One for you IT wizards.

[sawtooth]

I wouldnt consider going to XP as a viable option, are the service packs and updates to date still going to be available for download?
with XP you are stuck on IE8, whereas the rest of the world are on 11, if you want to install Office 2013, you cant, what happens when your new anti virus program stops being Xp compatible.

I could go on

Only a suggestion, XP is perfectly adequate for the OP in my opinion, novice user only wanting to surf the web and pick up emails.

3 and a half year old laptop, I shouldn't think it would be Win 7 compliant and give me XP over Vista any day of the week.

 

[chris661]

Yes, why do you need support for XP? It doesn't stop it from working.

Because all programs will eventually stop working plus if you use it online the amount of vulnerabilities will make it almost impossible to use. We are told to use xp for checking security stuff already as it is one of the weaker OS's and this will only get worse now.

 

[Andy808]

Pretty easy to do. I have Vista (I know before anyone says it but I don't mind it and can't warrent paying out for Win7) and when I do a reinstall it sets a file to Windows.old which has all my files saved to it.
I drag and drop the files I need but keep it until I next reinstall and have a quick look through just to check I haven't missed anything important.
I do it about every 6 months which keeps my PC running really well all the time. I also install all my programs to a separate partition so I don't have to do them again.
I suppose at some point I'll have to pay out for a Win 7 code but I can't see it being for a while or until Microsoft stop doing updates for it.

 

[Slime]

I wouldnt consider going to XP as a viable option, are the service packs and updates to date still going to be available for download?
with XP you are stuck on IE8, whereas the rest of the world are on 11, if you want to install Office 2013, you cant, what happens when your new anti virus program stops being Xp compatible.

I could go on

Or do the wise thing & ditch IE altogether & go with Mozilla Firefox ......................


Slime.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Or do the wise thing & ditch IE altogether & go with Mozilla Firefox ......................


Slime.

Or google chrome

 

[backwoodsman]

Make sure you have any drivers you need on a usb drive first.

3 1/2 years ? Possibly worth looking at upgrading the ram

Defiantly move files to an external drive

Hold the bus, let's just confirm a couple of bits

You say it came pri-installed with vista, does it still have vista or have you put 7 on it?

What recovery discs do you have? Normally you would have an operating system disc and a drivers disc.

If it came with vista it's more like 4 1/2 years old, certainly a machine you don't want to spend any real money on it,

Sorry, my mistake - its Windows 7 Home Premium. Was trying to remember while lying in bed this morning. Initially wrote "Vista 7 then corrected myself the wrong way. Definitely came all preloaded with no discs.

 

[backwoodsman]

Make sure you have any drivers you need on a usb drive first.

3 1/2 years ? Possibly worth looking at upgrading the ram

Defiantly move files to an external drive

Does your Dell have a service code or tag sticker on the bottom? Go to the European support site for Dell and punch the number in. It will lead you to a site where you can download all of the drivers for your machine if you need to reinstall them again.

Personally I would wipe the machine and start over. If it had Vista on it before I would be inclined to install XP instead. I have a Dell OEM XP disk somewhere if you need it. Get someone you know to do it for you if you are not comfortable, or if you are happy post the machine to me (no charge, just pay the postage) and I will turn it around for you.

Backup and remove your personal data first because that's really the only important stuff. The rest can always be replaced.

Yep, it does have a sticker - the Dell site has quite a bit of info about the machine.

Am going to have couple more reads of this thread, then a good browse of the Dell support site and decide what to do. Am reasonably comfortable with doing a factory restore. Just keen not to forget a few settings here & there.

 

[Slime]

Yep, it does have a sticker - the Dell site has quite a bit of info about the machine.

Am going to have couple more reads of this thread, then a good browse of the Dell support site and decide what to do. Am reasonably comfortable with doing a factory restore. Just keen not to forget a few settings here & there.

Whilst you're having a think, please visit the PCHF frorums that I linked in an earlier post, they really have helped me out on more than one occasion, but one very recently.
They tell you what to do, but you actually do it. They hold your hand throughout the whole process and you learn as you go.
If that fails, do a re-set.


Slime.

Here's the link : http://www.pchelpforum.com/#software.405

 

[guest100718]

Save any datayou want to an external drive, then do a full restore. It will seem like new