Windows 7, would you switch?

[Craymel]

Originally Posted by IRJustman

As I recall, when you use a Windows shared resource, unless you explicitly set it otherwise, you do need an account and matching password on the machine you're trying to contact.



Totally agreed. Though I never had a chance to figure this one out after I tried Windows 7; I found this one out only after I removed it from all the running stock I had it on. I totally hated the pinned buttons on the taskbar and would have loved to have my quicklaunch bar back. Now, for FULL classic, that would take some doing...

--Ian.

Microsoft totally hid it. It's buried in your systems folders and on top of that it's a hidden file! I really think microsoft is trying to get rid of the quick launch bar. On top of that when you finally get around to enabling it the completely change it's default functionality. It was clunky and a pain and it could so not be considered any form of quick bar. Luckily I was able to get it how it was in xp. Hopefully if microsoft does decide to trash the bar some one will come up with a third party version...

[Animeruko]

I've been running Win 7 RC 1 on and off for a while, I'm actually back to XP because I still haven't been able to figure out why my network craps out or why Windows Desktop Manager crashes. In any case though aside form some video codec/player problems all other programs i've used haven't had any issues ... Maya 2008 64bit and Various video encoding software/utilities work fine and some random korean MMO's also ran without issues(until the network craped out). Inkscape and Photshop ran aswell.

I think WDM crashing is new it never happened with the beta it could be the new Nvidia driver ... and ive allways had the network problem even in Vista .. so it may be my NIC.

[npal]

What do you mean "network craps out"?

My gripe with RC is that I reported a problem with the nforce6 ethernet since beta 7000 and they STILL haven't fixed it. There IS a workaround which I found, but it's still rather retarded.

Overall, I've made the switch now, 7 is the only Windows on my desktop, I'm planning on checking Ubuntu again cause it's been a long while and I'm a bit bored, but otherwise every program I need works normally (even stuff like OpenVPN -with admin rights- and statistics software).

[Animeruko]

What i mean is it loses connectivity, Browsing the web and all of a sudden "Limited Connection" and i have to reset the network connection it happened in vista as well and it happens in win 7 beta and RC1 ... its like a mysterious problem that happens to random people and there is no way to fix it.

Hopefully in time people will come up with a solution if not ill never upgrade from windows XP. Having to reset the network connection all the time is annoying I hope its solved by retail.

[npal]

BTW, what adapter are you using? Did you try installing Vista drivers for it? ie There's a consistent problem with my nforce 680i and Windows 7. 7 doesn't properly close the adapter when shutting down, so the adapter remains TOTALLY disabled (no OS can see it no matter what). The workaround was shut down the PC, unplug and replug power (or use the power supply switch), then, once the system is running with adapter enabled, install the nforce drivers with Vista compatibility. That fixes the problem. Installing a driver might also work in your case, although I'm not sure why there's a Vista problem, unless there are no drivers or you didn't install them in Vista either.

[Animeruko]

Intel Pro/1000 PM .. its intergrated on the motherboard ... vista drivers didn't change anything either ... my other system has no issues but that uses an nforce 4 board ..

The Network connection loses connectivity pretty much when i do anything slightly intensive, I've had it crap out from just browsing HDD's or changing some visual settings .. so its been hard trying to figure out the cause .. it may just be poor 64 bit drivers .. Once my new HDD gets here sometime this week ill probably install it again and play with some drivers and probably try my wireless NIC's since i don't have any spare wired ones lying about.

[Craymel]

OMG like I totally just removed ie8 from windows 7 with out having to horribly hack my computer. I can remove windows media player too! Yes! Although there is no equivalent codec pack to replace wmp for w7 yet (I tried one but the web player didn't work) so wmp is staying for now. Thank you for coming to your senses microsoft. I think this was already mentioned before in this thread but it's so satisfying to actually do it!

[chikorita157]

Originally Posted by Animeruko

I've been running Win 7 RC 1 on and off for a while, I'm actually back to XP because I still haven't been able to figure out why my network craps out or why Windows Desktop Manager crashes. In any case though aside form some video codec/player problems all other programs i've used haven't had any issues ... Maya 2008 64bit and Various video encoding software/utilities work fine and some random korean MMO's also ran without issues(until the network craped out). Inkscape and Photshop ran aswell.

I think WDM crashing is new it never happened with the beta it could be the new Nvidia driver ... and ive allways had the network problem even in Vista .. so it may be my NIC.

Well, my laptop (Macbook Pro) uses a nForce 730i chipset which uses the nForce Networking Adaptor and I didn't have connection problems with Ethernet. I guess it only effect the older nVidia chipsets.

nVidia recently released their WHQL signed drivers (185.85) for Windows 7 RC1. I haven't tested them since I uninstalled Windows 7 from my computer, so it should get rid of the WDM crashing.

Edit: Windows 7 drivers for nForce chipsets are out: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_...bit_15.37.html

Also, did anyone tested SMPlayer on Windows 7?

[mechabao]

Hmm, I know this may be off-topic but has anyone else experienced Nvidia's 185.85 drivers crashing when watching videos and taking MPC+CCCP down as well?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by mechabao

Hmm, I know this may be off-topic but has anyone else experienced Nvidia's 185.85 drivers crashing when watching videos and taking MPC+CCCP down as well?

Not in Win7 but I've noticed in Vista-64 that the latest Nvidia drivers are causing really jerky graphics in Warhammer and other games --- its almost nauseating riding a raptor mount. Spinning the camera is out of the question.

I'm assuming there will be another patch RealSoonNow - I've filed issues with both Warhammer Online (I figure they have a louder voice) and Nvidia.

[Quarkboy]

Just like to point out I installed RC1 on my new HP netbook (a mini 1000) and it went without a hitch, and I even think it's quite a bit faster than the pre-installed XP home the laptop came with. Probably because of multi-core optimizations (or maybe solid state drive optimizations, since my laptop has a 16 GB SSD).

It has an intel 945 on board graphics and a 1.6 Ghz dual core Atom processor, and it runs almost all the nice graphics for aero quite fast. All drivers installed automatically without any manual installation at all, and total it took up about 9 GB of the 16 GB SSD, compared to the 7 GB or so the windows XP installation took up.

Generally I'm extremely pleased by it... and I especially like some of the new tools in the control panel.

[mechabao]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Not in Win7 but I've noticed in Vista-64 that the latest Nvidia drivers are causing really jerky graphics in Warhammer and other games --- its almost nauseating riding a raptor mount. Spinning the camera is out of the question.

I'm assuming there will be another patch RealSoonNow - I've filed issues with both Warhammer Online (I figure they have a louder voice) and Nvidia.

Nvidia always seems to break something in every other driver release. Like in version 181.80 (IIRC) where it kept crashing Fallout 3 everytime you looked at the sky or some water.

[sa547]

I received some questions from (pirated) Windows 7 users who complained that their Gameguard-equipped online games don't work there, so I told them that nProtect/INCA (which probably holds a virtual monopoly in game security technology in South Korea -- but rarely recognized by the likes of Symantec and McAfee) will not provide updated support for Win7 until that operating system is finished and they must go back to Windows XP.

Those upgrade freaks... they should've known better. Caveat emptor.

[npal]

... How can you pirate something that is free...?

[sa547]

Originally Posted by npal

... How can you pirate something that is free...?

Some pirates download the beta copies and then burn and sell the copies to the paying gullibles on the street who think that upgrading to Win7 is cool.

[npal]

*facepalm*

Well upgrading to 7 was cool enough for me, I've actually deleted my Vista copy now, waiting for 7 to hit the market so I can buy it, but it's rather ridiculous when people buy "pirated" free software What's next, are they gonna pirate Debian? :P

[Journeyman]

On thread's title: yes, I would. But only after the first Service Pack is out
Windows XP does everything I can require from a computer now.

What's next, are they gonna pirate Debian? :P

I've heard they call themselves Novell

[Ending]

I'm going to stick with WinXP until there are absolutely no other alternatives. Win7 seems to be an improvement, but only when compared to the failure Vista was. I can't see it doing anything WinXP can't do -only with twice the RAM and half the speed.

Also, Win7 bears new "anti-piracy" measures to limit what I can do with my computer and the new TOS basically claims my ass for Microsoft. I'm not a fan of either, so I'd probably consider Linux before Win7 when using WinXP becomes impossible.

[ubb]

I have an eight month old Dell, Q6600, 3 GB of RAM, Radeon 3870 512 MB. 7 RC runs fine on the system. I didn't have any driver incompatibility issues, and as others said it's pretty much Vista with a prettier interface that uses the same amount of resources as XP. I do see the difference in performance, but since I am using more light-weight applications on win7(Firefox->chrome, MPC->smplayer, mIRC->irssi, etc) I can't tell how much switching OS actually helps. As for smplayer, it does work but there are several issues that I have not resolved. Since I did not use smplayer before on Vista I do not know if it's an OS-related issue. First, I cannot assign smplayer as the default program for any video format, it does the same thing when I try to use MPC, but it works for mplayer. Second, the seek bar doesn't work. It will still give you the time for the current frame, but it does not show the total amount of minutes for the video and the seek bar is non-functional.

From a casual user's standpoint, if you are not bothered with Vista hogging your memory and you don't have any software incompatibilities there is little incentive to get 7.

Edit: I used a guide to compile mplayer. I have not tried to grab a pre-compiled build yet.

[Vexx]

Here's a problem I've found. I'm using Firefox 3.X on Windows 7. Well, I tried to install some add-ons. Every single add-on fails (and the same add-ons do not fail on a nearby Vista box). The error console log info implies basic coding errors like 'unknown property' (zoom, align, and so on).

Going to re-install Firefox and see if that corrects it but also wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Update: false alarm I suppose.... wiped FF completely off after backing up bookmarks and re-installed. Problem "went away" fnar.