Welcome to Windows 7

Well folks the time has come and Windows 7 is off and running. We are finding a few things here and there that are causing some minor issues. Let me explain all this right quick.

First off the UPGRADE is nothing near the experience I am having with my machines at home with Windows 7 and to make this easier whenever I mention Windows 7 - instead of writting it all out I am simply going to put W7, you'll get the picture. I will get to the point eventually sorry.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
Overall the W7 experience is going to be a good change for us America. However just as in any transition, they can't get it all right and alot of this falls on the Manufacturers of our Printers and other software just as normal. When an Operating System (OS) comes out the people that make mice and keyboards and printers and scanners and other software are FORCED to get on the ball and program new code for your new OS and their stuff so that it will work correctly.

They have one of two choices. Spend a ton of money on Microsofts System Maps, or have their programers rip through the system code and figure out where they fit into the big picture. Obviously the later is the least expensive and is the most common route that these people take. Not having available updates and patches for their stuff until they have tons of people complaining and boycotting their products. So if your stuff isn't working, don't blam Microsoft, blame the company whose device doesn't have an upgraded W7 patch or software fix made for it yet. They are the ones not doing what they should be. Because they are, well... cheap.

PRINTING and FAX:
I have a Lexmark X1270 printer scanner combo for my art and printing documents. I'll tell you folks, my unit is several years old and look, on the lexmark site, theres an updated version of my software for W7 on their site! Yeah! So I found my machine on their site, and then looked for driver updates. There it was. I installed and it offered to remove my old stuff and it did. Then i restarted and installed the new stuff. It saved it to my Downloads, and then did the install and restarted my machine and walla. Lexmark back online. Very easy, simply find the main web location of your printer and search your model. If the company is not cheap and on the ball, as Lexmark; there will be updated software there waiting for you.

PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY:
Old programs I have found will run on  W7. I have tested this. Now the pixel rate on old programs runs in 800x600 very old school. But I have installed and run old Windows 95 stuff without any problems other that the graphics are a little weird unless you chage your display to 800x600. Not a big deal. The point is it IS backward compatible. For those needing more function out of their old programs, see the XP emulator later in this article. But yes OLD programs do work.

OLD HARDWARE and the XP emulator:
On some of the Premium and greater versions of W7 you have what is called an XP Emulator. This allows you to run programs that don't run properly in W7. There are not many but people seem to still own a few. This is your solution. Most manufacturers will not assist with you using the emulator so you'll have to play around with it and see how it functions. Any feedback to me on this would be great as I don't have this Emulator on my version of W7- Testers. It is said to be a virtual Xp machine built into W7 and I would like to know more.

On the topic of old hardware, all I have to say is I installed my old 1998 webcam, and W7 found the driver for it that my Xp machine couldn't find for 6 years. So hope of old hardware working again is bright.

UPGRADE vs CLEAN INSTALL:
One thing I have mentioned to people, at work, at home and in the field is that if you want the BEST of what W7 has to offer than AVOID the UPGRADE! An upgrade is a nasty word in my world. It says I am taking something I don't really want and I am intergrating it into something I do want. This means you are KEEPING the same old garbage system to a degree to avoid moving files etc. Don't do it!

When you do an upgrade you are basically taking two decks of cards, Vista on one side and W7 on the other and shuffling them together really fast. I know when I do this with a deck of cards, I drop a bunch of them. This is your data and system information we are dropping. Not to mention security software and your user accounts are being shuffled too. You are setting up for a BAD experience.

When giving the option. Backup your Data files ONLY. Then run the disks, when it asks for upgrade or install clean, you choose the clean install. Your end result will be a better one. Like mine.

Now on a clean install it is going to save your old operating system and everything in a file called windows.old -this will be located under the C:/ drive. Once you get what you want out of there (Again data only) delete the folder and free up tons of space. Walla. Clean system and I think you'll find if you have been having issues previously after the UPGRADE, they will go by-by.

WLAN issues on Upgrade:
Important on the Notebook/ Laptop front. The Wlan intergrated wireless is reporting major issues resyncing to the machine after the windows 7 Upgrade. Again, I think this is not only software not properly being updated, but also a combination of the upgrade itself instead of a clean install. At this point there is not a solution to this, and this effects the smaller machines that have the WLAN card in them, that offer AT&T or Verizon service on wireless. This is a big issue nd is being address. What can you do in the meantime? A clean W7 install instead of an UPGRADE. Again this is done with the same disk you got for the Upgrade you just select the full install option.

64bit Vista vs 64bit W7:
Oh dear lord. This is simply to state, you have 64bit! You are on the moon. Please please for all thats HOLY- DO NOT RUN AN UPGRADE! Do the clean install. You should know better from my articles. And yes it runs fine on 64bit, just do it clean and don't be lazy about saving your data, which you should have a backup solution anyways. If your already on top of this- good work.

A NEW AGE FOR HOME AND OFFICE:
Well the size of it is - the amount of troubles being reported are as expected- minimum and minor. For the most part the new system is doing what was expected and again it falls on the third party companies to update their software and firmware. I am running old programs and using old hardware on a new machine OS.
We have finally bridged the gap from Xp, thank god I am tired of the days of the point and click anyway.

A TIDBIT:
Did you hear that Apple is now putting smoke detectors in their machines? Yeah if they find smoke has been around the unit, it will void your warranty. How fun.

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOs and COMMENTARY:
Looking for  feedback here. Do you think I should do Video talks and chats about Tech? Do you like how I explain and would like to see more? Let me know and send a message below under the comments. Hope you all do well in the Holidays season, and remember to read the WHAT to BUY before going out and buying machines and Warrantys this year. BEWARE the RETAILERS....