XP Users – Welcome to Windows 7 (2)
November 3, 2009 – 9:00 amToday we’re continuing our mission of persuading as many XP users to upgrade to Windows 7. In today’s blog I’ll go over differences regarding network notifications, user folders, no ‘my’ and explorer/address bars.
Network Notifications
In XP, network notifications were shown through two ‘blinking’ messages. Where as Windows 7 has a single display block for network notifications.
User Folder
The account folder structure has now changed considerably since XP. XP’s ‘documents and settings’ folder has now been replaced by ‘users’. Within each account folder the content is fairly similar with the usual personal folders including documents, music, pictures, videos, etc.
Another change is that the Public folder has replaced the Shared Documents folder. The function of this folder is identical. However, the use of the Public folder in Windows 7 is far less significant due to the introduction of libraries which are ideal ways to share documents and important information between computer/network users.
No ‘My’
Microsoft have removed the word ‘my’ from such things as ‘my documents’. Therefore they’re simply called by their name, e.g. documents, music, pictures, etc.
Explorer and Address Bar
The Standard Toolbar and Drop Down menu you’re used to in folders have now been replaced by the command bar. This makes moving between folders considerably easier as you can click on the folder and select an alternative folder from its location.
The Windows Vista/7 Address Bar now means movement between your folders is much easier. It includes drop down menus along the current navigation path. This means it’s far simpler to move to previous folders and around your computer.
The search explorer means you can easily search for a file within a folder. If you’re unsuccessful you can edit the search appropriately to search alternative areas.
The task pane in XP has been transferred to the top of folders. The same features are available. The navigation pane is however, far more exhaustive. It’s split into 5 different areas of navigation…favourites (most commonly used folders), libraries (stores user data and aggregates files), homegroup (new easy share network function for sharing files between users), computer (same as XP’s ‘My Computer’) and networks (displays all available networks).
File grouping is also slightly different. You can no long ‘drag and drop’ files. However, you can now organise files alphabetically in ranges (e.g. A-E, F-K, etc).
That’s all for today! Windows 7 is now available for purchase so don’t forget to get your copy!
Next time I’ll discuss changes to Customise and Personalise, Managing Programs and Windows Update!
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Tags: address bar, changes, differences, Documents, explorer, files, folder, my, network, network notifications, user folder, vista, Windows 7, xp
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