January 4, 2009

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you know you shouldn’t, but you just can’t resist. I recently found myself in just such a situation when presented with a beta copy of Windows 7. Did I ignore it? Of course not! I did what any red blooded geek would do: I installed it on my MSI Wind.

I knew when I bought the Wind that my os choices were limited. I could use Linux or Windows XP. I honestly prefer to do my tweaking on a smaller platform (Windows Mobile or Palm) and not on a pc, so I have studiously stayed away from Linux. Nonetheless, I wanted to see more power (insert Tim ‘the tool man’ Taylor impression here). I have heard that one of the improvements Microsoft made in developing Windows 7, was making it small enough, fast enough, and powerful enough (without being overpowering) to run on a netbook. So I backed up the few files I had accumulated on my Wind, and started the install.

I couldn’t do an upgrade from XP – you can only do that from Vista, so I had to do a clean install. In a way I was disappointed in this, knowing full well that the majority of Vista problems came from upgrading rather than installing new in the first place. However, I can live with starting from optimum conditions. The install took less than 90 minutes, and with only 3 reboots I was up and running.

Basic Windows 7 beta screen

After the system starts fully for the first time, you are (in traditional Windows fahion) prompted to set up some basic things like firewall, anti-virus, and Internet Explorer. Here’s where I met my first snag. Internet Explorer couldn’t locate the website. What website? Any website. Eeek! Not a wireless signal to be seen. So with a little help from my friend Google, I found where Martin Woodward had run into the same issue when he installed an earlier Windows 7 beta back in November. He recommended installing the newest driver in compatibility mode and then go online for further updates.

Forty minutes later, having installed at least two newer drivers, I was still no closer to getting online. I was beginning to get just a little panicky, and then I thought…let’s try this “old school.” I unplugged a cat 5 from one of the many devices on my router that are not wireless, and plugged it into my little Wind. I don’t think I even had time to sit back down before a balloon message popped up to inform me that Windows was updating. Two minutes later (and that may be an overestimate!) I was able to unplug the cat 5 and access my home network and the internet. What a relief!

I quickly connected to my network’s backup drive and restored all my files. So far so good. I remember people having all sorts of troubles with drivers and peripherals when Vista first came out, and that was one of the things that kept me away from Vista. (Until an unfortunate burglary and subsequent purchase of a new laptop forced me to it.) That suggested to me that I should try those things that initially choked Vista. As I mentioned, connecting to my network’s backup drive was a snap, so the next obvious choice was my network’s HP laserjet printer. This also went without a hitch, and printing from my Wind over the network is a fait accompli.

Along with probably the majority of Vista users, one of the first things I did on my HP  laptop, was to disable the user account control security feature. Too many times I was protected from myself, resulting in extreme frustration and many many four letter words. It looks as though Windows 7 isn’t quite so “aggressive” in its duties. It also gives you more options as to how to handle the security, without having to jump through hoops, or modify registry entries (often the best way to make Vista back off).

User Security Control

Next came the one part that had me a bit concerned. Our school system has things so locked down, that they have managed to block most sites not hosted in the US – quite the challenge for us foreign language teachers! So I use my Wind extensively in the afternoons with Pdanet. This way I can check sites recommended by other foreign language teachers throughout the day from FLTeach, as well as some non educational activities – like checking out what’s happening on Twitter! Windows Mobile Device Center came with Windows 7 (unlike Vista, where despite its necessity, you still had to download it!). So after setting up Outlook, I plugged in my Treo 800w. “New device found. New drivers installed.” Really? It’s that simple? WMDC recognizes my Treo and can browse its files. Sweet. Installation of Pdanet was equally smooth.

Options

As you can see from the “Personalize” screen, not much seems to have changed here, although it is pretty!

One of the other changes that I do like, is the Start menu. Mostly what I like about this is the shut down options. Click directly on “shut down” and it shuts down – as it should have all along. If I wanted to restart or go to sleep, I wouldn’t have clicked shut down! As you can see, next to shut down is an arrow which gives you your other options: restart, go to sleep, log off user, etc.

Start

I’m not sure what will happen when the beta expires, but I’m all set to purchase Windows 7. It looks like Microsoft has resolved almost everything that was wrong with Vista, and come up with something that’s functional as well as beautiful.

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