18 cool things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn't
The stuff that makes the upgrade worthwhile
By Aditya Chandrasekhar
October 22nd 2009 | Tell us what you think [ 43 comments ]
10. A brand new Magnifier tool If
you are, or someone you know, is visually impaired, then the Windows 7
Magnifier provides two options for providing a bigger display. One of
which is using the traditional dock (which took up a lot of the screen)
and the other being a rectangular lens that is stuck to the cursor
(meaning there is no loss of workspace). 
UP CLOSE: A sleek new magnifier that follows your cursor, without decreasing your workspace 11. A new way to preview your music files Opening
and listening to an MP3 is a lot more snappier with Windows 7 due to
its new smaller preview player, presenting you with album art, basic
music functionality and a link to the full-blown Windows Media Player.
This is an obvious attempt to mimic the preview feature of Mac OS X,
but it is very well executed. 
MUSIC PREVIEW: The new preview is simple – and loads up very quickly 12. Homegroup Networking In
Vista (or, frankly, any Windows OS), creating a shared folder over a
network at home could be a bit of a pain. In Windows 7, using the
'Homegroup' wizard, check the default folders you would like to share.
This will give you a passcode that will have to be entered in another
computer on the same network to share the files. Sounds too good to be
true? There is a catch: only a Windows 7 computer can join a Homegroup.
13. Stream Music directly to another computer If
you do create a Homegroup, Windows Media Player allows you to stream
music directly to another computer. So, instead of listening to music
through your measly laptop speakers, you can wirelessly stream to the
7.1 Surround Sound Speakers of your PC in your living room, without
stepping away from your laptop. Sweet. 14. Action Center The
Action Center is the new Security Center for Windows 7, along with
other notifications such as updates and access to the improved
troubleshooting and recovery using restore point facilities. Basically,
it is everything windows usually annoys you with, rolled into one place
with one icon in the notification bar. If you find the alerts
irritating, you can check out this tip to make the Windows 7 Action Center less annoying. 15. Pin just about anything to the new Windows Taskbar Imagine
a blank Mac OS X Dock with the start menu, the notifications bar and
the improved 'Show Desktop' button added to it. Drag just about
anything on to it and the associated application will place itself on
the translucent taskbar, with an option to open the file in the
Jumplist. 16. Improved Touch Navigation Windows
7 has much improved touch navigation. The larger taskbar with squarer
icons makes it a lot easier to navigate with your fingers, and
Macbook-like multi-touch gestures on various applications could change
the way you interact with windows. Subtle enhancements such as a larger
Start Menu appearing when Touchscreen hardware is detected also help. 17. Native ISO Burner There
are those times when you inevitably have to burn an ISO file (such as
when you have to copy a downloaded Windows 7 beta or RC) to a DVD. With
Windows 7 you do not need to download third-party software (some of
which are pretty confusing to use). Double-clicking on an ISO file will
take you to a window that allows you to change the disc burner drive.
Click 'Burn'. After a while, your disc is ready. Simple. 
FINALLY: Burning an ISO file has never been so easy 18. Native calibration tools If
you tend to hook up your computer to an HDTV or care about getting the
highest quality from your monitor, then the in-built basic and
easy-to-use calibration tools built into Windows 7 will please you.
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