I think the reason, there is less eye candy on this version, is because a lot of it is now done behind the scenes, so to speak, as you notice, it doesn't reside in the notification area anymore, every so often, when a change is detected it will pop up and notify you, prompt for direction then go back with a little green checkmark and then fade away.

Yeah the Software Explorer is a nice feature, I think the big difference between the two is the former MSAS allowed the editing of IE browser features, such as BHO's and HOSTS file. Other then that, I think this is good for a Beta 2 version, can only get better?

Aslo I think this was a way for them to divest themselves of anything that was Giant related, including the icon.( seeing's as how they bought them out).

At least they corrected all of the spelling errors and typo's that the "old" one had
...majored in English Neg??