13 Things I Like about Windows 7

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Please see my previous post:

42 Things I HATE about Windows 7

Not everything sux about Windows 7 though.  Things I like:

  1. A side effect of one of the things I didn’t like (don’t like the less secure UAC) is that it no longer pops up for showing all processes from all users in the Task Manager.  That was the only time I thought it was unnecessary.
  2. Right-click process in task manager, choose properties, and I can find out EXACTLY the file that process is and EXACTLY where it is on my hard drive!  YAY!
  3. On "Applications" tab in the Task Manager, I can right-click an app and choose "go to process" and it’ll switch to the processes tab and show me the actual process for it.  I’ve been asking for this for a LONG time!  (Actually, I think this was introduced in Vista, not W7).
    1. Correction:  This is in Windows XP.  Thanks anonymous poster.
  4. Resource Monitor — MUCH improved.  The one in Vista was completely useless.  This one actually shows real data and breaks it down to which programs are using memory and what types and how much of each kind of memory they’re using, disk queues PER DISK, and lots of other good stuff.  Still using a somewhat confusing layout, but much improved.  I still like the simplistic PerfMon.exe performance monitor of XP.
  5. Calculator, now has a "programmer" mode!  FINALLY!  It only took TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!!!  It’s finally awesome to have it though!
  6. Windows Themes:  Some themes have the ability to let you choose multiple desktop wallpaper photos and it will change them in sequence or at random, but at a time interval you specify.
  7. Windows Media Player plays MP4 files right out of the box!  Yay!  Now I don’t have to do anything special to view my cell phone videos on the computer.
  8. When copying "stuff", the copying task shows its progress on its taskbar icon, even when FireFox downloads files.
  9. Speech Recognition:  Though, I’ve not tried it myself, this video
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3VZnyKViC4]
    gives a decent demo of it.  What’s amazing, is not that this technology is here, it’s that I was using virtually identical technology 17 or so years ago in Windows 3.11 with my Sound Blaster 32 AWE.  I eventually turned that feature off because it just wasn’t useful, in spite of it being wicked cool.  It’s a little embarrassing if people see you talking to your computer.  Most things you can do with voice are MUCH faster with a keyboard and/or mouse and MUCH more accurate with a keyboard and/or mouse.
  10. Multi-Touch.  Though, I don’t have a touch screen monitor, I do plan on getting one for this feature that looks incredibly awesome! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTABGen4Ckg]
  11. Remote Desktop (when it connects), connects MUCH quicker than Vista.  So far, this is the only noticeable speed improvement in any part of Windows 7.
  12. If I have multiple tabs open in FireFox or IE8 and float my mouse over any running instance on the taskbar, I get a list of all the open tabs in that instance (I have unselected the option to "group similar icons together) on the taskbar).
  13. Fewer (if any) popups from the system tray.  Now there’s this icon image in the system tray to let you know there are notifications waiting for you, instead of constantly popping them up.
    1. If you don’t have anti-virus software installed, this becomes useless because it’s ALWAYS on!  Thanks to Windows 7 telling me to uninstall Windows One Live Care (which I paid for) before "up"grading, then refusing to let me install it back, this flag is constantly on.
      1. When you install an anti-virus program, it’ll go away.  If you’re looking for a free one, Microsoft Security Essentials is pretty good and doesn’t seem to slow down your PC.

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