Windows 10 again

Today we suffered a close hit during a very short thunderstorm. The router,my pc motherboard and the ethernet cable between the two, plus the PCI ethernet card suffered damage.It looks like my HDD and 2 external drives are ok. OS is Win 10 32 bit. The cheapest option seems to be to buy a refurb PC. Should I stick with 32 bit or move to 64 bit? The only progs I need are CS2 and Paint shop X9, both of which are legal. All of my MS progs should be O/K. Any advise would be welcomed. Nathan.

I should have said that I'm working from a cheapo Viglen tablet via wifi. I hate it as a primary machine!! nathan

Nathan,

I would go for a 64 bit system. However make sure your existing progs /apps will run on it. Have you got the installations discs for your MS progs? If not you could have some problems.

Hugh

It looks as though CS2 is only 32bit software. Paintshop Pro X9 can be either 32 or 64 bit. If you haven't run into problems with the size of images you are working with, you might as well stay with 32bit windows. Note that more than 4GB of memory is wasted on a 32 bit OS.

32 bit applications will run on 64bit W10. I am still using Photoshop 7 on my W10 64bit computer without any problems.

I have found that the '2000' versions of Excel, Word and Access run happily on my updated last week W10 64bit. I have one or two specialist programs that will only run on W4W, and an old desktop is still used for those!

CS2 works fine on W10 64 bit, aside from one annoying bug - you have to minimise it as it doesn't automatically minimise if you select a different program. Possibly running in compatibility mode might solve this.

Neil

Go for 64bit. 99% of all 32bit programs will run on 64bit pc's. You can then use all the available memory you have.

I use several 32bit programs on a 64bit machine. If you have the serial numbers for your programs there should be no problems redownloading them and reinstalling on the new machine.

regards

When installing any recent version of Windows it will select the most appropriate one for the computer hardware. Microsoft Office does the same. so unless you have any known incompatibilities 32 bit programs should all run OK.

One area to check though before committing yourself perhaps could be drivers for printers, scanners, input devices etc.

The laptop on which I am writing this has 6Gb of RAM and uses 32 Office in 64bit Windows 7 and several very old programs (pre 2004) all run fine. These were all the default options.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 30/11/2018 10:36:45

I wasn't trying to imply that 32 bit software doesn't run properly on the 64 bit versions of windows (I'm sitting at such a combination), it's just that if Those are the only programs that Nathan is interested in, he might not need access to more than 4GB of memory, so might see little benefit from using Wx 64.

If it is important to you , just check that whatever you buy will run any existing printer you may have.

I was running Windows 8 on my old Toshiba Satellite pro and everything was fine. Tosh broke so bought an

identical 2nd hand one but it has Windows 10, impossible to make printer work.

Now told common problem.

You'll have to suck it and see. Running old software on a new computer is always a risky business and the answer ranges between 'no problem at all' to 'massive waste of time and money'.

Trouble is that 32-bit desktops and laptops are obsolete. During the last 20 years+ processors, operating systems and applications have all moved step by step in stages from 32-bit to 64-bit technology. During the transition a lot of effort was put into maintaining backwards compatibility, typically over no more than 3 steps. Unfortunately these measures were intended to give people more time to make the transition: they we're never designed to keep old software going forever.

If you're lucky, it will 'just work'. Or not! Don't be surprised if you plunge into difficulties with memory models, device drivers, and peripheral incompatibilities.

The simplest solution is to replace your old equipment with exactly the same - if you can find one! Failing that something similar.

A more complicated answer is to host your old software and operating system on a Virtual Machine running on a new computer. The Virtual Machine allows one operating system to host another operating on the same computer; thus Windows 10 host Windows XP. Outside the VM it's 2018, inside it's 2001. No guarantees it will work and it can be complicated to set-up.

Professionally we avoided getting into situations like this because the uncertainty makes providing a service unpredictable. Instead all computer systems came with an through-life plan, which - in theory - ensured that money would be budgeted and wheels set in motion to replace the system before it died of old age. Unfortunately this means getting on the upgrade treadmill, which is annoying and expensive when old software does all that's needed with minimum fuss. Until something goes wrong!

Dave

I have some 'legacy' programs from Windows 2000 era. They run better on under W10 than on any earlier version of windows.

Neil

If you are thinking of a 'new' machine, (i.e. refurbished) ask the seller to install W7 64 bit Professional. No compatabilitry problems and as much RAM as you want. My latest will be such, with 16 Gb RAM - ,,, sitting on the desk, waiting for me to obtain a circular tuit!!

rgds

Bill

Thanks' everyone. I'm considering a Dell 780/790 SFF from Morgan Computers. it comes pre loaded with W 10 64 bit and 4GB of memory. I'll upgrade to 16GB and fit a larger HDD, if I can find affordable PCI low profile graphics and sound cards they will also be fitted. Drivers for my printers are available so that's not a problem and I may just upgrade from CS2 which was a freebie anyway. Nathan.

Is there a way of protecting routers and cordless phones from nearby lightning strikes, apart from unplugging everything?

I'm no expert but plugging each into a cheapo surge protector should do the job OK - yes????

Rik

Rik, they are plugged into a surge protected 4 way trailing socket. My feeling is that we're also getting it through the phone line. We've lost two phone base stations this year and are now running a mis- matched trio of phones. The satellite phones are always ok. Is that because they are not connected to the phone line or is it because they have less sensitive electronics? Nathan.

I should point out that by "satellite" I mean phones that are slaved to the base station. In no way I could afford or justify owning a satellite linked phone!! Nathan.

The only progs I need are CS2 and Paint shop X9

Stick with the 32 bit if I was you

If you want 64bit use/buy another machine