The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Xenomorph posted:

How is Windows 7 Home Premium different than Vista Home Premium?

It's Windows 7 Professional that is a step up compared to Vista Business. Vista Business was lacking features Vista Home Premium had. Windows 7 Professional is an actual upgrade to Home Premium.

I didn't notice this. So what the hell do you get with Ultimate? Texas Hold'em 2: Hold'em Harder?

# ¿ May 19, 2009 14:44

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 08:59

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Xenomorph posted:

I don't know if there is any reason to get Windows 7 Ultimate.

Vista Ultimate was at least Vista "Home Premium + Business".
Windows 7 Professional will be "Home Premium + Professional/Business", so why would most people need to bother with Win7 Ultimate? I'm pretty sure *I* don't need it.

Hopefully we'll JUST see Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional on store shelves (just like XP Home and XP Pro). No Basic, No Ultimate, etc.

That's fine with me. I went with Vista Business because I use the remote desktop feature daily (using my home PC while I'm at work), and though I didn't have a lot of use for Media Center, it still would have been nice to have. Sounds like they're doing it right with 7.

# ¿ May 19, 2009 16:20

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

kapinga posted:

As for what's in Ultimate that's not in Pro:
---
Key features: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD

BitLocker I don't care about, but I'm not familiar with some of the others. Direct Access? Branche Cache? Boot from VHD sounds sexy, but again, not terribly useful for my home environment. Okay, I'm cool with that. 7 Pro, here I come!

# ¿ May 19, 2009 18:47

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

CapnBry posted:

Speaking of Remote Desktop, which parts are included on which versions? They say Professional includes Remote Desktop. I'm guessing it means it includes both the server and client, and that Home Premium will include the just client. Or do they mean home won't have either? Either way that means that home won't have "Remote Assistance"-- how will we fix our parents computers now?

If the home version doesn't even come with mstsc.exe that would suck for Professional users who need to access their work PC from home.

The remote desktop client has been included with every version of Windows since XP Home, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. And besides, it's freely available to download as well. I've never actually used Remote Assistance, but I can't believe they'd take that feature away, either.

# ¿ May 19, 2009 20:32

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

WillieWestwood posted:

I have

Program Files
Program Files (x86)
Program Files (x86) (x86)

What's the third folder for? (this is not a Win 7 question, as these folders were in Vista as well)

Programs with lovely installers?

# ¿ May 20, 2009 22:09

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Vinlaen posted:

Anybody know of a fast VNC server that works with Windows 7?

Any particular reason not to just use Remote Desktop instead?

# ¿ May 21, 2009 16:19

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Spekkio posted:

Anyone had a problem using RDP nested within another RDP?

I remote into our server at work, then into my workstation. It connects fine but it seems to display two cursors?
No big problem. Just a little something I noticed.

I've done the same thing but haven't noticed this behavior. Do you run your RDP session full screen or windowed?

# ¿ May 22, 2009 14:13

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

My Precious Violin Case posted:

This is the only reason I leave it on, but I don't think I've ever said "No" to one of the prompts. Does it do something behind the scenes which is beneficial? Or is it the kind of thing that you put up with for months just so that it saves your rear end that one time?

I don't know if it's any different with 7, but with Vista UAC enabled gives you protected mode in Internet Explorer as well as file and registry virtualization for everything else. Disabling UAC disables these features.

There was also some big security exploit a while back that was completely stopped dead by UAC (I think it didn't even cause a prompt), but left those with it disabled vulnerable.

And really, after the first couple of weeks of setting up your poo poo, you should rarely ever see another UAC prompt (unless you use software written by lovely developers).

# ¿ Jun 8, 2009 17:32

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

redeyes posted:

I don't need any security as I do this for a living. Also I install programs every day, mostly for trial, sometimes to figure something out for someone, or just my own curiosity.

Yeah, I hear you on this. I have sex for a living and I don't need to use condoms because I know what I'm doing. Other people are just jealous of guys like us.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2009 20:01

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Relambrien posted:

This would be it then. Ventrilo needed to be set to Vista compatibility so that Push-to-talk would work when the window isn't in focus. WoW needed to be set to compatibility so that the game wouldn't freeze upon loading (this probably has something to do with my interface though).

And of course, the launcher program for Starcraft is completely understandable, since it needs to make modifications to how the game normally runs.

For reference, Starcraft is in C:\Program Files\Starcraft (installer default directory), and WoW is in C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft.

edit: To test, I set WoW to not run in compatibility mode anymore. It still required a UAC prompt. It isn't running as administrator.

Since we're talking Windows 7 here, have you tried setting UAC to 1 notch above Never notify? I'm not sure if that would help for you or not, but it should leave the beneficial features of UAC intact while lessening its intrusiveness.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2009 15:41

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

All Too Much For Me posted:

Have you tried AbiWord?
It's not a full office suite, but it's very fast and less bloaty than OpenOffice.

Given that most open source fanatics love to complain about Microsoft "bloat", this statement amuses me greatly. This isn't directed at anybody in particular.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2009 19:38

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Xenomorph posted:

All the leaks now are pre-RTM builds, and the beta/RC keys don't work on them.

7232 is supposedly what a lot of people have, and supposedly 7260 is the RTM build.

What, no 7300 for a nice round number?

# ¿ Jun 16, 2009 21:15

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Casao posted:

Is there a way, via command line, to disable/enable a network adapter? After waking from hibernate (possibly sleep too), my 1000HE can't detect a cable being plugged in until I disable/enable it. Apparently, people have the issue in XP too, so I'm guessing it's not 7 related. I figure it'd be a fairly quick thing to add something to do this on wake up to my ever growing list of task manager tasks. Can I do this?

I would imagine you could do it with netsh... in fact, I think I have before. Lemme see what I can find.

Edit: netsh lan reconnect (from command prompt) appears to force the adapter to reconnect. I don't know if it would solve your cable problem, though. I don't know too much about netsh, so there's probably another function that would also work.

brc64 fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jun 18, 2009

# ¿ Jun 18, 2009 21:34

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Quick question about XP Mode since I don't have the hardware to play with it on my system... does it provide an easy way to wipe/reinstall the base XP image it uses? Does it come preloaded, that is?

# ¿ Jun 24, 2009 04:57

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Xenomorph posted:

Up until I got Slackware 3.3 on CD, I had only worked with Linux installed from Floppy disks. Like 5 floppies for a base install, 10 for X-windows, 3 for some other applications.
Back then, I knew like one person with a CD burner, so it was just a lot easier to buy a pressed CD.

This reminds me, my mom had a copy of Microsoft Office that came on floppy disks. I believe it was 45 of them. She also had a copy of Windows... I want to say 98, but it may have been 95 that was about 11 or 12 floppies.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2009 21:40

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

I came across something rather amusing the other day. My LifeCam would cause an instant bluescreen the second I tried to activate it in Skype, every time. So I figured I'd hop on Microsoft's website and see if there was a new driver. Right on the main hardware page there's a link to "Beta drivers for Windows 7" or something, so I click that, see a link for webcams, and download some file, let's call it LifeCam_2_9_1.exe (I already deleted the installer, but it was something like that).

I go to install the file, it starts out normally, but as it's installing Windows pops up this potentially useful warning that it has blocked the installation of LifeCam32.exe due to a compatibility problem, and also says "Click here to download an update to resolve the problem."

Clicking the link takes me directly to the download of LifeCam_2_9_1.exe :v:

# ¿ Jul 7, 2009 14:38

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

I'm really confused by the new rules for upgrade installs, and ended up canceling my 50% off preorder because of it. Something tells me that probably wasn't necessary, but I was already on the fence about spending that much money right now anyway, so I decided I can wait a while longer.

Anyway, if you're required to upgrade from an activated installation, what does that mean for upgrades from XP? There's no direct upgrade path there, so you would have to do a clean install, but how do they verify activation? Does it prompt you to enter your XP license key and verify that way?

And then what would happen if you needed to reinstall the OS for any reason? I can't imagine that upgrade licenses prohibit you from OS reinstallation, but if activating an upgrade license deactivates the license of the OS before it, aren't you basically screwed? I don't get it. I guess I probably won't until October.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2009 14:58

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

I was doing some looking but I can't tell, has Windows 7 OEM pricing been announced yet? My computer has pretty much reached a plateau to the point where I can't really upgrade anything without upgrading everything. I think I have the fastest AGP video card money can buy. :3:

Anyway, if I'm going to build a whole new PC from scratch, it seems to make sense to me to pick up an OEM edition of Windows 7. When I search, all I can find is retail and upgrade pricing, though.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2009 20:13

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

xarph posted:

and access to moderated newsgroups (forums for you young whippersnappers)

Thanks for making me feel old

# ¿ Jul 22, 2009 18:36

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Since I just had DirecTV service installed, I thought I'd give the DirecTV2PC app a go (stream recorded content from the DVR to my PC). I ran the advisor, and it said it didn't detect any hardware acceleration, which seemed odd, since I've got glass running and all that. I checked device manager and saw that I'm using a Microsoft-supplied driver for my ATI x1950 video card. I figured what the hell, I'll download the latest ATI driver and see what happens.

Or maybe not. Apparently ATI doesn't like me because I have an old video card, and they only provide Windows 7 drivers for the HD series now. I could even get the Vista drivers to load. Bummer.

Just another reason to replace my PC when I install the Windows 7 release.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2009 15:42

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Psimitry posted:

Additionally, I have no idea why Microsoft got rid of the Sidebar. They say that it's "great because the programs are no longer tied to the sidebar!!" except that they never really were. You could easily drag programs out of the sidebar if you chose to do so, except now I don't have that option. I read that there was a way to reinstall the sidebar from Vista, but it seems odd that MS would completely remove the ability to use it, much like my beloved quicklaunch.

I'm not really sure what your problem is with this. What could you do with the sidebar app that you can't do in 7? I have all the same gadgets installed that I used in Vista, in the same place on the right side of my main monitor. Do you miss the system tray icon? That's the only thing I can think of that's different between Vista and 7 with regard to gadgets.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2009 15:53

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

kapinga posted:

You do realize that you can right click an icon and open a new instance (the third item from the bottom), right?

Easier than that, you can just middle-click an icon to open a new instance.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2009 16:35

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Shmoogy posted:

Did anybody get an e-mail from Microsoft about getting a free copy of Windows 7?

I'm pretty sure I was in the actual Beta, but I never submitted any bug reports.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/windows-7-testers-to-get-a-free-copy-after-all.ars

I probably wasn't a member of the 'technical' beta so I wont get a free copy, but heres to hoping!

e: Just checked Microsoft Connect, I'm only a member of the tech beta for Office 10, drat.

So what was the technical beta? Some invite-only thing? Bummer.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2009 17:13

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Shmoogy posted:

Yeah tech beta was invite only, probably to technet people and MSDNA people or something.

That's how it sounded, but don't Technet and MSDN folk get free copies of Windows anyway with their subscriptions?

# ¿ Jul 31, 2009 17:40

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

kapinga posted:

The only thing Windows firewall doesn't do is firewalling outbound connections

There have been outbound firewall rules since Vista. :confused:

# ¿ Aug 1, 2009 23:14

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

PopeOnARope posted:

Uh Xeno, quite a LOT of the Microsoft stuff can be "appropriated" using straight from the horse images right now. This sort of makes "data purity" arguments moot.

I think a better standpoint to gauge it from is supporting Microsoft Vs being a freeloader.

I haven't really looked at the :filez:

scene since I, well, grew up, but based on what I've read, it seems like the only ways to install illegal copies of Windows these days are to either use some leaked corporate key that's probably going to get nuked in a future service pack or install some hacks to bypass activation. Neither of those things sound terribly appealing to me, and I can afford to buy a copy of Windows, so gently caress it.

If there are alternatives, please don't tell me what they are.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2009 14:36

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Xenomorph posted:

I've had no issue with programs re-reading their files from the VirtualStore. I just figured Windows would auto-redirect the reads right back to that folder. I thought it was a great solution to dumb programming.

I've had mixed results with reading files from the virtualstore, but I think it stems from restoring backups and having unexpected results. For example, mIRC stores settings in .INI files inside Program Files. Before I format, I backup that directory.

When I restore that directory, I seem to remember getting a weird mix of results, as if it was reading both Program Files and VirtualStore, or something strange. I remember it was pretty baffling the first time it happened. This was back in Vista, and my first introduction to VirtualStore. I can totally see why people would be frustrated by it at first.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 14:20

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Chambraigne Deluxe posted:

Obviously this doesn't apply to your anecdote, but mIRC 6.3 and newer use AppData to store everything.

That probably explains why it's been a while since I've run across the issue. But yeah, VirtualStore doesn't always work as expected.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 15:33

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

syphon posted:

Hey thanks for that. When it comes to virus scanning, I'm likely to trust something by MS (since they have the most insight into the OS itself), and free ain't bad!

I haven't really followed this product, but I'm confused on a couple of things...

Doesn't Microsoft provide a paid antivirus subscription via OneCare or something? Does this have any relation to that? Will the people who paid for OneCare feel screwed?

Also, I was under the vague impression that the only reason they even charged for antivirus in the past was because all of the other AV manufacturer would cry antitrust. Why isn't that happening now? (Not that I mind.. I'll always take free over not free when it's a viable option)

# ¿ Sep 30, 2009 19:44

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Casao posted:

It's not being distributed with the OS, so you can't really cry antitrust. Well, not reasonable.

And OneCare ended on June 30th, 2009. This is the freeware replacement.

Okay, whatever, works for me. I wonder if AVG will make me reboot to uninstall...

# ¿ Sep 30, 2009 19:47

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Kind of along those same lines, does anybody have aero peek working with tabs in Firefox yet?

# ¿ Oct 1, 2009 19:42

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

illicitporpoises posted:

If you're waiting for some kind of baked in, official solution, don't hold your breath. 3 years in, and the best Mozilla has is mock ups of Firefox with Aero support.

Glasser

Glasser doesn't even work anymore, but GlasserPojo does.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2009 01:39

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

fishmech posted:

Glasser never stopped working, disable version checking, it never really helped anyone.

I tried that and started getting a shitload of errors until I re-disabled the extension.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2009 04:32

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Plaque Conspiracy posted:

Party pack from Microsoft is on its way! Woot free copy of windows

I haven't kept up too closely with this thread, but how are people getting involved with this whole party thing? I think it'd be fun (and the free copy is a nice bonus), but I don't know who is eligible.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2009 18:57

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Plaque Conspiracy posted:

http://www.houseparty.com/windows7

I think it may be too late

I guess I should have paid more attention. No biggie.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2009 19:12

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Plaque Conspiracy posted:

Does anyone know if microsoft will go ape poo poo if i DONT throw a party?

Hell, I think it'd be fun to throw a party. Why not?

# ¿ Oct 2, 2009 19:52

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Dameius posted:

Or if you have a *.edu address you can go to https://www.win741.com and get Home/Pro for $30.

I recently had to recently log into the student portal at the University of Toledo to pull up my old transcripts (I attended back in 2002). I saw that I had access to some Outlook Web Access, but unfortunately it doesn't look like my email account is active anymore.

I'll probably just end up buying OEM since I need to build a new computer anyway.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2009 05:34

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Just to recap, the release candidate is good until sometime next year, right? My plan is to just get an OEM copy of 7 at the same time I build myself an updated machine, but I don't see that happening any time soon (going off of recommended specs from the system building megathread, I'm looking at spending a good $800 on hardware... I thought computers were less expensive these days

)

I'll revert back to Vista if I have to, but I'd prefer to hold out if I can.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2009 04:44

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

kapinga posted:

Your PC will start shutting down every 2 hours starting March 1, 2010 if it is running the Windows 7 RC.

I think/hope I'll have an opportunity to get some new stuff in by then, thanks.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2009 15:31

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 08:59

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

Firefox 3.6 beta 1 (candidate) is now available and finally adds support for Windows 7 taskbar previews. Although half the time I'm just getting a blank "loading" preview for my tabs. Anyway, it's progress!

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/3.6b1-candidates/build1/

# ¿ Oct 16, 2009 17:54

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