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Windows 7 may replace it as the legacy Windows OS of choice, especially considering the little-known features hidden away in Windows 7 that may make you realize just how much you love the OS. Hidden features you say? They include keyboard shortcuts, secret tricks and other interesting features that most long-term Windows 7 users never realized existed, and a few features that amazingly were added as late as the last year or two - evidence by the fact that they were just recently added to the Windows 7 New Features download provided by Microsoft.

I highly recommend that download, but if you don't have time to sift through it, the following are a few highlights of the more impressive, little-known features that could boost your productivity and deepen your love for Windows 7. Most people who've used Windows 7 long enough accidentally stumble upon some of the more useful features that it offers, such as the convenient enhanced taskbar where you can hover over program icons and see a small graphic thumbnail of the actual application window without opening it.

This greatly enhances the speed with which you can find the right application to open, but that enhanced taskbar also includes a few interesting keyboard shortcuts not a lot of people know about:. You might have already known you could maximize an open window by sliding it over to the top of the screen, or resizing it to fill half the desktop by sliding the window over to the side.

Did you know that you could do the same thing without even touching your mouse? Yup - with the active Window open, the following shortcuts to the same thing. Windows Explorer has an embedded search tool that lets you search your entire computer for files, documents and more. It also improved on Vista in several areas. Some of the changes were cosmetic, such as the new Windows button, but most of the new features, such as improvements to the taskbar, were designed to make the user more productive.

As of January , Microsoft is no longer supporting Windows 7. We recommend upgrading to Windows 10 to continue receiving security updates and technical support. Learn more. My gaming rig is ready I don't know if I am Windows" -- danielhbrockman. Thinner, lighter, and faster With solid state drives and the latest technology, modern PCs offer faster speeds, security, durability, and great designs.

Why Windows 10 computers? Get new capabilities with a new computer From touchscreens, digital pens, and facial recognition, new PCs enable features that save you steps and are easy to use.

Learn more about Windows 10 features. Versatile 2-in-1s 2-in-1s provide power and flexibility. Gaming PCs All the power you need to win. Shop Surface Original by design. Shop now. Check out a variety of Windows 10 computers from our valued retail partners Shop now. Will my Windows 7 computer stop working? How do I get Windows 10? Can I upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 for free? Why should I consider a new computer?

Take a look at these innovative new features available with Windows 10 on a new device: Newer PC hardware that is faster, more capable, and more compatible with the latest industry technology. To help you keep your device secure, you can take advantage of the latest security capabilities: Get built-in security at no extra cost. Your Windows device comes with built-in security features, including firewall and internet protections to help safeguard against viruses, malware, and ransomware.

Sign in three times faster and forget your password. Most of us are familiar with touchscreens on our phones, and now many new PCs have a touchscreen on a new Windows 10 computer. With the touchscreen, you can also utilise pen technology to write and mark up documents and websites. Touchscreens and pens allow you to zoom in, zoom out, quickly scroll, and sign documents. The other less-powerful Command Prompt alternative is Console2, which we've previously written about.

Microsoft Edge is the default browser in Windows 10 , replacing its ageing cousin Internet Explorer. Without any extensions at launch, Edge felt under-baked compared to its current adversaries, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. While Edge extensions are coming this summer, the one feature that Microsoft hoped would entice Windows 10 users in the meantime was the ability to doodle on webpages. Even though this feature is not available in Chrome and Firefox by default, it's available through the use of extensions.

Install Web Paint that's available for both Chrome and Firefox. It lets you write, draw, color, make markings, and even take screenshots that you can then download or print. Another "edgy" Edge feature is the option to save the articles you want to revisit or read later to its Reading List. You then read the article at your leisure stripped of its ads and change its theme to Sepia or Dark for a better reading experience.

While there are many read-later web services , our favorite is Pocket — the website, extension and app that lets you save articles to read later at your convenience.

Install its Chrome extension and log in to or create your account. In Firefox, it comes as a built-in extension. Whenever you want to save an article to your reading list, just click the Pocket icon in your browser toolbar. These articles are automatically saved to your account sans adverts. For playback of various media formats, Windows 7 also introduces an H. Windows Media Player 12 uses the built-in Media Foundation codecs to play these formats by default.

Action Center , formerly Windows Security Center, now encompasses both security and maintenance. 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. The feature will be disabled by default.

When enabled the user will only have limited control as to which applications can track their location. Because only the Media Foundation application programming interface could interact with this environment, a media player application had to be designed to use Media Foundation. In Windows 7, this restriction is lifted.

Windows 7 includes the new Windows Biometric Framework. In prior releases of Microsoft Windows, biometric hardware device manufacturers were required to provide a complete stack of software to support their device, including device drivers, software development kits, and support applications.

Microsoft noted in a white paper on the Windows Biometric Framework that the proliferation of these proprietary stacks resulted in compatibility issues, compromised the quality and reliability of the system, and made servicing and maintenance more difficult. By incorporating the core biometric functionality into the operating system, Microsoft aims to bring biometric device support on par with other classes of devices.

A new Control Panel called Biometric Device Control Panel is included which provides an interface for deleting stored biometrics information, troubleshooting, and enabling or disabling the types of logins that are allowed using biometrics.

Biometrics configuration can also be configured using Group Policy settings. Alongside the workgroup system used by previous versions, Windows 7 adds a new ad hoc home networking system known as HomeGroup.

The system uses a password to join computers into the group, and allows users' libraries, along with individual files and folders, to be shared between multiple computers. Only computers running Windows 7 to Windows 10 version can create or join a HomeGroup; [] [] however, users can make files and printers shared in a HomeGroup accessible to Windows XP and Windows Vista through a separate account, dedicated to sharing HomeGroup content, that uses traditional Windows sharing.

HomeGroup as a concept is very similar to a feature slated for Windows Vista, known as Castle , which would have made it possible to have an identification service for all members on the network, without a centralized server.

HomeGroup is created in response to the need for a simple sharing model for inexperienced users who need to share files without wrestling with user accounts , Security descriptors and share permissions. Under this model, either a certain file or folder was shared with anyone who connects to the network even unauthorized parties who are in range of the wireless network or was not shared at all.

Windows 7 adds support for multiple firewall profiles. The Windows Firewall in Windows Vista dynamically changes which network traffic is allowed or blocked based on the location of the computer based on which network it is connected to.

This approach falls short if the computer is connected to more than one network at the same time as for a computer with both an Ethernet and a wireless interface. In this case, Vista applies the profile that is more secure to all network connections. This is often not desirable; Windows 7 resolves this by being able to apply a separate firewall profile to each network connection. Windows 7 contains Windows PowerShell 2.

Windows 7 includes Internet Explorer 8 , []. NET Framework 3. Paint and WordPad feature a Ribbon interface similar to the one introduced in Office , with both sporting several new features. Calculator has been rewritten, with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes, unit conversion, and date calculations. Calculator was also given a graphical facelift, the first since Windows 95 in and Windows NT 4.

DLL files. Microsoft Magnifier, an accessibility utility for low vision users has been dramatically improved. Magnifier now supports the full screen zoom feature, whereas previous Windows versions had the Magnifier attached to the top of the screen in a dock layout. The new full screen feature is enabled by default, however, it requires Windows Aero for the advantage of the full screen zoom feature.

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