Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 released for public consumption

Today Microsoft made available Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 via its Windows Update and download center sites. SP1 includes the new RemoteFX feature which delivers Direct3D acceleration and on the server side SP1 includes Dynamic Memory. This essentially allows on-the-fly adjustment of memory allocation for virtual machines being hosted on Hyper-V.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows/downloads/service-packs

Internet Explorer 9 Preview

I’ve been running IE 9 since the early beta versions were released and I must say it's pretty solid. IE 9 offers a cleaned up interface which by default removes the status bar, favourites bar an many of the command buttons. Microsoft still gives you the option to add these features back on but I like the fact that they are trying to make the interface as clean as possible.  Some of the nicest features includes a download bar that allows you to manage your downloads independently from your browsing session, the "new tab" window now includes a list of your most popular sites and the ability to reopen closed tabs but I think that the nicest feature is that Microsoft has finally integrated the address bar and the search bar – much like Google’s Chrome. However, if you're still running Windows XP you're out of luck as IE 9 is currently only available for Windows Vista or Windows 7 and it doesn't look like Microsoft is going to change their stance. Try it today…

http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9

Windows Update Error Code 80072F8F

From time to time patch installations will fail during our OS deployment process leaving the workstation not fully patched. Once a machine has finished imaging someone from the deployment group will usually do a spot check and connect to Windows Update just to ensure that the workstation is fully patched. Last week I started to notice that many of the new Windows 7 workstations would not connect to Windows Update and get the following error:

An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.
Error(s) found:
Code 80072F8F

Checking online I found a Microsoft article that explained that this error usually results from a time mismatch between your machine and the Windows Update servers. However, these workstations were members of our domain and all of the time settings were correct. I found another post referencing root cert problems and the Windows Update error 80072F8F which reminded me of my post about Windows 7 failing to update its root certificates and causing Windows Live Messenger sign-in to fail. After updating to the latest root certificates (KB931125) Windows Update connected just fine.