Questions about Windows 7 (32-bit)

I am just tired and exhausted of trying to find XP drivers for my laptop and I think I will probably go with Windows 7 in a day or so. I know there will be a learning curve since I have been using only XP (32-bit) for the last so many years.

I have a few questions and will appreciate if I can please get help:

1. Does Windows 7 automatically detect all the drivers. Will it? Or do I need to spend a few months trying to find Windows 7 drivers for my laptop (For Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E which has only 2 GB RAM)
2. Is Windows 7 (32-bit) faster than XP (32-bit). Maybe the answer will be subjective but would like to request views
3. I have been using Sygate as my firewall for years and simply love it. I am very familiar with it's interface and details. I think Sygate is no longer available but does anyone know if it will work under Windows 7 (32-bit). For the worst case scenario, I have shortlisted a freeware firewall called COMODO
4. I have a few utilities that I probably cannot do without. Amongst these is KeyText 2000 (v2.16). Has anyone used it and will it work under Win 7. Maybe later (not now) I might purchase their latest version. I am actually trying to explore and learn a freeware called AutoHotKey

Thanks

 

Have a look at my guide. Although it's for 64-bit, most of the Sony utilities are the same for 32-bit, and you can find the driver sources for your hardware.
You don't need any firewall with Windows 7, since the built in one is good enough.
If the program you mentioned worked with Vista, it should work with Win 7.
I don't know why you didn't use Vista with your FZ.

 

KUDOS and hats off to you. Brilliant!!!!

I have a few questions and answers and hope you'll kindly reply. I am not so IT literate so please bear with me ( i have learned whatever I know from the forums):

Your guide mentions "change the UAC setting to never notify". What is UAC has from where will I be able to change that once I install Windows 7.

Also, I am a little concerned since the guide is for FZ-190 whereas my model is FZ140E. I think mine does not have many of the things which FZ-190 has. So the drivers is a concern

I'll download all the drivers just in case and will be grateful if you can reply.

BTW, I did not use Vista since I did not like it back then (when I bought my laptop about 3 years back), Besides it was a new product while XP was very stable at that time.

Regarding the firewall: I don't trust Microsoft's firewall though I know that many people share your sentiments. For one, I doubt if it allows a user to selectively define certain files/applications from accessing the internet (especially if they are MS products). Pls don't say that why am i using MS then If I had the skills and the time, I would move to Linux but I think (not sure) that it does not offer the same interface as windows.

 

You don't need to change the UAC (User Account Control). Don't download the 64-bit drivers in my guide. You need 32-bit drivers if you are going to install 32-bit Win 7.
You say that you aren't IT literate, but you don't trust Windows firewall. You can add select apps in this firewall too.
From the support here http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFZ140E&SelectOS=28 you have Intel graphics. The rest of the hardware is the same as FZ-190E.

 

Thank you for the reply and for the the term UAC. It or computer literacy is probably relative but in all honesty and looking at the knowledge of people on various forums and comparing them with my naive posts you'll understand (and probably agree) about my own comments regarding my literacy BTW, the firewall thing is what i have gathered after reading some posts/articles (courtesy google).

Also I went to the site and looked under both operating system options that are displayed but could not find the Intel graphics.

Thank you so much Rajesh. May i bother you again (either in this thread or via PM) if i get stuck?

 

trust their firewall. it works exactly how a firewall should and can. all the others try to sell you additional features that have mostly no real use, and are just marketing. trust microsoft because they life from having a good firewall, and not from having one sounding good to sell.

 

but i read somewhere that MS firewall it does not allow blocking of individual software from sending information to the internet (including microsoft own products) and the addon for that (developed by another company) costs extra.

I nevertheless appreciate your feedback and will keep it in consideration.

 

morland,

I'm afraid that's simply misinformed FUD you've been reading. While the original Windows XP firewall would only block incoming connections, both Vista and 7 block incoming and outgoing connections. I'd be surprised if this hasn't been backported to XP by now.

It's very easy to block the outgoing or incoming connection for individual programs. http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/40014.aspx You can also adjust the firewall state by the type of network to which you are connected. You can have stricter rules for public networks and looser rules for your private home and work networks. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/542-windows-firewall-add-remove-exception.html You have access to port level control in the Windows Firewall now. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Open-a-port-in-Windows-Firewall

If you don't like the Microsoft interface, you can always try Windows 7 Firewall Control. It is not a firewall in and of itself, but rather provides an alternate interface for the Windows Firewall and adds a few features like popup Notifications similar to ZoneAlarm.

--L.

 

1. Yes it will, for most common drivers, but for optimal perfomance, it's best to install the drivers from their individual manufacturers.

2. Yes.

3. The default firewall is more than enough, then again, IMO firewalls are rather useless anyways, almost all smart hackers won't use their application to send back the data anymore because they know that everyone have firewall nowadays, they will just hi-jack your IE/MSN to do the job.

 

Intel X3100 32-bit Windows 7 driver is available here http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18223&ProdId=2800&lang=eng

morland, you can any question about the drivers in my clean install thread.

 

there is NO way to block a software from not talking to the web with the help of a firewall. a software can just use a guaranteed-to-work software to talk outside. it can launch a hidden iexplore.exe with some url like http://fakedomain.com/user=morland&creditcardnumber=0123456789

to send it's data out. because of this, there is no "outbound firewall" in the whole world that works. every firewall that claims otherwise tries to sell you lies. and yes i've seen spyware using the trick of above to grab data. i can actually name one which you can download trough a torrent. but as it's annoying to get rid of, i don't suggest it

the important thing is, microsoft implements the stuff that is tested to make sense. not just to sound cool. it's important for them to secure their os, but not create false security out of nothing. this is not the case for anyone who makes money from selling antivirus. all of them sell more if they just create random paniks that make no sense, and have solutions for problems that a) don't exist or b) can't be fixed (like this outbound communication issue).

so forget what you heard, just use windows in it's default setup + MSE at the default setup, and you're fine.