Business IT Blog - Useful tips to make you more productive

Why Upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7? -- Part 1

 Email Article |  Twitter |  Facebook |  digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |   LinkedIn |   Technorati |  reddit 

Good question!  As a leading Boston IT support company we get asked this question all the time.  So I thought I would tell you the top reasons why we here at GizmoFish are very excited about Microsoft Windows 7.  (Yes, I know -- "excited" about an operating system - embarrassing but true!) 

But Microsoft really HAS stepped up their game with this version of Windows.  Here are the top reasons you should seriously consider upgrading your business to Microsoft Windows 7.  There are so many new features crammed into Windows 7 that I had to split this blog article into 2 separate posts.  So don't feel you have to read everything - just browse and skip to the features that most interest you.  As always if you have any questions please feel free to email me at drinaldi at gizmofish.com or call me at 866-MY-GIZMO (866-694-4966) ext. 4.

PS. Don't forget about our Free Windows 7 Seminar on April 22^nd at the Microsoft offices in Waltham.  Click here to register.

1. Speed, speed, speed.  Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit version) takes full advantage of today's 64-bit CPUs, resulting in significantly faster performance.  "64-bits" refers to the amount of data that the CPU can process.  Older CPUs could only process 32-bits at a time.
2. Everything is easier - Improvements in the user interface greatly simplify everyday tasks.  Let me give you some examples
1. There are all kinds of shortcuts that make it easier to manage multiple windows on your screen.  You can easily make 2 windows line up perfectly side-by-side. Maximizing and minimizing windows happens with 1 click.  You can Aero Peak behind windows to see what is being hidden by the window.  On the taskbar you have thumbnail previews of all open windows and with 1 click you can expand the previews to full-screen.
2. One of the best new Microsoft Windows 7 features is Jump Lists.  You can pin documents, applications, websites, etc. to the taskbar and have then available for immediate opening.  So for example, if you pin several frequently used Word documents to the taskbar you can click on the Word icon and the list of documents in the Jump List will appear.  You can jump directly to the document you want.
3. Sharing your documents on a network was never easier.  You can simply create a HomeGroup and immediately start sharing documents and printers.  The HomeGroup feature is great for setting up a home network, or quickly creating an ad-hoc network to share information with colleagues.  When you create a home group you setup a password and you can give that password to anyone that you want to allow to connect to your HomeGroup.
4. Switching between home, work, and public networks is easier with Windows 7.  For example you can set a default printer for each network so that Windows automatically prints to the correct printer on each network.  Windows also automatically sets the firewall and security settings depending on whether you are connected to a home, work, or public network.  Of course you can override any of these default settings if you so choose.

To be continued...

PS.  The government doesn't want this information let out but we feel the people have a right to know!  Click here to receive our presentation "42 Cool New Windows 7 Tips and Tricks."  But remember if you get caught - you didn't hear it from us...