Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: IceFire on October 22, 2009, 06:31:10 pm
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So Windows 7 is out officially as of today and my copy arrived in the mail. No time to install it just yet but I am getting started on the backup process. I'm going to totally wipe and clean this stuff out before I start fresh and then start loading stuff on again.
Question for those of you who are going through this process. Any good reasons to stick with 32bit these days or should I go for 64bit. I know I have one printer that is old that probably won't work but everything else is recent (my system is barely a year and a half) and has 64bit Vista drivers and probably 64bit Windows 7 drivers by now too. Should I be REALLY careful or is the switch to 64bit now a pretty smooth ride?
I do have 2GB of RAM right now and am thinking of going for 4GB sometime so the switch to 64bit might be good.
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i *think* you might as well go all the way, more than 2GB of ram is getting rather common.
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You will probably want the 64-bit version. That's one of the main reasons to upgrade to this or Vista from XP. Driver availability has never been a big issue with 64-bit Vista and 7, at least not any more than the 32-bit versions.
Like Vista, there are a few shortcomings with the 64-bit version: 16-bit programs don't work and using unsigned drivers is a little tricky. The ability to use more than 3GB should be worth the tradeoff though.
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You can get 16-bit programs to work through the XP Mode, which is basically a virtual machine running Windows XP. Although when you start the programs, you might as well not notice it.
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Hey IceFire, I would appreciate your feedback on W7 once you get it installed. I would rather not put my money in until I can be reasonably confident that everything wont go :warp:
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Yeah, if you do have any comments on the experience, I'm sure several of us would be glad to read them. :) My own machine isn't worth putting anything beyond XP on it, but I'm thinking of possibly upgrading the family's relatively-new Dell from Vista to 7.
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As I just told someone else:
There is absolutely no reason to run Windows Vista or 7 in anything other than 64-bit. Period.
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Hey IceFire, I would appreciate your feedback on W7 once you get it installed. I would rather not put my money in until I can be reasonably confident that everything wont go :warp:
Will do. I haven't had a chance and probably won't have a chance to install W7 until the weekend but my brother is already ip and running on 64bit and things are running really smoothly so far. Came up right away with sound, basic video, motherboard drivers, the whole nine yards. Time will tell... give me about a week or so.
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I pre-ordered it, but I'm thinking I might wait to install until the first service pack, if I can resist the temptation. (Probably not, now that I think about it.)
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It's been running fine for me for the last two months now I think.
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I pre-ordered it, but I'm thinking I might wait to install until the first service pack, if I can resist the temptation. (Probably not, now that I think about it.)
I'm viewing this as Vista SP3... so I'm not feeling much need to wait. Its NT6.1 (Vista was 6.0) and most of the backend is streamlined from Vista. I suppose its prudent to wait if you absolutely hate to run into problems but ... I figure it'll be fine *crosses fingers*
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Hey IceFire, I would appreciate your feedback on W7 once you get it installed. I would rather not put my money in until I can be reasonably confident that everything wont go :warp:
Will do. I haven't had a chance and probably won't have a chance to install W7 until the weekend but my brother is already ip and running on 64bit and things are running really smoothly so far. Came up right away with sound, basic video, motherboard drivers, the whole nine yards. Time will tell... give me about a week or so.
Much appreciated :yes:
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*_*
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I've been running Windows 7 on three machines total for several months now: two test machines and my personal laptop.
I have had no problems with it for months, in all three environments (all three environments are different). Both 64bit and 32bit works like a charm (depending on your hardware obviously), but i spend several hours every day on my laptop, and it's a beautiful thing to use :)
I think Windows 7 is going to put Microsoft back on the map. They've spent more money on this release than on any other windows release to date.
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I think Windows 7 is going to put Microsoft back on the map. They've spent more money on this release than on any other windows release to date.
Yeah... but... it's windows
I'm skeptical but hopeful all at the same time. ;)
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Windows 7. Why buy it if you have more than enough powerful hardware to run vista? Windows 7 is after all just a re-release of vista.
Only buy windows 7 if you were one of the many who had a substantially low amount of memory with vista (remember vista capable stickers and all the suckers that were out there years ago).
To go with 64bit or not to go with 64 bit. Go ahead and get it. I did have vista 64 bit home basic edition. The os itself was 64 bit, but almost absolutely all of my apps are 32bit. Vista 64 bit runs 32 bit code just great, i didn't have a single problem at all, plus i could run whatever few 64 bits apps i had also (the default web browser in vista 64 bit is internet explorer 32 bit, they ship it with 32 bit and 64 bit versions, but 32 bit is the default one). And, if you're going to have at least 4gb of memory or more, go get 64 bit windows 7. 32 bit software only allows for close to 4gb of memory.
I bought vista 64 bit home basic edition for my intel core 2 duo 2gb ram system. It ran fine with my 32bit apps, especially the scp.
Go with 64 bit if you can.
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i cant really think of any reason to use 32 bit except in cases where you have hardware that doesnt have 32 bit drivers, or if you have a 32 bit processor. there are cases where i use 32 bit, like when i want to use my trackir in mechwarrior 2.
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Windows 7. Why buy it if you have more than enough powerful hardware to run vista? Windows 7 is after all just a re-release of vista.
Because as long as we stick to Windows, 7 is better than Vista in every way. Sure, you don't have to upgrade if you don't have any need to, that goes for the XP users too. But 7 is actually worth buying. Mine will arrive today along with C2Q Q9550 and Caviar Black 1TB. Nice weekend coming up.
I've been running Win7 RC1 since its release to the public, it's been great. MS really got things right this time around. But I still say that if it wasn't for games, I would be running linux in a heartbeat.
I pre-ordered it, but I'm thinking I might wait to install until the first service pack, if I can resist the temptation. (Probably not, now that I think about it.)
No reason to wait. Win7 is all things considered a minor upgrade over Vista, but it's all that tuning and optimization what makes a big difference. Win7 is like massive service pack to Vista, a service pack Vista won't be getting.
Any good reasons to stick with 32bit these days or should I go for 64bit.
Only if your CPU does not support x86_64 or you have incompatible, but needed hardware/peripherals.
I heard it costs around $200 to get Win 7. Same as when XP was newer. I hear the loading times at system startup are faster.
Get OEM version from an online retailer, depending on local prices OEM version may cost 50% less. You can't however install it on another PC and activate without contacting MS, whereas retail works on any PC but it can only be activated on one PC at any given time.
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No reason to wait. Win7 is all things considered a minor upgrade over Vista, but it's all that tuning and optimization what makes a big difference. Win7 is like massive service pack to Vista, a service pack Vista won't be getting.
I should probably still do a clean install as opposed to an upgrade though, correct?
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Although the upgrade thing is meant to be pretty painless from what I've heard, I will never trust an OS "upgrade", ever.
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Clean install is ALWAYS recommended. While Win7 upgrade is rather robust, there's just too many variables to take into account, uncountable number of hardware, driver and software combinations.
And there's this tool: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx
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*_*
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Lol, one of those upgrade variables is a left over C:\WINDOWS directory from your older version of windows after the upgrade. Idk if that's the case anymore.
Then again upgrading any os is a pain. Best to just do a backup of your files and do a fresh install. Now if all you did was purchase an upgrade disc, then microsoft will let you do a fresh install with the upgrade disc, just as long as you have a past version of windows disc (that windows 7 will let you upgrade from) that the upgrade installer can verify with first before the fresh install happens.
As easy as booting up with the upgrade disc, and then eventually the upgrade disc will ask you to pop in your windows cd you're upgrading from, spits it out, put back in the upgrade disc, and away goes your fresh install.
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I'm getting a copy through Microsoft's expert-zone (free stuff for retail peons), so since i'm only paying the shipping, i'm considering splurging on a ssd to plop it onto. Only problem is, I wish I could upgrade it instead of going custom so i dont have to play the driver/config game again, but that would mean sticking it on a WD Caviar...
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I'll probably get Windows 7 around the end of the year, once the SSDs have matured further. I would like to get one and install it on that, but the current crop of drives have too many issues for my liking.
I want to keep my existing XP install in any case. There is at least one thing I know I will need it for, playing D2X-XL with music from the Yamaha SYXG50 midi driver. Windows 7's XP mode will support the driver, but it's based on the Virtual PC engine and can't do any 3D acceleration at all.
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Who's winning? Microsoft, or the Super Star-Destroyers?
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Been running 7 for the past two months and it's just great.
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*_*
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write times are faster if you dont get one with a samsung/jmicron controller in it
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seeing great review everywhere about Windows 7, might as well start thinking about getting it... I'm getting too many errors on XP as of now so I think it's starting to crumble AGAIN.
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*_*
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XP was a bit of a temperamental beast. I reinstalled XP so many times on the systems I had. Every year and a half or so. Windows Vista I had on this machine for 2 years and I was only tempted to reinstall in the last month or so and I quickly squashed that notion because I decided to order 7 and wait until then.
Lots of people have fond memories of XP ... and I do too... but it had its issues too. I'm sure 7 will have its own set... but right now it seems to be the most polished product that Microsoft has put out in ... a long time. Again... time will tell if thats the case.
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Has anyone attempted doing a clean install of the Win7 Upgrade edition yet, and if so are there any special tricks I should be aware of? My copy won't be arriving for another week.
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I installed my new quad-core, HDD and Win7 on the new HDD yesterday. Works like a charm. I bought OEM version of Win7.
When doing clean install of upgrade version, you need to have Vista or XP installation disc at hand, Win7 will ask for it during install process to verify you are eligible for upgrade license.
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I just installed a copy of 7 I got through my school. It was advertised as an upgrade, but I just activated it and was never asked for an older Windows key or disc. I don't know if this is special since it's a volume-licensed copy or what.
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Well, this is interesting (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/linus-torvalds-windows-7-linux,8920.html)
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/linus-torvalds-windows-7,1-Q-228158-13.jpg)
:P
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*_*
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I think there was a slight improvement over Vista, but I've been using 7 exclusively since the first public Beta.
And the install procedure takes very little time; A complete reinstall takes about an hour, while an upgrade will take longer, of course. Note that upgrading is only supported from Vista, XP users will have to do a complete reinstall.
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Well its running ... it'll take me days to get back to where I was at before. So far so good *Crosses fingers*
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When doing clean install of upgrade version, you need to have Vista or XP installation disc at hand, Win7 will ask for it during install process to verify you are eligible for upgrade license.
Redundant hints and tips. I bet this thread has lots of them.
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The verification went pretty seamlessly for me. I knew it was happening but ... there's no real indication of it. Not if you have a valid Windows install when you put in the disk and start the process. From there I just wiped the old partitions and started over.
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As is typical of Microsoft, there's three versions of the OS out now: Home Premium, Professional (I think that's it), and Ultimate.
Which of those would be worth buying? After all, there's a lot of crap which they throw into the current OS's (ex: Windows Media Center, which is not only slow but is never used by me... and it always has some process going on that I can't permanently shut down).
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As is typical of Microsoft, there's three versions of the OS out now: Home Premium, Professional (I think that's it), and Ultimate.
Which of those would be worth buying? After all, there's a lot of crap which they throw into the current OS's (ex: Windows Media Center, which is not only slow but is never used by me... and it always has some process going on that I can't permanently shut down).
Home Premium should be sufficient, but I would recommend Pro, if you can get it.
As for that errant process, you should check the Services in the Control panel. Disabling WMPNETWORK fixes the most resource-hogging one.
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When doing clean install of upgrade version, you need to have Vista or XP installation disc at hand, Win7 will ask for it during install process to verify you are eligible for upgrade license.
Wait-- my laptop came with Vista installed, so I don't have a disk. What do I do?
EDIT: Also, I'm reading elsewhere that you don't need a disk. What gives?
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When doing clean install of upgrade version, you need to have Vista or XP installation disc at hand, Win7 will ask for it during install process to verify you are eligible for upgrade license.
Wait-- my laptop came with Vista installed, so I don't have a disk. What do I do?
Well, in that case, you should start the Butlerian Jihad...
Also, thanks for the advice, E!
*Please accept cookie :yes:
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Just bought a laptop today, has 7 Home on it.
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Thaeris: You can also uninstall the media player completely. If you go to the program list, and click on "Turn Windows Features on or off", you'll find the media center and the media player under media features. Uncheck the tickmark, click OK, and watch them disappear.
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As is typical of Microsoft, there's three versions of the OS out now: Home Premium, Professional (I think that's it), and Ultimate.
Which of those would be worth buying? After all, there's a lot of crap which they throw into the current OS's (ex: Windows Media Center, which is not only slow but is never used by me... and it always has some process going on that I can't permanently shut down).
Compare them here: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_skus_compare.asp
Most people would be perfectly happy with Home Premium. Rare does someone actually need the Ultimate version... although there are definitely some.
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In this case, Ultimate is definitely not worth the money. Unless you absolutely need BitLocker, or the ability to switch languages freely.
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In this case, Ultimate is definitely not worth the money. Unless you absolutely need BitLocker, or the ability to switch languages freely.
And Bitlocker is actually inferior to TrueCrypt, which is open source. The only reason to buy Ultimate is to be able to switch languages on the fly... not really commonly used functionality.
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Wait-- my laptop came with Vista installed, so I don't have a disk. What do I do?
EDIT: Also, I'm reading elsewhere that you don't need a disk. What gives?
If you have Windows currently installed, that's enough for it to upgrade. If you don't have XP/Vista/Win7 installed, you need installation disc. And also, you SHOULD have Windows installation disc even if your laptop came with it preinstalled. How else you're supposed to reinstall OS if need be?
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most laptops dont come with a windows disk , if your lucky they have an EISA partition that has it in there or there ws some propriety software to create a back up reinstal disk....
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Yeah, I have a partition with recovery software, but no installation disk. I'm afraid I'm gonna start a clean install and then find out halfway through that I need a Vista disk to verify my eligibility, and then I'll be up **** Creek.
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Then don't buy upgrade version of Win7 but either retail or OEM. OEM and upgrade prices are about same.
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Wait-- my laptop came with Vista installed, so I don't have a disk. What do I do?
EDIT: Also, I'm reading elsewhere that you don't need a disk. What gives?
If you have Windows currently installed, that's enough for it to upgrade. If you don't have XP/Vista/Win7 installed, you need installation disc. And also, you SHOULD have Windows installation disc even if your laptop came with it preinstalled. How else you're supposed to reinstall OS if need be?
Provided this is a upgrade version, not the full version, then from what I understand, the install disk isn't used. You need to have a windows installed on the system before you can upgrade. There is a way of doing an full install, but not activating, then upgrading then activating.
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Due to some weird... stuff, my dad, just like every other dutch teacher (A teacher who lives in NL, not one who teaches the dutch language), can get Windows 7 Ultimate...
For €17.
I, as a student, can get it for €70.
Everyone else gets it at €(Something high).
Why is that, exactly? You can get these prices by using a special software store, but how did they manage to get a 90% or more discount?
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:nervous: I got 7 for free via MSDNAA...
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:nervous: I got 7 for free via MSDNAA...
@-Joshua-
In the case of your dad, the dutch government must have some sort of deal with Microsoft to supply teachers there with software at low prices.
In your case, you are a student, and several companies wish to increase their revenue with people who normally don't have much (or any) income but are not exactly poor.
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Not to mention the marketing opportunities this represents.
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Alright here is my mini review.
In short I love Windows 7 and so far I'm extremely pleased with it. To be fair I was a fan of Vista as well. I loved the new features like integrated search on the start menu, the graphical desktop, and the revised driver model making for an overall better and more stable system. Vista had a rough start but by the end it was living up to its potential. So why bother with Windows 7 then? Windows 7 takes all of the good points of Vista, adds a few years of development by Microsoft and by all of the driver companies (by far the biggest offenders 2 years ago were companies like Creative and nVidia that put out crappy Vista drivers - now they have learned), and makes the whole thing awesome!
The revised UI is great. I wasn't sure about it at first but spend an hour with it. Its natural as a Windows user to use the new taskbar method and its infinitely better when you have large numbers of applications open. Its all of the other UI inventions as well such as how the tray icons are hidden away unless you want them. Or how if you want to view the desktop an unobtrusive bar at the right side of the taskbar makes it simple and easy. Or how if you are flipping through applications you can use the preview function to isolate the window you want.
I also love how you can grab a window and shake it to make other applications go away. Or how if you hold a window in the left or right corner of the screen it will fill up exactly 50%. Great way to split the screen between applications.
The fun bit I love is the new theme system and the ability to have desktops that switch every X amount of minutes. I always find myself changing the desktop back ground wanting to look at something new and different or getting annoyed with some small piece of one desktop background and going to another. Now I worry less and enjoy more... it'll change in 30 minutes or less anyways... so who cares! Its really fantastic.
Technically I've had no problems except for some older Asus motherboard drivers that I had to use compatibility mode to get installed as they were meant for Vista. They seem to work perfectly by the way. I plugged in my Canon G7 the other day and that went in as smooth as butter. I connected my XBox 360 and that is working great now too.
So in short I'm having a great time so far and I hope that the honeymoon never ends. Windows 7 for me... and I can't speak for anyone else... is possibly the best OS Microsoft has ever put out. It'll never be perfect but this one is a homerun. Microsoft should do more Windows 7 and less some of their other crappy initiatives over the years.
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Sounds good. Perhaps I should start looking for a student discount somewhere...
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That does sound pretty good. I probably will recommend it to my family, though I honestly haven't spent enough time on their machine to be familiar with many of Vista's foibles. I've had more than enough of that godawful UAC implementation, though. :p
This topic reminds me of a blog post (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1484) I read the other day about how the days of the new version of an OS being a massive, must-have upgrade are apparently mostly in the past, especially when compared to browser development. Do you guys think the author has a good point?
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I think that's correct. In my case, the only reason I'm interested in getting it is 64-bit support. I am still on 32-bit XP and it does everything I want except for this.
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I agree with him too. For what I do with my computer on a regular basis, XP does literally everything that I need. I don't have a 64-bit processor in here, so there's no reason in that regard; it would really be upgrading just for the sake of upgrading. If/when I do build a system from the ground up, I'll throw 7 on there as a matter of course, but that'd be about it.
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Vista 64 was kick-ass. I have run it since a year post-release. I've used Win 7 Betas already and I've had no real complaints. Microsoft outdid themselves; whatever nagging issues left in Vista seem to be addressed. I won't be upgrading immediately, but Windows 7 is well worth the prices.
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This topic reminds me of a blog post (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1484) I read the other day about how the days of the new version of an OS being a massive, must-have upgrade are apparently mostly in the past, especially when compared to browser development. Do you guys think the author has a good point?
The Author ignores security problems. XP's security model was BAD (http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/BAD.html), especially when installed by a non-expert. It took Vista to fix it, and 7 to do the fix right. Then there are things like a new driver model that can't be easily hacked on top of an existing install without causing a ton of support issues.
Then we have things like support for 64-bit processors, or 4+ GB of RAM that comes with it.
So, no. I don't think we have reached a golden age of eternally stable Operating systems. There will always be the occasional decision to make between backwards compatibility and new features. Keeping backwards compatibility is fine, to a degree. But at some point, as Apple has demonstrated and MS is trying to come around to, you just have to cut support for some hack someone came up with to work around a problem that doesn't exist anymore.
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I don't think the author was stating that there's going to be One OS To Rule Them All for all time, or that future OSes won't contain useful updates and new features that make them worth using. Instead, he's saying that the days of a new OS version being some sort of watershed moment that just about demanded an upgrade are largely in the past. Windows 95 represented the start of the modern Windows interface as we know it today. 98 was designed with the emergence of the Internet in mind. 2000 provided the features of NT with a modern interface. And to cap it all, XP merged the two main OS lines, taking the stability of one and compatibility of the other and creating what turned out to be a generally rock-solid experience with a host of new features. But Vista didn't do anything as monumental as any of those previous versions...at least for most people, it was just kind of there. (For instance, I feel like the vast majority of people wound up putting more RAM in their systems because of Vista, not acquiring Vista in order to take advantage of their previous large amounts of RAM.) A lot of end-users didn't have the specs to run it at first, and businesses didn't feel that there was a large benefit to offset the downside of losing so much compatibility. And while 7 appears to be a marked improvement, it really comes across as more of a fixed Vista than a revolutionary new experience. In that context, I agree with the author in that OSes aren't exactly something to get excited about anymore.
And even though Vista's security implementation was demonstrably better than XP's, to the end-user it appeared to be functionally worse due to the extremely naggy UAC dialogs. (Seriously, the thing's asked me for an admin password when attempting to delete a shared shortcut from my desktop. A ****ing shortcut.) I've heard that 7's implementation is significantly better, which is a huge relief, but even so, in an enterprise setting, I think it's going to take a bit of time before everyone starts jumping on the bandwagon.
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So.. I think I'm getting it too, thnks for the mini review IceFire :yes:
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Just installed yesterday. I just booted from the DVD and did a custom install, and it didn't ask me for a Vista disk, thank god. So far it works like a dream, although it remains to be seen how much of that is just my computer thanking me for a reformat.
One snag: My laptop has an integrated Dolby 5.1 sound system, but the appropriate drivers do not seem to have been made available for Windows 7 yet. I got the Realtek audio driver from the Lenovo website, which is giving me good sound, but still doesn't seem to be taking full advantage of the hardware.
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*_*
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I'm on tigerdirect.com and I'm about to buy Win 7 professional 64 bit. Sounds like a good choice? It's also only 149.99 here.
Any reason for going with the Professional? Most people only need the features of Home Premium. If you do then yeah go for it... but otherwise save the cash and go for Home Premium.
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*_*
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So, here are my thoughts on Windows 7, if anyone is interested:
The Quick And Dirty Summary: The best Windows operating system I've set up to date. Fast, simple, and incredibly intuitive, it'll take you an hour to figure out the new UI at most and you'll be converted. Rock solid stable, and very user friendly without "dumbing it down."
TL;DR Version
-Gone is the quick launch bar and traditional method of tracking open Windows on the taskbar. Gone too is the ability to turn on a Classic Start menu, and even the Classic theme retains the new UI features. You can't run this as a Windows 98 clone, and let me just say that despite my doing this even on Vista, the change is nothing but a good thing.
-The new taskbar interface allows any program to be "pinned" to the Taskbar. While all open programs display their window listing on the taskbar, pinning a program allows you to retain that icon as a shortcut as well. It's an integration of the old quicklaunch bar with the window itself, allowing it to act as both a shortcut and a Window identifier, should you so choose.
-Jump lists are "recent history" for shortcuts on the Start Menu and pinned Taskbar items. If you go to a particular website often, or open particular folders, you can pin that into a jump list for the program icon itself. Thus, I now right-click on my Windows explorer taskbar icon and have all of my regularly used folders at my fingertips. Jump lists can be set to create automatically based on recent history, or you can pin particular items yourself.
-The notification area has been largely re-worked and we know have complete control over what icons are displayed and when. Only want to see your antivirus if there's an notification? Three clicks and done. This is a long-overdue change in Windows 7, and it works great.
-File organization: In addition to the standard OS-created document folders, we now have the option of Libraries. You can still move the location of My Documents, etc, but a Library allows you to add multiple different directory locations into a single collection. It's a unique implementation that a lot of us may have little use for at first because we've gotten accustomed to hyper-organizing everything in previous Windows OS', but for a new or basic user they will be a great tool.
-File sharing: I'm still of mixed emotions about the File sharing scheme in 7. We now have a "Homegroup" option that allows you to very quickly and very easily share particular folders with other computers on your home network, and password protect those should you so choose. Think "Domain implementation in a workgroup." The only trouble I'm seeing with it, which may or may not go away once I've migrated our laptop to Windows 7 as well, is that it doesn't appear I can share the root of a partition, which is a rather annoying problem I'm going to have to get around in order to sync the data partitions on our two computers. Fortunately, advanced, permissions-based file sharing is still available if you want to shut off the new Homegroup feature.
-Program compatibility: I haven't had anything that worked in Vista stop working in Windows 7. I've now finished installing pretty much everything. The only program I had even the slightest hiccup with was Borderlands, through Steam. For whatever reason, if I tried to copy in my settings folder from Vista, Borderlands would over-write it on launch every single time. I finally had to manually re-tweak the INIs and then the game didn't over-write them. I still have no idea why this happened.
-Drivers: This will be your most hassle-free installation of Windows yet. When I installed it, the drivers for literally everything (including the RAID drivers, which were a ***** with Vista) installed themselves. The only drivers I added manually were the latest nVidia video drivers, the latest Auzentech sound drivers, and the printer driver (which, despite being designed for Windows XP, works flawlessly).
-The dreaded UAC: I shut this off within about 5 minutes of installing Vista, but no more on Windows 7. This OS does UAC right - it's unobtrusive, configurable, and it only shows up during a major change by default. And unlike the Vista one, which was slow as hell and drove you crazy, this is nothing more than a quick dialogue box that gets your attention and then goes away the second you authorize it. Finally.
So that's it for the big changes I've noticed. It's very customizeable, so it will fit the needs of new users and people who've been using Windows since 3.1 and cursing it every step of the way. Microsoft finally did this one right, and I think it was money well spent. If anyone is still using XP and Vista and hedging their bets to wait and see how 7 pans out, my advice to you is to find it at the cheapest price you can and buy it immediately. You won't regret it.
Incidentally, I bought an upgrade edition and performed a clean install by booting to the DVD. For anyone repeating that procedure, a few additional comments:
-You don't require another Windows disc to insert when you perform a clean install.
-Make sure you have a lot of time. On my system, it took a good 10 minutes just to boot to the DVD. Don't restart thinking it's frozen, even if the access lights stop blinking - it's just very very slow.
-The only way to make partition changes during an upgrade is to clean install after booting to DVD.
-DO NOT enter your license key during the installation. After the OS finishes installing, put it into Windows and then verify it online.
-Windows will auto-update if left to connect to the Internet during the install process. I recommend doing it.
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-Jump lists are "recent history" for shortcuts on the Start Menu and pinned Taskbar items. If you go to a particular website often, or open particular folders, you can pin that into a jump list for the program icon itself. Thus, I now right-click on my Windows explorer taskbar icon and have all of my regularly used folders at my fingertips. Jump lists can be set to create automatically based on recent history, or you can pin particular items yourself.
This almost seems worth the price of admission by itself. I've grown so very sick and tired of continuously having to dig ten folders deep to get to some of my most frequently-visited directories.
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As I just told someone else:
There is absolutely no reason to run Windows Vista or 7 in anything other than 64-bit. Period.
FALSE (http://www.dolphin-emu.com/news.php)
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As I just told someone else:
There is absolutely no reason to run Windows Vista or 7 in anything other than 64-bit. Period.
FALSE (http://www.dolphin-emu.com/news.php)
1. I see nothing in that link you posted that even mentions 64-bit compatibility. Though the downloads section has x64 builds on it.
2. A single emulation program isn't really a reason to buy a product that doesn't take full advantage of your hardware. Dual-boot to XP or Linux if you really need a native 32-bit OS. All 64-bit editions of Windows are capable of emulating 32-bit software modes, though, so it should only be an issue for very few things.
Running Windows 7 in 32-bit on a x64 processor is a waste of resources. Seriously.
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As I just told someone else:
There is absolutely no reason to run Windows Vista or 7 in anything other than 64-bit. Period.
FALSE (http://www.dolphin-emu.com/news.php)
1. I see nothing in that link you posted that even mentions 64-bit compatibility. Though the downloads section has x64 builds on it.
2. A single emulation program isn't really a reason to buy a product that doesn't take full advantage of your hardware. Dual-boot to XP or Linux if you really need a native 32-bit OS. All 64-bit editions of Windows are capable of emulating 32-bit software modes, though, so it should only be an issue for very few things.
Running Windows 7 in 32-bit on a x64 processor is a waste of resources. Seriously.
oops, I misunderstood you. you and I are in absolute agreement, sorry for the confusion.
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Most of the UI changes won't really affect me. I have always opened programs directly from a file manager utility called Turbo Navigator, and have no quick launch bar and a very minimal start menu and desktop. That program is effectively my desktop. :p
the printer driver (which, despite being designed for Windows XP, works flawlessly).
Does the printer need the driver at all or is it just using the basic Microsoft driver? If it's the former, I wonder if some basic XP drivers like this Yamaha MIDI thing actually work on Vista and 7. That's the main thing I would want the Pro version and its XP mode for (as well as my existing XP install, for that matter).
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Does the printer need the driver at all or is it just using the basic Microsoft driver? If it's the former, I wonder if some basic XP drivers like this Yamaha MIDI thing actually work on Vista and 7. That's the main thing I would want the Pro version and its XP mode for (as well as my existing XP install, for that matter).
It didn't automatically find the printer and I had to install the driver manually.
I bought the Pro version because it was so cheap in the pre-order, but if all you want Pro for is XP Mode, just download VMWare and run XP that way.
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I'm guessing you mean Virtual PC, which has the same core as the XP mode and does what I want, but it's a little clumsy to use and the XP mode is supposed to integrate nicely into the main OS shell. Although I will still need a separate XP install to play certain games with the driver unless it actually works on 7 natively.
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*_*
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I'm guessing you mean Virtual PC, which has the same core as the XP mode and does what I want, but it's a little clumsy to use and the XP mode is supposed to integrate nicely into the main OS shell. Although I will still need a separate XP install to play certain games with the driver unless it actually works on 7 natively.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
For the "XP Mode" that is advertised as part of Pro, you need to run the XP Mode software through Virtual PC. Windows 7 has a raft of compatibility optimizations for XP programs, but the actual mode they're advertising is something entirely different.
And for High Max: It's not generally worth mentioning software because people use so many different programs. No, I haven't tried FSO yet.
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My main problem with Windows 7 is the lack any whatsoever native 16-bit support. Windows 7 doesn't have VDMS so I couldn't run DOS programs. Well I could still stomach that (what with Dosbox now pretty mature), but it turns out I still need 16-bit support.
-16-bit? That's DOS! You don't need that.
-Umm... I actually do. Ever tried to install and older program that was released when Win98 was still supported? (1995-2002) Those programs still use a 16-bit installer. If you install a 64-bit OS then it won't be able to run them.
I know that I could install Windows 7 x86 (32-bit edition), but then it wouldn't add anything that I could actually need. In Windows 7 64 I could use the XP Mode to still run such stuff but it sound pretty awkward and I would need to pay a 100$ more for a software to do what I can already do on XP.
As is, Windows 7 doesn't have any features that I *need*. (I could use a newer GUI and fuctions would be handy - I'm among the few who would really use the virtual folders - but I don't *need* that). So no, for the time being I'm still fine with XP.
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DOSBox FTW, I say.
And seriously? It was about damn time that MS cut 16 bit support from the OS. Removes more unnecessary compatibility crud.
Also, if I really want to use a program that old (and right now, the only one that comes to mind that fits the bill would be the FS2 retail installer), I can always use a VM (There are free solutions out there). A bit of a hassle, but one I can deal with.
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For the "XP Mode" that is advertised as part of Pro, you need to run the XP Mode software through Virtual PC. Windows 7 has a raft of compatibility optimizations for XP programs, but the actual mode they're advertising is something entirely different.
As I understand it, it runs on the Virtual PC engine but you can use it directly on an application, instead of using an entirely separate desktop and hard drive volume as Virtual PC does. Running those 16-bit installers are exactly the sort of thing it would be good for.
For actual 16-bit games I can just use Windows 3.1, which runs in Dosbox nicely. I'm not sure if the installers would work in that though, as they might complain about the game requiring Windows 98. :p
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And seriously? It was about damn time that MS cut 16 bit support from the OS. Removes more unnecessary compatibility crud.
Windows 64 bit OS's never had 16 bit support. EVER.
And Windows 7 32 bit still has.
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Yesterday, I bought a copy of Windows 7 Professional (a full copy; standalone and upgrade) for about $32. :) I saved like $220 off retail.
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Where'd you get a full version for that price? I got an upgrade for $30 with a student discount. Not too much of a big deal, since I have an ancient copy of Windows XP I'm going to "upgrade from".
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Direct from Microsoft, as part of a student promotion. All you really need is a valid .edu email and a valid credit/debit card. $32 for a product key or $37 for a retail package. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=237601
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A pox on all forums that require you to log-in/sign-up to actually view the damned topic.
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A pox on all forums that require you to log-in/sign-up to actually view the damned topic.
It's their "On-line Deals & Sales" forum... the rest of the forum (sans the For Sale/Trade) sections are basically public. I'll be nicer...
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/26351-full-retail-version-pro-students-only-29-99-a.html