How to Install Windows 7 - Discussion

[Ian]

This is an automatically created discussion thread. Please leave any feedback about the How to Install Windows 7 article here.

 

[Ian]

I found a problem with broken images in the article which appeared when switching the thread username over - this should now be fixed . Sorry about that!

 

[Mychael]

Ian, I realise there are other threads about customisation etc but was wondering if following "How to Install" discussion you might go into something along the lines "the first things you want to do after installation".
Basic tweaks/settings sort of stuff, the things a new user going to Win 7 might be wondering about. All the simple settings a new user would might first want to do just to get all the basics happening.

 

[davehc]

I did make a thread/post, on my own methods, Mychael, but it did not get much attention?
https://www.w7forums.com/simple-customisation-7-a-t7101.html

 

[Mychael]

Not sure I ever noticed before Dave. I see it's a .rar file. What do I use to open that?
my windows (XP) does not seem to know.

Worked it out. Printing it now.

 

[TrainableMan]

7-zip can't create rar files but it can open them. They are created with winrar but it is not free, just a 30-day evaluation.

 

[Mychael]

Found a free program called RAR file open knife. It did the trick.
What are the benefits of a .rar file? What was it's design intenion?

 

[TorrentG]

Rar files are the same as zip files for the most part.

Just a different format and perhaps compression is slightly greater. The "scene" uses rars to distribute games, music, software etc...

That's because if the downloads are huge, it can be broken into multiple parts using rars. If one file is downloaded corrupt, all that needs to be done is to download that tiny part again, instead of the whole thing.

 

[davehc]

I don't have a dedicated "zip" program on my computer at the moment. I use "Winrar", which does zips, rars and a few others. But I seem to recall that all you had to do was change the handle from rar to zip and it worked anyway?

 

[TorrentG]

Nah, no need to change the extension. Winrar can open zips or rars (or many other types) by default.

You can customize when you install or if installed already, in the program, Options | Settings | Integration

Associate the program with whatever ya want.

 

[TrainableMan]

.rar, .7z, and .zip use different algorithms to compress the data. There may be enough information embedded in the file that even with a different file extension a program like winrar could decompress with the proper algorithm but it doesn't mean it is actually the same and someone using winzip won't be able to decompress a rar file just because you renamed it .zip.

 

[davehc]

Nah, no need to change the extension. Winrar can open zips or rars (or many other types) by default.

You can customize when you install or if installed already, in the program, Options | Settings | Integration

Associate the program with whatever ya want.

No. I meant that by changing to .zip, you could open it with winzip? I am aware of Winrars options.

 

[Nibiru2012]

That's because if the downloads are huge, it can be broken into multiple parts using rars. If one file is downloaded corrupt, all that needs to be done is to download that tiny part again, instead of the whole thing.

That practice is not as common as it used to be. Back when people would download files via "newsgroups" and binaries it was the standard M.O., nowadays it's fairly uncommon.

A good torrent client doesn't need the file to be broken down like that due to the hash checks and such.

RAR files within RAR files and multiples are considered a nuisance and unnecessary.

 

[veni]

It is a nice post.......