List of features removed in Windows 7

While Windows 7 contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have changed. The following is a list of features that were present in Windows Vista but have been removed in Windows 7.

Windows Shell

Taskbar

Rich tooltips for the notification area system icons such as Volume, Network, Power and the taskbar date and time have been removed. ^[1]
Floating Deskbands (was deprecated in Windows Vista, now deskband can be only pinned to taskbar)
Windows Media Player's taskbar-integrated Mini-player (replaced with the new Jump list feature)
The ability to disable grouping (placing next to each other) similar taskbar buttons (for example, Explorer windows). Users can still disable combining multiple taskbar buttons of the same type into one button.
The configurable registry option TaskbarGroupSize, which allowed fine-grained control over taskbar grouping ^[2] under previous Windows versions is not supported. In Windows 7, users can only configure to either combine buttons, not combine or combine when the taskbar is full.
The number of combined taskbar windows is not calculated and shown next to the combined buttons.
Network activity animation on Network Connections icon in the notification area
The ability to turn off taskbar window previews (thumbnails) while still using Aero, as was configurable in Windows Vista. ^[3]
The ability to disable the taskbar's "always on top" setting.
When grouping is disabled, the ability to manage multiple taskbar items using multiselect (Ctrl+click) to tile, cascade, minimize or close the selected group of windows has been removed.
Only two power plans, one of them always being Balanced, are available to choose from the taskbar. The "High Performance" power plan is hidden by default in the Control Panel.
There is no more QuickStart toolbar, although icons can be docked onto the Taskbar permanently. If the Taskbar is several rows thick, docked icons appear only on the top row. Docked icons can only appear to the left of the screen.

Start menu

Classic Start menu^[4]
Dynamically pinning default Internet browser and e-mail client software programs on Start menu (programs can be manually pinned)

Other shell features

Advanced search builder UI.
ClearType cannot be turned off entirely in order for the user interface font, Segoe UI to maintain optimal design for certain shell components and Windows Explorer. ^[5] Parts of the user interface (such as the start menu and Explorer) still use ClearType regardless of setting.
For security reasons AutoPlay will support AutoRun only on optical media, such as CDs and DVDs. (Later Microsoft released KB971029 for earlier OSes to make AutoPlay Windows7-like.)^[6]
Detection of HD DVD was removed from AutoPlay.
Customized game shortcuts in Games Explorer

Windows Explorer

The Share overlay icon for shared items in Explorer has been removed. ^[7]
It is not possible to set Windows Explorer to remember individual window size and position. Each window shares the same size, and their position cascades as more windows are opened.
Dotted lines that connect folders and subfolders do not appear as the option to turn off simple folder view is missing. ^[8]^[9]
The size of any selected item and free disk space are not shown on the status bar.
When no items are selected in a folder, neither the details pane nor the status bar show the total size of files in the folder.
The location (zone) where the files reside such as Intranet, Computer etc is not shown in the status bar.
Icons on the command bar in Windows Explorer and common application dialogs for Open/Save.
Disabling Auto Arrange and Align to Grid is not available in Windows Explorer windows. ^[10]
The Sort bar that appears for any view in Windows Vista only appears for Details view. ^[11]
Automatic horizontal scrolling in the left pane and the horizontal scrollbar.
The Arrange By/Stack By option is only available for libraries and folders included in libraries. In addition, users can only Stack By predefined categories depending on the library type. For example, users can only Stack By Folder, Album, Artist, Song, Genre, and Rating for the Music library, whereas in Vista, users could Stack By any properties that exist for a file (common examples would be bit rate, year, composer, play count ..etc for audio files)

Windows Media Player features

Advanced Tag Editor
Color Chooser
Media Link for E-mail
Party Mode
Recently added Auto playlist not included by default

Other Windows applications and features

Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Mail (in favor of downloading respective Windows Live counterparts^[12])
The web filtering and activity reporting functionality from the in-box parental controls feature. ^[13] Windows Live Family Safety replaces the web filtering functionality.
The DFS Replication Service included in Windows Vista for peer-to-peer DFS Replication service groups. ^[14]
The Aurora, Windows Energy and Windows Logo screensavers and most of the wallpapers that shipped with Windows Vista. ^[15]
Software Explorer feature of Windows Defender^[16]
Removable Storage Manager (RSM)^[17] (applications dependent on it, such as NTBackup or the NTBackup Restore Tool, cannot run)
Windows Meeting Space^[18]
The InkBall game
Windows Ultimate Extras for the Ultimate edition which included Windows DreamScene, Microsoft Tinker, and the Hold' Em poker game among others.
Microsoft Agent 2.0 Technology
Windows Calendar
The sidebar for Desktop Gadgets was removed, although gadgets align to any side of the screen.
The Contacts, Notes and Stocks Desktop Gadgets.
The Windows Firewall Control Panel does not allow configuring port-based filtering although the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security MMC-based snap-in allows this.
Filtering policies in Group Policy to show only a specific operating system or application.^{[citation needed]}
Software Restriction Policies no longer support multiple levels of trust such as "basic user" (only block or allow are still supported); functionality has been superseded by User Account Control and Applocker.
Windows Registry Reflection for x64 editions replaced with merged 32/64-bit keys.^[19]

References

^ Notification Area Guidelines: MSDN
^ How to Change the Behavior of Taskbar Grouping
^ Windows Vista User Experience Walkthrough Guide
^ Steven Sinofsky's clarification on removal of classic Start menu and taskbar
^ Engineering Changes to ClearType in Windows 7
^ [1]
^ Why Windows 7 did not have a different icon for share folder?: Technet Forums
^ Description of Simple Folder View in Windows XP
^ Change folder views and behavior
^ Disable Auto Arrange in folder view, not available in W7
^ Sort/Group bar has been banished from every view except Details view
^ Brandon LeBlanc (2008-10-28). "The Complete Windows Experience – Windows 7 + Windows Live - Windows Experience Blog". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
^ Windows 7 Parental Controls Changes Overview
^ A Windows Vista-based client computer does not participate in the replication process if you add the client computer to a DFS Replication service group by using the DFS Management snap-in on a Windows Server 2003 R2-based computer
^ Side by side: UI changes from Windows 7 beta to build 7057
^ Thurrott, Paul (12 November, 2008). "Windows 7 feature focus". Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Retrieved 2008-11-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Storage Networking Platform Features in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2
^ "Windows 7 – Where is Windows Meeting Space?". windowsvistaplace.com. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
^ "Removal of Windows Registry Reflection". Retrieved 2009-07-24.

[1] Notification Area Guidelines: MSDN

[2] How to Change the Behavior of Taskbar Grouping

[3] Windows Vista User Experience Walkthrough Guide

[4] Steven Sinofsky's clarification on removal of classic Start menu and taskbar

[5] Engineering Changes to ClearType in Windows 7

[6] [1]

[7] Why Windows 7 did not have a different icon for share folder?: Technet Forums

[8] Description of Simple Folder View in Windows XP

[9] Change folder views and behavior

[10] Disable Auto Arrange in folder view, not available in W7

[11] Sort/Group bar has been banished from every view except Details view

[12] Brandon LeBlanc (2008-10-28). "The Complete Windows Experience – Windows 7 + Windows Live - Windows Experience Blog". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-24.

[13] Windows 7 Parental Controls Changes Overview

[14] A Windows Vista-based client computer does not participate in the replication process if you add the client computer to a DFS Replication service group by using the DFS Management snap-in on a Windows Server 2003 R2-based computer

[15] Side by side: UI changes from Windows 7 beta to build 7057

[16] Thurrott, Paul (12 November, 2008). "Windows 7 feature focus". Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Retrieved 2008-11-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[17] Storage Networking Platform Features in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2

[18] "Windows 7 – Where is Windows Meeting Space?". windowsvistaplace.com. Retrieved March 16, 2009.

[19] "Removal of Windows Registry Reflection". Retrieved 2009-07-24.

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