Windows 7 Options

[Saffy]

Does anyone here use Windows 7 yet? What are your opinions of it?

I've been used to Windows Vista for the past few months, and I was definitely excited to upgrade to Windows 7. It was the first time I had ever gone out to purchase an upgrade - instead of waiting to get a new computer. While there are some new features about that I quite like, such as the new taskbar or some updated programs, it sort of bothers me at the same time. I've only had Windows 7 installed for about two weeks yet I've already encountered a ton of problems. My fault for being an "early adopter"? Perhaps. Some of these issues are Windows 7 specific while others are to do with HP having not created patches for those who have upgraded. Overall, I don't feel the upgrade was worthwhile and I've begun to miss Windows Vista.

Here's some problems that annoy me even if they are small.

MSN almost always crashes when I first login to my computer and start it up. I'm sorry, but Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7 doesn't work without first crashing? It's one of your key programs on your own operating system. How could you not have it work properly? This has happened ever since I installed the OS.

In order to use the audio control buttons on my laptop I must first open a program called HP Mediasmart. The program needs to just run in the background, but instead it gets launched whenever I start up my laptop. Sure it's just a simple click to hide it, but it's the fact I have to.

On that note, my buttons still mess up whenever I do anything with my microphone, it appears. Suddenly I can't mute my sound until I restart my computer.

Clicking "Include in Library" sometimes crashes Windows Explorer (i.e. folder view) for no particular reason. Windows Explorer doesn't even work? I can understand if I had Windows 7 installed for a few months and errors began to appear, but that's a tad pathetic.

The folder list pane no longer automatically horizontally scrolls. There's also no horizontal scrollbar. This means that if you go deep enough into your folders that eventually you cannot see what you're looking at. Useless.

Windows 7 came only with outdated screensavers from the nineties. Hells yes, I can do pipes and 3D text! There wasn't even a default Windows 7 logo screensaver.

Alright, so I've definitely had quite a rant. I was excited to upgrade to Windows 7 but in the end it feels I spent $150 for more problems and a downgrade. I will admit the new taskbar is nice but most certainly not worth the price and newfound problems. I truly hope Microsoft will release some significant patches shortly.

Your thoughts? Any problems with it?

[Saffy]

I actually don't see why people were so against Vista. Everyone just hated it even if they hadn't used it. Sure, Windows 7 is basically what Vista was meant to be, but Vista itself is not terrible. I definitely grew to enjoy it.

The main problem I had with Vista that comes to mind is that my folder views would always change on their own. I'd go from My Documents to My Pictures to My Music, and their view would change from large thumbnails to details without much explanation why. I manged to resolve the problem once by going into the registry editor but it still came back unfortunately. Otherwise, Vista worked pretty well and I had no complaints.

After some searching regarding my previous complaints, I feel I have come out a bit better. I was able to get my old screensaver (that came with Vista) to work again on Windows 7. Also, I have learned that the horizontal scroll in the navigation pane was removed as it proved to be more of an annoyance to people. Visually, I'll admit it did look a tad weird swaying back and forth and sometimes it wouldn't even work. I'd still prefer a simple scrollbar to shift the view over though. The other issues I still see no excuse for and am disappointed.

Also, my other complaints stem from my laptop being designed for Windows Vista and not Windows 7. I've contacted HP who has said they are aware of the issues and intend to issue fixes.

I'm hopeful some new updates will come out for Windows 7 to resolve these problems.