A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Long story short: we are helping an older friend of my wife, who is not that savvy with electronics. She is here with us in Maine with an ancient HP laptop, windows 7, loaded with God knows what (she says her system asks her to pay for her Windows 7, aske for CC number...)
Options to fix:

1. buy a basic Dell, have it ship express delivery, migrate her stuff minus the crap
2. clean up my own laptop and make it hers, same migration
3. fix and patch Windows 7 as best I can

Still debating, but I can work on number 3
Advice on that, please.

Only thing I started in defragment, next is check the vicious startup items, and figure that funky "Avast" browser she uses

Notes
- fine way to relax by a Maine lake...!
- do not abuse you body, or you will end up a basket case in assisted living, only relying on a single very good friend.

I really miss the dependability of Windows 7, but isn’t that s security risk this far down the road?
Go with a basic Dell or give her yours and buy yourself a new one.

I am typing this on a Windows 7 laptop. Not because I am stubborn, but because it still works great with no issues. It's not my only computer, but it is my only Win7 computer. It still gets software updates regularly. People saying that stopped are misinformed. The only difference is that you cannot get Microsoft to support it directly beyond those patches. It is slightly more vulnerable to stay on Windows 7, but anyone with a decent understanding of cybersecurity dos and don'ts is safe with it. Just to clarify, this is coming from a guy whose last job (of 13 years) was Principal Software Architect for a very large managed security company.

Edit: But I do tell non-tech-savvy to buy the latest and greatest because I don't want to be their tech support.

I don't know, just did a fresh install of win7 on a all in one computer and it won't get any updates. Sold it yesterday.

Agree with above poster, non-savvy should stick with standard issue, built-in virus protection, and cruise along.

I mean.. that friend has a desktop shortcut for Ask Jeeves. I am working on cleaning up right now (f u Avast), and I do not dare clicking on that Jeeves link, who knows it might take me back to year 2000, with no way to get back here..!

Option 1 by a far, or 2 if you don't need your laptop anymore.

Even with all of the security and other software issues aside, if it's that old the hardware is probably woefully out of spec and prime for a failure, even if you somehow resurrect the OS.

Not gonna lie, Windows 7 is
my favorite version of Windows

Jaymo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:17 pm Not gonna lie, Windows 7 is
my favorite version of Windows

Just curious, how so?
Look and feel?
Functionality, or feature implementation, modified in later Win issues?

Other, sorta: the Windows 11 feel is so darn bland, you feel like reaching for some maple syrup to male it palatable.
Also, I do not understand how a brand-new install needs three rounds of major updates before it is current. It may be a cumulative process, I guess? Anyhow, I find the whole experience tediously painful, possibly making the average user quite confused. It may be updates are meant to gradually roll in the background, invisibly, and unotiiced?

PoodlesAgain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:34 am

Jaymo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:17 pm Not gonna lie, Windows 7 is
my favorite version of Windows

Just curious, how so?
Look and feel?
Functionality, or feature implementation, modified in later Win issues?

Other, sorta: the Windows 11 feel is so darn bland, you feel like reaching for some maple syrup to male it palatable.
Also, I do not understand how a brand-new install needs three rounds of major updates before it is current. It may be a cumulative process, I guess? Anyhow, I find the whole experience tediously painful, possibly making the average user quite confused. It may be updates are meant to gradually roll in the background, invisibly, and unotiiced?

I found Wndows 7 to be very user friendly.
I never had any issues with it. It worked and worked well for me.
It was easier for me to navigate.
7 felt like a proper PC OS.
8 & 10 always felt like a modified
tablet OS.
Simplicity of/ease of use seems to have fallen by the wayside.
I hate how 10 wants me to update every time I boot up.


I use it at work and at home but use an iPad increasingly more at work due to convenience.
I don’t record with it or anything.

Update and recap:
- kept the old win 7 machine intact, cleaned up a bit, found some update
- got the new Windows 11 going, file transfer, set up some game apps (all Solitaire spins, yikes..)
- set up Skype, as my assisted living customer has zero phone
- looked at her gmail, and removed about 100K (yes) spam or stuff she signed up for.

I also realized she does not know about things like copy and paste (know, or knew and forgot). I should have done a "create a folder for me" test.

When demonstrating Skype, I was asked if this was "person-to-person". It took me about half a minute to figure what she meant, the old telephone lingo!

EDIT: I should have brought the Win 7 machine to Win 10, but it looked like it was originally Win 8 and was downgraded with a dodgy Win 7, so I did not risk getting locked out.

I gave it my best shot, and spent quite a bit of time on this whole project.