Windows 7 was launched worldwide yesterday. I had explained new features of Windows 7 in previous posts.
Microsoft Qatar is the platinum sponsor of this year’s Made in USA exhibition in Doha, Qatar (Oct 21-23 2009). We had a booth at the exhibition where we showcased Windows 7, Windows Phone, xbox 360 and some Microsoft Hardware.
A commenter asked me today about the Windows Server 2008 RSAT tools not working on Windows 7. The answer is simple – there is a different build of the RSAT tools for Windows 7 available as a free download here.
Windows 7 Beta will begin bi-hourly shutdowns starting from July 1, 2009. The Beta will completely expire on August 1, 2009.
Windows 7 Beta users should do a clean install of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC), which will expire on June 1, 2010. Bi-hourly shutdowns of the RC will start on March 1, 2010.
You can now share an internet connection among multiple computers in your home, even if you do not have a wireless access point or wireless router hardware – as long as the computers are running Windows 7.
You can now set up a wireless ad-hoc network (computer-to-computer network) WITH internet connection sharing!
At home, I use a Nawras Huawei E220 3G USB modem, which can only be used to access the internet from the PC on which the modem is physically connected. Thanks to Windows 7, my wife and I can both use the internet at the same time using just one modem on two different computers without any wires or extra hardware! 
Last evening, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 Release Candidate (RC) on my Lenovo W500 notebook. Since I was moving from Windows 7 Ultimate x32 Beta, this meant a complete re-installation, as there is no upgrade option from beta to RC.
The installation was pretty smooth and I did not have issues with drivers for the standard hardware on this notebook.
After installing the RC, I decided to try out Virtual Windows XP (or ‘XP Mode’ as the media calls it). Here’s how I went about doing it:
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How does one end a process running on the Virtual Windows XP machine?
Simply by opening the Windows 7 Task Manager, the user can see both Windows 7 applications as well as Windows XP mode applications in a single interface. The user may end the Windows XP task (labeled ‘(remote)’) from the same Task Manager instance:
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XP Mode is a really cool feature that will help organizations running Windows XP to make the move to Windows 7 much easier. Legacy applications that do not support running on Windows Vista or Windows 7 can still continue running on XP mode, just like we ran Internet Explorer 6 on Windows 7 in this example. The user simply clicks on a shortcut on the Windows 7 Start Menu or desktop and the Windows XP application opens, giving the end-user a seamless experience.
BranchCache is a new content caching feature introduced in Windows 7. This is especially useful in a branch office scenario, when users in the branch office request files from a server located in the head office.
BranchCache is a passive content cache. When BranchCache is enabled, a copy of data accessed from an intranet web site or a file server is cached locally within the branch office. When another user on the same network requests the file, the user gets access to the content almost immediately as it is downloaded from the local cache rather than over a limited bandwidth connection back to headquarters.
BranchCache works with web content (HTTP and HTTPS), and file servers (SMB) and also works well with security technologies like IPSec, SMB Signing and SSL.
BranchCache will only serve content to users who have the right permissions and will always make sure it is delivering the latest version of the file.
Two modes of operation:
Hosted Cache mode: In the Hosted Cache mode, a server in the branch running Windows Server 2008 R2 hosts the cached files.
Distributed Cache mode: In this mode, a branch server is not required, as copies of files are directly cached on Windows 7 PCs located in the branch office. When the same content is requested by another Windows 7 client, the cached content is sent to other Windows 7 clients as needed.
For BranchCache to work, each “content server” (computer serving the content – file server or web server) must run Windows Server 2008 R2. In the case of hosted cache, the hosted cache server must also run Windows Server 2008 R2. All client computers must run Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.
Important information about caching HTTP/HTTPS content (updated: July 1, 2010):
BranchCache feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 Server supports only web-servers that use HTTP.SYS only and IIS uses the HTTP.SYS stack. Hence, even if the web server is running Windows Server 2008 R2 but the web site is not hosted on IIS, BranchCache will not work. Web servers like Apache and Weblogic do not use the HTTP.SYS stack and hence will not work with BranchCache.
BitLocker, first introduced in Windows Vista, has become an important encryption method when it comes to increasing security of laptop computers by encrypting the hard drives.
In Windows 7 beta, you can take security one step further by making use of the BitLocker encryption feature for USB flash memory, external hard disks and other removable media.
All you have to do is right click on the drive to be encrypted and choose Turn on BitLocker…
Organizations can also enforce all users to encrypt removable devices using this feature. IT administrators can manage this centrally via group policy that requires all USB drives to be encrypted even before files can be written to it.
February 24, 2009
It has been quite a while since Paint and WordPad, two of the most common Windows accessories got some makeover.
Paint was one of the first Windows tools I ever used. Back in the Windows 3.x days it used to be called “Paintbrush”. WordPad used to be called “Write”.
Those days have gone by, and now, we have Windows 7 Beta, which added the Office 2007-style “ribbons” for the toolbars in Paint and WordPad.
Paint also got some feature enhancements, with some cool new brushes (demonstrated above), and the ability to add AutoShapes (arrows, callouts, etc).
Just for old times’ sake, here’s how Paintbrush used to look like in Windows 3.1:
February 23, 2009
Ever since the release of Windows 95, the Start menu has become an integral part of the lives of most Windows users.
The start menu in Windows 7 has been redesigned to simplify the user experience. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights:
The desktop themes are more advanced, and also gives you the option to select multiple background images (wallpapers) that keep changing automatically at a specified fixed interval (similar to webshots).
February 23, 2009
The User Account Control (UAC) feature, first introduced in Windows Vista, helps prevent potentially harmful programs from being executed inadvertently on the computer. UAC notifies the user each time a program uses the administrator privilege on the computer.
While UAC is a powerful means of securing the computer, I know many users find repeated warnings (for known changes) too annoying and eventually end up turning UAC off altogether, thereby compromising security.
Windows 7 Beta adds more granular control over UAC notifications. There are four levels on UAC:
