Useful Windows, Making Windows Useful, Tips and Tricks

With Server 2000 we saw the release of a 64 bit version of that Operating System, and then soon there after a 64 bit version of XP and Server 2003.  These were for the Itanium Processors from Intel.  Later after the introduction of X86-64 instructions from AMD we would see non Itanium 64 bit versions of Windows released (Server 2003 and XP)  Theos early adopters would find hardware support to be buggy however.  It would not be until the release of Windows Vista that 64 Bit Windows would start to gain momentum.  Today we still have the option on installing 32 bit or 64 bit versions of Windows 7, but is 64 Bit always the best way to go?

I asked this question about my old laptop, a Compaq Presario C700 (C712NR)  It had an Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 running at 2.16 Ghz with 2 Gb of Ram.  It came with 32 bit Windows Vista Home Premium and I wanted to upgrade to Windows 7.  After a bit of research I decided to just try installing Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. 

Now this computer came with 32 bit Vista and I had also installed 32 bit Windows 7 to test, I had looked at which is faster Vista Vs 7 and XP Vs 7  which you can read here 

For those interested here are the numbers for Windows Vista 32 bit on this machine.  The Pass Mark Performance Test got a score of 537.8  this is not bad at all for a laptop.  Below is the Windows Experience Index (in Vista scores range from 1.0 to 5.9)

Windows Exprierence Index from Vista

Now Windows 7 32 bit got a 590.4 out of the same Performance Test.  Below is the Windows Experience Index (in Windows 7 scores range from 1.0 to 7.9)

Windows Experience Index from 7

Now Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit gets results that are not what I expected.  The Pass Mark Performance Test score is a 528 This is slower than both the 32 bit version of Windows 7 and Vista. When you look at the test results Windows 7 64 bit actually does better in some areas but worse in others however this result is in every test category, there is not one category where Windows 7 64 bit does worse in comparison to its 32 bit counter part.    Below is the Windows Experience Index and note that these values are the same as the 32 bit version. 

Windows Experience Index on Windows 7 64 Bit

It is odd that the Windows Experience Index is the same but the test results are different.  After using the computer I would suggest the 64 bit version as I felt is was improved over the 32 bit version.  As always your results may very, so in conclusion I would say if you have a slower system with less than 4 Gb of ram stick with 32 bit but if the system is faster and still under 4 Gb or ram go with 64 bit, and always go with 64 bit when you have more than 4 Gb of ram.  At least that is my opinion.

Internet Explorer 9 in Windows 7 32-bit

2. Mozilla Firefox 6.0    Like the new version of Internet Explorer, it has a less cluttered user interface.  Also it now has an orange Firefox button up at the top left.  Clicking on this brings up a Start Menu like menu with commands and options.  The user interface feels like a combination of Opera and Chrome.  What makes Firefox useful in Windows 7 is its integration with the new features in the Operating System.  Firefox 6 supports both Jump Lists and Tab Previews (however Tab Previews has to be enabled in the options)  This makes Firefox a great alternative in Windows 7.   Firefox 6 is very standards compliant and it screams on this Netbook it’s so fast.  If you have moved from Firefox to Chrome, I may suggest you look at Firefox again and see if it doesn’t win you back.  You can download Firefox 6 here at http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Firefox 6 in Windows 7 32-bit

3. Google Chrome 13.0.782.215 m Google has taken a dud of a browser and turned it into something that competes. In fact its user interface is what has inspired other browsers to clean their interfaces up.   The sad thing is that despite it being on its 13th revision it is not more mature than it is.  One of the reasons this is not my number two browser for Windows 7 is the fact that it does not support Tab Previews in Windows 7 making it not as useful since I use that feature a lot. (Come on Google, Get this done in an update already) The second reason is that on this Netbook it is not as fast as Firefox.  It does however support Jump Lists which is quite handy.  Every release it does get better and better, one of the newer features that is interesting is Instant, which tries to guess what page you are typing in the address bar and starts loading it before you are done typing.  (this is not enabled by default and you will have to enable it, but it is impressive) It is fast and standards compliant making it a great contender.  If you are not using Internet Explorer or Firefox, then you really should be using Chrome, if not take a look because it will surprise you.  You can get Chrome from here at http://www.google.com/chrome

Google Chrome 13 in Windows 7 32-bit

4. Apple Safari 5.1 (7534.50)  Apple has always done things different, and Safari is no exception.  Originally designed as part of the Apple Mac OS X operating system, they have created a Windows version and have been improving it over the years.  It uses most of the standard Windows interface which will make Windows users feel at home .  It does support Tab Previews in Windows 7 but not Jump Lists. (Come on Apple this is useful lets see this get added)  Safari supports multiple tabs however for some reason Apple hides this in the user interface.  To open a new tab you must click on the file button on the right side and on the menu that pops up click on New Tab.  It is standards compliant however and does have some interesting features like Top Sites and Safari Reader (which is supposed to unclutter a webpage making it more easy to read the information on it) The new version 5.1 seems to actually speed up the browser a little, but it is not as fast as Chrome.  If you would like to check it out you can get it from here at http://www.apple.com/safari/

Apple Safari 5.1 in Windows 7 32-bit

5. Opera 11.50 (Build 1074)  When talking about Internet Browsers, there are not many that have been around as long as Internet Explorer and Opera.  Opera 11 builds on an interesting browsing platform.  While many Netscape fans have moved to Firefox because of the relationship between those two browsers, Netscape fans may feel more at home with Opera.  It still tries to be more than just an internet browser and I would suggest any old Netscape users out there to check Opera out if you find yourself missing the old rival to Internet Explorer.  Opera supports both Jump Lists and Tab Previews in Windows 7 and has its own Tab Preview like feature, if you mouse over a tab that is not being displayed, a preview of that tab will show up below the tab (pictured below).  Opera is pretty quick and is standards compliant as well however I have had it display some websites incorrectly, including this one (hope to get that fixed soon).  The interface features a red O button in the upper left side of the window. Clicking on this brings up a master menu of commands and options.  Opera actually had this button before Firefox implemented their own.  If you want a browser that is different then I suggest checking out Opera 11, wich you can do so here at http://www.opera.com/browser/

Opera 11 in Windows 7 32-bit

6. KDE Konqueror 4.7 Konqueror was originally made for the Linux operating system, but there is now a Windows version.  Linux has been at the center of the open source community since its inception and some would say it created the open source world as we know it.  That being said a group has decided to create a port of the KDE software from Linux for other operating systems, including Windows.  The Windows version currently is a bit of Windows, and bit of the KDE user interface from Linux.  It is not as fast as any of the other browsers tested, and is not as compliant with current web standards as the other internet browsers but version 4.7 does render most websites very well. (myspace.com will crash it though)  I also have not found out how to get it to work with Flash or Java on a Windows machine yet.  But like most things out of the Linux and open source communities it is a work in progress.  It does do multiple tabs, but you have to click on File and then New Tab.  It does not work with either Jump Lists or Tab Previews in Windows 7 at this time.   It is rather interesting, and can only be installed with the KDE software installer, (no standalone installer at this point)  You can check it out as well as a bunch of other free software here at http://windows.kde.org/download.php (as a note you should have the latest MS Visual Studio runtimes installed as well before installing Konqueror which you can get here)

KDE Konqueror 4.7 in Windows 7 32-bit

With all the options for Internet Browsers out today, and how fast it changes, it can be hard to keep up on which one works better, however I hope I have helped.   For the browser tests all updates have been applied to Windows and all internet browsers, and I am using the latest versions of Flash, Adobe Reader, Silverlight, and Java.  All temporary internet files and caches have been cleared with the use of Ccleaner (www.ccleaner.com) and from the programs themselves so all pages are loaded from the internet and not from local cache.  For standards testing I am using Acid3 at www.acid3.acidtests.org.  I load up every day web pages that people use and that I use in every browser and time how long it takes from hitting enter till the page has completed loading.

Go back to Part 4 for Windows Vista 32bit.

Go to Part 6 for Windows XP

Check out Part 7 for Windows 7 64-bit

To start this seems to work on other motherboards that use the Promise 378 chipset, so give this a shot and let me know how it works.  When I did my comparison of Windows 7 to Windows XP, I needed an XP machine to install 7 on.  I chose my Dads it is an Asus KV8 SE Deluxe motherboard with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ running at 2.2GHz, 2 Gb of ram and an ATI X800 All-in-Wonder.  I partitioned the hard drive and booted up the Windows 7 disk.  Now this motherboard has the Promise 378 Sata chipset and if any of you are familiar with the Promise 378 chipset for sata you know how much of a pain it is.  It’s hard enough to get Windows XP installed.  Well I tried to install Windows 7 and things went fine until I got to the point in the installation to select the hard drive where Windows is to be installed.  There were no hard drives listed!!! I was confused.  I did some searching and found that there were no Promise 378 drivers made for Windows Vista let alone 7.  So I got to thinking and working.

I knew I was running the Promise 378 in ATA mode so I could connect only one hard drive.  So I thought of loading an older driver and looked at Asus website for one.  But before I did that I thought for a moment, an XP driver might not work.  Windows 7′s code is based on of Vista’s.  Vista’s code is based on Server 2003.  And that was the ticket.  I went here http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

1. Under General Download the first Select Product select Motherboard.

2. the second one is  Select Series select Socket 754

3. the third one is Select Models select KV8 SE Deluxe

Then hit search then when it asked which operating system you are using select Win 2003.  (if you are installing the 64-bit version of 7 or Vista try downloading the Windows 2003 64-bit driver instead)

Now it will say XX Files Found and under there click on IDE

Then down load the second driver (pictured below), Promise SATA378 Driver V1.00.0.26 (ATA Mode)

The Second Driver is the ATA Mode Driver

Expand the zip file to a folder and burn that folder to a disc.

Then restart your installation and when you get to the point that no hard drives show up take out your Windows 7 install disc and put in the one with the drivers, or if you have a second optical drive insert the burned disc into that.  And then in setup hit load drivers and select the 2003 driver, it should find it automatically.  It did for me and after a while of searching the drive shows up.  Continue the setup as you normally would.  That is all you have to do.  This should work for Windows Vista or Windows 7.  Here is the end results.

Device Manager Showing The Win2003 SATA Driver Installed

It took some doing but here is the proof, a screen shot of the Computer Properties.

Asus KV8 SE Deluxe running Windows 7

It does not do too bad performance wise although I get weird graphic glitches, AMD is not going to release a Windows 7 driver for the X800 graphic card in this machine, but the card could be going bad as well.  Below is the Windows Experience Index.

Windows Experience Index

Well I think I would leave 7 on here if I could get the graphic glitches fixed, but this computer is old and is slated to be rebuilt.  It does not handle Microsoft Flight Simulator X very well.  I hope this helps people figure out how to get Vista and 7 installed on their Promise 378 hardware.

With the release of Windows Vista Microsoft released both a 32bit and 64-bit Version, (which really unlocked a lot of hardware),  and a fair share of computers shipped with Windows Vista x64.  It is a different OS from its 32bit counterpart.  So what is the best internet browser?   Well here are my conclusions.  I ran all tests uncashed on a computer running Windows Vista Ultimate on 4 Gb of ram and a 2.8 Ghz Intel Pentium D, with the newest versions of the browsers, Flash, Java, and Windows. Now before I go on, I must mention that there is only one 64-bit internet browser now, Internet Explorer, we may see 64-bit versions of other browsers in the future but for now all other browsers are 32bit.

1. Internet Explorer, Now I know, I know but give Internet Explorer 8 a try.  For those of you that know there are two versions of IE in 64-bit Vista, a 32bit version and a 64-bit version.  The 64-bit version is fast on every site I tested.  It really has the speed that people want, and seemed faster than the other browsers especially with large sites.  Also If you install Java in the 32bit version of IE go back and fire up the 64-bit version and redownload Java, there is a 64-bit version available.  The user interface is something even beginning computer users seems to pick up easily.   I love some of the new features in IE 8 like the Accelerators, which is pictured below, select some txt and right-click to search on Bing or Google, look up what a word means and so on.  Put that with Web Slices and the Visual Search and IE8 is a full featured browser.  You can download IE8 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

Internet Explorer 8 under Windows Vista X64

2. Firefox 3.5  Now Firefox has come a long way and has matured into a great browser.  It would be nice to see a 64-bit version in the future as Internet Explorer 8 is the only 64-bit one we tested so far.  This is not the fastest browser, in fact it was one of the slower ones, but it’s features the face that the user interface is easy to use , and how fast they release security updates still makes this a great browser to be considered.  Furthermore you can extended the functions with plugins, and install skins to change the look.  It really has something for everyone and was my prefered browser for a while before Internet Explorer 8 was released.  There are versions for Mac OS and Linux as well.  you can get it at www.getfirefox.com

Firefox 3.5 under Windows Vista X64

3. Opera 10.  Now I have not liked this browser in the past with an awkward user interface and how sluggish it seemed.  I also have disagreed with it trying to say Microsoft is the reason why Opera has not done so well, it was a horrible browser.  But here is version 10 and I have to say wow.  It is a welcome improvement.  A nice user interface and there are visual previews of the open tabs which is pictured below.  It opens fast and loads pages fast as well, faster than Firefox.  If you have written it off in the past, take another look.  Opera is also available for the Nintendo Wii, Windows Mobile, Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris.  You can get it at www.opera.com

Opera 10 under Windows Vista X64

4. Safari 4, This has come a long way since version 3 being ported to Windows, it looked just like the Mac version the drab grey and was very slow.  Now it actually looks more like a Windows program and is a little faster but still is not that fast.  It seems to try to copy Google Chrome in many ways including its top sites feature, but it’s version is very slow, pictured below this feature does not load the thumbnails for the sites very quickly and you can only see the top row it takes as much as a minuet to load all the pictures.  The nice thing about Safari is that the user interface is different and a little easier to use than Chrome.  You can download Safari at http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Safari 4 under Windows Vista X64

5. Chrome 2, this browser is still quite young and it shows, It lacks features and has a confusing user interface.  The installer is a bit of a pain too, however the installer is fast.  It loads pages faster than Safari but it is no show winner. The default page with shows most visited sites loads the thumbnails fast almost instant and is a nice feature.  It will be interesting to see what is coming in version 3.  You can get it at http://www.google.com/chrome/index.html?hl=en&brand=CHMI&utm_source=en-et&utm_medium=et&utm_campaign=en

Chrome under Windows Vista X64

It is clear that 64-bit versions of operating systems will be the future in no time, but will be have good software to keep up?  It should be interesting to see.  I hope this helped and stick around for my next review on a different version of Windows.

Go back to Part 1 the Introduction

Go to Part 3 for Windows 2000

Over the next several posts I will be rating which is the best internet browser and in which version of Windows.  I will be looking at Windows Vista, XP, 2000, and Windows 7.  As far as the browsers will be looking at Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and even Konqueror.  I hope you will enjoy and start reading my blogs.

Part 2 will cover Windows Vista 64-bit The operating system that made 64-bit a common house hold name.

Part 3 will cover Windows 2000 12 years old and still used by a few brave souls.

Part 4 will cover Windows Vista the 32 bit version. Love it or hate it, it will still be around for a while longer, might as well get a good browser for it.

Part 5 will cover Windows 7 the 32 bit version.  This version will probably only be on netbooks and older machines.

Part 6 Will cover Windows XP.  A 10 year old operating system that is still kicking, well at least for now.

Part 7 Will cover Windows 7 64-bit.  The best 64-bit operating system ever released and the best version of Windows to date.

Also check out my review of browsers in Ubuntu, one of the more popular Linux versions.