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The best 30 features of Windows 7

Posted on 13 Jan 2009 at 14:51

This means a new Windows 7 laptop can instantly share the printer connected to the desktop PC in the study, for example. It also allows any PC on the HomeGroup to share documents, photos, music, video and other files across the network. Files on other Windows 7 PCs can be searched for as if they were stored locally, using the new Libraries function in Windows Explorer. Certain types of documents and folders can be excluded from the HomeGroup if you wish to keep those private, and companies can lock down the HomeGroup functions to prevent business data being shared when an employee fires up their laptop at home.

The obvious downside is that all the other PCs on the network will need to be left on if you wish to search their files, which still makes a NAS/Windows Home Server device a more sensible option for sharing data in the home.

13. New User State Migration tool

Vista's User State Migration tool allowed a new OS to be installed while retaining the user's data, but it physically moved the data from one place to another on the hard disk, slowing down the process. Windows 7 accelerates the process with "hardlink migration", which leaves the data in the exact same place on the hard disk, and uses a series of redirect links to help Windows 7 find the files. Microsoft demonstrated a PC being upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 in a little over 25 minutes using the new migration tool. Something of an improvement on the three hours it took for us to perform a regular upgrade installation of Vista to Windows 7 from the DVD.

14. iTunes supportin Windows Media Player

In a promising sign that Microsoft is prepared to stop playing silly buggers with proprietary formats, Windows Media Player now offers support for the iTunes AAC format. Not only does this mean you don't have to open up iTunes on your PC to play those tracks, but you can also play back iTunes libraries on other PCs over the network without having the Apple software installed on your system. DRM-protected files remain off limits, of course. AVC and H.264 video are supported, too.

15. Show Desktop

Power users will be familiar with the frustration of having to minimise countless open windows to take a quick look at newsfeeds or other gadgets on the Windows desktop. The revamped Show Desktop button - which now occupies the few remaining pixels between the System Tray Clock and the right edge of the Taskbar - makes all open Windows transparent when you hover the mouse over the icon. Ideal for a quick peek at the football scores before ploughing on with work.

16. Touch controls

Multitouch is the feature that's most likely to divide the Windows faithful. Some will see it as the next stage in an evolution that was rapidly accelerated by the iPhone; others will cling to keyboard and mouse and dismiss it as needless frippery.

In our view, Microsoft hasn't gone far enough to accommodate hands-on controls. Yes, the new larger Taskbar icons make it easier to select apps, and Microsoft has cleverly allowed programs such as Word to benefit from touch-based scrolling, zooms and pans, without doing any work to the application itself.

But in our experience, touch only works when the UI has been specifically designed for the purpose, as with the iPhone or HP's TouchSmart PCs, which put a separate touch overlay on Vista. There's nothing to stop the likes of HP doing the same with Windows 7, but we can't help thinking that pushing the onus of UI design on to PC manufacturers isn't the path to mainstream adoption. Unless third-party developers can create compelling touch-based apps, we suspect multitouch will go the same way as the Tablet PC - a niche within a niche.