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Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question?

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  Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? "ghelf" <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> - 2011-07-09 17:55 -0700
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? Pen <nospam@spam.none> - 2011-07-09 22:28 -0400
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> - 2011-07-09 21:27 -0700
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-07-10 12:14 -0500
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? lmarco@panix.com (Lou Marco) - 2011-07-10 04:44 +0000
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? lmarco@panix.com (Lou Marco) - 2011-07-10 04:46 +0000
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? "Ryan P." <rdeletepaque@wi.rr.comm> - 2011-07-10 00:43 -0500
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 00:22 -0700
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? Bob Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 05:09 -0700
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? "Ryan P." <rdeletepaque@wi.rr.comm> - 2011-07-10 17:39 -0500
        Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 23:15 -0700
          Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? "Ryan P." <rdeleteyannewguy@gremovemail.com> - 2011-07-11 12:45 -0500
            Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-07-11 21:01 -0700
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 23:57 -0300
    Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? "ghelf" <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> - 2011-07-10 22:18 -0700
      Re: Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question? mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 23:49 -0700

#405 — Installing Window 7 on a 4 year old laptop question?

The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard drive 
crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD installed and I'm 
thinking, instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I should 
just go with Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b. 

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#406

On 7/9/2011 8:55 PM, ghelf wrote:
> The original machine came with XP professional installed.
> The hard drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've
> got the new HD installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying
> and installing XP professional, maybe I should just go with
> Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
That processor is about the minimum for win7 for basic
tasks. However, you should ump up the RAM to at least 3GB
since it doesn't have discrete graphics.

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#407

On Jul 9, 9:28 pm, Pen <nos...@spam.none> wrote:
> On 7/9/2011 8:55 PM, ghelf wrote:> The original machine came with XP professional installed.
> > The hard drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've
> > got the new HD installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying
> > and installing XP professional, maybe I should just go with
> > Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
>
> That processor is about the minimum for win7 for basic
> tasks. However, you should ump up the RAM to at least 3GB
> since it doesn't have discrete graphics.

I think 3Gb is the limit (accessible) to W7 32bit.

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#414

On 7/9/2011 9:28 PM, Pen wrote:
> On 7/9/2011 8:55 PM, ghelf wrote:
>> The original machine came with XP professional installed.
>> The hard drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've
>> got the new HD installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying
>> and installing XP professional, maybe I should just go with
>> Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
>
> That processor is about the minimum for win7 for basic
> tasks. However, you should ump up the RAM to at least 3GB
> since it doesn't have discrete graphics.

Both Ryan P. and myself are running Windows 7 with only 1.5GB of RAM. 
Have you actually checked your memory use under Windows 7? As this one 
right now is using 798MB of the 1.5GB. And I have never seen it use over 
1GB yet. And I monitor it with a widget constantly.

Most of my Windows XP machines are running 2GB. And memory use on them 
is the same as Windows 7 here. Rarely do I use more than 1GB under XP 
unless I am running some GB mega 3D game or something. Even still I 
haven't seen any of my XP machines ever hit 1.5GB or higher in use yet.

-- 
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7

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#408

In article <X5idnekgKtTxZYXTnZ2dnUVZ5rGdnZ2d@giganews.com>,
ghelf <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> wrote:
>instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I should 

	Yes.

	HP doesn't support Windows 7 on that system.  Buy a Vista or XP recovery disc
from HP for 20 bucks.

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#409

In article <ivband$dv7$1@reader1.panix.com>,
Lou Marco <lmarco@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <X5idnekgKtTxZYXTnZ2dnUVZ5rGdnZ2d@giganews.com>,
>ghelf <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> wrote:
>>instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I should 
>
>	Yes.

	"Yes, it's a bad idea", I mean.

	(Rats.  You need more than su - to trick trn...  )

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#410

On 7/9/2011 7:55 PM, ghelf wrote:
> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard drive
> crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD installed and
> I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I
> should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a
> HP/Compaq 6501b.

  Lou is correct...  HP doesn't support Win7 on that model, but then, 
you're out of warranty anyway, so they won't support anything for you.

  However, I installed Win7 on my DV6000 series laptop (HP also does not 
support Win7 on that machine), and it actually sped my system up 
compared to the original Vista installation.  I've only got 1.5MB in my 
system.

  The Vista drivers will work for any hardware than Windows 7 doesn't 
recognize automatically.  When I did my DV6000, I downloaded all the 
drivers I might need onto a flash drive and installed anything that 
Windows 7 didn't.

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#411

ghelf wrote:
> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard drive 
> crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD installed and 
> I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I 
> should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a 
> HP/Compaq 6501b.

If you have a XP COA/key you should be able to reinstall XP for free.
Finding a CD that works with that key may be an issue.  For Dells,
most any dell cd will install on most any dell computer.  No idea if
that works for Compaqs.

I put 7 on my desktop 'cause it was free at the launch event.
Can't say that there's anything that it does that I couldn't already
do with XP.

And there's lots of stuff it CAN'T do that I could do with XP.
I had major issues with webcams and other legacy hardware that doesn't
have vista/7 drivers.

Yes, win7 claims to be plug and play with webcams.  And if I plug in
my webcam, I can indeed get a picture.  Problem is that it's 320x240.
There's no way to change that.  No way to brighten the image so I can
actually see it...I guess that's plug and play...GRRRRR!!
You really do need "real vendor-supplied" drivers for anything that's 
configurable.
And there's no incentive for the vendor to put resources into a driver
that will get them zero revenue.

Don't get me started on "security".  Took me six months to find
and disable enough of the "security" features so that I could
actually use the thing without major hassles.
Get used to seeing "sorry Charlie, you can't do that" and spending
hours googling how to work around that inhibition.

It's been almost a year, but now that I've got it working much like
XP, I like Win7 ultimate a lot.
I recently ran an experiment with win7 starter.  They disable many
of the configuration utilities and it's maddening.

If you like useless "eye-candy", win7 is the ticket.  It'll be fun
for half an hour, then you'll start trying to figure out how to get
rid of it to get the performance up.  I bought a new video card so I
could enable "aero".  Then had to figure out how to disable it.

Stick with XP until you have a compelling reason to upgrade.
Then buy a new computer designed to run it.

Do I need to say, "invest in a backup program so this doesn't
happen again?"

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#412

On Jul 10, 2:22 am, mike <spam...@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>
> rid of it to get the performance up.  I bought a new video card so I
> could enable "aero".  Then had to figure out how to disable it.
>
> Stick with XP until you have a compelling reason to upgrade.
> Then buy a new computer designed to run it.
>
> Do I need to say, "invest in a backup program so this doesn't
> happen again?"

Sound advice Mike!

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#417

On 7/10/2011 2:22 AM, mike wrote:
> ghelf wrote:
>> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard
>> drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD
>> installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP
>> professional, maybe I should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad
>> idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
>
> If you have a XP COA/key you should be able to reinstall XP for free.
> Finding a CD that works with that key may be an issue. For Dells,
> most any dell cd will install on most any dell computer. No idea if
> that works for Compaqs.
>
> I put 7 on my desktop 'cause it was free at the launch event.
> Can't say that there's anything that it does that I couldn't already
> do with XP.

  Besides use modern hardware.  :)

>
> And there's lots of stuff it CAN'T do that I could do with XP.
> I had major issues with webcams and other legacy hardware that doesn't
> have vista/7 drivers.
>
> Yes, win7 claims to be plug and play with webcams. And if I plug in
> my webcam, I can indeed get a picture. Problem is that it's 320x240.
> There's no way to change that. No way to brighten the image so I can
> actually see it...I guess that's plug and play...GRRRRR!!
> You really do need "real vendor-supplied" drivers for anything that's
> configurable.
> And there's no incentive for the vendor to put resources into a driver
> that will get them zero revenue.

  Did you try simply loading the XP drivers?  I had the same problem 
with my webcam (and my printer) when I first installed Win7, couldn't 
find updated drivers, so I just downloaded and installed the original XP 
drivers.  Worked perfectly after that.

>
> Don't get me started on "security". Took me six months to find
> and disable enough of the "security" features so that I could
> actually use the thing without major hassles.
> Get used to seeing "sorry Charlie, you can't do that" and spending
> hours googling how to work around that inhibition.

  I never run into that...  What were you trying to do that it threw up 
so many warnings?

>
> It's been almost a year, but now that I've got it working much like
> XP, I like Win7 ultimate a lot.
> I recently ran an experiment with win7 starter. They disable many
> of the configuration utilities and it's maddening.
>
> If you like useless "eye-candy", win7 is the ticket. It'll be fun
> for half an hour, then you'll start trying to figure out how to get
> rid of it to get the performance up. I bought a new video card so I
> could enable "aero". Then had to figure out how to disable it.

  XP has a lot of useless eye candy, too.  The first thing I do when I 
come across an XP system is to  turn off all the pretty crap... just 
like I do with Vista and Win7.  All you have to do is go to advanced 
performance settings and set it to "best performance" vs "Let windows 
decide."

> Do I need to say, "invest in a backup program so this doesn't
> happen again?"

  Always good advice!

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#422

Ryan P. wrote:
> On 7/10/2011 2:22 AM, mike wrote:
>> ghelf wrote:
>>> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard
>>> drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD
>>> installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP
>>> professional, maybe I should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad
>>> idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
>>
>> If you have a XP COA/key you should be able to reinstall XP for free.
>> Finding a CD that works with that key may be an issue. For Dells,
>> most any dell cd will install on most any dell computer. No idea if
>> that works for Compaqs.
>>
>> I put 7 on my desktop 'cause it was free at the launch event.
>> Can't say that there's anything that it does that I couldn't already
>> do with XP.
> 
>  Besides use modern hardware.  :)

But for rampant snippage, you'd know that was my recommendation too.
> 
>>
>> And there's lots of stuff it CAN'T do that I could do with XP.
>> I had major issues with webcams and other legacy hardware that doesn't
>> have vista/7 drivers.
>>
>> Yes, win7 claims to be plug and play with webcams. And if I plug in
>> my webcam, I can indeed get a picture. Problem is that it's 320x240.
>> There's no way to change that. No way to brighten the image so I can
>> actually see it...I guess that's plug and play...GRRRRR!!
>> You really do need "real vendor-supplied" drivers for anything that's
>> configurable.
>> And there's no incentive for the vendor to put resources into a driver
>> that will get them zero revenue.
> 
>  Did you try simply loading the XP drivers?  I had the same problem with 
> my webcam (and my printer) when I first installed Win7, couldn't find 
> updated drivers, so I just downloaded and installed the original XP 
> drivers.  Worked perfectly after that.

Yes, no luck.  Had to update the webcam.  That camera's XP drivers do work.
The TV card didn't work, had to upgrade that too.  It has XP drivers
that sort-of work until the system sleeps.  It can't figger out how
to reset itself and I have to power off the system to get the TV card 
back.  Simple reboot don't work, have to cut the power.

Never did get the usb video capture to work, had to buy new hardware.
It came with drivers that suck, but they do at least get a picture.

To get the gigabit network card to work I had to turn ON the onboard
100Mb hardware in the bios then disable it in device manager.

The cost of the new video card and extra RAM so that I could
experience AERO exceeded the original cost (to me) of the system.
BFD and turned it back off.
And with all that RAM, I now wasted 2GB or disk space for hibernation
that I never used.  Just uncheck the box...hmmm...no longer a box to
uncheck...whimper in the newsgroups until somebody takes pity
and discloses the magic command line to disable hibernation.

I haven't tried anything that accesses the hardware directly.  Like PIC
programmers etc.  Is there a win7 equivalent to userportXP or giveio?
> 
>>
>> Don't get me started on "security". Took me six months to find
>> and disable enough of the "security" features so that I could
>> actually use the thing without major hassles.
>> Get used to seeing "sorry Charlie, you can't do that" and spending
>> hours googling how to work around that inhibition.
> 
>  I never run into that...  What were you trying to do that it threw up 
> so many warnings?
Everything.
Turned off UAC.
If you have the same username and password on every machine on the network
with all partitions shared,
windows machines can talk to each other without OS interference.
But a PDA won't.  Have to edit the registry to turn off some security
functions and share a folder.

"Sorry charlie, you don't have permission to access that directory."
Or worse yet, nothing happens when you click the directory.
But I AM an an administrator.  Ok,
Run as administrator...
"Sorry charlie, you don't have permission to access that directory."

I had to learn how to take ownership of system directories so I could
edit
permissions so I could write them.
Ditto for all the user directories.

Windows help doesn't work until you figger out which xp files to copy.

Outbound firewall configuration requires way more understanding than
I have...installed comodo.

And how about god mode???
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.
remember that number ;-)
Seems like an increasing number of "fixes" involve some magic number
that can't be determined unless someone decides to tell you that the
option exists and the big-ass number to input.

Much of the configuration utility stuff is still there, they just
renamed and moved it to a different location to keep us guessing.
Much of it can be put back to the way you "KNOW", but it's a hassle
that didn't have to be.  The rest is just SECRET and you have to
rely on someone to tell you about it.

I'm sure there's lots more, but I don't remember it all.

One thing that helpers don't seem to realize is that configuring
any software is relatively easy the SECOND time you do it.
Assuming you had the presence of mind to document what you did.

Googling a problem or objective gets you 2 million hits.
And 1.999 million of those relate to some pre-release pirated
version of Vista. Most of the rest are just plain WRONG for
the production version of win7.
The needle is probably in that haystack...
somewhere.
And a vista solution works on win7...except when it doesn't.
XP drivers work in win7...except when they don't.

Update the hardware is not a realistic expectation.
I've got hardware that predates windows 95.  The functionality
no longer exists at a rational price.  The drivers know how to work
the hardware...it's windows that can't talk to the drivers.
There's a HAL, why the heck can't the HAL make the legacy hardware
work seamlessly?

I'm sure somebody had very good reasons for making it incompatible.
But that's no consolation when my PAL programmer don't work.  I've got
GPIB interface cards that require ISA slots.  Nothing that can't be fixed
with (lots of) money.  It's cheaper to keep another machine around
with ISA slots and running an older OS.

Most of what I do can be done it windows 2000.
For MS to stay in business, they MUST FORCE me to buy a new OS.

The way MS changes the way programmers have to work, it's not profitable
to write code that supports legacy hardware.  So, legacy hardware doesn't
have modern drivers.  Legacy applications don't support the new OS
bloat.  Incompatibilities keep the competition to running hard
just to keep up.  World domination is assured.

New bloat requires more horsepower.  More horsepower enables new bloat.
World domination is assured.

My test system has plugin drives and runs multiple operating systems.
It's getting to the point that I can't have a single set of hardware
that's fully compatible with different OS's.




> 
>>
>> It's been almost a year, but now that I've got it working much like
>> XP, I like Win7 ultimate a lot.
>> I recently ran an experiment with win7 starter. They disable many
>> of the configuration utilities and it's maddening.
>>
>> If you like useless "eye-candy", win7 is the ticket. It'll be fun
>> for half an hour, then you'll start trying to figure out how to get
>> rid of it to get the performance up. I bought a new video card so I
>> could enable "aero". Then had to figure out how to disable it.
> 
>  XP has a lot of useless eye candy, too.  The first thing I do when I 
> come across an XP system is to  turn off all the pretty crap... just 
> like I do with Vista and Win7.  All you have to do is go to advanced 
> performance settings and set it to "best performance" vs "Let windows 
> decide."
Yep, pretty simple the SECOND time you do it.
> 
>> Do I need to say, "invest in a backup program so this doesn't
>> happen again?"
> 
>  Always good advice!

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#427

On 7/11/2011 1:15 AM, mike wrote:
> Ryan P. wrote:

> Update the hardware is not a realistic expectation.
> I've got hardware that predates windows 95. The functionality
> no longer exists at a rational price. The drivers know how to work
> the hardware...it's windows that can't talk to the drivers.
> There's a HAL, why the heck can't the HAL make the legacy hardware
> work seamlessly?
>
> I'm sure somebody had very good reasons for making it incompatible.
> But that's no consolation when my PAL programmer don't work. I've got
> GPIB interface cards that require ISA slots. Nothing that can't be fixed
> with (lots of) money. It's cheaper to keep another machine around
> with ISA slots and running an older OS.

  Sounds like you have some pretty specific requirements.  I completely 
understand why you'd rather keep the older hardware running as long as 
possible.

  I am familiar with the legacy hardware conundrum...  I recall spending 
a long time figuring out how to get an old plotter to work for a small 
construction company...  Short answer is, it wouldn't work with their 
brand-spanking-new Windows 8 server.  I had to install it on an old XP 
machine, and then make it a shared printer that everyone else could 
access through their terminals.

  The hours I spent working on it were a LOT less expensive than paying 
$5,000 for a new plotter.

> My test system has plugin drives and runs multiple operating systems.
> It's getting to the point that I can't have a single set of hardware
> that's fully compatible with different OS's.

  I'm insanely curious... What types of environments are you using all 
the legacy hardware in?  I'm picturing driver computers for industrial 
machinery and similar applications?

  I worked on a Xerox printer (4096) that was being driven by a computer 
running Windows 3.1 with a custom shell overlay about a year ago...  The 
hardware dongles were all ISA, come to think about it.  The company had 
at least been prudent enough to have lots of spare parts to keep that 
computer running.  Xerox would happily come in and provide new dongles 
and controllers...to the tune of LOTS of money, of course.

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#428

Ryan P. wrote:
> On 7/11/2011 1:15 AM, mike wrote:
>> Ryan P. wrote:
> 
>> Update the hardware is not a realistic expectation.
>> I've got hardware that predates windows 95. The functionality
>> no longer exists at a rational price. The drivers know how to work
>> the hardware...it's windows that can't talk to the drivers.
>> There's a HAL, why the heck can't the HAL make the legacy hardware
>> work seamlessly?
>>
>> I'm sure somebody had very good reasons for making it incompatible.
>> But that's no consolation when my PAL programmer don't work. I've got
>> GPIB interface cards that require ISA slots. Nothing that can't be fixed
>> with (lots of) money. It's cheaper to keep another machine around
>> with ISA slots and running an older OS.
> 
>  Sounds like you have some pretty specific requirements.  I completely 
> understand why you'd rather keep the older hardware running as long as 
> possible.
> 
>  I am familiar with the legacy hardware conundrum...  I recall spending 
> a long time figuring out how to get an old plotter to work for a small 
> construction company...  Short answer is, it wouldn't work with their 
> brand-spanking-new Windows 8 server.  I had to install it on an old XP 
> machine, and then make it a shared printer that everyone else could 
> access through their terminals.
> 
>  The hours I spent working on it were a LOT less expensive than paying 
> $5,000 for a new plotter.
> 
>> My test system has plugin drives and runs multiple operating systems.
>> It's getting to the point that I can't have a single set of hardware
>> that's fully compatible with different OS's.
> 
>  I'm insanely curious... 

That sound serious..

What types of environments are you using all
> the legacy hardware in?  I'm picturing driver computers for industrial 
> machinery and similar applications?

Nothing so complex.  Just a bunch of hobby stuff that got started
on a VIC-20 and got ported over the years to different hardware.
Only machine I have is a Dremel mounted on a 3-axis positioner.
Last time I ran it was on a 286 with DOS.  Would be interesting
to see how jerky it gets on a multi-tasking OS.

It's not that I can't make stuff run on newer hardware and OS.
I have a choice:
1)plug it in and turn on the switch
or
2)Port it yet again and require dotnet and who-knows-howmany-gigabytes
of additional bloat will be required on the system to run it.
I choose 1.
There's a lot to be said for a single executable that will run on
ANY windows computer.  I've got a bunch of legacy laptop stuff that
won't support enough ram to run XP, much less win7.

But, realistically, most of my real problems went away when I found
a dirt-cheap National Instruments GPIB card with PCI and XP drivers.
Haven't tried it on win7 yet, but I can't afford another win7 license
anyway.

I try to keep my hardware and software at least 5-years behind the
state of the market.  Does wonders for costs.
> 
>  I worked on a Xerox printer (4096) that was being driven by a computer 
> running Windows 3.1 with a custom shell overlay about a year ago...  The 
> hardware dongles were all ISA, come to think about it.  The company had 
> at least been prudent enough to have lots of spare parts to keep that 
> computer running.  Xerox would happily come in and provide new dongles 
> and controllers...to the tune of LOTS of money, of course.

That's one of my issues.  I'm buried in spare parts.
If there's ever an earthquake, I'll be killed by all the computer
stuff falling thru the ceiling.

My estate sale will be run by a museum.

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#419

On 09/07/2011 9:55 PM, ghelf wrote:
> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard drive
> crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD installed and
> I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I
> should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a
> HP/Compaq 6501b.

I installed Windows 7 x64 on a Acer Aspire 5000 that had 1280 (1 gig + 
256 meg) of RAM. 7 isn't supported by Acer but it ran great (no Aero). 
The only driver I couldn't find was for the SiS video, but the on disc 
driver from Microsoft worked OK.

If you have a regular retail cd of XP Pro it **is possible** to make an 
OEM (HP, Acer, Dell ...) disc from it and use your cd key that is on 
your laptop. Just stay with the same SP as original. Google is your 
friend. I'm just saying it is possible.

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#421

"ghelf" <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> wrote in message 
news:X5idnekgKtTxZYXTnZ2dnUVZ5rGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard drive 
> crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD installed and 
> I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP professional, maybe I 
> should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad idea? The laptop is a 
> HP/Compaq 6501b.
I checked out all the drivers I would need to download and after seeing so 
many I decided to call HP product support. I normally hate doing this 
because after an automated voice reads off a dozen menu items I was sure 
none would apply to me. After that I figure they would tell me the machine 
is out of warrenty and they couldn't help me.
I was pleasantly surprised after 2 menu selections I was connected to a 
human being and told me for $10.83 they would mail me the 2 recovery disks. 
Delivery time 3 business days. I'm not a big fan of HP computers but I was 
pretty impressed. I decided to stay with XP Pro to avoid problems. My 
daughter (10) is anxious to make it her computer.
Thanks for everybodies comments.

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#423

ghelf wrote:
> 
> "ghelf" <ghelf@sbcglobalDeathToSpam.net> wrote in message 
> news:X5idnekgKtTxZYXTnZ2dnUVZ5rGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>> The original machine came with XP professional installed. The hard 
>> drive crashed and I have no recovery disks. I've got the new HD 
>> installed and I'm thinking, instead of buying and installing XP 
>> professional, maybe I should just go with Window 7. Is this a bad 
>> idea? The laptop is a HP/Compaq 6501b.
> I checked out all the drivers I would need to download and after seeing 
> so many I decided to call HP product support. I normally hate doing this 
> because after an automated voice reads off a dozen menu items I was sure 
> none would apply to me. After that I figure they would tell me the 
> machine is out of warrenty and they couldn't help me.
> I was pleasantly surprised after 2 menu selections I was connected to a 
> human being and told me for $10.83 they would mail me the 2 recovery 
> disks. Delivery time 3 business days. I'm not a big fan of HP computers 
> but I was pretty impressed. I decided to stay with XP Pro to avoid 
> problems. My daughter (10) is anxious to make it her computer.
> Thanks for everybodies comments.
> 

I'm paranoid, so take this for what it is...
I buy computers at garage sales.  I routinely look around to see
what's on there.
It's not unusual for the lights on the router to go wild.
Torrent clients run with stuff being shared on the web.
Viruses doing who-knows-what.
People and KIDS seem to be oblivious to the illegal nature
of stuff they do and don't bother to try to cover their tracks.

Load an OUTBOUND firewall and teach her how to use it.
Make sure she understands that daddy can lose the house
if one of her friends helps her get that new music or
game or....

And periodically check the log of the outbound firewall.
It's hard to recognize much of it, but it's better than nothing.

The probability of getting caught is low, but the consequences
can be catastrophic.  "Are you feelin' lucky?"

If your kid is as smart as you hope she is, she'll circumvent
any roadblocks you put in the way.  Education is key.

I'm really glad that I'm not responsible for someone else's
internet activity.

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