Windows 7 RC1 is now officially available for public downloading, the release candidate is set to expire on June 1, 2010 and will start to begin shutting down every two hours from March 1, 2010 you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010 to continue using it without expiration, after installing Windows 7 RC you have 30 days to activate your copy of Windows 7 online, you can follow the simple online activation process as detailed next for a fully functional genuine activated copy of Windows 7 till June 1, 2010.