Just weeks after releasing a lengthy list of 36 improvements it plans to make to the release candidate (RC) of Windows 7, Microsoft on Friday unveiled 28 more changes it plans to make before upgrading the operating system from beta to Release Candidate.
The additions are small changes based on user feedback, the majority of which affect Windows Explorer and the desktop experience. It is the second group of revisions Microsoft has disclosed for Windows 7.
"There are many [changes], and this is not an exhaustive list," according to an Engineering Windows 7 blog post. "Of course we continue to gather telemetry from the large number of people running the Beta full time."
Let's take a look at what users can expect.
Desktop Experience
Changes to the desktop primarily deal with making shortcuts more accessible and manageable.
First up is an improved taskbar thumbnail overflow. When you have a lot of browser windows open, rolling over the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar, for example, will pop up a list of all the open windows rather than thumbnails.
In the beta, those thumbnails include a little "x" box to let you close them out immediately. The list, however, required users to right click and close. In the RC, therefore, there will be a little "x" on each listed item for easy closure.
Microsoft has also added some additional functionality to Windows 7 Jump Lists.
"Right-clicking on the Control Panel icon on the taskbar in Beta revealed a noticeably sparse Jump List," the Windows team wrote. "In RC the Control Panel Jump List offers quick access to recently used items."
In addition, the RC will include a PowerShell Jump List, and let users pin their remote desktop shortcuts to their Jump Lists so they always appear.
Windows Explorer and Libraries
In the interest of performance, Microsoft removed several legacy features when developing Windows 7. Users, however, expressed disappointment about some of these changes – including the deletion of invert selection.
Invert selection is a feature that helps you select a large number of files, all at once. If you have 5 files in Windows Explorer and you highlight one of them, clicking invert selection will switch your selection to highlight only the four other files.
"Despite the small percentage of usage we've recorded, those who missed it have been pretty vocal," Microsoft said, so the function will be re-added to the RC.
The Windows 7 team has also re-organized folder display in Windows Explorer.
"When there isn't enough room to display the parent folder's full name, it will appear truncated instead of going into the overflow,' they said. "If space is especially tight, then the current folder's name may appear truncated too, but in all cases the parent folder's button will remain as a click target in the address bar."
The need to easily find files also applies to music, Microsoft said. In the "Artist" field of the Music Library, songs are group by contributing artists and not album artist. If one of your favorite singers does a lot of duets, their songs will likely show up in different artist categories.
"In RC, the 'Artist' view in the Music Library groups together multiple tracks from an album by the common 'Album Artist' property when it is available, groups tracks from compilation albums together into a 'Various Artists' group and finally resorts to grouping by 'Contributing Artist,'" Microsoft said. "This reduces clutter when browsing music collection by artist, in addition to improving consistency with artist views in other applications and devices."
What else? The "new folder" button in Explorer will always appear, not just when nothing is selected. The context menu will show up when users click on any large white space in Explorer. The Content View section will include labels so users know exactly which properties are being shown for each item. Trimmed down shutdown and log-off WAV files will save up to 400 milliseconds. And PCs and laptops have been added to Device Stage.
Finally, Microsoft has added support for the multi-touch zoom feature in Explorer.
Devices and Printers
Not sure it's safe to remove a device? The Windows 7 beta includes the standard "safely remove hardware" functionality, plus an eject option in the context menus. In the RC, Microsoft will combine these two opens and re-name it "Eject." The tool Notification Area icon still appears, but its context menu now has the option to open devices and printers.
Have your USB devices stopped working after a suspend or resume cycle? When this happened in beta, Microsoft instructed users to unplug and re-plug the device – not a workable option for internal devices. "This workaround will not be needed on RC builds," Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, the team identified and fixed a bug that prevented users from connecting their 1394 HDV cameras for streaming to beta machines.
Microsoft has also restored the "add legacy hardware" functionality to help add non-plug and play devices.
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