For those wondering about win 7 as main op sys

[stevae]

i have seen several threads about this, and my advise is that it is always best NOT to use a beta as your main op sys. there are too many kinks to work out, and you could lose everything. also, ms has an automatic uploader built into the beta, so you are continually sending information back to ms.
the best thing to do is to partition your hard drives, and put the win 7 rc on the other partition. if you have two drives in your computer, then it is better to have them on different drives. then you can boot into win 7 and use it as much as you like. but WHEN you run into problems, you can easily boot into your old op sys to do whatever you need to do. this has worked beautifully for me. and i will continue in this manner until the official release of win 7. just my two cents worth...

 

[Ian]

Yeah I agree, dual booting is a sensible option for most

But as Windows 7 is pretty stable for the majority of users, the daring can use it as a main OS as long as they have regular backups

 

[stevae]

i agree, that win 7 is more stable than any other beta i have tested, but there is still the upload script in the op sys. i wouldn't want that as a permanent feature, eating up my bandwidth, and spying on me. there is also the fact that we don't know exactly what they will do with the beta's when it's time to start selling 7 retail. they might kill all the beta key's, and then you lose your setup.

 

[Psikea]

its risky , for xample , i cudnt manage to make that asus ip crap to make work in win 7 just becoz it doesnt support 64 bit based systems

build 7057 had no problems with demon tools , rc seem like has

anyway despite that i have another pc , here win7 took a place of one n only os

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

I wouldn't go so far as to say you shouldn't. Only really experienced computer users who know the risks and fully accept that they cannot upgrade from one version of 7 to another, can run it as their main OS if they choose too.

If you know what you're doing, you shouldn't have an issue.

 

[davidtb]

I've got a dual boot going on, but I've since swapped to Win7 x64 as the go to OS.
Seems that the 7100 release build actually shuts down like it's supposed to in dual boot, so I can walk away after shut down.
db.

 

[DRFP]

its my main system now and I love it

 

[davidtb]

its my main system now and I love it

What'llya do in August?

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

What'llya do in August?

Backup important files and clean install would be my guess.

Btw, the RC expires in March, not August.

 

[patrickt]

It really depends on the risk. My computer is a home computer. No business but photos that are important to me. When I decided to test the beta I was impressed enough to run it as my only OS. It was clearly a beta but quite stable.

I increased my backup schedule from weekly to weekly plus anything major that happened during the week.

If I ran a business on my computer I'd be using Vista.

 

[detoxa]

Im dual booting with Vista/ 7 on a laptop , to be honest im just surfing the net on 7 and seeing what it can and cant do (Im impressed so far to be honest.)

I use an external HDD for all my back ups but i guess your right it would be silly to put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Jonmor68]

I have Vista and W7 on seperate drives, media on another drive and a backup drive.
I've used the Library in W7 to add my "documents" folder from Vista and using W7 as the main operating system.
That way if I need to use Vista I still have my files accessable. If it keeps working the way it has been since the W7 7000 beta release, there will be no need to use Vista.
When I can buy the final release, all I have to do is use the WETW to save files and settings to a backup device.
After installing the new system and reinstalling my programs, I can run WETW to get my files and settings back.
I used this before instaling the W7 RC, it worked a treat.
Backups should always be made on a regular basis, not only when installing a new OP system. Those that do will have no trouble when the final release is available.

 

[DRFP]

What'llya do in August?

August???? Its good until 3/1/2010

RC is good for 6 months after release ( October 2009)

 

[detoxa]

http://blogs.technet.com/springboar...r-windows-7-beta-and-rc-expiration-dates.aspx

The Beta expires on August 1, 2009, and bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009. The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010. In both cases, you’ll need to rebuild your test PCs with another valid version of the OS, and reinstall your programs and data.

 

[DRFP]

http://blogs.technet.com/springboar...r-windows-7-beta-and-rc-expiration-dates.aspx

The Beta expires on August 1, 2009, and bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009. The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010. In both cases, you’ll need to rebuild your test PCs with another valid version of the OS, and reinstall your programs and data.

true but if you put the RC on then you can upgrade to the retail Win 7 without formating but I will format and clean install then, I expect retail by Nov 2009 since the release is Oct 2009 and I'm not worried in the least with this.

10 months is a really long time really, vista on this Dell of mine had 3 not one not two but 3 blue screens in one month!!! And Win 7 none! Win 7 uses less Ram and resources so Win 7 is a Win!

 

[Psikea]

beta will expire in august , not rc so we can use it legally for free till the next year