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From: Pope Pompous XVIII on 26 Nov 2009 16:03
On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:02:38 +0000, Red Rackham wrote:

> As opposed to my usual tetchy questions.
>
> I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 but my computer needs to be 64
> bit whatever that means. How do I find out if my computer is 64 bit or
> not?


64-bit means more lanes on the motorway, and thus more throughput. But
there's no point having 64 lanes if there's a bottleneck at the end of
the motorway - thus you need a 64-bit operating system, and 4 gigabytes
of RAM or over, to get the full benefit.

My advice is to wait a little longer till Windows 7 settles down. I had
to look at a brand new laptop in the first week of November - Windows 7
had been released just two weeks yet there were 22 critical updates ready
and waiting to be installed. Critical, not recommended. Not a good start,
in my opinion.

Despite a long beta testing period it's usually only when an operating
system is released that the rough edges are knocked off. Antivirus
companies need more time to get their own software working on the OS, and
by working I mean smoothly working - not just scraping by, as most well-
known antivirus programs do these days. Same for other software programs
- running on a 64-bit OS adds a layer of complexity and sometimes a
program that runs flawlessly on 32-bit Windows XP will have problems on
64-bit versions of Windows.

A 64-bit OS is theoretically better for running intensive multimedia
programs - video editing, and the like. For web browsing, email, and
Office, a bog-standard 32-bit Windows XP, installed afresh every 18
months if needs be, will run just as fast.

The secret is a light but effective antivirus;
disabling unnecessary services, like indexing, Java Quick
Startup, themes, Google update service, etc.;
minimizing the number of processes that run on startup;
moving personal data to a separate partition, or, ideally, disk;
reducing temporary file space allocation to a minimum;
keeping the system partition small and defragmented every few
months;
wiping free disk space every once in a while, and wiping system
updates held over in the Windows folder;

One of the expectations people have of a new computer is that it should
be faster than their old computer. This depends very much on the software
they install, and how much technical knowledge they have. 10-year-old
computers can run every bit as fast as and indeed faster than new
computers. It's hard from a distance to tell what problems you currently
have that you expect a new computer to solve. I can log in remotely if
you want me to look at them sometime. No need to panic about this - I do
it just to fix a computer, not to pry.


--
"I can't understand the criticism Gerard [Houllier] has received over the
past few weeks, particularly given the job he has done there. He has
changed the whole culture of the club in such a short space of time and
five trophies at any club should make you a fixture for life" - Alex
Ferguson, February 2003
From: Red Rackham on 26 Nov 2009 17:42

"Pope Pompous XVIII" <popepompousxviii(a)iol.ie> wrote in message
news:pan.2009.11.26.21.03.34(a)popesnews.invalid...
> On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:02:38 +0000, Red Rackham wrote:
>
>> As opposed to my usual tetchy questions.
>>
>> I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 but my computer needs to be 64
>> bit whatever that means. How do I find out if my computer is 64 bit or
>> not?
>
>
> 64-bit means more lanes on the motorway, and thus more throughput. But
> there's no point having 64 lanes if there's a bottleneck at the end of
> the motorway - thus you need a 64-bit operating system, and 4 gigabytes
> of RAM or over, to get the full benefit.
>
> My advice is to wait a little longer till Windows 7 settles down. I had
> to look at a brand new laptop in the first week of November - Windows 7
> had been released just two weeks yet there were 22 critical updates ready
> and waiting to be installed. Critical, not recommended. Not a good start,
> in my opinion.
>
> Despite a long beta testing period it's usually only when an operating
> system is released that the rough edges are knocked off. Antivirus
> companies need more time to get their own software working on the OS, and
> by working I mean smoothly working - not just scraping by, as most well-
> known antivirus programs do these days. Same for other software programs
> - running on a 64-bit OS adds a layer of complexity and sometimes a
> program that runs flawlessly on 32-bit Windows XP will have problems on
> 64-bit versions of Windows.
>
> A 64-bit OS is theoretically better for running intensive multimedia
> programs - video editing, and the like. For web browsing, email, and
> Office, a bog-standard 32-bit Windows XP, installed afresh every 18
> months if needs be, will run just as fast.
>
> The secret is a light but effective antivirus;
> disabling unnecessary services, like indexing, Java Quick
> Startup, themes, Google update service, etc.;
> minimizing the number of processes that run on startup;
> moving personal data to a separate partition, or, ideally, disk;
> reducing temporary file space allocation to a minimum;
> keeping the system partition small and defragmented every few
> months;
> wiping free disk space every once in a while, and wiping system
> updates held over in the Windows folder;
>
> One of the expectations people have of a new computer is that it should
> be faster than their old computer. This depends very much on the software
> they install, and how much technical knowledge they have. 10-year-old
> computers can run every bit as fast as and indeed faster than new
> computers. It's hard from a distance to tell what problems you currently
> have that you expect a new computer to solve. I can log in remotely if
> you want me to look at them sometime. No need to panic about this - I do
> it just to fix a computer, not to pry.



Thanks for the helpful info Pope. Much appreciated.




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