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Kelly Poe, a fellow Windows 7 fan, launched the “Release Windows 7 Now” campaign because he’s a “BIG Windows fan and have been loving what Microsoft has done with the recent Beta Release of Windows 7,” and he’s just “jones’n” for the release of “beautiful little birdy (with the odd name).”

I’ve played with Windows 7 beta and it seemed to live up to the hype that’s spread around the web. Generally, Windows 7 beta is getting a lot of good press. In fact, you could say that Windows 7 beta, despite being a beta, has a better reputation already than Windows Vista. The fact remains though that Windows 7 is IN BETA. There’s a reason for a beta process… to allow users to preview the OS, report bugs, and support Microsoft in stabalizing the operating system prior to it’s official release. As of right now rumors are that Windows 7 will be out sometime between Nov 2009 or Feb 2010. While I love being able to play with beta’s, releasing something as complex as an operating system before it’s “ready” is just stupid.

If you feel as strongly as Poe, you can check out the “Release Windows 7 Now” campaign and show you’re support.

If you are one of the many people testing the beta release of Windows 7, you should still make sure to keep your computer safe and secure. MysticGeek from HowToGeek has compiled an extensive list of both Spyware AND Antivirus software known to be already compatible with Windows 7.

The first thing you should know is that  MOST software that runs on Vista will run on Windows 7 with the exception of software that installs low-level system components like an Anti-Virus, firewalls, etc.

Anti-virus software compatible with Windows 7

• AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition – this is what I personally use… it’s excellent and FREE
• Avira AntiVir Personal Edition
• Norton AntiVirus 2009
• Avast! AntiVirus Home
• Kapersky Anti-Virus 2009
• PCGuard Anti-Virus from Virgina Media Broadband
• ESET Nod32 Anti-Virus
• Microsoft Forefront Client Security (Enterprise)

Anti-virus software NOT compatible with Windows 7

• McAfee VirusScan
• Microsoft Windows Live OneCare – I know weird right? Microsoft’s own Anti-virus suite does not work on Windows 7?!?!

Anti-Spyware software compatible with Windows 7

• Windows Defender
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• Ad-Aware
• Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
• Spyware Blaster

Anti-Malware Suites compatible with Windows 7

There are a number of “suites” that include protection for everything including spyware, and some of them listed above under Anti-virus.

• AVG Free
• Avira AntiVir
• Norton AntiVirus 2009
• Avast! AntiVirus
• Kapersky Anti-Virus 2009

For the full scoop and loads of screenshots checkout HowToGeek’s following articles:

• List of Anti-Virus Software Compatible with Windows 7
• List of Spyware Protection Software Compatible with Windows 7

Microsoft postponed the rollout of the Windows 7 beta today, citing “very heavy traffic” on its Web site. Understand this, Microsoft has some serious hardware… think about the number of users who access MS properties daily; their servers did in fact end up showing a lot of users “Server is too busy” messages. Microsoft then announced that they would postpone the release of Windows 7 beta so they could build up their infrastructure to meet the demand. It seems a lot of people are excited about Windows 7.

When Windows 7 beta is released it will be a 30 day trial. That’s a decent amount of time to preview an OS (what I’ve played with so far looks pretty impressive though I’m still not totally onboard with the new task bar). But what it you need longer than 30 days to get a true feel for where Microsoft has taken their new OS?

By using the same “slmgr -rearm” command that gained notoriety after Windows Vista’s debut, users can extend that trial period to a total of 120 days. Extending the grace period, the spokeswoman continued, is not a violation of the Vista End User License Agreement (EULA). The one-line command of “slmgr -rearm” changes the activation deadline to 30 days after the current date.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the feature and command on Friday. “Yes, ‘rearm’ can be run up to three times from the release media from Microsoft,” she said in an e-mail response to some questions. “This means [that] a total of 120 days total time is available as a grace period to customers that take advantage of rearm.”