Its July 1 – If your running Windows 7 and your machine turns is turning itself off every 2 hours, then you haven’t moved from the Beta version to the Release Candidate of Windows 7.  Today is the 1st day of the bi-hourly shutdown of Windows 7 beta’s to remind you that its time to move on.  You know have 31 more days to either go back to your normal operating system (XP / Vista or something like that) or to move to the Windows 7 release candidate.  Starting Aug 1, you will have limited boot access to your beta install and be treated like if the beta was a pirated copy of Windows.

     If you need to download the RC of Windows 7 you can download it from the Microsoft TechNet site ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx (http://technet NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205 NULL.aspx) ).

     The RC of Windows 7 will be good until the end of Feb. 2010 at which point on March 1, 2010 the RC will also start shutting down every 2 hours.  Considering that still 8 months away, you will have plenty of time to give Windows 7 a test.