Windows 7 - after January

[MrGongGong]

Recognised directly and played by your O/S, or relying on additional software? The people I mentioned sending FLACs to are not even slightly geeky and expect stuff to play without further intervention on their part. One threw up her hands in horror at the suggestion that she might benefit from peace of mind if she installed and used the free version of Malwarebytes. Why? Because it contained the word malware. You have to remember that many Mac users are technophobes. That fact contributed to their falling for the Apple propaganda.

I don't really use Apple software very much at all
Yes, it does sell itself as an "Adult Fisher Price Activity Centre"

[Dave2002]

One threw up her hands in horror at the suggestion that she might benefit from peace of mind if she installed and used the free version of Malwarebytes. Why? Because it contained the word malware. You have to remember that many Mac users are technophobic. That fact contributed to their falling for the Apple propaganda.

Macs are fairly resistant to malware, but not completely so. The Firefox browser on one of our machines recently got hijacked, so I had to dump it and reinstall from new, and flush out all the add-ons. After I did that I did indeed put Malwarebytes onto the machine, and I'm hoping that nasty doesn't come "MyWay" again! **

** https://malwarefixes.com/remove-myway-malware-removal/

[Beresford]

Upgrading a quite old but good laptop from W7 to W10 (fresh install is best), I found it took a few hours to disable most apps etc, then it was pretty well behaved. The Pro version allows significantly more disabling than the Home version.

Or there is Windows Update Manager, which I have not yet used. (https://www.carifred.com/wau_manager/).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for all the replies. I was interested in Andrew's suggestion about Linux - but then Braunschlag reminded me of the potential problems with SIBELIUS 6: checking, it seems that Linux doesn't "accommodate" any Sibelius software at all. And if Windows 10 also excludes Sib 6, I'm bu -- frustrated there, too. Both my current Laptops are 64-bit, so no problems with that (and, like oddy's, both refurbished machines bought from a trusted local shop - no problems with either in the 18+ months I've had them*) - so it looks as if I'm going to have to get Linux put on one machine, and keep the other working with Windows 7 for Sibelius only, and just hope that my Avast free malware will keep the Mafia away from my bank details.

Just how dangerous will it be to carry on running Windows 7?

(* = Mr Fate comments "Oooh! That's tempting!")

[Bryn]

Thanks for all the replies. I was interested in Andrew's suggestion about Linux - but then Braunschlag reminded me of the potential problems with SIBELIUS 6: checking, it seems that Linux doesn't "accommodate" any Sibelius software at all. And if Windows 10 also excludes Sib 6, I'm bu -- frustrated there, too. Both my current Laptops are 64-bit, so no problems with that (and, like oddy's, both refurbished machines bought from a trusted local shop - no problems with either in the 18+ months I've had them*) - so it looks as if I'm going to have to get Linux put on one machine, and keep the other working with Windows 7 for Sibelius only, and just hope that my Avast free malware will keep the Mafia away from my bank details.

Just how dangerous will it be to carry on running Windows 7?

(* = Mr Fate comments "Oooh! That's tempting!")

What malware protection are you running?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What malware protection are you running?

Just the free Avast antivirus on top of Windows own Firewall.

Oops - the other machine has AVG free antivirus.

[Bryn]

Just the free Avast antivirus on top of Windows own Firewall.

Oops - the other machine has AVG free antivirus.

It might be worth considering a full, paid for, version of something like Malwarebytes, though if you are careful and run your free malware protection at the start of each session, you should be pretty safe.

[Oh, and i might make sense to keep it away from connection to the Internet]

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It might be worth considering a full, paid for, version of something like Malwarebytes, though if you are careful and run your free malware protection at the start of each session, you should be pretty safe.

[Oh, and i might make sense to keep it away from connection to the Internet]

Thanks, Bryn. If I understand correctly, I could keep one machine on Windows 7 for use with non-internet activities such as work on Sibelius software, essay writing (?and Audacity editing?) whilst using the other machine with Linux for Internet activity?

[Bryn]

Thanks, Bryn. If I understand correctly, I could keep one machine on Windows 7 for use with non-internet activities such as work on Sibelius software, essay writing (?and Audacity editing?) whilst using the other machine with Linux for Internet activity?

Spot on, and if data space permits, you could run Wine under Linux as a pretty good Windows emulation. I comment on the basis of working with others who run Windows programs using Wine. None of them uses Sibelius but you might find a workaround via the Internet.

[johnb]

Well, I finally bought a new laptop (with W10 installed).

But today I also "upgraded" my 8 year old PC from W7 to W10 using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool for W10. It went surrpisingly smoothly, although it took many hours, and the best bit was that W10 was automatically activated without having to buy a new licence.

I was a bit nervous about the upgrade so I had updated all the drivers I could. The only minor hiccup was that I had to uninstall my old version of Acronis True Image Home.

[Dave2002]

Thanks for all the replies. I was interested in Andrew's suggestion about Linux - but then Braunschlag reminded me of the potential problems with SIBELIUS 6: checking, it seems that Linux doesn't "accommodate" any Sibelius software at all. And if Windows 10 also excludes Sib 6, I'm bu -- frustrated there, too. Both my current Laptops are 64-bit, so no problems with that (and, like oddy's, both refurbished machines bought from a trusted local shop - no problems with either in the 18+ months I've had them*) - so it looks as if I'm going to have to get Linux put on one machine, and keep the other working with Windows 7 for Sibelius only, and just hope that my Avast free malware will keep the Mafia away from my bank details.

Just how dangerous will it be to carry on running Windows 7?

(* = Mr Fate comments "Oooh! That's tempting!")

The magazine Linux Format usually comes with a Live disc, which allow you to try Linux if you have a machine with a working disc drive. I have used those many times to check things out. If you know for sure you want to install a particular Linux version then you can generally pick up a copy from the distro website, which saves the cost of the mag.

Casual users of Sibelius who can’t face the problems with Windows could try Musescore instead. From discussions round here I suspect it really isn’t as good as Sibelius, but it is perfectly serviceable IMO. Files can be exchanged (both ways) with Sibelius using either midi or Musicxml.

I have wondered about buying yet another PC - most recently to access score scanning software (maybe there’s a web service...???) - but each time the thought of spending money on a Windows PC pops up, I remember with a horrifying shudder how many hours and days I wasted just trying to keep the systems working. I’d very much rather waste my time on other activities.

Apple machines aren’t perfect, but mostly present minor irritations compared with the complete car crash which Windows seemed to present.

Linux is quite good if it supports the software which you might want to run - but as noted this can be a limitation for score writing software. Consider also dual (multi) boot operation, and perhaps also virtual machine environments.

OTOH just go with the other very serious suggestion here - buy a Mac.

[Beresford]

Well, I finally bought a new laptop (with W10 installed).

But today I also "upgraded" my 8 year old PC from W7 to W10 using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool for W10. .....Home.

I would be interested to know how the preloaded and raw install versions of W10 compare, after a few weeks use. Should be the same, but preloaded is often accused of preloading bloatware as well.

[johnb]

Beresford,

My initial impression is that the upgraded W10 has very little, if any, bloatware.

My new W10 laptop is a business model (a Thinkpad T490) so it is likely that it contains much less bloatware than consumer laptops - but I will report back in a couple of weeks.

What I hadn't expected is that Windows 10 upgrades are still free if you use Microsoft's own Windows 10 download media creation tool, have a registered copy of Windows 7 and select to "Install on This PC" and then, later, "Keep the existing programs and apps". Instructions for the free upgrades are easily found by googling "Windows 10 upgrade". (Mind you there is no guarantee that it will still work.)

[Keraulophone]

I've just seen the price of a replacement for my Windows 7 Dell XPS 15" i7 laptop, which has been very reliable for many years - c.£1600-2000 !
It looked briefly as though the price was going to be more in line with what I'd paid previously (+ inflation), but the dreaded VAT was tacked on only at the very end of Dell's checkout procedure.

What to do? Soldier on as if nothing is going to happen? Swallow and pay up immediately after Christmas family expenditure? Converting to Win10 isn't an option with the old processor. The (enforced commercial) demise of Win7 is such a nuisance as it offers all I need and I'm so used to its comforts; I prefer it to Win10 on our desktop. So it looks as though yet another laptop will be joining a pile of half a dozen others with a variety of ailments. And have I transferred all useful files and photos from all of those? Nope.

Alternatively - Armenian Christmas is coming up on the 6th... I could ask Mrs K very nicely to put it on her list.

[johnb]

I've just seen the price of a replacement for my Windows 7 Dell XPS 15" i7 laptop, which has been very reliable for many years - c.£1600-2000 !
....
Converting to Win10 isn't an option with the old processor. The (enforced commercial) demise of Win7 is such a nuisance as it offers all I need and I'm so used to its comforts; I prefer it to Win10 on our desktop.

Interesting. I never thought to check the processor in my 8 year old desktop before doing the "upgrade" to W10 but everything in W10 seems to be working fine (at least for now). The processor is Intel Core i7 870 "Lynnfield".