James Banogon

Windows 7 XP Mode is now a Release Candidate

Posted on August 5, 2009 in Technology

Microsoft has declared that the status of the XP Mode add-on of Windows 7 that will permit end users with the appropriate hardware to run a virtual adaptation of Windows XP inside Windows 7 is at this moment a Release Candidate.

There are quite a few latest features in XP Mode Release Candidate. XP Mode applications currently present users a jump list of the most recently opened files with that application. This brings one of Windows 7′s additional helpful productivity features into play with older applications that would not otherwise cover it. As a result, not only will you be capable of directly running your most recently used XP Mode applications from the Windows 7 taskbar, but you will also be able to open particular files from the Windows 7 taskbar, too. You can now make use of USB devices in XP Mode without having to make it full screen, straight from the Windows 7 taskbar.

Disk drive linking of XP Mode and Windows 7 can be disabled, and an up-to-the-minute guide has been released on how to utilize XP Mode that users will primarily get access to from the XP Mode installation screen. In the XP Mode beta, users could not modify where to store up differencing disk files. This involves the virtualization characteristics of running XP in Windows 7.

Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc suggests in the blog article announcing the XP Mode RC that end users install antivirus and other anti-malware protections in XP Mode on top to whatever protective steps users have taken in the native Windows 7 environment. He in addition cautions that XP Mode is intended for running productivity applications that would not be upgraded to the latest version of Windows, meaning that Microsoft does not anticipate the average end user to get much mileage out of the feature.

Consumers who are still interested in trying out the Windows 7 Release Candidate can still do so until this month.

Tags: microsoft, windows 7, windows xp, xp mode