Yes it is out. After using Windows 7 M3 alpha I have to say it looks much nicer. Features that have caught my attention:
- You can mount VHD's (virtual hard disks) as drives.
- You can boot from VHD's!
- New taskbar (good and bad, some like it some don't)
- Libraries
- Gestures
- SPEED
- SPEED
- Did I mention speed?
Yes besides the obvious improvements in overall system responsiveness you got a few little features. One that will probably go under-appreciated are libraries. It just so happens that I like to keep stuff from the same topic together. Not always are the files related to a specific topic only documents, or only videos. So the layout for "My Documents", My Pictures", etc. usually forces me to duplicate the same folder structure on all of them. My C# documents could go into My Documents\CS; consequently my C# projects would be in My Projects\CS; rinse and repeat. While the need for making a folder structure might not change from night into day here, with libraries there is an unlocked potential.
Let me explain libraries real quick. Libraries are basically a flat structure of place-holders. Each place-holder has a description and a list of folders associated to it. This enables a single place for multiple folders to appear as one structure which can be traversed ini various interesting ways not available in the previos file management tools. Tags and name ordering being of most use. Ordering by name will allow you to see all files within those folders in alphabetical order. Ordering by Tags will allow you to group previously-tagged files (not all file types support tags). So how does this help?
Let's imagine this scenario. I have the following in topics: School, Work, Personal. I make the following structure in a folder somewhere on the disk, maybe in the user profile root? I make a folder structure in that resembles my needs, for example Work\Documents, Work\Videos and Work\Projects. I can look at it in from a top to bottom approach as well. I make Documents\Work, Videos\Work and Projects\Work. I do the same thing with all topics. I then adjust my libraries to reflect this structure (and indexing as well). So my Documents library would contain all documents folders from all topics in one view. I can order all these files in any way I wanted, and if they are tagged then I can find specific sub-topics within a particular topic. Example Work\Documents, tag Crypto would give me all my work documents with the Crypto tag.
Libraries add the definite possibility of adding "views" as an alternate way to organize and search your files. Future enhancements to this feature could really make it an innovative way to make file management. As for now, I am enjoying this neat little feature that has allowed me to simplify how I manage my files.
It was one of the features I definitely "hated" at first, but after some insight by fellow Microsoft employees I have understood and actually applauded the UAC. It is common for Windows users for things to just work, just double-click. Unless something is going to go incredibly wrong (like I will format my C drive) I will get my way around things. Users used to get shocked if they ever saw an on-screen warning, now most of them just click "OK" to get on with whatever they were doing. User-mode and kernel-mode mean very little to most people. We will get around what a superuser is, what user-mode and kernel-mode mean, and how the UAC helps you (the user) protect your assets (i.e. PC)
What is a superuser?
A superuser is a special user account, this account has basically unrestricted access to the system. In Unix/Linux it is known as the Root user. In Linux/Unix you get a lot of messages telling you that you are running as ROOT and should change accounts, and the messages let you know damage or impair your system permanently.
What is an administrator?
An administrator account, as it is know in Windows (since Windows NT), is almost a ROOT account except that some of the privileges were part of the Local System account. In Windows XP, if you add yourself to the Administrator group, then you are a pseudo-superuser. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superusers)
What does this have to do with the UAC?
UAC helps you, the user, identify when a software is requiring superuser access. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control)
Why does this "help" me in any way?
In favor of user-friendliness, the Windows OS took risks upon itself which have been the user's responsibility all along, this is where UAC steps in. There is one thing that is familiar to most Linux/Unix users, sudo. Both the UAC and sudo serve the same purpose, let you conciously know that you are changing something in your system that can harm or change it in ways that are fundamental to its operation.
Why do I get this prompt for almost everything?
Most software vendors are not aware of the differences in superuser and user operation. We are used to having access to everything in our system, and we rightfully do. We should know when that new game we bought wants to install a new driver, or when that antivirus we bought wants to modify a file that belongs to the system. The answer is that most Windows applications are not used to having restrictions, hence most people perceive other versions of the Windows OS as the "most compatible". This is true in the measure that software providers and developers are not aware of user-mode software.
What should I do?
- Remove yourself from the administrator group, it is not needed on 99% of the time. Make sure you have an account with administrator access and that you know its username and password. Do not use that account to log on a daily basis.
- Enable UAC, if you disabled it.
- Write down those common applications that you use that need administrator access. Learn to use the runas command. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490994.aspx) or open an administrator command promt (Right-click-> Run as Administrator...) and use the command lines for those applications. You can alternately make desktop shortcuts with the Runas command.
- Write to your software vendor and tell them to start providing user-mode software which is more secure.
This is my first post so I'll make it short and sweet.
What are SIPs?
They are basically implementations of Subject Interface Packages, which allow the CryptAPI to interact with specific parts of the files in order to put, get, calculate and verify digital signatures on files. In other words, this is how Windows handles Authenticode digital signatures from and to files. They tell the CryptAPI how to hash the file and where to put the signatures.
Where can I find them?
There are some included as part of the OS (at least on Vista). Locate in the %WINDIR%\System32 directory. They usually have a naming ending with sip.dll, i.e. msisip.dll is the Microsoft Installer (.msi) SIP.
How can I use them?
They need to be registered (regsvr32 <dll>) in order to be usable/reachable to digital signature tools, such as SignTool. Signtool will automatically recognize it and be able to use it for different file formats.
Any tips?
Look for MSDN online since installing MSDN locally will not have all available functions documented.
