I installed the Windows 7 beta on my home computer last night.

It’s a fairly complex machine with four internal drives, a permanently connected external backup drive, Nvidia graphics card, headphones, two printers, ethernet and wireless network connections, webcam, etc.

I was upgrading from the 64 bit version of Vista Home Premium. The upgrade went without a hitch, and all my devices (the ones I have checked so far) seem to have been recognised and appropriate drivers installed.

I had tried an earlier version of the Internet Explorer 8 beta and then removed it – it was confusing and buggy. But the version bundled with Windows 7 seems clean and stable. It can suggest websites you might enjoy based on your browsing history. I’ll be interested to see what it comes up with. 

Windows 7 seems to load more quickly than Vista when it was first installed. I didn’t have any of the driver or BSOD problems I had early on with Vista 64. It is visually attractive, and seems stable, though I haven’t done anything especially demanding with it yet. I will load up World of Warcraft and Crysis over the weekend, and see what it can do.

I’ll keep you informed!