The New Windows 7 Thread

[Perd Hapley]

Tell us what you like or don't like about it. 

How does it compare with XP, Vista, and other operating systems (Linux, etc) ?

Do you find the UAC to be completely intolerable, as I do? 

[Marnoot]

Much better than Vista, and UAC is less annoying than in Vista as well. It can also be completely turned off if one wishes, which I don't believe was an option in Vista. Overall, I actually like it better than XP. The DirectX10 for games is nice, though Vista had that too. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

Hard to compare to Linux, I think; that's somewhat like comparing Chinese food to Italian. Personal preference more than anything, IMO. But within the Windows realm, I think it's pretty good. Those who like their OS stripped down as much as possible will probably want to stay with XP, though you can turn alot of the bells and whistles off if you so desire.

My perceptions may be affected by the fact that I doubled my memory from 2GB to 4GB at the same time I upgraded.

[Perd Hapley]

Much better than Vista, and UAC is less annoying than in Vista as well. It can also be completely turned off if one wishes, which I don't believe was an option in Vista.

Had to turn it all the way off, so it wouldn't squawk each time I tried to use CCleaner.  WhatTheDork? 

I had to downgrade from 2G RAM to 1G right after I installed.  The difference is quite noticable.  (Exchanging some bad RAM sticks.)

[KPT]

I've been running 7 on my desktop since the beta came out. Recently installed it on my laptop when the RTM was leaked. Also put it on a HTPC I built. All three running 64 bit.

Laptop and desktop had XP before that. I don't ever see myself going back to XP.

The only thing I don't like about UAC is I can't save files to c:\.  That is not enough to make me turn it off.

What I do like about it is it boots much faster than XP. That and when copying files 7 will show you the transfer rate. I'm sure there are many more reasons that I can't think of right now.

[Perd Hapley]

With my Win7 drive, I'm trying to stick with Microsoft products.  Just out of curiousity. 

I haven't used IE much since I was turned on to Firefox a year or two ago.  I don't think I'll be able to stand it much longer.

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials.  I can't tell how good it is, but it doesn't bother me at all. 

[Gewehr98]

I like it a lot more than Vista.

However, my beta versions of 7 will not install if there is another hard drive on the IDE or SCSI bus.  Weird.

[AJ Dual]

Anyone seeing piss-poor file transfer rates doing peer to peer copying between machines?

I've been spanked HARD with 100-300kbps transfer rates, even when WIRED.  I've taken to sneakernetting files around on our terrabyte external USB drive instead.

[AZRedhawk44]

UAC?

I have been a devout WinXP-64 user all through Vista's lifecycle (may it burn in hell).  What is UAC?

And why can't you save to C:\?  Is it just the root of the drive, and not subfolders?  Can you create your own subfolders under C:\?  Or are you completely isolated to your own profile?

I work with Citrix quite a bit and losing access to the root of C:\ would piss me off quite mightily.

[41magsnub]

If I'm running Windows Server 2008 R2 dressed up to look like Windows 7 can I play too?  

UAC is a bit annoying and I will probably be turning it off if for no other reason than I am constantly doing admin type things on it to test or connect to different networks.

I like the speed, no complaints there.  It is faster than regular server 2008 on the exact same hardware.  The upgrade process from 2008 to 2008 R2 was painless and took about an hour.

[Cromlech]

Another XP x64 Pro user here, got it when it came out (support was lacking of course). My Laptop runs Vista x64 though, and it's ok.

[erictank]

UAC?

I have been a devout WinXP-64 user all through Vista's lifecycle (may it burn in hell).  What is UAC?

User Account Control, IIRC.  Vista's got this program which checks to see if you CAN (have permission to) install a program, and if you really, REALLY want to.  Via popups.  It's ... annoying, for those of us who don't randomly install everything which crosses our paths, and probably desensitizes those who DO things like that to the popup windows anyways (so they just automatically hit Enter twice when they put a CD in the drive, rather than actually read the popup).

Having a less annoying version would be nice.

Don't have Win7 yet, but I've heard and read nothing but good things about it - I'll be looking long and hard at upgrading, once it officially hits the streets.

[cosine]

Is 1GB of RAM enough to get decent performance out of Windows 7?

[Jim147]

Is 1GB of RAM enough to get decent performance out of Windows 7?

No, not really. If you have a very big discreet video card you might get buy with it.
My 6Gig system loves Win 7. My 1 Gig system not so much.

jim

[Perd Hapley]

1 Gig is working OK for me, though I'm going back up to 2 Gigs as soon as New Egg sends me that replacement pair of sticks. 

I guess it depends on your system, and what you consider "decent performance."