I'm running it on a netbook in 2GB of RAM and it's performing pretty flawlessly. I don't think I'd want to go less than 1GB but that would probably do for light use i.e. simple web pages, email and etc. I'm quite impressed with it overall. MS seem to have done the sensible thing and, rather than trying to add a ton of new bells and whistles, simply taken all the feedback they got about Vista and implemented it. Hooray for The Wisdom Of Crowds.

As to AV, I'm using MS's own relatively new virus/malware scanner Microsoft Security Essentials and it seems to be doing an adequate job. No scares yet and it's largely invisible in use. And is free.


Jon

Thanks


If you can use OS X, you will probably find Windows 7 fairly easy, it borrows a lot of concepts from OS X - the task bar now acts like the dock, allowing you to "pin" regularly used applications and shows running applications as well. It also has its version of Exposé now as well.


I haven't bought a computer with less than 2GB RAM for nearly a decade, which is a usable minimum for Vista as well. I wouldn't want to use XP with less than 2GB these days - we have machines at work with 256MB and 512MB and they can't really run Windows XP SP2 and AV software these days (a virus scan makes the machine unusable for about 2 days!), no way I'd want to install Vista or 7 on them.

IMHO, 2 cores is more important than going over 2GB these days. That said, I wouldn't look at buying a machine with less than 4GB these days. Windows 7 is faster than Vista and can be faster than XP in some situations. That said, for most daily user tasks, Vista and 7 are more efficient than XP, when it comes to allowing the user to actually do what they want.

As to AV software, I'm with Jon, Microsoft Security Essentials is great. It is light and doesn't use much processor power. For somebody who habitually surfs to "bad" sites and downloads every bit of software they come across, it won't be enough, they will need a "proper" AV package, but for the new / casual Windows user or the expert it is great, it just isn't for idiots.

That is great news.

One of the things that kept me away from Windows was the high level of maintenance required.


I wonder if the arguments will subside now that the two main OSs really are so similar? I hope so, though the banter could be fun at times.

CC

CC great to see you back

Installed W7 at home - was running XP so did a fresh install and it went seamlessly

So far all my s\w and h\w are working well and it installed the drivers for everything automatically

Running it (W7 - 64 bit) on an old(ish) AMD system with 2GB - although have just bought another 2 GB which I plan to install when I get back home in the New Year

Overall very happy with it

No, but we've missed you.

Welcome back CC. I wondered why there wasn't any fur balls littering the place