So I managed to get a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Professional, but it's the Student's Upgrade Version. Things I have considered so far:
1) Windows 7 Installation
i) The digital download from digitalriver only has the Upgrade Version, which means that it will need to detect an existing version of Windows before allowing the installation. If you want to install Windows 7 on a new clean hard drive, it's going to be a problem.
ii) The 2.3gb digital download is NOT an iso file that you can just burn on a DVD and run. This has been reflected in many tech blogs like engadget where students who purchased win 7 via this method have been registering their malcontent.
iii) 32-bit versus 64-bit. The digital download only allows you to choose either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Win7, unlike the retail version where both DVDs are enclosed and you can choose. Based on several forums and my current PC capabilities, I am going with 32-bit, which only allows the computer to address 4 GB of ram, but enables most of my current applications and hardware to work. 64-bit is more future-proof, but is more likely to be more useful 2 years from now.
Solution:
Torrent the retail version of Win7 Professional, and get both 32-bit and 64-bit. Likely the license key I have should be valid for both versions, since it's the same situation for retail buyers. Digitalriver should have provided the .iso file upfront, instead of making users go through a whole host of methods just to get Win7. Probably the largest fail of Win7 so far, imo.
2) Reinstalling my applications
Running the Win7 Compatibility software helps me understand which applications I would need to look at after upgrading to Win7. Likely my Nero 7 application will not be supported, and some of my other minor applications. There's a web application called NiNite that basically installs up to 59 of the most popular applications (iTunes, Google Chrome, Firefox, Picasa, Flash Player, Dropbox, .Net, Skype, Google Earth) without you having to go and search, download, and wait for each installation to complete.
Next as I'm doing a XP to Windows 7 "clean" or "custom" installation (Marketing jargon), I need to be able to transfer my current iTunes settings, with all my iPhone applications, podcasts, and my Picasa facial recognition information over. I would need to perform a backup of everything, and then copy the Application Data information over to the new directory after setting it up. Should hopefully be pain-free. Same thing goes for all saved games.
Picasa Solution
http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164962
Also, since I've been playing with the Remote Desktop Connection on XP, I have to manually enable the feature on Win7 Professional. Home Premium doesn't have that feature...
More importantly, I'm making doubly sure all my documents and photos are well-backup. I suffered a catastrophic failure the other time when I reinstalled Windows XP on my C:, and it destroyed my C: / D: partition, resulting in ALL my stuff on D: (my documents and photos) to be eradicated. Lost a huge chunk of history there, and only managed to recover some of them through friends, old back-ups et al. Going to backup to 2 different hard drives now, and make sure that both are not on the same partition as where I'm going to install my Win7. Will likely keep my Win XP drive up for a few months before I remove it.
3) Upgrading of hardware
Perhaps it's finally time to upgrade some of my hardware. My current PC is 3 years old, and has been serving me very faithfully with minimum issues. I think I would probably purchase a 2GB DRAM DDR880 Dual Channel, from FuWell International at Sim Lim Square. Hardwarezone forum stated the cost at about $59. This upgrade will pump up my PC to 4GB, the maximum allowed under Win7 Professional.
Hopefully the extensive planning will result in a seamless installation. Think I will get all my stuff by this Sunday, and me up and running Win7 Pro by Sunday afternoon. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label Windows7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows7. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Windows 7 Redux
Have installed Windows 7 Enterprise on my computer and used it for a couple of days.
Installation was a complete breeze. I have never installed Windows on a computer with so very little effort before. My previous experiences usually involved installing Windows XP, which would format the hard drive into at most a 160GB block, since it couldn't recognise any hard drive bigger than that. This usually screws up the partition drive, and if you have done a previous partition, it would destroy information on the other hard drive.
After that, one needs to slowly install all my hardware drivers (e.g. Motherboard, soundcard, videocard, bluetooth keyboard set, etc), update the drivers, install SP1, SP2, SP3... Extremely tedious and slow process. After that, since I use WPA2 wireless authentication, I couldn't access my home wireless network without installing a XP hotfix that enabled the authentication. But to download the hotfix, I needed to get internet access. Then follows the tons and tons of security fixes. Usually it's like a full-day/ multi-day affair excluding the other applications...
Windows 7 worked like a breeze. I installed it, and when it started, I thought it wasn't working, but somehow the login page default to show on my secondary output (HDMI TV), instead of my normal screen. I actually restarted it a couple of times before I realised it.
Next, it recognised and installed ALL my hardware and my wireless worked, at least at that moment. I had a fully functional Operating System in about an half hour! That's a miracle, literally after almost 8 years of tedium. Application installations were mostly ok, although my copy of Modern Combat failed to work. I believe that most older applications might have compatibility issues. Although there's a XP-Compatibility mode, I'm not entirely sure how to activate it.
Another major issue was with my wireless. My joy with the wireless was short-lived, and my wireless connection kept dropping continuously after that! It annoyed the heck out of me. Even though it could detect my network (two bars out of five), it just couldn't connect. Previously with XP, usually the solution is to "Repair" the connection, where XP disables the wireless receiver and restarts it again. Usually it works.
But Windows 7 doesn't have that option to "Repair the Connection", instead I had to disconnect manually, and restart the network adapter again. NOT THAT IT WORKS. Years of trained XP behaviour dictates that I repeat that action almost daily, at least 5-10 times before I realise it wasn't working. And the trouble-shooting feature clearly wasn't helpful (It kept telling me that I needed to reset and restart my router, which I knew wasn't the answer, as my iPhone next to me kept a strong wireless connection. My final solution was to rotate my CPU, such that the network adapter faced the general direction of the router, thereby increasing the signal strength to 4 bars.) It works nows, but I'm not sure if it's a consistently, replicate-able solution. We shall see. Wireless connectivity is an issue that can make-or-break an OS.
I love the variable wallpaper feature, which changes the wallpaper every XX mins with any pictures. Have previously tried Vista before, so was already familiar with the Aero feature. One minor annoyance was that the CPU only outputs to 1 line-out jack and 1 headphone jack. Previously, my CPU connected to my legacy stereo system and my LCD TV, so I could watch movies on my computer screen and output sound on my stereo, or watch on my LCD TV and the accompanying sound system. I like options. But perhaps I need to update my Asus motherboard drivers to get back my full features, since I hadn't installed any drivers on my own yet.
Performance-wise, I was pleasantly surprised that even with Aero features on, Windows 7 actually works faster than XP! Shut-down, start-up also ran much faster than my previous XP installation. That's amazing, since I have heard that Vista drastically reduced performance, and was hoping that the drop-off would not be too marked. Perhaps the Vista failure was actually a marketing campaign for Windows 7! ;)
Overall, I'm quite happy about Windows 7. I'm impressed that Microsoft was open enough to allow a free 90-day trial of the Enterprise Edition. Good to be able to test it out first on all compatibility issues, and examine what exactly I am upgrading to. I'm unlikely to need the additional features of Enterprise vis-a-vis the Professional Edition (i.e. Bitlocker and something else).
Windows is no longer a joke. That's great for us long-running windows users. Windows 7 finally gives us a reason to have our heads held high when listening to the dribble of MacOS fanatics. Great!
Installation was a complete breeze. I have never installed Windows on a computer with so very little effort before. My previous experiences usually involved installing Windows XP, which would format the hard drive into at most a 160GB block, since it couldn't recognise any hard drive bigger than that. This usually screws up the partition drive, and if you have done a previous partition, it would destroy information on the other hard drive.
After that, one needs to slowly install all my hardware drivers (e.g. Motherboard, soundcard, videocard, bluetooth keyboard set, etc), update the drivers, install SP1, SP2, SP3... Extremely tedious and slow process. After that, since I use WPA2 wireless authentication, I couldn't access my home wireless network without installing a XP hotfix that enabled the authentication. But to download the hotfix, I needed to get internet access. Then follows the tons and tons of security fixes. Usually it's like a full-day/ multi-day affair excluding the other applications...
Windows 7 worked like a breeze. I installed it, and when it started, I thought it wasn't working, but somehow the login page default to show on my secondary output (HDMI TV), instead of my normal screen. I actually restarted it a couple of times before I realised it.
Next, it recognised and installed ALL my hardware and my wireless worked, at least at that moment. I had a fully functional Operating System in about an half hour! That's a miracle, literally after almost 8 years of tedium. Application installations were mostly ok, although my copy of Modern Combat failed to work. I believe that most older applications might have compatibility issues. Although there's a XP-Compatibility mode, I'm not entirely sure how to activate it.
Another major issue was with my wireless. My joy with the wireless was short-lived, and my wireless connection kept dropping continuously after that! It annoyed the heck out of me. Even though it could detect my network (two bars out of five), it just couldn't connect. Previously with XP, usually the solution is to "Repair" the connection, where XP disables the wireless receiver and restarts it again. Usually it works.
But Windows 7 doesn't have that option to "Repair the Connection", instead I had to disconnect manually, and restart the network adapter again. NOT THAT IT WORKS. Years of trained XP behaviour dictates that I repeat that action almost daily, at least 5-10 times before I realise it wasn't working. And the trouble-shooting feature clearly wasn't helpful (It kept telling me that I needed to reset and restart my router, which I knew wasn't the answer, as my iPhone next to me kept a strong wireless connection. My final solution was to rotate my CPU, such that the network adapter faced the general direction of the router, thereby increasing the signal strength to 4 bars.) It works nows, but I'm not sure if it's a consistently, replicate-able solution. We shall see. Wireless connectivity is an issue that can make-or-break an OS.
I love the variable wallpaper feature, which changes the wallpaper every XX mins with any pictures. Have previously tried Vista before, so was already familiar with the Aero feature. One minor annoyance was that the CPU only outputs to 1 line-out jack and 1 headphone jack. Previously, my CPU connected to my legacy stereo system and my LCD TV, so I could watch movies on my computer screen and output sound on my stereo, or watch on my LCD TV and the accompanying sound system. I like options. But perhaps I need to update my Asus motherboard drivers to get back my full features, since I hadn't installed any drivers on my own yet.
Performance-wise, I was pleasantly surprised that even with Aero features on, Windows 7 actually works faster than XP! Shut-down, start-up also ran much faster than my previous XP installation. That's amazing, since I have heard that Vista drastically reduced performance, and was hoping that the drop-off would not be too marked. Perhaps the Vista failure was actually a marketing campaign for Windows 7! ;)
Overall, I'm quite happy about Windows 7. I'm impressed that Microsoft was open enough to allow a free 90-day trial of the Enterprise Edition. Good to be able to test it out first on all compatibility issues, and examine what exactly I am upgrading to. I'm unlikely to need the additional features of Enterprise vis-a-vis the Professional Edition (i.e. Bitlocker and something else).
Windows is no longer a joke. That's great for us long-running windows users. Windows 7 finally gives us a reason to have our heads held high when listening to the dribble of MacOS fanatics. Great!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)