Windows 6 windows 7

The Task Bar has been significantly altered. If you dig around in the preferences you can still add the My Computer and Network desktop icons. In a way, with the other changes it seems odd that they did not move the recycle bin to the task bar. With a little bit of fiddling you actually can manually add the recycle bin to the task bar On the task bar, Microsoft has removed the "Quick Launch" shortcut area. Instead, icons of executables are "pinned" to the task bar and double as the application icon when the application is running.

This makes the task bar work more like the Dock on the Apple Macintosh. In this example, Paint and Notepad have been "pinned" to the taskbar, and IE has been "unpinned". Paint is not running, but two instances of Notepad are running and the Notepad icon changes to look like a button. The right-click context menus can also now contain various application specific options. Right clicking no longer lists open windows, but that is ok since single clicking lists the open windows.

Most system tray icons also have new simplified menus that appear when you click on them. Windows Vista already added window previews, but in Windows 7 hovering the mouse over an icon with open windows previews all of the open windows. Hovering over the thumbnail brings that window to the front while making others transparent.

The sidebar has been removed and is no longer necessary. Gadgets, which had been confined to the sidebar in Vista can now be placed anywhere on the desktop. Apparently Gadgets are considered important enough they now deserve a place on the right-click desktop context menu. Enhancements and new features in Windows 7 included multi-touch support, Internet Explorer 8, improved performance, faster start-up time, Aero Snap, Aero Shake, support for virtual hard disks, a new and improved Windows Media Center, and improved security.

Windows 8 was released on August 1, Windows 10 was the successor to Windows 8. Windows 10 featured fast start-up and resume, built-in security, and the return of the Start Menu in an expanded form. Any qualified device such as tablets, PCs, smartphones and Xbox consoles was able to upgrade to Windows 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows. As of Sept. Aside from operating systems designed for use on personal computers PCs and laptops, Microsoft has also developed operating systems for servers, handheld devices, and mobile phones.

Windows Server is a series of Microsoft server operating systems. The Windows Server name made its debut with the release of Windows Server and continues with the current release, Windows Server Home Server allowed users to share files such as digital photos and media files, and also automatically backed up home networked computers.

A version of the Windows operating system was designed for small devices such as personal digital assistants PDAs or Handheld PCs in the Microsoft vernacular. The mobile operating system for smartphones and mobile devices from Microsoft was based on the Windows CE kernel and designed to look and operate similar to desktop versions of Microsoft Windows.

Unlike Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 was targeted more to the consumer market than the enterprise market. Its successors included Windows Phone 8 and Windows 10 Mobile. Webopedia is an online information technology and computer science resource for IT professionals, students, and educators. Webopedia focuses on connecting researchers with IT resources that are most helpful for them.

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TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace. Sign in. Log into your account. Forgot your password? Password recovery. Recover your password. Home Operating Systems. Vangie Beal. January 16, Updated on: October 27, Jump Ahead:. Vangie Beal Vangie Beal is a freelance business and technology writer covering Internet technologies and online business since the late '90s.

Top Articles. We look at the history of Windows Read more. Website Shortcut on Your Desktop reviewed by Web Webster This Webopedia guide will show you how to create a website shortcut on your desktop using What are the Five Generations of Computers?

Reviewed by Web Webster Learn about each of the 5 generations of computers and major technology developments that have led to the computing devices that Launched in , Hotmail was one of the first public webmail services that could be accessed from any web browser.

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