Windows 7 Features - QuickStart

courtesy of Desktop Resources, Inc. (www.DesktopResources.com)

Feature* Lets you... So What? Version**
You spend most of your time jumping
around from window to window inside
your PC. This feature helps make
Quickly resize windows to view side- that easier and faster. Seems trivial,
Snap H/P/U
by-side for comparison, or full screen but once you start using it, you'll see
that it's very valuable. Shaving
seconds off of something you do 400
times a day really adds up!

Admit it: You have so many windows

open that you have no idea what's
open. If you forgot your "A.D.D."
medicine this morning, how can you
Hide all other windows so you can focus on just ONE window (and
focus on just one (and later, show all actually get something done!) when
Shake H/P/U
windows when you're done being there are SO many to choose from
"focused"!) on your screen? Just grab and shake
the menubar of the one you want to
focus on, and "voila!", all the others
disappear! Shake it again, and all the
clutter re-appears!
One-click access to recently used
files or common tasks for this Handy feature that allows you to get
application. You can also add one-click access back to documents
Jump Lists H/P/U
documents as e-mail attachments by you work on often, or to tasks related
dragging them from the Jump List to to that application.
Outlook.
Yes, it really is faster, and it takes
Faster
advantages of new advances in
Boot Noticeably faster than VISTA or your
hardware that have come along since H/P/U
and old Windows XP.
the introduction of XP way back in
Shutdown
2001.
Eliminates the "most hated" behavior
SINGLE location for you to be of VISTA, which seemed to pop up a
notified of warnings, alerts, etc. Much message saying "Did you really mean
Action
better "manners" than VISTA. Less to click that button?" every time you H/P/U
Center
interruptions every time you click a clicked a button. Windows 7 lets
button. YOU control how "chatty" you want
Windows 7 to be.

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 Windows 7 Features - QuickStart
courtesy of Desktop Resources, Inc. (www.DesktopResources.com)
Feature* Lets you...
You have stuff on your desktop, and
files on the server. Now you can go
Libraries
to ONE place to work with files that
actually reside in either location.
Find files on your machine or your
Search server very quickly based on both
filenames or content.
Lets you see the contents of a file
Preview before you open it. Valuable tool
Pane which will be new to Windows XP
users.
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So What? Version**
For most users this may seem trivial,
but you could argue that this is one of
the most strategic developments in
Windows 7. Lets you consolidate how
you access all the information that H/P/U
you work with into a single view, even
if some of the info exists on your
local machine while some resides out
on your network.
Two things:
1. Some stuff in Windows 7 has
moved around or is referred to as a
slightly different name (like the
Control Panels), so you can spend
your time rooting around the
filesystem to find the file and where
it's buried, or you can just type in
the name or topic in the search box
on the Start Menu (or upper-right
corner of the Explorer window) to
H/P/U
find what you're looking for.
2. If you've tried to do searches of
network drives via XP by accessing
server-based indexes, it was a pain
(VISTA was actually much better at
this). Windows 7 has streamlined
this so that it recognizes the index
on the server so you get quick
searches, even of network-based
drives.
Nice feature that was added in
VISTA. Its a button on the Windows
Explorer upper-right-hand corner that
lets you see a preview of what the
selected file actually looks like. You
H/P/U
can make the preview bigger or
smaller. Saves time by making sure
that you have the right file you want
before you actually launch the
application to edit or view it.
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 Windows 7 Features - QuickStart
courtesy of Desktop Resources, Inc. (www.DesktopResources.com)
Feature* Lets you...
Need to take a picture of something
Snipping
on the screen for an e-mail or
Tool
presentation? Now you can...
The #1 MOST important addition to
Windows 7! Lets you "record" what
Problem you are doing when you are having a
Steps problem so you can send it to your
Recorder support engineer. Also useful if you're
trying to teach someone to use an
application.
Yes, even the lowly Calculator is now
better. Capture "History" (remember
the old adding machine paper tape
Calculator
showing what you've done...), as well
as built-in mortgage and date-based
calculations.
Connect
Simplifies how to connect to a
to
projector to show a presentation.
Projector
www.DesktopResources.com/Windows7
So What? Version**
Seems trivial, but this is truly a very
handy tool. Getting an error message
popping up that you don't
understand? Open the Snipping Tool,
grab a picture of the actual error
H/P/U
mesage, and immediately e-mail it to
your support engineer. No more
trying to copy arcane error message
numbers or message text! Very
handy!
Ever been on the phone trying to
explain to an engineer what you were
doing when your computer
problem/error occurred? (or ever
been the engineer on the other end
trying to understand what in the world
this person was doing to cause the
error?). Problem Steps Recorder
solves BOTH of these problems by
letting the engineer essentially "watch H/P/U
over your shoulder" as you show
him/her what you were doing that
made the problem occur. Creates a
single ZIP file that you can e-mail to
support, and they can see a "slide
show" of everything you did (every
click, every window, etc.) You can
even add notes to further annotate
the recording.
Some nice additions here, although
not earth-shattering. Looking to
refinance your mortgage? Need to
convert one unit of measure to H/P/U
another? Now you have another tool
available to help you address those
needs.
How many presentations have you
been to where the presenter could
NOT figure out how to get the image
on their screen to show up on the
H/P/U
projector (or it looked horrible)? With
Windows 7, they no longer have an
excuse for wasting your time while
they fumble with the projector.
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 Windows 7 Features - QuickStart
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Feature* Lets you... So What? Version**
For those who do presentations from
your laptop a lot, Windows Mobility
Single place for the "road warrior" to Center allows you to configure your
Windows
configure their laptop, including "Presentation Mode". So when you
Mobility H/P/U
automating settings for when you are are presenting, it knows that you do
Center
giving a presentation NOT want your screensaver to kick
in, but you DO want the volume on
your laptop turned up, etc.
Windows VISTA's most "popular"
(pronounced "annoying"!) feature
User
Lets YOU control when you want to was the multitude of messages that
Account
be notified of an issue, question or appeared everytime you clicked H/P/U
Control
concern raised by Windows 7. something. Windows 7 allows YOU
Settings
to decide how "chatty" you want it to
be!
Lets YOU control what applications Advanced feature that is
are allowed to run on your machine implemented via Group Policy (i.e.
(or machines on your network if you "don't try this at home!"), but very
AppLocker are the admin). Cut down on valuable both to keep your P/U
unproductive "Solitaire" games or employees focused on busines-
downloaded malware by your related applications/activities, as well
employees. as to prevent malware downloads.

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 Windows 7 Features - QuickStart
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Feature* Lets you... So What? Version**

Encrypts USB thumb drives, so even

if you lose it, the person who finds it
cannot steal your data. The
encryption process seems low, even
on an empty thumb drive, but
probably just needs additional CPU
resources to speed up the process.
You can also encrypt your local hard
drive with BitLocker, but I would NOT
recommend doing that. For most of
Encrypt data on a removeable USB us, encrypting your local hard drive is
BitLocker-To-Go thumb drive, so if you lose it, no one just too fraught with the danger of U
else can read it. accidentally losing access to the
data. If you are working with data that
is THAT sensitive, you should already
have other mechanisms in place to
address those needs. Having said
that, encrypting removable USB
devices IS a good idea. I'd just make
sure that you are certain that you are
encrypting a COPY of the data, not
the ONLY copy (so you can go back
to the original source if needed).

An advanced capability when coupled

with Windows Server 2008 r2. Could
be very vaulable for branch offices by
increasing efficiency of their WAN
connection. Needs additional proof-of-
Lets branch offices download files
concept verification/testing before
faster by caching files locally. DRI H/P/U +
real-world deployment, but has lots of
BranchCache recommended configuration requires W'08 Svr
promise. Also advertised to work via
Windows Server 2008 r2 for the r2
a server-less "distributed" model in
branch office.
the branch office, but I would highly
recommend implementing it with a
server due to security and available
issues that might arise with the
distributed approach.

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 Windows 7 Features - QuickStart
courtesy of Desktop Resources, Inc. (www.DesktopResources.com)
Feature* Lets you... So What? Version**
Gets rid of VPNs for mobile workers,
so accessing corporate resources is
much easier and faster. Also allows
IT to manage those remote machines
via group policies, which is very
Lets mobile workers access the helpful. Unfortunately,
corporate network as if they were in implementation of this also requires H/P/U +
DirectAccess their office, and lets IT admins control IPv6 and IPSec for your environment, W'08 Svr
those mobile machines via group so coordinating, planning and r2
policies. orchestrating the implementation of
this technology will not be trivial.
(Okay, that's an understatement. Get
a big room for your planning
meetings so everyone who needs to
be there can fit....)

* FEATURE: click to see online Microsoft information

** VERSIONS: H = Home Premium, P = Professional, U = Ultimate

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