Overall I would say that I am pleased with Windows 7, though there are some things I don’t like.
So far I have installed both 32 and 64 bit versions. Both installations were performed as upgrades and in each case I found the upgrade to be one of the easiest that MS has offered for some time. The only truly annoying part of the installation is that you must first remove Windows PowerShell as it prevents the installation from proceeding. I can’t figure out why this prevents the install unless version 2 is somehow included.
I had high hopes that the upgrade would eliminate problems with both installations. My laptop has had a delay after pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete ever since installing .Net Framework 3.5 (caused an issue with an HP laptop security utility). The problem remained after removing both the Framework and the HP utility and the Windows 7 installation did not resolve the issue.
My x64 home desktop has been plagued with lockups and I was hoping that the installation of Windows 7 would rectify whatever might be wrong there. Windows update reported several updates were ready for install. I allowed the updates to install and promptly received a BSOD. After a reboot and selecting only one update at a time, all installed without error. Shortly after I experienced even more frequent lockups. Then magically after some Windows Updates things got GREAT!
Regarding changes from Vista: First, the windows Sidebar, isn’t on the side. Gadgets are all free floating now, I would prefer that they start where I had them prior to the upgrade, but maybe this was intentional so people would know they are not restricted to just the side. It is also important to note that the gadgets I had running prior to the upgrade were not restarted. I would expect the upgrade should preserve the running configuration provided there isn’t a problem with the gadgets. Now that the gadgets are free floating, it is important to be able to get access to them. I love the fact that you can move your mouse to the bottom right corner of the screen and all open windows become transparent. Second, the quick launch bar and the list of running programs have been combined, I hate this. The combined list is pre-populated with just a few icons. As an upgrade, I would have expected Microsoft to preserve all of my Quick Launch icons and add them to this new menu. That does not happen and is in my opinion a flaw with the upgrade. The stacked look of the icons makes it very difficult to tell what is running and what is not. On the plus side, I really like the fact that hovering the mouse over the icons produces a preview mode that works really well and makes it easy to select a desired program instance.
The Explorer icon in the task list defaults to “libraries”. I don’t want that and it won’t save changes. I would like to see it auto navigate to My Computer or to the last visited folder (let me choose which). I figured out to set it to default to My Computer you can do the following
[ul][li]Right click the icon for Windows Explorer on the task bar.[/li]
[li]Right click Windows Explorer[/li]
[li]Left click Properties[/li]
[li]Set the target to be:[/li]
Code:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
[/ul]
The classic Quick Launch toolbar is gone and attempts to create it by pointing to the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch did not yield desired results. I primarily wanted to add it back to get the Show Desktop icon. You can’t copy that icon to the new toolbar. Why not? Since learnign I can use Win Key + D I don't miss that show desktop icon so much anymore.
IE version 8: There are some nice features in IE 8. Mousing over the URL while at a sub page will make the base URL bold and clickable similar to the way you can click on a directory in Windows Explorer in Vista. The new icon next to refresh for compatibility mode is a smart idea. I also like that search also includes results from your local history and suggestions from your favorite search provider. The new and improved Zoom allows for automatic scaling of a page's content while maintaining the site's intended layout is also great. The Find on Page search feature is now built right into the browser and each instance of the search item is highlighted on the page. I like this feature a lot, the only problem is that unlike the Google offering different words are not color coded and the search only works with phrases and not all words individually. From the find toolbar (Ctrl+F) there is a button for the search engine. I don’t recall seeing this before so I think it is new to IE8 and I like that option. Another new feature with IE 8 that I really like is the new behavior that happens when you have multiple tabs open and click the red X to close IE. You are now prompted to close the current tab or to close all tabs.
I personally don’t use RSS feeds, but subscribing to a section of a web page sounds great.
I feel Microsoft has missed the mark when it comes to the x64 in general.
IE in the x64 version initially had convinced me to permanently switch to FireFox or Google Chrome on that installation and I prefer to use IE. Microsoft has made the x64 version disable all IE add ins, LET ME CHOOSE WHAT I WANT TO SCALEBACK. A banner message similar to an ActiveX notification pops up letting you know that you can run the Add-Ins Manager to make changes, but the banner comes back no matter what you do. You can’t disable the notification, nor can you seem to reduce the security setting to prevent the message. This initial experience was changed after some Windows Updates applied and now I can use IE as expected on the x64 system.
I’ve encountered one anomaly of IE with the x64 version that may or may not exist in the x86 version that I have yet to observe in the latter installation. On my x64 install IE goes into full screen mode seemingly on its own (the F11 keys isn’t exactly a key you hit by accident). Moving the mouse to the top of the screen when IE is in Full Screen mode will make the IE menus appear, but moving the mouse to the bottom of the screen does not show the start bar. To me this is just half of the needed functionality.
The snipping tool has been enhanced. I love that you can save directly from it and can now capture in different modes. But Microsoft missed an opportunity to make the editing tools better. I would have liked to have seen the pen tool enhanced with an oval/rectangle tool as well as a text tool. It is still necessary to use MSPaint to annotate snips neatly to be included in documentation.
RDP: I’ve observed that the remote desktop connection has a very long delay when connecting to servers. The delay occurs when checking credential tiles. While I find it is nice to have my username cached for me, I would prefer quicker access to the server.
The Windows 7 installation reset the “Do Not Load” icons in the control panel. Not a big deal, I just went to the registry to unhide the icons again like was the case with Vista. Only problem is that the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load is improperly set to have Trusted Installer as the Owner. It is necessary to take ownership of the key before you can set rights to allow yourself (even though you are admin) to delete the icons from the list.
I had a similar issue with my keyboard mapping. The upgrade locked me out of the registry keys and I had to take ownership so my custom keyboard mapping could be put back. That key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout.
I love the fact that UAC now has 4 levels. Instead of disabling it I have it running at a lower level now. That is great.
IIS uses the same TERRIBLE interface as Server 2008. I want to provide CONSTRUCTIVE feedback, so I won’t comment much further on how strongly I feel about the way IIS has been changed. It is BAD. Everything takes 5 extra clicks, there is no flow to the management anymore. It has been setup to look like an ISP control panel running on a Linux box and I have yet to speak to a peer that has liked this new interface or thought that it offered any improvement over the previous interface.
I would like to see the Telnet Client be installed by default.
Well, that is all I have discovered so far. I hope you all have found this information of use. Please let me know if you want additional information as I discover it.
I hope you find this post helpful.
Regards,
Mark
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