I was able to download the Windows 7 Beta version a while ago, but I havent installed it yet because I don't know too much about it. A friend of mine is going to help me, but then I head that it would only be good until July.
What happens then? Is that true? Does it just stop working? What's the deal?
Yeah the Release Candidate will extend right up until at least the retail availability of 7. All you do is either update the Beta->RC or just do a fresh install.
As far as the beta goes, on July 1st it will deactivate and go into activation grace period for 30days till Aug 1st before finally going into reduced functionality mode.
Thanks, that was very helpful. But what would the "reduced functionality" mode entail? How would I find that out. Thank you so much for your help.
v8ornot2v8 .. Yep it will stop working but I am counting on a retail version being available to upgrade with by then. So install it and have fun if you can afford to buy a copy of the final release sometime in Sept.or Oct. Of course you should know that this is a beta and many things can go wrong and you could loose your data. You must back up or install on a test machine. lm
Basically from july 1 the system will only allow you to save any files you have to an external location - other than the system drive - this is reduced functionality mode.
After August 1 the system will simply refuse to even boot - This build is timebombed as is normal with Beta builds
That's very good advice about saving my data elsewhere - thank you. So basically this is just to test and get me hooked. Has anyone else here been using the beta? I'm sure there are lot sof reviews out there, I was just wondering of the few of youfollowing this thread.
I would estimate about 95% + of the 4500+ members here are or have ran the Beta in one form or another, have a look around the forum ans especially the tutorials and you should find the Beta experience to be a good one
If you are new to Beta testing just make sure that you have backups of your data and you can switch to another OS or re-install one should you need to.
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