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Windows 7: Releasing on 10/22/09 - RC is Free to Download
Jasconius
sword criminalmad onlineRegistered User regular
sword criminalmad onlineRegistered User regular
Windows 7
How awesome is it? Very awesome. Since the earliest public betas Windows 7 has been garnering high praise from both users and critics. In a nutshell, Windows 7 addresses a majority of the problems that were introduced in Windows Vista while simultaneously adding new features that make it more competitive with OSX in terms of a home-user experience. Sticky notes, a vastly improved video player, dramatic improvements personal file management and networking are high on the list. Under the hood, W7 addresses performance on mid to low end systems, including faster boot ups and shutdowns, and a massively improved Aero which can run smoothly on anything but a toaster.
Official propaganda can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
Where can I get it?
There is a release candidate floating around for free download and key distribution. Windows 7 is officially on pre-order (though some locations have already sold out). It can be purchased from any electronics retailer on 10/22/09.
There are three versions
Basic - Third world offering, not available in the US.
Home - This is basically what XP pro used to be in terms of features
Office - XP Pro + an XP virtual machine for ancient legacy programs and a couple of features for data backup, etc
Ultimate - lol
Will my shit run?
Most likely yes. In my personal experiences I've found Windows 7 to be more device friendly than Vista, has better support for ancient drivers, and serves up a lot of drivers via Windows Update. On my laptop I didn't have to install a single goddamn driver, even a network driver, the Windows 7 install took care of all that. My desktop was a bit of a different story. Sound Blaster takes some finagling to get it to work, as do things like eSATA expansion cards, but they all work. The only thing I've found that hasn't worked was a ~7 year old USB scanner.
In terms of program compatibility, also better than Vista. I haven't had a program that I can remember not run, including some older Win 98 games that would not function under Vista. All of your standard fare such as Office 07, Open Office, Chrome (with a minor hack), etc will work fine... even under 64-bit.
*edit*
Actually, Daemon Tools doesn't work, at least, as of Build 7000 - however there is a reasonable alternative that does work called Virtual Clone Drive.
Will my shit crash horribly and burn all my dataz?
Probably not. There are some people here that will attest to the fact that this is by far the most stable version of Windows they've used, and I pretty much have to agree. I've had 1 (one) crash since using Windows 7 between two computers since the weekend the beta came out, and I am pretty sure it was my fault, not Windows 7's fault... it is just great.
How do I upgrade from 7xxx to 7100?
Look here: http://www.blogsdna.com/3083/how-to-upgrade-windows-7-beta-build-7000-to-windows-7-rc-build-7100.htm
I did this on my 64-bit laptop and it didn't seem to hurt anything (although it did end my trials of Adobe CS4 prematurely). Upgrading my laptop with a 7200RPM drive and 200 gigs of stuff took just under 3 hours. So be prepared to not use your computer for an afternoon.
Accumulated Knowledge
How awesome is it? Very awesome. Since the earliest public betas Windows 7 has been garnering high praise from both users and critics. In a nutshell, Windows 7 addresses a majority of the problems that were introduced in Windows Vista while simultaneously adding new features that make it more competitive with OSX in terms of a home-user experience. Sticky notes, a vastly improved video player, dramatic improvements personal file management and networking are high on the list. Under the hood, W7 addresses performance on mid to low end systems, including faster boot ups and shutdowns, and a massively improved Aero which can run smoothly on anything but a toaster.
Official propaganda can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
Where can I get it?
There is a release candidate floating around for free download and key distribution. Windows 7 is officially on pre-order (though some locations have already sold out). It can be purchased from any electronics retailer on 10/22/09.
There are three versions
Basic - Third world offering, not available in the US.
Home - This is basically what XP pro used to be in terms of features
Office - XP Pro + an XP virtual machine for ancient legacy programs and a couple of features for data backup, etc
Ultimate - lol
Will my shit run?
Most likely yes. In my personal experiences I've found Windows 7 to be more device friendly than Vista, has better support for ancient drivers, and serves up a lot of drivers via Windows Update. On my laptop I didn't have to install a single goddamn driver, even a network driver, the Windows 7 install took care of all that. My desktop was a bit of a different story. Sound Blaster takes some finagling to get it to work, as do things like eSATA expansion cards, but they all work. The only thing I've found that hasn't worked was a ~7 year old USB scanner.
In terms of program compatibility, also better than Vista. I haven't had a program that I can remember not run, including some older Win 98 games that would not function under Vista. All of your standard fare such as Office 07, Open Office, Chrome (with a minor hack), etc will work fine... even under 64-bit.
*edit*
Actually, Daemon Tools doesn't work, at least, as of Build 7000 - however there is a reasonable alternative that does work called Virtual Clone Drive.
Will my shit crash horribly and burn all my dataz?
Probably not. There are some people here that will attest to the fact that this is by far the most stable version of Windows they've used, and I pretty much have to agree. I've had 1 (one) crash since using Windows 7 between two computers since the weekend the beta came out, and I am pretty sure it was my fault, not Windows 7's fault... it is just great.
How do I upgrade from 7xxx to 7100?
Look here: http://www.blogsdna.com/3083/how-to-upgrade-windows-7-beta-build-7000-to-windows-7-rc-build-7100.htm
I did this on my 64-bit laptop and it didn't seem to hurt anything (although it did end my trials of Adobe CS4 prematurely). Upgrading my laptop with a 7200RPM drive and 200 gigs of stuff took just under 3 hours. So be prepared to not use your computer for an afternoon.
Accumulated Knowledge
I got Messenger to show up in the system tray by setting its Compatibility to Vista. I think the result is ideal, because it still retains the win7 popup menu that way.
this is a discord of mostly PA people interested in fighting games: https://discord.gg/DZWa97d5rz
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Jasconius on
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:P
If I dig it, I'm putting it on my main desktop.
I can just upgrade right from Vista, right? No muss, no fuss?
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx
As long as you are using the same architecture.
If you have Vista 32, you need to use W7 32, and 64-bit to 64-bit...
I am using 64 bit on both my machines and it has been great.
*edit*
Also, upgrading takes a fucking long time. Expect to not use your computer for at least 2 hours, 3 if it's a laptop.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
In IE8 tabs are grouped together by making them a certain color. If you have any XP or Vista machines, I'd recommend that you install IE8 on those.
Irony. It's a figure of speech.
done
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Maybe we should have some sort of "Things to do first" guide... like what to check out and experience right off the bat. I mean, one thing everyone should do first is turn off their UAC notifications...
But, other than maintenance things, what kind of stuff should I look at first? What kinds of features have I probably not seen yet in Windows 7? I know the whole "Show desktop" effect, and the "shaky shaky minimizy" thing... what else is there?
I also noticed that TF2, in full-screen (not windowed), would keep running fullscreen on main monitor while I was doing stuff on 2nd monitor. Typically, it would minimize itself if I ever clicked out. Tried to recreate the situation, but it didn't work the 2nd time.. Musta been a fluke.
Any neat graphical effects to play with?
This is great stuff. Runs like a dream
UAC was on medium strength stupid by default, except that it wasn't giving me the prompt to let things install. Driver installs paused at a certain point, sitting there; the progress bar forever stuck. Programs weren't responding. Shutting down hung indefinitely.
It took me about a half an hour to figure it out, and I feel pretty dumb for it.
Is there an upgrade path?
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
I installed VLC last night on the RC and set all the defaults within the program. However, none of the defaults took hold and so everything still defaults back to WMP. Tried changing this within the Default Program dialog but VLC doesn't show up. The shell extension that adds 'Play in VLC Media player' is also not there. Any suggestions?
So far, It sounds like its actually an upgrade from XP, with features people want. I really want to try this.
Edit: What about dual booting with Linux? I install Linux first right? Should I set up three crazy partitions for maximum insanity?
To provide more info, this is a Radeon HD 2600 Pro on an iMac, if that helps. I installed the most recent Windows 7 pre-release drivers from ATI's web site, and they seem to work fine for everything except for when I try to run the WEI. It starts to run and then just freezes and won't do anything. I can't even cancel out of it. Any ideas?
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Go to the communication tab of the Sound setting in Control panel. When Windows detects communication activity: do nothing.
Yes, see OP for instructions on how to upgrade.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Love you
Are you using UAC? If so, when the installer asked you to start VLC when it was finished, did you? If you did the settings would've been changed using your elevated user token instead of your standard user token. When you subsequently start VLC as your regular user level the settings will be the default and you will need to set them again. That's what sounds like happened. If you closed the installer and fired up VLC separately then there may be another issue.
Crap, sorry. This sounds like a different issue.
I haven't tried with Win7 yet, but every time I installed Windows after Linux it has fucked up Linux, while every time I install Linux last it has behaved correctly.
Also, if you're going to be running Ubuntu, you might want to consider wubi.
People put information in the OP nowadays? o_O
Thanks.
I uninstalled it and reinstalled and something changed and now it works. Huh.
Uhhh, what? Just go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx and get a key there.
Oh, okay. I spent about half an hour trying to get through those links lastnight and concluded that it was screwing up because my Live ID wasn't attached to an existing product key. I guess they were just overloaded.