Tag: Microsoft
September 19, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft has reached the end of the road when it comes down to the evolution of Windows XP through major updates. Moving onward, the Redmond company will focus exclusively on Windows Vista and Windows 7 with service pack releases. Specifically, if you are running Windows XP and still hoping for an SP, then by all means, don’t hold your breath. Or, if you were indeed holding your breath, then this is about the right time to exhale and move beyond the aging operating system. Windows 7 is now just a few days short of one month away, seeing how general availability is planned for October 22nd, 2009.
No more service packs for Windows XP, what does it mean? It means that SP3 was the last service pack for 32-bit (x86) XP and the SP2 was the last major update for 64-bit (x64). Immediately after the availability of SP3 for x86 XP, Microsoft confirmed officially that it was the last service pack for Windows Vista’s precursor. However, a potential SP3 seemed to be in the cards as far as x64 XP was concerned.
In fact, this is not the case at all. Microsoft offered official confirmation of the fact that it was not, nor would it be in the future, developing a third service pack for 64-bit XP. “We have received inquiries from our customers and partners on whether or not there will be a need for a Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows XP | No Comments »
September 17, 2009 by
Jason Internet Explorer 8 includes a security feature that shuts down misbehaving applications before they can harm your system.
This capability, known as Data Execution Prevention (DEP), runs by default when IE 8 is installed on XP SP3 and Vista SP1 or later, but it may not always be clear to you why DEP has put the brakes on one of your PC’s applications.
DEP is the best reason I know for updating to Internet Explorer 8 and Vista SP1. For many years, Microsoft has included DEP which is also called No-Execute (NX) only in parts of Windows. For example, DEP is available in IE 7 but is off by default to avoid conflicts with old, incompatible programs.
DEP is now a key part of Vista and Internet Explorer 8. When I try to install older software on newer machines, I must configure Data Execution Prevention to allow the software installer to run with DEP disabled.
To open the Data Execution Prevention dialog in XP, open Control Panel, choose System, and then select the Advanced tab. Click the Settings button in the Performance section and select the Data Execution Prevention tab. In Vista, choose Performance Information and Tools, click Advanced Tools in the left pane, select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows, and click the Data Execution Prevention tab. Read More»
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
September 16, 2009 by
Jason There’s much to commend Windows 7 and our experiences with clean installs of the pre Beta, Beta and RTM releases have been mostly very positive, however, the one thing we haven’t tried yet is a Vista to Win7 upgrade.
If the reports now circulating the web are anything to go by, it’s not something we’ll be trying anytime soon. According to ars technica, reporting test results carried out by Microsoft, in a worst case scenario it could take more than 20 hours. The circumstances are not that unusual, either, it concerns a mid-range PC, with 40 applications and a drive containing 650Gb of data.
The tests covered a wide range of configurations and upgrade times varies from 100 minutes, on a high end PC with 20 applications and 70Gb of data to a 345 minutes on a heavily used (125Gb of data and 40 applications) low-end PC. Clean installations on most PCs typically took between 30 and 40 minutes, which chimes with our experiences, so the moral of this story is don’t upgrade unless you absolutely have to, and have plenty of time to spare.
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 14, 2009 by
Jason Microsoft is ready to offer free upgrades from Windows Vista to the latest iteration of the Windows client for participants in a Windows Media Center testing program. But the prizes go beyond the free Windows 7 upgrades, and include laptops, Xbox Elite consoles and even a PC Home entertainment System. In order to be eligible for the prizes, users must first get accepted into the Windows Media Center TV Ambassador program. The catch, well, there’s always one, Microsoft is accepting participation requests only from UK residents.
“Become one of our TV Ambassadors! If you’ve already got Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you could receive a free TV tuner valued at £60 so you can enjoy watching and recording live Freeview TV channels on your PC,” revealed Microsoft’s Rob Margel. “Just turn it on, watch and record your favourite TV shows from over 50 Freeview channels including BBC Three, ITV2, Film4, E4 and Dave, and tell us what you think. Spread the word and you could win free stuff: software, games, an XBox 360, and an ultimate home entertainment system. You could even be in our next ad.”
Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 11, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft has made available for download updated DirectX 11 resources tailored to Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but also additional Windows client and server operating systems. According to the Redmond-based company, the refreshed DirectX 11 release brings to the table the RTM version of Direct3D. Essentially, what it is offering is an update for the DirectX software development kit. Developers are free to grab the SDK via the Microsoft Download Center since September 8, 2009.
“The August 2009 DirectX SDK contains the first official release of the DirectX developer resources for Direct3D 11, DXGI 1.1, Direct2D, and DirectWrite. Developers can now publish and distribute Direct3D 11 applications and games that leverage all of the software and hardware features of DirectX 11 in Windows 7 and Windows Vista,” Microsoft noted. “ll headers, import libraries, and symbol files (.pdb files) are no longer marked as beta with the ‘_beta’ suffix and now link to the RTM versions of the runtimes. In addition, the HLSL compiler features for Direct3D 11 are now of release quality. The beta DLLs are no longer available in the DirectX SDK.”
With the August 2009 DirectX Software Development Kit update, Microsoft is offering developers the new Effects runtime for Direct3D 11. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7, Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
September 10, 2009 by
Jason Microsoft has made available for download the gold version of its solution accelerator designed to automate the deployment of its latest Windows client and server operating system released. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 was released to manufacturing over a month following the RTM of Windows 7 itself. MDT 2010 comes to the table with support not just for the deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but also for previous releases of Windows, including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.
“MDT provides you with the following benefits: unified tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment in a common deployment console and collection of guidance. Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management. Fully automated Zero Touch Installation deployments by leveraging System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Release Candidate and Windows deployment tools. For those without a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure, MDT leverages Windows deployment tools for Lite Touch Installation deployments,” Keith Combs, Microsoft evangelist, revealed. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 04, 2009 by
Jason Microsoft is currently hard at work on the evolution of the resource that was formerly labeled Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios Solution Accelerator. According to the Redmond-based company, the building phase hasn’t actually started, as the software giant still has to deal with the planning of the next iteration of the solution accelerator. In this regard, customers that are already leveraging or intend to take advantage of the Windows Optimized Desktop Toolkit can share their insights with Microsoft.
The software giant is offering all users the possibility of sending feedback on the solution accelerator, with the promise that input will be integrated into the next version of the Windows Optimized Desktop Toolkit. Customers interested in helping shape the future of the Windows Optimized Desktop Toolkit can access a survey hosted on Microsoft Connect.
“The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team is currently planning the next release of the Windows Optimized Desktop Toolkit (previously known as Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios Solution Accelerator). To help identify and prioritize features to include in the toolkit, we have created a survey to gather information about our customers’ desktop infrastructures,” revealed a member of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Team. “The survey is now available on Connect and will be open until September 22, 2009.” Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
September 04, 2009 by
Jason Windows 7 is “outrunning” Windows Vista in more ways than one. Microsoft has labored to ensure that the latest Windows client outpaces its precursor in a variety of scenarios, from startup time, to common usage tasks, and to shutdown, to name just a few. Another aspect in which Windows 7 has Vista beat is upgrade performance. According to Chris Hernandez, from the Windows Deployment team, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to Windows 7 upgrades are at least 5% faster than Vista SP1 to Vista SP1 upgrades.
In fact, when it set out to do the operating system upgrade measuring contest, Microsoft was looking for at least a 5% threshold for upgrade scenarios involving Vista SP1 to Windows 7 was in comparison to jumps from Vista SP1 to Vista SP1. The Redmond-based company explained that the Windows Upgrade team monitored the Windows 7 upgrade performance during the development process, and that it compared it against its Vista baseline.
“The reason we choose to use a Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1 upgrade instead of Windows XP -> Vista as our baseline was for the following: Windows XP is a vastly different operating system compared to Vista and an upgrade from Windows XP -> Vista would not be a good comparison with Vista -> Windows 7. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 02, 2009 by
Jason Customers testing the virtualization extensions of Windows 7, namely Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode have been experiencing performance problems in scenarios in which sharing folders are enabled. Ben Armstrong, Program manager on the core virtualization team at Microsoft, revealed that the issues reported are connected with the latest development milestone of Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, namely the Release Candidate Builds. Fortunately enough, a hotfix is already available from the software giant.
“A number of users have seen performance issues using shared folders / having shared folders enabled with Windows XP Mode on the RC release of Windows Virtual PC. This can be addressed by installing this hotfix inside the virtual machine. Please note – this hotfix is for Windows XP and is installed inside the virtual machine, not in the host operating system,” Armstrong noted.
Knowledge Base Article 972435 doesn’t mention Windows XP Mode, a Windows 7 feature, which is available as a standalone download. However, the resources designed to help customers resolve “slow performance when you try to open a redirected drive on a remote computer through a Terminal Services session” applies to Windows XP Professional. And Windows XP Mode is indeed based on a free and pre-activated copy of Windows XP that is available for Windows 7. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 2 Comments »
September 02, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft is offering Windows 7 RTM as a free download. That’s right! Completely free, no catch, no strings attached. The Redmond-based company is delivering customers the possibility of continuing the testing of its latest iteration of the Windows client even after the Release Candidate Build 7100 development milestone downloads have been discontinued. In this regard, the Windows 7 RTM Enterprise edition bits are currently up for grabs straight from the software giant. Customers will be able to test drive the release for no less than 90 days.
Stephen L. Rose, Senior community manager, Windows IT Pro Client, explained that the free Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-day evaluation comes as a consequence of direct input from IT professionals. “Many IT pros we talk to have been looking for a way to continue their work with the Release Candidate to test their applications, hardware and deployment strategies with final Windows 7 bits. In response, we have created the Windows 7 Enterprise 90 Day trial edition, available beginning [September 1, 2009],” Rose noted.
Microsoft is already offering the RTM of Windows 7 via a variety of channels to specialized audiences. However, the free Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-day evaluation comes with no limitations, and is available for download for all IT pros independent of the subscription-based or volume licensing sources. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 6 Comments »
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