Microsoft Windows 7 August 2009

Windows 7 Live Q&A

Replay our live online Windows 7 Q&A session, where the Which? Computing experts answered all your Windows 7 questions.

 

We saw our first sneak peeks of Windows 7, the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s flagship operating system late last year. In January 2009, Microsoft has now let users see for themselves what all the fuss is about with the recent release of the Windows 7 Beta version.

A Beta version is an unfinished piece of software that’s released for testing purposes: letting everyone in the world have a go is a great way of finding hidden bugs and errors. After some teething problems due to the huge numbers of people who tried to download it, Microsoft made the Beta available until January 24, 2009. 

It’s a big download, taking up a couple of Gigabytes, and Microsoft makes it very clear that it’s an unfinished product, so think carefully before installing it. Ideally you’d put this on a spare computer that has no important data on it, and you’d need to make sure you had your old Windows install disc handy for when the Beta trial expires in August – there are no promises that all your data will be safe.

The Microsoft Windows 7 desktop

Download and install Windows 7

The file that’s downloaded from Microsoft’s site lets you create an installation DVD – popping this disc into your computer’s DVD drive starts the setup process. There are different ways of installing Windows 7: 

• alongside your existing installation of Windows (though Windows 7 will need to be on a separate hard drive partition), 
• as an upgrade to an existing installation of Vista, or 
• as a completely new setup.

We set a new installation of Windows 7 running on our test PC, and things ran very smoothly – following the onscreen instructions soon had us up and running with the new Windows 7 operating system. However, some users have reported that not all of their computer’s hardware was supported by Windows 7 – something that should improve with time as Microsoft tweaks Windows 7 for general release.

Windows 7 offers a handy preview of the windows you have open

Windows 7 vs Vista

But what’s Windows 7 like to use? Well, Windows Vista users will find it very familiar, with its smooth edges and transparent background effects. However, if you’ve been using Windows XP, don’t despair: Microsoft have aimed to remove the features of Vista that users weren’t keen on, meaning XP users should have no trouble with Windows 7 either.

The Windows 7 interface is highly customisable, but the default settings – with the wittily chosen ‘betta’ fish in the background – were a pleasant starting point.

The icons in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen have been revamped in Windows 7, and now offer a handy preview of the windows you’ve got open – and multiple windows of the same application will share the same icon, saving space.

Quite a few applications that were included in earlier releases of Microsoft Windows – including Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Movie Maker – aren’t included in Windows 7. However, they can be downloaded free as part of Microsoft’s Windows Live Essentials suite.

If you need help choosing office software, read the Which? reviews of office suites, and also check out the Which? guide to free office software downloads. 

Action Center helps you prioritise tasks

Windows 7 Action Center

A new addition in Windows 7 is the Action Center – a single window that groups together any urgent tasks that you need to perform on your PC, and gives you the chance to complete them.

Windows 7's other new features are more subtle: the menus that appear when you click with the right mouse button have been adjusted to bring other actions closer to hand, and new 'jump lists' let you access options – such as recently opened files – for specific applications right from the start menu. 

The ribbon toolbar that is featured in the latest version of Microsoft Office makes more appearances – for instance in the built-in word processor Wordpad. The way that familiar tools such as the Control Panel work has been tweaked, and there’s now an option to make all your windows transparent so you can see the desktop. 

Windows 7's Homegroup lets you easily share files with other computers on your network

Windows 7 also offers new networking options. These include the creation of a Homegroup – a more user-friendly version of the Workgroup that previous versions of Windows featured. This lets you easily share files and music between different computers in your home.

Windows 7 also has also multi-touch support – something that will benefit laptops with the latest touchscreens, as it will mean you can move and resize objects onscreen using several fingers at once.

And Windows 7's new Problem Steps Recorder will be a boon for everyone who's ever struggled to tell a friend what they were doing when something went wrong: start it up, and it'll record all your actions, and even take screenshots, then package them up into a file that can be examined later.

Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is the new browser packaged with Windows 7, and it refines the tabbed browsing we saw in IE7 with the addition of some interface improvements – for instance, the IE8 address bar highlights the main part of the web address you’re viewing, making it easier to keep track of which website you’re on.

Windows 7 comes with the new Internet Explorer 8 web browser

Windows 7 performance

Windows 7's performance seemed quite impressive: when we installed Windows 7 on an older laptop with low specifications, Windows 7 actually seemed to run quicker than Windows Vista had done – though we’ll wait and see how the final version fares when we run technical tests.

Windows 7 release date

Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 will be released on 22 October 2009, and available in limited quantities for pre-order in the run-up to the launch. Microsoft has also been offering a free upgrade for people who buy new Vista PCs in the months leading up to the release (to help PC manufacturers avoid missing out on sales in this period).

Which? verdict on Windows 7

So far, though, things look promising: Windows 7 seems stable and fast for a Beta release, and it may be the product that finally shakes off the lacklustre reputation that Vista has acquired in some circles.

Update: as the October 2009 launch of Windows 7 approaches, read the Which? expert guide to Windows 7, including upgrades, costs and features.

Want to know what Which? thought of Windows Vista? Read the Which? Windows Vista review.