NewsEngineering Windows 7 for Faster Boot Performance
Posted 09/04/08 at 09:58:05 PM by Mark Edward Soper
What can be done to help Windows 7 boot faster? According to Windows Fundamentals feature team leader Michael Fortin, blogging on the e7 (Engineering Windows 7) blog. a clean install isn't necessarily the way to go:
As the system [running Windows Vista SP1] arrived to us, the off-the-shelf configuration had a ~45 second boot time. Performing a clean install of Vista SP1 on the same system produced a consistent ~23 second boot time. Of course, being a clean install, there were many fewer processes, services and a slightly different set of drivers (mostly the versions were different). However, we were able to take the off-the-shelf configuration and optimize it to produce a consistent boot time of ~21 seconds, ~2 seconds faster than the clean install because some driver/BIOS changes could be made in the optimized configuration.
Fortin identifies a number of design goals for Windows 7 to help it achieve a high percentage of "very good" boot times (under 15 seconds), including:
- Reducing the number of system services
- Reducing the demand that system services make on CPU, disk, and memory resources
- Device and driver optimization
- BIOS optimization
- Improving parallelism of driver initialization (enabling multiple drivers to be installed at the same time)
- Faster prefeching optimized for both traditional and SSD hard disks
Fortin's comments suggest that Microsoft is working very closely with system vendors to help assure that Windows 7 works well in typical preconfigured systems. Hopefully, Microsoft has learned a lot from the vast difference in performance between clean installs of Windows Vista and systems cluttered with OEM products not optimized for Vista.
Don't want to wait for Windows 7 to get faster boot times? Fortin also discusses analyzing systems with the Windows Performance Toolkit for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, available here.
How do you define fast boot time? When is a system "ready to go?" Give us your thoughts after the jump.
NewsA Closer Look at Windows 7's Approach to System Performance
Posted 08/29/08 at 10:44:02 AM by Mark Edward Soper
The Engineering Windows 7 (aka "e7") blog at MSDN is providing us with a useful look at how the performance of Windows 7 is being analyzed in this week's blog post. So, what are the major subsystems being analyzed? Some of them include:
- Memory usage: trying to balance time versus space (disk, memory)
- CPU utilization: keep it as low as possible to improve multi-user scenarios and reduce power consumption
- Disk I/O: reading, writing, paging performance for both traditional and solid-state drives
- Boot, Shutdown, Standby/Resume: working with system vendors to make these operations as fast as possible
- Base system: balancing "on-demand" loading of resources with the need to keep performance at as high a level as possible
- Disk footprint: working with the space demands of device drivers, help system, optional components, diagnostics, and logging information
To learn more about how Microsoft is performance-testing Windows 7, and how your comments can help shape Windows 7, join us after the jump.
NewsWindows Updates WGA Notifications for XP Pro
Posted 08/28/08 at 12:29:13 PM by Paul Lilly
Starting this week, Microsoft will update the way its Windows Genuine Advantage behaves. The first change will come in how WGA keeps itself updated, with MS saying "in this release we've also added the ability for future updates to WGA Notifications to have both the validation logic, as well as new forms of notifications, installed without additional steps."
But the biggest change comes to how WGA handles installations that fail to pass validation. Taking somewhat of a cue from Vista, users sporting a copy of Windows flagged as non-genuine will be greeted to a plain black background. Users will still be given the ability to change the background to whatever it was before, but every 60 minutes the desktop will go back to black until Windows passes validation.
In addition, Microsoft plans to add a "persistent desktop notification." Similar to a watermark, the non-interactive notification will appear permanently over the system tray as a reminder that the copy didn't pass validation. Users won't be able to click, move, or otherwise manipulate the notification, but it will be translucent over desktop items, and stay hidden under open windows.
Will this latest effort curb software piracy, or is WGA a bad idea to begin with?
NewsLinux is Under Attack!
Posted 08/27/08 at 10:43:55 AM by Paul Lilly
Some Linux users are getting a feel for what it's like to be one of the Windows faithful, as the open source community looks to be under siege. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has issued a warning for "active attacks" against Linux-based infrastructures using compromised SSH keys.
Specifics remain scarce, but the attacks appear to use stolen SSH keys to gain access to a system, after which time the attacker uses local kernel exploits to gain root access and install a rootkit called phalanx2.
"Phalanx2 appears to be a derivative of an older rootkit named "phalanx". Phalanx2 and the support scripts within the rootkit, are configured to systematically steal SSH keys from the compromised system. These SSH keys are sent to the attackers, who then use them to try to compromise other sites and other systems of interest at the attacked site."
The US-CERT has outlined ways Linux users can reduce the risk of attack, as well as what steps should be taken if a compromise is already confirmed.
NewsChoose Your Poison: Justin Long or Jerry Seinfeld as OS Pitchman
Posted 08/21/08 at 12:21:37 PM by Paul Lilly
We can all agree that the Mac commercials blasting all things PC (most of which revolve around Microsoft's Vista OS) aren't always accurate, but few outside the PC loyal would argue they're not funny. Or at least they used to be - there are only so many times you can watch Justin Long remind the world what a supposed hip computer user looks and dresses like.
Now it's Microsoft's turn, but rather than try to redefine 'cool,' it's reportedly going back in time a decade to snag an instantly recognizable spokesman who's most recent celebrity role involved a voice over for a talking bee. According to The Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen for Microsoft's new $300 million advertising campaign, in which Bill Gates will also appear. Also fresh from the rumor mill, look for the new slogan "Windows, Not Walls."
The new ads are likely to debut on September 4th. Lulz?
NewsRedmond Offers a Peek Behind the Windows 7 Curtain with New Blog
Posted 08/15/08 at 07:47:57 PM by Mark Edward Soper
Wondering what's going on inside the mystery that we call "Windows 7?" You could do worse than dropping in from time to time on the brand-new Engineering Windows 7 blog hosted at MSDN.
E7, as its co-authors, Windows 7 product senior engineering managers, Jon DeVann and Steven Sinofsky, call it, is aimed at the "...audience of enthusiasts, bloggers, and those that are the most passionate about Windows..."
DeVann and Sinofsky (learn more about them at the ArsTechnica article about E7) make some big promises in their "Welcome to Engineering Windows 7" blog entry:
We strongly believe that success for Windows 7 includes an open and honest, and two-way, discussion about how we balance all of these interests and deliver software on the scale of Windows. We promise and will deliver such a dialog with this blog.
....
Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to “promise and deliver”. That’s our goal—share with you what we’re going to get done, why we’re doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time.
Can they deliver - not just on the expectations we have for Windows 7, but on the promise to keep us in the loop during the run-up to RTM? Find out what others have to say about that, and get your chance to speak up after the jump.
NewsAugust's Patch Tuesday Brings Lots of Security Updates Your Way
Posted 08/12/08 at 10:17:16 PM by Mark Edward Soper
It's a super-sized Patch Tuesday this month, and here's what to expect Windows Update to be sending you in the next day or so (if not already). Follow the links if you prefer to install the updates immediately.
Critical updates include:
- A fix for a remote code execution vulnerability in Windows Image Color Management affects users running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000 SP4 (Windows Vista users can breathe easy on this one).
- A fix for a sextet of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 5.01, 6, and 7 affects users of Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008.
- A fix for a remote code execution vulnerability in the ActiveX control for Microsoft Access's snapshot viewer affects Office 2000 SP3, Office XP SP3, and Office 2003 SP2 and SP3 (Office 2007 users, you ducked this one).
- A fix for a quartet of privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel. Versions from Office 2000 SP3 all the way through Office 2007 as well as viewers, Share Point Server, and compatibility packs are affected.
- A fix for a trio of privately reported remote code execution vulnerabilities in PowerPoint and PowerPoint Viewer affects PowerPoint XP, PowerPoint 2003, PowerPoint 2007, PowerPoint Viewer 2007, as well as Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for MacOS.
- A fix for five privately reported major vulnerabilities in handling image files in some versions of Office affects Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003 SP2, Project 2002 SP1, MS Office Converter Pack, and MS Works 8.
NewsMicrosoft R&D Looks To A World Without Windows
Posted 08/10/08 at 11:06:38 PM by Justin Kerr
It’s hard to imagine Windows, or some other rich operating system not being at the center of my digital word. But then again, 10 years ago it was hard to imagine having a digital world at all. Intense speculation over the future cloud computing and the explosion of platform agnostic web applications has lead Microsoft to officially kick off the new R&D project, code named Midori. Midori would be a cut back operating system that would be capable of keeping up with the pace of rapid innovation in a post Windows world. The biggest shift for Midori would be the move away from operating systems tied to a single PC. By contrast, the Windows platform is traditionally locked down to a particular set of hardware and trying to keep consistency across multiple PC’s or electronic devices is already proving to be a burden. Midori would free users from these shackles and recognizes that users of the future will be increasingly mobile. Midori is widely seen as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to catch up in the field of virtualization, an emerging trend in the computer industry. Users of the future will want a small, lightweight operating system they can take with them and use as a virtual client. The biggest challenge for Microsoft will be how it would cope financially without Windows. Michael A. Silver, a distinguished analyst at Gartner is quoted as saying “If Windows ends up being less important over time as applications become more OS agnostic where will Microsoft make its money?". Though it has yet to be officially confirmed, rumor has it that Midori will be the successor to Singularity, which is the OS following Windows 7. Though, with predictions this far into the future, I would recommend a consultation with your magic 8 ball before you place any bets.
What do you think the future holds?
Click the jump and let us know.
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