Windows 7 is the latest release of
Microsoft Windows, a series of
operating systems produced by
Microsoft for use on
personal computers, including home and business
desktops,
laptops,
netbooks,
tablet PCs, and
media center PCs.
[5] Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,
[6] and reached general retail availability on October 22, 2009,
[7] less than three years after the release of its predecessor,
Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart,
Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time.
Unlike its predecessor,
Windows Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible.
[8] Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on
multi-touch support, a redesigned
Windows shell with a new
taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,
[9] and performance improvements. Some standard applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including
Windows Calendar,
Windows Mail,
Windows Movie Maker, and
Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7;
[10][11] most are instead offered separately at
no charge as part of the
Windows Live Essentials suite.
[12]
Development
Originally, a version of Windows codenamed
Blackcomb was planned as the successor to
Windows XP (codename
Whistler) and
Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named
WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "
Longhorn," was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb.
[13] By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major
viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new
service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also restarted, and thus delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.
[14]
Blackcomb was renamed
Vienna in early 2006
[15] and again renamed
Windows 7 in 2007.
[16] In 2008, it was announced that
Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.
[17][18] There has been some confusion over naming the product Windows 7,
[19] while versioning it as 6.1 to indicate its similar build to Vista and increase compatibility with applications that only check major version numbers,
[20] similar to
Windows 2000 and
Windows XP both having 5.x version numbers.
[21]
The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with
Milestone 1, build 6519.
[22] At
PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked
taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed at the end of the conference; however, the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.
On December 27, 2008, the Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via
BitTorrent.
[23] According to a performance test by
ZDNet,
[24] Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas; including boot and shutdown time and working with files, such as loading documents. Other areas did not beat XP; including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video editing, which remain identical to Vista and slower than XP.
[25] On January 7, 2009, the
64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a
trojan.
[26][27] At
CES 2009, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image.
[28] The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009, and Microsoft initially planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on this date. However, access to the downloads was delayed because of high traffic.
[29] The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users could still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copies of Windows 7 Beta, which expired on August 1, 2009.
The release candidate, build 7100, became available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants on April 30, 2009. On May 5, 2009 it became available to the general public, although it had also been leaked onto the Internet via
BitTorrent.
[30] The release candidate was available in five languages and expired on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010.
[31] Microsoft stated that Windows 7 would be released to the general public on October 22, 2009. Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. PDT.
[32] Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with
Windows Server 2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7
RTM is build 7600.16385.090713-1255, which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally.
[6]
Goals
Bill Gates, in an interview with
Newsweek, suggested that this version of Windows would be more "user-centric".
[33] Gates later said that Windows 7 would also focus on performance improvements.
[34] Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the
Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.
[35]
Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that
Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from
Windows XP.
[36] Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 would be a refined version of Windows Vista.
[37]
Features
New and changed features
When the action center flag is clicked on, it list all security issues in a small popup window
Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and
handwriting recognition, support for
virtual hard disks, improved performance on
multi-core processors,
[38][39][40][41] improved
boot performance,
DirectAccess, and
kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of
Windows Media Center,
[42] a
Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the
XPS Essentials Pack and
Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned
Calculator with multiline capabilities including
Programmer and
Statistics modes along with unit conversion for length, weight, temperature, and several others. Many new items have been added to the
Control Panel, including
ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard,
Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.
[43] Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds), which encompasses both
security and maintenance of the computer. Readyboost on 32bit editions now supports up to 256 Gigabytes of extra allocation. The default setting for
User Account Control in Windows 7 has been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with elevated privileges without a prompt by exploiting a trusted application.
[44] Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer
Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that malware can also compromise a system when users agree to a prompt.
[45] Windows 7 also supports images in the
RAW image format through the addition of
Windows Imaging Component-enabled image decoders, which enables raw image thumbnails, previewing and metadata display in Windows Explorer, plus full-size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo Viewer and Window Media Center.
[46]
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with the ability to pin applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the
Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.
[47] The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the
Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called
Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop.
[48] In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs, etc., this button is slightly wider to accommodate being pressed with a finger.
[49] Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, there is a feature named
Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a window when it is dragged to the top of the screen.
[50] Dragging windows to the left/right edges of the screen allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen for comparison between windows, such that the windows vertically take up half the screen. When a user moves windows that were maximized using Aero Snap, the system restores their previous state automatically. This functionality is also accomplished with keyboard shortcuts. Unlike in
Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with
Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain translucent.
For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking
API with support for building
SOAP-based web services in
native code (as opposed to .NET-based
WCF web services),
[51] new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,
[52] and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.
[53] At
WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut
scRGB (which for
HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as
xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.
[54][55] Microsoft has also implemented better support for
solid-state drives,
[56] including the new
TRIM command, and Windows 7 is able to identify a solid-state drive uniquely. Microsoft is planning to support
USB 3.0 in a subsequent patch, support not being included in the initial release due to delays in the finalization of the standard.
[57]
Internet
Spades, Internet
Backgammon and Internet
Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 includes
Internet Explorer 8 and
Windows Media Player 12.
Users are also able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center,
Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform.
[58] Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, titled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata.
[59] A new version of Microsoft Virtual PC, newly renamed as
Windows Virtual PC was made available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
[60] It allows multiple Windows environments, including
Windows XP Mode, to run on the same machine. Windows XP Mode runs
Windows XP in a virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop.
[61] Furthermore, Windows 7 supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows system from a VHD; however, this ability is only available in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.
[62] The
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games, thus allowing use of DirectX 10 in remote desktop environments.
[63] The three application limit, previously present in the Windows Vista Starter Edition, has been removed from Windows 7.
[64]
Removed features
Certain capabilities and programs that were a part of
Windows Vista are no longer present or have been changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionalities. These include the classic
Start Menu user interface, some
taskbar features,
Windows Explorer features,
Windows Media Player features,
Windows Ultimate Extras and
InkBall. Four applications bundled with Windows Vista —
Windows Photo Gallery,
Windows Movie Maker,
Windows Calendar[65] and
Windows Mail — are not included with Windows 7, but applications with close functionality are instead available for free in a separate package called
Windows Live Essentials which can be downloaded on the Microsoft website. Although
Windows Ultimate Extras was removed, many of the extras can be installed separately.
[66] Most popular extras were Microsoft
Texas Hold 'em,
Microsoft Tinker, and
Windows DreamScene. InkBall may also be installed into Windows 7.
Antitrust regulatory attention
As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being studied by United States federal regulators who oversee the company's operations following the 2001
United States v. Microsoft settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in February 2008.
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at
Jupiter Research said that, "[Microsoft's] challenge for Windows 7 will be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want that also don't run afoul of regulators."
[68]
Europe
In order to comply with European antitrust regulations, Microsoft has proposed the use of a "ballot" screen, allowing users to download a competing browser, thus removing the need for a version of Windows completely without Internet Explorer, as previously planned.
[69] In response to criticism involving Windows 7 E and concerns from manufacturers about possible consumer confusion if a version of Windows 7 with Internet Explorer were shipped later after one without Internet Explorer, Microsoft announced that it would scrap the separate version for Europe and ship the standard upgrade and full packages worldwide.
[70]
As with the previous version of Windows, an N version, which does not come with
Windows Media Player, has been released in Europe, but only for sale directly from Microsoft sales websites and selected others.
[71]
Reception
A Samsung N145 Plus
netbook running Windows 7 Home Premium.
In July 2009, in only eight hours, pre-orders of Windows 7 at Amazon.co.uk surpassed the demand Windows Vista had had in its first 17 weeks.
[72] It became the highest-grossing pre-order in Amazon's history, surpassing sales of the previous record holder, the
seventh Harry Potter book.
[73] After 36 hours, 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate editions sold out in Japan.
[74] Two weeks after its release, it was announced that its market share had surpassed that of
Snow Leopard, released two months previously as the most recent update to
Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
[75][76] According to Net Applications, Windows 7 reached a 4% market share in less than three weeks. In comparison, it took Windows Vista seven months to reach the same mark.
[77] As of March 4, 2010, Microsoft announced that it had sold more than 90 million Windows 7 licenses.
[78] On April 23, 2010, Windows 7 has sold more than 100 million copies in six months which made it Microsoft's fastest selling operating system.
[79][80] As of June 23, 2010, Windows 7 has sold 150 million copies which made it the fastest selling operating system in history with seven copies sold every second.
[80][81] Based on worldwide data taken during June 2010 from Windows Update 46% of Windows 7 PCs run the 64-bit edition of Windows 7.
[82] According to Stephen Baker of the
NPD Group during April 2010 in the United States 77% of PCs sold at retail were pre-installed with the 64-bit edition of Windows 7.
[82][83] As of July 22, 2010, Windows 7 had sold 175 million copies.
[84] On October 21, 2010, Microsoft announced that more than 240 million copies of Windows 7 had been sold.
[85] Three months later, on January 27th, 2011, Microsoft announced total sales of 300 million copies of Windows 7.
[86]
Reviews of Windows 7 have been mostly positive, noting the increased usability and functionality when compared to its predecessor, Windows Vista.
CNET gave Windows 7 Home Premium a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars,
[87] stating that it "is more than what Vista should have been, [and] it's where Microsoft needed to go".
PC Magazine rated it a 4 out of 5 saying that Windows 7 is a "big improvement" over Windows Vista, with fewer compatibility problems, a retooled taskbar, simpler home networking and faster start-up.
[88] Maximum PC gave Windows 7 a rating of 9 out of 10 and called Windows 7 a "massive leap forward" in usability and security, and praised the new Taskbar as "worth the price of admission alone".
[89] PC World called Windows 7 a "worthy successor" to Windows XP and said that speed benchmarks showed Windows 7 to be slightly faster than Windows Vista.
[90] PC World also named Windows 7 one of the best products of the year.
[91] In its review of Windows 7,
Engadget said that Microsoft has taken a "strong step forward" with Windows 7 and reported that speed is one of Windows 7's major selling points particularly for the netbook sets.
[92] LAPTOP Magazine gave Windows 7 a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and said that Windows 7 makes computing more intuitive, offered better overall performance including a "modest to dramatic" increase in battery life on laptop computers.
[93] Techradar gave it a 5 star rating calling it the best version of Windows yet.
[94] The
New York Times,
[95] USA Today,
[96] The Wall Street Journal,
[97] and
The Telegraph[98] also gave Windows 7 favorable reviews.
Some Vista Ultimate users have expressed concerns over Windows 7 pricing and upgrade options.
[99][100] Windows Vista Ultimate users wanting to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 must either pay $219.99
[101] to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate or perform a clean install, which requires them to reinstall all of their programs.
[102]
Editions
Windows 7 is available in six different editions, but only the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions are available for retail sale to consumers in most countries.
[103] The other editions are aimed at other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use.
[103] Each edition of Windows 7 includes all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it.
[103][104][105][106][107] All editions support the
32-bit (
IA-32)
processor architecture and all editions except Starter support the
64-bit (
x86-64) processor architecture. The installation media is the same for all the consumer editions of Windows 7 that have the same processor architecture, with the license determining the features that are activated, and license upgrades permitting the subsequent unlocking of features without re-installation of the operating system.
[108] This is the first time Microsoft has distributed 2 DVDs (1 DVD for IA-32 processor architecture, the other DVD for x86-64 processor architecture) for each edition of Windows 7 (except for Starter and Home Basic; only in Retail, not OEM; the installation DVD of Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit edition is not included in the retail packaging but can be obtained from Microsoft.). Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more features can then use
Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade, and unlock the features of those editions.
[104][108][109] Some copies of Windows 7 have restrictions, in which it must be distributed, sold, or bought and activated in the geographical region (One of the geographical regions can be either: Southeast Asia; SouthEast Asia excluding Singapore; India; Middle East and Africa; or Latin America and the Caribbean) specified in its front cover box.
Microsoft is offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) that allows installation on up to three PCs.
[110] The "Family Pack" costs US$259.99 in the United States;
[111] it was available at a cost of US$149.99 for some weeks when it was first introduced.
[110]
On September 18, 2009, Microsoft said they were to offer temporary student discounts for Windows 7. The offer ran in the
US and the
United Kingdom, with similar schemes available in Canada, Australia, Korea, Mexico, France and India. Students with a valid .edu or .ac.uk email address could apply for either Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional, priced at $30 or £30.
[112][113]
Windows 7 is also currently available as an embedded version to developers (previously Windows Embedded 2011).
[114]
Marketing
The different editions of Windows 7 have been designed and marketed toward people with different needs.
[115] Out of the different editions (Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate), the Starter edition has been designed and marketed for lower cost notebooks, Home Basic for emerging markets, Home Premium for normal home users, Professional for businesses, Enterprise for larger businesses and corporations, and Ultimate for enthusiasts.
[115]
Hardware requirements
Recent PCs meeting the minimum hardware requirements or that run Windows 7 may feature this sticker. Microsoft has published the minimum specifications for a system to run Windows 7.
[116] Requirements for the 32-bit version are similar to that of premium editions of Vista, but are higher for 64-bit versions. Microsoft has released an upgrade advisor that determines if a computer is compatible with Windows 7. Although the
Nvidia GeForce FX (5xxx) series graphics cards meet the minimum hardware requirement, nVidia has decided not to produce Windows 7 compatible drivers for anything below the
GeForce 6 Series.
Additional requirements to use certain features:[116]
- Windows XP Mode (Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise): Requires an additional 1GB of RAM and additional 15GB of available hard disk space. The requirement for a processor capable of hardware virtualization has been lifted.[117]
- Windows Media Center (included in Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise), requires a TV tuner to receive and record TV.
Physical memory limits
Maximum limits on
physical memory (RAM) that Windows 7 can address vary depending on both the Windows version and between 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
[118] The following table specifies the maximum physical memory limits supported:
Processor limits
The maximum total number of logical processors
[119] in a PC that Windows 7 supports is: 32
[120] for 32-bit, 256
[121] for 64-bit. The maximum number of physical processors of a PC that Windows 7 supports is: 2 for Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate; 1 for Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium.
[122]
Service packs
Service Pack 1
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was announced on March 18, 2010. A beta was released on July 12, 2010.
[123][124][125] The final version was released to the public on February 9, 2011.
[126] At the time of release, it was not made mandatory, but is optional through Windows Update.
Microsoft confirmed that the service pack is to be on a much smaller scale than those released for previous versions of Windows, particularly Windows Vista.
[127] Windows 7 Service Pack 1 adds support for
Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), a 256-bit instruction set extension for processors, and improves
IKEv2 by adding additional identification fields such as E-mail ID to it. In addition, it adds support for
Advanced Format 512e as well as additional
Identity Federation Services.
[128][129]
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 also resolves a bug related to
HDMI audio and another related to printing
XPS documents.
[128]
Install Windows 7 Go to the following web link, scroll down the page and select the 32-bit version of Windows 7.
Windows 7 Desktop Insert the disk in your optical drive and boot up your computer. On my Dell Mini 9 I press the number 0 to pull up the boot options menu but your start up splash screen may differ. The point is you want to pull up the boot menu and select CD/DVD-RW Drive and hit Enter.
Setting up Windows 7 Tweak Windows 7 for Netbook Use:
