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WorkingStiff
Jul 5, 2005

Tin Tim posted:

Sorry if this is not the right thread for it, but after looking through the forum I couldn't find a better one.

So, I've been running with Vista Home Premium 32bit for years now, and pushed upgrading to a 64bit OS ahead of me because :effort: But I think I have do it now, since I mainly use my PC for gaming and a lot of the current releases move towards 64bit systems, and it looks as if 64bit is just becomming the new standart all around. Now, I already have 4G of memory installed, and also made sure that my old-rear end processor is able to support 64Bit. But the main problem I have is that I don't really know what Windows 64 OS I should go for. I thought I'd just look for a 64Bit version of Vista, but since that's so outdated by the current Microsoft state, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Microsoft wants to dump Windows 8 on me, but I never even looked at windows 7 so how should I know if 8 will do me any good?

So yeah, please tell me things because I'm a PC baby.

Vista is waaaay past it's prime. Try running the Upgrade Assistant and see if your hardware will even support it. You then need to make sure you acquire x64 media because if you just download it from MS it will give you x86 (32 bit) because it detects you are running that.

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Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

WorkingStiff posted:

Vista is waaaay past it's prime. Try running the Upgrade Assistant and see if your hardware will even support it. You then need to make sure you acquire x64 media because if you just download it from MS it will give you x86 (32 bit) because it detects you are running that.
Thanks, I'll check that out. But just to be clear, Windows 8 is the good poo poo that I should get because there's not much sense in using any older OS, right?

And on that note, how is Win8 64bit on backwards compatibility? I tend to run a lot of old games/software that may not work anymore with it. If it's anywhere close to how Vista handled such things, then I'm good I believe.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Tin Tim posted:

Sorry if this is not the right thread for it, but after looking through the forum I couldn't find a better one.

So, I've been running with Vista Home Premium 32bit for years now, and pushed upgrading to a 64bit OS ahead of me because :effort: But I think I have do it now, since I mainly use my PC for gaming and a lot of the current releases move towards 64bit systems, and it looks as if 64bit is just becomming the new standart all around. Now, I already have 4G of memory installed, and also made sure that my old-rear end processor is able to support 64Bit. But the main problem I have is that I don't really know what Windows 64 OS I should go for. I thought I'd just look for a 64Bit version of Vista, but since that's so outdated by the current Microsoft state, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Microsoft wants to dump Windows 8 on me, but I never even looked at windows 7 so how should I know if 8 will do me any good?

So yeah, please tell me things because I'm a PC baby.

There's no single best answer, but here are some options:
  • Stick with Vista: You'd be missing out on seven years of improvements, but you're already used to it, and it won't cost you anything to install the 64-bit version if you've got your product key.
  • Windows 7: It's still a lot of people's favorite version of Windows. You'd have to buy it, and you'd be buying a five year old OS, but the learning curve coming from Vista isn't very steep at all.
  • Windows 8: This one's pretty divisive. There'd be a steeper learning curve compared to Windows 7, and you might end up having paid for an OS you don't like. On the other hand, you might love it, and in any case there are performance improvements over Windows 7.
  • Windows 9? Windows 9 is supposed to address a lot of the common complaints about Windows 8, and it's expected to launch sometime next year. Preview versions are supposed to come out soon, though, so if you don't mind probably having to reinstall when the final version comes out, you could mess with a brand-new OS for free and see how you feel about it.

Edit: I can't speak from experience on this, but Windows 8 should be comparable to Vista or Windows 7 for playing older games, as they're pretty similar under the hood.

Orcs and Ostriches
Aug 26, 2010


The Great Twist
I'm going to be the devil's advocate and ask why bother? It's a gaming machine that's over 5 years old (since 7 came out in 2009), and there may be a negligible (if any) upgrade to performance for upgrading to a 64bit OS. For that matter, I can't think of any game that needs a 64 bit OS, and if any newer ones do, your hardware is probably already out of date. I'd see if it would live for another year or two, and looking at upgrading when feasible.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Orcs and Ostriches posted:

I'm going to be the devil's advocate and ask why bother? It's a gaming machine that's over 5 years old (since 7 came out in 2009), and there may be a negligible (if any) upgrade to performance for upgrading to a 64bit OS. For that matter, I can't think of any game that needs a 64 bit OS, and if any newer ones do, your hardware is probably already out of date. I'd see if it would live for another year or two, and looking at upgrading when feasible.
Nah, it's not strictly a "gaming machine", at least if you mean a pre built off the shelf thingy. It's a PC that was built from scratch and upgraded over time. I recently switched in a new HD, more RAM and a much better GPU. But that RAM doesn't do me much good if my OS can't take full advantage of it. It may be only 1Gig at the moment that I'd get more, but I can still upgrade it further down the road. The only real old part is the motherboard. It's still a duo core though, and securable said my processor can handle 64bit. I'll upgrade that next, but I can still use it for a little while longer.

And to get back to the specific game angle, the new Wasteland 2 made me consider this change. It's built with 4Gig RAM as a baseline in mind, and while I can run the game fine, the big areas require more adress space than what my system can give em, and it crashes due to that. This will probably be smoothed out with performance patches, but it's still a fact that being under 4G of RAM kinda sucks nowadays. So why should I buy a completely new machine, if I already have several good parts and just need to change a few and get a new OS?

Toast Museum posted:

There's no single best answer, but here are some options:
  • Stick with Vista: You'd be missing out on seven years of improvements, but you're already used to it, and it won't cost you anything to install the 64-bit version if you've got your product key.
  • Windows 7: It's still a lot of people's favorite version of Windows. You'd have to buy it, and you'd be buying a five year old OS, but the learning curve coming from Vista isn't very steep at all.
  • Windows 8: This one's pretty divisive. There'd be a steeper learning curve compared to Windows 7, and you might end up having paid for an OS you don't like. On the other hand, you might love it, and in any case there are performance improvements over Windows 7.
  • Windows 9? Windows 9 is supposed to address a lot of the common complaints about Windows 8, and it's expected to launch sometime next year. Preview versions are supposed to come out soon, though, so if you don't mind probably having to reinstall when the final version comes out, you could mess with a brand-new OS for free and see how you feel about it.

Edit: I can't speak from experience on this, but Windows 8 should be comparable to Vista or Windows 7 for playing older games, as they're pretty similar under the hood.
Thanks for this! It made me look at some reviews for Win 8, and that really isn't my thing. Not a fan of that phone/tablet OS look. I just need my desktop that I can mess up with pics and files and my windows explorer. Yeah, I'm old fashioned I guess. I get what Windows is doing with 8, and why it would be great for a lot of people, but I really can't see me enjoying that OS. So I'll probably get a 64 version of 7 and be done with it.

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Sep 26, 2014

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



Tin Tim posted:

I just need my desktop that I can mess up with pics and files and my windows explorer.
Yeah, umm, those are definitely not gone in Windows 8.

Your search for information seems to have been very superficial.

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007
I installed Windows 8.1 and I've never seen the Metro Interface after the first boot, boot to desktop+classic shell, basically Windows 7 with some improvements.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Flipperwaldt posted:

Yeah, umm, those are definitely not gone in Windows 8.

Your search for information seems to have been very superficial.
Yeah it kinda was, but when a video review only shows that new UI, and a written review lists "Start menu gone, Can't boot to the desktop, You'll want a touchscreen/trackpad gestures/Touch Mouse ,Modern UI will annoy some" as the cons right off the bat, you may understand why I said "gently caress it" right away.

37th Chamber posted:

I installed Windows 8.1 and I've never seen the Metro Interface after the first boot, boot to desktop+classic shell, basically Windows 7 with some improvements.
Now that sounds much better! I'll take a closer look than before at that when I can.

Thanks for the help from y'all btw. I'm just worried that I end up buying an OS that I don't like to use.

Factor Mystic
Mar 20, 2006

Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Tin Tim posted:

a written review lists "Start menu gone, Can't boot to the desktop, You'll want a touchscreen/trackpad gestures/Touch Mouse ,Modern UI will annoy some" as the cons right off the bat, you may understand why I said "gently caress it" right away.
Misleading, false, false, true. Get a new news source.

Entropic
Feb 21, 2007

patriarchy sucks
Windows 8 is fine once you make it look like Windows 7. There are significant improvements on the back end. But if you're not comfortable installing something like Classic Shell, stick with 7, because Metro is garbage on a desktop or laptop.

Mr. Clark2
Sep 17, 2003

Rocco sez: Oh man, what a bummer. Woof.

37th Chamber posted:

I installed Windows 8.1 and I've never seen the Metro Interface after the first boot, boot to desktop+classic shell, basically Windows 7 with some improvements.

This. I'm using the same setup and I couldnt even tell you the last time that I saw the metro/modern/whatever interface.

hooah
Feb 6, 2006
WTF?

Entropic posted:

Windows 8 is fine once you make it look like Windows 7. There are significant improvements on the back end. But if you're not comfortable installing something like Classic Shell, stick with 7, because Metro is garbage on a desktop or laptop.

You don't even need to install anything anymore.

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007

hooah posted:

You don't even need to install anything anymore.

If you want a traditional start menu, you do. Stock Win8 start button still opens the tile start page.

hooah
Feb 6, 2006
WTF?

37th Chamber posted:

If you want a traditional start menu, you do. Stock Win8 start button still opens the tile start page.

Yeah, that's true. I was referring to Classic Shell, though. On my own computers, I haven't used the Start Menu in years. Task bar shortcuts (Control Panel) and Launchy are where it's at.

f#a#
Sep 6, 2004

I can't promise it will live up to the hype, but I tried my best.
I actually really admire the Win+Q hotkey, truth be told. Works better than Spotlight on Mac.

Grawl
Aug 28, 2008

Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right
We have a Win7 PC at work that needs to be on 24/7. A few times a year, we get a sneak Windows Updates attack, and the computer decides to restart at 3am. The problem is that no one will be around and someone will find the computer restarted the next morning.

Disabling updates is a bad idea, but is there some way to make sure the computer at least does not reboot at night? Can I set it up so it just kindly asks? I never saw any notification about updates myself, so I have no clue what is causing this.

AFAIK it's Windows 7 Pro.

dis astranagant
Dec 14, 2006

Grawl posted:

We have a Win7 PC at work that needs to be on 24/7. A few times a year, we get a sneak Windows Updates attack, and the computer decides to restart at 3am. The problem is that no one will be around and someone will find the computer restarted the next morning.

Disabling updates is a bad idea, but is there some way to make sure the computer at least does not reboot at night? Can I set it up so it just kindly asks? I never saw any notification about updates myself, so I have no clue what is causing this.

AFAIK it's Windows 7 Pro.

Set it to download updates but let you choose to install them?

Implied Consent
Jul 6, 2006
If you still want updates to install automatically you can stop it from restarting with group policy or by setting the following registry key (Assuming a user is logged in).
code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001
Save that as a .reg file and import it.

Chuu
Sep 11, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Absolutely no idea which megathread to ask this question in, but this one seems the most likely to be correct.

A long time ago there was a thread on HydrogenAudio that collected samples from real music that were particularly hard to encode, and for each track they specifically told what type of audio artifacts to listen for.

I can't track down the thread, and I can't find a similar archive anywhere online.

Does anyone have a link to either the original thread, or to a resource that would have this information?

emdash
Oct 19, 2003

and?

Chuu posted:

Absolutely no idea which megathread to ask this question in, but this one seems the most likely to be correct.

A long time ago there was a thread on HydrogenAudio that collected samples from real music that were particularly hard to encode, and for each track they specifically told what type of audio artifacts to listen for.

I can't track down the thread, and I can't find a similar archive anywhere online.

Does anyone have a link to either the original thread, or to a resource that would have this information?

http://lame.sourceforge.net/quality.php

There are several "test cases that need work" here. Typically castanets are very difficult for mp3

doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

My dang PC (Windows 7 64-bit) just wakes up after being put to sleep. It's been doing this about a week. It does this repeatedly through the night. I'm trying to detective it out, and I'm seeing stuff like this:

code:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -lastwake
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
  Wake Source Count - 0
That's a wake with no source. It just woke up. For the heck of it. Let's take a look at the event viewer:

code:
The system has resumed from sleep.

Sleep Time: ‎2014‎-‎09‎-‎27T05:13:45.243487300Z
Wake Time: ‎2014‎-‎09‎-‎27T05:21:47.202001300Z

Wake Source: Unknown
Oh, cool. And that's a wake that's actually recorded. The rest of the time, it's this:
1:56:17 AM
code:
The system is entering sleep.

Sleep Reason: Button or Lid
followed by:
1:56:32 AM
code:
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the running state.
In other words, it slept for less than a minute before waking up and doing... something. (That message is insignificant, other than it indicates that the PC is active, with no previous message indicating a wake.)

I dunno, it's been over a year, maybe I'll just reinstall Windows 7.

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Sure it's not a hardware issue with the button or something? That's how it looks when I wake my PC up

doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

baka kaba posted:

Sure it's not a hardware issue with the button or something? That's how it looks when I wake my PC up

It'd be pretty funny if it were. I doubt it, because then wouldn't it spontaneously sleep as well as wake?

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Prrrrrobably is my uneducated guess! But it might depend on exactly what you have, I just thought I'd throw it out there. Also this isn't a laptop is it?

You could try powercfg -devicequery wake_armed and see what actually has the ability to do any waking, maybe check your BIOS too and see if things like wake on AC or wake on LAN are enabled. This might be better suited for the Haus too, with the true pros

doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

Thanks, I'll try those methods. I know the devices should be fine, unless one of them is just getting old. Weird thing is, I turned off the ability for keyboard/mouse to wake the computer from the Device Manager, but they still do. So maybe some BIOS digging is in order. It's just kind of odd that this happened after over a year, with no hardware changes. The most recent software additions have been Avast (about a month ago) and updating the nVidia graphics drivers. Anyhow, I'll move the show to Haus if it's still bugging me.

Stall_19
Jan 2, 2013

Prodigy of Victor von Doom
Why the hell did they completely gently caress up Windows Easy Transfer for Windows 8.1? Having to use a usb drive is pretty drat annoying.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Is there currently any legit way to get a Windows 8.1 and/or 8.1 Pro installation ISO without providing a product key? Besides needing one for repair purposes, having to start over at 8.0 to do a clean install is time-consuming as hell.

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007

Toast Museum posted:

Is there currently any legit way to get a Windows 8.1 and/or 8.1 Pro installation ISO without providing a product key? Besides needing one for repair purposes, having to start over at 8.0 to do a clean install is time-consuming as hell.

Legitimately? No. You have to use Micorsoft's terrible Upgrade Application with a key to download an ISO., or have some sort of MSDN access. Sources out there to do what you want? Yes.

Also keep in mind, using a Windows 8 key to install from Windows 8.1 media requires some work as, for whatever reason, Microsoft felt a glorified service pack needed a new pool of keys. Example of the procedure can be found here http://www.howtogeek.com/187525/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-of-windows-8.1-with-a-windows-8-key/

John Capslocke fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Sep 28, 2014

Grawl
Aug 28, 2008

Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right

Toast Museum posted:

Is there currently any legit way to get a Windows 8.1 and/or 8.1 Pro installation ISO without providing a product key? Besides needing one for repair purposes, having to start over at 8.0 to do a clean install is time-consuming as hell.

32-bit: http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/W81RPI/8FBC5B738CFD9D29D6956B5DA9DF2DFD4F6C1D8AF/WindowsBlue-ClientwithApps-32bit-English-X1899604.iso
64-bit: http://view.atdmt.com/action/BluePreview_DLISO_Clk?href=http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=302161

From there you can use this link.

quote:

If you installed Windows 8.1 Preview by booting from ISO media, you can update to the final version of Windows 8.1 Pro using the Windows Store, but your system won't activate until you buy a Windows 8.1 license and product key. You can do this by following the instructions when you activate your system, or by purchasing a DVD of Windows 8.1 Pro.

It's the closest thing I could find.

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


Windows 8.1 Preview isn't really any better than Windows 8 RTM, given how much "Get to Windows 8.1 Update 1" data you need either way, and also Windows 8.1 Preview will straight-up stop working at some point.

Bensa
Aug 21, 2007

Loyal 'til the end.
Can a BitLocker encrypted volume be accessed with only the recovery key (stored on AD), if there is a user set password in use? I had to use a recovery key recently and forgot if I had to input the user key prior to being able to the recovery key.

JainDoh
Nov 5, 2002

Omar strollin'
I don't get the Windows 8 hate, it only took me a couple days to get used to it.; I also don't like the tile/tablet look, and I almost never see it. Without additional software.

All I had to do was right click the Start button instead. I actually like this better than the Start menu now.

It helped a lot to make a folder on the desktop for all my daily shortcuts and turn it into a toolbar, all the way on the right hand side, where it turns into a dropdown menu. After that, I set desktop icons to hide by default.

Pin anything you use more than that, so that it's even easier to get to. I pinned file explorer to the taskbar all the way to the left, directly next to the Start button, even though its there in the Start context menu.

I like 8.1 so much better than 7 now. So much. Everything I need is on my taskbar, no using the start page tiles. No icons showing on desktop, even.

JainDoh fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Sep 28, 2014

Grawl
Aug 28, 2008

Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right

nilumtil posted:

I like 8.1 so much better than 7 now. So much. Everything I need is on my taskbar, no using the start page tiles. No icons showing on desktop, even.

I installed Classic Shell to go back to the Win7 look, and that was all it took to fall in love with Win8. My old PC with Win7 (SSD) booted in 22 seconds, this new pc with Win8 (also SSD) boots in 10 seconds. That's just amazing to me.

This is my pinned taskbar (file explorer, taskman, resmon, putty, chrome, steam, spotify, qbittorent, mirc, ie, realtemp, msi afterburner, skype):

mcbexx
Jul 4, 2004

British dentistry is
not on trial here!



Synergy went from donations to paid lifetime licence.

Shortly after purchasing a copy, I received some free promo codes.
Here you go.

[all codes taken]

mcbexx fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Sep 29, 2014

IAmKale
Jun 7, 2007

やらないか

Fun Shoe
I grabbed this one, thanks!

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007

mcbexx posted:

Synergy went from donations to paid lifetime licence.

Shortly after purchasing a copy, I received some free promo codes.
Here you go.

EY7I6B42
VON583BX
ACHU3S9B
6Q3091X2
X7FCX9UG

Took ACHU3S9B, thanks!

Ninja Rope
Oct 22, 2005

Wee.
Wasn't Synergy open-source? I seem to recall contributing a patch to it years ago.

Is Foxit still a good/safe PDF reader? Apparently they're up to version 7 now and I wasn't keeping track.

explosivo
May 23, 2004

Fueled by Satan

I made the regretful decision of being a tiny SSD for Windows and frequently have to delete stuff to clear up space. Is there an easy way of seeing what non-essential files are taking up all the space and getting rid of it? I usually just search for large files but I think it's a lot of little bullshit files that take up most of the space and it's tough to track down what I can and can't delete to clear up space.

Nintendo Kid
Aug 4, 2011

by Smythe

explosivo posted:

I made the regretful decision of being a tiny SSD for Windows and frequently have to delete stuff to clear up space. Is there an easy way of seeing what non-essential files are taking up all the space and getting rid of it? I usually just search for large files but I think it's a lot of little bullshit files that take up most of the space and it's tough to track down what I can and can't delete to clear up space.

Well, tools like WinDirStat allow you to easily see the sizes of directories. It won't directly tell you what stuff is non-essential, but you'll be able to see that X directory full of 50 KB files is actually taking up a whole GB.

https://windirstat.info/

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Michael Scott
Jan 3, 2010

by zen death robot
^I hate my life.

explosivo posted:

I made the regretful decision of being a tiny SSD for Windows and frequently have to delete stuff to clear up space. Is there an easy way of seeing what non-essential files are taking up all the space and getting rid of it? I usually just search for large files but I think it's a lot of little bullshit files that take up most of the space and it's tough to track down what I can and can't delete to clear up space.

WinDirStat

https://windirstat.info/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/windirstat/

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