Windows 7 beta gives hope for less-bloated operating system

— -- The software is best downloaded at this stage only by techies who have a spare PC to try it on. For-sale versions of Windows 7 aren't expected until late this year or early next.

Microsoft has made bold promises for Windows 7: that it will crash less and be faster, more secure, more reliable and easier to use.

If Microsoft delivers, well, amen. Critics have hammered Vista for being bloated, a resource hog and overly intrusive. It's premature to evaluate Windows 7's performance against Vista. But what I've seen so far gives me great hope.

I've been trying out Windows 7 on a Lenovo ThinkPad preloaded with the beta. The interface has the familiar look of Windows, though less cluttered. The machine booted up (about 35 seconds) and shut down (9 seconds) much faster than my Dell desktop with Vista. Of course, my Vista PC is stuffed with programs and files.

Windows 7 lets you play with photos and more using your fingertips via touch-screen technology if your PC is so equipped; the ThinkPad I used is not. Some other highlights:

•Getting around. Icons on the new task bar strip at the bottom of the PC screen are bigger and you can arrange them any way you choose. Hover over one and a graphic thumbnail of open programs shows up. Hover over the thumbnail and the entire window expands into a preview.

You can "pin" icons for frequently used programs to the task bar.

There are fewer icons on the right side of the task bar, too. You get to customize which ones show up. One leads to the Action Center, a repository for troubleshooting and security messages.

I'm impressed with a lot of the little things Microsoft has done to add polish. If you grab the top of an open window with the mouse and shake it, any other open windows are minimized onto the task bar. Shake the top again to bring them back to life. You expect that sort of thing from Apple, not Microsoft.