Windows 7
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dkw
officer dibble of the shed end constabulary
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Ok ok ..an offer you can't refuse:i will be paying much less than that, in fact £49.99 less...
- IF you're not planning on buying a new PC with W7 installed
- IF you're not going to nick a copy from your local PC World/shoplifters paradise of choice
- IF you're not a Mac owner or Linux freak
- IF you're sticking with Vista. Face it, someone somewhere must like the f**king thing!
- IF you're not staying with XP or another OS after the final expiry date for support and updates.
et-bloody-iffing-cetera.
dkw
officer dibble of the shed end constabulary
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thats better...but yeah, it is a good offer. i would tell anyone with vista to get it, especially as its pretty much what vista should have been. vista is a dog, a rushed mess of an OS similar to windows ME.
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I had actually thought they had stopped RC downloads of Windows 7, then saw this http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx
Anyone used that link?
I know you got to pay next year, but can't see it being any different to the release of it.
Anyone used that link?
I know you got to pay next year, but can't see it being any different to the release of it.
Yep. You don't have to pay - it'll simply stop working on or around the expiry date. Strange thing is, the Beta was actually more stable than the RC. This thing is prone to crashes when playing any kind of game, and that includes native Windows games like Freecell and Spider Solitaire. Seems totally random, it'll be ok for a while, maybe a day or two, then suddenly it'll freeze up. It could be an issue with my NVIDIA graphics card, but then it's exactly the same system I used for running the Beta. Look round and you'll soon discover that my experience isn't unique by a long way.
Typical Microsoft.
Typical Microsoft.
dkw
officer dibble of the shed end constabulary
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ivorycoast
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I tried out the beta but still find XP is my favourite.
All I use these days is the internet, so I just want my laptop to be as fast as possible, and that's how it is with XP.
Unless you always want the latest and greatest, then I don't really see the point of getting W7. Waste of money IMO.
All I use these days is the internet, so I just want my laptop to be as fast as possible, and that's how it is with XP.
Unless you always want the latest and greatest, then I don't really see the point of getting W7. Waste of money IMO.
I quite agree, up to a point. There wasn't a lot wrong with Windows 2000, apart from a few compatibility issus with games, but I've never been much of a game so this didn't affect me too much - playing games on Windows 7 is mainly for testing the OS: games crash the system, so there's a problem to be solved, but more of that later.
Back to your point, XP is probably the best OS Microsoft ever produced, in a perfect world there would be no need for any kind of upgrade, ever. However, there is a product life-cycle, which to be (slightly) fair to Microsoft, they did extend by several years for XP. I've never even seen Vista, if I'm lucky I never will, like yourself I never saw the point, but unlike yourself, I accept that nothing lasts forever.
More on the games/graphics issues. I was up half the night reinstalling and tweaking Windows y RC. The problem is definitely with the newer NVIDIA drivers - it's not the card, because there's never been any problem with it and XP, or with the Beta. So the obvious solution is to look for an older driver, right? Fortunately NVIDIA are pretty good for keeping older drivers available, so I downloaded an older one from their site last night, one that may have been concurrent with or earlier than the Beta release - theoretically any NVIDIA driver for Vista should work with Windows 7. The first couple I tried were rejected, but the third one seems to work like a charm. I did a fair bit of testing, playing games while tweaking Windows services, both of which were previously odds on to crash the system. It's still a glorified Beta so there's no guarantee of it being problem free, but what I can say is that since reverting to the older driver, the system hasn't crashed once.
Still using XP; wouldn't & haven't tried Vista because of all the problems. Windows 7 may turn out (and from all reports sounds like) it may save Microsoft. But for a number of reasons I'll be going to a Mac soon because my patience with Microsoft has reached an end: all the constant f**kin upgrades you have to do, the configuration/performance problems you get whilst using other software/periphery software (malware/spyware/antivrus/whateverware) that you have to run. I'm just over Microsoft's continuing corporate arrogance/blinkered thinking that the consumer will continue to buy its products even when there are lots of problems with them or in circumstances where they've obviously been released into the market prematurely. The latest example is IE8 - what a dog - caused all sorts of stability problems for my system so I had to reinstal IE7. Thank God Mac finally saw the light and went with Intel & now, if you really need to, you can run Windows XP on Mac side by side with Leopard.
I get what you're saying but. For one thing, XP coexists quite happily with Windows 7. I'm still using XP as the default OS and experimenting/playing around with Windows 7. The graphics/games issues are still there but as I said, I'm not much of a gamer so this doesn't bother me too much.
On a much more positive note, the other day I downloaded the 64 bit version of Windows 7, as much to find out whether my system would run a 64 bit OS as anything else, and also to see what software it'll run. And so far I've been very pleasantly surprised. It'll run Office 2003 and CorelDraw 12, both of which I prefer to newer versions, utilities like WinRAR, non MS browsers, and for security I'm running NOD32 and Comodo 64 bit Firewall.
I'm not saying I'll stay with the 64 bit version when the commercial release is available, but it's nice to have the option, and to have an idea of what can be done with it.
On a much more positive note, the other day I downloaded the 64 bit version of Windows 7, as much to find out whether my system would run a 64 bit OS as anything else, and also to see what software it'll run. And so far I've been very pleasantly surprised. It'll run Office 2003 and CorelDraw 12, both of which I prefer to newer versions, utilities like WinRAR, non MS browsers, and for security I'm running NOD32 and Comodo 64 bit Firewall.
I'm not saying I'll stay with the 64 bit version when the commercial release is available, but it's nice to have the option, and to have an idea of what can be done with it.
Both OS's are on my main PC on different partitions. I wouldn't recommend upgrading either, but the fresh "Advanced" install is very easy, you can run the 32 bit install from within XP but you need to boot to the 64 bit edition, assuming you're running 32 bit XP. Either way it's the most straightforward Windows install there's ever been.
There are several myths around Windows 7, like the one that it's impossible to get rid of. Here's how:
1. Insert the Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD installation disc into CD-ROM or DVD-ROM optical drive.
2. D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
- where D: is the DVD drive
3. Reboot
4. Delete Boot.BAK and BootSect.BAK
5. If desired, format the Windows 7 partition
You can do all this with XP running.
Permissions can be a bind, but look around and you should find a "Take Ownership" registry addon, which does just that. If you're familiar with Vista however, you probably know all that already.
The Official release is due out on October 22nd, the current RC (Release Candidate) is a glorified beta and is still very much for testing purposes. It includes beta drivers so couldn't very well be anything else. If you're going to wait, you'll probably end up paying more for the upgrade than you would by pre-ordering the full version. As I said, I pre-ordered a copy from Amazon UK for £45 including delivery - the price has gone up already.
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I thought Vista users can upgrade for £49, but I can't seem to see any link on the windows site, maybe it will appear around release date.
I don't mind Vista too much at all, the only problem is I can't upgrade to the service packs, install fails and is driving me mad, so need to go to the new one.
I'd use the RC Windows 7, if it wouldn't wipe the whole HD on installation.
I don't mind Vista too much at all, the only problem is I can't upgrade to the service packs, install fails and is driving me mad, so need to go to the new one.
I'd use the RC Windows 7, if it wouldn't wipe the whole HD on installation.
You might be right about the Vista to Windows 7 upgrade price, as someone who's successfully avoided Vista I hadn't considered that as an option.
Installation and upgrades in Windows 7 are a doddle. I don't know about Vista, but in Windows 7, Windows Update is a separate application, independent of IE - the final release of Windows of Windows 7 is apparently going to ship without a browser.
I don't know where you got that one from. My current setup includes two HDs, a SATA and an IDE, a total of 4 partitions. Each time I've installed Windows 7 I've chosen the "Advanced" fresh install option which has then given me a choice of partition. In fact you only see the Advanced Drive Options which in turn lead to format/create partition and so on, if you boot from the Windows 7 DVD, and even then it's nothing more than an option that's there if you need it.
I should mention that if you do want to download the Windows 7 RC from Microsoft, you've got til tomorrow (August 10th). After that, you can either wait for the final release or download one of those "cracked" copies available all over the web, none of which would I trust as far as I could throw Bill Gates.
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Its actually up to Aug 20th Loft, not sure if they had extended it again.
I've partitioned the HD and giving it a go. So far though, I have wasted 5 DVD's and one that worked got to an error (which apparentely means a corrupt download/burn) so I am not sure if the Microsoft download manager is crap or my DVD's are shat.
I've partitioned the HD and giving it a go. So far though, I have wasted 5 DVD's and one that worked got to an error (which apparentely means a corrupt download/burn) so I am not sure if the Microsoft download manager is crap or my DVD's are shat.
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