Tom,

First, all things being equal, yes it would be better to have a 64-bit 
machine.  If you have older peripherals i.e. printer, scanner, you'll want 
to go to their website and make sure they have Win 7 drivers particularly 
for a 64-bit system.

Second, Windows LIve Mail or Thunderbird email clients work best in Win 7. 
There is a registry hack that you can do to make Windows Mail (Vista's 
answer to Outlook Express) work in Windows 7 which some people prefer over 
the Windows Live Mail.  From what I understand, the latter versions of Live 
Mail aren't quite as well behaved as the earlier versions were.

Other than that, the other thing you will get used to and probably 
eventually like is the search box in Win 7 when you hit the startbutton. 
You can type part of a program or document name and arrow down to see it in 
your results.  If you don't see it, you can continue to type in more letters 
without having to arrow back up to the search box.  And, of course, you can 
pin frequently used items to the startmenu if you'd like.
Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.

Steve
Lansing, MI
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tom behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2011 7:27 PM
Subject: Off Topic: Some Windows 7 questions


> Hi, folks.
>
> I realize that this post is somewhat off topic for this list, but there 
> are
> lots of well-informed people on here, and I'd rather get a few good
> recommendations than a bunch of fragmented ones such as what I might get 
> if
> I post this quiry to the JAWS list.
>
> Please send any replies to my personal e-mail address:
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> I am now being forced out of necessity to purchase a new home PC.  My
> seven-year-old trusty HP Windows XP machine has finally given up the 
> ghost.
>
> Obviously, with any PC purchased today, Windows 7 will be the main 
> operating
> system.
>
> Fortunately, my University has just purchased the newest versions of Jaws
> and Duxbury for me, so at least that end of things is covered.
>
> Here are my questions:
>
> 1.  Am I correct in assuming that I would be best off buying a 64-bit,
> rather than a 32-bit machine?
>
> 2.  What would be the most blind-friendly e-mail program for me to use?
> Right now, I have a g-mail account, and I'd like to run g-mail through
> another e-mail program like I have done previously with Outlook Express. 
> I
> suppose I could do my e-mail directly via the g-mail web site, but I have
> found the web site itself to be quite cumbersome.
>
> Fortunately, for me, the transition to Windows 7 will be able to be done 
> at
> my own pace, since I do have my University Windows XP laptop to fall back 
> on
> if needed.  In fact, I am writing this e-mail on that laptop right now.
>
> Any suggestions would be most appreciated, and thanks to all for 
> tolerating
> the slightly "off topic" nature of this post.
>
> Vy 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ