Windows 7: not very good so far

[ShawnD1]

I don't know if MS is trying to piss me off or if it's by accident but they've once again made it extraordinarily difficult to do even the most basic things.

You know what the Quick Launch bar is, right? Well, it's gone. You need to dick around just to bring it back. manually add a hidden folder as a toolbar

Remember how MSN Messenger is supposed to go to the system tray when you close it? In Windows 7 it doesn't do that until you run it in compatibility mode. What's stupid is that third party programs like Steam and Avira don't have this problem. Only Microsoft's own software has compatibility issues.

Network drives are completely broken. If I open up my network drive, half of the folders don't appear. I need to manually type the name of the folder I'm looking for. It doesn't do this with the same folders every time; it just randomly switches it up. Sometimes none of the folders show up, but then I type "Z:\video" in the navigation bar and it takes me there.

Windows 7 can't detect most of my hard drives in AHCI mode. In AHCI, it only sees the SATA drive in slot 1, but it can't see the other 4 SATA drives.

The way it handles GPU processes is completely broken. Running the F@H GPU client in XP or Vista works just fine and is completely transparent; you won't even notice it's running until you try to play a game. In Windows 7, the system grinds to a halt while GPU folding is going on. It takes forever to switch between windows, Media Player Classic will take 100% CPU on a single core, things take forever to minimize, etc. All of these problems immediately stop when folding is paused. It's like Windows 7 just arbitrarily decides that this one background task should get absolutely all GPU time whereas XP and Vista would allow GPU multitasking (folding, Aero, and media player all at the same time).


Hopefully this stuff will get patched soon.

 

[imaheadcase]

WIndows 7 handles messenger fine, its suppose to go down to taskbar and not bottom right like the old way. Most apps will be written to not go to bottom right anymore, its suppose to be for system utilities only.
It handles the GPU fine to, long as you are running 185.x drivers for nvidia cards. I play with F@H and movies all the time. Might be just a Media player classic issue, but no problems with WMP and VLC. Sounds like you have a codac issue.

The network drive issue I don't have also, works fine for me.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: imaheadcase
WIndows 7 handles messenger fine, its suppose to go down to taskbar and not bottom right like the old way. Most apps will be written to not go to bottom right anymore, its suppose to be for system utilities only.

Why the heck would anyone want that? In my system tray I have MSN, Avira, F@H GPU, Steam, Wordweb (a dictionary), Peerguardian, eMule, and uTorrent. That's 8 programs in the system tray and only 1 of them might count as a system tool. I don't even want to think about having 8 programs in the taskbar all the time.

It handles the GPU fine to, long as you are running 185.x drivers for nvidia cards. I play with F@H and movies all the time. Might be just a Media player classic issue, but no problems with WMP and VLC. Sounds like you have a codac issue.

I'm using the 185 drivers, but I'm just about to install the 186 beta drivers. It's not a codec issue because the problem is only there when folding is running. When folding is paused, MPC and VLC only use 1-2% CPU power to run the same video. It shoots up to 100% CPU when folding; I assume it's due to the loss of all GPU acceleration since that's basically the kind of performance Windows XP had when video drivers were not installed.

The network drive issue I don't have also, works fine for me.

Is your network drive on XP, Vista, or Win7? My server is Vista and I'm connecting as a Windows 7 client.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Oh noes teh change!1

 

[nickbits]

They copied the OSX dock bar (more or less) for the win7 task bar. The task bar IS the quick launch bar as you can pin programs to it. I think it works pretty well, although I perfer MSN in the tray.

 

[hans030390]

I have had no such issues. Works great for me.

 

[Psynaut]

Well, there it is. I can no longer say that I have not read a single overwhelmingly bad review in the last 6 months.

 

[SickBeast]

WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP?

I'm not having the GPU issues at all; in fact my GPU performance is spectacular with my 8800GTS.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP?

THis

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

idk what you did to your task bar but mine are just icons.

my task bar

 

[eternalone]

No issues for me works GREAT best windows ever IMO.

 

[coreyb]

love windows 7. no problems here. change is good!

 

[ahenkel]

OP has taskbar buttons set to never combine, or combine when full

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

The problem is you're trying to make Windows 7 behave like old versions of Windows. Embrace the new style taskbar and you'll see how much nicer it is.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

The problem is you're trying to make Windows 7 behave like old versions of Windows. Embrace the new style taskbar and you'll see how much nicer it is.

Seriously. Change can be better sometimes, trust us. That, and the Windows 7 taskbar doesn't look any more messy to me. OCD?

 

[pjkenned]

As a Vista user, Win 7 seems like a minor upgrade. That being said, the UI is pretty nice. Really, if you have enough power/RAM, you can keep tons of applications running and just "launch" from the dock. Vista 64 lets you do this but the preview in 7 and the management of open apps is better than Vista.

I have a Dell Mini 9 that I installed OSX retail on + iLife (yes I'm one of those people who buys the software as Apple did make a solid product). Win 7 RC1 now sits on that machine instead of OSX.

Also, kudos to MSFT as the WHS connector software worked without a hitch on Win 7 RC1. The new, not yet released, OS runs perfectly on software packaged with a stripped down MS Server 2003 platform.

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

idk what you did to your task bar but mine are just icons.

my task bar

Right click on it, tack it on the taskbar. Now when you close the application, the Icon remains. Wala. Quicklaunch.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: pjkenned
As a Vista user, Win 7 seems like a minor upgrade. That being said, the UI is pretty nice. Really, if you have enough power/RAM, you can keep tons of applications running and just "launch" from the dock. Vista 64 lets you do this but the preview in 7 and the management of open apps is better than Vista.

I have a Dell Mini 9 that I installed OSX retail on + iLife (yes I'm one of those people who buys the software as Apple did make a solid product). Win 7 RC1 now sits on that machine instead of OSX.

Also, kudos to MSFT as the WHS connector software worked without a hitch on Win 7 RC1. The new, not yet released, OS runs perfectly on software packaged with a stripped down MS Server 2003 platform.

How did you go about installing OSX on your Dell? If it's easy, I may consider the next version of OSX for $30.

 

[lopri]

I noticed that certain things couldn't be pinned in Quick Launch bar as well. (such as Control Panel items shortcut) I hope that'll be fixed.

But when it comes to AHCI, Windows 7 is a world better than Windows Vista. I get 'Safely Remove Hardware' listing for everything that's plugged into a SATA port, and it works like a charm. One thing I noticed is that it doesn't seem to work with TWO controllers at the same time. If you setup ICHxR or SB7x0 as AHCI, your JMicron/Marvel controllers aren't recognized as AHCI controller natively. You'll have to use the manufacturer provided drivers, or use those auxiliary ports as IDE. It does make sense, though.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: zerogear

Originally posted by: thescreensavers

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: SickBeast
WTH, the entire Windows 7 task bar is essentially a quick launch bar. Why are you complaining, OP? .

Maybe some pictures will help you see the difference. Here I have 2 pictures that have the same windows open. 2 explorer sessions, 1 firefox session, 1 photoshop session, MSN running in the background.

Windows Vista
Windows 7

The Vista desktop looks neat and organized. MSN is tucked away in the system tray and the Quick Launch is filled with programs I use regularly. The Windows 7 task bar is a complete mess.

idk what you did to your task bar but mine are just icons.

my task bar

Right click on it, tack it on the taskbar. Now when you close the application, the Icon remains. Wala. Quicklaunch.

Yeah, ShawnD1, you had a bunch of crap open, that's why it looks like that. Why do you still want the quick launch icons when you already have those applcations open? Were you planning on running multiple instances of them? If that is the case, then I can see your point, but really IMO the pros outweigh the cons with the new taskbar. :beer:

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: tdawg

Originally posted by: pjkenned
As a Vista user, Win 7 seems like a minor upgrade. That being said, the UI is pretty nice. Really, if you have enough power/RAM, you can keep tons of applications running and just "launch" from the dock. Vista 64 lets you do this but the preview in 7 and the management of open apps is better than Vista.

I have a Dell Mini 9 that I installed OSX retail on + iLife (yes I'm one of those people who buys the software as Apple did make a solid product). Win 7 RC1 now sits on that machine instead of OSX.

Also, kudos to MSFT as the WHS connector software worked without a hitch on Win 7 RC1. The new, not yet released, OS runs perfectly on software packaged with a stripped down MS Server 2003 platform.

How did you go about installing OSX on your Dell? If it's easy, I may consider the next version of OSX for $30.

10.6 Snow Leopard is only $29 USD if you already are running 10.5 Leopard. I am not entirely sure how it will work, but that is what Apple has said.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Yeah, ShawnD1, you had a bunch of crap open, that's why it looks like that. Why do you still want the quick launch icons when you already have those applcations open? Were you planning on running multiple instances of them? If that is the case, then I can see your point, but really IMO the pros outweigh the cons with the new taskbar. :beer:

Did you read what I posted? Both pictures have the exact same programs open. In Vista, MSN takes a tiny tiny piece of the system tray, in Win 7 it has 2 full size boxes in the Task Bar. In Vista, the quick launch shrinks itself and shows a little ">" that you click to expand. In Win 7, pinning things to the task bar takes the entire space that it would take if you had the application running. That's why Windows Vista shows 4 windows whereas Win 7 looks like it has a million different things open even though only 4 of them are open.

Originally posted by: ahenkel
OP has taskbar buttons set to never combine, or combine when full

It's using default settings, whatever those may be.

Another problem I just noticed is that many programs don't seem to be able to integrate into the context menu. So far I'm having this problem with VLC, Media Player Classic, 7-Zip, and WinRAR
Vista's context menu allows 7-zip to integrate itself
Windows 7 does not.

That's not a big deal, but it makes compressing things a lot trickier. It means I'll need to pin 7-zip to the task bar then navigate it to that folder rather than just right clicking it and going through the context menu.

As for the network drives problem, I've made a video to demonstrate this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqCPIWmUgk

 

[TheStu]

I think that your problems pertaining to the third party apps, and even MSN Messenger will get themselves sorted by the time 7 officially comes out. I know that some of the software I have used in the past will not release versions for betas or RCs or anything until the actual release comes out since things can and will change. So, wait it out, see if things get better, or keep using Vista, that's cool too.

Remember that Vista has been out since early 2007, so thats 2 years to work out kinks and for other people to come along and fiddle with things.

 

[ahenkel]

I just installed the 64 bit version of 7-zip and it works as intended with the context menu.

http://img291.imageshack.us/im...orrectceontextmenu.png