Windows 7 Beta?

There will probably be another beta, but it would be useful to backup data and run it in a virtual machine like vmware so you don’t lose anything

There will likely not be a patch, although it’s likely they could release it around that date, so they might make some type of upgrade program. But I think it’s very unlikely. To be safe you will need to go back to XP.

Beta programs aren’t meant for day to day use. They are meant for testing and playing around with. They also don’t have any support, that’s one of the reasons the beta is free. I highly recommend you stop using Windows 7 as your primary operating system as you will need to scrap everything and reinstall come August 1st (in fact, if you wait until that day, you may be locked out of Windows totally and lose any documents you have not backed up).

OR, if I were you, I would wipe Windows off my machine and switch to Ubuntu Linux.

From what I read, the plan for now is for the beta to expire… and that’s it.

Whatever machine you have running it will need a replacement OS at that time.

Or you could try going virtual.

I’m using the Beta on a machine in my home…I downloaded it from a torrent, there was nothing that came up during my install to suggest that it would simply go away. It installed just like any other windows OS

I suppose preparing for the worst is a good idea, have everything backed up just in case they pull the plug on you.

from the Windows 7 Beta site…

Watch the calendar. The Beta expires on August 1, 2009. To continue using your PC, please be prepared to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date.

Now it could be possible that a hacker will find a way to disable that expiration, and that new version of Windows would be distributed through a torrent… but this is really sketchy. There’s no real way to know what else the hacker took out or added back in. Such as a tasty keylogger.

Do a dual boot. It’s a beta. Although it’s great, you still don’t want to use a beta as a primary OS. Partition your hard drive, keep XP, and install WIn7 on the new partition. This way when the beta expires, you don’t have to reinstall your OS.

Pardon me for asking, but how simple is it to partion a hard drive?

Extremely easy. Just google for a tutorial, and you’ll see it can be done easily in just a few steps. If you have Vista, you don’t even need 3rd party software.

@PrancingUrchin, you may consider looking into Gparted . It is a disk that you load into to partition a hard drive. Makes it really easy.

Be sure to DL the “live CD”

Part B to my question is that when I have loaded Windows 7 to another partition does it come with a boot manager or will I need to install one? I have Acronis Disk Director to create a new partition.

It should have a boot manager.

Guys, spare your efforts, dump Windows and switch to Linux.

Someone trying to force Linux on other is just as bad as a Mac Fanboi. I have no problem with Linux, I have my computer tri-booted with Ubuntu.

This thread is about windows. No one asked to be preched to about the powers of a free os.

@Eambos

I’m not preaching, and I’m not forcing. Linux is not a religion, however, Linux is a good philosophy other than being a good OS.

But still, I’m not preaching nor forcing, I’m just advising.

I totally agree Eambos, this is my question and more specifically it’s a Windows 7 question. Mac/Linux fanboys begone!

@archaeopteryx what they said, it isn’t a linux thread. I also use Suse as a dual boot on my system, there is no need to advise anyone here to stop using windows and to only use linux.

[ removed by me, thanks @Eambos! ]

@robmandu: I thnik you posted in the wrong thread.

haha, yeah I was a bit confused by it.