Microsoft Windows 7 RC Users to begin Experiencing Odd Behavior beginning March 1, 2010

February 26, 2010 - By Jose A. Gutierrez

February 26, 2010 – It looks like the ride’s not over yet, but it is about to get bumpy. If you are among the many who have been “testing” Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate free of charge, since it was released in Beta last year, you know that play time is about up. As previously announced by Microsoft, the current “FREE” release candidate (RC1) version, build 7100, is set to expire on June 1, 2010. Okay, it’s only February 26th, so there’s plenty of time, right?

While there are technically three months remaining, the catch is that starting Monday, March 1, 2010 your precious “no cost to upgrade” Windows 7 Ultimate PC will start shutting down every two hours and will conveniently not give you a chance save your work before doing so. You’ll also see an annoying “Pay Up, Buddy” message on the desktop that will change your desktop from your last vacation picture to an all black background. On top of these small annoyances, you’ll probably also experience issues with Microsoft’s Windows Validation feature, which means new updates won’t be downloaded and installed. Unfortunately, everyone knows what happens when you can’t install a critical security update. You run the risk of being turned into a zombie by a Botnet!







Your options, as Microsoft indicates on the announcement posted on their website, are to either roll back to Vista or XP (if you can stand it) or buy a copy of Windows 7 and activate it. Either way, a clean install is required, since Microsoft doesn’t allow users to simply upgrade the beta to a licensed version.  As I and many others will tell you, the improvements in Windows 7, even in the Beta and RC versions, are definitely worth upgrading to, from both Windows Vista and XP.

Like many grateful Geek, I will be backing up my data before March 1st and installing the new copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Edition that I’ve had for a while but never got around to installing on my go-anywhere Samsung NC-10 Netbook.  Hopefully, we’ll see the same reliability, stability, and functionality in the Beta versions of Microsoft Office 2010 and other future Microsoft products, that we’ve enjoyed with the Windows 7 RC.