When you do have the scratch, Windows 7 is worth it. It's stable (with, I've found, one significant exception) and has some very useful improvements.
The exception is this: when some not-fully-compatible software is installed, it causes right-clicking in Windows Explorer to crash Explorer. For someone who works off right-clicks as much as I do, that's a disaster. Fortunately, I've managed to get both my Win7 machines cleaned of all of that. (The big offender seems to have been an old copy of WinRAR; the latest version's okay.)
I concur. only one program I need to use won't function on Win7, and that's more of an OpenGL thing than windows. Win7 turned my laptop that was abominable and useless under Vista (and I was seriously contemplating reformatting with Thermite) into a very nice computer that is faster and cooler. I just use what works and Win7 is so good that the next bigbox I build over the winter will be a 64 bit Win7 machine.
Tried that multiple times. Twice now I've forced myself to stick with it for a month. Despite having been a Linux user since the days of installing Slackware 0.8 from 35 floppies, I have never been able to make Linux work for me as a desktop client. I simply have too many specialized pieces of software that can't be replicated with what's available under Linux and the Windows versions don't play nice under Wine. I've had several Linux pros look at what I do and say "yeah, you pretty much need to stick with Windows." I also have hardware that's not supported under Linux (not adequately supported - I can make it do things but I didn't pay $250 for a film scanner to have it act like a $50 scanner).
I do use OSS as much as possible, but I do so under Windows. In fact I'm pretty sure that everything I use is either free or open source with the exception of my astronomy software (SkyTools 3.0 pro).
Even moving to a Mac would be problematic for me; some of the software has no equivalent Mac version either.
I use a lot of open-source stuff. And, one of the true advantages of a full reinstall is paring down the gradoo software that Has A Wonderful Plan For My Life That Involves Slowing Things Down To A Crawl. A lot of stuff I installed because I thought I'd need it is not going back onto this system.
Fortunately, I can do exactly that. I'm trying to boot from my original SATA drive that came with the system. If that doesn't work, I can still get to everything on the IDE drive. It'll just take a day or so to copy it....
Only because Win7 was mentioned, which would most likely require new and more powerful hardware, may I just say: Get a Mac when you can. Even porn is better on a Mac. I don't know why, but I am in evangelist mode here. And it is Biblical! Eccl 12:3 "those who look through the windows see dimly". ;)
FWIW, I just always do a full reinstall when getting new mainboard/cpu. I've never had success when I didn't. It might kinda sorta work, but within a few weeks I always say "screw it" and reinstall. In the end you spend less time with the reinstall than with fighting little stuff that doesn't work quite right.
I am not sure if it will in this case, but you can try a full over-the-top resinstall where you do not reformat or remove the old install. That may fix things (it is more than just a repair) without causing all apps to need to be reinstalled.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 02:53 pm (UTC)Thank you for reminding me to take another image of my C: drive. (I use Acronis TrueImage, which has saved my seat several times already.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 02:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 03:05 pm (UTC)I did briefly consider going out and getting Win7. But I really can't afford it right this sec, and everything that I want runs on WinXP.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 03:13 pm (UTC)The exception is this: when some not-fully-compatible software is installed, it causes right-clicking in Windows Explorer to crash Explorer. For someone who works off right-clicks as much as I do, that's a disaster. Fortunately, I've managed to get both my Win7 machines cleaned of all of that. (The big offender seems to have been an old copy of WinRAR; the latest version's okay.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 03:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 05:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 05:57 pm (UTC)I do use OSS as much as possible, but I do so under Windows. In fact I'm pretty sure that everything I use is either free or open source with the exception of my astronomy software (SkyTools 3.0 pro).
Even moving to a Mac would be problematic for me; some of the software has no equivalent Mac version either.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 05:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 06:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 03:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 05:39 pm (UTC)Have a good weekend!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 05:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-24 07:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-28 01:13 am (UTC)