Windows 7
Peter Schepers, IST
December 8, 2009
It’s not Vista!
What’s covered?
1.
2.
3.
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5.
6.
Desktop & Aero changes
Applications
Network
Miscellaneous
IST deployment schedule
Deployment methods
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Opening Quote
“Microsoft may be hoping that it can finally dismiss
Windows Vista as an unsuccessful experiment that
paved the way for something better… entice users
back into the Microsoft fold and finally put Windows
XP to rest.”
Frank J. Ohlhorst, IT World Canada
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Introduction
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This presentation is mainly comparing XP to 7
On Win7 exclusively since May 5
Very fast & stable, much like XP
Had a long shake-down time in beta & RC
Corporate app compatibility issues essentially the
same as Vista, esp with IE8
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Installation Notes
I’ve test installed on old and new systems
 Dell Latitude D800 1.7Ghz Celeron, 512Mb
 Vault P4 2.8Ghz HT, 1Gb
 Apple MB Pro 15” dual-core 2.2Ghz, 2Gb
 Lenovo M57 dual 3Ghz, 2Gb
 Very quick install, about 20 minutes
 Very few questions
 Only sets up one administrative account
 Administrator account is disabled
 Only a few drivers needed (video, audio)
 Still no password rules or screensaver enabled
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Usability Quote
“Windows 7 is the biggest step forward in usability
since Windows 95. In fact, over half of what makes it
better than Vista boils down to user interface
improvements and enhancements, not so much
actual new features.”
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Windows XP Desktop
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Windows Vista Desktop
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Windows 7 Desktop
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Aero Changes
 Aero Peek (new)
 View desktop behind windows
 On the Show Desktop icon at bottom-right
 Aero Snap (new)
 Drag right or left for 50% display
 Drag window up for full screen
 Drag top or bottom border up/down to expand vertical
 Aero Shake (new)
 Shake the window and the others disappear/re-appear
 Alt-Tab and Windows-Tab window flipping (Vista)
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Taskbar Changes (1)
 Known by some as the Superbar
 Larger icons, by default only shows icons
 Can view taskbar icons differently
 It’s a launch bar for pinned and active applications
 Shows a shaded box around the icon when its active
 Shows multiple boxes when more than one window is active
 Like the Mac OSX Dock
 Those apps not pinned have the option to pin
 Can re-arrange icons
 No more Quick Launch area. It’s available, but hidden
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Taskbar Changes (2)
 Graphic thumbnails of active applications (not Aero
Basic)
 Can close apps from here
 Can see & switch between multiple windows by hovering
 Applications can use the taskbar icon to show
application details like a progress bar (IMGBurn,
WinImage, IE downloads)
 Try pinning a document to the taskbar
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Jump Lists
 No more Recent Documents link
 Each application shows a list of frequentlyaccessed & pinned documents, commands, etc
 Exist on both the Start Menu and Taskbar
 An application on the Start Menu shows > symbol
beside it when there’s something in the Jump List
 Start Menu only shows the pinned and recent docs
 Task Bar shows more options
 Windows Explorer shows the recent folders opened
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
System Tray
 Much more condensed, only 6 system icons
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Action Center
Network
Volume
Clock
Power (laptop)
Hidden Icons area
 No more clutter from too many icons, like XP
 Non-system icons go under Hidden Icons
 Can move icons in/out of hidden area, but why?
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Action Center
 Consolidation of alerts & balloon notifications from
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Security Center
Windows Defender
UAC
Network Access Protection
etc.
 Shown by a FLAG icon in the System Tray
 This reduces the number of annoying and intrusive
alerts displayed on the desktop
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Start Menu (XP)
 Note the simple Log Off
and Turn Off options
 My Recent Documents
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Start Menu (Vista)
 Note the icon-based
buttons rather than text
 The Shut Down button
(power button) doesn’t
do what you expect
 Recent Items
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Start Menu (Win7)
 Note the simple layout,
just a Shut Down
(which does work) and
the arrow for more
options
 No Recent Documents,
they are in Jump Lists
 No more Classic start
menu
 Pinning icons
 Re-arranging will also pin
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Windows Explorer
 Left-hand pane shows Favorites locations, Libraries, all
computer drives, HomeGroup & network shares
 Search box always in top-right
 Preview Pane & Change View icons
 Thumbnail view of supported documents in folders
 Pictures, PDF, XPS, etc
 Clicking a portion of the folder path brings you there,
can browse using the > beside each portion
 USB drives come up almost immediately after first use
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Libraries
 Containers, like folders, to group folders that
contain similar content (like pictures or music)
together
 Comes with Music, Documents, Pictures, Videos
 You can create your own
 Meant to organize files across folders, drives and
even shares from other computers
 Can right-click on any folder and include in a
Library
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Slide Show
 Changes the desktop background while working
 Easy to add your own picture folder
 Better options for displaying than XP (tile, center,
etc)
 Can force switch the next desktop picture
 Can store them in the default Windows location for
Wallpaper (c:\windows\web\wallpaper) so no need
to browse for them
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Gadgets
 No more Vista sidebar
 Gadgets now reside directly on the desktop and
are resizable
 Aero Peek lets you see gadgets, and anything else,
underneath active windows
 Right-click on desktop to select (or...)
 Comes with 10 gadgets
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
File Copy (1)
 The old XP way...
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
File Copy (2)
 The new way...
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Searching
 Search now available from every window and Start
Menu
 Start Menu is a more condensed search
 Click on More Results to open the larger window
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Shows results in groups (libraries)
Shows search text highlighted in results
Searches are live, results refine as you type
Finds search parameters inside of supported files
Search Federation add-ons
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Other Features
 First Windows to have built-in multi-touch support
for touch screens
 Tablet PC improvements in handwriting
recognition, hand-written math expressions
 Accessibility improvements in speech recognition,
desktop magnifier
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Applications (1)
 Internet Explorer 8
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Faster & more stable
Better compliance with web standards
Compatibility View, emulates IE7 even the ver string
Automatic crash recovery, will try to reload crashed page
InPrivate browsing, can’t track history
Accelerators (not used by me)
SmartScreen Filtering (Phishing filter)
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Applications (2)
 Windows XP Compatibility mode
 Pro & Ultimate only
 Almost 500Mb download
 Can leverage this for our corporate apps
 Bitlocker
 Simplified deployment, automatic repartitioning
 On Enterprise & Ultimate only
 Bitlocker To Go
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Encrypt portable devices like USB keys and drives
Supported read-only under Vista & XP with patch
Must use strong passwords
On Enterprise & Ultimate only
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Applications (3)
 System Restore
 Now shows a list of programs that will be removed or added
with each restore point
 Windows Media Player
 Support for 3GP, AAC, AVCHD, DivX, XVid, MOV
 Readyboost (not as useful now)
 Improved battery life on laptops
 Removed Windows Mail (Outlook Express), Movie Maker
and Photo Gallery
 HomeGroup – Sharing docs at home (only Win7)
 Much more...
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Networking (1)
 Mobility Center
 Control laptop functions
 From Power Options (right-click) or Windows -X
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Networking (2)
 Presentation mode
 Used to control your
laptop while giving
presentations
 Can disable screensaver,
audio and set different
wallpaper
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Networking (3)
 View Available Networks
 One-click access to all available
networks
 Allow you to switch on the fly
 Location-aware Printing
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Networking (4)
 Direct Access
 A VPN-like remote connection to your corporate network
 Connection automatically established when internet available
 Requires Server 2008R2, IPV6, IPSEC, AD, etc
 Offline Files
 Now files are synced in the background after you login
 RDP improved
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Multi-monitor support for virtual desktops
Bi-directional audio, use of microphones for VOIP
Can use local printer
Aero Glass support
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Administration
 New imaging & deployment method from XP
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ImageX & WIM images, copies files not sectors
Complex XML files
DiskPart for partitioning disks
All command-line tools (!), no GUI yet
 Virtual Hard Disks (VHD)
 Used in VirtualPC
 Can mount & boot to VHD files in Windows
 Windows XP Mode is a VHD
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Miscellaneous Comments
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XP GUI is very dated compared to 7
Thumbnail view when viewing a folder of pictures
UAC is much less intrusive from Vista
Legacy device support problems
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Scanners
Printers
Video cards
Audio drivers
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Issues
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IE8 support
Network drive access
Login to blank/black profile
Printing
Others?
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
The Final Word
“One thing is certain: Windows 7 will prove to be
much more than just a rehash of Windows Vista. It
seems Microsoft has learned a lot from the failures of
Vista and has created Windows 7 as a new operating
system that looks to change people's perceptions
about Microsoft's products.”
Frank J. Ohlhorst, IT World Canada
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Windows 7 Deployment in
Academic Support and Training
 IST training lab, MC 1078, will have Windows 7
installed in the Winter 2010 term
 Windows 7 Tutorial will be offered
 Handout
 Deployment will probably take place in Fall 2010,
as IST rolls over 400 workstations after the IOI
2010 contest.
 Some Windows 7 deployment as machines are
replaced. Testing of corporate apps and special
purpose applications needs to take place.
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7
Deployment Questions
 How are you deploying Windows 7?
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FOG (network only, free)
Microsoft ImageX/Diskpart (CD, free)
Microsoft WDS (network, $$$?)
Symantec Ghost (CD/network, license per machine)
PQ DeployCenter (CD, dead product)
Acronis True Image (CD, license)
CloneZilla (CD, free)
Macrium Reflect (CD, license)
 Issues with sysprep, unattend, WAIK?
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Windows 7