Note:  I make several references to “Windows.old”.  What is this?  When I installed Windows 7 I did not completely format the hard drive.  Instead, I allowed Windows 7 to backup my old files.  Everything from Windows Vista (including the Program Files folders, Documents, and everything from the Users folder) were moved into a new folder called Windows.old.

The second day of using Windows 7 Beta as my only O/S has passed, and already it feels like I’ve settled in.  Granted, I have yet to use some of its new interesting features such as Libraries [Info @ Arstechnica], but at this point I’ve grown accustomed to its new UI.

There have been a couple of minor issues.  The most annoying was that Skype routinely closed on its own.  At first I thought that this was because I was using the Skype that resided in Windows.old, but Windows 7 soon informed me that there was a known conflict with the program.  Thankfully it also pointed me to the download of Skype’s most recent beta version [get that here].  That’s worked without problems.

A friend of mine also found an older version of Skype that’s working fine on his Windows 7 installation, but that too crashed / closed on me.

The second minor issue is that I could not get Skype to install into the correct Program Files (x86) directory.  It always installs into Windows.old.  I suspect that this is because I originally ran it from that location and now Windows 7 probably has some registry entries that associates Skype with that location – that’s just a guess though, of course.

A third minor issue is that I had a phantom microphone “installed” in Control Panel – Sounds.  This caused a brief issue with Skype, which insisted on using the phantom microphone regardless of which mic I told it to use from within the Skype options.  Simply disabling the nonexistent mic in the control panel fixed the problem.

Application Compatibility

The issue with Skype is uncommon.  I run Firefox (with an assortment of add ons), Thunderbird, and Filezilla with no issues.  I have your standard browser plugins, I run Winamp to listen to music, and I’ve watched an assortment of video files.  All of this has been as it should be.

However, I have not been able to install OpenVPN, which is something of an annoyance for me because I can not remember my VPN’s PPTP login details.  This is my fault entirely for being a forgetful goof.  The OpenVPN issue is with the TAP32 driver; unfortunately, right-clicking and selecting “Run As Administrator” when installing OpenVPN does not solve the problem, so until I can get this running I may not be able to use my VPN service.

Still, as frustrating as this may be for me personally, Skype and OpenVPN are only two programs out of a wide range of every day applications.  The rest of which have, thus far, worked without problems.

The second day did not see a repeat of the BSoD.  Knock on wood and crossing fingers, I’m hoping that such a thing will be rare.

Microsoft Office:  I do own a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007.  I’m not in any hurry to install it, but I can do so sooner rather than later if my readers are interested.  However – and I apologize for this – I do not have access to any other versions of Office.

Boot Times & Speed

Technical:  Read my DxDiag.txt file (click here) to see my system hardware.  Gamers should pay particularly close attention to the information in that file.

I’m sure that if you’re reading this post then you have also read other information about Windows 7.  My experience (thus far) agrees with what is commonly written elsewhere.

Keeping in mind that I had been using Windows Vista since its launch day, Windows 7 by comparison almost feels like I’ve gone back to Windows XP in terms of speed.

The boot time is faster than Windows Vista, though I can’t say that it’s phenomenally faster.  You’ll most likely notice the improvement at first and then you’ll quickly grow accustomed to it.

The real speed increase is found in actually using your system.  The speed of the O/S is impressive.  For example, task switching out of a game is, literally, instantaneous.  I press alt-tab and the desktop appears, ready to be used, more-or-less the instant that I press the keys on the keyboard.  I actually blinked in surprise that first time that I saw this.  Seriously.

Using other applications is generally fast and frustration free.  The stuff just runs.

All in all, Windows 7 seems to make considerably better use of my computer’s hardware.

Gaming

Thus far the only gaming that I have personally done is run World of Warcraft, which works flawlessly.  Of note, I run WoW from Windows.old.  There was no need to reinstall and there were no patches required.

A pal of mine who also runs Windows 7 has been playing Far Cry 2, and from what he says that has been running surprisingly well. He basically made a gaming day out of FC 2 on Windows 7.

Coming soon:  I will install Fall Out 3 and Mass Effect to see how they run.  I may also be able to find my Knights of The Old Republic discs too, if anyone is interested in how a slightly older game runs on Windows 7.

Themes

Themes in Windows 7 are pretty cool.  What I describe may sound like something that becomes annoying after awhile, but honestly the transition is so smooth that I rarely notice that it’s happened.

What am I talking about?

Themes in Windows 7 is what desktop backgrounds used to be.  Apparently Microsoft plans on changing the name to Styles.  I don’t feel like the name change is required, but I understand why they would rename it.

In Windows 7, the location where you used to change desktop backgrounds is now a theme selector.  Here is a screen shot:

I used MS Paint to draw the green arrow.  More on that in a second.

You’ll see that these themes look like a slide show of windows, and that’s exactly what they are.  Your desktop background (and, perhaps, the color of your taskbar) will transition from one appearance to the next.  If you think that this would get old after awhile then you may be judging too quickly.

Why?  For one, the transition is so smooth that I frequently fail to realize that it’s occurred.  The change is done very smoothly.  There are no harsh or sudden changes.

Second, it’s very customizable, and that brings us back to the green arrow.  See where it’s pointing?  Clicking that takes you to this screen:

Notice the check marks in the corners of the photos here.  This is how you select which photos are used as your desktop background.  Adding and removing photos to a theme is very simple.  What I do not know how to adjust (and maybe it’s not possible right now?) is the color of the taskbar in relation to the photo.

You’ll also notice that it’s set to change the look every 30 minutes.  This is the default setting.  You can set this to anywhere from every 10 seconds to every one (1) day.  So if you want it to change every few seconds, or every few minutes, or every few hours then you can do that.

See You Soon

This is a fairly long post already so I’ll wrap this up for today.  Time willing I’ll be back tomorrow with another post talking about Windows 7.

See you soon.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows, Microsoft Windows