Some versions of Windows 7 worth it, others not

Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 206 • 2009-07-16 • Circulation: over 400,000

Table of contents

Top Story: Some versions of Windows 7 worth it, others not
Known Issues: Readers suggest ways to improve OpenDNS
Wacky Web Week: Too busy to eat? Try this bag on for size
LangaList Plus: How to fix ‘slow script’ errors in your browser
In the Wild: Zero-day vulnerability in Office Web Components
Patch Watch: Killbit update requires Fix-it undo for XP PCs

Top Story

Some versions of Windows 7 worth it, others not

By Woody Leonhard

With the arrival of Windows 7′s release to manufacturing (RTM) imminent, my inbox is teeming with questions about the next version of every PC user’s favorite whipping boy.

You need to make a few key decisions to ensure that you pick the Windows 7 version that best meets your needs.

It’s safe to say the Vista version of Windows didn’t set the world on fire, though it inflamed more than a few PC users. It’s putting it politely to say there’s pent-up demand for Vista’s successor, Windows 7.

Before you can determine which of the many versions of Win7 is right for your computing situation, however, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each option.

I’ve recently given you more than one heads-up on what to look for. My May 14 Top Story described two important new features of Windows 7: Homegroups and Libraries. My June 4 article discussed the limitations imposed by the Win7 Starter Edition. How to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 7 was the topic of my June 18 Woody’s Windows column. Finally, my July 2 column covered the deep discounts that Microsoft was offering on Windows 7 upgrades.

If you know the key decision points, it’ll take you just a few minutes to determine which version of Windows 7 is right for you.

One caveat is in order: Nobody who has seen the final “gold code” version of Windows 7 is talking about it. Nor has anyone in a position to discuss it publicly laid eyes on a final upgrade version of Win7. What follows is based on my personal experience with the latest leaked builds.

Let’s start with the Win7 versions that we can generally reject without much forethought at all:

Starter Edition comes preinstalled only on netbooks that meet certain restrictions. It has many user-interface limitations — as befits its rock-bottom price, which is intended to reduce the list price of new netbooks running Windows.

Starter won’t play DVD movies. Hardware makers, however, will undoubtedly bundle DVD software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD with their optical drives. As an alternative, you could install the highly acclaimed free VLC media player and play movies till the cows come bungee-jumping home. You’ll find a download link for the program on the VideoLAN site.

Bottom line: Starter works fine if you’re on a budget. Before you choose that bare-bones edition, however, consider that Win7 Home Premium may be available on a netbook for not much more money than you’d pay for Starter.

UPDATE 2009-11-19: In the Nov. 19 Top Story, Woody Leonhard explains how to change the desktop wallpaper in Windows 7 Starter Edition for netbooks.
Ultimate Edition is for people who have way too much money tearing a hole in their pockets. Avoid this version unless you desperately need the ability to scramble all the data on your hard drive (using MS’s proprietary BitLocker) or you want to be able to change your copy of Windows so all of the menus, help files, dialog boxes, and so on appear in a different language (multilanguage support).

Actually, Ultimate is so expensive, it may be cheaper to buy a second copy of Windows 7 Home Premium in the second language you wish to use and dual-boot between the two versions.

The big decision is Win7 Home Premium vs. Pro

Join a domain. If your PC needs to participate in an organization’s “domain” network, you need Win7 Pro or Ultimate.
Back up to a network drive. Both Starter and Home Premium have fully functional backup and restore programs that run automatically with very little fuss. These two versions also maintain “shadow copies” or previous versions of files — snapshots typically taken once a day.

Windows 7 Pro adds the ability to store backups on your network. With Home Premium, you can store backups only on local drives, including removable drives. Of course, if you have Windows Home Server or some other form of network-based copying, you’re already covered for remote backup.
Act as a Remote Desktop puppet. Every recent version of Windows includes the ability to control another PC via a feature called Remote Desktop. But to be able to have your PC be controlled — if you want it to act as a puppet, with another PC pulling the strings — it must be running a Pro or Ultimate release.

There are several free or low-cost services — notably LogMeIn Free and GoToMyPC — that pull off the same remote-access trick, and they don’t require a Pro or Ultimate version of Windows.
Sync files offline. Windows 7 Pro’s built-in file synchronizer lets you designate a file or folder on another networked computer as being “offline.” That automatically sets up caching and updating, so the file(s) are updated every time you reconnect your computer to the network.

As you might imagine, there are many ways to sync files and folders, including Microsoft’s own free SyncToy, which you can get from Microsoft’s download page. SyncToy has many more features than Windows 7′s built-in file syncher but doesn’t work as easily.
Run in Windows XP Mode. In theory, this feature lets you run Windows XP programs — unaltered — on a Windows 7 Pro PC. This version includes a fully licensed copy of Windows XP and Windows Virtual PC.

In my July 2 column, I described Win7′s XP Mode as a pig in a pre-release poke. If you really need to run an XP virtual machine, get the free VMware Player, which you’ll find on the VMware site, and use an old retail copy of XP.
Encrypt files and connect to projectors. Among the other quasi-notable features in Windows 7 Pro are two that may interest you. The Encrypting File System offers strong encryption of files and folders, although many people use the encryption techniques already found in applications such as Word and Excel.

If you commonly give presentations, Win7 Pro lets you connect quickly to a network projector (by pressing WindowsKey+P) and automatically disable screensavers and IM clients for the duration of a presentation. Ho-hum.

Make the move from 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Win7

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Addressing readers’ Windows 7 questions

July 2

UPDATE 2009-11-12: In the Nov. 12 Top Story, Woody describes how to clean-install Windows 7 from the upgrade disc and also answers other reader questions about Windows 7.

Woody Leonhard

Windows 7 All-In-One For Dummies

Green Home Computing For Dummies

Known Issues

Readers suggest ways to improve OpenDNS

By Dennis O’Reilly

Becky Waring’s July 9 Top Story provided tips for avoiding problems when using the free OpenDNS service to browse more securely.

Several people responded to Becky’s story by suggesting ways that the service could be made even better.

There’s plenty to like about the free OpenDNS service, which passes all your incoming and outgoing Web traffic through the service’s secure servers. In addition to blocking known malware-bearing sites, OpenDNS can filter out all sorts of undesirable content and perform other browser-enhancing feats of derring-do.

But there are few good things in this world that couldn’t be made a little better. Among the readers suggesting ways to improve OpenDNS was Charles M. Brown III:

“One of the features that is lacking in OpenDNS, which has had over 1,000 requests, is a blocking schedule. Even though I let my kids play Runescape, I don’t want them to play all the time. I would really like a scheduler added to this product and it would then be a great product, not just a good product.”

For those who are considering using the OpenDNS service, Becky’s article described how to compare the speed of OpenDNS to your ISP’s DNS servers.

Reader Bryan Doviack found a free tool that makes it easy to do side-by-side performance comparisons of OpenDNS and your ISP. The utility, by Charles Putney, is called DNS Tester and is available from CodeProject.com.

To download the tool, you must first create an account with CodeProject, which entails providing your name and a valid e-mail address.

After you register, you run DNS Tester by unzipping the downloaded file and double-clicking the dnstester.exe file — no installation is required. You then enter the IP addresses of your ISP’s DNS server and OpenDNS, and click Test. The results are shown in an easy-to-read table.

You can download DNS Tester via its product page on the CodeProject site. Depending on your location and other factors, you may or may not find a throughput difference between OpenDNS and your ISP’s usual DNS servers. If OpenDNS does score a bit lower (which isn’t the case for everyone I’ve heard from), you might find that the protection provided by OpenDNS is worth the slightly slower surfing.

Microsoft’s Win7 upgrade promo shut down early

In his July 2 column, WS contributing editor Woody Leonhard described a limited-time promotion Microsoft was offering on Windows 7 upgrades. Little did we know that the time was more limited than anyone thought. Kurt Kincel Sr. discovered this when he attempted to purchase an upgrade just before the promotion was scheduled to end on the evening of July 11:

“If you haven’t heard from other disappointed users, I am writing to call attention to the fact that Microsoft pulled the Windows 7 Pre-Order Special from the Microsoft Store site at approximately 11:15 p.m. EDT on 7/11/2009. Until the switch, the site plainly stated that the 50%-off pricing was available until 11:59 p.m. EDT.

“A conversation with a Microsoft Store representative on 7/12/2009 revealed that a lot of potential upgraders called to voice their frustration over this issue. Of course, the Microsoft employee denied any shortcoming and offered to place an order for the full price. When I disclosed that I would tell as many people who would listen about the Microsoft blunder, the individual hinted that Microsoft may offer this promotional deal again before the general release of Windows 7 in October.”

If Microsoft does reinstate the Win7 upgrade discount — and I certainly hope the company brings it back soon — you can bet I won’t be waiting until the last hour to make my purchase, thanks to Kurt’s warning!

New York takes action against contact scrapers

Windows Secrets readers were recently warned about “viral inviters” in Becky Waring’s March 19 Top Story. These services request that you enter the password to your e-mail contact list so you can “share information” with your acquaintances.

Many companies allow you to upload a contact list, and they do a reasonably good job of disclosing their policies on protecting the information they collect. Other Web sites, however, take advantage of people’s tendency to click first and think later.

Now, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sued one social-networking company, Tagged.com, alleging “deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy,” according to a New York Times article. In Tagged’s case, Cuomo’s office claims the company disguised its e-mails as invitations from friends to view personal photos.

Tagged founder Greg Tseng counters in a company blog post that the e-mails were merely the result of “confusing” language in a new registration process the company was testing.

Regardless of the outcome of this specific case, it’s clear that companies, legitimate and otherwise, are after your contact info.

Think twice — or maybe even three or four times — before sharing your contact lists with anyone. (And that goes double if my name happens to be in your online Rolodex!)

Readers Charles, Bryan, and Kurt will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page.

The Known Issues column brings you readers’ comments on our recent articles. Dennis O’Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.

Wacky Web Week

Too busy to eat? Try this bag on for size

By Stephanie Small

In today’s hurry-up world, who doesn’t eat on the run? We drive, talk on the phone, catch up on e-mail, and do almost any other task while trying to consume a meal. Multitaskers take note: genius inventors have made eating even less of a hassle. Introducing … the fast-food feedbag!

To allow hands-free eating of your favorite fast-food meals, just slip the device over your ears and enjoy a pouch that blends your favorite menu choices together into an easy-to-eat mixture. For an extra 50 cents, you can throw in a beverage — literally. So stop by a participating Taco Bell, KFC, or Pizza Hut, grab a feedbag, and get busy! Play the video

LangaList Plus

How to fix ‘slow script’ errors in your browser

By Fred Langa

If you use a browser very often, you may see errors such as “a script is slowing your computer.”

This can happen for many reasons, but topping the list of usual suspects are security programs that attempt to determine what a Web site’s script is up to before allowing it to run.

IE chokes when attempting to run a script

Bill Brody’s copy of IE 8 would sometimes drop into first gear when running a script:

“I’ve started experiencing an IE pop-up message: ‘IE is running a script that can slow your computer.’ It was happening to me with IE 7. I upgraded to IE 8 and it persists. The problem seemingly occurs at random. I can identify no correlates. But it’s a pain in the lower back. Any suggestions?”

Sure, Bill! While this isn’t exactly an everyday error, if you surf long enough, you’ll encounter this problem at least once in a while. It’s also not unique to IE; it can and does happen in Firefox, too. But the good news is that troubleshooting this problem in IE isn’t very difficult at all.

For example, see MVP Vincenzo Di Russo’s item on Microsoft’s Answers Forum. The second answer on that page lists numerous excellent suggestions for troubleshooting slow scripts in IE.

Security software itself can make script execution sluggish. The software may try to “snoop” the script to see what it’s doing, bogging everything down. The slowdown gets worse if you have multiple security tools running; they may compete to monitor the script — and each other.

If you suspect that a security tool may be the problem, and you trust the Web site that’s running the script, disable any tools that specifically monitor scripts. Check your documentation for the name of the relevant script-related tool or feature and turn it off. For example, some McAfee suites call it “ScriptStopper.” In Symantec/Norton, it’s “Script Blocking.” If the slow-script problem goes away, you’ve identified the culprit.

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In the Wild

Zero-day vulnerability in Office Web Components

By Brian Livingston

Microsoft announced on July 13 an unpatched flaw that takes advantage of Microsoft’s Office Web Components (OWC).

A patch for this problem is not yet being distributed via Automatic Updates, but you can protect yourself by running a short Fix-it script from the Redmond company’s Web site.

Hacked spreadsheets on sites can infect IE users

According to Microsoft’s security advisory, it’s possible for a hacker to embed an ActiveX control in an Excel spreadsheet. When the sheet is opened in Internet Explorer and transferred to various MS Office applications, it can silently install malware on a PC. Simply clicking a link in an e-mail could open in IE a Web page with one of these deadly spreadsheets.

Only the IE browser is vulnerable to this attack. That’s why the simplest way to protect yourself is to use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, or any browser that’s not IE.

The Microsoft-supported software affected by this weakness includes:

Office XP Service Pack 3
Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Office XP Web Components Service Pack 3
Office Web Components 2003 Service Pack 3
Office 2003 Web Components for the 2007 Office System Service Pack 1
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 Standard Edition Service Pack 3
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 3
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006
Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 Supportability Update
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 Service Pack 1
Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006

Neither Office 2000 Service Pack 3 nor Office 2007 Service Pack 1 and 2 are at risk from this hole, according to Microsoft.

Make IE invulnerable to silent sheet attacks

At this writing, Microsoft isn’t delivering a patch for this problem via Automatic Updates. To protect your PC, you must set a “killbit” within the Registry.

To set the killbit — thereby closing the IE hole — use the Fix it button you’ll find in KB article 973472. The document also provides links to manual workarounds and further information on the problem. (Note: If you happened to view that KB article on July 14, you may have noticed the button was inexplicably missing for a short time. This is explained by Washington Post writer Brian Krebs.)

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Patch Watch

Killbit update requires Fix-it undo for XP PCs

By Susan Bradley

If you applied last week’s workaround for an IE ActiveX vulnerability, you’ll have to undo that change to apply the cumulative update of ActiveX killbits Microsoft released this week.

Anyone who applied the Fix-it workaround won’t see the cumulative patch among the updates being offered to XP systems because the workaround removed the affected Registry keys.

MS09-032 (973346)
The early bird doesn’t get the XP patch

The cumulative update of ActiveX killbits described in Microsoft security bulletin MS09-032 and Knowledge Base article 973346 should be at the top of your patching to-do list this week. However, if you previously applied the workaround presented last week in KB article 972890 — as I and many other analysts urged you to do — you might find that you won’t see this patch offered to your Windows XP systems. The reason is a bit tricky. (Note that the workaround has since been removed from KB 972890.)

The previous workaround removed the vulnerable Registry keys. If you install the subsequent cumulative security patch after having used the Fix-it solution to remove the Registry keys, the system remains vulnerable.

For example, system administrator Nathan Schiff used the Fix-it approach to kill off the offending ActiveX components, then realized he wasn’t being offered the cumulative security patch along with the other updates Microsoft released on Patch Tuesday this week. The lesson Nathan learned: whenever you apply one of Microsoft’s workarounds — which increasingly are being offered via Fix-it options in Knowledge Base articles — you should also download the uninstaller at the same time.

If you don’t undo the workaround to revert your system to its previous state, you won’t get the subsequent security patch that actually solves the problem.

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The Windows Secrets Newsletter is published weekly on the 1st through 4th Thursdays of each month, plus occasional news updates. We skip an issue on the 5th Thursday of any month, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of August and December. Windows Secrets is a continuation of four merged publications: Brian's Buzz on Windows and Woody's Windows Watch in 2004, the LangaList in 2006, and the Support Alert Newsletter in 2008.

Publisher: WindowsSecrets.com, 1218 Third Ave., Suite 1515, Seattle, WA 98101 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine).

Editor in chief: Tracey Capen. Senior editors: Fred Langa, Woody Leonhard. Copyeditor: Roberta Scholz. Program director: Tony Johnston. Contributing editors: Yardena Arar, Susan Bradley, Scott Dunn, Michael Lasky, Scott Mace, Ryan Russell, Lincoln Spector, Robert Vamosi, Becky Waring. Product manager: Andy Boyd. Advertising director: Eric Gilley.

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