We all thought there were plenty of time left when we were first trying out the RC. But time flies. It’s the time again reminding those who are still stuck in RC and haven’t made the move to the final release. Here is what’s going to happen:

On February 15th

People still running Windows 7 RC will receive a notification reminding  them that starting March 1st, their PC will be entering into a bi-hourly shutdown mode that automatically shuts windows 7 RC down in every 2 hours. By then, you are still able to obtain Windows Updates or downloads that require Genuine Windows validation.

On March 1st

As mentioned above, computers running on Windows 7 RC will automatically shut itself down every 2 hours. And that process will continue all the way to June 1st, 2010.

Even though you are in a bi-hourly shutdown mode, you are still able to obtain windows updates or downloads that require Genuine windows validation.

On June 1st

A non-genuine experience is triggered and a note “this copy of windows is not genuine: will be displayed in the lower right corner right above the taskbar. By then, you will not be able to obtain Windows Updates or downloads that require genuine windows validation.

The good thing is, even though you still haven’t made the move by June 1st, you will be still able to use your Windows 7 PC and be able to access your data. However, without being able to obtain the latest updates your Windows 7 machine soon will become quite vulnerable.

Time to move on

So, the chances are if you are still using Windows 7 RC you are pretty much quite happy with it. If that’s the case, time to think about upgrading now.

Worry about the saying that there is no upgrade path from RC to the final release? Try the same trick that made upgrading Windows 7 beta to RC possible.