Windows 7 Is Driving Me Crazy

Seems like a good start.

There are settings to comply with, and different ones on various computers in the house. I also use Emsisoft Anti Malware and CCleaner , both the free editions.

I am running 7 ultimate on an old 32 bits Dell laptop (E1405) and with 1 Gb ram it is a critical game too. Both programs come very handy for me. G.A.

Thanks, Solar.

Where's Options? I've clicked every icon on the Firefox screen and can't find Options.

I found Customize Firefox, but no options.

Options is in the tools menu

I don't have Firefox to look at here but didn't some of the menus move to a nondescript stripey button in the top RH of the window?

I finally found Options under the orange Firefox box on the top left, and I did ALMOST what you advised. It didn't work quite like you said, though. I had to delete all cookies, but now Gmail works in Firefox.

It also solved the problem of attaching files to outgoing emails.

Guess I'll be logging in manually to my usual websites, but that's OK.

Thanks Solareagle--I'm going to go back and vote for your answer.

I suggest that you download CC Cleaner or Cleanup (Free) and run it regularly to keep the cookies and temporary internet files cleaned out.

If you do not limit this type of DATA your machine operations speed will suffer greatly and you will experience some very bizzare issues.

That is misleading, the downloads are free but you have to pay them to run the program. And they do not tell you that until you have downloaded. Very misleading

CCleaner is completely free, I've been using it for many years & never had to pay to run it.

I totally sympathize but have nothing to offer. I have endless problems with my computer (Windows 7 on Dell) and the confounded internet. Not usually serious but very, very irritating. The whole thing, in my opinion, is a complete mess. This constant updating of operating systems, browsers and other software is severely frustrating.

As an example of absurdities, I recently bought a Canon MG2250 printer in Ireland. The installation instructions said that I must have Windows 8 to use it. I nearly tried to load it, but thought I'd check with the dealer first. His reply was "under no circumstances change to Windows 8." After much fiddling the printer worked fine on Win 7. So what's the conclusion? Canon, despite being one of the big players, obviously don't know anything and put out completely false information.

Just one more example of a crazy, mixed up industry that doesn't know if it's coming or going.

Then there's Yahoo completely revamping the e-mail system, upsetting the world and landing up with a degraded product. Don't get me started .........

We've reached the point of trans-optimal engineering--that is, computers and software are so advanced they don't work any more. I wish they would bring back Windows XP.

I wish you well on this adventure. I would suggest that you follow all of the great help and advice from the super knowledgeable ones here, but only on one computer, maybe the newest machine. Make notes and screen shots of every little step you go through, noting any apparent success or not for each process. Then once you get that computer running right and the way you like, duplicate the successful steps on the rest of the machines.

I have been running 7 for quite a while and Firefox without issues. My explorer browser does not act right all of the time so I stopped using it, changed to Firefox. I will not upgrade my computer to Windows 8 as long as possible. My mother had to buy a new computer and it came with that OS and it is horrible in my opinion. It is not for someone who actually wants to do computations and useful functions on the computer, just browse the internet and social media junkies. Maybe 9 will be better. Many of my programs don't run well with Linux so I use the Windows OS on this machine.

Don't you wish you could go back to Windows XP?

I run 3 PCs all XP Pro....drama free.

I am dreading the day that MS support vanishes....like my Nokia 5800, no more updates, just chugs along as is but it's ear marked for the home museum when it dies completely.

Designed obsolescence is a curse. iPhone's a classic with its non replaceable battery.

Simple solution to your problem: Buy a Mac!!

The answer to your problem in one word "Linux". There are a plethora of very stable free open source builds to choose from. The average person can do anything on Linux that you can do on a Windows machine. I am even running SolidWorks on Linux. Find a 'computer guru' (in todays world that is probably the nearest 12 year old), in your area and have them make one of your 4 computers a Linux box. You might eventually want them all to be Linux. You could even have one as a dual boot machine, just in case someday you wanted to reminisce about the problems you used to have on Windows.

I feel for Linux too. Say as a exploration, but how to get something to work is a big question mark to me. Are there good guides available?

I also have a Mac, beside a windows dell - which one can run Linux?

They both can. As I said, you could run Windows and Linux as a dual boot on your Dell. You can run Bootcamp, or VM ware on your Mac and switch effortlessly between the Mac OS, and whatever you are running in your virtual machine. Mavericks is a bit new, and I wouldn't recommend trying to run Bootcamp on it just yet. I do have it running VM ware, and so far no problems. As for guides, there are a lot to choose from on youtube.

my PC's always go retard if the RAM is faulty, then normal function wont be so normal.

By the way, for those little windows that have the file listings with file name, date, etc columns, you can usually click in the header of the column to change the order of the listing.

For example, on the name column you can reorder A to Z or Z to A, the date column newest first or oldest first, the file size column largest first or smallest first, etc...

Hooker

you think it's bad now, wait till you get W8. It is disfunctional in many ways, but primarily the graphical interface is made for touch (read 1st grader), as opposed to mouse, and it is comical how bad it is for a business application. If I didn't have to use it, i wouldn't, but none of our accounting software works with Linux OS. Click on a new window, it opens. Click on a link in that window, nothing. Click again, it works. Evidently, just opening a window is not an indication that you would actually like to work in it.

Definately scrap Outlook. Thunderbird is just as capable, free, and much more stable. All of the browsers allow excessive data mining, no matter what you do with cookies or settings. It's the act of URL (website) contact that grabs it.

Wait till you see the Control panel listing of programs. That's a beautiful example of WTF? Try to scan it quickly.

SWB 123 - I have hesitated to use Mavericks yet. I have heard folks have been having some issues, which are common on a new update. Have you been using it much and if so, is it worth the update?

Only been using it a little while myself, but had major problems trying to install Bootcamp, so went to VMware and so far no problems.

Win7, like most Windows, likes lots of memory. I run Win7 with 16GB and have no problems, probably it will run with 8GB just as well, but any less I could not recommend.....

If you have a relatively slow processor (mine is a 4 core mobile intel that simulates 8 cores), go for the 16GB. If you have a slow CPU and not have the possibility to run 16GB then you may get nasty problems, of which I have no knowledge of.

Thats Windows!!!

Also, does your hard disk access a lot, then you may need to use a defrag program as well.....the one in Win7 seems to work fine for me personally, though I am no expert on 7....not yet anyway.

"How to Make Windows 8 or 8.1 Look and Feel Like Windows 7" - If you have a PC with Windows 8 or 8.1 but miss Windows 7, there's no need to downgrade.