Managed to finally wash and polish my car on the weekend. I spent some time looking around the shops at what was available as far as polish/waxes go. Came upon the Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Showcar Glaze. The scree on the bottle sounded good. The price was just over $25. Bit expensive in my book, but thought if it gave me some results, then it should be money well spent.
I'm not a car geek who spends every waking hour polishing a bit of chrome here, wiping some dust off there etc. I just like to have a clean car and in the process make sure I look after the paintwork as best I can. With this in mind the Meguiar's sounded ok so this is my review of it.
One of the things that swayed my purchase of this bottle, is that it says you don't have to let it dry. Just wipe on thinly then wipe and buff. All too often you get these great promises of car polish lasting for months and months, but trying to polish the stuff off is a nightmare. It lasts for months and months alright, usually in all the panel joins etc.
This is some of the info on the bottle:
"A pure polish that nourishes the paint for a dazzling, wet-look, showcar shine. Safe and effective on all paint finishes including clear coats. Perfect for serious car enthusiasts; does not build up with repeated use. Will not leave a white, powdery residue."
Bit of a sales speak or not? Meguiar's have been around for a long time so they should know what they're talking about. If what they say is wrong, I'm sure the car fraternity would soon bag them big time.
It is a new car that I am polishing, so faded paint etc isn't a problem. So I washed the car, got as much grime and bugs off as I could. Probably should have done a pre-wax step, but I didn't have anything on hand, and had already put off doing the car for so long, I decided to go ahead anyway. It wasn't like there was a lot of hard to get off spots anyway.
I used a foam pad to put the polish on, and it spread easily. It says to do a panel at a time, but for most, I did a section, then overlapped the next application with what I had already done.
I buffed using a microfiber cloth. All it takes is an initial wipe of the cloth and then a bit of a buff to get the shine showing.
The polish didn't leave any white marks where panels join etc. This was a relief. However, as the bottle advises, don't put it on black rubber bits. If you do, you will have white areas appear. Meguiar's produce a product that will get this off though.
So application and buffing was pretty much a breeze. The finish on the car? Quite impressed. When you're doing it, you don't really notice, but when finished and you step back for a good look, the shine is very impressive. I was really pleased when I looked at the result the next morning. With the early morning sun shining on it, it looked pretty impressive, like it just rolled off the show room floor.
So would certainly recommend this product. Like I've said, I'm no car geek, but as far as an average car owner goes (which is probably most of us), you'll not be disappointed with the results.
How long the shine will last is something else. I hope to update this blog in a few weeks/months time when there is no longer any shine.
I have heard where Meguiar's Ultimate Quick Wax is very good. You just spray it on and polish. One geeky site said that they were surprised at the great result for such an over the counter type of product and put it in their recommended products list. So will be trying this in the near future to see how it fares.
Happy polishing.
UPDATE: I have tried Meguiar's Ulitimate Quick Wax. Spray on, wipe with a cloth to get even coverage, then with a dry cloth buff to a shine. Pretty simple. Easy to do. It still makes your arm ache though. Took me maybe 20 mins to do a medium sized car. You do suffer some overspray, but it's not a real problem as you just make sure you overlap the covering and polish stages. Hard to say how much one application took out of the bottle. Maybe a third? Results are good. For some reason, the bumpers seemed to really come up. But the shine is nice. Considering it's only a spray on, results are very good and would recommend this product. Price is a bit steep. Not sure how long it will last. Hopefully will update with that info in the future.
PRINTER INK - G&G INK
If you want some cheap printer ink, then Thu Shop Spot has a listing to a great company. Go to http://www.thushopspot.com/ and click on the tech consumables link then on the office consumables link. This company is selling G&G ink which is a really good quality ink. When I was doing research on which third party ink to get for my printer, this brand of ink received very good reviews. It's not just another no name type of ink, but an established company which produces "as good as" if not better quality inks as the original ink. Here is a link to one review: http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=27532
Of course you always get some people making negative statements about something that others rave about. I have used G&G ink for quite a number of years in an Epson and a Canon printer and it has performed very well. I have printed out numerous photos, posters and newsletters and have found the ink to be virtually equal to the Canon inks. The photos are very impressive in their quality.
I have never had a problem with them damaging the printer. The cartridges originally had no chip in them so that you had to pull a chip off of an empty Canon cartridge and install it onto the G&G cartridge. No big deal but was an extra step. This is no longer required, as the G&G ink cartridges now come with the chip installed. You just unpack the cartridge like any other printer compatible ink cartridge and install it.
The price for the G&G ink leaves the Canon ink with a faceful of dust. But don't let the cheaper price put you off. Have no fear, and purchase with confidence. I have recommended this ink to many other people and I have never had anyone tell me that the ink was lousy. Some of the other cheap inks available from ebay etc are not just cheap but also nasty. Many others will clog quickly and the only answer to this, is to throw away the cartridge and install another one. The quality of the inks can also be very iffy. G&G ink cartridges have never clogged on me and once you try them and see the quality of your printouts, you'll be swapping over to G&G ink permanently as well.
Of course you always get some people making negative statements about something that others rave about. I have used G&G ink for quite a number of years in an Epson and a Canon printer and it has performed very well. I have printed out numerous photos, posters and newsletters and have found the ink to be virtually equal to the Canon inks. The photos are very impressive in their quality.
I have never had a problem with them damaging the printer. The cartridges originally had no chip in them so that you had to pull a chip off of an empty Canon cartridge and install it onto the G&G cartridge. No big deal but was an extra step. This is no longer required, as the G&G ink cartridges now come with the chip installed. You just unpack the cartridge like any other printer compatible ink cartridge and install it.
The price for the G&G ink leaves the Canon ink with a faceful of dust. But don't let the cheaper price put you off. Have no fear, and purchase with confidence. I have recommended this ink to many other people and I have never had anyone tell me that the ink was lousy. Some of the other cheap inks available from ebay etc are not just cheap but also nasty. Many others will clog quickly and the only answer to this, is to throw away the cartridge and install another one. The quality of the inks can also be very iffy. G&G ink cartridges have never clogged on me and once you try them and see the quality of your printouts, you'll be swapping over to G&G ink permanently as well.
Yes it's Friday!!
Ah yes, the end of another week. Another weekend of yard work to come. Yipeee!
But first I'll be trying out my new driver from Thu Shop Spot site. The firm that does the laser work on the driver face is really great. Looks terrific. Just hope to hit the golf ball as well as the club looks.
For anyone who wants to have a look at what this firm can do, just go to http://www.thushopspot.com/ and have a browse and you'll find what I'm talking about.
But first I'll be trying out my new driver from Thu Shop Spot site. The firm that does the laser work on the driver face is really great. Looks terrific. Just hope to hit the golf ball as well as the club looks.
For anyone who wants to have a look at what this firm can do, just go to http://www.thushopspot.com/ and have a browse and you'll find what I'm talking about.
NO IT'S NOT ME
I forgot. I've been asked if Thu Shop Spot is mine, since I seem to be raving about it. But no, it's not mine. I just like putting good sites out there so others might benefit from them as well. Nothing wrong with that is there? http://thushopspot.com is a great site, so why not let the world know? The creators of the site deserve all the hits they get. It's a lot of work getting a good site up and running and Thu Shop Spot has obviously had a lot of work put into it. So good you guys, keep up the good work. I for one will be visiting http://thushopspot.com in the future. Hope you make it big!!
VERY IMPRESSED
Well, I don't know how many people are working on Thu Shop Spot site, but there seems to be something new there every day. There's the occasional glitch, such as the odd grapphic not displaying properly, but since it's a site so new, that the paints still wet, that's to be expected.
They've got a nice little info spot on the new ipad coming out. Should be great by the sounds of it. Think I'll wait a while before I take the plunge. The price is out of my reach at the moment.
Check out http://thushopspot.com though. It's definitly worthy of a bookmark. Just so happy I found it. I just love going and browsing all the sites. Saves me having a huge favorites folder with all the stores I might want to use in the future. This site has a lot of great sites and all you have to do is bookmark one site. How easy is that!!!
They've got a nice little info spot on the new ipad coming out. Should be great by the sounds of it. Think I'll wait a while before I take the plunge. The price is out of my reach at the moment.
Check out http://thushopspot.com though. It's definitly worthy of a bookmark. Just so happy I found it. I just love going and browsing all the sites. Saves me having a huge favorites folder with all the stores I might want to use in the future. This site has a lot of great sites and all you have to do is bookmark one site. How easy is that!!!
Shopping online
Well, here we are, in two minds about whether we should shop online or not. To start with, where on earth do we start??
I've discovered a great answer: shop online with a nifty web site I've discovered called - ThuShopSpot http://www.thushopspot.com
It really is a great way to go. It lists stacks of different sites covering lots of different subjects and interests. I even found a site that sells spy stuff like minature cameras, hidden sound recorders and much more.
I was wondering where I could get a cheap pair of glasses. I really wanted some prescription glasses actually. Guess what! ThuShopSpot (Thu Shop Spot) had a really great site listed. I must have spent hours browsing their range.
I really shouldn't have added ThuShopSpot to my favorites as I've spent hours on end exploring all the great sites that are listed.
If there is one site you've got to go to, then it's http://www.thushopspot.com
I've discovered a great answer: shop online with a nifty web site I've discovered called - ThuShopSpot http://www.thushopspot.com
It really is a great way to go. It lists stacks of different sites covering lots of different subjects and interests. I even found a site that sells spy stuff like minature cameras, hidden sound recorders and much more.
I was wondering where I could get a cheap pair of glasses. I really wanted some prescription glasses actually. Guess what! ThuShopSpot (Thu Shop Spot) had a really great site listed. I must have spent hours browsing their range.
I really shouldn't have added ThuShopSpot to my favorites as I've spent hours on end exploring all the great sites that are listed.
If there is one site you've got to go to, then it's http://www.thushopspot.com
Review Colin Mcrae DIRT
Ok, so I'm not a big fan of driving games, as I prefer the old FPS style. However, I'm still open to other genres. So I came across a few reviews and comments about DIRT. I thought, "hmm this sounds pretty good". So I went off to my usual supplier of games (ebay) and found DIRT for a very reasonable price. So here is what I think of it:
Installation was on a Dell XPS quad core with dual Invidia Geforce 9800GT graphic cards, 3 gig of memory, Windows 7.
Installation was no problem. Same old same old for installing most games.
Upon starting the game up, you are immediatly blown away by the demo of a rally car going up a dirt track on the side of a mountain, which turns into a buggy race and then into a rally in the rain and mud. In a word FANTASTIC. I still like to just sit there and watch it run for a few times. Most games you just want to get the intro over and done with. Not so DIRT.
At first you think, "Oh yeah, another rendered intro, I wonder what the game is really like". I'm happy to say that the game is just the same. Really excellent graphics. On my machine I can push everything up to max and still have no problems with the old frames per second. On lesser specced machines, there could be a problem, but you can cut down on a few of the fancy options which should help things.
For most driving games, the controls are really the important thing. Initially I opted for only the keyboard, as I didn't want to spend money on getting a controller that I would only use a few times. But while you can get pretty good at using the keyboard, it does have a steep learning curve and is by no means the easiest way to control your cars. So while I would have loved to have purchased a driving wheel, I still couldn't justify the purchase considering I don't usually play driving games. So while I looked at the Xbox 360 gamepad for the PC, I ended up going for the Logitech dual action gamepad. This does the job but I think the 360 controller would probably be better to actually use. For me the Logitech is a bit uncomfortable to use, but the discomfort is not so great that it effects the game play (at least not too much).
You can customize the controls i.e. change what keys do what, which is pretty standard for all games. For the Logitech, you can install the software that comes with it, and you start this up before you start the program up. You can create different profiles in the software for a variety of games. You can then either start the game from the software, or else start the game in the usual way. Pinnacle Game Profiler is very similar in lots of ways, but is more powerful in that through their software you can set your gamepad up to control normal windows operations. However, the Pinnacle software you have to buy. So Logitech was my choice.
Initially I had problems with getting the Logitech to work correctly in DIRT. I had set up the controls in the Logitech software ok, but when I wanted to control the cars, I could only get full lock left or full lock right or straight ahead, as well as full power or no power/ brake etc. With analog joysticks, I should have been able to apply a little power, or turn only a little bit. However, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work. On looking on the internet, I found others with the same problem and thought it was how DIRT's implementation of the controls was the actual fault.
Let me say that with the controller like it was, trying to do the rallys where there are narrow roads and lots of curves is at best frustrating and at worst, a candidate for throwing the whole lot out the window!! The circuits aren't too bad. Some of the other rallys aren't too bad and I got some reasonable times at them.
However, things still weren't as they should be. Eventually I tried the Pinnacle software as I hoped something might click. But to no avail. However, when I was in DIRT in the customize screen, this time I actually selected a direction to change and then moved the joystick in the vain hope that this might register, and IT DID. It selected, "Y-axis". So I did this for the others, then went ito the Logitech software and selected the action for each joystick as being the X or Y axis option and I now have proper analog controls. Yippee. Might I just add, that this makes a HUGE difference. Not as good as a wheel, but so much better than it was before. Probably lots of others didn't have this problem as they would have cottoned on to it straight away, but I can be a bit sloooooow sometimes. But now it works and if you were having the same problems, well now you don't :)
Overall, game play is really good. Maybe the simulation puritans might have some comlaints but for me, I just love it. Being able to select the level at which you compete is really the secret. Select Rookie, and with only a modicum of practice you can start winning races. However even on rookie, some of the rallys that have lots of curves and on narrows roads can be a challenge to win.
The game allows you to select a variety of rally styles and vehicles and then to race them as either a single race or as part of a career challenge. The career option has you getting podium places in order to win points and money. When you have enough, other races are unlocked for you to compete in. You can also select the degree of difficulty in each of these races, with the harder the race, the more money you can win. With the money you win, you can buy new cars etc. The new cars have to be bought in order to be able to compete in certain races. You can even race things like trucks, however this didn't really appeal to me. They are just slow lumbering beasts that I tried a few times and then tried to avoid them.
One negetive side to the game, is that there is no training area. You can before a race setup your vehicle by adjusting a variety of options such as wheel camber, suspension, gears etc, and then you can practice with the new setup before commiting to a race. However for me, the game was really crying out for a training option. This I would envision as being something like a basic track where you could learn power slides and hand brake turns etc. It would include things like a tutor who would tell you/ show you how to do something then you would have a go. There could be things like markers showing you the line to take through a corner and when to apply the brakes and when to apply the power etc. For people who have no real idea of how to rally drive, this would have been such a useful thing. For me, I have a basic idea of how to rally drive, but just to have a short track where you could go around and around trying various things would have been great.
The races themselves are more often than not more like a dodgem competition to begin with as all the cars jostle for position. You also always start near the back, which can be a bit unfair at times. But mostly they are a great hoot and in the higher levels, once you are in front, trying to keep the lead can be a real challenge. At the rookie level, once you have the lead and so long as you don't do anything too silly, then you should win the race.
As you race and you hit the enevitable other vehicle or a tree or fence or something else that always seems to spring in front of you ;) your vehicle will start loosing bits and pieces. A door might even fly open and swing around for a while before closing again. The damage to the vehicles is really excellent.
The reaction of vehicles to corners, bumps, mud, wet roads etc is to my mind very good. Mind you, I haven't had a car game for a long time, so others who may use racing games a lot might disagree, but to someone like me, I am very impressed with it.
Of course the graphics overall are just super. Not just the vehicles, but also the detail in the scenery is really good. Trouble is you usually don't have time to look around you as you are racing. Just trying to keep the car on the hard stuff can be enough to do at times.
The sound in the program is also very good. Even the music is quite catchy. Some music in games become annoying very quickly, but in DIRT this doesn't seem to be the case. Mind you, I always like to have the music turned way down and the effects maxed out. So this might be why as well.
So out of a rating of 10 I would have to give DIRT an 8. If it had a practice/learning option, then I think it would have been at least a 9.
I would thoroughly recommend this game to anyone. Even if, like me you haven't had a driving game for years, then give DIRT a go, you might be pleasently surprised. I've already been playing this game constantly for a few weeks, and I think I'll be playing it for quite a while to come. It's just so much fun to play.
Installation was on a Dell XPS quad core with dual Invidia Geforce 9800GT graphic cards, 3 gig of memory, Windows 7.
Installation was no problem. Same old same old for installing most games.
Upon starting the game up, you are immediatly blown away by the demo of a rally car going up a dirt track on the side of a mountain, which turns into a buggy race and then into a rally in the rain and mud. In a word FANTASTIC. I still like to just sit there and watch it run for a few times. Most games you just want to get the intro over and done with. Not so DIRT.
At first you think, "Oh yeah, another rendered intro, I wonder what the game is really like". I'm happy to say that the game is just the same. Really excellent graphics. On my machine I can push everything up to max and still have no problems with the old frames per second. On lesser specced machines, there could be a problem, but you can cut down on a few of the fancy options which should help things.
For most driving games, the controls are really the important thing. Initially I opted for only the keyboard, as I didn't want to spend money on getting a controller that I would only use a few times. But while you can get pretty good at using the keyboard, it does have a steep learning curve and is by no means the easiest way to control your cars. So while I would have loved to have purchased a driving wheel, I still couldn't justify the purchase considering I don't usually play driving games. So while I looked at the Xbox 360 gamepad for the PC, I ended up going for the Logitech dual action gamepad. This does the job but I think the 360 controller would probably be better to actually use. For me the Logitech is a bit uncomfortable to use, but the discomfort is not so great that it effects the game play (at least not too much).
You can customize the controls i.e. change what keys do what, which is pretty standard for all games. For the Logitech, you can install the software that comes with it, and you start this up before you start the program up. You can create different profiles in the software for a variety of games. You can then either start the game from the software, or else start the game in the usual way. Pinnacle Game Profiler is very similar in lots of ways, but is more powerful in that through their software you can set your gamepad up to control normal windows operations. However, the Pinnacle software you have to buy. So Logitech was my choice.
Initially I had problems with getting the Logitech to work correctly in DIRT. I had set up the controls in the Logitech software ok, but when I wanted to control the cars, I could only get full lock left or full lock right or straight ahead, as well as full power or no power/ brake etc. With analog joysticks, I should have been able to apply a little power, or turn only a little bit. However, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work. On looking on the internet, I found others with the same problem and thought it was how DIRT's implementation of the controls was the actual fault.
Let me say that with the controller like it was, trying to do the rallys where there are narrow roads and lots of curves is at best frustrating and at worst, a candidate for throwing the whole lot out the window!! The circuits aren't too bad. Some of the other rallys aren't too bad and I got some reasonable times at them.
However, things still weren't as they should be. Eventually I tried the Pinnacle software as I hoped something might click. But to no avail. However, when I was in DIRT in the customize screen, this time I actually selected a direction to change and then moved the joystick in the vain hope that this might register, and IT DID. It selected, "Y-axis". So I did this for the others, then went ito the Logitech software and selected the action for each joystick as being the X or Y axis option and I now have proper analog controls. Yippee. Might I just add, that this makes a HUGE difference. Not as good as a wheel, but so much better than it was before. Probably lots of others didn't have this problem as they would have cottoned on to it straight away, but I can be a bit sloooooow sometimes. But now it works and if you were having the same problems, well now you don't :)
Overall, game play is really good. Maybe the simulation puritans might have some comlaints but for me, I just love it. Being able to select the level at which you compete is really the secret. Select Rookie, and with only a modicum of practice you can start winning races. However even on rookie, some of the rallys that have lots of curves and on narrows roads can be a challenge to win.
The game allows you to select a variety of rally styles and vehicles and then to race them as either a single race or as part of a career challenge. The career option has you getting podium places in order to win points and money. When you have enough, other races are unlocked for you to compete in. You can also select the degree of difficulty in each of these races, with the harder the race, the more money you can win. With the money you win, you can buy new cars etc. The new cars have to be bought in order to be able to compete in certain races. You can even race things like trucks, however this didn't really appeal to me. They are just slow lumbering beasts that I tried a few times and then tried to avoid them.
One negetive side to the game, is that there is no training area. You can before a race setup your vehicle by adjusting a variety of options such as wheel camber, suspension, gears etc, and then you can practice with the new setup before commiting to a race. However for me, the game was really crying out for a training option. This I would envision as being something like a basic track where you could learn power slides and hand brake turns etc. It would include things like a tutor who would tell you/ show you how to do something then you would have a go. There could be things like markers showing you the line to take through a corner and when to apply the brakes and when to apply the power etc. For people who have no real idea of how to rally drive, this would have been such a useful thing. For me, I have a basic idea of how to rally drive, but just to have a short track where you could go around and around trying various things would have been great.
The races themselves are more often than not more like a dodgem competition to begin with as all the cars jostle for position. You also always start near the back, which can be a bit unfair at times. But mostly they are a great hoot and in the higher levels, once you are in front, trying to keep the lead can be a real challenge. At the rookie level, once you have the lead and so long as you don't do anything too silly, then you should win the race.
As you race and you hit the enevitable other vehicle or a tree or fence or something else that always seems to spring in front of you ;) your vehicle will start loosing bits and pieces. A door might even fly open and swing around for a while before closing again. The damage to the vehicles is really excellent.
The reaction of vehicles to corners, bumps, mud, wet roads etc is to my mind very good. Mind you, I haven't had a car game for a long time, so others who may use racing games a lot might disagree, but to someone like me, I am very impressed with it.
Of course the graphics overall are just super. Not just the vehicles, but also the detail in the scenery is really good. Trouble is you usually don't have time to look around you as you are racing. Just trying to keep the car on the hard stuff can be enough to do at times.
The sound in the program is also very good. Even the music is quite catchy. Some music in games become annoying very quickly, but in DIRT this doesn't seem to be the case. Mind you, I always like to have the music turned way down and the effects maxed out. So this might be why as well.
So out of a rating of 10 I would have to give DIRT an 8. If it had a practice/learning option, then I think it would have been at least a 9.
I would thoroughly recommend this game to anyone. Even if, like me you haven't had a driving game for years, then give DIRT a go, you might be pleasently surprised. I've already been playing this game constantly for a few weeks, and I think I'll be playing it for quite a while to come. It's just so much fun to play.
Windows 7 (review)
I have been a long time Windows user, and so have progressively worked my way through the various Windows permutations over the years. So is Windows 7 any different/better than Vista or XP? Is it worth upgrading to? Well read on and see.
Firstly, I have now been using Windows 7 since virtually its release. So my initial opinion? It is to Vista, as Windows ME was to XP. By this, I mean that on my computer setup at that time, ME was absolutely horrible. I had so many errors and problems while using it, that as soon as XP came along, I jumped on the band wagon straight away and upgraded. The difference was huge. The stability was great. All the previous errors just simply no longer existed under XP.
Under Vista, I believe the biggest problem was that they tried to screw the security down too tight. This was such a cause of frustration for me. Folders I could previously access and write to etc under XP just weren't available to me under Vista. The old "you do not have access" error would come up again and again. Then you had to go through the convoluted rigmarole of changing owners/permissions etc. etc. just so you could do something to your own computer. Totally ridiculous. Eventually after much heart ache, I managed to get Vista mostly working the way I wanted. It still was by no means perfect, but at least it was a bit less frustrating.
Still on Vista, I know of a number of people who don't really tinker too much with their computers. They simply install programs and go about watching the odd video, access the internet a few times a week and do some general document editing etc. These people have had no real problem with Vista, and love the fact that they can restrict access to the computer so that their kids can only do certain things on it. So I guess Vista was a bit of a horses-for-courses type of thing. BUT, if you wanted to be even a little more adventureous, prepare for some major hair pulling.
So on to Windows 7. My general opinion? Definetly worth the upgrade from Vista. Most of my security issues have vanished. Not all of them mind, W7 still restricts you in regards to accessing some folders, but so far I have only really had one issue with it. Under Vista by this time, I had too many to count.
Overall, W7 seems more like XP. Somehow it just feels more stable and easier to work with than Vista. Just like XP was easier than ME, but this time it has to be said, that the difference isn't quite so dramatic.
Most people if they haven't had the problems that happened to me under Vista, probably won't see a huge change when they go over to W7. As far as cosmetic changes go, you could probably do most things in Vista as you can in W7. Things like slideshows for your desktop background are implemented under W7 as part of the themes. I have never been one to load my computer with all sorts of desktop extras as I prefer to have it as lean as possible so I can not only have access to as much memory as possible, but also to get every last bit of speed out of it that I can. So under other OS's I have simply had a coloured background, a basic screensaver, virtually no desktop icons etc etc. This time, I actually have one of W7's themes up and running with some wonderful pictures forming a slideshow as a desktop backdrop. The themes even include and Aussie theme. This probably changes depending on which country the windows version is released in, but not sure.
As for other desktop bit and pieces. The taskbar is still there and can be repositioned onlong whichever edge you want it to be. As standard it is quite large, but can be made smaller, as well as the icons which apprear on it. One handy thing, is that you can actually "pin" various programs onto the taskbar by simply right clicking on the program listing in that start button menu and selecting the pin option. You can then use these shortcuts to find and start the program quickly. The only problem with this, is that the icons don't stay in the one position as they did in the previous OS's. Once you start opening windows, the other windows icons can be placed in between your pinned programs icons. So if you want to start a pinned program you sometimes have to search through the other windows icons on the taskbar in oder to find it. There may be a way around this, but at this stage I am yet to find it.
A couple of handy features in W7 are: If you have a number of windows expanded on the desktop, if you grab the top window's top border and then shake the mouse making the window you have grabbed shake, the rest of the opened windows will be minimised automatically.Also, if you grab a window and then drag it to the left or right edge of the screen, the window will automatically be expanded to fill half of the screen. This allows you to quickly have two windows up on screen to enable you to compare the details between the two windows. If you drag a window to the top edge, then this automatically maximises the window. Another nifty feature of this, if you drag a window to an edge, the window won't immediatly expand, but only a border will be shown so you can see where the window will expand to. If you are happy with that, then release the mouse and the window will expand to those dimensions.
Now to the start button. Firstly, when you have used a program and it is listed in the start menu. It will have an arrow next to it. If you click on this, it will show a list of recently opened documents for that program. Very handy.
When it comes time to shut down, the shut down option is now right there on the menu. To the right of it is an arrow and when you click on it, it then gives you the other options of sleeping etc.
These are just some of the features that W7 has in it and which I have found to be useful. Now to some of the programs that are in W7 and how they run.
Number one on the list is Media Centre. I watch TV on my computer, so MC was something I was eager to try. Under Vista, it worked ok, but under W7 it is so smooth and easy to work with. Firstly, to get my Hauppauge TV card working, I simply downloaded the driver listed in my windows update notification. Then I ran in MC the option to detect the TV channels and that was it. Under Vista it listed all the channels available in my area, but there were some which I was never able to actually see. Under W7 all were listed and all watchable. This was amazingly smooth and had not one problem with it. Under Vista, I also had to have a third party guide set up. Under W7, this is a thing of the past as it now automatically brings up a guide listing. I can't praise this side of things highly enough. MC takes a little getting used to under W7 opening screen with the selections is a bit different, but you soon adapt and it is in fact very easy to use.
The controls for watching video/ recorded TV is also better. While the TV show is being watched, if you touch the mouse the control panel will open. If you click on the bright dot, which shows how far through the show you are, and you drag this to the right or left, a little window appears and shows you a preview of the TV show at that particular point in time. Very handy and much improved over VMC.
The whole setup with recorded TV is so much better. When you click on a recorded show it brings up an option screen that allows you play the show, but if you press the right arrow key, it scrolls to other screens which allow you to change series recording as well as giving you info on the show.
I think that upgrading to W7 is worth it just to get the new Media Centre.
Firstly, I have now been using Windows 7 since virtually its release. So my initial opinion? It is to Vista, as Windows ME was to XP. By this, I mean that on my computer setup at that time, ME was absolutely horrible. I had so many errors and problems while using it, that as soon as XP came along, I jumped on the band wagon straight away and upgraded. The difference was huge. The stability was great. All the previous errors just simply no longer existed under XP.
Under Vista, I believe the biggest problem was that they tried to screw the security down too tight. This was such a cause of frustration for me. Folders I could previously access and write to etc under XP just weren't available to me under Vista. The old "you do not have access" error would come up again and again. Then you had to go through the convoluted rigmarole of changing owners/permissions etc. etc. just so you could do something to your own computer. Totally ridiculous. Eventually after much heart ache, I managed to get Vista mostly working the way I wanted. It still was by no means perfect, but at least it was a bit less frustrating.
Still on Vista, I know of a number of people who don't really tinker too much with their computers. They simply install programs and go about watching the odd video, access the internet a few times a week and do some general document editing etc. These people have had no real problem with Vista, and love the fact that they can restrict access to the computer so that their kids can only do certain things on it. So I guess Vista was a bit of a horses-for-courses type of thing. BUT, if you wanted to be even a little more adventureous, prepare for some major hair pulling.
So on to Windows 7. My general opinion? Definetly worth the upgrade from Vista. Most of my security issues have vanished. Not all of them mind, W7 still restricts you in regards to accessing some folders, but so far I have only really had one issue with it. Under Vista by this time, I had too many to count.
Overall, W7 seems more like XP. Somehow it just feels more stable and easier to work with than Vista. Just like XP was easier than ME, but this time it has to be said, that the difference isn't quite so dramatic.
Most people if they haven't had the problems that happened to me under Vista, probably won't see a huge change when they go over to W7. As far as cosmetic changes go, you could probably do most things in Vista as you can in W7. Things like slideshows for your desktop background are implemented under W7 as part of the themes. I have never been one to load my computer with all sorts of desktop extras as I prefer to have it as lean as possible so I can not only have access to as much memory as possible, but also to get every last bit of speed out of it that I can. So under other OS's I have simply had a coloured background, a basic screensaver, virtually no desktop icons etc etc. This time, I actually have one of W7's themes up and running with some wonderful pictures forming a slideshow as a desktop backdrop. The themes even include and Aussie theme. This probably changes depending on which country the windows version is released in, but not sure.
As for other desktop bit and pieces. The taskbar is still there and can be repositioned onlong whichever edge you want it to be. As standard it is quite large, but can be made smaller, as well as the icons which apprear on it. One handy thing, is that you can actually "pin" various programs onto the taskbar by simply right clicking on the program listing in that start button menu and selecting the pin option. You can then use these shortcuts to find and start the program quickly. The only problem with this, is that the icons don't stay in the one position as they did in the previous OS's. Once you start opening windows, the other windows icons can be placed in between your pinned programs icons. So if you want to start a pinned program you sometimes have to search through the other windows icons on the taskbar in oder to find it. There may be a way around this, but at this stage I am yet to find it.
A couple of handy features in W7 are: If you have a number of windows expanded on the desktop, if you grab the top window's top border and then shake the mouse making the window you have grabbed shake, the rest of the opened windows will be minimised automatically.Also, if you grab a window and then drag it to the left or right edge of the screen, the window will automatically be expanded to fill half of the screen. This allows you to quickly have two windows up on screen to enable you to compare the details between the two windows. If you drag a window to the top edge, then this automatically maximises the window. Another nifty feature of this, if you drag a window to an edge, the window won't immediatly expand, but only a border will be shown so you can see where the window will expand to. If you are happy with that, then release the mouse and the window will expand to those dimensions.
Now to the start button. Firstly, when you have used a program and it is listed in the start menu. It will have an arrow next to it. If you click on this, it will show a list of recently opened documents for that program. Very handy.
When it comes time to shut down, the shut down option is now right there on the menu. To the right of it is an arrow and when you click on it, it then gives you the other options of sleeping etc.
These are just some of the features that W7 has in it and which I have found to be useful. Now to some of the programs that are in W7 and how they run.
Number one on the list is Media Centre. I watch TV on my computer, so MC was something I was eager to try. Under Vista, it worked ok, but under W7 it is so smooth and easy to work with. Firstly, to get my Hauppauge TV card working, I simply downloaded the driver listed in my windows update notification. Then I ran in MC the option to detect the TV channels and that was it. Under Vista it listed all the channels available in my area, but there were some which I was never able to actually see. Under W7 all were listed and all watchable. This was amazingly smooth and had not one problem with it. Under Vista, I also had to have a third party guide set up. Under W7, this is a thing of the past as it now automatically brings up a guide listing. I can't praise this side of things highly enough. MC takes a little getting used to under W7 opening screen with the selections is a bit different, but you soon adapt and it is in fact very easy to use.
The controls for watching video/ recorded TV is also better. While the TV show is being watched, if you touch the mouse the control panel will open. If you click on the bright dot, which shows how far through the show you are, and you drag this to the right or left, a little window appears and shows you a preview of the TV show at that particular point in time. Very handy and much improved over VMC.
The whole setup with recorded TV is so much better. When you click on a recorded show it brings up an option screen that allows you play the show, but if you press the right arrow key, it scrolls to other screens which allow you to change series recording as well as giving you info on the show.
I think that upgrading to W7 is worth it just to get the new Media Centre.
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