Beyond web logs

Windows 7 is designed to simplify the things you do every day, work the way you want, and make some exciting new things possible. Want examples? Here are Top good reasons to make the move to Windows 7.

• Get quicker access to all of your stuff to keep the programs and files you use the most right at your fingertips.
  • Pin
    • In Windows 7, you can use pinning to make your PC work even more the way you want. One big improvement is the ability to control where your programs appear on your taskbar. Always want your web browser right next to the start button? Drag the icon where you want it, and it'll stay there till you move it. You can also pin your program icon to the taskbar, so it's there all the time. You can even pin specific documents and web sites to Jump Lists on your taskbar.
  • Jump Lists
    • The taskbar gives you a quick way to find the programs and files you’ve got open. With Windows 7, you’ll see the next big jump (pun intended) in making it easier to find what you need. Jump Lists take you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you use most often. To open a Jump List, just right-click a program icon on the Windows 7 taskbar. You can also see Jump Lists for the programs on your Start menu – just click on the arrow next to the program name.
• Quickly find what you’re looking for

  With Windows Vista, we introduced Instant Search, which helps you easily locate files, e-mail messages, and other items on your PC. If you remember the type of file, when it was created, or even what it contains, Instant Search helps you find it quickly from the Start menu and other folders. In Windows 7, Windows Search improves upon this feature by making search results more relevant and easier to review. Now, you can find more things in more places—and do it faster.

  Start typing into the Start menu search box—and you'll instantly see a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on your PC. Results are now grouped by category and contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan.

  

• Share files and printers among multiple PCs

  Have you ever needed to print a file at home when you weren’t connected to a printer? Did you decide that even with a home network, it was easier to just put the file on a USB drive and take it to the PC with the printer? That’s one reason we created HomeGroup. New with Windows 7, HomeGroup takes the headache out of sharing files, devices, and printers on a home network. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, pictures, video, and document libraries with others in your home.

  Concerned about privacy? HomeGroup is password-protected so you just set up one password for all your PCs and you’re ready to go. You can decide what gets shared and what stays private, or use “Share with” to decide who you want to share specific folders with. You can also make your files "read only," so other people can look at (but not change) your stuff.

• Stay entertained effortlessly

  Watch, pause, and record live TV. Listen to your tunes. Show off your photo collection. Enjoy online entertainment. And do it all from your living-room couch. In Windows 7, we've made it even better—adding great new features and visual touch-ups. Windows Media Center is available in the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. What do you need?
  

  More watching...

  With a TV tuner you can watch, pause, and record live TV. Windows Media Center supports more global TV standards and tuners, including digital and HD. It also now plays more popular audio and video formats—including 3GP, AAC, AVCHD, DivX, MOV, and Xvid.

  ...less waiting

  Tired of trudging through TV listings or a massive music library? Zip to songs and shows more quickly using the new Turbo Scroll feature.

  Stunning new slide shows

  Make elegant photo collages (with background music) using the new slide show maker—perfect for parties or family get-togethers. And check out the updated slide show screen saver—its stunning visuals defy words.

  Better Internet TV

  Choose from a variety of online TV shows and movies right from the familiar program guide.

  Easier media sharing

  Enjoy recorded TV shows, music, video—even when it's not stored on your PC. Once you’ve joined a HomeGroup, your media is available to any PC with Windows 7 in the house.

  New gadget, bigger previews

  A new Media Center gadget. Quick video skimming. More song and show details. Bigger, easier-to-see preview thumbnails. The improvements go on and on.

• Don't leave programs behind | Old software Support

  It's the best of both worlds: The new Windows XP Mode lets you run older Windows XP business software right on your Windows 7 desktop.

  This feature is designed primarily with small- and medium-sized businesses in mind. Windows XP Mode comes as a separate download and works only with Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate. Windows XP Mode also requires virtualization software such as Windows Virtual PC. Both are available free on the Microsoft website.

  
• Offers your PC better protection

  Backup and Restore—improved for Windows 7—creates safety copies of your most important files, so if you lose something, it won't be lost forever.

  Let Windows choose what to back up, or pick individual folders, libraries, or drives. Windows can back up files on whatever schedule you choose. Just set it and forget it. In Windows 7, you can back up files to another drive, your network, or a DVD. Backup and Restore for your personal PC and attached DVD or external hard drives comes with all editions of Windows.

  If you want to backup to a network location, say on your company's central server, network attached storage, or another computer on your network, you'll need Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate.

  BitLocker To Go—a new feature of Windows 7—gives the lockdown treatment to easily-misplaced portable storage devices like USB flash drives and external hard drives.How can you help protect your data from loss, theft, or hackers? The answer: BitLocker. If you've got information on your PC that you need to protect, you can help prevent theft or loss by using BitLocker data encryption to put a virtual lock on your files.

  Improved for Windows 7 and available in the Ultimate edition, BitLocker helps keep everything from documents to passwords safer by encrypting the entire drive that Windows and your data reside on. Once BitLocker is turned on, any file you save on that drive is encrypted automatically.

• Manage open windows easier
  • Snap is a quick (and fun) new way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the edges of your screen. Depending on which edge you choose—top or bottom, left or right—the window will expand vertically, fill the screen, or you can even position windows side by side. Snap makes reading, organizing, and comparing windows a...well, you get the picture. Windows simply by dragging their borders to the edge of your screen.