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Going Back to Windows 7


Keel M.

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A few months ago I purchased a new small laptop with Windows 10 on it. It's been a perfect little computer until I encountered my first Windows update which ain't happening because there's no more space on the drive. I have all programs that I possibly can running from a removable drive and there's still not enough room. You can't tell Windows 10 to ignore the updates. At this point my only choice seems to be to revert to Windows 7 since I don't have the money to buy a new computer yet again. I bought a copy of Windows 7 and searched for how to uninstall Windows 10 to put 7 in its place. Most sites with instructions are for those who had 7 and upgraded to 10 so it's just a reverting back to what you had. I finally found the instructions I need, but my question is, are these sites trustworthy? Are they going to steer you wrong?

This is the site I found: https://www.top-password.com/blog/how-to-remove-windows-10-8-and-install-windows-7/

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Can you buy a new / upgrade the internal laptop hard drive? If not, and you still want to proceed with reverting to windows 7, just throw the win7 disc in, set your bios (at boot time) to boot from CD, then format the internal hard drive and reinstall 7.  Prior to formatting, move your files (docs, photos, etc.) to a flash drive.

If your laptop doesn't have a dvd drive, the process can all be done from a large flash drive as well, or there's always cheap external dvd drives, etc.

Edited by WoIverine
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Winupdate disabler will disable updates for you and you can re-enable later when you have more space. http://www.site2unblock.com/win-updates-disabler/

Another option to look at is Wise Disk Cleaner to see if you're harboring a bunch of large files that are useless. https://www.wisecleaner.com/wise-disk-cleaner.html

You can also disable Hibernate if you don't use it because the hibersys file is several gigs large in size. Instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/920730/how-to-disable-and-re-enable-hibernation-on-a-computer-that-is-running

You can reduce your pagefile if you have 8 gigs or more of Ram. It basically stores files from RAM temporarily if your RAM gets too full. It's generally fairly rare to have issues by reducing the pagefile size and could be worth a go.

You can delete System Restore, it's not a great idea but providing you have another backup externally then you can disable it and save 3% or so of your drive space.

If you have a Windows.old file on your C drive, follow instructions to delete that as it can be a huge file. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-delete-the-windows-old-folder-from-windows-10/

An external hard drive or USB drive is essential for storing photo's..etc if you don't have enough space on your main drive and it's recommended to backup that stuff up anyway.

You can use Free partition manager to see if you have any partitions that you would like to resize or combine to your existing main partition. This will allow the C drive partition more space. https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

If you're feeling extreme and have some knowledge of Windows components, you can buy a program called NTlite and use the feature that lets you delete windows components entirely (recommended for experts) but I'm sure you probably don't want to go that extreme with it. 

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@Keel M., it’s not hard to disable automatic updates for Windows 10, however you shouldn’t have to, and there are also ever more important security updates as hackers look for exploits in the system. 

Furthermore, if you purchased the laptop a few months ago, and the native OS has filled the HDD, I’d be complaining and looking for a refund/upgrade. 

What brand and model is it?

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20 hours ago, Timonthy said:

@Keel M., it’s not hard to disable automatic updates for Windows 10, however you shouldn’t have to, and there are also ever more important security updates as hackers look for exploits in the system. 

Furthermore, if you purchased the laptop a few months ago, and the native OS has filled the HDD, I’d be complaining and looking for a refund/upgrade. 

What brand and model is it?

It's HP. I knew from comments on Amazon that this would be the case, but I didn't realize that the very first update I wouldn't be able to do it. I thought I'd have a little wiggle room.

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3 hours ago, Keel M. said:

It's HP. I knew from comments on Amazon that this would be the case, but I didn't realize that the very first update I wouldn't be able to do it. I thought I'd have a little wiggle room.

I’m guessing it had a 32GB HDD?

Apparently you should be able to update using an external HDD, USB flash drive or SD card.

You can get 64GB USB flash drives for under $40AUD now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's what has been going on.

1. I contacted HP about the fact that Windows 10 leaves little room for anything. Their response? We designed it to be something you use just to surf the internet and watch videos. I'm not asking for it to do much more than that, but I would like to be able to use Office on it and one or two other programs. Hell I can't even use a different browser and Microsoft Edge is as ****ty as all of Microsoft's other browsers. Nor is there room for a virus protection program.

2. I tried the Winupdate Disabler that @NightScreams mentioned isn't working for me. NFC why.

3. I went ahead and tried the steps in my original link to change the BIOS in order to put Windows 7 and can't get the BIOS to change the boot order.

So I'm stuck with something I hate because I cannot afford to buy yet another new laptop.

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33 minutes ago, Keel M. said:

Here's what has been going on.

1. I contacted HP about the fact that Windows 10 leaves little room for anything. Their response? We designed it to be something you use just to surf the internet and watch videos. I'm not asking for it to do much more than that, but I would like to be able to use Office on it and one or two other programs. Hell I can't even use a different browser and Microsoft Edge is as ****ty as all of Microsoft's other browsers. Nor is there room for a virus protection program.

2. I tried the Winupdate Disabler that @NightScreams mentioned isn't working for me. NFC why.

3. I went ahead and tried the steps in my original link to change the BIOS in order to put Windows 7 and can't get the BIOS to change the boot order.

So I'm stuck with something I hate because I cannot afford to buy yet another new laptop.

Don't despair yet.

There are some pretty PC-savvy people on UM, and there's no issue that isn't solvable :)

Let's start with a better understanding of what we're working with. Do you have a link to the model you bought on Amazon?

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1 hour ago, Keel M. said:

Basically, what you bought was a keyboard with a screen. Your only viable option is to add external memory, what ever OS you run it with.

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8 hours ago, Hammerclaw said:

Basically, what you bought was a keyboard with a screen. Your only viable option is to add external memory, what ever OS you run it with.

It's actually a cloud-based device. The HP Stream wasn't meant for people who need plenty of physical storage. It's Microsoft's response to the Chromebooks. It's designed to boot fast (hence the SSD) and browse the web. Every other tasks was intended to be done ''online''.

Edited by Clockwork_Spirit
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23 minutes ago, Clockwork_Spirit said:

It's actually a cloud-based device. The HP Stream wasn't meant for people who need plenty of physical storage. It's Microsoft's response to the Chromebooks. It's designed to boot fast (hence the SSD) and browse the web. Every other tasks was intended to be done ''online''.

That's why you'll need external memory if you want plenty of storage. Same thing happened to me, a few years ago when I bought an Acer netbook. I finally sold it and rented a really good HP laptop and wound up owning it. They even repaired it and replaced the power supply while on rental, free of additional charge and gave me a loner to use while it was in the shop.

Edited by Hammerclaw
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Yeah, these devices are almost deceptive when they are described as laptops in my opinion.

They have more in common with smart phones, tablets etc. than a traditional PC, though the lines are pretty blurred these days.

The eMMC isn't actually an SSD. You'll find a bit more info here:

eMMC vs. SSD: Not All Solid-State Storage is Equal

It's effectively an SD card chip attached to a motherboard.

I'd agree with the others on external storage, and maybe we can help decide on what you need to keep on your device if you're not sure.

Maybe post some screenshots, lists of anything you have installed, etc. Be sure to obscure any personal info if you do :)

Edited by LV-426
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There are also wireless external storage solutions so you won't be tethered to an external device. A shopping guide for wireless drives here: https://www.computershopper.com/feature/2017-guide-the-best-wireless-hard-drives-tested

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12 hours ago, LV-426 said:

The eMMC isn't actually an SSD. You'll find a bit more info here:

eMMC vs. SSD: Not All Solid-State Storage is Equal

It's effectively an SD card chip attached to a motherboard.

I tried the Chromebook's version of this device. Exact same hardware. It's a very fast device for the intended purpose. Boots in less than 10 seconds. The problem is that Microsoft shipped the Hp Stream with a full-blown Windows install, which pretty much defeats the purpose.

Edited by Clockwork_Spirit
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All Windows 10 haters should try Classic Shell. It mimics Windows 7, but with the added bonus of extra customizing options.
(Obviously, you will need a fully functioning and updated Windows 10 system before installing it)

Info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Shell

Official website:  http://www.classicshell.net/

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A more on-topic thought:

Did your laptop originally have Windows 10, or was it upgraded to be sold? I'm thinking... Is there a Windows.old folder you can delete to free up some space?

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I have a 64 GB SD card that I bought to supplement the original hard drive space. I think what I will have to remove iTunes. That's the only thing I can think is useless to me right now as I'm at work and my laptop is home. All I want on it is MS Office, GIMP, a different browser (not liking Microsoft Edge) and some sort of virus protection.

@acute the computer came with Windows 10 so there's no Windows.old folder to get rid of, sadly. I'm okay with the workings of Windows 10, I just thought Windows 7 might take up less space on the hard drive.

I bought this PC for it's physical size and that it didn't have a touch screen. Every time I looked at Best Buy the only small ones were touch screen and I don't want that.

Edited by Keel M.
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They should have disabled updates for the device in factory or use Windows 7 at first place or something. It's bad that end user has to 'fight' through all this mess on the market.

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On 2/12/2018 at 3:42 PM, travelnjones said:

Why not Windows NT or Amigas OS 4.1 ?   

Ever since Win10 came out I switched permanently over to Linux OS. 

That being said some Linux OS need a bit of tinkering to run smoothly and isn't necessarily as user friendly as Windows. Also fun fact for those who don't know and are considering the switch over to Linux: it's free. So that's really cool. 

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I think I would run into this same problem switching to Linux @internetperson. I just can't get the BIOS to look anywhere but the native harddrive for an operating system to then install Windows 7 or even Linux.

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Honestly I wouldn't recommend you switching to Linux because you gotta be a bit of a nerd at times to get it to work. It's just nice from my perspective. Honestly I could live with windows being a giant p.o.s. it's the microsoft "****'em" attitude that I can't stand. 

Do you have the win 7 install cd? It's a pain in the butt for sure because sometimes you have to hit the spacebar, sometimes esc key and the timing varies from pc to pc. So it can take a few tries. My old pc was a real pain with this. Ironically it just died a few days ago. Literally the hard drive started to fry, I could smell it burning.

It does annoy me they build pcs this way. I've been working with pcs for a long time so I know my way around them but for the average consumer it can be hard to determine what you need. 

EDIT: Oh and it's because I deal with crap like this alllll the time that I'm considering switching to an old flip phone. My smart phone is just another pc that messes up all the time and needs fixing.

Edited by internetperson
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