Windows 7 First Impressions

Windows® 7 System Requirements

• 1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX® 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

The Hardware

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 Ghz (Conroe)
Motherboard: Intel DP35DP (3 series)
Memory: Corsair 2x2 (4 GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150 GB SATA 1.5 Gb/s
Video: Gigabyte GV-NX72G512P1 GeForce 7200 GS 128MB 32-bit GDDR2 PCI-e x16
+ HIS H925H256RPN-R Radeon 9250 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI
Monitors: Samsung SyncMaster 171v, Samsung SyncMaster 730B, Acer V173

Overall

Pros

• Pretty
  
• Fast
• Uses all 4 GB of my RAM

Cons

• Did not support my two video cards simultaneously (worked fine in XP)

The Install

The installation did not take very long and was extremely easy to go through. I was up and running in no time. The only thing to watch out here for is ensuring you're using the right version of Windows. For example, if you have 4 GB or more of RAM, make sure you're not installing the 32-bit version of Windows because then you can only use 3 GB of it. If you have 4GB+ of RAM, install the 64-bit version to take advantage of all of your memory.


Hardware Support

I have lukewarm feelings about hardware support. All of my hardware was bought within the last two years brand new. Everything worked except multiple monitors (3+). The main culprit appears to be that the ATI Radeon 9250 does not have Windows 7 drivers available and thus will not work on Windows 7. So I went ahead and bought a new eVGA 512-P1-N402-LR GeForce 6200 512 MB PCI card to compliment my GeForce 7200 PCI-e x16. Oops, that didn't work either! The error I got in Device Manager was that my motherboard did not have updated firmware to support the configuration (error 35). No matter what I did, whether it was playing with BIOS settings PCI-e/PCI, update drivers, etc. I could not get a PCI-e x16 card to work with a PCI video card at the same time with Windows 7. Perhaps driver updates or firmware will fix this going forward. All I know is that this configuration worked just fine in Windows XP. That said, I went ahead and bought a 2nd eVGA PCI card and I'm confident that will work, however the PCI cards are slower than the PCI-e x16 cards so my "aero" Windows 7 experience rating will be lower and thus, Windows will feel slower for me. So if I want an optimized fast system, I will need to purchase a new motherboard that supports two PCI-e x16, and an additional PCI-e x16 video card. That's a lot to swallow for just installing a new operating system. Most people use two or less monitors so this will not be an issue for most. I am just documenting the troubles I had to save others the time and money of trying endless cards. If you are planning on building a system for Windows 7, I'd recommend purchasing a motherboard that has multiple PCI-e x16 slots to avoid the problems I faced.


The Experience

I have to say, overall I am very pleased with Windows 7 64-bit. Things are very zippy. The network performance issues that plagued Vista are gone. File copies are extremely fast. The Aero interface is very sleek. I also love the subtle tools they've included that aren't advertised very much like the snipping tool, sticky notes, updated calculator, etc.

The new taskbar takes some getting used to but after a couple weeks I am feeling comfortable with it and I'm quickly becoming a fan. There are subtle improvements here that make all the difference. For example, you can now mouse over an open program in the taskbar and get a preview of the windows open in that program! Very cool.

To sum up the experience, there's nothing earth-shattering here. However, there's many subtle improvements that make Windows 7 better. Not having to download a multi-monitor tool because you can now drag windows to the top of another monitor and it'll automatically maximize, shaking windows to minimize all other windows, previewing open programs, etc. all start to add up in terms of productivity.

A separate post on Windows 7 features (with screenshots) is coming soon! Stay tuned.

What do you think about Windows 7? Comments are open!

Firefox Personas

Firefox is probably the most innovative browser available today. With features such as plug-ins, themes, extensions, Firefox is becoming very relevant in the browser space. Well now they've added a new feature to the mix called "Personas for Firefox." It is a free extension that allows you to style up your web browser. Finally, no more boring look and feel! There are styles for sports, music, and even fashion. Check out these screenshots and feel free to download it if you like near the bottom of this post.


Get Personas

Microsoft Security Essentials (Antivirus) Released

Microsoft is on a roll. With Windows 7 on the horizon, Microsoft has released a free anti-malware software called Microsoft Security Essentials. It's right on cue. This is to compete with the likes of AVG, Avast, etc. Microsoft has gotten a reputation in the past for being insecure. Offering this free security software is a bold move to try to boost its security reputation. So here's the breakdown.


Pros

• Very easy to use
• Extremely affordable (it's free)
  You can even use it in a small home-based business
  
• Lightweight (installer and memory footprint is approx 4 MB)
• Works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7

Cons

• Not well-established, do not know how secure it really is yet
  
• Could significantly hurt competition in the antivirus space
  
  

Conclusion

I feel this is a great program for the average home user. It is simple, fast, and hopefully secure. I feel that if you are not overly concerned with the best security and just want something easy to use, go for it! If you are tech savvy and want to give it a shot yourself, just remember to uninstall any other antivirus programs before installing a new one. You don't need multiple antivirus programs slowing down your computer.

Download it

Facebook Fan Check is Not a Virus

I've read a lot of people that were concerned that the Facebook Fan Check application is a virus and I wanted to assure everyone that as of now, it is not a virus. However, if you Google Facebook Fan check, it is very likely you will get a virus! Hackers want you to believe that it's a virus and they want you to google it, download their software to remove it and ultimately GIVE you a virus. Clever eh? Ugh.

In conclusion, it's not a virus but don't go trying to download software to remove it. I personally stay away from Facebook applications because I do not know or trust the authors of the applications with my profile information.

What do you think about Facebook applications?

Facebook Lite Released

Facebook Lite is just as it sounds. A stripped down Facebook. Don't like apps? This is the version for you!

Check it out!

http://lite.facebook.com

Guide: Creating a Facebook Business Page

Facebook has emerged as the most popular social networking site as of December 2008. It surpassed MySpace in unique visitors and it continues to grow. If you're reading this, you probably have a Facebook account. It is a great way to share photos, videos, and little nuggets of info about yourself to your friends and family. The question is, how can your business utilize Facebook?

Putting your business up on Facebook has its advantages and disadvantages. The largest advantage is probably getting your name out there. It's another avenue to advertise your business. It's probably one of the best ways considering its unique visitors is currently at 123 million. The downside to having a Facebook page is that it's another place to update information. Most businesses' information does not change from day to day though so this is probably a minor upfront inconvenience. So, if you've decided to create a page for your business, read on my friend.

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php OR go to Facebook.com and find the "Create a Page" link after signing out from Facebook. See the screenshot below:
   
   
   
   
2. On the "Create New Facebook Page" screen, choose a category that best fits your business, type in the name of your business, check that you're authorized to create this page and type in your full name (the same name you registered your Facebook account under). Click [Create Page]
   
   
   
   
3. If you do not already have a Facebook account, you will need to create one by choosing "I do not have a Facebook account" and entering your information. If you already have a Facebook account, choose "I already have a Facebook account" and enter your Email address and password for Facebook and click [Login].
   
   
   
   
4. Okay, your page has been created! Not so bad huh? Now we need to polish things up a bit by adding useful information for your visitors, a picture, etc. Lets continue.
   
   
5. On the "Info" tab, click "Edit Information"
   
   
6. Enter in any relevant information that your visitors may find useful and click [Save Changes]
   
   
   
   
7. Click "Write something about [Your Company]" on the left to write a little blurb that visitors will see under your company picture.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Click "Edit Page" on the left. From this screen you can change a multitude of options for your page. I recommend leaving defaults for the most part but feel free to look around and tweak as necessary. The next step is very important. We need to publish your page so that others can see it and become fans!
   
   
9. Click "publish this page" near the top right.
   
   
   
   
10. You'll probably want to add a picture, you can do this by mousing over the big question mark where your picture will go and clicking "Change Picture."
    
    
    
    
11. Once you're happy with your page, you can suggest it to your friends and family. You can do this by clicking "Suggest to Friends" on the left. If you do not see this option, your page may not be published. Click "Edit Page" and find the publish link (see screenshot in step 9).

That's it! You now have a Facebook page for your business. Let the business roll in! Feel free to post any questions you may have. Good luck!

Gmail Just Got Better

As if Gmail couldn't get any better, it has now unveiled "Send mail as" in a professional configuration. This gets rid of the "on behalf of gmail" designation that showed up when people received mail from you. This is useful to those folks who have their own mail domains that want to use Gmail. So now no one has to know that you're using Gmail to organize all your mail in one spot and make it accessible via the web.

Here's how to do it.

1. Log into Gmail
2. Click "Settings" at the top right
3. Click the "Accounts" tab
4. Click "Add e-mail address you own"
5. Type in the desired name and e-mail address
6. Click "Next Step"
7. Choose "Send through SMTP servers..." <-- Key step!
8. Enter your SMTP server (i.e. mail.domain.com)
   
9. Select the SMTP port your server supports
10. Enter your username
11. Enter your password
12. Click "Add Account"

You're done! Enjoy the seamless bliss of everything in Gmail.

Source: Gmail Help