Windows 7 is Coming

Computer Care: Windows 7 is a big step up from Vista

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Oct. 9, 2009 9:19 p.m.

Windows 7 will be out in a couple of weeks and unlike its predecessor, it is something to look forward to.

Although its release isn’t officially until Oct. 22, I have a prerelease version installed on my computer and I like it. I took advantage of Microsoft’s offer back in June to try it free for a year. It’s installed on my laptop alongside Vista; I can’t remember the last time I booted into Vista.

It’s not a totally new interface like the difference between Win 98 and XP, but it beats Vista by leaps and bounds.

Win 7 seems to have added what XP left out and repaired what Vista messed up. Some things are new, others polished. Gone are the constant nags of permission to access something on your own computer. They called it security; I called it a nuisance.

Vista initially had issues with many peripherals that XP handled with ease. Win 7 is ready. Vista couldn’t run on the new tiny netbooks where XP could. So could Win 7.

I think Vista must have been a huge a huge disappointment, if not an embarrassment to Microsoft. It ended up being nothing like its older brother, XP. Whether it was released prematurely or what, we’ll never know. It was kind of like Win ME, the Millennium Edition. The turn of the century is here and we’d better have something to sell, ready or not. I used mine as a coaster on my desk.

A nice addition to Win 7 is not so many additions. Instead of cramming a bunch of add-on programs and utilities to the operating system, some that may never be used, Microsoft decided this time around to offer them as optional, free downloads on its Web site. Many add-ons are in Windows Live Essentials. That’s where you’ll find Window’s Mail and Messenger now as well as the new Writer and some others. Go to http://down load.live.com to see what’s there.

I added Photo Gallery to my installation. Aside from being a nice photo viewer and sufficient editor, it has a panoramic feature. If you’re on the beach or mountain top and want to remember the expansive panoramic view, now you can, and Photo Gallery does it effortlessly.

You can also make slideshows or movies in Photo Gallery, and when done, you can upload your finished products directly to You Tube, Flickr or Facebook for publication. A new addition to image-viewing is the slider in each folder that lets you adjust the size of the thumbnails.

The taskbar is perhaps the most noticeable change to the operating system’s interface. The start button is still there; it just doesn’t tell you what it is. Instead of pinning programs to the start menu or the Quicklaunch bar, you can now pin them to the taskbar.

All you do is hover the mouse over a taskbar item and it reveals a readable thumbnail. Then you click on either the item or the thumbnail to open it. The thumbnail offers a list of what each app recently had open. Word for example, will show a list of documents, and Firefox, a list of sites.

If you have multiple windows opened and want to view them in equal sizes, simply right-click on the taskbar. You will have a choice to cascade them, view them side by side or stacked. Personally, I like the side-by option. It’s like having my research book adjacent to the paper I’m writing. I can Google something and keep writing.

If you double-click anywhere on a window’s title bar, it will show in full screen. Alternatively, you can just drag it to the top of the screen and goes to full size automatically, with the new snap feature.

I have deleted the recycle bin more than once instead of emptying it. That option to delete is thankfully no longer there.

Having never been a fan of Internet Explorer, the new version has not changed that. My advice is to go to mozilla.com and download the latest version of Firefox. It is far more versatile and customizable than IE ever was.

What is versatile in the new OS is the redesigned Media Center that handles not just photos and music, but videos and TV. It asks what you want to configure and takes it from there.

Windows 7 installed on my laptop in an hour and booted in less than a minute. I found a huge collection of themes to download from Microsoft as well as add-ons as mentioned. It goes to sleep in seconds and wakes up almost as fast.

I found this OS more helpful than its predecessors. It connects to wireless much easier, finding local connections quickly.

Whenever you run into a problem, a troubleshooter is there in the form of a wizard to assist you. It asks just enough proper questions to help get you going again.

Libraries are something new. They are like what My Pictures was to My Documents in XP — on steroids. They are lists accessible across the OS. Using tags or keywords with libraries, files are easier to index and find from anywhere.

If you bought a new computer recently, chances are it came with a coupon or a link to get a free upgrade to Windows 7. I’d say go for it.

Even if you don’t have a coupon, the pricing is affordable. According to Microsoft’s Web site, the upgrade version for the Home Premium edition is $119.99, and $219.99 for the Ultimate Upgrade.

It may be just the operating system you’ve been looking for. Worst case scenario: it’s better than the one you’ve been itching to get away from.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Windows 7 Almost Ready -Download It Now

Computer Care: Free Windows 7 trial worth a download

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED May 23, 2009 12:09 a.m.

Windows 7 was released in beta or trial form a few months ago. That bug-laden form, although free of cost, was free of support as well. It is the nature of the beast with betas.

As Microsoft works out the kinks from this soon-to-be-finished operating system, they are allowing us to not only preview the latest incarnation, but to use it free for a year. Yes, free Microsoft. This is not a typo.

Windows 7 RC, for Release Candidate, is an upgrade of the beta version and is now available as a download from its Web site. As with the beta version, all you need to do is register. It will scan your computer to see if it is capable of running Win 7 and issue an installation key if it is. You will get an iso-type file which you’ll need to burn to a disc. You’ll then boot from this disc to install the operating system.

It will be good for a year from now and will cease to function on June 1, 2010. Two months prior to that, it will begin to remind you it is only a trial version. How, you ask? It will turn itself off every two hours until you buy it or delete it. Annoying, yes. Now that’s the Microsoft we know.

You only have through the end of June to register with Microsoft and download your copy of Windows 7 RC. Windows 7 the finished product, is scheduled to officially go on sale sometime during the winter holiday season.

This is unprecedented by Microsoft, or any other manufacturer, to my knowledge. It gives us an opportunity to really see if Win 7 is any better than its predecessors. We have plenty of time to test it, and it’s free.

Although not a total overhaul (it is written on the same kernel or foundation as XP & Vista), Microsoft claims there are to be some major changes, many we are supposed to like.

If you don’t have an extra or old computer kicking around the garage, you could alternatively set up your current one to dual boot to Vista and Win 7 or XP and Win 7. By dual boot, I mean that two operating systems installed on one computer. When the computer boots up, you will have a boot manager to offer you a choice of which operating system to boot into. There is some prep work involved plus the addition of the second OS, but it’s not that time consuming.

Now this is not for the weak of heart, but it’s really not all that difficult, either. Just be sure that you clone, image or otherwise back up your current system before you begin on this adventure. Back up to an external drive or to DVDs to be safe.

There are lots of articles and forums on the Internet that deal with this. Microsoft’s Web site may be the first place you run to for support, but others are easier to comprehend. Would you rather take instructions from the guys who developed the operating system, or from guys who tried to install it, made mistakes, took notes and now know the pitfalls?

Get the OS at www.microsoft.com/Windows/Windows-7/download.aspx and then check out lifehacker.com/5126781/ for simple instructions or read more at www.gadgetpaper.com/how-to-install-windows-7-rc-as-a-dual-boot-over-vista-or-from-scratch. Or Google,"dual boot Windows 7 RC" for more options.

You will need a partition utility to have a dual-boot system. Your hard drive will need to be split up, or partitioned to make room for what’s to come. Get a free copy of Gparted, at gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php. You could also use Partition-it if you own it, or others.

Be sure you follow directions carefully, taking no shortcuts. You may end up with a doorstop if you decide to get creative.

A dual-boot system is good for many reasons. My laptop is configured as a dual boot with XP and Vista. Until I am totally comfortable with Vista (should that day ever come), I use XP as my main OS and play around with Vista. I do the same on another system with XP and Win 7. Ultimately I assume, I’ll switch to Win 7. Should something happen to one OS, I could always access its files from the other. It makes for a versatile computer.

Dual-booting with this generous offer from Microsoft will give us a chance to really test drive Windows 7, side by side with whichever one we use now. By the time we are forced to make a decision, we will either like it and buy it, or stick with what we have. But at least it will be an informed first-hand decision.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

New Version of Windows in Beta

Computer Care: New Windows version available for a test drive

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Jan. 31, 2009 1 a.m.

It's been a couple of years since Microsoft released the much-maligned Vista operating system. It was supposed to be the crème de la crème, the operating system extraordinaire, the piece de la resistance.
It was not. Now they are getting ready to do it all over again.

Windows 7 is scheduled to be released later this year or early in 2010. It came out in beta form last week. That is an unfinished, unpolished version for consumers to test on a temporary basis. I'll tell you how to try it in a moment, but first: Version 7?

By my count, it began with Windows 1.0 in 1983; then there was 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, Millennium, XP Home, Vista and Version 7. You can add to that another XP version (Pro) plus the Media Center release. There was Windows NT, Windows 2000 and the Tablet edition. So not counting all the various Vista incarnations, there were really more than a dozen.

I'm not certain how they got to Windows 7, but you can download it here. In order to get the key (the 25-digit alphanumeric code needed to install it), you will need to register with Microsoft first.
Keep in mind, this is not meant for you to replace what operating system you're using now. It's for you to try, to test, to see what it's like. Genuine beta testers report back to Microsoft what they like and what bugs they find. They will find some, and so will you. So don't expect it to be flawless. It is not.

Follow the directions carefully. It comes as an .iso file which needs to be burned to a DVD. From that you can install it. Initially Microsoft said they'd allow 2.5 million of us to try it. They have since changed that and gave us until Feb. 10 to download it. It will remain functional until Aug. 1.

Going back, it all began with version 1.0 which gave us the Graphical User Interface. We could, for the first time, click icons instead of typing command lines. I jumped on board at Version 3.1 and quickly bought Windows 95. It was "enhanced" and had plug and play.

Win 98 introduced us to USB support. I think Win ME was released just because it was after all, the millennium. I found nothing of value in it. No, I take that back. I used the CD as a coaster on my desk.
XP Pro was the best thing to date, in my opinion. It recognized practically whatever you threw at it. It configured e-mail accounts and Internet connections almost by itself. It was, and is, faster than anything we have seen.

Vista was a bomb. It is all smoke and mirrors. It has fancy features but they are used at the expense of speed. The glass-like Aero interface and flipping 3-D folders makes the system sluggish to the point of frustration.

Windows 7 is supposed to the best of both worlds: fast and pretty. I think Microsoft has seen the writing on the wall. Many computers users, so disappointed with Vista were switching to the Mac, trying Linux or considering OSX.

As far as I can tell from my personal beta testing, there are some nice changes. Hopefully, by the time the full version of Win 7 is released, the wrinkles will be ironed out.

This new Windows seems to manage memory better than its predecessor. There are more drivers included in the installation. When complete, I wasn't looking for device drivers, wondering why there was no sound or why I had no Internet connection. I had Internet and I could hear it.

The task bar is now more icon-based. The system is easier to shut down. I never could figure out why I had to click "Start" to stop.

The User Account Control is a sliding scale rather than simply on or off. The side bar is gone, but now there can be gadgets anywhere on the desktop we want them. Instead of pushing all those applications and utilities at us, now we will choose what we want to use and download things like Media Player and Mail from Microsoft's Web site.

Home networking has become HomeGrouping and makes it easier to share files, storage devices or printers.

So will I purchase Windows 7 when it is released? The jury is still out on that, but I'd say probably. As anxious as I was to obtain the beta version, I'll be a bit more cautious with the real thing, especially since I'll be paying for it.

Knowing that even the final release will still be somewhat buggy, I'll most likely wait for the first service pack (SP1) to be released before I get it.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.