Get Ready for Windows 7

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an

Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

IT Management eBook

Contents
Get Ready for Windows 7

This content was adapted from Internet.coms Datamation, Enterprise IT Planet, and CIO Update Web sites. Contributors: Andy Rathbone, Steven Warren, Dries Janssens, and Sonny Discini.

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Windows 7 Review: Why I Like Windows 7

And the 3 Most Important New Features of Windows 7 Are

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Windows 7 IT Pro Feature Watch List

Gartner: Windows 7 OK for Vista Disgruntled

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Windows 7 Security: Good, Bad or Ugly?

Solving Storage for Your SMB, an Internet.com Storage eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

Windows 7 Review: Why I Like Windows 7

By Andy Rathbone

fter nearly eight years, Windows XP had grown as comfortable as an old car. Just as Id forgotten about the growing number of dings on my cars bumper, Id forgotten how many third-party tools Id used to prop up Windows XP. After adding CD and DVD burners, search programs, Firefox, three media players and a host of other tools, my Start menus three columns reached the far edge of my desktop. Thats why running Windows 7 for the past seven months brought back the excitement of driving a new car. And for the first time, my once trusted Windows XP began looking like a car that needed much more than a paint job. Its partially my own fault. Like many others, I skipped Windows Vista. And Vista, for all its faults, provided a strong, secure base. Unfortunately, Microsoft ruined Vistas improvements by adding overly aggressive security, thick layers of meandering menus, and a sense of being designed by a huge committee. Windows 7 strips away that ugliness to create something thats light yet strong, useful yet still playful. Windows 7 grabs me in a lot of ways Windows XP no longer does.

example of how Windows 7 pulls off a difficult mix of being both utilitarian and fun. Windows 7 softens Vistas armoredguard persona by adding a healthy dose of personality. Its backgrounds come stuffed with groovy psychedelic landscapes, dreamy Dada-esque creatures, and candy-colored anime art. By draping this whimsy over Vistas security underpinnings, Microsofts helping make people feel both safe and creative with their computers, a feeling that comes so naturally to Apple. Even if the backgrounds dont suit your fancy, you must admire how Windows 7s design team deliberately chose wallpaper that would have been shot down in a traditional boardroom. Thats a big change from Vista, where everything seemed to fall to the lowest common denominator.

Minimal Hardware Demands

Wallpaper

Oddly enough, Windows 7s new wallpaper provides a great

Vistas bloat kept it from running on netbooks, the PC industrys single bright spot these days. Windows 7, by contrast, runs fine on most netbooks, as well as on older PCs. Needing another test machine while writing Windows 7 For Dummies, I installed Windows 7 on a Pentium III with 16MB of video memory. Surprisingly enough, Windows 7 not only installed, but its automatic trip to Windows Update brought

By draping this whimsy over Vistas security underpinnings, Microsofts helping make people feel both safe and creative with their computers, a feeling that comes so naturally to Apple.
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

the PC some new drivers, as well. That old Gateway PC will never be a game machine, of course, but it works fine for the essentials, e-mail and the Internet. Chances are Windows 7s slimmed down footprint will fit well on your PC, as well, whether its a modern netbook or a borderline antique.

Libraries

Adjustable User Account Control

After people amass a decades worth of digital information, finding pieces of that information becomes the biggest challenge. Windows 7s libraries tackle the organization part of that problem by letting one library show the contents of several folders. Store your music in the Public Music folder, for example, and those tunes automatically appear in every user accounts Music library. Libraries break tradition, and IT people will be doing a lot of tutoring in the months to come. But once people grasp the concept, theyll be able to spend more time working with their information rather than finding it.

Probably the most welcome change is that Windows 7 tones down User Account Controls overly aggressive policing. But if you still find yourself grinding your teeth more than working, a sliding control lets you adjust Windows 7s paranoia level to match your own. Its refreshing to feel in control of your PC rather than the other way around.

Shortcut Keys

Once you learn a few shortcut keys, they become addictive, and Windows 7 brings several welcome ones. For example, placing two windows side-by-side on a crowded desktop took a lot of mouse maneuvering in Windows XP. In Windows 7, you click the first window, and press Win+Right Arrow to scoot the window against the right edge. Follow up with a Win+Left Arrow on the second window, and youve lined them up side-by-side, ready for quick information swapping.

With Windows 7, Microsoft finally realized that people dont need the same level of security on their home networks as they do on the Internet.

Homegroup

Windows 7 comes loaded with many other creative keyboard shortcuts, a sign that the team had time to focus on subtle details rather than major overhauls.

With Windows 7, Microsoft finally realized that people dont need the same level of security on their home networks as they do on the Internet. Homegroups let everybody type a single password into their networked PCs. Those PCs then join hands to become a Homegroup, where every PC on the network can share all the music, pictures, and videos stored by everyone else. Of course, anybody can opt out of sharing their media. But chances are, most people will embrace this easier way to share their vacation photos and music.

Windows 7s a huge step forward from Microsoft Vista, and its versatile enough to last for years to come. But Windows 7s certainly not perfect. As to be expected, Windows 7 is often too much about Microsofts needs, rather than your own. For example, Windows 7 no longer comes with an e-mail program, so Windows 7 understandably pushes Microsofts new Windows Live Mail program as a replacement. Try to download Windows Live Mail, though, and the installation program tries to install Microsofts entire suite of Live programs. Then the installer tries to hijack your Home page to Microsofts ad-soaked MSN, and switch your search engine to Microsofts Live Search. And the program repetitively begs you to sign up for a Windows Live e-mail address, no matter how many e-mail addresses youve accumulated over the years. If youre upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7, Microsoft

Taskbar Jumplists

Windows 7 overhauled the taskbar with jumplists popup menus listing frequently accessed items and common tasks. Need to see one of your favorite Web sites in a hurry? Right-click the taskbars browser icon, click the favored sites name from the pop-up lists Frequent section, and the browser opens to that site. Cant remember the location of that helpful folder you opened yesterday? Right-click the Explorer icon, click the folders name from the jumplist, and start digging in. With jumplists, Windows 7 adds a feeling of immediate gratification that all too often went missing from Vista.

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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

switches your default browser to Internet Explorer 8, no matter how many years youve been using Firefox. Internet Explorers Favorites and Feeds areas come pre-stuffed with links to Microsofts products. In short, Microsofts trying to wring as much cash as possible from their enviable position of automatically landing atop 90 percent of the worlds desktops. Theres nothing wrong with business making money, of course. One day, hopefully, Microsoft will be a little less obnoxious about it. Lets hope the company doesnt pile it on so thick it ruins the Windows 7 experience Ive found so far. n

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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

And the 3 Most Important New Features of Windows 7 Are

By Steven Warren

any businesses skipped the adoption of Windows Vista for just cause: they were happy with their stable versions of Windows XP. With Windows 7 now RTM you will see a strong adoption by 2010 and here is why: green computing, mobile computing, and Windows XP mode.

tracing the computer for 60 seconds and saving an energy report locally. Additionally, you can also run parameters to find out why specific computers will not go to sleep. All of this control allows you to save lots of money in a corporate environment. In order to save the most money on power consumption, you need to be able to push out changes at a global level. This is where Windows 7 shines by allowing you a more granular power management group policy setting. You can configure many power management settings, which in turn saves you money. Windows 7 has much more control than its predecessors ever had.

The Kermit Factor

Under the hood, Windows 7 does have some features that make it greener than its predecessor, Windows Vista. Today more than ever, companies are focused on reducing costs. The simplest way to reduce overhead costs is to reduce your power consumption. Windows 7 has this feature. It is a fact that Windows 7 is more energy efficient than Windows Vista and Windows XP. One new feature is called timer coalescing. In modern processors, timer coalescing better schedules the work your processor does. By grouping tasks sent to the processor core at the same time, the processor can complete jobs quicker and then go back to sleep. Another great feature that will save your company money is the ability to manage power consumption via group policy, WMI, and a command line utility called PowerCfg. Running PowerCfg on a computer or pushing out to multiple computers will allow you to identify energy efficiency issues by

Mobile Computing

For corporate environments with a large mobile workforce, moving to Windows 7 will have significant advantages. First, Windows 7 now has a one-click wireless network that allows you to choose your network profile in one simple click. It is strikingly similar to Apple and a great benefit for roaming mobile users. One of the most useful features is the much improved battery life. In several tests I performed using the same laptop; I was able to get better battery life on Windows 7 when running a DVD movieup to 25 percent better. When I reimaged my laptop with Windows XP and Windows Vista, battery life suffered. As a bonus, I also enjoyed the 11 second boot

For corporate environments with a large mobile workforce, moving to Windows 7 will have significant advantages.
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

time. So will you. Microsoft introduced BitLocker disk encryption with Windows Vista. This first pass of BitLocker only allowed you to encrypt the volume that had the operating system installed. The service pack 1 release extended this and allowed you to encrypt other drives, as well. Windows 7 trumps that by allowing you to take advantage of its fast-food BitLocker edition that enables you to encrypt USB thumb drives and other removable media. Another plus for mobile users is adaptive display brightness that allows you to dim the display after a certain amount of activity in addition to powering it off after five to 10 minutes of non-use. This can all be managed via group policy as well and is a huge cost savings considering laptop displays are roughly 30 percent of a laptops total power usage. In a corporate environment, this could add up to a significant savings. Windows 7 also provides new power management features for wired and wireless networking. When users disconnect the network cable, Windows 7 can automatically place the adapter into a lower-power state. This feature is known as D3. This will save you up to .5 watts. When you reconnect the network cable, Windows 7 will put the adapter back into a full-power state. This is called D0. Additionally, Windows 7 enables wireless network control-

lers to enter low power modes, as well. All of this functionality can be managed through power policy settings to give the IT administrator more control over power usage across the corporate environment. Windows Vista had this technology but the low power mode support was not there.

XP Mode

With Windows 7, Microsoft introduces Windows XP mode. Windows XP mode consists of a virtual based environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with service pack 3 (SP3). It will be available, for free (via download), to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. This is Microsofts answer to corporations who are reluctant to upgrade from Windows XP. If you have legacy applications that work only on Windows XP but you want to progress, Windows XP mode is your answer. You can run your legacy applications seamlessly while taking advantage of all the power consumption savings and other new features Windows 7 has to offer. At the end of the day, laptop batteries will run longer and require less charging. Your corporate desktop machines will require less energy when being used and save you money while idle. Just these two simple updates will guarantee corporate rollouts by 2010. The kilowatts saved will alone justify the costs of the upgrade. n

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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

Windows 7 IT Pro Feature Watch List

By Dries Janssens

ith all the commotion surrounding Windows 7, one could almost forget that most companies have not even made the leap to Vista. Does Windows 7 have what it takes to make these customers skip Vista? Or will Redmond be forced to deploy every trick in the book to avoid a repeat of Vistas less-thanstellar reception?

PowerShell 2.0

Users and Administrators at Odds

Both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will include this PowerShell on steroids upgrade to the much loved original PowerShell. A GUI that will look familiar to Visual Studio users (complete with debugging features and color-coding), and more than 200 new cmdlets should make even UNIX users jealous. Additionally, PowerShell 2.0 will make remote executing available to administrators, thus enabling them to execute scripts on multiple networked computers at once. For an inside look at PowerShells progress from Microsoft, be sure to bookmark the PowerShell Team Blog.

Illustrating the disconnect between IT professionals and home users, the most publicized complaint about Vista among end users is its most heralded feature among system administrators: User Account Control (UAC). Windows 7, on the other hand, promises a finetunable checks-and-balances system, which may prove more inviting to average because of its less-intrusive behavior. For system administrators and power users, Windows 7 may be tempting because of its seemingly endless list of new features that may prove to be just a tad more useful than Vistas Sidebar (which will disappear in Windows 7, although Gadgets remain). Below is a list of some of these features that I think are particularly promising.

DirectAccess

With DirectAccess, Microsoft seems to be acknowledging the growing number of telecommuters and the need to effectively manage their systems: mobile users will be able to connect to the corporate network without the hassle of having to set up a VPN. DirectAccess uses IPv6-overIPsec (IPv6 should already be on every administrators mind anyway, and the advantages are obvious: through Group Policy settings, mobile computers can be managed any time the computer has Internet connectivity (and not only when the computer connects to the network). This ensures that

Additionally, PowerShell 2.0 will make remote executing available to administrators, thus enabling them to execute scripts on multiple networked computers at once.
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

even mobile computers stay updated and in line with local policies.

BranchCache

Is that the sound of your WAN breathing a sigh of relief? BranchCache allows the administrator to enable intranet-accessed data to be cached locally at the branch office, resulting in like-local access speeds. BranchCaches Hosted Cache Mode hosts the locally cached data on a branch office Windows Server 2008 R2 system, while Distributed Cache caches the data directly on branch PCs.

Windows Troubleshooting Platform

Windows Troubleshooting Platform aims to be a programmable platform its based on PowerShell to facilitate user troubleshooting. The tool will allow administrators to use, customize, and develop Windows Troubleshooting Packs to target specific user issues.

BranchCache allows the administrator to enable intranetaccessed data to be cached locally at the branch office, resulting in likelocal access speeds.

run. Publisher rules allow the administrator, through Group Policy, to fine tune installation rules based on an applications digital signature.

PC Safeguard

Whereas Microsoft has been offering the Shared Computer Toolkit (or SteadyState for XP and Vista) as a separate download for those looking for a reliable way to lock down their computers in multiple-user situations, PC SafeGuard will be integrated into Windows 7. While few details has been released, it seems like PC SafeGuard will be able to both lock (portions of) hard drives, and erase all user activity after the user logs off.

Fine-Tunable UAC

Four settings will be available: Never notify, Notify when programs try to make changes, Always notify and the current Vista-default behavior of Always Notify and Wait for my Response. Without a doubt, this flexibility will be loved by some and loathed by others.

Bitlocker to Go

Bitlockers drive encryption functionality is being extended to include USB sticks. Administrators will have control over password length, and can even prevent users from writing to USB storage devices before Bitlocker protection has been applied. In this day and age of data leaks and insider threats, this is a welcome new twist.

Windows Credentials

I have been using the excellent Roboform Password Manager (which not only safeguards all your passwords in a password repository, but also has the ability to automatically log you in to website interfaces) for years. Ill be very interested to see how Windows 7s Windows Credentials stacks up, as it is touted to have exactly those capabilities as well. As you can see, Windows 7 promises a good mix of tools to help administrators manage systems on their corporate networks and exert better control over their user environments. Now, the wait begins. n

Applocker

Applocker greatly tightens an administrators control over what applications users can, and more importantly, cannot

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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

Gartner: Windows 7 OK for Vista Disgruntled

By Stuart J. Johnston

s Windows 7s commercial debut looms, one major IT research firm is recommending that if corporate IT shops arent already well along in deploying Windows Vista, theyd be better off going straight to Vistas replacement -- Windows 7. Organizations with a Windows Vista project well underway should stay the course, but most others should target Windows 7, the research report co-authored by Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Stephen Kleynhans says. The report reinforces another one Gartner released in late March urging corporate IT to begin planning for Windows 7 deployment as soon as it ships rather than wait for the first service pack before beginning the process.

of VanDyke Software. What the Amplitude study found is that only 23 percent of IT shops surveyed are currently beta testing Windows 7, while about the same number plan to after its official release. That still leaves 50 percent that have no plans to test Windows 7 at all at this point. The view gets even tougher when the question comes around to those who actually plan to deploy Windows 7 -- 61 percent have no current plans to deploy Windows 7. Interestingly, those most amenable to moving to Windows 7 are shops whose IT budgets increased in 2009. Of those, 57 percent plan to deploy Windows 7 while, of those whose budgets decreased, only 37 percent had any plans to deploy. According to the Amplitude Research survey some 41 percent of respondents said their IT budgets declined this year. The top two reasons for not deploying Windows 7 were Feel more comfortable sticking with current versions of Windows (44 percent) and Cant justify the return on investment (33.3 percent), Amplitude said in a release.

A recently released survey of 320 network and systems administrators, though, found that quick migration to Microsofts forthcoming Windows 7 may not be as easy to accomplish as it is to talk about.

The Root of All Deployments

The reason: money, of course. The survey was performed by Amplitude Research on behalf

A recently released survey of 320 network and systems administrators, though, found that quick migration to Microsofts forthcoming Windows 7 may not be as easy to accomplish as it is to talk about.
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Still, there are plenty of variables that have to be taken into account. Nothing is cut and dried, and surveys can yield differing results. For instance, in a survey of 475 IT firms with 1,000 or more employees, conducted in February and March, and released this week, another Gartner report found only 12 percent indicated they have outright canceled a planned client project since October 2008. That doesnt mean that some projects havent been postponed, however. And a survey released in April by ChangeWave Research, found that 53 percent of 2,000 IT buyers it polled plan to skip Vista altogether and will go directly from XP to Windows 7. Meanwhile, Silvers and Kleynhans report also outlines other important issues that may slow corporate adoption of Windows 7. Between waiting for vendor support and testing, planning, preparing, and piloting, few organizations will be able to begin large-scale production deployments until 12 to 18 months after the RTM, in late 2010 or early 2011, their report says. That could mean a late payday for Microsoft.

likely to run what ships on new PCs, so they will be early adopters of Windows 7, the report says. Meantime, another analyst agrees theres a lot of pent up demand among consumers and small businesses, but he cautions that nothing is ever really simple. This is a complicated subject because it takes a lot of planning and youre investing in deciding whether or not to roll out an operating system, Michael Cherry, lead analyst for operating systems at Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews. com. Every organization is going to be different [and its] a time when businesses are sitting on their wallets, Cherry added. So what other advice do Silver and Kleynhans have to offer? Organizations that have not prepared to deploy Vista [should] skip Vista and target Windows 7, the report says. Their rationale is that preparing to deploy Vista will require the same amount of effort as preparing to deploy Windows 7. Why do it twice?

At this point,targeting Windows 7 would add less than six months to the schedule and would result in a plan that is more politically palatable, better for users, and results in greater longevity

In fact, thats significantly later than Microsoft is hoping for -- not exactly the picture of explosive enterprise sales right out of the chute, although shops with a preponderance of Windows XP machines may move earlier and thus help fuel early purchase orders. With more than half of organizations planning to skip Vista, most organizations will have to move to Windows 7 to maintain a supportable environment as Windows XP ages. We advise organizations to move off of Windows XP by the end of 2012 to avoid application support problems, even though Microsoft will support Windows XP into April 2014.

At this point, targeting Windows 7 would add less than six months to the schedule and would result in a plan that is more politically palatable, better for users, and results in greater longevity. However, Silver and Kleynhans also have recommendations for organizations that are already in the midst of deploying Vista. Continue with Vista, but plan to switch to Windows 7 in late 2010 or early 2011, especially if youre switching to Vista through a hardware refresh, they said. In fact, during his opening keynote at Microsofts TechEd 2009 technical developers conference in Los Angeles, senior vice president of Windows Bill Veghte said that the company is now sure it can deliver Windows 7 in time for the holiday sales season. However, he also added his own advice to the mix. If youre just starting your testing of Vista, with the release candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the release candidate, and use that going forward, Veghte said. n

If Its Not One Thing, Its Another

Silvers and Kleynhans report highlights some reasons for economic optimism. Consumers and small and midsize businesses are more 10
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

Windows 7 Security: Good, Bad or Ugly?

By Sonny Discini

ucky for us, much of the long-awaited security functionality made its way into the beta build of Windows 7, so lets take a look at the features.

Windows Filtering Platform

Old Friends, New Twists

Returning from Windows Vista are Kernel Patch Protection, Service Hardening, Data Execution Prevention, Address Space Layout Randomization, and Mandatory Integrity Levels. Windows XP SP2 gave us the Security Center. Windows 7 discards this and in its place is an Action Center that incorporates alerts from 10 existing Windows features: Security Center; Problem, Reports, and Solutions, Windows Defender; Windows Update; Diagnostics; Network Access Protection; Backup and Restore; Recovery; and User Account Control. In Windows 7, users can adjust consent prompt behavior using a slider control, if they have administrative privileges. Microsoft says theyll still be protected against malicious software, even if they never see another alert. While this may or may not be true, users have been conditioned to see alerts whenever something is happening. Without them, perhaps a false sense of security will develop on the part of the end user.

Windows 7 introduces something called the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP). The idea is that third parties can take advantage of aspects of the Microsoft Windows Firewall in their own products. Microsoft says third-party products also can selectively turn parts of the Windows Firewall on or off, enabling you to choose which software firewall you want to use and have it co-exist with Windows Firewall. While this sounds nice on paper, I cant see a vendor teaming their product with the Windows firewall. Smart money says theyll just use their own and ignore the Microsoft solution. One nice thing to note about Windows 7 is that it makes it easier to configure that all-important home network. When users hit network problems, they curse the firewall and theyre often right to. Windows 7 addresses the problem by taking over home network setup and making sure the firewall doesnt interfere. We also see that scrollbars were removed in the configuration settings screen, as has the Software Explorer feature, and real-time protection in Windows 7 has been improved to reduce the impact on overall system performance; a welcome change from the bloat of Vista.

One nice thing to note about Windows 7 is that it makes it easier to configure that all-important home network.
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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.

Get Ready for Windows 7

An Inclusive BitLocker

Vista sailed in along with a fleet of new security features, among them BitLocker, a whole-disk encryption tool designed to protect your data even after an attacker makes off with your laptop. BitLocker utilizes a chip called a Trusted Protection Module (TPM). The Vista TPM transparently decrypts the drive once youve authenticated yourself with a password or smart card. A laptop thief cant break into the locked drive, even after booting to a different OS or moving the drive to another computer. BitLocker drive encryption also supports removable storage devices, such as flash memory drives and portable hard drives has been added in Windows 7. This means that users can keep sensitive data on all of their USB storage devices as well as the physical drives on the host mentioned above.

on the computer and control how they log on to Windows 7. And System Restore includes a list of programs that will be removed or added, providing users with more useful information before they choose which restore point to use. Restore points are also available in backups, providing a larger list to choose from, over a longer period of time.

As a side note to Bitlocker, using groups, you can ban writing to any removable drive that isnt BitLocker-protected. Its a very useful tool against the very real problem known as podslurping. With this policy in place, employees can still bring in the virus-of-the-month on an unprotected drive, but they cant take away an unprotected copy of the personnel database. Its also helpful to know that BitLocker to Go also allows users to securely share data with other users who have not yet deployed Windows 7. That said, the testing I performed proved otherwise. I could not get this to work so I went to Microsoft and they confirmed that this is an issue in the beta build but will be fixed before final GA release.

Biometrics enhancements include easier reader configurations, allowing users to manage the fingerprint data stored on the computer and control how they log on to Windows 7.

Ive seen more problems caused by System Restore than solved by it; Im not a big fan. Still, users often resort to it when trying to clean up a real or imagined malware problem. In Windows 7, youll at least have a clear idea of what collateral damage may result, as it lists all programs and drivers that would be removed or brought back by invoking a particular System Restore point. Its way better than guessing at the right restore point and hoping for the best, which is what you have to do now. Another enhancement is AppLocker, accessed through Local Security Policy. Its a way to control which programs users can and cant use, and its a lot more flexible than Vistas Software Restriction Policies. Still, its not for the average user. Most IT shops should be pleased with this enhancement. I can see it being tailored to just about any corporate need. Virtually all the changes in the security area are simply tweaking and improving on existing Vista features. But then, thats what Windows 7 is all about, right? While the enhancements seen thus far in the beta are nice, they arent stunning. n

Biometrics, System Restore and AppLocker

Biometrics enhancements include easier reader configurations, allowing users to manage the fingerprint data stored

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Get Ready for Windows 7, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2009, WebMediaBrands Inc.