Windows7 Evangelist

As the economy sinks further and further into recession, the tech industry continues to feel the bite. With Circuit City closing, giants like Google and Microsoft laying off employees, and losses being reported across the board, the situation looks bleak. The likes of Merryl Lynch and GMC have received bail-outs from the government, but no such luck has reached Silicon Valley. Could the release of Windows 7, then, bail out IT?

According to everyone’s best guess, Windows 7 is slated for release this fall. Though not groundbreaking, it will be faster, more secure, and more user-friendly than its big brother. Microsoft has been less than pleased with the rate of Vista adoption and is eager to get users away from XP.

According to the latest figures, 72% of Americans are running XP, compared to 18% for Vista. Home users make up the bulk of the latter, while the former is mostly comprised of business users unwilling to make the switch. Coincidentally, the majority of computer and software sales are made to businesses, but it is this group that is most stubborn in upgrading. Corporate America wants stability and security in its computers. After all, if things don’t work then money is lost. They generally wait until a product has matured before upgrading.

The problem is, by the time the CPA down the street is ready to upgrade to Vista, Windows 7 will be available en masse. The fact of the matter is XP has been around since 2001, a time when computers shipped with Pentium 3 processors and 256 MB of RAM. The too-stubborn-for-Vista crowd will have to upgrade to something more modern eventually, and Windows 7 will be the time for them to do so. Though a new operating system, it is just an improved version of Vista with more stability and ease of use. Business users will realize that it combines the new features of Vista with the best of XP and flock to upgrade in droves. The same thing happened in 2001 — during a recesssion, also — when Windows 98 users skipped over Windows ME and upgraded to XP.

Read more of this article here: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2009/02/25/020416.php

Did you know you can link your Windows Live ID with your Windows 7 user account? Yep, if you are a Windows 7 user and also have a Windows Live ID, you can link both of them. Why? Here is what Microsoft has to say:

Through the online provider, the Sign-in Assistant helps a Windows 7 application running on one computer identify and communicate with other computers that are associated with the same Windows Live ID. Just by linking your Windows Live ID to the user account on each Windows 7 computer you own, you enable those computers to identify each other and work together more easily than has been possible in the past. Applications can take advantage of this capability to support scenarios as in the following example:

On his homegroup, Bob wants to share certain documents with his wife but not with his kids. Simply by specifying his wife’s Windows Live ID user name, Bob can give his wife exclusive permission to access documents on his computer.

Here is the step by step guide to do the task:

1. Open Control Panel and click on “User Accounts” applet. Now click on “Link online IDs” link given in left sidebar:

2. Now click on “Add an online ID provider” link given at the bottom:

3. It’ll open a web page in your browser. You’ll need to click on the “Windows Live” logo present in the middle:

4. It’ll open a new web page where you can download the “Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant” which will install the required “Windows Live ID online provider”.

PS: You can download the “Windows Live ID sign-in assistant” directly by going to following link:

Download Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant

Now you can ask why should you follow steps 1-3 when you can directly download the sign-in assistant using the above mentioned link? The answer is very simple. At the moment only “Windows Live ID online provider” is available but there would be many other online providers in future and you’ll need to follow steps 1-3 to install them.

5. After installing the sign-in assistant, again go to Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Link online IDs. Now you’ll notice the newly added “Windows Live ID online provider”:

6. Click on “Add linked ID” link and it’ll show following login box where you’ll need to provide your Windows Live credentials:

7. After filling the credentials, click on “Sign in” button. It’ll take a few seconds and your Windows 7 user account will be linked with your Windows Live account:

8. If you want to edit or remove the linked Windows Live ID later, you can do by clicking on “Update credential” or “Remove linked ID” links, respectively.

Source: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-link-your-windows-7-user-account-with-windows-live-id/

A new proof-of-concept application from Microsoft’s research arm integrates elements from the Windows OS and its Windows Azure cloud infrastructure to let users share files from their desktops with Web users via social networking.

The Social Desktop application marries a Web-oriented sharing model with the desktop and lets users share local files such as photos or videos as easily as they share Web links, according to the Microsoft Research Web site for the prototype.

According to information on the site, Social Network allows users to preview desktop-stored files and add social context to them — such as comments, related items and tags. The preview itself is a Web page with a unique URL, and users can store that on the Web by using Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-computing infrastructure that is currently in beta.

These files also can be accessed remotely using Social Network, and the application lets users search for other people’s files as well, according to the site.

From the description on the site, it seems similar to how the Facebook social-networking site allows users to post links, videos and photos on their Facebook pages and add comments and other context to those links.

In addition to leveraging Windows and Windows Azure, the Social Desktop also uses Silverlight, Microsoft’s cross-browser runtime and player for sharing multimedia files. Users must be running Silverlight in a browser to view the items that people using Social Desktop choose to share.

A spokesman from Microsoft’s public relations firm stressed that Social Desktop is just a research prototype and will not be a feature in Windows 7, nor will it be available for public use.

“The group is just trying to get a research prototype working internally right now,” he said via e-mail. “The Web site is just intended to paint the type of scenario they’re looking at.”

However, the site describes the application as leveraging “new search features built into Windows 7,” so it’s possible Microsoft may release it to Windows 7 users at some point.

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 7 either by the end of the year or early next year.

Microsoft has been looking for ways to bring the same experience users have on the Web to the desktop by integrating Web-based applications more and more into Windows. In Windows 7, for example, the company is leaving out the desktop versions of some applications — such as e-mail, photo-sharing and movie-making programs — in favor of their Web-based equivalents.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/159918/microsoft_research_social_app_marries_web_desktop.html

After rumors sprang up across the blogosphere of a Windows 7 build 7048, we debunked them and along with all the other Windows 7 users, we looked hungrily for information on new builds. Microsoft is currently compiling pre-RC builds of Windows 7, the latest build being 7046. Many beta testers are frustrated that they have not received a build since build 7000, which was released to everyone on January 9, 2009. Unfortunately, Ars has learned that this trend will continue. When I asked Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, if Microsoft Connect testers as well as MSDN and TechNet subscribers will get the RC before the public, Sinofsky told me no: “The build will be available broadly.”

When will this occur? Well, sources are continuously pointing to a release of the RC build in April, and now that timeframe has been further narrowed down. According to Neowin, “the official release date is set for April 10, 2009.” Whether the Windows development team will be able to meet this date is another story entirely, but development is going quite well I’m told, so as of right now, I’m optimistic that the release date will be met.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/rumor-public-to-get-windows-7-rc-build-on-april-10-2009.ars

A new version of Windows 7, Build 7022, has appeared on a few file sharing websites, a couple of days after Microsoft officially ended the beta download period.

The new build, which comes one month after the previous build 7000 – the official Beta version – has some minor user interface tweaks with no major updates or features added.

There are claims that Paint has been updated, search in the start menu is faster and generally (and as expected) stability is better.

Build 7022 is available as a 32-bit ISO disk image date-stamped January 15 and includes Internet Explorer 8 RC1; at the time of writing, there were more than 1500 seeders and 4500 leechers, trying to get hold of the 2.47GB file.

Very early reviews by XTReview found that the new Windows 7 is on par with Windows 7 Beta and significantly faster than XP and Vista SP1.

As a reminder, all beta versions of Windows 7 are set to expire on the 31st of July 2009; the latest Windows 7, available to Microsoft employees, is build 7034.

Microsoft promises release to manufacturing by October

Microsoft has given its strongest hint yet that Windows 7 will be in the shops by Christmas.

The company confirmed in a webcast today that Windows 7 will be released to manufacturing (RTM) three years after the RTM version of Vista was released. Vista went RTM in October 2006.

“The goal for Windows 7 RTM is to be three years after Windows Vista RTM,” said the company in response to a question.

The webcast, hosted by Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich, went over some of the new features of the forthcoming operating system. These include better power management, a reduced processor footprint and better applications control.

“We spent a ton of time on battery time,” said Russinovich, claiming that Microsoft had reduced the power footprint of over 400 parts of the operating system, and is still making more improvements. These include managing power but still ensuring speedy performance.

“Performance was a huge problem with Vista,” said Mark Manasse, principal researcher at Microsoft Research. “But I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve run it on bespoke and virtual systems and am very impressed by the way it runs.”

The new operating system will also have a Power Configuration function, which scans the machine in a minute and then lists recommendations for cutting power output.

Microsoft has spent a lot of time trying to avoid the compatibility problems that dogged people moving from XP to Vista.

“When we sat down in one of the open meetings at the start of the project we came up with certain goals,” said Erik Lustig, a senior product manager responsible for Windows Fundamentals

“If it worked with Vista it should work with Windows 7, and if it runs Vista it should run Windows 7 faster.”

Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2236403/windows-should-christmas

Windows has been adopted blindly by many users. Though, they are satisfied (in fact glad) to experience new version of Windows OS, Some of them are ignorant, unknown or not making full use of the capabilities of Windows. So, In this article, we are going to see interesting aspects of Windows 7 (obviously advantageous over Windows Vista and XP) which needs to be polished.

The objective behind this post is to deliver useful and relevant information about how one should use Windows 7. To start, we offer an article that compiles a series of features on the Windows 7 has not been much talked, but still very useful for those who may be using the new Microsoft OS.

1. Keyboard Shortcuts

Along with the new gestures like Shake Aero, Aero Peek, or Aero Snap also have implemented keyboard shortcuts that allow us to emulate these functions without using the mouse (all based on the “Windows key”). For example, WIN + up / down arrow maximize / minimize the current window, Win + arrow left / right will occupy half the screen, WIN + Home key (Home) will minimize all windows unless we are use now, and WIN + Spacebar all windows become transparent and can see the desktop.

Also, Use Superbar more efficiently- SHIFT + Click to open a new instance of the application (only works for applications that can be opened multiple times, such as Calculator, Microsoft Word, browser, etc). With CTRL + SHIFT + Click will open the application with administrator permissions, and CTRL + Click to toggle between multiple windows of the same application, without going through the classic models of the new taskbar.

2. Make Windows 7 taskbar like Vista or XP

The new taskbar shows only icons with nothing written on it. While some of you may not like this or they still prefer taskbar as it was in previous version of Windows.

Go to the properties of taskbar by Right clicking on it. There uncheck the “Lock the Taskbar”, activate the “Use Small Icons”, and in the “Taskbar buttons” select the option “Combine when taskbar is full” or “never combine”, depending on our tastes. Simply that we will have something very much like the taskbar in Vista or XP.

3. Calibrate ClearType smoothing and color of the screen

A new development of Windows 7 rather unknown and about which little has been said is the new calibration assistant allows us to easily adjust brightness, gamma, color balance and contrast of the screen to set optimal levels. Once we’ve completed the wizard, it allows us to compare between the old and the new configuration to decide which one we stayed. There is also a wizard to adjust the ClearType font smoothing.

To find it, simply go to the Start menu and type in “calibration”, then choose “Calibrate your display color.” This opens the wizard to calibrate the color on the screen, and once you’ve finished, we asked if we also want to adjust the ClearType smoothing.

4. Problem Step Recorder

This new tool will essentially record each and every step a user takes and document the entire operation in both screen captures and step-by-step details. When stopped, the Problem Steps Recorder will save the recorded information as a compiled HTML file and package it up in a ZIP file that the end user can then e-mail to the help desk.

You can launch the Problem Steps Recorder in the beta by typing PSR in the Start menu’s Search box and pressing [Enter].

5. BitLocker to Go

One of the most interesting, as far as security is concerned, is BitLocker, a special system that allows encryption to protect information from the hard drive in case of theft of our computer. This feature in Windows 7 has been improved and now allows us to encrypt the data on removable USB disk.

To use this we just have to go to Control Panel> System and Security> BitLocker. Then enter a USB disk, and wait for it to appear in the list “BitLocker To Go,” which we can start the wizard of encryption.

6. Creating Recovery Disk

Fortunately, with Windows 7, we can create a recovery disc without having the Windows installation DVD. For this we simply have to go to the Start menu and type “Recovery Disc” and then click on “Create Recovery Disc”. The recovery tool takes up little space, so we will suffice with a CD for this purpose (do not need a DVD).

7. Configuring Projector options

Windows 7 is much easier to configure the desktop when you connect a laptop to our projector and we want to make a presentation. The options available for these cases are not entirely new, but now it is much easier to access them.

To invoke these options just press Windows Key + P, which will see a menu of 4 buttons as you see in the screenshot. The first option (which is default) is displayed only on the desktop screen of your computer, then we have others double as the desktop on the projector

Source: http://blogsolute.com/2009/02/make-most-out-of-windows-7.html

A number of security flaws have been found in Windows 7′s streamlined UAC—flaws that Windows Vista is immune to—prompting a series of surprising responses from Microsoft. We take a look at what the flaws are, and what’s being done about them.

Unlike many, I’m a big fan of Vista’s User Account Control. Truth is, I don’t get a lot of prompts asking me to elevate, and those that I do get are legitimate. Sure, the implementation isn’t perfect; there are some scenarios that cause a rapid proliferation of prompts that are a little annoying (such as creating a folder in a protected location in Vista RTM), and there are even a few places where it forces elevation unnecessarily, but on the whole I think it’s a good feature.

The basic purpose of UAC is to annoy you when your software needs Admin privileges. The reason for this is simple: a lot of Windows software demands Admin privileges not because it needs to be privileged for everything it does, but rather because it was the quickest, easiest way for the developer to do some minor task. For example, games with the PunkBuster anti-cheat system used to demand Administrator privileges so that PunkBuster could update itself and monitor certain system activity. This was bad design because it meant that the game was then running with Administrator privileges the whole time—so if an exploit for the game’s network code was developed, for example, that exploit would be able to do whatever it liked.

Click here to continue reading this article…

The folks at Redmond Pie have just posted about their five top “must-have” gadgets for Windows 7. Introduced in Vista, gadgets are mini applications built using XML, DHTML, and JavaScript. In Vista, though, those gadgets were more constrained to the sidebar. Although you could move them outside the sidebar to other parts of the screen, the bar itself would never really go away. In Windows 7, that has changed. The sidebar is no more and the gadgets can sit anywhere on your screen in either a minimized or maximized state.

So what were Redmond Pie’s top picks? They chose the following:

1. Twadget – the Twitter gadget
2. The Remote Desktop Gadget
3. The Blue Calendar Gadget (it’s the same calendar gadget as the one included with the OS, just in a nicer color!)
4. The Windows Live “What’s New” Gadget (see our coverage)
5. The Simple Search Bar which floats web search boxes on your desktop

They also conveniently bundled all the gadgets into one download available here.

Of course, when we’re talking about Windows 7 gadgets, let’s not forget the new Windows Media Center Gadget – this one is built right in to the OS. Just right-click on your desktop and select “Gadgets” to add it.

Do you have any favorite gadgets for Windows 7 that you want to share?

Source: http://on10.net/blogs/sarahintampa/Desktop-Gadgets-for-Windows-7/