Evolution of an Operating System (and my Windows 8 book)

I am finishing up my second book, a Windows 8 book for Pearson/Prentice Hall. Apparently, it will be published on October 12, according to Amazon (Link to my Windows 8 book here).

Delving in to the new operating system has been instructive for a few reasons. First of all, this version of Windows is going to change things. This rivals Windows 95 as the biggest change I've seen to Windows. Short summary: they have removed the Start menu and replaced it with a Start screen.

Wait, no, that is the Partridge family bus. You can see my confusion.

Yep, that's the Start screen!

You can of course add and move tiles. Notice my user name is my Gmail account. You can sign in with a Microsoft account and keep your files and settings "in the cloud". In other words, if I design my Start screen on my desktop, I can log in to my laptop and have the same screen. If I add bookmarks and pictures, they can follow me as well! Microsoft has also added the ability to log in using picture passwords and PINs, much like some cell phones.

The Windows Explorer interface has changed to include the Ribbon, which is the interface you may be used to from Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010.

Other key points: Windows 8 supports touch-screen monitors, so I am guessing in five years or so most people will have touch-screen monitors at home.

They've added new searching functions, gestures (like "pinching" on the screen to zoom), and basically ripped the heart out of the operating system.

There are many changes to be discussed, and a blog entry just won't summarize this. Just prepare to retrain!

Windows 7 and the curse of retraining

As a computer person, I am in the position where I need to constantly retrain myself. Many of the things I learned in college are already obsolete. A career in computers always presents new challenges and new opportunities, and that is part of what I like about it.

I find that many people hate the fact that things change. Computerization of jobs is one thing. I know two doctors with small offices who are pretty computer illiterate. They both plan on retiring if and when they have to submit all medical claims electronically instead of faxing or mailing them. I certainly can understand that. In that situation they feel there is too much added expense (in time and/or money) in retraining themselves, buying equipment, and possibly hiring an assistant to do the computer work.

However, even computer literate users generally dislike retraining. I understand the thought. People who are not in the computer field seem to look at computers as an appliance, much like a stove. If I had to retrain myself on how to use a stove every year I'd dislike that and just order out more.


Since people don't like the idea of retraining, they tend to use a new tool the way they used the old tool. However, newer versions of tools generally include better ways to do things. For example, since Windows 95, I used the same process to take a picture of what is on my screen and save it. I would hit the print screen button on my keyboard (or hit alt+printscreen to only capture the current window). If I wanted to only keep a part of the image instead of the whole thing, I would then open a program like Photoshop, create a new file, paste the screen image, select the part I want, crop it down, and save. This process is clunky, but it works, and this was just how I did things.  Windows 7 (and some versions of Vista) include a tool called the Snipping Tool. This tool would let me take an image of part of my screen in many less steps. Were I not constantly playing around with new features, I would be less efficient. For those of you who haven't started using this cool tool, here is the Microsoft Snipping Tool tutorial.

Rather than learn new versions of a tool, people may even actively seek ways to make the new tool look like the old tool. For example, when Office 2007 came out, people hated the Ribbon interface, which replaced the old menu interface. A number of companies released tools (such as ubitmenu) that allowed users to display the old menus back in Office 2007.

For me, retraining is part of the allure of computers, but if you are among those who view it as a curse, I can understand the thought.

One in Every 14 programs downloaded is malware?

A few weeks ago, Microsoft blogged about Internet Explorer 9's new "SmartScreen Application Reputation" feature. Microsoft quotes a statistic that 1 in every 14 programs downloaded (on the Microsoft platform) is confirmed to be malware. Of course, statistics can be twisted, so I am not sure what Microsoft defines as "malware". I also assume they are talking about files downloaded through Web browsers, and not files downloaded from the Internet.

From my experience, the riskier the behavior the user engages in, the more likely it is they are going to have a problem. When a friend has a computer crash, it generally has something to do with the activities they engage in on the computer. For example, if people visit shady sites to download videos or music, they risk running in to problems. Making things even riskier (though not affected by this study, I assume) are the file sharing networks.

Even if you have an updated antivirus program, and antispyware, and a firewall, you still risk running in to problems. A virus released today may not end up being blocked by antivirus tools for a few weeks. First, the virus has to come to the antivirus company's attention, and then they must figure what it does and how it does it, and then program a fix, test the fix, and make it available for updates. Then, the user's home machine needs to download the update and apply it.

These viruses are called zero-day viruses, and it isn't unreasonable for it to take weeks for a low-priority virus to get blocked. Further complicating matters is that many home users do not always pay for updates to the antivirus tool. It's generally better to have a free, up-to-date antivirus tool than an outdated commercial one, because new viruses are written all the time. I have in the past personally used the free AVG antivirus, and there is also a free version of avast! antivirus available.

Of course, Linux and Macintosh computers deal with less viruses, not because they can't be written for those operating systems, but because Windows has the largest market share and generally has more inexperienced users. If Macintosh ever became more popular than Windows, hackers would certainly work to find exploits for that operating system too.

So, Microsoft will claim IE9 is safer than Firefox, and Firefox will claim they are safer than IE9. If nothing else, turn a critical eye to both claims. And, if you want to be safe, stop doing risky things. They say the safest sex is abstinence, after all, and the same concept applies to computer activity.


Link to Network World article

From XP to 7: new features part 2

One of the new features in Windows 7 that I noticed was the addition of libraries.   Windows 7 has introduced a feature that allows me to specify a group of directories as a library.

Let's go with an example.  If you have a folder for music in your Documents folder.  However, let's say you also download song files through a program like Ares.  If you do that, you would typically have to move those files from the Downloads folder over to the Music folder in order for you to listen to the music.

Now, with the addition of Libraries, you can specify a number of folders that contain music, and simply browse to it.  For example, under your Start Menu in Windows 7, you will see an area called "Music".  This is a link to the library.  This will show you music files in all folders that it recognizes as music folders.  Right clicking on it and selecting it will allow you to add or remove folders from this list.  You can do this for pictures, videos, and documents by default.

You can also create your own custom libraries.  For example, I have three locations that I am typically using for school stuff.  The locations are my downloads folder (where electronic files I need to check go), my documents folder (where I typically keep some information), and my desktop (where I put stuff I really don't want to forget).

It is also very cool that programs optimized for this (for example, most of the Office suite) can use these libraries as well.

Though you CAN include folders from an external hard drive, you can NOT include locations on a USB drive.  That is one negative I have.  If someone is technically proficient, it should not be a problem.  For example, my USB drive is always assigned to a drive letter of "H".  Any non-work USB drive gets "F".  I think I understand why they wouldn't allow this - but there should be an option to override it.  In my case, there will never be confusion between my main USB drive and others, and I think that is why Microsoft disabled this option.  I wouldn't mind if it gave me all sorts of annoying warnings, if it allowed it.

Cool feature, though the USB drive being excluded is a bummer.

Link to more information (with pictures)

From XP to 7: Using the new features part 1

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I went to a conference in the city and they demonstrated the new features of Windows 7.  This got me thinking that I should start using the new features.  Since I skipped Vista as an operating system, some of the things I am learning were new in Vista, and some are new in 7.

Here are some new features I am going to use:

• Flip 3D: Since the old days, holding down the ALT key and hitting TAB was the way I switch between open programs.  Windows 7 has a new feature called Flip 3D that is similar.  If you hold down the WINDOWS key and hit TAB, you can switch between programs, except with a 3D effect.  This is a very neat little feature that I will add to my bag o' tricks.
• Windows+Arrow: I have two monitors at home.  I have times where I want to switch things over to other windows, and I have thus far been dragging things from one monitor to another.  Who knew I could simply hold WINDOWS and hit the RIGHT ARROW to move it to the screen on the right, and WINDOWS and LEFT ARROW to move back to the left screen.  This is a pretty neat little feature that saves me some mouse clicks.
• Problem Steps Recorder: There are times where I want to show people problems I am having, and I end up taking screen shots (using print screen).  The problem is I then have to type up the steps and do work to show this.  This tool will let me simply record step by step what I am doing, so I can create a report and just mail that with very little effort.  I can imagine this is going to be a great tool for technical support professionals in the future as well.  Link to more information

Learning Technology

One of the problems with teaching technology is that everything changes.  Many times, people just sort of stick with the features they know and just look for the spot where that same feature is, rather than learning the new features of a program.

The most recent example I can come up with is Office 2007.  People got very frustrated with a new interface, even if it is a simpler interface.  One company even created a program to make Office 2007 look like Office 2003, and charges $30 for it.  People will pay $30 to stick with the old interface!  (To be fair, businesses don't like dealing with retraining, because it costs money).

This does go beyond new versions of software.  I remember when I was in college, we were being taught the C programming language (something we computer people use to actually create computer programs).  The college upgraded to a newer version of the language called C++, and I did not bother to take advantage of the new features.  For those who know programming, C is designed to be procedure-oriented, while C++ is designed to be object-oriented.  It took me years to gradually accept the object-oriented programming method.


The reason this is on my mind is because I went to a conference in the city last week, and they included a demonstration of Windows 7.  I have had Windows 7 for a while at home as my primary operating system.  I didn't realize how many features I haven't been using, because much like the programming days in college, I have been using Windows 7 like it was still Windows XP.  I am planning on spending some time playing around with the new features this weekend and re-learning my behaviors a bit, because that's what a technology person should be doing, right?

Ultimate Steal

Every semester, I try to bring this up in my classes.  Microsoft has made available a number of programs available at a low cost for students.

For example, the Microsoft Office 2007 Home Edition would cost you around $125 - $150 to purchase.  This would include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  However, as a student at certain schools, you are eligible to receive a copy of Office 2007 "Ultimate" for $59.95.  This version includes not only the programs listed above, but also Access and Publisher.  The nice part is that this is not only inexpensive, but also legal.  I can understand why people take a risk and download illegal software, but when you have the chance to legally acquire the software at this price, why take the risk?

They also have made available Windows 7 for $64.95. 

Note you will have to register with your school email address (username@pccc.mailcruiser.com).  Also note that they don't mail you an installation CD - the install is done through the Internet.

Note that even though this is not a Microsoft.com site, it does redirect there and I can confirm this is legitimate.
www.ultimatesteal.com

Windows 7 "God Mode"

One cool thing about new software is that there are all sorts of things that are built in there that will be found.  Most of the time, you are looking at bugs or other problems in the software, but recently a Windows 7 feature has come out called "God Mode".

This feature is basically a secret warp zone to most of the common tasks that you typically find in different areas of Windows.  For example, display settings are in one spot, adding printers is somewhere else, and things like "Set up ODBC sources" ... well, I couldn't even tell you where that is normally.

Anyway, this is an interesting feature...my only question is why was it so deeply hidden?

Link to Article

Magical Jelly Bean Product Key Finder

I am preparing to upgrade to Windows 7 at home, and I am a little leery of it, because if the upgrade doesn't go well, I may end up reinstalling certain software, such as Office 2007.  There is a free program called Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder which will find the product keys for many of the Microsoft tools.  For example, if I needed to reinstall Vista or Office, I wouldn't have to go find my original product keys.  I could just use this program to get that information now.  It will also allow me to save or print them automatically.  It's a random little tool, but definitely something that I am going to use before I do my upgrade, and it's a free piece of software, which is nice.

Link to download

Windows 7 and the "Hi, I'm a Mac" ads

Last week, Microsoft released the new version of the Windows operating system, simply known as "Windows 7".  This replaces Windows Vista as the most updated version of the operating system.  Windows Vista just never gained acceptance in the way Windows XP did.  Think of it this way.  Windows XP was released in 2001, and Windows Vista was released in 2007.  XP was the primary client operating system for six years.  Windows 7 was released in 2009, two years after Vista.    This says to me that Vista did not accomplish what it needed to.  I bought a new machine a few months ago, and most recently purchased machines came with a free upgrade option.  Mine did, and I ordered the upgrade kit.  I'm going to install it and see what happens.  For those of you who are a little more tech savvy, we're planning on installing it in a few machines in our public lab (H310) so that students interested can try it out.  For what it is worth, reviews so far seem cautiously positive overall.

Either way, Mac has been putting together a set of advertisements since 2006, and Macintosh is clever enough to put ads together putting together already, playing off of the fears.  I went back to the 2007 Vista release ads, and it's funny to see how quickly the annoying issues (like the security warnings you kept getting in Vista, or the fact that Microsoft had six versions of Vista) were almost immediately turned in to ads.  If there is something wrong with 7, we'll see it in the Mac ads soon enough! 

I still don't know if these ads are enough to get the average user to switch to Mac, but they are interesting.

The ads can be seen here: www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Registry Cleaning

In my CIS 101 class, there is usually some sort of discussion of how programs get installed. Many times, whether in class or after class, I get a question that goes along these lines:

"Can I just copy the folder where Microsoft Office is to another computer?"

Now, back in the Microsoft DOS days, that would typically work, but Windows made it a little more complicated. There are a few things that are done during the installation process that you don't see. For example, some files are put in other folders on the hard drive, typically a subfolder under your Windows folder. In addition, some "services" are installed, and some information is written to a location called "the registry". So, with all that in mind, the operating system was designed to include an installation process, in part to make software piracy more difficult. Not all programs take advantage of this, but many do.

The problem with this is that when stuff is written to the registry, it doesn't always get cleaned out well when programs are uninstalled, etc. This leads to your registry being slower, as it is filled with junk that slows down your machine. A lot of people wonder why they can just reinstall the Windows operating system and see substantial improvements in speed. Part of the reason is the registry.

However, there are ways to fix this, and there is one program that does this for free, Eusing Free Registry Cleaner. This program will go through and clean up the mess left behind by sloppy uninstall programs. Definitely worth a download and a run. This is something I typically run every few months or so, and it always finds a bunch of errors it can fix. This is a program that I would recommend, especially with it being free and all.  The one concern I have is the limited support for Vista and Windows 7.

Link to Download

Why Windows is necessary

I had some thoughts related to the recent blog entry about Linux. Someone asked me why I gave it up. I probably would have asked someone the same question at that point. I remember back in college being very anti-Microsoft.

As I get further in to my career, I've learned one thing. Linux is not going to overtake Microsoft any time soon as accepted in the general public, and there are some reasons.

A) After many semesters of teaching some of the introductory courses, I see the trouble people have with the Microsoft Windows operating system. I consider Windows to be simpler than the Linux operating system. If all machines went to Linux tomorrow, we'd be reducing access to computers and technology, which would hold back society. People will give up rather than learn it.

B) Managers are scared of open source software. If a catastrophic failure occurs, there is no one to sue. If, however, there was a flaw in the Microsoft operating system that caused problems, people can turn around and sue Microsoft. They may not win, but there is comfort in that.

C) There are a lot of applications that were designed for Windows that people use. Without the use of Windows compatibility layers, these tools don't run in that environment. Most companies won't bother emulating the operating system, because that adds complexity, and they certainly won't bother re-writing. The company my father used to work for had an OS/2 application that was written in the 1980's. They were still running this operating system in 2001 on a bunch of machines just for that one application.

D) People push how secure the Linux operating system is, as well as browsers such as Firefox. Are they inherently more secure? Yes, they are. I don't doubt this. Part of the reason, however, is that if I am a hacker I am not attacking those platforms. Why? Two reasons. First, because the people using them are more computer savvy, so you are trying to hack smarter users - and a hacker wants the easiest targets possible. Secondly, there are more people using Windows and Internet Explorer, so one nasty little targeted virus hits a larger user base. If there were suddenly a large portion of the market using any tool, be sure that people will attack it and find exploits. It's not worth it to write a Linux virus today.

The reality is that in many ways in our own lives, we tend towards "this is not what I know" as a reaction to new things. For all of you who are very pro-Linux, think of how you would react if someone wanted to replace something you are comfortable with with something new. Most people resist change, and that's just the way the world works much of the time.

These are the things you would have to overcome if you want to get a society over to Linux. It's not good enough to say "well, it's more secure" - because people won't give up what they know for that promise. In that way, being hacked is in many people's minds much like speeding - no one ever thinks they are going to be the one pulled over until it happens.

It doesn't mean I like it. This is just what I consider the reality. You can only change in small increments. You would likely never be able to walk in to a company and say "I think we should all go to Linux" because you'd probably hear "I think you should go to ...somewhere". The larger the company, the more resistance to change.

Trust in operating systems

Microsoft has been in the operating system business for a long time.

That said, there are still reasons to be scared of them.

For example, take this article. Microsoft had to issue a fix to their operating system. Why? They found three "critical" loopholes in their operating systems that would allow someone to take control of your system. This affects Windows operating systems back as far as Windows 2000.

So, when did they find this? About a month ago - January 2009. Windows 2000 has been on the market 9 years, and they are still finding flaws in it (note: this also affects newer versions, including XP and Vista). Just to recap - even if you are doing everything right, your computer could still be exploited. This is why it is critical to install the Windows updates when they come out (typically the second Tuesday of every month).

Thanks to Sue for the heads up!

Scheduling Disk Defragmenter

I've discussed the Windows disk defragmenter in class recently, and some students asked if there is a way to automate this so that it runs for you. I've done a little researching on it, and it turns out that it's not as simple as one might hope. They've made it easier in Vista, but in the XP version of the operating system, it's a little bit more of a task. I've taken steps from the Microsoft Web site and made them a little clearer, I hope.

1. Click on the Start Menu
2. Select Control Panel
3. Double-click Scheduled Tasks (or, if you are using the "Category" view, click on "Performance and Maintenance", and then click Scheduled Tasks)
   
4. Double-click Add Scheduled Task
5. On the Scheduled Task Wizard dialog, click Next
6. Click Browse
7. Copy and paste the following line in to the dialog box:
   c:\windows\system32\defrag.exe
   
8. Click Open
9. Click Next
10. Select how often you wish Disk Defragmenter to run (recommended: once a month)
    
11. Click Next
12. Pick a time to run (a time the machine is on but a time you are not using it)
    
13. Click Next
14. Click Next
15. Enter a user name under which the Disk Defragmenter scheduled task will run. Note: This user must be an administrator on the local machine.
16. Enter the password for the user you entered in the previous step
17. Confirm the password for the user
18. Click Next
19. Check "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish"
20. Click Finish
21. In the Run text box, you should see the full path and command for defrag.exe. By default, this path is C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\defrag.exe
22. Copy and paste the following line in to the box, or simply add the C: at the end
    C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\defrag.exe C: /noprompt
23. Click OK
24. In the Set Account Information dialog, re-enter and confirm the password for the user listed in Run as
25. Click OK

Oddly enough, most other programs (backup, disk cleanup) can be scheduled there easily...seems like the disk defragmenter was just overlooked.

The original article can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555098

Free Windows Home Server Trial

For those of you who are a little more experienced, Microsoft is giving out a free 120 day trial of their "Windows Home Server" product. This is a newer product geared towards home users with more than one PC in the home. This product was originally released in late 2007. It's an interesting idea, bringing the idea of a computer server in to people's homes. It may not take off for a few years, but it's certainly a forward thinking idea.

Web link:

• Request Form from Microsoft

Thanks to Saul for the link!

Free Trial of Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft is giving out a fully functional 60 day/2 month free trial of Office 2007 Professional. If you don't have Office on your computer, this is a chance to try the new version for free.

Note that since this is the trial version of Office Professional, not only do you get Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you also get Publisher and Access, two other very nice tools, and a few other tools. For free, it's definitely worth a try.

If you were interested in simply purchasing it, there is a "Home and Student" version, which is designed for home users that will be doing common school related tasks. The "Home and Student" version includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This is much cheaper than the standard versions of Office, with a retail price of $150.

At this point, it is a little over $100 to purchase it on Amazon. I'll link to that below.

Web Links:

• Office 2007 Home and Student version on Amazon (PC Version)
  
  
• Link to free trial download page
  (Note that even though this is not from "Microsoft.com", it is what Microsoft links you to. I checked)

Office 2007 Shortcut Keys

One of the best ways to be a little more productive is to learn the hotkeys of a program. Also known as "shortcut keys" or "keyboard shortcuts", keyboard shortcuts are the way of using the keyboard to do things that you would otherwise do with the mouse. For example, a common hotkey in Microsoft Office is to hold down the control key and hit the P key. This will allow you to print without clicking around to do so.

Now there is no way that you're going to memorize them all, but what I think is efficient is to figure out something you're doing often, and to look up the hotkeys for that feature.


No, not THAT type of hotkey.

I've blogged in the past about some of these hot keys, but in the process of updating Microsoft Office, they've removed some of the hotkeys that I personally was used to, which makes me sad, but they've also added some, which is nice.

Where do you look those up? Well, if you Google it, you'll get a list, but at this point, you're dealing with a lot of people who have the Office 2003 lists up. You would figure that there's a comprehensive list for each of the programs on Microsoft's site ... but you'd be wrong. As far as I can find, they only have a set of Office 2003 shortcut keys on the site, not the Office 2007 ones.

One site that I've used for this purpose in the past is keyxl.com and they've done an excellent job of laying out shortcuts for the major Office tools at the links below. Definitely worth a look if you're wondering something like "How do I start a slide show from this slide instead of slide one?"**

Web Links

• Microsoft Word 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft Excel 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft Access 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 hotkeys

** Answer - hold shift and hit f5

Good bye, Windows XP

In what will mark the beginning of the end of Windows XP, Microsoft stopped selling that version of their operating system as of July 1.

There are some loopholes here, but the main point is that Microsoft is going to stop the main PC manufacturers (Dell, HP, etc) from selling new machines with XP on them, as soon as their current inventory of machines with XP is gone. This is not a very popular decision, especially given how slowly the Windows Vista operating system has been deployed.

Of course, if your computer already has it, this really doesn't affect YOU, only people buying new PCs. Also keep in mind that XP will likely be available on sites such as Ebay for a long time.

Of course, Microsoft's argument is that as they phase XP out, they can now afford to focus more on the Windows Vista user base, and therefore will be able to better support everyone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_xp

What's that process?

There are times when I will right click on the taskbar down bottom and launch the task manager (or use the hotkey). This will bring up a list of "processes" that are running. For example, at the moment, my home machine has 51 processes running. I can look at the list and recognize some of them - a skill that comes with time - but there are certainly others that are foreign to me.

There are plenty of resources for for this, including just Googling the name of the process...but I have found that the site below provides some great information on tasks, and usually just go directly there.

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm