Buy Windows 7 Now!

[DevilAlumna]

Awesome deal for students - Win7 (Home premium or Professional) for $29.99! Only good until Jan. 10, 2010.

http://win741.com/

That's cheaper than I can get!

[TillyGalore]

Awesome deal for students - Win7 (Home premium or Professional) for $29.99! Only good until Jan. 10, 2010.

http://win741.com/

That's cheaper than I can get!

For the heck of it, I decided to see if I could take advantage of this offer since I work at a university. It appears I can. They asked for my email address, I used my work/university email address. I haven't actually tried to purchase it as, well, I'm not a student (enrolled in any kind of program other than life).

[colchar]

Now that I'm finished TAing for the semester I finally had time to install Windows 7. Luckily, I was able to go into my 'Windows Old' folder and am now transferring everything I want to keep to an external hard drive. Once that process is finished I plan to wipe the old desktop and do a clean install of Windows 7. That's how I'll be spending my Friday night

Before I started moving stuff over to the external drive I played around in the new OS a bit and I quite like it. The only thing I don't like is that I can't get a screen resolution that I like. Seriously, every one I have tried has been giving me headaches. I had this problem in the past (can't remember if it was with XP or Vista) but finally managed to find a decent resolution. Hopefully I can manage the same thing this time.

Also, for some reason my product key wouldn't work but that isn't a big deal - I bought it legally from school and had a legal copy of Vista on the system prior to installing Windows 7 (albeit a screwed up non-functioning copy of Vista) so, if the problem persists, I am sure I can just call Microsoft and have the situation resolved.

Does anyone know if a copy of Windows 7 can be installed on more than one computer? After getting my desktop up and running I'd like to install it on my laptop but I certainly don't want to have to buy it again.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The only thing I don't like is that I can't get a screen resolution that I like. Seriously, every one I have tried has been giving me headaches.

Adjust the refresh rate, not the resolution.

Does anyone know if a copy of Windows 7 can be installed on more than one computer? After getting my desktop up and running I'd like to install it on my laptop but I certainly don't want to have to buy it again.

Usually, after 3 months or so, the activation will work again. I don't know what the time schedule is for sure, but it's not permanent. If it does hiccup, tell them your first pc died.

[colchar]

Adjust the refresh rate, not the resolution.

Thanks, but could you explain what that means or how to do that? I honestly have no clue (there is a reason I majored in the Humanities).

ETA: Figured it out.

Usually, after 3 months or so, the activation will work again. I don't know what the time schedule is for sure, but it's not permanent. If it does hiccup, tell them your first pc died.

Cool, thanks Bro.

[colchar]

Unfortunately, the only option I have is 60mhz so I can't change the refresh rate (not sure if this means my graphic card sucks or if it means my monitor sucks). I've played with the resolution a bit and things are a little better. They still aren't perfect though and I'm getting dizzy looking at the screen. I'll keep playing with it to see if I can find a setting that works.

[colchar]

I simply cannot believe that they removed the classic start menu feature. That is by far the worst decision ever. I've always hated the newer start menu but now I am forced to use it. I am really not happy about this at all.

[colchar]

When I try to adjust the refresh rate on my monitor my options are 60, 75, and 85. If I try to use either 75 or 85 I get a message on the screen saying that the frequency is out of range. This never happened with Vista so I don't know what is happening here. Do I maybe just need to download new drivers for my monitor? Or is my monitor too crappy for Windows 7? Or might my video card (or something similar) either be too crappy or need new drivers?

I'm really hoping I don't have to buy a new monitor...

[Miles]

When I try to adjust the refresh rate on my monitor my options are 60, 75, and 85. If I try to use either 75 or 85 I get a message on the screen saying that the frequency is out of range. This never happened with Vista so I don't know what is happening here. Do I maybe just need to download new drivers for my monitor? Or is my monitor too crappy for Windows 7? Or might my video card (or something similar) either be too crappy or need new drivers?

I'm really hoping I don't have to buy a new monitor...

Update the driver; it "never" hurts.

How much video ram does your card have?

Do you have an integrated graphics card? You can check this by seeing where you plug-in the monitor to the back of your computer. If it's plugged into a PCI/AGP slot (one of the horizontal slots with metal plates protecting them) then the answer is NO, if it looks like it's plugged into a part of the computer that cannot be moved, then the answer is most likely YES. Short and sweet, integrated graphics sucks. Not enough power means you can't jack up the refresh rate.

[colchar]

Update the driver; it "never" hurts.

It seems the drivers are all up to date.

How much video ram does your card have?

Not sure if this is the right info but here is what I could find:

Intel(R) 946GZ Express Chipset Family
Chip Type: Intel GMA 3000
DAC Type: Internal
Approx. Total memory: 256MB
Current Display Mode: 1280X960 (32 BIT) (60HZ)

Do you have an integrated graphics card? You can check this by seeing where you plug-in the monitor to the back of your computer. If it's plugged into a PCI/AGP slot (one of the horizontal slots with metal plates protecting them) then the answer is NO, if it looks like it's plugged into a part of the computer that cannot be moved, then the answer is most likely YES. Short and sweet, integrated graphics sucks. Not enough power means you can't jack up the refresh rate.

The connection is the old pin type that has been around forever. Don't know enough about computers to be able to answer any of the rest of this.

[colchar]

For those using the virtual XP application - what do you think of it? Does it eat up resources? Is it worth using (I'm assuming it is only really worthwhile if you want to keep using older programs)?

[Miles]

For those using the virtual XP application - what do you think of it? Does it eat up resources? Is it worth using (I'm assuming it is only really worthwhile if you want to keep using older programs)?

I'm not sure about the XP appliance for Win 7, but I can comment on virtualization in general. I'm a big fan of it and typically run two or three operating systems at the same time, though none of them are Windows.

How much memory do you have and what's your processor speed? These factors will determine if it's feasible or desirable to run XP virtualized. I say you should give it a shot even if it's only to learn a bit more about it and become familiar with the concepts. You'll be seeing a lot more virtual appliances in the future.

[colchar]

For those using the virtual XP application - what do you think of it? Does it eat up resources? Is it worth using (I'm assuming it is only really worthwhile if you want to keep using older programs)?

I'm not sure about the XP appliance for Win 7, but I can comment on virtualization in general. I'm a big fan of it and typically run two or three operating systems at the same time, though none of them are Windows.

How much memory do you have and what's your processor speed? These factors will determine if it's feasible or desirable to run XP virtualized. I say you should give it a shot even if it's only to learn a bit more about it and become familiar with the concepts. You'll be seeing a lot more virtual appliances in the future.

My processor is an Intel Core 2 6400@2.13GHz and I have 2GB of RAM so I think that should be good enough to handle running a virtual copy of XP alongside Windows 7.


Speaking of Windows 7, I am really liking this new OS. Other than a couple of unexpected crashes (and I'm assuming those problems will be resolved via updates from Microsoft) I am very happy with it. I had had no problems with Vista and only upgraded because my anti-virus program screwed up Vista but I'm glad I did (other than my original vision problems when looking at the new OS). Microsoft hit a home run with this one

[colchar]

My system easily met the requirements and I've been screwing around in virtual XP mode for the last little while - what a great system


As I said above, Microsoft really hit a home run with this new OS. I'm not prone to giving them much credit at times and I am not really the type to get all enthusiastic about some new computer development (part of the reason I could never join the cult and buy a Mac) but I am seriously impressed with what they have done in Windows 7 (I'm even over the fact that they removed the classic start menu option). Now I'm going to have to look into how difficult it will be to upgrade my laptop (apparently Toshibas can be a bitch to upgrade) as I would really like to load Windows 7 on there as well.