Microsofts Windows 7 Features and Performance
When Vista entered the market last year, customers found it ran slow and often crashed. Even worse there were many programs that wouldn’t work, including some created by Microsoft. Not only were users dissatisfied, developers moved slowly to design computers and software for the new operating system.
Microsoft is getting partners on board earlier in make of this version. The software giant launched a campaign recently to unveiled Windows 7 to software developers at a conference in Los Angeles. Windows 7 adds features to better connect personal computers to cameras, printers and home networks, said Senior Vice President Steven Sinofsky, who showed off the new software at the LA conference. The new OS gives users more options for managing files, folders and windows. Computers using Windows 7 will boot faster and switch to standby mode quicker. Below are some details of new features that customers can look forward too and hopefully meet their expectations.
At first peep we noticed that the user interface and design looked similar to Vista, most new functions were not noticeable at first glance. The boot screen changed, it now has a full screen of lightning animation.
Updating little applications like the calculator would not have been a priority for a new operating system in my book. However, Microsoft thought otherwise, the new calculator has been much improved and more powerful. It supports real life conversions and calculations, like weight and length converters and sports a new programmer mode. The scientific mode has not changed much.
Items in the start menu can be locked in place so their location will not change. The search in the start menu is now making use of the complete width to display better results that can be easily read, Vista was only using the left side of the menu and was harder to read due to small space.The system tray now only displays what you explicitly say it should, Microsoft added an arrow icon, it opens a new menu to show the hidden icons with the option to increase the systray size.
If sticky notes are your thing, then your going to love the new stick notes application that comes with the desktop. You can place as many virtual sticky notes anywhere you want, keeping your desktop better organized and cleaner. We found two noticeable changes to Windows Explorer, one was the transparent Aero effect was now also effective on maximized windows while the other made it possible to change the size of the search box in Windows Explorer. Microsoft added a new function to create a recovery disk which is really useful for those whom did not receive a installation DVD when they purchased their computer or may have lost the disk.
Multi-touch is another feature of Windows 7, of course you will need a multi-touch LCD monitor. Watch the video below for a demonstration on how the multi-touch works.
The most visible change we saw was the task bar. Text descriptions on icons have disappeared, in favor of larger icons. The icons can now be rearranged in any order you set and will stay that way. With this version Microsoft dumped the sidebar, which makes sense for laptop owners with limited screen space. Window resizing now happens automatically: examples are when dragging a window to the top of the screen will maximizes it, pulling it down restores; dragging a window to the edges auto resizes it to 50% for quick tiling. Windows Security Center is now known as the Windows Solution Center, it maintains the security of the system.
As for the system performance features the big news is Microsoft is offering native support for VHD’s (Virtual Hard Disks) which is something many of us like. Imagine the simplicity of back-up using your VHD, or doing some offline work and then boot from the same virtual drive.
There’s a friendlier emphasis on security. The Action Center features alerts related to system security and maintenance. In this example above it is stressing that there’s no antivirus protection present in the Windows 7installation, in which it provides links for seeking a solution.
Even though the current pre-release version isn’t complete, it appears Microsoft achieved it’s goal by increasing system performance. The pre-release version is stable and offers noticeably better performance than Vista or XP. Windows 7 improved performance on multi-core processors, decreased the boot time and increased boot performance, uses less physical memory, halves the amount of kernel memory being used and improved SSD performance.
It’s too early to draw a conclusion about Windows 7, but it starting to look good. Microsoft has done a great job to keep Windows 7 compatible with Vista hardware and software. Have yet found a Vista driver that won’t work on Windows 7. I’m sure there will be incompatibilities, there always are. We’ll update this post as we discover more valuable information. So stay tuned in.
