My Windows 7 Experience

The installation took about 30 minutes (or maybe less, I don’t know) but so far, it’s worth it. After installation, all the drivers including the wifi driver (Broadcom) was detected. As expected, the boot time is faster than Vista.
There are a lot of improvements and features added to the Windows 7 core. One of these features is the one I am using right now (the editor of this blog post) named Windows Live Writer. This software is so amazing because the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is your own blog theme. This editor can insert tables, pictures, videos, hyperlink, and even maps in your blog post.

A screenshot of Windows Live Writer with a GUI inherited from my blog.

Another thing I like about this new operating system (not really a big bang feature but for me it’s cool) from Microsoft is that it has many preset pictures/avatars for a certain account.

Lots of avatars to choose from.

The super bar is one of the most obvious change since operating systems were made. It works like a stack of the same programs. For example, if I have five Firefox windows opened, the super bar will only have one Firefox icon and when I hover my mouse to that icon, a series of screenshots are displayed - screenshots of opened Firefox windows. The super bar can also display and play videos when a video software is minimized while its icon is hovered.

The super bar with five Firefox windows opened.

Windows Movie Maker has also improved a lot. The name was also changed from Windows Movie Maker to Windows Live Movie Maker. There are also lots of effects and transitions to choose from unlike the previous versions.

A screenshot of Windows Live Movie Maker with imported video from Oprah.

Windows Media Player has also transformed into a more compact and simple audio/video player. There is still a button to revert back to the original boring player but for me, the compact player is the simplest elegant software GUI I’ve ever seen.

Windows Media Player compact GUI playing David Archuleta’s songs.

I still have to explore more in this new operating system from Microsoft and see if there are bugs. I also have to dig its features and talk about it maybe in my next blog posts. So far, this OS is comparable to Windows XP with service pack 2 in terms of performance and maybe stability. Continue Reading

Windows 7 Problems and Possible Solution(s)

I visited a Windows 7 forum and to my surprise, instead of features or some upgrades are posted, almost all of the posts are bugs and problems. Most of the problems encountered by the users of Windows 7 beta version are hardware related. I have compiled most of the problems in that forum and googled some solutions that are suggested in the internet. I have tried some of these solutions and yes, it works! Luckily, I have never encounterd some of these problems.


Slow Internet Connection - Some users are saying that before they installed Windows 7 in their system, the download rate is more or less 6o kbps. With Windows 7 running, the download rate never reaches 30 kbps, some are even saying that they only have 16 kbps or less.

Possible Solution: During installation of Windows 7 or any other operating system, some drivers are automatically detected and installed. These drivers are provided by Microsoft and some of these are generic drivers. The slow connection may be a cause of incorrect or incompatible driver for your ethernet or wireless device. Try to install the right driver for your network device by downloading it from the manufaturer's website.


No Icons in the Start Menu - Couple of people are saying that when the start menu is clicked, all the applications listed doesn't have an icon but still all the applications are working when opened.

Possible Solution: This is probably caused by upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7. Try to do some fresh installation (formatting the hard disk or completely removing Vista) of Windows 7.


Audio Hardware not Working - Some users reported that Windows 7 has sound problems. Some system cannot utter (puffff, what's the right word) or produce any form of sound or if it does, it is in low or ugly quality.

Possible Solution: One sure reason why the system cannot produce sounds is becuase of its audio driver incompatibility or problem. Possibly, Windows 7 did not recognize your sound card or installed the incorrect driver. This can cause problems like low quality sound or even no audio even though a sound driver is installed. Try to view the device manager (see help how to view device manager) and look if the system installed the right sound driver for your sound card. If not, download the right driver from the manufaturer's website.


Intel Chipset has Low Graphics Quality - Few users that has intel chipset as their graphics controller are experincing video problem like windows aero is not enabled. Some are also saying that their screen resolution is only up to 640x480 (VGA).

Possible Solution: Like the audio problem, the video card driver is improperly installed or there is an incompatibility problem between the driver installed and the video card itself. Try to ask someone or open your CPU to see what model of video card you are using and then google it or visit the manufacturer's website to download the right driver.


NVIDIA or ATI Radeon Video Quality Issues - Windows 7 has wide variety of drivers packed but still some hardwares are not detected especially graphics card like NVIDIA or ATI. Problems include low resolution display and windows aero cannot be enabled.

Possible Solution: Even though the right driver is installed for your graphics card, some older versions of video cards cannot handle windows aero. Try to check from the manufacturer's website if your graphics card can handle this type of feature. If it can handle but still windows aero is not enabled, try to re-install the graphics driver or install the latest version (make sure it is a compatible one).


Note: For hardware incompatibilty problems, try to run windows update to get the latest driver for your system. Continue Reading

My Wishlist for the Upcoming Windows 7

Windows Vista looks elegant but contains lots of issues including compatibility issues. I only encountered this issue when I try to install an ancient game (in terms of computer timeline) called Stronghold. I played this game way back in elementary where our operating system was still Windows 98. The game also runs smoothly in some versions of Windows including 2000 and XP. When I try to migrate to Vista, the problem arises.

These are my wishlist for the upcoming Windows 7:

• Faster BootUp Time - As what I've said, Vista looks elegant, in fact, it is the most stylish operating system developed by Microsoft. But the new look and style of Vista sacrifices its performance. As what I have observed, Vista loads for more that 25 seconds in my notebook and 20 seconds in our PC. Our Pentium-III 800 MHz PC that runs in XP loads faster that the two systems. All I can wish is that Microsoft should have realized the lengthy bootup time of Vista, well it's not really a problem for some people but for me it is.

• Supports Lots of Hardware - Some hardware that is attached to my notebook is not Vista supported. I have to download all the drivers from the Compaq site whenever I re-install my operating system. I really hate this process, downloading and installing the drivers manually instead of the operating system automatically detects and installs them.

• PixelShader For Aero - When I try to read about the Vista Aero effects like pressing the [Win]+[Tab] keys, it says that the video card must or can handle pixel shading (PixelShader 2.0 is required for Aero). I was shocked about this hardware requirement because I never heard of it. I googled it up to read about it and to know whether my graphics card has this feature. I hope that this hardware related requirement will be gone in the upcoming release of Windows 7.

• Windows Movie Maker - Since windows XP, Microsoft developers didn't pay attention to Windows Movie Maker. There are a lot of version numbers of Movie Maker but still it has the same features like effects and transitions.

• Windows Media Player: Boring! - I read a forum about windows users downloading some media players like iTunes and Winamp in order to play their media files.

• More Elegant Icons - I observed that other windows users are downloading custom icons. For me, Vista icons are enough but because they are into looks, they should have done something wow!

• More Themes - The windows aero theme was eye popping duiring its release but after Kubuntu 7++ and CentOS 5++ was released, windows was out of the game again.

• More features, Less Editions - Vista was very frustrating because of the 4 versions available in the market. I installed the Vista Basic first but uninstalled it after sometime because it doesn't have windows aero. Now, I am currently running in Windows Vista Business, but still, it is not enough because It doesn't have a Windows Media Center.

• Microsoft Office be Included in the Windows 7 Core - When I try Kubuntu, Ubuntu, and CentOS, they are already pre-packed with Open Office Suites, but windows only comes with a WordPad and even worst, the Notepad. I know Microsoft Office has a staggering price but they could give the older versions (like MS Office 2000 or 2003) for free or include it in Windows 7 installation.

• New Windows Logo - Windows logo is very distinct but after two decades, it has gone down to boring level.

• "Windows [SOMETHING]" not "Windows 7" - The number 7 could be lucky but the name "Windows 7" is not really a good name for an operating system. Imagine the operating system called "Mac OS 10 Snow Leopard" will be compared to an operating system called "Windows 7", Apple company may win the competition by name. I like the codename of the Windows 7, I heard it's Vienna or Blackomb, I hope they'll use one of these names.

What are your wishlists for the upcoming windows 7 (try to comment this post)? Don't trust the beta version of Windows 7, I guess Microsoft will overhaul everything like what they did to Windows Vista Beta. Continue Reading