On February 15th, people still running Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) will receive a notification reminding them that starting March 1st, 2010, their PC will begin experiencing bi-hourly shutdowns. These shutdowns will continue through June 1st, 2010.
On June 1st, 2010, a non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and "This copy of Windows is not genuine" will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar. This means your PC will no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads that require genuine Windows validation.
To avoid any data loss, you are advised to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start. During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved.
Do you need more time to test your application and hardware compatibility in Windows 7? If so, the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial provides a great opportunity for IT Pros to finish critical testing with a full version of Windows 7 Enterprise.
Source: Windows 7 Team Blog
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7.
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Yatti420
This includes RTM copies aswell right?
VG
^^ No.
Rix
Off topic
Hey Mr. VG
I've been using Windows 7 RTM after it was released and I don't know why but the Boot animation of Windows 7 doesn't seem to show up on me. It only shows a tiny red pixel in the screen and thats all (I think the boot screen animation freezes or something). I already asked this in other site such as winmatrix but found no fix for it. I installed my win 7 by USB not dvd just to let you know. Please if you know such tweak/fix to make the animation work please tell us how. i don't know if im the only person in the world who has this problem. Please :)
Thanks for the info btw. My friend still uses RC. I might note him this one incase he doesn't know. :D
VG
^^ It might be due to some corrupt files or may be a graphics card problem. You can try to install the same in any other machine and check whether the same thing happens or not.
Rix
Thanks for answering Mr. VG. Yeah other people also said that it could be a Graphics Card Problem. My graphics card is GeForce 6600 LE 128 MB (can this be the problem?) And I don't think its a corrupted data since i installed Windows 7 in this same machine for like 5-6 times now and still get the same problem. Anyways thanks! :)
Jeet Chowdhury
hmm do one thing. install it from a dvd or other source then see. maybe usb installation have something wrong or corrupted file. working fine on a 5200 card also....
PS
hey, VG im using the windows 7 RTM version and im getting this notification that im using a pre-release
version of windows 7 and that it will expire in march 1st why is that happening????
VG
^^ It means you are using the RC version. You can check it by typing "winver" in RUN box and press Enter.
PS
the build number is: 6.1.7600.16385
VG
^^ Thats really strange. Are you using genuine Windows? May be you downloaded it from some sites and they modified RC version to look like RTM version?