Windows 7 RC Update to Shoot Blanks Soon

News
By Marcus Yam
published

Some of us are happily running Windows 7 RC now, which is provided to the public for free in exchange of testing feedback. Now, it’s time for testing.

Starting May 12, Microsoft will begin testing the automatic update functionality of Windows 7 by rolling out ‘sterile’ updates that will do nothing to alter the operating system.

“We need to verify the update infrastructure to ensure that when we need to release real updates, the process will run smoothly. There will be at most 10 updates, and as before, they will not deliver any new features or fixes,” read an update on TechNet.

Most of the updates will be automatic, but some will require specific user action to install.

“One of the updates will test a new update notification feature that provides detailed information about available updates that need to be installed manually. Windows 7 RC users will be prompted to install this update and provided more information about this feature –it will not install automatically,” the post continued.

So for those of you now running Windows 7 RC, has it been a smooth experience?

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
65 Comments Comment from the forums
  • chripuck
    Been happy with the RC so far, haven't gotten any updates yet though.
    Reply
  • mcnuggetofdeath
    Not a single lasting problem. Had trouble with my HDTV detecting an input when I used it as a second monitor after a reboot but that could be the TV so idk. After an update Windows lost my Catalyst 9.4 Drivers and installed its own ( 8.12 for those interested )but a quick visit to ATIs website remedied the problem and hasnt showed up again since. DX10 works great which was my primary concern. All i really do is game and browse in Windows. Ubuntu for the rest.
    Reply
  • tester3000
    The RC has been a great experience so far. Win7 is freaking awesome!
    Reply
  • Nossy
    I ran into a few problems with RC1. The sound keeps dropping, onboard realtek. When playing a movie files it keeps saying something like "recently modification to audio device" blah blah blah and mute. Or some of the games I installed wont work, like Gears of War, UT3, etc.

    Otherwise GRID, WOW, Prince of Persia works.
    Reply
  • norbs
    Anyone try RC as a media center yet? I'm looking to replacing vista on my media center but i don't want to get stuck without a tv.
    Reply
  • Tedders
    I love it so far. It seems to be taking a greater toll on my netbook than the beta did, but I dont expect it to scream either. I have noticed that on my main test rig that Media Center and Media Player operate much quicker and smoother than in the beta. I can't wait for it to be released so I can build a new gaming rig!
    Reply
  • ipolski
    The only issue is a driver (or rather the lack of) for my video card, which is an older ATI 9600XT. Vista driver does not install so I'm running default Win7 at the moment. Otherwise on problems.
    Reply
  • cadder
    media center? read the new article on the homepage about the mini atom motherboard
    Reply
  • 3p0cHx
    No problems at all, running it on a Ferrari 5000 and only driver issues were with the SD card reader and Webcam drivers not installed by windows. Used the vista 64bit drivers from the Acer site. Windows 7 is really growing on me especially the app previews on the task bar. Just hovering your mouse over the tile on the taskbar shows you all windows that app has open, and hovering over each preview brings the window full screen. Also little stuff like desktop background slideshows is nice.
    Reply
  • baddad
    I went from Vista 64 to Windows 7 on my media center PC http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/67/l_25a6006a94934c3abd7d0a69b574a70f.jpg , it took a couple of hours because I did a upgrade, it fail to upgrade the first time. On the second time it went faster and without a hitch. The media center software is much better then the Vista version, and they’ve made some good improvements to the OS. I like it a lot.
    Reply