Windows 7

[Lofty]

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.

Could be a bit of both. I didn't have any problems downloading either the 32 bit or the 64 bit version of the RC, but I do remember having problems downloading the beta. Never had any problems burning to DVD though, or installing. I've used the same old 4x DVD+RW each time I've installed Windows 7.

It could be a partition or other HD error, but that's doubtful. I'm using partitions setup a while ago with Partition Magic running under XP, which eliminates disc compatability as an issue.

 

[Mod]

Finally got it. Was a mixture of both so just unrar'ed the iso to Vista Documents, then ran set up pointing it to the hd partition and installed a treat.

 

[Mod]

Lofty, when you ordered was there a 32 and 64bit option there? Looking at ordering on Amazon and there doesn't seem to be that option.

 

[Lofty]

There isn't, but I did read that all versions of Windows 7 are going to ship with a choice of 32 and 64 bit - which is what prompted me to try out the 64 bit RC.

I can't find the same story but there's this:

Should You Install Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit?Did you know?

Retail versions of Windows 7 will include both 32-bit & 64-bit discs on the box in case you are undecided or prefer to make the jump to the 64-bit version of the OS at a later time.

If this is true, then it's possibly the best reason there is for upgrading to Windows 7.

 

[Mod]

Thanks loft, I'm going to order it today and wasn't sure, so I guess that explains why there isn't the option on the order.

I'm actually running 32bit Vista, so not sure if I can go straight to 64bit Windows 7. I'm going to clean install it anyway.

 

[Lofty]

You can't upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, but you can have 32 bit and 64 bit OS's on different partitions, which is how I've got this machine set up, and I'll be keeping it that way (replacing the RC with the retail when it finally arrives) in case of compatability problems. Even if you choose to stay with 32 bit Windows 7, I'd recommend a fresh install over upgrading anyday.

 

[Lofty]

After several weeks of stability, Windows 7 has started playing up again. Except that now it's not just games/graphically intensive apps that are causing it to freeze. Today it crashed while updating Spybot S&D, and again while running a "System Internals" check. Firefox caused the OS to die on me a couple of times last night, and again just a little while ago.

I'm finding it difficult to believe that this is anything but deliberate on the part of Microsoft. The Beta was as solid as a rock. So what do they do, scrap it, replacing it with the RC which is by far the most unstable excuse for an Operating System I've ever had the misfortune to lay my hands on - and that includes Windows Millennium.

And why do I suspect this? Because the official release is only a few weeks away, and MS want to push sales NOW rather than allowing people to wait till next July or whenever the RC expires.

 

[dkw]

After several weeks of stability, Windows 7 has started playing up again. Except that now it's not just games/graphically intensive apps that are causing it to freeze. Today it crashed while updating Spybot S&D, and again while running a "System Internals" check. Firefox caused the OS to die on me a couple of times last night, and again just a little while ago.I'm finding it difficult to believe that this is anything but deliberate on the part of Microsoft. The Beta was as solid as a rock. So what do they do, scrap it, replacing it with the RC which is by far the most unstable excuse for an Operating System I've ever had the misfortune to lay my hands on - and that includes Windows Millennium.

And why do I suspect this? Because the official release is only a few weeks away, and MS want to push sales NOW rather than allowing people to wait till next July or whenever the RC expires.

ive heard a few things about the RC being incredibly unstable and buggy, which is odd as the beta was apparently extremely stable. i remember this kind of thing happened with XP also, with the RC being garbage. as you say, its probably their way of getting people to buy the full release.

 

[Lofty]

I'm pretty sure this is the case.

I've just got rid of it. The uninstall command - D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force - doesn't work with the 64 BIT version, so after booting into Windows 7, I effectively disabled it by setting XP as the default OS and Time to Display Startup Options to 0 seconds. Then I rebooted into XP and formatted the Windows 7 partition. I'm left with a couple of useless 64 bit files on the C: drive but they're not actually doing anything apart from taking up a minuscule amount of space. I'm wondering whether installing Windows 7 32 BIT would overwrite those files or rename them. I might try give it a go sometime, but not today.

 

[dkw]

I'm pretty sure this is the case.I've just got rid of it. The uninstall command - D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force - doesn't work with the 64 BIT version, so after booting into Windows 7, I effectively disabled it by setting XP as the default OS and Time to Display Startup Options to 0 seconds. Then I rebooted into XP and formatted the Windows 7 partition. I'm left with a couple of useless 64 bit files on the C: drive but they're not actually doing anything apart from taking up a minuscule amount of space. I'm wondering whether installing Windows 7 32 BIT would overwrite those files or rename them. I might try give it a go sometime, but not today.

just looking about it seems the uninstall is giving a lot of people a lot of problems. i wouldnt bother yourself with the 64 bit files, i doubt they will do anything malicious. are they registry based files? if they are you could try CCleaner or something similar to get rid.

 

[Lofty]

just looking about it seems the uninstall is giving a lot of people a lot of problems. i wouldnt bother yourself with the 64 bit files, i doubt they will do anything malicious. are they registry based files? if they are you could try CCleaner or something similar to get rid.

It's not a problem, they're just boot files, that's all. It's pointless trying to get rid of them -

CCleaner won't do the job, neither will Unlocker. As 64 bit files, they're unrecognised by 32 bit XP anyway, so are nothing but a very minor irritation.

 

[dkw]

It's not a problem, they're just boot files, that's all. It's pointless trying to get rid of them - CCleaner won't do the job, neither will Unlocker. As 64 bit files, they're unrecognised by 32 bit XP anyway, so are nothing but a very minor irritation.

if your anything like me though they will really start to piss you off. anything i cant do on a pc winds me right up, to a point where i have to sort it no matter what. theres a programme called lockhunter that might do the job if you do want to get rid, and if i remember rightly its free.

 

[Lofty]

Thanks, but I'm thinking of reinstalling XP soon anyway. At present, XP is on an SATA drive and Windows 7 was on an IDE drive. I read somewhere that the freezing/automatic shutdown problems Windows 7 RC has are associated with overheating, which would be strange as this system is a Cooler Master, with all kinds of extra fans and so on.

Having said that SATA drives are usually faster than IDE drives and usually manage to stay cooler, which means that installing Windows 7 on a SATA drive might just tip the balance. Or not.

It occurred to me earlier today that this latest batch of crashes actually began after MS's Genuine Advantage reared it's idiotic head. Even though the RC is free to use, MS still insist that it needs activating after a certain period, 30 days or whatever. And I'd forgotten all about this till the other day. I booted up, got the Activate Now screen before the machine was online, cancelled and was hit with a "This copy of Windows is not genuine" message. So I went online, activatated the OS, and thought that was the end of it. Ok maybe it was a coincidence but it was almost immediately after the not genuine message appeared that the OS started crashing again.

 

[dkw]

Thanks, but I'm thinking of reinstalling XP soon anyway. At present, XP is on an SATA drive and Windows 7 was on an IDE drive. I read somewhere that the freezing/automatic shutdown problems Windows 7 RC has are associated with overheating, which would be strange as this system is a Cooler Master, with all kinds of extra fans and so on.Having said that SATA drives are usually faster than IDE drives and usually manage to stay cooler, which means that installing Windows 7 on a SATA drive might just tip the balance. Or not.

It occurred to me earlier today that this latest batch of crashes actually began after MS's Genuine Advantage reared it's idiotic head. Even though the RC is free to use, MS still insist that it needs activating after a certain period, 30 days or whatever. And I'd forgotten all about this till the other day. I booted up, got the Activate Now screen before the machine was online, cancelled and was hit with a "This copy of Windows is not genuine" message. So I went online, activatated the OS, and thought that was the end of it. Ok maybe it was a coincidence but it was almost immediately after the not genuine message appeared that the OS started crashing again.

is that right about the genuine thing? even on an RC? thats ridiculous but doesnt surprise me in the slightest. if they are having problems on overheating then they must have system overview in the OS, which is a bit stupid really, especially if its set to a ridiculously low fail. i think i might hold of on getting W7 for a while, i usually wait until the first service pack is released before going near a new OS.

 

[Lofty]

is that right about the genuine thing? even on an RC? thats ridiculous but doesnt surprise me in the slightest. if they are having problems on overheating then they must have system overview in the OS, which is a bit stupid really, especially if its set to a ridiculously low fail. i think i might hold of on getting W7 for a while, i usually wait until the first service pack is released before going near a new OS.

I'm only guessing about the overheating - there's been no hint of it on the XP partition.

This is still the RC, and as has been well documented, it's far less stable than the Beta. There are plenty of supposed copies of the final release floating around but I wouldn't trust any of them, the official release isn't out til near the end of October. The only reason I bought it when I did was the massive discount - recognising that there will come a time when I'll need to use it, but I doubt I'll be using it as my default OS for a while yet,

 

[dkw]

ive just read you need a minimum of 10gb partition to run it, but 30gb is better. thats bloody massive, i remember 98 only needing 1gb at most. how things have changed.

 

[Lofty]

ive just read you need a minimum of 10gb partition to run it, but 30gb is better. thats bloody massive, i remember 98 only needing 1gb at most. how things have changed.

I can't remember how much room it took up but I think it was nearer 4Gb than 10Gb. It was on a 37Gb partition, so space wasn't the problem.

Funny you should mention 98, I've recently got hold of an old, old Dell CPi 400 laptop with a 6Gb hard drive and 256Mb RAM. It arrived with Windows 2k installed, which ran ok but took a bit too long to boot up for my liking. So I replaced it with 98 and now it's a really nice little system. It's also a lot of fun messing around with old games and versions of software that I'd forgotten all about.

 

[dkw]

I can't remember how much room it took up but I think it was nearer 4Gb than 10Gb. It was on a 37Gb partition, so space wasn't the problem.Funny you should mention 98, I've recently got hold of an old, old Dell CPi 400 laptop with a 6Gb hard drive and 256Mb RAM. It arrived with Windows 2k installed, which ran ok but took a bit too long to boot up for my liking. So I replaced it with 98 and now it's a really nice little system. It's also a lot of fun messing around with old games and versions of software that I'd forgotten all about.

i had an old one running as a gatekeeper with 2000se on for a while until the software overtook it and it was brilliant, so much quicker and easier than xp or vista on boot. Os`s now are so bloated now, they just get filled up with all kinds of sh*te like prefetch.

 

[Mitch]

I've got Windows 7 now, and to me its excellent, pinning Firefox and Messenger to the taskbar is just :angry:

 

[Mod]

Trusty old Microsoft have just whooped the price up on Amazon to £114.98 for Home Premium, they better charge me the amount I pre-ordered it for or there will be violence.