San Francisco: Microsoft announced that it was redesigning the logo of Windows software, making a fundamental change to the iconic four-colour Windows logo users have been used to for 20 years.

Meshing with the Metro design of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8, the new logo is a slightly-angled blue block with a thin white cross in the middle, making it look like a window instead of the four-colour wavy flag in the past, reported Xinhua.

"The Windows logo is a strong and widely recognised mark but when we stepped back and analysed it, we realised an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations," said Microsoft in a blog post.

This week we lost one of the true marketing geniuses of our lifetime. While Steve Jobs was the chief executive officer there was no doubt he was also the chief marketing officer as well.

There are three things that he and Apple did better than anyone and  we should try to put them into practice whenever possible.

1. Make things easy for customers: Apple has been legendary for its focus on “ease of use,” and the company has pioneered many great products with this mission in mind. But making products and services easy for customers to have a great experience should not be limited to technology firms. Banks, hospitals, insurance companies, auto makers and airlines could learn this lesson from Steve.
2. Develop “whole products”: For years Apple was criticized for the “closed” system approach it used for its Macintosh computers. By controlling the hardware, operating system and many of the peripherals, Apple made the Mac easy to use, but also much more expensive. This ultimately limited the market share for the Mac. However, this whole product philosophy was critical to the success of the iPod. Steve not only envisioned a highly portable music device, he pioneered a new and fair pricing model for music that was made available through the iStore. The music could easily be managed through iTunes, and this combination of iPod, iTunes and iStore transformed how we buy and listen to music. It also reignited the Apple brand and paved the way for the highly successful iPhone and iPad.
3. Create a beloved brand: Few brands have as many passionate fans as Apple. This brand fanaticism has been a result of not only lessons #1 and #2 but also the consistency with which the company communicates. Every touch-point in a consumer’s experience has been executed with the same visual identity and simplicity. From product packaging and advertising to the website and retail stores, the Apple brand has been clearly and consistently delivered. Steve would have it no other way.

While we mourn the loss of a real pioneer, let’s be grateful that Steve Jobs had the vision and courage to show us all how marketing could be done. For me that will be his enduring legacy.  -- Courtesy - Forbes Magazine 

AppLocker provides the flexibility to allow users to run the applications, installation programs, and scripts they need to be productive. Learn how you can realize the security, operational, and compliance benefits of application standardization by using AppLocker.

Please click on the link to download PDF on How To Lock Applications using AppLocker in Win7.

Windows8 Developer Preview was launched on 13th Sep 2011

WINDOWS7 Deployment with Windows Deployment Services

Hi,

 Everyone here we going to learn Window 7 deployment with WDS and preloaded with some required Applications.

After application installation, we are going to capture and deploy reference IMAGE.

I am assuming that you already have Domain controller infrastructure with DNS/DHCP.

My LAB Setup Information 

1. Windows 2008/R2SP1

2. Windows 7 with Office 2010 and some other 5-7 Applications.

Ok let’s start our setup.

Here is my setup: I have installed HYPER-V on my LAB machine. Then I created three VM’s.

1. VM1 is Windows 2008R2 with Sp1

2. VM2 is Windows 7 with some apps?

a. Office 2010

b. Team Viewer

c. FireFox

d. Microsoft security Essentials

e. VLC Media Player and WinRar.

3. VM3 is blank for future deployment -> support network boot installation.

Some Basic Points:

• My Server Name PRADC.

• Active directory domain services : I am using my domain name (FRESHNET.COM)

• My DC server address is 192.168.10.10 gateway is 192.168.10.1

• Add DHCP Roles and define DHCP range : I am using 192.168.10.0/24

• After successful creation of domain infrastructure we have to add role which is Windows Deployment Services.

• We need to install WAIK 2.0 Version On Windows Server for Image Engineering.

• I am working on domain infrastructure and all setups are part of domain.

The complete document is shared here White Paper.

Whether you've just bought a new PC running Windows 7 or you've been using it for a while, there are bound to be things you didn't know you could do.

Whether it's tweaks to get the desktop the way you want it, tips for troubleshooting or ways to squeeze more performance from Windows 7, we've got it covered.

We've updated our popular Windows 7 tips article with a load of new ones, including how to recover locked-up apps, how to extend your jumplists, leave a Windows 7 Homegroup, and more. Read on for 85 tips to help you get the best from Windows 7.

• 22 common Windows 7 problems solved

1. Problem Steps Recorder

As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.

When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.

2. Burn images

Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn't be much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created.

3. Create and mount VHD files

Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.

Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.

The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.

4. Troubleshoot problems

If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. These are simple wizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.

5. Startup repair

If you've downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you haven't) it's a good idea to create a system repair disc straight away in case you run into problems booting the OS later on. Click Start > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way to get your PC running again.

For the next 5 steps... check back this place....

Solid-state drives are wicked fast. SSDs start and shut down fast, and they perform read operations (especially random reads) at speeds that blow the doors off conventional hard drives. In the first installment of this series, I gathered the numbers to show just how much faster you can expect an SSD to perform in the real world.

But you might need to jump through some setup hoops to get top performance out of an SSD-equipped PC running Windows 7. That’s because Windows has evolved over many years with features that specifically target the behavior of conventional hard disks. Features like Superfetch and Prefetch and ReadyBoot are designed to monitor files you access at startup and when you launch programs and then arrange them on the disk for optimal access. Because SSDs don’t have motors and spindles and platters and magnetic heads, they don’t benefit from those features and need to be handled differently.

For the rest of the article please go to 

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-7-and-ssds-setup-secrets-and-tune-up-tweaks/2910

As cool as the name sound - Windows 7 God Mode provides a total control of the operating system's configuration aspect. You can think of it as an extended version of 'Control Panel'

Add a folder and name it as GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Double click on the created folder and get complete control over your Windows 7 System.

When you say that you your application is Windows 7 Compatible - What does that exactly mean? Does it mean that your application is built for Windows 7 or does it mean that it would work on Windows 7 with the help of the shim database.

Migration Expert Chris Jackson also known as ' The App Compat Guy' gives his views.

Read here for Chris's explanation.

Came across an intresting article on collaborative debugging on Visual Studio 2010.

Read the full article here

Little-known command line utility: clip

Windows 7 includes a tiny command line utility called clip. All it does is paste its stdin onto the clipboard.

dir | clip
echo hey | clip

Download new themes from here

If you want to know what people are saying about Windows 7 refer this link

Microsoft isssued a security intelligence report for the period of January through June 2009.

Based on the key findings and data  - Windows Vista had a very less infection rate than XP by 61.9 percent.

For the full story download the Report from here

Came across an intresting article on Software that could create a patch for itself detecting a flaw in its code. Read the full article here

If you want to start with Windows 7 deployment in your organization consider going through the Magazine issued by Microsoft on how to effectively deploy Windows 7.

Cover's all topics including running compatiblity tests. Dowload the magazine here

I work with a lot of VM's for my testing and development purposes - And sometimes would like to create a VM of my own host machine when moving to a new environment.

I had recently moved from Vista to Win 7 , and needed a backup of my box and environment.

Used a nice tool Disk2Vhd - That takes an image of your live system which can be used on Virtual PC and on Hyper-V.

Dowload the tool here!

Windows 7 compatiblity center is now live !. Search for applications/driver and hardware that you have or wish to install on Windows 7 and see if it would work on Windows 7 or if there is any upgrades available.

Web Link : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

I have seen a lot of requests on getting token information from a .NET application so I went on to create a API  that can be used .In order to understand this custom API you would need to read on whats a 'Token'

"According to Microsoft an access token is an object that describes the security context of a process or a thread"

Refer MSDN for a more detailed description : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa374909(VS.85).aspx

This API uses Pinvoke , hence make sure you import the required dll's and structures. A handle to the process that needs to be queried is passed.

resultDTO is a DTO object.

Source Code:

/*File Details
Company Name : NathCorp
File Name        : GetTokenInfo.cs
Created on      : 12.31.2007
Author           : Ganesh
 */

#region Headers

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security.Principal;

#endregion

namespace nath.API
{
     /// <summary>
    /// Class used to get Process Token.
   /// </summary>
    class TokenAPI
    {

        #region Constants
        //Constant values used for function GetTokenInformation.
        const UInt32 TOKEN_QUERY = 0x0008;
       
        public const uint ERROR_SUCCESS = 0;
        public const uint ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER = 122;
        public const uint TokenIntegrityLevel = 25;

        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_UNTRUSTED_RID = (0x00000000L);
        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_LOW_RID = (0x00001000L);
        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_MEDIUM_RID = (0x00002000L);
        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_HIGH_RID = (0x00003000L);
        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_SYSTEM_RID = (0x00004000L);
        const long SECURITY_MANDATORY_PROTECTED_PROCESS_RID = (0x00005000L);
        #endregion

             #region Structures
        enum TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS
        {
            TokenUser = 1,
            TokenGroups,
            TokenPrivileges,
            TokenOwner,
            TokenPrimaryGroup,
            TokenDefaultDacl,
            TokenSource,
            TokenType,
            TokenImpersonationLevel,
            TokenStatistics,
            TokenRestrictedSids,
            TokenSessionId,
            TokenGroupsAndPrivileges,
            TokenSessionReference,
            TokenSandBoxInert,
            TokenAuditPolicy,
            TokenOrigin,
            TokenElevationType,
            TokenLinkedToken,
            TokenElevation,
            TokenHasRestrictions,
            TokenAccessInformation,
            TokenVirtualizationAllowed,
            TokenVirtualizationEnabled,
            TokenIntegrityLevel,
            TokenUIAccess,
            TokenMandatoryPolicy,
            TokenLogonSid,
            MaxTokenInfoClass
        }

        enum TOKEN_VIRTUALIZATION_ENABLED
        {
            buff
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        public struct TOKEN_MANDATORY_LABEL
        {

            public SID_AND_ATTRIBUTES Label;

        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        public struct SID_AND_ATTRIBUTES
        {
            public IntPtr Sid;
            public int Attributes;
        }
        #endregion
       

        #region Dll Import Functions

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern bool GetTokenInformation(IntPtr TokenHandle,
        TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS TokenInformationClass, IntPtr   TokenInformation,
        uint TokenInformationLength, out uint ReturnLength);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern bool OpenProcessToken(IntPtr ProcessHandle, UInt32
        DesiredAccess, out IntPtr TokenHandle);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
        public static extern IntPtr LocalAlloc(uint uFlags, UIntPtr uBytes);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern IntPtr GetSidSubAuthority(IntPtr pSid, UInt32 nSubAuthority);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern IntPtr GetSidSubAuthorityCount(IntPtr pSid);
     
        #endregion

            
        //Constructor
        public TokenAPI() { }
    
        /// <summary>
        /// Function that Queries a process to check if its Virtualized.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="handle">A Handle to the Process</param>
        /// <returns>resultDTO</returns>
        public resultDTO QueryProcess(IntPtr handle)
        {
            IntPtr hToken;
            uint dwSize2;

            uint dwLengthNeeded;
            uint dwError = ERROR_SUCCESS;
            TOKEN_MANDATORY_LABEL pTIL;
            int IntegrityLevel = 0;

            TOKEN_VIRTUALIZATION_ENABLED tokenVirtualized;
            IntPtr pVirtualized = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(sizeof(TOKEN_VIRTUALIZATION_ENABLED));

            OpenProcessToken(handle, TOKEN_QUERY, out hToken);

            GetTokenInformation(hToken, TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS.TokenVirtualizationEnabled, pVirtualized, sizeof(TOKEN_VIRTUALIZATION_ENABLED), out dwSize2);
            tokenVirtualized = (TOKEN_VIRTUALIZATION_ENABLED)Marshal.ReadInt32(pVirtualized);
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(pVirtualized);

            if (TokenConstants.Virtualized == Convert.ToString(tokenVirtualized))
            {
                result.virtualized = true;
            }
            else
            {
                result.virtualized = false;
            }
            
            if (!GetTokenInformation(hToken, (TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS)TokenIntegrityLevel, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out dwLengthNeeded))
            {
                dwError = (uint)Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();

                if (dwError == ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER)
                {
                    IntPtr StructPtr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal((int)dwLengthNeeded);
                    try
                    {
                        if (GetTokenInformation(hToken, (TOKEN_INFORMATION_CLASS)TokenIntegrityLevel, StructPtr, dwLengthNeeded, out dwLengthNeeded))
                        {
                            pTIL = (TOKEN_MANDATORY_LABEL)Marshal.PtrToStructure(StructPtr, typeof(TOKEN_MANDATORY_LABEL));
                            IntPtr SubAuthorityCount = GetSidSubAuthorityCount (pTIL.Label.Sid);
                            int count = Marshal.ReadInt32(SubAuthorityCount);
                            uint AuthCount = (uint)count - 1;

                            IntPtr IntegrityLevelPtr = GetSidSubAuthority(pTIL.Label.Sid, AuthCount);
                           
                            IntegrityLevel = Marshal.ReadInt32(IntegrityLevelPtr);

                        }
                       
                        if (IntegrityLevel < SECURITY_MANDATORY_MEDIUM_RID)
                        {

                            result.integrity = "Low";

                        }
                        else if (IntegrityLevel >= SECURITY_MANDATORY_MEDIUM_RID && IntegrityLevel < SECURITY_MANDATORY_HIGH_RID)
                        {
                            result.integrity = "Medium";

                        }
                        else if (IntegrityLevel >= SECURITY_MANDATORY_HIGH_RID)
                        {
                            result.integrity = "High";

                        }
                    }
                    catch
                    {
                   
                    }
                       
                    finally
                    {

                        Marshal.FreeHGlobal(StructPtr);

                    }

                }

            }
            return result;

        }

    }
}

There are a lot of improvements made on Windows 7. Below are some of the most discussed areas in a nutshell.

• Faster Boot up time - Windows 7 has a faster boot up time than an O.S
• Windows Touch  - Next level in Computer User Interaction
• Branch Cache - Achieve faster file transfer's
• Remote Media Streaming - A new media feature that comes only with Windows 7
• Home Group - For your own personal network.
• Jump Lists - Easy user acess
• Snap -  Easy navigation makes a good user experience.
• Full 64 bit support - Leverage full processing power of mordern processors.

I have compiled a list of Top 5 must reads for every IT professional. The books below are in no particular order as each one covers a different area that every IT professional would be required to know.

Windows Internals – Learn about the in depth workings of the Windows Operating System. A 5^th edition is out now which covers Windows Vista and Windows Server 200

Programming Windows by Charles Petzold – Learn about Windows programming. The book starts with the basics taking you from the simplest concepts moving higher to Win32 API’s and then the MFC’s.

 C# Cookbook 2^nd edition – Good samples great programming and useful tricks that every .NET developer must know.

 Windows 7 Secretes by Paul Thurrott – One of my favorite speaker’s and blogger has a book out on Windows 7 . A must read

The world is flat 3.0 – Get a good overall feel about IT before making that  leap.

Take burning a CD or DVD for example, firstly it involved scouring the web for burning software which will work for you. Then depending on what software you choose, you could either end up handing over some money or you may have gotten a free program, regardless you will then have to download and install it. After all this you may be plagued with problems such as the software not detecting your burning drive or not recognizing discs in the drive.

Finally you would then have to open up your chosen software, navigate through some menus, which even your local tech enthusiast will struggle to understand, select the files you want and finally go hunting for that burn button.

With Windows 7, things have got a whole lot easier. Windows 7 has its own built in burning features so you can burn a CD/DVD in just a few clicks.

Take burning a CD or DVD for example, firstly it involved scouring the web for burning software which will work for you. Then depending on what software you choose, you could either end up handing over some money or you may have gotten a free program, regardless you will then have to download and install it. After all this you may be plagued with problems such as the software not detecting your burning drive or not recognizing discs in the drive.

Finally you would then have to open up your chosen software, navigate through some menus, which even your local tech enthusiast will struggle to understand, select the files you want and finally go hunting for that burn button.

With Windows 7, things have got a whole lot easier. Windows 7 has its own built in burning features so you can burn a CD/DVD in just a few clicks.

 1.    Select a file or files your want to burn to a disc, and click the Burn button at the top of your window.

2.    You will then be presented with another window showing the files added to the burn list, so you will be able to add more files to the burn list if you want or you can just click burn to disc.

3.    It will then check to make sure you have a disc inserted into your drive, and if you do you will be asked to add a name to the disc and you can choose a different write speed if you wish but it will automatically select the highest recording speed available for you.

4.    And once you’ve clicked next it will begin burning the files to the disc, and then your done.

5.    So it’s as simple as that, you will also be given the opportunity to create an additional copy of the disc if you want.

6.    You can also easily burn iso image files just as easily

128 Bit Support?

I was in a discussion with one of my friends on computing performance , we ended up talking about 32bit and 64bit operating system's. The next step would be 128 bit right?

I searched the net for 128 bit O.S or atleast plan's for a 128 bit system. I landed up on a Windows 8 page. The rumours are that it would support 128 bit for certain type of processors.

1. Problem Steps Recorder
You're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. Windows 7  include's an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.

2. Burn images
Windows 7 introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs.

3. Create and mount VHD files
Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system.

4. Troubleshoot problems
If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. 5. Startup repair

6. Take control
AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications.

7. Calculate more
 This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.

8. Switch to a projector
Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and choose your preferred display

9. Get a power efficiency report

10. Understanding System Restore
Using System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a gamble. There's no way of telling which applications or drivers it might affect - you just have to try it and see.

Two namespaces are used for creating MD5 hash code.

using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Text;

Function which return MD5 hash code by passing string value.

protected string TexttoMD5 (string strInputString)
{ //Change the syllable into UTF8 code

byte[] pass = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(strInputString);
MD5 md5 = new MD5CryptoServiceProvider();
string strHash = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(md5.ComputeHash(pass));
return strHash;

}

Keyboard/ Command Line shortcut that get you to particular control panel or windows. It makes you easier and faster to open the windows applets.

Following are some useful shortcuts :

1. Open Add/Remove Windows Components dialog box - usually accessed from Add/Remove Programs, 4 mouse-clicks that really slow you down if you do this on a frequent basis. (The Add/Remove Programs applet itself takes a while to open before you can press the Windows Components short-cut):
control appwiz.cpl,,2
2. Add/Remove Programs - if you haven't already guessed it:appwiz.cpl
3. Network Connections applet: ncpa.cpl
What would be really cool along with this: being able to get to TCP/IP Properties of a network interface... has anyone figured that out yet?
4. Display Properties: desk.cpl
5. To set resolution, et al from the Display properties, Settings tab:control desk.cpl,,3
6. System properties: sysdm.cpl
System properties | Computer name: control sysdm.cpl,,1
System properties | Remote: control sysdm.cpl,,6
List of all values for System properties
General(0), Computer Name(1), Hardware(2), Advanced(3), System Restore(4), Automatic Updates(5), Remote (6)
7. Active Directory Users & Computes: dsa.msc
8. Active Directory Domains & Trusts: domain.msc
9. Active Directory Sites & Services: dssite.msc
10. DNS Management Console: dnsmgmt.msc
11. Computer Management Console: compmgmt.msc
12. Disk Management: diskmgmt.msc
13. Show Desktop (minimizes all programs): Windows key + D
14. Hibernate (great for a short-cut that you can than place in the quick launch bar in the Task Bar: %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Hibernate
15. Event Viewer (an old NT favorite): eventvwr