Almost half of all PC users still work with Windows XP, substantially more than any other operating system - and for many businesses, it's been easier to stick with the tried, trusted and already licensed XP than to move onto a new version. It's also not uncommon for companies and individuals to have chosen specifically not to upgrade, given the negative press and public concerns surrounding Windows Vista; under such circumstances, it can hardly come as a surprise that some would prefer to stay put, rather than spending on new software that they're not entirely sure about.

Time, however, rolls on, and moving on from XP becomes increasingly desirable. The decision to make the change could stem from a number of motives - the decline and eventual removal of Microsoft support for the software, perhaps, or the purchase of new hardware - but whatever the reason, there are real benefits to be had from installing a newer operating system on your company's PCs. And that newer system will be Windows 7, the much-improved successor to the unpopular Vista.

Faster and safer

One complaint that has persistently dogged Windows through many incarnations has been the question of speed. Anyone with experience of both Mac and PC operating systems will likely be familiar of the markedly shorter time that the former takes to go from first switching on to being ready for use. Windows 7 may not close this gap completely - hardware differences give Apple's machine an inherent headstart in this respect - but it has reduced it to such an extent as to be immaterial: whereas earlier versions of Windows loaded all drivers and services in sequence whilst starting up, 7 takes advantage of technological improvements to load drivers and essential services simultaneously, whilst automatically assessing the limitations of any older hardware to ensure that non-essential elements are only run as and when they are needed if there's insufficient power to start them all.

Windows 7 also provides enhanced security measures: BitLocker drive encryption protects your sensitive data, not just within the drive partition that Windows is installed on, but across all your storage, including USB flash drives; the free Microsoft Security Essentials download gives you vital tools to protect your computer against malign outside external activity; and much improved Address Space Layout Randomisation makes it far harder for any attacks to determine where core functions reside in the memory. Also, 7's enhanced user account management will always warn you if software is attempting to make significant changes to your computer - but without the number and complexity of warnings that plagued Vista.

Usable and personal

Your staff, however, will most likely be very familiar with XP by now. There may be those who - quite understandably - are wary of having to get used to new software. To balance this out, 7 has introduced a number of changes that make everyday use that much easier. The most striking and helpful change that 7 offers sits at the bottom of the screen; the XP taskbar was just a repository for icons, telling you what's running and what the time is. The new-fangled (and translucent) Windows 7 taskbar, however, does rather more. Simply hovering over a taskbar icon produces a small preview window - or multiple previews if you have more than one window of the same application open - making it easier to stay in control of different tasks; alternatively, directing your mouse to the end of the taskbar reduces the open windows temporarily to outlines, so you can see the whole of your desktop. You can even (finally!) move icons on your taskbar about, to order them as you see fit.

If that's not enough to convince that upgrading to 7 isn't going to make work considerably harder, a few other enhancements might well be worth mentioning. Individual windows snap easily into the most helpful place just by pulling their borders to the edge of the screen, and if you need to have two open at once, 7 will resize them and slot them next to each other automatically. Your favourite or most visited documents can be pinned with just a drag and a drop to the application that runs them - so, for instance, hovering over Excel in the start menu or taskbar calls up a list of pinned documents: pick the one you want and the application loads automatically. And in case you're worried about problems with accessing software designed for earlier versions of Windows, 7 is completely backwards compatible - meaning that it can run programs that worked in XP (or Vista, or ME, or any other modern edition) as if it was itself Windows XP, with no compatibility concerns. With your software and your documents so easily accessible, your computer can be more personally yours than ever before.

Hopefully, being easier to use, quicker and safer might be prodding you towards welcoming Windows 7 into your office (and if you want to be sure that you and your staff can be fully up to speed with it, a short training course might well come in handy). There are other benefits, of course - such as the snipping tool, allowing you to save a piece of the screen as a JPEG with just a couple of click, or the ability to minimise all windows but the active one with a quick shake of the mouse - all of which can be picked up very quickly. And if the humble opinion of this one author might be considered for a moment, after years of experience with every prior version of Windows, 7 does represent a massive improvement all round. Upgrading may seem a big step, but it's certainly one worth taking.