Automatic for the Internets

Windows 7 was released about a month ago on October 22, 2009 and within the first three weeks it gained a 4% market share (it took Windows Vista seven months to attain the same goal). Pre-orders on Amazon.com were record highs, surpassing the previous pre-order record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So, demand alone for Windows 7 was much more impressive than the previous Windows Vista.

Windows 7 is available in 3 versions: Home Premium ($119.99), Professional ($199.99), and Ultimate ($219.99). You can see a comparison of features here. Of course, the Ultimate version comes fully equipped, but most people only need the features available in Home Premium. If you're a student, there's is a major discount available to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $30. The offer expires January 3, 2010, and you can find it here.

The purpose of the upgrade was to excel where Vista failed. Visually, there is not much of a difference, as both use Windows Aero for graphics. For example, the start menu, for the most part, is the same. One feature I really like is the multi-tasking. You can attach icons to the task bar at the bottom of your screen and when an application is in use the icon will be highlighted with a box around it. If multiple windows of the application are open (i.e. multiple browser windows) you can scroll over the icon and a preview of all the windows will be shown. From this preview you can easily view and selected which one you want to use. This feature is very useful when you have many applications up and running and need to find the one you want. There's also a handy search feature in the start menu that will search your whole computer for any file or application. If you can't find what you're looking for, this feature is very handy. And, finally, supposedly,Windows Media player has some additional, cutting-edge features that would appeal manyto PC users...The ability to stream songs played on Windows Media Player onto other devices that are Bluetooth compatible. There are many new features including Themes, Gadgets, and other various customizations. For a full list of features go here.

As for performance, I have found my computer running a little slower. Provided that I do have a three year old computer, but I have had many instances of waiting too long for applications to open and for the computer to log-in as compared to when I was running Windows XP. I would say the times I have had to wait, I was running multiple applications. If you have a computer with more than 1GB of RAM, I expect the wait time would significantly decrease.

I downloaded the 32-bit version, because I was unsure my 1GB of RAM and 80GB of memory could run the 64-bit version. The 32-bit could contribute to the slow reaction times. For those wondering, the RAM (Random Access Memory) is the part of your computer that handles all the information you're processing at the moment. 32 and 64-bit refers to the way your computer and operating system can process different amounts of information. The 64-bit is able to use more RAM effectively - meaning your computer can handle more information and more applications at one time. If you computer can handle the improvement (4GB of RAM is recommended), I would definitely recommend upgrading to the 64-bit.

Overall, I think Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista. It runs very efficiently and is fairly intuitive and easy to use. I upgraded from XP and was not familiar with Vista, but I found everything easy to find and easy to figure out. I would definitely recommend upgrading to Windows 7 if you're still using XP, or, if you're tired of the failures of Vista. I would especially consider upgrading if you're a student. You can't beat the latest operating system for $30.

Windows 7: WIN.