Vista beta testing. Is anyone doing it?

I have a chance to beta test the vista os. Is anyone else doing it? If I decide to I will need a computer to do it on other than my main ones. I guess I will just look for someones used one.

[alc6379]

I'm doing it, or at least, I have access to the beta's through MSDN. If your specs are beefy enough, you can run it on another hard drive or another partition, and dual boot with whatever OSes you have on there already.

Currently, I'm booting Windows XP Pro, Vista, and Gentoo Linux on one hard drive without any problems.

[Drew]

I would like to test it, but of course i never know where or how to get the information on beta testing :(

[goldeagle2005]

Yeah, I used Vista build 5308 (Feb 06). Seemed pretty cool, but there are still quite a bit of bugs. On my system (Athlon 64 2800+, nForce4, 1 Gig, 120 Gig, FX5200 with 128 MB), it seemed fine at firs, but then got sluggish.

[roryt]

I'd really like to but with any Microsoft Beta software it always fails the install on my PC. I have MCE which could be a problem but i dont know why? I have tried to install Office 12 and IE7 but neither worked. Anyone know why

[>shadow<]

yup...im testing it and its not that convincing....there are only slightly better features....they need to prove that its worth upgrading from xp

[kaushik259106]

ya same here.. its folder and look has gone a bit good but nothing else.. it also take hell lot of time to install:mad:

one thing good is while installing its not req u to stay..

and also cant do net.. not secured.. i crashed my system i 7 days:mad:

[>shadow<]

hmm...that would suck

[caperjack]

Just installed build 5384 ,install only took 55 min from start to the desktop .video seems a little shakey ,
MyComputer .p4 2.8 512 meg ram 128 meg radeon 5250,80gig hdd 7200spin 16x dvd rw for install.

edit= fixed video shutter, vistas default monitor refresh rate was 44 hrtz ,changed to 75 hrtz

[denman]

me too, ...I did as Alc said above, my HDD partitioned so that I could install it on "D" so it gives me the dual-boot option. My Nero7 wouldn't install, and the bundled "Windows DVD Maker" wouldn't run, whining about my video card. Nero7 works fine on my XP Pro so I've reported the bug to M$. Also I haven't found a "Run" in the start menu yet, so all the trouble-shooting routines thru the "cmd" prompt are unavailable, ...might be somewhere, or alternative service options may be in there. It PnP'd ALL my device drivers, tho that's possibly because they're all running on my XP on "C". Also it won't run my old DOS-based tetris like XP did ...that's a MAJOR peeve with me cuz that's what I do when installing software on customers' machines. Still it mostly works and gives us a ten-month head start before it dies (31May07), at which time I suppose the retail version hits the streets. Oh ya, it wouldn't let me install good old AVG, saying there were known bugs. The "Solution" procedure steers one to a trial Panda A/virus that dies in about sixty days. I don't wanna start paying for software like that again! ...."the Old Geek"

[caperjack]

not running it right now but i think run is in the start ,all programs accessories ,

[goldeagle2005]

That's kinda illogical, isn't it? How can you call the run box an accessory?

[denman]

not running it right now but i think run is in the start ,all programs accessories ,

..yup, it's there as you say, ...definitely illogical as Gold mentioned ,...what I did just now was whack an icon onto desktop and moved it into quicklaunch, ...I use that "accessory" all the time for checking my networks, pinging etc. Thanks for that tip Caper ..."the Old Geek"

[Scottg1989]

I was going to do a beta test but decided against it. Windows + Beta = Trouble. Mite do in the future if I can get a spare PC. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but has anyone tried it over Microsofts Virtual PC? I heard somewhere that it does work but im not to sure.

[denman]

I was going to do a beta test but decided against it. Windows + Beta = Trouble. Mite do in the future if I can get a spare PC. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but has anyone tried it over Microsofts Virtual PC? I heard somewhere that it does work but im not to sure.

I'm not familiar with Virtual PC, but have been running Vista on a separate partition giving me a dual-boot option, and have had quite a bit of fun looking it over. It dies next May, at which time I expect to just format the drive and carry on, meanwhile I get the jump on the OS so when my customers come with their problems I'll be ready. It's got lots of little bugs but is overall a slick-looking UI and seems very stable. ..."the Old Geek"

[goldeagle2005]

Personally, i feel Vista is nothing but eye candy...

[goldeagle2005]

Cant wait to get it...hehehehe

[alc6379]

I was going to do a beta test but decided against it. Windows + Beta = Trouble. Mite do in the future if I can get a spare PC. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but has anyone tried it over Microsofts Virtual PC? I heard somewhere that it does work but im not to sure.

I've run it in both Virtual PC and in VMWare. I had an extra 1GB of RAM I could devote to it while running in the virtual machine. Performance isn't all that great, and that makes sense, considering how heavily Vista uses the graphics hardware to do Window rendering. (Virtual PC can't use the graphics hardware directly-- it has to use an emulated driver)

[TheNSS]

Vista on vmware sucks, i couldn't even get it installed. i just have it on a spare hard drive. i'm only impressed with the eye candy stuff, the kernel itself is more secure than xp's, but it still sucks, there's even viruses for vista now. that's sad.

[goldeagle2005]

Viruses for Vista already? That's interesting...

[madspook]

Hi,
I've been using Vista since June. I have it installed on my main machine and a spare laptop. It looks good and is stable, although the number of permission requests you get when you want to install/unistall/delete or rename anything is a nightmare.
Setting up a network between Vista and XP machines can be a nightmare as well. Also there is a major lack of drivers for wireless network cards and so on. People have been having problems with graphics drivers and other components as well.
Antivirus programs like Norton don't work, the recommended ones being from Computer Associates and Trend, some users have found that the Trend Antivirus doesn't work either.
Some printers are a problem at the moment as the drivers aren't available for them.
After saying all that it will be a great O/S when all things are sorted out.
Hope that helps.
Ghost

[robert3061]

I've been running Vists beta for three months. My biggest problem is that it will not run several of my programs. I installed it as an upgrade and maybe that is the problen. As for the o/s I like it.

[madspook]

When I first installed Vista it was as an upgrade, it continually crashed. After doing a clean install it runs a lot better, although some of my programs still don't run on it.

[Wreef]

I have been Beta testing Vista since December last year, fully, I did try a longhorn build before then, but nothing special.

Since December I have tried about 6 builds, and believe me, Vista has come along way in this short time frame.

When I got the December CTP, I was thinking that Vista would never be ready for the public, it was terribly slow, although it has most of the features there, it crashed all the time, ect.

Now, I can use the latest build stabily as an OS, easily, with minor problems.

I believe that when Vista comes out next year, it will be ready for the public.

[jo2995]

I'm doing it, or at least, I have access to the beta's through MSDN. If your specs are beefy enough, you can run it on another hard drive or another partition, and dual boot with whatever OSes you have on there already.

Currently, I'm booting Windows XP Pro, Vista, and Gentoo Linux on one hard drive without any problems.

Wow, thats a lot of OSes. Hey, have you ever tried using boot camp to run a Linux os on a Mac?

[The Geeky Kid]

I want to soooo bad, unfortunately, when it was still free, I tried, and it was like "You need more RAM idiot!" Lol, I hate Microsoft...ah well.

[TheNNS]

Has anyone tried to get Logmein installed on vista? I can't for some reason.

[madspook]

I used logmein on vista with no problems. I did find that when I first installed it that windows Defender picked it up as a problem. Just tell defender to ignore it and Logmein works as it should do.

[mismajor99]

My one friend has it and is really not enjoying it whatsoever. I think it's one of those things where people need to get used to it just as when Win XP came out.

[jbennet]

i downloaded rc1 but well.... what can i say?
ill be moving to debian, lets just leave it at that..................