Windows 7 or Windows XP

[KingAsix]

So my laptop has been pretty slow as of late and I'm getting a little tired of it. I think going back to a previous operating system might help (I'm on Windows 8). I don't really care for 8 so I was thinking about going to 7 or maybe even XP. Would doing this speed up my lappy a little. Here's a quick rundown on some of my specs.

processor - Intel i7 (1.66Ghz, 2 cores...maybe 4)
ram - 4 GB
GPU - Nvidia GeForece 310M

 

[Katsumi San]

Defraggler and CCleaner. If that doesn't help... Just wait until more technical person is come by.

 

[Foxi4]

Windows 7. There's no reason to go back to Windows XP at this point unless you have a really archaic machine.

 

[KingAsix]

That's the programs I was looking for (at least the 2nd one...never heard of the 1st one) and if I go back does it help, performance wise, if im on 32 or 64 bit

 

[Foxi4]

That's the programs I was looking for (at least the 2nd one...never heard of the 1st one) and if I go back does it help, performance wise, if im on 32 or 64 bit

If you have 4GB or more RAM, 64bit is recommended. Some programs already have dedicated 64bit versions and those which don't suffer only negligable performance drops with this much memory.

 

[DinohScene]

I'd say Win 7.
Get a 32bit OS and patch the PAE so it gets full advantage of the 4GB.
Unless you plan on upgrade your RAM, then deffo get 64 bits ;]

 

[KingAsix]

I'd say Win 7.
Get a 32bit OS and patch the PAE so it gets full advantage of the 4GB.
Unless you plan on upgrade your RAM, then deffo get 64 bits ;]

What's the PAE?

 

[DinohScene]

Physical Adress Extention.

32 bits OSses can see up to 4GB of RAM.
Unpatched, it sees 3.50~ ish GB of RAM.
Patched, it takes the full 4GB ;]

I also did it with me own lappie and it works like a charm.

 

[Carnivean]

You're frankly not going to be able to squeeze much performance out of such a poor spec regardless of OS. As it's a laptop you might not even be able to get drivers for XP, you'd probably be best served with a fresh install of Windows 8 which doesn't include any of the crap that was probably bundled with it when you got it.

 

[KingAsix]

I plan to update my RAM whenever I have money to do so (buying new apartment and doing so jobless has is eating up every last cent I have), so it would probably be more beneficial to get 32bit and do the PAE thing.

 

[Arras]

Honestly there's not much of a reason to install 7 over 8 unless you REALLY don't like it. There's also no real reason to go with 32 bits over 64 if you have 4GB RAM. Windows 8 should be just as fast, if not faster, than 7, and installing XP is definitely not recommended unless your PC is like 10 years old.

 

[Rydian]

http://gbatemp.net/threads/general-windows-maintenance-guide.272667/
Better than wiping and reinstalling your OS in most cases.

 

[Aeter]

And for defragmentation I'd recommend MyDefrag as it is much more thorough than Defraggler and it has specific settings for all kinds of drives (data drive, system drive, flash drive). It also has daily, weekly and monthly settings of which the monthly one is the most thorough setting which will literally defragment everything, the result might amaze you.

 

[CrimzonEyed]

http://joshcellsoftwares.com/products/advancedtokensmanager/

A way to keep your paid activation key trough a re-install.

 

[YayMii]

Honestly there's not much of a reason to install 7 over 8 unless you REALLY don't like it. There's also no real reason to go with 32 bits over 64 if you have 4GB RAM. Windows 8 should be just as fast, if not faster, than 7, and installing XP is definitely not recommended unless your PC is like 10 years old.

Actually, Windows 8 runs just as well as XP, if not faster, on old PCs. I've installed it on various different setups and only noticed improvements (eg my mom's Vista laptop, which ran a fresh install of 8 more smoothly than a fresh install of 7).