Reinstalling Windows 7 after almost two years

[Leyawiin]

This past weekend I reinstalled Windows 7 on a PC that's had Windows 10 since the free upgrade was first available. I haven't used Win 7 in a year and a half. After all this time I thought I was pretty well acclimated to 10, but after an SSD failure I thought I'd install Win 7 first just out of curiosity. I don't own a single DX12 game at this point so that's not an issue. It installed almost as fast as 10, but needed a few system drivers installed that were automatic with 10. Still, it was quick and painless. Even the Win 7 update process that I remembered with horror (all day long affair) was now quite quick. From start to finish it installing and updating took about three hours. Guess those rollups MS introduced helped.

Once I installed WoW Legion, Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition I was pleasantly surprised how "not" different they ran than with 10. As a matter of fact everything is just as quick if not quicker software-wise. One huge difference are the desktop fonts. With 10 if I used anything but 100% the fonts on many menu boxes are quite blurry. Not a problem with Win 7 - sharp and crisp.

The main difference is familiarity. Even after a year and a half away most everything on Windows 7 just makes sense. I don't have to fumble around looking for some esoteric setting or bass-ackwards way to do something. Its like driving a car you've owned for years - everything just seems to work without thinking much about it. Plus the interface just looks better IMO. Never like Window's 10 flat, mobile inspired look. Anyway, no questions or problem here - just an observation of how nice Windows 7 still is. Guess we have another 2 1/2 years of support left.

 

[PeterRoss]

At the end of the day, it still is a personal preference. I usually go with the most recent version of Windows, rarely disappointed. Windows 10 design is always appealing to me, everything is quick and makes sense. Obviously, it took some time to remove all the bloatware and so on, but I would still stick with it.

In your case, I am happy that you enjoy windows 7 and 2.5 years is still a long way to go

 

[88keys]

I'm with the OP. Windows 10 just doesn't seem fluent at all. My biggest gripe is having two of everything. A 'metro' control panel which is nearly useless, and then you have the 'real' control panel. Windows 10 just feels like a skin on top of Windows 7 and that where I get lost. Granted there are some tweaks and what not, but I don't feel like an OS should need extensive changes to adjust it to my liking. Microsoft needs to figure out that Desktops and Tablets both serve very different markets for different purposes and this idea of trying to use a single OS for both needs to die.

 

[mikeymikec]

I agree with the OP though to some extent I agree with PeterRoss (with regard to a large amount of personal preference being involved). However I do think that Windows 10 and the notion of "Windows as a service" is problematic because if Microsoft views it as a platform to sell things, then it is likely to become rather like most other platforms used to sell things, for example the supermarket: I can pretty much guarantee that approximately every six months, some regular content will be re-arranged. I'm of the understanding that this helps the supermarket sell more. It might work that way for them, but does this help me do the job that I need to do?

Does it help me in some way that the Creator's Update has removed the Control Panel option from the menu one sees when right-clicking on the Start menu, and now I have to pin it to the list (or use a third party app)? Does it help me that the Command Prompt options have been removed from that menu?

Would it help the average user if TV remote controls could be reprogrammed by the manufacturer without user consent so that the buttons can switch positions or be removed?

Hopefully by the year 2020 Windows 10's UI team will have burnt out their desire to remove and move stuff around, but I rather doubt it. I also have the sneaking suspicion that tech support staff will have to ask the question "but which version of Windows 10?" quite often (for example, the famous line of "the supported lifetime of the device", and the Clover Trail generation has been EOL'd and won't get the Creators Update, which means that support-wise they were better off staying on Win8.x), and the notion of Windows 10 being the last version of Windows will become virtually meaningless.

UI-wise though, IMO the default settings of Windows 10 make it look rather dreary and washed out. Once one tints the title and status bars it helps, but the funny thing is that if one were inclined to use the Windows 10 style apps all day long, almost all of the screen will be either white or black. Didn't black go out with the days of DOS, and wasn't white considered hard on the eyes a long time ago?

 

[88keys]

In some ways, MS is trying to follow suit with Apple's MacOS with their releases and what not, but I don't see that working as well for Windows 10. Aside from the fact that MacOS is designed strictly for desktops and laptops; MacOS is designed to work with only very specific hardware and Apple essentially controls the sandbox. This makes updating much more streamlined and eliminates the need for forking which has a tendency to get really out of hand. Windows has always struggled, but somehow managed (to a moderate extent) to keep up with the current consumer needs in terms of security, functionality, and performance while being compatible with 20+ year old software and hardware that many organizations still depend on. This is one of the main factors that keep outdated Windows OSes in use long after end of life.

I guess it's an ongoing struggle that they hope to resolve (or at least significantly reduce) with windows 10, but I see that being a seriously long road until it finally matures in the eyes of the general consensus.

 

[Murloc]

I guess it's an ongoing struggle that they hope to resolve (or at least significantly reduce) with windows 10, but I see that being a seriously long road until it finally matures in the eyes of the general consensus.

yeah, but I tend to think that staying still wouldn't be a better option.

At some point the old control panel and all other old stuff will have been filtered out of system in some way and all will be fine.

 

[razel]

If you plan on using computers then you should familiarize yourself with OSs. Computer change quickly, humans historically evolve slowly, but we're well into the Information Age. I wouldn't dinosaur myseIf and let time pass you by. Many of Win8's UI design decisions are used by Google and IOS.

OTOH, I suppose if it's your primary computer then you may not want win10 on it if your win7 install is golden and proven.

 

[ronbo613]

I have Windows 10 on my laptop and Windows 7 on my desktop. I run a lot of the same software. I've used Windows 7 since it first came out and I don't really have any complaints. It's been reliable and done the job. Windows 10 is OK. I don't like the automatic updates and get the feeling it's doing stuff that I don't know about. Maybe it's because I'm an old school computer user; I prefer to tell the computer what to do, not the other way around.

 

[quikah]

To each their own. I find Windows 7 to be fugly and clunky. I praised the heavens when my company offered the inplace upgrade to 10.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This past weekend I reinstalled Windows 7 on a PC that's had Windows 10 since the free upgrade was first available. I haven't used Win 7 in a year and a half. After all this time I thought I was pretty well acclimated to 10, but after an SSD failure I thought I'd install Win 7 first just out of curiosity. I don't own a single DX12 game at this point so that's not an issue. It installed almost as fast as 10, but needed a few system drivers installed that were automatic with 10. Still, it was quick and painless. Even the Win 7 update process that I remembered with horror (all day long affair) was now quite quick. From start to finish it installing and updating took about three hours. Guess those rollups MS introduced helped.

Once I installed WoW Legion, Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition I was pleasantly surprised how "not" different they ran than with 10. As a matter of fact everything is just as quick if not quicker software-wise. One huge difference are the desktop fonts. With 10 if I used anything but 100% the fonts on many menu boxes are quite blurry. Not a problem with Win 7 - sharp and crisp.

The main difference is familiarity. Even after a year and a half away most everything on Windows 7 just makes sense. I don't have to fumble around looking for some esoteric setting or bass-ackwards way to do something. Its like driving a car you've owned for years - everything just seems to work without thinking much about it. Plus the interface just looks better IMO. Never like Window's 10 flat, mobile inspired look. Anyway, no questions or problem here - just an observation of how nice Windows 7 still is. Guess we have another 2 1/2 years of support left.

Since your actions were precipitated by an "SSD failure," am I to assume that you didn't restore the Win 10 from a backup before adding Win 7, or that you just kept Win 10 out of the equation?

Somewhere in this forum and in response to a thread or post that I made, someone noted that a dual-boot configuration of Win7/Win10 was less troublesome if the Win 10 were installed first and Win 7 subsequent to that.

Just wondering if my assumptions are correct about your system and its status after the Win 7 install. I keep Win7 installed on my system in a now-much-smaller partition than Win 10. I almost have to remind myself once a month to boot into 7 for the updates. But everything works perfectly now. After the #1703 Creators Build update, it took me a couple weeks to restore flawless operation of the dual-boot feature. We are inclined to think the order of installation was problematic.

 

[Ketchup]

I really like 10 personally. I am still good with 7, but had very few issues adjusting. 7 was a great OS, and I doubt MS is going to change that until it reaches EOL and people are forced to switch. Fortunately, MS was smart enough not to leave us hanging with 8 and it's goofy gui.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

After working with 10 and Classic Shell, I had a humorous thought.

Windows may be trans-sexual. Inside every Windows 10, there's a Windows 7 struggling to get out or come out.

 

[postmortemIA]

Both have advantages and disadvantages at this point. I have dual boot system, and after first major Win 10 update I've found myself almost exclusively using it.

The biggest missing thing for me is "recent items" list on start menu and on every app in Windows 7.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Both have advantages and disadvantages at this point. I have dual boot system, and after first major Win 10 update I've found myself almost exclusively using it.

The biggest missing thing for me is "recent items" list on start menu and on every app in Windows 7.

Now, I'm just waiting for SiliconDust to finish their Beta HD Homerun DVR so that it actually records DRM channels.

I don't like what I call the "commercialization of windows OS." The default Chiclet menu, simplification of things that obscure features for the benefit of mainstreamers and their all-prevalent ilk. But something like Classic Shell helps a lot, and the rest of it requires some discovery effort.

 

[Ketchup]

Recent items list is definitely on my stock Windows 10 start menu. At least it's on my browser if I don't have it attached on the right and I get one on all my office programs that are in the recent programs list.