Windows 7 Change Log: Beta to RC
Devices and Printers
17. Unified experience for removing devices
When removing devices that are not in use, instead of removing related tasks such as deleting print queues for printers or removing pairing information for Bluetooth devices, a full uninstall is now done.
18. Hardware properties
In Windows 7 Release Candidate, you will now be able to directly check the properties of your connected hardware, instead of having to go to the Device Manager. This will be a lot more convenient.
19. Improved eject experience
Ejecting has now become more streamlined and consistent. The “Safely remove” is gone and now everything is “Eject”. While maintaining this denotation, it is helpful to note that this is a ‘smart’ feature and for example, ejecting an optical drive will physical eject the media, while ejecting a USB flash drive will “safely remove” the device.
20. USB device reliability on resume
During the Beta, there was a peculiar issue with USB devices ceasing to function after a suspend/resume cycle. The only workaround was to unplug the device and then reconnect it.
This was okay for external devices but is in no way practical for internal ones. Nevertheless, I am sure that no end-user would live with that in a ‘final’ release. This issue has now been solved with the Release Candidate and there will be no workaround needed.
21. FireWire camera support
Some persons had problems while using the Beta and trying to connect and stream contents from their 1394 HDV cameras. The issue was with the Beta’s core 1394 stack and it has now been resolved in Windows 7 Release Candidate.
Device Installation
22. Add Legacy Hardware functionality restored
The “Add Legacy Hardware” function was removed from Windows 7 on the premise that it was hardly ever used. However, during the Beta it became clear that this function is still very useful for connection certain non-Plug and Play devices. For this reason it has now been restored to the Device Manager.
23. Increased responsiveness of Add Printer Wizard
There are some legacy network printers that Plug and Play cannot automatically identify, even though the appropriate driver is available on Windows Update. To resolve this, a user would manually have to retrieve the driver from Windows Update but during Beta, there was no notification of the retrieval process and as such, users got the false impression of a hung system. User interface changes have been made and a progress bar is now displayed. Additionally, there has also been performance improvements associated with this retrieval.
