Should I: Install Windows 7 -- Buy a MAC -- Rant some more -- Set mine on fire?

mshan · « **Reply #20 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 03:28 am »

If you decide to go Apple and don't need the latest and greatest, the Apple Refurb Store is a great place to buy (great condition products and Apple warranty):

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=Nzc1MjQzMw

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #21 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 03:49 am »

I've owned 4 or 5 different Macs in the System 7 era and they certainly were not problem free.

adydula · « **Reply #22 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 04:09 am »

Bob,

You can buy a new switch/router for $50 from Newegg. If all this is a switch issue and you get and spend all the $$$ for a MAC your still going to have issues.

I do this for a living, we tear pcs and macs apart and I mean really apart, do analysis and development for a major PC OEM.

I am not going to engage in a PC vs MAC battle, they both will work well if all is well, period.

The hardware is very similar its the OS and software thats 99% of the problem..oh and yes the end users on both sides.

I would do a factory restore on the Dell you have and this will go back to a point when you bought the system, its drastic but its a clean starting point and I have had to this with Macs as well.

A more simple way to try is to go back to an earlier restore point, to a point in time where things worked well for you. Its less drastic than a factory restore.

Your Dell should have instructions on doing a factory restore.

(You asked why is more memory needed):
Your system processors are good enough for WIN 7, the memory for WIN 7 thats the sweet spot is 2GB, memory is CHEAP. Its needed to more than one thing at a time and to keep the system performance up. When programs are loaded into memory use memory eventually as you do more things the OS will start swapping out less used data to the hard drive and then the perfomance suffers. 2 GB memory can be had for $50 or so nowadays. One point is there is no upgrade path from XP to WIN7, You can buy the upgrade but you have to do a clean install of WIN7 and then load your apps. XP and WIN 7 are worlds apart.

Win 7 is the best Windows to date, for performance etc..boots fast and shuts down fast. Its very Mac like. In many ways it does things as good as if not better than a Mac. I have 3 MacBook Pros, 3 Imacs, and over 450 PC's I play with in our lab ( of all kinds). We do Ubuntu, all the main distributions, and OS's that most people dont know exist.....

I am running the UGLY Win Vista right now and it works very well thank you! The home system is 64 bit Ultimate, 12gb memory (and yes you can put lots of memory in a MAC too).., 3 video cards and 4 SSD drives. No blue screens, no virus, no SB issues, it just works. and it connects just fine. Oh and its FAST at 4.5 GHZ.

Its all relative, your budget, etc, but all pcs and macs do fail and os get corrupted, people do get virus's, routers/switches go bad...but if a pc is setup well, and most are from most major OEMS they should work for years.

Best of luck!
Alex

Note: Even macs get virus's...there not as many but it only takes one. Just stay away from those "funny' sites!!

Doublej · « **Reply #23 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 04:20 am »

If you want to go with Apple I saw an ad from Microcenter for the entry level latest generation MacBook for $799 after $200 rebate. And if you leave near an Apple store you get free walk in support for any Apple product at their genius bar.

Regarding the machines you currently have, do they have the latest set of updates from Dell and does the router have the latest firmware version? If not time to update them.

I'd also download ccleaner (it's free) and run the main program, then the registry cleaner and possibly the start up viewer to look for and turn off unnecessary things being loaded at startup. I say possibly because if you don't know what you are doing it's possible to turn off something important like the keyboard or mouse driver.

srb · « **Reply #24 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 04:26 am »

Bob, I think I may have found a nice log home rental for you in Lancaster County, PA.

Steve

toasties · « **Reply #25 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 10:18 am »

Just to add to what's already been said... it's very likely you have a routing issue, nothing to do with the OS or the machines.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #26 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 12:17 pm »

As previously mentioned, try a previous restore point. Works like a charm for me every time.

BTW, I've owned more Macs in a 5 year period than PC's in a 15 year period; and in that time I had to do more clean installs on the Mac than the PC. Go figure.

Philistine · « **Reply #27 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 06:08 pm »

Update Bob:I bought a Compaq laptop in the summer for the kids to use, we attempted a Skype video conference this morning with their grandparents and the webcam didn't work. After looking at the HP support site, and in built diagnostics, the conclusion is that the laptop does not have a built in webcam - funny as it worked fine 2 weeks ago! I've just spent an hour with this and had to go to HP online support, who are offline until Monday morning. Over the last few weeks Microsoft has had more software upgrades than Joan Rivers has had plastic surgery, both are just as ugly aa

Having this crap to deal with doesn't bode well for Windows as tomorrow is the day we go to the Apple store to check out our Mac options. I'll let you know how it goes.

Phil

GHM · « **Reply #28 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 07:16 pm »

I'm still trying to figure out what Windows has to do with Compaq or HP?

Not to be mean to the Windows bashers but at last count (today)there were 92.52% of the Market share in Windows favor worldwide. Only 5.27% is Mac worldwide. That's like a half a billion people using the Windows operating system.

I'm thinking you'll probably not be missed if you decide to make the switch Philistine. More less you'll miss the ability to pic from a variety of programs instead of a handful with Mac, which apple heads seem to throw a blind eye at as a whole.

To the OP, with such a nice HT system. Have you considered integrating a Home theater PC into it? I can tell a Mac ain't gonna cut it , if you decide to go that route in the future. You'll still find yourself running the Windows OS on a Mac to get the most out of it.

Philistine · « **Reply #29 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 08:34 pm »

Quote from: GHM on 8 Nov 2009, 07:16 pm

I'm still trying to figure out what Windows has to do with Compaq or HP? Not to be mean to the Windows bashers but at last count (today)there were 92.52% of the Market share in Windows favor worldwide. Only 5.27% is Mac worldwide. That's like a half a billion people using the Windows operating system.

I'm thinking you'll probably not be missed if you decide to make the switch Philistine. More less you'll miss the ability to pic from a variety of programs instead of a handful with Mac, which apple heads seem to throw a blind eye at as a whole.

To the OP, with such a nice HT system. Have you considered integrating a Home theater PC into it? I can tell a Mac ain't gonna cut it , if you decide to go that route in the future. You'll still find yourself running the Windows OS on a Mac to get the most out of it.

Well we haven't gone yet. aa
We need a robust business tool and have allocated about $5k for 2 laptops, this will buy screaming Windows laptop or (on paper) a lower spec Macbook. A tough decision that we will base on what's best for our individual and joint business needs. Both Microsoft and Apple have issues, they're not perfect, but after over 25 years of dealing with the hidden cost of running Windows the temptation to go along with the masses by buying another Windows machines is severely diminished. We'll approach this with an open mind.

GHM · « **Reply #30 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 09:04 pm »

Quote from: Philistine on 8 Nov 2009, 08:34 pm

Quote from: GHM on 8 Nov 2009, 07:16 pm
I'm still trying to figure out what Windows has to do with Compaq or HP? Not to be mean to the Windows bashers but at last count (today)there were 92.52% of the Market share in Windows favor worldwide. Only 5.27% is Mac worldwide. That's like a half a billion people using the Windows operating system.

I'm thinking you'll probably not be missed if you decide to make the switch Philistine. More less you'll miss the ability to pic from a variety of programs instead of a handful with Mac, which apple heads seem to throw a blind eye at as a whole.

To the OP, with such a nice HT system. Have you considered integrating a Home theater PC into it? I can tell a Mac ain't gonna cut it , if you decide to go that route in the future. You'll still find yourself running the Windows OS on a Mac to get the most out of it.

Well we haven't gone yet. aa
We need a robust business tool and have allocated about $5k for 2 laptops, this will buy screaming Windows laptop or (on paper) a lower spec Macbook. A tough decision that we will base on what's best for our individual and joint business needs. Both Microsoft and Apple have issues, they're not perfect, but after over 25 years of dealing with the hidden cost of running Windows the temptation to go along with the masses by buying another Windows machines is severely diminished. We'll approach this with an open mind.

Before you throw the baby out with the bath water..you should really give Windows 7 a try. Forget about XP or Vista ..when trying to compare. Windows 7 is a whole different animal.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #31 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 11:54 pm »

I think for now, I'll run a large magnet across my harddrive, reinstall XP an start over.
Based on the amount of positive feedback I've heard (not just from this thread) I'd like to try Windows 7. But the wife and I just returned from a shopping spree where we spent six grand on items for remodeling 900 square feet of our house.

Not sure a couple copies of "7" is in the stars right now.

Thanks for updates and comments fellas, I'm still watching.
Bob

satfrat · « **Reply #32 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 12:16 am »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 8 Nov 2009, 11:54 pm

I think for now, I'll run a large magnet across my harddrive, reinstall XP an start over.
Based on the amount of positive feedback I've heard (not just from this thread) I'd like to try Windows 7. But the wife and I just returned from a shopping spree where we spent six grand on items for remodeling 900 square feet of our house.
Not sure a couple copies of "7" is in the stars right now.

Thanks for updates and comments fellas, I'm still watching.
Bob

Hey Bob, if you finally decide to set your "puter" on fire, could you possibly leave it plugged in and take some pictures? Thanks.

Cheers,
Robin

richidoo · « **Reply #33 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 12:27 am »

Your P4 processors are adequate for XP. You need more memory in them because XP is much larger now than it was when it was first introduced, on disk and in memory. Those service packs are huge. Put in as much memory as there is room. My dimension 2400 tops at 1.5GB. I have a spare 500MB module if you want it. Memory for those machines is really cheap. I have had good luck buying from 4allmemory.com for many years. They have a good app to help you spec the right memory.

If you have a spare router, you should try it. If it allows you to run DHCP and get rid of all your static IPs it will be worth it. Consumer routers are notoriously unreliable. It might work well for a short while if you just reboot the router. If that helps, then reverts to bad behavior later, you know the cause.

Last thing, as recommended above, is to run hijackthis. It will scan memory and list everything loaded in there. Make sure you understand every line. If it shows an unidentified exe or dll then google it to find out what it is. If it is something you can't identify then nuke it. hijack this has been around a long time so most any safe dll will be identified.

Another good virus spyware remover is MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. But I think you already tried that...

Get rid of yahoo applications, games, etc. Uninstall any kind of stock or weather or soap opera bug apps. Uninstall any kind of crap that might be suspect as spy or memory hog. You seem like a partypoker.com kinda guy to me Bob....

Use free "Revo uninstall" application to remove it thoroughly and easily. It sets restore points and searches registry for stray bits.

Make sure you have a few GB free disk space on the OS drive for virtual memory tasks.

You should be able to get the old PCs working well again. Don't be afraid of networking, it is designed to be easy. If not, there is something broken.

audioferret · « **Reply #34 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 12:46 am »

Once you go Mac, you don't go back...

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #35 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 12:58 am »

One of the reasons why I switched from a Mac to a PC is the abundant level of expertise when it comes to technical assistance. Whenever I had a problem with one of my Mac's, the experts were very few and far between.

Mr Content · « **Reply #36 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 01:01 am »

I have read that upgrading to 7 is a marathon job. Why should you have to reinstall all your all your applications?Just another instance of an antiquated OS

After having Macs for the last 4 mnths, you would have to drag me screaming and fighting back to windows. I can give you plenty of real instances why windows cant cut it for us.

Mr C

GHM · « **Reply #37 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 01:19 am »

Yeah the initial marathon install takes all of about 30-45minutes.

And for each one of your instances I can name two why Mac isn't for everyone. The biggest one for me is the word.. limited.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #38 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 01:40 am »

Not to pop some bubbles or make friends into foe, I have been using different type of computer systems since my first one in college, back in 1991, a 386-16DX chip based computer with windows until around 1995 when I bought a Mac Mini, first generation, to replace a faulty Dell for which I had paid a good $1600 just 2-1/2 years before. For the love of God all Dell technicians could tell me when I installed Windows XP pack 2 and had 3 peripherals stopped functioning all of the sudden, "Sorry, it must be your peripherals that are causing the trouble...." So, in order to upkeep my digital photo library and digital music files, I bought that Mac on a whim. I thought I would still be using the Dell most of the time and keep the Mac Mini as a side kick computer for use with just music and photo...but how wrong I was. The Mini became the defacto computer until about 1 year ago, when it began to slow down. In December of last year I bought a high powered gaming rig, with Windows Vista pro, with a major videocard and very speedy memory etc... but there was something that I simply could not swallow, for example the way the GUI was set up in Vista in comparison to OSX, even with XP was arcane, but with Vista, it got sleeker, but not necessarily more logical.

Even with the older processors such as G3 and G4, Apple OSX software, be it the old Panther or the Tiger which I am using right now on a PowerBook G4 1.5 MHZ with just 1Gb memory and 80 GB hd, of which there is just 1.5 GB left of space, the execution of the OS by Apple is simply flawless.

I just could not swallow using that Vista gaming rig and I succumbed to dark side again and back in June I bought a MacBook Pro Unibody with 15" LED screen and 500 GB HD, that has a discreet graphics chip. This machine is a nary slower that my Velocity Micro PC with the Vista.

It is nice to compare the performance of both OS with high powered machines, but for me, the intuition and ease of use of Apple computers simply trumps all the other advantages that Windows based computing has. Yes, Windows has a freedom of choice, but in my camp I feel that the many choices that are being offered to Windows users, sometimes are not worth the headaches that come with strange crashes and the unreliability of even basic things such as print error commands that I have encountered with W Vista. Man, I thought that if you cannot even print a piece of paper when you did it, then how flawed an OS must be?

Hope with Windows 7, Microsoft has done something right, because it seems as if Vista simply drove many people away from the Microsoft camp for good.

BTW, yes, 5.6% of the world's PC users are Apple users, but if you look at the penetration of the Iphone in different world makers, you can tell how regular PC users are being suckered into the Apple OSX experience. I bet that many Iphone users will change their personal computing experience into a 100% Apple experience. The Iphone is Apple's trojan horse for computer users.

GHM · « **Reply #39 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 01:48 am »

Hey Paul..everyone is certainly welcome to their opinions my friend. If you haven't tried the Win7 you should..its not Vista by a long shot. Windows will be taking some market share back with this one.