Windows 7 Shortfalls

[pbolduc]

By now the everyday power user is starting to unfortunately realize that Windows 7 doesn't measure up to its predecessor, Microsoft XP. So I thought I would start this form topic to help users find real solutions to their frustrating problems and ideally make people more efficient when using Windows 7, since it’s here to stay until at least 2012.

Since Microsoft has been slimming down their Windows Operating system removing a lot of the useful menu options and tools we relied on in previous versions I thought I’d mention a few free third party supplements to make up for some of the shortfalls.

If you are looking for a file association editor something that use to exist in XP and was used on occasion when a program would not associate properly to a file or would change the default action of a file type here is a third party tool that restores this function back into both Windows 7 and Windows Vista using a this free third party program.

http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/

The Microsoft built-in equivalent can be found in the Windows 7 / Vista operating system in: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs\Set Associations. But you'll soon realize this interface is quite limited as to the actions that can be performed on a specific file association and is really only intended for the novice. But this free power tool above fits the bill nicely.

Secondly, the Windows Search still doesn't work properly in Windows 7. I’m sure this was one feature Microsoft wished they would have just left alone when it use to work so well in XP. Ooops! It’s a known and proven fact that the windows 7 search is inferior to even the old DOS dir /s /o /a command. But DOS is old school and most users don’t want to have to open a command line to hammer out syntax. Plus Microsoft is trying to direct users to the point and click approach while attempting to simulate a Mac feel.

Here’s how to eliminate those long delays in searching for files where the folders already have been indexed and your lost file is still is not appearing. I would like to recommend (tried and tested myself) this amazing little free program which you will find your files a billion times faster than the Windows 7search. Its amazing how such a small third party program can spank a native windows search.

Please check it out at: http://www.voidtools.com/download.php

Last but not least, I’d personally like to take a shot at the Microsoft Office 2010 group. After many years of managing peoples office based applications and e-mail Microsoft still hasn’t figured out what truly is important in an office based product. A good backup program to automate a back-up procedure for managing the process of backing up and restoring Business Contact Manager database and Outlook .PST files.

PFBackup was a great add on for Outlook 2007 & Outlook 2003 but in XP only. The reason why I say XP only is because PFbackup was never compatible with Vista or Windows 7 due to a delay in shutting down Outlook.exe which caused the PFBackup to fail due to a file lock condition on the database during Outlook.exe shutdown.

In any case would anyone know of any known good third party free utility that can accomplish what PFbackup use to do for Outlook 2003 in Office 2010?

Also wondering if anyone has any insight on Business Contact Manager 2010 and if it can be used in a centralize network environment so that the BCM databases can reside on a file server for network users so there is one point of origin and it can then be backed up easier? It's crazy to see that so many people even still use BCM after 2003 when really google apps offers a cheaper, easier and more reliable solution.

Any thoughts are appreciated.