November Poll: What is your favorite Windows 7 feature?

[soybean]

More comments on Win 7 features:

Paint and WordPad have the ribbon-type menu bar that was introduced with Office 2007. 

WordPad can open Word files, including the .docx format of Word 2007/2010.

Calculator is enhanced with more views. New Views are Programmer and Statistics.

Gadgets can be added by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Gadgets. 

When viewing a folder with Windows Explorer, adding a new folder is a one-click action.  Explorer has a button named New Folder on the menu bar.  Just click it and type the name of the new folder.

[BC_Programmer]

Calculator is enhanced with more views. New Views are Programmer and Statistics.

As many changes as there were to calc, the biggest change in that applet cam with Windows 2000. (of course the changes were not in the UI so they were essentially "invisible".

[Cityscape]

I voted Windows XP Mode as my favorite feature. It allows me to play my old games that didn't work with Vista (I'd probably rather use Vista if if it wasn't for XP mode).

Although I rarely use Windows 7, I dislike or hate a lot of it's features. Like the one button on the taskbar for multiple Windows of the same program is so inefficient for many people. It makes me glad that I use Ubuntu Linux 10.10 (although I'm really excited about the new stuff coming in 11.04).

[BC_Programmer]

Like the one button on the taskbar for multiple Windows of the same program is so inefficient for many people.

That was introduced with Windows XP.

And it can be disabled anyway.

[soybean]

I dislike or hate a lot of it's features. Like the one button on the taskbar for multiple Windows of the same program is so inefficient for many people.

You mean the thumbnail images that appear when a program is open?  How is it "inefficient for many people"?  I see no inefficiency whatsoever in that feature.

[Allan]

Like the one button on the taskbar for multiple Windows of the same program is so inefficient for many people.

Just uncheck "group similar tasbar buttons" to disable.

[soybean]

Just uncheck "group similar tasbar buttons" to disable.

That applies to Vista, not to Win 7.  In Win 7, "Never combine" can be selected from the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties panel.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to use the setting though, since it causes taskbar buttons to quickly consume lots of space on the taskbar.

Anyway, still not clear exactly what OP means; no reply to my last post.

[Allan]

Sorry - I'm on a Vista laptop at the moment. Should have walked inside to a 7 system before posting that.

[Ben Seclawney]

 
I enjoy the new library features.

I miss the old XP search format though

[patio]

Library sucks....and is worthless for anyone with decent file management skills...
All it does is add overhead and waste disk space...

NOTE: This is strictly opinion and should in no way be misconstrued as a criticism of MS...their employees and developers up to and including the head janitor in Redmond...

[BC_Programmer]

All it does is add overhead and waste disk space...

What? It does neither.

Well, ok, that's not true, Libraries are implemented via Windows Search so there might be some overhead from that, but it doesn't use any additional disk space.

[soybean]

Libraries seem quite useful, especially after doing some reading about them.  Here's a non-technical explanation of them: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/libraries.aspx.  And this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Working-with-libraries

For a very technical description, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd861346.aspx.  You need to be a programmer to fully understand this article, but non-programmers can still glean some insight from it. 

[pnf2010]

I also put snap, as this is saving me a lot of time when I view two applications at the same time   

[soybean]

I just came across this: Windows 7 Tip: The Windows Key Is Actually Useful Now, With Tons of Hotkey Shortcuts.  Take a look at these Windows Key shortcuts. I think you'll like them.

[embatep]

I vote for the first four also. I use them on a regular basis.
cheers