I have been dying to try out Windows 7 since the beta was released. So yesterday after tying it out for a while on VMWare .. I decided to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on my Dell XPS M1330.

My Lappy Specs:
Dell XPS M1330
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
4GB RAM
320GB HDD
nVidia 128MB 8400M GS

After backing up my files and settings, I booted with the Windows 7 DVD. It first asked me whether I wanted to upgrade the existing operating system. I choosed to install a fresh copy rather than upgrading (Because I read somewhere upgrade takes too much time).

The installation process was very simple and within 20 mins I had Windows 7 up and running.

Driver Installation

To avoid problems run all your driver installations under compatibility mode. I choose Windows Vista environment while installing the drivers.

Problems

I was unable to install most of the .msi based installer. After a little googling I found the solution here.

Fix for install/upgrade crashes

Note: Only delete the key if you are facing the same issue. Also remember you have to restart after deleting the registry key.

There have been reports of some Windows 7 beta testers experiencing installation errors with Windows Update and third party applications like Java and Flash (crashes of Explorer and MSI-based installers).

This may be an issue related to the Customer Experience Improvement Program client (CEIP also known as SQM). If you are experiencing this try the fix outlined below. Any machine that’s currently not affected by this problem does not need this fix, nor will future installations or upgrades.

What happened? Microsoft deployed a configuration change which exposed this problem. The following instructions will remove those changes (registry keys) to prevent further CEIP related crashes.

1.Select and copy the following to your clipboard:

reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions /va /f

2.Click on “Start”, then “All Programs”, then “Accessories”

3.Right click on “Command Prompt”, then click on “Run as administrator”

4.In the UAC prompt, verify that the program’s name is “Windows Command Processor” and then click “Yes”

5.Right click on the “Administrator: Command Prompt” window’s black area, then select “Paste”

6.Press “Enter”, you should see “The operation completed successfully”.

7.If you see “ERROR: Access is denied”, please make sure you followed Step 3.

8.Close the “Administrator: Command Prompt window”

Programs That I have Installed

Currently I have installed

Visual Studio 2008
Photoshop CS4
Fireworks CS4
e-TextEditor
FireFox
WAMP Server
VisualSVN Server
TortoiseSVN

Everything works fine.

Try Windows 7 Now

For those who are affraid of trying out the beta, there is nothing to worry about the Windows 7 beta works just fine.
But to be on a safer side I recommend you guys to use Windows 7 on VMWare or dual boot Windows 7 with your existing operating.

I have been using e-texteditor for quite a long time. I really like using it, when I am using it I work twice as fast as compared to any other IDE. I prefer using shortcuts instead of using the mouse, it surely increases the productivity. So here is a list of e-texteditor shortcuts that I got from here. Hope it helps.

File Operations

Ctrl+N : New file
Double-Click tab bar : New file
Ctrl+O : Open file
Ctrl+S : Save file
Ctrl+Shift+S : Save as
Ctrl+W: Close file
Ctrl+Shift+T : Go To File dialog

Editing

Ctrl+K : Delete to end of line; if the caret already is at end-of-line it deletes the newline.
Ctrl+Shift+K : Delete the entire line
Ctrl+Backspace : Delete to start of word (same as Ctrl+H)
Ctrl+Delete : Delete to end of word
Ctrl+(Shift)+U : Change case on word/selection
Alt+G : Inverse case on word/selection
Ctrl+Alt+U : Title case
Ctrl+T : Transpose, for swapping words or chars.
Ctrl+Alt+R : Run current line/selection
Ctrl+C : Copy (or: Ctrl+Insert)
Ctrl+V : Paste (or: Shift+Insert)
Ctrl+X : Cut
Ctrl+Z : Undo
Ctrl+Y : Redo. If there aremultiple branches to choose fromundo history will be displayed.

Selection

Ctrl+A : Select all
Ctrl+Shift+arrow : Select entire word
Alt+Left-mouse : column selection
Ctrl+Left-mouse : Multi selection
Shift+Home : Selects to the first non-whitespace char on the line, second time the white spaces will be selected as well
Shift+Ctrl+Home : Selects to the beginning of the document
Shift+Ctrl+End : Selects to the end of the document
Shift+Ctrl+L : Selects current line
Shift+Ctrl+W: Selects current word
Shift+Ctrl+Space : Selects current scope. If you keep hitting it, it will cycle through the available scopes.

Folding

F1 : Toggle current fold
Alt+F1 : Open current fold and closes all others
Ctrl+F1 : Fold all
Ctrl+Alt+F1 : Unfold all
Shift+F1 : Select current fold
Left-mouse : Fold end or fold indicator: Select fold, twice to fold
Mouseover : Fold end: Show fold preview Fold indicator: Highlight fold (useful for nested folds)
Navigation
Ctrl-Tab : Go to last active tab (or next tab if used repeatedly)
Ctrl-Shift-Tab : Go to previous tab
Alt+Ctrl+R/L-arrow : Next/previous tab
Alt+Ctrl+Up-arrow : Go to header/source
Ctrl+L : Go to Symbol
Ctrl+G : Go to line
Ctrl+F : Find
Ctrl+G : Find next
Ctrl+R : Replace
Home : Move cursor to the beginning of the line
End : Move cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl+Home : Move cursor to the beginning of the document
Ctrl+End : Move cursor to the end of the document
Ctrl+Up/Down-arrow : Scroll up/down, withoutmoving the caret
Ctrl+1-8 : Go to tab
Ctrl+9 : Go to last tab
Ctrl+0 : List open tabs

View

F3 : Show/hide revision history
F4 : Show/hide visual undo
Ctrl+Alt+P : Show/hide web preview
Alt+Shift+T : Show TODO list

Document

Ctrl+M:Makemilestone
Bundle
Ctrl+Shift+B : Show bundle editor
Ctrl+Alt+T : Select bundle
Esc : Kill current running bundle command

Projects

Ctrl+P : Show/hide project pane
Ctrl+Shift+P : Switch focus between editor and project pane (opening it if needed).
Arrow keys : Up/down and expand/close folder
Enter : Open file in editor
F2 : Rename
F5 : Refresh project view
Shift-F10 : Show contextmenu

Mouse Shortcuts

Double-click : Select word
Triple-click : Select line
Alt-doubleclick : Select scope