To Windows 7 Or Not To Windows 7!?

[Pips]

Will have to upgrade to a new computer in the next month (probably an i7), and am wondering if I should get Windows 7, or stick with XP.

I like XP. FSX and all my games run faultlessly (some are quite old), as does Microsoft 2 joystick and my business programme. I like the XP format, I know my way around it. Like old slippers.

Are there any benefits to be had upgrading to Windows 7? Will that limit some of my games or joystick? Would appreciate folks experiences. :)

[spotlope]

I can't speak for your older legacy games or business apps, but I had remarkably little pain transferring from XP to W7 last year. The biggest benefit I saw from the upgrade was moving from a 32-bit OS to 64, purely for the larger amount of memory available. I can tell you that my install of FSX seems to have enjoyed the upgrade as well, and I can't think of any serious issues I had with it. What minor glitches there were involved drivers for various devices, but they seem to have been patched nicely now as well.

As to whether you'll like the new way of navigating and interacting w/the OS... I guess that depends on how open you are to change. :icon_lol:

[Bjoern]

Windows 7. Period.

[Zoren]

Before you decide to Windows 7 or not, first look-up to see if your older games that you really like and play a lot of will still work under Windows 7. Also, if your joystick is still game port and you really like it a lot, be warned that Windows 7 will not support game port joysticks.

You will also want to double check which version of Windows 7 works with the older games, either 32 or 64 bit version.

[Pips]

Before you decide to Windows 7 or not, first look-up to see if your older games that you really like and play a lot of will still work under Windows 7.

I didn't realise that could be done. Where would I find a site that allows me to do this?

My joystick has a USB connection, so I guess that'll be alright.

[guzler]

I've got Win 7 I7, CFS3, CFS3 Europe freeware upgrade, FSX, Wings of Prey, all work very well.

I'd expect no problems running joysticks. Getting used to the new format will be a small pain, but once you can navigate, I suspect you will prefer it as I do.

Neil

[SirBenn21]

WHAT!

I've forgotten what XP and VISTA look like.

I would never never go back. Windows 7 (64bit) Rules!

Ben

[roger-wilco-66]

Absolutly Win7 (-64 if possible). Went down the same road, and, despite initial second thoughts, I'm very happy with it.
I would suggest to install FSX in an own partition or better on a separate hdd though. No probs with UAC that way, expecially when one tends to edit FSX files very often or if you are developing FSX addons. Turning off UAC (often suggested) globally is not what I would do, since that is an important security feature of Win7 , IMHO.

my 2ct,
Mark

[AndyE1976]

W7 includes a compatibility setting so you should be able to run anything that works on XP. No problems with FSX at all and it's a great OS.

[Daube]

If you are using some old hardware peripherals and old games, you'll have to be carefull with Win7.
I switched to Win7 and recognized that my EPSON scanner was not working anymore with this OS (no drivers).
Also, some old games do not work anymore.
But appart from this, Win7 seems to work at least as good or better than WinXP, and overall I'm extremely satisfied with it.
The only thing to do immediately after the installation is to disable the user account control (UAC).

[txnetcop]

You would not get the full potential of your new i7Core without Win7 64bit. You would be sorely disappointed if you kept Windows XP. If you were going 775 socket it would be tolerable, but not for 1155, 1156, 1366 socket. You can do a dual boot if you are concerned about drivers but I had zero problems with all the Win7 64bit units built at TechCorp on units as old as 4 years old...just no old modems or joystick port support.
Ted

[IFlySWA]

I made the switch to Windows 7 recently and haven't been happier! :wiggle:

Brian

[pilottj]

Get the 7 Pro or higher if you can (preferably 64x), then you can run your old devices with 7's virtual XP feature. :) I have an old Lexmark All In One that wouldn't run on 7 otherwise but with the virtual XP it works fine. Daube, if you are able to upgrade to the pro version your old devices should work via Virtual XP as well.
I have had 7 since last october and have never had any major problems with it. I have no problems at all with FSX other than the adding scenery glitch but that is workable.

Here you can check if your system is virtual xp compatible.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

edit...looks like Home Premium has virtual XP compat as well.

[JAllen]

Win 7 all the way. Do kill UAC and do NOT install to Program Files.

[kjb]

I ran some standardized tests on a dual boot system (XP 32 vs Win7 64) and FSX was significantly faster under Win7 64. It's well worth the upgrade.

[W. Bleddyn]

As said above, if you have an old port joystick that will be an issue. Other then that any XP program, should run fine. I have not had problems with any old ones myself. I haven't even had to run any in compatibility mode.

And as JAllen said.. DO NOT INSTALL STUFF IN PROGRAM FILES. That itself is the cause of most issues I have seen people having after going from XP to Vista or Win 7.

[TeaSea]

Make the move. XP still has a lot of life left in it, but Win 7 is far more capable.

[OBIO]

I just recently built a new system....I7-950 processor, 6gig DDR3 Corsair RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 graphics at 768meg. The system is built to RUN and RUN fast. If I had stuck with XP, I would not be getting the performance out of the system that I am. I went with Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I love it. FS9 SCREAMS and FSX....well, I really haven't even begun to tweak it or anything, but I have EVERY slider, EVERY detail, EVERY setting MAXED to the extreme...and it runs super smooth, no stutters, not stammers.....and like I said, I have not tweaked it at all.

The only problems I have had with the change over from XP to Win 7 Ultimate: My Photoshop 7.0 and Aircraft Container Manager will not run under Win 7. I can run them under the Virtual XP machine with no problems what so ever.

In the next couple months, I will be rebuilding the system and going with a dual boot set up. XP on a 250gig HD for doing my tweaking and skinning. Win 7 Ultimate on a 500gig HD for running the snot out of FS9 and FSX and Diablo II and a few other games that I play. All my sim files will be on their very own 1T HD.

OBIO

[GypsyBaron]

Will have to upgrade to a new computer in the next month (probably an i7), and am wondering if I should get Windows 7, or stick with XP.

I like XP. FSX and all my games run faultlessly (some are quite old), as does Microsoft 2 joystick and my business programme. I like the XP format, I know my way around it. Like old slippers.

Are there any benefits to be had upgrading to Windows 7? Will that limit some of my games or joystick? Would appreciate folks experiences. :)


I was hesitant to go to Win7 so I just got a larger hard drive. Cloned my XP Pro install on that
and then created a dual-boot setup when I installed Win7.

I set Xp Pro as my default boot operating system as that is where all my tools and applications are
located that I use most frequently.

I kept my FSX XP install and also installed it in Win7. I now fly FSX from the Win7 system as
more of my 4 GB memory can be used and it seems to run smoother.

I have a couple of partitions that can be seen by both operating systems so I can
easily move files back and forth, keeping the OS partitions hidden from each other.

To me, I have the best of both worlds :)

Paul

that I

[bpfowler]

I just recently built a new system....I7-950 processor, 6gig DDR3 Corsair RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 graphics at 768meg. The system is built to RUN and RUN fast. If I had stuck with XP, I would not be getting the performance out of the system that I am. I went with Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I love it. FS9 SCREAMS and FSX....well, I really haven't even begun to tweak it or anything, but I have EVERY slider, EVERY detail, EVERY setting MAXED to the extreme...and it runs super smooth, no stutters, not stammers.....and like I said, I have not tweaked it at all.

The only problems I have had with the change over from XP to Win 7 Ultimate: My Photoshop 7.0 and Aircraft Container Manager will not run under Win 7. I can run them under the Virtual XP machine with no problems what so ever.

In the next couple months, I will be rebuilding the system and going with a dual boot set up. XP on a 250gig HD for doing my tweaking and skinning. Win 7 Ultimate on a 500gig HD for running the snot out of FS9 and FSX and Diablo II and a few other games that I play. All my sim files will be on their very own 1T HD.

OBIO

Hey OBIO,
is that 1T HD an external drive?
What's the power supply on your machine, I am now in the market. any pointers appreciated.

regards,
BPF