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Microsoft Windows 7 Beta - Game, Application and Utility Compatibility - What’s Stable & Works, What’s Doesn’t Work and What To Do About It!

Posted on 15 February 2009 by D.Williams

Windows 7 Beta - One Month In, What Do We Know Now?

It’s been about a month since we loaded version Microsoft Windows 7 Beta version 7000 (official Microsoft Windows 7 Beta) on our test computers here at the office.

I thought it might help people if I shared a list of what seems to work, what has problems and what we did to get things going. Here is our list and our install notes.

At the end of the article we give our top tips for Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Compatibility for your applications and games.

If you have any additions, things you’d like us to test or problems, please use the comments and we’ll get you an answer on every single item.

Office Applications and Utilities On Microsoft Windows 7 Beta
Microsoft Office 2007 - No issues found
Adobe CS3 Master Collection (Tested Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks) - No issues found
uTorrent - No issues found
Thunderbird - No issues found
Winzip - No issues found
Mozy Backup - No issues found
Open Office 3.0 - No issues found
Winamp - No issues found
Power ISO - No issues found
Adsense Log - Cannot keep track of the current time in the status popup box, but works normally.
AVG 8 For Windows 7 - No issues found
Firefox (all versions) - No issues found
Microsoft Songsmith - No issues found
Abyss Web Server - No issues found
Xampp Web Server - No issues found
Sony Vegas Studio 9 Pro Platinum - No issues found
Adobe CS4 - Macrovision (we call it malwarevision) preventing correct install yet again
Adobe CS4 - Torrent Hacked Version -(Tested Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks) No issues found
Filezilla - No issues found
TightVNC - viewer works only in Java mode
UltraVNC - viewer works only in java mode
PC Anywhere v12 - installs, but cannot start
Slysoft Virtual DVD - does not work
Deamon Tools Virtual DVD - does not work
Games on Microsoft Windows 7 Beta
Spore - No issues found
Dead Space - No issues found
Far Cry 2 - No issues found
Fallout 3 - No issues found
Crysis - rocks - No issues found
Crysis - warhead - No issues found
Saints Row 2 - No issues found
Heroes of might and magic - No issues found
Brothers in arms - No issues found
Lord of the rings conquest - No issues found
Mirrors Edge - No issues found
Neverwinter - No issues found
Left 4 Dead - No issues found
Mass Effect - No issues found
Burnout Paradise - No issues found
Medieval 2 Total War - No issues found
Xplane all versions - No issues found
Womb Raider underworld - No issues found
Vampires edge - No issues found
The Witcher - No issues found
Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 - No issues found

Tips for getting business applications and games to run on Microsoft Windows 7 Beta

1) Turn off the aero interface
2) Only if you have a problem, tell Windows 7 to emulate Vista
3) Install and run as administrator

This solved 70% of all install and run problems for Microsoft Windows 7 Beta

Tips for getting the best performace from games

Get the WDDM Pre-release driver for NVidia from Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Update - Your frame rate will go up and your aero interface performance will also.

So that’s our list of what works and doesn’t work so far. I am a bit surprised at how well all the game software works on Windows 7. I am a bit disapointed at Adobe learning nothing from all the problems their customers have had installation and uninstalling the software. To keep something as easily bypassed as Macrovision shows Adobe understands nothing about their users and nothing about copy protection. The only things that did not work are the drive emulators which install a driver.

Please do us a favor! If you find something on the working side or the non-working side in your own testing, please let us know in the comments and we’ll update the list.