[_raVan_]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Windows 8 developer preview Release is out !

Initial impressions:
Except entry UI, not much change from Win7. I felt Win8 is some kind of advanced theme over Win7. This might interest consumers. But I doubt enterprises investing in Win8.

Screenshot of Start Menu:
Attachment 610215

Have you installed the developer preview? If so, do share your experiences, like did it detect your hardware easily and speeds when compared to Win 7?

[joslicx]

I installed Win 8 Developer preview on my laptop 2 days back.

Initial impressions:

1. It is what Win 7 should have been! First time in years MS have outdone themselves. All through from Win 95 to Win 7 we had basically a very similar UI and user experience but this Windows is "different". Now programs are like apps, they can be sitting in the memory (and when doing nothing they will be in suspended state), hence system will not feel slow or anything. This was my major gripe with earlier windows. You open 10 things, memory will be full and system will become very slow! Maybe they have finally fixed this problem To me they have Androidified Windows!!!

2. UI is attractive and useful. Live tiles are really useful and better than widgets.

3. Browser is fast and takes up all of the screen so more real estate offered than others. This is quite convenient.

4. Social integration tab (read facebook) is quite nifty. I liked it better than how it looks in the browser.

So much so far. THere isint much to do in the developer preview as I expect the final release version will have lot more "bells and whistles". But overall it impressed me. Of course I was looking from a simplistic user point of view who has gotten used to smartphones. This Windows potentially CAN ruffle Apple's feathers!

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Windows 8 developer preview Release is out !

Initial impressions:
Except entry UI, not much change from Win7. I felt Win8 is some kind of advanced theme over Win7. This might interest consumers. But I doubt enterprises investing in Win8.

Screenshot of Start Menu:
Attachment 610215

it took me a while to get my client's VPN running on win7. I still have to run some of their portals under VMware in windows XP.

It will be a very long time before I can even think of win 8. But I am instaling it on my secondary laptop soon .

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Have you installed the developer preview? If so, do share your experiences, like did it detect your hardware easily and speeds when compared to Win 7?

I installed on hyper visor and I would have been surprised if it didn't detect any hardware. I guess if Win7 works on a hardware, then Win8 will too. Initially I had set 2GB RAM. But the UI was sluggish. I found that recommended RAM itself is 2GB. So when I set 4GB, its more usable. So,

• For Win8, get min 4GB RAM with good graphics card. Anything less will slow you down.

Like I said before, it seems Win8 is just a layer over Win7, i.e.,

• Win8 = Win7 + Metro UI

So there are 2 kinds of application - Desktop Style & Metro Style

Desktop style apps are regular Win7 kind of apps. These apps run in regular desktop like Win7. If IE is opened here, it comes as window as we are familiar with.

Metro style apps are like mobile apps. These apps work like in a mobile phone. For instance, they have no close button. They are suspended when they go out of view. And activated when focused. IE here covers full desktop, like in mobile. Default games have kept with time, like Suduko instead of Minesweeper.

Bottom line,

• Metro UI is the home screen and has apps
• Desktop is an app in MetroUI.

PS: Now, phone is just an app in a Smartphone. Likewise, desktop is just an app in a Desktop.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

I must say that for people interested in MS software, one could do a lot worse than buying a Technet subscription. Only hitch is that Indian prices are a lot higher than US/UK prices but there are easy workarounds. Bought myself a Technet Pro subscription for Rs. 11,000 (my sis-in-law bought it for me from her US address) that gives me this:
1. 500 activations of windows 7 enterprise.
2. 600 activations of other windows 7 versions.
3. 200 activations of office 2010
4. 500 activations of office 2007
5. close to 1000 activations of vista and xp (if I ever get to exhausting from windows 7 activations).
6. similar 500 activations of windows server 2008 r2 hpc, standard, etc.
7. such huge numbers for other MS products.

The thing is these are activations which means inputing a key on a fresh install. Image your computer and one would expect to not even use 10 installs before next windows/office comes out.

As I said, the hitch is that US technet pro is for around 11,000 but has to be bought from a US address and US credit card (Indian intl. will not do). For UK subscriptions at 14-15K, a UK address is required but an Indian credit card passes.

The keys can be claimed during the subscription (1 year) but they last forever (yours forever). Renew in time for the next generation and one can get as much as one wants of MS for as long as one wants. As I see the prices, a single win 7 ultimate dvd is Rs. 10K+, and office 2010 pro plus is Rs. 20K+. Server editions are in bigger numbers.

Open a virtual machine and get more than 2 machines on the same computer. Great for testing and bye-bye dual/multiple boots.

One can go for a Standard Subscription which should be 20-30% cheaper but has no windows 7 enterprise. Still one gets 200 activations of Ultimate (functionally same as Enterprise) and 200 activations of Office 2010. Plus, nearly all server versions.

Can you explain a bit more on what type of subscription is this?

[Fillmore]

has anyone tried deleting huge folders in Windows 7

Even if you do a Shift+Del it takes forever, even longer than copying files of the same size.

I tried deleting a folder which is 27gb in size. (Shift + Delete) and it says .. Deleting files .. 1 day remaining

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

I tried deleting a folder which is 27gb in size. (Shift + Delete) and it says .. Deleting files .. 1 day remaining

I think it is because unlike in older versions, Win7 always/often defrags the hard disk when deleting a file to ensure fast access to hard disk sectors. Deleting 27GB calls for defragmenting 27GB portion.

Btw, how much time it eventually took to delete 27GB?

[Bluengel180]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

has anyone tried deleting huge folders in Windows 7

Even if you do a Shift+Del it takes forever, even longer than copying files of the same size.

I tried deleting a folder which is 27gb in size. (Shift + Delete) and it says .. Deleting files .. 1 day remaining

I have shift+deleted 50+GB and it hasn't taken more than 5 minutes

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by DevilsCry

I think it is because unlike in older versions, Win7 always/often defrags the hard disk when deleting a file to ensure fast access to hard disk sectors. Deleting 27GB calls for defragmenting 27GB portion.

Btw, how much time it eventually took to delete 27GB?

In this case it was an External USB HDD.
I can't say for sure how long it took, because I left it overnight , next morning it was paused with a "This is an executable file Are u sure you want to delete it msg ? " , After that it took around 15min.

Since it was super slow I also tried this on the parent folder
Properties > Advanced > Uncheck both "File is ready for archiving" and "Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties"

After that when I clicked apply, setting this itself took another 25min for all the files.

Originally Posted by Bluengel180

I have shift+deleted 50+GB and it hasn't taken more than 5 minutes

Mine was an external USB disk. If you ask me even 5 minutes is a lot of time when u are sitting in front of the comp and waiting for a Shift+Delete. Cause you are just purging it right ? there is no re-cycle bin retrieval required ever.

The same would take no more than a couple of seconds on unix.

[condor]

Guys, question fro Windows 7 :

I have a Canoscan LiDE 30 Scanner. Scanner worked perfectly with XP. But dont seem to find twain drivers for Win 7 for this scanner.

Any work arounds ?

Canon doesnot have drivers. SOme people suggested using Vista drivers, but this does not even install on my system

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by condor

Guys, question fro Windows 7 :

Whatever device has a driver for Vista,99% it will run on Windows 7.

Download the zip package for vista ""TWAIN Driver - LiDE 30 Scanner Driver Ver. 7.0.... "" This is not a (WHQL) SIGNED driver package!! .

Use winRAR and open the exe as an archive. Alternatively, change the name of .exe to .rar.

There is another SetupSG.exe. Open it again with Win RAR. Inside you'll find CNQL30.inf. Extract all files to a folder on desktop.

Turn off driver signature enforcement from within windows (advanced system settings) & through bootloader(F8 routine). Once booted, right click the .inf and click install.Alternatively, run the SetupSG.exe.Ignore the red warning and Install anyway.Don't reboot before completely knowing the F8 routine. You'll have to do it again for the device to work.

If it works, install toolbox. It will tell you if driver becomes inoperable.

You might have to turn off driver sig enforcement at every boot for the scanner to work. Else, windows will disable the driver from loading(and it is back to square zero). ReadyDriver will automate "turn off driver sig enforcement" process for you.

[condor]

Originally Posted by JustCause

Download the zip package for vista ""TWAIN Driver - LiDE 30 Scanner Driver Ver. 7.0.... "" This is not a (WHQL) SIGNED driver package!! .

@JustCause, thank you ! Sorry for the late response to your post, but I had not been able to work on it till today. The link you shared (above) doesnt work - I am not able to download the drivers.

But, on one of the forums, someone mentioned that it will work with VueScan. Initial testing shows that it does work.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-adc0deef3c0e

But, an un-registered version of VueScan leaves a permanent watermark.

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by condor

.
But, an un-registered version of VueScan leaves a permanent watermark.

Good to know that Vue Scan works. The drivers link I provided was from the official Canon USA site. You have to go to the site to download as I think the Javascript in the link has some glitch.

If VueScan can scan, it means it is using an alternative workaround in Win7, or a signed version of the old driver in compatibility mode.

Imaging and HID devices (fingerprint,smartcard,touchpad) go outdated very fast in Windows OS it seems.

[condor]

Guys, need help with IE ..

How do I get rid of Babylon and Bing ? I have tried to check the registry, but has not helped. Babylon has got entrenched somewhere deep inside.

It doesnt harm things, but just that - how do I get rid of it ? (I like my new browser window to come up clean with Google as homepage)

[vivekiny2k]

look at installed programs thru control panel, and also tools->manage add ons>-search providers.

you should be able to change the homepage via tools-> internet options.