's currently running Windows 7 32-bit. I searched for 64-bit support and found a good thread detailing where to find all drivers.

As for 1GB, Windows 7 runs great with just 1GB (well, as great as anything runs in the days where a browser can take 1GB for a web page). Plus it supports ReadyBoost, which can use a flash drive or SD card as a disk cache, which speeds up swapping. Windows 7 with ReadyBoost is a better OS for 1GB machines than XP. I have to wonder, why 6200? That's a 9 year old chip or so. Why not something a bit newer?

These sentiments simply aren't true. It's only a security risk if you rely purely on Microsoft for the Firewall updates and use the abomination IE for web-browsing. However, if you know your ass from a hole in the ground; read as : You use a 3rd party firewall and practice safe computing, not hard at all if you have a modicum of knowhow, this is a non-issue altogether. Granted, if you don't want to have to know how to run your pc, then maybe Win7 can help you for a while with avoiding acquiring that knowledge; at least until they stop updating that as well.

The only other reason I could see for requiring Win7, beyond the DirectX 10+ need, is if you run something that only runs on Win7 like Visual Studio 2012 or has a 4+GB memory requirement.

Indeed, likewise.

Yup, I positively love replies like these. "Windows XP is just as good as 7. Well if you use it right, of course. And install the right firewall and AV. And if you don't need the following list of features: ..."

There, you just gave yourself reasons why bother with an upgrade. Obviously, the amount of software supporting XP decreases and amount of software requiring Vista/7 increases, so it's not just Visual Studio.

Ha! It's not like computer knowledge becomes inapplicable, it just has different means of being utilized. It's almost like some people want to avoid learning altogether. Now that I just love as I get paid quite well to fix it for people. If this mentality continues people will expect cars to drive themselves too (this is just a matter of time, because, you know, you can't be bothered with pesky driving when new texts and Facebook status updates are coming in. Srs Bsns). There's no certain list of features you purposefully need to avoid though; that's just a red herring.

The amount of software supporting XP isn't decreasing as you'd like to believe. I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's just frankly wrong. If it's not 64-bit and isn't DirectX 10+, there's a 99+% chance it will still work on XP.

Yes, which would imply I'm agreeing with you. ;)

WinXP internet armageddon is over played. XP hasn't been sold on consumer boxes in a number of years now. Any user who can't maintain such a system would have long ago gotten enough browser tool bars that they can't see anything on the screen. These machines will be turned off one day and never restarted when the user picks up a tablet and realizes they never wanted to admin a box anyways. XP obsolescence is primarily a danger for corporate networks. Those networks have profession IT staff to maintain things, not that I envy them.

That said, there's not much point in sticking with XP if you have a free copy of Win7 and the hardware to run it.

~snerk~ Are you for real?

You sound like one of those technophobes that has been cowed into thinking that simply connecting a PC to the big scary Interweb is going to download their megahurtz with viruses and haxors!

Seriously... My older PC is using stock XP SP3 with no updates or security updates whatsoever and has been for YEARS. It's used for browsing the web every day and gaming. No 3rd party firewall, occasional scan with Malwarebytes and the like turns up nothing. No issues whatsoever. Same with my Windows 7 machine with annoying auto-updates turned off. Don't be an idiot, don't download stupid crap and don't use IE and you're already good against 99.9% of malware out there. Anyone stating otherwise has either bought into the fear campaign designed to sell controlled software and antivirus resource hogs, or is lying.

It's almost hilarious how Microsoft has people freaked out believing that ending their support will change anything at all for anyone but the most tech illiterate boob out there. Congratulations for buying into their nonsense I guess.

I hear what you're saying... But I must respectfully disagree. I have games that don't work on Win 8/8.1 that DO work on 7, and gaming performance in the games I have tested was better on 7 than on 8 (Skyrim, lotro, DDO, and Rift to name a few)

EDIT: Not to mention 8's incessant app updating and windows update both leeching bandwidth constantly.

My sentiments exactly. People love to react emotionally to fear-mongering though. It's a half-trip away from being afraid of the closet monster.

Hell, I still have a Win98 machine in my living room connected to my TV and 1500watt stereo. That thing runs like a champ even though I bought it nearly 15 years ago.

Except that upgrading to the newest and greatest (trend-seeking) for it's own sake is an insidious mentality, largely exploited by the plethora of companies out there with little to no business ethics. Why fix what's not broken?