It is much like Vista SP1 and has all the fixes that Vista SP1 presented over the original version of Vista, which is good. The original Vista had some bugs... for example: it took FOREVER to send little items like shortcuts to the recycle bin...
The Aero interface is improved, it looks about the same but there are more colors to choose from, and a few better effects for previewing windows and such.
The task panel is totally redone, its bigger, and the buttons are grouped differently... it makes it easier to use, there is less clogging when you have a lot of programs open, and it looks cleaner. Some of the programs that come with it have changed in their appearance, Media player, Paint, and Internet Explorer.
The only problems I have seen were with the Internet Explorer 8. It still has a few bugs in handling different sites... but it is less of a hassle to set up and is going to be a lot nicer than IE7 which is currently out with Vista...(I am not a fan of Internet Exporer anyhow... Firefox FTW!)
The "Windows Experience Index" scoring system has changed, the highest score hardware can get is moved from 5.9 to 7.9. It is quite an achievement to get 7.9 with hardware currently too!(My score for the QX6850 rig is in the attached picture) The test was run with the CPU at 3.95ghz.
Something you will notice as you boot up the first time after installing Windows 7; it JUST WORKS with your hardware, no driver CDs needed! The integrated sound and video card are working from the first minute its on! So you don't get a base rating of 1.0 with your graphics card not being recognised... and you don't have to get all your motherboard drivers and install everything as part of setting up your new computer! I love that! Its like Ubuntu Linux... :)
UAC: one of the worst hated things about Windows Vista--User Account Control. It will pop up asking if want to allow or deny on almost everything you open! In windows vista, UAC is a real pain. I always turned UAC off on windows vista. In Windows 7 however, it has improved! It is a little more complex, with settings this time! It has four different settings, raging from "always notify" to "never notify". It is automatically on the third setting up, which will notify you when programs try to make changes to your computer, but it does not notify you when you make changes to windows settings. I like it much better, it does not get in the way! Its nice to have settings to tune it to your own security preference too.
Antivirus programs: AVG Antivirus is already compatible with windows 7, along with a handful of other company's programs. Comodo is not yet, but I'm sure they will be on the ball and get it working soon! AVG works great.
Bootup screen: This is no longer a 256bit color screen which is just plain ugly as ALL of the previous Windows releases had, it is a nice looking screen in full color with a shining windows logo in the middle after it says starting up... Its a lot nicer!
Overall I love Windows 7 as it is at least as snappy as Vista, looks better, and works great! Its going to be a great OS!
When I find more things I like/dislike about it, and will keep on posting!
~Daniel
P.S. anything you want to know that I missed? Post a request in the comments!
P.S. anything you want to know that I missed? Post a request in the comments!
