End User

Windows 7: It All Comes Back

I’ve been using Windows 7 since early betas, so I have come to take some of its great features for granted. Recently I was reminded by a friend who just switched from XP to Win7 about one of the nicest “little things” that makes the new OS such a joy to use. The power went out and he had to quickly shut down the computer – right in the middle of a big project he was working on. He had almost a dozen web sites open that he was using as a source for his research. It had taken him a while to hunt them all down. He also had an open Word document and a few PDFs. When the system shut down, he was just sick at the thought of how much time it would take to find all those web sites again, and wondering how much of the doc he’d lost.

When Windows 7 booted back up, he was amazed. All of his windows opened right back up to where they were before, and he was able to pick up where he left off and go back to work without missing a beat.

Of course, just switching to IE8 on XP would have helped him a lot in this situation, since IE8 “remembers” your last browsing session and will reopen the browser to those pages. But he’d been using XP with IE7, so all of this seemed truly miraculous to him.

 
The ability to reopen your previous browsing session is one of the nice features of IE8

Of course, there are scenarios in which this could be a security issue. Maybe you want to ensure that someone else can’t come along and reopen your last browsing session (and thus discover where you were browsing). In that case, you can disable this feature via a registry edit. See the January 28 edition of Win7News, “How To” section, for step-by-step instructions.

To conceal your browsing history, also remember to clear the cache (Tools | Delete Browsing History).

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
  deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Conversation Piece: Outlook 2010 on Windows 7

I’ve been testing Office 2010 for many months, and now that it’s out in public beta, I’m using it exclusively on my main workstation. My favorite of the new Office applications is Outlook; it’s the one with the most dramatic changes, and one of those is the default “Conversation” view of your email messages.

Outlook 2007 also had a “Conversation” view but it was turned off by default, and it was less sophisticated. You had to choose to display by Date or by Conversation; in 2010 it’s a combined Date/Conversation view.

The “Conversation” arrangement means related messages are grouped together in your Inbox (you can also move a group or an individual message to another folder, either manually or by using rules). At first, I wasn’t sure I liked this, but now that I’ve gotten used to it, I really appreciate the convenience of having the whole conversation thread together. When a new message in a thread comes in, the first one is moved from its chronological place in the Inbox down to the group, which now appears chronologically where the most recent message in the thread came in.

By default, a conversation is indicated by a small arrow that appears to the left of the subject line, as shown below in the conversation titled “Hello” that’s highlighted in yellow:

The names of senders are listed below the subject line. When you click the subject line, you expand the conversation thread to display the individual messages, as shown above in the conversation titled “bobble” that’s encircled in red.

If you don’t like the conversation view, you have several options. Right click “Arrange By: Date (Conversations)” at the top of the mailbox list and select Conversations, as shown below:

Here you can uncheck “Show Messages in Conversations,” or you can choose whether to show messages from other folders in a thread, whether to show the senders’ names above the subject line, select to always expand conversations, or just use the classic indented view.

If you do choose to keep the Conversation view, you might want to always expand the conversations. When I first started using 2010, I missed several new messages because they were buried inside conversation threads. The subject line will be bolded if there are any new messages in it, but sometimes messages end up in threads unexpectedly. For instance, if two different people send you messages with the identical subject line (this often happens with something generic such as “Checking in” or “Hello”), Outlook puts these in the same thread even though the messages really aren’t related to one another.

This could cause some consternation, making it appear that people have been cc’ed on a message when they haven’t, as described in this article.

Even though it’s not perfect, I have come to like the Conversation view in Outlook 2010, and I’m hoping it will be even better by the time we get to the final release version of the software. It’s just one of many features that makes 2010 the best Outlook yet.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
  deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Getting to Know the Samsung Omnia II

Staying with Verizon Wireless was an easy decision. I’ve heard too many complaints from friends with AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile about the 3G coverage, and been on the other end of their dropped or garbled calls. I’ve been with Verizon since leaving Cingular (AT&T) in 2002 and have never been in a place where I couldn’t get a good signal (granted, I don’t trek off into the wilderness much, but I do travel to other cities/states on occasion).

I’ve also been with Samsung for many years. My first real smart phone was the i730, then I upgraded to the i760 and then to the original Omnia. Each one was better than the last – but a lot has happened in the smart phone market since I got that Omnia. The iPhone had a lot to do with that, and even though I don’t like Apple (My dislike is more for the company’s attitude than for its actual products), I have to credit them with starting something good that has flowed over to other phone vendors.

 
My first three smart phones (L to R): Samsung i730, i760 and Omnia

I enjoyed my Omnia and I had been looking forward to the Omnia II for a while, but this time there was a lot of competition out there. Verizon and Motorola dropped the Droid on us over a month ago, amidst a super hyped up ad campaign (those commercials were excellent, BTW), and it was tempting – especially since, at that time, Verizon still had not committed to a release date for the Omnia II or even confirmed that it would be running Windows Mobile 6.5 instead of 6.1. I hadn’t been very impressed by the Android phones I’d seen previously, but Android 2.0 looked pretty sweet. I journeyed down to the Verizon Store to try it out for myself and I have to admit that I came close. The GPS with Google Navigation was the feature that almost won me over. I liked the idea of a slide-out physical keyboard, too.

On the other hand, I guess looks do matter. I just didn’t like the squared-off form factor and the phone didn’t fit in my hand as comfortably as my Omnia. Performance seemed pretty good but the interface was nothing special. And I have a certain loyalty to WinMo, after all these years. I decided to wait. The Droid would still be there later if I didn’t like the Omnia II.

In the meantime, I started hearing about the HTC HD2. Its screen is even bigger than that of the OII and the SenseUI looks great. And it’s a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone, so no loyalty conflicts there. The problem: it’s not slated to come to the U.S. until sometime in 2010, and it’s not been announced yet which carrier will get it. Did I want to wait a few more months, and then find out it was only available on T-Mobile (which has great prices and nice phones but absolutely lousy coverage/service in my home area)?

Nice as the HD2 looks, I decided to take the plunge now and go for the Omnia II. After all, it’s not like I would be spending $600 for the phone (as I did for my i730). The Omnia II is priced at $299 with a $100 rebate and the “new every two” program gives you another $100 off, for a final price of just over a hundred bucks with tax. I pay twice that for the monthly cell phone bill.

The Omnia II was released last Wednesday and on Saturday, I was back at the Verizon Store. I played with it, compared it to the Droid, and found that I really liked it. The touch response was great – orders of magnitude better than the first Omnia’s – and the new TouchWiz UI made it an experience similar to, but IMO better than, that of the iPhone. I was ready to buy.

Unfortunately, they had none in stock. I had them call three other stores in neighboring cities, with the same result. I guess I should have gotten there on release day; either these were selling like hotcakes or they didn’t get many in inventory. I went ahead and ordered the phone online (there at the Verizon Store) and saved $20 by doing so, but in return I had to deal with my thwarted desire for instant gratification. I was assured that the phone would be delivered to my doorstep this Tuesday.

Sure enough, Fex Ex showed up at the house bright and early yesterday, with a little black box for me.

 
The Omnia II comes in a nice little black box

What else do you get with it?  There’s a USB/miniUSB cable that plugs into a wall charger (you can also unplug it from the charger and use it to connect to your computer), an in-line mic adapter for 3.5 mm headset, and three CDs: The user manual, a “companion CD” that includes the Getting Started Guide and the software for ActiveSync 4.5 and Windows Mobile Device Center, and the software for V Cast and VZAccess, as well as a little “Tips, Hints and Shortcuts” booklet.

You get a few accessories with the Omnia II

Other accessories, such as car charger and vehicle mount, are available from Verizon, from Samsung or from third party vendors.

It took a while to charge up the first time, over an hour – but I’ve been using it extensively yesterday and today and still have over 60% battery left. You can greatly expand the available storage (there’s 8 GB built in) by adding a micro SD card. I got a 16 GB card from Amazon for under $50 and popped it in. Like with the original Omnia, you have to take the back cover off to insert the micro SD card. Unlike with its predecessor, you don’t have to take the battery out to put in the micro card.

Before I put the card in, I copied some of my favorite songs onto it. Then when I put in the card and powered up, Media Player informed me that new media files were detected and asked if I wanted to update the library. Press a button, wait a minute or so, and all my new songs were available. One thing I really like is that the new Omnia has a standard 3.5 mm headset jack so I don’t have to keep up with an adapter to use my Shure earphones. The sound through them is great. It’s not bad using the phone’s speakers, either; this Omnia has stereo speakers instead of just the one.

The Omnia II is a little bigger than the original Omnia – that was necessitated by the 3.7 inch screen. It doesn’t really feel bigger in my hand or in my pocket, though. It’s still sleek and comfortable to work with.

The Omnia II, on the left, is slightly bigger overall than the original Omnia, and the screen is substantially bigger

The most outstanding feature on the Omnia II is that screen – the gorgeous AMOLED display. Photos don’t do it justice. Watching a video on it is a fantastic experience. As you can see, I’ve already customized my home screen:

I love the Omnia II’s bright, vivid AMOLED display

Another big advantage that the Omnia II has over the Omnia is its customization. For example, I liked the “widgets” bar on the left side of the screen, which introduced with the original Omnia, but I didn’t like being stuck with the widgets that came with it. With the Omnia II, you can get rid of widgets you don’t want and you can download more widgets – many of them free – from the Widget Store. My favorite widget (which has a permanent place on my main home page) are the Favorites widget that let you put the pictures of those people you most frequently contact on your home screen, where you can simply tap the photo to bring up links to call or send mail or a text message.

I also like the “Smart Memo” widget. If I want to make a note of something, I can just tap it and open a new memo where I can handwrite or type my note.  Microsoft OneNote (Mobile version) is also installed along with Mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint, if you prefer to use it for notes. As I happily downloaded free widgets (calculator, unit converter, and so forth) and arranged them on my home screens (with the Omnia II, you have three home screens you can scroll between), for the first time I began to understand the appeal of the iPhone and its App Store.

Of course, the Omnia II is first and foremost a phone, and that’s something that iPhone users say is not one of their device’s strong points. So I was eager to make a call and see if the voice quality was as good as with my original Omnia (which was always excellent). I could tell no difference with the Omnia II. The phone dialer keypad is bigger and more responsive, making it easier to dial numbers, and there’s a Favorites link on the dialer screen, too.

Setting up my Exchange account took only a few minutes and email works great. It’s easier to read due to the bigger screen and bigger default font (you can change the font size if you think it’s too big). Since email is one of the primary uses for my phone (more so than making voice calls), I was happy to see that the interface is great and easy to use.

Web browsing also works well with both Opera and IE Mobile. I’m one of the few people in the world who prefers IE over Opera, and I do wish I could figure out how to set IE to be the default browser. But both are quite usable, although that is one area where I’ll admit the iPhone excels.

I haven’t had time to play with all of the applications that came with the phone – there are six pages of them – or install many of my own. I’ve worked some with Swype and found it surprisingly accurate, but I need to practice a little with it. I’m eager to try out speech recognition and download Google Maps to see how it works with the GPS; the Verizon Store rep told me he was “95% sure” that the GPS is unlocked and the specs say it has both assisted and standalone GPS so it should be.  I’ll be checking out those features and more in the upcoming days, and I’ll blog about them in Part 2 of this post.

Meanwhile, first impression is a good one. I think I’m going to enjoy this phone a lot.

deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Windows 7: The 64 Bit Question

I often get questions from readers who are considering upgrading to Windows 7 about whether they should choose the 32 bit or the 64 bit edition. The number describes the width of a processor’s registers, which affects how much data the processor can process per clock cycle. Wider registers means the CPU can handle more memory and larger files.

As most computer users know, more RAM usually results in better performance. 32 bit Windows only supports up to 4 GB of RAM. There was a time when this was more than enough for any home user and most business desktops, but with today’s memory-hungry applications and huge video files, that’s no longer the case. In 64 bit Windows 7, memory support depends on the edition, as shown in the table below:

Home Basic	8 GB
Home Premium	16 GB
Professional	192 GB
Ultimate	192 GB

That extra memory can also come in very handy when you’re running multiple virtual machines, as more and more people are doing these days.

NOTE: The amount of memory you can actually install and use also depends on your system’s motherboard.

Hardware vendors have been making 64 bit capable computers for years. Intel shipped its first 64 bit processors (Itanium) in 2001 and AMD introduced the Opteron and Athlon 64 lines based on the x86 architecture in 2003. Windows XP Professional came in a 64 bit edition, released in 2005, but there were a number of issues that prevented it from being adopted on a wide scale. Drivers were scarce and there were still many old 16 bit programs in use, which wouldn’t run on it. All of Vista’s edition came in 64 bit, but driver compatibility was still a problem and vendors sold most systems with the 32 bit version installed.

Now, with Windows 7, for the first time since the initial emergence of 64 bit processors in the early 1990s (MIPS and DEC Alpha), the 64 bit architecture has finally gone mainstream. Most desktop systems are being sold with 64 bit Windows 7 pre-installed, and drivers for add-on peripherals are much easier to come by. Consequently, high end systems routinely come with 6 or 9 GB of RAM, and may support 12 or 24 GB.

Even if you only have 4 GB of memory installed, the 64 bit version of Windows allows the OS to fully utilize all of it, whereas 32 bit versions only use about 3.5 GB of it.

Of course, the amount of RAM is only one factor that affects your computer’s performance, as illustrated by the Windows Experience Index (WEI) score shown for the system above. A closer look at that rating shows that in this case, it’s the graphics card that’s the bottleneck:

The processor and memory, on the other hand, rate close to the top of the scale.

In order to fully take advantage of 64 bit computing, not just your operating system but your applications as well need to be 64 bit versions.  However, the good news is that most 32 bit programs (with the exception of hardware drivers) do run on 64 bit Windows. The 64 bit editions of Windows 7 include both 64 bit and 32 bit versions of Internet Explorer 8.  You may have to use the 32 bit version for some web sites, because there is no 64 bit version of Flash available yet. Mozilla offers a 64 bit version of Firefox, too. And the newest version of Microsoft Office, Office 2010, will come in a 64 bit version.

Bottom line: You can reap many performance benefits by making the switch to 64 bit, especially if you also run 64 bit apps. Memory is relatively cheap now, and those who run multiple virtual machines, memory-intensive graphics/video software or who multi-task heavily will benefit most from the support for more RAM.  However, if you need to run ancient 16 bit applications, note that they will not work on your 64 bit system (you may be able to work around that by installing Windows 7 XP Mode, if you have the Pro or Ultimate edition of Win7, and running those apps in the VM). Older hardware devices such as printers or scanners also may not have 64 bit drivers available and thus won’t work.

 

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
  deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Windows 7: It’s the Little Things

Sure, Win7 has some high profile changes and additions: the new taskbar, jump lists, libraries, multi-touch support, remote media streaming and so forth. But sometimes it’s the little improvements that add up to make a big difference in your day-to-day computing experience.

A case in point: in previous versions of Windows, you could rename a file or group of files by highlighting it/them and pressing F2. You can still do that – but now there’s a minor twist that saves you a few keystrokes. Only the file name becomes editable, so you don’t have to retype the file extension (and possibly risk getting it wrong and rendering the file unusable). It’s a little thing, but it’s a nice touch.

 

Here’s another that may be important to some of us whose eyes are getting older. Remember how, in Vista, if you wanted to magnify a part of the screen, you had to go into Start | All Programs | Accessories | Ease of Use or open the Start menu and type Magnifier in the Search box?  In Windows 7, magnifying the screen is a whole lot easier. At any time, in any window, just hold down the Windows Logo key and tap the plus (+) key to zoom in and magnify the screen by 200%. Windows Logo and the minus (-) key will return the display to normal.

Then there are the nice enhancements to long-time built-in Windows applications, such as the calculator. In Vista, I downloaded desktop gadgets for quick conversion of units of measurement, temperature scales, and so forth. With Windows 7, a unit converter is built right into the calculator.

Just click View and select Unit conversion and you’ll get options for converting angles, area, energy, length, power, pressure, temperature, time, velocity, volume and weight. There is also a date calculator that you can use to find out the difference between two dates, or add or subtract days to/from a specific date. Want to know how many shopping days ‘til Christmas? It’s an easy calculation.

There are even worksheets for figuring out your monthly mortgage payment (based on purchase price, down payment, term and interest rate), vehicle lease information, and fuel economy.

For those of us who do many slideshow presentations, the ease with which you can switch the display between monitors or to a projector is a welcome addition.

The Windows Logo key plus P brings up the DisplaySwitch application that makes it quick and simple.

There are “little” improvements such as these scattered throughout Windows 7, and although they may not get as much publicity as the big blockbuster features, they go a long way toward helping you get things done faster.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

In the clear (QAM, that is) with Windows 7

Back last August, I wrote in this blog about some of the improvements to Windows Media Center in Windows 7. Since then, I’ve had much more time to configure and work with the application, and I have to say that one of the best things about it is the native support for clear QAM (unencrypted HD) channels.

When we were running Vista Media Center, we often agonized over our choices: we could watch high definition versions of our favorite programs – House, CSI, Law & Order – on the Time Warner DVR or we could watch them in standard definition in Media Center. The picture quality on the DVR was beautiful, but the interface so horrible as to be painful to use. It’s clunky and slow and navigating to what you want takes forever. Sometimes it “forgets” its programming, and doesn’t record the series that you’ve set it to record, so you have to check it every day to be sure it’s still planning to record that evening’s shows. Fast forwarding through commercials is difficult because you can either do it excruciatingly slowly – or so fast that you’ll inevitably overshoot the resumption of the show and have to go back. Worst of all, it will often just jump back to the beginning of a program in the middle for no reason, with no one’s hands near the remote. Then you have to fast forward through everything you’ve already watched to get back to where you were. Sometimes it would do this several times during a one hour program, leaving me wanting to tear out my hair.

The other alternative, SD in Media Center, was delightful from a navigation and operational standpoint. Media Center always recorded what it was supposed to, when it was supposed to. Setting it to record or finding your recorded programs is simple and easy. The interface, on our quad core machine with 3 GB of RAM, is snappy. Fast forwarding through commercials at 30 second intervals is easy and accurate. The only problem was the lousy picture when compared to the ultra sharp look of HD.

Windows 7 solves the dilemma. Unlike Vista, it supports QAM tuners, so as long as your tuner card is a digital, hybrid or combo card, you can watch and record in HD those digital channels that your cable company provides without encryption. By law, they have to do this with the broadcast networks – NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox – and most also include PBS and some local channels. In our area, Time Warner provides thirteen QAM channels. 

I expected to have some hassle factor involved in setting up QAM, based on what I’d read. Some folks were saying they had to edit the registry to get Win7 to detect QAM channels. The HP machine has a Hauppauge HVR-1600 that came with it and a second 1600 that I installed. The OEM version of this card is analog and ATSC (over the air) only, but the retail boxed version is a combo tuner with both analog and ATSC/QAM connectors, as you can see below.

You need to use a splitter so you can run separate lengths of cable from the wall to all of the tuner connectors you’re using (you don’t go through the set-top box). The difference between a combo tuner and a hybrid is that the hybrid has a single cable connector for both the analog and QAM, whereas the combo has two separate connectors. What this means is that with a hybrid tuner, you can watch or record only one program, analog or QAM, at a time. With a combo, you can watch/record one analog and one QAM at the same time. Here’s what the HVR-1600 combo tuner looks like:

When I first ran the setup of the TV signal, Windows 7 immediately recognized the two analog tuners, but no QAM. The first thing I tried was going to the Hauppauge web site and downloading and installing the latest drivers for the 1600. Sure enough, after a reboot, I ran the TV signal setup again and it found two analog tuners and one QAM. I’ve ordered a second retail 1600 and am going to put it in next weekend, so then we’ll have two QAM tuners. In the meantime, we have QAM tuners on the kitchen computer (TouchSmart) and one of my desktops, so we can still record three HD programs at the same time. Then we just set the Recorded TV library on the main Media Center PC to point to the folders on those other computers so those programs show up in its Media Center interface and we can watch any of them on the 65 inch Aquos TV to which it’s attached.

After the tuners are detected, you’ll be asked first to set up your analog tuner(s) and then to set up your QAM tuners. You select the cable company for each. There will be a separate listing that says something like “Time Warner Digital” that you choose for the QAM tuner. Then it will take quite a bit of time to detect the additional channels. Some people mentioned having to add their QAM channels manually, but I didn’t have to do that; all of mine were detected.

Now in the Guide, as shown below, the digital channels show up with sub-channel numbers (8.1, 8.2, 11.1, etc.). HD programming is flagged with the “HD” box.

The great thing about clear QAM is that you don’t even have to subscribe to digital cable to get it. You can get the clear QAM channels in spectacular HD even if you only have basic cable and no set-top box. If all of the programs you like are on the major networks, you may be able to cut your cable bills by going back to basic cable and dumping your cable company’s DVR.

Of course, cable companies aren’t eager to tell you about this and you won’t find a word about clear QAM on most of their web sites or in their literature and support documents. In fact, some cable company personnel have been known to tell customers that they can’t get HD without the cable box and digital subscription. That’s true of encrypted HD, but not true of the networks which the FCC requires they transmit unencrypted.

I’m thrilled with Windows 7’s QAM support and the great HD recordings that I’m getting with it. This is a huge step forward for Windows Media Center and one that will make my TV watching experience tons better.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Testing the Microsoft Wireless Keyboard with Windows 7

As part of an opportunity that came through the MVP program, Microsoft recently provided me with a Microsoft Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 and wireless mouse to test with Windows 7. I set it up on one of my primary computers, the Dell XPS.

Setup for basic use couldn’t have been any easier. I popped two AA batteries into the keyboard and two more into the mouse, plugged the very tiny USB stick into a port on the USB hub on my desk, listened for the familiar “kerplunk” to tell me Windows had found a USB device, and started typing. There was no need to sync anything; both keyboard and mouse worked immediately.

The keyboard is slick and thin, with a slight ergonomic curve to the layout of the keys. Some people may be bothered by the lack of fold-out feet (it comes with snap on feet you can use if you want to angle it). Since I never use the feet, it doesn’t matter to me. One thing that I would change is the noise factor. It’s very “clacky.” I know some people like that sound feedback but I prefer the strong, silent keyboard type.

The keyboard I’ve been using for the past six to eight months (and which I love) is a Microsoft Laser 6000 wireless, and this one is similar to it in many ways, as you can see in the photo comparing the two below (the Comfort 5000 is on the bottom).

One difference, from which the Comfort 5000 derives its name, is the thicker padded section at the bottom for resting your palms. It feels nice, but the little criss-cross etching in it (presumably to give it a quilted look) catches little flecks of dust and dirt, making it more difficult to keep clean. The extra keys are almost identical, except that the Laser 6000 has a couple that the Comfort 5000 doesn’t – but the 5000 has something special of its own: a battery life indicator. Both have the keys that I use most: email (new, send, reply and forward) keys, calculator key, volume and media keys (rewind, fast forward, play, pause). Some of these keys (the large keys across the top row that include one to open Outlook, one to open IE, zoom, volume and media keys) work without installing any software.

For the smaller buttons on the second row to work, you have to install the Intellitype Pro 7.0 software that comes with the keyboard. These keys include back and forward keys, Open New Document, Open and Close File, email functions, Spell Check, Save, and Print.  When you install the software, you have to pick your keyboard and mouse model from a list. Luckily, the model numbers are on the undersides of the devices. Note that the Laser Mouse 5000  and the Wireless Mouse 5000 are not the same thing, so keep on scrolling until you find the latter.

I made the mistake of trying to use the mouse during the installation, and an error message popped up, saying Setup must close (shown below). Oops. Keep your hands off it until the software is finished installing.

On the second try, Setup skipped over the keyboard portion and went straight to the mouse installation. This time it completed successfully. After you install the software, you’ll be asked to join a feedback program.

 
With the software installed, two new items appear in your All Programs menu: Microsoft Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse. Now you can configure a number of keyboard properties as shown in the screenshot below.

You can change the key assignments and program the custom keys (numbered 1 through 5). You can also fine-tune the speed, repeat rate and delay and set the zoom speed.

Features are fine, but the real test is working with it on a daily basis. From what I can tell so far, it’s reliable (a wireless keyboard that I recently got rid of would skip characters on a regular basis – even when I typed them very deliberately and individually). I like that it uses regular AA batteries; some keyboards use AAAs, which are slightly harder to find and often cost more. If the Laser 6000 is any indication, it should get good battery life; I’ve been using the latter for more than half a year, for many hours per day, and have never had to change the batteries.

One quibble (and it’s a minor one) is that some of the keys are too small and “sunken in” too far, making it hard to press them. That’s especially true for the PRTSCN key, which I use a lot. Its position, size and height could be better.

Warning: You can get spoiled if you use the special keys a lot. Now I miss them when I work on my laptop or have to use some other computer with a keyboard that doesn’t have them. If you take full advantage of the special keys, you may find yourself not using your pointing device much at all.

Speaking of pointing devices, the Wireless Mouse 5000 is a pretty basic optical/laser mouse that uses Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology.  There is a note on the web site that says it doesn’t work on clear glass or mirrored surfaces. It does work fine on my polished wood desktop, without a mouse pad. The scroll wheel works smoothly and the two top buttons are big and easy to hit without thinking about it (unlike with some pointing devices I’ve used, which had so many buttons you had to stop and think about which one does what). The two thin side buttons are set to go back and forward by default, but you can configure them to do pretty much what you want from a long list of actions, as shown below.

 
You can also set the usual options: customize pointers, select pointer and scrolling speeds, display trails, set double click speed and so forth.

For years and years, my pointing device of choice has been a Kensington Expert Mouse trackball – I’m on my fifth or sixth one and I generally prefer a trackball to a mouse for most tasks. However, there are certain tasks where a mouse works better (such as drawing shapes) and I’m finding it nice to have both. The Wireless 5000 mouse peacefully coexists with the USB trackball and I can switch from one to the other easily.

The Wireless Comfort 5000 keyboard/mouse combo is available for pre-order on Amazon for $71.98 (suggested retail is $79.99). My Laser 6000 v3.0 can be had for only slightly more ($72.26 with mouse). Either one provides a good keyboard experience, but the Comfort 5000 is specifically designed to be compatible with Windows 7 -- not that I’ve had any problems using the Laser 6000 with Win7, so it really comes down to a matter of preference. Do you like the padded palm rest that’s more comfortable but harder to keep clean? Do you prefer more sound and tactile feedback from the keys? If so, the Wireless Comfort 5000 will fit the bill. 

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Unboxing the Windows 7 Party Pack

Those of us who were selected to host the Windows 7 launch parties have begun receiving our “official” party packs. Mine came today, and I was eager to open it up and see just what was inside. It wasn’t a large box, but was fairly hefty in weight for its size, and it came via UPS but I didn’t have to sign for it. There was no secret as to what it was, as you can see in the photo below.

• Opening the box revealed the following contents:
  
  - A “desktop design” poster
• - A deck of Windows 7 playing cards
• - A Windows 7 jigsaw puzzle
• - Four crepe paper streamers in various colors
• - A bag of balloons
• - A package of Windows 7 branded napkins
• - Ten Windows 7 tote bags
• - A pack of “thank you for attending” cards with a URL to visit to obtain more information and special offers

Of course, the big prize was the two copies of Windows 7 Ultimate, one in 32 bit and one 64 bit. The 32 bit copy is the special “signature edition” signed by Steve Ballmer. Okay, that’s sort of cool. Maybe someday it’ll be worth a fortune on eBay. :)

But hey, what are you supposed to do if more than ten people show up at your party? I guess we can raffle off the totebags or play a game of Texas Hold ‘em with the cards to see who gets the genuine Windows 7 napkins with their cake; the rest will have to make do with regular old napkins from WalMart.

So, that’s what you get, and now it’s time for me to start planning the menu. This party has already cost us about $1500, since we decided to buy a new TouchSmart computer and install Windows 7 on it so we would have two separate demo stations set up. Are we dedicated hosts, or what?

Happy partying!

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
   deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Looking forward to getting in Touch with Windows 7

  The upgrade of our older HP TouchSmart “kitchen computer” from Vista to Windows 7 went smoothly and everything still works – at least, everything that worked before the upgrade. Several months before we upgraded it, the computer had taken to crashing regularly. “Blue screen” would be an inaccurate description; it’s actually a patterned pinkish screen that seems to indicate either a bad video card driver or a hardware problem with the video card itself.  Driver updates have either failed to install at all, or had no effect. And of course, since it’s an all-in-one, it’s not so easy to just yank out the video card and install a new one, as I’d do if this was a regular desktop PC.

On the left is the TouchSmart when it’s working correctly. On the right is what it looks like when it crashes – which, unfortunately, now happens several times per day. It started while it was still running Vista and continued after an in-place upgrade. We hoped a clean installation of Windows 7 would fix the problem, but no go.

Oh, well. We’ve had it for a couple of years, and this is actually a good excuse to start thinking about a new one. The current generation of TouchSmarts have larger screens, more processing power and memory, and support multiple touch inputs (multi-touch). The form factor is smaller, too. And they cost less than we paid for this one. You can see the cool new style on HP’s website.

We’re really looking forward to using Windows 7 multi-touch. But we’ve held off on buying a new TouchSmart, in anticipation of the introduction of new models when Windows 7 is released. The OS is capable of some very cool things, which you can see in this video demonstrating the Windows 7 Touch Pack that was released earlier this year: Gizmodo: Windows 7 Touch Pack. 

The success of the iPhone and its competitors have proven that consumers like the touchscreen concept. But they’re getting harder to impress, after seeing the antics of “TV computers” on programs such as CSI. Nonetheless, I’m excited about Microsoft’s efforts to make touch more a part of the user experience for those of us who can’t afford $20,000 Surface computers. After using the kitchen computer for a while, when I come back to my desk, I’ll find myself starting to reach up and touch the screen for certain tasks. It doesn’t replace the pointing device, but for some applications, it’s much more intuitive and easier to use than a mouse or trackball.

The biggest obstacle to the adoption of touch technology right now is the hardware. Most vendors offer no more than one or two touchscreen computers in their lineups so choice is very limited. Cost is another factor. In addition to the “kitchen computers,” HP, Dell and other vendors are selling touchscreen laptop/tablet PCs so you can take your penchant for touchy-feely computing on the road. HP’s TouchSmart tx2z laptop is reasonably priced, with 6 GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard drive for a little over $1100, but it only comes with an AMD Turion processor.

If I want a touchscreen tablet with an Intel processor, I can go to Dell for the Latitude XT, but then I’ll have to pay over $600 more for a system with only 1 GB of RAM and an 80 GB hard drive. Ouch. Either way, I only have one choice from each vendor.

The laptops and the all-in-one systems suffer from the same drawback, too: if one component fails, you can’t just easily replace it. Why isn’t HP making a touchscreen version of their gorgeous HD widescreen monitors? Sure, it would cost more than the non-touch versions, but if they can sell an all-in-one with a 25.5 inch touch screen for $1299, they should be able to sell me the monitor only for under $1000. Then I could plug any Windows 7 computer into it.

Even though I’m not an Apple fan, I’m hoping the company does release a tablet computer as has been rumored – because I know it will get plenty of press and it just might bring the tablet form factor, finally, into its own. That will inspire PC vendors to come out with more of their own (Windows 7) tablets to compete. And that will be a good thing for all of us who want to reach out and touch our computers.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Party Time: Getting Ready for the Windows 7 Launch

Windows 7 Launch Party hosts have now been selected (and yes, I’m one of them). This week, we received the official notification, as shown in the figure below.

• Hosts have their choice of party theme:
• - Setting up with Ease (How to transfer data and settings and configure Win7 to your preferences)
• - Family Friendly Fun (making video calls, making movies, setting limits on kids’ computer use)
• - Photopalooza (Uploading, editing and sharing photos)
• - Media Mania (Using Windows Media Center to enjoy music, photos and videos and record TV)
• I chose the last option, since we already have Media Center running on a PC attached to our 65 inch Sharp Aquos widescreen, which is perfect for showing off Windows 7’s features to a group at a party. Microsoft provides “host videos” to help you come up with ideas, and suggestions for what features to demonstrate, but they emphasize the fact that it’s a party, not a sales presentation. The point is to have fun, and at the same time show your friends how cool the new OS is.

Microsoft also provides graphics of signs that you can print to put up in your party area, and will send a “party pack” with party favors. Finally, hosts get a special “signature edition” of Windows 7 for their trouble.

Our Media Mania party is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, two days after the official world-wide launch and we’re looking forward to it. My “real world” friends know that I’m pretty good at throwing parties – even without Microsoft’s help.

So how do you get invited to a launch party? Ping your local techie friends, especially MVPs, to find out if they’re hosting parties. The map on the Windows 7 page of the House Party site at http://www.houseparty.com/windows7usa shows where parties are scheduled. For example, there are currently 346 parties planned in the Dallas metropolitan area (you can zoom in to get a better idea of just where the parties are, and if you click on a specific area, you’ll see a list of the party hosts in that area – but only by their HouseParty.com user names). Those who are invited to a party can RSVP through the web site.

We’re looking forward to sharing our excitement about Windows 7 with friends and relatives. With social networking so popular, it seems appropriate to turn the Windows 7 launch into a more social event.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Using the Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder

One of the brand new features in Windows 7 is the Problem Steps Recorder, which is a very cool screen capture utility, the intended use of which is to allow computer users to do a step by step recording of the actions they take that result in a problem, rather than trying to verbally describe it to a tech support person. You may find other, more creative uses for it, as well. Here’s how it works:

To open the tool, click Start and type psr.exe. Click it in the list and the recorder bar opens, as shown below.

As you can see, the interface is compact and very simple, making it easy for even novice computer users to use. You simply click the Start Record button to beginning capturing what you’re doing on the computer. You can pause or stop the recording at any time.

At any point in the recording, you can click the Add Comment button and the recording will pause, and a text box will pop up where you can type in clarifications or questions you might have about that particular step, or information that’s not visible in a screen capture (such as the computer emitting a sound).

During the recording, the duration of the recording will be shown in the box on the right side of the window. Once you stop the recording, you’ll be prompted to give the recording a name and save it as a zipped file. When you open the .ZIP, you’ll see a file saved in .MHT format, which is a web page archive that can be viewed in Internet Explorer or another web browser, as shown at the right.

Double click the .MHT file, and it will open in your default web browser. You’ll see a series of screen shots, along with the time recorded and even a description of each action that you took during the recording, as shown below. Any comments you insert will be shown.

As you can see, if you have multiple monitors, all of the screens will be shown in the capture. The area where you’re clicking with the mouse is highlighted in green.

This takes much of the frustration out of troubleshooting for both the user and the support tech. You don’t have to worry about the user leaving out steps or not being able to properly describe what he/she did. At the bottom of the page is an “Additional Details” box that contains information such as the version numbers of the programs, user interface elements that were in use during each step, and so forth.

If you click the Down arrow at the very right side of the PSR window, you’ll see options to run the tool as an administrator or to send the recording to an email recipient. You can also click Settings … to change the output location for the .ZIP files (by default, they’re saved to the desktop), to enable or disable screen capture (if you disable it, you will get the text description of the steps only, not the screenshots), and specify the number of recent screen captures to store (25 by default).

Troubleshooting isn’t the only use I’ve found for it. If you want to show someone else exactly how to do something in Windows 7, but you can’t use Remote Assistance, you can perform the task yourself – recording it with the PSR – and send that person the file. Now the person has the step-by-step instructions, along with screenshots. Very cool.

Some have gone so far as to call the Problem Steps Recorder a “miracle tool.” For those whose job it is to sit and listen to users describe their computer problems all day, it just might be.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, Microsoft MVP (Enterprise Security)
  deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

The Remote Desktop Experience on Windows 7

I’ve been a big fan of Remote Desktop since it was introduced in Windows XP, and in my opinion this feature is one of the most important reasons to choose XP Pro, Vista Business/Ultimate or Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate rather than the Home editions. Although the Home editions include the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client, they do not include the RDP host service. Thus you can use a Home edition computer to connect to the desktop of a Pro/Business/Ultimate machine, but you can’t connect to the Home machine’s desktop remotely (unless you use some sort of third party software or service, such as pcAnywhere or GoToMyPC).

I have two main desktop systems: my “upstairs office” computer, a Dell XPS dual core currently running Windows 7 RC, and my “downstairs” computer, an HP Core i7 (Nehalem) running Windows 7 RTM. For various reasons, sometimes I need to work in one location and sometimes in the other. I like being able to move from one computer to the other and take up where I left off working, without the need to close documents on one system and find and reopen them on the other. I can just start an RDP session and work on my downstairs computer while I’m upstairs, or vice versa.

The remote desktop experience has gotten better with each generation of Microsoft operating system. Windows 7 RDP includes a number of important improvements.

Windows 7 RDP provides better multiple monitor support, so that you can expand the remote desktop across all monitors regardless of the client monitor configuration.  This was possible with Vista’s “span mode,” but is much easier to implement on Windows 7. All you have to do is check a box on the display tab in the Remote Desktop Client 7.0, which is included with Windows 7 (mstsc.exe).

In Vista, monitor spanning worked only if your primary monitor on the client machine was on the left, your monitors had the same vertical resolution, and the total of all resolutions was no more than 4096 x 2048. In Windows 7, the client monitors can be arranged any way you want and there are no restrictions on the resolution. Under the hood, Vista span mode sees the multiple monitors as one big monitor, whereas in Windows 7, each is presented to applications as a separate monitor.

Another great feature in Windows 7 RDP is full support for Aero glass – well, almost. The remote desktop experience isn’t completely the same as being at the local machine. As indicated by my remark above, you can get the Aero Glass effect over the RDP connection – unless you choose to have your remote desktop span monitors.  In other words, you can have monitor spanning or you can have Glass, but you can’t have both. But when using a single monitor, Glass works great – as long as you have a Vista or Windows RDP client computer. You don’t get Aero when connecting to your Windows 7 computer from XP.

There are also “under the hood” improvements to RDP that speed up the performance of RDP, and you can now get the full user experience when playing DirectShow videos over RDP (you need to install the appropriate codecs on the client). Additionally, RDP now supports two-way audio (previously it was “audio out” only).

If you love Remote Desktop, you’re likely to love it even more with Windows 7.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
  deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Windows 7 Snap, Shake and Peek

It might sound like a cereal commercial, but a set of features in the Windows 7 Aero interface can make the user experience better – not to mention the “cool” factor.

Snap

Aero Snap lets you resize windows just by dragging them to the edges of your monitor(s). If you have a single monitor, you can line up two windows side by side (for example, two Word documents or two web browser windows) by dragging one to the right edge of the screen and the other to the left edge. Each will automatically resize to fill its half of the screen. This is useful for “comparison shopping.” Positioning windows this way manually takes a bit of dexterity.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work quite as well with an extended desktop on multiple monitors. In this case, Windows sees the entire span of monitors as one big one for the purpose of finding the edges. However, if you drag a window to the far right or left edge of your array of monitors, it will still resize to fill half of that screen only. When you drag the window away from the edge, its former position and size will be restored.

Here’s another bit of coolness. If you have a small window in the middle of the screen and you resize it to touch the top edge of the screen, it will automatically also expand vertically downward to touch the bottom edge. This makes it easy to “vertically maximize” a web page or document to make it easier to read, without taking up a lot of unnecessary horizontal real estate.

You can maximize a window completely by dragging it to the top edge of any monitor. It will maximize to fill that monitor only. Of course, we’ve always been able to maximize a window by clicking the Maximize button, but you may find that dragging is an easier and more natural way to maximize windows. This is especially true when you want to move a maximized window from one monitor to another. Instead of restoring, moving to the other monitor and clicking the Maximize button, just grab it and move it to the top of the other monitor’s screen, all in one motion. On the other hand, you may find yourself maximizing windows you didn’t intend to resize until you get used to this feature.

You’ll notice that when you drag a window to the side or top, it doesn’t instantly snap or maximize. Instead, as long as you’re still holding the mouse button down, you see a transparent preview of the size and position that the window will snap to. If you didn’t intend to maximize, for example, you can still bring the window away from the edge and it won’t happen. It doesn’t snap into its new place until you release the mouse button.

If you like this feature but you haven’t yet made the switch to Windows 7, there is a free (beta) program you can download to give you the same effect in Windows XP and Vista.

Oh, and if you’re a keyboard fan, you can also snap windows in place using keyboard shortcuts. To snap the current active window to the left side of the screen, press the Windows key and the right or left arrow key. With these keyboard shortcuts, you can snap a window to the “inner” edge of a multi-monitor array. But if you want to snap it to the edge of the other monitor, press Shift along with the Windows key and arrow key.

Shake

The second new Aero feature is called Shake. You can already make all your windows minimize by clicking the Show Desktop icon in the system tray or clicking on the small rectangle at the very rightmost of the taskbar (or the bottom, if you arrange your taskbar vertically as I do). But what if you want to minimize all windows except one? Then you just shake it.

That is, you grab the window by the title bar and move it back and forth quickly. It may take a little practice to get the hang of it but when you do, it becomes very natural. Shaking the window makes all the rest minimize to the taskbar. Shake it again, and the other windows come back to their previous positions.

As with Snap, there’s a download to let you do the same thing in XP/Vista.

Peek

Aero Peek is arguably the most useful of the new interface features. In Vista, we had taskbar thumbnails, but they were small and not all that useful. Aero Peek in Windows 7 turns these thumbnails into real preview panes, where you can control the windows they represent right from the thumbnail. You can view, close or switch between windows, and if an application has more than one window open, you get a preview of each one.

Adding a bit of confusion, “Peek” is also used to refer to that little rectangle at the right or bottom of the taskbar that I referenced earlier, the one that you can click on to minimize all windows (circled in red in the screenshot).

This Desktop Preview functionality can be added to XP/Vista by a small freeware utility.

All in all, the Snap, Shake and Peek features in Windows 7 Aero give you more choices about how to manage your windows.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows 7

Easy Transfer makes the Windows 7 migration easier

If you installed the Windows 7 RC on half a dozen of your computers, as I did, you may be wondering now about how you’re going to migrate them to the RTM or retail version without undue hassle. I admit I had the Win7 installation process down to something of an art: install the OS, reconfigure the OS, install the programs, spend the next couple of days getting all the settings back the way I wanted them. There had to be an easier way, and there was: the Easy Transfer Wizard.

After some bad experiences with those types of tools years ago, I had generally avoided them. But I decided to give it a try this time, as I took my Core i7 from Windows 7 RC to RTM. Since I always make sure I have plenty of hard drives and partitions, I didn’t have to “nuke and pave” – I just installed the RTM on a different partition. That allows me to keep the RC intact so I have a backup in case of problems with the new installation. Of course, this is a test machine and I’m using MSDN licenses, so software cost isn’t an issue. Otherwise, you’d need to buy copies of the OS and applications for each installation.

First step was to run the Easy Transfer utility on the RC. Initially, I foolishly told it to copy both my user account information and shared information, but when I saw that the latter was 152 GB, I unchecked that box. The info from my user profile was over 16 GB. Wow. That’s more than the amount of disk space required for the whole Windows 7 operating system. 

Windows Easy Transfer is found in All Programs | Accessories | System Tools, or just type Easy Transfer in the Start/Search box. You can use it to copy files from an old computer to a new one, or as I did, from one installation to another on the same computer. If you are going to wipe the drive and start over, you can use Easy Transfer to save the files and settings to a partition you aren’t wiping or an external drive or a location on the network. You can also use a cable to connect two computers for the transfer. It saves user account information, documents, music, pictures, e-mail, IE favorites, videos and more.

The wizard will scan all user accounts on the computer, as well as shared items. You can set a password on the file it creates if you’re worried about security. The file is saved in the .MIG format.  

Once you’ve saved the .MIG file, now boot into the new Windows 7 installation (in my case, the RTM) and run the Easy Transfer tool there. This time you tell it that this is your new computer and you’ll be asked to provide the location of the .MIG file. Navigate to it and click the Open button. You can customize which of the saved items you want to transfer. Thus, if you saved that 152 GB of shared items and now you decide that maybe you don’t need to transfer them, you can uncheck that box and just transfer the items from your user account. Best of all, you can customize what specific items to transfer, by clicking the Customize button.

  This shows you at a glance how much of each type of item there is to transfer (for example, 37.4 MB of documents). If you click the Advanced button, you get a more detailed accounting. You can uncheck any of these items. For example, by default Easy Transfer saves your virtual machines, but if you don’t want to migrate those, just uncheck that box. This gives you a lot of flexibility and control over what to transfer.

When the transfer is complete, you can see a list of what was transferred. Another really handy feature is that Easy Transfer will show you a list of the programs that were on your old computer, which you may want to install on the new one.

Now your old OS settings should all be working on your new computer. Your wallpaper and desktop icons are there, and any changes you’ve made to Explorer settings (such as showing file extensions or unhiding system files) will be there, as will your favorites in Internet Explorer. Even my Quick Launch toolbar (which you have to go out of your way to get back in Windows 7) was there.

Here’s what impressed me most: settings for applications that weren’t even installed at the time were also transferred. So even though I ran the Easy Transfer tool before installing Office, after I did install the applications, my old settings were there. I opened up Word the first time, and my customized quick access toolbar was there. I opened Outlook, and didn’t have to set up my Exchange account; it was already configured. And my autocomplete items were still there, too. Very cool.

Vista also has Easy Transfer, so you can use it if you’re migrating from a Vista machine to Windows 7. And if you’re migrating from XP, you can download Windows Easy Transfer for XP from the Microsoft Download center here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2b6f1631-973a-45c7-a4ec-4928fa173266&DisplayLang=en 

Sure, you still have to install your applications, but Easy Transfer cuts a large amount of time off doing a clean OS installation, and it works far better than I expected.

 

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com  

 

Windows Media Center on Windows 7: Better than Ever

I fondly remember my first Windows Media Center PC – a Gateway FMC-901X running Windows XP Media Center Edition. Back then, you couldn’t buy a retail copy of Windows with Media Center; only OEMs could get it so you had to buy a computer with it preinstalled (of course, there were ways around this, but that was the official party line). We had it hooked up to a big old 58 inch rear projection Sony, and thought it was the coolest thing in the world to be able to record our favorite TV programs onto the computer’s hard drive – without paying a monthly fee as our TiVO-using friends had to do.

We’ve come a long way since then, and so has Windows Media Center. By including the Media Center application in Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions, Microsoft finally brought it into the mainstream. And with Windows 7, they’ve gone one better: Media Center is built into all editions except Starter and Home Basic (although IT admins can easily disable it on business machines).

This means far more computer users will be exposed to WMC, which is a great application for organizing and displaying your digital photos and home videos and for organizing and playing your digital music. However, to get the full advantage of WMC, you need a TV tuner card for your computer. This lets you turn your computer into a full-featured DVR.

Our current WMC PC is an HP quad-core connected to a Sharp Aquos 65 inch flat panel TV, with dual Hauppauge tuners, dual booting Vista Ultimate and Windows 7 RC.  A number of great improvements have been made to WMC in Windows 7. One of those improvements can also be a bit of a frustration: there is a new format for recording TV programs, .WTV. This is an improvement because the .WTV files are smaller than those in the old Media Center format, .DVR-MS. But it’s a frustration because the .WTV files won’t currently play on Windows Vista Media Center computers, so if you like to share files among your computers, that’s a consideration.

You can play the .WTV files on Windows Media Player 12, which comes with Windows 7, as well as through Media Center. And there is a solution for the file sharing problem, albeit a somewhat awkward one. If you right click a .WTV file in Windows Explorer, you get the option to convert it to .DVR-MS, as shown in the figure below.

Another nice feature in Windows 7 is the integration of the taskbar jump list, which makes it easy for you to play new recorded TV programs right from the jump list, without having to go through the list in the WMC interface. You can also play your favorite music or display your favorite pictures from the list, or open up the program guide, as shown in the figure on the right.

There is also a Media Center gadget available from the list of default gadgets in Windows 7. It shows, in a small window on the desktop, your recently recorded TV programs,  available TV channels, movies, news, sports, music,  and more. If you click on the name of a recorded TV program in the gadget, a fly-out panel will show you details about the recorded program (channel, time recorded and program synopsis). You can then click the program title in the fly-out and Media Center will open and start playing that program.

The WMC interface has a new, subtly improved but not drastically different look. For instance, when you click on the Music Library, your album covers are displayed in a grid pattern. The same thing happens with the Picture and Movie libraries.

Recorded TV programs are displayed a little differently. By default, they’re shown in a “lineup” view, which is attractive, but doesn’t give you nearly as much information per screen as the old view in Vista. Never fear, though; you can change back to the old list view if you prefer, as shown in the figure below.

Some of the best improvements don’t show up in screenshots. For instance, playback performance is much better when you fast forward or skip through a program. In addition, Windows 7 WMC supports four tuners instead of just two. That will make it possible (with the additional hardware) to record more shows at the same time. This was a problem for us with our Vista Media Center, when three of our favorite programs were lined up against one another in the same timeslot.

There’s much more to like about Windows 7 WMC, as many computer users will be discovering upon its release.

- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
   deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.net

Using Your Mobile Device with Windows 7: No Muss, No Fuss

If you use a smart phone or other mobile device, you may be wondering how to synchronize it with Windows 7. Windows Vista comes with the Mobile Device Center, but it’s not built into Windows 7. Never fear – like Windows Mail, Windows Messenger, and other applications that some people use but many others don’t, Microsoft has made the Mobile Device Center an optional component that you download only if you need it.

MDC is not a Windows Live component, though, and isn’t on the Live  download site. Don’t worry, though – you don’t have to go hunt it down. When I plugged my Omnia (the iPhone Killer!) into a USB port on my Windows 7 computer, MDC was automatically downloaded and installed. This is version 6.1.6965.

You then have the option of either setting up the device, or connecting to it without going through the setup process. If you want to sync your smart phone with your Outlook .PST, you’ll want to go through the setup. If, like me, you connect with your device over the air to an Exchange server to get your mail, contacts and calendar information, and you only want to transfer some files (for example, to upload a bunch of photos taken with your smart phone camera to your PC), you can just connect.

If you do choose to set up the device, you’ll be asked what kinds of items you want to sync: contacts, calendar, e-mail, tasks, notes, mobile favorites (web links), files, and/or information from OneNote. You’ll be given the option to create a shortcut on your PC desktop to the MDC.

If you choose to connect without setting up the device, you’ll get the following choices:

• Programs and Services
• Pictures, Music and Video
• File Management
• Mobile Device Settings

If you select Programs and Services, you can add or remove programs on your mobile device, get updates and downloads, or connect to the TotalAccess web site, where you can find wallpapers, ringtones, applications such as Facebook for Windows Mobile, and much more. TotalAccess membership is free.

Adding or removing programs is easy; you just check or clear a checkbox. 

If you select Pictures, Music and Video, MDC will detect how many new photos or video clips are available on your phone. You can import them quickly and easily, and you can assign a tag (such as a date or the location or subject of the photos).

 

You can also change the import settings, including the folder on your PC to which the photos/videos are to be saved (by default, it’s your My Pictures folder. You can also designate how you want the subfolder named (for example, date imported + tag, date taken + tag, tag only, etc.). You can also choose whether you want to be prompted for a tag when you import photos, whether to always erase the photos from your mobile device after they’re imported, whether to rotate vertical photos automatically on import, and whether to open Windows Explorer to view the photos on your PC after you import them.

When you select File Management, you can browse the contents of your mobile device, in Windows 7’s Windows Explorer. It’s far easier to view your files here than in the smart phone’s file manager program. Your phone shows up along with hard disks and removable storage devices in the left pane of Windows Explorer, and if the phone has a separate internal storage area or a microSD card inserted, each of those will also show up and you can browse the contents of each.

I couldn’t help noticing that not only is device setup easier in Windows 7, but subsequent connections to the device are established more quickly and reliably than they ever were in the Vista Mobile Device Center, too. With Vista, it was always a hit or miss thing; sometimes my phone would be recognized, other times it wouldn’t, and there was never any indication of why. With Windows 7, I actually like using MDC. With Vista, it was so bad that when I took photos with my phone, I usually just emailed them to myself (a time consuming process because I had to mail one at a time from the phone) whereas now I connect the phone to the computer and import all the photos quickly and easily.

Windows Mobile Device Center is an example of one more thing that simply works better with Windows 7.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder
MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Microsoft

Windows 7 RTM: When Can You Get It?

As reported by another blogger here, Windows 7 was released to manufacturing today, Wednesday, July 22nd and will go on sale to the public on October 22nd. But when (and where) can you get it? That depends.

Today’s announcement in the Windows 7 Team Blog said the RTM code will be released to partners “within the next few days.”  This will allow software and hardware vendors who are Microsoft partners to create third party applications that run on Windows 7 and to test hardware products with the final code and ensure that they’re compatible.

If you’re an IT professional with a TechNet subscription or a developer with an MSDN subscription, you’ll be able to download the final bits starting August 6th from the respective web sites. Businesses with volume licenses and Software Assurance licenses can get it the next day, August 7th, from the Volume License Service Center. Microsoft Partner Gold/Certified members will get it August 16th, on the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) portal site. Microsoft Action Pack subscribers have to wait a little longer but will still get the RTM early, starting August 23rd. And volume license customers who don’t have Software Assurance will be able to purchase Windows 7 September 1st.

The above applies to the English version of Windows 7.  Other languages are expected to be available to the same groups on or before October 1st. 

Whew! Keeping all those dates straight isn’t easy, so here’s a chart to help you determine at a glance where you fit in:

OEMs	“within the next few days”
Microsoft Connect members	August 6
TechNet subscribers	August 6
MSDN subscribers	August 6
Volume license w/SA	August 16
Action pack subscribers	August 23
Volume license w/o SA	September 1
Languages other than English	October 1
Retail customers	October 22

We can expect computers pre-installed with Windows 7 to be on the shelves in plenty of time for the holiday shopping season.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder
MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com

Keyboard Krazy with Windows 7

All that touchscreen support in Windows 7 is great. We have an HP TouchSmart computer in the kitchen and it’s very handy to be able to use your finger as the input device. But I’m a keyboard player (both kinds) from way back, and for longer documents, I don’t think I would ever want to transition entirely to voice, touchscreen, or other alternatives to my trusty QWERTY (Mind control? Well … maybe … if we can get the security issues worked out).

In fact, I have a collection of cool ergonomic keyboards, a couple of which are shown in the photos here, and I certainly don’t want them to go to waste. And with Windows 7, I can use the keyboard to even more advantage, because of all the new keyboard shortcuts.

The Windows key figures heavily in many of these shortcuts. Here are some examples:

WIN + SPACE: Same effect as clicking the “Show Desktop” area at the end of the taskbar; all windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop.

WIN + G: Don’t need to see the entire desktop? Just want to see the information displayed on your gadgets? This one brings the gadgets to the top.

WIN + T: Scroll through the items in the taskbar. It’s really cool to be able to do this without taking your hands away from the keyboard.

WIN + P: Select display options when connected to a projector (Computer only, Duplicate, Extend or Projector only).

ALT + P (in Explorer): show or hide the Preview pane (I love this one).

WIN + the plus or minus key: This lets you zoom in or out, magnifying the screen without using the mouse.

WIN + left or right arrow key: This will dock the active window to the left or right side of the monitor, just as dragging to the side does.

WIN + SHIFT + left or right arrow key (with multiple monitors): Moves the active window to the monitor to the left or right of the one on which it’s currently residing.

WIN + up or down arrow: Maximizes or minimizes the active window.

For the full list of Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts (not just the new ones), see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Keyboard-shortcuts 

Well, okay; I haven’t figured out a way to get this keyboard to work with Windows 7 – yet. But I’m still working on it.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder
MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows 7

Jumping with Joy over Jumplists

Almost everyone has heard about the jumplists in Windows 7, but many folks don’t realize just how cool they are and how much flexibility they give you. Jumplists are what you get when you right click an icon in the Windows 7 taskbar and they compliment the improved preview thumbnails that you get when you hover over a taskbar icon. I’ve noticed that some folks are confusing the two.

Here’s the preview that I see when I hover my cursor over the Internet Explorer icon in my taskbar:

And here’s the jumplist that I see when I right click that same icon:

The jumplist shows the websites that I’ve most frequently accessed in IE in the top section. In the second section are tasks I can perform by clicking (in this case, open an In Private session or open a new tab). In the third section are more options: open a new IE window, unpin the program from the taskbar (if it’s not pinned, you’ll have the option to pin it) or close all IE windows.

Similarly, if I right click the Word icon, I see a list of most recently opened Word documents, along with the options to open a new instance of Word, pin/unpin the program or close the window:

All this is handy enough, but there’s more. If you right click an individual item in a jumplist, you get another menu, from which you can do even more. Right clicking an item in the Word jumplist lets you open the item, edit it, open it as a new item, print the item or copy it. You can also pin an item to this list (so that it will remain here instead of being replaced by more recent items) or remove it from the list. Finally, you can open the item’s Properties here, without opening the item itself.

You can also specify the number of recent items that you want to display in the jumplists. Just right click the taskbar, select Properties, and click the Start Menu tab. Click the Customize button and in the Customize Start Menu dialog box, down at the bottom, set the number of recent items to display, from 0 to 60, as shown here:

And here’s a cool tip: you don’t have to use the right mouse button to open the jumplists. Another way to do it is to hold down the left mouse button on the icon and then drag it upward (if your taskbar is docked at the bottom of the screen), downward (if it’s docked at the top) or sideways toward the middle of the screen (if it’s docked vertically on either side).

Different applications contain different items in their jumplists. For example, the Windows Messenger jumplist contains Messenger-related tasks such as going to the MSN homepage, going to your e-mail inbox, viewing your Windows Live profile, sending an IM, setting your status (available, busy, away or appear offline), or signing out from everywhere.

Application developers can create jumplists for their particular apps. Third party programs are also available to add jumplists to some programs that don’t have them included by the developers. For example, Winfox is a third party program that adds jumplists to the Firefox browser:
http://windows7news.com/2009/05/22/winfox-adds-jumplists-to-firefox-in-windows-7/

Office 2010 technical previewers are happy to see that the new version of Outlook also makes use of jumplists. Whereas Outlook 2007 only includes the options to open a new instance, pin/unpin and close, Office 2010 adds tasks such as creating a new email message, appointment, contact or task and going to the Inbox, Calendar, Contacts or Tasks list.

All in all, jumplists are a great new addition to Windows 7 that can save time, mouse clicks or keystrokes and help you to work more quickly and efficiently than ever.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder
MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows 7

More Windows 7 MIA Features

I love Windows 7 and its new ways of doing things, but some users are not happy about all the changes, especially the Vista/XP features they got used to that are now Missing In Action. A fellow blogger addressed the absence of formerly built-in applications such as Windows Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, etc. and noted that you can download these from the Windows Live site and install them. Making these apps – which many people don’t use (for instance, I have no need for Windows Mail since I use Outlook) – optional makes a lot of sense and reduces “bloat” in the new OS.

But some of the other things that have been removed are sorely missed by quite a few users, and some of them are not as easy to get back. There are a few Vista apps that appear to be gone for good, such as Windows Meeting Space (which replaced NetMeeting for meetings within the LAN). I’m not sure it was widely used in the first place. However, one of the first things I noticed when I began using Windows 7 was that the Quick Launch bar was no longer an option in the toolbars selections. I’m very dependent on the QL bar, and nice as the new taskbar is, it doesn’t obviate the need for QL. Luckily, I soon discovered that you can get the QL bar back, as shown in the screenshot below - although how to do so isn’t exactly obvious. Way back in February, I wrote about how to do this in my Live Spaces blog.

Unfortunately, not every “omission by design” is as easily fixed. One decision that I really, really don’t understand is the one to take away our ability to create additional toolbars that are separate from the taskbar. You can make new toolbars in Windows 7, but they can’t be separated from the taskbar. In Vista, I had several separate toolbars, including one for all my network machines and one for my most frequently used folders. The taskbar ran down the left side of my screen, the network toolbar ran across the bottom and the folders toolbar ran vertically down the right side. You could easily make a toolbar out of any folder by dragging it to the edge of the screen. What was the rationale for taking that away?

Although I don’t miss it, some folks are also up in arms about the absence of the classic Start menu. I suspect most of these are people who still like their avocado green or harvest gold kitchen appliances from the 80s, and likewise are most comfortable if they can make their OS interface look like Windows NT. I don’t know why anyone would want to revert back to the Classic look when Windows 7 is so much more elegant, but hey, seems like it would have been easy to give them that choice.

I’ve also heard a bit of grumbling about the loss of the network activity animation in the system tray/notification area. I didn’t even notice this myself, until someone else pointed it out, but I guess it’s important to some folks. My husband has been upset, since Vista, about losing the lines that connect the folders and subfolders in the Explorer tree structure. Again, it’s something I didn’t even notice, but he wants it back. He also griped about the “missing” path (replaced by the much more functional, in my opinion, breadcrumbs view) in the Explorer address box until I showed him that all he had to do was click the breadcrumbs to get his familiar non-clickable path back. One thing he and I are both glad to be rid of is the automatic scrolling feature in the left Explorer pane in Vista. It was one of those things that sounds good in theory, but in practice will drive you nuts. Tom called it “whack a mole” because of the way it was constantly moving.

All in all, most of the features that were removed are things that I consider pretty trivial, and the many cool new features in Windows 7 more than make up for them. I think the libraries feature alone is worth the price of admission. But some people will always focus on what’s been taken away, rather than what they’ve been given.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder
MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net   www.debshinder.com

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows 7