I used to buy “Balance Bars”. I bought them for years. Then one day I noticed their proud announcement of a “bold new look”. That new look went beyond the box. The US RDA percentage of every vitamin and mineral went from 25% to 15%. They became a nutrition bar that, in its “new and improved” state, was now half as good for you. I stopped buying them. What’s my point? It’s this. Windows 7 is Microsoft’s Balance Bar. It’s got a bold new look from XP, but does half as much. Actually that’s not true… in order to be an accurate comparison Balance Bars would have to come in a package the size of a small sedan. Here are some fixes, made by other people, to help with what Microsoft inexplicably ruined. Some of these you already know about I’m sure, but some you may not.
1. Add “Copy To/ Move To” to Right Click. Why was this removed? Who can say? Maybe with 7 they were just trying to make something the opposite of XP. Either that or they were just thinking of ways to make 7 worse. Maybe both?
Link Removed
2. Right Click Toggle Thumbnails. This is a great example of Microsoft’s half-assed approach to 7. With XP you could have some folders use icons and others, like picture folders, use thumbnails. Not with 7… with 7 it’s all or nothing. Either you get all icons or all thumbnails. While this made it great for the programmers (because it’s lazy and sloppy) it absolutely sucks for the end user. This doesn’t give you the option to have both, like XP, it just makes it easier to switch between one and the other.
How to Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews Quickly Using Right-Click Menu in Windows Vista and Windows 7 - The Winhelponline Blog
3. Remember Folder Sizes and Locations. Remember how XP would remember a particular folders size and location when you opened it, and it would open in the same place and size every time? And then came 7. 7 can only remember the size and location of the last folder opened. I’m not sure what 7 is doing with the 4x more memory needed over XP, but it sure isn’t going towards remembering things. I think the term here is half-assed. And lazy.
ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size - Windows 7 Help Forums
4. Change Start-Up Sound. "Apple doesn’t let you, so what the hell, let’s copy them.” I think that’s how the conversation went. Besides… there’s just a little too much P in your PC already mister.
Link Removed
5. Fix The Start Menu. Remember when the Start menu didn’t absolutely, completely, 100% suck? It can be that way again. When people tell you to stop complaining and just install this, it would be like a car dealer selling you a car with octagon shaped wheels and telling you to stop bitching and just buy the the round wheel covers and put them on. Problem solved, round wheels. The problem with Windows 7 (and now 8 which is even worse) is that it already uses 5x more resources. Having to add even more stuff that uses even more resources just to get back what you already had is just insulting. And it shows Microsoft could care less.
Welcome to Classic Shell
6. 15 File Limit Fix. I use Foobar as my media player (I’ve been using it for years and not just because WMP 12 is, as is par for the course with Windows 7, total crap) and when I click “Play All” in a folder with more than 15 songs Windows just sits there staring at me like a drooling idiot. This fixes that.
Context Menu Items Missing - Fix when more than 15 Files are Selected - Windows 7 Help Forums
7. Replace Windows Media Player. Windows made 2 good versions of its media player in my opinion. Windows 98 had 6.4 and XP had 10. With version 12 I think they were trying to see just how bad they could make it. Q: How bad did they make it? A: Pretty f’n bad.
Foobar 2000 for audio.
foobar2000
K-Lite with Media Player Classic for video. (You’ll notice it’s based on version 6.4)
Download K-Lite Codec Pack
8. Restore Quick Launch. When I was first experiencing Windows 7 in all its terribleness I remarked, in these forums, about the missing quick launch. Somebody told me that the quick launch was for lazy, stupid people. I use a lot of portable versions of software. So according to this person, the “smart” thing to do was to go Start/Computer/D Drive/ Portables folder/ Application Folder/double click .exe, and that the “smart” thing to do was to do that every single time. Personally I prefer to put a shortcut in the quick launch. I guess I’m just lazy.
Link Removed
9. Share ALL Files and Folders. Have you ever wanted to share your files between computers? Did you ever follow Microsoft’s directions how to do it but still could only share your “public” folders. Here’s how to do it. This is a thread I started before.
Link Removed
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What I’m still looking for is a way to actually organize files and folders. Windows 7 is completely useless at this. These are some movies I ripped and put on an external hard drive. The one on the left is from Windows 7. The other is XP. Both are set up as "Thumbnails/Sort By Name/Show In Groups"
[/FONT]Link RemovedLink Removed[FONT=&]
A few things to notice here with Windows 7. 1. That infernal green bar that takes about a minute as it crawls ever slower across the screen. Why does it go slower the longer it goes? That doesn't even make sense. For the record, it only takes XP about 2 seconds to show this. So much for 7 being faster I guess. 2. Microsoft thinks an empty folder is an icon, but a folder with a piece of paper in it is a thumbnail. 3. Windows 7's grouping is worthless. Do you know what the difference is between A-H and no grouping? None... there's no difference at all. They're both giant unsorted blocks. Look at the 2 choices and tell me which one you prefer. If you say 7, you and I both know you're lying. Think A-H, I-P, Q-Z isn't so bad, look at this...
[/FONT]Link Removed[FONT=&]
This is a folder with my album covers in it. Imagine trying to find a cover for a Devo album in a block of 939 files. A-H show Microsoft has nothing but contempt for the people who use their software. It's the sort of thing you would see in Windows 95 maybe, but to go from what they had in XP to this is M$ sticking their middle finger in your face and telling you to F**k Off. All of this is such a huge leap backwards it renders the whole computer useless for anything but Facebooking, which it what 7 was made for. It's a dumbed down experience that leaves people with triple digit IQ's shaking their heads. The thing that kills me is that they went out of their way to remove even the most basic things. Things that were already there. 7 uses 4x more memory, but that extra memory serves no purpose. It all goes towards idiotic flash meant to catch the attention of people attracted to shiny things. It uses 5x more hard drive space but is less capable.
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List of features removed in Windows Vista
[FONT=&]List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_7
List of features removed in Windows 8
I know that most of you will think I'm just a Luddite or what ever clever name you can think of, but to me, people who not only accept but appreciate that fact that Windows keeps becoming less user friendly and more controlled are no different than the Sheeple who continue to buy Apple's only product in 4 different sizes 3x a year. And don't kid yourself... this is Microsoft's ultimate goal. To create a universe where you can only use the hardware THEY say you can use, only use the software THEY say you can use and do with your computer only what THEY say you can do. I don't see this as any kind of upgrade or advancement.
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1. Add “Copy To/ Move To” to Right Click. Why was this removed? Who can say? Maybe with 7 they were just trying to make something the opposite of XP. Either that or they were just thinking of ways to make 7 worse. Maybe both?
Link Removed
2. Right Click Toggle Thumbnails. This is a great example of Microsoft’s half-assed approach to 7. With XP you could have some folders use icons and others, like picture folders, use thumbnails. Not with 7… with 7 it’s all or nothing. Either you get all icons or all thumbnails. While this made it great for the programmers (because it’s lazy and sloppy) it absolutely sucks for the end user. This doesn’t give you the option to have both, like XP, it just makes it easier to switch between one and the other.
How to Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews Quickly Using Right-Click Menu in Windows Vista and Windows 7 - The Winhelponline Blog
3. Remember Folder Sizes and Locations. Remember how XP would remember a particular folders size and location when you opened it, and it would open in the same place and size every time? And then came 7. 7 can only remember the size and location of the last folder opened. I’m not sure what 7 is doing with the 4x more memory needed over XP, but it sure isn’t going towards remembering things. I think the term here is half-assed. And lazy.
ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size - Windows 7 Help Forums
4. Change Start-Up Sound. "Apple doesn’t let you, so what the hell, let’s copy them.” I think that’s how the conversation went. Besides… there’s just a little too much P in your PC already mister.
Link Removed
5. Fix The Start Menu. Remember when the Start menu didn’t absolutely, completely, 100% suck? It can be that way again. When people tell you to stop complaining and just install this, it would be like a car dealer selling you a car with octagon shaped wheels and telling you to stop bitching and just buy the the round wheel covers and put them on. Problem solved, round wheels. The problem with Windows 7 (and now 8 which is even worse) is that it already uses 5x more resources. Having to add even more stuff that uses even more resources just to get back what you already had is just insulting. And it shows Microsoft could care less.
Welcome to Classic Shell
6. 15 File Limit Fix. I use Foobar as my media player (I’ve been using it for years and not just because WMP 12 is, as is par for the course with Windows 7, total crap) and when I click “Play All” in a folder with more than 15 songs Windows just sits there staring at me like a drooling idiot. This fixes that.
Context Menu Items Missing - Fix when more than 15 Files are Selected - Windows 7 Help Forums
7. Replace Windows Media Player. Windows made 2 good versions of its media player in my opinion. Windows 98 had 6.4 and XP had 10. With version 12 I think they were trying to see just how bad they could make it. Q: How bad did they make it? A: Pretty f’n bad.
Foobar 2000 for audio.
foobar2000
K-Lite with Media Player Classic for video. (You’ll notice it’s based on version 6.4)
Download K-Lite Codec Pack
8. Restore Quick Launch. When I was first experiencing Windows 7 in all its terribleness I remarked, in these forums, about the missing quick launch. Somebody told me that the quick launch was for lazy, stupid people. I use a lot of portable versions of software. So according to this person, the “smart” thing to do was to go Start/Computer/D Drive/ Portables folder/ Application Folder/double click .exe, and that the “smart” thing to do was to do that every single time. Personally I prefer to put a shortcut in the quick launch. I guess I’m just lazy.
Link Removed
9. Share ALL Files and Folders. Have you ever wanted to share your files between computers? Did you ever follow Microsoft’s directions how to do it but still could only share your “public” folders. Here’s how to do it. This is a thread I started before.
Link Removed
[FONT=&]
What I’m still looking for is a way to actually organize files and folders. Windows 7 is completely useless at this. These are some movies I ripped and put on an external hard drive. The one on the left is from Windows 7. The other is XP. Both are set up as "Thumbnails/Sort By Name/Show In Groups"
[/FONT]Link RemovedLink Removed[FONT=&]
A few things to notice here with Windows 7. 1. That infernal green bar that takes about a minute as it crawls ever slower across the screen. Why does it go slower the longer it goes? That doesn't even make sense. For the record, it only takes XP about 2 seconds to show this. So much for 7 being faster I guess. 2. Microsoft thinks an empty folder is an icon, but a folder with a piece of paper in it is a thumbnail. 3. Windows 7's grouping is worthless. Do you know what the difference is between A-H and no grouping? None... there's no difference at all. They're both giant unsorted blocks. Look at the 2 choices and tell me which one you prefer. If you say 7, you and I both know you're lying. Think A-H, I-P, Q-Z isn't so bad, look at this...
[/FONT]Link Removed[FONT=&]
This is a folder with my album covers in it. Imagine trying to find a cover for a Devo album in a block of 939 files. A-H show Microsoft has nothing but contempt for the people who use their software. It's the sort of thing you would see in Windows 95 maybe, but to go from what they had in XP to this is M$ sticking their middle finger in your face and telling you to F**k Off. All of this is such a huge leap backwards it renders the whole computer useless for anything but Facebooking, which it what 7 was made for. It's a dumbed down experience that leaves people with triple digit IQ's shaking their heads. The thing that kills me is that they went out of their way to remove even the most basic things. Things that were already there. 7 uses 4x more memory, but that extra memory serves no purpose. It all goes towards idiotic flash meant to catch the attention of people attracted to shiny things. It uses 5x more hard drive space but is less capable.
[/FONT]
List of features removed in Windows Vista
[FONT=&]List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_7
List of features removed in Windows 8
I know that most of you will think I'm just a Luddite or what ever clever name you can think of, but to me, people who not only accept but appreciate that fact that Windows keeps becoming less user friendly and more controlled are no different than the Sheeple who continue to buy Apple's only product in 4 different sizes 3x a year. And don't kid yourself... this is Microsoft's ultimate goal. To create a universe where you can only use the hardware THEY say you can use, only use the software THEY say you can use and do with your computer only what THEY say you can do. I don't see this as any kind of upgrade or advancement.
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Everyone has different opinions and ways of doing things, Ross. But that was funny.
