whats so great about windows 7?

[shawdreamer]

So Ive just picked up my new Compaq widescreen laptop which comes pre-installed with windows 7.

 

Uptil now Ive been near entirely dependant on XPpro after having a short stint using Vista and after finding it glichy and for the most part annoying, binned it again and reinstalled my XPpro edition.

 

Now I did a bit of sniffing when Windows 7 came out in prelude to possibly buying it but found what little information that was available at the time uninteresting and didnt really seem to offer enough to warrent upgrading my tried and tested XP systems, Now Im sat here with a 7 system Im still finding myself unimpressed (Im on the said laptop writing this).

 

Granted it seems reasonably smooth but tbf a well maintained Xp install can be just as efficeint and fast in comparison so that doesnt really justify the expense of upgrading my other pc's and laptop.

 

Obviously it has some interesting features as standard but again these are not 7 dependant and can be run on earlier stalls just aswell so again no justifying there.

 

eg.

 

High speed wireless support

Full Lightscribe support

Voice recognition command & Dictation

Improved interface's.

etc.

 

My questions are basically.....

 

 

What other features and Benefits does Windows 7 offer me that better Xp's?

 

What other benefits have I yet to discover?

 

On balance what do people prefere, XP, Vista or Windows 7?

[geordie_aaron]

"START" has been replaced by the windows symbol....BRILLIANT!

 

on a negative when you've got a few folders open they're all hidden which annoys the pee out of me - saying that i've not looked into disabling it either.

[shawdreamer]

"START" has been replaced by the windows symbol....BRILLIANT!

 

on a negative when you've got a few folders open they're all hidden which annoys the pee out of me - saying that i've not looked into disabling it either.

 

 

so far Ive only found three pet hates.

 

1. the hassle required to open task manager.

 

2. the not uncommon compatability issues it has with older programmes.

 

3. the ever insistant nagging "solve PC issues" messages that annoyingly crop up.

[mclovin9091]

well at least you no longer need to 'start' to stop (shut down). I've only upgraded to 7 because i got it free, if i had to pay for it i would have stuck with XP, never liked vista as i didn't have enough RAM to run it and play games.

 

You gotta love the Action center, its greeeaaaat!!!

[PeeWee]

"START" has been replaced by the windows symbol....BRILLIANT!

 

on a negative when you've got a few folders open they're all hidden which annoys the pee out of me - saying that i've not looked into disabling it either.

 

 

so far Ive only found three pet hates.

 

1. the hassle required to open task manager. (how hard is ctrl + alt +del then choose task manager)

 

2. the not uncommon compatability issues it has with older programmes. (compatability mode is amazing)

 

3. the ever insistant nagging "solve PC issues" messages that annoyingly crop up. (not had problems here sorry?)

 

All in all from the moment I started usind Windows7 (long before its release) I realised we were in for something special. Not the cumbersome Vista type problems that plagued that release back in the day (although Vista is perfectly stable now under their lates service packs and has been for some time.

Xp although a truly stable nice operating system has now seen its day and shows its age compared with todays standards. Driver searching now in fact works unlike xp plus many many changes. Windows7 installs on so many spec machines low & high & runs neat & swift. Networking now is a breeze to both use & set up. Having thumbnail views on the task bar for windows already running is very handy. Its reliable & very usuable, two words that I havnt used in terms of microsft for a while now.

I couldnt ever imagine returning to XP now its as simple as that, Windows 7 has come so far its a pain to go back & use XP.

[stoo2000]

• x64
  
• Internet Explorer 9
  
• Windows Live Essentials Wave 4
  

To name a few advantages with 7

[Craig855S]

All i know is I googled "how to speed up windows 7" and then i followed the guide, It advised me to disable all the glitzy rubbish and now it's lightning fast and I dont have the things I never missed with XP, like the aero rubbish, and search indexing (speeds up searches by vaguely knowing where everything is...which wastes memory)

[shawdreamer]

"START" has been replaced by the windows symbol....BRILLIANT!

 

on a negative when you've got a few folders open they're all hidden which annoys the pee out of me - saying that i've not looked into disabling it either.

 

 

so far Ive only found three pet hates.

 

1. the hassle required to open task manager. (how hard is ctrl + alt +del then choose task manager) as appose to ctrl+Alt+Del bang its there? If you have a programme conflict that slows your pc down suddenly and you need to get to TM to see whats going on, the last thing you need is another unneccassary full screen window having to load and slowing things further.

2. the not uncommon compatability issues it has with older programmes. (compatability mode is amazing) and when it cant find a solution?...twice Ive had to find it by trawling through the web in the two days Ive been using it simply because 7 "cant find a solution to this problem"

3. the ever insistant nagging "solve PC issues" messages that annoyingly crop up. (not had problems here sorry?) "solve pc issues: 1 message " popping up every other minute because I dont wish to back up my pc as I dont know wether Im bothering to keep feckin windows 7 anyway

 

• x64 agreed it adds a definate improvement
  
• Internet Explorer 9 which I barely note difference from IE8 Im affraid?
  
• Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 I dont thinkn Ive had the pleasure of meeting that yet?
  

To name a few advantages with 7

[PeeWee]

If by getting to the task manager slows down your PC I think you have more serious problems than the operating system im afraid.

 

Compatibility mode has worked fine for me in all instances (it doesnt look for a solution) just right click, compatibility and run as administrator "XP service pack3". If that isnt working then it may be time to bring your software up to date.

 

The "back up your pc" pop up, for crying out loud Lee theres an option on it to stop it reminding you ever again pmsl.

[LiamGTR]

It's wkd fast bruv, init.

[smithyandco]

I'm not the biggest fan of 7 although I use it on two work PCs now.

 

For newer hardware and modern PC gaming it's the best OS out there... For normal day-to-day tasks, I've found I'm more productive in XP.

 

I'm considering using it for a new media centre build... as it will be purely playing media and games which 7 is ideal for.

 

My main PC will be staying with a custom build of XP Media Centre (Microsoft made it on XP Pro and stripped some useful admin features out, I've replaced them in a custom build and installed that). as it's mainly used for basic programming, web dev, mucking around on the net and being the bedroom TV/Media Player. all of which XP is better suited for, for me.

[stoo2000]

• x64 agreed it adds a definate improvement
  
• Internet Explorer 9 which I barely note difference from IE8 Im affraid?
  
• Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 I dont thinkn Ive had the pleasure of meeting that yet?
  

To name a few advantages with 7

 

Fantastic comment about IE9

 

It's not out yet, but doesn't support XP anyway. It's hardware accelerated so it's mucho faster.

 

I guess you can add DX10/DX11 to that list too

[shawdreamer]

If by getting to the task manager slows down your PC I think you have more serious problems than the operating system im afraid.

 

Compatibility mode has worked fine for me in all instances (it doesnt look for a solution) just right click, compatibility and run as administrator "XP service pack3". If that isnt working then it may be time to bring your software up to date.

 

The "back up your pc" pop up, for crying out loud Lee theres an option on it to stop it reminding you ever again pmsl.

 

 

did that yesterday but early this morning it stuck up "1 message: backup incomplete"

 

It's not out yet, but doesn't support XP anyway. It's hardware accelerated so it's mucho faster.

 

Fantastic use of a irrelevant advantage of using 7 then.

 

well then it isnt really a advantage of windows 7 yet then is it?.....it may very well prove to be shite for all you know?

[PeeWee]

If by getting to the task manager slows down your PC I think you have more serious problems than the operating system im afraid.

 

Compatibility mode has worked fine for me in all instances (it doesnt look for a solution) just right click, compatibility and run as administrator "XP service pack3". If that isnt working then it may be time to bring your software up to date.

 

The "back up your pc" pop up, for crying out loud Lee theres an option on it to stop it reminding you ever again pmsl.

 

 

did that yesterday but early this morning it stuck up "1 message: backup incomplete"

 

It's not out yet, but doesn't support XP anyway. It's hardware accelerated so it's mucho faster.

 

Fantastic use of a irrelevant advantage of using 7 then.

 

well then it isnt really a advantage of windows 7 yet then is it?.....it may very well prove to be shite for all you know?

 

Without sounding rude you obviously didnt turn off the notification then lol.

As for whether IE9 "may well be shite", stoo is beta testing so he already knows if its good or not.

[shawdreamer]

If by getting to the task manager slows down your PC I think you have more serious problems than the operating system im afraid.

 

Compatibility mode has worked fine for me in all instances (it doesnt look for a solution) just right click, compatibility and run as administrator "XP service pack3". If that isnt working then it may be time to bring your software up to date.

 

The "back up your pc" pop up, for crying out loud Lee theres an option on it to stop it reminding you ever again pmsl.

 

 

did that yesterday but early this morning it stuck up "1 message: backup incomplete"

 

It's not out yet, but doesn't support XP anyway. It's hardware accelerated so it's mucho faster.

 

Fantastic use of a irrelevant advantage of using 7 then.

 

well then it isnt really a advantage of windows 7 yet then is it?.....it may very well prove to be shite for all you know?

 

Without sounding rude you obviously didnt turn off the notification then lol.

As for whether IE9 "may well be shite", stoo is beta testing so he already knows if its good or not.

 

Ah but I did, all it seems to have done it change the message from "please backup" to "continue backup"..... whats worse, I didnt start the backup anyway so theres nothing to "continue"

 

none the less "It may well" still be regardless of Beta tests, that sort of thing can only be truely established once its in mass use.

 

And excuse my confusion ere but when was I religated to "devils feckin advocate" ere???

 

back to my original enquiry, I was wondered what possible advantages there was to keeping W7 over simply keeping my systems all XP os'd.