Living with Windows 7: Hello Again, Old Friend (Premium)

With just two weeks left on the meter, I decided to return to Windows 7 so that I could ride it out into its final sweet sleep.

Actually, I decided to do that back in mid-December. It’s just that I spent most of the time since then in a frustrated state of not being able to even install the damn thing. With PC after PC, nothing would work. And so I created and recreated the install media from multiple sources, trying and trying again. Eventually what I came to understand was that virtually all of my PCs—including my old NUC, which I wanted to use as a daily driver of sorts here in my home office—were simply too modern to install Windows 7, at least easily.

I’m not entirely done trying to get it to work on the NUC, and I did at least finally create custom install media that recognized its USB 3.0 ports, only to discover that Windows Setup now can’t “see” its M.2 SSD drive. But I was able to get Windows 7 installed, and—slowly—updated to be reasonably up-to-date with security fixes and feature updates on an older laptop. The process has been somewhat entertaining.

And, to be honest, mostly irrelevant to anyone who is actually using Windows 7 today: It’s not like anyone normal is going to fire up Windows 7 now, with just two more weeks of extended support to go, and then take the time to install all the updates and apps they need, sync with OneDrive, and so forth. But … for the sake of posterity—I did write Windows 7 Secrets, after all—here’s what it was like.

It is, in a word, tedious: I’m pretty sure that Microsoft purposefully ignored fixing Windows Update in Windows 7 specifically to incite users to upgrade to Windows 8.x first and then, more recently, to Windows 10. It is, as I’ve observed in the past, a crime against humanity, and for all the complaining about Windows 10 update, let’s just quietly celebrate that it’s nothing like the shitshow that is Windows 7.

You might remember this drill. You start off with roughly 168 updates to install, laboriously do so, reboot, and then have another 37. And then reboot and have another dozen. And then reboot and have seven more. And then reboot and … Yeah. It’s tedious. And seemingly never-ending. There are the updates that seem to take forever to install—anything related to the .NET Framework, and whatever the last version of IE was—and then those that seem to install repeatedly. It’s an unbelievable process.

The hardware I’m running this on for now is a certifiable classic: It’s a Samsung Series 9 15-inch laptop that I purchased in August 2012 at the Microsoft Store opening in Boston. In fact, this was the first PC that that Microsoft Store location ever sold, and I specifically went to the opening to buy it. It came with Windows 7 Home Premium, and was a Signature PC, and if you’re up on your history, you know that this was right before Windows 8 shipped. The timing was purposeful.

It’s powered, if you will, by a 3rd-generation (yes, 3rd) Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 128 GB SSD drive. The display is 1600 x 900 and looks a bit pixely given today’s higher-resolution (and higher PPI) displays, but it’s surprisingly thin and light given its size, and the even the bezels—about .5 inches on the top and sides—are not that horrible.

Performance is actually decent, and this is probably a good example of a PC that any typical user would just keep using and not understand why they suddenly had to upgrade or replace it. The battery life has, of course, declined over the years, and while I haven’t measured it properly, I’d guess it’s still lasting somewhere between 3.5 hours and 5 per charge, depending on what you’re doing with it.

Despite the trouble updating it, I find myself missing Windows 7 in some ways. The Aero Glass aesthetic that debuted in Windows Vista was fine-tuned for Windows 7, and while it’s not perfect—or even “real,” in the sense that many of the “glass” effects are just static bitmaps—I find it pleasant to look at. That said, I do like the flat look of windows in Windows 8.x and Windows 10 as well. But I could see that change being an issue for some potential upgraders.

OK, that’s it for now. I’m going to continue configuring the laptop with all the applications I need, and continue my work getting Windows 7 installed on that NUC so I can more easily use this system regularly. More soon.