gHacks technology news » windows 7 download http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:31:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Last Day To Download Windows 7 RC http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/19/last-day-to-download-windows-7-rc/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/19/last-day-to-download-windows-7-rc/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:46:52 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15518 windows7Here is a quick reminder: Users who are interested in the next Microsoft operating system can download the latest official test release from the official Microsoft website. The download will be taken off the page on August 20 which means that it is from then on not possible to download an official Windows 7 release. The final version of the operating system is going to be released on October 22 in various countries including the United States, Germany, the UK and France.

The Windows 7 release candidate will expire on June 1, 2010 and start to remind the user about that from March 1, 2010 on by automatically shutting down every two hours. This still means more than 6 months of free testing for users who download the Windows 7 release candidate.

Users who have already downloaded it (or are about to) can get Windows 7 product keys from the same website the downloads are offered. Both 32-bit and 64-bit editions are offered in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.

A Windows Live account is required to complete the process.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/19/last-day-to-download-windows-7-rc/feed/ 4 Windows 7 Training Kit For Developers http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/18/windows-7-training-kit-for-developers/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/18/windows-7-training-kit-for-developers/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:54:42 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15496 windows7Microsoft is releasing (or preparing to release) all kinds of training related materials for their upcoming operating system Windows 7. This includes videos, documentations, development kits and much more. The Windows 7 training kit for developers is offered as a 66 Megabyte download at the official Microsoft website.

It includes demonstrations, presentations and hands-on labs that help developers learn how to create applications that are compatible with Windows 7. The target group of the Windows 7 training kit for developers are software developers who want to make sure that their applications are compatible with Windows 7 and make use of Windows 7 specific features like the new taskbar.


The Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is based on Windows 7 RTM and it is designed to help you learn how to build applications that are compatible with and shine on Windows 7 by utilizing key Windows 7 features such as:

* Taskbar
* Libraries
* Multi Touch
* Sensors and Location
* Ribbon
* Trigger Start Services
* Instrumentation and ETW
* Application Compatability

And Application Compatibility topics such as:

* Version Checking
* UAC Data Redirection
* Session 0 Isolation
* Installer Detection
* User Interface Privilege Isolation
* High DPI

Microsoft has posted system requirements that need to be matched to take full advantage of the training kit. Mentioned are Windows 7, the Windows 7 SDK, Visual Studio 2009 and the windows Code Pack Api for the Microsoft .net Framework.

The Windows 7 training kit for developers comes as a single self-extracting executable that will uncompress the contents to a selected folder. The contents can then be accessed with a modern web browser. Software developers can download it from the Microsoft website.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/18/windows-7-training-kit-for-developers/feed/ 1 Download the Windows 7 RC Without Slowdowns http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 09:05:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/ windows7Most tech blogs are reporting that the Windows 7 Release Candidate has been released to the public. It is available on the official Microsoft website where it can be downloaded as a 32-bit or 64-bit edition in five languages. The expected rush has already started and the Microsoft servers are bogging down under the load. While the main page seems to load and display fine the login step that is required before downloading the release candidate is not. It takes a long time and does end most of the time with a blank page or errors.

Every tech blog is pointing to the official website and most users try to download it directly from there. This obviously leads to the server load that users are experiencing at the moment. A far better solution is to avoid the main server and head for the additional servers that are available. The Technet server (or MSDN) can also be used by anyone to download the Windows 7 Release Candidate. It is on the other hand still responsive offering a better user experience.

download windows7

Just open the url offered above and sign in to a Windows Live account in the upper right corner first. After that pick your Windows 7 edition or editions that you want to download, fill out a small form and download the Windows 7 Release Candidate in the end. The process is almost fluent but guaranteed to work at this point in time whereas the official route will lead to server errors and blank pages.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/feed/ 7 Windows 7 Beta Download Without Limits http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/11/windows-7-beta-download-without-limits/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/11/windows-7-beta-download-without-limits/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:02:35 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9816 We have posted an article about the problems that were encountered during the initial Windows 7 Beta release on January 9. Users who wanted to download the beta on the release date were greeted with all kinds of error messages which had the result that only a few were actually able to grab a Windows 7 Beta key and to download the release completely.

We suggested that the problems could have been caused by an artificial limitation of network resources. While that was only one possibility it does make even more sense considering that Microsoft decided to lift the 2.5 million key limit for the next 14 days.

Every user will get a working Windows 7 Beta product key if he requests one before January 24. Users who want to request a key and download the Windows 7 Beta release can do so here. Everything seems to be running smoothly and without errors.


Due to an enormous surge in demand, the download experience was not ideal so we listened and took the necessary steps to ensure a good experience. We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 Beta and, as a result, we have decided remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th). During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit.

What’s your take on the release? Were the problems during the initial Windows 7 release caused by bad planning and underestimation of demand or intentional?

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/11/windows-7-beta-download-without-limits/feed/ 6 Microsoft Did Not Expect Such A High Windows 7 Beta Demand http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/10/microsoft-did-not-expect-such-a-high-windows-7-beta-demand/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/10/microsoft-did-not-expect-such-a-high-windows-7-beta-demand/#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:10:50 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9777 You might have read that the first public beta release of Windows 7 was supposed to happen yesterday. If you followed the news on that day you might know that the beta was first seen on the Chinese Technet site which immediately came to an halt after the news spread. Download links went up on other Microsoft sites afterwards but they all led to error messages like “Server is to busy” or “This site is currently experiencing technical issues”. While some early downloaders got their keys and ISO images most did not. Some spend most of the day on the Microsoft site trying to get a key.

Later that day Microsoft posted a new message on stating “Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal — we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand”. The download has been postponed and Microsoft is tight-lipped about the new release date of the beta release.

This is not the first release that is going bad. And it is not always Microsoft that is not able to predict correctly. It seems that most multi-national corporations have prediction difficulties. Who would not have thought that users around the globe would access the Microsoft servers to get one of the 2.5 million Beta keys after the announcement that the keys would be limited?

A question that surely is coming up is whether this resource limitation was intentional. Is it good or bad news if many more users than expected wanted to download the Windows 7 Beta. It is bad news for the individuals who tried to download it but it is good news for Microsoft as all news sites will report that the demand is incredible high.

That means there are two lines of though here. One is that Microsoft got their predictions about user interest in the Windows 7 beta wrong while the other is that Microsoft did not make use of their full infrastructure in order to create a groundbreaking demand of the product.

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