Final Review Of Windows 7 After Using It For About A Week

This is not a review of the glitz on Window 7, but of the meat and potatoes. As I used Windows 7 I began to notice more about it. Some of what I noticed I like and some of what I noticed I don’t like, but my overall impression is that it hasn’t crashed yet and I have been running it for over a week and it seems to be at least as stable as Windows XP at this stage of the game. When service packs start coming out of Microsoft for Windows 7, I am sure that some of the little annoyances still left will be eliminated, or at least one would hope so. With everything turned on, yes I now run Windows 7 with all the bells and whistles working, except one and that is Account Control Settings, which I have to turn off from time to time, before a software package will install or work. This is a setting in the account control area of the operating system and has a slide that you raise. or lower for more or less control.

One of my major gripes with Windows 7 is the fact that the help screens have not improved. Running through a help sequence is almost laughable. They are about as much help as a rubber gun in a battle. On one screen, the one after you trouble shoot, asks you if you have solved your problem or not, it advises you to seek a friend if you haven’t. Gee thanks a lot Microsoft, I don’t know what I would have done without that sage advice. Another annoying thing is that the permissions on some software packages are changed and when you go to set them back you are told that you need administrative privileges. That is a pain, but if you are signed on as an administrator, which you are told not to do routinely, but which I do, you can then edit these privileges, which are in the properties area of that pops up after right clicking on the program icon. Then you have to click on the security tab and make your changes.

I run a dual screen and some of the new windows handling routines allow you to put the windows on either edge of the monitor to change the window size and position and also allow you to move a window to the top to expand it. With a dual screen setup your lose perspective changes. You have to use the right side of one monitor and the left side of the other, which is not exactly what most dual monitor setups are looking to do. There should have been a routine to allow you to do this on either monitor. I guess some might say that this is nit picking, but it would be handy. Another thing that is really annoying is the fact that a balloon notice comes up ever time I start the computer that tells me that I have files to be burned. These were burned already and I can not get rid of this message. It keeps asking me to insert the disk and even if I do, I still get the message on the next startup. Apparently there is a buffer that retains these messages and it is malfunctioning.

I elected to buy Window 7 Ultimate upgrade. I did this because I wanted to add Windows Virtual PC which would allow me to run some older Windows software that I need. It works pretty good, but is not perfect, in all fairness Microsoft stated that it would not run some programs. It runs what I wanted it to, but was slow starting. I discovered that if you move the icon to an external drive and start it from there it loads a lot faster. I am not exactly sure why, but it probably has to do with software on the drive that windows is located on slowing down the process. I would have thought that moving the icon would have made no difference and everything would load the same. Well live and learn on this one.

Hidden Tray Icons Appear When You Click On Tray Indicator
Photo Source: Me

If you are someone that likes to play the games that come with the operating system, such as Internet spades, Internet hearts, Internet checkers and such, you may be disappointed with Windows 7 in this area. Internet hearts has been left off and Internet Spades seems to be a new module that only plays against people with Windows 7. I can’t be sure about this, but it takes much longer to find players than the Windows XP Internet Spades. It also looks for new players after each game instead of giving you the option to play the same people again.

Mouseover On Toolbar Icon
Photo Source: Me

Everything that I use seems to work well with Windows 7 even though I upgraded from Windows XP not Vista. There were only a couple of software packages that didn’t and the important ones I put on the Virtual Windows XP. All my hardware was pretty new and it all works. This has nothing to do with Windows 7, but I notice the Mozilla Firefox has crashed several times already. I am sure an update will come out to correct this problem. It seem to be the only software package that I am using that has this problem.

Software Permission Editing
Photo Source: Me

There is a lot that I like about Windows 7. It doesn’t seem to be any slower than Windows XP, but I can not be sure since all the speed comparisons I have seen matched it against Vista, which is a known slow piece of software. The feature that allows you to see through windows to the desk, is very handy and the gadget to bring the desktop forward is nice and I use it a lot. The hidden tray that holds all those icons that you don’t want displayed is also very nice, I used to hate all the clutter. One of the really cool new features is the one that allows you to pin a program that you are using, or that you want to remain handy, right to the tool bar and even set up your software in order of importance, or by alphabet, or anyway you want. When you leave things open that are hidden, you can tell instantly, because a subtle frame is put around the icon for that program. Moving your mouse over it will show thumbnails of what is open and you can even right click over the icon to get a jump list that you can click on. You can use the Windows key + the Tab key to get a representation of everything that is open and page through it until you get to the screen you want in front.

Would I buy Windows 7 again, now that I know what it is like? Absolutely, it is worth the trouble setting it up, especially if you are upgrading from Windows XP. I liked Windows XP pretty much, but this platform promises to be even more stable with many advanced features.