7 Things to Know About Windows 7

Originally by Lamont Wood, Special to TopTenREVIEWS
Posted: 01 November 2009 10:58 am ET

The latest version of Microsoft Windows — Windows 7 — is now on the market. So if you're like the average PC user, it's fated to become a factor in your life. Here are seven things to keep in mind about it.

1. It's really a "maintenance release."

Basically, it's Microsoft Vista with accumulated fixes and performance enhancements. That's a good thing, since there's no dramatic break with the past to cause festering compatibility issues, and no steep learning curve for the users. Compared to Vista, Windows 7 does better running on low-performance machines like netbooks. It boots and shuts down faster — but that's less of an issue since its sleep mode is reliable, letting you shut down in two seconds and restart in two seconds. With Vista, desktops often refused to go into sleep mode, or would restart randomly from sleep mode, noted PC industry watcher Rob Enderle, principal analyst the Enderle Group in San Jose, CA.

2. It's more secure.

A new release always is, since the malware writers haven't had time to pick at it for weaknesses, and there are too few installations to amount to a worthwhile target. They'll get around to Windows 7, although its built-in antivirus facility has been well-reviewed. In the meantime, malware's favorite target is the older Windows XP. Anyway, the bad guys are turning more and more to phishing, where they dupe users into spilling their personal information on the pretext of "restoring" their "suspended" online bank accounts. Technology is not much help there.

As it is mentioned, although the built-in antivirus facility on Windows 7 is kind of good, it’s far away from enough. No single antivirus utility is able to be invincible. There is always this or that kind of virus and spyware breaking through the defense, so it’s necessary to have some principal antivirus and some specialized security utilities to maximize system security level. There are many utilities of this kind and if one happens to be a free one, and then that would be nice. Here a free spyware removal utility is recommended.

3. There is new stuff.

While most of the news concerns performance, the desktop and taskbar have been given enhancements that should make it easier to invoke specific applications and documents. The reviled User Account Control, which warned Vista users any time any application did anything to the system, has been given settings to make it less annoying. And, yes, Internet Spades, Backgammon, and Checkers, which had been dropped in Vista, are back. The enhanced Search facility, meanwhile, is now actually useful. For future expansion, Windows 7 makes better use of multiple cores, and includes handwriting recognition.

4. Pick the right version.

There are two retail versions: Home and Professional. The Pro version has a feature called Active Directory, which lets it be assigned an address and privileges in a corporate network. It is of no interest to a home or small business user. The Home version can also be found in a family pack that can upgrade three PCs. (Strictly speaking, there is also a third version called Ultimate, of interest only to software developers.)

5. If it ain't broke, don’t fix it.

If you are happy with Vista, there is little reason to upgrade to Windows 7, cautioned Enderle. If you are annoyed with Vista, Windows 7 should help. If you are running Windows XP, upgrading may make sense if your hardware is less than two years old. Otherwise, you are better off getting a new machine, with Windows 7 pre-installed, he advised.

6. If it's broke, do fix it — correctly.

If you're upgrading with the retail package, you can use either the clean (also called custom) or the in-place installation method. The first will wipe the disk clean and you'll need to re-install your applications. (It keeps your data intact. You did back up, of course.) The second performs the installation with your applications in place. The second is easier, but the first will remove any malware, broken drivers, and other evidence of the hard life your computer's been living, Enderle said. It's also the only method available when upgrading from Windows XP. Even easier is to buy a new machine with Windows 7 pre-installed.

7. Resistance is irrelevant.

Among Internet users, 93 percent use some version of Microsoft Windows, and that is not going to change dramatically in the near future. You can assume that all future PC software worth mentioning will be written for Windows 7, and new PCs will be shipped with it. The alternative is to go with the Apple Mac, Linux, or something esoteric.

Ten Talismans to Guarantee Windows 7 Security

According to Eweek, an informational website, statistic shows that quite a few users express worry about Windows system security. As a matter of fact, Windows has become the primary target of malware attacking due to the great market share as high as 90%.

For this reason many users requiring high-level system security have to give up Windows and turn to Snow Leopard or Linux instead. This situation, however, is expected to change to a better one for Microsoft as the release of Windows 7, which comes with advantages of its previous ones and a series of new security protection functions. Here list ten of the all measures guaranteeing Windows 7 security.

1. UAC (User Account Control)

This function was first adopted on Vista. It effectively stops unauthorized operations while it delivers prompts so often that fluency is nipped from time to time. Windows 7 inherits Vista’s advantage and improves UAC. On the premise of security ensured unnecessary prompts are cut off to the greatest extent.

2. MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials)

MSE is free antivirus software for Windows customers. It is the third generation security product Microsoft has released.

Talking objectively, no companies else know more about Windows’ vulnerabilities, so MSE’s behavior is worth expecting.

In addition, you may need some other tools to bring up Windows 7 security to full strength, for any antivirus software has its shortcomings anyway.

Nowadays there is special software for certain part of security protection. Compared with traditional antivirus software, they perform in a more efficient and effective way to remove spyware, trojan virus and so on, in their special field, being more well-directed.

The author recently finds a fine security tool named Wondershare Spyware Removal. It does well in spyware, trojan virus and other malware removal, proactive defense, etc., and the best thing is, it’s free now. Before 28th, Feb, 2010, you can get free registration code to activate Wondershare Spyware Removal. In the next six months after you activate with the code, you can use it, update it and get customer service for totally free. Perhaps you would like to try it.

3. Biometric Identification Technology

Biometric Identification Technology is more and more widely applied. On the new system there are similar functions to enhance Windows 7 security. Configuration like fingerprint identification can keep malware and virus away and save you from worrying about files being viewed by others.

4. Action Center

Security Center on XP is named as Action Center on Windows 7. In Action Center, besides viewing all events (problems, reports, solutions), there are backup and restore function as well as other functions protecting data and Windows 7 security.

5. Firewall

Firewall on Windows 7 gets improvement, allowing users to set different security level to gain more experience on premise of guaranteeing security.

6. Windows Update

Every Tuesday Windows systems pops-up update tips. Windows Update is an automatic update tool provided by Microsoft and we extend system functions and fix vulnerabilities via it, making the system support more hardware and software.

In days to come it will perform an important role on Windows 7 security improvement.

7. BitLocker

Encryption is a key part in any system security plans. The improved BitLocker is to solve problems of data loss or malicious leakage caused by computer device physical loss.

Windows 7 lets users have more flexibility when setting hard drives and BitLocker is even able to encrypt automatically.

8. AppLocker

AppLocker is a new function in Windows 7 security strategy. It’s very convenient to deploy via AppLocker administrator to enable users to allow what programs and scripts to run and what to install.

Since AppLocker is based on Group Policy, we can deploy it to the whole network environment, no need to deploy repeatedly.

9. WFP (Windows Filtering Platform)

This technology was first adopted on Vista, too. It consists of a series of system services and APIs. Users can subsume accepted applications to reduce occurrence of interference in normal operations and enhance Windows 7 security at the same time.

10. IEEE-1667

IEEE 1667 ("Standard Protocol for Authentication in Host Attachments of Transient Storage Devices") is a standard published and maintained by the IEEE (an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity) that describes various methods for authenticating transient storage devices such as USB flash drives when they are inserted into a computer.

On 25th November 2008 Microsoft announced that IEEE 1667 will be implemented on Windows 7. It means USB drives can only exchange data with computer after being authenticated and any USB drives inserted will be verified automatically to avoid the third party getting the data.

The combination of IEEE-1667 and Windows 7 not only indicates an unprecedented guarantee of transient storage devices and Windows 7 security, but also a common criterion for transient storage encrypting technology.

Above are the ten talismans this article introduces. There are many others more for users to explore and they may have their own talismans to guarantee their Windows 7 security. No matter what they are, to build an indestructible system is our common aim.