I've had a few full business days, and part of this past weekend, to work with Windows 7 some more. Along the way I've expanded my workloads some – adding applications, playing audio (I dig the new Windows Media Player), and the like – and really got into my core workloads of PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook in more depth. Hey, I'm a manager, what did you expect? (That was for you, Joe.)

With more hands-on time, I've rather quickly gotten to my next set of top features. Thus I present for your reading pleasure, my next 5 top features.

Number 6 – Jump Lists, Part Deux
I know, I know. I covered Jump Lists in my last post. But I focused on the MRU (most recently used files) feature of applications like Notepad and Excel. I hadn't yet installed an application that implemented its own Jump List. Since then I've played around with the latest Windows Live Essentials some more, specifically Windows Live Messenger. I was pleasantly surprised to find it implements a Jump List that showcases the possibilities of optimizing an application for Windows 7.

The image to the right highlights what a developer can do when implementing a Jump Menu specific to their application. I'm intrigued about the possibilities. Rather than supporting a default MRU-style menu, like Excel or Internet Explorer, it provides quick access to Windows Live and Windows Live Messenger features. You can easily toggle your status, jump to Windows Live features like your profile or inbox, or send an instant message.

I'm imaging the possibilities for some of my other favorite applications. Think of what a screen capture utility could hook to its Jump List. Or Visual Studio Team System… I really am stoked by Jump Lists. They remain my overall #2 (you can't possibly beat fast, fast, fast), but this new discovery cements Jump Lists as an unassailable #2.

Number 7 – Search
I had a love-hate relationship with Windows Vista's integrated desktop search. Thanks to some tips and tricks from colleagues over the years I really developed a knack at running searches with quotes, plus signs, minus signs and the whole nine yards. And I came to rely on Windows Vista's search – though it frustrated me, usually by returning too many results in a big list of mixed content. So I became friends with the "show only" content filters, scoping my search to just documents or email. And 99 times out of 100 I found what I was looking for in the first five hits. I was even reasonably happy with the speed of the search results and eventually built searching the desktop into my habits (though I also still hold onto my old habits of folder and file organization, even for emails).

Windows 7 has a great search, much improved. Initially I was nervous to find that my "show only" buttons were missing. I really didn't relish the idea of everything jumbled together in a big list. But Windows 7 continues to impress, and I'm coming around. Several very nice touches make it a genuinely pleasant searching experience.

The search textbox is now more usable, with a nice drop-down that recalls previous searches as well as offers some additional filtering options. This example, searching for Jump Lists, shows the ability to filter by date modified and size. Date modified pops up a calendar control-style UI with a couple of quick filter options like "yesterday", "last week", or "a long time ago". Size similarly offers some quick filter options, like 0 KB, 1 – 10 KB, and other sizes. Nice, quick touches to help further filter my results.

Speaking of results, you get some new display modes; the image below is content view, though you also get the traditional icon views (multiple sizes), details (my usual favorite, quickly being replaced by the new content view), and the usual others. But what I really like is the highlighting in the results list. Another very nice touch. There's also a preview mode that in my very unscientific efforts seems noticeably faster to use and more friendly.

And did I mention search results seem to populate faster, too?

Number 8 – Libraries
Initially I recoiled against Libraries. They look like folders, but they feel and taste different. And that difference made me uncomfortable. I guess I'm too old and like my insane folder organization approach too much.

But I'm coming around to them. I'm realizing they are sort of like "super search" structures. By default you get four Libraries: Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. These libraries include, by default, the public and user-specific folders for documents, music, pictures, and videos. Makes sense, right?

But they become more interesting when you create a custom library for, say, PowerPoint decks, that includes all the folders with slides in them – spanning multiple physical directories across physical drives, presenting the collection of folders as a single "Presentations" library. Now I get some much-needed sanity for my insane folder organization approach.

Give Libraries a try, a really sincere try, before you go back to the folders you're comfortable with. You may just like the layer of organization they add to the mish-mash of hard drives and attached storage devices you have orbiting your computer.

Number 9 – Network Connection and Management 
This almost made my first top 5 (and initially was at the top of my second top 5), but it continually got beat out by other features. I finally forced myself to include it here.

The entire networking experience is streamlined. When you click the network icon in the Notification Area a new new window pops up; it's basically the same as the Vista "Connect to a Network" window but it's more accessible. If a wireless connection is broadcasting in the area, you see it in the list and all you need to do is click it.

Connecting to my corporate wireless network a breeze – in just two clicks (click the network icon, click the network name) I had added the corporate wireless connection to my list. Even though my home SSID isn't broadcasting, manually adding my home network was more intuitive. Easier networking is definitely worth liking.

Number 10 – The Menu Bar
I know, it's almost a silly feature to tout as a top 10 feature. But it's the little things that reduce clicks and increase productivity that make me happy. The menu bar is more context aware, with a Preview button changing options based on the file type selected.

In my running Jump List search example from #7, I have a JPEG selected (the Windows Live Messenger Jump List image from #6). The Preview button knows it's a JPEG and offers you quicker access to the five installed programs that understand the format, and also offers the ability to choose the default program for it. The other buttons (Save Search, Burn, View, etc.) are all carried forward from Windows Vista, with the Preview Pane button surfaced onto the menu itself (much better than being hidden on a menu cascading off the Organize menu). I toggle preview on and off a lot, leaving it off most of the time.

Other folder types offer similar nice features surfaces to the menu bar. In Libraries and folders, you get the option to "Share With", a drop down that quickly allows you to create (or remove) a network share for the folder or Library in question. In regular folders, you can quickly access "Include in library" to add that folder to an existing Library or to create a new Library containing that folder. Plus you still get the nice context aware button to open or act on files, create new folders when nothing is selected, and so forth. Explorer is more usable now… and so is Windows.

That's it… for now!
I'm five days into using Windows 7, and I find myself pretty excited (and I wasn't even one of the people standing in line for Windows 95 back in the day). Sure, I've run into – and filed – a few bugs, but overall Windows 7 is pretty polished for a beta. It's fast, hasn't really cratered to speak of, and pretty stable. And the little touches are really adding up to be something nice. I may take another run at more top features post in the coming days as I uncover more nice things that make me happy about my OS.