Windows 7 build 7000 challenges

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I am auditioning WIndows 7 BUILD 7000 and and also a WIndows 7_64bit (questions, regarding 64bit, I will leave to another post).

Although I have stacks of integrations, I am using a Sempron LE-1250 with 3 gig of RAM and a Gigabyte M61PME-S2P board for test purposes. I fully expect to replace my creaky XP office computer with this Windows 7 OS.

My first impression was a very unscientific "feel." Windows 7 felt nearly as solid as my Ubuntu platforms. I installed very little software to start, Outlook 2003 (it is my office cpu afterall) and AVG antivirus. Then, I auditioned the Media Player (a great deal of my computer usage is devoted to excerpting live musical performances and editing documentaries).

Problems:

#1) Media Player 11 has a handy dandy picture adjustment. I can't find it on Media Player 12. I have downloaded plug-ins, but no "enhancement additions." 12 has beautiful codecs and magnificent sound, but I can't adjust the brightness, for example.

#2) This is embarrassing. Foxfire and Yahoo IM cause the platform to crash. OK, I took them off. But, alas, it has ceased operation twice since then. No prior warning, just off she goes, like I have a short on the mboard. Other OS's work, so there is not short. Is 7000 crashware? I have updated religously.

Any insight would be very much appreciated.

Joe Marroso

If you are in fact using build 7000, then you are using a VERY out of date build that I'm surprised is still functioning (the betas for Windows 7 are expiring at this point). The most recent downloadable build is 7100 (I'm talking legally, from MS) and the current build is 7600. I suspect you are not using 7000, and it will help us to help you if you would give us an accurate build number. Otherwise, find a more recent build and give that a run, I'm confident you'll be pleased!

Windows 7 Beta build 7000 bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1st, 2009. You will be alerted to install a released version of Windows and your PC will shut down automatically every 2 hours. On August 1st, 2009 if you are still on the Windows 7 Beta your license for the Windows 7 Beta will expire and the non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar.