January, 2009

I missed some other features that you’ll see after logging in with a Live ID (the far right of the toolbar).  Two more items show up:

• The first icon sets up synchronization of favorites from Windows Live to multiple computers.  The setup process is extremely simple, just click Sync to set it up:
  
   
  
  Repeat the process on each additional computer and you’re all set.  You can get to the shared favorites through your Windows Live profile.  They’re actually set up in a SkyDrive folder:
  
   
  
  I didn’t even know that my profile had a SkyDrive associated with it.  I guess I should start putting other stuff there, as I have 25GB of space to use – free of charge.
  
• The second button lets you add additional buttons to the toolbar, or if you choose “Toolbar options” at the bottom of the menu that shows up when you click the button you can also remove items (including all the default ones).  The online gallery has over 2500 buttons that can be added, including things like Wikipedia, eBay, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  (The same gallery web site, http://gallery.live.com, has Sidebar gadgets, Live Writer add-ins, Windows Live Messenger emoticons, etc.)

That’s the challenge with this “online age”.  These new capabilities get added faster than I can keep up with…

I’ve never been a fan of browser toolbar add-ons, but somehow my home machines always end up full of them.  One of these days people will get fed up with software packages that install other “junk” and complain, but until then I’m used to periodically uninstalling them.

That said, I’ve never had the Windows Live Toolbar installed by “something else”.  It gets delivered through Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com); the first screen gives you a choice of which components you want to install and you can uncheck all of those you don’t want.  For those of you who do any blogging, you’ve probably run this installer, as Windows Live Writer is one of the best blog editors I’ve ever used (and now the only one I ever use).  But the installer has some other nice pieces:

• Windows Live Messenger.  (The latest version lets you log in from multiple machines at one time, yeah!  Office Communicator has done that for a while, but Windows Live Messenger didn’t.)
• Windows Live Mail.  (I use it as a news reader client, but otherwise much prefer Outlook.)
• Windows Photo Gallery.  (A good way to organize your photos, and also helps get the photos “into the cloud” if you are so inclined.)
• Windows Family Safety.  (This is good to put controls around IM, web browsing, etc.  Fortunately that hasn’t yet been an issue with our children.)
• Windows Live Toolbar.  (“Yet another toolbar.”)

The last Windows Live Essentials install I let it install all of the pieces just to see what’s changed, and I even took some time to check out the new toolbar.  There are a few features that I really like, enough so that I’ll probably keep it around (especially since it doesn’t take up very much screen real estate):

• A button to translate web pages via Windows Live Translator.  It’s surprising how many non-English blogs I subscribe to (pretty much any that have ever mentioned Microsoft Deployment Toolkit).  Rather than “copy the URL, go to the translator site, paste the URL” dance, you can just click the button and you’re there.  (Now if it could just figure out what the source language is more often so I don’t need to tell it.)  It’s cool to see a web site side-by-side in the original language and in English.
  
  
  
• A button to map any addresses found on the page.  I’ve always looked at that button and never clicked it – but did it accidentally today and was surprised to see it had extracted everything that looked like an address.  No more “copy the address, go to maps.live.com, paste the address” games, just click the button, select the address and go.  Also cool.
  
   
  
• A sign-in helper on the far right – it remembers your Live ID so you don’t need to log in all the time, also convenient.
• Buttons for all the other Windows Live services (mail, photos, profile, calendar, etc.).  (Sorry, I can use favorites for those.)
• A “Windows Live Search” box.  (Hmm, now my browser has two of those.)

The first two items are enough to convince me to leave the toolbar around – for a while at least.  Maybe Internet Explorer 8 will eliminate the need.  It already has a “Translate with Windows Live” accelerator so you can just right-click on the web page and choose that option.  It also has a “Map with Windows Live” accelerator, but that requires that you first select the address text.  There are also some other helpful accelerators, like “Define with Encarta” to look up definitions of words.  It’s an extensible system, so you can add more (from http://www.ieaddons.com/en/accelerators/ or other sites) without having to give up screen real estate.  So that’s looking like it will be the long-term direction.

Patrick Azzarello (program manager in the Windows Core Operating System Division) just posted a blog entry listing the deployment-related changes in Windows 7.  Check it out at http://blogs.technet.com/windowssystemdeployment/archive/2009/01/20/windows-7-deployment-changes.aspx.

We’re working to integrate as many of these as we can into MDT 2010.  Some (e.g. DISM, Windows PE 3.0, USMT 4.0 hard links) are already done in MDT 2010 beta 1, which you can download from http://connect.microsoft.com if you haven’t already done so.

There are lots of new features in Windows 7, but here are a few that are more “IT pro”-ish:

• Burning ISOs to CDs or DVDs directly from Explorer.  No more need for command line utilities, third-party shell add-ons, or special software – just right-click the ISO and choose “Burn disc image”:
  
  
  
• No more UAC prompts when launching MMC-based administration tools.  In fact, there will be less UAC prompts all around, assuming you stick with the default UAC settings:
  
  
  
• PowerShell 2.0 is included by default, and it includes many useful cmdlets like Send-MailMessage, Get-Hotfix, Invoke-Command (and all the other PowerShell v2 remoting capabilities – maybe you can use these instead of PSExec), etc.  It also now includes a GUI environment for editing and running scripts:
  
  
  
• A new, easier way of connecting to wireless and VPN networks – just click on the network strength icon in the task bar:
  
  
  

That’s before we even get to new server features (DirectAccess, BranchCache, Hyper-V enhancements, etc.), new deployment tools and capabilities (DISM, USMT 4, and of course MDT), additional troubleshooters, etc.

There are a few “entertaining” changes too:

• A new Calculator, with a “Programmer” mode (because we know how important it is to have a good decimal/hex/binary converter):
  
  
  
• New versions of Paint and WordPad that use the new ribbon controls:
  
  
  
   
  

And in the “trivial but appreciated” category, you can again get directly the dialog for changing screen resolution by right clicking on the desktop.  They’ve even improved the dialog:

 

I rarely need to use this though with Windows 7 because it seems to always figure out that I want to use the native resolution of the LCD.

Definitely try out the beta version (and provide feedback) – it’s got lots of good things to offer.

…so that the internet can recover by Monday morning when everyone wants to do real work again.  The download is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx.  I really like the description on the page:

New to beta testing? Here's what you need to know:

• You'll need some technical skills, like knowing how to:

  • Burn an ISO file to make an install DVD (A good example of what we mean by “technical”)

  • Install Windows (of course)

  • Backup and restore your PC (There's a chance of losing files, so it's a good idea to do a backup of anything you want to save.)

  • Set up a network

  It can be glitchy—so don't use a PC you need every day.

• Minimum recommended specs call for:

  • 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

  • 1 GB of system memory

  • 16 GB of available disk space

  • Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)

  • DVD-R/W Drive

  • Internet access (to download the Beta and get updates)

  And yes, like anything tech-related, these specs could change.

• Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV or navigation through the use of "touch," may require advanced or additional hardware.

• You'll need a system recovery disk (and know how to use it).

• You're [almost] flying solo: you'll need to troubleshoot problems yourself and call on other Beta testers for their know-how.

• It's a two-way thing—Beta testing is about feedback so our developers can fix bugs and hear what appeals to the people who use our products daily. Please tell us what you think.

• Watch the calendar. The Beta expires on August 1, 2009. To continue using your PC, please be prepared to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date. (See installation instructions.)

Finally, fine print not written by a lawyer (or at least reinterpreted by someone who speaks “normally”).

Be sure to read the posted release notes, as there are at least two hotfixes available for Windows 7 (one for an issues around MP3 files, another for Media Center).

It’s worth pointing out that the minimum specs above are pretty much the same as those documented at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/919183 for Windows Vista (ignore Home Basic, who uses that anyway?).  That’s a good sign – Windows 7 shouldn’t require any more resources.

Also notice that it no longer says that you need a 40GB hard disk, just that you need 16GB free.  So Windows 7 will run on netbook computers.  I’m still resisting the urge to buy one as I still consider a 10” screen to be way too small.  (And beware of slow SSD disks.)  But eventually I’ll have to give in…

See http://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment/archive/2009/01/09/microsoft-deployment-toolkit-2010-beta-1-is-now-available.aspx for the official announcement and how to download it from the Connect website.

Please remember that this is a beta version of MDT designed for lab deployments of Windows 7 beta using Lite Touch.  Don’t upgrade your production environment and then complain that something broke :-)

See http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4ad85860-d1f4-42a1-a46c-e039e3d0db5d&DisplayLang=en for the download, or if you just want to see what’s changed you can review the documentation that can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f1bae135-4190-4d7c-b193-19123141edaa&DisplayLang=en.  (It’s still replicating to all the download servers so if that link displays a “not found” page try to refresh the page again.)

Note that MDT 2008 and ConfigMgr won’t work with this new version of the Windows AIK.  A beta release of MDT 2010 will be available “real soon now” to remedy that, for those of you who want to start playing with the betas.

For those of your who are “hard core” you’ll notice a new utility called DISM in this new version of the Windows AIK.  You’ll come to know this utility fairly well, as it replaces PKGMGR, PEIMG, INTLCFG, etc.  It adds new features too.  Definitely check it out.

Somewhere along the line I missed this KB article:

Hotfix adds new functionality to suppress Plug and Play-related UI messages in Windows Server 2003 or in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938596

This could be useful when deploying new computers with missing drivers.  You could include this fix and registry setting in your image.  As the KB indicates, you shouldn’t leave the machine like this (unless maybe your end users don’t have rights to install drivers anyway) so change the registry key back to the default.

I started off a long time ago with a LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/in/mniehaus), primarily for people I have worked with throughout the years.  (If I don’t know you, I won’t accept an invitation.  But if we’ve exchanged e-mails or IMs, or met in person, I know you.)  Then I added a blog (here, at http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus).  And a Facebook account, not particularly work related.  And a Yelp account (http://mniehaus.yelp.com) for restaurant reviews.  And a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/mniehaus) for those of you who like to listen into random babble.  Now, I have a new Windows Live profile too, so send me an invite for your own Windows Live profile too.

Sigh.  Now I need to link all of these together to maintain some sanity.  It looks like Windows Live should do that nicely:

• I’ve linked in my blog.
• I’ve linked in my Twitter account.
• I’ve linked in my Yelp account.

The only thing I haven’t yet done: import my LinkedIn and Facebook contacts, something easily done through a wizard on the Windows Live profile web page that logs into the appropriate account to get all the needed information.  Maybe I’ll do that soon…

Add in my five different e-mail addresses, two different IM accounts, and text messaging with my cell phone and I now feel too connected.  I remember when all I had to worry about was my home phone number, my work phone number, and my address.  I guess I am officially old, growing up in the “not very well connected” age…

It’s hard to miss the news: Steve Ballmer announced today that Windows 7 Beta is available today for TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers (see http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/01/07/windows-7-now-available-for-download.aspx for a picture of the download for TechNet Plus to prove it), with general availability at the end of the week for anyone else who wants to try it.  I’m already running it on my ThinkPad laptop and overall it’s been a great experience so far.  (It is still a beta, so I have appropriate expectations.)

Of course we’ve been working on tools to help with the deployment of Windows 7, so hopefully you’ve signed up on http://connect.microsoft.com to be notified once MDT 2010 Beta 1 is available.  See http://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment/archive/2008/12/03/a-new-version-is-coming-soon.aspx for the instructions.  (If you don’t see the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit program under the Solution Accelerators connection, it probably means that you’ve already signed up.  Check your “My Connections” page.)