Preparing an Windows 7 Image using Sysprep and ImageX video

Demonstration showing how to capture a custom Windows system image using the System Preparation Tool (sysprep) to generalize the installed image and ImageX to capture the contents of the generalized system image for re-deployment to other computers – including different hardware types.

Watch Video…

Video WMV download…

Windows XP Mode walkthrough video

Designed for Small and Medium businesses, Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 makes it easy to install and run older Windows XP productivity applications directly from your Windows 7-based PC. It utilizes virtualization technology such as Windows Virtual PC to provide a Windows XP Mode environment for Windows 7.

Video link…

Video WMV download…

Google Sync

Sync is a two way service that allows you to synchonize your phone’s built-in address book and calendar with your Google account wirelessly i.e. without been connected to your computer. Your calendar and contacts are always up-to-date, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Also, since your data is automatically backed up to your Google Account, it’s securely stored even if you lose your phone.

For devices that support the open SyncML protocol, Google Sync will allow for two-way contacts synchronization. If you’re a BlackBerry user, a version of Google Sync is already available.

Once you have setup Sync on your phone it will automatically update your phone’s contacts with your contacts from your Gmail account as well as download your Google calendar events to your device.

Source…

Troubleshoot Power Management Settings in Windows 7

Windows Vista includes a command line tool, Powercfg.Exe, that you can use to configure power management settings.

 

Windows 7 introduces a new switch, -energy which…

• provides a comprehensive report of those settings;
• offers diagnostics that can indicate which applications or devices might be causing power management issues (such as a USB driver not entering suspend)
• shows what power management settings you can configure differently for better results.

 At an elevated command prompt, simply enter:

 

POWERCFG –ENERGY –OUTPUT <path\filename>

 

The tool will observe your computer for 60 seconds, and then create a file called ENERGY-REPORT.HTML in the path you specified. Simply double-click on this file to see what’s going on.

Lenovo Windows 7 BETA Drivers and Utilities

Lenovo compatible drivers and utlities for Windows 7 RTM version…

Compatibility View List in IE8

By default IE8 displays web content using its newest, most standards compliant mode. The problem is that some of today’s web pages expect the older, less interoperable behavior from Internet Explorer , handing this latest version of Internet Explorer code meant for older releases of the browser. The result is web pages that might not function correctly in ways ranging from just looking a bit misaligned to not working at all. During the Beta cycle, the Compatibility View button, which allowed savvy end-users to resolve compatibility problems they might encounter as described above. Microsoft has combined telemetry data about Compatibility View button presses with other feedback sources – customer-filed bugs, Report a Webpage Problem data, their wn compatibility testing, etc… – to create a list of sites that were likely best displayed in Compatibility View. The list’s not enabled by default - users must opt-in to the feature (known as the Compatibility View List or Compatibility List, in other documents) as part of the first run experience or later by selecting ‘Include updated website lists from Microsoft’ at Tools -> Compatibility View Settings. For those that chose to do so, IE8 displays sites on the list in Compatibility View rather than the default “best standards mode” i.e. it’s as if the user pressed the Compatibility View button for sites on the list with the benefit that the end user avoids having to first experience a website compatibility failure to make the determination that these particular sites are best viewed in a non-default manner.

Typing ‘res://iecompat.dll/iecompatdata.xml’ into the browser’s address bar shows the list currently available on your IE installation.

With the next Compatibility View List update you’ll see a new designation for site removal in the tracking spreadsheet – “Removed per Microsoft testing” – indicating that test passes have not found a compatibility issue for some time and so Microsoft are removing that site from the Compatibility View List.

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IE8’s SmartScreen Filter™

According the the IE Blog, IE8’s SmartScreen Filter has delivered more than 70 million blocks in the first four months since IE8’s official release, for a cumulative total of 80 million blocks. This data is a strong indication of the value of the protection SmartScreen provides, and of just how widespread socially-engineered malware attacks are on the web today.

• IE8 is delivering a malware block for approximately 1 out of 40 users every week
• Approximately 1 of every 200 downloads is blocked as malicious

IE8 users can ensure that SmartScreen is enabled by clicking on the toolbar’s Safety button (or  if you’re in Show Only Icons mode) and examining the SmartScreen Filter submenu. If a “Turn on SmartScreen Filter” item is present, click it to enable protection.

Read more….

How to check if your CPU supports hardware virutalization

Although OEMs have been shipping hardware virtualization in PCs for three years, hardware virtualization is not available in all PCs — so even if your PC is new, it may not have hardware virtualization. Additionally, those PCs with hardware virtualization have it turned off by default, so you will need to turn on the hardware virtualization capability before you can use it.

To determine whether your PC works with Windows XP Mode:

Step 1. Does my PC have a CPU with support for hardware virtualization?

For Intel processors:

• Download, install and run the Intel Processor Identification Utility.
• Navigate to the CPU Technologies tab and read the value in the “Intel Virtualization Technology” field.
  • If the value is No then your CPU does not support hardware virtualization.
  • If the value is Yes then the CPU supports hardware virtualization. Go on to step 2 below.

For AMD processors:
AMD Virtualization Compatibility Check Utility.

Step 2. Does my PC BIOS support hardware virtualization, and is it turned on?

Instructions to turn on hardware virtualization in your PC BIOS are specific to OEM models. It is important that after changing your BIOS settings the PC is completely shut down at the power switch before restarting so that the new BIOS settings can take place.

Examples for some models of some computer manufacturer’s BIOS settings are below:

Sample instructions for your PC 

Dell systems

• Depress the F12 key when boot menu text appears at startup
• Select BIOS setup and depress the Enter key
• Using the mouse, expand the Virtualization Support menu item by clicking on the plus to the left of Virtualization Support and select Virtualization
• Check the Enable Intel Virtualization Technology checkbox
• Click Apply
• Click Exit
• Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer

HP systems

• Depress Esc key when prompted at startup
• Depress the F10 key to Configure BIOS
• Scroll to System Configuration using the arrow keys
• Select Virtualization Technology and depress the Enter key
• Select Enabled and depress the Enter key
• Depress the F10 key to save and exit
• Select Yes and depress the Enter key
• Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer

• Depress the blue ThinkVantage key when prompted at startup
• Depress the F1 key to enter the BIOS setup utility
• Using the arrow keys, scroll to Config and depress the Enter key
• Scroll to CPU and depress the Enter key
• Scroll to Intel ® Virtualization Technology and depress the Enter key
• Select Enabled and depress the Enter key
• Depress Enter key to continue
• Depress F10 key to save and exit
• Select Yes and depress the Enter key
• Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer

Lenovo ThinkPad systems

 

Windows 7 technical documentation

Windows 7 Technical Library Roadmap

Springboard Series

Windows 7 clean and upgrade install times

Microsoft’s goal was to make an in-place upgrade from Vista SP1 to Windows 7 at least 5% faster than an in-place upgrade from Vista SP1 to a new copy of Vista SP1. A clean install is the only upgrade path between XP to Windows 7.

The Windows deployment team, published Windws 7 upgrade results using in-place upgrade times.

Lab environment… 

• Machines in three different configurations – labeled low, mid-range and high-end – with three simulated users: a medium user (70GB of data and 20 applications), a heavy user and a super user (650GB of data and 40 applications). The profiles differed in the amount of data and the number of applications that were on the PC before the upgrade to Windows 7.
• Windows 7 upgrade performance was tracked using Vista as the baseline comparison.

Test results…

• In every situation, a Windows 7 upgrade was more than 5% faster than one using Vista.
• Of the 16 scenarios – 3 each for medium and heavy profiles, 2 for the super profile, with tests run for both the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 – 4 clocked in at less than 2 hours, and 8 in under 3 hours.
• Fastest upgrade time – medium user profile upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit on a high-end PC, at under 84 minutes.
• Slowest 32-bit upgrade, was a super user on a medium machine (testing profile on a low-end system was not carrid out) took 20 hours and 15 minutes.
• “Medium” users, (70GB of data and 20 applications), will spend between 1 hour and 40 minutes and 2 hours 50 minutes doing a 32-bit upgrade. (The more powerful the PC, the faster the upgrade, according to Microsoft.)
• Heavy users, (125GB of data and 40 applications), will spend between 2 hours and 40 minutes and 5 hours and 43 minutes to do the same upgrade.
• A clean 32-bit upgrade (no data or applications were retained) took between 27 and 39 minutes
• A clean 64-bit upgrade took between 30 and 47 minutes.

Note: these marks, do not account for the time spent restoring previously-backed up data and various settings, and re-installing applications.

For clean upgrades, users – those beginning with either Windows XP or Vista – can use the Windows Easy Transfer utility that comes on the Windows 7 DVD to help them back up and restore settings and data.

For IT professionals who have multiple PCs to migrate, check out the User State Migration Tool for Windows 7 and new features like hard-link migration and migration from windows.old.

PC configurations and user profiles that Microsoft tested, and the time trial results, can be found on Hernandez’s blog…