Microsoft to discontinue support for Windows 7

Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 January 14, 2020. A few years ago, I went through this same thing with XP and moved to Windows 7 and I still resent it.

I'm interested in opinions as to whether Win 8 or 10 is the better option, especially for playing TS2. I just got my new game all set up and have been playing and don't want to have to start over again if one of those systems is going to give me particular problems with it. I'm sure they'll end support for Win 8 in a few years, so I'm inclined to just bite the bullet and move to 10. I do plan to search for how people have managed to get TS2 on the newer operating systems, but I think the people here are the most knowledgeable I've found about this stuff and want to know what you think or about problems you've had.

My experience: Coincidentally right after I received an email notice that Microsoft was discontinuing Win7 support in Jan, I started having major problems with my Sims 2 game. I had just allowed an update and *poof* my cds stopped working. I uninstalled the games one at a time (I have all EP and SP) and none would reinstall. In fact, I could no longer install anything on my machine any longer. After trying for a couple of days I ended up taking my computer to the pros to see if they could work their magic. They were able to get my computer to install downloads again but not my CDs without doing the copy files/install. I asked the team about upgrading to Win10 and whether my games would work. Basically no, not without a graphics issues. I ended up searching for and installing the free version of Sims Ultimate Collection so I could continue my fave pastime. My custom content works without issues but there are some glitches that I continue to have to manually change anytime I start the game, like resetting the clock to 12hr. Some settings don't save permanently. Also there's shadows that appear constantly and occasionally the game drags. It's been a couple of months and I'm still figuring out how to work around the little annoyances in gameplay. The very reason I avoided upgrading all this time.

Well, back about 2 and a half years ago, I bought refurbished machines for the wife and I that came with Win 10 on them...Over all, I like 10, I never messed with 8, but heard it was better than anything after XP and was kind of XP'ish...Probably the most annoying things with 10 is, you have to set a password to get to the desktop. You need to register a phone number with it so that if you forget your password it can call you and give you a code you can enter to reset the password. Really great security feature! *eye roll* The other is, something in 10 causes games to tab you out occasionally or like if I am here typing in the browser, sometimes the browser is switched from being the active component and I start getting all kinds of dings cause I am typing away and I look back at the screen and no program is the active program...both seem to happen a couple of times a day...but then we use our computers all day everyday...

Thank you for your replies.

From this thread it sounds like I may not be able to run TS2 on Win10 because my graphics card is a GTX? This doesn't sound like a UC vs. disks problem.

I've spent so much time creating this particular hood and it's beautiful and I love it. I'm actually considering taking this computer offline and using Randy's laptop for internet access even though it's a lot slower and more frustrating.

Hrmm...that seems a bit weird...Which gtx do you have? I'll try and do some searches for you.

Thanks, Tim. I try to do a little each day, but it's overwhelming at times. I have all the disks and patches, but it seems most people using Windows 10 have had to go to UC, or maybe they just chose to. I could do that if necessary.

My graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti. It doesn't support Sims 2, but as long as I don't let the drivers update, it works perfectly. There were several other things along the way to getting everything set up with Win 7 and the game, and I spent a lot of time Googling and trying things out. I also once spent a lot of time trying to fix a problem that was not the fault of any program, just my failure to install a file necessary to the mod I was trying to get to work. I'm just not sure I have all that Googling and trial and error in me right now.

I don't play in windowed mode, but even with Win 7 I still sometimes get kicked out to the desktop. I'm assuming something started up in the background that caused it to happen. All I have to do is click on the active game icon and it goes right back into the game.

Well Cathy just got home from the hospital a little bit ago...Been there since late last Thursday. I had done some searching in general and a lot of things I had read on the gtx series is it's support or lack there of for directx 9 which the game requires. But I'll try and get deeper into it tomorrow! Thanks for the card info!

I got an e-mail about that. I'm not upgrading. I specifically bought my computer with Windows 7 just as 8 was coming out because of TS2. I love how all of their suggestions about what to do are to buy a new computer with Windows 10.

I may find that it's too much of an annoyance, but I'm still leaning towards going offline on this computer (that will make two desktops that are offline!) and using Randy's laptop for internet. I'd be able to download CC onto a flash drive and move it over to the desktop. Nothing I've read so far makes me feel like upgrading to either system is going to be anything less than a nightmare of troubleshooting.

Tim, this was a shorter stay at the hospital for Cathy. That's a nice change for you two. I hope she's doing well at home.

She's been having some issues...saying she is feeling like she was before she went last week...so we shall see. I haven't really found anything that leads me to any kind of clue of what to do. Other than getting it and trying and that just doesn't sound like a good idea in general. Doing the offline thing sounds like a good idea though. Kind of annoying, but...

I have been thinking about trying Linux for Sims 2, but you are best off running an AMD Radeon graphics card. Will have a go soon, as I am a bit busy at the moment.

Great to 'see' you Russ! Thinking about you guys in Oz with the fires and the heat wave. How're you doing?

I think I will do the same - go offline but my laptop is an 8 and I started using it awhile ago I can only run the program offline anyway. I have the discs not the UC works for me