Windows 7, what apps work, don't work for you?
- Thread starter scorp508
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I'm glad I picked the 32-bit install. It seems most of the problems are with the x64. Everything I've thrown at Windows 7 32-bit has run just fine.
The only problem I had was having to force Windows to update the video driver - the installation installed a generic VGA driver - going into Display properties and selecting "update driver" fixed the problem. Odd.
So far the experience has been *much* better than my experience with the first release version of Vista.
The only problem I had was having to force Windows to update the video driver - the installation installed a generic VGA driver - going into Display properties and selecting "update driver" fixed the problem. Odd.
So far the experience has been *much* better than my experience with the first release version of Vista.
So far so good for me once the frustratingly slow updates happened. I have noticed my XPS M1330 runs much warmer than it did on Vista. I'm not sure if that's 7 being more stressful to the machine, or the lack of Dell Quickset power manager.
I've noticed the opposite. Things seem more responsive.
The lack of power management may explain why the XPS is so hot.
I noticed Live Mesh kills aero glass. Apparently it is a known issue.
Works:
7z x64
DVDFab
DVD Shrink
DVD Decrypter
Img Burn
DVD Flick
Firefox + 28 add ons
Portal on EVGA 9800 gt 180.48 Vista x64 driver
VLC
CPU Stability Test
Video Card Stability Test
AMD Dual Core Optimizer - Reinstalled with recommended settings
Not working: GPUz - complete freeze at install.
Working but with serious problems:
Creative Labs E-MU 1212m - Vista x64 drivers installed fine. The card works but randomly starts and stops distorting the sound quite badly. I might be able to fix it myself, but Creative(per usual) needs to get on the ball with their drivers. I haven't installed Cubase or Reason yet because of this issue.
Quick notes on Win7:
23 minutes to install
1 minute or less power cycle
Programs install quicker and load quicker.
Icons, thumbnails, and menus appear faster.
New Taskbar is a much needed improvement.
Windows Explorer and everything else for that matter is better laid out.
I think MS has got a winner here if they keep on track.
7z x64
DVDFab
DVD Shrink
DVD Decrypter
Img Burn
DVD Flick
Firefox + 28 add ons
Portal on EVGA 9800 gt 180.48 Vista x64 driver
VLC
CPU Stability Test
Video Card Stability Test
AMD Dual Core Optimizer - Reinstalled with recommended settings
Not working: GPUz - complete freeze at install.
Working but with serious problems:
Creative Labs E-MU 1212m - Vista x64 drivers installed fine. The card works but randomly starts and stops distorting the sound quite badly. I might be able to fix it myself, but Creative(per usual) needs to get on the ball with their drivers. I haven't installed Cubase or Reason yet because of this issue.
Quick notes on Win7:
23 minutes to install
1 minute or less power cycle
Programs install quicker and load quicker.
Icons, thumbnails, and menus appear faster.
New Taskbar is a much needed improvement.
Windows Explorer and everything else for that matter is better laid out.
I think MS has got a winner here if they keep on track.
Well, I'd guess it's sending back a ton of usage and error data. But apparently little user commentary.
Can anyone here report success with the 'send feedback' links?
Can anyone here report success with the 'send feedback' links?
A couple quirks with the new taskbar I need to get used to. You can't right-click close programs as quickly anymore. Most of the time you were able to right-click, move a couple pixels up and hit close. You have to move the mouse a lot more now to find close.
And for IE... I hate losing the quicklaunch icon. Now you have to right-click it running on the taskbar and go 3 jumplist items up to spawn a new IE. I use tabs all day long, but sometimes you just want a new window so you can view two pages at once.
And for IE... I hate losing the quicklaunch icon. Now you have to right-click it running on the taskbar and go 3 jumplist items up to spawn a new IE. I use tabs all day long, but sometimes you just want a new window so you can view two pages at once.
I agree with the close sentiment.
As for spawning new instances, either hold Shift or use the middle mouse button (like opening in a new tab in web browsers).
Yeah, it just won't work for me either.
Ah yes the most forgotten button on my mouse, thanks! Both methods seem to spawn a new window though (cool!). Neither did a quick close.
I also noticed that when you RDP into Win7 the gestures to do the window left/right split screen don't work for me. Dragging the window to the top did the maximize gesture, but the left and right splits didn't. They all work when logged in from the console. Hmm... I didn't try the console switch through RDP, wonder if that would make it work.
I guess I can see training users how to open more than one instance of a program to be difficult? For instance clicking IE icon shows the tabs that are open, but what if a user wants a new instance completely? Middle click/right click?
The icons for running programs are very close to what isn't running but pinned, especially when the taskbar is pinned on the left or right as opposed to the bottom or top.
Seems less "intuitive" to me. Just trying to picture my average user coming across default skin.
Strangely IE8 is still very slow compared to Firefox 3.1 in rendering pretty much everything.
Also my machine didn't come out of sleep this a.m. Are we going to have the same sleep/hibernate issues that every Windows OS seems to have before a few service packs?
The icons for running programs are very close to what isn't running but pinned, especially when the taskbar is pinned on the left or right as opposed to the bottom or top.
Seems less "intuitive" to me. Just trying to picture my average user coming across default skin.
Strangely IE8 is still very slow compared to Firefox 3.1 in rendering pretty much everything.
Also my machine didn't come out of sleep this a.m. Are we going to have the same sleep/hibernate issues that every Windows OS seems to have before a few service packs?
It's probably a driver issue. My Sleep and Hibernate works perfectly for instance.
As for the taskbar, try using it with text labels.
As for the taskbar, try using it with text labels.
I keep going between "Combine Always, Hide Lables" and "Combine when Taskbar is Full" and I think I may stick with the combine when full. I also have "use small icons" turned on to get some real estate back.
Verified with the Windows 7 x64 beta from TechNet (which is no doubt the same as every other x64 beta):
MS Activation of the OS worked
Firefox 3.whatever the current 32-bit version is
Adobe Reader 9 (no issues with install in my particular case)
DirectX 9 install from MS with all of the updates
Warhammer Online
Catalyst Control 8.12 beta for Windows 7
IE 8 works ok for the little amount I use it
ImgBurn
DVDDecrypter
What hasn't worked so far:
Lightscribe services (required for the Lightscribe software to work)
I didn't have any issues installing Win 7 on the hard disk that had my old XP install on (I have two drives - one for Vista x64, and now Win 7 x64), and it detected sound, network, etc. for my Gigabyte AMD690-based board. I had to download Catalyst for my 4830, and DirectX 9, but that was the same with Vista Ultimate x64. Media Center didn't have any issues playing 'League of Gentlemen season 3' DVD last night, and I spend most of the earlier part of the day playing WAR. I'll set up Illustrator CS4 on it when I get home tonight, and a few other games (fallout 3, assassin's creed, etc.) and see how DX10 works on it.
For the video drivers, has anyone tried using Vista drivers? I'm using the beta catalyst 8.12 for windows 7, but i'm curious as to whether vista drivers would work. I have so far been unsuccessful in convincing the g/f to give up her XP partition for a Windows 7 test, so I can't use her as the guinea pig in the pursuit of this question.
MS Activation of the OS worked
Firefox 3.whatever the current 32-bit version is
Adobe Reader 9 (no issues with install in my particular case)
DirectX 9 install from MS with all of the updates
Warhammer Online
Catalyst Control 8.12 beta for Windows 7
IE 8 works ok for the little amount I use it
ImgBurn
DVDDecrypter
What hasn't worked so far:
Lightscribe services (required for the Lightscribe software to work)
I didn't have any issues installing Win 7 on the hard disk that had my old XP install on (I have two drives - one for Vista x64, and now Win 7 x64), and it detected sound, network, etc. for my Gigabyte AMD690-based board. I had to download Catalyst for my 4830, and DirectX 9, but that was the same with Vista Ultimate x64. Media Center didn't have any issues playing 'League of Gentlemen season 3' DVD last night, and I spend most of the earlier part of the day playing WAR. I'll set up Illustrator CS4 on it when I get home tonight, and a few other games (fallout 3, assassin's creed, etc.) and see how DX10 works on it.
For the video drivers, has anyone tried using Vista drivers? I'm using the beta catalyst 8.12 for windows 7, but i'm curious as to whether vista drivers would work. I have so far been unsuccessful in convincing the g/f to give up her XP partition for a Windows 7 test, so I can't use her as the guinea pig in the pursuit of this question.
To everyone who has complains or suggestions about usability: use the send feedback feature. I'm told Microsoft DOES actually read feedback.
on my MBP (3 generations old) I have cold restart the machine whenever it sleeps. That's about the only thing that didn't work. The Apple provided NVidia drivers have to be uninstalled, then windows update has to be re-run. The rest of the drivers from Apple seem to work fine. Played UT04 and UT3 on it so far.
I had an issue where the PC went into sleep mode and the only way I was able to get it to come back was to unplug the thing and plug it back in. For now I disabled the sleep after so many minutes option. Was going to file a bug report when I get a chance.
I don't know if anyone said this, but Daemon Tools Lite doesn't install properly.
I haven't had any trouble sending feedback. As long as you have an activated key, it should work.
I haven't had any trouble sending feedback. As long as you have an activated key, it should work.
MagicDisc -- 
--
Installing Office 2007 was a PITA, having to mount the ISO from my 2003 server and sharing the virtual CD drive. Bah.
-- Installing Office 2007 was a PITA, having to mount the ISO from my 2003 server and sharing the virtual CD drive. Bah.
I have many activated keys. I wonder what happens if I switch from MSDN to public beta. Answer: nothing.
My TechNet keys don't seem to matter, they're activated and I still can't send feedback.
I can't find the taskbar controls for media player? I hope they're not gone. -- -- -- -- I hate having to open it up to change back/forward/volume/mute.
-- -- -- I hate having to open it up to change back/forward/volume/mute.Hmm. I had signed up for Connect under a different beta sometime back. I wonder if that's the issue?
Already have Connect ID = canNOT use feedback tools from within W7.
Didn't previously have Connect ID = can use feedback tools from within W7.
It's just another theory. I'd love to find the root of this.
Already have Connect ID = canNOT use feedback tools from within W7.
Didn't previously have Connect ID = can use feedback tools from within W7.
It's just another theory. I'd love to find the root of this.
WTF? I've had good luck with the W7 beta so far today. Successfully installed on an old Tablet PC with minimal issues, and just finished building a 64-bit virtual install using VMWare Fusion (Mac host, W7 64-bit client.)
However, the VM had a REALLY wierd network issue, using the NAT network setting in VMWare. I made sure to create my user account with the same username and password as the account on my Windows Home Server, and my old domain controller. From the W7 VM, I could browse by name to my Windows domain controller, and access shared folders without any trouble. I could only reach the Windows Home Server by browsing by IP, and received an access denied error trying to view folder contents. Checked firewall settings, unchecked the "Append DNS suffix" box in TCP/IP settings, turned off the HomeGroup, turned on the HomeGroup, tried setting Advanced Sharing Settings to pass the username and password instead of letting HomeGroup manage them. Still no dice. As a last resort, I joined the W7 virtual computer to my domain. Rebooted, logged on with the domain account (same username and password as the local account) and now I can browse by name and access all folders on the Windows Home Server. The Windows Home Server, btw, is NOT a domain member, and only gets an IP from the domain controller, no credentials or policies or anything else.
The only thing I can think of, besides something funky buried in the network settings, is that I renamed my user account. I rebooted a few times, without resolving the issue, but did not try creating a whole new user account with the proper name from the start.
I don't know, weird network issue. But I thought I'd mention it in case someone else has a similar problem.
However, the VM had a REALLY wierd network issue, using the NAT network setting in VMWare. I made sure to create my user account with the same username and password as the account on my Windows Home Server, and my old domain controller. From the W7 VM, I could browse by name to my Windows domain controller, and access shared folders without any trouble. I could only reach the Windows Home Server by browsing by IP, and received an access denied error trying to view folder contents. Checked firewall settings, unchecked the "Append DNS suffix" box in TCP/IP settings, turned off the HomeGroup, turned on the HomeGroup, tried setting Advanced Sharing Settings to pass the username and password instead of letting HomeGroup manage them. Still no dice. As a last resort, I joined the W7 virtual computer to my domain. Rebooted, logged on with the domain account (same username and password as the local account) and now I can browse by name and access all folders on the Windows Home Server. The Windows Home Server, btw, is NOT a domain member, and only gets an IP from the domain controller, no credentials or policies or anything else.
The only thing I can think of, besides something funky buried in the network settings, is that I renamed my user account. I rebooted a few times, without resolving the issue, but did not try creating a whole new user account with the proper name from the start.
I don't know, weird network issue. But I thought I'd mention it in case someone else has a similar problem.
Originally posted by scorp508:
I can't find the taskbar controls for media player? I hope they're not gone. --
Right click on the WMP icon.
I'm one of the non-vocal majority who had almost no problems with Vista (64-bit) and am mostly enjoying Win7.
The few issues I've encountered:
As a few others have mentioned I can't send feedback directly to MS.
Win7 seems to kill the Nvidia NICs on my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6). LEDs light solid yellow and require a full (yank the chord) power re-cycle to bring them back. Luckily the two Marvel-based NICs still work.
My hard drive WEI score seems low at only 3 (my other scores are all above 7). Win7 is installed on a RAID0 array of Seagate drives. Their score in Vista is around 5. I haven't got the Nvidia RAID drivers installed because when I tried I got several BSODs which maybe related to the issue above.
Outlook 2007 and Exchange requires your login credentials in the format: Domain\user + password not email address + password. This can be a problem if you use exchange's auto-configuration feature which defaults to email address. - seems to only happen if you are not connected locally to the domain, see below.
CompanionLink for Google doesn't work, says cannot connect please check username and password and that you are online. Possibly related to changes in .NET, I've sent a bug report to the developers.
Everything else seems to be working as well as under Vista if not better. I didn't have any problems syncing my iPhone despite the warning in the release notes which I only just heard about.
My only major gripe so far is that the new Grouping>Preview>Peek system to switch between grouped windows has significantly increased my mouse travel.
The new system works well if you have a few instances of a window open, but once you start getting past 5 or so (i.e. Explorer open to several folders) then switching between them becomes a chore.
Because the previews of grouped programs expand horizontally instead of vertically as before, I now have to move the pointer over much greater distances. Numerically it works out at around 1500 pixels (the distance from the pinned Explorer icon to the right side of my desktop (24" monitor set at 1920x1200) as opposed to just a few hundred (the height of the Taskbar x the number of instances).
This is made worse by the fact that the most important (most switched to) window is by definition the one opened first, and so ends up sorted furthest to the right.
I think this is bad from a human interface standpoint as (for me at least) moving the mouse vertically - which can be done with just the fingers, is much easier than horizontal movement - which requires me to turn my wrist or elbow.
Also, to date, most Windows interface metaphors have expanded vertically first and then horizontally, cf. the start menu, file menu, drop-down lists etc., why the change?
Hopefully MS will add the option to expand previews vertically or into an X-by-Y grid similar to OS X's Stacks, although I can imagine this will cause an issue with previews overlapping windows.
The few issues I've encountered:
As a few others have mentioned I can't send feedback directly to MS.
Win7 seems to kill the Nvidia NICs on my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6). LEDs light solid yellow and require a full (yank the chord) power re-cycle to bring them back. Luckily the two Marvel-based NICs still work.
My hard drive WEI score seems low at only 3 (my other scores are all above 7). Win7 is installed on a RAID0 array of Seagate drives. Their score in Vista is around 5. I haven't got the Nvidia RAID drivers installed because when I tried I got several BSODs which maybe related to the issue above.
Outlook 2007 and Exchange requires your login credentials in the format: Domain\user + password not email address + password. This can be a problem if you use exchange's auto-configuration feature which defaults to email address. - seems to only happen if you are not connected locally to the domain, see below.
Everything else seems to be working as well as under Vista if not better. I didn't have any problems syncing my iPhone despite the warning in the release notes which I only just heard about.
My only major gripe so far is that the new Grouping>Preview>Peek system to switch between grouped windows has significantly increased my mouse travel.
The new system works well if you have a few instances of a window open, but once you start getting past 5 or so (i.e. Explorer open to several folders) then switching between them becomes a chore.
Because the previews of grouped programs expand horizontally instead of vertically as before, I now have to move the pointer over much greater distances. Numerically it works out at around 1500 pixels (the distance from the pinned Explorer icon to the right side of my desktop (24" monitor set at 1920x1200) as opposed to just a few hundred (the height of the Taskbar x the number of instances).
This is made worse by the fact that the most important (most switched to) window is by definition the one opened first, and so ends up sorted furthest to the right.
I think this is bad from a human interface standpoint as (for me at least) moving the mouse vertically - which can be done with just the fingers, is much easier than horizontal movement - which requires me to turn my wrist or elbow.
Also, to date, most Windows interface metaphors have expanded vertically first and then horizontally, cf. the start menu, file menu, drop-down lists etc., why the change?
Hopefully MS will add the option to expand previews vertically or into an X-by-Y grid similar to OS X's Stacks, although I can imagine this will cause an issue with previews overlapping windows.
another update
64bit version of infrarecorder works fine, I was able to burn a DVD image without any issues.
Looks like the Adobe CS4 works, the installer bitches about the OS being incompatible. If you just click install it will go. I haven't done much banging away at it, I just fired up Illustrator and it started up fine.
I was able to get Aptana Studio installed fine as well.
Thunderbird works with no issues
64bit version of infrarecorder works fine, I was able to burn a DVD image without any issues.
Looks like the Adobe CS4 works, the installer bitches about the OS being incompatible. If you just click install it will go. I haven't done much banging away at it, I just fired up Illustrator and it started up fine.
I was able to get Aptana Studio installed fine as well.
Thunderbird works with no issues
Pretty sure I tried that, I'll try again when I'm at work with my W7 box. This is what I'm looking for though and I don't remember seeing this on a right-click.
It is always there when WMP is open and minimized, it requires no clicking to get to it.
So far my biggest problem is no sound. Well...I haven't yet tried my analog connections. I was doing SPDIF passthrough and I can't seem to make any of that work at all, which really sucks and unfortunately would probably be a deal breaker for me, as I'm liking what I see so far otherwise.
Oh, and it's not really a bug, but I find it a little inconvenient that I can't change the text size from a remote connection. Then again I don't know that Vista wasn't the same way either.
Oh, and it's not really a bug, but I find it a little inconvenient that I can't change the text size from a remote connection. Then again I don't know that Vista wasn't the same way either.
http://meincmagazine.com/article...windows-7-beta.ars/2Originally posted by scorp508:
Pretty sure I tried that, I'll try again when I'm at work with my W7 box. This is what I'm looking for though and I don't remember seeing this on a right-click.
It is always there when WMP is open and minimized, it requires no clicking to get to it.
Did a clean install on a Latitude E6400 and was pleasantly surprised on how well it went. Setup recognized my bluetooth mouse and the wireless connection, downloaded updates during the install and setup all devices except the smartcard reader and fingerprint reader. Quickest and most painless install I've ever had.
VLC and Office 2007 run fine.
Daemon Tools won't install.
Cannot get the scroll wheel on the bluetooth mouse to work regardless of what drivers I use.
Built-in DVD burning app works well, at least for burning iso/img files.
Pinnacle USB HDTV tuner works fine.
Overall, I'm happy with it and will continue to use it despite some quirks. Windows 7 is to Vista what Win98SE was to Win98. When released this might be deployable without having to wait for SP1.
Edit: No problems being on the domain either, all startup scripts and group policies appear to be working fine.
VLC and Office 2007 run fine.
Daemon Tools won't install.
Cannot get the scroll wheel on the bluetooth mouse to work regardless of what drivers I use.
Built-in DVD burning app works well, at least for burning iso/img files.
Pinnacle USB HDTV tuner works fine.
Overall, I'm happy with it and will continue to use it despite some quirks. Windows 7 is to Vista what Win98SE was to Win98. When released this might be deployable without having to wait for SP1.
Edit: No problems being on the domain either, all startup scripts and group policies appear to be working fine.
Originally posted by PeterB:
http://meincmagazine.com/article...windows-7-beta.ars/2Originally posted by scorp508:
Pretty sure I tried that, I'll try again when I'm at work with my W7 box. This is what I'm looking for though and I don't remember seeing this on a right-click.
It is always there when WMP is open and minimized, it requires no clicking to get to it.
Yeah that is pretty crummy.
Hovering over the icon you get this.
Right-click gets you this jumplist.
Left-click gets you the now playing window w/o controls.
Hovering over it gets you the controls. I did notice that if no other window is currently open on the desktop the controls do show up by default. If you have any other app open, the controls don't show up by default and you have to hover over it.
So in order to get the the same control level as vista you have to left-click, then hover & wait for the controls to pop up. You can disable the autohide if you want to remove the waiting part.
Sorry, but that sucks compared to Vista. The only thing they've added by taking away the quicker playlist and volume control is showing the CD cover art which (to me) is useless.
Going back to Vista. I had all sorts of issues with the taskbar and menu system.
1. Start menu stopped working. You could click start but not enter search terms or browse to programs.
2. After choosing "never combine" for taskbar buttons the taskbar became corrupt. I could not open some open items that were minimized.
Will try again on the RC, and yeah I left feedback, I just don't have much time to test this stuff out and that seemed like a showstopper for me. I really hope they tweak the taskbar system, I didn't like it much at all.
1. Start menu stopped working. You could click start but not enter search terms or browse to programs.
2. After choosing "never combine" for taskbar buttons the taskbar became corrupt. I could not open some open items that were minimized.
Will try again on the RC, and yeah I left feedback, I just don't have much time to test this stuff out and that seemed like a showstopper for me. I really hope they tweak the taskbar system, I didn't like it much at all.
Actually, the stored email address + password credentials work fine on my test machine with Exchange 2003, Outlook 2007, and W7. As long as I am connected locally to my domain, or have the Exchange over HTTP settings configured properly. Without Exchange over HTTP, Outlook prompts for a username when not connected directly to the local domain.
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