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Thread: Windows 7 Beta

  1. #1
    Senior Member Shoreguy's Avatar
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    Windows 7 Beta

    My initial thoughts: Finally!*
    * 7 looks and feels a lot like Vista. As I was in the beta and RC cycle of Vista, I'm familiar with where Vista was at this time of its cycle.

    If you have interest in running the beta, the download may still be available.
    I downloaded both 32 and 64 bit versions. For the beta, I'm optioning mainly the 64 bit version on an older box:
    Asus A8N-E (939)
    AMD 4800+
    4Gb Corsair XMS DDR2
    Plextor PX-760a
    BFG 7800GT
    Creative X-Fi Platinum
    BT: Logitech Mouse and MS Keyboard

    The box I'm using is mainly my media storage / server. I'm using a 50Gb partition of a 320Gb Seagate HDD.

    The installation went smoothly and after about 12hrs of playing around, I've yet to crash.

    Of the hardware, the only device that I cannot recognize, or find working drivers for is the sound card. Go figure...Creative finally released its working Vista drivers nearly a year after the release.

    Nvidia, as a counter, offered an immediate beta release of Forceware 7.15.11.7923 v179.23 (DirectX 10 compliant).

    Networking was simple, and although 7 wanted me to create a HomeGroup and issue its own password, I was quickly able to join my already familiar lan Work Group.

    Software:
    IE8: Upon 1st run, IE8 asks you to take Microsoft's Accellerators, or choose your own (blog, email, search, map, etc.). I customized to my likings without hickup or incident. No crashes yet, and although some sites need additional java and active x installs, the browser seems stable. Sysopt (writing this post in IE8), Netflix, Youtube and a litany of other bookmarks all seem to work as if nothing's new.
    I use Google's Chrome quite heavily, so the only thing I 'miss' is incognito mode. Ahwell. I'm going to try installing Chrome in a few minutes...

    WMP12: Absolutely no issues. It found all my media, playlists, etc., and even though I have over 700Gb of music, it was adding to the library as I was playing without crash or bogdown (Vista/WMP11 was horrible at this). I've even shared my media with my PS3 and am streaming to my home theatre as I did prior to running 7.

    Open Office 3: I'm going to spend most of my time testing 7 with 3rd party apps. I started with OO3. It downloaded/installed without incident, so I'm fairly certain MSO 2007 will work fine. I've created various types of documents, opened and worked with existing docs, all without glitch.

    I'm taking off for a bit now, and will be running a few stress tests while away. At initial pass, as a beta, I'm much more impressed with 7 than I ever was with Vista...which is sad, but I'm very much anticipating and looking forward to taking a lot less tylenol during this testing.

    I'll post more as I play with it. If you'd like a professional UAT perspective, try reading Paul Thurrott's Windows 7 Blog.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  2. #2
    Senior Member Shoreguy's Avatar
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    Netflix 'Watch Instantly' doesn't work in IE8 currently. I contacted them and they stated they're working on it and the player should be updated within the next couple weeks.

    Google Chrome also doesn't want to work. It installs and after going through a couple security checks with 7, does open, but doesn't connect with the internet.

    Mozilla Firefox (3.0.5) works just fine.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  3. #3
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    I've been playing around with 7 for a couple days. I love it! My laptop (HP ze5200) there is no sound.
    Can't find any Drivers. Still love it! Been stable for a Beta. I'll keep using it. I keep waiting for a crash. Not sure what to expect if I keep trying it.

    Oh, the first time I rebooted, my resolution went to 800x600, hasn't happened again tho.
    Chris.

  4. #4
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    Might check windows update, where I found the realtec AC 97 drivers.

    Used a old KT4V Nsi with a 2500 barton and 768 MB of ram.

    Office 2000 works fine, just no updates for it yet.

    Kind of wish the Toshiba laptop with Vista was this fast. And it has a dual core with 2 GB of ram.

    Avira installs and runs.

    Went the upgrade route from Vista SP1. No problems at all.

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member porsch1909's Avatar
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    Downloaded this and have heard great things about it. Will install tonight I hope!

  6. #6
    Senior Member Shoreguy's Avatar
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    Well, I have yet to make this thing crash hard. The worst I've encountered is to make IE8 crash by hitting various sites that it just doesn't play well with yet. Firefox 3.0.5 has been working just fine on 7, and most of the sites that crash with IE8 render fine with FF. Java seems to be a bit of a culprit.
    I'm impressed with the memory usage thus far. 7 seems to be committing to 1.4G at the full load of applications I run on average. This is right in between where XP and Vista are levelling off and makes me think that Microsoft isn't going to push the industry to another overhaul of architecture with its release of 7.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  7. #7
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    Remember the risk of loss is by enabling write-caching, not by disabling it. This is because it doesn't write everyting to the disk directly, but rather to a cache first in order to improve performance.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/281672

    So I went into Device manage, hdds , R-clicked the main drive and selected the main drive, Policies tab, uncheck the "enable write caching on this device"




    Then got curious and check to see what the Windows Experience Index, which was 1.9 would be afterward. 4.1 is the new number.

    I hate losing data .

  8. #8
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    My old GF2 32MB video card has a slight jumpiness when playing DVDs, otherwise no compaints and no crashes. Someday I will have to replace that antique card.

    After insert the ATA133 and upon booting up chkdsk run and removed/replaced a bunch of $SDH and $SII index files, but has run smoothly since.

  9. #9
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    Still can't get sound working. Will keep trying a little longer, but I at least need sound on my laptop.
    If I can't get it soon, I may give up and reformat.

    Problem with that is I can't find my Product Key for XP.

    Chris.

  10. #10
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    Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
    http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

  11. #11
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    Thanks for the link. I already have the Keyfinder. The copy I have on my computer I no longer have the disc. I have a different XP SP2 disc I want to use. That's the one I can't find the # for.

    I will go look in my storage to see if I can find it.

    I would really like to get sound working tho.

    Thank you,
    Chris.

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member Billforce's Avatar
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    No drivers for my DVD burner so unloaded and reinstalled XP Pro SP3 or I should say it would recognize or let me load my burner program, said I couldn't use the program with 7when I tried to install.
    Last edited by Billforce; 01-18-2009 at 01:46 AM.
    "Never corner something that's meaner than you are"

  13. #13
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    Found my # I think. Not sure if this goes with the disk I have.
    Will try later.

    I heard somewhere I could put XP on my desktop and my laptop, but read the EULA. I can not.

    Was looking to put Ubuntu. Tried the live CD. No internet. Battery isn't recognized (0% on a full charge).

    Went on some forums and found it is a problem with the latest 8.10 release. Tried the older one, 8.04.1 but wasn't even close to getting internet. No battery. Linux Forums where long on problems, short on answers.

    I can have a Laptop with Windows 7, with no sound.
    XP that is breaking the EULA, which I won't do.
    Ubuntu that can't get on the internet, and when I unplug it, it goes off with a 0% on a full battery.

    So, I guess I don't have a laptop I can use for a while.
    Chris.

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