Anyone still running Windows 7?

Hey everyone, I could really use some help here.
I've got two PCs hooked up to my router and they both have internet access, no problem there.
But now I'm trying to get them talking to each other—you know, actually transfer files and stuff between them...
So, when I go into My Computer and check the Network folder, I can see the other machine just fine. But the second I try to actually open it up, it starts nagging me for a username and password. When that other PC was running Windows XP, everything was smooth sailing—I could just hop in and grab what I needed without all this drama.
Now that I'm dealing with Windows 7, it's demanding credentials for everything. What am I supposed to do about this???

I’m looking for some help here. I’ve been using Windows 7 for a few years now, and honestly, on my old machine—which was pretty weak by today's standards—everything felt a lot snappier. Now, I’ve picked up a new laptop and decided to switch things up since these newer versions are supposed to be "better." When I first installed it, I went through all the updates, including sp1, and the startup took about 2 minutes before I could actually do anything. Thinking maybe the updates were the culprit, I wiped everything and did a clean install. I kept it minimal this time—just the necessary updates, all the drivers, and then I threw on Office 2010 Nero along with some basic apps. And guess what? It still takes roughly 2 minutes to boot up. Is that actually normal? Could this really be a Windows issue? In my opinion, it feels like it should be faster than this. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate, and I’m planning to add another 4GB of RAM soon—I’m adding it now because, from what I’ve heard, 32-bit systems can't recognize anything over 4GB anyway. On the bright side, gaming isn't an issue; I run Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 / GTA 4 and similar titles on high settings without any hiccups. My specs are: AMD quad Core A6-3400M 1.40GHz / 2.30GHz, AMD Radeon HD 6650 m 2, 1x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz, and a 750GB HDD.

The first thing that comes to mind is to head over to msconfig (just type it into your search bar) and open it up. Once you're in, go straight to the Startup tab and uncheck everything—basically, strip out all those unnecessary items that don't absolutely need to be running alongside Windows at boot-up.

I mean, if it’s something you can just manually trigger whenever you actually need it, kill it from the startup list. For instance, an antivirus definitely needs to be running, but something like Catalyst Control Center? It doesn't need to be hogging resources from the second you log in.

Raymond Adams48 said:Hey there, I need some help.
I have two computers connected via a router that both have internet access.
Now, I want to be able to transfer data and files between them seamlessly.
Basically, when I go to "My Computer" and look under "Network," I can see the other PC, but whenever I try to open it, it asks for a username and password. When the other machine was running Windows XP, everything worked perfectly without any hurdles.
So, since I'm using Windows 7 now, it keeps demanding credentials—what should I do to fix this?

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-1...ord-network-pc

Taylor Morales31 said:The first thing that comes to mind is to pull up msconfig—just type it into your search bar—and head over to the Startup tab. From there, you can just uncheck everything. Basically, strip out anything that doesn't absolutely need to be running the second Windows boots up.

I mean, if it’s something you can just manually trigger whenever you actually feel like using it, kill it. An antivirus? Sure, let that run. But does Catalyst Control Center really need to be hogging resources from the moment you log in? Not really.

I took a look and disabled a few programs, and things seem a bit better now... But how much does all this upgrading actually affect the core system? I've handled some basic updates, but I haven't touched most of them yet—including Service Pack 1. Honestly, I'm a little paranoid that if I go through with all these upgrades, the whole thing is just going to crawl even slower...🤷

coastaltinker24 As Benjamin King2 states:
I’ve taken a look at my settings and disabled several background programs, which seems to have improved the situation slightly. However, I find myself wondering: what is the actual impact of running these system upgrades? I have managed to install a few basic updates, but I haven't touched most of them yet—including Service Pack 1. Is it possible that by pushing through all these updates, I might inadvertently cause the system to slow down even further?🤷

It took roughly two minutes to boot up before, but after I decided to strip Avast Internet Security from the system, the startup time dropped down to just 65 seconds. Is it really necessary to let an antivirus drag your performance through the mud like that?

Before I performed the system upgrade, the boot process was taking roughly 40 seconds. Consequently, when I decide to perform a clean installation next time—specifically a fresh install of Windows 7 x64 Ultimate—I expect that the upgrade overhead will be eliminated entirely.

One more thing—it isn't a matter of insufficient RAM, as I am running 8 GB of DDR3.

All you need to do is install the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 manual installer because the software is demanding it as a prerequisite, and once that's done, the matter is settled.

Is it just me, or does Windows Update seem to exist solely to devour every available gigabyte within the system partition?

So, what kind of software should I actually pick up if I want to keep Windows 7 running smoothly?

You’ve got a few heavy hitters to choose from here—TuneUp Utilities, Glary Utilities, or Advanced SystemCare.

Everyone is going to have an opinion on which one reigns supreme, but honestly? I’ve been using the latest version of Advanced SystemCare and I’m perfectly happy with it. My advice? Just grab a couple of them, test them out side-by-side, and decide for yourself what actually works for your machine. 🙂

coastaltinker24 said:Which software should I pick up to maintain Windows 7?

There is, without question, only one definitive choice for such a task, and that would be Windows 7 Manager.

Quite simply, once you have this specific tool on that machine, is there really any need for anything else? 😁

So, I’ve run into this headache, and I’m hoping someone here knows how to fix it. I just finished installing Windows 7, but now I can't delete or even rename any files I create. It keeps throwing an "access denied" error at me constantly. I can read them and open them just fine, but that's it. I tried going through right-click > properties > security to tweak the settings, but even that wouldn't let me change anything... If anyone could help me out, it would seriously mean a lot. I tried following the steps in this link, but half of those things won't even let me execute the commands

http://www.finestdaily.com/how-to/wi...windows-7.html

Here is the situation: I have already tried reinstalling everything from scratch twice now. It works fine for a couple of days, but then the exact same thing happens again...
When I navigate to Devices and Printers, the page takes forever to load and ends up completely empty. It should be showing my printer, wireless mouse, phone, and a few other items, but they are just gone. This is causing me issues because I can't run my scanner through the standard interface, even though it actually works if I use a separate scanning app. Everything prints just fine, but I don't understand why those devices disappear... when I try to click "Add a device," it just hangs indefinitely and fails to add anything at all.

Try running a repair installation using the DVD, if you have one available.

I suspect there’s some kind of software conflict causing everything to hang, but before we go down that rabbit hole, try a repair or just jump straight into troubleshooting.

And honestly, a bad crack could be the culprit too—it's notorious for breaking things, like making the Control Panel unusable or leaving everything completely blank. But let's not get sidetracked by that right now.

Taylor Morales31 said:Try running a repair installation using the DVD...

I suspect there might be some kind of software conflict causing everything to hang, so try a repair first, or you could just jump straight into troubleshooting

Also, a bad crack can cause this—where things like the Control Panel won't open or show up empty—but let's not get sidetracked by that here

Everything works fine when I access the Control Panel, it’s just that the Devices and Printers page takes forever to load and then stays completely blank...

Look, I already told you what the issue might be—it’s a hardware conflict, specifically a driver clash. Just open up the Control Panel right now; I mentioned that earlier, but apparently, it’s not catching on.

So, I finally got Windows 7 up and running, tossed in a handful of programs and some games, and then the OS decided to go rogue and start downloading Service Pack 1 and a bunch of other random updates on its own
Now I’m running into this weird situation where my CPU is sitting at like 20 to 30% usage while the machine is just sitting there in sleep mode
It really should be idling at maybe 1 or 2% tops, if that
Any idea what the hell I should do to fix this?

Raymond Adams48 said:I finished installing Windows 7 along with a few programs and games, then it went ahead and ran its own updates for Service Pack 1 and everything else.
Now I'm seeing my CPU usage sitting at around 20 to 30% while the computer is just idling.
It really should be closer to 1 or 2%.
Any advice?

Ditch that half-baked OS and go back to Windows XP.

You'll have to hunt down some drivers manually, but at least it won't be constantly eating up your CPU and RAM for no reason.

Joshua Stewart9 said:Just ditch that half-baked piece of junk and roll back to XP.

You’ll probably have to hunt down some drivers manually, but hey—at least it won't be absolutely nuking your CPU and eating all your RAM for no reason.

I've got 16 GB of RAM installed, but XP is only seeing 4 GB... meanwhile, I've got the exact same setup on my other rig and everything works perfectly fine.
But why the hell is it acting up like this on this one?

Raymond Adams48 said:I've got 16 GB of RAM, but XP only shows 4 GB. I have the exact same setup on my other PC running the same OS and it works fine
but why is it acting up here?

Windows 7 is actually a solid OS.
Once you install it, the system usually spends some time running System Restore points, file indexing, and a bunch of other background stuff. I guess you should just give it a day or two to settle down before checking if your CPU usage looks normal at idle.

My Windows 7 has been running like a dream since the day it first launched. 🙂

First off, crack open Task Manager and see what exactly is eating up that 20-30% CPU usage while you're just sitting there idling.

Joshua Stewart9 said:Just wipe that half-baked piece of junk and install XP.

You'll have to hunt down some drivers manually, sure, but at least it won't be constantly hemorrhaging your CPU and RAM for no reason.

Honestly? Just toss that pathetic excuse for a computer in the trash and go buy an actual machine.

Raymond Adams48 said:I finished installing Windows 7 along with a few programs and games, and then the system went ahead and ran its own updates for Service Pack 1 and several other things.
Now I'm noticing that even when the computer is idling, the CPU usage sits somewhere between 20% and 30%.
It really ought to be closer to just 1% or 2%.
What am I looking at here? Any advice?

Are we talking about a laptop here? It's possible the system is just scaling down the processor frequency during idle states.