Windows 7 like Vista but review better

 Windows 7  No Responses »
Apr 102010
 

Windows-7-001

The first thing you notice when Windows 7 is that it looks like Vista. He also works as Vista, in the sense that they have the same plumbing underneath, to update except for a very welcome DX11 graphics. This works much better than Vista, and most of the Annoyances of Vista have been either removed or (especially) can, so that the system works, how you want to change. It requires adjustments to the extreme.

Microsoft has analyzed data from millions of user sessions calculation to find exactly what people do with their computers, then attacked the "pain points to make Windows 7 faster and easier. (Approximately 15 million people used The Windows 7 Beta.)

The most obvious difference is that Windows 7 will not bore you with questions – even if it is true that the latest version of Vista, much less boring than the original. In fact, you can define the degree of discomfort on a sliding scale, although the reduction increases the risk of security breaches. However, Windows is much more secure than XP, 7, and in any case, the landscape changed since the threat was called XP against worms like Blaster and Slammer to life. Today the most significant changes include security in Internet Explorer 8, the only defending against cross-site scripting.

Another obvious difference is that Windows 7 uses fewer resources.

If Vista really needs 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 will run quite happy to 1GB on an Intel dual-core slow, although I recommend 2GB or, preferably, 4GB with a fast version 64-bit Windows 7

The small size and some optimizations using Windows 7 people and raises more quickly (though not in the same class as Mac OS X).

And laptop batteries should last longer. I’ve been running Windows 7 on an Asus UL30 laptop with a claimed battery life of around 11 hours with Vista: it now does more than 12 hours.

Any computer with Vista is currently running will be better with Windows 7 – a first for Microsoft – and it should work on most PCs running Windows XP SP2. (Search YouTube and you’ll be on the screen with the addition of users visiting inadequate systems, including antique Pentium III chip.) The problem is that upgrading a PC with Windows XP requires you to reinstall Windows 7: you can not reasonably implemented. It is a source of complaints, because it means to reinstall all applications, as well.

However, we’ve known for a dozen years that a clean installation of Windows usually works better, and geeks have generally recommended it.

Indeed, people used to reinstall Windows 95, 98 or Me just to clean up their systems, so it’s silly to get hysterical about it now.

The interface of Windows 7 has some significant changes. First, the Sidebar is gone, but you can keep the watch and other goodies, and you can put anywhere. Secondly, the Quick Launch area of the taskbar and have been replaced by a sort of combo-packs.

Instead of putting applications in the QuickLaunch area, you can now right-click and pin them to the new-style Taskbar, alongside running applications.

When the plane Vista icon in the toolbar TASKS specified unit, several mini-clips, depending on whether Windows-No, Now What EC is interactive. An overview of the mini-aircraft exhibition in full-screen mode on the desktop, and what is the right mouse button lists of options to go.

It makes it dramatically easier to see what you are doing. However, if you are an inveterate Alt-Tabber, that shows the same mini-previews. And if you liked Vista’s Flip 3D feature, that’s still an option.

Incidentally, you can now move TaskBar icons around to change the order, like browser tabs. As I always try to keep XP TaskBar items in the same order, I find this useful. It’s a small point, but Windows 7 has lots of small points, and they add up.

There are a few tips, the use of Windows 7 users with their friends, to show how fractured Aero Aero Aero Peek and Shake. Aero breaks you can put two applications side by side for easy comparison and copying and pasting. Aero Peek is sometimes open windows transparent so you can see what your desktop. Aero Shake means that if you shake a box hides all other windows. All are useful and fun.

The Documents module is reorganized under a single title, the libraries. Among these documents, music, photos and video with Windows 7 to get things in these folders shell. Each has two sub-folders, like music and my music to the public. It ‘s easier to keep things from far away you want to share what you want to keep for themselves.

Sharing is an important part of Windows 7. It has a HomeGroup feature that makes it very easy to set up a home network and share things. It only works with Windows 7 machines, which I expect will sell a few family packs of Windows 7 (three copies of Home Premium for £149.99).

Right-click a photo, for example, select Share, and this gives you four options: Nobody, HomeGroup (Read), HomeGroup (Read/Write) and Specific People. "Plays to" lets you display a video, for example, on a different PC.

Support for the consumer electronics industry’s DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard should help Windows 7 PCs work with other devices, though I’ve yet to see an example.

There is awareness of ONE UN Also setting up some "in the Features of Windows 7 will not understand where are you – IN OR non-domestic enterprise network, for example – and the appropriate" Select Printer. There A section of the site’s control panel, and Other Sensors, May be the sensors installed and maintained. Interest Example Light Adaptation "is located in your PC a light sensor, adjust the Windows 7 pm brightness of the screen to match.

Multi-touch is also supported, if you have the hardware to take advantage of it. There is an emerging flood of laptops with multi-touch pads and new all-in-ones with multi-touch screens, but it remains to be seen whether these will be successful.

When it comes to applications for Windows, the older ones have been improved considerably. Paint and WordPad now "Ribbon interface", as Office 2007, and two of the computers and thus Shell (MSH) are much more powerful than before. Technically, many standard applications have been also removed from the operating system, but I expect most PC manufacturers to install them.

What Microsoft has done is decouple the Windows Live Essentials suite of applications – Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, etc – from the operating system. It means the Live programs can be updated from the web every six or nine months, or whatever, instead of on a three-year operating system development cycle. It also reduces the attack area for anti-trust complaints.

But one thing missing in Windows 7 is still the Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus program, formerly called Morro. To obtain Windows Defender and firewall improvements, but Microsoft seems to make the European Commission’s afraid of what would have been better for users and also an anti-virus software as well. As it stands, installing trial versions of anti-virus companies specialized on new PCs and PC makers pay very well for sales. If Microsoft did the right thing and defend the people for anything, it would upset the applecart financial.

All round, then, Windows 7 is generally good, and some Windows fans reckon it’s better than Apple’s Mac OS X. It’s certainly easier to use than Mac OS X if you are already familiar with the Windows way of doing things. Also, Windows 7 – released to companies on August 6 – has so far proved to be a lot less buggy than Apple’s Snow Leopard, which has even lost users’ data.

If you dig into Windows 7 you will, of course, find numerous relics from the past, going right back through Windows 95 to DOS.

There are lots of inconsistencies that still need cleaning up.

However, Microsoft’s Business on the exploitation of millions of programs stretching decades back, and supports a large number of devices and provide a platform for thousands of competing manufacturers, who do everything from handheld computers and Tablet PC to the network data center mainframe. Only the door of the bunker Windows.

But with luck you will not see too many of these relics, and on the surface, Windows 7 is impressively smooth.

Am full time users of Windows XP that do not have to spend my two PCs to Vista, I do not see a reason to stay with XP now that it seems doomed to failure. I have a Windows Pro 7 discount Amazon Upgrade bought for my office and I intend to buy a new Windows 7 laptop to replace my old ThinkPad X31.

Windows 7 is a long way from being perfect, and it’s not an essential upgrade if you’re happy with XP. But nor is there a real reason to avoid it. Windows 7 is simply the best version of Windows you can get.

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Windows 7 Security: Helping Enable the Mobile Workforce

 Windows 7  No Responses »
Mar 212010
 

With 17,000 + other security-minded professionals, I am at RSA in San Francisco this week. For those unfamiliar with the RSA Conference is the conference leader in information security this year. Attracting people to safety best and brightest of the world. In addition, it is a great place to keep what happened in the market for computer security. I do not see RSA only what is happening in the industry, but also talk about some cool safety features new to Windows 7.

We are really excited about Windows 7 new security features. The next operating system based on the proven security technologies in Windows Vista and provides a platform for radical Secure Computing. We not only have a larger amount of Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), in the process of planning, development and testing, but we have also worked to ensure that the security features more discoverable and easier to use manageable. These improvements provide enhanced Windows 7 security offerings to ensure the security necessary to control the access of mobile workers with the necessary information to provide to be productive wherever and whenever they need it.

There are many new stuff in Windows 7, but let me highlight some of those things that go into helping the mobile worker…

Multiple Active Firewall Policies

In Windows Vista, firewall policy is based on the “type” of network connection established—  

Windows 7 will go through this pain support rules firewall more active. This allows you to get on my PC and the firewall profile information field are independent of other networks, which may be active on your PC. Now, professionals can simplify the connectivity and security for maintaining a single set of rules for remote clients and customers that are physically connected to the corporate network and know that the rules must be applied.

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DirectAccess

When I travel, or to extend one days work from home, I tend to do too much for access to the intranet. As you can imagine, we use SharePoint a lot and many of our divisions, all applications are web-enabled. The result: I have to use our corporate VPN too. Unfortunately, it is always a break for me to stop what I’m doing and focus my VPN connection.

Windows 7 works in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 R2 to outside of the office work easier and less frustrating with Direct Access. Direct Access works automatically via a bidirectional connection between client computers on the corporate network. Consequently, as I have a remote user seamless, secure access to corporate network whenever I am connected to the Internet, without manually initiate a traditional VPN. That makes me more productive and enables me to my work and not the remote-access technology focus. Now, whenever and wherever I travel, I can not just my company email, but also open intranet sites, shared drives, using on-line business applications and have full access to the resources of the company that I for my work without my manually create VPN tunnels.

From the point of view of safety Direct Access is built on a foundation of proven, standards-based technologies such as built IPv6 and IPSec. IPsec is used to authenticate the computer and user. This allows IT professionals the ability to manage the computer, even before signing. IT can optionally also requires me to authenticate using smart cards. IPsec is also used to provide encryption for communication over the Internet, with encryption algorithms such as AES.

DirectAccess also has a cool benefit for IT Pros as well, since it provides an always on, secure mechanism to remotely manage and update the PCs of their mobile workforce. Whenever my laptop has Internet connectivity it is directly connected to the Microsoft corporate network. This gives IT more opportunity to distribute software updates and policies to me and other mobile workers and helps keep our machines free of malware and other unwanted software.

BranchCache

DirectAccess is great for the mobile worker, but what about the remote worker who works out in a branch office location? I’ve worked in many a branch office and the one thing they all seem to have in common is limited network bandwidth. Accessing large files in a branch office is always a slow, frustrating affair for me. I, like most users, prefer a snappy network and quick downloads. All the waiting that I have to do– or you have to do — is just lost productivity that, at the end of the day, can hurt the company’s bottom line.

Windows 7 incorporates BranchCache, another technology that works in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 R2, which helps make network responsiveness of applications and data housed within your data center feel snappy. This gives users in remote, branch offices the experience of working as if they were on the local area network (LAN) of the server they are accessing.

BranchCache also helps reduce the utilization of the wide area network (WAN). When BranchCache is enabled, a copy of any data accessed from Intranet Web sites and/or file servers is cached locally within the branch office. When another client on the same network requests the file, the client downloads it from the local cache without downloading the same content across the WAN.

The key thing for me is that it makes access to static data quick and it is all done without decreasing the security of that data. Access controls are enforced on cached files in the same way they are on original files.

BitLocker To Go

While here at RSA, it is inevitable that I will need to share data with one of my trusted partners or customers. My primary method of transferring data is to use one of the half dozen or so USB sticks I carry around in my backpack. Over time, these USB sticks end up with all sorts of different data and documents on them. As a security guy, I worry about what would happen if I lost one of these USB sticks. What if I have some confidential or customer data on one of them?

Windows 7 helps address the continued threat of data leakage with introduction of BitLocker To Go: an extension to BitLocker in Windows Vista that allows me to encrypt the disk volume of removable storage devices with a password and/or a digital certificate stored on a smart card.

BitLocker To Go was designed to facilitate the secure sharing of data on removable storage devices and was designed to work on any standard removable storage device. No special, proprietary hardware is required. So now, whether you are traveling with your laptop, sharing large files with a trusted partner, or taking work home, you can feel secure that your data is safe. Both traditional BitLocker and BitLocker To Go protected devices help ensure that only authorized users can read the data, even if the media is lost, stolen, or misused.

One last thing worth mentioning — I can use BitLocker To Go to share data with a Windows user who is running Windows Vista or Windows XP through the BitLocker To Go Reader. This application is installed by default on removable storage volumes and allows read-only access on older versions of Windows while still allowing you to help protect your USB sticks.

AppLocker

While I feel good about protecting my data with BitLocker in case it is lost or stolen, data can still be lost due to malware or other unwanted software. When I talk to customers about keeping malware off of their systems, we always end up talking about desktop lockdown and the first topic of desktop lockdown is always removing administrative access from a majority of users. This is a great first step for any organization to take; however, workers today bring software from home, download applications from the Internet (intentional and unintentional), and access new programs through email. Many of these applications don’t need system- wide, administrative access to install or run. The result is a higher incidence of malware infections, more help desk calls, and difficulty in ensuring that only approved, licensed software is installed and utilized.

Windows 7 has a new application control solution in AppLocker. AppLocker gives control back to IT administrators and helps them eliminate unknown and unwanted software in their environment. AppLocker can be configured through Group Policy and can help manage those applications that run on corporate PCs, helping keep your organization’s data safe and your enterprise PCs manageable. AppLocker works by intercepting kernel calls that try to create new processes or load libraries and making sure that the code in question has been allowed to execute.

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AppLocker just might be my favorite security feature in Windows 7, for it not only provides security protections but as an ex-IT Pro I really appreciate the operational and compliance benefits as well. Things like:

  • Keeping unlicensed, vulnerable software from running in the desktop environment, including stopping workers from running applications that needlessly use consumer network bandwidth or otherwise impact the enterprise computing environment.
  • Easing enterprise software deployments and maintenance through effective desktop configuration management.
  • AppLocker allows users to install and run approved applications and software updates based upon their business needs.
  • Helping ensure a company’s desktop environment is in compliance with corporate policies and industry regulations such as PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Basel II, and others.

More to Come

This is just a small part of what’s in Windows 7 from a security perspective, and just the tip of the iceberg for the features I’ve described. Stay tuned for more information on what’s going on at RSA and more information on the cool new security technologies in Windows.