Get the student discount for Windows 7–even if you're not a student

As the Windows 7 roll out continues, the folks over at PC Magazine have posted answers to their readers’ top questions about the new OS.  One in particular caught my eye:

Q: How can I qualify for the Student price of Windows 7? What about the OEM pricing?

A: You really just need an e-mail account from an institution of higher learning. When I tested a recent alumna coworker's address from the University of Colorado, it was accepted immediately. To get this bargain-basement price of $30, head to http://www.win741.com. OEM pricing is intended for system builders, and usually buying a major system component like a motherboard or hard drive qualifies you for a price considerably lower than what you'd pay for the retail box. But some part sellers will offer the lower price to all takers. Note that the OEM version won't come with both 64-bit and 32-bit discs, nor will it include support from Microsoft.

So even if you’re technically no longer in college, but have access to an ".EDU" email address, you qualify for the Windows 7 student discount could potentially still take advantage of the offer—at your own risk (see update below). If you’re a student at a college or other educational institution that doesn’t provide an email address, you might still qualify. Check this link at Microsoft.

[Update: Should you possess a ".EDU" address and decide to take advantage of the student discount, note Microsoft's terms and conditions: "Microsoft or Digital River may contact you to verify that you are a current student. If documentation is not provided indicating that you are a current student, you will be liable to reimburse Microsoft for the difference between what you paid and the estimated retail price of the software."–Ed.]

For more, see our ongoing Windows 7 coverage and commentary, including “Windows 7: To upgrade or not to upgrade?” –Nick K. Mandle

From the Windows 7 launch: Touch technology is a prominent feature

VP Brad Brooks showcasing content running on 17 devices from one Windows 7 PC. (Click to enlarge.)

After starting the Windows 7 launch here in New York with a cutesy moment—Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer presenting Kylie, of Win7 TV-commercial fame, with a pink laptop—Ballmer and company moved right into a demonstration of the new OS’s top features. (See our related post: "Windows 7: To upgrade or not to upgrade")

Touch technology plays a big role in Windows 7, and is likely to result in a wide range of new products from manufacturers. For example, Microsoft this morning announced a new app from Amazon that will let you read your Kindle content on a Windows 7 computer. Thanks to touchscreen capabilities, you can scroll through e-books using multitouch finger gestures.

With Windows 7, Windows Media Center also gains touch-based features. Microsoft’s vice president of consumer marketing, Brad Brooks, demoed the results of a deal with CBS that will let you watch any show from the TV network on your PC. Scroll through and choose the shows using, you guessed it, your computer’s touchscreen.

In one of the launch’s “that‘s kinda cool” moments, Brooks fed music, photos, and video to 17 different pieces of equipment—several TVs, an Onkyo receiver, a digital picture frame, and an xBox 360-connected TV—all from one Windows 7 PC, all at the same time. (See image above.)

Keep an eye on our blog over the next days and weeks as we bring you news on product launches surrounding Windows 7. If you're interested in buying it, see how to buy it (legally) for under $120.
—Donna Tapellini

Students: Get a Windows 7 upgrade for $30

As we mentioned in an earlier post ("Windows 7: To upgrade or not to upgrade?"), students can snag an upgrade of Windows 7 Home Premium for just $30—that's seventy-five percent off the $120 ticket price.  Find ordering information, plus various forms of college-oriented infotainment, at Win741.com.

Also, students should be sure to check their school's online store, which often offers deeply discounted prices on otherwise expensive software.  Take Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, which includes nine programs including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and can cost upwards of $600. For a student? $60.

[Update 10/22/09: For even more on getting Windows 7 on the cheap, check out out "Five Legal Ways to Get Windows 7 for Under $120" from our sister site, The Consumerist.]

Windows 7: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade

Launch day for Windows 7 is just a few days away. So you might be wondering whether you need to plop down between $120 and $220 for the new OS, buy a new computer, or maintain your status quo.

Before you make any decisions, you should check your computer’s compatibility, as well as that of your peripherals, with Microsoft’s Upgrade Advisor.

Then, find the description of your situation below and proceed accordingly:

You’re happy with your current system and OS. Save your money, at least for now. Sure, Windows 7 has some new interface tweaks that we think are pretty cool. But any time you upgrade, there’s a potential for unpredictable problems. So why mess with success? Meanwhile, however, always download any critical Windows updates. Make sure you’re using the latest version of your browser. And if you don’t have any security software running, install a free antivirus program. We recommend Avira AntiVir.  Alternatively, Microsoft just released its free antivirus/antispyware software, Microsoft Security Essentials.

You’re a Vista user frustrated with its performance. Get the upgrade if your system is compatible. Windows 7 is more stable than Vista and it’s got a good number of ease-of-use enhancements. And as a bonus, you’ll get a grip on those frustrating User Account Controls, since Windows 7 provides options for different levels of settings. 

You recently bought a new computer and qualify for a free upgrade. Get your upgrade. Most computer manufacturers are offering free Windows 7 upgrades to those who bought Vista-based computers from late June through this coming January. Be sure to register for the upgrade, and keep in mind that you might have to pay shipping and other costs to have the software sent to you. But keep in mind that the Windows 7 upgrade option does not apply to Vista Basic-based computers.

You’re an XP user. If your computer is no more than four years old and running Windows XP, and you want to upgrade to Windows 7, run the upgrade advisor. If you’re cleared for Windows 7, you can upgrade, but you’ll first have to either install Vista or backup and then erase the contents of your hard drive before moving to Windows 7.

Retail versions of Windows 7 cost $120 for Home Premium; $200 for Professional; and $220 for Ultimate. Eligible college students can grab an upgrade for just $30 until early January at www.win741.com. —Donna Tapellini

Learn from the Sidekick saga: Back up your smart phone

Back up your smart phone and avoid losing data in a disaster.
[PHOTO courtesy of magerleague]

Last week’s T-Mobile incident, in which data from the carrier’s Sidekick smart phones stored on a Microsoft server was lost, ended late in the week with the carrier announcing that most or all of the lost data had been recovered. But the incident should serves to show, that as cell and (especially) smart phones become more like mini-computers, and add the likes of sophisticated cameras, the need to back up the data they carry increases.

Here are some tips on backing up smart phones. (We’ll cover options for cell phone backup in another post soon.)

It’s preferable to have data from your phone stored not only with the carrier itself, but also in duplicate on your computer. Generally, smart phones are easier to back up in this manner than cell phones, thanks to their sophisticated operating systems, which resemble those of computers.

One method to backing up at least your contacts—among the most valuable phone data, after all—is to sync the smart phone to your e-mail account on your computer, typically via Outlook, and then export the contacts from Outlook to the desktop.

You may already be syncing by having your office e-mail pushed to your smart phone via MS Exchange or, with some phones, via syncing to a Gmail account. With the iPhone, you can sync via iTunes as you add or remove music or other content from your phone.

If you’re not synced by these means, you may need a separate syncing program, perhaps at some cost. iPhone owners who don’t often enough sync contacts and the like physically via iTunes have the option to use MobileMe, a $99-a-year Apple syncing service. For phones that use the Windows Mobile OS, such as HTC TouchPro 2, there’s free software called Active Sync.

Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

(Click to enlarge.)

It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

A new security freebie from Microsoft

You’ve got one less excuse for leaving your computer unprotected against viruses and spyware: Microsoft recently added its new software package, Security Essentials, to the list of free antivirus tools available for download online.

We gave Security Essentials a preliminary test run on several PCs here in our labs. The program installed in less than a minute on the typical PCs we tried, appears to use relatively few system resources, and has reasonable default settings. It’s compatible with Windows XP or later.

The user interface is deceptively simple, which is a good thing. The program automatically updates itself, and performs a quick scan every Sunday night by default, though you can change that and other settings.

If you have antivirus software already, there's no need to change. If you decide to make the switch to Security Essentials, be sure to uninstall your old antivirus program first. Security Essentials disables Windows Defender if it finds it, since they duplicate anti-spyware tasks, and since running two real-time anti-spyware programs can lead to problems.

Be careful with beta software

A few days ago, I got another lesson in the Law of Unintended Consequences. I tried out a free service called Soocial, aimed at the "connected consumer" who wants to share a single electronic address book among all their computers and portable devices.

Great idea, if it had worked right. Unfortunately, Soocial's software didn't properly handle my Microsoft Outlook contacts list, in which I have my contacts neatly organized into several subfolders: personal, companies, organizations, medical, etc. What Soocial did was copy the contacts from ALL my subfolders to a single online folder—not a very useful tool. But it gets worse: when Soocial subsequently "synchronized" between Outlook and online, it inserted all the hundreds of extra contacts from all the subfolders into my personal folder in Outlook, and then proceeded to DELETE them from the original subfolders! Ouch!

(Fortunately, I regularly backup my Outlook storage file. Most Outlook users do not, since Microsoft inexplicably puts this file in an obscure, hidden folder rather than in "My Documents" where you'd normally expect to find such things residing for easy backup.)

Soocial currently uses a beta version of its software, which signifies that the program is still being developed and debugged, and might be expected to exhibit strange behavior. I should have heeded the warnings that are invariably embedded in the "fine print" when one downloads beta software, and first experimented with it using data I could afford to lose.

Windows 7: A first look at the final version

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Microsoft]

Just two months before the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has sent its final version to computer makers. I just got a copy, took a test drive, and found that—no surprise—Windows 7 is a better operating system than Vista. It was more stable, more efficient, and took up less space on my hard drive, with fewer overbearing annoyances like the infamous User Account Controls. Here are some of the features I liked:

Cleaner taskbar. The taskbar has been around awhile, but Windows 7 takes a whole new approach to this handy tool. Instead of text descriptions, its icons that represent the apps  running, resulting in a cleaner look. You click a button to indicate where on the screen you want the taskbar to appear, and another tiny button on the end of the taskbar brings you directly to the Desktop.

Easier preview. Have you ever had three or four Word docs open but minimized, and been unable to tell which you want to work on? A preview function solves that problem. Just hover your mouse over a Word icon in the taskbar and a thumbnail preview big enough to read pops up. Move your mouse to a thumbnail, and the full task window opens, but only temporarily until you click it.

Jump Lists. Another feature that makes navigation more convenient is the jump list. Right-click on, say, the Excel icon in your taskbar, and you’ll get a list of the most recent Excel documents you had opened. You can also “pin” to the taskbar a document you frequently use, such as a form letter. Every time you open a Jump List, that document will be on it.

File Libraries. There’s also has a new way to organize your files, called Libraries, particularly handy with photo and music files. For example, once you’ve set it up, the Libraries feature will automatically show all the music files on your computer in a Music folder, even when you tell Windows 7 to store some in a different folder called Heavy Metal. As a result, you’ll be able to get to the song from both the Heavy Metal folder and the Music folder. You can create your own libraries as well.

User Account Controls (UAC). These are windows that pop up with a warning against risky activity when you’re installing new software, for example, or changing a Windows setting. The comparable controls in Vista were notorious for being a waste of time, and many users would simply turn off the feature, reducing security. The warnings were also virtually useless because they used the same level of caution whether there was a danger or not. With Windows 7, the default setting is for UAC to alert you only if software, not your own action, is going to change something. That way, when you get a warning, you know it’s for a good reason.

We’ll be taking a closer look at Windows 7 as its release approaches.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you Vista users: Do these new Windows 7 features sound like big enough improvements to merit an entirely new version of Windows? Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 7 when it’s released? Weigh in with your comments below. —Donna Tapellini

Apple’s Snow Leopard: What you need to know

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Apple]

Tomorrow, Apple is releasing “Snow Leopard,” a new version (10.6) of its OS X operating system. That the newcomer’s name is merely a variant of the previous version, “Leopard,” suggests that this is less of a major upgrade than Leopard was. Even the pricing indicates that: a single upgrade license costs only $29, compared with Apple’s usual $129 for major upgrades.

The most significant improvement Apple has been claiming for Snow Leopard is that the speed of many of the operating system’s components have been improved and that there is improved stability and security, plus better compatibility between the Safari browser and third-party plug-ins. Snow Leopard is supposed to require half as much hard drive space as Leopard, once the installation is complete.

In our brief testing of the recent version released to developers, using a late model MacBook Pro laptop in our labs, Snow Leopard’s default installation took about 6 GB less hard-drive space than Leopard (after updating), a reduction of about 38 percent. Snow Leopard booted up 15 percent faster, and ran our speed benchmarks about 5 percent faster than its predecessor. Loading complex web pages (like ConsumerReports.org ) was noticeably faster in the new version of Safari. We also encountered an oddity: To get the full benefit of the 64-bit mode of the operating system, you must hold down the “6” and “4” keys on the keyboard while booting. We think Apple should make 64-bit boot-up a settable option.

Here are some other improvements in Snow Leopard that Apple has been crowing about:

• An improved developer interface that will make it easier for developers to take better advantage of multi-core processors and large memory size, and a new development environment that allows the graphics processor to perform multiple complex tasks.