What is Windows 7 Starter ?

Windows 7 Starter is the cheapest available edition of Windows 7. Many netbook and PC manufacturers ship their computers preinstalled with this operating system. The Windows7 Starter edition can only come to user as preinstalled OEM version operating system.

What is Windows 7 Starter ?

It is not even available in retail. For PC users who have never used Windows 7, this version was often promoted by many dealers as the best starting point.

Why is it not popular?

Windows 7 Starter Edition is also the least functional among the different Windows 7 versions available. Many of the standard features of Windows 7 are absent in the Starter Edition, forcing the user to deal with several drawbacks. These include the following:

The Aero theme is disabled, along with all related features.
There is no support for PCs and laptops with 64-bit hardware configuration.
There is no option for changing theme, or even the wallpaper. The system has to be run using the default Windows 7 Basic theme only, with the default wallpaper featuring the Windows 7 logo.
Premium Games included in most other editions of Windows 7 are nowhere to be found in the Starter Edition.
Computers running this operating system cannot join a Windows Server based domain.
Support for multiple monitor set ups is not present.
Even some standard features like Fast User Switching and Multilingual User Interface are disabled.

Why use Starter Edition in the first place?

The release of Windows7 Starter Edition is often thought of a marketing move made by Microsoft to promote other versions of their newest operating system. However, the edition turned out to be so bad that many laptop manufacturers and vendors in UK started installing the more expensive Windows 7 Home Premium Edition in their laptops, instead of the Starter Edition.