November 2, 2009 - 4:09pm

Noteworthy apps for Windows 7

Now that some of you have Microsoft’s Windows 7, you now know how to get around and do the things you want to do with the latest operating system. And, if you’re like many, you have probably found a few things that you think can be improved. Or perhaps you have noticed that – in Microsoft’s effort to speed things up by slimming the entire operating system down – one or two of your favourite apps are missing.

The first thing you’ll want to do for sure is get up-to-date anti-virus protection. While Symantec and McAfee are the market leaders for good reason, you may want to give Microsoft’s own Securities Essentials package a try. It’s free and tailor-made to dovetail with the new operating system. An independent testing firm – Germany’s AV-Test.org – gave it a “very good rating.” When asked by PC World magazine about the test, in which Securities Essentials faced more than 3,700 viruses, worms and Trojans, AV-Test.org manager Andreas Marx assured: “All samples were successfully detected and blocked during our on-demand and on-access tests.”

And, if you have lost any of your favourite free downloadable third-party apps while installing Windows 7 and want to re-install them, you can get them all on one convenient website. Called Ninite, it allows you to click on various apps and download them all at the same time. It saves a ton of time, and may even expose you to software you didn’t know you needed.

One of the more notable casualties of Windows 7’s streamlining was the popular Photo Gallery app. Most likely, this was due to the fact that more and more people are saving their photos and videos on online galleries like Flickr, but lots of people miss the old on-the-disk type of saving.