Windows 7

Frank White75 said:man, I’ll probably have it by then, though my wallet might be looking a little thinner 😁

you probably won't even have it then..☕

William Rodriguez11 said:I picked up Windows Vista 64 and I have zero clue what kind of garbage you guys are talking about... I remember fighting against XP because 98 was the best OS ever made, and then... I’ll never switch to Vista because it’s unfinished, honestly it’s always the same thing. Once they fix all the patches on Vista (just like it took three years to get XP dialed in), everyone will just start trashing whatever the next new OS is...
Same old story, heard it a hundred times already.

Look, this is the only version of Vista actually worth installing, and it's the only one that actually does what you're looking for. People have slapped every kind of Vista onto this drive imaginable. Of course, if you're looking for the bloated mess, this isn't it.

Windows Vista Ultimate

The following has been removed:
Accessibility
Mobility Center
Snipping Tool
Speech Support
System Information
Welcome Center
Windows Desktop features
Wordpad
Display adapters
Diva Server
Modems
Printers-Brother
Printers-Canon
Printers-Citizen
Printers-Dell
Printers-Diconix
Printers-Epson
Printers-Fuji Xerox
Printers-Fujitsu
Printers-Generic
Printers-Gestetner
Printers-HP
Printers-IBM
Printers-Infotec
Printers-Konica
Printers-Konica Minolta
Printers-Kyocera Mita
Printers-Lanier
Printers-Lexmark
Printers-Minolta
Printers-Minolta-QMS
Printers-NEC
Printers-NRG
Printers-Oce
Printers-Oki
Printers-Okidata
Printers-Olivetti
Printers-Panasonic
Printers-QMS
Printers-Ricoh
Printers-Samsung
Printers-Savin
Printers-Seikosha
Printers-Sharp
Printers-Sony
Printers-Star
Printers-Tally
Printers-Tektronix
Printers-Wipro ePeripherals
Printers-Xerox
Printers-HP
Scanners
Sound controllers
Windows Explorer
Windows features
Premium Windows features
Dynamic Volume manager
Fax Support
internet SCSI
Smartcards
Windows Mobile Device Center
Windows Portable Devices
Japanese
Korean
Simplified Chinese
Table Driven Text Input Processor
Traditional Chinese
Windows Media Center
Movie and DVD Maker
Music and video samples
Windows Sample Pictures
Screensavers
Windows SideShow
Sound Recorder
Wallpapers
Windows Calendar
Connect to a Network Projector
Remote Desktop and Assistance
Remote Desktop Client
Windows Collaboration
Windows Mail
Application Experience
Computer Browser
Diagnostics
Distributed link Tracking Client
Error Reporting
Microsoft DFS Replication
Offline Files
ReadyBoost
Remote Registry
Volume shadow Copy
Windows Remote Management
Windows Search
BitLocker Drive Encryption
Disk Defragmenter
Disk Quota
Help
IMAPIv2 Burning Support
Malicious software Removal Tool
Tool manual Install
Microsoft Agent
Natural Language
Parental Controls
Performance Counters
Reliability and Performance Monitor
Remote Differential Compression
Run a legacy CPL elevated
Windows Security Center
Sync center
System Restore
Windows Tablet PC
UAC
Windows Backup
Windows Defender
Windows Easy Transfer
Windows SAT
Zip folder

So.....to me, this Windows Vista feels just like Windows ME....IMHO.
I used it for a little while (maybe 3-4 months) before I crawled back to Windows XP, which actually works the way it's supposed to... well, as much as any OS can these days.
I haven't found anything in there that isn't already in XP that I actually need... or at least nothing that was implemented better than it was in XP. There are some useful bits here and there, but honestly, most of it is just eye candy (and please, don't let some smart-aleck come along and lecture me about how I don't know how to configure the OS myself or how to disable all the unnecessary junk.......of which there is far too much in Windows Vista).
I don't really care about the aesthetics anyway; what matters to me is the actual functionality of the OS, and I truly hope that Windows will eventually work even remotely as well as OS X.
As for the 64-bit version, I can't say anything because I don't own it, nor have I tried it.....not that I see any particular reason to bother. All that hype about viruses and other nonsense is just stupid, because nowadays the only person who could catch a virus is my younger brother, who spends all his time on the web looking at... well, certain parts of the female anatomy.😁
I only have a basic AV on my computer, just some AVG free version that's... okay, I guess. If anything, I rely more on a decent firewall....and I use the free Comodo for that. Back when I was younger, I used to wait with bated breath for the latest versions of NOD32, Kaspersky, and all those other various AVs and programs, messing around with cracks and useless crap, until I realized what a moron that was. Free stuff works just as well, sometimes even better than the products people pay a fortune for.....or the stuff they download cracks for just to get them to run properly.
Anyway, I've gone a bit off-topic, so let me get back to the point.....honestly, I just hope Windows 7 turns out to be a real product, rather than some rushed "half-baked" mess thrown together quickly, and that it actually works right from day one... I'd honestly rather wait another three years for a real OS to be released than install something now that'll just need a Windows 7 SP in a year.

Hey everyone.
So here's the deal—I'm planning to install a penultimate Windows 7 build (the one where you can use a patch to get that new taskbar and superbar working). My setup is a Core 2 Duo T2400 running at 1.83 GHz on a laptop, integrated graphics, and 2 GB of 667 MHz RAM.
The machine is an HP 530.

Do you think Windows 7 will run smoothly on this rig since I don't have a "real" dedicated GPU? I've heard all the apps run just fine... and that Windows is actually pretty solid.

Also, will I be able to upgrade easily once the next builds drop?

I reckon you'll be able to upload everything without any issues... assuming, of course, they haven't gone ahead and disabled the update option on their end.

Keith Robinson78 said:I reckon you'll be able to upload everything just fine ... assuming they haven't disabled the update option or whatever...

I don't get it

Patrick Chase4 said:Yeah, and will I actually be able to upgrade once those next builds hit the scene?

my take on this

So, I just finished installing Windows 7 the day before yesterday, and today things started going sideways. I fired up Photoshop CS2, which is super light and shouldn't be an issue at all, but it crashed four times in just ten minutes! Twice it gave me an error along the lines of "not enough RAM to complete the command" (I've literally never seen that happen before!), and twice it threw the following and then immediately shut down.
Any idea what's going on? I'm running 2GB of RAM, with Windows 7 on my C: drive and my documents on D:.
Is this just because it's a Beta Build 7000 and I should just wait it out? Or maybe there's a patch somewhere to fix this?

I just found out today that this isn't actually a Windows 7 beta, but some kind of hacked version of XP. It says windows 7 xp vienna concept +sp3 i386. No idea what that even means... 😕
I think I'll just head back to XP and wait for the official Windows 7 release—we'll see how it goes! That feels like my safest and easiest bet. I spent three whole days installing all my programs and getting everything set up, only to have to start from scratch now. 😵😵😵😠
Does that Windows 7 beta actually support Adobe CS3? It's super important to me that those programs work since they're what I use most often. Everything else on this weird Windows 7 hybrid is running fine—even Corel 13 works without any issues—but when I need CS3...
Also, how does updating even work later on before the official version actually drops?

gentlehawk3 said:I actually just found out today that this isn't even a Windows 7 beta, but some hacked version of XP. It says windows 7 xp vienna concept +sp3 i386. God knows what that even means... 😕
I think I'll just roll back to XP and wait for the actual release of 7; then we'll see. Honestly, that seems like my safest and simplest bet. I spent three whole days installing all my programs and getting everything configured, and now I have to start from scratch.😵 😵 😵 😠
Does that Windows 7 beta support Adobe CS3? It’s crucial for me that those programs work because they're what I use most often. Everything else on this weird Windows 7 hybrid of mine is actually running fine. Even Corel 13 works without any issues, but once I need CS3...
And how does updating work later on, before the official version is released?

Look, if you're working with Adobe CS3, it absolutely devours memory, making the OS feel incredibly claustrophobic.
So, don't skimp on RAM in terms of quality either. My gut feeling is that your memory is acting up because the combination of the OS and Adobe CS3 is eating up a full 2 GB.
Depending on how the modules and memory addresses are laid out—and which specific ones might be failing—it looks like you're hitting the limit somewhere around 1.9 to 2.0 GB.
Run MemTest or something similar from DOS overnight; by morning, you'll have a definitive answer.
As for updates, they generally work fine for now; they're pushing out new Defender definitions, and various driver upgrades signed by Microsoft are working smoothly too.
Give this a shot, because there is no logical reason why Adobe CS3 shouldn't run if your hardware is solid.
You can find the latest W7 - build 6956 on "Mininov" via torrent download.

Alright, thanks for all the advice and info! I'll definitely spend some more time working on this, and I'll be sure to reach out if I run into any trouble.
Best,

Look, I’ve been hanging out here for a full hour already... haha... usually, they have me banned after about 20 or 30 minutes... lol

If some genius decides to drop a serial number or a torrent link in here, I'm locking this thread immediately.

What kind of hardware setup would you recommend to get the most out of this version of Windows?

There are fewer requests compared to Windows Vista, so if you just identify which specific requests Vista handles, you'll have your answer.

Frank White75 said:You might have 8GB, but let's be real—hardly any games today actually make good use of it.
You don't even see a difference when jumping from 2 to 4, so why bother going to 8?

Clearly you've never played GTA 4...

Can we please stop the constant fighting over XP vs. Vista vs. 7? Let's hear from those of you who actually installed 7.

So, I decided to mess around with Beta Build 7000.

I had XP running on two partitions, so I carved out a third one just to throw the Beta 7 on there. Everything went smooth—took about 20 minutes. All my drivers (sound, graphics, LAN, WLAN) snapped right into place, except for the Skystar 2 card.

The rig itself is basically a relic from 2002 (Windows XP, 1 GB RAM, ATI 9800 XT, 250 GB HDD). Surprisingly, everything ran great—animations, Aero, browsing, all that stuff.

Then came the part where I started installing software to see how it handled the load. I tossed in Office 2007 and NOD32 antivirus, version 2.70.39.

After the reboot—disaster. Scandisk triggers before Windows 7 even loads. It finds some errors, wipes some tmp files, and finally boots into Windows 7, only to immediately warn me that the partition holding the OS has "Corrupted Files." I tried to install something or save a file to that drive—nothing. Tried to uninstall Office or NOD—no luck. It wouldn't let me change a single thing; it just kept begging me to run Scandisk because of the corruption. And get this: I couldn't even run Scandisk from within Windows—I had to restart, which just triggered the Scandisk loop all over again. A total cycle of deleting and "fixing" things. I even tried a System Restore—not happening.
I hopped back into XP, and it immediately flagged that Partition E (where the 7 installation lives) was acting up. Eventually, I just formatted the partition, scanned everything, fixed the boot sector so XP would launch properly, and finally put an end to that whole headache. The entire saga took two full days.

Anyway, that’s my experience. If anyone else has dealt with this kind of madness, feel free to share...

I started off by installing Windows Vista Home Premium, but it just kept acting up on me. So, I switched over to Windows 7 and everything is running perfectly now—Mozilla Firefox, NOD32, BitTorrent, Nero 9, BS Player, TuneUp, you name it, it all works great. I guess what I liked most was how it offers an online driver update during the installation process; I was a little skeptical at first, but it ended up downloading and installing everything, and it’s working flawlessly.

I have a quick question: does Windows 7 build 7000 only come in the Ultimate version, or are there other editions available like Home Premium or Business, similar to how Vista was set up?

Nah, it's just because it's still in beta.
Those versions probably won't be available until we hit RTM