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Archive for category Windows 7

Windows 7 on Apple Mac

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Apple, Windows 7 | 1 Comment

Apple is knows for constant innovation and evloution. Moving from proprietary “in-box” processor to Intel based processors was a great move for Apple. Exploiting the capabilities of Intel processors, Apple has provisioned for using Microsoft Windows Operating System alongside the Mac OSX. Though this may not impress Apple fans, but provides an opportunity to PC users to switch to Apple hardware.

Apple has made this possible through their revolutionary “Boot Camp” application. Boot Camp enables installation of Windows on Intel based Mac Computer using a Microsoft Windows installation CD/DVD.  Apple provides full hardware and video support for Windows XP & Windows Vista.

Since it supports Windows Vista, I thought of getting my hands on to Boot Camp to try and get Windows 7 work on Apple machine.

Apple instantly recognized the burned ISO of Windows 7 Beta and installed it like any other version of Windows. There were some issues with the drivers, but I was able to successfully get rid of the problem through the Mac OS X disc that came with the machine. Browse to Drivers folder on the disc and whola… you are done.

There were some issues with sound, which I resolved by downloading the drivers from the manufacturer site.

I haven’t yet tried using the Windows 7 64 Bit on Mac Book, but if the drivers are available, it should work too.

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Tags: Apple, Mac, macintosh, Microsoft, Windows7

Are you ready for Windows 7?

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7 | No Comments


It would be a simple question to answer if you are considering only Minimum system Requirements.

But you have ensure more comprehensive check of your system to ensure hassle free transition to Windows 7.

Following are few things you need to take care off before attempting upgrade/installation of Windows 7.

There are tools and scan utilities available which if you download and run on your machine will provide you with all the required information related to conflicting software, Drives etc.

Below are few tools which you can try:

1. Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:

This tool generates a report which details out known compatibility issues. It will also give suggestions on how to take care of compatibility issues.

2. PC Pit Stop Utility:

This site will prompt for installation of an ActiveX control. Install this ActiveX and you will get a comprehensive scan result of your PC wrt Windows 7 readiness.

 

Cheers!!!

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Tags: check, compatibility, Compatibility check, compatibility issues, compatible, hardware, minimum, readiness, requirements, system, Upgrade, Window 7, Windows 7

Can I upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7?

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7, Windows XP | No Comments


Yes!!!!! You can.

But here is the catch, Microsoft has not provided option to directly upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP. There are various options of getting Windows 7 on the computer, but almost all of them would result in you losing your data and your programs.

There is but one way by which you can atleast preserve your data.

Even though, Upgrade is not an option in the setup if we are running it on Windows XP, however we can migrate files and settings from old installation to new one. In order to accomplish this you will have to use Windows easy transfer. You will basically have to transfer the data using this utility to a removable media and then transfer it back once the installation is done. You will however lose all the installed programs and will have to install them back!!!!.

 Following is the summary of the activites involved:

  • Move your files/data using Windows Easy Transfer onto an external media (External HDD, Flash Drive).
  • Install Windows 7 (Remember to choose Custom Installation – Upgrade).
  • Move the files/data back on the computer using Windows Easy Transfer.

Now, this seems elementary, but this might not be a smooth sail throughout.

Ensure that your computer meet the minimum system requirements for Windows 7 and also run a compatibility check.

In order to get a step by step details of the upgrade process, visit following link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd446674%28WS.10%29.aspx

Also, you will find Screen Shots of the installation steps at BlogsDNA:

http://www.blogsdna.com/3217/step-by-step-guide-to-upgrade-windows-xp-to-windows-7.htm

 

Microsoft has also released video of how data migration can be simplified through User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 4.0. Click here to watch the video. (You will have to install Microsoft SilverLight for this)

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Tags: howto, Microsoft, Upgrade, USMT, Window 7, Windows 7, Windows XP, XP

Windows XP Mode (XPM) in Windows 7

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7, Windows XP | No Comments


The biggest failure cause of Vista was its inablility to provide flexibility to users to run applications that work with Windows XP. To overcome this basic flaw, Microsoft has provided a Windows XP virtualization in Windows 7. This is called the “Windows XP Mode”.

This feature will be available in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions, but not in Home Edition. This will deprive common users of this feature if they upgrade to the basic version of Windows 7.

This is not all. This feature requires lot more than just a higer version of the Operating System. It requires a processor which supports hardware based virtualization. This would mean that if you intend to use this feature and you have an old system, in all probability, this won’t work unless you upgrade your hardware.

Please ensure that your read through all the details before upgrading to Windows 7.

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Tags: compatibility, Windows 7, Windows XP

Minimum System Requirements – Windows 7

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7 | No Comments


Good News!!! If you are running Microsoft Windows Vista on your PC already, you do not have to pay heavily for a hardware upgrade if you intend to install Microsoft Windows 7.

Below is the comparision of Minimum system requirement for Windows Vista & Windows 7:

Windows 7:

  • 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
  • DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Windows Vista – Home Premium / Business / Ultimate:

  • 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 GB of system memory
  • 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
  • Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
    • WDDM Driver
    • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
    • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
    • 32 bits per pixel

 

Additional requirements to use certain features:

For some Windows Media Center functionality a TV tuner and additional hardware may be required

Windows Touch and Tablet PCs require specific hardware

DVD/CD authoring requires a compatible optical drive

BitLocker requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2

BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive

Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on.

 

For more information, visit following links:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/system-requirements.aspx

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-System-Requirements-110635.shtml

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Tags: hardware, Microsoft, required, system, Upgrade, Windows 7

Windows XP upgrade to Windows 7: Data Migration Issues

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7, Windows XP | No Comments


As mentioned in earlier blog post, Windows XP is not a valid upgrade path for Windows 7. Microsoft has maintained this stance and is agressively making an attempt to control the damage with over 60% of PC users still on Windows XP.

An average Windows XP user would have been using the same system for about 4 years or more. This means a lot of emails, documents, pictures, movies, etc. With a clean installation of Windows 7, How can a user migrate all this information the way a user is used to looking at these files?

Microsoft has attempted to respond to this need through their User State Migration Tool (version 4.0). This tool is primarly used for enterprise level deployment of an upgrade while ensuring that all data is kept safe. Microsoft has also released a video for the summary of the process. Click here to download the video.

However, Microsoft has ignored the degree of complexity that is required to use this tool by an average user. With focus at enterprises who have dedicated and skilled workforce to write scripts and automate backup and resoration, the tool will not be handy for a common user. It requires command line and scripting knowledge. To top it all, there are some noted issues with USMT 4.0. There are IT professionals who are troubled by data not getting recovered completely.

There is an immediate need of a tool that can seamlessly provide this assistance to home and small business users to manage data migration. Microsoft must provide this to Windows XP customers.

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Tags: backup, data, Microsoft, migration, Windows 7, Windows XP

Green & Clean Windows 7

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7 | No Comments


Technology has covered every aspect of our lives. While we are trying to focus on our environment, it will be unfair and unintelligent of us to exclude the device that touches our lives so closely and can contribute to a Greener environment: The Personal Computer.

Here is some food for thought:

1. The average computers idle time consumes 69 to 97 percent of its total energy use.

2. With the computer turned on and all peripherals activated, the system consumed an average of 171 watts which is equivalent to having thirteen 13 watt CFL powered lamps turned on.

In our existing environmental situation, PCs can contribute a lot with the degree of penetration that these devices have, even in developing countries. While there is constant focus amongst hardware manufacturers to produce devices that consume less electricity, it is also the responsibility of Software vendors to provide interface to users to save power consumption.

This is one of the aspects that Microsoft has attempted to address with Windows 7. Microsoft has claimed that Windows 7 will provide better power management capabilities than Windows Vista or XP. Windows 7 will manage standby and hibernate modes more efficiently, which is not such a stable feature in Vista or XP. This will allow users to utilize these functions of the Operating System and save both power and environment. This would also tranlate to better battery time for Laptop Users.

Good Job Microsoft. Keep working on the environment while the cash registers keep ringing.

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Tags: environment, Green, Microsoft, Windows 7

Microsoft Windows 7 vs Apple Snow Leopard OS X

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Apple, Windows 7 | No Comments


Microsoft and Apple have been locking their horns more often now. With Apple gaining more share of the computing world consistently (though no where close to PC) it is imperative for users to understand the degree of technological change that each is offering to end user.

64 Bit & 32 Bit Systems
While Microsoft and Apple both provide support for their proprietary applications for both 32 & 64 bit platforms, Microsoft offers different variants of applications and OS for supporting 64 bit systems. 64 bit systems are more secure by providing security at hardware level and provide fast performance to users. Mac has worked extensively towards reducing the gap between the 2. Their new OS Snow Leopard is 64 Bit and is backward compatible with 32 bit applications. This is quite an achievement considering that Microsoft, even after the setback from Vista has not made any effort to bridge the gap between users of 32 bit & 64 bit Operating Systems. This makes Windows 7 look like just another update to Windows Vista and considerable under hood technology enhancements by Apple.

Utilization of Multi Core processors

While Microsoft has not made substantial changes to the way their Operating System utilizes multi-core processors, Apple has doen a tremendous job of providing application developers a tool “Grand Central Dispatch” which can be used by developers to create applications that can utilize multi core prcessor capabilities to deliver enhanced performance. Maybe Microsoft has already achieved this is yet to be discovered with Snow Leopard slated for launch in Mid September, a month before retail launch of Windows 7.

Graphics and Video

Both Microsoft & Apple have invested substantially in this area. Windows 7 will come with enhanced graphics support with greater desktop responsiveness. Compared to this, Apple will introduce Open CL (Open Computing Language), which is a C-Based language that will be familiar to programmers who can use the code to develop applications that work closely with OpenCL. They will only need to rewrite the performance intensive parts to deliver better application performance.

  
Other than these comparisons, there are other enhancements that Apple will introduce with Snow Leopard OSX. One of the noted changes will be native support for Exchange Server. For people familiar with Outlook 2007, there will be a similar functionality in Snow Leopard. Just enter the domain, username and password and you will get connected to the server on the Apple platform. You can then continue to use Mail, iCal and Address Book to utilize the capabilities of Microsoft Exchange Server.

In my opinion, Apple has come out with lot of technological changes as compared to Microsoft. Apple will transform computing experience to a new dimension through Snow Leopard, unlike Microsoft’s Windows 7 that appears like a “Service Pack” for Windows Vista with lot of user level changes.

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Tags: Apple, macintosh, Microsoft, OS X, Snow Leopard, Windows 7

Windows 7: Security Features

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7 | No Comments

Microsoft has constantly evolved its Operating Systems to tackle the security risk in evergrowing internet and computing environment. Eversince Blaster virus hit Windows XP, security has become a key concern for Microsoft. With Windows 7, Microsoft has integrated state of the art tools that allow users & administrators to manage their computers more effectively, preventing data/identity theft. They have added features and enhanced some existing features to achieve this. Following is a list of some very interesting capabilities that Microsoft has bundled with Windows 7:

1. APPLOCKER

This is an application control policy that allows administrators to specify exactly what can be used on the computer. Till now, we had only “Content Advisor” in Internet Explorer to prevent kids from getting access to content that they are not meant to see. But imagine locking down the computer to a level where kids can only access ceratain applications that you specify. For a corporate environment, IT admins can specify what their users/employees can or cannot do. This takes security to a new dimension in domestic and corporate computing environment.

2. Bitlocker & Bitlocker to Go

Though Bitlocker was an active feature in Windows Vista, Bitlocker to Go is a new feature that extends security for removable media such as external hard drives and USB disks. With Bitlocker to Go, adminstrators can enforce setting up this feature on any removable media before any data is saved/copied to such devices. In a domain setup, policies have been introduced for password recovery, etc, making this very user friendly. Bitlocker is now easier to enforce through Windows 7 by just a right click.

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Tags: Applocker, Bitlocker, Microsoft, Security, Windows 7

Windows XP to Windows 7: Upgrade Woes

Aug 12

Posted by Admin in Windows 7 | No Comments

Microsoft has announced that its most widely used Operating System, Windows XP, will not be a valid upgrade path for upgrading to Windows7. As of June 2009, over 60% of global Deskop / Laptop PC users are using a version of Windows XP, leave alone the countless large and small businesses which are still using Windows XP.

If a Windows XP user wants to install Windows 7, he/she will either have to do a clean installation (Which means all data has to be backed up and restored along with all existing applications) or create a dual boot between Windows XP and Windows 7. Microsoft has also mentioned that some applications that used to run with Windows XP may not have native support in Windows 7. They have provided a “Windows XP Virtualization” in Windows 7 that will have to be used in such a case.
With this, Microsoft has seemingly ignored millions of users who did not upgrade to Windows Vista due to its bad reviews. I think Microsoft should provide an upgrade path in the retail release slated for October 22, 2009.
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Tags: Microsoft, Upgrade, Window 7, Windows 7, XP