OT Windows XP vs. Vista programs.

[kik]

I run  all XP pro at my company, I wouldn't trade it for anything but as some others have said support is going to stop for this OS. Other mfg's are not going to make their software compatible for XP also. I have played with Vista some and although it is slow and bulky, harder to figure out where your going. You can revert it back to the so called classic look of XP or some would say 98. It's still vista but it looks a little more like XP and makes it a little easier to mover around in. The later versions of Vista are a lot more stable than they used to be. I haven't heard of to many problem with it. 

[elamey]

Bob, I just re-read your post. Based on the statement "I am computer illiterate...."
Make this easy on yourself. Get the XP machine. It will look just like what you have now.

By the time XP becomes obslete you will need a new box anyway. Go with what you know. XP will look just like your current pc. It won't be outdated etc... for a good 5-7 years


You will NOT be behind on drivers or updates. Windows xp runs 63% of the PCs in the world. So of course any new hardware device will have an XP driver until another OS takes over. Extended support on XP is scheduled to end in 2014, expect them to move that out another 3-5 years.

Despite the post by "the guy who works where the OS's are made" Windows7 will be buggy and a hassle until SP1. "the guy who works where the OS's are made" and his crew screwed office up so much that it's almost un-usable. If they did the same thing to Windows7 you won't be able to find a thing. Win7 will have an xp mode, but it will be a virtual XP session within windows 7, not a native instance. In short, xp mode will be buggy, slow and unstable. Sadly Windows7 is simply a repackage of Vista. It's still same bloated unstable kernel as Vista. Microsoft refuses to learn from Mac or linux os's

[RainDodger]

Interesting take on things, elamey. Don't expect XP support to "move out another 3-5 years". As for a re-packaging of Vista, think again. It's people like you who purport to pass on fact when they really don't have the facts to pass on. What I passed on is my opinion based on facts garnered from working here for many years and actual experience with the things I'm talking about.

I'll be leaving this thread now, as I won't get into an argument regarding opinions.

[elamey]

My data is NEVER based on opinion, i've read it in tons of trade magazines and blogs including technet.
You can google it real quick and get tons of articles like this one.
The headline reads

MS: No new kernel for Windows 7, same requirements as Vista
Chris Flores of the Windows Client Communications Team "Contrary to some speculation, Microsoft is not creating a new kernel for Windows 7." said Flores..

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2008/05/ms-no-new-kernel-for-windows-7-same-requirements-as-vista.ars

No opinion here...just citing an article. Thanks for playing

Interesting take on things, elamey. Don't expect XP support to "move out another 3-5 years". As for a re-packaging of Vista, think again. It's people like you who purport to pass on fact when they really don't have the facts to pass on. What I passed on is my opinion based on facts garnered from working here for many years and actual experience with the things I'm talking about.

I'll be leaving this thread now, as I won't get into an argument regarding opinions.

[RainDodger]

Anytime. Never know what you'll get with Google.... now if it was Bing, we KNOW it would be accurate!

All in fun.

[Alien]

I am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit on a quad core.

I fought switching to Vista for a long time because of everything I have read! I have been using Vista for over a year now (I use Media center) and have had no problems. I watch and record live TV, Have a large DVD collection on my Hard drive. Photo edit and recode video.

One of the reasons I decided to move to Vista was support for XP and programs for XP are not going to be supported indefinately. Vista support should be here for a while.

[jmanjeff]

go for one with windows 7 Ultimate that way if you have any apps or say a scanner that only runs in XP  you will be able to Windows XP Mode it is in beta now but i have not had any problems with it

[murf]

go for one with windows 7 Ultimate that way if you have any apps or say a scanner that only runs in XP  you will be able to Windows XP Mode it is in beta now but i have not had any problems with it

True, jmanjeff IF your processor supports virtualization.  Many do not.  

See THIS. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/r2e-microsoft-intel-goof-up-windows-7s-xp-mode.ars

[jmanjeff]

My processor dos not support virtualization and it still works

go for one with windows 7 Ultimate that way if you have any apps or say a scanner that only runs in XP  you will be able to Windows XP Mode it is in beta now but i have not had any problems with it

True, jmanjeff IF your processor supports virtualization.  Many do not.  

See THIS. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/r2e-microsoft-intel-goof-up-windows-7s-xp-mode.ars

[murf]

Interesting.  Which processor are you running?  I don't doubt you or say you're wrong, just curious.

[Ardy]

I don't know about all the stuff you guys are talking about but FreeCell on Vista sucks. I found a way to program the old FreeCell back in. So I'm happy with Vista now. 

[jmanjeff]

Interesting.  Which processor are you running?  I don't doubt you or say you're wrong, just curious.

AMD Athlon 64 X2  5600  It dos support AMD-V the amd web site just don't show that it has it

[HogBob]

I want to thank everybody for their replies and help. I didn't see many of them until this morning since I couldn't get the friggin' computer to open Internet Explorer or my Comcast Email ( still can't get Outlook Express which I prefer). I tried C Cleaner at suggestion of guy at BestBuy and it sold me a program called RegCure for $49.00 which I tried to use. I now have a window that I can't close called Microsoft .Net Framework telling me about "an unhandled exception has occurred". It wont cancel and won't close. I rightclicked and 'moved' it to the far right of the screen so I could view most of my screen. Now It won't move back. I also get a window marked "Windows Install" that disappears when I click on the screen but also wont respond to 'cancel'. For some reason, I can now open Explorer and Comcast Email but the 'Microsoft Net Framework' window wont close. From reading some of your replies, it's evident that you are experts. I don't even understand the terminology used!! Anyway, I bought a new HP desktop package at Sam's Club yesterday. a Pavilion Slimline model s3707c-b. It has the Vista program which I see many of you don't like, but I bought it before I could open HTT and read your replies. Hopefully, it will work OK for me. HTT is a great forum and I really appreciate all the help I've gotten from you all. My next task will be getting to keep my HogBob name on HTT when I use the new computer. Bob

[elamey]

Good stuff here jmanjeff. What processor are you running? It is possible that the processor you purchased downloaded an updated driver at some point which may emulate the BT virtualization.
The other possibility is that XP mode in Win7 beta is using/running VMware somehow. They may have decided to change the VT only stance based on the number of processors that won't run it, and re-incorporated hypervisor type eumlation.

I gotta say that I am a Win7 skeptic BUT I am excited about the possibilities if they get it right. IF XP mode works well, they will soon make the os itself vitual. Imagine booting up your pc to a virtual operating system. So the base OS boots up to run the hardware, but the session you use is virtual...in a secure container within th os. You click on an e-mail with a virus or other nasty program. The only thing that gets infected is your virutal session, not the base os itself. You terminate the virtual session or simply re-boot and that virtual session is wiped out leaving your base os in tact.

HUGE HUGE help for security (though hackers WILL find a way) and support. PC manufacturers will rush this out because the service call will be "shut up and re-boot" :-) Anything you screw up in the virutal machine will be washed away. The only real problems left will be hardware

[02roadcling]

Your name HogBob has nuttin 2 do wit ur pc. u can sign in on any pc anywhere

[elamey]

Bob, vista will be fine. I'm one who would have chose differently but it will be fine.

I wanted to chime in one last time on your  "unhandled exception error"
If you dont' have one, go get a USB flash drive and copy anything important from your old pc to the new one. If you have valuable information, like taxes or pictures (or the most important Dyno sheets :-) and you dont' know how to do it, pay some geeky kid to do it for you.

Do this before you try any other fixes. The next "fix" may break the PC and make it more expensive to recover your data. RegCleaner should have backed up your previous registry settings before making changes, you might explore how to restore those. But get your stuff off that old machine asap.

.Net unhandled exception errors are bad. For lack of a better term, .Net is a OS software "layer" or "fabric" that just about any MS application needs to run. It provides for commuication to hardware and other software between the user software layer and the hardware layer. So an error there is an issue. You may be able to fix it by re-service packing your os or  re-installing .Net or re-storing your registry, but don't do any of that until you get your important data backed up and on another machine.

Finally, any of you all who are thinking about buying sofware like this. Search as much as you can, in Bobx case, CCleaner will do the same thing as RegCleaner...for free. I use CCleaner all the time and have had no issues. Free is good. Check out Gimp BTW it's a free photoshop with about 90% of the real photoshops functionality.