quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Edit to add: MS Edge interests me, but is apparently a kludge to run on Win7. So, I got to looking at new Win10 computers on Tiger Direct and a refurb Lenovo can be had for under $100. Horry Sheet! That would certainly take all the pain out of trying to upgrade my current box. I've had pretty good luck with Lenovo and ThinkCentre boxes from IBM, but never had a refurb. Thoughts/Experiences?

I bought a refurb ThinkCentre M83 about a month ago from a Microsoft authorized refurbisher and have been pleased with it so far. It looks like new, too.

Specs: The Lenovo ThinkCentre M83 comes with a Intel i5 Quad Core Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz processor and a New Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit Operating System. This desktop computer also includes 8192MB of DDR3 memory, a 500Gig Serial ATA hard drive, DVD ROM optical drive and a keyboard / mouse. 4 USB 2.0, 4 USB 3.0. Also includes a 1 year warranty.

One thing I want in a refurb is a warranty, otherwise I may as well take my chances on craigslist.

ThinkCentre M83

Edge with Win 10 on one desktop and two laptops.

Last year some sites wouldn't fully function on Edge so I'd go back to IE11. Now, everything works.

My system is at least 5 years old. Running Windows 7, Home Premium.

Go to browser is Firefox with which I am very happy until some updates get installed. Not a problem with the updates themselves, but with the time it takes to download and install. It is fast and trouble free.

I also have 2 other browsers that I installed months ago for those very rare occasions where Firefox might have a problem with a particular site. Seemingly because of my wall against a lot of that online trash.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
My system is at least 5 years old. Running Windows 7, Home Premium.

....
I also have 2 other browsers that I installed months ago for those very rare occasions where Firefox might have a problem with a particular site. Seemingly because of my wall against a lot of that online trash.

What he said^! Be aware that sites can be and are developed to accommodate particular browsers, IE being the dominant one. It is a good idea to have several loaded on your machine and switch to a different one if you are having issues. I use Opera but it does not work on a particular site I frequent, BUT Chrome does work. While frustrating, you have to remember it is all about 1s and 0s! Complex, yet simple! GOTO does come from BASIC.

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
FireFox Quantum right now, but its pissing me off occasionally.

RMD

Same here, they are following the Microsoft adage of is it useful? Get rid of it.

I would strongly advise against buying any Lenovo products. They were bought buy a Chinese company a few years ago and were caught pre-installing spyware on the computers they sell.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/...overy-ftc-complaint/

I use opera

Flickr keeps telling me that I'm using an outdated browser (I use IE11). AFAIK, there is not an updated version of IE, and without going to Win10 there aren't any updated MS browsers I could use.

flashguy

After Firefox Quantum was installed without warning me that many of my addons would no longer work, I switched to Waterfox. Then malware was installed on Waterfox on a certain website. After researching a bit, I then tried Firefox Quantum again, increasing

layout.css.devPixelsPerPx

browser.tabs.tabMinWidth

so that I could read the browser fonts and tabs. I also switched to the "Light" theme in Firefox Quantum. I mostly use Firefox Quantum now, but I also use Chrome and sometimes Opera since Firefox Quantum does not work on several web sites that I use. I also use Safari but only for financial type websites (credit cards, banks, etc.)

using a refurbed refurbed Dell (bought at a refurb, dropped it last month and had a new SSD added to fix) and bought a Lenovo T530 with SSD,
both windows 7, dell an i7, Lenovo i5,
both run like champs, no issues

Chrome on both

however I am a computer user, not a computer tech oriented , more tech challenged when it comes to the technical stuff

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
I use opera

Me too. Excellent for organizing bookmarks (speed dial) on "HOME" page. I started with Opera on a HTC phone in 2004 and on my PC since 2009, and haven't looked back.

Under my copy of Win 7 Pro 64 bit I have recently (2 months ago or so) switched to PaleMoon from palemoon.org. It is 64 bit, extremely fast and has most of the add-ons that I formerly used on FireFox whom I left at v53 and WaterFox whose author I believe has closed shop. My hundreds of bookmarks came over intact with ease.

The list of add-ons is found here https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/. PaleMoon is an evolution of a fork from FireFox 27(IIRC).
Folks at the Register in the UK steered me to it.

So, if I decide to buy one of those re-furbed machines that comes with the latest windows software, how much trouble is it to remove that crap and re-install win7, home premium?

Just nuke the hard drive and start over with Win7?

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
So, if I decide to buy one of those re-furbed machines that comes with the latest windows software, how much trouble is it to remove that crap and re-install win7, home premium?

Just nuke the hard drive and start over with Win7?

There are plenty of refurbs out there with Win7 installed and they are generally cheaper than the ones with Win10.

Any one using Windows 7 and happy with it , do yourself a favour and download Never 10 ( 92 kb ) , and run it and it will stop that abortion named Windows 10 from loading and stuffing up your computer .
best .

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
So, if I decide to buy one of those re-furbed machines that comes with the latest windows software, how much trouble is it to remove that crap and re-install win7, home premium?

Just nuke the hard drive and start over with Win7?

It all depends on whether there are Win7 drivers available and what the laptop maker's position is.

If the laptop maker 'supports' Win7 then you are in luck. If not, you'll be on your own.

If there are drivers available for all the laptop components (which there might not be) you can probably get an install to run, though you have to think through the sequence (for example, if your Win7 install is on a CD, you'll need a CD-ROM driver working at boot, for the system to even see that drive to install from.)

And, keep in mind that even if you succeed, you're then on your own for support. The first thing the laptop company will say if you call for help with an unsupported OS, is, 'Please install a supported OS and call us back if you still have issues.'

I like Opera and have for a couple of decades. However, the tab font size is too small for my high resolution displays, and I can find no way to change the tab font size on Opera 50 / Mac OS. Another problem that I have been having with Opera is garbled text rendering. Opera displays this tutorial on How to change the tab font size (of an older version of Opera) like this:



And the problem is not just confined to specific web pages. It even happens to Google searches:


I’m curious if anyone using Opera has the same problem? This is relevant since Opera would be my primary browser and a recommendation if it didn’t have the text / graphic rendering issues. I'm curious if this is a configuration or OS issue. The too small tab font size may be with just me and not a problem for others.

In addition to the now common features that Opera introduced such as tabbed browsing, speed dial, popup blocker, unified search/URL entry, and private browsing, Opera also features a builtin-in ad blocker, a power saving mode which can be configured to engage when operating on internal power on a notebook. Opera also features “Opera Turbo” for slow connections such as public WiFi. When enabled, “Opera Turbo” uses proxy servers to compress data including “lossy” compression of images.

More info about Opera’s Battery Saver and Turbo mode

Safari works for me.