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I have discovered that my "wonderful" new lap top seems to be a 64 bit machine, rather than my last one which was 32 bit.

Are there any problems, or operational differences that I should be aware of? Will my xp disks for photoshop and games work for example?

Together with changing from Windows XP to Windows 7, and the change to 64 bit, I am having problems and I am not sure whether Windows or the 64 bit is causing the problems, and I am becoming less than enamoured with my new machine. I haven't got to the state of chucking it in the bin yet though!

For example my old venerable and much loved zip drive worked perfectly with XP, but the new machine will not read it, and has destroyed one of my precious zip disks. This is unfortunate as I had backed up all my work onto zip disks.

Further I have an HP 8gb memory stick which does not seem to want to transfer data between the two machines, and the bubble game on jeux-gratuits is very jerky on the new machine.

To add insult to injury, the window that I am writing this post in is tiny, and I almost need a microscope to check read the text.

Thanks in advance for your help,

David
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I guess the first question is which version of Windows 7 are you using.

Another question would be do you get any messages including error ones when you try to use your Zip drive or memory stick.

With this forum I have found you need to access it in compatibility mode, thats the little picture at the top of the Internet Explorer window that looks like a piece of paper torn in half horizontally about 1/3rd in from the right (next to the refresh button).

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I won't attempt to answer your other questions, but to add to what Quillan has said for using this forum...

 

Go to tools (outils in French)

  • Scroll down to Compatibility Parameters (paramètres d'affichage de compatibilité)

  • Add completefrance.com to the list

  • Alternatively, click on the compatibility icon on the right-hand side of the address bar:
                             

  • The reply box will be full size and you will be able to post smilies

(As originally posted by Clair).

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Hi Quillan, many thanks for your helpful reply.  Sorry for the delay in my reply, but I have been trying to find out which version of windows 7 I have.  After much hunting around, and visiting the windows web site, I have now found that my edition of windows 7 is "Home Premium", but I cannot find out which version of home premium I have.  Sounds stupid I know, and I apologise.  The home premium bit was easy to find, but trying to find the version has taken hours - any advice as to how to find out which version I have please?

Originally the zip drive and disk worked well on the old machine.  When I tried the zip drive in the new computer it told me that the disk needed formatting, when I declined by cancelling, it then told me that the file system was wrong.  When I then put the disk back in the old computer it now didn't recognise the disk and told me to put a disk into the drive.  I  then tried reformatting on the new machine, but after trying it told me that it could not reformat the disk.  Now the zip drive is recognised by both machines, but neither will read the disk.

After trying the memory stick in the new machine, the memory stick was recognised as a drive, but the stick now simply will not open in either machine.  When going to windows explorer the drive is recognised, but with 100 percent free space, and no bite allocation - the computer just seems to see a blank.  When I originally tried the stick it worked well in the old machine, and I saved some photos to it.  The problems started after trying it in the new machine, when I tried to transfer data on the stick rather than the zip drive.  I am wondering if the stick may be faulty?

I have just given the stick one last try and the new machine offered to repair it!  I let it run the repair and it now seems to open in the new machine!  I have not yet tried it again in the old machine.

Thanks to you and Cat for the tip about the compatibility mode.  I am now in it and have a full size posting window.  However, much of your message to which I am replying is lost under the posting screen.

Thanks Bugbear for your link which I looked at.  Unfortunately it is rather complicated, and being a computer illiterate it went over my head.  I just want a simple computer for writing letters, saving photos, email and internet, and the occasional strategy game - no shoot em up stuff.  Can I do that with a 64 bit computer without lots of hassle?  Have I been sold the wrong sort of computer?  What is the difference between 32 and 64 bit and why is 64 needed?  So far 64 bit seems xxxxxx useless, and a menace!

Thanks,

David

 

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Hi David,

Seems things are not working well and due to your lack of technical expertise or understanding your not getting very far . Don't take that as a slight on your abilities, a computer is a tool rather like a calculator and users don't need to understand how they work, they just use them. Bit like modern cars really. [;-)]

I have sent you a PM.

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[quote user="David"]

Thanks Bugbear for your link which I looked at.  Unfortunately it is rather complicated, and being a computer illiterate it went over my head.  I just want a simple computer for writing letters, saving photos, email and internet, and the occasional strategy game - no shoot em up stuff.  Can I do that with a 64 bit computer without lots of hassle?  Have I been sold the wrong sort of computer?  What is the difference between 32 and 64 bit and why is 64 needed?  So far 64 bit seems xxxxxx useless, and a menace! [/quote]

You need to break down what software/hardware you actually want to use on your new machine. You mentioned a 'zip-drive' and 'photoshop'. Adobe have a 'fix' for your problem on their website which you download before putting photoshop on your new computer. I would guess that the same is true for your zip drive. Check with the manufacturer.

Its not always true, of course, and some things you have will not work, period.

If you're not sure how to do this give me the manufacturers name of your zip and I'll do a search for you.

Windows [+o(]

An article on 32/64 bit processors well you did ask [:P]

[:D][:D]

.

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The zip drive is an Iomega Zip 100, and from the web site it has only been tested for 32 bit windows 7, and it may not work on a 64 bit machine, however, the memory stick is now working so I can transfer data on that.

Thanks for the link to the article, at last something in plain English which I mostly understood.  I am beginning to think that I should have been aware of 64 bit and 32 bit and stuck with 32 bit.  Anyway, too late for that so I will have to manage with the 64 bit.

The latest thing is that I bought a brand new Canon printer/scanner/copier model PIXMA MP550 to go with the new machine, and I now find that I have to download the drivers as the supplied disk only goes up to Windows Vista!!!  When I go to the Canon site there are about half a dozen different things that I might download, but no indication of what is necessary for the machine to work, and no instructions as to how to connect the xxxx thing to windows 7 64 bit!!!  I think I will just try the downloads one at a time and see which works, starting with MP drivers.

Such is life, the trouble is once the printer is connected, I will have no more excuses for not going through the last weeks' post, and paying some bills and filling in some forms!

Edit.  Tried to insert a smiley, ticked box and pressed post and the whole thing posted without the smiley - ah well.

David

Second edit - just found the smiley in the post title - looks quite good!!

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Hi David

You could try this. Make sure you use the 64bit download.

I have no idea if it will work but worth a try. Just create a restore point before you download it then you can switch back if you get a problem.

To be honest with you the 'zip' storage is pretty 'old-hat' now. I would suggest for the future that you invest in a small (physically) external hard drive. They have come down massively in price now and are much more reliable than floppies. For example, I have a Toshiba 80Gb unit that fits into a shirt pocket.

good luck with it.

Gary.

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Being 64 or 32 bit should not make much difference with W7 as it can handle both. The problem I think is with the driver not being compatible with either version of W7. You could try a Vista driver, either 64 or 32 bit, it might work but don't hold your breath but still worth a try.

If you only have the 100Mb or 250Mb version Zip Drive you could consider using the old machine and copy the contents on to a memory stick then take it to the new machine and copying the data on to a CD. If you have the 750Mb version then you can do the same thing but transfer the data from the memory stick on to a DVD. You can have 650MB of data on a CD and 4.8GB of data on to a DVD. If you use +RW CD's or DVD's then you can add further data to either as you go. The reason you can't find a driver is probably because they stopped making Zip Drives in the early 2000's as most people now use memory sticks or CD/DVD for backup. Of course thats not much use to you if you have religiously backed up your data over the years. Its actually nice to hear of somebody who does backup, many don't then complain like hell when their PC goes bang and they loose all their data.

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Hi Bugsy and Quillan.

Sorry for the delay in replying, and thanks very much for the link Bugsy.  I have not tried the zip drive link yet, but I have now got my new computer up and running using the memory stick, and have managed to transfer all zip drive backed up data.

I liked the zip drive as it acted as another hard disk where I could rewrite to my heart's content, and back up daily, whereas I had much trouble with cd disks (by that I mean all types of cd's/dvd's including rewrite).  I am now using a memory stick to back up everything, and yes Quillan I have found that backing up data on a regular basis is essential, particularly when I ran a small company as a consultant/surveyor.  Most of the backed up data that I have now transferred relates to that time as it is still not time barred.

A great idea Bugsy to have an external hard drive that fits into a shirt pocket.  I must look for one.  For the moment I will use a memory stick as Quillan recommends.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread, and I hope it assists others new to windows 7 and 64 bit systems.

David

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