[Ham-Computers] Assistance With CDS And Win 7

[Philip (KO6BB)]

Hi,

Long answer here.

I have two computers (not counting Rachel's) here.  A one year old Acer 
laptop that came with Vista Home Premium, (Intel 2.2 GHz Duo Core 
Processor and 4GB RAM), and this one, a three year old Desktop running 
an Intel Pentium 4 3.6GHz Dual Core processor and 4GB of RAM which came 
with XP Pro installed.  Both machines are 64 bit compatible. Two or 
three weeks ago I bought Windows 7 for both machines, Home Premium for 
the laptop (so I wouldn't have to do a clean install, wiping out all the 
Acer laptop software), and Windows 7 Pro for the desktop (which because 
it was running XP needed a 'clean' install anyway).

Knowing that older 16 bit software as well as many drivers won't work on 
a 64 bit operating system, I chose to load the 32 bit version of Win-7 
on both of my machines.  This was a good move!

ALL my programs except one, including several very old DOS programs run 
just fine on both machines!  The one exception was a very good filter 
design program put out by AADE, a program that I often use when 
designing RF filters etc. It wasn't registering a particular OCX file 
that was needed for the program to run.  I was going to sorely miss that 
program, and I figured that since it was "freeware" wouldn't even be 
supported by the company that produced it.  However, an email to the 
producer of the software produced immediate results and he directed me 
to download the 'new and improved' version that was written to operate 
under Windows 7.  Not only does it have additional features, but works 
very well.

However, you're right.  MANY older items like printers and scanners may 
need to be replaced.  I ran into that problem with a three year old HP 
Laserjet when I tried to run it on the two laptops running Vista.  It 
would not run (Vista would try to load the software, then rolled it back 
and uninstalled it) and HP's answer was "it's not supported in Vista, 
replace it"!  And yes, that printer had XP specific drivers.  Gee, 
thanks HP.

But it does seem odd that a CD wouldn't run under Win-7.  Try running 
that program or programs in "XP Mode".

OR, if his machine has the 64 bit version of Win-7 installed, he may 
want to re-install the OS, using the 32 bit version.  Again, anything 
that is a 16 bit program will NOT run on a 64 bit OS.  More and more 
computers are coming into the store with 64 bit OS although there are 
very few 64 bit programs out there.  Both my wife's and my Acer laptops 
are identical except mine has a larger Hard Drive.  Hers came with 64Bit 
Vista Home Premium, and mine with 32 Bit Home premium.  I loaded the 64 
bit version from her machine into mine, but wasn't happy with it and 
went back to the original.  Microsoft will even tell you that since they 
charge the same for either version, they don't care if you do that.

In fact, both of my Win-7 packages came with both the 32 and 64 bit OS 
on separate DVDs.

Hope this helps somewhat. . .

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (My OTR Blog)
http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/   (Web Page)

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D
> Hello All,
> 
> My grandson has a new computer operating under Windows 7. He is experiencing
> a lot of problems when he tries to run programs on CD that worked with his
> XP Home Edition operating system.
> 
> Maybe I heard, or understood, this wrong, but I thought that Win 7.0 was
> retrocompatible to at least XP HE/Pro and possibly Windows 98 SE? Wrong? Or?
> 
> I also understood that the new OS would work with older software that Vista
> would not. Correct? Or?
> 
> So my friends, how does the grandson make the CD for XP, or older, work with
> Win 7.0?
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> Duane/on behalf of Brandon
> Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
> E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
> Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
> HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net