While most of you have XP or Vista, a few of you have Windows 7. If you do have Windows 7, please check the CD’s that came with your computer and make sure you have a repair or a recovery CD. If you don’t have one, then we recommend you create one as soon as possible.

To create one:

1. Put blank CD or DVD into the appropriate drive.

2. Click start, type repair and then look at the top of the start menu and click on “Create a System Repair Disc”

3. Follow instructions.

4. Be sure to label disc and store in safe place where  you can find it.

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When a new version of Windows comes out, many people, especially businesses, hold off on upgrading to the new version of Windows until after the first service pack comes out. The logic behind this is that the first service pack will fix all of the major problems. This logic is sound, however, Microsoft knows this is the case. So their plan is to get a service pack out for Windows 7 as soon as possible so that those waiting for service pack 1 will go ahead and make the move to Windows 7.

There isn’t a lot of solid information about service pack 1 just yet. Service pack 1 is likely to be just a collection of previously released updates all rolled up into one nice and neat package. That’s generally what Microsoft has been doing lately. There will probably be a few enhancements, but not a lot. One feature that is likely to be included is USB 3.0 (a newer faster version of the USB ports on your computer).

We expect that it will probably become available in September or October 2010.

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We thought you might be interested to know that sales of Windows 7 have been very good. In fact, in less than a month after Windows 7 was released, there were already more computers out there running Windows 7 than there were Mac OS X.

In case you are interested, as of December 2009, 93% of computers run Windows, 5% are Macs, 1% run Linux, and the other 1% includes several operating systems you probably never heard of. During 2009, the percentage of Windows computers went up about 1.5%. Macs went down about 0.5%, Linux remained fairly stable, and the “other” category went down about  1%.

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If you decide to purchase a new computer, there is something you should be aware of.  When you buy a new computer you assume that it’s all clean, tuned-up, and running as good as it can. Unfortunately, this usually isn’t the case. New computers often come with a lot of junk software installed on them. Free offers, trial versions, advertisements, and so forth. Often times these junk utilities run when your computer starts up. Not all of them are junk. They might just be programs you don’t need or use. All of this extra stuff on your computer that you don’t want or need takes up space and slows your computer down.

The hard drives on new computers are usually very fragmented as well lowering the performance of your new computer down by another notch. New computers are also not really tuned-up and configured for the best performance either.

If you purchase a new computer from Computer Troubleshooters, we take care of all of this for you before we deliver the computer to you. If you bought a computer from someone else, we can clean and tune your computer for you.

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Here are some cool features that Windows 7 has that Vista, or any other previous version of Windows, doesn’t have.

Let’s say you have a bunch of windows open. You want to minimize all windows except for one. Just grab the title bar of that window with your mouse and shake it back and forth. All other windows will minimize except the one you shook.

When a window is minimized, you can see that it is running because it shows up in the task bar. The task bar is that bar at the bottom of the screen that has the start button, icons, and the time on it. In previous versions of Windows, if you wanted to see what was going on with a minimized program, you had to open it. With Windows 7, all you have to do is hold the mouse over it in the task bar and it will show you a preview of exactly what that windows looks like.

With previous versions of Windows, if you had two windows and you wanted one to take up the left side of the screen and the other to take up the right side of the screen, you had to manually move and resize the windows. Having two windows on the screen like this is very handy, especially if you have a widescreen monitor. You can see and work in both at the same time. Windows 7 provides an easy way to do this. Just take one window by the title bar, drag it and slam it against the side of the screen you want it on. Then take the other one and slam it against the other side. Windows 7 Automatically resizes each one to take up that half of the screen.

For those of you with laptops who connect your laptop to projectors and so forth for presentations and meetings, Windows 7 now provides a key combination (Windows key + p) that allows you to duplicate or extend your display to the projector.

Windows 7 has changed the task bar. The start button is the same on the left. On the right, the time and icons there are the same. But in the middle is different. It’s hard to describe in words, but it really does work and I really like it. If you have ever used a Mac, it’s kind of like that, but not exactly the same.

There are a lot of other small but cool features that Windows 7 has that are improvements over previous versions of Windows.

For a tour of Windows 7, click the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

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Starting with Windows XP, you could get Windows in 32 bit or 64 bit configurations.

Don’t confuse this with the idea of 64 bit processors. Processors have been 64 bit for a long time. But most versions of XP and Vista are 32 bit. The 32 bit version of Windows works fine on 64 bit processors, but doesn’t take full advantage of their power.

I don’t want to bore you with the technical explanation of the difference between 32 and 64 bit. But from a user perspective here are some of the advantages and disadvantages to the 64 bit version of Windows.

Main Advantages:

·         The 64 bit version of Windows can address more memory.
The 32 bit version can only address 4 mb of memory whereas the 64 bit version is limited only by the hardware, not Windows. The ability to have more memory is a big advantage to those who work with large graphics, video, CAD, and similar items or generally have a lot of programs running at the same time.

·         The 64 bit version of Windows is generally faster than the 32 bit version.

Main Disadvantages:

·         32 bit drivers won’t work on the 64 bit version of Windows.
64 bit drivers are available for most hardware produced in the last couple of years, but may not be available for old hardware. Most people don’t have any of these older devices anymore, but some do.

·         A few 32 bit software applications won’t run under 64 bit. However, most do run just fine. Some run slightly slower, but they run.

The bottom line is that, over time, 32 bit will be phased out and 64 bit will become the standard. This shift is happening faster and faster. The 64 bit version of XP was only used by geeks like me. You never saw it in a store. The 64 bit version of Vista is actually quite common. And with Windows 7, even more so.

If you are considering the purchase of a new computer, it’s important to know which version you are getting. Before making your purchase, make sure that all of your devices and software will work on the 64 bit version of Windows. We can help you with that. For most users, the 64 bit version of Windows will be just fine. So we recommend getting the 64 bit version unless you have a compelling reason not to.

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If you have decided to upgrade your computer to Windows 7, or you are planning to purchase a new computer with Windows 7 on it, you will need to decide which edition of Windows 7 you should get. Similar to Vista, there are several different editions of Windows 7. Note that prices are as of October 2009.

Starter Edition
This is a stripped down version of Windows 7. It will only be available on new computers, mainly netbooks.

Home Basic Edition
This edition of Windows 7 will not be available in the US. It will only be available in countries considered to be emerging markets for Windows. Even if this edition was available in the US, we wouldn’t recommend it. It’s missing too many key features.

Home Premium Edition
Targeted toward home users, this edition will cost $120 for the upgrade or $200 for the full version. We recommend this edition for all home users.

Professional Edition
This edition is targeted toward business users. Businesses should use this edition or the Ultimate edition and avoid the Home edition. The upgrade costs $200 and the full version costs $300.

Enterprise Edition
This edition is only for large companies and is only sold through Microsoft Volume Licensing.

Ultimate Edition
This edition does everything the Home Premium and Professional versions do, and a little more. Most people, however, don’t need these features. We recommend home users stick with the Home Premium version. The Ultimate edition only costs $20 more than the professional edition, so business users may want to use this edition instead of the professional edition. If you want the ultimate edition, the upgrade will cost you $220 and the full version will cost you $320.

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You may be wondering if you should upgrade your computer to Windows 7. But the real questions are; can my computer handle Windows 7 and do I need Windows 7?

Do you need Windows 7? No.  Not really. Do you want it? It’s got some cool features. It does seem to be slightly faster and more stable than Vista. But you don’t necessarily NEED it. However, there’s nothing wrong with wanting it.

Can your computer handle Windows 7? Here’s the rule of thumb. If you have XP on your current computer, don’t put Windows 7 on it. The hardware requirements for Windows 7 are similar to those of Vista and much higher than the requirements for XP. Windows 7 will be slow on that hardware. If you’ve got XP and want Windows 7, get yourself a new computer with Windows 7 already loaded on it.

If you’ve got Vista, then your hardware should be fine to run Windows 7. But if your Vista computer is slow, don’t’ expect Windows 7 to supercharge it. The good news is that there are often some hardware upgrades that can be done to help with performance, whether you are running Vista or Windows 7.

If you do have a computer that will handle Windows 7 ok and you decide you want Windows 7, there are several ways to do it.  You can purchase an upgrade copy of Windows 7 that will upgrade Vista to Windows 7. History shows, however, that upgrading one version of Windows to a newer one can be full of problems and, ultimately, you end up with a messy system that doesn’t run very well. That is why we don’t recommend an upgrade. We recommend a clean install.

One way to do a clean install is to backup your data, wipe your hard drive, and install Windows 7. Another way, if you have a good sized hard drive, is to create a separate partition on your hard drive for Windows 7. Then you can do what’s called dual booting. That means each time you boot up your computer, you can either boot up Vista or you can boot up on Windows 7. It’s like two computers on the same hardware. The advantage here is that you can install programs and copy data over time and if you need to, you can reboot back into Vista.

There are two drawbacks to doing  a clean install. One is you have to purchase a full version of Windows 7 which costs more than the upgrade version. The second drawback is that a clean install is more work since you have to back up your data and then copy it back on and reinstall all of your programs.

We here at Computer Troubleshooters can perform any of these services for you. Call us for a quote.

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Microsoft, in their infinant wisdom, has removed some features from Windows 7 that were in previous versions of Windows. The idea, according to Microsoft, is to try not to clutter Windows up with stuff most people don’t need. Those that need that stuff can download and install it. So, thanks to this philosophy, Windows 7 doesn’t come with Windows Messenger, Photo Gallery, or Movie Maker. But you can download and install them by going to http://download.live.com.  By the way, these downloads aren’t restricted to Windows 7. If you have XP or Vista, you can download these as well.

Something else Windows 7 doesn’t come with is an email client. Windows XP came with an e-mail program called Outlook Express. By the way, don’t confuse Outlook Express with Outlook. They are two different programs. When Windows Vista came out, Outlook Express had not only been given a makeover, it had a new name. The new name was Windows Mail.

Don’t worry that Windows 7 doesn’t come with an e-mail client, there are lots of options. When you purchase a new computer with Windows 7 on it, if you get Microsoft Office with it, you will have Outlook unless you got the Home and Student version of Office.

If you didn’t get Office, or you got the Home and Student version of Office, no problem. If you want to,  you can read your e-mail on the web. If you don’t like that, then there are a lot of great free e-mail programs out there, and a lot of them are free. Our two favorite ones are Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail.

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The short answer is, yes. However there is a but. Windows 7 does start up faster and seem to operate faster, but only a little bit. The difference is not huge.

If you are running XP on your system, we do not recommend upgrading to Vista or Windows 7. It’s better to purchase a new computer with Vista or Windows 7 on it. If you are running Vista, upgrading to Windows 7 should be OK.

If you purchase a new computer with Vista on it, you are entitled to a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out in October. If you are planning to purchase a new computer with Windows 7 on it, make sure you check out our article on buying a new PC.

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