It doesn't transfer your programs. Only your personal documents... if you bothered reading the HUGE warning that told you that before you upgraded you wouldn't be so angry.
To unpin you right click on something and click unpin. To make your bar small/show window titles/not group similar items, right click the startbar and click properties.
Small bar - Check "Use small icons"
Unhide window names - Taskbar buttons: Combine when taskbar is full
Show all icons in tray - click the up arrow then customize and uncheck hiding of icons (forgot exact words)
In the time you posted here, waited for responses and tried a lot of things to share your programs, you could have already finished installing them fresh and new .
Usually when you install a new OS (whether you upgrade an existing one or do a fresh install), it is best to reinstall all the programs. Any other way to get around that laziness can cause troubles later.
So.. It's useless. Don't know what you mean by "upgraded". It's a new computer..
The main problem is that, Microsoft will cease supporting XP in later years (Until 2014). Once they stop supporting, it's very advisable to start migrating to Windows 7. But still, XP is usable, just that there won't be newer software or games made for XP.
You don't need to worry much about having a 64-bit operating system, just that some softwares can't run in the operating system's 32-bit compatibility mode.
The reason that XP is fine is that XP is already mature (Probably in the 50s in human age), thanks to its legacy status and 3 service packs, which I don't see much in Windows 7 (Around the age of 16 in human age). All it needs, is time. Just be patient about it, and let Microsoft fix the bugs for you.
Is your XP genuine? Some people preferring to move to Windows 7 is due to this.
And, don't worry about the advanced features in Windows 7. As long as you stick to the basics of exploring and navigating around, you'll learn them.
I'm not sure about new games supporting XP, but it's up to the developers to decide. It's best for you to do a little research on this, and see for yourself. My opinion, is that games will start decreasing its support for XP, shift the standards up a notch, increase the system requirements, and possibly other things. There's a good chance that XP will not be able to cope with this change.
1. the resource manager
2. the search box in the start menu
3. the new "taskbar" (especially the "hide all" button)
things that I like in xp:
the "up one level" button in windows explorer
anyways, sorry this isn't going to help you much, but i found a program that looks for what programs what you have installed in xp, saves itself onto a flash drive or something, then goes and downloads newer versions of those programs for your win7 when you install it, makes re-installing much simpler, but I can't seem to find/remember that program anymore.. only used it once, but it worked for most of my programs
I think you have all your questions covered, so I'll just add in some contrast and say I absolutely love Windows 7 - it's the best Windows so far, ever.
I will always do a fresh install to avoid problems that can occur with upgrading. I also use 3 partitions, one of which will only contain Windows and drivers. That way I can wipe this partition and still keep the data on I have on the others. Of course it still means I need to re-install problems but it does mean that I can keep any data associated with them. This setup is also really helpful if I get a virus (not that I have ever had that problem).
For Chrome you can 'Sync' with your old version (stores all themes/bookmarks on the web)
Then retrieve them all by simply logging in with Sync on your new install.
Ghan has said he has fixed this. Monovertex please confirm this fix. This was only a problem with people that had signatures in the upper levels like not the special members but the respected members.