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Thread ID: 122070 2011-11-28 21:59:00 XP look and feel on win 7 ? robsonde (120) Press F1
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1246152 2011-11-28 21:59:00 Its time for my mum and dad to get a new computer.

the new computer will be windows 7 64-bit.
so as to reduce the learning curve, is it possible to change the look and feel to be like XP?

I know many people will say that win 7 is easy and such , but my parents have spent almost 10 years learning XP and have almost got the hang of it.
not too keen on having to teach them a new UI.

the other option maybe linux, is there a "XP look and feel" for ubuntu?


your thoughts ?
robsonde (120)
1246153 2011-11-28 22:02:00 If its Pro / Ultimate install XP mode Speedy Gonzales (78)
1246154 2011-11-28 22:08:00 If its Pro / Ultimate install XP mode

Kinda pointless to run XP mode just to get the XP feel under Win 7 (unless they are planning on running XP compatible software). You could disable all visual effects under win 7 and that gives a more of a XP feel. Let me know if you dont know where to find this option.
ronyville (10611)
1246155 2011-11-28 22:20:00 www.askvg.com Chilling_Silence (9)
1246156 2011-11-28 22:20:00 the new computer will be windows 7 64-bit.
so as to reduce the learning curve, is it possible to change the look and feel to be like XP?

No.
It will look ugly.
It's not the appearance that takes getting used, it's the where things are etc.
pctek (84)
1246157 2011-11-28 22:54:00 If they have spent 10 years learning their current OS, why not just reload XP for them? It will continue to meet their needs, and do they really need a 64bit OS? I used W2K until last year, still use it on my notebook and have W95 running on my mini-notebook, and XP will probably last me another 10 years.

I can't see the sense in pushing elderly people too far past their comfort zone or foisting change on them if it is not absolutely necessary. As I have mentioned in the past, I have expensive instruments that only run properly on DOS and by and large I have no trouble keeping them going, though one did spit the dummy on XP. One day/some day I'll see if DOS Box sorts that out too.

Do you still have their original XP disk?

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
1246158 2011-11-28 23:07:00 Best advice I can give you is these programs:

rammichael.com
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Won't make everything look exactly like XP, but it will get the main areas pretty close. It's what I use, because I especially hate the Win7 taskbar.
Agent_24 (57)
1246159 2011-11-28 23:43:00 As I have mentioned in the past, I have expensive instruments that only run properly on DOS and by and large I have no trouble keeping them going, though one did spit the dummy on XP. One day/some day I'll see if DOS Box sorts that out too.


Cheers

Billy 8-{)

Billy, that Dos Box thingy never worked for me and the answer to my query was very simple "Alt + Enter" gave me the full screen for Lotus Symphony, the 1990's Symphony ie.

Lurking.
Lurking (218)
1246160 2011-11-29 00:09:00 Tried windows7themes.net that a while back when it first came out, cant remember exactly how well it worked though :confused:

I do remember trying something similar in Vista and it turned the whole OS into a worse pile of rubbish, ended up reinstalling. So try it at your own risk.
wainuitech (129)
1246161 2011-11-29 04:19:00 If they have spent 10 years learning their current OS, why not just reload XP for them?
True.

Why not?
pctek (84)
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