Windows 7

Microsoft Windows 7 comes loaded with lots of new features, and one of the most exciting new feature is Device Stage which introduces a brand new way to interact with your hardware devices from Windows desktop; Out-of-the-box support for hardware devices is one of the major strength for Windows over competing operating-systems and Windows 7 takes this to all new level with even more device-support allowing users to utilize services offered by their devices via new visual interface of device-stage without the need to install additional software or drivers.

Newly introduced Device Stage is not just a visual interface to interact with your devices but also offers automatic media conversion suited for devices plugged-in as I found it while working with Creative Zen MP3 player as demonstrated ahead.

Hacker's succeeded in cracking Microsoft Windows 7 activation even before it got officially released on 22 October 2009, now the same guy Hazar has came up with another utility 'RemoveWAT' which claims to completely remove Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) from the operating-system allowing users with illegal copies of Windows 7 to activate their copies and enjoy retaining genuine status letting them receive all updates from Microsoft, this will even let them pass the genuine check in Microsoft software's like Windows Defender.

The utility claims to uninstall the whole WAT thingy with all traces from the OS, after applying this crack there will be no windows activation section in Windows 7 control panel.

If you jumped onto Microsoft Windows 7 pre-release version (Beta or RC) you can't upgrade to the final RTM version and need to do an clean install loosing all your settings and installed application as Windows 7 setup won't let you upgrade from a pre-release version to final build displaying error as below.

Luckily there is a simple config-file hack which allows you to do an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 pre-release to final version keeping your files, settings and applications intact.

In some weird move by Microsoft their latest operating-system Windows 7 does not support in-place upgrade from their most widely used operating system - Windows XP, lack of this upgrade path prevented many like me from migrating to Windows 7 but here is some ray of hope with Laplink announcing in-place upgrade support to Windows 7 from Windows XP in upcoming release of their popular PC migration utility PCMover.

Microsoft has done a pretty decent job with upcoming Windows 7 user interface, but here is something more futuristic named Copenhagen User Experience concept by its developer, the GUI concept seems very practical and is definitely worth giving a consideration by developers.

Windows 7 RC1 is now officially available for public downloading, the release candidate is set to expire on June 1, 2010 and will start to begin shutting down every two hours from March 1, 2010 you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010 to continue using it without expiration, after installing Windows 7 RC you have 30 days to activate your copy of Windows 7 online, you can follow the simple online activation process as detailed next for a fully functional genuine activated copy of Windows 7 till June 1, 2010.

Few days ago I posted the most easiest way to hack into any computer running Windows 7, Vista, XP, Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora bypassing the login completely, the hack allowed users to bypass the login and access operating-system with root or administrator privileges, Now, two Indian security researchers Vipin Kumar and Nitin Kumar have publicly released their Windows 7 exploit code VBootkit 2.0 as open-source under GPL license allowing hackers to exploit Windows 7 kernel undetected without modifying any files on the disk, the whole process takes place in memory exploiting trusted kernel files with hacker's code allowing them to gain control of the user computer without getting detected.

The demonstration download includes fully compiled binary files and source-code with the remote command controlling utility which can be used to send commands to exploited Windows 7 computer.

Windows 7 XP Mode is must for users facing incompatible application problems on the latest operating system, but not all users can benefit from this feature as it requires hardware virtualization support from your CPU, the most easiest way to check whether your CPU supports Hardware Virtualization or not would be free portable utility SecurAble, the simple utility won't bog you down with complicated data displaying only three CPU features with bold graphics including processor bit-length, hardware D.E.P. and hardware virtualization support.

Much awaited Windows 7 RC 1 is now officially available for download from Microsoft servers, you can find direct ISO download links at end of this post, the first release candidate of the upcoming operating system is set to expire on June 1, 2010 giving users plenty of time to test the platform before purchasing.

Custom and legacy software application compatibility has always been an issue with newer operating system platforms, and if this is the reason stopping you from upgrading to the latest operating-system technology all new Microsoft Windows Virtual XP Mode is now here for rescue, the XP virtulization technology integrates seamlessly with host system offering a streamlined experience with full backward application compatibility, to check the new Virtual XP Mode in Windows 7 I tested it using popular accounting software Tally 7.2 which is incompatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7, launching the application on Windows 7 throws the error as shown below.

Setting up Virtual XP Mode and making applications work with it is quite easy and simply requires users to install applications on guest operating system, you can follow the easy to setup guide ahead to make non-compatible applications work in Windows 7 using Virtual XP Mode.