Windows 7 News: Software, Virus Protection

Until now there were a couple of ways to determine if your applications were compatible with Windows 7 – you can test everything, look them up one-by-one in the Windows Compatibility Center, or inventory your production machines using the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 and synchronize your inventory with hosted compatibility data from Microsoft and ISVs. For about a year, we’ve been posting regular updates to the Windows Vista Application Compatibility List for IT pros and even though compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7 is pretty high, there has still …

I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!
As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 …

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 releases are just around the corner.  Are you thinking about deploying these new operating systems?  Get a head start with Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 to help you determine readiness of your machines and accelerate the deployment planning process. Over 690,000 Microsoft customers and partners including Costco Wholesale Corporation, Continental Airlines, and Banque de Luxembourg have already downloaded and used this toolkit to date.
Today at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009, we are announcing the public RTM release of the MAP Toolkit for …

Already their has been lot of rumors about the Windows 7 RC . Today the Engineering Windows 7 blog has posted the long article explaining how to upgrade from Windows 7 beta to Windows 7 RC. Here are some of the main points from the long post
Here’s what you can do to bypass the check for pre-release upgrade IF YOU REALLY REALLY NEED TO:

Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.
Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run …

Yesterday the Russian site thevista.ru has uploaded Windows 7 Russian wallpaper pack and geeksmack reports that probably the wallpapers are from build 7072. This is the sixth  region for which wallpapers has been released and most likely the pack contains 6 wallpapers, and they can all be downloaded at the link below.

Download the Russian wallpaper pack here

With every leak their has been new addition to Windows 7,which includes new wallpapers,sound schemes and many other small goodies.This version of Windows 7 too contains some new wallpapers,sample and display pictures,though the sound schemes is the same
All wallpapers are of high resolution ( 1900×1200 ), and the size of wallpaper pack is 56.9 MB.
Here are the download links
Download Windows 7 Build 7068 Wallpapers
Download Windows 7 Build 7068 Sound Schemes
Download Windows 7 Build 7068 Sample Pictures
Download Windows 7 Build 7068 Display Pictures
Thanks to GeekSmack for uploading the stuff

devolo, the global leader in the powerline market, has announced the availability of comprehensive software support for Microsoft Windows 7 with the launch of its v20 software package. devolo is the first powerline manufacturer to offer Microsoft Windows 7 support. Its new v20 software package comes with corresponding system support and contains the necessary functional improvements for the new Microsoft operating system. devolo customers who switch to the new Microsoft OS at the time of the launch can be sure that their dLAN network is ready to use immediately and …

The Windows 7 RC page was live yesterday and the published date stated that it would be released in May 2009 contrary to the previous rumours regarding it’s release on April 10.

Here is what the page reads-
Windows 7 Release Candidate
Published: May 2009
Download instructions
Welcome to Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) testing. We’re on our way to Windows 7, and the RC is a great opportunity for IT professionals like you to take Windows 7 and begin testing it in your real environment. You get to see what’s coming, and we get …

The Engineering Windows 7 blog has posted another list of changes in the RC version of Windows 7.
Here are the changes published by the blog
Desktop Experience
1. Improved taskbar thumbnail overflow
For RC we’ve made the list view architecturally the same as the thumbnail view, just sans thumbnails. Customers will now enjoy close buttons and the menus open on hover (in Beta one had to click to open them).
Fig 1.
List View of running windows appears on hover and supports close

2. Control Panel Jump List
Right-clicking on the Control Panel icon on the …

Virtual world at Technet has posted another series of Windows 7 shortcuts.These shortcut tips are in continuation of our previous topic Windows 7 shortcut tips part 1.
5. Help the Help Desk Help You.
Solving problems unique to a machine can be an arduous task for both the end-user and the help desk. That’s why Windows 7 introduces the Problem Steps Recorder, a screen-capture tool that allows the end-user to record the problems they’re having step-by-step. It’s as simple as hitting “record” then adding in comments as needed. A HTML-based file …