WIN 7 Starter - Suggestions/Comments/Ideas?

[ejweb]

I've purchased a netbook a while back and at first I regretted it. Couldn't change my desktop without a online hack program, can't "extend" my old monitor as this feature is disabled in starter and IIS feature isn't available. To use my netbook as a local "web server" I had to install a HTTP web service which worked well enough to get it working. Took about half a day though. I tried installing the PHP for Win 7 but after several hours of researching and trying different configurations; finally gave up on that part.
If anyone has experience with WIN 7 Starter with options that have been disabled that you've found work-arounds or secrets, please share . The nice thing I've noticed about Win7 starter is its startup/shutdown time...

[Smith6612]

Well, Windows 7 Starter is exactly that; a gutted down (limited) version of Windows 7 that is meant to operate on lower power machines such as Netbooks, or for those who won't use features found in Home Premium. My take on any Starter version of Windows, being a heavy computer user is that it is way too restrictive. It's fine for everyday tasks, but anything involving Aero/Wallpaper/Dual Monitors/3D, it's not good. I personally like the looks of Aero, and changing Wallpapers should be a given regardless of the OS. Dual Monitors and 3D, not everyone uses but 3D is starting to increase now that WebGL is on it's rise.

[conzone]

Suggestions:

Install some thing else.......free like Mint Linux
Sell it
Buy something else
Windows Anytime Upgrade icon......$$$$$$

oh and if you did not know starter is limited to 2GB memory and also 32 bit version

[cheezo]

it needs hardware upgrade such as ram. i once tried windows 7 and my computer almost crash because i only have 1gb of RAM, when starting to use photoshop, it was very slow.

[MaestroFX1]

@ejweb

I've purchased a netbook a while back and at first I regretted it. Couldn't change my desktop without a online hack program, can't "extend" my old monitor as this feature is disabled in starter and IIS feature isn't available. To use my netbook as a local "web server" I had to install a HTTP web service which worked well enough to get it working. Took about half a day though. I tried installing the PHP for Win 7 but after several hours of researching and trying different configurations; finally gave up on that part.
If anyone has experience with WIN 7 Starter with options that have been disabled that you've found work-arounds or secrets, please share . The nice thing I've noticed about Win7 starter is its startup/shutdown time...
---
Try WAMP(XAMPP) for apache-php-mysql localhost server.

[greeffq]

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my wife’s Aspire One netbook which had windows XP installed, and it works fine.

[Livewire]

My tablet pc came with win7 starter and a bunch of bloatware to get around the limitations; first thing I did was install the ram upgrade (2gb total), second was nuke and start over with win7 ult.

Kept the serial for starter though, in case I ever reset the thing back to stock. IMO I know ultimate doesn't always run the best on a tablet, but I like knowing it is the -exact- same OS the desktop runs, albeit on a lower power system, which means other than games, everything is in the -exact- same spot - any tweaks I do to my desktop I do the exact same way to the tablet, any apps I create in Visual Studio work perfectly on the other, etc etc etc.



My advice? Same as above - upgrade the ram if possible to whatever the maximum for the netbook is, and either install a higher quality version of windows 7 or ditch it for linux. Even as a windows junkie, I don't think I'm really desperate enough to use Starter for more than a day or two - it's just too restrictive and too much of a pain.

[apisds]

Win 7 Starter is by design a very limited version of Win7. Bypassing the limitations will just probably be a waste of time. Why not try Linux as others have pointed out?

[greeffq]

Try MeeGo...

[vv.bbcc19]

I've purchased a netbook a while back and at first I regretted it. Couldn't change my desktop without a online hack program, can't "extend" my old monitor as this feature is disabled in starter and IIS feature isn't available. To use my netbook as a local "web server" I had to install a HTTP web service which worked well enough to get it working. Took about half a day though. I tried installing the PHP for Win 7 but after several hours of researching and trying different configurations; finally gave up on that part.
If anyone has experience with WIN 7 Starter with options that have been disabled that you've found work-arounds or secrets, please share . The nice thing I've noticed about Win7 starter is its startup/shutdown time...

Starter is a super constrained version of Windows 7
You can just do the following
chat using skype etc
microsoft office like programs
small end EDA softwares
java /eclipse etc

But not for running server scripts.
This is my personal opinion though.