Monday, March 15, 2010

Annoyed with Windows 7

I am annoyed with Windows 7 for at least four reasons.


1) Error msg: "If your resolution is below 1280 x 960, some items may not fit on the screen."  This is a laptop. Its maximum resolution is 1366 x 768, which is marked "recommended." I can't set the height greater under any mode, consequently I frequently find I cannot run certain programs that display critical information at the bottom of the form unless I attach an external monitor capable of 1280 x 960 resolution.


2) I am visually impaired. I had retina reattachment surgery in both eyes, and now I have fewer "pixels" making up the images my eyes see. Consequently I cannot use a screen with fine print, regardless of the capability of the screen. Windows settings for the "visually impaired" create ugly screens that are so distracting I can't imagine anyone using them. I have to tweak the font sizes, but Windows makes no provision to scroll forms, and it prevents me from moving them slightly off-screen so I can create a usable text window as I did with Windows XP.  Attempting to move a window outside of the viewing area causes the form to snap back, which means there are times I can never work with a font I can see.


3) In dual screen mode, when the computer revives from "sleep" mode, it gets the two monitors confused in at least four different ways. I don't have this problem when I boot the computer to Ubuntu Linux, so I believe the problem is entirely a Windows issue.

  a) It sometimes makes one screen so bright it has no contrast, while the other screen is too dark to make out anything. Other times it just fails to make the second screen bright enough to see anything

  b) It sometimes changes which screen has the icons. This is a laptop. I connect and disconnect the external monitor, but I never disconnect the built-in monitor (because its attached). Why would I want to change the primary display?

  c) It sometimes swaps the height and width of the screens.

  d) Sometimes it gets confused about which screen is number 1 and number 2 when it identifies screens. This problem happens rarely, and is usually unrelated to the other three problems, but when it happens, resetting the assignments fixes all the other problems.

4) Have you ever tried to send a report to Microsoft to tell them about a problem? Need I say more?  Ok, apparently I do, because Microsoft makes communication with them very difficult, and tries to charge people who call to report problems, providing information a responsible company should be grateful to receive. I am forced to blog about problems with Microsoft because apparently its the only way to get their attention.

Microsoft, are you listening?