Windows 7 New Details Emerge: Easy Transfer, IE8 Tabs

A couple of improvements to Windows 7 features have emerged. File transfers from computer-to-computer should be easier, while Internet Explorer will give more detail about websites (especially ones that are suspect) in an attempt to increase online security and keep users safe online.

Windows Easy Transfer: Distinct Profiles

The first set of changes is to Windows Easy Transfer, an application designed to make it easier to select and organize the files you want to copy from one computer to another, particularly when switching to a new machine.

Rather than presenting users with a list of all possible files, Windows Easy Transfer will let you choose a particular Windows user profile and get all the files associated with that account, including desktop settings and the My Documents folder.

Microsoft believes this will be useful if a family switches from a shared computer to two systems; one for the children, and one for the parents.

The user interface should also make it easier to remove particular files or types of files from the list to be transferred, and even drop an individual file during the process of writing them to the new hard drive if you change your mind, without having to start the process over again. (Source: windowsteamblog.com)

Changes to Tabbed Browsing with Internet Exporer 8

There are also changes to the edition of Internet Explorer 8 included with Windows 7.

When a user is employing multiple tabs in a browser, Internet Explorer will now constantly check each tab to see if it is responding and will flash up a warning about frozen tabs, giving users the chance to close the relevant tab without crashing the entire browser.

The idea is that this will stop users having to repeatedly click back and forth to see if a tab is still frozen.

A Matter Of Timing

This feature is still a work in progress. Microsoft is analyzing testing data to find the optimal time a tab should be frozen before the browser gives the alert. Too long and the feature is pointless; too short and the alerts will become annoying as they will cover tabs which are only experiencing a temporary blip.

While the firm hopes to better refine the setting once it gets data from users of the final Windows 7 release, it accepts it can't please everyone and will thus be making the feature optional. (Source: msdn.com)