Windows 7 Hype Vs. Reality

There’s been a LOT of hype in the past year about Windows 7.  Here’s some toned down truth based on my hardcore usage of it between 8/8/2009 and 10/16/2009.  I installed it on my self-built Quad-Core 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM machine with multiple, internal SATA hard drives, USB external hard drives, and 2 DVD+/-RW drives.

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  1. Hype:  Windows 7 is much faster.  Reality:  I don’t notice any difference.  I haven’t done any actual timing, but if it is faster, it’s certainly not noticeable.

  2. Hype:  Windows 7 boots faster.  Reality:  It doesn’t seem to be any faster to me.  I did NOT do a stop watch comparison between boot times before and after the upgrade, but it seems to take just as long.  Note that a lot of people time their old Windows installation, which may be quite aged with many things loading, then do a FRESH install of their latest OS.  Of course, a FRESH install will always be faster than a "mature" install.  For a true comparison, you have to do an UPgrade, not a fresh install.  That way, you know it’s going to be loading all the same stuff (unless, of course, you had Windows Live OneCare installed and had to remove it.  You should time boot up on Vista AFTER you remove One-Care.

  3. Hype:  Windows 7 taskbar will show you thumbnail previews of apps as you float over the running app’s icons.  Reality:  While true, this is NOT a new, Windows 7 feature.  Vista has had this feature since it was released in December 2006.  Again, NOT NEW!  It is, however, slightly (very slightly) improved.

  4. Hype:  I’m spending money for an upgrade, so obviously, I’m keeping all my old features plus gaining new ones.  Reality:  You lose Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Vista Ultimate Extras, a clean UI that isn’t polluted with MS Office ribbon bars, the classic start menu.  Also, other features are hidden, like the Quick Launch bar.

  5. Hype:  The new Windows 7 taskbar is MUCH better than the XP and Vista taskbar.  Reality:  No, it’s not.  You lose the quick launch bar.  "pinned" icons are not the same and are difficult to distinguish between "an icon to start an app" vs. "a running app".  It takes a lot of research and work to gain the lost functionality back.  For your convenience, I’ve done the research and have compiled a step-by-step tutorial here: 
    Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 7
Read about the different versions of Windows 7 that are available:

Windows 7 Versions

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.

42 Things I HATE about Windows 7

image Almost every review I’ve read about Windows 7 praises it for “improvements”, so naturally, I was excited to try it out, as I am with every new version of Windows.  Up until Windows 7, I’d never been disappointed over all.  VISTA was still better than XP (but not by much as they screwed up a lot of the UI (search, in particular), but the security and reliability pushed it over the top for me to call it “good” overall).  When I downloaded the beta bits of Windows 7 through my MSDN subscriptions and installed it in a VM, I didn’t like what I saw.  After messing with it for a week, I let it go and decided I’d wait for the final release (the RTM) to see if they’d improved any of the user interface elements that I didn’t like.  Unfortunately, they didn’t.  I downloaded the RTM in Early August and went ahead and installed it on my primary machine (since I’m a developer, I’m going to have to be on top of the latest OS anyway).

Update:  In response to the hate mail:  These are lists of opinions (plus some facts to back up some of them).  If you disagree, that’s fine (though, you can’t disagree with the facts part of this).  Feel free to waste your time sending me hate mail. I will read it, laugh at it, then delete it.  I don’t care if you disagree and if you call me names you only make yourself look bad.  If you have a constructive comment to make (even if you disagree), we’ll all appreciate it and I’ll publish it in the comments section.  If you just can’t deal with someone not liking your fav OS, then read this:  13 Things I Like about Windows 7

Things I really hate about Windows 7:

(Many of these can be reconfigured manually, many cannot.  I’m not listing all of the fixes here.  And, not all of it is bad.  See this: 13 Things I Like about Windows 7)

  1. Quick Launch and ALL my quick launch icons are GONE! (Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 7)
  2. TaskBar is set to group similar programs together (did not carry over my preferences from Vista of NOT doing this).
  3. Start Menu… We’re now FORCED into the FisherPrice style start menu that they introduced in XP, but we could always set it back to the better "Classic" start menu.  It’s just freaking GONE now!!!  Now, it takes many more clicks (and now slides) to get to my program icons.  Less productive. 
  4. Windows 7 Classic Start Menu (getting it back)
  5. UAC — It no longer warns of important things that could harm my computer.  Thanks a lot for all those people that complained about IMPORTANT notifications.  Now my system is LESS secure.  UAC never bothered me.  It rarely came up and when it did, it was important, with the possible exception of when I’m in task manager and click "Show Processes from all users".  It did NOT come up that often people.
    1. Manual Fix:  Open start menu, type UAC, then move the slider up to the top.  Now your Windows 7 installation is as secure as your Vista installation was.
  6. Network tab of Resource monitor:  I’ve just discovered that my virtual networks for VMWare that were already installed are now NOT SHOWING!  This could be seriously bad… could break VMWare.  I’ll have to try it out, may have to reinstall and re-setup all of my NAT settings… if I can remember what they were… a MAJOR pain.
    1. Update:  I ended up upgrading VMWare, which did lose my NAT settings.
  7. From "Performance" tab of task manager, clicked on "Resource Monitor" and it showed for a split second (it was immediately placed BEHIND the task manager).  Why?  (bug, not a feature)
  8. Still has the same problem as in Vista… occasionally, the mouse forgets where it is and resets near the bottom of the screen.  Very annoying! (bug, not a feature)
  9. TaskBar SUX royally!  Here’s an explanation:  http://csharpner.blogspot.com/2009/10/whats-wrong-with-windows-7s-task-bar-or.html  Get your quick launch bar back with these instructions:   Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 7
  10. Left pane in Windows Explorer (not "Internet" Explorer… "Windows" Explorer).
    1. After opening "My Computer", I was horrified to find my tree view was gone!  Vista was bad enough where the tree view was kind of hidden in a toolbar and had to discover on your own to click the upper edge of the toolbar to drag it up to the top to hide the ridiculous crap they had in there by default.  There does not seem to be a way to get the tree view back.  This is REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD!  Sure, "Computer" is there, which is essentially the tree view, but it’s the 4th item down, under "Favorites", which I will never use from there and don’t want there, "Libraries", which is something new… I may or may not use or like this, but I don’t want it there right now, and "Homegroup", which I don’t want there.  The left pane is for drives and folder trees ONLY!!!  I have no use for anything else there.  So now, "Computer" is way down on the list.  Way too much white space on that left pane too.  "Network" is below "Computer".  I don’t want it there.  Too easy to accidentally click on, then have to wait forever for it to gather info.  A waste of time.
    2. "Libraries" on left pane:  I didn’t use those things in Vista from December 2006 until yesterday (8/7/2009) and I have no use for them here.  I have files.  I have folders.  I store my stuff where I need it.  These vague things like "Music", "Pictures", and "Videos" do not know where I store my stuff and I’m never sure "where" these things point.  I have multiple, physical drives.  Windows 7 can’t possibly know where I need these files stored, therefore those virtual, undefined groupings are completely useless to me.
  11. Start Menu:  It now takes LONGER to get to a program icon, because not only do I still have to open each folder branch, but I have to continuously scroll in this tiny area that’s only a FRACTION of the size of the classic menu for all my program folders.  I have a LOT of software installed (I’m a developer). 
    Windows 7 Classic Start Menu (getting it back, sort of)
  12. Explorer:  When driving down into folders, the poorly designed tree view on the left no longer expands to that folder… It’s out of sync.  I’m wondering if they were smoking crack when they trashed this once, totally useful program.  Here’s how to get the tree view working properly (mostly):  Windows 7 Explorer: Getting the tree view back
  13. When selecting different themes, it keeps restoring Thunderbird from it’s minimized state… annoying.
  14. Ribbon bars!  YUCK!  The horrible MS Office 2007 ribbon bars have escaped from the confines of MS Office and are now running rampant on many other programs built into Windows 7.  MSPaint for one, WordPad for another.  Windows Movie Maker is gone, but you can download Windows Live Movie Maker (with many features stripped (no more HD!!!)) and it too uses that horrendous ribbon bar interface.  Come on Microsoft!  Stick with STANDARDS!!!
    1. Update:  Microsoft has finally added HD support to the new Windows Live Movie Maker, but it’s still a separate download and it’s still missing many features.  Read the next item below.
  15. Windows Movie Maker got REMOVED?!?!?!?!?!  WTH???
    1. http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/22658.aspx
    2. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/movie-maker.aspx
    3. http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/moviemaker.mspx
    4. Windows Live Movie Maker: http://download.live.com/moviemaker
    5. Theoretically, you can copy the Windows Movie Maker installed program off a Vista install onto a W7 install and it just works:  http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/GettingReadyforWindows7/thread/1ac049eb-9ea0-483a-8f43-24db3cb23f99
      1. Update:  I’ve done this and it works, but many of the CODECS are now missing.
  16. The background on the login page could only possibly be chosen by teenage girls.  If frilly, flowery nature artwork is not your taste (in other words, if you have any testosterone running through your veins), it appears you have to hack the registry to change this.   But, I’ve yet to find a set of instructions that actually works.  I’ve found plenty of instructions, but so far, none of them have worked.  Please, if you choose to post some instructions here, don’t do it until you’ve tested it yourself and confirmed it works.  When I find out how to do it (or if one of you posts a working list of steps), I’ll post it here.  Yes, there are some programs floating around in the wild that supposedly do it, but that’s generally a bad idea as you’re exposing your data’s security to that application.  I recommend living with the completely unmasculine image until there’s a manual fix available.
  17. Windows Live OneCare (which I’ve paid for for a full year of protection) is NOT supported in Windows 7, and I was required to uninstall it before upgrading (but was not told that I could NOT put it back on!!!)  http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/activation/oc_eol_guidance.htm
  18. Windows Mobile Sync Center:  Still Sux!  Can’t sync my Windows Mobile 6.0 cell phone.  2 sync partnerships exist on my cell phone (one for my work PC and one for my home PC).  NEITHER of which work.  After much ado, I got it working on both XP Pro at work and Vista at home, then they both stopped working within a week of each other and have never started back… not even after the W7 "up"grade.  Mobile sync still seems to be a hit or miss technology that Microsoft still hasn’t gotten right.
  19. Can’t create folders on the desktop.  Right-click on desktop and choose "New" then "Folder" and nothing happens.  Oh Wait!  After opening Windows Explorer and browsing to "Desktop", 2 new folders are indeed there, but they’re NOT showing up on the desktop!  Must hit F5 to refresh the desktop before they show.  This seems to be an intermittent problem.
  20. While browsing into the desktop from Windows Explorer, I deleted a folder from the desktop and it still showed.  I had to hit F5 to refresh.  This is likely related to the problem reported in the prior item above.
  21. After hitting refresh to get a new folder to show on the desktop, I then renamed it, then tried to open it and got the following error: clip_image002  Apparently, I have to hit refresh (F5) after renaming the folder too.  I renamed it to "Cell Phone Video", but it shows as "New folder" in the message box and also shows as "New folder" on the desktop.  Hitting refresh (F5) on the desktop updated the display of the folder name to the right name and I can now open it.  Wondering how things like this made it all the way through to RTM.  Obviously, Microsoft doesn’t have a proper check list of things to validate before releasing new software.  This seems to be an intermittent problem too.
  22. Playing MP4 videos (great that it does it now!), I have no control over Windows Media player… can’t resize, can’t close… no response.   Right clicking on Task bar and choosing "close window" does nothing.  Had to force it closed with Task Manager.
    1. Update:  After a month or so of this problem, it just went away.
  23. Starting Windows Media Player from the start menu and dragging and dropping an MP4 file onto it causes it to immediately stop responding.  No video… just a white window with all the controls on it.
    1. Update:  This too seems to have fixed itself after a month or so.
  24. After copying 66 MP4 files from my cell phone into a folder on my hard drive, it only showed 6 of them in the folder.  I had to hit F5 (this is many minutes after it was done).
  25. Although it’s certainly an improvement that Windows 7 can play MP4’s now, it does NOT play the sound in them.
    1. Update:  Again, after a month or so, this one started working.
  26. Windows Media Player overlays the controls and title ON TOP OF the video!!!  Not good!
  27. Monday morning, attempted to remote control via Remote Desktop… It said my password was not valid… Not true.  Hours later (11:50 am), I tried again and got in, this time to a freshly booted desktop (I had many programs open last night and did not reboot).  There was a notice informing me that the system had recovered from an unexpected reboot.
    1. As it turns out, if someone tries to remote control your computer from outside, it crashes with a Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD).  All the remote user has to do is initiate a connection… not even attempt to log in.
    2. It was further discovered that choosing "Switch User" immediately kills Windows 7 with the ancient BSOD.  I only saw this ONCE in Vista, now I see it daily.
  28. Can’t remote control from LogMeIn.com.  Said password was wrong.  Also, not true.  I was eventually blocked from my work IP address.  This could be the fault of LogMeIn though.
    1. Update:  I’ve received an update or two from LogMeIn and it now works.  Let’s call this a LogMeIn problem, which makes this list “41 things I hate about Windows 7” 🙂
  29. Randomly, a running app button on the taskbar will pop up its context menu (right-click menu) and won’t go away.  I have to click on a blank spot on the taskbar to make it go away.  Clicking around inside my apps doesn’t do it.
  30. Screwy sizing of taskbar buttons:
    1. clip_image004
    2. Look at the lack of a gap and apparently overlap between the Calendar button and the reminders button.  Oh! and same deal between the 2 FireFox icons on the upper row.
  31. Logged out and got a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death).  This seems to happen frequently when either switching user logins (My wife and I have separate Windows accounts) and about 30% of the time when I’m remoting in to my account and my wife was already logged in.  Vista and XP handle this just fine.
    1. Update:  It seems to BSOD now during Remote Desktop initiation, even when there has been NO OTHER USER using the machine.
  32. VMWare 5.5 won’t start.  HD rattles a bit and cursor spins for a short while, but then…. NOTHING.
    1. Update:  VMWare 6.5.2 seems to work just fine.  Let’s call this a VMWare incompatibility, which brings this list down to “40 things I hate about Windows 7”.
  33. Was asked to set up "family safety" after 5 days of using the OS:
    • clip_image006
  34. "Minimize" selection is gone from context menu (right-click menu) from running taskbar app buttons.
  35. "Maximize" selection is gone from context menu (right-click menu) from running taskbar app buttons.
  36. "Restore" selection is gone from context menu (right-click menu) from running taskbar app buttons.
  37. "Move" selection is gone from context menu (right-click menu) from running taskbar app buttons.
  38. "Size" selection is gone from context menu (right-click menu) from running taskbar app buttons.
  39. Windows 95 – Vista, to launch multiple instances of an app from the quick launch bar, you’d just click the icon once for each instance you wanted running.  In Windows 7’s "super" bar, the 1st click starts the app, the 2nd click minimizes it, the 3rd restores, and back and forth like that.  You actually CAN launch multiple instances, but it’s NOT intuitive and to demonstrate, I won’t tell you how. 🙂
  40. Search:  OMG!!!  This is so horribly bad!  It was really bad in Vista, now it’s even WORSE!  Look, all I want to do is right-click a folder and choose "search", then enter my criteria (file/folder name, contents, size, date) and get results in a search results pane from the search window with the paths to each item and the item name, date, type , size.  That was simple and straight forward.  Now, I have to browse INTO the folder I want to search, then use the ambiguous search bar in the upper-right corner.  This is cumbersome, confusing, and difficult.  It also replaces the contents of the folder contents pane with the search results.  Now, if you drag a shortcut out of the search results onto your desktop, it’s not a shortcut directly to the file or folder, it’s a shortcut back INTO the search results?!?!?!?  This is very aggravating!
  41. Trying to open more than one instance of "My Computer" seems to be impossible.  You have use the one instance to open a drive or a folder so that you’re not on "my computer" before you can open another one.  I’m pretty sure this was working properly and has only recently started happening.
  42. The main system volume keeps resetting itself to zero.
  43. Can no longer push a window’s title bar’s upper edge above the screen’s top edge.  It’s forced back down.
  44. Can’t drag icons into the StartUp folder anymore because the new Fisher-Price style start menu doesn’t expand folders as you’re dragging icons over them.  Now I have to first, open the start menu, then programs, then scroll (because it’s too small now), then right-click the folder and choose open or explore.  Then drag the icon into the open folder, then close it.  Again, decreased productivity… takes longer.
  45. I have explicitly set Windows XP, then Windows Vista, and now my “ugpraded” Vista to W7 has lost the setting again!  That is, I have specifically told Windows NOT TO AUTOMATICALLY INSTALL UPDATES because many times it reboots my computer without asking!  Yet again, Windows 7 has turned it on without asking my permission and yet again, I have lost work.
    1. image
    2. image
  46. “Run As” is gone.  Well, it isn’t actually gone, but you have to do something completely unintuitive to get it.  This feature is important when a piece of software can’t run under the current user context because of security concerns.  This has cost me real time in my real job.  To demonstrate how unintuitive it is, I won’t reveal how to do it here.  But, the very fact that I’ve made available the fact that it is possible, makes it that much easier.  If the menu item isn’t even there anymore, how would anyone know that it’s even possible?  This was a VERY bad change.

Not everything about Windows 7 sux though.  See my article on:

13 Things I Like about Windows 7

And again: (In response to the hate mail:  These are lists of opinions (plus some facts to back up some of them).  If you disagree, that’s fine (though, you can’t disagree with the facts part of this).  Feel free to waste your time sending me hate mail. I will read it, laugh at it, then delete it.  I don’t care if you disagree and if you call me names you only make yourself look bad.  If you have a constructive comment to make (even if you disagree), we’ll all appreciate it and I’ll publish it in the comments section.  If you just can’t deal with someone not liking your fav OS, then read this:  13 Things I Like about Windows 7)

Read about the different versions of Windows 7 that are available:

Windows 7 Versions

Windows 7 Upgrade Experience

image Upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 took 2 days!  Here’s my experience and timeline and some things you should be aware of:

(To those wondering why I didn’t do a fresh install:  I have TONS of software installed and configured and recently did a fresh install of Vista 64 bit (to upgrade from 32 bit).  It generally takes me 2 weeks to get back up to speed with a fresh install and I’m not sure I could find all of my install media anyway).

  • 2009-08-06 Thursday: From work, Remote Desktop’d into my home computer to start the W7 Ultimate 64bit download from MSDN.  Estimated time between 8 and 11 hours.
  • 2009-08-06 Evening: Download had suspended after about 2GB of the 3GB.  Started a new download from an official mirror site… Much faster.
  • 2009-08-06 later evening: After making 3 coasters out of DVD+R DVDs (Vista was never able to properly use my 2 DVD burners (TDK 420N DVD+/-RW and HP lightscribe dvd640 DVD+/-RW Dual Layer)), I copied the downloaded ISO file to my kids’ computer downstairs (also running Vista Ultimate, but 32bit instead of 64bit) and successfully burned a DVD down there… but not until the next morning.
  • 2009-08-07 morning: Successfully burned the DVD.
  • 2009-08-07 morning~noon

    Took the DVD to my main computer (Vista Ultimate 64bit).  Startup program starts up.  I read all the notes and start the upgrade.  It spends many minutes examining my system and says this:
    The following issues are preventing Windows from upgrading. Cancel the upgrade, complete each task, and then restart the upgrade to continue.

    • For these items, make the following changes:

    Uninstall these programs. Open Control Panel and search for "uninstall a program".

      • Windows Live OneCare
     

    Upgrading Windows will affect the following features:

    • Windows Vista Ultimate Extras have been discontinued and will no longer be available after upgrading to Windows 7.
     

    Upgrading Windows will affect the following devices and/or programs:

    These programs might not work properly after the upgrade. We recommend uninstalling these programs before upgrading. Cancel the upgrade, open Control Panel, and search for "uninstall a program". (Note: Programs marked as * can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.)

      • Microsoft SQL Server 2008
      • Logitech DesktopMessenger
      • Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 *

    Logitech QuickCam

  • 2009-08-07 noon through late night:

    I uninstall all of the programs it said I need to uninstall, except Logitech QuickCam because it’s not listed in my installed programs and has no menu in the programs menu.  Inspecting c:program files(x86), it’s in there, but there’s no uninstall.  I search the web for problems with QuickCam and Windows 7 upgrade and find zero results with Google Web, Google Groups, and Bing.  I proceed to do a registry hack, searching for ALL references to QuickCam and removing them or their parent folders (you just have to "know").  Still won’t install and still claims QuickCam is installed.  I reboot, thinking that was needed to refresh something that was already loaded from the prior registry entries.  Try to reinstall.  Still says it needs to be uninstalled.  I proceed to delete the logitechquickcam folder.  There are 2 files that won’t delete.  I look in TaskManager and running processes and find "QuickCam.exe" running.  I kill that process, then attempt to delete the remaining 2 files… They DO delete.  Try to upgrade again, this time it doesn’t complain (most of the day wasted on this).  Upgrade says it may take several hours!!!  IT’S ALREADY BEEN MORE THAN SEVERAL HOURS!!!!
    This is on a computer with an Intel QuadCore 2.4Ghz processor, 4GB RAM, multiple, internal, SATA hard drives, including a fast Fujitsu drive as the boot drive!!!  My Vista speed rating index was 5.6!
    (Later…)  It’s telling the truth.  It’s taking FOREVER!  I take the kids out for pizza, get back, watch Eureka on DVR, then head back upstairs.  It’s waiting on me to respond to something.  I do, and it continues, saying it needs no more input from me and will reboot multiple times.  I monitor it for a while and it shows percentage completed of multiple tasks.  The 2nd task (of about 4) sits at 86% for about 10 minutes.  I go to bed.

  • 2009-08-08 morning: FINALLY!  It’s done!  Now I have to go through and change all the settings to my liking.  I’ve already run the beta in a virtual machine and HATED it.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the "My Computer" icon still on the desktop (the beta removed it and I suspect a full install (not an upgrade) will not put it on the desktop).

    First run of FireFox:
    clip_image002
    I hit "restore" and it reopened them all.  Nice feature of FireFox.  IE8 has this too.  Not sure why I’m mentioning this here… has nothing to do with Windows 7.

Read about the different versions of Windows 7 that are available:

Windows 7 Versions

BSOD: Blue Screen Of Death

The Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) is a term all too familiar to Windows users.  When Windows fatally crashes, it turns the screen blue and displays a bunch of archaic hexadecimal numbers on the screen, then either locks up or reboots.

This was a huge problem in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, and earlier versions of Windows XP.  Later service packs for Windows XP and updated drivers from hardware manufacturers greatly reduced the frequency of this on Windows XP.  On Windows Vista, between December 2006 and 8/8/2009, I only had ONE BSOD.  Vista was by far, the most reliable version of Windows created so far.  Windows 7 falls FAR behind.

The Macintosh has a similar screen, but it’s not blue and therefore is not called the BSOD.  Instead, it shows a dialog box with an icon of a bomb.  It’s essentially the same thing though.

I’ll post an image later of a BSOD later.  I don’t want to crash my system right now (as if I ever wanted to).

RTM: What it means

Gold disc-lgRTM is an acronym for “Release To Manufacturing”.  In the software industry, it’s usually used as a label for a certain released version of a piece of software.  For example, before Microsoft releases a new version of Windows to the public, they’ll release several test versions (called “beta” versions) to a select few, then a larger release to some developers, then a test release that they believe is done, called a release candidate “RC”.  Finally, once they’ve decided that no more changes will be made, they’ll release the product to the manufacturers (RTM) so that they can start mass producing DVDs for sale in stores and distribution with new PCs.

An RTM version isn’t necessarily held back for the DVD producers to ship.  Microsoft generally releases the RTM to paid subscribers to their Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) several months before the official release date.  For example, with Windows 7, Microsoft made the RTM version available for download on their MSDN website in early August 2009, even though the same version wasn’t released until October 22, 2009 for the general public to purchase or to receive on a new PC.

Windows 7 Explorer: Getting the tree view back

Strangely, there’s been a LOT of hoopla about how much Windows 7’s user interface is much improved over both Vista and XP.  My experience has been the exact opposite.  Windows 7’s user interface is seriously dumbed down with many important and critical elements disabled or removed.  One in particular is in Windows 7’s explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer… Windows Explorer is the program you use to browser your hard drives and files).

The major design flaw in Windows 7’s Explorer is that as you’re drilling down into deeper and deeper folders, the tree view under “My Computer” on the left pane does NOT stay synchronized.  This is just crazy and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  It can be fixed though and here’s how:

  1. In Windows Explorer, open the “Organize” menu and choose “Folder and search options”.image
  2. Next, in the Folder Options pane, in the “Navigation pane” group (highlighted in red in my image), make sure that BOTH “Show all folders” and “Automatically expand to current folder” are checked, then click “OK”.image

Now, when you drill down deep into folders or however you get to a folder, your tree view will behave as expected (and as needed):

image

You’re welcome!

Here are some related articles:

  • Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 7
  • What’s wrong with Windows 7’s Task Bar (or “Super …
  • Windows 7 Classic Start Menu
  • Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 10, 8, & 7

    [Update] This still works on Windows 10 and Windows 8.

    Windows 7 supposedly improves the user interface, but in my experience it’s MUCH WORSE than Vista’s UI.  One of the things that really sux is that there’s no longer a Quick Launch bar on the task bar.  Microsoft claims that the new “super bar” has all the Quick Launch bar features already built in.  This is not true.  Read this post to see why:

    It’s actually not totally gone.  Here’s how to get it back:

    1. Unlock the taskbar (if it’s locked): Right-click an empty area on the task bar and uncheck “Lock the taskbar” if it’s checked.
    2. Right click the task bar (or the “SuperBar”), choose “Toolbars”, then “New Toolbar…”
    3. In the “Folder:” field, enter “%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch” (without the quotes, of course):imageand click “Select Folder”.  You’ll see this on the right side of the task bar, just to the left of the system tray (now called the “notification area”):  image
    4. You have your Quick Launch bar back, but you still need to fiddle with it to get it looking like it did before.  First, grab the dotted area to the left of the “Q” in “Quick Launch” and drag the bar to where you want it on your task bar.
    5. Next, you’ll need to change the text and icon sizes to your preferences.  The default for XP and Vista was no text and small icons.  To do that, right-click your new Quick Launch bar and uncheck “Show Text”.
    6. You’ll probably want to get rid of the rather large “Quick Launch” label as well.  Right click a blank area on the Quick Launch bar and uncheck “Show title”.

    Your right-click (or “context”) menu should now look like this: image

    Your Quick Launch bar is now complete and should look something like this:

    image

    You can now drag program icons into it just as you did before.  You can now launch as many instances as you need by clicking once for each instance.  You’ll now get a separate button on the task bar (outside of the quick launch area) for each instance.  You’ll now be able to clearly tell which icons are launch icons and which ones are running icons.

    Now, just rearrange your Quick Launch icons to your liking and you’re back in business!

    You’re welcome!

    Here are some related articles:

    What’s wrong with Windows 7’s Task Bar (or “Super Bar”)?

    I’ve been using Windows 7 as my primary OS at home since 8/8/2009.  This is not the beta version.  This is the SAME version that will be released to the public in a few days on 10/22/2009.  One of the first things you notice that’s different from Vista is the task bar (also referred to now as the inaccurately named “SuperBar”).  If you had a quick launch bar in XP or Vista, it’s now gone.

    To get it back, read this:

    The new “super bar” is supposed to be better than the old task bar with the following explanation:

    • Program icons can be “pinned” to the super bar, so they’re always there, so you don’t need the Quick Launch bar anymore.
    • The same icon is used for both running and pinned applications.
    • Right-clicking a running program icon now has a new “jump list” menu.

    Here’s why this is actually worse than the previous task bar:

    • A “pinned” icon is almost visually indistinguishable from a running icon, varying in appearance by only an ever so slight change in the border of the icon.  In the old task bar with Quick Launch icons as small 16×16 icons in a separate area, and running program icons as larger (wider) icons on a separate area, there was no question as to which was which.  There have been many complaints about this.
    • With the old quick launch and taskbar, to start multiple instances of the same program, you click that icon in the quick launch as many times as you need instances.  In the new Windows 7 task bar, clicking a program icon the first time starts it, clicking it the second time minimizes it, then restores, then minimizes, etc…  How do you get another instance running?  (There’s actually a way, but it’s not intuitive, like the old Quick Launch bar was) and it only works with a 3 button mouse.  To launch multiple instances, click the center mouse button (usually the “wheel” button).  If you didn’t know that, it’d be difficult, if not impossible to figure out, much less, to even know that it’s still an option.
    • To minimize, restore, or maximize a program window, in the old task bar, you could right click the running program icon and choose “minimize”, “restore”, or “maximize”.  Now with the new Windows 7 jump menus, those options are now gone.

    Gee, THANKS Microsoft!

    Here are some related articles:

  • Windows 7 Explorer: Getting the tree view back
  • Get your Quick Launch bar back under Windows 7
  • Windows 7 Classic Start Menu