I started the move to Windows 7 last night.  Just to make things interesting, I also moved to the 64 bit version.  The base installation was quick and painless.  I was installing on a Dell Latitude D630 with a nVidia video controller.

Windows 7 did a pretty good job of finding and configuring my hardware.  The only drivers that I needed were for the video controller and the finger reader.  Everything seems to be working good and the computer is running noticeable faster with a lower resource usage.

Here is a list of the software that I have had problems with:

• Alcohol 52% – Alcohol 120% does work and they are working on a update for Alcohol 52%.  This is causing me more irritation than anything.  I have converted all my install CDs to ISO images and use Alcohol to mount them.  Update: There has been a Windows update that has corrected this problem.  See the note below.
• Acronis True Image Echo Workstation 9.1 – I just get a message that this program will not run on Windows 7.  Nothing that I could find on the Acronis web site, but there is a new version out.  The explorer shell extension seems to be working for browsing previously created images.  I may get stuck purchasing the new version.  I use this for backup and recovery.   Update: Purchased Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation and it supports Windows 7.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition – This installs but would not run until Service Pack 1 was installed.

Here is a list of the software that has installed without any problems:

• ACDSee Photo Manager 2009
• Apple iTunes 8
• avast! Professional Edition Anti-Virus
• Corel Paint Shop Pro PHOTO X2
  • PaintShop Pro Photo Photo Essentials 4
  • ImageSkill Background Remover 3
• DisplayFusion
• Evernote
• Google Chrome Beta
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
  • ComponentOne Studio 2009
  • Innovasys HelpStudio Lite – It is hard to find the free version that is available as part of Visual Studio.  Still not sure were I found it on their web site.
  • AxTools CodeSMART 2009 for VS.NET
• Nero 9
• Quicken Deluxe 2009
• Softbrands Fourth Shift 7.5A – It is not support by the vendor on Windows 7 or under 64 bit Windows, but it does install and run.
• TrueCrypt 6.2a – There is a problem with encrypting the system drive, however there is a workaround for this in their forum.
• VMware Workstation 6.5 – Runs much better under Windows 7 than Vista.
• VMware Virtual Infrastructure 2.5 – I had to install Update 4 to our VMware Infrastructure  3.5 server to get the 64 bit client.  This item can only be downloaded from the local VM server.
• WinZip 11.2

Note: There has been a Windows 7 update for x64 based systems that restores functionality to several programs. (KB974332)

I just found that Word has the ability to create post for blogs. I had never seen that option before so this is just a quick test. I have quite a lot to get posting and have not really had the time to think about it. If this works I will try to get so new content posted.

That’s it for now.