Posts tagged Windows 7

Since I was around 13 I have been tinkering with computers in one way or another.  I remember the first time we upgraded from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 using 3.5” diskettes.  Each time I go to do an OS upgrade there is a myriad of things I do before I get started:  Backup files to disc, find all my product keys & installation CDs, get drivers for everything, and then finally install the new OS and hope you didn’t forget anything.  The resulting process would take hours or days and made reinstalls an option to avoid in most cases.

Things are much easier now than they were even 2 years ago.  Here are some tools and tips I use to make OS upgrades or reinstalls a snap:

• Drivers – Unless you have some really exotic hardware Windows 7 will detect and use just about anything you have.  The only driver I had to install was on my laptop and it was for the Ricoh 4 in 1 memory card reader on my ThinkPad T61.  Check your hardware vendor’s website or hit Bing.  Odds are someone else is looking for the same driver you are.
• Live Mesh – A great tool for synchronizing files between multiple computers and a virtual web-based desktop.  We use this for the St Louis Day of .NET committee to keep our files synchronized among all the committee members.  We have the occasional time a file isn’t updated by someone’s machine but overall it’s been a great tool for that and for my documents.
• Tips for Live Mesh:
• Organize your files & folders the way you want in your “My documents” folder.  Share the folders individually or your whole “My Documents” folder.  On PCs you want to sync with map it to the equivalent (ex Win7/Vista: c:\users\[name]\documents XP c:\documents and settings\[user]\my documents).  Any PC you use will have everything where you expect.  This works great for things like Windows Live Writer and OneNote 2007 because blog posts or OneNote notebooks you add will be picked up on your other PC(s).
• You have to be logged into the computer for Mesh to run under your profile.  This has bit me a couple times on the desktop as my wife, daughter, and I share that machine and routinely log each other out.
• Mesh currently has a 5GB limit so I focus on documents and Visual Studio Projects that are not under any type of source control.
• Web-based E-mail – Web mail is the easiest way to keep your mail somewhere else so you don’t have to worry about migrating.  I haven’t migrated an E-mail client in years.
• MagicDisc – Freeware ISO image mounter with Windows 7 support.  If you have an MSDN subscription this is a must have tool for mounting the ISO files for all your favorite MS tools.  MagicDisc comes with the feature you need, most notably quickly mounting and ISO images to a virtual drive.  It has worked fine with ISOs that were stored on a DVD-R as well as ISOs stored on a USB hard-drive.
• Favorites websites & bookmarks – I joined the social bookmarking craze and hopped on the Delicious band-wagon.  Bing reveals lots of other options out there as well: Social Bookmarking search on Bing.
• General Tips
  • Simplify.  I used to keep lots of junk and random stuff in various places.  Everything now goes into Documents, Pictures, Videos, or Music and I routinely purge.
  • Back-it-up on-line.  Lots of options; I have been using Mesh as mentioned above.  There is also SkyDrive which my wife has used and a host of others out there.
  • Back-it-up locally.  Although there are lots of on-line options, it’s safe to keep your own copy too.  You never know which betas may end or what companies might change direction.  External hard-drives are very affordable and an entry-level drive can give you some added insulation against data loss.

Overall the switch to Windows 7 has been painless and I’m enjoying a lot of the new features and changes since Vista.  If you recommend any tools that helped you make the switch, please let me know!