News - Steam survey suggests gamers are warming to Windows 7

[HEXUS]

Almost a quarter of all Steam users are now running Windows 7, but both XP and Vista remain more popular.

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[k4p84]

Win 7 has been great for me and I have been using it throughout RC.

I have had one BSOD on my gaming rig since installing on launch day. A quick GFX driver update and all solved.

I have been installing it on all 50 odd work machines and it is great, I don't even have to hunt around for drivers much plus the speedy install time is a bonus.

Ed

[watercooled]

Have you come across any games that worked in Vista but not 7?

[lodore]

the only thing that really annoys me about windows 7 is the reboots after even the smallest update..

I dont even use IE so why do i need to reboot to patch the bloody thing?

if any program is using trident engine why cant it simply ask me to close it?

[shaithis]

I dont even use IE so why do i need to reboot to patch the bloody thing?

Uninstall IE....should stop the updates for it.

Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off

[scaryjim]

I dont even use IE so why do i need to reboot to patch the bloody thing?

You personally may not use the IE user interface, but some of the programs you use will almost certainly use elements of the IE engine, which is part of the Windows APIs. So it all depends which bit of IE the patch was addressing. If it was the rendering engine, then you may well be using it regularly without realising it...

[watercooled]

Programs like Steam use bits of IE to display the Steam store/community/etc. It's used by too many things to uninstall it really and if you're on XP you'll need it for checking for updates. Oh and you don't need to reboot it much/any more than previous OSes...

[Andeh13]

Been using windows 7 on both laptop & main PC and I think its great, reliable, stable & the auto finding of drivers is great. For my desktop I cant think of any drivers I had to manually install, windows 7 did it all for me!

[lodore]

You personally may not use the IE user interface, but some of the programs you use will almost certainly use elements of the IE engine, which is part of the Windows APIs. So it all depends which bit of IE the patch was addressing. If it was the rendering engine, then you may well be using it regularly without realising it...

ye as i said if something is using the trident engine why cant windows update ask me to close it so i dont have to reboot?

[lodore]

Been using windows 7 on both laptop & main PC and I think its great, reliable, stable & the auto finding of drivers is great. For my desktop I cant think of any drivers I had to manually install, windows 7 did it all for me!

I still had to install wireless and sound on my desktop and part of sound (supplied drivers didnt support the mic) for my laptop.

[12GaugeShotty]

Uninstall IE....should stop the updates for it.

Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off

I did that on Windows 7 already. I still get prompts for IE patches. Just got KB978207 yesterday even though IE8 has been uninstalled for over a week.

[eshrules]

Have you come across any games that worked in Vista but not 7?

not really the same thing, but I am finding I'm not having to run half as many under compatibility mode? Installs were majorly hit and miss on Vista, I've not had a single issue thus far under Win7.

coupled with the reduced resource usage, it makes for a very solid gaming base as an OS.

[kalniel]

have you come across any games that worked in vista but not 7?

nwn2

okay, you can get it working with a little tweaking, and it depends what else you've installed in the past, but it's not as nice as it is on vista in terms of getting it running.

[sadbuttrue]

the only thing that really annoys me about windows 7 is the reboots after even the smallest update..

The reboot prompt annoys me more than anything else. I've hit "Reboot Now" by mistake 3 times now, resulting in a forced unstoppable reboot. With the amount of prompting taking place elsewhere in Windows, would it kill them to ask if I'm sure I wish to reboot?

[badass]

The reboot prompt annoys me more than anything else. I've hit "Reboot Now" by mistake 3 times now, resulting in a forced unstoppable reboot. With the amount of prompting taking place elsewhere in Windows, would it kill them to ask if I'm sure I wish to reboot?

Or perhaps engage brain before clicking?
If all users did that, malware would almost be a thing of the past!

[jim]

the only thing that really annoys me about windows 7 is the reboots after even the smallest update..

I dont even use IE so why do i need to reboot to patch the bloody thing?

if any program is using trident engine why cant it simply ask me to close it?

See I haven't figured this out yet.

IIRC, when Vista came out we were told that it had a new kernel, so rebooting after driver installs would be a thing of the past. I thought reboots would become fairly rare instances after Vista was introduced.

As things stand though, I'm rebooting these damn things for the sake of Defender updates or other nonsense.