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Forums - PC Discussion - Windows 7 RC, my impressions so far

Timmah! on 17 July 2009
FJ-Warez said:
ZenfoldorVGI said:
FJ-Warez said:
Timmah! said:
 

My XP machine HAS been running for 7 years (24/7/365 without issue), I've never had a virus, it runs better than when I bought it and it's NEVER been reinstalled. Period. That's because I know how to keep it running that way.

How did you do that?

In this day and age, I have no idea how people still get virus'

I mean, I'm about as hardcore a porn downloader as you can get, and I'd be shocked if I ever got a virus.

Use noscript, and use common sense, and you are immune from any security issue. Nitpick solved.

My question was more about the performance rather than virus :P

So far we know that the speed (read and write) of the HDDs degrades with the time, Xp loves to put a lot of crap in the registry, and a lot of temp files...

We use CCleaner and TuneUp Utilities, but still, the PCs gets slow with a couple of months of heavy use (We are a bunch of devs, so no viruzes, downloaders, torrents or crap like that, just IDE tools), so yeah, I'm sorry but I can't believe this part "it runs better than when I bought it and it's NEVER been reinstalled", I would like to but I used the same tools and I am not a newbie with this...

I'm not a dev, so I'm not installing tons of software over and over. It runs Office, Firefox, and just a few other things. Used multiple times a day, but not for something as intensive as development. Defragged automatically every week. I keep at least 50%+ free hard disk space. Runs faster than when I bought it b/c I removed all the HP bloatware that came with it.

EDIT: I guess I should correct myself, this 7 year old computer WAS running XP until last month when I installed Windows 7 RC on it. It ran XP for 7 years without a reinstall and was fast until the day I upgraded to 7. I'm so used to talking about how long it's run XP without issue, that I forgot I had installed 7 on it! Anyway, that doesn't change the fact that it ran so well for so long!



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Mise on 17 July 2009
ZenfoldorVGI said:

I disagree with this. Due to Games for Windows, and Microsoft's virtual monopoly on computer gaming and dedication to evolving and innovative features, Windows will always be necessary for gaming, and has always had the coolest features. Once again, if you aren't a gamer, then why do you care about performance, and if you are a gamer, then you much upgrade to Win7 for Dx11 and the performance increase. The cool new features are just icing on the cake.

 

 

 

There are other performance-intensive tasks you can do with a computer besides gaming - professional-level production of graphics, for instance. And OpenGL does that just fine, among other things.

And personally, I don't give a flying bum about features I'll never use, I just want a OS that works and runs my crap properly. And the only Windows version so far that has managed to do that succesfully is XP.

As I've said earlier, I'll give 7 a proper shot once I can, but if the BC fails I'm downgrading back to XP or switching to Linux - because besides BOB or ME, nothing I've tested sucks more than Vista.

Not only is Windows great, it is necessary for the high-end gamer, and particularly, vista or 7 are necessary, due to DX.

It has much more to do with Microsoft's virtual OS monopoly than DX, methinks.



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Squilliam on 21 July 2009
Timmah! said:

Please explain to me how XP is better than 7, seriously, when I go from 7 back to XP, I feel like I did going from XP back to Windows 95. It feels like a HUGE technological step backwards for me now.

Compared to XP, 7 has:

  1. Faster program launch
  2. Better utilization of multi-core processors
  3. Much superior built in multimedia functions
  4. Better DirectX performance
  5. MUCH more intuitive and faster search function built in, capable of federated searches of external web based services
  6. More intuitive navigation due to the application based (instead of window based) taskbar
  7. Easier multitasking by way of taskbar organization, Aero Peek, and multitouch capabilities (the first OS to have this)
  8. Better memory usage than Vista, comprable memory usage to XP
  9. Better out-of-the-box driver support than XP
  10. Simpler hardware & printer installation
  11. Simpler, more intuitive network setup
  12. Better, more customizeable organization of data via Libraries (virtual folders that can aggregate external sources)
  13. Better stability than XP or Vista
  14. Better security than XP, without UAC being as intrusive as on Vista

Just a quick list.

15. The ability to encode video on the fly as its being transfered from a camera?

(That was one cool feature I heard about)



Tease.

Xoj on 21 July 2009
Squilliam said:
Timmah! said:

Please explain to me how XP is better than 7, seriously, when I go from 7 back to XP, I feel like I did going from XP back to Windows 95. It feels like a HUGE technological step backwards for me now.

Compared to XP, 7 has:

  1. Faster program launch
  2. Better utilization of multi-core processors
  3. Much superior built in multimedia functions
  4. Better DirectX performance
  5. MUCH more intuitive and faster search function built in, capable of federated searches of external web based services
  6. More intuitive navigation due to the application based (instead of window based) taskbar
  7. Easier multitasking by way of taskbar organization, Aero Peek, and multitouch capabilities (the first OS to have this)
  8. Better memory usage than Vista, comprable memory usage to XP
  9. Better out-of-the-box driver support than XP
  10. Simpler hardware & printer installation
  11. Simpler, more intuitive network setup
  12. Better, more customizeable organization of data via Libraries (virtual folders that can aggregate external sources)
  13. Better stability than XP or Vista
  14. Better security than XP, without UAC being as intrusive as on Vista

Just a quick list.

15. The ability to encode video on the fly as its being transfered from a camera?

(That was one cool feature I heard about)

yet... it's slower by 20% slow on directx and 80% on opengl games.

oh if you don't play games, there is competition, kde 4.3 it's beautiful, and ubuntu is fast and got everything u just mentioned.

also the ability  to run multiple desktop and even be managed by animations.

sadly openoffice it's progressing slow, and it really needs it own version of photoshop.

i can't wait for google OS! finally linux will get support...i won't have to pay the apple tax on my next  notebook purchase.

 



Squilliam on 21 July 2009
Xoj said:

yet... it's slower by 20% slow on directx and 80% on opengl games.

oh if you don't play games, there is competition, kde 4.3 it's beautiful, and ubuntu is fast and got everything u just mentioned.

also the ability  to run multiple desktop and even be managed by animations.

sadly openoffice it's progressing slow, and it really needs it own version of photoshop.

i can't wait for google OS! finally linux will get support...i won't have to pay the apple tax on my next  notebook purchase.

 

You were saying something?

So when was the last big game released using Open GL? Have you considered how drivers may not be mature as you know they're using the release candidate version and all.



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shams on 21 July 2009

Sticking with XP here, Windows 7 IMO isn't even close to what Apple has today. Not that I care - XP is just fine anyway.

PS - our Windows dev games are all OGL. Makes porting to the Mac/iPhone/Wii (etc) very easy.



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NJ5 on 21 July 2009

To this day I still don't understand what people's problem with Vista is (other than UAC). It works really well for me on all my PCs, faster than XP and more stable...



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

Cueil on 21 July 2009
Tallgeese101 said:
Some of the speed increases you mention might just be due to a fresh OS install.
I skipped Vista and have to say the overall experience improvement from XP is decent and everything still works fine.

Im not seeing a reason to fork out £100 (£50 for upgrade) per computer.


I upgraded my Vista... of 3 years worth os BS on it and it runs like a new Machine... it has nothing to do with it being a clean install... this is really Microsoft's best OS ever



 
Get your Portable ID!

Squall_Leonhart on 21 July 2009

I may have to upgrade to this also as Vista is just the worst OS i have ever had the displeasure to have to use day-to-day!

It takes forever to load up, constantly crashes/clashes with programs i am using (i.e. Safari, since IE is just not an option) and is a backward step to XP in many respects in terms of user-friendlyness lol.

Thing is, i think having to pay £140 for a disk is insane... but Vista is that bad it might need to be done!



Squilliam on 21 July 2009

Vista = Windows 6
Window 7 = Windows 6.1

Thats what they call the Kernel.



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