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Confused about WIndows 7 purchase. OEM bs single install, etc.

Matt_Stevens

Matt_Stevens

Senior member
Gang, my parents wreck their computers every six to nine months. Every time I see them it's a genuine nightmare and I have to reinstall Windows (which I am doing on their system right now).

I despise Win8 and the reinstall is going badly. I want them to downgrade to Windows 7. But WTF is up with the various versions of Windows 7? I lucked out and got a student version of Ultimate that lets me do what I want so that was cool. But for them... Not sure what to do.

What I need is for them to have Windows 7 that will allow me to reinstall it a lot (on this same system) since I know when I visit each holiday it will be ruined with viruses, etc. It's inevitable.

Newegg has eleven versions of Windows 7!

I see it cheaper elsewhere, but don't know if those places are trustworthy. I'd appreciate some help with this. Thanks.
 
Why not build an installed and completed disk and then make a copy of it as backup on another disk? This is exactly what I am doing with the wife's new work computer and with the expectations it'll need to be reinvented on a regular basis.
 
if your parents just use their computer for email, web surfing, etc, I would put a Linux distro on it. Obviously if they have apps that specifically require Windows, this wont work.
 
As long as the computer doesn't change, you can activate windows as many times as you want. OEM would work but is tied to that computer. Using that student ultimate version is a violation of the license however.

If they keep screwing it up, why do you give them admin rights?
 
I bought a Windows 7 Pro System Builders Edition and I have reinstalled it on my laptop more than 30 times by now, at one point, even my motherboard of the laptop was replaced and I still activated it fine, granted, using the phone activation system.

so the builder's edition is the cheapest you can get, that is valid for installation on one system at a time as many times as u like

I got mine for 100 USD from a retail store in the netherlands, comes with like a mini pack (not box)
 
A backup partition with a clean install, preferably with their programs also installed, will save you a lot of headache in the future.
 
Never made a backup partition with a clean install before. I can look into that, but I need an answer to my actual question... Which one to buy? It will take a few days to ship to me so in that time I can research, but I want to be able to order tonight if I cannot get this stupid system running with Windows 8.

imagoon said:
Using that student ultimate version is a violation of the license however. If they keep screwing it up, why do you give them admin rights?
Click to expand...
I'm not using my Windows 7 on their system. My father somehiow got himself in as an admin not long ago and BAM, it all went to hell. Even without it they keep getting it F'd up.

Linex is not an option, people.
 
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My parents are retired. They cannot possibly learn a new OS. And both use programs requiring Windows.

Anyway... Back to my original question, which i am not sure has been answered.
 
Matt_Stevens said:
My parents are retired. They cannot possibly learn a new OS. And both use programs requiring Windows.

Anyway... Back to my original question, which i am not sure has been answered.
Click to expand...
before purchasing this Windows 7 Pro System Builders Edition from a store, I came here asking the very same question and everyone's answer was the same, no online key is safe to buy unless from Microsoft directly

so your best bet is to run to a computer store and buy the same System Builder's edition that I bought

Windows 7 Pro FTW
 
Get the clean install done, make an image of it with Ghost or Acronis True Image or something. When they screw it up, just backup their favorites/my docs/whatever and put the image back on.
 
Avatar tech support called and were cool, getting me through a more complicated method of installing Win8 (deleting the C partitions, reformatting, etc.) and I now have Win8 installed and successfully installed the NVIDIA drivers from NIVIDIA's site. That's a first in these past 36 hours. But...

Windows Update is hanging. It checked or updates, found them and has been percolating for maybe a half an hour NOT downloading the updates I chose (I only chose one). I want to scream. I've never experienced such wait times with past versions of Windows. WTF?!?!

So I am stuck AGAIN!
 
Are there any needs to have the Pro version as opposed to the Home Premium version?

IIRC, I've seen home builder oem licenses for Home Premium go on sale for around $60 or so.


As far as updates hanging, I've encountered that once with Windows (not 8 though). I remember. I ended up trying again the day after and it worked fine. My guess is that it was a server issue of some kind.
 
imagoon said:
If they keep screwing it up, why do you give them admin rights?
Click to expand...

This. Make them limited users. If they mess up, it'll only trash their account, not the entire system, and can be fixed easily by creating a new account for them, copying over the documents from the old account, and nuking the old one. So much easier than reinstalls.


I personally like the Pro edition because I'm halfway across the country and Pro has Remote Desktop.
 
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It's looking like it was an issue of Windows and how stupid it was in the creation of the restore disc and the way in which it was to be restored.

I ended up on the phone with Alan from Avatar and he was terrific. PATIENT, knowledgeable, understanding and never condescending. He took me through a long, far more complicated process of making sure the C drive was wiped out so that Windows8 would not find any old drivers or settings. Looong story short, everything is installed, including all updates.

So much so that it is currently upgrading to 8.1. So kudos to Alan at Avatar.
 
G73S said:
with all due respect, I don't know Alan nor know what's Avatar (other than the movie) so we don't really care about the kudos but glad you got your issue sorted 😎
Click to expand...

I'd buy Alan lunch if I could! 😀

No doubt he made it happen and this system is working wonderfully. I am truly grateful to them for their service.
 
According to my research, Pro has XP compatibility mode. Windows 7 Ultimate has XP Mode and is multi-lingual. (That may be useful if you know several languages.)

I never tried discountmountainsoftware but read here they have Windows for cheap. (Just checked their site. It looks like the download versions are cheaper so you can always download an ISO image to make a disc on mydigitallife.) http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/comment-page-1/

As long as you use the product key for the right image, I don't think you'll have any difficulties. Or you can also try not entering a product key.

EDIT: As a passing comment, I read XP Mode can be either a little slow or sometimes glitchy.
 
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