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This newsletter contains archived content. No warranty is made as to technical accuracy of content or currency of URLs.
I'm guessing that by now you have been running Windows Vista for several months. After the first few days, you found that you aren't prompted for permissions when you run your applications, because you've clicked to approve those you trust. And maybe you're noticing that your regular applications are snappier to load and run than you first thought? That's because SuperFetch has had a chance to determine what you are most likely to do and has preloaded your Top Favs in memory.
Your personal installation of Windows Vista has trained itself to work the way you need it to. So, in your professional capacity, when you are running benchmarks on Windows Vista for applications, system components, or other evaluation criteria, what are you measuring? That untrained version fresh out of the box? Or a system that's been trained to react to your workload the same way it would to an end user?
The Windows Kernel team has published a new paper with guidelines for professionals who create and run benchmarks. Measuring Performance in Windows Vista describes the major changes in Windows Vista related to the hardware platform that impact performance test results, specific features that can affect measurement, and some best practices for running a benchmark. If you are working to benchmark Windows Vista performance, this paper will help you to understand how the system adjusts its behavior and how the system services and settings interact with measurements. For your professional needs--or for the sake of your Super User curiosity--download this paper for guidelines and critical issues for success with performance benchmarking. Here's another benchmarking tip: If Windows Vista detects that graphics hardware has caused a system hang, it resets the GPU and restores the desktop to the state when the hang occurred--succeeding in 93 percent of cases, as revealed in Microsoft OCA data. However, running benchmarks with advanced tests on some GPUs might result in a timeout detection and recovery (TDR) event. To avoid this problem, you can test benchmark applications by using the registry keys for GPU hang detection described in Timeout Detection and Recovery of GPUs through WDDM. Although benchmark applications might hit false-positive hang detection, normal applications run by users should not. Your new benchmarks for Windows Vista should be designed so that they dynamically adjust to the limitations of the GPU. You can learn more in the new paper from the Windows Graphics team, GPU Hang Detection and Recovery. -- Annie Pearson
and the WHDC Web team
WHDC After Dark:
I'm actually on vacation and writing this from a local public library through the wonders of free Wi-Fi and remote access. With the physical library at my fingertips, I'll still call your attention to the radical advances of free audio books at LibriVox ("acoustical liberation of books in the public domain"). You may not need an audio version of Dr. Esperanto's International Language, Introduction and Complete Grammar, but there are probably other titles you want.
New for Hardware Designers and Developers
USB devices store standard descriptors in the device firmware and its interfaces and endpoints--but with limits on the types of information that these descriptors can contain.
To help address this issue, Microsoft has defined Microsoft OS descriptors that can be used to store in firmware much of the information that manufacturers have had to provide to customers separately. Versions of Windows that are aware of Microsoft OS descriptors use control requests to retrieve the information, and use that information to install and configure the device without user interaction. This new white paper from the Windows Device Experience team details these OS descriptors.
The Windows Security team has released a beta of Version 6 of this specification. Features of this new version include multiple PIN support, PIN caching modes, read-only cards, a secure PIN channel, external PINs, and enhanced ACLs.
Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 offers IT professionals a quick way to assess existing computers' readiness for Windows Vista in terms of hardware and device compatibility. The new version provides selective inventory, enhanced scalability for larger corporate networks, and assessment for Office 2007. This download is provided at no charge.
Notes and Tools for Driver Developers
The latest release includes new features and new command-line options, plus enhancements to the default configuration and !analyze, additional CSV scripts, and an additional Symbol Server. See What's New for Debugging Tools for Windows and the Release Notes provided with the tools.
This release contains nearly 300 bug fixes since the WDK was released with Windows Vista, including the latest information offered on MSDN. Monthly updates in this format will be made available--like the monthly online updates on MSDN. You can update your local documentation monthly for up-to-date reference without needing to be online.
Windows Logo Program Tools and News
This release replaces all previous releases of the WLK and Driver Test Manager (DTM) as the preferred kit for all currently active logo programs. 1.0.c supports logo programs for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. It also includes previews of tests required for the Windows Server 2008 logo program. Beginning August 11, 2007, all logo submissions to Winqual must be made by using the 1.0.c release of the WLK. Submissions from previous kits will not be accepted.
The WLK is available for download through the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and the Windows Logo Kit (WLK) Program on the Microsoft Connect Web site. See How to Get the Windows Driver Kit and Windows Logo Kit.
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