Windows 7 features

I’ve been reading Jeff Alexander’s post about the different versions of Windows 7 that will become available.

I gotta admit that I am disappointed that BitLocker to Go is only available in the Enterprise edition. BitLocker is the ability to encrypt your whole hard disk. BitLocker to go allows you to encrypt a USB key. It is my understanding that once you have encrypted a USB key using BitLocker to Go it can be read by other Windows 7 machine but you can’t write back to it.

I know that Microsoft has developed these offerings after consultation with customers but I fear it is more about optimizing returns that anything else. I would think it is simpler to have 2 versions, one for home use, one for business use. I think too many versions simply confuses people and actually retards sales but I understand in this day and age where more and more of our computing is moving to the ‘cloud’ a number of ‘cheaper’ alternatives needs to be offered.

Windows 7 will sell well due to the pent up demand of people holding off going to Vista. Windows 7 has a significant positive buzz around, which hasn’t happened for a long time. It is also much quicker and appears to be less resource hungry. My guess for availability? August, September this year. I reckon we’ll see a release candidate in April and the final version in late August.

So in the meantime get familiar with the version and their contents.

Chatswood course

I forgot to let people know that I’ll also be running my networking basics course at Macquarie Community College Chatswood campus tomorrow (Tuesday 17th February). It will run over 3 consecutive Tuesday nights and give you the fundamentals of networking computers together including information about TCP/IP, routers, firewall and the like.

Information about the course, including enrolment (it is never too late) can be found here:

http://www.macquarie.nsw.edu.au/index.php?action=course&course_action=detail&code=109C103

I look forward to seeing you there.

Networking course

My Networking Basics course starts this Thursday at Macquarie Community College at Carlingford and runs over the next three weeks. This course will give you a understanding of things such as TCP, IP addressing, switches, wireless, routers, firewalls and more. It is aimed at those who little of no networking experience and want to better understand the technology of getting machines to talk to each other.

You can find more information, including enrolment details here:

http://www.macquarie.nsw.edu.au/index.php?action=course&course_action=detail&code=109M301

The course will also give you hands on experience with the technology in a computer lab and comes with a comprehensive set of course notes.

MSRT

When you do a Microsoft Update every month (I hope you do!) then you’ll find that one of the items listed is the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT for short) update. Now for months I’ve simply applied the update as a normal part of the process not even caring what it does.

So I did some research and found that Microsoft actually have a site dedicated to telling you what the MRST is all about. You’ll find it at:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

and as the site says

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

Now, it is updated monthly to include checking for all the newest nasties. I’m not quite sure how it exactly works but it sits in the background monitoring for rogue software. If it detects any you are informed at the next login. It is my understanding that the tool actually does a scan once a month when it is updated. More technical information on the tool can be found at:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=890830

You always gotta wonder what something like this is doing sight unseen in your machine. Is it running? Is it doing anything? Well, as it turns out you can run the tool from the command line. Simply press the Start button, select the Run command from the menu and type MRT and press enter. After a few welcome screens you are able to select from a number of scan options.

Select the scan desired and press Next.

When it’s all done you should hopefully see

Now the tool doesn’t replace anti virus/anti spyware software but it is worth ensuring that you update your system every month via Microsoft Update to ensure you get this handy free utility.

Change is bad

So I’ve been looking at IE8 which comes with Windows 7. Now all this is still in beta and may be subject to change but I can’t comprehend why Microsoft has done the following.

To run Windows Update in IE7 in you went Tools | Windows update like so:

But now in IE8 Windows Update doesn’t live under the Tools menu

It live under the safety menu

I’ll tell you one thing, it is changes like these that really confuse and annoy the average user. It may make sense to the programmers in Redmond but to your average IE user it doesn’t. You would also think that to encourage people to run Windows Update you’d leave the option to do so in the same location, but no.

Sure, it may be a small thing but it makes it just that little bit harder and more frustrating for users. That is going to translate into reduced product acceptance and greater frustration, not to mention the extra support. I can just hear the support calls now – “Are you running IE8 or IE7. Ok, is Windows Update under the Tools menu? No? Oh well that means ….”

It really doesn’t make things easier in my books!

Wanna see something truly amazing?

It’s hard these days to really find a technology that blows my mind. Most of the stuff is normally just an upgrade or evolution of what is already out there. Sure some stuff is gee whiz but there ain’t much HOLY COW anymore.

Well take a look at this and I’m sure you’ll agree this stuff is truly amazing.

Firstly, watch the presentation of the technology at :

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

then visit the following to see it in operation for yourself.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

I would try and describe what it is but the presentation and the site do a much better job.

It isn’t really Windows unless

I’ve download the beta release of Windows 7 and just installed it under a Hyper-V virtual machine and started to play with it. (I have to say again what a magic thing Hyper-V is).

So what’s the first thing you do when you install a new version of Windows? You check that all the critical applications are still there. So I checked and

yes, thank goodness Solitaire is still there in Windows 7. Phew. Even better it seems like there a few new games on offer as you can see from

So, let me just test these ‘critical’ applications for a bit and let you know how I go with the ‘less’ important stuff in a coming post eh?

I’m sick of patching

You know that you’ve go to do it. You know that it could cause problems with yours and your customers systems but all good tech people know that it is just a part of life. Sigh.

A recent post from Susan Bradley detailing recommendations of how resellers should approach patching just confirms to me why I want someone else to do this. There is just so much time and hassle involved it demonstrates to me that we have built our technology on shaky ground. I acknowledge that patching applies to all software simply because it is developed by fallible human beings but man, you’d think it would be getting better. Even if you aren’t a techie read the post and consider that someone should be doing this for all your systems at least every month. What a waste or time and money but without doubt it needs to be done. Sigh.

The most likely reason is that because technology is so pervasive these days it means it has to support people who have software from pre-Y2K to 2009. That’s a hell of a lot of software and when you start mixing and matching it on different PC’s, that an even greater number of variations you have to account for and patch.

I can see why customers believe that there is conspiracy going on here between developers and IT professionals. Not only do they have to pay for the software they also generally have to pay for someone to update it and debug and issues that arise. To a customer this is painful and seems to happen on a never ending basis.

Again, it confirms to me why cloud computing is so appealing from a customers point of view. Any updates are applied on someone else’s hardware and they don’t have to worry, it is all part of the monthly fee. Sure, many resellers make money out of offering update services but I reckon many customers don’t have this service and many probably don’t want to pay for it anyway. It is always tough to sell a service that simply maintains the status quo. To be more effective maybe you are better off simply selling a repair service and making money when the client finally appreciates they should have done something. I’ll guarantee you’ll have their full attention then!

Honestly, this is all getting far to hard. Honestly, you gotta wonder whether these IT systems are really making any return on investment given the constant maintenance that is involved. Honestly, I’m sick of testing patches on multiple systems before I apply them in production. Honestly, I’m sick of the downtime they cause. Honestly, I want it to be someone else’s problem because it is all just too much work and it is preventing me from doing my work!