Windows7 Evangelist

Microsoft is eliminating one of the biggest sticking points for Windows 7 Starter Edition — the three-application-concurrency limitation.

Microsoft officials acknowledged the change on May 29 on the Windows Team Blog. Windows Communication Manager Brandon LeBlanc posted the news:

“We are also going to enable Windows 7 Starter customers the ability to run as many applications simultaneously as they would like, instead of being constricted to the 3 application limit that the previous Starter editions included.

“We believe these changes will make Windows 7 Starter an even more attractive option for customers who want a small notebook PC for very basic tasks, like browsing the web, checking email and personal productivity.”

Microsoft attributed the change in the number of applications that can be run concurrently on Starter Edition to customer and partner feedback.

Windows 7 Starter Edition is the lowest-end SKU in the planned Windows 7 line-up. Microsoft has not made public Windows 7 pricing for either OEMs or consumers. (XP Starter Edition is believed to cost OEMs about $15 per copy.)

Windows 7 Starter Edition — which Microsoft acknowledged back in February would be available in all countires, not just developing ones, a limitation of XP Starter and Vista Starter – is the version that most Microsoft watchers are expecting PC makers to preload on netbooks. (The second most likely choice is Windows 7 Home Premium.)

Microsoft is doing a lot of thinking about WIndows 7 on netbooks — or, as company officials prefer to call them, “small notebooks” — as of late. Microsoft has created a check-list of netbook specs to which PC makers will need to adhere to get netbook-level pricing for Windows 7, according to a recent report on TechARP.

Does removal of the three-apps-running-concurrently stipulation make you any more interested in running Windows 7 on a netbook?

1. PC Safeguard
   

I rarely let anyone use my PC because I’m afraid he will mess it up, but it seems Microsoft has been thinking at me and came with a solution. The PC Safeguard doesn’t let anyone mess your PC settings, because after the user logs off, the configurations are reset back to normal. Of course it will not restore the configurations changed by you, but only the ones done by other users you define.

To use PC Safeguard, go to Control Panel -> User Accounts and create a new account, then select “Set Up Pc Safeguard” and switch it on. Then you can stay relaxed when others use your computer, because you won’t find anything changed, including configurations, downloaded software, installed programs.

2. Screen Calibration
   

Fortunately, Windows 7 comes with a display calibration wizard that lets you set up the screen brightness properly, so you won’t have any problems viewing photos or text. The problem was that on one PC a photo could look sharp and bright and on another it looks awful. Now the problem can be fixed by pressing the Win key and then typing “DCCW”.

3. AppLocker
   

If you are usually sharing your computer with someone else, then you might want to restrict their access to your applications, files or documents. Using the AppLocker tool, you have a few options to do this by blocking other users to access Executables, Windows Installers, Scripts, a specific publisher or path. You can simply do this by pressing the Windows key then typing Gpedit.msc. Then go to Computer Navigation -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Application Control Policies -> AppLocker. Right click on one of the options ( Executables, Installers, or Script ) and create a new rule. That should save you from a lot of headaches.

4. Burn Images
   

We all had trouble with image burning in Windows, because it couldn’t do it itself, a standalone software being needed. With Windows 7 this will not be a problem anymore. All you have to do is double-click the ISO image and burn it on the CD or DVD that’s inserted in the drive.

5. Display Empty Removable Drives
   

Windows 7 will not show empty drives by default, so if you connect an empty drive to your PC, don’t worry, just go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View and uncheck “Hide empty drives in the computer folder”. This doesn’t seem like a good idea and it should not be default setting, because it will be hard for inexperienced users to figure it out. I bet a lot of users will return their newly bought drive thinking it’s broken.

6. Dock The Current Windows To The Left Side Of The Screen
   

This new feature seems useful because sometimes it’s disturbing that windows seems to float like crazy on the screen and it’s hard to attach them to one side of it. Now this can easily be done using a keyboard shortcut. Press the Windows key + Left key to dock it to the left side of the screen.

7. Dock The Current Windows To The Right Side Of The Screen

Press the Windows key + Right key to dock it to the right side of the screen.

8. Display Or Hide The Explorer Preview Panel
   

Press ALT + P to hide it then once again to display it.

9. Display Gadgets On Top Of Other Windows
   

Press ALT + G

10. Background Photo Slideshow
    

If you are like me, lazy and bored, then you will want to change the background from time to time, wasting a lot of time. Now you don’t have to do this anymore, because you can set up a slideshow. Right click on the desktop then go to Personalize -> Desktop Background and hold the CTRL key while choosing the images. Then you can choose the time intervals between images and opt to display them randomly or in a row.

11. Make The Taskbar Smaller
    

If you feel like the taskbar is using too much of your screen space, you can choose to make the icons smaller. To do this, right-click on the Start button, then go to Properties -> Taskbar and set it to “Use small icons”

12. Combine Taskbar Icons
    

When you have more windows or applications opened, the taskbar’s space might not be enough for them all, so you need to combine them, just like you would in Windows XP or Vista. To do this, right-click the Start button, then go to Properties -> Taskbar and check “Combine when taskbar is full”.

13. Multi-threaded File Copy
    

If you are a more advanced user, you’ve heard already about Robocopy. Now it’s included in Windows 7 and lets you perform multi-threaded copies from the command line. You can choose the number of threads like this “/MT[:n], which can be from 1 to 128.

14. Maximize Or Restore The Foreground Window
    

Press Windows Key + Up Key.

15. Minimize The Active Window
    

Press Windows Key + Down Key

16. Activate The Quick Launch Toolbar
    

The Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows XP in Vista seems a very good idea that you might miss when using Windows 7. Fortunately though, you can get it back in a quick few steps. Right click the taskbar, go to Toolbar -> New Toolbar and type “%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch” into the folder box, then click Select Folder. To make it look like it would in Windows Vista, right click the taskbar, uncheck “Lock the Taskbar”, then right click the divider and uncheck “Show Title” and “Show Text”. Then right click the taskbar and check “Show Small Icons” and you should be done.

17. Preview Photos In Windows Explorer
    

While in Windows Explorer, Press ALT + P and a preview should appear on the right.

18. Desktop Magnifier
    

Press the Windows Key and the Plus Key to zoom in or Windows Key and the Minus Key to zoom out. You can zoom anywhere on the desktop and you can even configure your magnifier. You can choose to invert colors, follow the mouse pointer, follow the keyboard focus, or the text insertion point.

19. Minimize Everything Except The Current Window
    

Press the Windows Key + Home Key.

20. TroubleShoot Power Management
    

Windows 7 can tell you how much power your system uses or provide detailed information about the power usage and issues caused by each application and device. This way you can optimize the way your battery is used, making It last longer. Press the Windows Key and type “POWERCFG –ENERGY –OUTPUT <path\filename>”, and it will create a file called energy-report.html in the folder specified by you, after observing your PC for 60 seconds.

21. Web Searches From Your Desktop
    

Windows 7 lets you search for online resources, by adding a connector that be downloaded for free. For instance, go to http://www.bizzntech.com/flickrsearch and download the Flickr connector. After that, you should see the Flickr Search in your searches folder and you will be able to do it directly from your desktop, without needing to visit their website.

22. Add Videos To Your Start Menu
    

If you were looking for a faster way to access your videos, then Windows 7 has the right answer for you. Right click the Start button, then go to Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize and set the Videos to “Display as a link” and you’re done, you will now find them in the Start Menu.

23. Shift The Window From One Monitor To Another
    

If you are using two or more monitors, then you might want to move the Windows from one to another. There is a very simple way to do it. All you have to do is press the Windows Key + Shift Key + Left or Right Key, depending on what monitor you want to move it to.

24. Custom Power Button
    

There is an option to replace the “Shut Down” button with another action, if you rarely shut down the computer, but you more often restart it or put it on sleep. Right click the Start Button, go to Properties and choose the ‘Power Boot Action” to do whatever you want, from the given options.

25. Easily Add A New Font
    

Adding a new font it’s now easier than ever. Just download the font you want, double click it and you should see the install button.

26. Stretch The Window Vertically
    

You can stretch the active window vertically to the maximum display height by pressing the Windows + Shift + Up Keys. Press Windows + Down Keys if you want to restore it.

27. Open Windows Explorer
    

Press The Windows + E Keys to open a new instance of Windows Explorer.

28. Create A New Instance Of The First Icon In The Taskbar
    

Press Windows + 1 Keys to open a new instance of the first icon in the taskbar. This could prove really useful in some circumstances.

29. Windows Action Center
    

Windows Action Center offers you important information about your PC, like the Antivirus Status, updates, troubleshooting and provides a backup scheduling feature. To access it, go to Control Panel -> System And Security -> Action Center.

30. Windows Troubleshooting Platform
    

This platform can help you solve a lot of issues you may encounter, like the internet connection, hardware devices, poor system performance and more. You can choose what to troubleshoot and it will come with some possible explanations for the problem that might really help you. There are a lot of options, guidance and information available there, so give it a try by typing “troubleshoot” or “fix” after pressing the Windows Key.

31. Turn Off System Notifications
    

System notifications are usually disturbing and aren’t always useful, so you might want to turn some of them off and. This can be done in Windows 7 by double clicking the Notification Area Icons in Control panel. There you can change notifications and icons for the Action Center, Network, Volume, Windows Explorer, Media Center Tray Applet, Windows Update Automatic Updates.

32. Turn Off Security Messages
    

To turn off security messages you have to go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center -> Change Action Center Settings and you can turn off the following notifications: Windows Update, Internet Security Settings, Network Firewall, Spyware and related protection, User Account Control, Virus Protection, Windows Backup, Windows Troubleshooting, Check for updates.

33. Cycle Through The Open Programs Via The Taskbar’s Peek Menu
    

This works just like Alt + Tab, but opens the menu just above the sidebar, doesn’t seem very useful. Give it a try by pressing The Windows Key + T.

34. Run A Program As An Administrator
    

You can easily run a program as an administrator by pressing Ctrl + Shift while opening it.

35. Same Program Windows Switching
    

If you have more instances of a program running, simply hold Ctrl while clicking on its icon and it will cycle through all the instances.

36. Auto Arrange Desktop Icons
    

You can now forget about the Right Click -> Auto arrange. All you have to do is hold F5 pressed for a bit and the icons will auto arrange.

37. Encrypt Removable USB Drives
    

Encrypting an USB drive has never been easier. Now you can right click on the removable drive and then on the “Turn on Bitlocker”.

38. Turn Off Smart Window Arrangement
    

If you don’t like Windows 7’s new features that arrange your windows intelligently, there’s an easy way to turn it off. Press the Windows Key, type “regedit”, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and set WindowArrangementActive to 0. After you reboot your system the smart arrangements will be turned off.

39. Create A System Repair Disc
    

Windows 7 features a tool that lets you create a bootable System Repair Disc that includes some system tools and the command prompt. To create it, press the Windows Key and type “system repair disc”.

40. Hard-Link Migration Store
    

The Hard-Link Migration store is only available for new computers and can migrate files, settings, and user accounts. The new Hard-Link Migration Store uses more less disk spaces and takes less time.

41. Turn Off ‘Send Feedback’
    

The current Beta version of Windows 7 is all about feedback from its testers, but if you feel disturbed by it, there is a way to turn it off. Press the Windows Key and type ‘regedit’, then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and set FeedbackToolEnabled to 0. After you restart the computer, it shouldn’t be there anymore. Also, if you want to turn it on again, set the FeedbackToolEnabled to 3.

42. Improved Calculator
    

Windows 7 features an improved calculator that can do unit conversion, date calculation, gas mileage, lease, and mortgage. Also you can choose between Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and Statistic calculator.

43. Open A Folder In A New Process
    

Windows 7 opens all folders in the same process in order to save resources, but this means if one folder crashes, they all crash. So if you feel like that’s a risk you don’t have to take, then you have to open them all in their own processes. To do this, hold down Shift, right-click the drive and “Open in New Process”. Now you will be safe.

44. Problem Step Recorder
    

The Problem Step Recorder is a great tool that can be used in more circumstances. You can turn it on by pressing the Windows Key, then typing “PSR.exe” and click Record. Now it will record all your moves and save them as a HTML document that you can view or write descriptions to it. This can help you with troubleshooting or when writing a guidance or tutorial.

45. Free Codecs Pack
    

Unfortunately, Windows Media Player still isn’t able to play many audio and video files, so you will still need some codecs. But with the free codecs pack you can download here you shouldn’t have any problems.

46. Start Windows Explorer From My Computer
    

Windows Explorer opens in the Libraries directory by default. Most of us are used to see the My Computer page instead. To change it to My Computer, press the Windows Key, then type “explorer”, select Properties and in the Shortcut tab type “%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}”. Now you have to right-click the Explorer icon in the Taskbar and hit “Unpin this program from the taskbar” and then drag it back from the Start Menu.

47. Clear The Desktop
    

If there are too many windows on the desktop, you can clear it by shaking a window from left to right and all others will minimize. To restore the other windows you have to shake the active one again.

48. Use Gadgets With UAC Turned Off
    

Maybe you noticed that once you turn off UAC you can’t use the gadgets anymore, as a security measure. But if you want to risk using them, there a simple way to do it, even with UAC turned off. Press the Windows Key, type ‘regedit’, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings and create a DWORD value named AllowElevatedProcess and set its value to 1. Now you should be able to use your gadgets. If not, then reboot your PC and you should be done.

49. Fix The Media Player & Media Center MP3 Bug
    

Both Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center come with a bug that can damage your MP3s by filling missing metadata automatically on imported MP3 files. This can cut a few seconds from the beginning of the tracks and can prove really disturbing. This problem was fixed by Microsoft using the fix located here.

50. Search Everything In Your Computer
    

Windows 7 offers the possibility to search all file types, including unknown ones and this could help you in some cases. Though it is not recommended, because it’s much slower than normal search, you can give it a try by doing the following: Launch Windows Explorer, go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View and check “Try to search the content of unknown file types”. If you don’t need it anymore, don’t forget to clear it for an increase in speed.

51. Mouse Gestures
    

Windows 7 has not only brought gestures for those who use touchscreen devices, but for mouse users too. So, instead of right-clicking a Taskbar icon to access the jump list, you can hold left-click and drag upwards to smoothly call it up. In addition, clicking and dragging down the address bar in Internet Explorer will open the browsing history. There might be more gestures yet not discovered.

52. Configure Your Music Favorites
    

If you’ve already fixed the Windows Media Center, now you might think of ways to improve your experience with it. The Media Center creates a list of favorite songs based on how often you play them, your ratings and date you’ve added them. If you aren’t comfortable with the way they thought it out, change the way it sorts your favorites by going to Tasks -> Settings -> Music -> Favorite Music.

53. Turn Off Recent Search Queries Display
    

Windows 7 holds and displays the recent search queries by default. This can often prove to be irritating. No need to stress though because it can be disabled. Press the Windows Key, type gpedit.msc, then go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer and double click on “Turn off display of recent search entries”.

54. Advanced Disk Defragmentation
    

Fortunately, Windows 7 offers much better defragmentation than Vista and also lets you configure it a bit from the command line. To do it, press the Windows Key and then type CMD. You can defragment your hard disk from the command line by typing “defrag” and you have the following options: /r will defrag multiple drives simultaneously, -a performs a defrag analysis, -v prints the report, -r treats files with at least 64 Mb of fragments like are not fragmented, -w will defrag everything. An example is “defrag C: -v -w” to defrag the whole drive C.

55. Make Internet Explorer 8 Load Faster
    

If you want Internet Explorer 8 to load faster, you need to disable the add-ons that slow it down, so go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons and check the load time for each one. You can choose for yourself the ones you can live without and ones that would increase the load speed.

56. Media Center Automatic Download
    

Windows Media Center 12 allows you to schedule data downloads, so it can be done without disturbing you. To do it, go to Tasks -> Settings -> General -> Automatic Download Options and you can configure it to start and stop the download whenever you want.

57. Remove The Sidebar
    

Windows 7 doesn’t seem to feature the sidebar anymore, but it still exists and runs in the background, being launched automatically at startup. So if you want to get rid of it, there are two ways. The easier one is to press the Windows Key, type MSCONFIG.EXE, click the Startup tab and clear the Sidebar box. The hard way is to press the Windows key, type “regedit”, find and delete the registry key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This can save you some RAM consumed with no use.

58. Volume Tweaking
    

Don’t you like that Windows 7 automatically reduces the volume when it detects PC calls? You can turn off this feature by right-clicking the speaker icon in the taskbar, go to Sounds -> Communications and get rid of it.

59. Run A Program As Another User
    

Windows 7 comes with the possibility to run a program both as an administrator or another user, by right clicking on the executable or shortcut while holding down the Shift key. Then you have to select “Run as another user”.

60. Use Virtual Hard Disk Files
    

You can now create and manage virtual hard disks files in Windows 7 as if they were real disks. This can allow you to use a live Windows installation on the virtual disk without the need to boot the virtual Computer. To create a virtual disk you have to press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, then go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Create VHD. There you can specify the location and size of your virtual hard disk file.

To attach the virtual disk file, press the Windows Key, right-click Computer, then go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD and you have to specify the location and if it’s read only or not.

To initialize a virtual hard disk, press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD, specify the location, click Ok, then right click on the virtual disk and click on Initialize Disk. Select the partition style you want to use and then right-click on the unallocated space and click “New Simple Volume” and follow the instructions wizard. Now, a new hard drive appears in Windows Explorer and you can use it as a real partition.

61. Remove The Windows Live Messenger Tab In The Taskbar
    

To get rid of the Windows Live Messenger Tab and put it back in the system tray, where it belongs, go to C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger, right-click msnmsdgr.exe and set its compatibility mode to Windows Vista.

62. Lock The Screen
    

There is no Lock Screen button in the Start Menu anymore, so you have to press the Windows Key + L to lock it, now. It seems easier, in case you don’t forget the shortkey.

63. Create A Screen Lock Shortcut
    

In case you don’t like shortkeys or you keep forgetting them, there’s another option for screen lock. Simply create a new shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation and place it whenever you want.

64. Enable Run Command In Start Menu
    

If you miss the old Run Command button in XP, then there’s an option to get it back in Windows 7. Right-click an open area in Start Menu, go to Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize and check “Run Command. Now you should be done.

65. Improve Desktop Window Manager For Nvidia Graphics
    

Sometimes the animations for Desktop Window Manager don’t look very well and aren’t smooth enough and this is cause because Desktop Window Manager renders effects with no transparency and blurring, but you can turn off animations for more pleasant graphics. Press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, go to Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance -> Settings and clear “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing”. Click OK to finnish.

66. Change Default Save Location For Files
    

Windows 7 is a bit different from Vista, because it saves Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music under the Public folder inside C:\Users. You might not want to save your documents, pictures, videos or music to this location, but create your own locations and you can do it quite easy. Press the Windows Key, Click your username and double-click on the folder you wish to change. Then you will see Includes: 2 library locations. Click on that text, right-click on the folder you wish to set like default and click “Set as default file location”, then click Ok.

67. Make 64bit Windows Media Player Default ( only for X64 users )
    

Windows comes with the 32bit version of Media Player by default. If you are a x64 user, you can keep the system cleaner by only installing one set of codecs. To do this, press the Windows Key, type “command”, right-click on Command Prompt and hit “Run as administrator”, then type “unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:64″. After that, press the Windows Key, type “regedit”, go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\wmplayer.exe\, double click on value and change “%ProgramFiles(x86)” to “%ProgramFiles%”. Now you should be using the 64bit Windows Media Player.

68. Open Multiple Instances Of Windows Explorer Via The Taskbar
    

If you want to run more instances of the Windows Explorer just by hitting the startbar, you can do it by following these steps: Unpin Windows Explorer from the Taskbar, then press the Windows Key, go to Accessories, right-click Windows Explorer, go to Properties and change the shortcut path to %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} ( if you want it to default to My Computer ) or %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5} ( if you want it to default to Libraries ). Now repin Windows Explorer to your Taskbar and you’re done. All that is required for opening more instances of it is just a click of the middle mouse button. If you aren’t pleased with what you’ve done, change the shortcut path back to %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe.

69. Make The System Tray Clock Show The AM / PM Symbols
    

By default Windows 7 does show the time in 24 hour format, so if you want to get the AM / PM symbols, press the Windows Key, type intl.cpl to open Regional and Language Options, go to Addition Settings -> Time where Long Time is set to HH:mm and change it to HH:mm tt, for example, where tt is the AM or PM symbol ( 21:12 PM ). To change it to the 12 hour format, you need to type it like this hh::mm tt ( 9:12 PM ).

70. Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility Mode
    

If your websites don’t render correctly, you might need to enable Internet Explorer 8 display them in compatibility view. This issue is because of the updated rendering engine, which causes a lot of trouble. To do it, open Internet Explorer, go to Tools -> Compatibility View Settings and check “Display all websites in compatibility view”, then click Ok.

Microsoft Virtual Wi-Fi will allow one adapter to look like two

Back in the days before multiple core CPUs were the norm, Intel used virtualization technology to make your single CPU look like multiple CPUs to the operating system via Hyper -Threading. Microsoft long ago worked on similar technology that would allow a single wireless network adapter to be seen as multiple adapters by the operating system.

The research had seemingly gone by the wayside as Microsoft moved onto other projects. The publication istartedsomething reports that the Virtual Wi-Fi (VWIFI) feature has been included in Windows 7. In fact, the feature is in the release candidates, but no drivers are reportedly available to take advantage of the feature so it lies dormant waiting to come out and play.

Some users may wonder why more than one wireless card would be needed inside your computer. There are a few circumstances where multiple wireless adapters would be needed. For instance, users could connect to one wireless network and use the virtual adapter to turn their machine into a hot spot that other computers could connect to and share the internet access.

Another good usage scenario for the technology would be connecting to a wireless network while also connecting to a wireless adhoc network at the same time. Istartedsomething reports that supporting Virtual Wi-Fi is going to be a requirement for WLAN drivers sporting the Windows 7 certification logo, so drivers will be coming to add support for the feature.

The feature is described as, “On Windows 7 and later, the operating system installs a virtual device if a Hosted Network capable wireless adapter is present on the machine. This virtual device normally shows up in the “Network Connections Folder” as ‘Wireless Network Connection 2’ with a Device Name of ‘Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter’ if the computer has a single wireless network adapter. This virtual device is used exclusively for performing software access point (SoftAP) connections [...]. The lifetime of this virtual device is tied to the physical wireless adapter. If the physical wireless adapter is disabled, this virtual device will be removed as well.”

The caveat to the technology is that only one virtual adapter can be created. Technical information on the feature for hardware vendors and developers will be offered at the WinHEC session called “Wireless LAN Enhancements in Windows 7.”

The launch of the final version of Windows 7 is around the corner, with Microsoft making available for public download the Release Candidate (RC) of the operating system (OS) earlier this month.

The OS is now “entering the final phases of development and is ready for partners to develop new applications, device drivers and services, and ready for IT pros to evaluate Windows 7 and examine how it will operate in their environment,” says Microsoft.

So, we now know more or less what is in the offing with Windows 7. And the question which many Windows users will ask is: what is really different with it, compared to the existing versions of the OS they are now using — probably either Windows XP or Vista?

“Less waiting, fewer clicks, and less complexity,” is the promise that Microsoft holds out for the latest version. “Hundreds of little improvements and a few big ones that add up to a whole lot less,” is what it had to say about the scale of the changes.

With Windows Vista the changes had gone deep – to the kernel level – compared to the previous version of the OS. And those changes came at a cost, admits Microsoft. “Many applications needed modification to function properly in a Windows Vista environment,” it said.

However, Windows 7 is built on the same architecture as Vista: so the kind of compatibility problems that could hinder OS migration are not likely to arise in this instance, it says.
Hardware requirements

Hardware requirements were an issue with Vista – many who decided to stick with Windows XP did so because they thought Vista was too resource-hogging. This time round, hardware will not be an issue: “Windows 7 was designed to perform well on the same hardware that runs Windows Vista well, while delivering additional performance and reliability improvements.” Microsoft says Windows 7 boots faster than Vista and has a smaller memory footprint compared to it.

Rajat Mehta, country manager at an IT multinational, says, from the perspective of a corporate user: “Installation is easy, smoother and faster than both XP and Vista. The desktop interface has been completely revamped with lot of new small features. The shut down and boot time are better than anything previous so that’s a welcome change.”

For those who are going to continue to use the Windows XP compatible programmes, Microsoft has come up with an ‘XP mode add-on,’ using which XP compatible software could be run on a PC installed with Windows 7. But then, is that a sustainable solution for those who are heavily dependent on old, XP-based applications? It indeed is, says Rajiv Popli, Director – Windows Client, Consumer and Online Business, Microsoft India, when The Hindu put this question to him.

“It utilises Windows Virtual PC which is the latest Microsoft virtualisation technology for Windows 7. It is the runtime engine for Windows XP Mode and provides a virtual Windows environment on Windows 7.”

With Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP mode, XP applications can be seen and accessed from a Windows 7 desktop. Windows XP Mode provides Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate customers the flexibility to run many older productivity applications in a virtual Windows XP environment on a Windows 7-based PC,” he explained.

Changes to the user interface are many: the taskbar sports bigger icons; and programmes can be ‘pinned’ to it. A ‘jump list’, when clicked, offers a view of recently used files and the option of pinning other files to it. Moving the mouse to the lower right corner of the desktop makes all the open Windows transparent and by going to the top of a window of choice and shaking it, all the other open windows will be minimised and sent to the taskbar.

Mr. Popli listed three most significant changes in Windows 7: refined navigation (including search), remote media streaming and Windows Touch. Remote media streaming enables secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7 PC outside the home and Windows Touch makes it possible to control programmes using touch (on touch-screen enabled computers).

We’ve run down the top 10 Windows 7 features and the best new features in the RC, but after using Windows 7 exclusively for a week straight, the real goods are in the small stuff.

While you’ve no doubt seen a few of these features mentioned before, most of the items below have received the least attention from Windows 7 previews. It’s these less sexy, but very useful features, that make me think the more I use Windows 7, the less chance I’ll ever use Vista or XP again.

Libraries Make File Management Easy

Windows 7’s Libraries are a huge leap ahead of file management in previous versions of Windows—rather than dealing solely in files and directories, they are a virtual location that can aggregate the content from multiple places at once.

Like most Lifehacker readers, I’m using Dropbox to sync my files across multiple computers—including a subset of my music collection. Rather than trying to use hacks to sync directories outside my DropBox folder or dropping to the command-line to create some symlinks, it was as simple as adding my Dropbox music collection folder to the Music library.

Once you’ve added your folders to a library, they will show up anywhere you navigate to that library, including the common file Open/Save dialogs—makes dealing with complicated folders a thing of the past.

Jump Lists Add Quick Access to Common Features

Windows 7 replaces the taskbar context menu with a useful list of frequently used documents, tasks, and even allows you to pin documents or shortcuts to the menu. You can access this by right-clicking on the taskbar button, or you can hold down the left mouse button and “drag” the mouse pointer up—an easy motion for touchscreen displays.

Want to quickly access Internet Explorer’s Private browsing mode? Simply right-click on the icon and you can launch a new private window—you can create a shortcut for private browsing in earlier versions of Windows, but it’s not quite the same.

Want to access a few websites quickly? Just drag the icon from the address bar down to the taskbar icon to pin it to the top of the Jump List—now you can get to those websites in a flash, whether Firefox is open at the moment or not.

Put the Taskbar Back to Vista/XP Style

If you simply can’t get used to the new Windows 7 taskbar, Microsoft was (thankfully) smart enough to let you change everything back to what you were used to in previous versions of Windows.

Just head over to Taskbar and Start Menu properties, choose to use small icons, never combine, and then un-pin the applications from the taskbar—though you may want to try using the “Combine only when taskbar is full” option to get the best of both worlds.

If you’re the screenshot tour type of person, I’ve written a full walk-through tutorial to changing the taskbar to work more like Windows XP or Vista, and to complete the picture you can also add the quick launch bar back to the taskbar in Windows 7.

Run Apps as Another User

If your favorite application doesn’t support multiple profiles, you can often mimic this functionality by running the application as another user. In previous versions of Windows this wasn’t quite as simple—now you can just right-click on any application while holding down the Shift key and choose to run it as another user.

Hidden Items on the Send To Menu

Most Lifehacker readers probably know how to customize the Send To menu—just type in shell:sendto into the address bar, and add or delete shortcuts from the list. But Windows 7 makes it easier with a bunch of secret items on the Send To menu.

If you hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on a file or folder, you’ll see a whole list of extra items that are normally hidden. The extra menu items are simply the list of directories under your user folder, but it’s a useful feature that makes you want to start using the shift key every time you right-click just to see what comes up!

Automatic Desktop Wallpaper Shuffling

Let me start by saying that I’ve never been a big fan of rotating wallpaper—in fact, I use the same background image so often that there are constant requests for the awesome Mario World wallpaper from my screenshots (hint: we’ve already covered it in our list of killer retro gaming wallpapers).

Windows 7’s simple, easy, and awesome wallpaper shuffling has won me over. I’m officially a convert. Not only does Windows 7 include a ton of absolutely killer wallpaper images, but you can select more than one at a time with the checkboxes (or holding the Ctrl key) and then choose to rotate them every so many minutes.

The fun doesn’t stop there, however—you can right-click on the desktop any time you want to skip to the next desktop background image. Since the default Windows 7 theme uses a ton of transparency, your whole desktop theme will appear to change to fit the new color scheme—it’s beautiful.

User Account Control is Streamlined, Less Annoying

Without question, the biggest complaint on Windows Vista is the completely annoying UAC prompts that were even ridiculed in Apple commercials—so irritating, in fact, that I’ve written multiple articles on making UAC less annoying—from disabling it entirely to creating administrator mode shortcuts that bypass the prompts.

That’s changed significantly in Windows 7, however—common (geeky) operations like copying system files only require a single prompt, and the whole system has been streamlined a great deal to be less annoying. If you’re still getting too many prompts, you can simply type “uac” into the start menu search box, and then drag the slider down (though you should be warned you are decreasing security).

Redmond this week plans to send a batch of test files to Release Candidate users to validate auto-update systems.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Tuesday plans to ping users of its Windows 7 Release Candidate software with up to 10 updates designed to test its ability to update the operating system on the fly. Feedback mechanisms built into the OS will automatically inform Redmond if the tests were successful.

“Starting this Tuesday (May 12th) we will release up to ten test updates to PCs running the Windows 7 RC in order to verify our ability to deliver and manage updating of Windows 7 in certain real-life scenarios,” wrote Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft’s in-house Windows blogger, in a post last week.

Most of the test files will self-install, while a few will require manual installation by the user. “These updates do not deliver any new features or fixes,” LeBlanc noted. Microsoft previously dispatched a series of test updates to Windows 7 users on Feb. 24.

Microsoft is ramping up efforts to complete Windows 7 as soon as possible, potentially with an eye to releasing a final version of the operating system in time for the key back-to-school shopping season.

Last week, the company made available a trial version of a software tool that assesses whether a given PC can run Windows 7.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, as it’s called, examines a PC’s components, including chip, memory, storage, and graphics processor, to automatically determine whether the system can run Windows 7. A beta version of Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is now available as a download from Microsoft’s Web site. LeBlanc didn’t state when a final version would be ready.

Also last week, Microsoft made Windows 7 Release Candidate available as a free download from the company’s Windows Web site.

Windows 7 RC contains most of the features that will end up in the final version of the OS, including support for touch-screen interfaces, and it’s been tested for compatibility with hardware and software from most major vendors through a months-long beta trial program. Still, Microsoft typically warns computer users not to use prerelease software for critical tasks or in key business production environments.

Windows 7 RC will function until June 1, 2010. After that date, users will need to upgrade their PC to a full, paid version of the operating system in order to keep using the software.

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)’s Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy technology is so widely loathed that the very mention of WGA is enough to cause customers’ blood pressure to spike. Apparently cognizant of this, Microsoft has given the antipiracy technology built into Windows 7 a new name: Windows Activation Technologies.

Windows Activation Technologies is more than just a repackaged version of WGA, however. In a Q&A posted Thursday to Microsoft’s Web site, Joe Williams, general manager of Worldwide Genuine Windows, said Windows 7’s antipiracy mechanism will work as it does in Vista Service Pack 1.

Vista SP 1 users who don’t activate at login see a dialog box asking them to do so, but Microsoft grayed out the ‘Activate Later’ option for 15 seconds, presumably to give users time to think about the gravity of the decision. In Windows 7, users don’t have to wait 15 seconds to choose to activate later, although they are presented with a dialog box informing them of the benefits of activation, according to Williams.

Microsoft introduced product activation with XP as a means of combating piracy by requiring users to input a valid product key in order to activate the system. In 2005, in a bid to stamp out product activation circumvention methods that had sprung up, Microsoft introduced WGA, which verifies the authenticity of a user’s copy of Windows on an ongoing basis. Williams said Microsoft will continue to issue WGA updates for XP.

Microsoft estimates that up to one-third of its customers worldwide may be running counterfeit copies of Windows, and no one would argue that the company doesn’t have a right to protect its intellectual property. The reason WGA is unpopular is because it has mistakenly flagged genuine users as pirates on several occasions.

In January 2007, Microsoft acknowledged that WGA had mistakenly identified more than half a million Windows users as software pirates. In August of that year, the validation scheme for Windows XP and Vista angered thousands of users by flagging legitimate versions of the OS as pirated, and causing some Vista users’ copies to enter reduced functionality mode.

In fairness, no such incidents have occurred since November 2007, when Microsoft fixed a technical glitch in WGA.

The rise of BitTorrent triggered a flood of illegal software, and Williams noted that Microsoft’s Windows antipiracy technologies help protect users from malware that sometimes gets packaged into illicit downloads. Last week, reports surfaced that malware was being circulated with a purported copy of the then-unreleased Windows 7 Release Candidate.

“This is why it’s so important for customers to get their copies of Windows from a trusted source,” Williams wrote.

When news of Windows 7’s “XP Mode” came out recently, there was much rejoicing among those who were concerned about legacy support in Microsoft’s upcoming OS. But now we learn that Microsoft and Intel have contrived to make XPM unavailable to many Intel users.

The CPU support picture for Windows 7 was blessedly simple, at least until this week, when Microsoft complicated things for one corner of its upcoming OS. This new wrinkle was the discovery that Windows 7’s recently announced XP Mode would only work on processors that supported either Intel’s VT or AMD’s AMD-V. The vast majority of AMD’s lineup, except for Sempron, has AMD-V and will work, but the Intel situation is much more complicated, and in some ways, worse.

In a nutshell, Intel’s VT-x and AMD’s AMD-V work by introducing a set of instructions that make x86 fully virtualizable without the use of binary translation. This was originally supposed to have speed advantages, though when VT first made its debut the transitions in and out of the hypervisor were slow enough that BT arguably still had the edge. But this hasn’t been true for some time, and now VT is the way to go if you’re rolling out a new x86-based virtualization package, like Microsoft’s hyper-V or Virtual Iron’s software. (For more on the issue of performance and VT versus binary translation, see this thread, where some Intel and VMware folks go a few rounds on the topic.)

But VirtualPC, the virtualization package that Microsoft bought and on which XPM is based, is a binary translation solution, just like VMware. So the question then becomes, why did Microsoft mandate VT support for XPM?

I don’t know the answer to this, nor do I know why Intel doesn’t include VT support across its entire lineup. A handy list put together by Ed Bott* gives you an idea of how spotty VT support is even among Intel’s more recent parts, and that list still doesn’t include Atom, which includes non-VT supporting entries in its line. As you can see, quite a few users won’t be able to use XPM when Windows 7 comes out, especially on the corporate desktop, where many companies have opted for cheaper, non-VT parts. [*Ed: I had originally attributed the list to Tom's Hardware, but it comes from Ed Bott. That's my fault for not reading closely enough.]

OK, when I said I didn’t know why Intel doesn’t support VT on all its parts, that was just rhetorical. I actually do know why—it’s just that it’s a really boneheaded move on Intel’s part.

Intel uses VT for product segmentation, regarding it as a high-end feature and charging more for it. This is very annoying if, like me, you believe that everyone will shortly be running a hypervisor on every device that isn’t a mobile phone (and eventually phones will get them too, if VMware has its way). But as annoying as this approach to product segmentation is, it makes a certain amount of sense given Intel’s situation in the post-clockspeed era.

Throughout most if its history, Intel has done product segmentation mainly by speed bin. But in a power-sensitive world where the clockspeed gap between bins is much closer together, Intel is left to differentiate on features and core count. So their insistence on doing product segmentation with VT is understandable, but it still stinks.

Ultimately, though, the primary question that remains to be answered is why Microsoft is requiring VT support for XP Mode. It’s likely that Redmond’s reasons will become more clear as Windows 7 gets closer to release and more details of XPM come out.

Microsoft has made Windows 7 release candidate 1 available. Yet, it is a DVD image – what if you want to try it on a netbook or an ultra-slim laptop without a built-in optical drive? Here is how to make a bootable USB memory stick to install it from.

Windows 7 is available now for MSDN and TechNet subscribers as well as members of various other Microsoft programs. It will be made available on May 5th for the general public to try out also.

The method of installation is to burn the .iso image file onto a blank DVD disc. You can boot from the DVD you have made, or you can run it from within an existing Windows installation. Yet, if you do not have an optical drive on your computer of choice then booting from DVD is not really an option.

You can extract all the files to a USB stick using a free open source program like 7-Zip. This allows you to run the Windows 7 setup program from your DVD-challenged computer by plugging in the USB stick.

Of course, that only works if your target machine already has a version of Windows installed on it. It won’t give you the most flexibility, either – because you’re running the setup from within Windows you won’t have options to repartition the hard drive if so desired (to collapse two partitions into one, for instance.)

What would be really helpful is a bootable USB stick. So, here’s how to make one.

First, download the Windows 7 .iso image from MSDN or TechNet, or from Microsoft’s download site when it comes available.

Next, insert a USB stick. Be sure to back up anything you wish to retain because anything already on the USB stick will be lost during this process.

Format the USB drive using the NTFS file system. You can do this by double-clicking “My Computer” or “Computer” (for Vista users) and then right-clicking on the drive that represents the USB stick. A quick format is fine, the important thing is to ensure you specify NTFS and not FAT as the file system.

We must next resort to the command line. Click Start/Programs/Accessories. Right-click on the “Command Prompt” icon and opt to Run as Administrator. Windows Vista may bring up a UAC window asking for confirmation; allow it.

Read more @ http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24783/1231/