Shumway
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Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
So what program do we use for mail with this thing?
So what program do we use for mail with this thing?
Windows 7 FAQ and Questions
- Thread starter KSoD
- Start date
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
Windows Live Mail. They have Windows Mail disabled.
Essentials - Windows Live
Windows Live Mail. They have Windows Mail disabled.
Essentials - Windows Live
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
As most folks (finally) get the beta and start to set aside some time to install and try out Windows 7, we thought it would be a good idea to start to talk about how we support devices through testing and work across the PC ecosystem. This is a big undertaking and one that we take very seriously. As we talked about at the PDC, this is also an area where we learned some things which we want to apply to Engineering Windows 7. While this is a massive effort across the entire Windows organization, Grant George, the VP of Test for the Windows Experience, is taking the lead in authoring this post. We think this is a deep topic and I know folks want to know more so consider this a kick-off for more to come down the road. –Steven
Devices and Drivers in Windows
One of the most important responsibilities in a release of Windows is our support of, and compatibility with, all of the devices and their associated drivers that our users have. The abstraction layer in Windows to connect software and hardware is a crucial part of the operating system. That layer is surfaced through our driver model, which provides the interface for all of our partners in the multi-faceted hardware ecosystem.
Partner Support
Support for our hardware partners comes in the form of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and for certification, the Windows Logo Kit (WLK). The WDK enables the development of device drivers and as of Vista replaced the previous Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK). The WDK contains all of the DDK components plus Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) and the Installable File System kit (IFS).
Validation and Testing
With Windows 7 we have modified driver model validation, new and legacy device testing, and driver testing. Compared to Vista, we now place much more emphasis on validating the driver platform and verifying legacy devices and their associated drivers throughout our product engineering cycle. Data based on installed base for each device represents an integral part of testing, and we gather this data from a variety of sources including the voluntary, opt-in, anonymous telemetry in addition to sources such as sales data and IHV roadmaps.
Determining Which Devices to Test
Our program management team helps us drive device market share analysis. Most of their data comes from our Customer Experience Improvement Program. This gives us data on the actual hardware in use across our customer base.
Equivalence Classes
We use the notion of equivalence classes to help us define and prioritize our hardware (device) test matrix. Creating equivalence classes involves grouping things into sets based on equivalent properties across related devices.
Driver Goals for Windows 7
One of our primary goals for Windows 7 is compatibility with all Vista certified drivers and to ensure that people have a seamless upgrade experience. This breaks down into several requirements that guide how we test:
One question we are asked about quite a bit is the availability of drivers. There are three primary reasons drivers end up looking for folks: clean installation of Windows, attaching device to a new computer, wanting the updated driver. We definitely recognize that for the readers of this blog, both as enthusiasts and often the support/IT infrastructure for corporations, friends, and families, that the ability to acquire drivers and reliably update machines is something of a “hobby†we all love to hate. We all want the latest and greatest—no more and no less.
Scale of Device and Driver Testing in Windows 7
The table provided at the source examples of some of the explicit devices we have directly tested thus far during the development of Windows 7. This is just a sampling of that direct testing - many more devices have been directly tested that are not shown here or are covered through equivalence classing.
This information is available in many sources, such as the WHQL web site that lists all qualified devices. For the purposes of this blog we thought it would be fun to provide a list here which we think will most certainly serve as the basis for discussion.
This and much more information at:
Source
As most folks (finally) get the beta and start to set aside some time to install and try out Windows 7, we thought it would be a good idea to start to talk about how we support devices through testing and work across the PC ecosystem. This is a big undertaking and one that we take very seriously. As we talked about at the PDC, this is also an area where we learned some things which we want to apply to Engineering Windows 7. While this is a massive effort across the entire Windows organization, Grant George, the VP of Test for the Windows Experience, is taking the lead in authoring this post. We think this is a deep topic and I know folks want to know more so consider this a kick-off for more to come down the road. –Steven
Devices and Drivers in Windows
One of the most important responsibilities in a release of Windows is our support of, and compatibility with, all of the devices and their associated drivers that our users have. The abstraction layer in Windows to connect software and hardware is a crucial part of the operating system. That layer is surfaced through our driver model, which provides the interface for all of our partners in the multi-faceted hardware ecosystem.
Partner Support
Support for our hardware partners comes in the form of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and for certification, the Windows Logo Kit (WLK). The WDK enables the development of device drivers and as of Vista replaced the previous Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK). The WDK contains all of the DDK components plus Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) and the Installable File System kit (IFS).
Validation and Testing
With Windows 7 we have modified driver model validation, new and legacy device testing, and driver testing. Compared to Vista, we now place much more emphasis on validating the driver platform and verifying legacy devices and their associated drivers throughout our product engineering cycle. Data based on installed base for each device represents an integral part of testing, and we gather this data from a variety of sources including the voluntary, opt-in, anonymous telemetry in addition to sources such as sales data and IHV roadmaps.
Determining Which Devices to Test
Our program management team helps us drive device market share analysis. Most of their data comes from our Customer Experience Improvement Program. This gives us data on the actual hardware in use across our customer base.
Equivalence Classes
We use the notion of equivalence classes to help us define and prioritize our hardware (device) test matrix. Creating equivalence classes involves grouping things into sets based on equivalent properties across related devices.
Driver Goals for Windows 7
One of our primary goals for Windows 7 is compatibility with all Vista certified drivers and to ensure that people have a seamless upgrade experience. This breaks down into several requirements that guide how we test:
- Drivers for basic functionality are in-box (by in-box we mean available as part of the installation of Windows). This includes drivers for mainstream storage, network, input, and display devices so the OS can be installed and user can get online where, if needed, additional drivers can be acquire from Windows Update.
- Drivers update and/or install with minimal end user effort.
- When drivers are upgraded, there aren't problems with the new drivers.
- Drivers are reliable.
One question we are asked about quite a bit is the availability of drivers. There are three primary reasons drivers end up looking for folks: clean installation of Windows, attaching device to a new computer, wanting the updated driver. We definitely recognize that for the readers of this blog, both as enthusiasts and often the support/IT infrastructure for corporations, friends, and families, that the ability to acquire drivers and reliably update machines is something of a “hobby†we all love to hate. We all want the latest and greatest—no more and no less.
Scale of Device and Driver Testing in Windows 7
The table provided at the source examples of some of the explicit devices we have directly tested thus far during the development of Windows 7. This is just a sampling of that direct testing - many more devices have been directly tested that are not shown here or are covered through equivalence classing.
This information is available in many sources, such as the WHQL web site that lists all qualified devices. For the purposes of this blog we thought it would be fun to provide a list here which we think will most certainly serve as the basis for discussion.
This and much more information at:
Source
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
User Account Control (UAC) – quick update
There's been a ton of interest in how we have improved user account control (UAC) and so we thought we'd offer a quick update for folks. We know most of you have discovered this and picked a setting that works for you, and we're happy with the feedback we've seen. This just goes into the details on the choice of defaults. --Steven
In an earlier blog post we discussed the why of UAC and its implications for Windows, the ecosystem, and our customers. We also talked about what we needed to do moving forward to address the data and feedback we've received. This blog post will provide additional detail on our response and what you can expect to see in the upcoming beta build in early 2009.
The administrator now has more control over the level of notification received from UAC. Look for the UAC Control Panel to appear in Start Search, Action Center, Getting Started, and even directly from the UAC prompt itself. Of course, the familiar ways to access it from Vista are still present.
The UAC Control Panel enables you to choose between four different settings:
We know from the feedback we've received that our customers are looking for a better balance of control versus the amount of notifications they see. As we mentioned in our last post we have a large number of admin (aka developer) customers looking for this balance, our data shows us that most machines (75%) run with a single account with full admin privileges.
For the in-box default, we are focusing on these customers, and we have chosen number 2, “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computerâ€. This setting does not prompt when you change Windows settings (control panels, etc.), but instead enables you to focus on administrative changes being requested by non-Windows applications (like installing new software). For people who want greater control in changing Windows settings frequently, without the additional notifications, this setting results in fewer overall prompts and enables customers to zero in on the key remaining notifications that they do see.
This default setting provides the right degree of change notification that a broad range of customers' desire. At the same time we've made it easy and readily discoverable for the administrator to adjust the setting to provide more or fewer notifications via the new control panel (and policy). As with all of our default choices we will continue to closely monitor the feedback and data that come in through beta before finalizing for ship.
--UAC, Kernel, and Security program managers
Images and more at:
Source
User Account Control (UAC) – quick update
There's been a ton of interest in how we have improved user account control (UAC) and so we thought we'd offer a quick update for folks. We know most of you have discovered this and picked a setting that works for you, and we're happy with the feedback we've seen. This just goes into the details on the choice of defaults. --Steven
In an earlier blog post we discussed the why of UAC and its implications for Windows, the ecosystem, and our customers. We also talked about what we needed to do moving forward to address the data and feedback we've received. This blog post will provide additional detail on our response and what you can expect to see in the upcoming beta build in early 2009.
The administrator now has more control over the level of notification received from UAC. Look for the UAC Control Panel to appear in Start Search, Action Center, Getting Started, and even directly from the UAC prompt itself. Of course, the familiar ways to access it from Vista are still present.
The UAC Control Panel enables you to choose between four different settings:
- Always notify on every system change. This is Vista behavior – a UAC prompt will result when any system-level change is made (Windows settings, software installation, etc.)
- Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer. This setting does not prompt when you change Windows settings, such as control panel and administration tasks.
- Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer, without using the Secure Desktop. This is the same as #2, but the UAC prompt appears on the normal desktop instead of the Secure Desktop.
- While this is useful for certain video drivers which make the desktop switch slowly, note that the Secure Desktop is a barrier to software that might try to spoof your response.
- Never notify. This turns off UAC altogether.
We know from the feedback we've received that our customers are looking for a better balance of control versus the amount of notifications they see. As we mentioned in our last post we have a large number of admin (aka developer) customers looking for this balance, our data shows us that most machines (75%) run with a single account with full admin privileges.
For the in-box default, we are focusing on these customers, and we have chosen number 2, “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computerâ€. This setting does not prompt when you change Windows settings (control panels, etc.), but instead enables you to focus on administrative changes being requested by non-Windows applications (like installing new software). For people who want greater control in changing Windows settings frequently, without the additional notifications, this setting results in fewer overall prompts and enables customers to zero in on the key remaining notifications that they do see.
This default setting provides the right degree of change notification that a broad range of customers' desire. At the same time we've made it easy and readily discoverable for the administrator to adjust the setting to provide more or fewer notifications via the new control panel (and policy). As with all of our default choices we will continue to closely monitor the feedback and data that come in through beta before finalizing for ship.
--UAC, Kernel, and Security program managers
Images and more at:
Source
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
There is a couple of ways. You can click the Submit Feedback option that loads in all windows just about. Can send the stuff to someone else who you know can submit feedback, or you can do it via their forums. The Developers check those forums at times and if the issue is severe enough it can be elevated to the proper people.
There is a couple of ways. You can click the Submit Feedback option that loads in all windows just about. Can send the stuff to someone else who you know can submit feedback, or you can do it via their forums. The Developers check those forums at times and if the issue is severe enough it can be elevated to the proper people.
Wildside
Hellfire!
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Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
question, is there a way to make the UAC in Vista now to know come up everytime i open programs i already said were safe to open?
question, is there a way to make the UAC in Vista now to know come up everytime i open programs i already said were safe to open?
saltynay
Patron
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- West Coast, Singapore
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
Turn it off
Control panel> account settings move the slider to never notify or do it through the registry. There may be a way to add exceptions I have never looked int it to much.
Turn it off
Control panel> account settings move the slider to never notify or do it through the registry. There may be a way to add exceptions I have never looked int it to much.
cichlidkeeper91
In Runtime
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- 210
Re: Windows 7 Fact Thread
I have to say I am very happy with Windows 7. I just barely installed it and I really like it so far. I have used vista on this same machine and taken it off and went back to XP just because XP ran smoother. But Windows 7 runs pretty well. Very nice job microsoft.
I have to say I am very happy with Windows 7. I just barely installed it and I really like it so far. I have used vista on this same machine and taken it off and went back to XP just because XP ran smoother. But Windows 7 runs pretty well. Very nice job microsoft.
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