With 'fear and trembling' I share my experience. It *is* mine; others may well find Their World different.

As a very happy VISTA [32 and 64] user, I 'retired' my last XP rig at the first of October, to get a Super VISTA 64 with free W7 upgrade. "For fun and learning". I ordered a HP model 9150 with a blitz i7-950 processor.

When I got it and cracked the case I was surprised to find there was no fan on the i7... just a fist sized, multi-finned, heat sink. 'Oh, well', I thought and went ahead, learning. After a couple weeks of 99% perfect operation...1% fault of MINE, I was still very happy. Then I was made aware of the absolute HORROR stories about the 9150 and 9180s. OUCH! But *my* experience had been nothing like that. Still, a little fearful, and as a retired Electronics Tech that cringed at the thought of that encased heat-sink, I decided to use my W7 upgrade sooner than planned, so I could test drive W7, with an eye on turning the 9150 in and ordering a more typical PC... and only available in W7 now...from HP/COSTCO.

The W7 upgrade install went fine. As I began learning my way through the "Vista on steroids" computer, I began finding things that were more awkward than in VISTA. (1) My CANON camera download no longer worked, in spite of the auto-play set right. {CANON says it should, and it DID in Vista 64}. (2) No Quick Launch on the task bar...where I normally place a shortcut for my audio to change presets for Voice or Music. (3) Media Player opens video into a true resolution presentation... Full-Screen-able, but I seem to have to do that for every .wmv file I open. These admittedly are 'small' things, but they are OFTEN things and annoying. General Ops are as good as VISTA, though I guess I don't 'challenge' it much. Oh, after a full morning of solid operation I popped the case and was delighted to find the big heat sink was not even warm to the touch !!

Bottom line, THIS guy is going to reformat back to VISTA, and leave W7 for those now 'buying new', and hope if one of these rigs goes T.U. maybe my little irks will have been... addressed.

On point #2, I right click an application and choose "Pin to Task Bar". This places the icon there, and when clicked, the icon serves dual purpose as the taskbar icon, complete with a multiple edge indicative of several similar windows.

I can also right click the taskbar, and add a new toolbar. Choose a folder to put shortcuts in, sort of like quick launch.

For the sake of keeping the desktop clean, I'm using Libraries for my game launching now. When I click the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar, I'm presented by default with a Library collect, to which I added a folder for my gaming applications.

I cant advise on the other quirks but the quick launch toolbar has been retired as its no longer necessary, instead just drag any shortcut to the taskbar and it will ask if you want to pin it there, so basically doing the same as the old quick launch toolbar.

Thanks guys...but.... Yes, I noted the 'Pin to Task Bar', but Start > Control Panel > Realtec HD Audio Manager does not offer that choice in the RC menu. In fact, neither does the DT shortcut, and when I try to drag it up there onto my Task Bar, I get that circle with the slash that says, 'No-No'.

I'm afraid the widow maker is the Canon camera prob. I despise taking that SD gizmo out of the camera to plug into the computer. Finger oil contamination or just plain buggering up the socket puts shivers on me! I *can't* be alone on this, so WHEN Canon comes out with a W7 patch to solidly permit the use of the download cable I'll probably give W7 a whirl again.

Still....... *I* don't see what all the OOO's and AHHH's were about, with it...

[Rats]... I forgot to include that W7 wont let me Pin 'Windows Update' to the Start Menu, either. I don't like much of anything 'automatic', and routinely manually check for Updates. Baaa....

Starting with Vista, I laid back and let it do its thing almost always -- vs. XP which required tinkering. Still, Vista had weaknesses, to me -- so I manually OKd updates.

With Windows 7, everything just works and I let it have its way with updates, and a lot of other stuff I manually controlled with XP.

Sorry, you have not had so smooth a ride

Hmmm, Cannon says it should work. I had one very "intrusive" program (a file recovery program) that needed an update to work with W7. But, none of the "normal" ones had an issue (e.g. my hex editor worked fine). Is it possible to run your Cannon ap in compatibility mode? Since I simply plug my Cannon into USB and manually transfer pictures to folders, I don't have an issue.

For things that won't allow pin to taskbar, you should be able to crate a new toolbar (right click on the taskbar) create a folder and put shortcuts to those things inside.

Just tried this with my own apps and Windows Update, both worked fine. You can adjust the display of the toolbar as you wish, so no title, text, and large icons to make them match the toolbar defaults.

Thanks again, Gents.... coming from my Just Finished Reformatted VISTA-64. Maybe after the New Year I'll give 'er another go on 'Whiskey Seven'.

Allen...I got the auto-play to bring up the 'choices' window, and YES, I *could* transfer pictures to folders. But we both prefer to have the Camera Window, which, when done, opens Zoom-Browser to the folder used or created at that download. Our 'habit' dating back to the G-1's.

I didn't see anything in W7 that actually was [for me] 'bad'... just nit-pick different. With a little luck and Ogar Mung's blessing, my 'Wista' rigs will perk along...

B

To each his own. Yeah, they shuffled around quite a few things and changed several behaviors. A lot of them are annoying, some were for the better.

Btw, Bill if it matters to you at this point, can can re-enable to quick launch bar with a few simple steps. The "Pin to taskbar" option can generate a lot of clutter on the taskbar (whereas you can just shrink the quick launch bar), and only shows icons that do not immediately show what exactly is open. Turning off Window previews only compounds that problem.

Anywhoo, if Vista gets you to where you need to go, no need to upgrade

Yup.... in '10, probably. I was just, flat, CURIOUS, after all the bally-hoo from LaPorte, Gibson, Thurrott, and a few locals. I guess I was expecting............something REALLY wild! It was sorta anti-climatic, for me. But you are right, and there remain two things you can't argue with : The Wife, and What Works....