What do you absolutely hate about beloved Windows 7?

[Andrmgic]

I hate that it took microsoft so long to include a tool like Problem Steps Recorder in the operating system. As for the OS itself, I love it.. my computer has never been a real troublemaker.. but Windows 7 has been so damn solid that I don't have any room for complaints about the OS and the job it is doing for me.

[iamwhoiam]

I don't care for the way Explorer is laid out. I would like the ability to add custom buttons (like copy to or move to).

I hate explorer, period - especially the tree view pane. Any folder deletion or renaming makes the damned thing refresh and pop back to the top of the drive listing and screws up the sort order in the right pane. It seems that it has a mind of its own and decided what it wants the user to do. Tons and tons more about explorer that irks me. Whoever wrote the code for it shouldn't be allowed to do it again.

I know they're not show stopper bugs but you'd think the file system manager/explorer should be near perfect.

[Japlabot]

Just a few things I have found since playing around with Windows 7

- Can't rename Scheduled Tasks, have to workaround by import/export or delete and create again

- Very hard to manage "Network Locations" in Network Sharing Centre (with defining which network adapters are part of which network, etc.), it seems very persistent in wanting to set it all for you.

Also not sure if I understand the point of Windows XP Mode... Windows XP Mode is only available for Professional edition and above because apparently it's "Designed to run legacy Business Applications, so Home edition users would not have a need for this feature", yet Windows XP Mode does not have deployment options. How are Businesses going to make use of Windows XP Mode? They would have to go to each PC and set them up individually.

There are other virtualization options coming for deploying Virtual PCs, but they require a separate license for Windows XP, usually under Software Assurance, so the benefit of Windows XP Mode (in that it includes a licensed copy of Windows XP for free) is lost. Also I don't think that there will be a similar solution for Terminal Server ('Windows Server 2003 mode'?), you might as well use Citrix to get the compatibility of Windows Server 2003 with equivalent functionality which can be found in Citrix.

[strelok1911]

Vista with SP3 was superfast and battery efficient, but win7 on my relatively new laptop (less then one year) is so slow (nvidia geforce is not working with flash hardware acceleration for example) and I have battery error which is not the case in Vista ... It says "Consider Replacing Your Battery". I installed Vista once again, and there is no problem in Vista. Battery on my 17" laptop can last for 2h, but in win7 it`s about 10-15. Guess Im going back to Vista till win7 SP1 or more.

Holy crap dude.

Thanks so much for this answer.

I have the same error on My Dell 1501: Please consider replacing your battery blah blah.

I thought its really the battery but seems like others have the same issue with 7 its good now :)

[Salgoth]

1. Why change Explorer and not gives users the option of having it the old way? Change for its own sake is NOT good! Reminds me of the arrogance of the new Office 2007 "Ribbon" interface - "Sorry, we took the old interface out - get over it."

2. Administrator accounts which really aren't. Try deleting the Windows.old folder and you'll see what I mean.

3. Libraries - and if you want to organize two folders differently you're out of luck!

4. Renaming / Reorganizing functions throughout the OS - again, change for its own sake is NOT beneficial!

5. Homegroups - I must have missed the announcement that there was something wrong with networking that required this abomination? Looks to me like a way to drive sales of Windows 7 by "encouraging" people to upgrade all their systems to Windows 7 so they can use "Homegroups". Looks like the change of the default font in Office 2007 to Calibri - a font owned by MS and not available without their blessing. "Let's get everybody to buy Office 2007 so they can get the same fonts as their neighboors have!"

[chrisj1968]

I think there's a huge bug in that, if I leave my laptop on say overnight to download linux distros, I close the lid and when I wake up, viola!, I get the blue screen of death. I think it's a sleep state issue so, since I run off the AC at home mostly, I keep the lappy on and never let it sleep. no problems since

[Shadrack]

I dislike all the networking dialogs. It seems like it takes more clicks for me to do anything and setup anything Networking related than it did with Windows XP.

And I really miss the right-click "repair" feature in Windows XP for wireless. Now if I'm having trouble and need to refresh my IP address or something, I have to go through 3 dialog boxes and then disable my wireless adapter and re-enable it.

Maybe there is an easier way and I've missed it.

I think there's a huge bug in that, if I leave my laptop on say overnight to download linux distros, I close the lid and when I wake up, viola!, I get the blue screen of death. I think it's a sleep state issue so, since I run off the AC at home mostly, I keep the lappy on and never let it sleep. no problems since

I think I have the same problem with my desktop. If my desktop goes into sleep mode and I wake it up, a few minutes later I get a BSOD with the message "POWER_LOAD_STATE" something... i keep trying to get a picture of it but miss it. I have sleep disabled for now. I think it is a driver issue. Although, I didn't have this problem with the Beta. Just the RC and RTM. I've installed all my motherboards (ASUS Pk5) drivers for Windows 7.

[Salgoth]

If my desktop goes into sleep mode and I wake it up, a few minutes later I get a BSOD with the message "POWER_LOAD_STATE" something... i keep trying to get a picture of it but miss it. I have sleep disabled for now. I think it is a driver issue.

Was having same problem - updated video card drivers off ATI's website and problem solved.

[Nicholas P.]

Random errors with random software are quite annoying and all appeared with RTM for me. Tried reinstalling thousands of times, both x86 and x64 have the same problems (like Messenger crashing on launch 90% of the time, audio stuttering, ..)

It sounds more like a Memory issue or even drivers (chipset's etc).

Try to update your drivers. If nothing can be fixed leave one memory module on to see how it goes.

Maybe a memory test?

No complains here either. I just love Win 7 x64.

[Salgoth]

Almost forgot:

6. The fact that the "Shrink Volume" feature is a POS!

That's since the built-in Defrag can't move ( or temporarily disable) the MFT, or Swap, or Hibernation files! I had a 320 GB hard drive with only 22 Gb of files on it after a fresh install and a couple restarts. I went to shrink the volume so I could add another partition for separation of non-system files and it told me it could only shrink the volume by 1.5 GB! MS also does not make the knowledge necessary to fix this readily available to users who are staring at a 93% empty hard drive being told they can only shrink it 0.5%

After a lot of Googling and the use of the trial version of a third party defrag I eventually was able to create a 150 GB partition for my non-system files.

[JustGeorge]

A small gripe, but I wish the preview tabs would update in real-time. For example: I have a download going and have the progress bar minimized. If I was to hover over the taskbar, it only shows the amount of progress at the time I minimized it. Whats worse is if I hover the mouse over the tab it even shows wrong when its fullscreen! The only way to actually see the current progress is to actually click it and bring it up. Explorer desperately needs tab support and the ability to pause, resume and skip files that won't copy for whatever reason.

[burnblue]

Not much really, but I'll try

WMP12

• - No Advanced Tag Editor? Seriously?
  
• - Changes made in WMP aren't automatically instantly made to the files in Explorer, and vice versa
  
• - I can't tag songs with multiple genres (I used to on WMP11), multiple albums, stuff like that. Upgrade the ID3 version
  
• - When I try to change the Contributing Artist it overwrites the Album Artist.
  
• - Various Artist albums often end up showing up as separate albums with a different Album Artist per song
  
• - Needs a taskband (taskbar toolbar) like Zune player, or even WMP11
  
• - Switching between Now Playing view and Library is awkward and shouldn't be necessary. 'Show Playlist' button was removed from Now Playing View
  
• - Album Art! Embed it into the files and stop using folder.jpg! Allow use of bigger, higher res images!
  
• - More emphasis on the folder view please
  
• - Just not as cool as WMP11
  

I think they should just combine Windows Photo Gallery, Media Player, and Media Center into one product (Media Gallery?), with robust organization tightly integrated with Libraries, and a lightweight viewer (Media Viewer?) like Picasa's photo viewer is.

Explorer

• - Quicker access to a powerful Search Builder
  
• - INDEX NETWORK DRIVES. What the heck man. My NAS folders won't work in my Libraries
  
• - The SuperBar should work like TaskBarOverLord by default.. click on an icon to activate the last window of the group, and multiple clicks to cycle. Ctrl-Click by default, pretty much.
  
• - The ability to let Search Folders be Libraries or subfolders of Libraries would be nice, though I know it's not built like that right now
  
• - More control over visual arrangement in Libraries. Stack how we want to in any folder. Have something like one type of grouping in a parent folder, another type of grouping in a subfolder, etc
  
• - Ability to move details pane to the side?
  
• - Ability to add tags to any file, using the index if the file won't support. I wanna tag videos and txt files, come on
  
• - The fact that I had to edit the registry to let Personalization use tags for grouping as it did on Vista, instead of subfolders
  
• - All that extra space in the Start Menu to the right when you're searching would make a nice preview area for files
  

That's it for now

I wish the Library had each section associated with filetypes and not by "add folder and all files would be added to the library".

You should be able to:

add a folder to a library

all files with the specific filetype be added to that library and ONLY those files.

I have folders with mp3s, movies, etc and as the Library folders work right now, they are completely useless.

Create virtual Search Folders. Since Libraries are the main Explorer interface, it would be a big confusing jump if they just ignored the concept of folder structure. In the folder under My Videos for example, there are .nfo files.. text files in my music folder, images in My Documents. You need those sometimes. I see your point though

Another one , Why the heck cant all 3 power profiles be displayed :angry:

I think it's because your computer is plugged in to the power source in that screenshot. You should be able to change these settings.

My computer esentially doesn't work with 7 (XPS M1530).

I get aero lagging whenever I close a window (during the animation) and my music stutters (This is incredibly annoying).

I have an XPS M1330, not sure why you have issues but upgrade your video driver

i hate that its so damn pretty with its glossy glass toolbar and window tops.

HaHa, funny. You hate attractiveness. This is my absolute favorite feature, Vista's Aero didn't quite pull it off.

[prz]

the neverending growing WinSXS folder from Vista

[MS Bob 11]

Why couldn't they at least fix Explorer to not count hard links more than once and show the correct size of WinSxS. On the E7 blog, they said it's ABOUT 400 MB but told to install only the hotfixes you really need to keep its size in check. WTF? Reinstalling less hotfixes is NOT a solution.

[soumyasch]

WMP12

• - No Advanced Tag Editor? Seriously?
  
• - Changes made in WMP aren't automatically instantly made to the files in Explorer, and vice versa
  
• - I can't tag songs with multiple genres (I used to on WMP11), multiple albums, stuff like that. Upgrade the ID3 version
  
• - When I try to change the Contributing Artist it overwrites the Album Artist
  
• - Various Artist albums often end up showing up as separate albums with a different Album Artist per song
  
• - Needs a taskband (taskbar toolbar) like Zune player, or even WMP11
  
• - Switching between Now Playing view and Library is awkward and shouldn't be necessary. 'Show Playlist' button was removed from Now Playing View
  
• - Album Art! Embed it into the files and stop using folder.jpg! Allow use of bigger, higher res images!
  
• - More emphasis on the folder view please
  
• - Just not as cool as WMP11
  

Explorer

• - Quicker access to a powerful Search Builder
  
• - INDEX NETWORK DRIVES. What the heck man. My NAS folders won't work in my Libraries
  
• - The SuperBar should work like TaskBarOverLord by default.. click on an icon to activate the last window of the group, and multiple clicks to cycle. Ctrl-Click by default, pretty much.
  
• - The ability to let Search Folders be Libraries or subfolders of Libraries would be nice, though I know it's not built like that right now
  
• - More control over visual arrangement in Libraries. Stack how we want to in any folder. Have something like one type of grouping in a parent folder, another type of grouping in a subfolder, etc
  
• - Ability to move details pane to the side?
  
• - Ability to add tags to any file, using the index if the file won't support. I wanna tag videos and txt files, come on
  
• - The fact that I had to edit the registry to let Personalization use tags for grouping as it did on Vista, instead of subfolders
  
• - All that extra space in the Start Menu to the right when you're searching would make a nice preview area for files
  

Just give me the bolded ones and I will be happy. With couple of changes though. In WMP, changing the album artist changes contributing artist for me. And the differing locations of switch to library/now playing button in library/now playing views is jarring. And that the window size changes between switch is too.

And for Explorer, I want easier creation and editing of search folders. Not just visual editor, but when I want to edit the query directly, I should be able to do that. And in the music library (which I set up to be in album view), I want to copy an album and paste it somewhere else. The files should get copied with the same hierarchy as in the library, regardless of the physical layout.

Also, I would like the JumpLists to be shown (with the side-pointing arrow thingy) for application search results in the start menu.

[MS Bob 11]

The fact that the "Shrink Volume" feature is a POS!

I found I could shrink maximum after disabling System Protection entirely for the OS volume, shrinking it and then turning it back on.

Edited November 6, 2009 by tuxplorer

[hdood]

1. Why change Explorer and not gives users the option of having it the old way? Change for its own sake is NOT good! Reminds me of the arrogance of the new Office 2007 "Ribbon" interface - "Sorry, we took the old interface out - get over it."

Maintaining two compatible implementations triples the amount of work. If you really believe in your design, then you should make it the only one.

2. Administrator accounts which really aren't. Try deleting the Windows.old folder and you'll see what I mean.

This isn't new though. Administrators have never had full access to everything, they've only had access to change ACLs. Windows has never had a "super administrator."

5. Homegroups - I must have missed the announcement that there was something wrong with networking that required this abomination?

It was complex (or rather is, since it's still there for those that want to use it). You and I might not think so, but the reality is that most people didn't understand it. HomeGroups aims to make it available to everyone.

[Salgoth]

Maintaining two compatible implementations triples the amount of work. If you really believe in your design, then you should make it the only one.

I would disagree. MS would not have been maintaining two implementations of Office 2007 - just the GUI front end.

This isn't new though. Administrators have never had full access to everything, they've only had access to change ACLs. Windows has never had a "super administrator."

And coincidentally it was never a problem under XP. Worse I would ever get is a file in use denial - never got told I didn't have "permission" - if users were not going to have full control then MS shouldn't have called them "administrators", they should have kept the old "power user" definition instead which would I think have been far less frustrating. :yes:

It was complex (or rather is, since it's still there for those that want to use it). You and I might not think so, but the reality is that most people didn't understand it. HomeGroups aims to make it available to everyone.

Huh? How? By requiring everybody to use Windows 7 :huh: ? Why not just make a better networking wizard?

[hdood]

I would disagree. MS would not have been maintaining two implementations of Office 2007 - just the GUI front end.

The GUI is a substantial amount of the program. Everything GUI-related would need two separate implementations, that would have to be kept updated and synchronized for every change made. This is a lot of work, and Microsoft has been bitten by this kind of thing before.

Like I said, if you truly believe in the design, it would be inappropriate to leave the old one in. Cowardly, even.

And coincidentally it was never a problem under XP. Worse I would ever get is a file in use denial - never got told I didn't have "permission" - if users were not going to have full control then MS shouldn't have called them "administrators", they should have kept the old "power user" definition instead which would I think have been far less frustrating. :yes:

Well, you'd be wrong. It was certainly possible to create files that couldn't easily be deleted in XP as well (and I think some Flash thing was that way by default). Administrators have never had the kind of power you're implying. They've never had unlimited access. They've always only had access to things with an ACL that includes the administrator group, and to change the ACL (thus giving themselves permission). This is how NT has always been. I don't necessarily disagree that there should have been a simple way to do it, and Vista/7 might use more restrictive permissions on certain objects to better protect system integrity and stability which makes it more apparent, but the core of the problem is not something that is new to Windows 7.

Huh? How? By requiring everybody to use Windows 7 :huh: ? Why not just make a better networking wizard?

The new design goes a bit further than just a wizard, but the reality is that not everything can be backported. You can't backport every new feature, because then you're left with no reason to upgrade. Of course HomeGroup is designed to be a selling point for 7. Is this a problem though? Both traditional SMB 1 and SMB 2 networking is still available.

[Chode]

Can't you open the jump list for WMP and select "Play All Music" under "Tasks"? Seems to be a lot simpler for getting WMP to play your entire library.

Also to find the current song, you can always hover over the WMP icon on your taskbar and wait a half second or so and the song name will appear above the (Aero Peek) thumbnail.

Thanks for that. There certainly is a "Play All Music" in the jumplist.

The tooltip for currently playing does work. Though it is, for want of a better word, "clunky"

[FusionGuy]

This is more of anesthetics but here is what I don't like... but maybe will get used to... maybe...

1. Start orb looks weird when mouse is hovered over. Vista looked better.

2. Icons on taskbar float to the left. There should of been an option that lets you arrange them anywhere on the taskbar. Then I would call it a Superbar.

3. Notification icons look like they are not finished. Also the Network icon does not animate anymore. Vista had an option to turn on the activity.

4. What's with the desktop Control Panel icon? Why the change? It looks out of place now. Personally I liked the one in Vista better. It had that 3D look.

5. The fade effect looks like it "snaps" in/out when opening and closing a window. Vista was very smooth.

6. Open windows have too much white in them. Vista somehow had more color and was more pleasing to the eye.

7. Gadgets don't have an align feature. Sure they snap to the edge of the screen now but it would of been nice to have an align and possibly a lock in place feature.

Looks like MS went for that minimalistic look this time around.

[Azusa]

The fact i don't have it yet.

[rawr_boy81]

I would disagree. MS would not have been maintaining two implementations of Office 2007 - just the GUI front end.

That is assuming that Microsoft has clean separation and the front end is developed in something that doesn't require in depth programming knowledge. Your position would only hold consistent if Microsoft suddenly re-wrote their whole front end using XAML which then would enable multiple front ends with one group focusing on the user visible whilst providing hooks into the backend code. Such a technology has only been introduced in the last 5 years with Microsoft Office being a lot older than 5 years old thus containing a lot more legacy code.

[Hak Foo]

Why exactly does Windows 7 not include, on disc, drivers for the bog-standard PCL5 laser printer? The LaserJet 5 which worked out of the box on every Windows iteration I've tried it on (2000, Vista-32, Vista-64)?

Instead, it's on Windows Update, with no indication of the fact.

The disc is < 4.7G, so I may assume there is room for a 1Mb driver.

[thealexweb]

Inconsistencies throughout the UI, implement ribbon throughout or not at all.