Windows 7 Beta Download Extended Until Feb. 10

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ghot

January 28, 2009 at 5:51am

 ....there is NO theme  lol.   Hopefully its because still in beta.....but if thats the only reason......it gonna be like 10,000 miles to RC1   :/

 

 

 

 

 

Take efficiency, and edit out all the intelligence and what you have left is a post-XP Microsoft operating system :)

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MediaPackRat86

January 26, 2009 at 12:28am

hey the windows 7 interface looks great in all but I'm in love with the Vista Aero interface and it'd take some  time to get used to the new W7 interface so is there a theme for the standard vista aero? Maybe I'm im thinking this way just cause I havnt personally tried it yet......

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Danielt876

January 26, 2009 at 9:05am

If your graphics card is up to date, and you get a rating of 2.0 or higher in the graphics category, in the Windows Experience Index, Windows Aero will be set as your default theme automatically.

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ghot

January 25, 2009 at 11:31am

..but not like you'd expect.....instead of there being a setting for shrinking the task bar...you have to right click task bar and choose properties and w/e tab to customize and check ....use small icons   lol.....then the task bar shrinks to match  lol

but hey it only took me 25 mins to find my other hard drives...now THATS improvement  lol

the other thing i noticed was that the Windows 7 firewall is a fooking nightmare...it has more settings than a porcupine has quills, and they make absolutely no sense.

I think MS calling Windows 7 a beta  is a really quite a stretch  :/

Although these days I hate to say anything good about MS.....I have to admit  that it handled the graphics, chipset, sata, ethernet and sound drivers w/o a hitch......(no driver installation needed, all worked flawlessly right out of the box, so to speak[but I was dual booting.....clean install may be whole different story]) ............that was just about the ONLY thing it did well.

There is NO classic view option either. none, period!

As for getting a copy..that was easy...simple .iso image...burned with nero 7 to DVD...donj't expect to see anything on screen when you put DVD in drive though....it doesn't yet have that function....just put in DVD rom and reboot (make sure BIOS is set to boot from DVD rom) and make SURE you choose the custom option..if you don't it will assume that you want to upgrade!

Dates: Win 7 Ultimate beta available till Feb 10th

           Win 7 will function till Aug 2009

Both the 32 and 64 bit versions come in ONLY the Ultimate flavor.

 

 

 

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atomaweapon

January 24, 2009 at 9:55pm

I still don't know how i feel about that wide ass taskbar

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ghot

January 24, 2009 at 8:29pm

I have 2 HD's  a 36gb WD Raptor, with Windows XP Pro installed on it and a Seagate 250 GB with 4 partitions (the 1st is Z:\... 2nd is D: BckUp1...3rd is E: BckUp2...4th is F: BckUp3.)  Z: is bootable partition suitable for an OS.  So, I DL'd the 64bit Windows 7 beta and installed it on the Z: partition on my Seagate HD.  It took 26 mins to install on an AMD 5000+ black edition, over clocked to 3.2Ghz...not bad.

All went well with install.  However, when I went back to my XP Pro install I had a few problems.

1. It screwed up Partition Magic 8.0 in that it renamed the D: and the F: partitions but left the E: partition alone.  The only way I could fix this was through Computer Management > Disk Management by running check disk with the repair option.  Only then could I access the properties pages for the D: and F: partitions.  The weird part is....it didn't mess with the E: partition which has my XP Pro Ghost backups on it.  Also for all you Zonealarm fans....there is no 64bit version of the free Zonealarm.

2. As for Windows 7 itself, it seems like MS took every setting for an OS  and put them all in a shoe box, then shook it up and threw them at the OS.

3. So, I uninstalled Windows 7 beta from the Z: drive, fixed the D: and F: drives and am mnow going to use my XP Pro CD to fix the MBR....I've already DL'd the 32 bit version and will try that on another day.

So, far I AM impressed with the ease of installation, but definitely NOT impressed with the seemingly random choices of where the settings in Windows 7 are located.....if there is ANY rhyme or reason....I can't see it. In a few days when I've....recovered from my shock, I'll try the 32 bit version.

Note: my system is totally 64bit compatible, although I don't guess Partition Magic 8.0 is 64 bit compatible.  Even though Patition magic 8.0 couldn't access the properties pages on 2 of my 2nd HD's partitions, Windows XP pro, still could....and when in Windows 7, I could also access them.  Also be advised that in msconfig (after deleting Windows 7 from my Z: drive (which it renamed to C:)) on the boot.ini tab there is now a warning, to use BCDedit.exe to fix the MBR...only Vista has BCDedit.exe  :/

It seems as if MS is assuming, incorrectly, that the only people who will use Windows 7 are those that already use Vista.

 

P.S. even the Windows CD repair console didn't fix the MBR....do like they say and make backups before you try this beta...I'm glad I did  ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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jvc08

January 24, 2009 at 4:33pm

how long can i use it?

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CTskifreak

January 24, 2009 at 4:54pm

I believe it expires in August. Don't quote me on that.

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wolf17

January 24, 2009 at 4:02pm

I had trouble w/ wireless networking; otherwise, Windows 7 works well using VirtualBox.

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zstadt

January 24, 2009 at 2:51pm

If only I had a dedicated test PC.

I've got a copy of the beta .iso, but being a college student, I really don't want to install it on my primary (i.e. only) computer.  Although I know I could run it (Intel dual-core 2.8gHz, 4gb ram, GeForce 8800gt, etc.), I'm afraid of losing important data and/or usage of my computer.

Are my worries unfounded?

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whitneymr

January 24, 2009 at 2:56pm

The answer for you is virtualization.

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b_boy_69_00

January 24, 2009 at 3:59pm

But even with is specs, even if he's running XP, it would severely hinder performance.  Running the 2 OS's at once would kill any speed increase of 7.  His best bet, in my opinion, would be to partition off a section of his HDD, if he has enough space, and dual boot 7 and XP/Vista. That way he could retain his main OS for everyday stuff and mess around in 7 for fun.  I would only do this though after backing up all critical files, just to be safe.

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zstadt

January 24, 2009 at 5:52pm

Gahh... sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

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geek14

January 24, 2009 at 7:41pm

I have done so on a laptop that i just bought two months ago.  Dual booted with vista/7.  Took only about 30-45 minutes total including partitioning the drive then doing the install.  I originally setup 7 in virtual pc but as noted earlier this causes you to lose some speed even on a good machine.  So, after doing a clean install on my old desktop i couldnt resist giving it a go on my laptop.  I have not had one single issue, in fact i'm typing this inside 7 right now.  Specs: AMD Turion X2 2.1 ghz; 4gb RAM, ATI Radeon HD 3200, x64.  7 runs like a champ!

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zstadt

January 24, 2009 at 8:17pm

By the by, I am using XP as of right now.

I may just partition and dual-boot.  Looks like I'll be finding some tutorials to read! (considering my lack of experience in this sort of thing)

Is this a safer alternative? In other words, if I were to do it this way, could I keep my existing data safe in XP, while being able to play around with 7?

Any help you can give (or have already given) is much appreciated.

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ubuwalker31

January 25, 2009 at 6:39am

Before partitioning and dual-booting, just try it out on your current Windows setup using VirtualBox.

Just go ahead and download and install VirtualBox:  http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

If you need more help, watch this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p49C1Os90Zc

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zstadt

January 25, 2009 at 7:32am

Virtualization had been suggested before, but then it was pointed out that it'll hinder the performance.

Edit: Also, after watching that YouTube video, it appears as though I'll be missing out on visual features because of the lack of "graphics features" within the virtual setting.

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routine

January 25, 2009 at 9:41am

I dont know why everyone is saying it will run slow in Virtualization.

Lots of production applications run in virtualization.

I'm running Windows 7 using Virtual Box on my main pc and on a test bed laptop. Altho it runs better on the laptop, the virtual version is no slouch. You lose 3d with virtualization.

  

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Wild Alaskan

January 25, 2009 at 12:51am

To reduce confusion start the install from xp so your hard drive letters will stay the same. Otherwise if it is like vista it will say its on the c drive and when your in xp it will be in a different drive.

also an easy way to partition is parted magic http://partedmagic.com/  maximum pc wrote a very nice guide on how to use this. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/how_to_repartition_your_hard_drive_for_free_without_formatting_or_losing_data

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zstadt

January 25, 2009 at 6:41am

So, what you're saying is, I should boot to Parted Magic (USB or burned CD), create a partition for Windows 7... but then run the installation within XP (installed to the partition) INSTEAD of booting to the 7 install (USB or burned DVD) and selecting "Custom" to install to the partition?

Sorry; this is all new to me! Thank you though.

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geek14

January 26, 2009 at 7:50am

here is a step by step process on how to create a partition and then install 7.  Hope this helps, its fairly straight-forward.  http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista

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