Section: Windows 7
January 06, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft is optimizing Windows 7 in order to increase performance, and, in this context, the dispatcher lock is one of the components that has got cut off . According to the Redmond company, fewer hardware locks are synonymous with boosted parallelism, namely a new level of efficiency when it comes down to taking advantage of modern processing architectures. This is valid for Windows Server 2008 R2, namely Windows 7 Server, and, naturally, also for the Windows 7 client, since the two operating systems share the same code base.
“With Windows 7, the dispatcher lock is replaced with several finer-grained synchronization techniques, thus effectively distributing resource contention. The main benefits for applications include increased system performance and more optimal use of available hardware resources,” Phil Pennington, Windows Server Technical Evangelism, revealed.
Evolving from Windows Vista, Windows 7 is embracing the many core CPU world, delivering the promise of enhanced performance through the advantage represented by parallel computing. However, in order for Win7 to be tailored to many core processors, the platform’s kernel had to be freed from past relics such as the dispatcher lock. Read More»
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January 05, 2009 by
Jason Just ahead of the public Beta of Windows 7, Microsoft has started recommending security solutions that can be integrated with the next iteration of its Windows client even at this early stage in the platform’s development. The first products designed to protect users running Windows 7 Beta come from Kaspersky and AVG, according to the Redmond company, which have promised to work with ISVs in order to produce security software compatible with Windows Vista’s successor since 2008. In this context, when it comes down to bulletproofing Windows 7, AVG and Kaspersky are ahead of the rest of the security industry with AVG Internet Security 8.0, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0, and the Technical Preview of Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows 7, respectively.
“Before you install antivirus software, check to make sure you don’t already have an antivirus product on your computer. If you do, be sure to remove the product you don’t want before you install the new one. It can cause problems on your computer to have two different antivirus products installed at the same time,” a message from Microsoft explains. Read More»
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December 24, 2008 by
Jason Even with Windows 7 Beta 1 just around the corner, Microsoft is by no means focused exclusively on Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400, the unconfirmed version number of the first beta for the operating system. In fact, not only is the company reportedly moving onward with the Win7 development in the Release Candidate branch with Build 7004 (also unconfirmed), but, in accordance with the multi-faceted Windows business, the software giant is aligning its strategy with that of original equipment manufactures.
In this context, as early as December 10, 2008, even before the Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400 was reportedly signed-off internally, Microsoft approached OEM partners in an attempt to gather feedback for a Windows 7 Upgrade Program.
The giant manufacturer is planning a remake of the Windows Vista Express Upgrade Program, but this time with Windows 7, according to MyDrivers. The project does not have an official name, the Redmond company referring to the initiative as the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. Read More»
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December 16, 2008 by
Jason While laboring to produce the first Beta for Windows 7, Microsoft has dealt with issues that have survived past pre-Beta Build 6801. An illustrative example in this regard is associated with the Web Services application programming interface. The software giant revealed that automatic proxy settings retrieval tasks in Windows 7 pre-Beta build 6801 could fail when the Web Services API was involved. Moving forward to the next development milestone of Windows 7, the Redmond company has resolved the problem.
“When using Web Services API on Windows 7 Pre-Beta build 6801.0, you may get the following error in: Failure errorCode=0×803d0015 - Failed to retrieve the automatic proxy settings. The proxy could not process the request,” Nikola Dudar, program manager Visual C++ Team, revealed.
Microsoft delivered Build 6801 of the next iteration of Windows 7 at the Professional Developer Conference 2008 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2008 at the end of October, namely in early November. The company subsequently indicated that Windows 7 Beta would be made available at the start of 2009. “The root cause of the issue has already been fixed in the Beta builds of Web Services API. It should work just fine with Windows 7 Beta once it is available,” Dudar promised. Read More»
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December 11, 2008 by
Jason
Microsoft has developed one of the key resources it has been providing so far for Windows 7. Accompanying the release of Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3 at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 at the end of October in Los Angeles is the Windows 7 Developer Guide. At the start of December 2008, the Redmond company began offering version 1.2 of the Windows 7 Developer Guide, which brings an edited Media Platform section. In this regard, in version 1.1, Microsoft delivered descriptions to the areas dealing with the Windows Biometric Framework (WBF) and Direct3D 10.1 Command Remoting.
“The Windows Biometric Framework (WBF) provides an API which enables applications to use fingerprint devices to enroll, identify, and verify user identities without gaining direct access to any biometric fingerprint hardware or samples. You can use WBF with fingerprint devices that have Windows Biometric Device Interface (WBDI) drivers. WBF is extensible through plug-in adapters that manage sensor communications, biometric matching, and template storage,” Microsoft revealed. Read More»
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November 30, 2008 by
Jason As of November 2008, Microsoft is delivering the first taste of DirectX 11 for Windows 7 for download. A release aimed at developers, The November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit, brings to the table the successor of Direct3D 10.1, namely Direct3D 11. In the SDK package, the Redmond company is offering a technical preview of Direct3D 11, but also the adjacent components and tools. Backwards compatible, content developed for Direct3D 11 hardware will also be compatible with earlier products supporting Direct3D 10 and 10.1 (in Vista SP1). Via the Windows 7 Developer Guide, Microsoft provides an insight into the new features made available by Direct3D 11.
“Geometry and high-order surfaces can now be tessellated to support scalable, dynamic content in patch and subdivision surface representations. To make good use of the parallel processing power available from multiple CPU cores, multithreading increases the number of potential rendering calls per frame by distributing the application, runtime, and driver calls across multiple cores. In addition, resource creation and management has been optimized for multithreaded use, enabling more efficient dynamic texture management for streaming,” Microsoft revealed. Read More»
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November 21, 2008 by
Jason Microsoft promises to optimize the amount of disk space that Windows 7 will consume in comparison to Windows Vista. Essentially, the Redmond company is laboring to decrease the installation footprint of the operating system with the next iteration of the Windows client. While the software giant failed to indicate just how much occupied disk space it was going to shave off in Windows 7, it did inform that it was looking to have Windows Vista beat in this aspect.
“As we develop Windows 7 it’s likely that the system footprint will be smaller than Windows Vista with the engineering efforts across the team which should allow for greater flexibility in system designs by PC manufacturers. We will do so with more attention to defaults, more control available to OEMs, end-users and IT pros, and will do so without compromising the reliability and robustness of Windows overall,” revealed Michael Beck, a program manager in the core OS deployment feature team. Read More»
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November 21, 2008 by
Jason Introduced in 2005, Windows Live OneCare is heading for an early grave, with Microsoft planning to discontinue license sales of the all-in-one PC care and security product come June 30, 2009, and to offer support only as long as existing subscriptions will last. In the place of OneCare, the company is cooking what it referred to as a security solution, focused on core anti-malware protection and tailored to Windows 7, Windows Vista (which will have evolved to Service Pack 2 by mid-2009) and Windows XP SP3.
However, the software giant wanted to make it clear that codename Morro was simply a consumer-oriented product, with no impact whatsoever on the company’s current enterprise grade security products.
“So, people may ask how does ‘Morro’ compare to Forefront Client Security? Will enterprise customers use it? The answer is no, ‘Morro’ is intended for consumers, whereas Forefront products are enterprise solutions, providing the capabilities and features required in sophisticated IT environments, e.g. centralized deployment, management and reporting, security state assessments, scheduled signature distribution, update management, etc,” revealed a member of the Forefront team. Read More»
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November 18, 2008 by
Jason The exploit for a vulnerability affecting the Server Service on all supported versions of Windows has been included in a commercial malware kit, available for sale. MS08-067 is labeled with a maximum severity rating of Critical, and the security bulletin is designed to patch vulnerable Windows operating systems, which could allow for remote code execution via a successful attack involving a specially crafted, malicious RPC request. The vulnerability affects the latest Windows client and server operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
“Probably the most widely reported topic in the Chinese Security community this month will be the availability of a commercial MS08-067 attack pack, customized for Chinese users. On October 26th, 2008, exploit code was posted on to a well-known public repository site. In a few days, malware kit author, WolfTeeth, was quick to sell a MS08-067 port scanning tool with attack capability to his ‘customers,’ using free code from the Internet,” revealed Haowei Ren and Geok Meng Ong, from the McAfee Avert Labs.
The security issue is rated Critical on Windows Server 2004, Windows XP (including SP3), and Windows Server 2003, and just Important on Windows Vista (SP1) and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft made available MS08-067 as an out-of-band release in October 2008. During the same month the company issued the first security patch for Windows 7, designed for the pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3 release. Read More»
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November 17, 2008 by
Jason
At this point in time, Microsoft is only displaying the message “Coming soon,” instead of a list with Windows 7 security software providers. However, the company is looking to change this aspect within the next year. With Windows 7 evolved past Milestone 3 stage, as the pre-Beta Built 6801 bits have been made available to PDC 2008 and WinHEC 2008 participants, and subsequently leaked to torrent websites, Microsoft is laboring to produce the first Beta, and is also looking to ensure that security solutions will be offered to testers with that development milestone.
“Microsoft is actively working with security software independent software vendors (ISVs), so that security software solutions will be available for Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 RTM,” the software giant revealed.
In terms of antivirus products, the policy of the Redmond company will not be altered by the advent of Windows 7. “We recommend that you install security software to help protect your computer from viruses and other security threats, and that you keep your security software up to date,” Microsoft informed. Read More»
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