Going back to Windows 7

[pubrunner]

Hi All,

After a stressful year or so, I've decided to go back to Windows 7 on my laptop.

I've experienced quite a few problems with Windows 10 and it got to a point where it became so sluggish that it would barely work. My laptop is an older one, a Dell Latitude E6430, but it does have an i5 cpu with 16gb of RAM - and given that I only use it for coming on this site, typing a few emails and Word documents, it should be much quicker than it is. Of late, every time I shut it down, it would restart - I couldn't switch the fecking thing off. It would take minutes, just to open the web browser.

I really liked Win XP Pro & Win 7 and I've still got original discs of each in 64 bit versions. I'm almost tempted to bung on Win XP Pro, but I'd be worried about security issues, so Win 7 it is going to be.

I've decided, to reduce my levels of stress and go back to Windows 7 - which was great ! Yes, I know that it is (or will soon be) 'obsolete' . . . so what should I do, to ensure that it is secure . . . what antivirus and which browser should I use ? If you can think of anything else that I should (must) do, I'd really appreciate your guidance.

Thank you !

[wizzard67]

Note that Windows 7 will go EoL on 14th January 2020 and thus stop receiving any updates.

Windows 10 is becoming quite usable now.

[227bhp]

I always change operating systems when i've had a stressful year.

[pubrunner]

wizzard67 said:

Note that Windows 7 will go EoL on 14th January 2020 and thus stop receiving any updates.

Windows 10 is becoming quite usable now.

I realise that it won't be supported by Microsoft after Jan 20020, but won't some of the antivirus/malware companies still be supporting it ?

[anonymous-user]

wizzard67 said:

Windows 10 is becoming quite usable now.

i have a dedicated graphics card and on-board one on my laptop. So imagine I want to use dedicated over on-board should be easy to change you would think, well it isn't and when you find the way to, it doesn't work properly.

So many power hungry pointless bloated apps I wish i could change back but fear it would be worse.

[TonyRPH]

pubrunner said:

I realise that it won't be supported by Microsoft after Jan 20020, but won't some of the antivirus/malware companies still be supporting it ?

There is anti virus software that'll run on XP still. I have an XP virtual machine for my scanner (no drivers post XP!)

As for Dell... I have an Inspiron 15R 5537, and also had issues under Windows 10 (despite being well supported with drivers)

Mrs RPH has a Latitude 3440 - and she's been having no end if issues with Windows 10. Won't always come out of standby, sometimes hangs when it eventually does come out of standby...

Mouse will randomly stop responding.... So many issues.

Just this evening we were discussing installing Windows 7 on it.

I have Windows 7 on my Inspiron and it's pretty quick too.

[funkyrobot]

227bhp said:

I always change operating systems when i've had a stressful year.

Me too.

I'm back on Windows 98 at the moment. It's been a bad year.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

to be fair my work 6540 is fine on windows 10 very stable but to be fair it can slow.down when the av is doing a full scan. Make sure the chipset drivers are all up to date and all firmwares too can do wonders for stability.

If yow want speed and reliability you need windows ME

[bigpriest]

Is additional AV worth the hassle? All it seems to do is slow machines down and interfere with processing tasks when you need them most. The in-built Windows10 Virus and Threat Protection is just as good for normal users who aren't accessing special interest sites.

[300bhp/ton]

pubrunner said:

Hi All,

After a stressful year or so, I've decided to go back to Windows 7 on my laptop.

I've experienced quite a few problems with Windows 10 and it got to a point where it became so sluggish that it would barely work. My laptop is an older one, a Dell Latitude E6430, but it does have an i5 cpu with 16gb of RAM - and given that I only use it for coming on this site, typing a few emails and Word documents, it should be much quicker than it is. Of late, every time I shut it down, it would restart - I couldn't switch the fecking thing off. It would take minutes, just to open the web browser.

I really liked Win XP Pro & Win 7 and I've still got original discs of each in 64 bit versions. I'm almost tempted to bung on Win XP Pro, but I'd be worried about security issues, so Win 7 it is going to be.

I've decided, to reduce my levels of stress and go back to Windows 7 - which was great ! Yes, I know that it is (or will soon be) 'obsolete' . . . so what should I do, to ensure that it is secure . . . what antivirus and which browser should I use ? If you can think of anything else that I should (must) do, I'd really appreciate your guidance.

Thank you !

All joking aside. Maybe give Unbuntu a go. It’ll likely transform the performance of your machine and should cover off all the things you mention. Google Pages/Sheets or Open Office mean you don’t really need MS Word either most of the time.

[romeodelta]

Forget Windows 7.

Chuck a fresh install of Windows 10 on an SSD and see how you go.

[RobDickinson]

Dos 6.22 is secure against almost all internet based attacks

[ARHarh]

Instead of trying to go back to Win 7 try a fresh install of win 10. I run it on numerous machines none of them less than 7 years old and it works perfectly. the problem is much more likely to be upgrading rather than a fresh install.

[tjlees]

ARHarh said:

Instead of trying to go back to Win 7 try a fresh install of win 10. I run it on numerous machines none of them less than 7 years old and it works perfectly. the problem is much more likely to be upgrading rather than a fresh install.

+1

Win 7 Pro got very sluggish for me, even when I upgraded to SSD - I put a fresh install of Win 10 on with a significant improvement in speed -booting up in a few seconds and instantly calling up word and browser.

Its worth noting if you have gained malware and adware, it will sigfnicantly slow your laptop down - my daughters had windows defender and firewall switched on but had 882 instances of malware/adware when I ran several 'proper' virus/malware/adware checkers .. and put adblock/adguard on your browser !!