Windows 7 on older hardware: A Catch 22 for Microsoft
There are a few bloggers wondering aloud about how well Windows 7 ultimately is going to run on older hardware. That’s an interesting question, given Microsoft’s symbiotic relationship with its hardware partners who constantly are in search of new ways to convince users to buy pricier PCs.
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14.1.2009 Windows Vista Display Driver Model
The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) is a new display driver architecture supported in Windows Vista. This display architecture is an overhaul of the Windows XP-based display architecture and gives users a better performing, more reliable desktop experience, while supporting new scenarios, graphics, and applications.
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2.8.2006 Vista SP2: Windows Driver Model Upgrade
Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista extends the operating system's support for drivers that play nice with all Windows operating systems.
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28.12.2008 Windows Driver Kit RTM Build 6000.16386 Available on Connect
UPDATED! Microsoft have made the final version of the Windows Driver Kit available on Connect under the
Microsoft Windows Driver Kit Beta Program.
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5.11.2006 Windows Driver Kit Beta release hints at upcoming Vista SP1
Thanks to pacpis for this post. One of our members received the following e-mail earlier today from the WDK team:
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18.7.2007 The Vista driver outlook gets a little brighter
’ve been watching for the past six months as PC hardware makers deliver updated drivers to make their products work with Windows Vista. Lately, the trickle has turned into a steady stream.
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8.7.2007 Driver Magician Lite 3.31
Driver Magician Lite is freeware, it identifies all the hardware in the system, extracts their associated drivers from the hard disk and backs them up to a location of your choice.
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11.10.2007 Vista SP1 Has Driver Compatibility Problems? Do Tell!
Ever since February 4, 2008, the day Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 were released to manufacturing, Microsoft made a move indicating that it was not entirely comfortable to release Vista SP1.
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4.3.2008 Driver Magic - Automatically updates your computers drivers
Automatically updates your computers drivers quickly and easily.
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4.7.2007 Device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate
After weeks of gruelling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA -- something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation.
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24.10.2007 Xinput Driver for Microsoft Common Controller (64 Bit)
The Microsoft Common Controller Driver is a new game input standard that is used for both the Xbox360 console and for Windows XP SP1 and above.
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6.5.2006 ATI driver flaw exposes Vista kernel to attackers
An unpatched flaw in an ATI driver was at the center of the mysterious Purple Pill proof-of-concept tool that exposed a way to maliciously tamper with the Windows Vista kernel. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
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12.8.2007 exFAT DRIVER for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
Microsoft has released an update for Windows XP SP2 and SP3 system that adds exFAT file system drivers to the operating system.
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6.2.2009 Intel Centrino Wireless Driver Malformed Frame Remote Code Execution
Security vulnerabilities exist in the Microsoft* Windows* drivers for the Intel® 2200BG and 2915ABG PRO/Wireless Network Connection Hardware because of the way that they currently handle certain frames.
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7.8.2006 Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
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5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
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29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
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3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 – 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
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15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
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10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
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Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
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6.2.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008 Windows Fiji Has RTMd as Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008
Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows Fiji has been released to manufacturing.
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18.7.2008 Windows 7 Beta Doesn't Play Nice with Windows Azure Cloud OS Tools
The promise for Windows 7 is that it will deliver an evolution when it will come down to stretching into the Cloud compared to its precursor, Windows Vista.
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16.1.2009 Internet Explorer 8 MUI packs for Windows XP, Windows Server 03
As detailed in our previous blog post, the following Internet Explorer MUI packs shipped today.
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17.5.2009 Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta adds Windows 7 support
Microsoft announced the release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta, along with news that it will feature Windows 7 support.
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20.7.2009 Check for RAM Error or Defect in Windows 7 and Vista with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Memory or RAM is one of the most important electronic hardware component on a computer systems, not only in term of speed or clock frequency and size, but also the reliability of hardware ecosystem of the RAM sticks or memory modules and its subsystem.
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1.10.2009 The Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Well, Microsoft still puts effort in old Windows versions...
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31.3.2006Windows Server 2008: Printer-Driver Packages
Day Twelve. We're almost halfway through our series. Today we'll continue on with our Printing theme - specifically, Printer-driver packages.
We'll also provide some background on the driver store feature of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Printer-driver packages
are digitally signed printer drivers that install all of the components of the driver to the driver store on computers running Windows Vista or
Windows Server 2008. Using printer-driver packages on a print server that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 enables users who are not
members of the local Administrators group to connect to the print server and install (or receive) updated printer drivers. Before we go too much
further, let's go over the concept of the driver store.
winbeta.org -
12.02.2008How to identify a buggy device driver on Windows Vista
If your computer is acting unpredictably, locking up, and encountering blue screens of death, then youre most likely the victim of a faulty driver.
The Driver Verifier Manager (DFV) is a great tool for troubleshooting driver problems by identifying the troubling driver. Although DFV does not
actually fix the driver, it still is a really useful tool because it helps you identify the troubling driver so you can choose to delete or update the
driver.
Before you attempt to use this tool, please be sure that your are really having driver problems. The tool will prevent
your computer from starting by identifying the troubling driver. I say this only because it may be a lengthy process for you but if you are
having troubles, it will definitely be worth it.
winbeta.org -
18.02.2008Why isn't Vista loved as much as XP?
Lately there are a lot of articles bashing Windows Vista for its lack of driver support, stability or poor performance. All of these concerns are true
just like all previous Windows versions.
I remember sites cropping up left and right back in 2001 that were dedicated to showing consumers
how to get hold of Windows XP drivers and if your hardware was even compatible! At the time Windows XP was completely new, Windows 98/ME drivers
didn't work on this new OS - you needed either new hardware or hope that the manufacturer would code (beta) drivers for your devices. In my case I
had a very expensive 10/100MBit Ethernet card from HP (the name escapes me, it's 7 years ago!) and I emailed customer service about lack of driver
support and they told me they would never release one and it was being discontinued, despite the driver being included in all "Whistler" builds
right up until about the 24xx releases.
I had to install the older 24xx build and then "upgrade" to the latest beta releases. I think I
did that until the RC's and finally swapped out the card for something else.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
17.01.2008Catalyst 8.12 display driver
AMD has released the new Catalyst 8.12 display driver for Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Media Center Edition, Windows Vista 32-bit and
Windows Vista 64-bit. The new Catalyst 8.12 drivers, aside from performance improvements, enable ATI Stream technology. View: ATI website
Download: ATI Catalyst 8.12 Display Driver
Read full
story.....
neowin.net -
11.12.2008Windows Driver Foundation 1.7 slated for April 15
Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) is a set of Microsoft tools used to develop drivers for Windows. It is available in two flavors: the
Kernel Mode Driver Framework (KMDF) and the
User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF). WDF 1.7 is the latest version of the tools and it
supports the largest number of operating systems yet: KMDF 1.7 supports Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Vista SP1,
and Windows Server 2008, while UMDF 1.7 supports the same list with the exception of Windows 2000 SP4.
winbeta.org -
04.04.2008ATI Reduces Support for Older Graphics Cards
As time goes on and a product catalog grows, it's not unusual for a company to reduce and eventually eliminate support for older products. In the
case of ATI, AMD's graphics division, a new decision to reduce support for older graphics chips is about to take effect.
To
date, ATI has provided a new WHQL certified driver every month to nearly every graphics card capable of DirectX 9 acceleration. That includes cards
all the way back to 2002's Radeon 9700 Pro. After this month's Catalyst 9.3 release, that will not be the case...
winbeta.org -
05.03.2009AMD Supports Microsoft Windows 7 in ATI Catalyst 9.3 Unified Driver
AMD today released Windows 7 driver support as part of the latest ATI Catalyst 9.3 unified graphics driver. ATI Catalyst 9.3 represents the industrys
first unified driver installation package to incorporate Windowsâ„¢ 7 support, including Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1 compliance, bringing
with it a host of benefits for developers currently testing and updating applications using the widely available Windows 7 beta release. In addition,
the inclusion of Windows 7 drivers sends a clear message to the millions of AMD graphics customers worldwide “ ATI Catalyst 9.3, and every planned
future release of ATI Catalyst, is ready for the final release of Windows 7.
winbeta.org -
18.03.2009Learn how to build SideShow-compatible devices and drivers at Driver DevCon (DDC) 2008
Windows SideShow Team: Interested in learning more about how to use the new Universal Driver for Windows SideShow, or how to build a device driver to
SideShow-enable your existing devices? If so, you may want to attend Microsoft Windows Driver Developer Conference 2008 (September 29 - October 1,
2008 in Seattle, WA). Come and meet the experts, and learn how you can more easily and cost-effectively build drivers for and implement
SideShow-compatible devices. This conference is intended for advanced driver developers and testers, and will focus on 300 to 400-level technical
sessions. Registration is limited and by invitation only; please contact us at sshowext _at_ microsoft.com for instructions on how to sign-up. We
hope to see you there!
winbeta.org -
17.09.2008Xinput Driver for Microsoft
Common Controller (64 Bit)
The Microsoft Common
Controller Driver is a new
game input
standard that
is used for both the Xbox360
console and for
Windows XP
SP1 and above.
The Xbox360
controller or any controllers
that utilize this
standard
will enable the device to be
used on Windows also.
This
Redistributable Package
includes the driver for
hardware
vendors to
redistribute with their
hardware. For the most
current APIs of the
Microsoft Common Controller,
please
download the latest
DX SDK. These APIs are called
Xinput
APIs. Source and
Download: Xinput Driver for
Microsoft
Common
Controller (64 Bit)..
windowsvistax.com -
07.06.2006ATI: Linux vs. Windows Vista
The results may surprise you...
Since AMD introduced their
new Linux display driver last month, we have published a number of different articles looking at the Radeon performance across
their different GPU product generations. This ATI/AMD Linux driver testing and exploration continued this month with the release of the
8.42 driver, which finally introduced AIGLX support for the fglrx driver. One
area though we haven't yet analyzed is how their official Linux driver now compares to their much-optimized Windows Catalyst driver. Today, however,
we will be looking just at that as we compare the ATI Radeon HD 2900XT 512MB performance under Linux and Microsoft Windows Vista.
winbeta.org -
31.10.2007Windows Driver Kit Version 7.0.0
The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) Version 7.0.0 contains the tools, code samples, documentation, compilers, headers and libraries with which software
developers create drivers for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003. This
development kit does not contain device drivers for your personal computer. If you are looking for drivers for your personal computer, go to
Microsoft Update for downloads, or visit
Windows Hardware Help for more information to find device drivers and hardware.
A working knowledge of C programming is necessary to use this kit to develop Windows drivers. For additional information about doing driver
development, please go to
Windows Developer Hardware Central.
winbeta.org -
07.08.2009Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
series Vista Beta Driver
This download is a
beta driver providing
Microsoft? Windows? Vista
32-bit and 64-bit Beta Build
5231 support for Sound Blaster
Audigy?, Audigy 2, and Audigy
4 series audio devices. It is
not fully tested and provides
limited
functionality.
nr
This download supports
the following audio devices
only:
* Creative Sound
Blaster? Audigy including
Platinum and Platinum eX
series
* Creative Sound
Blaster Audigy 2 including
Platinum, Platinum eX, and
Value series
* Creative
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
including Platinum and
Platinum Pro series
*
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
4 Pro and Sound Blaster Audigy
4
Take note of the
following:
* THIS IS AN
UNSUPPORTED BETA DRIVER. There
is no technical support for
this driver.
* We
recommend that only
experienced users install this
driver. Do not install this
driver for critical
tasks.
* This download
supports Windows Vista 32-bit
and 64-bit Beta Build 5231 and
may not work on other Vista
builds.
Dow
nload:
Creative
Audigy Beta Driver for Windows
Vista..
winbeta.org -
17.11.2005Microsoft: 1 in 10 Vista printer driver installations fail
At a WinHEC session in Los Angeles last week, bloggers report, just during last September, of the driver installations for Windows Vista automatically
reported back to Microsoft, over 11% of install attempts for printer drivers failed...
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11.11.2008NVIDIA & Vista Driver News
No doubt NVIDIA's lack of
Vista drivers for their
hardware has been a heated
topic since the launch of the
8800 series. Well we have a
lot of good news tonight
direct from the mouths at
NVIDIA. NVIDIA has released
their "NVIDIA Windows Vista
Driver version 100.54"
tonight to developers,
testers, and reviewers under
an information embargo. So
obviously it will likely be
found online any minute for
your download. Some things to
note though.
This
driver is intended for testing
on GeForce 8800 GTX/GTS series
GPUs. This driver is intended
for DirectX 9 and DirectX 10
application testing in single
GPU only. It is not
recommended for NVIDIA SLI
testing. 3D performance of
this driver is improved over
Release 95 Vista drivers, and
is on par with Windows XP for
the top applications, with the
exception of OpenGL
applications. This driver can
also be used with GeForce 7
and GeForce 6 series GPUs,
though performance can be
slower on some applications
because we still have work to
do on our drivers.
jcxp.net -
26.01.2007nVidia ForceWare for Windows
Vista February CTP
NVIDIA has made available
ForceWare drivers for Windows
Vista February Customer
Technology Preview (CTP) build
5308.FebCTP_Final.060217-2200.
The current ForceWare driver
is a preview release that will
enable you to test the basic
features and capabilities of
the new operating system. This
driver has no performance
optimizations included and has
received limited stability
testing.
This
driver does not include an
Installshield. You must use
the INF installation to
install this driver by going
to the Windows device manager
and manually updating the
graphics driver. The NVIDIA
graphics control panel is not
included in this driver
release.
jcxp.net -
25.02.2006NVIDIA & Vista Driver News
No doubt NVIDIA's lack of
Vista drivers for their
hardware has been a heated
topic since the launch of the
8800 series. Well we have a
lot of good news tonight
direct from the mouths at
NVIDIA. NVIDIA has released
their "NVIDIA Windows Vista
Driver version 100.54"
tonight to developers,
testers, and reviewers under
an information embargo. So
obviously it will likely be
found online any minute for
your download. Some things to
note though.
This driver is intended for
testing on GeForce 8800
GTX/GTS series GPUs. This
driver is intended for DirectX
9 and DirectX 10 application
testing in single GPU only. It
is not recommended for NVIDIA
SLI testing. 3D performance of
this driver is improved over
Release 95 Vista drivers, and
is on par with Windows XP for
the top applications, with the
exception of OpenGL
applications. This driver can
also be used with GeForce 7
and GeForce 6 series GPUs,
though performance can be
slower on some applications
because we still have work to
do on our drivers.
jcxp.net -
28.01.2007Windows 7 May Run Better than You Think on Older Hardware
Noting that Snow Leopard will support Intel Macs onlyleaving out PowerPC computers built just over three years agoPC World got curious about how their
old hardware might stand up to Windows 7. To put it to the test, they installed Win7 on a 2001 computer that was just under spec for Windows 7's 1GB
RAM/1GHz processor requirements. The results...
winbeta.org -
11.06.2009Microsoft SQL Server JDBC Driver 2.0
In its continued commitment to interoperability, Microsoft has released a new Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver. The SQL Server JDBC Driver 2.0
download is available to all SQL Server users at no additional charge, and provides access to SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, and SQL Server 2008
from any Java application, application server, or Java-enabled applet. This is a Type 4 JDBC driver that provides database connectivity through the
standard JDBC application program interfaces (APIs) available in Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5.
winbeta.org -
04.04.2009SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP CTP Announced at ZendCon
This morning, during Harold Goldberg˜s keynote at ZendCon, Bill Staples announced the upcoming availability of Microsoft's first Community Technology
Preview (CTP) of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP.
The PHP Driver will deliver an API designed-to-enable reliable, scalable
integration with SQL Server for PHP applications deployed on the Windows platform. Zend and Microsoft are working together with the PHP Community to
ensure that the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is a great offering for PHP developers and part of Zends core PHP offering.
For
more information, check out
www.microsoft.com/sql/php and check back on October
11th for the release of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP.
winbeta.org -
10.10.2007Device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate
After weeks of gruelling troubleshooting, Ive finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA -- something as small as swapping the video card
or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation.
Put simply, your copy of Windows will stop working with very little
notice (three days) and your PC will go into "reduced functionality" mode, where you cant do anything but use the web browser for half an
hour. Youll then need to reapply to Microsoft to get a new activation code.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
24.10.2007
