Windows Experience Blog : Windows 7 Beta

Burn ISO Images Natively in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:20:12 GMT

Geeks and IT Pros often have to burn an ISO image (.iso file) to physical media such as a CD or DVD to test out and install software. We have made it easier to burn ISO images in Windows 7 by natively supporting the ability to burn ISO images directly within Windows without the need of a third party tool.

To burn an ISO image in Windows 7, all someone needs to do is simply right-click on an ISO image and choose “Burn disc image”.

This launches Windows Disc Image Burner, giving you the option to burn the ISO image to either a CD or DVD.

If you check “Verify disc after burning”, it will verify the ISO image burned correctly. Choosing to verify a disc you burned will require additional time so if you’re in a hurry, you will probably want to ensure this option is unchecked.

I often burn ISO images to a DVD-RW so I can re-use the media. What’s great about Windows Disc Image Burner is that it will detect that a DVD-RW has content on it already and prompt you asking if you would like to erase the disc and burn new content to it. This ensures you don’t accidently erase and burn over something important that may be on that DVD-RW disc. This is awesome because it lets me re-use DVD-RW media.

If you haven’t already discovered this feature in the Windows 7 Beta, you should give it a shot especially if you are burning ISO images quite a bit.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 Announced

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:06:04 GMT

The Windows Home Server Team announced today Power Pack 2. The English version of Power Pack 2 will be made available via Windows Update starting March 24th to Windows Home Servers with Power Pack 1 installed. You must have Power Pack 1 installed in order to install Power Pack 2. Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of Power Pack 2 will be made toward the end of April.

Power Pack 2 offers Windows Home Server users the following awesomeness:

Improvements to Remote Access
Enhanced Functionality for PCs running Windows Media Center (via Windows Media Center Connector)
Content Streaming Support for Windows Media Center Extenders

For me, I am particularly interested in the Windows Media Center Connector. With the Windows Media Center Connector installed, Windows Media Center will have access to content stored in shared folders on a Windows Home Server. Just this last weekend, I went through about 1,500 CDs and DVDs I’ve accumulated over the years of sporadic backups of photos and documents. I had CDs going back to 2000. I went through each CD and DVD and pulled off all the important data (mostly photos) and transferred the data onto my Windows Home Server. I now have no data remaining on any physical media anywhere. Everything is now on my Windows Home Server (which I affectionately call JARVIS). And now with Power Pack 2, I’ll be able to browse through those old photos I rediscovered from years ago directly within Windows Media Center downstairs in my living room.

For more information on Power Pack 2, read this post from the Windows Home Server Team.

Psst, here is a little tip for Windows 7 Beta users who have Windows Home Servers. You can add Windows Home Server shared folders to Windows 7 Libraries. Just right-click on a Library and choose “Properties”. There you can pick which folders you want in that Library. Choose “Include a folder…” and type \\ServerName\ShareName\FolderName etc. See below screenshot for a example:

You can see that in my Documents Library, I was able to add my “Brandon LeBlanc” user folder (located at \\JARVIS\Users\Brandon LeBlanc). I have actually created a standalone Library on my Windows 7 Beta PCs called JARVIS consisting of all the important shared folders on my Windows Home Server.

Another Peek at Changes Coming with the Windows 7 RC

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:55:07 GMT

In late February, the Windows Engineering Team offered a little sneak peek at upcoming changes with the Windows 7 RC based off on the amazing amount of feedback we’ve received (and continue to receive) from the Windows 7 Beta. Today they are offering another peek at some more changes coming with the Windows 7 RC. These 2 blog posts represent only some of the changes coming for the Windows 7 RC and as Steven notes in his intro – this is not an exhaustive list.

A Little Peek at Changes Coming with the Windows 7 RC

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:55:00 GMT

I wanted to take a brief moment and highlight a post by Windows Engineering Team today discussing just some of the more visible changes coming with the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) based directly off feedback from *you*. You should definitely give the post a read if you haven’t already.

Yesterday, Steven Sinofsky posted about the amazing amount of feedback we’ve received since the release of the Windows 7 Beta and how the Windows Engineering Team is digesting that feedback to raise the level of quality of Windows 7.

Windows Media Center’s New Pictures + Videos Features in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:54:16 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Windows Media Center Team here at Microsoft and shoot some videos of the new features that are currently in the Windows 7 Beta. I’m a fairly heavy user of Windows Media Center and know many of our readers are too. This post highlights many of the the changes and new features that people can enjoy for themselves as they try out the Windows 7 Beta.

In the first of several videos I shot, Windows Media Center Program Manager Noah Spitzer-Williams takes us through the new Pictures + Videos features in Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta

In the above video, Noah demos the following new Windows Media Center features and changes in Windows 7 (in the order of appearance in the video) to the Pictures + Videos experience:

Changes to the way videos are displayed in Video Library to include Thumbnails AND Names for each video.
Support for H.264 Video - no 3rd party codecs are required to play H.264 content.
Video Play-All Option (think of it as a “Video Slide Show”) with ability to navigate between each video.
Developers can take advantage of the new Import API for Windows Portable Devices. The new API enables photos AND videos from portable devices to be imported directly within Windows Media Center.
Ability to create Slide Shows (new Slide Show pivot) with your pictures and can contain pictures or music or both.
New On-screen Keyboard (Touch-enabled).
Improved Rating Controls within Windows Media Center UI.
New Ratings Pivot for quick access to your favorite content.
Play Favorites feature with new Slide Show style.
Auto Slide Show feature acts as a screensaver for Windows Media Center.

You may have caught PowerPlaylist in the Windows Media Center menu in the video. PowerPlaylist is an application originally released by the Windows Media Center Team for Windows Vista and can be downloaded here via CodePlex. The Windows Media Center Team is revising PowerPlaylist for Windows 7 and an early copy was installed on the PC running the Windows 7 Beta in the video. They plan to release an updated version to CodePlex soon. I’ll be covering that soon as well.

Expect more videos to follow shortly!

The New Internet Games in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:05:26 GMT

If you’re running the Windows 7 Beta and hadn’t already noticed, we are introducing 3 new Windows Games for Windows 7.

Internet Backgammon:

Internet Checkers:

Internet Spades:

These games were well liked in Windows XP. Due to the amount of requests we received, we are bringing them back!

The new versions of these games have been completely redesigned and improved over their old-school predecessors. With each game, you can:

Play online against human opponents (up to 4 players at the same time with Internet Spades).
Select from 3 skill levels to be matched with similarly skilled players from all around the world.
If your opponent drops out, a computer opponent takes over to finish the game.
Choose from cool different backgrounds and piece/card designs.

And as I mentioned in my post about Games Explorer, you can track statistics for games played as well.

Tired of Minesweeper? Definitely give these games a try and join the thousands of other players online who are playing too. I’m actually quite addicted to Internet Checkers.

Windows 7 Beta Brings New Functionality to Games Explorer

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:12:35 GMT

In Windows Vista, we introduced the Games Explorer. This is the place where you can launch and manage your games, including built-in Windows games such as Solitaire and Chess Titans, and also PC games such as Games for Windows (and Games for Windows – LIVE) titles.

In Windows 7, we are introducing new functionality to Games Explorer that we think people will enjoy. These new features in Games Explorer can not only be appreciated by the casual gamer looking to play one of Windows 7’s many built-in games, but also the more advanced PC gamer too.

The new features I am going to talk about here are available for you to try out in the Windows 7 Beta today.

When you first fire up Games Explorer in Windows 7, you will notice that Games Explorer is divided up between Games and Game Providers. Game Providers are the companies that distribute the games you install on your PC.

For example, I installed Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved from MSN Games, which was made by Bizarre Creations (the same folks behind Project Gotham Racing for the Xbox). MSN Games would be considered a Game Provider, and can take advantage of the new built-in functionality to Games Explorer in Windows 7. The only official Game Provider available today with the Windows 7 Beta is us (Microsoft). In the future, you can expect to see more Game Providers appear.

Games Explorer will deliver updates from Game Providers, including news and information regarding their own games. Updates from Game Providers appear in the right-hand Preview Pane when a Game Provider is selected. When you select the Microsoft Games Provider, you can see updates from us (see below screenshot).

Under “Options”, you can enable automatic update notifications for games, along with automatic updates to Game Provider news and information, or simply check yourself manually by right-clicking on a specific Game Provider or game and choosing “Check online for game updates”.

Another neat feature in the Windows 7 Games Explorer is the ability for you to see when an update is available for a game you have installed. I installed Flight Simulator X and Halo 2, and Games Explorer showed that an update was available for both these games.

Instead of having to launch the game and install the update through the game itself – you can now install game updates directly within Games Explorer.

In the Preview Pane for a game that has an update available, a button will appear to download that update. In the above screenshot, you can see I can choose to click “Download Now” for the update available for Halo 2 for Windows Vista. When you click “Download Now”, you are asked to confirm the download.

The update for the game will download and then the “Download now” button turns into “Install Now”.

One more thing… Games Explorer will track statistics for the games you play. As you can see – I’ve lost one game in both Chess Titans and Internet Checkers. Statistics are tracked for the different levels for each game. In the future, expect to see many of your favorite games take advantage of this functionality.

In a follow-up post coming very shortly, I’ll discuss the new Internet Games for Windows 7. Stay tuned!

Updates to the Windows Experience Index in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:09:15 GMT

Some of you have noticed some changes to the Windows Experience Index in the Windows 7 Beta and have asked us to share more details about those changes. Today, you can read about those changes and how we’ve engineered the Windows Experience Index in Windows 7 in a blog post on the Engineering Windows 7 Blog.

What are People saying About the Windows 7 Beta?

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:25:21 GMT

There are a lot of really good comments from folks using the Windows 7 Beta all over the web –and I thought I’d take a moment to share some favorites with you. These quotes are just some of what is being said about the Windows 7 Beta:

Preston Gralla from Computerworld

This first beta of Windows 7 is a polished piece of work, with few apparent kinks to be worked out. Windows 7 is much further along at this beta stage than Windows Vista was at a similar point.

Peter Bright from ArsTechnica

All in all, Windows 7 is shaping up well. It's a far more modest release than Vista was, but it's no worse for that. The new OS introduces a compelling combination of welcome innovations and much-needed polish, and that's exactly what Microsoft needs right now. Vista's foundation was solid, and Windows 7 just makes it better.

Dwight Silverman from the Houston Chronicle

I’ve been working with the Windows 7 beta for several weeks, and I like it a lot. It feels snappier and more responsive than Windows Vista.

Andrew Garcia from eWEEK

Without a doubt, the first beta edition of the Windows 7 operation system indicates that Microsoft is on the right track to shore up many of the perceived flaws of Windows Vista… And at its heart, Windows 7’s greatly improved emphasis on workflow and organization makes the operating system much more palatable for heavy-duty users used to operating with a large number of open windows and applications.

Paul Thurrott from the Supersite for Windows

As for performance, I think Microsoft is going to surprise people. And if you're working for an enterprise that hasn't upgraded to Vista because it won't run acceptably on your existing PCs, you'll want to look again at Windows 7.

Jason Chen from Gizmodo

We mentioned the Problem Steps Recorder blackbox error reporting app back in our Win 7 Giz Explains, but it wasn't until I tried it for myself that I saw just how amazing it is.

Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Watch

I'm actually having fun using Seven, something I haven't said about a Microsoft operating system since Windows 95.

Chandran Chakkaradeep from Neowin

Windows 7 seems to be much improved than Windows Vista in lots of areas and the beta clearly shows that Microsoft has indeed taken users feedback on Vista seriously.

Mary Branscomb from the Financial Times

Microsoft has taken a disciplined approach to planning, building and delivering Windows 7 (and planning is already underway for Windows 8); this may lack the flamboyance of previous versions but if Microsoft can maintain the quality of the beta, Windows 7 could indeed be the best version of Windows yet.

Remember, if you want to try out the Windows 7 Beta for yourself head on over to Windows.com and register to download the beta.

Hotkey Cheat Sheet for the Windows 7 Beta

Brandon LeBlanc — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:16:26 GMT

Are you someone who relies on hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) quite a bit? Fellow Microsoftie Brandon Paddock has published a cheat sheet of hotkeys that people might find useful with the Windows 7 Beta.