Microsoft made an announcement the other day on their Engineering Windows 7 blog which mentioned the extension of the feature uninstaller in Windows 7. The Windows Features control panel entry allows users to remove – or add – Microsoft programs and Windows components. Windows XP and Windows Vista made use of a similar but limited feature.

The release candidate of Windows 7 on the other hand provides access to additional programs and features that can be disabled or uninstalled by the user. Software that has been added are Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, Windows Search, Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.1, the Windows Gadget platform and others. This is a major strategy change as Microsoft was previously seen as a company that never removed but always added to their operating systems.

But what does it mean to disable a feature in Windows 7?

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.

It is interesting to note that the files will not be loaded by the operating system. Even more interesting would be benchmarks that compare operating system loading time with and without the features disabled. Security conscious users on the other hand will most likely disable many of the features even if disabling them does not provide any other advantages but to computer security.

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