I'd like the features of the shareware app. 'Startup Cop Pro.' to make it much easier to selectively deactivate startup programs in Windows. Before I learned of this program and accessed it through PC Magazine's site (which required a paid membership to download), I tried using Window's Vista Home Premium's control panel tools, and found them unintuitive and underpowered. So, that would be the big thing for me.

Richard.

IE n WMP
never use them anyway

I wouldn't want to add anything to the OS. I like to install and customize stuff later.

On a standard system put a limit to applications that can start on startup. Allow it to be changed in configurations but limiting this right off the bat would keep people who arent computer savvy from installing 20 things that start on startup since they most likely would never go into config and look to change it.

Too often to I go to friends houses or even their parents listening to them talking about how slow their computer is running or how long it takes to boot only to find so much trash running in the background, things they don't use at all and have no clue how to disable.

The whole MSN experience as well. Make it an option to install.

1. I would somehow integrate Explorer more into the OS and less as a separate program. So if you receive an attachment by email, you navigate to where you want to save it and save it, then when you open your word processor it automatically comes up with the same folder to open the file, then say you want to email the edited file to someone else you open the email program and it automatically opens right where the file is stored. Some days I seem to spend half my day clicking down the file tree over and over to essentially the same place.

2. I would simplify networking. Plug machine A into machine B and they automatically connect.

I never liked the way windows organized multiple programs with multiple users enabled on the Start Menu. For example, if you live in a household with 4 people who use the same computer, I often find programs get lost amongst users depending on who installs what.

To relieve this problem, All Programs list should always be "All the programs on the computer" and in this list, there should be a check box to hide all the programs that aren't yours, or to only show your programs. To add to this, it might also be useful to add an avatar beside the program to show who installed what.

Also get rid of the stupid readme files, and uninstall.exe's in the all programs list. This list should ONLY have the program executable file.

I agree to what has been said before. Creating a user freindly startup option would be very nice. Most slow computers just need to stop many of the things running at the startup that so many people don't know about.

I always found it hard to manage multiple programs amongst multiple users in the start menu. The start menu with the all programs list should always have "All the programs" installed on the computer (no hidden crap). To add to this, there should be a check box to hide / unhide all programs that aren't yours. You could also add an avatar beside the program to show who installed it.

Additionally, get rid of the stupid readme files and uninstall.exe's in the start menu. Only a shortcut to the programs executable file should belong in the start menu.

I'd add a complete UNIX core with Windows backwards compatibility.

deltatux

If they could just make it work as efficient as XP, then that's all I care about. Vista took a ridiculous amount of resources. I don't mind the GUI (almost identical to Vista). I do agree with others here...allow the user to decide what to install -- IE, Media Player, etc.

7-zip.

Honestly... I just want a base kernel. I don't want my OS to eat up a significant chunk of my hard drive. I just want a base OS that I can load my drivers and software onto without having to uninstall or disable anything to get the performance I want. Before all you Linux fan boys start chiming in. I mostly use my PC for gaming so Linux is not really an option even with WINE. I also want 64bit compatibility so I can utilize all my memory and not have to worry about page files.


Who am I kidding.!? It's not like MS is ever going to listen to us. They will continue to monopolize the OS market and don't really care what people or businesses want. They feel they can just tell everyone what to do and how to do it and charge us our first born for it.

IE isn't going away any time soon: there are to many web enabled applications that work only with IE of activeX that it is impossible to pull the plug on it. However, offering up safari, firefox, chrome, and opera as additional options wouldn't hurt.

It would also be nice to get a better description of what's running already, Vista is listing 13 svchost running right now, XP usually had 3 to 9, why? no clue...

A better process explorer would be nice in hunting down files that are mysteriously in use when they shouldn't be, rather than getting an 'access denied' message, explaining what is actually using the file would save some panic...

An easy way to modify the alpha channel in Aero would be nice, presently it only really lets you choose a colour.

I hate the new default taskbar, i have it disabled, and re-enabled the quick launch bar. I'd prefer it if the Quick Launch bar was enabled by default like before. I feel as if the new quick launch thing was done in an effort to change the ui so that ppl would think it is greatly and awesomely different. When, imo, in reality it cumbersome.

I also don't care for the Libraries feature. I've never really used it, but there's really no need for it imo. It's just another feature added to confuse new users. BUT this is my first impression, i may end up using it down the road and like it, who knows.

I haven't found an option to remove/disable the quick desktop peek thing that resides in the corner of my taskbar. I don't use desktop icons and have no use for this feature, i'd like to be able to turn it off. Mainly so i don't have that little rectangle in the corner ><

A Standard DOS interface for really old games would be awesome. It's easily done with a DOS emulator like DOSbox but it'd be nice to have stock.

The ability to uninstall the stock unzipping program so it can be replaced with an after-install one like WinRAR. That'd be sweet.

Other then those things and the obvious early driver support, i am very pleased with the way Windows 7 is right now.

Noticeably fewer running Processes under normal use. 45 processes vs Vista's 64-bit 76 processes (55 processes after tweaking).

REMOVE:
Good ideas from the unix like systems: Registry (i don't know if it exists in windows 7 but it shouldn't), limit applications footprint, startup program control (like many have stated), MSN experience (should be optional), Iexplore, wmp (uninstallable)

KEEP:

Vast hardware support, Maximum hardware utilization, Terminal Services, Windows sharing compatible with samba.

ADD:

Ideas from the Macs: expose, one of the reasons I mainly use Mac OS X (plus speed and responsiveness of course), and sth like preview.

Extend multi-core support and cuda-like technologies on OS level.

Security and need for third party antivirus/antispyware software that raises total cost of use for high-security systems.

Guys, just buy a copy of the EU-regulated "N" editions of Windows and WMP/WMM don't even come with it, let alone coming with the ability to be removed.

I'd add the option to customize what features/programs to include at install time the way Anaconda in Linux does. I would personally use that to NOT install EVERYTHING not security related (firewall, uac, etc) like IE, WMP, Messenger, win games, etc.

I have the Win7 x64 beta installed. Even if it is much faster and responsive than Vista, what isn't? I think it can still be faster and smaller. 14GB for a "bare" OS? really?

Even if I installed gnome and kde and all the productivity, multimedia, development apps and all the king's men on my Fedora laptop, I still won't break 10GB.

Removing like "custom installation"? Internet Explorer, Media Center, Media Player, all "Live services" integration, Tablet Support, printer and video drivers, speech support, phone modem support, Windows Defender, the defragmenter, Help files, sample sounds and images, Wordpad, Paint, CD/DVD/Blu-ray burning support, zip file support aaaaaand... any kind of DRM present. Just hoping we'll have a "vLite" version for Windows 7...

I wish they'd add a task bar for each secondary screen like what ultramon gives you. Have been using ultramon for years but you really shouldn't need a 3rd party prog for this functionality.

Two games that each made game of the year for the PC will not work on Vista. Age of Mythology and 1701 A.D. were games of the year in 2003 and 2006. Hopefully, Windows 7 will allow them to work. If not, consider me an avid and eternal XP fan.

Question: why does everyone complain about the size of the install? Except maybe if your using a very low end netbook, you should have tons of hard drive space. I mean with 1 TB drives going for $99 , why does it matter if an OS takes 1.4% of the hard drive space?

I like the Windows FTP ability to be more visible like the Mac Fetch program. As a web designer I look else where for a good ftp program but not alot of good software support the 64bit Vista so it is important to have a easy program like Fetch and to make it more visible and not buried like in Vista.

Virtual machine integration for enhanced backwards compatibility, elimination of signed driver requirement in x64 (or at least the capacity to self sign without the hoops and hurdles of test mode), effective disk io prioritization, and native support for framegrabber and clearqam tuners in mce.

Also they should have design a different interface a little. Don't you get sick of the same windows logo on the bottom left after all these years? I guess they just want to play it safe instead of something new and fresh.

A separate burning application similar to Nero will satisfy most new computers since almost all now ship with a dvd burner. The day of dragging and dropping files to cd and dvd are over.

#1. No rebooting when installing updates.
#2. Optional Hardware activation like a USB key, so for frequent hardware upgraders we dont have to keep the activation center on speed dial.
#3. Tone down the marketing hype, is only going to fool people until people start getting their hands on it.

ability to turn off the drag to the top for full screen or to the side for half screen. sometimes i'll be surfing half screen be watching a video and burning a dvd or cd and when you try to move them around so you can see them all BAM drives me freakin nuts. other than that i really enjoy everything else about win 7 so far and i'm looking forward to the release candidate

I'll make an exception on replying to this topic, since I dislike questions, but I just love to give my opinion about the newer windows!

I'd definitely remove a lot of the background tasking and automated tasks from loading. All these prefetch, analytical and background tasking to make applications load faster is just a waste of a time!
Many pc's actually do better without! And many pc's are used differently every time they get used!
No reason to put that in a script; a lot of that prefetching data proves to actually work against the user instead of for the user.

I'd also remove all visual appearance at once!
No video previews, no transparent windows, no Vista looks,... Heck, I don't even have a background and use screensaver blank to save system resources.

Just plain old Win 2000 looks!

You'd be amazed how much resources it takes for a machine to run previews you could see for just one click less clicking.

I'd be happy to bring ideas to create a multi threaded, Win 98-like windows with modern driver support that way!

Simply all written programs Windows has created lately just simply suck!
I'd also get rid of Windows defrag.
Windows defrag is actually not defragging, but spreading all files around!
Why is a system faster on installation? because all files within a folder stick together in one cluster on the HD. As soon as Windows defrag starts messing with those files they're all over the disk! Yes, the fragments neatly arranged next to other files, but away from the directory structure.

Windows Media player just is a big resource hog, just like Internet explorer!
I could not believe my eyes, always using Firefox, that internet explorer 7 actually uses more than 600MB of my ram when in use,while firefox goes with 380MB.
So Windows media player with all that internet and library stuff going on, just give me the plain Media Player Classic, with a good codec pack to support the various file types.

All the "my documents" standardized folders!
I hate there to be folders that I'll never use!
If you download files they often have their own directory, or a clever person creates a directory easily accessible for him. I am absolutely not fond of "my video's", "My pictures", "my downloaded files", I mean, some operating systems won't even allow me to delete those folders!
I don't need them on my HD, they only clog my view!

I'd go to back to a plain "Users", "Program files", "temp", and "Windows" folders in the root. Get rid of all the hundred tmp, scandisk, and boot files.

Recycle bin;more a pain in the butt than actually usefull; all external HD's and flash cards need no recycle bin, but my c:\ drive needs it. But somehow Windows just never gets that?

Windows system restore: Never actually used it; it's not even enabled on my pc. It takes too much space. for 4GB I can take a snapshot of my whole pc with Norton Ghost! Norton Ghost also compresses the data, and that is what I need. No system resource hog restore function that only works half ass.

No automated playback of diskdrives. It's driving me nuts to teach my pc how to act with every other SD card I pop in! (not to mention the recycle bin,and system restore folder it adds unto my card!)

I'd definitely add a more professional disk management tool; one which supports more disk formats (eg: NTFS,FAT, ExFAT, and some linux formats). A tool which also is capable of recognizing and creating separate partitions on a disk,more advanced than Vista's or XP's.

I agree with above: Networking is just a disaster in Vista! It's bad in XP, but a disaster in Vista. It's not logical, straight forward!
On wireless connection in system tray, a rightclick should show me (a window of) the available wireless networks, not another window directing me to wireless center that could give me the propreties of the wireless then via that to the available connections... It just plain SUCKS!
They say it's better but it isn't!
Besides, Vista is many times slower connecting to a wireless network than XP is! Why?

I'd also get rid of all "NT UNINSTALL"folders in windows. Too much data gets added everytime a program gets installed.
Simply trust that a user can re-install software from a CD-ROM, or download from the internet. There's no need to keep an extra copy somewhere hidden in the windows folder!

I agree with joerman42, replace the internal Windows winzip with 7zip!
Best freeware out there, replaces and bests nearly all compression programs, including winrar (despite it worse user interface)!

I personally also dislike the Windows Vista start menu!
Windows XP and Win98 is more intuitive!
In XP/98/NT/2000 you always had the same structure, and could browse through the menu's to find a program. Now you can't browse folders anymore. Going forward and back in folders on the startbar just sucks big time!
The search function in the start bar is good though. About the only thing I would want to remain.

Indexing, DISABLE! I mean not a single time in my life did I need it!
My disk contents change so often that it actually works against me.
Indexing service indexes files I'd never need to search!
If there might be 2 folders that need indexing, it's the start bar, and program files. And maybe in time my favorites!
That's all for me. It's much better to search a file on a non indexed disk if you only search once a year or so.

Display properties! SUCK in vista!
In Win 95 there was the tabbed view we got to know, and it seemed a very effective way to view in one window your resolution settings, and color settings, desktop background and themes etc. Now with Vista I find they took a step back. If it where upto me, BACK WITH TABBED DISPLAY PROPERTIES!!!

Windows Vista is NOT intuitive! Certain places you get to know with about every windows, like right clicking my computer and selecting properties to get the list of hardware and software drivers disappeared;I'm sure to the discontent of many who learned to use computers from the days of Win95!

And last but not least, a better web experience security, by disabling automated tasks. Webpages should standard display text,main layout and images. Get rid of flash or silverlight, and back to the most effective net experience we ever had!
Yes, internet with it's ads is going downhill. The user experience shouldn't suffer from it. There's a reason GOOGLE gets more searches than all other searchengines together!
Because it's ads are discreet! No jumping text messages, no hairloss or wheight loss ads, no downloading of half a movie just to see the theatric trailer of barbie and the pimple girls, no banners and popups that keep on bothering, and especially lately, no yellow bars acting like iexplore's security warnings!
Get rid of the need to install all this visual crap add-ons people don't want, and perhaps only when watching a youtube video we see something more than the regular layout/text/pictures.

Ow,an interesting feat might be to input the installation data (like name, computer name, network, date,keyb layout etc...) at the beginning when the computer is already installing windows in the background!
It saves you time!
No longer waiting until all windows are filled in before installing, or waiting to input all this data after a 30 minute installation.
simply everything at the beginning!