Windows 7
Windows 7 is the latest version of Microsoft
Windows. Unlike its predecessor, which
introduced a large number of new features,
Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused,
incremental upgrade to the Windows line,
with the goal of being fully compatible with
applications and hardware with which Windows
Vista is already compatible
Although the look of Windows 7 may seem to
be nothing more than some polish applied
liberally to the Vista Aero theme, make no
mistake: this is a full replacement
operating system, and more than just "Vista
done right." From driver support to
multitouch groundwork for the future, from
better battery management to the most
user-friendly interface Microsoft has ever
had, Windows 7 is hardly half-baked.
The good:
Strong design and Microsoft don't always go
together, but they do in Windows 7. Users
might take a while to get used to the new
taskbar and Aero Peek, but they're a
pleasure to use.
The bad:
Performance is still hit-or-miss in Windows
7. At the ripe age of seven, Windows XP
still performs better in some categories.
The bottom line:
Windows 7 is more than what Vista should
have been, it's where Microsoft needed to
go. How much damage Vista did and whether
Windows 7 is enough for people to finally
abandon Windows XP are questions that nobody
has the answers to right now.
For many the question is to upgrade or not.
The first thing you'll notice about Windows
7 is that it looks like Vista. It also works
like Vista, in the sense that it has the
same plumbing underneath, except for a very
welcome graphics upgrade to DX11. However,
it works much better than Vista, and most of
Vista's annoyances have either been removed,
or (mostly) can be changed so the system
works the way you like. It takes
personalization to extremes.
The most obvious difference is that Windows
7 doesn't keep annoying you with prompts —
though it's also true that the latest
version of Vista is much less annoying than
the original. In fact, you can set the
degree of annoyance on a sliding scale,
though reducing it increases the risk of
security breaches. However, Windows 7 is
vastly more secure than XP and, in any case,
the threat landscape has changed since XP
was trashed by worms such as Blaster and
Slammer. Today, the more important security
changes are in the Internet Explorer 8
browser which, uniquely, defends against
cross-site scripting.
Aero Peek shows the desktop when you hover
over the right edge of the toolbar, and is
also an option in the program-switching hot
key Alt+Tab. (This image was taken from the
Windows 7 Release Candidate, but looks and
functions the same in the official version
of Windows 7. (Screenshot by CNET)
Another obvious difference is that Windows 7
uses fewer resources.
Where Vista really needed 2GB of memory,
Windows 7 will run quite happily in 1GB on a
slow dual-core Intel processor, though I'd
still recommend 2GB or, for preference, 4GB
with the speedy 64-bit version of Windows 7.
And laptop batteries should last longer
running Windows 7.
Any PC that currently runs Vista will be
better at running Windows 7 – a first for
Microsoft – and it should also run on most
PCs that will run XP SP2.
The catch is that upgrading a PC running
Windows XP requires a clean installation of
Windows 7: you can't do an in-place upgrade.
This has been a source of complaints,
because it means reinstalling all your
applications as well.
However, we've known for a dozen years that
a clean installation of Windows usually
works better, and geeks have generally
recommended it.
Indeed, people used to reinstall Windows 95,
98 or Me just to clean up their systems, so
it's silly to get hysterical about it now.
In the end, Windows 7 is a long way from
being perfect, and it's not an essential
upgrade if you're happy with XP. But nor is
there a real reason to avoid it. Windows 7
is simply the best version of Windows you
can get.
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Windows 7 Upgrade Option
Did you buy a copy of Windows Vista or a PC running Windows Vista after June 26, 2009? If your purchase qualified for our special upgrade offer*, here's how to get your copy of Windows 7.
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