Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Win 7 Qs?

Oct 27, 2009 7:40PM PDT

Hi
I just returned a HP Vista Basic laptop and now got a Acer Win 7 Premium, wow what a difference clapping.
Q1, There is no Windows Mail ( old OE) on here, only Windows LIVE Mail, so what is the best to get, I liked OE as there I could save mails for multiple sendings.(ie CV/Job app)
Q2, The Ram on vista was runnng at 40% even when doing nothing, Win 7 is doing the same? Is this normal?
Q3,Is it possible to find out if this machine was upgraded from Vista to Win 7 by manufacturer, tho I asked and was told it was not?
Q4,This laptop has something called Tablet PC Input Panel, I played with it abit, but cannot see the reason for this?? I originally thought this was installed on the wrong type of machine Any help?
Q5,In Vista you have the gadget bar on the screen, but not on Win 7, can this be done by a workaround?

If anyone has found out little tricks or stuff to download please let me know.

Thanks in advance.
Neil the Novice wacko.gif

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Quick replies to some of your questions
Oct 27, 2009 8:51PM PDT
1] There is no Windows Mail ( old OE) on here, only Windows LIVE Mail, so what is the best to get, I liked OE as there I could save mails for multiple sendings.(ie CV/Job app)

Does Windows Live Mail work for you otherwise? As I understand it, WLM still works the same as Outlook Express, although the interface, (the parts you see), is updated. It has storage folders where you can save drafts, etc.

There are other email clients, eg Mozilla's Thunderbird, (part of the Firefox family), but really the choice is yours, what works best for you.

2] The Ram on vista was runnnig at 40% even when doing nothing, Win 7 is doing the same? Is this normal?

We can't say as all computers and system setups are different. How much RAM does this system have, and what applications get loaded at Startup? What Processes and Services are running in the background?

MSCONFIG will show you what Startup files there are, the Task Manager will show the running Processes, and the Services console will list all the Services.

3] Is it possible to find out if this machine was upgraded from Vista to Win 7 by manufacturer, tho I asked and was told it was not?

I doubt it, but only the documentation and what you ordered, and how, can tell you; eg, If ACER advertised a brand new laptop on their web site with Win 7 pre-installed, then that is what you would get. They risk legal action is they advertise incorrectly.

4] This laptop has something called Tablet PC Input Panel, I played with it abit, but cannot see the reason for this?? I originally thought this was installed on the wrong type of machine Any help?

Yep, I have one of these on my Vista system. I just assumed it was a standard add-on by Microsoft. Looks useful to me. If I ever lose my keyboard whilst logged into Vista, I can access this and still type, in posts like this.

It's weird! Happy

Did you see the other options in the menu bar, icons that look like a tray and a partitioned tray? They allow writing with the mouse and character recognition.

Also, when I clicked the "X" top right to close it down, it just slid off to the left of the screen. I had to pull it back, then go to it's Tools > Exit, to shut it down, but I see it also has options to select how it behaves.

5] In Vista you have the gadget bar on the screen, but not on Win 7, can this be done by a workaround?

If you right click any empty part of the Desktop, do you have a Gadgets option?

This Microsoft site tells more;
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Desktop-gadgets-overview#section_3

This web page details a Workaround to Run Windows Vista Bar Style Sidebar in Windows 7;
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/12/30/workaround-to-run-windows-vista-bar-style-sidebar-in-windows-7/

I hope that helps.

Mark
- Collapse -
2] The Ram on vista was runnnig at 40% ..
Oct 30, 2009 10:53AM PDT

2] The Ram on vista was runnnig at 40% even when doing nothing, Win 7 is doing the same? Is this normal?

This is normal for vista and windows 7. The ram is being utilized by superfetch. In a nutshell, superfetch uses availble ram as a cache to preload parts of the programs you normally use to enable faster loading and a more pleasurable user experience.Also superfetch will monitor ram usage and adjust that usage to facilitate programs that may need more ram. Making use of ram that in previous operating systems was wasted is a great step forward.

- Collapse -
cache
Oct 30, 2009 11:34AM PDT

40% is normal??? superfetch uses ram as cache? so what is the actual hard disk cache for?

- Collapse -
hard disk cache
Oct 30, 2009 12:43PM PDT

A hard disk cache is essentially a small amount of ram attached to the circuit board of the hard disk drive for speeding up writing to the disk. Superfetch is different in the way it is monitoring system use and preloading .dll files and parts of programs in antipation of use by the operating system a different type of cache altogether.

- Collapse -
Q
Oct 28, 2009 1:54AM PDT

1. OE? Outlook Express? The Windows Live Mail is kind of crappy of e-mail (its basic) you might want to look at other e-mail programs like Even Outlook that comes with office? (if you have the right version). Or other free e-mail programs.

2. I would assume its normal. It depends on how much RAM you have.

3. The only difference I know is that when You Upgrade windows creates a folder called Windows.old. But even after that they could have just deleted it.

4. Windows 7 is build for touch screen. It has that build into it. So you could see some programs (and games) that were build for touch screens.

5. I think the other guy answered this. Windows 7 the Gadget bar is not the full text top. You can put Gadgets anywhere on the desktop. I think they updated Vista to do something like this, because some of the Gadgets in Vista I was able to just put on my desktop (but not all of them. I don't know why they didn't think of this with windows 7.

- Collapse -
The Difference between Outlook express and WLM
Oct 28, 2009 9:52PM PDT

is that WLM lets you set up pop accounts such as my bright house roadrunner account and web email accounts like msn and yahoo. Outlook Express would only allow pop accounts where you configure a pop server and a smtp server for outgoing mail. Like the one post says OE and WLM are basic email clients. Outlook has more functionality as it has calendars and other tools to make your life easier or confusing.

- Collapse -
OE instead of Live mail
Nov 2, 2009 7:13AM PST

I didn't like the looks of Live Mail. It didn't have my contacts and I didn't see any import provisions. It was OK, but unfamiliar - used to OE.
I went to my providers url, ATT.com, and there was my Yahoo! and my OE Mail, with all my contacts, loaded into my new laptop. I listed it as my default browser, and happy ever since.