Windows 7, First Impressions

When I (that is, to say, my father) bought my current computer, a Vaio laptop that is much more powerful than it has any business being, the computer included a free Windows 7 upgrade. I was hesitantly excited about this, and sent in my proof of purchase, and such, in order to get this new piece of software.

I finally received this blessed new OS yesterday, Microsoft's attempt to make up for Vista. It's an important time for them, as more and more Windows users switch over to Linux or Macs. (Hey, everyone buys something stupid once in a while.) And, to cut right to the chase, it's obvious.

I was worried when I began the update that I'd have to reformat, and redownload my 60+ gigs of Steam, which is a dizzying prospect when your internet slaps a cap on anything faster than 200 kb/s. But, the upgrade went off without a hitch, and all my files were transfered, even the "My _____" stuff, which I specifically backed up, lest I lose my precious por-er... documents and music.

I installed all the necessary drivers with the companion CD, and, all-in-all, the process took about 4 hours, a reasonable amount of time. What immediately struck me about Win7 was the new toolbar and Start Menu. They've got a new tab-style system going, where everything on the taskbar is filed together by process. So, if you have two separate... MSN conversations open, they'll both be under the MSN tab. There are a few minor bugs with certain programs and tabs, but even they're not too great a nuisance. The "go to desktop" button, probably the most/only useful feature in Vista, makes it return, now moved to the right side of the clock, an unobtrusive little button.

Speaking of unobtrusive buttons, the Start Menu itself is still here, as you might expect, and it's been significantly improved. In addition to pinning things to the Start Menu still being possible, with new features that I'll get to in a moment, there's also a new little thing that I found useful. Remember that little bar of things beside the Start button, with one or two things you used, and about 10 you didn't? Well, it's back, simplified, and you can now add or remove things from it just as easily as pinning things to the Start Menu.

Making a segwue back to the Start Menu: items on it, whether pinned, or on that "often used" programs thing underneath your pins, may now have mini-menus attached, with a variety of useful features. I've been consistently using the Steam one to go straight to my favorite games. There's not a lot of support for it yet, it seems, but that will come with time, I suspect.

The new Windows is not without its problems, of course. The theme starts in that same spec-hogging Aero that Vista had, but it's easy to change, and most 7-capable computers can probably handle it now. Another old Vista problem, the "constantly asking permission" thing, is also still there, but the Control Panel now has a slider bar for how often you want Vista asking you if you want to do the thing you just told it to do, with settings ranging from "Vista with paranoia" to "none". Three guesses which one I picked. :P

This is just first impressions, because I can't say for certain whether or not 7 is good. Two days in does not an effective appraisal make. But, I've got a few things I've wanted to try, and I've heard good things about it, so I think I can safely say that it's better than Vista.

How much better, we'll see.