Download Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x86 October 2009 OEM DVD-UP2DATE

Windows7 Ultimate found on some torrent sites as U2pdate has released updated version of ”Windows 7”. In the Nfo is a nice message about this release and it goes like this: ”No need for Serial or Activation”. Just install and enjoy this release.

Description:
Windows 7 Ultimate is the most versatile and powerful edition of Windows 7. It combines remarkable ease-of-use with the entertainment features of Home Premium and the business capabilities of Professional, including the ability to run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode. For added security, you can encrypt your data with BitLocker and BitLocker To Go. And for extra flexibility, you can work in any of 35 languages. Get it all with Windows 7 Ultimate.

#Windows7 RTM Critical Vulnerability

“Microsoft will, for the first time ever, release updates designed to fix security vulnerabilities in the gold version of its latest Windows client. Throughout the development process, early adopters and testers of Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 and Release Candidate (RC) Build 7100 have been able, on more than one occasion, to download patches for Critical security updates for the successor of Windows Vista. It is Microsoft’s official policy to provide security updates only for Critical vulnerabilities even for its software products that are in pre-release stage. But come next week, Windows 7 will get its first patches for security holes that have been discovered after the operating system was released to manufacturing.

Windows7 Boots Slower than Vista ?

Although Microsoft itself demonstrated an 11-second Windows 7 boot, with some configurations being able to go as low as a 10-second startup, one company developing PC tune-up utilities claims that Windows 7 in fact is slower than Windows Vista. According to Iolo Technlogies, a new computer running Windows 7 can take as much as 1 minute 34 seconds from a cold boot to the moment when the desktop becomes fully usable. It is Iolo that found Vista to be up and ready for use in just 1 minute and 6 seconds.
I’m not going to comment in any way as to the possibility that Iolo is simply attempting to generate some free publicity for itself and its Windows optimization products that have been compatible with Windows 7 since the operating system was in Beta. Instead, I will share with the users my own experience of running the latest iteration of the Windows client since the start of 2009.

I have been using Windows 7 as main operating system since it launched into Beta in January, and upgraded to the full RTM Ultimate edition as soon as it was offered through my MSDN subscription at the start of August. I also have been running Windows 7 on multiple machines, both at home and at work, while in parallel using test computers still running Windows Vista or even Windows XP. I’m going to leave Mac OS X and Linux out of this, and just focus on Windows.
After almost eight months of using Windows 7 on a daily basis my personal experience is that the latest iteration of the Windows client manages to leave Windows Vista in the dust without any problems. Performance is through the roof when it comes down to day-to-day usage scenarios. Well, truth be told, I haven’t performed a benchmarking of the two platforms, but it feels faster. However, it will be the impression of speed and performance that will make the difference between Windows 7 and Windows Vista, if you ask me, as the vast majority of end users will not be performing any sort of benchmarking either.
Iolo shared its results with Beyond Binary, and underlined that the benchmarking took into consideration not the time it took for the desktop to be presented to end users, but the amount of time passed between when Windows 7 started up and the moment when it reached a fully usable stage. In this regard, Iolo let Windows 7 boot until all CPU cycles dropped and an idle state was reached.
In Vista’s case, the appearance of the desktop is indeed not synonymous with a fully usable operating system. Reaching the Vista desktop was just a part of the operating system’s startup process, as the platform continued to load services in the background.
But Microsoft has optimized the Windows 7 boot process, and one of the optimizations is the fact that the operating system loads services with an on-demand mechanism, instead of piling them up by default and eating CPU cycles and I/O with no other reason than to have all applications ready, even if the user could not even run them. With the same range of applications installed as in Vista, my computer running Windows 7 is faster than when I had its precursor installed. Still, Iolo only gave a taste of their statistics, promising that there was more to come.
I included two videos below, one featuring the 10-second Windows 7 boot, and the other the Vista vs. Windows 7 startup performance drag race.

 

Windows 7 10-Second Boot

While 15 seconds was half the time it took Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to boot, some critics pointed that the 15-second boot was a pipe dream. Well, Windows 7 did manage to provide its fair share of surprises when it comes down to boot performance, and the latest involves a startup that takes just 10 seconds. Just watch the video embedded bellow in order to get an idea of just what is involved in getting from a cold boot to a fully functional Windows 7 desktop in just 10 seconds.

“At (…) Intel Developer Forum, a company called Phoenix debuted new BIOS technology that allows Windows 7 to boot up from black screen to desktop in only 10 seconds. Called "Instant Boot BIOS," the Phoenix BIOS uses new UEFI technology to power on several system devices at once instead of one-by-one. It also runs only those processes that are necessary to hand control over from BIOS to OS,” revealed Channel 10’s Sarah Perez (initially reported by LaptopMag).
The boot speed improvements over Windows Vista became clear very early on in the development process of Windows 7, via the now famous boot drag race. Still, in combination with top of the line and innovative technology, Windows 7 truly shines. Earlier this year, Microsoft itself demonstrated a Windows 7 boot that took only 11 seconds. Curious to find out more about it, I contacted the company and found out what was the configuration of the machine they used.
Phoenix “demoed the boot up process at the conference where they showed a 20-second boot on a retrofitted Dell Adamo as well as a 10-second boot on a Lenovo T400 with an SSD drive. The company’s Chief Scientist Steve Jones also produced a report from performance logging tool Microsoft Velocity that showed how the BIOS only took 1.37 seconds to hand over control to the OS. He said that future optimizations on netbooks could even lower that time,” Perez added.

source: news.softpedia.com

Windows 7 RTM Black Screen of Death after Forced Shutdown Actions

According to the Redmond company, this issue affects the 32-bit flavors of all Windows 7 editions. In order to replicate the scenario, end users need only to force the machine Windows 7 is installed on to shut down. A common action in this regard would be to hold the power button of the computer pressed down for a few seconds. After the PC shuts down, users will discover that it will no longer boot again. Microsoft indicated that the startup process would stop at a black screen and Windows 7 will not boot.
The software giant informed that “This problem occurs if the following conditions are true: Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is disabled either in the BIOS or in the operating system. The system is configured to enter hibernation or to enter hybrid sleep mode when the power button is pressed. The language version of the operating system that you are running is a double-byte character set (DBCS) language. For example, you are running a Chinese, Korean, or Japanese version of Windows 7 on the computer.”
There is a simple workaround designed to let users reclaim full Windows 7 functionality, and get the platform to start up under normal parameters. All that users need to do is to boot the computer via the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) disc for Windows 7. Starting the machine in normal mode will not be a problem. In the eventuality that a Windows PE disc is not on hand, a Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008 installation DVD can also be used. In addition, the Redmond company is providing a hotfix in order to help Windows 7 users prevent this scenario from happening in the future.
“This problem may also occur in a rare scenario where the power goes off when the computer is entering hibernation. By default, hybrid sleep is enabled on desktop computers. Therefore, if a desktop computer is configured to enter sleep mode when the power button is pressed, it actually enters hybrid sleep mode,” Microsoft added.

source: news.softpedia.com

Mossberg: Windows 7 Is The Best Microsoft Has Ever Made

Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system comes out in two weeks, and it’s a big one for Microsoft. Vista was a dog, and a lot of consumers and corporations are still running Windows XP, which was released in 2001.

The good news for Redmond: As many have been saying for a long time now, Windows 7 is good. Very good. In fact, it’s the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever made, says WSJ gadget god Walt Mossberg. And Steve Jobs had better get cranking.

Mossberg: After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced. It’s a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers.

Look out, Apple:

In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That’s no longer true. I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows.

Now, however, it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktopand touch-screen capabilities. So Apple will have to scramble now that the gift of aflawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows.

97 percent of Intel testers recommend Windows 7

Intel has thoroughly tested Windows 7 and has given it the green light for its own use. The company will begin replacing Windows XP on its machines next year.

Intel recently posted the results of a study titled "The Value of PC Refresh with Microsoft Windows 7" in which it describes its experience while testing Windows 7 during the second quarter of 2009 for its own use within the company. As one would expect, Vista’s successor received much praise. 291 Intel users out of 300 said they found that Windows 7 showed improvement performance and stability over Windows XP.
Despite these positive results, Intel won’t deploy Windows 7 till the next year, according to the study: "During 2009, we plan to continue preparing for deployment by creating a Microsoft Windows 7 build and by installing the OS on systems in test labs to enable business groups to test applications and perform any necessary remediation. In the first quarter of 2010, we plan to begin deployment of Microsoft Windows 7 on new PCs with Intel vPro technology as part of our established refresh cycle. We intend to roll out the new PCs to segments of our user community based on factors including their job role and application requirements."
The other nine users said they would not recommend the operating system to colleagues after using the beta for three months; yes, these results are based on the beta that arrived in January 2009 and which is no longer available because the RC and RTM versions have been subsequently released. "We encountered two issues during the evaluation, related to OS performance tuning and user account control," the study states. "Both cases were due to a lack of understanding rather than the technology itself."
Here’s the abstract of the report:
Following participation in Microsoft’s Technical Adopter Program (TAP), Intel IT found that Windows 7 running on PCs with Intel vPro technology delivers the best productivity for our employees & the best managed solution for IT. After three months of trial with over 300 users, 97 percent of our test users would recommend the new OS to peers and Intel IT sees the potential to save $11M over the next three years. Because of improved employee productivity, reduced costs, ease of deployment and enhanced security, Intel IT is rolling out Windows 7 to early adopters this year and enterprise deployments starting early 2010. Authored by John Gonzalez (OS Product Line Manager, Intel IT), this paper describes these benefits and results of Intel’s participation in the Windows 7 TAP.
In addition to the 97 percent statistic, Intel listed four other key results:
* Performance: More responsive for key tasks such as booting and launching productivity applications.
* Stability: Fewer users experienced blue screens.
* Application Readiness: No remediation required during evaluation; application readiness does not appear to be a roadblock to adoption.
* Total Cost of Ownership: Initial estimate of potential USD 11 million net present value.

source: arstechnica.com

LiveJournal Tags: Windows7

Run Windows 7 Paint on Vista and XP

never got the chance to install Windows 7 on my machine but I did use it on my cousin’s computer and I have to say it seems a lot better than Windows Vista. May be I’m just not comfortable with all the beta versions they are releasing for testing purposes. I’m planning to buy an official copy of Windows 7 as soon as it becomes available in my surroundings.

Unlike the default Paint that comes with Vista and XP, Windows 7 offers a much better image editor that not only offers a better interface but also has additional features. For those of you who would like to try Windows 7 Paint on Vista or XP must try Paintribbon.

Paintribbon is a free picture editing application which imitates the Windows 7 Paint interface, utilizing the ribbon first seen in Office 2007. It offers great features including

• Line, Circle, Square and Star shapes
• Different line widths
• A variety of fill and stroke colour options
• The ability to move drawn shapes

As of now Paintribbon can only open and save .pic (pict) image files, however the developers are planning to offer additional file types in later releases of Paintribbon. Note that it does come with a lot of known issues so don’t forget to read more about it before you install the application.

Bugs mentioned on thir home page includes

• Buttons do not uncheck themselves, user must uncheck previous button before using next tool.
• Freehand drawing is extremely rudimentary, will not save and will disappear if regular shapes are drawn after freehand line.
• Obscure errors when attempting to open files other than .pic

LiveJournal Tags: Windows7,WindowsXP,WindowsVista,Paint