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We have reported about the groundbreaking change in the Windows 7 release candidate that allowed users to uninstall Internet Explorer. While uninstallation was probably the wrong choice of words as it merely meant that the executable of Internet Explorer would be removed from the operating system it did prepare users for things to come. In an article published today at the Windows Engineering blog it became known that additional features of Windows 7 can be turned off by the user.

The release candidate for Windows 7 offers an extended Windows Features control panel which can be accessed from the Programs and Features menu. New features have been added to that control panel that can be removed from the computer system including media features like Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player or Windows DVD Maker, the indexing service, Windows Search or the Microsoft .net Framework 3.51.

Deselecting a feature has the following consequences:

If a feature is deselected, it is not available for use. This means the files (binaries and data) are not loaded by the operating system (for security-conscious customers) and not available to users on the computer. These same files are staged so that the features can easily be added back to the running OS without additional media. This staging is important feedback we have received from customers who definitely do not like to dig up the installation DVD.

This is a very interesting move by Microsoft that should please advanced users who usually rely on third party software instead of Microsoft programs.

Source: Windows 7 News

Windows XP is still the most popular Windows operating system. This could change with the release of Windows 7 which combines the resourcefulness of Windows XP with the looks of Windows Vista. We have already covered Windows 7 themes for Windows XP and Windows Vista before and have a section up and running that links to those themes with instructions on how to apply them.

Our partner site Ask VG is at the forefront of Windows 7 theme creation. A few new themes or variations have been posted recently and we would like to introduce them to you. The themes can be applied to Windows XP if the file responsible for the theme management in Windows XP has been patched. You can read up on the uxtheme.dll at the link posted.

The themes will not only change the colors and background images of the Windows XP operating system but also the taskbar, start menu and other core interface elements to make it resemble that of Windows 7. Installation however has been streamlined for ease of use. All that needs to be done is to execute the theme.exe file located in the theme folder after unpacking the themes to the local computer system.

Windows 7 Theme Black:

Link

Windows 7 Theme Blue:

link

Both themes add the following elements beside the basic interface changes to the operating system:

• Extra Common Tasks (This folder contains 2 extra shell styles: Bottom and Left dark blue)
• Fonts (This folder contains Segoe UI fonts required for the theme. Run Fonts.exe file to install them.)
• Iconized Taskbar Hack (This folder contains registry script to enable Iconized taskbar in Windows XP.)
• Styler Toolbar

If you are looking for more themes for both Windows XP and Windows Vista visit our Windows 7 Theme directory.

Source: Windows7