5 New Features in Windows 7

1. A homegroup is Windows 7 new way of connecting computer together in a network. Previous versions of windows often had an extremely confusing process to set up file sharing and half the time it didn't work. This isn't the case with Homegroups. As soon as you connect an Ethernet cable or wireless usb adapter to your computer you will be presented with the network set up screen. You simply select whether its a home, public or work network and check off the folders you want shared across the network. Any time you place any file in a folder that is shared (Music, Documents, Pictures, Downloads by default) it will be accessible to any computer on the network.

2. Quickbar is part of the start bar. Its a place to drag all your frequently used applications to. Instead of cluttering up your desktop with a bunch of icons, you can drag them to the start bar for a permanent short cut and click it whenever you need to use the program again. This is great if you want to show off your new wallpaper. By default, Windows 7 will have Internet Explorer, Media Library and Windows Media Player on the quick launch tool bar. You can place any shortcut on the quick bar that you want. Using this quickbar you can say goodbye to desktop icons forever!

3. Keyboard Shortcuts For Any App is now easier than ever. If you have Windows XP or Windows Vista, you'd have to get a third party software to get this neat features. By right clicking on any application and going to the properties/shortcut tab you can enter in a keyboard shortcut. Once open just click once on the shortcut box and hit the key you want to use to open the application. You will be forced to have to hold ctrl and alt however.

4. Mouse Gestures are probably the best new feature of Windows 7. For those of you who use messengers, browsers and other applications at the same time and get tired of minimizing and maximizing your windows, with a wave of the mouse you can easily move your windows. Instead of click the maximize button, just drag the window to the top edge of your screen and release. Or maybe you need to windows open at the same time. Click and drag one window to the left edge of the screen and the other to the right edge of the screen and Windows 7 will automatically split your monitor to share screen space evenly between the two applications. Or maybe you have several windows open and need to take a peek at your desktop. Simply grab onto any window and give it a little shake to minimize everything.

5. Desktop Slide-shows are finally here. If your a family person then you will most likely have several memorable pictures of everyone saved in your Pictures folder. The common thing to do with these pictures is to turn them into your desktop wallpaper, but which one to choose? How about all of them!

Go into control panel, appearance and personalization, personalization and select any theme you see. You will be changing the pictures so it doesn't really matter. Then Click the "Desktop Background" link on the bottom part of the window. In the "picture location" box, be sure that it points to Pictures Library and then click the "Select All" button out to the left. At the bottom you can choose how each picture will appear, how long till they change and you can even randomly shuffle them.

So what are you waiting for? The only decision you have left to make is which version of Windows 7 you are going to buy!

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