For the past year I have been trying to encourage people to use WIndows 7 rather than 8 if I supply a system simply to cut down on the amount of support calls. I have a new system built for a 70 year oldish new customer. She needed to use emails and she had a 13 year old XP box with 256MB of RAM and dialup. I explained she really needs broadband and a more modern machine or it will cause her problems.
I so I am building a good quality but low spec Celeron system but bought Win 8.1 OEM rather than 7 OEM. I am now starting to regret this, on a tech forum I am a member of most us avoid windows 8 for clients due to the hassle so I just wondered how people on here who are not techies get on with it'?
My parents seem to cope with it ok they mostly use the desktop. To me the only advantage of Windows 8/8.1 is the speed. My bench machine is an old E6650/4GB RAM system with Vista so I am thinking of building a more modern system for my workshop and using the 8.1 OEM I bought with that instead.
|
It took me about two weeks of detesting Windows 8 before a "Eureka" moment and I saw the light, and started finding it easy to use. It's a lot better with a touchscreen, and I use it on a Surface Pro 2 tablet.
Having said that, it's entirely legal to use a Windows 8 OEM key to install and activate Windows 7 if that's what your customer would prefer. Though I'd just buy one of these, double the price, and make sure it works perfectly before giving it to her.
www.tier1online.com/728-8808cto/refurbished-lenovo-m55-core-2-duo-e4300-1-80ghz-80gb-2gb-dvd-windows-7-64-bit
And, ultimately, if all she wants is to send emails and browse the web and has the cash, tell her to get an iPad / iPad Mini. I can't stand them but for people new to t'internet etc they're marvellous. Then extract the cash for teaching her how to use it.
|
|
Would agree with the ipad idea. For many (most?) a desktop or laptop provides far more functionality than they will even need and too complicated to understand. I use my desktop for photo-editing. For just about everything else I now tend to use the ipad. Simple to use, portable, always on.
|
Yes - PC at home was turned off last May for some minor redecoration and so forth, not seen the need to turn it on again yet. Not even sure where it is.
Ipad just does what I want on the sofa.
|
I'd agree with the iPad idea. Some other thoughts for this particular customer:
- If they are used to XP and are 70 years old, do they want to learn a new user interface - I include the iPad with iOS and Windows 8.1 (you're not going to leave them on Windows 8?)
- The one thing in Windows 8 that will no doubt confuse them is the lack of the start menu - so consider installing one and then I am sure they will cope
- You mention their use of dialup (obviously broadband would be good and probably cheaper for them) but if they haven't got broadband with WiFi at home yet then: (1) the iPad is going to be useless without Internet access via WiFi and (2) what modem would you put in the Windows 8 box that has drivers?
|
I use Win 8.1 on the laptop. I've turned off nearly all the 'make your screen streaky with fingermarks' options and have installed 'Classic Shell" to give me a proper start menu.
Touch screen options are fine when that is all you have, ie a tablet, but when you've a mouse and a keyboard, daft.
|
Is Windows 8.1 she uses, she needs to write a lot of emails for a new job she has, and she mainly uses her XP box as a word processor, so I think a proper desktop is the way to go.
I am just not sure if my OS of choice was a wise one, given that Windows 7 is still likely to have extended support by 2020.
I did offer her a refurb machine, I am a registered Microsoft re furbisher so I can get hold of cheap Windows 7 COAs under very strict licensing conditions. The machine must already have a valid COA, and I must fully test the hard drive and all other hardware as well was triple pass wiping the hard drive (by writing a 0 to each sector 3 times!).
|
>> emails for a new job she has
If she's 70, tell her to retire and buy an iPad :-)
|
Definitely agree with Fursty's Eureka moment. I do most of my internet use etc on Ubuntu 12.04 but had a Windows XP machine for photo work (Adobe Elements 12 and Zoner Photo Studio mainly). Realising it was getting too slow I got a new desktop three weeks ago, HP Pavilion i5, 2TB HDD, 8g Ram.
Updated it straight away to 8.1 and I'm loving it. Really fast and very intuitive to use. I used an addon prog to restore the start button (Iobit Start 8) but removed it again as I like and want to learn the bog standard interface.
Got a 70yo mate calling around later to help him find his way around his new W8 laptop. If people must use Windows I wouldn't recommend anything but Win 8 / 8.1
I find it ironic that everyone is knocking it but I think it's the best thing Microsoft ever made! I hate using Win 7 at work now.
Another surprise, Norton Internet Security is really good! No honestly after years of removing Nortons from every computer I fixed this is really different.
Steve.
|
>> Another surprise, Norton Internet Security is really good! No honestly after years of removing Nortons from every computer I fixed this is really different.
>> Steve.
Why bother? Sooner or later it's going to cost you money, Microsoft Security Essentials is free.
|
Yes true, but £14.99 for up to three computers for a year seemed good enough. That was Norton's offer and it was added to the 60 day free trial so paid up until Jan 2015. Come renewal time I'll reconsider.
Steve.
|
>> - The one thing in Windows 8 that will no doubt confuse them is the
>> lack of the start menu -
It wont, honestly. If you set up windows 8 with all the tiles they need on the main screen, for a 70 year old, they need never go near a start menu again.
|
My Father, without speaking to me first, has bought a new machine and gone from Windows XP to Windows 8.1 and is completely floored by the experience.
The problems seem to be around it wanting to use a Microsoft email address, my Father not being able to find anything, and everything seemingly going wrong. I detest W8 myself, despite my wife having it on her laptop, so have spent no time learning it.
This is not a point to discuss the pros and cons of W8, simply that its not working for my Father. He doesn't need to learn a new interface, he barely coped with XP.
I need to get him onto Windows 7 I think. All I know is that it is a new Lenovo desktop.
Bright ideas for solutions or an approach? Its all so tough because I'm so far away, so it needs to be simple, but this is really impacting his life, in particular communicating with my children.
He won't accept my idea of simply sending him a new W7 machine, he wants this one fixed and doesn't want to "waste" any more money.
|
is this any use, if you can get remote access or send soembody round
Note:
If you are using this recovery disc set to restore the contents of your hard disk drive to a factory-installed Windows 7 installation (including the Windows 7 operating system, applications, and drivers), go to Performing the recovery process for Windows 7 section below.
If your computer is preinstalled with the Windows 8 Pro (64-bit) operating system and you want to convert your operating system to the Windows 7 operating system using this recovery disc set, do the following before you start the recovery process:
Repeatedly press and release the F1 key when turning on the computer. When you hear multiple beeps or see a logo screen, release the F1 key. The Setup Utility program opens.
From the Setup Utility program main menu, select Exit or Restart, and then select OS Optimized Defaults > Disabled.
Select Yes and press Enter in the window displayed to confirm your selection.
Do one of the following:
If you are using a ThinkPad or Lenovo V,B,K, or E series notebook computer, press F9, select Yes on the Setup Confirmation Window to confirm, and press Enter.
If you are using a ThinkCentre or ThinkStation desktop computer, continue with Performing the recovery process for Windows 7.
Press F10 to save your changes and exit the Setup Utility program.
Continue with Performing the recovery process for Windows 7 below.
found here -
download.lenovo.com/express/WIN8-DWGRD.html
Last edited by: borasport on Wed 4 Dec 13 at 18:55
|
where does the old man live?
|
|
Half way between Newbury & Basingstoke in a small village with crap broadband.
|
Any WIndows 8/8.1 users here? - Fursty Ferret
