This week, Microsoft is releasing Windows 7, a slick, much-improved operating system that should go a long way toward erasing the bad impression left by its previous effort, Vista.
If you’ve been holding off on buying a new computer, Windows 7 will be a good excuse to get back into the game. And if you’ve been weighing a Mac versus a Windows PC, then you should know that “7” pushes the scales on the Windows side. Windows is now easier to use and better looking than it was before, while maintaining its core advantage of cheaper, more diverse hardware.
However, most PC users should not take the release of Windows 7 as a call to action, or feel that they have to run out and buy the software for use on a computer they’re planning on keeping. The upgrade will most likely not be worth the time or money, much less the effort of hosting a Windows 7 “launch party” as Microsoft suggests.
Windows 7 will come in several versions. The one aimed at U.S. consumers is Home Premium, which will cost $120 if bought as an upgrade to XP or Vista.
Here are some highlights:
File folders can now be organized into libraries. You can have a photo library, for instance, that gives you quick access to pictures in folders spread out over your hard drives. This is great because many applications don’t automatically put files into Microsoft’s My Documents and My Photos folders, and tend to deposit content in their own folders.
Like Vista, Windows 7 will ask you twice if you really want to make changes to your settings or install programs, for the sake of security. But Windows 7 does it less often, and the prompts can be turned off.
Windows 7 can sense if you use more than one finger on your touch pad or touch screen, allowing for neat tricks such as spreading your fingers to zoom into a picture, just like on the iPhone. This isn’t revolutionary per se — computer manufacturers have bolted multitouch sensing on previous versions of Windows. But it does make it easier for them to include advanced touch capabilities, and many of them are planning to do so. That is what could really revolutionize how we use computers.
For a lot of users, the step up to Windows 7 will also mark a transition to a 64-bit operating system. That means computers will now be able to use a lot more random access memory, or RAM, for better performance in demanding applications such as video editing. Vista and XP came in 64-bit versions in addition to the regular 32-bit versions, but the XP version was never popular, and the Vista version became mainstream only last year. But 64 bits will be standard on Windows 7, installed on nearly all new computers.
After upgrading, users will have to reinstall all their programs and find their files in the folder where Windows 7 tucks them away.
If you do upgrade, I would recommend installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7, which doesn’t cost more. Microsoft recommends a minimum of 2 gigabytes of RAM to run it.
If your computer runs Windows Vista, I think it’s hard to justify spending $120 for an upgrade. The new features are nice but hardly must-haves. For daily e-mail and Web surfing, they won’t make much of a difference. Vista was much maligned when it arrived in early 2007 for being slow, buggy and annoying. Now, it really isn’t that bad, because updates have fixed a lot of the problems.
However, if you bought a Vista-based computer after June 25, you should be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 from the manufacturer, and I suggest taking advantage of it. Your computer likely already is running 64-bit software, so there should be no problems with drivers, and the upgrade is much easier than one from XP.
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