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Microsoft Windows 7 Test Drive, Part 1

Dec 14, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer

           

Figure 4. Wow, I can access my Windows 7 drives from other computers on my own LAN without a Ph.D. in computer science.

First impressions of Windows 7

The biggest day-to-day irritation with my Vista computers is the inability to share files back and forth between other computers on the office LAN. When my world was all XP, I could share all drives on all computers and trade files back and forth with no problem. With Vista, in the same environment, I never did figure out how to share complete drives, though I did manage to expose folders on drives for sharing, which was clunky, but workable. I'm guessing there's a way to gain full drive access on a LAN, but I never could figure it out. With Windows 7, I spent a few moments twiddling with security settings, and every computer on the LAN could access the D drive on my Windows 7 computer—including the Mac I'm writing on. That's nice.

Figure 5. Windows 7 new search function is harder to find and harder to use.

My second biggest complaint with Vista was search. For me, XP search was pretty much perfect: You choose a file name, a drive, and perhaps a date and size, and you're off and running. With Vista, you could get to the same search parameters, but you really had to know where to look. In Windows 7, Microsoft made the search function both harder to find and more cumbersome. Basically, you click a drive, then enter a search term, then add modifiers such as those shown in Figure 5. Not trying to be a hater here, but it seems like search in Windows XP was both easier to find and easier to use. Perhaps there's some under-the-hood functionality that will take a while to sink in, but otherwise, it's a step backward in a function I use a lot.

Related Links

Microsoft Windows 7 Test Drive, Part 2 Last issue, I wrote about my experience installing Microsoft Windows 7 on a Windows XP 64-bit system. In this issue, I’ll compare the rendering performance of Windows 7 with that of Windows Vista... Microsoft Windows 7 Test Drive, Part 3 Back again with Microsoft Windows 7 tests. I received the 64-bit Windows XP system hard drive from Puget Systems I mentioned earlier this week and ran my comparative tests. I'll include the test descriptions (again) for those who jumped directly to these results... Review: HP Z400 The HP Z400 is the entry-level computer in HP's new Nehalem-based line, with models starting as low as $969. That's compared to $1,679 for the midlevel Z600 and $1,999 for the high-end Z800... Test Drive: HP Compaq 8710p, Part 1 My love affair with portable computers began in about 1983, when I taught myself Lotus 1-2-3 on a luggable Compaq, right there on my kitchen table one Friday night (and early Saturday morning). Other milestones include the my first Toshiba clamshell, which I used to demo fax boards on press tours back in the early 1990s...

One function that I've missed in every version of Windows since 3.1 is the ability to open up two windows in Windows Explorer. Though you still can't do that in Windows 7, you can open two instances side by side and have them snap into place just by dragging them to the extreme left and right side of the windows. That is one feature I know I'd use.

Basically, the ease of accessing Windows 7 computers is a huge feature for me; if it didn't mean that I had to throw away my LaserJet 1012 printer, I'd install Windows 7 on my primary writing station, my HP Compaq 8710p notebook. Other than that, I have to say that even after scanning the new features lists of Windows 7, there weren't many new features that felt like "must haves," especially if I was going to have to shell out $300 for the pleasure. Basically, it's going to come down to performance, which I'll assess in the next edition.