One of the best features of Windows 7 that most people don't realize or use is the ability to find anything on your computer with the tap of a button.

Want to find the "Windows Update" program?

Just press the Windows key (near Alt key), and start typing, "U-P-D..." it will find anything that has those letters in it, and put them in order of the most commonly used. It will search program names, emails, documents (titles of documents as well as text in them), files, media, music, image tags and keywords (if you added any)... just about everything.

Need to launch Microsoft Word, but don't want to go through your menu and program list?

Press the Window key and start typing, "W-O-R...." it will be at the top of the list. Press Enter and it quickly launches. There is no need to click through your programs list or menu.

The Windows key plus any combination of letters, will find what you need. Volume control? Network? User Manager? Msconfig? Startup? Run? Word? Excel?

Just about anything.

Start using this feature now and get more out of your computer!

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Is Google taking over the world?

They already have the best email, the best online office suite, an awesome online calender, awesome RSS feeds reading capabilities, tons of online storage space, the best picture and video manager in Picasa, an awesome mobile phone operating system, great cloud services so your phone is always connected to your information and data, and now they also have the best browser! Google's Chrome Browser!

The Chrome browser isn't new. It's been around for a few years. Every time I tried installing it in the past, it would have issues and cause problems. I would end up uninstalling it and reverting to Internet Explorer. I think my problem stemmed from having 64 bit operating system and hardware for many years. I also have dabbled in Firefox in the past, but would always end up getting rid of it and going back to IE. Firefox is just not ready to be "THE ONE". You can't use only Firefox and get rid of IE. It seems like so many websites now use complicated applications that heavily rely on certain aspects of IE that none of the other browsers can duplicate.

I downloaded Google Chrome a month ago and figured I'd give it a whirl and see if it works better now. It does! It's small, speedy, and does it's job well. It also works very well with my Windows 7 and Vista 64 bit systems. Previously, it did not cooperate with the Windows XP Professional 64 bit system.

I especially like that it takes up less screen space. You don't have 4 lines of menu options and clutter at the top, status bars below, links, bookmarks, and icons all over the place. All you see is real estate. I like lots of real estate! All you have is the tabs at the top and one row of menu bar (which is also the address bar). That's it! That gives you lots of space and you can see more screen and more webpage than usual. That is awesome!

It's also very simple to use. It doesn't have 500 options and settings. You can dig deep and set it up with all sorts of customizations, but if you don't want to mess around, you don't have to. 

It's very fast! This is what sets it apart from the other browsers! It renders webpages quickly. It's much faster and snappier than IE or FF. I love how responsive it is and how everything is ready for display so quickly. That makes life easier. The bigger the webpage, the more of a difference in speed that you notice between IE and Chrome. I'd say that you see a 50-60% improvement in page rendering speed. This is just my subjective analysis.

It's also free! (they all are).

Is it "THE ONE"? No. I unfortunately, you still need IE for those bizarre webpages that require IE technology to run specific applications, but it is very close to being the ONE! Unless, I am on one of those pages, I can use Chrome without hesitation. I'd say 99.99% of the time, I don't need IE anymore.

Is it customizable as FF?

Firefox has a bazillion plugins and tons of customization capability. I rarely use that capability. I just want a browser that works. I don't need custom skins, or plugins to make it do other stuff. I just need it to surf the net well and display pages quickly.

Does it make errors?

Unfortunately, if a webpage is coded slightly incorrectly, Chrome and FF are not as forgiving as IE. IE is willing to overlook a missed comma in code and figure out what you meant and display pages correctly. If you miss a comma in Chrome and FF, it will display incorrectly. They try to be as compliant with standards as possible, and won't forgive mini mistakes in coding. This is good for me, because when I design webpages, I want to see how they look in all browsers and if there are mistakes, I want to know.

Overall, I am very impressed with the latest edition of Google's Chrome browser! Is it perfect? Very, very, very close! If it wasn't for Microsoft specific websites using specific technology to interact with the IE browser.... Yes, it's perfect!

Hello everyone!
This post is coming to you from Windows 7! I have had Windows 7 on my laptop for over a year, but now I have the official version on my super fast desktop computer. It was released on October 22, 2009. I am not sure how well it is doing, in terms of sales numbers, but I tested it long enough and decided to get it. For $30 bucks, why not? Anyone with a .edu email account can get it for cheap at: windows7.digitalriver.com

Installation:
This is the worst part. It took forever. Almost 2 hours? Unbelievable! And I have a super fast 64 bit, quad core, solid state drive system (if you know what that means, you know how long that took)!

Is it worth it?
For $30 bucks it sure is. Would I shell out $200? No.

Is it better?
If you have been following the Microsoft Windows 7 development team through their team blog, this is supposed to be the mother of all operating systems. And it is, as far as I can tell after a year with this thing. The way I explain it to people is that this is what Windows Vista was supposed to be. It looks and acts very similar to Vista, so if you are used to that user interface, you will be fine. The bar at the bottom is different and it does a few neat tricks. But that functionality and those neat tricks could easily have been added to Vista with a patch or two. Underneath it all, this is supposed to be a completely new thing and very different. And it is. It was built from scratch, it's not just an upgrade to Vista 2.0. It is an entirely new thing, that sorta looks and acts like Vista, but isn't and does a few neat things and runs a little faster.

How much faster?
It takes my super computer less than 30 seconds to go from off to the windows login screen. Vista was also fast, but I never timed it. According to published reports, 7 should makes things go about 20% faster. I already notice that Internet Explorer 8 runs and renders pages much, much faster! That in and of itself is a relief. Especially, complicated AJAX and dynamic pages like Facebook.

Crashes?
I never experienced crashing with any operating system I have ever had, but I am a computer guru, and get along with all my technology very well. I spent 3 years of my life building custom computers and fixing them. But most people have never done that. But yes, it just works.

Should you get it?
Soon it will come with every computer. Netbooks still come with XP, because it is smaller and faster, but that may change in the near future. If you or someone you know has a .edu email account, then by all means, go get it! It's only $30 for the full professional version (64 bit too)!

Here is a decent review: http://www.taranfx.com/blog/windows-7-rtm-final-review-benchmark-vs-xp-vista-the-revenge-of-the-fallen

Anyone else try this new Windows yet?