Teching It Easy: Windows Vista: Blog

Rewrite Windows - Yes or No?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:15:36 GMT

From CNET

An interesting article posted by News.com from New York Times, suggest that best way to resolve all of Microsoft Windows 'problems', is to rewrite the software from scratch.

Quote:

"The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now.

Vista is the equivalent, at a minimum, of Windows version 12--preceded by 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, NT, 95, NT 4.0, 98, 2000, ME, and XP. After 6 years of development, the longest interval between versions in the previous 22-year history of Windows, and long enough to permit Apple to bring out three new versions of Mac OS X, Vista was introduced to consumers in January 2007."

Read the entire article here

My Take:

I am sorry, but there is a lot of misinformation and bias in this article. Mac OS X's heritage upon which it is built is even older than NT itself. Development on NT started in late '89 when Microsoft hired Dave Cutler, so NT is probably one of the youngest Microkernels next to Linux which was developed around '91 by Torvald. There is also confusion between the code bases, Windows NT is completely different from Windows 9x/3x/1x. The only similarities they shared were version names and API's for those legacy applications you speak of. Microsoft does not need to rewrite Windows, they can clean it up, just like they did for example with the release of Windows XP Professional x64 where they removed things like AppleTalk, POSIX compliance and NetBEUI. You must remember just like Linux or Unix, NT was designed in mind to be a portable OS, in fact during its development it was specifically targeted at different platforms such as PowerPC, Alpha, MIPs, the Intel processor it targeted had to be emulated. So I would revise your analysis before dooming Windows. A lot of the work over years has been targeted at componentising much of Windows where vital components like the Network Stack, graphics don't create lots of dependencies. Rumors are much of the built apps for instance will be optional in Windows 7. Vista's only regret is, it made necessary architectural changes for the sake of security and took a long time to reach market, but out of it all, there were great benefits that developers still haven't managed to dig deep into like the new graphics and communication capabilities. As for supporting legacy applications, Microsoft could even move compatibility to a virtualized stack where old apps work normally on newer versions of Windows without a hitch. Nothing is wrong with the NT kernel and its age is not a problem either.

HP HDX 31 Days of the Dragon Contest by Geek Central

Fri, 30 May 2008 04:49:19 GMT

If you are into technology and browse a lot of Windows Enthusiast websites and have not heard about the HP HDX 31 Days of the Dragon giveaway then you probably have been living under a rock throughout May. Not to worry, there are still a few contest left to go and Geek News Central started theirs just a few days ago, you should go check it out.

The contest itself sponsored by Hewlett Packard and coordinated by BuzzCorps is giving away super impressive All One System that is sure to please anyone interested in computers, whether you are a gamer, student, business or just like really powerful computers. I have participated in about 19 of the contest so far, but it seems luck has not shined upon me 'yet'. Below are a list of sites that are still running contest:

24 May - 31 May www.thegreenbutton.com
25 May - 01 Jun www.istartedsomething.com
26 May - 02 Jun www.bleepingcomputer.com
27 May - 03 Jun www.hardwaregeeks.com
28 May - 04 Jun www.geeknewscentral.com
29 May - 05 Jun www.geekzone.co.nz
30 May - 06 Jun www.thetabletpc.net
31 May - 07 Jun www.gearlive.com
01 Jun - 08 Jun www.gottabemobile.com

You can learn more about entering here

New Dock Like Taskbar Coming in Windows 7?

Wed, 28 May 2008 22:04:39 GMT

Some personse have noted a difference in the appearance of the Windows Taskbar in yesterdays demo of Windows 7 by Julie Larson-Green at the D6 | All Things Digital event. But I am not sure if its anything new except for a resizing of the present Windows Vista style Taskbar. Thom Holwerda over at OS News thinks otherwise:

Quote:

"The final interesting part was the rather odd-looking taskbar - assuming it even was a taskbar. The bar was twice as high as an ordinary taskbar, and lacked text, using what looked like icons or thumbnails instead. It reminded me of the RISC OS icon bar, mostly. Apparently, Larson-Green was not at liberty to discuss it, because when Mossberg asked her about it, she replied: "It's something we're working on for Windows 7 and I'm not supposed to talk about right now, today..."

Read the entire article here

Well, it certainly looks different with more transparency and bigger button icons when an active application is selected on the Taskbar. Then again, its very early in Windows 7's development, what we might have seen was just a temporary ui inconsistency that will be fixed in later builds. Even in an official video on Microsoft's Windows Vista blog, the Windows 7 demo uses the traditional slim Windows Taskbar. Then again, for users with stuby fingers, the usability of the Windows UI might need to be improved for a Touch experience which gives reason to the enlarged Taskbar.

You can achieve a similar look now in Windows Vista. Right click your Taskbar > click the 'Lock the Taskbar' option on the contextual menu (if its checked), now right click an area within the Quick Launch buttons, (try not to right click a button itself) > you will then see a another contextual menu with different options > select 'View' and click 'Large' icons, there you have a 'Dock' like Taskbar.

Its definitely a given that there will be months of speculation to come on Windows 7's UI and Microsoft over time will continue to change and apply different looks and feels as the development of the operating system progresses. If you went through the Longhorn up's and down's you should definitely remember all the different UI's the OS tried out, Plex, Slate, build 5048 released at WinHEC 2005 used a different UI before beta 1 which was different and changed again to the now familar look first introduced in Windows Vista build 5270.

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Windows 7, BETA Software, Gestures, Multi-Touch, Apple, iPhone, Taskbar, D6, Julie Larson-Green

Joe Wilcox the misunderstanding Microsoft and Windows as usual

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:32:10 GMT

Joe Wilcox over at Microsoft Watch is on the rampage again about Windows Vista being a failure and the lack in transparency from the Steve Sinofsky interview at CNET. Here's at what he had to say:

Quote:

"Steven Sinofsky's motto should be, in the spirit of Memorial Day: "Loose lips sink ships." Office development proceeded with scant disclosure under his tenure. Little has changed since he assumed the role as Microsoft's senior veep for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering group. Open disclosure and dialogue punctuated past Windows development—not that the process did much for Vista.

Now Steven is talking Windows 7 to CNET News.com. But he's not saying much. There's even a Microsoft "Communicating Windows 7" blog post, credited to Chris Flores, defending the say-no-more interview.

Microsoft seemingly has plenty of reasons to keep mum about Seven, starting with freezing Vista sales. The company claims 140 million Vista licenses shipped. But that number is deceptive. Based on interviews with analysts and enterprise IT managers, the majority of licenses are on new PCs where Vista is never deployed. Most businesses are stripping off Vista and using downgrade rights to install Windows XP."

Read the rest here

Joe, sometimes I think there is a bottle of whiskey sitting beside your monitor. Because you utter so much garbage its unbelievable. You speak with such lack of understanding it shows throughout your entire writing when it comes to talking technology.

First of all, Windows Vista is not a failure, 140 million licenses sold (recently bumped to 150 million) is not a failure its actually astounding. Next, how do you know that the majority of those licenses have not actually been deployed? Did you check every business in America and around the world to come to that foolish conclusion?

Building Windows 7 on the solid foundation of Windows Server 2008 SP1 means reassurance to customers who have invested heavily in Windows Vista can have the confidence to deploy their existing infrastructure on Windows 7 when its released. This means existing hardware and applications will work on Windows 7 without any alteration. Windows 7 will use the same driver framework as Windows Vista. How in heavens name is this wrong or risky????

Building a new kernel from scratch is the stupidest idea I have ever heard from you? What solution will this offer Windows developers and customers? Re-engineer applications for a new platform that will take years, incompatibility with existing investments in hardware and software? Just because you think the idea of a modular Windows client is better? Windows is already modular in a significant way, the different Windows Vista SKU's offer customers the choice they need and the features they want. How is Windows Server 2008's roles based approach going to be relevant to a client OS? Come on, think before you speak.

You say that Windows Vista is causing certain customers to downgrade to Windows XP? What is the catalyst for this? The only one I can think of is compatibility, yet you say that they need a brand new kernel to fix Windows. You talk ridiculous crap without reading it, it seems. As Steve clearly noted in the interview, Windows 7 will bring compatibility forward. The evolution of Windows 7's kernel will insure that.

Quote:
"But we're actually going to bring forward the compatibility, and we're going to make sure that there's a lot of value for everybody who's a customer of Windows 7." - Steven Sinofsky

The silence on Windows 7 is important, its the right approach and other company's are doing it, look at Adobe with the next release of Creative Suite, they are releasing information in a timely relevant manner.

Other reasons to consider, over discuss Windows 7 now what does this say about Vista, that Microsoft has lost faith in the product and admitted defeat? Also, Windows Vista was just released world wide a year and a half, Windows 7 won’t be here until at least early 2010. Why would they want to jump the gun so early and start shooting themselves in the foot like they did with transparency of the Longhorn project?

Joe, this is the most disturbing, disappointing, pointless, hotheaded, sensationalist article I have read from you.

Looking into Windows 7's Prediction Pool

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:08:22 GMT

Mary Jo Foley over at All About Microsoft is reinspecting the possibility of when Windows 7 will hit the market. Here's a snippet of what she had to say:

Quote:
"It sounds like Microsoft is aiming to get Windows 7 out earlier than it promised — at least if you believe the company’s CEO.

During his fireside chat with Chairman Bill Gates at the D6 conference on May 27, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft was aiming to deliver Windows 7 in late 2009."

Read the entire article here

My Thoughts:

I am sticking to my prediction of February 2010. Microsoft will certainly give a Developer Preview of Windows 7 to attendees at the 2008 PDC for them to start getting ready with their applications as soon as possible. Microsoft has really straightened out their priorities when it comes to releasing Windows. As Steven Sinofsky mentioned, Windows Vista's unpredictability in addition to the reset kind of made IHV's and ISV's hesitate to start messing with Windows Vista, when they should have been getting their code ready from build 5048 released at WinHEC 2005, they actually waited until Vista RTMed in January 2007.

Speaking of IHVs, WinHEC 2008 will be a week later, which means possibly the same build of Windows 7 released to Microsoft's various hardware partners to start working on those device drivers or improve on existing ones to have a smooth release for Windows 7 RTM. One partner already is doing so (nVidia) by looking for a QA manager to ensure device driver quality. Details at Long Zhengs blog.

The next question is when is the beta going to start? Looking at a familiar pattern to past Windows releases, the most similar is actually Windows XP which was first previewed in July of 2000 and then went into beta 4 months later (October 2000), Vista might follow a similar part with a beta as early as February 2009. In fact, both Windows 7 and XP are minor releases from an architectual standpoint but possibly radical in features and UI. Microsoft of course will probably have a shorter beta cycle compared to Vista which was 15 months, I'm betting on 11 months for Windows 7, with RTM in December and GA as I previously noted in February 2010. The reason why I chose February is THE actual preparation needed to launch it world wide. The gap between Vista RTM and its General Availability was 3 months.

I do hope Microsoft pulls a surprise out of the hat and make Windows 7 available in time for the holiday seasons since this will definitely bring a boost to sales. Hey, if they can do it by August 2009, that would be even better for the back to school party.

Hello everyone!

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:29:12 GMT

It’s been a long, long time since I blogged here. But a lack of time because of my studies has prevented me from investing in my Live Space as I would like to. But this blog post is not about closing or anything like that, far from it! I have invested too much as a Windows and Technology Enthusiast to do that. Especially for my readers it would be a disservice and I am sure there are many of you out there who continue to check back from time to time to see if I have updated.

Now moving forward and thinking about how I continue to invest enthusiasm and interest in my blog for my readers, I believe personally it’s about starting the conversation around the next release of Windows, currently codenamed “Windows 7”. I have talked about Windows Vista for a long time, since December 2004 and I will continue to do so. But there needs to be change and I am a person who admittedly is wondering about what comes next.

Microsoft has been silent on Windows 7 for a number of reasons and rightly so. Windows Vista was released at the end of January 2007 worldwide. The Company considers this its best version of Windows yet and wants to market its advance capabilities now. Discussing Windows 7 would be unproductive, marketing blunder, confusing and of no relevant benefit to anyone outside of Microsoft. Even businesses that depend on a roadmap from Microsoft to see where there technology investment and infrastructure is heading would not need any concrete information on Windows 7.

But, the time has come personally for me to really look at where Microsoft is taking the platform. There has been a lot of rearranging since Vista’s release, slip of the tongue and a mention here and there about Windows 7 from cult figures in the Company such as Bill Gates. I believe early admissions are a sign too that the Enthusiast community needs to start building interest in what comes next. There are a few I must mention so far, All About Microsoft, Istartedsomething.com and Paul Thurrott’s ever popular WinSupersite that have ignited the interest. There is also a thriving community building around the next release, if you do a simple search for Windows 7 news you won’t fail to find numerous sites dedicated to it.

Coincidentally, Microsoft has begun communicating Windows 7 when I started writing this post on Sunday May 25^th, although I just decided to post it today. Below are links from Microsoft’s Steve Sinofsky and Chris Flores discussing Microsoft’s approach to Windows 7.

CNET: Windows chief talks '7'

Windows Vista Blog: Communicating Windows 7

D6: Windows 7

A Look Back at 2007 in Reviews

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:47:55 GMT

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! Yeah its a bit late for that one, but don't worry I have not gone anywhere. I am definitely excited about the year 2008 and what has in store for us technology wise. The year 2007 was a fast pace one and we witnessed the release of major Microsoft products which resulted in numerous reviews, I just would like to take a brief look back what we covered:

Software Reviews

Hardware Reviews

and there are many more you can find in the ActiveWin Reviews Section

There are many products in the pipeline I am looking forward to review such as Windows Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Server 2008!

Technorati tags: 2008, New Year, Reviews, ActiveWin, Acer Ferrari 5000, Windows Vista, Office 2007, Gateway, Microsoft, Wireless, Logitech, 64-Bit, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Server 2008

Seasons Greetings from Teching It Easy

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:36:16 GMT

I would like to wish Happy Holidays and a Happy/Prosperous 2008 when it comes to all readers of Teching it Easy.

Andre

Windows Vista Year in Review

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:15:50 GMT

November 17^th 2007will mark one year since I have been using Microsoft’s latest client desktop operating system – Windows Vista. Vista has been a momentous release for me, I will admit, there were bumps along the way and there is still a lot more to prove. But the conclusion for me is clear; Windows Vista is a significant release that delivers a first class user experience in comparison to its predecessor and market alternatives. ActiveWin’s year in review is meant to take a look at how the operating system has performed for me since its debut, I hope you will read it and also share your feedback.

Windows Vista has experienced strong adoption throughout the year beating many analyst expectations, it is estimated that up to 90 million users have upgraded to the new release through new PC purchases and retail upgrades licenses. So it’s apparent that this release of Windows has been healthy for Microsoft and will continue to do well with the coming holiday season. Numerous sites have also blown up across the web with thousands of enthusiast catering to the new operating system and its various features.

I have been using both x86 and x64 Vista platforms, one device driver continues to hold me back from going 100% 64-bit. BVRP Mobile Phone Tools – please work on getting your device driver working properly on Vista x64, it’s been ‘one year’ come on! In regards to compatibility Vista had a rough start no doubt, the device drivers were available, but most were plagued with stability problems, this issue also applied to some software applications. But I can honestly say the problems have pretty much been ironed out and has helped to deliver a better experience for me and other users. Part of this excellence is attributed to the much improved Windows Update service in Vista. Microsoft has gone far and beyond to make users have the latest software and hard drivers by pushing them through the service.

The new Problem Reports and Solutions component is also a great feature that continually gives Microsoft structured feedback about issues your system might encounter running Windows Vista. Its one of the great ways to really diagnose and find solutions to common problems users are likely to have such as software compatibility and device driver issues.

Interface

Its no secret, Windows Vista’s Aero Theme is a major draw for new and existing users of Windows, it’s the most critical part of the user experience we as users interact with on Vista. AERO is just visually appealing, cool and really adds a professional quality and dimension to the PC. Some say AERO is a resource hog, its confusing, distracting, but I “must” disagree. AERO Glass really is beautiful and productive by really putting emphasis on an applications window main content, persons who say its distracting have never used Vista, AERO is also about bringing aesthetics to a vitally important part of the computer. It’s distracting at first yes because you are left wondering if this is Windows, you immediately admire the quality and focus on the changes brought to the desktop. I am running AERO Glass on an nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MBs of RAM AGP card and I get all the effects without any drawbacks in performance, so persons talking about AERO being a cheap thrill really need to sit down and take a serious look at the OS and actually use it before coming to a conclusion. Microsoft did a great job here.

In my Windows XP Professional x64 Edition year in review I proclaimed that Vista x64 would be the transition to 64-bit ubiquity, but I must be honest that it has not been entirely so. I previously noted compatibility problems with my cellular phone. The industry is still not behind the platform it seems, but there has been definitely a lot of progress. In comparison to Windows 2000, Vista x64 is probably one of the smoothest Windows migrations I have ever had. This is a testament to detail and effort Microsoft has put into making the experience as identical in everyway to its 32-bit counter part. It’s up to the industry to provide the other half of the bargain and some have definitely done so, nVidia and AMD ATI for example have regularly released updated device drivers for their graphics cards which have improved the stability and performance on Vista systems.

Users have not been bombarded with issues such as RAID/SATA issues which were very pronounced for the XP x64 release. Please note, I am not saying the issue does not exist, but it is not as rampant, numerous devices have worked for users since day one and a plethora of software programs have supported Vista since day one, these include Graphics Cards, AIO Printers, Scanners, Wireless and USB Devices. Microsoft has estimated that over 2 million devices are now supported for Windows Vista and the list continues to grow. New avenues have opened up for Windows customers such as the Windows Market Place where users can find over 90,000 products that are designed for the platform.

For me personally though, Vista is truly a personalized experience, I have discovered that I am doing more with my computer than I ever did before. During the BETA’s I acquired a Digital Camera and started taking lots of photos, Vista helped me out of the box to really enjoy this leisure task, managing, sorting, editing and viewing photos/videos is such a great time on the computer. Vista’s Photo Gallery has really changed the way I interact with my images, the built in tagging capabilities, the direct integration with applications such as Windows DVD Maker, Windows Movie Maker are allowing me to go beyond just using my computer as a tool and more as an opportunity to create memories I want to enjoy and share. It sounds cliché and more like a commercial and many would come to the argument that I could have done this on a Mac years ago. But I didn’t have to do a major reinvestment in hardware and software/migration. It only took an upgrade from Windows XP to really start doing amazing things with my computer.

Vista’s built in search is such a critical part of the Windows Experience, its everywhere in the system and makes the triviality of accessing your files such a second nature thing to do. Users have talked about the new Explorer shell and some problems that I have found frustrating myself. The issue of customized Explorer shells not remembering their settings when applied regardless of the numerous methods and workarounds suggested. The new Command Bar is also an area I wish more focus was invested in terms of retaining some of the control users had in XP. Simply, it cannot be customized to add your own buttons such as Cut, Copy and Paste to speed up common task when working in folders. Still, its all good, features that I do find myself really mesmerized by include the Bread Crumb menus that let me easily back track and take quick short cuts through the folder hierarchy with great ease.

A lot users still fail to really see the benefits from a productivity point of view and receive Windows Vista with a mind set that is not necessarily open to change and more focused on stark differences between XP that lets face it are stark differences in how the user is in more control of what they can do with Windows Vista.

Performance

There have been small issues around performance Microsoft has plugged since its release, during the summer, the Company released performance updates and most recently updated them to improve the reliability and stability in areas such as Copy and Paste which many persons including myself noted as being horribly slow especially when copying large files. Persons still say Vista’s performance in general could be better, but I assume there are some illusions to this and there are some factors to be accounted for. My brother purchased a laptop notebook from Dell Inc. in June of 2006 with Windows XP Home hoping he would have a smooth upgrade to Windows Vista when it hit the market. The notebook was designated Windows Vista Capable, it came with an Intel Core Duo 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MBs of system memory. In February of this year, he upgraded to Vista Business but was immediately burnt by the slow performance he got from the system, upgrading was slow, using the OS was slow. Microsoft has long informed us that Vista works best with 1 GB of RAM. So, a lot of consumers have been misled I personally believe by the OEMs system specs and the Vista Ready logos. Its not entirely Microsoft’s fault here, since Microsoft can’t dictate what OEMs put in their machines and ship to customers. My brother upgraded his memory from 512 to a total of 1.2 GBs and the difference in performance was like night and day.

The matter of what is best in terms of system specs for Vista especially when it comes to RAM is still falling on deaf ears. My Sister-in-law purchased a Dell 1501 notebook with Vista Basic in March which I was surprised to know came with 512 MBs of RAM and a 2.0 GHz AMD Sempron processor. I am not surprised by the processor since it is of course a budget notebook. But why is Dell still pushing systems out the door with 512 MBs of RAM? It’s like Dell doesn’t even run some test on these systems to see how they perform before putting them in the hands of consumers. This past summer a friend purchased a Gateway ML3109 notebook which also came with 512 MBs of RAM and Vista Home Basic.

OEMs don’t realize the perception this creates for them and the OS, the brand is affected and consumers come to a conclusion the OS is not ready, it’s buggy and slow. I am running Vista Ultimate 32-bit on a Dell 8300 Dimension, 3.2 GHz P4, I purchased in March of 2004, and the machine has been updated since the betas with 2 GBs of RAM. Vista performs exceptionally well on it, it shows when a system is configured the right way how the experience can be a positive one for the end user. The same applies to my brother who is running Vista with 1.2 GBs of RAM and clearly satisfied with the OS for being what most would say is an early adopter.

Security

I can’t really come to a conclusion on Security in Windows Vista yet, but it’s been good, so far. The top name brand Security vendors have updated their popular Antivirus utilities with full support for both Vista x86 and x64 which is really good in my opinion. Microsoft themselves have also pushed out their Antivirus solution Windows Live OneCare, but I have avoided it based on some lack lustre reasons. I am using Symantec Norton Corporate Edition 10.2 on my desktop and Computer Associates for Vista x64.

The controversial UAC is still ‘annoying’ and I am not going to nice it up. Its necessary, but I wish it could be less needy in certain areas or a feature added to the UAC dialog to remember for certain locations of the system I access. I don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the feature itself, but UAC is just a bit too much, its like this nagging little @#$! I just hate it sometimes <sigh>. So I hope Microsoft focuses on some intelligent way of making UAC understands what can infiltrate the system from what cannot – just be more user aware. Applications still remain another area where UAC is still a big of problem; I have seen only a few applications that have escaped the wrath of the UAC dialog – Microsoft Office is one of them, the worst application is Apple’s iTunes. It’s still early and I am sure developers are still adjusting to the new Least User Privilege architecture in the OS.

Backup in Vista is awesome, the Complete PC Backup type feature in particular is something I had to turn to from third party vendors in prior versions of Windows. I personally believe Microsoft should have made the feature available to all SKUs, since I believe everybody’s data is important no matter the platform they are using. What I like about Complete PC Backup in Vista is how simple and straightforward it is, just attach an external drive and I’m good to go. Some persons have reported errors with the feature itself such as (0x800000587) type errors when backing up or restoring the system. I personally have not experienced this, and I have not read any proper resolutions for the problem itself. I do know you can receive such an error on laptops if it’s not plugged into its AC adapter.

Compatibility

A lot of applications were not working right for Vista back in January, some of my daily apps like Office 2007, Encarta 2007 worked out of the box, other critical applications like Corel Draw X3, Photoshop CS3, new versions QuickBooks 2007 and Peach Tree Accounting 2008 and Ahead Nero 8 were upgraded to work with Vista so I am very satisfied so far and have not experienced a strong case of compatibility issues although this resulted in either purchasing new versions of certain apps such as QuickBooks and Peach Tree or waiting on necessary patches to enable compatibility. A lot of application compatibility issues again go back to the new changes in the user privileges in the OS, prior to Vista applications were designed to run with full Administrator rights, but because Vista made changes to the user account settings most applications do not readily operate properly since they do not get to access the system in an open way as they did in XP and 2000. It’s a tricky situation for many users and the reality is many applications will either have to be updated, run in Compatibility or installed on a supported OS in Virtual PC 2007.

The Ultimate Cost

I mentioned some of the rich multimedia capabilities in Vista such as Photo Gallery which was recently upgraded to Windows Live Photo Gallery featuring strong integration with Microsoft’s Windows Live platform. This clearly proves that Microsoft is not standing still with Vista and is continually focusing on adding value through integration and new experiences allowing users to enjoy and share their memories in new ways. In November of 2006 Microsoft announced Windows Ultimate Extras, an exclusive set of services designed exclusively for Vista Ultimate customers. So far the initiative has been lack lustre, but I do appreciate some of cool features like Windows Dreamscene which brings your wallpapers life. A few other features have been added to the service such as the support for all World Wide Language Interfaces, Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool and the Hold ‘Em poker game. But it’s most obvious there could be more, since the incentive the Ultimate SKU was continued value beyond the box. I do hope there is more in store, but so far I am a little disappointed and would have like to see a clear understanding of what Ultimate Extras are all about and what it means for me in the long term.

Going Forward

I can’t cover everything because it would never be finished; I hope to do a future follow up in the near future. Looking into Vista’s future one can only say it will only get better. Microsoft is currently working on the first Service Pack for the OS which is expected sometime in early 2008. I won’t say it has been all great since day one, but Vista found its footing from early on and the industry started to invest early on in the platforms unique features, I will honestly say that Vista will be a year of building on the momentum and more users will get to experience the OS on machines I believe are more Vista prepared. Vista offers a cohesive experience users will greatly appreciate from multimedia/consumer oriented task to focus on an engaging productive experience for businesses whether it’s seamlessly connecting to wireless networks, managing files, collaboration, searching and really doing more with your PC. I say if you have been on the fence about upgrading to Vista, there is just no more need to wait.

Resources:

ActiveWin.com: Windows Vista

ActiveWin.com: Windows Vista 32 & 64 Bit Review

Windows Vista Team Blog

Windows Vista Experience Blog

Kristan Kenney: Confessions of a Windows Enthusiast

NeoSmart Technologies

Windows Vista Communities

Previously:

ActiveWin.com: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition: Year in Review

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, RTM, ActiveWin, Software, Operating Systems, 64-Bit, 32-bit, Service Pack, Vista Ultimate Edition, Reviews, Windows Live, Ultimate Extras

Remaining Ultimate Extra Language Packs Released!

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:51:53 GMT

From Windows Ultimate via ActiveWin

"We are pleased to announce the release of the remaining 19 languages packs for Windows Vista Ultimate. This Ultimate Extras release brings the total number of language packs for use with Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) to 35. Windows Vista Ultimate enables users install multiple languages on their system and quickly switch between them by associating a system language with their login name."

Learn more here

The additional supported languages are:

Arabic
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Estonian
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Romanian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

Also, this release includes an update to the lpksetup.exe installation component, correcting issues that affected some customers at installation. We recommend you download and install this component before installing any language packs; the updated component can be found here.

NeoWin.net

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Windows Ultimate, MUI, Multilingual User Interface Pack, Languages, Ultimate Extras, Features, Windows Update

New Compatibility, Reliability and Stability update for Windows Vista

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:39:22 GMT

From Microsoft Downloads

This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista. This update includes the following improvements:

It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
It improves the stability of wireless network services.
It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.
This update also resolves the following issues in Windows Vista:
A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.

Download x86 HERE

Download x64 HERE

Previously:

An update is available that improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista

Technorati tags: Windows Update, Compatibility, Reliability, Performance, Windows Vista, Microsoft Downloads

Yahoo! Web Mail now supports Windows Live Contacts

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:24:17 GMT

I logged into my Yahoo email address this morning to catch up on some email. In addition to noticing a new look and feel and removal of the BETA Tag, Yahoo! Mail notified me I can import my Windows Live Contacts so I could also chat with them online. Previously, only Yahoo! contacts were supported for chatting. I love Yahoo's web mail interface, which I believe loads much quicker than Windows Live Hotmail and features integrated instant messaging and just a more flexible experience when it comes to email in the web browser. Its definitely a winner in my book. Check out some of the screenshots I took.

I was notified if I would like to import my Windows Live contacts into Yahoo!, too bad I didn't get the dialog that appeared after with the contact listing.

Windows Live and Hotmail addresses import successfully, no effort at all. Love the floating modal dialog btw.

The Chat experience is amazing, blazing fast and of course instant - Windows Live Hotmail are you learning?

IM conversations can also be saved as email messages.

Even Windows Live Mail or Hotmail IM Contacts Personal Messages show up - pretty cool!

An exceptional update, I hope they improve on the alerts part when it comes to IM part. I notice when my browser was not the active window, I missed a received message. Overall, this is quite an amazing, seamless integrated experience Yahoo has created here that provides a very cohesive experience for users in the Web 2.0 world. Fast, feature rich, powerful, simple, effective!

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo!, Windows Live Contacts, Instant Messaging, IM, Web 2.0, Email

New Windows Live Spaces User Home Page - more Facebook like?

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:57:36 GMT

I logged in this morning to my Windows Live Space Home Page and was greeted by a new look that had a familiar feel to the popular Facebook user home page with quick overviews of what is going on with your Friends in your Windows Live Space social network. Some familiar features include, friends making new friends and updated photo albumbs or changes made to a persons space. Because Live Space is a blogging service, you still get some old features enhanced and rearranged in a more convenient layout, such as comments on your Space now on the right side, so you can see the latest responses. Its a very nice change thats not only convenient and productive, but just visually richer and connecting. Now this is what I call Social Networking. Check out the screenshots:

New Windows Live Spaces User Home Page

Friends can see whats going on in their social network, manage and respond to comments on their blog much easier.

New Windows Live Spaces 'Friend Request' email

Speaking of updates to Spaces, the Friend Request email has also been updated to be more simplified and get to the point. Check it out:

You can simply click Be Friends or No, thanks or check out the persons Space before you grant request as before.

The old Windows Live Spaces Friend request email

Some nice improvements I definitely like and appreciate. Windows Live Spaces is becoming more robust, reliable and offers a more integrated experience that makes blogging, expressing your self and interacting with your friends a treat.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live, Facebook, Social Networking, Blogging, Friends, Windows Live Space Home Page

Safer browsing with Internet Explorer 7

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:04:42 GMT

From Microsoft

The Internet is a vast place--and not every site is friendly. How do you help protect yourself online? With Windows Internet Explorer 7. Already, the Internet Explorer 7 Phishing Filter prevents nearly one million visits per week to known dangerous websites. In just a few clicks, see how the latest version of the world's most popular web browser can help you be safer online.

• Download it now (it's free!)
• Take a tour of Internet Explorer 7
• Why should you upgrade from earlier versions?
Already have Internet Explorer 7?
• See how to navigate the web more safely
• Learn easy keyboard shortcuts
• Personalize it with add-ons

HOW TO: improve the performance of Vista Media Center

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:43:27 GMT

From APC Mag

Quote:

I’ve been running Vista Media Center (VMC) on two machines for a while now, and so far I have to say that the experience has been pretty good, but not all smooth sailing. Just like XP MCE 2005, VMC is very dependent on the capabilities of the hardware platform, the setup of the operating system and any third-party software which has been installed.
So, I decided to put together a piece detailing the problems I encountered and how I got around them – what worked and what didn’t.

Read the entire article here

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Tips and Tricks, Media Center, Operating Systems, XP, MCE 2005, Features, software, Performance

NVIDIA ForceWare Release 163.75 BETA (Windows Vista 32-bit)

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:26:29 GMT

From nVidia via ActiveWin

Release Highlights:

Beta driver for GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
Added product support for the following NVIDIA Motherboard GPUs:
- GeForce 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
- GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
- GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i
- GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
- GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i
Improved compatibility for Half-Life 2: Episode 2.
Added NVIDIA SLI profiles for Portal, Clive Barker's Jericho, SEGA Rally Revo, NHL 08, and European Street Racing.
Several game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.

Technorati tags: Drivers, nVidia, Microsoft Update, Windows Vista, 32-bit, 64-Bit, x86, x64, Geforce, GPU, Graphics Driver, nVidia SLI, Half-Life 2, ForceWare

My Early Preview of Windows Vista SP1 BETA

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:06:38 GMT

Microsoft has released a 'test release' of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to a group of its Technical Testers last week. Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is a collection of updates and fixes that have been released for Windows Vista since it was Released to Manufacturering (RTM) in late 2006. Microsoft is also focusing on improving the general performance of the operating system in addition to supporting new technologies and standards. The final release is expected sometime in early 2008, but this is subject to change. Microsoft's Pete McKiernan, a Senior Product Manager for Windows gives us an overview of the update here:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1, V.275 build 6001

One is an improvement to the BitLocker drive encryption system, available only in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. Under SP1, BitLocker will be able to encrypt multiple drive volumes; all drive volumes, that is, except for USB drives.
Second feature touted by Microsoft is support for emerging hardware and standards. Windows Vista SP1 will support Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), Intel standard for the interface between software, the operating system and firmware, and Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT), a new Microsoft file system that may eliminate the need for defragmentation in the future.
McKiernan categorized other expected changes within Windows Vista SP1 as:

Security enhancements: There is nothing here that the desktop consumer will notice. Under the hood, Microsoft will provide more opportunities for third-party security vendors to communicate their product status with the Windows Security Center. In x64-bit editions, third-party security vendors can work with the kernel patch protection, a source of controversy last summer. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files will be signed. The Windows Pseudo-Random Number Generator will have Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) added. And BitLocker will add multifactor authentication combining Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB device, meaning that the startup key must match the hardware you are trying to use.

Reliability enhancements: Microsoft has been analyzing crashes of Windows Vista reported by users and will be making improvements. In particular, more compatibility with newer graphics cards and printers; greater reliability with extended displays on a laptop, various networking scenarios, in systems that were upgraded from Windows XP, and when Windows Vista enters sleep or resumes from sleep.

Performance enhancements: Microsoft says SP1 will offer performance boosts including the speed to copy and extract files, time to become active from Hibernate and Resume, CPU utilization within Internet Explorer 7 and CPU utilization in laptops, thereby reducing battery drain, and shortening the time when browsing network shares.

Learn more HERE

Sounds like a worthy update overall. Now on to my experiences with SP1. I installed it yesterday on a machine running Windows Vista Home Premium x86 RTM (no updates applied), no software installed. The time estimated by the software that it would take to install is around 30 minutes, but turned out to be 37 mins for me. Check out my hardware specs:

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

2.6 GBs of RAM

nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP

Initial phase of Windows Vista SP1 installation - its a pretty SP. :)

The installation was very streamlined and smooth until the rebooting started which happened around three times. During this portion of installation, SP1 lingered on, indicating that "a Service Pack for Windows is being installed", in addition other notifications that informed me that I should not unplug or restart my computer and the update will be applied automatically. Eventually, installation was completed and a dialog appeared on screen that informed that Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista was installed sucessfully.

Some scenes from the Windows Vista SP1 installation.

Is it?

Changes

Well, the first big change I noticed was, my theme was set to Windows AERO Basic, the default theme was originally Windows AERO Glass. I tried accessing Explorers such as Personalize and Control Panel, but was unable to. Personalize would not open and the Control Panel applets would not appear. Other parts of the system seemed to work fine. I don't know what has happened here, but I sure will send off a bug report to find out. I did check the Problem Reports and Solutions history to see if there were any issue logged, there was one particular log for Windows Installer Module CPLs. Notable changes to the system include the removal of the Search link on the Start Menu panel and the new Defragment Tool which allows you specify which drives you would like to defrag - very handy and functional compared to whats in the RTM release.

So far, those are issues I am experiencing on Windows Vista SP1. Its early days yet and I am sure things will smooth over time such as the numerous reboots required to accomplish the installation. I will be testing out some software to see how well application compatibility performs. The SP1 file is a stand alone installer which weighs around 687 MBs, the x64 file is over 1 GB. The installation seem to have consumed around 2 GBs of disk space, but I am sure there is some debug code in there resulting in smaller release. Also, users will be able to acquire SP1 over Windows Update resulting a small file if they have continually updated their systems since RTM.

Users can also look forward to a merged kernel that will be shared with Microsofts next release of their Network Operating System - Windows Server 2008. This should streamline updates and maintainance of both client and server releases in addition to supporting new technologies and standards such as 802.11n based hardware for example and the new EFI standard which was previously mentioned. I am going to do another reinstall though, I suspect something could possibly have gone wrong with my install and I love AERO Glass. ;) Stay tuned for more updates on SP1!

Andre

Resources:

The Windows Experience Blog: Experiencing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta

Windows Vista Blog: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta whitepaper

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, SP1, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Search, Security, EFI, AERO Glass, Updates, Windows Update

BITS Repair Tool for Windows Vista

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:53:56 GMT

From Microsoft via ActiveWin

The BITS Repair Tool will help you fix a problem caused by the corruption of BITS state files. The problem stops the host process for Windows Services, which prevents you from using BITS to transfer files. Use this tool to resolve the corruption and re-enable BITS transfers. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Download: x86 | x64

Technorati tags: Vista, Windows Vista, BITS Repair Tool, ActiveWin, Network, Windows Services, x86, x64

Windows Vista Reliability and Compatibility Updates

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:56:53 GMT

From ActiveWin.com

Microsoft has released several updates to improve the reliabiliy and compatibility of Windows Vista in certain scenarios. The issues resolved by these updates are detailed in the following Knowledge Base articles:

October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB941229)
Microsoft has released the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista. This update rollup is intended for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.
Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista (KB941600)
This update resolves some reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system.
Update for Windows Vista (KB941649)
This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista.
Update for Windows Vista (KB941651) [KB article TBA -- Download below]

This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

Technorati tags: Windows Vista performance, Windows Vista, Compatibility, Media Center, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Media Player 11, Knowledge base, USB

My Live Hotmail Storage - Its Huge!

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:23:50 GMT

I was just checking my email on Windows Live Hotmail and decided to see whats going on around the world, so I clicked the Today link. There I saw my Live Hotmail storage which is now at a whopping 5 GBs! Previously it was at 2 GBs which I barely scratched the surface. Check it out:

Windows Live Hotmail Mailbox storage

This is definitely an enticing value for users who are sharing large files or just plain email a lot. I love Live Hotmail (except for the banners), I plan to do a review of the entire suite of services soon. The services and technologies are just getting better and better, not to mention well integrated. Microsoft should just purchase Facebook and replace the Friends feature in Windows Live Space and we will be good to go.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Hotmail, Storage, Hotmail, Email, Integration, Windows Live, Windows Live Spaces

Teching It Easy Vista QuickStart Guide Oct. 2007

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:51:20 GMT

Teching It Easy is proud to present you the October 2007 edition of the Windows Vista QuickStart Guide and FAQs for getting up and running quick and easy. Now available as a downloadable document in both Adobe PDF and Microsoft XPS you can read in your own convenience offline. The Guide will also be updated and published soon on http://www.activewin.com and my personal technology blog of course. The Guide covers the common basics for getting Vista on your PC, from system requirements to advance topics such as dual booting/partitioning your system.

Download formats:

XPS HERE

PDF HERE

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Tips and Tricks, FAQs, PDF, XPS. 2007

Congratulations Kristan Kenney - Microsoft MVP 2007 - 2008!

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:42:59 GMT

My good friend Kristan M. Kenney who writes all those popular cool tweak guides for Windows Vista received news this evening that he was awarded the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award for 2007 to 2008 in the category Shell User. Kris Kenney regularly maintains a blog at http://www.windows-now.com in addition to http://www.msblog.org and he also maintains a personal blog on Windows Live Space at http://km-kenney.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

A well deserved awardee, Kris and I started testing Windows Vista at BETA 1 and he has experimented and tested the OS in so many ways I can only imagine. Finding productive ways to improve the end users experience on the operating system, his passion for technology shows through the many thorough articles and guides he has written for Windows Vista in addition to his kindness and willingness to help others. Again, congratulations Kris and keep up the great work you are doing!

Resources:

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Technorati tags: Kris Kenney, Microsoft MVP, Most Valuable Professional, Community, Awards, Shell User, Windows Vista

Speaking of Recovery Tools - Windows Vista Backup Center

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:16:02 GMT

I just wrote a post about the improved Recovery Tools coming to Vista in the future. Now you can start using the enhanced file and system protection tools built into Windows Vista's Backup and Restore Center today. If you are a licensed user of Windows Vista Ultimate, Enterprise or Business, you can take advantage of the ability to backup your entire system, yep, everything and restore it back just in case anything should go wrong. I was nearly in such a dilemma the other day, but thankfully I was able to resolve my issue using the Diagnostics mode built into Windows which I will discuss in a future post. So, lets take a look at Backup and Restore Center and how easy it is use.

You can easily access the Backup and Restore center through the Control Panel or type its name in the Search field on the Vista Start Menu and press Enter.

Here you see the Backup and Restore Center explorer which list various task and options for protecting your files and computer. Our aim with this tip is to backup the entire computer. Go ahead and click the "Back up computer" button under "Back up files or your entire computer". A User Account Protection (UAC) dialog will launch, click continue.

Next the Windows Complete PC Backup wizard will begin and start looking for an attached External hard disk if you have one. If it does not find one, the option will be grayed out and the Optical Disk option will be chosen instead. The first step is to choose where you want to store your backup. My recommendation is on an External drive, in my case, the External drive has already been selected, you can also backup to optical media such as DVD's, but that's not recommended if you have large amounts of data, for instance, my backup will require 43 GB's of space.

Click Next, here we are presented with the Confirmation page which gives us some handy information such as the amount of space required and the disk/s that will be backed up. Please note, that if you have Windows Vista installed on a logical partition dual booting with another copy of Windows, the system partition must also be backed up. Click "Start backup" button to begin the backup process.

Depending on the size of the backup, the time it will need to accomplish the process will vary, other factors include Disk I/O and memory. My Backup completed within 40 to 45 min's. During the backup process you can choose to stop if you want.

After the backup process completes successfully you can close the wizard and be happy that your system is safely backed up and can be restored just in case of an emergency such as system failure, inability to boot or device failure. I recommend doing regular backups if you are constantly creating information on your computer, at least once a week. For Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users, you can take advantage of the new Backup Files and Folders feature. I recommend backing up to an external drive because of the extra safety advantages such as the ability to keep off site.

Doing the Restoration

If you need to do the restoration, here is how you go about it. Start you computer, insert your Windows Vista operating system Disc, and boot from it (Make sure your boot drive is set to the optical drive). You will then be booted into the Windows Recovery Environment.

Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
Click Repair your computer link on the setup page.
Select the operating system you want to repair, and the click Next.
On the System Recovery Options menu, click Windows Complete PC Restore and then follow the instructions.

Things to remember

If you are backing up a laptop, make sure its AC adapter is plugged or you will receive an error message preventing you from backing your computer.
When you restore your computer from a Windows Complete PC Backup image, it is a complete restoration. You can't choose individual items to restore, and all your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced.
Before starting, make sure that the removable media on which your backup is stored is available.
Backups to DVD more than 4.7 GBs will spanned across disk

Andre

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, System Recovery, Backup and Restore Center, Complete PC Backup, Backup your computer