Taking Windows 8 for a Test Drive: Windows Goes Shiny

Microsoft recently released a preview version of Windows 8. You can download an ISO here.

I wanted to check out the new Metro Interface, as I had seen screen shots of it, but wanted to actually try it.

I downloaded the 64-bit ISO and fired up VirtualBox, using a Windows 7 machine, following the install prompts and using the provided CD Key.

This is, of course, a beta version, so there is still probably going to be some changes, or at the very least fixes.

Table of Contents

1. First Impressions
2. The Start Screen
3. Calling All Sides
4. Integrating the Microsoft Account
5. Desktop Mode
6. APP Store
7. Video/Music Store
8. Simple System Restore / Reset
9. Commercialism
10. Windows 8 Regular and Business Desktop Users
11. Thoughts on Windows 8

** Most Pictures are linked to a slightly larger version, 400 by 300.

First Impressions

Overall, my first impression is that Microsoft went with a Fischer Price design, which looks clunky and unattractive, pasting it on top of a neutered Windows 7 back-end.

Going down the route of Unity or Gnome 3, they seem bent on radically re-designing their desktop to cater to tablets and smart-phones.

Te main screen of the interface is a bunch of simple rectangle buttons, using a bunch of bright pastel like colors, with simple clip-art graphics.

The interface, at least when used with default settings, ends up being a clunky trail of linear moves, progressing forward or back through settings/app screens.

It is easy to get stuck into a one-task at a time work flow, almost like a bastardized tiling desktop, without the efficiency.

You can alt-tab to view all the programs that are still running in the background, because I did not see any obvious close button, as well as using the left sidebar to move around and view open programs.

I can see this being quite frustrating for a power user and regular users alike, although perhaps for a smart-phone this would be a less clunky. In an effort to be simpler, they have abstracted away a lot of the control the user has over the operating system.

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The Start Screen

The start screen, which is where the large pastel Fischer price program buttons are, presents a number of default programs, including Microsoft’s new App Store, video store, messaging, and a number of other apps, like Weather, Finance, and Maps.

This ties in a lot of Microsoft services, like Xbox Live, Bing Finance, Bing Maps, ect.

You can add/remove/uninstall apps by right clicking on them, in addition to moving them around.

The start menu can be accesed by pressing the windows button and if you start typing, a search box of programs pops up.

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Calling All Sides

You can also drag the mouse to the edges of the screen to navigate around the system, similar to Unity or Gnome 3.

Top left corner goes back to the last App/screen viewed. You can move the mouse down from here to get an alt-tab like preview of running programs.

Bottom Left corner seems to progress forward to the next app/or to the startup screen. Again, you can drag the mouse along the side to get the alt-tab view preview of running programs.

Top Right/Bottom Right corners displays a right hand side-bar, which includes search, devices, settings, and time. Drag down to view it.

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Integrating the Microsoft Account

Taking a page from Google’s Android playbook, integrating a Microsoft ID seems to be a big part of it. Using the store, as well as a few other places, prompts you to enter a Microsoft Email, tying the computer to an email address.

Integrating an X-Box live account is a big deal too, as their video purchase system offers it as an option and playing certain games requires an X-Box Live account too.

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Desktop Mode

You can goto Desktop Mode, by either clicking the “Desktop Mode” button or selecting “File Manger”

This brings you to a neutered Windows 7 Desktop, without the start menu. There is the standard desktop most people are used to though, with the big “E” Internet button and the recycling bin.

It seems you can probably pin programs to the bottom bar, where IE is currently the only icon, as well as put them on the Desktop, to maintain a more traditional desktop feel. Although, I did not experiment with this.

Right clicking on most elements presents a traditional Windows 7 Dialog/feel.

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APP Store

One big thing that Microsoft is financially implementing is an integrated app store, to make it easier to download and install apps. Of course, selling Apps is a big part of this, as Microsoft eyes the Google/Apple paid-app marketplace. Not surprising I suppose, as even Ubuntu is trying to get a foot-hold in this with their Ubuntu Software Center.

Whether this will ever include popular open-source software or just be a commercial/Microsoft subsidized store remains to be seen. Right now, it only appears that free apps are present, which include a lot of social and big media apps.

However, moving away from the search the Internet until you find software that is not a preview/trial/virus model that has been the cornerstone of Windows Programs, is probably a good thing.

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Video/Music Store

They also make it very easy to buy music and videos, using the Video or Music store. You can search and purchase episodes from recent television programs.

For instance, they were highlighting the Walking Dead, allowing you to buy even the most recent season 2 episodes, using a windows ID or Xbox Live ID.

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Simple System Restore / Reset

I have never been a fan of Windows System Restore, as in my experience, it has only ever actually fixed a problem once. Every other time I have used it, System Restore is just a few hour hurdle between going ahead and doing a clean install.

With Windows 8, Microsoft has integrated two options for restore, a “Reset your PC and start over” option and a “Refresh your PC without affecting your files” option.

These are similar to a recovery partition, as well as options that have been on Windows CD’s for some time, allowing you to revert your Windows files.

However, the reset option is new and allows users to get a semi-clean install from the Windows Settings Option. It is visible under the old-style control panel Recovery section or under Settings->More Settings->General.

While this is neat for fixing performance related issues, as can be found to clutter/startup programs, it probably isn’t the best choice for maleware, as trusting that the recovery section has not been compromised is a bit of a leap.

It is neat to see this become a user-friendly option, allowing people to quickly reset their system to defaults, but I worry that some might take this as a secure option, where it probably is not.

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Commercialism

It seems a big part of their OS is designed with the idea of selling convenient chunks of media and services. Integrating easy buy-it-now services, like video and apps, while integrating Xbox live and Windows IDs, to facilitate seamless purchasing. I would imagine they are trying to capitalize off of the similar successes of iTunes and the Apple Store, much like Ubuntu’s similar model.

From a security standpoint, it will be interesting to see how closely the purchasing/user info is tied to their operating system. I can see how it could create a new form of maleware, although this is not an issue unique to Microsoft.

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Windows 8 Regular and Business Desktop Users

I can’t imagine this being popular with business or even most regular users. I imagine a big part of the operating system is intended to target Smartphones and Tablets, so it might work out there.

However, for desktop users, this is worse than Vista, which offered an easy to use system for the most part, but was just unreliable and inefficient. They managed to get it right with Windows 7, rolling out a fixed version of Vista, only to throw out all that Good Will again.

The Fischer price setup and the way it pushes you to use a single-track work method is the biggest obstacle, especially given that most people, even more so in corporate environments, don’t like change and Windows Metro is a Radical Change.

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Thoughts on Windows 8

For me, there is not a lot to like about Windows 8.

I can certainly appreciate some of the design concepts, especially their minimalism.

However, I can’t imagine trying to be productive and do any sort of coding with it, although I am sure there are ways to restore it to a Windows 7 like interface.

While some elements, like the search and even the App Store, albeit probably never as powerful or useful as Linux repositories, is a step in the right direction, overall I think it is a pretty poor design for a desktop OS.

I look forward to Windows 9, where they go back to a more traditional setting in order to get back all the businesses that never upgraded.

There is certainly something to be said for innovation and new shiny stuff can be nice sometimes, as noted by web design clients that like to say “I want it to Pop!”

However, there is a fine line between usability and Shiny, which I think Windows 8 does not properly bridge.

Perhaps a regular user, who only wants to buy videos or get apps that push big Media’s content to them might find it a great OS, but I am much happier and more productive with my XFCE desktop, or even KDE.

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Seagate and Western Digital Announce Reduced Warranties

As someone who frequently does computer repairs and, has experienced quite a few hard drive failures personally, it is only a matter of time until your hard drive fails. It might be today or it might be in five years, but eventually it will fail.

According to PC World[1], starting in 2012, the two largest hard drive manufactures, Seagate and Western Digital, have announced that they will be reducing the warranties on most of their hard drives to one year, where they were typically 3-5 years in the past.

This should not affect hard drives sold before January 01, 2012, but going forward you probably can expect to only get a one year warranty with your hard drive.

The official response from Western Digital seemed to indicate they would be selling an extended warranty, while Seagate states they are using the money saved on warranty claims to further research development. Western Digital, however, has stated that they will continue to honor their extended warranties on their more expensive premium lines, like the Caviar Black and other premium models.

Regardless, the obvious assumption, is that enough of their hard drives fail after 1 year, to make honoring a warranty not cost effective. Of course, other factors could come into play too, but given my experience with Seagate hard-drives failing, I would go with the former.

And, if you want to just buy a hard drive from someone else, you might have a hard time, because most hard drives are manufactured by either Seagate or Western Digital. Samsung and Maxtor being owned by Seagate and Hitachi owned by Western Digital[2], with a number of other vendors just rebranding one of the above.

[1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/246456/hard_drive_manufacturers_slash_warranty_periods.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive#Manufacturers

Microsoft Announces Out of Band Patch for Shortcut Vulnerability

Update August 02, 2010: Out of Band Update Released

If you follow network security news, you will likely have heard about the release of a vulnerability that exploits the way Windows handles shortcut files. Due to the way this vulnerability is currently being exploited, Microsoft has announced a patch that will be released on August 2, 2010.

This speaks to the seriousness of this exploit, as Microsoft typically releases updates on a set schedule, making this an Out-of-Band Path.

The .lnk file vulnerability affects most supported versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 7. The exploit uses the lnk file, which is a shortcut file or desktop icon, to run malicious code and has already been seen used on USB attacks.

However, it has also been seen being exploited online. On the Microsoft Malware Protection Blog, they discuss the Stuxnet LNK Vulnerability, as well as several other pieces of Malware, including Sality, Vobfus, and Chymine, which have already taken advantage of this delivery method.

Importance of Upgrades and Why Automatic Updates Aren’t Always Bad

Windows Update has dramatically improved since XP, making it much easier to check which updates are available and install. Despite the improved user interface, it is still not uncommon to see clients who do not have it to update automatically and do not ever update it. It is also common for them to avoid the “Shutdown and Install Updates” option, which can look foreign. However, this vulnerability is the perfect example of why it is so important to update your operating system.

Now, on my personal computer, I always have updates set to manual. This allows me to control which updates are installed, making it possible to avoid certain ones, like the malicious software checker or unrelated stuff, as well as prioritizing when they are installed.

For someone who is sort of technical, it can be easy to forget that putting this type of responsibly on the average user is asking a little too much. As a result, I feel that setting everything to automatically update is the safest route for non-technical users. I typically explain this when dropping off the computer, but for the majority of my users this is the best option.

Even still, many will ignore the “Shutdown and Install Updates” option, which is why it is always important to create a dialog about updates, especially when doing a virus removal.

On their security blog, which is linked above, Microsoft said the Stuxnet Malware “…is known to infect other files (making full removal after infection challenging).”

Anyone that does computer repair can tell you that this is not unique of Stuxnet. In many cases, it is easier and much more effective to simply reinstall Windows, rather than trying to track down and remove each piece of Malware.

However, by regularly updating windows and running a sensible anti-virus, many of these problems can be prevented. With that said, I feel the users browsing habits are equally important, if not more so.

Tales From the Front Lines: The Poorly Engineered Compaq

So, I had an interesting laptop repair the other day. The client, who was the cousin of someones computer I had fixed a few months ago, called me up and said that he was unable to connect to his wireless network anymore on his Compaq Presario. It took awhile to get up with him, as he works a lot, but we finally found a time where he could drop off his laptop before work.

The Compaq in question was a little older, an R3000, with a Pentium 4 Processor. After verifying that the drivers were correctly installed and the hardware recognized in the device manager, I began to look for other causes. Nothing else seemed obviously wrong, but then I noticed the placement of the wireless on/off switch.

Most laptops offer some sort of way to turn the wireless hardware on/off that is separate from the actual bios/OS. Sometimes this comes in the shape of an actual switch, but it is also common to see one of the fn keys do this.

The fn key is typically located next to the left control and when you press it and one of the top line of keys, you can do things like control the brightness of the screen or toggle between your regular display and an external monitor. Sometimes, you can also control the wireless with the fn key.

On this particular model, the button that toggles the Wireless on/off is located on the front-right corner of the laptop. This ends up being a really bad place to put a switch though, as it is very easy to hit it accidentally, either when you are carrying it or even just if you brush up against it, which is what had happened to my client.

So, the wireless problem, was easily fixed by pushing the little round button marked with the wireless symbol on the front of the laptop.

Disclaimer: To be fair, I have seen this happen to people before, where all of a sudden their wireless stops working, only to find out that they accidentally pushed the button. Although on most newer laptops, the wireless toggle switch is located towards the top of the laptop by the screen, making it much harder to accidentally hit. So, while this isn't exactly the most exciting story, it did give me a nice break from the web design I was working on and ended up being a pretty simple solution to my client's problem

Nothing is Ever Easy

Of course, nothing is ever really as straightforward as it seems. In this case, I could tell just by looking at the startup processes that it was infected, at the very least, with some spyware.

After running a quick scan, I found 9 viruses and it became clear that the computer was infected. This wasn’t too surprising though, given it was XP SP1, with no anti-virus, anti-spyware, or firewall programs installed.

Another problem I ran into with this laptop is that it would periodically cut out on me, the first time as I was mirroring the hard drive. My initial thoughts were that it was overheating, because it really seemed like that kind of shutdown and immediately afterward it would shut down after only a few seconds, continuing until I let it sit for awhile. All of a sudden, this quick and easy laptop repair, took a turn for the worse.

However, after some trial and error, I noticed that the 3rd party laptop charger seemed to be getting dangerously hot. It was one of those ones that has a switch, so you can change the voltage on it. After switching the charger out with one of my own, it ran with no problems at all and I was able to copy all his files, reinstall windows, and do my basic updating/tweaking/software bundling that I do standard with all reinstalls.

If anything, this laptop repair job illustrates some of the key concepts of IT. Mainly, check the cable and check to make sure everything is turned-on on the hardware level.

Have You Tried Turning it Off and On Again?
I’ll leave you with a clip from one of my Favorite Shows, the IT Crowd