Windows 7 Review
ByIt’s been a week since I installed Windows 7, RC (release candidate), on our Dell Dimension 9100, (circa 2005) computer with 2 GB ram and a spacious hard drive. I thought I’d share my experience as you might find it helpful.
We’d been running XP Home since 2005 and it was fine, but I was ready for a change. I like to do a reformat every year or so just to clean out the cruft. So I backed up my data and got my free Windows 7 RC download and key. I also found this advisor from Microsoft. It’s a quick download and install and will tell you if your system is ready or if you may have compatibility issues. Here are a set of short videos from Microsoft that give you a tour of what you’ll get. If you want really detailed information, i.e. upgrade from Vista, clean install from XP or Vista visit Microsoft TechNet for the hand-holding version.
With XP, you will need to do a clean install – which means you’re reformatting your drive. I thought about using Microsoft’s free Virtual PC software, and run XP and Windows 7, but alas, the wizard said it wasn’t compatible with my machine.
The install was actually pretty quick and painless and when it was finished, I first visited Microsoft Security to get any updates I might need. I was looking at updates and getting my preferences set, anti-virus software downloaded, updating Windows Defender, etc. when I realized that all my drivers had been loaded for me! I had no idea Windows 7 would take care of this tedious and sometimes frustrating chore. This feature/benefit alone makes me recommend doing the upgrade. I think there are a lot of people out there who hesitate doing a reinstall of their OS because of making sure all the drivers are reinstalled.
Any glitches you may ask? Well, unfortunately I had no sound! My era 2005 SigmaTel audio driver had never been updated by Dell, and in my voluminous research, I found out Dell would be the only one to upgrade this driver. I did find (by a tedious search), that there was a Vista version of the SigmaTel driver made for my machine, but after downloading and installing, it didn’t work. Unfortunate, because I had read that if you had a Vista driver, most likely Windows 7 would be able to use it. I spent way too much time researching, looking at forums, etc. I found others with SigmaTel audio issues along with other brands. The Windows 7 techs would say to either contact the manufacturer, or wait until 7 is officially released. That’s the risk you take.
After speaking to Tim, my tech guy, I decided to get a new sound card. I got an Xtreme 5.1/16 bit Sound Card, went to their site, downloaded the Vista driver, and we had sound!
Paul Thurrott, who blogs regularly about Microsoft products and writes Windows books, has a very detailed review on the beta release and is worth a look if you want to delve into the nooks and crannies of changes, upgrades and how to utilize features.
Takeaways
- Easy to download and install. You will need to burn the download to a DVD. Instructions from Adrian Kingsley-Hughes on ZDNet.
- DO think about consequences if something goes wrong. Make an informed and thoughtful choice of what computer to install the RC on—you probably don’t want to put it on your work computer.
- It is all they say – faster, prettier, UAC not as intrusive, what Vista should have been.
- One issue that I haven’t figured out it is that Adobe Flash Player will not stay installed when we’re using the Firefox browser. It continually says we need to install it, which we have many times (and uninstalled it). Still won’t work, so we use IE in those cases. Java works fine with Firefox.
- If your PC and peripherals are newer, compatibility should not be a problem If you do have driver issues, Windows 7, go to Control Panel and look for the new UI called Printers & Devices and run the troubleshooting.
- Just GET IT! Use it free for a year.
