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Windows 7 – Fresh install – Clean,Simple and Slick

After I upgraded to Windows 7  from Windows VISTA ultimate , I was definitely having some gripe and wanted to go back to VISTA. As I had mentioned in my previous post on Windows 7, both Shockwave player and Google Talk kept crashing on me and occasionally even Google Chrome started crashing.

But before I completely ditch Windows 7, I wanted to try the clean install option, afterall in the past I always used to go for clean installs of Windows, only this time I was little lazy about reinstalling all the softwares and backing up data etc.

With the clean install the entire process took only 20-25 minutes and it only required me to select the partition and later for entering the product key (as with VISTA).  After the clean install almost 80% of my drivers were already isntalled and required only minimal driver installtion.

This time around I installed Windows 7 versions of Flash,Google Talk,Adobe reader etc. And it solved all the problems I had with the previous upgraded version of Windows 7. I was able to install almost all softwares I had in my previous system and everything works just fine. Even there is Windows 7 version of Google Pack which gets you all essential softwares.

Now let me get back to some key functionalities like Windows XP Mode in my next post.

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Windows 7 and the crashing Google Talk

The first problem I have discovered after  upgrading to Windows 7 (32 bit Ultimate ) is with the simplest of software’s – Google Talk. Google Talk has crashed 4-5 times in last few days and I have reinstalled it three times, finally dumping the stable version of Google Talk and installing the Google Talk Labs Edition.Ever since I upgraded to Windows 7, I found the typing in Google Talk was very slow, ie the program was not responding as slick as it should.

When I tried to Google for any possible solutions, I found more complaints than answers many users have mentioned Google Talk either slowing down or crashing. Some users have tried running the program in compatibility mode of Windows XP SP3 or Windows VISTA SP2, I tried both options but unsuccessful in both attempts.

One more problem I noticed is whenever the Google Talk was opened in Gmail window, it would crash the Adobe Shockwave player (11.5.1.601). I believe Google is responsible for both these problems.

So expect a newer version of Google Talk for Windows 7 and for time being try the Google Talk Labs Edition.

Read the initial review on Windows 7 here

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Microsoft working on 128bit support for Windows 8 and Windows 9

Well Microsoft first launched the 64bit support with Windows XP and still most of the softwares we use on the 64bit Windows versions of XP/VISTA/Windows 7  operate in 32 bit mode . Though the 64bit technology has matured very well with latest windows versions, but there are very few softwares out in the market which uses the full power of a 64bit OS. With a few notable exceptions like Adobe Photoshop  most other softwares run in the 32 bit mode within 64bit Windows.

But Microsoft isnt worried much, they have already started working on the 128bit technology support for next generation of Windows Operating System. A profile of a Microsoft Researcher available on Linkedin brought to light Microsoft’s  Windows 8 and Windows 9 along with the 128 bit support.

Right now 64 bit Windows are only mainstream in the server market where the use of huge amount of RAM has mandated the use of 64bit windows servers.  Well the simplest reason for the 64bit OS is that any 32 bit windows cant really fully use RAM above 3.2 GB  and hence if you want to have RAM above 4GB then you need to have a 64 bit OS to get maximum use.