What are your thoughts on Windows 7 Beta? Any good?

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: tenax
but, the deal breaker for me to not go with it at this point will be that the nvidia driver i installed to replace the one windows installed (again, vista 64 version at this point) didn't work..that's a deal breaker for me in the sense that the nvidia driver windows installs doesn't appear to have an nvidia control panel so i don't think i can enable overscan on my big screen so it's a major annoyance to have so much stuff existing on the edges or below the screen.

1. Go to the Windows 7 link on the home page for Nvidia and they clearly post that Win 7 is running the latest beta driver made exclusively for it and automatically installed from Windows Update. You are not supposed to install the Vista driver.

2. Go to the control panel and then select "all control panel items". Scroll down and the Nvidia control panel is located in the middle of the window.

3. This is beta software, so you need to keep that in mind and expect things to not work properly at times.

 

[MikeyLSU]

I don't like that to share files you have to have a password.

I already have my network secured, I'm not worried about sharing some files. Plus it wants it to be very complex rather than a simple password...

I havn't found a way to let you do it without a password yet, frustrating.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: zod96
I've got it installed the 64 bit version. I do like that it is certainly much quicker than vista. It starts up faster and shuts down faster. When you open programs they open right away. When you unzip things its very fast. It seems much more efficient than vista. But the things I don't like are no classic start menu, I hate with a passion the new start menu, its too big and too bloated. And then the no v sync in older games, that is a real let down for me. Most of my games that I play are ones that don't have that option in game so you have to force it, but windows 7 will not let you do that, why I have no idea. And the process running in the background. Their is like 36 on a fresh install and windows 7 itself takes up like 15 gb. Xp has like 15 process running and takes up about 300 mb. I'm sure though I will be forced to goto windows 7 or vista within the next 2 years because things just wouldn't run on Xp anymore. So I gave vista a D and I give windows 7 a C

1.5TB of hard disk space will run you about $150. Memory can be upgraded for less than the price of going out for dinner. Complaining about a 15gb hard disk footprint and 36 very low-footprint services in the background in this day and age is nothing short of absolutely fucking moronic.

 

[SickBeast]

I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

doesn't do that for me.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

doesn't do that for me.

Interesting. What it appears to be doing is making the text not blank, but transparent on a white background. So if you have a dark desktop it will be fine, but on a white desktop you won't be able to see the text.

 

[raddreamer3kx]

definitely they need one more beta then i think this OS will be awesome, there are little bugs here and there, nothing major but i don't want to install it because my Vista is extremely solid right now.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

doesn't do that for me.

Interesting. What it appears to be doing is making the text not blank, but transparent on a white background. So if you have a dark desktop it will be fine, but on a white desktop you won't be able to see the text.

Yeah, after a reboot and a theme change it doesn't do it anymore. Very strange. I doubt MS can patch Windows quite that fast.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

BTW this thread is sort of a repost so I'll just copy and paste my thoughts on the OS from over there.

I've been using it for a few days now. I'm absolutely loving it. Apart from a couple of very minor niggles (Media Player not seeing my videos is the worst, so I do mean minor) it's wonderful. Some people don't like the new taskbar at it's default settings but I think it's pretty cool when you get used to it.

The glass interface is pretty similar to Vista but with some minor cosmetic differences. Windows no longer lose their glassy appearance when they are maximised. The new Windows-key shortcuts are very useful, and I suspect I'll use them a lot more when I get this OS onto my desktop with a bigger monitor. Windows-key+Up maximises the window, Windows-key+Down minimises, Windows-key+Left/Right docks the window on the left/right hand side of the screen.

The OS feels much faster and smoother than Vista. I plan on doing some battery life tests on my laptop, because MS have claimed significantly increased battery life.

The improved desktop background functionality is really neat. You can select a whole folder (or individual items in a folder) for your backdrop and a period, and the background will automatically change (yeah, pretty minor but neat).

The libraries functionality is improved and looks really nice. MS look to have made quite an effort to make networking and sharing easier than ever, but I haven't tested it yet.

All in all I'm very impressed so far and will be buying at least one copy of this OS at launch.

Also I'd like to add how impressed I am with the Devices feature. I just purchased a Sony Walkman A728 MP3 player, plugged it in and without installing any drivers or anything it popped into my Devices panel (even has an icon with that exact player on it). Here are some screens of what Windows 7 allows me to do with the device, and remember I didn't install any software at all, just plugged in my MP3 player.
Devices window
Right click on taskbar icon
Hover on taskbar icon
Walkman window

 

[tenax]

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: tenax
but, the deal breaker for me to not go with it at this point will be that the nvidia driver i installed to replace the one windows installed (again, vista 64 version at this point) didn't work..that's a deal breaker for me in the sense that the nvidia driver windows installs doesn't appear to have an nvidia control panel so i don't think i can enable overscan on my big screen so it's a major annoyance to have so much stuff existing on the edges or below the screen.

1. Go to the Windows 7 link on the home page for Nvidia and they clearly post that Win 7 is running the latest beta driver made exclusively for it and automatically installed from Windows Update. You are not supposed to install the Vista driver.

2. Go to the control panel and then select "all control panel items". Scroll down and the Nvidia control panel is located in the middle of the window.

3. This is beta software, so you need to keep that in mind and expect things to not work properly at times.

cool tip on the nvidia and control panel..i'll give that a whirl. if i could at least get it in the end to do what i need it to do on my big screen tv..even if i never get it to work for my tuners, i'll be happy to use it when it's final. given they took out overscan on nvidia drivers at the 8800 card point or so, it's not so much a gripe about windows 7 that i could have, but nvidia taking out the feature. it's what's also kept me running 90 series drivers in spite of all the newer ones available.

 

[catnap1972]

The only problem for me (so far) is the mouse pointer sometimes gets lost over on the right side of the display (where it goes off the screen).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Also I'd like to add how impressed I am with the Devices feature. I just purchased a Sony Walkman A728 MP3 player, plugged it in and without installing any drivers or anything it popped into my Devices panel (even has an icon with that exact player on it). Here are some screens of what Windows 7 allows me to do with the device, and remember I didn't install any software at all, just plugged in my MP3 player.
Devices window
Right click on taskbar icon
Hover on taskbar icon
Walkman window

It's called Device Stage, and uses XML for companies to create their own little space in Windows for their devices. I hope that this catches on, it looks like a really, really nice idea.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
BTW this thread is sort of a repost so I'll just copy and paste my thoughts on the OS from over there.

I've been using it for a few days now. I'm absolutely loving it. Apart from a couple of very minor niggles (Media Player not seeing my videos is the worst, so I do mean minor) it's wonderful. Some people don't like the new taskbar at it's default settings but I think it's pretty cool when you get used to it.

The glass interface is pretty similar to Vista but with some minor cosmetic differences. Windows no longer lose their glassy appearance when they are maximised. The new Windows-key shortcuts are very useful, and I suspect I'll use them a lot more when I get this OS onto my desktop with a bigger monitor. Windows-key+Up maximises the window, Windows-key+Down minimises, Windows-key+Left/Right docks the window on the left/right hand side of the screen.

The OS feels much faster and smoother than Vista. I plan on doing some battery life tests on my laptop, because MS have claimed significantly increased battery life.

The improved desktop background functionality is really neat. You can select a whole folder (or individual items in a folder) for your backdrop and a period, and the background will automatically change (yeah, pretty minor but neat).

The libraries functionality is improved and looks really nice. MS look to have made quite an effort to make networking and sharing easier than ever, but I haven't tested it yet.

All in all I'm very impressed so far and will be buying at least one copy of this OS at launch.

Also I'd like to add how impressed I am with the Devices feature. I just purchased a Sony Walkman A728 MP3 player, plugged it in and without installing any drivers or anything it popped into my Devices panel (even has an icon with that exact player on it). Here are some screens of what Windows 7 allows me to do with the device, and remember I didn't install any software at all, just plugged in my MP3 player.
Devices window
Right click on taskbar icon
Hover on taskbar icon
Walkman window

Another new feature in explorer is that you can drag a window that is maximized, and it will restore it automatically and let you drag it around. They stole this feature from Linux. You can also drag a window to the top of the desktop and it will maximize it (again, stolen from Linux).

I like this OS enough to use it instead of XP or Ubuntu, and I have been quite pleased with Linux.

I will be writing an article to compare XP, Ubuntu, Vista, and now 7. If any of you have some input you could give me regarding some good benchmarks that would be great.

 

[tenax]

well, i got control panel working (took the windows updated driver to do so) but won't solve my issue and using nvidia's resize tool isn't working (i can click on it and try to resize but when i hit "apply" it goes back to original. sigh...there's got to be something out there that allows me to resize my desktop so i can see everything! (and so i can finally get a newer vid card than my 7900gs!)

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just installed the 64-bit version.

The installation process was somewhat flaky. There were numerous times where there was a blank screen for 10 minutes or so and the computer seemed to be doing nothing, but in reality it was.

Once I got it up and running, I was extemely impressed. I think I will buy this software upon its release. It seems like the best Windows since W2K.

I will be writing an article on Windows 7 for a hardware website, and will compare it to XP and probably to Vista as well in terms of performance.

Not sure if youve seen this but its a good start.

 

[jefa]

fail

"I?ve been playing with the Windows 7 Beta for several days now, and I?ve come to the conclusion that like Vista, it?s not a major improvement over what most users are currently experiencing with Windows XP, and is at best only a slight improvement over Vista SP1. In a number of cases, I think they?ve gone even further down the user rejection hole."

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: jefa
fail

"I?ve been playing with the Windows 7 Beta for several days now, and I?ve come to the conclusion that like Vista, it?s not a major improvement over what most users are currently experiencing with Windows XP, and is at best only a slight improvement over Vista SP1. In a number of cases, I think they?ve gone even further down the user rejection hole."

Where did you read that?

I've had my hate on for Vista for a long time now, and even I will admit that 7 is a much better OS than XP.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: blackangst1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just installed the 64-bit version.

The installation process was somewhat flaky. There were numerous times where there was a blank screen for 10 minutes or so and the computer seemed to be doing nothing, but in reality it was.

Once I got it up and running, I was extemely impressed. I think I will buy this software upon its release. It seems like the best Windows since W2K.

I will be writing an article on Windows 7 for a hardware website, and will compare it to XP and probably to Vista as well in terms of performance.

Not sure if youve seen this but its a good start.

I have, and I suppose in a sense it will make my comparison redundant, aside from the fact that I will be throwing Ubuntu into the mix, and will use different benchmarks.

 

[4537256]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: zod96
I've got it installed the 64 bit version. I do like that it is certainly much quicker than vista. It starts up faster and shuts down faster. When you open programs they open right away. When you unzip things its very fast. It seems much more efficient than vista. But the things I don't like are no classic start menu, I hate with a passion the new start menu, its too big and too bloated. And then the no v sync in older games, that is a real let down for me. Most of my games that I play are ones that don't have that option in game so you have to force it, but windows 7 will not let you do that, why I have no idea. And the process running in the background. Their is like 36 on a fresh install and windows 7 itself takes up like 15 gb. Xp has like 15 process running and takes up about 300 mb. I'm sure though I will be forced to goto windows 7 or vista within the next 2 years because things just wouldn't run on Xp anymore. So I gave vista a D and I give windows 7 a C

1.5TB of hard disk space will run you about $150. Memory can be upgraded for less than the price of going out for dinner. Complaining about a 15gb hard disk footprint and 36 very low-footprint services in the background in this day and age is nothing short of absolutely fucking moronic.

i have an $800 SSD 64 gig. far faster than than those cheap hd's you speak of and perfect for any OS install due to that....so where in your opinion is there room for those like me?

the truth is, more installing options cutting an OS to around 5-6 gigs (like a typical XP install size) is necessary for some. i have used Vlite and cut my Vista down to 5 gigs. so obviously that extra 6+ gigs of data was useless to me and i see nothing showing that complaining about it is "moronic" in anyway cause of the fact that its not about how big your drive is...its about how useless installed data can be for some people. whats "moronic" is not having an open mind, cause everyones needs differ.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

woopss...the whole icon is gone after i renamed one now

 

[DrewSG3]

Can you dual boot Vista and Windows 7?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: DrewSG3
Can you dual boot Vista and Windows 7?

It let me dual boot XP, so I figure Vista will work as well.

Just make sure you either create a partition for 7, or shrink your Vista partition down so that there's room to make a new one when you install 7. When you install there is the option to "upgrade" or create a new installation (dual boot).

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: flexy

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I just found a bug and reported it to MS.

If you try to rename a file on the desktop, it goes blank and you can't see what you're typing. It's a PITA.

woopss...the whole icon is gone after i renamed one now

It's cute eh.

I've found a few things in 7 that make me scratch my head and realize that this is indeed a beta. I've given MS 4 bits of feedback thus far. I think this beta is one of the smartest things they've ever done.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Originally posted by: zod96
I've got it installed the 64 bit version. I do like that it is certainly much quicker than vista. It starts up faster and shuts down faster. When you open programs they open right away. When you unzip things its very fast. It seems much more efficient than vista. But the things I don't like are no classic start menu, I hate with a passion the new start menu, its too big and too bloated. And then the no v sync in older games, that is a real let down for me. Most of my games that I play are ones that don't have that option in game so you have to force it, but windows 7 will not let you do that, why I have no idea. And the process running in the background. Their is like 36 on a fresh install and windows 7 itself takes up like 15 gb. Xp has like 15 process running and takes up about 300 mb. I'm sure though I will be forced to goto windows 7 or vista within the next 2 years because things just wouldn't run on Xp anymore. So I gave vista a D and I give windows 7 a C

The 15GB hard drive footprint probably includes the pagefile (usually around 2-3GB) and the hibernation file (same size as RAM installed) for sleep/hibernation. You might then add in all the System Restore that is initially created when Windows Update install drivers.

On my laptop, these two combine to be 2GB hibernation + 2.5GB pagefile = 4.5GB. You can move the pagefile to a second hard drive (not a different partition on the same hard drive).

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: tenax
but, the deal breaker for me to not go with it at this point will be that the nvidia driver i installed to replace the one windows installed (again, vista 64 version at this point) didn't work..that's a deal breaker for me in the sense that the nvidia driver windows installs doesn't appear to have an nvidia control panel so i don't think i can enable overscan on my big screen so it's a major annoyance to have so much stuff existing on the edges or below the screen.

1. Go to the Windows 7 link on the home page for Nvidia and they clearly post that Win 7 is running the latest beta driver made exclusively for it and automatically installed from Windows Update. You are not supposed to install the Vista driver.

2. Go to the control panel and then select "all control panel items". Scroll down and the Nvidia control panel is located in the middle of the window.

3. This is beta software, so you need to keep that in mind and expect things to not work properly at times.

Also, you can use the search box in Control Panel in the upper right corner. Type in "Nvidia," and it automatically show only the icons with the name "nvidia". This also works in Vista btw.