Windows 7: First impressions

I had one and only one problem with Win7... and its the same problem i had with Vista...

The network stack is up to maggots with my network card.. it drops or corrupts about 50% of the packets. XP has no issues at all with the network on the same card... so I guess I'lls tay with XP until I get a new machine.
 
I'm running Win7 64 bit beta build 7000 and its fantastic. So far I had no need to boot back into my old XP partition.

The taskbar is pure genius, though if you don't like it you can set it up to work similar to the XP/98/95 way. The UI is very responsive with all the Aero effects turned on.

Network is fast. The interface to set everything up is a lot different, but its easy once you get to know it. Drivers were easy to find since you could always use the Vista drivers.

I've yet to find an application thats incompatible (bar some of the old Creative apps). Games such as WoW seem to load quicker, thanks to the improved superfetch and also in general play smoother. Not necessarly faster, but less prone to frame rate dropping. Only games that have had a performance impact are Unreal Engine games, XP still has the advantage over that, but other games like Farcry 2 and Crysis seems to perform just as good as XP with DX9.

My System:
AMD X2 4200+
2GB RAM
ATI 4850

I like the simplicity of the Media player, never had any issues playing videos or music. IE 8 still has some issues and unfortunately there isn't a 64bit version of Firefox.

For those looking for an Anti-Virus, I got the full 64bit beta version of Kasperky, which is designed for Win7. Its available completely free and legal. I found it through the Action Center, which IMO is a very nice touch.

I'm one of those that skipped Vista, but MS got it right with Win7. This beta is fast becoming my main OS.
 
Amida said:
I have 2 problems with Win 7:

1. Media player 12 stopped working completely. i was very bugy in the beginning and now completely stopped.

2. When working on a domain fileshares sometimes seems to stop working. Windows tries to access the share then just nothing happens. Reboot is the only way to solve the problem.
Click to expand...

Strange. Mine work perfectly, even streaming HD video and music to PS3 seamlessly, no jerks or jumps, could never get it to work like this on XP.

I have some issues with linking to Xp networks but I believe that is just me. Must figure out how to set it up properly on the XP side. I can see the PC's but cannot access files. Not a critical issue for me now tho!
 
RoosTa said:
I'm running Win7 64 bit beta build 7000 and its fantastic. So far I had no need to boot back into my old XP partition.

The taskbar is pure genius, though if you don't like it you can set it up to work similar to the XP/98/95 way. The UI is very responsive with all the Aero effects turned on.
Network is fast. The interface to set everything up is a lot different, but its easy once you get to know it. Drivers were easy to find since you could always use the Vista drivers.

I've yet to find an application thats incompatible (bar some of the old Creative apps). Games such as WoW seem to load quicker, thanks to the improved superfetch and also in general play smoother. Not necessarly faster, but less prone to frame rate dropping. Only games that have had a performance impact are Unreal Engine games, XP still has the advantage over that, but other games like Farcry 2 and Crysis seems to perform just as good as XP with DX9.

My System:
AMD X2 4200+
2GB RAM
ATI 4850

I like the simplicity of the Media player, never had any issues playing videos or music. IE 8 still has some issues and unfortunately there isn't a 64bit version of Firefox.

For those looking for an Anti-Virus, I got the full 64bit beta version of Kasperky, which is designed for Win7. Its available completely free and legal. I found it throught the Action Center, which IMO is a very nice touch.

I'm one of those that skipped Vista, but MS got it right with Win7. This beta is fast becoming my main OS.
Click to expand...

Now enlighten me a bit about the Aero effects settings?
Also any advice on that network settup would be great.

Thanks for the Kasperky info.
 
ToxicBunny said:
I had one and only one problem with Win7... and its the same problem i had with Vista...

The network stack is up to maggots with my network card.. it drops or corrupts about 50% of the packets. XP has no issues at all with the network on the same card... so I guess I'lls tay with XP until I get a new machine.
Click to expand...

if xp works then it's definitely a driver issue.
 
I know its a driver issue, but I can only get 1 driver for Vista/win 7 for this adapter..... and thats the manufacturers one...

flipping irritating but unfortunately a killer for the OS for me...
 
ToxicBunny said:
I had one and only one problem with Win7... and its the same problem i had with Vista...

The network stack is up to maggots with my network card.. it drops or corrupts about 50% of the packets. XP has no issues at all with the network on the same card... so I guess I'lls tay with XP until I get a new machine.
Click to expand...
Or get a new network card? If you're short (of money - not height) maybe rpm can spare r50 from the Community Fund :D :p

I find Windows 7 a little buggy on my Netbook but I guess as it is still a beta it's to be expected.
 
<moLe> said:
does anyone know of an anti virus thats actually compatible with win7? After attempting Trend and AVG ...oh and yeh this article just said tthe same things I heard a million times, I agree with it but was it really neccesary for another article on win7?
Click to expand...

Kaspersky anti-virus 2009. R170.00 at Matrix (for the 32 bit version).
 
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Well it is a Wireless N network adapter.... and for now I'm loath to part with it..... XP does the job for now....

I'm planning on gettnig a new machine in a few months anyway, so that'll get all new hardware and hopefully Wireless N built in.
 
I have been running it at home for some thine without any problems so I decided to install it on my work machine today seeing that my work laptop's HDD was replaced by Dell today.

I installed the Kaspersky on one of my home machines and I struggle to successfully update it so I have disabled the automatic updating in Kaspersky and simply don't update it any more.

With my personal laptop, I can't get x64 drivers for the built-in card reader so that doesn't work.

That is the only issue I have with Win 7. I hate it when I have to work on a Vista machine again let alone a XP machine which I kind-off refuse to use.
 
:D Win 7 sounds really cool. Maybe M$ have finally done it right this time.
 
I like it a lot. Upgraded from XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. I never even saw Vista, so it was a complete surprise. No driver/compatibility issues. Like the lay-out, it feels fresh.

OK, I guess the experience is (heavily) positively influenced by the fact that I simultaneously upgraded from a Pentium 4 to a new Q9550 set-up :D:):D (thanks PostmanPot ;))
 
iris99 said:
I like it a lot. Upgraded from XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. I never even saw Vista, so it was a complete surprise. No driver/compatibility issues. Like the lay-out, it feels fresh.

OK, I guess the experience is (heavily) positively influenced by the fact that I simultaneously upgraded from a Pentium 4 to a new Q9550 set-up :D:):D (thanks PostmanPot ;))
Click to expand...

LOL. :D

My pleasure.
 
Alastairo said:
Windows 7 DRM begins to surface

See here : http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/17/windows-7-drm-begins.html
Click to expand...

Oh common, that is just a weak piece of slander and completely hog wash.

1) While I dislike pirating, I resorted to cracking some apps since this beta is temporary and I've not experienced any of what he describes.

2) Also my sound card records anything through any input/output.

3) I play mp3, video's without a proble.

He posted no evidence and seems to me that its some problem that exists between the computer and keyboard.

@ Penguine:
Aero is that nice interface with the frosted look. If you go into preferences you can set it to classic, non-fancy aero and the glassy aero. My point was that in Vista it felt sluggish, but Win 7 its very responsive with all the bells and whistles. By default Win7 had already set everything to max.

As for networking, well I setup my small network at home using routesentry for local(PPOE)/international(Ethernet->router) accounts as well as a VPN to my office. http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=2559950&postcount=428 And also WoW running with gamemax (tunneling service). Took me 20min-30min to setup everything.
 
RoosTa said:
Oh common, that is just a weak piece of slander and completely hog wash.

1) While I dislike pirating, I resorted to cracking some apps since this beta is temporary and I've not experienced any of what he describes.

2) Also my sound card records anything through any input/output.

3) I play mp3, video's without a proble.

He posted no evidence and seems to me that its some problem that exists between the computer and keyboard.

@ Penguine:
Aero is that nice interface with the frosted look. If you go into preferences you can set it to classic, non-fancy aero and the glassy aero. My point was that in Vista it felt sluggish, but Win 7 its very responsive with all the bells and whistles. By default Win7 had already set everything to max.

As for networking, well I setup my small network at home using routesentry for local(PPOE)/international(Ethernet->router) accounts as well as a VPN to my office. http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=2559950&postcount=428 And also WoW running with gamemax (tunneling service). Took me 20min-30min to setup everything.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I thought that link was about a pirate bemoaning DRM blocking his thieving habit's/traits.:sick: Could not check as I am capped.:sick::sick:
 
<moLe> said:
does anyone know of an anti virus thats actually compatible with win7? After attempting Trend and AVG ...oh and yeh this article just said tthe same things I heard a million times, I agree with it but was it really neccesary for another article on win7?
Click to expand...

Why is it that the first question asked after the posting of the Win 7 first impressions post is an anti-virus (read: security & risk related) question ???

That just proves the initial reaction the community has to anything "Windows" ...

Sometimes the stereotypes are earned and justified ... :D
 
nihilist said:
NOD32 works just fine for me.
Click to expand...

I've always found AVG to be more reliable than NOD32 (admittedly only evaluated NOD on trial, so maybe did not get the full impact. ) AVG Free always detected and cleaned stuff that Trend Micro and Symantec couldn't, therefore lost faith in the proprietary scammers, oh, mean scanners.
 
Alastairo said:
Windows 7 DRM begins to surface

See here : http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/17/windows-7-drm-begins.html
Click to expand...

Noting that Win7 allows programs ... to insert themselves stealthily into your firewall exception list.
Click to expand...
maybe this needs a bit of an upgrade: http://sawn-images.spruxllc.com/Windows_XP_Firewall.jpg

And then finding that the OS even after reboot has locked you out of your own Local Settings folder; has denied you permission to move or delete the modified DLL;
Click to expand...
hmmm. if you bash it from Linux, would that still hold true??? Log in to Linux partition or drive, mount windows, delete dll, replace with friendly backup. problem solved or problem created? (registry hacks and other nefarious means to track & erase changes to system eg, Volume Restore etc.)
 
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