what's new in Windows 7

Windows 7 is the most advanced Windows ever. MSN shows you some of the aces it has up its sleeve.

Installing a new operating system is a bit like learning how to ride a bicycle again. How do you search for files, create shortcuts and install various gadgets?

Many traditional and popular Windows features have remained the same, but Windows 7 has a whole pile of new items to save you time in a bid to simplify your home computing.

Read on to discover a selection of exciting new features.

Don’t Search, Go Find

Finding your files and programs just became easier.

The search bar built into the Start Menu shows search results immediately with every keystroke. Just type in the name of the file you are looking for and it appears immediately, even if it is on a network drive, or a removable USB stick.

It doesn’t matter where you are in Windows 7 as a search can be triggered from just about anywhere! Look to the upper right-hand corner of your navigation window.

Jump Lists

Right click on any of the shortcuts on the Powerbar and the jump list appears.

Here you can open any of the files recently used by the selected program. You can even pin the files to the list.

Say you have a spreadsheet that you use repeatedly, but not often, just click on the Pin icon next to it in the jump list and it will stay in the list until you tell the computer otherwise.

Pin-to

There are some programs that you use every time you turn your computer on. Why not place these programs in the Powerbar at the bottom of the screen?

Just drag the icon from the program list under the Start menu to the adjoining horizontal bar and voilà! Arrange the icons into the desired order to customize the shortcuts to your liking.

Arranging Windows

Gone are the days of carefully crafting window sizes to put two program windows side by side.

Just drag a window to the side of the desktop and release. It will automatically be resized to occupy one-half the screen.

Drag another window to the other side and you have two windows perfectly sized next to each other. Grab one window and “shake it” with the mouse and the Aero Shake function minimizes all the other windows, clearing clutter instantly.

And there is also a handy “Show Desktop” button in the corner next to the clock. Hover your cursor over to make all your open windows transparent, showing you the desktop and any applications that might be hiding. Clicking on this button will minimize all windows.

Easier, faster internet browsing

Until now browsing the internet could be a tedious task. We’ve all grown weary of constantly flicking between one browser window with another.

Say you want to look-up directions, or a map; previously, that required copying the address from one page and searching for it in second window. Now, using Internet Explorer 8 and Bing, you can highlight the address and bring up a map without navigating away from the page.

This technology has been shared with other companies and sites such as Facebook, eBay and Yahoo! So look out for similar shortcuts soon!

Many of us visit the same pages day in, day out - you possibly check the weather every morning or Ebay auctions multiple throughout the working week. Now, using a new feature called Web Slices, websites can provide updates to your browser as a ‘slice’.

Just look for the designated web slice icon and you can see the selected information without pulling up the entire page. You can add a Web Slices button to your Internet Explorer toolbar so chosen updates are always close at hand.

Note:- Data gathered from events.uk.msn.com