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Hmmm...Windows 7
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Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Hmmm...Windows 7
Im kind of tempted to get this. However there is the old saying, if something aint broke dont fix it. Many have had issues with Vista. And really I cant recall having any. Well the only thing is not all older software and peripherals is compatable with Vista. But heck I dont really have older peripherals and havent really missed much older software. However the geek in me wants to try it anyways. The main thing would be the fact that Windows 7 isnt suppose to use as much memory and resources the way Vista does (Vista can be a resource hog when it wants to be). However I dont think I will run right out and get it, I will probably give it a little while before making the purchase. We shall see.
Author:  Chris [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Delivery man dropped of my OEM copy of Windows 7 just a few hours ago. Installation was quick and totally pain free! I've had a brand new PC that I recently built laying around my room for nearly a month so I'm glad to finally use it with Windows 7. I'm still trying to figure everything out but I'm really happy with Windows 7 so far (and my new PC! :mrgreen: ). I haven't installed any applications yet (other than Firefox and anti-virus software) so I can't tell you what works and what doesn't but I don't expect any compatibility issues with most of the software I plan to install. I'll keep you guys updated as I get more familiar with the OS. ;)

By the way, I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.
Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Congrats on the computer bruah. Yeah Ive been thinking about building a new computer and thought of throwing 7 on it. Guess you will have to be our "lab rat" :D

Did you have Vista prior to 7?
Author:  Chris [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
I don't mind being the "lab rat". Someone has to do it! :mrgreen:

I did have one minor scare. I thought I had the most catastrophic hard drive failure in the history of hard drive failures, but fortunately it was nothing more than a plastic tie on the USB cord of my mouse that found it's way into the rear exhaust fan. :mrgreen: With all the talk of failed hard drives from Seagate and Western Digital over the past year, I was worried $100 just went down the drain. Nothing major. Anyway, back to the OS now, I've been using it for 12 straight hours now and just finished recording 4 hours of Morning Express on my TV tuner with no problems. Every app I've installed have had no problems. It's still quick and snappy. It does everything I want it to do without any hangs. I'm still happy so far but I'm not done yet. There's still some other things I'd like to try like the Windows XP virtualization and Media Center (which includes a free trial of Netflix!).

ResplendentRegina wrote:
Did you have Vista prior to 7?

I've spent dozens of hours on Vista with an old laptop I had but I haven't used it in over a year. 7 is very similar to Vista as it was built on the core architecture of Vista but it's so much simpler to use. Startup and shutdown time is a whole lot quicker too. Even though I never had any problems with Vista, I'd recommend skipping it and go straight for 7. Trust me, it'll put a smile on your face! ;)

I should also note that I'm new to the 64-bit thing (which is what I'm running). I understood that I may come across compatibility issues with a 64-bit OS but as I've mentioned above, no troubles so far. I feel that 64-bits is the future of operating systems so that's just one of the reasons why I chose to run it.

Now I've got to go to bed. Been up all night with this computer! :Doh I'll see if I can answer any questions anyone may have about 7 later in the day. :Thumb
Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Yeah I have had Vista for some time now, just was curious about anything odd having to get used to 7 vs Vista. So you say 7 isnt a resource hog like Vista was? Man that sounds great. :Kool
Author:  Kevin77 [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Sounds like Windows 7 is living up to the hype. I'm thinking of getting a new W7 box to use as a media center in my batcave. It's a pain in the butt hooking a laptop up and keeping wires open for it.
Author:  Chris [ Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Windows 7 definitely isn't a resource hog like Vista was. I'm running only 2GB of RAM and most users would have 8GB of RAM or much much more on a 64-bit OS and I have had no problems at all. Even when using Firefox (which is a huge memory hog!) for hours at a time, I've had no slow downs, and I'm the type of person that opens up 15 tabs or more while I'm surfing through the internet.

I spent a few minutes looking through Media Center and decided to check out Internet TV.
ImageImage

The picture quality is terrible! Here's a few shots from "How I Met Your Mother" in Internet TV.
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Here's live TV from my TV tuner in Media Center. Local news in HD.
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Hauppauge's WinTV v7 also works with Windows 7 64-bit. I was worried that it wouldn't but fortunately it does because I prefer it to Media Center.
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This isn't anything major but it's one of my favorite features. Background images can now change every few minutes. No longer do you have to be stuck with a single wallpaper image on your desktop! Here I'm using a Ferrari theme that can be downloaded at Microsoft.com.
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Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Thanks for the confirmation on 7 not being a resource hog. I have 4 gig of ram and it doesnt hurt me in Vista, but man I bet my computer would fly in 7.

Yeah internet tv is kind of what I figured. Glad to hear your tuner works though! Yeah for some reason 64 bit OS have always had a problem with the "fun" programs. Sounds like no worries here. I do need to research about recording via firewire. I currently have no problems recording via firewire but have heard many do in vista for some reason. That will be the deciding factor for me. If I hear of no issues with recording firewire in 7, I will get it. Until then I will wait. I dont want to ruin a good thing ha ha.

And Im like you, the wallpaper rotation is pretty cool. There are plenty of third party programs that will let windows do this, bout time they added this feature. Now I can have rotating Regina wallpaper :oops:

But yeah, firewire recording is a must for me.
Author:  Chris [ Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
I've been using 7 for 58 hours non-stop so far and everything is still running great. Memory usage is upwards of 70% to nearly 80% when I'm using Firefox and WinTV at once but surprisingly, the computer doesn't slow down and hang. I'd still like more RAM though, at least an extra 4GB would do nicely but I'll wait until the prices of DDR2 RAM drop (it's nearly a 100% price increase from 6 months ago! :evil: ).

Everything is running great, but I have run into a few minor issues. I didn't mention this in my previous post but I can't seem to configure my basic cable channels in Media Center. I've done three scans so far and it couldn't get any of the QAM channels other than local HD channels. I'll look into it a bit more to see what the problem is. And this might be an important one to mention for anyone using Hauppauge's WinTV v7 with Windows 7 64-bit. I've found that WinTV 7 will crash 40-60 minutes into it's first run after startup. After restarting it, it will virtually run for as long as you'd like. I'm not sure why this happens or if it's only happening to me, but it's worth noting. So those are the only minor annoyances I've encountered thus far.

I was also surprised that the XP Mode is not part of the OS. You actually have to download it from Microsoft.com. A 500MB download but the install is very quick. And in case someone doesn't know, you need Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate with a CPU that supports virtualization to run XP Mode. Here's a few screenshots.

Like I mentioned above, the install is quick and simple.
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And here's what it looks like. Nothing fancy but it's a nice feature.
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As you can see here, it's nearly a full version of XP Professional with SP3. The colors are a bit off as it only supports 16-bit color quality. I also understand that 3D graphics are not supported under XP Mode so you won't be able to play your old games on it.
Image

IE6 FTW!!!
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And I had a bit of fun with the rotating background wallpaper using a few shots of my favorite news anchor, Robin Meade! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I've set 4 images of Robin from cnnobservations.com to rotate every 3 minutes.
ImageImageImage
Author:  righter77 [ Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
This thread is perfect!

I absolutely despise Vista. Yes, it is more secure than XP (my firewall shows approximately 85% less alerts running Vista than with XP), but it is an absolute resource hog!

I have 4GB of RAM and have to restart numerous times per day, as programs quickly slow to a crawl, YouTube videos will no longer play after my PC is on for a while, etc.

I have been using Vista since 2008 (purchased my current main PC in summer of 2007, but initially disliked Vista so much that I wiped it from my hard drive and installed XP).

I tested XP vs. Vista and start-up time for XP is 23 seconds compared to nearly 4 minutes for Vista - that is simply unacceptable.

So it looks as though I will make the switch over the next month to Windows 7. I like Vista (the search capabilities are awesome), but the resources it uses and boot time are just absolutely ridiculous.

XP is amazing with very little problems, however, it does not recognize my 9-in-1 card reader at all and I do not wish to use an old OS, as support will eventually run out anyway.

I truly believe that MS rushes out OS's in between the ones that they get right (i.e. Windows ME vs. XP, XP vs. Vista, Vista vs. [tentatively] Windows 7) and that users really should just skip the OS's that come after the ones that run smoothly (for instance, I would NOT purchase whatever comes after W7. MS just has too bad a track record in that department).

P.S. I never had one compatibility issue with Vista and my existing hardware or software.

Great topic! Thank you!

I would be very hesitant to plunk down my money had I purchased Vista, but since it came with my PC, purchasing Windows 7 is definitely something that I have no problem with.

Seems more than worth it.
Author:  Chris [ Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
I'm glad my posts have helped you, righter. :Thumb
Author:  yodaking [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
One thing is that they took off the classic view, so if people still liked that view (windows95, 98) they'll have to deal with getting use to a new view.

The snap feature is nice, but doesn't work quite as well as they present it. The system seems to run a lot smoother with 7.

The sleep feature actually works. No more waiting forever for your computer to come back from hibernation. Within seconds it is up and ready.
Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
Still not hearing many success stories recording off cable box via firewire with Windows 7. Will probably keep what I got for now for a pc.
Author:  Kevin77 [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
ResplendentRegina wrote:
Still not hearing many success stories recording off cable box via firewire with Windows 7. Will probably keep what I got for now for a pc.


Is that because the lack of a 64 bit driver or just the OS?
Author:  ResplendentRegina [ Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hmmm...Windows 7
donkeed wrote:
ResplendentRegina wrote:
Still not hearing many success stories recording off cable box via firewire with Windows 7. Will probably keep what I got for now for a pc.


Is that because the lack of a 64 bit driver or just the OS?


Lack of drivers. Not gonna give up on a good thing now ;)
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