Getting New PC with 7 Home Ultimate - Gotchas please 1

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Since I am unfamiliar with 7 ( long time XP user, a little Vista exp.) I just wondered what the biggest changes/surprises/gotchas I am likely to face with 7 and a new PC.





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[Turkbear]

Hi again,
See, already made a mistake..It is Home Premium, not Ultimate.






To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[xit]

My opinion, Win7 is a step up from XP or Vista, mainly in speed such as in start up & apps. Win7 just feels lighter to use & you will be able to navigate similar to XP. I don't know of any gotchas yet, I am sure there are a few but from what I see, it is a keeper.

xit

 

[Turkbear]

Thanks...

I am getting a very strong machine ( Dell Studio XPS 8100 with 8 Gig,a 1 Gig ATI video card and lots of other goodies), so I am really looking forward to the 64bit world.
( I had to retire my super XPS 700 due to some odd hardware issues after 5 years)





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[linney]

64-bit might be the biggest difference after 32-bit. UAC Prompts might seem a bit strange at first. I doubt you will have any real problems adapting. There are many more similarities than differences.

Learning about "running elevated" via the right-click on any .exe and selecting the "Run As Administrator" option is something you will discover. This is because Administrator Users run only with Standard User privileges by design.

Built-in Administrator Account Disabled

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsvistasecurity/archive/2006/08/27/windowsvistasecurity_.aspx

Windows 7 for new users
thread1726-1598715

32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/41531554-d5ef-4f2c-8fb9-149bdc5c8a701033.mspx

There is probably a lot more to say, but why should we spoil your fun (or is that going to be frustration)?

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=d...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=YgfOS7eDBIro7AOJrvWwDQ

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Thanks, linney, your posts here have been very helpful and I look forward (I think) to the challenge presented by a new OS.






To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[smah]

My tip #1 for people used to XP (applies to both Win7 & Vista also): Break the mouse habit & retrain yourself to use the keyboard. Also known as: Search Works (and can be used like the old "run" menu item).

Without pausing, looking, clicking or slowing down simply hit the windows key on your keyboard, start typing and watch what happens. Pressing Enter will execute the top item in the search result list. Type the name of a program or command (cmd Enter, reliability Enter, compmgmt.msc Enter, defrag Enter, etc). Type the name of an e-mail contact or a document.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Thanks..I'll give it a try when I get the new machine set up ( May 6 or so) ( But with my typing, who knows what program I'll run )



To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[kjv1611]

If you like things being handy, you'll like the way the taskbar icons are, now. You can right-click on any one, and find options dedicated to that application. For instance, if it's any application that has it's own files/documents, then most of them that I've seen so far will now show a list of recently opened documents/files for that app.

Also, you've got to try pressing <Windows Key> and <Tab> - it's a 3D way of the window changer built into Windows. If nothing else, it's something nifty to wow over for a few seconds.

Also, for handiness, some items in the start menu will also have a "sub-menu" appear with recent documents/files opened by that application - rather nifty, I think.

And another one.. at least with applications in the taskbar: If you single-click on an open application's icon, it just brings the open window into focus... or if there are more than one, you select which you want.... OR if you know you want to open a new instance, hold the <Shift> key, and then click the icon, new instance opens.. This was actually in Vista as well, but I don't think it was in XP - I'll have to look some time to see. Just tested, yeah, it was in XP as well.

 

[Nocandu]

Hi

One of my favorite Windows 7 features is the one that lets you drag any window to the edge of the screen and it will reformat to take up half the screen.

Just grab the top of the window, and drag to the edge, make sure that your cursor hits the edge, that's all that is necessary so if you grab the window on that side you don't have to move it very far.

Really handy, in two seconds I can have my e-mail on one side and my browser on the other or two Windows Explorer windows.

I find that I use this all the time.

It makes copying from one application to another very quick and easy.

Mike

 

[xit]

If you want to break the mouse and keyboard habit try Win7 Speech Recignition, just awsome. I have been working with it for several months noe and must say I am impressed with the program. After using Speech Recognition for a while many tasks can be done with just your speech alone & I have compared it with Dragon 10 Naturally Speaking & in my opinion SR wins hands down.

The only con I can report is how my wife looked at me when I began using the program.

xit

 

[kjv1611]

@xit
[ROFL]

Well, that sounds impressive for sure, comparing with DNS like that. I might have to give it a try sometime just to see.

 

[tf1]

See all the new Winkey+ commands. There are many new, sensible additions, including some Aero Snap(described by NonCanDu above), openning apps on the Taskbar and other tricks.

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/windows7/windows7_keyboard_shortcuts.htm

Investigate Aero Snap and Aero Shake too. The Notification Area (old system tray) has been tidied up and made far more user friendly. Menus and grouping of commands have been rearranged, but once you get passed the problem finding them the first time around, they are uch more logical - almost sensible!

You'll love it. And if you go 64-bit, unless you plan to create massive spreadsheet (over 2GB each), stick to 32-bit Office 2010.


Regards: Terry

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Thanks all,
The new machine arrives tomorow ( the 27th) so I'll let everyone konw how the setup goes after it is up and running ...





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
I forgot to ask about any 64bit issues that may arise...Any hints, tips, etc.?

Thanks all







To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[kjv1611]

There are still issues with some applications, but generally, you shouldn't have any issues to speak of with 64-bit versions of Windows any longer. I've had a few (very few) programs I couldn't install/run on 64-bit Windows, but like I said, they've been very very few.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Thanks..Good to know,,

BTW, The PC arrived and immediately had a problem - The CPU fan faied message came up and the PC shutdown after setup but before desktop configuration..Dell says it is a known issue with some units having a bad seating of the Heat Sink and/or Fan..Tech will be out Thursday to fix it.
( I could probably have done it myself, but with a brand new machine, I want to watch first)





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[xit]

What bad luck! After waiting so long & then a blip, well look at it this way, it did what it should have done to protect the system. Thursday will come.

xit

 

[linney]

16-bit applications wont run on 64-bit operating systems, a way around is to look at Virtual PC solutions. The same solution gets over some compatibility hiccups too.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Thanks, I will be exploring those now that I have enough CPU power,memory and storage to make it a practical
option for some things...








To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."