The Anything Related To Windows Thread

[Chairman Meow]

My legally acquired copy from the MSDNAA refuses to install.  The only way to burn it again is to download it via an .exe from Microsoft and my only other computer is a Powerbook, *facepalm*

So I guess I'm reinstalling XP to download and burn Windows 7 again?

[dmauro]

ouch. do you want me to burn something for you?

[FortNinety]

So apparently the touchscreen component doesn't work very well...

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/10/26/windows-7-humiliates-ms-japan-boss-live-on-stage/

... But does it even matter? Then again, I think a completely touch-based Mac is a stupid thing, so I'm maybe not the right person to comment. Maybe they just care about it in Japan?

[Chairman Meow]

ouch. do you want me to burn something for you?

Took a trip to the in-laws and got a new copy out of it, thanks though.

So apparently the touchscreen component doesn't work very well...

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/10/26/windows-7-humiliates-ms-japan-boss-live-on-stage/

... But does it even matter? Then again, I think a completely touch-based Mac is a stupid thing, so I'm maybe not the right person to comment. Maybe they just care about it in Japan?

Not very surprising, have you ever tried to use a Windows Mobile phone?

[dmauro]

I was wrong about being able to make the window borders non-transparent. It's an option that I just missed. I just created a new user and moved everything over in a more proper manner to this new user and deleted the old one so that my games and apps can save without a problem now too, so no complains at the moment.

[FortNinety]

Not very surprising, have you ever tried to use a Windows Mobile phone?

Well, I was somewhat impressed with the interface of 6.5 till I found out that the team behind it literally stole the frontend from the Zune HD and left the rest a real mess. I also found it funny that the very second it hit the streets, after months and months of championing it, MS went "okay, all problems will be solved with 7". Which everyone does, mind you, but their extremely nonchalant attitude was rather hilarious.

[FortNinety]

Poor Vista users...

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139879/Windows_7_upgrade_paralyzes_some_PCs_with_endless_reboots

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139991/Windows_7_endless_reboot_answer_evades_Microsoft

[FortNinety]

As noted in the gaming section, it's been hell trying to install Windows 7 on my Mac.

MS finally sent me a copy, which didn't work, and which I had to ask Dave for some help, by re-burning the disc image to make it Mac compatible. Online, everyone's pointing fingers at either MS or Apple. Mind you, this is only with the 64-bit version.

The actual installation process itself was a whole different headache. Everyone said that installing 7 on a Mac was much easier than XP, but not in my experience. Boot Camp (the program used to do so) is slightly changed in Snow Leopard, and for the worse. I had to fuss around with my hard drive a lot because I kept getting "not enough free space" errors despite having more than enough (the problem could be attributed towards having a fragmented drive, but I JUST did a clean install of OS X the day prior).

Once that was finally taken care of, I could go ahead and install, but... btw, thanks The Unofficial Apple Weblog for having the most bullshit tutorials online. Seriously, thank you. I kept scratching my head at one part in particular, the most important one, which I guess they assumed everyone already knew about, which led to lots of frantic Googling via the iPhone, and that's a real pain in the ass.

After I finally got the damn thing to install and figured I was finally on home base.... no sound. Wonderful. Plus, there's something up with the video. Basically, the final step is to install a bunch of drivers from Apple's OS X install disc, which is... you guess it... not compatible with Windows 7, 64-bit version. So I have to wait for the Boot Camp update, and who the hell knows when that's coming out.

Till then, I have a somewhat pretty, yet essentially unusable 64 gigs on my hard drive.

[dmauro]

Just install the 32-bit version. The extra RAM would be nice, but it sounds like it's not even worth all the headaches you're having.

[FortNinety]

I figured that going with the 64-bit version would be the way to go, since I could use the 4 gigs of ram to off-set any deficiencies I have going on with my processor (a 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo) and video card (a ATI RadeonHD2600 with 256 megs of ram). You tell me Dave, how does your system compare since it handled Modern Warfare 2 just fine. How much ram do you have btw?

But after much research, and finding out how virtually every driver out there won't work since they need to be written for 64 bits, and how running old games that were written specifically 32-bits will actually cause problems, I guess I'm gonna have to switch.

I also neglected to tell you about the bizarre video problem I have. I was initially going to just wait for the Boot Camp update until I tried to install drivers for my Dell bluetooth mouse, and they too got rejected because of the discrepancies in bits. My mouse works, but the scroll wheel doesn't, and that's a deal breaker.

Hopefully I'll be bugging you on Steam by tomorrow night Dave!

[dmauro]

I stick with the 32-bit version because of driver compatibility. It's probably not as much of an issue these days, but since I only have 2GB of RAM, there's not point in going 64-bit.

Having more RAM won't offset any deficiencies. It works in the opposite way: your computer is only as fast as it's slowest bottleneck. That's a gross oversimplification, but it's the best way to think about it. Having 4GB of RAM over the 3GB you would get with 32-bit Windows would probably not affect your gaming experience at all. You would probably only notice it while opening very large documents in photoshop (very large) or running tons of programs at once.

What kind of processor does your computer have?

(edit: just another quick point - quality of RAM is probably more important than quantity. I have 2GB, but it's also really really nice RAM so it performs well, and it's timed to sync with my CPU's frontside bus. Stuff like that would have more impact on performance, but I don't think you can play with that stuff on a Mac.)

[FortNinety]

Just went through all the additional and unforeseen hassles with re-installing Windows 7, the 32-bit variety, onto my Mac and I'm almost dead certain that I should have gone with my original plan and just gotten XP. I'm so fucking pissed right now (even for me) that I can't even describe it.

Well, I have sound now, great, but my video problem is still present; I get very feint diagonal lines that go across the screen... it's only noticeable when there's a white background, but it's there.

Oh, so my Dell bluetooth mouse no longer works. Even though it did just fine when I was running 64-bit, aka the totally broken version of the OS. I got an 0x80004005 error at one point, but I can't figure out what that means. But for the most part, the OS is trying to pair it to the device, and I just get an endless "connecting to device" message.

Tried looking at Dell's website for an updated Win7 driver but can't find shit, and I just don't have the patience to start yet another "help me!" thread over at NeoGAF.

Seriously, fuck Microsoft, fuck Apple especially, fuck everything. Sorry, to be in such a pissy mood, but after six solid days of this nonsense I JUST WANT SOMETHING TO WORK.

[FortNinety]

Did I mention how, after being on hold forever with Dell tech support for like 30 minutes (yes, to ask about a bluetooth mouse), once a person finally got on the line, I lost signal all of a sudden? lol AT&T/iPhones!

Anyway, to clarify: remember how I downgraded because Apple's Boot Camp software, which is mostly a bunch of drivers to allow Apple hardware (like it's keyboard and all it's special functions) to operate in a Windows environment? Well, the managed to install, though the video driver once again didn't do what I was expecting it to, and that was get rid of those scan-lines.

But one thing that didn't apply was its bluetooth drivers, which got a big red X in the post-installation summary. My Dell mouse, which worked before (though the scroll wheel was not functioning), is completely dead since I suspect that bluetooth got corrupted.

I managed to download the updated driver which is 7 compatible, which was a pain in the ass because Dell insists that you utilize their software install application which doesn't even work, so I had to boot into OS X to proper nab the file. Which of course didn't work, due to again the borked bluetooth. Apple has a special post-Snow Leopard bluetooth update, which naturally, is not 7 compatible!

I'm so sick of this stupid wild goose-chase. As is, the only mouse that works is Katie's old one button eMac one, which is hardly appropriate for Left 4 Dead 2 me thinks. My only option is to hope that Apple delivers an updated Boot Camp which will finally solve many of these stupid issues or get a wired mouse, and I'm kinda dirt poor right now.

I almost in a fit of rage wiped out the 7 partition, but at this point, just gonna leave it there dormant till a better solution presents itself. Again, still thinking about getting XP and going fuck it.

[FortNinety]

Another thing I forgot to mention was how the Boot Camp drivers wouldn't load off by store bought Snow Leopard disc, so I had nab them from The Pirate Bay. Which worked of course. Once again, thanks a bunch Apple!

[dmauro]

Just go to XP. I do like 7, but I have had it blue screen twice, which is nuts since XP NEVER does that. The little benefits you get from upgrading to 7 aren't worth the trouble you're having. XP is a really nice OS.