Windows 7 beta gives hope for less-bloated operating system

— -- You get the idea that Microsoft msft can't shove aside its Windows Vista operating system fast enough. Microsoft recently opened up a beta, or test, version of Windows 7 — Vista's eventual successor — to anybody who wanted an early crack at it.

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.

You can maximize a window merely by dragging it to the top of the screen. Another cool and useful addition: If you drag one window to the right side of the screen and another to the left, the open windows are resized so you see them side by side.

If several open windows are cluttering the screen, you can move the mouse to the right-most portion of the task bar to get a peek at the mini-applications, or gadgets, for stocks, headlines and such floating on your desktop. You can resize and move gadgets where you want.

Windows 7 also added "jump lists," essentially a handy shortcut feature for accessing files.

•Security. Microsoft says Windows 7 builds on security features introduced in Vista. Most are under-the-hood enhancements you presumably won't notice.

One thing to cheer: Windows 7 won't constantly bog you down with annoying security messages every time you try to load programs or change settings.

Microsoft insists you'll be nagged less often. Through a slider control in the Action Center, you can dictate when such messages appear, perhaps when a program tries to make changes to your system, but not when you tweak settings.

•Compatibility. Even as a beta, Windows 7 recognized my printer and digital camera. With Vista, incompatibilities were common.

Makers of cellphones, digital cameras, MP3 players and other gizmos are working with Microsoft to produce custom pages inside Windows that let you manage the models you own. A "Device Stage" window for your cellphone would show you how many text messages you have and let you set ring tones, sync calendars and more.

Microsoft hopes to simplify home networking through a feature it calls HomeGroup. It lets you more easily share pictures, music, videos, documents and printers across multiple Windows 7 computers in your network. Because the Lenovo was the only machine in my network running Windows 7, I wasn't able to test that.

A location-aware printing feature lets Windows automatically select the right printer according to the network you are connected to: one in your office, say, or one in your home.

There are many lingering questions about Windows 7. What will it cost? What kind of demands will it place on your computer? Will it make sense to upgrade an existing PC? Even without knowing the answers, Windows 7 is off to a very promising beginning.

E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com