Like many, I am now running the Beta version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7. Windows 7 is the successor to Windows Vista, and Microsoft hopes to have fixed the majority of complaints that people have had with Vista.

A little about my background: I bought Windows Vista at its release, so I was a very early adopter. This means that if you have read about problems with Vista then it’s likely that I have experienced them. It was an extremely frustrating experience, and the frustration lasted for a considerable amount of time. Vista did eventually begin running smoothly, for the most part, with some minor technical hiccups here and there.

Back to today: Now I am running Windows 7 as my computer’s operating system. Yes, that’s right: I’ve completely removed Windows Vista from my machine. How long will this last? We’ll have to wait and see. This morning begins only the second day on which I have ran Windows 7.

My plan is to keep a regular diary of my experience with Microsoft Windows 7, and if my first day is anything to go by, then I’m in for a significantly better experience!

So far, all programs run correctly, I have had no problem with sound, my video is working correctly (I spent about a half an hour playing World of Warcraft with zero problems and I’ve watched videos and movies on the web), and I have simply had no big problems with hardware thus far. None. Zip.. Nada!

The problems that I have had is:

• Windows 7 did blue screen on me once yesterday. The error message was “RFD File System”.
• My U3 thumb drive works, but Roboform does not remember my password, so I must re-enter it each time that it tries to fill in web page forms.

That’s all that I remember. Certainly the blue screen is a concern, but I am keeping in mind that this is a beta release. This is not the commercial release of Windows 7, it is a test release. Therefore problems are expected.

So far, Microsoft Windows 7 is performing leaps and bounds both smoother and faster than Vista could ever dream of. In fact, I will go so far as to say that in its beta state, Windows 7 is running better than Vista ever ran on my computer.

If you’re still running Windows XP, the answer – so far – appears to be “Yes, Windows 7 is better. It’s a little different, but it’s better.”

We’ll see how things go. Keep checking back to read experiences with what is probably going to be your computer’s next operating system. I will make sure to have pictures in future diary entries.

Wish me luck!

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