The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Nam Taf posted:

Home premium suits me loving fine. I just want an affordable windows

There were some pretty sweat deals on Win 7 as outlined by this thread. Guess it does suck if you missed out on them. You could also get a TechNet sub and have all the OSes you'd ever want/need.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2009 14:54

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 02:18

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

kapinga posted:

For using an upgrade license from XP, you would start the installer from inside XP and then tell it you wanted a clean install. It would then reboot and do its thing. It's possible the mechanism is somewhat different, but there is absolutely a path to go from XP to 7 with an upgrade license - the precise details of how don't really matter yet.

If you reinstall the OS - well, you'd have two options. If your original 7 install still worked, you'd be able to "upgrade" to a clean install from your current 7 install just as you did with XP. If your hard drive died, or you got a showstopper virus, you would have to reinstall XP, activate it, and then install 7. The automated activation process may or may not work, but you would be able to call Microsoft and get it activated over the phone - this is the precise reason they have that service. Your concern over the licensing is invalid - the limitation is that you cannot have both 7 and XP installed at the same time, not that installing 7 completely invalidates the copy of XP.

Or you could do the Clean Upgrade Install (CUI

) and then ghost/image/whatever the install and use that as a restore point if you ever need to re-install 7 again.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2009 15:40

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Nam Taf posted:

Or you could realise the entire world doesn't live in America and therefore some of us cannot get the deal, as I stated in several of my posts in this thread already. Guess it does suck if you missed out on those posts, though.

Not really anybody's fault but the crybaby EU. I'm sure it's just punishment on MS' part :p Actually, I don't think those deals were open for Canadians either. No worries, you can still get a TechNet subscription

# ¿ Jul 14, 2009 13:10

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Alex007 posted:

Bill Gates had a good deal for us actually:

Nice

Didn't know that. Good to see we got some deals up here.

Nam Taf posted:

I DO NOT LIVE IN THE EU EITHER.

(If you make your next guess something like Kiribati or Zambia I'm going to cry)

Australia? Where you get hosed by MS and your ISPs?

# ¿ Jul 14, 2009 14:26

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Nam Taf posted:

With a twist of fist, man

I really did want to get in on the pre-order action but I was wary of the "what if" of them checking my card against where I said I lived (A made-up US address).

I bet it'll be like AUD$400 or something too for the professional.

Yeah you guys get hit pretty drat hard on the prices of most things. Here's hoping for a good deal.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2009 15:12

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

ilkhan posted:

Old HDDs are significantly slower than modern drives. $60 for a 7200.12 500GB makes a huge difference.

And yes, 5.9 is the max for vista, 7 ups it to 7.9.

Except spend a few bucks more and get the 640GB model. Only 2 platters so it's even faster

# ¿ Jul 17, 2009 11:37

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

ilkhan posted:

The 7200.12 500GB uses a single platter, its actually thinner than normal 3.5" drives.
The 640 people talk about (still, I think) is the 640 Black from WD. 2 platters and very fast.

The Seagate drive is 2 platters as well. I think these 2 platter ones are a bit faster than the single platter 500 for some reason. I'll have to lookup some reviews.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2009 16:31

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Dogen posted:

No, the 7200.12 500GB is one platter.

No what I'm saying is the Seagate 640GB model is ALSO s platters, like the WD 640GB.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2009 07:45

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Casao posted:

No, you see, Quantum mechanics says that it's possible to recover it even then, you need to shatter it into a billion pieces and then melt those pieces.

Unfortunately all your bits where entangled with some bits elsewhere and I have thus, recovered all your horrible, horrible secrets.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2009 11:47

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Psimitry posted:

Anyone other than me absolutely hate the new taskbar? After doing a Google search and seeing people absolutely rave about it, I kinda feel like I am. Maybe I just haven't figured it out yet, but it seems genuinely geared to those that keep 60,000 windows open at any given time. Myself, I always had an array of quicklaunch buttons on a two-row taskbar and then launched new windows whenever I needed a second one (I rarely use tabbed browsing, for example).

I think my buddy's wife will really dig on Win7, as she is one of the aforementioned types that likes to have 60,000 windows open. But it really bugs me that my only option for the taskbar is to either use the Win7 dock-style one, or turn off Aero completely and use an old XP taskbar.

Is there something I'm missing here?

You just haven't figured it out yet

# ¿ Jul 29, 2009 15:23

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Vinlaen posted:

Ahhh, that looks perfect!

Do you know if the virtual machines are isolated completely from the host system?

Could files (viruses) be transferred between them? ...or can the virtual machine be completely locked down to isolate the two environments?

Anything is possible. I'm not sure just how isolated the virtual environment is, but a lot of malware will refuse to run if it detects it's inside a virtualized environment. Malware would also have to be coded to figure out which virt. env. it's running under and know of possible ways to break out.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2009 13:25

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Nod32 and Avira work fine on both the RC and RTM.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2009 13:37

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Shai-Hulud posted:

Sooo is there a way to get CMSS back with an Audigy 2 ZS card on seven? I tried some very old driver that worked with vista, some in between and the newest one for seven. I usually get a CMSS switch but it doesnt do anything.
I don't even care about games, i just wan't to hear music from my rear speakers.

Grab Foobar and enable the DSP effect "convert stereo to 4 channel" or something along those lines.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2009 14:49

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Xenomorph posted:

Do you mean use your Vista key for an install of Windows 7? What?

Vista key to UPGRADE to Windows 7.

It should be fine because the Vista install will pass WGA

# ¿ Aug 28, 2009 17:52

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Shai-Hulud posted:

Is there something that can force this to other programs? I'm not really willing to change my music player.

Which media player do you use? I'm not aware of anything outside of plugins for winamp/foobar that do this. Strange the CMSS isn't working.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2009 03:04

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

kri kri posted:

Anyone know how to disable driver signing? I want to run Ati tray tools.

I don't think there is a way, short of manually doing it on every boot on 64bit.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2009 17:51

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

SecretFire posted:

http://www.pretentiousname.com/misc/win7_uac_whitelist2.html

Which is why you should run UAC on the highest setting.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2009 12:46

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Sad Panda posted:

Is there an equivalent to Bootvis that works on Windows 7? I tried running Bootvis and it won't work as it's made for XP.

There's no need to run anything like bootvis under Vista/7.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2009 13:26

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Honey Im Homme posted:

http://ninite.com/

Very handy if you've just installed!

Looks like a nice way to get some malware :xd:

# ¿ Oct 23, 2009 19:09

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Casao posted:

Uh, what?

Trusting a 3rd part to download + install poo poo for you :tinfoil:

# ¿ Oct 23, 2009 19:38

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

c0burn posted:

Wait till you see Linux

This is a little different than using something like apt or whatever. In any case my post was in jest more than anything else :shobon:

# ¿ Oct 23, 2009 20:00

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

jmu posted:

Just wanted to drop in and speak on issues I had getting a buddy setup with Windows 7. We were getting BSODs before we'd even get into setup, usually around when the "flower background" first appeared, they were also random, either IRQ LESS THAN BLAH BLAH or SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION referencing a different file each time. After trying everything I could think of: unplugging everything from the system that was unneeded, swapping in a different video card, reseting CMOS, running memtest. Finally tried disabling any onboard components I could; sound, onboard NIC, even the firewire ports. Also disabled something I can't remember exactly but it was like "IDE Prefetch" or something. This allowed the install to run without further issue and we turned all this back on afterwards.

Most likely bad RAM. At least that's the most common issue with that particular BSOD. Could be other failing hardware.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 15:02

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

kazr posted:

Beautiful. Thank you!

Now would also be a good time to backup some of your documents, you know, just in case

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 19:32

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

DeathFlame posted:

Windows Update installed the new ATI drivers automatically for me after install. A little flicker (no restart) and voila, latest drivers.

You probably want to get the drivers from ATIs webpage @ game.amd.com instead.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2009 13:48

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Don't get stuff from tpb.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2009 15:26

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

osigas posted:

Having used VLC to solve my codec woes for so long, can someone recommend me a a good codec pack so I can go back to using WMP when I install my Windows 7 Pro later?

Media Player Classic Home Cinema

I usually snag it from http://www.xvidvideo.ru/

# ¿ Nov 3, 2009 18:17

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Grey Area posted:

How about no.

Gotta admit I laughed my rear end off when I read that. Good programming practices? Hell Naw, gently caress MS!!

# ¿ Nov 14, 2009 19:50

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

89 posted:

I love how instantaneous the file search is on 7. BUT, is there any way to put it on the desktop so that when I'm on the desktop, I can just hit Tab and it goes right to the search box? It kind of sucks having to hit the start menu.

Learn to use the winkey

# ¿ Nov 15, 2009 04:09

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

DaNzA posted:

I've looked in the OP and dug around the thread a bit, but can someone post the codec/media player setup that will allow you to play just about everything? I remember MPC-HC was mentioned but I am not sure which codec to install etc.

If you're using MPC-HC, none. If you have a hardon for codec packs, shark007 is the new poo poo

# ¿ Nov 27, 2009 20:03

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

hope and vaseline posted:

I don't know why anyone really needs anything more than ffdshow and coreavc for HD content.

On the flip side I don't know why anyone needs anything other than MPC-HC

# ¿ Nov 27, 2009 20:24

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

YouTuber posted:

Does anyone know how to remove a service, or if that isn't possible, how to change the target of the Service? I deleted a game and installed it via Steam and the service that allows DLC to be activated still wants it to start from the old directory.

Dunno if anyone answered this but this is how you delete a service.

From an elevated command prompt:

sc <server> delete [service name]

<server> is optional.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2009 23:33

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Binary posted:

What's the consensus on the best firewall and virus scanner for Windows 7?

Microsoft Security Essentials, built in firewall are fine (you can even set it up to prompt you every single time something new does something).

Avira Free is also quite good.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 01:23

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

taafis posted:

microsoft security essentials and the windows firewall

e:beaten

I like the choices

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 01:26

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

fishmech posted:

What's the best way to dual-boot Windows 7 and Windows 98 on an old 1.1 ghz Athlon (don't ask why)?

Install '98, then install 7 and hope the Windows 7 bootloader lets you choose the 98 install as well.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 01:44

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

fishmech posted:

There's 3, but I'd prefer to do it on the same drive since the one 98 is installed on is the fastest and already partitioned.

I guess what I'm asking is, what's a tool to use if it won't let me do that? It'd have to be either runnable i n Windows 98 or bootable off a cd or usb drive.

Yeah on the same drive I'm not sure it'll work. I mean you could install it on the same physical drive but a separate partition.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 02:05

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

Sir Nigel posted:

http://www.thpc.info/dual/win7/dualboot_win7+9x_on_win7.html

It'll take fiddling but this looks like it should work.

Still needs multiple partitions, but that's a great guide for getting it setup if you can partition the drive.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 02:18

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

fishmech posted:

Yeah I know that, the main drive is already partitioned to a mere 32 GB instead of the full 80 GB, so there's plenty of space to add an NTFS partition.

The problem with that guide is it's for anew Win 98 install, wheras what I need is a new Windows 7 install and then adding the Windows 98 install into the 7 bootloader as an option, or a similar thing.

It took me forever to get the computer set up with the trick that allows you to use Windows 3.11 from Windows 98 in DOS mode instead of regular DOS (which allows Windows 3.11 to work with FAT32, as well as generally running faster than it dos with regular DOS), so I'd really rather not do that all over again.

I really think Win 7 will automagically add in win98 as a bootloader option. If not you can always add it in using the bcdedit tool.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2009 04:47

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

GreatGreen posted:

I installed the latest ATI Catalyst drivers, but when I right click the screen, nothing shows up that gives a hint of ATI anywhere.

Actually, I can't find any ATI menus or configuration tools anywhere.

Do you see Catalyst Control Center when you right click on your desktop or if you hit winkey then type CCC?

# ¿ Dec 12, 2009 06:00

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

rawstorm posted:

I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my new build. I got the Windows 7 Professional 64-bit .iso from the MSDNAA website through my school, so it is legitimate.

I burned the .iso onto a 16x DVD+R DVD with Active ISO Burner at 2.4x speed and I checked the "verify data" box also.

My build has a core i5, 2x2GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz memory, 2 HD 4870s in crossfire, 2 640GB 7200 rpm SATA Western Digital hard drives, an old (from 2005) IDE 22x DVD-CD drive, and a MSI P55GD65 motherboard.

I want to setup RAID 0 on the two hard drives.

The problem is that Windows takes VERY long to begin installing and then it says that I'm "missing a driver" and need to insert a floppy/USB/CD-ROM drive. For example the screen that says "Setup is Starting" takes over an hour to finish. At first I though that the driver it was asking for was the RAID driver so I copied the driver files onto my USB drive and put it in when it asked for the drivers. I checked the "Hide drivers not compatible with my hardware" box and it showed me 1 driver, but when I tried to install it it said that "No new devices were found..."

What can the problem be? I think it has something to do with either the hard drives or the DVD drive. Do I need to install special SATA drivers? Is the fact that my DVD drive is IDE a problem?

You need drivers for one of two things here.

Your RAID controller or, get this, your IDE controller. I've had it happen to me that my Jmicron IDE controller wasn't detected once setup was running.

Download the drivers you need and place em on a USB stick and when it asks you for the drivers point it to the USB stick. I think you can make a custom install ISO using nlite as well.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2009 20:32

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 02:18

Stanley Pain: Jun 16, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

rawstorm posted:

How do I install IDE drivers before I begin installing Windows? Is it possible? I just don't want to wait 2 hours to get to the screen that asks me for drivers.

You'd have to either create an nlited install DVD, or make a bootable USB drive install and place extra drivers in \Drivers off the root of the USB drive.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2009 06:03

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