What’s so great about Windows 7? What’s New? Is it better than Vista?
Answer to question #1 and #2: A lot. Answer to #3: A LOT better.
One may look at Windows 7 via a Youtube video and think “It’s exactly the same as Vista! It’s got a similar look, the file structure is similar to Vista’s, how could it possibly be any different?” All I have to say is don’t knock it until you try it.
Firstly, I haven’t had any problems with Windows 7 thus far, and I’ve had it almost a month. It runs so much quicker than you may think. In fact, once explorer has loaded, you’re pretty much free to do whatever you’d like without losing speed – and that’s how it should be.
The taskbar in Windows 7 is fantastic. By default, it is bigger and more spacious. It automatically groups multiple windows together based on the program running, and allows you to preview each window before selecting it – which is really nice. Some users, however, may find this to be a difficult adjustment, so you can always right click the taskbar, click properties, and choose never to group your windows.
Next to the clock on the far right side of the taskbar is a thin, rectangular button; hover over this button and preview the desktop – click the button and it will take you to the desk top. Click it again, and it will pull whatever windows you had opened originally.
Window management is improved amazingly. Again, the grouping of windows on the taskbar and the ability to preview them is a fantastic feature for power users. You may now stack windows side by side or on top of each other as well. This way, if you’re dealing with transferring files and folders, browsing several websites at once, or using multiple programs at once, you can do so at ease.
They’ve added a new feature called “Aero Shake.” Now, we all know “Aero” is the name of the Windows Style/Theme; well, Aero Shake is a really neat feature that can be extremely useful, or just fun to use when you’re bored. Say you have a myriad of windows open and you need to focus on just one; simple grab the top of the window bar and move it back and forth a couple of times. Suddenly, all other windows have been minimized. What’s that you say? You want your windows pulled up again? Well that’s an easy one – shake the window one more time and vualah! All your windows have been pulled up as before!
Connecting to the internet via Wi-fi was a pain with Vista. Even now on my Vista machine, I have to wait for it to boot up and wait for at least 2 or 3 minutes for it to find the default connection. Pretty ridiculous, right? Well, with Windows 7, connecting to the internet via your wifi card has never been more simple. Simply install your drivers for your wireless card as you would in any other OS (operating system), then you will see a little signal icon on your taskbar next to the clock on the far right; it will look like signal bars on a cell phone. Simply click it and a list of wireless connections will automatically appear – click yours, enter WEP info if needed, and you’re connected immediately.
Another improvement is User Account Control (UAC.) For us tweakers, web designers, and and various other types of geeks, the UAC feature was annoying and extremely difficult to adjust to our liking. NOW, in Windows 7 you can adjust it to your liking or even turn it off. That’s right, no more fighting the UAC to test your programs or customize your computer.
The Resource Monitor in Windows 7 has also been redone and made more efficient and easier to monitor your cpu, ram, etc.
Windows Explorer has been completely REWRITTEN! FINALLY! It runs so much smoother. The search has even improved! It finds what you need within a couple of seconds based several aspects of what you’ve entered as your search term. It even searches through meta data! Nice!
Speaking of searches, you can now search the web through Windows Explorer. I will show you how to do this in a soon coming article.
Next cool feature in Windows 7 is rotating desktop backgrounds. Now, I don’t mean physical rotation, but I mean order rotation. That’s right, you may choose from an unlimited amount of photos for your desktop background, and it will display a slide show of the photos you select, fading in and out of each photo; each photo only stays displayed as long as you choose – that’s right, you can choose how long each photo is displayed as your desktop background. You may also change the photo at any given moment. There’s a lot to this feature, so I will continue raving about this feature in a soon coming post.
Other improvements in Windows 7 are the Magnifier and the new Internet Explorer. The new Internet explorer still needs a good amount of work, but it has improved none the less.
What do you think?
Do you have Windows 7? What do you think of it? Do you think it will be a good upgrade from XP and Vista?
Or, have you found any new features in Windows 7? Whatever you have to share, share it with me! I’d love to know what you have to say. Leave a comment below, or shoot me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com
Take it easy,
David
March 15th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Hello,
Ugh, I liked! So clear and positively.
Thanks
Elcorin
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I found your review somewhat artificial.
UAC is a stupid concept and most intelligent users would disable it.
Power users know that windows XP is the strongest, fastest and most efficient windows OS as of yet.
You say windows explorer is faster and more efficient in 7? how?
obviously your windows explorer is going to be fast on a fresh install, it would be lightning fast on a fresh install of any OS. But how fast will it seek on a 500gb sata filled with 490gb of movies, music, pics and games?
Rotating backgrounds? wow a feature that does what u can already do with 2 mouse clicks (right click -> set as desktop background).
Ignorant users will be mesmorized by cosmetic changes and trivial features such as “Aero Shake”.
The important questions are, Is it faster than XP, is it more stable, more secure? I can hope, but i doubt it.
Microsoft has just been rebranding windows 95 for over 10 years now.
*sigh* still better than using a gay mac though.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:25 am
“TheMightyX” thanks for the comments, but I think you’re missing the point. Windows 7 IS more stable, faster, and more powerful than Vista ever was; it is what Vista should have been. Rotating backgrounds is a VERY nice feature – if you have a collection of photos you want to use as a background, rather than taking time to “right click ->set as desktop background” for any amount of background images you have (be it 10, 100, or 1,000) you can set the background rotation on a timer to switch from background to background, giving the user a less boring experience on their desktop WITHOUT eating up RAM like Dreamscene did.
About windows explorer – FALSE, Vista was NEVER as fast as Windows 7 was when it comes to response and search – not even close. The rewritten Windows Explorer is a MASSIVE improvement.
And why on earth would you consider using up 490 GB of a 500GB hard drive without using a secondary drive? The bottleneck with that issue wouldn’t be the OS, but the lack of room on the HDD.
But I thank you for your opinions and I respect them.
I agree it IS better than using a “gay mac.” Heck, who wants an OS installed on a computer specifically built for that OS for maximum efficiency? And who wants one of the most secure OS’s out there with a modern interface and ability to handle more than 3GB of ram – unlike Vista 32 bit which is installed on a wide majority of machines? Who would EVER buy from the company that created the laptop with the battery that lasts up to 8 hours on one charge causing more efficient on-the-go usage, and uses less energy making it better for the environment? Certainly not me…God forbid I have to put up with safety, speed, and ultra-compatibility with just about any piece of hardware out there!
July 28th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Will have to wait and check it out mysellf but one thing I do agree with TheMightyX on…
Mac’s are sooooo GaY !
July 29th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
With all respects to posters and M$ in general.. YES – Windows 7 is exactly what Vista should have been.. Especially when it comes to efficiency! Who has needed a source makeover forever?? Vista is for the casual user who wants a nice and shiny gui.. At the same time yes. Im sure we all agree that XP is by far the best OS when it comes to power users.. (outside of my Nix realm that is ::snicker::) And just to tap the godlike universe.. I dont use mac. BUT being familiar with its unix base and its previous (and much better) ibm ppc, ill honestly say that when it comes down to it.. Mac OS (and its partnering hardware) is the most stable and efficient platform on the market. And dont get me started on its number crunching capabilities when it comes to rendering
Hooray for a multiverse of platforms for us all to choose from, to avoid whining about one we otherwise wouldnt use \m/
July 30th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Fantastic comment. I agree
October 30th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Over the years I have worked with both XP and Vista. I installed Windows 7 Home a few days ago. For now, I can say it’s a good upgrade from either of the two because it has the best of both worlds. It has clever features and amazing graphics. There are over 100 ways to customize your desktop theme. As far as I can say, Windows 7 has the stylish look like Vista (but not the same), but it also has the functionality, stability, speed, and user-friendliness of XP. So yes, It would be a GREAT upgrade.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I know this is late but I just got my full version, and to be honest I don’t see a difference, I loved XP, but Vista didn’t give me a hard time and I have to agree a lot with TheMightyX In the fact that it does seem a to be a lot of cosmetic clean up (kind of like when they dropped the old gray task bar and added the pretty green one with XP) but I have to disagree on the UAC I liked that feature on vista, I always know what programs are trying to auto run, I am very conscientious of my computers and always like to know what is trying to run. When I have XP I just downloaded and used Winpatrol, but with vista its like they built it in.
I am just happy that when I bought my Laptop with Vista it came with a free upgrade so I didnt have to worry about having to buy it to find out its the same.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
It think all of that you said was informative and to the point a great article and i actualy know what it does so thanks and i just wanted to point out that “vualah” is spelled voila
January 11th, 2010 at 7:52 am
I can’t really say anything in argument since you are obviously a Windows fanboy. If you think any version of Windows is a good operating system, then you have been blinded by your own desire to like it.
Nobody likes Windows, they just like the programs and games they can buy for Windows. As an operating system, which is all it is, it is terrible, and always has been. Unix and it’s children, including Mac which I don’t like, are so vastly superior in all their operating system tasks that it is embarrassing that anybody uses Windows or any Microsoft product at all.
Their browser is terrible and doesn’t support SVG, Canvas, or properly implement the W3C standards for HTML and CSS.
Their OS is insecure and never will be and even Steve Ballmer admits that they don’t make security a priority even though there are millions of Windows viruses.
Every Windows machine I have ever used for more than six months gets really slushy and slow and crashes a lot. I’ve been using Linux regularly for the last couple years but still use Windows at work and school out of lack of choice and everytime I sit down in front of one I always laugh at how awful it is.
I hope Microsoft marketing is paying you a lot to peddle their garbage for them.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:15 am
Andrew: Thanks for your opinion. I’m glad you’re taking time to understand the review of Windows 7 as an upgrade from Vista. Where you get the idea that I love internet explorer or am a “Windows Fanboy” escapes my mind. Your ignorance is shown in your comment. I have stood by the philosophy of finding what works for you – meaning, if it works for you, it works for you – not this is better than that.
Do I agree that Windows offers the best OS out there – NO. In fact, if you take some time to read a bit more, you’ll find in my comment from 6/4/2009, I heavily support Apple’s Mac OS X for being one of the best well-known OS’s available on a widespread level.
Because I endorse Windows 7 as a great upgrade from Vista does not mean I endorse Windows 7 as the greatest OS.
I’m all for various opinions, but don’t toss around your nick names titles without reading more than a few sentences.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:51 am
Well, by far I will have to stand by David. I have the following computers: Custom built Lan Party, Toshiba, Mac, Dell Inspiron. On the Lan Party I have XP(SP3), Toshiba went from Vista to 7 today, Mac with OS 10.6, and my Dell with Fedora. I have each of the following because they offer different things. After completing college, I realized that I prefer XP over any OS, but thats only because it was the main focus through out school. People pick and choose based on what they know(A LOT of people DONT like change). People also pick based on the way it looks, not how it acts. Your average person would have no interest in knowing WHY a computers processor is important, WHY someone would have a 1TB hd or WHY your operating system on a certain machine is important. For you average user, I think Windows 7 fits PERFECT with todays changing society. It DOES HAVE an awesome GUI and an amazing feel. Im still unsure of it… but to date, it runs great(EVEN WITH 150GB of crap, to test your theory of lack of room on a 200GB HD). Great job David… I loved your POV, and agree with it 100%.