INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICE

Level I

Learning Guide #5
Unit of Competence: Install Software Application
Module Title: Installing Software Application

LG Code: ICT ITS1 M02 LO1-05

TTLM Code: ICT ITS1 TTLM2 1016

LO1: Determine software and upgrade requirements

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 LO1- Determine software and
Introduction
upgrade requirements

This learning guide is developed to provide you the necessary information regarding the
following content coverage and topics –

 Windows 7 Software Requirments

 Meeting Your Business and IT needs

This guide will also assist you to attain the learning outcome stated in the cover page.
Specifically, upon completion of this Learning Guide, you will be able to –

 Documenting and reporting the client requirements to the appropriate person in

accordance with the workplace standard
 Meeting client requirements through an act of instruction in line with organizational
requirements.

Learning Activities
1. Read the specific objectives of this Learning Guide.

2. Read the information written in the “Information Sheet 1”.

3. Accomplish the “Self-check 1” in page 10.

4. Submit your accomplished Self-check 1. This will form part of your training portfolio.

5. Read the information written in the “Information Sheet 2”.

6. Accomplish the “Self-check 2” in page 15.

7. Submit your accomplished Self-check 2. This will form part of your training portfolio

8. If you earned a satisfactory evaluation proceed to LAP Test.

However, if your rating is unsatisfactory, see your teacher for further instructions.

9. Do the “LAP test” in page 16 (if you are ready) and show your output to your teacher
*Your teacher will evaluate your output either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If
unsatisfactory, your teacher shall advice you on additional work. But if satisfactory
you can proceed to the next topic.

Information Sheet – 1 Windows 7 -Software Requirements

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About Windows 7

Windows 7 is the most advanced Windows operating system for business PCs, designed to
meet the evolving needs of the users and IT professionals in your organization—both in and
out of the office.

With exclusive features and benefits, Windows 7 Enterprise drives lower total cost of
ownership by enhancing productivity, increasing security, and streamlining PC management.
Windows 7 Enterprise is the most advanced Windows operating system for business PCs,
designed to meet the evolving needs of the users and IT professionals in your organization—
both in and out of the office.

With exclusive features and benefits, Windows 7 Enterprise drives lower total cost of
ownership by enhancing productivity, increasing security, and streamlining PC management.

System Requirement for Windows 7

The critical system requirements for Windows 7 are listed below.

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor.

• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit).
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit).
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

Available upgrades and versions of Microsoft Windows 7

There are three available upgrade packages and new windows installation packages
available on the microsoft’s website or any authorized dealer for windows 7

1. Windows 7 home premium. 

2. Windows 7 professional.
3. Windows 7 ultimate.

Windows 7 interface

Windows 7 has a unique graphical user interface that is unlike the previous operating
systems by microsoft. After you upgrade/install your new windows you will be able to see the
interface of windows 7 as shown in the image..

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New Features in Windows 7
Some of the most prominent visual changes in windows 7 are the Task Bar, the Jump List,
the Aero Peek and Pinning Applications to the task bar. Where as some of the major non-
visual changes are the advanced calculator with enhanced options, advanced hand writing
option, improved media features, gadget gallery for adding new gadgets, and a lot of new
options in control panel. Let’s start with the changes in the task bar and how to operate it.

 Increasing parallel device initialization so several different parts of your computer

turn on at the same time during boot.
 Loading fewer bytes per boot so the hard drive and system bus have less data they
need to work with.
 Changing the way Windows components are initialized to make them start faster.

On the Vista system, opening dozens of windows ate up a bulk of the memory, eventually
forcing the system to turn off high-performance features like Aero glass, just to keep up. On
the Windows 7 system, each window uses much less memory so those of us who end up
with ten IE windows, five Outlook e-mails, three Photoshop graphics, and four IM chats open
at the same time will not see a big slowdown. Battery Life Windows 7 is also supposed to
increase notebook battery life in several ways, including:

 Reducing background activities so the system processor can stay in an idle, power-
saving state for longer.
 Adaptive brightness, which dims the screen and brightens the screen a bit more
intelligently.
 Efficient DVD playback that uses fewer system resources.
 A smart network power feature that turns off your Ethernet port when there’s no
cable plugged in.
 Power Config, a new utility that detects energy-sucking problems and recommends
changes.

Improvements: If you glance at a system running the pre-beta Windows 7, you’d probably
think it was Vista at first glance. The major graphical elements of the desktop and the
windows themselves look pretty much identical to Vista. The start menu button, the
minimize/maximize/close buttons on windows, and the desktop icons all look the same. The
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 Information Sheet – 2 Meeting your business and IT needs

Windows 7 Enterprise is the most advanced Windows operating system for business PCs,
designed to meet the evolving needs of the users and IT professionals in your organization—
both in and out of the office. With exclusive features and benefits, Windows 7 Enterprise
drives lower total cost of ownership by enhancing productivity,increasing security,
and streamlining PC management.

Unique technology for enterprise customers

The Windows 7 Enterprise operating system (OS) is available to Microsoft Software

Assurance customers. With Windows 7 Enterprise, you can take advantage of the following
features that are not available in Windows 7 Professional:
 DirectAccess: Give mobile users seamless access to corporate networks without a
need to VPN.
 BranchCache: Decrease the time branch office users spend waiting to download files
across the network.
 Federated Search: Find information in remote repositories, including SharePoint sites,
with a simple user interface.
 BitLocker and BitLocker To Go : Help protect data on PCs and removable drives,
with manageability to enforce encryption and backup of recovery keys.
 AppLocker: Specify what software is allowed to run on a user's PCs through centrally
managed but flexible Group Policies.
 Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) optimizations : Improved user experience for
VDI with multimon and microphone support, which have the ability to reuse virtual hard
drive (VHD) images to boot a physical PC.
 Multilingual user interface: Create a single OS image for deployment to users
worldwide.
 

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Enhance mobility and manageability with DirectAccess
 Working outside the office is easier than ever. DirectAccess in Windows 7 and
Windows Server 2008 R2 enhances the productivity of mobile workers by connecting
them seamlessly and more securely to their corporate network any time they have Internet
access—without the need to VPN. When your IT department enables DirectAccess, the
corporate network’s file shares, intranet websites, and line-of-business applications
remain accessible wherever you have an Internet connection.
 Manage remote machines more effectively. Flexibility gives IT the opportunity to
service remote machines on a regular basis and ensure that mobile users stay up to date
with company policies. With DirectAccess, IT administrators can manage mobile
computers by updating Group Policy settings and distributing software updates any time
the mobile computer has Internet connectivity, even if the user is not logged on.
 Enhance security and access control. To keep data safer as it travels public
networks, DirectAccess uses IPv6-over-IPsec to encrypt communications transmitted
across the Internet. DirectAccess is designed to reduce unnecessary traffic on the
corporate network by sending only traffic destined for the corporate network through the
DirectAccess server (running Windows Server 2008 R2), or the administrator can choose
to send all traffic through the corporate network. In addition to authenticating the
computer, DirectAccess can also authenticate the user and supports multifactor
authentication, such as a smart card. IT administrators can configure which intranet
resources specific users can access using DirectAccess.
 
Improve application responsiveness with BranchCache
 Increase branch office user productivity. BranchCache in Windows 7 helps increase
the network responsiveness of applications, giving users in remote offices an experience
more like working in the head office. When accessing content stored on Windows Server
2008 R2, users in a branch office don't need to wait as long to download files from
headquarters. When IT enables BranchCache, a copy of data accessed from an intranet
website or a file server is cached locally within the branch office. When another user on
the same network requests the file, the user gets access to the content almost
immediately as it is downloaded from the local cache rather than over a limited bandwidth
connection back to headquarters.
 Flexible architecture. BranchCache only serves content to users who have the right
permissions and always checks to make sure it is delivering the latest version of the file.

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 BranchCache can operate in one of two modes. In Hosted Cache mode, a server in the
branch running Windows Server 2008 R2 hosts the cached files. In the second mode,
Distributed Cache, a branch server is not required; copies of files are directly cached on
PCs in the branch and sent to other Windows 7 clients as needed.
 Versatile and efficient protocols. BranchCache only retrieves data from
headquarters when the user requests it. Because it is a passive cache, it decreases
bandwidth utilization between headquarters and the branch. BranchCache only caches
read requests, so it will never interfere with a user saving a file. BranchCache supports
common protocols for web content (HTTP and HTTPS) and file servers (server messaging
block [SMB]), enabling it to work with a wide variety of application types. Finally, it works
seamlessly with network security technologies, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL),
SMB signing, and Internet Protocol security (IPsec) to improve application performance
even if the content is encrypted.
 
Help users find what they need with Federated Search
 Search enhancements in Windows 7 make finding information easier.Enterprise
users need to access data from a variety of sources in their daily tasks. With Windows
Vista, Microsoft introduced advanced desktop search technology, enabling users to
instantly find information on their computers. With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007 and the Enterprise Search family of products, Microsoft delivered highly secure,
manageable, server-based search. Windows 7 brings these experiences together and
provides users with an improved and seamless search experience across local and
networked corporate data directly within Windows Explorer and the Start menu.
 More intuitive ways to find and organize information. Advancements to the
Windows 7 user interface (UI) make it easier for users to quickly find what they are looking
for. Libraries are a new way of accessing documents that might be located in different
folders, on different hard drives, or even on different computers that are backed by a
Windows Search index—in a single view. Windows 7 creates several default libraries for
items such as documents and pictures, allowing you to organize and browse files in an
optimal way. You can also create custom libraries. For example, libraries can be created
per project to provide one entry point under which you can organize, access, and search
files spread across multiple locations.
 Searching beyond the local computer with federated search. Windows 7 enables
users to search remote document repositories, SharePoint sites, and Web applications as
easily as they search their desktops—through the familiar Windows interface. Windows 7

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 federated search uses an existing public standard called OpenSearch. Users can select
which sites they want to search from, or IT can populate a list for the user. Federated
search results are presented in Windows explorer much like local files, with rich views, file
details, and previews.
 Flexible search scopes. Making it easy to discover and search intranet sites can help
organizations maximize their return on these investments. With Enterprise Search Scopes
in Windows 7, IT administrators can populate links on the Start menu and in the Windows
Explorer search results. These links simplify access to the most appropriate, complete,
authoritative data sources on the network. This setup makes content on intranet portals
more discoverable and accessible. IT administrators can deploy Enterprise Search scopes
on users' machines using Group Policy.

Self Check 2 Written Test

Name:____________________ Date:_________________

Instruction: Answer all the questions listed below, if you have some clarifications- feel free to
ask your teacher.

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1 List down advantages of Windows 7 Enterprise Operating System that are not available
in Windows 7 Professional.

2 Key feature of Windows 7 (OS)

Note: Satisfactory rating – 18 points above / Unsatisfactory - below 18 points

You can ask you teacher for the copy of the correct answers.

LAP Test Practical Demonstration

Name: _____________________________ Date: ________________

Time started: ________________________ Time finished: ________________

Instructions: You are required to perform the following individually with the precence of your
teacher.

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1. Download from the Internet any System Specification form.

2. Using the System Information utility in Windows 7, complete all the details on the

System Specification form for the workstation you are using.

 Your teacher will evaluate your output either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If

unsatisfactory, your teacher shall advice you on additional work. But if satisfactory,
you can proceed to the next topic

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