Windows 7 Is Coming

The new Windows 7 release is in sight (possibly due out by the end of 2009). I'm sure others are finding themselves in this situation: Windows 7 later or Vista now? And that's not an easy decision to make.

So what do you do if you want to upgrade your PC now?

Here’s your choices;
-- Buy a PC with XP now. PC manufacturers are still offering it.
-- Buy a PC with Vista now, and use it and enjoy it.
-- Buy a PC with Vista after July and benefit from a free upgrade to Windows 7.
-- Buy a PC with Windows 7 after it is released.

So what sort of things can be expected from the upcoming addition to the windows family?

System Requirements

The recommended requirements for Windows 7 have more or less remained the same as those for Windows Vista:
* A 1GHz processor.
* 1GB of RAM.
* A 20GB hard drive with 16GB free space.
* A graphics card that supports DirectX 9 with a WDDM driver.
* 128MB dedicated memory for the graphics card.

However, Windows 7 has been tweaked to maximize system performance, so Windows 7 will perform better on a computer than Windows Vista and even XP. This enables users of netbooks and older computers to run Windows 7 where it may have been difficult or impossible with Windows Vista. Sounds good so far!

Upgrading to Windows 7

You may upgrade to Windows 7 from either Windows XP SP3 (or higher) or Windows Vista SP1 (or higher). However, it is impossible to upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows or vice versa.

Therefore, if you wish to install Windows 7 as a replacement for a previous version (Windows 95/98/ME/2000) or you wish to cross the 32-bit/64-bit boundary, you must perform a clean installation, which means backing up your personal files, erasing the hard drive, and installing everything again.

Windows 7 CompatibilityAny application or peripheral which worked with Windows Vista should work with Windows 7 as Microsoft strove to prevent another compatibility disaster. In addition, some applications and devices which did not work with Windows Vista may work with Windows 7 due to expanded compatibility.

However, those upgrading from Windows XP will still face potentially significant compatibility issues. Aside from that, keep in mind that some software that fails to install or run on Windows Vista can be dealt with in one of two ways:

1.) Use Compatibility Mode. Windows 7 is designed to enter Compatibility Mode automatically for programs it detects are designed for a previous version of Windows, but, like in Windows XP and Vista, it can be enabled manually. To manually enable Compatibility Mode, right-click the program, select Properties, and select the Compatibility tab. You can then enable Compatibility Mode for that program and select a previous version of Windows from the drop-down menu, among other options.

2.) Check back to the author's website for updated versions, patches, and drivers that enable Windows 7 compatibility. Not all software will be made compatible, but in the months after Windows 7's release you should see a dramatic increase in support by third-party vendors.

Internet Explorer 8

The big software news is IE8. IE8 will include a wide variety of new features and tweaks like Web Slices, which allows users to add frequently checked sections of their favorite sites to their favorites toolbar; a new private browsing feature that disables browsing history, cookies, cache, and other saved data (it's already a feature in Safari and available via add-ons in Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 7).

It will also have Accelerators, which are shortcuts for common browsing tasks like mapping addresses or translating text.The release candidate of IE8 doesn't add too many new features to the mix, but it is much more stable than earlier beta versions of the browser.

Serious Facebook Scam

Australian website Ninemsn.com.au reports that hackers are hijacking profiles of Facebook users to extort money from their friends. Ninemsn claims to have spoken to four Facebook users with hacked accounts. Each time, person's user name, password, alternative email address and other details were changed. The hackers stole the user's identity and contacted people close to them, claiming to be stuck in London after being mugged.

At least one person fell for the scam and sent cash to the hackers via a Western Union.

Sydney music journalist Michaella Solar-March is quoted as saying,"Two days before I was leaving for an overseas holiday hackers broke into my Facebook account and started contacting people in my friends list, claiming I was stuck in London after being mugged and asking for money."

"Some acquaintances of mine came close to sending cash, as they knew I was going overseas but weren't certain of my exact leaving dates, but luckily thought it best to call my close friends and check where I was before sending it."

The hackers contacted most people on Ms Solar-March's friend list — nearly 800 in total.
Digital strategy consultant Mark Neely's account was also compromised. "It's very stressful, receiving phone calls from people you may not have contacted for a long time who are worried about your safety," he said.

Rhiannon Elston is a producer for ninemsn and called the experience "horrifying".She found out that her account had aso been compromised."They were very active on the site … at a guess they would have contacted 50 or more of my contacts," Ms Elston said.

"I've been getting calls from Poland, from Sri Lanka, from England.

"It was really horrifying that someone was actually posing as me and using my identity to extort from my friends."

A similar article recently appeared in the Daily Telegraph and it would appear that Facebook is becoming a favourite of scammers.

Source articles Ninemsn and Daily Telegraph