The new interface and technical underpinnings (or at least the improved performance and compatibility they enable) are the most obvious improvements in Windows 7.
But the new release is also crammed with tools and features, including better search, full image backup on every edition, internet media streaming, multitouch, a new font management control panel, burning ISO files, virtualised Wi-Fi hardware, a PowerShell IDE, support for mounting and booting from VHD files, and the ability to encrypt removable drives (both in Enterprise and Ultimate).
FONT: Show and hide fonts in the Font Control Panel to choose which fonts are used in menus and apps
If you set up both work and home networks, your default printer changes when you connect to one or the other. You can find a way to do some of these things in Vista or XP by installing third-party tools, but Windows 7 has it all built in, ready to use and coherently organised.
More than utilities
The Devices and Printers window gives you the option of automatically downloading photo-realistic icons for devices and drives; there are only a few so far, but it does make it far clearer what a random product number actually represents.
More usefully, you can right-click on any icon with a warning to run a troubleshooter. Windows 7 already has a wide range of these – and it will be updated automatically with new troubleshooters as they're released.
RESTORE: System Restore is more reliable in Windows 7...
RESTORE:...and you can see which apps and drivers will be affected by rolling back before you do it
So far, there's a trickle of Device Stage support for devices like Sansa media players, Lenovo PCs and Epson printers; this is definitely a useful way of getting at all the features of a multi-function device, from storage cards to software updates, and we're hopeful that manufacturers will find it useful enough to build for the full range of devices.
Backup
Windows 7 is much more insistent about asking you to back up your data, and it lets you create a full system image backup in all editions now. Crucially, it's also easy to restore from an image backup on an external drive. System Restore is more reliable than in XP or Vista, and it warns you about programs and drivers that will be affected by a rollback
BACKUP: You can easily back up files and create a system image that you can easily restore from
You can use Windows Firewall in the simpler control panel mode, or as a full management console with advanced options; you can work with port and IP number ranges, create security rules and set a security profile for different network adaptors (and use them at the same time) – refinements that add up to much more powerful security, but still with a friendly front end.
FIREWALL: Two views of the Windows Firewall give you the choice of simplicity or advanced control
Parental Controls actually loses some features; you can still use it to control what apps children can use, what the age-rating on games has to be and how long they can use the PC for. However, web filtering is now provided by Windows Live or other third-party security software which can now plug in to Parental Controls to add a much wider range of features.
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prospero
Saturday at 21:53 GMT
1. I've got my Windows 7 Ultimate version from my work as an upgrade. According to the given information, this software could be installed from Windows XP 64 bit. So I entered the cd in the drive. First impression during installation was wow! But then after clicking install, I got the message that I couldn't perform an upgrade from XP64. So I selected the custom install. All went well. The software installed itself on my machine after I created a new partition and formatted it. You have to create a new partition cause Windows wants to add a small partition of 100mb for own purposes. Everything installed well and the machine restarted. Completing install... ... ... ... .. and then everything becomes quite silent. No messages, no activity. That's strange I thought. I performed the Microsoft compatability test and my machine should be 100% compatible with the software so what went wrong. Tried to install several times. Looked on the internet for a solution to find that many people experienced the same problem. I tried and tried again for more than 15 times to install during which everything not essentially necessary for the computer to run was taken out (cards) or turned of in the BIOS. Then I decided that I would get a new graphics card just to try if that was the problem the installation faulted. Well... it was not. I heared that some people restarted the computer and at the installation message that all went wrong and I had to reinstall from the beginning, they pressed shift and F-10 and typed explorer.exe from the commandline. With me the computer then started to do something but halted anyway somewhere during installation. Again, no error message what so ever to work with. Then I got an idea. I reinstalled (we're talking about the 32nd installation try-out now!) and waited patiently for the 'completing installation' to appear. Immediately at the beginning of this phase, I hit the shift and F10 buttons and typed 'explorer.exe' at the commandline. Two processes were now running. This helped. Don't ask me why, but the installation now went on up until I could create a user and the installation could finish as expected. Pfffffff. What a work. Two full days of trying to install a system on a relative young computer.
Then, next phase. Activating the software was not possible because... I had an upgrade but performed a clean install (as the software told me to do in earlier stages). I found a workaround on the www I could edit in the registry to get passed the registration issues. I did buy a legal version of the software and followed the correct steps during installation so I'm not doing anything wrong. Then I noticed my external harddrive on the IEEE 1394 port was not recognized. On the www I found this to be an old problem from the Vista times. Obviously Microsoft has not taken any steps to get rid of this issue while programming the Win 7 version.
Now at last playing a bit with a working installation I've found one of the first issues why the software installation jammed. My computer is able to work around a memory hole (you can turn this on or off in the BIOS) to make the best use of the memory available. Never before a problem on any of the 32bit or 64bit windows versions, or with linux installations. I've found that Windows 7 can't handle this and jams when this option is turned on in the BIOS of the computer. The new graphics card was not necessary.
All in all, compared to for instance the up to date Linux Ubunty 64 bit software installation which performes on excellent level and can be installed by a completely non computer guy, Microsoft Windows looks great, but is delivered with an installation a big guy like Microsoft should be very very ashamed off.
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