WINDOWS 7 SHIPS OCT 22, 2009
Microsoft Windows 7 officially ships on October 22nd. This is the long awaited remedy to Microsoft’s Windows Vista Fiasco. Vista wasn’t an altogether bad operating system but a variety of incompatibilities and a tendency to freeze or self destruct on occasion gave it a lot of bad press. It did make for some rather humorous Apple vs PC commercials however.
Windows 7 on the other hand has gotten a fair amount of good reviews thus far at least for the Beta and Release Candidate versions, so one would assume that the official release will be at least as good. Windows 7 will look at lot more like Windows Vista than Windows XP, but the Windows Classic Theme should make older version die-hards feel right at home.
The main improvements in Windows 7 over Windows Vista are in the areas of Speed, Stability and Compatibility. It is far less likely to crash. Users of some older software, unless it was written by Microsoft, may even get some unlikely compatibility benefits. For example, it has remedied several small Libra related problems that occasionally cropped up in both Windows XP and Windows Vista.
At the same time however, Microsoft has seen fit to cause older versions of their own products to fail under Windows 7. You will need a version of Microsoft Office at the 2003 or preferably the 2007 level or it will not even load on a computer equipped with Windows 7.
For the remainder of the month of October you can still order a computer with either Windows XP or Windows Vista and get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available later in the month. Software other than Microsoft Office and Libra will need to be tested before we can guarantee that there will be no compatibility issues. Some software, anti-viruses and such may need to be upgraded to properly function under Windows 7.
WINDOWS 7 VOLUNTEERS?
We will be implementing a Windows 7 computer at our offices around the end of the month and will keep you apprised of our progress. If you would like to implement a Windows 7 test computer of your own, let us know and we will assist you with the implementation. Several problem areas that we are aware of would include a lack of support for older Novell Servers and any form of built in e-mail program. Most companies should likely be considering a conversion to a Windows Server in either case, and you can always download Windows Live Mail if you don’t already have Microsoft Outlook 03 or 07.
If Windows 7 continues its good press then I would expect Microsoft to try and discontinue shipping Windows XP equipped computers once more but that has not officially been scheduled for the moment. With the economy suppressing overall PC Sales as it is, and many companies having a surplus of PC’s due to downsizing, Windows XP will likely still be around for at least a few more years.
LOGMEIN REMOTE ACCESS
We have been installing the Remote Access Program LOGMEIN at a number of our client sites. This allows us to attach to a remote computer and view a problem while it is happening or send through changes quickly where required. It can also be used by clients that want to access their work computer from home. Let us know if you would like to implement this service while we are on-site.
MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE
Every Anti-Virus needs help from time to time. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a fairly new and quite effective free Scanning and Removal Tool that I have used to remove several of the newer viruses commonly seen on the Internet. It is available at: www.malwarebytes.org