Manas T

So nice of Microsoft to add this feature in Windows 7.

Just right click on a ISO image and select ‘Burn Disc Image’, Windows 7 burns the image onto a blank disc.

No third party softwares needed.

works absolutely fine.

Downloaded and installed Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and now have Windows XP running inside Windows 7 without any problems.

Finally Microsoft has put together its act and made Windows 7 Beta available for download (along with the product keys). No secret links are required, just visit the official Windows 7 site and get the product key and the ISO of Windows 7 Beta.

You will need a Passport ID to login. Also Firefox is not supported for the download. You will need IE 7 and above to download the ISO. Thats because MS uses an Active X Control as a download manager to resume downloads.

Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 support the Windows 7 Beta download experience. Please note that Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 users behind a proxy server should use the automatic configuration for their proxy server for the best download experience.

It is good that MS has extended the availability of Windows 7 Beta till 24th January. Hopefully the 3.15 GB x64 ISO will have finished downloading by then on my computer.

P.S. – I have a 160 kbps unlimited internet connection.

Now this is really a nice move from Microsoft.

Microsoft has announced that it will not be shipping Windows Mail, Photo Gallery & Movie Maker along with Windows 7. Instead users can download the Windows Live programs themselves as and when they need it.

In a follow-up interview on Monday, Windows Vista general manager Brian Hall said Microsoft made the decision to remove the tools from Windows for several reasons, including a desire to issue new operating system releases more quickly than it has in the past. The move also removes the confusion of offering and supporting two different programs that perform essentially similar functions.

“It makes it much cleaner,” Hall said.

A huge step to a cleaner Windows install.

But as to how Microsoft will advertise its Windows Live services inside Windows 7 OS remains to be seen. If users have to download a mail client they can download Thunderbird instead, why to go for Windows Mail. Or for Photo Gallery, Picasa can do the job. So if MS is removing Windows Mail, Photo Gallery it will have to aggressively pursue the users to download the Live programs.

Finally… After much testing and releasing new builds, Microsoft has finally made available Windows Vista SP1 final to customers starting today.

Just open Windows Update on your Vista PC and check for new updates. You will see Windows Vista SP1 available there. You can also download the standalone package of Windows Vista SP1 from Microsoft Download Center here.

Windows Vista SP1 Pre-install check-list

1. Uninstall any pre-release version of Windows Vista SP1 (the Beta or the RC) that you have installed.
2. Update all your system drivers. If you have an incompatible driver then Windows Vista will not show up on Windows Update. Microsoft has a list of known incompatible drivers here.
3. SP1 is available in these 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. If you have any other language installed, SP1 will not be offered to you. (You might not even know if you have an additional language installed! Check the Language control panel to see what languages you have installed)

Go install Windows Vista SP1.

Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista released to Windows Update

Download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for x86 systems

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for x64 systems