11. MULTIMEDIA
Windows Media Center in Windows 7 has retained much of
the design and feel of its predecessor, but with a variety of
user interface shortcuts and browsing capabilities.Playback
of H.264 video both locally and through a Media Center
Extender is supported. Some notable enhancements in
Windows 7 Media Center include a new mini guide, a new
scrub bar, the option to color code the guide by show type,
and internet content that is more tightly integrated with
regular TV via the guide. All Windows 7 versions now
support up to four tuners of each type (QAM, ATSC,
CableCARD, NTSC, etc.). When browsing the media library,
items that don't have album art are shown in a range of
foreground and background color combinations instead of
using white text on a blue background.
12. SECURITY
A new user interface for User Account Control has
been introduced, which provides the ability to select
four different levels of notifications, one of these
notification settings, Default, is new to Windows
7. Geo-tracking capabilities are also available in
Windows 7. The feature will be disabled by default.
When enabled the user will only have limited control
as to which applications can track their location.
The Encrypting File System supports Elliptic-curve
cryptographic algorithms (ECC) in Windows 7.
13. NETWORKING
1. DirectAccess, a VPN tunnel technology based
on IPv6 and IPsec. DirectAccess requires domain-
joined machines, Windows Server 2008 R2 on the
DirectAccess server, at least Windows Server
2008 domain controllers and a PKI to issue
authentication certificates.
2. BranchCache, a WAN optimization technology.
3. The Bluetooth stack includes improvements
introduced in the Windows Vista Feature Pack for
Wireless, namely, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support and
remote wake from S3 or S4 support for self-powered
Bluetooth modules.
14. Management features
Windows 7 contains Windows PowerShell 2.0 out-of-
the-box, which is also available as a download to install
on older platforms:
1. Windows Troubleshooting Platform
2. Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting
Environment.
3. PowerShell Remoting
Other new management features include:
1. AppLocker
2. Group Policy Preferences
3. The Windows Automation API
15. Upgraded components
Windows 7 includes Internet Explorer 8.NET
Framework 3.5 SP1, Internet Information
Services (IIS) 7.5, Windows Installer 5.0 and a
standalone XPS Viewer.Paint, Calculator, Resource
Monitor and WordPad have also been updated.
16. OTHER FEATURES
1. Windows 7 improves the Tablet PC Input Panel to make faster
corrections using new gestures, supports text prediction in
the soft keyboard and introduces a new Math Input Panel for
inputting math into programs that support MathML.
2. Windows 7 introduces a new Problem Steps Recorder tool
that enables users to record their interaction with software
for analysis and support.
3. As opposed to the blank start-up screen in Windows Vista,
Windows 7's start-up screen consists of an animation
featuring four colored light balls.
4. The Starter Edition of Windows 7 can run an unlimited
number of applications, compared to only 3 in Windows Vista
Starter.
5. For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API
with support for building SOAP-based web services in native
code.
