Windows 7

[MikeRivers]

I know, I know, it's time for a round of "Does ##### work with Windows 8?" followed by a chorus of "I have a %%%%% and the driver doesn't work." Well, I finally got a computer set up with Windows 7 last night.

 

Now that y'all have had half a dozen or more years with Win7, tell me some things I can do to make it look and work as much like WinXP as possible. I have a Classic desktop set up so that helped a bit. I'm not sure what Aero is but I think I have it turned off.

 

Networking witih my WinXP computers is a bit odd and I'm not sure yet what's really shareable. I can see all the computers from all the other computers, but my WinXP computers are all in a (legacy, of course) workgroup called Workgroup. The Win7 one doesn't seem to have a way to be included in that but it shows up, as well as some shared folders, on the other computers. I can move files between computers but I don't quite know why.

 

Do I need to do "optimizing" things like turning off indexing (how?) like we used to do? Switch to the Legacy Firewire driver? Firewire audio hardware worked on this computer under Win7 but I haven't messed with it under Win7 yet.

 

Help me out before you move on and forget all you ever knew.

[A. Einstein]

 

tell me some things I can do to make it look and work as much like WinXP as possible

 

 

 

How To mod Windows 7 In 7 Steps

 

1. Drink a carrot juice.

2. Take a screenshot of Windows XP.

3. Make a PDF out of the screenshot.

4. Print the PDF.

5. Cutting-out the PDF to the size of the Windows 7 monitor.

6. Glue the PDF to the monitor of Windows 7 computer.

6. Drink another carrot juice.

[daklander]

 

How To mod Windows 7 In 7 Steps 1. Drink a carrot juice. 2. Take a screenshot of Windows XP. 3. Make a PDF out of the screenshot. 4. Print the PDF. 5. Cutting-out the PDF to the size of the Windows 7 monitor. 6. Glue the PDF to the monitor of Windows 7 computer. 6. Drink another carrot juice.

 

 

Add vodka to the carrot juice.

[rasputin1963]

You can go into ADVANCED SYSTEM PROPERTIES and literally turn off all the "eye candy" (shadows and gliding menus, etc.) that can take up computer resources.

 

Per each program you have installed, you can right-click on its icon, then assign it a Compatibility with an earlier version of Windows. ie., You instruct Windows 7 to run a particular program as though it were in XP (or 2000 or Windows 95, etc.).

[A. Einstein]

 

You can go into ADVANCED SYSTEM PROPERTIES and literally turn off all the "eye candy" (shadows and gliding menus, etc.) that can take up computer resources. Per each program you have installed, you can right-click on its icon, then assign it a Compatibility with an earlier version of Windows. ie., You instruct Windows 7 to run a particular program as though it were in XP (or 2000 or Windows 95, etc.).

 

 

 

OMG !!!

 

And what about ATARI 1040 ST and Commodore 64 ???

[rasputin1963]

the good news is that newer, better programs are being released all the time. No sooner does one program become obsolete, than, typically, something better will become available.

[A. Einstein]

One of my grandfather always said:

 

"I buy a refrigerator next year, next year better refrigerator will be available".

 

He died with 82 and never bought one.

[Alndln2]

http://www.blackviper.com/2009/10/01/black-vipers-windows-7-super-tweaks/

[MikeRivers]

 

http://www.blackviper.com/2009/10/01/black-vipers-windows-7-super-tweaks/

 

 

Amazing. I've already done most of those just by instinct, but I'll go through the whole list and see what I've left out that I don't mind turning off (which is nearly everything). Thanks for the link, too, which also tells me where Advanced System Properties that Rasputin suggested is.

[Bookumdano2]

A few things I always do... turn OFF system restore. But that's because I use Ghost.

 

I leave all Aero activated because the computers here all have decent ram and video cards and so Aero works fine.

 

I discovered this year that I like the taskbar at the TOP of the screen. And I LOVE ramming shortcuts up onto the taskbar. It's cool along with being able to hide things I don't want to look at under the little triangle up top.

 

I also discovered that I like everything BLACK. Black desktop, black taskbar. The ability to right click on the desktop and personalize stuff is handy. Maybe that was in Vista too. I skipped that release.

[techristian]

 

OMG !!! And what about ATARI 1040 ST and Commodore 64 ???

 

 

Thems is fightin words.

 

As far as turning off all of the eye candy, I tried with the Beta version of Win7. My 10 year old Cubase and other 10 year old apps still didn't work. That's why I'm still an XP refugee. That's why I only look for software that runs on XP, such as Adobe CS4. (I hear that CS5 won't run on XP)

 

Dan

[rasputin1963]

Has anyone here ever learned to overclock their processor chip? Apparently my own computer is a prime candidate for that, but I hesitate to do it, as I've also heard that it shortens the life of your chip. Kind of like the story of the farmer who killed his goose that laid the golden eggs.

[Anderton]

I am a complete idiot when it comes to networking, trust me on this. Yet I've been able to network two Windows machines (Windows 7-64), two Macs (one Intel, one PPC), and two laptops (Windows XP and Vista-64) - about as disparate a group as you could find. I could never get things to work right with XP, but what's working for me is they all connect to the same DSL hub (Ethernet for the desktop, wireless for the laptops).

 

With Windows, it seems you just right-click on a folder, go to properties, and enable sharing. The folder shows up when you access the computer either through the network (with Windows) or the Finder Connect to Server (with the Mac). The only complication I've found is I do need to specify the computer account name and a password when first connecting, but really, it's been super-simple to network everything together And I don't even know what I'm doing

 

Once you get into 7, you'll find it does everything more smoothly than XP.

[deanmass]

I am starting to think that we will all be using tape again in 5 years. Ya know, just to keep the Cylons out.

[philbo]

 

Has anyone here ever learned to overclock their processor chip? Apparently my own computer is a prime candidate for that, but I hesitate to do it, as I've also heard that it shortens the life of your chip. Kind of like the story of the farmer who killed his goose that laid the golden eggs.

 

 

It made sense at one time for those who were constrained by processor thruput. In this brave new world of multicore multithread processors I haven't run into that problem for years, though.

 

I do know an experimenter who overclocks his CPUs as a hobby, and uses liquid cooling systems to avoid meltdowns.

[Anderton]

Has anyone here ever learned to overclock their processor chip?

 

Overclocking is overrated

[MikeRivers]

Overclocking is overrated

 

So, I think, is Pro Tools.

[Rekel]

So, I think, is Pro Tools.

 

Who needs Pro Tools when one can have great software like e.g. Cubase/Nuendo?

[MikeRivers]

 

Who needs Pro Tools when one can have great software like e.g. Cubase/Nuendo?

 

 

I don't need Pro Tools at all for doing real work. I'm perfectly happy with my Mackie HDR24/96. But if I want to report on how something works with Pro Tools, I need a Pro Tools system to try it out on.

[WRGKMC]

You can get Win 7 to function allot like XP in some ways but you cant change the

start menu from a scroll type to a classic menu without adding third party software.

When asked about it Microsoft said arrogantly says "Get over it, we arent making the classic

menus available any more so get used to doing things our way."

 

Luckily you can right click on the desktop and personalize the windows and get rid of

most of the Aero crap by selecting a classic stule window. The menus you just need to

get used to. It makes finding some things a little more difficult but you do get used to it.

 

One thing you will find is the OS actually runs better over time. There's memory optimization built in

and once the system gets to know your work pattern it allocates memory to the programs and functions

you use the most which is actually very useful. Beyond that theres some extra services you may never use

that boot automatically, but going through tweaking them wont gain you much more horsepower.

 

The system will perform just as well as XP from a fresh install, and over time will be more stable than XP

when you press the OS it to its limits. I'd say if anything, you do have to dig a bit harder to find your system

tweaks when you first install the program but thats pretty much a one time deal. Its not like you have to

do that every day.

 

The only thing you'll need to get used to Mike is the way Win 7 intergrates the Audio drivers into the

Win Mixer. I Know you do allot of testing on different audio gear drivers when you're doing your reviews.

You'll notice the win mixer needs to have the proper devices selected for your media players to play back properly.

They can get confused, or at least they have for me on occasion, if you have several sets of interface drivers connected.

Its not that hard to figure out luckily. You can click on the Sound Icon under the control panel and short cut to selecting

them if you cant access them from the sound Icon on the task bar.

[MikeRivers]

I usually don't use media players on my "working" machines, and on my "office" machines, I don't jerk around interfaces. But I just expect that if I plug in a different interface, I'll need to select it as the Windows default. Does the Microsoft Sound Mapper no longer exist in Win7?

 

I'm having a hard time getting used to the new style Control Panel, but selecting "Small icons" at least puts up an icon for most every function like the old version did. Most of the time I got to the right place when I made a selection from the six or so top level "big icons" display so I suppose I could get used to that. And the Start menu doesn't bother me since I rarely use that either. I have probably what some would consider too many desktop icons for shortcuts to the programs I use all the time, and that seems to work best for me.

[Rabid]

Most of my Win7 issues are networking. At the office the combination of Win7, Server2010 and shared Microsoft Access files have caused major headaches. Microsoft's solution is to implement Shairpoint, an unnecessary complication as far as I am concerned. Amazing how they can break something as simple as putting a database on a shared drive and letting users access it across the network.

 

At home I'm having a strange issue with a new Win7 on a laptop and networking. When I plug it into Ethernet it has no problem connecting to my Windows Home Server. When I connect wirelessly through my Airport it thinks that I am on a different network and cannot connect to the Home Server box. 3 other notebooks do fine including my MacBook Air.