Re-poll: Windows 7 users, well, how is it?

I bought a iMac 3 years ago and last year a new iMac with "Snow Leopard" and a new desktop with Windows Vista and it didn't take long to need to move on to "Windows 7 Home Premium". Now after 6 months my iMac is the secondary system in the far-awayyyy Den. My windows 7 system is here next to me where the iMac used to be. Bottom-line Windows 7 does everything the iMac could and even better. 1 thing still bad, I can't get a virtual XP running on this system.

I think we all need access to "Windows XP Mode" in "Windows 7 Home Premium" where from the start it should have been. Microsoft slapped us in the face and some didn't feel it. I don't hear the outrage there should be. Most uses of Win 7 is "Home Premium". Windows 8 will never darken my door.

Frequent blue screen crashes. Software doesn't work and replacement software is poorly designed and expensive.

When XP loses support, I lose Microsoft. I still have to use my XP machine to get on the internet.

In my opinion, Windows 7 is Windows 98 spruced up a bit. I just purchased a new machine with Windows Home Premium (64 bit) pre-installed. Problems:
(1) Software that is more than 2 years old will not run. This includes Microsoft Office. Some software (Such as Adobe Acrobat) even in the newest versions Adobe sells, are not fully compatible.
(2) Rather than getting the "Blue Screen" of death, the programs freeze. Solution is to hit "Ctrl/Alt/Del" and then restart the software. This includes a fresh download of the latest version of Firefox and Thunderbird.

Window 7 is slightly better then Vista and much better then XP. I had problems with programs and updates running in the background slowing my machine to a crawl at times and causing hesitations while online with Windows 7. I reset a few alerts and updates to manual, instead of auto start and it has straightened out nicely. I think I'll keep it.

I also dumped IE8 and went to FireFox which was a huge improvement. Unfortunately I still need IE8 for some online videos, damn!

I have been using PCs since 1984. I find Windows 7 better and nicer than XP in a lot of ways. "Search" in the Start button is fantastic, and many things seem easier. I like the new Gadgets and the new Taskbar, and being able to hide icons in the Notification Area. I have turned off most of the Aero effects, which I found distracting.

Despite liking the OS, some things drive me crazy. I write my own software for mathematical modeling, and it's quite difficult to put anything into the "Program Files" directory because of permissions. I tried to edit the "hosts" file and ran into the same issue. (It can be edited, but only by opening an editor as an Administrator *and* opening the file through the file menu, the most tedious way.)

Many things are made easy, but it is difficult to figure out what is happening behind the scenes. For example, networking happens almost automatically, but I still haven't figured out exactly what settings Windows is applying behind the scenes.

Some things made "easier" are annoyances. For example, if I look at "My Documents" in a file manager, it says the name of the directory is "Documents", but it always shows up in Explorer as "My Documents." So I never know where to look in alphabetical order. And the idiotic long preset names with spaces -- like "Program Files (x86) -- are irritating when I have to type them in. MS has changed the filesystem layout again (e.g., for things like Application Data), which makes it tricky keeping both a W7 and an XP computer set up similarly.

So far, though all my programs work fine, and the OS seems to be a bit more robust than XP. So I would vote, "better than I thought, but not a major step forward."

I recently bought the Windows 7 Home Edition Pro 3 pack.

First, let me state that I have been working with computers for over 40 years. The first one had more than 10,000 vacuum tubes and programmed with IBM punch cards. I had my own design company for over 20 years. I have programmed in everything from Basic to Ada - including in Machine Code. I think that qualifies me as computer literate.

After a clean install on a freshly formatted hard drive (to "upgrade" from win XP) every time I wanted to do things it asked for administrator approval (I am the ONLY authorized user on this machine) and sometimes even refused to let ME change configurations.

All my data files are on two hard drives SEPARATE from the boot drive. All of my files on the Three hard disks became "Read Only" and I subsequently actually LOST some of the files in trying to work on the machine. I would go through the procedures to remove the "Read Only" lock on the files and next time I addressed the files it was AGAIN "Read Only."

I contacted Micro$oft (I INTENDED to spell it that way) I spoke to a service rep (probably from somewhere in India) who attempted to walk me through solving the problems. Even after I followed all the instructions I STILL had numerous frustrations.

After wasting a week trying to get this software(?) to work I finally RE-FORMATTED the hard drive and re-installed Win XP. In case you haven't guessed by now, I AM NOT IMPRESSED.

Windows 7 is the best Windows version I have ever used. I've used 98, XP, Vista, and 7, and 7 is easily the best. On my laptop there used to be Vista, and I upgraded to Windows 7, and Windows 7 is the most responsive, quickest, and best laid out. What I like best is the slide show background and themes.

Going from Win2000Pro with a brief encounter with XP I expected a real hassle, but installed smooth, setup easy and runs dog slow.
Had to upgrade Motherboard. 7 wouldn't install to EIDE on the Socket 939 MSI that Windows 2K loved.

Windows 7, while being leaps and bounds ahead of the disaster that was Vista, is FAR from an ideal OS. Many frustrations from Vista and XP have failed to be corrected and many new frustrations have been added. Windows 7 is generally more stable that either Vista or XP, but still lags well behind the stability demonstrated by Windows 2000. Windows 7 is unnecessarily complicated and requires many third party fixes to make things work that should work "out of the box". Libraries is a disaster in itself that was supposed to fix another disaster that was Windows Explorer.

What is it with Microsoft developer's vocabularies? "Way back when" we had Program Manager and had Internet Explorer. Then, for no obvious reason, they decided to rename Program Manager to Windows Explorer so we could confuse it with Internet Explorer. That was not bad enough! Now we have Windows Explorer Favorites - not to be confused with Internet Explorer Favorites which is confusing enough because everybody else calls them Bookmarks. This whole Windows 7 is developed by people with no more vocabulary and no more imagination than illustrated by these examples.

I have issues with the system constantly losing the monitor settings and resetting the resolution. I've contacted my retailer for a refund, but it's in the hands of Microsoft at the moment and I'm waiting for them to get back to me as to whether it will be fixed or not. If it's not fixed, the OS is unusable as far as I'm concerned. I'm very disappointed.

Well it's a big improvement on Vista, but that isn't saying much, now is it? Is it an improvement on XP? Well overall, I have to say yes!
I have been running it on 3 machines for over a year, including betas
1 single AMD, 1 dual Intel and 1 dual 64 bit AMD. I still get the occasional crash, but the 64bit version seems extremely solid, it hardly ever gives problems. The one thing that does annoy me is that the error reporting and recovery still leaves lots to be desired! The dual Intel machine seems to have an intermittant networking problem! It just looses all of its network capability, but the OS doesn't even notice apart from all network activity ceases? IPCONFIG shows no network at all. The only recourse seems to be a reboot? I must say
that I have had much fewer spurious crashes than on XP, I put this down to se7en having much more in the way of internal drivers for
most MoBo's and periherals.
In all it's getting better, but it still isn't as good as it could, and should be.

Win7 trial will not upgrade from XP. It only comes as the highest edition and not home edition. After Win7 install you find out that you lost all your programs from XP. No Outlook mail. Your internal and external speakers will not work unless you have a sound card seperate from onboard sound (motherboard). You can install using XP compatability mode but unless you install a premium version of 7 before the trial ends you will loose all of your programs that you reinstalled designed for the XP system, and you can only run programs intended for use with Win7 operating system. The graphics etc. are great and organization is great in Win7. You need more RAM and a higher processor, hence a new computer purchase. It has more security features but it is always asking you to confirm things before running them (will not remember your choices). You are forced to purchase a new Win7 that has XP compatability when the trial ends and those editions are more expensive to purchase.Remember to have your original XP or Vista install disks and your work saved on a CD or DVD data disks before you install/remove Win7.

I tried Win7 RC (64) and it worked fine. When I went to 'upgrade' to WIN7 HP it advised me that I hadn't enough memory to run the 64 bit system and it wouldn't upgrade! I had to do a clean install! Then it wouldn't READ some of my program discs- 'Not suitable for this system'- luckily I found that the same programs were in the Windows.old folder and they DID run, (but not all). Other programs which had run well suddenly wouldn't - they couldn't find a suitable.dll (missing or corrupted error). I couldn't replace the .dll because I hadn't high enough permissions- I had to be ' TrustedInstaller' which I wasn't.
Other minor points- the search engine canNOT find everything! I am looking at an item which the search says ' cannot be found'!!! Removing the 'arrange' button in the documents folder (or is that the My Documents folder?) is another unnecessary change. As for memory needs! Once again Microsoft have said they have produced a new 'Ferrari' of an operating system, but once again they have tied an even BIGGER horse-box on behind!

I have been using Windows 7 for a few months now on a few different machines and my opinion is that it was a decent upgrade from Vista, but still has problems. I have a new (Sept '09) core-duo desktop, a new (Feb '10) dual core AMD all-in-one, and an older 32 bit laptop. When first installed on the desktop I had a number of blue screen issues that seemed to happen at random times. A few patches later those seem to have disappeared. I still don't like the interface as well as that on XP. The icons and graphics just don't seem as sharp to me, and it is hard to customize it to get as much on the screen as I want. Many older programs, especially games, lock the system up and require reboots, but this is less frequent than on Vista, which was a nightmare.

The laptop is slow as molasses, even though it is only about a year and a half old. I am planning to go back to XP on it just because it is almost useless the way it is. Fortunately I rarely use it and the laptop supplied by my employer uses XP, because the standard there has not changed, and it's not clear if or when it will.

I don't like the "Homegroup" feature at all! It can't be used to network anything but Win 7 machines, so that leaves any of my machines with older operating systems out. It is also difficult to setup through a non-windows supplied firewall. I was able to get it to work through my firewall, but it takes some custom configuration. The homegroup setup function is designed to be idiot proof, which means that you have very few options when configuring it without resorting to tricks to get around Microsoft's wizards.

Overall, Windows 7 is an improvement on the mess that was Vista, but still seems to be designed as a paternalistic system, primarily useful for neophytes. It is designed to be easy to use, but consequently makes it more difficult to customize.

I haven't used computers as long as some in this thread, but I have used computers for about 20 years. First PC was an 80386 SX 16 MHz with 4 MB RAM and 42 MB harddrive.

My mom bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium on it. Apart from the general learning curve, where I learn from doing once, and she learns from me repeating it 15 times to her... I have never seen so much trouble with a laptop. She bought an upgrade DVD which I installed for her. A week later, I had to do a complete re-install of her system. Next week, I had to spend 5 hours reading information on the Net about how to get her network to work in 7. A few days later, I had to do maintenance. Next week, she had problems with IE8. Another 2 hours reading on the Net. The week after, the "Genuine Windows crapdate" came, and her legal system was flagged as pirated. Took me 8 hours to sort through. A few days later, I had to do a re-install of Thunderbird for her, and went to find the e-mail files and configuration files. These are hidden files. I spent 3 hours researching the Net for how to view hidden files and folders. You CAN'T! Even following a Microsoft Knowledge Base-article didn't work! I downloaded a free file manager program, and 5 minutes later it was done. UAC keeps popping up when you least expect it. It won't accept anti-virus software without giving a BSOD.

During the XP-years I migrated my six computers to Ubuntu and haven't looked back since. I am debating whether or not I'll even do any assistance for Windows anymore. The ONE thing I have found that Ubuntu can't do, which I coincidentally find to be a feature, is play DRM-ed video. Everything else, it does as good or better, as fast or faster, as Windows XP/Vista/7.

And the best part of Ubuntu over Windows, IMO? I USE THE SYSTEM, I DON'T MAINTAIN IT! Once a week I install updates (for ALL my programs), and that's it. Takes anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes. With any Windows version out there, I use at least 6 hours a week doing CCleaner, defragging, virus scans, malware scans, updating definitions files, install updates (for Windows only!), search for updates to programs I've installed, and so on and so forth.

And networking in Windows is a joke. I did 3 network-setups on 3 computers, side-by-side by reading a Knowledge Base-article. It took me 2 hours. The only difference I did on them, was give them separate names, as is proper. After 2 hours, I found that 2 of the computers could share ONE folder on each machine, and the third couldn't see or be seen by the network. In Ubuntu, from an empty (or Windows-infested) PC to interconnectivity to all six machines, I use about 1 - 1 1/2 hours, depending on the speed of the machine. That's from inserting the CD, boot it, install the system, remove programs I don't need, install everything I DO need, set up network connection and join my LAN, set up file- and foldersharing and setting the shared files and folders to automount as drives upon start-up.

I spent about 8 years with Windows, routers and several PCs, without EVER getting network to function properly, even when following manuals. It took me 6 months to learn to set up a network in Ubuntu by rote.

And the price tag on 7? Boy, that's a great sales pitch! How can you justify spending 1NOK on a CD-R to burn a Linux distro when you can spend 1200NOK on a DVD filled with bugs and annoyances and "fancy graphics"? And you can even spend more if you feel like it! Ultimate only costs 2500NOK! All you need to run Ultimate is a computer priced around 8000NOK, and you're good to go! Who wants to re-use their old computer anyway? I must be the dumbest person ever to think I can do anything with a P3... Who would want to save money when all you really need is a browser, mediaplayer, and a text-program? And how can you beat Microsoft's support-system priced at 800NOK for 3 e-mails, 1500NOK for 30 mins of live person-to-person phone calls (not including cost of phone call)? Who, in their right mind, thinks other users actually knows anything and can help you with your problem? And noone minds it when we make your system "phone home" to tell us what you've been doing since yesterday. Who would want to control their own system when Micro$oft does such a great job of doing it for you? Who wouldn't mind getting a message saying you can no longer use your system because Micro$oft found out that you used their system to make a movie criticising them? (The End-User License Agreement, which you don't get to see or read before inserting the installation disc in the computer, and having opened the package, already have accepted, actually gives them that "right")

Now, seeing as this poll was about Windows 7, I've bashed Windows and Microsoft. But most of what I've said here actually applies to every member of the Business Software Alliance. Haven't heard of them? They're the MPAA and RIAA and IFPI and BPI and so on and so forth, for software companies that insert DRM in their products, sue for patent infringement because they patented the idea of "tabs". They never used it, but they patented the idea, so you better pay up, or else! (Tabs is just an example, but their patents are actually that stupid)

To round this all off: I've used EVERY version of Microsoft OS and Office product from DOS 5.0. The last OS Microsoft released that actually was any good, was DOS 6.22. With it, I managed to expand the abilities of my 80386 so much, I could fit nearly 750 MB worth of software on that 42MB harddrive, and I managed to tweak the settings such that I could actually run games made for a Pentium 90 (not without SOME lagging, but it was playable).

The last time I had a similar experience was when I first used Ubuntu on a (then) 7-year old laptop, a Pentium 366MHz with 192MB RAM and 6.2GB harddrive. It ran XP, but took 10 min to boot. It had no network card, and was one of the first laptops to have a CD-drive. After I installed Ubuntu, I did a speed test alongside an XP-system, clean install except for OpenOffice. The XP-system was a P4 1GHz with 1.5 GB RAM and 200GB harddrive. After clicking to open OpenOffice Writer, the XP-system took a little over a minute to start it. The same OpenOffice Writer-version on Ubuntu took about 45 seconds to start. And I managed to get networking on it by hooking a USB-cable to my cable-modem and ticking off in Network Manager that the (single) USB 1.1 port was a network port. When I tried the same in XP, I had to install a driver for 20 minutes, fail, remove, re-install, fail, search the Net at a friend's house for instructions, download a newer driver, install, and fail. Wouldn't work.

There are so many reasons why I don't think Windows is worth the price of the cardboard box, regardless of which version it is. But as a "newer and better" version of Windows comes out every now and then, I have to test it because I am my social circle's computer-guru. And every time a new version comes, I get bigger and bigger headaches. Literally. After my sessions with my mom's computer, you can find me in a dark room, lying down, crying after having taken painkillers to get rid of the headache. You may ask why I'm crying? I'm smart, I'm computer literate, I have played with computers for over 20 years, and up until Vista, there wasn't a problem I couldn't figure out. Now, a simple thing like locating and looking at hidden files and folders are beyond me. In my Ubuntu machines, it's two mouse-clicks or two key-presses. In W7 I had to search the Net for an alternate file-manager and learn a new program's quirks before I could do that.

You have to be very careful when you transfer files to Windows 7 as the directory structure, in my opinion, has been screwed up. In XP I tried to explain to my adult students, some who are in their 80's, that they should look at the hard drive like a file cabinet. There is a program drawer which also has the system file in it. Then there is the personal document drawer in my case Sheila's File Cabinet. Then inside that cabinet are many separating folders, I.e. documents, pictures, vidos, music etc. It is a good idea to make sure that all of your personal files are filed appropriately in these sub folders. Now when I want to back up my personal data all I need to is back up Sheila's File Cabinet, and all of its sub-folders.

The problem with updating to windows 7 without thinking about the directory structure is that you can end up with more then one documents folder. For people who haven't much of a background in managing folders and files this can become a nightmare.

They have also changed how you find folders, and I believe it is more confusing. LOL at least for me and I have been doing this for over 12 years. Well writing about it isn't going to change it.

I do not have 7 yet, but work with students who do have it. I appreciate this time of learning before I get 7 as I should be able to avoid some of the pitfalls. Some of the features are really great, but some things they should have kept the same. Just my two cents. LOL at least they put start on the start medallion so those first using the computer might have a chance on getting started.