Windows 7 vs Windows 10 ?

[Reg]

  My apology for posting this topic here  but to me it is relevant.   I am running Windows 7 and have held back  in updating to Windows 10.   Soon Microsoft will no longer suppport Windows 7.   Much of my computer use is music related. 
  My  computer tech who does repair work for me  suggests I keep my present notebook with windows 7 and purchase  a new one with Windows 10 in case some of my music programs are not compatible in Windows 10.   I  probably no longer have some of the installation files for some of my music programs.  Just wondering if any former Windows 7 users who have update to Windows 10 would offer some feedback.
    Thank you.  Reg

[Joe H]

I have a Windows 7 machine just for music and MIDI.  You can do that too.  So it doesn't matter if Microsoft will stop support, if you just don't go on line with your MIDI machine, you can use it indefinitely.  That's what I plan to do.  I bought a complete spare machine on eBay for about a hundred dollars.

If I'm forced to go to Windows 10 for on-line use, I will do it reluctantly, but my MIDI machine will always be Windows 7. And it supports Virtual PC so I can even run XP on my Win7 machine. I go back to the Atari days too. I have an Atari STE software emulator so I can still run Atari MIDI software on my Win7 machine as well. (and much faster than my old Atari machine ever could).

Joe H

[Pino]

My favorite midi sequencer that I use for making Yamaha styles will only work on windows XP.  That's not a problem, I have and older Samsung Laptop just for using this app and a few other bits of software that will not work on Win 7 and above

Microsoft does not support Windows XP anymore, I have never had any need to use their support in the past so I think all is ok

Pino

[Normanfernandez]

The only Major Issues you'll have is,
Getting Drivers for the Laptop / PC.
I recently formatted my Laptop and Installed Windows 7,
There wasn't a WiFi Driver Available, so I had to get Windows 10 again.
Another Noticable difference will be.
XP will use Less CPU power.
Compared to 10.
Just the Drivers will be an Issues.
Regards Norman. 

[Pino]

Norman
You can get PC drivers from many places on the internet without any problems.

I have a Lenovo laptop also which came with windows 10, I changed the OS to windows 7 which I prefer. If I had any issues with the older Samsung XP Laptop, there are 1'000s of older laptops for sale for just a few $

80% of my work is done on my 12" iPad Pro with iCloud, much quicker and easier than windows and many more music apps. But each device seems to be doing different tasks, there isn't a one fits all so we need a few things around us to make things work.

Pino

[Normanfernandez]

Not all companies have Drivers that are compatible with the hardware.
Talking about the New Ones,
The old will definitely have Drivers,

[Graham UK]

I did try Win 10 but reverted back to Win 7 which I prefer. Lack of Windows support does not bother me.

[SeaGtGruff]

That's a good point about drivers.

A lot of companies have removed the older versions of their drivers from their websites because those drivers were for older versions of operating systems which stopped being supported.

For example, Yamaha has done this.

I happen to still have a copy of their old Windows XP and earlier version of their USB-MIDI driver, from back when I was having trouble getting my YPT-400 to work on my Windows 10 computer and thought maybe I needed to use the old driver with that keyboard. (That wasn't the problem, but that's another story.) I had downloaded every Windows version of Yamaha's USB-MIDI driver to try.

Several months ago, a member on another forum was having trouble with a Windows XP computer he was hanging onto because he didn't want to use Windows 10. I don't remember if his hard drive had to be reformatted or replaced entirely, but he was able to get everything he needed for reinstalling all of his hardware and software except for Yamaha's old Windows XP USB-MIDI driver, because they had removed it from all of their websites.

If I hadn't happened to have a copy of it archived that I was able to send him, he would have been out of luck unless he could have found someone else who still had a copy of it. But he had already spent a lot of time searching the web for it, and apparently I was the only person he'd been able to find.

[Normanfernandez]

I did try Win 10 but reverted back to Win 7 which I prefer. Lack of Windows support does not bother me.

Just make sure to get a Good Antivirus,
Also free ones won't do.

[Graham UK]

Normanfernandez. Windows Defender still work good.
If I did get a virus I Image back to day it was saved....I do this anyway every 3 months to give me a clean system again.

[Normanfernandez]

Normanfernandez. Windows Defender still work good.
If I did get a virus I Image back to day it was saved....I do this anyway every 3 months to give me a clean system again.

When Windows stop their support,
It's usually, Antivirus too. Online stuff will be risky.

[Toril S]

I have kept my win7 machine but also have a win10 machine. I definitely like win7 best!

[Normanfernandez]

To be honest,
I'd like Windows XP,

It was clean and simple.

[SeaGtGruff]

I've been using Windows 10 since it was first released, and have had almost no problems with it.

The only problem I've ever had was when I installed the latest feature update and for some reason it made the programs on my Start menu disappear; they were still on my computer, of course, but their shortcuts were no longer on the Start menu. This happened twice-- once last year, if I remember correctly, and once last week. In both cases I chose to uninstall the update-- even though I believe there was a fix for the issue-- which restored everything to normal. The next time I did the update when it happened last year, everything was fine. I haven't done the latest feature update a second time yet, mainly because it takes a while to do it.

[Reg]

 I am so appreciative of all the responses to my post.  Thank you all for your input.  Reg

[EileenL]

I also have been using Windows 10 since it came out and have had no problems at all.

[Lee Batchelor]

I did try Win 10 but reverted back to Win 7 which I prefer. Lack of Windows support does not bother me.

Lack of Windows support is not the issue. It's the tendency for software that runs on Windows not to work, as Windows moves on. That's the point where you get left behind. The marketing guys know this and are just waiting to take your dollars (or whatever currency) at the point where all of a sudden no new programs work on your "old" OS, which has dinosaur poo on its license agreement. They've got you coming and going! You have no choice but to stay OS current .

[Joe H]

Lack of Windows support is not the issue. It's the tendency for software that runs on Windows not to work, as Windows moves on. That's the point where you get left behind. The marketing guys know this and are just waiting to take your dollars (or whatever currency) at the point where all of a sudden no new programs work on your "old" OS, which has dinosaur poo on its license agreement. They've got you coming and going! You have no choice but to stay OS current .

Well that doesn't apply to my situation.  I've got all the software I need and drivers too.  With Win7 I'm good for life... which if I live to be 92; that's about 20 more years.



Joe H

[SeaGtGruff]

I've got all the software I need and drivers too.  With Win7 I'm good for life...

Yes, but it's the life of your computer that's the real issue. If your computer croaks and you have to buy a new one-- or maybe just new parts, like a new hard drive-- will you be able to install your old Windows 7 on your new system and get it up and running with a license, or is it going to tell you that your old license is already registered on another (dead) hard drive and leave you unable to buy a new license for it because Windows 7 stopped being supported?

[Joe H]

I'm covered on all the above.  I have more than 1 spare machine and I have a Win7 disk to install on any machine.  I can also clone my machine on a spare hard drive... which is a good way to go.



Joe H

[SeaGtGruff]

Not everyone is as prepared as you, but it's good that you are!

[JohnS (Ugawoga)]

Hi
Why bother with Windows 7 as computers today need Win 10 for modern programs to work efficiently.
You have to keep up with technology or your computers will grind to a standstill eventually.
If you have an old computer and windows 7, i cannot see a problem as long as you keep off the internet and use the machine for simple  tasks.
If you want to use a computer with Cubase and Genos for example, you need a fast one with plenty of ram as broadband, Daw programs, samples and effects from VST  instruments are using more memory.
Best to have the speed and headroom as that should last for at least the next 5 years.
Then after 5 years, who knows,we all may be getting into Quantum computers.
I always base the life of a computer around 5-6 years and then change for another..
A good fast computer with plenty of ram should be around £1,800 and that is a good price for a great computer and 5-6 years is value for money in my view.
If you spend £4000 approximately on the Genos then a computer under £2000 is not a bad bargain.
I am a believer in, you get what you pay for.
On the other hand if you are a Geeky techie, you could save yourself a lot of money by building a computer yourself.

Answering Norman--- Win 10 is clean and simple.
Change to Classic view and do all the necessary tweaks for music and use a good anti-virus program with Malwarebytes and CCcleaner to get rid of rubbish which slows your Pc down. Get rid of Cortana and things you do not use and then shout BINGO!!!!
Win 10  the best yet. Make sure to get a decent computer.
Do not get stuck in the past.

I am 68 and i have to look back more than forward. Forward we go then
In my case It's "BACK TO THE FUTURE"!!

All the Best
John

[SeaGtGruff]

At my old office, we always kept up with the latest Windows versions and updates because we were a software company and wanted to be sure we were developing on and for the latest and greatest-- but kept one or two non-development systems at an earlier version for compatibility checks.

I remember that when Windows 8 was released and we all updated our workstations, I was the only person in the office who didn't install those third-party programs that restored the Start button and made the desktop look more like Windows 7 again; instead, I embraced the new way and adapted to it. The same with Windows 8.1 and 10-- I embraced them from day 1.

It was actually kind of funny, because with previous Windows versions where things looked the same but really weren't, I'd get so frustrated when I went to change some setting but it had been moved to a different location. I don't know; maybe having so many obvious visual differences from 7 to 8 made it clear that things were a lot different and turned it into more of a fun challenge for me?

[Tyros5Mad]

I use Windows 10 for all my music - no problems except when installing major updates. I found I had to reinstall some software.

For the record these are the music programs I use;
-- Band minus one
-- Cakewalk by Bandlab
-- Midi and style player
-- Midipads
-- Midi sheet music
-- MixMaster
-- Musicsoft downloader
-- Producer
-- Psruti
-- Simplified style player
-- Stylepads
-- Midi maker (my own software)
-- Virtual midi synth
-- Audacity
-- TFM audio tool

All work fine.
Regards,
Richard

[Robert van Weersch]

Being a software engineer in the Microsoft domain, I always update to the latest Windows version. All my (music) hardware and software works just fine. Most Windows 7 drivers will even work on Windows 10, because the driver architecture is more or less the same. I even have my 80's setup of Voyetra Sequencer Gold for DOS and Yamaha XG working using DosBox, VSTMIdi and MidiMapper, even connected to the Tyros with USB.
No reason to keep working in Windows 7, as far as I'm concerned. Unless you have some piece of hard/software which will not work. But even then it is perhaps better to buy something newer... I tried to hold on as long as possible to my old Yamaha DB50XG daughterboard, but my TerraTec soundcard would only work up to Windows XP x86. Eventually, I replaced my soundcard and moved to VST's for the MIDI sound, which even sound a lot better. Same for my old scanner. I had a great little Canon scanner, but it only worked on Win2000/XP x86. By using Virtual PC and VMWare, I was able to use it in Windows 7 x64, but it was a hassle. After a year, when my good old LaserJet 4L died, I got a new all-in-one Samsung printer for EUR 129, which still works now and gets new drivers on a regular basis. I never wanted the old Canon scanner back.

[Reg]

  Once again thank you all for the many replies. A variety of opinions but still a benefit.
Regards, Reg