Microsoft Windows 7 New Features Review
Microsoft Windows 7 New Features Review
It's worth reviewing the full list of new features in Windows 7 if only to give you
fresh ideas. Guy bets that you will find at least one feature that you did not
know existed, for example 'Aero Shake'. In my
case, reviewing Windows 7 also reminded me of a number of items that I
had overlooked in Vista, for example biometrics.
Microsoft Windows 7 Features Review
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I believe that learning should be fun; I even believe that working should
be fun. Vista was an interesting operating system, yet
all too often it was frustrating; consequently, one could easily get
into the wrong frame of mind. Later on this page I will review Windows 7's
technical enhancements. But for now I want to highlight innovative cosmetic
changes because they make us feel good and put us in a good mood ready to tackle our day-to-day tasks.
Improved Taskbar
'Customer in Control' is the mantra, thus Window 7 does not allow
newly installed programs to bully their way into the Taskbar, and the
Notification Area is also cleaner and uncluttered;
There are subtle changes in behavior for displaying open programs on the
Taskbar, for instance if you open a Windows explorer, the icon for the new
window stacks onto the existing pinned icon rather than creating a separate
icon on the taskbar. See screenshot showing the lower example with no
explorers open, in contrast, the top strip featuring a glowing icon with 4
windows open.
Moreover,
you also get more 'drill-down', just hover over a preview and see details of
what's going on in that program, for example views or files that are open.
As ever, you can right-click the Taskbar and change its properties and how
it combines these buttons.
See more about the new taskbar.
The Old Quick Launch
For Luddites, like my friend Mad Mick, it is possible to get back the old
Quick Launch
See more about restoring the old
Quick Launch
Aero Shake (Title bar) and Aero Snap (Side-by-side Windows)
Discover the 'Aero Shake', and instantly clear the clutter caused be opening too many windows.
This new Windows 7 feature works by grabbing the title bar of the
program you are interested in and shaking it with the mouse, all
the other windows disappear clearing the untidiness with a flick of the top
of a window. N.B. if Aero Shake does not work for you, check that you
have Aero Graphics.
Incidentally, my friend 'Mad' Mick still wouldn't believe
that the Aero Shake feature is by design and not a bug! Then he went
to the other extreme and hacked his registry, added a key called
NoWindowMinimizingShortcuts. To follow his path, launch Regedit then
navigate to:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer
- Add a Key called Explorer
- Create a 32-bit DWORD called NoWindowMinimizingShortcuts
- Set the value = 1.
- Result Aero Shake is disabled
Troubleshooting Aero Shake
I find that Aero Shake does not work with Remote Desktop, unless the host
system is also Windows 7.
Other ways to maximise a window. These are not so much problems,
more genuine new features. If you drag the title bar to the top of the
window it maximises. Also if you happen to be holding down the Winkey
and press the up arrow, the same thing happens.
Aero Snap
There are other neat enhancements of the way that you can control
windows so that you can compare the contents of two pages. The idea
behind Aero Snap, is that when you drag one window to the left,
and the other to the right edge, they each get resized to half the screen. To tell the truth it took me ages to get
Aero Snap to work, the knack is to drag one Window left, but to a ridiculous
extent.
And the other window way, way way right. I say again it's a knack, just
drag it so that half disappears off screen, something you would never normally do.
The other trap is that you have to drag the windows to the side and not the
top of the screen.
 Guy
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AERO Peek
Aero Peek allows you to glimpse the desktop when its underneath layers of
open programs. It relies on the 'Show desktop' icon, which is now
positioned to the right of the clock, see screenshot.
To see the effect you must open a few programs before you right-click on the Show
desktop icon, now you should now be able to peek at the desktop. This is
not a feature that I will use often, I am guessing Aero Peek is designed for those who
have gadgets embedded on their desktop, and want to see a stock update or the
latest sports results.
Possible problem, I could not get Aero Peek to work with remote desktop.
Perhaps a limitation of the graphics resulted in this feature being greyed-out.
Another reason that you don't see Aero Peek, could be that it's been
disabled in the Taskbar properties.
Jump Lists - Recent
The list of programs that you see when you click the Start Orb is now called
a Jump List, personally, I like to pin regularly used
programs to the Start menu, that way they don't get bumped off the list by new-comers.
Windows 7 extends this 'Start menu' behaviour to other programs. The
result is that it's easier to resume a playlist from where you left off, or
find a Word file that you used yesterday. Right-click IE8 in Windows 7
and you get a 'Frequent' list. Right-click Word or Notepad and
you get a 'Recent' jump list, see screenshot.
Jump lists are yet another example where Windows 7 rewards intelligent
user behaviour. I would not want to go overboard here, but this and
similar features, make me more productive; I feel the operating system
understands what I want and provides the easiest possible method to tackle
my current task. See more on Windows
7 Jump Lists.
Needy State (Icon blink)
 There is a subtle change on the Windows Orb, it now glows when you hover
over the Start Button area. This concept of enhanced visual clues extends to the
Taskbar icons. 'Needy State' is a Microsoft term for when programs in the
Taskbar try to grab your attention, for example a blinking icon alerting you
that email has just arrived in Outlook. The difference
in Windows 7 is
that the icon
now
flashes gently seven times, rather than aggressively three times.
Action Center Flag
The Action Center folder collects messages about security and maintenance
and literally flags problems via an icon in the notification area. It's hard to ignore a red flag,
as usual, just double-click and the flag will take you
to the Action Center where you can see what's occurring. If the
problem looks tricky, then there are a new generation of intelligent troubleshooters on hand to help you.
Gadgets are In - But The Sidebar is Out
Gadgets are now embedded into the desktop rather than a sidebar. It
may sound strange, but the new system is easier to use, and is an
improvement over grappling with gadgets in Vista's sidebar. Just
right-click the desktop and you will see 'Gadgets' on the shortcut menu.
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Windows 7
brings new features which make it easier for
computers not only to get connected, but also to stay connected regardless of their location or
type of network. These enhancements also enable IT professionals to meet the
needs of their business in a secure, reliable, and flexible way.
- DirectAccess allows users to experience their office environment at
home, or anywhere with an internet connection.
This solution uses IPSec to provide authentication and encryption for
communication, thus eliminating the need to fiddle around with VPN
connections. By it's nature this is a
feature for domain users and requires configuration of a Windows Server 2008.
Actually, there is quite a lot of configuration on the Windows 2008
server, especially if you wish to restrict parts of the corporate
network to the users when they are offsite.
- BranchCache, which enables updated
content from file and Web servers on a wide area network (WAN) to be cached
on computers at a local branch office, increasing application response time
and reducing WAN traffic. The idea is that one user access data, which
the branch server caches, others users get cached copy.
- Multiple active firewall profiles. The benefit is that firewall
rules are based on the network to which each network adapter is
connected, for example, Private, Public, or Domain. Let us suppose
that you are at a station which supplies wireless connection. This
is what happens, your VPN connection to the corporate domain network is
protected by the Domain profile. While surfing the internet uses
the Public profile.
- Mobile broadband device support
provides another consistent driver-based model for devices that are used to access a mobile
broadband network. What's new is that users don't need to grapple with
third-party software, Windows 7 takes care of business.
- IPv6 provides the end-to-end addressing necessary for clients to
connect to the enterprise network. If you are not yet ready to fully
deploy IPv6, then you can use Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing
Protocol (ISATAP), Teredo, and 6to4 to connect across the IPv4 Internet
and to access IPv4 resources.
- URL-based Quality of Service (QoS), which
enables you to assign a priority level to traffic based on the URL from
which the traffic originates.
- DISM (Deployment Image Service and Management) Installation is not
my speciality, but if it was I would study and use this new utility. DISM is like a new incarnation of AIK (Automated Installation Kit) and
its crucial feature is slicker update of drivers resulting in smaller
image files. This is new for Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) Key
phrase, Dynamic Driver Provision. DISM replaces PEimg.exe,
Intlcfg.exe, and Pkgmgr.exe.
- MultiCore Processing. Better support for dual-core and
quad-core CPU.
- Faster WiFi network discovery on startup.
One message which I have repeated down the years is how it pays to have
balanced systems. Windows 7 with Windows Server 2008, XP teamed with
Windows Server 2003. If you have Windows 7 on the desktop, but Window
Server 2003 then some of these new features may not work.
The following improvements are available in
Windows Server 2008 R2. Also, by installing Remote Server
Administration Tools on a Windows 7 computer, you can connect to a 2008
DC and manage domain-based Group Policies
- Windows PowerShell provides 25 new cmdlets dedicated for
configuring Group Policy, they mimic changing settings via the Group
Policy Management Console.
- The ability to run
PowerShell scripts during logon and startup.
- There is a new
user interface and additional policies in the Administrative Template
Settings.
- Group Policy Preferences have additional items, see AppLocker
below, or Gpedit here
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AppLocker is a domain feature, and not a setting to configure on a Home
Network. In fact, you need at least one Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controller
to host the AppLocker rules.
AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that replaces the Software Restriction Policies feature
of previous versions of Group Policy. AppLocker
contains new capabilities and extensions making it easier for you to control how users can access
files, such as
.exe files, scripts, Windows Installer files (.msi and .msp files), and
DLLs.
There are two main strategies for configuring AppLocker. Firstly
there is what I call the Mr Nasty approach where you deny all
applications, then you create a list of 'known good' exceptions. Secondly,
there is the Mr Nice approach where you allow all programs, but keep a list
of 'known bad'. By default, AppLocker rules do not permit users to open or run any files
that are not specifically allowed.
Following the evolution of Home Network in XP and then in Vista,
HomeGroup finally delivers easy connections for Windows 7 computers in
workgroup configuration. My best contribution on this new Window 7
feature is to persuade you to give HomeGroup a chance.
The most obvious use of this synchronization technology is to connect laptops running Windows 7 to
home network. Benefits include accessing music, videos and pictures on
your other machines much more easily than Vista. It maybe that the killer feature
of HomeGroup is to use 'Device Stage' to interrogate or even configure other
gadgets such as mobile phones.
See more on SolarWinds VoIP Manager »
Setup concepts
Where necessary configure the settings from the Network and Sharing
Center. Put the Windows 7 computer in a 'Home Network', then create a
HomeGroup making a note of the auto-generated password. Naturally,
supply this password when joining other Windows 7 computers to your
HomeGroup. Any problem reboot!!!
Library concepts
In Windows 7, it helps if you re-evaluate My Documents, My Pictures
and My Music. Instead of thinking of each as a single folder, think of
them as a 'Library', connected to many physical folders. Also
appreciate the benefit of sharing these Libraries with other computers in your HomeGroup. If you like this Library concept then
you can extend it by creating new virtual folders, or new libraries, and
then tick on the box and make them available to other users in your
HomeGroup. See more on the
Windows 8 Library folders.
Problem with HomeGroup
It is not accessible from XP and Vista machines even if they are in the
same Home Network.
See more on Windows 7 HomeGroups
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Control Panel Changes
Device Stage
Continuing the theme of more intelligent use, the Device Stage gathers
your printer, camera, mouse and other devices into one folder.
The idea of this new Windows 7 feature is that once you connect a media device to your Windows 7
computer, then you can configure it from the Devices and Printers folder in
the Control Panel. Not only can you check for firmware updates, but
also you can manage the media on the device. To some extent the
usefulness of this new way of view devices depends on the manufacturers
making their information available to the operating system. One
classic use for Device Stage would be to mirror songs in your Media folder
with those on the device.
Action Center
The Action Center is a central point providing access to 4
sub-categories, the benefit is for when you cannot remember when an item
such as the Windows Firewall appears in the Maintenance or Security area.
Also when you are Troubleshooting you may have forgotten about the Recovery
options. Thus its useful to have these 4 categories in one Action
Center.
Security: Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, User
Account Control (UAC).
Maintenance: Windows
Backup, Windows Update, and other system maintenance tools.
The Reliability Monitor has
now been moved to this section of the Action Center.
Recovery:
Connect to System Restore
Troubleshooting: Windows 7 includes ships with over 20 built-in troubleshooters, and more
are on their way. The main categories mimic the Control Panel layout
for example: Programs, Network and
Internet, Hardware and Sound, System and Security, Personalization.
Flag in Navigation Area
You may have noticed a flag
in the Navigation Area, well click and you will be taken to the Action
Center. The benefit is that not only can you resolve any urgent
problems, but you can review the firewall and backup settings.
More New Features in Windows 7
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