"Owning" Windows 7

by Rob Limbaugh

Windows 7 versions

� Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Premium,

Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimatehttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare

note: Win 7 Starter only on netbooks, not able to be purchased/installed

www.dacs.org

note: Win 7 Starter only on netbooks, not able to be purchased/installed

separately.

Recommendations:

� Home or Ultimate for non-productivity standard

'home' users.

� Pro or Ultimate for productivity users.

Features

� Can upgrade using "Windows Anytime

Update“

� Suggest using 'Upgrade Advisor‘http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/windows-anytime-

www.dacs.org

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/windows-anytime-

upgrade

Compatibility

Application Compatibility

� 32 bit OS can run on 64 bit hardware

� 64 bit OS only runs on 64 bit hardware

� 32 bit apps can be installed/run on 64 bit

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� 32 bit apps can be installed/run on 64 bit

systems in most cases

Driver Compatibility

� Windows 7 and Vista use same OS versioning

numbers for driver/app compatibility

Third-Party Additions� Recuva - Recovery tool - http://www.piriform.com/recuva

� Adobe Reader - http://get.adobe.com/reader

� Adobe Shockwave - http://get.adobe.com/shockwave

� Adobe Flashplayer - http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

� PDF print engine - http://www.primopdf.com

� Quicktime - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

www.dacs.org

� Quicktime - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

� OpenOffice - Office suite - http://www.openoffice.org/

� TrueCrypt - Encryption - http://www.truecrypt.org/

� Notepad++ - Extended Notepad app - http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

� Paint.NET - Paint application -

http://www.getpaint.net/download.html#download

� Avast - Antivirus - http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

When installing 3rd party apps…

� Go through custom install option if available

� Uncheck all the silly add on stuff like Google

toolbar

� Go back to add/remove programs and

www.dacs.org

� Go back to add/remove programs and

remove Adobe Air

� Go into each app and turn off auto updates

and checks

Where the hell is it now?

� New Folder Locations and Symbolic Links

� Different folder locations for user profiles

� 'Program Files (x86)'

� Folders I Create

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� Folders I Create

� Downloads - instead of windows provided

download location drivers - where I maintain

drivers in case of system reload

� Temp - redirect Windows to use this

� Media - instead of windows provided default

locations

Where the hell is it now?

� Microsoft Movie Maker

� New Control Panel Changes

� I want the old control panel back!

� Navigate the control panel Some things appear in

www.dacs.org

� Navigate the control panel Some things appear in

multiple locations Can't find it? search!

� Some new stuff--check out the clocks!

System Security and Integrity

� Action Center

� Windows Update

� System

� Change remote settings properties

www.dacs.org

� Change remote settings properties

� Advanced area allows change for performance,

user profile cleanup, and Startup/recovery

options

� Power Options

System Security and Integrity

� User Account Control

� How to enable/disable

� Leave it alone

� User Accounts

www.dacs.org

� User Accounts

� Administrative

� Regular user

� Default initial accounts

� How to adjust/change

System Security and Integrity

� Backup and Recovery

� Local solutions

� 'previous versions' (via 'System Protection')

� manual copy assisted/managed

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� manual copy assisted/managed

� built in: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-

US/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore

� Remote (aka "cloud" solutions)

� Carbonite (www.carbonite.com)

� CrashPlan (www.crashplan.com)

System Security and Integrity

� Encryption

� Bitlocker - reqs Ultimate

� details: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-

US/windows7/products/features/bitlocker setup:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c61f2a12-

www.dacs.org

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c61f2a12-

8ae6-4957-b031-97b4d762cf31

� Truecrypt - way easier Make sure you have plan B:

once upon a time...

� ... a company got it's remote users external hard drives with

encryption

� ... I lost a USB key

Questions?

www.dacs.org