[admin]

Yes, you will be able to get RC1 if you even if you didn't participate in earlier betas. You will either need a broadband connection and a DVD burner, or send Microsoft a small fee to mail a DVD (I'm guessing $9.95).

[Advertisements]

Well I would just like to say that I can't wait for RC1. This build (5536) is working great and is working so much better than Beta 2 (5384). My beta 2 key worked and this is so good. hope you all get downloaded and working.

[CJIS]

Well I would just like to say that I can't wait for RC1. This build (5536) is working great and is working so much better than Beta 2 (5384). My beta 2 key worked and this is so good. hope you all get downloaded and working.

[admin]

Amazing what can happen when a couple of thousand twenty-something developers put their nose to the grindstone.

[†Gladiator†]

well going home soon so i am gonna do the whole install thing. CJIS did you format your beta 2 partitioin and did a fresh reinstall?

[admin]

I upgraded my beta2 install and it went smooth.

[Pi rules]

I'm at 90%, but I have to go to work soon after it finishes and I have to start school tomorrow so I won't be able to do it until the weekend.

[CJIS]

I did a fresh install (removed Beta 2) and all worked fine and installation was smooth with no problems at all.

[Pi rules]

Does it work with the previous key for the last public release?

[admin]

Any Vista beta key should work.

[negative_silent]

Yes, you will be able to get RC1 if you even if you didn't participate in earlier betas. You will either need a broadband connection and a DVD burner, or send Microsoft a small fee to mail a DVD (I'm guessing $9.95).

So you can still get a product key for RC1 if you didn't participate in earlier betas? Presently, is there a way to obtain or register for a product key for RC1?

[admin]

So you can still get a product key for RC1 if you didn't participate in earlier betas?

Yes, you will be able to when RC1 is released to the general public (around Sept 5th).

Presently, is there a way to obtain or register for a product key for RC1?

No.

[negative_silent]

Thank you for your swift reply, this makes me feel a lot better now.

[Solarin]

Yes, you will be able to when RC1 is released to the general public (around Sept 5th).

Is there a site I should be checking religiously in order to be sure I get into the RC1 testing phase? Do I have to register with Microsoft before hand? I apologize for the silly questions, but I really want to give Vista a try.

[negative_silent]

I found some more information about the pricing for Vista and the release date for RC1.

http://www.newsfacto...id=13200AB7SLAC

[CJIS]

Well after installing this build I would just like to say that this is a lot better than the buggy Beta 2. Installation was a lot faster than before and took only a small amount of time.

Once actually onto the desktop and working vrything runs a lot faster and all is more responsive. I haven't found anything wron with this build yet and everything is working OK.

The one thing I really am having a problem with is Virus Protection, I can't find ANY, I tried Avast and I can install it but then I get a compatability issue message. So I uninstalled that and tried AVG, well this was a good experience, I got a BSOD even before the installation had finished. The one that Microsoft says I should Install (Trend Micro PC-Cillin) does not work. It starts to install and then gets to Installing Firewall and then crashes and gets no further. So I currently have no Virus protection.

As for a firewall the built in Windows Firewall has finally been changed and finally does its job the way a firewall Should (kind of)(I don't know if this was true in previous builds), in beta 2 and Windows XP the firewall was set to close all ports. Whereas in this build (and maybe builds before) the ports are set to stealth mode. Check your firewall here, (click proceed and then click all service ports, try some of the other things too, I use them often to see if everything is working well and think this is a very good site.). This webpage sends repeated pings to the firewall to see if it replies, and in XP and beta 2 they did, but in 5536 they wisely remain hidden and silent. The Windows Firewall still doesn't block everything though and certain programs can still access the internet without being granted access. Also this Firewall is built into the registry and as certain types of malware and viruses can affect the registry it does not actually seem like a good firewall, but it will have to do for now.

Windows Media Center is a lot more responsive and works a lot faster than beta 2 but a big problem I am currently having with this and WMP is playing home DVDs, I get the picture and it runs smoothly but there is no sound at all. Installing Power DVD 7.0 is not an option as this slows down the system and causes performance issues 100% CPU usage.

Internet Explorer 7 is a lot faster and I can actually say after using it for a while I prefer this browser to Firefox and Opera. Internet Explorer is running faster than Firefox (sadly still not as fast as opera) and downloads are at good speeds too. One slight annoying thing is that when there is 1 tab open and i click on a webpage using the middle button it opens a new window and not a new tab (this happens with some pages but not all and only if this tab is first in the list) but if there is more than 1 tab open this does not happen.

Another little annoying thing is Windows Defender now, when I start Windows, tells me that it has blocked programs from starting with Windows and to click to unblock these programs (well there is no option to unblock this program) so I have to right click the icon, go to blocked programs, click the blocked program, then click run on the box that pops up and then click allow this program to run on the next window that pops up. The new Program Compatibility Wizard on the desktop is a good thing to have there as I could not find this in beta 2.

All in all I think this build is a great improvement since Beta 2 and now I think this could be used as a primary OS (as in beta 2 I was constantly switching to XP to do certain things as beta 2 was becoming slightly annoying and didn't always do the most simple tasks.) I think when RC1 is released we will all see major improvements, although when this is released everyone will rush for it and try and download this so downloads will probably be fairly slow.

Edited by CJIS, 31 August 2006 - 09:28 AM.