Microsoft Reminds Of Windows 7 RC’s Approaching Shutdown
All of you out there still running the Windows 7 release candidate (RC), start looking forward to the shutdown of that OS. It won’t totally expire until June 1st of this year, but you will start getting nagged every few hours starting on February 15th.
Then, on March 1st, users will begin seeing bi-hourly shutdowns of the OS. Microsoft warned, in a blog post:
To avoid any data loss, I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start. During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved.
Unfortunately for users, in-place upgrades from the RC to a full version of Windows 7 are not supported. Microsoft suggests users look here for how to do a custom (clean) install of the OS.
For users still running it, the final change to the RC will come on June 1st. At that time, the OS will be marked as “non-genuine” and the message “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar. The background will also change to black. From this point, your PC will no longer be able to download optional updates or those that require genuine Windows validation.
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2010/02/microsoft-reminds-of-windows-7-rcs.html
