What's changing through Windows 7 beta

As I noted Wednesday, Microsoft isn't making huge changes to Windows 7 as a result of the beta feedback, but it is making a lot of little ones.

In a posting to its Engineering Windows 7 blog on Thursday, Microsoft outlined some of the changes that will be made for the next public version, which will be a near-final "release candidate" build.

Along with the ones mentioned in my previous article, Microsoft is making more than 30 other changes, including expanding its Aero Peek touch interface, adding broader support for older FAT32-formatted hard drives, and making it more apparent when a window in the background wants a user's attention.

In addition and as it had already committed to, Microsoft is making some changes to the User Account Control feature, following concern that efforts to make the feature less annoying had also made it less secure.

"We change a lot of things in the beta based on feedback and we try to do so in a systematic manner with the focus on the goals for the release," Windows engineering head Steven Sinofsky said in the blog posting. "The goal of having a fully functional beta was to make sure we received reliable feedback and not a lot of 'hey this doesn't work at all' sorts of reports. This has allowed us to really focus on delivering a refined (release candidate) where the changes we made are all the reflection of feedback we have received."

[techwiz2001]

Microsoft is on the right track with Win7. I use the beta right now and I haven't looked back. It's runs all my apps and games so much better and alot faster.

techwiz2000
http://hooahtech.blogspot.com/

[TurboGeak]

I can agree my Zune software even launches faster, My hard drive indexes allot less (my desk top is allot quiet) I haven't been this excited for about an OS. I tell all of my friends about it, I can't believe we when through the crap with vista to get to Win7 but I'm happy we're here.

I even connected my peripherals up to it just check for compatibility. I can't be more happier with Windows 7.

[MrZook]

I always liked that mac and linux make you type in your password to make significant changes to the OS, like installing programs that alter the registry. Will windows ever go to something like this as an optoin in UAC?
For some reason, just requiring a few "OK" clicks doesn't seem that secure.

[tekwiz4u]

I agree. It seems more secure and it'll prevent programs from auto-installing themselves. But i would like windows REGISTRY to be more permission based. I think that will cut down on the malware.

[rapier1]

The UAC will prompt for a password if its configured to do so.

[zgreenwell]

I think that would be more annoying, but also more secure. Of course you could always turn the UAC off if you didn't mind going without the extra protection.

[Stormspace]

My biggest problem with the UAC is that the screen goes black and a minute and a half later you get the prompt. Way too slow.

[ncalishome]

Ya.. this is what UAC in Vista can and will do depending on the user and the configuration. @Stormspace, totally agree this is the worst thing about UAC. I have 3 screens and it is painful having them all go black as it does hang a few seconds. Google "disable uac black screen"... takes about 1 minute to fix that

[Inconnux]

This is as it should be by DEFAULT... of course Microsoft has to chose the most annoying way possible... The problem with Microsoft enabling this by default is that doing so indirectly admits that they have been wrong in the past and that the competition has been doing it right.

[oludir]

Its called running a user account and not an administrator account. That way you are prompted for an administrator password for elevation.

[PolarExplorer]

The difference between LINUX and Windows is that by default, you have to create a user account (with our without a password) and your adminstrator account (root) you have to set a password and you purposely have to log in to it to do your admin work. If you want, you can do this in Windows 7. Personally, I find the default security settings in LINUX to be more of a pain than Windows. Its a trade off in security between the two for ease.

[drbyte]

I hope they consider this. It would stop a lot of the malware that gets installed.

[tekwiz4u]

I'm really happy that MS developers are listening & implementing instead of resisting change. This is a step in the right direction and it grows my anticipation on getting my hands on the final product. Keep up the good work and your reward will pay off in the end for sure.

[Rolker]

I'm a Vista user, and I'm happy with this OS. But I must admit that I'm very excited from all the positive things people are saying regarding Win 7.There is no doubt that a lot of people are waiting for this OS.

[Inconnux]

You are in the minority

and the winner of 2009 Fiasco award is...

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=microsoft-vista-voted-the-tech-worl-2009-02-26

[homercles82]

sciams blog is the end all be all of tech knowledge. Thanks for the post!

[Mark_Anderson]

"You are in the minority"

No that would be Linux or OS X users.

[Inconnux]

you forgot Vista users... since XP still runs on the vast majority of the systems out there.

[Mark_Anderson]

No I didn't. XP runs on about three times as man PCs as Vista. Vista runs on about three to four times as many PCs (yes a Mac is a PC) as OS X and about twenty times more than Linux.

:)

[zgreenwell]

Aero Peek is a nice feature. Its great for seeing all those gadgets I have sprawled out on my desktop. It also has the same keyboard shortcut as the old Sidebar Windows key + Space Bar.

[wfairley]

Ina, I am following your blog on Windows 7 with anticipation! I've been using the beta version occasionally (in a MS VPC-vm) since its release, and I like it as well. Having studied to attain my MCTS and now MCITP for Vista, I see its benefits and its hardships. Win7 will be worth the wait. Thanks for the updates Ina! Keep them coming, ok?

[jeromey.shannon]

I just hope they fix the spelling mistakes I've emailed them about. I'm not kidding. The File menu in the new Media Player has spelling mistakes.

[codynews]

screen shot?

[The_happy_switcher]

Have fun upgrading from XP to Win7, suckers. You will have to do a clean install which means you will have to install everything else of course. Otherwise, prepare for an even shiittier experience if you try to load WIn7 on top of that 10 year technology known as XP.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/159933/the_xp_to_windows_7_upgrade_path.html

[goodspeed8701]

Thanks for your advice... I will still upgrade to vista then imediately update to 7 no i am even getting a new pc with 7 installed so you and you mac can go to hell

[another_cissp]

Besides being common sense, maybe not for you, this is a great idea by Microsoft. XP allows for Kernel mode drivers to be installed even though Microsoft had been telling hardware companies to write user mode drivers since 2000. This is one of the reason Vista has so many so called hardware compatibility problems. When the user tries to find hardware driver and see that the manufacture does not have the drivers for Vista or Win7 they will blame the hardware manufacturer and not Microsoft.

[jessiethe3rd]

Even on 512MB of RAM on a tablet Windows 7 is running better than Windows XP... just my observations.

[sanenazok]

A clean install is a good idea. MSFT is merely asking people to follow best practices since the two OS's are so different. I don't think anyone uses an 8 year old PC anyways. It's only buyers of over-priced hardware that keep upgrading their computers every 18 months by re-buying the same branded linux.

[Not_a_lemming]

yeah because the apple way to so much better saying "screw you guys." You might get morerespect by not calling people suckers. Try out for size its called being a grownup.

[oby3000]

i upgraded to win 7 on an old ***** xp machine about 6 years old and it runs faster than xp did and i have them installed to duel boot

[Vegaman_Dan]

Having done nearly 400 in place upgrades of Windows from XP to Win7 at a trade show a few weeks ago, I haev to say that your information is incorrect, AppleRocks.

A clean install is always recommended regardless of what OS you are using, but it is very easy to install in place now.

[Swimatm]

Hey guess what? Clean installs aren't that hard! You're such a Mac user.

[Inconnux]

A clean install is a good idea anyways, All microsoft OS's should get a clean install once every couple months.

[The_happy_switcher]

@ Vega: Don't take my word for it, it comes from Microsoft itself if you bothered to read the PC World article. A snippet:
The official word from Redmond, or at least from an unnamed "Microsoft spokesperson," is that you will be able to "purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7; however, [you] will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7."

[nutso101]

It will be interesting to see if large corporations will upgrade to windows 7 since they were reluctant to go to vista due to hardware issues. And those issues will still exist! What then?

[contentcreator--2008]

"broader support for older FAT32-formatted hard drives" I should hope so! They'd better work! This includes not only a zillion external hard drives, but Boot Camp machines, where you want to have at least some partition type that both Windows and OS X can both work with successfully (can't we please put Apple and Microsoft in a room and not let them out until they trade their current disk formatting specs--the mutual incompatibility is so so petty)

Once again, MS doesn't get it. This is Vista SP2. I gave Win7 a fair shake, and once again the 1,000's of desktops my company manages are staying with XP while alternative OS options mature. In addition, the 100+ new servers we have rolled in the last 6 months are sticking with Win2003 server, 2008 is awful. Slowly but surely Exchange is being replaced by alternatives on Linux such as Kerio. It runs twice as fast on 5 year old hardware compared to Exchange 2007 on new hardware. Never mind it being more stable, compatible with others and standards based, and of course being a non-MS product infinitely more secure.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

On this note, who still has a lawyer relative still using Windows 3.1 on a 386 somewhere?

[Kainchild]

Bad enough they gave a watered down version of Win XP called Vista, now they are doing the same with Windows 7. I bet they will even have the nerve to use the layoffs as an excuse too (like they don't make enough to begin with that they needed to layoff their members of their core resource teams). I have this feeling Windows XP isn't going away anytime soon. Why can't someone come out with a third party OS that is backwards compatible with windows and is easy to use?

[Mark_Anderson]

Thanks. That was probably the most stupid comment I've read this week.

[DOTA AllMoons]

@mark_anderson
just ignore drones...not worth listening to.

[joachim123]

I didnt get a copy of window 7. Did anyone knows if this fantastic little player I am using (http://alpha2player.com) is working on this new release ?

[dark47]

I am with windows machines since 1989 and since Windows 3.0 running on DOS 4.2. Today I am running Wista 64bit on an AMD dual CPU and DO NOT have any issues or problems of finding compatable software for it nor the drivers for the hardware my machine is made of.

For those whingers who do not know how to use or configure their computers and to imply the inventions of the eletronic era we live in I have a suggestion:
Go back to school and learn HOW to use technology.
If you have problems with hardware or software on your machines use the Internet search and you going to find everything you need. If you do not know how to do it, pay someone who knows.

For the Apple macs and Linux based machines, I would agree they are more efficient in using the resources of the hardware but the Macs users have issues with using Windows software and sharing files while Linux users have general problems with the hardware sriver issues and the software, as windows software does not "fit", macs software might but you need to dig into core while "open source" is kinda tricky as againg the "core" is the way to install it.

For an oridinary computer user Macs and Linux based machines could be a nightmare as "digging" down to core could be time consuming (wasting) and the results catastrophic. The other Mac's problem is called upgrade of the hardware as everything is safely soldered to the board so if you are not a techie you are stuck to the Apple shop and their EXPENSIVE new "enviromentaly friendly" packs.

And I am really anoyed by "missing" right click button on the Mac's mouse.

The new W7 I did not try yet but I can say that Vista 64 is the best and the fastest MS OS so far. I did not have even one "blue screen" since first boot in November 2008 and my machine is running 24/7 on an overclocked Athlon 5200+ (@3.04GHz) supporting two PCI-E nVidia, Pinnacle Pro DTV, 7.1 Creative PCI-E Audigy, two HDs, 2X DVD-RW and all that on only 4GB of ram 800.

Know your machine, know what do you want from them and you will not have any problems.

[StandardHuman]

@dark47
"And I am really anoyed by "missing" right click button on the Mac's mouse."

Apple don't sell a one button mouse.

Apple stopped selling mice that lack a "right click button" some years ago, yet I keep reading posts about Apple's mythical one-button mouse!

Perhaps people are confused by the fact that Apple's Mighty Mouse *looks* like it has one button - and can be configured to work as a one-button device - but actually has 4 buttons and an x-y (horizontal & vertical) scroll wheel.

[_makio_]

If the main flaw that was flaunted in the first beta was a UAC problem that has since been patched (and will be released to the public with the rc), I can't wait for the full release. It doesn't seem to have any of the problems that Vista had when it went through it's beta stages.

I'm running the beta on my dell mini, with a single core 1.6ghz, 2gb ram and it boots in about 20sec!! I would never even have considered running vista on this, and xp is way too unsecure. this is an amazing upgrade! can't wait for the rc :)