Windows 7

Will Windows 7 improve my computer's performance?

As previously mentioned, Microsoft is promoting that Windows 7 is designed to:

• Decrease Start up and Shutdown times by 20 seconds
• Go to Sleep and Resume faster
• Use up less memory
• Pop up Search results faster
• Reconnect to your wireless network more quickly
• Recognize USB devices faster

This is promising news, because slow wait time appeared to be one of the chief complaints regarding Windows Vista. Windows 7 also saves time by not booting up various devices during Start Up unless they are currently being used. In other words, if you are not using a Bluetooth device when you start the computer Windows 7 will not waste time by running that program in the background; it will wait until you have plugged it in.

However, performance tests of Windows 7 indicate that actual improvements vary and depend greatly on the conditions of your specific computer and the programs you are running. We will go into more detail regarding your computer's ability to run Windows 7 in future lessons.

For more information, see the PC World Windows 7 Performance Tests or PC Mag Windows 7 vs. XP Performance articles.