Windows 7

[Gob]

Yet another end is nigh for Windows 7. After months of buildup—Microsoft killed standalone software sales of the operating system in October 2013, and Windows 7 consumer PCs stopped being manufactured in October 2014—the venerable OS is finally exiting “mainstream support” on January 13, 2015. And for months now, the Web has been flooded with a wave of confused or downright fearmongering headlines and articles implying that Windows 7 is following Windows XP into the graveyard.

It's not.

The confusion here stems from Microsoft's maddeningly obtuse naming conventions. Leaving mainstream support only means that Windows 7 won't be receiving any new features or product tweaks, such as the impressing-sounding DirectX 12 gaming technology slated to launch with Windows 10. You won't be able to call Microsoft for free help if you run into an issue with Windows 7 either.

Once a Windows desktop operating system leaves mainstream support, it enters the extended support phase—the very same support phase that Windows XP found itself in from early 2009 until its death earlier this year.


You'll still receive those oh-so-critical security patches during extended support, meaning that while Windows 7 won't be in active development beyond next January, it won't be tossed to the wolves of the Web, either. Hotfixes will still be provided, too, assuming they're security related. (Business can sign up for an extended hotfix support plan if your company wants hotfix support for non-security issues.) And those security updates will be coming for a long time, too: Extended support for Windows 7 lasts until January 14, 2020. Heck, commercial PCs with Windows 7 Professional will even continue to be sold for the foreseeable future.

You can read Microsoft's Support Lifecycle for Windows if you're still curious about how this all works. (You can also find information about the other products reaching various End of Support statuses on January 13 in this Microsoft Support post.)

So take a deep breath. Relax. Don't panic. Windows 7 isn't being left for dead until years from now, even if the timing of Microsoft's Windows 10 events (including the one scheduled for January 21) directly coincide with Windows 7 End of Support milestones. In fact, here's three ways to buy a new Windows 7 PC today—and yes, downgrade rights from Windows 8.1 Pro still work just fine.

Editor's note: This article originally published on July 10, 2014 but was updated January 12, 2015 as Windows 7 exited mainstream support.


http://www.pcworld.com/article/2452702/ ... doned.html

[MajGenl.Meade]

One of the thousands of things to hate about Windows H8 and H8.1 is that the classic games vanished. I can no longer play Spider Solitaire without hacking through some giant X-box related hogweeds and still ending up with the most garish, display-negative, awful variation which I hate.

Even the free software overlay to return H8.1 to the 7 appearance doesn't bring back the actual games in any friendly format. Goodbye minesweeper, hearts and spider - thank the Lord my wife's reconditioned laptop (costing $377) system runs the old s/w and has the games on it - all I have to do is sneak on it when she's not looking

[wesw]

crap. if they do away with windows 8 I won t be able to use a computer. I ll be too ignorant. well, more too ignorant....

[MajGenl.Meade]

They aren't doing away with Windows 8.1 (the market's pretty much seen to that already). It is a horrible, detestable, useless platform for a PC. It was designed by 12-year old geniuses with touch-screen pads and a hatred of the mouse.

I hate that if I move the mouse too far to the right too quickly, all sorts of stupid "charms" (anything but) leap out to obscure the screen. And the stupid colored boxes for apps drive any normal person crazy. Of course, after that one can use them just fine. Hmmm.

It's revealing that Windows is skipping 9 because they don't want people to think the next platform is just a development of 8. So it will be 10 - total unconnected to 8 which is a disaster... on PCs.

[wesw]

well I just make all the boxes small and stop all the motion within them, and move the two or three that I use to the front....

[MajGenl.Meade]

Good for you to find a workaround. I just preferred to download the Windows Classic shell free from the interwebs and now it looks like it used to on XP or 7 - easy to use and everything where I expect to find it. Ordinary tool bars on Explorer and so on. None of this invisible stuff that whizzes into visibility from top, bottom and right.... dumbass system

[wesw]

well, I just added all the sites I use to the start screen, in front. I hit the start button on the key board, click on the box of my choice and voila! no typing! im there

eta- I don t even use the desktop screen

[Gob]

I'm sticking with W7 for the next year at least

[Guinevere]

I thank god for my Mac.

[Crackpot]

I thank god for my Mac.

I haven't been too happy with Mac since Mavericks killed most of my games.

[TPFKA@W]

I bought the present computer with Windows 8 and hated it so much I took it to a guy and had 7 put in it. I have reserved 10 but am a bit frightened....

[MajGenl.Meade]

I stepped up to Vista (up. Hah!) in 2009 but somehow managed to fry it. Not having money to buy anything, I got a Windows 2000 disc from a friend and used that for the next four years. Coming back to the USA and having to buy a laptop, which I could only get with Windows 8.1 was just horrible. Good for you @w to have the 8ectomy.

Innovation is a great thing and we do have to move with technology. But don't y'all think that sometimes the young tech-weenies do stuff just because they can - and not because it is "better" than what went before?

I've notice this on websites that in many cases "upgrade" to the point where using them becomes a trial. Fortunately the NPS Soldiers and Sailors website has gone the other way and produced a new user interface that is superior to the old one.

[BoSoxGal]

Innovation is a great thing and we do have to move with technology. But don't y'all think that sometimes the young tech-weenies do stuff just because they can - and not because it is "better" than what went before?

I think in the case of Windoze, they 'upgrade' because it makes them billions everytime.

[Long Run]

I think in the case of Windoze, they 'upgrade' because it makes them billions everytime.

For any MS product. Word, Excel, etc. were all as good as they were going to get back before Y2K, and yet they keep coming out with new versions that do nothing new or useful for 99% of the users, but regularly make you have to learn a new way of doing something that you already knew.

[MajGenl.Meade]

You said it. The product is the same but they rearrange the deck chairs and then hide them.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Windows XP was the best.
7 doesn't suck and 8 does.
They skipped 9 and went right to 10.
Who knows if that won't suck.

[Gob]

If you're the kind of web user who's already paranoid about companies stalking you online, Windows 10, the latest operating system from Microsoft, may just tip you over the edge.

It expands personalisation not just to your web browsing or phone usage habits – something Google already does to the Nth degree through Chrome and Android – but to your entire life across Windows-enabled devices*, both online and offline.

At the heart of it all is Cortana, Windows' answer to Apple's Siri and Google Now. Microsoft promises she is the most personal voice-activated personal assistant yet.

Cortana can read and store the contents of your emails, text messages and other apps, as well as location data, contacts, search history and calendar.
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Ask her just about anything and she will will trawl your personal data and apps for answers, as well as searching the web through Bing.
Siri and Google Now already do this comprehensively on mobile, but they are not fully integrated with a desktop operating system – yet.

The introduction of Windows Continuum – Microsoft's answer to Apple's Continuity/Handoff​ and Samsung's Flow, which allow for seamless transition of activity between branded devices/operating systems – makes this all the more potent.

But while this is all in pursuit of servicing you, the user, it may have the potential to backfire.

Take this, for example: you don't have to tell Cortana where you live or work – she'll figure it out herself, based on when and where you habitually use your Windows devices.
Now just imagine you were having a marital affair, and Cortana accidentally let slip as to your whereabouts the previous night. Oops.

Of course, you can choose to turn Cortana off entirely, periodically or permanently, or tweak the type of data she's privy to, but is this really something a busy person will remember to do? Besides, that would be largely missing the point of Windows 10.

Cortana won't be launching in Australia with Windows 10 just yet. A localised version, voiced by an as-yet-unidentified Australian actress – is due to be available through the Windows Insider beta testing program this winter, we're told.

In the meantime you can set your Windows PC to the "United States" region and have a play with the US Cortana – but be warned, she does struggle with the Australian accent.

Let's get Started!
Microsoft, to its credit, has taken on board what was largely negative feedback about Windows 8, and has brought back the beloved Start menu – sort of.
Windows 10 still has the live tiles we first saw in Windows 8 but has also reinserted a list menu alongside it, which features frequently used and recently added apps, settings, power options, and an option to view all apps in an alphabetical list.

Flexible moves
There are a bunch of new productivity tools that are here to please too.

The Snap feature introduced in Windows 8, which allows you to snap two apps into a split screen, is back and better – you can now snap into quarters.
You can create multiple desktops, too – handy if, for instance, you're skiving at work with Netflix and need to quickly switch back to "work mode" as your boss walks past. You can't have the same app open in both desktops, though.

I'm still not convinced by the dual desktop and tablet mode available on Windows tablet devices (I tested a beta version of Windows 10 on the Surface 3). I found the transition between these modes clunky in Windows 8 and while it's smoother on Windows 10, I still prefer to keep it in desktop mode most of the time, even when I'm not using the keypad, as it's more familiar and intuitive.

Also, that beloved Start menu disappears in tablet mode, reverting back to live tiles only. Why, I'm not sure.

Close to the Edge
Chrome has long since overtaken Internet Explorer as the world's web browser of choice, but Microsoft may be onto a winner with the brand new Edge. It has some truly standout features in which give it, well, an edge over rivals. The first thing you notice when you open it is how delightfully clean it is. It's everything Explorer is not. It allows you to save web pages and view them in a clean reader mode, minus the ads, effectively doing what apps like Pocket and Instapaper do, but without the need for a separate app.

You can mark up and share web pages, or cut out snippets of them, with highlighter and pen tools. As a tech writer who constantly reports goings-on around the web, I can see this coming in super-handy, particularly for interactions within our editorial team.

While I don't think anyone's expecting Edge to make Paint redundant (actually, that's not a bad idea?), I found these tools a little too basic. There's no text tool or paste function, and there's no undo function (Ctrl+Z), either. If you make a wrong mark, you have to select the eraser tool and then click on your mistake.
The short time I spent with Cortana also suggests she is unable to open web apps such as Gmail or Twitter via Edge, even when she knows your login details.

She'll just search for the app web pages via Bing.


There's already a lot to like with Windows 10; it's familiar enough for Windows 7 fans to embrace, while adding a bunch of useful features that are intuitive and improve the overall user experience.

There's a lot more to come though; namely, the Australian Cortana, but we can also expect further integration between Cortana and Edge to make the most of her potential. Hopefully Microsoft will improve on Edge's mark-up tools too.
Windows 10 also brings the Windows Hello face and iris recognition tool, which will fire up your device when you sit in front of it so you don't have to log in. But that requires a high-tech camera such as the Intel Real Sense 3D camera, which is, sadly, not on the current line of Surface devices, though some other non-Microsoft branded devices are compatible.

A few other things worth briefly noting with this software release are the rebranding of Xbox Music to Groove Music (which I have to say sounds a lot like the controversial Grooveshark music service, which folded following lengthy copyright battles); the ability to stream Xbox services from your Xbox console onto your PC; and beefed up Xbox graphics.

Should you upgrade?
Yes. It's totally worth it.

*Windows 10 for PC and tablet begins rolling out worldwide on Wednesday, and will come to Windows Phone soon.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/comp ... z3hFfXv4pp

[MajGenl.Meade]

One reason I won't sign up for Google Chrome. Also I refuse to use a Cloud and I won't tell Facebook my birthday. oldr, you're right - XP was the best.

[Lord Jim]

Windows XP was the best.

Amen. I still use it on all three of my PCs...and I'm not alone:

One Year Later, Millions of People Are Still Using Windows XP

One year ago, Microsoft pulled all support for the Windows XP operating system. No more updates would be forthcoming, meaning that the operating system was being left out in the cold to die, its security flaws no longer patched.

Yet so many people are holding on to the old OS that users have created their own update, called Service Pack 4, to keep it going. And some people are still paying Microsoft for support for their outdated operating system.

We're not just talking about luddites here. The British government, which should be among the first to ditch an OS that no longer receives security updates, can't seem to break out of the past. It's paying Microsoft $8,203,250 to keep the system going, while 35 percent of the National Health Services' computers are still using Windows XP.

Worldwide, 16.94 percent of Internet users—about 1 in 6 people—are still using Windows XP, making it the second most popular operating system behind Windows 7.

Microsoft will release Windows 10 this year, the fourth Microsoft-released Windows operating system since Windows XP debuted in 2001. To be fair, though, one of those operating systems was Vista.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... indows-xp/

Windows XP remains so popular that whenever new software comes out, (I use and test out a number of different softwares on an ongoing basis for various business purposes) it's still always designed to be compatible with the platform.

However, one of my computers is starting to get a little wonky and all the virus and malware cleaning in the world doesn't seem to be fixing the problem so I was thinking about replacing its hard drive with an up-grade to Windows 7. (I would never consider Windows 8; I've heard nothing but bad things about it, and Windows 10 looks like an overly-complex, unintuitive nightmare)

But now that I've found out about this "Service Pack 4" I think I'll give that a shot first.

[Guinevere]

And I repeat - love my Mac. Malware? Virus? Not once in almost 4 years. Macbook still running strong and efficiently.