New Win7 64-bit install done and (mostly) tuned

[3Phase]

Jerry,

My computer and its hard drive celebrated their 10th birthday together last month so I don't think I should wait another month to get a new system. I do have Win7 Retail so I think I'm going to find a decent motherboard and processor, then snag the free upgrade offer. The Upgrade license is only good for one machine and changing the 'board will kick in a new license so it'll have to be a system I can use for a while.

I'm pretty much hardware and OS agnostic but Microsoft has been doing... unusual things lately. If I don't like it then Windows goes bye-bye, I'm getting a Mac and giving FreeBSD and Oh Ess Ecks a whirl.

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[Jerry]

I've used a Mac at home since 1985; my current Mac Pro is a 2005 model running 12gb of RAM and a pair of 500gb mechanical hard drives, SATA III level. It is running Apple's 10.7.4 OS. While I don't use an extensive range of accessories, they do include 2 cameras, a film scanner, a printer, a web cam, and flash drives. I have never (repeat never) had a problem with drivers for any device I have plugged into the system.

Software includes MS Office for Mac, Dreamweaver, Photoshop Elements, iMovie, Acrobat Pro, Filemaker Pro, and other programs. Eset is my anti-virus program. The point is that even this older Mac has the horsepower to run some fairly CPU-intensive programs. (Rendering iMovie clips in QuickTime is a bit slow at higher resolution settings, figure about 10 minutes per 1 minute of movie run time. Creating a 3:42 long 16:9 HD movie will take about 30 minutes of rendering.)

Since I make my living running herd on corporate (Windows-based) PCs and servers some folks ask me why I run a Mac at home. I answer that when I get home I just want the computer to work. I don't have to go into Environmental Settings and change my swap file size or location. I don't have to go into Device Manger and check to see if all devices are working OK. I don't have to hit F12 when I am browsing to change the emulation level to make web pages display properly. (Internet Explorer 10 & 11, our default browser because our main application supports it and not other browsers.)

Some things are funky, such as opening and closing the DVD drive door via the keyboard, but you get used to it. Also, Macs cost a lot more than a Windows-based PC, a drawback generally made up by a longer service life.

There is not the range of software for the Mac as there is for Windows, but for my needs and wishes, the stuff that is there is more than sufficient. I see no reason to trade that nice, stable, and still mainstream (after 10 years) Mac Pro for a box running Windows.

I've heard the Mac vs Windows debate for 30 years, and I guess I am just a Mac guy even though I make my living supporting Windows boxes. Maybe I'll have to add my Mac to my signature line.

[3Phase]

You should totally add your Mac to your sig, Jerry!

I always enjoyed the Mac vs PC flamewars/thread on the USENET. The longest one started back in the '80s when I was learning to speak Machine Language and how to build hardware. I've blissfully forgotten Machine Language but that ancient thread is still running to this day, it just shifted to the 'web after somewhere over 80 million articles. It's an irrational argument about Torx vs Phillips screwdrivers and neither side has realized that the job isn't about the tools, it's about The Turn of the Screw.

There's not much difference between a Mac and a PC today ever since Apple went over to The Dark Side and wound up using Intel chips. The original 6800 was a great chip series and the 68000 was even better but some of the Apple worship I never will understand.

IBM was Black Box hardware company with a proprietary operating system and closed-source software. IBM is eeevil!

Then IBM made the PC, published the hardware and programming specs and sliced bread was never so popular! PC clones and applications jump started entire new industries and killed off some of the old ones. Third-party software and hardware and even open-source software would work with some tweaking and a little finesse. Every attempt IBM made to corner a slice of the PC market -- MicroChannel, Token Ring, etc. -- was greeted with hoots of derision and was otherwise soundly mocked because it wasn't compatible with the Industry Standard Architecture, ISA. "To the barricades!"

Apple released the Mac with Black Box hardware, a proprietary operating system and closed-source software written by Microsoft. Apple is coool! Sliced bread has never been so popular and a Mac works right out of the box because Apple controls everything inside and outside of the box but they're not eeevil! like IBM and Microsoft.

Yuppie spawn.... <SLAP!>

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[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jerry,

Thanks for the updated link... I had read about being able to make a clean install DVD, but NOT about having to perform the update/install FIRST from the upgrade process....and THEN being able to make the DVD?

SO...from what I've read, they(M$) will use the license that is currently for my version of Win7pro for the Win10 upgrade. And that we'll only have 1 month to try out Win10 to see if we like it, and then if not, change back to Win7 and the license will stay with Win7? But if going over a month, and THEN we decide to go back to Win7, that our license might not work since it will be locked into the WIn10???

Scott, I got into personal computing in '86 with a COMMODORE 64! But I didn't know much about BASIC, and wasn't really able to do much with it for a few years....UNTIL they borrowed the GUI process from Apple and created GEOS for it. Once I got that and installed it, I was off and running with word processing, file/data management, and then later graphics and even VIDEO TITLING since it outputed to a TV, could record special intro screens and such for custom video tapes! Later got some fancy modem/BBS programs to play locally online with fellow geeks for a few years before I went to the dark "BLUE" Side in '94 with my first EVIL blue box!

I've been BLUE eversince....went green for a while with AMD cpu's, but then came back to BLUE/Intel. I don't like change just for change sake, and that's why I took my time jumping from OS to OS....Win3.0 and Dos5, then onto Win95, then '98, but held out thru 2000/me/nt till XP, then held out again thru Vista and several years of 7 before finally jumping in mostly because of the dropping of support for XP/Internet Explorer and such. SO...not too sure if I'll jump to 10 so quickly, but want the option to both TRY it out, and HAVE IT ON HAND for in the future WHEN M$ drops support for 7!

From what I've read, I'll have a YEAR from the July RTM date to get my FREE copy, but that I'll be able to install it later than a YEAR if I want to....is that correct?!

T.C.

[Jerry]

Thanks for the updated link...

The link was provided to me by a vendor after I asked about corporate (volume) licensing. When I switched our organization from XP to Win 7 Pro I bought 150 licenses via volume licensing. It appears I will get 1 (one) Win 10 license out of the deal.

The vendor emphasized that Microsoft has not firmed up or answered many of the questions that have ben raised about licensing so the info in the link is a work-in-progress. However, it is the most definitive information I have seen to date and is the information MS is sending to partners. If I get new info I will pass it along.

[3Phase]

Thanks for that, Jerry.

Do you suppose there's going to be an upgrade path for the other 149 licenses too or is MS giving its business customers the opportunity to help subsidize the free upgrades they're otherwise going to eat this time around.

T.C., the old CP/M and DOS BBS days were fun.

Tech Republic has some good information about the upgrade license:-
Windows 10: Will you lose your free upgrade if you reinstall?
Here's what you need to know about what will happen to your free version of Windows 10 if you need to reinstall or change your PC.

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[Rasputin]

Hey 3Phase. I think your upgrade has screwed the rest of us on this forum. Ever since you started this thread mine has gone completely to crap. (just kidding). This site has been patchy and slow at best for the last while. It is getting painful to sit and wait 15 or more seconds to load a page.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ras,

Perhaps you didn't see this little thread posted a few weeks ago, from a newer member/ IT Pro that has been working with JP(XS11.com Owner) in trying to address specific issues with the site's software! He was able to fix the UNable to add new members glitch/database error that plagued the site for ~5 months!

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44163

HE and JP are still planning on performing a site software upgrade, but don't know WHEN it will happen!

T.C.

[3Phase]

Thanks, T.C.!

I had guessed that was where the SQL errors were coming from when the site tips over and falls on its head! Ras, I can't twirl the mustache on this one, I had nothing to do with it!


=
FWIW you can get rid of any lags that happen when the DNS system rolls over and plays dead by adding this site's IP address to the HOSTS file.

HOSTS is just a plain text file you must edit with Notepad.exe or it won't save correctly and Windows can't use it. Add any commonly used site names and their IP addresses to the HOSTS file and Windows will just load the site without having to look it up.

%windir%\System32\drivers\etc\HOSTS

209.151.89.187 xs11.com
209.151.89.187 www.xs11.com

HOSTS can't help when the site itself has a problem but for some reason the nameservers have had a bad habit of forgetting about xs11.com. When the Internet forgets where to find xs11.com, the site will appear to 'hang' and eventually time out just going between pages and it makes it really difficult or impossible to post a Reply when the Internet doesn't know where to put it.

Of course, if someone does actually move the site to another IP address you won't be able to reach it until you remove the HOSTS entries but that's only happened a couple of times in the last seven years.

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[Rasputin]

So I would love to do just that and try it. I do not have a clue as to where the hosts file exists on my windows 8.1 nor how to access it for edit. I did however find my notepad for the first time since I bought this puter.

[3Phase]

So I would love to do just that and try it. I do not have a clue as to where the hosts file exists on my windows 8.1 nor how to access it for edit. I did however find my notepad for the first time since I bought this puter.

The path is: %windir%\System32\Drivers\Etc\
That's usually: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc\

The file name is: HOSTS
There is no file extension.

Windows 8 and 8.1 are at the top of the how-to list in MS KB972034: How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/972034

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[TopCatGr58]

Hey Scott,

Ras is going to have to change his Explorer/File managing settings to SHOW Hidden Files/folders before he'll be able to find it, but I don't know which application/program he'll need to do that IN with Win8.1??

T>D.

[Rasputin]

I was doing fine until it told me I did not have the admin rights to change the damn thing. Now I am not sure what to do but I think my son can help me out of this. Might have to wait for the weekend though.

[3Phase]

It's not a Hidden or System file so you shouldn't have to change the default Folder settings to show Hidden or System files/folders.

Make sure you run Notepad as an Administrator or you won't be able to Save any changes and tell your Antivirus program to ignore the HOSTS file while you work on it.

Ah! I found a YouTube video for you that explains how to do it in Windows 8:-

YouTube: How To Edit Hosts File in Windows 8


It doesn't mention it in the video but after you make any changes and save the HOSTS file you should set the file attribute to ReadOnly, then remove the Ignore setting from Defender or your favorite AV program so the file will be mostly protected again.

I go an extra step and change the Owner of the HOSTS file to TrustedInstaller, then change the file Permissions to Read & Execute for everyone except SYSTEM but that's probably a little too tinfoilish.

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