Windows 7 Transformation Pack Released
Apr 29, 2009 Windows 7
XP’s old looks have first been beautified with Vista’s sleek, shiny looks, and now it’s time to upgrade them with Windows 7’s set of visual improvements.
With Vista’s failure to capture the market’s attention, Microsoft didn’t want to reiterate that mistake and did its best to make out of Windows 7 what Vista should have been: a success. Even if 7 has raked a plethora of accolades from well known, trustworthy testers, there is still a percentage of skeptics that, although long for the sleek looks of the newer OSes released by Microsoft, cling with the utmost stubbornness to old, reliable XP, which for many has become obsolete or is rapidly heading towards this state.
The Windows 7 beauty session for your plain-looking but great-running XP takes 10 steps in which you have to opt for different enhancements, addressing aspects such as screen resolution, DPI setting, installation type, general system user interface for the Windows 7 look, system applications’ UI, Windows interface, installation of third-party apps necessary to bring XP’s looks closer to the latest OS fashion trend. Desktop enhancements and user account personalization are also present in the transformation procedure. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Windows 7
Windows 7 RC Build 7100 Leaked and Available for Download
Apr 24, 2009 Windows 7
Just a day after information on Windows 7 Build 7100 made it into the wild, the actual bits for the fully fledged Release Candidate of the next iteration of the Windows client have been leaked and are now available for download via torrent trackers. Meanwhile, Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny Build 7100 as the RC of Windows 7, but Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, did explain that
the radio silence from Redmond was catalyzed by the amount of work and focus on the development process. But while the Redmond company is keeping mum on Windows 7 Build 7100, any user with a BitTorrent client can already start playing with the Release Candidate bits.
So far only the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC Build 6.1.7100.0.winmain_win7rc .090421-1700 was leaked to torrent websites. The download weighs in at 2.35 GB and is available as an ISO image that has to be burnt on a DVD. As was the case with the vast majority of previous pre-release development milestones of Windows 7, the leaked RC Build 71000 offers the Ultimate SKU of the operating system. Testers can continue using the Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 product keys in order to activate the RC Build 7100 bits. Read the rest of this entry »
Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) Build 7100 Already Signed Off
Apr 23, 2009 Windows 7
Microsoft is making headway with the development of Windows 7 and closing on the availability of the first and only Release Candidate of the operating system. In this regard, the Redmond company has reportedly already signed off on Windows 7 RC. 7100.0.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700 is the full version of the Release Candidate bits for the next iteration of Windows. Microsoft has of course offered no official confirmation on the build string for Windows 7 RC Build 7100. The Redmond company has also not commented on self-leaked information that it has already made Windows 7 RC Build
7100 available to partners, and that MSDN and TechNet subscribers would be receiving the green light for downloads by the end of April with the public release planned for the first week in May.
Network Monitor 3.3 for Windows 7
Apr 23, 2009 Windows 7
Microsoft has made available for download what it is referring to as a complete overhaul of the previous version of the tool designed to allow protocol analysis on captured network traffic. Network Monitor 3.3 is also tailored to the next iteration of the Windows operating system. According to the Redmond company, both WWAN (mobile broadband) and Tunnel traffic can be captured by the tool on Windows 7. At the same time, the latest version of NetMon is set up to deliver Hyper-V support on Windows Server 2008.
“The Microsoft Network monitor team is excited to announce the release of Network Monitor 3.3. A record 7 months after version 3.2 this is our quickest release ever, but also one of our most functionality-rich. We have added some innovative features that will simplify your network troubleshooting needs. As always, we have also continued to fix bugs and improve the product in those little but important ways,” revealed Tawanda Sibanda, lead program manager for Network Monitor.
In addition to Windows 7 and Hyper-V support, Network Monitor 3.3 brings to the table a variety of new capabilities and features including: Right-click-add-to-alias, Right-click-go-to-definition, Autoscroll, Core Parser Set, ETL Support, Frame Commenting, and Experts. Read the rest of this entry »
Windows 7 RC on May 5, Windows 7 Build 7082 Already Here
Apr 22, 2009 Windows 7
The fully fledged Release Candidate of Windows 7 is planned for availability on May 5, 2009. Testers should not expect Windows 7 client RC alone, as Microsoft is also set to make available Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate also on May 5. The information was provided by the Microsoft Partner Program website, and indicated that the company’s partners as well as MSDN and TechNet subscribers could access the full RC bits of Windows 7 as of April 18. As far as MSDN and TechNet are concerned, I can confirm that subscribers continue to have access only to the Beta Build 7000 of Windows 7, and that the RC of the next iteration of Windows was not live at the time of this article. However, Microsoft continues to advance steadfast toward the signing-off of Windows 7 RC, and offered Build 7082 to select testers.
“We are pleased to announce that Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is available. Windows 7 RC is the prerelease version of Windows 7. Since this is not the final release, your PC will gather and send information to Microsoft engineers to help them check the fixes and changes made based on testing of Windows 7 Beta,” reads the message from Microsoft to partners, via Bink. “Test-drive Windows 7 RC today to see for yourself—and to show your colleagues and customers—how Windows 7 delivers improved management, security, reliability, and performance. Download Windows 7 RC. Partners: If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now. Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009.” (emphasis added)
Don’t Wait for Windows 7 SP1
Apr 22, 2009 Windows 7
There’s no need to wait for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in order to embrace the next iteration of the Windows operating system from Microsoft. At the end of March 2009, analysis company Gartner revealed a similar conclusion, indicating that Service Pack 1 was no longer the OS evolution milestone it once was, especially when it comes down to Windows 7. Microsoft saw eye to eye with Gartner on this matter and revealed that SP1 would not be a milestone designed to mark the maturity of Windows 7 in terms of security and stability.
“Windows 7 is an operating system that from the get go will be as secure as possible, and even from Beta stage is extremely stable. It’s not recommended for customers to deploy it in production environments just yet, however, they should not hesitate to test the platform in technology adoption programs. And we actually are recommending that customers test Windows 7,” revealed Tudor Galos, Windows Business Group Lead at Microsoft Romania, exclusively to Softpedia. “And yes, it wont be necessary for users to wait for SP1. Practically, not even Windows Vista required users to hold out for Service Pack 1.”
Galos referred not only to businesses but also to end users when indicating that “conventional wisdom” to postpone the adoption of a new Windows operating system until Service Pack 1 was an unnecessary strategy. But while for Vista RTM SP1 represented indeed a landmark in evolution, Windows 7 RTM will already have had its predecessor take in the heavy barrage of fire related to software incompatibilities, lack of hardware support and poor performance. Read the rest of this entry »
