New PC - Windows 7

[BMXTRIX]

So, I bit the bullet and I've gone and ordered a new PC for my family to use. Our old PC isn't that old, but I just had to rebuild it after random acts of randomness kicked in with Vista.

The current PC is decent enough, but kind of weak. It's also a HP, which I've had horrible luck with and don't consider as a manufacturer I trust at all.

So, a new Dell is coming. Their new 8300 with an I7 processor (3.4Ghz) and 8GB of RAM.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-8300/pd?oc=dxdkms3&model_id=xps-8300

I'm super concerned about it having Windows 7 on it. I've got a lapto at work (HP again) which has Windows 7, and it's given me nothing but issues. Also, a Toshiba laptop at home with Windows 7 which I had to reload within a month of getting it due to software issues/BSOD.

I'm hopeful that with Dell I am starting with a far more stable and robust platform to work from, but am terrified of Windows and the significant headaches which Microsoft has introduced since releasing Vista, and continuing with Windows 7.

Have others found to be W7 and improvement over XP, or am I just having a run of extremely lousy luck?

Note: No gaming on these machines. Web surfing, photo editing, maybe some video editing work, and watching streaming content from time to time.

 

[adk highlander]

I use Windows 7 on 3 machines myself and have installed it on at least 20 machines and I have yet to have anywhere near the number of issues that I have had with ANY previous Windows OS. In fact most of the time I can do a fresh install in less than an hour.

For prebuilt PC's I only use Dell and have been very happy with the quality of the machines. This is everything from their basic machines all the way up to Precision Workstations and Servers.

I try to stay away from HP, Toshiba and especially Sony. They always seem to be the ones that I am fixing for people or are generally unstable.

As you have had issues none of this will probably make you feel better about the issues you have had. I will also say that most of these are in an office environment. When it comes to my friend's and family's personal machines they always seem to be able to screw up even the most stable machine.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Well, I don't to tell ya'all what I do for a living for last 15 years and all I'm going to say is Win7 Rules !
Just not Internet Explorer ...

 

[Hi Ho]

I have Windows 7 on all of my PC's. I've been running it since the first beta and have had no issues. I build my desktops myself but I have a Toshiba laptop. The laptop originally came with Vista but even then I wiped it and installed a fresh copy of Vista and removed all the crapware that came on it. It runs Windows 7 flawlessly and is 100% stable.

I find that Windows 7 doesn't seem to lose performance over time like XP always did. I would reinstall XP every few months to keep it running at top speed. I have not felt the need to do that with 7. All of my PC's have been running on the original installation I did when Windows 7 was released and perform like new.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

One thing to really make win7 fly is install it on good SSD... thing start to really fly like under 20 secs boot etc...

 

[Fenix]

I've been using Win 7 for about 2 years now and have had no issues, and have not had to re-install it at all. My computer is on all day every day and has had 0 issues. The only time I ever restart it, is when updates require me to. I'm also using the Pro version which allows you to download and install an XP virtual mode in case you have any programs that won't work on Win7.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Good to hear the success stories with W7. I'm hurting on this one because of how poor it has performed for me so far on a Toshiba and on a HP. The HP is brand new, just bought this year, and is their Elite Book - so a nice machine. The Toshiba was the Black Friday $190 Best Buy deal, and is a PC for the kids, but weird to see the OS go down so fast on it. After I rebuilt it, I've had much more success.

Anyway, it's already ordered, and should be here in a week, so we shall see if my luck with Dell holds truer than my luck with W7 so far.

I want to like it, but to this point W7 has honestly been less stable and more buggy than any other Windows OS I've ever used, and I've used 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, 98ME, XP, 2K, and Vista. So, I think it's saying something. But, I'm glad not EVERYONE is having issues all of the time.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Good to hear the success stories with W7. I'm hurting on this one because of how poor it has performed for me so far on a Toshiba and on a HP. The HP is brand new, just bought this year, and is their Elite Book - so a nice machine. The Toshiba was the Black Friday $190 Best Buy deal, and is a PC for the kids, but weird to see the OS go down so fast on it. After I rebuilt it, I've had much more success.

Anyway, it's already ordered, and should be here in a week, so we shall see if my luck with Dell holds truer than my luck with W7 so far.

I want to like it, but to this point W7 has honestly been less stable and more buggy than any other Windows OS I've ever used, and I've used 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, 98ME, XP, 2K, and Vista. So, I think it's saying something. But, I'm glad not EVERYONE is having issues all of the time.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

My 2c Best Practice humble suggestion:
Do install Ms Security essentials, Do enable auto-updates and Do remove admin rights from your kids login account. Keep Adobe Flash at latest version and DON'T Use IE, but Google Chrome or FF4.

Also in addition to help vs spyware and bad web sites, register to OpenDNS - It's only starting at Free and you can configure your home router to use so it'll help a bit to protect whole home computers.

 

[jinjuku]

I'm super concerned about it having Windows 7 on it. I've got a lapto at work (HP again) which has Windows 7, and it's given me nothing but issues. Also, a Toshiba laptop at home with Windows 7 which I had to reload within a month of getting it due to software issues/BSOD.

It could be a P.I.C.N.I.C error. Those are about the most prevalent error I have seen out there through the years. It doesn't matter what M$ does to the code base, they can't seem to squash that particular problem.

 

[jinjuku]

My 2c Best Practice humble suggestion:
Do install Ms Security essentials, Do enable auto-updates and Do remove admin rights from your kids login account. Keep Adobe Flash at latest version and DON'T Use IE, but Google Chrome or FF4.

Also in addition to help vs spyware and bad web sites, register to OpenDNS - It's only starting at Free and you can configure your home router to use so it'll help a bit to protect whole home computers.

++ ^^
OpenDNS is going to save you a lot of head ache. Also get a firewall (Linksys RV042) that has gateway AV.

Purchase the pro version of Malware Bytes.

 

[Shock]

Do they give you an option to ship with an actual copy of Windows 7 and not a back up disc?

If so, get it and format immediately.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have a feeling that most of your stability problems have been caused by the software "enhancements" that come preloaded from the factory. HP puts tons of crap on their PC's. If you don't have a clean Windows install disc I would at least run PC Decrapifier.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The work HP was terrible to begin with, then got a clean W7 install, and got no better. It continues to have issues with weird things that other people in my office with W7 don't have issues with. For example, my Android phone is recognized by every PC I've hooked it up to, expect my PC, which causes it to go to a blue screen of death. This was immediately after a clean install of W7.

The Toshiba, quite literally, did not have a single application loaded on it beyond antivirus. It has been running fine since I reloaded it.

Just weird stuff since the two PCs exist on completely separate networks and are used for completely different things.

The new PC will not be a kids PC, they have their own (the Toshiba), which they will use for Flash games and perhaps some homework, the Dell will be for my wife and will be mostly used for Photoshop work, iTunes organizing, etc. Not a gaming PC beyond a few on Facebook.

I would accept a picnic error if I had them with every other PC I've owned, but these have been out of the box issues ONLY with W7... After half a dozen other OSs it's not like I've decided to start doing weird stuff with W7. More like W7 is doing weird stuff with me.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The work HP was terrible to begin with, then got a clean W7 install, and got no better. It continues to have issues with weird things that other people in my office with W7 don't have issues with. For example, my Android phone is recognized by every PC I've hooked it up to, expect my PC, which causes it to go to a blue screen of death. This was immediately after a clean install of W7.

This does sound like bad usb port on your HP machine - I seen this happen before...

 

[BMXTRIX]

This does sound like bad usb port on your HP machine - I seen this happen before...

Ports - it happens on every single one of them.

Seriously... If I had issues with Windows ME like EVERYONE else did, then I would think that I was just a moron with PCs. But, I don't install games, or weird stuff. I stick pretty stock with things, and W7 has just balled on me every time.

The Dell PC just shipped so we will find out very soon whether or not I'm going to go bezerk about W7 quality.

 

[picture_shooter]

Win7 is a sweet "OS"

I knew when Vista came out it was going to be junk.
That was why I held on w/ WinXP at that time.

Once Win7 came, I did some beta testing and new it was the one to install.

Have fun

 

[Faustblix]

I'm an IT guy by trade and deploy loads of Windows 7 laptops.

Tips and tricks to improve speed:

1. Click your start button in the bottom left and type in Task Scheduler. Open the task scheduler. ...now if you're not sure what you're doing in there... just take it slow and steady, google what you dont know, but I'll tell you what you're looking for... Anything with "Customer Experience". By default I wager HP has it on board with Microsoft's 'Customer Experience' program that feeds data about errors and such back up to microsoft. ...There are also a lot of other scheduled tasks that won't need to be in there, that can be disabled. ...Unfortunately they're really specific to your laptop, and the rest of what you do I can't help on.

2. Windows 7 Updates... some will slow your stuff down. We found in my office that the Bitlocker update impacts things in our environment, among others.

You could just need a tune up dude. If you're desperate for help with it, can shoot me a PM and I can probably arrange a remote session where I can see what I can do, if you trust.

Cheers,

 

[BMXTRIX]

One if a company laptop which I let our IT guys deal with. It really is a headache, but I'm not going to spend my time messing with it. I am so frustrated over little things which stop working from time to time that I just eat their overhead time on it. Simple things like opening a file on the network using Excel or Word cause issues. Keep in mind this PC was JUST rebuilt and is less than 6 months old. So, there's not really garbage there, or shouldn't be.

Anyway, the kids laptop seems to be running strong right now, so I'm not going to tweak that at all.

Got the new Dell in, but haven't had a chance to set it up yet.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

One if a company laptop which I let our IT guys deal with. It really is a headache, but I'm not going to spend my time messing with it. I am so frustrated over little things which stop working from time to time that I just eat their overhead time on it. Simple things like opening a file on the network using Excel or Word cause issues. Keep in mind this PC was JUST rebuilt and is less than 6 months old. So, there's not really garbage there, or shouldn't be.

Anyway, the kids laptop seems to be running strong right now, so I'm not going to tweak that at all.

Got the new Dell in, but haven't had a chance to set it up yet.

Check out your internet explorer connection/lan proxy settings. Default set to Auto-discover - Disable that.

 

[Hi Ho]

I'm an IT guy by trade and deploy loads of
2. Windows 7 Updates... some will slow your stuff down. We found in my office that the Bitlocker update impacts things in our environment, among others.

I hope you're not suggesting turning those updates off. Windows Updates provide fixes for potentially serious vulnerabilities. Yes, they can sometimes mess things up but for the average user they rarely cause issues and people who do not update are opening themselves up to possible problems that may be completely unnoticed by them.

With that said, I do not have automatic updates enabled. I have it notify me and I look at the updates and uncheck any that are unnecessary.