Gadget Gift Ideas For Everyone

9. Windows 7 Ultimate

Here are over 20 gift ideas for your tech-curious friends and family who don't know an overclocked PC from overcooked turkey. Happy Holidays!

Windows 7 Ultimate

Looking for the most timely gift for a PC user on your holiday shopping list? Check out Windows 7 Ultimate. According to Microsoft's advertising campaign, it was your idea all along. The operating system combines the strength of Windows 7 technology with the most comprehensive set of Windows 7 features.

Windows 7 Ultimate contains new capabilities to make working and playing in Windows faster and easier. The most visible is the new Windows Taskbar, which adds new power and flexibility for navigating in Windows 7. Since the Taskbar first appeared in Windows 95, it’s had only minor upgrades. However, Windows 7 Ultimate addresses this issue with significant Taskbar changes. The new “Pin” feature allows you to place favorite program icons directly on the Taskbar. For the first time, you can also rearrange the appearance of icons on the Taskbar. You can also move your mouse over icons to see a thumbnail- or full-size preview of open documents and programs.

Have you ever wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of two documents in Windows? This has always meant clicking and dragging and resizing until you got the two windows to perfectly line up with each other. Using Windows 7’s new “Snap” feature, all you have to do is drag a window to a corner of the screen, and it’ll snap into place for an easy side-by-side comparison. Need to view icons or gadgets underneath your window? All you have to do is hover your curser over the transparency icon (in the lower right corner of your display), and your windows will instantly become transparent. And, if you want to focus on a single window, simply “Shake” it with your mouse, and it will fill your screen. Shaking the window again restores it to its original position.      

As every PC user knows, security and maintenance have long been a concern in Windows systems. Windows 7 addresses these issues from within the new Windows Action Center interface. The Defender in Windows 7 Action Center enables more scanning options, more control over notifications, and at the same time, uses less of your PC’s resources. For additional security in Windows 7 Ultimate, you can activate Windows BitLocker, which provides complete drive encryption, eliminating the need to encrypt and decrypt individual files as you work. Also, the updated Backup and Restore features in Windows 7 Ultimate help protect your system by allowing you to create backups in more locations, including network-attached storage drives and networked computers.        

Perhaps the most talked-about improvement in Windows 7 is Windows Touch. With Windows Touch and a touch-sensitive screen, you can control your computer with your fingertips instead of a mouse. Windows Touch also enables multi-touch gesture control, such as zooming in on an image by spreading two fingers apart and right clicking on a document by holding down one finger and tapping with another.

Microsoft has certainly been criticized in the past for rushing out new operating systems without listening to the requests of its customers. With Windows 7 Ultimate, it appears that Microsoft has listened and created an operating system that both improves performance and offers more features that PC users might need. The Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade version is available for $219.99, while the full version of Windows 7 retails for $319.99. --Anthony Celeste