How to.. upgrade(free!)from Vista to Windows7?

thesquireofbanwell

Hi to all the techies out there!
Simple really,it's in the title.
Is there any hope for the next couple of years for my fine,but ageing,Toshiba laptop before
suport for Vista is withdrawn?
I have looked on the net and the only one seemingly any good will not load and Windows want
upwards of £100. Do I just have to bite the bullet but would rather spend on something else?
Any suggestions welcome and thank you in advance

mrushton

7 doesn't exist except for support - it's moved on to 8.1 and lately 10. If you can get 7 it's not really worth it - just make the jump to 8.1 and download the classic desktop. Not everyone likes the tiles.

frisbee

If your laptop only has 1 or 2 Gbytes of RAM I would think twice about upgrading it to Windows 7 (or later).

I have 2 very similar laptops that originally had Vista on, the one with 4 Gbytes works great, the one with 2 is horrible, almost unusable.

Upgrading the RAM wouldn't have been cheap when I looked into it.

mrushton

Further to above, 7 runs best with 4gb of RAM and upwards. 2 may do it (slowly). Memory is quite cheap but you are spending money to upgrade to an old system when you are trying to leave an old system

bob6397

As you have until April 11, 2017 (according to this website: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/lifecycle) until support for Vista ends, I would stick with it until the PC dies and you get a new one...

Having said that though, Vista is the worst OS I have ever used on a PC (including many Linux builds) and I would be itching to get rid of it..

As previous people have said, Win 7 likes at least 3GB of ram (It will run absolutely fine on 3, I still have a desktop running with that config for testing purposes).. Ram is also not that expensive to upgrade - have a check on ebay for some deals on it if you know what kind you need.

(note that ram is compatible with all other types of RAM as long as the type (DDR2, DDR3 or DDR4) is the same AND it is either all non-buffered or all buffered - you do not need RAM specifically designed for your PC)

Having said that though, I wouldn't upgrade your PC if it's working fine for now. I would simply get a new one when it bites the dust when support actually finishes in a couple of years.

Another piece of advice is to run C-Cleaner. This is awesome, free, and will make your windows run like new again.. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download - I run it every month or so, just make sure you tick or untick all the boxes you want when you first set it up..

bob6397

mfin

Windows 7 runs fine on 2GB of Ram for most people, OP don't let it put you off. I have Windows 7 and 8 running on one of my old laptops. Both installs are clean installs no 'OS upgrading', I never do that.

That said, if it was me and down to parting with cash (or rather not), I'd wipe and reformat your laptop to freshen it up if you think it is running slowly.

mrushton

I work on student laptops in my job at a UNi and Vista is pretty rubbish but then 7 has a lot of flaws even tho' it's the Uni main software. I'd have to agree with the above post unless you are desperate to change. I use a s/h laptop @home that works fine with 7. Win 8.1 also drives me nuts with the tiles but have to admit it does its job well.

craker

No one's mentioned Linux yet.

Get some flavour of Ubuntu (eg lubuntu for older machines) spend your evenings happily trying to work out how to make it do what you want.

It's free.

solosuperia

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19626233#p19626233]craker[/url] wrote:

No one's mentioned Linux yet.

Get some flavour of Ubuntu (eg lubuntu for older machines) spend your evenings happily trying to work out how to make it do what you want.

It's free.

Come now why keep perpetrating the myth that "Ubuntu" is difficult to use?
And of course not only is it free but you can get "Light" versions that are less taxing for M/Cs with less memory and slower processors.

Download it and see for yourself http://www.ubuntu.com/download

bob6397

Linux is all very well to use if all the programs you need support for are a web browser and a ported version of openoffice..

If you need to be able to run anything else, the OP is better off sticking with Windows IMHO.

Linux is very much for people who don't mind having to understand how it works in the background - I have it (Debian) on a PC (which I use as a server) and it's fine - but no way would I use it as my everyday OS..

Also, if you do go down the Linux route, I would recommend Debian over Ubuntu for desktop work - its what it is designed for.

bob6397

CiB

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19626165#p19626165]mrushton[/url] wrote:

I work on student laptops in my job at a UNi and Vista is pretty rubbish but then 7 has a lot of flaws even tho' it's the Uni main software. I'd have to agree with the above post unless you are desperate to change. I use a s/h laptop @home that works fine with 7. Win 8.1 also drives me nuts with the tiles but have to admit it does its job well.

Press the Win Key and use the desktop then. 8.1 works & looks to all intents & purposes like 7, but is better, just slightly different in places.

craker

Come now why keep perpetrating the myth that "Ubuntu" is difficult to use?

Don't want to turn this into a Win vs Linux thread ... I've been using ubuntu on and off for ten years and for the most part I quite like Ubuntu (KDE / Kubuntu generally) it's just some of the simplest things leaving me tearing my hair out. Can't automatically boot 'cos Grub needs a response? Edit this file (still hasn't worked btw) VGA stuck at silly low res? Edit this file. (I gave up and went HDMI) trying to get a VNC Server going? On KDE? There might be one installed. (One of Linux's biggest strengths is the proliferation and mix and match of different distributions / desktops / apps but it does make it hard to find support for your particular setup).

Windows, for all the criticism that comes its way, just works. Pay your £70, get an OS that you don't have to fight if you want to change something.

... and relax...