The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I have a question about how dual booting will actually work.

I have Vista Ultimate installed on Drive A. It has MS Word installed.

I put Windows 7 on Drive B. It does not have MS Word installed.

Obviously I can navigate to Drive A if I boot into w7, but can I run word from there? or do I also have to install it on Drive B?

# ¿ May 17, 2009 08:04

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 15:25

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Ok, good to know. Thanks guys.

# ¿ May 17, 2009 08:28

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Zuffox posted:

Yes. :P

Just don't choose AVG.

What's wrong with AVG? I just went and got the free version I've been using with Vista.

I want my quicklaunch bar, or something akin to that. How do I make it come baaaaaack

# ¿ May 31, 2009 21:44

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

c0burn posted:

Pin things

Yeah, but then everything...moves. If my bar is 2 levels, can I make poo poo thats opened drop down to the lower level?

# ¿ May 31, 2009 21:50

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

man thats gross posted:

If you absolutely must: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/888-quick-launch-enable-disable.html

But seriously, I used to love my quicklaunch bar to no end, and I find the Windows 7 interface to be superior by leaps and bounds.

Alright. I'm going to try not to fight windows, and just check try the new features they put in.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 00:25

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

This may be a stupid question, but I'm on build 7100 64bit, and I see people mentioning build 7700. How do I upgrade to that?

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 08:05

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

DarthBlingBling posted:

It doesn't exist, don't worry yourself.

There is something above 7100, as evidenced by the post 2 down from yours.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 16:16

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Thermopyle posted:

There isn't a 7700, though.

Ok. I just want to know how to keep up with the latest build.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 16:47

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

c0burn posted:

They'll be on torrents or newsgroups. If you make sure the hashes match what's posted here you should be fine.

Ok, thats cool. Do these require fresh formats to install, or do they go on right over the existing installation without messing anything up?

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 17:01

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I don't suppose w7 has a built in virtual drive manager like daemon tools, does it?

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 22:47

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Is there a way to make UAC ignore specific files? I have a game that when I run it, it pops up with the "Do you want to run this" stuff where it locks down the computer until you say yes or no. I can't run the game through steam though, presumably because of this. And running it through steam is pretty important.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2009 01:57

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Steam is c/program files(x86)/steam and it's an install onto a fresh partition

# ¿ Jun 2, 2009 02:03

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I want one that allows me to "stick" the preview of wmp, so if I'm trying to do other things, I can stick the video to play in the preview box there while I use full screen chrome

# ¿ Jun 2, 2009 02:11

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Xenomorph posted:

If you disable "Secure Desktop" (the dimming of the screen), it doesn't lock the rest of the computer.

Secure Desktop use to crash poo poo on me all the time (like TV-viewing applications) until I learned how to disable it.

Windows 7 makes it easy. Just move the slider down 1 notch in the UAC settings. For Vista, you can use XdN Tweaker to turn off Secure Desktop.

And yes, there are lots of ways to all a program to run without triggering UAC.

Huh after turning it all the way down steam still won't launch it. Steam just sucks I guess

edit: Oh I guess you have to restart for UAC changes. That would do it!

The Wonder Weapon fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jun 2, 2009

# ¿ Jun 2, 2009 02:26

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I'm running into an audio problem that I haven't had before. When I run vent alone, it's 100% volume. Then when I run both vent and TF2, the volume for each is 50%. What's happening here? My mic is also far, far quieter than it was in Vista, for no apparent reason. My gain is actually higher in w7 than it was in vista, yet the mic is quieter overall.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2009 07:30

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Thanks on the audio stuff, about the voip and such.

Lower pricing on 7 seems like a great idea to me. Most people don't bother to upgrade because OS' are so much, and if yours is working, why bother? But at $50 or $100, thats way more reasonable, for what is inarguably better than XP, which many are using. I'm excited about actually being able to afford it when it comes out.

What type of feature differences are we looking at between 7 ultimate, and say home premium? And professional premium? Is it anything a standard user is going to care about?

# ¿ Jun 6, 2009 03:04

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

hobb posted:

The OP has the general differences, but I don't think ultimate has anything compelling your average user would miss with even home premium. I do think pro would be more worth it though since its apparently the 'lowest' version to support the XP mode virtual machine thing.

Sorry I missed the differences in the OP.

It seems like home premium would really be fine for me. I have no need for the XP VM. I guess I would have to see a list of all the fine details before I made a decision. But $50 for home premium would be absolutely fine with me, and would be the first OS I would be willing to buy off the shelf at launch.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2009 03:53

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Charles Martel posted:

Here's a nifty side-by-side chart comparing each version. Unless you desperately need XP mode for old business (read: non-intensive software) or need to make your computer a remote host to another computer, Home Premium is the one to get.

Ok, after looking at that, I think home premium is fine for me. Unless you're hardcore networking/running a business, home seems like it's more than satisfactory. Or if you have more than 16gb of ram, I guess.

I'm pretty psyched about HP potentially only being $50. I was certain I was going to have to go back to vista in march because I didn't think I would have $300 for a new OS, but $50 is just so reasonable.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2009 05:09

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Relambrien posted:

One or two a day? I get much, much more than that. Every time I open World of Warcraft, UAC prompt. Every time I open a launcher program for Starcraft, UAC prompt. Ventrilo, UAC prompt. It would be even worse if I hadn't migrated to MPC from VLC.

I still keep UAC on simply because I've grown numb to having to click "Yes" tens of times a day, though.

I launch vent regularly without UAC prompts.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2009 07:52

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Whats the dual monitor software of choice for 7? Is the Vista version of it solid? I'm concerned that the superbar will kind of screw with it

edit: Just tried ultramon for Vista and it doesn't work at all.

The Wonder Weapon fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Jun 13, 2009

# ¿ Jun 13, 2009 03:58

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

maxidious posted:

DisplayFusion works with the extra task bar on the second monitor

Thanks, but apparently for the 2 taskbars it's $20. Oh well.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 17:45

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

blargle posted:

How does windows still not do this natively? I run XP and haven't really used vista, but I had assumed they would put this basic functionality in by now. I was also hoping they put in that "multiple virtual desktop switching" that most linux window managers have.

Yeah it's really obnoxious. I have no idea why something so simple isn't supported anymore. I can understand it not being in windows 98, but Windows 7? Come on.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 20:02

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I just want another drat taskbar, not a bunch of desktops

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 20:06

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

4 Day Weekend posted:

I've got a friend who wants to install Win7 and he's currently on XP 32bit.

If he installs the 32bit version, without formatting, are all his files going to be sitting in windows.old?

Also, is it possible to install the 64 bit version without formatting his HDD?

I don't think you can go from xp to w7 at all, but I could definitely be wrong. And I'm almost positive he couldn't do 32 to 64. Best bet would be to move the essential files to a friends computer, then just do a fresh install on his drive.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2009 08:09

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Anonononomous posted:

Is there a way to up the sensitivity of a mic in W7? My dual boot machine picks it up just fine under XP but under 7 it is too quiet. Only the first few columns of pixels ever turn green on the sound test page. I've already set it to 100% sensitivity under the sound options.

My mic as well has been really quiet under w7, but was fine on Vista. I'm interested to see what the answer is.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2009 18:15

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Has anyone found a reliable way to get punkbuster to work on windows 7? I've googled it, but haven't found anything that makes sense. I just want to play bf2

# ¿ Jul 1, 2009 02:12

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

What I'm getting from all of this is that if you have the RC installed currently, you won't just be able to turn that into a legit copy? You'll have to go through some load of bullshit to install vista, then install w7 over that?

# ¿ Jul 8, 2009 00:37

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Casao posted:

Uhh, no.

You'll have to wipe it and install Vista if and only if you intend to buy the Upgrade copy instead of a full copy.

Well the upgrade is going to be like $50 and the full copy is going to be somewhere closer to $100 or more, right? I have a legit copy of vista, so it feels pointless not to just buy the upgrade. It will just be a pain in the rear end, I guess.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2009 03:24

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

kapinga posted:

The upgrade is currently 50+% off, at $50 for Home Premium upgrade and $100 for Pro upgrade. These will be ~$115 and $200 respectively for full price of the upgrade when the pre-order sale ends.

The full versions will be $200 and $300 for Home Premium and Pro respectively.

Any idea how much longer the preorder price is for?

edit: when you preorder, do you have to pay the full $50? Can I just put like $5 down and pay it off when it comes out?

# ¿ Jul 8, 2009 05:02

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

nimper posted:

Read your post again. Think about how little sense it makes.

You can preorder games at gamestop and only put $5 down, and pay it off when it comes out, so I don't see how this is such a stretch.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2009 05:24

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

kapinga posted:

MS has options for download only, media only, or both with a small fee.

The preorder price is for a short time, not sure exactly how long. The MS Store will not charge your credit card until the product actually goes out. I don't know about the others.

Hmm. Do we know exactly when it's supposed to go out? I don't really have $50 for it at this very moment, but in a month or two I should, and I really want to lock in the price

# ¿ Jul 8, 2009 07:54

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Is there a way to make windows always be running one of two process'? Whenever I'm not running TF2, I want to be running another small exe, and as soon as I launch TF2, I need the other process to die. I tend to forget to turn it on after I'm done playing TF2, and it's all about having it run as long as possible. I was thinking windows could just see if hl2.exe is on, and if isn't, launch another exe. As soon as hl2.exe starts, it kills the other process. This way, one of the two is always on.

Does this make sense? Is it possible?

# ¿ Jul 10, 2009 20:51

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Thermopyle posted:

I do exactly this with a custom AutoIt script. Out of my head, so I'm sure there's some errors, but something like this:
code:
While True
	; Team Fortress 2 just started
	If WinExists("Team Fortress 2") Then
		ProcessClose("SOME_PROCESS")
	EndIf
	;Team Fortress 2 just stopped
	If Not WinExists("Team Fortress 2") And Not WinExists("SOME_PROCESS") Then
		Run("SOME_PROCESS")
	EndIf
	Sleep(5000)
Wend

Thats great! Whats AutoIt, and how do I make it work? also, the process is "hl2.exe" and "steamstats.exe" Would that be:

code:

While True
	; Team Fortress 2 just started
	If WinExists("Team Fortress 2") Then
		ProcessClose("hl2.exe")
	EndIf
	;Team Fortress 2 just stopped
	If Not WinExists("Team Fortress 2") And Not WinExists("SOME_PROCESS") Then
		Run("steamstats.exe")
	EndIf
	Sleep(5000)
Wend

# ¿ Jul 10, 2009 21:37

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

Alex007 posted:

I'm currently shopping for a new video card and I'm wondering if there's anything I should stay away from, considering this is for Win 7 ? Especially driver-wise, who between ATI and Nvidia sucks less ?

Just buy whatever has a really good rebate on dealmein.net this week

# ¿ Jul 10, 2009 22:41

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I lost my AIM Lite IM screen on my 2nd monitor, which is no longer plugged in, and I can't figure out how to get it back to my main monitor. AIM Lite doesn't have the alt - move trick apparently, so I'm kind of lost.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2009 15:38

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

kode54 posted:

It may be possible with some install file manipulation, although probably against the EULA. Oh, and you'll need to buy an Ultimate Upgrade key, because you can't in-place upgrade Ultimate to anything less.

I thought there was a thing like just last week that said you could go from RC to Official?

# ¿ Aug 1, 2009 16:18

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

kapinga posted:

You still can't in place upgrade Ultimate (which is the RC) to Pro or Home or anything other than Ultimate. So unless you're shelling out for Ultimate, you can't in place upgrade.

Thats...loving lovely. Can anyone else c/d?

# ¿ Aug 1, 2009 17:38

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I just realized I may be hosed, but I want to make sure. I currently have 2 OS' installed - the w7 beta, and Vista Ultimate. I have w7 home edition preordered, but I can't install it, can I?

# ¿ Aug 16, 2009 03:27

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

kapinga posted:

Yeah you can, you just have to do a custom install from your Vista Ultimate version. The upgrade key will work even though you have to wipe out your old Vista install.

What exactly does this mean? I have to wipe the drive, install the full version of home premium 7, and then put in the upgrade key? Or does it mean that I can put the w7 cd into vista, and it will install, but it will do a full wipe and install instead of just an upgrade install?

# ¿ Aug 16, 2009 06:05

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 15:25

The Wonder Weapon: Dec 16, 2006

I have a very low level user question. Where are the aero theme backgrounds stored? I can't seem to find the directory of the images to use in DisplayFusion

# ¿ Aug 22, 2009 15:34

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