Windows 7 - Is it worth it?

Have you heard of Windows 7?

I have searched some articles and I would like to share them with you

So what is Windows 7?

It's the next version of Windows for PCs, and it's the result of working hand-in-hand with our partners and with people who use Windows in the real world every day. We're paying particular attention to the things they're telling us are important to them and will make their PCs work the way they want them to—things like enhanced reliability, responsiveness, and faster boot and shut-down. We're also trying to make their everyday tasks easier, like connecting and syncing devices, browsing the web, and managing a home network.

Of course, we're also working on new capabilities, so people will be able to do things with Windows 7 that were difficult (or perhaps impossible) to do with PCs before. Finally, we're working hard to ensure that Windows 7 will run on any PC and work with any program that works today with Windows Vista, so upgrading from Windows Vista will be easy.

Source : Microsoft

Windows 7 Benchmarks

One of the most important aspects of the new Windows 7 operating system is performance. If you were an early adopter of Windows Vista you might especially be interested in how Windows 7 compares to Windows Vista but also with Windows XP. The latter is obviously more interesting to users who skipped Windows Vista to switch to the next Microsoft operating system.

Tests are obviously not final as there is currently no final version of Windows 7 available. The Windows 7 benchmark tests can nevertheless give a good indication of what users can expect from the operating system.

According to ZDnet who ran a series of four tests on Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 Build 6956, Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 it looks quite promising. Windows 7 was able to beat all other operating systems in three of the four tests and made second place in the fourth test.

What has been tested? The boot-up time was tested on all systems and the three benchmarking programs PassMark PerformanceTest, PCMark Vantage and CINEBENCH R10 were used to test the performance.

It is refreshing to see that Windows 7 is able to beat the other operating systems in this stage of development. There will be hopefully some room for further performance improvements in later builds.

Source : Windows7News

Screenshots :

How to speed up your computer and make it run better (Windows XP)

I found a quotation on the net that I have been using
"The default settings and configuration for your computer are not necessarily the most efficient for your particular usage. Here are some tips and tweaks to speed up your computer and improve performance."
Before undertaking any system changes, be sure that the basic maintenance chores are done. Also be sure that you know how to get back where you started in case changes don't work out. As a reminder here are the things that need to be done regularly
Do a regular maintenance :

1. Run an up-to-date AntiVirus
2. Run an up-to-date AntiSpyware
3. Empty your "Recycle Bin"
4. Run chkdsk and disk defragmenter
5. BACK UP YOUR SYSTEM

Make your computer start faster

Here are some basic tips that you can use to help out your computer to boot up a little bit faster

1. Right click on My Computer
2. Click Properties
3. Choose Advance Tab
4. Click on Settings for the Performance Option
5. Choose Adjust for best performace
6. Click Ok

"If you dont like the results you can always go back and choose the original settings. Just repeat the steps above."

What you can also do is adjust some confirgurations

1. Click on Start - Run - type MSCONFIG (it will open the System Configuration Utility)
2. You'll see Services and Startup
3. Remove the Services that you dont need. If you dont know what are those services, you better search for the on the internet or ask someone that know what they do. You might accidentally disable a service that are important to your computer. So be carefull!
4. Remove that Start up items that you dont need. And again before you remove anything, be sure that you know what you are removing. Try searching about it on the internet or ask someone that know what is it for.

Other things you can do to help your computer

• Look under the "BOOT.INI" tab. You will see a box labeled "Timeout:", and a numerical value. By default, it's 30, which means 30 seconds of wait time before boot. This can be changed, using 3 seconds. (Note: if you have more than one operating system, this means the wait time to startup to the highlighted OS. you might want a bit more than 3 seconds)
• Delete the temporary files periodically from your computer to make the applications run faster. Type %Temp% in the run dialog box by clicking on Start -> Run, and click on "OK". You will see an open folder with many files. Click on the Edit menu and click on Select all and then click on the File menu and select Delete. Note: Always confirm that the folder which is opened has a temp on the top of menu bar and the folder indicates that it is a temporary folder.
• Always perform a disk defragmentation at least once in a month. start the disk defragmentation from the system tools available in the accessories from the start menu. it takes a longer time and it is advised not to run any applications in the computer including the screen savers, while running disk defragmentation.
• Perform a scandisk to see that your computer hard drive is in healthy condition and it helps your computer run faster.

Hibernation

After you have done all this, another method you can do is to allow the computer to hibernate. Hibernation closes and opens Windows faster than normally.

1. Go to Start - Control Panel - Power Options. Click on the Hibernate tab.
2. Click on the box that says "Enable hibernation" to check it.
3. Click on the Advanced tab and change the Power buttons options if you want to hibernate by pressing the sleep button or the power button. Otherwise, holding the Shift key while in the Turn Off Computer menu will give you the option to hibernate.
4. Restart your computer every week or so to clear your computer.

The power can then be completely turned off, even at the socket so that no power is wasted.

TIPS

• When installing new software choose not to add the program to the startup folder.
• Regularly check to see what programs are running from your startup folder as malicious programs such as spyware may have installed itself without your knowledge.
• If you accidentally uncheck a program, just retrace the steps above and recheck the program and restart your computer.
• Adding more RAM to a Windows XP computer helps it boot faster, and since RAM prices are very low these days, it's an easy way to boot faster.
• uncheck system startup unneccessary startup programs*

Warnings

• Save any open work before making changes.
• Shut down all applications before making changes.
• Don't uncheck anything from Symantec or any other anti-virus or anti-malware software. Doing so may disable or hinder the protection of your PC.