Windows 7 is the latest operating system from Microsoft Corporation, the successor to Windows Vista.

This new version of Windows wants to take over the acquis of Windows Vista while making numerous changes, including various changes in the interface and ergonomics, a special effort for the transparent management of mobile machines and concern improve overall system performance (flow, timeliness even on less powerful systems such as netbooks) compared to its predecessor.

By identifying this new version by version number (this is the seventh version of Windows), Microsoft revives an abandoned logical since Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 4.0. The tradition was that none of the Windows versions are identified by reference to the year of release (Windows 95 ...) or by an ad hoc name (Windows XP or Windows Vista). However, Windows 7 is based on the NT kernel 6.1

Evolution of the visual interface

     * Superbar

The most notable change is that the taskbar now entitled "Superbar. The buttons are now reduced to a single icon, rather wide, without text. When multiple windows of same application are open, Windows will automatically collects into a single icon. A sticker containing all copies of this application appears when hovering over this icon with the mouse.

     * Jump List

For some applications, right click on the icon to bring up a "Jump List" which displays the most common tasks for the application. For example, right click on the icon Internet Explorer can show a list of sites most frequently visited or on the Word icon, the list of recently opened files.

     * Topics

The themes, abandoned by Windows Vista, are reappearing in Windows 7. Thus the operating system offers several themes Aero. A theme includes sounds, wallpaper, color for the windows and Superbar.

     * Office
           o The gadgets are directly placed anywhere on the desktop rather than a sidebar.
           o It is possible to program an automatic change of wallpaper at regular time interval.

     * Aero Snap

It can quickly resize the windows of his office by using simple drag and drop. To return to the original size, it is sufficient to replace the window on the center of the screen.

     * Aero Shake

This feature allows you to keep only one window among those displayed. To do this, simply shake the window you want, and this causes the reduction of all other windows. The act of shaking the window again to restore all those who have been reduced.

Multimedia

     * Microsoft offers a revised version of its media player: Windows Media Player 12. The Redmond company introduced a search for the strikes, a new user interface for media library, view and organize photos and videos, using media sharing through residential groups. Windows Media Player 12 introduces the function RMS Remote Media Streaming, which allows access via the Internet, the media present on a computer running Windows 7. The host must first be associated with his user account Windows 7 Windows Live account.

     * A new version of Windows Media center is proposed. The interface has been slightly modified from the version fitted to Windows Vista. We note especially the compatibility with the TNT HD and standard H.264 video coding.

DirectX 11

There will be DirectX 11 on Windows 7.

The cards do not support DirectX 11 will however be compatible with Windows 7, but some new graphics technologies will not be used or will use very small (like "shader models; longer supported version is low this effect is most great). We must nevertheless note that we will not see the difference between the effect of cards supporting 10 and 10.1 versions of DirectX.

The Radeon HD5850 and HD5870 from ATI are the first graphics cards supporting DirectX 11.

Security

     * The Maintenance center is the successor to Windows Security center. It centralizes the messages of safety, maintenance, solutions to problems, and settings for User Account Control.
     * It is possible to encrypt a hard drive (local or external) using bitLocker, or a USB drive with bitLocker togo only in Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7.