Amithony wrote:
I wonder how the viruses are going to enjoy windows 7? 
~
There is a security update for the beta. KB958644, which relates to MS08-067, Server service remote code execution. This allows an authenticated user to break the Server service and execute code. I have been hired to clean up several installations affected by this particular vulnerability. (In all but one case, these are unpatched servers which get taken down by a workstation infected by a worm from a social networking site. The primary vector is old Flash installations.)
Anyway, I have spent some time with Seven today in Virtual PC 2007 SP1 (SP1 is required if you want to use the Virtual PC Additions, otherwise you will crash 7.) I originally installed using Microsoft's Pre-Public Beta Release... uh, excuse me, I mean the "leaked" ;-) BitTorrent ISO. This version is a multi-installer from which I selected Business.
Pretty snappy, even in a VPC. Although I have three gripes at this point: no "Classic" theme, cannot get that damnedable ClearType to actually turn off, and finding many settings still requires navigating menu trees.
I will not be able to use 7 if that ClearType "feature" cannot be turned off. It gives me horrible headaches, and viewing it on an LCD monitor is like watching white vertical lines scroll on graphics displayed from the likes of the Apple ][ and the TI-99/4A (anyone who has ever played "Parsec" on the TI knows exactly what I mean.)
Using the official beta release, which is ultimate, performance dropped significantly, and I really do not know why. I am about to dump the official release and go back to the unofficial if the performance does not level off.
As for problems with viruses, I am happy to report that AVG v8 runs just dandy in 7. Before reloading the system, I purposefully injected a couple of viruses into the system, and visited some pages which attempt trojan installations (IE hijacks.) I had to bypass IE8's warnings first, but AVG works.
Other than that, Vista's side bar is gone. There is a new "Action" center which gives special alerts from a little golf flag in the clock.
The Quick Launch has been replaced with the "Pin to Task Bar" option, but the icons do not appear to be resizable -- a shame, since I generally like a couple of rows of icons. An interesting change to the Task Bar is how programs are now grouped by the programs icon. As well, if the program is pinned, then that pinned icon now becomes the program's anchor on the Task Bar.
A "Show Desktop" function has been placed to the right of the clock. This replaces the old Quick Launch icon while still giving a GUI option for the Windows-D shortcut key.
I cannot think of much else right now. If you have used Vista, you are pretty much ready to use 7. It is still butt-ugly, still uses up stupid amounts of screen real estate, but is a little less sluggish.
For my performance comparisons, I have run Vista Business 32-bit and 7 Business 32-bit in VirtualPC. 7 feels much more responsive. It also installed much more quickly -- I was able to get 7 installed in a little over two "Family Guy" episodes, versus a little longer than "Airplane" for Vista. (Really, what makes the difference??) I am suspect of these results, so I am going to try again. Thankfully, the installation is largely hands-off.
I am still not feeling compelled to switch from XP. Though, given the apparent performance difference, I may load it up on my primary machine once it hits RC1. My workstation will continue to run XP x64 for as long as it is supported by proxy of 2003 x64.
I may play with it in VirtualBox just to see if there is any performance difference. I expect there to be a little difference as you can adjust the amount of video RAM available in VirtualBox, versus the static 8MB in VirtualPC.
My machine: Core2Duo 1.8GHz, with 1GB of RAM assigned to the VPC.
[EDIT] I believe the sidebar is still available, just not turned on by default like in Vista. ISTR seeing the icon for it, but since I do not use it, I did not go hunting for it.
