What do you use for internet and do you plan to get Windows 10 eventually?

I appreciate that but if I only go on-line to surf the net or do email I could use my iPad.
Although I'm fully aware that that would be very restrictive.

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He's already done that - which is why I'm supposed to be "getting on with it"

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I think half the truth of the matter, Jenny100, is my probably unreasonable desire not to have to cope with yet another Windows system.
It's the same with my mobile phone.
The one I have is quite new but it's not a "Smart" phone.
I didn't want the bother of having to learn how to cope with one of those, either !!
( I just put the SIM card from my old one into my new one and it serves the purposes I need )

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Maybe indeed. But not being able to play it wouldn't be the end of my world.
I'd probably compensate by firing up a Gabriel Knight

Ive just customized my Windows 10 start menu to look like Windows 7, using Open Shell (an updated open source version of Classic Shell)

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-use-open-shell-as-your-windows-10-start-menu/

It was pretty easy to do and you get a heap of options on appearance etc.

See, to me, that looks harder to deal with than just getting used to the Windows 10 start menu.

He's showing more options than you'd need to mess with in that article.
Any of the "classic" settings would be better than what Windows 10 offers.
All you need to do is tick the box for the one you like best in the
***settings screen***.


I would think trying to compose an email or forum post using an iPad would be even more maddening than using Windows 10. After all, you only need to start up a web browser (or email client if you use one), and that can be done from a desktop shortcut just like any other version of Windows.

You're getting Windows 10 set up for free through your tech, aren't you?
As long as he can fix the privacy settings and get rid of most of the cr@pware and ads it shouldn't be that bad.

If you absolutely don't want Windows 10 on your computer, maybe you could ask your tech to set up Linux for you. Same as with Windows 10, all you'd need to do is click a desktop shortcut for your web browser. One thing about Linux is that it runs updates WAY faster than Windows. Not that great for most games, but you have Windows 7 for your games.

It's not like your iPad will be compatible with future versions of IOS either. If anything, they're worse. You can't run the current IOS on "older" iPads (which aren't that old).
Here are iPhone and iPad requirements :
From https://www.imyfone.com/ios-data-erase/ios-12-system-requirements/


It's worse with iPads and iPhones than with Macs. Where most Macs back to the Mac Mini from 2012 will work with the current Mac OS, anything older than a 3-year-old iPad won't work with the new "up-to-date-securitywise" IOS. Even if your iPad is brand spanking new and good for another three years online, what will you use after that?

As with Windows 10, you'd have to learn Linux. It might not be too bad as long as your SIL knows how to work on Linux. My one foray into the Linux world did not end well. As long as all you want to do is use the internet, it's fine. Anything else took twiddling in the code. And then when I took it off my machine, I couldn't get rid of the Grub Loader for love nor money. Ended up in their forums where hundreds of people were having the same issues. I'm sure it's improved a great deal since then, but your SIL would still need to know how to work with it.

I'm glad you've gotten more or less used to Windows 10, oldbroad. It will make life a lot easier down the road!

Not if all you're doing is starting a web browser or email client.
You just double-click the Firefox icon (or icon of whatever web browser you're using).

There's a big difference between "learning Linux" and using a preconfigured Linux desktop to start a web browser. I'm assuming Mad's tech could set it up for her.

The only reason I suggested Linux was to offer an alternative to using an iPad for Internet -- since Mad seems to really be against using Windows 10.

True if all she did was use the internet. Mad will have to correct me, but I believe she uses the BT internet service email address. But setting up a new web-based email would be easy. It would definitely be an alternative if Windows 10 was just not possible. And I assume her SIL who is an IT professional would know how to do all this. He does seem to be trying to nudge her towards Windows 10 since he is the one who will be working on it if necessary!

It should be possible to set up an email client to use BT internet in either Linux or Windows.
Mad's tech would be able to set it up for her.
https://www.bt.com/help/email/manag...r-outgoing-and-incoming-bt-email-servers

Sorry to be so late getting back !!

Anyway, having read all through this thread again (and thank you for all your responses and suggestions) I think I'll just have to "buckle down" and get to grips with my small version of Win10 - and then eventually move on to a full version.

I'm much more likely to force myself to do that than learn a completely new other system ....

I am, though, absolutely going to take as much time as suits me

And again, thank you

When you have the luxury of a perfectly good (off-line) Windows 7, you can take all the time in the world!

Good luck, Mad.
I probably won't put Windows 10 on a game computer myself until I get a new one and can't find Windows 7 drivers for the new hardware.

That sounds very sensible to me

Annoyingly for me, I've now got a Win7 problem !!

Yesterday I was notified about another "important" Win7 update, so I downloaded it. But after I re-booted my machine the desktop background was completely black and I couldn't implement any wallpaper

I have a folder of wallpapers in my Pictures Library and normally, to change one, I just R Click on the one I want and select "Set as desktop background" from the menu - and it's done.
But now when I do that nothing happens at all.

Can you offer any advice, please ??

I found this, but I have no idea if any of the suggestions will work. What was this update? You should have gotten them all in that earlier delayed update.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2504610/unable-to-change-background-picture-in-windows-7

I sure would get that Windows 7 computer off the internet ASAP. I hope this was a legitimate update.

Well, that's a relief then. One of the suggestions in that link was for a black screen that couldn't be changed.

Supposedly it was a "Servicing Stack Update."

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...for-windows-7-sp1-and-server-2008-r2-sp1

Did your computer create a restore point before this "update"?
If so I'd recommend going back to the restore point.
You really don't need the "update" if you're not going to use Windows 7 online.


There's some discussion about the problem here on sevenforums
https://www.sevenforums.com/customi...es-my-desktop-background-goes-black.html
One person in that thread says to remove KB4534310

Before I closed down my Windows 7 computer last Wednesday, I let it install the latest updates and like you it removed my desktop wall paper and the screen was black.

However , after the computer rebooted, I was able to restore the background image without any problems.

Well, after reading that there were updates for January, I connected my computer and installed them. Both of the above mention updates installed and thankfully, no problem with my desktop background.

I could kick myself for not asking if Mad had rebooted her computer, Winx! Over the years of working on computers I've found about 95% of problems are resolved with a reboot! Hope it works for her too!

Oh, I re-booted right away at the time. But to no avail

Did you try going back to a restore point?
Did you try removing KB4534310 like people suggested at
https://www.sevenforums.com/customi...es-my-desktop-background-goes-black.html
and
https://www.sevenforums.com/news/42...g-stack-update-windows-7-jan-14-a-2.html

Yes to both, Jenny100, but none worked.

I've given up for now .... after spending hours messing about and getting nowhere .... so disappointing

I'm sorry to hear that, Mad.

I guess your tech will have to fix it for you. But maybe the information on the sevenforums page will help him figure out what's causing the problem. I don't know whether your Windows 7, which is the Enterprise version, would have a custom logo or Group Policy setting that was affected by this update in a similar way as the person named Dearnoss mentioned in the sevenforums thread.
https://www.sevenforums.com/news/422148-new-kb4536952-servicing-stack-update-windows-7-jan-14-a.html

I see Mad is sporting a cake!

Happy Birthday to you Mad!