5 Things I Find Annoying About Windows 7

I want to make it clear right up front that 7 is a huge, huge improvement over XP. The good far outweighs the bad, no question. However yes, there is bad, some of which may in fact be a deal-breaker for some of you out there.

1. No full-screen DOS mode.

This started with Vista and continues on into 7. In XP and all previous versions of Windows, if you were running a non-GUI app, known to most as a "DOS program", you could ALT+Enter it and it would go full-screen for easy viewing. This feature is gone in 7.

This is the message you’ll get on any attempt to do it:

Is there a workaround to enable it? Yes there is. But it’s a huge pain to get working.

2. Confusing Control Panel.

The Control Panel in XP was easy. The one in 7 isn’t because there’s a ton more options in it. Granted, it’s nice you can control so much more stuff in the OS, but you’ll find yourself doing some digging from time to time. As I recommended in a previous article, the best way to find particular Control Panel items is simple: Don’t use the Control Panel. Search for it via the Start menu instead. For example, if you want to find Services, just click the Windows logo, search for Services and it will pop right up. You’ll find this is usually faster than fishing around the Control Panel.

3. Updating the clock automatically is still hit-or-miss.

Every four to five days your computer clock can go off-time by as much as three to five minutes. This has been a longstanding annoyance with not just Windows but with computers in general. Here we have this machine capable of computing the most complex calculations we can throw at it, but it can’t keep time? Ironic, to be sure.

In XP the solution was easy, use DS Clock. That app always works and still works wonderfully. It updates your computer time once an hour right down to the second, with tons of time servers to choose from (I normally chose MIT’s). This app also works in 7 but I specifically have not installed it whether to see if 7 could keep time any better.

The way to auto-update the time in XP is that you could program the system to update the time once every 1 to 2 weeks via time.windows.com. Half the time it didn’t work. In 7 you have more choices:

…but this is still a hit-or-miss thing. Time.windows.com didn’t work very well. Time.nist.gov didn’t work well either. The only ones that do work with some sort of regularity were time-a and time-b. I’m currently using time-b which so far is holding steady.

And yes, you can input a different time server if you wish. A list is here, but I haven’t tested any of those so I can’t say whether an alternative would work any better.

4. Adding Favorites is somewhat clunky.

One feature of the Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) is the ability to add in Favorites for folders you go to often. This is a great feature, save for one thing: The way to add a Favorite is literally hidden.

Example – I make a folder in the root of C called test, and looks like this:

Note the Favorites at top left. I want to add test as a Favorite. How do I do it? There is no obvious button to click or menu, nor does bringing up the menubar via ALT give you the option either.

How to do it is that you first go inside the folder you want as a Favorite (in this case double-click test to open it), then you have to right-click Favorites to get the option, like this:

A-ha! Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Once you click Add current location to Favorites, it’s added:

Fantastic feature and I use it often, but RIDICULOUS that it’s so hidden.

Removing a Favorite is as easy as right-clicking what you want removed, then choose to remove from Favorites.

Quick question answered: No, adding a location to a "Library" is not the same. Favorites is separated from Libraries (which you could consider a "second Favorites" list.)

5. "Basic" theme for certain apps will enable with no warning.

If you use a Windows 7 that is Home Premium or above, you can opt to use the Aero glass theme. Most of you would probably use this because it looks nice. The only real drawback is when you use an older application that isn’t compatible with Aero. What 7 does to accommodate for this is force a Basic theme automatically.

The annoyance here is that 7 will do it with no warning at all. When you open the older app, blam, Basic theme. Only after it does it will it tell you, "By the way, I had to switch to the Basic theme. Hope you don’t mind."

What 7 should do is ask you before it does it. But it doesn’t.

Granted, the vast majority of older Windows apps will not force a Basic theme, but chances are you’ll probably run into one. The first time it happens it will freak you out because you’ll think something is wrong with your Windows. Rest assured, there isn’t, but the way 7 automatically does this is something where automatic wasn’t the best way to go about it.

Got a question about 7?

Feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer. I’ve been using Win 7 RC ever since it was released and have good real-world working experience with it. I use it both as my primary OS on both my netbook and tower PC, so I can field questions on use on desktop or laptop computers.