Welcome to
Windows 7
1 1
You told us what you wanted. We listened.
This Windows
the new and improved features that will
help deliver the one thing you said you
wanted the most:
® 7 Product Guide highlights
Your PC, simplied.
3 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWS 7 6
DESIGNING WINDOWS 7 8
Market Trends that Inspired Windows 7 9
WINDOWS 7 EDITIONS 10
Windows 7 Starter 11
Windows 7 Home Basic 11
Windows 7 Home Premium 12
Windows 7 Professional 12
Windows 7 Enterprise / Windows 7 Ultimate 13
Windows Anytime Upgrade 14
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 14
Windows 7 Editions Comparison 15
GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS 7 16
Upgrading a PC to Windows 7 16
WHAT’S NEW IN WINDOWS 7 20
Top Features for You 20
Top Features for IT Professionals 22
Application and Device Compatibility 23
WINDOWS 7 FOR YOU 24
WINDOWS 7 FOR YOU: SIMPLIFIES EVERYDAY TASKS 28
Simple to Navigate 28
Easier to Find Things 35
Easy to Browse the Web 38
Easy to Connect PCs and Manage Devices 41
Easy to Communicate and Share 47
WINDOWS 7 FOR YOU: WORKS THE WAY YOU WANT 50
Speed, Reliability, and Responsiveness 50
More Secure 55
Compatible with You 62
Better Troubleshooting and Problem Solving 66
WINDOWS 7 FOR YOU: MAKES NEW THINGS POSSIBLE 70
Media the Way You Want It 70
Work Anywhere 81
New Ways to Engage 84
WINDOWS 7 FOR IT PROFESSIONALS 88
WINDOWS 7 FOR IT PROFESSIONALS:
MAKE PEOPLE PRODUCTIVE ANYWHERE 92
Remove Barriers to Information 92
Access Information from Anywhere 95
WINDOWS 7 FOR IT PROFESSIONALS:
MANAGE RISK THROUGH ENHANCED SECURITY AND CONTROL 100
Protect Data on PCs and Devices 100
Protect Workers and Infrastructure 102
Builds on Windows Vista Security Foundation 103
WINDOWS 7 FOR IT PROFESSIONALS:
REDUCE COSTS BY STREAMLINING PC MANAGEMENT 106
Easier Deployment 107
Keep PCs Running Smoothly 110
Better Support for Client Virtualization 115
WINDOWS 7 FOR IT PROFESSIONALS:
MICROSOFT DESKTOP OPTIMIZATION PACK 116
Microsoft Application Virtualization 117
Microsoft Asset Inventory Service 118
Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management 119
Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 120
Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring 120
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization 121
WINDOWS 7 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE LOGO PROGRAMS 122
Windows 7 Logo for PCs 123
Windows Starter Logo 123
Compatible with Windows 7 Logo 123
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 124
Windows 7 System Requirements 124
HOW TO FIND MORE INFORMATION 126
Resources for Everyone 126
Resources for IT Pros 127
Resources for Device Manufacturers 127
Resources for Software Developers 127
APPENDIX A: EXPANDED EDITIONS FEATURE COMPARISON 128
APPENDIX B: FEATURE COMPARISON CHART 131
APPENDIX C: NEW KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 134
APPENDIX D: INSTALLATION OPTIONS FOR UPGRADING TO WINDOWS 7 135
INDEX 136
DISCLAIMER 139
PCs are an integral part of the daily lives of billions of people around the world. They are
used for more functions than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago, and as
PCs become more deeply woven into our everyday lives, our expectations keep increasing.
With Windows® 7, you told us what you expect from a PC. And we listened.
In Windows 7 we’ve developed hundreds of little improvements and a few big ones that
add up, frankly, to a whole lot less. Less waiting, less clicks, less hassle connecting to devices,
less power consumed and less overall complexity.
And with less of what you don’t need, your PC running Windows 7 will help you do more
by making everyday tasks simpler and easier. Windows 7 is clean and uncluttered, with
a streamlined interface that puts the tasks you want to accomplish right at your nger-
tips. You have more control over where to put the things you use most often. Managing
multiple windows is easier. And we’ve improved search so that you can nd the information
you want quickly.
We’ve made it easier to add PCs to your home network, share les between networked
PCs, and use and manage other connected devices like cell phones, cameras, and MP3
players. Even browsing the Internet is easier thanks to improvements in Windows Internet
Explorer® 8.
You asked for improvements in the basic fundamentals like performance, responsiveness,
safety, reliability, and compatibility. We designed Windows 7 to start up, shut down, and
resume from sleep quickly so you don’t have to wait as long to get stuff done. We’ve
reduced the number of system prompts that can interrupt your day. And you’ll have greater
control over what your kids can do on the PC. Even better, you’ll nd innovative ways to
safeguard your personal data—all while getting more ways to personalize your PC and
make it truly your own.
With Windows 7, we’ve also made new things possible. You’ll nd fresh ways to enjoy and
share your music, photos, video, and recorded TV when and where you want regardless of
how or where it’s stored. Windows 7 gives you more ways to access your data and work
productively from any location including making it easier to connect to wireless networks.
And we’ve added new ways to interact with your PC through touch-enabled screens.
In the enterprise, the role of the PC is evolving just as quickly as it is in the home. With
Windows 7, IT professionals have more ways to help their people get more done—more
securely and from more locations—while still maintaining control over increasingly complex
computing environments.
Welcome to Windows 7.
7 7
Designing Windows 7
More than a billion people use Microsoft® Windows every day. You use it
in signicant ways, like earning a living. You use it in personally meaningful
ways, such as using a webcam to visit with a faraway loved one. And you
experience it in small ways, like playing your favorite song or whiling away
a few minutes with a game. Though each situation might be different, your
satisfaction relies on one thing: that your PC works, plain and simple.
In designing Windows 7, we focused on creating a better experience,
regardless of what you do on your PC. And although we’ve made some
architectural changes in Windows 7, we’ve focused mainly on building
upon the platform improvements of the Windows Vista
Server
By denition, a great PC experience means seamless operation across all of your hardware, software, and
devices. We want to make sure you have a broad choice for the programs and devices you use with your
PCs. Today, the Windows Vista Compatibility Center lists more than 10,500 applications and 9,500 devices
with a compatible download or driver version. In most cases, the same software and hardware that works
on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7.
Furthermore, we were careful to design Windows 7 so that the investments that our partners and our
enterprise customers have made in Windows Vista will continue to deliver great value as they upgrade
to Windows 7. We’ve worked closely with our partners from the earliest planning phase. Before writing
code, we talked to original equipment manufacturers, the companies that make PCs. Before dening
application programming interfaces, we talked to developers. And before adding support for new
devices, we worked with device manufacturers to understand how next-generation hardware could
create new scenarios.
® 2008 operating systems.
® and Windows
Market Trends that Inspired Windows 7
As we planned Windows 7, we took a hard look at how the world of technology is changing and what
that means for you. In doing so, we identied some key themes that inuenced our engineering design
efforts and helped us to focus on where we could deliver the highest value to you.
• Hardware advances. Since Tablet PCs with touch screens were introduced more than ve years
ago, a whole range of new devices has made touch technology more popular. Similarly, the
reduced cost of random access memory (RAM) has led many more people to use 64-bit proces-
sors. Other advances include solid-state drives (SSDs), faster wireless networking, enhanced
Bluetooth connectivity, multicore central processing units (CPUs), and powerful new graphics
accelerators.
• Expanded diversity and sophistication of devices. The type and range of devices continue
to expand. Nearly 1,500 new Plug and Play devices are identied each day, with more than 4
million expected by 2010. At the same time, devices like MP3 players and mobile phones store
more information and offer more features than ever before.
• Growth of mobile computing. In the United States, portable computers are becoming more
prevalent than desktops, and we’re seeing a growing variety of them, like small notebook PCs,
ultra-mobile PCs, and Tablet PCs.
Designing Windows 7
• More connection options. People want to get online easily and stay online using whatever
Internet connection is available. Furthermore, people want to be able to access work and home
information, no matter where they are.
• Connecting multiple PCs in the home. Today, more than half of U.S. households have more
than one PC—yet setting up a home network can still be a challenge. For many people, it’s even
more difcult to manage, nd, and share information across multiple PCs.
• More digital media. People now have access to more types of digital media than ever, includ-
ing music, video, TV, photos, and an ever-increasing amount of rich content on the Web. This
media needs to be easier to nd, use, and share—digital media should be accessible through
more devices without any added complexity, regardless of whether people are listening to music
on wireless headphones or watching movies on a big-screen TV.
• A rapidly evolving Web. Browsing the Web remains the single most popular activity on the
PC, with people spending more time—and doing more things—online. They want a Web
browsing experience that supports all that the Web has to offer, with everyday tasks and
content at their ngertips. They want easier ways to connect with friends and interact with
social networks. And they also want protection from hackers, malicious software (malware),
and other Internet-based threats.
• Increased focus on costs. Although businesses often adopt new operating systems for better
security and quantiable cost savings, application and device compatibility can prevent them
from moving forward. IT professionals need to know that adopting new technologies will make
running and managing PCs easier, help increase data security, and extend the investments they
have already made in existing applications and devices
8 9
Windows 7 Editions
Windows® 7 Enterprise/Windows® 7 Ultimate
Windows® 7 Professional
Windows® 7 Home Premium
Windows® 7 Home Basic
Windows® 7 Starter
Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate are no-compromise
editions for people who want everything Windows 7 has to offer
*
.
Windows 7 Professional is everything you need for work and home.
This business-focused edition is great for small- and medium-sized
companies, and people who have networking, backup, and security
needs and multiple PCs or servers.
Windows 7 Home Premium is the best entertainment experience on
your PC. This edition provides full functionality on the latest hardware,
easy ways to connect, and a visually rich environment.
Windows 7 Home Basic makes the things you do every day faster and
easier. This edition is designed for value PCs in emerging markets.
Windows 7 Starter Edition is the entry-level edition for small notebook
PCs and other PCs with limited hardware. It makes using your PC simpler.
Different people expect different things from their PCs, which is why we offer
multiple editions of Windows 7. And because your needs can change over
time, we have designed Windows 7 so that you can move up to editions
with more features, without giving up the features you already have.
*Note: Windows 7 Enterprise has the same features as Ultimate, and also
includes volume activation capabilities. It is available only to customers with
a Software Assurance Agreement.
Windows 7 Starter
Windows 7 Starter makes small notebook PCs and other PCs with limited hardware easier to use because
it puts less between you and what you want to do—less waiting, less clicking, and less hassle connecting
to networks. Windows 7 Starter is designed to meet basic needs and combines the latest in reliability
and responsiveness with the familiarity of Windows. Key features that you will nd in the Starter edition
include the following::
• Broad application and device compatibility
• Safety, reliability, and responsiveness
• Ability to join a homegroup
Windows 7 Editions
Windows 7 Home Basic
Windows 7 Home Basic is an entry-level edition that will be offered in a number of emerging markets
to customers with value priced PCs. Windows 7 Home Basic makes it faster and easier to get to the
programs and documents you use most often, so you can spend less time looking and more time doing
the things you want to do. In addition to the benets found in Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic includes
the following:
• Live thumbnail previews
• Advanced networking support (ad hoc wireless networks and Internet connection sharing)
• Ability to extend your screen across multiple monitors
10 11
Windows 7 Home Premium
The best edition for consumers, Windows 7 Home Premium provides the best entertainment experience on your PC.
You’ll nd easy ways to connect to other PCs and devices, all in a visually rich environment that makes everyday use
simpler and more engaging. With Home Premium you can create a homegroup to share all of your favorite photos,
videos, and music with other networked PCs running Windows 7. And you’ll be able to watch shows for free when
and where you want with Internet TV on Windows Media® Center.* In addition to the features in Windows 7 Starter
and Home Basic, you’ll also get the following::
• Advanced window navigation and personalization with several new Microsoft Aero® desktop improvements
• The ability to create a homegroup, so you can easily share les between your networked PCs and devices
• The ability to watch Internet TV and record TV on your PC with Windows Media Center
• Remote Media Streaming and improved support for different media formats
*Note: For some aspects of Windows Media Center functionality, a TV tuner and additional hardware may be required. Internet access is
required. Free Internet TV content varies by geography. Some content may require additional fees.
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Professional has all the features you need for business, along with all the great media and entertainment
features of Windows 7 Home Premium. You’ll be able to run many Windows XP productivity programs natively in
Windows 7 or by using Windows XP Mode*, and recover your data easily with automatic backups to your home or
business network. You’ll also be able to connect to company networks easily and more securely. In addition to the
features in Windows 7 Home Premium, you’ll also get the following:
• Domain Join, which gives you the ability to join a managed Windows Server network
• Advanced Backup and Restore to help you back up your entire system to a home or business network,
and Encrypted File System to help protect your data
• Windows XP Mode* for running older productivity applications that require Windows XP
• Location Aware Printing, which helps you set different default printers for your home and work networks
*Microsoft recommends 2 GB of memory, and an additional 15 GB of hard disk space per virtual environment, to run Windows XP Mode.
Windows XP Mode requires either OEM pre-installation or post-purchase installation of Windows XP Mode (which runs on Windows 7
Professional or Ultimate) and a virtualization technology such as Windows Virtual PC.Windows Virtual PC requires a processor capable of
hardware virtualization, with Intel-VT and AMD-V features enabled.Both Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC can be downloaded
from www.windows.com/business/downloads. For more information on system requirements, go to www.microsoft.com/virtual-pc.
Windows 7 Enterprise / Windows 7 Ultimate
Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate are the most versatile and powerful editions and are designed to
address the needs of both enterprise customers and consumers who want every feature of Windows 7. While the
features in these editions are the same, Windows 7 Enterprise includes volume activation capabilities and is only
available to customers with a Microsoft Software Assurance Agreement.
Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate help make you productive anywhere, enhance security and
control, and streamline PC management. They also offer remarkable ease of use with the entertainment
features of Home Premium and the business features of Professional, plus the exibility to work in many differ-
ent languages. Quite simply, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate include everything Windows 7 has
to offer.
Windows 7 Editions
In addition to the previously mentioned features, these editions include the following:
• Microsoft BitLocker™ and BitLocker To Go™ drive encryption and data protection on internal and external
drives and storage devices
• DirectAccess, which helps give you a more secure connection to your corporate network over the Internet
• Microsoft BranchCache™, which helps provide faster access to content from remote le and Web servers
at branch locations
• Microsoft AppLocker™, which helps prevent unauthorized software from running on workers’ PCs
• Enterprise Search Scopes, which make it easy to discover and search content on intranet portals
• Multilingual user interface packs, which let you work in any of 35 languages
12 13
Windows Anytime Upgrade
Sometimes you want to be able to do more with your PC. That’s why we’ve made it easier for you to
move from one edition of Windows to the next. For example, you may have purchased a small notebook
PC with Windows 7 Starter but decide soon after that you want to customize your desktop or create
a homegroup. With Windows Anytime Upgrade, you can add features to Windows 7 in as few as 10
minutes. Upgrading from one edition of Windows 7 to another with more features is easy and quick, and
you’ll keep your programs, les, and settings.
SPECIAL NOTE:
In the EEA/EU (including Croatia and Switzerland) and Korea, Microsoft will ship versions of these editions that do not include
certain features.
“N” editions (for example, Windows 7 Home Premium N) do not include Windows Media Player and related technologies such as
Windows Media Center and Windows DVD Maker (distribution in EEA/EU only).
“KN” editions (for example, Windows 7 Home Premium KN) will not include Windows Media Player and related technologies such as
Windows Media Center and Windows DVD Maker (distribution in Korea only).
“K” editions (for example, Windows 7 Home Premium K) are the Korean language versions of the products, which contain links
added to the Programs menu that go to Web sites that contain links to download competing media players and instant messaging
software (distributed worldwide).
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance is a dynamic desktop solution available to
Software Assurance customers for use with Windows 7. It helps reduce application deployment costs,
enables delivery of applications as services, and allows for better management and control of enterprise
desktop environments. Technologies provided in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack include:
• Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Microsoft Asset Inventory Service
• Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management
• Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset
• Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring
• Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization
Windows 7 Editions Comparison
This table summarizes the key differences between the editions:
Key Features
Starter Home Premium Professional Enterprise/Ultimate
Windows Taskbar and Jump Lists
3 3 3 3
Windows 7 Editions
Internet Explorer 8
Join a homegroup
Home media streaming,
including Play To ^
Aero Glass and improved
desktop navigation
Windows Media Center^ and
Internet TV ¹
Create a homegroup
Windows XP Mode
Domain Join and Group Policy
controls
Advanced Backup and Restore
BitLocker and BitLocker To Go
3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3
3 3 3
3 3 3
3 3 3
3 3
3 3
3 3
3
DirectAccess
Multilingual User Interface Packs
A more detailed comparison of features in each edition can be found in Appendix A.
^These features are not available in box for “N” or “KN” edition versions.
¹ Internet access is required. Free Internet TV content varies by geography. Some content may require additional fees.
Note: Windows Home Basic (not shown here) is only available in emerging markets.
3
3
14 15
Getting Started with Windows 7
Whether you’re buying a new PC or upgrading your current PC to Windows
7, you probably want to get through the setup process as quickly as
possible. Windows 7 is designed to get you up and running fast.
Windows 7 includes a new Getting Started experience that points you in
the right direction by highlighting some common tasks associated with
setting up your new PC. You’ll see Getting Started on the Start menu when
you rst use Windows 7. Use it to explore new features, transfer les from
your old PC, add user accounts, and more. Getting Started is there when
you need it and stays out of your way when you’re doing other things.
Upgrading a PC to Windows 7
We realize that upgrading to a newer version of Windows can sometimes be a challenge, depend-
ing on what operating system you are currently running, your familiarity with PCs in general, and your
current system conguration. With that in mind, we have designed Windows 7 for a smooth upgrade
from Windows Vista and have improved several tools that can aid you in the upgrade process. (See the
Windows Easy Transfer and Windows Upgrade Advisor sections that follow.)
Because Windows 7 is built on the same architectural platform as Windows Vista, the transition to
Windows 7 should be fairly smooth whether you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit system, although you will
need to ensure that your PC has the latest service pack rst.* If your upgrade gets blocked due to incom-
patible or missing drivers, you may be able to load a new or updated driver from the Compatibility Center
and continue with the upgrade.
*Note: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released in April 2008. Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released in May
2009. While you can upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 with SP1, Microsoft recommends that you install both Service
Packs before upgrading.
Getting Started with Windows 7
Migrating from Windows XP
Windows 7 is best experienced on a new PC with the latest hardware, but if your computer meets the
minimum specications, you can install Windows 7 on a PC running Windows XP. Windows 7 must be
“custom” installed (also known as a “clean” installation) over Windows XP. Before beginning the installation,
you’ll need to copy your les and settings to an external drive. After Windows 7 has been installed you will
need to re-install all of your programs using the original installation media and then copy over the les
and settings you backed up to your external drive. Because Windows 7 requires a custom installation, we
strongly recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider.
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. But if you’re not running Windows
Vista, or are just not sure if your system is ready to run Windows 7, there’s an easy way to check. Just use
the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. You’ll get a report telling you if your PC can run Windows 7 and if there
are any known compatibility issues with your programs or hardware, like printers or scanners. If there’s a
x, you’ll get suggestions for next steps. For example, it will let you know if you need an updated driver
for your printer and show you where to get it.
Note: To learn more about the Windows Upgrade Advisor, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/upgradeadvisor
Windows Upgrade Advisor report
16 17
Windows Compatibility Center
You may want to know if your devices and software will work with your computer, and that you have all
the latest updates so your stuff works the way it’s supposed to. First introduced with Windows Vista, the
Windows Compatibility Center is a single location where you can quickly and easily verify that your exist-
ing devices and applications will work—and double-check to make sure that your new purchases work
too. The Compatibility Center is updated frequently so you can nd the most current software and drivers
to make things run perfectly. You can even share feedback with Microsoft to help improve the Compat-
ibility Center or get help from the Windows community.
Note: To learn more about the Windows Compatibility Center, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility.
Windows Compatibility Center
Getting Started with Windows 7
Windows Easy Transfer
Windows Easy Transfer helps you move les, folders, program settings, and system settings from your
old PC to your new one. With the newest version of Windows Easy Transfer, you can leave the transfer
unattended. If Windows encounters a le or setting that it can’t transfer, it will complete the rest of the
migration and then show you any items that failed to transfer and give you the option to try again.
Windows Easy Transfer also works well if you’re adding a second PC. With the new Windows Easy Transfer
le explorer, you can see les on other PCs and choose the ones you want to copy to your new PC. If
you’re not sure what you want to transfer, you can use the new Selective Restore feature to save all the
les and settings on your old PC to removable media. You can then choose the les and settings you
want to transfer. Everything else remains safely stored in your Windows Easy Transfer archive, in case you
want to access it later.
You’ll need the same version of Windows Easy Transfer on all PCs to transfer les, folders, program
settings, and system settings. For PCs running Windows 7, Windows Easy Transfer automatically copies
the latest version of Windows Easy Transfer to other PCs running Windows 7 after you’ve connected
them. If you’re running Windows Vista or Windows XP, however, you will need to manually install the
Windows 7 version of Windows Easy Transfer on your PC from the installation media in Windows 7 before
you can begin transferring data.
Windows Easy Transfer helps you move your
les, folders, and settings to your new PC.
18 19
What’s New in Windows 7
Top Features for You
We’ve designed Windows 7 to be the easiest, fastest, and most engaging version of Windows yet. We
focused on helping your PC perform the way you want it to—quickly, easily, and with less effort. Although
many of the new improvements are under the covers, Windows 7 also includes many more visible
enhancements that will help you play with, work with, and manage your PC.
The following table highlights some of the features that we think you’ll really like.
Key Feature What You Can Do
Aero Shake Click a window pane and shake your mouse to minimize all
other open windows. Shake the pane again to restore the
windows to their original sizes.
Aero Themes and Aero Background Use new themes or choose a slideshow of your favorite photos
to make your PC reect your personal taste.
BitLocker and BitLocker To Go Help protect sensitive data with new, easier ways to protect
and recover drives and extend that protection to USB remov-
able storage devices, such as ash memory drives and
portable hard disk drives.
Home Media Streaming Use your PC as a hub and make music, videos, photos, and
recorded TV available on other PCs or stream it to supported
devices using Play To.
HomeGroup Easily share les and printers between PCs running Windows 7
that are connected to your home network.
Improved Windows Taskbar Open les and get around your PC faster. Pin programs you
use often to the taskbar and launch them with a single click.
Key Feature What You Can Do
Internet and Digital TV Watch Internet TV content and turn your PC into a digital
video recorder by using the support in Windows Media Center
for many new broadcast TV tuners.*
Internet Explorer 8: Visual Search See rich, relevant, visual suggestions as you type search terms.
Internet Explorer 8: Web Slices Get the information you want from the Web updated and avail-
able at your ngertips, without leaving the page you’re on.
Jump Lists Reduce clutter and quickly get to tasks and your favorite,
recent, and frequently used les.
Live Thumbnail Previews Manage lots of open windows easily with live thumbnail
previews of active windows
Location Aware Printing Set different default printers for your home and work
networks.
What’s New in Windows 7
Mobile Broadband Eliminate the need to install additional software when you use
your data card for Internet access.
Remote Media Streaming Access your home-based digital media libraries over the Inter-
net from another PC running Windows 7 outside the home.
Snap Resize and expand windows more quickly and easily compare
the contents of two different windows.
View Available Network (VAN) See and connect to available networks—including Wi-Fi,
broadband, dial-up, and virtual private network (VPN)—in just
a few clicks.
VPN Reconnect Get consistent VPN connectivity by automatically reestablish-
ing a VPN connection whenever the Internet connection is
temporarily lost.
Windows Search and Libraries Search your own PC and the PCs and devices connected
to your network to nd items regardless of where they’re
stored.
Windows Touch Interact with your PC with a touch-screen monitor by using
your ngers and multitouch gestures.
Windows Troubleshooting Resolve common issues quickly without having to call for help.
Windows XP Mode Run many older Windows XP productivity applications right on
your Windows 7 desktop.
Note: For certain aspects of Windows Media Center functionality, a TV tuner and additional hardware may be required. To watch
Internet TV, Internet access is required. Free Internet TV content varies by geography. Some content may require additional fees.
20 21
Top Features for IT Professionals
From networking to security and search to user management, Windows 7 offers IT professionals a wide
range of new and improved features. These include the following:
Key Feature What You Can Do
AppLocker Control which applications are allowed to run on user PCs.
BranchCache Improve application responsiveness and end user productivity
at branch ofces while reducing the load on your Wide Area
Network (WAN).
DirectAccess Enable workers to more securely connect to corporate
networks over any Internet connection—without requiring the
extra step of initiating a VPN connection.
Federated Search and Enterprise
Search Scopes
Problem Steps Recorder Help your workers troubleshoot application failures by giving
VHD Boot Ease the transition between virtual and physical environments
Windows PowerShell 2.0™
Enable search engines, document repositories, Web appli-
cations, and proprietary data stores to be searched from
Windows 7, without writing and deploying client code.
them the ability to reproduce and record their experiences and
then send that information to support staff.
by reusing the same master image within a VDI infrastructure
and on physical PCs.
Automate repetitive tasks with this graphical scripting editor that
helps you write scripts that access underlying technologies.
Application and Device Compatibility
We recognize that your PC experience involves programs and devices from many different providers, so
we’ve made a signicant effort to ensure that the applications and devices you use and love are compat-
ible with Windows 7 and work the way you’d expect them to.
Windows 7 helps address application compatibility in several ways. Perhaps most importantly, we worked
to minimize changes in the way applications and devices interact with Windows. As a result, the work
done by third-party software and hardware developers to make their products work on Windows Vista
generally carries forward for Windows 7. In most cases, the same software and hardware that works with
Windows Vista will also work with Windows 7.
In addition, we created a comprehensive list of the most widely used consumer and business applica-
tions, which were tested throughout the development cycle. We also created new and improved tools
such as the Windows Upgrade Advisor, Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), Windows Compatibility
Center, Quality Cookbook, Application Verier, and ISV Developer Portal to help customers and software
developers assess application compatibility.
For untested programs or applications developed in-house, Windows 7 offers a number of in-the-box
compatibility aids. For example, if a program fails to install because of a hard-coded version check,
the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter can automatically x the problem (with the user ’s consent)
and rerun the installer. Windows 7 also includes an expanded application shim infrastructure and a
Problem Steps Recorder that people can use to capture application compatibility issues for evaluation
by technical experts.
What;’s New in Windows 7
Furthermore, we continually monitor application compatibility issues throughout the Windows ecosys-
tem. We designed Windows 7 to monitor application health and, with the user’s permission, provide
feedback to Microsoft so that we can work quickly with application developers to resolve compatibility
problems and issue a x if necessary. Microsoft has also invested in partner outreach efforts so that soft-
ware developers have the resources required to ensure application compatibility.
As with applications, we are also working to ensure that devices compatible with Windows Vista will work
just as well with Windows 7. As a part of this effort, we have greatly expanded the list of devices and
peripherals being tracked for compatibility with Windows 7. We have identied thousands of devices
through data collected via the Customer Experience Improvement Program and through outreach efforts
to device and PC manufacturers, and we have tested those devices for compatibility with Windows 7.
When updated device drivers are required, we are working to ensure that you can get them directly from
Windows Update or through links to driver downloads on device manufacturer Web sites.
22 23
Windows 7
for You
Windows 7 is more than just engineering and innovation—it’s
the product that you asked for.
You’ve told us you want everything you do on your PC
to be faster and easier. You’ve said that you’d like it if the
technology and devices in your home worked better together.
And because you spend a lot of time on the Web, you’ve
mentioned that you’d like that experience to be faster and
safer—and that you’d like it to be consistent with your ofine
experience so that you don’t have to learn two different ways
to do the same thing.
In essence, you said that you wanted your PC simplied. And
with Windows 7, that’s exactly what you’ll get.
25 25
Windows 7 for You
Simplies Everyday Tasks
Windows 7 streamlines and simplies the tasks you do most often. Its enhanced Start menu and Windows
Taskbar put the les and programs you use most within easy reach, so they don’t clutter your desktop. And
the desktop’s new streamlined interface puts you in control so you can get where you want to go faster.
With an improved search engine and Windows Explorer in Windows 7, you don’t have to wade through
multiple results to get the les or programs you’re looking for. No matter where les are located on your
PC or on your network, nding them is a snap. Browsing the Web is simpler too, thanks to new features
in Internet Explorer 8 that put the information you’re looking for right at your ngertips.
With Windows 7, you’ll even nd it easier to share things, whether you’re using Windows Live Essentials
to communicate and share with friends, or sharing content and printers among devices connected to
your home network.
Works the Way You Want
Superior performance, reliability, and security enhancements make your PC work the way you want—that
is, without fuss and with fewer problems. Windows 7 is designed to start, shut down, and resume from
Standby faster. We’ve even engineered Windows 7 to help extend the battery life of your portable PC.
Windows 7 gives you new ways to help keep you and your data safe with enhanced security features, a
more secure online experience, and Parental Controls. Keeping your PC running smoothly—and nding
out what to do when there’s a problem—is much simpler too because you’ll be able to resolve most
issues from one central location. You’ll recover from problems faster with self-healing diagnostic features
and troubleshooters. In fact, Windows 7 will often x issues without any impact to you.
Best yet, Windows 7 is extremely exible. Need to run older business and productivity programs that require
Windows XP? Now you can, with the new Windows XP Mode. Plus, you can make your PC truly your own
with more options than ever for you to customize and personalize your PC to match your personality.
Makes New Things Possible
Windows 7 delivers enhancements that will help you do exciting new things with your PC. Windows
Media Center and Windows Media Player help you enjoy your media in new ways and places. Are your
family photos located on a different PC in your home? No problem.What if you’re away on business and
want to listen to a playlist that’s on your home PC? Believe it or not, you can do that too.
With Windows 7, it’s easier than ever to keep communications owing and get things done—no matter
where you are—with new features that help you connect to the Internet and your corporate network
from remote locations. Choose separate default printers for your home ofce or business ofce. When
you’re ready for a break, use the improved Games Explorer to discover and play new games featuring
higher denition graphics with ner resolution.
Windows 7 makes it easier to move beyond the traditional mouse and keyboard and interact with your
PC using your ngers and multitouch gestures to control what happens on your screen.
Windows 7 for You:
Simplies Everyday Tasks
In Windows 7, we set out to streamline and simplify the things you do
every day—and you’ll nd you can get more done with a lot less effort. The
user interface is nimbler and more responsive, with navigation that gets
you where you want to go—fast. Connecting PCs and devices is easier.
Networks are simpler to discover and use. And through the combination
of Windows 7 and Windows Live, you can simplify your life online with
great programs, innovative Web services from Microsoft, and integration
with other popular online services.
Simple to Navigate
You’re probably already familiar with how to use and manage windows and don’t want to have to relearn
what you already know. So the new Windows 7 features that help you get to les, work with windows, and
manage your desktop, have been designed to be intuitive and familiar. These enhancements deliver great
new ways to help you get more done with less effort.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Windows Taskbar
The taskbar is one of the most familiar aspects of Windows. When you open les and programs, their
icons show up on the taskbar so you can switch between them. Previous versions of Windows, however,
automatically decide where on the taskbar to place each item, and the locations sometimes change with
new sessions.
In Windows 7, the taskbar puts what you want to do at your ngertips. You decide where each program
goes so you know precisely where to click. When you install a new program, its icon is temporarily placed
at the bottom of the Start menu so you can drag it to the taskbar for convenient access in the future.
You can pin frequently used programs to
the taskbar or even pin a specic document
to a program. For example, if you are work-
ing on a large document over the course of
a week, you might want to pin your word
processing program to the taskbar and the
document to that program. That way, you’ll
always have a fast way to launch the docu-
ment and continue working.
Pin frequently used programs
to the taskbar.
Simple to Navigate
You’ll see live taskbar thumb-
nails of each open window so
you can keep track of the les
and programs you’re using and
select them more easily. Rest
your cursor on the thumbnail,
and Aero Peek brings the full size
window into focus. You can also
close a window directly from the
thumbnail preview window.
Rest your cursor on a thumbnail
preview to see the open window.
28 29
When you have a large number of windows open for
a program, the open windows for that program are
displayed as a list. We’ve enhanced this list view by
adding the ability to peek at a highlighted window or
even close a window directly from the list.
Programs use the new taskbar to provide more infor-
mation in more intuitive ways. For example, you can see
progress bars on a taskbar icon, so that you can stay
aware of progress without keeping the window visible.
Windows Taskbar Shortcuts
Thumbnail overow list
supports closing windows.
+ T
Brings focus to the rst item in the taskbar. Press
again to cycle through each item.
+ # (1–9)
If a program in the 1–9 slot is running, the
keystroke will launch it. If it is running with one
window, the same keystroke will switch to that
window. If it is running with multiple windows,
the keystroke will cycle between each thumbnail
of the open windows for that program. Aero
Peek will help you nd the right window. (Note:
ALT+WinKey+# will open the corresponding
program’s Jump List)
SHIFT + click on taskbar icon
Launches a new instance of a program
Middle mouse button +
click on taskbar icon
SHIFT + CTRL +
click on taskbar icon
Middle mouse button +
Launches a new instance of a program in
elevated security mode
Closes the window
click on taskbar thumbnail
CTRL + click on a taskbar group Restores the last active window in the group.
Continued clicking will continue restoring the
successive windows in the group
Drag up from a taskbar icon Opens Jump List
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Jump Lists
Do you keep a lot of documents on the Windows desktop or in your Documents folder? If so, you know
how hard it can be to nd that one le you need. Jump Lists can help. These dynamic lists automati-
cally show you les based on how often and how recently you’ve done things, so you’ll spend less time
looking for your favorite song or that document you worked on yesterday. And when you’ve pinned an
item to a program for easy access, it’ll show up in your Jump List too.
There’s a Jump List for each program on your
Start menu and taskbar, making it simple to nd
the documents you’ve used recently or need quick
access to in the future. You can also easily get to
your Jump Lists by right clicking on a taskbar icon
or by clicking on a Start Menu arrow.
Some programs—such as Windows Media
Player—populate Jump Lists with common tasks.
For example, you’ll see the option to Play All Music
on the Jump List for Windows Media Player. On the
Jump List for Internet Explorer, you’ll see frequently
viewed and pinned Web sites. With some programs,
you’ll even have direct access to tasks that in the
past were available only from within the program,
such as composing a new e-mail message.
Jump Lists provide quick
access to common tasks.
Simple to Navigate
Sometimes you might want to open a certain le type with a program that isn’t its default program, like
using Wordpad instead of Microsoft Ofce Word. In this case, you can pin the le to the program you
want to use by dragging the item onto the program’s taskbar icon. Then, when you open the le from
the Jump List, you’ll automatically launch the newly associated program. For example, you can pin an
.HTML le to Notepad’s Jump List, and that le will always open when clicked from the menu—even
though Internet Explorer typically handles .HTML les by default.
30 31
Desktop Enhancements
One of the many benets of Windows is the ability to work with large numbers of documents and
programs at the same time. But have you ever had to wade through a dozen open windows to get to the
right document? Or had to minimize a number of windows to view a gadget on your desktop? Or do you
often line up two windows so that you can easily compare their contents?
With desktop enhancements in Windows 7, working with multiple windows on your desktop is easier than
ever. For instance, you can use Aero Peek to get a quick look at your desktop. Simply hover your cursor
over the far-right side of the taskbar and all your open windows will become transparent. You can also
peek at a specic window to see exactly where it is by either using the live thumbnail previews or by using
Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) to quickly cycle through running windows. Pausing on a thumbnail will bring
the highlighted window into full size view.
Place your cursor on the right side of
the taskbar to peek at your desktop.
Pause on a thumbnail using Windows
Flip to bring a window into focus.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Want to get all but one window out of the way? Try Aero Shake. Grab the top of that window and shake
it, and all the other windows on your screen will minimize to the taskbar. Shake the window again to
restore the windows to their original sizes.
You can also snap open windows to screen borders, so you’ll no longer have to click tiny objects in the
corner of a window to change the window size. Maximize a window by dragging its border to the top
of the screen. To return the window to its original size, drag the top of the window away from the top
of the screen. To expand a window vertically, drag its bottom border to the bottom of the screen.
Do you sometimes compare the contents of two different windows? That’s easy too. When you drag
the top of each window to opposite sides of the screen, as your cursor touches the edge, the window
will resize to ll that half of the screen.
Simple to Navigate
New Peek Shortcut
+ SPACEBAR (hold keys)
New Snap Shortcuts
+ ARROW
SHIFT +
+ ARROW
Snap allows for easy
resizing of windows.
Reveals the desktop
Cycles through window arrangements for a
window (for example: f snaps to left, g snaps to
right, and h maximizes window)
Moves the window to other displays
32 33
Windows Explorer
As you use your PC more and more, you may nd the number of les you have to manage getting larger.
Windows Explorer in Windows 7 give you a central place to view and organize all the les on your PC.
The new layout of Windows Explorer reduces clutter and makes better use of space, while an improved
navigation pane helps you nd and organize your les—even when those les are on other PCs in your
home network. In addition, it’s now simpler than ever to sort your les according to how you want to see
them with new arrangement options such as by author, subject, date created, le type, storage location,
or any other tag or property.
The new Windows Explorer also shows you rich le previews so you can peek at the contents of any
le. You’ll appreciate the
quick access to your favorite
locations, new buttons that
make it simpler to perform
common tasks, and the abil-
ity to sort les according to
your own criteria. Addition-
ally, Windows Explorer always
displays the parent folder
your le is in so it’s easier to
know where you are.
New Explorer Shortcut
ALT + P Show/Hide preview pane
File previews in Windows Explorer help
you nd the les you are looking for.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easier to Find Things
Windows 7 helps you search more efciently, regardless of whether what you’re looking for is on your PC,
on another PC running Windows 7, on your home network, or on the Web. The new Libraries feature and
Windows Search enhancements go hand-in-hand with improvements to the Aero Desktop and Windows
Explorer to make nding what you want a breeze.
Libraries
If you store a large number of les in different le folders or on several PCs or devices, you might nd
it hard to nd the exact le you’re looking for or manage all your les efciently. Libraries can help. At
their most fundamental level, Libraries are a way
to view les with common characteristics—even
if those les are located in different places. The
purpose of Libraries is to make it easier to view,
organize, manage, and search for les without
the hassle of organizing the les into specic
folders. Windows 7 automatically creates Librar-
ies for items such as documents, music, pictures,
and videos.
Easier to Find Things
The great thing about Libraries is that they
make the actual location of your les irrelevant.
Whether les are located in different folders on
your PC, on a different drive, or even a different
PC in your home network that Windows Search
has indexed, Libraries help you consolidate all
those les and their locations so you can browse
and search across them as if they were in one
location.
Windows 7 automatically
creates some Libraries.
Libraries help you search
multiple le locations.
34 35
You can even arrange and view the les in your Libraries by some of its metadata. For example the
“Month” and “Day” views in the Pictures Library group together the photos taken on the same date. And
the Videos Library features a way to arrange the les by length so you can separate the shorter clips from
the longer movies.
Libraries are automatically indexed by Windows Search so viewing and searching is fast. And because it’s
easier to get to all your items, you won’t end up keeping multiple copies of the same le in different folders.
Searching from the Start Menu
The Search box in the Start menu is a fast and easy access
point for all your programs, data, and PC settings. Just type
a few letters in the Search box, and you’ll be presented with
a list of matching programs, documents, pictures, music,
e-mail, and other les, all arranged by category. You can even
search for Control Panel tasks directly from the Start menu
to more quickly adjust PC settings. And because the Search
box in the Start menu also looks for les in your Libraries
and groups them accordingly, it’s easier to understand your
results within context.
Libraries help you browse and search across
folders even if they are on different PCs.
Search from the Start menu.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Improved Search Relevance
When searching for something, you probably want to nd it quickly without spending a lot of effort
wading through extraneous items. Windows 7 makes search results more relevant and easier to under-
stand. The search engine uses an improved algorithm to determine relevance and rank results. Within
your search results, words from the search query appear highlighted within snippets of le content, le
names, le paths, and tags so you can easily see why they were included in your results.
Easier to Find Things
Highlighted words help demonstrate
the relevance of search results.
It’s also simpler to specify where you want to search, whether it is in a specic folder on a hard disk
drive or in a Library. Searches initiated from the Start menu look at all the data in your Libraries, while
searches conducted from Windows Explorer look within the particular folder or Library that you’re
already browsing.
In addition, the Query Builder feature—found in the Search box in Windows Explorer—helps you
search smarter by presenting dynamic lter suggestions that help you narrow your results. The
Query Builder uses the properties and metadata of your documents to help you rene your search
results. For example, you can rene a search in your Documents Library by date modied or docu-
ment type you are looking for. The Search box also shows you a list of your recent searches in case
you want to run them again.
Federated Search
Most people don’t store all their les and content in one place. Instead, their information is scat-
tered across multiple PCs, external hard disk drives, servers, and Web sites. With Federated Search in
Windows 7, you can extend your search beyond your PC—and even beyond your Libraries—to nd
what you need. Just add a search connector to your favorite locations to Windows 7, and you can
search them as well.
Note: For more information, please see the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this document.
36 37
Easy to Browse the Web
As people spend more time online, their demands on the browser have increased. Since Microsoft
delivered Internet Explorer 7, millions of people around the world have taken advantage of its tabbed
browsing, the built-in search box, and other features to improve their Web browsing experience. Internet
Explorer 8 takes these features a step further to help meet your browsing expectations.
Instant and Visual Search
We’ve improved the Search box in Internet Explorer 8 so that search providers can deliver rich, contex-
tual search suggestions in real time. As you type a search term, you’ll see relevant suggestions that can
be categorized and may even include
images. For instance, you might nd
images of products from your favor-
ite store as you search, or stock charts
from your online brokerage account
in the Search Box drop-down list.
Internet Explorer 8 provides the tech-
nology, but the choice of what to
show is made by the search provider.
Popular sites such as Bing, Wikipedia,
Amazon.com, The New York Times
online, Yahoo!, eBay, OneRiot, ESPN,
Photobucket, and TinyPic are all taking
advantage of the new search capabili-
ties in Internet Explorer 8. In addition,
because people often use Search to
get back to sites that they’ve visited
before, Internet Explorer 8 includes matches from your Favorites and History in the bottom of the
Search Box drop-down list.
Search providers can provide images
within contextual suggestions.
The enhanced Instant Search box in Internet Explorer 8 is more helpful than before, making it easier to
nd interesting content and returning more relevant search results. As you type a search term, you’ll
see real-time search suggestions—including images and rich text—from the search provider you’ve
chosen. The Instant Search box will even display results from your Favorites and browsing history. A
quick pick menu at the bottom of the Instant Search box lets you switch back and forth between your
favorite Web sites and search provider ’s search suggestions with a click of the mouse.
Web Slices
E-mail, weather, sports scores, stock
quotes, or auction item status—there are
Web sites we visit multiple times during
the day to get updates. Web Slices in
Internet Explorer 8 make it simple to
access this information without having to
navigate to the Web site again and again.
Web site owners can now mark parts of
their pages as Web Slices. See something
you want to track? Just click on the Web
Slice icon that appears next a block of
content when you pause on it, and you’ll
get the option to add it to your Favorites
Bar. Alternatively, you can click Get More
Add-ons to add Web Slices.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Browse the Web
Web Slice showing trafc.
Accelerators
Do you spend a lot of time copying information from one Web page, pasting it into another,
viewing the results—and then returning to the original page to pick up where you left off? With
Internet Explorer 8, you won’t have to do this any longer; Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 make
the process of accessing online services easy. Just select some text and right-click to select an
Accelerator and get the results instantly.
For example, let’s say you’ve just read a review of a great new restaurant and want to see its loca-
tion. In the past, you would have had to copy the address, navigate to a mapping ser vice, and
paste the address into the address eld. With the Accelerator called Map with Bing, you can high-
light the address and then see your map overlaid on the page you’re currently on.
Internet Explorer 8 includes a number
of useful Accelerators from Microsoft
that cover search, mapping, word
denitions, translation, blogging and
e-mail. But you can easily nd and
use Accelerators from other providers
too using the Find More Accelerators
option on the Accelerators menu. For
example, eBay, Yahoo!, Facebook,
ESPN, Photobucket, and TinyPic all
offer Accelerators that make it easier
for you to interact with their Web sites
and services.
Map with Bing Accelerator overlays a
map based on the highlighted address.
38 39
Smart Address Bar
If you use Internet Explorer 7, you know that the Address Bar presents matching Web addresses from
your history as you type. However, you have to type the same beginning of the Web address to display
the same results—and there’s no way
to delete an entry if you’ve mistyped
it. In Internet Explorer 8, the Smart
Address Bar makes navigation easier
by providing matches from your
History, Favorites, and Really Simple
Syndication (RSS) Feeds as you type,
and it searches against all parts of the
Web address—and the titles for those
Web pages too. You can also now
delete unwanted entries, whether it’s
a mistyped address or a site that you
know you won’t visit again and don’t
want appearing in search results.
Smart Address Bar provides matching Web
addresses from your history as you type.
The Find on this Page Toolbar
The Find dialog box in Internet Explorer 7 helps you locate specic content on a Web page, but it can
sometimes obscure the page itself. In Internet Explorer 8, we’ve changed the dialog box into a toolbar so
that it doesn’t hide any of the content on the page. This toolbar is also linked to the Internet Explorer 8
Search box, so you can rst nd a specic Web page and then nd the desired text on the page.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Connect PCs and Manage Devices
Easy to Connect PCs and Manage Devices
More than half of all U.S. households have more than one PC. If you live in one of those households,
you may have experienced trouble setting up a network or found that the PCs in your home don’t work
together as well as they could. Even when your PCs are successfully networked together, sharing content
and devices such as printers doesn’t happen automatically. Windows 7 makes it much easier to connect
the technology in your home, and to share media, folders, les, and printers among connected devices.
HomeGroup
Do you have multiple PCs in your home but only one printer? If you’re like most people, when you need
to print a le from your laptop in the bedroom to the printer in the den, you probably e-mail the le from
one PC to another or transfer it on a USB drive. And if you need to nd a le but don’t know which PC
it’s stored on, it can take hours to search each one.
HomeGroup, a new feature in Windows 7,
makes it easy to share your les and print-
ers with other Windows 7 PCs in your home.
Connecting these PCs is a painless process
because they identify each other automati-
cally when they’re on the same network. If
a homegroup is available on your home
network, you can join it by entering your
homegroup password. If no homegroup
exists, you can easily create one.
Joining a homegroup is easy.
40 41
After you’ve created your homegroup, accessing and sharing les among the various PCs—or other
devices—in your home is like having all your data on a single hard disk drive. For example, you might
have digital photos stored on a PC in your den. With HomeGroup, you can easily access those photos
from a laptop or any other PC in the home-
group from anywhere in your home. Similarly,
if there’s a printer connected to a PC in your
homegroup, the printer is set up automatically
on PCs that join the homegroup. In addition,
with HomeGroup, you can specify exactly
what you want to share so you can choose to
keep private things private.
HomeGroup also works for PCs that are
connected to a work domain. When your
domain-joined work PC is joined to a home-
group, you automatically have access to your
Homegroup gives you control over
what to share with other PCs.
shared home printer and any content shared
with the homegroup. However, for a domain-joined PC, HomeGroup le sharing is turned off by default,
and IT professionals can use Group Policy to stop employees from joining a homegroup. (See “Group
Policy Improvements in the IT Professionals” section for more information.)
Devices in a homegroup can
share les and printers.
Small businesses that do not have a server can also use HomeGroup to easily share documents and
printers across multiple PCs running Windows 7.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Connect PCs and Manage Devices
Windows Connect Now
The rst step in sharing information between PCs is to connect them to a network. Windows Connect
Now is a feature of Windows 7 that makes it fast and easy to set up your home or ofce network and
connect additional PCs.
In the past, it’s been difcult to get a new network up and running. Now, all you have to do is turn on a
router that has the Compatible with Windows 7 logo and click “Connect.” Windows Connect Now walks
you through all the steps—including naming your network and setting security levels. Within minutes
you will have a highly secure wireless network setup to protect your family and personal information.
When it comes time to add new PCs to your new network, you don’t even have to remember the
network security key. Windows 7 automatically detects your network and prompts you to use the Wi-Fi
Protected Setup push button on your router. The router then applies your network and security settings
to any additional PCs you are connecting.
Windows Connect Now
42 43
The Devices and Printers Folder
The Devices and Printers folder is a single location where you can access and interact with all your
devices. When Windows 7 detects a device it automatically downloads and installs any required drivers.
After your device has been installed, it
will appear in the Devices and Printers
folder with a photo-realistic icon. From
there you can access any task you want
to perform, such as customizing your
mouse or webcam settings. In addition,
your multifunction devices will appear
just as they do on your desk—as a
single, unied device instead of multiple
separate devices. With Windows 7 you
won’t have to go to different places to
manage different parts of the device for
things like printing and scanning.
Windows 7 makes it simple to add your
networked and wireless devices— such
as printers, keyboards, and digital picture frames. Using
the Add a Device wizard you can connect to network,
Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth (Windows 7 supports Bluetooth
2.1) devices. For Wi-Fi devices that feature the Compat-
ible with Windows 7 logo, simply launch the Add a
Device wizard to so your computer can detect your new
device. Windows 7 will congure the device to connect
to your wireless network. After your device is connected,
Windows 7 will download and install any necessary
device drivers so that you can use it right away.
Devices and Printers provides a
consolidated view of all your devices.
The Add a Device wizard helps you easily
add networked and wireless devices.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Connect PCs and Manage Devices
Device Stage
Do you have a lot of digital devices like phones, music players, or digital cameras? Device Stage helps
you manage all of your devices more efciently by showing you the status of each and displaying the
common things you can do with them in a single familiar window. When you connect portable devices
such as digital cameras and cell phones to your PC, you’ll see a photo realistic image right on the taskbar.
From there, you can easily launch the Device
Stage for that device or quickly access tasks
for the device with a right-click of your
mouse. For example, you can use Device
Stage to synchronize important data and
media between Windows 7 and cell phones
or portable media players. You can add or
create ringtones for your mobile phone or
even see how much remaining storage is
available on your digital camera.
Each Device Stage window has the same
structure—according to device—but the
device manufacturer may create custom-
ized content for those windows. Any time
your devices are updated, you’ll automati-
cally see those updates in Device Stage.
Device Stage supports PCs too. If a desktop or laptop PC maker chooses to create content for device
stage, you’ll see your PC in the Device Stage screen. Just double-click a PC icon in the Devices and Print-
ers folder, and you can use Device Stage to help manage it.
Device stage shows you the status
of your devices and the common
things you can do with them.
Monitor Support
LCD monitors are becoming more popular because of their slim size, crisp text, and superior graphics
capabilities. However, you might not be getting all the benets from your LCD monitor that you could.
Windows 7 improves support for monitors—especially LCD displays—to help you get the most out of
them. You can adjust the size of text, optimize its clarity, and color-calibrate your monitor. And if you have
a laptop, you can more easily take advantage of external displays.
44 45
Improved Support for External Displays
If you have a laptop, you may want to connect it to an external display to watch a movie at home or
give a presentation at work. Windows 7 makes it easier to connect to external displays because all of the
common display-related features are gathered in one place, under Display in Control Panel. You can use
the Windows key + P shortcut to toggle between your laptop screen and an external display.
Support for external displays
New Projection Shortcut
+ P
Shows projection options
Display Color Calibration
Ever notice that colors vary on different devices, monitors, or when printed? Display Color Calibration
in Windows 7 helps you adjust your display to be as close as possible to the computer industry (sRGB)
standard color representation so that colors will appear the same on different screens. It guides you
through a simple series of adjustments using your display’s front-panel controls, on-screen controls, and
easy-to-use visual calibration targets.
High DPI Support
Microsoft research shows that only half of the people who use Windows have their displays set to the
native resolution, with many people decreasing the resolution of their displays because they can’t read
the small text of the higher resolution. Unfortunately, doing this can make text and parts of the user
interface appear fuzzy, and it prevents you from
viewing digital photos or high-denition video at
full delity. If you have the right hardware and
display drivers, Windows 7 will automatically
select the optimal display resolution for your
monitor. And if you want to, you can make your
text more readable by choosing to display it at
125 percent or 150 percent of its normal size.
Make text larger and more readable
with the Control Panel.
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Communicate and Share
Easy to Communicate and Share
With Windows 7 and Windows Live Essentials, your PC will help you stay connected to the people and
things you care about and do it safely. Windows Live Essentials is a free suite of programs for e-mail,
photos, instant messaging, and more. It can be downloaded from the Web and, for some new PCs,
comes pre-installed. Windows Live Essentials includes the following programs:
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Mail is a great program for accessing Windows Live Hotmail®, Windows Live Calendar, and
Windows Live Contacts—and you can even access previously synchronized e-mail, calendar, and contact
information when you’re ofine. POP and IMAP support makes it easy to access and manage third-
party e-mail services such as
Yahoo!*, Gmail, and AOL. And,
with built-in photo mail, you can
send photos to friends without
overloading their Inboxes with
large attachments. Instead,
they’ll receive light, embed-
ded thumbnail images, along
with links to easily download
the full-resolution versions or
to see the images played as a
slideshow.
Note: POP access is available only with
Yahoo!Plus, not with free Yahoo! e-mail
accounts.
Windows Live Mail
46 47
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger makes it effortless to connect to your favorite people or groups, chat via IM,
video or voice, play games, share photos and monitor what’s new with your circle of friends. The latest
release of Messenger doesn’t just feature a brand new look and feel—it’s also designed so that you can
personalize nearly everything. For instance, you can change your prole picture, background scene, and
status messages whenever you like, create a
dynamic avatar, and record a short video. You
can even designate your own signature sound
that contacts hear when you start a conversa-
tion and assign unique sounds to the people
in your contact list. For more fun, create
multiple display pictures, or moods, and alter
what your contacts see by the emoticons you
use in your conversations. And in response to
one of the most common customer requests,
you can now more safely include hyperlinks in
your personal status message.
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Movie Maker
Are you looking for a better way to share and show off your videos and snapshots? Windows Live
Movie Maker makes it fast and easy to make great-looking movies and slideshows from your videos and
photos. It’s simple to import standard or high denition video and photos, and have AutoMovie add
animations, music, and
a title in minutes. Then
just burn your movie to a
DVD* or upload it directly
to YouTube to share.
*DVD burning capability is
available for these editions of
Windows 7: Home Premium,
Professional, Enterprise, and
Ultimate.
Windows Live Movie Maker
Windows 7 for You: Simplies Everyday Tasks
Easy to Communicate and Share
Windows Live Photo Gallery
After you import photos to your PC running Windows 7, use Windows Live Photo Gallery to edit, organize,
and publish them to the Web. You can even tag photos in Photo Gallery so that you can easily nd them
later. Windows Live Photo Gallery not only incorporates a revolutionary face-detection technology that
helps make people-tagging simple,
but it also offers photo-stitching, a
feature that lets you build panoramic
views from a collection of photos. With
Windows Live Photo Galler y, you can
publish to Windows Live Photos and
other popular photo-sharing services,
and you can order prints directly from
thousands of print services partners
around the world.
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Writer
Windows Live Writer, a blogging program, gives you the tools you need to blog on Windows Live Spaces
in addition to other popular blogging services such as Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, and
Community Server. Now you can create, preview, and publish content within a familiar interface based
on Windows. Windows Live Writer isn’t just for hardcore bloggers. It’s also a great storytelling tool that’s
easy for anyone to use. With Windows Live Writer, creating and formatting blog entries is a lot like using
Microsoft Word, but with features that are specic to blogging. You can also arrange and edit images
within a blog entry and add videos from YouTube.
Windows Live Family Safety
Windows Live Family Safety can help you protect your children when they’re online. For more details,
please see the “Parental Controls” section of this document.
Windows Live Toolbar
Windows Live Toolbar gives you at-a-glance summaries and access to the people and information you
care about. Plus, you get quick access to other Windows Live services, such as Windows Live Mail and
Windows Live Calendar, so you can easily share stuff you nd on the Web.
Note: For additional information on Windows Live, please see the Windows Live Wave 3 Reviewers Guide.
48 49
Windows 7 for You:
Works the Way You Want
More than anything else, you’ve told us that you care about the basics.
No one has the time to deal with PCs that aren’t snappy and responsive
or fall short of expected performance—like taking too long to wake up
from sleep. And we’d all like to feel more secure, online and off.
In other words, everything should just work—and work the way you want
it to. Windows 7 takes the improvements we made in Windows Vista
and extends them. And that means you’ll get an operating system that is
designed to start quickly, be more secure, and take advantage of powerful
new hardware.
Speed, Reliability, and Responsiveness
Many of the improvements of Windows 7 are things you’ll never see because they happen under the
hood, so to speak. You’ll likely notice a difference though. For example, there’s less background activity
now, and system services are started only when they’re needed. We’ve also designed Windows 7 to be
more reliable so you’ll experience fewer interruptions, and you can recover more quickly from problems
when they do occur because Windows 7 will help you x them.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Speed, Reliability, and Responsiveness
Start, Shutdown, and Resume
Windows 7 is ready when you are. It’s designed to start, hibernate, and shut down faster than Windows
Vista. We also focused on ways to resume from sleep more quickly and reliably. And because resuming
from sleep is much faster than rebooting your PC, you can use sleep when you really need your PC to
come to life quickly.
Search and Indexing
When looking for information, you want answers, not delays. Search and indexing are both much faster
now, because Windows 7 includes all the performance improvements from Windows Search 4.0, a
Windows technology that indexes all the les on your PC, as well as several other signicant new perfor-
mance optimizations. Sorting and grouping of search results are signicantly faster too. (See pages 34–37
for a more detailed discussion of improvements to Windows Search.)
ReadyBoost
PCs that are low on memor y frequently swap data to disk, which can make performance lag. With
Microsoft ReadyBoost™ technology, which we introduced in Windows Vista, you can use a ash memory
device to cache frequently used data, which in turn makes your PC more responsive. With ReadyBoost in
Windows 7, you can use multiple ash devices—such as USB keys, Secure Digital cards, and internal ash
devices—at the same time.
Improved Memory Utilization
We’ve worked hard to reduce overall memory requirements in Windows 7. For example, hundreds of
runtime components now use less memory, while the core memory needs are smaller when the computer
is idle. Windows 7 can reduce the memory requirements for each open window by up to 50 percent. In
addition, we’ve introduced trigger start services, an innovative feature that launches system services only
when they’re needed and reduces the number of programs competing for system memory.
Solid State Drives
Solid-state drives (SSDs), an alternative to traditional hard disk drives, are becoming more popular. This
popularity is partially due to the fact that SSDs are typically faster than conventional hard disk drives. We
designed Windows 7 to work well with SSDs so you’ll have a chance to experience improved PC perfor-
mance, more consistent responsiveness, increased battery life, superior ruggedness, quicker startup
times, and reductions in noise and vibrations. Features such as disk defragmentation, Microsoft Super-
Fetch™ memory management technology, and ReadyBoost (described above) are designed to improve
system responsiveness and performance when data is being retrieved from traditional hard disk drives. In
Windows 7, these features respond to a computer’s conguration and automatically turn themselves off
for the newer, faster SSDs, where they are not necessary, which helps free up system memory.
50 51
Windows Experience Index
The Windows Experience Index measures the capabilities of your PC’s hardware and software, and
expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. A higher base score generally means that
your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score.
In Windows 7, the Windows Experience Index has been updated to reect advances in processor, graph-
ics, and hard disk technology. Maximum scores should generally be the same or higher for a computer
system after upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7.
Battery Life and Notications
We all know what it’s like to run out of power at a critical moment. That’s why we designed Windows 7
to extend the battery life for your mobile PC. Power-saving enhancements include increased idle time
for the processor, automatic dimming of the display, and more power-efcient playback for DVDs. We’ve
also made battery life notications more prominent and accurate, so you know exactly how much power
you’ve used and how much battery time you have left.
Idle Processing
When your PC is idle, it uses less power. Windows 7 reduces background activities and supports the trig-
ger-starting of system services, so your PC’s processor can be in an idle state for longer periods of time.
Adaptive Display Brightness
The display on a typical mobile PC consumes more battery power than any other part of the PC. Windows
7 automatically reduces display brightness if you are inactive for a period time, much like cell phones
do today. Windows 7 also adapts to your activity intelligently. For example, if the screen dims after 30
seconds and you immediately move the mouse to brighten the display, Windows 7 will wait 60 seconds
before dimming the display again.
Adaptive display before and after
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Speed, Reliability, and Responsiveness
Power-Saving DVD Playback
With Windows 7, your PC will use less power when playing a DVD. Windows 7 requires less processing
power than previous versions of Windows and is more efcient when it spins discs.
Wake on Wireless LAN
Having your PC go into Sleep state when idle is a good way to conserve power. But what if you need to
access your PC remotely? In Windows Vista, you can wake another PC in Sleep state only if it has a wired
network connection. In Windows 7, you can use the Wake on Wireless LAN feature to wake the PC over a
wireless network connection. Let’s say you’re using your laptop in the bedroom and want to see a photo
on the PC in the kitchen. Because both are connected to your home network, it doesn’t matter if the
kitchen PC is in Sleep state, because you can use Wake on Wireless LAN and view the photo. Similarly,
the IT administrator in your company can wake up wirelessly connected PCs to apply software updates
or perform other maintenance—and save on power costs too.
Smart Network Power
Your mobile PC may send energy to parts of your computer even when they’re not being used—such
as sending power to the network adapter when you don’t have an Ethernet cable plugged in. Windows
7 automatically turns off power to the network adapter (subject to adapters and drivers supporting this
feature) when the cable is disconnected and restores power when the cable is connected. IT professionals
can take advantage of this feature to reduce power costs.
Power Efciency Diagnostics
In Windows 7, we’ve updated the power conguration utility to detect problems with devices, policies,
rmware, system settings, programs, and other common items where settings can reduce power ef-
ciency. The information is presented in an easy-to-understand report. Although we designed this feature
primarily for developers and system integrators, it may also be useful to the tech-savvy.
52 53
64-Bit Computing Support
If you’ve gone PC shopping lately, you’ve probably noticed more computers with 64-bit processors and
wondered what advantages they offer. Put simply, a 64-bit PC can handle larger amounts of information
than traditional 32-bit systems. Because it can use more RAM (4 GB and up) a 64-bit PC can be faster
and more responsive depending on the workload. If you tend to have a lot of programs open simultane-
ously, need to switch frequently between programs, or are an avid gamer, a 64-bit PC is a great choice.
Windows 7 fully supports 64-bit PCs.
DirectX 11: DirectCompute
For PCs that have a graphics card that supports the Microsoft DirectX® 11 application programming
interface, DirectCompute-enabled applications will perform faster on your Windows 7-based PC. For
instance, certain applications that convert a digital media le to a different size or format will do that
conversion (called transcoding) faster. So you’ll spend less time moving your home movies from a PC with
Windows 7 to a portable playback device. DirectCompute boosts PC performance by taking on some or
all of the application’s processing load, freeing up the computer’s main processor to perform additional
tasks. If your PC has a graphics card that supports DirectCompute, look for applications specically built
for DirectX 11. (Also see Direct X: Direct3D 11 in the “Media the Way You Want It” section.)
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
More Secure
Whether your hard disk drive contains irreplaceable family photos or the nancial data critical to your business,
the information on your PC is valuable. Viruses, spyware and other unwanted software, root kits, and phishing
scams pose a constant risk today. In Windows Vista, we created multiple layers of defense to help protect you
against online and ofine threats. Windows 7 builds on this foundation of security with new and improved
features. In addition, we’ve created new ways to protect your data and help safeguard against loss, theft, or
accidental erasure due to hardware failures. Windows 7 even provides new ways to securely store data and
les on removable USB storage devices making them less risky for transporting and sharing data.
User Account Control
More Secure
The User Account Control (UAC) feature we introduced in Windows Vista has been successful at reducing
the incidence of malware infection, with Windows Vista customers experiencing 60 percent fewer malware
infections than users of Windows XP with SP2. However, we’ve heard your call for better control of how
often a UAC prompt launches a notication window. In Windows 7, you won’t see as many prompts
because fewer operating system programs and tasks require elevation. And if you have administrative
privileges, you can adjust what
you are prompted for. In order
to help ensure your security, the
UAC control panel runs in a high
integrity process. Any change to
the level of the UAC will prompt
for conrmation.
User Account Control settings let you
adjust when you’ll receive notications.
54 55
Parental Controls
If you’re a parent, Windows 7 Parental Controls can give you greater peace of mind and condence in
your ability to manage what your kids can do on the PC. You can specify which PC games your children
can play and which programs they can use. You can even specify the times when your child is allowed to
use the PC.
Windows Live Family Safety is a free download that works with Windows 7 and gives you tools to manage
and monitor what your children do on the Web. For example, Web ltering and contact management help
you manage who your chil-
dren can talk to on Windows
Live Hotmail, Messenger and
Spaces. When you customize
the settings for each of your
children, you’ll even get an
activity report that informs
you how your children have
been using the PC and what
Web sites they have visited.
And with the ability to view
reports or modify settings
remotely, you can keep tabs
on your kids no matter where
you are.
Parental controls help you manage what
your children can do on your PC.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Internet Explorer Security
The Web can be a dangerous place, with sites that attempt to download malicious code, trick you
into divulging personal information, or track your actions without your knowledge or consent. Internet
Explorer 8 improves your defense against security and privacy threats, and includes the ability to help
identify malicious sites and block the download of malicious software.
SmartScreen Filter
Microsoft SmartScreen® lter in Internet Explorer 8 boosts the anti-phishing protection found in Inter-
net Explorer 7 by more closely examining the entire Web address and comparing it to a continually
updated reputation database. If SmartScreen is active, the browser checks with the centrally hosted
reputation service on the Web to help ensure that the site isn’t a known phishing or malware hosting
site. It also noties you if you’ve navigated to a site that is known to distribute malicious software or has
attempted to download les that others have reported as unsafe.
More Secure
SmartScreen lter noties you of
unsafe sites and downloads.
56 57
Cross-Site Scripting Filter
You could do everything right with respect to security—such as always installing the latest security
updates—yet still remain vulnerable to some types of security threats. For example, cross-site scripting
attacks are a leading threat against Web sites and can be used to steal cookies or other data, deface
pages, steal credentials, or launch more exotic attacks. Cross-scripting is not a browser vulnerability in
itself, but Internet Explorer 8 includes a Cross-Site Scripting lter that runs silently in the background to
help detect type-1 cross-site scripting attacks. If an attack is detected, the lter sanitizes the script to
prevent it from doing harm.
Domain Name Highlighting
Phishing sites frequently use part of a legitimate domain name in a Web address to trick people into
thinking they are on a trusted, familiar Web site. Internet Explorer 8 highlights the domain name portion
of the Web address in the Address bar in bold text, making it easier for you to tell which site you’re on
and helping you identify phishing sites and other deceptive sites.
Domain Name Highlighting helps
you see what site you are on.
InPrivate Browsing
There may be times when you’re not comfortable leaving traces of your Web browsing on a PC, such
as when you’re researching health information during your lunch break at work or checking e-mail on
a friend’s PC. InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps protect your data and privacy by prevent-
ing your browsing history, temporary Internet les, form data, cookies, and usernames/passwords from
being stored by the browser.
InPrivate Browsing
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
InPrivate Filtering
You probably know that the Web sites you visit can track your activity, but you may not be fully aware of
the degree to which additional Web sites and content providers can track you as well. Most Web sites
today are mosaics of content that come from many different sites. As a result, the sites you visit often pull
in content from third-party sites, which can track your activity even though you’re not aware of it. There
are many security risks inherent in this model—you can be exposed to potentially malicious content from
every third-party site that is referenced.
InPrivate Filtering in Internet Explorer 8 is designed
to protect your privacy by helping prevent infor-
mation about the Web sites that you visit from
automatically being shared with other sites. It works
by observing the Web sites you visit and building a
table of the unique calls for third-party content or
objects that are observed for each unique domain.
When InPrivate Filtering is active, it blocks third-
party content based on the default threshold of 10
unique such observances.
More Secure
InPrivate Filtering is designed
to protect your privacy.
Data Execution Prevention
Some Internet-based threats—such as a virus disguised as a picture—exploit certain types of memory-
related vulnerabilities. Data Execution Prevention helps prevent code that resides in memory space
marked as nonexecutable from running. This security feature works silently in the background, helping to
protect against viruses and malware being installed on your PC without your knowledge.
Tab Isolation and Crash Recovery
Have you ever been in the middle of lling out a long form on a Web site when the browser crashed, forc-
ing you to start over? In Internet Explorer 8, if a tab does crash, it is automatically restored and reloaded,
and any information you may have already entered on the page (such as writing an e-mail or lling out
a form) is restored. Similarly, if the entire browser crashes or closes unexpectedly, Internet Explorer 8
restores the entire session (including all tabs).
58 59
Windows Filtering Platform
The Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) architecture in Windows 7 helps software companies create
rewalls, antivirus software, and other types of applications and services that work with Windows. For
example, third-party developers can use the WFP to create a product that selectively turns parts of the
Windows Firewall on or off, which allows you to choose which software rewall you want to use and have
it coexist with Windows Firewall. As a result, you’ll have a wide range of choices for security software, yet
know that they will work with your PC running Windows 7.
BitLocker
Each year, hundreds of thousands of PCs
are retired, lost, or stolen. BitLocker, which
was rst introduced in Windows Vista, gives
you a way to encrypt your hard disk drive
to better protect data in case your laptop is
stolen or lost. In Windows 7, we’ve improved
BitLocker in many ways. For instance, you can
now right-click a drive to enable BitLocker
protection. In addition, you no longer need
to repartition your hard disk drive, because
BitLocker automatically creates the neces-
sary hidden boot partition. It’s also easier to
recover your data with Data Recovery Agent
(DRA) support for all protected volumes.
Note: For more information on this feature, please
see the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of
this document.
BitLocker helps you protect
the data on your PC.
BitLocker To Go
There are numerous ways you can lose your data without losing your PC, especially if you use USB
ash drives and other personal storage devices. For example, you might want to take your household
budget to a meeting with your nancial advisor or transport some
work to a PC in your home using a removable storage device.
BitLocker To Go extends support for BitLocker drive encryption
to USB removable storage devices, such as ash memory drives
and portable hard disk drives, helping protect the data on those
devices if they’re lost or stolen. When you use BitLocker to Go,
your data will be protected with a password, helping to ensure
that only authorized people can access it. In addition, you can
view the information on a device using BitLocker To Go with a PC
running Windows XP or Windows Vista.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see
the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this document.
BitLocker To Go encrypts removable
storage devices.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Backup and Restore
Even the most reliable PC can be subject to a hardware failure, and even the most careful person can
delete a le by mistake. When these things happen, it’s important to have a recent backup of impor-
tant data—yet many people forget to back up their PCs
regularly. Windows 7 helps streamline the backup process.
Now you can congure backup settings in three quick
clicks, capturing all your personal les and, if you want,
your system les too. You can easily schedule regular
backups, so you won’t have to remember to do it manu-
ally. Choose to back up everything or just specic les,
and then choose from a number of advanced backup
options, such as backing up les to a network location and
performing system backups to DVD.
Windows 7 also improves the restore experience, so you
can restore individual les, selected folders, or all of your
personal les. You can even re-image or restore your
entire PC from a recent backup if your hard disk drive fails
or your PC becomes infected with a virus.
Backup and restore
More Secure
System Restore
If your PC isn’t working properly, you may want to return to a previous conguration—back to a time when
it was running well. However, you still want to retain all of the new data and changes to existing les that
you’ve made since then. Introduced in Windows XP, System Restore provides a nondestructive way to return
your PC to the way it was at a previous point in time, without deleting any of your personal les.
With Windows 7, System Restore is more reliable, predictable, and effective. You’ll see a list of programs
that will be removed or added, providing you with more information on which restore point to choose.
System restore points are also available in your backups, giving you more restore points to choose over
a longer period of time.
60 61
Compatible With You
A cluttered Windows desktop is like a cluttered desk—it can make it harder to focus on the task at hand.
When you start using Windows 7, you’ll immediately notice its clean and uncluttered appearance. For
example, the Notication Area in the lower-right corner displays only four icons by default. New icons don’t
appear automatically when you install programs. Instead, you control what gets placed where, so your
desktop stays clean and reects your personal preferences. Of course, you may want to change the desktop
and add or delete gadgets and desktop themes. With Windows 7, you’ll nd more options than ever.
Aero Themes and Aero Background
Windows 7 comes with many new themes, so you’ll have more options for making your PC reect your
personal taste. Each theme includes rich backgrounds, glass colors, and a unique sound scheme. You
can download new themes, create
your own unique themes, and share
your themes with friends and family.
And within any theme, you’ll have
16 glass color options to choose
from instead of the eight options
that are included with Windows
Vista. Windows 7 also includes some
themes that are customized for
specic regions of the world.
Note: For more information, please see the
“Global and Cultural Relevance” section later
in this document.)
Windows 7 includes numerous
personalization options
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Ever wanted to turn your desktop background into a photo slideshow? Then you’ll love Aero Background,
the new feature in Windows 7 that lets you choose photos from your PC and display them as your desk-
top background.
Desktop samples
Compatible With You
Gadgets
Windows 7 improves the Gadget feature rst found in Windows Vista by making gadgets easy to posi-
tion anywhere on the desktop and simple to resize. If you like to keep your gadgets at the edges of your
screen where they have traditionally resided, they’ll snap right into place as if they were magnets.
Place gadgets where you want them.
62 63
Global and Cultural Relevance
Windows 7 offers many desktop themes tailored to different regions and languages, with special wall-
papers, sounds, and Aero Glass colors to provide a more locally relevant experience. In addition,
Internet Explorer favorites and RSS feeds automatically show you locally relevant content, so you feel
right at home.
Regional options, such as currency and date format, are set automatically based on the location you
choose, and your preferences help shape your experience with the programs on your desktop. Also,
multilingual browsing no longer requires font installation or setting updates.
Windows 7 supports text display and fonts for more languages too. And fonts are now classied by the
languages you’ve enabled for your keyboard. When you want to switch the font in a document, you’ll
see only fonts that are relevant to the particular language or languages you use. If you use multiple
languages at home or at work, you’ll appreciate the multilingual capabilities in Windows 7. Download
the language packs and you can change the display language on your PC to view wizards, dialog boxes,
menus, Help topics, and other items in Windows in whichever language you choose. IT professionals can
congure a single disk image that supports multiple languages.
Windows XP Mode
Do you want all the benets of the latest PCs but still need to run older business and productivity programs?
Windows 7 will run many Windows XP programs with no problem. But for those programs that require
a PC running Windows XP, small and medium-sized business customers can use Windows XP Mode.*
Windows XP Mode is a virtual Windows XP environment that works on Windows 7 using a virtualization
technology, such as Windows Virtual PC. Once installed, you can set up Windows XP Mode with just a few
clicks and install your programs
within the virtual Windows XP
environment. You’ll be able to
open your programs right from
your Windows 7 desktop and
access printers and other USB
devices just like you always do.
To use Windows XP Mode, your
PC will need to support proces-
sor-based virtualization.
Windows XP Mode runs older
programs designed for Windows XP.
*Windows XP Mode requires either OEM pre-installation or post-purchase installation of Windows XP Mode (which runs on Windows
7 Professional or Ultimate) and a virtualization technology, such as Windows Virtual PC. You can download both Windows XP Mode
and Windows Virtual PC by visiting: www.microsoft.com/windows/xpmode.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Access Your Windows 7-based PC’s Network Connections
You can still access the Internet when you’re working in Windows XP Mode because the network connec-
tions of your Windows 7-based PC are always accessible. In addition, you can also connect your virtual
machine to your company network.
Share Files and Folders
The Clipboard is shared between physical and virtual machines, so you can copy and paste any infor-
mation you want between Windows XP and Windows 7 programs. And because your Windows 7 My
Documents folder appears on your virtual Windows XP desktop, you’ll always have easy access to any
les you need.
Access USB Devices
When you’re in Windows XP Mode, you can still use the external USB devices attached to your PC
running Windows 7. You can also easily access the host CD drive, and print on a local or network printer
from within your applications for Windows XP.
Compatible With You
If a USB device does not appear in the My Computer window, it’s easy to make it available. Just navigate
to the USB drop-down menu that appears either in the upper-left hand corner of the Windows XP desk-
top window (Desktop Mode), or at the top of the desktop (Full-Screen Desktop Mode). Click the device’s
name to use it on the virtual machine. When you’re done, click it once more.
Loading an application from a USB
device in Windows XP Mode.
64 65
Better Troubleshooting and Problem Solving
We created Windows 7 to help give you a trouble-free computing experience. But if problems do arise,
Windows 7 noties you in more intelligent ways and makes resolution easier and faster. When something
in Windows 7 needs your attention, you’ll have one place to go, with troubleshooters that help solve
many common problems.
Action Center
In previous versions, Windows noties you that something needs attention on your PC by using pop-ups
or other messages. These messages are helpful if the problem requires immediate attention, but they can
be very distracting if the problem isn’t urgent.
Windows 7 not only helps you
solve more problems, but it also
helps you solve them on your
own schedule. The Action Center,
a new, integrated Control Panel
experience, is the central place
for all tasks and notications
associated with keeping your
PC running safely and smoothly.
It makes it easier for you to x
problems yourself by providing a
new streamlined way to address
notications and manage PC
issues, including conguring the
User Account Control.
Action Center centralizes all tasks
and notications associated with
keeping your PC running smoothly.
You’ll see fewer notications on your desktop because the Action
Center consolidates alerts from 10 existing Windows features,
including Security Center, Problem Reports and Solutions, Windows
Defender, Windows Update, Diagnostics, Network Access Protection,
Backup and Restore, Recovery, and User Account Control. When
Windows 7 needs your attention, you’ll see a new icon in the notica-
tion area. To nd out more, click the icon to launch a menu that gives
you options to x the issue immediately or go to the Action Center
for more details. If you don’t have time to address the issue immedi-
ately, the information you need will be waiting for you the next time
you visit the Action Center.
Action Center consolidates alerts
and makes follow-up easier.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Better Troubleshooting and Problem Solving
Windows Troubleshooting
Wouldn’t it be nice if your PC could recognize and solve many common problems, so that you could stay
productive rather than calling for help?
Windows Troubleshooting—new in Windows 7—diagnoses and resolves common operating system and
hardware issues by using built-in troubleshooters for several different types of problems. For example, the
printing troubleshooter helps you resolve
problems with local printers, such as remov-
ing a job that’s stuck in the print queue,
as well as problems related to networked
printers at the ofce. Similarly, the power-
efciency troubleshooter runs a simple test
to determine the percentage degradation
in storage capacity for your portable PC’s
battery, so that you can be proactive in
replacing a battery that’s near the end of
its useful life.
To launch the troubleshooting platform, just
go to the Start menu and type x or trou-
bleshoot. A wizard will launch automatically.
Other troubleshooters in Windows 7 run
Windows Troubleshooting
in the background on a scheduled basis. If
these troubleshooters discover a problem, they’ll let you know in the Action Center. With Windows 7, it’s
easier than ever to perform tasks like cleaning up temporary les, detecting hard disk errors, removing
broken shortcuts, and ensuring that the system time is correct.
Windows 7 has built-in troubleshooters for many categories, as shown in the following table. New and
updated troubleshooters provided by Microsoft and your PC vendor will be posted online for you to
download. In addition, businesses can create their own troubleshooters. For more details, please see the
“Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this guide.
66 67
Built-in Troubleshooters in Windows 7
Troubleshooter Description
Aero Troubleshoot problems that prevent you from experiencing
Aero animations and effects.
Browse the Web Troubleshoot problems that prevent you from browsing the
Web with Internet Explorer.
Connection to a Shared Folder Access shared les and folders on other PCs.
Connection to a Workplace
Using Direct Access
Hardware and Devices Troubleshoot problems with hardware and devices.
HomeGroup Networking Troubleshoot problems that prevent you from viewing PC or
Incoming Connections to This
Computer
Internet Connections Connect to the Internet or to a particular Web site.
Maintenance Clean up unused les and shortcuts, and perform other
Network Adapter Troubleshoot Ethernet, wireless, or other network adapters.
Performance Adjust settings in Windows that can help improve overall
Play a DVD in Windows Media
Player
Play Sound Troubleshoot problems that prevent your PC from playing
Power Adjust power settings to improve battery life and reduce
Printer Troubleshoot problems that prevent you from using a printer.
Troubleshoot problems that prevent you from connecting to
your workplace network over the Internet using DirectAccess.
shared les in a homegroup.
Allow other PCs to connect to this computer.
maintenance tasks.
speed and performance.
Troubleshoot problems that prevent a DVD from playing in
Windows Media Player.
sound.
power consumption.
Program Compatibility
Troubleshooter
Record Sound Troubleshoot problems that prevent your PC from recording
Web Browsing Safety Adjust settings for browser safety in Internet Explorer.
Windows Media Player Library Troubleshoot problems that prevent music and movies from
Windows Media Player Settings Reset Windows Media Player back to default settings.
Troubleshoot a program that doesn’t work in this version of
Windows.
sound.
being shown in the Windows Media Player Library.
Windows 7 for You: Works the Way You Want
Better Troubleshooting and Problem Solving
Startup Repair
Startup problems can be difcult to troubleshoot, because if you can’t start the operating system you
can’t use the built-in troubleshooting tools. In the past, you or your support professionals may have
found it easier to reinstall your operating system than troubleshoot, even though the solution may be as
simple as replacing a single le. And although Windows Vista provides an automated Startup Repair tool
to diagnose and recover unbootable systems, the tool requires extra steps if the operating system is on
a different partition.
Windows 7 automatically installs the Startup Repair tool onto the operating system partition, so you’ll
always have access to it. After an unsuccessful boot, Windows 7 automatically loads Startup Repair, which
scans your PC for issues (such as corrupt registry and system les or an invalid Boot Conguration Data-
base), automatically repairs les when possible, and then reboots as normal.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this document.
68 69
Windows 7 for You:
Makes New Things Possible
As new technologies emerge, we’re busy translating them into exciting
new experiences that are sophisticated, yet fun and easy to use. We’re
providing new ways for you to view TV, listen to and share music, and
bring your PC to life with multi-touch technology. And when you need to
work remotely, you’ll have more ways to maintain productivity and stay
connected with your family and colleagues.
Media the Way You Want It
Today we have access to more digital media than ever, with options that range from DVDs to digital
music and Internet TV. Windows 7 brings your media world together, whether you’re listening to music,
watching TV and movies, playing games, or creating rich photo experiences. And that means you can
enjoy your media when you want and where you want.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Windows Media Center
With a streamlined user interface and support for new content types and digital TV, Windows Media
Center in Windows 7 makes viewing TV, movies, and other media content on your PC easier than ever.
The new Electronic Program Guide (EPG) in Windows Media Center brings together both broadcast and
Internet TV so you can nd all your favorite programs in one place.
Internet TV
Windows 7 pulls the growing amount of media content on the Internet into the Windows Media Center
experience. You can choose from a variety of online TV shows and movies, all organized and view-
able with a consistent look
and feel. With a broadband
connection, Windows Media
Center is populated auto-
matically with Internet TV
channels and content, which
are conveniently organized
in the familiar program
guide for easy discovery.
Note: Internet access is required.
Free Internet TV content varies by
geography. Some content may
require additional fees.
Electronic Program Guide consolidates
Internet TV and broadcast TV.
Media the Way You Want It
Digital TV
Turn your PC into a digital video recorder by adding a broadcast TV tuner, which you can nd at many
popular retail electronics stores. Windows 7 Media Center includes support for a wide range of TV
standards to meet the
needs of television viewers
around the world. Digital TV
in Windows 7 works in more
than 20 global markets,
with certied support for
the United States ATSC
and QAM cable standards,
Japan’s ISDB standards
(ISDB-T and ISDB-S), Euro-
pean DVB TV standards
(DVB-T, DVB-S), and Pay TV
standards.
Recorded TV
70 71
Sharing TV around the Home
If you have multiple PCs running Windows Media Center in your homegroup, you can access recorded
TV Libraries—in addition to your music, photos, and videos—on those different PCs. You can also copy
a TV show to your laptop to enjoy on the go.
Windows Media Center in Windows 7 makes sure that all unprotected Windows TV recordings can be
discovered, played, and copied by any PC running Windows 7 in your homegroup.
Enhanced UI
Through its enhanced user interface (UI), Windows 7 Media Center makes TV as personal as your PC. It’s
easy to set up, and fast to nd the media you want. For example, with the new Turbo Scroll feature, you can
quickly move through a large Library or TV guide by pressing and holding the right arrow button. When
viewing a recorded TV show, you can quickly jump to a specic spot in a show by clicking the Seek bar.
Watching a live show
and want to see what
else is playing? A mini
guide can be viewed
on top of your show.
And because Windows
Media Center is
touch-enabled, with a
touch-enabled monitor
you can use your nger
to navigate the start
menu, program guide,
and photo galleries—or
even slide your nger
across the program
guide screen to turbo-
scroll through listings.
Note: Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and
record live TV, may require advanced or additional hardware.
Pull up the mini guide to see what else
is playing—while you are watching.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player in Windows 7 plays more media and delivers a richer media experience than
earlier versions. Whether you want to listen to your favorite songs while you’re working or watch a DVD
in full-screen mode, playback starts quickly and remains consistent. Windows 7 can also play more
types of media than ever before, so you can play more of your content without having to switch players
or download additional software.
Listen to and View More Media
Are you tired of having to use different media players to listen to, view, transfer, and manage different
media formats? Windows 7 supports more media formats, making it easier for you to manage and
play your media from one place—and to synchronize your media with a broad range of devices. In
most cases, if your device doesn’t support the le type you’re synchronizing or streaming, Windows will
convert that content into a format that the device you selected will play.
For example, let’s say you want to sync a movie you captured with your Flip Video camera from your
PC running Windows 7 to a portable media player that does not natively support Flip Video movies.
If the portable media device features a Compatible with Windows 7 logo, the le will automatically be
converted during the sync to a format your portable device can play.
Media the Way You Want It
Windows 7 features built-in playback support for many common media formats, including WMV,
WMA, MPEG-4, most iTunes non-digital rights managed content (including audio and video podcasts),
FlipVideo les, most DivX and XviD les, and most AVI les. Windows 7 also supports playback of
most MOV les that are produced by digital cameras and camcorders. Windows 7 Home Premium,
Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions will also play video from popular high-denition digital
camcorders (AVCHD).
Now Playing Mode
Enjoying your favorite media on your PC has never been simpler. Windows Media Player includes a
new lightweight playback mode. The compact size changes
depending on whether you’re playing a song or video, and
the UI is streamlined for playback, with pause, skip, and
volume controls presented in an uncluttered interface that
ts comfortably into a window on your desktop. Now Play-
ing Mode is particularly useful when you have many windows
open because it makes it easy to control your playback expe-
rience without overtaking your screen.
Now playing mode
72 73
Improved Content Filtering
In Windows 7, content that cannot be played, such as Apple’s Lossless .M4A or H.263 MPEG-4 content,
will no longer appear in the music or video library view so you don’t get distracted by les that won’t
work. But if you need to get them for some reason, these les will still be listed in the Other Media library
in Windows Media Player.
Better Access to your Media
With Windows 7, you always have quick access to media and how it’s played. For instance, Libraries
(described earlier) make it easy to browse and access photos, music, and videos on other PCs and
devices on your home network. The content of Jump Lists in Windows Media Player on the Start menu
and Windows Taskbar changes based on what you play, helping you quickly get to the media you use
the most. Then, as you’re playing music, you can rest the mouse pointer on the Windows Media Player
taskbar thumbnail to access playback controls or to just see the title of the song that’s playing.
Windows Media Jump Lists change
based on what you play.
Windows Media player taskbar
thumbnail includes playback controls.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Media Streaming
As you acquire more PCs and devices, you’ll have more physical places to store your music, photos,
and video. But what if all your music is on a laptop, yet you want to play it on your main PC with the
great speakers? Now, with Media Streaming, you can.
When you join a homegroup or set up media streaming from within Windows Media Player, the music,
pictures, and videos you want to access will be
immediately available on other PCs and devices
that are part of your homegroup, and, if you
choose, can even be shared with PCs that are
not part of your homegroup. The new media
sharing experience in Windows 7 is easier than
ever to set up—and you can add new PCs,
media servers, and playback devices at any
time. Windows 7 also makes it simpler to nd
the settings you want to change and to under-
stand your choices. And of course, you can
always restrict access to media you don’t wish
to share.
Play To
Stream media to other devices
on your home network.
Media the Way You Want It
Do you have media on your PC that you want to play on your home entertainment system? More
and more consumer electronics devices have the capability to connect to networks or to the Internet.
However, the user interfaces on those devices can be inconsistent or difcult to use, especially if you
have a large collection of digital media.
Windows 7 helps you use your home audio-video system and other networked media devices to play
music, watch videos, and display photos from
your PC.
Using your PC as a controller, you can stream
digital media directly to a supported device on
your home network such as a Compatible with
Windows 7 Digital Media Receiver, another PC
running Windows 7, or an Extender for Windows
Media Center, such as an Xbox 360® video game
and entertainment system console.
With Play To, you can stream
digital media to devices on your
home network.
74 75
For example, say you’re sitting on your couch, using your laptop to read e-mail or surf the Web, and
you’d like to listen to some music, but your laptop speakers don’t sound good enough. With Windows 7,
you can open Windows Media Player, right-click the song, album, or playlist you’d like to hear, select Play
To, and you’ll see a list of supported devices and PCs on which you can play your music. In most cases, if
your media receiver cannot play the le format for your media, Windows 7 will automatically detect that
and translate the le into a format that your media receiver can play.
With Play To, you can use your PC as a controller
to stream digital media to supported devices.
Windows 7 supports the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) v.1.5 standard, so you’ll have access to
many different devices and functionality. You can use your PC running Windows 7 to stream media to
network media devices that feature the Compatible with Windows 7 logo, which incorporates the DNLA
v1.5 specication.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Remote Media Streaming
If you’re like most people, your home PC is the central place where you store and enjoy your photo,
music, and video collections. But you probably also often take your laptop to other locations such as
hotels, airports, or coffee shops.
Windows 7 offers Remote Media Streaming, which allows you to access your home-based digital media
Libraries over the Internet from another PC running Windows 7 outside the home. Just associate two or
more PCs running Windows 7 with your online ID provider credentials (such as your Windows Live e-mail
address and password) and allow Internet access to your media. Windows Media Player displays and
plays the media Libraries from
remote PCs the same way it does
for those on a home network. You
can even stream content from
any other PC in your homegroup
that has enabled Remote Media
Streaming.
Note: Corporate networks often block
home media streaming, so accessing
media libraries from other PCs over the
Internet may not be possible.
Media the Way You Want It
Associate two Windows 7 PCs
and allow Internet Access to use
Remote Media Streaming.
Access home-based digital media Libraries over the
Internet from another PC running Windows 7.
76 77
Outstanding Sound
Whether you’re playing music, watching a video, or listening to voicemail through your PC, you want
a high-quality sound experience. With improved sound management features in Windows 7, you’ll get
great sound for both entertainment and communications. For instance, Windows 7 automatically routes
sounds—such as music, calls, and Windows sounds—to the right devices. The new HDMI feature means
you can stream mono, stereo, or multichannel, high-denition audio and video using a single HDMI
cable. Windows automatically detects the capabilities of the device and adjusts the sound settings for the
right format and number of speakers.
Gaming
For many people, gaming is a favorite pastime. Windows 7 includes new features and technology that
improve gaming. Windows 7 includes six basic games: FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper, Purble Place, Soli-
taire, and Spider Solitaire.
Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions also include ve additional premium games:
Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, and three new online multiplayer games—Internet Backgammon, Internet
Checkers, and Internet Spades..
Premium Games (clockwise from top):
Internet Spades, Internet Checkers, Internet Backgammon, Chess Titans
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Games Explorer
Games Explorer is the center for gaming on Windows 7. Just type games in the Windows Search box, and
you’ll see all your games organized in one central location. Games Explorer provides information about
games, such as game play statistics, ratings, and
requirements. In addition, you can nd new games
or more information about your favorite games
from online Game Providers right from Games
Explorer. With the Game Update feature within
Games Explorer, you can request to be notied
whenever there are updates for your games. And
as mentioned in the “Parental Controls” section of
this guide, you can even specify which PC games
your children can play.
Media the Way You Want It
Games Explorer
Control what games your children can
play through Parental Controls.
78 79
A notication appears any time
an update is available.
64-bit Gaming
If you’re a gamer, you know how graphics, sound, and interaction capabilities are becoming richer. You
probably also know that the hardware limitations of 32-bit PCs can limit your gaming experience. As more
people start using 64-bit PCs, more games will be available to take advantage of its powerful processing.
And because Windows 7 fully supports 64-bit PCs, you’ll be ready when they arrive.
DirectX: Direct3D 11
As part of the newest DirectX Graphics Technology Platform, Direct3D® 11 helps game developers create
high performance games with richer, more realistic graphics. With a DirectX 11 compatible graphics card,
you’ll be playing games with higher frame rates, more organic, realistic looking characters, smarter arti-
cial intelligence, and more natural-looking effects. A large subset of the Direct3D 11 feature set is also
available on existing DirectX 10-compatible graphics cards. (See also DirectX 11: DirectCompute in the
“Works the Way You Want” section.)
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Work Anywhere
We live in a mobile world, taking our laptops and devices with us as we move between home, work, and
other places. With Windows 7, you can easily get online and stay online as you move from place to place.
Whether you’re switching from one network to another, attempting to access the Internet from a device,
or taking advantage of mobile broadband, Windows 7 helps keep you connected.
Location Aware Printing
Do you use one printer at home and another at work? With
Windows 7, you no longer need to select the printer each
time you’re in a different place. Instead, you can select a
default printer for each network location you’ve congured,
and Windows 7 will automatically use that printer when
you’re connected to that network. So when you print at
work, Windows 7 will automatically print to your work printer.
When you print at home, Windows 7 will automatically select
and use your home printer.
Location aware printing—set a different
default printer for different networks.
Work Anywhere
View Available Networks
Windows 7 improves how you view and connect to all of your networks, making
the process simple and consistent. You’ll always have one-click access to available
networks, regardless of whether those networks are based on Wi-Fi, mobile broad-
band, dial-up, or your corporate VPN.
Viewing available networks
Mobile Broadband
With Windows 7, it’s much simpler to connect your PC to the Internet using a wire-
less data card, regardless of which mobile provider you use. It’s just like connecting
to any other wireless network, which can be accomplished by using the View Avail-
able Networks feature, mentioned above. You don’t need to install any additional
software—just insert your wireless data card, your drivers will be installed on rst use
and your PC will connect to the Internet automatically. And if your PC has a built-in
data card, you’ll be connected to the Internet wherever there’s mobile service.
Mobile Broadband
80 81
DirectAccess
With Windows 7, working from locations other than your ofce becomes even simpler. With DirectAc-
cess, you can more securely connect to your corporate network over any Internet connection—without
having to use VPN technology. It’s easy to connect to corporate resources whenever you have an Inter-
net connection and, in most cases, it will seem as if you are connecting from your desktop computer at
work. You can also still access public Web sites without going through your work network. When you use
DirectAccess, your IT department can administer your PC whenever it’s connected to the Internet, so you
can easily stay up-to-date with company policies.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this document.
VPN Reconnect
You may still need to use a VPN if your company can’t start using DirectAccess right away. In Windows 7,
VPNs are easier to use than before. In the past, when using a VPN connection, you had to redial whenever
you lost your Internet connection. VPN Reconnect in Windows 7 keeps you connected by automatically
reestablishing a VPN connection any time you temporarily lose your Internet connection.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see the “Windows 7 for IT Professionals” section of this document.
Ofine Access to Network Sources
When you’re out of the ofce and don’t have an Internet connection, Ofine Files provides a great way
to continue to work with documents and les that are stored on your corporate network. For example,
while traveling on a long ight, you can work on a copy of a le that’s cached on your PC, and any
changes you make will automatically be synchronized with the server the next time you connect to the
corporate network.
Before Windows 7, when IT professionals implemented
Ofine Files, you had to wait for les to be moved to the
server when you logged on for the rst time. Windows 7
eliminates this delay by rst copying data les to the
local Ofine Files cache and then synchronizing the
cache with the server in the background.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see the “Windows 7
for IT Professionals” section of this document.
Ofine les are quickly synched with your work server
when you reconnect to your corporate network.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
XPS Documents
XML Paper Specication (XPS) documents are xed-format documents that you can share and archive
in a high-quality, efcient format. XPS documents can be opened without having the original program
in which the document was created, so you can easily share your work. You can preview XPS docu-
ments within the Windows Explorer or Microsoft Ofce Outlook® messaging and collaboration client
preview panes.
With Windows 7, it’s easy to create XPS documents using the Microsoft XPS Document Writer. Available
from any program that you can print from, just select the XPS Document Writer rather than a physical
printer from the print dialogue and follow the prompts to create your document. Ofce 2007 users
can also use the Save as XPS function from the Save As menu to create XPS documents from Ofce
2007 applications.
Windows 7 also provides a richer viewing experience with the XPS Viewer. The improved experience
features a more streamlined user interface, easier ways to navigate through the document, and relevancy-
ranked XPS searches. You can even display pages as thumbnails to get an interactive view of several
pages at once, which is great for visually searching through long documents. Finally, you can use the XPS
Viewer to digitally sign XPS documents and, if your company uses Windows Rights Management Services,
control who can open an XPS
document and what they can
do with it.
Work Anywhere
Create XPS les from any application
that allows you to print.
XPS Viewer showing pages
as thumbnails.
82 83
New Ways to Engage
As new technologies emerge, Microsoft is working to translate them into exciting new experiences.
Windows 7 builds on the work we’ve done in next-generation user interfaces, moving beyond the mouse
and keyboard so that you can interact with your PC with multitouch gestures, handwriting, or voice. In
addition, Microsoft continues to add support for Tablet PCs and to extend and improve accessibility
options.
Windows Touch
Humans are tactile beings, with brains that are wired for touch. PCs and devices can come to life in
entirely new ways when you use your ngers to control what happens on the screen, making PC use
simple and intuitive. Instead of pointing and clicking, you just touch and tap. Pan the screen to scroll
through Web pages and lists and tap to launch programs and open documents. Sort and resize photos
more naturally. With Windows 7 and a touch-enabled monitor, virtually any program that works with
Windows now responds to your touch.
Use your ngers to sort
and resize photos.
(Shown here: Microsoft Surface Collage, part of the free
Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7)
The Start menu is touch friendly.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Windows 7 is touch-friendly throughout. For instance, the Start menu, Windows Taskbar, and Windows
Explorer all have bigger icons that are easier to select with your nger. You can use your nger to arrange
the pictures in a photo album or scroll through and select recorded TV in Windows Media Center.
You can also control what happens on the screen by using more than one nger. Zoom in on an image by
moving two ngers apart, or zoom out by moving two ngers closer together, like you’re pinching some-
thing. Rotate an image on the screen by rotating one nger around another, or right-click by holding one
nger on your target and tapping the screen with a second nger.
The multitouch features built into Windows 7 also provide a rich platform for software developers, giving
them full access to multitouch data and manipulation APIs for stretching, rotating, or moving objects.
Note: Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV or navigation through the use of touch,
may require advanced or additional hardware.
New Ways to Engage
84 85
Tablet PC Enhancements
Windows 7 improves the Tablet PC with greater accuracy and speed for handwriting recognition, support for
handwritten math expressions, personalized custom dictionaries for handwriting recognition, and more.
Improved Handwriting Recognition
The Tablet PC writing surface has been completely re-designed so that handwriting is converted to
text automatically as you write. When combined with the new editing gestures and smart correction
(correcting one character will automatically update the rest of the word to match it) you’ll experience new
exibility and efciency during
handwriting input. In fact, you’ll
notice much better handwriting-
recognition accuracy and speed
for all supported languages
including Chinese Simplied,
Chinese Traditional, Japanese,
and Korean.
Handwritten Math Expressions
Handwriting on the Tablet PC
If you work with math expressions, you’ll be especially pleased with how you can use handwriting recog-
nition to enter those expressions in Windows 7. The Math Input Panel is a new accessory that recognizes
handwritten math expressions, provides a rich correction experience, and inserts math expressions into
target programs.
Text Prediction for Touch Keyboard
When using the Touch keyboard in Windows 7, text prediction helps you enter text more efciently. Just
type a few letters and you’ll be offered a list of words that match. Based on the words you use frequently
and the corrections that you make, Windows 7 will become even better at predicting what you type over
time. The redesigned keyboard also offers better support for using your ngers with features like the glow
feedback (that shows you the key you tapped), automatic larger size when used with touch vs. a pen, and
Web keys to make entering Web addresses even easier.
Custom Dictionaries
If you need specialized vocabularies, you’ll nd it easier to create and install custom dictionaries that will
improve handwriting recognition. For instance, if you’re a doctor, you can add medical terminology.
Support for Additional Languages
In addition to the 12 languages supported by Windows Vista, Windows 7 adds handwriting support for
Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese (Portugal), Polish, Russian, Romanian, Catalan, Serbian
Latin, Croatian, Serbian-Cyrillic, and Czech. Text Prediction with pen input has been expanded from
Windows Vista too.
Note: Windows Vista supports handwriting recognition for Tablet PCs in 12 languages: English (U.S.), English (U.K.), German,
French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese Simplied, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean.
Windows 7 for You: Makes New Things Possible
Accessibility
Windows 7 enhances the accessibility options that are so important to people with special needs.
From more personalized speech recognition to a new on-screen layout, Windows 7 is more accessible
to everyone.
Speech
In Windows 7, we’ve improved the accuracy of Windows Speech Recognition so that you can dictate to
your PC in many common programs and tell it what to do. For instance, you can easily dictate an e-mail
by speaking the recipient’s name and the content of the message.
Magnier
Use Magnier whenever you need to magnify the entire screen or parts of it. It’s particularly helpful for
people who are visually impaired or have difculty seeing the screen, but it can be used anytime you
want to see an object better—even when using a small notebook PC. You can use full-screen mode
to magnify the entire desktop or lens-mode to magnify only a portion of the screen. In Windows 7,
Magnier works with DirectX content and supports the use of a pen, touch, and keyboard shortcuts in
full-screen magnication.
New Ways to Engage
On-Screen Keyboard
The on-screen keyboard in Windows 7 has a new look, and now includes personalized word and next-
word prediction based on the same technology used for the Tablet PC. If you’re unable to use a standard
keyboard, this feature can dramatically improve how fast you enter words.
On-Screen keyboard
New Accessibility Shortcuts
+ +
+ -
Zoom in
Zoom out
86 87
Windows 7
for IT Pros
As people become increasingly computer-savvy, they
expect more from the technology they use at work.
They expect to be able to work from home, from
branch ofces, and on the road, all without a decrease
in productivity. As their needs have grown, so have
the demands placed on IT professionals, who are
being asked to deliver new capabilities and support
greater exibility, while continuing to reduce risk and
minimize costs.
With Windows 7, you can meet diverse needs in a
way that’s more manageable. Enhanced security
and control reduce the risk associated with data on
lost PCs or external hard disk drives. Streamlined
PC management means it takes less work to deploy
Windows 7 and keep it running smoothly. And because
Windows 7 is based on the Windows Vista foundation,
companies that have already deployed Windows Vista
will nd that Windows 7 is highly compatible with
existing hardware, software, and tools.
In other words, Windows 7 works the way you want
it to.
89 89
Windows 7 for IT Pros
Make People Productive Anywhere
Windows 7 helps your people be productive no matter where they are or where the data they need
resides. They won’t have to look in multiple places to nd information because a single search can examine
a Microsoft SharePoint® team services site on a company intranet in addition to les on their PCs. With
DirectAccess, mobile workers can more simply and securely access corporate resources when out of the
ofce, without dialing a VPN. Workers in branch ofces with slow connections will be more productive
because BranchCache in Windows 7 can increase the network responsiveness of centralized applications
accessed from remote ofces.
Manage Risks Through Enhanced Security
and Control
Windows 7 builds on the foundation of Windows Vista by adding more exibility in securing PCs and data.
Businesses using Windows 7 can worr y less about the loss of sensitive data because they can protect inter-
nal PC hard disks with BitLocker and use BitLocker To Go to encrypt external thumb drives and hard disks.
Both BitLocker and BitLocker To Go provide recovery keys so that the data is accessible when needed.
Enterprises that demand the highest levels of compliance can use AppLocker to dictate which applications
are allowed to run on user PCs, providing yet another way to limit the risk of malicious software.
Reduce Costs by Streamlining PC Management
Whether you manage and deploy desktops, laptops, or virtual environments, Windows 7 makes the
job easier while helping you use the same tools and skills you do with Windows Vista. Advanced image
management and deployment tools help you add, remove, and report on drivers, language packs, and
updates—and push those system images out to PCs using less network bandwidth. New scripting and
automation capabilities based on Windows PowerShell™ 2.0 command line interface will reduce the costs
of managing and troubleshooting PCs. For companies making the leap to client virtualization, Windows 7
helps maintain virtual machine images and provides a richer user experience over remote connections.
Optimize the Desktop with Microsoft Desktop
Optimization Pack
The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which is updated at least once a year, completes the
enterprise experience. By using Windows 7 and the MDOP together, companies can optimize their desktop
infrastructure and gain the exibility to address their unique business needs. (The MDOP is an optional,
additional subscription for Microsoft Software Assurance customers.)
Windows 7 for IT Pros:
Make People Productive Anywhere
With Windows 7, you can respond to the need to make your workers
productive on a range of applications, locations, and devices. They can
access information more easily whether they’re on the road or in branch
ofces, and they can search in more places, including remote data sources
and locations within the enterprise. And through it all, you’ll see the
improved performance and reliability that helps keep productivity high
and reduces calls to your help desk.
Remove Barriers to Information
Windows 7 removes barriers that keep people from getting to their information, regardless of where it’s
stored, and helps them stay productive no matter where they are. They’ll get even more exibility when
their companies take advantage of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, which includes virtualization
technologies that give them access to their desktop and applications from almost any PC.
Windows 7 for IT Pros: Make People Productive Anywhere
Remove Barriers to Information
Search and Federated Search
In Windows 7, search is better integrated with enterprise infrastructures to help people more easily nd
the information they need. They can search in more places more easily—including remote data sources
and within encrypted les—and IT professionals can publish important search locations through Group
Policy. In addition, Windows 7 search signicantly reduces the impact of indexing e-mail in Microsoft
Exchange Server when Cached Exchange mode is disabled.
Search results in Windows 7 are
more relevant and simpler to under-
stand, and workers can easily narrow
down or expand the locations being
searched. In addition, Federated
Search provides out-of-the-box
support for searching beyond the
user’s PC. Developers and IT profes-
sionals alike can congure document
repositories, Web applications,
and proprietary data stores to be
searched from Windows 7, with-
out writing and deploying client
code. This ability enables people to
search these remote indexes easily as they search their local les—all from within the same familiar
Windows interface.
Search Federation
Federated Search supports the public OpenSearch 1.1 standard, so with a few minor updates, Web
developers can take advantage of existing investments in RSS lists to quickly return results to Windows
7. In most cases, this represents a few days’ work for a Web developer. After a server has been made
capable of responding to OpenSearch requests, a simple data-driven install le (called an Open Search
Description File) is used to integrate the search results into Windows Explorer in Windows 7. These Open
Search Descriptors can be placed on Web sites so that people can install them in a manner similar to
subscribing to an RSS feed today. Ofce SharePoint Server 2007 and many third-party products already
support Federated Search, so companies can immediately begin taking advantage of this feature in
Windows 7.
92 93
Federated search uses
OpenSearch 1.1
Enterprise Search Scopes
Making it easy to discover and search intranet sites can help organizations maximize their return on these
investments. With Windows 7, you can deploy up to ve pre-dened links or search scopes through
Group Policy on worker PCs to direct them to the right data sources and help them more easily nd what
they need. Enterprise Search Scopes appear on the Start menu and at the bottom of the search results in
Windows Explorer in the Search Again In section of the search box.
Dene up to ve pre-dened
search scopes.
Windows 7 for IT Pros: Make People Productive Anywhere
Access Information from Anywhere
Access Information from Anywhere
Whether traveling for business, taking work home at night, or simply bringing a portable computer
to a meeting in the conference room down the hall, mobility is essential to a worker’s computing
experience. As a result, more organizations are helping their people work from anywhere. Windows
7 makes it easy for workers to get connected and stay connected, regardless of location or type of
network. Windows 7 not only supports the needs of employees, but it also helps you meet those needs
securely, reliably, and cost-effectively.
More Secure Access and PC Management with DirectAccess
More people are working from places other than the ofce and accessing corporate network resources
securely and maintaining connectivity using remote access solutions, such as VPN, can add complexity
and effort. It’s also harder for you to manage those mobile PCs.
DirectAccess is a new feature that helps solve both these issues. Using DirectAccess, workers can easily
navigate to intranet sites or internal le shares and access documents from remote locations, without
establishing a VPN connection.
Because it’s based on IPv6 technology, DirectAccess also streamlines the management of remote comput-
ers. You no longer need to wait for users to return to the ofce to or connect to VPNs to update PCs.
Instead, you can keep these remote computers up-to-date with required policies or updates any time the
computers connect to the Internet—even if they aren’t logged on to the corporate network.
DirectAccess also helps improve security by taking advantage of IPsec for authentication and encryption.
As an IT administrator you can congure the DirectAccess server to restrict the servers that workers and
individual applications can access remotely, and choose whether they require smart cards for authentica-
tion. Furthermore, smart card support does not require Windows 7 Domain Functional Mode because
it now focuses only on edge enforcement rather than both edge enforcement and local client enforce-
ment. (Please note that the option to enforce smart cards for all interactive logons is not available in the
DirectAccess wizard. If a smart card is required, an enhanced user notication will help inform the user.)
DirectAccess integrates with Network Access Protection (NAP) to perform compliance checking on client
computers before allowing them to connect to internal resources.
94 95
By default, Windows 7 does not deploy DirectAccess automatically. If you choose to enable DirectAccess,
you will need to deploy Windows 7 Enterprise Edition or Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on worker PCs. You
will also need to deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 DirectAccess Server on the edge of your network.
Note: For more information on this feature, please see the “Windows 7 for You” section of this document.
DirectAccess clients access the
intranet using IPv6 and IPsec.
VPN Reconnect
While many organizations can use DirectAccess as their only way to connect remotely, some may still need
to use VPN technology. VPN Reconnect (also described in Windows 7 for You) keep workers productive and
connected. By using Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) technology to provide consistent VPN connec-
tivity, it automatically reestablishes a VPN when users temporarily lose their Internet connections.
RemoteApp and Desktop Connections
Many companies want to host client applications centrally because of concerns over security, continual
cost pressures, and the need to support remote workers. For many years, Microsoft Terminal Services
RemoteApp® network software technology met this need. In previous versions of Windows, however,
the user experience for Terminal Services-hosted applications was noticeably different than that of
client-hosted applications. With RemoteApp and Desktop Connections, you can enable a better remote
experience while keeping costs in check and maintaining security and control.
Now, it’s easier for workers to connect to remote applications and remote desktop sessions from any PC
running Windows 7, no matter where they are. Once connected, they can launch sessions from the Start
menu, just as they do for local applications. Even better, each application launches, looks, and feels as if
it’s running locally, and new programs appear automatically on the Start menu as they become available.
And with the addition of support for audio recording, multimedia playback, and more, the experience will
be remarkably similar to running programs locally on your PC.
Note: Although the names are similar, RemoteApp and Desktop Connections should not be confused with Remote Desktop.
RemoteApp and Desktop Connections provides a way for users to more intuitively access centrally hosted desktops and programs
that run on a server, under Terminal Services, as typically deployed and managed by a company’s IT department. Remote Desktop
is typically used to access one PC running Windows from another.
Windows 7 for IT Pros: Make People Productive Anywhere
Access Information from Anywhere
Folder Redirection and Ofine Files
Using Folder Redirection and Ofine Files is a convenient way for people not connected to the corporate
network to access les stored on a central server. Windows 7 reduces initial wait times and improves
branch ofce and remote access scenarios by operating in a Usually Ofine mode when users are not
connected to the same local area network (LAN) as the central server. Any changes made to copies
of les that are cached on a user ’s computer are synchronized to the central server the next time that
person connects to the corporate network.
Windows 7 makes it easier to manage Folder Redirection and Ofine Files. For example, you can use
Group Policy to prevent specic types of les (such as music les) from being synchronized to the ser ver.
Administrators can also control when ofine les are synchronized with the server, set up specic time
intervals for synchronization, block out other times for bandwidth management, and congure a maxi-
mum stale time after which les must be resynchronized.
Users can rename and delete folders even while in the ofine mode. If network latency slows, and a share
is transitioned into the slow-link mode, the share will automatically transition back to the online mode if
network latency improves.
Improved Roaming User Proles
Windows 7 makes Roaming User Proles more useful and reliable because you can now automatically
synchronize user settings with the data server while workers are still logged on, rather than waiting until
after they log off.
96 97
BranchCache
For branch ofces, network bandwidth limitations and latency in application response times can nega-
tively affect productivity. We introduced Background Intelligent Transfer Service in Windows XP and the
Distributed File System Replication service in Windows Server 2008 to help resolve these issues. Branch-
Cache in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is the next step for improving worker productivity in
branch ofces and giving them an experience more like working in the main ofce. By caching content
from remote le and Web servers in the branch location, workers can more quickly access the informa-
tion they need.
BranchCache can operate in one of two modes:
• Distributed Cache. Using a peer-to-peer architecture, Windows 7 client computers cache
copies of les and send them directly to other Windows 7 client computers as necessary.
Improving performance is as easy as enabling BranchCache on your Windows 7 client and
Windows Server 2008 R2 PCs. Distributed Cache is especially benecial for branch ofces that
do not have a local server.
• Hosted Cache. Using a client/server architecture, Windows 7 client computers cache content to
a computer on the local network running Windows Server 2008 R2, known as the Hosted Cache.
Other clients that need the same content retrieve it directly from the Hosted Cache which offers
more reliable availability than Distributed Cache. Hosted Cache does not require a dedicated
machine, making it ideal for branch ofces with server hardware already installed. Hosted Cache
can be congured on a branch le server, read-only domain controller, ISA server and more,
while the Hosted Cache computer can run the Server Core.
Hosted Cache can be congured on
existing server hardware within a branch.
Windows 7 for IT Pros: Make People Productive Anywhere
BranchCache supports the same network protocols that are commonly used in enterprises—HTTP(S)
and SMB—so that any applications based on these network protocols will automatically benet from the
technology. Examples of these applications include Microsoft Ofce SharePoint 2007, Internet Explorer,
CopyFile, and others. For example, Windows Media Player uses the HTTP protocol so internal training
videos can be cached and viewed more efciently by branch ofce users. BranchCache also supports
network security protocols (such as SSL and IPSec), helping ensure that only authorized PCs can access
requested data.
To implement BranchCache, you need to install Windows Server 2008 R2 on the remote le servers, Web
servers, and optionally the branch ofce server on which the cache is hosted.
Access Information from Anywhere
Transparent Caching
Before Windows 7, client PCs always retrieved the le from the server computer to open a le across a
slow network—even if the client PC had recently read the le. With transparent caching in Windows 7,
client PCs cache remote les more frequently, which helps reduce the number of times a client PC has to
retrieve the same data from a server computer.
The rst time a user opens a le in a shared folder, Windows 7 reads the le from the server computer
and then stores it in a cache on the PC’s hard disk. For any subsequent times a user reads the same
le, Windows 7 retrieves the cached le from the hard disk instead of the server computer. Windows 7
always contacts the server computer to make sure the cached copy is up-to-date. The cache is never
accessed if the server computer is unavailable, and updates to the le are always written directly to
the server computer.
By default, transparent caching is not enabled on fast networks. You can use Group Policy to enable
transparent caching to improve the efciency of the cache and to save disk space on the client.
You can also congure the amount of disk space the cache uses and prevent specic le types from
being synchronized.
As the feature name implies, transparent caching is invisible to users, which makes it seem more like they
are on the same LAN as the server computer. In addition, transparent caching helps reduce bandwidth
utilization across WAN links.
98 99
Windows 7 for IT Pros:
Manage Risk Through Enhanced
Security and Control
As we become more connected and our IT infrastructures become more
complex, the risks to systems and data continue to increase. Windows 7
builds on the security we developed in Windows Vista, retaining the multiple
layers of defense that made Windows Vista the most secure version of
the Windows client to date. We took into account requests to make the
security features in Windows Vista more usable and manageable, and in
Windows 7 we deliver new security features to help you better address
the evolving threat landscape. You can also take advantage of Advanced
Group Policy Management and other features in the Microsoft Desktop
Optimization Pack (MDOP) to further enhance security and control.
Protect Data on PCs and Devices
Windows 7 addresses the continued threat of data leakage with deployment and manageability updates
to BitLocker Drive Encryption and the introduction of BitLocker To Go, which provides data protection
for removable storage devices such as USB ash drives and portable hard disk drives. Whether people
are traveling with their portable computers, sharing large les with trusted partners, or taking work
home, BitLocker-protected devices help ensure that only authorized users can read the data, even if
the physical media is lost, stolen, or misused. Best of all, BitLocker protection is easy to deploy and easy
for workers to use.
Loading...