Recently we have written about the availability of Windows 7 RC. Windows 7 Ultimate is the Release Candidate edition and it is available in 32-bit & 64-bit versions in English, French, Japanese, German, and Spanish.

Here are some of the improvements that Windows 7 RC offers over the windows 7 beta release.

User Account Control (UAC) — In the beta release of Windows 7 you can change the notification level in the UAC control panel without receiving a prompt for administrative credentials. But the UAC control panel in Windows 7 RC runs in a high integrity process and changing the UAC level will prompt you for confirmation. When you are logged on with a standard user account you must provide administrative credentials to change the default UAC notification level in Windows 7.

AppLocker — The AppLocker UI in Windows 7 RC includes a new Group Policy administrative template. The administrator can configure it to display a customized URL when AppLocker blocks an application. The Admin can use this feature to reduce help desk calls by directing the users to a helpdesk intranet site.

System Partition Size — The Windows 7 partition drive size which is required for Bit Locker and Windows Recovery Environment has been reduced from 200MB to 100MB.

DirectAccess User Experience — To simplify the user experience corporate connectivity notification has been removed. Right now only Internet Access is displayed.

Network Troubleshooting — Windows 7 RC includes a new Windows Troubleshooting Pack for DirectAccess within Control Panel. If a resource is not reachable you can use ‘Diagnose Connection’ in Internet Explorer or ‘Troubleshoot problems’ diagnostic entry points to help determine the cause of the issue.