Windows 7: Up and Running

Preface

Windows 7 is Microsoft’s latest version of its Windows operating system. Unlike its predecessor, Vista, Windows 7 offers incremental upgrades and is aimed at ensuring maximum compatibility with applications and hardware already supported in Vista. Microsoft’s key agenda around Windows 7 is to woo many of the Windows XP users who skipped Vista.

Windows 7 offers significant performance improvements over its predecessors—most notably Windows Vista and Windows XP. It is still based on the Vista kernel, but comes with a redesigned Windows shell, a new taskbar, and a less-annoying User Account Control (UAC) system. There are also improvements in networking, in particular the introduction of a home network system known as HomeGroup.

This compact book offers the quickest path for Windows XP and Vista users to get started with Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft has learned from the mistakes of Windows Vista, and Windows 7 shows it—this new OS is much faster and more stable. Millions of people have tried the public beta and Windows 7 Release Candidate, and many give the software high marks.

Windows 7: Up and Running helps you be productive immediately. You’ll learn what’s new and what’s changed, as well as everything you need to get going, from installing to configuring the system. Windows 7 is poised to be a big hit among PC users, and with this handy guide, you can be up and running with this new operating system right away.

This book will help you:

• Quickly learn the system’s user interface, including the taskbar, Jump Lists, Desktop Gadgets, Aero Shake, system tray, and more.

• Discover the joys of networking with HomeGroup and file sharing, along with improved Wi-Fi usability.

• Take a tour of the system’s improved security, including the Action Center, User Account Control, and the Credential Manager.

• Learn how to use Windows Live Essentials for messaging, photo sharing, movie making, email, and blogging.

• Get to know the built-in applications and utilities, such as IE8, Windows Media Player 12, Microsoft Paint, and WordPad.

How This Book Is Organized

The chapters in this book are organized as follows:

Chapter 1, Installing Windows 7

This chapter first walks you through the different versions of Windows 7 available, and then gives you an overview of the installation process. You will then take a look at some of the new features in Windows 7 before we examine them in detail in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 2, Getting Around Windows 7

Among the new features (see Chapter 1) are the much improved taskbar, the improved capabilities of gadgets, as well as the many UI improvements that make the Windows experience a much more enjoyable one. In this chapter, you will take a more detailed look at three features that have the greatest effect on your daily Windows experience: taskbar, Libraries, and Desktop Gadgets.

Chapter 3, File Sharing

File sharing has been one of the common features across all Windows operating systems. Besides sharing files with other Windows computers, the file sharing feature in Windows 7 also allows users to share files with other non-Windows computers, such as those running Mac OS X and Linux. In Windows 7, file sharing has been further simplified with the new HomeGroup feature. In this chapter, you will learn about the HomeGroup feature, as well as learn how to share files with other computers on the network.

Chapter 4, Security

On the security front, Windows 7 has streamlined several features found in Windows Vista, making them much more accessible and less irritating in this new version of Windows. For example, the infamous UAC is one of the most irritating features in Vista. In this version of Windows, Microsoft has tweaked UAC so that it interrupts users only when needed. Microsoft has also replaced the Security Center in Vista with the new Action Center in Windows 7, which focuses not just on displaying problems, but also on offering suggestions and solutions to solve problems. The Credential Manager now has the ability to back up its credential information to a file. In addition, Enterprise and Ultimate users can now encrypt a portable thumb drive using BitLocker To Go.

Chapter 5, Essential Applications

One of the longstanding Windows traditions that Windows 7 broke is related to bundled applications: it contains far fewer bundled applications than did previous versions. For example, Microsoft Mail will not be available when you install Windows 7. Similarly, Messenger will also not be available when you install Windows 7. Instead, Microsoft will offer a suite of essential applications as a separate download. Doing so allows Microsoft to have separate release timelines for Windows and these essential applications. This also allows it to make these essential applications available for earlier versions of Windows more easily. In the first part of this chapter, you will first see how you can install the suite of essential applications from Microsoft free of charge. You will then look at the suite of built-in applications that ship with Windows 7.

Chapter 6, Internet Explorer 8

Windows 7 ships with the new Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). IE8 builds on the foundation of IE7, and this latest release contains many useful enhancements in the areas of usability, privacy, and security. In this chapter, you will learn about some of the innovations in IE8 and how they affect the way you surf the Web.

Chapter 7, Using Windows XP Mode

When Microsoft introduced Windows Vista, many users were very upset, as they discovered that some of their older applications could not work correctly in Vista (some application vendors simply did not upgrade their applications for Vista, or charged more for new versions than users were happy to pay). As such, a lot of users (and businesses) cited this as a reason for not upgrading to Vista. Microsoft realizes the severity of this problem and hopes to solve this problem in Windows 7 by providing a feature known as Windows XP Mode (XPM). XPM lets you run your legacy Windows XP applications inside a virtualized environment, either from within a virtual XP window or as a seamlessly integrated application within Windows 7.

Chapter 8, Windows 7 Tips and Tricks

Windows 7 is a complex operating system that is more evolutionary than revolutionary. A lot of features available in Windows 7 are based on the features available in the earlier versions of Windows: XP and Vista. Nevertheless, Windows 7 contains a wealth of new features that greatly improve the usability of Windows and its performance. In this chapter, you will learn some of the tips and tricks to getting the most out of Windows 7.