HP DC 7800 CMT Project Part 2

To follow up with my previous post about my HP DC 7800, I have decided to create a second 500 GB partition dedicated to what is arguably one of my favourite operating systems of all time and definitely my favourite Windows Operating System, Windows 7. When this operating system launched in 2009, I had the same awe and anticipation that I had on the release of Windows Vista. Windows 7 had so many improvements over Vista with newly added features, it felt more refined, and it was ultimately more accepted than Vista. Though I feel that Vista was poorly received and most of the complaints surrounding it were a result of people who didn't necessarily meet the recommended hardware specifications with their Windows XP era computers (Vista and 7 were far more resource intense), I have to say that Windows 7 was a really good operating system and it is a pleasure to be able to use both systems back to back today. Windows 7 changed from a jet black semi-translucent taskbar into a fully translucent design, along with this key change, maximized windows no longer changed to a jet black theme and instead retained their aero-glass appearance, which was a very welcome change that really made a key difference in the general aesthetic of this operating system. All of my favourite features such as 3D flip, sticky notes, and desktop gadgets were still present and even further refined. In addition to this, Windows 7 (like Vista), shipped with some of my favourite stock games, such as an ad-free (looking at you, Windows 10, with your ad-filled games that ship by default), such as Purble Place, Solitaire, Mahjong Titans, 3D Chess, Solitaire, and Minesweeper, among others (although, it's missing the famous Vista Inkball and 2000/XP Pinball, which I would have loved to see redone for this operating system, but that's another reason why I still have 2000, XP, and Vista ready to boot). These games and operating systems bring back a lot of nostalgia from childhood summer vacations.

Although I really enjoy the feel and aesthetic of Windows 7, I have to say that the feel and aesthetic of Vista, although it may seem similar on the surface, is equally as satisfying, but in different ways. Additionally, I have chosen Windows 7 for this computer to learn and experiment with different system administration tasks, since a lot of businesses still rely on Windows 7 to this date, in spite of official support sadly ending back on January 14, 2020 (although, businesses can and do still pay for extended support). Understanding this operating system is critical to this field as it is one of the Windows releases that marks yet another widely adopted corporate use model. Furthermore, Windows 7, similar to Vista, has amazing backwards compatibility with most programs that date back to the 90s, which isn't something I can say as much for Windows 8.1 or 10.

I am really looking forward to using this machine and I am excited to have this chapter of computing history now ready to go at my desk. Currently, I have Mac OS Catalina (VM), Kali Linux, Ubuntu, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (VM), Windows 2000 Pro (VM), Windows ME (VM), Windows NT 4.0 (VM), Windows 98 (VM), and Windows 3.1 (VM) ready to go straight from the comfort of my desk. I may also run Windows 8 and/or 8.1 down the line, but these operating systems are less critical since most businesses made the jump from Windows 7 to 10 and Windows 8/8.1 shared a lot of components from Windows 7 and 10, so knowing how to administer and troubleshoot those two operating systems will make it easy to administer and troubleshoot 8/8.1. I also plan to run a wide selection of Linux distributions on my secondary Windows 10 partition in the future and in doing so, I hope to come across a distribution that I would like to dual boot on a potential upcoming laptop that I'm currently looking at (I'm still looking at different options and plan to buy one when I get my next IT position).

This HP will still be used as a remote access "server" (I put that in quotations, since this computer can only serve on my LAN at the moment) with Windows 10, however, I feel that I will get far more use out of it under Windows 7. Also, I can't stress this enough, but when running an unsupported Windows (or any other) operating system, I always keep it offline and I very strongly urge others to do the same. I always use a current Windows 10 with the latest Malwarebytes signatures as well as Windows Defender to double-scan every single document or program that I transfer to that PC via USB. This greatly reduces the potential risk for an attack or security exploit on both my system and potentially on my network. I do not daily any of the machines that I have restored with these operating systems.