PC News: April 2014

Features new to Vista:

Windows shell:

Windows Aero
New Start Menu
- All Programs menu is no longer a horizontally cascading list.
- Instead, it is a folder view with a fixed size.

Explorer

Task Panel removed and relevant task options are integrated in the toolbar.
New views are available.
Icons are scalable up to 256 x 256 pixels.
- Are stored as .png to maintain compatibility.
- Only larger sized icons can use .png
Column headers are available in all explorer views and allow filtering, sorting, grouping, and stacking.
The Details Pane also allows for the change of some metadata such as the Author and Title in files that support them in Windows Explorer.
Tags are added to allow easier categorization and retrieval.
When moving or copying files, Windows Explorer displays the full source and destination path, size and number of items and the transfer speed in megabytes per second.
When renaming a file, Explorer highlights only the file name to prevent the extension from being changed and corrupting the file.
For all Vista Premium Ready PCs, when using Alt+Tab to switch between open windows, a preview of each open window appears instead of the icons. Also, win pressing Windows+Tab, a Flip 3D feature will stack the windows and they can be rotated in 3D.
- This feature is also in Windows 7, but was removed in Windows 8 and shows the recent apps list instead.

Other Improvements:

The Date and Time control panel has been rewritten completely for Windows Vista and allows two other clocks.
Blue-Ray, HD DVD, Super Video CD, and Video CD were added to Auto play.
- Auto play is a global Control Panel Setting instead of a per-device setting starting in Vista.
It is now possible to install and select non-English languages on a per-user bases which transforms the entire shell user interface.
JPEG Files can be natively set as the desktop wallpaper without using Active Desktop. Also, the aspect ratio of images is maintained properly while applying them as the desktop wallpaper.
New Disk Cleanup handlers
Property Sheet extension know as Previous Versions is added.
Dialog boxes also display their status on the taskbar. Previously, only windows showed their status on the taskbar.
The Version tab that appeared in Windows XP and the Summary Tab for al files on NTFS volumes have been combined into a single Details tab.
Context menu commands to open a command prompt at the selected folder and to copy their path.
A new Task Dialog API.
Common dialogs for applications such as Open, Save, Choose folder, Print, Page Setup, Font, Etc. have been enhanced.
Games Explorer provides access to all installed games from a single location, making it easy to manage multiple games.
WebDAV now supports operation over SSL connections.
- This was available in Windows XP in the Service Pack 2 Update.
- Improvements in C++.

System-wide Integrated Search.
Added in the start menu, open/save dialog boxes, and several applications in Windows Vista. By default, Instant Search indexes a small number of folders.
The search engine uses indexing to allow for a quick display of results.
Options allow the user to choose the file type, how it should be indexed, the properties, or the properties and the file contents.
The Start Menu search doubles as the run command.

Sidebar

The Windows sidebar is a panel that can be placed on either the left or the right hand sides of the screen where the user can place Desktop Gadgets.
The gadgets can also be placed on other parts of the desktop.
Windows Vista ships with 11 gadgets.
- Calendar
- Clock
- Contacts
- CPU Meter
- Currency
- Conversion
- Feed Headlines
- Notes
- Picture Puzzle
- Slide show
- Stocks
- Weather
Additional gadgets were published at Microsoft’s web site.
Getting new gadgets on both Windows Vista and Windows 7 was discontinued because of security issues and to promote Windows 8.1’s use of Windows Store apps.

New and upgraded Applications:

Internet Explorer 7

Media Player 11

Other features

PC News