Wireless Networking Components

Networking Components

Figuring out what gear you’ll need to build your network can be a challenge. We’ll help you put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Networking components Routers | Access points | Adapters | Switches and hubs

Routers

Routers act as the gateway between your broadband connection (DSL or cable modem) and your home network. Wireless routers come in various configurations, but most are amalgamations of a four-port wired Ethernet switch and a wireless access point. As the name implies, these devices route traffic between your network and the Internet. Most include built-in DHCP servers that automatically assign the right IP address information to each computer on your local-area network, or LAN. A separate WAN, or wide-area network, interface on the router connects your entire home or office network to your broadband modem, allowing you to share your Internet connection through the router. Most routers also have firewall capabilities, and some include more advanced security features. Some routers even have an integrated cable or DSL modem, eliminating your need for two separate devices.
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Access points

Wireless access points let you add wireless networking capability to a standalone wired router. You can also use them to extend the range of your current wireless network. There are as many types of access points as there are networking standards, up to and including 802.11n. Wireless access points do not offer the rich feature set and the high configurability of most routers because they are designed to add a wireless extension to your network and not to play the role of a central gateway. (Keep in mind that many wireless broadband routers incorporate an access point already.) Nevertheless, access points do typically include some security features, such as encryption. If you’re looking into an access point to add wireless networking to a wired-only router, be sure to confirm that the cost of the access point is less than that of a brand-new router with wireless capability built in.
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Adapters

An adapter connects your computer or your PDA to a network. If your computer doesn’t already have the adapter that you need built in, you can add one. As with access points, there are as many types of adapters as there are networking standards–draft 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, dual band, and Bluetooth–and each type comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, including PC Cards, PCI and mini-PCI, USB, CompactFlash, and SD. Some wireless adapters are decked out with special features, such as retractable or removable antennae, encryption support, or connection-monitoring software. Before making your purchase, always confirm that the adapter is compatible with your operating system. If you plan to use an adapter at work, you should also check to ensure that it is compatible with any encryption schemes in use, such as LEAP or WPA.
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Switches and hubs

Ethernet is the glue that holds together most networks. It’s fast and cheap, and it is integrated into just about everything. If you need to expand your network, an Ethernet hub or switch can come in very handy since most desktops and notebooks include a built-in Ethernet adapter. Accordingly, most wireless broadband routers come with a three- or four-port Ethernet switch built in, allowing you to connect to the router via a fast, wired Ethernet connection. Switches and hubs perform similar functions, but switches can handle multiple simultaneous users without any significant decrease in network throughput.

Wireless Networking Buying Guide

Right Hardware / Right Network

With so many possible ways to build a network, it pays to home in on the solution that best suits your needs before you buy. These user profiles will start you off in the right direction.

Usage types: Home network | Home-office network or telecommuter | Online gaming and entertainment | Hot-spot hopper | Internet services provider | Bluetooth broker

Home network

You can get ample bandwidth for sharing a broadband Internet connection without spending much. Even the slowest wireless gear is several times faster than cable or DSL. You may prefer to buy a kit that includes all of the basic networking gear, but you can also buy the components separately and connect them together. Exactly what you need will depend on how many systems you want to connect and where they are located.

Key components

What you need / What it does
Cable/DSL broadband router Connects your Internet service to your network
Wireless access point Connects wireless adapters to your network
Wireless adapter Connects computers to your wireless network
Power-line adapter Connects computers to your power-line network

Home office network or telecommuter

If you use your home as an office, you need a robust network with reliable security. Wireless routers typically offer some protection, but a software firewall can provide an additional safeguard for your data. If you need to access your network from remote locations on business trips, you may even want to invest in a hardware VPN (virtual private network) firewall so that you can securely access your home network over the Internet.

Key components

What you need / What it does
VPN firewall – Protects your network from attacks over the Internet
Cable/DSL broadband router – Connects your Internet service to your network
Wireless access point - Connects wireless adapters to your network
Wireless adapter – Connects computers to your wireless network
Power-line adapter – Connects computers to your power-line network

Online gaming and entertainment

If you want to transfer large files over the network while streaming audio from a computer to your stereo, or if you like to play bandwidth-intensive, multiplayer games, then set your sights on a high-bandwidth solution, such as 802.11n, Ethernet, 802.11a, or dual band.

Key components

What you need / What it does
Cable/DSL broadband router – Connects your Internet service to your network
Wireless access point – Connects wireless adapters to your network
Wireless adapter – Connects computers to your wireless network
Power-line adapter – Connects computers to your power-line network
Digital-media adapter – Connects TVs and stereos to your network

Hot-spot hopper

Business travelers can now stay connected anywhere using wireless hot spots. Whether you are in an airport, a cafe, a public park, a shopping mall, or a parking lot, you may find yourself smack-dab in the middle of a public or commercial hot spot. With the right gear, hot-spot hopping is easy. Opt for a PC Card with a sensitive antenna, an external antenna connector, or a high-power output, and find out which wireless ISPs are available in your area. Or do away with hot-spot hunting altogether and get a cellular modem card that taps into the cellular providers’ data networks. You can be online on the bus, in your car, or in the park–wherever you can get a cellular signal.

Key components

What you need / What it does
Wireless notebook – Connects to hot spots with its built-in adapter
PDA with built-in Wi-Fi or CompactFlash adapter – Connects to hot spots with its built-in adapter
Wireless adapter – Connects notebooks to hot spots
Range-extending antenna – Increases the range of your wireless adapter
Wireless Internet service – Gives you Internet access at a variety of locations
Cellular modem card – Connects to the cellular data network anywhere you can get a cellular signal

Internet services provider

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to connect two or more houses wirelessly or to share an Internet connection with an entire building or neighborhood. Whether your objectives are philanthropic or commercial, building a hot spot can be done for less than the cost of a high-end notebook.

Key components

What you need / What it does
Shareable or resalable Internet service – Allows you to connect the general public to the Internet
Wireless access point with removable antenna – Allows you to tailor your coverage area
Wireless adapter – Allows your clients to connect to your service
Range-extending antenna – Increases the range of your wireless access point
Power over Ethernet injector – Lets you power an access point on a mast

Wireless networking standards

Settling on a standard is one of the most important decisions you’ll make while putting together your network. The standard you choose influences everything, including the speed, the features, the reach, and the cost of your network. Making sense out of the alphabet soup of wireless technologies can be daunting, but here’s a quick guide to what you need to know.

Networking standards: 802.11n | 802.11g | HomePlug | Bluetooth | Ethernet | 802.11b | 802.11a

Network standards at a glance

Networking standards Actual speed Range
802.11n 200Mbps 250 feet or more
802.11b 5Mbps 150 feet
802.11a 22Mbps 100 feet
802.11g 20Mbps 150 feet
Bluetooth 700Kbps 30 feet

802.11n: The standard that’s not here yet

The yet-to-be finalized 802.11n standard is based on MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, which takes advantage of multiple data streams. This concept was considered a problem until someone figured out how to harness these many streams of data to improve both throughput and range. Draft 2 of the 802.11n standard has been approved and the Wi-Fi Alliance is currently working on Draft 2.0 certifications. Most of the major networking vendors offer routers and adapters based on Draft 2.0 of the spec, which requires interoperability among vendors, adherence to the latest security schemes, and backward compatibility with previous generations of Wi-Fi equipment (802.11b and 802.11g, for example). Final ratification of the standard is now projected for early to mid-2008.

Despite the ongoing certification process, 802.11n-class hardware is still readily available for purchase, and you should feel confident doing so. These products are more expensive than 802.11g hardware, although prices have come down to the point where you can find an 802.11n router for under $100. Our testing has shown that while 802.11n is indeed faster than older wireless standards, it’s still not quite as fast as its rated speed of 200 Mbps. Its performance also drops if you have non-802.11n devices on your network, as well. Our general advice is that you probably don’t need 802.11n for basic wireless networking around an average-size home with one or two client devices. If you have many connected systems, intend to stream HD video with other concurrent network activity, or if you need to provide wireless access over a wide area, then you might need the bandwidth and reach that draft 802.11n has to offer.

802.11n facts
• Better range, throughput, and speed than 802.11g
products
• Backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g products
• Greater resistance to interference.

802.11g

The 802.11g standard is currently the most popular Wi-Fi standard, although 802.11n is gaining ground, thanks to dropping prices. 802.11g is the successor to 802.11b, but it is backward-compatible with 802.11b as well. The two standards operate at the same frequency (2.4GHz). With a throughput of about 22Mbps, 802.11g delivers four times the throughput of 802.11b. 802.11g has been the de facto home network standard for a few years. As it’s been widely adopted, the price of 802.11g products has fallen significantly, making it a cost-effective choice. The only downside to 802.11g is the fact that it uses the 2.4GHz wireless band, a crowded slice of the spectrum with room for only three nonoverlapping channels. This will make 5.0GHz hardware, such as 802.11a or 802.11n. a better choice for some environments, especially those populated with devices that share the 2.4GHz spectrum, such as cordless phones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, and Bluetooth radios.

802.11g facts
• Better range than that of 802.11a products
• Much faster than 802.11b products
• Low cost
• Subject to interference from other 2.4GHz devices
• Only three nonoverlapping channels

HomePlug

Power-line gear may be the best-kept secret in home networking. Though overshadowed by Wi-Fi, power-line networking (also known by the Powerline Alliance’s name of HomePlug) is a good solution either as an alternative to wireless or as a way to extend a wireless network to the far reaches of a home. Power-line devices use your home’s electrical wiring to connect a digital network. The two HomePlug standards are 1.0 and AV. HomePlug AV is the more recent of the two and addresses quality of service issues that are important for transmitting high-def video content. HomePlug adapters are fast enough for streaming audio-video content and online gaming, not to mention e-mail and Web surfing; we recently clocked several vendors’ offerings at over 30Mbps. The power-line solution is also a great way of connecting wireless access points in a large house or building. Keep in mind that this solution isn’t cheap: each adapter costs roughly $100, and you’ll need at least 2 to start.

HomePlug facts
• Practical throughput speeds of about 14Mbps or faster
• Moderately expensive
• Great for environments with 2.4GHz or 5GHz cordless
phones
• Guaranteed interoperability between HomePlug devices
that are based on the same specification

Bluetooth

Bluetooth offers more flexibility than Wi-Fi but on a smaller scale. Its throughput is a pokey 700Kbps, and its range is just a couple of dozen feet, but devices with a Bluetooth radio and an antenna can speak to each other with little or no preparation. Meeting attendees can immediately transfer files across a conference table using their Bluetooth-equipped notebooks, or they can send a file to a Bluetooth-equipped printer without downloading drivers. Bluetooth is fast becoming standard equipment on many cell phones, laptops, and other devices. There’s even talk of putting Bluetooth into home appliances. But for all the theoretical benefits of Bluetooth, the reality is that it’s currently a mess of incompatible hardware and software. Because Bluetooth operates at 2.4GHz, it is subject to the same interference problems as 802.11b and 802.11g.

Bluetooth facts
• Not compatible with 802.11 standards
• Slow throughput at around 700Kbps
• Short range of about 30 feet
• Interferes with other 2.4GHz devices
• Low power requirements

Ethernet

Nothing tops Ethernet for speed and reliability, and Ethernet also has the advantage of being a lot cheaper to deploy than power line or any flavor of wireless. Most computers already have Ethernet adapters built in, but unfortunately, most homes do not. Still, if you are after high bandwidth, it’s worth considering pulling Ethernet cable through your home. Even if you decide not to cable your home for Ethernet, you might find that an Ethernet hub or switch is a good complement to your wireless network. In fact, many wireless routers come with a four-port Ethernet switch built in.

Ethernet facts
• Practical throughput around 90Mbps
• Inexpensive
• Requires cabling
• Range of about 300 feet per segment
• Widespread networking standard
• Ideal for bandwidth-intensive applications

Older standards

Standalone 802.11a and 802.11b hardware has dwindled over past years; in fact, it can be hard to find in brick-and-mortar stores, which stock mostly 802.11g and 802.11n devices. Because the newer wireless standards have become so affordable and have superior performance, we wouldn’t recommend that you buy any new 802.11b or 802.11a hardware anymore, presuming you can even find any. Still, if you have any legacy wireless hardware lying around, it’s worthwhile to know something about it.
802.11b

802.11b gear operates at 2.4GHz and offers a real-world throughput of around 5Mbps at close range. In a typical indoor environment, without a lot of metal, 802.11b equipment can generally maintain a solid connection up to about 150 feet. It is also fully compatible with the faster 802.11g standard. The weaknesses of 802.11b are its comparatively low throughput and the potential for interference with other gadgets that share the 2.4GHz band, such as cordless phones, security radios, and microwaves.

802.11b facts
• Better range than 802.11a products
• More than adequate throughput for broadband sharing at around 5Mbps
• Slower than 802.11a and 802.11g
• Broad compatibility
• Low cost
• Subject to interference from other 2.4GHz devices
• Only three nonoverlapping channels

802.11a

The 802.11a standard has a couple of advantages over the more prevalent 802.11g. It runs at a less populated frequency (5.15GHz to 5.35GHz), making it less prone to interference, and its practical throughput is about four times greater than that of 802.11b, typically clocking in at around 22Mbps. This gives it a lot more elbowroom than 802.11b for streaming digital audio and video or transferring large files over the network, with bandwidth left over for Internet sharing. Some manufacturers offer proprietary turbo modes that can push throughput even higher. 802.11a’s downside is its shorter range. Because 802.11g and 802.11a operate at different frequencies, they can’t talk directly to one another, which is why if you have an 802.11a adapter, you cannot connect to most hot spots. Another weakness is the increased power drain of the 5GHz radio, as compared to its 2.4GHz counterparts.

802.11a facts
• Great throughput at around 22Mbps or higher
• Operates at 5GHz
• Low risk of interference from other devices
• Eight nonoverlapping channels
• Higher cost than that of 802.11b and 802.11g

How to Absolutely, Positively Destroy Your Data:

How to Absolutely, Positively Destroy Your Data: DIY Tech
By Anthony Verducci
Published in the February 2007 issue.

When you’re getting rid of an old PC, sometimes erasing your files isn’t enough. Here’s how to make sure gone means gone.

The File-by-File Method
1. INDIVIDUAL FILES ELIMINATED, SOFTWARE REMAINS INTACT
If you are giving your computer to someone else, you don’t neces-sarily want to eliminate all the valuable software along with your private data. Dumping individual files in the ordinary way doesn’t make them unrecoverable; it only makes the space on the drive occupied by those files available for overwriting. To completely destroy a file, use a data-shredding program such as Digital File Shredder from StompSoft ($30). It takes a conventional “erase” a step further by actually writing over the file.

The Whole-Drive Method
2. ENTIRE DRIVE IS PERMANENTLY ERASED, BUT STILL USABLE
Completely reformatting your drive may seem more permanent than simply erasing the files, but this method doesn’t eliminate data either — the information can easily be restored using off-the-shelf data-recovery software. Many of the best data-erasing programs come from the same companies that produce data-recovery software. DataEraser ($30), from Ontrack, completely overwrites the drive. Set aside some time: This can take hours on large hard drives. The process is, of course, irreversible.

The Power Tool Method
3. DATA IS GONE, HARD DRIVE IS TOAST
There is no better way to completely annihilate your data than to render the device that stores it unusable. We still suggest a software shredder first, but if your personal data security justifies the extra effort, put on protective eyewear and gloves, then break out the power tools. Drilling four holes through the platters will ensure that they never spin properly again. Better yet, unscrew and remove the top lid of the drive, and go at the platters with a sander or angle grinder. Scuff the surface of the platters until all the shine is gone.

Internet Explorer Will be Optional in Windows 7

Internet Explorer has been added to the list of Windows 7 components that users can remove from the OS, according to a Friday blog post from the Windows 7 team.

In earlier versions of Windows, users could disable, but not actually unload the browser.

“‘Turning Windows Features On or Off’ has a long history in Windows, going back to the earliest days of the 32-bit code base,” Jack Mayo, group program manager for Microsoft’s Documents and Printing team, wrote on the blog. “For Windows 7 we’ve engineered a more significant list of features and worked to balance that list in light of the needs of the broad Windows platform as well.”

In addition to IE8, that list also includes: Windows Media Player; Windows Media Center; Windows DVD Maker; Windows Search; Handwriting Recognition (through the Tablet PC Components option); Windows Gadget Platform; Fax and Scan; and XPS Viewer and Services (including the Virtual Print Driver).

It’s unclear how this will affect software and other Windows features that require access to Web content, like Web-enabled links in Microsoft Word or Windows Explorer search boxes.

“If a feature is deselected, it is not available for use,” Mayo wrote. “This means the files (binaries and data) are not loaded by the operating system (for security-conscious customers) and not available to users on the computer.”

It should be noted that the staging file for installation of Internet Explorer will remain on Windows 7 machines even with the feature deselected in the Windows Features dialog box. This is to prevent users from having to hunt for installation disks if they ever want to reinstall the browser. Writes Mayo: “This staging is important feedback we have received from customers who definitely do not like to dig up the installation DVD.”

The blog post referred to the ongoing philosophical argument over what constitutes an OS feature versus a separate application, but pretty much keeps to the technical issues involved with allowing users to disable components and features of the Windows.

Certain features are expected to be available to third-party developers of Windows applications, so the developers are concerned about avoiding a compatibility fiasco like they experienced with Windows Vista.

The post does not mention legal issues related to the European Commission’s inquiry about Microsoft’s tying of IE to Windows.

That suit was spurred on by browser competitors Firefox, which has passed 20 percent of browser market share, and Opera, which still lags at less than 1 percent, according to statistics from Market Share by NetApplications.com.

Making solar cheaper than coal

Making solar cheaper than coal
March 6, 2009 4:00 AM PST

By Martin LaMonica
Staff Writer, CNET News

The day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Emmanuel Sachs decided that it was time to get back into the solar-energy business.

Starting in the 1970s, the Masssachussetts Institute of Technology mechanical-engineering professor had made significant contributions to solar, including a cell-making technique now used by Evergreen Solar. But once research funding for solar photovoltaics–converting sunlight into electricity–dried up in the 1980s, Sachs diverted into other fields, including 3D printing to help designers quickly build prototypes.

To Sachs, September 11 was a reminder of the perils of an oil-dependent U.S. energy policy. The events that transpired that day were jarring enough to prompt him to restart his solar research. Nearly eight years later, he is chief technical officer at 1366 Technologies, a company formed two years ago to commercialize the work he had done at MIT.

“I first got into solar photovoltaics as an idealistic young person,” said Sachs, who is now in his mid-50s and is on leave from MIT for two years. “What really got me in full-time (again) was some of the same but also recognizing that there were a lot of issues at play, including national security…and climate change.”

If idealism played a role in starting the Lexington, Mass., company, the business plan is all about cold, hard numbers. The 20-person start-up has an ambitious economic target: to make solar cheaper than coal in three years. That means producing silicon solar cells at less than $1 per watt, cutting the current costs by about half.

More than a few people believe that 1366 Technologies has a shot at being one of the first companies to hit the long-pursued goal of undercutting fossil fuel electricity on price.

Among those impressed with the technology and management team is Ethernet co-inventor and energy tech venture capitalist Bob Metcalfe, who is on the company’s board. Metcalfe’s firm, Polaris Ventures, led a $12.4 million round in the company last year. And last month, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded 1366 Technologies a $3 million grant for low-cost solar manufacturing.

Disruptive technology, a step at a time
The name 1366 Technologies comes from the solar constant, or the amount of solar energy that hits Earth’s surface: 1,366 watts per square meter. That focus on keeping to the basics, and trying to do it affordably, are what executives hope will set them apart from the solar-tech pack.
Click for gallery

The company’s headquarters–a one-story brick building among a dozen nondescript offices in an office park outside Boston–reveal a bare-bones operation. A full-size solar panel hanging on the wall serves as artwork in an otherwise-spartan office. A bank of cubes fronts a small factory floor crammed with solar-manufacturing machinery bearing obscure names like a “diffusion furnace” and a “plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition” system. This is where engineers are now producing small numbers of solar cells that put Sachs’ ideas to work.

The modest building may not be where you’d expect the solar industry to finally break through the $1-per-watt cost barrier for silicon cells. First Solar earlier this month claimed to crack the $1 cost barrier for its thin-film cells, made from alternative material cadmium telluride, but 1366 Technologies wants to hit that price using silicon–a more common and abundant material.

To get there, Sachs and company engineers say they have four innovations they intend to perfect one by one. To understand the improvements, you need to visualize a solar cell–a specially treated slice of silicon–and the wires that connect cells together to make a panel.

Typical polysilicon solar cells–the most common cell material–convert about 15 percent of the sunlight that hits them into electricity. Sachs’ work has focused on boosting that efficiency closer to 20 percent by trapping more light and by reducing electricity loss in the wires. The trick, though, is to get that efficiency with manufacturing techniques that don’t add cost.
Grooved interconnect wires
Credit: 1366 Technologies
Trapping more light One of the techniques 1366
Technologies has developed to improve the efficiency of
converting light to electricity is creating grooved
interconnect wires that reflect light back to the solar cell.

1366 Technologies’ first idea, called a “light-capturing ribbon,” is to manufacture so-called interconnect wires with V-shaped grooves. Normally, light hits those interconnect wires, which are under the solar cell, and bounces straight out. By contrast, the grooved wires reflect light at an angle so that it can bounce onto a solar panel’s glass covering and back down onto the cell. That “internal reflection” squeezes a bit more electricity from the incoming light without having to reinvent the production process.

The second idea is to redesign the wires that carry current on a solar panel to be smaller and less expensive. There are two other improvements on the drawing board, including one that uses reflective wires to trap more light onto cells, but the company is cagey on the exact details.

“Those (inventions) are all chunks of technology, any one of which some might call an incremental improvement. But taken in aggregate, they could be seen as disruptive change,” Sachs said. The combination will allow the company to improve the efficiency of silicon cells’ conversion of light into electricity by 25 percent without increasing manufacturing costs, the company claims.

Marrying mission with high tech
Executives at 1366 Technologies are well aware that slick technology, or even political support, doesn’t guarantee success. For example, Evergreen Solar, the company founded on Sachs’ work from the 1980s, is manufacturing cells but is still not profitable. Analysts also anticipate a shakeout among solar manufacturers because of brutal price competition.

There is also a recession that’s made raising money far more difficult. The company opened its plant with great optimism last October. But the bad economy has slowed its progress, 1366 Technologies President Frank van Mierlo admits.

He’s already had to adjust. In the fall, he had planned to raise money to build a larger factory by next year. Now he’s just hoping that the economy turns around enough so that getting more financing is a realistic option. The company’s business plan needs to be flexible too: instead of building new solar factories itself, it could license technology to other solar manufacturers, as it already has done, van Mierlo said.

The 48-year-old van Mierlo, who was born in the Netherlands, is a relative newcomer to renewable energy. Like many tech entrepreneurs, he was drawn to the field simply by following the flow of venture capital money. He was also intrigued by big problems like energy security and climate change. The father of two last ran a robotics company spun out of MIT and, after selling the company, spent about a year in an “almost-academic study,” deciding what to do next.

He settled on solar because he believes that it has the most potential to rapidly make a difference in the energy industry. But van Mierlo is not blindly optimistic; he knows that his industry still needs to prove itself.

“Right now, solar’s contribution to the energy business is next to nothing,” van Meirlo said. “So there needs to be a lot of growth, and the only way we are going to get real growth is with healthy profit margins.” Of course, his own company also has to live by those words, since it hasn’t yet built products at a significant scale.

Sachs and van Mierlo admit that they meet some skepticism when they say cheap solar energy is within sight. Solar-photovoltaic panels have been around for decades yet still remain a relatively expensive purchase for homeowners, anywhere between $20,000 and $35,000.

“Both Ely (Sachs) and I intend to install 1366 (Technologies) solar cells on our houses as soon as they roll off the manufacturing line,” Van Mierlo said. If the entrepreneurs succeed, it will be by marrying that long-term vision of transforming the energy industry with the rapid innovation they hope to achieve.

At the company’s ribbon-cutting ceremony last fall, Sachs, in a soft but direct manner, implored local politicians and employees assembled to act, rather than talk, about greening the economy.

“The science is understood, the material abundant, the product works,” he said. “All that is left is to build the biggest manufacturing industry in the history of human kind. Time is a-wasting.”

Recycling in Horry County, SC

RECYCLING IN HORRY COUNTY – Please Recycle!

WHAT Can I Recycle?

WHERE Can I Recycle?

For more information about recycling, please contact (843) 347-1651
or email:education@solidwasteauthority.org

We would be happy to recycle your used, unwanted computer equipment for you. Just drop it by our store, which is located at 307 Broadway St., Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Please do your part for the good of our environment, and recycle everything you can!

Thanks,

Greg Whinnie

Windows 7, sneak peak at new features

First look at Windows 7′s User Interface

Microsoft has given us a first glimpse as Windows 7. The taskbar has changed significantly, and there are a number of other changes we have screenshots of.

By Peter Bright | Last updated October 28, 2008 10:59

At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months, Microsoft has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes, and that many bundled applications would be unbundled and shipped with Windows Live instead. There have also been occasional screenshots of some of the new applets like Calculator and Paint. Now that the covers are finally off, the scale of the new OS becomes clear. The user interface has undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction of Windows 95 thirteen years ago.

First, however, it’s important to note what Windows 7 isn’t. Windows 7 will not contain anything like the kind of far-reaching architectural modifications that Microsoft made with Windows Vista. Vista brought a new display layer and vastly improved security, but that came at a cost: a significant number of (badly-written) applications had difficulty running on Vista. Applications expecting to run with Administrator access were still widespread when Vista was released, and though many software vendors do a great job, there are still those that haven’t updated or fixed their software. Similarly, at its launch many hardware vendors did not have drivers that worked with the new sound or video subsystems, leaving many users frustrated.

While windows 7 doesn’t undo these architectural changes—they were essential for the long-term health of the platform—it equally hasn’t made any more. Any hardware or software that works with Windows Vista should also work correctly with Windows 7, so unlike the transition from XP to Vista, the transition from Vista to 7 won’t show any regressions; nothing that used to work will stop working.

So, rather than low-level, largely invisible system changes, the work on Windows 7 has focused much more on the user experience. The way people use computers is changing; for example, it’s increasingly the case that new PCs are bought to augment existing home machines rather than replacement, so there are more home networks and shared devices. Business users are switching to laptops, with the result that people expect to seamlessly use their (Domain-joined) office PC on their home network.

As well as these broader industry trends, Microsoft also has extensive data on how people use its software. Through the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), an optional, off-by-default feature of many Microsoft programs, the company has learned a great deal about the things that users do. For example, from CEIP data Microsoft knows that 70% of users have between 5 and 15 windows open at any one time, and that most of the time they only actively use one or two of those windows. With this kind of data, Microsoft has streamlined and refined the user experience.

The biggest visible result of all this is the taskbar. The taskbar in Windows 7 is worlds apart from the taskbar we’ve known and loved ever since the days of Chicago.
New Windows 7 Taskbar and Start Menu

Text descriptions on the buttons are gone, in favor of big icons. The icons can—finally—be rearranged; no longer will restarting an application put all your taskbar icons in the wrong order. The navigation between windows is now two-level; mousing over an icon shows a set of window thumbnails, and clicking the thumbnail switches windows.

Right clicking the icons shows a new UI device that Microsoft calls “Jump Lists.”

They’re also found on the Start Menu:
Windows 7 Screenshots

Jump lists provide quick access to application features. Applications that use the system API for their Most Recently Used list (the list of recently-used filenames that many apps have in their File menus) will automatically acquire a Jump List containing their most recently used files. There’s also an API to allow applications to add custom entries; Media Player, for example, includes special options to control playback.

This automatic support for new features is a result of deliberate effort on Microsoft’s part. The company wants existing applications to benefit from as many of the 7 features as they can without any developer effort. New applications can extend this automatic support through new APIs to further enrich the user experience. The taskbar thumbnails are another example of this approach. All applications get thumbnails, but applications with explicit support for 7 will be able to add thumbnails on a finer-grained basis. IE8, for instance, has a thumbnail per tab (rather than per window).

Window management has also undergone changes. In recognition of the fact that people tend only to use one or two windows concurrently, 7 makes organizing windows quicker and easier. Dragging a window to the top of the screen maximizes it automatically; dragging it off the top of the screen restores it. Dragging a window to the left or right edge of the screen resizes the window so that it takes 50% of the screen. With this, a pair of windows can be quickly docked to each screen edge to facilitate interaction between them.

Another common task that 7 improves is “peeking” at windows; switching to a window briefly just to read something within the window but not actually interact with the window. To make this easier, scrubbing the mouse over the taskbar thumbnails will turn every window except the one being pointed at into a glass outline; moving the mouse away will reinstate all the glass windows. As well as being used for peeking at windows, you can also peek at the desktop:
Windows 7 Screenshots

Windows 7 Screenshots

Peeking at the desktop is particularly significant, because the desktop is now where gadgets live. Because people are increasingly using laptops, taking up a big chunk of space for the sidebar isn’t really viable; Microsoft has responded by scrapping the sidebar and putting the gadgets onto the desktop itself. Gadgets are supposed to provide at-a-glance information; peeking at the desktop, therefore, becomes essential for using gadgets.
Windows 7 Screenshots

The taskbar’s system tray has also been improved. A common complaint about the tray is that it fills with useless icons and annoying notifications. With 7, the tray is now owned entirely by the user. By default, new tray icons are hidden and invisible; the icons are only displayed if explicitly enabled. The icons themselves have also been streamlined to make common tasks (such as switching wireless networks) easier and faster.
Windows 7 Screenshots

The other significant part of the Windows UI is Explorer. Windows 7 introduces a new concept named Libraries. Libraries provide a view onto arbitrary parts of the filesystem with organization optimized for different kinds of files. In use, Libraries feel like a kind of WinFS-lite; they don’t have the complex database system underneath, but they do retain the idea of a custom view of your files that’s independent of where the files are.
Windows 7 Screenshots

Windows 7 Screenshots

These UI changes represent a brave move by the company. The new UI takes the concepts that Windows users have been using for the last 13 years and extends them in new and exciting ways. Windows 7 may not change much under the hood, but the extent of these interface changes makes it clear that this is very much a major release.

Here’s a video version of many new features of Windows 7

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