A couple of days ago, my old wireless desktop set (mouse and keyboard) had its receiver die on me. So I had to go out and grab another wireless desktop set for my PC. Microsoft offers some great wireless desktop sets but I decided to go with Logitech's Cordless Desktop S 510.

The Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 is Certified for Windows Vista and has some great features:

• Fast 27 MHz wireless performance.
• Programmable F-Keys that can be set to open favorite applications, websites, or files.
• One-Touch Controls that let you access music, video, volume, email, and the Internet.
• Power Management lets you go longer with a low-battery light and auto-off.
• Tilt Wheel plus Zoom allows you to go side to side or in and out on photos, websites or even spreadsheets.

I took some Unboxing shots to share.

The design of the keyboard is light, thin and simple which is really great.

I see a lot of keyboards with their One-Touch Controls on the top of the keyboard - the S 510 keyboard has the One-Touch Controls on the sides. Volume (music) controls are on the right and on the left is the zoom, internet and sleep/hibernate controls.

The mouse is pretty basic but has the great Tilt Wheel plus Zoom feature that lets me scroll side-to-side instead of just up and down. This is really useful. The Wireless Receiver for the S 510 is made in semi-transparent plastic giving a really interesting effect as you can see inside to the circuit board.

Overall, I'm really happy with my decision to go with Logitech's Cordless Desktop S 510. Logitech also has a really neat website for their Certified for Windows Vista products worth checking out.

If you’re a little confused to why and how Microsoft makes acquisitions, Tina Wood at Microsoft’s On10 community has kindly produced this video debunking some of the Microsoft myths, in which, she demonstrates the thought process behind these acquisitions. Here’s a quick snippet.

Life At Microsoft - The Truth Revealed

It should also be noted that two of the updates are not required if the user is already running Service Pack 1.

• Critical Update for Windows Vista: KB947890

• Important Update for Windows Vista: KB946456

Download: 32-bit | 64-bit

• Critical Update for Windows Vista: KB946026

Download: 32-bit | 64-bit

• Critical Update for Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista: KB944533

Download: 32-bit | 64-bit

• Important Update for IIS in Windows Vista: KB942831

Download: 32-bit | 64-bit

Set a fixed size Page File

In Control Panel the System applet has different tabs where you can manage these settings. The recommended size for a fixed Page file is shown at the bottom of the Virtual Memory tab. Choose this size as both the minimum and maximum under “Custom size”.

For A speedy networking
In Networking, Turn off Qos Packet Scheduler

On many machines, this will speed up networking. You can also Uncheck “IPV6″ since you probably don’t need this just yet.

Turn off the “chrome”

Turning off the fancy Aero interface, turning off the sidebar, and otherwise disabling the features that make Vista look and feel unique will help speed up performance. Free programs like CCleaner (”Crap Cleaner”) have features that let you manage the startup programs and clean up unneeded files off your hard drive.

Welcome to "The Quest for the Holy Desktop WMI Filter”, this is a global search for what you could call "The Perfect Desktop WMI Filter". A WMI filter which, by using WMI Query Language (WQL), should be able to spot DESKTOP computers only. It should be a general query - meaning it should be possible to use the filter in most Active Directory environments around the globe for Group Policy filtering.

So, what is a desktop really? Well, actually in this case we'll say it's the opposite of a laptop. Hmm, then what is a laptop? Easy enough: a computer with a battery! We've got the WMI filter for finding laptops already:

Select * from Win32_Battery  - don't you just love the simplicity in this query?

This filter will make a computer with a battery respond back with "TRUE" (because the WMI class instance is present), meaning a GPO with this filter will apply to computers with batteries. Simple right? And you might think it's easy to just "turn it around" to find desktops, like:

Select * From Win32_Battery Where Availability != 2
  or
Select * From Win32_Battery Where Availability IS NOT NULL
  or
“Where Not X Like Y” or whatever

Maybe it is, maybe it's not... I think it's pretty damn hard! For spotting laptops we could have tested the classes Win32_PortableBattery, Win32_PCMCIAController, Win32_POTSModem as well - but somehow I think most people will agree, that the "essential ting", which makes a laptop a laptop, is in fact the battery presence!

But, our tests for spotting DESKTOPS only (machines without a battery - yes, I know this will include servers as they a "stationary" too) have not been a success yet! We probably just need the correct syntax? And this is where you get into the picture!

 

Are you able to crack open this nut? There's a cool price!

This all started on a mailing list for Group Policy guys and girls - called GPTalk - created and maintained by Group Policy guru and MVP Darren Mar-Elia - the guy behind GPOguy.com and SDM Software. You can join the list RIGHT HERE and participate in this contest to WIN a free copy of the:

GPExpert™ Troubleshooting Pak 

BUT you have to be the first person to crack this thing, there'll be only ONE WINNER - that could be you!

I'll be evaluating incoming answers - FIFO: "First In First Out" method is used. Hopefully we'll see the most simple solution first - simplicity works, right? Actually I wouldn't know in this case would I...

One important thing! We will ask you kindly to TEST any WMI query submissions before sending them to everybody on the list. During your testing, you should use a tool to verify the WMI filter against a minimum of 2 desktops and 2 laptops. You can use the free WMI Filter Validation Tool to test you WMI filters in your environment. Personally I’m also using Scriptomatic version 2 and WBEMTEST for finding the available classes, items, queries etc.

Please have a look at the "rules" further down!

Why do this? Well, because it's fun - and useful at the same time... When looking at it generally, the purpose of this filter is to say: "I want these user settings to apply, but only when the user logs on to stationary machines". This can be used for a lot of security related setting, eg. in the case where Automatically cached Offline Files/Folders are unwanted on stationary machines for certain users etc. The job of most WMI filters placed on User policies is to limit which machines the policy setting(s) should apply to (even though WMI filters could check for user specific things too). Besides from that it's a nice challenge, we can pretty easily "spot" laptops, as they have batteries – and desktops don’t, but that’s not good enough for Mr. WQL, is it?!

 

Stuff we have tried - and the rules

We’ve been around solutions looking for Win32_SystemEnclosure > ChassisType before - which basically doesn’t work in a WMI filter because that’s an Array (and yes, I've also seen lots of posts on forums out there claiming that particular class is the solution – but for WMI/WQL queries it’s not). If would work in a script (because you can add additional logic to scripts), but we are searching for a WMI Filter - not workarounds of any kind!

As mentioned we tried with the Win32_Battery WMI class. However, as desktops don’t know this class at all, they'll return FALSE no matter what. Basically a desktop computer is gonna say “Heck, I don’t know anything about that class *Panic* I’m out!” – or just “False”... Bummer!

We have also tried PowerSupplyState, Win32_DesktopMonitor, Win32_DisplayConfiguration, Win32_SystemSlot, Win32_Fan and other classes – just haven’t found the perfect “this is definitely a desktop WMI item value or class”…

We're basically looking for something like:

A) Select * from Win32_SomeClassOnlyDesktopsHave

Or

B )Select * from Win32_SomeClass.SomeItem = “SomeValueOnlyDesktopsHave”

Or

C) Some way of saying “if you don’t know the class (eg. Win32_Battery), then apply the GPO anyway”

Again, the “quest” is to find the perfect, *universal*, way of spotting “Non-laptops” or Desktops – it can of course be done by looking for some special computer Manufacturer/Model, BIOS version, specific hardware driver or whatever – but that stuff it most likely gonna be different from environment to environment. Also, if we all just used computer names like “DESKxxx” for desktops and “LAPTxxx” for laptops, we could have used WMI filters for computer name – but unfortunately that’s not the case - or at least I won't consider that a valid solution :)

The thing is, that normally it’s the LAPTOPS that have special hardware – like Batteries and built-in Modems, PCMCIA slots etc. – so they are pretty easy to find. With desktop computers it’s another story – hope you can help us out here!

Please, again, we know lot’s of “workarounds”, but what we need is a *WMI filter* and it has to return *TRUE* for *DESKTOPS* (or let’s call the NON-LAPTOPS or NON-PORTABLES, it doesn’t really matter).

Remember, simplicity works - maybe the answer/solution is pretty straight forward? Feel free to post any additional questions to the mailing list!

 

Another example of what has been tried

We could maybe try to go for presence of PCI (and not Mini-PCI) or AGP slots, as we expect most desktops to have PCI slots (and laptops to have Mini-PCI, but that would depend on the form factor) – or maybe AGP (but does onboard VGA count as AGP? Any PCI VGA cards left out there? Yeah, probably...). If not we could maybe go for something like this:

A) Select * From Win32_SystemSlot Where SlotDesignation = “PCI%”
Or
B) Select * From Win32_SystemSlot Where SlotDesignation = “AGP”

However, this is not accepted as a solution as we cannot say that all desktop computers have AGP slots. But - maybe you can convince us otherwise?

 

Other cool Group Policy information:

You'll find additional Group Policy information at these sites:

www.gpanswers.com - The home of Group Policy guru and MVP Jeremy Moskowitz, check out the community there too!
TechNet Group Policy Forum - A brand new Group Policy forum on Microsoft TechNet
The Group Policy Team - The home of the Microsoft Group Policy Team
Jakob H. Heidelberg blog - My own blog, mostly about Group Policy and Security
www.heidelbergit.dk - My website with blog RSS, certifications, LinkedIn info etc.

 

Hope to hear from you soon - O' Yee Knight of the Microsoft Group Policy Table!

Most if not all the attention surrounding Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been around performance, reliability and compatibility, but you probably didn’t know SP1 also makes short strides in terms of Vista’s power efficiency. And by short, I really do mean short because we’re talking about improvements in the magnitude of only a couple percents. That in the context of 5 hours battery life is a mere additional 6 minutes. Having said that, some is better than none.

The first of two improvements is in the display subsystem. As you are probably aware of, the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) in Vista utilities the 3D rendering capabilities of your graphics card to draw the desktop and windows.

If you’ve ever played 3D games, you might have come across a graphics option called VSync. In a nutshell, VSync makes sure the output of the graphics card is synchronized with the refresh rate of your monitor. This prevents moving images from an effect of being teared. By design, Vista enables VSync to prevent a glitch free experience.

The side effect of VSync however is that it requires an interrupt to the CPU to maintain its sync. The default VSync rate for most users is 60Hz which means an interrupt occurs once every 16 milliseconds. As you might have guessed, this continuous interruption can prevent the CPU from entering a low-performance state where it is conserving energy.

Starting from SP1, the VSync functionality no longer runs continuously. Instead, the interrupts are disabled after a short timeout period where no screen updates has occurred. The default timeout period is 10 VSync periods which translates to 160 milliseconds (0.16 second) on a 60Hz screen. The catch is that a screen update can be anything from a blinking cursor to a flashing network icon, so the chances of a screen idle might be a lot less than you would imagine. Microsoft estimates VSync can increase power consumption from 1 to 2 percent.

The second improvement is in the audio subsystem and only concerns those with HD Audio codecs (not AC97). In Vista RTM, the audio device will never idle regardless of whether or not it is mute or if there’s any sound processing being done on the device, thus sucking power even when you’re not hearing any sound at all.

Starting from SP1, the default idle timeout for has been changed to 30 seconds. This means on battery power if the audio device is not rendering audio for a continuous period of 30 seconds, it will actually switch the audio device to a D3 power state. By definition, this means the device is off and should not consume any energy at all. Whilst Microsoft doesn’t give any indication of potential power savings, I presume this will have more of an effect than the VSync enhancement.

Before any of this matters, both of these changes also require some work on behalf of the hardware vendor. In the case of the graphics driver, it involves adding an additional flag in the source code and recompiling it with the new framework. In the case of the audio driver, it will have to direct the hardware to enter into a low-power state after a period of audio idle. Besides Microsoft’s default drivers, I’m not aware of any third-parties already supporting these enhancements but I hope they will soon.

If any laptop users with Vista SP1 have noticed a dramatic increase in battery life after SP1, please share your system specification and how much of an improvement you saw. If you don’t have SP1 already, it only means you’re not looking hard enough.