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Windows 7, the operating system from Microsoft that people actually seem to like. Although Vista was actually a great operating system, many people trashed it for no apparent reason, other than just wanting to jump on the Vista-Hate bandwagon.

And even though Vista was and still is a great operating system, Windows 7 is a lot better. I would never even think about installing Vista on my Acer Aspire One netbook, with its tiny 1.3GHz Atom processor and 1GB of memory. But I did think about installing Windows 7. Sorry, XP lovers, but XP sucks. It is a very buggy operating system. It wasn’t designed to handle today’s hardware. The amount of small errors XP has annoys the crap out of me. It happened on my old Pentium 4 system, and is happening on my netbook.

I like tinkering with computers anyways, so I decided to install Windows 7 on my Acer. I had no data on the laptop, just a few things installed. I decided to do a dual boot for now. I downloaded Easeus Partition Master and formatted a second primary (NOT logical) partition. Then I plugged in my USB DVD drive, popped in the Windows 7 disc, and restarted the computer.

After booting from the disc, I chose customized setup and selected the new partition I made for Windows 7. After about 30 minutes, the installation was finished. I then downloaded the Windows 7 specific drivers from the Acer website, and the install was ready.

This was the simplest, easiest operating system install I ever did. Everything on the laptop works perfectly after installing the drivers. I can run full Aero with transparency if I wanted to, but doing that makes the computer lag, very noticeably. So I switched it back to the Windows 7 Basic theme (which was the default – I only switched to Aero to see how it would run). I then installed Office 2007, Firefox, Pidgin, and some other programs, and tweaked some settings to my liking.

Surprisingly, when I ran msconfig and checked out the startup items through CCleaner, there was nothing extra running that I didn’t need. The only thing I disabled was drive indexing; I turned the service off completely through Control Panel. I never use Windows Search, so I don’t need it running all the time and wasting resources. The only program running in the background is AVG Antivirus.

With the software all set up and configured, I did some initial tests. It seems to run at the same speed as XP. Firefox takes a bit less time to open. For now I will say it’s the same in terms of speed, making this a successful upgrade. No loss of speed while gaining more features equals success. Battery life estimates seem less than XP. When XP estimated 10 hours remaining, Windows 7 estimates 8 hours. Maybe it’s just better at estimating, but I haven’t tested it completely yet.

Windows 7 is a million times better to use than Windows XP. Everything is easier to do, looks nicer, and it just feels better. It’s a better overall experience. It makes the laptop feel more modern, with its tiny hardware specs. And the best thing is, it should get even faster in the next week or so, thanks to SuperFetch. That is why I am holding off on doing tests between the two. Once Windows 7 has time to optimize itself, I’m sure it will be quicker than Windows XP. I might do a side-by-side video of the two doing certain tasks when that happens.

If you’re thinking about installing Windows 7 on your Acer Aspire One netbook, you should go right ahead. I have found no negatives in the two days I’ve been using it so far. It is a great operating system, and works great with this netbook. It’s much better than Vista at handling resources. My install of Windows 7 Ultimate x86 (32-bit) is here to stay, and I will get rid of the XP partition after I do the comparisons. You should upgrade too.

I don’t get why so many people are talking about Windows 7’s sidebar-free gadgets as a new feature. This feature has existed on Vista all along. You just drag the gadgets off the sidebar, then right click on the sidebar and Close. Yet a lot of people are saying that this is a great new feature. It’s not, it’s been around for a couple of years in Vista.

Windows 7 does have many new features, but this is not one of them. This just proves people are ignorant about Vista and never gave it a real chance.

Phoenix Instant Boot looks like an impressive new technology that lets computers start up in just a few seconds. But let’s take a closer look at what is really happening.

The video is demonstrating a new BIOS that starts in about one second. The BIOS is supposed to make Windows load instantly as well. But this cannot happen with current hardware and a normal install of Windows. This is the key point – the Windows install. A normal install will have background applications running, more icons on the desktop, a higher resolution, and more things which will make it take longer to start. The video demo shows Windows Aero disabled, a resolution that appears way too low than it’s supposed to be, and it’s obviously a brand new install, maybe with the exception of a program or two installed (but not starting up).

The Windows install shown in the video is customized in a way that a normal user would never have it. That is why it boots so fast. And the thing about it changing how people will use the device – most likely no. It won’t change how people use laptops. It will just let people turn them on quicker. But then, who ever turns off their laptop? Hibernation cuts Windows loading time to half or less, and that’s what laptops do when you close the lid.

Don’t get me wrong – faster is always better when it comes to boot times. But people should also be realistic in terms of how much to expect – you just can’t boot a normal operating system in a few seconds on today’s hardware.

It has been leaked that Windows 8 will feature a 128-bit architecture.

This is good news in terms of moving forward and adapting new technology, but is the average consumer really ready for 128 bit operating systems? The answer to that is a definite no.

Most people today use a 32 bit version of Windows. If given the option whether to buy a 32 or 64 bit version of Windows, most people would have no idea what 32 or 64 bit even means. How much software right now is written for native 64 bit use? Almost none. 64 bit is barely being taken advantage of right now, so why introduce 128 bit?

Whether this is a good idea or not, 128 bit will come sooner or later, and if not in Windows 8 then most likely in Windows 9. But first the average computer user must transition to using a 64 bit operating system. And the people who know about 64 bit need to stop believing that all their old software won’t work on it. The fact is that most software does work on 64 bit systems; if it’s old, it gets emulated as if it were being run in 32 bit mode.

It’s a good thing that operating system architecture is advancing, but it would be so much better if software companies started to really take advantage of the power of 64 bit right now.

There have also been rumors that Windows 8 will abandon the Windows platform and will be based on Cloud Computing. The chance of this being true is nonexistent. Backwards compatibility needs to remain in Windows, and the base model of the operating system has to remain identical, otherwise businesses, which make up a huge percentage of Windows customers, will simply never upgrade. In fact, a large amount of businesses are still using Windows 2000.

Windows 8 will most likely be released sometime around 2012.

image from Wikipedia

There has been quite a bit of talk on the internet about the Conficker virus that was supposed to wreck a whole lot of computers yesterday. People are panicking all over the place as if their computer is about to explode.

This is just another virus. It is hyped up to be something devastating, but apart from its ability to replicate and avoid detection, it is like any other virus. A lot of viruses already steal personal information from your computer. To avoid catching Conficker C, use the same methods you would to prevent any other virus.

Assuming you don’t already have Conficker on your computer, waiting to attack, here are the usual anti-virus tips you should follow.

• Don’t click on suspicious links on suspicious sites.
• Don’t download suspicious files, or most of the time, files that are around 900kb or 300kb (unless you know the file you’re looking for is supposed to be that size).
• Use good a good anti-virus program like AVG and make sure it’s fully updated.
• Don’t open suspicious emails and their suspicious attachments.
• Scan files before you open them.
• Make sure your operating system is updated.
• Use a firewall. Vista’s firewall is sufficient for most people, so just make sure that it’s enabled.

Use common sense and if you think a site or file might be infected, don’t open it. If you think your computer might already be infected with the Conficker worm, my suggestion would be to just reformat. You will lose all your files that you did not back up, but at least you will be 100% sure that your personal information isn’t being stolen. Just don’t back up your files if you’re already infected, because the virus will transfer along with your backups. Good luck and keep your computer safe. To protect your computers from virus infection, it is always best to read Antivirus Reviews to select the best product in the market.

If your new hard drive is not showing up in Windows, it simply needs to be formatted. Here is how to format your new (or existing) hard drive from Windows Vista, without using any third party software.

Right click on Computer (which can also be found in your Start Menu if you don’t have it on your desktop). Click Manage.

The Computer Management window should open. When it does, select Disk Management from the left hand drop-down menu.

After selecting Disk Management, you should get a list of your hard disks. Right click on the hard drive that you need to format, and click Format. Note: you can also format and partition existing drives here. You can change any partition except the one which Windows is installed on.

In the Format window, give your new hard drive a name and choose the file system. For most purposes, you would want this to be NTFS. A full format is always recommended, meaning the “perform a quick format” box should be unchecked. Leave everything else as it is, and click OK. If you’re formatting an existing drive, all the data on it will be erased.

After it’s done formatting, your new hard drive should appear in “Computer”.

Engadget has been covering today’s WWDC 2008 keynote, and it has been announced that Apple’s next OS X version will be called Snow Leopard. And that is the dumbest name I have ever heard for any piece of software.

First of all, Snow Leopard won’t even have new key features. It will be only a security and performance update for Leopard. In other words, something Microsoft would call a service pack. Snow Leopard is just a service pack, so why does it even need a new name? Oh, probably because Apple is trying to show their OS is perfect, works all the time, and is secure – unlike Windows, which needs a service pack (roll eyes).

Now forget that Snow Leopard is just a service pack. Still, why did Apple pick such a name? You can say “my computer’s running Leopard” or “my computer’s running Windows” or even “my computer’s running Ubuntu” but can you imagine yourself saying “my computer’s running Snow Leopard”? I don’t know about you, but I think that just sounds dumb.

Also people are wondering if Snow Leopard will even be free. It is just a service pack after all, and people all over internet forums are seeing that. Microsoft doesn’t charge for its service packs, but then again Apple doesn’t even want to acknowledge that this is one.

Apple should have really picked a different name for its next “version” of OS X. Or just call it Leopard SP1.

At the All Things Digital conference today, Microsoft demonstrated some Windows 7 features. Supposedly the main feature of Windows 7 will be multi-touch capabilities, as already seen in the Microsoft Surface demos. While multi-touch might be useful for a table interface, I fail to see how it will ever be useful in a Windows operating system.

First, here is the video of the short demonstration:

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Now, first of all, only tablet laptops and touch-screen LCD’s will be able to make use of multi-touch. However, almost no one has a tablet, and only stores have touch screen LCD’s for customer interaction. There will be a very small amount of consumers who will be able to even use multi-touch.

Second, what’s the point? How often do people really want to drag a couple photos around the screen and rotate them? Are you really going to use a multi-touch piano? You might for ten minutes just to play with the technology, but that’s it. Most people aren’t going to use it to draw in paint. And again, how often do you use Google Maps?

Multi-touch might be useful for graphic artists, but most already have external touch pads for the job. For consumers, I just don’t see the application of multi-touch in everyday computing. For companies who use touch screen displays in the workplace, they already have the technology for it.

I see no purpose for multi-touch. It’s cool to use it for some demonstrations, but that’s it. Most people won’t even have the hardware for it, yet alone the use for it. And with Gizmodo saying multi-touch is the biggest feature of Windows 7, I’m starting to doubt whether this version of Windows will live up to the hype.

While an upgrade install disc for any version of Windows costs less than a full install disc, you should still still get the full install version. If you want to upgrade your install of Windows, do not choose the “upgrade” option from the installation disc. A clean install will be much better.

You might think that upgrading your installation will save time since you won’t have to reinstall programs and back up all your files. This is false, as it will only save time in the short run – but in the long run it will make your operating system slower and buggier.

Not all upgrades go wrong, but most do. If it doesn’t look like anything is wrong, there might still be some problems. An upgrade install can slow down your system a lot, but you might not notice it since you don’t have a clean install to compare to. Windows features and some programs might get buggier or just stop working like they’re supposed to. Individual features of programs might stop working.

The best thing to do when upgrading to a new version of Windows is to do a clean install and reformat. This means you need to back up all your files, and reinstall all your programs onto the new install. You need to completely wipe your hard drive, doing a hard reformat, not a “quick reformat”.

A clean install of any version of Windows will have a significantly higher chance of having no bugs or system slow downs. If you want to save money on a Windows OS upgrade, go with an OEM disc instead of an upgrade disc.

If you have a messy and disorganized (Windows) desktop, you are probably taking longer than you should to do basic tasks. Follow these simple tips to make it easier to find shortcuts, launch frequently used applications faster, and make your Windows desktop a more productive environment.

click to enlarge

If you have at least 20 different shortcuts on your desktop, you will find that separating them into groups will make it easier to find a particular shortcut. For example, you can put your internet browser and IM apps in the top left, your games on the bottom, and productivity apps on the top. This not only gives your desktop a neater look and lets you see the wallpaper better, but it also makes it easier to find applications.

2. Delete Shortcuts You Never Use

It’s very likely that your computer came with a lot of crapware preinstalled. You should delete shortcuts such as “Sign up with X Company” and “Register with …”. Also remove shortcuts to things you never use, like antivirus. Your antivirus runs in the background and most come with automatically scheduled scans. You will most likely never need to open the main screen of your antivirus program, so why keep the icon on the desktop?

3. Customize Your Quick Launch Toolbar

When you install a lot of apps, some come with the “Add shortcut to quick launch” pre-checked. If you don’t uncheck it, you will have a lot of shortcuts in your quick launch toolbar that are useless. Remove the shortcuts you don’t need, and add ones that you do need. Add programs that you tend to open a lot while another window is open. I recommend having no more than 10 shortcuts, depending on your screen resolution.

4. Get a Clean Wallpaper

If you have a graphic-heavy wallpaper, you might find it hard to find some shortcuts. A multi-color wallpaper might look cool, but your icons will blend in and you will take longer than you should to find them. This doesn’t mean you should use a single color as your wallpaper, but make it something smooth with a specific color scheme, so you can read shortcut names easier.

5. Rename Your Desktop Shortcuts

Your shortcuts shouldn’t be so long that they get cut off with “…” at the end. For example, you can rename “Mozilla Firefox 3.0 RC1″ to “Firefox”, “Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended” to “Photoshop”, etc. One line names are even better since they take up less space, which makes your desktop look neater overall.

6. Customize Individual Folders

Make your music folder sort by “title”, and make your pictures folder sort by “date modified”. This is just an example, but I find this useful because if I’m adding new pics from my digital camera, they are titled with random letters and numbers, so sorting by title here wouldn’t work. Date modified will make newer photos show up on top or on bottom. You can customize any folder with different icon sizes, sort orders, and other options.

7. Firefox – Customize the Bookmarks Toolbar

If you use Firefox, you should customize the bookmarks toolbar. I have never seen anyone with a customized toolbar, so I guess many people don’t know you can customize it. You can right click on individual shortcuts and click “Properties”, and change the name of the shortcut. If you have a lot of shortcuts this will make them all appear on one line of the toolbar. For example, you can rename “Gmail – Inbox” to “Gmail”, “YouTube – Broadcast Yourself” to “YouTube”, etc. This will save a huge amount of space on the toolbar. You can also drag the bookmarks toolbar anywhere to save space.

8. Set a Quick Loading Home Page

If you want to get to a certain URL right after opening your browser, you need a quick-loading home page. I recommend iGoogle. If you’ve never heard of iGoogle, go to Google and log in (or create an account), and on the top right click the “iGoogle” link. You can customize iGoogle with different themes and gadgets. The reason I recommend iGoogle is because it loads incredibly fast, even with lots of gadgets. And the gadgets are very useful.

Be sure to comment with your own tips for a better desktop below.