New in Windows 7

Glenn · Sep 24, 2009, 09:00:06

18 new features for Windows 7 http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/18-cool-things-windows-7-does-that-vista-doesn-t-628892

somanyholes · Sep 24, 2009, 09:11:45

Have been running 7 enterprise as my main OS for two weeks now. Have to say I like it a lot. Only two things have annoyed me. Show desktop is on the right hand side of the screen, and am not keen on the new taskbar. Beyond that, It's great imo

Gary · Sep 24, 2009, 09:12:35

How about 18 things you can do on a holiday vs windows 7

Vista works fine,

Its all hype to get you to spend your £ yes some do not like Vista, some of us like it, but those features are not going to make me spend money on a new OS, what's the point, do you really need those features, where they on your must have list? Its not a huge leap, from XP maybe but from Vista to 7 is incremental, and to your average Joe there are better thing to spend money on, like having fun away from your pc, go out see the world smell the fresh air, just step away from the pc

talos · Sep 24, 2009, 10:41:05

But I am getting fed up using valuable bandwith on upgrade downloads every month

Gary · Sep 24, 2009, 11:00:40

Quote from: talos on Sep 24, 2009, 10:41:05

But I am getting fed up using valuable bandwith on upgrade downloads every month

Thats not going to change anytime soon

Rik · Sep 24, 2009, 11:09:13

It would be interesting if manufacturers were forced to send out upgrades on CD. I'd imagine they might take a bit more care that way.

Supanova · Sep 24, 2009, 11:27:58

I'm running windows 7 64-bit professional and it's great. I got it for free courtesy of MSDN at my university department.

I'v had none of the old compatibility problems I had with vista 64-bit and it feels much more responsive than vista thanks to the way they have prioritised things that should be prioritised. I like the task-bar but it's a bit of a run-around if you want to get folders onto the task-bar and not just executables.

Once again they have moved everything in the control panel so it's a pain to find anything but I can see myself happily sticking to this OS so in a month or so that won't be a problem.

The RAM usage seems to depend on how much RAM you have installed. It was using about 350-400MB of RAM while idling when I had 2GB of RAM installed, but now I have 4GB installed it's using about 700MB. That's still a lot of RAM but I suppose when XP was built that would be using 1/5 of the RAM available in those days.

gizmo71 · Sep 24, 2009, 12:22:50

Quote15. Pin just about anything to the new Windows Taskbar

... unless it's on a network drive, in which case forget it.

You also cannot have subfolders in your 'Send To' menu, nor can you have links to network folders.

All things which worked just fine in XP, and which I manage easily using Group Policy Objects. In Windows 7 I've only got a hack round the first (copy locally, make shortcut, pin shortcut, edit shortcut back to network target) or pale reflections of (Move To/Copy To on the Send To context menu - I then have to navigate to the folder I want).

It's not progression, it's regression.

I can see me downgrading my netbook back to XP Pro very soon. (And back from Office 2007 to Office 2003, for much the same reasons.)

john · Sep 24, 2009, 12:45:28

Quote from: Gary on Sep 24, 2009, 09:12:35
....but those features are not going to make me spend money on a new OS, what's the point, do you really need those features, where they on your must have list?

I quite agree Gary, that's why I'm still using DOS

Rik · Sep 24, 2009, 12:46:33

Good choice, John.

Den · Sep 24, 2009, 14:27:40

My Amiga works fine and I love Workbench

talos · Sep 24, 2009, 16:11:54

My workbench is fine and my amigo's gone home

Rik · Sep 24, 2009, 16:14:21

Si, Senor.

Sebby · Sep 24, 2009, 19:17:23

Unfortunately, W7 still has a clunky old registry.

Rik · Sep 24, 2009, 19:21:41

Let's go back to the days of INI files, they were much more fun.

Sebby · Sep 24, 2009, 19:27:01

Gary · Sep 25, 2009, 09:14:07

Quote from: Sebby on Sep 24, 2009, 19:17:23
Unfortunately, W7 still has a clunky old registry.

But at least you can chat reliably over webcams with it via msn, I have a friend with a mac and she even with aMSN has issues, if MS sorted that out it would be brilliant, but as you say, no Registry, thats heaven.

Rik · Sep 25, 2009, 09:15:06

As is a DR steak.

Simon · Sep 25, 2009, 10:40:03

For goodness sake!

Rik · Sep 25, 2009, 10:43:21

But it's full of goodness, Simon.

john · Sep 25, 2009, 12:43:50

I never liked the taste of Japanese sake

Rik · Sep 25, 2009, 12:48:11

Suntory rules, OK?

esh · Sep 25, 2009, 12:58:22

Actually I liked ini files

They would usually be in the program directory and I could edit them with notepad. Want to change something now? Okay go into HKLM/Software/System/Microsoft/Windows/FKJDFS/045382432CFEAD24/CompanyName/ApplicationTitleProgrammerForgotToTypeInDuringCompilation/Settings/Windows/Run/.........

Rik · Sep 25, 2009, 14:12:45

I did, too, Esh. They were easy to edit and allowed risk-free tweaking.

Gary · Sep 25, 2009, 15:41:47

Quote from: Rik on Sep 25, 2009, 09:15:06
As is a DR steak.

I dont eat meat

Rik · Sep 25, 2009, 16:26:01

Shame.

Sebby · Sep 25, 2009, 17:30:16

Quote from: Gary on Sep 25, 2009, 09:14:07
But at least you can chat reliably over webcams with it via msn, I have a friend with a mac and she even with aMSN has issues, if MS sorted that out it would be brilliant, but as you say, no Registry, thats heaven.

It might be a reason why you couldn't have a Mac, but it's not really Apple's problem. Microsoft make a version of Messenger for the Mac. Personally, I believe they deliberately leave features out of software they write for the Mac, otherwise it makes it too easy for Windows users to switch.

Supanova · Sep 25, 2009, 22:01:51

I know this isn't a mac thread but I only agree with you to a point there Sebby. In my experience macs are a pain in the ass to write software for if you are not brought up on them and I imagine its relatively more expensive to write the same software for a mac as a PC. Besides that most applications are written for windows and then released for the MAC as an afterthought.

Sebby · Sep 26, 2009, 14:32:36

The key being if you are not brought up with them. No doubt the situation would be the same if you weren't brought up with Windows PCs.

Rik · Sep 26, 2009, 16:05:54

I wasn't brought up with any PC, just a sister.

Sebby · Sep 26, 2009, 16:06:29

Steve · Oct 08, 2009, 17:52:14

Here's something new http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-350761.html

Rik · Oct 08, 2009, 18:33:06

Why am I not surprised?

gizmo71 · Oct 08, 2009, 22:57:18

Well of the two machines I've tried it on so far, one has XP as the main OS, and Windows 7 boots considerably faster. The other came with Vista Home; 7 Ultimate definitely boots quicker, though not by such a margin.

Anyway. Vista's even more horrible than 7.

Technical Ben · Oct 09, 2009, 11:42:53

Oh, but are you comparing a clean install of both.

As a old install will have many more programs to load up than a brand new install of windows 7. I wonder if this is Microsoft's business plan. Keep making the current OS slower with autoupdates, so they can "speed up" the next revision.

Sebby · Oct 09, 2009, 13:32:49

Quote from: gizmo71 on Oct 08, 2009, 22:57:18
Anyway. Vista's even more horrible than 7.

Vista's more horrible than anything!

Gary · Oct 09, 2009, 14:31:24

Quote from: Sebby on Oct 09, 2009, 13:32:49
Vista's more horrible than anything!

No its not, Vista works fine on the right hardware, but having been playing with Macs in the local shop, all incarnations of Windows are vile

getting home to come back to this for now felt horrid and that was only after they let me play for an hour on a 24" iMac, god that's a lot of screen real estate, I could happily have a 20" but you get so more with the 24", here size does matter, but the keyboard looks tiny next to it

gizmo71 · Oct 09, 2009, 14:40:32

Quote from: Gary on Oct 09, 2009, 14:31:24
Quote from: Sebby on Oct 09, 2009, 13:32:49
Vista's more horrible than anything!
No its not, Vista works fine on the right hardware, but having been playing with Macs in the local shop, all incarnations of Windows are vile getting home to come back to this for now felt horrid and that was only after they let me play for an hour on a 24" iMac, god that's a lot of screen real estate, I could happily have a 20" but you get so more with the 24", here size does matter, but the keyboard looks tiny next to it

Non sequitor.