How much to remove Windows7 & Office 2007 and install XP ?

[SpikieMikie]

Hi,

I bought a new PC yesterday from PC World but absolutely hate Windows 7, and hate Office 2007 even more. I cant even get Outlook Express...

So, how much would a computer repair man charge for removing Windows 7 and Officer 2007 and installing XP and a previous version of Office with Outlook / Outlook Express ?

I presume someone could do this easily without causing stability issues ? My experience, listening to other people, is that their computers never operate 100% as they should once they've been repaired after upgrades or removing viruses etc...

Thanks.

[ChuckFickens]

Do you not think 1 day is a little soon too make your mind up about something?

Windows7 is very good once you get used to it, outlook has been replaced with windows mail which is by and large the same or if not there are plenty of other free mail clients about that are just as good, evolution is probably the closest in feel to OE

http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution

You also may not have a choice, there is a very good chance that you would not be able to get windowsXP drivers for some of the hardware in a brand new laptop.

[Dusdus]

Chuck is bang on.....your hardware will be optimised for Windows 7....give it a chance...Im a mac using, windows hating microsoft baiting bigot, but have to admit....they are getting it right. For me to say that is something! Office 2007 just has different ways of formatting docs, mail etc.....once you are used to using it, it is, well, not bad (my god, am I losing my mind, Windows,...not bad.....!!)

[SpikieMikie]

Thanks... no, I like Outlook - we use it at work and I've used it for 15 years, its by far the best I think...

Its a PC rather than a laptop, will that make a difference to the driver issue ? its a HP Pavillion - currently on offer at £429 from £629 at PC World..

Oh, I can promise you 1 day with Windows 7 is far too long as it is :P

[ChuckFickens]

I share your pain, I'm a Linux person so admiting a windows OS is actually good is hard for me too :)

[ChuckFickens]

if you can either give a link to it, or the model number I will check if there are XP drivers for it.

But seriously, it is better, what is it you really don't like, because it can probably be changed to work the way it used to on XP

[Dusdus]

I think it would be best to contact HP-a torturous adventure, and confirm that your PC will operate ok on the XP platform, but you will need to buy an OEM version of XP (estimate £70) and whichever office you need, again an office OEM version (estimate £90) from a mircosoft authorised re-seller.

[SpikieMikie]

Thanks Chuck... its this one... http://www.pcworld.co...0uk-04204050-pdt.html

The main issues are 1). It seems impossible to create short-cuts to your desk top. 2). I dont like the Mac-esq floating bar at the top which reappears every time I turn the computer on. 3). I don't like the dual-sided Start menu - prefer the Classic single list version you could get on XP and before. 4). I prefer the task bar organisation on XP 5). Files seem harder to find and manage. I used to access one screen and one list through 'My Computer' - now you've got photos, music, docments, my computer and a load more....

But the most impossible thing to live with is Office 2007, and the menu / task bar at the top.. can I not change the appearance of this without going back to Office 2003, say ?

[ChuckFickens]

HP don't list drivers for that for anything other than windows7, they may be available elsewhere, but it may be hard to find some of them.

Right deep breath :)

1). It seems impossible to create short-cuts to your desk top.

Anything that installs a shortcut as normal should still do so, anything you have a shortcut to the start menu you can just drag it onto the desktop and a shortcut will be created for it.

2). I dont like the Mac-esq floating bar at the top which reappears every time I turn the computer on.

Thats not a standard part of windows7, you must be able to remove it or turn it off, look in programs and features in the control panel and see if there is anything that is obviously that and remove it.

3). I don't like the dual-sided Start menu - prefer the Classic single list version you could get on XP and before.


http://www.howtogeek....rt-menu-in-windows-7/

4). I prefer the task bar organisation on XP

Right click on a empty part of the task bar, select properties and set the taskbar buttons to one of the other 2 settings, try both see which you like, you can also turn of the aero peek on the same page.


5). Files seem harder to find and manage. I used to access one screen and one list through 'My Computer' - now you've got photos, music, docments, my computer and a load more....

either just click start > computer and the old My computer window will open, or, if you want it on the desktop just right click on it on the start menu and select show on desktop.

it still won't be precisely the same, but a lot closer, though in my opinion you are disabling some of the better features.

[ChuckFickens]

oh and for office,

you can make it look like 2003, but not for free, it's about £15. http://www.toolbartoggle.com/

if you have a valid copy of office 2003 (which if it was on your old computer I assume you do) you can just load that onto windows7 no problems though.

[SpikieMikie]

Thanks, really helpful cheers... Unfortunately, Office 2003 came pre-installed on my old PC. I'm not saying I'll keep either Windows 7 or Office 2007, but I guess I can play around with them to see what I can do to improve the situation if ultimately I'll have the PC rebuilt to run XP again.

One final question - you're victim of your own willingness to help now - any idea, without an external hard-drive which I haven't got, or a Network, how I would transfer 7gb's of Itunes songs from my old PC to my new one ?

[VHG]

It would be a VERY VERY bad move to replace Windows 7 with Windows XP.

Windows XP is now almost 10 years old and Microsoft are gradually dropping support of it (their next browser wont run on it for example).

Windows 7 is FAR FAR more secure than Windows XP and has more built in security protection

Many new programs coming out will be built to run on Windows 7 and may need features included in Windows 7 so will not run on XP.

It would be like buying a brand new car, then taking out the engine and replacing it with one from 10 years ago. Just NOT a very sensible thing to do.

[didappointed]

i just had a new computer built up to my specifications and I asked the engineer whether he recommended Window 7 or the XP version. He strongly recommened XP.
A friend of mine bought a computer, complete with window 7 and he hates it. So does another person I know. Apparently the new version 7 is not as popular as Microsoft makes it out to be. Look at happened to Vista. That did not reign long.