Windows 7 | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: windows 7

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 13 Comments
6
Nov 09

Early thoughts on Windows 7

photo credit: Greenmonster

Although I’ve been testing, using and writing about Windows 7 since last year, it has only been on the market 2 weeks. In those two weeks, I have setup 8 or 10 new machines already.

The setup is much faster than Vista, but I’m already getting that same ‘ol, same ‘ol feeling about it as I did with Windows Vista and Office 2007. I don’t doubt that Microsoft went back to the drawing board and tweaked and improved Windows, but overall it really is just Vista, done correctly. Plus the machines it is being released on are monsters: dual and quad core processors, 4, 6, and 8 GB of RAM and fast, capable video processors as well.

I really think the improvements in usability will be completely lost by the majority of average computer users. Pinning programs to the taskbar, jump lists, using the integrated search, file libraries, Home Groups, shaking and pushing Windows to screen edges will Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 11 Comments
27
Oct 09

Fun night at Windows 7 Launch Party

Adam is on the left, I'm not paying attention to photographer @kettlewell

My radio show co-host, Adam Cochran, sponsored a Windows 7 launch party tonight, and I helped out. We both setup our laptops and projectors and showed off some of the Windows 7 features and answered general questions about upgrading, buying new computers, what software was included, and more. We talked about the new taskbar, increased search abilities, demonstrated the Home Groups feature by sharing some folders back and forth, talked about the less intrusive User Account Control (UAC), demonstrated the snap to edge for positioning windows, the shake technique and how the system installs faster with greater driver support.

Many computer users continue to believe that Microsoft Office (more specifically Word) is included in Windows. Word has never been Continue reading →

Podcast — 6 Comments
21
Oct 09

Computer Help Show Podcast – 10-21-09

Once a month has been good for our show. We have lots to talk about and not seeing each other as often, I think our enthusiasm for what we do comes across better than ever. We hope you feel the same. Listen to this month’s show where we talked a lot about smart phones and Windows 7.

Remember, Adam Cochran and I record the show live at our monthly radio show at KAFM 88.1 FM in Grand Junction, CO. We are live every month on the 3rd Wednesday from Noon-1pm Mountain time. Put it on your calendar and tune in live every month!

Until next month, here’s today’s podcast:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 3 Comments
16
Oct 09

PC World columnist says don’t upgrade from XP

PC World columnist, David Coursey, writes this week that the hassle of upgrading a Windows XP computer to Windows 7 isn’t worth the time and price. It pretty much mimics the exact advice I gave to Windows XP users when Vista came out 2 1/2 years ago.

Software developers build software for the future, so older computer simply cannot run the newer software as efficiently. Especially when talking about operating systems like Windows.

Bottom line: If you are Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News / Windows Tips — 1 Comment
25
Jun 09

HP to offer Free upgrade to Windows 7

Starting today through the release of Windows 7 in October, HP is offering a free upgrade to any customer who buys a new desktop or laptop through their web site. Currently, only certain systems qualify for the upgrade, so look at the product description.

If you decide to take advantage of this offer, make sure you get a new computer with at least 3GB of RAM for best performance with Vista and then Windows 7.

HP Offers Free Windows 7 Upgrades — Microsoft Windows 7 — InformationWeek.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — No Comments
25
Jun 09

Microsoft announces Windows 7 pricing

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the upgrade and normal pricing for Windows 7 which goes on sale October 22.

Starting on Friday, June 26-July 11, a limited number of Windows 7 Home Premium upgrades will be sold for $49 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.

Upgrade prices will be $119 for Windows 7 Home Premium, $199 for Professional, and $219 for Ultimate when released in October.

Normally, I recommend not upgrading to a new version of Windows on an older computer. If, however, you have a computer that you purchased in the last two years and it has at least 3GB of RAM, an upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista may be worth it.

Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs | Beyond Binary – CNET News.

Windows Tips — No Comments
14
May 09

Keyboard shortcut to launch applications in Windows 7

I ran across this tip yesterday at Lockergnome and someone suggested that a video should be made…so here it is! The new Windows 7 taskbar, dubbed superbar, allows you to add any application you want there and then the same icon also acts as the taskbar icon as well. To quickly launch any application on the taskbar using your keyboard, hold down the Windows key plus the number of the location of the icon.

In my video example, Google Chrome was in position one, so I just held down the Windows key and the Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 2 Comments
13
May 09

Microsoft Promises greater compatibility with Windows 7

Windows Vista was hammered from its beta versions all the way through to its release and even to this day for lack of compatibility with hardware and software. Today, Microsoft announced that more than 10,000 hardware and software vendors are working with Microsoft during the development phase of Windows 7 to help assure a quality launch of Windows 7 later this year.

Will Windows 7 be better prepared for the public than Wndows Vista was? It appears they are on the right track, but only time will tell.

Microsoft Promises 10,000 Windows 7-Friendly Products — InformationWeek.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
10
May 09

Comparison of Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 9.04 install

I had the opportunity today to install both Windows 7 RC 1 and Ubuntu 9.04 on my Toshiba laptop today. The laptop has an Intel Core2Duo processor, 4 GB of RAM and 160 GB hard drive. Here are the results:

	Windows 7 RC1	Ubuntu 9.04
Install time	21 minutes including 2 reboots	19 minutes no reboots
Boot time	54 seconds	36 seconds
Shut down time	20 seconds	8 seconds
Post install work required	Approximately an hour to install Antivirus software, Office, decent browser, PDF reader, and all subsequent updates (and I had the install files on a flash drive).	None, AV software not needed, Office software and PDF reader installs with OS.
Hardware recognition	Everything worked except the card reader, but after first set of updates the card reader worked	Everything worked immediately.

Overall, both operating systems felt snappy, as they should with 4 GB of RAM. I will continue to test and report on both operating systems, but thought the install information was interesting.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — No Comments
5
May 09

Windows 7 released by August?

Before I left for my work saving and fixing computers, I started the massive download for Windows 7 RC 1. The download is nearly 2.5 GB! This weekend, I will install it on my laptop and give you a full report in the upcoming weeks.

This news story indicates that we might see the commercial release of Windows as early as August of this year. I want to see Microsoft release a quality product, but I also think it would be a good move on their part to try and release Windows 7 in time for the 2009 school year and have momentum going into the holidays. But then again, we are talking about Microsoft who seems to stumble more lately than soar.

NewsFactor Network | Windows 7 Could Be Released as Early as August.