Windows 7

[the_lone_wolf]

Well, thanks to Play.com's foresight to use a courier instead of Royal Fail I have my pre-ordered copy (£49.99 - bargain)

Anyone got it up and running yet? Experiences?

This is the first MS product I'm actually quite excited about since... well...

No wait, this is the first;)

[hindle8907]

its qutie good, yes i am running the enterpirse version at the moment on the laptop and find it verry smooth. im still going to keep XP on my main rig though.

[SoulKiss]

its qutie good, yes i am running the enterpirse version at the moment on the laptop and find it verry smooth. im still going to keep XP on my main rig though.

Unless you are going to have driver problems, Switch to Win7

[Milky Bar Kid]

So what are the advantages of Windows 7? I am running Vista on the laptop but if I would be better with 7 I may switch.

[hindle8907]

windoes 7 is basicly Vista but with all the issues/bugs fixed and its not a resource hog.
making it faster and more reliable Operating system

[Milky Bar Kid]

Ahh, I see. Worth getting then I feel!

[the_lone_wolf]

Windows 7 also adds a few interface touches over Vista

I bought it because it was cheap, not because I wasn't happy with Vista, but it'll be a nice upgrade from XP:cool:

[Viney]

There are rumours that it takes 2 days to upgrade form XP to windows7. Are these unfounded or true?

[hindle8907]

There are rumours that it takes 2 days to upgrade form XP to windows7. Are these unfounded or true?

I doubt it ..... but i wouldnt recomend upgrading anwyays i would do a Clean install and just backup all you data to an external Drive Ect beforehand.

[the_lone_wolf]

...i wouldnt recomend upgrading anwyays i would do a Clean install and just backup all you data to an external Drive Ect beforehand.

+1

Clean installs are just so much nicer:cool:

[Luckypants]

windoes 7 is basicly Vista but with all the issues/bugs fixed and its not a resource hog.
making it faster and more reliable Operating system

Blimey, who swallowed the MS marketing hype? :D As always I'll wait until the real world finds the bugs and they get sorted out, then make a decision on whether it's worth changing. My view tends to be, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So happily running with Win XP pro.

TLW - why is Windows 7 a 'nice upgrade' over XP?

[the_lone_wolf]

TLW - why is Windows 7 a 'nice upgrade' over XP?

Mostly the interface, Vista is much closer to 7 in terms of how pleasant it is to use, XP looks pretty stale in comparison. Vista is far more stable than XP too, given that 7 is pretty much Vista under the hood, and given the amount of "real world" testing that's been going on for the last year or more with the betas and release candidate version I've no doubt it'll be just as good

As for marketing hype, from Microsoft itself it's only conspicuous in its absence, all the hype I've seen has been from end users, which is completely the opposite of Vista's troubled start

[tigersaw]

I ran the compatability test. It said some of my software (Acronis for instance) wont work so poo on microsoft.

[the_lone_wolf]

I ran the compatability test. It said some of my software (Acronis for instance) wont work so poo on microsoft.

Would it (does it) work with Vista?

[tigersaw]

Would it (does it) work with Vista?

Dunno. It told me I'd have to do a custom install, it would take ages, and I need to to use a portable USB drive.

Naah, I'll just get a pc with win7 already on it, easier

[cmsd2]

I got mine from amazon yesterday.

Went from XP so did a custom install. It was actually quite quick, but then it should be - it looks like it wiped nearly all of Program Files.

i.e. even though I didn't format the disk, it's pretty much a clean install.

I'm still missing some drivers for my thinkpad such as hotkeys & scroll button.
The Nvidia drivers weren't straight forward either: the latest (v191 I think) refused to install from the setup.exe. Had to unzip it and use the "have disk.." option from the device's entry in the control panel, retro style :)
Anyway, Aero works for me (despite the upgrade assistant claiming it wouldn't), so I'm happy.

Not had a chance yet to try various apps

cmsd2.

[TEC]

As always I'll wait until the real world finds the bugs ....
Been happily running Ultimate on a laptop for last few months, no bugs so far :)

To be honest I wouldn't upgrade from XP to 7 yet, plan is to build a new PC from scratch with 7 early next year and may bite the bullet and just go 64bit at the same time

[the_lone_wolf]

Well, install took a while, failed a couple of times due to my laziness of A: leaving all the bits plugged in during, and B: Not updating the BIOS before doing so

Not much info to tell you what's going on when installing either, but it does tend to just get on with it

Note for anyone installing: Make sure you delete and "Allocate" the partition you want to put it on, let it create a small "system reserved" parition ~100MB or it won't work...

Once sorted my issues it took ~30 minutes to install, only had to enter my region at the start and it did the rest, once installed give it a few details for my account and we're up and running

First impressions are good, it's very snappy, but then i'd expect it to be with a Q9550 and 8GB RAM to play with

Love the interface, not had any problems installing software, seems to be able to install more things than Vista could without restarting, doesn't seem anywhere near as flakey as Vista did with my old Audigy2 soundcard either

Worth £129.99 if you already have Vista? Probably not, for £50 though it was a bargain and if you're upgrading from XP it's worth it IMO

[malks]

i just got me a new laptop at the begining of the month and i get a 'free' upgrade. just had to register for it and now waiting on it coming through the post. only pain in the @rse is its 'free' but i have to pay £12.70 to get in delivered! at that price i want bloody bill gates to hand deliver it to my house and to install it in my machine for me!

prob take a few days to get here, but will install it and see if its any good!

[hindle8907]

Blimey, who swallowed the MS marketing hype? :D As always I'll wait until the real world finds the bugs and they get sorted out, then make a decision on whether it's worth changing. My view tends to be, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So happily running with Win XP pro.

TLW - why is Windows 7 a 'nice upgrade' over XP?

i havent swalloed anything what microsoft said/say i find things out for my self lol, and what i said is based on what iv found out for my self as i have been using 7 for some months now.

[the_lone_wolf]

On a slightly related note, anyone catch the latest cringeworthy MS ad on TV last night? The one with the girl in the taxi?

At least she could string a sentence together, I mean "I'm a PC and I'm eight years old" - WTF were they thinking:smt043

[TEC]

.... and 8GB RAM to play with...
So assume you've installed it on a 64bit system :)

[the_lone_wolf]

So assume you've installed it on a 64bit system :)

I had 64bit Vista, was building a new computer and it's the future

Not had a single problem with drivers or software either, which was a surprise:smt023

[TEC]

Not had a single problem with drivers or software either, which was a surprise:smt023
:smt023 Reason I asked about 64bit was I know a few people who have moaned cause they've paid extra for the extra memory but the OS has only seen 3.2G :rolleyes: but we know about that don't we :)

On a slightly related note, anyone catch the latest cringeworthy MS ad on TV last night?
Luckily not seen last night, sadly seen just now, what a load of c@rp :rolleyes:

[the_lone_wolf]

:smt023 Reason I asked about 64bit was I know a few people who have moaned cause they've paid extra for the extra memory but the OS has only seen 3.2G :rolleyes: but we know about that don't we :)

Ah yes, that old chestnut:D

[the_lone_wolf]

Oh dear god, I just saw the second ad with the guy in the gym

Could MS really screw up the launch that's been steaming forward without as hitch for the last year

[Jackie_Black]

64 bit os for the win now. No reason to still be on 32 bit. Vista 64 flies, i'm gonna get 7 ultimate soon with a pair of raided SSd's:p. I personally never had any problems with vista ultimate so i'm looking forward to win 7 even more.

[Bluefish]

What's the differance between 32 and 64 bit, yes i know it's twice as much. but what twice as fast twice the memory, or twice the price? or all of them. :confused:

[the_lone_wolf]

What's the differance between 32 and 64 bit, yes i know it's twice as much. but what twice as fast twice the memory, or twice the price? or all of them. :confused:
64 bit isn't twice as fast/big etc, that'd be too easy;)

64 bit refers to the amount of memory a processor can address, 32 bit processors can address 2^32 bits = 4GB

As hardware advanced 4GB became the norm for higher end systems and a newer standard was required, hence 64 bit, which can address up to 2^64 bits, or just over 17,000,000,000GB - meaning we've got plenty of headroom for the foreseeable future:cool:

[DarrenSV650S]

What's the differance between 32 and 64 bit, yes i know it's twice as much. but what twice as fast twice the memory, or twice the price? or all of them. :confused:

64 bit isn't twice as fast/big etc, that'd be too easy;)

64 bit refers to the amount of memory a processor can address, 32 bit processors can address 2^32 bits = 4GB

As hardware advanced 4GB became the norm for higher end systems and a newer standard was required, hence 64 bit, which can address up to 2^64 bits, or just over 17,000,000,000GB - meaning we've got plenty of headroom for the foreseeable future:cool:
Well I'm none the wiser :scratch:

[ThEGr33k]

Vista is far more stable than XP

LoL is all ill say to that. My brothers Laptop broke within a day because of an update reboot loop. I had to boot XP from special CD, go in to clear out the issue. Cant say as that or anything that made the computer unusable has ever happened with XP. So from my exp Vista fails.

64 bit isn't twice as fast/big etc, that'd be too easy;)

64 bit refers to the amount of memory a processor can address, 32 bit processors can address 2^32 bits = 4GB

As hardware advanced 4GB became the norm for higher end systems and a newer standard was required, hence 64 bit, which can address up to 2^64 bits, or just over 17,000,000,000GB - meaning we've got plenty of headroom for the foreseeable future:cool:

I thought it was the amount of bits that the CPU could push through in one clock. That means that it can do big calculations fast. So if your CPU is doing calulations over 4,294,967,295 in size then you will benefit in increased speeds.

A by product of this is that you can use more RAM. IMO though when using XP you wont benefit from anything over 3GB. I've never run out and I run some pretty heavy programs on occasions.

IMO Keep XP and get a Solid State Drive. They will cut all load times by a shed load. That will be my next upgrade! Granted 60GB of storage wont go far, but then thats what the mirrored 500gb HDD's are for, storage. :cool:

[Richie]

I'm running Windows 7 and have been for about a month,
It wouldn't go over my XP pro so I did a clean install.
my only grip so far is windows7 hates my printer....... gurr.

my system is an old 32bit with only 1 gig of ram, and windows7 is noticably faster at start up and running other programs FACT.

so I'm happy, I'll be very happy when I get the printer working.
that is all

Richie

[the_lone_wolf]

Wow, one problem with Vista and it "fails" - great sample size... *clap*:rolleyes:

By that logic as you've had one problem with your bike all Falcos must be **** then?

](*,)

[ThEGr33k]

Richie. Could it be that your old XP install was full of rubbish? I did a clean XP install the other day and now my computer is way faster than it was.

Guess ill have to have a read at the reviews to see if there is finally a OS worth upgrading to. :)

Wow, one problem with Vista and it "fails" - great sample size... *clap*




And because I listed one issue I had that means that its the only one you presume. :rolleyes:

[Richie]

just done another clean install of windows7 and now every thing works again....

happy...

[the_lone_wolf]

And because I listed one issue I had that means that its the only one you presume. :rolleyes:
Congratulations on spectacularly missing the point

:smt043

[Richie]

Got the printer problem sorted now...

Clean install again............................................. ................................ trailing dots...:smt075

[Swin]

I think it was last month's Computer Shopper that mentioned that Windows 7 has introduced a new approach to networks, and as a result isn't backward-compatible with previous Windows network variants.

This seems a bit odd to me, it would stop me upgrading my machine to 7 as it would mean I'd have to buy 4 copies of it for the laptops to continue working on my home network!

I must be lucky, I used XP for quite a while, bought a machine with Vista home premium on it and haven't had any noticeable bother with either machine at all - not that I'm complaining mind!

[L3nny]

Just installed this on my Acer netbook and stuff seems to run quicker even on such a low powered machine.

Only problem is that after about an hour it loses connection to the internet and you need to repair the connection to get it back.

Any ideas on how to stop this?

[the_lone_wolf]

I think it was last month's Computer Shopper that mentioned that Windows 7 has introduced a new approach to networks, and as a result isn't backward-compatible with previous Windows network variants.

You misunderstand or they're printing BS

It has something they call Homegroup, which is only compatible with other computers running 7, all the normal windows networking components are present and I'm currently sharing items to and from machines with XP and Vista with no hassles, didn't even need to set up the networking settings, all done automatically

[the_lone_wolf]

Only problem is that after about an hour it loses connection to the internet and you need to repair the connection to get it back.

Any ideas on how to stop this?

Anything in the error logs when it goes down?

Start>>Type "event" in the run dialog and click on "Event Viewer" - should report anything going wrong

I had this problem with Vista initially before I configured the networking card and router to use the same encryption, might be worth seeing if you're using TKIP or AES and make sure the computer is using the same

[kwak zzr]

i must be the only one that hasn't had trouble with vista.

[TheOnlyNemesis]

been running windows 7 for about 3 weeks now and it is far better than vista, it actually works for once, which is a first for microsoft.

[the_lone_wolf]

i must be the only one that hasn't had trouble with vista.

Nope, after initial setup mistakes on my part I had twelve months of fault free computing, considering the hype that'd been swilled around I was expecting it to eat my cat and murder my family:smt110

[ravingdavis]

i must be the only one that hasn't had trouble with vista.

Nope, I ran he 64bit version from the day of release and never had any issues with it either, infact I found it rather nice to use, I had blue screens but that was the fault of dodgy RAM. Unfortunatly people like to blame microsoft at the first sign of a crash or BSOD but as is the case most of the time it is the fault of badly written applications and suspect drivers.

Either way, I have been running the RTM of windows 7 since early September and I think its pretty good, worth the upgrade from Vista and very worth the upgrade from XP.

As for the chat earlier about 64bit benefits the biggest thing is the RAM addressing capabilities of 64bit windows, if you have 4GB of RAM or more its highly recommended you go for 64bit so your OS can actually address it all. Another issue with sticking to XP is that it only allows individual apps to address up to 2GB of RAM, which for modern applications or games can be seriously hampering!

[the_lone_wolf]

I had blue screens but that was the fault of dodgy RAM. Unfortunatly people like to blame microsoft at the first sign of a crash or BSOD but as is the case most of the time it is the fault of badly written applications and suspect drivers.
+1