Finally got a hold of this bad boy through Windows Update. Yeah, I could’ve downloaded the full network install off Neowin like a month ago, but considering the 76.6MB I had to get took about eight hours, I don’t even want to think about how long the full network install (at over 230MB) would take.
Anyways: nothing too drastic here, but I must say the emphasis on security is nice. The brand-spankin’-new Windows Security Center is the first thing to pop up once Windows loads after you restart the system, letting you know how well your system is protected by way of Windows firewall, Automatic Updates, and Antivirus software. Their was a huge spike in memory usage at first, which had my system using nearly twice the average amount of memory at start up, but I suspect it was just a one-time thing. Memory levels have leveled off and all looks well.
I was kind of hoping they’d include the Royale skin (as seen in some builds of Windows Media Center Edition 2005), but they didn’t. No big deal, though: I’ve already got the skin for WindowBlinds.
Internet Explorer is actually pretty nice now. The new pop up blocker is a godsend, and nearly enough to make me consider moving back to it full time. It doesn’t look like the rendering engines seen an update, but that was to be expected, if still disappointing.
So, if you don’t have this yet, go get it.