Have a dumb question about purchasing Windows 7 .....

[Jordan]

I've never purchased any MS software retail... always got new O/S with a
new computer. What I want to know is, when a seller advertises the Win7
software "with license and media"... does "media" mean it comes with a disk?

I don't know the "correct" answer, but, "media" could mean anything from
an iso burned of the operating system to a copy of the recovery disc that
came with the machine originally (if it came with media, that is).

It could even mean a burn of a recovery disk made off the installation
on the hard disk drive.

Or it could me the flashy shiny new windows disks from the Microsoft
store.

Caveat emptor. Trust, but verify.

 

[chicagofan]

One of the best places to purchase from is 'Newegg'. If you are planning
to wipe the disk and install, an upgrade version can be used. Just make
sure you can get all the drivers for Win 7. Just a minor trick for using
an upgrade version.

KenW

I was wondering about the big price difference between the two Win7
boxes offered everywhere [i.e. what was in the "full" version], since
the others are NOT identified as an "upgrade". I definitely needed to
know this.

Thanks for the reminder about Newegg! I know there must honest sellers
on eBay, but I wouldn't buy something like this on eBay, and stick to
reputable stores only.

Thanks for your response!
bj

 

[chicagofan]

Well, actually, you can make W8 behave almost exactly like W7 by using
Classic Shell or another 3rd party applet to avoid that Metro
interface. The differences will almost all be in W8's favour, at least
that's what I've found.

So my advice is: don't buy W7. But if you do, it should come on a DVD
is a nice plastic case, plus a booklet of quick start instructions.
And though you didn't ask: I'd get the Pro version.

And though you didn't ask: set up a severely restricted user account
for your daughter, so she can only run programs and save data on
specified partitions (aka "drives" or "volumes"). Assign her own
password, and never, ever, tell her yours.

LOL... that would be excellent advice if I were more competent, and this
was a shared machine. She's an adult, with a husband who knows/cares
less than she does about computers [video games are his passion], and I
made the mistake of buying this computer for her... that's why she feels
I should solve all of her problems related to it.

Having solved her latest problem with Win8 since I posted this message,
I'm leaning towards using the advice I've gotten here and elsewhere
about trying Classic Shell, before buying another O/S.

Thanks to all of you here, I know now, what to look for/expect if I go
ahead later and buy Win7. I really appreciate it. I'm not going to
post individual "thank you" messages and fill up the group, but I
appreciate ALL of the responses and information.
bj

 

[Ken1943]

One of the best places to purchase from is 'Newegg'. If you are planning
to wipe the disk and install, an upgrade version can be used. Just make
sure you can get all the drivers for Win 7. Just a minor trick for using
an upgrade version.

KenW

I was wondering about the big price difference between the two Win7
boxes offered everywhere [i.e. what was in the "full" version], since
the others are NOT identified as an "upgrade". I definitely needed to
know this.

Thanks for the reminder about Newegg! I know there must honest sellers
on eBay, but I wouldn't buy something like this on eBay, and stick to
reputable stores only.

Thanks for your response!
bj

I did look at Newegg and it appears that besides the versions, home,pro,
they seem to have 32 bit and 64 bit in different boxes. When I got my
upgrade versions, both 64 and 32 bit dvd's were in the box. That was 2009
if I remember. I would never buy software off of e-bay either. Too much
pirated stuff.


KenW

 

[...winston]

Retail full and upgraded versions of Win7 include both 32 and 64 bit DVDs.

OEM versions (usually full) contain one DVD - 32 or 64 Bit, not both. If
both DVD's are necessary then both would have to be purchased.

The above changes with Windows 8
No full retail versions are marketed only upgrade versions of Win8 (download
or at extra cost with media)

OEM versions are pre-installed on the machine (i.e. one buys the pc with
Windows 8 pre-installed and activated as an OEM version)

Finally the last version is called 'Personal Use for System Builders', is
only available as a full version, and when purchased is available in two
flavors - 32 or 64 bit, but not both - i.e. if one wishes to obtain both 32
and 64 bit versions of the PUSB version then both would have to be
purchased.


--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

"Ken1943" wrote in message

One of the best places to purchase from is 'Newegg'. If you are planning
to wipe the disk and install, an upgrade version can be used. Just make
sure you can get all the drivers for Win 7. Just a minor trick for using
an upgrade version.

KenW

I was wondering about the big price difference between the two Win7
boxes offered everywhere [i.e. what was in the "full" version], since
the others are NOT identified as an "upgrade". I definitely needed to
know this.

Thanks for the reminder about Newegg! I know there must honest sellers
on eBay, but I wouldn't buy something like this on eBay, and stick to
reputable stores only.

Thanks for your response!
bj

I did look at Newegg and it appears that besides the versions, home,pro,
they seem to have 32 bit and 64 bit in different boxes. When I got my
upgrade versions, both 64 and 32 bit dvd's were in the box. That was 2009
if I remember. I would never buy software off of e-bay either. Too much
pirated stuff.


KenW

 

[Juan Wei]

Bert has written on 8/18/2013 1:55 PM:

Do all the applications you run think it's a Win 7 computer?

They seem to. That is, they don't complain that it's Windows 8.

 

[mechanic]

Bert has written on 8/18/2013 1:55 PM: ....

They seem to. That is, they don't complain that it's Windows 8.

That must be a relief. Mostly on here it's users complaining about
Win8, not applications!

 

[Wolf K]

That must be a relief. Mostly on here it's users complaining about
Win8, not applications!

Until I installed Classic Shell, I was more than a little annoyed with W8.

BTW, *.wmv videos are associated with a W8 "app", which takes over the
whole screen (that's the really annoying "feature" of W8; I could live
with metro if I had to). You have to remember to mouse up to the upper
left corner to get the desktop thumbnail and click on it to exit. I've
installed Classic media player, which deal with *.wmv with no problems.

In short, you may have to ensure that the program associations suit you.

HTH