Any Opinions/Tips on Windows 7 (RC)?

[TheCrew07]

I just switched my home computer over last night as my computer was in desperate need of a cleansing.

 

I must say, and understand this coming from a computer tech who absolutely despised Vista in all of it's forms, I like Windows 7 so far, I'm surprisingly happy with it.

 

Does anyone else have any experience with the RC? Any obvious bugs/issues that I should avoid? And no I haven't gotten around to reading the forums on Microsoft and doubt I'll have time.

[sgtcluels]

It's much better then Vista, but they sure are trying to make it look and act a lot more like OSX.

 

But you know, anything is better then Vista.

[DSFastball55]

I've been using Vista since it was in beta and have NEVER had a major problem with it. I love it. I think as long as you aren't trying to use ancient programs and hardware, Vista is great. And I have been messing around with Windows 7 as well, and like that as well.

[1992casey]

All I really know at this point is that the majority of the stuff I've heard has been positive. It seems that 7 avoids one of the huge issues that Vista had by working within the amount of RAM installed on machines currently in use.

 

One tidbit I've caught is that even if you're doing an upgrade, you're going to be required to do a clean install. That's more work up front, but I'd bet on that requirement saving trouble down the road.

 

If the look and feel is more like OS X, that's good news. I think Vista is really cumbersome. When I bought a monitor a year and a half ago, the guys at Best Buy and Circuit City struggled even to change desktop pictures (I wanted to flip through some desktops to see how the monitors stacked up against each other.)

 

The number of versions has me totally befuddled, though. I wouldn't know which one to buy. I'd love to hear some recommendations.

 

Other questions:

• Does 7 effectively separate the administrator from the root? The lack of differentiation has always been a huge contributor to security breaches in Windows.
• Is it easy to operate under a limited user account? That's so much safer. It seems that previous versions of Windows have made that difficult and that some applications insist on being run as an admin.

[TheCrew07]

Unfortunately I don't have an answer yet to either question... It was a move made out of desperation and my severe hatred of Vista. Since getting it up and running I've spent most of my time trying to find new programs to capture audio with as the old ones like Audacity and MP3MYMP3 don't like the vistawindows7 drivers for the sound card built into the motherboard (no separate sound card). The only thing I did tweak on it so far was the login screen, I have no idea why the default bothered me so much, but it did. Obviously I set myself up as an administrator as well, so I haven't played around with different user account settings.

 

The only issue I've had so far with the system (other than the predictable driver issues) is that FF crashes a ton, I've actually been using IE8 more... I haven't downloaded Safari yet, but getting my computer back up to speed is on the agenda for the weekend as I'll need it for football.

 

You are correct about the installations, there is a direct upgrade path from Vista, but anything else requires a fresh install. It actually moves everything in to a "Windows_Old" folder... and I do mean everything system related (program files, documents and settings).

 

The RC is windows ultimate, I'll probably get serious about buying a production version in Jan, that should be enough time for techies to post their various opinions of all the different flavors and do my research at that time.

[ClubLevel]

I've been using Vista since it was in beta and have NEVER had a major problem with it. I love it. I think as long as you aren't trying to use ancient programs and hardware, Vista is great. And I have been messing around with Windows 7 as well, and like that as well.

 

Agreed with this. Never had any problem with Vista. Downloaded Win7 from TechNet yesterday and running it now. Again, no problems, but for those of us who used Vista with no problems all these years, Win7 will seem more like a SP-level upgrade.

[giffted1]

I've been using Vista since it was in beta and have NEVER had a major problem with it. I love it. I think as long as you aren't trying to use ancient programs and hardware, Vista is great. And I have been messing around with Windows 7 as well, and like that as well.

Yeah, I have had zero issues with Vista since SP1 came out. Vista in its current state is great if you have a capable computer, but the plethora of bugs at its release really turned a lot of people off. Hopefully they don't make the same mistake with this release.

 

As for Windows 7, I haven't had a chance to try it but am looking forward to QAM support in Media Center (unfortunately no native Blu Ray support, though). Obviously the performance improvements and better use of multiple processors will be nice as well. One minor app that I'm looking forward to is Windows Disk Image Burner. It'll be nice not to need a third party program just to burn an ISO.

[1992casey]

Again, no problems, but for those of us who used Vista with no problems all these years, Win7 will seem more like a SP-level upgrade.

 

That makes me wonder if the pricing shouldn't be closer to that of Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Leopard (OS X 10.5) users will be able to buy it for $29 ($49 for a five-license family pack).

 

One minor app that I'm looking forward to is Windows Disk Image Burner.

 

Will this allow one to create disk images that can be stashed on a backup hard drive? That'd sure be nice for netbook users. Along the same line, will Windows 7 allow netbook users to connect to the DVD drive on another machine (wirelessly and via cable) for software installation?

[giffted1]

One minor app that I'm looking forward to is Windows Disk Image Burner.

 

Will this allow one to create disk images that can be stashed on a backup hard drive? That'd sure be nice for netbook users. Along the same line, will Windows 7 allow netbook users to connect to the DVD drive on another machine (wirelessly and via cable) for software installation?

Unfortunately, it'll only allow one to burn an ISO to a CD or DVD. It would be nice if it could create an ISO and mount it.

 

Also, Vista currently allows you to share a DVD drive over the network, so I'm sure Windows 7 will. I've never tried installing software, but I can transfer files from my Vista PC DVD drive to my XP Notebook (it's painfully slow over my network, though).

[DSFastball55]

One minor app that I'm looking forward to is Windows Disk Image Burner.

 

Will this allow one to create disk images that can be stashed on a backup hard drive? That'd sure be nice for netbook users. Along the same line, will Windows 7 allow netbook users to connect to the DVD drive on another machine (wirelessly and via cable) for software installation?

Unfortunately, it'll only allow one to burn an ISO to a CD or DVD. It would be nice if it could create an ISO and mount it.

 

Also, Vista currently allows you to share a DVD drive over the network, so I'm sure Windows 7 will. I've never tried installing software, but I can transfer files from my Vista PC DVD drive to my XP Notebook (it's painfully slow over my network, though).

I use a really lightweight free app called ImgBurn for creating and burning ISO's. It can also be used for burning audio, dvd, and almost anything else. For mounting an ISO, I use the free version of Daemon Tools, works great.

[adamb100]

I've been using Windows 7 full time since the R/C came out. It's been extremely stable, my desktop has had 1 glaring issue with it but it may be Nvidia's fault.

[DHonks]

I'm just glad to see some love in this thread for Vista. I am eagerly awaiting Windows 7's release. When student teaching my computer crashed, so I sped up my purchase of a new computer. I think I ordered it one of the first 2 or 3 days Vista was available on Dell machines. After about 2 months, Dell/Microsoft had updated all the drivers to work properly, eliminating glitches. The only issue I continue to have is that I bought Office Pro and I've found Outlook '07 to be a huge disappointment. Every time I shut down Outlook and then restart it later, the preview portion doesn't work. So I click CTRL-ALT-DEL and usually find multiple instances of Outlook running. I shut them down, and then re-open Outlook. It opens properly this time. Sometimes I get the "auto-fixing" diagnostic icon in the lower right because it says Outlook failed to close properly the last time. Because of the annoyance that Outlook became, I finally just switched to using Windows Mail in June (after 2+ years of Outlook) and haven't had any problems.

 

I personally am excited by Windows 7 because it's taking a great consumer product and making it better. It's unfortunate that Vista was slammed early on. The only flaw with the OS is that it is a bit of a resource hog.

[Invader3K]

That's the main problem I've had with it...we have an Acer laptop, which, granted, is a somewhat low end model. We bought it right after Vista was out, which it was pre-loaded with. I upgraded the RAM to, I believe, 3 GB, and it still runs slowly at times. Other than that, I haven't had any major bugs or issues with it at all.

[1992casey]

Interesting stuff from Micro$oft. It's probably good that they're cautioning people about upgrading, although that statement also becomes an opportunity to pimp the idea of buying a new PC.

In general, if you are running a PC with Windows Vista and the Windows Upgrade Advisor says you can upgrade it, the transition to Windows 7 should be pretty smooth, although you may first need to update your Windows Vista system to the latest service pack. If you do decide to upgrade your PC, Windows 7 will be available for purchase October 22.

 

On the other hand, if you're running Windows XP, or any other operating system for that matter, we recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC. The Laptop Scout can help you find a great PC fit for you, or you can browse through these featured PCs that can run Windows 7.

 

...And while we don't recommend it, should you choose to upgrade your current PC from Windows XP or another operating system to Windows 7, we recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider. You'll need to back up your current files and settings, perform a custom (clean) installation, and then reinstall your files, settings, and programs.