Windows 7 operating system: it's fast, it looks great, and it has some cool features like Jump Lists for quickly opening recently used files, Homegroup for sharing files between computers, and Aero Snap to help you quickly organize your open desktop windows. So far Windows 7 is a vast improvement over Vista. That said, it has downsides of its own. Some of the problems involve minor inefficiencies that grow annoying over time; others truly degrade the user experience through lack of functionality, poor organization, or an overabundance of choice. Here are the problem children of Windows 7 - the faulty features I found in the Home Premium version of Microsoft's latest OS. Clicking isn't switching If you're looking for a good reason never to use Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7, try this: Open multiple tabs in IE 8, and open a Microsoft Word document. Then click the IE icon in the taskbar, and...nothing happens. Instead of switching over to Internet Explorer as you'd expect it to, Windows 7 greets you with miniature pop-ups for every tab you've opened in IE and asks you to choose the one you'd like to go to. This feature, called Aero Peek, is actually a nice idea, since you get to choose the tab you want to see. But we've been trained for years to expect to switch to a new program when we click on its icon in the taskbar. The automatic switch Thanks to another Aero Peek function, when you move your pointer over any of the small pop-ups, you suddenly find yourself in the new program - except that you aren't really there. When you mouse over a pop-up, the corresponding application fills the screen, but when you move the pointer to go to the app the app disappears. Suppose that you're in Microsoft Word and you jump over to IE 8 to check out a news item on CNN. As you read the article, you decide to click an accompanying video but the moment you move your mouse, you're back in Microsoft Word. That's just frustrating. Too many notifications Windows 7 greatly improves on Vista by cutting down the number of system notification pop-ups that interrupt you during a Windows session but there's still room to cut down on the excess. For example, Windows 7 issues an “Information” notice when you plug headphones or speakers into your computer's headphone jack. You can't get a virus through a headphone jack, though, so why alert me to something so innocuous? User Account Control (UAC) When it introduced UAC in Windows Vista, Microsoft hailed it as a significant step toward making Windows systems more secure. But most users detested UAC. In particular, the way it blanked out the screen and then repeatedly asked whether they really wanted to install something. Microsoft has made the UAC in Windows 7 dramatically better, with fewer screen blank outs (you can even turn them off) and alerts. Still, there must be a better way than UAC to handle security issues. Windows Live is a hassle The drawback of the Windows Live Essentials download is that it adds a step to the initial Windows 7 setup process. Given that Live Essentials are basic programs that most users will want to have at their fingertips, why not figure out a way to bundle them with new computers right out of the box? Persistent gadgets In Windows 7, you can put gadgets anywhere on your desktop; but you don't have an automatic hide option for gadgets. Instead, to make your gadgets disappear, you have to right-click your desktop, select View, and uncheck ‘Show desktop gadgets'. That's not a very convenient procedure.
