Upgrading OS on PC??

[seamorton]

Current desktop is using XP as the OS. Would like to erase the current HD and install Win 7. I have a number of bookmarks, programs, etc that I would like to save before I install Win 7. What/how would be the best way to do this or just clear the HD install Win 7 and start all over again? Did a test to see if PC will run 7. It qualifies but not sure if it will handle newer OS. For now Win 7 will do just fine.

Any & all suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much! SM

 

[whm1974]

Current desktop is using XP as the OS. Would like to erase the current HD and install Win 7. I have a number of bookmarks, programs, etc that I would like to save before I install Win 7. What/how would be the best way to do this or just clear the HD install Win 7 and start all over again? Did a test to see if PC will run 7. It qualifies but not sure if it will handle newer OS. For now Win 7 will do just fine.

Any & all suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much! SM

First, what are your system's specs? Second, have you thought about buying a decent refurbished computer? They can be had for not much money with fairly good specs for the price.

 

[daveybrat]

Current desktop is using XP as the OS. Would like to erase the current HD and install Win 7. I have a number of bookmarks, programs, etc that I would like to save before I install Win 7. What/how would be the best way to do this or just clear the HD install Win 7 and start all over again? Did a test to see if PC will run 7. It qualifies but not sure if it will handle newer OS. For now Win 7 will do just fine.

Any & all suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much! SM

You cannot 'upgrade' Windows XP to 7. You can backup all of your data first and then format and install Windows 7 from scratch but you'll lose all programs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I question the wisdom of buying into Win7 at such a late date. It will be EOL next year, thus leaving you behind the curve with internet security, when the patch spigot gets turned off.

 

[seamorton]

First .....The System is an XP Home Edition Service Park 3 ..... Pentium (R) 4 cpu 3 ghz 3.24 gb ram. Second .... I have a decent refurbished computer with win 10. Hope this helps to answer your ???

Looking to upgrade the XP PC for a backup. Can you offer any suggestions?? Thank you very much! SM

 

[VirtualLarry]

First .....The System is an XP Home Edition Service Park 3 ..... Pentium (R) 4 cpu 3 ghz 3.24 gb ram.

Back up your data, and junk that heap. Hope that you saved your program installers somewhere.

I literally can't fathom why someone would want to use something that old. An Atom-based ITX board, and a 120GB SATA SSD, would make a FAR faster system, for most things, I think. A lot lower power consumption too, if you care about such things.

Edit: Or just get another refurb, a Core2Quad for like $50-100, with Windows 7 64-bit pre-installed.

 

[mikeymikec]

@seamorton

You need to post a more detailed spec of the PC you wish to upgrade. For example, a machine with a P4 3.2GHz processor could have an Intel chipset (which is a far better candidate for upgrading), or some really cheapo chipset like SiS or even ALi which could cause you further headaches. Another possibility is that if it was some weird Dell with a custom graphics chip then you could have problems.

Not to mention how much RAM your computer has, what replacement parts it's had to date, etc. If it's a PC from a big-name manufacturer then the brand and model number will probably answer most of our questions.

I do have to wonder why you would upgrade the XP PC even as a backup for your refurb Win10 PC though. If the Win10 PC is a refurb (e.g. a Vista or Win7 PC upgraded to 10), it could very well be nearly ten years old already, so if the XP PC needed say more RAM (which could be difficult if it's DDR1 RAM), I'd seriously question whether it's worth the investment (let alone the cost of a legit Win7 licence).

Alternate suggestion - stick Linux on it? I don't know what your requirements are before I recommend this option more strongly, but say Lubuntu will likely run a heck of a lot better than Win7 will, and you're not having to worry about Win7's end of support date in 2020.

It also depends largely on the nature of what this backup PC's role is when it's in use.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

First .....The System is an XP Home Edition Service Park 3 ..... Pentium (R) 4 cpu 3 ghz 3.24 gb ram.

You need to post a more detailed spec of the PC you wish to upgrade. For example, a machine with a P4 3.2GHz processor could have an Intel chipset (which is a far better candidate for upgrading), or some really cheapo chipset like SiS or even ALi which could cause you further headaches. Another possibility is that if it was some weird Dell with a custom graphics chip then you could have problems.

7 can run on a P4. But I'd advise against it, it wont be a particularly good experience. Speaking from personal experience. 7 will also go out of support in less then a year, so i'd question if its worth the bother. There should be driver support for all P4 chipsets built into 7. Hunting down a graphics driver might be possible, if its nothing too exotic. I certainly wouldn't spend anything upgrading such a box.

Since you appear to be happy with running XP on it, why not just stick with that? It's not like XP will suddenly stop working overnight. Nothing wrong with keeping an XP system around, I do that myself. Just do everyone a favour and keep it off the internet.

If you -must- connect it to the internet, some flavour of Linux will be a far better bet. There has recently been a wave of cutting 32bit support. So unless your P4 is 64bit capable, you properbly shouldn't count on much support going forward.

If you need an internet connected backup computer, it might be time to start saving for something newer, as VL suggested.

 

[mikeymikec]

So unless your P4 is 64bit capable

I missed the elephant in the room

I wouldn't expect too much 32-bit support in Windowsville either, what with nvidia dropping 32-bit support. It wouldn't surprise me if apps like Chrome become 64-bit only in the near future.

 

[VirtualLarry]

So unless your P4 is 64bit capable, you properbly shouldn't count on much support going forward.

Yeah, it's junk. Put a fork in it, it's done.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I missed the elephant in the room

I wouldn't expect too much 32-bit support in Windowsville either, what with nvidia dropping 32-bit support. It wouldn't surprise me if apps like Chrome become 64-bit only in the near future.

Yeah, it's junk. Put a fork in it, it's done.

Lets not forget the EM64T implementation on the P4 is essentially a quick jury rigged bandage. It'll -run- 64bit code, and that's about it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Lets not forget the EM64T implementation on the P4 is essentially a quick jury rigged bandage. It'll -run- 64bit code, and that's about it.

Similar to how AMD's Brazos APU ran 64-bit code? (Eg., not well, things took 2x the number of cycles, and the cache effectiveness was halved.)

 

[C1]

You shouldnt have to get rid of XP. Instead set up a dual boot. (Ive done this on some of my laptops as I need Win7 to run TurboTax.) The MS OSes are set up to do this. In fact, you're pretty much already there as the oldest OS is supposed to be installed first anyways for dual boot.

Win7 certainly isnt the cure all or end all OS upgrade. Whatever you do, do not mess with 64bit (if that is even possible in your case).

You will find that much of your XP applications should useably run in 32bit Win7. In fact, you can even use XP applications such as PAINT, WORDPAD, NOTEPAD, CARDFILE, etc. direct in Win7.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Similar to how AMD's Brazos APU ran 64-bit code? (Eg., not well, things took 2x the number of cycles, and the cache effectiveness was halved.)

It's not that there is anything wrong with it. It's just very much a first gen implementation. Performance is a bit better then half compared to a first gen C2D at the same frequency. So slow as molasses. With only a single core, the result is not pretty.

Win7 certainly isnt the cure all or end all OS upgrade. Whatever you do, do not mess with 64bit (if that is even possible in your case).

Well, exchanging one obsolete OS for another very-soon-to-be obsolete OS seems like a waste of time. Better to stick with XP, and keeping it off the internet in this case.

It's a single core P4. Likely with an old, slow HDD. It'll choke on simply doing Windows 7 updates.

 

[whm1974]

Better to junk the system then trying to make anything useful out of it.

 

[seamorton]

You cannot 'upgrade' Windows XP to 7. You can backup all of your data first and then format and install Windows 7 from scratch but you'll lose all programs.

Initially I was contemplating on formatting the HDD with a HD erase disk software and do a fresh installation of Win 7 as suggested. Not really astute with this but I'd like to save the bookmarks, & data. Some would be a start.

What/how would you suggest to use for saving & backup applications procedure. DVD, USB be satisfactory? Thank you for your insight & understanding. SM USAF 62-66

 

[daveybrat]

Personally i'd just use a USB flash drive or an external hard drive.

 

[seamorton]

7 can run on a P4. But I'd advise against it, it wont be a particularly good experience. Speaking from personal experience. 7 will also go out of support in less then a year, so i'd question if its worth the bother. There should be driver support for all P4 chipsets built into 7. Hunting down a graphics driver might be possible, if its nothing too exotic. I certainly wouldn't spend anything upgrading such a box.

Since you appear to be happy with running XP on it, why not just stick with that? It's not like XP will suddenly stop working overnight. Nothing wrong with keeping an XP system around, I do that myself. Just do everyone a favour and keep it off the internet.

If you -must- connect it to the internet, some flavour of Linux will be a far better bet. There has recently been a wave of cutting 32bit support. So unless your P4 is 64bit capable, you properbly shouldn't count on much support going forward.

If you need an internet connected backup computer, it might be time to start saving for something newer, as VL suggested.

Back up your data, and junk that heap. Hope that you saved your program installers somewhere.

I literally can't fathom why someone would want to use something that old. An Atom-based ITX board, and a 120GB SATA SSD, would make a FAR faster system, for most things, I think. A lot lower power consumption too, if you care about such things.

Edit: Or just get another refurb, a Core2Quad for like $50-100, with Windows 7 64-bit pre-installed.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and your suggestions did not go unappreciated. I started somewhat on building my home PC. Xp worked and I can depend on it to start up and run when activated.

However I decide to take the advice of others when software writers, companies did not provide links to upgrade my GPS, etc.

Up graded to Win 7 but as mentioned I purchased a refurb with win 10 that worked right out of the box as advertised. That is, after mentioning my refurb 10 I decided to start it up, as I hadn't use it for a few days.

It powered up, but would not open win 10 without a password??? How could this be as it always started and opened when I turn it on?? I probably should post this on another forum. Thank you!

 

[seamorton]

You shouldnt have to get rid of XP. Instead set up a dual boot. (Ive done this on some of my laptops as I need Win7 to run TurboTax.) The MS OSes are set up to do this. In fact, you're pretty much already there as the oldest OS is supposed to be installed first anyways for dual boot.

Win7 certainly isnt the cure all or end all OS upgrade. Whatever you do, do not mess with 64bit (if that is even possible in your case).

You will find that much of your XP applications should useably run in 32bit Win7. In fact, you can even use XP applications such as PAINT, WORDPAD, NOTEPAD, CARDFILE, etc. direct in Win7.

7 can run on a P4. But I'd advise against it, it wont be a particularly good experience. Speaking from personal experience. 7 will also go out of support in less then a year, so i'd question if its worth the bother. There should be driver support for all P4 chipsets built into 7. Hunting down a graphics driver might be possible, if its nothing too exotic. I certainly wouldn't spend anything upgrading such a box.

Since you appear to be happy with running XP on it, why not just stick with that? It's not like XP will suddenly stop working overnight. Nothing wrong with keeping an XP system around, I do that myself. Just do everyone a favour and keep it off the internet.

If you -must- connect it to the internet, some flavour of Linux will be a far better bet. There has recently been a wave of cutting 32bit support. So unless your P4 is 64bit capable, you properbly shouldn't count on much support going forward.

If you need an internet connected backup computer, it might be time to start saving for something newer, as VL suggested.

You covered that pretty well. Was hoping to keep XP on one PC, than 7 on another than my refurb HP with win 10 to round it out. However the refurb win 10 has become unable to access. Thank you!

 

[whm1974]

@seamorton You could simply install Windows 7 on the refurb PC.

 

[seamorton]

Personally i'd just use a USB flash drive or an external hard drive.

Must of had a senior moment .... Thanks for reminding me I believe I do have an external unused HD and a number of USB flash drives.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

It powered up, but would not open win 10 without a password??? How could this be as it always started and opened when I turn it on?? I probably should post this on another forum.

On Vista/7/8/10 you can "enable" auto login by making a local account/offline account without setting a password and keep that as the only account on the PC. It's a very bad idea though. Or you can use the Sysinternals Autologon tool. That way you can configure automatic logon with password protection.

I highly (and I can not emphasise this enough) recommend setting up a password protected account for security reasons. Of the online variety. Full admin rights, no password and the internet just dont mix.

 

[mikeymikec]

I highly (and I can not emphasise this enough) recommend setting up a password protected account for security reasons. Of the online variety. Full admin rights, no password and the internet just dont mix.

Sorry, but your advice is wrong. They're two utterly different things, and there's only one scenario when your advice becomes relevant: If it's a laptop with filesharing services enabled and the user is in the habit of connecting the laptop to very open networks (ie. LANs where untrusted people connect). Otherwise, a computer sitting at home is sitting behind at least one firewall, wouldn't be sharing anything up by default, and by default is set to not allow computers to connect to it with empty passwords.

Even if the computer was being used to connect to untrusted LANs with filesharing services enabled, saying a password is highly recommended is not useful advice. Windows filesharing services are not meant to be used with untrusted networks because they advertise tonnes of information about the machine and the MS services its running and the authentication system AT BEST (assuming non-enterprise, ie. NTLMv2) is very insecure. Windows filesharing services is a very chatty protocol because it's designed with the assumption that it's talking to friends; a password sniffer will use that to its advantage and the PC will already have given out the username and PC name in the clear.

I agree - kinda - with your "full admin rights and the Internet don't mix", but not for any reason related to passwords. User Account Control is enabled by default even for Windows users without passwords, so a user signing in to Windows with a password has the same level of protection wrt UAC as a user without a password. The same process of escalation occurs, and even for the user with a password, the password isn't requested when escalation is requested through UAC.

By all means recommend that users sign in to Windows with an account with only standard user privs and have a separate admin account that doesn't ever get used except when absolutely required (though IMO it's a potentially problematic PITA with regard to the average user), but again, the only point of a Windows password is to deny access to unauthorised users with physical access to the PC, and even then, it's trivial to break through unless significant hardening measures have also been deployed. Even then, any malware worth a damn will have been designed to bypass UAC one way or the other.

 

[seamorton]

@seamorton You could simply install Windows 7 on the refurb PC.

After several attempts to get to the window repair mode I was able to get to the advanced options mode - troubleshoot - reset this PC - remove everything - only the drive where windows is installed - remove my files - reset. After several minutes I was able to get to the Windows setup screen. So now I'm back to square 1. However the passwords were of my choosing so for now everything is working.

I thought about the win 7 install. However this PC uses Win 10 so I should be satisfactory for awhile. Thank you!

 

[Ketchup]

$140 for a refurbished, fast, power-efficient Lenovo running Windows 7.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883998062&ignorebbr=1

A P4 is nothing but a space heater at this point (and I mean that quite literally - those put out a lot of heat that grew proportionally as they got faster). If you need XP, install it on a Virtual Machine. VMWare Player is free.