In my last column, I covered three of the new features in Windows 7 that I felt would interest IT pros—UAC, Windows XP Mode, and AppLocker.

Attending the Windows 7 Launch Event in New York City on October 22, I learned a bit more about the new OS. After checking out some demos, I came up with a selection of other Win 7 features that you and your users might appreciate.

Offline Files

A feature introduced in Vista, Offline Files lets you and your users sync network copies of files to your local machines. This gives you the power to work locally with any file stored on your network. You can modify the files offline and then sync them with their network counterparts once you're back in the office.

I checked out the offline file feature with my home network, and it worked smoothly. While online, I simply selected the folders or files I wanted to access offline and triggered the “Always available offline” command. Windows 7 displayed an icon as part of the folder so I could tell visually which folders were available offline.

After disconnecting from my network, I simply browsed to my network drive through a UNC path, entered my username and password, and was then able to open and work with the offline files. Once I went back online and reconnected to the network, the local files I modified automatically synced with their network versions.

Libraries

These days, your users can store files and documents in a variety of places—desktop, laptop, network, USB drive. Juggling all those different locations can be challenging.

Libraries offer you a way of accessing files from different physical locations in one virtual location. For example, your documents library can show you in one screen all the documents stored on your hard drive, your network, and your USB drives.

Windows 7 offers four built-in libraries—Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (see image below). But you and your users can create and customize your own libraries for other types of files. For example, I created a library for Downloads, which points to both my local Downloads folder and a Downloads folder on my network. Now I no longer have to bang my head against the wall trying to remember where I saved my latest download.

BitLocker to Go

Are your users storing more data on USB drives? If so, you may want to set up BitLocker to Go to protect that data. This feature encrypts files on a USB drive so no one can access them without the right password. Other Windows 7 users who know the password can read, modify, and write data, while Windows XP and Vista users can read the data but not modify it or write to the drive.

Microsoft (News - Alert) (News - Alert) debuted BitLocker with Windows Vista. But that initial edition was challenging to implement and manage. Plus, it could only protect the boot volume of your hard drive. Vista SP1 extended the protection to all hard disk partitions. BitLocker to Go steps up the game by smoothing over its implementation and including support for external drives.

Like other advanced features in the new OS, BitLocker to Go works only with the Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7. However, most large organizations would probably opt for the Enterprise edition anyway as that’s the only flavor that qualifies for Microsoft’s volume licensing.

Problem Steps Recorder

We’ve all had to help users who bump into a technical problem but can’t always describe the actions or steps that lead to the problem. With the new Problem Steps Recorder (PSR), those steps can now be recorded and documented.

The quickest way to launch PSR is by typing psr in the Windows Start Menu Search or Run fields. Up pops a simple recording toolbar (see image below). Simply click Start Record, and then perform the steps that lead to the problem. When finished, click Stop Record. You can then save the recording as a zip file


containing a Web archive (MHT) page, viewable in your Web browser. The MHT file displays screenshots of every step performed, along with details on each of those steps.

You can review the MHT file yourself or send it your favorite Microsoft tech rep for detailed analysis.

There’s still much more to Windows 7, and part of the fun and challenge is discovering all that the new OS has to offer you and your users. But hopefully the features I discussed here and in my last column provide a good place to start.