Some Apps That Just Work Better On Windows 7

Since I installed Windows 7 I’ve been loading in a bunch of apps. Some run the same as they did in XP with no noticeable improvement in speed or stability, while others appear to run much better. Here’s a few:

Mozilla Firefox

Since the introduction of version 3, the best way I can describe FF is that it "bottoms out" on XP too often.

Even with something as simple as launching the browser "cold" after system startup, it would pause for seemingly no reason. And bear in mind I use only use three add-ons that don’t tax the browser whatsoever.

And then there’s the FF’s memory-munching tendencies. On XP, the longer the browser is open, the more you see this.

On Windows 7, these issues are gone. It starts fast with the same add-ons and I can keep it open as long as I want.

OpenOffice Writer

This is a a beast-sized app and takes a while to get going on XP. And once running I would periodically see screen drawing issues where things would not land in proper places, forcing me to maximize/restore to reset it.

OO Writer still takes a bit to launch on 7 but is notably faster. And I don’t encounter any of those wonky screen draw issues either.

QuickTime

If you said, "I hate QuickTime", I can totally understand why. On XP this app has never run right. The only time people run and install QuickTime is so they can play MOV files.

Windows Media Player does have native support to play MOV files in 7, so you don’t have to install it now. But I need it because I have a Pro license for additional export abilities to other formats.

QuickTime in Windows 7 runs a whole lot better in every way. It launches better, the menus look more proper and is more stable all around.

Skype

Whenever I used Skype in XP it was a crapshoot as to whether it would work correctly or not. Most of the time it would work without complaint, but other times certain features just wouldn’t work whereas you had to restart the app over and over again.

To note, with this particular app there are only two types of experiences concerning running it on XP. It will either run fine without complaint or it will be problematic routinely. I was of the latter.

Skype in 7 breathed in a whole new life to this app. Now I can say it runs fine without complaint.

Other apps?

Out of the apps I’ve installed so far, there hasn’t been any instance where it ran worse than I did on XP. If there were, I definitely would have mentioned it, no question.

Lastly, I want to note two things:

Windows 7 will not make a bad program suddenly wonderful. If an app was written with haphazardly written code, has memory leaks and so on, 7 obviously won’t magically fix that.

Windows is well known for having strong legacy support. But if your app is ancient and didn’t work on XP, it won’t work in Windows 7 either.

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http://twitter.com/philmonger Phil M
You seriously need to actually compare 7 with Vista – your comparisons above are also true for Vista vs XP
Windows 7 is essentially a GUI service-pack for Vista, and people are eating it up in their droves because they *never actually used Vista* yet insist on bitching about it.
ergo, see Mojave : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mojave-experiment/
Also .. the app problems you mentioned above are nothing to do with XP, but your (possibly aged and/or bugged) installation being compared against a new install of 7. I could reinstall my OS right now and then pick out 50 things that work better.
http://www.tomkirkham.com Tom Kirkham
So, if it ran on XP, it runs the same or better on 7? Is that the point? The last 2 points confuses readers.
I’m just saying.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
Correct. The point is that no app you install will run any slower on Windows 7. You will either get a notable speed/stability improvement with certain apps or it will run the same as it did in XP.
Ben Morrison
No they don’t, but your failed subject-verb agreement does… (in response to Tom)
Now for why I’m really here: Good article. I’m looking forward to the improved legacy support, but I’ve found programs that simply refuse to install on neither the beta nor the RC of Windows 7. Daemon Tools and similar virtual drive programs report “known compatibility issues.” When I attempt to install them anyway, I get caught in a cycle where it tells me repeatedly to restart to complete the installation. The finished product of Windows 7 hopefully won’t have this issue.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
If Daemon Tools doesn’t work in 7 that, in a word, sucks. I haven’t tried it yet but I used that all the time in XP.
Try Virtual Clone Drive: http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html
Freeware, works in Vista therefore should work in 7 with no problems. Will be trying this out later today.

Ben Morrison
Excellent. Virtual Clone Drive seems to be working perfectly (Plus i love the sheep). Thanks for the tip. I wonder what the issue with daemon tools is… hmmm…

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
The only time I ever have legitimate problems with an app in Win 7 (assuming Vista as well) is when the app tries to write data to the Application Data folder, which by default is outside of default writing permissions. Unfortunately the app will not tell you this. If you switch the user data directory for the app over to c:\users\[windows acct] in Win7, this clears up the problem 99% of the time. I had this happen with an FTP app I was using because it was trying to write data to App Data and of course didn’t work until I switched it over to c:\users

Carlton
I have tried to run Quicktime on 6 different computers with Windows 7 on them and it will not run. On each computer and they are all in different households there is an Error 46, Could Not Load Or Find The Quicktime ActiveX Control.
I have tried all the suggestions that I could find and none have worked. Would appreciate any help. Thanks!