Technical matters

What is Microsoft's vision for the future? 

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Microsoft Windows 7 

We recommend this operating system as the most advanced 32 bit consumer operating system currently available.

 It is appearing on new computers now, and can be purchased from retail stores as an upgrade, or full version.  The upgrade version upgrades from any version of Windows from Windows 2000 on, and it retains your settings, programmes,  and data.

The best advice is to install the full version, which means a 'Clean install' by formatting your hard disk with the NTFS file system. This gets rid of any corrupted files, and data you have forgotten you had.  You will of course lose all your data and programmes, so back up everything important first, including your emails, contacts, and settings.  If you do not know how to do this we have had a workshop to show you how, which could be repeated.

At our learning Centre we have installed Windows 7 on all computers, and we now have workshops available to assist you with understanding it.  If you are familiar with Vista you should have no problems.

Before installing Windows 7 on your computer first run the Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.  This will tell you whether your computer will run Windows 7.  A minimum of 1 GB of RAM is essential, 2 GB is better, and for image editing 4GB is advisable.

Most legacy software that runs in Vista will run in Windows 7.  Office 2002, 2003, and 2007, Adobe Photoshop in most versions, MS Digital Image, MS Works 8, MS Money 2003, MS FrontPage 2003, AVG 9, Skype, all work normally.

It builds on the engine (code) which underlies Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista, and has dispensed with some of the resource hungry applications built into Vista.

The result is an operating system that loads faster, shuts down faster, doesn't hang (so far), and generally appears to be slicker.  We are impressed.

If you want applications like Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, or Windows Mail, you have to download them from the Microsoft website.

It is noticeably faster to boot up, and Office 2007 applications seem to load and run faster.  Is this an illusion?  Well we have yet to see objective lab testing results. 

There are some cool new things, and my top pick is the Jump Lists.  Now that is a really useful innovation. In the realm of the funky is the Aero Shake. 

Have a look at this website for a demo:     http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/aero-shake

Microsoft say they have listened to their customers, and have provided a stable core which doesn't fall over, on which you can run the applications you want - you choose this time.  This makes a lot of sense.

I have two hard disks in my main computer, and have Vista loaded on one and Win 7 on the other.  If you have two hard disks, or a large one (120+ GB) partitioned, you can do the same - easily. You don't have to reformat your hard disk as Vista has a built-in facility to shrink partitions. It actually happens automatically if you choose the option to retain your current operating system when installing Windows 7, and then you have the choice of booting into Windows 7 or your old system. They say you can even boot Win 7 from an external hard disk, or even a largish media stick.

Another claim is improved compatibility, and if all else fails and the programme that ran in Windows XP, or the hardware that has no Vista or Windows 7 driver, fear not as you can run virtual Windows XP using Virtual PC (not available in Home and basic versions).  We have this installed on our Windows 7 Pro/Vista Ultimate laptop and it runs Windows XP (rather slowly), but the old XP driver for the laser printer works as if it was installed in Windows 7. Virtual PC can run several other operating systems in addition, such as Windows 98, or even Linux, and you can swap between them. While this is an interesting feature, I believe Microsoft needs to do more work on it.

Windows 7 is better equipped with inbuilt drivers (small pieces of computer code that make things like printers work) than Vista was when it was released, but if there is no Windows 7 driver many Vista drivers seem to work OK.

Office 2010 has just been released  and we have it on our computers at SeniorNet in Warkworth.   Members are welcome to have a look at this improved version which offers improvements over Office 2007.

Neville Fursdon

Technical Manager

 
 

Random Access Memory  - RAM  1 Module of 128Mb NEC SD-RAMHow Much should I have ?

 

There is no really hard and fast answer to this question. It depends upon what you are using your computer for, and what operating system you are using, to take the two most obvious factors. If you are multi-tasking - using Adobe Photoshop Elements or doing video editing, and want to be able to run office applications, and surf, and do email, all at once - then you may need a fair amount of memory. If you are a typical home user and mostly use your computer for email, surfing, a word processor or spreadsheet, then you won't need quite as much. In terms of how it affects you the end user, the right amount of memory = faster computer. 

However installing more RAM may make absolutely no difference if your hardware is not up to it, for instance, you may need to upgrade your video card, and this on top of the cost of the RAM could go a long way towards the cost of a new box.

For the typical (confused) home user here are some recommendations (or best guesses)

  • Linux – can manage with as little as 4 MB

  • Windows 95 - Seems to be happy with 64 MB. Anything over doesn't get you much performance increase, but if you have anything less, you should consider getting more memory. The benefit can be quite substantial.

  • Windows 98/Me - Seems to be happy with 128 MB. Works OK with 64 MB, but you will probably see a significant performance increase by going to 128. Anything over 128 generally doesn't get you much.

  • Windows NT (Workstation) - Seems to be happy with 128 MB for most things.

  • Windows 2000 - At least 128 MB, and basically as much as you can afford. Consider 256 MB or more if it's got a heavy demand on it.

  • Windows XP - Hard to say, but 256 MB as a minimum, and works better with more, up to 512 MB.  Opinions vary as to whether going to 1GB gives any noticeable benefit.

  • Windows Vista 32 bit – Will run with 512 MB, but as a rule of thumb you should double the amount you would have used with XP up to a maximum of 4 GB for the 32 bit version (and the sky is the limit for the 64 bit version). To use the aero effects your video card needs plenty of RAM installed on the card itself, or if it shares some of the RAM on the motherboard there will be less for general use. Most experts recommend 1GB with further benefit noticed up to 2GB.  In early tests the scale of benefit beyond 3 GB is reported to tail off.

  • Windows Vista 64 bit - the sky is the limit  How much can you afford?  8 to 16 GB seems like a useful amount.

  • Windows 7 32 bit - You will need 1Gb, 2 is better, and probably best to install 4 GB, however it can not use more than about 3.5 GB.

  • Windows 7 64 bit - Once again the sky is the limit, though in practice similar to Vista requirements.

Buying more memory is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways of improving your computer performance.

Now what about DDR RAM, Rambus RAM, SD RAM, EDO RAM, XDR RAM,  etc etc?

Don't get confused by the gobbledegook. Your motherboard will usually want a specific type, so the options are limited.

  • Look in the information booklet that came with your motherboard, or find the make and model by looking at the upper surface of the motherboard where it will be written in tiny writing, then Google it on the Internet for recommendations for your specific model. 

  • Another way is to do a scan at  http://www.crucial.com/ to find what memory you have, and what is possible.

  • If you want to find out the make and model of the various pieces of hardware which make up your computer try downloading the free Belarc Hardware Adviser.  It will also tell you the version numbers and the product numbers of most of the software you have installed.

  • Lost your disks with the product keys? Free utilities like the Magical Jellybean keyfinder at this website http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ will assist with Windows keys. 
    Follow this link to find other keyfinders     http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/tp/topkeyfinder.htm
     

    Disclaimer.  While we are able to offer advice in good faith in the above article, be warned that you follow this advice at your own risk.  SeniorNet Warkworth Inc and its officers can not accept accept any responsibility for any untoward outcome as a result of following the advice in this article.