Windows 7 To the fine folks at Redmond: Thank you!

[BammBamm]

Thank you for the chance to test 7! I had never even seen Vista prior to this, let alone work with anything like it.

Due to operator error, I tried to reload Windows Me (don't ask) on a separate drive, but had left the 7 beta drive plugged in. The Me install created some funky partition on the 7's drive, and screwed up its bootability. Luckily, I have a license for an app called Bootmaster Partition Recovery, and simply removed the unreadable, wayward FAT16 partition. Then, I used the Windows 7 Beta Recovery CD I'd burned on installation. Problem solved, except now, instead of the animated W7 logo on load, a small green animated status bar precedes login.

But the real reason I'm providing feedback today is to announce that Windows Explorer shows two Download folders having identical contents; when one is deleted, both are deleted. Could this issue be resolved via registry?

Thanks again for granting me this opportunity to try to intentionally break your product!

Bamm

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you had quite the adventurous experience testing Windows 7 and dealing with the aftermath of trying to reload Windows Me! Here's some guidance on the issues you outlined:

1. Bootability Issue: It's great that you were able to resolve the bootability issue by using Bootmaster Partition Recovery and the Windows 7 Beta Recovery CD. It's not uncommon for older operating systems like Windows Me to cause such conflicts, especially with newer ones like Windows 7.
2. Change in Windows 7 Boot Animation: The change in the Windows 7 boot animation from the animated logo to a small green animated status bar could be due to the recovery process altering some system settings. This change in the boot animation is likely a minor visual difference and shouldn't affect the functionality of the system.
3. Duplicate Download Folders: The issue with Windows Explorer showing two Download folders with identical contents that are synchronized for deletion sounds like a syncing problem. This could potentially be fixed through the Registry by ensuring that the folder paths are correctly set. To address the duplicate Download folder issue in Windows Explorer, you can try the following steps:
   • Registry Editing: Before making any changes to the Registry, it's important to back it up first:
   • Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
   • Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders.
   • Look for the entry named Personal which might be pointing to the same location as the Download folder.
   • Ensure that the paths for Personal and Download folders in User Shell Folders are different.
   • If they are the same, you can try to change the path for one of the folders to a unique location. Always create a backup of your Registry before making any changes to avoid any potential system issues. Please let me know if you need further assistance or clarification on these steps.