No, don't waste time shutting up, you're making a time machine remember? :up:

It seems I've unintentionaly opened a can of worms here. My question was to not to debate the merits of Win 7 or the demerits of Win 8. I simply wanted to know if anyone could use The ME under Win 8. Now all I have to do is figure out how to make my version work. :haha:

BTW, nice to see you these parts again RR. Welcome back. I see you haven't changed much. :har::D

No, I've never been accused of being afraid of being in the same room as an opinion!:D

Actually, the better comparison would have been between W8 and Vista. Both were great kernels with crippled GUIs. In fact, the Windows 7 everybody likes is the exact same kernel as Vista. They even share the same Windows version number. The way to go is toward customer choice with multiple GUIs. Those who think cell phones are good enough could have them and those of us who use the capabilities of actual computers could have our way too.

Here's the killer app. This, properly executed, is the eulogy for the late, great Microsloth. Whether it actually GETS properly executed is another thing but the promotional video is inspired. It's as if they said "instead of crippling all the computers to make them into cell phones and trying to sell that, why don't we inject unhealthy quantities of steroids into cell phones and replace computers! That's an upgrade and upgrades outsell downgrades every time!"
http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android

Note that this works by auto-selecting a GUI appropriate for the screen and hardware you are running at the time. Unbelievably brilliant and obvious. That's why Microsloth never thought of it.

Had Microsoft done this they would own the world. People would be asking "what was an Apple?" There's no danger of that though.

No, no, no, no, no.......

Running WINDOWS 8 is an embarrassment. Finding out you really have Windows 7 is a RELIEF!!!:har:

Windows 8 isn't that bad.(But like I said I pretty much only use my computer for gaming so I don't know how valid my opinion is.)

Actually, Torpex, the difference is somewhat minimal. The kernel is identical. They're like the 1964 Ford Falcon and Mustang. The chassis were identical -- all the power train and suspension were identical. But everybody young wanted a Mustang. They were cool! Falcons were cheap ugly pieces of horse squeeze.

Same deal with Vista and 7. They share so much that they have the same Windows version number. It's the body and accessories that differ. Because there's less weight on the chassis, Windows 7 boots quicker and shuts down quicker. Their peripheral software is different. But anything 7 has that Vista doesn't you can easily download a substitute as I do with Windows XP.

If you can live with Vista and the way it does business there's absolutely no reason I can think of to spend money to switch. If Vista makes you crazy mad all the time and you find yourself committing violence to your mouse and keyboard it would make sense to switch.

No, a 64 bit processor can work with 32 and 64 bit processes. A 32 bit processor can't handle 64 bit programs though. You sound like you have a bug, or a corrupted update. I would personally go with a 64 bit version of any OS though, as many programs are 64 bit now in productivity. Also, you can run more memory, which is a blessing in disguise! When you are running 32 bit, 4 gigs is the max. For 64 bit OS, 8 gigs is a comfy place, and try the 4 gig patch on SH4 and watch it squirm! Also, Windows and every other program scales the ram to what it has handy, so if you are running 32 bit, you're system is probably hovering in the 1 - 1.32 gig mark on used memory. Running 64 bit, if you have 4 gigs, you will be in the same range, but the more you have, the more the system will allocate for the system, making things snappier. :D

That's accurate, except that a 32 bit operating system can only address 3.2 GB of RAM. You can install 4 GB but your OS can't see all of it. Doesn't seem to be an issue with SH4. I run every mod there is at one time or other and haven't had any issues when they're properly installed and coordinated.

Still, on my shelf is a nice new 64 bit Windows 7 waiting for when they pull the plug on XP. XP is just working so well, I can't be bothered to kill it until I'm forced to. They say next April, but they've named dates before.

So I'm not real motivated to go from 32 to 64 bit. I realize there will be advantages, but they don't mean much to me because I've never had them.

You have to decide what you think might be causing your freeze/crash/no boot problems. If it is associated with a single application, then a nuclear bomb and rebuild from fresh installation of the application is in order. If it is the operating system, occasionally our kernel files do get corrupted. This can cause all kinds of nonsensical behavior and it is possible to actually figure out what they are and possibly fix them. It really isn't worth the trouble.

You can try something first before you nuke your system. There's a hidden program to check and replace corrupted system files. To run it you must open an elevated command prompt. In the start menu search bar type "command prompt." You'll get some results, and just right-click "command prompt" in the results pop-up and select "run as administrator." That will open your elevated command window (known to us Linux denizens as a terminal window).

Now type "sfc /scannow" space after sfc, which stands for System File Checker. Windows will now scan all system files, replacing if necessary with uncorrupted variety files. This will render your system not updated any more and you'll have to let Windows Update do its thing to get you back to speed. If you go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833 you'll get instructions on how to find files that sfc was unable to update and what to do about that. I'd only worry if running sfc and re-updating doesn't fix your problems.

If all that fails your final solution is to back up any data you need, wipe your system clean and reinstall Windows, all programs and reinstall your data. You should do this every couple of years anyway, as it makes a tremendous difference in the zippiness of your system.

For the time being, it seems to work ok now. I'm thinking it is either Windows Defender isn't playing well with my anti-virus software, or the Widows updates of 8/13 were causing problems. The crashes have happened while doing different things and seem random. I had thought maybe the hard disc was failing, but every test Windows does says the hardware is ok.

Thanks for the info about the "sfc /scannow" and all. This is good to know.

I've read some people do this, and am seriously considering it. I'd have to assemble a comprehensive list of what I want to keep and figure it all out. I'm not sure I could find/replace everything, though.

Funny you should mention that. It's the major hurdle everyone has to go through when contemplating nuclear destruction. So here's the fix.

What you need is Belarc Advisor. This is about the coolest thing you've ever seen. It is free, of course, and was designed to plug security holes in corporate environments. Warning: if you actually follow their security recommendations you'll end up with a much less friendly, less useful computer. It's amusing to investigate and research each of their recommendations, but I don't think it's advisable to actually follow most of them.

For instance, it recommends that you turn off the Windows function of making crash dumps. They can be used to analyze what caused a crash. In fact, a free, of course, program called Who Crashed will automatically load up the crash dump, analyze it and tell you what most likely caused the crash. Do what Belarc suggests and you lose that ability.

But what Belarc does well is it dissects your system and gives you a full report of what is on it. It does this in excruciating detail that you actually have to see to believe. I can't possibly do it justice in a description.

So here's a two year old Belarc profile of my computer. Pause while I scan the report for confidential information (there will be some and I'll expunge it). It even tells you what USB access has happened in past 30 days. Crap! It has the license numbers and install keys of all installed software. (expunge numbers only) And it has a complete list of installed software. It will not have the software that is not installed but is working with no registry install information.

For instance, I have Microsoft Process Explorer, a program that if Silent Hunter 4 detects on your machine, SH4 will refuse to start, installed as a portable app (no registry traces at all). That way if it is not actually running at the time SH4 starts, SecuROM can't find it. I start SH4, start Process Explorer and run them concurrently just as a snide gotcha to the stupid people at Ubi. I will decide what software is and is not allowed to run on my machine, and I politely refuse Ubi and Sony's help in that regard. As much as I love SH4, that has earned both companies the right not to collect another penny from me, ever again.

You have to ferret those not installed programs out yourself.

I had some serious graphics issues with a couple of other games running on Win8. The solution was to run in Windowed Mode and max the window. Eventually a patch was released by the vendor, but the windowed mode solved the immediate issue.