Windows 7 remains one of the biggest successes of Microsoft till date, so much that it remains the most popular OS after 8 years of its release. 7 arrived at a time when Windows Vista's failure had put up a big question on Microsoft's reign over the world of operating systems. The legacy built by Windows XP was almost in ruins, until Windows 7 brought Microsoft back into the game.
The Project Vienna was aimed at creating an OS that was an incremental upgrade to the infamous Vista, which might retain all its good features while discarding the bad ones. But the amazing interface (thanks to an upgraded Aero) led Windows 7 to create a name of it's own. So what exactly are the things that make Windows 7 (and its Ultimate edition) such a popular choice even after almost a decade? Let’s decode.
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Features
All new Libraries Cluttering has always been a problem for normal Windows users, where they had a hard time in arranging files. This ends with Libraries, which collects files and present them in a unified form. What makes Libraries unique is the physical space it comes with, which allows you to segregate files physically rather than by reference. There are four libraries supported in Windows 7: Music, Videos, Pictures and Documents. Furthermore, Libraries grant users a lot of control over it. You can decide the layout and look of the libraries, as well as their location. With the Arrangement features, you can arrange the files in any library according to its metadata; like name, date of creation, size etc. A new feature is the Search filter, which not only searches for file items, but also shows recent searches and auto-completes the file names you might want to search.
Impressive Start Menu The new Star menu comes as a breath of fresh air, keeping up with the amazing interface Windows 7 had promised. Thanks to Windows Aero, both the menu icon and menu itself has fade-in effects complimented by glass color. It still has a 2-column arrangement, but functionalities are changed for the good. The start menu retains the search field of Vista, but now comes with enhanced ability to search the control panel options quickly.
Taskbar Ever since its introduction in Windows 95, the Taskbar has been a much loved feature of Windows. In windows 7, it is revamped to be better than ever. Windows aero strikes again with its beautiful glass color, while the taskbar itself can be customized to match your requirements. The size could be controlled manually, although it is capable of adjusting according to screen size. The icons are more pleasing, and could be customized according to you.
Better device management More and more devices are getting plugged into the systems today, which make it essential to manage them efficiently. Windows 7 introduces two new features for this. "Devices and Printers" is a simpler alternative to Device Manager, and allows a casual user to control the pluggable devices with ease. "Device Stage" is a one-stop feature for managing all the functionalities and stats of externally connected devices.
Better mobility Windows 7 is perhaps the first OS to recognize the necessity to support mobility. As such, it comes with a multi-touch support for corresponding devices. Windows 7 also comes with a host of sensors, like accelerometer, location-based sensors and ambient light sensors. However, all the sensors can be manually enabled and disabled, depending on your need.
Enhanced Power management Hibernation option is improved in Windows 7 by giving you the option to decide the size of system hibernation. Keeping in mind the user requirements, the power management is more interactive. This includes giving the user complete stats about power usage, while giving notification in case the battery is need of replacement.
Improved File systems One of the key improvement in this area is the better use of Solid state Drives. With notable advantages over hard disk drives, SSD provides a more reliable way to store vital data. Windows 7 also comes with disk partitioning, with 2 partitions. First one is the essential partition containing booting files, WRE and other files, while the second partition contains the OS and all the user files.
Security Windows Security Center is revamped as the Action Center, which takes care of both security and maintenance. Elliptic-Curve Cryptographic algorithm is supported by the Encrypting File System. But perhaps the most interesting security feature is introduction of Windows Biometric Framework, which now takes biometric as a security parameter. Why should you go for it?
Easy upgrade Windows 7 Ultimate edition can be easily upgrade from other versions of Windows 7 by just paying an extra fee. This could be done right at your home, eliminating any need to go to the center, or re-installing the windows.
Windows Aero Aero has always been a huge attraction as far as Windows was considered. But Windows 7 takes Aero to a whole new level; a level where professionalism meets attractiveness. Its components like Snap, Peek and Shake make navigating through the OS a cake-walk, making sure you enjoy working on Windows 7.
Language Packs The world is global, and English is not the language everyone would prefer. This is why Windows 7 Ultimate edition comes with an additional language pack of 30 languages! This is more efficient than installing the languages separately, and gives you the feel of being right at your home.
Mobility Like mentioned earlier, Windows 7 pays special attention to mobility. It lays the foundation for a world where touch devices would be the norm. In addition, the support for multiple sensors makes Windows & ideal for mobile devices.
Windows 7 system requirements
Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020
If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:
CPU: 1GHz or faster 64-bit (x64) processor
RAM: 2GB for the 64-bit Version
HDD: 20GBs of free storage
PU: WDDM 1.0 or higher driver with DirectX 9 or higher
