3. Windows 7 Review Week - What You See

Following on from the last review, it's time to show some pictures of Windows 7. We thought it would be best to just show you the various features with a short explanation of what they do. Just click on the thumbnails to see the full version of the image.


Desktop



This will be the first screen that you see. The first thing that you will notice is that the taskbar has got a good dose of steroids. It's now a lot bigger which apparently makes it easier for tablet pc users to navigate around Windows 7. You can, however, change the icon sizes which in turn reduces the size of the task bar to this :




Taskbar Preview


This was a feature which was available in Vista, however it has gotten a bit of a makeover to make it a lot more functional. The way the taskbar now works, which is by automatically clumping similar windows together under the same icon, forces you to use it.


Aeropeek


This feature is aesthetically pleasing, but to be honest I don't really know when you would use it. It's a bit like that Windows shuffle thing in Vista. It looks nice, but it's mostly useless.


Start



This part of Windows 7 hasn't really changed since Vista. It holds all the usual things like programs and access to your files and folders. One added feature, however, is the ability to do more with programs before they even start.


In principal this is a nice idea, unfortunately it doesn't quite work properly yet.


Icons


Moving along the taskbar now towards the other end is the usual taskbar icons. You will be able to customise which icons are shown and what information they display. It adds an extra layer of customizability.


Action Centre


The Action Centre is the replacement to Vista's Security pages. It handles a lot of programs that look after your PC's safety. It hasn't really changed that much since Vista.


Libraries


We're now entering unfamiliar ground in terms of new features. In Windows 7 your documents will be managed under Libraries, which allow you to place your folders anywhere. This opens up the possibility of using multiple hard drives without compromising on functionality.


Personalisation



Again this is a feature taken from Vista but with a bit of a facelift. There is a little bit more control over how Windows 7 looks with the added feature of having a slideshow for your background. It's a nice little touch and keeps your desktop looking fresh.




Control Panel


Generally speaking the Control Panel hasn't changed at all. It looks a little clearer, but that's about it.


Internet Connection


Connecting to the Internet has become a lot easier in Windows 7. We allowed Windows 7 to install drivers to our WiFi card which meant that we were surfing the web within 5 minutes. Again, this feature has gotten a bit of a facelift since Vista.


Devices


The devices screen has been split from it's normal home within My Computer. This is great news because we finally manage everything from one place. Microsoft is really going for intuitive design this time.


Media Player


And last but not least is the new Windows Media Player. No one really uses it these days, but it's gone away from that dark look and has been transformed into a sleek looking, yet fully integrated, media application.

So that's really what you'll be getting when you buy Windows 7. Microsoft may pull some more features out of the bag before the release, but essentially that's your lot. It looks very much like Vista, especially if you choose to have smaller icons on the taskbar. We like what they have done. Everything has become very functional.

Come up next : Tomorrow we will be covering Windows 7 Tweaks

Tags : Windows 7, Aero peek, control panel, personalisation, media player, libraries

2. Windows 7 Review Week - First Gaze

In our introduction to our special Windows 7 Review Week we covered the basics of the story behind what Windows 7 is. Many people will claim that Microsoft is just trying to sell a working copy of Vista, and in certain ways they would be correct. This review will go over the first stages of your experience with Windows 7, from the purchase to your first tentative gaze upon the unsurprisingly similar looks.

The heads at Microsoft are waiting for the shit to really hit the fan with the release of Windows 7. Every product they have released since Windows 95 has always had a major hiccup at the beginning. In the coming months, however, Microsoft has really been trying their best to get everyone on board. The cynical amongst you may feel that Microsoft is trying to pull the wool over your head and to force you to pay for a product you thought you already had. A lot of bloggers out there will be using the phrase “Windows 7 is what Vista was meant to be!” , but wouldn’t you be a bit pissed off if you had to spend twice as much to actually get what you thought you had in the first place? This is essentially the controversy surrounding Windows 7, why should we have to pay for something that could be released as a Service Pack? The simple answer is that Microsoft has actually done a lot of work on Windows 7, a lot of work that costs a lot. They know that most people will not be rushing to the shops to buy a copy, but they also know that the work they have put into creating Windows 7 will have to be filtered down to Vista users. This means that Microsoft has to somehow cover its costs for releasing DirectX 11 and all those security updates to XP and Vista users, and the easiest way to do this is to release a new OS and to charge normal prices for it. In a bid to get the money flowing, Microsoft has released a very limited number of copies for pre-order. In the UK, we were tempted with a £49 price tag for Windows 7 Home Premium. Unfortunately we can’t get the upgrade version because the EU has banned Microsoft from selling Windows with Internet Explorer. Which is ridiculous considering all the other browsers can only be downloaded using IE. Anyway, putting aside this ridiculous requirement, those of you who really want a copy will be sorely disappointed if you didn’t get in quick for the pre-order. All the copies that were selling for £49 are gone, which just leaves the normal price of £70, which will then be hiked up to about £140 next January. The reason there is a big step up is that Microsoft is compensating for the fact that they can’t release IE in CD form yet.

So, this brings us to our first milestone. If you want Windows 7 without having to pay through the nose, go to Amazon and pre-order it for £70. We’ve been living with Windows RC now for 3 days, and our advice is to go and buy it if you need it. I for one will be spending the £70 on a copy; however, I will be keeping it in my drawer for a couple of months. The reason for this is that although Microsoft has done a great job with the current Release Candidate, it is not worth risking all your data yet. We suggest that if you want Windows 7 ,to buy it but wait at least 6 months before committing to it 100%. So, assuming that you’ve bought a copy, we’ll move onto our second milestone.

Installing Windows 7 from scratch is a breeze. Before you start, you will need to enter your BIOS and change your boot options. When your computer starts there should be a button you have to press to enter your BIOS, it’s usually something like F10 or F12. Once you are in your BIOS, go to boot options and make sure that your PC is trying to boot from your DVD drive first. Once you’ve done that, just stick in the DVD and follow all the instructions on screen. Generally speaking, it’s fairly simple. The installation is very similar to Vista’s installation, however this time you’ll have the option between 32 bit and 64 bit. We suggest that you back everything up and go with 64-bit, assuming that you’ve waited for 6 months. The reason we suggest this is that most people will have 64-bit capable PC’s, which will benefit greatly from a 64-bit OS. Essentially it makes your CPU (Central Processing Unit), twice as effective and it lets you install a lot more RAM. In essence this will break through all the old performance celings. The installation will take a while as everything gets unpacked onto your newly formatted drive, although this is not necessary. Unlike Vista, the Windows 7 installation will actually let you install over your original Vista instalment, and it will just move everything into a folder called Windows.old. This is a nice little feature if you can’t find a way of backing up everything. Once the installation is done, the computer will restart. We suggest that before Windows starts up for the first time that you take the DVD out. This will stop you from installing the whole thing again and again. When Windows boots up for the first time you’ll be taken through a few screens that will set up basic user preferences.

If you don’t feel like waiting 6 months, however, there is another way that you can use Windows 7 without having to commit completely. What you have to do is create a second partition on your hard drive so that you can Multi-Boot Windows 7 and Vista. If you’re currently using Vista, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and then click on Disk Management. Once there, click on your Primary Hard Drive and click Shrink. You need to make sure you have plenty of space on it, we suggest you have at least a 500 GB hard drive with 250 GB free to shrink. Once your Hard Drive is shrunk, you will have unallocated space. Leave that space for now and follow the normal Windows 7 Installation. When you install it, make sure you go for the Custom option and then choose your unallocated partition. The windows 7 Installation will automatically format this unallocated space and install Windows 7 on the partition. This means that when you boot up, you will have the choice between starting Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Once you’re completely happy with Windows 7 you can go ahead and back up all your data ready for a clean install. You will have to format and extend the primary partition so that it takes up the whole hard drive again.

So what about people with laptops? Well, generally speaking we would advise against messing with anything. However, this time around we’ll be going against the grain a little. The current Release Candidate of Windows 7 has much better performance than Windows Vista. It is also easier to customise and to keep in check. So in actual fact we suggest that you do purchase a copy of Windows 7 and install it when everything is completely ironed out. You will find that your laptop will be given a new bill of health, saving you from having to buy a new one for at least a couple more years.

When you first start Windows 7 you will notice the nice new background to the log in screen, you will also notice a bigger task bar. The windows themselves, however, remain completely unchanged since Windows Vista. I can guarantee that your first reaction to Windows 7 will be “why the hell did I spend money on this?”. In our next review we will be exploring what’s new about Windows 7 in a hope that it will justify spending those precious pennies.

Coming up next : What You See and What You Get, a review on the features that make up Windows 7.

Tags : Microsoft, Windows 7, Multi-Boot, Partition, Home Premium, £49

1. Windows 7 Review Week - Introduction

To start off our Windows 7 Review Week, which will feature a daily review on different aspects of the new Operating System , we thought it would be fitting to introduce Windows 7 and to give it a little bit of context.

The most contraversial part of Microsoft's recent ventures is the catastrophic failure of Windows Vista amongst the general public. Those of us who are somewhat savvy when it comes to computers have mixed views on Windows Vista, however the general public, as in those who are not somewhat savvy, have a deep deep, almost genetic, hate towards Windows Vista. Simply put, the reason that people hate Vista is because it sucked. When it was first released, Vista was plagued with massive compatability problems, huge stability problems and a complete lack of appropriate advertising. Microsoft had not swept the ground from the horrible muck that would eventually doom Vista to an early grave. So, in light of this, Microsoft set about creating the Operating System that Vista was meant to be.

So, we've got the basics of why Microsoft is releasing Windows 7, so now I'll quickly explain what an Operating System is, and why Microsoft is doing so well with Windows 7. For those of you who live in a dark cave somewhere, an Operating System is the software on your computer that makes it work. That means everything you see on your screen, excluding the Internet Browser, is your Operating System, or OS. Having a good OS, and sometimes having the right version, allows you to utilise your computer hardware better. The vast majority of people will be running Windows on their computer for the simple fact that everyone else is. Windows creates a level playing field and allows everybody to share information without any compatability problems. At least, this is what we expected of Vista. Unfortunately, Vista was so badly coded that it did not even fill this basic requirement until much later on.

Fortunately for us, Microsoft has actually done a very thorough job with Windows 7. Straight from the start, Microsoft took on board the problems of Windows Vista, and straight from the start Microsoft began to prepare the ground. There have been months and months of open dialogue between Microsoft and it's users, with early releases of Windows 7 all the way through. Microsoft has been talking to all the major OEM's, Original Equipment Manufacturer, and has promised a smooth transition. Something which can definitely be delivered because Microsoft has already released Windows 7 to the public as a Release Candidate. All this PR work and solid coding with input from the rest of us has made a surprisingly solid Operating System. Microsoft has learned from it's previous mistakes and knows that it's reputation depends on the absolute success of Windows 7. However, much like Vista, Windows 7 well be coming in different versions. Unless you buy a new computer, you'll be trying to choose between Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate. I don't see why they can't just sell the same product to everyone. One major step forward, however, is the amalgamation of 32-bit and 64-bit OS's. Microsoft tried to break into 64-bit computing with Vista, however by charging separately for them, it failed to do so. Windows 7 will come with both versions, which means 64-bit should become the new standard.

Generally speaking, everything that Microsoft has done so far to ease Windows 7 into the world, has worked. Backed up by solid performances, Windows 7 is expected to be a total success. However, it is down to people like us to review Windows 7 to see whether it lives up to the expectations.

Coming up next : We will be reviewing the installation of Windows 7

Tags : Microsoft, Windows 7, Release Candidate

Windows 7 Review Week

We have just got our hands on a copy of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we will be doing daily reviews as part of our "Windows 7 Review Week". To make sure that everybody can access these reviews, we will be creating and updating a special Windows 7 Review Week list. We haven't quite got a name for it yet, but basically you will be able to easily get to any of our reviews.

Starting tomorrow, with our introduction, we will be covering the installation, how it looks and works, DirectX 11, a Vista - Win 7 Comparison and lots of other bits and pieces. These reviews will be written whilst we learn to live with the new OS and will, if everything goes well, be published everyday for 7 days.

So, stay tuned for our Windows 7 Review Week!

Tags : Microsoft, Windows 7, Review, DirectX 11

Medal of Honor Airborne

First things first, it's a Medal of Honor game. It's spelt wrong, it's probably historically incorrect and the Nazi's only ever have one thing say ; "Ich Habe!". That pretty much sums up the whole series, and Airborne is no exception. Graphically, it's not too bad. It's built on the UT3 engine, unsurprisingly, which gives it that sort of...shiny-but-in-the-wrong-place look. For some reason anything that has highlights will look completely wrong.

Putting that aside, however, Airborne did surprise me a little. The first mission is pretty straight forward. You land in a small Italian town and you kill a load of Nazi's until you win. There is only ever two types of objective, the first is where you blow stuff up, and the second is where you kill Nazi's and then blow stuff up. All in all, pretty simple gameplay. The storyline is your usual Medal of Honor thing. You follow a 'historic' campaign where you blow things up in the hope that you start feeling all patriotic and anti-German again. I swear the US government just forced EA to keep making these games so that they can convert those filthy "Nazi-Lovin' Bastards!" into outstanding citizens. Or maybe people just think its fun to kill Nazi's...

By far the best part of the whole game, after running through a little Italian town, Nijmegen and reliving Operation Varsity , is right at the end where you single handedly blown up the 'Flak Tower'. At each level a new opposing Nazi AI is offered to you as sacrifice, each with his own gun and one liner. Instead of having a mix in each level, EA has opted for a clone army to descend upon you. At the end it just gets silly when you're trampled on by a shit load of elite Nazi's with massive machine guns that chop you to bits. I must admit though, hiding around the corner and killing the lot of them got my heart pumping for a little bit.

There are other perks to game that make it different to most WWII games. Firstly, of course, is the whole jumping out of a plane thing. In a couple of the missions it will go through a whole rigmarole of killing off a few of your buddies and in the last mission the whole plane just explodes. Secondly, whenever you die, you get the jump out of a plane again. This means that you can start the mission in any place that you want. It makes things a little bit more interesting, and according to EA, more difficult for the AI. I just think that's their excuse for coding it in badly. As far as I can see, the AI for MoH Airborne is just as shit as the original.

That said, the game doesn't exactly have a lot of longevity as a single player game. Gone are the days when games like Halo or Fable were released, where you could play for hours everyday and still not get any closer to the absolutely epic ending. Considering that games cost millions to make, you would expect more than a couple of hours of interesting and original game play. So when you buy this from your local shop, don't expect a game that will keep you interested for more than a week.

Final Thought Byte : It's not a bad game, per se, just a bit unoriginal. If you like shooting Nazi's, then you might as well buy it. It wont make you go 'ZOMG WOW!', but it will fill your Nazi killing desires.

Tags : EA, Medal of Honor : Airborne, Nazi's

GRID Revisited

With the arrival of FUEL, Codemasters new racing game, and a possible patch for GRID on the horizon, we offer our thoughts on GRID a year after our first review.

Essentially, the game is the same. Since our last review, however, I have upgraded my rig and can actually play GRID on max settings. Last July I tried my best to emphasize how graphically stunning the game was. Now playing at full resolution and having all the options turned to max, the graphics are still jaw dropping a year on. We shall see how FUEL fairs up to the standard that GRID has set.

In terms of gaming advancement, GRID does not really pull anything new out of the magical top hat. Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2 was the first driving game to look truly realistic, something which GRID has done but something it hasn't really improved on. Don't get me wrong, it looks amazing, but it isn't the first time that we've been amazed at how cool a game looks. When GRID was released, the idea and implimentation of PhysX , artificial real time physics calculated by the GPU, was still fiddly at best. You will still see bits flying off cars, but they might not land correctly or just get stuck in the road pointing straight up. These physics glitches are common, but not something to be worried about when you're driving into things at 200mph.

The gameplay hasn't changed in the last year, obviously because there haven't been any patches. It's a very very simple racing game. You get in your car, you drive, get money and buy new cars. There's no tuning, no tweaking, just simple driving. Which, for most of us, is a recipe for 'kick ass'. For most gamers, GRID will be about relaxing, not having to think and just flowing with the road, choosing the right racing line... and trying not to crash.

The online gameplay, however, has changed quite a bit. A year on, the original people that played the game have gone elsewhere. Suprisingly though, you will still find a dozen games to join. The majority of sessions seem to be the Bridgestone Championship, but sometimes you will find a GT1 race or even a couple Japan Drifts. Unfortunately, I can guarantee that you'll be shouting "Fucking crashers!" at your monitor within 30 seconds. A huge majority of players on GRID these days tend to be from a country you've never heard of and speak a language you can't even begin to understand. That's not so much of a problem, because during races you can't type and there is no voice support, however they do tend to crash into you for fun. Everynow and again, you may find a group of good drivers which will give you a good race, and these can generally be found in smaller sessions. This leads us to the conclusion that huge sessions with 10 or more players is a situation you want to avoid like the plague.

Final Thought Byte : The conclusion is fairly simple. Without a single grain of doubt, GRID is still a good game. If you just want to relax and drive around in a car that looks cool, go down to your nearest shop and pick it up for a few quid. The new patch may bring a few improvements, but I really doubt it.

Tags : FUEL, Codemasters, GRID, GT3

Spiderman 4 - Candidate 37

First little webcomic. Check it out at deviantART

Tags : Spiderman, Apocalyptic, Buttercups, Webcomic

1 V 100 Beta

Tried the 1 V 100 beta last night. It made me lol so hard. It's such a fun game where you all play in a team of 4 and answer general knowledge questions, plus some questions will be based on the games consoles and games. For example:

"What game is NOT in Wii Sports:

X: Tennis A: Golf B: Football"

Some of the questions are simple but some of them do rack your brains. The prizes are microsoft points, for "The Mob" and "The One" only, the crowd does not get anything, apart from the general fun of participation, which is just as good as being the one.

Three Positions:

The Crowd: Exactly what it says on the tin, except the one MAY ask for your help.

The Mob: The Mob is the "100" that is in the title of "1 V 100". You play against the one, trying to answer questions and knock him out. If the One fails, you split microsoft ponts between all of the remaining 100 left.

The One: the main contestant. Your aim is to knock out all the 100 players in "The Mob" and win the grand prize of 10,000 microsoft points, thats right 10,000.

One of the cool features is the ability to make your character dance, like one of my team mates was doing, by just pressing the "Y" button and the directional buttons. The only flaw is that you cannot hear the host speaking, but then again it is a beta so what can we expect?

Final Thought Byte : Overall 8/10 because it is a beta, but I like these kind of games. It gets everyone off of the normal xbox games and you can play as a group, and use your own xbox live avatars which is amazing. I am looking forward to the other xbox live avatar participation game!

Tags : XBOX live, 1, V, 100, games, funny, novel, book, Harry Potter, Halo ODST, Halo Reach, Bioshock 2, Crackdown 2, Gears of War 3.

Google Chrome OS..... hmm

The rumours have finally been confirmed on Google's blog. Google will be releasing their very own Operating System in 2010.

Sounds great, right? Well not really. My first major issue with Chrome OS is that it's open source and that Google is using the same business ethic with Google Wave. Generally speaking, an open source product with huge developer support works well if it doesn't give people the tools to plant viruses. By making the whole operating system open source, Google is practically inviting people to send viruses to everyone.

Putting that major flaw aside, however, leaves us with an interesting prospect. Google will probably release Chrome OS to manufacturers first, just like Microsoft. They will probably target netbooks which means by 2010 we should be able to buy a fully working netbook for about £150. At least, that would be the logical place for Chrome OS. It is essentially a pretty version of Linux with Google's Logo on it, it wasn't built from the ground up. Google Chrome itself wasn't even built from the ground up by Google, it was built using WebKit, an existing browser format.

So, who should Google be aiming for? Well they definitely shouldn't be aiming for me. I play lots of games and use lots of different applications, therefore I am not going to risk huge compatability and performance issues until Chrome OS is fully established. The same goes with Windows 7 really, until that has its first inevitable service pack, I'm not touching it with a barge pole.

Final Thought Byte : Google is starting to play a very dangerous game. It will never take the market away from Microsoft, which has decades of experience and decades of being a fully established and trusted brand. Google is still a search engine to many people, not a software development company. Until Google Chrome and Google Wave make it big, Chrome OS will be a huge mistake.

Tags : Google, Chrome, Windows 7, Microsoft, WebKit, Linux

How can Spotify be legal?

For those of you who don't already know, Spotify is a UK based company which provides people with the means to listen to any song ever made...legally.

Now lets put aside the obvious legal issues that this may have and move straight onto a quick review of the application itself. After signing up to the free service, where you don't even have to give your name, which we assume is to protect potential customers in the possible event that Spotify is sued, you get greeted by a very sleek looking application. The first thing you will notice is that Spotify looks like a darker version of iTunes. In terms of usability, it fairs well against all the other major media players and easily outshines Windows Media Player.

After using it for about ten minutes, I am very impressed. It is very easy to search for your favourite artist and to make a playlist of your favourite songs. Of course, nothing in life is ever truly free. The only drawback to this 'free' service is an ad every once in a while, but only one advert. Considering that Sky channels, which we pay in excess of £30 a month, has adverts every 15 minutes, it's not bad. The quality of the music is also very good, I can't actually tell the difference between my own Linkin Park Meteora CD and the songs streaming over the net from Spotify.

So lets talk legalities. First things first, how can a company let people stream any song for free and only have a few ads. Conventional radio stations play a few select songs, play lots of ads and are practically crippled with having to pay for royalties. So what the hell is Spotify? Is it regarded as an internet radio station or does it pay a lump sum every year to the record companies? I would be inclined to go for the latter option, simply because it explains why adverts are minimal and the premium subscription is tiny.

Is it too good to be true? Probably.

Final Thought Byte : IF you haven't rushed off the sign up to Spotify, click on the link and do it now! All we need now is a version for the iPod Touch.

Tags : Spotify, Internet, Streaming

Gears of War 2

I have to say, what an epic storyline. It kept me gripped all the way through, with the fire fights, new enemies and a very emotional storyline.

The loss of some characters make you get emotionally attached to "Marcus Fenix" the main character in Gears of War. Although these guys act all tough, you learn that this is, in fact, a hard outer shell. What I liked the most has definitely got to be the storyline, the cut scenes that lead through the game are really worth watching...unlike metal gear solid 4's hour long cut scenes ¬.¬

If you were to ask me do I recommend this game my answer would be a definite yes. There are some things that put it down, for example the game practically gives you the path all the way through and practically points out every switch you need to push. But apart from that I would give Gears of War 2 a good 9.5/10 as there are a few elements missing but they can soon be ignored because of the awesomeness of the characters and the storyline.

Final Thought Byte : Gears of War 2 is a good game if you like constant action. If you don't, but wanted to try Gears of War 2 anyway, my advice is do it, try it out because you never know if you're going to like it or not.

Tags : Game Reviews, Gears, Of, War, 2