Windows Seven (7)

[Majestic]

Hello everyone,

I am considering upgrading to Windows Seven soon as I have heard it fixes a lot of backward compatibility issues that plagued Vista. Has anyone tried Win7 out yet? What do you think of it? Does it run A1 and A2?

I am curious as I never liked Vista due to the compatibility issues and well I want to update to something newer than XP, however if 7 isn't how I would like it I intent to revert back to XP.

So anyone with knowledge of Win7 and who is willing to share this knowledge would be great.

 

[Syf]

Well the number 1 rule when dealing with a MS O/S release.... Always wait until it has been out for 4-6 months before upgrading an existing PC.

I used to beta test for a company that worked close with MS. Win 95, 98, and ME taught me was never to jump onto a new OS when it's very new. There will be problems, that I can promise.

As far as what I know about Win7... It's what was supposed to be released instead of Vista as the next Windows after XP and Server 2003. But when they had to address a critical error with the Windows kernel, they decided to start all over with a new kernel (the "Kernel" is the "Core" of Windows which everything else attaches to). As far as backward compatibility, that is not entirely true. Win7 is focused on fixing Vista issues not XP or older.

Here are some specs/System Reqs -
CPU - 1GHz+
RAM - 1GB+ (2GB min on 64bit ver.)
Video - 128mb+ DX9 w/ WDDM 1.0 driver for Aero
Free HD space = 16GB (Minimum install is 7GB; 20GB for 64bit ver.)

BitLocker requires a USB flash drive to use BitLocker To Go.
WinXP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM and additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V enabled.

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Syf, I might not worry about it or run dual operating systems.

 

[thunderfoot]

I have been following this in the news and on the Web. My question is what's all the hullaballoo about? I agree with Syf. Wait a bit before hurrrying out to grab Win7. The folks in Redmond are notoriously well known for not catching everything which may be broken before release. My first laptop had XP on it. XP is based largely on Win2000 and WinNT and is nearly bulletproof because of this. I tried to create a BSOD event and could not do it. My next laptop, this one, had Vistas. There are a great many applications I can no longer run or run only after forcing my laptop to jump through hoops. Why? Makes no sense at all. I do not really mind Vistas. There are some features in it I use a great deal and like. But if I could afford a version of XP Pro, I'd wipe my HDD and do a clean install in a New York second.

Rushing out to get the latest version of Windows and eagerly expecting it to solve all my OS problems at one fell swoop is something Micro$oft(no, I did not either misspell it.) cured me of a long time ago. I'll upgrade when it is time to get a new laptop and not any sooner.

 

[Lord_Trekie]

I've been running the RC (release client) of Windows 7 for the better part of 6 months, and I'm impressed with MS for once. It works fairly well, doesn't have as many annoyances as Vista did (the UAC is a little less sensitive, though I just turn that completely off anyway). It uses less resources than Vista did on average, and it will at the very least run Armada 2 (I had three separate installs at one point, and all worked). I don't know if it will run A1, and so far the only thing I've had a problem with was trying to run Fallout 3...

Overall I think it's worth the grab, but as the others suggested, it might be safe to wait a few months (I personally think it's fine right now, but there could be issues I'm not aware of since the released version is 7.3 or something and I'm on version 7.1).

I would have bought it right away but I had to worry about the bills, so I have to wait another week and a half...

 

[Katala]

I've always had trouble running XP on my pcs and always prefered 2000 or 2003 server anyway as I had less virus issues with them than with XP, I also dont have any issues with Vista either on my laptop or my pc I run Vista ultimate 64 on my pc and Vista home 32bit came on my laptop but have never had issues with Vista on either, it all depends on the pc/laptop or your personal preference I guess and what you need it to run. As I said, I cant run XP on my pc, my motherboard has issues with it, but it has issues with alot of things and is largely incompatible with half my hardware... Hence why Maj is now using my PCIE gfx card lol guess I'll learn not to let a nub pick out parts for my pc again The only issue I have with Vista is that I cannot run my Sony Clie program on it because it being so old is only compatible with XP or older

 

[-RJB-]

I share Lord_Trekie views on the RC. Vastly better than vista and I personally feel it is on par if not better than XP. As for switching, the reports I have heard said that the final copy runs even more solid that the RC and RC ran great for me.

I'll be doing my switch over sometime next week and then I'll give my final input. (my copy shipped on Thursday.)

 

[Syf]

I'm glad you all have not had problems with the RC. I wish my past experiences went as smoothly. I remember when I got Win98 Beta 2 for testing. I lost a HDD do to it (My video card was what the Win98 Beta choked on, toasting my HDD). Then a week later, I got beta 3 which with a new HDD, installed ok. I will not go into Win95 and the what, 13 Floppy disks it took to install... Heaven forbid I had a corrupted #6 disk (Yes, a beta copy as well). What's bad, is the "Gold" was no better (Win95 "C" was called the gold edition). I had to replace #3 and #5... Lucky me, I had 3 copies and was able to use one disk out of each of the other 2 packs... Which all went better than WinME with it's Zero driver support. Imagine having to hack up a Win95 install to get a driver needed for a card. Ah, those were the days... I haven't done any form of MS Beta work since MS J++ and Win2K.

As a rule of thumb, always give the release at least a few months. That's what I do. I have no plans of upgrading to Win7 until next June (of 2010) or later, personally speaking. And then, I will have a Dual boot.

 

[FahreS]

ive installed win7 64bit on a second HDD and have to say, yeah it is possible to run A2 (only in compatibility mode) and no its not great.
ive tested my modded version, but that lags much worse than on my 32 bit XP. As soon as there is a fight you cant do anything to influence the battle.

 

[Majestic]

Yeah I am going to do a dual boot with XP I think, and run the 32bit Win7 after hearing of your issues Fahres. Running at the very least A2 is a priority for when when it comes to an operating system.

Why can't they just get an operating system that can run Win98 applications and programs. Work on the important stuff like stability and backwards compatibility then worry about the fancy colourful GUI that most people replace with custom ones anyway.

 

[Lord_Trekie]

ive installed win7 64bit on a second HDD and have to say, yeah it is possible to run A2 (only in compatibility mode) and no its not great.
ive tested my modded version, but that lags much worse than on my 32 bit XP. As soon as there is a fight you cant do anything to influence the battle.

That sounds like hardware issues more than OS issues. I'm running the 64-bit Win 7 RC and I've never had any hiccups with the game save when I'm playing something like FLOPS and there's 900 ships on screen, and even then I can still do all that I need to...

Edit: I just upgraded from the RC to the Retail version of Ultimate, took longer than a clean install thanks to preserving all my files/settings, but I'm running just fine now.

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

I don't plan on getting Windows 7 at all.

My PC is fairly old, I still got a Geforce MX4 graphic card... if I ever get a new computer, I guess I will try out Windows 7 if it is shipped with the new PC.

If I don't like it, I will downgrade the OS to XP Home again.
I surely won't run Vista on my PC.

 

[FahreS]

That sounds like hardware issues more than OS issues. I'm running the 64-bit Win 7 RC and I've never had any hiccups with the game save when I'm playing something like FLOPS and there's 900 ships on screen, and even then I can still do all that I need to...

Edit: I just upgraded from the RC to the Retail version of Ultimate, took longer than a clean install thanks to preserving all my files/settings, but I'm running just fine now.

My hardware isnt that new anymore but still on this
ONE pc its faster on win32 XP than on 64bit win7.

 

[RemanCommand]

I to have been wanting to upgrade to Windows 7. I happen to be running a Windows Vista Home Premium computer, a Toshiba Laptop that I like alot, but Vista I think is the reason for my PC errors. Whenever my External Hard Drive isn't connected to my computer, the whole thing eventually says that Windows isn't responding and then it restarted Windows Explorer. The whole computer doesn't restart but almost all my programs/open windows get closed and my taskbar reloads with half of what is usually there. I only experience this whenever the External Hard Drive isn't connected so I blame it on that and Vista but then one day it did the same thing when the External Drive was connected.
Every time this happens, Windows Error reporting suggests a few reasons/possibilities for the error and one of them is that there might be an issue with my built-in Hard Drive and to run the Hard Drive Disk Checker and that doesn't find any errors either.
Because this happens alot, I've been thinking of Upgrading to Windows 7 but I'm afraid Star Trek Armada II won't work along with Star Trek Legacy (Which I'm still trying to beat the first Stargazer Mission) and Battle Stations Midway. All are games I don't want to lose along with the pre-installed Toshiba Programs.
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for this problem because Windows Update hasn't been fixing the problems and I have gotten my computer checked for viruses and PC errors and nothing has been discovered? Upgrading to Windows 7 I was thinking might fix all this.

 

[Lord_Trekie]

I know Armada 2 will run on Windows 7, but I'm not sure about Legacy or Midway. You could always try a dual boot option? keep your Vista around just in case upgrading to Win 7 doesn't actually help you? (Though I don't see how upgrading could hurt you, win 7 uses less resources on average than Vista does even turned down as low as it goes...)

 

[Majestic]

I run 32bit Win7. It as Lord_Trekie says runs A2, but for me there are issues with the map editor. I can only load it once then I have to reboot the PC to use it again or it crashes.

I also agree a dual boot would be good. Something I am considering doing with XP.

Star Wars Empire at War and Sins of a Solar Empire work on it though. Which is good as those are games I am starting to get into.

 

[Katala]

Unfortunately I'm sticking with my Vista Ultimate 64, Maj's 32bit windows & wont run on my pc because my pc is tempermental and only runs 64bit operating systems, it wont even run XP, not that it is much of an issue for me as I've never had problems with my Vista Ultimate 64, altho my laptop run Vista home premium and I've also had no trouble with it so I dont really need to upgrade to windows 7 anyways and am quite happy to stick with my Vista

*secretly plots to steal one of Maj's usb slots when he installs his XP for dual booting so she can run her sony clie off it*

 

[Adm_Z]

I run Star Trek legacy, armada2 , and armada2: Fleet operations on Windows 7, and they all work seamlessly.

 

[RemanCommand]

It’s great to hear that Star Trek Legacy will work on Windows 7. I got one question for that though, I have a saved game started (as I think I previously mentioned, I'm having trouble on the first Stargazer mission, I get to being able to move the turrets and have the Stargazer do that and have the other 3 ships defend the planets, the problem is they don't go after the asteroids that are closer to the planets and then a planet gets destroyed and I lose the mission. )
I believe Battlestations Midway should work because on the box it says it was designed for Windows XP Home, Pro, & 64bit edition along with Windows Vista, the game came out in 2006/2007, I don't have Battlestations Pacific though which I was hoping to get but I play my Star Trek games more so they are more important to me.

 

[Avon]

I've just bought a new little 10 inch netbook which came with Windows 7 'starter' pre-installed.
From what I can make out so far, it's like a scaled down version with a lot of the features dissabled. Almost like a demo version.

Does anyone know much about this starter version?, and if its worth upgrading to the full windows 7 ??
Having not used windows 7 before, I dont really know what I'm missing with this demo version.

 

[Majestic]

I unfortunately don't know anything about the starter version.

I have Ultimate Windows 7 32 Bit however. Many of the features it has was introduced in Vista like gadgets for example. The Permissions are a lot more user friendly too.

 

[Adm_Z]

yeah, I have 32 bit as well. unfortunately I have stayed away from the net-books, and haven't had a chance to look at the OS on them