Enhanced Storage and Biometrics : Windows 7 for Notebooks and Netbooks

Enhanced Storage and Biometrics

By Mary Branscombe, published on November 26, 2008
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Windows, seven, Netbook | Themes: Windows Tech Talk, Business Notebooks

Contents

9. Enhanced Storage and Biometrics

Windows 7 also supports the new IEEE 1667 standard, which Microsoft calls “Enhanced Storage.” This is a standardized way of password-protecting USB devices, but will only work with hardware that supports the IEEE 1667 standard. Like the sensor framework, Enhanced Storage is aimed at making these devices cheaper because manufacturers wouldn’t have to write their own drivers or password management software. When you protect a device with a password you can choose your own recovery password and a reminder hint. When you plug in a password-locked Enhanced Storage drive you won’t get an AutoPlay prompt or even be able to see the size of the drive until you unlock it; devices will be locked automatically if your PC shuts down or goes into standby mode.

Biometrics is also built into Windows 7. It doesn’t add any extra features beyond logging in using your fingerprints, but making it part of the operating system makes it potentially cheaper and easier for PC manufacturers to put fingerprint readers into laptops. That will make OEMs happier about putting Windows 7 on new PCs and it should mean your Windows 7 notebook will have more features for the same price.

9 – Enhanced Storage and Biometrics
1. 1 – Windows 7 on Netbooks
2. 2 – Windows 7 Fits With SSDs
3. 3 – Extra SSD Features
4. 4 – Better Battery Life
5. 5 – Managing the Battery and Optical Drives
6. 6 – Better DVD Playback
7. 7 – GPS, Ambient-Light Sensors and More
8. 8 – Mobile Communications and Security
9. 9 – Enhanced Storage and Biometrics
10. 10 – More on this topic

Previous page Mobile Communications and Security
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zodiacfml 11/26/2008 2:59 PM

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i just hope that on the desktop we can turn off windows features.

Anonymous 11/26/2008 4:43 PM

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It looks like my lenovo already has most of these features. And always this discussion about battery life. I have never gotten the advertised battery life is I actually use my laptop. So the screen can not be too dim (let alone outside... what a joke). I actually need the harddrive. So much of these features don't seem that interesting. What is really new in Windows 7. (all the features for OEM's... do I care if I already have it?).
The easier networking. Interesting. didn't XP show you the wi-fi networks with one click. And then in Vista they removed it. So now it is a feature again? Come on...
An 8Gb footprint for barebones windows. What is that all about. I can run XP easily on a 10Gb drive. And it needs only about 2Gb. So where is the progress here...???
Overall from what I read: not much new stuff.
Sounds like lots of these are already in XP... Should compare battery life with XP, not vista I guess....
And would love to see a comparison on some of these tasks with an Apple. Just to know if it will be worth my money to switch.

Anonymous 11/26/2008 7:19 PM

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-1

I've played around with Vista a bit, but glad I skipped implementing it as my main OS.

hellwig 11/26/2008 8:14 PM

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-1

Same here with skipping Vista. I had plenty of driver-incompatability fun when I switched to Win XP Pro x64 (for the heck of it). I figured I would just skip the whole Vista issue entirely. If Windows 7 needs less hardware than the 2-year old Vista it is based on, it just further shows how unnecessary Vista was. Looks like the wait for Windows 7 will be well worth it.

Anonymous 11/27/2008 7:29 AM

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what about tablet features?
to my understanding the 7 OS supports active, passive, wacom technology and multitouch options much better then the Vista did.
Since the vista did (does) it well, i wonder how much better will the 7 be on my tablet-pc...

Anonymous 11/28/2008 1:21 PM

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Windows 7 IS Vista with options to strip down unnecessary parts and with some tuning done. But most important, with completely new marketing! And people will pay for something that they should already have when they bought Vista. Smart Microsoft is and that's why they're rich.

Anonymous 11/28/2008 5:22 PM

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That's right medmeks..

So, Why don't we make another class action lawsuits against Ballmer and his god-damned Microsoft?

Anonymous 11/29/2008 9:19 PM

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I agree with medmeks... it is just an updated version of vista as said by Microsoft themselves...because the update was so big they deemed it release. But then Apple charge for each of their big updates every time...so nothing new here...Mircosoft copying Apple??

I run Vista as my main OS now having bought a copy upgraded from XP. I think it is great and have had zero issues with it in 3 months... i have a macbook too but will be selling soon as i dont use it enough - XBOX 360 etc.

jkeelsnc 11/30/2008 10:40 PM

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This is all good. I finally started using Vista recently and after SP1 it is acceptable (finally). However, this still begs a question. Why the hell didn't Microsoft write Vista with these features to begin with to allow it to run properly on smaller machines and less hardware? I understand that SSD's were not popular at the time but the rest of the features could have been implemented. Not to mention they should checked on the hardware and software compatabilities before shoving it out the door. Having said that, VISTA is finally pretty good and it looks like Windows 7 will actually be very nice.

Anonymous 12/02/2008 2:46 PM

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vista is a rushed product - that's why...

Anonymous 04/08/2009 7:14 AM

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