Windows 7 Build 7068
So I took the plunge deeper into the Beta pool today and upgraded to Windows 7 x86 Build 7068. This build has lots of improvements over the Build x86 7000 build which was the original public build.
Windows
Anything concerning Windows be it Windows client operating system, Windows Server operating system, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and more.
Windows 7 Makes the Most of Unified Communications
Unified Communications seems to be one of the hottest topics around and Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007 R2 is Microsoft’s offering, however OCS 2007 R2 isn’t what’ I’m talking about.
I’m talking about how Microsoft have made a quiet few tweaks in Windows 7 to make using communications products that little bit nicer.
Cisco VPN Client and Windows 7
So I was searching today for something specific to the Cisco IP Communicator software phone version of the Cisco IP 7941 to see if there is a way to make it work nice with Windows 7, but in the process I found a lot of threads and blog entries about problems with the Cisco VPN client causing BSOD’s with ndis.sys.
I’d just like to say that I’ve got the Cisco VPN client installed on my Windows 7 Build 7000 machine without any issues. I can connect and disconnect as many times as I like without issue.
This is actually better than the experience in Windows Vista where the Cisco Virtual Network Adapter for the tunnel kept failing meaning after every connect/disconnect cycle I would have to reboot to get the adapter going again before being able to connect again.
This hit me worst at home if I roamed between my two Wireless AP’s where the WPA2-PSK authentication takes a little bit of time and the tunnel would drop during the roam.
In a nutshell…..Cisco VPN client just works in Windows 7, just like it should do.
RTM of Internet Explorer 8
Microsoft have just announced the RTM build of Internet Explorer 8 at Mix 09.
You can get the download from http://www.microsoft.com/ie8
My only gripe is that I’m using Windows 7, so I’m still stuck with the Beta 🙁
Zune Software on Windows 7
So I’ve been using Windows 7 for a little bit now, and I went to sync my Zune with it for the first time and came across a problem:The software wouldn’t detect the Zune even though Windows Devices and Printers could see the Zune and installed the drivers?
I’m using UAC in 7 to try out some of the new levels Microsoft have added to see if it’s worth sticking with, so I tried running the software as Administrator and it picked up the device just fine.
Seems that you need to do this for the first run of the software you need this to initialize the drivers as I can run the software now under limited mode without issues.
I’m sure this will be something that the Zune team will pick-up in Zune 3.2 or whatever the next release will be.
Microsoft My Phone
So Microsoft announced a new service called My Phone earlier this week at MWC although it had been floating around various tech sites for a few weeks previously. I registered for the service late last week, and look what I found in my Inbox this morning.
My Phone is basically a cloud based phone backup application that will synchronize all of your contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, pictures and video from your device up to the cloud. You can also login to the My Phone website and make changes to content directly on the site, like add new calendar events etc.
Whilst My Phone seems kind of an odd product with Live Mesh already in the field, the two don’t actually overlap with My Phone backing up your phone where as Live Mesh is backing up a specified directory. What would be great would be to see these two services integrated together.
All that we need now Microsoft in a new version of Windows Live Messenger for Windows Mobile that supports MPOP and maybe Windows Live Writer for Windows Mobile?
The Case of the Broken Default Domain Policy
So over the last couple of days, I decided as part of my server virtualization project at home with my new hard disks, I would rename the domain to something more suitable.
I found a tool on the Microsoft site called rendom.exe along with a few other tools for renaming a domain. I read all of the instructions and had a plan set out for doing it, and the process was fairly painless due to only having one Domain Controller, so there was no need to wait for forest and domain replication to take place.
Vista SideShow
SideShow has always been a feature of Windows Vista, however I’ve never used it because I’ve never had a SideShow enabled device and such device are few and far between unless you just go out and buy one without real purpose, until today.
Ok so in actual fact it’s a while ago, but I today discovered the CTP Windows Mobile SideShow Client which means Windows Mobile can be connected via Bluetooth to your Vista box and function as a SideShow device.
Meaning? You can do all sorts of things, some of which are kind of pointless in my opinion especially being that as it’s Bluetooth based your at most of 10m away from your PC, however some of it is quite cool.
The Case of the Failed Search Index
So last night I setup our archive logs scripts for my PC and Nicky’s laptop because since my Vista rebuild I’ve never reconfigured it.
This morning, Nicky’s laptop ran it’s first log export and I was reviewing the logs to see how things where looking based on the BSOD’s she been getting recently, and I was shocked by the number of red crosses in the log all from the Windows Search Service regarding failed search indexing.
Using NTBackup in Vista
So it’s official that with all of the nice new features and pretty things in Vista that the new backup utility sucks especially if your interested in scheduling things from the command line.
Reason? The new Vista backup utility only allows you to backup entire volumes or specified mount points using their GUID, so what happens if you want to backup only a few selected folders?
The answer is to use NTBackup from Windows XP or Server 2003, however this isn’t as simple as copying the ntbackup.exe file from the XP System32 directory.