Windows 7

What’s New in Folder Redirection and User Profiles

Discusses the improvements in folder Redirection and user profiles and how to customize default user profiles.

Folder Redirection and user profiles in the Windows 7 operating system provide users with a consistent user experience, regardless of where the user is logged on. This document discusses the improvements to these technologies and how to customize default user profiles.

Download details What’s New in Folder Redirection and User Profiles

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Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series

Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows^® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Designed for Life in Motion

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.

Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.

Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.

Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.

Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.

Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.

Availability

Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.

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How to replace default Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 Recovery Environment in Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset

Abstract

This guide describes how to replace the default Windows Recovery Environment (RE) with a Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset version 6.5 (new version of Winternals ERD Commander).

Introduction

Microsoft has been developed a new version of ERD Commander from Winternals, which Microsoft acquired while ago; Named Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset, or DaRT for short.

In order to replace Windows RE boot image with DaRT you’ll need to use account with administrative privileges (member of the local Administrators group at least).

It’s recommended to replace the default Windows RE within DaRT for getting wide local troubleshooting toolset such as LockSmith for passwords reset, restoration utility, etc.

In order to perform the replacement follows these steps:

Preparing the field…

1. Open Windows Explorer, click with Alt and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu.

2. Choose Show hidden files, folders and drives and deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and Hide extensions for known file types.

3. Then click OK.

4. Open C:\ Drive, right-click Recovery folder. Choose Properties from the menu.

5. Select Security tab, and click on Edit.

6. On the new windows, click on Add and find you user account, then click on OK.

7. Assign Allow: Full Control permissions for the specific account and click on OK.

Now, as you can see the C:\Recovery folder is accessible to your user account.

At C:\Recovery\<UID> you’ll find the Winre.wim image file. This is the Windows RE image that have been loaded every time you’re choosing to repair your computer from the F8 startup menu.

Creating ERD Commander ISO Image

1. Install DaRT 6.5 from Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2009 R2 (available to customers with active Software Assurance license) on your computer or on computer with DVD burner.

2. Open ERD Commander Boot Media Wizard from the Windows menu and follow these steps to create ERD ISO image:

2.1. On the welcome screen click Next.

2.2. Insert and navigate to Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 media and click Next.

2.3. On the Preparing files screen click on Next.

2.4. Select or exclude the tools that will be included in your ERD image and click on Next.

2.5. Locate the Windows Debugging tools and click on Next.

2.6. Choose if you want to update your ERD’s system sweeper and click on Next.

2.7. If you want to add additional drivers, click on Add. Then click on Next.

2.8. On the Additional Files click on Next.

Note: You can add useful applications and files to your ERD ISO image such as disk imaging utility, corporate antivirus, etc.

2.9. To create the ISO image click on Next.

2.10. If you want to burn the ISO into a media set the wizard to your media burner. Click on Next to proceed.

2.11. Click on Finish.

3. On the ISO navigate to the Sources directory; inside X:\Sources (when X: is the CD driver letter) you’ll find boot.wim image.

4. Copy boot.wim into C:\Recovery\<UID>\ and change the file name to Winre.wim.

Note: It’s recommended to rename the original Winre.wim file name to Winre.wim.old or delete it from the C:\Recovery directory.

Next time you’ll restart your computer and choose Repair your computer you’ll notice that DaRT has been added to the Windows RE menu (and there’s also network support at the start of Windows RE).

Note: My personal recommendation is to deploy Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 with a built-in DaRT recovery environment support.

Note that you will need an active Software Assurance (SA) license to each OS that deployed with DaRT.

Summary

This guide described how to create ERD ISO image by using Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset and then replacing the default Windows RE boot image with DaRT boot image on Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2.

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Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7

Due to the overwhelming pirating of windows 7 the following has been announced at Microsoft.   Those that this effects would be wise to stop auto updates.  

In the coming days, we’ll be deploying a new update for Windows Activation Technologies, the set of built-in activation and validation components built into Windows 7. Called Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7, this update will detect more than 70 known and potentially dangerous activation exploits. Activation exploits are sometimes called “hacks”, and attempt to bypass or compromise Windows’ activation technologies. This new update is further evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to keeping customers and partners secure. The update will determine whether Windows 7 installed on a PC is genuine and will better protect customers’ PCs by making sure that the integrity of key licensing components remains intact.

So, what are the risks of activation exploits? Searching for, downloading, or installing activation exploits or counterfeit software on the Internet is risky, because sites that advertise these pirated products often contain malware, viruses, and Trojans, which are found bundled with or directly built into the activation exploit or counterfeit software. A study by research firm IDC, The Risks of Obtaining and Using Pirated Software, shows that one in four Web sites offering counterfeit software attempted to install unwanted or malicious code upon downloading. And this rate is rising. Media Surveillance, an anti-piracy solutions company based in Germany, recently downloaded more than five hundred pirated copies of Windows 7 (and Windows activation exploits) and found that 32% contained malicious code. These are very disturbing figures – especially when considering that resellers may be using these downloads to claim that the PCs they sell include genuine Windows. Buyers of new PCs should always check for the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) to verify that the PC they are purchasing contains only genuine Windows. A quick visit to our How to Tell website tells buyers what a genuine COA should look like.

The Update is designed to run on all editions of Windows 7, although we will distribute first to the Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions. It will be available online at www.microsoft.com/genuine beginning February 16 and on the Microsoft Download Center beginning February 17. Later this month, the update will also be offered through Windows Update as an ‘Important’ update.

Although the Update will not be directly offered through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), which is used by enterprise customers to manage the distribution of software updates in their IT environment, a WSUS administrator can import this update into WSUS through the Microsoft Update catalog. I’d like to stress that the Update is voluntary, which means that you can choose not to install it when you see it appear on Windows Update. I also want to stress that installing this update will not jeopardize your privacy; although the update contacts Microsoft’s servers to check for new threats as I outline below, the information we receive from PCs during these checks does not include any personally identifiable information or any other information that Microsoft can use to identify or contact you. This update follows the same stringent and secure set of privacy principles and policies as other downloads. The update can also be uninstalled at any time.

How does it work? Once installed, the Update protects customers by identifying known activation exploits that may affect their PC experience. If any activation exploits are found, Windows will alert the customer and offer options for resolving the issue – in many cases, with just a few clicks. Machines running genuine Windows 7 software with no activation exploits will see nothing – the update runs quietly in the background protecting your system. If Windows 7 is non-genuine, the notifications built into Windows 7 will inform the customer that Windows is not genuine by displaying informational dialog boxes with options for the customer to either get more information, or acquire genuine Windows. The desktop wallpaper will be switched to a plain desktop (all of the customer’s desktop icons, gadgets, or pinned applications stay in place). Periodic reminders and a persistent desktop watermark act as further alerts to the customer.

It is important to know that the customer will see no reduced functionality in their copy of Windows – a customer’s applications work as expected, and access to personal information is unchanged. The Update will run periodic validations (initially every 90 days). During validation, Windows will download the latest ‘signatures’ that are used to identify new activation exploits – much like an anti-virus service. When tampering, disabling, or missing licensing files are discovered, the WAT Update runs a check and repair weekly to ensure that the licensing files are properly repaired. 

Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 – Genuine Windows Blog – The Windows Blog

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Microsoft releases tool to restore NTBackup files on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

This week Microsoft released an update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with a utility for restoring backups made on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to computers that are running Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.

 This utility has been available for Windows Vista and Server 2008, but did not work on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

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The Man Behind Windows 7’s Fast Start

Aaron Dietrich’s job was far from glamorous: making Windows 7 start faster than its predecessor. He was floored when reviews touted the new operating system’s start-up speed.

Months before Windows 7 launched, Aaron Dietrich’s boss forwarded him an early product review from CNET, an online technology news site. Until then, Dietrich hadn’t heard an outsider’s take on the new operating system. When he read the article, he found a prominent—and glowing—mention of lightning-fast start-up times.

“I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle,” Dietrich says. “It’s really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product.”

Click for larger version.

“It gave me a really good feeling,” Dietrich says. “I thought, ‘Wow, it’s not just that we’re on the right path, but we’re really making a change in perception for reviewers and the general public here.’”

As senior development lead on the Windows Client Performance team, Dietrich had toiled to make sure Windows 7-based PCs would fire up like rockets. But he was surprised again and again when praise for the faster start-up performance popped up repeatedly in the press and in the blogosphere.

“It’s not a fancy new UI feature,” he said. “It’s not that thing in your face all the time like a desktop feature or window switcher or something like that.” Still, he took pride in the kudos that Windows 7 was receiving.

Dietrich, who came to Microsoft nine years ago after completing graduate studies at Rochester Institute of Technology, worked with Windows 7 features teams to keep the operating system lean enough to clock significantly faster start-up times. He said it really did take a village to build Windows 7. 

“I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle,” he said. “It’s really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product.”

The Microsoft News Center talked recently with Dietrich about his work on Windows 7.

The News Center: What was your role working on Windows 7?

Dietrich: For Windows 7, I was on the Windows Client Performance team. Rather than owning a specific feature, we kind of work as a liaison with many different teams within Windows to help them analyze and resolve performance issues with the operating system.

The News Center: How did you increase start-up performance in Windows 7?

Dietrich: There were a couple of key features that allowed us to get better boot times. The first was we introduced what we call the fast boot feature, which allows some parts of boot to happen in the background while Windows is discovering and initializing devices. That helped us gain up to 25 percent of our boot time over Windows Vista, depending on the hardware.

The other big one was that we significantly reduced the size of the operating system required to be read from disk in order to boot. Whereas Windows Vista required somewhere on the order of 220 to 240 megabytes of operating system code to boot, Windows 7 requires anywhere from 140 to 180 megabytes, depending on the configuration of the system.

Continue at:

The Man Behind Windows 7’s Fast Start Aaron Dietrich’s job was far from glamorous making Windows

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Demystifying Windows 7 Local Packs and the MCT folders

Since Windows 7 went gold, the Internet has been abuzz with little tips and tricks to improve the end-user experience. One of these tips, originating from back when Windows 7 was still in beta, outlined how to access Super Secret Hidden Wallpapers in the %windir%\Globalization\MCT folder. Sadly, nobody seemed to really understand what these folders are for – and worse, never challenged the steps to gain access the wallpaper. (It’s super easy, keep reading.)

Before we go forward, we need to define some acronyms, clear up some fancytalk, and tie everything together with a simple picture:

• Theme: A collection and configuration of elements – wallpaper, screensaver, sounds, and colors – that work together to provide a specific look and feel.
• MCT: A Market-Customized Theme is merely a Theme tailored for a specific locale (e.g. South Africa).
• Local Pack: A collection of locale-specific elements, typically links, RSS feeds, and a MCT.

Continue at WintinWindows.com how to activate your local pack:

Demystifying Windows 7 Local Packs and the MCT folders – Within Windows

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Windows 7 SP1 Exclusive Screenshots

A Spanish site named Muywindows has grabbed exclusive screenshots from the upcoming Service Pack for Windows 7 . The screenshots seems to have been taken from a demo copy of a Pre SP1 Build of Windows 7 which according to them will be handed over to a selected pool of private testers in the coming weeks.

At this point, the Build number of Windows 7 SP1 is said to be between 7600.20500 and 20700, and it contain about 150 critical updates and security patches. A public beta of Windows 7 SP1 can be expected sometime in summer of this year, probably the same time when Office 2010 RTMs, while the final version can be expected in Q4 2010.

Some of the screenshots from Windows 7 SP1 are as follows:

Windows 7 RTM was announced earlier in July 2009. It is publicly available since the official launch, which was held on October 22nd 2009. Check out our Windows 7 Center for the complete coverage on the latest client version of Windows. [via Geeksmack

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Windows 7 numbers

Some numbers Steve Ballmer mentions is his CES Keynote.

Windows 7 was an unprecedented effort that included 3,000 world-class Microsoft engineers, 50,000 partners, and 8 million beta-test customers, from soccer moms to small businesses, from grandparents to gamers, from Australia to Zimbabwe, people from every walk of life and every corner of the globe helped us make Windows 7 and make it an incredible success.

According to NPD, U.S. retail data shows that Windows PC sales jumped almost 50 percent the week it launched. On Black Friday it’s reported that retailers sold 33 percent more Windows PCs than the year before. And for the 2009 holiday season a 50 percent increase in Windows PC sales from last year. Last year was a tough year, but these are still phenomenal numbers.

Today I think I certainly am very proud to be able to say that Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling operating system in history. But for me, the most important measure of success is what our customers think, and customer reaction with their experience has been very, very good. A recent survey found a 94 percent satisfaction rate among early adopters of Windows 7. All of this is driving great results for our industry.

After predicting a 2 percent drop in PC shipments in 2009, Gartner now expects the final number to be up 3 percent. That will mean nearly 300 million PCs shipped in 2009, which is an incredible number of smart devices. There’s no more popular smart device today in the world than the PC. And for 2010, Gartner is looking at a jump of more than 12 percent. That’s incredible momentum.

Clearly, consumers are saying that there’s never been a better time to be a Windows 7 PC. With more than 1,400 Windows 7 PC models available, it’s easy to understand why the numbers are so strong. If you look at all of the amazing hardware our partners are bringing to market from All-in-One PCs to ultrathins, netbooks, notebooks, screaming gaming rigs, the range of PCs with Windows 7 is virtually limitless. There is truly a Windows 7 PC for everyone.

The Windows platform represents the broadest ecosystem of developers in the world from casual games to the most powerful software running the world’s biggest organizations. There are over four million Windows applications in all, and Windows 7 allows software to become even better. Developers are creating rich applications that take advantage of the new technologies in 7. Our partners have delivered over 800,000 new unique Windows 7 applications exploiting these new technologies with over 240,000 new devices, peripherals, and machines just since we delivered the beta release.

This all includes an unprecedented array of products that take advantage of new capabilities, platform capabilities like voice, touch, GPS sensing, graphics, social communication, streaming media, and much more, which are available for industry innovation in Windows 7. The quality, the value, and the choice in Windows PCs simply can’t be matched on any other platform. And looking back on the past year, it’s clear that Windows 7 really is a rising tide that has helped lift many boats in our business. But rather than just sit here and talk, talk, talk about what we’re delivering, we’d like to show you what is now available or coming soon.

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About the Windows 7 Jump list

Rebecca Deutsch, a senior program manager, helped develop ‘Jump List,’ a new Windows 7 feature that lets users skip needless steps and save time.

The senior program manager loves her job connecting spokes and keeping the wheel turning. For Windows 7, the wheel Deutsch helped turn was to develop a brand new feature that allows users to more quickly jump to frequently used destinations.

The Windows 7 Jump List feature quickly transports a user to frequently or recently used files, Web sites and more.

Click for larger image.

Called a Jump List, the feature is activated when a user right-clicks certain icons in the taskbar or hovers over icons in the Start menu. The Jump List window then pops up with links to transport the user to frequently or recently used documents, files, Web sites and more.

“It starts working automatically as you start using Windows 7, opening files,” Deutsch says. “Creating new files, visiting Web sites, creating folders, playing music—all of your actions contribute to the knowledge of the system to be able to compile the things that are used the most. With the Jump List, accessing the things you use most is just another click away.”

Deutsch, who interned twice on Microsoft’s Windows team as a Carnegie Mellon University student, joined the company as an employee after graduating. More than five years later, she still enjoys working on the “pieces that make up the cornerstones of what the Windows operating system means to users.” The News Center asked her about working on Windows 7.

The News Center: What feature did you work on for Windows 7, and what does it do?

Deutsch: I worked on a couple of different areas. The Jump List feature was a lot of my focus. I also worked on the Start menu in Windows 7, which was not changed too radically but had some maintenance and targeted feature improvement, like adding the Jump List.

The News Center: What is a Jump List, and how does it work?

Deutsch: The real core of it is getting you to your end destination as quickly and efficiently as possible. You’re not launching Word to see the blank document. Often, what you’re really trying to do is get to your content, task, Web site, file, album, or whatever it is. The idea of the Jump List is to reduce all those extra steps that you used to have to do to get to your end goal.

The News Center: What was a typical day like working on Windows 7?

Deutsch: That’s a really hard question to answer, especially for a project manager. Our job changes a lot as you go through the product cycle.

During planning, it’s back-to-back meetings talking with small groups hashing out ideas and proposals. As you move into development, the day becomes a lot more about closing the door and sitting heads-down to hammer out the feature specifications on a page so that developers and testers can have a concrete document to work on of what they need to build.

I sometimes think of my job as being the center of a wheel with a lot of different spokes, and I need to make sure the whole wheel is turning together, going in the right direction, and getting there on time.

The News Center: Was teamwork important to the Jump List feature?

Deutsch: Hugely. We had a really strong feature team that spanned across all the disciplines working together. Really, from day one we were doing brainstorms and planning meetings, and all the pieces were very critical and needed to work all together through planning and development. Beyond that, there was also a great collaboration across the project managers on our team because a lot of the pieces hinged together. A Jump List isn’t something that can live on its own, being part of the taskbar and part of the Start menu.

Continue at Source: Giving Windows 7 Users a Jump Ahead Rebecca Deutsch, a senior program manager, helped develop ‘J

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