Big huge note here: If you want to ‘replicate’ this procedure feel free, but as always do so at your own risk. The steps I take here will delete all data on the hard drive. I did not back up anything- after all Rat-meister laptop wanted to be abused. More importantly, this was a test machine. Nothing of any value was there anyway. So I say again- I did not back anything up. It is up to you to judge the value of your data. If you want it- save it. Moving on..

You can download the RC from Microsoft (web site here). In my case I downloaded the 64Bit version. Once downloaded, burn the DVD. Honestly who doesn’t like to burn things. Now take the smoldering DVD to the computer you want to install Windows 7.

In my case, it is a Toshiba Satellite M305 with a Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 4GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive and 14″ screen. I know of all the computers to test this seems like one I should treat with care. Ahh, to heck with it- I figure this is a good sample of the type of hardware available when Windows 7 is released. Now to the detailed and dreaded abuse of LT. I would like to remind you- it was screaming at me for this kind of treatment, sick little Laptop.

After putting in the DVD and booting off it (in the Rat-meister’s case I needed to hit F-12 at boot up) the install starts. It is pretty quick from start up to lab rat abuse install. The standard questions/options are here- choose your setup location and off and running. I have installed Windows 7 on a couple of machines and it is pretty fast- no more than 30 minutes and very little interaction until the end.

The end you get to accept the license agreement- feel like some abuse for yourself feel free to read. You are asked to assign user name and machine name. They do not have to be related, but the install defaults the machine to include user name. In my case, I went with something profound like “Standard” and the machine name was “Standard-PC”. So within 45 minutes or so, lab rat abuse was up and running.

I think one of the pleasant surprises was that the wireless network was detected, installed at setup and even before my first experience inside the OS I had connected to a wireless network. I think this bodes well for lab rat to hit the streets without wires. Come to find out not only is Rat-meister wanting the OS abuse, he seems to think that will include excursions to the outside. I cannot bear to tell him the news. But the big question and what prevented a lot of users from going to Vista is hardware support.

I am pleased there as well- only a “Mass storage device” failed to load, but that did not prevent the OS from starting. Video was set, audio was set, network card (wired and wireless) were set. Seems both Rat-meister and I are pretty happy at this point. Will the happiness continue for both of us or will Rat-meister regret making this request? Come on back to see the tests as I run them over the next few posts to find out.

First the download. Probably the fastest download of IE I have experienced. I remember IE 7 came through Windows Update and it seemed to take awhile to download and begin to install. IE 8 Beta was downloaded and ready to go within minutes. I would say it downloaded at least as fast as Firefox and a little faster then Opera.

Then I installed it. I am running this product on Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition with 4GB of RAM. I will only compare this to other browsers I have running in the same environment- specifically Firefox, Opera and Firefox for 64Bit called Minefield. This will also be subjective- your mileage and results may vary.(Note: Curious about Mozilla Minefield? I will be posting my experience with that soon.) The install was quick and painless as well. Just the standard EULA agree box and boom.

What does annoy me is that by default you cannot run  two versions of IE. As soon as I was done installing IE8, IE7 was gone. And uninstalling IE8 looks to be a little difficult since it does not show up in the list as a program I can uninstall. Firefox, Minefield and Opera are all there. I will find specifics out about this later. And it is also in Beta, maybe (although a long shot) that will be fixed when it gets released.

First launch.

First box asks about Suggested Sites. Basically it watches your surfing and suggests sites based on what it sees (this is nutshell definition- see MS for more information). Not a big fan of that stuff, so I turn it off for now. Now asked to accept the default settings or customize. I chose Customize. I keep current search provider “Google”, but you do have the option to choose another provider after setup is complete. I like Google, so Google it will stay.

Next I am asked about “Accelerators”. Interesting, here is what the help file tells us:

• You can use Accelerators with text that you select on a web page to perform such tasks as opening a street address in a mapping website or looking up the dictionary definition for a word. You can also choose the web services or websites that Accelerators use to handle different types of tasks.

I want to see what is available so I choose “Show me a web page after setup has completed…..”

Now asked about SmartScreen Filters. This is the improved Phishing filter. I run something similar as it is available in my other browsers, so I turn it on in IE8 as well. Many details can be found at the IE8 Blog

Now do I want IE8 to be my default browser. No- still pretty happy keeping Firefox that, but thanks for asking. I also leave the box checked at the bottom that says “Import items from other browser when complete”. I do this with Firefox and Opera, let’s see what happens with IE8.

The import sees both Firefox and Opera, but only brings the favorites into IE8- none of my RSS feeds. Oh well. IE is now loaded and ready to run.

IE8 launches and presents three Tabs. “MSN.COM”, “Internet Explorer 8: Service Gallery”-this is where I will choose my Accelerators?-, and “Welcome to Internet Explorer Beta 2″. Right off the bat, does not look that dramatically different from IE7. I do not feel like I have moved to a different browser, which can be a good thing. The IE8 related pages are clean. No windows and lines everywhere. Crisp and refreshing. Off to the Accelerator tab to see my options. Looks like some serious offerings- to be continued..