Differences In Windows Operating Systems
Windows 7 Versus Windows Vista
First and foremost, one of the major differences between Windows 7 and Vista lies in the plug and play device. Windows 7 has a much greater capacity to detect peripherals rather than simply bringing up the auto-run option; almost all kinds of devices will be supported with the necessary drivers in Windows 7.
Additionally, Windows 7 helps you find the website of your device's manufacturer should you run into any difficulties. In other words if the driver for your peripheral device is not already included in the Windows 7 operating system, you stand a much better chance of actually finding it than you did with Vista.
Most people will like the new taskbar Windows 7 offers, however should you not be a fan, it is easy enough to change. You can also change the settings for any notifications which typically appear on your screen, and no when you move your cursor, you will get a list of processes which are running.
The major improvement that Windows 7 has made over Vista is its super-fast performance. Microsoft promised a speedier system, and this time they delivered. The faster startup comes courtesy of fewer startup processes to go through, plus there are fewer processes running the background which devour your available memory.
Windows Vista was intended to be ground-breaking, offering lots of new features, and, in many cases users were very happy with it. The problem was that some of the new features ended up just being annoying, especially regarding hardware utilization. Many users of Vista experienced major slowdowns in their system and had no choice but to disable some of the cooler features in Vista just to make it usable. One of the major problems for some people who had skipped Vista entirely was the lack of ability to simply upgrade from XP. Although Vista will upgrade to Windows 7, if you want to go from XP to Windows 7, unfortunately you will have to buy the full program.
Differences between XP and Vista
Many people resisted upgrading their beloved XP to Vista, and after some of the problems were discovered with Vista, they were glad they held off. The start menu is much more advanced in Vista, giving you a wider search leverage. Even the XP users who were overall quite happy with it, ran into problems keeping all their open programs organized, while Vista offered programs scrolled within the start menu. Vista's folders easily opened and closed with a single click, offering ease of access.
According to Microsoft officials, Vista's security features are much more advanced than XP, although Vista tends to require additional hardware to reach the same level of performance as XP.
Making the Leap from XP to Windows 7
Should you decide to take the leap from XP to Windows 7, make sure you have fully backed up all critical files prior to beginning. Once Windows 7 is installed, check to make sure your drivers have all installed successfully for all hardware, or you may have a "freezing" problem. Most people are thoroughly delighted when they jump from XP to Windows 7, and especially love previewing windows without actually having to open them.
In Internet Explorer, you are able to view the contents of each tab simply by hovering over the IE icon in the task bar-this also works well in Word and Excel. Searching in Windows 7 is simple and quick, and nearly every window has a search area in the top right corner.
Of course, your individual computer use will determine whether it's time to graduate to Microsoft's latest operating system, but so far, the reviews are great.