The Windows 7 Experience

So I managed to get my hands on MS latest OS Windows 7 RC 1 (Release Candidate)
This the first true stable release after beta of the new Windows OS, also made freely avaiilbe to download and test.

I guess it is a good idea to release a stable version for testing to the public so they can play with it and provide feedback to Microsoft, on where they can improve and what to change etc,and according to Microsoft this is very near the final code, and only a few changes still needs to be made before it officially appear on the store shelves. It only makes sense that a lot of users will already be sceptical about buying a new Windows after the poor performance and heavy requirements of Vista.

Not to eager to jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon just yet, and still very Clingy to good old XP. And one must also take into consideration the fact that it’s only a “demo” & according to some sites I read it will expire on March 2010 sometime or some even suggest June 2010.

I also stumbled upon an article about Acer, leaking the Windows 7 release date as October this year. http://www.megagames.com/news/html/software/acerleakswindows7releasedate.shtml

You will notice the expiry of the RC / Beta when your PC starts warning you with a message about it Registering and acquiring a legal version or key. And some sites reported a constant restart, of your system until a new legal version is bought and installed or activated. Much the same as with Previous version giving you some time to register and activate Windows, after that time you will be unable to log in, until activated or registered with Microsoft, either by means of Phone or Internet.

So not taking a chance to loose any valuable data, I grabbed a separate old 160GB IDE Drive lying around at work & started Installing Windows 7 onto it.
Installation was blazing fast, you also just like with Vista get to choose which version to install. SATA users and users whishing to run RAID setups will be glad to know that you can now Install the third party driver from a USB Flash disk, and no need for Plugging in a floppy drive or slipstreaming the drivers into a new CD.

I choose to Install the Ultimate version, but just take note that it can take up to12GB’s of free space for Ultimate.

Anyhow like I mentioned, installation was blazingly fast on a Core2Duo, 2GB Ram PC.
I also had no issues or need to Install extra device drivers, all my drivers were pre detected and Installed without any issues.

High end Graphic card users might need to go and download their Windows 7 drivers from manufactures site, for example NVIDIA users should go to NVIDIA’s site and Download the Win 7 GPU drivers.

Ok that being said and Windows 7 now Installed, and booted into Windows.
First impressions are, the look and feel is very much the same as Vista so Vista users will feel right at home & should have no problems getting to use it.

( The taskbar among other things has been tweaked a bit. For a better in depth review of changes feel free to check out Paul Thurrott’s review on Windows 7 (http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_rc.asp)
And for those of us still clinging onto XP. The learning curve & user interface is very user friendly & in a few hours of fiddling around you should also feel right at home and be able to find and work your way around in the new Windows.

Another area where Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista is it’s speed and the fact that it’s not as resource hungry as Vista used to be. A lot of the complaints from users of XP over Vista was Vista’s steep hardware requirements and high resource usage.

Microsoft has tested it with a Intel 600Mhz Celeron machine running 512MB RAM, and reports indicated that it ran fine, something that would never have been possible with Vista.

For all the XP lovers Microsoft even went as far as building in a Windows XP mode into Windows 7 in the form of a Virtual Machine. Best described as a Windows inside a Windows. Where you can have all the benefits of XP while still running Windows 7.

Perhaps you have programs that can only work in XP. Well no you can run them
Im glad they decided to this and make this feature, cause a lot of the complaints about Vista was the fact that everything had to be the latest versions, and even then there were still cases of incompatibility.

Back to my experience with Windows 7.
Everything ive run so far seemed to run fine & had no issues, slow down, lockups or everything else for that matter. Some programs I installed weren’t of the latest available versions and it worked fine.
Even played Crysis DX10 and saw someone play Fear 2 and it was smooth and no different from running on XP. (Except for the enhanced DX10 visuals)

When with Vista, some people reported slow performance, memory leas issues after a while of playing some games. Overall conclusion was at least a 10% decrease in performance over XP, regardless of the Hardware used.

I never Installed or worked a lot in Vista, but from what ive read & heard many users complained and got infuriated with it Vista.

My conclusion is that although sceptical at first like many of Windows 7, I must say a”Well done to the boys.” at Microsoft, you guys did an excellent job with Windows 7 and in fixing the damage done to Microsoft’s reputation and name as a result of Vista. Well done, it seems we now have a true predecessor to Windows XP.
With all the benefits of latest Hardware, Software and Security support accompanied with the stability XP brought. Windows 7 is everything Vista should have been and more.

I guess the question now is, what is going to happen to Vista when Windows 7 gets officially released?

Some rumours say Windows Vista will still get support and Service Packs and still be available for purchase, others say Windows 7 will replace Vista completely and be known as the next gen Windows, whatever the case well will have to wait and see.

There was mentions of existing Vista users being able to purchase a Windows 7 Upgrade relevant to their Vista package (Basic, Home, Ultimate etc….) at half the full package retail price. Would be a great help and relief for already existing Vista users.

Below is a download link to the official MS site for anyone who wishes to give the new Windows a try.
Please note that it’s about a 2.26 GB Download.

Thanks again for reading, For a more in depth review be sure to check out Paul Thurrott’s site and Windows 7 review at
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_rc.asp

And also one of my old school friends Blog on his experience and findings on Windows 7, very nice and informative site, and a must subscribe to, for any technology enthusiast.

Links:
http://www.mpieters.com/2009/05/microsofts-new-lease-on-life-windows-7.html
http://www.mpieters.com/2009/04/windows-7-will-have-xp-mode.html

Software news and reviews

Everyone has a pick of their own personal best Software and apps they use to perform various everyday
tasks.

Today im going to be giving u my lowdown and tell u about some of the software i use, i just can go without.
Let me start of by listing the Internet Browsers I use.

Web Browsers

Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox, Internet Explorer (Kinda obligated, Hehe part of Windows, but rarely use it), Opera, and Safari

I mostly use Chrome now, and must say good job Google, very fast browser and the Incognito mode which adds the function of not leaving any tracks when browsing is very neat.

Only things I dont' like about Google's new Browser is the amount of resources it uses (quite memory intensive ) and also the lack of add-ons, as compared to that of Firefox.

But there are a couple of add-ons available and read on the Net that more might becoming out soon, bringing it on par with Firefox. Firefox still my favorite, but using Chrome the most at the moment.

There are ways of loading custom scripts into Chrome.




Antivirus & Anti Spy ware.
Heck everyone that uses the Internet of have used it before, and owns a PC has become a victim of a virus, or Spy ware.

The tools i use to keep me safe (or at least try) and protect me and get rid of the nasty's are as
follows.

AVG Antivirus
Nod32 Antivirus
Eset Smart Security
Anti Malware (Malwarebytes)
Super Antispyware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Spyware Doctor.
Commodo Firewall

I don't know which Anti virus are truly the best, but I personally use Nod32. And together with a good Firewall like Commodo or Eset Smart Security, you are pretty safe. Takes some time to setup and configure but after it's all done. It really helps keeps those, nasty Trojans, Worms, Virus etc. out.

I also use Antimalware (Malwarebytes) for detecting and removing spyware. Its a very good app. and is also free, and almost gets updated daily.

A good all round protection for your PC can be:

AVG Antivirus Free
Antimalware (Malware Bytes )
Commodo Firewall



All are free and offer very good protection online.

Media Players.

Windows Media Player 10
Windows Media PLayer Classic
VLC PLayer
KM PLayer
GOM PLayer
Klite Codec Packs
Winamp



What can I say I like my Media Players. For codecs I mostly use K-Lite Codec Packs. Provides all needed Codecs for most formats. And as far as players are concerned mostly use Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic.

For everything else that doesn’t play through those, I use VLC Player. But GOM and KM Player are also very good alternatives,

Furthermore for music I use Winamp and to label and Tag Mp3's Mp3 Tag or Tag and Rename.

Imageing Software

Picasa 3
Infranview
ACDSEE 9.0



Iso Software

Alchohol 120%
Magic ISO.
Daemon Tools Lite and Pro
Iso Buster.




CD Burning.



Nero 6.6
CDBurner XP

Defragging

Defraggler
Diskeeper
Paragon Defragger.

Messengers,IM's and notifiers

Skype 4.0
Google Talk
MIRC
Bandwidth Monitor Pro
Gmail Notifier



Compression Tools

WinRar
7 Zip
Winzip



PDF



Adobe Reader 9.0 (Is there any other ???)
PDF 995 (PDF Creator)

Copy Handlers

Super Copier
Love this piece of Software replaces your default Windows copier with Super Copier Interface, very much the same as Total Copy. And with the added option of enqueing files.

Windows tools

Agent Ransack (Alternate Search tool)
Beyond Compare (Compare Directories)
Duplicate Searchers.
Task info (Bit of a improvement on default Windows Task Manager)
HD Tune (Keeps eye on your Hard Drives)
Total Commander

Episode Renamers
TV Rename
Episode Rename

Well that is my most used and pick of the best software. Please feel free to make suggestions and comments

Console Wars

Ok with all the next gen consoles being out now for sometime now I thought id take the time to do my own review and console of choice post.

As you all know and for those who don’t there are 3 main consoles on the market at market. From the three big names in the gaming industry. The consoles are Sony’s Play station 3, Microsoft’s Xbox360 and Nintendo’s Wii.

Now first off you have to ask yourself, what is it you are looking for in an console, and that is mostly gonna depend on the amount of time u spend gaming. Or better yet the level of gamer you are. Either Hardcore or Casual.

Let me firstly say tha all 3 machines are amazing pieces of hardware & craftsmanship & each is unique in their own way.

I’m gonna start off with Sony’s Playstation 3. Many of you might know or even it’s predecessor the PS2. Which if I recall correctly is the most sold console of all time to date. Unfortunately it’s bigger brother the PS3 does not share the same fame and glory yet.

And one of the reasons being it’s a bit pricey compared to other consoles it’s the most expensive of the 3, and will currently set you back about $500 or R5000.

The Hardware specs are as follows: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation_3)

But in defense, the PS3 is also the cheapest Blue Ray player (next gen video format)
And capable of storing up to 50GB’s on a Dual Layer disk.

It also supports HD (High Definition) resolution of up to 1900 X 1200 also known as 1080p, but currently most games run in 1280 X 720p, this is the same for Xbox360

This also means and is something to take into consideration, that with your standard TV you won’t be getting out the most of your next gen console if u haven’t got the newer type of HD capable LCD TV’s.
Luckily the prices have dropped significantly over the past few years
.
Anyways back to the console, the controls look and layout stayed the same except for the small motion sensing ability incorporated into the control named sixxasis
To give u an example of what this is, on the PS3 there is an flight sim game called Warhawk and instead of using the analog sticks to control and steer your jet. You can now just titl the control up or down to control the plane.

The PS3 has been critized for not having a wide selection of games available. And the developers constantly moan, cause of the extreme difficulty to develop titles for the console, due to the extreme architecture and and CPU. (The 9 Core Cell Proccessor ) which is the most advanced of all 3 consoles.

But im not going to go into detail with the hardware specs of each console.

So getting back to the titles available. There arnt to may PS3 exclusives available at the moment. And the only one I can think about at the moment is Metal Gear Solid 4.
Who in my opinion is only on PS3 & not on Xbox360 cause of the PS3’s Blue Ray format advantage.

Other than that most titles are available for both PS3 and Xbox360.
Loading times are fairly quick, with the added help of the games content being loaded onto the consoles Hard Drive first, further increasing loading times. (Same goes for Xbox360 )

As far as the GFX are concerned let me say the GFX on PS3 looks amazing and for proof just go check out Metal Gear Solid 4 and Heavenly Sword. Two very impressive titles.
Although some games do suffer from the occasional frame rate issue, its fairly small and all in all they all play nicely, and look incredible.

Conclusion

Controls: Improved Response, Dual Shock 3, Sixxasis. Same as PS2 layout and look. Love this control..
8 /10

Design: Sleek mirror image. Very nice & comfy improved controls. Console might be a tad bit to big to some’s liking, but every thing inside is well worth it

Overall 8/10

GFX: As previously mentioned the gfx are awesome & next gen supporting HDMI 1.3 and HD resolutions of up to 1080p. Does suffer from the occasional frame rate issue. But all in all it’s very crisp and good. Some of the older titles may look washed out. But all the recent ones look amazing.

Overall: 7/10
.

Value for Money: The PS3 is the most expensive of all the consoles. But if u look at what u are getting it’s so much more than a console, it’s an entertainment HUB, and also the cheapest Blue Ray player. U can even hook up your PSP to it, or even join the Folding@Home project via the Internet and help with research. Only down side is the small range of games currently available. And the price tag.

Overall rating of console 8/10




Xbox360



Ok moving on to MS Gaming Console. Although not a fan of the previous Xbox360 (Im more of a Sony Fan boy )

I must say im very impressed at Mircosoft’s next gen addition. Very much the same as PS3 except for the fact the Blue Ray functionality this machine is in my eyes the best value for money if ur truly into gaming consoles and HD gaming.

For all you hardware enthusiast go check out the specs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox360)
The games look amazing & compared to the PS3 there are just minor differences sometimes better, sometimes a bit weaker, but all in all truly amazing.
Also suffers from the occasional frame rate issue, but all in all excellent.

Same as the PS3, HDMI 1.3 and resolutions of up to 1900 X 1200 (1080p)
Although most games run on 1280 X 720 (720p)
The controls of the Xbox I never particularly liked loved the PS3 ones more, but that’s just my opinion. But if u play a lot u will quickly get used to it. And it’s a great improvement over it’s predecessor.

U basically get 3 versions of the Xbox360.
The Core (Arcade), The Pro 60GB, and the Elite Black (120GB)
Another great feature of the Xbox360 is Xbox Live system. Where you can log onto the Internet, create a gamer profile & stay connected with your friends & play games with or against them.
Just create your gamer profile, add some friends & buy some credit & your good to go. Also get access to latest upcoming game trailers etc.

But it doesn’t stop there. You can also use your Xbox360, to stream movies from it.
Just hook up a Fat32, formatted external USB Drive to it & do a bit of Googling for the apps and ur good to go.
And this is also one of the reasons why I say best value for money.
The Xbox360 is also the second best selling console with the Wii being first & PS3 last.

And is also cheapest next gen console supporting HD resolutions. Has a wide range of games available. And because of it’s architecture being much the same as a PC. The games are easier to develop, compared to that of PS3.

Conclusion.

Controls: Very nice looking controls, very responsive & handles well, not as nice to play with than the PS3 one, but if you gotten use to it, it’s a sure winner. Smaller design than bulky original Xbox one.

Design: White or Black (Elite) console. Bit smaller than PS3, and with mountable and removable Hard Drive

GFX: Very much the same as PS3. Some games look better on Xbox360 others better on PS3. All In all the differences are very small & in some cases not even worth mentioning. Also suffers from some frame rate issues in some games. But overall clear & crisp GFX. Supporting HDMI 1.3 and resolutions up to 1080p.

8 /10

Value for money:
As I mentioned before. If ur into next gen gaming and a hardcore gamer then this the console for you. At a very affordable prices (Arcade version selling for about $200 or R2000 ).
The only thing that could let u not consider this console is the fact if ur a PS3 fanboy.

With a wide variety of games available, Xbox live, and the option to stream your own content from external drive.
Gives u more than u pay for. Cheapest next gen offering (taking PC into consideration as well ) Makes this my choice for next gen gaming.

10/10

Nintendo Wii



The Nintendo Wii is an amazing piece of hardware. And is also cheaper overall ( I say overall, cause if u don’t happen to own a HD TV yet. You won’t be needing one. Since the Wii doesn’t support HD resolutions. Nintendo never focused on having the best hardware and relied more on there software to sell there product. This time it’s a bit of both mixed together.

The Wii is also the best selling console of all three. Why is that ?

I’m going to tell you what I think the reason is. Cause of it’s unique control system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii)

It uses a motion sensing type of control, with only a few buttons for actions etc.
All movements are completely made by doing the appropriate motion. Having played it myself and being a sceptic at first I must say I found this very much fun and enjoyable. Aimed at the younger gamer and mostly a family console, this is truly fun to play with and if ur a hardcore gamer then this machine might disappoint you, but considering it as a secondary console, you can’t go wrong.

Also has a wide range of games available. Controls might take some time to get use to, but all in all once u get the hang of it it’s very fun to play with.
You also get various extra peripherals available for the console, example the Wii nun chucks and a more practical example a tennis racket for tennis.

The purpose of Wii is interaction and doing something different rather than cramming the best tech into a box, and it succeeded in every aspect, so much so that it reached the level of we seeing titles like Wii fit etc, being released.
Home aerobics game with it’s own set of peripherals.

Conclusion:

Controls: Unique control system based on motion sensing technology. One of a kind. And very fun to play with

9/10

Design:
Small and compact design. White mirror finish with blue lights. No hard drive option, does have an SD card slot. As far as I know, no online service like Xbox live.

8/10

GFX:
As I mentioned before, no HD resolution, and this what sets it apart from it’s competitors and labeling it as next gen. GFX looks similar to those of the original Xbox and PS2. In some cases a bit better, but nowhere near as good as Xbox360 or PS3, and Is also why I said, very good to consider as a Secondary console perhaps. Or if u just want to play some games now and then.

Not for the serious or Hard Core gamer. The GFX are still pretty good but not on par with other consoles.

6/10

Value for money:
Being a tad bit more expensive than Xbox360 (Core version) and a bit cheaper than PS3, puts the Wii kind of in the middle. U get one motion sensor control & 5 Wii Sport games bundled in the package. And with no need for HDTV gives this an already High score in the “Value for money.” Area.

Great fun for everyone and has a wide range of games available. Some games are also not as texpensive as the Xbox or PS3 ones . And it’s fun for the whole family. Like I said, hardcore gamers might find the gfx a bit old and games a bit too aimed at the younger gamers. But as Secondary console or for casual gamer, you cant go wrong.

Final Verdict:

My final verdict would be, first decide what what u want in the console. And if you are a hardcore gamer or just a casual gamer, that likes to play every now and then.

In my opinion and as u might have realized while reading through the post.
I lean towards the Xbox360 as my choice of console for now, even though I am a PS3 fan.
For now I will go for the Xbox360 60GB model and later on consider the PS3 or Wii as a secondary console.

When more titles become available for the PS3, and it gets a price cut I might consider getting one. I haven’t got a need for Blue Ray at the moment. And im sure a lot of that space gets wasted (gaming disks)

As for Xbox360 use Dual Layer 8GB DVD Games and it looks very much the same.
Only game I know of that actually used Blue Ray to it’s full capacity was Metal Gear Solid 4, which used all 50GB’s and if u see the game, u can’t help but be amazed.
That game is a true cinematic gaming experience. And is a perfect example of “The Dawn of Cinematic gaming.”
To sum it all up, Xbox360 or PS3 if you are a hardcore gamer. Just make sure you have an HDTV. Or you wont get the most out of it. Xbox360 also for cheapest HD next gen exp.

Wii for secondary console, or if u are, just a casual gamer or want something the whole family can enjoy.

All in all go and try out each of them and then decide or if you are a fan boy stick to your console and brand of choice.
There are plenty of PS3 vs Xbxo360 GFX sites out there with comparisons etc. Just go do a bit of Googling and check them out.

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps u in making a choice if u haven’t already done so.