WINDOWS 8 FEATURES
NEW FEATURES OF WINDOWS 8
Windows 8 focuses on users‘ lives. It is beautiful. Fast. Fluid. It‘s also perfect for a range of devices. This includes PCs, of course, but also compact, touch-enabled tablet PCs; lightweight laptops; and large, powerful all-in-one PCs with high-definition screens. Windows 8 is smooth and intuitive. Users have instant access to the information they care about most, like their contacts, apps, and other information. They can spend less time looking for information and more time doing things with it. The following sections provide a quick look at some of the really interesting new features for IT pros:
END-TO-END SECURITY
The following list describes new and enhanced security features in Windows 8:
- Trusted boot Some malware programs target the boot process and insert Themselves into the system before Windows or antimalware software is able to start. Because of this, the ability of Windows or the antimalware software to protect the system might be compromised. With UEFI 2.3.1 equipped devices, the UEFI Secure Boot feature helps to ensure that malware is not able to start before Windows 8. The Windows 8 Trusted boot feature protects the integrity of the remainder of the boot process, including the kernel, system files, boot critical drivers, and even the antimalware software itself. The system‘s antimalware software is the first third-party application or driver to start. Moving antimalware into the Trusted boot process prevents it from being tampered with. In the event that malware is able to successfully tamper with the boot process, Windows can automatically detect and repair the system.
- Measured boot On Trusted Platform Module (TPM)–based systems, Windows 8 can perform a comprehensive chain of measurements during the boot process that can be used to further validate the boot process beyond Trusted boot. Measured boot process enables all aspects of the boot process to be measured, signed, and stored in a TPM chip. This information can be evaluated by a remote service to further validate a computer‘s integrity before granting it access to resources. This process is called Remote Attestation.
- Bit Locker Drive Encryption Bit Locker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature in Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise editions that helps protect data theft from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers. Bit Locker now encrypts hard drives more quickly, helping to keep data safe without significantly interrupting worker productivity. Bit Locker now supports encrypted drives, which are hard drives that come Pre-encrypted from the manufacturer. Bit Locker offloads the cryptographic operations to hardware, increasing overall encryption performance and decreasing CPU and power consumption.On devices without hardware encryption, Bit locker encrypts data more quickly.Bit Locker allows you to choose to encrypt the used space on a disk instead of the entire disk. As free space is used, it will be encrypted. This results in a faster, less disruptive encryption of a hard drive, so that enterprises can more easily provision Bit Locker, and they can do it with little time impact. In addition, the user experience is improved by allowing a standard user, one without administrative privileges, to reset the Bit Locker PIN.
- AppLocker AppLocker is a simple and flexible mechanism that allows you to specify exactly which apps are allowed to run on users‘ PCs. Traditional access control technologies such as Active Directory Rights Management Services and Access Control Lists (ACLs) help control the data users are allowed to access. However, these technologies can‘t prevent users from installing or using non-standard software. In Windows 8 Enterprise editions, AppLocker enables you to create security policies through Group Policy to prevent potentially harmful or other non-approved apps from running. With AppLocker, you can set rules based on a number of properties, including the signature of the application‘s package or the app‘s package installer, and can more effectively control apps with less management.
- Windows Smart Screen Windows Smart Screen app reputation is a safety feature in Windows 8. This service provides application reputation-based technologies to help protect users from malicious software that they may encounter on the Internet. This technology checks the reputation on any new application, helping to keep users safe no matter what browser they use in Windows 8. This helps to prevent malware and other viruses from infiltrating your organization. The Windows Smart Screen app reputation feature works with the Smart Screen feature in Internet Explorer, which also protects users from websites seeking to acquire personal information such as usernames, passwords, and billing data.
- Claim-based access control Claim-based access control enables you to set up and manage usage policies for files, folders, and shared resources. With Windows 8, you can dynamically allow users access to the data they need based on the user‘s role in the company. Unlike previous statically-controlled security groups, Claim-based access control allows you to dynamically control access to corporate resources based on the user and device properties that are stored in Active Directory. For example, a policy can be created that enables individuals in the finance group to have access to specific budget and forecast data, and the human resources group to have access to personnel files.
MANAGEABILITY AND VIRTUALIZATION
The following list describes some of the new manageability and virtualization features in Windows 8:
- Client Hyper-V Client Hyper-V on Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise is a robust virtualization platform that enables IT Pros and developers to run diverse client and server environments on their Windows 8 PCs. You can test and manage multiple environments from a single PC, allowing you to evaluate changes in a test environment in advance of deploying to a production environment. With support for wireless networking and sleep and hibernate modes, Client Hyper-V can run on any Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)–enabled 64-bit PC, including most Intel- and AMD-based laptops. Virtual Machines (VMs) can be migrated easily between server and Client Hyper-V without modification, making developers and IT pros more efficient. Client Hyper-V also supports both 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems. Client Hyper-V leverages the security enhancements in Windows 8 and can be managed easily by existing IT tools such as System Center.
- Windows Power Shell Management tasks are simplified with Windows Power Shell automation. Windows Power Shell provides easy-to-learn language syntax. New features in the Windows Power Shell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) make it easier and faster for both new and experienced users to author clear, maintainable, production-ready automation scripts. IntelliSense tap completion, snippets, and GUI-based search features provide improved cmdlet discovery, making it easier to find and run any of the 1,200 new high-level, task-oriented cmdlets.
- Testing, deployment, and migration Deploying Windows 8 in your Organization is faster and easier than Windows 7. Enhanced tools help you make the right decisions with minimal downtime for users. A new version of the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) helps you understand potential application compatibility issues by identifying which apps are or are not compatible with Windows 8. ACT helps you to deploy Windows 8 more quickly by helping to prioritize, test, and detect compatibility issues with your apps. Migrating user data from a previous Windows installation can be automated with the User State Migration Tool (USMT). This tool now supports migrating user data from Windows XP installations. With the end of support for Windows XP approaching, now is a great time to plan your migration to Windows 8.
- Refresh and Reset your PC Windows 8 helps streamline the recovery process for PCs. Refresh your PC and Reset your PC allow users to restore their Windows 8 installation and more easily get their systems up and running again. Even when Windows 8 cannot start, you can use these new features from within the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE). Refresh your PC allows users to reinstall Windows 8 while maintaining their personal files, accounts, and personalization settings. These features make it faster and easier to get a PC up and running again.
- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Powered by Window Server 8, Microsoft VDI provides the best value for virtual desktops today. The new Remote Desktop client in Windows 8 works with VDI. Windows Server 8 provides customers with deployment choices through a single platform and a consistently rich user experience. Setting up a VDI environment is easy with the simple setup wizard, and managing your VDI environment is simple with administration, intelligent patching, and unified management capabilities. Features such as user profile disks and Fair Share ensure high performance and flexibility, whereas support for lower-cost storage and sessions help reduce the cost of VDI. In addition, Microsoft RemoteFX provides users with a rich, local-like desktop experience, with the ability to play multimedia, 3D graphics, use USB peripherals, and touch-enabled devices across any type of network (LAN or WAN). All of these benefits are available across different types of VDI desktops (personal VM, pooled VM, or session-based desktops).
