Windows 7 Onboard

Yesterday my Windows 7 upgrade disc finally arrived from Amazon. (I’m not complaining. I had opted for the slow shipping method because I’m “frugal”.) 20 minutes later, I was running Windows 7 Home Premium on my HP Pavilion dual-core desktop.

I wrote in my earlier articles on the Win 7 betas that the install process was the fastest and easiest Windows installs I had ever experienced, so I was not surprised that the “official release” retained this wonderful ability.

Once I had my Desktop, the first thing I did was visited Windows Update, even though Win7 goes out and looks for updates during the install process. There were 7 regular updates and 7 “optional” updates available for me.
These updates are important, and the sooner you get them onboard the better, so I recommend that everyone click Start > Windows Update as one of your first moves.

Doing so had the side-effect of launching IE 8 for the first time, and so it wanted to be “configured”. I almost clicked on the “quick configure” (as I had on the beta versions) but at the last moment I noticed that the “Default search provider” has been changed to Bing.
No thanks.

Next up was to get an antivirus onboard. Since I installed a 64-bit version, and since Windows 7 is so new, I though maybe my number of choices might not be too many.. but I clicked on the “Action Center” flag and saw I had two “notices”, one of which was “no antivirus detected”. So I clicked that, and then I clicked on “Help me find a solution“.
Pretty simple.

A page opened which showed the various vendors who had products compatible for my system. I was glad to see that pretty much all (all?) the reputable vendors were listed. As I plan to test several anti-Spywares in the near future, I simply installed Microsoft Security Essentials for now.
64-bit Windows 7 is inherently already quite secure. (And you may want it for that reason alone.)

So far (and I haven’t been running long.. mere hours) I haven’t seen any difference between this “official version” and the RC 64-bit. Which I have already described in prior articles. You can be assured will write more in the future.

Related links: to see my reviews of Windows 7, and other Win7-related writings, click here.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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People Make The Difference

Just before this holiday weekend, I wrote a piece titled, I Answer A Common Question and it did rather well – for a pre-holiday Friday. In it I answered one of my most frequently asked questions: “which anti-spyware do you use, Paul?”

Well folks, humor me and let me come at this another way – and let me ask you this:

What would you think of a software company that:
1) Responded promptly and courteously to your enquiries, and 2) followed up that enquiry with one of their own – “did that get answered to your satisfaction?”

Would you consider that a “plus” or a “minus”?
It’s a “plus” in my book.

What would you think of a software company that also:
3) Strives to be highly regarded and respected in its area {and. in fact, is} and, 4) Is always working at constantly improving their product, issuing no-cost updates several times a month, or more?

Would you consider that a “plus” or a “minus”?
It’s a “plus” in my book.

What would you think of a software company that also:
5) Placed your computer’ security ahead of anything else and, 6) by doing so is making the Internet a safer place?

Would you consider that a “plus” or a “minus”?
It’s a “plus” in my book.

What would you think of a software company that also:
7) Is generous {Generous, as in “I’m encouraged to offer reduced license fees or to donate licenses to schools, churches, and non-profit organizations to make sure they are protected. In the past year alone we’ve donated thousands of licenses to those in need. For example, we work closely with the Red Cross regarding spyware protection and assist with fundraising, and we recently provided licenses and lent technical support to a reseller partner for an African goodwill mission to fix computers in schools and hospitals.”} and, 8) offered a “same strength” version of their product completely free?

Would you consider that a “plus” or a “minus”?
It’s a “plus” in my book.

[update: see also, SUPERAntiSpyware Announces Educational License Special
“SUPERAntiSpyware.com helps schools during difficult  economic times with FREE lifetime updates on educational licenses in addition to discounted student versions.”]

So, just before the holiday weekend, I wrote a piece titled, I Answer A Common Question and in it I answered one of my main FAQ’s: “which anti-spyware do you use, Paul?” (see? I did remember the topic.)

Short version: I would use a product from a company which has the “plusses” just like the plusses mentioned above, wouldn’t you? In fact, I do.

So why not click on the blue text (above) and read which one I’m referring to. (Because, I saw the numbers; and I think you may have missed it.)

Bonus Hint: read carefully – and be rewarded.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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What’s to say about Windows 7?

I first downloaded the public beta of Microsoft’s new operating system in January, and I have now been using it on a daily basis for five months.

Quite naturally, I wrote about my observations, and tried to describe for you, Dear Reader, what you can expect, and what I thought of this “new beast” that is supposed to replace the “much maligned Vista”.
(see A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 Part 1 of a series.)

Recently, it has made the headlines that Microsoft has announced October 22nd as the “official release date” for Windows 7. This is inline with what I expected — plenty of time to make the Holiday Shopping Season.

Yes, I have run the 32-bit ‘beta’, the 32-bit ‘RC’ (release candidate), and now the 64-bit RC. (see A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 64-bit.) You may remember from those articles (or click the links and read them) that – short version – I think there is a lot to like in Win7 and that it was the fastest, smoothest install(s) I have ever experienced… and I have done a lot of Windows installs.

So… we know when it’s coming… and we know that across the board Windows 7 is getting positive reviews. Lots of them.
So… I sit and I wonder, what’s to say about Windows 7? So I can write out an article for you to read… I have had no troubles at all to complain about. No difficulties. I’ve discovered no “bugz”…

Some of the other tech websites are writing articles trying to predict the future — will the public adopt Win7 in a big way? Or will it flop like Vista did? What about Business?
I, Dear Reader, will not try to predict the future: that is a shameless trend of modern “journalism” and it should be abolished as a practice.

Maybe people will camp out in front of the Microsoft Store to be the first to buy Win7 when they open the doors on October the 22nd, and maybe they won’t. Who cares?

So I won’t predict the future but I will say this:
* In spite of what you may hear or read somewhere, Windows 7 is essentially a zero learning curve. You needn’t fear it because it’s new.
* IMHO, from what I’ve seen, this is a speedy, stable, secure, and easy to use operating system and I believe it is Microsoft’s best effort yet. Yes it took a long time; but, yeah, they got it right.
* I will not race out and buy Win7 install DVD’s and go around upgrading my machines. My machines are now all Vista Service Pack 2, and XP is well-retired. But my next machine will be a Windows 7 machine (64-bit), and no I will not “wait for Service Pack 1 to come out”.

Have you been putting off buying a new machine because they all seem to come with Vista? Well, after October 22nd, your wait is over. After that date, go down to your local gizmo and gadget store and play with a quad-core, 6+ Gig, Win7 machine hooked to a 22″ (or bigger) monitor. My money is on that you’ll like what you see.

You can test drive Windows 7 on your current machine if you would like. I suggest creating a dual boot setup for that, and here is a video tutorial on how to make that work, Video Tutorial — How To Dual Boot Win7, and you can click here for the free download. (Please read the system requirements first.)

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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