Windows 7 Support

[humbert]

Pretty Nice. I'm running it as a VM under VirtualBox

[Veddyn]

I think the best way to update Windows 7 these days is via Simplix pack. I updated all editions of Windows 7 x86 and x64 in about 3 hours (that's extremely fast).

[shhnedo]

Made a 6in1 and a 5in1, simplix'd(july 2017), .net 4.7, directx 9,10,11:
6in1 x86: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:f3e6994c405f734b8be8a37460f328eb44d049f4
5in1 x64: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:775b81a868c6f6a0fd8e8f69d8aafeae60cab7af

Q: How to use these strange links?
A: Google > add torrent from url *insert_torrent_client_here*

Enjoy.

[humbert]

I think the best way to update Windows 7 these days is via Simplix pack. I updated all editions of Windows 7 x86 and x64 in about 3 hours (that's extremely fast).

Why are you still on Windows 7 instead of using Windows 10? Personal taste?

[Veddyn]

I'm not using either of them. Right now I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro x64 because that's all I need for my video card (dx 11). I don't intend to move to Windows 10 because MS created that os as a service, meaning you don't have as much control on 10 as you have on 7 or 8. Some settings can no longer be disabled, you are forced to keep the OS updated even when you don't need/want to, it is poorly optimized, more telemetry crap is built into it... I could go on but I think it's better that you read this because it pretty much sums it up: http://itvision.altervista.org/why-windows-10-sucks.html

[humbert]

I'm not using either of them. Right now I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro x64 because that's all I need for my video card (dx 11). I don't intend to move to Windows 10 because MS created that os as a service, meaning you don't have as much control on 10 as you have on 7 or 8. Some settings can no longer be disabled, you are forced to keep the OS updated even when you don't need/want to, it is poorly optimized, more telemetry crap is built into it... I could go on but I think it's better that you read this because it pretty much sums it up: http://itvision.altervista.org/why-windows-10-sucks.html

I looked at the article. First of all, I am no fan of Windows. The problem is there's nothing else. If it were up to me I'd run a distro of Linux as my primary OS. Unfortunately the lack of support makes this impossible. Add to this the fact that Linux is nowhere near as configurable or as hackable as Windows, not even close.

Windows 10 is not a "service". It's a highly configurable, very hackable OS. Telemetry, automatic updates and anything else you don't like can be disabled through one of the many apps out there. My favorite is "W10Privacy" but there are many more. Similarly, you can uninstall most metro apps and you can all but disable those that can't be uninstalled. It is not "poorly optimized" - I've been running it for months and it runs like a champ. It's easily the best OS that MS has come up with once it's properly configured.

You're going to stay with Windows 8.1 (or older) forever? Forget it! Upgrades are an inevitable fact of life. In a few years DX11 will be ancient history. Similarly, we'll all be using Ryzens or Core i9's. Microsoft has already decided that only Windows 10 will be optimized to take full advantage of what these new processors can do. Older versions can still run on them, but not at full potential. They'd be essentially crippled. You can delay but not totally avoid upgrades. It you could hold on to an OS you like forever, today there would be many people still running MS-Dos on a command line -- if you're old enough to know what I'm even talking about.

One more thing. Why would anyone in their right mind be opposed to constantly updating the OS, or any other program? Most of these updates are security patches anyway. There might be a bad update every now and then, but this is the exception and not the rule. The only reason I can think of why anyone would want more control over updating is due to bad internet service. Other than that not upgrading is just plain ridiculous.

[Vasudev]

Yes you nailed it w/ the facts. I don't auto update W10 at all, I use off-line cumulative updates to keep up-to-date all my W10 PCs at the same time and also share Linux updates.
A good news for you, Linux has finally caught up w/ windows 10 like performance and battery life. I'm using Xubuntu 16.04.2 with latest kernel 4.10 using distro upgrade commands that upgrades your LTS version to latest mainline kernel. So, with 4.10 the battery life on Linux using Intel IGP rivals windows, at idle it reports 14 hrs and on my daily web usage I might get 8-9 Hrs(8 watts)  on Linux thanks to Intel SpeedShift and TLP 1.0. Brightness is set to 50%. If I switch to Nvidia battery life is only 2 hrs.
You can try Windows in a VM on Linux using VMWare.

EDIT: Have you updated your Haswell Microcode recently on your PC and your friend's PC? Try this, after updating your system will be more snappy and even everyone in the forum can try it @scarface, @shadow97 @usmangujjar
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/skylake-kaby-lake-hyper-threading-bug.806317/page-11#post-10564912

[humbert]

A good news for you, Linux has finally caught up w/ windows 10 like performance and battery life. I'm using Xubuntu 16.04.2 with latest kernel 4.10 using distro upgrade commands that upgrades your LTS version to latest mainline kernel. So, with 4.10 the battery life on Linux using Intel IGP rivals windows, at idle it reports 14 hrs and on my daily web usage I might get 8-9 Hrs(8 watts)  on Linux thanks to Intel SpeedShift and TLP 1.0. Brightness is set to 50%. If I switch to Nvidia battery life is only 2 hrs.

I haven't tested for battery life so I'll take your word for it. As for performance I've never had a complaint about any distro of Linux. I've been playing around with Linux for over 10 years and it always runs like a champ. The big problem is lack of support. I can name many examples. Another problem is the fact that it's nowhere near as hackable nor configurable as Windows. My favorite example is the hated password prompt. You can disable it only on the sudo command, but nothing else. The developers are intransigent, they even refuse to make it optional because they believe they "protecting" us. I hate this kind of condescendence. If this were Windows, by now someone would have found some hack to eliminate this annoyance.

You can try Windows in a VM on Linux using VMWare.

I run Linux Mint as as guest OS under VirtualBox. I prefer it to VMware. For starters, you don't even have to crack it or use a bogus serial number. I also run Schnedo's copy of Windows 7 under VirtualBox in order to test new software. It's easy and it runs great.

EDIT: Have you updated your Haswell Microcode recently on your PC and your friend's PC? Try this, after updating your system will be more snappy and even everyone in the forum can try it @scarface, @shadow97 @usmangujjar

The links you posted specifically mention Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. I have Haswell, and of that there is nothing. Even if Haswell were mentioned there is no clear explanation of the problem nor how to fix it. Please elaborate.

[Vasudev]

A good news for you, Linux has finally caught up w/ windows 10 like performance and battery life. I'm using Xubuntu 16.04.2 with latest kernel 4.10 using distro upgrade commands that upgrades your LTS version to latest mainline kernel. So, with 4.10 the battery life on Linux using Intel IGP rivals windows, at idle it reports 14 hrs and on my daily web usage I might get 8-9 Hrs(8 watts)  on Linux thanks to Intel SpeedShift and TLP 1.0. Brightness is set to 50%. If I switch to Nvidia battery life is only 2 hrs.

I haven't tested for battery life so I'll take your word for it. As for performance I've never had a complaint about any distro of Linux. I've been playing around with Linux for over 10 years and it always runs like a champ. The big problem is lack of support. I can name many examples. Another problem is the fact that it's nowhere near as hackable nor configurable as Windows. My favorite example is the hated password prompt. You can disable it only on the sudo command, but nothing else. The developers are intransigent, they even refuse to make it optional because they believe they "protecting" us. I hate this kind of condescendence. If this were Windows, by now someone would have found some hack to eliminate this annoyance.

You can try Windows in a VM on Linux using VMWare.

I run Linux Mint as as guest OS under VirtualBox. I prefer it to VMware. For starters, you don't even have to crack it or use a bogus serial number. I also run Schnedo's copy of Windows 7 under VirtualBox in order to test new software. It's easy and it runs great.

EDIT: Have you updated your Haswell Microcode recently on your PC and your friend's PC? Try this, after updating your system will be more snappy and even everyone in the forum can try it @scarface, @shadow97 @usmangujjar

The links you posted specifically mention Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. I have Haswell, and of that there is nothing. Even if Haswell were mentioned there is no clear explanation of the problem nor how to fix it. Please elaborate.

Yep it says Skylake/Kaby, but I did the testing and you can me on those forum. Microcode update applies to every intel/amd cpus. I even updated my pentium 2020m and 5200U CPUs thereafter observed increased responsiveness on win 10 running on HDD. Even Haswell, Broadwell,IvyB, Sandy Bridge etc.....
See post 109 and download the archive. After decompressing run Install.bat as admin to update the microcode. Before that, Please check the current microcode in HWINFO under CPU named as "Microcode revision". If you didn't like run uninstall.bat as admin to remove it.
Skylake / Kaby Lake Hyper-threading bug

[humbert]

See post 109 and download the archive. After decompressing run Install.bat as admin to update the microcode. Before that, Please check the current microcode in HWINFO under CPU named as "Microcode revision". If you didn't like run uninstall.bat as admin to remove it.
Skylake / Kaby Lake Hyper-threading bug]See this thread[/url]

This is confusing. The link on post #109 is only for Linux. The only file available for download is "microcode-20170707.tgz". I opened the tarball and saw no install.bat nor any other support for Windows. I did some further searching and found something else called "cpumcupdate2.1.zip". I opened that up and it did have an install.bat and a few other files in it, but when I run it as administrator it says "File microcode.dat was not found.  It needs to be downloaded separately from this tool." Every search for this points me back to Linux.

If we're talking about an update for the cpu's firmware and not a software driver for the OS, then why the emphasis on Linux? Is Linux mandatory for this? If so I don't think it'll install under a virtual machine.

Clearly you have a file that works. Why not just put it on a download site and give us the link?