I finally nuked Windows on my desktop and reinstalled. I was having so many issues trying to install hardware and getting software to run, that I just had enough. I was hoping to hold out to the end of the summer. Look how well that turned out. I was having read error with my OS RAID, but those have seemed to disappear with the reinstall. My webcam and new TV Tuner work properly now too.

You heard me right, new TV Tuner. I got the ASUS PHC3-150 which is working quite nicely, when I can get my wire for an antenna to get reception. Seems like the only channel that is somewhat tolerant of me not having a digital over the air antenna is NBC. But I’m picking up nice HDTV, which will work great when I get back to school and can actually record shows on TV.

I also got a new graphics card: the NVIDIA GeForce 460 GTX. I have to say that with benchmarks that I’ve done, it’s performing at least two times better than my old 9600 GSO, but I have some more stress tests to do later. Also bought bigger and quieter fans for my case. I’m still surprised on how much dust those things can accumulate.

I’ve managed, twice now as of today, to get membership discounts at Giant (the local grocery chain) without being a member. The cashiers have simply asked for my phone number and I’ve gotten the membership discount. Just a little odd, but worth noting.

Last thing before I’m out cold, I saw Despicable Me two weekends ago, and I enjoyed it very much. I wasn’t really sure what to expect before seeing it, but for all you families out there, this one is a must see. I have about 4 more movies to see this summer as well.

That’s all for now. Time for sleep.

Boot Time: So starting with the boot screen, there is actually a nice little animation, but no loading bar.  Some people will like having the animated part, but there are probably those who like the loading bar.  Personally, I like the little animation.  The user logon screen is the same, other than the background reminds me of Twitter.  I will probably end up changing it to something else Halo related.

Desktop: I am liking the new desktop changes a lot, especailly that the gadgets aren’t restricted to the Windows Sidebar.  A lot more gadgets are also supported than in the Win7 Beta.  I got all my gadgets back from my Vista OS and put them in and some actually work better in Windows 7 than they did in Windows Vista.  I like the ability to rotate desktop backgrounds and how they manage themes now.  It’s a lot more understandable and easy to change a specific part of your existing theme and to save it.  I haven’t messed with the new sound themes, but I set mine to the Windows Classic for now.  I was really unsure how I would like taskbar, but I’m getting used to it.  The program name doesn’t show up by default and you have to change a setting, but once you get it set up, it works pretty well.

Explorer: There’s a new feature called libraries that you can associate files and folders to a specific library, like pictures, music and video.  It’s really convenient if you want to have all your stuff in one place, but it’s a pain when File Dialog boxes go to the libraries instead of the actual ‘My Pictures’ or ‘My Documents’ folders.  Instead, you have to navigate to your user profile and then click on the folders.  I only wish there was an option to change that, but oh well.  The sidebar has had a lot of changes made to it as there are about 3 different categories, ranging from Favorite Places to Home Networks.  Another addition that I haven’t researched yet is the new Homegroup.  I have no idea what it does yet.  All I know is that I had to do something with it to set up media sharing for my XBOX 360.  Aside from the occasional explorer crash, I’d say the quality of explorer hasn’t changed that much.

Base OS: Microsoft did a good job at going back and reworking the system requirements.  The fact that there are less requirements for Windows 7 over Windows Vista is a big plus, and I think Microsoft will see a lot more people buying Windows 7 than they did for Vista.  Aero works a lot better and how Windows handles all the program previews is not nearly as processor intensive as Aero was for Vista.  The fact that I’m using about 2/3 memory in Windows 7 than I did in Vista at startup says a lot.  The UAC has been reworked to only notify important things instead of notifying for everything you did (which is why most people turned them off in Vista).  I have kept it on, and haven’t regreted it yet.

Windows 7 is a lot better than Windows Vista and I reccomend anyone who is running Vista to Upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as you can.  You will find it a lot faster and for some, more pretty.  For those running XP, it’s a big change on how things are layed out, but it’s a lot easier to get used to over trying to switch to Vista.