I have computer problems (PC)

[devonwoody]

My windows 7 pro is playing up (some weeks now) so took it down to a local IT tech shop, was charged £70 and in some ways things are worse. I asked they used my old windows disc which came with my set up around 5 years ago but they said it did not work but installed w7 anyway.

Can I therefore purchase a W7 off the web and stick it in my set up and get a nice clean computer or am I dreaming?
Or do I need some PC savvy to get around the load problem?

MY pc needs to be top end, into digital painting, and railway simulation so need that little bit extra above a basic new computer.

 

[MrTeroo]

Which disk you use isn't really the important thing for the install, the licence key is what you must have.

If you have a W7 Pro licence sticker then almost any W7 Pro disk will work for you. If you buy W7 online it is the licence you pay for.

Or your computer may have a restore partition which could enable you to return it to a factory state without a disk.

You said they installed W7 anyway. Is it not working after that?

 

[nev]

If you have a key i.e. the serial number on the sticker on your PC or Original paperwork or disc set you can download a legit free unadulterated copy of Windows 7 direct from Microsoft...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/softwar ... d/windows7

 

[Lons]

What the others said but if you install from a backup on your hard drive you'll get the PC back to where it was when you bought it, i.e. all the excess bloated rubbish it came with.

Best install is clean so you just install Win 7 and service packs but also takes longer as you'll have to also install all the other programs you want individually. You will however have less bloat and your PC will be faster.
If they've already installed it then all you need to do is register Windows if they haven't done so already and go through the thing systematically to get rid of what you don't want and tweak the features you like.

Press control / alt / delete simultaneously then open task manager to see what processes are running and how much resource is being used. If you don't recognize something just google it and you may find it's superfluous. If you don't change anything just press cancel or close the window and you can't do any harm but if you do then you might want to uninstall that program via control panel or the programs own installer, there are other ways to do that as well.

I usually start from scratch once a year, it's overdue now so I'll probably do my laptop at Christmas.

cheers
Bob

 

[hawkeyefxr]

PC's argh.
Everything posted above i agree with, with one little wrinkle. I used to 'rebuild' my system about twice a year as i did many bad things with it. During the clean install you do you will be presented with Partition, i used to delete the partition to make sure i killed everything, you can them Partition you drive again, either make it one big drive or split it so you have a C & D drive. This is useful for keeping you photos or private stuff on.Just remember the more you put on it the slower it will get, i am talking software here not personal stuff like photos and documents.
Anti virus software will really slow the machine down especially at start up, it has to check everything to make sure it is safe, it also runs in the background. I never used antivirus at all. Symantec is a good case, it 'may' protect you but you have to pay every year for it, and remember those little ***** that write the viruses do so ALL the time. Find them and cut their finger off i say!!!

It's worth mention, make regular backups on a USB stick, preferably two ( i have had them go **** shape on me)

I ditched PC's two years and went MAC, yes they are expensive but they are so reliable ahhh. Also remember MS upgrades have to be paid for all the time, you are an unpaid beta tester for MS. Mac's on the other hand you don't they are all FREE!
I have an Macbook and an IMac, the macbook is nearly 8 years old and the IMac two years old, they both run the same software. I will never go back to a PC they are a royal PITA.

I will say there are free and legal operating systems for PC's which can be downloaded, Ubantu is one i have tried. They are good but not as colourful as MS. It might be worth mentioning that there are free and legal office software, its call open office, that is good and looks good to.

 

[MrTeroo]

MY pc needs to be top end, into digital painting, and railway simulation so need that little bit extra above a basic new computer.

Succesfully installing Windows will make no difference to the spec of your computer.

It either is already good enough, or it isn't.

 

[sickasapike]

You didn;t say if laptop or desktop, if a desktop you can pick up a second hard disk, install clean W7 onto that (use the same licence) and use the existing disk as a pure data disk - i.e. leave/put your docs and images etc on it.

Eventually you can delete the old Windows from the old disk, but no hurry.

Two disks will help with performance, especially if solid state.

Put the windows swap file on the data disk (it'll be on the windows disk by default).

Presumably you want to keep Windows 7 - W10 will run things faster, especially 64 bit applications but understand if budget/privacy etc counts that out.

Make sure you have enough ram memory, easpecially for your imaging stuff.

Feel free to ask re any of the above.

 

[Racers]

PC's argh.
Everything posted above i agree with, with one little wrinkle. I used to 'rebuild' my system about twice a year as i did many bad things with it. During the clean install you do you will be presented with Partition, i used to delete the partition to make sure i killed everything, you can them Partition you drive again, either make it one big drive or split it so you have a C & D drive. This is useful for keeping you photos or private stuff on.Just remember the more you put on it the slower it will get, i am talking software here not personal stuff like photos and documents.
Anti virus software will really slow the machine down especially at start up, it has to check everything to make sure it is safe, it also runs in the background. I never used antivirus at all. Symantec is a good case, it 'may' protect you but you have to pay every year for it, and remember those little ***** that write the viruses do so ALL the time. Find them and cut their finger off i say!!!

It's worth mention, make regular backups on a USB stick, preferably two ( i have had them go dung shape on me)

I ditched PC's two years and went MAC, yes they are expensive but they are so reliable ahhh. Also remember MS upgrades have to be paid for all the time, you are an unpaid beta tester for MS. Mac's on the other hand you don't they are all FREE!
I have an Macbook and an IMac, the macbook is nearly 8 years old and the IMac two years old, they both run the same software. I will never go back to a PC they are a royal PITA.

I will say there are free and legal operating systems for PC's which can be downloaded, Ubantu is one i have tried. They are good but not as colourful as MS. It might be worth mentioning that there are free and legal office software, its call open office, that is good and looks good to.

Mmmm I don't agree with a lot of that.

Do use an anti virus it will protect you as long as you up date it regularly, we use Microsoft one at work.

We also find Macs not as reliable as they used to be, and after the latest password problems they seem to be having problems with security.

How many Iphone updates have their been recently to fix problems? lots so you are testing the software.

Pete

 

[sickasapike]

Do use an anti virus it will protect you as long as you up date it regularly, we use Microsoft one at work.

I agree unreservedly (IT consultant since the 80's), many of the top line AV packages have free versions, and the built-in Windows Defender isn't half bad. Keeping them up to date is key, the threats that you want to watch out for are the brand new ones, security holes just found by bad guys and are being exploited - the folk in white hats update their filters and release the update that catches the new threat - so if you don't update promtly, you /almost/ might as well not bother with AV at all.

Not using a virus scanner, firewall etc. is like having no locks on your house, fine if nobody tries the door - but in a world where just one virtual burglar can work a million houses every night, you'd be insane not to.

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks guys for those replies.

I have a Microsoft sticker on my desktop casing and there is an OEM with barcode.
There is also a serial number underneath with figures.
So can I still get hold of a W7pro disk and get a clean install.

(The IT man could not get a new Wacom intuos pro to install and work despite Wacom assistance and he as somehow managed to stop me using Favourites in I/E to saving urls.
I have to use Chrome to do so and I do not like the Chrome bookmarks too long winded for me after 20 years of I/e favourites.)

So go ahead a get a w7 pro disk?

 

[MrTeroo]

Yes, if you feel happy that you can backup your data beforehand, install it, update it and then locate any missing drivers,

You could buy or borrow a disk, or download the installer from Microsoft and burn your own disk.

Make sure the disc / installer version you use matches the version on your COA sticker

You are probably better downloading the correct version from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7


and burning your own disk.

I would imagine, if it is quite modern, your computer is 64 bit, so download the 64 bit version.

 

[sickasapike]

I have to use Chrome to do so and I do not like the Chrome bookmarks too long winded for me after 20 years of I/e favourites.

Sorry to add complication, if that's IE version 6 I'd definitely upgrade/change, it's no longer supported and a security nightmare

Firefox is a very reliable and secure browser and not tied to the whims of this or that merciless corporate leviathan; generally favoured by industry geeks that ought to know.

 

[devonwoody]

Yes, if you feel happy that you can backup your data beforehand, install it, update it and then locate any missing drivers,

You could buy or borrow a disk, or download the installer from Microsoft and burn your own disk.

Make sure the disc / installer version you use matches the version on your COA sticker

You are probably better downloading the correct version from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7


and burning your own disk.

I would imagine, if it is quite modern, your computer is 64 bit, so download the 64 bit version.

Most of my past is on an external hard drive andI can only assume the IT man somehow corrupted his new install some how because he saved something nasty and reinstalled?

 

[MrTeroo]

Impossible to guess what he did.

What make of PC is it?

 

[MrTeroo]

Here's a walk through that you may find useful.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=clean+install+windows+7&cad=h#kpvalbx=1

 

[sickasapike]

Most of my past is on an external hard drive

I'd make it be somewhere else too, store it on your main drive and backup to the external, or the cloud or... just somewhere else as well - I lived on a desert island for a few years and was the only IT guy around, I lost count of the number of those little hard disks people handed to me saying their whole life was on it, and now it won't work...

Expensive disk recovery services aside, it just takes a random hardware failure (or a badly handled cup of tea) to irrevocably trash your entire photo album !

 

[devonwoody]

Impossible to guess what he did.

What make of PC is it?

It was local built. Quad core 3400 AMD processor, Nvidia 450GT, memory 8gb ram. Around three fans.
Loads of usb connections. But not wireless internet. I use hdmi and 40” tv screen.

 

[MrTeroo]

Ok, you will need the disc containing the drivers that came with the motherboard.

Did they supply you with that?

You will also need to download the driver for the graphics card from then nVidia website.

Be sure you are confident you can do all this before you attempt it.

 

[MrTeroo]

Before you format your drive it would be useful to go to device manager and take a screenshot (saved off the computer)

You might need to expand some items to see exactly what they are

 

[devonwoody]

Before you format your drive it would be useful to go to device manager and take a screenshot (saved off the computer)

You might need to expand some items to see exactly what they are

Ok thanks.