Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'Windows 7'

So you need to get that pinned?

bradley — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Starting to roll out the official producting Win7's and one of the interesting things is not all icons lend themselves to being "pinned". On our CCH tax icons I have to build "pinable" shortcuts. In particular I have to put the word explorer in front of the shortcut url and then I get the ability to pin it to the task bar.

How to Pin Special Windows Items to the Taskbar | Windows 7 Tutorials:
http://www.7tutorials.com/how-pin-special-windows-shortcuts-taskbar

Windows 7 – In the forums - Part 2

mikehall — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Upgraders to Windows 7 are not all having an easy time of it. Why? Some seem to be under the belief that upgrading to Windows 7 will make a Vista computer work better. It can, but..

There is a mistaken belief that Windows 7 is more compatible than Vista. Well, there is some truth in the statement, but it is more compatible with hardware and software because so many manufacturers finally produced Vista stuff in the end. Unfortunately, some of the manufacturers coded software and hardware drivers to be OS specific. So, we still have the situation where some Vista stuff will not work in Windows 7 because the manufacturers ensured that it wouldn’t.
The only systems which will upgrade and not be problematic at the end of the process are those where software and hardware drivers have not been specifically coded, and where the system is pretty much malware free.
Some upgraders, when told that their present anti-virus solution is not compatible, have uninstalled it and installed one that is accredited with being Windows 7 compatible, when really they should be upgrading with NO anti-virus solution running at all.
Some have been made aware that all is not compatible, but rather than back off and check for compatible stuff first, have gone ahead with the upgrade anyway.

Computers users who have chosen to clean install, and those who have no option because they are upgrading from XP, face similar problems. While a clean install will generally be less problematic, if there are no drivers and software patches available, the end result will be the same.

In my opinion, anybody considering a migration to the latest and greatest operating system should be prepared to go above and beyond, and accept that there may be additional costs incurred. If an upgrade/migration to the latest OS goes well and everything works as it should without incurring costs, think of it as a bonus, because the draw is very much in the lap of the gods.

Remember this: The only ‘ROLL- BACK’ option available after running an unsuccessful upgrade or migration is the original Vista/XP installation media.

The above is a very good case for waiting until there is a need for a new computer, and then purchasing one that has the new operating system already installed. At least everything contained in the case will work ok..

Windows 7 XP Mode RTM

erikr — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Quietly,without much fanfare Windows XP Mode (XPM) has RTMed.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx

What can XPM do for you?

Microsoft wants you to move to Windows 7. An obstacle for moving to Windows 7
is an application that is a necessity for a business or home that might not
run under Windows 7 (or Vista). Such legacy applications might not be supported
under the current compatibility settings and to make things worse, the company
that has developed the application is no longer in business or will not develop an application
that is supported by Windows 7. To resolve this problem XPM was developed.

In laymen’s terms XPM allows you to run a Windows XP environment on your Windows 7
system. Technically, you are running a virtualized OS over your Windows 7 host. Virtualization
is nothing new, so what’s so special about XPM?

XPM adds the following features to standard virtualization:

USB support – Yes,it’s finally here, USB support inside your virtual environment. You
can use your disk on key to save information and more importantly if your legacy application
is dependant on some type of USB security plug you are set.
One Click launch – With this feature, the usability experience of applications installed inside the virtual
environment becomes seamless. Once the application is installed, you can start it from your
host and it will appear as if it running directly on your host.

Installing XPM

Installing XPM is as simple as one,two, three and four...ok,that wasn’t funny, but the installation
is a very straightforward process. You navigate to the download page you follow the four steps
described there:

Verify that you need XPM- Windows 7 provides ample quantity of compatibility options. Before
you install XPM, you should verify whether they solve the issues that you are experiencing they provide
a simpler solution to your problems.
Verify that your PC supports XPM – To run XPM, your processor has to support hardware assisted
virtualization. To verify that this is the case, you should click the link provided at the second step of
the process (or click here) and run the application.The Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization
Detection Tool will verify whether your processor supports virtualization by providing the following output:

If you receive a different output from the application, please review the HAV Detection Tool - User Guide that
provide an interpretation of the outputs and provides information on how to rectify the situation (if possible).
Choose your OS and language – Please note that only Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate are
supported.
Start downloading:

Download XP Mode – The first download (and installation package) weighs ~500 MB and contains a VHD of
a preinstalled Windows XP (SP3) system.
Download Virtual PC – Yes, you are downloading Virtual PC.

Start the installation – Yes, it’s actually a five step process…I lied:

Install XP Mode – You should start with installing XP Mode:
Install Virtual PC – This comes in the form of a standard update and will require a restart.

Configure XPM

Once you are done with downloading and installing you should start XPM, by opening the Start menu and writing
’XP Mode’ in the search bar.

When you start XPM for the first time you have to configure it:

Read and accept the license agreement.
The second screen is confusing in my opinion:

Installation folder – XPM uses two virtual hard drives. The first hard drive is the parent VHD which you
downloaded in step 4 of the previous section. This VHD contains the basic installation of Windows XP (SP3),
and is never changed.The second virtual hard drive is called a differencing virtual disk. The differencing disk
contains all the changes that are done to the system (e.g. saved data, newly installed applications,etc.).
The differencing disk is always dependent on it’s parent. When you set the path in the installation folder
you actually set the location of the differencing disk.
XPMUser – This is the account that will be used to log-on to the virtual Windows XP machine. If you would
like to refrain from entering these credential every time you start an application running on XPM make sure
to check the ‘Remember credentials (Recommended)’ checkbox.

Updates – As with any OS, you should make sure that XPM is fully updated, unless one of the updates
breaks the application you are trying to use.
Shared folders – When installing XPM you provide it access to the host systems folders. This might pose a security
threat on your system, and you should make sure that applications installed inside XPM are trusted. On the other hand,
in most cases you meant to install these application on your host anyway so the threat isn’t that big. If for some reason
you are still worried you will be able to remove the sharing later on.
During the installation a short tutorial is displayed (note the progress bar at the bottom of the page).
Upon completion of the installation, Virtual PC opens with Windows XP (SP3) loaded.

Using XPM

At this stage you are set and you can start using XPM. Note that since this is a virtual system, you should treat it
as a standard system. The first thing that struck me odd that this system has no anti-virus software pre-installed.
I am assuming that this is due to legal limitations9although this is an open issue for me), so the first thing I did is
to install Microsoft Security Essentials on my XPM and then updated it.

The second step (and the reason for this whole adventure) is to install the application that I couldn’t run on
Windows 7. For this demonstration I have chosen ‘Word 6 for DOS’ as the problematic application. The following
steps are taken to install the application:

Copy the problematic application into the XPM. As you can see from the screenshot below all the drives
from my host machine ‘Transylvania7’ are mapped into the XPM.
I start the installation according to the applications basic instructions.
When the installation routine is complete, you can start the application and use it within the XPM.

Up to this point, I haven’t shown you anything that is new. What we have done here, you could have achieved in
the past. The major change with XPM is that you can run the application you just installed seamlessly from your
Windows 7 desktop.

Log off from the XPM and close it by clicking the red X on the top right of the window. Note that the system is hibernated.

To do this, you need to open the Start menu and enter the name of the application installed within XPM in the
search field. We actually installed two applications:

Microsoft Security Essentials
Word 6 for DOS.

The results for Security Essentials are show below:

As you can see , I have this application installed both on my host and inside XPM. The on inside XPM has the suffix
of ‘(Windows XP Mode)’. When I choose the XPM Security Essentials, they system is woken from hibernation
and a seamless window is opened, showing the application:

Note the XP styled window and the Virtual PC icon on the taskbar. And additional thing to note is that since Security
Essentials is a ‘resident’ application, it’s icon from tray inside XPM is also displayed by tray on the host(this became kind
of an issue later on).

When you close the application the virtual environment will be hibernated again, please note that all processes communicating
with the host have to be closed for the system to be hibernated(hence the issue).

The missing Word 6 for DOS

Security Essentials seems to be working fine, yet once we try to run Word 6 for DOS from the host, it seems to be missing.
XPM publishes applications by monitoring the start menu, when it identifies that an application has placed a shortcut on the
start menu it will publish it to the host. Word 6 for DOS didn’t create a shortcut for itself on the start menu hence the
problem.

In this case, we will create a shortcut for Word 6 inside the XPM and drop it on the Start menu. Once done, we will log off
the XPM and turn it off(hibernate it).

Once done, when searching for Word we will see the published shortcut which we can use to start the application:

Advanced Configuration

To be able to access the more advanced settings of XPM, you have to first shut it down (note that until now you
have only logged-off and hibernated the system. To shut XPM down use the following steps:

Start XPM.
Choose the Ctrl+Alt+Del option from the menu on top
In the ‘Windows Security’ window choose the ‘Shut Down’ button
Choose ‘Shutdown’ from the drop down list

Once the system has been shut down, open the Start menu and choose ‘Manage Virtual Machines’.

Right click ‘Windows XP Mode’ and choose settings. The first setting enables you to change the name
of the VM and add notes to it.

The Memory branch will enable you to change the quantity of RAM used by the VM. Since the XPM uses Windows
XP 32bit you can’t use more then 3.7GB.

The Hard Disk 1 branch will display the locations of the hard drives set during setup (parent and differencing). You
can change their locations from here.

In addition to that, by using the ‘Modify’ button, you can either merge or compact the differencing VHD. Compacting
might be useful since it will shrink the size of the VHD by removing unused space from the file.

The DVD drive branch enables you to configure which DVD is tied into XPM.

Integration features define the relationship between you host system and the XPM. One of those relationships
is the mapping of the hard drives from your host into XPM.

Logon credentials enables you to set the account that will be used for the autologon feature and to remove
the password from being stored.

Auto publish enables you to control whether the system will automatically publish applications installed within
the XPM.

Conclusions

The goal of this post was to scratch the surface of XPM by reviewing it’s usability options. I ended up going
a lot deeper then I planned since this is without doubt a complex feature that is based on existing and used
technology but with a twist. after I wrote this post I still have several questions that need to answered such
as how does XPM treat AV software…Once I installed it everything seemed to be fine but I noticed that I could
no longer make XPM go away since it’s real time protection kept the system alive. After removing the AV software
the Security Center kept XPM alive since it was warning me that my computer is at risk…Well, I guess I still have
to work that one out.

Upgrade to Windows 7 in 3 Easy Steps!

kwsupport — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I have been testing and doing presentations on Windows 7 for over 6 months. With Windows 7 officially release, it was time for me to step up to the plate, and move my production workstation over to Windows 7. This is the same workstation that I wrote about two years ago when I made the switch from XP to Vista.

So last night I took the plunge and did an in-place upgrade (IPU) of my Vista Ultimate desktop to Windows 7 Ultimate. Yes, I know there are those who will say that a wipe and clean is the only way to do it (see my blog post about it). However, my experience is that there will be lot's of people who will want (or need) to do an in-place upgrade, and the only way for me to give it a thumbs up or down was to do it myself.

OK, so how did the upgrade go for me? In one word -- FANTASTIC! The in-place upgrade went smoothly. And all my favorite and important applications are running flawlessly. So, I can wholeheartedly recommend an IPU if all prerequisites are followed. Is a wipe and clean preferred? You betcha. But an IPU can be very successful.

UPGRADING TO WINDOWS 7 IN THREE EASY STEPS:

System: Dell Optiplex 745 / 2.2Ghz Intel 6400 Core 2 / 4GB memory / 250GB primary C: drive

Run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, and fix whatever is identified. For me, there were a couple of program and utilities (like iTunes) that needed to be uninstalled ahead of time.
Backup your system. For me, I did a backup to my Windows Home Server, and I did a second backup using StorageCraft ShadowProtect. Why two backups? Because I firmly believe you can't have enough backups!
Upgrade to Windows 7. Since this was an in-place upgrade, you run the upgrade straight from Vista. Please note: the upgrade process will take several hours to complete.

P.S. You may find your upgrade process hanging up during the "Expanding Windows" phase. Apparently different things may or may not cause this, including a bad DVD. Some people suggest putting the Windows 7 installation DVD onto a thumbdrive, which I may try for my next upgrade,

Windows 7 Rocks!

Dear Windows 7 people:

bradley — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Thank you for making the packaging of the Windows 7 boxes easier to get into. I no longer have to take a knife, and make the sounds of "Psycho" and hack into the Windows Vista packaging. Invariably then I would break the hinge causing the contents of the box to spill out on the floor. Windows 7 boxes are an easy open.

But.

Here's the but... and where you need to do better.

The keycode inside the box has to be the smallest font I've ever seen you use on a Keycode. it's worse than the codes on the HP and Dell computer stickers which are ALWAYS stuck on the bottom of the computers where you have to crawl on the floor with a magnifying glass to see them.

Add to the fact that years of using computers means that I need reading glasses and the fact that the rest of the population is aging just like I am, I'm not sure using the smallest font I've ever seen you use on a keycode is the wisest thing.

When you do Windows 8, would you mind considering a
bigger font on the keycode for Windows 8 please?

Thank you.

¿En qué consiste una versión localizada de Windows Vista/7? [Parte I]

dmartin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Una práctica que era común en el desarrollo de software de hace unos años consistía en mezclar el código fuente de la aplicación junto con cadenas de texto y otros recursos (iconos, imágenes, etc.). El siguiente diagrama lo explica gráficamente:

Conforme el mercado comenzó a globalizarse fue surgiendo la necesidad de traducir aplicaciones a múltiples idiomas, y por ende este método acabó siendo completamente descartado por los siguientes motivos:

Para traducir una aplicación primero hay que crear una o más copias de su código fuente, con el consecuente coste añadido que supone el mantenerlas.
Los traductores, que por lo general no tienen conocimientos de programación, tienen que manipular el código fuente para traducir las cadenas de texto. Esto puede introducir errores en el funcionamiento de la aplicación.

Es en esta época cuando el uso de una versión en inglés (o en el idioma nativo de la empresa que desarrollara ese programa) sí podía ofrecer ciertas ventajas con respecto al resto de idiomas. La posibilidad de introducir errores en el código mientras se traducía un programa no era algo descabellado, todo ello debido a que la separación entre código fuente y cadenas de texto dependientes del idioma era insuficiente (en este caso particular, inexistente).

Las versiones de Windows anteriores a Vista introdujeron una nueva arquitectura de localización de binarios, con el objetivo de separar el código fuente (las instrucciones que acaba ejecutando el computador) de las cadenas de texto (mensajes informativos, errores, iconos, etc.).

Si bien esta arquitectura es válida y sigue siendo usada por muchísimas aplicaciones hoy en día, presenta algunas deficiencias que se magnifican en una empresa del tamaño de Microsoft: Por ejemplo, si se detecta un fallo de seguridad en un binario y se quiere desarrollar una actualización de seguridad al respecto, como el código fuente y las cadenas de texto están en el mismo fichero (pese a estar separados entre sí), sería necesario generar un par de decenas o más de actualizaciones de seguridad, una para cada idioma en el que está disponible Windows. Esto retarda innecesariamente el desarrollo de actualizaciones de seguridad en varios idiomas, pues por lo general los errores de seguridad afectan únicamente al código de la aplicación, no a las cadenas de texto y otros recursos que pudiera contener.

Con Windows Vista se rediseñó en profundidad la arquitectura MUI (Multilingual User Interface) que ya estaba presente en la versión Professional de Windows XP (entre otros) para que las cadenas de texto y el código de las aplicaciones estuviera completamente separado, esto es, en ficheros diferentes.

Esta arquitectura MUI introducida con Windows Vista no solo beneficia a Microsoft y al usuario, que ya puede instalar un paquete de idiomas en una versión de Windows que no esté en inglés, también beneficia a los desarrolladores de aplicaciones, pues por fín disponen de una arquitectura proporcionada por el sistema operativo para manejar recursos en múltiples idiomas, sin ser ya necesario que se construyan una desde cero.

¿Qué ocurre al instalar Windows Vista/7?

En un artículo de mi antiguo blog tengo un artículo que explica resumidamente en qué consisten las fases de la instalación de Windows Vista. Básicamente lo que ocurre es que en primer lugar se instalan los binarios del sistema (independientes del idioma), y seguidamente se instala uno o varios paquetes de idiomas. Como ve, el inglés no recibe ningún tipo de trato preferencial, se le trata como un idioma más. La fase correspondiente a la instalación del paquete de idiomas inicial se realiza durante la fase "Instalando características".

En Windows Vista la herramienta encargada de instalar un paquete de idiomas es la denominada Package Manager (Pkgmgr.exe). En Windows 7, se usa la herramienta Dism (Deployment Image Servicing and Imaging), que integra todas las funcionalidades de Package Manager y de otras herramientas igualmente relacionadas con la administración de imágenes de instalación.

En este primer artículo se ha explicado cómo ha ido evolucionando la localización del software a lo largo del tiempo y se ha aclarado que en Windows Vista y Windows 7 los binarios están completamente separados de las cadenas de texto, con las ventajas que esto conlleva. Esto implica también que Vista/7 sean sistemas idependientes del idioma en el que se utilicen; el inglés es un idioma como otro cualquiera.

En un siguiente artículo se explicará en detalle en qué consiste exactamente un paquete de idiomas y qué es lo que conforma la infraestructura MUI de Windows Vista/7. Se explicará también cómo el sistema obtiene los recursos en el idioma establecido por el usuario. Este aspecto puede ser importante para la gente que le interese saber cómo solucionar problemas con Windows, pues me he encontrado con algún que otro sistema cuyo síntoma es que una determinada aplicación no muestra ningún tipo de interfaz gráfica (es decir, no se abre) y cuya causa es una configuración incorrecta de los recursos MUI de ese sistema.

Windows 7 Product Guide

erikr — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The Windows 7 product guide is a straightforward document that everyone can use
to understand how windows 7 can improve their productivity. This guide is at the
user level so it will be tangible by the majority of people.

Personally I found several tips in it, one of them is that by using the following combo
you can run an application in Admin mode: Ctrl+***+Double left Click on a taskbar
item.

Windows 7 Product Guide Download

Tips sobre upgrade a Windows 7 para personas no expertas

lalfaro — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Varios clientes, hacen la consulta sobre qué pasos deben hacer para generar el upgrades de Windows XP/Vista a Windows 7, me puse a pensar y creo que estos pasos son los más sanos para alguna persona que no sea experto en temas de computación.

1. Verificar los spec´s de su PC. Las maquinas que ya tienen corriendo Windows Vista como su sistema operativo no deberían de tener problemas, pero si su máquina está usando Windows XP, lo más seguro que van a tener problemas de compatibilidad. Antes de pensar en hacer el Upgrade a Windows 7, deben de hacer un backup de su “system drive” (normalmente c:\ ) hacia algun USB o DVD, de esta forma si las cosas salieran mal, pueden restaurar su sistema operativo antiguo.

2. Windows 7 soportara muchas cosas al momento de ser instalado, pero después de la instalación puede que algún feature deje de funcionar, por lo tanto deben de hacer una lista y verificar si la solución está en los siguientes pasos:

3. Si algunas aplicaciones o features de la PC no están trabajando como deben, es recomendable que descarguen los drivers de las fechas más recientes de ATI o Nvidia, igualmente para Creative Labs y los fabricantes más comunes de PC. Deben de verificar que los drivers estén probados en Windows 7.

4. Ahora deben de revisar lo siguiente, el teclado, mouse y monitor deben de funcionar bien, pero siempre es bueno verificar actualizaciones de los mismos para Windows 7. También deberán asegurarse que tengan los drivers más recientes para su impresora, scaner y cualquier hardware que se conecte por medio de USB hacia su PC.

5. Por último, aplicaciones antiguas y juegos de PC puedan que no funcionen para Windows 7. Diferente que Windows Vista, es posible correr software muy antiguo, deben de leer sobre XP Mode en Windows 7, lo cual utiliza una maquina virtual para correr Windows XP sobre Windows 7.

Windows 7 es un gran producto de Microsoft, disfrútenlo.

Un Saludo,

Buying Windows 7 via download

erikr — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A few days ago we discussed the option of being able to download Windows 7 instead
of getting a box and DVD…well, I guess it didn’t take long(Microsoft Store):

Windows 7 … c’est parti !

Mtoo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Microsoft n’a pas fait d’événement aussi énorme que pour Windows Vista (cf photos ici) mais le Windows café qui vient d’ouvrir à Paris a été inauguré hier soir était un des nombreux mini événements qui ont ponctué la journée.

Le Windows Café est ouvert jusqu’au 31 Décembre et vous pouvez y aller du Mardi au Samedi de 11h30 à 20h.

Voici un certain nombre d’évènements qui s’y dérouleront :

Bonne visite

Laurent Gébeau – www.toutwindows.com