New computer

[Marsha Cassada]

We were finally driven to "upgrade" (a debatable term) from XP to Windows 7 and get a new computer. I'm keeping the old one for Adobe, as I haven't found any other photo software yet I like as well for simplicity and versatility. My husband is the tech guru. He has kept XP for me as long as he could, but finally had to throw in the towel. He's transferred all the documents over to the new system and set it up to resemble XP as much as possible. And now my job is to learn how to do my two newsletters and two web sites with the new programs. I am sure some folks really enjoy the challenge of learning new software, but I am not one of them. What I enjoy is writing and editing the articles and setting everything up on the page in an interesting way. I see there is lots of scope for flashy presentation with my new Publisher and Word, so that may be fun to play with, though many of them are "ink hogs"--both newsletters I edit are printed and mailed.

One downside is our Epson printer can no longer produce pdf with the Windows 7. I used that feature to get my newsletters into email form and will have to figure out some other method.

Windows 7 is supported until 2020. Our new computer can go to 10 if/when we choose.

 

[Al B]

Windows 7 is a solid system that many businesses still stick with. Most everything you used with XP can be used with 7. If your printer won't produce a PDF go out on the internet and get one of the PDF writers. PDF is now open standard and no longer proprietary Adobe. I used CutePDF for a while. It simply installs as a printer and you choose it to print to.

10 was very popular in the beginning but has tapered off lately. Stick with 7.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Windows 7 is a solid system that many businesses still stick with. Most everything you used with XP can be used with 7. If your printer won't produce a PDF go out on the internet and get one of the PDF writers. PDF is now open standard and no longer proprietary Adobe. I used CutePDF for a while. It simply installs as a printer and you choose it to print to.

10 was very popular in the beginning but has tapered off lately. Stick with 7.

I meant the scanner won't do pdf any more, not the printer. I used to be able to lay all the pages of the newsletter on the scanner and it would make them into a pdf document. But I will ask my guru to check into the Cute and see if it will work. I've used the free online pdf converter for single articles, but a 10 page newsletter done on different programs won't work there.

What photo software do you use on 7?

 

[Al B]

Adobe Photoshop.

You may have to upgrade the scanner software. Between home and the wife's office we have 6 computers. Two are 7 and the rest are 8.1. We have 5 Epson 4630 printer/scanners and 6 Epson DS-510 high speed scanners. They all work fine. But then I have found that Epson just works.

 

[AngC]

Windows 7 is a solid system that many businesses still stick with. Most everything you used with XP can be used with 7. ...Stick with 7.

I agree.

I run a lot of "old" software directly on Win 7. If you have a favorite software that isn't cooperating, perhaps you could have your tech guru load it in XP Mode on Win 7. (Going on memory here, but I think you need Win 7 Pro to get that capability, but there's other virtual machine software; ...haven't kept up on those.)

I never thought Adobe (I'm assuming you mean Photoshop?) was particularly easy; guess I'm just a dumb-butt. After Photoshop went subscription, I couldn't justify the cost for home use and started using the Corel package; it runs well on Win 7.

 

[sfmini]

If you have an iPhone, download iScanner and you can make PDFs all day long. I agree with Al, chances are you just need to upgrade the printer driver.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Just installed Adobe Elements 14. It does some gee whiz stuff, but for all around versatility it doesn't beat our old Adobe Photo Deluxe. But, we had to have some photo software on the new computer so it will do.

The complication is networking the two computers, old and new. Guru husband installed a switch, so we can go back and forth between them at the touch of a button. The web publishing is on the old one, so we still need to go online on it sometimes.

The users in our rural area have trouble with the wireless company. Recently, the tech came out to "upgrade" us, changed the IP address, and that threw off the web publishing until my guru tracked it down.

How do folks without a resident guru even bother with home computers??

 

[chandab]

How do folks without a resident guru even bother with home computers??

We don't do anything too technical and hope the phone helpline is helpful (mostly just with our internet service).

 

[paintponylvr]

As to resident "Guru's" - I'd be LOST w/o mine

. Nothing seems simple anymore! He is looking at going on a vacation for 2 weeks in June in Europe with some old Army buddies after our middle daughter's wedding. If anything goes wrong with the wireless router or the modem for the computers or the 3 electronic "thingies" (don't even know what each individual piece is called) for the TV/Dish network - I'll go w/o.

Not that there isn't plenty to do w/o internet or TV w/ all of our critters...

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Well, I'm learning more about the Elements 14 photo software, but I don't think all the geewhiz stuff is much better than the old Adobe Photodelux. Do enjoy the speed of the new computer. Do not like the mail program as well as our old Outlook. Word is harder to use also. My guru installed a switch so I can go back and forth between old/new computers, so I can still use my old Adobe and Picture It when desired and he configured the new one as much like XP as possible to humor me. I'm trying to learn the features, as I know it's a case of Have To. But I still need to whine about the changes.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I do two newsletters for clubs I am in and maintain the state button society web page, plus a small one for our family. So I do alot on the computer with research, photos, Word, uploading. I enjoy these projects. I'm sure a professional web page designer would do a better job, but I've also heard of them not paying for a domain in time and the client losing the domain name. Plus, my and the guru's services don't cost the organizations anything!