Hello, researching whether LW will operate on my laptop with Windows 7
 

HI everyone I am jl and have been using LW for a little under 1 year' I have changed computers since first using lw and researching whether I will be able to operate lw on my laptop since it has windows 7 on it. My old computer has xp and ran the program fairly well. I am sure that I will learn quite a bit from all of you.

hello jlnewman :) Probably best to install both LW & Java with each of their installers set to Run as Administrator. LW does run on Windows 7. ie: simply right-click their installers & choose to Run as Administrator.
Both Vista & Windows 7 can be problematic for LW if the above is not done.
I would recommend downloading the 'Offline' Java installer which is usually around 15 MB in size. Offline installer means all the components of the installer are incorporated inside the individual installer file, thus no 'waiting' for components to download as it is installing which can lead to corrupt installations.