- Apr 5, 2005
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I pretty much taught my parents how to use the internet and windows, but they are pretty good at doing the basic tasks now.
I got them a prebuilt dell vostro 200 which is a Pentium Dual core e5300 and 4 gigs of ram w/ Windows XP Professional.
The chipset the dell uses is the intel G33 i think, w/ integrated crap intel GMA graphics..
they've been using it without drama for two years now. Should I even bother with upgrading them to windows 7? one of the pros that i know is it would be more secure for them.
it seems like windows vista and windows 7 are much less susceptible to viruses and malware like antivirus2009.
all my other relatives whos machines i put vista haven't complained to be about any malware, unlike before when i put win xp on their machines. they would come back a week later and complain that its "too slow w/ viruses" :roll: my parents though, are pretty good w/ not downloading crap and getting viruses on the machine, but i'm pretty sure its just a matter of time before that happens.
other than that, im not sure if i'm ready to help them deal with the transitions from one OS to the other.
to those who do IT for your parents/family: are you going to move them from xp to windows 7?
to me, here are the main pros and cons
pros:
64 bit will use all 4 gigs of ram (not that it matters much for websurfing and language software, but still!)
alot more secure than windows xp- i am convinced that the annoying UAC deters joe computer user from downloading and running malware on their machines.
cons:
going to have to learn a new interface? "Hey, where is the start menu!" "hey, where are my applications!"
UPDATE: Well, took literally 10 minutes to install Windows 7 on their PC. I chose the dual boot option (ended up getting a slick deal on a WD Green 1TB HD a few months back). Looks like the wifi usb dongle i use has no Windows 7 64 bit drivers (It's a Hawking HWU54G Rev Z2) and the printer (Lexmark Z52) wont work from the get go, but I don't know if I can get a driver from windows update or not since I can't connect to the internet yet. I either am going to have to hard wire them to the router downstairs or at worst get another wifi card and hopefully not a new printer. if that's the case i'll just have it automatically boot into XP till their printer dies
update 2 : I got a new wireless adapter - Buffalo Wireless N ultra compact usb adapter WLI-UC-GN and it works immediately w/ windows 7 x64!!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162030
proceeded to download all the updates and my webcam and printer work too. looks like the updating process is going to be less painful now, as every peripheral works. the old wireless adapter was a POS anyways and always dropped out.
I got them a prebuilt dell vostro 200 which is a Pentium Dual core e5300 and 4 gigs of ram w/ Windows XP Professional.
The chipset the dell uses is the intel G33 i think, w/ integrated crap intel GMA graphics..
they've been using it without drama for two years now. Should I even bother with upgrading them to windows 7? one of the pros that i know is it would be more secure for them.
it seems like windows vista and windows 7 are much less susceptible to viruses and malware like antivirus2009.
all my other relatives whos machines i put vista haven't complained to be about any malware, unlike before when i put win xp on their machines. they would come back a week later and complain that its "too slow w/ viruses" :roll: my parents though, are pretty good w/ not downloading crap and getting viruses on the machine, but i'm pretty sure its just a matter of time before that happens.
other than that, im not sure if i'm ready to help them deal with the transitions from one OS to the other.
to those who do IT for your parents/family: are you going to move them from xp to windows 7?
to me, here are the main pros and cons
pros:
64 bit will use all 4 gigs of ram (not that it matters much for websurfing and language software, but still!)
alot more secure than windows xp- i am convinced that the annoying UAC deters joe computer user from downloading and running malware on their machines.
cons:
going to have to learn a new interface? "Hey, where is the start menu!" "hey, where are my applications!"
UPDATE: Well, took literally 10 minutes to install Windows 7 on their PC. I chose the dual boot option (ended up getting a slick deal on a WD Green 1TB HD a few months back). Looks like the wifi usb dongle i use has no Windows 7 64 bit drivers (It's a Hawking HWU54G Rev Z2) and the printer (Lexmark Z52) wont work from the get go, but I don't know if I can get a driver from windows update or not since I can't connect to the internet yet. I either am going to have to hard wire them to the router downstairs or at worst get another wifi card and hopefully not a new printer. if that's the case i'll just have it automatically boot into XP till their printer dies
update 2 : I got a new wireless adapter - Buffalo Wireless N ultra compact usb adapter WLI-UC-GN and it works immediately w/ windows 7 x64!!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162030
proceeded to download all the updates and my webcam and printer work too. looks like the updating process is going to be less painful now, as every peripheral works. the old wireless adapter was a POS anyways and always dropped out.
Last edited:
System Restore would do worlds of good if something should happen, anyway.
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