First look at Windows 7 build 7048

Windows 7 has come a long way since the Beta 1 bits that were released back in January. Let's take a look at the latest build to escape into the wild.

The build I'm looking at here is 7048 and this has the build number of 7048.0.090219-1845, and what's significant here is the build date stamp, 090219-1845, which translates into 19th Feb 2009, 6:45pm. Compare this to the Beta 1 which has a build date from Dec 2008.

Gallery: Windows 7 build 7048

So, what's new?

Well, first off you'll notice from the screen captures than the Send feedback link on the title bar of the applications is now gone. This is normal as the code heads towards release candidate stage.

We also have a new raft of icons. Sure, these are cosmetic tweaks, but they do help the look and feel of the OS.

Over the past few days it also emerged that it's possible to remove IE8 from Windows 7.

Here's an image showing the entire tree of the Turn Windows features on or off screen expanded (warning, image is quite large).

There's also a revamped Remote Desktop Application, although there's no difference in how the application works.

The OS also benefits from many other cosmetic tweaks.

Is this the Release Candidate build? No, it's not, and the way you can tell is because the UAC flaw discovered soon after Beta was released is still present in this build.

My guess is that the RC build will be finalized second or third week this month, and will be released to the public early April.