10 most interesting features in Windows 7 for IT professionals

Jonathan Hassell

Network administrator - Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its projects and work on Windows 7 (the successor to Windows Vista) in front of a crowd of participants at its developer experts conference, These are the components that really want to get the latest information about what is in this update operating system. Many of the articles talked about the friendly features of Windows 7, but as an IT expert, what Windows provides for them.

In this article we will give you 10 features that are selected as direct features for developers in Windows.

Search set and business search ranges

One of the great topics in Windows for corporate users is allowing easy access to information located everywhere. The big step here is with a single interface for any search engine, with the results presented in a variety of location types in an appropriate window. When installed, Windows 7 will allow users to search beyond their own computers.

Some of the cool features here include 'one-click auto preview', the ability to search inside private information 'libraries' (these messages are a set of defined resources). or locations to narrow the scope of the search) and the display of integrated results from SharePoint sites and so on.

DirectAccess

This is probably the most interesting feature of Windows 7 with Windows Server 2008 R2 (also known as "Windows 7 Server" for some time). Imagine in the case of connecting to a VPN: accessing your corporate network, file sharing, intranet, and intermittent authentication with company resources and, . At this point, you're completely not to create those luxuries, a giant tunnel through which those resources are accessed. That is DirectAccess. It requires IPv6 and IPsec deployment - there are no small tasks in any sense, it can be considered to be all over your radar. So what's the advantage here? With DirectAccess, you have a manageable infrastructure, so you'll be an administrator in ensuring that updates are distributed, that Group Policy is applied and that your computers are You are trusted, anywhere, anytime. That is indeed very useful.

BranchCache

BranchCache extends a number of improvements created in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008 by saving information downloaded from the web and intranets within a branch office the first time it is requested. Since office branches often operate on low-speed Internet links, user productivity will improve over time as more and more files are present inside the cache. In a demo, a document downloaded on a 512Kbit / sec connection takes about 30s to 45s. After the cache, when another user on the same site requests that information, the transmission will then be almost instantaneous. BranchCache works not only on a server located in the branch office but also on a peer-to-peer network between Windows 7 clients in the same location.

BitLocker to Go

A quick poll: How many USB drives do you think exist within four walls (or 8 or 16 or more) in your organization? The answer may be around 100; And you probably can't remember what kind of information on each USB drive. Consider the risk that these tiny devices cause. With BitLocker to Go, you as an administrator can set policies that require these removable drives to be pre-encrypted to allow them to be written to. You can protect it from the beginning, thus reducing the risk of data loss. The encryption process is in most cases less than a minute and the process can warn users automatically when he plugs in an unencrypted drive.

AppLocker

You can recall software restriction policies from Windows XP, but the way to do it is not that simple. With AppLocker, this feature has a Group Policy-based restriction to identify authorized applications that run on your infrastructure. You can filter by a publisher set, which is able to identify the program's digital signature - much easier and more reliable than the total checking method or binary file name. You also get more fine-grained control over the rule, about allowing certain versions or groups of versions to run, making it easier to create rules later.

DNSSEC support

Many security experts have said that the next major disease facing the Internet will be an inherently insecure issue of the Domain Name System (DNS). Therefore DNSSEC was born to secure an extended set of DNS to avoid spoofing address information. Windows 7 supports DNSSEC after being installed.

Boot VHD

Boot VHD works with a virtual desktop infrastructure to ensure image consistency between client computers. If you have an environment that is using strong GP configuration, directory redirection, roaming profiles, and such problems, you can boot from a virtual image viable. For example, the image used by the remote customer support team may resemble the image used on physical machines for users who require discrete hardware access.

Windows troubleshooting platform

The Windows troubleshooting platform is a new feature, a comprehensive approach to rooting user issues through troubleshooting packages that can be used for computers in all environment. The kit for this platform allows you to act as an administrator so that you can create your own troubleshooting packages when you identify obvious problems within your own infrastructure. In addition, a new tool called Problem Steps Recorder will allow users to record the steps that he has taken on a certain issue and then capture these steps in screen formats. automatically created and sent them to an administrator or help desk staff to solve the problem more easily.

PowerShell integrated scripting environment

Because of the popularity of PowerShell, Microsoft included in Windows 7 a graphical interface for PowerShell to make it easier to study the scripting language and use it in the environment. easy to read, color-coded field. Developing, debugging, and running scripts in a new environment is much easier than the previous command prompt method.

Remote PowerShell

It's also a new feature in PowerShell that supports the WS-Management protocol to allow you to run remote commands on clients. You can also use this feature in a 1-1 manner, using this for specific requests to respond to calls to the help desk, or you can allocate 1-n output and run commands on computers within PowerShell's integrated scripting environment.