Just got Windows 7...

[Illiad86]

Ya, just stating our experience, guess we're just lucky :P

[ub3rman123]

Woah, didn't know viruses came from everywhere. I'll not be quite naked, I've still got AVG here. Still, I never got a virus (Okay, once) on XP, and that doesn't have UAC, does it?

 

Also: This folder structure is irritating me. Why isn't Downloads directly inside My Documents?

[Vagrant0]

Woah, didn't know viruses came from everywhere. I'll not be quite naked, I've still got AVG here. Still, I never got a virus (Okay, once) on XP, and that doesn't have UAC, does it?

 

Also: This folder structure is irritating me. Why isn't Downloads directly inside My Documents?

I don't know why it isn't there according to those who made windows, but one good reason is so that downloaded files aren't directed toward a standardized folder which is connected with a single user. The reason why this is good is because there are some programs which might try sneaking files or infecting files in that folder in the hopes that someone would try running it to see what that file is, or having files which are forcibly executed regardless of user, but cannot be removed due to belonging to an admin level user that the owner cannot gain access to. But, I have a feeling it has something to do with organization of files.

 

All that aside, you're really best off using a separate, non-default, non-system controlled folder for saving files to. If you have more than 1 physical drive (actual harddrives, not partitions), it's actually a good idea to redirect some of the temp folders and downloads to this drive instead of the system drive. The reason for the temp files being on a different drive is to increase speed in accessing and swap times as well as security against less intelligently coded threats. The reason for putting your downloads there is to keep your system drive from being cluttered with every darn thing you download.

[Illiad86]

No, Windows XP does not have UAC...that first started wtih Vista. Windows XP comes with a basic firewall. Like I said, I have never had a malicious attack for 6 years now with only Firefox, Adblock Plus, and just recently I started using NoScript.

 

I swear it has something to do with my ISP's provided router...it seems like all ports are closed except for the ones I allow (battle.net, Steam). I'm not too sure, I don't have much knowledge on the "inner workings", ya know? But...it just seems like...everyone else I know has Time Warner Cable around here. To have internet without phone...it's either Time Warner (which is very cheap) or AT&T. DSL is offered by the company I'm with, TDS. But, you have to have a phone line (it's pretty cheap, the net is expensive). But, everyone I know that has Time Warner gets ludicrous amounts of viruses from visiting everyday sites (facebook, youtube, ebay, etc.). I just don't get it. They use Firefox and stuff...even have AVG...ahh I don't know.

[evilneko]

As the title states, my computer upgraded to one with Windows 7 on it. Me, I've been an XP fanboy literally all my life, and I'm wanting to learn precisely what's different. What I'm most annoyed about is the bar at the bottom of the screen. I want it to be more like the one in XP, so I don't have to click twice to access different windows and guess what window is what.

 

Also, is 7 without UAC turned on pretty much the same as XP's security? I dislike UAC getting in the way with everything.

 

 

You have my condolences.

 

Here, introduce yourself to this: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

It will make your Windows 7 eXPerience somewhat less painful. :thumbsup:

 

Or ya could, you know, just slap XP on your new computer. ;)

 

With 7 and Vista, MS has moved to a more *nix-like style of user directories by simply moving up one level from the familar My Docs folder and making that the default location for saving user files, making it the new user-home, which makes better sense anyway. That's why your downloads folder isn't under My Docs.

 

All that aside, you're really best off using a separate, non-default, non-system controlled folder for saving files to.

 

I'd actually advise the opposite. DO make use of your user directory. Redirect it to another location if you really must, but do make use of it. Your user directory has permissions already set up so that only you and Admin users can use it, so if you share your machine it's a natural place to put anything you don't want seen by others. As well, it simplifies things, since most apps will default straight to it, meaning you don't have to go browsing around to get to another directory you've set up elsewhere. It also simplifies backup and transfer procedures.

 

As for UAC, the closest you get to UAC under XP/2K is to run as a non-admin user, which UAC in effect forces upon you even if your user is technically an admin (UAC is actually more restrictive than using your computer as a normal user). Running non-admin is the default in every major OS except Windows, and UAC is Microsoft's attempt to fix that. While I'm all for the whole non-admin thing, I'm a little iffy on UAC. UAC seems to me at least to be more trouble than it's worth, and Microsoft's implementation of it has come under some criticism anyway. For information and help breaking yourself from the Admin-addiction, see http://nonadmin.editme.com/HowTo and http://blogs.msdn.com/b/aaron_margosis/ -- at the very least, you should use DropMyRights to launch your browser. ;)

[LHammonds]

Also: This folder structure is irritating me. Why isn't Downloads directly inside My Documents?

Roaming profiles.

 

For those that don't know, if your computer is on a domain that makes use of roaming profiles, that means that when you login to a PC, your "profile" is copied down from a central location to that computer so your desktop follows you around. When you log off, the changes are updated to that centralized copy. Go to another PC and it is downloaded again and you have your same desktop.

 

In theory, that is how it is supposed to work. In practice it is a nightmare BECAUSE of the profile becoming bloated with large files and forcing the user to wait long and longer to get their desktop after login and usually having failures to "update" the centrally located storage...thus causing replication issues.

 

Most home users never see or even know about this but much of the profile structure is centered around this approach. Registry settings for "Local Machine" stay with the machine but registry entries for "current user" travel with them when the domain uses Roaming Profiles.

 

LHammonds

[bben46]

And thirded.

 

I too have a degree in Computer Science (BS) And I have seen many computers with viruses & other malware that the owner did not know were infected. There was no noticeable slow down or suspicious activity noted at all. A good (sic) virus does not advertise it's presence, it hides as some common program, usually as something with the same name as an important system file or very close to that name. svchost.exe is a popular target - I have seen it misspelled as scvhost or svchoct.

[ub3rman123]

Evilneko: Thanks for the link, it's pretty much most of the customizables I've been looking for.

 

Just for convenience (My brain doesn't like having Downloads not in Documents), I just made a new downloads folder right in My Documents and directed Google Chrome to it.

 

The boot of Windows 7 is much faster than XP, isn't it? The new computer with 7 starts up within about 40 second, while the old XP I can just walk away and get some quick lunch while I wait. But I always attributed that to it being a piece-of-crap eMachine.

 

I'm trying to find a list of the actual features that Windows 7 has, but not from Microsoft, because they only seem to point out the new shinies and graphics overhaul and say how good it is, rather than features that are really useful rather than just being cosmetic. I think I have an old MaximumPC magazine somewhere that detailed it, but I never read the article because I assumed I'd never be getting it.

[Illiad86]

This might help :)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_7

[evilneko]

The boot of Windows 7 is much faster than XP, isn't it? The new computer with 7 starts up within about 40 second, while the old XP I can just walk away and get some quick lunch while I wait. But I always attributed that to it being a piece-of-crap eMachine.

 

Not really. I've tried Windows 7 on two machines (my desktop and my laptop) that formerly (and currently) ran XP. Neither of them really saw any benefit at all from the new Windows, including in boot time. My desktop's a quad core with 4GB of RAM and a SATA II harddrive all plugged into an ASUS mobo, so it's probably booting as fast as it possibly can without switching to something like DamnSmallLinux. I didn't exactly time it with a stopwatch though, so there may be a difference, albeit not very noticeable.

 

I'm still waiting for a killer app to push me to 7--DirectX10+ by itself doesn't count. 'til then, I'll stick with XP.