If you have been using Microsoft Vista, you may have found yourself stuck at many places. If you were daring enough you would find your way outs, but if you are not you would throw away Vista and switch back to the dependable Windows XP. For a normal user, Windows XP is still the most dependable o/s for their day to day use.
And if you thought Vista needs lots of improvement, than you are right. Even Microsoft thinks so. Hence, they present to us the next operating systems from their magical box, named Windows 7.
Microsoft released the Beta version of Windows 7 just a week back and people all over the world are really looking forward to it, especially those using Vista currently (me included)…for obvious reasons.
I downloaded the Beta version (.iso format) which is around 2.4 GB from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx . It’s free for public testing and that means you can get your own personalized copy. The beta expires on 1st August, 2009. The download is originally 30 day trial (that can be rearmed to 120days later on), but if you activate it with the serial key it provides (free, ofcourse) at the time of free downloading you can use it until its dead itself.
Updates: Download of Windows 7 Beta Installer has been STOPPED since 10th Feb, 2009. Though if any of your friends/colleagues has a copy of the existing download you can still use the same. Moreover, even though the download has been revoked, you can still get your personalized serial key from the above said link.
Note: the download is done via a special Download Manager of Microsoft. This will download the installer (.iso) in an organized fashion. But if you are looking to use your favourite Download accelerators (who won’t?), you can search the direct download link for the same too. Just Google and you would have the plate full.
Anyways, I finally downloaded and waited for the weekend to arrive so that I can test drive the new operating system, promising to be better than Vista. I was excited, as always :).
Installation was quite smooth taking somewhere around 25-30 minutes Only. My laptop configuration comprised of a Dell Latitude D630, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2.6GHz with 3GB Ram, an external USB mouse (I hate to use inbuilt mousepad!). I have multi partitioned drive with Vista Enterprise running already, so that I have the option to dual boot when needed. The installation was impressively fast. And during installation it seems to have installed all the needed drivers for the cards & chips attached to my box. It also detected my wireless modem network. The entire installation took 2 restarts before I was presented with the Login screen. The login screen, cool blue colored with Lights coming from the top ;). Nice thought Microsoft!
I login with zest. Wait! Did I boot to Vista? Lemme recheck…I see! It’s Windows 7 only. I played around with it for first 10-15 minutes and found few cool features with nice enhancements. As I have been reading & following the news about Windows 7 for quite a long time I agreed to the following statement which I had been telling myself:
"Windows 7 is NO new operating system, it’s Vista overhauled."
And I was true!
But not bad, if one can take out the pains & troubles of past operating systems, even that is worth appreciating. And afterall its just the 1st beta as of now. In the days to come it must be followed by Beta 2 & RC1 & RC2. I am sure by that time lots will evolve into it.
Before installing Windows 7, I asked few questions to Ro (myself):
- Will I be able to use Windows 7 for my daily operations?
- Will Windows 7 run all my applications, desktop & web?
- Will I be able to do software development on Windows 7 without concerning about compatibility issues?
- Will Windows 7 run all my hardware?
- Will Windows 7 detect my Nokia mobile via Nokia PC Suite?
- Will Windows 7 end the era of Blue Screens Of Death (BSOD) finally? And what ‘bout Windows Update Restart Loop?
- What new features Windows 7 has for me?
- And What's Missing?
- Other Miscellaneous/Known Issues!
- And will Windows 7 do this too, will Windows 7 do that too????
Here are my findings & my answers to the above questions:
>> 1. Will I be able to use Windows 7 for my daily operations?
Yes, as of now. As I said, its 90% (or may be more) Vista only. And as I have been using Vista for more than a year now, seems it won’t trouble me much.
>> 2. Will Windows 7 run all my applications, desktop & web?
The biggest concern, for me & for all. I started installing things (which I had been running on Vista well) one by one. As below:
- AVG 8 Free edition: Installed flawlessly. No issues in working.
- Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Edition: Installed successfully. Had read few people facing trouble running Excel on Windows 7, but none for me to face.
- Microsoft Outlook 2007: Configured with my business email, working perfectly.
- Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5: Installed well, perfect import from old instance. Extensions working well too. It has immense rendering issue. But, Pages don't render completely on screen, and to see it you have to either resize the window or scroll up/down to cause screen rendering. This causes you to see patches of old screen & new screen on the browser. Even the toolbars & buttons are improperly rendered. Even when you switch tabs, firefox switches it well, but you can still see the old tab's page on the screen giving you a confusion whether you actually tabbed. If you move your mouse over the screen then, you can see new screen in bits & pieces. All screen looks like patched. Being my favorite browser, Firefox causing major issue with Windows 7 for me. Issues!
- Google Talk 1.0.0.104: Installed well, no issues connecting. Though when I start the Voice Call using Google Talk, it takes 5-6 seconds before it starts receiving my voice via the inbuilt microphone. Seems its taking time connecting to the microphone. Issues!
- Yahoo Messenger 9 9.0.0.1912: Installed well, works well. Though the icons on the system tray area doesn't seem to remember its Behavior customization. I set the icon to be visible always, but it loses the setting on subsequent exit & restart. Issues!
- VLC Player 0.9.8a: All well.
- Winamp 5.541: All well.
- Word Web 5: All well.
- Irfan View 4.20: All well.
- xPlorer 2 v 1.7.2.1: All well.
- CutePdf writer: All well. Got added to the list of my printers and writes pdfs well as expected.
- Unlocker: All well.
- Internet Download Manager 5.15: All well. Recognizes browser download as expected and downloads with lightning speed, as always.
- TradeTiger 1.0.3.6: All well. As Windows 7 has .Net Framework 3.5 inbuilt, had to apply the rscoree.dll patch, works well after wards. (Download Patch from here: http://www.sharekhan.com/tradetiger/setup.htm. Look out for the section at the bottom of the page.)
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 8.0.7000.0: Windows Vista 7 comes inbuilt with the latest version of IE 8 Beta (version 8.0.7000.0). For everyone’s knowledge IE8 is the next version of the web browser from Microsoft which hopes to take his share back from browsers like Mozilla Firefox & Google Chorme. I have been using IE8 Beta for few months already and can tell you that its really fast. Features like Bookmark toolbar, Web slices, Web Accelerators, InPrivate Browsing, etc. are worthy to look forward to. And for those site which are not compatible with IE8 rendering engine, there is Compatibility Mode you can turn on for those site. And everything else works well!
- MS JVM: Issues! I use a website which needs MS JVM to run applet (as its not compatible with JRE). MS JVM installed well. When I run the page with the applet (untrusted!), it started to load but then it ended in an error page containing some Security warning. When I clicked on more information it said “Windows Data Execution Prevention detected an add-on trying to use system memory incorrectly. This can be caused by a malfunction or a malicious add-on.”. I tried turning DEP off for IE, but it didn’t help. I Googled if I can turn of DEP altogether and found I can. Though turning DEP is not suggested, still I wanted to know if that’s the problem. I popped up a command prompt with Administrative privileges and run the following command:
bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
I restarted the o/s and voila now the applet opens. Seems like JVM didn’t have sufficient privileges with the Windows 7 DEP settings.
To know more 'bout enabling/disabling/checking-status of DEP, please visit here:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable_data_execution_prevention.htm
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/01/how-to-verify-data-execution-prevention-is-enabled-or-disabled-in-vista
To know more 'bout enabling/disabling/checking-status of DEP, please visit here:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable_data_execution_prevention.htm
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/01/how-to-verify-data-execution-prevention-is-enabled-or-disabled-in-vista
I wasn’t still happy with DEP turned off as it’s a security hazard, so I played around the IE options and found out finally! There is one setting in IE8 under Internet Options -> Advance -> Security section -> Enable Memory Protection. Disabling it made the MS JVM Applet run without having to tweak DEP. Ahem, It’s safer now!
- Reliance Net Connect DataCard: Read point 4 below.
- Nokia PC Suite 7.1: Read point 5 below.
- Stickies v6.0c: All well.
- VPN: Connects well. Though it's taking much longer to connect and seems to be authenticating twice.Issues!
- Microsoft Outlook 2007: All well. Except it too loses its system tray icon behavior setting, same as YM. Issues!
There are many other s/w that I will be installing in the coming days, as and when I need them or come across. Hope it will run as always, because if it’s compatible with Vista it shall run here too….remember it’s Vista reinvented :)
>> 3. Will I be able to do software development on Windows 7 without concerning about compatibility issues?
I setup IIS 7 and it seems to be running well on its own. I am yet to setup Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2005, MS Chart on my box. I hope that will work too. Because, that’s the major requirement for me being a software engineer!
- Visual Studio 2008 : All well. Proper installation & expected behavior.
- SQL Server 2005: All well, once installed. Installation into deep deep trouble. Read the section 9. Other Miscellaneous/Known Issues below.
>> 4. Will Windows 7 run all my hardware?
LAN printers installing & working nicely. Other than that my USB Mouse (my savior), USB thumb drives all seems to be working well. More hardware to test in future.
I installed my Reliance NetConnect datacard which is a ZTE CDMA1X MODEM. The installation seemed incomplete as it didn't prompt me to insert the dongle. I then tried to plug it in and it seemed to have been detected as a PnP device. I run the internet dialer but it failed to detect a valid modem. I tried all my luck but it remained not working. I went to my "Devices and Printers" sections of the Control Panel and show the data card modem listed with a "!" sign. I knew something was wrong, as it notified me too. I tried reinstalling by driver update but no success. Again I tried to do driver update and this time let it search windows online update directly, it found 0.5mb of update! I knew thats the thing, the fish is caught. I let it update & as expected it works now. Bravo Microsoft!
I also use the broadband connection at home via a wireless modem. It uses PPPOE protocol to connect. But seems that the PPPOE connection that I use to connect to my broadband, is comparatively slower during initial dialing phase. It takes 5-6 seconds more compared to what it used to take in Vista, before it starts checking the login credentials. But once logged in & connected, its flawless. 5-6 seconds just once every connection is bearable enough.
I installed my Reliance NetConnect datacard which is a ZTE CDMA1X MODEM. The installation seemed incomplete as it didn't prompt me to insert the dongle. I then tried to plug it in and it seemed to have been detected as a PnP device. I run the internet dialer but it failed to detect a valid modem. I tried all my luck but it remained not working. I went to my "Devices and Printers" sections of the Control Panel and show the data card modem listed with a "!" sign. I knew something was wrong, as it notified me too. I tried reinstalling by driver update but no success. Again I tried to do driver update and this time let it search windows online update directly, it found 0.5mb of update! I knew thats the thing, the fish is caught. I let it update & as expected it works now. Bravo Microsoft!
I also use the broadband connection at home via a wireless modem. It uses PPPOE protocol to connect. But seems that the PPPOE connection that I use to connect to my broadband, is comparatively slower during initial dialing phase. It takes 5-6 seconds more compared to what it used to take in Vista, before it starts checking the login credentials. But once logged in & connected, its flawless. 5-6 seconds just once every connection is bearable enough.
>> 5. Will Windows 7 detect my Nokia mobile via Nokia PC Suite?
Issues!
This was trivial. Still, I run the Nokia PC Suite installer and Arghh..it says “Operating System not supported”. Seems like the installer explicitly checks for the OS name & version. Anyways, I did the workaround…I changed it’s compatibility to Windows Vista and run again. It ran this time. I plugged in the USB cable CA-42 and connected my Symbian S60 V3 mobile. It detected well and I can see my mobile in the explorer well, along with the memory card within.
At last, it worked well by changing the Compatibility Mode. For quick reference, to change compatibility to any program, right click to its exe of its shortcut, go to its properties->compatibility tab and set compatibility to a lower version of operating system. So the next time its run, it will assume itself to be working in the set operating system.
Still, as desired it should run without tweaking the compatibility and it will only happen once Windows 7 is finally released and Nokia provides the software for the latest platform.
Still, as desired it should run without tweaking the compatibility and it will only happen once Windows 7 is finally released and Nokia provides the software for the latest platform.
>> 6. Will Windows 7 end the era of Blue Screens Of Death (BSOD) finally? And what ‘bout Windows Update Restart Loop?
On my Vista instance I get BSOD quite frequently, may be its because it seems not to be compatible with my laptop hardware. But since I have been running Windows 7, I have not faced even a single one. And that’s something I can WOW about.
[Update]
Life isn't as easier as it seems :). Got 2 Blue Screen back to back just 3 days after installing. Seemed to be some issues during operations (cut/copy/paste/share) with file path more than 256 characters. And once the BSOD started, it is approaching count of a dozen. Not bad though, still fewer than with Vista.
[Update]
Life isn't as easier as it seems :). Got 2 Blue Screen back to back just 3 days after installing. Seemed to be some issues during operations (cut/copy/paste/share) with file path more than 256 characters. And once the BSOD started, it is approaching count of a dozen. Not bad though, still fewer than with Vista.
On windows update during Vista there was once a time when update got stuck in a loop of restarting, that was a known bug for Microsoft. They released patch for it successfully. As for Windows 7, I tried windows update once which provided with 3 updates, one for Windows 7 client, one for my Broadcom network card & one for my Reliance datacard. I installed and it asked me to shutdown. Ai Ai Sir! But it seemed to have got stuck at 30%. I waited for 20 mins and then hot reboot it impatiently. Fingers crossed, it restarted and didn’t show any issues. Windows update status was successful. May be as I had manually updated the Datacard driver previously, windows update couldn’t recognize it & got stuck overwriting it during update. Anyways no more issues after that on update, yet.
>> 7. What new features Windows 7 has for me?
This section will contain mostly the UI improvements & file/device management.
USB Install: To those notebook owners who miss Disk drives in their box, you can now install Windows 7 right from your USB disk. Just copy the files from the installer ISO to the USB drive & your machine will boot from it straightaway! I haven't tried it myself though, but the following link may be of your use (not tested though!):
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide
Windows Boot: You get a brand new bright animated logo :) Welcome to Microsoft!
Desktop: It seems as it was in Vista. By default it comes with a background featuring the blue fish with bubbles coming out. Nice. Now there is a story behind why there is a Fish on the desktop by default. The fish featured is called Siamese which is a Fish found in Thailand. Interestingly its also referred as "Betta" Fish. And now as the Windows 7 is in Betta (read Beta) phase, may be this fish resembles it the best! :-)
Added things for desktop contains ability to have a set of wallpapers which can shuffle within itself every xx minutes or when demanded. Just right click on the desktop and select “Next Desktop Background Picture” if it’s available. By default it changes every 30 minutes.
Added things for desktop contains ability to have a set of wallpapers which can shuffle within itself every xx minutes or when demanded. Just right click on the desktop and select “Next Desktop Background Picture” if it’s available. By default it changes every 30 minutes.
Taskbar: Taskbar icons are neatly organized. Hovering over them shows the thumbnails of the running programs and its a real pie to the eye.
Themes: Windows 7 comes with inbuilt o/s themes. Just right click on desktop and select Personalize, you can see few readymade sets of themes. You can set the Windows Color scheme, background & screensavers as always. And if you need more themes, wallpapers, etc. you can get it online free of cost too.
Sidebar: This proved to be a major resource hog in Vista. And hence when you run Windows 7 you don’t find it. Did Microsoft remove it? Nopes. It’s running but it’s not docked to the right hand corner of your screen. When you right click on your desktop you get an option called Gadgets that will enable you to add the old loved gadgets. And, now these gadgets can float anywhere by default.
It seemed to be working for me, bur for last few reboots clicking on Gadgets do nothing! I run the Sidebar.exe myself, but seems it’s broken for some reasons. Issues!
Updates/Fix: As said, the User Access Control is somehow controlling the Gadgets too. So, if you have put UAC off (As most of us do!), Gadgets will disappear too! So, in order to see the Gadgets put the UAC to the lowest level and it should work. Still for me it didn't work and finally had to hack the UAC Superseeding Gadgets via registry.
Open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings
Create a DWORD called AllowElevatedProcess and set the value as 1. Close the registry editor and you can see your gadgets even if the UAC is off! Phew!
Updates/Fix: As said, the User Access Control is somehow controlling the Gadgets too. So, if you have put UAC off (As most of us do!), Gadgets will disappear too! So, in order to see the Gadgets put the UAC to the lowest level and it should work. Still for me it didn't work and finally had to hack the UAC Superseeding Gadgets via registry.
Open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings
Create a DWORD called AllowElevatedProcess and set the value as 1. Close the registry editor and you can see your gadgets even if the UAC is off! Phew!
Start Menu & Task Bar: Task bar has gone smarter by grouping the programs in a better way. And if you feel like opening a fresh instance of the running program, just middle click or shift+click on its icon in the task bar.
If you right click on any icon on the taskbar, you can see the history of related items open/run in the past. Microsoft calls this feature "Jump Lists". Its accessible also with the items pinned to the Start Menu. Now this is major privacy concern, because this can leave you with unwanted spies. And you can’t really put this off on per application basis. Though if you would like to disable it you can uncheck the option labeled "Store and Display Recently Opened Items in the Start menu and the taskbar" available under the Start Menu tab of the Task Bar & Start Menu Properties. This will remove the history for all the icons in the task bar & start menu and also clear the Rent Items list the moment you click on Apply/Ok. Though if you are only interested in clearning the Jump Lists once....uncheck the "Store and Display Recently Opened Items in the Start menu and the taskbar" checkbox then click on Apply (this clears all the lists), now Check it again & do Apply/Ok (this will again enable the feature for future lists). Take your pick.
Quick Launch: It seems to have gone smarter too but people at first will find it difficult as it iconize all open programs. And when you run one of those in the quick launch bar, it gets shaded with a bright square. But its still iconized. When you open more than one instances of the same program, you still see just 1 icon. When you hover over the icon, you see the thumbnails of the running instance(s) from there you can switch to one. And in case you want the old behavior of getting full length taskbar icons with its title visible, you can customize it using Start Menu properties. In the properties window, select Taskbar buttons dropdown from the Taskbar tab and change it to “Combine when taskbar is full”. I feel it should be the default o/s setting.
Show Desktop: You will suddenly find Show Desktop icon missing from the quick launch. It’s not missing, it’s relocated. If you watch closely you can see a small button (blank) on the right most corner of the task bar (next to the system clock). Clicking on that shows the desktop. And if you just hover your mouse over that button for few seconds, you can preview the desktop right away, the feature is called “Desktop Preview”. For those who are keyboard savvy like me, just press WinKey+Space to get the same.
System Task Area: The icons on the system tasks area used to be expanded with “<<” button, now they are visible by an up arrow like this “^”. Clicking on it will show a small window with hidden icons. Customizing icons is easier too now.
Libraries: Windows 7 introduces a feature called “Libraries” that can group together many locations under one virtual name. This is a cool feature which helps organize your files. Lets say for example you keep your photos in two locations one at “C:\FamilyPics” and another at “D:\Office Snaps”. Now you can create a Library named “My Pics” and add these folders to the library for easy access at one place. Nice feature. And the shortcut to get to the Libraries “Win+E”. Issues!
Updates/Fix: Finally Found the solution for Win+E Key. Thanks to the TechNet Forums & HowToGeek.com.
Read here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/in-windows-7-how-can-i-make-wine-open-my-computer-and-not-libraries
& just download & run this exe (checked..it works!):
http://www.howtogeek.com/geekers/WinE-MyComputer.exe
Make sure to copy this to your Startup folder so that this gets executed every time your machine starts. Just copy and paste this exe (or its shortcut) to your user startup folder. You can find your startup folder at:
:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Though when you click on Windows Explorer under Accessories or the Icon pinned to your task bar it still opens the Library section. Thankfully some hack is available to help you breath easy. If you want to open your My Computer...right click on it and select Properties. Under the Target box type the following:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
And apply. The next time you click that icon on your task bar, you will be right in your My Computer screen.
Updates/Fix: Finally Found the solution for Win+E Key. Thanks to the TechNet Forums & HowToGeek.com.
Read here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/in-windows-7-how-can-i-make-wine-open-my-computer-and-not-libraries
& just download & run this exe (checked..it works!):
http://www.howtogeek.com/geekers/WinE-MyComputer.exe
Make sure to copy this to your Startup folder so that this gets executed every time your machine starts. Just copy and paste this exe (or its shortcut) to your user startup folder. You can find your startup folder at:
Though when you click on Windows Explorer under Accessories or the Icon pinned to your task bar it still opens the Library section. Thankfully some hack is available to help you breath easy. If you want to open your My Computer...right click on it and select Properties. Under the Target box type the following:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
And apply. The next time you click that icon on your task bar, you will be right in your My Computer screen.
Start Menu Search: It has gone better & faster. And as program names & file names can be longer, when you start typing for search the start menu gives more space than before for search results.
Network Connections: The network connections icon in the system task area is worth appreciating as it groups all existing connections at one place and facilitates quick connect/disconnect.
File Management: Seems good enough. One good feature is very useful, when you try to delete/move/rename a file being used in some programs, Windows 7 shows you the File In Use window and tells you the name of the program which is using it. I used to depend on Unlocker for this, seems some relief for it.
User Interface: It has improved greatly without putting much pressure on your CPU & hardware. All windows and menus have drop shadow. User Interface & graphic effects are really seamless & a real pleasure to eyes.
Though at times I found my task bar & windows title bar with continuously flickering black patches. Opening Start Menu once cleared the patches. Seems like some rendering issue. Issues!
Send Feedback: As Windows 7 is in Beta stage, it assumes feedback. Hence, to make it easy almost every window contains a link called “Send Feedback” on the top right corner. When you click, it collects the system info and lets you provide more feedback with rating. If you are wondering what it collects, it notes down your o/s version, list of All the software installed, etc. in an xml format. I have been providing lots of feedback as and when I find. Please do so as it will make this o/s better when it comes out in its final release.
Ribboned Interface: The ribboned interface got popular with the Office 2007. And seems like Microsoft is all game to extend it. The applications such as Microsoft Paint, Wordpad now features Ribbon Interface. For those who are tech-savvy, it's good to know applications like these and even Calculator etc. uses WPF now.
Screen Zooming: Windows 7 comes inbuilt with screen Zooming features now. I used to use softwares like Zoomit for it (though I still use it for all other great features it offers), but now if you need a quick Zoom just pres WinKey and +. It also provides you with a quick toolbar for more other features, "Preview full screen" is very useful during zooming.
Window Docking: Windows 7 has one neat feature which allows you to dock any window on the screen occupying the left half/right half/entire screen. Just drag a window on the top/left/right corners and you can see an animated rectangle appearing, which suggests docking. It's really cool as it helps you manage window size easily. And the best part, it has shortcut keys for most of it! Windows+LeftArrow, Windows+RightArrow, Windows+UpArrow, Windows+DownArrow. Very useful. Another pleasant but surprising feature is "hide all windows but this". How it works is just hold the title bar of a window and shake it with your mouse. All the other windows in the background will be hidden, shake it again and they are back. Useful when you are discussing something with others, and want to quickly hide windows. Windows+Hone is the shortcut key for this, in case you need it quick.
Windows Disk Image Burner: Whenever we download a big application installer/operating-system-installer, we generally get it in the form of an .iso file, which is a DVD/CD disk image. And in order to use the files in it, we either need to burn it to a CD/DVD using an external buring software which can read .iso (I use Nero for it) or we need some .iso mounting software which can create a virtual drive from the files in the .iso (I use VirtualCloneDrive for it). But now with Windows 7, I can directly Burn an .iso with the inbuilt Disk Image Burner. Though it doesn't support creating a virtual disc but it's quite handy when you quickly need to burn an .iso to an optical drive.
The Problem Recorder: Now this is a real smart tool. If you ever need to send out help-ticket to your IT help desk or needed to show if something is not working on your box, you would prefer if you could just record & send the video or the screen shots. The Problem Recorder is just for that. Type record problem in the Start menu search and select "Record steps to reprodce a problem". The window that opens provides the Start Recording, once you click on that Windows 7 starts recording your mouse & keyboard. You can see that when you do a mouse click, a red dot flashes telling that your mouse click is recorded. You can also add comments during the steps recording. Click on Add comment and just type in addition details. Once done click on Stop Record. Wow! It lets you save the recording in Zip format which will include NOT video but ScreenShots so that it can be quickly seen without needing a media player by the IT help desk. This can be real handy! You can tweak the recording using the Settings option.
System Recovery Disk Creation: It happens at times when the operating system doesn't load and you are lead to doing System Restore, and for that you may need a bootable windows disk. Now Windows 7 can help you create in just few clicks. Type "repair" in Start Menu search and you will get the utility. Very handy and a life saver for me.
To find more 'bout what's new in Windows 7 visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/whats-new.aspx
Ribboned Interface: The ribboned interface got popular with the Office 2007. And seems like Microsoft is all game to extend it. The applications such as Microsoft Paint, Wordpad now features Ribbon Interface. For those who are tech-savvy, it's good to know applications like these and even Calculator etc. uses WPF now.
Screen Zooming: Windows 7 comes inbuilt with screen Zooming features now. I used to use softwares like Zoomit for it (though I still use it for all other great features it offers), but now if you need a quick Zoom just pres WinKey and +. It also provides you with a quick toolbar for more other features, "Preview full screen" is very useful during zooming.
Window Docking: Windows 7 has one neat feature which allows you to dock any window on the screen occupying the left half/right half/entire screen. Just drag a window on the top/left/right corners and you can see an animated rectangle appearing, which suggests docking. It's really cool as it helps you manage window size easily. And the best part, it has shortcut keys for most of it! Windows+LeftArrow, Windows+RightArrow, Windows+UpArrow, Windows+DownArrow. Very useful. Another pleasant but surprising feature is "hide all windows but this". How it works is just hold the title bar of a window and shake it with your mouse. All the other windows in the background will be hidden, shake it again and they are back. Useful when you are discussing something with others, and want to quickly hide windows. Windows+Hone is the shortcut key for this, in case you need it quick.
Windows Disk Image Burner: Whenever we download a big application installer/operating-system-installer, we generally get it in the form of an .iso file, which is a DVD/CD disk image. And in order to use the files in it, we either need to burn it to a CD/DVD using an external buring software which can read .iso (I use Nero for it) or we need some .iso mounting software which can create a virtual drive from the files in the .iso (I use VirtualCloneDrive for it). But now with Windows 7, I can directly Burn an .iso with the inbuilt Disk Image Burner. Though it doesn't support creating a virtual disc but it's quite handy when you quickly need to burn an .iso to an optical drive.
The Problem Recorder: Now this is a real smart tool. If you ever need to send out help-ticket to your IT help desk or needed to show if something is not working on your box, you would prefer if you could just record & send the video or the screen shots. The Problem Recorder is just for that. Type record problem in the Start menu search and select "Record steps to reprodce a problem". The window that opens provides the Start Recording, once you click on that Windows 7 starts recording your mouse & keyboard. You can see that when you do a mouse click, a red dot flashes telling that your mouse click is recorded. You can also add comments during the steps recording. Click on Add comment and just type in addition details. Once done click on Stop Record. Wow! It lets you save the recording in Zip format which will include NOT video but ScreenShots so that it can be quickly seen without needing a media player by the IT help desk. This can be real handy! You can tweak the recording using the Settings option.
System Recovery Disk Creation: It happens at times when the operating system doesn't load and you are lead to doing System Restore, and for that you may need a bootable windows disk. Now Windows 7 can help you create in just few clicks. Type "repair" in Start Menu search and you will get the utility. Very handy and a life saver for me.
To find more 'bout what's new in Windows 7 visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/whats-new.aspx
>> 8.And What's Missing?
Windows Movie Maker: No more available out of the box.
Windows Photo Gallery: No more available out of the box.
Windows Mail/Live: No more available out of the box.
InkBall Game: No more available out of the box. My cousin used to love this! (I am yet to find a Microsoft download link for that)
Windows Calender: No more available out of the box, as it was available in Vista. (which was said to be a replica of Mac iCal).
(may be few more to be discovered)
In Vista, the above mentioned softwares were available as a part of the o/s installation but with Windows 7 its not. Thankfully they are free tools and can be downloaded from http://download.live.com. Still that means an additional download of some good 100s of MBs. The web installer can be used to install the above and also Windows Writer, Windows Messenger, etc.
>> 9. Other Miscellaneous/Known Issues.
Dual Booting with XP: I installed Windows 7 on my laptop which was already running Windows Vista, it worked well. The Dual booting works as desired. I then also installed Windows 7 on another laptop which was running Windows XP SP2 as the primary operating system. The installation was good. And as expected Windows 7 became the deafult during the o/s selection screen. I was able to select one or other during boot. Then I tried to make Windows XP the default o/s during boot so I went to System Configuration (Start->Run->msconfig). Voila! I just had Windows 7 in the Boot menu list. And that means I could change the deafult o/s. I immediately thought, did I lose XP? I rebooted. Selected Windows XP. It booted. Windows XP started. I took a sigh of relief. I went to System Configuration in XP. Voila Again! I had only Windows XP in the Boot menu list. This has left me in state of surprise. It not only means that I have to manually select Windows XP during boot, but it made me realize that its a bug with Windows 7, I hope. I tried a lil to edit the boot.ini manually but I just could not find more than one o/s in the list. This is really strange and definitely an Issue!
Windows Installer Crash: This came out as a big headache. I was installing SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and it failed as there was some clash with SQL Express which got installed with Visual Studio 2008. I thought of uninstalling the SQL Express, I couldn't. I tried uninstalling Visual Studio 2008, it could not even. The uninstallation broke prematurely with an error "Windows Installator has stopped working". I knew it was the Beta effect. I went to the Event Viewer and looked at the entries. It reported "Faulting application name: msiexec.exe, Faulting module name: ntdll.dll". I realized something wrong with MsiInstaller. As always, I Googled! After searching for 10/15 minutes and trying few unsuccesful tweakings I found the solution. The MSIInstaller had issues. And as per the articles I read it made me feel that due to some reasons Windows had marked MSIInstaller as "Suspended". And hence no new installation/uninstallation could be performed.
Solution? 100%. Time for some registry tweakings. Here is what one has to do:
Open registry editor (Start->Run->Regedit).
Navigate to the following node:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\
You will find a DWord named as "MachineThrottling". This key is supposed to store some inforation of suspended applications (as far as I could understand).
Just rename it to something else (such as MachineThrottling_Old, etc) or delete is straight away. If you like to play safe, take a key backup before it.
That's all of it. I rn the installer for SQL Server again and it worked like a charm!
Desktop Window Manager/Display Driver breaking: It happens out of no where. Suddenly during working I see my screen resolution changing to 800 by 600, everything looks like a mammoth on screen & the screen color goes all messy. The system pops me an error saying that DWM has stopped working due to insufficient privileges. Even sometime the machine gets logged off. But clicking on Screen Resolution and selecting a higher setting resets all to one pleasant look. Ahem! Seems like something wrong with DWM and/or Graphic Driver.
>> 10. And will Windows 7 do this too, will Windows 7 do that too???
This & that….will keep popping up in my mind as usual. Interesting to see how do they fair. Will keep you updated.
So, that’s all on this post as of now. I can see it’s already so big, and it’s gotta be bigger.
Let me know if you find good features or face some issues with Windows 7. And remember to Send Feedback regularly, if any.
More to come soon about my experiene with Windows 7. Either I will update this post or will start a new one.
If you want to know more ‘bout Windows 7, visit now: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
And are you ready for the this news? If rumors are to be believed, Microsoft is already working on Windows 8. :-)
Till then, happy surfing!
Cheers!
