Computer geeks help!! Need to upgrade old computers

[Foxfyre]

OKAY, I'm hoping some of you computer whizzes out there can give me some solid advice here.

Mr. Foxfyre and I each have an aging PC both custom built at the computer store - both over 5 years old now - both have Windows XP.

I have software that will scrub - i.e. erase - everything off our hard drives.

If I do that can I then install Windows 7?

And will that make these computers run like new?

 

[Ringel05]

OKAY, I'm hoping some of you computer whizzes out there can give me some solid advice here.

Mr. Foxfyre and I each have an aging PC both custom built at the computer store - both over 5 years old now - both have Windows XP.

I have software that will scrub - i.e. erase - everything off our hard drives.

If I do that can I then install Windows 7?

And will that make these computers run like new?

Maybe, maybe not.
The only thing you need to do is go to All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt then type in format C:. That will reformat you hard drive, wiping it clean.
What I would suggest is pick up a new hard drive - open your box, determine if the current hard drives are SATA or IDE - order a hard drive from Newegg or Tiger Direct. When it arrives install it as the master while making the old drive the slave then boot up with the OS disc in the optical drive. Once you're up and running you have a new OS and you can still access you old information on your old drive.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

After 5 years it is time to do more than upgrade your OS.

Windows 7 should run on anything that has at least 1G of RAM. You can check that it will work on your current computer by using upgrade adviser.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

Will they run like new? Probably not, as 7 is designed to be run on today's processors, which are faster than the ones you have now. If you do not want to upgrade your hardware just reinstall XP SP3 from scratch and it will run just like new. Microsoft intends to continue supporting SP3 for at least another few years because businesses still use it.

 

[blu]

QW is right. windows 7 w/ aero is going to own 5 year old hardware unless you had gaming rigs of that time. I say you just get new PCs, find some local nerd (friends kid or friend) to order you parts off newegg and build it for you. even paying the kid decently for his time you will save hundreds of $$ vs buying from dell or hp

 

[blu]

OKAY, I'm hoping some of you computer whizzes out there can give me some solid advice here.

Mr. Foxfyre and I each have an aging PC both custom built at the computer store - both over 5 years old now - both have Windows XP.

I have software that will scrub - i.e. erase - everything off our hard drives.

If I do that can I then install Windows 7?

And will that make these computers run like new?

Maybe, maybe not.
The only thing you need to do is go to All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt then type in format C:. That will reformat you hard drive, wiping it clean.
What I would suggest is pick up a new hard drive - open your box, determine if the current hard drives are SATA or IDE - order a hard drive from Newegg or Tiger Direct. When it arrives install it as the master while making the old drive the slave then boot up with the OS disc in the optical drive. Once you're up and running you have a new OS and you can still access you old information on your old drive.

no it won't all that does it delete some metadata while leaving all your actual data behind. data is completely recoverable even after 100s of reformats

 

[JBeukema]

I have software that will scrub - i.e. erase - everything off our hard drives.

If I do that can I then install Windows 7?

Depends on the hardware, but probably not.

And will that make these computers run like new?

No, it will run worse, since Win7 requires greater specs and WinXP can be tweaked for minimal hardware drain.

 

[JBeukema]

The only thing you need to do is go to All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt then type in format C:. That will reformat you hard drive, wiping it clean.

If windows is running, you can't reformat the system drive.

What I would suggest is pick up a new hard drive - open your box, determine if the current hard drives are SATA or IDE - order a hard drive from Newegg or Tiger Direct. When it arrives install it as the master while making the old drive the slave then boot up with the OS disc in the optical drive. Once you're up and running you have a new OS and you can still access you old information on your old drive.

You don't need a new HD to do that.

 

[JBeukema]

Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing

 

[Foxfyre]

Sorry I didn't get back to you guys. We got company and they stayed late. Then I couldn't get into USMB until a few minutes ago.

Appreciate the input. Some of you are talking in language I don't really understand, but I do understand that you all are pretty much in agreement that our computers probably won't support Windows 7 so I'm glad I asked before trying to go that route. Both computers have a gig of ram but I know my PC isn't as powerful as my Sony laptop that has Windows Vista that sucks. And Mr. F's puter is less powerful than mine.

So back to the drawing board.

 

[JBeukema]

What do the machines not do that you want to do?

 

[Foxfyre]

They're just slow and balky anymore. Have developed some annoying quirks. Both freeze up a lot. It takes forever to reboot. Some big programs like some Facebook games load really slowly.

 

[Douger]

Microsoft is garbage.There's nothing wrong with your five year old machine.
Go get Linux mint, burn it to a disk and pop it in. It'll format, remove your Micro$hit, and give you a nice, fast, stable system.
It's free.
Try it one one machine.
You can thank me later.

 

[Ringel05]

The only thing you need to do is go to All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt then type in format C:. That will reformat you hard drive, wiping it clean.

If windows is running, you can't reformat the system drive.

What I would suggest is pick up a new hard drive - open your box, determine if the current hard drives are SATA or IDE - order a hard drive from Newegg or Tiger Direct. When it arrives install it as the master while making the old drive the slave then boot up with the OS disc in the optical drive. Once you're up and running you have a new OS and you can still access you old information on your old drive.

You don't need a new HD to do that.

True, you can use an old one.

 

[JBeukema]

Or just partition the one you have...

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

 

[Ringel05]

Or just partition the one you have...

GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

True but I hate dual boots.

 

[dixierat]

Sorry I didn't get back to you guys. We got company and they stayed late. Then I couldn't get into USMB until a few minutes ago.

Appreciate the input. Some of you are talking in language I don't really understand, but I do understand that you all are pretty much in agreement that our computers probably won't support Windows 7 so I'm glad I asked before trying to go that route. Both computers have a gig of ram but I know my PC isn't as powerful as my Sony laptop that has Windows Vista that sucks. And Mr. F's puter is less powerful than mine.

So back to the drawing board.

You could upgrade the Vista to Windows 7 on the laptop. As to the other PCs, I'd purchase new machines. You can get some good deals at Costco or Sam's. But shop around Competition is fierce right now.

 

[JBeukema]

Or just partition the one you have...

GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

True but I hate dual boots.

Doesn't have to be a dual boot.

Even when I have one OS, I keep my data (music, document, pictures, etc) on a separate partition (unless I can afford a second HD). That way if I need to scratch my OS, I don't lose the important stuff in the process.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Here in Portland there is a place called Free Geek that does computer recycling. I am sure they have a place like that where you are too. You can get very nice systems for not much. The advantage/drawback is they usually run some version of Linux. Linux is light years ahead of Windows for stability, safety, and memory use. It also requires a small degree of geekiness. You can get all kinds of really cool applications for a very good price ($0).

Unless you are game dependent (which is sounds like you are not) or are tethered to particular programs, you would be better of with a linux distro.

Free Geek here in Portland does Unbuntu. there are other good ones out there.

 

[Foxfyre]

Here in Portland there is a place called Free Geek that does computer recycling. I am sure they have a place like that where you are too. You can get very nice systems for not much. The advantage/drawback is they usually run some version of Linux. Linux is light years ahead of Windows for stability, safety, and memory use. It also requires a small degree of geekiness. You can get all kinds of really cool applications for a very good price ($0).

Unless you are game dependent (which is sounds like you are not) or are tethered to particular programs, you would be better of with a linux distro.

Free Geek here in Portland does Unbuntu. there are other good ones out there.

We are gamers though about the most complicated stuff I have on the computer is Hoyle card and board games plus a Microsoft 'big huge game" Rise of Nations and of course the mandatory Civilization. I have uninstalled huge train and flight simulators that I would love to learn to do but the computer just wasn't handling them well.

The most ram greedy stuff we do are generally Facebook applications.

I do run at lot of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Publisher) stuff though.

 

[Ringel05]

Or just partition the one you have...

GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

True but I hate dual boots.

Doesn't have to be a dual boot.

Even when I have one OS, I keep my data (music, document, pictures, etc) on a separate partition (unless I can afford a second HD). That way if I need to scratch my OS, I don't lose the important stuff in the process.

Oops, I had dual OS stuck on the mind. HDs are so inexpensive these days it's kinda silly (in my estimation) not to have a separate one.
I like having a separate HD to use as storage and as a back up.