Windows 7, the latest potential winner from Microsoft is almost here; Oct 22 is the big day. Last month, I found many cool Windows 7 pages online. After WordPress on the first issue, and Image Handling on the second, this months issue of “Best of @MillionClues” is about Windows 7.
(An extract from each post is included for easy reference)
First,See if your System is ready for Windows 7 with Upgrade Advisor:
Download Free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
Only PCs with Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7. Remember Windows XP users are required to do a clean install of the Windows 7 RC as well as the final product. If you are running Windows XP and do not have .NET Framework 2.0 yet, you will be asked to download and install it.
Why do you need Windows 7? Here is the answer:
18 Cool Things Windows 7 does, that Windows Vista Doesnt
Snap into place
Simply drag your window to the left or right edge of the desktop to snap and resize the window to one half of the screen. Drag the window to the top to maximise it. A pretty neat idea made neater by the use of the keyboard shortcuts (Win + respective arrow keys). No longer do you have to frustratingly position the mouse at the edge of the window to resize it.
But there are many Windows 7 versions, which one to choose from? How much do they cost? OK, here is the buyers Guide:
Windows 7 Buying Guide : Which Windows7 version to choose
The various editions of Windows 7 are designed such that each version has all the features of the previous editions plus something extra that makes that edition unique. Also, you can use the Anytime Upgrade feature to purchase a serial key online and upgrade your existing Windows 7 license to a more advanced edition.
For instance, if you decide to buy Windows 7 Home Premium today, you can use Anytime Upgrade and shift to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate edition anytime.
Now that you have decided on your copy of Windows 7, here is the user manual:
Windows 7 Complete Guide
Windows 7 is Microsoft’s biggest user-interface overhaul since Windows 95. It’s no surprise, then, that even Windows veterans could use a crash course on how to use it.
Time to hack!
The Ultimate Guide to Make Windows 7 Blazing Fast
Disabling the Unwanted Services to Speed up Windows 7
There are many services in windows 7 that we dont require for our daily use. There are some exceptional cases though. Services such as “print spooler” is only needed when we use a printer. If we use a printer only occasionally we can safely turn off that service in Windows 7 and turn it on only when we need to take a print.
Free Tools for Windows:
Process Hacker – A Powerful Windows Task Manager Alternative
Windows Task manager only lists running processes, but Process Hacker allows you to investigate where these processes are coming from (even if they are hidden) and displays helpful graphs and statistics about them. Its kernel-mode driver gives the application the power to terminate, suspend and resume all processes and threads, including those that are usually untouchable by Window’s task manager.
Windows Password Recovery Tools
This is a collection of amazing password Recovery tools for Windows. There are tools to find your saved IM passwords, email passwords and any other passwords that you might have forgotten. Some tools list all saved passwords right when you open it; open them when you have no one around.
For the bigger picture, follow @MillionClues on twitter.
Image Credit: Windows 7 Guide (A black version of this wall paper is also available)
I am a WordPress product developer and creator of Image Attributes Pro. I am passionate about solving problems and travelling the world.
Great Compilation. Also Thanks for including my post bro.
That was a great post, the digg homepage hit proves it. Good going 🙂
It is also very good on RAM resources, it does not eat up a lot of ram. And The looks are mind blowing. I will use the Free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor now to check weather my current PC is worth it or not!
I should do the upgrade soon. Though I have 4 GB RAM here, vista eats a lot. Good to see you here.
thanks for collecting all these 🙂 these are the best Windows 7 resources ive seen till now 🙂
Glad you loved them, Thanks for dropping in 🙂
I sorta got rid of Windows after Vista crashed twice and took some of my valuable data along with it. Even though these features sound cool, I’m rather weary of Microsoft’s marketing
Maybe you should get acquainted with MAC then, as the saying goes “Once you go mac, you will never go back” 😉
oh no! I better wait for Google to bring out their OS.. Vista was a disaster story for me.. I can’t take any more risks. 🙂
As far as I have seen vista, its cool. I mean, Windows XP was good for me, hope Windows7 would stand up to its name.
It really is cool. It is the newest windows today.
I’ve been using Win 7 since 11th May, and is this a relief !! HELL YEAH !! The 64 bit version is smooth apart from the fact that some high end applications require their 64bit version. Else, all is well. I dont remember the last time that I installed an OS so fast. MY my, Win7 lives up to its name. I didnt have to download any drivers for my lap as well. I do have a few problems, but thats to do with my laptop hardware. The OS is smooth. Its probably time that most people started using Win7 but for those who are yet too. What are you waiting for. And yea, any sponsors for a MAC ?? i soo want to try it out.. 😛 😛 😛
LOL, mac’s are catching up fast. There was only one Mac in MACE when you guys were around (if I am not wrong). Now there are three four macs around.
btw, I got a free Win7 upgrade from Dell, haven’t tried it though. I don’t find any problems with Vista, I guess most problems were cuz users don’t know how to use it, or solve simple issues. Moving to win7 soon 🙂
Problems with Vista pop up depending on what all you use. My lap is usually on 24×7. And i do too many things at the same time, things which were perfectly fine with XP. I had problems with winamp, kept crashing. Overall speeds were slow, transfer rates. I felt crippled. I had TuneUP software fixing all errors and cleaning registry but still. Vista was a nightmare! I’ve not had that feeling with Win7 yet. And if at all i have problems with Vista, it used to be cause i opted the 64bit or with networking. I seriously cant get around networking troubles. And advice to Vista users, down automatically download updates. One of the services packs left my lap on an infinite reboot process to which windows did not have a remedy. Since i had all my files stored on a diff hdd, i didnt lose any files. It was after that, that i switched to Win7. your probably the 1st person that has told that its fine with VISTA. Which version u got ? I have heard that Vista Ultimate had fewer problems compared to Home.
Mine is Vista Home Premium 64 bit. My lap is on whenever am awake, but I use it to run Firefox, Listen to music (windows media player), movies on VLC, and some GAMES. Maybe thats why everything is fine. Also its only 5 months old. Also the configuration is good, way too much that I actually need, 4 GB ram and 2.53 processor with 512 graphics card. So far so good 🙂
btw, I never update windows via auto update. Always wait for service packs to come out 🙂
Ah, its 64bit.. no wonder. Even service packs, u need to read reviews before u update. Cheers !! 🙂