I just read a tidbit from Kristan Kenney’s blog about a “Family Pack” clause in the latest Windows 7 build’s software license terms. This applies to the Home Premium version of the latest Windows OS:

2. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.
a. One Copy per Computer. Except as allowed in Section 2 (b) below, you may install one copy of the software on one computer. That computer is the “licensed computer.”

b. Family Pack. If you are a “Qualified Family Pack User”, you may install one copy of the software marked as “Family Pack” on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the “licensed computers” and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.

c. Licensed Computer. You may use the software on up to two processors on the licensed computer at one time. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, you may not use the software on any other computer.

d. Number of Users. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, only one user may use the software at a time.

e. Alternative Versions. The software may include more than one version, such as 32-bit and 64-bit. You may install and use only one version at one time.

I was a little tempted to pre-order upgrades to Home Premium, but this changes things. It allows installation of Windows 7 Home Premium on three computers. I’ll wait as details develop.

Tags: License, Microsoft, Operating System, Software, Windows 7

I’m beta testing Windows 7 RC, and it’s shaping to be a very nice operating system. I just hope this “Preparing your desktop…” problem will not trickle down to the final version. It seems related to the “Your User Profile Was Not Loaded Correctly!” problem I had with Windows Vista. Whenever this happens, I get a blank desktop and the theme is set to Windows Classic (non-Aero). It is obviously still related to User Profiles.

C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop refers to a location that is unavailable.

Tags: Beta, Errors, Issues, Microsoft, Release Candidate, Screenshots, Windows 7

NOTICE: This content discusses features in beta software that may change in the final release version.

See updates below.

Windows 7’s improved support for Biometric Devices looks very promising, and I got a little excited thinking that I didn’t have to install any software to use the built-in fingerprint reader on my HP tx1220us. It isn’t as integrated as I thought it would be, and I ended up installing additional software to get it working.

One method involved using DigitalPersona Personal 3.1.0.3276, as I did in Windows Vista. I didn’t run into any problems installing the software, and it functioned just as well as before. Going this route will provide you with support for finger print sign-on at the application level. If you absolutely need that functionality, this is the software you want to install.

What’s disappointing is seeing the following screen in the Biometric Devices control panel.

Okay, I just did that. You’re wrong Windows 7.

The second method involved installing Authentec’s software. I am assuming this is also beta software, so install it with caution.

AuthenTec | Win 7 Beta Download [32-bit version (19.9 MB)]
AuthenTec | Win 7 Beta Download [64-bit version (21.3 MB)]

Installing it is straightforward, but making it work is another thing. There’s no real way to understand what the installer did or what you need to do next. You won’t get a shortcut in your start menu, and you’ll have to start the finger print enrollment software manually. To do this, run the following program:

C:\Program Files\WIN7TS\TrueSuiteApplication.exe

This will let you use the finger print reader to log-on to Windows 7. I haven’t been able to use it for programs. Also, this method doesn’t make the “The selected fingerprint reader has no management application installed” message in the Biometric Devices control panel go away.

UPDATE: Windows 7 RC now allows users to run the AuthenTec True Suite Application using the Biometric Devices control panel by clicking “Manage your fingerprint data.”

Tags: AES1610, AuthenTec, Beta, Biometrics, DigitalPersona, Fingerprint Reader, Hardware, How To, HP, Laptop, Pavilion, Screenshots, Software, Tablet, Technology, tx1000, tx1000z, tx1220us, Windows 7

NOTICE: This content discusses features in beta software that may change in the final release version.

This is an extension of my other touchscreen calibration post for Vista. I tested it on my HP Pavilion tx1220us tablet PC with Windows 7 Beta installed, and I made the trick work by following these steps.

If you’ve previously calibrated your tablet or touchscreen, you may get a popup when you use the tabcal utility in the command prompt:

As instructed, open up the Tablet PC Settings in the Control Panel and reset the calibration and the tabcal utility will be allowed to run a calibration.

There’s one gotcha to using the added calibration points in the Windows 7 utility however. If the same XGridPts and YGridPts values are used (as discussed in the instructions for Vista), the grid points will be covered by the instruction text block. The taps will not register for areas that are covered. Just specify different XGridPts and YGridPts that will be outside the covered area.

Tags: Beta, Calibration, Display, How To, Pavilion, Screenshots, Tablet, Touchscreen, Tutorials, Tweaks, tx1000, tx1000z, tx1220us, Windows 7

Update: This also works for Windows 7. Find out how to calibrate your tablet or touchscreen with more points in Windows 7.

I found this cool trick to get more than four calibration points in Vista’s built-in tablet/touchscreen calibration tool. If you run calibration from the Tablet PC Settings control panel in Vista, you’ll see the screen shown below.

You’ll be prompted to tap on crosshairs that appear on intersections of blue lines to calibrate your screen. For the most part, this works just fine, but lately, I found that my touchscreen’s calibration was very off, and running the default calibration didn’t quite do the job. I thought the four points were not enough to obtain the best calibration, and after some googling, I found this page on running the calibration tool from the command prompt. The page offers some precautionary steps before using this tool. It would be wise to perform those steps.

This will allow you to calibrate the screen using thirty-six calibration points (Landscape):

tabcal lincal novalidate XGridPts=5,259,513,767,1021,1275 YGridPts=5,163,321,479,637,795

Similarly, this will allow you to calibrate the screen in portrait mode with the same amount of points:

tabcal lincal novalidate XGridPts=5,163,321,479,637,795 YGridPts=5,259,513,767,1021,1275

The number of crosshairs is dependent on the points specified in XGridPts and YGridPts, and can be placed anywhere as long as they are within the resolution of the screen. I placed points in a uniform grid for my HP tx1220us’ 1280x800 screen.

After running the calibration with more points, I noticed the cursor followed my pen, and even my fingers, much better.

Tags: Calibration, How To, HP, Pavilion, Screenshots, Tablet, Touchscreen, Tutorials, Tweaks, tx1000, tx1000z, tx1220us, Vista, Windows