Windows 7 x64

Well mttomb I actually ended switching ISPs in order to connect online with any 64bit Windows once finding the old severly outdated and no longer supported dsl setup was "lost out in limbo" somewhere!

Some 32bit device drivers did actually work here when first trying them on the 64bit 7 beta by a rarity I would say. That however was very short lived since they would no longer work on the RCs once those were available even the 32bit there having been written for the 32bit XP only!

More recent hardwares as well as the new devices coming out have seen Vista 64bit updates making it possible to use on the 64bit 7. I ended replacing an old ink jet printer for a slightly newer lazerjet model that fortunately did see Vista64 updates! You have to see what updates are available for the things you plan to run as you go along since some companies are slowwwww.... at getting new ones written.

Here I waited just about 2yrs. to see Vista updates finally released on the tv tuner card in use since the company hasn't seen any newer models since! They simply keep manufacturing the one model being their most popular apparently.

What ISP did you go with?

That doesn't even matter since the new ISP provided an outdated modem that also lacked 64bit Vista support!

I then had to look over the new ISP's own list of approved modems and soon ordered the first one that did see 64bit support when going direct to the manufacturer!

Forget their 24/7 phone or online tech support for answers when an inquiry about running the 64bit Windows was made on more then one occasion. When they were asked about this the response would that the modem had 128bit security blah blah blah...!

Trial + error all the way there! The same goes for anything when you are planning to switch the OS platform. As you can see from all that this wasn't something limited to just one ISP either. But this is also one reason why I never rushed into the 64bit XP or Vista until the general support for the 64bit Windows finally emerged with 7!

I know about not rushing into an new OS system. You are talking to the guy that used Win98 until there was nothing he could buy for it. When I finally upgraded it was WinXP with SP 1. Now that is not rushing

Another 98SE to XP SP1 fan I see! I think we both missed out(or weren't caught up in) the ME flop and simply were too busy with the happy 9X days there!

I still kept 98 around for some time still until there was no longer any driver support found with any new board or other hardwares. Unfortunately I ended waiting and waiting for something better to come along and replace XP after a certain amount of time passed.

Andf here it is everyone! Windows 7 is on the threshold in less then 5 weeks!

Well that is one of the reasons I wanted to know the info I did. With technet members can get Windows 7 now. You just can't use it for production. As soon as I find a hard drive to put it on. I am going to install it. Can Win 7 do a dual boot with XP?

Yes.

Win 7 is very nice. I have given up on using anything else. I mean I now HATE using anything else. I use the 64 bit version and haven't found it to be a problem although I have had to do a few work arounds so I could use some programs that had "unsigned" drivers. But that was not a big deal to do.

Plus, there are at least one game that I still play that I got back in the day when Win98 was popular. Ever hear of a game called Starz? It was a shareware program that had a small fee to get the full version.

That one is all too easy to answer there! When 7 was first released in beta I had an XP/Vista dual boot already on across two drives. Solution I shrank each drive's primary down to allow for the two betas with the 32bit ending up on the XP at the time.

The 64bit beta then went onto the second partition but "could not" connect online with the old ISP! This is one thing you will want to look at first there to see what you will need to run the 64bit 7. But that left the beta unactivated and simply sitting on the drive idle.

Finally the news and general availability of the RCs was approaching faster then expected for most. In preparation for that the decision was narrowed down to only one possible conclusion that one ISP had to go! Then the new ISP asked if you had your own or would need one provided when first signing up.... ut oh? time to find out if that will be needed.

As a few already know this one well enough the ISP provided modem simply proved itself to be nothing more then a piece of work alright! While going over all their support pages for anything there a list of approved modems came up! Solution found!