Get ready for the tears, MS soon to pull the plug on Windows 7

[CyberPro]

6 hours ago, ocka said:

I noticed that Microsoft continued to send security patches for XP long after support had officially "ended."

I think it was 2017 before I upgraded (From XP direct to Windows 10.)

I've seen multiple unpublicized patches from MS as recently as the  last few days for the Windows XP family operating systems, which includes the server version. If you run these systems you'll likely get the updates automatically.

But...abandoned/limited browser support signals the end. If activities like  online banking using popular browsers are not working, it's upgrade time.

I installed Win10 Enterprise on a modestly powered OLD Lenovo laptop and was surprised at how well that runs and how few resources are used. MS seems to have really dialed it in on Win10 OS.

The user interface sucks but maybe there are workarounds.

So for most Windows users it's Win7/Win10, like it or not.

Edited March 13, 2019 by CyberPro

[Inigo]

I was still using XP up until last November. Things were slowly falling apart though, no more Java updates which meant apps that rely on Java didn''t work properly any more. Stuck with an old version of Firefox as nothing new would support XP. Office 2003 still worked fine though. Then Mickysoft made some big changes to the Outlook webmail program, I have two Hotmail accounts so I needed this. I could read my e-mails but replying didn't work any more, I had to fire up Chrome to get Outlook to do that. It all got to be such a pain that I eventually took the PC back to Pattaya-2-U where I bought it and they changed the OS to WIn 10 Pro for free, with Office Pro 2016 also free. There's no need to pay anything for WIn 10 as long as you don't activate it. There's little downside to not activating it, at least not at the moment though MS may change that in future, you just can't customise your wallpaper and minor stuff like that.

I have Win 7 on my PC back in Britain so I was used to that and Win 10 is very similar, at least the way the shop set it up for me. There was hardly any learning curve. My biggest complaint was that the file manager in Win 10 is completely unstable garbage. I downloaded XYplorer Free version, which is a tabbed file manager, and that does the trick, infinitely better than the Mickysoft offering (a Roladex would be better than that crock of shite, ffs!). 

[ocka]

28 minutes ago, CyberPro said:

I installed Win10 Enterprise on a modestly powered OLD Lenovo laptop and was surprised at how well that runs and how few resources are used. MS seems to have really dialed it in on Win10 OS.

I have win 10 installed on a mini laptop with just 2Gb of RAM, and it works OK,  although the 16Gb  SSD is too small to allow upgrades to install ! 

[Taa_Saparot]

Interesting that Windows released a patch against an RCE Malware this week.

And the updates did not just cover Windows 7 but Windows XP and Windows 2003 as well.

[taylor1975]

On 13/03/2019 at 12:18, ocka said:

I have win 10 installed on a mini laptop with just 2Gb of RAM, and it works OK,  although the 16Gb  SSD is too small to allow upgrades to install ! 

Similar here. I have win 10 pro on my work laptop, which has 32gb ssd. After ms office is installed, there isn't much left. I've stopped all updates.

[Garzan]

I just put 1903 on my laptop and desktop. It looks like they've made it easier to delay updates. I guess I've been fortunate in not seeing any of the reported issues that have plagued some 1903 updates. I was reading some news story (and sadly I can't find it now to reference it) that a possible plan going forward would be to support delays, but make it much harder to remain connected to the Internet and stop updates. I'm not sure how likely that is to come to pass, but a big part of me would applaud forcing connected systems to be patched against known exploits. :-) 

[ocka]

13 hours ago, taylor1975 said:

Similar here. I have win 10 pro on my work laptop, which has 32gb ssd. After ms office is installed, there isn't much left. I've stopped all updates.

I just looked at mine,  and the SSD shows about 29Gb total space,  with only 3Gb free, so I was wrong about it being 16Gb.  Still can't run Windows updates though.

[Garzan]

49 minutes ago, ocka said:

I just looked at mine,  and the SSD shows about 29Gb total space,  with only 3Gb free, so I was wrong about it being 16Gb.  Still can't run Windows updates though.

If it's your own, and not a work owned machine, there is a fairly inexpensive fix for that. :-) 

http://i.nvade.it/8YY

 

[NotASexTorist]

6 hours ago, ocka said:

I just looked at mine,  and the SSD shows about 29Gb total space,  with only 3Gb free, so I was wrong about it being 16Gb.  Still can't run Windows updates though.

 

Possibly you have a Windows.old file taking up space or at least a Recovery partition. Though deleting that might not be enough to install a feature update.

The suggestion to fit a 2.5" SSD may not be valid, as there is nowhere to place such a thing within your device.

Yours has an SD card(eMMC) soldered to the Motherboard.

 

So your options would be to run the upgrade from installation media on a USB Flash drive, (dependent on the device) to attach a USB Flash to to extend the storage space so that updates can take place or simply to run a clean install of the latest version to the eMMC drive.

 

Perhaps you can post the full model number in order for us to ascertain your options.

 

 

[Garzan]

On 31/05/2019 at 02:18, Taa_Saparot said:

Interesting that Windows released a patch against an RCE Malware this week.

And the updates did not just cover Windows 7 but Windows XP and Windows 2003 as well.

Apparently due to the magnitude of the threat. I wouldn't expect many other patches on retired operating systems. :-)

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/05/microsoft-says-its-confident-an-exploit-exists-for-wormable-bluekeep-flaw/

[ocka]

14 hours ago, NotASexTorist said:

Perhaps you can post the full model number in order for us to ascertain your options.

It's a Lenovo 110S.

I have heard that  there is a method that would allow me to combine the SD card slot with the onboard SSD to make a single "C" drive from the two devices.

I haven't  tried to do this yet,  and I'm concerned it might then leave the SD card slot unusable for its original purpose, since I might need to permanently leave the "C Drive" card in place afterwards.

[Garzan]

Even if you didn't combine the drives, you could, if you wanted to, move several Windows files over to the SD card slot if you wanted to leave a card (pretty much permanently) in that slot.

On my system, I move "my" stuff off my SSD 'C' drive and onto my spinning 'D' drive. The way I do that is to open the File Manager. Click on This PC to expand the folders. Right-click on Documents, select Properties, Select Location. Move the folder onto the other drive. Repeat for any other folders you want to move, like Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, etc. That may or may not work for how you want to do things. Personally, I'd be leery of combining multiple devices into one big blob. My concern would be a failure on either device making the data on both devices unusable. 

SD cards are a bit more spendy for good ones, and for that, I'd certainly invest in a good one rather than a cheap one, but making it work would be pretty simple.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/memory-cards/sd/sort/price/desc/

And for regaining the use of the card reader if you leave an SD card permanently in place, USB plug-in card readers are widely available, and quite inexpensive. 

http://i.nvade.it/9mg

 

[NotASexTorist]

15 hours ago, ocka said:

It's a Lenovo 110S.

I have heard that  there is a method that would allow me to combine the SD card slot with the onboard SSD to make a single "C" drive from the two devices.

I haven't  tried to do this yet,  and I'm concerned it might then leave the SD card slot unusable for its original purpose, since I might need to permanently leave the "C Drive" card in place afterwards.

 

In the first instance, it looks as if Garzan was partially right(though one would need to know the full model number), as it may have space for a 'proper' SSD drive, but in a different format than he suggested. Not 2.5" but M.2 SATA 3

An example of which can be found here; https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ct250mx500ssd4  Do not choose the PCIe NVMe option.

You could then disable the internal SSD card via the BIOS and clean install Windows 10 to the new SSD or clone the original drive to the SSD and then disable the internal drive, leaving the device to boot from the new SSD.

 

 

This would be the most satisfying solution, as all of the previous problems would disappear.

 

For a no spend solution, but slightly more scary, is to simply clean install the latest version of Windows 10 to the internal eMMC drive.

This should also make your problems go away, as a full clean install of Windows 10 takes up perhaps 13 GB, but installing the latest versions of Windows 10 actually reserves space for future updates so that you will no longer have the problems with no space left for updates. 

 

So either way, you device will begin to perform in the way that it should.

 

[NotASexTorist]

On 01/06/2019 at 07:18, ocka said:

It's a Lenovo 110S.

I have heard that  there is a method that would allow me to combine the SD card slot with the onboard SSD to make a single "C" drive from the two devices.

I haven't  tried to do this yet,  and I'm concerned it might then leave the SD card slot unusable for its original purpose, since I might need to permanently leave the "C Drive" card in place afterwards.

 

If you decide to go forward with either, post here so that we can make the preparations. Creating suitable installation media etc.

[ocka]

On 01/06/2019 at 17:07, Garzan said:

And for regaining the use of the card reader if you leave an SD card permanently in place, USB plug-in card readers are widely available, and quite inexpensive. 

Aha!  Good thinking.  In fact I already have one that I use for reading SD cards on my desktop box.

[ocka]

12 hours ago, NotASexTorist said:

it may have space for a 'proper' SSD drive, but in a different format than he suggested. Not 2.5" but M.2 SATA 3

Many thanks for researching this for me. 

I have checked the website of one of my local suppliers,  and they seem to have a number of M.2 SSD drives at quite reasonable prices, so I will open up the case of my laptop and have a look at exactly what is in there at the moment.  It would make the box much more practical if I upgraded it to a larger drive than it has now.  There seems to be a WD Green M.2 240Gb available here for AUD $48  (about 1000 THB)

Fortunately,  I am not using the laptop very much at the moment,  so its not been a problem.  Right now I'm accessing the forum from my desktop, which has plenty of resources for Win 10.

[NotASexTorist]

8 hours ago, ocka said:

Many thanks for researching this for me. 

I have checked the website of one of my local suppliers,  and they seem to have a number of M.2 SSD drives at quite reasonable prices, so I will open up the case of my laptop and have a look at exactly what is in there at the moment.  It would make the box much more practical if I upgraded it to a larger drive than it has now.  There seems to be a WD Green M.2 240Gb available here for AUD $48  (about 1000 THB)

Fortunately,  I am not using the laptop very much at the moment,  so its not been a problem.  Right now I'm accessing the forum from my desktop, which has plenty of resources for Win 10.

 

There will be nothing in there, as the SD card is welded to the Motherboard. It cannot and should not be removed.

One can disable it via the BIOS setup screen. You can get to the BIOS setup screen via the Novo button.

The M.2 slot will be empty. 

 

Meanwhile, here is someone who clean installed Windows 10 to a similar device(haven't watched it myself. It's a bit long winded, but might be useful if there is no one else around);

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbDSBtcgvlI

 

 

[Gary Loei]

On 15/01/2019 at 10:41, Garzan said:

" Some people have clung to Windows 7 the way Leonardo DiCaprio should've held on to that door in Titanic. Call it a work-related necessity, devotion to a legacy operating system, or just plain stubbornness, but a fair number of Windows 7 users have simply refused to update to Windows 10. They'll only be able to do that for another year, though, because that's when Microsoft will do its best Kate Winslet impression by leaving all those people behind. "

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-one-year-to-live,38435.html

(long past time to turn off life support.)

 

I have an old Acer laptop that came with Linux. I upgraded it to Linux Mint. I have some security cameras that need Windows to run. I still have an original Windows 7 legal retail. I struggled through putting it on the Acer. Everything looked pretty good until I tried to connect WiFi. I spent a couple days trying everything I could think of. Nothing worked.  And yes, I downloaded drivers on my desktop and put them on a memory stick. That failed too. I finally went back to the latest version of Mint and shit canned the Windows 7.

As far as I am concerned Windows 7 is dead and better buried. If I decide I need the laptop, I will buy Windows 10 and go with that. I'm quite happy with Windows 10 on my desktop. On the laptop Mint finds the WiFi and connects nearly automatically after putting in the password.

It irritates me that the camera systems both work on my Android tablet and phones. It's not worth the effort trying to get them to work on Mint but I'm pretty sure it is possible. I'm just not smart enough to find the way.

[Garzan]

33 minutes ago, Gary Loei said:

I'm quite happy with Windows 10 on my desktop. On the laptop Mint finds the WiFi and connects nearly automatically after putting in the password.

I think my personal issue is holding on to whichever operating system long past whatever the end of life was for patching that system ~and~ connecting it to the Internet where it can create problems for all the rest of us. Whatever works for whoever is great, use whatever you like and enjoy. :-) It's that connecting unpatched systems to the Internet bit that is a bother. 555

[NotASexTorist]

4 hours ago, Gary Loei said:

I have an old Acer laptop that came with Linux. I upgraded it to Linux Mint. I have some security cameras that need Windows to run. I still have an original Windows 7 legal retail. I struggled through putting it on the Acer. Everything looked pretty good until I tried to connect WiFi. I spent a couple days trying everything I could think of. Nothing worked.  And yes, I downloaded drivers on my desktop and put them on a memory stick. That failed too. I finally went back to the latest version of Mint and shit canned the Windows 7.

As far as I am concerned Windows 7 is dead and better buried. If I decide I need the laptop, I will buy Windows 10 and go with that. I'm quite happy with Windows 10 on my desktop. On the laptop Mint finds the WiFi and connects nearly automatically after putting in the password.

It irritates me that the camera systems both work on my Android tablet and phones. It's not worth the effort trying to get them to work on Mint but I'm pretty sure it is possible. I'm just not smart enough to find the way.

 

What's the full model number of the ACER? Bought mine with Linux and everything works fine with Windows 7 & Windows 10.

Windows 7 SP1 EOL is on January the 14th. 

No need to buy Windows 10, as you can still upgrade for free from Windows 7. In fact if your Windows 7 is "legal and retail" as you put it, you can simply use that key to activate Windows 10.

 

[Gary Loei]

2 hours ago, NotASexTorist said:

 

What's the full model number of the ACER? Bought mine with Linux and everything works fine with Windows 7 & Windows 10.

Windows 7 SP1 EOL is on January the 14th. 

No need to buy Windows 10, as you can still upgrade for free from Windows 7. In fact if your Windows 7 is "legal and retail" as you put it, you can simply use that key to activate Windows 10.

 

It's an Acer Aspire 4253. I did think about that but I couldn't get on the Internet.

[Nakamoto]

Get a Mac, problem solved 

[NotASexTorist]

8 hours ago, Gary Loei said:

It's an Acer Aspire 4253. I did think about that but I couldn't get on the Internet.

That's not the full model number. Full would look like something like this; Aspire 4253-E351G32MN :

 

You can create the media on another machine if you cannot connect on the ACER yet.

I'll supply links for both operating systems and you can decide on your course of action.

Anyway, the likely reason that you couldn't connect to the Internet is that there are two possibilities for the Wireless card; Broadcom or Atheros. Perhaps you tried to install the wrong Driver.

ACER supply software that tells you which you should choose; https://global-download.acer.com/SupportFiles/Files/HWID/APP/HWVendorDetection.exe

Then you can obtain the correct Driver from here; https://www.acer.com/ac/en/ID/content/support-product/3472?b=1

Before we get started, I would strongly recommend that you purchase a cheap SSD drive and swap the current old and slow HDD for a snappy solid state drive. Bank on spending around 750 baht for an 120 GB SSD if in Thailand.

Will take you around fifteen minutes, even if you've had no experience. 

It will transform the performance of that laptop and make you actually want to use it, as opposed to leaving it packed away for an emergency.

The reason for the poor performance even with a fresh install of Windows is the CPU, which is hopefully an AMD E-350. Hopefully, because the other possibility the AMD E-240, is truly pitiful and I would be surprised if you could do anything at all with it, even when new.

But the combination of the AMD E-350 and even a cheap solid state drive will make for a more pleasant experience. Ready to use within thirty seconds of switching on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty1qktiOFDA

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1170/Acer-Aspire-4253.html?page=111#manual

As stated, you can either download Windows 10 directly from Microsoft and then apply the product key that you have, but that will leave you with Windows 10 Home. No likey.

Better would be to install Windows 7 Professional using an ACER Aspire installation DVD and then upgrade that to Windows 10 Professional.

Alternatively, if you cannot be bothered with any of that, you can simply go on to eBay and buy a Windows 10 Professional product key from a seller that has already sold a good amount. Likely cost under 200 baht.

 

Ways to download Windows 10 directly is either via their Media Creation Tool; https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209 and then choosing the option to Create installation media for installation to a different machine; https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10?d2784474-fdb0-4e9d-9e47-5e88c0e053ec=True

 

or you can download from Microsoft directly here; https://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1903_V1_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=22c9c430-7eff-4727-9d79-a8367641c376&e=1560157267&h=91f6a9a2d709a1f3fb78bbf6b16eb102

 

and use that image to create DVD or USB Flash drive installation media.

 

Just ask if you have questions.

 

[NotASexTorist]

Also remember that Windows 10 installs fine without a product key, so you can actually test the software for as long as you like before purchasing a product key.

So my suggestion would be to buy a cheap key via eBay and to install Windows 10 Pro directly to an SSD, after running a test install of Windows 10 on the current HDD to make sure that everything works in advance.

[particle]

On 15/01/2019 at 16:47, ShaneFalco said:

I still miss windows 3.11

I'm still using MSDOS