Windows 7 and Lenovo ThinkVantage Technologies
You’re going to want Windows 7. It’s that good. The more I use it, the more I like it. I won’t rehash it here. You can read about it in innumerable places. You don’t even have to read about it. You can download the beta and try it for yourself. Though Microsoft has officially ended the beta 2 download period, BitTorrent is your friend.
Like many other utilities vendors, Lenovo has to contend with each version of Windows having more built into the core operating system. When creating our ThinkVantage Technologies (programs like Access Connections, ImageUltra Builder, and Rescue and Recovery), we’ve used an “embrace and extend” methodology. In other words, we would take a basic function present in Windows and add our own additional capabilities and features on top of it.
As an example, let me use our connectivity manager, Access Connections. If you are not familiar with this tool, Access Connections is designed to make connecting to all types of networks easy and painless, whether they are wired or wireless. In the early days of Windows (2000), this tool was absolutely needed. Windows was pretty terrible about configuring Wi-Fi connections, especially when a network needed advanced security. As Windows has evolved, it has gradually gained more flexibility and power. Functions that used to require separate drivers or programs are now built into the core operating system. A great example of this is Cisco’s CCX extensions for logging onto secure corporate networks.
Correspondingly, Access Connections has evolved as well. With Windows Vista, for example, we actually use Windows architecture under the covers to handle most Wi-Fi related connectivity. Yet, Access Connection’s value as a utility still persists because there are things that Windows cannot do. These range from handling WWAN connections to setting browser default pages to making sure that when you are at home, you don’t accidentally print to your office printer. On top of this, Access Connections and the other ThinkVantage tools add a degree of centralized control that is demanded by IT administrators and not available with Windows.
Besides our flagship ThinkVantage Technologies, we include a whole host of secondary utilities. These include things like Lenovo Presentation Director, Easy Eject, Screen Magnifier, and our GPS application. As Windows becomes more capable, it continues to encroach on these utilities.
And this is what brings us to a crossroads. Though we are not dependent on any one of these tools or utilities for our livelihood, in aggregate, they form part of the Lenovo value proposition. As we start to develop for Windows 7, our teams constantly have to determine which tools to continue to spend scarce development resources on.
Let me give you another example by talking about Lenovo Rescue and Recovery. In addition to providing backup and recovery functions, it also is one of the few OEM vendor supplied utilities to install another operating system below your primary operating system. Even if your copy of Windows cannot boot, by pressing our blue ThinkVantage button (or F11 on your keyboard), you can get up and running quickly.
Prior to Windows 7, if your operating system would not boot, Windows had limited recovery tools that could sometimes help you recover, provided that you had access to a Windows CD. This proved impractical for many people. Who among us can lay hands on a Windows install CD these days? As vendors, we do not make it any easier considering that the industry has long given up supplying Microsoft Windows CDs in favor of vendor-branded recovery CDs.
Windows 7 installs and can boot to Windows PE, obviating the need to have physical CD media to start a recovery. In addition, it introduces full image based disk backup, which has been a clear differentiator for our Rescue and Recovery program over Windows functionality for some time.
Once Windows 7 ships, Lenovo will still have a lot of functionality over and above what is included with Windows, especially if you are a business user. Even if you are a individual user, we have more “dials and knobs” to allow you to customize your backup and recovery experience. Yet, our dilemma is clear – at what point does Windows offer “good enough” functionality that we should abandon our own tools and focus on something else?
Speaking from personal experience, I am wondering if I am going to install Access Connections when I start to use Windows 7. Windows leaps forward in its control of all types of connections, including 3G/cellular connections ,and I’ve found that 90% of the functionality I need is built in. (If I were a corporate IT department, I’d probably want the additional control and profile versioning functionality built into Access Connections. I’m more of an IT department of one.)
With all of that said,
If you’ve tried the Windows 7 beta, are you as excited about it as I am?
If you were in charge of our software development team and had to prioritize funding for our ThinkVantage tools and secondary utilities, which ones would you keep? Which ones would you drop?
Which of our tools are “almost there,” but need another feature or two in order to make them a “killer app” for you?
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ThinkVantage tools examples: Access Connections, ImageUltra Builder, Rescue & Recovery, System Migration Assistant, Password Manager, Productivity Center, System Update. You can learn about all of them on lenovo.com/thinkvantage
Secondary utilities include: Presentation Director, Power Manager, Easy Eject, Screen Magnifier, GPS utility, Message Center
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Lenovo H320 desktop
February 26th, 2009 5:54 pm
In order from certainly keep to possibly drop:
System Update
Access Connections
GPS Utility
Power Manager
Presentation Director
Rescue & Recovery
Productivity Center
Password Manager
Easy Eject
Scree Magnifier
Message Center
And never heard of…
ImageUltra Builder
System Migration Assistant
February 26th, 2009 5:59 pm
Yes, I’ve tried the W7 beta. I’m using it now. But like with Vista, there’s no graphics driver for my two X31s. Thanks for that. ThinkVantage is great – especially System Update, but it’s no use when there are no drivers to download.
February 26th, 2009 7:22 pm
I must confess I never used ImageUltra Builder and only used the image customizer utility to clean up the pre-install environment, but it’d be really nice to see some enhancement to Microsoft’s ImageX/WDS functionality that is specific to Lenovo systems. The process of injecting drivers into WIM images is painful, and it’d be nice if the ThinkPad drivers offered some WIM injection functionality. In that situation the time savings in deployment would make the hardware much more compelling to manage.
The network profile export/importing functionality in Access Connections is inconsistent – imported profiles can’t be edited by regular users – yet this is a feature that is also very useful that is not included in Win7, AFAIK. Centralized Wi-Fi/3G/WWAN profile deployment that Access Connections could use…? This functionality exists to some extent, I believe, but I never got it working in my environment.
System Update is a fantastic idea, but I’ve found it unreliable. Loading Vista on a T43, then running System Update, for example, reports that no drivers are available.
February 26th, 2009 7:44 pm
FWIW, I have never found ANY of the ThinkVantage tools to be of any use at all (I write with six ThinkPads around me now, and I have had more than twenty thinkpads over the last 15 years). On the contrary, the only time I bump into ThinkVantage tools is when they conflict with Microsoft’s own utilities (e.g., for managing networks) and cause me confusion, or when they keep popping up at system start and have to be cancelled. The only software I’d like from Lenovo is drivers for Lenovo hardware, well tested and delivered on time. ThinkPads are fantastic (I’ll buy them forever), but the idea of a “value proposition” based on supplying extra software is certainly a delusion for individual and small business customers; nobody decides to buy a ThinkPad in order to get access to ThinkVantage software. Enterprise IT customers may have different requirements, but especially for them different software on different brands of hardware is a complication and I’d expect Microsoft to have better capabilities than Lenovo could ever supply. I’d say that the ThinkVantage budget could be much better spent in some other way, and that getting new hardware models out faster because they didn’t have to be tested and qualified with ThinkVantage tools would be a big win.
February 26th, 2009 8:38 pm
Whatever path Lenovo decides to take to improve ThinkVantage’s value, I believe there’s one thing that should be the among the primary focus: getting the applications that launch with Fn+F# to open instantaneously. If after pressing the keyboard combination the user’s forced to wait too long, the concept of “shortcut” is missed. The anonymous coward who doesn’t use Lenovo’s software is probably influenced by that. If a feature Windows already possesses launches faster and doesn’t waste a lot of memory, usability enhancements like Access Connections eventually fail their purpose. To really provide value, they must be fast and seamless.
February 26th, 2009 8:40 pm
Personally I’m more excited about the leaps and bounds made by Linux on the Desktop recently (with KDE 4.2), but I’ve always liked ThinkVantage utilities on my Windows XP T42. I hope Lenovo continues to deliver nice features like this. Killer hardware, good Linux support, and nice Windows features like this are what keep me with you.
February 26th, 2009 9:06 pm
Using W7 beta now, love it.
I find the many of the features that were absent or difficult to use in Vista were made available, and made easier through Thinkvantage.
With that said, however, I feel that Windows 7 has brought many of those features into the native desktop environment.
Accessing wireless controls is extremely simple now. I’m still not satisfied with the network and sharing center, but it will do. Power controls are also much simple to access and navigate.
If I were to prioritize the features you should put the most effort into, System Update, Power Manager, and Rescue and Recovery would be those important features. Features that are important to all users, not just business users, should be at the top of the list, and you should work from there.
I, along with many Thinkpad users, probably dont use Presentation Director, Screen Magnifier, GPS, etc.
Basic features that improve performance and functionality of the Thinkpad should come first.
February 26th, 2009 10:09 pm
The Power Manager is one extra bit of software I like about Thinkpads. The other one is Access Connections. Very handy bit of software. Presentation Manager seems less useful in Vista, as in the brief time I had Vista on my X61 it seemed to handle multi-screen setups well.
February 26th, 2009 10:23 pm
I used to believe that ThinkVantage works great, but once I tried, they are good. Nice interface, but there is no advantage over vanilla utilities in Windows. CSS+Password Manager are in and out when Firefox released new version [now it works great with FF 3.0.6, but not at all for first couple months of FF 3] while UPEK Protector Suite QL works flawlessly all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of ThinkVantage, but they all don’t give enough useful features worth running in the system.
What I like most is System Update. If you could make it more reliable+faster, it would be great. Now it’s just working ….. kind of randomly. I also never heard of ImageUltra Builder before.
February 26th, 2009 11:24 pm
Very good question. System Update is of course invaluable, and it makes Lenovo one of the only vendors to include such a tool. However, it is a little clunky, so a little bit more of a seamless experience would be appreciated. And I hate it when I’m fully up to date in System Update, but Windows Update offers a driver.
I also use Access Connections because I’ve always found the tools lacking within Windows. However, one of the problems I experience with my users is that most don’t really know or use Access Connections because it isn’t integrated within the standard network interface in any way. I’ve certainly seen cases where the two bump heads.
I would also question Lenovo’s decision to have such a different application set for the IdeaPad line. I understand you would want to keep a specific advantage built in to the ThinkPad line, but it also seems to be a waste of development resources, and I feel lost when using an IdeaPad, just like when I use another manufacturers laptop.
I’ve never used EasyEject, and it was installed on my x61 for some reason. Power Manager just seems to duplicate too many of the same functions as the built in power management options. Presentation Director is very convenient.
Rescue and Recovery has been invaluable, but it does seem that MS is integrating more of that within Windows. I still think there is a need for that.
As I alluded to before, the biggest problem with ThinkVantage is that most people aren’t sure they are there or how to use them. And even technically inclined people that don’t know the “ThinkPad way” can end up running in circles when a utility would solve the problem. I don’t know how to solve this knowledge transfer problem.
February 27th, 2009 12:40 am
What I would keep..
1. Software Update (drivers are the heart of WIN, please never even consider getting rid of this)
2. Presentation Director (oh, wait, Win 7 will obsolete it.. we’ll see)
I would, honestly, stop developing the rest and sunset the products.
What I would recommend…
1. Driver Updates
2. Consider letting ThinkPad users pull down and install the latest unified driver and software pak from ATI and nVidia. Roll-back in Vista & 7 are awesome.. anyone smart enough to find Unified Video drivers, probably knows how to roll back. Remember, some of us who travel a LOT with our ThinkPads play games instead of watching TV in the Hotel Room. When we can get an extra 10fps out of WoW.. you get my point.
3. Lenovo Widgets… without Lenovo in big letters (something subtle) that don’t require Lenovo Power Management or Access Connections. I loved your WI-Fi indicator from Access Connections, but never needed AC so I got rid of it.. and subsquently my nice widget.
There is a bigger opporotunity here for Lenovo. ALL of the competition is hammered for bloat ware… this is a rare opporotunity for Lenovo to set themselves apart and let a comparably equipped machine out perform one from DELL, etc… We all know, the more overhead the slower and even when it’s a small advantage Bloggers and tech sites jump all over it.
February 27th, 2009 2:30 am
I have tried Windows 7 (build 7000 x64) on my x200 Tablet. It seems like a very solid OS and a worthy upgrade to both XP and Vista. At the moment, I am not using it on my x200 because of mixed compatility with some ThinkVantage software (e.g. Tablet Shortcut Menu), and an unwillingness to use a Beta OS on a machine that I depend on. I most likely will switch over when the RTM build comes out.
As for as Lenovo software development:
Of course, the #1 priority must be driver support. Most notable here (and Lenovo exclusive) is the Active Protection System and TrackPoint with advanced functionality. I was pleased to see that an APS driver was available as soon as I installed Windows 7.
ThinkVantage software, item by item:
Power Manager: Absolutely critical. I depend on this application for setting battery thresholds (60%/95%) and quickly changing between profiles based on my current needs for brightness, performance, and battery life. I will continue to use this no matter how good Windows becomes at keeping power consumption low.
Presentation Director: Very important. I am a big fan of this application for switching between different monitor setups (just ThinkPad, external 20″ LCD, 1080P LCD TV, XGA projector, some extended (different positions) and some mirrored). This application is also great because it makes using an external projector and ThinkPad (both at different native resolutions) effective via the Fn+Space shortcut to move a window to the second display. The only change I would like to see here is more resolution support (especially 1920×1080 and 1280×720) as I had to edit a hexadecimal value in the registry to enable these resolutions.
Access Connections: Important for complex environments, but losing value. On XP I absolutely depended on this application, but Vista and Win7 are increasingly good at managing connections. This still remains highly valuable for changing a batch of settings in a single step. However, a bug in the 64-bit version makes it impossible to change the browser home page (causes a DEP error when switching profiles).
System Update: Very important. This is far easier than navigating the Lenovo support website and pulling down app/driver updates one by one. My only critique here is that system update seems to be a few weeks behind the website on driver availability.
Tablet Shortcut Menu: Critical. This app makes adjusting a variety of settings (brightness, volume, external monitors, etc.) very easy to change when in slate mode. Difficulty getting this and the Tablet shortcut buttons to work is one of the key reasons I am NOT running Windows 7 right now.
Full screen magnifier: Totally useless. All this application does is reduce the screen resolution to 640×480. It doesn’t actually magnify (especially as I set my display to not scale other resolutions) and only makes text blurry and reduces viewing area. If it actually magnified things it might be useful, but its current method doesn’t help.
Message center: Is this even used? I don’t think I received a single message on this thing.
Client Security Center: Great (when it works). This is very convenient for managing and entering passwords (especially in Tablet mode). I also trust the TPM far more with storing password data than Windows or my applications. However, support for FireFox isn’t great and it sometimes fails to work properly with Outlook (generates lots of redundant entries).
Easy Eject: Nice to have. This is an effective way to quickly eject multiple devices (e.g. an SD card and 2x USB keys). However, it offers little to no advantage over the built in Windows solution for ejecting a single device.
Rescue & Recovery: Important, but I have little experience with it as I use an alternate backup method.
Productivity Center: Good use for the ThinkVantage button. However, I rarely use this method to reach other ThinkVantage tools (I prefer the keyboard shortcuts).
Image Ultra Builder: I don’t have this, nor do I know what it does.
The biggest change I would like to see in all of these is improved load times. It often takes 10+ seconds to launch the configuration windows for Power Manager and Access Connections. This is entirely too long, and I have no idea why (the apps are already running in the tray). Improved system startup times for these apps would also be nice, but this is less critical.
Matt (assuming you’ve read this far) – slightly off topic, but something I am desperately trying to figure out. Can the current crop of ThinkPads (x200, T400, etc.) BOOT FROM AN EXPRESSCARD SSD (PCI-Express x1 attached)??? I ask because I have located a 16GB SLC SSD that I would like to install Windows 7 on for my x200 Tablet. At the moment, the price per Gigabyte is too high for an SSD to be my only solution, and the x200 is only a single spindle system (I can’t use a conventional SSD and HDD like I would in a T400). The manufacturer of the SSD said it was possible if the notebook supported installing (and booting) an OS on an ExpressCard. I have asked this question in the Lenovo forums, but have been unable to find a concrete answer and would appreciate help in verifying whether or not this will work before I buy the SSD.
February 27th, 2009 3:24 am
Keep: Access Connections, Password Manager, Rescue & Recovery, Presentation Director, Power Manager
I would keep these futures because they help me in every day use.
But I believe that the Rescue & Recovery should be supported even more. The MBR diskettes should be able to fix all the problems. And you should find a way to translate the R&R platform to all windows official languages.
February 27th, 2009 3:32 am
We usually create our own Vista Enterprise based image, and only install the ThinkVantage tools we need.
These are
Presentation Director
Power Manager
Easy Eject
Screen Magnifier
System Update
About the rest:
Access Connections: Might be useful for some. Doesn’t seem that bad. Have seen it causing trouble with VPN clients.
Rescue + Recovery: No important data should be on the clients anyway
System Migration Assistant: We’ve used Microsoft’s tool for this.
Password Manager: Annoying
Productivity Center: what does this thing do?
GPS utility: Well, no.
Messager center: Most useless of the bunch
February 27th, 2009 4:49 am
Starting with Windows Vista, I stopped bothering with installing any Lenovo tools. With XP it was needed, and a joy, to install the IBM/Lenovo software and when Vista came out it was still required, but today all one has to do it install Vista, go online to check for drivers, download them, reboot the computer once, and there you go: everything works!
Windows 7 does even more out of the box, I have it running on a X61 Tablet.
February 27th, 2009 5:10 am
As i use windows less than 1% of my time with my thinkpad, i’m more or less annoyed by the Lenovo-Software that pops up, delaying the startup.
If your software developers would have to twiddle thumbs in the future, i would like them to write drivers for Linux to use the entire functionality of a thinkpad, e.g. the hotswitchable graphics issue.
February 27th, 2009 5:24 am
My main quarrel with the ThinkVantage software is its quality. I’ve used it consistently over four years now, and I always found it to be less stable, more resource intensive than I would expect it to be. Keeping in mind that one of the biggest improvements in Win7 is that MS has put an enormous amount of time and effort into improving just those things, I am pretty sure ThinkVantage will in comparison appear even more clunky, unreliable and slow, making it not a value proposition but much more of a disvalue proposition, if there is such a thing.
Let me give a couple of examples: System Update uses an unbelievable amount of resources when it is doing nothing. And essentially it is doing nothing for 7 days, and then it checks once for updates. Why is it running all the time and using up resources? Compared to Windows Update it has a terrible user experience. When Windows Update finds a critical update, I essentially have to do nothing or spend VERY little time to get that installed. In particular, it is enough to shut down the computer and stuff will get installed. With System Update, I get a notification that something new is there, and then I have to go through quite an elaborate UI, wait inbetween until the download is finished, to get everything installed. Often the download is aborted in between and I have to restart. Why? It is a hastle. I just want to be up to date on drivers, I don’t want to spend 15 minutes every week with Lenovo’s “value proposition” software. On updates in particular, I would VERY much suggest that you push all driver updates via Windows Update, the user experience is just sooo much better (and for IT administrators going via WU is even more valuable, because every IT department will have a process to push windows updates already, so putting the Lenovo stuff into that process certainly seems to be less hastle for them than to have another sysem for Lenovo updates). You should really get to a state where a clean install of Win7 and one WU run gets the laptop into a very usable state. One terrible thing in that regard is the sound control keys. Without the special drivers they work, but are not linked to any UI (why on earth they aren’t just linked to the normal Windows UI by default is beyond me). I normally don’t want System Update on my systems, because it is such a resource hog. Then I have to hunt through the Lenovo support site (very confusing) to find the hot key display driver, plus the system interface driver. No chance on earth for a novice to accomplish that, so both should really come via Windows Update.
So, essentially I just have two wishes: If you want to ship ThinkVantage stuff, cut down on the number and try to get the quality to a level on par with the built in Win7 stuff in terms of resource use, speed, reliability etc. Second, have a first class experience via Windows Update in terms of always putting update drivers, security updates etc via that venue to customers, THAT would actually be a real value proposition in my view, because hardly any vendor does that.
February 27th, 2009 8:07 am
Here is list of things I like and which are a unique selling point for Lenovo notebooks for me:
1. System Update
It’s great to have one common application that updates all my drivers and tools. Of course, it would be awesome if this would integrate with Windows Update. But it’s not necessary
2. Access Connections
Nothing to add. Switching networks between home and office and configuring your system to the new environment with AC is just great. If that is now part of Windows 7 then I probably don’t need it.
3. Presentation Director
Best tool ever. It makes running presentations and switching between home and office monitors convenient.
4. Power Manager
I only need to use it for re-setting my profile after presenting. Somehow my Vista always resets the standby time to 5 minutes after being in presentation mode.
5. Productivity Center
Makes launching System Update easy by pressing the blue button.
6. Password Manager / Client Security Solutions
Priceless. Managing password with just a finger print in a TPM is very important. Don’t know if I would trust Windows native software.
7. Easy Eject
I just press the button on my docking station and expect it to work.
Here is a list of things that I tried but don’t need:
- Rescue & Recovery
It appears to be too big and too inflexible. I removed it from my system. I love Acronis and purchased a license. I only create images from my system partition. My data is stored redundant in the corporate network and at home. If Windows 7 comes with an image tool that’s an even stronger argument for dropping it.
- Scree Magnifier
When I tried it it always destroyed the ordering of symbols on my desktop. Not sure if it’s still necessary.
- Message Center
Don’t know why I would need message center when we have emails. I read emails.
- System Migration Assistant
It never worked for me when re-installing Windows, switching domains or notebooks from a T60 to a T61. Somehow it was too inflexible. I ended up doing a backup and restore using Acronis or copying profiles around manually.
February 27th, 2009 8:16 am
System Update & Access Connections & Power Manager & Presentation Director.
’nuff said.
February 27th, 2009 10:39 am
The only ThinkVantage utility that I use is Active Protection, on XP, Vista, and Win7. Active Protection falls more into the category of a driver than an app. I don’t use any of the other ThinkVantage apps.
My recommendation is that you spend your programming resources first on the development and maintenance of good drivers for your hardware. Only then should you even think about writing applications. Since a lot of your current drivers are buggy, I think that your priorities should be easy to figure out.
February 27th, 2009 10:39 am
Even under Vista, I like a minimalistic install of all software other than the OS. I find this gives the best performance/impression.
I do use: Power Manager, APS, On Screen display, and the fingerprint software.
All other functionality I use is built into Vista and so works great.
I would request that in Win7, ALL drivers are on Windows Update. If you add them to your website, they should be given to MS for optional update. To me, if I clean install a PC and hit Windows Update, it should install EVERY driver required to ‘just work’.
Add a nice theme for Thinkpad too – the built in Themes in Win7 look amazing, and if you want people to keep some brand theme on, it had better look amazing too.
If you have to install stuff, focus on real value-added stuff like the new online backup tool – things that Win7 really doesn’t have.
February 27th, 2009 11:17 am
On My ThinkPad R61i, the only lenovo utilities I installed were Power Manager, which is an absolute god-send, and System Update, which was how I got Power Manager and all of the appropriate drivers installed.
I did install Windows 7 Beta on that machine, and found that it really was the best version of Windows I’ve used so far. I need to find my ISO of the 64-bit version to try on the T400 soon.
Also: Does Win7 provide a built in 3g connection manager? I removed AccessConnections from my T400, but found that there seems to be very little in the way of other solutions for connecting with the AT&T wwan option. Maybe a minimal 3g connection utility for those of us who would rather let Vista or XP handle our wifi and ethernet connections, but still need or want to use the wwan option.
February 27th, 2009 12:27 pm
I use my X60 Tablet for work but do not have to integrate it into a business network, so most of the corporate utilities, such as Access Connections, are of no use to me.
I really enjoy:
- Power Manager (love features like “only charge when battery level is below…)
- Presentation director
- System Migration Assistant
- System Update (When it works)
- Tablet stuff
- APS
- Shortcuts (though I agree that they could be faster)
I could do without:
- Access Connections
- Rescue and Recovery
- Message Center
- Productivity Center
- Screen Magnifier
And basically everything else.
February 27th, 2009 1:03 pm
Though the first thing I did when I got my laptop was deleting the rescue partition to save some valuable space (I would really prefer having also rescue media supplied with the laptop), now when disk sizes are getting bigger, it is good idea, to have some backup utility operating system anywhere I go. I also liked Access Connections when I was using WinXP, mainly because of the possibility of having multiple profiles. The rest I just turned off. Now, for the last 5 years I’m using Linux on both of my ThinkPads and although the ThinkPads’ hardware support in Linux has always been on good level, I’d like some Lenovo developers working on it – mainly graphics issues – like already mentioned hotswitchable graphics -, power management. Having the possibility of buying pre-installed some mainstream Linux distribution like Suse, Redhat or Ubuntu with support from Lenovo is something worth paying for, IMHO.
February 27th, 2009 1:55 pm
I have used nothing but ThinkPads since 1993 and love them. The ThinkVantage Software that IBM supplied in the last two or three years, and the much improved software that Lenovo has supplied, constitute a much-improved part of Lenovo’s value. About half of our users are laptop users who use their systems in many diffferent environments. so Access Connections is very valuable in allowing switching of default printers and WiFi connections based on which network is (or is not) detected. I generally agree with the ranking of the first commenter (Zian), except that I would put Screen Magnifier much higher – especially for over-40 users.
Slightly off topic, one great change from IBM to Lenovo is making beta drivers available during OS betas. Keep it up and accelerate it. You won’t hurt your reputation by posting possibly half-baked drivers for an admittedly half-baked OS (which Win 7 definitely is not). It helps in beginning to consider deployment decisions.
February 27th, 2009 3:27 pm
I like all Think Vantage software but wish the windows 7 version will have smaller memory foot print. Although I have 8gb on my T61p I prefer to use most of that for my virtual machines.
Any chance of bundling file safe or equivallent with Client Security. I ended up purchasing Upek Protector Suite to get that functionality in vista
February 27th, 2009 5:08 pm
Access Connection is my top favorite on top of my list. It’s one of the best utility ever invented! Presentation Director is second on the list. These were two major reasons I switched to a thinkpad years ago. However, I don’t like Rescue and Recovery because I think Acronis Trueimage gives you a lot more functionality and control at a very affordable price. Maybe some sort of media management type of utility might be good (music/photo)
February 28th, 2009 1:09 am
Just remembered one more REALLY annoying bug: When a profile is applied using Access Connections, Vista Offline Files fails to detect the network change, and therefore fails to synchronize files.
Specifically:
1. Apply a network profile using Access Connections
2. Offline Files fails to sync to server
3. Disconnect from network using Vista/Win7 built-in network profiles.
4. Reconnect to network using Vista/Win7 built-in network profiles.
5. Offline Files detects reconnection to server, and synchs files.
I found the IBM PM device driver on Windows Update did not work correctly for me. T43 and T60p would fail to enter standby. Installed driver from Lenovo download page – problem resolved.
February 28th, 2009 5:04 am
I’m using thinkpad X61 with dual boot (vista and windows 7 beta), windows 7 run very good compared to vista (fast boot time and shoot down) but fingger print software can not running on windows 7. I’m try to download latest version of fingger print sofware for vista 32 from lenovo website and install on thinkpad but fingger print software not working.
February 28th, 2009 10:05 am
I’m running Windows 7 (build 7022) on my X60 tablet, and I agree that the built-in parts of Windows are suddenly close enough to the functionality of Access Connections, Power Manager and Presentation Director to make me not install those things. I also uninstalled System Update because of the resource issue.
I’m left with Hotkey (On-Screen Display), Active Protection System and the Tablet Shortcut Menu (but only for the Auto-Rotate functionality). The Active Protection System is good as-is. The Auto-Roate should be made into a seperate utility altogether (I’d map my tablet menu button to Windows Mobility Center).
But I would say most importantly, something needs to be done to allow me to remap the Fn+F* buttons to built-in Windows applets:
Fn+F3 to Power Options
Fn+F5 to Network and Sharing Center (or the current radio control is fine)
Fn+F7 to Connect to a Projector
Thanks for asking the question. I think some of the commenters above might have missed the point, asking you to prioritize Access Connections, Power Manager and Presentation Manager… while these are currently your best utilities, they are also the ones that are pretty much duplicated in Windows 7.
February 28th, 2009 11:32 am
I agree with Benjamin and have trimmed the Lenovo tools in the same way. Given Microsoft’s efforts to optimize the Vista foundation for usability, I would welcome if Lenovo also optimized their tools. I think all system software should have a small footprint. But Lenovo’s tools – while being functional – cannot entirely said to have a small footprint. First, Power Manager loads so slowly… I think that the basic interface should not be .NET based. Second, third party drivers which are part of the preloads (like the trackpoint and trackpad drivers) should be profiled for resource usage. Also, I doubt that the Catalyst Control Center being part of the ATI driver package is of much use to anyone, and it seems to me to be insane to sacrify so many resources for something unneeded.
I also agree with the others that the following tools are not really useful (anymore):
- Access connections
- Rescue & Recovery
- Screen Magnifier
- Message Center
- System Migration Assistant
March 1st, 2009 3:51 am
Wherever Windows 7 falls short needs to remain in the ThinkVantage tools. I see quite a few nays for RnR, however it works and is something else I don’t need to buy, so I use it.
Most useful to me (WIN XP and Vista) are the following:
Access Connections
RnR
Presentation Director
Power Manager
System Update
Not used (or rarely)
EasyEject (use Windows)
Screen Magnifier
System Migration Assistant (use Windows)
Message Center
March 1st, 2009 8:32 am
I actually use Productivity Center a lot, customizing it from time to time to suit evolving needs for update, backup and so on. I really got to like Prod Ctr though when I configured the Message Center module as an RSS reader.
The one additional feature I’d love to see in Productivity Center (but probably won’t as Lenovo seems to be phasing out Productivity Center) is that the gui not go away during and after Update, RnR and so on. How about simple disabling the features in Productivity Center that are incompatible or unsafe to run while your user is performing his/her task — i.e. optimize availability of tasks and keep Productivity Center on screen until the user closes it?
March 1st, 2009 3:31 pm
Iam using
Every day:
Access Connections
Power Manager
Easy Eject
Weekly
Presentation Director
Monthly
Rescue & Recovery
Scree Magnifier
System Update
Productivity Center
Never Used
Message Center
ImageUltra Builder
Once
System Migration Assistant
March 1st, 2009 4:54 pm
I DID buy a thinkpad for the thinkvantage software, in both my r51 and T61. But on the T61(vista), i’m finding them less useful and even a hassle. On the R51(xp) they basically worked well, now they are a shambles.
The backup utility takes ages and doesn’t seem to recognize prior backups. It frequently requires more than 12 hours. It has never worked well for network backups.
The utility to set external display settings is terrific in principle (and usually works well for setting up a dual display with a projector) but it does not work well for swtching between work (an external monitor) and home (laptop-only). The setup for the external monitor is different everytime I go back and forth.
The message center is the most useless/annoying thing ever. Also
Power Manager does not work as smoothly as it should, it takes too long to load up to find a new access point or to pop up the menu to switch profiles. It also frequently does not recognize where I am if I more from home to work, etc–I have to switch manually (necessitating waiting for the the menu to pop up from the taskbar (everything else runs quickly in vista, thank you!) The concept is great but it is unusable in effect. Make it work or kill it! Also, please get rid of the warning message and icons…yes, I %^&* KNOW that I’ve installed a non-lenovo battery, I put it in there. If my previous lenovo battery had lasted more than ten months, the replacement had not been on a sixth-month backorder from your website and had been reasonably priced, maybe I would have bought a genuine battery. I sort of suspect that power manager is constantly charging the non-genuine battery in an attempt to burn it out, but that’s just me enjoying my paranoia.
On the positive side, update manager is terrific!
March 1st, 2009 4:58 pm
sorry, It was not power manager i meant to complain about being slow to pop up, but access connections…
March 2nd, 2009 12:43 am
Hi,
My main home machines have been Linux since 94, although I had some 2000/XP machines for gaming when I used to do that. At work I develop on OS X. I’ve never even tried Vista, and have no interest in Windows 7. I buy ThinkPads when I’m reading that the model in my intended category works really well under Linux. Right now, Dell is doing a better job with that than Lenovo, which is too bad.
I’ve used ThinkPads running XP before, and I’ve never found any of that extra crap useful at all. I’d vastly prefer that Lenovo decide to make sure that at least Ubuntu is going to work with all the laptop’s hardware out of the box and forget about all that magic utility stuff.
March 2nd, 2009 5:07 am
I’m trying out Win 7 now as well and it works great on my Z61t. the most useful features for me have been Presentation Director and System update. Presentation is really useful to be able to store so many presets so I can easily choose if I want to do use my external monitor as my primary monitor or show a presentation on a projector or even a SVideo TV. Though, from what I’ve seen of windows 7, it seems to remember my settings in various configurations. It automatically configures my external monitor to be primary when I dock and the projector to be secondary when I plug into one. Also the Win+P shortcut is useful. Still I think pres. manager is a bit more useful for advanced functions. System updates/being able access all the drivers online is really useful. Miss the feature that disappeared after XP that let yo u choose a “switch to x when I dock”
Rescue and Recov was really useful once. I was having system board troubles that prevented booting into widnows, but I was able to book into rescue and recov and save my documents. Not sure how well the new windows tool is.
Fingerprint and active protection are also useful. No luck getting active protect working on 7 yet though.
March 2nd, 2009 2:23 pm
[...] like Easy Eject and Screen Magnifier, and many others. Lenovo blogger Matt Kohut wants to know if the whole development project should be scrapped now that Windows 7 is [just about] [...]
March 2nd, 2009 5:00 pm
We are lenovo Business Partner Premium. When we sell Thinkpads we have two major groups of arguments
1) Design of ThinkPad (robustness, quality)
But the most of our customes say: Dell notebook are good designed too and they are maybe right. But we say. Dell notebook is maybe well designed but it is only hardware with ZERO added value.
So we have second argument:
2) TVT technology (offer something more then others)
The best utility is Access Conections. I have more than 30 profiles, using diferent configuration for Office, Home, Work, different printers, IP configuration, proxy… Dont belive that Windows 2020 may be half capable as Access Conections.
Most of the people dont know what is IP or Proxy. So we setup them Access Conections and they only change profiles…
Second best is Power Manager. On my powerplan my X300 consumes between 7 – 9 W since conected to internet via WiFi or HSDPA. That is simple imposibble to make with Windows Power Managment – no discusion.
Trird the Best is Rescue and Recovery. Sometimes when Vista crashes is it only one way to get them back up and running withnout total reinstalation of whole computer. It is also good for upsale (2nd USB hard drive). It is also good when you need change HDD or move to diferent machine.
Often at the end of sales dialog our customers belive that ThinkPad is the world best notebook 10 years ahead in the future.
ThinkPad without TVT is a Pad, but not think.
TVT Technologies are the diference from others.
Maybe you should work better with partners to promote TVT, for example In our country was the last Partner TVT training in 2006! TVT is also no more part of necessary Technical Skills of LPN.
Maybe you should better comunicate TVT to customers. People will not using something unknown.
March 5th, 2009 2:59 pm
I doubt I’m representative as a Lenovo customer, but I stick linux on my thinkpads anyway, so I don’t get the benefit of your value-add products for Windows. So long as Lenovo doesn’t lose focus on delivering high quality hardware, I don’t mind though.
March 5th, 2009 7:50 pm
The Power Manager application or the Power Manager driver seem to cause a problem with “Hardware Interrupts” eating massive CPU cycles (40% to 50%). I have process explorer by Mark Russinovich running and it shows CPU utilization by “hardware interrupts” especially after I unplug and replug the power.
March 6th, 2009 11:52 am
How about a version of R&R that doesn’t give me a blue screen error when I try to exclude files? Yep, that would be nice.
I agree overall with the sentiments expressed by many here insofar as over the years, I rely less and less on Thinkvantage Technologies finding them unnecessary and system hogs.
I do use and like: Active Protection, Client Security, and System Update.
March 7th, 2009 1:42 am
I’ve got a few points
- System Update: Does it really need to be that slow? Simply getting to the stage on my X60s where available updates are presented easily takes 5 minutes. Not to mention downloading something that takes an additional 15 minutes (seemingly independent on the size of the update).
- Streamline: Personally I would like a clean, lean, streamlined install. Make it easy to chose and completely uninstall/install the different tools to avoid having them around (like a running service, diskspace, extra time in system update etc) if they are not needed. Less is more! Think Apple. I don’t want the kitchen sink by default, I just want the bare minimum I need and nothing else.
- User experience: You have a great attention to details when it comes to hardware. Please strive for the same thing when it comes to software. Currently the user interfaces are terrible, clunky, ugly and usually they don’t conform to any standard. It might be everything from making sure the most appropriate control has focus upon application startup, to completely redesign the user interface. And don’t let the programmers do this, get someone that does this for a living and does it good (think Apple again, less is more!).
Looking forward to my next ThinkPad!
March 7th, 2009 11:20 am
System Migration Assistant causes me lots of grief on XP Pro. I have lots of difficulty with installs and uninstalls failing to complete because, when trying to configure sma, smasetup.msi cannot be found (or words to that effect). Not sure why an install/uninstall would need to configure sma.
I wanted to uninstall Intervideo WinDVD because I’d read that WinDVD could be the reason Movie Maker wouldn’t run. It wouldn’t uninstall because of sma problems. In the end, I deleted the folders and then run Registry Mechanic to get rid of all refs to WinDVD and its codecs. The good news is that WMM now runs fine.
Then I had difficulty installing Cyberlink DVD Suite to replace WinDVD. So I decided to uninstall sma. Guess what? It won’t uninstall because “when trying to configure sma, smasetup.msi cannot be found”.
How can I remove sma from my system? It isn’t obvious where it’s installed and I can’t find a way of running it from my Start menu. Any ideas?
March 7th, 2009 4:24 pm
Essentials:
- access connections, especially when I used to have a proxy at work and no proxy at home
- presentation director
- power manager
- lenovo update (Incidentally have you seen HP update – it never finds any updates for any of the models I’ve tried it on. It’s a joke.)
- magnifier
- ultranav device settings (I need to be able to turn on the trackpad if someone uninitated needs to use my Thinkpad)
- keyboard customizer (though with Win key now less needed)
March 9th, 2009 7:24 am
Well…Microsoft doesn’t support ThinkPad specific features like Active Protection System or Access Connections the way Lenovo dose. Client Security Solution / Rescue & Recovery have primitive counterparts in Windows Vista (& 7) so removing them would be like removing functionality…
In my understanding, ThinkVantage is a Hardware / Software Concept & Methodology that goes into the lifecycle of ThinkPads. I don’t see it as a good idea to start downsizing on that part just because Windows have primitive or unfamiliar replacements for them.
EasyEject has a replacement in Windows but is it as easy as an Fn+F9 press (with out regard of where in the desktop you are at the time)? No…
March 9th, 2009 10:59 am
Honestly, I’ve always removed everything except Access Connections. The other utilities just annoy me for the most part.
However, something that’s _far_ more annoying is the “recovery media”. I want a full copy of Windows. Nothing more, nothing less. The recovery media installs lots of junk I don’t want and doesn’t play well with dual booting (I also run Solaris on my machines).
Please, stop the insanity and give us full copies of the operating system we’re paying for.
March 9th, 2009 3:13 pm
Since I have to stick with older ThinkPad models I no longer need System Update. I like Presentation Director (on Windows XP) but there might be similar utility in W7. As for Rescue & Recovery, I strongly prefer Acronis bootable CD because I don’t believe in backup of disk partition which the operating system is currently running on. The bootable CD solution is clear and tamper-prone considering the restore operation.
I’d really appreciate to have an option to re-install clean Windows preload with necessary Lenovo drivers only. No trials, no bloatware. It took me two days to so-so remove the Norton Antivirus trial edition ! Some applications or its components are hard to remove and I need as stable as possible machine.
March 9th, 2009 3:31 pm
And … I almost forgot my another favorite utility – ThinkPad Configuration. It displays much more detailed information about the battery.
As for the bloatware, the most scary ones are applications installing its kernel drivers. Every single “buffer overflow” type of bug can lead to compromise your system very quickly even you are not logged with Administrator rights and continue to run as a rootkit. I’m very picky of what to install. That’s why I don’t like to have tons of preinstalled things which might not perform complete removal of its components.
March 9th, 2009 10:10 pm
I don’t buy thinkpads for the thinkvantage software, I’m far more interested in the hardware quality. I would like to see developer time switched far more towards fast, high quality drivers and fully open *nix support.
A perception of bloat or badly written utilities, especially when there’s sufficiently good tools on an out of the box install, makes it hard to give (any of) them a chance. If as an oem you feel the need to install sofware and ‘tweak’ the os, please make sure the primary priority and goal is for a faster, slimmer, more stable system – then start adding features.
March 11th, 2009 12:14 am
Power manager has detiorated in quality since earlier builds. My battery – perfectly fine, brand new, always shows as grayed out / “there is a problem with the battery” – and then back to normal, on a fairly repeated basis. And this then eventually kills the battery.
I’ve started to turn the power manager taskbar meter off these days, so much better.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/vie.....mp;t=73009
March 11th, 2009 1:25 pm
I have several X200, X61s running Win7. None of the ThinkAdvantage utilities work so we are looking around for alternatives. We did the same thing with Vista when we were in the Vista TAP and that got us away from some already.
Win7 seems to be a nice improvement over Vista. The basic hardware and drives are the part we fight with most – like the fingerprint reader software. I have tried the UTek solution but it does not see the reader. Oh well.
March 12th, 2009 3:24 am
Well, the products I have kept installed are:
-Access Connections: however the vista gadget usually loses its responsiveness after some standby and resumes. Plus the main interface is a little bit slow.
-Power manager: its also a little bit slow to open its main window however I don’t need to open its main window frequently
-System update: nice idea, but really unreliable. Most of the time it doesn’t find any new updates though I can find one in the drivers page of lenovo website for my T400.
-Client security solution + PM: I’d really love if PM could be as fine as the Roboform software
-Presentation Director: usually does its job right.
-Rescue and recovery: Fine
I have not found other Thinkvantage products useful.
March 14th, 2009 10:43 pm
My wife loves the screen magnifier functionality of trackpoint keyboards. It’s clean, it’s simple, and it works. Don’t change it.
March 15th, 2009 5:46 pm
Matt, I completely agree with you on Windows 7. It’s brilliant.
The ‘hover-over’ technique when accessing multiple windows took some time to get used to (for me at least), but other than that it’s been a joyride.
All in all 7 seems way more polished, snappy and finished than precious releases. I especially like the windowskey-P shortcut (on my desktop, which isn’t a Lenovo) for switching between my main monitor and HDTV.
-
I’m very happy you’re taking a ‘balanced’ approach to Thinkvantage applications. To be honest, I usually uninstall quite a bit of the Thinkvantage application when getting a new laptop, simply because some of the applications already in Windows Vista do a decent job – or at least fit my specific needs.
I do ofcourse keep all the essentials, drivers, Fn-tools, etc. I do however unstall the client security applications, access connections and some other stuff, simply because I have no need for them and the windows-dittos do a decent job. The added thinkvantage apps just feel like extra bulk, although it’s clear that other users find them very useful.
My favorite Thinkvantage apps:
-Power Manager: This is brilliant and by far superior to any other powermanager I’ve tried out there on other machines.
-Presentation Director: LOVE this app. On campus there are tons of different projectors, and this app takes the hassle out of pluging into them every time.
Looking forward to seeing Thinkvantage on Windows 7, then it becomes relevant on my work laptop (T60).
March 17th, 2009 12:48 am
If only ThinkVantage Access Connection could operate easily. I installed my notebook from scratch (not using the Lenovo Rescue and Recovery – Restore to Factory State) and installed the drivers and softwares manually, so I can install only the ones I needed.
Everything is OK except Access Connections which unfortunately, one ThinkVantage software I uses frequently. It cannot power up/down the Wireless Card, it cannot find any wireless network. (PS: the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration could find the networks).
Sigh….
March 23rd, 2009 6:41 am
I’d emphasize the need for full-featured access to Thinkpad hardware under Linux. I guess if the drivers are available under GPL, the Linux community would do it’s job all by themselves.
About any marketing announcement by Microsoft, including Windows7, I’m very reluctant to believe, until I’ve seen it working smoothly for one year under real world conditions.
From the ThinkVantage utilities under Windows XP I only use Esay Eject and Access Connections, whereby Access Connections only stabilized recently and is sometimes creating confusion. Especially when you have changed the wireless card, it needs setting up all the connections again. So I’m not sure if Access Connections was a benefit overall.
Rescue&Recovery is a good idea, but the version 2.04 (IIRC) was slow and instable, at some version did not recognise external USB drives… in the end I dropped it and I am using Acronis True Image happily since then. IMHO a joint venture with Acronis True Image and a boot cd built into every Thinkpad (BIOS, ROM) would be more useful.
April 1st, 2009 8:36 am
Well, well, well. So it looks like you guys are starting to remove utilities with barely an announcement period. I’m talking of course of System Update, a key component of TVT and of what makes a ThinkPad a ThinkPad. To think that I will have to, after say an OS reinstall just like I did yesterday, manually download the drivers and software and install them myself, taking up inordinate amounts of time is just unacceptable. I have been through a severely delayed x61 release and a big bad batch of T61’s last year, but I have still stuck with Lenovo. The hardware and software offered a great value proposition. Now, not as much. I’ll be doing something that I haven’t done in years, and that is looking at other manufacturers when I need laptops. I used to just buy a ThinkPad no matter what. Now…
And, all of this done with no advance notice. All day yesterday I was trying off and on to connect to SU, but I was getting an error. After taking it home later, I saw the dreadful message and looked at the notice posted from the Lenovo forums. Ugh.
April 1st, 2009 11:31 am
I agree with T Man, for Lenovo to eliminate the single most useful part of ThankVantage is insane. Read through the posts, it was the common factor that most everyone used and liked.
What reason could there be to get rid of it? Has windows update become useful for updated drivers without my realizing it?
The job of updating drivers which used to 5 minutes of my time and an hour of waiting now takes several hours of my time and is frustrating because Lenovos tools for manually updating drivers are horrible.
My company has always purchased Thinkpads… until today. Even if it is being replaced, the fact that we are left in the dark for at least a month with no notice is unacceptable. A company that treats it customers this way is not a company we want to deal with.
April 1st, 2009 6:41 pm
I cant believe TVSU just got cancelled. This was one of the primary reasons I have always bought Thinkpads. What is Lenovo thinking?
Toshiba R600, here I come.
April 2nd, 2009 11:15 am
[...] recently asked on their blog which of the ThinkVantage utilities they should concentrate development on moving forward. Lenovo: [...]
April 2nd, 2009 5:29 pm
This is very disappointing as TVSU has always been a time saver for me. I have been buying TP’s for many many years and the SU is one of the nicer variants out there. I just got 2 X61T’s, 1 came in last week & I was able to get it current via TVSU, but my daughter’s unit is delayed and won;t arrive until next week. Now I need to comb through the driver matrix to get it done, what a mess. After looking through the catalog on mine, it appears some of the updates were not even listed in the matrix.
First is the lousy time frame it took from order to delivery (unlike before), and now this axing of the TVSU with less than 24 hours notice, what are you guys thinking?
April 3rd, 2009 12:47 am
As said before, TVSU, The only reason I recommend and buy Thinkpads. At least I will save $500 by buying the equally functional Dell and HP business pcs.
April 3rd, 2009 3:43 am
[...] I have to wonder what Lenovo is dreaming because it was one of the most-liked programs in the comments on Lenovo’s [...]
April 10th, 2009 2:51 pm
You killed System Update.
Are you mad?
You shoot yourself in the foot.
That thing made owning, using and administering a Thinkpad a privilege.
Some time ago I decided to reinstall an old T41. To my delight, SU would run on it and deliver up to date drivers and utilities. Nearly five years old computer! That was the manufacturer commitment you appreciate.
April 11th, 2009 6:01 pm
People have already expressed their shock over the TVSU, so I’ll just add a “me too” to that and move on.
Please, please, please, no more splash screens.
I know that I’m starting a Lenovo Thinkvantage product, because I was the one who clicked on the icon. I know that the product that I’m using is not ready to use yet, because it hasn’t appeared on my screen. Why bother with these?
ThinkVantage products take a considerable amount of time to start up, and I can’t think of a single good reason why you should occupy a substantial chunk of the center of my screen until the program is fully loaded and ready to use. Not only do I have to wait for the privilege of using your software, but I have to pay the penalty of not doing anything else on my computer until you’re ready to give it back to me!
If, given the load time, you feel some sort of indicator is necessary to show the user that something really is happening, perhaps you can display a splashscreen in the corner of my screen and make sure it does NOT always stay on top.
It was hard to believe that the PC industry could have become even more competitive, but here we are. You already charge a hefty premium for your hardware, so the software you bundle becomes a significant differentiating factor. Every little annoying detail begins to assume gargantuan proportions, so getting it right means happy customers.
April 12th, 2009 2:24 pm
About every 3 years I buy (6) thinkpads. I’ve probably spent more than half a million on company computers over past 13 years.
Things we like on Thinkpads:
-hotkey onscreen display, presentation director (mixed reviews…)
April 12th, 2009 3:00 pm
{sorry for the extra posts…still getting used to Windows 7beta looks…}
I’m going to tell you things I hate, things I love, and things I don’t use.
About every 3 years I buy (6) thinkpads. I’ve probably spent / guided more than half a million on computers over past 13 years. I buy and recommend Dell for Desktops, and IBM/Lenovo for notebooks (actually I stopped reccomending Lenovo after getting T61p’s…due to your features…which shows how strongly I dislike some features)
Most wanted feature: Option to install CLEAN Windows with only bare minimum drivers. THe “customize install” that you can sometimes do from image / restore doesn’t count; that still includes something that makes the system slow and unstable. What are bare minimum? hardware drivers, and option to choose explicitly which other Lenovo software. I would want to install to a single partition, and not put the rescue recovery partition on (because I suspect it has been cause of my problems…).
Things we hate about thinkpads: The factory install puts ALL your software on it, and some of it is clearly screwed up. My T61p’s are slower than my T30s, and VERY unstable, using the factory install. Reinstalling from an OEM CD and being choosy about which Lenovo software I use makes the machines fast and stable…but takes a lot of my time. This is also beyond the reach of a typical user. The unusual MBR partitioning is also fun…used to make imaging a pain.
Things we love on Thinkpads:
-hotkey onscreen display, presentation director (some users love it, some hate it. On t61p factory install it will crash the computer, guaranteed), fingerprint reader for logon, power manager, active drive protection, ultranav driver, webcam.
System update is useful because it’s fast way to keep aware of and deploy updates. If replaced with something where I get a message about new update and can easily push it out…that would be fine.
Image builder is useful in case we ever want to go back to default config after wiping and doing a clean install.
THings we don’t use:
screen magnifier (just not a feature we needed), message center (we don’t need to have you send us messages), system migration assistant (experts don’t need to bring over screwed up settings and beginners can’t understand it).
Not many users run Access Connections; they only do it to remember wireless passwords (which windows does…but this interface is easier for them because they can name things “Dallas Marriott”). We use Symantec Endpoint; users dont’ get to set things like “this is a network where I want to share filese with others.”
We rarely use rescue and recovery. Actually the only time I’ve used it is to refresh to factory image…which I could do from the cds i made w/ imagebuilder. It’s easier to use imaging tools in corporate environment (users don’t remember to run back on rescue and recovery).
We don’t use easy eject utility, because the last time we tried it corrupted the machine and it took two days to rebuild the system. Users now shut down / suspend before undocking. In our office it’s not common to want to undock and walk around, anyway.
We try not to use the factory install, because some of the junk it puts in trashes the machine (users asked to trade back for their four year old notebooks, which performed better! Average of ONE F’ING HOUR each day until user could successfully boot!!)
April 14th, 2009 5:23 pm
About 70% of the responses on this blog up to 1April considered TV System Update to be valuable. Now it is gone, and gone without any warning. I agree with all of the people who made remarks after 1 April, lamenting the loss of a useful program.
Will it be returned to its former state, or even improved? If returned, when will it be able to be used by many of us loyal TP cusotmers, who have paid and will pay a premium for excellent software and hardware.
Please bring System Update back, since many of us may not upgrade to Windows 7 if that is the reason System Update went through it’s abrupt demise.
April 14th, 2009 5:50 pm
I just stumbled upon System Update being discontinued.
This is just unbelievable to me. Truly stunning.
I haven’t felt this bad about the direction of the Thinkpad lineup ever in my 8 years of using Thinkpads.
Oh, and my father worked for 35 years at IBM and the last 5 years at Lenovo. So me and Thinkpads go back a while.
sigh. depressing.
April 25th, 2009 2:52 pm
[...] We should try to chime in and help set the direction of some of these wonderful ThinkVantage tools. The entry is at http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=201. [...]
April 27th, 2009 12:47 pm
Hi – I’m running Win7 on my Lenovo Tablet X60 and it does not recognize my DVD drive (in the docking station). Has anyone gone through this before? Wondering if there are updated drivers from Lenovo. Thanks, Carol
April 27th, 2009 4:03 pm
Above all else, please keep System Update. Then just make sure you provide hardware-specific function like the switchable graphics on my T400 through some mechanism (unless Windows 7 supports it???), which is currently through the PowerManager.
May 2nd, 2009 12:46 pm
Rescue and Recovery is the best backup software period. That is why I buy Lenovo Desktops, ThinkCentres and ThinkPads.
CSS Password Manager is wonderful as well.
System update is very important and I hope it will have a rebirth.
These three combined with the next business day on site warrantees are the basis for brand loyalty.
Remove these three software offerings and I will be moving to a Mac!
May 3rd, 2009 7:47 am
In my opinion, I believe that regular driver updates/support and the optimisation of existing Thinkvantage technologies should be at the top of the list. Excelling at a smaller number of things is better than trying to do too many things but not doing them all that well. Also it is pointless to duplicate functionality if there is no additional benefits.
Ensuring issues are investigated and resolved quickly for drivers and TVT’s, followed by an effective distribution method. So its a matter of process, how can issues be reported and investigated for drivers and Thinkvantage applications? then distributed easily (ie, the now defunct System Update).
Also one of the biggest reasons that our SOE is so slow is due to the use of Thinkvantage applications. It increases the memory usage and quite noticeably slows down Windows boot times. Naturally we use TVT’s due to the functionality it offers, but they do this at the cost of additional system resources required, which is one of the biggest complaints.
System Update:
No longer used in the corporate environment due to the requirement of testing and standards. However, for maintaining or building up a new Windows install on a personal machine, this tool was invaluable as it would remove most of the grunt work of traversing the Driver Matrices on the Lenovo web site and installing each and every package.
Access Connections:
Incredibly useful and allows for a lot customisation, although Windows7 can now do much of what Access Connections did. Its still important for complex networks where the options it offers allows us to build profiles exactly to what we need (especially for enterprise authentication/protocols) and expect the profiles to work. Has nice extra’s like: default printer, IP/proxy override, autorun VPN client etc.
Active Protection System:
It gives the Thinkpad an edge over everyone else and actually does something useful – protect the hard disk. This should never be removed.
Power Manager:
Offers Battery Maintenance and more refined controls for components of a notebook. The options here are tuned for Thinkpads and they work, I just don’t see Windows allowing for this level of control for a specific vendor. Also the battery stretch function will let users milk every last bit of power out of that battery.
Presentation Director:
Similar to Access Connections, where it allows for profiles to be setup and used. Windows does not come close to this. Once the profiles are setup and there are little to no changes in the physical hardware/environment used, it just works.
Other stuff
Keyboard customizer utility:
It was useful when the older keyboards (pre-40 series) didnt have Windows keys, so you could remap keys. Not sure about the other options there.
Easy eject:
Never use it, doesnt offer too much more over what Windows does a “good enough” job of currently.
Full screen magnifier:
This thing is useless, lowers the resolution and messes up window positioning, icon positioning etc.
Message center:
Information posted not regularly enough and when there is something new, its not even all that important.
Rescue and recovery:
Too inflexible, it dumps the original factory image which is bloated and out of date. Even if you remove some of the apps in the list to be restored, it does not include the full list of apps that will be restored. Even if a corporate SOE could be loaded in this manner, it would be too difficult to update. The point of updated images is to fix issues, provide new/updated software and functionality. Reverting to a state of when the machine was originally purchased/built is not very useful in a corporate environment, it might be faster yes, but not necessarily the best option long term.
Using this function in emergencies might be handy, but may prolong the life of a Windows install longer than it needs to be, and may cause even worse issues down the track.
As for personal use, it would be nice if there was an option to restore to a bare Windows with drivers only and you could install only the applications that you want.
From a data recovery point of view, the same functionality can be done via WinPE environment offered from tools such as ERD or using a Linux boot CD or high capacity USB stick which can run Linux and serve as a backup location. These would be independent of the system, which can be more easily maintained/updated and offer more diagnostic and maintenance tools should there be a need for it. Applications from portableapps.com could be added to make it a usable environment.
System migration assistant:
Dont use it, would rather set everything up fresh. Most automated tools we have tried, all seem to have strange quirks after restoring it on another machine or after a re-image.
Image builder:
Dont use it, we have our own tools for this.
Productivity center:
Dont use it.
Client security center:
Dont use it, we have our own tool for this.
All in all, I would say that you should really focus on the core technologies, ensure that they work efficiently and problem free…..or something that no one else provides that would really bring value to the Thinkpad.
Thanks!
May 7th, 2009 5:11 pm
Help! I just installed Window 7 (RC) to my T60 everything works flawlessly.
However, when I pressed the thinkvantage blue button while starting up the computer, it didn’t work!
Is there anyway to go into the hidden partition to restore my computer to factory settings (it came with xp pro)?
Thank you in advanced!
May 9th, 2009 3:36 am
Hy Lenovo , here is my customer experience with X16 Tablet (I know it is discontinued now , but think the support for it will be on)
Tried Windows 7 RC1 on my tabletpc and the only problems i have got are :
- the upek driver does not communicate with fingerprint software
- the intel graphic driver have some bug with memory allocation flickering some time to time
- bluetooth does not work and does not appear in the tablet menu app and can`t be activate other way
This are the problem encountered by me , I hope this will be resolved cause my default Vista drain to much from my laptop and the overall performance it is sucking compared with Windows 7 that is lean and fast!
I like the product you all made , hope you all continue to make the X line of tablet with the latest technology and always with Wacom on them!
May 12th, 2009 4:53 pm
The problem with the Embrace and Extend Methodology IMO is the Encumber and Stumble side effect.
Microsoft products tend to not side with anything instead they work against em for example access connections, good program, but AutoWlink service (conf somethin) under windows services, required for… Device drivers for wlan and configuration of network properties, it interferes with access connections at times causing network failures and sometimes the wireless hardware to lock up in an endless loop requiring a restart where the hardware switch no longer makes a difference because the software has conflicted in such a way that the laptop thinks the wireless gear is still on even with the hardware switch turning the gear off.
just my thoughts, imo microsoft comes up with good features but they really need to work on that there no I in Team effort.
May 15th, 2009 4:53 am
By terminating TVSU without any advance notification, and not bothering to have a viable replacement online before doing so, Lenovo have clearly said ‘We do not want your custom’ to home users such as myself.
As a direct consequence of Lenovo terminating TVSU my Lenovo 3000 N200 is unstable, and I have no viable way to properly patch and update the Lenovo installed drivers and apps on it.
Result is I will have to spend approximately 3 times the purchase price of the Lenovo to purchase a replacement for the Lenovo.
May 24th, 2009 10:38 am
Hi!
I think that most of the apps are fantastic. Way above the supplied with OS software, and they contribute to the caring attitude that the customer receives from the manufacturer. I have tried numerous options, and I see that CSS, Rescue and Recovery, Image Builder, Secu Drive (although by Utimaco), Power Manager and Power Management, Presentation Director, Power Options Console, Wireless Status, Keyboard Customizer, Screen Magnifier, Access Connections, Active Protection, were all applications excellent applications. Almost all of them I used daily. PLEASE do not discontinue any of them. Along them Thinkpad Configuration, On Screen Display and Software Installer (Please revive this) were believed to natively belong to the thinkpad world as well even if less used.
What I profoundly disliked was system update and message center.
I realise that some users like that tools some like the other….perhaps making a poll would yield some statistics.
(But please bring back the software installer. It made much more sense. I for instance do not update it, uncheck that it should look on the web for updates, manually download the stuff needed, then it installs automatically what it should. Bring it back. It was much less annoying than System Update (it didn’t need updating everytime, nor did it have high expectations, it simply worked). Enough whine.
Thinkvantage started well, it should be always ahead of the OS and refine what the OS is giving us. Many thinkpadders believe that a thinkpad is much more than the machine. I don’t know how it came to be actually, but the “Think” in Thinkpad makes a lot of sense with thinkvantage. R&R for example, as said above, is less impressive now as Windows 7 has a predesktop mode, that can be used for recovery from a saved image, just like R&R or Norton Ghost, or Acronis DriveImage or other backup solutions. But this was free, thinkpad-made, customizable, and deployable over other systems. An incredible incentive to fleets for IT managers.
Let me make a “homiletical” appeal: Don’t give this to Windows, because Thinkpad has made a tradition of Think Vantage. The Advantage to Think. If we let go thinking we lose the advantage. And worse would be to think with no advantage. ThinkVantage should stand for win-win solutions, offering advantages to both sides, and the best ones. A satisfied and comitted customer, proud of his choice and your manufacturing and care, and a company that has the support and trust of its customers. Most of the times its pricey. But people value relationships even if it costs. Quality matters. That’s why we’re all thinking…and the Thinkpad is there along.
May 26th, 2009 11:06 pm
Bring back System Update!
The System Update would sometimes list updates provided by Windows/Microsoft Update. Don’t throw the whole thing out because there was overlap. Unlike other vendors, System Update was a nice way to create a clean install and easily grab all the required drivers. I know some big companies don’t have to worry about this because they have their own ways of keeping track of this… for smaller companies SU was a really, really nice tool. It listed the drivers for that specific system and only that system — downloaded and installed them. How great is that? Much better than Dell where even if you put in the right tag number you get useless files listed.
May 26th, 2009 11:11 pm
I spoke too soon. I found to the replacement to the SU utility. I wish the SU program pointed me to this program. I will try it out ASAP. For those that stumbled over this blog, the new tool is located at:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....N-ADMIN#ur
May 30th, 2009 2:51 am
The two key ones are:
#1 System Update
#2 Rescue and Recovery
#3 Access Connections
Please ensure System Update comes back for Windows 7, it’s very expensive at the moment trying to support Lenovo equipment without out. And whatever happens don’t even think about dropping Rescue and Recovery.
June 4th, 2009 11:44 am
What Lenovo users need in the long term is machines that fully support Linux, not a bunch of half-integrated utilities that barely differentiate Lenovo from other Windows vendors.
August 11th, 2009 12:22 pm
System Update in the 2005-2006 IBM Version used to have the ability to point to a LAN or drive location. Why was this removed? Crazy. I update the repository with the latest drivers and I never have to worry about sucking down 400MB worth of applications and drivers on a clean installation. Now I have to go through all of that time and bandwidth to get this done.
Running Windows 7 RTM on a T500 (2081-CTO) and despite the OS warning of compatibility issues almost every single ThinkVantage product works ok, with exception of the fingerprint application. Even that has a driver from Authentec to work properly.
I for one am glad that TVSU was brought back. System Update is incredibly useful, even in its internet only hobbled state. I don’t have time to look through a list or matrix to find out which driver might or might not be updated. I would love TVSU if for no other reason than a lookup against a list to make sure I have the latest in each driver and app category. Would love it to get back to where it was in 2005 though.
August 12th, 2009 1:25 pm
[...] functionality, many of Lenovo’s ThinkVantage Technologies were in essence redundant. Matt had previously alluded to the duplication of ThinkVantage tools and now that Windows 7 is imminent, he is able to share [...]
August 13th, 2009 8:15 am
Power Manager wreaks havok with ATI PowerPlay (resets the settings everytime you change profile or switch from AC to battery and vice versa).
The new version keeps having brightness setting issues.
The only good apps for ThinkPad are APS and UltraNav.
Even the latest ThinkPad ATI drivers have a broken — Catalyst control panel won’t even launch — had to get customized NGO drivers.
ThinkPad (T series) is a great machine, but the software that comes with it leaves much to be desired. Hopefully for Windows 7 they will just go lean and include only the necessities. It would be nice if they got rid of System Update and simply distro’ed software/driver updates through Microsoft.
August 17th, 2009 8:51 pm
Used ThinkPads for years now and I have found some of the Thinkvantage utilities helpful. I have migrated my Z60t from the initial 60GB, 120GB to now a 320GB disk drive with Rescue and Recovery and never once lost a file or system. I could use something else, but it is very good and included so why not keep and improve it? I backup regularly to an external USB drive. Being a laptop, I do have stuff on here which should also be on a server, but more importantly if my disk crashes, I’m up and running on the next drive in a few hours, EXACTLY as I was on the old drive.
Which brings me to number 2, Active Protection, this is good. Not sure if it is in Win 7 (which is also very good). So maybe keep this.
I do a lot of presentations, so Presentation Director is good too, but if Win 7 will do and equal or better job, then let it go.
Access Connections was a bit of a mixed bag and now it seems that Win 7 is doing a good job. At least you can control the printers now.
Power Management I think is good via Lenovo, but I have never run with the Windows power management only so really have no comparision.
The rest, well as most people suggest the only thing that would be great would be to be able to map the Fn keys to the appropriate Windows equivalent functions.
Otherwise, keep making great machines.
TTFN – Chris
August 22nd, 2009 12:28 pm
I am running Win7 RC on a T61p with just about all the Lenovo tools installed and running. My favourites are:
- System Update (it seems we are ALL agreed on this one)
- Access Connections (because it has smarter location switching features than Windows, e.g. automatiically turning off the WiFi radio when I connect to my LAN, the handy sidebar widget, etc.)
- Fingerprint Software (I hate typing passwords)
- Productivity Center (just a handy one-button way to reach everything)
- Presentation Director (although I suppose Win7 does a good enough job on its own)
The notable exception is:
- Client Security Solution – Password Manager
CSS won’t even install under Win7. Of all the ThinkVantage tools, CSS is one for which Microsoft has NO counterpart. It is also one that I used daily under Vista in my travels around the Internet for logging into online banking, online shopping, etc. etc.
Someone mentioned a UPEK application that I mght look into, but I would really prefer to have CSS back.
I hope Lenovo will support CSS under Win7 soon.
Cheers!
Brad
August 23rd, 2009 7:52 pm
I need to reset my computer to factory settings. Can someone tell me how?
August 26th, 2009 4:10 am
About CSS – there is a way how to install it on Windows 7, i have Windows 7 x64 official version from MSDn and CSS running on it.
About reset to factory settings – well if you dont destroy recovery partition you can recover from this partition, using Recovery utility from Lenovo. Or you have it installed already, or you can download it from Lenovo site.
pgotze@centrum.cz
September 15th, 2009 3:47 pm
ThinkVantage button won’t launch(Productivity center) anything? Productivity center beta release.
September 21st, 2009 1:36 pm
This is an old article, and probably no longer relevant to the internet world at large or even the author. However, for what it’s worth, I think that ThinkVantage should simply be an extension of the hardware.
Ultimately, Lenovo is a hardware manufacturer. Not a software company. Lenovo’s responsibility to the consumer is stable, reliable, efficient, well engineered hardware.
Every ThinkPad ships with various HotKeys that are linked to the ThinkVantage tools. I think the ThinkVantage team should focus on developing the drivers for these HotKeys and ensuring that they function perfectly on any operating system that the end user may load onto their ThinkPad.
Lenovo cannot control the operating system that the end user will load onto their machine. But, as I mentioned, Lenovo has the responsibility to the consumer to ensure that the hardware works, and works well. Ensuring that ThinkVantage HotKeys (and overall hardware) work, regardless of the operating system, is the true value proposition.
September 25th, 2009 5:09 am
The only Lenovo software I currently use is basic hotkey installation. Although I’ve never managed to get the hotkeys with OSD working on a clean reinstall. But at least my computer isn’t abominably slow.
My recommendations for how to spend your development hours:
- Open up the hotkeys and shortcut buttons. On a default hotkey install, it’s fine to set it to your applications, but it’d really be better if I could assign them to launch my own. Because I have far better ones than the ones you ship. As a matter of fact, I could tie in an awesome launcher application with the ThinkVantage button that would drastically increase the attractiveness and market share of Lenovo systems.
But no. It launches your silly application. Open the hotkeys up and I’ll write the application myself.
-Middle-click OR scroll? Seriously, it’s not hard to do both. And with Fn+Middle-click, you could do a zoom. You’re missing the best way to wean folks off of touchpads for good. And Thinkpads always have the best Trackpoints. But having to pick one function or the other for each application is the worst idea ever. That decision was obviously not made by the UI team.
-Access Connections is becoming increasingly less relevant. Maintaining it for older versions of operating systems is fine, but I’d much rather have default windows functionality for anything than your applications, unless I absolutely need a feature.
-Stay out of my system tray. Seriously. None of your applications are important enough to be in my face all the time, except *maybe* Access Connections. If I used it.
-BIOS work.
-Phoenix has just demoed an Instant-On BIOS that starts booting Windows in 1.37 seconds. It can be tailored for older systems. Apply that retroactively as far back as Santa Rosa platforms, maybe a bit earlier. Yes, most systems like that are used. However, having people snapping up all Thinkpads from the past two years is *the* most effective marketing you could buy.
-Add boot from SD. Speed complaints are not relevant, and are also FUD. Many people would only need to boot small payloads from there, anyway.
-Drop the wifi card whitelist. I’ve considered this as a reason to switch, as I can’t upgrade my wireless card to keep up with current hardware. You might get a $20-$50 out of it, but you’re earning a lot of animosity. I know people who won’t buy Thinkpads just because of this.
-Allow people to set battery charging thresholds without using the Thinkpad Power Manager. That’s all that’s needed from it, anyway.
-I used to use the Active Protection System, but when I upgraded to a 320GB WD drive, it clicked very loudly every time it kicked in. So I disabled it and haven’t used it since. Good idea, but you need to coordinate with HD manufacturers.
-System Update should only be in place for Windows XP and prior. Publish your system updates through Windows Update. That’s what it’s there for. I don’t need your update manager slowing down my boot time.
-Rescue and Recovery is good. I don’t need it myself, but there are people who will. Admitted, it could be done better, though.
Following these suggestions would get you tons of marketshare, free press, and grassroots publicity with the technical people. Just the BIOS work would gain you a few hundred thousand fans, from sites such as Reddit and Slashdot. You might even win a few corporate contracts from it. And it could be financed by foregoing a few ads. Let me know if you need details.
December 20th, 2009 7:44 pm
Brand new T500 with Win 7 Ultimate x64 -
System update fails (Lenovo Updates button within the Lenovo Thinkpad Tool Box).
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: tvsu.exe
Application Version: 4.0.0.1
Application Timestamp: 4abb884b
Fault Module Name: tvsutil.dll
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4adc2eb7
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00002683
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 2ac3
Additional Information 2: 2ac3e0a5a88496a511e3fb7db5121704
Additional Information 3: ff1c
Additional Information 4: ff1c95de237ac1f347af2a330da086f1
February 8th, 2010 11:44 am
I purchased w W700 that came with Vista 64 and manage to do the upgrade to Windows 7. So far, personally Windows 7 is another lack luster performer from Microsoft. There is nothing on Windows 7 that from an end user point cannot be done with XP. This will be in time strike two for MS just like Vista was.
I really dont get where they get the information from. If they want to make the computers more appealing they need to open their ears to not only what people like today, but to common sense. They removed the Classic Menu..hmm… I bet any focus group ran by non geeks will easily show that it is a lot easier that the really stupid Vista and now W 7 menu interface. What are they thinking? Hidding and containg the icons inside a scroll popup makes sense?
These W700 are not cheap, and this is one for you Lenovo. You claim this is the most advanced and powerfull laptop out there. The Windows index shows 5.8 for the hard drives even with two raid or mirrored drives. There is no cache for the raid controller so this is as cheapy as you can make it. A regular HP Pavilion laptop has better drive performace! If you remove drive 0 and only leave drive 1 on it it wont boot so really nice protection…
In the process of upgrading the W700 I called Support, proudly in Atlanta, GA. After opening a case I was told they could not help since they dont support the software. So, you make the product but take no ownership about the software you or IBM makes. More importantly the idiots that answer the phone had no clue on what I was talking about. To give specifics, Case was 33PBBM9 and the 3 employees Bernard, Crystal, Moureen had no idea on their own product. All them hang up the phone after I asked them to sopt pushing me MIGR numbers that were not applicable to the W700 like sofware with XP 32 bits. Finally after asking to speak to a supervisor a genious with the name of Cozroy who is only a lead specialist took over the call to tell me they have and offer no support period.
If I can sell these two in ebay I will and will get a Mac, this is my last MS and Lenovo PC.
February 16th, 2010 1:45 pm
PLEASE KEEP Presentation Director! The Win7 version just doesn’t cut it!
March 2nd, 2010 12:37 pm
“You’re going to want Windows 7. It’s that good. The more I use it, the more I like it. “
The more I use it the more I hate it!!
to Paul aviles: dont by a mac.. mac is the same crap as windows.. the company behind it is just as greedy and controlling as M$..
Go for something open source such as Ubuntu: cheaper, faster, easier to manage and a lot more secure. Im a network admin and I use way to much of my working time, struggeling with programs that behave badly because of builtin copy protections and anti piracy.. (if you have ever tried to make a msi file of autoCAD, you probably know what im talking about)
If M$ used half of the time they use on programming against piracy, on making a better OS, they would maybe end up with a OS that’s actually worth paying for.. Both mac and windows make crippled OS’es, that you can uncripple by paying them.. Adobe and M$ are the reason why I started to use GNU/Linux. greedy bit**es
“Windows: Life without walls”.. thats cowpoop! If you want freedom, get GNU/linux. Too much time is wasted on : activations, serial, numbers, lisences, crapware, windows validatin checks, virus threats++ (and yes: we do pay for the software used and time spent is not used cracking, but putting up lisence servers, deploying protected programs and OS’es, reactivating,.. you got the point im sure.. Looks like I got a bit off topic.. sorry :p
I love the thinkpads. win7 didnt find all the drivers for t60 though.. not on windows update either.. thats bad.
By the way.. Ubuntu on T60is a beautiful combo. On X200 also. X200+Ubuntu is the perfect computer for me. Very portable for running around fixing things, and with a few clicks you’ll get all the networking tools you need from ubuntu repository.