Microsoft has been working on the next version of Windows for some time, and the first Release Candidate version of Windows 7 is available now. We had looked at some of the key technical changes when Microsoft first previewed it, but a lot has changed since then and the latest release should be close to the operating system that goes on sale on 22 October.
In this feature we take a look at Windows 7 from a user’s perspective. We explain where the key changes have been made, how well they work, and what you can expect from the next generation of Windows.
Taken to Taskbar
The most obvious change you’ll notice when starting Windows 7 for the first time is on the Taskbar. The Taskbar and Start menu are present and correct as usual, but just to the right of the Start button are three large icons: one for Internet Explorer; one to open Windows Explorer; and one for Windows Media Player. These might appear at first to be large Quick Launch icons, but in fact they effectively replace both the Quick Launch and standard Taskbar buttons.
The three icons are shortcuts that have been pinned to the Taskbar. Like Quick Launch icons in Windows XP or Vista, clicking a pinned shortcut will launch the related program but, unlike Quick Launch, doing so will not create a new Taskbar button to the right. Instead, the pinned shortcut icon is surrounded by a box, making it look like a Taskbar button. If the program is given focus, the box is highlighted. Open multiple instances of the program – or, in the case of Internet Explorer, several browsing tabs – and the box becomes a stack of boxes (up to three are shown).
One important principle of the ‘Pin to Taskbar’ system in Windows 7 is that only the user can choose which programs are shown in this way. Apart from the three items pinned when Windows is installed, others must be added manually and programs cannot pin themselves during installation. Any program in the Start menu can be pinned by right-clicking and choosing Pin to Taskbar.
Pop-ups and Jump Lists
Programs that are not pinned to the Taskbar appear to the right of the pinned icons when they are launched. Whether pinned or not, Windows 7 makes it possible to preview all running programs represented as buttons in the Taskbar. Hovering the cursor over a Taskbar button causes a small preview of the application to appear above it; like Flip 3D in Vista this shows the current state of the application window rather than simply a representative icon. If a Taskbar button is stacked, such as when Internet Explorer has several tabs open, then previews of each instance or tab appear side by side.
Hovering the cursor over a preview brings that window or tab to the front, and clicking the preview will activate that window or tab ready for use. The previews also include a small close button, allowing the program or tab to be closed directly.
Another new tool available from the Taskbar is the Jump List. Right-click an item on the Taskbar, whether it’s a pinned shortcut or a currently running program, and a small menu will appear. Often this will show only three standard options: one to select the program, one to pin it to, or remove it from, the Taskbar, and one to close the program. Some programs written for Windows 7, however, can include more useful options. Right-click Paint, for example, and you’ll see the option to open recent files. Right-click Internet Explorer and you’ll find quick links to recently opened websites from the browser history. How useful Jump Lists will be is, of course, up to program developers, but they could be a handy way to quickly access key functions.
If the Windows 7 Taskbar has been thoroughly overhauled, the Start menu has seen more conservative changes. It’s very similar to that used in Windows Vista, but with a few useful tweaks. The search box is still present at the bottom, but many Vista users will be pleased to see that the power button has changed. In Vista this did not shut down the computer unless you altered the default behaviour, but in Windows 7 the button is larger, clearly labelled, and defaults to shutting down the computer when clicked.
There are a few other changes, too. Clicking the user name opens the Libraries, which we’ll discuss shortly, and programs shown to the left display an option to open their Jump List if one is available. Most of the links found on the right of Vista’s Start menu are present, including the Control Panel link, but the Network entry is notably absent.
Action stations
The notification area at the right of the Taskbar has also been altered significantly in Windows 7. One problem found in both XP and Vista was that neither operating system included an effective way to clamp down on programs that insisted on living in the notification area, often wasting space and flashing up annoying messages. Windows 7 allows the user to clamp down on both icons and their notifications. It’s even simple to remove the standard System icons (the clock, network indicator, volume control and so on). The new Action Center, found in the Control Panel, keeps security and maintenance alerts in one place. This is represented in the Notification Area by a single icon; clicking on it brings up a list of current alerts.
Another feature worth noting, but one that’s effectively invisible unless you know how to use it, is Aero Snap. This hidden tool makes it easy to rearrange windows onscreen. Grab a window and drag it to the side of the screen and Aero Snap resizes it to fill that half of the display. Similarly, grabbing and dragging to the top maximises the window, while extending the top of a window to the top of the display will automatically extend the bottom downwards, producing a vertically maximised window.
Control freaks
One part of Windows Vista that many users wished could be less obtrusive was User Account Control (UAC). Designed to provide a warning about important changes to the computer, some users found this prompt so annoying they preferred to disable it entirely, along with its security benefits. UAC is still present in Windows 7, but with far more control over what triggers alerts and how they are displayed. Windows 7 includes four levels of UAC alerting, ranging from no alerts at all to a setting similar to Vista’s. By default it will prompt when programs attempt to change the computer’s settings, but not when the user does so – a clear concession to the users who found themselves shouting ‘of course I want to do that; I just asked you to!’ at the Vista desktop.
This standard level of alerting will suit many users, but it’s easy to change. In fact, in the first public beta version of Windows 7 the UAC setting could be changed without triggering a UAC prompt – something that has been fixed in the latest Release Candidate version to prevent malware surreptitiously disabling UAC to mask its actions.
Brought to book
Taskbar icons aside, perhaps the largest and most visible change in Windows 7 is the Libraries feature. Most of the tasks that in previous versions of Windows would have opened the My Documents folder now open the Libraries view instead.
A library is a way to show the contents of many folders in one place, and could be handy now that most computers come with hundreds of gigabytes of storage space. Four are set up by default: Documents; Music; Pictures; and Videos. For example, the Documents Library shows all the files in the user’s My Documents folder and the Public Documents folder in one window. If you were to also keep a folder on an external hard disk, this can be easily added so that its contents will also appear in the library. Creating a new library takes just a few clicks, so you could quickly set up a library for personal documents and another one for work files.
Although the Libraries system seems odd at first, it’s simple and useful. Any users who dislike the system will find all the same user folders as in Vista’s Documents, Music, etc so the library system can be effectively bypassed if preferred.
Not everyone keeps files neatly organised by folder, of course. Fortunately, as in Windows Vista, it’s also possible to store searches and use these as, effectively, a virtual folder containing one type of file. If you search for a term (‘jpg’, perhaps) via the Start menu and then click See more results, this opens a search window from which you can simply choose Save search. Saved searches can be left in the Explorer Favourites list, or a shortcut can be placed on the desktop.
Stage fright
Another completely new feature in Windows 7 is the Device Stage. The idea of this tool is relatively simple: when you plug in a peripheral device, a single window will appear listing all the things you can do with it and providing relevant links. Plug in a camera, for example, and there might be a link to a bundled photo editor, while plugging in a phone might list options for making calls, copying contacts and so on.
As it stands, there are a few obvious problems with the system. For starters, only a very limited number of gadgets is currently supported – you’ll find a list at www.tinyurl.com/6sqkma. More annoyingly still, some devices are supported only in certain locations: our Nokia N95 phone is supported in the US, for example, but would not appear in the device stage here. The screenshot on the next page is a standard Microsoft mockup for one of its Fabrikam products (long standing Microsoft watchers will note that Fabrikam has diversified over the last few years).
Second, the content of the Device Stage for any given peripheral is to be left up to the device manufacturer. It’s easy to see why – the manufacturer should, after all, know which functions are available and which tools will enable them – but it might also concern those who have wrangled with the shoddy software historically bundled with some devices.
However, there is some good news in this regard. Although Device Stage will allow manufacturers to pick the applications used for each function, the versions of Windows 7 shown thus far include links allowing the user to pick their own application to use instead. If you own a copy of Photoshop, for example, you should be able to choose this over the manufacturer’s photo application.
Homegroup sweet homegroup
Just as Libraries add a newer, simpler way to manage folders to Windows 7, another new feature makes networking simpler. Although it includes all the usual tools and protocols for connecting to a corporate network, Windows 7 adds a new system for home users: the Homegroup.
The Homegroup system simplifies the process of connecting a few computers on one network and sharing files, folders and printers between them. When you first connect a Windows 7 PC to a home network it looks for an existing Homegroup and, if one is not available, will offer to create one. You are asked to choose what you would like to share (from Pictures, Music, Videos, Documents and Printers – the first four options representing the four standard Libraries discussed earlier), and presented with an alphanumeric pass-code to write down or print out.
When a second computer is connected to the network, the Network and Sharing Center will show a link marked ‘Available to join’ in the Homegroup section. Clicking this and entering the pass-code will enable the computer to connect to the Homegroup, accessing libraries on the first PC and sharing its own.
Interestingly, the Homegroup system should be useful for those who use a single Windows 7 computer for both work and home use. A computer can connect to a Homegroup even if it is normally joined to a Windows Domain, so users who bring a work notebook home in the evenings or weekends should, for example, be able to connect easily to a printer attached to another Homegroup computer.
The Homegroup system is easy to use, and compares favourably to the rather convoluted sharing settings found in Vista. However, it is only useful among computers that all run Windows 7.
Overall, it’s hard not to be impressed by Windows 7. It may be, at heart, a remodelled version of Windows Vista, but the various nips and tucks seem to have been put in the right places and the end result is surprisingly easy to use. It’s also amazingly stable, despite being available only in a pre-release version at the time of writing.
So, whether you loved or hated Vista, we recommend giving Windows 7 a try. Anyone who spent time installing the early versions of Windows Vista might be tempted to give Windows 7 a wide berth until the final version ships. In fact it’s fairly painless as long as you can get hold of an installation DVD. Release Candidate 1 should now be available, but the beta version released earlier in the year is similar and stable enough to try out all the new features. If using the beta you will need a registration key – see the box below for how to claim one.
The Windows 7 installation process will be familiar to anyone who has installed Vista, and takes around half an hour. Obviously the safest way to install Windows 7 is on a spare hard disk or virtual machine, but if you don’t have the luxury of an extra drive the beta will happily co-exist in a dual-boot system alongside either XP or Vista.
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