Letters - 21 May 2009

Updated Code for Mapping Printers
We've extended the support code for "Create Site-Specific Printer Mappings for Mobile Users" (March 2009, InstantDoc ID 101230) to work around two specific problems: IP4 addresses assigned to disconnected adapters and automatic IPv6 addresses generated for Windows Vista and later systems. Thanks to Roy Ulrick and Stuart Cleveland for providing feedback and testing!
—Alex Angelopoulos

Weathering the Storm
Recently, I've noticed that Windows IT Pro isn't as thick as it once was, and so I considered canceling my subscription. Then, I read Michele Crockett’s IT Pro Perspective column, “Riding Out the IT Storm” (April 2009, InstantDoc ID 101536). After reading her article, I've decided to continue subscribing as I have since 1997.

I understand the cost factor, and I believe things will turn around for IT. In the publishing world, online content is the new way for people to get their information. I would suggest that you create a mobile website so that readers can get content on their mobile devices.

We have to support one another through the good times and the bad. So, I'm sticking it out with you guys. I'll check out the resources on the web that Michele mentions, and I'll also download Paul Thurrott's Windows Weekly podcast to get my timely Microsoft information—as well as some Mac bashing! Anyway, please continue to help us IT folks stay informed and educated about the latest technologies.
—Gary Godfrey

Streamlined Windows 7
One of the exciting benefits of Windows 7 is that it supposedly requires less hardware than Windows Vista does. I'm excited to try it out on one of my older laptops, which is currently running Windows XP. However, the laptop doesn't have a DVD drive, and so far I've seen only DVD images of the Windows 7 beta releases. Do you know how to obtain CD images from the DVDs?
—Ze'ev Ionis

I’m not aware of any CD media for Windows 7. But you can pick up an inexpensive USB DVD drive that you can boot from. Or, you can create a bootable USB stick with Windows 7 on it and install from there. You could even use Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Deployment Services and allow the installation over the network. But the easiest solution would be to buy a USB DVD drive. Windows 7 is based on a single Windows Imaging Format (WIM) file that's over 2GB in size. You would have to split the WIM file to put it on a CD.
—John Savill

Battery Drain?
John Savill’s answer to the question, "What uses the most battery power on my laptop?" (April 3,, 2009, www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 101790), is helpful, but I have another question. I've heard that wireless networking consumes battery power like crazy, and that's the reason most current laptops tend to shut down the radio when it's not in use. Is this true? Is that aspect factored into John's "Network” result of 4 percent? I would expect this result to be much higher if wireless networking is truly a concern.
—Phil Powers

Interesting question. I did some additional research and found that most modern wireless and Bluetooth networks aren't the huge battery killers we typically think they are, compared with something like a large laptop screen. The 4 percent figure includes wireless and Bluetooth. Yes, it’s great to turn those radios off if you aren't using them. However, consider the average mobile phone and its tiny battery. Those devices have WLAN/Bluetooth, and they can run for an entire day. Now, consider the battery inside a laptop. The proportion of battery used by WLAN/Bluetooth is comparably small. That being said, turning off the network is also a good idea from a security perspective: You don't want to advertise the availability of networks that you're not even using.
—John Savill