Windows 7 Features IT pros will like

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There are lots of new features in Windows 7, but here are a few that are more “IT pro”-ish:

  • Burning ISOs to CDs or DVDs directly from Explorer.  No more need for command line utilities, third-party shell add-ons, or special software – just right-click the ISO and choose “Burn disc image”:

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  • No more UAC prompts when launching MMC-based administration tools.  In fact, there will be less UAC prompts all around, assuming you stick with the default UAC settings:

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  • PowerShell 2.0 is included by default, and it includes many useful cmdlets like Send-MailMessage, Get-Hotfix, Invoke-Command (and all the other PowerShell v2 remoting capabilities – maybe you can use these instead of PSExec), etc.  It also now includes a GUI environment for editing and running scripts:

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  • A new, easier way of connecting to wireless and VPN networks – just click on the network strength icon in the task bar:

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That’s before we even get to new server features (DirectAccess, BranchCache, Hyper-V enhancements, etc.), new deployment tools and capabilities (DISM, USMT 4, and of course MDT), additional troubleshooters, etc.

There are a few “entertaining” changes too:

  • A new Calculator, with a “Programmer” mode (because we know how important it is to have a good decimal/hex/binary converter):

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  • New versions of Paint and WordPad that use the new ribbon controls:

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And in the “trivial but appreciated” category, you can again get directly the dialog for changing screen resolution by right clicking on the desktop.  They’ve even improved the dialog:

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I rarely need to use this though with Windows 7 because it seems to always figure out that I want to use the native resolution of the LCD.

Definitely try out the beta version (and provide feedback) – it’s got lots of good things to offer.