What do you absolutely hate about beloved Windows 7?

By Fraud OS 11
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

stezo2k

Posted
Posted
I absolutely hate Windows Explorer in 7.

The navigation pane is a complete mess.

Why isn't there a toolbar button to toggle it like in XP?

Folders don't automatically collapse, so it requires too much scrolling and with so many folders expanded, it's confusing.

I don't like the details pane, it takes up too much space. I prefer the status bar, except the status bar doesn't show file size anymore, making it pretty much useless.

Details pane doesn't automatically show file size if you select more than 15 files. You have to click "Show More Details".

Why doesn't it show anything in the titlebar? I have to run a program called AeroBar just to get this.

Explorer needs tabs, especially with the new taskbar. Jumping between folders when they're all grouped together into one icon is very annoying.

Why can't you disable thumbnails for specific file types / folders? You can only disable thumbnails completely, which is not what I want. I'd like to disable folder thumbnails because when I open my music folder, it starts to tear up the hard drive loading all the album art. The only way to stop this is to disable thumbnails entirely.

got it in one :) exactly how i feel, it would be a perfect OS if it wasnt for this. its the only thing that bothers me.

still love windows 7 though

Grand Master

hdood

Posted
Posted
I just ran into this problem today. :angry:

It's frustrating. The only way around it is by putting Windows into test mode (bcdedit /set testsigning on) and signing the driver files with a self-signed certificate (or forking out the $$$$ for a certificate, not very hobbyist friendly). Better than nothing, I suppose.

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
Posted
1) Microsoft should fix up classic theme as it just doesn't look that good - it looks quite bad actually. I think this was intential to justify removing classic theme from Windows 8 - in other words - Microsoft being pushy again. Explorer.exe should have some adjustments specifically for the classic theme and not try to remove it. For the record, I don't use classic since XP came along but why not appeal to those that like it?

2) Basic Theme look horrid compared to the themes that were possible with Windows XP. Just because it ain't transparent means that it should look pretty horrid? I do not like the lack of the ability to customize 7 themes to the extent of XP.

3) Hamburger Bar should be off by default. It looks dumb and the start menu button looks out of place.

4) The customization of Windows Explorer seems to have been stripped. I think this is a step backward. I would love to remove the get help button for example. Right Clicking on the top Windows Explorer toolbar does NOTHING...

5) I had to set my CPU to be in full power state all the time so that the interface wouldn't lagg..

6) No ability to set CTRL-ALT-DEL to just open taskmanger...

7) No MKV support and some audio formats support in W7. MKV I can forgive, but others - sorry no.

8) For a system that doesn't give an impression of being a bloated pile of poo, it sure does take up enough space to be considered one. The registry is around 120MB also - O_o

9) GODDAMN ANNOYING - location not indexed - would you like to index your entire 500GB external hardrive? crud when searching for stuff outside the indexed area. Annoying. Really Really Annoying.

10) chkdsk - the assumption here is that if one gets the chkdsk bug then the drivers will fix it. Microsoft could have assumed that this might not happen and included the ability to use old chkdsk.

1. I can agree. Classic was terrible looking in Vista and still is in 7, but I doubt Microsoft put much stock into it. It would've been nice if they at least made it look like XP's Classic but we can't all win.

2. Windows 7 is still in its infancy. When it hits GA and more and more themers get their hands on it, I'm sure we'll see a plethora of 7 themes.

3. Hamburger bar? If you mean the new taskbar, then I disagree wholeheartedly. The new taskbar is one of the best additions to the Windows UI.

4. I can see how this would be a pain for those who prefer a minimalistic Explorer interface, but it doesn't bother me at all.

5. This one doesn't even make sense. Unless your computer can't handle Aero or for some reason you disabled DWM, 7's interface is GPU rendered, so we didn't have to deal with the tearing effects of having a CPU rendered UI like in XP.

6. Then use CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

7. What audio formats? I haven't had an issue playing any audio formats, ranging from simple WAV to FLAC. If you don't have MKV support, then download the https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=announce&f=12&id=11 codec pack for Windows 7.

8. This is a redundant argument. 7 is no bigger than Vista, an OS that precedes 7 by almost 3 full years. In 2006, Vista was heavy enough to be considered bloated on the machines being sold at the time, but the machines that will be preloaded with 7? Hardly. If you were hoping for it to be like XP and be about 3 GB in installation size, then you're delusional. That was 2001, this is 2009. If you or your computer can't keep up, that's your problem.

9. Then index it?

10. Who cares? Who has the need to be running chkdsk all the time? This is a non-issue.

Grand Master

Subject Delta

Posted
Posted
By design, it gave me low memory errors.

By design, it can't free up memory when needed by other applications.

By design, it crashed my computer

By design, it disallows many users from using it.

By design, it is a valid reason to stay with Vista or XP where you can play Crysis while chckdsk is running.

By design, it was a mistake, a bad one at that.

Seriously, it is actually better for Windows 7 to blame it on the drivers then to say that it was "by design" responsible for low memory errors/ scripts not running because of low memory / icons dissapearing because of low memory / etc. It by design fails at resource management.

If it crashed your computer, then your computer is at fault. And seriously, you play games whilst you are running disk checks?

You make it sound like a big problem, how often do you even run chkdisk with the /r command?

Guest xiphi

Posted
Posted
By design, it gave me low memory errors.

By design, it can't free up memory when needed by other applications.

By design, it crashed my computer

By design, it disallows many users from using it.

By design, it is a valid reason to stay with Vista or XP where you can play Crysis while chckdsk is running.

By design, it was a mistake, a bad one at that.

Seriously, it is actually better for Windows 7 to blame it on the drivers then to say that it was "by design" responsible for low memory errors/ scripts not running because of low memory / icons dissapearing because of low memory / etc. It by design fails at resource management.

Holy crap. You play games while chkdsk is running? I bet you're the type to swap out cards while the system is rebooting hoping you can beat the BIOS in time (don't try this kids).

I think it's better for you to just not use computers at all. No one in their right mind would use their pc while chkdsk is running. Especially to play games like Crysis.

Going through a set of pictures in Windows Picture Viewer is very slow (when it wasn't in Vista). I'm guessing(/hoping) it's just a bug.

Probably just a driver issue. It's very fast for me.

Grand Master

-KJ

Posted
Posted

Windows 7 feels lighter, and more 'breathable' thanks to its use of spacing. So far an excellent experience on my XPS m1530.

However, I just ran into the seemingly common Superbar icon-go-blank (that paper icon) bug. But unlike others, I was able to unpin and repin to see the icon come back. Perhaps this was the fault of the application? It is a Java app if that makes any difference.

Grand Master

Udedenkz

Posted
Posted
1. I can agree. Classic was terrible looking in Vista and still is in 7, but I doubt Microsoft put much stock into it. It would've been nice if they at least made it look like XP's Classic but we can't all win.

2. Windows 7 is still in its infancy. When it hits GA and more and more themers get their hands on it, I'm sure we'll see a plethora of 7 themes.

3. Hamburger bar? If you mean the new taskbar, then I disagree wholeheartedly. The new taskbar is one of the best additions to the Windows UI.

4. I can see how this would be a pain for those who prefer a minimalistic Explorer interface, but it doesn't bother me at all.

5. This one doesn't even make sense. Unless your computer can't handle Aero or for some reason you disabled DWM, 7's interface is GPU rendered, so we didn't have to deal with the tearing effects of having a CPU rendered UI like in XP.

6. Then use CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

7. What audio formats? I haven't had an issue playing any audio formats, ranging from simple WAV to FLAC. If you don't have MKV support, then download the https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=...;f=12&id=11 codec pack for Windows 7.

8. This is a redundant argument. 7 is no bigger than Vista, an OS that precedes 7 by almost 3 full years. In 2006, Vista was heavy enough to be considered bloated on the machines being sold at the time, but the machines that will be preloaded with 7? Hardly. If you were hoping for it to be like XP and be about 3 GB in installation size, then you're delusional. That was 2001, this is 2009. If you or your computer can't keep up, that's your problem.

9. Then index it?

10. Who cares? Who has the need to be running chkdsk all the time? This is a non-issue.

2) It is kinda that it is harder to customize compared to XP... XP themes didnt feel as "plain" as non-aero 7 GUI.

3) I would like #3, Mustard, Medium, Tots Please, and Dr. Pepper No Ice. Thank You. Try the hamburger bar when all your application have the same generic icon. Or try the hamburger bar if you have very bad visual memory.

4) I just want the ability to add or remove items that was present in XP.

5) Well it lagged before I did that. Resizing a window takes a lot of CPU. Feature? I hope not.

6) Step backward from XP.

7) I think it was vobris or MTS, I don't remember now. As you can see MKV files require 3rd party addons.

8) It sure would be nice. Faster install (less files to copy / extract / whatever ), more space for porn. A win win.

9) Why? Indexing by default is limited, which is very good indeed, but Microsoft forgot the "shut the hell up and stop annoying me" button when searching My Computer for example.

10) It is not a major issue, but a valid reason for keeping an older OS around.

If it crashed your computer, then your computer is at fault. And seriously, you play games whilst you are running disk checks?

You make it sound like a big problem, how often do you even run chkdisk with the /r command?

And you just said that it is not a driver issue? I can quote you on that.

I use the computer while chkdsk is running, which includes anything not related to the partition that the chkdsk is scanning at the current time. After all, chkdsk WAS (not anymore as it seems) a non-resource-intensive low-RAM process, thus intensive applications such as but not limited to games can be run (as long as they are not on the other partition on the drive that is being checked because then - it is SLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW).

Holy crap. You play games while chkdsk is running? I bet you're the type to swap out cards while the system is rebooting hoping you can beat the BIOS in time (don't try this kids).

I think it's better for you to just not use computers at all. No one in their right mind would use their pc while chkdsk is running. Especially to play games like Crysis.

Old Chkdsk was pretty much an idle process that removes on drive from access leaving you being able to do whatever in the meantime that does not involve the drive being checked. You have some weird misconception here... comparing hardware damage with software damage - damage can only result from an accidental disconnection of said hard drive which has nothing to do with software that I am running - it is like comparing a virus that deletes your porn with smashing your computer with a hammer.

Crysis can run without any problem. Not sure if I loose any FPS though with background processes. It is stable with the 1.21 patch, now before the 1.1 or 1.2 patch x64 crysis crashed :(

Community Regular

Access Denied

Posted
Posted
It's frustrating. The only way around it is by putting Windows into test mode (bcdedit /set testsigning on) and signing the driver files with a self-signed certificate (or forking out the $$$$ for a certificate, not very hobbyist friendly). Better than nothing, I suppose.

Thank you. :yes:

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Going through a set of pictures in Windows Picture Viewer is very slow (when it wasn't in Vista). I'm guessing(/hoping) it's just a bug.

And WL Photo Gallery is even slower. It takes a long time to open my huge collection of photos upon first startup and even longer to start a themed slideshow. Live Mail is also slow compared to Windows Mail.

Btw there seems to be a thread here about RTM bugs and general suggestions and feedback. Lots of users seem to be unhappy with the non-customizable Explorer.

Grand Master

Subject Delta

Posted
Posted
And you just said that it is not a driver issue? I can quote you on that.

Of course you can, because I know it was not a driver issue. And given your evident lack of knowledge about Windows 7, I doubt you have an explanation about how it can be a driver problem when it occurs on every chipset available?

Community Regular

dewaaz

Posted
Posted

I actually tried out Win7 today on my main rig today, and I don't like it so much. Windows Explorer is so much more painful to use than in XP when manipulating files. In XP, everything is neat, tidy and intuitive. In 7, it seems like they've moved things around JUST so they can have something different to put out.

And what is with libraries? Good for some who have files everywhere, but not for people who have all the documents/pictures/etc. in one location. I have 2 "Images" folders - one for Photos (camera photos), and one for random Pics plucked from the web. I like each folder sorted differently - "by Name" for Photos (in folders organised by year); and "by Date Modified" for Pics (I like to see the pics I've most recently saved).

With XP, they both sit in a My Pictures folder (which I renamed Pictures), and everything is just dandy. But with Win7, can I have different sort methods in my library? NO. Horrible. It seems libraries are ONLY useful if you have your data scattered in different locations, and only if the pictures/videos/whatever are EXACTLY the same (have the same sort method) - sux0r. Couldn't we at least have the option to disable libraries? And then the start bar points to libraries when you click on Pictures or Documents. Arg!

The superbar concept sounds exciting, but isn't so practical for day to day use. How do you know what apps you have open EASILY, if you have more than one instance of it? I mean at a glance - if you don't want to actually take the time to mouse over the app icon. You can select to "not combine" apps yes, but I'm sure this isn't the way the superbar was intended to be used.

Also, when you DO have more than one instance of an app open, what do you see? A little line on the side. THAT is how you are supposed to know more than once instance of an app is open. At least do something more intuitive, like how XP grouped apps (with a number so you could easily tell). If you're in a rush during the day using your PC, it's not so easy to see that little line to let you know another instance of an app is open.

Last gripe: What is with the start menu? What is it's purpose, since the superbar has taken pride of place? I understand the superbar has the most used apps, and rarely used apps get hidden way - but then why have the initial "commonly used apps" pane (you know, where apps go when you click "pin to START MENU")? Defeats the purpose of pinning apps to the startbar.

I feel the superbar has potential, but it has to be thought out properly. At present, it's merely a glorified Quick Launch toolbar, and doesn't fit well with the way the Start Menu has been designed.

And please, no hating. I WANTED to get off XP, and was really excited to get on to using Win7. But certain things just don't feel right. My impression of it is that it's been a case of "hey that's a cool idea, let's add that!" and not much thinking about actual daily use. But that's just me. XP is just so much simpler to use. For those who don't agree, look at this screenie I made of my XP a while ago here and tell me if you can get much simpler than that - while STILL retaining the same functionality. Why couldn't they keep everything neat and tidy like XP? :(

Reluctantly, I'll be going back to XP - the strange libraries function and difficulty in using Explorer are dealbreakers for me. Am I the only one? :s

Grand Master

Udedenkz

Posted
Posted
Of course you can, because I know it was not a driver issue. And given your evident lack of knowledge about Windows 7, I doubt you have an explanation about how it can be a driver problem when it occurs on every chipset available?

It is a non-issue with XP, 2003, and XP x64 - thus it is either a Windows 7 bug or a driver issue. This laptop was made for XP or Vista.

Veteran

Darrian

Posted
Posted

I hate that Windows 7 isn't free. Sheesh, I can't believe this thread is still kicking!

@dewaaz: There's nothing wierd about libraries once you get used to them, but they certainly shouldn't make you go back to XP. There was a thread a while back that instructed how you could disable them if you're willing to do a little work. If you wanted you could actually make Windows 7 look and function almost identically to your old desktop. Obviously you were willing to put in the work to make XP work for you, I don't understand why you can't do the same for 7.

Rookie

TerrorSpawn

Posted
Posted

Win 7 (RTM) keeps my GPU fan running high after I play a 3D game. Even hours afterwards, the fan still is running high and is only solved with a restart. It does not do this on XP, Vista or Linux - the GPU fan spins down shortly after exiting the game on these operating systems. Needless to say it was enough to send me back to XP. I'm not a huge fan of Explorer in Win 7 either, especially the status bar and how it doesn't display drive / folder space or size!! Various other small but quite annoying issues that were carried over from Vista too.

Community Regular

dewaaz

Posted
Posted
Personally, I do have data spanned across 4 different hard disks so I find the libraries useful

Yes fair enough, but they could have at least made it optional.

I think my biggest issue is that a library containing multiple folders can't have different view settings for each folder. That really sucks. I mean the way MS has set it up, they assume ALL the contents of a particular library are to be treated the same way. But if you have camera photos, for example, and miscellaneous pics (two separate folders) in the Pictures library and want them to have different view settings, you can't.

On another note: How do you add a specific FOLDER to a library? When I try to add a folder, it only adds the CONTENTS, not the folder itself :(

Anyone know how to do this?

Contributor

CL114C0777498D

Posted
Posted

start button looks wrong/not special/awkward

no detachable toolbars (new toolbars are stuck on the taskbar)

windows live messenger integration

more clicks to switch tasks (in default/best-looking mode)

now that i can pin items to the taskbar, i don't see the purpose for the programs tray in the start menu. i want to reduce it to just the right-hand pane (and somehow retain the "all programs"/search functionality)

preview pane should be a setting remembered by each folder, not persistent on/off. it's a poor implementation of its function, apple quick-preview (spacebar) is much much much more useful, intuitive and practical.

why is flip3d still there? can't imagine a more useless way to switch windows. it's taking up the room an actually effective function could exist in.

basic theme still looks ****.

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The lesser variant has the slightly weaker N305 CPU and iGP, and 8 GB less RAM, although it also costs $100 less than the top variant we are testing today. In addition, these new F4-425 Pros are shipped with the as-yet-unreleased TOS 7 beta. So what is TOS 7 exactly? During the device initialization, you are warned not to use it in a production environment, which we'll get into later. My contact told me that TOS 7 exits beta today, June 23. The clear difference with the F4-425 Plus is that it contains the more powerful N350 Intel CPU released in the first quarter of 2025, with support for DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1, LPDDR5 (4800), DDR5 and DDR4, and a max TDP of just 7W. It also supports AV1 decoding, as well as H.264, VP8, VP9, H.265 (8 bit), and H.265 (10 bit). The different capabilities in the Alder Lake-N (and Twin Lake) series are listed below. Processor E-cores L3-cache Turbo clock GPU GPU-clock TDP Intel N355 8 6 MB 3.9 GHz 32 EUs 1.35 GHz 9 W Intel Core 3 N350 3.9 GHz 1.35 GHz 7 W Intel Core i3-N305 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 9 W Intel Core i3-N300 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz Intel N250 4 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 6 W Intel Processor N200 3.7 GHz 0.75 GHz Intel N150 3.6 GHz 24 EUs 1 GHz Intel N97 1.2 GHz 12 W Intel Processor N100 3.4 GHz 0.75 GHz 6 W The CPU is part of the Alder Lake-N series that sits just below the top N355 offering, albeit with an impressive TDP (less than the N355 and N305) for the features it offers. It is designed for low- powered systems and entry-level laptops. As before, we are seeing another NAS with an acceptable, if not great, amount of RAM. It should be noted that the F4-425 Pro only has one SODIMM slot, so if you are planning to upgrade the already 16GB included in this NAS, it will have to be on one module of Single Rank DDR5. As a reminder, up until a couple of years ago, it was commonplace to only get 2 or 4GB max on a flagship Synology or QNAP home NAS. Ever since the likes of TerraMaster and more have entered the market with ample RAM sizes included in their NAS offerings, it has gone a long way in forcing the hands of the traditional makers to up their game a bit. Before we dive in, you can view the different SKUs released so far since the 2025 series launched for Home and SMB users, with the most important specifications listed along with the MSRP listed below: SKU CPU Cores Memory Link Price F2-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $249.99 F4-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $369.99 F2-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $399.99 F4-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $569.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N305 8 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $699.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N350 8 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $799.99 The F2 in the product name means two 3.5-inch HDD bays, where F4 is four 2.5-inch bays. First impressions Like with the F8 SSD Plus packaging, the F4-425 Pro is using the upgraded box materials, which certainly look better than a plain cream colored box with TERRAMASTER stamped on the sides. The box gives off a premium feel and certainly adds a positive vibe to first impressions. In the box F4-425 Pro TNAS device Power adapter LAN cable (CAT 6) Quick guide [full online guide] Limited warranty notice Screws (for HDD bays) Stickers 2x rubber feet (spares) Design As has become kind of common with TerraMaster, certainly in the last three years, the 2025 F2- and F4-series have received a makeover that really adds to the premium feel of the NAS. Gone are the plastic shells, now replaced with an aluminum outer shell, with the front and back retaining the textured black plastic we saw on the 2024 models. Some key differences from the 2024 series include placing the power button back on the front, along with the addition of a Type A USB port. It's not much bigger or heavier either; in fact, it weighs 500 grams less than the F4-424 Pro. It's slightly shorter in height and depth (length), but only by a few millimeters. The front and back do retain a similar style to the 2024 series. On the front, you just have your four bays along with LED indicators for the HDDs and power. The welcomed change is having a USB port on the front for quick access, should you need to back up a USB drive, for example. Around the back, from top to bottom, you have a reset pin hole, an HDMI port, two 5 GbE Ethernet ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type A ports with a Type-C port below them, and a connector for the barrel port power source. Again, there's no Kensington Security Slot present, which is a bit of a shame considering it's a data storage device. Left side Right side On the left and right of the F4-425 Plus, it is completely smooth aluminum with a TERRAMASTER logo printed on both sides. On the bottom, there are some holes to assist ventilation. Unlike with the F4-425 Plus, the rubber feet did come unstuck during the teardown, which was also an issue on the 2023 series. It seems like other customers have lodged complaints about them, as TerraMaster now includes two spare rubber feet in the box, in case any of the preinstalled ones are lost; however, this seems more like a papering over the cracks solution rather than actually fixing the issue with better quality rubber stand-offs. There are also four screws that must be removed in order to access the internals. Teardown Upon removing the four screws, you can slide the device out of its shell to reveal the three NVMe M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 X1) and single SODIMM slot connector, which is populated with a single 16GB DDR5 4800MT/s module. I added a couple of MP44Q M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs (2 x 4TB) that can be availed on Amazon for $492.99 that TEAMGROUP supplied us with, along with a 250GB 970 Evo Plus that my colleague Chris White sent me by accident and let me keep a few years ago. As I have said in previous reviews, TerraMaster support staff actually encourage installing whatever you want on their devices, and happily, the USB port for the bootloader is now easily accessible should you want to use it for your own flavor of NAS OS, such as TrueNAS, Unraid, or maybe Xpenology. Yes, because TerraMaster has now switched to a 256 GB NAND Flash card (3rd photo above) for the TOS bootloader. This is also replaceable, but you can also simply add a USB bootloader, access the BIOS, and tell the F4-425 Pro to boot from that instead of the Flash card. Unlike earlier iterations of TerraMaster NAS, you don't have to tear this down any further than the four screws on the outer shell in order to be able to access and manage the memory, NVMe slots, and USB bootloader. However, if you need to access the NAND Flash card or CMOS battery, then eight more screws (four on each side) need to be removed in order to take off the rear panel with the 120mm fan, and then the motherboard can be lifted off and removed from the SATA connector PCB. There's also no risk of threading the screw holes, because the four that hold the shell in place are metal on metal, while the screws that hold the rear panel on do screw into plastic. Either way, like last time when I reviewed the F4-425 plus, I was just happier to see larger screws being used. Overall, it follows some great improvements in build quality from the 2024 series and earlier. Setup BIOS The F4-425 Pro includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to the USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to a USB stick with an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Setup is roughly the same as the F4-425 Plus, along with the new TOS 7 setup dialogs, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-425 Pro can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local. If that doesn't work, you can use the local address assigned via DHCP, which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a TerraMaster NAS finder. The setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full below: TOS 7 Initialization As you can see, TOS 7 received a new coat of paint, and the initialization requires fewer interactions. Happily, TOS no longer decides to throw all disks into the same Storage Pool; 2.5-inch HDDs are allocated into Storage Pool 1. This is because two of the HDDs are allocated to hold system files. Previously (with TOS 5 and 6), if you pre-installed HDDs and SSDs, they were all placed into Storage Pool 1, even if you did not select the SSDs for inclusion during the onboarding. TOS 7 Setup On first boot, there is a tutorial and some steps to take to harden the TNAS (or not), which includes an immediate update from TOS 7.0.0616 to 7.0.0706, of which the changelog screenshot is also included in the above gallery. It must be noted that the Security Advisor still contains (in my opinion) a pretty major bug in that if you enable SPC and then do the required rebooting, the Security Advisor still says that SPC is disabled. TerraMaster provided the following statement about it: It is disappointing that TOS 7 has been in beta since December, and this OOBE issue is still there. Shutdown option has moved Instead of a Taskbar option to manage the NAS, all of these options have been moved to the Control Panel, initially I did not see it and my contact had to show me how to power off the F4-425 Pro. To logout, reboot or power off you can find those controls at the top right of the Control Panel. It is also possible to power off through the TNAS mobile app beta. Storage setup Above, you can see the steps I took to create the Storage Pools and Volumes. I made a second Storage Pool using TRAID on two 4TB MP44Q SSDs (which, in this instance, is similar to RAID 5), and finally, I added the 250GB 970 Evo Plus drive as Hyper Cache on Storage Pool 1 in Balanced mode. Registering If you decide not to lock down the F4-425 Pro in Security Isolation Mode (blocking all external connections), then you could set up a TNAS device ID through the Remote Access setting in the Control Panel (which must be unique). This works in combination with an online TerraMaster account. TOS 7 TNAS Online Creating a TerraMaster account and linking the device online activates the warranty when you provide proof of purchase and the serial number, but it also gives you access through the TNAS mobile app, which allows you to complete certain operationsб including powering off and restarting the NAS remotely. A TNAS mobile update is required to gain access through TOS 7, and this is provided on the TerraMaster website, as it is not yet on Google Play. The app is evolving all the time and has made leaps and bounds since I first started reviewing TerraMaster devices almost three years ago. It is not quite there yet if you are comparing the likes of Synology, which, sadly, a lot of users online do all the time. OpenClaw setup One of the main selling points of the new F4-425 Pro is the inclusion of OpenClaw, with TerraMaster claiming that it is "powered by the world's first AI-native TOS 7 OS, supporting local-first smart workflows and independent data control." However, I immediately ran into problems trying to enable OpenClaw. After waiting 20 minutes at the "Enabling" message of the OpenClaw app following installation, I decided to do some searching online and discovered that it couldn't complete the installation process due to SPC being enabled, which is something TOS 7 immediately recommends to be enabled on first boot. SPC for NAS (TOS 7) is basically the same principle as UAC in Windows; it blocks executables from being launched by non-Super Users. After reaching out to my contact about these issues, I received the following response: Anyway, this only became clear when I closed the OpenClaw app screen and clicked on the OpenClaw icon in the taskbar; that is when I saw the message about disabling SPC. I think, due to the fact that this is a requirement, this should be a prompt during the installation process, not when closing the App Market and then trying to launch OpenClaw. There's also no 'Getting started' guide for people like me who have never used OpenClaw. I tried to add an LLM and discovered the tutorial led nowhere. That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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