Some Changes Since Beta for the RC

Article
02/26/2009

We’ve been quite busy for the past two months or so working through all the feedback we’ve received on Windows 7. It should be no surprise but the Release Candidate for Windows 7 will have quite a few changes, many under the hood so to speak but also many visible. Some have asked if the featureset is "frozen" then what will we change--we change a lot of things in the beta based on feedback and we try to do so in a systematic manner with the focus on the goals for the release. The goal of having a fully functional Beta was to make sure we received reliable feedback and not a lot of "hey this doesn't work at all" sorts of reports. This has allowed us to really focus on delivering a refined RC where the changes we made are all the reflection of feedback we have received.

Building on the previous post that looked at the broad view of feedback, we want to start posting on the feedback and the engineering actions we’ve taken in responding to the feedback. We won’t be able to cover all the changes (as we’re still busy making them), but for today we wanted to start with a sampling of some of the more visible changes. We’re still on the same path working towards the release candidate and of course we know everyone is anxious for the next phase of our path to RTM. In the meantime, our full time machines are still running the Beta build.

Today’s post is from Chaitanya, who has previously posted on some of the core user interface work. --Steven

This blog post talks about a few of the improvements that will be in our Release Candidate (RC) based upon customer feedback. There are many under the hood changes (bug fixes, compatibility fixes, performance improvements, and improvements) across the entire dev team that we just don’t have room to discuss here, but we thought you’d enjoy a taste of some changes made by three of our feature teams: Core User Experience, Find & Organize and Devices & Media. The comments in this article come from a variety of verbatim sources, with identifying information withheld.

Desktop Experience

1. Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) with Aero Peek

We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback about Aero Peek and how it helps customers switch windows with increased confidence. Daniel wrote to tell us “I’m wondering why Peek was never implemented for the ALT + TAB window. The thumbnails look/behave the same way as the taskbar thumbnails when you hover the mouse over them. It seems logical that they would exhibit the peek behavior, too”. We decided to make this change since we heard many requests for it. One can still quickly flip between and cycle through running windows using the ALT+TAB keys, but when more window information is needed Aero Peek will appear. This is triggered by a time delay as you pause while keyboarding through running windows.

Fig 1.

Aero Peek triggered from Windows Flip (ALT+TAB)

2. Windows Logo + <#> keyboard shortcut

Enthusiasts often ask us for more keyboard shortcuts to simplify their common tasks. Efficiency is key. We’ve answered with a very powerful new keyboard shortcut for the taskbar that may just alienate mice everywhere. Pressing Windows Logo + <#> (where <#> corresponds to an item’s order in Quick Launch) in Vista would simply launch the item. As part of our unification of Quick Launch with the taskband in Windows 7, we now beef up the shortcut so it can both launch and switch. For example, if IE wasn’t running in Fig 1 then Windows Logo + 2 will launch the program (as it did in Vista). If IE is running with a single window, the same shortcut will now switch to the program. The magic really begins when IE is running with several windows or tabs—holding down the Windows Logo and tapping the 2 key repeatedly will actually cycle through the open IE items off the taskbar (with Aero Peek, of course). Letting go simply switches to the corresponding window. Think of this as per-program ALT +TAB shortcut for the first 10 items on the taskbar. If you need a new instance for IE, simply use SHIFT + Windows Logo + <#>. A program’s Jump List may also be accessed via ALT+ Windows Logo + <#>. Finally, you can even flip back to the last active window of a program by using CTRL+ Windows Logo + <#> (this also works by holding CTRL with a mouse click on a taskbar button). Keyboard aficionados rejoice!

3. Needy State

“Needy window” is the internal term we use for a window that requires your attention. Since the ‘90s, the taskbar has always provided some type of visualization to alert the customer to this state such as by flashing the button. A careful balance must be struck between providing information and not irritating the customer. With the new taskbar, we received feedback that Outlook reminders or a Messenger chat sometimes went unnoticed because needy windows were too subtle. For example, Mudassir opened a bug to say “The flashing is not obvious enough to get user's attention. Sometime I don't even notice it. It flashes for a little bit and then stops. If I am away the icon flashes and stops before I come back. The icon is not noticeable.” We’ve made three changes that should address the issue. First, we changed the flashing animation curve to make it more noticeable (from a sine to a sawtooth wave). Second, we used a bolder orange color. Finally, we wanted to double the number of flashes which is currently set to three. As a nod to Windows 7, we decided to go with seven flashes instead.

4. Taskbar “Open With”

Quick Launch always supported the ability to drop a file onto a pinned program and have it open with that program. The new taskbar on the other hand, always treats a drop as a pin command. Drop a program and the program is pinned. Drop a file and the file will be pinned under its respective program’s Jump List and that program automatically gets pinned to the taskbar. It was important for us to keep drag/drop consistent. We believe that for most cases people will open files through the desktop by just double-clicking them or from the Jump List and the default program will open. However, there are some scenarios when a customer wants to open a certain file type with another program. We heard this feedback and decided to revive “Open With” drag/drop on the taskbar with a keyboard modifier. One can hold down SHIFT and drop the file on the desired program.

5. Taskbar scaling

We’ve reclaimed lots of space on the taskbar by unifying launching/switching, by collapsing open windows and by cleaning the notification area. Still, some have asked for even more room to pin the programs they use regularly. We’ve made a change to squeeze in 24-39% more icons before the taskbar scrolls; depending upon your resolution, icon size and assuming the default notification area. Table 1 illustrates the new button capacity before the taskbar begins to scroll as well as the capacity growth since Beta. We believe customers will find more than enough room to pin their common programs.

Table 1.

Maximum taskbar button capacity before scrolling

Resolution	Large Icons	Small Icons	% Increase from Beta (large/small icons)
800x600	10	15	25% / 36%
1024x768	15	22	25% / 38%
1280x1024	20	29	25% / 32%
1600x1200	26	39	24% / 39%

6. Anchoring taskbar thumbnails

Hovering or clicking on a taskbar button surfaces all the running windows for that program. Upon seeing a set of open thumbnails, Kozlow asked “How do I know which application has opened the thumbnails group?” In other words, the thumbnails didn’t appear visually connected to the taskbar. We made a visual update that now keeps the color hot-track effect on when the mouse is over a thumbnail. In fig 2 you can see that IE retains its blue Color Hot-track visual even though the mouse is over a thumbnail.

Fig 2.

Color Hot-track stays active when the mouse hovers over taskbar thumbnails

7. Newly installed programs

“Customer in control” is so strong a mantra for Windows 7 we don’t even allow programs to pin themselves to the taskbar when they are installed. This is a task expressly reserved for the customer. We’ve gotten some requests to make this goal a bit easier so now when a program is installed, it is automatically and temporarily surfaced at the bottom of the Start Menu. The customer can easily discover this new addition, launch it directly and optionally drag it to the taskbar for convenient access in the future.

8. Jump List length

Jump Lists are proving to be a valuable tool to quickly jump to commonly access files, folders, links and tasks. Steve filed a bug in which he said “The whole point of the jump list is to make it easier to jump to your favorite locations. However, it doesn't save me time having to scan through a long list of frequent locations.” In other words, sometimes it’s hard to parse an item when the list gets too long. Our telemetry data informs us that in most cases customers are clicking on the first 10 items. Therefore, we’ve updated Jump Lists so that only a maximum of 10 items may be automatically suggested (this doesn’t apply to tasks or pinned items). Don’t worry—there’s even a setting for enthusiasts to customize the length of the list.

9. Increased pinning flexibility with Jump List

For organizational, scaling and identification purposes, the taskbar is designed to hold files, folders and links in a program’s Jump List. Items can only be pinned to the Jump List of programs registered to handle that file type. Based on feedback we’ve received we now allow one to pin items to a Jump List belonging to a program that isn’t registered to handle that file type. Better yet, pinning the item in most cases will create a new registration so that launching it from the Jump List will always open the file with that specific program. For example, one can pin an .HTML file to Notepad’s Jump List and when clicked on from the menu, the file will always open in Notepad even though IE by default handles the file type.

10. Desktop icon and gadget view options

Windows 7 makes gadgets far easier to manage, view and access by building them directly into the desktop. David’s feedback matches what others were telling us: “In Vista, I was able to hide desktop icons while my gadgets were still visible and available. I liked this feature in Vista, especially with all the icons that are constantly dropped on the desktop by app installers. I don't want to see the icons, but I still want to see my gadgets.” In Beta it was impossible to separate desktop icons from gadgets under the View setting available by right-clicking on the desktop. We made a change to afford independent control to each so that one can opt to hide just her gadgets or just her desktop icons.

Touch

11. Aero Peek for touch

We’re excited about Peek and we further refined its functionality. Our touch customers enjoy the benefits of direct manipulation, but inform us they feel left out of some of new functionality that’s available for the mouse and keyboard. We’ve made two improvements that spreads the love. First, the taskbar’s thumbnails now support a touch gesture so one can drag her finger across the UI and trigger Aero Peek. Also, the Show Desktop button is improved so a press-and-hold will allow the customer to peek at the desktop. A regular tap in both these scenarios still to commits the switch.

12. Multi-touch touch keyboard

A funny thing happens when one uses touch to interact with a software keyboard for the first time. The natural instinct is to press multiple buttons simultaneously like they do with a real keyboard. It’s quite reasonable to try to use SHIFT + <letter> to capitalize, for example. RC ushers in multi-touch support for the Touch Keyboard so that customers enjoy a more realistic experience.

13. Multi-touch right-click

People who are rely on touch give us mixed feelings towards tap and hold to bring up a context menu. This approach works, but it also involves a slight delay. We now have a fast new multi-touch gesture for right-click. Simply touch an item with one finger and use another finger to tap and summon a context menu.

14. Drag/Drop and selection

In Beta there was no discoverable way to select text in a website that scrolled both horizontally and vertically. Customers are now able to drag/drop and select items with touch, even inside scrolling pages. The new behavior is optimized for the two most common actions by touch customers—scrolling up and down and dragging left to right.

Networking

15. Internet access feedback

The new network experience from the taskbar’s notification area makes it much easier to find and connect to networks. People seem to also really like the wireless signal strength that is available at a glance. In our effort to simplify the experience we removed indications for some advanced scenarios. Based upon feedback, we’ve decided to introduce a new overlay icon which now reveals when there is a local connection without internet access.

Control Panel

16. User Account Control

If you’ve been following this blog, then you already know about a recent design change we’ve made that will prompt for any modification made to the UAC Control Panel. For more information, please refer to the earlier post on UAC Feedback and Follow-Up.

17. Locking a machine without a screensaver

It isn’t uncommon for IT administrators to want their corporate machines to auto-lock after a certain amount of time. In Beta, enabling this functionality required a screensaver to be set. We’ve since made a change to allow this functionality even when no screensaver is specified.

18. Faster access to High Performance power plan

Clicking on the battery flout from the taskbar notification area offers two different power plans: Balanced and Power saver. Windows 7 laptops are configured by default to use the Balanced plan since this setting best balances a good experience while promoting more environmentally friendly power use. However, some customers tell us they want to be able to quickly toggle between Balanced and High Performance (yet another power plan). We’ve taken a change to now show the latter in the flyout menu when it is enabled under the Power Options Control Panel.

19. Custom theme improvements

We’ve always known customers love personalizing their Windows experience. At the center of this expression of individuality are ingredients such as the desktop background, glass color, sounds and screensavers. In Windows 7 we’ve introduced themes that make it easy to enable a whole package of default combinations or for customers to save their own creations. However, during Beta we heard feedback along the lines of “I just changed my background or color and I see the change, but I thought it was saved when it really wasn’t”. We added text under each theme to not only aid in identification, but also to provide feedback on the state of a theme. The new “Unsaved Theme” text also ties better to the nearby “Save theme” command. These tweaks should make personalization a more predictable and enjoyable experience.

Windows Media Player

20. Improved Internet Radio playback

Internet radio playback continues to gain in popularity. We received feedback that sometimes playback of radio streams may be inconsistent depending on network conditions. It’s worth noting that our understanding of this issue was greatly helped by the broad scale of usage across so many customers and network topologies and our telemetry in the Beta. Windows Media Player has made changes to make streaming playback more reliable and resilient.

21. Improved playback support for video content from digital camcorders and cameras

Customers loved the increased range of formats natively supported by the Windows 7 Beta, but noticed areas where they wanted broader support. For example, one was unable to seek to a specific spot in the video in Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center for AVCHD content that was imported from a digital camcorder. We’ve addressed this. Also, while the support for video from some digital cameras worked great, we also got feedback about supporting a broader set of devices out of the box. We’ve since added support for Windows Media Player to natively support the .MOV files used to capture video for many common digital cameras.

22. Cleaner Now Playing view

Customers are sharing positive reviews of Media Player’s new light-weight Now Playing view. Still some have asked to make the experience even cleaner. We’ve responded with a visual update that is more lightweight and compact.

23. Filtering content that cannot be played

Media Player’s library view is designed to surface and showcase one’s content. However, in some cases items were displayed that couldn’t be played. For example, Apple’s lossless .M4A or .H263 MPEG-4 content would be shown in a library even though Media Player could not play them. In RC, this content will no longer appear in the library view so that there is better expectation of what is supported by the player.

24. Resume from sleep

Customers are used to resuming a CD or DVD after an interruption. With customers choosing new low-cost, smaller form-factor, machines without optical drives, an increasingly popular scenario is to have content played directly from the hard drive. In Beta, it was not possible to resume playback on such content after a laptop goes to sleep. Customers assume the experience should match that of physical media so we fixed the experience to meet this expectation.

25. Quieting Windows Media Player sync relationships

When Media Player is open and a portable media player or a USB drive is inserted, we trigger a dialog to determine whether a sync relationship should be created with the new device. Our original goal was to be proactive and help customers make a decision in context, but we received comments that this experience is jarring. As a result, we will no longer interrupt when the player is running. This is consistent with our “customer in control” goal of Windows 7 and we trust people can manually configure this should they wish to.

26. Easier access to advanced settings

What enthusiast doesn’t want to tweak her player settings? This was echoed by several comments so we’ve made it easier to access and adjust settings. The equalizer, play speed, SRS WOW and other options are now surfaced via the Now Playing context menu under Enhancements.

27. Jump List improvement

Media Player’s Jump List provides quick access to the content customers consume. The list becomes even more powerful and complete in the RC now that we also include items launched from Explorer.

Device Stage

28. Enriching the Device Stage ecosystem

Customers have been so positive about the new Device Stage experience, one of the biggest pieces of feedback we got was “Why aren’t even more of my devices supported?” We’ve taken that feedback to heart and then took the feedback to our IHV and OEM partners to get their support for more devices. Our hardware partners in turn asked us to make it easier to integrate with the Device Stage and we worked with them on improvements. Although Windows already supports tens of thousands of devices, customer feedback on the Beta introduces even more device support in RC via the new Device Stage experience.

Sound UX

29. Improving the headphone experience

Customers informed us that sometimes their audio streams did not properly move from the default speakers to their headphones. The fix required an update to the algorithm we use to detect new devices. In RC the transition works more reliably.

30. Increased audio reliability

In some cases people reported not having any audio device after installing Beta. The problem is that some audio hardware does not work out of the box with our inbox audio class driver. Amazingly there are over 26,000 custom audio drivers and while many are on Windows Update, many are still not. The Release Candidate tightens the Windows Logo test to better ensure clean install delivers baseline functionality for speakers and microphones. Furthermore, we will continue to populate Windows Update with frequently needed drivers.

Windows Explorer and Libraries

31. Improved header

It is great to see customers realize the convenience and power of libraries. Having files aggregated into one convenient view, without worrying where they are all physically located, simplifies many scenarios. The library header in Beta showed only a static string that reflected how many locations were represented as part of the library. We heard feedback that this wasn’t very clear and more importantly, customers preferred to have more information so that they could be better orientated themselves. The RC will introduce a new header that updates to reveal the subfolder as one browses a library. Furthermore, the “Arrange by” views are better expose in the upper right, in proximity of the other view and search controls.

32. Reduced confusion with drag/drop

The Release Candidate will remove the ability to drag/drop a folder into the Libraries node in the Explorer navigation pane. We know some liked this functionality to create a new library, but it also presented some serious design issues. For example, some were surprised to find a new library was created when their intent was to simply copy the folder. More seriously though, there were circumstances where people then deleted the original folder thinking it was already copied. Data loss is a grave concern of ours and we don’t want customers to suffer from such a mistake. Don’t worry though—one can still easily create a new library using the “New Library” or “Include in Library” commands in the Explorer command bar.

33. Reviving familiar entry points

Mando writes, “In Win7 the Win+E shortcut opens an explorer window but the path is “Libraries” instead (which isn’t where I want to go most of the time). Is there a way to configure the target folder of “Win+E” or is there an alternate shortcut that will get me to the “Computer” path like it did in Vista?” RC reverts the behavior and now the shortcut will launch the “Computer” Explorer. Also, we changed the link in Start Menu -> Username to match the Vista behavior.

34. FAT32 support

Local FAT32 hard disk drives were not support in libraries for Beta. RC libraries will now support non-removable FAT32 and NTFS hard disk drives thanks to the feedback we received.

35. Arrangement view enhancements

It’s been great to see people’s reaction to the arrangement views in libraries. Being able to browse using metadata certainly makes quick work of finding files. We’ve received many requests to further enhance the arrangement views in a variety of ways and we’ve made a number of changes in response to them. For starters, RC makes it easier to switch arrangement views—one can now do so directly from the view context menu, which is the familiar home of switching the view mode, sorting, and grouping. Second, the specific arrangement views themselves have been enhanced for RC. The “Month” and “Day” views in the Pictures library now group together both the pictures and videos taken on the same date, whereas previously the videos were split out into a separate group. The “Artist” and “Genre” views in the Music library now show the thumbnails for up to three unique albums per artist or genre instead of typically just one in Beta. The Videos library now features a Length view that lets customers split out the shorter clips from longer movies in their video collection. Finally, we’ve made it so that changing the grouping of the Folder view in a library is now remembered just like other arrangement view customization. People who prefer to see their files grouped a particular way no longer have to reset the grouping each time.

Performance

36. Improving performance through data

Feedback comes to us in many different forms. Typically it consists of comments customers share. However, some of the most valuable information actually comes to us automatically when people just use Windows. PerfTrack, for example, is a telemetry system that provides us with invaluable real-world performance data on over 500 different Windows scenarios. The exciting aspect of PerfTrack is that it represents what people are really experiencing “out in the wild”. Performance is a very important to both the engineering team as well as to our customers and we strive to continuously improve this area. The topic has been discussed in several posts on this blog.

Let’s look at just one example of a Windows scenario that was improved with the help of PerfTrack. The two graphs below show the performance of opening the Start Menu for both Beta and for a more recent version of Windows 7. Some caveats first—the sample sizes are different (after all Beta did go to a far wider audience) and these numbers shouldn’t be taken too literally since they really do just represent a snapshot. The different colors denote performance against the “interaction class”—the acceptable experience range defined by each feature team. In this case we want the Start Menu to appear within 50ms to 100ms. A trace capturing tool running on each machine lets us investigate and fix what may be impacting performance. The charts shows in Beta 85% of interactions were within the acceptable range (i.e. green or yellow, but not red). After examining the traces and making some optimizations, we find 92% of interactions are this range for a more recent build.

Fig 3.

Start Menu Open Times for Windows 7 Build 7000 (Beta)

Fig 4.

Start Menu Open Times for Windows 7 Build 7033

As is evident from this sample of changes, we’ve been very busy improving Windows 7 based upon what our customers are telling us in many forums.

- Chaitanya Sareen

Comments

Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Excellent changes. Another useful keyboard shortcut with Aero peek would be

make current top window transparent.
make all windows of current top application transparent.

Anonymous
February 25, 2009
wow.. this is gr8 changes.. and they're so handy.. when do this RC available ?
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
excellent. thanks very very much. if internet icon of w7 was like same at XP, that show us send/receive status by animation.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
These are some really nice ease of use/visual changes, I was actually half way through writing a program for the Aero Alt-Tab myself. One minor improvement I'd like to see is for the windows task bar to have the same minimum vertical width as it does when its horizontal.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
start menu of XP is better and easier :(
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I love windows, windows 7 is awsome, I think Mark Russinovich have a large good influence on main positive feature, I mean Performance, his work, his tools, are awesome !, but his source codes are not available unfortunately because of microsoft's policy...
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I am an MSDN user, who has access to the BETA but cannot send feedback. My MSDN id does not allow me to use the feedback tool. Why is this? I have one irritating problem that I can not report, but other than this Windows7 + Intel X-25M SSD = one blindlingly fast system!
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I have the same problem as vistisen: with my msdn id I cannot use the feedback tool. Another thing missing: in Windows Explorer, when I'm "browsing" one of my hard disks, I like to know wherever I am the free disk space left on the device. I don't want to have to go to Computer in the tree view to see how many free space I have left on each disk. Maybe it could be back on the status bar of Explorer? And add a "folder size" column in the details view, so we don't have to mouse over a folder to see a folder size, one folder by one, but have a global view instantly. It would really be great! Thank you
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
"10. Desktop icon and gadget view options Windows 7 makes gadgets far easier to manage, view and access by building them directly into the desktop. " It's not easier to view because now my gadgets are either covered by a maximized (or right half-window sized) application, or have to sit on top of other apps and get in the way. My screen is 1920 pixels wide, which gives me room for two side by side portrait pages and a sidebar. Having sidebar space for me to look up my calendar, weather, sticky notes, run a media player etc is a huge win ... but now it's gone in W7. There is so much material in the literature on reading about persistent cues in the environment, and now W7 takes a step backwards. (Actually 2 steps, because despite the work on screen-fonts the system contrast levels are even poorer than Vista).
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Please provide some images of the changes you mentioned in windows media player. WMP is the worst app so far in the beta.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I WONT WINDOWS 7 TODAY Great Work TEAM CONGRATULATION!!!!!
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I really wish some changes can be done to change the start button, although it's just an aesthetic issue, I think not only myself but a lot of people also feel that the start button just doesn't go too well with the new taskbar, it just seems out of place and no longer stands out. But good to see you guys are making great and steady improvements. Keep it up!
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
The old start menu was first debuted in Windows 95 almost 13 years ago. The original Windows Codename "Chicago" which is the basis for Windows 95 goes all the way back to 1993. That would make this concept now 15 years old. Don't you think its time for a change after this long of the old model? Now some of you will say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, in away it is broken if you are so dependent on the original that you can't use a variation of the original. Cars made today do not resemble cars of the 1930's, 1950's, or the 1960's, yet people seem to use them just fine. I do believe the new start menu is way more efficient than the old. If you aren't constantly challenging yourself to improve, then you become static and suceptable to the status quo. Completely unable to adapt to a constantly changing world and the demands of computing. Its time to evolve the way Windows users interface with Windows. The old 95 era start menu just doesn't cut it anymore. I was just like you guys. I stuck with the classic menu all the way though XP. However, I decided to try the new method in Windows Vista. I learned to make it work for me, by unlearning what I did in old days. By keeping open minded and adjusting the way I do things. Today, you can do that because hard drives are cheap and you can keep your old OS, while learning the new one. People make the time to learn and change. It's just time for users to grow and adapt to necessary changes in Windows. Now that I got that off my chest, I wanted to thank Chaitanya Sareen for the explanation of changes made to Windows 7 RC. I truely cannot wait for the RC to become available and to check out what we can do with this new OS. I like what I'm reading about the changes made thanks to facilitate a more efficient and consumer friendly Windows 7. I this article is a fantastic counter to a blog post on Paul Thurrott's "Supersite for Windows. http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/02/25/microsoft-seriously-we-re-listening-to-your-windows-7-feedback.aspx Paul basically is saying that users aren't being listened to. I disagree. I think the telemetry, the feedback, the changes leading to the RC are proof that people are being listened to. Many of us blog about it, other of us are being proactive in the beta, and sometimes both. I just hope Microsoft continues to listen and be proactive with users to create a very solid product.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Yay, sounds great. Microsoft fixes performance issues and bugs. Usability stuff. That's exactly the stuff I'm whining about all the time. But to quote Paul Thurrot once more (http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/02/25/microsoft-seriously-we-re-listening-to-your-windows-7-feedback.aspx): "The real problem here is that the feature set of Windows 7 was frozen well before the Beta release." Sadly this is true as well. And as it looks like everyone else posts his wishes here I will do that too: Update the WMP visualisations. Add Ken Burns effect for Slideshows to Explorer or Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
An excellent set of changes, almost addressing my issue with switching to multi-window apps on the taskbar, except: What if I'm not a keyboard aficionado? Some of the most important time-savers there are impossible of you don't have the keyboard handy. For example, Ctrl-click on an app is cool in that it gives you the most recent active window. Let's say I'm only using the mouse. In the beta, if I click on a grouped icon, it only pops up the thumbnail previews. I hate this because I can see the thumbnails by just hovering. Why not have it so that when we click on a grouped icon, the application is switched to just like a single-window app? You could put the focus on the last active window, while bringing all the windows forward. This way I wouldn't need to click Ctrl, and I can't think of a way this would disrupt regular experience. Another suggestion I've heard is for multiple clicks on a grouped icon to quickly cycle focus through that app's windows. For the 'Open With' change, maybe you guys could add an Open With task to the jumplist that we can drop files on, which would save us from having to reach for Shift on the keyboard.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I still miss a better logon screen..., and a better used space drive graphics... only are eye candy, but when i see windows 7, i don't want to recognize vista or windows XP or even 2000 screens, this remaining screen look so old and i think than is easy give a better looking
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Thanks for the interesting post. Good to see the development is going on well. (One tip: the screenshots are way to small and almost unreadable).
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
/me gives a big round of applause! Some real nice changes and nice to see some of my suggestions made it too :-)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Look forward to testing out the changes on the public RC. However, am curious as to the status of various bits of feedback I (and obviously others may have provided) that don't get a mention here?

BitLocker... in the Beta, exFAT formatted USB authentication keys do not work. BitLocker itself doesn't complain about it when one inserts a key of such formatting, nor is there any information as to why an exFAT key won't work as FAT, FAT32 & NTFS formatted ones work just dandy.
Yay for being able to re-arrange taskbar windows (new for Windows 7 after years of requests :P) but I've had explorer crash and restart a few times and noticed window stacks may not have individual windows back in the same order (see fig. 2 in blog post)... however, I can re-arrange the individual windows like I might expect to be able to since I see a pop-up of window previews, complete with close button which otherwise suggests there are draggable...

Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Everything is great, but one thing that annoys me is that I can't change background and color in Windows Meida Player 12. It always is in this disgusting light blue color!!!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
While I think the WinKey + # keyboard shortcuts have the potiental of being useful, unless there is some sort of numeric indicator on the taskbar icons people are going to have to count out from the side to figure out which # key launches what. As a solution for this, why not overlay numbers over the icons when the windows key is pressed.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
@vistisen: Use your Windows Live ID to send feedback? www.passport.net > you can even flip back to the last active window of a program > by using CTRL+ Windows Logo + <#> (this also works by holding > CTRL with a mouse click on a taskbar button). Great, this was one of the bigger annoyances! Appearantly this already works in the beta? Or was it rolled out with Windows Update? It might be even better if a click activated the last window and displayed the window list at the same time. Hovering already shows you the list anyway.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
It would be nice to be able to see small numbers at the top right hand corner of the application icons on the taskbar to see what applications you still have open before logging off or shutting down. At the moment I find myself using the Force shut down option quite often insead of checking everything I have pinned to the taskbar and shutting down. By having the icons on the taskbar you are unable to really see what you have open unless you hover over them. If for example you could see the Internet Explorer icon had a little 4 at the right hand corner and Word, Powerpoint, Communicator, Excel etc all had no numbers then you could go straight to IE and close the 4 Windows and then log off instead of having to hover over the other icons and see if you had other windows open. This would save time.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
First of all, you deserve all respect - after Windows Vista (and in any case), Windows 7 is an awesome step forward ! It's a pleasure to use already beta 1. About Greedy Windows flahsing: Could Windows not delay Taskbar flashing until it detects either keyboard or mouse activity ? And THEN flashes seven times ? This would make sure the user is in front of the PC and (usually) looking at the screen. In any case, I am looking forward to the final version.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Please do something to the START BUTTON to make it stand out as something more than just another pinned program icon. The way it is currently MUST be breaking some kind of UX guideline ? ... or am I off base ? (Just my 2cents worth). Other than that, good job Win7 team ! :-)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
hi steve please reenable "show network actitity in system tray" with animation as windows xp(2003,2008) why cut this function? really need it.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Fantastic!! These changes are great, and solve a number of the small issues I had during the beta. The only concern I still have is with the "Artist" view in the Media Library. It groups by "Contributing Artist", not "Album Artist". Windows Media Player groups by album artist and it structures the folders according to the album artist as well. Almost all other devices (iPod, etc) use Album Artist - so it looks like either a design flaw or implementation bug in the Media Library - the music library view is inconsistent with the rest of Windows and most consumer devices. I'd take a guess the specification for the feature was vauge and the developer programmed it to use the ID3 "Artist" tag - which is less meaningful from a UI perspective than "Album Artist".
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Excuse me OT. But the RC is 7033 ? or different version?
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I don't like how the Windows Media Player doesn't allow to drag and resize in all directions like other windows do. When you grab the bottom right corner it should allow to drag in all directions but it doesn't. It only grows one way. :(
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I'm disappointed that the Win-E change was reverted. Not having a Win-key shortcut to the documents folder is a major irritation for me (solved using WinKey to define a new one, but still). Not having a shortkey key to the place where the majority of users store their documents is puzzling.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
It would be really great to be able to choose what kind of files we want to see within libraries (documents librarie-> I choose to see only Word, PDF and Exel docs) The preview system is not good, try to preview a word document with piture, it's awful and it takes a while to open ! Great job but you can do much more !!!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
It would be great to have a center or option menu to set all the keyboards shortcuts of windows and common applications. I really don't like WMP shortcuts, I would be happy to be able to change them. By the way, why the button 'Go back to librarie' are not the same in WMP and Windows live photo gallery. And the three galleries have different look... it's not good !
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
No mention of making changes to the schizophrenic font situation. Some dialogs (correctly) use Segoe UI. Some use Tahoma. Others use MS Sans Serif. Some, such as the IE options dialog, use a mixture. Tabs and buttons almost uniformly use MS Sans Serif, even if the rest of the dialog uses Segoe UI. When will Microsoft sort this out? It looks terrible, and distracts from the many positive things that W7 contains.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The problem of space on the task bar would be alleviated if you would finally give us the option to span the startbar across all of our displays and show the items that are running on that startbar. (like Ultramon, but with full functionality native to the OS) And as for networking, you still need to make it easier and faster to get to the adapter's properties. Please give us the same thing for wired networks as wireless on the icon so that we can one click and access the network adapter properties again like we could in XP. I know you want to dumb it down for users, but it's a real PITA. I can't tell you how much time I waste with networking over Windows XP as a result.... great for non-techies, but horrible for everyone else. Also, please finish the Device center. it's excellent, but needs to allow me to get to all of my devices. And it needs to work better with WS devices such as my canon mx-850. It doesn't work well at all networked right now because the scanner part can't be installed or detected and the ws driver keeps reinstalling even when I have the canon drivers installed. Otherwise, Windows 7 is a VAST improvement on Vista and an excellent OS. Congrates guys :)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I like that media player won't flake out with bad data types, but why not support some of these formats? I understand that there are some weird formats out there, but there is no good reason why my M4A files won't play. This immediately results in the notion,"Apple will play it, why am I using windows media player?"
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
One change I'd really like to see regars using the taskbar on a vertical position. I've started using the taskbar on the right side to make better use of my widescreen monitor. In Win7, for the first time it actually felt right, no glitches, no weard behavior at all, but there's one deal breaker: the taskbar is a little too wide: you can clearly see there is too much extra room in each side of the icons. Then I tried to use small icons, and for my surprise, the taskbar size did not change at all. I really hope you adress that, as widescreen monitors are becoming the default on most computers, and Win7 should allow us to make the best possible with the layout they provide.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
About networking change. I hope this is not the only change there is with networking in the Notification Area. Me as an admin, we're in desperate need to be able to right click on a networking icon, and adjust the properties of the network. Starting Vista this feature is gone. Uh, how nice it was in XP, we always in our corporate network are enabling these two blinking computers even when the connection exists, and we always use the right click to get the the place where IP address is to be configured. In Vista, and in 7 left clicking or right clicking makes no difference. Even after opening the Networking and Sharing Center, Properties of the network is still not there, no right click even there... Very far it's become hidden from an administrator to adjust the network connection settings.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
@LuxZg I can see lots of blinking getting annoying, but it's better than the "hopping" icons on OSX. It's enough to make me insane. Perhaps mousing over the blinking could cancel it, then you could mouse over your MSN icons (with one linear mouse motion) to return them to a normal state. (Configurable!)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Cool changes. On the gadgets, I may be in the minority, but my Vista configuration I actually use the sidebar to keep a close eye on my workstation performance. Instead of completely eliminating the sidebar, why not make an option to autohide or turn off the bar? On the design side, windows support for multi-monitor setups has been maturing over the years, but there is always one thing missing: the option to have the taskbar extend to the other monitors. Another feature that seems compromised in multi-monitor pcs is the coordinate system. Windows seem to always assume that the primary display sits at (0,0), the leftmost screen usually. In some cases this is not true, like in a three monitor setup, whereas I have users picking the center monitor as the main display. In this case some applications seem confused by the setup, specially if one or more of the displays are set in a different orientation from the primary (portrait vs landscape). Easily the best example is the Win7Beta wallpaper utility. Set two or three monitors, at least one of them in portrait mode and the primary in landscape. Choose the wallpaper and you will find out how some of the options (full, scale, etc) stop working as intended.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
There's a behavior I noticed in beta but didn't see addressed here. Jump lists will show hidden files and folders, which seems like a privacy/security risk. The easiest example is the Windows Explorer jumplist of recently visited/opened items. If you go to a hidden folder a few times in Explorer (let's say you have your registration codes in there or your personal financial data or something), it'll show up clearly visible in the jumplist for Windows Explorer as a recently or commonly visited folder, and anyone can easily click to access it. Obviously encrypting and such is the best security policy. But a hidden file or folder should never become "unhidden" by appearing in a jumplist, unless specifically pinned there by the user.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Can we please stop being afraid of file extensions? By default, Windows 7 still hides file extensions for known file types. People have been living with file extensions on all common OSes for years now. They know what they are. It's not necessary to hide this anymore, and it can actually lead to confusion, naming files with multiple extensions (photo.jpg.jpg for example), stuff like that.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
@jasoncross: agree about hiding the extensions, being a "power user". But i know enough people who are still confused why their file stopped working after they renamed it (guess why :D) Why do we need extensions anyway? A certain other OS opens files basing on the format, not the extension afaik, why not do the same for windows? ^^ I must admit i liked the fact that win7 (and vista, too) do not mark the extension when you rename a file. It might be a bit annoying in some scenarios but i'm happy about it most of the time.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Great ! Looking forward to the release.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I have windows & beta 7000 and I do like the peformance boost from vista. I would love to see the return of the windows XP layout including eplorer and the start menu. maybe it might be possible to add the royale 06 theme to windows 7. I have the 64 bit beta and even though compatability is improved with 32 bit apps I would like to see you guys do more to improve 32 bit compatability like emulation for 32 bit apps. A 64 bit OS is the way forward and hope to see it work better. I realy want to move to 64 bit and hope Mirosoft does something to improve the 64 bit OS. I just hope that all the drivers for my ACER Aspire 6920 will be included in Windows 7 , because I want to get rid of vista off this laptop.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
How about adding Ctrl + P to bring up file properties? For example, select a file or files in Windows Explorer and press Ctrl + P to bring up the properties dialog.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I like Windows 7 and could use this beta forever as far as I'm concerned. There is one LARGE annoying problem for me in that if you make a new folder, name it and click on it - you open in a random folder - for some reason. You then have to click out of that and find your new named folder and click into it. Is it just me?????????????

My test machine rates 4.0 as does my older Vista PC. I just turned on old Vista to update it (165 MB download!) and found it antiquated and slightly confusing and slow after Win 7. I have implemented all the mods on the net to make it look like 7. Unfortunately, I will not buy 2 copies of Windows 7, so this emergency standby machine will have to keep Vista, I suppose.

Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I am wondering if this rc will include the video drivers for the intel 855GM? The beta of windows 7 does not include these drivers that were included with windows vista. As a result my laptop will only run at a 1024x768 resolution. Why did microsoft include these drivers in windows vista but removed them in windows 7?
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Is there any chance of changes being made to the appalling Vista Windows Explorer behaviour of closing itself when a CD/DVD is ejected? I couldn't find any option to turn this off and it's still there in W7. This alone has forced me to install a third party explorer replacement when I need to work on lots of discs. While I can prevent this behaviour by selecting another drive before hitting the eject button, this is unecessary extra clickage that is easily forgotten when ploughing through a stack of archival DVDs. XP Explorer simply dropped the focus to the next drive letter in the list. Also "Invert Selection" being removed from Explorer - another reason to avoid what is becoming a increasingly useless file management interface for power users :( I'm a big fan of everything else you've done with W7 usability and the general interface though - looking forward to seeing it on the shelf.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
We can't just write well done, good, you are gods ... We must press on with our non-working bits and favourite suggestions until the very last second - before Windows 7 goes to manufacturing, to be produced on a USB thumb drive for sale. (To save the plastic landfill of Vista.) :-)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Bring this back for hierarchical browsing, including the shortcut key Backspace. Back and forward buttons are fine for linear browsing, ie. web pages where there's nothing above or below, but completely impractical when browsing a directory structure where you can browse up/down as well as forward/back. You can easily end up in a loop of forward/back when hitting backspace to try and return up to the previous level.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009

Needy State ...As a nod to Windows 7, we decided to go with seven flashes instead. I think it's not much better - if I was away it doesn't metter 3, 5 or 7 flashes it did. I think it should be like microwave - it beeps thrice, but when I ignore it (or didn't hear) then it beeps once every minute. Please, do the same with flashes here

Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I wanted the Taskbar (Superbar) icons to have a "Medium" size icon setting. It's really all I've wanted for UI change. The large icons work and useful, however in some situations bigger than they should be. The small icons work great too, however can be too small to use. A medium setting would be perfect and really it wouldn't be a hard thing to add. You could just scratch that whole idea and go with a bar adjust setting like you did with UAC.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
While rendering of IE8 improved, it crashes a lot and I hope these will be fix in Win7 timeframe, otherwise IE8 will make Win7 look bad.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Awesome changes! But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I beg you, offer the option to use Vista task bar for people that have difficulties with the new bar, and PLEASE make windows and superbar not transparent when maximized, like Vista behavior (or at least have an option to change the behavior to Vista.) I can't use my applications under Windows 7, as the transparency is really distracting. I up for signing a petition!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
A better way of uninstalling applications. My thought is that just by right clicking and icon, clicking "uninstall" with of course asking "Are you sure you want to uninstall" would be a better choice than the current configuration which is a mess. Of course I would still keep the usual procedure. You can even make it a keyboard combination so no accidental uninstalls. If they are not admin of the computer then a password is needed or that option can be turned off by the admin. I know this is like small potatoes, but these small potatoes add up and can make a worthy experience. Please MS developers at least consider my idea.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
"Can we please stop being afraid of file extensions?" I agree, this causes security issues as the most common attack is an executable file with "picture.png.exe", (or "piture.exe") name and the 'exe' is hidden, and has a picture icon. Average users don't know, and even if you have UAC prompt, they will still hit Continue, because they will think it is normal and expected to require admin privileges, or think it's the picture viewing application that wants to get some updates or other reasons. You think you can go back in time and prevent the problem, but you allow application to delete System Restore points, so the executable file delete those. In other words a OS re-install is needed.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Please add a "Click Sound" option in the on-screen keyboard for touch screens. I have been expecting this feature since Vista. I believe it would greatly lessen mistakes in typing when using a tablet.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
When using the "Safely Remove" feature for potable devices, there some instances that it Windows cannot do so because the device is in use even though I have closed all windows/applications. This happens in some cases after you copied some files into your portable device or after you ran an installer from the device. I think this can still be improved.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Where are the week numbers? Where are all the other stuff from my blog?
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The new keyboard shortcuts will really come in handy; i don't need taskbar anymore! ;) It's extremely impressive you've done so much in 3 months. I suppose you planned most of those changes before, but still. Now I can only hope that there's awesome design polish is incoming ;).
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I think Windows 7 is great and I really like that you are listening so much to the feedback. Could you fix Windows Explorer? I keep setting it to sort by Type but it always loses that setting (I have tried all the reset settings/apply to all folders settings etc). I think the problem is because My Computer has different headers like size/total size/free space etc but I really want all my folders to be sorted by the file type but I need to manually do it. Also, I feel the Explorer was much more user friendly in Windows XP if you are a keyboard user than it is in Windows Vista and Windows 7. It keeps losing focus from the file list after copy paste operations and requires mouse intervention to click on the file list every so often.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
One more thing - Search from within windows explorer - Please allow me to open the search results in the new window. It opens a folder in the same window as the search window and if I want to go back to the results, it again performs the search. Something like the search in Windows XP would be great. (vista had the same problem)
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
PLEASE, add an "ALWAYS ON TOP" funcionality...
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Can WIndows 7 PLay RMVB video FORMAT? When Windows 7 launch? can't wait...
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
As anyone ever thought of multiple clipboards? like using Ctrl+C+1 Ctrl+C+2 etc. Probably over looked, but developers would love you for it!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Please add right-click resizing of photos/pictures into Explorer. This was a very handy feature in Windows XP Powertoys but missing from Vista.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Will it be possible to put DFS shares to a library? I think this would be really important for enterprise customers! thanks and good luck
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
>>“The flashing is not obvious enough to get >>user's attention. Sometime I don't even notice >>it. It flashes for a little bit and then stops" Huh? For me it flashes 3 times and then it starts to glow constantly. Impossible to miss.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The changes to Aero Flip and Aero Peek are great, but it would still be awesome to have multiple virtual desktops which preserve the layout of groups of windows that belong together. Although it's fairly niche and not everyone would use this, it would be really awesome to see that functionality in 7!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Microsoft should either merge Windows 7 Ultimate and Pro or add more features to Pro edition of Windows 7 like BitLocker, AppLocker and booting from VHD. WE DON'T WANNA BE A PART OF THAT PAY MORE GET MORE--ULTIMATE scheme.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Would it be possible to overlay images to highlight the available shortcuts when the windows key is pressed in a similar fashion to Office2007 when the ALT key is pressed?
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I was really expecting the Classic Start menu to come back. (This issue is still affecting quite a lot of Windows users). The fix just needs an option in Taskbar and Start menu properties. It's not a question of adapting to change, for me, it's an issue of accessibility since my left arm has a disability, so it's convenient to browse the Start menu by using the mouse. Typing by keyboard isn't very accessible for me. The overall trend seems to be towards making users deliberately use the keyboard even for those who're more comfortable with the mouse. Otherwise, MS would stop making use press SHIFT for additional context menu options that pop up only when SHIFT is pressed and instead make them always appear. I also second mphafner's brilliant suggestion.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
It would be nice to be able to see file extensions and hidden files as an option. Ialways have file extensions and hidden files exposed because it tends to make life easier for myself sometimes.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009

Will it be possible to put DFS shares to a library? I think this would be really important for enterprise customers!

You already can. Only thing is, a DFS link is shown in the UI as a File Folder in detail view BUT with a shortcut arrow. I can imagine this might lead to endusers inadvertently trying to delete the shortcuts but in effect attempting to delete the DFS target folder.

Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Still hoping for a few Explorer improvements. These will really put to rest the Explorer destroyed issues:

Showing the total size of all items and free space on either the status bar or the Details pane without requiring users to click "More details" or without requiring users to select items.
A "Folder size" column for local locations, that's disabled for network locations (to avoid excessive SMB traffic)
Option to turn off autorefresh-autosorting-autoarranging of files and folders.
All "Arrange by" arranges in Ascending order by default instead of Descending order which drives users mad
No full-row selection in List view so clicking on empty space does not select the file or folder. Also, please fix the "Blurry fonts on CRT" issue and "quick access to Network Connections" issue before RTM.

Anonymous
February 27, 2009
When does some of this get released to the average Joe?
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
What about temporarily disabling the window's docking feature? It is really annoying that you cannot move the window a bit off screen, or that you cannot move around any big window (like 800x600 on 1024x768 screen). I really love the feature, but there need to be a way how to turn it off. My preferable is to hold control while moving the window to temporarily disable the feature, as is usual and intuitive from other Microsoft applications.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Steven is right of course, this is not the time or the place to ask for NEW features. Windows 7 is "Feature complete" right now. It's way too late to ask for new features. The only reason I asked for Windows 7 to respect the user's choice of title bar color when themes are applied, is that it seems like a bug to me! I'll submit an item in Connect.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
All us to customize the thickness of the bulky window borders. All us to not have them AT ALL if we so choose. Please.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Windows Media Player... One simple need. The ability to pre-set the full screen resolution. I have HD content I would like played at a full 1920 X 200 but I don't like to keep my standard desktop at this resolution. It would be nice to have the resolution change automatically when I switch to full screen.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
A problem with the current taskbar is that when windows are grouped and we have many tabs or programs open, we cannot minimize just by clicking on the taskbar icon of the app, unlike when the windows are separate. The taskbar thumbnails only allow switching, they don't allow minimize. Maybe "minimize" can be added as well to the thumbnail preview. This is the reason I choose to never combine taskbar windows in Windows 7.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
That's why i started to use DESKTOP for everything I temporarily do.. and organize later when a certain piece of work is done. What has this done to my Desktop? It's cluttered with 60-80 icons (files & folders) at all times, both home and at work. So it's really a working area for me.. So I'm all for this behaviour - all apps should remember the last-used folder. And if file/folder is renamed/moved than drop to subfolder, and not default to My Documents or something similar. But I guess the right thing to chose here is hard even for MS dev team, as it's a very subjective thing IMHO. Some people just like throwing everything to My Doc, so they won't care. Some use whatever the app is defaulting to. And they don't care either. So it could be that we're - minority :/ what's interesting is, if you use let's say Office app, it will offer last used folder. untill you turn it off completely. Than you're at My Doc again. What a waste :/
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
How about returning display user folder functionality to the Start Menu user, documents, pictures, etc. links?
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
The real problem here with the GUI changes is you’re trying to fix something that quite well may be beyond fixing. The Vista/Win7 UI is so broken that so many people I know dump the Vista UI in days opt’ing instead for the Classic UI. In my job it’s a very common call from Vista users of “how do I get the old UI back?” Now that you’ve done away with most all keyboard shortcuts to start menu items I’m forced to use a mouse to get to things. This is HORRIBLE. The problem here is I’m guessing Vista and Win7’s UI were designed for users who don’t type and there are simply no options for those of us who actually know how. The Office 2007 Ribbon is the SAME EXACT thing. Try this, in 2k, XP Pro, or Vista with the “classic” UI, put a shortcut to a folder containing dozens of .rdp files on it. Call it “Remote Desktops”. Now, in Classic you get to them by Flag, P, R, enter, first letter of the file (you might have to hit that letter more than once if there are more than one .rdp file named that way). So in 5 characters that I can type in <1 second I now have to go find my mouse, move the cursor to the obnoxious start button, click All Programs, scroll down (yes, I’ll have several dozen apps installed so there’s a HUGE amount of scrolling in the new UI, I guess most of your users must have about 3 apps installed), find the Remote Desktops shortcut, click on it, then it opens an Explorer interface (that occasionally remembers the view I put it in), then I can go find my file and use it. This is a HORRIBLE waste of time and I will NOT be going to Win7 ever. Microsoft, I simply find NO possible way you can justify this other than you spent millions on the Vista UI and sine so many of us have gone back to the Win2k-style classic GUI you decided to force it on us because you spent so much $ on it. When is MS's upper management going to learn that it is OUR TIME and that wasting OUR TIME is unacceptable? I don't care about user groups or studies, anything sponsored by the vendor is suspect at best. The hard and cold fact is I can get around in XP or Vista (or 2k) with the classic GUI better than anyone at MS in the Win7 and I'm willing to put a $100 bill on the table for that. As a stockholder I truly hope Win7 is successful, you’ve cost me too much $ with Vista; however, I can tell you I am NOT confident that it will be. Most of our customers still buy XP Pro and if they happen to buy Vista Business they often upgrade right back to XP Pro. You talk the great talk about user customization but since Vista/IE7/Office2007 you’ve actually done away with almost all customization. Put the classic GUI back as an option. If no one uses it then you have a few MB of code (out of ~3GB), but for those of us who don’t like the new GUI, you might actually convince us to upgrade, as it stands now I’m never going to Win7.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
One final thing, why doesn't blogs.msdn.com use the Windows Live (Passport) sign? I thought the idea was all MS sites would have a unified sign in...
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Will there be any support for hyper-v in windows 7? I work at a company that puts together a lot of VM-based demos, and cringe at the though of paying for Server licenses for every demo machine we have to put together.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
->Terabyte Your view...if i say that i can work mutch faster with Windows Vista and 7 UI what do you say? Its diffrent for every user...everyone would to have the GUI looking like he need it but MS build 1 OS not 1000...and thats the point, also i dont belive that you need more time to found an app on 7 or Vista, becouse you have IndexSearch, just type 1 or 2 keys and you get your app...
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
You know what would be super cool? If you added magnification to the task bar icons as they're scrolled over. Nothing major, but maybe like a 30% magnification. And, there's No need to magnify the whole task bar, but just the hovered icon itself. It can even overlap the icons next to it while it's hovered with maybe a cool shadow underneath it. That would make it look a lot nicer and more modern. Thanks Amir Servatdjoo
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
FOR MSDN Subscribers wanting to provide feedback on Windows 7, remember to sign in on the MSDN Subscriptions Home Page at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ to see the special Connect invitation link set up especially for you (in the top headline).
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
DeadGeek: Indexing is a real CPU hog in Vista and no better in 7 but even if you use it you're still forced to enter many more keystrokes in Vista/7's native UI than in the Classic UI. As for 1 OS, MS has built 7 OS's for Win7 if you want to be factual. There's many flavours of Home and Pro and each is a bit different. That they would leave out LONG time users, those of us who have paid them for almost 30 years to run their OSs, is arrogant and shortsighted. I've run Windows since 1.01 (even have that available on a DOS virtual machine) and XP was the pinnacle. It's been downhill ever since. MS will be lucky to last the next 30 years the way they're going.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Terabyte > the changes are supposedly easier to understand for new users than for old ones, yes the new UI is not what I was expecting but I found I can do pretty much the same (usually with more steps though) than before. example: XP: windows key + up arrow + choose/just hit enter = shutdown W7: its windows key + left arrow + right arrow + choose + enter Windows is an ecosystem and the big ribbon change is mostly to provide content for the new formations that microsoft so called "partners" are giving, there's a whole industry turning around them and the more they break from what they did before the more people will need to get the new informations, this is really, really bad for users in the long run as I doubt many new users will buy windows anytime soon and its mostly old timers who need to re-learn continually. Classic-style menu has been an option for a long time and I liked it but now I'm stuck with the new one if I want the search function 1 button away (windows key + write down few letters + enter), there's no way of creating a shortcut like in launchy (mine's alt + space) ... it's the kind of things tha makes you wonders where are their best interests.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
One one thing I could add, I love the lock without screen saver however, it doesn't really describe this. Does this still cause the screen to go blank with the locked screen, one thing that would be really nice is being able to lock it and still see the screen. For Example we have computers on displays on shop floor with application showing data. Think of stock market screen, or shipping inventory display screen or things like that or maybe an admin just watching network traffic. Be able to lock it but still see the screen that would be an awesome feature. Windows Media Player Please look back at 10, media player 11 for me was a downgrade. For example when you are editing a playlist in 10 and ou go to navigate away it warns you that you would loose your changes and prompt you to save them. 11 does not you just loose your changes. Also if you have your library settings set to name files a certain way based on title and album and so on. In 10 if you manually change the title the file was instantly renamed. 11, you need to go up and hit apply media information changes. It will change sometime in 11 on it's own but I have seriously seen it take up to 24 hours and if you close media player between those times sometimes it loose the changes. I really think windows media player 10 was superior and easier to use and more user friendly.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
It's nice that there's a little close button on the thumbnail previews--why not have a similar button for when it's showing as a list? The situations where the list shows up make ease of closing windows even more important than with the thumbnails. I often use programs that open up many windows (e.g. MATLAB with figure windows), and I usually want to be able to close many of these windows at once. Being able to run down the list clicking the close button instead of right-clicking would be great.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Nice additions, but it still NEEDS CLASSIC START MENU !!!
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
@bentronic -- there is a close button when we collapse the previews into a list. There's right click as well.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Here is an idea, how about boosting the performance of windows 7 by removing all the DRM?
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
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Anonymous
February 27, 2009
Has the speed of the explorer in libraries been improved? It is very slow if you have a lot of subfolders (for example you add Documents root to a library and then go to DocumentsProjectsPCC++In developmentsomeprojectRelease), and it makes my system totally unusable on my mid-range machine. Also creating an own new library and browsing it is even slower, hard to understand why.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
“33. Reviving familiar entry points Mando writes, “In Win7 the Win+E shortcut opens an explorer window but the path is “Libraries” instead (which isn’t where I want to go most of the time). Is there a way to configure the target folder of “Win+E” or is there an alternate shortcut that will get me to the “Computer” path like it did in Vista?” RC reverts the behavior and now the shortcut will launch the “Computer” Explorer.” I appreciate this can't go back because you must have had enough feedback to convince you there are enough people who want it but please can this be configurable. I think not only of myself as an immediate and enthusiastic user of Libraries who will now have one more click for 99% of the times I use Explorer, which is to get to my documents, which are best reached from a library – but when libraries become understood and widely adopted, of all the people who will have one more click. I wonder if the fact that beta users are implicitly more technical folk means a higher PowerPoint of people who are going to a variety of place and so want My Computer as the top rather than users who will want documents more often than they’ll want multiple drives. I hope you have time to explore this change in a focus group of broader users. I know I can pin folders to the jump list but that’s far more ‘work’ (cognitive effort) than pressing Ctrl-E to explore the folders I want most. Libraries are the way that we’re ‘intended’ to get at the majority of our files so having them as the default target of Ctrl-E made huge sense to me, both for immediate use and as the way going forward. If Libraries become as widely used as you must hope, not having them be what you see first every time will come to seem a confusing thing in a few years time. I’m going to refer back to Windows Me (which I personally liked so I hope I'm not undermining my point by mentioning it!), where we first had the notion of shell folders which have become so integral to the way people work; that there is a place called My Documents and that it is configurable if I happen not to put those documents in the usual place. Libraries is the equivalent of this change and promoting them in Ctrl-E the way having My Documents have the top icon on the desktop in Me seems very logical to me. @Wayward - Alt Enter already opens item properties for you.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
rather then menu, as presently
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
screensot: http://benzinych.ru/benzin/4836 rather then menu, as presently
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
my last comment about input, u delete it how dare u since it still relevant !!!! but here we go, gadget, how to make it stay on top ? say cpu gadget on top but when my cursor go near that area, it able to hide it self so wont disturb my work if there is no way to do it can u add that feature ?
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
For those who wnat sort of classic menu, Don't know if it will work with the RC. But it will give you the fly out style menu, of xp. Why Microsoft dose no includ this as an option is beyound me, it would not be all that much to add this option. because it there already. Right click on the start bar go to properties, than start menu tab, then customize button. scroll down to say "Recorded TV and enable it and display as menu. Click on the start orb. Right click on recorded tv in the right hand navigation pane under the libary tab click on "include a folder" and then navigate to C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms or what ever letter drive Windows 7 is on and you have a programs fly out classic menu. I changed video's to "start menu programs", you can also change the name by right clicking and rename.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
as above mentioned please make the current network adater properties right in the network icon jumplist i access this place frequently (several times a day).it's a pain to get there in 5 clicks
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Can you please add 150% as an optional video size in WMP 12?
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
how about showing foldersize? There's a program from the same name that does it but it's always a pain in the ... to install it on every computer I install and the customers like it a lot (so di I) for me it's a basic feature every os should have.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Please rethink the changes in the paragraph "2. Windows Logo + <#> keyboard shortcut" I think a lot of people is used to Win + # shortcuts since Vista and expect new window of the program to open regardless of the fact if there is none, one or more of windows of that program already opened. Keep the shortcut to open the program or new window of a running program as easy as possible, please. The Win+Shift+# buttons combination is really not easy to do with one hand. Is the same for me while clicking the pinned taskbar icons, I want them pinned to be able to start the program or open new window fast, why should be opening of new window of the program not as easy as if there isn’t any window of the particular program opened yet. In other words the single click on the pinned taskbar icon (without holding the Shift) should open the program or open new window of the program. Hovering over should be enough to show the running windows. For toggling through the opened windows you teach us to press the Ctrl while clicking the taskbar button, why shouldn’t the Ctrl key be used for toggling using the Win+# shortcut (Win+Ctrl+#). I think the taskbar “Action” keys (Ctr/Alt/Shift) should stay consistent regardless of the way you use to address the program, mouse click or Win+#. Another thing, it wouldn’t be bad if there is some distance between the pinned taskbar buttons and the others representing opened programs, sometimes I try to use Win+# on programs not pinned to my taskbar. I know you can’t satisfy everyone’s wishes, so what about some keyboard shortcut control panel, where we could define the shortcuts ourselves.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
I like Linux and Mac OS X, windows does not give me that control I want over my system. I think windows 7 is going to be great, but after switching from Windows 2000/XP to linux, im not going back. "Windows" is a stupid name :)
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
I laugh at windows users every day :)
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
an interesting: Windows 7 - The missing bits: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3660
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
They also ruined the control panel. I can no longer access the old style control panel like it was in Vista and XP. I find the new control panel harder to use.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
I'm reading all posts here and once again I have to add some comments (sorry Domenico, that it won't be very positive words): But first...I have read today information about words from Christopher Liddell (from Microsoft), which can be described as: software manufacturers will have at least next 12 months very hard. And now I will connect it with Windows: how Microsoft can expect, that people will make massive shoppings in situation, when new system (I'm comparing to XP, which is still primary platform for millions):
can not allow users for using all capabilities of hardware in more situations (DRM)
is bigger
is slower in various places, games, etc. (it's confirmed by more and more benchmarks)
has got removed some functions (properties for network cards, etc. etc.)
doesn't remove some main problems of win32 platform (sharing Registry settings and folders among various programs, etc. etc.) I'm afraid, that it can be received by market as Vista and it will be Vista+ (Vista + new problems). It's possible, that various people will be interested in buying Vista and making downgrade to XP. It would be good, when somebody from Microsoft will think about it... Maybe it would be better to wait make much more changes before RTM ?
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Hi, can't you add a niffty small feature that allows you to change the folder colour. 10 different colour icons within grasp when a right click on a folder occurs. Nice changes by the way, keep it up!
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
@Saad Windows 7 - The missing bits form ZDNet? you realize that everything that is added is that patents should be paid? You wont pay Windows 7 500$ or you prefer Download Winrar,7z,imgburn,VirtualCloneDrive,Adobe Reader etc etc. ?
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
What I would've loved to see in windows 7 is Music library having a real-time playback without opening window media player (Integrated media player in music library)
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
I am still waiting for MS to put Win Explorer toolbar cutomization back into Win 7...What was wrong with having this option to have delete, copy, etc buttons in the Win Explorer? IE8 has this feature..why not in Win Explorer??
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Why not make the needy state something the user can control? This way the user can choose as opposed to try to be everything to everyone? Personally I prefer subtle to not at all. I find applications which demand attention really irritating.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Some extra features for Move and Copy function should have been added long time ago, such as:

Pause/Resume the copying/moving process
Speed limit function
Resume after a failure The Total Copy program is a sample for this, but it only supports windows 2000/XP.

Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
February 28, 2009
Awesome that you look at the internet radio support =D And by the way, make the mfpmp.exe and the WMP.exe process use alot less CPU. Sometimes the mfpmp.exe use arround 10-5 % of CPU. Annyway, great progress and awesome that you sre supporting even more of devices! :D Martin
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
>All us to customize the thickness of the bulky window borders. All us to not have them AT ALL if we so choose. Please. You can customize the thickness: Control PanelAll Control Panel ItemsPersonalizationWindow Color and AppearanceAdvanced appearance settings... WMP12, in Now Playing mode, will be one or two pixels larger for whatever reason. I agree on borderless windows but that would require some changes to the theme, specifically in the title area. If you quickly 'shop up a picture of Windows Vista/7's Explorer without border padding, you'll realize that the Aero-glass theme quickly falls apart without them. Even if you fix it up some, it won't work the same way it does now, it's currently held together by glass being all around the window. I want to point out that Windows Live applications (Zune and Office, too, to an extent) not only proper mouse scrolling, unlike explorer, but also have no borders (under classic/aero basic). As an aside: Explorer, Live Photo Gallery, Media Player, and Live Mail all seem to have subtly different command bars as well, though they're stylistically similar. And it drives me insane! Digressing: from the looks of it, Microsoft tried to marginalize window border on Office 12 (and 14, from leaked shots) as well. They're small and nearly blend into the theme. It seems Microsoft is running down the same path for Windows but a different, not exactly new, path for its applications, and I have no clue why. I wish they'd eradicate window borders and Explorer's inability to scroll places within a without activating altogether.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
I think one of the main problems of windows is that it over communicates. When you plug in a mouse a ballon pops up to tell you that you now can use it. WOW who would have guessed that the mouse is working if I allready can move the cursor with it. I think it would perfectly fit to your policy of the user being in control to communicate only the important stuff to the user.
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
@GoodBytes,

of course it's possible to say, that I have problems with my driver and all other people (using different cards) have problems with drivers too (I'm not the only one notifying it)...and system is OK. But there are too many such "problems" with this generation. ...and still: why we get much bigger CPU usages when compare it to older Windows generation ? (even on plain system) when we speak about benchmarks: if they're so wrong, why Seven enthusiasts are citing some of them so often ?
I was speaking about two 32 bit versions.
I'm sorry, but progress bar for starting/hibenarting, animated icons for network traffic (which allowed you to go directly to network cards properties), customizable toolbars and many other were dropped, because nobody was using them ? See, how many posts about it we have here...I definitely haven't created many accounts and started to write about...but these are posts from different users.
There are quite good proposed methods (like sandboxing). They will not make system more slow and will not need rewriting apps. But they seems dropped on start because of wrong understood (in my opinion) compatibility. Sorry, but it's easier to stay with things like now (and defend them) than move forward. I understand it. But we definitely need some changes on similar level like were done between win 9x and NT.

Anonymous
February 28, 2009
For all MSDN users, who use BETA but cannot send feedback, like me and vistisen and ColdFire - thank to SubscriptionsBlogger2 !! Just follow these steps:

sign in on the MSDN Subscriptions Home Page at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/
special Connect invitation link "set up especially for you" is shown as a headline: "Give us feedback on the Windows 7 Beta!" and also available as a link few lines lower "To register on Connect, please click here."
click one of the two links (same URL anyway)
fill in the details and complete registration on Connect
go to Win7 and click any of the "Send feedback" links and use that same WindowsID which you use for MSDN (and now Connect as well)
once you submit your feedback, you can use the third link from MSDN subscription page to check on your submissions Finaly I could have posted that bug, and I think I'll be in Win7 more time now that I can submit the bugs I find.

Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
I'm not a beta tester, but I'm very curious if Win7 will have at last native support for viewing PDF files (without installing Acrobat Reader)? It would be very useful, as the format became ISO standard, and de-facto document standard as well... I don't find any hint about it.
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
I think it would be very handy to have an entry "Minimize all" windows for an application in the context menu of an app in the taskbar, just like "Close all". The new taskbar enables you to not having to close applications too often because they are collapsed, so sometimes minimizing them (but not closing them) seems logical too.
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
Response to: 35. Arrangement view enhancements As a programmer I have a suggestion. In addition the added views to the Music, Picture and Video libraries, why not allow developers who create libraries to add their own views and provide some way to filter/sort them on the user's request? Or does this conflict with your "Customer in control" mantra?
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
First of all, I see people asking for things that are said to be in Win7 already, and some that exist already. So just a tip - explore a bit before complaining... This goes even for that ZDnet article asking for password manager. Credential manager anyone? Inclued in W7! But there is one thing that pokes me in the eye in this "User in control" scheme. Both OS and Live! apps have huge absence of toolbar icons. No more small/large/with or without text... only option in most cases is "text only". Meaning - you can't configure it. And I really like icons in toolbars, so please, give us back "user control". No problem, leave default looks with just text labels, but give as an option to have icons as well :(
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
@Brunni try shift right click on the taskbar icon.
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
Ah, I see what you mean. It's also the first thing I turn off in Office 2003 and later when it tries to show me a dozen Excel spreadsheets in the task bar. CTRL-TAB is how I want to move between open windows. I can see perhaps a Flag-A to minimize the current application, but if you really just want to move to the next app you can use Alt-Tab.
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
Just submitted a feedback form with the following...hope it gets noticed. Please do the same!

I submitted this a while back but I just read your E7 blog post and it did not address this. It's relatively major so I'd assume if it was getting changed that it would have been mentioned. Anyways here it is: A selling point at PDC (and I assume in future marketing plans) was the ability to re-arrange stuff on the taskbar. Bravo! We've needed this! However, I was somewhat disapointed to find out that we can't re-arrange actual WINDOWS. We can only re-arrange apps on the taskbar - not the windows on the flyouts (when you click/hover over a thumbnail with multiple windows). I think that it NEEDS to support re-arranging of both apps (done) and WINDOWS (not done!) Please make sure that this gets put into the RC or RTM because not only would i be disapoitned it it was not, but I think that you could receive some flack for not doing so. Thanks!!

Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
@Mike Williams I couldn't agree more. I also have a screen size of 1920 and I do not understand why Microsoft removed the ability to group Gadgets in a Sidebar. On my 1920 screen I typically keep the sidebar always in the front. I seems to me there is no way to do that now in Windows 7. Clearly a step back!
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
I'd like windows that the taskbar can be expended for double screen, not to have to use ultramon. Very usefull
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
Incredible China http://tinyurl.com/csz242 Incredible !!
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
As I work for a IHV I tried to get Device Stage Working, but failed. Even after a few email to Microsoft. I have read all the white papers but still find it dificult to impliment. Are there real sample source code that I can look at?
Anonymous
March 01, 2009
It would be necessary to improve the Media Center user experience to catch up with other competitors. I live in Europe and when I tested the Windows 8 Beta, the Internet as a media is totally missing. There are 0 (zero) internet media services integrated in Media Center. Is this limited for Europe? Please open up MediaCenter for Internet media services (Radio + TV). Add your own Internet radio station in MediaCenter? I did not find a native way (without installing bad programmed 3rd party tools). Guys! Wake up, it's 2009 and the Internet is a standard for media services. For me, it looks like when Win95 came to the market without any Internet capabilities. Sleeping again? Also, all the Music Library features is only about managing and tagging your own CD collection. I personally believe, that individual persons spending days, weeks or even months in each tagging their own CD collections and storing all the files at home is not the right way. The music experience of Media Center listening to the own Media Library is by the way very very very poor. So please integrate mood based listening and open up Media Center for existing music communities like "last.fm" and "Napster" etc. Please! Thank you!
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
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Anonymous
March 02, 2009
PLEASE consider to let the user be able to pin the Recycle Bin directly on the Taskbar. I know that it shows up in the Explorer-menu if you do this on Build 7000, but imho that good enough. Alot of users love their clean, icon-less desktobs, but do want to be able to access f. ex. the Recycle Bin easily and with a minimal amount of clicks. Thanks, and BR.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
@Pabs -- please use the mail link at the top right and send some contact information so we can help with devicecenter.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
I'm calling these bugs because they do not work consistently or as expected. For me, Aero Peek is useless much of the time. Many times I will click a webpage, minimize the browser to access something on the desktop, and then try to use Aero Peek to see if my webpage finished loading. But Aero Peek doesn't give you a live preview when the window is minimized - giving the illusion that your page won't load or that the browser locked up. I have to first restore the window before I can use Aero peek to see if the page loaded, thus eliminating the usefulness of the feature. I'm using Firefox, and when people use IE8 and taskbar previews ARE live when minimized, the inconsistency will confuse them because they will never know whether or not their previews are live. Another scenario would be when you installing a program. Many times I start the installation and then minimize the installer window to keep it out of the way. Most people would intuitively think they can then use Aero Peek to periodically check one the status of their install; but no, Aero Peek will fool you into thinking the program is installing VERY slowly or has locked up. The inconsistency grows even greater when you consider Windows Media Player. WMP has a live preview even when minimized. As far as I know, it and IE8 are the only programs that do this. Why can't all programs and windows keep a live preview when minimized? Why not Windows Media Center, for that matter? Perhaps there would be a small performance drop in doing this. However, in this situation I think the increase in usability and consistency would far outweigh any small performance loss. You can do it with Windows Media Player and IE, why not with everything else? Regarding my other big complaint. This is the only other problem I have with window management in Windows. This problem is not just with Windows 7, it happens on every version of Windows that I know of: I open device manager to check the date/version of a driver. I then open a different window to compare my version to something else. I then try to get back to the driver properties window - but I can't find it! It's not on the taskbar, did it get closed??? I have to manually minimize all my other windows one at a time to get back to it. You can imagine how frustrating this is. Please make ALL windows/programs/properties boxes show up on the taskbar. Here's to hoping Windows 7 will be the best OS ever, -WindowsFan
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
@hitman721, I think, that almost nobody is speaking about DRM issues in XP, because this system didn't have any functions connected with it in kernel & drivers. In Vista/Seven it's differently and many people still have doubts. I agree with protecting intellectual property...but I think, that we can compare a little things implemented here to small (existing in theory only, not in real products) chip, which is put into each car, can be activated in any moment, can take full control it and almost nobody knows, when and how it works like. And this is first problem: what it CAN do, not what it's DOING right now. Yes, many companies were using similar things, but nobody has implemented it in operating system on such low level. Such proposed by you explanation would be very good. I would like to read WITH DETAILS for example, if system totally is disabling all stuff connected with it (no kernel threads, no checking in drivers, etc.), when no DVD/BlueRay is played.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
I have only one problem with Windows 7 Beta Build 7022. I have turned off screensaver and when screen gone black after 20 (?) minutes of non action sometimes computer just don't wake up and I can't bring him to live... I must restart computer and only restart can bring him back...
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
Steven, or anyone else on the Windows dev team, would it be possible to make a setting to enable titlebar text in explorer windows? Perhaps through some registry tweak? It seems silly to have to use AeroBar, a third party util, to be able to restore this "feature", which is actually very useful and wanted by many users. In general i'm not a fan of how much screenspace is wasted in vista and win7 for eyecandy, glass, gradiants, padding, margins and empty space that cannot be configured or utilized whatsoever. it would be great if you guys allowed extensive skinning and a lot of configurability to panel and button positioning, visibility, and styling. i would love to see W7 able to be minimalistic and pixel-efficient eg: http://xfce-look.org/content/preview.php?preview=1&id=94526&file1=94526-1.png&file2=&file3=&name=Coal regards, Leon
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
Please bring back the Windows Explorer toolbar that you can cutomize by adding buttons like Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete etc. Thanks, Lou Muccioli
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
> A selling point at PDC (and I assume in future marketing plans) was the ability to re-arrange stuff on the taskbar. > Bravo! We've needed this! However, I was somewhat disapointed to find out that we can't re-arrange actual WINDOWS. > We can only re-arrange apps on the taskbar - not the windows on the flyouts (when you click/hover over a thumbnail with multiple windows). Similarly, when the "Taskbar buttons" setting is "Never combine", it would be nice to be able to rearrange the windows on the taskbar - at present those for a single program are stuck together and cannot be arranged independently.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
@Bolty Build 7022? 7022 is internal build, no pubblic
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
I kind of wish to lock the size of the Window. So, when I resize and close it, it will still open in original size. I know this shouldn't be included to confuse users, but can we have some powertoy for this? Just drag the window into powertoy and the windows current position and size will be locked. So far, I am happy with beta build. Default 150% 144 DPI is the best change for me so far. But can we have some none-subtle GUI designs? You know like some pointless jello like window when you move it around. You know fun to look at and pointless, but I can show it off to my friends.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
#33: PLEASE reconsider.. I love Libraries; they are now central to my file browsing. If I want some random folder, I use the search bar. Of course, if I'm frequently using some random folder, it goes in the library, or I have an organizational problem that reverting #33 (as you have) won't fix. At least provide a cascading Libraries menu directly from the start menu or the context menu, if nothing else.
Anonymous
March 02, 2009
I agree with Leon that skinning for windows should be opened up. Customizing windows is something i have done for many and it does help on creativity in certain regards. For example having a white/gray interface makes photos/designs stand out in Photoshop in a clearer way. Sure - one has been able to buy extra themes in the past, but they have never been good for anybody but families with kids.
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
Honestly, the only thing I was really, really hoping would be in this article is an option to bring the Sidebar back. Why such a step backwards? Gadgets are just a huge mess now. We should have the option to use the new Gadget-floating-on-the-Desktop look or the more ingenious Gadgets-in-a-controlled-and-sane-environment look.
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
WOW!!! wondeful! I think th windows 7 really better than vista, and the beta is pretty good now, Hope i have a chance to get the RC BETA!!
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
Great changes! another Great change would be -- when you press and hold Windows key, teskbar and desktop icons will show numbers or alphabetic characters so users can press that key combination without counting teskbar or desktop item series.
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
Extensive list of changes! Good work! @goodboycome: It better be 'really' better than Vista, because that OS just.. oh well.
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
Good work! Windows 7 is proving to be a great upgrade. Some MediaCenter requests:

It would be great if you could convert a Guide recording to a manual recording. Just to adjust the start/stop times as you please.
Are the TV recordings still in the My Movies overview? A option/registry setting to turn this off would be great.
Better thumbs for video's would be great Thank you, best regards

Anonymous
March 03, 2009
Great improvements of the user interface. And I hope the performance will also be improved in the RC. I noticed one aspect has been totally omitted here - Error and handling and reporting. Since the days I have been using Windows one of the most frequent tasks I do(unhappily) is 'End Task' in Task manager. Even if I have a computer with the recommended requirements for Vista, Windows does take quite some time to perform certain actions. For example, when I insert a DVD with some damage on the surface and my drive takes a lot of time to read it, then the 'My Computer' window goes(sometimes) to a 'Not Responding' state. This is irritating at times. Around 50% of the times when 'Not Responding' is displayed, it doesn't Respond forever. And I eventually 'End Task' or 'End Process' in Task Manager. I do understand that in this case, it is the DVD drive which is to be blamed. But, and this is a BIG but, Windows is the OS. I wish Windows should have some mechanism to handle such scenarios and avoid irritation among users. And this 'Not Responding' state can be extended to many situations, particularly when we have slower processor. I sincerely wish that the user is not forced to go to the Task Manager unnecessarily. And sometimes Windows asks whether to 'Send Report' to Microsoft. 99% of the times, I omit this because I dont get the required solution ontime. I hope I could get some useful information on the spot. Some tip on the spot would really help rather than sending the report. I am not sure whether I am posting this in the correct Windows7 section. Maybe I should have commented on some other msdn Windows7 feedback section. Anyway I just wanted to share my experience here.
Anonymous
March 03, 2009
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Anonymous
March 04, 2009
In Windows 98 SE was possible rearrange taskbars icons to improve productivity workflows. But all next versions of Windows, this not possible. In XP and Vista, we have to use like 'Taskbar Shuffle' to this. Please, came back this feature in Windows 7. Thanks.
Anonymous
March 04, 2009
RMMS, you can do that in windows 7 by default... A reply to modification #4. Taskbar “Open With”. Its nice, but holding SHIFT and only then dragging the file is well... not very convenient... Id recommend using middle mouse button(which is wheel) to perform this task.. as the wheel is clickable it would be far easier to simply point a cursor on a file then click/hold wheel and drag the file... its just less movements than SHIFT version...
Anonymous
March 04, 2009
TOTALLY Agree to the suggestions below!! I am still waiting for MS to put Win Explorer toolbar cutomization back into Win 7...What was wrong with having this option to have delete, copy, etc buttons in the Win Explorer? IE8 has this feature..why not in Win Explorer?? Sunday, March 01, 2009 2:34 AM by neroman

Some extra features for Move and Copy function should have been added long time ago, such as:

Pause/Resume the copying/moving process
Speed limit function
Resume after a failure The Total Copy program is a sample for this, but it only supports windows 2000/XP. Sunday, March 01, 2009 3:49 AM by JonesNguyen

Anonymous
March 05, 2009
Ye, i can agree with "iMaZx"... The copy/moving process should be drastically enhanced ! As in adding the ability to pause copy/move process and modifying the "time left" counter as it almost never displays correct time to completion, specially if you are moving/copying a folder with multiple files (100 for example)... I have no idea what you mean by Speed limit... Dunno about resume after failure as failures in copy/move process occur very rarely...
Anonymous
March 05, 2009
OH, copy/moving failures are quite OFTEN! "This file can't be moved" is most often, and I whole-heartedly HATE it! If I want to move Windows directory - so be it! OK, I'm going over the top here. But if I want to cut/paste (move) a user profile directory, and it is NOT user that's currently logged in, than I want ZERO problems. All system files have to be moved. If you ask why - answer is: backup of old user profiles when a) computer is being replaced or reinstalled; b) person is gone from the company c) other stuff (less often). So yeah.. I'm all for resume after interupt as well. Just as a note, I had access to Microsoft internal networks for quite some time during last couple of years, and there were awsome small tools and utilities on their servers made by their in-house developers in their "spare time". Most of these were made by people that made this tools to make their own work easier and faster. I still don't get it why these things don't get published in one way or the other (as a part of the OS, part of Live! suite, PowerTools, or just as plain standalone utilities). I'm kinda sorry that I haven't copeid them all for my own future use :( But it was against the rules I guess :/
Anonymous
March 05, 2009
Hello Win7 Team, UAC is infamous in Vista but I myself see the benefit or it. However, I think it is too complicated for Home user. And most importantly, THEY WILL CLICK YES NO MATTER WHAT. So, UAC is useless for home users. To make it useful. I think you need to force user not able to click YES at all. Thus, I recommend a new User Type between Standard and Admin, called Power User. Power User can install software, however, it has a STATIC UAC default to highest level. And you cannot click YES in UAC popup, unless you provide Admin Account Name and Password. AS you can see, it is a preset of security measure based on user account. This is good since Power User will not get UAC popup all the time and they can't ignore it by blindly clicking YES. This is like Active Directory OU security, but, it is already setup.
Anonymous
March 06, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
March 06, 2009
i'm not sure why MS developers dont enhance basic features like copying. It has been long enough, i think it's time for a full robo-copy gui and completely replace regular copy with it. copy queues, pauseing/resuming, error ignoring, filtering, copy speed, presets. all the features of FastCopy, Copy Handler, SuperCopier, TeraCopy, KillCopy, TotalCopy, CopyRite...i'm sure i'm missing a few. Something tells me there is quite a demand for advanced copy features that dont fail halfway thru and leave you to figure out what was and wasnt copied...what a complete waste of time IMO. Leon
Anonymous
March 06, 2009
While I do like Windows 7 a lot, there is one thing that keeps irritating me - Windows Explorer. In my opinion (and I should say I saw this many times all over the internet) the Windows Explorer in Windows XP was near perfect. The only feature missing there was an ability to display two directories in parallel to simplify file moving/copying (now I am always opening two instances of Explorer for this reason). Now, in Windows 7 (and Vista as well) it is very hard to customize Windows Explorer, since it keeps sensing the type of content and displays the directory accordingly. I am sure this is very helpful for some people, but to me this is very irritating. To me files are files and I want ALL directories to be displayed in the same way. But as soon as Windows 7 senses photos for example, the directory containing them is displayed in thumbnails automatically. While this is possibly useful to others, I want to be able to turn that feature off! Also, Windows keeps treating zip files as directories: they are constantly displayed in the directory tree - Folders pane - as other directories. So far the only way to turn that off - very annoying - is to unload a dll from the registry. Finally, for all this customization, if I want the hidden files to be visible, this somehow automatically becomes the feature of all folders in the system, unlike in XP, where settings for each folder could be saved independently. I know, I said above that I want all folders to look the same, but there are several exception of course, like the desktop and the control panel. Right now, if I turn on hidden files, I immediately get TWO desktop.ini icons on my desktop - I do not want that! In XP this was not an issue, I would first all files the way I want, and then change a few exceptions such as the desktop. PLEASE, PLEASE, give back that classic functionality for Windows Explorer!
Anonymous
March 06, 2009
Another important issue is the speed of copying files - it seems that in Vista files are being moved/copied very, very slowly, and while Windows 7 improves a lot, the speed is still not optimal. For example, if I use a USB 2.0 memory key, then theoretically the data transfer speed is up to 480 Mbps, however in practice I never get more than 12. I also have an external hard drive, there sometimes I get 50, but more often than not 30, and it always pauses in the beginning and and of the transfer (calculating) and then the final overall transfer rate goes closer to 20. All this from the same front USB port on the same desktop. Why would the speeds be so different and why would the speeds vary during the transfer? Same goes for LAN - I have two computers connected through my router. I often transfer files between them, I use the same procedure all the time, but sometimes the speeds vary by as much as a factor of 2, and are never constant during the transfer.
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you also make pasting files not to produce fragmantation ? I mean, when pasting files from another disk you could put the files in the correct disk-place where they could be in one piece... If not you just create fragmantation for no reason.
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you also add an option in Windows Defender to submit files for analysis or to simply quarantine them ?
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you make IE8 adopt some UI features from Opera ? e.g. Tabs, Wand Passwords, page link extraction, the start page hosting your favourite sites, a buid-in download manager (IE Pro won't do), etc...
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you add the following ?

A way to turn the monitor off programmatically (notebooks have no screen power button - this could save lot of energy). Lets say, after clicking an option in the start menu a top-level dialog with a Cancel button and a countdown timer appears allowing you to leave the mouse at rest.

Anonymous
March 07, 2009

Support for Ctrl+Backspace, Ctrl+Delete, etc for notepad.exe. Also, make notepad.exe display a warning when attempting to open a LARGE file (>8MB - since it seems to be loading it ALL in memory).

Anonymous
March 07, 2009
What happened to the minimize and restore options in the context menu showed when right-clicking on a window's button on the taskbar ? Now when you minimize IE and have many tabs opened there is NO WAY you can find that tab easy. You have to remenber which it was (since left-clicking on the IE button on the taskbar shows the tabs list and does not restore IE)...
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
The not-responding program shutdown seems too slow.
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you add an option (somewhere) to allow the user to manually start the OnIdle process of the OS ? (I mean the system file defragmentaion process when the PC is left idle for too long).
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you add a few icons to the explorer's context menu (showed when right clicking on the desktop/explorer). I mean for the Refresh, copy, paste, delete options. Also for the Shutdown menu on the start menu.
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you allow the user specify which folder icon the shell will use and improve this giant-sized shortcut-arrow icon ?
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you add a tool that edits (removes or disables) the shell menu and IE menu extensions ? Installing apps makes those menus HUGE!
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
I'd like the "Documents", "Music" etc options in the Start menu to be expanded as tree menu (like in XP).
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
Can you add an option on wether clicking on the ShutDown button of the Start menu would shut down the PC imediatelly or would open a dialog with all the options (hibernate/sleep/etc) ?
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
March 07, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
March 08, 2009
Sorry for posting each request separately. But I had a problem when posting it all together (my post wasn't posted at all - I don't know why...).
Anonymous
March 08, 2009
You could also add an option in notepad.exe to replace the 'n' characters in the opened file with "rn".
Anonymous
March 08, 2009
#33: Some people loved Flag+E to open Libraries, other like the revert to My Computer. The rigidity of Windows Explorer is really annoying, and I think instead of simply reverting to the old behaviour this should mean to Explorer developers that people want some choice. We can't even choose what the buttons do in the start Menu (MyProfile, Documents, Pictures, etc.) or add our own. Please at least give us registry keys to control what the start menu buttons do (for example to open the Documents folder instead of the Documents library). Fixing Flag+E to do what you want is still possible with a LowLevelKeyboardHook but it's ugly. However fixing the start menu buttons is just impossible.
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
Sine The Media Player toolbar mode is isnt available in W7 Therefore MS should find any alternate way for seeking any audio or vid file without opening Windows Media Player's Main Window Cuz every time when want to seek a song i always have to open wmp window in 7 this is time consuming and require more clicks than the toolbar mode So i personally suggest that MS should integrate a small seek bar within the Live Thumbnail of WMP in this way... well jst have to hover our mouse on the icon of wmp in super and then we'll have to simply click once for seeking . . .
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
Here i go again . . When i connect to any network wirelessly , the strength bar appears in the notification area and as a result , the activity animation is disabled So i want MS enable this activity icon as well along with the signal strength icon, jst make that signal strength icon blink periodically with gel blue and grey color :p will look awesome ... Thanx
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
I was reading all the comments here and a user named " ColdFire " suggested this same thing Inside the address bar, vista users could see a green progress like thing sumtimes... when the explorer generates thumbnails or does any other stuff . . . SO MS SHOULD UTILIZE THIS FEATURE even more. . . . The Colour of the address bar in vista by default is grey ... but when we mouse over it. it changes into white. . . So MS SHOULD DISPLAY the Diskspace of hard drive by using this grey bar & make it light red if we are running out of diskspace or sth . . . THANX
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
When i brought vista for the first time i was fortunate to enable AERO without any problem . . lol so as i was playin with the new GUI i noticed one thing . . Whenever we maximize the window , it suddenly gets maximized without any effect, Which is so rude :p So i want MS to enable a light fade effect or any other small effect when we maximize the window in w7.. cuz this is the only area in window handling where AERO doesn't seem to exist . . . THANX
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
When more programs are installed , they make start menu folders . . . so many folders in all programs really don't look great . . . I want to keep my programs managed and assembled Like Making a folder in all programs named 'Multimedia' where i can keep all my multimedia 3rd party applications So i browse here for creating a new Multimedia folder ( VISTA ) ( i right click on start button and click explore) C:UsersAdministratorAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart Menu I dont wanna do this every time There ought to be any official way for quickly creating folders in all programs through right click . . . So please consider this suggestion of mine Thanx
Anonymous
March 10, 2009
Ok, so not only me but a lot of my friends and ppl online have noticed that green progress bar thingy in address bar sometimes causes your PC to freeze if the file withing the folder is damaged or something. Also this process takes a lot of CPU power for whatever reason... Ive heard (havent looked through it myself yet) that this progress bar is something that prepares thumbnails... and that you can turn it off, well not the bar itself but the thumbnails... But this still doesnt explain that it sometimes slows the system and uses lots of resources, cuz i dont think that detection of thumbnails should utilize so many resources, and damaged file cause explorer freeze or crash... This should be seriously overlooked and fixed !
Anonymous
March 11, 2009
Steven, Can you drag a toolbar from the startmenu or a folder shorcut to a side of the desktop to create a toolbar on the desktop in win7? This feature was available in xp. Is it not available in 7? I think it's a must have for 7 (for the following) 1.It's great for launching applications;I can have about 20 frequently used programs on a toolbar.You don't even have to go to the desktop to view a toolbar (using Always on top). 2.Faster (one click)access to hard disks,cd,dvd,pen drives etc ,with "My computer" toolbar 3.Minimum / no clutter(using Autohide); does not clutter my desktop or the startmenu 4.Faster access to frequently used files 5.Text labels,Large icons available for clarity I see no reason that would have tempted you to remove it.It's a great feature for people who want to get their workdone Tell me why if you don't agree
Anonymous
March 12, 2009
I hope in windows 7 the game explorer can be edited manually all the information and also the picture art. Thanks!
Anonymous
March 17, 2009
One needed feature for the desktop clutter lovers. The ability to create shortcut/icon groups and fence them. Like the program Fences by Stardock. The ability to double click on blank area of the desktop to hide all icons and only display the desktop background. Better AUTO-ARRANGE Icons feature. Some might like it to Auto-Arange across the top, or down the right, or across the bottom. Rather than just down the right side. Oh and add - Sort by most used could be useful for some people. I myself prefer Sort by Type. I hate too many desktop icons but if they could be better sorted I might start using the desktop more. Most importantly for me though is that Windows 7 has a very thought out set of Group Policy ADM's. I haven't used Server 2008 yet but I hope Active Directory Users and Computers has had some extra thought put into it.
Anonymous
March 17, 2009
First, I think removing the drag and drop function in the libraries is a move in the negative. I understand your argument about the confusion regarding making a library as opposed to moving files, but that was such a beautiful feature. A problem is that if you open a folder through libraries, the right-click will not have "Include in library" as an option. It'd be nice if the drag and drop to libraries is returned as an option (say in Folder Options) for those of us who need it.
Anonymous
March 19, 2009
All of this changes in ultimate betas era nice, i would to see a final wish in windows 7, the charts update, you had new controls but disk space graphics for example still the same from Windows 2000?? Please see: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/11/24/new-asp-net-charting-control-lt-asp-chart-runat-quot-server-quot-gt.aspx And tell me if this graphics don't see a lot better.
Anonymous
March 19, 2009
I know the close button on the thumbnail previews is very convenient BUT, I don't know, the red 3D button looks kind of... out of place some how with the aero theme (the thumbnail is on a transparent background and all). So maybe if the button is flat, it would fit in more? It's just been bugging me so I just had to speak up! :)
Anonymous
March 24, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
April 01, 2009
Some wishes and hopes for RTM:

Explorer: Option to turn off autorefresh-autosorting-autoarranging of files and folders. XP-like, please!
Explorer: Option to turn off folder-type-auto-sense. I'm not the only one who loves the plain, detailed view. Everywhere.
Task bar/Systray: Useful network icon activity indicator must return - like XP/2k, just better! Vista's a toy.
Task bar/Systray: Real quick access to network connection settings wanted! --> (Rightclick on network systray icon > Manage connections) == (Start > Control Panel > ...) --> (Rightclick on network systray icon > Status of [link/adapter name]) Otherwise: Great job, 7 Team!

Anonymous
April 06, 2009
Like so many others, I dislike Vista, and still use XP. My customers like XP and dislike Vista. So I am not the only one, in fact millions of people dislike Vista (and you must be very well aware of this by now). So I was very curious to see if W7 was an improvement. Imo it is, congratulations! But.. There are four things I realy hate in W7: 1: Lack of the no-nonsense classic start menu. Why? Because the classic menu imo is easier to handle. It's my opinion, I don't want to shove it through your throat. 2: Missing the classical start menu. Why? Because it doesn't do a peek-a-boo game with me. MS, you don't have to agree on me with this, it's an opinion. 3: The absense of the classic start menu. Why: Because I like my start menu organised the way I see fit. MS, you don't have to agree on me with this, it's an opinion. 4: The classic start menu is gone. Why? Because MS doesn't agree on me with this and likes to shove there perception of a good start menu through my throat? Please MS, don't be that arrogant, give me (and so many many others) at least a choice.
Anonymous
April 09, 2009
Hi, I use the WPSM54G printer server, from Linksys and it always worked really well with my Vista 32 desktop, my XP netbook and my wife's vista 32 notebook. since I installed Windows 7 x64 I was not able to install Linksys software. searching on the web I found out that this problem was related to the Windows x64 OSes not providing support to virtual SUB ports. it's necessary to enable access to all functionalities of my All-in-one HP Printer. is it possible that Microsoft will solve this issue, or the structure os the OS isn't able to handle the Virtual USB driver?
Anonymous
April 10, 2009
so that adding capacity doesn't require major upheavals with existing content. Also. Add the capability to follow shortcuts (to folders) within Music/Video/Pictures. (perhaps with an upper limit to prevent circular/inifinite searching) Categorize artist/album by folder hierarchy for non-microsoft audio & video formats. Currently they're all lumped together under 'unknown' artist. Not exactly helpful for finding a track from 1,000s of tracks under one category.
Anonymous
April 11, 2009
It would be a very effcient feature in windows 7 if the os would remember the arrangement of the desktop icons, when switching back from a different resolution (e.g. when having finished a ppt presentation with low resoltion for the beamer. Coming back to the "working" resolution should arrange the desktop icons like they where before switching to a lower resolution....
Anonymous
April 24, 2009
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Anonymous
April 29, 2009
I don't have Windows 7 installed but really hope you have improved the network portability from Vista. While Vista gave us locations, proxy settings aren't linked to them. When I connect to my work network I want the automatic URL configuration to be chosen, when almost anywhere else I want no proxy. It would be great if this could be automated rather than having to go through a set of menus to change it every time. Thanks
Anonymous
April 29, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 02, 2009
Is it possible turn off Aero Peek only in Windows Flip (ALT + TAB)? or change it timeout? This feature was a bad idea :) Good only on the paper ;) In real world - bad.
Anonymous
May 04, 2009
I will add my vote to old style sidebar I have a wide screen monitor and old style sidebar could allow me to look at all my gadgets - three clocks, indexer status , etc at once. there are already http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/265 http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/430-window-vista-sidebar-windows-7-a.html Yeah, new gagets rock, but some people like old style too :))
Anonymous
May 05, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 05, 2009
Please, bring back the WMP Mini player, on the taskbar. It would look great on the new windows taskbar, and is the best thing about WMP. Bring it back, please.
Anonymous
May 06, 2009
It will be nice to have Virtual Desktops to have faster acces to the applicattions. Maybe you can simulate it by given us the posibility to group some aplications like if we are moving it to another desktop, and with the tab function will be easier and faster no get the window we want. And shortcut for the function "Show windows side by side" and an improvement of this will be really nice. This function is only accesible right cliking on the taskbar.
Anonymous
May 06, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 08, 2009
Am not sure if the Microsoft Windows Developer will actually read this ! :) but any way, i have just one comment.. i tired to use the "telnet" under the cmd mode, and its just "not recognized" ! so... "How am i suppose to telnet to another Workstation using Windows Seven?"
Anonymous
May 08, 2009
sorry for the double post, but it seems there is no "edit" option xD.. anyway, I also want to talk about the psr "Problem Step Recorder", its a great great idea, wonderful job! i really loved it, and it helps alot when someone want to report a problem or something like that, but.. first time i installed the RC version i got some error with my Fingerprint device, it was installed successfully, but when each time i tried to enroll my fingerprint, it crashed (it worked now, dunno how!!) but when i tried to use the "psr" to report this problem, after i clicked the "send to e-mail recipient" i thought -and i guess that's how it should be- i thought that it will automatically put an email at the "Send To" field ! but it didn't, so i went for like 30 min in Windows Seven site, and searched the whole site, looking for "Windows Seven Support" @hotmail/live.com .. but i couldn't find any! it will be a very good idea, if you did that -adding an email recipient automatically so i can send it to the Windows Seven Support Team- Thanks, and sorry for the long post :)
Anonymous
May 11, 2009
I like the RC except for one funny thing, there was a program called AgentSvr.exe located in C:windowsmsagent in the earlier releases of Windows 7 but is missing in the RC. How I found this out is I have an application the is build on Access XP Developer and when run the install of my application it gives an error and will not install. By running the Filemon program I was able to find that this AgentSvr.exe program was missing. By removing it from the compiler opsfillelist.txt file the program and recompiling my app it would install. Is the AgentSvr.exe program left out on purpose or was it overlooked? Does anybody have an answer... CD Tom
Anonymous
May 12, 2009
Very good program not installed yet but it looks more better then windows vista totally more user friendly and easier to work with going to install it very soon as i need to upgrade my pc asap very good OS
Anonymous
May 13, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 20, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 22, 2009
Windows 7 RC is so great!! I love it! I love everything on it!! Good work Windows guys!! =) I also have a comment on Windows 7 RC....On the Beta release I was able to install our Brother 5460CN Multi-Function machine...I was able to install it even the installer only supports Windows XP. It was great because I was able to use our MFC...But now on RC I wasn't ablw to install it using the driver provided by Brother...And I wasn't able to add a new device....I tried to run the "Add a device" option in the Device and Printers window but it only keeps on searching the whole day and displayong nothing... Can you guys please add the option or fix this option in adding a device in the next release of Windows 7? It is a big help to install or add a device manually specially when the driver is broken or does not support by the OS.
Anonymous
May 23, 2009
I have the Windows 7 RC, and Ive found one small detail that will require fixing. This may be an issue with the internet explorer upgrade, Im not sure. I use a site called Bebo - see URL - and in this site, you can change the modules and friends etc,. They use pick up and drag to do this, and I am finding that when I pick up an icon - if I can, sometimes I cannot - I cannot drop it into place. Thanks Guys, Quinny.
Anonymous
May 25, 2009
I think it would be great if you could middle click (scroll button) on a folder in explorer, and it would open that folder in a separate instance of explorer or maybe even a tab (like firefox/IE)
Anonymous
May 27, 2009
I installed the Windows 7 RC Build 7100. Everything was nice and fast until I did a Windows update and installed the free AVG. The boot up time has increased significantly by about 90secs. There is a long delay before you get to the user prompt. How can I communicate this to the W7 team?
Anonymous
May 31, 2009
I have made a wallpaper for windows 7 fán's, it's called Windows7 The Way To Heaven, hope you likte it. Resolutions: 1280x800 http://pricop.info/Diverse/Win7TWTH1280.jpg 1024x768 http://pricop.info/Diverse/Win7TWTH1024.jpg
Anonymous
June 07, 2009

Make something built-in like the software 'Fences'. The options provided with this OS to arrange icons is very inflexible. Even in the align to grid view you have to grab every icon and make them arranged. That is time consuming and annoying. Plus you can't label them like the Fences software useres can.That will help pc users to arrange their messy desktop in a faster,easier and sweeter way.
I like that I can preview videos in the right instead of opening a new window. What i really wanted then is to see a slide show in the preview panel of my photos of a particular folder. It might work like this- You go to pictures>open a folder>In the preview panel its written "start slideshow". So photos in that folders start showing up one after another within the panel. Thats worth saving a few clicks. Right?Plus while seeing the slideshows I can also see the information about the photo at the bottom (ratings,title,author etc)
Why the are only 3 options for choosing the size of icons on the desktop. Leave it to the customers. In a browser, users can adjust text as they want. Let it be up to the user who adjusts size of his icons based on the number of icons in his/her desktop. It would be great you could let us create separate size for separate icons. Pinning thing is good but when you are talking about 'touch' it kinda implies 'touch with your thumbs' you know, not with a stylus. Suppose I have 50 icons in my desktop.So to keep them decent I have to use 'classic icon view'.This month I am frequently using 6 of them.So I have made six bigger icons for this month while keeping all in the classic view on the desktop.That will help me to find out icons quickly instead of wasting my time to find them. 4.My 7 crashed couple of times, got attacked by viruses called vbb.exe (detected by kaspersky for 7)and I found few bugs. Not detailing here, If you go to my url you will find it.
I wanna listen to one of my top four playlist of songs right now.Not with windows media player, some other player I have made default.I don't wanna go to desktop, open the player then find out the playlist and then play it.What I want is click on the start button, right click on music and find and option that says 'playlist'(I hope right above 'share with'). I choose my playlist and it immediately starts with the default player I have selected. I specifically mentioned playlist because you create playlist so that you have access to those songs quickly. Or let us add 'playlist' in the start menu along with 'all music' and 'resume last list'.Sometimes we wanna here some songs together you know. I hope this will help to improve windows 7 more and I really hope Mac doesn't find out about these ideas before windows.

Anonymous
June 08, 2009
I got a BIOSTATE mother board. i faced some problems to install Windows 7 RC. it did not get the Ps2 Mouse. and there was a pblm for the built in sound card.
Anonymous
June 15, 2009
web pages where there's nothing above or below, but completely impractical when browsing a directory structure where you can browse up/down as well as forward/back. You can easily end up in a loop of forward/back when hitting backspace to try and return up to the previous level.
Anonymous
June 15, 2009
We should have the option to use the new Gadget-floating-on-the-Desktop look or the more ingenious Gadgets-in-a-controlled-and-sane-environment look.
Anonymous
June 15, 2009
I was able to use our MFC...But now on RC I wasn't ablw to install it using the driver provided by Brother...And I wasn't able to add a new device....I tried to run the "Add a device" option in the Device and Printers window but it only keeps on searching the whole day and displayong nothing...
Anonymous
June 15, 2009
This would be great for the moments like when you dont have connection or for ppl who dont have fast connection, as downloading text info is far faster than opening a page and searching...
Anonymous
June 16, 2009
Hi there! Windows 7 is just great!!! The only thing that I hate about it is not having the Windows Movie Maker HD (Vista Version), you're right when telling us that Windows Live Essencials come with a Movie Maker Beta, but it's not really the same, the movie maker of WLE is quite poor compared of the HD version of the Windows Movie Maker. Maybe Windows 7 would be better with a Movie Maker version...
Anonymous
June 19, 2009
love the new OS, totally willing to buy it. all the programs I need to use for college works without a problem. dont know if it was me but for gaming it was good also but in the RC version the games are for some reason incompatible MMOs, while I was able to play them perfectly on the build7000. I actually like to test everything out of it, sorry if that got off topic.
Anonymous
June 30, 2009
Has there been any changes to the way the WinSXS folder is handled? I just had to reinstall the RC version because the file got too big for the 20gig system partition....
Anonymous
July 01, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
July 27, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
August 09, 2009
One change I'd really like to see regars using the taskbar on a vertical position. I've started using the taskbar on the right side to make better use of my widescreen monitor. In Win7, for the first time it actually felt right, no glitches, no weard behavior at all, but there's one deal breaker: the taskbar is a little too wide: you can clearly see there is too much extra room in each side of the icons.
Anonymous
August 16, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
August 16, 2009
I hear everyone complaining about the fact that u have to click the pinned library folder on the task bar and have it open up to then choose a folder and sub folders to get to the folder or file u want to open. Here is the answer and solution to your problem. It is very simple. you can make a toolbar of the library folder on the task bar that will then open up all sub menus. here is how u do it. go to "C:Windows" find and copy the "explorer.exe" file and paste it to your desktop. (Do not use paste shortcut.) now u have the library folder, (explorer.exe) on your desktop. it is not a shortcut. a shortcut will not work. Now right click on the taskbar and select "TOOLBARS"- then select "NEW TOOLBAR". when the window opens to choose the folder, click on desktop, then u will see that (explorer.exe file) you put on your desktop, but it will automatically show as Libraries. click that Libraries Folder and click select folder on bottom right. You now have a Libraries toolbar with sub menus when you hover over them. you now can DELETE that "explorer.exe file on your desktop. Now you can create many libraries in the pinned library folder on taskbar, and of course they will all be in that nice easy Library tool bar u created. Hope this helped u all out. i have not found 1 article about this, i just put my experience and knowledge to work and figured it out real quickly.
Anonymous
August 20, 2009
with windows 7 i had some problems with my hard drive D.(i have 2 hard drives C & D , not partitions) when i try to change something on it , my Pc freeze. the file system is NTFS thanks
Anonymous
February 24, 2010
I have had problems to with windows 7 maybe it is a common problem
Anonymous
February 24, 2010
It must be a really common problem cause I have had it too.
Anonymous
February 25, 2010
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
March 19, 2010
I would say Windows 7 is better than vista, because there are not much complaint about it as how there were for Vista. I also like the ablility to lock screen with the screensaver
Anonymous
March 19, 2010
I like this system.And I am using this system.It word powerful.
Anonymous
March 22, 2010
Some real nice changes, it looks more better then windows vista
Anonymous
March 25, 2010
with windows 7 ultimate everything is OK maybe first we have problems with the RC
Anonymous
March 28, 2010
Ok I disabled my firewall but it still wont let me download anything that needs the internet well use it like skype,A.I.M, and etc. but what is the deal?!
Anonymous
April 06, 2010
It would be nice to be able to see file extensions and hidden files as an option. Ialways have file extensions and hidden files exposed because it tends to make life easier for myself sometimes.
Anonymous
April 08, 2010
I love windows 7, better then any before it by far :)
Anonymous
April 11, 2010
I am using Vista now but I am strongly thinking about moving to Windows 7 as I hear a lot of positive opinions out there. Am I right?
Anonymous
April 18, 2010
Well windows 7 is so much better than vista was. But i am still using xp. It is just a habit :)
Anonymous
April 20, 2010
a Libraries toolbar with sub menus when you hover over them. you now can DELETE that "explorer.exe file on your desktop. Now you can create many libraries .<a href="http://www.darraslaw.com/aboutus.html">California Insurance Attorneys</a>
Anonymous
April 24, 2010
Really nice guys :) i love it!! web tasarım web yazılım tasarımı
Anonymous
April 24, 2010
Really nice guys :) depresyon panik atak tedavisi
Anonymous
May 03, 2010
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 07, 2010
Very nice post. I really enjoy the reading. I will surly come here for getting more information.Thanks <a href="http://www.newrealhomes.com">Real estate india</a>
Anonymous
May 11, 2010
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
May 27, 2010
Thank you for the wonderful article, it is going to improve my Windows 7's Performance -<a href="http://www.mosttop10.com">Top 10</a>
Anonymous
June 04, 2010
I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bits with a monitor in portrait. For that reason I would like to get the preview pane in Explorer at the bottom of the screen for having a readible preview for example of a pdf (because the new 16:9 screen are getting so low, and thus so narrow in portrait).
Anonymous
December 12, 2010
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
December 12, 2010
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
June 20, 2011
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Some Changes Since Beta for the RC

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Will it be possible to put DFS shares to a library? I think this would be really important for enterprise customers!

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