Windows 7 experience

[Xerxes]

Windows 7 is definitely a good OS (Y).

Performance - slightly slower then Vista on test machine (this is an older machine mind you)

Boot Up - Slower then Vista (again been an older system gotta give it leeway there)

UI - Very nice, loving the "Superbar", the overall UI seems cleaner and more consistant then Vista overall (but still few issues here and there, like the iconless toolbars!)

Overall - Shaping up very nicely, the smaller install size (half the size of my Vista install) is definitely nice. While it did seem slower then Vista and I have to admit had some mouse issues and the UI was a bit sluggish at times, I think that was more because of the test machine then 7, as in my VM copy the performance increase was very noticeable! (VM 7 can run on less RAM and is considerably faster then VM Vista).

[Loso]

can someone help me out..

i keep getting disk errors since i installed windows 7. i never once had a disk error with vista.

the message i got told me to use chkdsk.

how can fix that error?

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

can someone help me out..

i keep getting disk errors since i installed windows 7. i never once had a disk error with vista.

the message i got told me to use chkdsk.

how can fix that error?

Run CHKDSK.

[Loso]

Run CHKDSK.

while logged into windows 7 i searched in the start menu for chkdsk and no program popped up. when i re-start, the chkdsk thing start during startup. it took a while, it said things like "deleting index" blah blah. when it finished, it restarted the computer and right back into the chkdsk. when i cancelled the chkdsk i logged into windows 7 and i still got all the errors.

so i've run chkdsk and its not fixing the problem. i never once had it while running vista. strange

[RageOfFury]

Well on the first install I had some problems(Explorer crashing, Word 07 crashing, Control Panel crashing). So I started over and reinstalled. So far it's wicked fast, and way stable. I'm quite impressed at what Microsoft did.

7

5

6

[Eric Veteran]

It's an awesome start with it's stability, and performance I've experienced so far. For some reason sleep mode is an issue for my computer, but other than that I'm happy.

Does it wake up and go back to sleep constantly? Mine does.

[Morphene]

I had it go to sleep but darn if its same issue i had with vista, won't wake on mouse or kb but will wake on hitting power switch....Anyone know how to fix that? Mine are usb connects so not sure if that's the issue. Otherwise i don't see the machine go back to sleep constantly. You may want to check your timing for sleeps.

[primexx]

Install:

took about 20 minutes to get to the first boot wizard. so: very nice indeed

Compatibility:

recognized almost everything OOTB, only things missing are: Fingerprint Reader; Enhanced Wacom; and Asus hotkeys. All of which are expected.

display driver didn't have automatic screen rotation, I don't mind since Windows Mobility Center's rotate button works.

software-wise, it's compatible with almost everything I install on it (a rare few times with compatibility options turned on), however SecureW2 isn't compatible yet so I'm stuck with no TTLS for the time being.

I actually had to reinstall soon after my first plan-to-use installation, because I messed some stuff up. I still haven't figured out what caused it, on the second install I didn't install CCleaner, used the current version of KIS instead of the beta, and didn't install the hotkey drivers (can't be bothered); any of these could be the cause, but a very strong guess is CCleaner.

overall: impressive, especially with the drivers.

Features:

it's alright, lacks some control panel stuff that XP and Vista had, I'm not sure if it'll be implemented in the future but I sent feedback on that anyways. I didn't see a calendar like in Vista (or did I just miss it?), Windows Live Essentials is good. A lot of small explorer improvements really add up too.

UAC prompts are so much more refined than Vista!!! I didn't even disable them for my mass program installation.

Oh and it does seem to be noticeably faster than Vista so far.

[Bioran]

Installation:

For some bizarre reasons, my installation took about 3 hours. :s Still not sure what went wrong though, but probably something with the upgrade feature.

Compatibility:

Nothing wrong in my case. Everything, even Vista customization tools, works brilliantly.

Features:

Win 7 is definitely going on the right track with its features. Everything is cleaner, smoother and generally better eye-candy. Oh, and the system is fast, fast, fast.

However, upon the 3rd day of testing, I am noticing some areas of performance which could be improved. i.e the Windows Photo Viewer is rather slow for me, and the deletion tools sometimes doesn't pop up. Of course, I sent everything to MS.

Conclusion:

Windows 7 is, IMO, undoubtedly on the right tracks. If they don't remove any major features already in there, or make huge, unnecessary changes, and set the prices appropriately, this will definitely be an extremely successful OS. Even in BETA, 7 is already my favourite OS.

~ Bioran

[Ci7]

7 installation was fast as breeze ! and very simple .

6 UI could use some tweaking . otherwise it is awesome .

7 all my hardware and softeare worked out of the box . Great !

7 nice feature set :woot: . wouldnt mind more features thro :p

[MrChainsaw]

Added a speed question.

[Ambroos]

Does it wake up and go back to sleep constantly? Mine does.

Check device manager for your network cards and be sure to turn off Wake On LAN (nobody ever uses that except maybe in some very rare occasions).

Also have a look at that in the BIOS. Wake on LAN and Wake on USB are usually the things that need to be off for a good sleep thing. (Just wake it with the power button)

[Guest xiphi]

Does it wake up and go back to sleep constantly? Mine does.

Disable the Wake Timers in the Advanced power settings under Sleep.

[Livin in a box]

Install

Took about 3 hours when upgrading from Vista.

Compatibility

Sound didn't work straight away so I asked Dell and now it's all sorted and works great. Everything else works absolutely fine.

Features

Win7 is basically Vista with a few extras. But what it does well is make what Vista had a lot smoother. No more waiting for half an hour while the Control Panel was still loading and all that. It's got enough for me.

Conclusion

This has replaced Vista on my laptop and rightly so. I've never tested a Beta, but this is just like the finished product. I don't know why they're waiting. And with more updates, things can only get better.

[PGHammer]

Installation - A two hour side-by-side clean install from Vista Ultimate SP1 (64-bit); however, given that I was installing onto an old (ex-Dell) PATA HDD, that was unsurprising. The first stage was *considerably* slower than the second (again, target was an older PATA HDD).

Compatibility - Hardware compatibility was aces across the board (the two items that Windows 7 didn't support directly, my X-Fi Xtreme Gamer and nForce chipset System Management Bus controller, were both supported by the Vista drivers, which worked with zero issues). While Daemon Tools or UltraISO both failed as far as compatibility, PowerISO (which does work in Windows 7) makes a great alternative for virtual-drive software. Avast! Home Anti-Virus also works without issues.

All other software works without issue (including every application and game I've run so far). Absolutely unheard-of for a first beta (not even Vista passed that cleanly).

Test rig: ASUS P5N-EM HDMI, Intel Celeron DC E1200, 1 GB RAM, onboard nForce 630i/7100, onboard nForce Ethernet, Sound Blaster X-FiXtremeGamer, ATI HDTV Wonder (yes; Windows 7 supports it, even in 64-bit), Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit/Windows 7 build 70000 64-bit dual-boot

[Ci7]

Disable the Wake Timers in the Advanced power settings under Sleep.

thanks that resolved my pc sleep problem (Y)

Conclusion

This has replaced Vista on my laptop and rightly so. I've never tested a Beta, but this is just like the finished product. I don't know why they're waiting. And with more updates, things can only get better.

the obvious , they went to eliminate as many bugs as possible .

[Pompeius]

taking three hours to install?

That's why you don't upgrade Windows.

<img snipped>

Edited January 12, 2009 by John S.
No Graphic Material of either a macabre or pornographic nature.

[KnightWolf]

here's my take on win7, my install started slow, but think it was my systems issue, when i first boot from disk it would sit on the windows 7 screen for about 3 minutes or so, then it sounded like the hd kicked in and he install started, but from that point on it was a breeze, no errors or anything

start-up is amazingly fast, especially on an 8 year old pata 5700 rpm seagate, nice fast usable desktop

extremely stable and quick, none of the programs i've used have had any lag, and I actually think the audio sounds 10x better than with winxp

ive had this installed for about a day now, think its going to be my main OS at least until August. still cannot believe this is a beta.

edit.... I do like that it has native dvd playback, but there is ghosting when i play dvds in WMP/media center, dunno if thats win7 or my systems issue

[Denholm]

7 - Installation is quick - painless.

5 - Have problems with some of my software, it either does not work at all or is not reliable. I thought that all the software that works with Win Vista is meant to work just same with Win 7. That's just not happening for me.

5 - There is no Mail client, IE 8 is a non-event for me. There is some more polish over what Vista offered but overall the main big change is the new taskbar and at best I think it's 'an effort' and a good try. But Win 7 isn't impressive for me. It's over hyped.

[Stormshade]

7

6

7

Most stuff worked Right away. The Vista drivers for my LAN and a few other things worked perfectly in 7.

[Chris123NT]

7

7

7

It's running great for me, no issues whatsoever.

Oh, and the 2 people who voted 1 under features clearly have never seen windows 1.0 :laugh:

[FloatingFatMan]

Pretty much all 7's from me so far. A 5 on features as it's a shame they removed some stuff from the install such as a mail client etc, but easy enough to add back in. 6 overall due to the features I miss. :p

Installed in 30 minutes on my laptop. A little slower than most people's 20 minutes, but I put that down to the 5400rpm HD in my laptop. Still way faster than Vista's install though! ;)

To be honest, I think MS have intentionally mislabeled this as beta 1; it feels far more like a RC than a beta to me. Sure it has a few bugs, but nowhere near the number you'd normally expect from a beta 1. At the very least, it's a beta 3! Well done MS, keep up the good work.

[Yamanaka]

Speed(speed of everything in that matter, boot, shut down, programs, etc)

7 - Very fast, love it.

The looks

7 - Excellent

Overall

7 - Fantastic!

As a XP user who haste Vista, I must say Windows7 is amazing. I got a good rig, but Vista just feels a lot slower then XP. Not with Windows7. It's just as fact as XP, but with the added visual styles. It is a stable build and this OS just rocks. Cant wait to get the full version.

[Emberstrife]

So far the only problems I've had with Windows 7 are Creative drivers(they didn't manage to make a decent Vista driver in all these years, so this was no surprise), and a handful of compatibility issues. Mostly with software that developers are refusing to adapt for "beta operating systems", like the SPTD driver most virtual drive software depends on, and just complex software that hasn't been updated just yet(like the Sunbelt and Comodo firewalls). Not really Microsoft's fault, though.

Everything I disliked in Vista, everything that made me avoid Vista completely for these years is now fixed or removed. A long-awaited, but still pleasant turn of events. Windows 7 is to Vista almost like Windows XP was to Millenium :)

The speed somewhat beats that of XP, and the visual design of the OS is eye candy while making intelligent use of available resources, instead of being a bloated resource ###### like Vista.

Those are just overall blurred impressions. There's a lot of technical stuff that made me switch to it as a main OS(while retaining dual-boot setups, of course), and so far I like most things Microsoft is doing with the new operating system.

[sweetleaf]

Pretty much all 7's from me so far. A 5 on features as it's a shame they removed some stuff from the install such as a mail client etc, but easy enough to add back in. 6 overall due to the features I miss. :p

Installed in 30 minutes on my laptop. A little slower than most people's 20 minutes, but I put that down to the 5400rpm HD in my laptop. Still way faster than Vista's install though! ;)

To be honest, I think MS have intentionally mislabeled this as beta 1; it feels far more like a RC than a beta to me. Sure it has a few bugs, but nowhere near the number you'd normally expect from a beta 1. At the very least, it's a beta 3! Well done MS, keep up the good work.

They did not remove those things by choice.