window 7

Windows 8 slower out of gate than Windows 7, says report

Windows 8 is playing second fiddle to Windows 7, at least in Internet traffic, according to data out today from StatCounter.

Over the four-week period ending November 26, Windows 8 had grabbed a worldwide Internet usage share of just 1.31 percent, the Web traffic firm said.

In comparison, Windows 7 had achieved a global Internet usage share of 4.93 percent during the one month after its debut in October 2009.

Both operating systems officially launched in October during their respective years. However, both were also available as freely downloadable release candidates prior to their official debuts.

StatCounter's … Read more

Add free gadgets with Windows 7 Gadgets Pack

Who doesn't love Windows gadgets? These simple desktop apps handle all kinds of jobs, from time and calendar displays to weather and news feeds and even games and utilities. Thoosje's Windows 7 Gadgets Pack is a free set of its 25 most popular Windows gadgets, with tons more available online. From Gadgets Pack's interface you can install gadgets with a single click. We tried it out in Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, though Thoosje offers a similar gadget pack for Windows 8.

Based on our choices, Gadgets Pack's installer placed desktop and start menu icons in … Read more

Get in the holiday spirit with themes for Windows

To help you get in the spirit of the holidays this season, Microsoft has released some new holiday theme packs for Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems. To install them, just download the theme packs, then double-click them. Here are some samples of the new themes:

Decking the Halls There are a total of 12 wallpapers in this theme, consisting of mostly beautiful ornaments.

Get it HERE.

Holiday Lights This theme has 17 wallpapers of decorative lights.

Get it HERE.

Snowmen The snowmen theme has seven wallpapers of snowmen in various poses.

Get it HERE.

Decorating the Trees This theme … Read more

IE10 almost ready for Windows 7

The first Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview for Windows 7 has arrived, gifting many of its improvements to the older OS as Microsoft prepares to keep IE current beyond the gates of Windows 8.

"There's a long alphabet soup of new abilities that we've built into Internet Explorer 10" for Windows 7, Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager for IE, said during an interview last week at CNET's San Francisco office. In addition to porting over the new IE10 Chakra and JavaScript engines, IE 10 on Windows 7 also gets the Touch API innovations that … Read more

IE10 preview for Windows 7 arriving tomorrow, report says

The Internet Explorer wait appears to be over for Microsoft loyalists.

A new preview version of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 will be available tomorrow, according to LiveSide, a site that follows Windows Live.

The site got its information from a Chinese technology blog, iFanr, which attended an IE10 media press event in Beijing today. iFanr cited comments from a Microsoft executive, who announced the imminent release of the preview version of the browser.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company doesn't talk about rumors or speculation.

The update is the first preview since June 2011. … Read more

Microsoft won't bring DirectX 11.1 to Windows 7

Windows 8 will have sole custody of DirectX 11.1, according to a Microsoft engineer.

Responding to a question on an MSDN forum, Daniel Moth, a Microsoft program manager, broke the news that "at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7."

That same holds true for versions prior to Windows 7, leaving the new DirectX version exclusive to Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012.

DirectX is a collection of programming interfaces from Microsoft that enable 3D animation and other multimedia effects used mostly in games. Developers … Read more

Windows 7 keeps growing in popularity over XP

Windows 7 increased its lead over XP in October.

As recorded by Web tracker Net Applications, Windows 7 scored a market share of 44.7 percent last month, a slight gain from September's 44 percent. Over the same time, XP's share fell from 41.2 percent to 40.7 percent.

Though the gap between September and October is hardly earth-shaking, the numbers show that Windows 7 is slowly grabbing more users from the now 11-year-old XP. After years of XP holding the dominant position, Windows 7 finally won the top OS spot in August, according to Net Applications.… Read more

Making sense of the confusing world of Windows 8

Can you have too much choice? It's an old adage, and I'm beginning to feel it again as I ponder what to do about getting started with Windows 8, which launches October 26. Do I want a tablet, slate, convertible, laptop, or laptop with touch screen? Where does Windows RT fit in? There are so many choices that I feel almost paralyzed in deciding. As a first step, which I hope will be useful to others, I've tried to organize the options.

Microsoft's lack of guidance Let me start with some background and … Read more

Why you should buy a new PC right now

I don't want to alarm you, but the clock is ticking.

The Windows clock, I mean. Microsoft's new operating system debuts October 26. This means that very soon thereafter, any new Windows laptop or desktop you want to buy will come with Windows 8.

Let me be blunt: As a desktop operating system, Windows 8 blows. It's completely unintuitive. It forces you to relearn the simplest tasks, like how to shut down your PC. (No, seriously; there's no more Start menu, so to shut down, you have to venture into the Settings menu. Seriously.) And from … Read more

Top 5 reasons not to upgrade to Windows 8

Windows users have a lot to be excited about. With Windows 8 launching on October 26 and a slew of new hardware coming off the assembly line, this is the biggest reinvention we've seen of Windows since the launch of XP.

But some people are less than excited about the change. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols from ZDNet has no qualms calling this "the worst Windows version to date." Similarly, Ed Bott has a list of tips on how to skip Windows 8 and stay with Windows 7.

So in advance of the deafening marketing roar we're likely … Read more