Windows 7

**nova** · **10-27-09, 01:28 PM**

Ok,... So what's the word? Good? Bad? Fair?

**tonyvdb** · **10-27-09, 02:34 PM**

I know someone that has been using it for about 3 months and he says its a big step in the right direction but still says that alot of it is just more eye candy. He says its very stable.

**nova** · **10-27-09, 04:41 PM**

Yeah,... seems to be pretty quiet. Have not heard much good or bad, or maybe I've just not been paying much attention. Not interested in more eye candy.

**robbo266317** · **10-27-09, 04:50 PM**

I've been using the 64 bit beta for a while and more recently the RC.
It works well, no crashes. However if you have a device that doesn't have a Win 7 driver then you can use the one that works in XP, unless you load the 64 bit version of Win 7. Doh...

**mechman** · **10-29-09, 03:25 PM**

I have heard nothing bad about it at all. Coincidentally, I have my copies at the moment and have been running around the internet getting all the appropriate drivers for upgrading. I'm planning on doing it tonight.

I'll keep you up to date.

Drivers I've needed so far:

Nvidia drivers
Printer drivers
Audio drivers - Soundblaster
SATA driver for MB
LAN card drivers
Mouse drivers (RAZER) prolly not necessary

I am now running around to see what's not going to be compatible - program wise. I have the Pro version so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. But I'm gonna check anyways.

**mechman** · **10-29-09, 09:56 PM**

So far so good. Didn't take too long to install and it looks better than XP.

I installed the 64bit version over a 32bit XP.

I've got a lot of installing to do now....

**Harpmaker** · **11-01-09, 05:03 PM**

Most of the folks here are adept at computers so this isn't so much a warning as just an article I found interesting concerning upgrading machines to Win7.

excerpt:
"Among the top subjects on Microsoft's support forum is one that has put some PCs into an endless reboot loop when their owners tried to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. Microsoft has not yet come up with a solution that works for all the users who have reported the problem, sparking frustration."

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...ort_firm_warns

Windows 7 endless reboot answer evades Microsoft.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...des_Microsoft?

**mechman** · **11-01-09, 09:20 PM**

Well the move from XP to 7 was quick and painless. But it wasn't really an 'upgrade'. It's a clean install with WinXP moved to a folder called 'windows.old'. It's still possible for me to boot into it and use it if I needed to or get that errant file off the desktop if needed.

I always prefer a clean install. The only time I did an upgrade was from XP to Vista and I went running back.

Harp - It's my understanding that this has been from folks who purchased a digital copy and are attempting to use a burnt dvd to install.

**Harpmaker** · **11-01-09, 09:47 PM**

Quote:

mechman wrote:

Well the move from XP to 7 was quick and painless. But it wasn't really an 'upgrade'. It's a clean install with WinXP moved to a folder called 'windows.old'. It's still possible for me to boot into it and use it if I needed to or get that errant file off the desktop if needed.

Just to make sure I'm reading you correctly, you are saying that you, in essence, have a dual-boot PC now? That XP can still be used? Interesting... are you given a OS choice at boot or do you have to select XP before shutting down Win7?

Quote:

I always prefer a clean install. The only time I did an upgrade was from XP to Vista and I went running back.

Clean installs are always the best.

I'm not going to revisit the whole Vista debacle, but if a company smaller than MS did that they would be history by now; and perhaps in jail.

Quote:

Harp - It's my understanding that this has been from folks who purchased a digital copy and are attempting to use a burnt dvd to install.

I just ran into those articles while searching for other things, I'm not really following the trials and tribulations of Win7 since the only way I might use it is if MS pays me!

The bottom line is that I don't trust MS at all... zero, zip, nada. I would put almost nothing past them if it made them a buck. Vista is the prime example, but such business practices go back many, many years.

There should be no difference between a downloaded digital copy of Win7 and a stamped DVD. To have supposedly misburned DVD's be causing the same problem sounds fishy to me.

I want to again be clear that I truly wish all those trying Win7 the best of luck, but I remain skeptical. It took them years to get XP working right!

**mickhames** · **11-02-09, 12:34 AM**

I have installed Win7 x64 onto 3 pc's on my network - HTPC, work pc and games pc. In all cases the installation went smoothly and quickly, there were no compatability issues other than the Logitech 1000i remote controller on the HTPC - I havent spent any time as yet looking into it.

Reports indicate that if a driver works on Vista then it should work on Win7.

Using Win7 on the HTPC is an improvement over Vista and XP media centre. The interface is smooth, larger icons, has better compatability with varying codecs, sharing media over networks, etc
.

My view is that Win7 is a more viable operating system that any prior Windows desktop platform.

**mechman** · **11-02-09, 09:01 AM**

Quote:

mickhames wrote:

My view is that Win7 is a more viable operating system that any prior Windows desktop platform.

I agree with that statement. But my experience is a bit limited at the moment.

**doctorcilantro** · **11-02-09, 10:31 AM**

Quote:

mickhames wrote:

I have installed Win7 x64 onto 3 pc's on my network - HTPC, work pc and games pc. In all cases the installation went smoothly and quickly, there were no compatability issues other than the Logitech 1000i remote controller on the HTPC - I havent spent any time as yet looking into it.

Reports indicate that if a driver works on Vista then it should work on Win7.

Using Win7 on the HTPC is an improvement over Vista and XP media centre. The interface is smooth, larger icons, has better compatability with varying codecs, sharing media over networks, etc
.

My view is that Win7 is a more viable operating system that any prior Windows desktop platform.

Same here, 3 PCs including main HTPC and so far so good. x64 on the HTPC and x86 for the laptops.

The resolution independent font scaling feature is nice but I have had an issue using it with J. River (had to use XP mode).

**FlashJim** · **11-02-09, 03:38 PM**

Three PCs upgraded to Windows 7 and I love it. I'm coming from XP.

**Harpmaker** · **11-02-09, 03:50 PM**

Just a general comment for the thread. It would really help if those that like or dislike Windows 7 would explain why in as much detail as possible.

**nova** · **11-02-09, 04:24 PM**

I agree with Don. A little detail would be great.
Please convince me that Windows 7 would be an upgrade from XP

**robbo266317** · **11-02-09, 04:46 PM**

I thought XP was OK, except it wouldn't hibernate reliably. Win7 seems to do this just fine.

**mechman** · **11-05-09, 10:09 AM**

What I like so far...

- The revamped taskbar. The old one has been around since Win95 and had run its course. The new one is very nice and I like the preview windows. As a person who normally has multiple windows/applications open, the new taskbar is a boon!

- As with any new OS, I like the look of it. It seems to be a little softer on the eyes. That was one thing that I always thought Apple had done right - the look of their OS. Of course I was a BEOS early adopter too - call me a nut. I believe there's some sort of Clear Type font or something as well. Makes the text a little smoother.

- Speed. Application wise I haven't noticed a boost. But the time it takes to come out of standby seems to be cut significantly. And the reboot and boot up times are quite a bit shorter as well.

- Gadgets - most of these you can probably get for XP. I know I had sticky notes on XP. But I don't recall it being integrated all that well.

There are more things that you may or may not like. You can see a review of the new OS here. MaxPC never gives any software or hardware a free pass.

**mickhames** · **11-05-09, 08:25 PM**

To add to me previous post, the ability to increase the size of the icons is a plus as it makes it much easier to see what the icons are if you have a high screen resolution. You can do this irrespective of screen resolution, except for 640x480 from memory.

**mechman** · **11-06-09, 10:01 AM**

Quote:

mickhames wrote:

To add to me previous post, the ability to increase the size of the icons is a plus as it makes it much easier to see what the icons are if you have a high screen resolution. You can do this irrespective of screen resolution, except for 640x480 from memory.

That kind of brings up my first problem with Win7. You can't make them smaller. With 20/15 vision I like them smaller than the average person.

**doctorcilantro** · **11-06-09, 01:48 PM**

Active Title Bar size in the Advanced Appearance settings can control icon size in the taskbar, but it usually mucks up the systray icons (which can be hidden of course). Not sure how small you can get with the icons.

I use ObjectDock on a 1920x1080 HTPC so I can have very large high res. icons right in the desktop for my family.

Edit - I just made my icons pretty small. It probably also depends on your resolution; this monitor at work is a decent size widescreen, maybe 1680x1050.

**doctorcilantro** · **11-06-09, 01:58 PM**

Being able to cycle through views in Explore with a toolbar button is great.

The customizable sidebar which allows you to link to custom locations is welcome too.

EVR can be done in XP I think, can't remember, but the Ehanced Video Renderer is native to Vista/7.

Quote:

Windows 7 is recommended so that you can use the new Microsoft H.264 decoder ‘Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder’. So to all European readers, Windows 7 N is not the version you have to buy. For Windows XP users, consider upgrading to Vista/7.

http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watc...os-using-dxva/

Lots of changes to the audio engine, some have provided hurdles to developers but overall the changes are good. No more K-mixer and I think WASAPI is like a native ASIO for Windows. Don't quote me on that though.

Quote:

Audio stack architecture
Applications communicate with the audio driver through Sessions, and these Sessions are programmed through the Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI). In general, WASAPI operates in two modes. In exclusive mode (also called DMA mode), unmixed audio streams are rendered directly to the audio adapter and no other application's audio will play and signal processing has no effect. Exclusive mode is useful for applications that demand the least amount of intermediate processing of the audio data or those that want to output compressed audio data such as Dolby Digital, DTS or WMA Pro over S/PDIF. WASAPI exclusive mode is similar to kernel streaming in function, but no kernel mode programming is required. In shared mode, audio streams are rendered by the application and optionally applied per-stream audio effects known as Local Effects (LFX) (such as per-session volume control). Then the streams are mixed by the global audio engine, where a set of global audio effects (GFX) may be applied. Finally, they're rendered on the audio device.
The higher level APIs such as the Wavexxx APIs and DirectSound use shared mode, which results in pre-mixed PCM audio that is sent to the driver in a single format (in terms of sample rate, bit depth and channel count). This format is configurable by the end user through Control Panel.
After passing through WASAPI, all host-based audio processing, including custom audio processing, can take place (sample rate conversion, mixing, effects). Host-based processing modules are referred to as Audio Processing Objects, or APOs. All these components operate in user mode. The only portion of this architecture that runs in kernel mode is the audio driver (which contains the Port Class driver, the vendor Miniport driver and the vendor HAL). The Windows Kernel Mixer (KMixer) is completely gone. There is no direct path from DirectSound to the audio drivers; DirectSound and MME are emulated as Session instances. Since the whole point of DirectSound acceleration is to allow hardware to process unmixed audio content, DirectSound cannot be accelerated in this audio model. APIs such as ASIO and OpenAL are not affected.

**mechman** · **11-09-09, 01:24 PM**

It has color calibration within the control panel as well.

**tonyvdb** · **11-09-09, 02:22 PM**

Can you tell me if the upgrade means I have to re install most of my programs again or will they still work? I Have Vista pro home 64bit and the upgrade to 7 is on its way in the mail.

**mechman** · **11-09-09, 09:35 PM**

Quote:

tonyvdb wrote:

Can you tell me if the upgrade means I have to re install most of my programs again or will they still work? I Have Vista pro home 64bit and the upgrade to 7 is on its way in the mail.

Vista to Windows7 should not mean a re-install of your programs. I believe that was only for us WinXP folks.

**mickhames** · **11-09-09, 10:43 PM**

You dont have to re-install your programs and setting if performing an upgrade. There are plenty of internet sources discussing how to do this

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