but I thought the latest one is over the top

Windows 7 though, is not another Vista – it performs well, as well as Windows XP and even better since it has an enriched interface and nice ways of doing things. There will be some disappointments though, as there always is, for old hardware. It’s not the processor – Windows 7 runs on Netbooks for Charles’s sake, so it should run on something as slow as a Pentium IV maybe. Most users with Windows XP already have at least 512Mb of RAM and Windows 7 runs as well as Windows XP on that. Aero Glass? Well, it’s really nice to have, but if you have been used to the gross eye candy of Windows XP, Windows 7 will bring some eye relief even without a good graphics card for Aero Glass.

No, the problem will be your old motherboard and ancillaries. The family ASUS circa Athlon XP has an nForce “in the beginning there was” chipset. nVidia is very good with drivers and produces all kinds of updated drivers for current and slightly old hardware. But nForce 1 / 2 was deprecated long ago, so we’re missing an SMBUS driver and the audio arbitrarily cuts off at different times.

One thing that was annoying to Vista users was UAC – that Linux like darkened screen when you attempt to run an activity that requires escalation to administrative privileges. Windows 7 seems to cause less angst but it’s still there. For Windows XP users, we’ve had none of that because Windows XP has been primitive. You can create some limited user accounts that prevent administrative privileges escalation or you can log in as an administrative equivalent user. Well, this morning I came across a wannabe. You know, you have Windows XP and you covet the pain and irritation of getting a UAC prompt. Well, now you can swear and curse just like an envied Windows 7 user with UAC Replacement.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: This blog disclaims any responsibility for you voluntarily doing harm to your system.

Update 29th September: Ok, enough masochism. I gave the UAC Replacement a go. As bad as some of those third party firewall software in grabbing your attention every few minutes. Nope. Uninstalled – it was an experience to remind me how much forward Windows 7 has come from early Vista irritations.