We tell Microsoft what we want in the the next version of Windows and reveal how to get those features now
Windows 7 has been a soaring success for Microsoft, but the company can't afford to rest on its laurels.
With Ubuntu maturing into a genuine competitor, the perennial threat from Mac OS X and new platforms such as the iPad emerging, Microsoft won’t get away with another Windows ME/Vista-style blip.
So the PC Pro team is giving Microsoft a helping hand: we’ve compiled a list of 20 features we’d like to see in the next-gen operating system.
Better still, where possible, we also reveal how you can get your hands on those features now, so you don’t have to wait for Microsoft to heed our advice.
1. Instant on/off
In the era of the instant on/off iPad, a PC that takes a couple of minutes or more before it’s ready for action is really testing people’s patience. Eradicating tardy boot times should be a top priority for Microsoft.
Progress has certainly been made with Windows 7: with fewer programs lodging themselves in the boot process, there’s no overwhelming desire to wipe the OS and start again on a yearly basis because your computer has practically ground to a halt.
The increasing popularity of solid-state system disks will also lend the OS a welcome boost. But Microsoft simply must do better.
How to get it now
Don’t neglect the excellent Sleep mode in Windows 7. Previous versions of Windows sometimes struggled to wake themselves from their slumber, but we often go a week or more without rebooting a laptop by simply closing the lid and swiftly resuming from where we left off.
If you want to shave a few seconds off the boot time proper, click Start, type “Run” into the Start menu search bar and then type “msconfig” and click OK.
In the pop-up window that appears, click on the Startup tab and untick anything that doesn’t really need to be there, such as Google Update and Adobe Acrobat.
2. Put the user in charge of updates
We all know it’s important to keep Windows fully patched, but nobody likes being pestered. So we’d love to see an end to those hectoring requesters that nag you to restart your PC after new updates have been installed.
We’d like to see an option to permanently dismiss Windows Update restart requests until the next boot
They're the last thing you need if you’re working to a tight deadline – and it’s even worse when Windows decides it’s going to automatically restart your PC while you’re not there. Heaven help you if you’ve left an important program running.
So for Windows 8 we’d like to see an option to permanently dismiss Windows Update restart requests until the next boot. It would also be good to have a way to shut down without having to install pending updates – sometimes, you just need to close down as rapidly as possible.
How to get it now
If you set Windows Update to manual mode, it can’t bug you at inopportune moments. But in that case you’ll have to be conscientious about running it on a regular basis, or you’ll be exposed to security vulnerabilities.
Another approach is to create a single-line batch file that contains the line net stop “windows update”. Run it as an administrator next time you get one of those intrusive pop-ups and Windows should stop bugging you until your next boot. Sadly, we don’t know of any way to reboot without installing updates, but at a pinch you could hibernate your system instead of shutting down.
3. Network Awareness
Microsoft wants us to leave Automatic Updates on by default, but anyone
who moves around different networks will have experienced the perils of that tactic.
On your home Wi-Fi and cable broadband a big update is fine, but when you’re sat in a coffee shop and paying by the minute, or on a beach using a mobile dongle, Windows taking the initiative and trying to download 137MB of non-critical fixes is more than just annoying – it can be downright expensive.
It surely can’t be too complex to assign categories to different networks, setting the home or office Wi-Fi to full access, but ensuring your laptop asks your permission before beginning a background download on an uncategorised network.
How to get it now
It doesn’t solve this problem, but Windows 7 introduced the Sensor and Location Platform, which allows your PC or laptop to make use of GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to pinpoint your position, mainly so applications can feed you localised content.
Beyond a few Google Maps timesavers and several dull weather widgets, useful implementations of it are so far thin on the ground – not exactly surprising, as GPS is hardly ubiquitous in laptops yet.
If you want to try it,
Geosense for Windows is one example – but even that freely admits “there’s a serious lack of location-aware Windows 7 applications”.
4. Early warning system
Since Vista, Windows has had a little-known system-monitoring tool built in (just type Reliability Monitor into the search bar on the Start menu), although it’s only really useful as a retrospective tool for spotting system weaknesses.
What we really want is an early warning system that can predict when the computer looks likely to fail, by monitoring the heat and stability
of the key components.
How to get it now
To monitor stability in real-time, try a third-party tool such as
SpeedFan to keep an eye on fan speeds, temperatures and hard disk statuses.
You can set alarms to go off if components hit potentially unstable temperatures and – if you’re okay delving deeper – set your CPU to clock up and down as your activities demand more or less from it.
Most CPUs these days do this without your input, but it can be useful for gaining more control over older components.
5. Blu-Ray upgrade for media centre
Blu-ray drives are a cheap upgrade option for media-centre PCs, but as you’ll have discovered if you’ve attempted to go down this route, the hardware isn’t the only cost.
Windows 7 doesn’t play Blu-ray discs natively, so if your drive didn’t come with any software bundled you’ll have to pay for a third-party application. Trouble is, the only applications available are expensive (starting at £46 inc VAT), and don’t integrate seamlessly with the Media Center UI. And working out what to buy in the first place can be confusing.
In Windows 8, we don’t mind paying extra for Blu-ray playback, but we want it transparent and reasonably priced.
6. Master the little things
One of the things Microsoft has clearly realised in Windows 7 is that people love the little things. Trouble is, Mac OS X has many more such touches, whether that’s big-name items such as Exposé or tiny touches such as Screen Magnification.
Exposé reveals all the open applications at the press of a single button: they appear as an overlay of neatly arranged thumbnails.
Screen Magnification, on the other hand, sounds like such a simple idea it’s a wonder Windows 3.1 didn’t include it. Simply press the Apple icon in OS X and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
How to get it now
Windows users can flick through open programs and windows using the time-honoured Alt-Tab approach. Although it’s still no match for Exposé, there’s also the much forgotten (and equally maligned) Flip 3D, which flicks through apps Rolodex-style when you press Windows-Tab.
Yes, Windows also includes Magnifier – but to say this is clunky compared to Screen Magnification is to suggest yoga is a little slow-paced compared to bungee jumping.
Even if you know the keyboard shortcut for Magnifier (Windows-“+”), you have to fiddle around with settings to make sure it zooms in and out on what you want.
7. Transparent backup
Backup shouldn’t just be simple, it should be transparent.
As soon as someone switches on a new computer, Windows 8 should be on the lookout for key files and making sure that if disaster strikes the user won’t lose them.
That doesn’t mean copying the data to another part of the disk, but whisking it off to an encrypted online storage vault coupled with a prompt to create a safe area on an external drive.
How to get it now
You can do this today, but it requires hoop jumping. You need a synchronisation tool, such as Microsoft’s own (and free)
SyncToy – download version 2.1.
Use it to set up an automatic sync between your Photos and Documents folder with an external drive. Finally, sign up for a free online synchronisation service such as
Dropbox and ensure all your most valuable files are stored in a synchronised directory.
8. Break down hard disk space
Windows 7 managed to rescue Explorer from the inelegant mess that it had become in Vista, but there’s plenty of room for improvement.
It’s still impossible to get an idea of which directories and file types are consuming all your disk space, for example – without, that is, resorting to right-clicking every directory in sight and writing down the results on a piece of paper.
How to get it now
The likes of
WinDirStat and
TreeSize show Windows 8 the way to go.
The free edition of TreeSize is restricted to simple solutions such as showing a directory's size next to its Explorer entry, but both the freely available WinDirStat and the commercial versions of TreeSize go one step further, showing how your data is spread across your hard disks by colour-coding different file types, or tailoring bespoke bar or pie charts.
9. Easy mode
The average Joe on the street loves tinkering with the latest technology, but doesn't want to find himself baffled by feature overload.
That’s why the likes of the iPhone and iPad have seized the public's attention – they might not cater to the expert technophile’s desire to tinker, but a simple, intuitive user experience means that the user manual is a thing of the past.
The same can’t be said of Windows, however, and if Windows 8 is really to mark a significant advance on its predecessor, it needs to appeal more broadly to computer novices.
Unreformed tinkerers and PC cognoscenti still need access to the inner workings of the operating system, but an option to engage an Easy mode – a stripped-down, bare essentials vision of the operating system – might be the way to go.
How to get it now
Apart from setting up user accounts to stop inexperienced users delving into the depths of Windows’ Control Panel, or accidentally installing dodgy software, there isn’t a great deal you can do to make Windows easier to use.
Some users may find that replacing their web browser with the visually clutter-free likes of Chrome will be a step in the right direction, but, for now, we can only hope that Windows 8 builds on the more user-friendly foundation laid by Windows 7.
10. Virtualisation
Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate support a virtual Windows XP environment, in the form of the imaginatively named XP Mode. But there’s definitely scope to take the idea further.
For those who want to try out other operating environments, starting with a “bare” virtual machine could be far more convenient than repartitioning your hard disk and managing a multiboot system.
Even better, Windows could maintain a virtual clone of your machine that you could use to test out unknown software without messing up important settings, losing data or falling prey to malware.
It should even be possible to migrate installed applications directly from the virtual machine into the real one, once you decide you trust an application and want to keep it.
Perhaps this is a feature mostly for “power users”, but since Microsoft owns the Virtual PC virtualisation package, it isn’t unrealistic to hope it might come to pass.
How to get it now
There are a few free virtualisation environments for Windows:
VMware Server is a respected package with the ability to expand into serious business environments, while the open-source
VirtualBox is a friendlier system for simple desktop use.
11. Maintain first-boot performance
Your PC will never be as fast as its first boot thanks to redundant Registry entries, thousands of cached files and folders full of clutter all slowing down your system as it churns through a slowly lengthening boot process.
In fact, it’s such an issue that a whole industry has sprung up around promises to make your computer faster, with some software claiming to optimise settings and others offering to scour your PC of junk so you don’t have to.
Surely it isn’t too much to ask for Microsoft to keep its own house in order, without the need for third-party cleaners.
How to get it now
There are hundreds of tools available to clean and speed up your PC, but not all are equal.
CCleaner is a one-stop-shop that will clean your Registry, empty caches, delete temporary files and more, but more advanced users may be happier with
Autoruns, a Microsoft-endorsed tool that offers a dizzying amount of in-depth information about what’s running on your machine.
12. Driver lockers
One of the most irritating things about wiping your OS and starting from scratch is the reinstallation of all your drivers.
While Windows Update does a reasonable job of hunting down common drivers, you’re all too often left hunting round for discs or downloads to get all your printers/cameras/MP3 players/graphics cards and so on back to full working order.
An online driver locker, where can you save a backup of your drivers and reinstall them once you’ve wiped the OS, would be a winner.
please continue on to part 2
