Beta? what is it

[flyinpc]

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.

[juppy]

Hi, welcome to PCMech.

Betas are just programs that are not totally finished as far as having most of the kinks worked out. They work, for the most part, as they're supposed to but they may still have a few unknown bugs and quirks that have to be worked out yet. Generally they're seen as a "try at your own risk" type of thing because, depending on your computer, the program may not install correctly, cause blue screen errors, etc. Basically, beta is the test level that a program goes through before it's finally released to the public.

[glc]

Betas are generally released free of charge for testing purposes only. They expect people who do install them to submit bug reports to help them get it ready for final release.