1. Introduction
After almost 2,5 years, Microsoft is back with a new operating system that aims to deliver all the things that Windows Vista failed to offer plus many more new features. With Windows 7 being the successor of the very good Windows Vista, it has very stable basis to be built on and some points to be worked on (the file management problems, compatibility and security issues) . In brief, Microsoft's latest operating system will offer:
Better performance
A new home networking system called HomeGroup
Better and even wider compatibility
Multi-touch support
A redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar
Let's see if it is indeed so good as it sounds. We will start off by checking what was said to be wrong on Vista and what has changed in 7. Then we will examine each new feature separately. This article will be frequently updated with new information in the following days.
2. Vista problems and Windows 7 solutions
Since the day that Windows Vista was released, a large number of users have had problems related to compatibility, file management, security, visual issues and more. Let's take a look at these issues and check if Windows 7 is able to do the trick and make them disappear.
Windows Vista Product Editions issues:
Microsoft released 6 product editions of Windows Vista (while Windows XP had only 2 at the time of release and another 2 followed shortly). Offering multiple editions of an OS is confusing for the customers because it is harder to understand and choose which edition suits their needs. Even worse, every edition had its own set of applications and features. For example, if a user selected the Premium Edition, he would have Windows Media Center and Windows DVD Maker along with the other features (Windows AERO, Windows Defender and Firewall, Windows Flip 3D) and nothing more. On the other hand, if he were to select Windows Business he would not have Windows Media Center and Windows DVD Maker but he would have access to Windows Backup and Restore Center, Windows Fax and Scan and Remote access.
Selecting Product Edition in Windows 7 Installation
Windows 7 Product Editions:
This product editions confusion is not a case for Windows 7 as the Windows 7 product editions are supersets of one another. With Windows 7 there is a logical progress from one edition to the next. As Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra says "With Windows 7 there will be two primary editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional". As he continues "Windows 7 Home Premium is the recommended choice for consumers. It gives them a full-function PC experience and a visually rich environment in everything from the way they experience entertainment to the way they connect their devices. Windows 7 Professional is the recommended choice for small businesses and for people who work at home but have to operate in an IT-managed or business environment where security and productivity are critical. For those running Windows Vista Business, it will be a very logical move to Windows 7 Professional." The other Editions of Windows 7 will be Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Enterprise, and Windows 7 Ultimate.
I' m still seeing 5 of them..
Don't worry, you only need to know just the 2 of them. The Professional and Premium versions are focused on the retail and the consumer markets, something like what we've seen on Windows XP. Windows 7 Enterprise is focused on volume licensing business customers while the Windows 7 Ultimate version includes all the features the Enterprise version has but is addressed to the retail market. Windows Starter and Basic versions are designed for smaller markets.
3. Windows Vista & 7 installation and compatibility
Windows Vista & 7 Installation and Recovery Center:
Windows Vista installation was quick, fast and simple. The procedure hasn't changed that much; first you have to enter all the needed information and then Windows will take command and complete. The only thing you can complain about so far is the Windows experience index score test that will fire up in the end of installation. It seems to be a waste of time because Windows doesn't have the right drivers installed at the time of the test in order to evaluate the performance specific hardware as a graphics card. This evaluation test took about 3-4 minutes to complete. In Windows 7 you have to manually run this test, which makes more sense (Also if you are upgrading from Windows Vista, after the first needed reboot, in the boot menu there is an option to rollback to the previous windows version if something goes wrong.).
Furthermore, in during the installation of Windows 7 we can see more details about the procedure (check the image below) and after the installation we can configure the wired and wireless network settings along with the computer name and the theme (we will talk more about Windows Themes in the next pages).
Installing Windows 7
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Windows Recovery center is also a good addition and includes a lot of helpful tools such as the automated recovery. In Windows Vista, users had to use the Windows Vista Installation DVD for the recovery. In Windows 7 you don't have to use any disc, everything is available in the boot screen.
A small change but we can see now some more details on the installation procedure
Compatibility:
The early versions of Windows Vista were suffering from a lot of incompatibility issues. These were resolved through the released patches and service packs. Windows 7 aims to maintain the compatibility list of Vista and also make it even wider. The Windows Development Blog claims that more than 30 applications that were problematic to use under Windows Vista are fully operational under Windows 7, like QuickTime 7.1.6 player for German and Japanese and Cyberlink DVD Suite v6 for Chinese. Windows 7 also includes new ways to make incompatible devices work. We will see more about this later. For now let's just say that Windows 7 will not have the same bad start in terms of compatibility that Windows Vista had.
4. UAC problems, visual and other smaller issues
User Account Control, visual and other smaller issues:
The new security feature of Windows Vista, the User Account Control, was a very good security addition, but it had a huge problem. It turned out to be quite annoying to the end user. For almost any action (install, uninstall a program, change permissions etc), a notification window would show up and the user's attention was needed. Most of the Vista users, after the installation usually disabled UAC Control. Now this will not be the case, as the new UAC on windows 7 can be customized to deliver fewer notifications and in some cases you will not even notice it. Remember that UAC is a very good security tool that you should never be underestimated.
The new way of customizing UAC notifications. Even in the default setting, the notifications are very few in comparison with Windows Vista.
Visual issues:
Windows Sidebar was another point of dissatisfaction in Windows Vista. Why have a huge bar in the side that allocates memory for some gadgets? In Windows 7, there is no Windows Sidebar, and, instead of this, the gadgets can be installed in the desktop at any point the user wants. Nice addition and a good solution. We will talk more about Windows 7 Gadgets in the next pages.
The new way of using Gadgets. They are more customizable, taking less memory space because of the lack of the sidebar and are working better with internet live updates.
Another, smaller, issue that Windows Vista had was the shutdown button in the Start menu. In Windows Vista, the default action was set to hibernation. Now on Windows 7 this button is replaced from a button that has the name of the action. In this case, "Shut down".
A minor change in Start Menu regarding the shutdown button. Except that and the Search string everything else is almost the same.. |
File management problems:
The first Windows Vista release had some file copy issues which were fixed with some updates. In Vista SP1 everything was working as it was supposed to. Windows 7 has nothing wrong to report here.
Copying of files in Windows 7. Back in Windows Vista release date, copying files over the network was an issue."
5. Memory management
Memory Management:
Windows Vista used to manage memory resources in a very different way compared to earlier windows versions. Windows Vista introduced a feature called SuperFetch. Windows SuperFetch helps keep the computer consistently responsive to your programs by making more efficient use of the computer's RAM. It also prioritizes the programs you're currently using over background tasks and adapts to the way you work by tracking the programs you use most often and preloading these into memory. This was a nice addition but SuperFetch was really useful only when users had a standard behavior pattern like opening pc, then outlook, then windows media player etc. For anyone else it wasn't very helpful and it would load the memory with stuff that probably they didn't need. In a few words, SuperFetch was actively preloading data that it thought you might use soon.
Also Windows Vista was allocating a lot of memory every time the user opened even a new window or a program. Windows 7 doesn'tâ??t allocate a fixed amount of memory anymore and so it does not use double buffering like Windows Vista did. In order to understand better what that means, at the Windows hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC 2008) in Los Angeles, Mike Angiulo, General Manager, Windows Planning and PC Ecosystem Team for Microsoft, and Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice President of the Core Operating System Division presented a simple test through a script that opens 70 new windows on Windows Vista and Windows 7. As Mike said on the conference, "On Windows Vista the system could not take it and after a couple of open windows we see a warning that your computer is running slow, and then a message that you've lost Aero." (You can find the full Press Conference here)
A photo from the WinHec 08 presentation, showing that Windows Vista was having problems to open all the windows while Windows 7 opened them without any issues.
On Windows 7 the script has run smoothly and without any problems. This is because in Windows 7 the memory management for those windows is done through the graphics card. As a result, less memory is used Windows 7 offers a faster-running system.
From our experience, Windows Vista needed 2GB of RAM to run decently and if you wanted to play high demanding games like Crysis or GTA IV, 3-4GB of ram were needed. From our experience, Windows 7 is using approximately 10-15% less memory than vista. From now on, with Windows 7, even with 1GB of ram you are OK with your everyday stuff . On vista, with 1GB of ram, if you were opening more than 6-7 programs at the same time, windows would have a massive slowdown. Fortunately, Microsoft has solved this with Windows 7. Very good job on that part. Maybe this is the most important new feature in Windows 7 which justifies the better performance in memory and cpu cost. If we also take into account that when Windows 7 will be out, 2GB DDR3 & DDR2
Ram will be very cheap, then memory management will never be an issue any more.
In our opinion, those were the weakest points of Windows Vista. Of course, we are going to analyze more every new feature and everything else that has changed in Windows 7 in the next pages. Everything you have read so far was in relation with Windows Vista.
6. New Features in Windows 7 - Taskbar
We selected to install the Product Edition of Windows 7 and we're all set to see the new features. The Taskbar will be our first subject, as we think that it has improved a lot over the past versions.
The first screen that we will see after the install.
Windows Taskbar:
Forget the Taskbar from any previous Windows release. This new Taskbar makes Windows Vista Taskbar seem just like a virtual folder with shortcuts and nothing more. The New Taskbar is more dynamic:
First of all, Quick Launch shortcuts and shortcuts from running programs are now combined. You can add a program to Taskbar but when you open it the icon of the program remains there (or expands, it depends from the settings).The default setting for this option is to leave the shortcut as it is. However, i f you want shortcuts to be expanded you have to do the following steps: right-click on the taskbar, then choose Properties. Then, choose "Combine when taskbar is full" next to Taskbar buttons and you are done. As you can see from the pictures, the Taskbar is now more transparent and bigger from the Taskbar in Vista (although, you can make it smaller from the settings).
The new Taskbar, the Libraries shortcut and every other shortcut can be configured to expand when pressed or to remain as it is.
Another important change is the way that programs and opened folders are stacked. Every opened folder can be shown one next to the other. For every one of them
we have a preview thumbnail that will show us the full screen of the program or the folder with the help of Aero peek (a feature that shows us only the selected folder while hiding every other; we will see all the Aero effects in the next pages)
when we hover the mouse over it. We can also close a folder from the preview section while having to maximize it first. Overall
thumbnails are working better on Windows 7. In Windows Vista you might have to maximize and minimize a window again to see its thumbnail. In Windows 7 thumbnails are refreshed faster.
Stacking a lot of opened windows in Windows 7. Notice the close button on the preview
thumbnail and the full page preview, with the help of Aero Peek, while hovering the mouse pointer over a thumbnail.
In Windows 7 Taskbar, every program/folder thumbnail is packed with a close icon and optionally some extra options like in windows media player whose thumbnail is enhanced with pause/play,pervious and next track butons. Furthermore, right-clicking on a minimized program will show us the Jump List. The Jump list has some extra application features. For instance, in Windows Live Messenger you can sign in or out, in Windows Explorer you can see the most visited locations, etc.
Some programs like Windows Media Player can have some extra options while they are minimized like the pause/ play, next and previous track buttons. In every program,the Jump List will show us the recent tasks or places we visited, change the status message on Windows Live Messenger, sign in or out etc.
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The notifications area has also changed a lot; In Windows 7 Taskbar, hidden tray icons are opened on the top which is quite usefull if you often have a lot of programs opened.
Window 7 Taskbar also includes the Action Center, a fine new addition :
Notifications Area. Every hidden tray icon now doesn't expand in the left but opens like in the image. Every message about security, updates and backup are stored in one place called Action Center.
Action Center notifies you about every security issue you need to take care of, every update you have to install, every answer you seek after sending a problem to microsoft and every backup you forgot to perform for a long time. It's nice to have everything in one place.
Windows 7 Action Center