Windows 7

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Revision as of 17:06, 17 April 2020 by ToMi1 (talk | contribs)
Windows 7
Windows 7 Logo.png
Microsoft Windows 7
Codename
Preliminary name
Blackcomb, Vienna
Kernel version NT 6.1
CPU architecture x86, x64
Release date 22/07/2009
Support end Expired 14/01/2020
Preceded by Windows Vista
Succeeded by Windows 8

Windows 7 is an operating system developed by Microsoft, and was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. It is the client counterpart of Windows Server 2008 R2. Support of Windows 7 ended in January 14, 2020.

A pre-RTM build, 7600.16384, was speculated to be the final version of the product, but had a flaw in Internet Explorer 8 which prevented it from shipping.

New features in Windows 7 include mouse gestures for window management, an updated taskbar (Superbar), and other interface improvements.

New features

Windows 7 was not that of a major upgrade from Windows Vista as Windows Vista was from Windows XP but it nonetheless did introduce some new and updated features.

  1. Aero was improved from Windows Vista , now supporting full translucency in full screen mode of the program. Features like Aero Snap were also introduced.
  2. DirectX 11 was introduced.
  3. Windows Experience Index was improved, and now the maximum score obtainable is 7.9 (5.9 from Windows Vista).
  4. Multi-touch support introduced.
  5. Internet Explorer 8 introduced.
  6. Windows Media Player 12 introduced, using Windows 7 specific features like Jump Lists.
  7. The Windows taskbar and start menu was improved, introducing features like pinning on the taskbar and Jump Lists on the Start Menu. Show desktop has been implemented for the fist time since Memphis and NT 5.0 builds.
  8. The ability to warn the user about a bad battery was introduced.
  9. Support for SSD functions like TRIM was also introduced.
  10. Support for creating a homegroup was added, an implementation of Network Computer Sharing dropped in Windows Vista.
  11. Improvements to libraries and virtual folders.

Removed or degraded features

  1. The classic start menu can no longer be selected.
  2. System requirements were increased to 1 GHz (Windows Vista: 800 MHz, Windows XP: 233 MHz) and 1 GB RAM (Windows Vista: 512 MB, Windows XP: 64 MB).
  3. Windows Ultimate Extras were removed, and games such as InkBall were gone as well. However, the Ultimate edition of Windows 7 still included Windows Media Center, which was removed in all Windows 8 SKUs and had to be installed seperately.
  4. Explorer dropped a lot of the classic features present in XP and Vista.

Builds

  • No information available
  • Existence doubtful
  • Information or pictures available
  • Leaked or released

Pre-Milestone 1

Milestone 1

Milestone 2

Milestone 3

Pre-Beta

Beta

Pre-RC

RC

Pre-RTM

RTM Escrow

RTM

Service Pack 1 RTM

External links