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Windows Live Wave 4 Beta May Wash Up on Shore This Week

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:31:40 -0500

ArsTechnica passes along a rumor that the next release of Microsoft's Windows Live, Wave 4, may reach beta status this week. Details are scarce, but Softpedia points out that Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4 Milestone 1, which offers a number of new features, has been live since mid-September.

When will Windows Live Wave 4 Beta shed the beta tag? ArsTechnica has run a Japanese blog entry about Wave 4 through a couple of online translators, with the rather fractured results pointing to a spring to summer 2010 target. Stay clicked to MaximumPC.com for more information.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta Adds Windows 7 Support and More

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:34:18 -0500

With Windows 7 coming down the pike in less than a month, it's time for Microsoft to update its Windows Home Server product to support new features in Windows 7, such as Libraries and image-based backup. Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (now available in beta via Microsoft Connect) provides the Windows 7 support Windows Home Server needs, but that's not all that's new.

What's New in Power Pack 3 for Windows 7 Users?

Because Windows Home Server is designed to provide a Windows-ready back end for backup and file organization on a home network, many of the changes in Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 add Windows 7 compatibility. These include:

Windows 7 library support, including Windows Search 4 integration to enable WHS to search libraries and EFS (encrypted) files
Windows 7 Action Center backup integration
Windows 7 power settings support for scheduled backup

...and Everyone Else?

Other improvements include:

More reliable file restore and image restore
Improved backup repair
Support for displays with resolutions as low as 1024x600
Automatic TV recording archiving from Windows Media Center to Windows Home Server in your choice of formats
Console view of Windows Home Server from within Windows Media Center

So, how soon will "beta" become "production?" According to the Windows Home Server blog (a great way to keep track of the latest news on WHS0, the production version should be ready by the end of 2009. See the Microsoft Connect intro site to learn more about joining the program.

Windows 7 Test Updates, the Sequel

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:24:20 -0500

This week, Microsoft is releasing another series of test (aka "fake") updates for Windows 7 (Redmond released test updates for Windows 7 Beta 1 back in February). As with the test updates for Windows 7 Beta 1, the test updates for Windows 7 RC are designed to make sure that the Windows 7 update mechanism is working properly.

The release started Tuesday, so you may already have some test updates set to arrive on your system. Most will install automatically, but KB970420 must be installed manually through Windows Update. According to PC World, as many as ten test updates may be sent. Look for the phrase "Test Update" when you review Windows Update history.

Speaking of Windows Update and Windows 7 RC, 32-bit users should make sure they've installed the update referred to in KB970789, released late last week. This fixes a major show-stopping bug affecting folders created under the root folder and the applications that try to access them.

Rushing to Get Windows 7 RC? Redmond Says "Relax"

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:54:35 -0500

Microsoft's latest Windows version, Windows 7, has already proven to be too popular for the Internet's own good. Back in January, Microsoft planned to offer the Windows 7 beta to only 2.5 million lucky downloaders over a two-week period, but that didn't last long. As servers crashed under the weight of digital "gold rush" fever, Redmond extended the date to February 10th while lifting the download cap.

This time, with early demand for Windows 7 RC from TechNet and MSDN members crashing servers at the end of April, Microsoft is telling the public to relax:

You don't need to rush to get the RC. The RC will be available at least through July 2009 and we're not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time.

You can get an additional product key here.

Another tip: back up your data before installing the RC - and don't test the RC on a primary home or business PC.

And, I'd add, don't expect a bulletproof restore if you used the Windows 7 Beta's Backup and Restore Center to create a file backup. I had problems with restoring my files with the Restore function, but was able to retrieve my files by extracting them from the .ZIP files created by Backup and Restore Center. I had hundreds of backup files, and found that the open-source 7-Zip File Manager is a great way to extract multiple files. I extracted the files to a folder on my desktop, used 7-Zip's auto-renamer feature to deal with duplicate files, and dragged the folders containing my files to the appropriate locations in my user folders.

How has your experience with Windows 7 RC been so far? Hit Comment to share your war stories, tales of woe, tips, and tricks.

More About XP Mode for Windows 7

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:58:29 -0500

Tuesday, Microsoft clarified exactly what Windows 7 users will need if they want to run XP Mode (officially known as XP Virtual Machine). Although it appeared initially that XP Mode would include Windows XP SP3, Cnet's Ina Fried reports that users will need to supply their own licensed copies of Windows XP SP3 to go along with the free XP Mode download for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions.

As we reported Monday, XP Mode will indeed require hardware virtualization support in the processor, meaning that low-end processors as well as some older mid-range and high-end processors from Intel and AMD won't support XP Mode. Microsoft also states that computers will need at least 2GB of memory to run XP Mode. Thankfully, potential XP Mode users won't need to wait until after Windows 7 ships to see if XP Mode works for them: Fried states that Microsoft will roll out a beta of XP Mode at the same time as Windows 7 RC - May 5th for most of us.

So, who exactly is XP Mode designed for? If you haven't guessed already, it's designed for businesses using Windows XP. Here's why (from the Microsoft PressPass Q&A):

Windows XP Mode is best suited for older business and productivity applications such as accounting, inventory and similar applications. Windows XP Mode is not aimed at consumers because many consumer applications require extensive use of hardware interfaces such as 3-D graphics, audio, and TV tuners that do not work well under virtualization today.

In other words, if you want hardcore gaming on Windows XP, virtualization is not for you.

If you need to manage XP Mode on your business PCs, though, Microsoft is rolling out an update to its MED-V management tool for Virtual PC. MED-V 2.0 will be available in beta form within 90 days of the general release of Windows 7.

Keep tuned to Maximumpc.com for more about Windows 7 RC and XP Mode.

Prepare for an RC, Windows 7 Style

Mark Edward Soper — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:14:02 -0500

Recent postings on the Microsoft Partners website suggest that Redmond's about to pour a refreshing glass of Win7 RC the first full week of May.

Although the Microsoft Partner Program page that Neowin.com posted last week has since been updated to remove the Download Windows 7 RC button, the newest version of the page now notes that May 7 (two days after the reported public release of Windows 7 RC noted in the earlier version) will be Windows 7 Virtual Partner Readiness Day.

Does this indicate that Microsoft is delaying the public release of Windows 7 RC by a couple of days? We won't know until later, but early May continues to look like RC time.

Artwork based in part on RC logo courtesy of Hot August Blues Festival.

Windows 7: More Secure, Less Annoying

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:05:03 -0500

Windows 7 brings enterprises more security with less annoyance, says Paul Cook, director of Microsoft's Windows Client Enterprise Security, Cnet reports. Cook's remarks come as the annual RSA security conference opens.

How much less annoying? 29% fewer UAC prompts, according to Cook, and UAC can be fine-tuned to meet any Windows 7's user's requirements.

But there's more to Windows 7 security than a less nagging UAC:

Corporate users who run both Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate and Windows Server 2008 R2 will appreciate DirectAccess, which enables remote users of Windows 7 connecting to a Windows Server 2008 R2 server to get a secure connection without the hassle of traditional VPN configuration. DirectAccess can also be used to manage network clients.

BranchCache is another Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate feature designed to work with Windows Server 2008 R2 to improve network responsiveness.

BitLocker gets a major makeover in these editions of Windows 7 as well with the introduction of BitLocker to Go. BitLocker to Go provides full-disk encryption for removable-media drives such as USB flash memory devices. It also enables Windows XP and Windows Vista users read-only access for data sharing through the BitLocker to Go Reader application. The reader is installed to BitLocker-encrypted removable media by default, but users wil still need the appropriate password or credentials to open the files.

Another new feature in Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate is AppLocker, which is designed to prevent unlicensed or unauthorized software from chewing through network bandwidth and provides for better system management. AppLocker is configured through Group Policy.

Learn more about these and other Windows 7 security features, as well as some tricks users of other Windows 7 versions can use to be more secure, by visiting the Windows Team blog and the Windows Security blog. What's your favorite Windows 7 security feature? Hit Comment and speak up.

Want an Easy Upgrade to Win 7 RC? Upgrade from Vista, not Win 7 Beta

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:14:08 -0500

That's the message that Microsoft announced today on its Engineering Windows 7 blog, Cnet's Ina Fried reports.

While Microsoft says you can upgrade from Win7 Beta to RC when it becomes available, it prefers that you upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 RC. Why? As the E7 blog entry points out:

The RC...is about getting breadth coverage to validate the product in real-world scenarios. As a result, we want to encourage you to revert to a Vista image and upgrade or to do a clean install, rather than upgrade the existing Beta. We know that means reinstalling, recustomizing, reconfiguring, and so on. That is a real pain. The reality is that upgrading from one pre-release build to another is not a scenario we want to focus on because it is not something real-world customers will experience.

This reasoning makes sense from Redmond's standpoint, but since the same blog post acknowledges that millions of users (including, I bet, a lot of Maximumpc.com fans) are using Windows 7 Beta as their "full time" operating system, Microsoft has outlined a way to bypass the usual installer checks. Here's how, direct from the E7 blog entry (which also includes a screen shot for Steps 4 and 5):

Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.
Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run the upgrade from (a bootable flash drive or a directory on any partition on the machine running the pre-release build).
Browse to the sources directory.
Open the file cversion.ini in a text editor like Notepad.
Modify the MinClient build number to a value lower than the down-level build. For example, change 7100 to 7000.
Save the file in place with the same name.
Run setup like you would normally from this modified copy of the image and the version check will be bypassed.

Note that Microsoft warns that "If you do follow the steps below, you might run across some oddities after upgrade," such as needing to reinstall some devices.

When Windows 7 RC is released, what are your plans? Are you going to try the beta to RC upgrade method, or go back to Vista and upgrade it to RC? Hit Comment and share your plans.