Thread: Anyone using Windows 7?

  1. #1
    Registered User Sharke's Avatar
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    Anyone using Windows 7?

    I know there's probably a lot of Windows pooh-poohers who read this forum, but I just installed the PR of Windows 7 on my laptop and am finding it to be very very good so far. In fact it's the nicest version of Windows I've used to date, better than XP and far better than Vista. The install was painless, it downloaded all the drivers I needed for my laptop immediately and everything works perfectly. It's very nice visually, very smooth and snappy, boots quickly and with only 45 or so processes running out of the box (compared to the 70+ I had on Vista).

    Everything I usually install on Windows works fine, no compatibility issues so far. Some really nice features, like the ability to shake a window and have all the other windows minimize. Shake it again and they come back. Easy to snap two windows to either half of the screen, although it doesn't work how you'd like if you're using two monitors like I do. I think this is the first time I've tried a new Windows and not thought "what the **** is this??"

  2. #2
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
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    Yes, using Win7 RC here.
    My favorite features are the new taskbar and the Aero Snap feature. Aero Peek isn't so bad, but I don't use it so often. The Aero Shake is just useless IMHO. It's too unresponsive.
    Myself I don't get this snappier boot process that every says. Every Windows I've used takes the same amount of time to boot. Well, almost anyway.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

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    the hat of redundancy hat nvoigt's Avatar
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    Running W7 64bit RC since it came out. So far, it's been a blast. It just works. No crashes so far, no problems. I'll definetly get it on release day (probably an Ultimate Edition from the launch tour like I did with Vista).

    However, take this with a grain of salt. I'm still running my XP that came preinstalled with my older box 4 years ago. The same install mind you. I know how to handle windows and not install any crap I find, touch any button I can reach just because or try that cool "registry trick" I read about. Your experiences may vary depending on how you treat your Windows installation. Windows itself has always been fine (except ME), it's the user that messes things up.
    hth
    -nv

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    int x = *((int *) NULL); Cactus_Hugger's Avatar
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    Edit: I'm not really sure I'd call it all the user's experience. There's a stark lack of features. Workspaces (my prayers have been unanswered), better memory management, symlinks (finally, sorta), better a/v support, decent suspend-to/resume-form-ram times, etc. One XP machine we had lasted a grand total of 5 seconds on the Internet before getting infected. Not the users fault - I'm not that quick with a browser.

    Running Windows 7 within a VM.
    It made a poor impression, when within 20 minutes of it's first boot it told me:
    Last edited by Cactus_Hugger; 06-23-2009 at 06:07 AM.
    long time; /* know C? */
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    symlinks (finally, sorta)
    I think NTFS does have some kind of symlink support, just that Windows doesn't allow users to use it, since the Linux NTFS driver (NTFS-3G) supports symlinks. Maybe they emulate it somehow, though.

    I only ran Windows 7 in a VM for a few minutes (most of which idling). Only problem I noticed is minesweeper crashed on me... (I was out of idea of what to try on it, so I tried minesweeper)

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    the hat of redundancy hat nvoigt's Avatar
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    One XP machine we had lasted a grand total of 5 seconds on the Internet before getting infected. Not the users fault - I'm not that quick with a browser.
    ISPs have been throwing routers for free in the general direction of every potential customer for the last 5 years, there is really no reason to connect your XP box to the internet directly. Yes, you can. You can install every piece of software you find. You can run a virus scanner. You can run a software firewall. And you can connect your PC directly to the internet so anyone can connect to it and exploit it. You can also throw it out the window into that mariana trench conveniently located right outside the window. You can. But that doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. I wouldn't blame Windows if someone stole my physical harddisk and I won't blame an unpatched Windows to get exploited if connect to the big bad world without protection. If there is an operating system that would survive in the open unpatched, it's because no one cares enough to exploit it.
    hth
    -nv

    She was so Blonde, she spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said "Concentrate."

    When in doubt, read the FAQ.
    Then ask a smart question.

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    I tried one of the beta's and read everything I could find about the new system. I really like some of the changes they've made, and I think they've done a good job of listening to their customers compared to what they've done in the past. I did have some serious issues with the beta, but I think I've seen almost all of those problems disappear in the blogs about Windows 7.

    I'm also a big fan of XP, and I was told by a Microsoft employee that based on what I like about XP - I would love Win7. So when it's time to upgrade our machines at work, I'll probably opt for the Win7 option. But I don't see myself returning to Windows at home anytime soon - even if it's only an issue of cost.

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    ISPs have been throwing routers for free in the general direction of every potential customer for the last 5 years, there is really no reason to connect your XP box to the internet directly. Yes, you can. You can install every piece of software you find. You can run a virus scanner. You can run a software firewall. And you can connect your PC directly to the internet so anyone can connect to it and exploit it. You can also throw it out the window into that mariana trench conveniently located right outside the window. You can. But that doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. I wouldn't blame Windows if someone stole my physical harddisk and I won't blame an unpatched Windows to get exploited if connect to the big bad world without protection. If there is an operating system that would survive in the open unpatched, it's because no one cares enough to exploit it.
    That shouldn't matter anymore, assuming XP firewall is good enough to block incoming connections to SMB ports (or all ports if the user is not running any services). It doesn't take a good firewall to do that.

    it's because no one cares enough to exploit it.
    A common excuse for Windows insecurity (at least of the pre-UAC versions).

    The common refutation -
    People DO care enough to exploit BSD/UNIX/Linux. They may be run on fewer computers, but (almost) all mission critical computers/servers run them. Would you rather get access to 10 Windows computers or 1 bank server? Yet they are secure OSes, relatively.

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    the hat of redundancy hat nvoigt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    A common excuse for Windows insecurity (at least of the pre-UAC versions).

    The common refutation -
    People DO care enough to exploit BSD/UNIX/Linux. They may be run on fewer computers, but (almost) all mission critical computers/servers run them. Would you rather get access to 10 Windows computers or 1 bank server? Yet they are secure OSes, relatively.
    I didn't say that nobody cared about those systems. But I'm convinced that a *nix box that hasn't been patched for 4 years will be exploited just as easily by somebody interested in *nix boxes as a 4 year old unpatched Windows by someone interested in a Windows box. Maybe Windows had X vulnerabilities and *nix had Y where X > Y. Who cares? One is enough. I for one would prefer 10 Windows boxes btw: the risk to get caught is minimal. A bank server running some *nix will probably have security auditing, logs, a staff of professionals and in case of detection a load of police officers trying to get me. Who will want to get me if I fry another Windows box? Will the user even notice it was a virus/worm/trojan or just say "Windows sucks" and reinstall? Comparing risk to reward, I'd take 10 Windows boxes. But I'm kinda conservative
    hth
    -nv

    She was so Blonde, she spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said "Concentrate."

    When in doubt, read the FAQ.
    Then ask a smart question.

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    Haha, yeah that is true for security in general (unpatched = bad, since vulnerabilities are being discovered everyday), but it's only tricky if you are trying to offer some service (web server for example) while keeping yourself secure. If you (like most Windows users) are not offering any services, just have the firewall drop all incoming connections. That's almost as effective as pulling the network cable, and as effective as installing a NAT without port forwarding, as far as outside-initiated attacks are concerned.

  11. #11
    Banned ಠ_ಠ's Avatar
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    Is anyone else confused that this isn't the 7th version of windows?
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    Registered User Sharke's Avatar
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    Am I the only one who's never had a virus infection in all my years of computing? I wouldn't even know where to get one if I wanted one. All I have is Avast running on my laptop and its never detected anything yet.

    The only issue with Windows 7 I've had so far is that when it first installed, Aero wasn't activated and windows would leave trails when I moved them around. I was only able to activate Aero after I ran the performance test and showed it that I had sufficient power. Now everything is funky and smooth. I really like the wallpaper shuffle feature, that's a nice touch, but I wonder why still no support for dualview - separate wallpapers and screensavers etc. Seems like more and more people are using 2 screens now.

  13. #13
    Banned ಠ_ಠ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharke View Post
    Seems like more and more people are using 2 screens now.
    more like 4 (and a TV)
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  14. #14
    Registered User Sharke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ?_? View Post
    Is anyone else confused that this isn't the 7th version of windows?
    95, 98, 2000, NT, XP, Vista...........and so forth?

    Presuming they're counting from 95 (which of course was the first 'hit' version of windows - its release was a primetime news story, anyway..)

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    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    I think NTFS does have some kind of symlink support, just that Windows doesn't allow users to use it, since the Linux NTFS driver (NTFS-3G) supports symlinks. Maybe they emulate it somehow, though.
    NTFS does support symlinks and has for quite some time. It supports soft links and hard links for both folders and files since Vista.
    Soft links for files wasn't support in XP, though, IIRC, but it did support the rest.
    Although Windows exposes no GUI to create symlinks.
    This must be done via their command-line tool or a 3rd party application/extension (I tend to use an Explorer extension).

    Quote Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ View Post
    Is anyone else confused that this isn't the 7th version of windows?
    No, because this is Windows 7.0. This refers to the version string, but the number of released Windows products.
    Windows 2000 was 5.0, I believe, and XP 5.1 or something such.
    Vista is version 6.0 and Windows 7 version 7.0 (although it uses 6.1 internally for backwards compatibility, I believe).

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharke View Post
    Am I the only one who's never had a virus infection in all my years of computing? I wouldn't even know where to get one if I wanted one. All I have is Avast running on my laptop and its never detected anything yet.
    Nope. You are not alone.
    I haven't even installed an AV product in these last years and haven't gotten any infections.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

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