Windows 7 and the Press

I was replacing Windows 7 beta with Windows 7 Release Candidate on my laptop a few months ago... And I was joking with colleagues about the future success of this new version. Having used Vista for two years
Windows 7 didn't strike me as an earth-shattering evolution. Yet we predicted that people would rush on Windows 7 like bees on cupcakes for two main reasons:

• the press was very positive about Windows 7 after it slaughtered Vista
  
• the Release Candidate was as good as the final thing and free to use until March 2010. In other words people could use a fully working OS for free for 10 months.
  

I don't think Vista deserved the bad press it received. I used it for two years: RC1 and RC2 on an old PC then the RTM 32-bit and eventually 64-bit on my main machine.
Driver issues? A bit at the beginning but nothing that couldn't be overcome.
Speed issues? Desktop: nothing that I could notice on a 4GB dual-processor Dell with raid-striped 15000rpm SAS drives. Laptop: browsing the web was fine, Visual studio was slow. After I moved to Windows 7 browsing the web was still fine and Visual Studio still slow.

When I removed Vista 32-bit from my Vaio and installed Windows 7 RC, it indeed felt a bit snappier. But again, ANY version of Windows feels snappier after a fresh install.

Whether you run XP, Vista or Windows 7 the OS you're running on a machine does not matter as much as the following factors:
- how fresh the install is: re-install your OS often, with a bit of organisation it can be quick.
- the amount of RAM: install more than you think you'll need.
- the hard drive speed: one 15000rpm drive is good, two are better.


I might oversimplify a bit, still I think there are mostly two reasons why you want to upgrade to a new OS:

• the untold one: it looks better than the previous version.
• the one you tell people to look clever: the OS is faster, contains bug fixes and new useful features.
  

Thanks to unbalanced press opinions Windows 7 at last gives people an excuse to cave in to the first reason while being covered by the second.

Installing Windows Vista 64

• 13:30 Started install, booted from DVD.
• 14:26 OS Installed ok. Had a crash during install after creation of the admin user but carried on with install. My NVIDIA Quadro FX3500 is recognised immediately and works in 2500x1600. Did not have to install the NVIDIA driver yet, using the driver provided by Microsoft. Now running Windows update.
• 15:32 Windows updated completed. Rebooting OS.
• 16:00 Ran Windows update again. Service Pack 1 does not appear in Windows Update yet. Installed Kaspersky 7.0.1.325.
• 16:40 Installed Office Ultimate and ran Windows update. Office Service Pack 1 appears in the list of updates. Started installing it.
• 17:26. Office Service Pack 1 installed ok.
• 18:15. Finished configuring Outlook email. I have a Hauppage WinTV-HVR. Does it support Vista 64? Apparently yes according to this page: http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/whatsnew/vista.html
• 18:45 Downloaded the software and Vista 64 drivers for WinTV-HVR 1100 from the Hauppage support website. Driver install failed: it could not find the hardware. Interestingly, Windows Media Center can use the card: though downloading TV guide failed, scanning of freeview channels worked perfectly.
• 19:00 Understood why downloading the TV guides with Windows Media Center failed: Kaspersky antivirus was being to keen. Disabled it and it worked fine.
• Installed the logitech drivers of my S510 keyboard to be able to control Media Center from the Logitech remote. It works brilliantly.

Summary: I installed the 64 bit version of Windows Vista today and everything seems to be working fine. My Nvidia card hasn't crashed yet. So far the only driver that caused me grief was the Hauppage card when using it with WinTV software. The WinTV software is a big pile of poo anyway, who wants to use that when you have something like Windows Media Center? I might discover more hardware problems this week.

Getting serious with Vista

I'm installing Vista on my main machine this week-end. Will my striped-RAID 15000rpm SAS drives, 30'' DELL monitor and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 like Vista?

The answer is yes. I installed Vista with no problem and switched the resolution to 2560*1600 even before running Windows Update. I created a backup using the built-in backup tool and tested the recovery.

Applications I had a problem with:

• Paragon Disk Manager: does not work with Vista.
• Fable, the lost chapters: stops responding (issue with Nvidia driver).
• Skype Recorder: causes Skype to crash every time you start a call.
• Burning CDs from Windows: it takes ages to burn a CD and it the end it doesn't work (I have an LG Dual layer).
• Sony Soundforge Audio Studio 7.0: can't open files via drag and drop any more
• Media Center: takes 10 seconds to switch from/to full screen. The display driver crashes sometimes. Suspect this is due to the beta version of the NVIDIA Vista driver.

No issue with:

• Office 2003
• Sid Meier's Civilization IV
• SoundForge 7.0b
• Skype
• Norton Internet Security 2007: a free update is available for Vista
• Cambridge English Dictionary
• Google Earth

What I like in Vista

What I like in Vista:

• the UI obviously
• the search (however still not as fast as Google Desktop Search)
• the audio: ability to set per-application volume, on/off status for each audio device, easy to switch between various audio drivers
• the snipping tool
• the backup tool. Definitely easier to use than Windows XP's. If the PC is off when a backup is scheduled, the backup takes place as soon as the PC is switched back on.
• the performance monitor and the reliability chart: the chart goes down as the frequency of crashes increases. See my chart below for the last month.

• Check for solutions window: when you download updates, Vista remembers the previous crashes and checks for solutions for each of them.

• Built-in disk partioning.

• Previous versions of a file are automatically saved (where? when? I don't know, but it's a very usefull feature, more clever than a rubbish bin).
• Offline files. Ability to encrypt offline files.

What I don't like:

• the backup: it does not offer you to back-up files from a specific folder. It only allows file types.

Installing a wireless adapter under Vista RC2

I bought a Netgear WG111T USB2.0 adapter to connect to my Netgear DG834PN router. I thought I would have problems with Vista RC2 but I was surprised how easy it was. I followed the install intructions: installed the drivers first then plugged-in the USB adapter. The drivers installed without any problem. To make things easier, I disabled security on the router and enabled broadcasting of the SSID. I tried starting up the 'NETGEAR WG111T Smart Wizard' but that didn't work: the wizard always closes immediately after launch, so I used the software built into Vista instead. Went into Network and Sharing Center > Manage wireless networks, clicked Add. Then I selected Add a network that is in range of this computer. The wizard displayed my wireless connection with a little icon indicating that it was insecure. I selected the connection then gave a try to Internet Explorer: no problem, Internet worked like a charm. Then I enabled WEP security and disabled the SSID broadcast. Went back to Manage wireless entworks, clicked Add. This time, my wireless connection was displayed as secured this time. I selected it and Vista prompted me for a key. Out of the 4 WEP keys it asked only the first one, which I entered, then it connected successfully. Checked that IE still works OK, no problem.