Microsoft today unleashed the Microsoft Answers Windows 7 Forums where users of Windows 7 can get help with a number topics related to the new operating system, whether its Installation, troubleshooting, configuration, networking, security and many others, you name it. You can find a helpful bunch of folks from Microsoft, Microsoft MVP's and Windows Enthusiast sharing their experiences ready and willing to help you:

• Desktop and Personalization
• Gaming
• Hardware and Drivers
• Performance and maintenance
• Install, upgrade and activate
• Programs
• Music and Sound
• Pictures and Video
• Security, privacy and user accounts
• Networking, e-mail and getting online
• Files, folders and search
• System repair and recovery
• Internet Explorer
• Windows Update

In conjunction with the Windows Live Forums, users can get the most out of their technology investments and computing experiences. Not to forget, the Microsoft Clubhouse is also a great resource for users to even get more insight into using Windows Live and Windows 7 together in real world scenarios.

I am sure there are many persons out there who like to build computers, or do so for a living. Well, System Builders can now pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate OEM versions of the OS from popular technology retailer New Egg. Here is what PC Magazine had to say to about the availability:

Missed out on the early preorder discounts? Popular retailer Newegg.com has listed the OEM prices for Windows 7, which will be offered at less than half what Microsoft will charge for a retail copy.

Newegg hasn't listed any prerequisites for buying the OEM version, such as the purchase of any additional hardware. Past OEM copies have prevented users from taking advantage of Microsoft's support options, however, and the packaging and instructions are usually minimal.

Read the entire article here

Three-pack Licenses

Users should note that OEM (which means Original Equipment Manufacturer) software is licensed differently from retail versions of Windows. The License Agreement allows it to be sold with a qualifying piece of hardware to which it is tied such as a motherboard making the license non-transferable. An OEM version of Windows 7 cannot upgrade previous versions of Windows either. An OEM version of Windows 7 does not require that you have a qualifying version of Windows, it is an entirely full version of the OS.

Learn more here

Resources

System Builder
Windows 7 Upgrade Program
Windows 7 Student Offer
Windows Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack Pricing details revealed
Dell Windows 7 Option Upgrade Program
More information on Windows 7: Pricing and Availability

Rob Margel who works in Windows International at Microsoft in the UK, talks about an updated list of Windows 7 Antivirus partners now available. With Windows 7 coming next month, consumers and businesses will have numerous updated certified security solutions to choose from.

A while back I mentioned the list of Windows 7 Anti Virus partners which was way back during the RC I think.  Well we have updated the list  at http://www.microsoft.com/UK/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx  and it now includes (in no particular order):

Learn more here

Resources:

Windows 7 security software providers
Checking out Microsoft Security Essentials BETA

Back in the 90's, I could count on one hand how many people I knew had a computer, or just had access to one. With the fast pace of changes such as Moore's Law and affordability of computers and hardware over the past 10 years, everybody I know has a PC or are upgrading one, buying their second or third computer. With current buying trends comes certain responsibilities. We need to be thinking about how our purchasing decisions are affecting the environment around us in addition to persons living in other countries. If you want to start making a contribution to saving your environment, you can start by changing your buying habits.

The above logos can help guide you in your future buying decisions. Green Computing is a hot topic these days and many consumers are consciously looking into how they can help improve the environment by buying products that are Green certified.

What is Green Computing?

Green computing involves reducing the electricity and environmental waste while using a computer. Computers use and often waste resources such as electricity and paper. The industry has become aware of this problem and is implementing important measures to combat it. Personal computers, displays, and printers should comply with guidelines of the Energy STAR program, which was developed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

This program encourages manufacturers to create energy efficient devices that require little power when they are not in use. For example, many devices switch to standby or power save mode after a specified number of inactive minutes or hours. Computers and devices that meet ENERGY STAR guidelines display an ENERGY STAR label.

What can we do with old computers?

You might have an old computer, printer or some other device you are not using anymore. Either its obsolete or just doesn't meet your needs anymore. You can start by not storing obsolete computers and devices in your basement, storage room, attic, warehouse or any other location. Computers, monitors, and other equipment contain toxic materials and potentially dangerous elements including lead, mercury and flame retardants. In a landfill, these material are released into the environment. There are some options available such as refurbishing or recycling the equipment. Just yesterday, I was listening to a call in radio program, a student who just started a Data Operations course at an institution was pleading for some assistance because she doesn't have a computer and wouldn't mind getting a second hand PC just to practice Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Database Management. So, even if that old computer is not useful to you anymore, there might be a student or school who might just need it for basic task.

Local governments are working on methods to make it easy for consumers to recycle their old equipment, but you can also help by altering some habits now, here is a list of ways you can contribute to a healthy, more energy efficient environment:

• Use computers and devices that comply with ENERGY STAR program or recognized Green Computing initiatives. You will often recognize this by a logo featuring a green leaf or similar branding.
• Do not leave the computer and devices running overnight. I admit, this is a bad habit of mine, but I am cutting it out these days.
• Turn off your monitor, printer, and other devices when not in use. In fact, I haven't used my printer at home in months, so you know I did I plugged it out.
• Use paperless methods to communicate - Windows Live services from Microsoft are helping to make this initiative a reality, free electronic email services and programs such as Windows Live Hotmail/Mail, Skydrive, Photos make it easy and convenient to share files with colleagues and memories with family and friends. Check out Clubhouse member Ali's story about how Skydrive saved the day here
• If you must use paper, ensure that old papers are recycled and ensure that the paper you buy is recycled.
• Recycle toner cartridges.
• Recycle old computers and printers.
• Shop online - there are so many online stores and services these days, cut out the unnecessary travel.
• Telecommunication is also a great way to help protect the environment. Windows 7 includes tools such as Remote Desktop that allow you to access files and other resources at the office.
• Download instead of going for the boxed copy. Do you really need to have a physical box or DVD copy? Thick manuals are even more useless, since they become obsolete the moment you pull the box. Online resources and help forums are all the manuals you will need and they always have the latest information "a live person". Especially with today's enormous external hard disk on the cheap, just buy one and store your digital downloads on them for backup purposes. Millions of packaging world wide are simply thrown away each year, don't add anymore to if you can.

If you are going to donate a used machine, don't just leave it on the doorstep somewhere. A little planning will ensure that the machine goes to a good cause. Before you give it away, make sure you've removed your personal data - letters, financial information etc. onto your new computer using migration tools such as LapLink or Windows Easy Transfer or backup your data to DVDs/external hard disk.

If you plan to keep the software you were using before, you should remove it from the computer you are giving away. When you are ready to give the computer away, call the school, church or organization first. Some will be unable to use the model you're offering even if it works well. Some groups, however, welcome computers of any age and in almost any condition, but you should still call them before donating. Here are list of organizations you can donate your computer to and give it new life and purpose.

California

Donate a Computer to Computer Recycling Center
CompuMentor Home Page

Connecticut

National Cristina Foundation

Additional resources:

Computer disposal, donation, and recycle information
HP Environment: Product recycling
eCycling | Common Wastes & Materials | US EPA
- Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic

Computer recycling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Home : ENERGY STAR
The Electronics Recycling Superguide

Windows 7 helps too

Windows 7 extends battery life for your mobile PC, helping you be productive longer while still getting great performance. Power-saving enhancements include increasing the idle time for the processor, automatically dimming the display, and more power-efficient playback for DVDs. With Windows 7, you’re also kept better-informed about battery status.

Get Idle and Stay Idle Longer. An idle processor reduces battery life. Windows 7 reduces background activities and supports the trigger-starting of system services, so your computer’s processor can be in an idle state more often.

Adaptive Display Brightness. The display on a typical mobile PC consumes more battery power than any other part of the computer. Windows 7 automatically reduces display brightness after a period of inactivity, much like cell phones do today. And Windows 7 intelligently adapts to your activity. For example, if the screen dims after 30 seconds and you immediately move the mouse to brighten
the display, Windows 7 will wait 60 seconds before dimming the display again.

Power-saving DVD Playback. Your PC will use less power when playing a DVD. Windows 7 requires less processing power than previous versions of Windows and is more efficient when it spins the disc, so you’re more likely to get through a full movie with a single battery charge.

Wake on Wireless LAN. Having your computer go into Sleep state when idle is a good way to conserve power, and Wake on LAN provides a way to “wake up” a computer that’s in Sleep state over the network when you need to access it remotely. However, in Windows Vista, waking up a computer that’s in Sleep state could only be done over a wired network connection. Wake on Wireless LAN in Windows 7 provides the same capabilities over a wireless network connection.

For example, if you have a PC in your kitchen that’s wirelessly connected to your home network and want to view a photo on that system from your laptop in the bedroom, the computer in the kitchen can be in Sleep state and wake-up to allow you to see the photo. Similarly, in an enterprise environment, IT administrators can wake up wirelessly connected computers to apply software updates or perform other maintenance. In this way, IT administrators can minimize power costs for wirelessly connected systems.

Smart Network Power. Today, your mobile PC sends energy to parts of your computer when they’re not being used—such as sending power to the network adapter when you don’t have an Ethernet cable plugged-in. Windows 7 automatically turns off power to the network adapter (subject to adapters and drivers supporting this feature) when the cable is disconnected and restores power when the cable is connected. IT professionals can take advantage of this feature to reduce power costs.

Battery Life Notification. Windows 7 provides more prominent, timely, and accurate battery life notifications, helping you remain aware of power consumption and remaining battery life.

Power Efficiency Diagnostics. In Windows 7, the PowerCfg utility is updated to detect problems across devices, policies, firmware, system settings, applications, and other common areas where settings can reduce power efficiency. The information is provided in an easy to understand report. Although this feature is designed primarily for developers and system integrators, it can also be useful to tech-savvy users.

Performance improvements start under-the-hood. Windows 7 is designed to reduce background activity
and adds support for trigger-starting of system services, starting them only when they’re needed instead of ahead of-time. For example, the Windows Bluetooth service is only started when a Bluetooth device is connected. This means that Windows 7 runs fewer services by default than Windows Vista while offering increased functionality.

A couple key areas where you’ll notice improved performance in Windows 7 include the following:

• Startup and Shutdown. Windows 7 is ready when  you are. It’s designed to start, hibernate, and shut down faster than Windows Vista, although individual user experiences will vary based on specific hardware and software configurations.

• Resume from Standby. When resuming from Standby, Windows 7 is designed to reconnect to your wireless network faster than Windows Vista, so your PC will be ready to use in seconds. You’ll spend even less time waiting for your computer to be ready if you use the Sleep mode.

All of these improvements from Windows 7, to the types of computers and components we purchase can affect our environment for the better, cleaner air, cleaner water and a better life!

Resources
I’m a PC, running Windows 7 & I’m Green!
Sorry Kermit, But It Can Be Easy Being Green
Configuring Windows Home Server For Energy Savings
Sharing jokes and funny pictures is a lot more Earth-Friendly than it used to be.

This October Microsoft will release Windows 7 world-wide, the successor to Windows Vista and Windows XP (again), a major upgrade that promises to further improve the user experience on different PC form factors such as the popular Netbook. For the past couple of weeks I along with members of the ActiveWin.com Team spent some time testing the Windows 7 (RTM) Release to Manufacturing build, which is the final build that will be available in stores and new PC’s around the world (that goes for Intel Macs too).

Because the review is 26 pages long, I won't be able to post everything here, but I want to give you a snippet. Here is the final comments from the review:

This review was just the tip of the ice berg, Windows 7 is a major release that innovates and performs. As noted throughout this review, Microsoft went back to the basics of what made Windows great in the first place; the operating systems focus on performance has paid off. End users will appreciate significant improvements in areas such as boot time, resume from sleep/hibernation and faster connection to networks. Windows 7 also focuses deeply on mobility, products like the Netbook form factor, which has become highly popular with consumers over the past couple of years. Windows 7 users can appreciate improvements in battery life while also being able to experience the web in a more seamless way through Windows 7’s out of box support for technologies such as 3G and simplified access and setup of Networks.

 

Should you upgrade? Most certainly, there is no on the fence, if’s or buts about it. This is a major upgrade both Windows XP and Vista users will certainly see benefits from. Vista was of course a hard sell because of the major architectural changes it introduced, Windows 7 reaps the benefits. The investments both businesses and consumers have made in it over the past three years has come forward. In my final comments of ActiveWin’s Windows Vista review, I recommended potential customers move to Windows Vista on new PC’s. Of course with Windows 7 it’s also a great way to upgrade, but existing systems can definitely benefit from Windows 7 with just an upgrade. Running the OS on an AMD Sempron 1.6 GHz machine, 512 MBs the performance is just exceptional, I see Windows 7 breathing new life into many old systems as far back as 2003 (with a few upgrades of course). Windows 7 has the edge here; this is something I can’t see Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard doing because of the architectural changes.

 

With fundamental improvements to how you navigate and interact with your devices and applications, Windows 7 provides an experience that’s cohesive and forward thinking. It makes application switching intuitive while also enhancing the general user experience of working with your programs in a more convenient way. The Taskbar has come a long way since the days of ‘it works just like switching channels’. Users expect a rich experience and the compelling aesthetics such as interactive thumbnail previews and enhanced search functionality will bring a major boost to productivity. Subtle changes to Search and customization themselves make Windows 7 a joy to work with on a daily basis. Businesses will appreciate the new experiences when accessing resources and staying connected to corporate networks in more simplified ways. When combined with the free Windows Live Essentials, Windows 7 shines further, and proves that Microsoft is focusing on delivering real innovation and value to consumers.

Users today have an overwhelming amount of information stored on their PCs and various devices to contend with, keeping it all organized and accessible can be a chore. Windows 7 takes the complexity out of such scenarios and I think it’s the gem of this release a lot of users will discover they could never do without.

Read the entire review here

ActiveWin.com:

Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8 - Review
Microsoft Windows Live Essentials - Review
ActiveWin: Windows 7 FAQ/Quick Guide
Microsoft Windows 7 RC Build 7100 Preview
Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 Preview
Microsoft Windows 7 Pre-beta M3 Build 6801 Preview

Related:

Microsoft Windows Vista RTM - Review
Microsoft Windows XP Professional - Review
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition - Review
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition - Review
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition - Review

Microsoft:

Windows 7 Team Blog
Engineering Windows 7
Microsoft Answers Windows 7 Forums
Windows 7 home
Windows Live Team Blog

Overview

Install this update to resolve issues with non-compatible applications for Windows 7. For complete details of this update, see Knowledge Base Article KB974332. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7

Download here

Yesterday Microsoft announced the technical preview of Office Web Apps. A suite of Microsoft's popular desktop programs Word, Excel and PowerPoint that are now built into the web browser allowing users rich fidelity of documents anywhere, anytime, any device. Microsoft Office Web Apps will be delivered as part of the next generation of Office products and services (Office 2010). With this announcement, its also official that Office Web Apps are now a part of the Windows Live which I am excited about. Yesterday evening, I had a chance to check out these applications and so far I am very impressed with what I have experienced. Let me get this out of the way right now, Office Word Web kicks Google Docs to the curb. From performance to the richness of viewing documents. Microsoft has a hit on their hands here and I can't wait to see more functionality added to the service over the next few months. Microsoft Office Web Apps support the following web browsers: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apples Safari.

Setup & Access

End User License Agreement

To use Office Web Apps, you will need to have a Windows Live ID (Hotmail, Live, MSN) account with access to Windows Live Skydrive. Once you have your account setup, simply go to a folder containing Office documents such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint or upload some files to your Skydrive (http://skydrive.live.com). When you open a folder with Office files in it, you will see a banner for the first time announcing a request to "Join our preview program to create, edit, view, and share Office documents online!" Once you click this link, you will be asked to accept a EULA which is currently a Technical Preview (Beta).

Selecting your Office document to view or edit

After setting up the service, select a document from your library, which will display a gallery of options, such as View, Edit, Download, Delete, Move etc. Right now, you are limited to viewing Documents, no editing which will be coming soon. My interest is primarily to see if the formatting is preserved in the web browser. After clicking View, your document will be loaded and that's it!

How does it look?

A table rendered beautifully in Microsoft Word Web App

Well, its just like viewing in Microsoft Word on the desktop. Boring I know and that's a good thing. You will notice that you are limited with you can do for now, but documents are rendered just like you would have them in Microsoft Word 2007, the same fonts, paragraphs and even tables are displayed correctly. 

Functionality available in Office Web Word app now are limited to viewing, searching the document, printing and scan through documents quickly. The interface maintains some similarity with the desktop versions in particular Office 2010. If you are limited on screen real estate, you can click the pop out button (located in the upper left hand corner of the screen), which will display your document in a separate window minus the web browsers file menu and toolbars. Alternatively, you can gain more real estate in either Firefox or Internet Explorer by hitting the F11 key on your keyboard. Performance is quite good, I was able to load 1.7 MB Word Document in under a minute, considering its 29 pages of text and, complex table and numerous images.

Office Web Apps are limited for the time being, but more functionality is expected soon!

Suggestions and Conclusion

Right now, as much as I love the Windows Live wave branding, I think it takes away a lot of real estate, this is not a problem on high resolution monitors. But for me, I would like to see more of my document, so possibly making the banner that reveals the path to your document in the Skydrive much thinner in height would be nice. Just like the desktop version of Microsoft Office apps, I would prefer if the file name is displayed in the title bar "Microsoft Office Web App (Technical Preview) - File Name" to maintain some consistency in look and feel. These are minor suggestions anyway, but I like what I see and it should open up a new world of productivity for users. For instance, I am working on the "ActiveWin: Windows 7 Ultimate Review" which is 67 pages of content, the most frustrating part is being told I have to make a few changes here and there. This means, I need to load up Microsoft Word, make the change then upload it back to my Skydrive Collaboration folder. With Office Word App, I don't need to do this anymore, I can make changes or the person with whom I am sharing/collaborating with on the document can do this if necessary from within web browser with no need to download or re-upload. If you need to make more complex changes, you can always download the file back into Office Word on the desktop and apply changes. Its clear benefits like that I see Office Web Apps making a huge impact.

Resources

A look at the new Office 2010
The Microsoft Office 2010 IT Blog
Microsoft Web Apps: Microsoft Office goes to the web 

An interesting blog entry by Chris Hernandez who works in the Windows deployment team, I came across reading Computer World today talks about what users can expect upgrading from Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7. What's causing a lot of buzz is the mention of some upgrades taking up to 20 hours to complete. Yep, 20 hours! Now, don't be astonished, because you have take into account some variables here such as your data set (personal data: music, pictures, videos, application library) and your system configuration.

One of the main goals with Windows 7 in general has been to be better than Vista. As part of the Windows Upgrade team we have tracked Windows 7 upgrade performance using Vista as our baseline comparison.

The upgrade performance tests used the metric of total upgrade time to gauge how Windows 7 upgrade performed against Vista upgrade. The tests were designed to measure total upgrade time simulating different user profiles (with different data set sizes, number of programs installed and settings) against different hardware profiles.

The goal was to determine whether an upgrade from Vista SP1 -> Windows 7 was within a 5% threshold faster than an upgrade from Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1. 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
• Windows XP did not support 64-bit upgrades and we wanted to track 64-bit upgrade performance as well as 32-bit upgrades for Windows 7
• Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1 is a valid upgrade path that exercises all upgrade code (this upgrade is commonly used by Product Support Services for a repair scenario)

Read the entire article here

My upgrade experience from Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64 bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, is in line with some of the results Chris produced. Considering that I have a large library of software installed (108 applications), in addition to a large data set that is around 60 GBs I wasn't surprised by the 4 hours it took to upgrade to Windows 7. What surprised me most was how successful and smooth the procedure was, everything works except for VMWare and iTunes Bonjour (need to upgrade to version 9 to see if it has been fixed), I have also managed to work around some hardware compatibility issues by using Windows Virtual PC with XP Mode:

The Windows Team has made installing Windows a bit more informative, detailing the various steps of what happens during an upgrade. What’s also interesting is the ‘Copying Windows installation files to your computer (27 of 2772 MB copied) indication. Its the first time I am seeing this and I find it a welcome change that actually keeps the user in the know about what is going on. During the upgrade, which took several hours on my system (nearly 4 hours to be exact), you will see a lot of details about Files, Settings and Programs being transferred with numbers ranging in the hundreds of thousands. It might seem like the upgrade will take a very long time, but do not worry, Windows 7 will quickly jump over hundred’s of thousand files at various points during the install.

Upgrading is a complex and timely process. I do not recommend doing this in the middle of a project or on a week day. The weekend is recommended, you can also leave Windows 7 to handle the upgrade while you go take a walk, watch a movie or some other activity while the upgrade do its thing.

I concluded:

I have heard a lot about upgrading to newer versions of Windows and the potential for problems with persons most times recommending a clean install instead. Windows 7 is an exception in this case and I can see that the Windows Team has done some significant work to ensure that the transition from Windows Vista SP1 is a smooth one. Of course, there will always be potential hiccups, but with careful planning and a small amount of patience, upgrading to Windows 7 can be as smooth as its intended to be. I definitely give Windows 7 a thumbs up in this regard!

Users planning to upgrade from Windows Vista SP1 or later to Windows 7 can have a smooth experience by planning well.

• If you are not sure an application or hardware device you are using now is compatible with Windows 7, check the software or hardware developers website for patches, updated drivers or to simply find out about Windows 7 support for the particular product. If you are unable to find information on the website, try contacting the developer by telephone. If you unable to get any information that way, its best you look into investing in a alternative solution from another vendor.
• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - provided by Microsoft, the Upgrade Advisor can help you evaluate your systems configuration to find out what works and what does not if you decide to move to Windows 7. The utility also makes appropriate recommendations where editions of Windows 7 are concerned along with what you might need to upgrade.
• Get Religion: Backup, Backup, Backup!

  I can't say this enough, if it can go wrong, it will. Upgrading is a very complex process and there are often cases of failed upgrades from older versions of Windows. Causes can include, power outage during installation, hardware or application conflict. This is why you should “always back up”, it’s better to be inconvenienced than having to start all over from scratch.

• If you are upgrading/clean install, disable any external or USB based devices you might have attached to the computer. Also, disable any Security software before launching setup and ensure that you meet the minimum system requirements for Windows 7.
  - 1 GHz processor (32-bit or 64-bit)
  - 1 GB of system memory (2 GBs for 64 bit)
  - 16 GBs of disk space – Windows 7 uses approximately 10.5 GBs of disk space.
  - DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB of memory

Following these basic instructions can have a positive impact on your upgrade experience.

Resources:

Windows 7 Upgrade Performance
UPDATED: Upgrading: Starting the Move to Windows 7 RTM
My Software Library and Windows 7 - Compatibility Experiences
Upgrading to...ur Migrating to Windows 7 from Windows XP
Windows Easy Transfer: Starting the Move to Windows 7 Release Candidate

So, there is a new version of Movie Maker that's out on the prowl looking for videos to edit and share. Back in February of this year, we saw the release of Windows Live Movie Maker 1.0 beta, which focused on simplifying video editing with a snazzy new interface and quick approach to sharing videos. Some persons were a bit skeptical with good reasons. Although the focus of the new Movie Maker beta was ease use, there were some missing features along with some getting use to the new look. The Windows Live Movie Maker team continued working on improving the user experience and ended up delivering an exceptional final product I am sure many of you will be pleased with. In this tutorial, I want to take a look at the new features and introduce you to the new interface based on the popular Scenic Ribbon.

The first thing I would like to get out of the way for users of Windows Movie Maker that comes bundled with Windows XP or Vista is, they are distinctively different products. Do not expect to see everything in Movie Maker 2.6 in Windows Live Movie Maker 1.0. As you probably know from the name, Windows Live Movie Maker is now a member of the Windows Live family of free products and services. You can download it from http://download.live.com included with Windows Live Essentials, a powerful suite of solutions for Email, Photo Management, Instant Messaging, Data Synchronization and blogging.

System Requirements:

Operating system: Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), or Windows Server 2008. Note: Windows Live Movie Maker is not supported on Windows XP

• Processor: 1 GHz or higher for Windows Vista; 800 MHz or higher for Windows XP
• 512 MB for Windows Vista
• Resolution: Minimum 1024 x 768
• Internet connection: Internet functionality requires dial-up or broadband Internet access (provided separately). Local or long-distance charges may apply.
• Graphics or video card: Windows Live Movie Maker requires ATI Radeon 9500 (or higher) or nVidia GeForce FX 5900 (or higher). I have Live Movie Maker working with a nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP.

Additional requirements

The following components are needed for specific Windows Live programs, and may be installed for you if they’re not already on your computer.

• For Writer: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher*.
• For Photo Gallery: SQL 2005 Compact Edition and Windows Imaging Codecs*.
• For Photo Gallery and Movie Maker: Some components of DirectX9.
• * Not required when installing on Windows Vista.

Compatibility

One of the key improvements Windows Live Movie Maker users will appreciate is the ability to import Windows Movie Maker projects. Although you might be warned that there are features in your existing project that might not work or are not available in this version of Movie Maker. Overall, users can appreciate that most features and functionality from the previous release works just fine.

Interface

In addition to a lighter color scheme, Windows Live Movie Maker works differently through and through. You won't find previous functionality such as a Storyboard, drop down menus, and a time lines. Windows Movie Maker used a Task based approached to creating a movie, WL Movie Maker introduces a clean design with most tools and functionality revealed through the innovative Scenic Ribbon which displays common functionality once buried under drop down menus and wizards in a gallery of easy to identify icons.

The Ribbon is very intelligent and only reveals additional functionality when needed through contextual tabs that can be easily identified by their activated colors.

Adding media

Just like the previous version, Live Movie Maker makes it quick and easy to import your media such as Videos or Photos. In Windows Movie Maker this can be done from the Import Task Pane toolbar button or Import Media toolbar button, in Live Movie Maker, you can import media through the Add videos and photos button located under the Home (tab) within the Add gallery. Once you have added your media, you will see it populated within the Bin area.

Editing content

Previously, in Windows Movie Maker, your videos would require that you drag and drop into the Story board and edit in the Time line. Windows Live Movie Maker does the opposite. Task like re-arranging or cropping a video clip are more visual and interactive. In fact, one of the lovely highlights is the actual display of multiple frames in a clip. You can use the video cursor bar to scan through a video clip and see additional sequences within the video itself. The cursor bar itself is a important element of the software and allows you to accomplish many of the common task you would do in the previous Movie Maker time line.

To organize your clips, all you need to do is use a drag and drop action in the order you find most desirable. It doesn't get any easier than that.

Cropping a clip

In Windows Movie Maker, this was done through the Time Line, its just as easy in Windows Live Movie Maker. Select your video clip, go to the Edit tab which you will notice is activated in the yellow 'Video Tools' Contextual tab. Within the 'Editing' gallery, click the Trim tool button, now use the Trim Maker knobs on both sides of the clip duration in the video preview pane, drag either knob until you reach the desired point in the video you would like to see played. If you know the point in time you would like the video to  start and end, you can alternatively use the Start and EndPoint markers located in the Trim markers gallery. Once completed, click the 'Save trim' button to keep your edit.

Adding media - music

What is a movie without music? In Movie Maker, you add music to your video from the Tasks > Import (Audio or Music) link. This would extend across the time line, you then had the option of cropping and adding effects such as fade in or out. You can do that too in Windows Live Movie Maker, a bit differently of course. I even like this method, simply go to the Home tab, within the Add gallery, click Add music button. From the pop out list, you have two options, which will add a music track to the entire project or you can add music to just a specific point within a video.

If the song is distributed over the project, you can edit this by selecting the song represented by a green bar (you should see the title of the track specified), drag the video cursor, to the point in the video you would like the song to stop playing, right click the cursor and click 'Set end point' from the the contextual menu. Additional options include, you can have the song fade in and out from the 'Audio' gallery options.

 Text Overlays, Transitions and Visual Effects!

The initial beta was limited in this respect, but the final release makes up for it with a respectable set of options. The Text Tools contextual tab allows you to format your text with a range of options. To add a Caption, go to the Home Tab, from within the Add gallery, click Caption, enter your text. To format the text using a desired font and size, click Format Text Tools button and choose from the gallery of options available, one of the nice improvements users will notice, the Font list box allows you to see a preview of a font before applying. If you want to add some effects, you can do so from within the Effects gallery which provides the ability to hover over effects and preview them before applying - very cool! You will also notice any text added your clips are represented by a cream colored bar, to edit your text, simply double click this bar and edit the text within the preview window.

As for Visual Effects, I am happy to tell you that this functionality has improved tremendously in the final product, by benefiting immediately from the Scenic Ribbon. Hovering over available effects gives you a quick on the fly preview, you won't see this in Windows Movie Maker. You can also control the brightness of your videos and photos from within Live Movie Maker too. I hope in a future update, the Windows Live Movie Maker Team adds some robust text effects similar to what you can find in Office 2007/2010.

In Windows Movie Maker, transitions are located under the Edit > Transitions link. In Windows Live Movie Maker, the Animation tab stores a collection of transitions that you can use to control how your movie changes from one clip to the next. Again, one of the great things I like about WL Movie Maker, you can simply hover a transition to preview without even applying the effect. You will notice that Pan and Zoom Gallery is grayed out, these effects are activated when you add photos to your movie.

Previewing Transition before Applying

Publishing your work

Out of the box, Windows Live Movie Maker supports a number of distribution points, in today's world of online video most users I am sure would like to get their content out to a wide audience quickly. Windows Live Movie Maker does that with built in support for YouTube, a request  I made during the beta and I am glad to see it happen. If you want to share your media through traditional mediums such as DVD, no problem, just click the DVD icon in the gallery to save your video in an appropriate format suitable for use in Windows DVD Maker. You can also prepare your movie for viewing on different aspect ratios and video formats such as hi and standard definition or save to a portable device, prepare for email or instant messaging.  If you don't find a suitable tool, you can download additional plug ins that will provide you with additional functionality.

A look at the final project

So, you want to see what I did? Take a look

 At Home with Family

This is a movie of some random videos of family at home visiting that I decided to put together. You can see a my mom Yvonne, my sis-in-law Marjorie, brothers Troy, Dion, and my little nephew Nathan (the star).

With this update, the Windows Live Movie Maker Team listened to its users based on feedback from the beta and incorporated numerous improvements to make the software much easier to use while also bringing back some functionality from its predecessor Windows Movie Maker 2.6. The tutorial does not look at everything, but you should be able to become more familiar with the software as you discover Windows Live Movie Makers focus on making video editing a fun experience that's quick and easy.

Resources:
Windows Live Essentials the Recap

Related:
- Instant and Social Communication with Windows Live Messenger 9
- Managing and Sharing Digital Memories using Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009
- A Look at Windows Live Mail 2009
- Online Expression – Using Windows Live Writer 2009

Popular Windows Enthusiast Long Zheng of http://istartedsomething.com got a hold of the official Windows 7 hologram disk showing the new art work. The disk is not that different from the Windows Vista disk, but Microsoft has been using a consisting look for most products that utilize the technology for anti-piracy purposes.

Back in July of 2007, Microsoft was able to utilize the anti-piracy technologies of the hologram disk to bust one of the largest underground counterfeit ring in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. 

 Resources:
Taking a detailed look at Windows Vista DVD hologram
How To Tell site

Related:
Official look at the new Windows 7 Packaging

You probably have been reading the many thank you's from Clubhouse Awardees since last week, talking about their awards in seven special categories. Today is my chance to step up to the virtual podium and give a big thank you to the folks who made this possible. First of all, I must say thanks to the folks at Microsoft such as @marcusatmsft and fellow members of his team for creating such a great platform that allows real world users to share their experiences and feedback. Microsoft Clubhouse is not just a place to talk about Microsoft products and services, its a place where we can also learn and share our knowledge. I have seen first hand how discussing a product has helped to improve its functionality.

Microsoft Clubhouse Choice Awards - Best Technical Direction - August 2009 

Clubhouse has allowed me to know so many interesting people who have enlightened me with their vast knowledge of various Windows Live services and Microsoft products such as the new Windows 7. To be honored among a group of exceptionally talented folks is really special and I just would like to express my deep thanks and gratitude to everyone who voted for me. Just the nomination alone was truly a surprise. As fellow Clubhouse member Jamie Thomas noted, I too want to wish the community continued success and growth. There are so many of you out there I know who are ready to share your experiences too. So don't let it slip by, sign up and start talking about how you are using Windows Live and Windows. By the way, thanks for making this a great birthday. ;)

I look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you!

- Andre

Related:

Sandra (aka Technogran) - My Clubhouse Choice Awards Trophy.
Michael - Isn't she pretty...
Jamie - A massive thank you
Ali - Clubhouse Rising Star Award
Early Adopter:  Richard H.
Best Tip or Trick:  Vasudev

Resources:
Becoming A Clubhouse Member
Introducing the Microsoft Clubhouse Choice Awards

A friend of mine neop26 on Twitter discovered this cool Windows 7 Countdown Gadget on Windows Live Gallery. Check it out.

With Windows 7 launch coming closer each day, you can keep an eye every morning when you reach your Windows desktop how many days, hours, minutes and seconds until Windows 7 is launched world wide. The Windows 7 Countdown Gadget works with both Windows Vista and Windows 7 RC.

Resources:

Windows Live Gallery

I had to really respond to this joke of an article by PC Magazine affiliate website AppScout which discusses the 'smooth' upgrade to Mac OS X Snow Leopard compared to Windows upgrades and Windows 7. A lot of misleading paragraphs:

I've just upgraded a heavily customized OS X system from OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and I'm amazed at how smoothly the upgrade went. I've never seen an OS version upgrade that so completely respected the customizations I had already made to my system, and I've never seen an upgrade that produced so few glitches. I'll get to the details in a moment, but first a word about my experience with Windows upgrades.

If you've ever tried to upgrade your Windows system to a new version of Windows, you probably don't want to repeat the experience. Applications break, your system doesn't behave the way you want it to, and you'll probably spend a day or two sorting out problems before your upgrade system works as smoothly as it did before the upgrade. The good news is that Windows 7 seems to provide a relatively smooth upgrade path from Vista, but I still had to waste time customizing my Windows 7 desktop to get back the settings that I had carefully worked out in Vista.

Read the entire article here

I could not get to post my comment there, so I decided to respond with a blog post here.

You are misleading readers with this article. The minute you started bashing Windows upgrades, I immediately knew where this story was heading. You talk about Windows not preserving your customizations? What kinda customizations could you seriously be talking about? I have done an upgrade from Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit SP1 to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit RC and I never experienced any problems at all, everything migrated smoothly. I have been running this installation of Windows Vista since December 2006. It preserved my desktop background, my Gadgets (Notes were migrated to the new more powerful sticky notes app), all my Start menu items remained in their place.
Learn more: http://tinyurl.com/cdzhfs

You talk about the upgrade being a smooth one, yet you still had to do a fair amount of tweaking before and after upgrading. So, you are telling a lie already that its a smooth upgrade, applications were broken, you had to reset and reinstall some things. The only thing not working in my Windows 7 64 bit upgrade is Apple Bonjour (and I am not surprised) and VMWare Workstation 6.1 (it works but the VMWare tools are buggy, I plan on replacing it with the free Windows Virtual PC anyway). I can get an update for the VMWare for free which enables compatibility, but the updates are too large and annoying - I don't get this with the free Virtual PC XP Mode.
Learn more here http://tinyurl.com/mdejy4

Considering that Snow Leopard is a minor upgrade to 'Leopard', why are you even surprised by the smooth upgrade? Its just a Service Release that fixes many of the problems that 10.5 users have experienced since October 2007. The 7 GBs of space you get back is no surprise, they made the installer more intelligent, this is something Leopard users could do themselves by not selecting certain languages and printers during setup. Also, Snow Leopard is Intel only, so some of the universal binary PowerPC code has been removed reducing application size significantly for many of OS X's built in applications.

To end this, not everyone agrees with your views about a smooth upgrade, it varies.   Rafe Needleman of CNET, concludes: "Regretful upgrade: Snow Leopard incompatibilities" http://tinyurl.com/n4zgm8

Please stop writing articles you believe Steve Jobs will stumble upon surfing at home drinking mint tea.

 Updated: September 2nd, 2009 - 6:31 PM - Thanks for the correction Corrine!

Ten years ago, the Internet was a small extension of the desktop that was available to a select few. With today’s pervasive Internet, the risk are higher, we have seen cases of teenagers and much younger being solicited in chartrooms, over instant messaging and most recently with the advent of popular social networks young children being lured away from home to take part in wrongful activities. Of course, Parents have a greater role to play, and Parental Control’s in Windows Vista and 7 is one of the tools there to help them regulate and control their child’s experiences on the PC and Internet.

What can you do with Parental Controls?

You can use Parental Controls to help manage how your children use the computer. For example, you can set limits on the hours that your children can use the computer, the types of games they can play, and the programs they can run.

When Parental Controls blocks access to a game or program, notification is displayed that the program has been blocked. Your child can click a link in the notification to request permission for access to that game or program. You can allow access by entering your account information. Lets take a look at setting up Parental Controls in Windows 7.

Click Start, type: Parental

Hit Enter on your Keyboard

As you can see, the Parental Controls Explorer features a clean design with well explained options. Our intention is to setup Parental Controls on one of the accounts on this computer. You will notice that you can apply Parental Controls only to accounts that are Standard User or Guest. The reason for this is quite logical, of course considering that the Parent Controls are intended for could log in to your account is easy bypass these settings. Also, ensure that your account has a strong password on it. I created a Test Account just for the purposes of this article. Lets click on that to begin.

Here you will see the list of settings available for managing this account with Parental Controls, right now, it is turned off. Select the On, enforce current settings radio box and immediately you can start adjusting settings for Time limits, Games, Allowed/blocked programs. If you have the free Windows Live Family Safety add on installed, you can further control your child's experiences on the web, we'll take a look at that a little later in this article.

Setting Time Limits

Save your work kids, its time for bed ;)

By default, Game Ratings, Time and Program limits are off. As an uncle, I have witnessed the problems associated with managing a child's time on the PC. My little nephew is always on on the computer playing games at his favorite website's, a bit too much if you ask me. Time limits allow you to set a mandatory schedule for when your child can use the computer. So, instead of coming home from school and going straight to the computer, you can have set schedules by hours or days when they can log on using a simple grid based layout. Its especially useful for school nights when you want your kids to go to bed early or focus on their studies. :)

Authorizing what types of games your children can play.

Games

As I noted earlier, games are a favorite past time for my nephew. Controlling which games are allowed is a feature of Parental Controls. Options include by age, content, a combination or all games. Blocking and rating games suitable for children are based on the Entertainment Software and Rating Board, which categorizes those that are already installed on your computer. If you select a game in the Windows 7 Games Explorer, you will notice in the Task Pane a tag describing its appropriate audience, which can range from Early Childhood to Adults only. Windows 7 is very thorough about gaming on all levels, you can even choose to block all types of content with certain subject matters, whether its profanity, blood, alcohol, crude humor and other mature subject matters.

Applications

Parental Controls goes beyond games, you can even have certain applications blocked from being used. You might say, I don't have any unsafe applications to begin with! Not really, I am not talking about Microsoft Word here, but programs such as Instant Messaging and even web browsers can be unsafe depending on how they are used. They could be used for communication with strangers or activities you would rather not have your child involved in such as social networks or chartrooms. Hey, if you want your child to go easy on the number crunching in Excel, you can do that too :) When you click the Programs link, you are asked if you would like the account to use all your programs or only programs you allow. If you want to set restrictions, select only use the programs I allow', then click ok.

User notified when an application is blocked from use.

A wizard will then scan your PC for all the applications you have installed on the system. Prepare to be a bit overwhelmed, depending on how many applications you have installed, you might see a lot of files listed. Personally, I would have liked if the wizard only scanned what's available in the All Programs group instead of scanning the entire system, leaving the user administering the Parental Controls to browse for unique files or programs they don't want access to by browsing and adding to the program list. I gotta admit though, its a very thorough list.

Windows Live Family Safety

I personally thought that Windows Vista's web filtering capabilities in Parental Controls were not robust enough. There was still the slip of adult content in Internet Explorer or Firefox in addition to reports not reporting the activities at times. Since the release of Windows Live Family Safety, a lot these problems have been resolved. Parents can appreciate a more thorough and informative experience that spans the desktop and provides tight integration with Firefox. Windows users should know that the Activity Reporting interface from Windows Vista is not available and lacks functionality such as integration with the Notification Area, Family Safety instead uses the web interface for this which requires that you sign in to get the latest reports.

Windows Live Family Safety is installed as a free add on when you install the free Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com). With Live Family Safety Filter, you can choose who they communicate with online and generate reports of their online activities, other features include:

• Categorize and block unwanted web content for yourself and your family.
• Create your own list of allowed or blocked sites.
• Monitor Family Safety users' Internet activity.

The Windows Live folks recently updated Family Safety featuring tighter integration with Windows user accounts for storing settings. There is no need to have a Windows Live ID for each child who needs their own settings. Windows Live Family Safety scans the Parental Control settings on Windows Vista and Windows 7 providing Parental Controls activity reports from any computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7. These reports include time spent on the computer, browsing history, games and applications run. This monitoring is transparent to the end user, as a notification is displayed once on Windows account login when monitoring is enabled.

Conclusion

Windows 7 and Windows Live creates a cohesive experience for Parents to help manage and provide a safe experience for their Child on the PC and the Internet. Of course, you as a parent must play a significant role to help implement these tools. A tip I would offer parents is to make sure you are the Administrator of the computer. Kids these days are extremely computer savvy, so its best you restrict your child's account to a limited user so your child does not change settings in the User Accounts Control Panel or turn the tables on you. :)

 Resources

 Windows Live Essentials

Last month Microsoft discontinued the Public beta of Windows 7 Ultimate Release Candidate. A lot of person's still managed to miss out on the opportunity to download and test the software. Here is a second opportunity to check out Microsoft's latest version of Windows for 90 days.

If you do not have access to licenses through one of the above means, this release will provide a means to have the final released code for evaluation and testing. This evaluation release is specifically intended for IT professionals responsible for desktop administration; consumers will be able to purchase Windows 7 on October 22, 2009

A few things to be aware of before you download the Evaluation code.

• A limited number of licenses are available, so the download will only be available while supplies last.
• Following the 90 day evaluation period, IT Pros who wish to continue to use Windows 7 Enterprise will be required to purchase and perform a clean installation of Windows 7, including drivers and applications.
• Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 90-Day Trial is the final Released-to-Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. This is the same software that is available to Volume Licensing (VL) through Software Assurance (SA) and is feature-complete.
• Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
• Activation of Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is required within 10 days after installation, or the product will shut down every hour. Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is valid for 90 days after installation. After expiration, your computer will shut down every hour.

Learn more here

Windows 7 Enterprise does not contain all the features of Windows 7 Ultimate, but it contains a majority of features you will find in that SKU. Again, if you didn't get to download the Windows 7 RC last month, here is a great chance to take Windows 7 for a spin.

Resources

Click here to get the Windows 7 Enterprise evaluation download.
Update: Windows 7 Beta and Release Candidate