Windows 7 Release Cantidate Change Log

A lot of progress has been made since the Windows 7 beta build more than two months ago.  Microsoft is working towards Release Candidate and has already made a number of changes based on feedback and bug reports.  Last week Chaitanya Sareen on the Engineering Windows 7 blog wrote about a number of noticeable changes in the latest Windows 7 builds.  I compiled a list of the changes into a change log below.

1. ALT + TAB task switching now includes Aero Peek
2. More Taskbar keyboard shortcuts that allow you to access a specific programs jump list or flip through the grouped window.
3. Taskbar items that need your attention now have a new animation and flash 7 times instead of just 3.
4. Taskbar drag and drop open with functionality. Just hold down Shift while dropping and a file will open with that program.
5. Improved Taskbar scaling to fit more icons on the Taskbar.
6. Icon hovering now stays lit when you look at window previews so you know what app the thumbnail previews belong to.
7. When a new program is installed it temporarily shows up on the bottom of the Start Menu so you can easily find it.
8. Jump List length has been reduced to 10 items.
   
9. Pin any type of file to any programs jump list.  E.g. pin a HTML file to Notepad.
10. New option to hide desktop icons or desktop gadgets instead of hide all desktop items.
11. Aero Peek now support touch.
12. On screen keyboard now supports multi-touch.  Now you can hold shift and type a letter like a real keyboard.
13. Multi-touch right click.  Use two fingers instead of one with a delay.
14. Multi-touch drag & drop and text selection support.
15. Network icon in system tray will now show if you have internet activity like Vista did.
16. The popular User Account Control design changes that require a UAC prompt to change any UAC settings.
17. Lock a machine without using a screen saver.
18. Reduced number of clicks to get to high performance power plan.
    
19. Slight tweaks to the Theme selection screen.
20. Improved internet radio feedback in WMP.
21. Improved playback support for various codecs including Quicktime movies in WMP.
22. Cleaner now playing view in WMP.
23. Content filtering of unplayable content in WMP. 
24. Content will resume playing in WMP for all types of media when you resume for Hibernate or Sleep.
25. No more WMP sync relationship nagging.
26. Easier access to advanced settings such as the equalizer and play speed in WMP.
27. Improved WMP jump list.
28. Expanded Device Stage support in explorer.
29. Improved headphone experience.
30. Improved audio driver support.
    
31. Improved header text in Windows Explorer when looking at Libraries.
32. Tweaked the way new Libraries are added to Explorer.
33. Windows Key + E now opens explorer to the Computer view instead of the Libraries view.
34. FAT32 file system support for Libraries.
35. Improved file views in Windows Explorer.
36. A number of performance improvements.  One highlighted is improved Start Menu open times.

Read more about the 36 changes Microsoft disclosed publicly.