Judy Dauson's Profile

The New Desktop

While Windows 7 retains the same glassy window style, icons and many other
holdovers from Vista, more users will immediately notice that the taskbar has
changed dramatically. Most notably, Microsoft has stripped out the clutter. A
slightly taller taskbar now accommodates large, squared-off icons (rather than
rectangular labels) in the bar, making it in some ways similar to Mac’s OS X
dock. Every open program gets an icon, but you can also pin your favorites to
hang out on the bottom even when they’re not in use, similar to the quick-launch
area in previous Windows. This helps reduce the visual untidiness that comes
from stringing out program titles in the taskbar itself. And really who needs
them? If you do decide to revert to the old ways, Windows 7 will allow you to
turn off the icon-based system, and also shrink the taskbar back to its original
size.

Since icons alone don’t tell you what’s going on with your desktop at any
given time, Microsoft has implemented its new Aero Peek feature to fill in the
necessary details. Hovering over any icon (or clicking if you’re in a hurry)
will show the separate thumbnails for each window within any given program, like
different Firefox windows, along with labels (Yahoo, Digg, Downloads, etc.)
above them. Hovering over a thumbnail will take the details a step further by
hiding every window and showing just the one in question to clarify which you’re
dealing with. You can also right-click on any of the taskbar icons to get Jump
Lists, which are basically shortcut lists pertaining to the programs. For
instance, IE will present shortcuts for your last visited sites and tasks, like
opening a new tab, while Windows Media player will let you pause or skip forward
through playlists without actually opening it to full screen.