Windows 7: Getting There from Where You Are

Unless you're a Mac or Linux user, the next desktop computer you buy will have Windows 7 on it. And maybe you'd like to upgrade your current computer to Windows 7. As I've mentioned a time or ten, I consider this upgrade mandatory for Vista users, but less so for XP users. If you're thinking about upgrading an existing computer, I have some suggestions for things you should do or think about doing before you start the process.

Windows 7 runs far more efficiently than Vista did. In most cases, it competes with XP in terms of startup, shutdown, and program load times. If your computer was able to run Vista, it will almost certainly be able to run Windows 7. And if your computer was able to run XP, it probably will be able to run Windows 7. You should plan on confirming that the video subsystem has enough power for Aero, though.

In fact, it's a good idea to take your computer to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. It's still a beta application at this time, so start here to read about it and then download the application. Even on a slow connection it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to download. Around October 22, the advisor will stop being referred to as "beta".

The advisor will tell you whether your system meets the hardware requirements, which it probably will. More important, it will list any known compatibility problems. The key word in that sentence is "known". You can still encounter problems that haven't yet been discovered.

Windows 7 can be installed as an in-place upgrade on Vista computer. XP users will need to use the customer installation option, which will involve reinstalling all of your applications. Alternatively, you can keep the XP installation and install Windows 7 to dual boot with XP. You'll still have to reinstall all of your applications under Windows 7.

A "clean" installation will create a windows.old directory that contains the windows folder and other critical files from documents and settings and from program files. Data files should survive the process, too, but only a fool would proceed without having a full and verified backup.

If you must do a custom install, consider dual booting. I already mentioned that, but in relation to Windows XP. There couldn't be a better time to set up your computer as a dual-boot machine with Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is the Linux distribution that I recommend to most people because it's easy to install and plays very well with Windows. If you have more than one hard drive, Linux can boot from any drive. Visit the Ubuntu website to read about the process.

"Dual boot" may sound intimidating, but Ubuntu has made the process about as easy as it can be made.

Another consideration before you start is backup. If you think you have a full and verified backup, check to be sure. The time to find out about any shortcomings is now, not later. As much as I like online backup systems such as Carbonite, I would supplement that with a local backup to a removable USB hard drive. It's not that this is a better solution than Carbonite, but restoring data is much faster if you have the files on a local hard drive.

If you're using third-party backup software such as that from Acronis, you'll need to have the installation media available. And if you're using the Windows XP backup utility you'll need to download a special restore application from Microsoft because the file format has changed under Windows 7. This utility was designed for moving files from XP to Vista and, at this moment, isn't yet certified for Windows 7.

To be absolutely certain that all of my data survives, I typically create yet another copy of really important files on another hard drive.

Because you'll need to reinstall all of your applications, now is the time to make sure that you can find all of the CDs and DVDs that you need. I have a special downloads directory where all downloaded applications are stored. I number all CDs and DVDs, store them in devices made for discs, and record the installation keys in an Access data file.

If you have applications that must be "transferred" (many Adobe applications, for example) be sure to deactivate them before you install Windows 7. You can always contact customer support and explain the situation, but it's faster and easier if you take the appropriate steps yourself in advance of the upgrade.

Another good site to visit before you make the switch is Microsoft's Windows 7 how-to section. I'm not intimidated by operating system changes, so I installed the Windows 7 release candidate without benefit of this site. But if change distresses you, be sure to visit this area before you perform the installation.

I've described the installation process elsewhere, so I won't do that here. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine. They are clear and the process is by far the easiest Microsoft has created.

Buying a Car in the Internet Age

Buying a new car is always fraught with peril because misinformation and disinformation abound. The Internet makes the process of buying a car both easier and harder. It's easier because so much information is available. It's harder for exactly the same reason. For the past 13 years I've been driving a Ford Explorer that I purchased after it had been returned at the end of a 2-year lease. I presume that it provided the original driver good service and for 13 years it has provided good service for me. But concerns about the price of fuel and the effects of burning gasoline on global warming caused me to look for something more fuel efficient. The federal government's "Cash For Clunkers" (CARS) program was also a factor.

So I knew that I wanted a new car. But which car? More than 200 make/model combinations are available, and that's just the start. Then there is optional equipment to consider, the trade or salvage value of your existing vehicle, and financing options. Along the line you might want to consider the tires required by your new vehicle, reviews by Consumer Reports, and information from owners of the vehicle(s) you're considering.

Consumer Reports is a good resource when you're looking for a car, new or used. Minimal information is available on-line for free, so you'll be better served by paying for a print or on-line subscription. But that's not all. The Internet makes library books available to you. I borrowed 2 useful books from the Worthington Library: The Car Buyer's Bible, written by Robin Segal who worked in a dealership to gain information for her small (120 page) book, and Don't Get Taken Every Time, a 450-page monster by Reman Sutton, who works with Ralph Nader. Sutton's book is far more negative, but it contains useful information.

I had narrowed the search down to 2 cars from Honda and 2 cars from Toyota. For Toyota, the contenders were the Prius and the Camry Hybrid; for Honda, the contenders were the Fit and the Insight. The only non-hybrid car in the list is the Fit. Although it had been my early favorite, my wife and I quickly ruled out the Insight because of its limited back seat room and the aerodynamic but hard to use rear window. We also ruled out the Camry Hybrid, despite the fact that we both loved the car, because of its price.

That left the Prius and the Fit. The Prius gets 50 miles per gallon of gas compared to the Fit's 27 (after a month of driving, I'm averaging 33) and that would save several thousand dollars in fuel over 10 years. But the batteries will eventually need to be replaced and the cost of doing that will be several thousand dollars. Also worth consideration: The environmental cost of disposing of the batteries and the fact that the Prius would cost at least $3000 more than the Fit.

So we were leaning toward the Fit. I checked the bottom-line price from Consumer Reports and figured a reasonable dealership profit. I now had the price I was aiming for. You can imagine how surprised I was when the dealership's price quotation was lower than the best price I expected based on the Consumer Reports numbers. It's near the end of the model year and the cars I'm looking at, based on the serial number part of the VIN, appeared to have been on the lot for at least 6 months. (The salesman later confirmed that it had been in stock since January.)

So then (and this is where the Internet becomes useful) I cast a wider net. I asked dealerships in Marysville and Dayton to provide their best prices. A Dayton dealership beat the Columbus dealership by nearly $500. I presented that price to the Columbus dealership. After several minutes, the sales manager said that he would accept the deal.

But only (as I found out the next day) if they could get the financing part of the deal. "Beat my credit union's rate and you've got a deal," I said. They did. By 1/100th of a percentage point. I probably should have held out for a full percentage point, or maybe two.

Getting Tired—Another Way the Internet Helps

The car I was looking at said it came with "P185/55R1683H" tires. What does that mean? Here's another place where the Internet (specifically Wikipedia) is helpful:

Now I know.

Short Circuits

The Significance of Insignificance

These days we give hardly a second thought to a system that allows me to buy a lens from a camera store in Manhattan on a long weekend during the time they're closed (Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning for Yom Kippur), allow them to ship it, and allow me to receive it on Thursday.

B&H Photo and Video packaged the lens on Tuesday and advised UPS at 1:51 pm that it would be ready for pickup. The store ships from its warehouse in Maspeth (part of Queens) New York. UPS picked it up at 6:17 pm and combined it with other packages that left Maspeth at 12:24 am on Wednesday. The package arrived at a regional center in Parsippany, New Jersey, a little over an hour later and left there at 3 am for Columbus.

The package arrived in Columbus at 1:41 pm on Wednesday and was delivered to my office on Thursday morning.

Not only was the journey not anything out of the ordinary, but the fact that I could check the UPS website to watch the package's progress across the country is also apparently not at all worthy of any particular mention.

Step back in time to a not-too-distant past. Let's say 1980. You're looking at Popular Photography and you'd like to buy a lens from a New York camera store. You call on Saturday and find that they're closed. So you call on Sunday and wait on hold for 20 minutes. Eventually, you place the order. The store says they'll ship the goods on Monday. The following Friday, you have no lens. You call, but they're closed. You try again on Sunday and find that the lens wasn't in stock, although the clerk thought that it was. It wasn't shipped until Friday, but you should have it by the following Thursday.

That's the way things were not all that long ago. Were it not for computers and the Internet, none of what we enjoy today would even be thinkable, much less possible.

Catch A (Google) Wave

Google Wave (part e-mail, part instant messaging, part social networking) is now available to about 100,000 developers and users. Wave tries to be everything to everyone by combining e-mail, video, maps, photos, text messages, and audio. Chances are, it'll take you a while to wrap your mind around the concept.

Wave wants to allow developers to create applications that run on Wave and Google execs have called it "magical" and "unbelievable". There are similarities to Google Voice in that e-mail, instant messages, and phone calls are all included in the same interface.

But now users could run a conference call that might include participants on cell phones, plain-old-telephone-service ("POTS") lines, and VoIP users. Google has demonstrated the system with collaborators at various locations. The users were planning a trip to Australia. Collaboration in real time is what Watchitoo CEO Rony Zarom calls a natural evolution of how people use the Internet.

One potential problem is that Wave doesn't play well with Microsoft's Internet Explorer because IE doesn't use the technology Google does in its own browser, Chrome. Wave does run properly, though, under Apple's Safari 4 browser and Mozilla's Firefox 3.5 browser in addition to Google's Chrome browser.

It's clear that Google and Microsoft are on a collision course. Wave simply accelerates the two opposing forces. The expected crash will be amazing.

Now Available: Microsoft Office Web

Microsoft calls it a "limited technical preview", but the Web-based version of the office suite is now in use by a limited number of people. It's available through the Windows Live SkyDrive storage portal. Taking a page from Google's playbook, Microsoft makes the suite available by invitation only. Microsoft Office Web apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) are part of Office 2010.

Initially, program functions will be limited. Microsoft says commercial users that buy volume Office licenses will be given access to Office Web Apps for free. This would be around 90 million customers. There are also about 400 million Windows Live users.

Office Web Apps program manager Nick Simons says that the test will increase between now and next year's launch to make the suite available to more Windows Live users.

The Web Apps versions of the Office applications are designed for use in a network environment, where bandwidth is limited. For this reason, features that require a lot of bandwidth won't be supported. But because they're designed for use on the Web, the applications will include features not available in the desktop version of the suite, the ability to embed tags in documents and post them to blogs, for example.