You are not alone. Back a few months ago (and possibly still) there were numerous reports on the Windows 7 forums and many did not find answers. If this is a self or local build check out the capacitors on the motherboard for leaks or bulging. My self build rebooted on it's own from the day I built it last July. Thinking it might be the beta version of Win 7 I awaited the final which I installed but found no difference. My computer would reboot without warning from 4 times daily or go up to 3 days before a reboot. You quickly learn the art of constantly saving work then :) After chasing all over the net I decided to buy a new motherboard as I felt sure it was my Gigabyte motherboard at fault. Sure enough, I have replaced it with a Biostar board and my problems vanished instantly. My problem now is deciding if I should use the RMA ticket I have received from Gigabyte. Most companies have returns depots in Canada, Gigabyte does not so I would have to ship from Ontario to California. That cost plus the possibility of brokerage fees for the replacement board are causing me headaches, I do like the Gigabyte board better than the Biostar. From my reading I feel Gigabyte has a rather poor track record on dealings with any RMA materials.

If you are adept enough to install a dual boot setup with Linux, you certainly know how to remove trial and ad offerings that most new PCs ship with. No 'deptitude required. The Linux MINT installer told me it detected a Windows 7 installation and asked one question - whether to preserve the other OS or kill it - and created the dual boot installation for me when I said "preserve it". If I had not resized the slider, Win7 would have had half the disk, and Mint the other half. In my previous Linux experiences, most of the distributions assassinated the existing OS without asking permission. This refinement makes Mint a good distribution for anyone who wants to keep an existing Windows setup because they have some Windows-only software. Yes, removing the bundled "crapware" is easy. But, how would you remove the LENOVO ad that LENOVO inserted into the middle of the installation procedure? Without borking the install? It was a pointy-clicky minimal intervention required kind of installation, which is not true of all Linux distros. Mint is worth posting about in areas where novices hang out . Yes, I can get Libre Office, the GIMP, and all the rest for Windows by downloading and installing them ... the point is that I didn't have to. They "came with" the OS, as usual. Unless I need to do something most users don't, such as video editing, I had not only a working OS, but a system that could do real work with no further effort. Getting more software for Linux is usually just opening the software installer and clicking "Install" in what you want. I'm not sure what you've accomplished is an improvement and not just a change. Read the threads here about browser hijacking and viruses and malware and bad links and google for zero day exploits in Windows and IE. It's definitely an improvement, and perhaps knowing there is a easy to install Linux version out there may help someone get into a safer computing environment. Or update the OS on an old machine to get a couple more years out of it? Or get the whole office on a single OS without spending oodles of money? ========== NOTE: I'm a long-time Linux fan. The last Windows OS I installed as the primary OS on a personal machine was Windows 95, although various jobs have had Windows on the office computers. I have Windows only because some software I have to run can't work under WINE.

More memory is good but at some point there is a diminishing return on the investment and that point is a function of what you are doing with your computer. Things like first person shooter games, video editing, photo editing (of very large files) all benefit from lots of memory. Writing an email to Aunt Betty doesn't require very much memory at all because the computer can process information far faster than you can type. Same thing for the Internet, your computer can render pages faster than your connection can supply the information. So if you have a slow internet connection, you're not likely to experience much, if any improvement. With that said, 4 gigs is probably a pretty good number. If you really want a WOW factor, get a solid state drive and use that for your O/S and critical applications. To try and answer some of your questions: - Windows doesn't care about the physical drive or any logical partitions. It does make good sense to install Windows 7 on the newer, faster drive. You'll get the best performance that way. When it comes time to get rid of XP, everything will be on one drive and that, if nothing else, should help you keep things mentally organized. - My understanding is that you have two physical drives, one with a functioning version of XP and the other blank. If that is not correct, say so NOW. - When you go to install Windows 7, it will recognize that there is another operating system (Windows XP) already installed. Windows 7 won't do anything to XP other than to set up the dual boot. Essentially it's computer language that says, "XP is there, Windows 7 is here, which one do you want to use?" - Logical partitions to a drive a largely a function of personal preference. Understand that it is more difficult (but not impossible) to non-destructively repartition a drive after you put data on it. If you, for example, have a partition for music, another for videos, and a third for pictures and find down the road that you have a lot more videos than music, it becomes more difficult to rearrange things. My suggestion is a single, large partition and use folders to organize your data.

Hi, As several other members within this thread have pointed out, unfortunately, the HP ScanJet 4400c (as can be seen here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Hardware&p=HP%20Scanjet%204400c%20Flatbed%20Scanner&v=HP&uid=C9870A&l=en-US&pf=0amp;pi=0amp;s=HP%20ScanJet%204400C%20&os=64-bit) is not compatible with Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit as we can see from the Windows 7 Compatibility Center here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx Regarding the mention of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC (available here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx), Windows XP Mode works in two ways -- both as a virtual operating system and as a way to open programs within Windows 7. In some cases, you can install hardware devices and use the drivers designed for Windows XP within Windows 7 via Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC. This will not work in every scenario with hardware compatibility concerns however it will work in some. The Windows XP driver available for the HP ScanJet 4400c scanner is available from HP here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/ProductList.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15179&prodSeriesId=28441&taskId=135 As a last resource, the following thread from the Microsoft TechNet Forums may prove to be helpful for those still looking for a resolution with this particular scanner as the original poster did seem to find a workable solution. The thread can be found here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/7c9a18a0-78a2-4fc8-a616-e9d60eff8886 Jessica Windows Outreach Team -- IT Pro