Windows 7 The most USELESSand HATED features in W7 (I like W7 BTW)

[jimbo45]

Whilst I'm very positive so far with W7 apart from some networking issues on the X-64 version there are a few things that to me seem a total waste of time -- each to their own but it would be interesting to see what irritates / frustrates users most with W7.

1) The Diagnose Network connection problems I have NEVER found this to be of the slightest bit of use
2) Create Home Groups -- also to me seems 100% pointless.

and as an application the whole idea of Windows Live for me SUX big time.

However I'm more than impressed with it so far -- as a Beta of course there;s still work to be done but this is the time we can make likes and dislikes known before the final.

For once Microsoft seems to be actually taking notice.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[reghakr]

Those little arrows on the desktop shortcut icons. They serve no purpose whatsoever.

What's really useless is the fact Windows still creates shortcuts with the -shortcut after the name of the program

 

[djwayne]

Thanks but I don't want to tinker with my registry on this install of W7. I would prefer if Microsoft just eliminated it for the final version.

I'm a little gun shy about installing freebee or cheapo software, due to some bad experiences I have had.

 

[Theo]

pro's and con's of W7

Pro's........simple layout,nice appearance,no sidebar.Video's,pictures and music are located in one section.Another thing I noticed is there is no more reboot for every update(fabulous).Con's........I have found that video or stream video tends to freeze up and cut and paste has become a chore now having to relearn.I dont think I am real excited about the bigger icons either.

 

[mutant_builder]

iconic resization

the icons can be changed.

left click on your desktop, then hold the alt key and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to supersize or reduce the icons.

 

[cmillens]

I just discovered a con that's driven me UP A WALL ... Installed the Power Point Viewer (the free sucka) and no sooner than I HAD installed it Windows wanted to install an update. Ok fine do it ... Wants to reboot, so I do - another update with the SAME kb number was nagging my in the action center. This went on for 8 straight reboots before Win 7 finally quit. No I could believe that there were in fact 8 updates but all with the SAME KB?? I don't THINK SO!

Another annoyance is the Action Center notification that I have going on - it incessantly informs me that I have Updates set to Notify me before installing any updates. I do that because I have some seriously ugly third degree BURN Scars from previous operating systems from MS installing updates without my consent or knowledge only to get paged at 3:00 AM or so and then try to back out the CRAP that BROKE half of everything. Bottom line for me is that I can't trust MS to release updates that don't crap on things so I TEST ALL UPDATES on NON-PRODUCTION machines before approving the updates and sending them on to production machines. I should use SUS Server but I don't - if I had more than 10 machines to manager perhaps I would go SUS but until then I wanna approve everything personally on EVERY machine first! Just STOP nagging me that that's how I have it configured.

Sure, I could turn off Windows Update nags for the Action Center but then HOW am I supposed to be TOLD there's an UPDATE WAITING?

Another gnarly head scratcher ... I installed the HP Printer Drivers from HP for my MFC Printer and then ran the update sucka myself. Not 5 minutes after installing the Updates from MS the Action Center was nagging me to install the very SAME update again. Then 10 minutes after boot - same nag. History shows the updates were successfully installed a total of 15 times!

All versions do this and IT DRIVES ME NUTS ...

Error 0x80075433

WTF??? Is that supposed to be like informative or something? I can't BEGIN to tell you have many times I've had calls from family and clients - "What's Error 0x80123981?"

OMG - I think I'm going to SCREAM. PLEASE MS, PLEASE!! Give the end LOSER A STRING THAT IS READABLE and MEANS something!!

 

[reghakr]

I certainly can't explain that, but navigate to the c:\windows\servicing\Packages directory and look for the ones that begin with package_for

You will see multiple entries, but the same filename cannot exist in one folder.

You can read the .mum file in any text editor as it's an xml file.

 

[jimbo45]

Frameworkx FxVisor (both 32 and 64 bit versions) will allow you to remove the little shortcut arrows. Program was originally written for Vista but works fine in 7.

Actually you can do it with Registry tweaks -- I can't remember the exact procedure but this cropped up on a BartPE Forum (this is where you can create the equivalent of a "Windows Live CD" which runs totally from RAM -(default "X" drive) . This is often used as a recovery / emergency boot disk. Have a look at the "XPE" plugins and you'll see issues about removing the little arrows on the short cuts.
Doesn't bother me however but I just remember this stuff from creating some Bartpe Disks in the past.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[cmillens]

Actually you can do it with Registry tweaks -- I can't remember the exact procedure but this cropped up on a BartPE Forum (this is where you can create the equivalent of a "Windows Live CD" which runs totally from RAM -(default "X" drive) . This is often used as a recovery / emergency boot disk. Have a look at the "XPE" plugins and you'll see issues about removing the little arrows on the short cuts.
Doesn't bother me however but I just remember this stuff from creating some Bartpe Disks in the past.

Cheers
jimbo

And I should have all my clients and family members go futzing in their registry's ? I think NOT!

This should be built into the operating system nice little user friendly messages and NOT crap like "Keyboard not found. Press any key to continue ..."

My point is that the state of error reporting even in Windows 7 is dismal at best and needs a SERIOUS overhaul.

 

[djwayne]

And I should have all my clients and family members go futzing in their registry's ? I think NOT!

This should be built into the operating system nice little user friendly messages and NOT crap like "Keyboard not found. Press any key to continue ..."

My point is that the state of error reporting even in Windows 7 is dismal at best and needs a SERIOUS overhaul.

I had a problem with my older computer not recognizing my keyboard....for some reason the usb port wasn't working. I solved it by using a old fashioned PS/2 keyboard. I still use the PS/2 keyboard today, as my new fangled usb keyboard sits in a corner.

 

[reghakr]

Always backup the keys you are about to change or create a restore point! If you don't like messing with the registry, then don't attempt it.

Sorry, was going to post the registry file, but......just read this on My Digital Life

Note that removing the shortcut arrow with hack
Note : Please note that in some cases deactivating the arrow for *.LNK files might lead to duplicate items in the Explorer context menu, as in essence, removing the “IsShortcut” effectively forces Windows to treat the shortcut as real hard file. In Windows 7, it may also cause error such as Link Removed.

 

[loathe]

What's really useless is the fact Windows still creates shortcuts with the -shortcut after the name of the program

that grinds my gears too bro

 

[reghakr]

Here's the fix:

Here's a registry hack to eliminate the -shortcut which is created when you create a shortcut:
=========================================
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer]
"link"=hex:00,00,00,00
=========================================
Make sure the word CurrentVersion does not have a space between it.
It should read CurrentVersion ,not Curre ntVersion. This forum wraps for some reason.

Copy and paste the the info inside the lines into Notepad, choose Save As, then select All Files from the drop-down menu box and type in removeshortcut.reg. Save it to your desktop and double-click on it to merge it intro the registry.

You'll need to restart for it to take effect. You'll still see the -shortcut on ones you've already created, but any shortcuts created after the registry hack will simply display the name

 

[loathe]

Here's the fix:

Here's a registry hack to eliminate the -shortcut which is created when you create a shortcut:
=========================================
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer]
"link"=hex:00,00,00,00
=========================================
Make sure the word CurrentVersion does not have a space between it.
It should read CurrentVersion ,not Curre ntVersion. This forum wraps for some reason.

Copy and paste the the info inside the lines into Notepad, choose Save As, then select All Files from the drop-down menu box and type in removeshortcut.reg. Save it to your desktop and double-click on it to merge it intro the registry.

You'll need to restart for it to take effect. You'll still see the -shortcut on ones you've already created, but any shortcuts created after the registry hack will simply display the name

Good. I will give this a try

 

[reghakr]

Because some parts of the registry structure have changed in Windows 7, some registry hacks no longer work.

However on my 32-bit machine it worked fine.

 

[loathe]

Very good. Thanks for that

 

[Windows7inSchools]

hi, i found with network diagnostics, the network indicator was showing local and internet. tried to conect through internet explorer 8 and it displayed the button to access network diag. it scaned and scaned but said it had found nothing. windows live didn't sign in. opera got onto the internet fine. the messenger test failed on key ports???

 

[mehrlicht]

if you select some folders in Explorer they become unselected when you change the sort....

 

[Nurb]

I miss being able to right click a drive or folder and select 'search'