Now running Build 7068.  I’m hoping this cures the problem build 7057 had switching between video modes and turning off Aero. 

I’m now running Build 5057 on my primary machine and it is going extremely smooth.  I transferred about 20 GB of data a one go from one of my SAMBA servers to the Win7 machine without any of the issues I experienced on build 7001.  Truly I have had less trouble with the two Windows 7 Betas I have been running than with most final releases of Linux systems. It also “feels” noticeably faster and lighter than Vista, which with SP 2 RC installed is a pretty good OS.

Here’s a list of software I have installed and running on Build 5057 that seems to be running without a hitch:

• Office 2007 with all updates.
• WinSCP
• Putty
• Evernote Windows Client
• Windows Live Writer
• iTunes (its such a dog on Windows I don’t know that it can ever be said to run without a hitch, but is syncs my iPhone and I can connect to the store).
• Firefox 3.1 B3 (wow, beta on beta).
• Gimp 2.6.5.
• Google Talk Labs Edition
• Nod 32 AV.
• Notepad2 (as a full replacement for Notepad).

I’ve been getting a blue screen of death every time I transfer a large amount of data from my Windows 7 system to a SMB server.  It does not matter if the server is Linux running Samba or a Windows Home Server, the results are the same.  I found this article on MS Help and Support that sheds some light on the subject.  At least part of the problem may be that the Transport Driver Interface used by my virus scanner is interacting badly with Win 7.

I installed the hotfix associated with the article and it seems to be working. 

Here is the easiest way I have found to remove the watermark Windows Betas put on the desktop.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/06/remove-watermark-32-bit-and-64-bit-universal-patch-free-download-for-windows-7-vista-and-server-2008/

We I’m back to the Windows 7 Beta.  I think I solved the problem of the BSOD when downloading a large set of files (like 6.3GB of mp3 files) from my Linux file server.  I built an entirely new server (as in loaded new server software on an existing box)  and copied the files from the main server to the new server.  Downloading from the new server to Windows 7 caused a BSOD.

I flattened the new server, reinstalled Linux and samba then loaded the mp3’s on the server from another source then downloaded to Windows 7.  That went without a hitch.  As a result I conclude that the problem was in the files on the server, not with Windows 7.  However this still concerns me.  Tonight I’m going to run fsck on the Linux server and then delete and restore the mp3s. 

But back to Win 7, I’m running it on my main production laptop now.  I haven’t quite gone all the way and installed iTunes and made it the machine I back my iPod to.  But if all goes well for the next couple of days I’ll consider that as well.  Just because I know you’re dying to see it, here’s a screenshot of my Win 7 Desktop.

I’m really starting to like the way the new task bar works, especially since I found out how to turn on the Quick Links bar so I can add locations.  I still don’t know about libraries, so I’m ignoring them for now.

A few weeks ago I wrote I had installed Vista Service Pack 2 Beta and thought I’d give a brief follow up on my experience.  I could not tell that desktop Gadgets used any less memory than under Service Pack 1, but I could sure tell that it was faster reconnecting to wireless networks when coming out of sleep mode.

Currently I don’t have SP2 installed (I flattened my hard drive for reasons that have nothing to to with SP2), but I am looking forward to the release of the final version sometime this spring.  There does not appear to be anything exciting in SP2, but any small advances are welcome.

As promised I installed Vista SP2, on my production laptop no less, almost as soon as it was available to non-TechNet subscribers.  In fact, I am typing this mere moments after my reboot from the install.  No smoke is coming out of the machine and nothing appears to be broken, but we’ll see.

I elected to install from Windows Update and the process was pretty painless.  You just grab the file SP2CPPRK.cmd.remove from here at TechNet, change the name to SP2PPRK.cmd and run the file as administrator.  It installs a registry change that allows you to get the service pack from Windows Update.  Then run Windows Update which should show a 4.1M update called Windows Servicing Stack.  Its not the SP but it is needed to install the SP.  When the Servicing Stack update completes, tell Update to search for more updates and it should give you a 297.5M update called  Vista SP2 16497 for x86 (KB948465), then comes the download, install,reboot routine.

I will post more about my experiences with SP2 Beta as they unfold.  I am particularly interested in improvements that are supposed to be in this Service Pack:

• improvements in wireless networking when the computer recovers from suspend
• improved use of memory by desktop gadgets.

Lots of interesting things coming up that I’ll have some comments on.  Ubuntu 8.10 is set to release on October 30, I’ll be putting that through its paces.  A public beta of SP2 for Vista is due out in December.  I’m sure that will work its way on to one of my machines and I’ll have something to say about that.  And the big kahunna?  Perhaps a public beta of Windows 7.

Got the final build of Firefox 3 Beta 3 installed (Build 2008020514).  Looks good so far.  Still don’t see anything revolutionary about it, but I just don’t use some of the features they’ve added.