Windows 7 build 7000 (Beta 1) QnA!

[George P Global Moderator]

I haven't seen any Win7 benchmarks yet either, but once the beta is out for everyone they should probably be poping up all over.

On a different note, is there any specific hardware out there that lets you connect to a SatTV service that uses one of those SIM card like things, for use with Media Center?

I know it supports CableTV etc.

[firey]

I agree..I don't think he gets it either, because it's fairly straght-forward and easy to use for me, but whatever..not really a big deal.

I think Windows 7 is awesome..starting to love the speed but man, they better get on the roll with IE8. It crashes way too much.

To avoid problems with IE 8, I just use chrome, I know it's not everyones favorite browser, but I find it very simple, stable, etc. I too like the Super Bar, and find the space saving of the icons to be much better.

[crazlunatic]

I haven't seen any Win7 benchmarks yet either, but once the beta is out for everyone they should probably be poping up all over.

On a different note, is there any specific hardware out there that lets you connect to a SatTV service that uses one of those SIM card like things, for use with Media Center?

I know it supports CableTV etc.

There are build 6956 benchmarks here

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3182&page=1

I have been doing benchmarks between windows 7 build 7000 and Vista SP1. Surprisingly, the Vista SP1 benchmarks are better than the Windows Build 7000 benchmarks in all the tests I have done by a few points. I just reinstalled beta 1 and am running the benchmarks again because I'm not believing what I'm seeing

[CRSharff]

FYI... US ATSC guide is now working again in this build :) HOORAY!

WOOT! time to uninstall the brand new vista install for my HTPC and throw on windows 7

PS: Anyone figure out a way to use Netflix to stream movies? On Build 6956 it always spit out a DRM error at me.

[MycroftH]

Is there any way to bring back the columns in explorer for all views? On Win7 it only seems to show on the details view

[gregrocker]

To avoid problems with IE 8, I just use chrome, I know it's not everyones favorite browser, but I find it very simple, stable, etc. I too like the Super Bar, and find the space saving of the icons to be much better.

I don't understand why anyone would be married to a damn browser! I have Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome on all of my O.S. and I use whatever one is not causing me any problems, or causing me less problems at the time. I tried new IE8 on W7.6956 and it crashed and was buggy as hell, so I tried Firefox then Chrome and Chrome clearly works best.

It's a browser - a tool - and shouldn't be used if it isn't the right tool for the setup you are using at the time when there are other perfectly good alternatives.

If you haven't tried it yet or noticed, Chrome is faster and also has one-click access to all of the sites you've visited for several days, which I find really useful, and any other feature of it like downloads can be customized.

[Roger H. Veteran]

Is there any way to bring back the columns in explorer for all views? On Win7 it only seems to show on the details view

Hmm - nope no way to get that back. It's been removed and only shows in the detailed view so if you want that then that's where you're gonna find it.

[ThePitt]

the OS has a great looking. I really like the feeling. Brought me my curiosity how smooth and how nice is everything is showed. And its a BETA release. I never seen a beta running that smooth. Has some issues but its because this really needs a lot of work. I only hope they pay more attention on the resources consumes (the lesser the better) and how they balance the system.

Pretty stable (once again) to be a beta.

[Symphony]

I've read that there will be sensors support in Win7, so example with a light sensor it is possible for a laptop to automatically adjust its display brightness according to its environment. I want to know that will it be possible for the laptop to use its built-in webcam for this. Like taking a picture every 10 seconds, or in real-time, and check the picture, and calculate the brightness of its surroundings from the pictures. I mean a built-in webcam is almost a standard now in laptops, and many of the webcams are now auto detected and installed by Windows, so it'd nice if Win7 would have this feature out of the box. Any chance?

[DMHolt57]

Yes,...Adaptive Display Brightness is included in the Control Panel.

[Inctye]

can't you just right click on the network icon and click turn on activity animation

Actually, I can't find that function in 7000 like it used to be in Vista. Seems like they removed it altogether and its not bothering me. If you really need a simple and light network utility, try Bitmeter 2. Not only does it actively show the download and upload activity on the taskbar, it also helps monitor the total amount of traffic you use per month. Very useful if you have an ISP with a monthly bandwidth cap.

[InternalStorm]

I had a problem where the glass of the taskbar and window frames would go super dark, the taskbar was actually black and the non-active windows were slightly transparent but very dark and the active window almost black/pure black as well. It would do this randomly and then stay like that, so I would go and change it back to a lighter color in customization, but after a short little time it would just kick back to black again. I uninstalled Live Mesh and it seems that it doesn't do this anymore...

Is there a problem with Live Mesh and Windows 7? This has happened to me on TWO installs so far, on my Windows Vista -> 7 upgrade and a clean install. It hasn't done it for a while now so I am assuming it's because of Live Mesh but any ideas would be great.

Also, another bug...when I first booted into Windows, the pinned taskbar icons were to the far left by the orb, and then programs that weren't pinned would open up a little further to the right and leave a gap kind of like with quicklaunch where you could make a gap between running windows and the quicklaunch icons. This was kinda cool because then I knew which were pinned and which were just open windows...for some reason I rebooted and it no longer does this. Kinda of strange.

[y_notm]

I had a problem where the glass of the taskbar and window frames would go super dark, the taskbar was actually black and the non-active windows were slightly transparent but very dark and the active window almost black/pure black as well. It would do this randomly and then stay like that, so I would go and change it back to a lighter color in customization, but after a short little time it would just kick back to black again. I uninstalled Live Mesh and it seems that it doesn't do this anymore...

Is there a problem with Live Mesh and Windows 7? This has happened to me on TWO installs so far, on my Windows Vista -> 7 upgrade and a clean install. It hasn't done it for a while now so I am assuming it's because of Live Mesh but any ideas would be great.

Also, another bug...when I first booted into Windows, the pinned taskbar icons were to the far left by the orb, and then programs that weren't pinned would open up a little further to the right and leave a gap kind of like with quicklaunch where you could make a gap between running windows and the quicklaunch icons. This was kinda cool because then I knew which were pinned and which were just open windows...for some reason I rebooted and it no longer does this. Kinda of strange.

The Live Mesh window-border bug is a known issue and will be fixed whenever the next update to live mesh is released.

[scumdogmillionaire]

I had a problem where the glass of the taskbar and window frames would go super dark, the taskbar was actually black and the non-active windows were slightly transparent but very dark and the active window almost black/pure black as well. It would do this randomly and then stay like that, so I would go and change it back to a lighter color in customization, but after a short little time it would just kick back to black again. I uninstalled Live Mesh and it seems that it doesn't do this anymore...

Is there a problem with Live Mesh and Windows 7? This has happened to me on TWO installs so far, on my Windows Vista -> 7 upgrade and a clean install. It hasn't done it for a while now so I am assuming it's because of Live Mesh but any ideas would be great.

Also, another bug...when I first booted into Windows, the pinned taskbar icons were to the far left by the orb, and then programs that weren't pinned would open up a little further to the right and leave a gap kind of like with quicklaunch where you could make a gap between running windows and the quicklaunch icons. This was kinda cool because then I knew which were pinned and which were just open windows...for some reason I rebooted and it no longer does this. Kinda of strange.

Known issue with live Mesh. Apparently will be fixed in a new version of Mesh soon.

[MycroftH]

Hmm - nope no way to get that back. It's been removed and only shows in the detailed view so if you want that then that's where you're gonna find it.

Seems really silly, people still want to sort even though the view isn't constrained by columns. Now you have to right click and select a menu item just to see what it's being sorted on. That's a step back to XP

There's a relevant entry on Win7Taskforce, hopefully this can be brought back as an option

[FutureCow]

I still have a problem in the 7000 build that I also had in the 6956 build. After a restart Explorer is working great. But after some time when I click on "computer" and open a drive, the bar at the top is changing but nothing happend.

When I close explorer and reopen it I only see this:

Also opening Control Panel is sowing the same thing or other sreens like Personalize desktop or Screen Resolution...

Inside a program I can save documents and browse folders...

I already installed new nForce drivers (SATA drivers) but that didn't solve the problem.

[InternalStorm]

Is there any way to have List view for the Library Pictures where there are only folders and then Large Icons (default for pictures) view when I go into a subfolder which actually has photos in it? Because I want thumbnails for the photos, but to have huge icons for the folders makes it impossible to find the folder with the photos I am looking for...

If I change the view it changes it for all subfolders or vice versa which is incredibly annoying.

[Denholm]

Oh, my - I always liked what Paul Thurrot writes, but I disagree with him for the very first time. He doesn't understand the superbar http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_beta_notes.asp :p

Well, the way the 'superbar' :ermm: comes configured, it is confusing. It's not until taskbar text is turned 'on' that it becomes usable.

[Pikey]

The 'superbar' certainly seems to have split opinion!

Personally I'm loving it .. but at least you can customize it if you don't get on with the default.

[Denholm]

The 'superbar' certainly seems to have split opinion!

Personally I'm loving it .. but at least you can customize it if you don't get on with the default.

;) Sure. But at least it's 'flat transparent' and not that rounded transparent horror it used to be in Vista.

[Guest xiphi]

Well, the way the 'superbar' :ermm: comes configured, it is confusing. It's not until taskbar text is turned 'on' that it becomes usable.

What's so confusing about it? It's not hard to tell what apps are running and which aren't. It's pretty obvious to me. I have no problem switching windows or doing the things I did before this new taskbar. It's just all managed better.

[Denholm]

What's so confusing about it? It's not hard to tell what apps are running and which aren't. It's pretty obvious to me. I have no problem switching windows or doing the things I did before this new taskbar. It's just all managed better.

What's obvious to you is not obvious to me. :$

I need clear visible differentiation between what is essentially a shortcut and a running app. With 'text' turned 'on' I can see what is what - otherwise it's a confused mess.

There's also something unclear for me with a pinned app running in it's 'pinned place' and other apps running on the right of the currently pinned shortcuts and pinned running apps. So to me the 'superbar' is as clear as a muddy puddle.

[Kyang]

What's needed is to make the running application icons bounce periodically.

Also, for greater visual feedback, the more resource intensive the application, the faster, and harder the icon bounces.

[Guest xiphi]

What's obvious to you is not obvious to me. :$

I need clear visible differentiation between what is essentially a shortcut and a running app. With 'text' turned 'on' I can see what is what - otherwise it's a confused mess.

There's also something unclear for me with a pinned app running in it's 'pinned place' and other apps running on the right of the currently pinned shortcuts and pinned running apps. So to me the 'superbar' is as clear as a muddy puddle.

Maybe I adapted to it so well because I had the taskbar configured in Vista to group where there are at least 2 instances of a window open, and I used the Quick Launch. So to me, the new taskbar brought the best of both together by also giving me more room on my taskbar. :)

What's needed is to make the running application icons bounce periodically.

Also, for greater visual feedback, the more resource intensive the application, the faster, and harder the icon bounces.

I don't think that would be a good idea. It would annoy me to death and make me think the application is trying to get my attention when it's not. In the end, it would just be confusing to the end user.

[Kyang]

Maybe I adapted to it so well because I had the taskbar configured in Vista to group where there are at least 2 instances of a window open, and I used the Quick Launch. So to me, the new taskbar brought the best of both together by also giving me more room on my taskbar. :)

I don't think that would be a good idea. It would annoy me to death and make me think the application is trying to get my attention when it's not. In the end, it would just be confusing to the end user.

I'll be sure to make my jokes more obvious next time, :blush: .