The thread wherein Windows 7 is discussed...

[Engels]

I think the only reason folks would install games or store the user files on a separate partition/disk than the OS thing would be space limitations. Nearly all windows programs require registry entries so its not like if you hork your OS files you can reinstall your OS and still have the old programs work with your new OS.

[Strazos]

Some programs will run without the registry entries.

Beyond that, I have lots of random data storage I wouldn't want to move around if I need to wipe, so I use partitions.

[Hindenburg]

Some almost all programs will run without the registry entries.

Fix'd.

[Engels]

Er, I should have been clearer. Almost all, if not all Microsoft licensed programs require registry entries. I had said 'Windows', but that's ambiguous. As far as 'almost all' other programs, I'm not real certain about the many games out there with DRM of one sort or another. I suspect that most of them would have a hizzy.

[Strazos]

I mostly use the partitions to preserve my music, videos, other docs, etc. Reinstalling games isn't a huge deal, especially when I already have the patches/mods downloaded.

Still, I generally give my c: partition a wide berth.

[Yegolev]

Sometimes you just want the comfort of a formatting.  I had a 20GB partition for XP (after it would no longer fit in my old 4GB partition) but that was actually cramped for W7.  The winsxs stuff can get huge, plus paging stuff, I decided to just dedicate a small (150GB) and fast disk to the OS this time.

Most things may not require a reinstall but certain things do, like LotRO and Steam.  I suppose Steam does not outright require it but I find it works much, much, much better if you just reinstall over the old app.  So, YMMV.  Impulse does not require a reinstall, but you do have to manually re-register your games using the old image location whereas Steam can figure it out alone.

[Teleku]

Yeah, how much space it needed for paging info before it starts taking a performance hit and the such was what I was worried about.  I just ordered a WD 1TB Caviar Black drive.  I'll probably give the windows partition about 200 gigs to be safe, then install most my games and shit to the other partition.  I still have several other hard drives to store stuff on.

[Lantyssa]

With the pagefile would a solid state drive make a big difference?  Buy a smallish one, set your pagefile to it, and don't use it for anything else.

[Yegolev]

If you have enough RAM, you won't need a pagefile.  No, really.  It's meant as a cheap overflow for when you run out of expensive (meaning $$$) RAM.  Hell, I had not had one for some time and I only have 3GB of RAM, but now that I'm using a 64-bit OS I figured I should implement one again.  As for solid-state disks, it would be cheaper and easier to install more RAM and leave out the pagefile.

[Teleku]

So, with my new system, I'm going to be using the 64-bit OS with 6 gigs of DDR3 Ram.  Do I not need to worry about the page file?

[Hindenburg]

No.

[Lantyssa]

I'd say you're fine, Teleku.

For my part, my system is plenty powerful enough.  I'm asking hypothetically.

[Yegolev]

So, with my new system, I'm going to be using the 64-bit OS with 6 gigs of DDR3 Ram.  Do I not need to worry about the page file?

Highly doubtful.  You can watch your RAM usage for shits-n-giggles and decide, but if you end up using that much RAM I'd say you might actually know what is consuming it all.  Or close a few dozen apps.

[Teleku]

Ram is so cheep now, I was was actually torn on whether I should spend another $90 just to double it up to 12 gigs.  Just to say I had 12 gigs of ram. 

[Yegolev]

Whether.

[Sky]

fether

[Numtini]

Why in the world would a boss want to cajole their employees into using a specific, crappy resolution?  If my boss walked up to me and was all, "WHAT IS THAT TINY TEXT THERE?  WE USE GOOD OLD PIXELICIOUS 800x600 HERE BY GOD," I'd assume it was some sort of stupid joke.  Then they'd probably just get a blank stare.

It's a lot of not very subtle comments about things not being large enough to read. "Oh look at your new computer! Oh Martha, how can you see that?! I can't see that at all. It's too small, how does she ever think you can read that. You get on the phone and call her right now. She's not going to put one of those on my desk. What's wrong with her that she can't make that the right size. Doesn't she know what she's doing? My computer at home has a flat screen too and it's not like that at all." 

You take someone trying to install that kind of doubt and mix that in with a really healthy dose of "change is bad" conservative thinking. It works, especially in office groupthink.

I had to re-derail this. I installed a new system to keep track of our dump and beach stickers/permits. I had a couple of 17" flatscreens. I set it up a week ago, set them at their default 1280 resolution and hoped for the best. No problems for a week. Everyone happy.

Today one of my 800x600 achievers filled in for someone down there. She started at noon. It's 12:35 now. She started her crap and now everyone wants their screen resolution changed to 800x600 or as they put it "make stuff look bigger."

Hitler should have had such power to influence others.

Need I mention this 800x600 achiever has tried everything up to and including claiming a fake disability accomodation in order to get her CRT at her normal workstation replaced with a flatscreen?

[Furiously]

I had one of those as a cubemate, someone bought into it and then I pointed out how "blurry" the text became even though it was bigger.  Fortunately we also had some proprietary apps that required at least 1024x768 so I got to hear their bitching and I suggested they get reading glasses.

[Salamok]

Need I mention this 800x600 achiever has tried everything up to and including claiming a fake disability accomodation in order to get her CRT at her normal workstation replaced with a flatscreen?

While I don't agree with the fake disablity claim, I do think that anyone that looks at a screen more than a few hours a day (lets say half a day) should have an LCD.  I have almost zero eyestrain since switching to an LCD, this is a big change from my CRT watching, red eyed, twitchy self of yore.  Also I have found that because I drove myself to such lengths with the CRT I am extremely susceptible to a relapse when switching back to a CRT (eyes start twitching within a day).  

Anyone who forces employees to stare at a CRT for more than 4 hours a day when LCD's are so cheap should be open to having their ass sued.

[Numtini]

We're a government. We don't replace equipment that isn't broken, particularly for 14 hour a week part timers. We were getting taxpayer complaints about wasting money on LCDs before we even had any. (Yes, I'm serious.)

[Salamok]

I work for the guvment and when hired I let them know an LCD was a condition of employment.  Took them 3 months to get it to me though.

[Lantyssa]

I work for the guvment and when hired I let them know an LCD was a condition of employment.  Took them 3 months to get it to me though.

City government?  (Very small city at that.)

[Salamok]

I work for the guvment and when hired I let them know an LCD was a condition of employment.  Took them 3 months to get it to me though.

City government?  (Very small city at that.)

a state agency

[Lantyssa]

That's why.  We can get away with more at state positions.  The smaller the government agency, the more stingy they get.

[Numtini]

I work for the guvment and when hired I let them know an LCD was a condition of employment.  Took them 3 months to get it to me though.

Conditions of employment? LOL! There are no conditions, you take it or leave it. You are grateful to get the job or you can go fry clams.

Whether or not I can swing something good for someone who's going to actually use it is another thing entirely. Let me guess, I'll bet you weren't going to set a widescreen 1680 LCD at 800x600 were you? People who are going to set their LCDs at Fisher-Price resolution go to the bottom of the list of getting one because it's a waste of resources. I have people doing GIS and other stuff that are really going to use the screen space and resolution and I make sure they get what they need.

[Numtini]

On the actual subject of Win7, anyone get Aion running with it? I found the fix for gameguard, but it's giving me a DX not supported error and pointing me at 9 which won't install because of some odd crypto error.

[Engels]

Hmm, I got CoD to install, along with Dx9 on Win7. So the issue may be separate.

[Viin]

Welp, time to trash this Beta version and install a fresh copy of RC 1... hope all goes well! *holds breath*

[Strazos]

I just finished my RC install today. Totally smooth, though the system throws up slightly more warnings the first time I load things up.

The ability for the OS to download updated drivers, for me, automatically, is pretty nice.

[Viin]

Yah, this actually went pretty smooth - no problems so far. Using FEBE to restore all my Firefox settings/cookies/bookmarks/usernames/passwords is super slick too.

[Yegolev]

The RC is superior to the beta all around, as far as I can tell.  Glad you boys have caught up, more ears to catch my occasional gripe... although mostly these appear to be application problems.

[NiX]

Yeah, every issue I've had, which isn't many, has been entirely software. The only huge issues I've had was with Thief 3 (doesn't run past the first mission) and my EyeToy, but it uses hacked drivers, so I shouldn't expect much.

[Sky]

Newegg is selling Vista with a free upgrade to W7 for $110. Since the full version of W7 is listing at $200 right now, it's a good deal if you're still running XP (hi!).

[Tairnyn]

For the next few days (until 7/11) you can preorder the Windows 7 Home Upgrade for $50. From what I read it's the full version just requires you have a valid XP or Vista license to activate. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, since I'll probably grab it in a few days.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116713

[Sky]

Interesting, I didn't realize that. A couple articles linked to the register:

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/02/05/windows_xp_7_vista_upgrade/

Looks like it only supports clean installs, but who the heck upgrades in place?

I would also like to hear reasons we shouldn't be jumping on that $50 pre-order deal, because I'm going to find a way to scrape up some dough for it...