My Windows 7 Rants - Part 1

Let me start by saying that in general I am happy with the Microsoft products that I use. The problem I have with Microsoft applications are the dumb choices they make with the User Interface in their applications.


Windows Vista and now Windows 7 have the same Start Menu, and frankly I don’t get it. In general I don’t get the concept of any of the MS dialog windows. I have my monitor set to 1900 x 1600 so I can see a lot on the screen, yet MS doesn’t check the user’s display resolution and no matter the size of your screen you are stuck with a tiny dialog. To add insult to injury many dialog windows will open in the top left corner of the screen, why not center them on the screen. I don’t know about you but my focus is at the center of the display not the corners. Both the general size and position could be made an option setting that each user could set to their liking but instead MS will add something goofy like Bing.

So when I click Start Menu > All Programs I see this

Now I have to scroll through the list of applications even though the bottom of my screen is about three times the fixed length of the Start Menu window. Why not just display a window like the Control Panel with all the icons and folders so you can easily find the application you are looking for. Or at a minimum leave the All Programs display like it was in XP.

Here is another example of the tiny window syndrome, as you can see my screen would easily accommodate the entire contents of the dialog but instead I have to scroll because Windows defaults to a low resolution.

I know there are a lot of people that use the Desktop to store links, which frankly I think is idiotic, why would you want all that clutter and have to minimize any open apps just to get to the Desktop? Toolbars are a much better way to access the applications you use all the time. Which brings up my next complaint about Windows 7, Microsoft eliminated the Quick Launch tool bar, for what reason? Granted you can create your own toolbars but the Quick Launch tool bar has been around for ages and many application installers ask if you want to add an icon to this tool bar. Removing the Quick Launch toolbar just seems dumb, was it causing system crashes, was it causing code bloat, was it confusing, what? Tell me MS what was the reason to remove this item.

The next big gripe relates to window positions and sizes. Do a search on the net for “Windows 7 Remember Folder Settings” you will get about 70 million hits. Clearly there are a lot of Windows 7 users that are not happy with the MS decision to remove this setting. It was great in XP you could have your My Pictures folder show icons and your Word document folder show a list, and you could have one folder show the navigation pane while another window just showed the folder contents. Also, if you resized the window and positioned it in a different place on the screen then the default size and position and XP remembered the size and position then next time you opened the window. Microsoft chose to eliminate this feature. Again why? Was it causing system crashes, was it causing code bloat, was it confusing, what? Tell me MS what was the reason to remove this item.

So far I have to say Windows 7 seems to be better. Seems to be faster, but seems is the key here as my experience with XP was that it was very fast after I did a fresh install but after about a year it slowed down and I would have to do another fresh install.

Windows 7 has a number of new ways of accessing open windows that I am not sure I like but it could just be a matter of getting used to it. When you have an application like Word open and you have multiple documents open instead of seeing multiple buttons on the Task Bar for each Word doc you now see one icon on the task bar with another one hidden under it. When you click the icon you see a list of the documents and then you select from the list. Like I said I am not sure I like it, I never had a problem remembering which Task Bar icon was for each document I opened so I could go to what I needed quickly, now I have to click the icon then read the list of open docs then click the link. This is slower in my opinion, but maybe most users are dim witted and MS had to compensate for the majority.

Side Note: Just started a new document in Word and yep you know it, MS opened the new doc in a tiny window in the upper right corner of my screen. Not in the middle of the screen where I am working, not at a size that is appropriate for my screen resolution but a tiny window in the corner. Annoying.

I will write more about W7 as I use it, this has been my first week of use so I know there will be more to say. I believe most of it will be positive but what gripes me is the simple things that MS doesn’t get.