newer pc ??

[tonysmith1929]

Hi friends. Long time away, but eyes now improved enough to play pc's again !!
Thinking of getting another HP thats a little faster than this 7 year old one, and fancy maybe win 7. I gather that many of my older progs (back as far as win 98) will not work on win 7 64bit. is win 7 32bit likely to help ?? Your advice as usual appreciated

Only other hardware is Epson all in one priter scanner which is OK on win 7.. Thanks......

[admin]

Good to hear from you again, and glad your eyes are now better.

Some older programs will still work, if you use compatibility mode. The problem wouldn't be 32/64 bit - the 64-bit version of the OS has a built-in 32-bit emulator anyway - but things like registry, file access permissions and other things that have changed. The only things that are really problematic are drivers, as 32-bit drivers can't work in the 64-bit environment.

[MilesAhead]

If you are using 16 bit programs now, they won't run under Win64. You need to run them in a virtual machine like DosBox or XPMode. You can check the windows version features but I think you need at least Pro to get the XPMode. Of course you can use a free VM such as VirtualBox.

If the programs are 32 bit you should be good to go. I've been running Vista64 SP1 on an HP machine since 2007. My 32 bit programs run fine. Programs that manipulate other programs or monitor them may not work on true 64 bit programs. But the majority of stuff you will use will still be 32 bit for some time. It's nice to have more than 4 GB ram. Very smooth. I have M9515y HP Pavilion 8 GB ram. My only complaint is the fans surge as soon as the processor starts to do anything. But this is a Phenom I machine. By Phenom II they probably figured out hot to quiet it down without losing performance.

[tonysmith1929]

newer pc.

Thanks to both of you for advice. Seems Win 7 is a no no. Most, but not all my old programs I have original discs for, others, including the one(s) we are not allowed to discuss, I was hoping to transfer.
maybe I should look for a better new barebones pc with a decent graphics card (need DVI output and dual screen to hitch to tv). Then add the new,legal, unused XP pro disc I already have while support is still available. Means sticking to 3gb ram but cant have everything !
I presume having a second HD with older progs, and XP, wouldnt work ?
Already have a spare new sata2 hd. Thanks again and Hi to those 'old' faces who may still be here !!

[admin]

You can try doing a dual boot. I'm actually posting this in (32-bit) XP at the moment, but will switch to (64-bit) Win 7 later on. Just install XP first and then 7, that's the proper way to get dual boot going on.

[tonysmith1929]

newer pc.

Admin. That sounds very interesting !! How do I go about this, after getting a pc with win 7. ?? Add a second HD ? And would it enable all or most of the 'older' programs. Sorrfy to be a niusance, seems like learning all over again ! Thanks

[MilesAhead]

You could add a second HD but it's usually easier just to create a new partition and install XP. I would give the XPMode a try first though. It should come pretty much preconfigured.

for virtualization/XPMode advice:
Virtualization - Windows 7 Forums

for dual boot advice:
Installation & Setup - Windows 7 Forums

I think the main issue with using 2 drives is you have to disconnect one at a certain point to force the OS to install on the other. It's been a long time since I had a multiple drive multiple OS system. I have Windows Seven and XP on one of my machines. It's not hard to do on single drive as I mentioned already(must be due for a coffee)

[tonysmith1929]

newer pc

Thank you. I will study the two links and try to digest it, will advise later of results....