[FlamingCobra]

If you picked option 2, please specify the operating system or list a dual-boot configuration.
If you picked option 5, (other) please elaborate on what I should do.

Also, any tips on keeping my computer running fast/preventing it from becoming sluggish would be appreciated. (Especially "What NOT to do")


Cheers!

P.S. I think it's this one http://www.amazon.com/G55VW-DS71-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Notebook-Black/dp/B007Z9E7XA/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

[Klaustrophobia]

There's really no need to install a pirated OS over a legit win7.  the first thing to do for a laptop is ALWAYS purge the bloatware, then install antivirus.  if you're the type to make restore disks, this is where to do it. 

[MP-Ryan]

Why on Earth would you not just wipe it, then reinstall the Windows 7 OS that came with it?   

There is no point in installing XP in you have a Windows 7 license.  Absolutely none.  Install 7, and if you REALLY want another OS for some reason then add it, but do not put an old version of Windows on a brand new machine... it's just asking for driver trouble.

[General Battuta]

Wipe and reinstall Windows 7 from the disc that came with your computer.

[FlamingCobra]

But that's......... Home Premium

Why on Earth would you not just wipe it, then reinstall the Windows 7 OS that came with it?   

There is no point in installing XP in you have a Windows 7 license.  Absolutely none.  Install 7, and if you REALLY want another OS for some reason then add it, but do not put an old version of Windows on a brand new machine... it's just asking for driver trouble.

maybe because I have had like 20 people recommend XP Black to me over Win7?

You're probably right, but I was just throwing it out there.

[ssmit132]

Wipe and reinstall Windows 7 from the disc that came with your computer.

I probably should have done this with my new laptop, too.

[LordPomposity]

But that's......... Home Premium

Why on Earth would you not just wipe it, then reinstall the Windows 7 OS that came with it?   

There is no point in installing XP in you have a Windows 7 license.  Absolutely none.  Install 7, and if you REALLY want another OS for some reason then add it, but do not put an old version of Windows on a brand new machine... it's just asking for driver trouble.

maybe because I have had like 20 people recommend XP Black to me over Win7?

You're probably right, but I was just throwing it out there.

Wow, you know a lot of people who know nothing about computers.

[BlueFlames]

But that's......... Home Premium

Off the top of your head, Mamba, what differences can you name between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate?  If you can actually name any of the differences, without looking them up, which are the ones that make you want to risk using a pirated operating system, over what came installed on the laptop?  Walk me through your reasoning, and convince me that this is somehow a good idea.

Purge any pre-installed bloatware, and begin normal use.

[Nuke]

i was gonna say option 2, but option 4 appeals to me moar. especially since my last asus was $800 worth of fail.

[Klaustrophobia]

But that's......... Home Premium

Off the top of your head, Mamba, what differences can you name between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate?  If you can actually name any of the differences, without looking them up, which are the ones that make you want to risk using a pirated operating system, over what came installed on the laptop?  Walk me through your reasoning, and convince me that this is somehow a good idea.

Purge any pre-installed bloatware, and begin normal use.

bitlocker, XP mode


neither of which i've ever needed.  i was worried for a bit that XP mode was the same as compatibility mode and i needed at least the pro version of 7 to be backward compatible.  ****ing marketing people.

[Bob-san]

But that's......... Home Premium

Off the top of your head, Mamba, what differences can you name between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate?  If you can actually name any of the differences, without looking them up, which are the ones that make you want to risk using a pirated operating system, over what came installed on the laptop?  Walk me through your reasoning, and convince me that this is somehow a good idea.

Purge any pre-installed bloatware, and begin normal use.

Well for one, proper support for Remote Desktop Connection. For a second, a native virtual machine emulator with complimentary XP Pro 32-bit virtual machine. For a third, a full set of user groups & especially permisssions. For a fourth, a much higher RAM cap. For a fifth, support for 2P systems. A sixth would be proper support for Dynamic Disks and a seventh (and final, off the top of my head) is drive encryption. That said, for the laptop's intended use, Home Premium is probably sufficient. The only problem with Home Premium remains its 16GB RAM cap. In an upgrade cycle or two, you may find your physical RAM exceeding that wholly artificial limit.

[jr2]

XP Black first, then Win 7 Ult. x64 dual-boot, then Linux Mint 12 gnome edition tri-boot.   

EDIT: I listed in that order to preserve your ability to boot all of them without having to modify your bootloader.  Although EasyBCD can do that after the fact for you if you wish (I would install EasyBCD anyways just so you have it if you are in a bind because WinDOwS decided to overwrite your boot sector for no good reason).

EDIT2:

Wipe and reinstall Windows 7 from the disc that came with your computer.

Batts, there are no restore disks, unless you make them.  And when you make them, even if you boot from the restore disks instead of the recovery partition to re-install, they make sure to install every POS crap software that came pre-installed on it (and this can take hours, I've done it many times with customer's computers UGH!).    This is why you might want pirated vs. OEM.  If not, I guess uninstall all the crap and hope it doesn't leave too many entrails in the registry / system32 folder.

BTW, uninstall whatever AV came with it and use MS Security Essentials 

EDIT3: MP-Ryan, what you said is true, however, 1) DriverPacks.net and 2) at least it will be self-contained in the Windows XP partition.  Maybe it won't work right, but it's a shot, anyways, and if not, well, nuke again, and just dual-boot 7 and Mint.

EDIT4: Lord Pomposity, it's not so much that XP Black is uber and better (it's NOT!!), it's that some software refuses to run on 7.  {{Tone warning: the following is not intended to sound snobby, so don't read it that way.  Think of it more as frustration.  I like 7, and I hate that I still have to have an ancient, soon to be unsupported OS around to run my old programs}} OK, ok... 1) BUT compatibility mode! a: does not always work.  2) BUT XP virtual machine! a: riiiight, cause virtual machines are really good at running old games that require more acceleration than a Riva TNT.  3) BUT at least it will run the old games that don't require much 3D!  a: Yarly?  Oh, wait, 16-bit installer.  DENIED. (Seriously.  NOTHING can get 16-bit working on a 64-bit platform.  MS pulled the plug.  Story ends here.  So dual-boot 32-bit XP and 64-bit 7)

[The E]

it's that some software refuses to run on 7.

Examples would be appreciated. Personally, the only software I was unable to make run were ancient 16-bit executables, at which point DosBox (or wine on Linux) were able to help.

So dual-boot 32-bit XP and 64-bit 7

Or, you know, don't do that. Because there are other, less ridiculous ways to get the same result. Especially given that XP is unsupported by MS.


Oh, and by the way, FlamingMamba, if the school you're going to is part of MSDNAA (ask their IT support staff), then you'll be able to get licenses for Windows 7 Professional for free, legally. No need to pirate anything (and really, someone who is stupid enough to use an OS from an untrustworthy source deserves all the things that will go wrong).

[Mongoose]

Or, you know, don't do that. Because there are other, less ridiculous ways to get the same result. Especially given that XP is unsupported by MS.

Actually, XP is still getting updated, and will be for (I think) the next year or so.  That's the main reason I haven't bothered with 7 on this old box yet.

[jr2]

it's that some software refuses to run on 7.

Examples would be appreciated. Personally, the only software I was unable to make run were ancient 16-bit executables, at which point DosBox (or wine on Linux) were able to help.

MS: Advanced Compatibility Search < Right there or here > MS: Browse software by category EDIT: MS: downloadable Excel sheet here.

BTW, DOSBox unfortunately does *not* work on Windows 16-bit executables, only DOS ones; a Win16Box would be really helpful.

So dual-boot 32-bit XP and 64-bit 7

Or, you know, don't do that. Because there are other, less ridiculous ways to get the same result. Especially given that XP is unsupported by MS.

Actually, XP SP3 is supported until April 8th, 2014

Oh, and by the way, FlamingMamba, if the school you're going to is part of MSDNAA (ask their IT support staff), then you'll be able to get licenses for Windows 7 Professional for free, legally. No need to pirate anything (and really, someone who is stupid enough to use an OS from an untrustworthy source deserves all the things that will go wrong).

You can get SHA-1 hashes of the .iso files... and then you can compare them to the hashes on the official MSDN download site.  Thus verifying that the image is 100% the same as the 'official' MS version.  Now, the method of activation, yes, you need to be careful.  Of course, if you have a way of getting a legit download / disk, that is the way to go.

[The E]

BTW, DOSBox unfortunately does *not* work on Windows 16-bit executables, only DOS ones; a Win16Box would be really helpful.

That, my dear jr2, is why I mentioned wine.

Oh, and XP is on "extended" support. Which means that MS only creates updates for absolutely critical bugs. Which means that it is really not supported all that well anymore.

Also, "all the things that will go wrong" includes activation hassles. Which will happen, sooner or later.

[newman]

1. Look up differences between Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Really look them up and understand them, and don't go by "ultimate=better" logic.

2. Decide based on this whether to reinstall the Home Premium that came with the laptop or upgrade to Professional or Ultimate. But only if they contain features you'll actually honestly use.

Yes, it's that simple. 5 minutes of googling > starting a thread and getting bombarded by a bunch of often conflicting personal opinions. Because how one sets up his computer is as much a thing of personal preference as it is one of rational thought. Having said all that, I think it's a bad idea to install a pirate version of something when you have the original collecting dust, just because the other is called ultimate and contains some features you probably don't care much about.

[jr2]

BTW, DOSBox unfortunately does *not* work on Windows 16-bit executables, only DOS ones; a Win16Box would be really helpful.

That, my dear jr2, is why I mentioned wine.

* jr2 : lightbulb!

-quick search later-

http://wiki.winehq.org/WineOnWindows

It's not working yet though.

[MP-Ryan]

Here's an important rule of computing, especially for someone like Mamba who is obviously an 'intermediate' level user:  Only install and configure what you need as you need it.

More specifically, unless you have already found a reason why you would need to run XP, as opposed to just emulating it with a VMWare installation, setting up a dual boot, especially using an OS that is now 11 years old on a system that is brand new, is the epitome of stupid.  My work laptop has no end of problems because our IT department actively wipes new machines as they come in with Win7 pre-installed, and then sticks an XP image on them.  We have finally convinced them to build a Win7 image after reporting crashes, lockups, and random system errors for over 12 months.

Home premium versus Ultimate.  Again, it's what you actively need.  I have Home Premium on my laptop, and Professional on my desktop, and not only have I never really even consciously noted the differences (though I do use some of the Professional features that Home Premium lacks), I've definitely never had any need to have ultimate installed.  Here's MS' comparison chart:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare  Unless you have a need to switch language packs on the fly (I doubt), there is no reason to use Ultimate.  BitLocker is junk compared to the excellent open-source TrueCrypt - which can encrypt your entire drive.  Professional does have an XP Mode that is more seamless than VMWare, but despite the fact that I have it installed on my desktop I have never needed to use it.  Most of the features that Bob-san mentioned are actually available in Professional Edition, so you don't even need Ultimate there.  As for the RAM cap, this is a laptop, the chances of you significantly upgrading the RAM are nil considering by the time you actually need more than 16 GB of RAM you're probably going to want to just replace the system.  Laptops have a typical replacement cycle of 18 months to 3 years.  Much like smartphones and tablets, laptops are now considered throw-away technology.

Now, if you MUST have Professional (and I'd say that's a dubious claim at best, given what you've demonstrated you know about and do on a computer thus far), it's $100 retail to buy, or as The E said, check if your school is part of the MSDNAA program and get it for basically free (and legally).

Under no circumstances would I put any Windows OS other than a 7 edition on a machine built in the last 1-2 years.  It's unnecessary and just smacks of uninformed obstinance, particularly if YOU. HAVE. A. LEGAL. WINDOWS. 7. LICENSE.

(Oh, and if your machine did not come with a Windows 7 disc and you want a clean install without the bloatware, you can use any Windows 7 DVD to install it and then input your license key - all Windows 7 discs come with all editions on them, it's just the license key that unlocks the particular features you use.)

[LHN91]

Here's an important rule of computing, especially for someone like Mamba who is obviously an 'intermediate' level user:  Only install and configure what you need as you need it.

Now, if you MUST have Professional (and I'd say that's a dubious claim at best, given what you've demonstrated you know about and do on a computer thus far), it's $100 retail to buy, or as The E said, check if your school is part of the MSDNAA program and get it for basically free (and legally).

Under no circumstances would I put any Windows OS other than a 7 edition on a machine built in the last 1-2 years.  It's unnecessary and just smacks of uninformed obstinance, particularly if YOU. HAVE. A. LEGAL. WINDOWS. 7. LICENSE.

(Oh, and if your machine did not come with a Windows 7 disc and you want a clean install without the bloatware, you can use any Windows 7 DVD to install it and then input your license key - all Windows 7 discs come with all editions on them, it's just the license key that unlocks the particular features you use.)

Heck, even P4 systems with capable GPUs with even only Vista drivers and 1Gb of RAM run more smoothly under 7, in my experience.

And depending on your school's MSDN AA setup, you might very well get 7 Pro for completely free. It seems like I might be the odd case, here at the University of Guelph, but every piece of software in the Guelph MSDN AA site is free. 100%. Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate/Professional/etc, Windows 7 Pro, Windows XP SP3, Vista Business, Server 2003 and 2008, I could go on. They've even thrown in a copy of MS-DOS 6.22!