When Vista was released, till Service Pack 1 it was plagued by many problem specially the now in-famous File copy bug but after Service Pack 1 & then SP2 this all changed. Vista is not a slow snail now & is infect a fast cheetah. Windows 7 is all what Windows Vista was not, even in my usage I can say that Windows 7 is Vista fixed. One thing I can say is that in Windows 7, feature 1, 2, 3 & 4 work fine.

Now, no operating system is good by default. You have to make it work the way you want it to work. With Linux we get all customisations we can imagine of but this usually in a complex manner. Linux does gives lots of possibilities & they are slowly but surely gaining momentum. Mac OS X by default is made to discourage customisation. All Mac should look same as El Jobso wants, you cannot run a Mac your way, you can run it the way Apple wants you to use it.

Windows is a hybrid here. It lets you mould your OS the way you want, & also makes it not so tough to customize it. In my experience you can customize Windows about 90% to make it look & work like something completely different.

In the leadership of Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft started to listen what customers wanted from Windows instead of making what Microsoft wants. Microsoft has recently started the Ad campaign with catch phrase “I am a PC & Windows 7 was my idea”. Its actually true, Windows 7 is a the idea of a user, its his OS  running on his PC so shouldn’t it run the way the  user wants… well, Windows 7 does that fine.

The way I use Windows 7 is to use as much default application as possible as neither they bloat the system nor they create confusion. I customised my installation of Windows 7 the following way which includes some of the applications I use & the way I configured the PC.

Note : In case you are installing Windows 7 on a Netbook or something with a CD Drive, then you can use Windows 7 USB – DVD Download Tool

User Interface Customisation

The first thing I do after installing Windows is to customize the look & feel the way I want. he default UI & UX of Windows 7 is already good due to which you don’t require much customization but still I changed some themes, sound pack etc. This is how my typical Windows 7 desktop looks like.

The visual style I am using is called Soft7. I like dark coloured themes on my OS so this with a custom Window Glass colour of black does the trick. To change the default Visual Style on Windows you need a patched uxtheme.dll which was the usual case with Windows XP & Vista but thanks to the efforts of the guys at uxstyle.com, you no longer have to do this. Just download the application & after installation it will run in the background letting you install custom unsigned themes with ease. In case you don’t like it, just disable or uninstall it.

If you still like to patch the uxtheme.dll in Windows 7, you can download Universal uxtheme patcher from here.

To add something to any application as a jumplist item, just drag it to the apps icon in taskbar.

Browser

I use Firefox as my primary browser on Windows 7 due to the sheer level of customisation it provides with extensions. IE 8 is good, but Firefox is faster for me although it is indeed a big memory hog.

Mozilla is changing the way Firefox looks & behaves for Windows 7 with Firefox 4 but you can get most of it right now too using an amazing theme called Strata40 from SpewBoy. Now this is one reason to stick to Firefox despite of its shortcomings as a software. This is how my Firefox 3.6 beta 1 looks like, because this is the first version of Firefox which provides support for Aero Peak. Firefox 3.7 beta supports jumplists too but right now its not stable for my use at least.

Entertainment

Windows Media player in Vista was actually better then the one in Windows 7 as far as UI is concerned. The previous glass themed Media Player looked way better then the current all blue version. Microsoft did something wrong here as it even changed the ability to change colour of WMP12.

Applications

In the year 2009, no one is using Operating systems anymore, we use applications. When you open your system, you start using the applications you use & not the OS due to which OS is completely transparent. This is why no matter what OS you use, Whether it is Linux or Mac OS or Windows, everything works fine for you if you know how to use it properly.

Windows Live Essential

Windows 7 comes without any Mail client or chatting application unlike Vista which used to come with Windows Mail & Windows Live messenger. This is actually good as this way Microsoft is giving users an option to either install Windows Live Essential suite or whatever else they like. The OS is less bloated now. My primary mail client is Windows Live Mail desktop & I use Windows Live Writer for my blogging needs. I don’t use Windows Live messenger though as Digsby does the work fine for me. You can download other apps included if you like Windows Live photo gallery or Movie Maker too.

Picture & Image Editing

For managing pictures & editing photographs I use ACDSee Pro 3. Its has been my favourite picture manager & editor for years as it does all I need from pictures taken from my digicam or Nokia N79 just fine. Photoshop isn’t required for these basic tasks now. ACDSee even supports uploading directly to Flickr. The dark black theme matches the way I like an app to look like too.

Although for home users, even this is not required. They will be happy with Windows Live Picture Viewer which now supports integration with image sharing services.

Media Playback & management

For all my Media needs, I use Windows Media player as now it even supports playing mp4 files automatically. Though I still install Windows7 Codec Pack by Shark 007 to play any & all media files I can find.

WMP12 also syncs with my Nokia N79 by default so I don’t even need any PC suite software to transfer music. When copying a video or Audio file, WMP12 automatically converts the file in suitable format so that my Nokia N79 can play the video or Audio just fine.

When I am watching a movie or just want to listen to music while lying on my couch, I use Windows Media Centre 7 which I can control using my Nokia N79 & Vectir. No need to even buy a Media centre remote. In case you still want buy a proper Media Centre remote then you can either buy a Hauppage or LeadTek WinFast T.V Tuner card or Remote 300 from Genius Peripherals which is now becoming a known brand in Indian Market.

It received some facelift in the new version which is welcome. It supports integration with SkyTV, netflix which I wish was available in India too.

Communication

For communicating with friends, I no longer use multiple chat clients such as Yahoo Messenger or Google talk, instead just one client to rule them all, Digsby. It provides integration with Yahoo, Google talk, Windows Live, Facebook & twitter. It even notifies me of any new Email on supported networks. In case a friend of mine is offline, I can even Email him from Digsby itself.

To make Digsby look native to Windows 7, it now includes a theme called Windows 7 by default but its for the buddy list only. To make the message window look native to Windows 7, you can use a theme called 7 for Digsby. It doesn’t support aero peak yet which is a very required feature considering just one button shown in taskbar for many chat windows by default. A fix is to use tabbed window for conversations

PDF

The de-facto document sharing format out there. I prefer to use original Acrobat Reader 9 to read PDFs & Bullzip PDF printer to print whatever I want as a PDF file.

For my Nokia N79

Although I don’t use it much, for syncing my E-Mail or SMS or contact lists with Windows 7’s inbuilt contact feature or Outlook, I use Nokia Ovi Suite. Its a completely new suite from Nokia replacing there old Nokia PC Suite. It now supports integration with Nokia Maps, Nokia Music store etc & you can also sync your phone with Outlook using Ovi Suite. I did a small review few months back when Ovi suite was in beta. Since its made in Qt, it will soon be available for Mac & Linux too.

Too bad Device Stage isn’t supporting Nokia N79 as Nokia has not released any update for Device stage yet.

I also use ImageExpo in case I need to show the screen of my Nokia N79 on my PC or have to give presentation etc. You can read its small review I did sometime back. Keep in mind this requires Java runtime to be installed.

Widgets

I was and I am still using Yahoo! Widgets as I am just too used to it. The inbuilt gadgets are good but don’t have some gadgets that I need so I use Yahoo widgets.

One thing to notice is that Windows 7 comes with an inbuilt sticky notes application but its not a gadget which is what I wanted.

Download Management

For torrents, nothing beats µTorrent on Windows. Its a very tiny torrent client which starts & stays in the notification area & you don’t even need to see it. I don’t minimize it to notification area though as I just minimize it to the taskbar. Support for jumplists to pause & stop or resume downloads is requested though.

For other downloads, I have switched to Free Download Manager. It does its work without nagging me in anyway. I do hope that it also starts to support jump lists for common tasks such as pause, resume & stop.

Code editing

I use Notepad++ for all my code editing needs. Its good for editing & writing code for HTML, C#, CSS & a lot more. What I like about it is its tabbed interface & since Aero peak is available, multi tab preview just like IE 8 or Firefox 3.6 is most likely to come soon.

Maintenance

Windows 7 does the maintenance work for you automatically, but in case you want to do it, you can use CCleaner. For even more optimisations, you can use TuneUp utilities 2009 or Tweak7 for customising parts of the OS like hiding a drive in explorer etc.

Reading Comics

If you are like me & into comics, try ComicRack. Its like a real life rack of comics where you can add a folder to watch will have all your comic books & you read what you like. What I like about ComicRack is that its really fast even for high resolution images & created using WPF.

Libraries

Libraries are a new feature of Windows 7, using which you can see the content of many folders at one folder. It is the next version of Smart folders found in Vista where you can save your searches as folders & use them like any other folder.

Sync between devices & my Lenovo R61

Since I also have a Lenovo R61 laptop, I frequently have to transfer & sync files between my laptop & desktop. If its a big file like a video or many songs then I simply use a Flash drive to transfer files, but Windows 7 is also helping me to create a sync profile between the desktop & laptop due to which I can also share multiple small files automatically. I just shared a folder in both my computers with same folder name & it even works over Bluetooth personal area network.

One thing I would like to mention is Windows Live Skydrive & the new SkyDrive Explorer software. Using this I have my SkyDrive folders available through my Windows Explorer just like any other folder using which I can easily add or remove files.

CD Burning

I tried using CD Burner XP Pro & Nero 9 lite, but couldn’t find a reason to use these software at all. So now for burning I use …

1) WMP 12 for burning Audio CDs

2) Windows 7’s inbuilt Data disk burner for burning simple Data CD or DVD

3) PowerArchiver for burning ISO CD images.

There are many other pro lever applications I use but they are beyond the scope of a normal desktop user for which this post was written.

Now, Windows 7 was just released & its new but its something people are already familiar with due to Vista’s look & feel. There are many other applications available for Windows so the best way is to try few things & see what works best for you. This post was made just to get you started & as time passes, I will be updating this post.

I installed Windows 7 on two computer so far, one is my workstation & 2^nd is another PC running Windows XP. Windows 7 uses the same Boot Configuration editor found in Windows Vista due to which dual booting with Windows Vista wasn’t a problem. Even when I formatted the Windows 7 partition from Windows Vista after installing Windows 7, I was still able to boot into Vista. However, if you are installing it on a new blank hard disk then Windows 7 will make a 200 MB hidden partition for boot files & this partition will not be visible in Explorer. In case of dual booting with Windows XP, Windows 7 Setup copied the boot files to C:\ Drive where Windows XP was installed & I wasn’t able to boot into XP or see the drive in Explorer as now it was the hidden partition. To fix this problem simply download EasyBCD & add a new entry for Windows XP after deleting the old Windows XP entry & select the C:\ Drive. Now you can dual boot Windows 7 & Windows XP without any problem.

Windows Vista drivers will work fine in Windows 7 in most cases. In my case, I installed it on my Workstation & it automatically detected all the drivers. Even then I went to Windows Update & it installed new drivers for my Graphics Card & Realtek LAN. Keep in mind that the current ATI drivers are giving me lots of trouble & they keep crashing 50% of the time. Waiting for things to get a bit stable.

Libraries are nothing but Search Folders of Windows Vista. This feature was never used much in Windows Vista but in Windows 7 it is right there in Explorer. By default there are 4 libraries named Pictures, Videos, and Documents & Music. You can add multiple locations in each libraries after which when you open that library in Explorer, it will show you the content from all the locations at once place even it is a web based location provided you have net connectivity. I don’t keep my data on the default drive where Windows is installed. I keep them in a separate partition under categorized folders so Libraries are a boon for someone like me.

The On Screen keyboard is finally something much better than the old one found even in Vista since the time of Windows 2000. The buttons are big so that if you are using a tablet PC, typing text won’t be a problem. The buttons are big enough for even finger touch & they are beautifully crafted on a glass panel.

Finally I can say that it is time to leave Winamp. Windows Media Player 12 is the be all end all Media Player for everyone’s need. WMP12 now has two separate views, the Player View & the Library view. Combine that with the Superbar of Windows 7 which acts as a minimize to tray functionality I have been always missing in WMP & I can very well say that I won’t be using any other media player from Windows 7 onwards when WMP12 & FFDShow will fulfill all my needs. I was easily able to connect my Nokia N79 in MTP mode & transfer all my files as WMP 12 has native support for MP4 & AAC Files along with H.264 & DivX support. Since I transfer videos to my phone after converting them to MP4, I was able to manage them right there from WMP12.

Windows Media Player 12 now has instant preview of the song. If you are playing something, then its audio will stop & the audio of new file come into front. As soon as you close the preview, the old audio will play again.

WMP12 playing a Video.

The new Caculator

Windows live Writer with my new blog theme auto applied, this gives lots of space to write stuff.

UAC no longer bugs you if you are working on something. If there is a UAC prompt & you are working on something then it will sit in the Superbar & glow to show you a prompt, If you click on that then only screen will dim

Installing DirectX 9 runtime

My Workspace with switcher

Some keyboard shortcuts which come in handy