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Date |
: Apr 28th, 2001 |
| Category |
: Operating System |
| Publisher |
: Microsoft |
| Author |
: Peter Novotny |
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Task Bar
The task bar and the Start menu have gotten a whole new look
also. The Start menu is highly customizable. It is split into two panes. On the left side is a list of frequently used/last accessed programs. On the right are shortcuts to My Computer, My Documents and all of the other default MS folders. (I have to repeat this: it is very annoying to click on the Start Menu -> programs because it takes about half a second for the programs menu to show up. I find it a waste of time, I am used to clicking on it and programs showing up - not taking a second or so to show up. Like I have said already, the Start Menu is very customizable. There is also a new feature: when you click on the Task Bar, there is an option of locking it, which prevents accidental moves to different sides of the screen.
Another very interesting feature : as I was working, I noticed that some of my icon on the task bar (next to the clock - such as volume, network activity, AIM, MSN messenger and others) disappeared. Instead, there was an arrow pointing to the right, once I moved my mouse over the arrow, it announced that it hid some of the least used icons and hid them. I was then presented with an option to disable this function (which I did). I don't see how this would be a useful thing, unless you wanted to hide some of the icons, but I always want to know what is running in the background so for me it is useless.
CD Burning
One of the very cool features is burning CD's without the need for a third party software. Windows XP has the feature built in. The process is very simple. All you have to do is insert a blank CD, drag files and folders onto the CD (using Windows Explore or My Computer view) and then once you are done, right click on the CD or use the context sensitive My computer view and say Write-CD. On a 12x burner, it took 12 minutes to make a complete 640MB data CD. I made two CD's and no coasters, also I was able to still use different programs. Check out these screenshots :
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