However, for the many users coming from XP, it's a huge change. In fact, you may have looked at Vista and retreated to Windows XP. Not a bad idea really, but now it's time to move on.
This handy conversion guide will help you find those things you used to do so easily. I'm not saying I like the changes and if it were up to me, Microsoft would just leave the desktop user interface alone and quit forcing us to be retrained every time there is an upgrade -- but it's not up to me.
The conversion guide is intended for power users and administrators to find stuff they need -- not necessarily for end users. It is presented in a simple table here and describes various operations, where to find them in XP and where to find them in Windows 7. Note that many Windows 7 functions also work in Vista -- but not all. If you are a Vista user, you have noticed the power of the search window in the Start Menu (see below).
Windows 7 is even better. Many things that could not be found in Vista search are found in Windows 7 search. For instance, in Figure 2 below, we see the results of a search on network connections.
But it also finds all email messages and files that contain that string. Furthermore, it searches as you type, so there's no need to enter the whole string.
Find common enterprise desktop operations, their Windows XP and Windows 7 commands, and related Windows 7 search strings below.
| Operation | Windows XP | Windows 7 | Windows 7 Search string |
| Execute Programs, go to directories, shares, etc. | Start – Run | Search bar - Click Start button and right above the Start button is a "Start Search" box. You can use this as you did Start -- Run or search for a feature such as "Folder Options". Very powerful as it prevents having to click thru a lot of menus to find something. | N/A |
| Network connection Properties | Right click My Network Places -- right click Local Area Connection (or the connection you want) -- Select "Properties" | Notification Area (NA) -- click on network icon -- Open Network and Sharing Center (see Fig 1). From left pane -- "Change adapter Settings" -- right click Local area connection Properties. |
Start -- Search -- "Network Connections"
Right click Local Area Connection (or the network connection you want), and select Properties. |
| Wireless Configuration | Start -- Settings -- Network Connections Select wireless connection icon. | Notification Area (NA) -- click on network icon --
Popup menu shows all detected wireless networks. Right click on one to get properties such as authentication SID, WEP key, etc.
To get to the wireless adapter, see Network Connection Properties above.
Note in the Network and Sharing Center, left pane -- you can select Manage wireless networks. |
Start -- Search -- Wireless. Choose from Add a wireless device, manage wireless networks, view devices and printers, etc. |
| Windows Firewall Settings | Network connection properties -- Right click -- Properties -- Advance Tab -- Click Windows Firewall Settings | Control Panel -- System and Security -- Windows Firewall | Start -- Search -- "Windows Firewall" (select from search results -- two firewall options) |
Windows Firewall Settings with Advanced Security
Note: This provides config for domain, private and public firewall profiles | Not available | Control Panel -- System and Security -- Windows Firewall -- left pane select Advanced settings. | Search on Windows Firewall and select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. |
User Account Control
Note: This is annoying to users but good security. Win7 has 4 settings where Vista was on or off.
| Not available |
Control Panel -- Action Center -- "Change User Account Control Settings" |
Search -- "User account control" then select "Change user account control" |
| ADD/Remove Programs | Start -- Settings - Control Panel --Add or Remove Programs | Control Panel – Programs | Search -- Programs.
Lots of options -- Programs and features, add or remove programs, show which programs are installed on your computer, etc. |
| Configure Windows Updates | Right click on My Computer -- properties (or control panel -- system properties) -- Automatic Updates tab. | Control Panel -- System and Security
Select Windows Update. Also can select Action Center, expand Maintenance -- and see if Updates are configured. | Search -- Windows Updates -- Lots of options:- View recommended actions
- Check for updates
- Windows update
|
| Recently used Documents |
Start – Documents | Windows 7 tracks recently used documents by application, and they're exposed by right-clicking the icon in the taskbar. That is all the recent Word docs will be exposed via the Word Icon (see Figure 2). Pin the app's Icon to the start menu or task bar to keep it available. |
N/A |
| Anti Virus settings, Firewall settings, Windows Update settings | Various -- described in this table | Control Panel -- Action Center.
One stop shopping for all security related settings, warnings, etc. | Search -- Action Center |
| Remote Desktop Connection |
Start -- Programs -- Accessories -- Remote Desktop Connection | Start -- All Programs -- Accessories -- Remote Desktop Connection | Search -- remote desktop connection (entering just "remote" will list the RDP option at the top of the search list) |
| Administrative Tools |
Start -- Programs -- Administrative Tools | Start -- All Programs -- Administrative Tools | Search -- Administrative tools. Actually you can just type Admin and the search will display Administrative tools |
| Command prompt |
Start -- Run -- "CMD" | Start -- Search – CMD | Start -- Search – CMD |
| Create folder share | Right click on My Computer -- Map network drive. Also Explorer window -- tools -- map network drive | Start -- right click on My computer -- Map network drive
Explorer Window -- select Share With on explorer tool bar, select Specific People, select users to share with and permissions | Sorry -- haven't found this one yet! |
| Local Groups and users | Right Click My Computer - Manage -- Users and Groups | Start - Right click - computer -- Manage -- select Users and Groups | Search -- Groups -- select "Edit Local users and groups" |
| Device Manager | Right click My Computer -- Properties (or control panel -- system) - hardware tab -- Device Manager button | Right click Computer -- Properties
or control panel -- System and Security - Under System, select Device Manager | Start -- Search -- Device Manager |
| System Information | Start-Run- MSINFO32 | Start- Search -- MSINFO32 (even on x64) | Start -- Search -- MSINFO32 |
| Disk Management | Right click My computer -- Manage -- Disk Management | Right click My computer -- Manage -- Disk Management | Search- Diskmgmt.msc |
| Performance Monitor |
Start-Programs-Admin Tools – Performance | Start-Programs-Admin Tools – Performance | Start -- Search – Perfmon |
| Defrag | Start -- Programs -- Accessories - System Tools- Disk defragmenter | Start -- Programs -- Accessories - System Tools- Disk defragmenter | Search – Defrag |
| Event logs/viewer |
Start-Run -- Eventvwr.msc | Start-Programs -- Administrator tools -- Event Viewer | Start-Programs - Administrator Tools- Event Viewer
Or… Start-Search Eventvwr.exe or .msc |
| Access a shared folder | Start-Run-servershare | Start-Search servershare |
Start-Search servershare |
| Command line Tools | NET commands, support tools, etc | All NET commands, support tool commands, etc. work.
Many support tools are built in to Win7 -- such as NLTest. | n/a |
Gary Olsen is a systems software engineer at Hewlett-Packard in Global Solutions Engineering. He authored 
