Windows7.pdf
Content
Afterthe Vista disaster,expectationsfor Microsoft'snew operating
system are high.Canit deliver?We'll discussour favorite features, detail exclusiveperformancetests from the PCWorld TestCenter, and explainhowto makea smoothtransitionto Windows7.
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Will Windows 7 cause you to avert your eyes from Vista and make XP your ex-OS? Harry McCracken examines Microsoft's new operating system from stem to stern.
18
Performance
7
A crucial issue for any new as is its effect on system performance. We tested Windows 7 to see whether the as upgrade represents a performance downgrade.
Upgrading
Okay, you've decided to upgrade to Windows 7-but what's the best way to go about it? Lincoln Spector shows how to make your upgrade as painless as possible.
ILLUSTRATION BY KEITH NEGLEY
NOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLO.COM 161
I
I
Not lashy, Just Effective
Microsoft's new OS won't blow you away with major innovations, but it gets the basics right. Here's what you'll love about Windows 7-and what you'll still complain about.
BY HARRY McCRACKEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY KEITH NEGLEY
NOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLO.COM 163
Features
WHAT IF A NEW VERSION of Windows didn't try to dazzle you? W~at if, instead, it tried to disappear except when you needed it? S'il~h an operating system would dispense with glitzy effects in favor ofIow-key, useful new features. Rather than pelting you with alerts, warnings, and requests, it would try to stay out of your face. And if any bundled applications weren't essential, it would dump 'em.
It's not a what-if scenario. Windows 7, set to arrive on new PCs and as a shrinkwrapped upgrade on October 22, has a minimalist feel and attempts to fix annoyances old and new. In contrast, Windows Vista offereda flashynew interface, but its poor performance, compatibility gotchas, and lack of compelling features made some folks regret upgrading and others refuse to leaveWindows XP. Windows 7 is hardly flawless. Some features feel unfinished; others won't realize their potential without heavy lifting by third parties. And some longstanding annoyances remain intact. But overall, the final shipping version I testdrove appears to be the worthy successor to Windows XP that Vista never was. Of course, an OS can't be a winner if it turns a zippy PC into a slowpoke or causes installation nightmares. Consult "Much Slimmer and Slightly Faster" (page 75) for Windows 7 performance test results, and "The Smartest Way to Upgrade" (page 81) for hands-on advice on how to install it. Read on here for an in-depth look at how Windows 7 has changed the OS-mostly for the better.
Windows 7 Ultimate I Microsoft This workmanlike operating system is a practical, weLL-designed, and slightly faster upgrade over Vista. Street: $320 fi nd.pcworld .com/63 714
Interface:
The New Taskmaster
The Windows experience occurs mainly in its Taskbar-especially in the Start menu and System Tray. Vista gave the Start menu a welcome redesign; in Windows 7, the Taskbar and the System Tray get a thorough makeover. The new Taskbar replaces the old small icons and text labels for running apps with larger, unlabeled icons. If you can keep the icons straight, the new design painlessly reduces Taskbar clutter. If you don't like it, you can shrink the icons and/or bring the labels back.
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In the past, you could get one-click access to programs by dragging their icons to the Quick Launch toolbar. Windows 7 eliminates Quick Launch and folds its capabilities into the Taskbar. Drag an app's icon 'from the Start menu or desktop to the Taskbar, and Windows will pin it there, so you can launch the program without rummaging around in the Start menu. You can, also organize icons in the Taskbar by moving them to.new positions. To indicate that a particular application on the Taskbar is running, Windows draws a subtle box around its icon-so subtle, in fact, that figuring out whether the app is running can take a moment, especially if its icon sits between two icons for running apps. In Windows Vista, hovering the mouse pointer over an application's Taskbar icon produces a thumbnail window view known as a Live Preview. But whe'n you have multiple windows open, you see only one preview at a time. Windows 7' s version of this feature is slicker and more efficient: Hover the pointer on an icon, and thumbnails ofthe app's windows glide into position above the Taskbar, so you can quickly find the one you're looking for. (The process would be even simpler if the thumbnails were larger and easier to decipher.) Also new in Windows 7's Taskbar is a feature called Jump Lists. These menus resemble the context-sensitive ones you get when you right-click within various Windows applications, except that you don't have to be inside an app to use them. Internet Explorer 8's Jump List, for example, lets you open the browser and load a fresh tab, initiate an InPrivate stealth browsing session, or go directly to any of eight frequently visited Web pages. Non-Microsoft apps can offer Jump Lists, too, if their developers follow the guidelines for creating them. Other Windows 7 interface adjustments are minor, yet so sensible that you may wonder why Windows didn't include them all along. Shove a window into the left or right edge of the screen and it'll expand to fill half of your desk-
top. Nudge another into the opposite edge of the screen, and it'll expand to occupy the other half. That makes comparing two windows' contents easy. If you nudge a window into the top of the screen, it will maximize to occupy all ofthe display's real estate. The extreme right edge of the Taskbar now sports a sort of nub; hover over it, an<;! open windows become transparent, revealing the desktop below. (Microsoft calls this feature Aero Peek.) Click
the nub, and the windows scoot out of the way, giving you access to documents or apps that reside on the desktop and duplicating the Show Desktop feature that Quick Launch used to offer. Getting at your desktop may soon become even more important than it was in the past. That's because Windows 7 does away with the Sidebar, the portion of screen space that Windows Vista reserved for Gadgets such as a photo viewer and a weather applet.
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Inside Windows?; ; Features
,
,
In~tead of occupying the Sidebar, Gadg~t~f;nbw sit directly on the desktop, w~$fe they don't compete with other apps for precious screen real estate. EJEDTRAY,NEWTRICKS Windows 7's Taskbar and window management tweaks are nice. But its changes to the System Tray-aka the Notification Area-have a huge positive effect. In the past, no feature of Windows packed more frustration per square inch than the System Tray. It quickly grew dense with applets that users did not want in the first place, and many of the uninvited guests employed word balloons and other intrusive methods to alert users to uninteresting facts at inopportune moments. At their worst, System Tray applets behaved like belligerent squatters, and Windows did little to put users back in charge. In Windows 7, applets can't pester you unbidden because software installers can't dump them into the System Tray. Instead, applets land in a holding pen that appears only when you click it, a much-improved version of the overflow area used in previous incarnations of the Tray. Applets in the pen can't float word balloons at you unless you permit them to do so. It's a cinch to drag them into the System Tray or out of it again, so you enjoy complete control over which applets reside there. More good news: Windows 7 largely dispenses with the onslaught of wordballoon warnings from the as about troubleshooting issues, potential security problems, and the like. A new area called Action Center-a revamped version of Vista's Security Center-queues up such alerts so you can deal with them at your convenience. Action Center does issue notifications of its own from the System Tray, but you can shut these off if you don't want them pestering you. All of this helps make Windows 7 the least distracting, least intrusive Microsoft as in a very long time. It's a giant step forward from the days when Windows thought nothing of interrupting your work to inform you that it had detected unused icons on your desktop.
'dows XP: Now,and
MAJORITY of. PC users never adopted Vista. Eight years after its release, and months after Microsoft officially discontinued it, Windows XP is still beloved. Will Windows 7 convince XP loyalists to switch? In August, we conducted an onof.more than 8000 people' who told us that XP was their primary as. The top three reasons they haven't upgraded to Vista: satisfaction with XP, lack of desirable Vista-only features, and concern over driver and compatibility issues.
Forever?
of respondents who
Nominally, Windows 7 is an upgrade to Windows Vista. But what everyone wants to know is whether it's betterthan Windows XP.
26 percent said they had already used VVindow~.7,73 percent had a somewhat or ve~y positive, opini9n of Win 7, while 11 percent viewe~. it very or somewhat negatively. Also, 56" percent said they intended to move to Windows 7 immediately or eventuallY., Among respondents who had read about Windows 7 but hadn't used it, 56 percent said their opinion of the as was somewhat or very positive; only 12 percent said, it was somewhat or very negative. 14,0 percent said that they intended
~~j.i:
Vista phobia ran ~i~h among responde.~ts who had tried:yifta or who merely knew
k with XP jndefinitely. But when will
it become 'jrnpracticaUo keep using XP? Microsoft formally discontinued Windows XP on June 30, 2008, and it ended mainstream support on April 14, 2009. BUtthf) company will permit PC builders 0,ship Windows 7 machines with, XP downgrades for 18 months after Win Ts release or until it ships the first $ervice Pack for the new OS-whichever comes first. But as of April 8,
of it (62 pe~centa~d 81 percent, respectively, said'theirppii110n of the as was somewhat~[ v~r'ynegativE?). Most of our
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2014, Microsoft'has
announced, it will no longer take support calls and issue security fix,esfor Windows XP.And from
XP
holdouts, you'll be on your own.
File Management: The Library System
Compared to the Taskbar and the System Tray, Explorer hasn't changed much in Windows 7. However, its left pane does sport two new ways to get at your files: Libraries and HomeGroups. Libraries could just as appropriately have been called File Cabinets, since they let you collect related folders in
one place. By default, you get Libraries labeled Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos, each of which initially directs you to the OS's standard folders for storing the named items-such as My Pictures and Public Pictures. To benefit from Libraries, you have to customize them. Right-click any folder on your hard drive, and you can add it to any Library; for instance, you can
transform the Pictures Library into a
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collection of all your folders that contain photos. You can create additional Libraries of your own from scratch, such as one that bundles up all folders that relate to your vacation plans. Libraries would be even more useful
It uses the OpenSearch standard (find, if Microsoft had integrated them with Saved Searches, the Windows pcworld,com/63700) to give Win 7's search "connectors" for feature (introduced in Vista) external sources. That capathat lets you create virtual folders based on searches, Windows 7's Backup Center bility allows you to search sites such as Flickr and Yousuch as one that tracks down improves on Vista's, which let you choose folders and files, only 7's pricier Tube from within Explorer. every .jpg image file on your Pretty neat-except that Winsystem. But while Windows 7 editions permit backup to a network drive, dows 7 doesn't come with lets you add standard folders any of the connectors you'd to a Library, it doesn't supneed to add these sources, port Saved Searches.
ic gibberish and instructs you to write it down so you won't forget it. To be fair, passwords made up of random characters provide excellent security, and the only time you need the password is when you first connect a new PC to a HomeGroup. But it's still a tad
are running Windows 7, a scenario that won't be typical anytime soon. A version that also worked on XP, Vista, and Mac systems would have been cooler. Federated Search, a new Windows Explorer feature, feels incomplete; too.
Windows 7 vs.
HOMEGROUPS, SWEETHOME.
GROUPS? Closelyrelated to Libraries are HomeGroups, a new feature designed to simplify the notoriously tricky process of networking Windows PCs. Machines that are part of one HomeGroup can selectively grant each other read or read/write access to their Libraries and to the folders they contain, so you can perform such mundane but important tasks as providing your spouse with access to a folderful of tax documents on your computer. HomeGroups can also stream media, enabling you to pipe music or a movie off the desktop in the den onto your notebook in the living room. And they let you share a printer connected to one PC with all
nor with any way of finding them. (They are available on the Web, though. Use a search
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Security: UAC Gets Tolerable
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Speaking of annoying Windows features, let's talk about User Account Control-the Windows Vista security element that was a poster child for everything that rankled people about that as. UAC aimed to prevent rogue soft. ware from tampering with your PC by endlessly prompting you to approve running applications or changing settings. The experience was so grating that many users preferred to turn UAC off and take their chances with Internet attackers. Those who left
Vista's
backup permits you to select only general types of documents backing up.
What do you want to back up?
Data Files Back up data fOf Harry McCracken' Computer local Disk (C:) SRecycle.Bin SUPGRADE.-OS dell Intel
the other computers in the MSOCache HomeGroup, a useful feature it active risked slipping into NVlDIA the habit of incautiously clickif you can't connect the printer directly to the network. ing through every prompt, HomeGroups aren't a bad Windows 7 gives file-by-file control. defeating whatever value the idea, but Windows 7's implefeature might have had. mentation seems half-baked. Homepeculiar that you can't specify a passWindows 7 gives you control over word you'll remember during setupUAC, in the form of a slider containing Groups are password-protected, but you can do that only after the fact, in a four security settings. As before, you rather than inviting you to specify a different part of the as. More annoycan accept the full-blown UAC or elect password of your choice during initial ing and limiting: HomeGroups won't to disable it. But you can also tell UAC to setup, Windows assigns you one conwork unless all of the PCs in question notify you only when software chang- » sisting of ten characters of alphanumerNOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLD.COM 167
Features
es;Windows settings, not when you're h.;~king them yourself. And you can ihSt}'uct it not to perform the abrupt screen-dimming effect that Vista's ver. siori'uses to grab your attention. If Microsoft had its druthers, all Windows 7 users would use UAC in full-tilt mode: The slider that you use to ratchet back its severity advises you not to do so if you routinely install new software or visit unfamiliar sites, and it warns that disabling the dimming effect is "Not recommended." Speak for yourself, Redmond: I have every intention of recommending the intermediate settings to most people who ask me for advice, . since those settings retain most ofUAC's theoretical value without driving users bonkers. Other than salvaging UAC, Microsoft has made relatively few significant changes to Windows 7's security system. One meaningful improvement: BitLocker, the driveencryption tool included only in Windows 7 Ultimate and the corporateoriented Windows 7 Enterprise, lets you encrypt USB drives and hard disks, courtesy of a feature called BitLocker to Go. It's one ofthe few good reasons to prefer Win 7 Ultimate to Home Premium or Professional.
Applications: The Fewer the Merrier
Here's a startling indication ferent an upgrade Windows than larding it up with new tions, Microsoft eliminated of how dif7 is: Rather applicathree non-
Still present-and
nicely spruced up-
are the operating system's two applications for consuming audio and video, Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center. Windows Media Player 12 has a revised interface that divides operations into a Library view for media management and a Now Playing view for listening and watching stuff. Minimize the player into the Taskbar, and you get miniplayer controls and a Jump List, both of which let you control background music without having to leave the app you're in. Microsoft has added support for several media types that Media Player 11 didn't support, including MC audio and H.264 video-the formats it needs to play unprotected music and movies from
essential programs: Windows Mail (nee Outlook Express), Windows Movie. Maker (which premiered in Windows Me), and Windows Photo Gallery.
ndows 7 vs. Vista
User Account Control new in Vista, was supposed to keep users safe from malware, but its constant prompts and screen dimming angered many users.
Vista's UAC feature has two settings: on and off.
Always notify. Choose when to be notified about
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Apple's iTunes Store. Media Center-not part of the bargain-basement Windows 7 Starter Edition-remains most useful if you have a PC configured with a TV tuner card and you use your computer to record TV shows a la TlVo. Among its enhancements are a
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Windows 1's UAC has two intermediate settings to
keep its security value but reduce its intrusiveness.
Users who don't want to give them up can find all three at live.windows.com as free Windows Live Essentials downloads. They may even come with your new PC, courtesy of deals Microsoft is striking with PC manufacturers. But since they are no longer tied to the leisurely release schedules of Windows, they are far less likely than most bundled Windowsapps to remain mired indefinitely in an underachieving state.
better program guide and support for more tuners. Windows Vista's oddly underpowered Backup and Restore Center let
Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7's default browser, includes many securityrelated enhancements, including a new SmartScreen Filter (which blocks dangerous Web sites) and InPrivate Browsing (which permits you to use IE without leaving traces of where you've been or what you've done). Of course, IE 8 is equally at home in XP and Vista-and it's free-so it doesn't constitute a reason to upgrade to Windows 7.
users specify particular types of files to back up (such as 'Music' and 'Documents') but not specific files or folders. Though Microsoft corrects that deficiency in Windows 7, it deprives Windows 7 Starter Edition and Home Premium of the ability to back up to a network drive. That feels chintzy, like a car company cutting back on an economy sedan's airbags. It also continues the company's long streak of issuing versions of Windows that lack a truly satisfying backup utility.
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The new version of Paint has Office 2007's Ribbon tool bar and adds various prefabricated geometric shapes and a few natural-media tools, such as a watercolor brush. But my regimen for preparing a new Windows PGfor use will still include installing the impressive free image editor Paint. Net. The nearest thing Windows 7 has to a major new application has the intriguing moniker Windows XP Mode. It's not a way to make Windows 7 look like XP-you can do that with the Windows Classic theme-but rather a way to let it run XP programs that are otherwise incompatible with Win 7. Unfortunately, only Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate offer it, and even then it comes as an optional 350MB download that requires you to have Microsoft's free Virtual PC software installed and that only works on PCs with Intel or AMD virtualization technology enabled in the BIOS. Once active, XP Mode lets Windows 7 run apps that supposedly aren't compatible by launching them in separate windows that contain a virtualized version of XP. Microsoft clearly means for the mode to serve as a security blanket for business types who rely on ancient, often proprietary programs that may never be rewritten for current ass.
DeviceManagement: Setting the Stage
Windows 7 offers you numerous ways to connect your PC to everything from tiny flash drives to hulking networked laser printers-USB, Wi-Fi, ethernet, slots, and more. Devices and Printers, a new section of the Control Panel, represents connected gadgets with the largest icons I've ever seen in an operating system. (When possible, they're 3D renderings ofthe device; the one for Sansa's Clip MP3 player is almost life-size.) More important, the as introduces Device Stages-hardware-wrangling dashboards tailored to specific items of hardware, and designed by their manufacturers in collaboration with Micro- »
NOVEMBER
2{)O9
Features
s()ft;,ADevice Stage for a digital cam,er,~~f6tinstance, may include a battery g~ige, a shortcut to Windows' imaged6wnloading tools, and links to online "resoUrcessuch as manuals, support sites, and the manufacturer's accessory store. You don't need to rummage through the Control Panel or through Devices and Printers to use a Device Stagethat feature's functionality is integrated into Windows 7's new Taskbar. Plug in a device, and it will show up as a Taskbar icon; right-click that icon, and the Device Stage's content will at once appear as a Jump List-like menu. Unfortunately, Device Stages were the one major part of Windows 7 that didn't work during my hands-on time with the final version ofthe as. Earlier prerelease versions of Win 7 contained a handful of Device Stages, but Micro-
soft disabled them so that hardware manufacturers could finish up final ones before the as hit store shelvesin October. The feature will be a welcome improvement if device manufacturers hop on the bandwagon-and a major disappointment if they don't. Even if Device Stages take off, most of their benefit may come as you invest in new gizmos-Microsoft says that it's encouraging manufacturers to create Device Stages for upcoming products, not existing ones. At least some older products should get Device Stages, though: Canon, for instance, told me that it's planning to build them for most of its printers. And Microsoft says that when no full-fledgedDevice Stage is available for a particular item, Windows 7 will still try to giveyou a more generic and basic one.
Input: Reach Out and Touch Windows 7
The biggest user interface trend since Windows Vista shipped in January 2007 is touchscreen input; Windows 7 is the first version ofthe as to offer built-in multitouch support (see "Windows 7: AllAbout Touch," on page 72). Windows 7's new touch features are subtle on a touch-capable PC and invisible otherwise. Swipe your finger up or down to scroll through document files and Web pages;,sweep two fingers back and forth to zoom in and out. Dragging up on icons in the Taskbar reveals Win 7's new Jump Lists. The Taskbar button that reveals the Windows desktop is a bit bigger on touch PCs for easier use. I installed the finalversion of Windows 7 and beta touchscreen drivers on an HP
Bottom Line: Is Windows 7 Worth It?
Over the past ten months, I've spent a ers. The PC World Test Center's speed benchmarks on fivetest PCs showed features worked as advertised. But appli- substantial percentage of my computing Windows 7 to be faster than Vista, but life in Windows 7, starting with a prelimcations written with touch as the primary interface will determine whether only by a little; I've found it to be reainary version and culminating in recent weeks with the final Release to Manutouch becomes useful and ubiquitous. sonably quick on every computer I've Until they arrive, Windows will continue used it on-even the Asus netbook, once facturing edition. I've run it on systems to feel like an as built chiefly for use ranging from an underpowered Asus I upgraded it to 2GB of RAM. (Our lab tried Win 7 on a Lenovo S10 netbook with a keyboard and mouse-which it is. EeePC 1000HE netbook to a potent HP TouchSmart all-in-one. And I've used it with 1GB of RAMand found it to be a You might have expected Microsoft to reinvent familiar tools such as Paint and shade slower than XP; for details see to do real work, not lab routines. Media Player for touch input. "Much Slimmer and Slightly But the closest it comes to Faster" on page 75.) that is with the Windows 7 Here's a rule ofthumb that errs on the side of caution: If Touch Pack, a set of six touchWindows' System Tray had devolved into an based programs, including a your PC's specs qualify it to ugly hangout where unwanted applets told you version of Virtual Earth that run Vista, get Windows 7; if unnecessary things. Windows 7 finally fixes it. you can explore with your they aren't, avoid it. Microsoft's officialhardware confinger, and an app that lets you assemble photo collages. figuration requirements for The Touch Pack isn't part of Windows 7 are nearly identical to those it recommends Windows 7, but it will ship for Windows Vista: a 1-GHz with some Win 7 PCs, and it's a blast to play with. CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of Vista's System Tray rapidly fills up with icons Still, ultimately, the Pack is and continually interrupts your work. free disk space, and a DirectX just a sexy demo ofthe inter9-compatible graphics device face's potential, not an arguwith a WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. That's for the 32-bit ment for buying a touch computer today. Third-party version of Windows 7; the 64~...mm_._,.. .!I<_.. software developers won't ,---..bit version of the as requires start writing touch-centric a 64-bit CPU, 2GB of RAM, I!' ~""b>iPI""g'd"""p,gm,; W~~i;;;~~~"","A",,;,;;:;1 "" N.".." apps in force until a critical and 20GB of disk space. ~~."",,~.';"if<~~~ .=",'""m".= mass of PCs can run them. Fear of incompatible hard1<1 ~;:;0:;:Pl--,'m"Wg,. ~'-;"",,~~,,-=;,=,~~ ware and software is another That should happen in the 0 "'<I.,'''''''''''' w",,_. &",,, ~~h'5~~~.,'. , ,'.. .JI understandable reason to be months following Windows .. S"""'~~H"d~.p"''i.ct'L w"""",&",,,., !Q,'~;;;;;;;;;W~:::~~ -. 7's release, as finger-ready wary of Windows 7. One un'ohm. §,;;;;;.~~,,;=;::=~ S,.."~,,, machines from Asus, Lenovo, fortunate law of operatingSony, and other manufactursystem upgrades-which ers join those from HP and applies equally to Macs and Windows 7 lets you block icons from settling to Windows PCs-is that Dell. And even then, touch in the Tray and allows you to hide their alerts. input may not become comthey will break some systems monplace on Windows 7 PCs. But if a Usually,I've run the as in multiboot and applications, especially at first. Under the hood, Windows 7 isn't radkiller touch app is out there waiting to configurations with Windows Vista and/ or XP, so I've had a choice each time I be written, we may know soon enough. icallydifferent from Vista. That's a plus, turned the computer on: Should I opt since it should greatly reduce the volfor Windows 7 or an older version of ume of difficulties relating to drivers the aS? The call has been easy to make, and apps compared to Vista's bumpy because Win 7 is so pleasant to use. rollout. I have performed a half-dozen Reading about a new operating system So why wouldn't you want to run this Windows 7 upgrades, and most of them can tell you only so much about it: operating system? Concern over its perwent off without a hitch. The gnarliest After all, Windows Vista had far more formance is one logical reason, espeproblem arose when I had to track features than XP, yet fell far short of it ciallysince early versions of Windows down a graphics driver for Dell's XPS Vista managed to turn PCs that ran XP in the eyes of many users. To judge an M1330laptop on my own-Windows 7 as accurately, you have to live with it. with ease into lethargic underperforminstalled a generic VGAdriver that»
TouchSmart all-in-one Pc. The touch
Windows 7
Vista
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irlsiife,windOWS\7;'
Features ,"
cquldn't run the A~~~.dserinterf~ci!fand as a result faired to support newiWindows 7 features such as thumbnail views in the Taskbar.
Microsoft's Collage tool shows off the power of touch-based input to good effect.
The best way to reduce your odds of running into a showstopping problem with Windows 7 is to bide your time. When the new operating system arrives on October 22, sit back and let the earliest adopters discover the worst snafus. Within a few weeks, Microsoft and other software and hardware companies will have fixed most of them, and your chances of a happy migration to Win 7 will be much higher. If you want to be really conservative, hold off on
moving to Win 7 until ygu're ready to buy a PC that's designed to run it welL Waiting a bit before making the leap makes sense; waiting forever does not. Microsoft took far too long to come up with a satisfactory replacement for Windows XP. But whether you choose to install Windows 7 on your current
systems or get it on the next new PC you buy, you'll find that it's the unassuming, thoroughly practical upgrade you've been waiting for-flaws and alL.
_Former PC World editor-in-chief Harry McCracken now blogs at his own site,
Technolagizer (www.technologizer.com).
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l't part of the ;elf, Instead, gaps ranging from.HP's TouchSmart touchscreen suite of software to kludgyi.
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apps from MSI and Asus. new as suj)ports touch
But Microsoft's
Theocheung, a genera~ manager tics. "We talked with Microsvft to 'quite a ;h alHnlaptops, with more due in 2010: on of touch on Windows 7 owes a lot to Microsoft's collaboration , , .with .~ touchthis Wild West of gestures." Since 2008 his company's Synaptics Gesture Suite software has supported gestures on touchpads. Apple introduced gesture-, ' based navigation,onits notebooks in'2008.
'721 PCWORLD.COM
system are high.Canit deliver?We'll discussour favorite features, detail exclusiveperformancetests from the PCWorld TestCenter, and explainhowto makea smoothtransitionto Windows7.
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Will Windows 7 cause you to avert your eyes from Vista and make XP your ex-OS? Harry McCracken examines Microsoft's new operating system from stem to stern.
18
Performance
7
A crucial issue for any new as is its effect on system performance. We tested Windows 7 to see whether the as upgrade represents a performance downgrade.
Upgrading
Okay, you've decided to upgrade to Windows 7-but what's the best way to go about it? Lincoln Spector shows how to make your upgrade as painless as possible.
ILLUSTRATION BY KEITH NEGLEY
NOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLO.COM 161
I
I
Not lashy, Just Effective
Microsoft's new OS won't blow you away with major innovations, but it gets the basics right. Here's what you'll love about Windows 7-and what you'll still complain about.
BY HARRY McCRACKEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY KEITH NEGLEY
NOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLO.COM 163
Features
WHAT IF A NEW VERSION of Windows didn't try to dazzle you? W~at if, instead, it tried to disappear except when you needed it? S'il~h an operating system would dispense with glitzy effects in favor ofIow-key, useful new features. Rather than pelting you with alerts, warnings, and requests, it would try to stay out of your face. And if any bundled applications weren't essential, it would dump 'em.
It's not a what-if scenario. Windows 7, set to arrive on new PCs and as a shrinkwrapped upgrade on October 22, has a minimalist feel and attempts to fix annoyances old and new. In contrast, Windows Vista offereda flashynew interface, but its poor performance, compatibility gotchas, and lack of compelling features made some folks regret upgrading and others refuse to leaveWindows XP. Windows 7 is hardly flawless. Some features feel unfinished; others won't realize their potential without heavy lifting by third parties. And some longstanding annoyances remain intact. But overall, the final shipping version I testdrove appears to be the worthy successor to Windows XP that Vista never was. Of course, an OS can't be a winner if it turns a zippy PC into a slowpoke or causes installation nightmares. Consult "Much Slimmer and Slightly Faster" (page 75) for Windows 7 performance test results, and "The Smartest Way to Upgrade" (page 81) for hands-on advice on how to install it. Read on here for an in-depth look at how Windows 7 has changed the OS-mostly for the better.
Windows 7 Ultimate I Microsoft This workmanlike operating system is a practical, weLL-designed, and slightly faster upgrade over Vista. Street: $320 fi nd.pcworld .com/63 714
Interface:
The New Taskmaster
The Windows experience occurs mainly in its Taskbar-especially in the Start menu and System Tray. Vista gave the Start menu a welcome redesign; in Windows 7, the Taskbar and the System Tray get a thorough makeover. The new Taskbar replaces the old small icons and text labels for running apps with larger, unlabeled icons. If you can keep the icons straight, the new design painlessly reduces Taskbar clutter. If you don't like it, you can shrink the icons and/or bring the labels back.
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In the past, you could get one-click access to programs by dragging their icons to the Quick Launch toolbar. Windows 7 eliminates Quick Launch and folds its capabilities into the Taskbar. Drag an app's icon 'from the Start menu or desktop to the Taskbar, and Windows will pin it there, so you can launch the program without rummaging around in the Start menu. You can, also organize icons in the Taskbar by moving them to.new positions. To indicate that a particular application on the Taskbar is running, Windows draws a subtle box around its icon-so subtle, in fact, that figuring out whether the app is running can take a moment, especially if its icon sits between two icons for running apps. In Windows Vista, hovering the mouse pointer over an application's Taskbar icon produces a thumbnail window view known as a Live Preview. But whe'n you have multiple windows open, you see only one preview at a time. Windows 7' s version of this feature is slicker and more efficient: Hover the pointer on an icon, and thumbnails ofthe app's windows glide into position above the Taskbar, so you can quickly find the one you're looking for. (The process would be even simpler if the thumbnails were larger and easier to decipher.) Also new in Windows 7's Taskbar is a feature called Jump Lists. These menus resemble the context-sensitive ones you get when you right-click within various Windows applications, except that you don't have to be inside an app to use them. Internet Explorer 8's Jump List, for example, lets you open the browser and load a fresh tab, initiate an InPrivate stealth browsing session, or go directly to any of eight frequently visited Web pages. Non-Microsoft apps can offer Jump Lists, too, if their developers follow the guidelines for creating them. Other Windows 7 interface adjustments are minor, yet so sensible that you may wonder why Windows didn't include them all along. Shove a window into the left or right edge of the screen and it'll expand to fill half of your desk-
top. Nudge another into the opposite edge of the screen, and it'll expand to occupy the other half. That makes comparing two windows' contents easy. If you nudge a window into the top of the screen, it will maximize to occupy all ofthe display's real estate. The extreme right edge of the Taskbar now sports a sort of nub; hover over it, an<;! open windows become transparent, revealing the desktop below. (Microsoft calls this feature Aero Peek.) Click
the nub, and the windows scoot out of the way, giving you access to documents or apps that reside on the desktop and duplicating the Show Desktop feature that Quick Launch used to offer. Getting at your desktop may soon become even more important than it was in the past. That's because Windows 7 does away with the Sidebar, the portion of screen space that Windows Vista reserved for Gadgets such as a photo viewer and a weather applet.
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NOVEMBER 2009
pcwoRLo.cOM'165
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Inside Windows?; ; Features
,
,
In~tead of occupying the Sidebar, Gadg~t~f;nbw sit directly on the desktop, w~$fe they don't compete with other apps for precious screen real estate. EJEDTRAY,NEWTRICKS Windows 7's Taskbar and window management tweaks are nice. But its changes to the System Tray-aka the Notification Area-have a huge positive effect. In the past, no feature of Windows packed more frustration per square inch than the System Tray. It quickly grew dense with applets that users did not want in the first place, and many of the uninvited guests employed word balloons and other intrusive methods to alert users to uninteresting facts at inopportune moments. At their worst, System Tray applets behaved like belligerent squatters, and Windows did little to put users back in charge. In Windows 7, applets can't pester you unbidden because software installers can't dump them into the System Tray. Instead, applets land in a holding pen that appears only when you click it, a much-improved version of the overflow area used in previous incarnations of the Tray. Applets in the pen can't float word balloons at you unless you permit them to do so. It's a cinch to drag them into the System Tray or out of it again, so you enjoy complete control over which applets reside there. More good news: Windows 7 largely dispenses with the onslaught of wordballoon warnings from the as about troubleshooting issues, potential security problems, and the like. A new area called Action Center-a revamped version of Vista's Security Center-queues up such alerts so you can deal with them at your convenience. Action Center does issue notifications of its own from the System Tray, but you can shut these off if you don't want them pestering you. All of this helps make Windows 7 the least distracting, least intrusive Microsoft as in a very long time. It's a giant step forward from the days when Windows thought nothing of interrupting your work to inform you that it had detected unused icons on your desktop.
'dows XP: Now,and
MAJORITY of. PC users never adopted Vista. Eight years after its release, and months after Microsoft officially discontinued it, Windows XP is still beloved. Will Windows 7 convince XP loyalists to switch? In August, we conducted an onof.more than 8000 people' who told us that XP was their primary as. The top three reasons they haven't upgraded to Vista: satisfaction with XP, lack of desirable Vista-only features, and concern over driver and compatibility issues.
Forever?
of respondents who
Nominally, Windows 7 is an upgrade to Windows Vista. But what everyone wants to know is whether it's betterthan Windows XP.
26 percent said they had already used VVindow~.7,73 percent had a somewhat or ve~y positive, opini9n of Win 7, while 11 percent viewe~. it very or somewhat negatively. Also, 56" percent said they intended to move to Windows 7 immediately or eventuallY., Among respondents who had read about Windows 7 but hadn't used it, 56 percent said their opinion of the as was somewhat or very positive; only 12 percent said, it was somewhat or very negative. 14,0 percent said that they intended
~~j.i:
Vista phobia ran ~i~h among responde.~ts who had tried:yifta or who merely knew
k with XP jndefinitely. But when will
it become 'jrnpracticaUo keep using XP? Microsoft formally discontinued Windows XP on June 30, 2008, and it ended mainstream support on April 14, 2009. BUtthf) company will permit PC builders 0,ship Windows 7 machines with, XP downgrades for 18 months after Win Ts release or until it ships the first $ervice Pack for the new OS-whichever comes first. But as of April 8,
of it (62 pe~centa~d 81 percent, respectively, said'theirppii110n of the as was somewhat~[ v~r'ynegativE?). Most of our
'
respondent~ siM
that they had an ind
2014, Microsoft'has
announced, it will no longer take support calls and issue security fix,esfor Windows XP.And from
XP
holdouts, you'll be on your own.
File Management: The Library System
Compared to the Taskbar and the System Tray, Explorer hasn't changed much in Windows 7. However, its left pane does sport two new ways to get at your files: Libraries and HomeGroups. Libraries could just as appropriately have been called File Cabinets, since they let you collect related folders in
one place. By default, you get Libraries labeled Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos, each of which initially directs you to the OS's standard folders for storing the named items-such as My Pictures and Public Pictures. To benefit from Libraries, you have to customize them. Right-click any folder on your hard drive, and you can add it to any Library; for instance, you can
transform the Pictures Library into a
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collection of all your folders that contain photos. You can create additional Libraries of your own from scratch, such as one that bundles up all folders that relate to your vacation plans. Libraries would be even more useful
It uses the OpenSearch standard (find, if Microsoft had integrated them with Saved Searches, the Windows pcworld,com/63700) to give Win 7's search "connectors" for feature (introduced in Vista) external sources. That capathat lets you create virtual folders based on searches, Windows 7's Backup Center bility allows you to search sites such as Flickr and Yousuch as one that tracks down improves on Vista's, which let you choose folders and files, only 7's pricier Tube from within Explorer. every .jpg image file on your Pretty neat-except that Winsystem. But while Windows 7 editions permit backup to a network drive, dows 7 doesn't come with lets you add standard folders any of the connectors you'd to a Library, it doesn't supneed to add these sources, port Saved Searches.
ic gibberish and instructs you to write it down so you won't forget it. To be fair, passwords made up of random characters provide excellent security, and the only time you need the password is when you first connect a new PC to a HomeGroup. But it's still a tad
are running Windows 7, a scenario that won't be typical anytime soon. A version that also worked on XP, Vista, and Mac systems would have been cooler. Federated Search, a new Windows Explorer feature, feels incomplete; too.
Windows 7 vs.
HOMEGROUPS, SWEETHOME.
GROUPS? Closelyrelated to Libraries are HomeGroups, a new feature designed to simplify the notoriously tricky process of networking Windows PCs. Machines that are part of one HomeGroup can selectively grant each other read or read/write access to their Libraries and to the folders they contain, so you can perform such mundane but important tasks as providing your spouse with access to a folderful of tax documents on your computer. HomeGroups can also stream media, enabling you to pipe music or a movie off the desktop in the den onto your notebook in the living room. And they let you share a printer connected to one PC with all
nor with any way of finding them. (They are available on the Web, though. Use a search
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Speaking of annoying Windows features, let's talk about User Account Control-the Windows Vista security element that was a poster child for everything that rankled people about that as. UAC aimed to prevent rogue soft. ware from tampering with your PC by endlessly prompting you to approve running applications or changing settings. The experience was so grating that many users preferred to turn UAC off and take their chances with Internet attackers. Those who left
Vista's
backup permits you to select only general types of documents backing up.
What do you want to back up?
Data Files Back up data fOf Harry McCracken' Computer local Disk (C:) SRecycle.Bin SUPGRADE.-OS dell Intel
the other computers in the MSOCache HomeGroup, a useful feature it active risked slipping into NVlDIA the habit of incautiously clickif you can't connect the printer directly to the network. ing through every prompt, HomeGroups aren't a bad Windows 7 gives file-by-file control. defeating whatever value the idea, but Windows 7's implefeature might have had. mentation seems half-baked. Homepeculiar that you can't specify a passWindows 7 gives you control over word you'll remember during setupUAC, in the form of a slider containing Groups are password-protected, but you can do that only after the fact, in a four security settings. As before, you rather than inviting you to specify a different part of the as. More annoycan accept the full-blown UAC or elect password of your choice during initial ing and limiting: HomeGroups won't to disable it. But you can also tell UAC to setup, Windows assigns you one conwork unless all of the PCs in question notify you only when software chang- » sisting of ten characters of alphanumerNOVEMBER 2009 PCWORLD.COM 167
Features
es;Windows settings, not when you're h.;~king them yourself. And you can ihSt}'uct it not to perform the abrupt screen-dimming effect that Vista's ver. siori'uses to grab your attention. If Microsoft had its druthers, all Windows 7 users would use UAC in full-tilt mode: The slider that you use to ratchet back its severity advises you not to do so if you routinely install new software or visit unfamiliar sites, and it warns that disabling the dimming effect is "Not recommended." Speak for yourself, Redmond: I have every intention of recommending the intermediate settings to most people who ask me for advice, . since those settings retain most ofUAC's theoretical value without driving users bonkers. Other than salvaging UAC, Microsoft has made relatively few significant changes to Windows 7's security system. One meaningful improvement: BitLocker, the driveencryption tool included only in Windows 7 Ultimate and the corporateoriented Windows 7 Enterprise, lets you encrypt USB drives and hard disks, courtesy of a feature called BitLocker to Go. It's one ofthe few good reasons to prefer Win 7 Ultimate to Home Premium or Professional.
Applications: The Fewer the Merrier
Here's a startling indication ferent an upgrade Windows than larding it up with new tions, Microsoft eliminated of how dif7 is: Rather applicathree non-
Still present-and
nicely spruced up-
are the operating system's two applications for consuming audio and video, Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center. Windows Media Player 12 has a revised interface that divides operations into a Library view for media management and a Now Playing view for listening and watching stuff. Minimize the player into the Taskbar, and you get miniplayer controls and a Jump List, both of which let you control background music without having to leave the app you're in. Microsoft has added support for several media types that Media Player 11 didn't support, including MC audio and H.264 video-the formats it needs to play unprotected music and movies from
essential programs: Windows Mail (nee Outlook Express), Windows Movie. Maker (which premiered in Windows Me), and Windows Photo Gallery.
ndows 7 vs. Vista
User Account Control new in Vista, was supposed to keep users safe from malware, but its constant prompts and screen dimming angered many users.
Vista's UAC feature has two settings: on and off.
Always notify. Choose when to be notified about
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Apple's iTunes Store. Media Center-not part of the bargain-basement Windows 7 Starter Edition-remains most useful if you have a PC configured with a TV tuner card and you use your computer to record TV shows a la TlVo. Among its enhancements are a
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Windows 1's UAC has two intermediate settings to
keep its security value but reduce its intrusiveness.
Users who don't want to give them up can find all three at live.windows.com as free Windows Live Essentials downloads. They may even come with your new PC, courtesy of deals Microsoft is striking with PC manufacturers. But since they are no longer tied to the leisurely release schedules of Windows, they are far less likely than most bundled Windowsapps to remain mired indefinitely in an underachieving state.
better program guide and support for more tuners. Windows Vista's oddly underpowered Backup and Restore Center let
Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7's default browser, includes many securityrelated enhancements, including a new SmartScreen Filter (which blocks dangerous Web sites) and InPrivate Browsing (which permits you to use IE without leaving traces of where you've been or what you've done). Of course, IE 8 is equally at home in XP and Vista-and it's free-so it doesn't constitute a reason to upgrade to Windows 7.
users specify particular types of files to back up (such as 'Music' and 'Documents') but not specific files or folders. Though Microsoft corrects that deficiency in Windows 7, it deprives Windows 7 Starter Edition and Home Premium of the ability to back up to a network drive. That feels chintzy, like a car company cutting back on an economy sedan's airbags. It also continues the company's long streak of issuing versions of Windows that lack a truly satisfying backup utility.
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The new version of Paint has Office 2007's Ribbon tool bar and adds various prefabricated geometric shapes and a few natural-media tools, such as a watercolor brush. But my regimen for preparing a new Windows PGfor use will still include installing the impressive free image editor Paint. Net. The nearest thing Windows 7 has to a major new application has the intriguing moniker Windows XP Mode. It's not a way to make Windows 7 look like XP-you can do that with the Windows Classic theme-but rather a way to let it run XP programs that are otherwise incompatible with Win 7. Unfortunately, only Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate offer it, and even then it comes as an optional 350MB download that requires you to have Microsoft's free Virtual PC software installed and that only works on PCs with Intel or AMD virtualization technology enabled in the BIOS. Once active, XP Mode lets Windows 7 run apps that supposedly aren't compatible by launching them in separate windows that contain a virtualized version of XP. Microsoft clearly means for the mode to serve as a security blanket for business types who rely on ancient, often proprietary programs that may never be rewritten for current ass.
DeviceManagement: Setting the Stage
Windows 7 offers you numerous ways to connect your PC to everything from tiny flash drives to hulking networked laser printers-USB, Wi-Fi, ethernet, slots, and more. Devices and Printers, a new section of the Control Panel, represents connected gadgets with the largest icons I've ever seen in an operating system. (When possible, they're 3D renderings ofthe device; the one for Sansa's Clip MP3 player is almost life-size.) More important, the as introduces Device Stages-hardware-wrangling dashboards tailored to specific items of hardware, and designed by their manufacturers in collaboration with Micro- »
NOVEMBER
2{)O9
Features
s()ft;,ADevice Stage for a digital cam,er,~~f6tinstance, may include a battery g~ige, a shortcut to Windows' imaged6wnloading tools, and links to online "resoUrcessuch as manuals, support sites, and the manufacturer's accessory store. You don't need to rummage through the Control Panel or through Devices and Printers to use a Device Stagethat feature's functionality is integrated into Windows 7's new Taskbar. Plug in a device, and it will show up as a Taskbar icon; right-click that icon, and the Device Stage's content will at once appear as a Jump List-like menu. Unfortunately, Device Stages were the one major part of Windows 7 that didn't work during my hands-on time with the final version ofthe as. Earlier prerelease versions of Win 7 contained a handful of Device Stages, but Micro-
soft disabled them so that hardware manufacturers could finish up final ones before the as hit store shelvesin October. The feature will be a welcome improvement if device manufacturers hop on the bandwagon-and a major disappointment if they don't. Even if Device Stages take off, most of their benefit may come as you invest in new gizmos-Microsoft says that it's encouraging manufacturers to create Device Stages for upcoming products, not existing ones. At least some older products should get Device Stages, though: Canon, for instance, told me that it's planning to build them for most of its printers. And Microsoft says that when no full-fledgedDevice Stage is available for a particular item, Windows 7 will still try to giveyou a more generic and basic one.
Input: Reach Out and Touch Windows 7
The biggest user interface trend since Windows Vista shipped in January 2007 is touchscreen input; Windows 7 is the first version ofthe as to offer built-in multitouch support (see "Windows 7: AllAbout Touch," on page 72). Windows 7's new touch features are subtle on a touch-capable PC and invisible otherwise. Swipe your finger up or down to scroll through document files and Web pages;,sweep two fingers back and forth to zoom in and out. Dragging up on icons in the Taskbar reveals Win 7's new Jump Lists. The Taskbar button that reveals the Windows desktop is a bit bigger on touch PCs for easier use. I installed the finalversion of Windows 7 and beta touchscreen drivers on an HP
Bottom Line: Is Windows 7 Worth It?
Over the past ten months, I've spent a ers. The PC World Test Center's speed benchmarks on fivetest PCs showed features worked as advertised. But appli- substantial percentage of my computing Windows 7 to be faster than Vista, but life in Windows 7, starting with a prelimcations written with touch as the primary interface will determine whether only by a little; I've found it to be reainary version and culminating in recent weeks with the final Release to Manutouch becomes useful and ubiquitous. sonably quick on every computer I've Until they arrive, Windows will continue used it on-even the Asus netbook, once facturing edition. I've run it on systems to feel like an as built chiefly for use ranging from an underpowered Asus I upgraded it to 2GB of RAM. (Our lab tried Win 7 on a Lenovo S10 netbook with a keyboard and mouse-which it is. EeePC 1000HE netbook to a potent HP TouchSmart all-in-one. And I've used it with 1GB of RAMand found it to be a You might have expected Microsoft to reinvent familiar tools such as Paint and shade slower than XP; for details see to do real work, not lab routines. Media Player for touch input. "Much Slimmer and Slightly But the closest it comes to Faster" on page 75.) that is with the Windows 7 Here's a rule ofthumb that errs on the side of caution: If Touch Pack, a set of six touchWindows' System Tray had devolved into an based programs, including a your PC's specs qualify it to ugly hangout where unwanted applets told you version of Virtual Earth that run Vista, get Windows 7; if unnecessary things. Windows 7 finally fixes it. you can explore with your they aren't, avoid it. Microsoft's officialhardware confinger, and an app that lets you assemble photo collages. figuration requirements for The Touch Pack isn't part of Windows 7 are nearly identical to those it recommends Windows 7, but it will ship for Windows Vista: a 1-GHz with some Win 7 PCs, and it's a blast to play with. CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of Vista's System Tray rapidly fills up with icons Still, ultimately, the Pack is and continually interrupts your work. free disk space, and a DirectX just a sexy demo ofthe inter9-compatible graphics device face's potential, not an arguwith a WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. That's for the 32-bit ment for buying a touch computer today. Third-party version of Windows 7; the 64~...mm_._,.. .!I<_.. software developers won't ,---..bit version of the as requires start writing touch-centric a 64-bit CPU, 2GB of RAM, I!' ~""b>iPI""g'd"""p,gm,; W~~i;;;~~~"","A",,;,;;:;1 "" N.".." apps in force until a critical and 20GB of disk space. ~~."",,~.';"if<~~~ .=",'""m".= mass of PCs can run them. Fear of incompatible hard1<1 ~;:;0:;:Pl--,'m"Wg,. ~'-;"",,~~,,-=;,=,~~ ware and software is another That should happen in the 0 "'<I.,'''''''''''' w",,_. &",,, ~~h'5~~~.,'. , ,'.. .JI understandable reason to be months following Windows .. S"""'~~H"d~.p"''i.ct'L w"""",&",,,., !Q,'~;;;;;;;;;W~:::~~ -. 7's release, as finger-ready wary of Windows 7. One un'ohm. §,;;;;;.~~,,;=;::=~ S,.."~,,, machines from Asus, Lenovo, fortunate law of operatingSony, and other manufactursystem upgrades-which ers join those from HP and applies equally to Macs and Windows 7 lets you block icons from settling to Windows PCs-is that Dell. And even then, touch in the Tray and allows you to hide their alerts. input may not become comthey will break some systems monplace on Windows 7 PCs. But if a Usually,I've run the as in multiboot and applications, especially at first. Under the hood, Windows 7 isn't radkiller touch app is out there waiting to configurations with Windows Vista and/ or XP, so I've had a choice each time I be written, we may know soon enough. icallydifferent from Vista. That's a plus, turned the computer on: Should I opt since it should greatly reduce the volfor Windows 7 or an older version of ume of difficulties relating to drivers the aS? The call has been easy to make, and apps compared to Vista's bumpy because Win 7 is so pleasant to use. rollout. I have performed a half-dozen Reading about a new operating system So why wouldn't you want to run this Windows 7 upgrades, and most of them can tell you only so much about it: operating system? Concern over its perwent off without a hitch. The gnarliest After all, Windows Vista had far more formance is one logical reason, espeproblem arose when I had to track features than XP, yet fell far short of it ciallysince early versions of Windows down a graphics driver for Dell's XPS Vista managed to turn PCs that ran XP in the eyes of many users. To judge an M1330laptop on my own-Windows 7 as accurately, you have to live with it. with ease into lethargic underperforminstalled a generic VGAdriver that»
TouchSmart all-in-one Pc. The touch
Windows 7
Vista
NOVEMBER2009
PCWORLD.COM 171
irlsiife,windOWS\7;'
Features ,"
cquldn't run the A~~~.dserinterf~ci!fand as a result faired to support newiWindows 7 features such as thumbnail views in the Taskbar.
Microsoft's Collage tool shows off the power of touch-based input to good effect.
The best way to reduce your odds of running into a showstopping problem with Windows 7 is to bide your time. When the new operating system arrives on October 22, sit back and let the earliest adopters discover the worst snafus. Within a few weeks, Microsoft and other software and hardware companies will have fixed most of them, and your chances of a happy migration to Win 7 will be much higher. If you want to be really conservative, hold off on
moving to Win 7 until ygu're ready to buy a PC that's designed to run it welL Waiting a bit before making the leap makes sense; waiting forever does not. Microsoft took far too long to come up with a satisfactory replacement for Windows XP. But whether you choose to install Windows 7 on your current
systems or get it on the next new PC you buy, you'll find that it's the unassuming, thoroughly practical upgrade you've been waiting for-flaws and alL.
_Former PC World editor-in-chief Harry McCracken now blogs at his own site,
Technolagizer (www.technologizer.com).
'INDOW~ 7, tl
l't part of the ;elf, Instead, gaps ranging from.HP's TouchSmart touchscreen suite of software to kludgyi.
"The
apps from MSI and Asus. new as suj)ports touch
But Microsoft's
Theocheung, a genera~ manager tics. "We talked with Microsvft to 'quite a ;h alHnlaptops, with more due in 2010: on of touch on Windows 7 owes a lot to Microsoft's collaboration , , .with .~ touchthis Wild West of gestures." Since 2008 his company's Synaptics Gesture Suite software has supported gestures on touchpads. Apple introduced gesture-, ' based navigation,onits notebooks in'2008.
'721 PCWORLD.COM
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