How to really test the Windows 7 Release Candidate

What should you be testing for?

Although Microsoft has published a handy reviewer's guide specifically for the Windows 7 Release Candidate (Microsoft Word file available here), its purpose is to highlight the new and enhanced features of the operating system. That makes sense if you're installing Win7 on a fresh physical or virtual machine; but if you're testing for usability, there will be a lot more to it. Even if you're just trying a test upgrade from Windows Vista and not XP, you will want to experiment with, and make notes about, the following:

• The integrity of your system folders. As you may know, system folders since Windows XP have been convenient aliases for deeply nested subfolders, especially in the case of personal folders. Vista moved personal documents to the physical location C:\Users\username\Documents, and the fact that Win7 has changed the name of the alias to this location from "Documents" back to "My Documents" (as it was with XP) does not impact this location. However, although Microsoft-brand apps and others should have the least difficulty with handling system folder locations (requesting their targets from the API), other software may encounter difficulties knowing where your personal documents are located even though, physically, they haven't moved.

• The integrity of your MP3 and media files. This is another reason you may want to back up your documents and media as well: We all know that Microsoft is testing some new features in Media Player, some of which are...well, surprises. The other day, I encountered some "album art" in my Windows XP physical directories that I didn't put there myself; it just so happened that Media Player 12 in a virtual Win7, on its whirlwind, clandestine trip around the network, started cataloguing files within their native directories. One side-effect that some users of the earlier Win7 betas encountered was the unexpected lopping off the top of their audio files, by Media Player 12 as it adjusted the metadata of MP3 files...again, without notifying anyone. Supposedly this product was fixed by a Media Player update, but that's not to say something similar won't crop up again.
• The efficiency of your security software. So far, this has been a largely unexplored subject with regard to the Win7 betas: How well will third-party security and anti-malware software work in the new system? Though there are no sweeping kernel changes as there was for Vista (Win7 is actually an in-generation Vista upgrade, like Windows 98 was for Windows 95), changes to system folder aliases and the addition of the new shared libraries feature may necessitate behavioral changes to even Vista-era anti-malware software. What's more, the new Action Center feature of Win7 is supposed to coordinate all types of security activities, including with third-party products; and existing products won't be prepared for such a coordinated effort.
• The connectivity of your network components. The Homegroup Networking feature of Windows 7 is geared to connect networking components and other Win7-based computers to Win7-based networks. But you cannot use a Vista-based computer or older as a homegroup member, at least for now (conceivably, Microsoft could come up with a Vista upgrade, though it may simply choose not to). Win7-based homegroup members are supposed to behave better together than ever before, as well as stay compatible with workplace networks to which they may also belong from time to time. But you can only test this with two Win7-based components. However, if you have two computers, you could conceivably run one copy of Win7 in Virtual PC 2007, hosted by Vista or XP. You could then set up your physical Win7 machine as the nucleus, if you will, of the homegroup, and then set up libraries to be shared between the two. You can also then test Windows Media Center on the physical machine, especially to judge how well homegrouping aids in the promise of steadier streaming, especially over 11g and slower Wi-Fi connections.
• The effectiveness of the revised automated troubleshooting. During the beta phase of a product's testing, companies (especially Microsoft) typically forego completing the documentation process, often leaving pages blank. Some type of automated troubleshooting has existed in Windows since XP; but in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft's trying an interesting new strategy, which is only barely alluded to in this document: It's enabling third-parties to create troubleshooting packages for known problems, letting others generate PowerShell and other scripts that could effectuate solutions to known and published problems. We may see the first trials of this approach (if someone other than Microsoft is brave enough to take the first steps) during the RC phase of Windows 7 testing.

Essentially, what you should be looking for during the RC phase is the proper transition path between your old operating system and Windows 7. With an easily restorable backup of your old system in place, and a parallel version running in an alternate partition, you should be comfortable to experiment with ideas that might fail -- for instance, removing older-era anti-malware software, or installing old software you've used before and that you wanted to use with Vista but couldn't. Take thorough notes of your process, and make system restore points frequently. When you do encounter problems, consider them discoveries that you're glad you found now rather than later.