Computers: Sometimes It's Best to Leave Well Enough Alone

  • Thread starter Thread starter XploZiveToyz
  • Start date Start date
miroslav said:
Even with the app to make 8 feel more like 7...it doesn't really put back the same functionality, it's more of a smoke-n-mirrors kind of thing, which at least give you the illusion you seek....but that's just it, Win 8 sucks major balls, and that you need a 3rd-party app to make it feel like an older version of Windows is a pretty crappy way to have to go.

Personally...I don't think Win 7 GUI is all that great either. I hate the fact that things got move around, I hate the start menu, I hate that when you click on a folder, you have to sometimes wait 5 minutes for the stupid green bar to finish moving before it opens.....not to mention the STUPID administrator pop-ups that simply require you to say "yes" to go forward, so like WTF is the point??? I don't see that as any real "security" feature.
Yeah, it's all about making the GUIs feel like a stupid iPhone......
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Um what? Green bar? So yo have a shitty ass laptop running W7 I presume? lol!

Not judging, but W7 is absolutely just as stable as XP became. It has been like 2 years since XP went off the support list right? You can stop the admin popups too. W7 is almost exactly like XP, when you disable all of the fancy shit. Actually less double clicking.
 
I agree with you there Jimmy, and in fact in my original post, that's what I advised anyone to do if they are happy with what they have. Having said that, I switched to 8 and except for that one hiccup I alluded to with GR5 everything is running as smooth as a top. But that's my experience. You might do the same thing and have all kinds of problems. You just don't know until you try, but I suspect you wouldn't have any problems. CoolCat, you only read my first post and are complaining about the very same things I show you how to fix later on in the thread. If you will download the app I allude to and install it, all your problems will go away. If they don't I will swallow one of my guitar picks! LOL!


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jimmys69 said:
Actually, W7 Home Premium OEM is $91.00. If I bought a new PC that came with W8, I would rather just start it with what I know. Workarounds are not something I wish to add to my daily tasks. Just my opinion...
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Jimmy, quoting this post because it was most relevant... I'm with you. All my software/gear works perfectly with Vista so I'm not about to jump 2 OS versions all at once. Shit will hit the fan in no time flat, I'm sure! However, I will have to deal with the 64 bit things in some cases, but as far as I'm aware, there's some built in architecture in Win7 to deal with the bridging and all that nonsense.

As for the purchase of of Win7 on it's own, I don't think it's really needed, at least for now, as I mentioned a bit ago. For example, Frys Electronics has a whole slew of Win7 laptops still. I think I'll sit pretty with one of those when I have to buy.
Fry's Electronics |

Mr. Toyz, I value your opinion, and although i'm pretty good with computers, I'm 2 years deep into this (yeah, only 2 years, but alot of crap changes with computers in that time) and I just don't want to spend money on top of money to upgrade the whole shibang.
 
XploZiveToyz said:
I agree with you there Jimmy, and in fact in my original post, that's what I advised anyone to do if they are happy with what they have. Having said that, I switched to 8 and except for that one hiccup I alluded to with GR5 everything is running as smooth as a top. But that's my experience. You might do the same thing and have all kinds of problems. You just don't know until you try, but I suspect you wouldn't have any problems. CoolCat, you only read my first post and are complaining about the very same things I show you how to fix later on in the thread. If you will download the app I allude to and install it, all your problems will go away. If they don't I will swallow one of my guitar picks! LOL!


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If it does turn out poorly, I expect video of said guitar pick choking. lol!

I am not one to judge new product issues. I just do not see manufacturers releasing drivers for W8 quickly. Not like they did for W7. Vista was like outing your brother as being gay, before he wanted to come out. By the time W7 came out, most drivers were already on top of what MS was doing. Well, to a degree.

I suppose what I am saying is that W8 is looking more towards the tablet/touch market. I do not see a reason to move from something that is completely stable. For what reason would I move?

As far as a recording computer is concerned, XP worked pretty damned good. W7 opened up the 64-bit ability as default. Ability to use multiple cores/and more RAM. Same basic operation as XP, but with more resources.

Do I need a OS that works great with my touch screen device so I can chat here? Absolutely! Do I give a shit when it comes to stability with software/hardware that works with what is available, and I have working now? Well, there is no possible argument there.

IMO, W7 for recording. Whatever for whatever else. Don't upgrade til there is a reason to do so. Not like W8 offers 48 tracks of .27ms latency with USB3.0. It is just another OS with it's own set of issues that I am sure we will hear more about.

And again, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong. Not in my experience however.
 
As I orignally stated in the first post of this thread,"If isn't broke, then leave it the hell alone!" LOL! I liked my Windows 98 Second Edition better than any of the Microsoft OS's since. I'd still be using it if they still made software for it. Lets face the facts; Microsoft is in the business of selling OS's. The point of this post was to advise people NOT to change OS's if they were happy with what they had. If they already have 8 I offered a way to make it more palatble to them. Nothing more, nothing less. Arguing OS's is like arguing DAW's. The best OS or DAW is the one you like best and that works best for you.
 
XploZiveToyz said:
As I orignally stated in the first post of this thread,"If isn't broke, then leave it the hell alone!" LOL! I liked my Windows 98 Second Edition better than any of the Microsoft OS's since. I'd still be using it if they still made software for it. Lets face the facts; Microsoft is in the business of selling OS's. The point of this post was to advise people NOT to change OS's if they were happy with what they had. If they already have 8 I offered a way to make it more palatble to them. Nothing more, nothing less. Arguing OS's is like arguing DAW's. The best OS or DAW is the one you like best and that works best for you.
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Now we are still in complete agreement. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Um what? Green bar? So yo have a shitty ass laptop running W7 I presume? lol!

Not judging, but W7 is absolutely just as stable as XP became. It has been like 2 years since XP went off the support list right? You can stop the admin popups too. W7 is almost exactly like XP, when you disable all of the fancy shit. Actually less double clicking.
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I don't use the Home version, it's a special corporate version of Win7, so because of security, there's more shit locked out than on my corporate XP Pro machine....and no, the laptops are not shitty, it's Win 7 that sucks IMO. Same folders instantly pop open in XP....take forever in 7.

It ain't just me....I know a lot of DAW users who still prefer XP over Win 7....and they all say the same thing, that XP is "snappier"....but I only use Win 7 at work, and I still use XP too, but we are moving to all Win 7, and I guess in the near future Win 8.....UGH! :facepalm:

The nice thing with my XP-based DAW is that I don't have to worry even if XP is no longer technically supported (though MS still patches it)...'cuz I run my DAW off the network, so it's extra-lean. I don't need to upgrade anything on it. It never gets bloated with junk.
Heck, I still have my fully functional other DAW that is W2K....and it too is lean and everything pops as soon as you release the mouse button.
I just don't see that with Win 7....and with several apps open , Win 7 drags even more.
 
miroslav said:
I don't use the Home version, it's a special corporate version of Win7, so because of security, there's more shit locked out than on my corporate XP Pro machine....and no, the laptops are not shitty, it's Win 7 that sucks IMO. Same folders instantly pop open in XP....take forever in 7.

It ain't just me....I know a lot of DAW users who still prefer XP over Win 7....and they all say the same thing, that XP is "snappier"....but I only use Win 7 at work, and I still use XP too, but we are moving to all Win 7, and I guess in the near future Win 8.....UGH! :facepalm:

The nice thing with my XP-based DAW is that I don't have to worry even if XP is no longer technically supported (though MS still patches it)...'cuz I run my DAW off the network, so it's extra-lean. I don't need to upgrade anything on it. It never gets bloated with junk.
Heck, I still have my fully functional other DAW that is W2K....and it too is lean and everything pops as soon as you release the mouse button.
I just don't see that with Win 7....and with several apps open , Win 7 drags even more.
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Then how do you even know what you are talking about here man?

I am not sure in what fashion we are talking about here. Is XP really fast when running internet and 'several other apps' at the same time? Are we not on a home recording site?

I thought we were talking about recording. And you say you have a 'locked out corporate version' of Windows 7? That does not sound like you have a basis for judging what W7 actually is? Sounds like you are limited to what your corporate version is allowing you to give an accurate opinion about. Why the corporate limitations anyway? Did you place them on yourself? I am really curious. Thought you worked for yourself?

Home Premium version of W7 is what is typically recommended for recording. What caused you to go with 'corporate' version of W7, and how could you form an opinion, when you have already stated that you have a version that limits the OS?

I like you Miro, but you 'drag' more than W7 does. You obviously are making judgments that are not based in fact here. Yes, there are many who still have great results with XP, and that is fine. But you are giving an opinion on W7 that you yourself just admitted to being 'locked out'.

My OEM version of W7 is not locked out of anything, and has no bloatware crap in it. I suppose that is why it just works.
 
XploZiveToyz said:
As I orignally stated in the first post of this thread,"If isn't broke, then leave it the hell alone!" LOL! I liked my Windows 98 Second Edition better than any of the Microsoft OS's since. I'd still be using it if they still made software for it. Lets face the facts; Microsoft is in the business of selling OS's. The point of this post was to advise people NOT to change OS's if they were happy with what they had. If they already have 8 I offered a way to make it more palatble to them. Nothing more, nothing less. Arguing OS's is like arguing DAW's. The best OS or DAW is the one you like best and that works best for you.
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Thanks so much for posting that free download! My Window 8 can run faster now, without all the freaky stuff. I counted it takes 4 movements on the new win8 to get to the restart/shutdown button. and having to jump back and forth from page to page is not for me.

This "start menu 8" is really cool, and was easy for us who are all thumbs on pc software...thanks again.
Theres someone at work who will enjoy this too, they bought win8 and didn't like the Smart Phone interface.
 
jimmys69 said:
I like you Miro, but you 'drag' more than W7 does. You obviously are making judgments that are not based in fact here. Yes, there are many who still have great results with XP, and that is fine. But you are giving an opinion on W7 that you yourself just admitted to being 'locked out'.

My OEM version of W7 is not locked out of anything, and has no bloatware crap in it. I suppose that is why it just works.
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Isn't it just the case that we all have slightly different experiences with our Windows machines though?
 
To add something else here about different versions of windows. Home to Ultimate they are almost all the same. The only differences are networking related. Usually "corporate" machines are slower because they are doing 100 things your "home" version isn't They are logging onto a domain and mapping network drives. Talking to active directory and syncing files. If you took Windows 7 Professional home and installed it on the same PC and used it the same way you use home, you wouldn't notice a difference.
 
I have both XP and W7 *at work*...hooked up to the same stuff, doing the same things....XP is snappier, W7 drags.

I thought I already said that.

It's a *direct comparison*, and I prove that point to my co-workers daily when we see how W7 chugs compared to XP, but at least it's a major improvement over Vista which was/is a total piece of shit and I never bothered to use it work or at home, and instead stayed with XP (which is why I still have XP boxes running at work while most have been forced to switch to Vista, and then W7, but now I to have W7 boxes.

In addition to that, I run a cleaner/leaner XP in my studio, off the network....which it's even faster than my XP work system. I can point you to recording forums where guys are talking about DAWs and OSs and there are other people who say they think XP was/is better and are hating the switch they made or just not switching at all, same as me.

All my judgments are based on facts, as I've experienced them, and what others have said. I'm sure W7 can be used very well with recording apps, I just don't see what it adds to recording specifically so that it justifies the upgrade....unless you are now running apps that no longer can run on XP or whatever else....but that's a different thing.

And no, I don't work for myslef....I do IT work for a company. The majority of end-users see little with changing OSs, since they only look at their email, Facebook and basic apps....but on the IT support side, XP was/is still everyone's favorite OS for a variety of reasons....which most end-users wouldn't ever notice.
I'll just point out that this thread started with the OP talking about his W8/W7 mess....and also other people before me said that they preferred XP over either W7 or W8.
There must be something to it.

On the corporate side, yes, there are newer/stricter security aspects, so that drives the OS upgrades sometimes, though we usually don't jump on a new OS as soon as it comes out. On the home side, most of that may not even apply, so the main reason Microsoft pushes out new OSs is so they have something new to sell....and they usually need to change things up to make the new OS stand out from the previous one. I think with W8 they got another stinker.
 
miroslav said:
There must be something to it.
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I don't know. All I can add, in continuance of the OP's message, is that I achieved far more, in audio terms, on my single core Windows XP machine, than anything else I've owned since.
 
I have to say that just the other day, on the Magix/Samplitude forums (I use Samplitude as my DAW app)....someone else was making a similar point. That with their XP box they ran all kinds of tracks in their DAW, but now with W7...the DAW drags.

*shrug*

I mean...everyone has a different setup.
I bet there's no two systems that are identical between ALL the members here at HR. There may be a lot of the same OSs, but everyone has something installed/configured that makes their computer unique to them...so there's always that, but my views about OSs go beyond just the "end-user" experience, as I've had my hands deep into the guts of OSs from back in Win3.1 and Win95 days, through Win98, NT, W2K, XP, Vista and now Win7, to also inlcude server OSs.
(notice I didn't mention WinME...which I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole because it was possessed and cursed! :D)
 
Agreed with what was said above. XP is snappier just because of the front end stuff though. In 7 you have added theme details and little things like transparency on your startbar, etc. All these things seem minor but it's just more work for your machine. I never did get much time with XP 64 bit so I can't say much for that but thinks like memory upgrades and multicore processing matter. You have to have xpsp2 to get multithread support which also means that apps that were written most likely weren't using it. As such you would need to upgrade your apps to use the new technology which then runs into compatibility issues (this is all hypothetical, not talking specifics).

I choose windows 7, I prefer the look of it honestly. I love it for clients machines (if for no other reason than driver loading). I usually just build my machines accordingly. A quad core I-5 or -7 with 12 - 16gb of ram and an SSD. If someone can honestly tell you at that point that xp or 7 seem faster, they have lost their damn mind lol.
 
polarity said:
A quad core I-5 or -7 with 12 - 16gb of ram and an SSD. If someone can honestly tell you at that point that xp or 7 seem faster, they have lost their damn mind lol.
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Well sure....when you can juice up a machine that much, speed will not be an issue. :)
Funny thing though, as some others have said, you can run XP with a lot less "horsepower" and it will out-pace the newer OSs on the same hardware, so the newer OSs certainly DO require more horsepower to run optimally, but that is not an issue if you want to also keep buying new hardware to feed the OS's needs...though again, there are some very satisfied DAW users still running.... XP machines.
So like the OP said....if it ain't broke, why fix it....or why upgrade? ;)


In time, I will be forced to "adjust" to using Win7 100% at work...and eventually Win8...and as with everything else, it's not a going to be *major* PITA...I'm just expressing my preference for XP, but I know it's doomed, though I'll stay with it on my DAW until the entire system breaks down to dust, and forces me to do a complete hardware/software upgrade....
...which ain't gonna be for a very long time (I have back-ups :D)
 
Coolcat, thanks for posting the results of using that app I recommended. It really does make all the difference in the world! It cuts the clicks that one must make from four down to one. I have no idea why Microsoft didn't just include something like that from the start, but they didn't. When I downloaded the 8.1 update something like that was included, but you had to do a lot of work to find it, and it still didn't work as well as that one. That thing is great! If they had a vote for app of the year I would vote for that one! And since installing that app, I now like 8 more than 7 and think that 8 is indeed faster than 7. As for OS's: I liked my Windows 98 Second Edition better than any OS that Microsoft has produced. If anyone is wondering why I switched, it is because after reading several reviews by independent reviewers who said that 8 is better at handling audio and video applications than 7, I decided to switch. Was it worth it? Probably not, but I've always been one who liked to try different things. Whether 8 is actually better at running audio applications than 7, I don't know yet as it's too soon to tell, but I will keep everyone posted as to my findings.
 
that download was so easy and fast and the user had near zero interference (which in my case helped it work successfully ..lol)

I'll guess again, youngsters with App's and Smart Phone swiping screen pages would probably love Window 8, I wonder if touchscreen wasnt in mind when they developed it too? Target audience = Smart Phone users and Touchscreen sales increasing.

fyi... Best Buy has a 1yr return policy on Seagate hardrives, and Seagate has 2yr. So my early failed HD was replaced for free, just a few minutes ago. I dont really need it now, because I went with USB external HD's...anyway. I took it back with nothing to lose.
+ 1 for Seagate too.

now do I install the SATA again and see if my port frys the new HD?:facepalm:
 
Like I was talking about in my post, I went to an Office Depot and was messing with one of their touch pads that had 8 as it's OS and it worked great. But it just doesn't work for desk top usage, which is why I'm so glad I found that little app. It makes 8 behave the way it's supposed to behave for desk top usage. It was designed for touch pad usage and works well in that capacity, but on it's own without that app, it stinks. Whoever designed that app should be given a medal! I have an Ipad that I use for almost everything, but 8 in a touch pad works just as well as the Ipads OS. The only reason I have an Ipad is simply because there are a lot more music related applications for the Ipad. If it weren't for that fact I'd own a touch pad with a Windows OS.
 
I am hoping windows 7 will stay the standard for the corporate world. I don't even want to try supporting 8. As they make the OS more user friendly they are making it harder on the techs to get to "behind the scenes" stuff, which just means more time troubleshooting and repairing. So far most enterprise solutions are rejecting 8, but we'll see how that ends up.
 
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