Windows 7 Beta (Actual Usage)

[Lucas]

I have made a small blog on my site, regarding my Impressions of Windows 7.

You can find it here

http://www.lucasdaly.com/

[kbob]

thanks-nice screenshots!

[jameshorsley197]

Only a couple of bumps in the road here. All the software seems to work Freepath, Media Shout, Ulead etc. Although Pinnacle 12 completely dissapeared. There is a folder but no program. Had to uninstall and install touchpad driver. Also cannot set my screen resolution to 1024 X 768 and have it stretch full screen. Will look at drivers for that later. Have not tried ant of the new stuff yet. All in all not bad so far

[blonborg]

Nice screenshots - looks almost identical to my installation.

Originally Posted by Lucas

I have made a small blog on my site, regarding my Impressions of Windows 7.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by jameshorsley197

Also cannot set my screen resolution to 1024 X 768 and have it stretch full screen.

That seems to pop up more and more, Generally only if your using a laptop, is this correct?

If so, have a look in the BIOS settings, there is often a setting in there called "Stretch To Fit"

[voyager529]

A nifty trick I found enabled me to cut-and-paste the product key instead of having to type it in manually. My laptop has multiple hard drives on it, but if you're dual-booting or have a USB flash drive handy, this should work too.

put your product key into a plaintext file using Notepad, then save it to a drive other than the one you're installing. when it prompts you for the key, press Shift+F10. this will give you a command line. Type in the drive letter containing the key (this may take some trial-and-error; using "dir" to see drive contents may help), then type the filename (you can probably type the first 3 or 4 letters, then press Tab to complete it). A notepad window will pop up, and you can cut-and-paste the key in.

Other observations:
-CMN crashes IE8, even in compatibility mode. Whether it's a CMN issue, an IE8 issue, a 64-bit issue, or a Win7 issue is anyone's guess, but it does open up in Firefox just fine.

-The "peek" feature is pretty nifty.

-I personally *like* the Windows Sidebar to dock my gadgets (I have the Vista Sidebar instead of Konfabulator in XP for specifically this reason), and this site has listed a set of workaround procedures if you too prefer having the sidebar. Of course, you can always pull gadgets off of the sidebar and have them float freely if you prefer. Also, 64-bit Win7 doesn't support 32-bit gadgets.

-iTunes sees a Win7 installation as another computer, and will authorize it as such. I'm assuming that if iTunes sees it as a different PC, that most other programs will as well. Therefore, if you plan on diving into Win7 with both feet like I have, make sure that you DEACTIVATE YOUR SOFTWARE before reformatting!

-Although Win7 didn't have my Geforce Go 7600 drivers immediately, it pulled them off of Windows Update without a problem. My Conexant audio chipset, Intel wired *and* wireless drivers, and SATA controller work well so far with just native drivers.

-UAC is decisively less intrusive than in Vista, but still rears its head during most installations. along the same vein, the Firewall is clearer and doesn't just silently block traffic, but it seems that the "Pre-install UAC prompt" and "Post-install Firewall prompt" are par for the course.

-Nero's Imagedrive doesn't work with 64-bit systems; I've been using it for years. Freeware title Alcohol 52% doesn't install either (keeps prompting for reboot to continue installation, even after you reboot). I gotta find something that allows me to mount ISO and NRG images (Daemon Tools, perhaps?)

-While it's a staple for Windows Vista users, Microsoft's creative and hard-drive-taxing solution to "DLL Hell" is the gigantic WinSXS directory. I'd love a "clear unused files after X days" to help keep down the directory size, but alas, I think that I'm better off just getting a bigger drive.

-Also something I've found about Win7 that has been around for Vista, in an attempt to keep users from doing stupid things, the user has to "take ownership" of the Windows and Program Files directories. While these features certainly make sense (the average user is 100x more likely to be saved from deleting something accidentally or from a virus attack than to have problems performing a task), it is still annoying when someone like me who tinkers in those directories on a regular basis has to "subpoena" Windows for the right to do so.

-Remember to download the MP3 patch! otherwise, you may find pieces of your VBR-encoded MP3's missing!

Known to run properly (or at least not crash immediately):
-Firefox 3.0.5
-UltraVNC 1.0.5.3
-Nero Burning ROM 8.3.13.0
-Digsby (first auto-update is nearly 10MBytes)
-IceChat 7.63
-Mixmeister 6.1.6
-iTunes 8.0.2.20

Known to Install (haven't run yet):
-Unreal Tournament 3
-Acid Pro 4.0
-Napster 4.6.1.7

Alright, that's my first round of reviewing. Production Studio CS3, Office 2007, and Mediashout are still pending. Additionally, I'm hoping that Microsoft releases an automated deployment kit; my pipe dream is to try to RIS out Windows 7 by launch date.

Joey

[voyager529]

I ran into my first incompatibility issue today. My storage server has many of my applications as disc images in Nero's NRG format. For many years, I have used their ImageDrive app to mount the images and install the software. This has worked very well for me. Since I'm running the 64-bit version of Win7, it's a known fact that Imagedrive won't work, since the drivers are unsigned. Daemontools and Alcohol 52% won't work either. Virtual CloneDrive does install successfully, but it does not mount NRG images.

The CS3 Production Studio installed successfully, activation was seamless, and photoshop started without a hiccup. More details as they come.

Other apps:

Known to work:
-Filezilla 3.2
-Napster 4.6.1.7
-Winamp 5.54
-ObjectDock 1.9
-Photoshop Elements 6 (including silent install)
-Office 2007 (including silent install, SP1 slipstream, and activation)


Joey

[shayward]

Win7 installed in about 20 minutes. I'm going to kick the tires tomorrow. Unfortunately my CPU, which is 64 bit, doesn't support 64 bit virtualization. So I had to install the x86 flavor.

First impressions (which were brief) was pretty much, "Hey - it's Vista only good."

[voyager529]

Filezilla seems to be acting strange. The process starts, but I never get a UI. I'ma try a reinstall tomorrow.

CS4 suite came in the mail today. it installed without a problem, but for some reason it kept trying to read from two different places on the disc at once on multiple occasions. I wager that installation could take considerably less time if I had copied the contents of the discs to a folder and ran installation that way. Also, there is no activation prompt; it's invisible and automatic (presumably until you hit the activation ceiling, in which case it's alot less invisible LOL). Actual suite usage has been extremely light so far and thus a review of CS4 is another thread entirely, but I will say that CS4 seems less stable than CS3. Whether Windows 7, 64-bit, or CS4 itself is to blame is still debatable (there are certainly enough variables), but I do intend to try to iron that down as time progresses.

Opentype fonts can be dragged-and-dropped into the Fonts folder, just like truetype fonts. windows XP required extra steps to import opentype fonts.

winamp seems to play video slightly slower than the actual framerate. everything i've watched has been quite watchable, but I can see the framerate difference only because I watch NTSC video all day. I gotta try it in WMP and VLC to see where the problem lies.

I came across a humorous bug today. I accompanied a screengrab. Unreal Tournament 3 came up in the games explorer. it was rated Early Childhood for fantasy violence, regular violence, language, animated blood, regular blood, gore, mature humor, and partial nudity. Now that's a bug for the Fail Blog.

Confirmed installs:
-Microsoft Expression Studio 2
-Unreal Tournament 2004


If someone *REALLY* wants me to test it, I've got Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 Pro, as well as the express versions. I have found the debugger impossible to silence (and as such don't enjoy installing Visual Studio), but if it would help someone here for me to get Visual Studio installed, let me know whether you have 2005 or 2008 that i should test for you.

That's tonights update.

Joey

[DrowningnHim17]

Installed earlier, well last night now lol. When installing my anti-virus & firewall (Comodo) ran into an issue. It would begin the install then partway through do a rollback and be done, not fully installing the program. Looked around for a minute in explorer trying to figure out what was up and discovered the compatibility troubleshooter (or whatever it is called. Im not in windows right now). For those of you interested or who may be having problems with some installs give it a whirl. It's located under the right-click context menu. Once clicked a wizard comes up and asks you a few questions and from what I've seen in most cases, WHALLA!
That's all for now. I will tear into it tomorrow well today, later today.

[Lucas]

I'm going to install Windows 7 in Boot Camp on my new Macbook Pro, then I'll start pushing it to it's limits.

That will probably be on Friday/Weekend.

I do like how it's going though, new post on my site in about a day or so.

[shayward]

I'm still having problems with IE8. It managed to bring Windows 7 to its knees a few times today. Visual Studio 2008 installed well. Overall, Microsoft is heading in the right direction.

This is cool:

Force Shutdown.PNG