I'm new here. Can you explain what a " beta " download is , why i should take it or not. I'm on Vista. Thanks for your help.
Stephanie
I'm new here. Can you explain what a " beta " download is , why i should take it or not. I'm on Vista. Thanks for your help.
Stephanie
It's sort of a test run of a piece of software.
It means they think it's nearly ready for release but give people the chance to test it and find bugs in it
It's best to have some sort of backup system in place when trying betas as the not very well done ones can sometimes be unstable.
Welcome to the forum Stephanee
Beta applications in general have the ability to have bugs in them, however that's also true for stable final builds too as developers can't possibly test out their software in every environment or scenario in which it will be used. OS related problems/damage can make the most stable programs have issues.
I've personally used tons of beta software for years without any ill effects, it's just those in alpha stage that I don't often mess around with.
I use a lot of beta products on my pc. And, like Andavari said, I don't touch alpha-stage products. (The one time I did, it was for a wireless driver on linux... never... ever ever ever... doing that again.).