Windows 7
 

Has anybody tried Microsoft's new OS yet?
I'm just curious if I will have trouble with my softwares (Photoshop, Premiere, etc) if I install it.
It's not official for public until January 7, but a search on Pirate Bay and Mininova, you can see it's availble.

Edit: Will if only work for 30 days...?

Chances are that if it's not even public yet, there WILL be problems. Pretty much every new iteration of an operating system has issues with programs at first.

Then again, Windows 7 doesn't seem like much of a rehash over Vista. If you use Vista, using W7 might not be all that different at this point. I'd just stick with what you've got for now, to be honest.

A while back I had set aside a Partition of my laptop's hard drive for testing out new Operating Systems, and most recently it was devoid of anything. I decided to try out Windows 7 and the installation was VERY painless. The version I got was the one you can get from Microsoft directly, abiet in torrent form, which comes with default product keys since this beta is for public evaluation.

As I type I'm trying it out now. Its nothing revolutionary but I can see the appeal. I can tell this thing would run better on 2GB of ram as opposed to the 1GB I have now, but its better then Vista by all accounts so far. I'm not sure if I'll be switching to Windows 7 whenever I get a new computer, but it isn't that bad. Windows XP is certainly good enough though.

Some of the GUI changes make sense in theory, but are a little hard to get used to, and other parts of it seem completely arbitrary.

The built-in games are animated and look as good as anything else in here. I'm gonna start installing a few applications soon and see how well they perform. Aside from a few hiccups in certain programs (Which were solved by an update and a reboot) nothing majorly wrong has occured yet.

Despite my comment above, I actually downloaded and installed W7 the other day when it was released. I have to say it's quite nice; but it's still fairly similar to Vista. Some main changes are the 'Superbar' [the new Taskbar], and the folder panel on the left of the Explorer windows. I like this new version, I find it's way easier to navigate.

There also seems to be a huge performance increase over previous OSs I've used. Maybe it's just me though, or maybe it's just because it's a fresh install.

In the way of apps, I haven't had any compatibility issues or anything so far.

Anyone know how Windows 7 compares to Server 2008 in performance?

Sorry, haven't used Server 2008 so I can't say.

Continued overview:

The layout of the Start Menu and Control Panel and so forth is a mixture I'd guess you say of Windows XP, Vista and Mac OSX. The options are fairly in-depth and while I couldn't properly switch to a second monitor (My LCD TV via S-Video) with the built-in "Screen Resolution", my graphics card control panel did the job instead, so that's one area they need to improve upon.

One underused feature in past Windows versions that's built-in to the system as opposed to having to be hacked in previous versions are Themes (I don't know how much they were in Vista, or rather, how the Vista themes compare here), which are much more of an evolution then a new feature in most respects, but it feels much more fleshed out and mature, for lack of a more proper term. The Theme options add a nice touch for those who like a lot of customization, and once the full OS comes out, I expect more user-made themes to come out/be available (Much in the way you can find Windowdocks or uXtheme hacks on sites like deviantart.com) which, if Microsoft is smart at all about, they'll help the distribution of such a thing instead of hindering it. An option to search for more themes online makes me think that they will support user-made themes, but its only a conjecture at this point.

The system seems mostly stable. However, after a session of Left 4 Dead where I was on the classic theme (To reduce unneeded waste of resources), I decided to switch back to the 'Windows 7 Basic', which is a bridge between the classic theme (Which greatly emulates the Win2K look) and the full on eye candy (which has stuff like transparency) and Windows Explorer stopped working at that point.

A window appeared that indicated so and the rest of the screen turned white. After a few minutes the window changed and said it was restarting Explorer, and a moment later, it went back to the normal desktop complete with the new theme. A very nice update to how windows handles system crashes (I don't mean BSOD level problems, smaller stuff), and I didn't have to go to the task manager, type in "explorer.exe" to bring back the desktop. Windows took care of it itself, which is something they should have done a while back, but better late then never I guess.

The UAC (User Account Control) feature that was introduced in Vista is still around, but its much less noticable and feels appropriate to when it actually DOES show up (For instance, when I installed Steam, it appeared in full, but when I installed AVG Anti-Virus, a minimal sub-version of it appeared instead, which shows that the OS can, to a degree, differentiate between different kinds of applications that might wish to run), where-as in Vista the damm thing seemed to show up every 5 minutes.

Internet Explorer 8 is bundled in of course and it actually isn't that bad. The layout of the top menus is still mostly the same as it was in IE7 and I never really liked that set-up, but it displays web pages and aside from some hiccups on various sites, which might be chalked up to low ram, it didn't really cause too much trouble. I'm still a Firefox user, but this new version is something of a competitor for once, so this is a sign that Firefox will have to step up its own game to keep ahead of the curve, and is something I'm kind of glad to see.

A new version of Windows Media Player is included as well, and one weird thing I noticed, is that when the player is in the "Now Playing" window (With the visualizations/Album art), there is no right-click menu for the normal options anywhere, its not accessable at all. I sent feedback indicating this, so (Not likely) possibly they might correct this later on. Its a small thing compared to other problems that could occur, but I remember it being present in previous versions, so the removal of the convenient menu is something of a head-scratcher.

Anyway that's all for now, if you guys are interested in screenshots, I'll be happy to provide.

Dark Nation, make sure you install the update that fixes the Windows Media Player chopping off parts of mp3 files bug.

I've been using Windows 7 since the first pre-beta was released, did all the blue patches and what-not to unlock the pretty, and I then installed the leaked beta 1. Besides a few bugs I can say I'm ready to switch to this operating system permanently (until something better comes out of course).

Another nice thing they've added to the OS [which is merely eye-candy, but still] is the desktop wallpaper thing. You can now select a bunch of wallpapers, and a 'time frame', and the wallpapers will cycle slideshow-style through the ones you selected.

A nice tie-in for something like The Week Project wallpapers. :3:

I am a staunch Windows XP user who doesn't want anything to do with Vista. What can you early adopters tell me about Windows 7's speed and reliability, that might just win me over vis-a-vis XP SP3? Just curious. :3:

The thing about religion is that no number of rational arguments will persuade the adherent to change his ways. Why would anyone waste their time trying to convert you when you've decided on your own initiative to live in the past? :shrug:

We're in the same boat then. I tried out Vista once (Because it wouldn't do well to refuse to use something when I haven't even given it a shot) and hated it. WinXP is/was my OS of choice.

Well, with all the eye candy topped on, my personal experience is that the speed is slightly slower then XP, but my laptop only has 1GB of ram so your mileage may vary.

The 'classic' theme which makes it look like Win2K gives the system a very nice boost in performance and speed (Essentially removing all the eye candy). If you're wondering, in performance the speed is comparable to WinXP and MUCH faster then Vista thankfully.

Professional reports said that Win7's speed was better then XP, but those were likely high end processing stuff like 3D rendering. I'd say its at least better then Vista. The real question is if its better then XP. What say you other testers?

USB devices worked flawlessly so far and I haven't had any "unrecognized device" problems or anything like that.

Here's a look at the Control Panel, you can get an idea of what sort of features are available in terms of security & system stuff:
http://hdimage.org/images/hai2z1oy4x...ontrolanel.png

One feature introduced in Vista was the ability to plug-in a flash drive and use it as Ram. I just discovered this as I was reading your response, I don't know how well it will work, but I've given it a shot:
http://hdimage.org/images/j8mufa1i7e...0_eadyoost.png

Overall, I'd guess the reliability won't be known until the final version (ZoneAlarm wouldn't install, for example) but its speed is about the same as WinXP. Vista is a joke of an OS and I'm glad even Microsoft knows when to learn from their mistakes.

--Edit--
Hmm, after considering what Pang said, I'd suggest you download the torrent, test it out yourself and then decide if you want to stick with XP, or move onto Win7, because ultimately, its first-hand, hands-on experience that really makes or breaks these kind of decisions.

Now hold on, I have tried Vista, and found it wanting. If I am closing my mind off, why would I even make a post in this thread, Pangy?

You don't see any reason why someone inherently hostile to a software product would post in a thread about it? Here, I'll demonstrate.

*ahem*

WINDOWS 7, HUH WELL THAT WON'T BE A LUCKY NUMBER FOR THEM HAR HAR! SORRY MIKKKRO$HAFT BUT YOU CAN'T SELL ME YOUR GARBAGE OS NO MATTER WHAT LABEL YOU SLAP ON IT!1 I'LL JUST KEEP USING LINUX 7, WHICH IS TO SAY THE 7TH KERNEL UPDATE I'VE PERFORMED ON MY GENTOO INSTALLATION! TODAY! *SNORT*

If you say you've given it a fair shot I'll take your word but you can see why I might be cynical.

Have Microsoft made it harder to do anything complicated like they do everytime they update a program? I mean, in Excel 2008 for example they organised everything so a casual user can find things easier but for those of us who know how to use the thing properly, you either have to jump through twice as many menus or spend a couple of hours setting it up with all the shortcut buttons you want. I mean, I like the added functionality they put in, it would just be nice if they didn't feel the need to wrap everything in cotton wool all the time.

I must disagree. I love the new version of Office. Excel 2007 was tremendously improved with a bunch of great new features (I especially loved the revamped PivotTable). I was a power user of early versions of Excel, and I don't feel that the new version was wrapped in cotton wool or that I have to jump twice the number of hoops. I mean, all the old ALT keyboard shortcuts still work, so it hasn't really slowed me down at all.

I imagine I would now find it rather awkward to return to an earlier version now.

That's not to say that Office 2007 doesn't have its shortcomings. I hate how Word 2007 got the short shrift, with you being unable to group pictures with drawing objects, and the new fancy WordArt not ported over to Word. I also miss the ability where you could drag out toolbars, especially when drawing flowcharts, but I guess that's what Visio is for.

Well, it's mainly the layout of the top bar I dislike. My Excel has a rather customised button-shortcut layout and I can't stand the way things are grouped in the new version. I'd rather have a fuckload of buttons than the various sections and menus they have now. I guess it's what I'm used to more than anything, having used Excel this way pretty much every day for at least 8 years but I just find it takes me a lot longer to do anything now. Like I say, I love the functionality improvements, I just dislike the interface which I feel hides a lot of the more complex stuff away somewhat.

Well Zerg, if you enjoy Office 2007's ribbon then you'll be happy to hear that Microsoft has brought it to a few programs in Windows 7 and is releasing the ribbon code to developers to use in their own products..

Shin, there are some 3rd party software products you can download that will give you the old Office 2003 look. I can give you one if you'd like.

As for Windows 7's performance... I'd liken it to XP's zippyness upon first clean install. Its system allocation for memory and the way it does things is far superior to XP's though. Vista was heading in the right direction but it was half finished in a few key areas. Windows 7 takes that direction, finishes it, and refines it. So in short better than XP performance and Vista-like features and eye candy.

While it's only still in beta it's still better than any operating system Microsoft has released. If you're happy with what you're using and weren't thinking about reinstalling your operating system any time soon then I suppose you could pass. If not I'd definitely recommend that you give Windows 7 a shot. Even if you only try it out. I've been using it for over a month now. I'm not going back to Vista or XP.

Now I warn you that you may encounter a few bugs. It's beta. Not final. Be aware that you may have to change compatibility modes to install a few things.

For example I live with the fact that I can't really get sleep mode for my laptop to work but because my laptop equipped with an Intel 80 GB SSD is so fucking fast at booting up and shutting down that doesn't bother one bit. Also, I can't change brightness for some reason. This doesn't mean it'll apply for everyone but be ready for this kind of thing. Test just about every feature and function of your machine out that you think you'll be using.


Oh and one more thing. Beta expires in August unless you install a patch to disable the timebomb like I have.

There's little danger of work forking out for Office 2007 anytime soon, especially since I installed the patch to open .xlsx files on 2003 and it's only a few clients who use the new version, forcing me to work on it when I'm at their offices so it's kind of a non-issue for now and I'm sure that if I used the new version day in, day out I'd get used to it soon enough, provided it does still let you program macros into custom buttons (Best feature ever in a software package, ever. Every piece of software should let you do this). Cheers anyway though mate.

No problem. Every now and then folks can't adjust to the ribbon so I offer it as a option.

Mmm, aside from the expiration, that sounds rather promising. Thus far, you have encountered few driver and program compatibility problems, am I correct?

I would have thought there would be an option built in to keep using the button bar, to be fair I've not really gone looking for one as I only ever use the thing on other people's computers. I just can't imagine a situation where having every command you use even semi-regularly represented as a small button at the top of the screen wasn't the most efficient way to do things (For those of us without the memory capacity for keyboard shortcuts anyway). I appreciate that they're trying to declutter the window and hide away the less often used stuff so as not to scare off casual users but some of us actually use that clutter and add more besides.

I'm quite the luddite when it comes to new versions of software though. In part because I prefer to use things I'm familiar with and more importantly, because I work for a bunch of skinflints who won't pay to update anything until the version we're using is completely obsolete, thereby giving me little opportunity to use new things. I still have Windows XP set to look like 98 on this computer and I don't use my laptop at home enough to make it worth the time it takes to download new versions to be honest.

The expiration is very easy to get around.

Hmmm... it might not be true for everyone but a few programs with consistent bugs. For example, I can't get the latest version of utorrent to work but version 1.4 works fine. I haven't attempted slightly newer versions yet though, but basically the newest version just freezes and I have to wait a while before the process goes away in the task manager after I've killed the program. Vuze aka Azureus is a bit better as it's actually functional. However, you just can't exit it properly. And because of that you can't shut down your machine so you have to turn it off manually. I know there a few programs that just don't work period like Daemon Tools but I recommend Virtual Clone Drive (which does work) over that piece of shit program anyway.

I've found no problems with emulators, adobe cs4, nero 9, microsoft office 2007, media player classic (with cccp of course), foobar2000, firefox, Fallout 3, and many other programs. And drivers install just fine. For some of them you might need to change compatibility to vista for it to install since when it checks the installer doesn't know what Windows 7 is and will tell you your operating system isn't supported otherwise. It was a wise decision to have Windows 7 use the same driver system as Vista. That means practically all the drivers you need are already available and compatible.

Nope. Don't bother looking because Microsoft doesn't give you the option to switch to the old style. It's not there.

Well I'd say that Windows 7 is a pretty good leap from the 98 interface. You might end up liking it, Shin. One day.

Acer pretty much nailed it with this one. Pretty much everything he's listed there I've also tested, and they all work fine. The one exception is... I'm using uTorrent v1.8.1, and have no problems with it whatsoever.

I haven't had any problems installing drivers though. Everything seems to be working just fine.

I installed utorrent 1.6 and it's working well and pretty much every tracker accepts it. Hurray for no freezing up anymore!

Also, I've learned that you can kill the Vuze/Azureus process. The process just kind of hangs like the latest version of utorrent does for a while. Dunno why. The folks at utorrent probably would blame that I'm using Eset antivirus or something. Whatever. I don't need to use Vuze/Azureus anymore.

Speaking of Torrent and other Applications. Microsoft will probably know about it being used.

Giz Explains: The Windows 7 Beta Fine Print

Nothing really surprising as far as Microsoft's always had a hard-on for final legalese print, but those testing should be aware that this is a rental, its for testing, and its not the final version. (In other words: duh)

Pretty much. I intend on keeping it until the retail version comes out (unless there is another beta which I don't think there will be or a release candidate).

And since it's just a beta Microsoft doesn't really give a crap as they don't really hold much responsibility for what happens on it. It's beta. Torrent the fuck out of it.

Alternatively you can download it outright from Microsoft's website :p

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...-download.aspx

I think people just like Torrenting stuff. I swear, I think I once came across a torrent of Cave Story. :tpg:

Well eventually they'll run out of beta keys to hand out. Maybe.

In any case I've been running on the leaked beta 1 which is the same thing as they're offering.

Something I'm wondering and perhaps one of you could tell me.

If you right-click on a shortcut on the Desktop, go to Properties and the 'Shortcut' section, there are options to change the path of the shortcut and to change the Icon. This normally is selectable (Examples: Firefox, AVG, even the "Send Feedback" that's defaulted on the desktop) but for some reason when I try Steam, its greyed out. Any known reason for this?

Probably something they built into their shortcut for Steam. Try making your own shortcut. Go to Program Files and find the steam executable file. Copy. Paste Shortcut somewhere. Then see if you can change those properties.


Oh and here's something cool to look at.

Tim Sneath : The Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets

Some nice keyboard shortcuts and features you might like to fool with.

I'm just reading a preview of Windows 7 in the Guardian and it mentions that you can now "pin" applications and stuff to the taskbar. Is this in any way different to just dropping shortcuts on to the quicklaunch toolbar in every other version of Windows or is it just that this particular journalist never realised the quicklaunsh toolbar existed or fails at creating shortcuts?

It basically acts as an integrated dock of sorts. It's like quicklaunch but it also has specific application specific functions you can perform as well (although that's part of the superbar in general regardless if you pin things to it). So yeah it's kind of like combining quicklaunch with the taskbar to a certain extent.

Your method worked, Acer. For whatever reason the shortcut that appeared on the desktop after I installed steam decided not to allow it to be changed. Although if you change the icon via the method I described above, you'll need an .ico file.

I mean Icon, not Yorda and the Summoner

Thanks for that Bumper List, that "Drag the window to the side" method of Docking will REALLY help me out, I think (First on the list).

Another feature I discovered is that if you go and try to rename a file, the filename and NOT the extension will be highlighted. Very small detail, but it will make renaming files go much faster (Because now all I have to do is start typing or hit backspace and start typing)

There's some pretty neat [not that I use them] keyboard shortcuts now, too. For example...

Win+Up Maximize
Win+Down Restore / Minimize
Win+Left Snap to left (pressing again will jump over to the next monitor)
Win+Right Snap to right
Win+Shift+Left Jump to monitor on the left
Win+Shift+Right Jump to monior on the right

Win+Home Minimize / Restore all other windows

Win+T Focus the first taskbar entry
(pressing again will cycle through them, you can can arrow around)

Win+Space Peek at the desktop
Win+G Bring gadgets to the top of the z-order

Win + # key Launches a new instance of the application in the Nth slot on the taskbar.
Example: Win+1 launches first pinned app, Win+2 launches second, etc.

Plus a bunch more, though I think this is the bulk of the 'new' ones.

Then there's the eye candy. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but you know how when you start a program via the taskbar, it sort of 'fwooshes' a glow across the icon? It seems the glow colour is totally dependent on the main colour in the icon.

The 'glow' also follows the mouse cursor around. Fun! :eagletear:
Well, technically they only have 3625 keys before they run out, using their current form for product keys. Then again, if it ever got to that point, you could just type in whatever you wanted and the key would work. :tpg:

Yeah that was in Vista too. Very useful.

I've encountered some odd problems with installing stuff, specifically the windows installer crashed. Several times in fact. Running the program in compatibility for Windows XP didn't work either. At least though, I was able to send off a report about the crash. I highly suspect it won't do diddly squat regarding getting the problem solved, but hey its something.

Did you try Vista compatibility. Also what program was it?

Vista compatibility? No I haven't tired that yet. I'm back on XP for the moment anyway since the program installed fine on here. It was the installer for Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 (3D Modeling program).

Oh here's something for those who are running Windows 7 and have UAC turned off. You probably can't use any sidebar widgets, right?

Fix Windows 7 Sidebar with UAC Off issue

An easy registry fix will get you with dem gadgetwidgetthings again. =)

I finally got an error code for the installation errors I was getting, but I have yet to actually pinpoint the problem... I went to technet to see but nobody's posting there.

I have a few places I like but here's the latest one I've come across.

win7vista.com - Index

Thanks for that link, I came across this tid-bit on there which I think warrants a mention:

Well well, looks like we'll have the full thing within the year. Nice!

Thanks Acer.

this is the link to the topic I made on technet, btw.

Once you use the real admin account, disable uac and all the other crap, Vista=XP. Vista's audio stack alone justifies the change. It uses more resources, that's nothing if you have a real pc. The dpc latency is probably a bit higher in vista, but I hear windows 7 is the same as xp in terms of speed. Not going to 7 until it's released and there's a bios hardmod or other crap-free retail crack.

Can't wait for Windows 7 to come out.
Is it too much to ask for them to dump 32 bit? It needs to die so people start coding for 64bit :(

Yes, it's too much. There are still tons of computers out there which do not support 64bit. Heck, I don't think we have a single computer at work which does (out of some 50+ computers the most advanced stuff there are Semprons and maybe a p4).

Server 2008 R2 (the server release of win7) will only work on 64bit, though.

I am somewhat skeptical that any company that can't be arsed upgrading its hardware more than once a decade is immediately going to run out and buy dozens of copies of Win7 anyway, though.

Exactly.

On top of that, virtualization has come a long way in the past few years, so at least on the software side, they could have handled all the legacy compatibility issues with older Windows versions and 32 bit via a virtual machine. They are actually working on some sort of XP VM, but so far its only been announced for the big-time corporate versions of Win7 and obviously, the OS itself still runs on 32 bit hardware. Maybe next time.

Windows 7 is the last Windows that runs on 32bit

Given that MS is likely to continue trying to flog software to developing nations full of legacy computers, I seriously doubt that.

I've read that changes to the kernel makes Windows 7 much better at utilizing parallel processing. That's what sold me!

Bumping thread. The official release of the OS is later this month on October 22nd.

Also for any university students: Microsoft is offering Win 7 Home Premium / Professional 32-bit or 64-bit available for 30 Dollars. At first I was about to order it myself, but after reading some of the Fine print, you have to actually be actively enrolled and I've already graduated, so keep that in mind. You can check out the details at 741

I believe, practically speaking, you just have to have a working university .edu email address. I find it rather unlikely that they will go through all the effort to make sure every person who made a purchase through them is currently taking classes. At least, that's the gamble I'm taking, since I'm done with school but still have my university email address.

Also, for those that would like to get the Professional version, as opposed to the rather crippled "Premium" version, the link for that on their purchase page is unintuitively hidden by a link in a yellow box about connecting to a school network.

Also before you buy it see if your school/university has a site license first. I was able to get all my MS software through my undergrad school for $10 and here at my grad school it's free.

How large is the install for Win7 going to be? I've got an empty partition on one of my drives and have been thinking about upgrading from XP 64-bit to Win7. Also, any concern for going 64 bit versus 32 with Win7?

That's the same situation I'm in, but I don't want to have them suddenly email me later "Oh hai, wut classes u taking?" and then ask for $170 for the difference when I can't produce anything :gonk:

But we'll see what happens, the 22nd is still a bit ways away.

MS's min. requirements for HDD space (or installed size) are 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit). The reason the 64-bit is a bit larger is because you're now working with 64-bit integers which are of course, twice as long as 32-bit integers, but considering that most computers nowdays come with a minimum of say, 100GB Hard Drives, it won't be much of an issue.

Only concern is if your chip supports 64-bit or not which unless you are running an Intel Atom netop or netbook should be the case. 64-bit versions of 7 and Vista are superior. But it's not like it'll be a world-ending difference or anything. It would also help if whatever your computer hardware you have has 64-bit drivers. 7 comes with most drivers you'll need though so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you are worried about how large your systems partition should be I'll tell you that from scratch 7 takes up about 10 GB of space. Then add in updates and whatever software you add on top of that and you'll probably want to have 20-30 gigs for the operating system partition AT MINIMUM. Honestly, I'd give it at least 50 or 80 gigs if you are thinking of sticking around with it.

Oh and try using Windows Easy Transfer (for Windows XP you'll need to download it from Microsoft, it's a small program and its free) when going from OS to OS when you finally want to make the move to 7. I'm not a fan of using the OS Upgrade option. Feels junky to me. I like starting from a clean slate. Yeah, so back up all the shit you want to an external harddrive and once you've done that try out Windows Easy Transfer. It's been really reliable so far but you can never be too careful with shit you don't want to lose.

I'm running Windows 7 RC2 7100 64-bit on my computer, and so far I haven't had any issues at all. The only problem I really had was the ridiculous install time (~5 hours) which I believe was due to bad RAID interface, and no driver for my 6 year old wireless card (had to install a Vista driver for a different manufacturer's card that used the same chipset).

Also, I allocated 30GB to my install partition, but you could probably get away with 15GB if you are loading only the OS and nothing else onto the partition. EDIT: But yeah, if you tack on cumulative updates and install all your programs to your OS directory as Acer said, then you might want to double or triple that.

lol 5 hours? That's crazy. Takes me maybe 20 minutes to an hour depending on the machine (and I've installed it on plenty of different machines). That problem does sound like RAID issues.

Thankfully, after W7 was finally installed, I've experienced no recurrence of a problem like this. (though wmpnetwk.exe can suck big black dicks)
I'm hoping Asus will get their shit together for the proper release. I certainly don't want to go through that shit again. :mad:

I found the best use of going to 64-bit is if your CPU is also 64-bit OR if you have 4GB of Ram or more. In my case both apply (There's also the 4GB read limit on files technically, but eh)

http://imgur.com/K3UgT.png

Try out the Release Candidate if you can, they cleaned up a lot of little annoying things, for one thing: IE8 can be removed ^5

Could you elaborate on this process a little?

DN: I'm not a moron; I know about and use other media players, but there is a strange process that's part of the WMP12 system (wmpnetwk) that somehow takes precedent over most other processes, and stalls the computer for a minute or two at a time. The only way I was able to actually get it to stop shitting all over my hard drives' was to manually delete the fucker. I think it was enabled when I was experimenting WMP12's new streaming system, but it failed to disable that part when I turned the streaming stuff off.

It's great to have 4 GB or more for 64-bit 7 but keep in mind that it also works just dandy with only 2 GB of memory.

Oh, this is actually an important thing for me. Can you now put the computer into hibernate when you've got more than 2GB of RAM?

I believe so, but I haven't personally tested it out myself.

Pack: It was just a joke, but interesting to hear about that process's memory hogging, I turned off all internet/networking stuff by default, but The More You Know(tm)

I use the feature all the time on my 4 GB memory Win 7 64-bit vaio laptop. So yes.

I can confirm that it also works on several workstations with more than 2 GB of memory.

I've always seen that feature as more useful for laptops. I tend to remotely connect to my machine at home so if it went to sleep or hibernation then I couldn't rightly access it then could I? But if you like saving a bit of power then that's cool I guess.

It looks like the $30 thing is US-centric. A pity, if only these things were transferable, I'd seriously consider asking one of you chaps to buy it for me, and ship it over to Singapore. I'm getting tired of piracy.

---------

I have a newbie question. I'm quite intrigued at this 64-bit thing (with the 4GB RAM limit removed), but the Wikipedia article was a tad too technical for me. Do I have to get really fancy on the hardware front to get a 64-bit PC, or is it just a matter of getting the right motherboard and stuff?

Also, for those with 64-bit systems, any problems encountered with programs such as CS4, Office 2007, and Corel suite?

I don't know how many folks around here use the Corel suite but CS4 and Office 2007 work just dandy. It can run 32-bit applications for the most part if that's what you're worried about.

I still wonder how they managed to do that. Is it all drivers? It's not like Windows comes with that much stuff beside a text editor, some card games and Paint.

The only program I ever ran across that actually refused to install was Daemon Tools Lite, but I found another virtual drive program so crisis averted.

There's actually two Program Files folders, one for pre-installed and 64-bit applications (Which there are a couple sites to browse through for: 64bit and x64 - Home and Catalogue of 64-bit Software for example), and another called Programs Files (x86) which are all the 32-bit programs you might have to install. A few programs also acted up until I either ran them in admin or compatibility mode. Only one program actually refused to install so that's a good track record I think.

Oh and I used OO.org for my office suite and it runs without a hitch.

I've had some issues with McAfee... No surprise there.

Otherwise, I really like Win7.

It even magically makes WoW look nicer.

I'd pay someone the $30. The software is easy to obtain. It's getting the legit keycode that's the biggy of it all.


Edit: Hell. If someone had one of them MSDNAA accounts to get a key, I'd pay the $30 for that. Honest to god man.

I also tend to stop working on my computer here at work while I've got a bunch of programs open, and I prefer to have my computer hibernate overnight in case there's any sort of power issue here or some random program decides to shit the bed.

I got it for free on msdnaa, but I won't use it again until:
- they make it possible to ungroup taskbar items properly (so 3 explorers show up as 3 seperate items, not one grouped item, this shit alone completely wrecks my train of thought and makes it impossible for me to work on the computer).
- the right click popup menus are more responsive, and aligned closer to the taskbar item (nitpicking, but I managed to misclick at least a billion times because there is now a gap between the taskbar pin menu thingy and the taskbar item)
- DETAILED LIST VIEW IN THE CONTROL PANEL. WHY THE FUCK CAN I ONLY CHOOSE ICON VIEWS ONLY?
- un-gimp the game explorer, so it can be manually customizable at least - right now, it's pretty much useless.
- Re-add the mail client. I don't want to download an extra app for something that was built in for 10 years before.
- explorer displays the filesizes like it did in XP (or even in Vista, which also did not show them at some times).
- globally turn off cleartype
- Fix explorer so it remembers file view settings fine. This bug has been there since Vista RTM.
- Allow 64bit to run unsigned drivers without launching in test mode bullshit.

These are mostly nitpickings, but, it's the small things here and there that made Vista worthwile for me, and many of them are undone in Win7. I seriously dislike how they made the OS so damn unconfigurable. Even gpedit.msc had a ton of settings removed, because of the new taskbar and such.
That, and I find the cloud blue theme an eyesore, but that's just a personal preference, same as how I miss the kitty user icon.


Yeah, I understand how Win7 is an evolutionary step forward and so on - but so was Vista, and at least you can configre that to work as you want. And if you use 64bit, win7 actually uses more ram (though, it runs much less processes).

Right click on start menu, properties, under 'task bar buttons' select the "never combine" option

>so 3 explorers show up as 3 seperate items, not one grouped item

So, the OS is officially released now. Ars Technica has a mildly useful article on the whole thing.

Windows 7 is here - Ars Technica

And for those of you who aren't sure if the OS will install fine, there's also a "compatibility center" for addressing that: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/com...s/default.aspx

Not sure how useful it would end up being for you guys, but there you go. I went ahead and got the Student version for 30 bucks so I just have to backup my files in a bit and do a clean install (You can't do an upgrade from the RTM/RC versions of Win7 to the retail apparently, go figure).

I installed Win7 on a different partition than my WinXP install, yet I'm not given a boot selection screen when I start my PC up. Can't find how to add it in msconfig like I would in XP, can anyone clue me into it?

I have the x64 version installed and everything works fine. The only program that has some problems is Maya...

RR, I'd recommend going to a windows 7 forum of sorts to figure out how to dual boot win 7 and xp. By default win 7 will take over boot from what I hear.

This isn't that helpful, but I have XP and 7 on different partitions and I get the OS selection screen every time I boot up.

An additional note for anyone who got the 30 dollar version via a university email address. The OS will download into a single file, and after unzipping that file, you won't have a tidy clean ISO to turn to a disc. There's a method to get around that annoyance and have it DVD ready :)

How to make a DVD of that student-only Windows 7 you bought for $29.99

For Windows 7 users (RTM/RC/Etc.,) a small change in the command line instruction might be needed.

How to make a DVD of that student-only Windows 7 you bought for $29.99

And some Vista 32-bit users ALSO had troubles with installing, and funny enough, the same basic steps are listed here.

Windows 7 student upgrade hell - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

Anyway, I tried the alternative command line and it worked fine for me. If you need any assistance, give me a PM.

Mine extracted right into an .iso that I downloaded from my school. =\

I made up a neat little iso but I can't seem to burn it to jack shit, so I guess my DVD-RW drive is just getting old or whatever. Can't tell if it's the iso that's corrupt or my burner.

Also, apparently the Windows 7 Upgrade is a bit of marketing hype. The version sold to students at $30 is a full version of Windows 7.

Additional Spam:
I dunno if that solution is only supposed to work for Vista or SP3, because I'm still using XP SP2. I contacted Digital River to see about getting an actual disc which will of course take forever.

I have two questions and a request, regarding the student deal of $29.99!

1. The version on offer appears to be Windows 7 Home Premium. I'm currently on XP Professional. Will I miss anything?

2. Will there be ... difficulties (say, with activation and stuff) if I were to ask one of you guys to buy this for me? The promotion site says this is non-transferable, and it says Microsoft may demand full retail price if it discovers you aren't a current student, so... :tpg:

And the request.

Assuming the answer to both questions are "No", can I rent the use a US-based .EDU e-mail address? :D

Welp, tried burning some simple data to a DVD-R and my whole system froze up. Good jorb, PIONEER.

Suppose I'll have to use the bootable flash drive method and have a friend burn it onto a cd for me.

If you have any valid .edu email address, I think you should be good. There was a while where some australian organization was giving out free .edu email addresses, but Digital River caught on and I don't think they're honoring those purchases.

Also, to the first question, Win7 Professional is also available at the same price. Of course being the assholes that they are, they've obscured the link in the purchase page for the Professional version. I think there are a great deal of features that you will miss if you get the Home edition, and while Win7 Pro is still mildly crippled, its not nearly as bad as Home, which would likely be hell for someone like you.
See: Windows 7 editions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have a valid .edu.SG but no .edu address, unfortunately.

Hahaha so the 4 gig flash drive I bought doesn't have enough space and I had to clear out its partitions to fit the ISO, so now there's a functioning ISO on the drive but I can't boot from it. This after going through DVD-Rs like toilet paper before realizing my DVD-RW is bad. I've spent about 20 bucks so far just trying to get this fucking thing to work.

Just have to call in some favors, I guess.

Brady, were you burning the 64 bit version from a 32-bit operating system?
That has been known to cause some serious issues.

Brady, you know you don't just drop the .iso on the USB drive, right? You need to do some sort of install thing onto your current HD and then move the files over.

Uh, how would I have an ISO if I didn't compile it myself from the Digital River files motherfucker!? :cool:

I figured that the actual USB/DVD transfer tool that microsoft provided was designed specifically for 32-bit operating systems, since that's where the massive amount of groaning is coming from. The people who had significant gains to make in the transition.

Additional Spam:
Just because I never used my DVD-RW to burn any DVDs until the day I needed it most and it had already given up the ghost long ago doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about mounting isos. Gimme a lil credit, fellas.

Additional Spam:
Everything I've done has already been tested and proven by people who know way more about this stuff than I do, I just can't for the life of me get these goddamn files into a format I can boot from.

So I finally get the iso onto a dvd, try to boot from it and get the message
The disc is obviously in my drive, since I already know the DVD-RW can't write should I just go ahead and get a new one?

Additional Spam:
I booted from my Windows XP cd just fine.

i'm debating getting win7, but there are a couple of things i want to know first -

1. does it run faster, slower, or about the same speed as Vista?
2. does it have a lot of bugs? i can't really afford to have my laptop crashing all the time because i need it for school.

I don't have much experience with Vista, but as far as I know, it runs faster. It doesn't have as much crap to bog down the system. And, you can actually get away with running 7 on a lesser system.

As far as bugs go, I've not run into any--but again, that's just with my setup, which is a fairly well-to-do desktop.

To sum it up, "It's what Vista should have been"

Been running W7 x64 since beta. Love it. I liked Vista, but Windows 7 is truly the successor of XP. I bought the 3 license OEM Windows 7 Ultimate x64 for the two rigs I built at home, and into my laptop. Works great! Have not had to run WinXP mode yet...

My score is 7.7 in the system ranks.

I went from XP to 7 and am loving it. I tried vista but was having too many issues so I reverted to XP.

1. While there are certain areas of the OS that definitely feel snappier than before, what's more important in my mind is that if you have a lot of things going on, 7 doesn't bog down nearly as quickly as Vista did. I went and did some reading and that apparently has to do with using video memory as opposed to main memory to store windows, so if you're putting 7 on a really really crap graphics card your mileage may vary.

2. I've only bluescreened once on Windows 7 so far, and I haven't been able to reproduce it, so I'm taking it as a bizarre happenstance. 7 as a whole is remarkably stable, and this is on a laptop that is either on or on standby 90% of the week and I usually only reboot for Windows Update.

The only thing I've run into so far is just minor incompatibility issues with very specific programs. Every time I log in, my university's system insists that I am not running a secure OS because it's not XP SP3 or Vista SP1, and there was one game whose name escapes me right now (some free to download shooter) that doesn't seem to do anything other than go to a black screen. Pretty much everything that works on Vista works on 7.

One quick thing; for anti-virus on Windows 7, I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. Believe it or not, it's free, it's lightweight, and it's incredibly uninvasive. In the months I've been using it, I've never had it bitch about a program and block it. It sits there using 3MB of RAM, which is basically nothing, and scans don't hog my entire computer the way AVG used to. The only downside to it, really, is that unlike other antivirus suites there isn't much in the way of customization. I don't particularly mind it, because I know unless I let someone else on my laptop the odds of me actually coming across a virus are next to nil, so all I need is something sitting there to call me an idiot if I click on something I shouldn't.

Wow, that was a long ramble. Sorry about that.

tl;dr: 7 is stable, fast, well-made. Microsoft Security Essentials is the best anti-virus for it.

I've also noticed that it seems to run a defrag process in the background at all times. After using Win7 for a while and cleaning out a shit ton of files from one of my HDs, I checked with defrag how my drives looked and all of them were at 0% fragmentation!

(Or it could just be Win 7's defrag utility isn't telling me the right thing.)

There are a few things they changed that I'm a little annoyed about. One of the features I miss the most and I can't seem to find is in the status bar for folders on XP it would give you how many objects were in the folder, how much space the files in the folder are taking up, and where the files are located. Now it only seems to give info like dimensions and filetype when I click on it, no size info. :mad:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...sc/Capture.png

Well, if you don't have anything in a folder selected, it tells you how much is in the folder you're viewing.

It tells you how many files are there, but it doesn't tell you the size of the files.

Also noticed they got rid of the behavior where if you drag a right click to select multiple files it no longer brings up a context menu unless your mouse is above a file when you release the mouse button. I miss that too. :(

No, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows Series X.

How large is the install for Win7 going to be? I've got an empty partition on one of my drives and have been thinking about upgrading from XP 64-bit to Win7.