Windows 7 Features

The primary features of Windows 7 are:

• Start Menu – The Start Menu provides the primary access point for programs and applications on your ThinkPad.

Taskbar and Notification Area – The Taskbarcontains 3 main components, the Start button, the Task/Quicklaunch bar and the System Notification Area.                                                                                                                                                                                                        Features new to Windows 7. Some of the new features included in Windows 7 are advancements intouch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, support for additional file formats, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.                                                                                                                          

Desktop

Themes[edit]                                           

Support for themes has been extended in Windows 7.^[3] In addition to providing options to customize desktop slideshow feature. A new theme pack extension has been introduced, .themepack, which are essentially cabinet files that consist of theme resources including background images, color preferences,^[4] The new theme extension simplies sharing of themes, and can also display desktop wallpapers via RSS feeds provided by the Windows RSS Platform.^[4] Microsoft provides additional themes for free through its website.^[3]

desktop icons, mouse cursors, and sound schemes.

colors of window chrome and other aspects of the interface, including the desktop background, desktop icons, mouse cursors, and sound schemes, the operating system also includes a native 

The default theme included with Windows 7 is a namesake theme, and consists of a single desktop wallpaper named "Harmony" and the default desktop icons, mouse cursors, and sound scheme introduced in Windows Vista; however, none of the desktop backgrounds included with Windows Vista are present in Windows 7. Additional themes are also included: Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature, and Scenes, and an additional country-specific theme that is determined based on the defined locale when the operating system is installed; all themes included in Windows 7, excluding the default theme, include six wallpaper images.^[3] While only the theme for a user's home country is displayed within the user interface, the files for all of these other country-specific themes are included in the operating system.^[5] A number of new sound schemes, each associated with an included theme, have also been introduced: Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savana, and Sonata.^[6][7] Though itself not a new feature, individual sound schemes can be used within custom themes as well.^[8]

Desktop Slideshow[edit]

Windows 7 introduces a desktop slideshow feature which periodically changes the desktop wallpaper based on a designated interval specified by a user; the change is accompanied by a smooth fade transition with a duration that can be customized via the Windows Registry.^[9] The desktop slideshow feature supports local images as well as images obtained via RSS.^[10][11][12]

Gadgets[edit]

With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced gadgets to display information, such as image slideshows and RSS feeds, on the user's desktop; the gadgets could optionally be displayed on a sidebar docked to a side of the screen.^[13] In Windows 7, the sidebar has been removed, but gadgets can still be placed on the desktop.^[13] Gadgets can be brought to the foreground on top of active applications by pressing ⊞ Win+G.^[13] Several new features for gadgets were introduced, including new desktop context menu options to access gadgets and hide all active gadgets, high DPI support, and a feature that can automatically rearrange a gadget based on the position of other gadgets.^[13][14] Additional new features include optimizations for touch-based devices, cached gadget content, and a new Windows Media Center gadget.^[13]

Gadgets are more closely integrated with Windows Explorer, but the gadgets themselves continue to operate in a single sidebar.exe process, unlike in Windows Vista where gadgets could operate in multiple sidebar.exe processes. Active gadgets can also be hidden via a new desktop menu option; Microsoft has stated that this can result in power-saving benefits.^[14]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Aero Peek[edit]

In previous versions of Windows, the taskbar ended with the notification area on the right-hand side. Windows 7, however, introduces a show desktop button on the far right side of the taskbar which can initiate an Aero Peek feature that makes all open windows translucent when hovered over by a mouse cursor. Clicking this button shows the desktop, and clicking it again brings all windows to focus. The new button replaces the show desktop shortcut located in the Quick Launch toolbar in previous versions of Windows.^[29]

On touch-based devices, Aero Peek can be initiated by pressing and holding the show desktop button; touching the button itself shows the desktop. The button also increases in width to accommodate being pressed by a finger.^[30]