You'll also notice that the background picture has changed, Windows 7 has a Auto background changer. 

The task bar is cool( starting to look like a mac???) but what under the hood.  thats next time!! 

It's time to turn our attention to the next Windows client release, Windows 7. (Microsoft had used other code-names, like "Vienna" and "Windows Seven," to describe this product in the past.) Like Vienna, Windows 7 was originally just a codename. But Microsoft announced in October 2008 that they would use Windows 7 as the final name of the product.

Windows Vista was a major release, and Microsoft is positioning Windows 7 as a major release as well. However, the language Microsoft uses to describe the technical underpinnings of the Windows 7 suggest that this product will in fact be a minor release, or what the Windows Server team would have called an interim, or R2 ("release 2") release. Microsoft corporate vice president Steven Sinofsky described it this way: "[We are not going to] introduce additional [in]compatibilities, particularly in the driver model. Windows Vista was about improving those things ... Memory management, networking, process management, all of the security hardening, all of those things will carry forth, and maintain the compatibility with applications that people expect. Windows Vista established a very solid foundation, a multiyear foundation, particularly on subsystems like graphics and audio and storage and things like that, and Windows 7--and then Windows Server 2008 built on that foundation, and Windows 7 will continue to build on that foundation as well."

I've been saying for over a year now, Windows Vista wasn't as horrible as people had heard. Indeed, for the first year of that OS's existence, Microsoft was largely silient, and it wasn't until the software giant fixed the few real problems with Vista in Service Pack 1 that the company finally turned its attention to marketing the fact that, yes, Windows Vista was actually quite good. Efforts like the Mojave Project, and the "I'm a PC" ad campaign did a lot to overturn Vista's bad PR, and presumably Windows 7 will finally put all that nonsense to rest for good.

I loaded Windows 7 RC last night and am writing this on my Windows 7 Laptop.  At first glance it apears much like Vista with some noteable exceptions. one being a taskbar which without the start button, looks alot like a Mac taskbar at the bottom of screen.  More on this next time with screen shoots.

How to Install Programs

Insert the program CD or DVD in the disk drive if a security message appears confirm or type the administrator password. If the Autoplay dialog box appear, (See Fig 1) choose to run the program wizard (Setup.exe)

Figure 1

 If nothing happens, then click Start/Computer and double click the CD/DVD drive icon to browse the installation disk, find the program's setup file (usually setup.exe) and double click on it to start the installation.  Follow the instructions on the screen.  If you want to install from the Internet,click the link of the program you found on the net, normally looks something like: "Download myProgram"   A message on the screen asks you whether you want to run or save the program file on your Hard drive,click run and the program will install immediately after the download. (see Fig 2)

Figure 2

Click save if you want to run the installation later by double clicking the program icon from the folder you choose to save it (see Fig 3)

Figure 3

In either case,after launching the installation follow the instructions on screen,and if a security prompt appears confirm or type the administrator password .

 How To get rid of the highlight newly installed programs

Right-click the the Start Button and choose Properties / Customize button Scroll down and uncheck the tick next to Highlight newly Installed (See Fig 4)

Figure 4

To Unistall or change a Program

Go to Start/ Control Panel / Program / Programs and Features, Select the program you want to remove and then click Uninstall or Repair if you want to try to repair the program(see Fig 5)

 
Figure 5

Click OK or confirm if you are prompted to do so .Follow the onscreen instructions to the finish

In the list that will appear,check or uncheck the box near the feature you want to turn on/off (see Figure 7)

Figure 7

 Click OK

How to launch or not to launch a program when Vista Starts

Inside the Startup folder are all the programs that open automatically when Vista starts.You can place your own shortcuts for the programs you want to start without having to do it manually.  Unfortunately there are a lot of shortcuts in this folder that have been added quite rudely sometimes, while you installed a program.  Most of them are not necessary and all they do is chewing up your processor time and get ram memory resources :

Check the  Run this program in compatibility mode for and choose the OS the program used to run fine with from the dropdown menu (see Figure 11) Click OK or Apply.

To add a user you want to share files with on the File Sharing  Dialog box Type the name of the user and click Add.

If your computer is part of a Workgroup Click the arrow on the left, choose the user and click Add .  If your computer is part of a Workgroup and you don't see the user in the list
Click the arrow on the right and choose Create a New User to create a new Account.

 To Sort,Group Files

To stack the Files

1. Open the folder with the files you want to stack
2. Click the arrow on the right of the heading you want to stack and the click stack by
3. Choose the option you like from the dropdown menu

To add or change any column heading Right-click any column heading and check or uncheck the heading you want and click OK Or you can click More and choose from this list what to show and what to hide.

How to customize a Folder

You can easily customize the any folder in Vista,you can apply your custom image or images template.

1. Open the Folder you want to customize and Right-click an empty area and choose Customize this folder from the dropdown menu.
2. Or you can choose View > Customize This Folder, then Choose a Template from the dropdown menu Here you can choose the options to place a Picture on the folder icon,click Choose File then browse and get the picture you like.
3. To Replace the Whole standard folder icon,click Change icon and then Browse your Hard Drive to find an icon Click OK.

How to set Folder Options

There is a big offer of options that you can choose to change the appearance and behavior of the folder, here following how to :.

Go to Start > ControlPanel > Appearence and Personalization > Folder Option View tab 

select, by ticking the box,the option you want and click OK
To Restore back to the Vista default , click on Restore Defaults button.

Next, we will see how to work with programs and how to get your old windows and dos programs to work with Vista.

 To add an Item to All ProgramsTo add an Item to All Programs

To Delete an Item from All Programs 

It is quite useful at first,you can transfer all the your personal documents from the old computer together with all the settings clicking on Transfer Files and Setting and following the wizard . You can also use it to connect to the Internet and to create new Users,but if you don't want it to appear anymore, uncheck the box in the bottom left corner (Run at start Up)

When you will want it back , all you have to do is :

1. Click Start > Control panel
2. System Maintenace
3. Welcome Center

 Not all the tasks are shown, if you want to see them all click Show all Items at the bottom of the Get Started pane.  Not all the tasks appear in the same way,for example Windows Ultimate Extra is only on Vista ultimate.

Vista's new search feature will change the way you used to navigate through yourhar drive in the earlier versions of Windows. Specially when you downloaded some file and you can't remember where you saved it or in many other cases,instead of opening Windows Explorer it's much easier and faster just typing the name of the file in the search box and the results will pop up as you typing. 

  Searching from the start menu

Figure 1




Figure 2

Natural language Search

You Using natural language search you don't have to be worried about searching operators like AND,OR,NOT but ,for example,an advanced search like kind:country OR rock gives the same results as  country or rock music with natural-language.

Figure 4

Next we will look at the Start Menu and the new side bar

Want to install Vista on your PC but don't want to get rid of XP just yet? Here's how to install it so you can dual-boot between them, in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide.

Boot the machine from the Vista DVD. Select the appropriate language and then "Install Now".

XP & Vista - Load Vista
 

On the product key page, press SHIFT + F10 to launch a Windows PE 2.0 command window. Then type in DISKPART and press enter to get into the DISKPART utility.

XP & Vista - DISKPART
 

Now type in LIST VOLUME - this gives you a readout of the volumes available on the system. Select the main Windows XP volume (probably Volume 0) by typing in SELECT VOLUME 0.

XP & Vista - DISKPART Volume
 

Now type in SHRINK. Vista will reduce the size of Volume 0 (the selected Volume) by around 50%.

XP & Vista - DISKPART Shrink
 

Once that is done, type in EXIT and EXIT again to get back to the Vista installation window.

Once the install gets to the install location, there should be at least two options: a partition marked as Primary and unallocated space. Select the unallocated space and click Next. The install will then commence.

XP & Vista - Install Vista
 

The Vista boot manager will take over the system completely, and Windows XP effectively loads via Vista. It’s all pretty seamless though, and you shouldn’t encounter any technical problems.

Once Vista is installed and the system reboots, you’ll be presented with a boot menu with two options: “Microsoft Windows Vista” and “An Earlier Version of Windows”(XP).

XP & Vista - Boot Menu