Early Windows 7 Testers Must Upgrade Soon
Users of the Windows 7 Release Candidate, an early testing version of Windows 7, will soon have to upgrade to the full version of Windows 7 or their computers will start shutting down every two hours next month.
Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc warned on the Windows Blog that upgrading sooner than later will be important as there are serious consequences for waiting too long.
"To avoid any data loss, I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start," he said. "During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved."
Before Microsoft officially launched Windows 7, the company released a free version to early testers called Release Candidate 1 (RC1). More people installed the Windows 7 RC1 than for any previous version of Windows. Many people continued to use RC1 even after the official version of Windows 7 came out. But that will soon no longer be an option. RC1 users will either have to upgrade to the retail version of Windows 7, which start at $119, or go back to Windows Vista or XP.
In order to ease users into the transition, Microsoft has a plan for warning users. Starting February 15, users saw an expiration message above the taskbar informing them that they must upgrade.
On March 1, computers running Windows 7 RC1 will start to shut down every two hours.
Finally, on June 1, the entire desktop wallpaper will be filled with the message "This copy of Windows is not genuine." At this point, the computer will stop receiving updates and Microsoft applications will be unusable.
Fortunately, the upgrade process is relatively easy. Microsoft has a chart to help you figure out which version of Windows 7 you need, though the majority of users will probably only need Windows 7 Home Premium.
