gHacks technology news » windows 7 news http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:33:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Download the Windows 7 RC Without Slowdowns http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 09:05:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/ windows7Most tech blogs are reporting that the Windows 7 Release Candidate has been released to the public. It is available on the official Microsoft website where it can be downloaded as a 32-bit or 64-bit edition in five languages. The expected rush has already started and the Microsoft servers are bogging down under the load. While the main page seems to load and display fine the login step that is required before downloading the release candidate is not. It takes a long time and does end most of the time with a blank page or errors.

Every tech blog is pointing to the official website and most users try to download it directly from there. This obviously leads to the server load that users are experiencing at the moment. A far better solution is to avoid the main server and head for the additional servers that are available. The Technet server (or MSDN) can also be used by anyone to download the Windows 7 Release Candidate. It is on the other hand still responsive offering a better user experience.

download windows7

Just open the url offered above and sign in to a Windows Live account in the upper right corner first. After that pick your Windows 7 edition or editions that you want to download, fill out a small form and download the Windows 7 Release Candidate in the end. The process is almost fluent but guaranteed to work at this point in time whereas the official route will lead to server errors and blank pages.

Tags: , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/05/download-the-windows-7-rc-without-slowdowns/feed/ 7 Uninstalling Features In Windows 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/06/uninstalling-features-in-windows-7/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/06/uninstalling-features-in-windows-7/#comments Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:25:24 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10963 The release candidate of Windows 7 comes with a surprising new feature in the Control Panel that will please many advanced users. A main point of criticism for users of previous Microsoft operating systems was the lack of uninstallation possibilities. Programs like Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer or Windows Search felt like excess baggage if the user never made use of them. Sure there were programs like nlite that could remove some of the components from the operating system in a somewhat complicated process but those where usually only accessed by advanced users with lots of time.

Microsoft made an announcement the other day on their Engineering Windows 7 blog which mentioned the extension of the feature uninstaller in Windows 7. The Windows Features control panel entry allows users to remove – or add – Microsoft programs and Windows components. Windows XP and Windows Vista made use of a similar but limited feature.

The release candidate of Windows 7 on the other hand provides access to additional programs and features that can be disabled or uninstalled by the user. Software that has been added are Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, Windows Search, Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.1, the Windows Gadget platform and others. This is a major strategy change as Microsoft was previously seen as a company that never removed but always added to their operating systems.

windows 7 features

But what does it mean to disable a feature in Windows 7?

If a feature is deselected, it is not available for use. This means the files (binaries and data) are not loaded by the operating system (for security-conscious customers) and not available to users on the computer. These same files are staged so that the features can easily be added back to the running OS without additional media. This staging is important feedback we have received from customers who definitely do not like to dig up the installation DVD.

It is interesting to note that the files will not be loaded by the operating system. Even more interesting would be benchmarks that compare operating system loading time with and without the features disabled. Security conscious users on the other hand will most likely disable many of the features even if disabling them does not provide any other advantages but to computer security.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/06/uninstalling-features-in-windows-7/feed/ 6 How To Replace Windows XP With Windows 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/15/how-to-replace-windows-xp-with-windows-7/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/15/how-to-replace-windows-xp-with-windows-7/#comments Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:40:53 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10561 Many Windows XP users have decided to skip the Windows Vista operating system due to countless problems reported in the early days of its release. Especially performance related issues where the main culprit why many Windows XP users decided to wait for Vista’s successor instead. The release of Windows 7 is not that far away anymore. Microsoft did already make announcements regarding the possible upgrade opportunities. In short; Windows XP users will be able to buy an upgrade edition of Windows 7 but will not be able to upgrade the operating system itself to Windows 7. They need to do a clean install of Windows 7 on their computer system.

This essentially means that no data will be taken over automatically to the new operating system. Experienced Windows XP users should not have a problem installing Windows 7. They also should not have a problem backing up and moving their data to the new operating system. Inexperienced users on the other hand might wonder how they can move their pictures, music, emails and applications to the new operating system.

If you are running Windows XP on a computer system currently and want to upgrade to Windows 7 you basically have a few choices which largely depend on the storage capacities of the computer system. The easiest way would be to backup all data, format the hard drive and install Windows 7 afterwards. Some users might not like this solution. They could alternatively create and install Windows 7 on a second partition to create a dual booting operating system until all data from Windows XP has been moved to Windows 7.

Backup Data

We covered Windows Backup Software (Hard Drive Backup Software) before here at Ghacks. Both applications can be used to backup a hard drive. This obviously requires another storage device with enough hard drive space to transfer all of the data. It might be a good idea to backup the data even if you have the intention to install Windows 7 on a different partition. This might be less important for individuals but should be essential for business computers.

Installing Windows 7

We recommend to install Windows 7 on another partition or hard drive at the beginning. This will essentially create a dual-boot system with the option to switch between Windows XP and Windows 7. This is the easiest way to keep the Windows XP data for the time being as Windows 7 will not overwrite or tamper with the data of the Windows XP installation.

The other option would be to format the partition containing Windows XP and install Windows 7 on the (now) empty partition. The data of the Windows XP partition would be gone for good if it would not have been backed up first.

The third option is to install Windows 7 on the Windows XP partition without formatting the hard drive first. Most computer savvy users do not recommend this option as it can lead to all kinds of troubles and problems. It has virtually no benefits as the programs and applications of Windows XP cannot be used in Windows 7 without reinstalling them.

Moving data from Windows XP to Windows 7

Microsoft has created a tool called Windows Easy Transfer
 which can be used to transfer data from Windows XP to Windows Vista. The application should also work in Windows 7 as Microsoft recommends it in the Windows 7 installation guide. The software can be used to transfer data over network, usb cable or disk to another operating system. It will copy files like music or pictures but also emails and settings to the new operating system.

If Windows 7 has been installed on a second partition or hard drive data can simply be copied by dragging and dropping it to the new partition. Some data might need to be imported, for example web browser bookmarks or emails. Please note that it is usually not possible to move installed applications to the new operating system. It is necessary to install them again when the new operating system is running.
If backups have been created the data can also be restored or extracted from the backups to the new operating system.

Verdict:

Inexperienced users will find it troublesome to move data from their old operating system to Windows 7. Microsoft should make sure to include a step by step guide prior to the release of Windows 7 that explains how to migrate the data to the new operating system.

If you run into troubles you can visit our sister site Windows 7 News or the Windows 7 Forum to find help with the migration and other Windows 7 related difficulties.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/15/how-to-replace-windows-xp-with-windows-7/feed/ 6 Windows 7 News http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:57:23 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/ It has been some time since we last posted news about Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 7. Microsoft has made some important announcements in the past few days. The first big news which hit the online news sites today is that Microsoft will provide the options to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7. The term upgrade might cause some confusion as it refers to the possibility for XP users to purchase Windows 7 at reduced prices rather than allowing them to upgrade their operating system to Windows 7 which is apparently not possible. So, legit Windows XP users will be able to purchase Windows 7 at a reduced price but need to do a clean install to actually use the operating system.

The second interesting news story is that Microsoft decided to reduce the editions that Windows 7 will ship in when compared to Windows Vista. The so called edition chaos was one of the major reasons for confusion for prospective Windows Vista customers.

Windows 7 will basically be distributed as Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. There are other versions but those are designed for different markets. Windows 7 Home Premium will be the equivalent of the Windows Vista Home Premium featuring a solid set of features. Windows 7 Professional will be the successor of Windows Vista Business which includes all features of Windows 7 Home Premium plus some business features like group policy based management tools, Remote Desktop host capabilities or network-based backup features.

Windows 7 Ultimate will include all features of Windows 7 Professional plus all supported language packs (something that the other editions miss and users have to pay for), BitLocker whole-drive encryption and capabilities to boot from vhd.

It basically comes down to three Windows 7 editions. It should also be noted that there are no talks yet about Windows 7 Ultimate extras, something that did not work as intended in Windows Vista as well as several users felt cheated by the lack of and quality of the extras.

Most of these information have been taken from our own Windows 7 blog which covers all the latest news about the upcoming operating system. A well visited Windows 7 Forum is available on the same site.

Do you think that those two strategic decisions by Microsoft are good ones? Will they convince Windows XP users to switch to Windows 7?

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/04/windows-7-news-2/feed/ 9 Windows 7 Like Taskbar In Windows XP http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/02/windows-7-like-taskbar-in-windows-xp/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/02/windows-7-like-taskbar-in-windows-xp/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:44:25 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9548 You might have heard about the Windows 7 Taskbar which will change the interface and functionality of the Windows Taskbar quite a bit. One of the changes is the iconized taskbar which no longer displays the names of the folders and programs by default. It looks similar to the Quick Launch bar. The advantage of this interface change is that it is possible to squeeze additional icons on the taskbar.

Windows 7 Taskbar Iconizer is a implementation of that feature for Windows XP. It basically changes the way the folders and programs are displayed in the Windows Taskbar from their default view to a view where only icons are displayed. The program does that only on vertical taskbars. If you have customized the position of the Windows Taskbar to be on the left or right side of the desktop then you will not see a difference.

windows7 taskbar iconizer

The only real gain is that additional folders and programs fit into the taskbar. Items are automatically grouped which adds even more space to the Taskbar.

The software program is portable and a restart is required after making the changes. The same program has to be used to revert the changes again.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/02/windows-7-like-taskbar-in-windows-xp/feed/ 10 Unlock Windows 7 M3 Build Locked Features http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/10/unlock-windows-7-m3-build-locked-features/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/10/unlock-windows-7-m3-build-locked-features/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:51:26 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=8185 The Windows 7 M3 build that Microsoft distributed at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 in Los Angeles made its way to various P2P networks less than 24 hours after the distribution. It became known shortly thereafter that Microsoft did lock some of the features of the upcoming operating system in that build including the new Taskbar or the Desktop Wallpaper Changer.

Patches were created to unlock some of the features but until then no one did create a patch that could be applied to unlock all locked features in the build.

That wait is over now because Rafael Rivera created the Blue Badge tool to patch nine Windows 7 system files and unlock all locked features. It has to be noted that the files will not be backed up before the patches are applied.

A user wanting to apply the patch should make sure that they backup the files before applying the patch. Some of the features that will be unlocked are the new Taskbar and the wallpaper changer.

Tags: , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/10/unlock-windows-7-m3-build-locked-features/feed/ 0 Windows 7 Tidbits http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/31/windows-7-tidbits/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/31/windows-7-tidbits/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:46:12 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7963 The last days have been filled with news posts about Windows 7. Everyone posted news about the upcoming operating system and it was quite hard to keep an overview of the things that came to light during the PDC 08 convention. That convention is over now and it is time to lean back and take a look at some of the news that came to light.

One of the main announcements was the new Windows 7 taskbar – superbar as some called it – which added a new level of interactivity to the operating system. Users will have to get used to it because of the combination of static and dynamic items that can now be placed in it. Check out the article at Windows 7 News for a complete Windows 7 Taskbar rundown. One aspect that Microsoft left unchanged is the position of the Start button which still cannot be changed.

Windows 7 boot time was another hot topic. Steven Sinofsky mentioned changes to Windows Services in a Q&A session which reduced the Windows 7 boot time. Services could be set to automatic, manual or disabled in previous versions of Windows. Windows 7 services can also be event related. If x starts run service y. This made it possible to delay the start of several services so that they are not started during boot time.

The User Account Control gets more options. It can be configured using a slider. By default administrators will see less UAC prompts. Standard actions like changing settings in the Control Panel will not display an UAC prompt anymore. It basically can be said that Microsoft optimized UAC quite a bit to make it less annoying to the user.

The Windows 7 Desktop will make use of DirectX 10.1 if the video card supports it. This cuts down memory usage in the graphics system of the Windows 7 Desktop Windows Manager by 50%.

Did you see anything that impressed you? Share your thoughts.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/31/windows-7-tidbits/feed/ 3 The Web Explodes With Windows 7 News http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/the-web-explodes-with-windows-7-news/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/the-web-explodes-with-windows-7-news/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:55:37 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7924 I wanted to write a nice article over at the Windows 7 website that I run with Everton from Connected Internet but the server is running slow all day which is somewhat ironic. The most important day of the year regarding Windows 7 and the Windows 7 site is to slow to post on. We will post all news as soon as the server is up again.

Instead of posting it there I decided to post the information here at Ghacks. The day began with screenshot posts by Paul Thurrott and Tom Warren who both posted lots of screenshots that Microsoft supplied. They managed to create their own as well and their posts show both the official and custom screenshots of Windows 7 M3 builds.

The interface has changed quite a bit in comparison to Windows Vista. Windows 7 sports a bigger taskbar, improved system tray, date and time being displayed by default and gadgets that can now be placed freely on the computer desktop. Two features worth mentioning are preview windows and so called jump lists which appear when moving the mouse over an item in the Windows Taskbar.

windows 7 desktop

Gizmodo was quick to post an article that had some interesting boot and shutdown time comparisons of Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It was not really scientific though and it seemed that two different laptops were used for the test. It is still believed that Windows 7 will boot considerably faster than Windows Vista.

Microsoft obviously does not like comparisons between Windows Vista and Windows 7. They do their best to keep the two operating systems separated. Windows 7 however looks very much like an optimized version of Windows Vista which got the improvements that users wanted to see in Windows Vista.

Ed Bott and Mary-Jo Foley have published their first impression of Windows 7 M3 on their blogs as well. Lots to read.

Changes to the user interface, usability and optimization seem to be the main focus points of the Windows 7 development team. Did you like what Microsoft has shown so far? Let me know.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/the-web-explodes-with-windows-7-news/feed/ 13 New Windows 7 Features Leaked http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/new-windows-7-features-leaked/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/new-windows-7-features-leaked/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:44:26 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7911 Microsoft updated the Windows 7 Pre-release (M3) Privacy Supplement today and it revealed several new features of Windows 7 that have been covered over at the Windows 7 blog. Here is a short summary of what new features have been mentioned in the privacy supplement.

Driver Protection checks a database that is maintained locally for drivers that are known to be problematic. It can be updated via Windows Update and a new feature called Dynamic Update which essentially updates Windows 7 during installation if an Internet connection is available. Windows 7 might prevent those drivers from being loaded which is a somewhat scary sentence if there is no way to overrule the decision.

Internet Printing and the Online Print Ordering Wizard are two new print services. The first makes it possible to send print jobs to computers over the Internet using the http protocol while the second is supposed to make it easier to send digital photos to online print stores to order prints of them.

Homegroup was one of the first new features that came to light. It can connect Windows 7 computers in a home network so that they can share files and devices.

People Near Me is a service that is not explained in great detail. It basically allows a user to invite another user to join a program if the program is also installed on the other user’s computer and if the two computers are connected in a local network. There is no definition of programs. It could be entertainment related but also about communication or something completely different.

The last feature might cause lots of controversy. Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Services is an implementation of Trusted Computing which has caused privacy concerns.

The same document mentions Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate which seems to suggest that Microsoft will release a similar amount of Windows 7 editions.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/28/new-windows-7-features-leaked/feed/ 11 Windows 7 News Site http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/15/windows-7-news-site/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/15/windows-7-news-site/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:09:30 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7629 Everton from Connected Internet and I are running a Windows 7 joint venture located at Windows 7 News dot com which is providing everyone with news about the upcoming Microsoft operating system. The announcement that Microsoft would keep the name was really exciting and motivated us to bring the news site to the next level.

We created a forum yesterday night where everyone can participate and are looking for at least one co-author for the blog who knows a great deal about Microsoft operating systems. He needs analytic skills and should be able to write 20-30 posts a month at the beginning. That is a lot if you consider the news drought that is surrounding Windows 7 since it was announced.

The Microsoft developer events at the end of October will surely increase the news a lot. The optimal candidate would be an attendee of at least one conference from where he could blog live.

We are – of course – paying for that but do not want to disclose the amount in public. If you are interested in the job use the contact form here at Ghacks or contact us directly at Windows 7 News and detail your experience and provide us with at least one article about a Microsoft operating system.

Everyone else is invited to participate actively in the new project to make it even more successful than it already is. See you there!

Tags: , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/15/windows-7-news-site/feed/ 3 Microsoft announces name for next Windows OS: It’s Windows 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/14/microsoft-announces-name-for-next-windows-os-its-windows-7/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/14/microsoft-announces-name-for-next-windows-os-its-windows-7/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:33:01 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7611 Windows 7 was the codename for the next Microsoft operating system. That’s what the Microsoft engineers and representatives never failed to mention when they were giving away information about the upcoming Windows Vista successor. A lot of speculation was going on about the final name of the operating system but barely anyone suggested that Microsoft would stick with the codename.

Microsoft made an announcement today on the official Windows Vista blog concerning the name of the next operating system. To everyone’s surprise the codename was kept and the next Microsoft operating system will therefor be named Windows 7.

It was clear to almost everyone that Microsoft needed to steer away from Windows Vista which received some bad press since its release. Some popular suggestions where Windows 2010 or Windows XP2. Still, Microsoft managed to surprise by choosing Windows 7.

The reason – the official one – for keeping the name was simplicity which is a good argument and could be a defining concept for the upcoming operating system. Your thoughts on this? Was it a sound choice or would you have preferred a different name?

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/14/microsoft-announces-name-for-next-windows-os-its-windows-7/feed/ 13 Microsoft To Cut Standard Applications from Windows 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/23/microsoft-to-cut-standard-applications-from-windows-7/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/23/microsoft-to-cut-standard-applications-from-windows-7/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:22:04 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7177 In a somewhat surprising move Microsoft confirmed to Cnet that the upcoming Windows 7 operating system will not make use of preinstalled email, photo editing and movie making applications that were included in Windows Vista. This means that Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker will not be included in a standard Windows 7 installation.

The programs have been removed completely and Microsoft decided to provide access to the Windows Live versions only. Users who would like the functionality would have to download the Windows Live Wave 3, or probably Windows Live Wave 4, applications from the Internet. Some OEM bundled Windows 7 computer systems might come with those featured on the Windows 7 installation DVD.

The move looks like a major turnaround from Microsoft’s previous strategy which focused on including as many applications as possible in Windows operating systems. The move makes sense in several aspects; It was not really logical to offer two applications that offered a similar functionality in first place. It meant twice the development force and technical support which can be drastically reduced by focusing on one application only.

Users on the other hand were confused with the additional choices that Windows Live offered them. Lastly that move will please many experienced Windows users who prefer to have a say in which applications get installed on their system. Experienced users do not use many of the default Windows applications and prefer to install third party software instead which usually offers better functionality, runs faster and less problematic.

If only they would decouple Windows Media Player and Microsoft Internet Explorer from the system as well. What are your thoughts? Is that a good move in the right decision or purely a business decision to save money and free resources?

Tags: , , , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/23/microsoft-to-cut-standard-applications-from-windows-7/feed/ 8 Multi-Touch support in Windows 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/28/multi-touch-support-in-windows-7/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/28/multi-touch-support-in-windows-7/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 07:48:07 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=4347 What Microsoft has officially shown of Windows 7 is not much and their extremely tight-lipped approach has led to some confusion and false rumors in the past. The D6 Conference took place yesterday and Microsoft, for the first time, demonstrated one of the features of Windows 7 that is most likely part of the retail version.

The demonstration was about the multi-touch support of Windows 7. The system used to demonstrate the feature was a Dell Latitude XL notebook running Windows 7. The multi-touch technology was borrowed from Microsoft Surface. The interface looks responsive and Microsoft’s Julie Larson-Green is demonstrating various applications for the touch interface including photo manipulation, a mapping application and arts like drawing and playing music.

It does look fluid and nice but the real question is if this is a mass market feature. I would say it is not, at least not for many years to come. I can see that multi-touch makes a lot of sense for various groups but not for the masses. The real problem is probably that touch screens are not mainstream yet either, at least not when looking at desktop computers and notebooks.

It’s slowly making a way into the mobile market though and it could very well be that the technology will eventually take over the notebook market as well, but probably not in the next two years.

Tags: , ,

Related posts

]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/28/multi-touch-support-in-windows-7/feed/ 3