Stop using mainstream operating systems like Windows 11/10/8.1, modern Linux, like Ubuntu or modern MacOS versions. On mobile Android 14/13/12/11/10/9/8.1 are prohibited because they use neural networks to profile your device and dial back to “home” to dump your personal data and preferences. iOS from very beginning was very phony platform.
My personal choices are Windows 7 for desktop and Android 8.0 for mobile. These two cover my digital needs fully, no restrictions whatsoever.
UPDATED ON: 2022-08-13
▒ PREFACE WORDS As you remember, my [previous daily driver was Ryzen 9590x 16c/32t]
. After some fun with it I’ve decided to drop it in favor to retro stuff.
Intel Xeon CPU based around Broadwell tech: [E5-2696v4 22c/44t]
became the chip of the choice. It is OEM version of top of the line [Xeon E5-2699v4]
. It is a bit slower, around marginal 3-4%, but costs significantly less than 2699v4.
Since i’ve switched to [fanless GPU]
from Nvidia and began to monitor Windows 7 driver related news. So, here is a [link to the latest]
to date Windows 7 driver .
It’s really neat to hear that Nvidia is not dropping driver support for Windows Classics
. Red team from AMD can’t demonstrate such coolness in this category.
Lastest GPU drivers for Windows 7 will be available [here]
.
Recently [Ghacks.net]
reported about almost unreal rumour regarding [another 3 years of extended support for Windows 7]
. If news are true, consider this as a gift from above, because i can’t stand windows 10/11 abominations and Linux is just not ready for serious multimedia workstation workloads.
Imagery by spacedrone808
Have you ever heard about digital audio workstation written in assembly language?
Yeah, that’s [SAW Studio]
.
32-bit version can be launched even in “obsolete” Windows XP.
64-bit version released in 2019 is Windows 7 compatible.
I’m very satisfied that I covered such a large topic and pretty sure that it is the most complete Windows 7 tweaking guide ever. But due to the lack of spare time it is still in unfinished state, so consider it as a stack of knowledge. Document contain all information [posted here]
plus loads of more detailed stuff.
[DOWNLOAD DOCX VERSION]
Maybe, if i have more free time, i’ll return back to the topic to clean things up someday.
UPDATED ON: 2023.02.17
Version 27.2.4 is the very last to work on Windows 7. 28.x builds require sytem dlls which can’t be found in Windows 7. [How to run version 29.x on Windows 7]
.
OBS is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Just want to let you know that latest version [27.2.4] runs on Windows 7. Works without any hickups. Using it on daily basis to capture the desktop screen with audio.
With declining support of Windows 7 it looks like that game hacking scene is disappearing also. Saying so because of disbandment of famous cracking group CODEX. [SOURCE]
Imagery by spacedrone808
Lightning fast text two-panel orthodox file manager with loads of functionality. These blue panels take very special place in my heart. Maybe because i’m using software right from the mid 90s. Still under active development. 64-bit version is preffered.
[DOWNLOAD FAR MANAGER]
Imagery by spacedrone808
UPDATED ON: 2022-04-03
Modern version of classic Diablo II with fully revamped graphics. [Official system requirements]
doesn’t mention mighty Windows 7. To my surprise I was able to run game on Windows 7 x64 ESU without any problems. If some of you experiencing difficulties in launching game just grab hacked DirectX 12 libs and place them into the root of game folder. [DOWNLOAD DIRECTX 12 FILE PACK]
GAMEPLAY SAMPLE SECRET #1: TO UNDO ANNOYING LOBBY MUSIC JUST DO ONE-TIME CTRL+M HIT
UPDATED ON: 2022-03-06 Corel Draw 2022 confirmed to work on Windows 7, but w/o GPU acceleration. 2020 version also don’t provide GPU extensions, but you can ignore this if you have fast 8-16 multicore CPU.
Just run into difficulties during Corel Painter 2020 installation process. Right after the first screen i can’t press [Next »] button.
Problem was solved by dropping down security level in Internet Explorer 11 [!]
UPDATED ON: 2023-11-23
¶ ESSENTIAL INTRODUCTION Finally I get up all one’s courage to compile and publish essential stuff regarding Windows 7 optimization. Note that full version of the guide will be released somewhere around early 2023. Check the warm place to stay on the edge. And now….Let’s dive into the tweaking process!
All console commands should be executed from command line with with administrative privileges. Most of mentioned tweaks could be done via control panel, to enter it in a fast way just type in command line or execute Start Run:
UPDATED ON: 2023-12-02
You may already noticed [list of system tweakers]
in Windows 7 header section. Just wanted to describe process a bit with the help of plain words and some png pictures for crispy clearness and buttery smooth understanding of the process.
FAQ ver 0.1b
▓ PREFACE This comprehensive guide will be handy for those of you who can’t figure out why hp printer is not detected by windows using usb connection and for those of you who are asking himself/herself “why do i need to do usb plug to setup device for wireless work?”
hp is notoriously known in terms of really s#cky printer drivers. During all my career of system administrator i’ve constantly ran into driver related problems with hp devices.
By default software forbids execution when you are using classic desktop and aero is not enabled.
However, there is a nice workaround. By adding –no-dwm-warning switch to starting shortcut you can avoid internal restriction.
"C:\Program Files\Affinity\Photo\Photo.exe" --no-dwm-warning NOTE: with some graphical drivers you may experience visual artifacts and not so precise image rendering.
Imagery by spacedrone808
UPDATED ON: 2023-02-15 Secure Boot now supported [officially]
!
▒ HARDWARE Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra BIOS: F34 [F35b breaks compatibility with Windows 7]
I think that guide will be useful due to nightmarish non-ergonomic structure of Gigabyte’s BIOS menus.
▒ UEFI vs MBR Windows 7 supports UEFI only partially, there is no native handling of this modern tech. I don’t see any reason to use UEFI, only if you want to boot from drive which is larger than 2TB.
Authoritative member of Win-Raid community [Canonkong]
confirmed that x570s chipset is fully operational under Windows 7. In terms of overall compatibility he recommends MSI boards. Please note that [Asrock motherboards are not compatible with Windows 7]
anymore because of notable BIOS changes. You’ll encounter A5/7E BSOD screens on random basis. The most distinctive feature of x570s chipset compared to x570 is absence of active cooling. Also it will support upcoming [Ryzen 5950XT]
CPU with larger 192Mb L3 v-cache.
UPDATED ON: 2023-08-21
All batch files are tested under Windows 7 x64.
► SHUTDOWN PUTER shutdown /p /f ► REBOOT PUTER shutdown /r /f /t 0 ► RESTART AUDIO SERVICE net stop "AudioSrv"
net start "AudioSrv" ► DISABLE HIBERNATE powercfg -h off ► DISABLE/ENABLE LAN INTERFACES netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection" admin=disabled netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection" admin=enabled Where: Local Area Connection ◄ the name of your network connection
Some really quick software lists with information on which version of application is a last one to run on Windows 98/2000/XP/7.
[Windows 98SE Gold]
[Windows 98SE KeX]
[Windows 2000 SP4]
[Windows XP SP3]
As for Windows 7 SP2 ESU i maintain my [personal list of trusted’n’latest software]
. Coz Seven is my daily driver system. So Windws 7 list will be constantly updated!
Don’t forget about my [dedicated WINDOWS 98/2000/XP/7 support page]
Imagery by spacedrone808
UPDATED ON: 2023-02-12 ► Added info on 2.93.15 LTS & 3.0 Final Make sure to check [newer post]
regarding refreshed information about modern Blender and Windows 7 compatibility
As we all know that last official Blender build to support Windows 7 is 2.92. Next version requires Python 3.9.x, which is not an option for Windows 7. However, there is a possibility to run new 2.93 version via [DLL HACK]
, which could be applied even to the newest 2.
UPDATED ON: 2024-05-08 NOTE: list will be updated in the future [final renewal is planned somewhere around end of 2024 and beginning of 2025]. List of essential software needed for smooth and hassle free system performance. I use these applications on a daily basis. Selection is really private, but nevertheless of this fact I want to share my knowledge with you. List doesn’t contain any microsoft or adobe products. Sorted by usage frequency.
DON'T EVEN THINK THAT WINDOWS 7 IS DEAD!
Official extended support for Windows 7 operating system [ended on January 14, 2020]
. Home users can’t extend support for the operating system while business and enterprise customers may extend support by up to three years [till January 14, 2023]
, to be precise. This is done by joining the ESU program which is available per machine [business] or per user [enterprise].
Here is a short breakdown of the most frequently used commands, which could be launched from the START menu. [WIN] + R ► START ► RUN ► …. CONTROL PANEL control panel LAN CONNECTIONS ncpa.cpl REMOTE DESKTOP mstsc SYSTEM SERVICES services.msc USER CONTROL PANEL control userpasswords2 MICROSOFT CONFIG TOOL msconfig DIRECTX DIAGNOSTICS TOOL dxdiag SYSTEM INFORMATION msinfo32 REGISTRY EDITOR regedit TASK SCHEDULER taskschd.msc GROUP POLICY EDITOR gpedit.msc Imagery by spacedrone808
Note: Don’t worry, your eye sight is ok. I’m just testing CRT-emulation mode via CSS-magic. To remove FX click on any other page.
Back in Pentium 66Mhz days I was a follower of minimal design and always turned off all fancy graphical beauties, for the sake of performance of course. However, today we are not limited to 8Megs of RAM anymore. Therefore, I have decided to transform my Windows 7 installation into Windows Vista.
UPDATED: 2021-10-05
Some good old-school sites regarding ‘puters and technology. I will update this post when stumble upon something very cool.
[Razorback95]
► cool guy doing retro stuff [DXZeff]
► small vintage computer forum, also guy has pretty neat YT channel [Retro revival blog]
► excellent selection of vintage software [Vogons forum]
► the most important place for old school gamers [Old-games.ru portal]
► very vibrant old games Russian community
Software is not perfect. Windows, Linux or any other OS. It doesn’t really matter. In this quick note, I will talk about Windows operating system.
For basic deleting of stucked files big chance that you are already using utility like Unlocker or smth. However, some time ago Unlocker was caught in spreading malware, so no trust to this application anymore. As for me, I prefer [Lock Hunter]
instead.
And what about frozen processes?
Even mighty Windows 7 comes with preinstalled junk. Yeah, you can’t go wrong with Microsoft.
In this posting I’ll point you out some bloated stuff, that don’t need regular home user on normal basis.
All of these should be removed to save your disk space and improve system performance.
Quick breakdown of the most powerful AMD-based cards for legacy operating systems.
[X850XT PE]
► WINDOWS 98 [official drivers]
/ Omega drivers
] [HD 3870 X 2]
► WINDOWS 2000 [official drivers]
plus some INF tinkering, will review that one later on [HD 5970]
► WINDOWS 2000 [Blackwingcat hacks]
[R9 270X]
► WINDOWS XP [official drivers]
[6950XT]
► WINDOWS 7 [official drivers]
◄ currently rocking on that one under Windows 7 wing.