Beta versions

[shazzabell]

Is it wise to download 'Beta' versions of programs?

[Postdog]

Me personally, no. All they are is programs which are not totally debugged, and the public play their part in testing them. For all you know, they could cause major problems to your system.

[vehelpfulguy]

As postdog says, beta software is software that has not been fully tested and finished yet.

Function may be missing, or not work, or it may corrupt your system.

For example, Microsoft have just released Office 2007 beta.

If you downloaded and installed it then it may corrupt one of your existing Word documents or Excel spreadsheets.

If you have a spare PC or hard disk then go ahead, but do not do it on your main system, and do not use it for working with important files.

[Ethel]

I used gmail (now google mail) in its beta stage - and I've stayed with it. No problems at all.


I tried to use the new Windows 7 in beta - hopeless.


It depends very much on who the developer is. If you are going to install any programme set a system restore point first.

[vehelpfulguy]

If you are interested in working with beta software consider getting one of these.

http://www.atlastsolutions.biz/disks/images/SATARackTrayBeige.jpg

It allows you to easily swap hard disks in your PC.

You take the hard disk out of your PC and insert the case in the picture in its place.

You then put the hard disk inside the slideable tray.

You can then buy other hard disks and put them in other trays.

You can then easily switch your hard disk inside your PC from one to the other.

I have three of these trays and I can switch from one version of Windows XP to another in seconds.

[shazzabell]

Thanks for your answers. I think I might wait in future until these programs are officially released, as I'm a novice and I don't wish to mess up my system.