Windows 7 Windows 7 RTM New Feature Roundup - Tec

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Windows 7 RTM: New Attribute Roundup


Windows 7's release is coming up fast and for several of you, it really is right round the corner. TechNet and MSDN subscribers get Windows seven August sixth and quantity license customers get it September 1st. You will find undoubtedly been lots of coverage from the Windows 7 growth simply because Microsoft has long been pushing difficult to produce this the most beneficial model of Windows nevertheless. Several new attributes have been included in Windows seven, some large and a few small. We've outlined some of the more main and apparent modifications to aid you make the switch to Windows 7. We think that Windows 7 may be the very best edition of Windows yet and our evaluations of both the beta and release candidate might be used as reference for this overview of the new Windows seven features.

System Requirements
1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor one GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) sixteen GB obtainable hard disk area (32-bit) or twenty GB (64-bit) DirectX nine graphics device with WDDM one.0 or greater driver
Desktop

Themes & Aero
Windows 7 retains the Windows Aero user interface and visual styles that were introduced in Windows Vista, but unlike Vista, Aero is now the only interface obtainable. Windows has supported themes for a while now, but the extend of customization has long been extended dramatically. In addition to the color settings, users can now customize the current sound set and desktop slideshow settings. The default theme for Windows 7 is called “Windows 7”, but there are six other Aero themes: Architecture, Characters, Landscapes,Windows 7 Activation Key, Nature, Scenes, and United States (or other country-specific theme).  All of your Windows Vista backgrounds happen to be removed from Windows seven. Additional theme packs from Microsoft are available for download from Microsoft’s Web site.

Themes in Windows 7 have been updated and widened in scale to support far more than just the simple colors and background images

Desktop Slideshow
The desktop slideshow now lets users choose to specify the backgrounds they would like to automatically rotate in a user-designated amount of time. There is also support for a photo RSS feed to automatically display photos from a RSS feed.

Gadgets
Beginning with Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced Gadgets, which lived in the Windows Sidebar that was on the correct side from the user’s desktop by default. In Windows seven, Microsoft has removed the sidebar and the gadgets can freely be placed anywhere on the desktop. A Windows Media Center gadget has been added to the default collection,Windows 7 Ultimate, which lets users view live TV from the gadget without having to open Windows Media Center and take up a large amount of the screen space. The Contacts and Notes gadgets have been removed from the default gadget set.

Start Menu

The start menu still retains the two-column layout, but with a few tweaks.
“Jump Lists” are shown in the Start Menu when a pinned application’s Jump List arrow is clicked or hovered over. The Jump List temporarily replaces the appropriate column of the Start Menu. “Devices and Printers” has long been added as an option, which displays the new control panel applet “Documents”, “Music”, and “Pictures” buttons now link to the Libraries from the same name The shut down icon in Windows Vista has become replaced with the text “Shut Down”. Like in Vista, the default text button shown might be modified through the Start Menu properties window. Start Menu search is mostly the same, but search has long been extended to the Control Panel applets.
Jump Lists in the Start Menu appear on the right-column when one is triggered and they display common tasks or frequent actions for that program.

Taskbar

The taskbar in Windows 7 is 10 pixels larger to accommodate touch screen input due to the fact the size of a fingertip is roughly 10 pixels high. Simply because of your taller side, now only large program icons are shown without text, although the old style taskbar may be activated if desired. Applications that are open show their icon in the taskbar with a border about them to show they are running. A color effect that is shown behind the icon when it is hovered over and the color shown is based upon the main color in the icon itself.  Some icons will display their status behind their icon as well. For example, if a file is downloading in Internet Explorer, a blue progress bar appears behind the icon.

Pinned Applications
Applications can be pinned to the taskbar as a way to replace the old Quick Launch menu in previous Windows versions. Programs might be pinned by simply dragging the icon to the taskbar, by right-clicking the application’s .exe and choosing to pin it, or by right-clicking it in the Start Menu and choosing to pin it.

Live Thumbnail Previews
Since open programs display within one icon in the taskbar if multiple windows with the same application are open, live thumbnail previews when the icon is hovered over or clicked are shown to choose which window to open.  If one of the thumbnails is hovered over, all other open windows become transparent to show to selected window. To swap to that window, users just have to click on the thumbnail. An X button also appears in the upper correct corner from the thumbnail when hovered over to close that specific window.  Some applications even show basic controls in their thumbnails. For example, Windows Media Player lets users play, stop, and move forward/backward one track by means of small buttons without having to open the whole window.

Jump Lists
When you right-click an icon in the taskbar, a new jump list appears. Each program has its own unique options that will appear in its jump list. A few of the much more common options may be the ability to open recent files (ie: Microsoft Word shows recent docs, Internet Explorer shows recently browsed sites) or common tasks (ex: Live Messenger shows the ability to sign off and change status).

Jump Lists also appear when the user right-clicks on an icon in the taskbar. This particular Jump List is for Internet Explorer 8, which shows frequently visited sites and common tasks for IE.
Notification Area
The notification area to the left of your date and time has become redesigned. Now by default, the only icons that appear are Quantity, Power, Network, and Action Center. Other icons can be shown by user customization. An upward facing triangle on the left-side displays any hidden notification icons from other programs or Windows attributes. These icons can be dragged to the notification tray (and vise-versa) or they might be modified via the Notification Area Icons control panel applet. Icons can also be dragged to reorder them within the notification area.

The notification area is a way to hide program icons that you do not want to be shown all the time. To the proper from the click could be the Aero Peek button, which is explained in the next section.
Aero Peek
On the right side of the new notification area there is a modest transparent button that activated the Aero Peek attribute, which when clicked or hovered over, makes all open windows transparent and shows the desktop and gadgets. If clicked, all windows minimize and if clicked again, they are restored.

Aero Peek is a quick way to hide all open windows and make them transparent to see your desktop and gadgets.
Aero Snap
Windows might be dragged by their title bar to the top of the screen to maximize them and dragged away to restore them. Dragging a window to the left or correct will resize it to fill the respective side from the desktop. This is particularly useful for tiling two windows next to each other to view them side-by-side.

Aero Shake
Grabbing a window’s title bar and “shaking” allows the user to quickly minimize all other windows while keeping the one window open. Shaking again undoes the action.

Windows Explorer

Libraries
Libraries are new to Windows seven and they are basically an aggregation of content from various locations, including the local technique and networked computers.  The default libraries in Windows seven are Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. For example, the Documents library displays all from the document files in one place from multiple sources. This can make things easier if users have multiple computers in their home and need to locate a specific file and they’ve forgotten which computer it is stored on. Each library has its own default save location that might be changed, so dragging a file to a library doesn’t put it into that library, but rather a physical folder location. Libraries should be thought of as being a virtual search of sorts, which searches multiple locations for a specific file type. Users can create new libraries and specify what locations to look for and what file type and other criteria of files to search for and aggregate in the library.


XP Mode
Windows XP Mode comes with Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise as a free additional download. It is essentially a fully licensed copy of Windows XP SP3 running in a Virtual PC 7 virtual machine. Programs that are not compatible with Windows seven might be installed and run from this XP Mode. These programs will not appear separately from the Windows seven experience, but completely within it. To use XP Mode, computer’s CPUs will have to support hardware virtualization (Intel VT or AMD-VTM).

Homegroups
Networking computers and sharing files between computers has always been non-intuitive and didn’t always work well. With Windows 7, computers could be networked together using Homegroups, which are quick-setup home networks. All you do is enter the Homegroup password on all the computers and they will connect and share files and printers instantly. 

Device Interfacing

Devices and Printers
The new Devices and Printers control panel applet displays plugged-in devices as opposed to the System Manager, which shows all hardware, including internal. Double-clicking on a gadget shown here,Office 2007 Standard, for example a printer, will display settings specific to that device. With the example of a printer, it will show default printing settings that can all be modified. This applet will replace the “Printers” window that appeared in previous versions of Windows.


System Stage
Device Stage provides a one-stop location for all from the multi-function devices that are currently plugged into the computer. For example, if an MP3 player is plugged in, the device appears as an icon in the taskbar and in Windows Explorer. When System Stage is opened, the user will have access to basic actions for that device. Microsoft has said that a mobile phone, for example, will show options for synchronization, ringtones, and navigating the phone’s storage via Explorer.

Windows seven comes with images of popular devices, but it is capable of searching the Internet to download images of unrecognized devices. Hardware makers will have to ability to customize their hardware’s gadget stage interface and options by including special XML files on the installation disc.


File System

Bitlocker-to-Go
BitLocker-to-Go provides encryption support for removable disks, including USB thumbdrives. BitLocker protected devices may be protected with a passphrase, a recovery key, or automatically unlocked on a specific computer. If a protected disk is plugged into another computer and the password isn’t known, the disk will be inaccessible.


Disk Partitioning
During the Windows seven installation, the installer will create two different disk partitions. The first partition is for booting,Buy Office 2007, BitLocker, and for accessing the Windows Recovery Environment. The second is utilized to install the actual operating program. The Windows Recovery Environment partition takes up about 100MB of area and is now installed by default as opposed to Vista where they had to be accessed by booting from the Vista DVD.  The Recovery Environment lets users repair startup files,Office Professional Plus, access program restore, access the command prompt, and diagnose memory issues.

Windows 7 makes two partitions during installation, one for the operating system and your files and the other for a recovery partition in case of emergencies.
Virtual Challenging Disks
Support for Virtual Tough Disks (VHD’s) is built into Windows seven Enterprise & Ultimate editions. These VHDs may be mounted, created, and booted from right within Windows 7.

Solid State Drives
Solid state drives (SSD) are now officially supported in Windows seven and there are a few alterations to how Windows 7 works when it is dealing with an SSD. For example, Windows Disk Defragmenter is disabled and the drive will be partitioned differently than a traditional tough drive to increase performance.

Removable Media
In previous versions of Windows, any card readers connected to the computer would show up as an empty drive in the Computer, or My Computer, menu. Now in Windows 7, only a card reader with a card inserted will show in the Computer window.

Security

Window Action Center
The Windows Security Center from XP and Vista has long been renamed to Windows Action Center, which handles each security and maintenance issues. Here you can manage various aspects with the computer’s security, such as adjusting Windows Firewall settings. Backup is also another functionality with the Action Center, which monitors your usage of Windows Backup.

User Account Control Levels
A large complaint about Windows Vista was that it alerted users too much about system alterations and programs trying to use system files. The infamous Accept or Deny dialog box has become a hot-button issue with a lot of users holding out on switching from XP to Vista. In Windows seven, Microsoft has introduced four different notification levels for UAC. The level of UAC notification could be adjusted in the brand new User Account Control control panel applet.

Multimedia

Windows Media Center
Windows Vista came with Windows Media Center, an entertainment portal that provided a “ten-foot” interface designed for a home entertainment setting. In Windows 7, much of Media Center could be the same, except for a few user interface tweaks and redesigning of a few menus. Microsoft has added support for H.264 video on the local computer and via a Media Center Extended, including the Xbox 360.

Media Center in Windows 7 also includes the “TV Pack” released back in 2008, which includes support for CableCARD and North American (ATSC) Clear QAM tuners.

Microsoft recently announced that Windows Media Center in Windows seven will support Netflix Instant Watch streaming content for Netflix subscribers in the very near future.

Format support has long been increased as well, with new support for numerous new media formats: MP4, 3GP, MOV, M4A, AVCHD, and ADTS. There are also much more incorporated codecs: H.264, MPEG4-SP, ASP/DivX/Xvid, DV, AAC-LC/HE, and MJPEG.

Other Misc. New Features
A new calculator is integrated with a new interface and several new calculation abilities. Paint and WordPad have the ribbon user interface instituted with Microsoft Office 2007 & 2010. Right-clicking an .ISO file and choosing “Burn Image” will bring up a dialog for burning the image to CD/DVD right from within Windows 7. InstantOn: a new feature to reduce the startup time of Windows seven dramatically (and it works too; shutdown times are also amazingly fast) Windows Media Player 12 & Internet Explorer 8


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