Section: Windows 7
February 08, 2010 by
Jason
Microsoft has made available for download new resources associated with the underlining graphics technology in its Windows operating system, including the latest version of the operating system. Windows 7 brought to the table DirectX 11, a technology which was also backported to Windows Vista SP2 via the Platform Update for Windows Vista. No less than three downloads were made available at the end of the past week by the Redmond company: the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer, the DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010), and DirectX Software Development Kit.
All three DirectX resources have been updated for the first time in 2010. “The Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX — the core Windows technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC,” Microsoft stated. DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010) is “the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, and English,” the company added.
The core of the DirectX February 2010 update is without a doubt the software development kit Microsoft is offering developers to streamline the building of DirectX compliant applications. The SDK package contains tools, utilities, samples, documentation, as well as the runtime debug files for 64-bit (x64) and (32-bit) x86 Windows. Read More»
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February 06, 2010 by
Jason Some customers that will attempt to view media files using default Windows 7 components such as Internet Explorer 8 and Windows media Player, will find, that in certain scenarios they will be unable to do so. Microsoft explained that the improper configuration of IE8 and Windows Media Player could prevent end users from viewing media via hyperlinks. Microsoft has already resolved the issue via a stability and reliability update for the latest iteration of Windows 7 released earlier this week, however, the company has also documented the problem in a standalone Knowledge Base article.
“Using Internet Explorer 8.0 running on Windows 7, you navigate to a web page that contains a link to a media file. You click on the link to open the media file in Media Player. Instead of seeing the media open and run in Media Player, you are presented with an error message similar to the following: “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”, ” Microsoft reported.
According to the Redmond company the issue described above affects only the playback of specific media files in Windows Media Player, although the software giant did not say which ones. At the same time, the playback issue only occurs when Windows Media Player is launched by end users clicking on a link in Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7. Read More»
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February 04, 2010 by
Jason Windows 7 shortcuts ebook has been recently released at TheWindowsClub. This ebook comprises of more than 200 keyboard shortcuts which works in windows 7 and its default programs like Paint, WordPad, MS Office, Calculator, Help, Media Player, Media Center, Windows Journal, Internet Explorer, etc.
- What is Keyboard & how to use it?
- How keys are organized on a standard Keyboard
- Typing & editing the text using Keyboard
- Using Keyboard Shortcuts
- Find program shortcuts
- Choose menus, commands, and options
- Some useful shortcuts
- Using the keyboard extras
- Using navigation keys
- Using the numeric keypad
- Three odd keys
- Use your keyboard safely
- Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs
- Make the keyboard easier to use
- Type without using the keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard)
- Set On-Screen Keyboard to use for various handy tasks
- The Shortcuts Collection
- General Windows functions keyboard shortcuts
- Dialog box keyboard shortcuts Read More»
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February 04, 2010 by
Jason Want to know what your Windows EULA looks like? Windows XP’s EULA is stored in a file located here:
C:\Windows\System32\eula.txt
XP also has a help file associated with the EULA. The help file is located at:
C:\Windows\Help\license.chm
In Vista and Windows 7, one version of the EULA is stored in the following location:
C:\Windows\System32\license.rtf
But Vista and Win7 also store other EULAs on the system. For example, Win7’s license library for the US-English version of the software is at this location:
C:\Windows\System32\en-US\Licenses
In fact, my test PC has 54 separate Win7 EULAs in that folder! Read More»
Posted in Computer, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | No Comments »
February 03, 2010 by
Jason
Microsoft is making it easy for third-party developers to bulletproof their software using the same security assurance process that the company applied when building products such as Windows 7 and Windows Vista. In this sense, the software giant continues on a path it set on a few years back when it started sharing resources and guides associated with the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle with the developer community. Devs looking to secure their software leveraging the same range of security activities used by Microsoft in developing solutions starting with Vista can take advantage of such resources as the Simplified Implementation of the Microsoft SDL white paper, which can be grabbed from the Microsoft Download Center.
“Because Microsoft created the SDL, some people think they have to have Microsoft-like resources to be able to implement it,” revealed David Ladd, principal security program manager of Microsoft’s SDL Team. “It’s true that we do invest a lot in the SDL, but that’s largely because we have so many products that go through it. This paper sets out how any development team — even teams of eight to 10 developers — can implement the SDL.” Read More»
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February 01, 2010 by
Jason Microsoft offers a plethora of software that users can download and install without paying a single cent to the company. However, the software giant hasn’t centralized all its free offerings into a single location, a move which would streamline access to the resources it is delivering. That’s why I included below a list with a consistent collection of free software products which can be grabbed free of charge, with the vast majority available through the Microsoft Download Center.
As far as I’m concerned the list needed to start with Windows client and server operating systems. In one way or another, packaged as ISO or VHD images, Microsoft is offering customers the chance to test drive, and even use, feature-complete versions of its platforms, again, completely free. In some cases, Microsoft is making it easier for customers to test drive a Windows release before buying, while in others it is actually offering the OS on top of an existing license.
However, the list doesn’t stop with Microsoft’s operating systems. The Redmond company is also providing free downloads of its “other” cash cow, the Office productivity suite, along with its development platform and tools, security solutions and additional offerings. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | No Comments »
January 28, 2010 by
Jason By all accounts, thanks to the boot performance of Windows 7, customers should be using the operating system in a matter of seconds since they fire up their computers. However, Microsoft itself has documented scenarios in which the startup of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is unexpectedly slow. According to the Redmond-based company, at fault is the dpi display setting of the monitor.
“Consider the following scenario: you have a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. This computer is connected to a high resolution monitor. On this computer, the default dpi display setting is set to a value other than 96 dpi. In this scenario, the computer has an unexpectedly slow startup time,” Microsoft explained.
The software giant does not specify what “unexpectedly slow startup times” actually mean. Microsoft only noted that the dpi display setting is the cause of slow boot times, and that the problem is persistent. “This issue may occur when the default dpi display setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 is set to a value other than 96 dpi for a high resolution monitor. In this scenario, the computer has an unexpectedly slow startup time after a change is made to the default dpi display setting. Then, the computer has an unexpectedly slow startup time every other time that the computer is started,” the company said. Read More»
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January 25, 2010 by
Jason Even when Windows 7 was still in development, early adopters already running the operating system agreed that it bested its predecessor in all aspects. However, Microsoft itself felt pretty confident early on during the building of Windows 7. Back in the first half of November 2009, the Redmond company demonstrated a boot time drag race between Windows Vista and Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3. Windows 7 won, at a distance so to speak, and the rest is history. According to Microsoft, Aaron Dietrich, senior development lead on the Windows Client Performance team along with his group were responsible for making Windows 7 start-up faster than its predecessor.
Dietrich read the first positive review of the Windows 7 improved boot performance ahead of Windows 7 release. “It gave me a really good feeling,” Dietrich recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, it’s not just that we’re on the right path, but we’re really making a change in perception for reviewers and the general public here.’ It’s not a fancy new UI feature,” he added. “It’s not that thing in your face all the time like a desktop feature or window switcher or something like that.”
However, Dietrich doesn’t take credit alone for the boost in speed that Windows 7 brought to the table in comparison to Windows Vista. “I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle,” he said. “It’s really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product.” Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 3 Comments »
January 23, 2010 by
Jason A new release of the Windows Driver Kit documentation associated to the latest iteration of the Windows client from Microsoft is currently available for download. According to the Redmond company, the next update to the Windows Driver Kit resources will take some time to be released as the infrastructure behind creating and offering the documentation to developers is being reworked. The software giant did not say when the next refresh for the WDK documentation will be offered, however, the latest update was made available at the end of 2009.
“It’ll be a little while before we do another update, because we’re taking some time to rework our authoring and publication systems. Stay tuned. You can download the offline version of the documentation (in HxS and CHM!!! format) here,” revealed Jim Travis, senior content publishing manager, Microsoft.
The Redmond company usually updates the Windows Driver Kit documentation both MSDN and Windows Hardware Developer Central (WHDC) in bi-monthly intervals, especially between major releases. It sounds like the updates are going to be put on hold, at least for a while. The latest MSDN Library documentation can be accessed here. Read More»
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January 22, 2010 by
Jason
Uninstalling and reinstalling inbox audio driver repeatedly on Windows 7 or Windows Vista might not be the best thing to do, as Microsoft has warned that users could leave their platforms incapable of playing audio. The Redmond company does not specify the exact number uninstalls/reinstalls needed for some DirectSound output to be rendered unable to play audio, but apparently, just several such actions are sufficient.
Here is the scenario described by the software giant: “You use software to render/play audio via the DirectSound API (for example: DDK tool Graph Edit). On Vista or Windows 7, via a driver testing tool (or manually) you uninstall and then reinstall audio drivers such as “High Definition Audio Device” (HDAudio) several times. You attempt to render/play the audio stream again to a non-default DirectSound device (for example – DirectSound:Speakers as opposed to Default DirectSound device).”
Provided that users managed to reproduce the situation exemplified above, Microsoft indicates that no audio will be produced as a result of the stream leveraging a non-default DirectSound device for rendering. In addition, Vista and Windows 7 customers will receive the following error message: “These filters cannot agree on a connection. Verify type compatibility of input pin and output pin. Cannot play back the audio stream: no audio hardware is available, or the hardware is not responding. (Return code:0×80040256).” Read More»
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