From Windows 8 News : Tech blogger and programmer Raphael Rivera has opened a public poll on his website asking what features you want to see in Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 8, due in 2012.

Read more HERE.

Poll: What do you want in Windows 8? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Tech blogger and programmer Raphael Rivera has opened a public poll on his website asking what features you want to see in Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 8, due in 2012.

The poll is extremely comprehensive and includes all types of features that users have been clamouring for.  These include support for different form factors and third-party match management.

As Raphael says, “Worst case, Microsoft simply ignores the whole thing.” but this is no reason not to step forward and make you views known.  Why not have a go with the poll and we’ll see what new features in Windows 8 the public really want.

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One of the cool little features that arose from the ashes of the disaster known as Windows Vista was the Reliability Monitor. A little-known tool which is almost hidden within the action center, the Reliability tool is great for tracking your computers reliability.

I remember using it when I was running Vista and nearly forgot about it until I was reminded by a weekly podcast to which I subscribe. I did my best to see if we have ever covered the Reliability Monitor here on Windows7News and as far as I can tell, we haven’t.

“Reliability Monitor is an advanced tool that measures hardware and software problems and other changes to your computer. It provides a stability index that ranges from 1 (the least stable) to 10 (the most stable). You can use the index to help evaluate the reliability of your computer. Any change you make to your computer or problem that occurs on your computer affects the stability index.”

Per Microsoft, the Reliability Monitor is intended for advanced computer users, such as software developers and network administrators, but it is easy to use, so even moderate users will have no problem using the tool to track their system over time.

There are two ways to find your PC’s Reliability history:

You can use Windows Search and begin typing the word ‘Reliability’ until the option shows.

Or

Right-click on the white flag in your taskbar to open Action Center.

Click Maintenance. Then, under Check for solutions to problem reports, click View reliability history.

In Reliability Monitor, you can:

• Click any event on the graph to view its details.
• Click Days, or Weeks, to view the stability index over a specific period of time.
• Click items in the Action column to view more information about it.
• Click View all problem reports to view only the problems that have occurred on your computer. This view does not include the other computer events that show up in Reliability Monitor, such as events about software installation.

The layout of the program is pretty self-explanatory and very basic.

You can click on specific unreliable instances to view the details.

The Reliability Monitor is a very basic program with a very basic use. It’s one of the many useful tools provided natively in Windows 7 which can help you keep your PC on the right track.

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Windows 7 removed some features that had been in Vista, such as Mail but added in a whole raft of new ones.  So how useful have these features actually been, and are people using them?

I can only speak about my own use of Windows 7, but I’d be interested in your comments about what new features you like and use the most too.

Aero Snap

By far the most used feature on my PCs is Aero Snap.  This is the facility that allows you to drag and snap windows to the left and right side of the screen so that you can easily and quickly have the two windows sitting side by side.

How do I use this?  I’ve found two common uses for it.  Firstly, despite the new search and organise features in Windows 7 I still end up shuffling files and folders around a lot.  For this, this feature is absolutely invaluable and makes things much easier.  I also use it when writing for Windows 7 News and other websites, especially when I’m referencing a story from another source.  It makes it much simpler to just get on and work.

In short this is a fantastic feature and it’s one I now use so automatically I can’t help but wonder how I ever got by without it before.

HomeGroup

When I first read about HomeGroup, the new home networking and file / printer sharing feature in Windows 7, I was sceptical of how much use it would be to someone such as myself.  To my surprise though I’m now using it regularly.  I have a media centre PC under my TV in the living room and it’s especially useful for pulling recorded TV from that so I can easily edit it down to keep it.  I also find it useful for shuffling files between the PCs in my living room and home office.  Finally I am now using it for printer sharing.

Jumplists

I still don’t like the new Windows 7 taskbar very much though I have got used to it.  It’s too much of a half-way house between old and new ways of working.  What I have come to appreciate though is one of those new ways of working.  I use Jumplists all the time now for accessing files, especially in Word and Excel, that I use on a regular basis.  It’s such a quick and easy way to access my files and it’s very convenient too.

Libraries

I very quickly found Libraries as an excellent way to find and organise my files.  I was lucky in this regard as I’d previously spent a great deal of time sorting and adding meta-data to all my photos and music.  Being able to go into a folder that contains every photograph and stack them by their tags has made finding and viewing photos far faster and considerably more pleasurable.

XP Mode

Despite being a forward-looking and progressive individual I still like to use older software that doesn’t run properly under Windows 7.  XP Mode is an excellent addition that allows me to use this software once again the way it ought to be used.

System Repair

Finally, I’m one of these people who likes to have my PC running at optimum all of the time.  I have little patience for slowdowns and sluggish behaviour.  That’s why whenever I have a clean install of Windows 7 that is correctly configured and has all my programs in it, I’ll create a system image.  Periodically I will restore this image, wiping what’s on my disc to get things running speedily again.  This feature is much improved in Windows 7 because you can run it from the system boot menu and no CD or DVD is required.  It’s really fast too so I can do this over a hot cup of coffee, adding in anything that’s changed before lock it down again and carrying on working.

So those are the new features in Windows 7 I’ve found I use the most.  Some of them I expected to use, such as System Repair and others, such as Homegroup have really surprised me.  What new features in Windows 7 do you use?

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I am not about to unfold some great revelation and I certainly do not intend to try and convert anyone from one side or the other. In working more and more with friends and family to troubleshoot their computer problems, I get the inevitable question about the Mac vs. PC debate.

Most people are familiar with Windows and the PC because they see them everywhere and most use them at work, but not so much with a Mac. Personally, I have never owned a Mac and have never really had the need to own one. The hardware is a bit too expensive and the software does things that I can already do on my Windows 7 PC. While I have not owned one, I have had my share of time-spent on a Mac. I even took a college course exclusively featuring Macs. I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money on, what I felt, a machine that did not do much more than my current configuration could.

I mean, when you think about it, computers all do the same thing whether Mac or PC. They both do word processing, they both calculate, they both play media, search the web, file and play games. Now, both companies have their strong suites and both have their shortcomings, but the gap has thinned out in recent years leaving the deciding factor for me, price. The biggest draw, for me, is the differences in the approach that Apple uses compared with Microsoft. One floats a dock, while the other docks a taskbar, but both generally do the same thing. Still, there is need for competition and need for individuality.

While both companies have taken a different approach to computing, essentially they are mimicking each other and doing the same thing. If you don’t believe me, here is a non-comprehensive list of similar features. Some originated in Mac and some in Windows:

Windows Taskbar vs. Mac Dock

Libraries vs. Smart Search

Jump lists vs. Dock menus

Gadgets vs. Widgets

Sticky Notes vs. Stickies

Terminal vs. Command Prompt

Mac Finder vs. Windows Explorer

Windows 7 Aero Peek vs. Exposé

Screen Sharing vs. Remote Desktop Connection

System Preferences vs. Control Panel

Leopard’s Time Machine vs. Windows Backup

Windows System Tray vs. Mac Menu Bar

That being said, there are those who like the strengths of both operating systems and choose to take not only the blue pill, but the red pill as well (pardon the Matrix reference). Mac had its own little niche market and was doing fine, but they decided to introduce Boot Camp, a utility that allows Mac users to install OS’ like Windows 7. On the other end of the spectrum are Windows users, who still have no equivalent of Boot Camp from Microsoft, but long for the ability to run a Mac OS on PC hardware. This is where folks like the OSX86project come in, who have made a way to boot a Mac OS from a Windows machine. Whether illegal or not is not for me to decide.

My point is not that one operating system is king over the other one. It is simply that we are seeing an ever-growing number of Windows users trying out Mac software and although they won’t admit it, Mac users who are dual booting Windows 7. It used to be that you were a Mac or a PC, but not anymore. Competition has created an interesting trend that is forcing Microsoft to be more creative and attentive to the user and Mac is now having to show signs of lowering prices to win over key demographics.

Everyone has their OS preference, I know I do, but every once in a while there is this need to reach beyond the comfortable and try out something new. That’s why Boot camp and OSX86project have flourished, because they give us those options.

Obviously, we have many more readers that are PC users, but are there any Mac/PC users who don’t see it as a fight, but more as a chance to take the strengths of two systems?

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Although it’s impossible to estimate the market share of GNU/Linux, lately it seems that the very element that makes Windows and Mac OS “successful,” the marketshare that each OS (operating system) commands, is actually the main restricting factor in the development of these two OSes.

Earlier this month, Mike Halsey revealed an interesting point: Snow Leopard is really nothing more than just a simple service pack. However, (this comment is going to be so controversial) the same can be claimed for Windows 7. Think about how many times you’ve heard the comment (or a variation of said comment) “Windows 7 is everything Vista should have been,” and ask yourself if Windows 7 is really that different.

So Microsoft threw on the new Superbar and made it a little faster and a bit more compatible. Of course, a few new features can be claimed, such as “Jump Lists” (which we all know is just a slightly improved context menu), Snap, Preview, HomeGroup, and better Touch support. Even so, these two “new features” (Snap and Preview barely even qualify as features) that make networking a little easier and provide a slightly faster way to launch processes inside of an application fall under the same argument that applied to Snow Leopard. The Superbar is the only “new” feature that I can see, other than the previous small enhancements and a few other things. It’s basically just a compatibility and performance update with one new feature (service pack!).

However, this is no huge change like it was for XP to Vista, or Tiger to Leopard. Why? The answer is simple.

The individual end-user has become afraid of change. The PC and Mac communities have evolved to the point where if anything feels unfamiliar, then it will be rejected. It’s not Windows 7′s new features and improved performance that has separated it from Vista this time around, it is the fact that the shell is much more user friendly after Vista than Vista was after XP. If the user has to spend more than thirty minutes learning about new features, then the OS might as well have just stayed in stores. This is also why XP is still so successful; it’s not that users think that it’s better than Vista or 7, it’s that these users are not willing to upgrade because they simply do not wish to relearn how to use a new OS when the current OS works fine.

Of course, this doesn’t really apply to technical enthusiasts as we thrive on innovation; however, the fact is that such groups make up a very small portion of the population and the wishes of the community as a whole (which is basically your average Joe) is what Microsoft and Apple pay attention to.

Because of this, Microsoft and Apple are limited to small changes at a time in order to ensure that the average end user is happy and recognizes key new features and doesn’t have to “adjust.” Of course, for some users, this is not a bad thing. Nonetheless, for technical enthusiasts, this may be seen as the beginning of an end for Windows and Mac OS. That’s where GNU/Linux comes in, whereas the development on these two major OSes may very well grow stagnant in order to ensure that sales continue, GNU/Linux is not held back by the same factors.

If a user is not satisfied with a particular distro (distribution) of GNU/Linux, then they can easily switch to another distro and be done with it. For example, if a user did not like KDE, they could switch to GNOME, XFCE, or LXDE. Developers can risk losing these users because GNU/Linux is primarily free: it does not rely on the users approval for success. In order to stand out from the rest, a distro simply has to contain good code and unique attributes.

This is why Windows and the Mac OS has been lagging behind GNU/Linux since 2007 (examples being Compiz-Fusion, which Windows/Mac OS still cannot match, repositories, and similar programs). GNU/Linux forges ahead and users learn the new features that come with each update, whereas Windows and the Mac OS have to ensure that 99% of the users around the world will (pretty much) instantly realize how to use the new features that accompany each new release (of course, if you so wished, you could stick with one release of GNU/Linux and just take the security and program updates and not have to relearn anything, but where’s the fun in that?).

Basically, in a short summary, Windows/Mac OS have to worry about their public appeal more than whether or not the operating system is actually “new,” and GNU/Linux distros couldn’t care less about how the community at large sees their product, just so long as it’s innovative and better. This is why Windows and the Mac OS will always obtain new features after GNU/Linux.

Windows and Mac OS – Held Back By Marketshare? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

“Where’s that document I used a few weeks ago?”

We’ve all come across this problem, where we can’t find a file. Microsoft claims that Windows 7 provides better ways to find and organize files. In Windows 7, searching is faster and works better than ever before. This guide shows 5 handy tips that can help you find that file you’ve been looking for within minutes and get the most out of Windows 7′s search.

1. Search Where Your File is Most Likely to Be

There’s no point of searching the whole of “My Documents” when you already know that the file is somewhere in the “Work” folder. So if you’d like to make searching faster, try reducing the number of places to search in by specifying the file’s location. How? Simply open the location in Windows Explorer and use the ”Search bar” on the top right of the window.

The location you search in doesn’t have to be very precise. The aim of this is just to avoid searching in places that you know for sure that the file can’t be in.

2. Use Wildcards in Your Search

This was available since Windows XP, yet a lot of people don’t really use it. A wild card is a character that is used to represent one or more unknown characters. The most common wildcards are the:

The asterisk (*) represents any number of alphanumeric characters, while each question mark (?) represents only one alphanumeric character.

3. “Search Filters”, a Very Powerful Feature

This feature is what (I believe) makes Windows 7′s search better than search engines in previous OS. Search filters allow users to search for a file using its details such as its size, date created, etc. These details can vary from one type of file to another. For instance, you can search for an MP3 file using the artist’s name or album. While search for a document by its author or tags. The following is the syntax of search filters:

property:data

For instance, if you’d like to find music with the genre (genre is the property) jazz and contains the word ’can’ in its filename, your search would be: genre:jazz can. There are MANY properties that you can use. For a full list of properties you can use, I strongly recommend you check Windows Search Advanced Query Syntax.

Also, operators can help you obtain more precise results. The following table shows the list of common operators that you can use in your search:

4. View before Opening

Let’s assume that you want to search for a document and know its location, but can’t remember any of its details. Thus, you type in the search bar kind:docs and Windows Search returns a list with all the documents in that location. Let’s say 20 search results are returned. You obviously don’t have enough time to go on opening each and every document until you find the one you’ve been looking for. Hence Windows 7 provides a panel called the “preview panel” to make life easier. The preview panel views the contents of the file when selecting it.

To show the “preview panel” simply click on the second item at the right top under the search bar as shown in the screen shot below:

5. Group the Search Results

After Windows 7 has finished displaying the search results, you might want to group the results found according to their details (such as their type, tags, date created, etc.) by right-clicking anywhere inside the window (without highlighting a search result) and then clicking on “Group by” to select the how you want to group the search results. If you’d like more details, click on “More…”.

If you need any help or would like to add anything, ask in the “Comments”.

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Although Microsoft don’t intend to make a big splash when launching Windows 7, it will probably be Microsoft’s finest release yet if the feedback from testers and readers on our sister site Windows 7 News is anything to go by.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement in Windows 8.  Mike from the Windows 7 News editorial team has published a series of posts detailing what he’d like to see in Windows 8:

• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part I
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part II
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part III
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part IV

Features Mike would like to see improved in Windows 8 include a better explorer, improved libraries and game support.  Personally I would like to see more options for organising multiple windows.  Aero Peek helps, but I don’t want to go over to the sidebar everytime I want to locate one of the many windows I have open.  There has to be a better solution that ALT+TAB and Aero Peek.

What features would you like to see in Windows 8?

Windows 8 Feature Wishlist was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

To be honest, updating those small applications like the calculator, notepad or the control panel would not be very high on my priority list for a new Windows operating system.

Microsoft apparently thought otherwise and managed to squeeze in some major changes to programs like the Windows Calculator.

[Show as slideshow]

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