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Windows 7, Vista Done Right?

I am sure you are well aware now that Vista came 2nd in Tech’s all time flops. Microsoft were quick to start from scratch and get on with things and in Vista’s wake came Windows 7. Will the newest Microsoft operating system finally win back the disappointed Windows fans?

Photo of Windows 7 Logo
Adriano Castelli / Shutterstock.com

Windows 7 is in testing at the moment and the RC has been released for all to try so I decided to give it a try after all it cant possible be any worse! I installed it on my 2 year old Asus notebook which apparently could handle Vista.

Installation

The install seemed to be remarkably quicker but saying that Microsoft have got rid of a lot of bloat which had no doubt crippled Vista. The GUI looked very nice and the taskbar is uncluttered as icons have replaced windows.

The new windows 7 desktop

Windows 7 Processes

I checked out task manager and it seems that everything has been trimmed down to an impressive 39 processes without me even touching the service manager! DWM which was responsible for all of those lovely aero transparency features in Vista is no longer a resource hog on memory and processor power.

Windows 7 Task Manager

Networking & UAC

User Account Control is no longer as obtrusive as it previously was. The Networking and Sharing Center is less confusing and complicated has a much more simpler interface. It’s quite obvious that there is a lot less bloat with Microsoft finally giving you the option to download addons such as Windows Messenger and Movie Maker.

Internet

To now compete with Firefox, Internet Explorer is in version 8 and there seems to be fewer bugs when rendering web pages. It does have compatibility mode which renders sites as it would in IE7, if you really want to. Will IE 8 encourage people to finally ditch IE6? Maybe! Would it encourage people to switch back from Firefox? I don’t think it will as Firefox’s extensibility has no doubt got it where it is today.

Internet Explorer 8

Conclusion

My conclusion is that Windows 7 is no doubt Vista done right. The looks are amazing, the speed is a big improvement lets just hope that security and stability is of a high standard. If so it would be a worthy upgrade to Vista users but I feel that some sort of discount would be necessary. Hopefully then Vista can be laid to rest!

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