SuperSite Blog

October 2009 - Posts

• Enough, Microsoft. No One Is Endorsing Piracy. Obviously.

  I love the self-righteous nature of this little Microsoft post, which quite clearly addresses the "hack" I published the other day without actually providing a link or naming names. Unfortunately, it looks like it is time to have this conversation again though. Over the past several days there have been various posts, etc. across a variety of social media engines stating that some “hack” (be it a person or a procedure) shows that a Windows 7 Upgrade disc can perform a “clean” installation of Windows 7 on a blank drive from a technical perspective. Of course, from the posts I saw, they often forgot to mention a very basic, yet very important piece of information… “Technically possible” does not always mean legal. Hey, Microsoft. Duh. Let's be very clear about something here: I'm not endorsing piracy. Obviously. I'm just trying to support the millions of people that Microsoft fooled into pre-ordering Windows 7 by offering steep discounts, only to discover later that the Upgrade version they purchased unknowingly might not actually install properly. I've gotten hundreds of emails about this. I suspect Microsoft has gotten many times that number. So you know what? I'm going to continue supporting Windows users. Even as Microsoft throws them to the wind with this kind of baloney. What really cracks me up is that this post quotes the most relevant EULA-based part of this argument. Which is this: To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Exactly. That's who I'm supporting. Millions and millions of people. Many of which are discovering that their Upgrade version of Windows 7 will not install properly on their existing, Windows-based PCs. The PCs that are supposed to support upgrades. This should be obvious. Please stop suggesting it's not, or that I am doing something else. And for the nth time, you could (and should) have clearly documented how this works months ago. Or allowed myself and others to do so. You chose to ignore this need. So this is a problem of your own making. It's that simple. You make it too hard. And then you complain when someone else tries to make it easy. Brilliant. Posted Oct 29 2009, 01:30 PM by pthurrott with 175 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7, Commentary

• Microsoft Signature Software

  I was reading another great Todd Bishop article about Microsoft's attempts to sell crapware-less Windows 7-based PCs and came across an interesting bit. Sure, selling crapware-less PCs is great. But Microsoft is formally defining what it calls Microsoft Signature software, preinstalled Microsoft software and technologies that turn a stock Windows 7 PC into a "Signature PC." This is interesting to me because, in the writing of Windows 7 Secrets this year, I decided it was important to not just cover what comes in the (increasingly irrelevant) box, so to speak, but to also include chapters and information about the "sticky" Microsoft products and technologies that I think are as key to the Windows experience as some of the stuff that does come in Windows itself. So I'm fascinated to see that the list of Microsoft Signature software is very close to the additional software I cover in Windows 7 Secrets. This includes: Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft Silverlight Bing 3D Maps Zune 4.0 Windows Live Essentials - Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Photo Gallery and more Some third party technologies like Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader I would love to see Zune simply become part of Windows in the future and wouldn't be surprised to see that happen. But then, why not Security Essentials and Windows Live Essentials as well? Posted Oct 28 2009, 10:46 AM by pthurrott with 95 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7, Commentary

• Finally, Some Answers to Windows 7 Upgrade Questions

  Ed Bott just uploaded a very timely post about the Windows 7 upgrade issues that have arisen this week. You may recall my previous posts and article in which I have tried to sort through the mess of how it is you can clean install Windows 7 with Upgrade media. Ed takes it further, however, and if you're wondering about what's going on or struggling with your own upgrade, this is a must-read: What's the difference between the full and upgrade versions? It’s all about the product key. When you enter the product key, the setup program checks to see whether you installed the product on a clean system that didn’t previously have any version of Windows installed. If the answer is yes, it blocks you from entering that key. What happens if I try to do an install without a product key, then add the product key from my upgrade package later? It fails. How about 32-bit to 64-bit upgrades? You can’t run the 64-bit installer from an existing 32-bit Windows installation (or vice-versa). Here’s how you have to do it instead. Start your computer using the 64-bit installation media. When prompted, choose the Custom installation option. There is a lot more. Be sure to read this full post. Posted Oct 27 2009, 03:40 PM by pthurrott with 76 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Microsoft Opens Up the PST Format

  From Microsoft: As more and more information is stored and shared in digital formats, the ability for people to reuse their data across various applications and platforms has become increasing important. As part of an ongoing effort to enable this kind of data portability, Microsoft is announcing that it will be releasing documentation for the .pst file format – the format in which data is stored in Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders. Providing access to the documentation will facilitate interoperability, enabling customers and vendors to access their data in .pst files across a variety of platforms. This is important to organizations that need exchange key corporate data in and out of Outlook, upload to the cloud, or comply with corporate governance policies. When it is complete, the documentation will be released under our Open Specification Promise, which will allow anyone to implement the .pst file format on any platform and in any tool, without concerns about patents, and without the need to contact Microsoft in any way. Paul Lorimer, the Group Manager of Microsoft Office Interoperability has posted additional details on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog. Posted Oct 26 2009, 01:14 PM by pthurrott with 71 comment(s) Filed under: Microsoft Office, Alt. Windows, Email

• Confirmed: Windows 7 Family Pack Disc is Identical to Upgrade Media

  Just in case this was a concern: I've done a file compare between the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade media and the Windows 7 Family Pack media and they are indeed identical. The weird thing is that you only get one product key with the Family Pack, so the only real difference is up in the cloud: The Family Pack product keys can be activated three times. From a practical standpoint, this means that any discussion about Upgrade media applies equally well to Family Pack, I guess. Posted Oct 26 2009, 10:26 AM by pthurrott with 22 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media: The Answer

  I was so hoping to have better news to share, but with all the conflicting reports and my own troubles testing this while on the road, it's been a messy 24 hours. However, after staying up late last night and working through a few different scenarios, I think I do have a (fairly) simple way to clean install Windows 7 with Upgrade media. That is, it should be easier than the old "install it twice" hack that I previously documented for Vista (though that should still work as well). Put simply, the goal here is to clean install Windows 7 on a virgin, unused PC. You can boot and run Setup with the Upgrade media for Windows 7, but when you go to activate, it won't work. Thanks to Kevin Fisher and a bit of testing, I have a simple workaround that does work. After performing the clean install, ensure that there are no Windows Updates pending that would require a system reboot. (You'll see an orange shield icon next to Shutdown in the Start Menu if this is the case). Then, open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to: HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/ Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0". Open the Start Menu again and type cmd to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." Handle the UAC prompt. In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm Then tap ENTER, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows. Voila! A couple of notes here. Others have reported that simply installing Windows 7 using Upgrade Media and then activating just works. It certainly doesn't hurt to try this, but my guess is that there was a version of Windows on the hard drive that Setup detected, thus making the install and activation work properly. I have not tested this yet, but I assume if you launch Setup from within your previous version of Windows, choose Custom, reboot, and then wipe out the previous Windows version during Setup, that that will work as well. And I'm just about positive that the old "install twice" hack from Vista will work too. I will test all of this thoroughly when I get home. But for now I wanted to cut through the baloney and cut and paste jobs out there and give you something that really does work. Again, thanks very much to Kevin for this information. Posted Oct 23 2009, 09:45 AM by pthurrott with 186 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Windows 7 Question of the Year, Answered? (No. Updated.)

  I've gotten a number of emails from people who received an Upgrade version of Windows 7 in the mail and installed it on a new or formatted PC without having to resort to any tricks (like the Vista-era "install it twice" hack). If true, this does of course answer the number one remaining question about Windows 7: How do you do a clean install with Upgrade media? Apparently, with no effort at all. I will test this as soon as possible of course, but it's a very busy day so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to it. In the meantime, it looks like we're getting some good news here. If you have done a clean install with Windows 7 Upgrade media (i.e. there is no other OS installed on the PC at the time), please post here and let everyone know. UPDATE: I tried this type of install in a VM and it did not work. Based on the error message I got, the Vista-era rules apply. That is, you'll have to do a stupid "install it twice" workaround as described above. Sigh. Posted Oct 22 2009, 03:47 PM by pthurrott with 113 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Special Deals on Windows 7 PCs

  A number of special offers from Microsoft's PC maker partners... Acer · Acer® Aspire Timeline AS4810TZ-4508 Notebook - All Thin. All Light. All Day. Keep going all day with this sleek, ultra-thin laptop. With over 7 hours of battery life, you can watch whatever, whenever, and wherever. $599.00 · Gateway® FX P79 - Immersive, portable gaming. Dominate the latest games and enjoy cinematic HD entertainment for a captivating on-the-go gaming experience. $1,299.00 Asus · ASUS UL50Ag-A3B - Travel light, but give-up nothing. Like the discounted Flip camera offered here, this PC is slim & light. Add quick boot & robust security—it’s the ultimate business laptop. $934.80 · Eee PC Seashell 1008H - Save a little, get a lot. A lot more flexibility, fun and function, that is.  Work, play, chat, edit and share wherever you go. $ 449.00 Dell · Alienware M15x - Judge this notebook by its cover. The latest in processor technology and high-definition performance—all in a devilishly sleek design. Sit back and enjoy the ride. $1,499.00 · Alienware M17x - The world's most powerful 17" gaming laptop. Mind-blowing graphics and intense speed, cloaked in an anodized aluminum shell. Conquer all in your path. $1,849.00 · Studio One 19” w/Touch - Sleek form, function, photos and film in any room. This integrated system is a multimedia powerhouse. A sleek design & 16:9 HD widescreen make videos, photos, and web-chats come alive. $799.00 · StudioXPS 16 - True visual sensation. ATI premium graphics, a 1080p widescreen, a backlit keyboard & facial recognition—it’s superior high-def multimedia any way you look at it. $1,099.00 HP · Dv8t (18” Notebook) - A HP Pavillion dv8t notebook built for gaming. Dominate the game with this stylish HP notebook.  With an Intel Core i7 and ATI graphics, this sleek machine is a thing of power and beauty. $1,199.99 · Elite e9250t Quad (Desktop) - Because it is all fun and games. Games are just the beginning.  This HP PC makes it easy to edit high-definition content and stream your favorite videos. Have fun! $849.00 · HP dv6t (16” Notebook) - One PC to do it all. With a HP entertainment notebook, you've got everything you need to get things done, stay connected and enjoy entertainment on-the-go. $679.99 · HP ProBook 5310m - All the strength without the weight. This lightweight, full-performance HP business notebook keeps you and your business moving.   Move fast. This $50 savings only lasts 1 week. $999.00 · Pavilion s6280t - Multimedia madness! Loaded with power, this PC brings your favorite movies, photos and videos to life on a 21" LCD display.  Enjoy the view. $549.00 · TouchSmart 600t (23” AIO) - An all-in-one PC you can't resist. Gather round! With innovative multi-touch technology, this HP TouchSmart PC is ready to be your social hub in the family room. $1,049.00 Lenovo · IdeaPad W700 - Strut your stuff. Be the envy of your gamer friends with the thinnest, lightest, 16" gaming laptop around. $1,274.15 · IdeaPad Y450 - Entertain yourself and your family. This lightweight, 14" widescreen IdeaPad is optimized for high-definition media. Makes for a great escape wherever you are. $509.15 · IdeaPad Y550 - Sail through the day with a bit more spunk. Packed with multimedia features and fast processing power, this laptop will make everyday a little bit smoother, a little bit brighter. $475.15 · ThinkPad SL510 - A well-balanced machine. This ThinkPad is the perfect blend of performance, portability and energy-efficiency.  It's never been so easy to work from anywhere. $449.65 · ThinkPad T400 - Keep your business to yourself. Avoid unwanted onlookers on the plane or in the crowd.  With a privacy filter in place, the data on your PC is for your eyes only. $703.80 Sony · Sony AIO Touch (L117, L116) - An HDTV and touch-screen PC, all-in-one. Browse the web, turn on the TV, or play your favorite movies, music, and other media—all with the ultimate remote control—your finger. $1,799.00 Toshiba · L500 (Day 1 only) - A great PC for your home office or business. Hit the road in style with this versatile laptop and its sidekick, the mouse. It’s got what you need, when and where you need it. $424.15 · L550 (Day 2 only) - Solid performance with multimedia essentials. Tailor made for you and your multimedia needs. Keep all of your memories and media safe with this free external hard drive! $594.15 · T135 (Day 5 only) - Almost invisible, yet fully protected. This lightweight, ultra-thin laptop stays safe wherever it goes.  With a 1-year Premium LoJack subscription, it’ll never get far from you. $599.00 Posted Oct 22 2009, 11:57 AM by pthurrott with 38 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Windows 7 Offers

  From Microsoft: Together with its partners, Microsoft is introducing a time-limited series of offers known as "7 Days of Windows 7." This includes amazing deals on hardware, upgrades, support and other options. Watch for new offers to be released daily on Windows.com. Day 1 — Top New Offers for "Simplify My Life" Best Buy PC Home Makeover - Full home technology remodel, handyman included. HP laptop, netbook, desktop and monitor package with Windows 7. Geek Squad wireless home network with router and new PC setup included. $1,199.00  (Details:  HP Slimline desktop (model s5212y), an 18;.5-inch monitor, HP mini Netbook, a "media-savvy" laptop (model G60-535DX) along with a Netgear 802.11-G router and in-home setup of each of the components.) Dell Studio XPS 13  — All the speed you'll need - Simply put, everything you do on your PC will be easier with a fast, high-performing laptop. $999.00 Acer AZ5610-U9072 23-Inch Touch All-in-One (Windows Touch) - Touch and all-in-one elegance - This stunning, all-in-one PC with Windows Touch incorporates intuitive multitouch technology for exceptional HD entertainment at your fingertips. An elegant, integrated PC and monitor brings exceptional HD entertainment to your fingertips. $899.00 Also Available Today Windows 7 Family Pack is now available while supplies last. Consumers can buy three upgrade licenses of Windows 7 for one low price. Participating countries include: US, Japan, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden. Buy a PC, Get A Discounted Upgrade, in which customers can buy a new Windows 7 Home Premium PC and upgrade an existing Windows PC with a discounted box copy of Windows 7. This runs through Jan. 2. Participating countries include: Germany, UK, Czech, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, US, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand and Australia. Student Offer begins today. For a limited time, the Windows 7 Student Offer gives college and university students in the U.S. and select markets worldwide the opportunity to purchase Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade or Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $29.99 in the U.S. This offer runs through January 3rd, 2010 for US, Canada, France, Germany, Korea, Mexico and UK and March 31st, 2010 for Australia. Posted Oct 22 2009, 11:56 AM by pthurrott with 33 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Windows 7 Launch Day Facts

  From Microsoft... More than a billion people around the world use Windows every day, and millions have provided input on what they want to see in an operating system. This feedback was built into the product. Windows 7 saw the largest beta testing program in the history of the industry, with 8 million testers worldwide. People from more than 113 countries downloaded the Windows 7 beta. Microsoft conducted more than 16,000 online interviews directly aimed at helping us identity, test and validate scenarios and features for Windows 7. More than 2,600 customers participated in user research and usability studies for Windows 7. More than 40,000 hours of Windows 7 usage was logged from external user research field trials (through Microsoft's Living with Windows program in which users were recruited to provide an understanding of how they use Windows 7). Microsoft received product instrumentation and usage data from millions of PCs in more than 200 countries and regions around the world that help Microsoft Corp. better understand how its customers use its software. Windows 7 includes input from more than a billion user sessions. Survey (sample size 1,999 people): 90% of Release Candidate testers rated Windows 7’s quality as "good" or "extremely good." 91% of Release Candidate testers told Microsoft they would recommend Windows 7. 90% perceive Windows 7 as responsive, simple to use and stable. Over 80% of Mac users told Microsoft that they would recommend Windows 7. Posted Oct 22 2009, 11:56 AM by pthurrott with 46 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• Twitter Comes to Bing

  Today at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Qi Lu, President of Microsoft's Online Services Division, announced a new beta feature that enables people to easily search Twitter's real-time information feed directly in Bing. This new feature helps people make better decisions and more fully understand Twitter conversations by collecting, analyzing and uniquely presenting real-time Twitter content. According to Microsoft, the new Twitter developments in Bing include: A real-time index of the Tweets that match your search queries in results. This feature makes it easier to follow what's going on by reducing the amount of duplicates, spam, and adult content.  Giving you the option to rank tweets either by most recent or by "best match," where Bing considers a Tweeter's popularity, interestingness of the tweet, and other indicators of quality and trustworthiness. Providing the top links shared on Twitter around your specific search query by showcasing a few of the most relevant tweets. Additionally, Bing automatically expands those small URLs to enable you to understand what people are tweeting about. Instead of showing standard search result captions, they select 2 top tweets to give users a glimpse of the sentiment around the shared link.  More info can be found on the Bing blog: Twitter is producing millions of tweets every minute on every subject you can imagine. The power of those tweets as a form of data that can be surfaced in search is enormous. Innovative services like Twitter give us access to public opinion and thoughts in a way that has not before been possible. From important social and political issues to keeping friends up to date on the minute-by-minute of our daily lives, the web is getting more and more real time. Search needs to keep up. Today we announced that working with those clever birds over at Twitter, we now have access to the entire public Twitter feed and have a beta of Bing Twitter search for you to play with (in the US, for now). Try it out. Posted Oct 21 2009, 04:48 PM by pthurrott with 15 comment(s) Filed under: Internet, Cloud computing

• See You in New York!

  I'm heading to New York City today for the Windows 7 launch. If you're going to be in town, and are 21 or over, please do stop by the Windows 7 launch party I'm co-hosting with Ed Bott, Mary Jo Foley, and Tom Warren. Others you may know from the Windows community will be there as well, including my Windows 7 Secrets co-author Rafael Rivera. Raf and I will be signing copies of the book to give away, and we'll all be giving away copies of Windows 7 and some other Windows-related goodies as well, of course. Come to the party! Where: Antarctica When: October 22 at 5:30 pm Who: Ed, Mary Jo, Paul & Tom Who's invited: Everyone See you in New York! Posted Oct 21 2009, 11:13 AM by pthurrott with 42 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7, Personal, Travel and events, Book: Windows 7 Secrets

• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Windows 7 Compatibility Center Now Available

  Microsoft announces via the Windows Blog that the final versions of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor utility and Compatibility Center web site are now available for one and all. When it comes to compatibility, Microsoft has a great story to tell this time around, in sharp contrast to what happened with Vista. (To be fair, that wasn't entirely Microsoft's fault. I'm looking at you NVIDIA. And Creative. And...) We are announcing the availability of two great tools today – the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and the Windows 7 Compatibility Center. Both these tools are available at www.windows.com/compatibility- your place to go for any Windows 7 compatibility questions you might have. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your PC to see if it’s ready for Windows 7. It checks to see if your PC meets the system requirements, lets you know if your processor is capable of running 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and gives guidance on your upgrade options. It also tells you about any known compatibility issues with the most commonly installed software programs and devices connected to your PC. If an issue can be resolved, it suggests next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7. The Windows 7 Compatibility Center helps you easily check the compatibility of thousands of devices and software programs for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Usually, you won’t need to do anything to ensure compatibility. If you do, the site goes beyond just telling you what will or will not work. It also provides links to drivers and software updates to help get your PC running with the latest software. The Windows 7 Compatibility Center and Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will be regularly updated with more products. Good stuff. Enjoy. Posted Oct 21 2009, 11:03 AM by pthurrott with 14 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7

• HP's End-Run Around the Windows 7 Starter Limitations

  As you must know by now, Microsoft has severely limited the ways in which you can customized its lowest-end Windows 7 version, Windows Starter Edition. (See Windows 7 Starter? That's How They Get You for more information.) The worst of these limitations, of course, is that users cannot customize the desktop wallpaper. Instead, they're stuck with what Microsoft provides: A single background image. Today, Rafael posts about an HP netbook that appears to get around this limitation. How they do it is interesting. Lame. But interesting. Nicholas R., initially emailing Paul, noticed HP was somehow bypassing this restriction according to a bulleted claim on their Mini 110 netbook product page: The unique ability to change the wallpaper in Windows 7 Starter: a specialized theme includes a custom screen saver and 15 wallpapers designed by Boontje. How is this possible? Upon clicking the Customize and Buy link on HP’s website, and clicking through the various customizable components, you’ll discover the included software bundle consisting of some simple applications and a copy of Stardock MyColors, designed for Windows 7. For those unaware, MyColors is simply a stripped down WindowBlinds application targeting the download-and-apply-my-theme users that don’t need the power (or cost) of WindowBlinds. The internals, however, are the same. As this software replaces the Microsoft Windows theming subsystem with its own, it completely bypasses any and all license restrictions imposed by Microsoft. So is it legal? You have to think HP, a major league Microsoft partner, got the OK from the software giant. I mean. They must have. Right? Posted Oct 20 2009, 09:56 PM by pthurrott with 9 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7, Mobile, Commentary

• Major Update to Windows 7 Media Center: Netflix, Internet TV, More

  Brian Staton dropped me a note just now, letting me know that the version of Windows Media Center in Windows 7 has gotten a significant update today, with the addition of Netflix and a new version of the Internet TV functionality, the latter of which has all kinds of new content, including great TV shows, Zune video podcasts, and more. It's an excellent update, from what I can tell so far, and I will have a short, more formal write-up about this later in the week. Check it out if you're using Windows 7! Thanks Brian. Posted Oct 20 2009, 04:02 PM by pthurrott with 23 comment(s) Filed under: Windows 7, Digital media, Media Center