Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Beta
5 very basic things Windows 7 still isn't any good at
by Lee Mathews Nov 10th 2008 at 10:00AM
While I'm generally pleased with Windows 7 so far, I've found myself shaking my head every now and then. In some instances it's obvious that Microsoft has been paying attention. Other times, not so much.
I've noticed five issues so far that, though minor, leave me wondering if Microsoft is going to be able to pull off a really great OS by its projected mid-2009 release.
.ZIP Files
Windows 7 still takes forever to extract files from a zip archive, which leaves me dumbfounded. An 18.4mb zip containing only two files took me almost 23 seconds to extract using the right-click context menu's extract all option. Using 7zip's context menu extraction, the same operation took less than three seconds.
Zip files have been supported natively since Windows XP. Seven years later, there's still no improvement. Third party applications are so much better at handling .zip files it makes me wonder why Microsoft bothered adding support in the first place.
FTP Support
Is it really too much to ask that a Network Place I've created actually behave like a local drive? Plenty of free applications that I use can do it with no problem, so why not Windows? When I tried to edit a text file on my FTP server, Windows 7 tried to open it in Internet Explorer - which instantly had a fit of colossal proportions. Multiple windows spawned and re-spawned when I closed them. Ultimately, killing the iexplore.exe process put a stop to it.
Shouldn't an FTP location behave like any other network place, such as an SMB share? If Windows can't handle that, maybe FTP shouldn't be an option.
Adjusting the Clock
This used to be so easy, and now it's not. Now when I double click, the pretty little calendar/clock applet appears and hides. Why? I understand that my clock is supposed to synchronize automatically, but what if it doesn't? With XP, double clicking the time took me directly to a screen that allowed me to change it. Now it takes a right click, left click, and then a click on another button.
Well, at least the UAC prompt is gone. Yay.
Network Connection Repair
Once again, this was such a simple operation in XP. Right click the system tray icon, choose repair, and wait a few seconds. It worked well, too. Vista introduced the god-awful diagnose and repair system. It takes forever and it hasn't solved any additional issues for me - and Windows 7's version is just as bad.
If diagnose is here to stay, maybe the solution is to present both options right up front. I for one would be quite happy to just have the old repair option back.
Managing Network Connections
The connect to menu in XP is configurable, and I like being able to expand it. Vista dropped that option, and it's still gone in Window 7. I also can't right click a system tray icon and view all connections like I could in XP. I've got to go through the network and sharing center first.
It's needlessly overcomplicated. Getting rid of little conveniences like this is no way to improve an operating system.
Am I alone in this? If you're running Windows 7 do these things - or other little things - frustrate you, too? Share with your fellow readers in the comments!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kuroyume said 10:21AM on 11-10-2008
only issue i have with Win7 is that unless i unplug my usb mouse and turn off wireless and bluetooth, it will randomly wake up from suspend... which can get annoying if, like me, you use suspend instead of shutting down...
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Unknown said 10:21AM on 11-10-2008
Adjusting the Clock:
You single-click to make the clock appear, and there should be a "Change date and time settings..." at the bottom. This is the same behavior, iirc, in Vista and Windows 2008.
So it's 3 clicks or so, but all left-clicks.
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Mysterius said 9:14PM on 11-10-2008
Lee, most of your points are good, but you're completely off on the clock.
How often do you change the system time, versus checking the calendar? I find the clock/calendar applet much more useful than an option to adjust the time.
Especially now that the synchronization actually works for me.
The other points about zip, devices, and especially the irritating "diagnose" option that replaced the "repair" option, are valid IMO.
Todd said 10:27AM on 11-10-2008
#6 Value.
Compare Vista's $199.99 retail, in the box, non-upgrade price to Ubuntu's $10.00. Inferior and costs $189 more!
http://shop.canonical.com/product_info.php?products_id=381
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Eli Gundry said 4:03PM on 11-10-2008
Add the hours wasted trying to figure out the damn thing, then multiply by the number of installers I have to compile, drivers I have to find, and lord help me if I can't connect to the internet. Then I realize all the time I wasted on the advice of a *nix fanboy actually cost me more than just sticking with what I know.
I charge 8 bucks an hour when I'm on the clock. If I spend 24 hours learning how to use Linux in a fashion similar as I use Windows, I actually lost more money than if I had used Windows. And even then, I know Windows better than I will ever know Linux, and I've used Kubuntu for two years and I can't tell you one thing it does better than XP, or even Vista, for that fact.
Do you think posting about how awesome Linux is actually helping the Linux community? No, it makes you look like an elitist slob. And what would anyone pay for Ubuntu? Sounds kind of like an anarchy meeting.
Todd said 5:16PM on 11-10-2008
Mr. Gundry,
Based on your comment, I ask that you continue to use Microsoft's products and never switch to Ubuntu.
I also encourage you to speak for all of Microsoft, being representational of what someone who uses Windows is like.
Thank you.
Mysterius said 9:19PM on 11-10-2008
Pay for Ubuntu? If you're going to bash "M$", then at least do it right.
Though if you took a break from Microsoft-related articles completely, that might be even better. Think of some fresh comments, as you're getting stale.
Joey said 11:44PM on 11-10-2008
Sorry, but I just can't help but laugh at how your ass got handed to you.
m0deth said 10:38PM on 12-27-2008
Wow, Eli...way to show you actually haven't touched ubuntu. I've counted the steps to do all this on at least two dozen setups so far....and no matter what, Windows(insert confusing branding here) was always more of a pain in the a$$ in more ways than one.
"figure out how to use it" - what's to figure? click menu, launch app needed, use it...this sh1t isn't rocket science...but then, you get $8 an hour so...maybe I'm expecting too much
JEF said 10:34AM on 11-10-2008
I disagree about setting the clock. I like the way vista handles a click on the "time". Usually when I would click in that area it would be to bring up a calendar so I could see what day of the week a certain date fell on.
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SomeGuy said 10:45AM on 11-10-2008
And just how often is it required to change the clock?
It seems a bit silly to be basing your opinion of a whole OS on how hard it is to do a task that most people NEVER need to do and even if you do need to do it you do ONCE.
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Lee Mathews said 10:47AM on 11-10-2008
Did you happen to read my other post this morning? These are 5 annoyances. By no means am I enough of a simpleton to base my opinion of Win7 or any OS based on something like its clock.
Superevil said 11:36AM on 11-10-2008
I thought WinME had zip file support? Or are we still pretending like it was a bad dream?
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TheWanderer said 10:54PM on 11-14-2008
**** man, it wasn't a bad dream?.......
Bryan Price said 11:43AM on 11-10-2008
I think I'm going to wait til I can actually download it from MS and see what it's like.
Being a new user to Vista (my old XP laptop has crapped out on me, and my son gave me his Vista laptop, while he has gone the route of Apple, and then wonders why nobody can give him answers on his questions...), I find I like that clicking on the time gives you a calendar. I was going to install Chameleon Clock just to have that capability, and now I don't have to have yet one more thing running on this thing. And I just remembered I didn't have this set up to automatically since to an NTP server. Done. Another useful reason for running Chameleon Clock, that's easier to set up NTP.
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Jon said 11:47AM on 11-10-2008
Interesting. I actually always hated XP's network connection repair option. It would usually work if your network connection just got in some weird state and needed to be refreshed, but in my experience it would always take forever and would typically lock up a good portion of the system while it was doing whatever it was doing. I found that opening a command prompt and typing "ipconfig /renew" was usually faster and less invasive. Then I can also check my IP address and ping a server or two just to make sure things are working right. Obviously not an option for anyone not comfortable opening a command prompt, but is it worse than needlessly locking up the system for 30 seconds while the IP address is renewed?
P.S. I also greatly prefer Vista's clock. I love the pop up calendar. I would go the "Change date/time" screen in XP all the time just to get a simple calendar. I was always afraid I was accidentally going to hit OK instead of cancel and change the date.
P.P.S. I haven't noticed any slowness with Windows' zip utilities vs. 7-Zip or others. I'm not a huge zip person though (I don't sit around and open zip files all day, but one or two zip files per day isn't unusually for me), so maybe I just haven't noticed the difference. I'm sure even a small difference would be very noticeable if you're doing it a lot.
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Alex said 12:28PM on 11-10-2008
Nick picking Window 7 isn't going to cut it .
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Max said 5:05PM on 12-15-2008
I think we've all been beta testing Windows 7 since Vista came out....
LT73 said 1:22PM on 11-10-2008
Thanks for writing this...
It's important that we contrast the positives of W7. M$ isn't perfect, but they should aim to be.
An often overlooked feature of quality software is 'ergonomics'. If it takes 3 clicks to change the time in W7, that's 2 clicks too many.
As far as the .zip files are concerned, I would imagine that M$ assumes that if you're someone who cares about the speed of extracting a .zip file, then you probably already have the app to do so.
Lastly, I agree with the Network Connections. I cannot imagine how a Company like M$ would ever take a step backwards in terms of usability, but M$ did it. Please bring back 'right-click to network connections', just as we had in XP.
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Casao said 4:02PM on 11-10-2008
Using M$ invalidates your arguments, of which only one (network connections) was any good. At no point do I want clicking on the time to change it, that's utter shit. Three is fine, two might be a little better but it's also worth cleaning up a bit.