My Rig
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz (64-bit quad-core)
8GB DDR2 RAM
1TB Hard Drive
Dual Layer DVD burner
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB (Dual DVI)


Events Leading to 7
Yesterday, I downloaded, and installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Beta. And so far, I like it a lot. It works great. It has been working very well for me thus far.

I’ve been using Windows XP Professional 32 since forever, and I love it. I consider it to be the most stable operating system available. I’ve had a 64-bit computer for a few years now. It’s been close to a year now that I’ve had a DirectX10 Video card, and DirectX10 games. Recently, I decided that it was time to upgrade to Vista. I wiped my hard drive, and installed Vista Ultimate 64. During updates, my computer completely crashed. I could not get back into Windows in safe mode or any mode. There was a glitch in the updates causing it to repeatedly undo configuration errors, redo configuring, and undo errors again. I decided just to go back to my trusted Windows XP Professional SP3.

I told somebody about this, and she mentioned that Windows 7 was already out. I told her that it’s not out, and she argued with me. I told her it was probably a beta version that was out, and she argued with me telling me that it was an official release. She told me that I could go to the Windows 7 website to download it for free. How a free download could be a retail release makes no sense to me. It turns out that it is a beta version. They call it a Release Candidate. Note the word ‘candidate’. Anyway, anybody can download it, install it, use it, and hopefully provide their feedback. The only limitation is that it is set to self-destruct in about a year. Other than that, this OS seems to be a full version that imposes no limitation that I am aware of.


Downloading
I went to the Windows 7 website to get the free beta. To download the installer, you must go to the download section, and choose either 32-bit or 64-bit. You must then give them an email address. They will immediately email you a verification link. Once you check your email, and click the link, you will be sent to the download section where you download the installer. It arrives as an ISO file that must be burnt onto a DVD. You will also receive a text file with the activation key in it. Do not forget to write it down on the DVD or somewhere. Being that I was installing a new OS, I made sure to download a copy of the latest driver for my video card.


Installation
Upon booting to the installer DVD, I was taken to a screen that is almost exactly like the Vista installation screen. I chose my language (the default), and proceeded. Just like the Vista DVD, there is a repair tool that you can use before installing. I used it to access the DOS prompt, and wipe my hard drive. I don’t think anybody’s ever released a fast method of zeroing a hard drive, but that would be nice if there was one. A few hours later, my hard drive was wiped and formatted to the NTFS file system.

Without any need to restart, I exited the DOS prompt, ensured my network cable was unplugged, and proceeded with the installation. This was the fastest installation I’ve ever seen in Windows. I think the most fascinating thing for me during this whole process was the fact that it immediately recognized my second monitor and automatically set it up. The setup is easier than ever. During installation of course, I had to enter my key. I then came across some typical installation annoyances that have always been with Windows since XP. As usual, they force you to create a default user. There is no option to continue as Administrator without creating a default user. It would be a great convenience for a change if they simply allow us to continue as Administrator, and bypass the whole default user creation bit.

Then there is the problem with Windows Security. There is no option to continue the setup without installing the firewall, defender, or anything related to it that some of us just don’t use. When there is something in the OS that we know we never use, it’s just a bloat. It would be great if there was an option during setup to proceed with security completely turned off. The first thing I do when after configuring Windows anyway is install security apps Upon completion of setup, you are taken directly to your pretty Desktop to start using Windows. And wonderfully enough, there is no Welcome Screen.


Administration
Naturally, the first thing to always do before anything else is to switch to Administrator and kill the worthless default user. The Control Panel was different. The initial view is a 'Category' view with about 6 categories and seemingly no option for a classic view to see the entire Control Panel. I finally figured out that you could switch views between ‘Category’, ‘Small icons’, and ‘Large icons’. Choosing either icon view allows you to see the entire Control Panel. I then proceeded to activate the Administrator, log off of the default user, and log in as Administrator. Fortunately, throughout this whole process, I never encountered a UAC warning that occurs in Vista. I don’t even know if W7 has UAC warnings for anything. Now that I was Administrator, I deleted the default user account as well as the default user's User Folder. Rest in peace.


First Boot
Just for thehell of it, I restarted the computer which immediately booted up to Windows without any user logon screen. Windows 7 uses the same default shut down and startup sounds as Vista does. The first thing I want to mention is the size of this OS. It's beyond enormous for reasons unknown. Approximately 10.6GB (About 0.5GB of which make up the Program Files) I don’t understand what all this is about.

Now that that my initial user setup was done, I was ready to explore and configure Windows 7.
First, I took a picture of the default Desktop.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5203/74118236.png


I then took a picture of the default processes.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3512/58395569.png


There are a few noticeable features. I think one thing Vista users might be happy to notice is that there is no Sidebar. If you ever feel like using it, you can. If you don’t, you will never see it. If there was an option during setup to never see Windows security, that would be great. By default, the Taskbar is a little enlarged, and less rounded. The date is shown underneath the time. There is an option, however, to switch to a small Taskbar. The Quicklaunch icons are much larger with 3 default shortcuts. Internet Explorer, Libraries, and Media Player. It’s not actually a Quicklaunch anymore. Just icons pinned to the Taskbar. The same pinning feature applies to the Start Menu. Pins are fundamentally shortcuts in the Taskbar or Start Menu.

There is no Show Desktop feature in that area anymore. Instead, there is a funny narrow panel looking rectangular button on the right side of the Taskbar that you can click to show the Desktop. And you can’t move it. If you change the theme, it actually looks a little more like a button then a narrow panel. This screws me up sometimes because I would unthinkingly hit one of my pinned icons to show the Desktop, and inadvertently launch a browser instead. This is because I have been slacking on meditation. I don't know the purpose of doing this instead of keeping the Show Desktop shortcut where it was. It’s not a bad thing though, and shouldn’t be difficult getting accustomed to.

What I would like to see is for the right side of the Taskbar to operate in the same way as the left side of the Taskbar. That way, as you drag a pinned icon to the left side of the taskbar, it would move everything else to the right. All the normal stuff to the left of the Notification Area gravitates leftward anyway. Perhaps this same effect could occur on the right side of the Notification Area. Thus, allowing taskbar icons to be dragged to the right of the Notification Area pushing the Notification Area leftwards.


Pinning
Dragging and dropping files into the Start Menu and Quicklaunch has always been very easy and convenient. So I’m not sure what the point of pinning is. Files can be pinned to the Start Menu or Taskbar. When you pin a file, all it does is create a shortcut of it onto the Start Menu or Taskbar. If you’re pinning a shortcut file, a copy of it will be created as the pin. Pins in the Taskbar appear as unlabeled icons. One drawback is that you can’t move or copy a pin from the Taskbar to another location. Not even to the Start Menu. From the Start Menu, however, you can L-Drag or R-Drag a pin to another location, and it will make a copy of it as a shortcut. While it is important to note that certain file types have no R-Click option to pin, as far as I’m aware of, any file can pinned to the Start Menu by dragging it there. This situation isn’t as simple in regards to the Taskbar.

There are certain files that just cannot be pinned to the Taskbar. Aside from that, the Taskbar itself will only hold pins that are shortcuts to applications. However, you can pin a non-application file onto its corresponding Taskbar pin. For example, I might have a pin for Notepad on my Taskbar. If I drag a text file onto the Taskbar or onto the Notepad pin, it will pin that text file onto the Notepad pin. R-Clicking a Taskbar pin will display the recent files opened by its corresponding application as well as files pinned to it. Therefore, in this example, if I R-Click the Notepad pin, it will display a list of recently opened text files. And it will also display that particular text file that I pinned to it. If in the case there was never a Notepad pin on Taskbar, and I dragged a text file onto the Taskbar, it would create a pin for Notepad. Then, it would pin that text file to the Notepad pin.

So far, the whole pinning system seems to have its advantages and disadvantages. One thing I want to mention is that I experienced a problem with one of my shortcuts to an application. While the shortcut did work to launch the application, there was no R-Click option to pin it anywhere. I could only pin it to the Start Menu if I wanted to by dragging it over.

Taskbar
In previous versions of Windows, the Taskbar would contain Label Buttons for whatever is open. For example, if a text file was open, its corresponding Label Button would appear in the Taskbar. By default, the W7 Taskbar uses icons instead of Label Buttons. Thus, for whatever is open, its corresponding icon will appear in the Taskbar. Also by default, similar Taskbar icons are grouped when open. For example, if 3 text files are open, the taskbar will display 3 Notepad icons stacked on top of each other. As long as Aero is active, when you hover over an icon or an icon stack, a viewer appears displaying a mini-preview of its corresponding windows.
Consider the following example:
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3310/20241459.png


Here, we have 2 text files open. Thus, a stack of 2 Notepad icons appear in the Taskbar. When you hover over Notepad icon stack, a viewer appears displaying mini-previews of both windows. When you hover over one of the mini-preview items, its corresponding window will appear in the foreground while all other open windows fade.
As seen here:
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9752/29859639.png


Because I prefer separate Label Buttons, I simply changed the Taskbar settings. I set it to use Label Buttons instead of icons. I then set it to separate all Label Buttons instead of group similar ones. The viewer still shows mini-previews of all similar windows even though the Label Buttons aren’t grouped. Thus, if I have 2 text files open, I could hover over either Label Button, and the viewer would still display mini-previews of both of them.

I then set the Notification Area to never hide icons. I found something really great as well. There is an option to turn off particular Notification Area items. One of the options allows you to turn off the highly annoying Action Center. Thus, there will never be any of those awful popups complaining about security and update problems. (I plan to disable all of that anyway in the system, but it does make it easier to just have an option to turn it off.

I then got rid of the ‘Library’ and ‘Media Player’ pins from the Taskbar, and pinned 'Calculator', 'Notepad', and ‘Sticky Notes’ to it.


Quicklaunching Issues
The lack of a Quicklaunch causes a fairly annoying inconvenience. When you launch a Taskbar pin, it immediately becomes a Taskbar button. It remains a Taskbar button until you close its corresponding window. For example, if I have a pin for Calculator on my Taskbar, launching Calculator will cause that pin to turn into the Label Button for the open Calculator. Not only that, the Calculator Label Button remains in the exact same position on the Taskbar without moving to the right of the rest of the pin icons. Thus, if there are initially other pin icons to the right of the Calculator pin icon, launching Calculator will keep the Calculator pin that has converted into a Label Button in the same spot to the left of these pin icons. Therefore, instead of all the pin icons remaining to the left side of the Taskbar, you can have Taskbar buttons and pin icons in random order all across the Taskbar. Sure, you can launch another Calculator by R-Clicking the Calculator Label Button. Still, this whole situation negates the whole purpose of having a pin which is to quickly launch an application in a single click.

This is a feature that W7 definitely needs to improve. And this can be done very easily. There needs to be an option that prevents pins from turning into Taskbar buttons. Thus, anytime something new is launched, it won’t affect its pin, and its corresponding Taskbar button will appear to the right of all the items in the Taskbar. Therefore, when I click the Calculator pin to launch Calculator, it won’t turn into the Calculator Label Button. Instead, a new Label Button would appear to the right of everything currently open in the Taskbar.


Start Menu
The Start Menu has gotten worse. First of all, it took me forever trying to figure out a way to switch to classic. Eventually, I find out W7 doesn’t give users the option to switch to the classic Start Menu. The W7 help manual didn't even have the decency to mention this. Even worse, the ‘All Programs’ section and all subfolders no longer slide out to the right or expand. You have to do all of your navigation in that one tiny rectangular space. W7 Start Menu is awful.

There is no longer an easy method for exploring the Start Menu. I figured out how Start Menu files are stored. Shortcuts that appear in the Start Menu come from 2 locations. The first is the ProgramData folder that stores shortcuts available to all users. Then there is the AppData folder that stores user specific shortcuts. The Start Menu folders in both locations each contain a Programs folder. However, whether the shortcut is in the Start Menu folder or inside the Programs folder, it will always appear in the ‘All Programs’ section of the Start Menu.

Library
The Library icon confused me at first. At first I thought that they changed the My Documents folder. But it’s not My Documents. It’s more like a database similar to music libraries that are often built into typical media players. I’m not sure how useful it might be, but so far I don’t really see much use for it.


My Documents
There is still a set of default file-specific folders located in each user folder. I have never ever not once in my life used My Documents or any of the useless default folders. They’re all an unnecessary inconvenience. I have always kept all of my documents, music, video, and other files in various folders inside a main folder on my desktop. This has always been a far more convenient, efficient, customizable way of sorting files.

I personally think that it would do the OS a great deal of justice to just do away with all of these pointless default folders within the User Folder. I do think that it is necessary for each user to have their own User Folder. But to keep things clean and efficient, the User Folder should not contain irrelevant folders. An Application Data folder is necessary, but should not be invisible. A Desktop folder is necessary for each user’s Desktop. A Favorites for IE links is great. It’s definitely good to have a Games folder for saving games. Each game can create their own folder within the Games folder to store games saved by the user. There should also be an Application Content folder. Certain applications save bundled files and sessions. Each of these applications can create its own folder in the Application Content folder so that a user can save specific content that they may be working on. All of the other typical default folders are pointless. There is no practicality for output files saved by typical applications to be stored in default folders. All of these files and downloads can be set to save onto the desktop by default. Users can always create folders for all of their files, and sort them accordingly. When saving a file, they can always browse directly to a specified location.

The most important main reason to never use the default file folders is that they don’t operate in the same way as normal folders. You cannot simply rename them, move them around, or do necessary/important things with them without doing lots of painful tweaking. I noticed something unusual on the W7 Administrator User Folder. It has a lock on it. I don't know what that means. Perhaps it means that it cannot be moved or deleted?


Internet Explorer
The Favorites folder is actually an advantage IE has over all of the other browsers that have yet to learn how to use links stored as files in folders. This allows IE link management to be far more efficient than any link management system other browsers use. My sole problem with IE has always been the imposed yellow bar that is completely impossible to get rid of. It also used to be the absence of tabbed browsing, but they fixed that. It would be a great favor for all IE users if there was a single option within IE to completely disable the yellow bar feature in every form it takes. Despite my utter hatred for the yellow bar, IE has always been my choice of browsers even before it implemented tabbed browsing. This is mostly because the few times I did attempt to use Firefox or other browsers, certain pages would glitch require me to pull up IE anyway.

In the past few weeks, however, I've test driving Chrome which has been working fairly well. Chrome 1 crashed and burnt horrifically on W7. I ended up installing Chrome 2 beta which is actually really great and way better. Mainly because far superior link management system that comes close to IE. While I do thing the Chrome interface is much cleaner and easier to use, I had to get rid of it. I often get page errors that require me to open up IE anyway. I like Chrome the best, but there is still no browser out there that works as well as IE.


Other Comments
'Add or Remove Programs' is now known as ‘Programs and Features. It works just fine. Whenever I install something, I always restart the computer. Even when it’s unnecessary. I then sometimes check for changes in the following:
Programs and Features List
Program Files
Start Menu
System Configuration Startup
Background Processes
System Services

I noticed something that makes no sense. System Configuration (msconfig) is still a tiny box. You'd think they would have done something about this by now.


Initial Configuration
At this point, I had killed the default user, logged in as Administrator, and setup the Taskbar. Next, I did the following:
1. Ensured Indexing was disabled on my hard drive.
2. Set the ‘C’ drive to fully share.
3. Set the ‘Administrator’ user folder to full share.
4. Installed my video card driver.
5. Plugged in network cable.
6. Restarted the computer. My Ethernet was already working, so there was no need to manually install drivers for it.


Activation
Upon accessing the system information, I noticed in the 'Windows activation' section saying:
'3 days until automatic activation. Activate now'

I have no idea what that means. Activate now when activation is automatic anyway? I had no doubt that I had a valid key because I got it from an official source. I know with XP, you just enter a valid key, and Windows works without ever self-destructing. Even if you don’t pass the online validation, you can still use XP fine. I’m not sure, but I think that in recent versions of Windows, you have to call or go online in order to activate your key. Otherwise, it will expire and self-destruct the OS.

I did the online activation, and it worked just fine. I noticed a seriously annoying problem Windows 7. It constantly runs a monitor in the background to perpetually ensure that the key is valid. Although miniscule, this is a really bad waste of computer resources.


Windows Update
For some reason, you're not allowed to check for updates until you specify the update settings. I had to go to the 'Change settings' menu, and make set my preference:
'Never check for updates'
'Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates'

The updates came in fast and smooth. Probably because there weren't many. I’m not sure, but I believe it installed all the latest device drivers for my mobo. The fact that I don’t have to do any manual driver installations is a major perk.


Main Applications
The three main Microsoft applications for Windows are:
Internet Explorer
Windows Media Player
DirectX

I closed out that setup splash screen, and customized IE8 the way I needed to setting my homepage and default search. I had to go into the Options menu to disable the bloody accelerator feature. DirectX 11 comes preinstalled in Windows 7. Not that it matters considering I have a DirectX 10 video card, and there is no DirectX 11 hardware on the market. Nor has anything been developed for DirectX11. Windows Media Player 12 is something that should not be launched until proper security has been set up.


Windows Security
Went I went to shut down Windows Firewall. I noticed 2 options in the Firewall section that made no sense.
Change notification settings
Turn Windows Firewall on or off
Both of the options take you to the same menu.

There is a single option in the Windows Defender control center to completely turn it off which I did.


Configuration
1. Set the following hidden folders to show:
ProgramData (In the ‘C’ drive.)
AppData (In the ‘Administrator’ user folder.)

2. Made sure that the clock and time zone was properly set.
3. Set the ‘Run command’ to appear in the Start Menu.
4. Change the Desktop background and my user avatar.
5. Set display resolutions.
6. Stopped and disabled the following Services:
IP Helper
Security Center
Windows Defender
Windows Firewall
Windows Management Instrumentation
Windows Presentation Foudnation Font Cache 3.0.0.0
7. Disabled nVidia item in System Configuration startup. Disabled nVidia service.
8. Restarted the computer.

One important thing I realized is that if 'Security Accounts Manager' service is disabled, than the 'Sharing' tab disappears from Properties menus.


Screen Saver
Setting the screen saver was typical. Setting the power options sucked. They have these plans that make absolutely no sense. I ended up having to create some sort of custom plan. I later found out that if the computer goes to sleep, the logon screen appears when it wakes up. I had to figure out how to turn off some password option in the advanced power settings. I usually have downloads going 24/7. The thing that I’m unsure about is whether or not downloads and automatic scans/updates will run while the computer is asleep.


Folder Options
By default, all folders have a navigation pane on the left. This can be disabled in the ‘Organize’ drop-menu. Unlike XP, folders don’t have a menu. You can set the folder menu to appear in the ‘Organize’ drop-menu as well. Folder Options has no option to show the Control Panel in My Computer. This is unnecessary anyway because the W7 Computer folder already has a button to open the Control Panel. One screwed up thing in the Folder Options is ‘Apply to Folders’ button. It’s no longer ‘Apply to all Folders. That is because it doesn’t apply to all folders. It only applies to certain folders which was totally annoying.


Startup Sound
All of the settings Windows sounds work perfect except for the startup sound. You can set Windows to play the default startup sound or remain silent during startup. However, there is no option to change the startup sound. All other sounds can be set just fine.

HiJack This
All Windows configuration was finally complete. The first thing to do is install security software. HiJackThis is an old tool that has always been free and always been effective. I’ve never known any malware remover to get rid of browser hijacks. I know that some of the adware and spyware that you get are hijacks. This includes malware that sets your homepage no matter what you do. This is a standalone tool that never has to be installed. You just run it, and it will scan the computer for hijacks and other similar discrepancies. When the results appear, you can decide what you want to kill.

After running HiJack this, I noticed many results, and took a picture.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6111/88679990.png


Avira AntiVir
I’m so pleased with my security apps. At first finding compatible security was a major major headache. I’m not even going to get into all the problems and conflicts I had to deal with. It’s important to note that you are always far better off with the free security products on the market than purchasing paid versions. All you are doing when you are installing paid versions is installing bloats. Especially when you install leading security suites. Never install those. You’re just paying a ton of money to put garbage into your computer. Some of these suites are just like having a virus.

I can say that I’ve never liked Comodo products for so many reasons that I won’t get into. Most of all, I can never get the firewall to just work right. For viruses/malware monitoring and scanning, I installed the free version of Avira Antivir. Not only is it extremely light on the system, it’s extremely powerful. It will detect all kinds of viruses and malware better than paid virus scanners and malware scanners. It also actively monitors for viruses and malware. I can’t ask for anything more in an antivirus or in an antimalware. One easily fixable drawback is that it often pops up an advertisement to upgrade to the paid version. There is no way to turn this off within Antivir, but you can easily disable it by tweaking the actual execution file. The free version Antivir is everything you could ever want and need in a virus/malware destroyer. I have no clue why anybody in their right mind would pay money for a way heavier and less effective product.

After installation, I ran a quick scan. I then set the daily update and scan schedules. Antivir places a single startup item in System Configuration to load at Windows startup. It runs 3 background processes for control, monitoring, and updating.


Sphinx VFC
All I needed now for security was a firewall. I cannot describe how much painful research and testing I had go through all day before I found this really amazing firewall out of nowhere. It’s made for Vista, but it has also been developed to accommodate W7. It’s really light, and barely has any features. But it simply works perfectly as a firewall. It doesn’t allow any intrusions, and it doesn’t allow anything to go out without my permission. It’s as simple as a firewall can get. I’m glad all those other firewalls that I tried didn’t work because I wouldn’t have found this one.

So far, I’ve found 1 glitch. VFC has a single default sound file that it plays when it detects an outbound attempt by an unknown application. The sound is awful. There is an option in the settings menu to browse to a different sound file to be used. But when you do so, nothing happens. Even though you select a different sound file to use, it will still target the same sound file. The only thing you can do is rename your sound file with the same name as VFC’s default sound. Then place it into the target location overwriting the default sound.

The thing I don’t understand about VFC is Windows Update. If anything attempts to access the internet, VFC will ask me if I want to permanently allow/deny it or allow/deny it for this time only. However, I’ve never received one of these permission queries when Windows Update runs. Windows Update seems to just leak through the firewall without permission. This is a problem.

Sphinx VFC places a single startup item in System Configuration to load at Windows startup. It runs 2 background processes for control and monitoring. The fact that there are so few features might seem bad, but I love it because it’s so light. I love both of my security apps. I took a picture of my processes once all of my security was installed.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5807/41768349.png


Security Processes
After configuring windows and installing security, the above image is the basic process list.
26 standard processes that always run.
5 constant processes for security apps. (3 for AntiVir and 2 for VFC)
I don’t know how to disable SeachIndexer.exe from running in the background when I’m not even doing any searches. If I turn of Windows Search Service, searching won’t work at all.

Sometimes the following processes appear:
sppsvc.exe (Software Protection pointlessly monitors license key. If deactivated, it will cause Windows to constantly pop up warning boxes about key activation.)
taskhost.exe LOCAL
3 extra search related processes appear sometimes.
A tenth svchost.exe


Windows Media Player
With all Windows configuring complete and security set up, the last thing to do is configure Windows Media Player. Without any security in place, WMP will access the internet without telling anybody. This is the final part of Windows setup. Media Player 12 is pretty nice looking. This is another beta that hasn't been released yet, but it works pretty well so far. The only thing that frustrated me was trying to figure out how to get menus to appear when you open a file. I just got sick of trying, and I don't know if you can do this. When you play a movie, it plays in a view screen with minimum controls. But there’s no menu. Nor does there seem to be any method of setting it so that the menu appears automatically when you play something. In order to access the menu, you have to click a button that will take you to the main control center. The movie will continue playing, but in the background. You can switch back and forth between the control center and the movie. But you can no longer make the movie appear within the main control center. One good feature is when you hover over the Media Player icon in the Start Menu. It will expand a list of recent played files and frequently played files.


Primary Tools
Now that the browser was installed, the first step before installing any applications is to install important third party tools.
Thus, I proceeded to install the following:
Flash
Shockwave (Shockwave didn’t install because of some sort of conflict with either IE8 or W7.)
Java
Silverlight
Klite Mega Codec Pack
Klite Codec Pack 64
Reader
ComicRack
WinRar

One pretty screwed up thing to note is that Reader installs Air without anybody’s permission. And it installs the Acrobat Airsite. There doesn’t seem to be a way to bypass this. Another thing is that Java and Reader place themselves into System Configuration startup. I believe this is important for Reader because it allows reader run in the background, and launch PDF files right away. For Java, I don’t think it does anything. You can disable it in the Java updates in the Java Panel in Control Panel.


Other Tools
I installed the following tools:
WinRAR - Archive compression manager.
Virtual Clone Drive - Allows you to mount virtual CDs and DVDs.
ImgBurn - Image file manager and burning tool.


File Sharing Platforms
uTorrent
KCeasy
Emule


Microsoft Office 2007
Finally, I installed MS Office Enterprise, and ran all of the updates to the latest SP2 version. It is important to remember never to install Groove. Groove is an unnecessary application meant for collaboration on multiple computers. It also attaches itself to Windows like a parasite. MS Office is extremely bloated to say the least. But it’s still the best and only office suite worth using. I had to install ‘MS Updates’ which is different from the standard Windows updates to get Office up to date with SP2. For some reason, this installation reset my Windows Updates options settings. So I had to go back in and turn off the automatic updates.

Picture of process list after installing everything:
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8750/45768524.png


Application Processes
There are 3 processes to note.
1. Office adds the ‘Machine Debug Manager’ service which runs the ‘mdm.exe’ process in the background. ‘Machine Debug Manager’ can be disabled in Services.
2. Adobe Reader adds itself to System Configuration. It runs a process (not shown above) when during Windows startup or when it launches which doesn't linger for long. Supposedly, it makes it easier to launch pdf files.
3. VirtualCloneDrive adds itself to System Configuration startup for its virtual drive keeping VCDaemom.exe running in the background. This is the only process out of the 3 that is really added to the list beyond the 5 security processes.

Are you a Microsoft IT tech? :shrug:

Lix, I guess you like it then :D

Lix, get a fucking job.

I'm not a MS IT tech. You don't have to be a tech to get W7. I don't have any formal training or certification in anything. I just know how to research computer hardware/shop parts, build computers, do software stuff, gaming, and filesharing. I can fix infected PCs and fix hardware stuff better than some of the techs I know who do it for a living. I should probably get a certification just to make extra money. I have friends who have computer degrees and certs, and hardly know anything so they ask how to do stuff. Everything I know is from a lifetime of computers.

And I had a job. I got a job working at a movie theater 2 months ago paying $6.695 per hour. They fired me for eating half of a chicken strip that they were going to throw away anyway. It was a hard job anyway. They forced us to stand at the register and take order after order from long lines of customers. Then at night, they would throw away tons of popcorn. That's unethical.

As in depth of a "review" that was... it was kind of a waste of time.

You described features that are already available in Vista.

And the issues you were having with Vista were a universal issue everyone was having when SP1 first came out... but they fixed that.

Let's leave Tech reviews to IT Pros.

you know how to fix hardware "stuff"

do elaborate

Tech review? Where? If anybody would like to give their opinions on W7, please do so or leave.

Lix, get a fucking job.

omg, lol god I luV you guys haha

I got a job working at a movie theater 2 months ago paying $6.695 per hour.

Yea right.. ! :eek:
Where is this theater ? I'll quit my job and go work there..

Yea right.. ! :eek:
Where is this theater ? I'll quit my job and go work there..
Why?

Yea right.. ! :eek:
Where is this theater ? I'll quit my job and go work there..

Oh you don't want to work there, they make you shovel that notoriously heavy substance; Popcorn.

thanks coolskill

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2074/5114d1235662008classics.png

ja
mouseover flow through

/sneer

burn

thanks coolskill

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2074/5114d1235662008classics.png

ja
mouseover flow through

/sneer
No problem.

I had found out eariler that Quick Launch is hidden in the system, and that you can set it up pretty easily. In the same way, you can create your own folder as a toolbar on the Taskbar. This allows you to make your own Start Menu that expands and everything. It takes awhile to arrange all of your Start Menu items from both locations. Then update it everytime there is an installation and a change in the Start Menu. I prefer the ability to expand, but I'd rather not create a second Start Menu on my Taskbar just to do that.


MY SOFTWARE:
(Basic software list before installing games, 3D modeling, A/V production, and web mastering software.)

Windows 7 OS
DirectX11
Windows Media Player 12
Internet Explorer 8


HiJack This (Hijack tool.)
Avira AntiVir Personal (Antivirus/Antimalware)
Sphinx VFC 64 (Firewall)
Glary Utilities (Computer mult-utility tool)


Flash Player (Plays Flash)
Java (Plays Java)

Reader (Opens PDFs)
ComicRack (Opens CBRs)

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (Codecs)
K-Lite Codec Pack 64 (Codecs)

7-Zip (Archive tool)
ObjectDock (Toolbar for docking icons.)

ImgBurn (CD/DVD/Virtual Image tool)
VirtualCloneDrive (Virtual Image mounting tool)
DVD Shrink (Shrinks DVD movies to DVD5 size)
Super C (Convers audio/video between filetypes)

uTorrent (Filesharing client for Bittorrent network)
KCeasy (Filesharing client for Gnutella, Ares, OpenFT networks)
Emule (Filesharing client for Fastrack, ED2K networks)

Office 2007 except for groove (Office suite)
Gimp (Photo editor)
Trillian Basic (Multi-IM chat platform)
Second Life (3D virtual world platform)


Here is my desktop so far:
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4391/19457691.png

As you can see, I was able to setup a Quick Launch. Fitted with Calculator, Notepad, IE, Show Desktop, and Window Switcher.

At the top of the screen is my ObjectDock toolbar that works like MacOS toolbar. When you hover over the icon, it becomes enlarged, and shows its label. My windows maximize with cover the toolbar just like having another Taskbar at the top of the screen. The only reason I use this is because W7 doesn't allow you to turn folders into toolbars by dragging them to the edge of your screen like you used to be able to do in previous versions of Windows. You can get this toolbar by installing ObjectDock for free.

I use this toolbar for easy access to Gimp, SL, Trillian, ImgBurn, DVD Shrink, Super C, KCeasy, uTorrent, Emule, and Glary. There is also a folder on it for shortcuts to games that I install as well as a folder for office apps. Just like the regular Toolbar on previous versions of Windows, folders don't expand.

I think the main reason I'm using Object Dock instead of turning a folder into a toolbar on the taskbar that I can expand is that if you uncheck the 'show title' in order to make the folder name disappear, it will show the first item inside the folder. WTF?


I have the normal My Computer, Network, and Recycling Bin icons. I have a shortcut to my files as I don't use the default user document folder for anything. I never keep anything in those default folders because they suck, and have way too many limitations. I also have a downloads incoming folder set for all of my filesharing clients. I have a Profiles folder where all of my backgrounds, sounds, icons etc. are targeted to. In my Notification Area is Avira, Sphinx Firewall, Internet Connection, Volume, and clock.

Why?

Oh you don't want to work there, they make you shovel that notoriously heavy substance; Popcorn.

Oh never mind..
We write $6695 as $6.695, whereas in your backward numeral system it would be $6,695.. :D :p

Oh well lol

What is the minimum requirement for 7? Would this work on an upgraded 5+ year old computer that wasn't Vista ready?

A PC with these system requirements:

*

1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
*

1 GB RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
*

16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
*

DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Oh never mind..
We write $6695 as $6.695, whereas in your backward numeral system it would be $6,695.. :D :p

Oh well lol
Huh? What number system would do that? $6.695 is not nearly the same thing as $6,695.00.

Huh? What number system would do that? $6.695 is not nearly the same thing as $6,695.00.

Germans.

Huh? What number system would do that? $6.695 is not nearly the same thing as $6,695.00.

European.

Our 6.695,00 is your 6,695.00

The thing I don’t understand about VFC is Windows Update. If anything attempts to access the internet, VFC will ask me if I want to permanently allow/deny it or allow/deny it for this time only. However, I’ve never received one of these permission queries when Windows Update runs. Windows Update seems to just leak through the firewall without permission. This is a problem.

I'm always interested in easily configured desktop firewalls for my more inexperienced users, so I checked out your Sphinx VFC. It appears at install, the application is designed to query the built in Vista Firewall for initial settings. Since the Vista firewall would indeed allow Microsoft Updates to continue unimpeded, Sphinx would inherit these settings as well.

I'm always interested in easily configured desktop firewalls for my more inexperienced users, so I checked out your Sphinx VFC. It appears at install, the application is designed to query the built in Vista Firewall for initial settings. Since the Vista firewall would indeed allow Microsoft Updates to continue unimpeded, Sphinx would inherit these settings as well.
I'm not too sure about Sphinx VFC anymore. I used to use ZAP before they got taken over by Checkpoint, and that firewall would work so well blocking everything little thing in sight which is perfect.

I personally don't use Windows Firewall. I prefer to allow a 3rd party firewall to do everything. Thus, as soon as I install Windows, I immediately turn off Windows Firewall, and disable it in Services. Samw with Defender. But I'm not even sure anymore if VFC can work independently with Windows Firewall turned off. I read somewhere that it simply adds controls to Windows Firewall. But I'm not sure about this. I know it blocks outgoing apps, but apparantly not as good as others. If I find another standalone firewall that is compatible with Windows 7, I'd probably replace VFC.

I'm not too sure about Sphinx VFC anymore. I used to use ZAP before they got taken over by Checkpoint, and that firewall would work so well blocking everything little thing in sight which is perfect.

I personally don't use Windows Firewall. I prefer to allow a 3rd party firewall to do everything. Thus, as soon as I install Windows, I immediately turn off Windows Firewall, and disable it in Services. Samw with Defender. But I'm not even sure anymore if VFC can work independently with Windows Firewall turned off. I read somewhere that it simply adds controls to Windows Firewall. But I'm not sure about this. I know it blocks outgoing apps, but apparantly not as good as others. If I find another standalone firewall that is compatible with Windows 7, I'd probably replace VFC.

I sort of questioned it as well, but I saw the answer to your question in their FAQ, thought I'd share :)

Personally, I'm a fan of a hardware firewall...

Here's what I found out from the people at Sphinx. The firewall does not rely on Windows Firewall whatsoever. It works as standalone firewall. Thus, if I turn off the Windows Firewall, and disable it in services, Sphinx Firewall will protect me fine. Windows Firewall integration just means that the user might have some control over Sphinx through the Windows Security Center. I personally find it best to shut off all Windows security, and disable it in services including Windows Firewall, Security Center, and Defender.

The free version of Sphinx will block all outgoing attempts, and prompt the user to set the permissions for the application. However, this does not include Windows system attempts. Thus, Windows system applications are never blocked in the free version, and the user will never be prompted when a system application makes an outgoing attempt. This includes Windows Update. This makes me a little paranoid in Windows 7 considering it's an evaluation copy so I have no way of knowing if it's sending usage information out. The paid version of Sphinx, however, can block every outgoing attempt including system attempts.

Kinda sorta doesn't exactly line up with their online FAQ, buuut whatever :) it's a Seven thread anyway.

Windows XP still the best

I have had Windows 7 since Microsoft released it on TechNet. We are Microsoft Partners, so that's how I got the copy. I think it is awesome. I first started using it on a VM and was most impressed at the sheer speed. I installed it on my home machine which is a quad core Q6600 with 4 GB RAM. It is very fast on it.

Most of today, I have been analyzing the firm requirements to upgrading it. This is my next HUGE project...to deploy Windows 7 and also make imaging a reality for the company. It's really exciting!

How's Windows 7 with software compatibility?

You know if there's a lot of x64 problems?

I like it. It boots up faster than my XP32 installation. Not a completely fair comparison, I have the XP installation on a slightly older WD drive that I bought last fall, Vs the new WD Black drive I bought a couple of weeks ago. But they can't be that different.

There is a minor glitch with my soundcard driver, but that should be resolved soon because the manufacturer announced they were releasing drivers for Win7 by the end of this month. Considering I'm actually using a Vista driver, it's working pretty well.

My trusty Artec scanner (I've had it since 2002) is going to have to be replaced. The only driver package available will not work, even in compatibility mode. It's a $50.00 or so scanner, I guess I can't complain. I should probably just attach it to another computer. Or just boot up to my XP installation when I want to use it since I've left it, and the drive it's on, intact (I just change the hard drive boot order in the CMOS settings).

Outlook Express is gone. You have to download a free package of options, and use Windows Live mail (assuming you don't use something else for your email). For years now I've been changing the store folder for Outlook with new Windows installations. That way all of my old emails are right there, and I can scan through email dating back to 2003 from OE. This new email client refused to change to that store folder since it wasn't empty. I'll now have to go and actually sort through all of that old email and save them properly. A minor issue, but still a bit of a bummer.

I'm now getting full use of my four gigabytes of memory, and I can add more if I want.

My old Adobe Photoshop 6 installed with no problems.

I went to Youtube to see the improvements and what not on 7. Sure, it has a nice interface but other than that, it still handles applications and takes me to the internet (which is browser dependent, not OS dependent)

So I don't really see why should I bother until I actually get a new computer with 7 on it....

We have one laptop with Vista and since it is used for browsing and some cardgames, there is no reason to mess with it...

The good: I don't have an actual television, but use a television card in my computer. When I bought it, the Newegg reviews said that the card worked well, but the software was junk. My experience confirmed this. The Media Center software (which is also available in XP Media center edition, and Vista) is excellent, and makes the card work far better that when used with the manufacturer's software.

The bad: My year and a half year old ATI X1950 video card doesn't work properly. I cannot get the video settings to where they should be for IL2 Sturmovik 1946. ATI did just release drivers for Windows7, but they didn't include support for such an "old" video card. Without a better driver from the manufacturer, I have to use the default driver provided by MS, which doesn't support all of the card's features. So I'll be buying a new video card soon.

I have a laptop that cost the company about $4000. It's 1 year old now. it runs Vista pro and it's soo SOOOOO SOOOOOOOOO fracking SLOW I just can't stand to use it at all hardly. I put a CD in to play some music. It took about 2 minutes to even bring up the software to run. I just want to try Win7 just to get the hell away from Vista.

I have a laptop that cost the company about $4000. It's 1 year old now. it runs Vista pro and it's soo SOOOOO SOOOOOOOOO fracking SLOW I just can't stand to use it at all hardly. I put a CD in to play some music. It took about 2 minutes to even bring up the software to run. I just want to try Win7 just to get the hell away from Vista.

That's sad. I've been getting the impression that Vista has been working well for most with the new updates. I'd sure think a machine that cost that much that recently would have more than enough RAM. Wonder what the problem is?

Michael, you might've already tried this, but run msconfig and see if there are any startup programs that don't need to be running. I check it after every software install (almost every one) to see if it made some BS background program to hog resources. McAfee products are particularly bad with this, and run a couple different background scanning, updating, firewalling doohickies that bog the computer to no end. Eventually I just trusted windows firewall and hid my computer behind a router and put a cleaner virus scanner on. Seems to work thus far...

Good Lord God. I am really, really good at this stuff, customize the hell out of my PC's with dual boots to Linux and Windows, extensive use of Star Dock stuff with a hot boot to gaming mode, etc. etc. This sounds like a nightmare, and nothing that I read seems an improvement over Vista Ultimate 64...

What, if anything, could be considered an advantage with Windows 7? Please understand, I am not the type of user that would like one more opportunity to tell Windows: Yes, I am sure that I am sure that I am sure that I would like to do what I just told you to do...

Anything at all that counts as a step up? Or just a lot of tweaking and configuring to get back from whence we came?

That's sad. I've been getting the impression that Vista has been working well for most with the new updates. I'd sure think a machine that cost that much that recently would have more than enough RAM. Wonder what the problem is?
4GB RAM so not massive but enough to open and play a gawd damn cd!
I don't know, maybe when I have some free time I'll try and fix it.

Michael, you might've already tried this, but run msconfig and see if there are any startup programs that don't need to be running. I check it after every software install (almost every one) to see if it made some BS background program to hog resources. McAfee products are particularly bad with this, and run a couple different background scanning, updating, firewalling doohickies that bog the computer to no end. Eventually I just trusted windows firewall and hid my computer behind a router and put a cleaner virus scanner on. Seems to work thus far...
thanks for that, as soon as I have some free time I will run this and see what happens?

THANKS!

4GB RAM so not massive but enough to open and play a gawd damn cd!
I don't know, maybe when I have some free time I'll try and fix it.

This sounds excessively unusual. As I keep telling people, Vista may be more of a resource hog than XP, but the right hardware will have it running quite smoothly. It's either a great video card if you have 1GB or less RAM (I've run Vista neatly on 768MB because of the good nVidia card on the PC)...or lots of RAM if you have an onboard video chipset.

A 1 year old laptop with 4GB of memory is more than enough for Vista. The issues that you should be looking at are:

1. Hardware failure (bad memory stick or bad hard drive).
2. Missing or incorrect driver (unlikely due to the relative "newness" of the laptop).
3. Corrupt registry (possibly the ultimate result of a virus or an incorrectly installed app).

Point being, the default properties of the OS itself can't be at fault in this case.

This sounds excessively unusual. As I keep telling people, Vista may be more of a resource hog than XP, but the right hardware will have it running quite smoothly. It's either a great video card if you have 1GB or less RAM (I've run Vista neatly on 768MB because of the good nVidia card on the PC)...or lots of RAM if you have an onboard video chipset.

A 1 year old laptop with 4GB of memory is more than enough for Vista. The issues that you should be looking at are:

1. Hardware failure (bad memory stick or bad hard drive).
2. Missing or incorrect driver (unlikely due to the relative "newness" of the laptop).
3. Corrupt registry (possibly the ultimate result of a virus or an incorrectly installed app).

Point being, the default properties of the OS itself can't be at fault in this case.Maybe this weekend I will see if I can get it sorted out. I'll probably need some help though. I think I may start by going to the partitioned drive and reinstalling the OP and hopefully at the same time erase any crap that may or may not be on there?

This sounds excessively unusual. As I keep telling people, Vista may be more of a resource hog than XP, but the right hardware will have it running quite smoothly. It's either a great video card if you have 1GB or less RAM (I've run Vista neatly on 768MB because of the good nVidia card on the PC)...or lots of RAM if you have an onboard video chipset.

A 1 year old laptop with 4GB of memory is more than enough for Vista. The issues that you should be looking at are:

1. Hardware failure (bad memory stick or bad hard drive).
2. Missing or incorrect driver (unlikely due to the relative "newness" of the laptop).
3. Corrupt registry (possibly the ultimate result of a virus or an incorrectly installed app).

Point being, the default properties of the OS itself can't be at fault in this case.

Yup, Vista's running great for me. Problems I have had and "blamed" on Vista, actually turned out to be a driver problem or my own lack of knowledge about vista (hint - just install old stuff in your own user's folder - run it in XP mode if it doesn't work). Once it is up and running(yes t takes a wee bit longer to load...whoppdefuckindo) it's just as fast as xp, and since I jumped to 8Gig Ram - it of course is really fast since I got rid of the swap file.

Bottom line. You buy a new computer in a few months - yes put Win 7 on it ABSOLUTELY. Do not upgrade to win 7. If you have xp on a older computer right now - LEAVE IT, don't upgrade to Vista now or Win 7...unless you really need to.

I think people will be bitching horribly about the win7 upgrade - particularly when they find out running old programs(in particular games - because of drivers) in an XP VM is going to SUCK.

Bottom line. You buy a new computer in a few months - yes put Win 7 on it ABSOLUTELY. Do not upgrade to win 7. If you have xp on a older computer right now - LEAVE IT, don't upgrade to Vista now or Win 7...unless you really need to.

I think people will be bitching horribly about the win7 upgrade - particularly when they find out running old programs(in particular games - because of drivers) in an XP VM is going to SUCK.

Yeah, I'm pretty much waiting for the brand machines to include Seven in their offerings. I'm ready for a new PC, so I figure this time I'll configure a Dell/HP or whatever with Seven.