Testing Windows 7 Beta

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #60 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:51:39 AM

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my copy of XP is a reinstall CD that came with my computer (Dell Dimension E521). This won't cause me any trouble, will it?

So long as you're installing the OS onto the computer it was designed for, there should be no problems. You'll most likely be asked for a product key during install. It's on the side of your computer on a sticker.

kanganix · **Reply #61 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:55:27 AM

i know the windows 7 is Vista

i confused

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #62 on:** January 21, 2009, 04:02:29 AM

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i know the windows 7 is Vista dino_confused.gif i confused

Windows 7 is the next Operating System to be released by Microsoft. They recently released a public Beta version of the OS. That is what's being discussed here.

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #63 on:** January 21, 2009, 04:38:53 AM

Alright, this will hopefully be the last question I feel the need to ask you, Austin: Are there any options during the Windows 7 and XP install processes which you believe I should alter from the default selection?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #64 on:** January 21, 2009, 04:53:38 AM

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Austin: Are there any options during the Windows 7 and XP install processes which you believe I should alter from the default selection?

Only the time zone (if applicable). If you're using dialup, you might have to adjust some settings to comply with your long-distance standards. I don't know anything about that though since I only had dialup for a week or so before I switched to high-speed and I've never put XP on a computer that was destined for dialup. I'm sure you can change the dialup settings once it's installed, but I'm not sure how to do it. As I said, I know nothing about dialup aside from the fact that it's slow.

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #65 on:** January 21, 2009, 04:55:11 AM

Hmm. Good thing I have broadband

Thanks for all your help, seriously. You've become my go-to tech guy. (b?_?)b

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #66 on:** January 21, 2009, 08:52:29 PM

Well, I'm using Windows 7, and I've got (really) early impressions.

The glass theme stuff is pretty neat.

Runs nice and fast, although I'm not sure if there's any difference between this and XP.

In WMP, which I use as my default player (unless it's a filetype it can't play, in which case I switch to VLC) I opened a MIDI music file. Strange enough, the drum beat seemed to be missing. Muted. The rest played as normal, but there's a missing part of the track! Strange.

Firefox doesn't seem to like automatic downloads. I've had to click "try again" when dowloading VLC and AVG.

Haven't tried gaming yet. I'll install Steam and/or Oblivion in a bit.

Other than that, I'm still trying to get used to the interface. It'll probably be a few days before that happens. That's why this is "(really) early impressions".

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #67 on:** January 21, 2009, 09:52:29 PM

Okay, I fixed the WMP problem by changing the playback speed momentarily.

…

Wait what.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #68 on:** January 22, 2009, 02:23:02 AM

Do yourself a favor and don't use WMP. It's a bloated hunk of garbage. Use VLC or just about ANY other type of media player. WMP requires that you install all these codecs and it's just a resource hog (Vista and WMP just go together). They haven't changed this with the newest version. If I play a movie in WMP on my laptop, the battery will last about an hour (I'm not even joking). If I play the same movie using VLC, the battery will last for 2.5 hours. Why? 'Cuz WMP uses so many resources and thrashes your HD more. It's just a piece of junk. I stopped using it back in version 8. I still check it every time there's a new version to see if MS pulled their head out, but it hasn't changed. They got the message with Vista. Maybe they'll get the message with this program as well.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #69 on:** January 22, 2009, 02:56:45 AM

And how about they drop Internet Explorer already and give us what we REALLY want? Firefox all the way, baby! Although, I doubt that's ever going to happen.

:

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #70 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:17:10 AM

I've only ever found WMP to be a bother with my old system, when trying to play a DVD in fullscreen, which would cause the video to slowly but surely lag behind the audio (possibly because I was using the monitor's max resolution of 2048x1536, rather than the native resolution; I'm not sure if that even works like that). But even that was easily rectified by exiting fullscreen and resizing the video to fit the maximized player.

I also highly prefer the interface (especially 10 and 11) to VLC and WinAMP (the latter of which I HAVE found to be a bother). The one that comes with 7 is a little more confusing to navigate, but I'm quickly becoming accustomed to it. I'm also happy that it can now play MP4 files.

Besides. Someone's gotta test this shit, and you obviously ain't gonna do it

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #71 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:19:35 AM

I've tested WMP in Windows 7. It crashed. It couldn't play a movie on my test machine, that only has 1gb of ram. Maybe if I had 3gb or more it could actually play it.

:

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #72 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:54:53 AM

Indeed, I forgot to list my specs :O

2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual-Core Processor
3 GBs DDR2 SDRAM @ 533 MHz
160 GBs SATA 2.0 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
NVidia Geforce 8800GT 512MB Graphics Card

No overclocking on anything.

kanganix · **Reply #73 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:59:37 AM

i really know win 7 is vista

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #74 on:** January 22, 2009, 04:17:52 AM

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Indeed, I forgot to list my specs

2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual-Core Processor
3 GBs DDR2 SDRAM @ 533 MHz
160 GBs SATA 2.0 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
NVidia Geforce 8800GT 512MB Graphics Card

No overclocking on anything.

Hmmmm. A decent system. I could run everything I need to on that if I just added a couple of 500gb hard drives.

Over the years I've realized that I don't need the biggest and the best of everything. I came to my senses and sold all my best stuff before it became valueless junk. My main system has the following specs:

*2.2ghz AMD Athlon X2 4400+ Dual-Core Processor
*3gb DDR2 800mhz ram with heat-spreaders (I could put in 8gb if I wanted)
*4 HD's: 1 500gb, 1 500gb, 1 500gb, 1 200gb
*Windows XP Pro Lite SP3
*Custom Gaming Case
*368mb Integrated Graphics
*650 watt PSU
*2 Dual-Layer DVD Burners
*19 USB ports (2 cards with 4 ports each on back, 8 integrated on back, 1 on front in the card reader bay, and 2 in front panel)
*6 Firewire ports (2 integrated in back, 2 on a card in back, 2 in front)
*2 ESATA ports (2 on card in back)
*4 Custom color fans (1 on transparent glass of case, 2 in back of computer blowing air out, 1 on bottom of PSU. All blue.)

This is currently my best system. I bought a kickass computer from HP.com, but I ended up returning it. It just wasn't worth it to me to have a 3.19ghz core2quad processor and 8gb of ram. I could never use it.

Now most of my systems are comparable to this one with at least 2gb of ram. I really don't need any more than I have. I get enough experience with newer systems when clients bring them in because of the manufacturers shitty support.

TheNumberOneShmuck · **Reply #75 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:25:48 AM

Well, I've done a test with Oblivion, at the same settings as I use on XP.

With the copy I run on XP, I always have one, specific, enduring problem: whenever I engage more than 2 enemies in combat, I would experience a drop in framerate. From about 60 (staring at inanimate objects) to 40 (staring at 1 non-hostile NPC) to 30 (staring at multiple non-hostile NPCs) to 20 (engaging 1 or 2 enemies) to 12 (engaging 2-4 enemies) to 8 (engaging 5 or more enemies).

I just got ambushed by 3 zombies and 3 wraiths in a catacombs. Then I went to the Imperial City Prison area and assaulted a guard. I was then confronted by 7 guards. In neither of these instances did the framerate drop below 25 during the fighting.

I do have a single mod installed on the XP version that I don't have here, a texture mod. However, I don't think it's a factor, because the framerate is the same in both versions UNTIL I engage an enemy or enemies. At that point, and that point only, the XP version slows down more than the W7 version. Regardless, I'll try to get the mod installed on this one tomorrow, and see what happens.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #76 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:35:14 AM

Sorry but my experience with graphics is extremely limited. I don't play games. I used to know a lot about graphics, but that was back in the day when I was happy to have upgraded my graphics memory to 16mb.

Since then it hasn't been of much concern to me so I've pretty much dropped it out of my studies.

When something doesn't work right with my graphics card, I try to update the driver. If that doesn't work, I replace it.

I'm pretty practical when it comes to things like this.