Windows 7 Review

Windows 7 Review - Part 1

While Windows 7 has only now launched, it barely feels like that. This
time Microsoft has involved testers in such an extensive way, that for
many people Windows 7 is already a familiar experience, after all, it has
been around for nearly a year.

Windows 7 has changed little since its first beta release back in January
2009, which is all the more remarkable as it means that the operating
system was nearly done by then. They have abandoned the search for a
clever name, and gone for a clever operating system instead!

The biggest advantage of the extended public beta testing period of

Windows 7 has been to the people who "tested" it, and essentially got a
free licensed version of Windows for a year. However a lot of the
feedback and bugs discovered during the beta period of Windows 7 was
actually accommodated into Release Candidate which came afterwards.

While Windows 7 is essentially a minor update to Windows Vista, it has

some significant and positive changes which have turned the utter failure
of Vista to the critical acclaim it has received. Nearly every version of
Windows has been considered to be too bloated for its time, and for the
very first time, we have a version of windows which can run on a lower
configuration than its predecessor!

Let us now take a look at some of the defining features of this new version
of Windows, the good and the bad:

The Taskbar: Renovated after a decade

The taskbar is perhaps the most talked about aspect of
Windows 7 -- this long stagnant icon since the Windows 95
days has finally seen a significant upgrade. Windows 7
makes the taskbar more than just a way to switch between
windows, it has now become a way to interact with and
control the windows themselves. In my opinion, its functionality is under-
hyped!

The changes in the taskbar are more than just cosmetic upgrade to square
icons instead of wide tabs: the preview functionality is useful for once, and
makes managing lots of open windows easier. If the preview isn't enough,
hovering over the window lets you see the active application in its own,
with the other windows made "transparent." A button on the right-most
corner of the taskbar lets you take a peek at the desktop through all your
windows. Finally, we have the rather simple facility of actually moving
around window icons on the taskbar, and the system tray.

These features just let you manage windows better, just like grouping of
tasks made working with multiple windows simpler, but as stated before,
the Windows 7 taskbar is more that just that. Windows 7 lets application
publish common actions that can be performed on them in a list which
now appears on a right-click instead of the normal menu. While common
examples show application publishing their frequently or recently opened
files, and common tasks here, it can pretty much be used for anything.
Seen from the popular context of a browser, it can show your recent
history, bookmarks, and show tasks allowing you to open new tabs or
windows.

Applications can use the Windows 7 taskbar API to provide a wide variety
of information and control via the taskbar itself such as:
• Displaying status icons (such as a available / idle / invisible etc. for
an IM app, or playing / paused / stopped for a media player) on their
icon on the taskbar,
 Winamp taskbar icon with triangle Winamp taskbar icon with square
icon overlay to depict play state icon overlay to depict stopped state

• Displaying progress using a green highlight. The highlight can

display the progress information published by the application, and
show determinate or indeterminate progress on the icon itself. A
yellow highlight can depict a paused process, and a red one can
indicate an error.

Winamp taskbar icon Winamp taskbar icon Windows Explorer

showing playback showing playback displaying file copy
progress as green paused as yellow error status using red
highlight highlight highlight

• Application controlled preview. The preview image shown by an

application can be controlled by the application itself, which can
result in much more meaningful previews of relevant content,
instead of ones of the entire window.

• Tabs can now show their previews straight on the taskbar, and you
can use the taskbar to directly switch between, and close individual
tabs from the taskbar instead of opening the window.

Windows 7 taskbar showing previews of tabs opened in Internet Explorer

 8

• Thumbnail toolbars are used by applications such as Windows

Media Player to display information about the currently playing song
in the preview of the window, and provide buttons to control
playback.

Winamp displaying album

art, track playback
information, and a toolbar
of available actions in
preview window

The new taskbar now also superseded the functionality of the older
QuickLaunch toolbar by allowing any application to be "pinned" to the
taskbar itself. A pinned application appears on the taskbar even when it
isn't running, and gets highlighted while running as an indicator. This
makes working with your favourite applications even more easily, as they
are now easily available to be launched in a convenient location, and
furthermore it will appear in the same location where it is pinned, making
working with frequently accessed windows easier.

For those using Windows for a long time this may come as a break in
tradition, and they will be required to adjust to the new mechanism,
however the new interface is well worth adjusting to. So although an
option exists to switch back to the older more familiar taskbar style, it is
not something we expect much people to opt for, and certainly not
something we'd recommend.

As you can see the taskbar has grown to accommodate some of the
features that were earlier provided by toolbars, and to an extent the system
tray. In the current scenario where multi-tasking is becoming increasingly
important, the Windows 7 taskbar comes well prepared.

This is Part 2

Bundled Applications: Unbundle of Joy

One of the most unsettling trend, that seams to have

been broken with Windows 7, is that each version of
Windows was more bloated than the last. Windows 7
unbundled some of the applications that few people
would be using anyway, such as Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie
Maker, Windows Mail, Windows Calender, Windows Contacts, Microsoft
Agent, etc.

While it was nice that Windows tried to be more functional as a fresh

install, their offerings are too weak and bloated to be of much use, and this
reduction of bloat is highly appreciated. While the quality of having
everything you need installed out of the box has been a much touted Linux
advantage, it seems the same does not work for Windows.

For people who still prefer to use the Microsoft applications for their
simplicity of use, don't worry, most of these applications have not been
abandoned. Microsoft has made available a Windows Live Essentials
package which can be downloaded and installed to bring back the familiar
Windows Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker applications.
However, the Windows Contacts and Windows Calender applications are
missing, though most likely they will not be missed! The calender and
contact functionality is available to a certain extent in the new Windows
Live Mail application.

To allow you to reduce the bloat even further, Windows 7 now allows
users to remove / disable more of the core application than it previously
did. You can now easily remove Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media
Player, Windows Search, Windows Media Center, and Windows Gadgets.

You can now uninstall more of Windows applications than

possible before.
Click here for the complete list.

Windows Vista with all its reputation as a mere glossy coat on a rotten
operating system brought with it an unnecessary visual upgrade to the
games included in Windows. Windows 7 instead, goes for upgrading the
core applications which have long been neglected into uselessness.

The new Windows 7 versions of WordPad and Paint have something more
new than just the version number, they now sport the ribbon interface
similar to Office 2007. They include many new features to go with the
new interface, most important of all, Wordpad can read and write both the
new Office 2007 .docx files, and the OpenDocument .odt files. The new
version of the calculator application now includes some very useful
features such as a history, worksheets support, date calculations, statistical
calculations etc.

WordPad

The Windows 7 WordPad ribbon UI

 Wordpad displaying an .odt file

Paint is heavily revamped and now includes multiple useful brushes,

shapes, displaying rulers and grid-lines and more. Paint now defaults to the
compressed .png file format for saving images instead of BMP. While
paint is still a far cry from a good image editor, after this upgrade, it is
certainly a decent one.

Paint

The Windows 7 Paint ribbon UI

 New shapes in Paint.
Windows 7 New selection of This is an example of a star shape,
Paint UI brushes in Paint with a watercolor style red border,
and a crayon style yellow fill.

Calculator

Worksheets
allow you to
Calculator use
now stores a predefined
The new
The new history of templates to
calculator Simple
UI for calculations perform
support tools exist
Calculator allows easy common
may more to perform
in tracking of calculations.
UI modes, calculation
Windows previous
and s on dates.
7 calculations Such as the
features.
and reuaing mortgage
results calculation
shown
above.

With Windows 7, the On-Screen Keyboard utility has also seen a big
change. The new version is now fully scalable, and sports a new glass-
enabled interface. The new OSK however does away with all the menus
and configuration options, making it impossible to change the font of the
keyboard. A useful feature added in this release is the support text
prediction. As you type text, the application will display a row of word
completions allowing you to speed up text entry significantly.

On-Screen Keyboard

The new glassy On-Screen Keyboard utility in Windows 7

The magnifier too, has seen a functional upgrade. The interface is much
simplified, and now supports three usage modes, a docked mode (similar
to the functionality of older versions), a magnifying glass version, where a
magnifying glass follows the cursor magnifying everything underneath it,
and a full screen mode which zooms in the entire screen.

Magnifier

The
Magnifier This new
The much
window Windows 7 mode in the
more In this
collapses Magnifier: Windows 7
simplified mode, the
into this icon Old style magnifier
and entier
after some docked allows you to
cleaner screen is
time to window move around
Magnifier magnified.
preserve mode. a magnifying
UI
screen glass.
space.
Among completely new applications to be included with Windows 7 is
PowerShell 2.0, which is now installed by default with the OS. PowerShell
allows the experiences user to write powerful scripts to automate many
tasks. It is a much more powerful solution than the batch script support
available in previous versions of Windows. Another handy utility included
in Windows 7 is the "Sticky Notes" application which was used to
showcase the Jumplists and tasks feature of Windows 7. The application
lets you add sticky notes to your desktop and integrates with the Windows
7 taskbar by allowing you to create new notes from the jumplist. It is of
limited use however, since it very little formatting options and few color
options.

PowerShell 2.0

PowerShell 2.0 CLI installed PowerShell 2.0 Script editor

with Windows 7 installed with Windows 7

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes application in Windows 7

An interesting tool which could be of great use
is the new problem steps recorder. It is a handy
utility which allows you to record procedures and actions which lead to
problems (bugs, crashes, errors etc), or even otherwise. However this tool
has not been promoted much by Microsoft in the OS, and few people
might even realize it exists. For now the best way to launch it seems to be
by using the Run command, and entering "psr".

Overall Windows 7 manages to provide more usability in a smaller size

than its predecessor, Windows Vista, which is indeed a remarkable feat.
This is Part 3

Libraries: Windows gets more organized

Over time, any Windows user is sure to find their documents, music and videos scattered all
over their computer. Earlier versions of Windows provided users with the facility to relocate
their personal folders, but were restricted to just one folder for documents on one partition.
Often, people do not want to clutter their Windows partition, and chose to store their
documents elsewhere, usually without pointing their document folder locations. Furthermore
you were stuck with the categories of Music, Pictures, Videos,and Documents that Microsoft
decided you needed. Some might like a dedicated folder for their Music Videos rather than
clubbing them with their Music, or Videos folder, for example.

In Windows 7 this entire concept has been revamped with a new system called Libraries
which allows you to create aggregations of similar content which may be located in different
partitions or even different computers!

Imagine a scenario where you have a collection of eBooks in a folder on your D: drive, your
personal documents in your "Documents" folder, and downloaded documents in a folder like
"C:DownloadsDocuments". Here a single Documents Library could be created (one is
available by default in Windows 7) which could then include these locations. You could even
include any documents you have in folders at external locations such as a network share, a
pendrive or an external hard disk.

Your documents library would then display the aggregated contents from all these locations.
It is important to note that a Library is not a folder in itself, although it behaves like one, it in
itself does not store anything.

This may remind you of saved searches in Windows Vista; however, Libraries are more than
just that. Unlike a saved search, a library can be used as a target while saving files. You
might wonder how Windows decides where to save a file when saving in a library, this is a
simple matter of selecting a default save location in the Library's configuration.

While Windows comes with its own default libraries for your documents, videos, music, and
pictures, you are free to create as many as you want, and for whatever purpose. The Windows
default Libraries include the user and public location for that content type. So your
Documents library comes with the default location of your own Documents folder, along with
the "Public Documents" folder, where the "Public Documents" location is a publicly shared
folder which is shared across user accounts and computers. Since libraries display files from
multiple different locations, they include a new view of grouping or sorting files by their
location.

Libraries are certainly not a new concept, we have all used them in some form in music
managing application such as iTunes and Winamp, or media centre applications such as
Windows Media Centre and XBMC. However now they form a part of the OS itself, and are
much more configurable.

The Libraries feature can lead to some interesting implications. Over time we shall expect to
see applications using these Windows Libraries to define content locations instead of using
their own configuration. For example, music managing applications in the future could
benefit from using the Music Library location instead of defining their own, this way all
music application would share the same content. Windows Media Player 12, included in
Windows 7 already uses your library locations for managing music files, and so does the new
Media Centre application.

Libraries are easy to create too, the Libraries location in Explorer allows you to create a new
Library as easily as creating a new folder. You merely click on the "New Library" button in
your Libraries location, and give a name to the new Library item which pops up. Adding
locations to an existing Library is equally simple. When browsing through folders on your
computer, you will be able to add the current location to an existing Library by using the
"Include in Library" dropdown in the Explorer toolbar, which will allow you to include the
location in an existing Library, or create a new Library with it.

Another way to add location to an existing Library is by using the Library properties dialog.
Here you can add location to include in the library, and set a save location for the library. It
will also allow you to optimize the library for a certain content type (documents, music,
pictures, video, or general items), and choose whether to share the library and display it in the
navigation pane.

All these library locations are visible to you while opening or saving files as well, and you
can expand the library in the navigation view to see a list of folders included in it, and
optionally save files in one which isn't defined as the default save location.

Deleting a library has no effect on any of the files contained in it since it is merely a pointer
to different location on your computer, it merely has the effect of removing the Library
configuration from your list of Libraries.

Libraries are a central concept to Windows 7, and it is quite likely you will find them
incredibly useful for organizing your data. The idea is not a new one, but by adding it at the
operating ystem level, Windows 7 has become that much more useful.
Libraries

An empty library When saving files

Creating a new is useless and into a library, you
The Windows 7 Library is pretty non-functional can view the
Libraries location much the same as without atlease locations included
creating a folder one included in a Library by
location expading its tree.

The library
properties dialog
allows you to set
the kind of content
A folder can be The context menu
You can add included in the
included in a also offers options
locations to a library.
library using the to include the
library using the You can also set a
"Include in Library" selected folder in a
library locations default save folder,
option in the library (or create a
dialog. and select whether
Explorer toolbar. new one)
the library is shared
or shown in the
navigation tree or
not.

This is Part 4

Window Management: Something new at last

Despite a name like Windows, this Microsoft operating system hasn't offered anything
special for managing application windows till now.

Windows has done a commendable job of catching up with in this version, and has added
some much needed features which make handling multiple windows easier and faster.
Windows 7 changes the way you interact with windows and how you control and position
them on the screen. It breaks some of your older conceptions of window states.

In Windows 7, the meaning of maximized has changed, no longer does it mean a window
which occupies the whole screen. We are often faced with scenarios where we need to place
windows side-by-side or one-over-the-other to copy, move or compare contents, and this has
has been possible but rather difficult in earlier versions of Windows. In Windows XP for
instance, placing two windows side-by-side would require you to manually resize them and
place them that way, or to select both windows taskbar buttons (by pressing the Ctrl key), and
using the menu options to stack them side by side.

Now it is a simple matter of dragging a window to the leftmost corner of the screen to
"maximize" it in the right half (i.e. it will take up the right half of the screen), dragging it to
the leftmost side of the screen to have it take up the left half of the screen. Dragging a
window to the top of the screen makes it maximize to full screen. Additionally clicking on
the topmost or bottommost border edge of any re-sizable window will maximize it vertically
without changing it's width.

Windows in these states, now behave more like maximized windows, such that they "restore"
to their original size when their titlebar is double-clicked (although the maximize titlebar
button still behaves the same). Maximized windows can now be dragged, and doing so is
comparable to clicking on the restore button and then starting the drag in earlier versions of
windows.

Shaking a window (by selecting its titlebar and quickly moving it to the left and right),
minimizes all other windows except the one being "shaken." This is something that can be of
great utility if you wish to copy something to the desktop through a pile of windows.
Repeating this action will bring back all the windows to their original places.

While these features offer great utility, they are surely something you need to adapt to. Often
times you are innocently moving a windows around only to discover them maximizing or
minimizing all over the place! Once you get the hang of this new way of doing things though,
it will become invaluable.

All the actions described above also have keyboard friendly ways of accomplishing the same
task:

Keyboard
Action Mouse Shortcut
Shortcut

Win Key +Up

Maximize the window. Drag to top of screen
Arrow
Win Key +Left Maximize the window to the left side Drag to leftmost side of
Arrow of the screen. screen

Win Key +Right Maximize the window to the right Drag to rightmost side of
Arrow side of the screen. screen

Win Key +Down

Minimize the window.
Arrow

Win Key +Home Minimize all but the active window. "Shake" the window

Win Key Stretch the window to the top and Double click the topmost
+Shift+Up Arrow bottom of the screen. border edge

Glass effects: Glass with Class

Whether you like it of hate it, Windows Aero, or more importantly "Desktop Windows
Manager" was a necessary part of the evolution of Windows as an operating system.
Windows Aero which allows windows to have semi-transparent borders, and allows for
effects such as Flip3D was underutilized. Flip3D was good to showcase, but of limited utility.

In Windows 7, you can feel that you are really missing something by disabling Aero, as some
of the functionality is provides is of actual utility. While the Classic and Basic modes are
retained, they are no longer as attractive.

Some of the features of DWM have already been described, such as live-previewing window
and tab contents from the task bar. Other features include:

• On switching tasks using Alt-Tab, not only are the window previews
displayed in the switcher, but all windows other than the currently
selected windows in the switcher are made transparent, so you can have
an actual peek at the window.

• Hovering over the preview thumbnail of a window in the taskbar has the
same effect as described above, i.e. the selected window is shown
thorough all other windows.

• Hovering at the rightmost edge of the taskbar shows a preview of the

desktop and all the gadgets through all open windows.

As expected these features (and more) can also be activated using keyboard shortcuts:
Keyboard Action Mouse Shortcut
shortcut

Win Key +T Cycle through programs on the taskbar.

Start the program pinned to the taskbar in

Win Key the position indicated by the number. If Click on the program's
+number the program is already running, switch to icon on the taskbar
that program.

With the shift key

pressed, click on the
program's icon on the
Shift+Win Start a new instance of the program
taskbar
Key pinned to the taskbar in the position
Or
+number indicated by the number.
Right click on taskbar
icon and click on the
program's name entry

Ctrl+Win Switch to the last active window of the

Key program pinned to the taskbar in the
+number position indicated by the number.

Alt+Win Open the Jump List for the program

Right-click on taskbar
Key pinned to the taskbar in the position
icon
+number indicated by the number.

Win Key Cycle through programs on the taskbar by

+Tab using Aero Flip 3-D.

Use the arrow keys to cycle through

Ctrl+Win
programs on the taskbar by using Aero
Key +Tab
Flip 3-D.

Ctrl+Win
Switch to the program that displayed a
Key +B
message in the notification area.

Hover mouse over the

Win Key
Preview the desktop. bottommost right edge
+Spacebar
of the screen

As we can see, a lot of the stuff introduced in Windows Vista, is actually put to use in this
OS. Windows Vista managed to introduce an entirely new framework and made substantial
system-wide changes, and this one actually puts them to use, if Microsoft had actually
managed to utilize Vista the same way, they would have had a much better OS.
Whenever any groundbreaking changes such as these are introduced, the transition is always
a little difficult, unluckily, Vista had us prepared for none of this. While all these new
windows management features are awesome, they might be overwhelming to some users,
who might lose all familiarity with the OS.

For those in this situation, note that it is possible to switch these features off using the option
"Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen"
which is available in the "Make the mouse easier to use" page of the "Ease of Access Center"
in the control panel. Although we recommend you stick through it for a while, and you will
find it rewarding over the long term.
This is Part 5.

HomeGroups: Home networking simplified

You know there is something wrong with the way Windows Networking works when people
find it easer to just email the file to themselves -- sending it thousands of kilometers around
the world -- than to just network it with a computer a few feet away!

In earlier versions of Windows it took quite a deal of effort and knowledge to figure out how
to go about giving other people in a home network access to only the things you wanted to
share, and keeping the others secure from prying eyes. With wireless networking it becomes
incredibly easy for people to pry in without anyone finding out, especially if you were using
an insecure password (usually the case).

With HomeGroups in Windows 7, Microsoft has adopted the "social model" of sharing
content at home, which means:
1. You keep your home secure from outsiders, however within the home
everyone is trusted
2. Rooms withing a home are usually unlocked, giving people free access to
books, music, movies, etc. in any room
3. We do keep some areas private, such as locked drawers or rooms

To adopt a similar model in home networking, Windows 7 introduces HomeGroups, where

home network is locked from outsiders by the use of a strong password (1), all computers in
the network are accessible easily and freely (2), each computer user can select what content
they wish to share and what they wish to keep private (3).

While this was all possible before, with Windows 7 and HomeGroups it has been simplified
to the extent that a computer novice can not only easily join a HomeGroup, but can easily
create one as well.

Windows 7 walks you through creating and joining HomeGroups with a simple-to-use
wizard, and it is a short walk indeed! In one step you can set up a HomeGroup for all other
computers in your network to join, all you need to do is select all libraries and devices you
wish to share in the first step of the HomeGroup creation wizard. The wizard will than take a
couple of minutes to apply your settings, and generate a strong alphanumeric password for
you to use to connect to that HomeGroup.

2 3 4
1

And you're done! The

HomeGroup has been
If there are no You can now
created.
HomeGroups present select the Wait while
You should note this
in your network, Libraries and Windows does
password as you will
Windows 7 will offer devices you want it's thing.
need to enter it for
to create one. to share.
evey computer which
joins the HomeGroup.

Joining a HomeGroup is as simple. Any computer located in the same network as the one
where a HomeGroup was created will see in their "Network and Sharing Center" that there
are HomeGroups "Available to join", and on visiting their HomeGroups location, they will be
prompted to join the HomeGroup. On clicking on the "Join now" button you will be taken to
a wizard which after a short number of steps will make you a part of your home network.
Firstly, you will need to enter the password for the HomeGroup, this is the one which was
generated while joining the HomeGroup. Next, you can choose the libraries and devices you
wish to share on the HomeGroup. And it's done! You are now part of the HomeGroup.

1 2 3 4

Windows 7 detects As in the Now you should Congratulations!

if there are any HomeGroup enter the password You have now
HomeGroups creation procedure, that was generated joined the
created in your you must select on the host HomeGroup!
network and offers what all you wish to computer while
to join one if there share from your creating the
is. computer. HomeGroup.
And yes,
capitalization
 matters!

Accessing HomeGroups is also much simplified, as it is now easily accessible through the
navigation pane in Explorer -- which will list all the computers in the network, and will easily
allow you to copy and view files from across the network.

Controlling access to content is quite simple as well. The toolbar in explorer displays options
which allow you to easily set access rights for any folder or library on your computer. You
can set a folder / library private by setting it to be shared with "Nobody", else you can set it
as "HomeGroup (Read)" or "HomeGroup (Read/Write)" to share it with the home group as
read-only and read-write respectively. You can also choose to share it with specific people
using the "Specific people..." option.

Any folder or Library can

HomeGroups are present
in the navigation pane in
Explorer, making them
easy to access.
easily be included for
sharing with yoru
HomeGroup using the
"Share WIth" dropdown in
the Explorer toolbar.
You can also add or
remove folders on your
HomeGroup using the
right-click menu

This new feature is not without its thorns though. As a feature introduced in Windows 7, it is
not available in any versions of Windows before it. So if you have Windows Vista, or
Windows XP computers on your network, you cannot take advantage of HomeGroups.

Microsoft has also removed the facility to create HomeGroups from the Windows 7 Starter
and Windows 7 Home Basic editions of Windows. This means that in a network where all
computers are running Windows 7 Home Basic, you will be unable to use HomeGroups as no
one will be able to create one! Such a scenario is highly likely in India, and is such an
artificial limitation that it is almost silly. HomeGroups are specifically targeted towards home
networks and yet, it is a feature which is watered down in the versions most likely to be
found on home computers!