Your Guide to Windows 7

With the holiday season come gifts. If you're lucky you might have gotten big-ticket items—like new PCs, loaded with Windows 7. And even if you didn't get a new PC, you might have gotten Windows 7 to upgrade an older machine. Finally, if you got around $100 in gift certificates you don't know how to use, you might buy Windows 7 for yourself, because it's an improvement over the Vista and XP—check out our Windows 7 versus XP and Windows 7 versus Vista performance tests. But owning Windows 7 isn't the end of the story—the more you know about this operating system, the better, more convenient, and safer your experience using it will be. Read this overview of our Windows 7 coverage to make the most of your new PC OS.

Anyone who's used a Windows PC over the last few years shouldn't have much trouble adjusting to this operating system's new interface. But there are a few pointers that can ease the transition. For an overview of what's new in the OS and to help you decide whether it's right for you, check out my in-depth review of Windows 7, or view my video tour of its new features.

Installation and Customization

If your entrée to Windows 7 has come in the form of the boxed installation DVDs rather than a new PC, you've got some work to do. (Hopefully, you've already read Can Your Desktop run Windows 7 and Can Your Laptop Run Windows 7) You'll need to transfer your documents, media, and applications from the old operating system to the new. I recommend the 20-buck LapLink PCmover for this; it works quickly and gives you a lot of control over what to bring along to Windows 7. For a walkthrough of the whole process, read my How to Install Windows 7. You'll also need to make the choice of whether to install the 32-bit or 64-bit version—both come in the box. See "Windows 7: The 64-Bit Question" for help with this.

Probably the first thing you'll want to do after you've installed the OS or if you got a new box preloaded with Windows 7 is to customize the interface to your own taste. The Personalize choice you get when you right-click anywhere on the desktop makes this a snap. It opens up a control panel that lets you choose from thirteen visual and sound themes, including architecture, landscapes, and artistic and high-contrast options. Alternatively you can download more themes from a link or mix and match to make your own. For more visual and other customizations, see "21 Ways to Customize Windows 7."

You'll want to familiarize yourself with the operating system's new concept of "Libraries." The default Explorer icon in the redesigned task bar pops up a window to these, which are basically collections of folders for your frequently used items such as documents, music, pictures, and videos. Each library can comprise files from multiple folder locations—even removable storage. And you can create your own libraries beyond the defaults.

Networking and Gaming

Connecting to the internet is vital these days, and Windows 7 eases this, too, with redesigned networking icon functionality and the new Homegroup feature. Homegroups let you share documents and media, even with the ability to play music and video stored on one PC in the group on another. Read Neil Randall's "Windows 7 Homegroup: Networking Made Easy" to find out more about this new capability and how to set up and use it. If you miss previous Windows versions' network activity icon in the system tray, you can get it back by installing a free utility from IT Samples.

Next you'll wonder where all those useful applications that let you do things like organize and edit photos and videos, send and receive email, and chat with instant messages and video have gone. Not to worry, Microsoft has decided to let users choose for themselves which helper apps they want installed on their machines. To get these, simply head to download.live.com to acquire Windows Live Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and more.

If you're a gamer, Windows 7 holds goodies for you as well. Not the least of these are its improved Games Explorer and the DirectX 11 3D graphics engine. The Games Explorer also supports ESRB ratings so that parents can make sure their kids are only playing suitable games.