Don't pay for software you don't need — Part 3

[buggsy2]

I really like the idea behind this series, but I'd like to see more options--particularly in areas that are still relevant, like backups. Windows 7's backup utility doesn't offer offsite storage or realtime protection--two keys if you really value your data.

I think the point of this series is that for a very large majority of home users, there is no advantage to buying for add-on programs...Win7 utilities work good enough. And often the add-ons do harm (registry cleaners for instance).

There are always exceptions, see my post here about Agent Ransack. But I use that at work, where on occasion I have demanding search requirements that I rarely if ever have at home.

After 20+ years of Windows versions we've all become conditioned to adding on programs to compensate for Windows' deficiencies. This series is saying that with Win7, the native OS's utilities are finally acceptable for the average user.

[brrrknee]

Have you done a complete index of files. This article, and many more similar articles, from Windows Seven Forums shows how to index for better search results.

all indexed. just works from Start search, not from explorer search in 64b Win 7 ultimate.

[pcguy]

I have downloaded "Everything" search program, and it is great.
type in names, it assumes "and" concatenation, partial words can be entered, and it finds what I want.

any links to HOW to do simple searches in windows, JUST to access file names, NOT to access what is in the files,etc?

thasnk
Nick

I agree regarding Everything. It is a heck of a lot faster finding Files in Windows7 than Windows7 search is. If you ever want to search inside of files take a look at Agent Ransack. I found it again faster than Windows7 search even when just looking for filenames.

[tfrost]

I have never read so much rubbish as this article. If you want to promote VMware Workstation, you should tell people that it is NOT free and that they need to purchase XP also, but that it offers advantages over XP mode. And I am appalled that you send people to a dodgy site offering a trial download of an outdated VMware version (7.1.3, current is 7.1.4), pretending to be free software. The proper approach would be to send them to VMware's own site. You article was careless, under-researched, unprofessional, and a pale shadow of the authoritative standards to which Windows Secrets used to aspire. Stirring the pot is fine, but please stir in something useful.

[RetiredGeek]

I Windows 7's backup utility doesn't offer offsite storage or realtime protection--two keys if you really value your data.

Jonathan,

And just what stops me from taking my USB drive off site?

[alf hanna]

I am under the belief that if you want to use software based RAID 1, you need at least Pro. I have a dual eSata card, and run RAID 1 on the two drives in the external enclosure. I could not get W7 home to set it up with a software based RAID 1, and had to upgrade to get that feature. It seems to me that for simple redundancy of files (raw video files for example) that software RAID should be fine. Or am I off base on this? Perhaps you have some opinions on using non hardware based RAID? I always assume that the drivers are likely to be an issue on these non proprietary server machines, and that if I wanted true RAID that I would buy a machine that is a workstation class box with a RAID card in it. But MS should be able to do at least redundancy at a RAID 1 level, which they have been doing for some years now.

So for RAID without the hardware, Pro seems needed. It's about the same as buying a RAID card.

[buggsy2]

I am under the belief that if you want to use software based RAID 1, you need at least Pro.

Don't know about RAID1, but RAID0 works fine with Win7 Home Premium.

[Doc Brown]

As previously said, one size doesn't fit all. Particularly with XP mode. A better alternative to VMWare for a home user is Oracle's VirtualBox. However, if you want to run a copy of XP, you'll need a valid license for it. Unlike Win7 Pro which comes with a license for a virtual copy of XP. So the alternative to upgrading to Pro is not free. However, I will say that if you have a valid transferable license for XP, running it in VirtualBox is far superior to running "XP Mode". XP Mode was provided as a crutch for enterprise environments to deal with legacy applications until those apps are upgraded. It was not intended for home users to be able to run legacy games on. For home users, XP mode is generally pretty clunky and not intuitive.

[sornord]

One other thing that Win7 Pro makes VERY easy is mirrored drives. I couldn't get a BIOS-based RAID driver to work but was just a mouse click in Win7 Pro

[Ralph2]

Woody.. your "ranting" about how good Windows7 is.. is why I let my subscription lapse. There is.. an argument to be made (in my opinion) that if it were not for all the third party developers..that MS has bought out.. and incorporated the software in its latest version of Windows, Windows would not be the program it is today. As someone who seems to be on the MS payroll you forget that those third party developers hire people and need a market as well.

Here is an interesting challenge for you.. Write about ALL the companies who developed software that is now incorporated in the latest version of Windows.. and, where are those workers now?

[astro46]

i find that the search function in win7 (start>search programs and files) to be unreliable. it finds virtually nothing in my documents folder, and some programs are invisible to it. while researching how to get it to work as some people claim it works, i have found many people writing about how useless it is.

and yes, i have done the indexing setup routine, checking and unchecking the appropriate boxes to index, and rebuilt the index, several times. it just doesn't work very well. I use filelocater if i really need to locate a file.

[databaseben]

Firstly, although windows has "help and support", there isn't a method incorporated with a "how to" manual.

In otherwords, when customers want to repartition their disks, there aren't any instructions on "how to" do it.

However, third party programs like Acronis Disk Director provide a slew of help and guidance to partition the disk. In this aspect, I give Microsoft a "D", while i would give a third party provider a "A+"


Secondly, why would anyone want to buy MSOffice, when OpenOffice is "free".


There are more instances where Microsoft has failed and in investing in third party software/programs is a wiser decision.



Ultimately, Microsoft doesn't care how you use their o.s. / money maker. Windows is only a medium for managing personal data and running third party programs that are exceptionally engineered.

[sornord]

Don't know about RAID1, but RAID0 works fine with Win7 Home Premium.

RAID 0 is not much use on a typical home system...RAID1, on the other hand, is really helpful and I'm using it to build a repository of home videos from VHS/8mm tapes and family photos. Time has not been good to tapes and photographic papers.

[bobprimak]

Hi Woody!


About Microsoft Security Essentials -- I am getting very fed up with Microsoft's refusal to release Release Notes about what they are changing in MSE and when and why. They are the only major Security Company which refuses to post Release Notes anywhere, claiming that all details about MSE are "Proprietary". The new update isn't announced, and isn't being offered through MS Updates. Instead, it is being "phased in", whatever that means. I have had it with this under the covers approach to security. You can have your "free protections" -- I am officially in the market for something else which runs as a Native 64-bit Windows 7 active security program.


More disturbing is Microsoft's cavalier attitude towards its users, as expressed in the Support Forums by Rob Koch, apparently some official within the Microsoft support community:


"The first two beta steps are traditional processes and may or may not still be done with MSE in the current process. However, no one should typically 'want' this code since at that point it's still at a high potential risk of having failures in operation, possibly even including something as severe as operating system damage. So the first point that the code is truly considered 'stable' is when it is released via the official website for download, which is what you are discussing."


It's like Microsoft can't even tell us when the new updates are stable enough for critical production computers, and we aren't allowed to try to outguess them on when a Public Release is really the Stable Public Release, or some such nonsense. I'm at least waiting until MS Updates offers this program update, if it ever does.

By the way, at your own Ask Woody blog site, when are you going to give any further guidance about the June Microsoft Windows Updates, now that July's Patch Tuesday is upon us?

[bobprimak]

About outbound third-party firewalls -- I have to agree that the cryptic messages of these programs really do not provide any security benefits to most of us. I have struggled with Comodo Firewall on Windows XP Pro for years, and I'd say about ten percent or fewer of its alerts have had any meaning at all to me. And almost all of those were "warnings" about perfectly benign and normal outbound events. The new Comodo Sandbox is more trouble than it is worth, because every program update seems to send something into the Sandbox, where updaters and installers cannot do what they need to do to keep the software secure and functional.