Windows 7 build 7000 (Beta 1) QnA!

[DrCheese]

On my laptop (15ins @ 1650x1050) it picked up the correct res during install, but then it decided to up the DPI to "medium" by default without asking me. I suppose this is helpful for people who buy high res screens without realising but I found it a lil annoying. Any one else get this yet?

[Ambroos]

It's all part of the 'making it easy for the consumer' stuff. I think it's great that they set everything to the recommended settings automatically. Less problems for the user and that way they can kinda like force software companies to make their software compatible since more and more people will be using it.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

- Still a Lighthouse! Go fix that Microsoft! It's a leftover!

Thanks, I sent mail to find out if this is known.

[Denholm]

Thanks, I sent mail to find out if this is known.

Brandon, are you able to verify that this is a definite Beta 1 build number?

[Brandon Live Veteran]

On my laptop (15ins @ 1650x1050) it picked up the correct res during install, but then it decided to up the DPI to "medium" by default without asking me. I suppose this is helpful for people who buy high res screens without realising but I found it a lil annoying. Any one else get this yet?

The DPI is supposed to be set appropriately for your screen, so if you have a high res, smallish screen, that means your screen is higher DPI. So Windows will default to match that more closely than the old default.

One of the goals here is to prevent people from setting their LCD screens to a lower than native resolution, which apparently is commonly done to make things larger on small, high-res screens. Of course, running in a lower than native resolution causes blurriness and other problems, so we want to steer people away from that.

[Calum Veteran]

It is fixed.

Thank you Brandon and Microsoft :) That really has made me happy now. I didn't realise it hadn't been fixed and spent ages changing every single folder on my computer to 'Large Icons' only to find most of them reverted back to the horrible 'Medium Icons' or 'Small Icons' :blink:

So this is fixed in Windows Vista Service Pack 2 as well as Windows 7?

Is there any way, in both of those operating systems, we can choose a setting which makes every folder view 'Large Icons'? Or do we have to change every single folder ourselves? The later is very time consuming. Any help with this query would be appreciated :)

[George P Global Moderator]

Good to see they've cut memory usage down more, but it seems this has been mostly done through cutting back on the # of services that start automatically. More and more are probably now set to Manual, so they start when needed.

[dcoaster]

Thanks Ambroos! Another question....

BitLocker. I know in Windows 7 you can now use BitLocker on removable flash drives which seems like an excellent idea. However, in builds 6956 and before, the drive would have to be used in a Windows 7 computer in order to access the drive. They said eventually they will add in the originally planned support for XP and Vista. If you have an extra non-used flash drive laying around, could you check and see if a BitLocker-encrypted drive works on a non-Windows 7 computer now that they released the beta? Thanks!

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Is there any way, in both of those operating systems, we can choose a setting which makes every folder view 'Large Icons'? Or do we have to change every single folder ourselves? The later is very time consuming. Any help with this query would be appreciated :)

You can already do that. You just have to do it once for each folder template (there are five on Vista). You go to a folder like Documents (which uses the Documents template), set it up the way you want, and then go to Folder Options and click the "Apply To Folders" button. That button, as the text describes, applies those settings to all folders with that template / type setting.

You can view the template for a folder by right-clicking on it, clicking Properties, and looking at the Customize tab.

[tomwarren Veteran]

Brandon, are you able to verify that this is a definite Beta 1 build number?

I don't think Brandon is allowed to confirm or deny but yes it is ;)

Thanks Ambroos! Another question....

BitLocker. I know in Windows 7 you can now use BitLocker on removable flash drives which seems like an excellent idea. However, in builds 6956 and before, the drive would have to be used in a Windows 7 computer in order to access the drive. They said eventually they will add in the originally planned support for XP and Vista. If you have an extra non-used flash drive laying around, could you check and see if a BitLocker-encrypted drive works on a non-Windows 7 computer now that they released the beta? Thanks!

With Vista SP2 and XP SP3 it prompts you for the password :)

[Calum Veteran]

You can already do that. You just have to do it once for each folder template (there are five on Vista). You go to a folder like Documents (which uses the Documents template), set it up the way you want, and then go to Folder Options and click the "Apply To Folders" button. That button, as the text describes, applies those settings to all folders with that template / type setting.

You can view the template for a folder by right-clicking on it, clicking Properties, and looking at the Customize tab.

Thank you for the fast and informative reply Brandon. I didn't know that's how that worked. This will save me a lot of time :D

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Good to see they've cut memory usage down more, but it seems this has been mostly done through cutting back on the # of services that start automatically. More and more are probably now set to Manual, so they start when needed.

Win7 introduced new infrastructure to allow many services and tasks to be demand-started and then stopped when no longer necessary. For example, a service might start when you insert a new hardware device, join a wireless network, or stop when you disconnect from the network.

[dcoaster]

I don't think Brandon is allowed to confirm or deny but yes it is ;)

With Vista SP2 and XP SP3 it prompts you for the password :)

Thanks for the clarification! That is with the Beta build 7000 right? Unfortunately, most of our computers don't have Vista SP2 or XP SP3 so hopefully the earlier SP's are working too.

[Ambroos]

Thanks Ambroos! Another question....

BitLocker. I know in Windows 7 you can now use BitLocker on removable flash drives which seems like an excellent idea. However, in builds 6956 and before, the drive would have to be used in a Windows 7 computer in order to access the drive. They said eventually they will add in the originally planned support for XP and Vista. If you have an extra non-used flash drive laying around, could you check and see if a BitLocker-encrypted drive works on a non-Windows 7 computer now that they released the beta? Thanks!

I'll try and find my USB disk tomorrow, it's somewhere in one of my schoolbooks I think :p

Don't have any XP test machines, but I'll try it out on Vista x64!

Strange though, in Vista a TPM chip was required to run BitLocker. TPM's provide excellent security. How can they reach the same level of security without a TPM in Windows 7?

[Denholm]

I don't think Brandon is allowed to confirm or deny but yes it is ;)

:cool: Thanks creamhackered.

Going to install it as soon as it's done. I would have preferred to have got it from Connect, but ehh.

[DrCheese]

The DPI is supposed to be set appropriately for your screen, so if you have a high res, smallish screen, that means your screen is higher DPI. So Windows will default to match that more closely than the old default.

One of the goals here is to prevent people from setting their LCD screens to a lower than native resolution, which apparently is commonly done to make things larger on small, high-res screens. Of course, running in a lower than native resolution causes blurriness and other problems, so we want to steer people away from that.

aye I thought as much. It makes sense as I've seen people do this (Make the screen res lower to make the text bigger) I went and changed it back myself but I thought it was a nice touch. It's all part of making the out of the box experience nicer for the average user.

[Mr. Dee]

Memory usage is quite awesome. This doesn't really show a situation most of us will actually be using Windows in, but without any software installed at all the memory usage 2 minutes after the system boot is only 410MB. At first it was somewhere around 520MB, but at around 1:30 it suddenly dropped to 410MB.

And oh yea, for some reason, the Welcome Center didn't pop up.

Welcome Center has been replaced by Jump List on the Start Menu.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

aye I thought as much. It makes sense as I've seen people do this (Make the screen res lower to make the text bigger) I went and changed it back myself but I thought it was a nice touch. It's all part of making the out of the box experience nicer for the average user.

Yeah, I think it's the right approach. Those who want to make it smaller are more likely to know how or figure it out. And the options have been exposed very clearly in several places (including the Getting Started app and its jump list).

[Ambroos]

Welcome Center has been replaced by Jump List on the Start Menu.

Oh yea! Don't really know if I like it. I wonder how long it will stay there. If it's still there after using Windows for a month it's rather useless. And somehow I am getting the feeling Microsoft wants us to move away from the start menu a little or use start menu search more... (like how the Internet and Mail icons also disappeared, and I'm afraid that's one step too far).

[ObiWanToby]

Win7 introduced new infrastructure to allow many services and tasks to be demand-started and then stopped when no longer necessary. For example, a service might start when you insert a new hardware device, join a wireless network, or stop when you disconnect from the network.

Damn, simple changes like that are sweet.

[dcoaster]

Oh yea! Don't really know if I like it. I wonder how long it will stay there. If it's still there after using Windows for a month it's rather useless. And somehow I am getting the feeling Microsoft wants us to move away from the start menu a little or use start menu search more... (like how the Internet and Mail icons also disappeared, and I'm afraid that's one step too far).

Personally, I never used the shortcuts in the Start Menu. I always had them on my desktop. Now with Windows 7, I can put them on the taskbar and desktop and have easier access to those apps that get a TON of use! :D

[Mr. Dee]

Oh yea! Don't really know if I like it. I wonder how long it will stay there. If it's still there after using Windows for a month it's rather useless. And somehow I am getting the feeling Microsoft wants us to move away from the start menu a little or use start menu search more... (like how the Internet and Mail icons also disappeared, and I'm afraid that's one step too far).

If you don't like it, delete it, its your PC. :)

[Ambroos]

If you don't like it, delete it, its your PC. :)

I'm thinking for the consumer who hasn't learned to right-click outside Word and Internet Explorer so far ;) (and that's quite a lot of people unfortunately)

[DrOmango]

downloading it right now!!!

BTW does windows 7 allow to format drive before doing clean install, when it boots to setup?

[Ambroos]

downloading it right now!!!

BTW does windows 7 allow to format drive before doing clean install?

and What if I need to install latest drivers for my graphics card, download vista link?

As far as I know the nVidia preview driver is included. Windows Vista drivers should work fine. If you boot from the disk you can format before the installation. Never run it as your main OS though! Always use something final for important things and daily use!