The CMD shell does everything in Win7 that I used it for in XP. I'll agree that the ribbon in Office 2010 is kind of annoying, however I find that Win 7 runs a lot better than XP did. Very much so when you've got lots of applications going at once (which you can do now that you aren't capped at 4 GB of ram!). If you have ever had to use Vista, you'll know how much of an improvement 7 is.

There are only two 32bit apps that won't run in 7 64bit for me (The Mercedes EPC, and the VW EPC (ETKA)). In that case I just fire up "Windows XP Mode", the free virtual machine you were talking about. Since I don't use those apps all the time it's hardly a bother.

What isn't running for you?

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.