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OT Looking for PC advice.

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Deni F5VJC

OT Looking for PC advice.

Hi, I have an Elecraft K line station and up to now have been running all
my software on an aging Win 7 32 bit machine. No real problems but I'm in
the process of building an updated PC and have a dilemma. Do I go with Win
7 Pro 64 Bit or Win 10 for the OS?

I know some of you will have taken this path already, so how do you find
WIN 10 with typical Ham radio software? I run Win4K3, N1MM, HRD, Log4OM,
CW Skimmer, NaP3 and numerous other Ham radio stuff.

I have Win 10 on my laptop (free update from Win 7) but not used for the
Ham shack and find it rather irritating, but this is probably due to
unfamiliarity.

Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

73, Deni - F5VJC
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Ian Kahn, KM4IK

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

Deni,

I upgraded all supported computers (I have one Dell laptop which is not
supported for Windows 10) in my home to Windows 10 months ago, and that
includes my shack computer. As an IT consultant, I have to stay on top of
changes Microsoft makes. I have had no issues with any of the ham radio
software I run on my shack computer. All are running fine under Windows 10.
I run all the relevant Elecraft utilities for my K-line, KAT500, and KPA500;
N1MM Logger+; VE7CC spotter; HRD; and probably a couple of other
applications I'm forgetting. In fact, I am a beta tester and evangelist for
HRD and was just with their team in Dayton. HRD is developed under Windows
10 and was being demoed on Windows 10 computers at Dayton, so if you have
issues with that application, you should open a ticket with them. My
apologies to any who are offended by the slightly off-topic diversion there.

The short answer, Deni, is you should not have any issues with the major
amateur radio applications under Windows 10.

73 es gud dx,

--Ian
Ian Kahn, KM4IK
Roswell, GA EM74ua
[hidden email]
10-10 #74624, North Georgia Chapter #2038
PODXS 070 #1962
K3# 281, P3 #688, KAT500 #860, KPA500 #1468

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of F5vjc
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2016 3:13 AM
To: Elecraft Reflector <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] OT Looking for PC advice.

Hi, I have an Elecraft K line station and up to now have been running all my
software on an aging Win 7 32 bit machine. No real problems but I'm in the
process of building an updated PC and have a dilemma. Do I go with Win
7 Pro 64 Bit or Win 10 for the OS?

I know some of you will have taken this path already, so how do you find WIN
10 with typical Ham radio software? I run Win4K3, N1MM, HRD, Log4OM, CW
Skimmer, NaP3 and numerous other Ham radio stuff.

I have Win 10 on my laptop (free update from Win 7) but not used for the Ham
shack and find it rather irritating, but this is probably due to
unfamiliarity.

Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

73, Deni - F5VJC
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Bill W4ZV

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC

I'd go with Windows 10 but load the freeware classicshell.net Windows 7 option. No silly Tiles, Charms, etc. and you get the traditional W7 interface with the added benefits of W10 (better security, automatic updates, automatic maintenance, etc.)

I had 2 older Vista laptops that were converted to W7 ($75 upgrade) and then W10 (free) and they are now great. I also had 2 Win 8 laptops that were converted very easily to W10. Now everything is W10 using the same classicshell interface.

73, Bill W4ZV

Bill-3

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

If you built your own desktop under Win 7, it should migrate right along
with the rest of your files.

I have had resolution issues with Win 10 and it was a bear to fix. As a
result, I run Win 7. The problem was an aberration that came with one of
the forced updates.

I do all backups by use of clone SSDs and also have updated one of the
clones to Win 10. That assures having no licensing problems in the event
of a change to Win 10 in the future.

Is Win 10 friendly? No, I would say it is not as easy to manipulate as
Win 7, but that is my preference. Win 10 will attempt to have you only
use MS products in your operation and to that purpose, some updates will
change your personal program/app selections from your choosing back to
their's.

The free version (only version I will use) of HRD performs well on Win
10. I have had issues with drivers on Dell printers, however, have
updated to HP and the problem went away. Dell's idea of upgrading
drivers is to purchase a new Dell printer. Not acceptable to me.

If you do upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 and don't like it, you can revert
back to Win 7. Doing so should protect your licensing rights for a later
free upgrade.

Eventually, we will all HAVE to upgrade to Win 10. New software will be
written to only operate under Win 10 and the same with new hardware. You
will become part of the Borge - one way or the other.

Bill W2BLC K-Line

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Gordon LaPoint

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC

Deni,
I use Win 10 and prefer it. Win 10 is more stable and uses less
memory then Win 7.
You can install the FREE Classic Shell (see:
http://www.classicshell.net/ ) to have the same program start menu setup
as Win 7 on the Win 10 system. I don't use or like the Metro interface.
Gordon - N1MGO

On 05/23/2016 03:12 AM, F5vjc wrote:

> Hi, I have an Elecraft K line station and up to now have been running all
> my software on an aging Win 7 32 bit machine. No real problems but I'm in
> the process of building an updated PC and have a dilemma. Do I go with Win
> 7 Pro 64 Bit or Win 10 for the OS?
>
> I know some of you will have taken this path already, so how do you find
> WIN 10 with typical Ham radio software? I run Win4K3, N1MM, HRD, Log4OM,
> CW Skimmer, NaP3 and numerous other Ham radio stuff.
>
> I have Win 10 on my laptop (free update from Win 7) but not used for the
> Ham shack and find it rather irritating, but this is probably due to
> unfamiliarity.
>
> Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.
>
>
> Any advice appreciated, thanks.
>
> 73, Deni - F5VJC
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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>
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> Message delivered to [hidden email]

--
Gordon - N1MGO

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Wes Stewart-2

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC

Personally, I'm sticking with Win 7 for as long as I can.

I have a few computers:

1) Aged Toshiba laptop with Win XP that has a parallel port for running my N2PK
network analyze. No wi-fi in this one anymore.

2) Lenovo T400 upgraded to SSD running Win 7 Home 32 bit that is the shack
computer for logging, RTTY, SDR-IQ bandscope, etc.

3) HP Elitebook upgraded to SSD with Win 7 Pro on the workbench/field to run
DG8SAQ network analyzer. I tried the "free" Win 10 on this one. It worked okay
but issues which follow caused me to roll it back.

4) Dell desktop, also upgraded to SSD, Win 7 Home. Lots of backup storage for
photos, banking, doss, etc.

5) Fiance's HP laptop still running Vista.

6) New HP laptop delivered with Win 10 that is supposed to replace #5.

All of these (except for #1) are networked via local Wi-Fi. When she fires up
with the new Win 10 machine, it totally takes over my network. This thing is so
intrusive as to be unbelievable. It's pathetic when you have to install
programs to find all of the Windows "phone home" hooks and disable them. I'm
sure there are many that are still running. I can only assume that Microsoft
has scoured my complete network and saved everything away so NSA can find it all
in one place.

On 5/23/2016 12:12 AM, F5vjc wrote:

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VE3NFK

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC

Hi Deni

Comme les autres Win 10 c'est bonne avec Classic Shell; tous mes programmes 'ham' marche bien.
Mon favori TRX-Manager F6DEX c'est tout capable avec Win 10

73 John VE3NFK

Tony Estep

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 4:26 PM, VE3NFK <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Deni
>
> ...Win 10 c'est bonne avec Classic Shell...

==========
et aussi avec Stardock 10, qui donne les fonctions d'ancien desktop
familier, juste comme Classic Shell

Tony KT0NY
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Phil Kane-2

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC

On 5/23/2016 12:12 AM, F5vjc wrote:

> Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.

I have a 6-year old Dell tower for my business and personal use and a
3-year old Dell laptop for my ham radio use. Both of them run Win 7 Pro
64 bit.

I tried "upgrading" the laptop to Win 10. Too much effort on defusing
all of the nasty Microsoft "call home" stuff and auto-updating (I prefer
to see and review each and every "patch" before letting it run). Even
with ClassicShell (which I use on all of my computers) I could not get
Win 10 to look and behave the way I wanted. I had to re-install Win 7
on the laptop because it was beyond the 30-day "easy rollback" period
and fortunately I had the "reinstall media" from Dell.

Bottom line - I am sticking to Win 7 as long as I have those computers
and when either needs replacing I will order new ones with Win 7
installed (not-so-secret that one can still do it if one is a good
customer of the supplier).

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
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Kevin Stover

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

I have a couple of home brew computers.
One running Linux has 2-256 Gig SSD's, 32 Gig of Ram and a ridiculously
fast video card. It's a host for Oracle Virtualbox Virtual Machines
(Guest OS's, 3 versions of windows, a Slackware install and a month ago
I installed MSDOS 6.22 for giggles and a little Castle Wolfenstein), and
one computer running Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate (same hardware as a
above). I have no reason to upgrade so won't. I will ride the Windows 7
horse as long as I can.

I absolutely hate forced updates. The first thing I turn off on any
Windows install is auto-updates. NO patches will be installed on my
machines without my inspection first. IMHO auto-updates are for people
who don't care or don't know how to update their machines without MS
looking over their shoulder. I have seen what mistimed or disordered MS
patches can do to a network (just last week at work, took three days to
clean up the mess.)

Remember, these are the same people who brought us Windows Me and Vista.
Nuff said.

On 5/23/2016 5:25 PM, Phil Kane wrote.

> I have a 6-year old Dell tower for my business and personal use and a
> 3-year old Dell laptop for my ham radio use. Both of them run Win 7 Pro
> 64 bit.
>
> I tried "upgrading" the laptop to Win 10. Too much effort on defusing
> all of the nasty Microsoft "call home" stuff and auto-updating (I prefer
> to see and review each and every "patch" before letting it run). Even
> with ClassicShell (which I use on all of my computers) I could not get
> Win 10 to look and behave the way I wanted. I had to re-install Win 7
> on the laptop because it was beyond the 30-day "easy rollback" period
> and fortunately I had the "reinstall media" from Dell.
>
> Bottom line - I am sticking to Win 7 as long as I have those computers
> and when either needs replacing I will order new ones with Win 7
> installed (not-so-secret that one can still do it if one is a good
> customer of the supplier).
>
>
> 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
> Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402
>
> >From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
> Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>

--
R. Kevin Stover
AC0H
ARRL
FISTS #11993
SKCC #215
NAQCC #3441

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Eric Ross-3

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

In reply to this post by Phil Kane-2

I work at a large corporation that generally keeps the technology reasonably current and we are still standardized on Win 7 Enterprise. I have not run into any apps that are supported on Win 10 and not supported on Win 7. The drive to upgrade has significantly decreased. That is why the upgrade nags were implemented. People are not seeing the need to upgrade.

Eric
KB7TD

> On May 23, 2016, at 3:25 PM, Phil Kane <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> On 5/23/2016 12:12 AM, F5vjc wrote:
>
>> Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.
>
> I have a 6-year old Dell tower for my business and personal use and a
> 3-year old Dell laptop for my ham radio use. Both of them run Win 7 Pro
> 64 bit.
>
> I tried "upgrading" the laptop to Win 10. Too much effort on defusing
> all of the nasty Microsoft "call home" stuff and auto-updating (I prefer
> to see and review each and every "patch" before letting it run). Even
> with ClassicShell (which I use on all of my computers) I could not get
> Win 10 to look and behave the way I wanted. I had to re-install Win 7
> on the laptop because it was beyond the 30-day "easy rollback" period
> and fortunately I had the "reinstall media" from Dell.
>
> Bottom line - I am sticking to Win 7 as long as I have those computers
> and when either needs replacing I will order new ones with Win 7
> installed (not-so-secret that one can still do it if one is a good
> customer of the supplier).
>
>
> 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
> Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402
>
> From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
> Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

Phil Wheeler-2

Re: OT Looking for PC advice.

Except after some date in the not too distant
future, upgrade to Windows 10 will not be free but
cost $100 or so.

I've updated three PCs and two Macs (via BootCamp)
from Win 7 to Win 10 and I'm very pleased with the
new OS.

No need for the Classic Shell approach I needed on
my one Win 8.1 machine.

Phil W7OX

On 5/23/16 5:20 PM, Eric Ross wrote:

> I work at a large corporation that generally keeps the technology reasonably current and we are still standardized on Win 7 Enterprise. I have not run into any apps that are supported on Win 10 and not supported on Win 7. The drive to upgrade has significantly decreased. That is why the upgrade nags were implemented. People are not seeing the need to upgrade.
>
> Eric
> KB7TD
>
>> On May 23, 2016, at 3:25 PM, Phil Kane <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> On 5/23/2016 12:12 AM, F5vjc wrote:
>>
>>> Do you guys prefer Win 7 or 10 for Ham radio apps.
>> I have a 6-year old Dell tower for my business and personal use and a
>> 3-year old Dell laptop for my ham radio use. Both of them run Win 7 Pro
>> 64 bit.
>>
>> I tried "upgrading" the laptop to Win 10. Too much effort on defusing
>> all of the nasty Microsoft "call home" stuff and auto-updating (I prefer
>> to see and review each and every "patch" before letting it run). Even
>> with ClassicShell (which I use on all of my computers) I could not get
>> Win 10 to look and behave the way I wanted. I had to re-install Win 7
>> on the laptop because it was beyond the 30-day "easy rollback" period
>> and fortunately I had the "reinstall media" from Dell.
>>
>> Bottom line - I am sticking to Win 7 as long as I have those computers
>> and when either needs replacing I will order new ones with Win 7
>> installed (not-so-secret that one can still do it if one is a good
>> customer of the supplier).
>>
>>
>> 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
>> Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402