Windows 7 RTM coming to MSDNAA this August

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Improved taskbar and full-screen previews

The taskbar at the bottom of your screen is what you use to launch programs and switch between them when they're open. In Windows 7 you can pin any program to the taskbar so it’s always just a click away, and you can rearrange the icons on the taskbar just by clicking and dragging. We’ve made the icons considerably bigger, too, so they’re easier to use. Hover over the icons and you’ll see thumbnails of every file or window that open in that program, and if you hover over the thumbnail, you’ll see a full-screen preview of that window. Move the cursor off the thumbnail and the full-screen preview disappears.

Faster, more responsive performance

Nobody likes to wait, so we all want our PCs to perform well. We looked at a number of ways to improve performance on PCs running Windows 7. We designed the operating system to be more responsive and simpler to use.

To improve performance, Windows 7 is designed to make PCs start up, shut down, resume from standby, and respond faster. To help you zip through your day, we’ve added new features to simplify the number of steps required to do common things. Some of the features that’ll help you save time include:

  • Windows Taskbar simplifies working with your applications and files

  • Jump Lists put the documents you want handy and the ones you’ve used recently a couple clicks away

We’ve also focused on making it more convenient to work with the operating system. For example, the Action Center gives you more control over how the operating system notifies you about system changes. You can recover more quickly from problems when they do occur because when you’re ready to address issues, Windows 7 will help you fix them.

 
Easier TV, movies, and video

With a streamlined user interface and support for new content types and digital TV, Windows Media Center in certain editions of Windows 7 makes watching TV, movies, and other video content on your PC easier than ever. With a simple USB TV Tuner you can record and watch shows on your schedule. Windows Media Center has been updated to manage a single TV guide containing both standard and digital high definition TV shows.