Windows 7 Beta Discussion

So after Win7 comes out (May 7th apparently), how long before it's pre-installed in retail PCs?

I'm in the market for a new PC, and I'm curious if it's worth waiting (but doubt it).
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']The thing is, that exploit is impossible to take advantage of remotely. You have to have the cracker right there at your computer with a burned CD containing the program.

Not a big deal.[/QUOTE]

It could be a problem is someone wants to hack a terminal that has sensitive data on it in person(ie. corporate espionage and foreign spies ). Thing is, this program exists with Vista and XP too.


But it's true, you have to be physically present to bypass the boot system.
 
[quote name='n11n12']So after Win7 comes out (May 7th apparently), how long before it's pre-installed in retail PCs?

I'm in the market for a new PC, and I'm curious if it's worth waiting (but doubt it).[/QUOTE]

From my time of using the betas Windows 7 certainly is worth it. Of course you could always just do a custom built PC thru a company such as Magic Micro. I'd imagine they would have Windows 7 available the day its available too.
 
[quote name='n11n12']So after Win7 comes out (May 7th apparently), how long before it's pre-installed in retail PCs?

I'm in the market for a new PC, and I'm curious if it's worth waiting (but doubt it).[/QUOTE]

The May date is for the Release Candidate and I think the retail version is supposed to come out sometime during the summer. If you are in no rush for a new PC, I would wait as Windows 7 is a big improvement on Vista and it will save you the $200+ to upgrade to it if you bought a PC now.
 
RC comes out to technet/msdn on Thursday and general public on the 5th. I'm looking forward to it, because I am getting sick of spending half my day trying to make the beta act like an actual funtioning OS. If I had the time I would have put my stuff back to Vista a while ago.

The final release is going to come around holiday time at the earliest, they still have a lot of work to do.
 
[quote name='n25philly']RC comes out to technet/msdn on Thursday and general public on the 5th. I'm looking forward to it, because I am getting sick of spending half my day trying to make the beta act like an actual funtioning OS. If I had the time I would have put my stuff back to Vista a while ago.

The final release is going to come around holiday time at the earliest, they still have a lot of work to do.[/quote]

What are you talking about?

I have been running the Windows 7 beta version 7000 for almost a month now and I haven't had any problems with it.
 
[quote name='darthbudge']What are you talking about?

I have been running the Windows 7 beta version 7000 for almost a month now and I haven't had any problems with it.[/QUOTE]

home user, right? Mine works ok at home, but turns into a retard with tourettes as soon as I get to work. Anything involving mobile devices is crash crazy and while build 7000 is pretty decent, the later build have been getting progressively worse. (I'm on build 7057 at the moment) Considering 7 is 90% Vista it should be in better shape.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on stability since it is a beta and it has honestly been almost as good as Vista but why is memory management worse? Why have so many Vista bugs been carried over without being fixed. Why are they introducing so many more problems with each build instead of fixing them.

I'll be getting the RC the day after tomorrow, so hopefully they'll get this mess straightened out.
 
RC1 is out, just not officially.

I think once RC1 is released publicly, I am going to completely change over. I've been running 7000 and XP duel boot, but have only been back to XP maybe 2-3 times since installing 7. The RC1 build supposedly doesn't expire until March 2010, so that's plenty of time to allow for getting the final release.
 
[quote name='plasticbathmonki']Houston, we have a problem...

http://gear.ign.com/articles/976/976242p1.html[/QUOTE]


This has since been revealed to be utter nonsense easily defeated by existing standard features in the average PC BIOS. All you have to do is lock out booting from devices other than the main hard drive volume and there is no way to execute the exploit.

Also, calling this a Windows 7 exploit was just a bid for publicity. There is no OS that is proof against a boot time code insertion. You can do things to make it harder but this will adversely affect boot performance. Far better to lock alternative boot device until they're needed, if ever.
 
[quote name='epobirs']This has since been revealed to be utter nonsense easily defeated by existing standard features in the average PC BIOS. All you have to do is lock out booting from devices other than the main hard drive volume and there is no way to execute the exploit.

Also, calling this a Windows 7 exploit was just a bid for publicity. There is no OS that is proof against a boot time code insertion. You can do things to make it harder but this will adversely affect boot performance. Far better to lock alternative boot device until they're needed, if ever.[/QUOTE]

I also heard that if you hit to hard drive with a hammer while booting up there might be a risk to data integrity. ;)
 
[quote name='BlueLobstah']RC1 is out, just not officially.

I think once RC1 is released publicly, I am going to completely change over. I've been running 7000 and XP duel boot, but have only been back to XP maybe 2-3 times since installing 7. The RC1 build supposedly doesn't expire until March 2010, so that's plenty of time to allow for getting the final release.[/QUOTE]

Then it's not. If you're downloading an RC1 now you are either downloading a fake or a big glowing neon sign that says I am a worthless ****
 
I just installed RC1 Build 7100. Install only took around 20 minutes. I wiped my entire HD, I had it backed up on an external. This is my first time installing it, but I am liking it a lot. The file transfers are fast, the UI in general is faster, and I love the task bar.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2595
 
I have been running RC1 build 7100 on my Asus 1000HE netbook for a few days now. Runs like a dream. Runs even better than the XP that was preinstalled. I'm not sure how that could be unless they really made effort to make it scale well to different hardware.

Yes even aero looks and works perfectl..... on a $300 netbook!
 
[quote name='VioletArrows']Is there anything different in the taskbar between the 7000 beta and the RC1?[/quote]


It's a little darker blue when using the default background.....or my eyes are playing tricks on me. Either way, no, nothing noticeable has changed.
 
Just installed the 7056 build yesterday... Dont ask me why I installed and older build BUT I am loving windows 7 more and more, very fast indeed!

But i have a question, I have a laptop coming in a few days that had Vista 64-bit installed already but I would like to install Windows 7 64-bit instead. Is there alot of bugs and/or harder to find drivers in the 64 bit version?
 
[quote name='XxSmityxX']Just installed the 7056 build yesterday... Dont ask me why I installed and older build BUT I am loving windows 7 more and more, very fast indeed!
[/QUOTE]

why didn't you install RC1 7100?
 
[quote name='MotzCTG']I just installed RC1 Build 7100. Install only took around 20 minutes. I wiped my entire HD, I had it backed up on an external. This is my first time installing it, but I am liking it a lot. The file transfers are fast, the UI in general is faster, and I love the task bar.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2595[/QUOTE]


Agreed. I'm a programmer and the biggest XP fanboy there is (was :lol:), but Windows 7 has been amazing so far. It really is night and day compared to vista.

[quote name='Liquid 2']Does Build 7100 have a built in expiration date like Build 7000?[/QUOTE]

I believe it is March 2010, so long as you have registered the key you were given. After that it turns off every few hours apparently. By then I would hope we have retail copies available, because I am going to buy this day 1.

Microsoft, I am impressed. So far the only flaw I have found is that my computer will not sleep properly, but this is easily solved.
 
So if I buy a laptop sometime during July or after, they'll let me upgrade to this for free when it comes out? Will they send me a cd or something? I would wait for it to come out, but I need a laptop for college.

Also, if I install this beta, I would lose everything unless I back everything up right?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='v1et r1ce']So if I buy a laptop sometime during July or after, they'll let me upgrade to this for free when it comes out? Will they send me a cd or something? I would wait for it to come out, but I need a laptop for college.

Also, if I install this beta, I would lose everything unless I back everything up right?[/QUOTE]

MS will advertise when PCs will have the free upgrade to Windows 7 option. Going by the one for Vista, I think it was only good for PCs purchased like a month prior to its release and the current rumor release date for Windows 7 is sometime in October as I am sure they are trying to make the free upgrade window be after most people by new computers and laptops for school so they will need to buy Windows 7 if they want to upgrade.
 
[quote name='v1et r1ce']Also, if I install this beta, I would lose everything unless I back everything up right?[/QUOTE]


Unless you dual boot, yes. If dual booting, no.
 
Anyone get the email last weekend about how beta 7000 will start shutting down every two hours on its own June 1? That... pissed me right off. Oh well. At least there was warning. I just don't feel like formatting my drive and installing RC1 all over again.
 
They need to rename the RC1 Beta 2 and put a lot more work into this mess. They fixed about half the problems in the beta and broke just about everything that did work in the beta.
 
[quote name='neverletthem']Unless you dual boot, yes. If dual booting, no.[/QUOTE]


Dual booting doesn't really have anything to do with it. If you have a separate partition for your files/OS(s), you don't really have to worry that much about lost data other than reinstalling programs. I was able to keep basically everything when upgrading from 7000 to RC1.
 
Yeah you just have to backup your stuff. I didn't lose anything important only time. I made the mistake of syncing my ipod touch before putting my music or apps to the new drive and lost everything. Took me awhile to get my apps and resubscribe to my podcasts. I also lost some data from my apps I can't get back. Lesson learned though.
 
Currently the only problem I am having with win 7 rc is with my xfi titanium sound card. The drivers for it are not complete and the vista drivers don't all work. I'm using some modified drivers created by some guy. His drivers actually work but not completely. However, this could be because I didn't do a clean install of his drivers. I will probably try uninstalling the old drivers and installling his over again. The problem I'm having is only with optical. Analog works fine
 
[quote name='v1et r1ce']So if I buy a laptop sometime during July or after, they'll let me upgrade to this for free when it comes out? Will they send me a cd or something? I would wait for it to come out, but I need a laptop for college.

Also, if I install this beta, I would lose everything unless I back everything up right?[/QUOTE]

The Easy Transfer wizard actually works pretty well for moving from the Beta to the RC. Just back up everything to an external drive and let the RC install wipe the boot volume. You'll still need to install apps.

Just type 'easy' at the Start menu to get it going.
 
[quote name='VioletArrows']Is there anything different in the taskbar between the 7000 beta and the RC1?[/QUOTE]

There are actually quite a few changes and additions but they tend to be subtle. The best place to read up on this stuff is the Engineering Windows 7 Blog from the developers themsleves. There are a bunch of really interesting articles there if you like to know what is behind the design decisions.

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']http://www.vendettadolce.com/forum/images/smilies/squirtle4.gif

Here are 7 tweaking apps for Windows 7.

Enhance My Se7en looks pretty good to me. Whenever I get around to replacing build 7000 with build 7100, I'm going to try it out.[/QUOTE]

I totally dig that link.
squirtle4.gif
 
Anyone know if there's any plans for an upgrade program like they did for XP>Vista where if you bought an XP equipped computer during a certain period, you got a free Vista upgrade when it was released?
 
[quote name='opterasis']Anyone know if there's any plans for an upgrade program like they did for XP>Vista where if you bought an XP equipped computer during a certain period, you got a free Vista upgrade when it was released?[/QUOTE]


Yeah, I'll try and find a link. I've read a couple articles where MS has said they will offer a like-for-like upgrade program. I thought I remember seeing a start date of 6-22-09.

Here we go: http://www.slashgear.com/windows-7-...cs-bought-after-june-1st-get-upgrade-1234060/

EDIT: Guess it won't stat until 7-1-09
 
Actually, Best Buy will do a thing where you'll get a free upgrade when you buy a laptop (with either Vista Premium, Business or Ultimate) from June 26th to the release date Oct 22. If you don't want to buy a new laptop, they're offering a Premium upgrade for $50 and a Professional Upgrade for $100.
 
[quote name='v1et r1ce']Actually, Best Buy will do a thing where you'll get a free upgrade when you buy a laptop (with either Vista Premium, Business or Ultimate) from June 26th to the release date Oct 22. If you don't want to buy a new laptop, they're offering a Premium upgrade for $50 and a Professional Upgrade for $100.[/QUOTE]


Interesting. I bought a laptop from them a couple months ago. It would be well worth $50 to upgrade from Vista to Win 7. I'll have to check that out.
 
I found a link with info on the Best Buy Win 7 upgrade program:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/05/best.buy.windows.7.upgrade/

If I purchase an upgrade copy of Win 7 will it be able to automatically detect that I own an earlier version of Windows and let me install it?

I remember the last time I did an upgrade from Win 98 SE to XP the software made me put the CD in the drive to prove I had a prior Windows and that I wasn't just trying to avoid buying the more expensive full version. I ask because PC makers no longer give you the physical media anymore. The software always comes pre-loaded on a special partition of the hard drive.
 
Can anyone recommend me a browser that's compadible with Win7? I'm currently using IE and it sucks. I have no clue how to block ads and whatnot.
 
Firefox and install adblock and noscript plugins. After installing firefox just go to the extensions or plugin page (there will be a customize link in your bookmarks) and do search for those two plugins.
 
Just a heads up... and didnt want to make a seperate thread on this

With the newest Nvidia driver 185.85 for Windows 7 64bit (dont know if it effects the 32bit version)

No flash from flashbangs if it lands next to you! This is very weird because if a flashbang is far away from you it will flash you?
 
Been using the RC-1 release for a few days. I love the performance of Windows 7 compared to Vista. It runs much faster and is a bit less memory intensive which is always nice. However.... I really wish MS would have let one keep the XP style interface. I'm sorry but the Windows 7 taskbar and start menu is just flat out annoying to me. I know I should get used to it. I just don't like it.
 
Question, I hate the 7 Icon size (the size and text). Is there any way to revert it to mimic the size and text of XP because I love the XP icons?
 
The only issue I seem to have with the Win 7 RC is when it goes to sleep. Whenever I leave the laptop running and it hibernates it seems to lock up and I can't wake it up. I end up having to shut it down and reboot it.
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']Question, I hate the 7 Icon size (the size and text). Is there any way to revert it to mimic the size and text of XP because I love the XP icons?[/QUOTE]

You mean the icons on the desktop? Cause yes, it's easy to change that. Just right click on the desktop, choose view and small icons.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top