I've always used a mac, but just ordered my first Windows computer ever, what do I need to know?

I have never owned a Windows computer before, what tips/tricks/advice/shortcuts/things to do/things to not do/etc. should I know before getting started? Thank you.

 

That can be a very loaded question, as Windows is way more customizable than Mac.

Having said that, Windows 7 works fantastically right "out of the box". You should not need to make any tweaks or changes, but are welcome to do so as you begin to understand more about the OS.

 

IMHO, you don't have to 'tweak' anything in Windows 7. Leave it as it is and it will be function beautifully.

Later, once you get to knowing Windows, you can know about shortcuts, tips etc., by just doing a google for the specific information you are looking for. There are lots of customizations you can according to what is comfortable to you.. just see what you need to change / customize. Having said that, always bear in mind that when customizing, if you end up replacing / patching system files, then there is a high chance things will get messed up. So, see how Windows 7 is, out of the box, and then you can do ahead slowly with the 'tips and tweaks and customizations'...

If the computer is bit slower at start up, you can turn off unwanted startup items (programs) through 'msconfig' or through 'services.msc'. Important: Be careful when changing entries through 'services.msc'. If you don't know what its all about, if you don't know what you are doing, then just don't do it.

You can always ask here for specific help.

For the moment, I would just wait for the new computer, boot it up when you get it, and let yourself get used to Windows 7. Interface is easy to use, lots of help and suggestions around and NBR/Google is always there...

Have fun and enjoy Windows 7 - its a beautiful OS.

Cheers..

 

This and.....

This !

Windows 7 contrary to popular Mac folklore is a very solid, very responsive and very stable OS. It's also a very nice looking OS. I used to use a Mac many years ago. Some tips:

1) When you close a window in the Windows OS 9 times out of 10 you exit the program, whereas in OS X the program is still running until you tell it to quit. I have no problems with either approach it's just a little different in Windows.

2) In Windows your Maximize, Minimize and Exit Icons are on the upper right of the windows border and in OS X it's on the left.

3) In Windows you do need to practice safe browsing habits and install a good Anti-Virus which can be found for free. I personally like Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast which are both free. I also enable the Windows Firewall to block all incoming traffic.

Welcome to Windows, hope you enjoy it. If you have any other questions feel free to chime in.

 

Make sure to get an anti virus and uninstall all the crap ware that is preloaded on your laptop that you think will never need.

Usually, most manufacturers preload McAfee Antivirus 3 month trial on their laptops, that is the first thing you should uninstall then restart your computer.

Then download Avira AntiVir or Microsoft Security Essentials (which are both free) and install any one of them to be protected.

 

uninstall all the crap, and do ALL windows updates. should have MSE (microsoft security essentials) in the windows updates anyways (select "windows and other microsoft products" if not done yet).

then, enjoy.

 

Delete the bloatware you will find and than enjoy and use. Make sure you defragment occasionally and get an anti-virus such as Avast or MSE. I recommend switching to a different web browser as well such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

 

Don't expect it to be just like OSX. I know it sounds stupid but a ton of people do that. Heck a ton of people expect OSX to be like windows.

 

At least in Windows, it is much easier to find a program you want and INSTALL IT!

I had to take an online course for installing FireFox on Linux and could never get it to install no matter what code I tried pasting in the command line. Stupid OS. Windows FTW

 

I ignorantly made this mistake a couple of years ago playing with Linux (can't remember which distro, possibly ubuntu), installed it and was like what the heck!! Slammed it as I couldn't use it, but the mistake was mine!!!

 

I was one of them, went from OSX to windows 7 a couple of years ago and was lost trying to make things harder for myself.

to the OP a few things to think of.

#1 if you have a tech savvy windows friend, have them clean load your laptop with a fresh clean copy of windows, its miracioulous what happens.

#2 download Security Essentials or something else for online security.

#3 quit thinking about finder, that useless thing isnt here, you now can have everything running at once and hovering your mouse over the buttons in the taskbar is MUCH faster for working in many programs and windows at once.

#4 Alt+Tab is your friend hold the Alt key and keep tapping th tab key to cycle through all your programs and windows, its a one step process and not like OSX where you comand`tab to the app then have to swap keys to go to the right window

#5 splitting apps on one or even 6 monitors is a dream. I hol the windows key down and hit the left or right arrow depending on which half of the screen you want to use.

#6 windows is so customizable its not even funny, take it slow .... we both just got out of the zoo enclosure, find your way around.

#7 darn near any app you need is free here, there are opensource apps and free alternative apps everywhere!!

#8 Flash actually freaking works !!!

#9 and the best of all, grab a pizza and a quiet room and play, if you get lost you can hit cancel, the esc key or click that little red X up in the top right corner. oh and the F1 key is help in almost every application

#10 dont be afraid to use the Help and Support button in your start menu. it got me started

 

Awesome, this is exactly what I was looking for, I'll keep all this in mind. Any other shortcuts like #4 and #5 you use a lot?

 

As someone looking at making the opposite move, can I ask why you're moving to Windows or is this a work computer, etc?

 

ctrl X is cut no matter if its files or documents Ctrl C is copy, ctrl V is paste its universal

many apps have their own shortcuts you can learn from their toolbars but normally Ctrl P is print, Ctrl S is save

Ctrl, left shift and esc brings up task manager for closing a crashed app, checking system resurces or a milion other things

dragging a windowed app to the very top of the screen ( bump the pointer to the top ) automatically maximixes it

no matter where you are clicking the start button and then typing your app or document into the search bar lets you open ether almost instantly if you have a cluttered workspace.

windows explorer ( the file folder at the bottom ) in there you can setup extra libraries to keep track of documents MUCH nicer than the old home folder system. I created 5 more folders under c:\users\{username} and set them as library's to sort all my work

I know im missing many others but will continue to post as I think of them

for me it was for multiple reasons
#1 I needed less downtime for my work ( commercial graphics and video editing ) so a pro machine with NBD warranty and more reliable was a must. the last 5 years I have been having increasingly more and more trips to Apple for support and warranty issues ( when they dont void it outright )

#2 I had it proven to me windows is just as stable and in many cases more stable in professional apps

#3 Apple hardware was no longer competitive at all, they have the nice design and the great touchpad but no longer have any advantages. for my work my elitebook in sig cost $135CDN more than my MBP 17" ( before I added the extra ram ) but I have 5 times the machine and 10 times the support.

#4 Apple has pretty much admitted its dumping the professional aspect by discontinuing most of its professional hardware and programmers. Xserve is gone, 40% of the pro division programmers are gone, Mac Pros dont have an option for Quadro or FirePRo GPU's and look at the abomination that is FCP-X. It was hard to me to admit, but Apple got god at marketing to the lowest common denominator, the idiot consumer swayed by flashy marketing, when I started with Apple in 1985 I would never believe that " thinness " and " stylish " would be its two largest marketing points.

#5 I refuse to be sucked into iTunes/iStore I prefer choices that I used to have and not the walled garden shrinking

#6 well planned obsolecence, MBP/MBA's are WELL designed to encourage their users to upgade every year or 2. look at the new MBA, we cant upgrade the RAM OR SSD this last refresh. and for many of us cloud storage isnt an option.

 

KCETech1 his #1 point is is spot on but just run msconfig, post the results here and you can eliminate unneeded programs from runnnig (if you do not want to fresh install the OS). Also be very careful where you get drivers from, I always recommend the manuf. site, and NEVER pay for drivers.

 

I would:
1. Do a clean install if you get your lappy with a lot of bloatware. Nice guide, don't know if it suits every manufacturers laptops.
->http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/468027-complete-walk-through-doing-clean-windows-7-install.html<-
2. Install AV software Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast should do fine, for home users they are pretty good, know it from my own experience.
3. Enjoy and further my knowledge of Windows 7.

 

1. Don't use Internet Explorer. Period. I'd advise any Mozilla browser with a selective script blocking add-on. Chrome runs a distant second in my book. Similarly, you might be used to Safari, but remember, you are uniquely vulnerable with Windows.

2. Get a decent paid internet security suite. Yes, you need something better than Microsoft Security Essentials.

3. Bring a book, because you'll need something to do while your PC boots. Windows 7 boots quicker than Vista, but not as quickly or consistently as Linux or OS X.

4. Windows Media Player is awful. I can't think of a single alternative that's worse. Slow to low, prone to hang or lock up......just plain bad. VLC is the universal choice, but there's always Media Player Classic.

5. Even Windows Photo Viewer is terrible. How can Microsoft screw up a photo viewer? You'll want to try Picasa or Irfanview.

6. Finally, you'll want to make sure you have a Linux Live CD sitting around just in case you need to recover your data. I'm really not kidding.

7. A clean install of Windows isn't always necessary. I've seen cheap, consumer quality notebooks from notorious manufacturers that haven't shipped without very much bloatware at all, but I've also been a victim of latency and driver issues because of bloatware on high-end, business quality Windows notebooks.

8. I've found that the initial quality of Windows PCs tends to be very low, at least with the mass market brands. The odds of getting a PC without a major hardware issue are at best even these days. Small, boutique brands claim they do 72 hour burn-ins, but I don't think the ODMs do.

 

If your used to and like Safari you can run that in Windows.

 

Uh.....there was a major Safari vulnerability recently. Not for Safari on Mac, but for Safari on Windows. I'll stick with my earlier advice: go with a Mozilla browser and selective script blocking.

 

safari for Mac is full of holes as well, I attended Cansec West and OSX/Safari fell the fastest. in windows safari is nothign but bloatware that comes with iTunes

 

1. IE9 is a perfectly fine browser. Please rein in the fanboy in you.

2. Free AV programs are also just fine. One doesn't need a paid internet security suite unless they are going to be putting themselves in risky situations. Paid suites rely on you being afraid something will happen so that you're willing to shell out the dough for their product.

3. That's what Sleep and/or Hibernate are for.

8. The build quality of my Sony VAIO F series is quite fantastic. You get what you pay for. But a cheap piece of crp and get just that.

 

I like IE9 as well. In fact I read several tech websites praising the steps forward IE9 made and voted it as a very solid web browser.

 

Apple computers are just too damn expensive, I love Macs, dont get me wrong and have used them all my life and would like to be able to continue to do so, but I got specs that stomped anything in a comparable price range on my new Sager NP8130. If I had the money I would definitely go Mac, but I just dont at the moment being a college student.



Alright, so I plan on using Firefox/Chrome, Microsoft Security Essentials, and my computer comes without an OS so I am installing Windows 7 Professional on it myself. How complicated is the install procedure for Windows 7? I got the student discounted version. Anything I should know before I try to install it? Whats the worst that could go wrong if I screwed up? Thank you.

 

@ linuxwanabe lol
I think most of us use different version of Windows 7 than you

 

Everyone has their opinion, the worst application I have seen so far is Apple's itune(can exist on my computer only because of iPhone) and apple's stuff in general is not my cup of tea(ever since the 9" B/W 1st gen Mac) except iPhone. The last apple thing I used was Apple II which was a nice system of its time.

Your other points about PC quality etc. sounds like you are living in the late 80s, early 90s. All of my notebooks(dated back to late 90s) are still running fine and they are all mass market brands.

 

Installing isn't complicated. You put in the DVD and boot up. You get to choose partitions, if you want them and then let it do what it does. Once installed, a wizard will guide you through the initial setup. It's fairly straightforward.

What is not as straightforward is the driver installation. Depending on your brand of laptop, there may be a specific order in with hardware drivers must be installed. This is especially true with VAIO's. A user here once was having major touchpad issues. After tons of troubleshooting, he found that he had installed drivers in the wrong order. Corrected the install and everything was fine.

I recommend visiting the support site for the model of laptop you're getting and searching for clean install instructions. You should also be able to get all of the drivers that you need from said site.

May we ask what machine your getting?

Definitely a different Windows 7 than mine.

OMG, I can't stand iTunes and all of the other crp it installs along with it. Is it really that hard to allow users to do a custom installation, like any other WINDOWS based program would allow? I don't want bonjour, or apple mobile support. And I won't even get into my dislike of proprietary audio formats and poor codecs for playback. There are many things that I do like about Apple... iTunes is not one of them.

It's frustrating... MSFT allowed themselves to gain a bad rep for products in the past. Win7 is amazing. So is IE9. I wish people would stop jumping to extravagant conclusions based upon their Win98 and old IE experiences.

 

Thank you for your reply anseio I'm getting a Lotus P151HM1 aka Sager NP8130. It says that it comes with a driver disc, so should I be able to just insert that and run it like the OS install disc and have that take care of all the driver install ordering?

Also what about all my data currently on my macbook? Could I link the two by USB cable and transfer that way?

Hahah as you can probably tell I dont get new computers often, so all this OS install/data transfer/etc is new ground for me

 

No problems as well for me with Windows 7.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Well OS installation is pretty much straight forward, although I can't really comment on for it goes, since I only installed OS on laptops which already had W7 or other OS pre-installed, but I don't think it much different. You just put disc into your DVD/Blu-ray-Rom, tap Esc (maybe more than once, I like to tap it continually just to be sure ) menu comes up, choose your DVD/Blu-ray-Rom and it's pretty straightforward from here. Install will ask you how to partition your HDD (correct me if I'm wrong) than some basic questions, like language, time zone, network, blah, blah, blah, will follow, after it finishes setup it will restart, but I think it will give you your W7 DVD back before
Then first start up. I had installed W7 once on an older machine which had XP before and drivers weren't a big issue. W7 gets majority or drivers itself, others like video drivers aren't that a big problem, so you may even won't need that DVD with drivers lol. Otherwise yeah, you just stick that driver DVD into your Rom and check everything you need and uncheck what you don't. Off course if you have any problems we are always happy to help + Google is your pal

EDIT: lol nice link Roadster

 

haha alright, thanks killkenny

 

I disagree with almost every point made here lmao

 

Whats the Linux Live CD for? How would I use it to recover my data?

 

Fear, uncertainty and doubt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not needed, go and enjoy Windows 7.

 

Alright, thank you.

 

There's always a risk of something catastrophic happening and not being able to get into your OS, due to hard drive problems or something. It's good to have something like the Ultimate Boot CD, which can load various data recovery tools from USB or CD into RAM and allow you to access your HDD in a different way. Actually, this is what I use to take music from Mac formatted iPods so that can be moved to my PC. hehehe

It's a one-in-a-million risk, but is always nice to have a recovery tool available.

Also, most of us here are going to highly recommend that you purchase an external hard drive for regular backups. My personal favorite is to use the Create a System Image feature that's part of the Windows Backup & Restore. It creates a snapshot of your entire system and can use that snapshot to completely restore back to that time, in case system restore doesn't solve the problem or something. When you're ready to look into how this works and what you can do with a system image, just post a new thread and you'll have plenty of people willing to explain their favorite practice. I'm happy to explain more in detail why I prefer system images, later on.

 

And Windows 7 automatically generates a pop-up that notifies the user to make a Backup copy of their hard drive.

 

Great way to initially install some popular software.

Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once

 

I use the create image feature to have a stablized windows setup(after everything is installed and tested and tweaked), only did it once or twice(say after SP).

Then use the backup selected file/folder(again builtin feature) to external drive daily automatically.

Windows 7 is the best consumer OS I have used.

 

When you install stuff make sure you read what you are downloading and uncheck all the extraneous stuff.

For example, if you download "Super Video Player" (I made it up) you may also get options to download its internet toolbar and extra junk programs. Make sure you uncheck those options so you don't get a bunch of junk and clutter. The more junk you accumulate the slower your PC will run which is why many unsuspecting people have problems.

Usually, Windows 7 automatically updates your machine. The "action center" is located on the bottom right corner. It'll show you a pop-up if there are updates. And, most companies have an update software (ex: Dell support center, HP update center) which will automatically update other drivers. This is the case for most consumer laptops.

If you're getting a gaming laptop then you'll want to either download from manufacturer's website or nvidia/AMD website. <- Slightly more complicated.

 

That saved me so much time when I got my most recent laptop.

 

all that matters is, use an up to date browser. ie9, firefox, chrome, all fine. firefox is a distant last, actually, for me. rather buggy, the slowest of the 3, and rather non-modern in how it's architected. i use chrome, but else i would use ie9

it's good enough for millions, so it's good enough for him, too. and btw, it would be for you.

surely a big lie. it boots in 10-30 seconds depending on the hw configuration. macs boot similar, most linux i use are actually slower on same hardware (but can be faster, of course).
no need for a book for that time.

AND
use standby. no need to shutdown and boot up. just like on the mac. close the lid, open it again.

¨
most others are worse. use media player, it's fine.

same again, photo viewer is great.

oh you really are. there is ZERO need for that. (windows has a recovery disk to get to your data, in the worst case. not that it's, in normal usage, ever needed).

not necessary, but never a bad thing. but don't do it on your own if you're new to windows. get one with you that knows how to find drivers etc. and btw, find one who likes windows, not a hater like the guy i'm replying to. they tend to mess up your system beyond repair (with all the "these apps are much better than what microsoft has, install all that crap" behaviour. and their "i know better how to tweak the system, let me change those obscure system settings i have no clue of")

if that would be true, there would be 100ts of millions of people with issues. most systems just work, and do so for a long time. if you go cheap, you get cheap, of course.

 

Easy. You boot a Linux Live CD without making changes to the HDD or the Windows operating system. This allows you boot from CD, or USB, and recovery your data or perform a malware scan, even in the event that you can't boot your primary Windows OS.

 

The risk with Windows is a heck of a lot more than "one-in-a-million."

Moreover, I don't advocate system images with Windows. Back-up data, not the system itself. I'd rather reinstall the OS and related software than backup a mess. This is also why I've never been a fan of system restore since it premiered in Windows ME.

So yes, it is important to back up data to an external HDD, but not a system image.

 

IMHO, if you get to the point you need a live CD to recover data its probably too late. IMHO, the best way to recover data is not with a live CD or anything like that. pull the hard drive and connect it to a hard drive dock or put it in say a desktop. ive done this with not only countless windows machines but a few macs as well. its part of my job.

live cds are fun but you really dont need it. if you do opt for the live cd method keep an external hard drive or large flash drive on hand to put that data on to. ive seen countless hard drives fail at work but really only in machines that have signs of abuse. i take good care of my machines and i still am using the hard drive from my first build around 8 years ago.

the ultimate boot CD as mentioned before is very handy.

have fun, dont worry because the mac is really a PC running unix now. there will be a learning curve to windows. i think youll like it. you might be missing spaces though. like good 'ol steve would say: "theres and app for that"

 

I do recommend Chrome, but only as a second choice. Again, all Mozilla browsers have access to an unmatched add-on ecosystem.

With Windows, the browser is the first line of defense.

Good enough? Try better than nothing. MSE is free and that's what it's worth. Good enough typically isn't good enough.

Show me a Windows 7 notebook that can boot in "10-30 seconds?" It doesn't happen. It's also worth pointing out that Windows isn't usable for quite few seconds after the desktop appears. The simple truth is that Windows just doesn't boot as quickly as Linux and OS X.

Boot time for Windows 7 is over a minute for most setups, OS X is under 30 seconds, and Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha is under 15 seconds even with a conventional HDD.

Again, OS X and Linux sleep and hibernate more quickly and reliably.


¨

To the contrary, the included apps are much worse than the OS itself.

It's a lot less risky to recover data with a non-persistent Linux Live CD. If the Windows OS won't boot, you're better off preserving your data and reinstalling from DVD or USB.

Got to disagree. Doing a clean install of Windows was fairly tedious back in the 95/98/ME era but has been dead easy since XP. No handholding required.

First off, I actually like Windows 7, primarily as an OS. However, Windows 7 works better as a platform for 3rd party FOSS apps than as a platform for Microsoft apps, which speaks volumes about the decline of Microsoft.

What you don't understand is that it's much easier to find and update drivers, preferably form the manufacturers website, than it was just a few years ago. Even Acer offers driver support these days. Shocking, isn't it.

Price isn't the issue, since initial quality and reliability issues can occur on even expensive business quality notebooks. And yes, many PC users accept performance and build quality issues as "being normal."

 

God it's like you're purposely being wrong. I consistently disagree with 90% of what you say.

 

second one in my ignore list. We all have preference and opinion but being wrong on almost every count and referring windows issue back to the last century is a total waste of time to even read it.

 

The ignore list is grand isn't it?

 

I think we're done here.