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Backing up your critical files is something we all know we should do. Even with everything in SkyDrive, it is still something we need to do. With Windows 8, we took a new look at the way backup can work and set out to solve the perennial problem of not just restoring all your files but restoring a previous version of a critical file you have been editing through the course of a day. To achieve this, we're introducing a new feature in Windows 8, File History. Bohdan Raciborski, a program manager on the Storage team authored this post. --Steven Note: Comments have been off topic. Please maintain community standards and focus on the topic at hand. What is File History? File History is a backup application that continuously protects your personal files stored in Libraries, Desktop, Favorites, and Contacts folders. It periodically (by default every hour) scans the file system for changes and copies changed files to another location. Every time any of your personal files has changed, its copy will be stored on a dedicated, external storage device selected by you. Over time, File History builds a complete history of changes made to any personal file. It’s a feature introduced in Windows 8 that offers a new way to protect files for consumers. It supersedes the existing Windows Backup and Restore features of Windows 7. What is unique about this approach compared to a more traditional backup and restore? Regretfully, backup is not a very popular application. Our telemetry shows that less than 5% of consumer PCs use Windows Backup and even adding up all the third party tools in use, it is clear nowhere near half of consumer PCs are backed up. This leaves user’s personal data and digital memories quite vulnerable as any accident can lead to data loss. In Windows 8 Microsoft is actively trying to accomplish the following: Make data protection so easy that any Windows user can turn it on and feel confident that their personal files are protected. Eliminate the complexity of setting up and using backup. Turn backup into an automatic, silent service that does the hard work of protecting user files in the background without any user interaction. Offer a very simple, engaging restore experience that makes finding, previewing and restoring versions of personal files much easier. While designing File History we used learnings from the past and added requirements to address the changing needs of PC users. PC users are more mobile than ever. To address that, we optimized File History to better support laptops that constantly transition through power states or are being connected and disconnected from networks and devices. PC users create more data and are more dependent on it than ever before. So we do not only protect what’s currently on the system drive but also any work they have done and data they have created in the past. When a specific point in time (PiT) version of a file or even an entire folder is needed, you can quickly find it and restore it. The restore application was designed to offer engaging experience optimized for browsing, searching, previewing and restoring files. Setting it up Before you start using File History to back up your files, you'll need to set up a drive to save files to. We recommend that you use an external drive or network location to help protect your files against a crash or other PC problem. File History only saves copies of files that are in your libraries, contacts, favorites, and on your desktop. If you have folders elsewhere that you want backed up, you can add them to one of your existing libraries or create a new library. To set up File History Open File History control panel applet. Connect an external drive, refresh the page, and then tap or click Turn on. . You can also set up a drive in AutoPlay by connecting the drive to your PC, tapping or clicking the notification that appears… . … and then tapping or clicking Configure this drive for backup. . That’s it. From that moment, every hour, File History will check your libraries, desktop, favorites and contacts for any changes. If it finds changed files, it will automatically copy them to the File History drive. Download this video to view it in your favorite media player: High quality MP4 | Lower quality MP4 Restoring files When something bad happens and one or more personal files are lost, the restore application makes it very easy to: Browse personal libraries, folders and files in a way very similar to Windows Explorer. Search for specific versions using keywords, file names and date ranges. Preview versions of a selected file. Restore a file or a selection of files with one tap or a click of a mouse. We designed the restore application for wide screen displays and to offer a unique, engaging and convenient way of finding a specific version of a file by looking at its preview. With other backup applications you would have to select a backup set that was created on a specific date. Then you would have to browse to find a specific folder, and then find the one file you need. However at this point it is impossible to open the file or preview its content in order to determine if it is the right one. You would have to restore the file. If it is not the right version, you’d have to start over. With File History, the search starts right in Windows Explorer. You can browse to a specific location and click or tap on the History button in the explorer ribbon in order to see all versions of the selected library, folder or an individual file. For example, when you select a Pictures library and click or tap on the History button… . … you will see the entire history of this library. . When you click on a specific file, you can see the entire history of the selected picture. . In this example, the selected picture has 4 versions. You can easily navigate to the desired version by clicking on the Previous/Next buttons or by swiping the screen. Once you have found the version you were looking for, you can click the Restore button to bring it back. The selected version will be restored to its original location. Continuous, reliable protection File History, instead of using the old backup model, takes a different approach to data protection. Protect only what is most important Instead of protecting the entire system (operating system, applications, settings and user files) File History focuses only on user personal files. That’s what is most precious and hardest to recreate in case of an accident. Optimized for performance In the past, most backup applications used brute force method of checking for changes in directories or files by scanning the entire volume. This approach could significantly affect the system performance and requires an extended period of time to complete. File History, on the other hand, takes advantage of the NTFS change journal. The NTFS change journal records any changes made to any files stored on an NTFS volume. Instead of scanning the volume, which involves opening and reading directories, File History opens the NTFS change journal and quickly scans it for any changes. Based on this information it creates a list of files that have changed and need to be copied. The process is very quick and efficient. File History was designed to be easily interrupted and to quickly resume. This way, File History can resume its operation, without the need to start over when a system goes into sleep mode, a user logs off, the system gets too busy and needs more CPU cycles to complete foreground operations, or the network connection is lost or saturated. File History was designed to work well on any PC including small form factor PCs with limited resources and tablets. It uses system resources in a way to minimize the impact on system performance, battery life and overall experience. File History process runs at low priority, uses low priority IO and low priority memory. . Figure 1: File History reaction to an increasing workload. . Figure 2: File History disk utilization in presence of other processes with normal priority I/Os. . Figure 3 Working set size per backup cycle, sampling every 3 min. The amount of data being backed up in one cycle is throttled. Any activity is suspended when the machine is sleeping. File History takes into account: If the user is present, i.e. logged on and actively using the system. If the machine is on AC or battery power. When the last backup cycle was completed. How many changes have been made since the last cycle. Activity of foreground processes. Based on all of these factors, which are re-checked every 10 seconds, it determines the optimal way to back up your data. If any of those conditions change, the service makes a decision to reduce/increase quota or suspend/terminate the backup cycle. Optimized for mobile users When File History is running, it gracefully handles state transitions. For example, when you close the lid of your laptop, disconnect an external drive or leave home and take your laptop out of the range of the home wireless network, File History takes the right action: Lid closed - When a PC goes into sleep mode, File History detects the power mode transition and suspends its operation. Lid opened – File History resumes its operation at a priority that makes sure files are protected without impacting overall system performance, even for gamers. It also waits for all post “lid open” activities to complete so that we do not affect the system while it is coming back out of sleep. Dedicated storage device disconnected – File History detects that the storage device is not present and starts caching versions of changed files on a system drive. Dedicated storage device re-connected – in the next cycle, File History detects that the storage device was reconnected, flushes all versions from the local cache to the external drive and resumes normal operation. Simplicity and peace of mind We designed File History with two objectives in mind 1) offer best possible protection of user personal files and 2) offer ease, simplicity and peace of mind. If you want to take advantage of File History, you have to make only few, simple decisions. In most cases it will be limited to only one – which external drive to use. The rest is taken care of by Windows. The operation of File History is transparent and doesn’t affect the user experience, reliability or performance of Windows in any way. Full control Most backup applications, including the Windows Backup and Restore that shipped in Windows 7 require administrator privileges to set up and use. This means that standard users have to ask the administrator to set it up and every time they need to restore a file, or to grant them administrative privileges. Not so with File History. File History offers full control to each individual user. Now users can decide if and when to turn File History on and which external drive to use. In fact, each user can select a different location to store their file history. And they do not have to ask for the administrator’s help to restore a file. Enthusiasts and experienced PC users can use advanced File History features to control many aspects of its operation, like: How often you want to save copies of your files: The frequency of backups can be changed from 10 minutes to 24 hours. Higher frequency offers better protection but consumes more disk space. How long you want to keep saved versions: Versions can be stored forever or as little as one month. This setting is useful when the File History drive fills up to fast. You can slow down this rate by reducing the time versions are stored. Changing the size of the local cache: File History uses a small amount of space on the local drive to store versions of files while the File History target drive is not available. If you create a lot of versions of files while disconnected or stay disconnected for longer periods of time, you may need to reserve more space on the local drive to keep all versions. Note that the versions stored in the local cache are flushed to the external drive when it becomes available again. Excluding folders that you do not want to back up: Some folders may contain very large files that do not have to be protected because they can be easily recreated (like downloaded high definition movies or podcasts). These files would quickly consume all of the File History drive capacity. This setting allows you to exclude such folders. Recommend a drive to other HomeGroup members on your home network: This setting is covered in more detail in the File History and HomeGroup section below. Accessing the File History event log: The event log contains records of events that may be useful while troubleshooting File History. It may be particularly useful if you want to identify files that File History could not access for any reason. Advanced settings can be accessed from the File History control panel applet. . To exclude a folder, select Exclude folders. Next, click on the Add button, browse to the folder you want to exclude and select it. Files in this folder will not be backed up starting with the next backup cycle. To start backing it up again, simply remove the folder from the list. . Other advanced settings are available on the Advanced Settings page. . File History also supports new storage features introduced in Windows 8. Users who have lots of data to back up can use Storage Spaces to create a resilient storage pool using off-the-shelf USB drives. When the pool fills up, they can easily add more drives and extra storage capacity to the pool. You can find more about Storage Spaces in this blog post. Users who use BitLocker to protect the content of their personal files can also use File History as it seamlessly supports BitLocker on both source and destination drives. File History was designed for consumers but could also be used by enterprise customers. In some cases, File History may conflict with the enterprise policies (like retention policy). To prevent such conflicts, we added a group policy that gives enterprise IT administrators the ability to turn off File History on managed client PCs. You will find the File History policy setting in the Group Policy Object Editor under Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, File History. . Minimal setup File History is part of Windows so you don’t need to install any additional software. However, File History has to be turned on, which typically requires only one click. As described above, to start protecting your libraries, you need to attach an external drive or select a network location. File History will store versions of your files on this device. File History automatically selects an external drive if one is available. If more than one drive is available, one with the most free storage capacity is selected. No schedule File History wakes up once an hour and looks for personal files that have changed. Versions of all files that have changed are replicated to a dedicated storage device. This approach eliminates the need to set up a schedule and leave a computer idle for an extended period of time. One hour frequency offers a good balance between the level of protection and amount of storage space consumed by file versions. Enthusiasts can change the frequency from 10 min to 1 day in order to increase the level of protection or reduce storage consumption. No maintenance File History runs silently in the background and doesn’t require any ongoing maintenance. The only time when it will ask you to intervene is when the external drive is full. At this point you will be asked to either replace the drive with a bigger one or change a setting that tells File History how long to keep file versions around. By default, we keep versions of user personal files forever, but if storage is an issue, it can be reduced to a period of time that best suits your needs. File History and HomeGroup File History was also integrated with HomeGroup to make it easier for someone to set up backup for all members of a home network. Here is how it works. Jane wants her entire family to have their personal data automatically protected. She knows she can do this with File History. Jane creates a HomeGroup on the family’s home network. Jane turns on File History on a computer that has a large external drive. File History control panel detects the HomeGroup and asks if Jane wants to recommend this backup destination to other HomeGroup members. Jane selects this option and File History uses HomeGroup to broadcast the recommendation to all HomeGroup members. Each HomeGroup member can now accept the recommendation. If they do, their libraries, desktop, favorites and contacts are automatically backed up to a network share on Jane’s computer. File History and SkyDrive File History doesn’t back up your files to the cloud. While the cloud is great for storing files you’d like to access on-the-go, or for sharing files with others, backing up terabytes of data to the cloud requires a specialized service. Many cloud services today support local synchronization, where the data in the cloud is mirrored in your local file system. Sync solutions by their very nature copy changes immediately to all locations, which means accidental deletes or inadvertent changes or corruption to files will be synchronized as well. The best way to address this problem is to couple your sync service with a point-in-time backup solution like File History. In the blog post, Connecting your apps, files, PCs and devices to the cloud with SkyDrive and Windows 8 we discussed how SkyDrive will integrate with Windows Explorer and the file system. File History takes advantage of that integration. If your SkyDrive is synced to your file system, File History will automatically start protecting the files stored in your local SkyDrive folder. This is a great example of local backup plus reliable anytime, anywhere access. You can access your files in SkyDrive through your PC, your phone, or the web and you’ll also know that File History is providing fast local backup and instantaneous access to all versions of those files. Full system backup Usually a full system backup is used to protect your PC against complete system loss, for example when a PC was stolen or lost or the internal hard drive stopped working. Our research showed that only a small number of users are concerned about losing the operating system, applications or settings. They are by far more concerned about losing their personal files. For these reasons, File History was designed specifically to protect user personal files. File History doesn’t offer the ability to do a full system backup but for those users who may need a full system backup it offers a good compromise. Together with other features introduced in Windows 8 it provides protection against such disasters. If you want to prepare for a disaster, we recommend a following strategy: Create a recovery drive to be used when you need to refresh or restore your PC. You can find more about it in this blog post. Connect to your Microsoft account Configure your PC to sync your settings Load apps from the Store Turn on File History When your PC is replaced or needs to be reinstalled: Use the recovery drive to restore the operating system Connect to your Microsoft account Configure your PC to sync your settings – this will bring your settings back Go to the Store and reinstall your modern apps Reinstall legacy apps Connect your old File History drive and restore everything – this will restore your personal files It may require more steps than a file or image restore but has some clear benefits: You do not restore any “no more desired” software or settings that were on your system You do not restore sources of some problems that you might have (or create new problems if you restore to different hardware) You do not restore settings that may cause your system to perform badly or fail Those who need a full system backup can still use Windows Backup to create a system image. Requirements File History requires: Windows 8 Client operating system An external storage device with enough storage capacity to store a copy of all user libraries, such as a USB drive, Network Attached Storage device, or share on another PC in the home network. FAQ What happens when you upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows 7? If Windows 7 Backup was active, i.e. it was scheduled and the schedule was active, then it will continue running as scheduled after the upgrade. File History will be disabled by default and users will not be able to turn it on as long as the Windows 7 Backup schedule is active. To turn it you will have to first disable the Windows 7 Backup schedule. Can Windows 7 users use File History? Windows 7 users cannot use File History. However, they can restore files from a drive used by File History by browsing the volume in the Windows Explorer and selecting a specific file. Files on the File History drive are stored in the same relative location, and use the same name. The specific version can be identified by the time stamp appended to the file name. Does File History protect the operating system and applications? File History only protects user libraries, desktop, favorites and contacts. Other files, such as operating system files, applications, and settings, are not backed up. Can File History be used with cloud storage? No. File History is designed specifically for consumers and does not support cloud storage in this release. Windows 8 Server offers a backup feature that can back up files to a cloud. This feature is available on the Server version of Windows and is designed for small and medium businesses. Can File History be used by enterprise customers? Yes. However, enterprise customers should be aware that File History may not comply with their company security, access, and retention policies. For that reason, we offer a group policy setting that allows enterprise administrators to disable the feature for an entire organization. Will File History protect files stored on a file share? No. File History only protects file stored on a local drive. If you use offline folders and folder redirection, your folders (like My Documents or My Pictures) are redirected to a network share and will not be protected. If you add a network location to any of your libraries, this location will not be protected. In closing File History silently protects all of your important files stored in Libraries, Desktop, Favorites and Contacts. Once turned on, it requires no effort at all to protect your data. When you lose a file or just need to find an original version of a picture or a specific version of a resume, all versions of your files are available. With the File History restore application you can find it quickly and effortlessly. Source: Windows 8 Blog When File History service is idle, it uses an average of 10 MB of working set. When it runs, it uses little memory and only for a short period of time. The chart below shows the working set histogram collected using a simulated workload over a period of 4 hours with File History cycle frequency set to one hour.

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Today in Toronto, Canada, at Microsoft’s annual http://freepchelp.forum/data/MetaMirrorCache/4ed1c586d07ea27ab9e83b115f8a7f82._.gif[/img] Source: Windows Team Blog

Posted on Windows 7 Utimate (64-bit)[/b] Windows 8 (64-bit) Startup (seconds, lower is better) 38 17 Shutdown (seconds, lower is better) 12.2 9.9 500MB File Group Move (seconds, lower is better) 25.2 29.2 Large Single File Move (seconds, lower is better) 46.4 46.8 Video Rendering (minutes:seconds, smaller is better) 1:22 1:11 Geekbench 2.3 64-bit tests (higher is better) 8090 8187 Geekbench 2.3 32-bit tests (higher is better) 5962 6122 PCMark 7 (higher is better) 2313 2701 Sunspider (ms, lower is better) 180 144 Google V8 (v.7) (higher is better) 3079 6180 Psychedelic Browsing (higher is better) 3997 5292 As you can see from these results above, in [url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406668,00.asp" target="_blank">PCMag’s testing, Windows 8 practically won all around. What’s particularly impressive is the start up times. Windows 8 has cut the start up time in half down to a speedy 17 seconds. The reason being that Windows 8 saves a copy of the system state and memory contents to the harddrive and then simply reloads this once you restart. This is why it’s so much quicker at starting up as it doesn’t have to go and load everything from scratch. We can also expect to see this start up time reduced even further when new laptops, tablets, PCs etc.. are released with SSD hard drives and UEFI that will dramatically improve these start up times even further. It’s also quite apparent that Microsoft have worked hard on improving the browser performance in Windows 8. Internet Explorer 10 was miles ahead of IE 9. The javascript engine has been dramatically been improved and optimised. Sunspider and Google’s V8 tests show a big improvement in load times and processing times which is great news for us all. The PCMark 7 benchmark test which runs 7 different systems tests that are designed to test out everything also shows a big performance increase in Windows 8. In PCMags test, Windows 8 was up by 388 points. Head over to [url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406668,00.asp" target="_blank">PCMag if you want to check out the full post in a bit more detail. It’s good to see that there is some real significant improvement with Windows 8 over Windows 7, and bear in mind that this is still not the final release of Windows 8. We can only expect that Microsoft are busy tweaking the final few lines of code to get every last bit of performance out of Windows 8. Source: [url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406668,00.asp" target="_blank">PcMag [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/08/windows-8-windows-7-quickest/">Windows 8 vs Windows 7 – Who’s The Quickest? was posted on [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com">Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission. View the full article

Posted on sign up with them[/b] and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a Nokia Lumia 900. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/competition-win-nokia-lumia-900-2/">Competition: Win A Nokia Lumia 900! was posted on [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com">Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission. View the full article

Posted on Startup Companies[/b] Once the technology began to make a mark, startup companies saw an opportunity to develop their own hardware and software in order to enhance the Kinect experience. Recently, Microsoft offered startups the opportunity to get seed money for their companies if they could demonstrate the ideas for new technologies for the Kinect system. Over 500 companies [url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/2012/jun12/06-29KinectAccelerator.aspx">made applications. Microsoft reduced this to 11. is working to make physical rehabilitation more affordable. Using Kinect for Windows and a computer, to capture their movements, patients interact within a virtual environment. There they participate in activities meant to target specific deficiencies. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/jintronix_banner/" rel="attachment wp-att-94922">http://cdn6.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/jintronix_banner-400x170.jpg?9d7bd4 uses Kinect to provide retailers with information about customers in a store. The system detects physical dimensions like age, gender, height, and size of a customer. It follows a customer through a store to see what products they engage in. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/kimetric/" rel="attachment wp-att-94923">http://cdn9.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/kimetric.png?9d7bd4 uses Kinect for helping elders by alerting family or doctors about abnormal patterns of movement or lack of movement in a home. Following the elders around the home, Kinect can alert relatives about unusual behavior. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/zebcare/" rel="attachment wp-att-94924">http://cdn5.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/zebcare-400x243.jpg?9d7bd4 developed Skanect to capture a 3d model of an object. Skanect transforms the Kinect into a scanner that is able to create 3D meshes out of real scenes in a few minutes. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/logo_manctl_wordpress/" rel="attachment wp-att-94925">http://cdn7.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/LOGO_MANCTL_WORDPRESS.png?9d7bd4 For athletes, training is always important. And Ikkos uses Kinect to monitor and help improve athletic skills. To learn precise physical movements, the training technique uses theories of neuroplasticity. Ikkos is also working with the department of Veterans administration for the rehabilitation of veterans. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/ikkos/" rel="attachment wp-att-94926">http://cdn6.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ikkos.jpg?9d7bd4 helps consumers fit into their garments. They explained that clothing designers are still making clothes for the for ideal body shape not very real. So the Styku system creates a detailed 3D model of the customer, which can then help with finding the best fitting clothes. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/styku-smart-fitting-room-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-94927">http://cdn9.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/styku-smart-fitting-room-1.png?9d7bd4 is actively engaged in turning every surface into a 3D multitouch screen. Using Kinect as the foundation, they have built non-touch screens and then added new features to present new ways of showing information. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/ubi-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-94929">http://cdn5.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ubi1.jpg?9d7bd4 is driven by the billions that is spent on household purchases every year in the US and the 30m people moving home. Their solution allows you to try furniture before you buy. So by working with a 3D model of your home, you can insert new furniture in virtually, change the color scheme, wallpaper, lighting and more. You can decide what to buy because you will know what it will look like on your home. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/nconnex_logo4/" rel="attachment wp-att-94931">http://cdn8.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nconnex_logo4.png?9d7bd4 Is creating a new field of 3D movies or “Voxons’ with the first consumer volumetric 3D display. Kinect is providing the scanning motion with the results transferred to the volumetric device. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/voxon/" rel="attachment wp-att-94932">http://cdn5.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Voxon.png?9d7bd4 Was the first to use infrared depth-sensing cameras in the operating room environment to create gestural, touchless interfaces. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/gestsure/" rel="attachment wp-att-94933">http://cdn5.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/GestSure.jpg?9d7bd4 helps anyone animate instantly using the Kinect. You can animate characters and create your own scene just by moving your body. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/freakngenius/" rel="attachment wp-att-94934">http://cdn9.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/FreaknGenius.jpg?9d7bd4 Kinect as an Xbox add-on has come a long way. It is not just for gamers anymore. It has inspired many companies to pursue ways to develop touchless technology to make operations available to consumers, medical specialists, or businesses in new ways that was unheard of just a few years ago. For Microsoft, this is a special surprise because they have spent so much time, effort, and research dollars into other products that have yet to pan out. This one did. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/07/kinect-ways/">You Can Kinect in More Ways than One was posted on [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com">Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission. View the full article

Posted on Scalability[/b] OK size matters. Beside the one billion hits, making it one of the most popular sites on the Web there are 10 million unique visitors to date that have visited the site, with 25,000 new users signing up every day. Initially, the site went on-line in beta in July 2011, using Windows Server, but Pottermore had problems due to its large fan base. It was necessary to enact a different solution to meet the needs of its growing fan base. The demand for the site and the way people interacted with it changed expectations. Too much was happening the server technology that was in place did not match up. A change was necessary. Platform-as-a-Service In order to accommodate the Pottermore website the Azure Cloud service provided a platform-as-a-service (PaaS). This means that the Pottermore tech staff could simply move the application onto the Windows Azure platform without having to deal with the burden of managing and maintaining virtual machines. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/05/pottermore-and-windows-azure/pottermore-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-94907">http://cdn6.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Pottermore-2.jpg?9d7bd4 Another factor was important: Testing. Windows Azure provided a cloud-based testing environment to see if the Pottermore Azure Website could scale up to meet massive demand. At the time of the implementation, they knew there were between 2 million and 20 million Harry Potter fans who were waiting to get on the site it had to be ready. It’s been on-line now for several weeks. So far the website has not had a glitch. The scalability features have succeeded in keeping the site intact and growing. The PaaS application capabilities of Windows Azure, gave Pottermore the focus needed for the application. It was able to scale to immense levels in a short amount of time. Source: [url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Features/2012/Jun12/06-06Pottermore.aspx">Microsoft [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/05/pottermore-and-windows-azure/">Pottermore and Windows Azure was posted on [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com">Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission. View the full article

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my local tech installed the upgrade from vista to 7 on my high end laptop ... he chose the 32 bit version (my laptop is hardwired with 64 bit buss ... i did not agree or pre-approve this but it seems to be ok (except for a few quirks trying to re-install i-tunes) c ... am i going to have more issues? should i install the 64 bit version? ... thanks View the thread

As we approach the release of Windows 8, the catalog of Metro style apps continues to grow. To date, people have experienced apps that Microsoft has included with the downloaded build, and those that are offered in the Store in both the Consumer Preview and Release Preview timeframe. Many of those apps are great examples of immersive, touch-first Metro style experiences. However, like the Windows releases they run on, these apps are preview versions of the apps to come. The final versions of all Metro style apps will be available when Windows 8 becomes generally available. Last year, we began working closely with the developer community by releasing early versions of the Windows 8 platform and tools. We decided to engage developers earlier in the engineering process so we could help them build skills in Metro style app development and give them the opportunity to influence the platform through feedback. Since September of 2011 we have released 8 developer preview versions. Some of these versions have been available to a limited developer audience. Some have been distributed broadly. All of these releases had similar goals: Deliver new capabilities and APIs Update tools to simplify Metro style app development Enhance performance and reliability Respond to developer feedback We released our first Developer Preview version at the In April and May of this year, we released DP6 and DP7, which allowed developers to prepare their apps for the Release Preview. However, in close collaboration with the development community, we've continued to evolve the platform in response to their feedback. By the time we delivered the Release Preview, we had added 334 more APIs and continued to change existing APIs to address feedback. One example of a change we made in Release Preview (RP) based on developer feedback is the HTML Windows 8 Blog

Posted on [url=http://www.samsung.com/us/2012-smart-tv/index.html#hub?K_CLICKID=1b099625-01ab-e248-63c3-00004ccd360c">Smart TV[/b] Smart TV is Samsung’s TV operations that include the ability to control your TV in new ways. You can navigate using gesture control, you can share files with Smart Content since there is a built in camera to relay pictures to others. You can find things that you are looking for with Smart Hub and use Apps built for TV. You can also update your TV every year. In this regard, the potential for changing TV viewing is enormous. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/03/samsung-connect-azure-cloud-smart-tv-operations/smarttv/" rel="attachment wp-att-94879">http://cdn8.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/SmartTV-400x65.jpg?9d7bd4 Samsung Smart TV Operations The Smart TV service is currently operating in 120 countries but it wants to expand this further. So knowing that Microsoft offers Cloud Data Centers in North America, Europe, and Asia, this convinced Samsung that it could expand its customer base worldwide. Samsung was looking for reliability, as well as the ability to support a continuous grown in traffic. After working with Microsoft and testing their operations the company found that the Azure platform offered a greater speed than competitors, especially within the Asia region. One big concern was scalability which the Azure Cloud could reliably offer. But Samsung made the point that Windows Azure allowed the company to quickly secure and store resources, and focus on expanding their business rather than on security issues. [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/03/samsung-connect-azure-cloud-smart-tv-operations/smart-hub/" rel="attachment wp-att-94883">http://cdn9.everything-microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Smart-Hub-400x255.jpg?9d7bd4 No doubt the technical issues were complex but once they were addressed and solved, Samsung felt that their focus could be on bringing in more customers, and increasing their base. Source: [url=http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-adopts-windows-azure-for-smart-tv-cloud-structures-7000000175/">Samsung [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/07/03/samsung-connect-azure-cloud-smart-tv-operations/">Samsung Connects with the Azure Cloud for Smart TV Operations was posted on [url=http://www.everything-microsoft.com">Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission. View the full article

I go to Windows update in control panel and tell it to check for updates and I get: "windows update cannot currently check for updates because the service is not running. You may need to restart." I've restarted multiple times and still no luck. I checked for solutions on microsoft forums, one sollution I found was to update defender first, I do this and it tells me defender isnt installed. I cant install it because the installer says it comes with Vista ( updated from vista to 7 ). View this thread

Error message is Code 800F081F. I am using windows 7. Anyone else had this or discovered a fix? This error will not allow checking for updates I have used a couple of automated fixes from Microsft and the readiness tool but neither work View this thread

How can i prevent windows update agent 7.6.7600.256 te be installed automatically? View this thread

Both of these updates keep occuring evertime I turn my computer off since 4th June 2012 even though they successfully install previously. Is there a problem with these updates and how can I make them stop? View this thread

Had to use Recovery Disk and reformat my hard drive ... Now when I try to get updates (For practically everything) I can't. I can't use Windows update, gives Error number: 0x8024400A . I can't use Microsoft Update:Error number: 0x80240036, I can't use Microsoft Fix It Error Code: 16977921-2147023836, can't reinstall it either. I can't update ie6 says I need SP3. I can't find manually updates for my 32 bit XP w/ sp2. Net Framework 2 to do manually... I need help updating this computer... Please! View this thread

Everytime I try and install Microsoft Office 2010, I get a error message that says dvd2-kb2510154-x64-fullfile-x-none.exe is not a valid Win32 application. Why is that ? I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit if that helps View this thread

i keep crashing is this microsofts way telling us to upgrade.or is it the banks View this thread

Ik blijk niet de enige te zijn die door Microsoft met dit probleem geconfronteerd wordt. Als ik systeemherstel toepas dan komt de printer weer beschikbaar maar na afsluiting van de computer wordt automatisch de update agent weer geinstalleerd waardoor de printer weer niet werkt. En zo gaat het maar door en door en door. Ik verwacht van de Microsoft experts een spoedig antwoord op deze ellende. View this thread

I am running Windows XP with Service pack 3. Microsoft Security essentials is the security system. When I try to run Windows Update using Internet Explorer 8, at the point the page is checking whether my system has the correct Updating Software, the page fails, eventually showing the message "Internet Explorer has stopped trying to restore this website. It appears the website continues to have a problem." This recurs every time I repeat the initial attempt, or click on "Return to microsoft.com" on the error message page. Is the problem with the Microsoft web page ( its address is www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx ) or on my machine? View this thread

auto update tries to update security update for windows XP (kB2686509) this has been for the last month, don't know what to do, thanks for any help. View this thread

no further details View the thread

Hi, I am trying to download home and office trial but I get right to the end of installation and I get the 'error 1907, cannot verify fonts' message. I have tried doing the command prompt thing that has been suggested but it gets to about 85% and then says it has found corrupt files that it cannot fix and says the details are all in c://windows/log/CBS etc - there are a couple that have error next to them for example the one below (sorry its so long!) Does anyone know what this error is and how to fix it? 2-07-02 22:58:27, Error CSI 00000123 (F) STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_NOT_FOUND #2630166# from Windows::Rtl::SystemImplementation::DirectFileSystemProvider::SysCreateFile(flags = (AllowSharingViolation), handle = {provider=NULL, handle=0}, da = (STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ|FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES), oa = @0x155e14c->OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES {s:24 rd:NULL on:[122]"??C:WindowsWinSxSx86_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.6001.18000_ar-sa_09d32c59b84af212" a:(OBJ_CASE_INSENSITIVE)}, iosb = @0x155e16c, as = (null), fa = 0, sa = (FILE_SHARE_READ|FILE_SHARE_WRITE|FILE_SHARE_DELETE), cd = FILE_OPEN, co = 0x00004000, eab = NULL, eal = 0, disp = Invalid)[gle=0xd0000034] Please help urgenty, Thanks, Lea View this thread

I continue to get security notice ( failed critical update KB 2686509 ) this is followed by the statement " not a valid Win 32 application" I have tried numerous times to install this update, fix it client doesn't work- McAfee Security says all updates are installed I still get notice it is not installed from my Windows Auto Update This update is posted 05/07/2012 #158 MS12-034 Please help, I do not know how to fix this critical update Margret Calhoun View this thread