Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Advice Windows 7

Need some advice on the merits of Windows 7. Does it work with current AC? Do all computers in office have to run windows 7 to communicate with each other well? Is it worth upgrading b/c I need another laptop and most all new models have 7 loaded? I know vista tanked, but is 7 worth it?

Another ?- What is the best type of digital camera to use to add pt. face pictures to little pt. demographics window? What is the smallest megapixil and easiest way to input picture into chart? If it's not easy, it isn't worth the time to do it.

Nathan, I have Windows 7 serving a small office of XP machines. It works fine. The Scansnap software did not work, but right clicking and going to properties allows you to set applications to open in emulated XP SP3 mode, that fixed it. I like the layout of 7 a little better than XP and Vista, you should be fine.

Here is some input from the rest of the board.
http://www.amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php/topics/16796/Re_Windows_7_Is_anyone_using_i#Post16686

Nathan, We use a Microsoft Webcam (Lifecam) to snap photos for AC. We mounted it to the computer screen at our checkout desk (Just used the included clip, but turned it backwards). Cost: $30. The photos are more than sufficient for the database, and the camera never gets "misplaced". We do end up cropping the picture to make it fit AC's square format, but it takes about 15 seconds, and I think you have to do that with any camera. Steve

I should add to my last post that ScanSnap has since released their software update for Windows 7, though it ran fine in emulation.

thanx
NB

Amazing Charts works fine with Windows 7. The only issue is the User Account Controls which was present in Vista as well. You can have different operating systems and it will not affect amazing charts at all. Windows 7 is ok, anything is better then Vista.

Hi Morgan:
Would you explain with a little more detail how are you getting the pics to the demo.
Do you take the pic and save it to an specific folder. Open the picture and resize it (what's the best size?) and then browse it to the demo section?
Thanks

We have been running on Win 7 for almost 4 months (pre-release) and we have mix of win 7, and XP machines all connected to a win 2008 server

We use a webcam as above at the front desk and I use my i-phone in the room. We are too lazy to resize it. The error in format makes everyone look skinny, we love it!

Hmmm, can't say I share those thoughts. That bandwagon was full so I never got on it. Instead, I took a course and got certified in Windows Vista. Honestly, it is not much different than Windows 7 for running programs and compatibility. Sure it has some sparkly new stuff and the UI was changed some, and the User Access Control toned down (mistake), but overall they built on what they had underneath.

Win 7 is indeed a nice upgrade to Vista.

It is faster (more by feel than by numbers apparently with most of the reviews) and that was a big complaint with Vista.

Most people did not want Vista because it was both a memory hog and slower than XP. While Win 7 has similar memory requirements to Vista, memory has become dirt cheap.

Yes, Vista added more security, but the end user could care less, they wanted speed and consistency.

Win 7 comes with more drivers and and easier to install. (Of course, based on Vista, they have had 3 years to get more drivers in place.) It also has XP emulation for those programs that would not run on the new platform.

They listened and corrected the issues most people had with Vista. They beta tested a lot longer on Win 7 and tweaked it along the way. It is much more polished and I don't mean visually.

On the eye candy side, it is a bit more friendly, but there were always tweaks you could make to have the OS do that. Microsoft incorporated more of them.

One thing to keep in mind is that "XP Mode" (a VirtualPC with Windows XP) is only available on the Business and Ultimate versions of the operating system. I agree with your points Wendell.

Here's our procedure for inserting patient pictures using the webcam and an open source (aka free) program, paint.net:
a. In Microsoft LifeCam, frame face, ask them to look at camera and smile.
b. Click the camera icon button.
c. At the bottom of LifeCam, click the Edit icon next to their picture.
d. When picture opens in Paint.net, click “Tool” / “Rectangle Select”. Select a square picture.
e. Select “Image” / “Crop to Selection”. Close and save.
f. In Amazing Charts, open the patient’s chart, select “Demographics” tab, select “Add Pic”.
g. Navigate to “CheckOut\Documents\LifeCam Files”, and select their picture. Click OK