Windows 7

Okay so I've been playing around with Windows 7 a lot lately, and I want to open the floor for discussion to anyone who has questions about it, or hasn't had the time to look at it or has played it and would like to give their 2 cents. SO lets begin.

PLUSES

UAC Level

So one of vista's prime annoyances was the UAC and how every time you wanted to do anything like fart it would pop up saying "Allow or Disallow." With Windows 7 you are allowed to decide the level at which UAC notifies you on 4 levels: Never, low, medium, high. Very handy if you know what your doing and you want to live on the edge. Overall:

My Documents -> Libraries

So if your like me where you have your media spread across several hard drives you can tell Windows 7 where your mp3s/videos/documents/pictures are by adding in locations. So say your music is on your terabyte drive and you have some in your "Users" folder. You can tell windows 7 to add your terabyte drive as a music source. It wont move the files, but it will show them in your "My Music" library. Very handy!

Virtual XP

So if anyone here has applications that will only work on XP and you do not want to upgrade to Windows 7... Fear not! Native to Windows 7 is a Virtual XP. No its nothing like running a program in XP mode, you actually emulate Windows XP in a program that provides a window and an interface in which to work (Like remote desktop access). Your CPU needs to have virtualization technology, but most processors past 2007 support this anyways.

System Partition

This isn't really a feature that anyone would really care about or anything, but Windows 7 now generates a small "System" partition on you hard drive. This is sorta on the linux/Unix side of things where it keeps critical system files away from its work space. This is really cool IMHO because it provides an extra shield from attacks on your OS.

Keyboard Short Cuts

Hold your windows key and play around with the arrows a bit and your in for a surprise: Windows + Down arrow, minimizes the window your in. Windows + Up arrow, goes through all the maximization settings you can have on windows open. Windows + left/right arrows, this docks the current window to take up half of the left or right side of the screen for those of us with large monitors. Windows key + space bar, this makes every window transparent so you may see the desktop. Yay!

Interface Improvements

You have to experience it for yourself, no longer do you have bars 2 inches long, you now have tiles that are "filled" behind one another. If you have multiple tabs in IE then it will dedicate each tab to be a file. Firefox will hopefully support this eventually where each tab can be "filled" behind the tile in the future. If you hover your mouse over the tab long enough it will bring up a thumbnail to preview the page, very cool IMO. When you want to shutdown, you just open up the start button and there it is, the shutdown button, the other options (Hibernation, standby, restart ,logoff are on the arrow to the right of the button now).

Performance Improvements
Since Windows isn't open source I cant really say how they did this, but overall the performance is much better, W7 boots faster, it works faster. According to Microsoft the W7 kernel is much smaller and more efficient, thus reducing system requirements, so that PC with 1 GB of RAM with vista on it, won't run slow as hell any longer.

NEGATIVES

Removal of Windows Classic

One of my main gripes with W7 is that it removed the windows classic themes. I hated the way XP shows the control panel, and I hated vista's even more. Now they are forcing you to use Vista's control panel theme. Likewise the same goes for the start menu, while I never used classic start menu on XP or vista, its just a nuisance not to have. But in the future someone out there will make a custom theme that will bring it back.

So lets hear your thoughts.

My brother thinks that W7 is a lot more optimized than Vista.I hope he and you are right.And the older games are somehow working properly on W7 too.

Removal of Windows Classic

One of my main gripes with W7 is that it removed the windows classic themes. I hated the way XP shows the control panel, and I hated vista's even more. Now they are forcing you to use Vista's control panel theme. Likewise the same goes for the start menu, while I never used classic start menu on XP or vista, its just a nuisance not to have. But in the future someone out there will make a custom theme that will bring it back.

So lets hear your thoughts.

Why dont you e-mail them to return the Windows Classic style?

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Never think about bad things!
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Citizen Arms

This has got to be the dumbest reason to not use an OS, but if they really removed the classic theme then thats a dealbreaker for me. I can't stand the fluffy puffy nonsense style of non-classic.

tnkqwe said:
Why dont you e-mail them to return the Windows Classic style?

Why don't we also email Gabe Newell to release E3, and email our world leaders for world peace :P. I've already given my feed back to M$ on their internal forums and blogs. But just because you email someone doesn't mean they'll actually implement it :(. Once again someone out there will "hack" W7 to give these options. For all we know its in W7, we just may need to tweak some Registry key or something. All in all though the lack of classic style isn't a deal breaker for me, I would use someone's hack or just learn it already.

Windows 7 can already be downloaded from a pirating servers(such as The Pirate Bay).Almost everithing can be downloaded for free from servers like thees.

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Never think about bad things!
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I am Engineer - Play Free Online Games
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Citizen Arms

Windows 7 RC 7100 was available on Technet on April 30th and Publicly a week later. Why risk an infected build from TPB (or wherever) when there is a legitimate download location? If you do download from one of those torrents, do check the SHA1 before using the build.

SHA1 for x86-64 is FC867FE1AB2E0A9796F9E4D155B44EA6998F4874

RTM is due in July, and will probably be one of the 72xx builds.

XP VM requires hypervisor support even though VPC doesn't use one. Your CPU will need Vanderpool or Pacifica obviously.

Support for TRIM and partition sector alignment should be helpful for SSDs. Defrag is also automatically disabled for SSDs that match certain performance criteria.

OP misunderstands the function of the 200MB 'system partition'. It contains no 'critical system files' and is not part of the running OS. Nor is there any reason to think it has anything to do with rootkit prevention or other 'system shielding'. It just holds the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and is used to recover Windows7 in the event of the main OS becoming unusable. Users can avoid the creation of the WinRE partition entirely by partitioning all available space on the target hard drive before beginning W7 setup.

The new taskbar is a step forward, and works very well along the right hand side of the screen with never combine enabled.

General UI enhancements make the whole thing a lot easier to use than the clusterf*ck that is Vista. Libraries and Jump lists are both excellent, even if the latter needs some work for certain apps.

New shortcuts make life a lot easier too, especially window management. Positioning also works seamlessly across displays, and the new multi-monitor manager finally provides decent extended desktop support rather than leaving it to the whims of buggy and inconsistent graphics drivers.

The addition of 'Homegroup' makes network setup and sharing far simpler for Joe Bloggs user. Networking is generally still buggy and tempermental, and certain Vista RTM issues that were fixed in SP1 were present in the Beta. May have been fixed in 7100.

UAC has been reduced to complete ineffectiveness, with MS falling over themselves to state that UAC "is not a security boundary".

In general the technical underpinnings are Vista, with the main focus on a much needed UI overhaul.

Be aware RC expires on March 1st 2010 and bihourly shutdowns will begin thereafter. Final expiry is in June.

OP misunderstands the function of the 200MB 'system partition'. It contains no 'critical system files' and is not part of the running OS. Nor is there any reason to think it has anything to do with rootkit prevention or other 'system shielding'. It just holds the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and is used to recover Windows7 in the event of the main OS becoming unusable. Users can avoid the creation of the WinRE partition entirely by partitioning all available space on the target hard drive before beginning W7 setup.

That clears it up for me .

I have not tried it yet. I vant too. When I do, I will let you know my thoughts.

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I am now on Windows 7.

I requested a CD for it a long time back. It came in the mail this morning. I had a few driver issues.. but with a little... ok a lot of searching and work, I was able to find my ethernet driver and that allowed me to get online and use windows update to find my audio and other unknown drivers and everything seems to be working ok. I do like the interface more. I also like how the background from the set will change over time.. a cool little feature.

I need to see how this version will work with games like MMO's, and CounteStrike, I hear there is some sorta issue with a shield program kicking people from games.

If you know what I am talking about, anyone have an idea of how to address that issue?

but so far so good. seems like a more stable feature rich version of Windows.

so fare for me win 7 has been kind of underwhelming. Not bad, just bla.

Pros:
It looks better.
Shuts down and starts faster.
Dx10 (witch they could have allowed on xp)

Cons:
Its bloted, vary bloted.
My firewall app list is a stream of red trying to block so many miscellaneous win app from connecting to the net.
Iv been having audio issues in the form of volume control. I have to crank most media to my speaks max just to be able to hear it. where in xp half would have blown my speakers.
It keeps minimizing my windows without me telling it to and i don't know how to turn that feacher off.
I had to change the seting to keep it from hibernating. (fucked my torrent download when i left it over night.)

Id go back to xp in 2010 if it weren't for dx10

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Reality has become a commodity.

W7 RTM will ship with DX11, and Ati have new GPUs lined up and ready to go come October!

Can't really see DX10 as a reason not to stick with XP tbh, since right now it is completely useless.

I've given up on ever being happy with a new Windows version.

Every version change I did, I only performed years late, kicking and screaming after some stupid and unnecessary compatibility issue forced me to. Windows is so bloated now, you can barely see the bottom of your own PC. I'm just waiting for the day it only allows you to install "Windows certified software" (while, of course, leaving open a security leak the size of a barn door in the background).

I'm more than happy to wait 2 seconds longer for Steam to load and manage my MP3 folders manually, if it means I can skip the horror of crapping yet another new Windows on my system.

Every version change I did, I only performed years late, kicking and screaming after some stupid and unnecessary compatibility issue forced me to.

The switch from 2000 -> XP was a pain in the ass too, and a ton of people felt the same way they do about Vista as they did with XP (new and different = scary).

Granted though Vista was a direction that people didn't want to go, but I mainly see a lot of ignorance with these new OS's every time someone walks into the computer repair shop I work at and opens their mouth about stuff they don't know what they're talking about.

-By ignorance I don't mean anyone here, just people who say "I hate vista even though I never tried to learn it."

Windows is so bloated now, you can barely see the bottom of your own PC.

This is just a logical step with all software. Half life 1 was under a gig when it was released, and now after updates its near 1 gig. HL2 is near 4 gigs 6 years later. Space is getting cheaper, memory is getting cheaper, processing power is getting cheaper. Its just natural that software increases in size.

Vista = bloated for sure. However with Windows 7 its reduced a lot of the clutter that vista had in it. And while I can't really prove my next point with evidence or experience (being that M$ is closed on their source code), but the W7 kernal is smaller and more efficient.

I'm just waiting for the day it only allows you to install "Windows certified software"

Being that M$ has already been sued over these kinds of issues (internet explorer being built into windows) I doubt that the US government will allow M$ to become too "Monopolistic".

(while, of course, leaving open a security leak the size of a barn door in the background).

There are always going to be security holes that people will exploit, no matter how secure you build something. If you really want security then you should go with Linux/Unix, not only are those built slightly stronger, but since they are such a small % of the market for computers they are targeted less. I use OpenSUSE to navigate through sketchy websites (read: torrents), and I keep AVG updated to the max at all times on my Windows side.

Im not really trying to defend M$ for Vista. Or trying to personally attack your statements reaper. I just think M$ should be credited for moving in the right direction with W7 by reducing the size and clutter of vista.

Before someone says anything no I'm not a fanboy of M$, in fact they are paying me to patrol the message boards and answer questions/troubleshoot W7 things.

I want them to put forth a Gamer Version of Windows.. streamlined for what we really use our systems for. Heck build in that stupid LIVE gaming thing they have now.. or take that GAMING FOR WINDOWS to the next level and give us an op-sys that is designed around it. And give us some free game servers to play these games on like Diablo and Starcraft have.

But back to WIN 7, I am enjoying it, it seems faster, I have had a couple glitches but was able to recover pretty easy so far. Had one issue where windows would not load, it kicked into a recovery mode and tried to fix the bootup, but was not able to and allowed me to recover to an earlier date and it was fine.

I have tried Vista, have it on my laptop by default, and I dont like it. But it grows on you I guess.. it was easier to do home networking on vista. But I see major improvments on 7 that Vista should of had all along. I also like that I can now operate at 64bit processing power like my PC was designed to do, and not have to retard to 32bit processing. I think 7 is a good improvement and one I will embrace.

omegaslayer said:
Im not really trying to defend M$ for Vista. Or trying to personally attack your statements reaper. I just think M$ should be credited for moving in the right direction with W7 by reducing the size and clutter of vista.

I'm more than willing to admit than I'm rather emotional about this. From what I heard, W7 is a step up from Vista. I'm just so sick of the company for more reasons than I bother to list. I mean, M$ is the leading producer of operating systems in the world, and I just can't seem to bring myself to praise them for adding basic functionality and performance upgrades that I either don't need or should be standard for years now. If there was any competition on th OS market, M$ would be done for. I know I can't change it, but I don't have to like it either.

So, yea, this isn't a rational rant. Just the result of dealing with an M$ monopoly for the length of my PC using life.

I remember posting about this awhile back. Whether to upgrade to Vista or go for the hardware upgrade and wait for windows 7. I think I made the right choice, my rig is now a core 2 quad with dual hd4870's in crossfire. In October, I will go W7 Ultimate, and I may even upgrade to a couple of SSD's, if I can learn enough about them. I do have Vista on my laptop, and quite frankly, I've never had a problem with it. I like the interface, but it does leave plenty of room for improvements, which I hope will be dealt with in W7. I remember whem windows Millenium cam out, there was similiar outcry of "Total Crap" from most consumers, and the XP version fixed alot of that and more.Subsequent service packs improved/stabilized that even further. I am not a fanboy either, I just want to do my stuff faster, better,and as close to seamless as I can.

ME was nothing to do with XP, it was a half-assed cash-in base don the 9x codebase. While it did introduce WDM and USB support it was a complete mess and was abanoned pretty quickly.

XP was the first consumer NT codebase OS and was essentially win2k with a teletubby colour scheme.

ME was indeed total crap though and was not ever fixed by service packs etc.

larchy said:
ME was nothing to do with XP, it was a half-assed cash-in base don the 9x codebase. While it did introduce WDM and USB support it was a complete mess and was abanoned pretty quickly.

ME was indeed total crap though and was not ever fixed by service packs etc.

Everybody says that, why was it crap? Just curios.

I've used ME for like 20 minutes and it seemed alot like Windows 98/2000, I didn't really find any faults.

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Aaron's Stuff

aaron_da_killa said:
alot like Windows 98/2000

So, a lot like two completely different operating systems with entirely separate codebases intended for completely different markets?

Quite frankly saying "Oh, was ME bad?" is like asking "Oh, did the Titanic sink then?". It came fourth in The worst 25 tech products of all time

I played Stalker and the addon Clearsky with winXP and finished the games with no issues. I have since gotten a pc with Vista and wanted to replay them with everything turned up to max, since the pc can do so.. However Vista, or something new to this pc will not play the games for more than a couple minutes without kicking me out to the desktop. Not locking up, simply kicking me out as if I never started the game at all.. Its not even on my taskbar like in the old days if you accidentally hit the "windows" key and got out. Anyone know why? or if Win7 will fix my woes?

BTW Fallout III also has this issue. However, the new Wolfenstein played smooth as silk with never a glitch once.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

There is an issue with STALKER going over the app's assigned 2GB address space under Vista... but there are a million and one forum threads about it if you google.

It could be that possibly... but I wouldn't really know otherwise as I've never played STALKER much or encountered any issue other than that (although it is well known to be very buggy).

Fallout 3 - had no stability issues with it whatsoever and I've racked up many hours on it across different OSes.... so not sure what could be happening there other than suggesting the obvious of the latest 1.7 patch and gfx drivers which I'm sure you've done.

Although... I wouldn't be surprised if that was GfWL being it's usual crappy self. Try grabbing the GfWL disabler from Fallout3nexus. Just a stab in the dark though.