Any advantage to windows 7 over XP?

[Nothinman]

How is it more organized? Just look at the screenshot. The VNC service for example is not even in the same spot as where all the services and systray icons should be, they're all over the place. That's nasty. systray should not be mixed with task bar, that's just stupid.

His screenshot is a shit example and you're not seeing it right. Those 7 intermixed icons are icons for starting those apps, not notification icons for already running apps. The notification area, app icons and taskbar entries aren't mixed up like that. The notification icons for running things are on the right, next to the clock, just like before.

Wait a couple years and Windows 7 will have real driver support.

Guess all the drivers I've installed for my work printers aren't real...

Watch the youtube video I posted. If you know how to fix this bullshit, please tell me. I started a thread about that issue on Anandtech and a few other sites and so far not 1 person has told me how to fix it.

No clue, Win7 has been many orders of magnitude better for me than any other version of Windows with regards to networking. Actually, with regards to most things.

 

[PsiStar]

I should explain that I think I must be the most unsophisticated OS user there is. I have my own home network & could give a rip about the increased security & consider it a bit of a PITA. I added W7 to a new system build so I wouldn't need to buy an OS again. My experience so far tho is that W7 is starting to feel like Unix on a Sparc (in the day) with the security system. Experts discourage setting your account to admin and it feels like getting root access. Big deal.

I also live & die on my 5 computers all day long every day running engineering apps. From very interactive to running jobs that can take days of only CPU time to finish.

I always set the Auto-hide task bar option as that is the ultimate in Desktop "cleanliness", in my opinion. In that respect, I see no difference of W7 versus XP or W2K (I never had Vista). I have never understood the need to see (all of the time) what programs are loaded, but reduced. Just moving the mouse to the bottom or where ever you have the task bar parked is all that is needed to see what is loaded. If you have forgotten what is loaded, how important could it be? Or, if you are intending to open a loaded program then you have to go to the task bar anyway and it pops up. No?

There is a subtle new feature that I am warming up to. Perhaps it is in Vista, but the ability to "pin" an app to the task bar is nice. There are certain progs that I like on the desktop, such as Wordpad or Notepad so that I can drag/drop a file from file manager to view it. But that does not apply to all apps. So to keep the desktop from getting too cluttered, those apps may be pinned to the task bar as a more convenient way to find them.

I have a friend that really likes the search for programs & files feature under the Start button. There you can type a few letters of the name of the program that you want. It is very quickly found & highlights at the top of the Start Window. The entire name need not be entered & perhpas only 1 or 2 chars are needed .. this is also a nice feature when I can remember to use it. To me this is 3rd way to keep the desktop clean & organized.

I do have at least 3 ways of accessing programs. Some I am in & out of frequently, others are load & go for a very long time. Others are more interactive, but I don't use very often. So I see new ways of organizing with benefits, but which requires altering some very old habits.

I have had real jobs & worked with MIS security with Windoze and Unix. I still don't see or feel the security advantages or disadvantages of W7. I really have no criticisms of it, except. Except that I do knowingly have security set that several programs such as benchmark software pop up a security window ensuring that you really want to do this. wPrime.exe for instance must be right clicked on & run in administrator mode. Meh.

One bug in a program I have has a GUI, the multiple select ability by holding ctrl key down does not work properly. Only 2 objects can be selected. Selecting a 3rd, deselects one of the others & as such only 2 objects can ever be selected at a time.

 

[TheRickRoller]

Shortcuts and running programs look the same. You'll minimize something, forget that it's minimized, and wonder why the computer is using 3gb of ram to do nothing. Oh it's because I have 10 firefox windows open and didn't know it.


Here's Windows 7 running the same number of programs. It looks like shit. Notice how MSN messenger no longer sits in the system tray; it takes up 2 spots on the dock menu. Shortcuts (the ones not highlighted) don't stay on the left side anymore, they just go wherever the hell they want. It makes the system harder to use because the shortcuts are never in the same position twice.
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/windows7t.jpg/

http://imgur.com/q3KAB.png

Shortcuts and running programs don't look the same. Shortcuts have the icon in the middle, with the plain dock menu background. Running programs have a glass effect in their background. You'll minimize something, not forget that it's minimized, and hover over the program to see all the instances you have open.

Notice how Live Messenger no longer sits in the system tray; it takes up 1 spots on the dock menu. Shortcuts (the ones not highlighted) don't stay on the left side, they go wherever you want them to go. You can drag them to whichever spot you like. It makes the system easy to use because the shortcuts are always where you want them.

In closing, spend a few seconds googling 'taskbar properties' before saying its broken.

:thumbsdown:

 

[hectorsm]

The task bar preview is my favorite feature in Windows 7. When there are many application windows open I can move my mouse over a tab and get an instant preview of all the windows from a specific application. It's a quick way of finding the window you want without having to search through all the windows.

 

[JackMDS]

This isn't like Vista where you can go into display settings and make it look like Windows 95 if you want. Setting it to "best performance" and disabling themes doesn't do anything. That whacked out dock menu is what it will look like.

So the problem with Win 7 is that One can Not make it look like Win 95.

I give Up it this point.

As Mr. Spock said. "Be all well and Prosper".

.

 

[NickelPlate]

My parents will be buying a new PC and they know XP better so I'll probably put that on it, but I'm wondering if there is any big reason I should go to 7, and can 7 be made to look like XP as far as where everything is? My dad freaks at the smallest changes. Either way he will freak since even win2k to xp may have a few changes even after putting classic start menu and such, so if there's any real good reason to go with 7 I might do that. Is there?

They only use it for browsing the internet and email.

I'm generally the type (like your parents) who resists change. Especially when you like things the way they are. It took me a few years to jump on the XP bandwagon. That said I think Windows 7 is a vast improvement over XP, once you get used to the differences.

I'm not sure how much Win 7 can be made to look like XP. There's alot of stuff that's different. The start menu is completely different, no more flyout menus except for recent files. It's a big shocker at first. The control panel default is the category view which is nothing like XP (confusing IMO), although you can change that to show all items.

Windows 7 uses libraries for your personal files now instead of wanting to default all everything in a bunch of "My thingamig" folders in My Documents. It's a good thing because it gives you the option to keep your files where you want them (like on a 2nd HD) and aggregate everything from multiple sources.

There's lots to like about Win7 though; jumplists, improved and more informative control panel, windows snap features, much improved calculator, libraries, resource monitor, taskbar previews, useful desktop gadgets, etc. And it's stable and runs very well.

Hope that helps.

 

[Soundmanred]

I use that exact printer (HP P1006) linked to above in Windows 7, and had no problems at all installing it.
User fail, seriously.

 

[tcsenter]

I remember reading an article about problems people had with Windows 7 (or maybe it was Vista), where an old geezer couldn't get his HP printer to work. Well, turns out, he initially used the driver disk that came with the printer, which predated the new OS by about two years. The driver installed but the printer wouldn't work. Then he located the correct drivers for the OS on HP's website. He tried to remove the first driver, but it failed with an error when trying to uninstall, so the driver couldn't be removed and the new correct driver wouldn't install.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Since I only use Windows for gaming, having the latest version of DX makes it worth my while. Unfortunately, it (like Vista) removes DirectSound EAX (Alchemy does not always work). This will not impact you since you are not a gamer.

 

[KeypoX]

7>Vista>>xp

Most of the time vista drivers will work with 7 if needed.
7 Can be made to look like vista if needed
7 will be sported longer

IF you need full range of features search google and llook here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features
But you will also need to look at the features of vista, as they are also included in 7.

I could never go back to xp.

Indexing and searching is great, jump lists are awesome too. Superbar takes some getting used i guess its equal to the old task bar, greater when including new features jump lists and such. I like the new tray box much bettter not so damn bloated. Check it out http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-7/how-to-customize-the-system-tray-in-windows-7/

XP only has very specific advantages non for the common user.

 

[tcsenter]

The search box in the new Start Menu is worth it by itself IMO. It takes a bit to get used to it, but now I get even more frustrated when I touch an XP/Win2K3 machine.

I don't like the search features in Vista or 7. I had no problems with the search feature in Windows XP. I just never searched from the start menu. I always opened the search page (Start -> Search, or from Windows Explorer menu), then used the advanced options (which are retained once set) to search hidden/system folders and sub-folders (if required).

 

[CSMR]

My parents will be buying a new PC and they know XP better so I'll probably put that on it.

Mistake. Just think how obsolete XP will be when the PC is end of life.

 

[juiio]

Instead of having a quick bar (shortcuts), a task bar (running programs), and a system tray (background programs), it now has the dock menu. Shortcuts and running programs look the same.

You can change to the traditional quicklaunch + traditional task bar + system tray.

 

[Nothinman]

I don't like the search features in Vista or 7. I had no problems with the search feature in Windows XP. I just never searched from the start menu. I always opened the search page (Start -> Search, or from Windows Explorer menu), then used the advanced options (which are retained once set) to search hidden/system folders and sub-folders (if required).

No one did it that way either in XP since it wasn't an option. But Win+F and F3 both still work to bring up the search window, it just uses the index instead of doing a bruteforce search, which has it's own pluses and minuses. But I feel the pluses largely outweigh any minuses.

And the indexed search kills the bruteforce search in both speed and results because it only has to touch the index and the search service has plugins to include things like Office docs, emails, etc.

 

[tcsenter]

Outlook Express and my webmail clients have built-in search.

 

[Nothinman]

Outlook Express and my webmail clients have built-in search.

So does full Outlook, however it's painfully slow without an index. Windows Search integrates with Outlook and takes care of that. I don't know if it does Windows Live Mail or not though, although I would be surprised if it didn't to some extent.

And that also ignores all of the binary formats, i.e. Office, that Windows Search can index and the fact that even with plain-text formats an index based search is going to be many magnitudes faster than a brute-force method. And the fact that the results are in one place, I hit the Windows key and I get results for everything.

 

[tcsenter]

I admit I don't have thousands of old emails, I try to keep it cleaned up to just a few hundred, search is pretty fast. I also don't have hundreds of Office or other binary documents, except for PDF files like whitepapers, datasheets, manuals, and I've never had occasion to search them broadly. i.e. I usually know which document contains the info I need, so I open it and search from within.

 

[Nothinman]

I keep email virtually forever, although I try to keep only the last year or so in my Exchange mailbox. This actually made me curious so I just checked the size of my mailbox and it looks like it's ~3G right now since I haven't archived 2009 yet.

 

[Thump553]

I'm probably about your parents age, and I just switched from XP to Win7 with a new computer. I hated Vista so much that when I replaced my work computer I went out and bought a copy of XP a week later to "downgrade" it.

Win7 is definately the way to go now. The only major thing I don't like so far is the elimination of Outlook Express, and more importantly, a desktop shortcut and/or a link in the Start button popup menu to bring you right to your mailbox. Why MS made it harder to get to your email is a decision that escapes me. I eventually created a shortcut on my desktop to their mail program, but it was stupid that I had to do so.

 

[tcsenter]

They got sued for "bundling".

 

[Red Squirrel]

My parents use thunderbird for email so the email client is not really an issue. If I can get it to act similar to XP as far as where everything is, then I may go for it. I'd like to get them like 8GB of ram and go 64-bit. A bit overkill but I want this machine to last a while and be fast since I'm the one that has to support it.

 

[lxskllr]

My parents use thunderbird for email so the email client is not really an issue. If I can get it to act similar to XP as far as where everything is, then I may go for it. I'd like to get them like 8GB of ram and go 64-bit. A bit overkill but I want this machine to last a while and be fast since I'm the one that has to support it.

It won't be anything like XP as far as the location of items goes. It's similar, and any geek can figure it out, but if someone doesn't want to think, it'll be confusing. XP's dead, and anyone who builds a new computer using that is doing a disservice to their client. Time marches on, and you have to adapt or die. They WILL be switching O/Ss some time in the future, so now's as good a time as any to make the switch.

 

[Skitzer]

^^ This!!!

No more calls about "I just installed blah blah and I CAN'T FIND THE DAMNED THING!"

Click start, type something, done. Learn to love it.

Agree completely!!! Even a caveman could do it!

 

[xCxStylex]

You can change to the traditional quicklaunch + traditional task bar + system tray.

Noob needs help - Anyone mind explaining to me how to do this please?

I hated win7 at first use, so I relegated it to my "clean/work" OS and didn't explore much.

 

[lxskllr]

Noob needs help - Anyone mind explaining to me how to do this please?

I hated win7 at first use, so I relegated it to my "clean/work" OS and didn't explore much.

See this page for quick launch...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/888-quick-launch-enable-disable.html

To make the taskbar more like traditional Windows, right click the taskbar, choose properties. I like a thin taskbar, so small icons, and choose the setting to use icons and text, and never combine. I don't have Win7 installed anymore, so I can't verify this, but it should get you close, and you can find the rest of the way yourself.