Win7 Prettiness

Back to Windows 7 now… to be honest, I haven’t recently checked if it was available for vista, but there are an awesome selection of themes available… some with multiple desktops even. Very nice.

Back to the task bar though, I just noticed another improvement in space management:
It seems to be an addition to Aero called Aero Peek which not only gives you the small preview just above the start bar, but if you hold the mouse over an icon a bit longer, you get a full screen preview to see exactly what’s going on there.

Another addition I’ve noticed is built-in biometric software, so no need to installed layered software from your PC’s manufacturer now…

Lastly for now, I haven’t mentioned it before as it was the most mentioned item I had seen online before trying Win7 myself, is the way gadgets work now… not on a bar on the right but anywhere on the screen… again, just a nicety, never used it much myself so it may get a more rampant mention by a fan.

Ok, enough for now, my dinner’s arrived!

Windows 7 – First glance

OK, so I thought it was about time I got the Release Candidate for Windows 7 and test it out… I must say the download from IE8 was a bit irritating, but when I went back to FireFox, all went smoothly.

Right, so down to my first notes on Win7

• Test and system details:
  The version I am using is the x86 version of build 7100
  Running on an ASUS U3S with 2.5Gb RAM and using the nVidia VGA card right now (will test the onboard Intel later)

The install seems focused on upgrading rather than new installations, (hehe, seems they realise most see this as a bit of a service pack for Vista,) but under the custom options it is very simple to start a fresh install and customise your partitions if necessary.

After the install which felt rather quick, you get to create your main user account and choose your update settings as expected and then you’re in…

We’re greeted with a new start bar which interestingly enough reminds me of a Linux bar I have used so that was pleasing. The bar now doesn’t show the entire name of an app, rather just the icon. As well as this, the shortcut bar has the Apple and Linux feature of highlighting the apps you run from it rather than opening them as a new icon on the start bar… All of this is creating a great feel of space.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see my wireless card supported out the box, (ready for the first time to complete even the wireless settings during setup,) and then my GeForce drivers were installed with the first Windows Update installs.

Anyway, we’re at that point now so I will be posting things every now and then as I find things worthy of it. But to conclude the first post… I am surprisingly impressed with my first glance at Windows 7… as I have heard many say, it looks to be what Vista was supposed to be.