Windows 7 beta

[Cream Soda]

When going to 7 beta, is it a straight upgrade from vista or do you have to reformat and lose all your shit? Need a new driver for my ATI card and they don't have it for vista but they have it for beta 7 >.> (go figure)

[Ratatapa]

for RC 1 you can upgrade or reformat, your call

[Pikarya]

Option 1 (Best imo if you want to get away from Vista completely, raw format/etc.)

1. Buy an applicable-sized storage drive to meet your needs.
2. Backup all your stuff onto it.
3. Wipe
4. Windows 7

Option 2 (If you want to hang on to Vista awhile longer).

1. Partition your drive appropriately in Vista or with a third party tool.
2. Install Windows 7 on the new partition.
3. Dualboot setup if needed.

[Valkrish]

I apologize in advance, what is so incredible about windows 7? I keep hearing about it more and more, but i don't think i've seen anything major that makes it superior to vista (been off the net for a while)-

Any noticeable differences from those who have used it?

I use xp on pc, and vista on my laptop, which i severely need to change, but i'm a little hesitant to change to windows 7 on my laptop since its one of those fandangled media center things.

I'm not too sure if I will need to update my drivers and such manually or not.

Please assist a very interested future windows 7 user, and thanks.

[Ratatapa]

Windows 7 is like vista, but faster and less needing hardware wise.

Also it's already more compatible then vista is/was atm

[Valkrish]

So i'd be able to update to Windows 7 on my lappy, with no major changes aside from it being loads better?

Neat- Yea i'm getting it now.

[Ratatapa]

remember this even tho it works better then vista atm, there is still programs that might not be compatible, and it's normal cuz it's not full version yet.

but exemple i installed Windows 7 RC1 64 bits yesterday, and with like 100000000000000 programs running behind i idle at 1.4gb ram used

Vista would be 2gb +

[fishstix]

There's a lot of nice visual enhancements to the UI. It no longer displays the text next to the icons in the start menu to programs currently active. You can have a desktop background that changes pictures every so often.

So far, the only issues I've had with compatibility is when I try to run outdated, no longer supported software and hardware. My wireless card that's about 8 years old doesnt work in win7 xD

[virusiidx]

It's always best to do a fresh install rather than just an upgrade, especially if it was possible to upgrade from rc1. Do yourself the favor and just take the time to back your stuff up and do a fresh install when the time comes.

[Minions]

When going to 7 beta, is it a straight upgrade from vista or do you have to reformat and lose all your shit? Need a new driver for my ATI card and they don't have it for vista but they have it for beta 7 >.> (go figure)

Wouldn't bother using a rc at this point, RC must be reformatted once retail is released. If you plan to upgrade from Vista to save the stuff you have on the HD then you will end up losing it in a couple months anyway.

TLDR; Make a clone drive, use it to upgrade to win7 RC, and then use your vista to do a real upgrade (or full install) to win7 retail.