Windows 7 and ThinkVantage Technologies
There is nothing like a good summer vacation to renew the soul, and it’s why I’ve not posted anything in the last few weeks. Now that Windows 7 has “gone gold” it seems like a good time to talk about Lenovo ThinkVantage Technologies and their relevance in Windows 7. But first, Lenovo would like readers to know our official response to last week’s leak of the Windows 7 OEM key:
Earlier this week, an ISO image (loaded on a Lenovo system) containing the Windows 7 RTM (release to manufacturing), OEM key and marker file, was stolen and placed on a hacker forum in China. The pirated OEM key is being disabled, and Lenovo strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources. Downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer websites will expose users to increased risks, such as hviruses, Trojans, and other malware and malicious code. These risks can seriously harm or permanently destroy data and may expose users to identity theft and other criminal schemes.
Lenovo is committed to protecting customers from counterfeit and pirated software and recommends that customers use genuine Microsoft software, properly licensed, and fully-backed by Microsoft, as the surest and safest way to ensure that they have access to the latest features, security and support for Windows 7. Please visit Microsoft’s Genuine Windows Blog (link tohttp://blogs.msdn.com/wga/archive/2009/07/30/windows-7-oem-product-key-leak.aspx) for more information.
As previously announced, Lenovo will provide a free license upgrade to Windows 7 for customers who purchase a Lenovo laptop or desktop PC with an eligible Windows Vista version between June 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010. (This offer applies to individuals and companies who plan to buy less than 25 PCs).
I have made passing references on previous blog posts about Windows 7 and how it seems to obviate the need for ThinkVantage Technologies. In some cases that is so, but there are still some compelling reasons to use them on Windows 7.
Tools Which Will Continue in Windows 7
- Access Connections – There is no question that Win 7 has dramatically improved connectivity. In fact, since I’ve been running Win 7 as my primary production operating system for over two months now, I have not used Access Connections at all. Has it outlived its usefulness? That is possibly true if you’re an individual user, but if you’re a corporate user, you’ll still find a lot to like. First, it allows a consistent interface across all versions of Windows. If you’re like many, you won’t be a 100% Win 7 shop for 2 – 3 years. Having one consistent interface eases support issues. Even if you do the oft cited, but seldom used, “big bang” upgrade, Access Connections still has much better centralized manageability and “push” capabilities than Windows. Quite simply, it controls more of the things that corporate IT needs like firewall enablement settings, VPN integration, and provides more connectivity information in a central location. Plus, security researchers have panned Windows 7’s “promiscuous” wireless mode. It will happily automatically connect to multiple networks. This is a major security risk. Access Connections can enforce only one connection at a time.
- Rescue and Recovery – I’ve played with the new Win 7 recovery program, and it is much improved. You can backup a complete image of your computer to a set of CDs/DVDs or to a second hard drive. That is also its biggest weakness. Windows will not let you put your backup in your primary partition (i.e. your c:\ drive). This alone makes this an untenable tool for the corporate world. Even if Windows 7 won’t boot, you can boot into WinPE to launch your recovery — no Windows CDs needed. On top of this functionality, Rescue and Recovery offers far more granular control like enabling security for encrypted backups, choosing files to exclude from backups (e.g. only keeping the most recent copy of your email file), centralized control of settings, and the ability to recover, but keep your most recent personality settings.
- Power Manager – Win 7 offers much better and comprehensive control than ever before to save power. No matter how good it gets, though, Windows biggest problem is that it has to be generic enough to work on all vendors’ systems. Applications like Lenovo’s Power Manager are written to work specifically with Lenovo hardware at the hardware level. We can do a better job because we know how to manage our hardware best. Power Manager also gives some additional features like Battery Stretch, support for switchable graphics, and easy-to-use slider control for changing power settings. From an IT perspective, it allows control by tools other than SMS, like LANDesk and allows these teams to deploy power agenda profiles. Windows does not yet allow this.
- System Update – Windows is good at updating itself and other Microsoft applications. It is not as good at distributing vendor hardware-specific things like BIOS updates. There is a need for both Windows Update and System Update in a post Win 7 world. It also has a version for IT professionals, Update Retriever, which allows IT teams to host and push out their own updates to their users. Judging from marketing reaction when we tried to remove it earlier this year, I think most of you agree that this is a valuable tool.
- Password Manager – I LOVE this tool. I NEED this tool. There’s no overlap with Windows functionality, and thus it will continue. From a security perspective, Microsoft stores Internet Explorer passwords in a known, less than secure location.
- Lenovo System Toolbox (a.k.a PC Doctor) – I wrote about Lenovo System Toolbox not long ago. If you are not familiar with this tool, it is a comprehensive hardware and software systems diagnostic toolset. Other than ScanDisk and some improved performance monitoring, there is not a whole lot of overlap between this tool and Windows 7. It also continues.
- System Migration Assistant and ImageUltra Builder – These also continue under Win 7, but I have not played with their new versions yet, so I do not have a whole lot of detail to share.
- Hardware Password Manager – Windows still does not have a solution for centrally managing all types of hard disk drive passwords. No other vendor does yet either.
Discontinued Tools – Before anyone panics, know that the utilities listed below will continue to exist and be supported under Vista and XP. We simply are not porting them to work in Windows 7.
- Presentation Director – This is probably the most controversial of the tools we are not porting over to work on Windows 7. The reason is that Windows has much improved external projector/display capabilities and configures many things automatically. There are a few features that we wish Microsoft would have incorporated from our tool, but they aren’t enough to justify the development expense of continuing to update this tool.
- GPS application and Camera Center – These tools being discontinued is a good thing. If you have a GPS or camera on earlier versions of Windows, only one application can use that device at a time. Windows 7 provides a common API to allow “sensors” like the Active Protection System and GPS chips to be shared among all Windows programs. You may not need this feature today, but you will in the future.
- Productivity Center – This was always more of a business level tool. Between our improved Lenovo System Toolbox and improved Windows 7 help, most of the function is duplicated and we decided that we could invest the development resources in better places.
- EasyEject – I know there are devoted followers of this tool. Personally, I’ve never found it to be of any use. If you don’t know what it is, EasyEject allows you to tell your system one time that you are going to disconnect all of your external peripherals, as when you are going to undock your system. Without this tool, you need to find the Windows System Tray icon and manually stop each device one by one. This made more sense in the serial/parallel days, but most modern devices don’t care if you yank the cord.
- Screen Magnifier – Most graphics drivers do this anyway these days. It’s duplicate functionality.
- Keyboard Mapper – This is likely to be another controversial one, mainly because there is a significant minority that does not like the placement of our CTRL and Fn keys. These people use this utility to switch them around in software. Regardless of where you stand on the CTRL/Fn issue, remember that there are just as many people who like the status quo. If we were to change, all we would do is swap one unhappy group of people for another. Plus, our Yamato team is considering allowing these keys to be swapped in BIOS.
Future Tools
I cannot tell you anything about these yet, but we’re not just cutting development resources. We are redeploying them to introduce a few new ThinkVantage tools as well. One in particular is nothing short of “wow.” It demos well and once you’ve tried it, you’re likely to love it.
I hope this gives some clarity. If I left your favorite tool out, let me know in the comments and I’ll try and get you an answer.
August 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I just noticed the new lenovo device stage on my t60- looks pretty good!
August 10th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Thanks for the update.
Do you know when these will be available? I have been using the beta versions on Win 7 RTM with no issues.
August 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
From ThinkVantage Technologies I personally use only Presentation Director and EasyEject. Bad news for me
August 10th, 2009 at 11:18 am
In terms of the discontinued tools, I don’t use any of them, nor do I know anyone who uses them, so I think most of them are safe to cut. However, your comment about the BIOS manipulation I find kind of odd, since isn’t the BIOS basically being deprecated for more advanced and flexible system control options? I remember seeing it on the Lenovo future product roadmap.
It should also note that the dropping of System Update was not just a “marketing reaction” as you say, but it was near a full out revolt with people vowing never to buy a Lenovo again.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hi,
what about the driver for switchable graphics? Still waiting for it
Anyway please work hard on the Access Connections, latest versions had some bugs and respond very slowly….network manager in Win 7 seems to be much better now…
Thanks Jakub
August 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
As for me I find EasyEject utility very useful and conveniet. It is my preferred way to remove flash memory sticks form the system. So bad news for me. Although it is not the case that I cannot live without it. It is just a nice addition to the overall package. Moreover, I am not going to rush on Windows 7 anyway as there is nothing wrong with my Vista 64-bit box.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Is Keyboard Mapper is a separater tool from Keyboard Customizer Utility? I was using it to get the euro symbol – € while I have US keyboard layout (the most common in Poland)
August 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I am looking to resell a ibm m400 projector. 4yrs. old but used<50x. Not sure on what to ask for selling price. Any help would be welcomed. Thanks.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Access to key remapping ( in full ) should be a feature of the operating system. I think that having API calls so that keys can be remapped programmatically is great . Alas, if the OS vendor won’t provide an easy access to it, I guess that static BIOS key remapping would be a good thing. Just hoping it’s done right.
Frankly, the only two ThinkVantage utilities I ever used are the Power Manager and System Update, the others I considered dead-weight, that is, I could do better some other way. Well, maybe the zoom key came in handy a couple of times and EasyEject was very convenient for multiple devices.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Maybe it’s just me, but I always had trouble using Access Connections when my wirelss network it password protected. Often I have to use windows to get the settings right, such as entering the password.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Hmm… nice to see some of the tools migrate. Access Connections has always been better than the Windows standard connection manager. but I’m a bit upset some of the “controversial losses”
Presentation Manager is an incredible asset for Lenovo, more unique than any other ThinkVantage tool. It’s uses extend far beyond presentations. I frequently switch from built-in lcd to external monitor to both at the same time, and presentation manager is the only way to do this efficiently.
The keyboard mapper is also a very powerful tool for those who use external keyboards and want to have access to their volume… can’t count the number of times I’ve used this.
I understand the cost of porting the old apps to Windows 7 may be significant, but I think these productivity apps are one of the things that really puts Lenovo a step above the competition. I really would like to see each of the tools that are still useful migrate to Windows 7.
August 10th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
PLEASE keep Presentation Director. While Win7 does have much better support, the ability to quickly switch resolutions, monitors, dual/extended, etc., all in one fell swoop as a ‘profile’ with just a keypress/mouseclick or two is something Win7 doesn’t seem to have. Doing the same in Win7 would require multiple clicks to set each of the settings individually.
Please keep Presentation Director – Win7 doesn’t come close!
August 11th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Hi,
I just want to say that I personally like the EasyEject tool a lot and I use it practically every day. More generally speaking, I tend to use any keyboard shortcut over mouse clicking.
Good thing though that the power manager and access connections stay. The are really great. I also think that the presentation director has been a very useful tool in Win XP. I hate it when people struggle to get their presentation to show during meetings.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Is “Password Manager” available for Windows 7?
August 11th, 2009 at 8:24 am
The ONLY thinkvantage tools I currently use (under Vista x64) are Presentation Director and Active Protection. Presentation Director is something I only use because of the ‘lame’ Intel interface for changing graphics settings, and Active Protection will be much less relevant since this is probably the last laptop I’ll buy with a spinning hard drive.
Access Connections caused unending irritation until I removed it in favor of the built-in Vista tools, and the power management worked well but there was no switch to tell it to stop complaining about a 3rd party battery (Lenovo had a 4+ week ship date for a battery, the channel was basically out, I needed one *today*)
August 11th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Access Connections now uses the underlying Windows switching infrastructure to make the changes, so it should perform much faster than older versions. I’ve seen recent demos and it is much faster.
I haven’t seen any definite plans for a TVT beta ahead of Windows 7 announce yet, but if history holds true, we’ll likely do it again. Now that the code has “gone gold” our teams are working to iron out any last bugs before ship.
Password manager will be available for Windows 7. I’m currently use a beta version.
Presenting in Windows is a two click affair. Windows automatically switches to projector mode when a cable is attached. Then I’ve added Windows Mobility Center to my start menu to give me easy access to presenter mode.
August 11th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
If Windows 7 natively supports sensors like the APS accelerometer, does this mean the OS will have an interface for setting shock sensitivity or temporally suspending the protection? Or when will a Windows 7 APS be available that will offer a configuration/status GUI?
The Windows 7 ‘Program Compatibility Assistant’ reports that ver 1.63 has known compatibility issues after installing the Vista version on my T60 running Win7 RTM.
August 12th, 2009 at 3:32 am
One more vote to keep the Presentation Director.
More advanced users whill have no problems to use the WMC, but the most of our users will not be able to create a proper setup on the fly without the Presentation Director!
August 12th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Vista and XP never correctly changed the display setting when notebook was docked in a dock with 2 external LCDs (primary screen (DVI) is right of secondary (VGA) and laptop display is off). I don’t think that W7 is better. This is why I like Presentation Director.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Does Windows 7 have the ability to rearrange how the displays are oriented? i.e. How is the external display placed in relation to the notebook – left, right, below, above? If it doesn’t, my ThinkPads have lost crucial functionality to me.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:56 am
So when those (and SystemUpdate for win 7) will be available?
August 13th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Another vote for Presentation Director for W7 here too.
I support many docked users who have daul monitors and it is imposible to setup without PM. I have a new Lenovo T400 with W7 RC now on it but haven’t tested the dual setup yet.
The main reason I like Lenovo’s is for the “Software Update”. When they shut it down for 3 or so months I was mad and lost. Best tool ever! Saves so much time, don’t do that again plz.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Easy Eject has a couple of features that the native eject feature in XP and Vista lack:
1) It displays drive letters for removable devices.
2) It makes it trivial to retry an eject if the device is not ready to eject.
With the native eject feature, I have to guess about which device is which, and if the device is busy, I have to start all over again.
I haven’t tried the eject feature in Windows 7 to see if it addresses these problems.
And yes, I do have devices that require being “stopped” rather than just pulling the plug: external USB hard drives that are set to “optimize for performance”.
August 14th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Can I use the build in UMTS Card (Ericsson) in TP T500 in Windows 7 without Access Connections? In Win Vista this is very difficult if quite impossible.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I like the presentation director and the client security solutions. I can understand the need for eliminating presentation director (vista has the mobility center, BUT, does not always work so great), but it is a strong point for me to create custom configurations, making taking my Thinkpad between work, home, conference as simple as saving some default configs and just switching them out.
Please keep the security solutions, especially the private disk available as a download! Its a great tool that makes using my IBM products much more secure!
August 14th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Screen Magnifier – Most graphics drivers do this anyway these days. It’s duplicate functionality.
…
No they don’t. Not the same way that the Thinkvantage one does, anyways. The middle button maginifcation button feature was unique among thinkpads. My wife, who is visually impaired, now will not be migrating to a Windows 7 based Thinkpad because of this.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:07 am
I’ll miss Fn+Space for screen magnifier.
August 15th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Looks good to me… but:
Password Manager was for me a dream come true. Excellent. Then I switched over to Windows 7. Found out there was no Password Manager available just yet, and found that Windows could use the fingerprint reader for logon. Ok, I was no exactly happy but when you’re beta testing you cant expect too much…
Well, the beta versions of the ThinkVantage Technologies for Windows 7 came. But that was not good at all. A Password Manager was there, and from what I’ve seen it was good. But it didn’t work for me, since there was no one available for my fingerprint reader hardware!
I’m on T43, 2668-44G. I’m planning to buy Windows 7, I don’t think that’s a waste of money. But I plan to keep my computer, it’s too much money getting me one which can handle what I want it too. So please! Keep up the support for older systems, they have no trouble running Windows 7 and I’m sure a lot of people agree with me: A new OS makes more sense than a new computer!
All-in-all: Let there be a Password Manager compatible with my computer or you get to learn me how to do it…
August 15th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Vote for Easy Eject and Presentation Director.
Easy eject provide better interface and easier access with Fn+F9 stroke compare to right click on taskbar every time i want to remove removable disk. At the first time i rarely use this feature, but later on i kinda get used to it and highly regarded this feature.
Beside, if removed, the stroke become redundant. Or maybe you plan to do other things with F9? It is pity to have a dysfunctional F9 key on R400.
Presentation Director give nice interface and provide uniqueness between other HPs and Acers in meeting room. Maybe it is pure cosmetics, but like Mr David Hill said, it is about identity.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Votes for Easy Eject and Presentation Manager:
My thinkpads all have docks. I use easy eject several times a day.
Because my thinkpads all have docks, with different monitor settings in different locations, I use presentation manager several times a day to set up monitors. I often can’t use windows built in utilities, because after coming out of sleep I end up looking at a blank LCD that says “Cannot display this analog Mode”. So Fn+F7 is needed.
Actually I was given the opportunity to demo some HP machines recently, and I was quite impressed (reasonable HP utilities, thinklight equivalent on their tablet, trackpad equivalent, ambient light sensors, docks and port replicators…). Be interesting to see what they are doing for Win7.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Why does the TV Power Manager for Win7 not display current wattage in the gauge anymore?
I always used that to see if there’s some unreasonable drain on the battery i should be aware of.
Besides, remaining charge (filled background) and wattage gave me a way better feel of how much time I’ve left than the same quantity (charge left) presented as a gauge and a percentage, and the other quantity not displayed at all!
Also, I don’t trust your estimation of “time left” because you have to extrapolate from wattage and remaining charge, while I have the whole picture. I know what I’ll be doing for the next few hours (light/heavy work).
PLEASE bring wattage display back!
I’m already looking for 3rd party gauges (decent ones are all shareware), but why should I pay money for a feature you USED TO HAVE?
August 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’ve installed Windows 7 Professional from MSDNAA on a T500, but I’m without Thinkvantage tools right now. Can someone please tell me when will they be out for Windows 7, I’m eagerly awaiting the Power Manager.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
So far on my win7 t400s, then main things that are not working are:
blue tooth
gps (as a win7 ’sensor’)
accelerometer (as win7 ’sensor’)
access connections has bad memory leak
August 18th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Jack, gps on the T400s? Must have overread this one.
Matt, i know you don’t like such questions, but i have to ask as it becomes more and more probable, that i will receive a T400s soon: I will shrink the SSD for the existing windows installation in favor of several Linux partitions, still keeping the preload partition. How does the update to Win7 take place? Do i get a DVD by mail, do i have to download an image from Lenovo, or does the TVT software updater do the installation automatically? In any case, and this is most important: is the process able to operate on just the preload section and the shrunken win partition? Please, please, try to get me an answer, that i do not put a lot of effort into the Linux configuration, only to erase everything when making the jump to win7.
(I know that more ‘modern’ versions of windows do not require a total rebuild of the partition table as it was in former painful days. I’m more concerned about the TVT and preload stuff, because from this part i just know the bundle of discs that restore the initial state of the machine, erasing all changes, i.e. Linux)
Now i just keep my fingers crossed, that Lenovo keeps the policy to equip Thinkpads with crappy displays for the wave of models that will follow the T400s. What a desaster if i found while surfing with my T400s the announcement of a W400s with an IPS screen.
Sorry, this last one just came over me.
anyway curious to see what comes up next!
Hecke
August 20th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Can I use thinkvantage for Windows Vista with Windows 7. I’m already on Windows 7 and am eagerly awaiting the release of Thinkvantage Access Connections.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Please keep Presentation Director. I am currently using Windows 7 Enterprise and the multi monitor support is terrible escpecially when I use the docking station with my T400. The profiles were amazing time savers. The presentation director was one of the key selling points on why our company switched from Dell to Lenovo.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:11 am
I just upgrade from Vista 32 to Win 7 32 RTM on my T61 (8891-CTO, IIRC). Everything else seems to be working fine, but sleep / suspend does not work properly. When plugged in on AC power, the screen will go blank but the computer never actually goes into suspend. Moving the mouse will turn the screen back on and present the Windows login prompt. Oddly, on battery power, sleep / suspend seems to work just fine. Hibernate does seem to work properly.
I have installed the latest power management driver, power management, and system interface drivers from the Lenovo Win 7 beta page, but no difference.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I, too, use Presentation Director (multiple times daily!) to manage moving from work (two screens, no dock) to home (two different sized screens on my dock) to conference rooms (just the LCD, or with projector for presentations)…or even just to shut off one of my extra LCDs when I don’t need both on. Having to click through and reset all of these each time I move, rather than select one of my literally dozen profiles, will be a huge disappointment
This was one of the ThinkVantage tools that has really sold me on ThinkPads and makes the added cost of ThinkPads worth it.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I was afraid all the great value-added features of ThinkPads would slowly die off after development transfered to Lenovo
Don’t kill the software that differentiates you from everyone else! Presentation Director and EasyEject are great!
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:51 am
None of the thinkpad driver posted for Beta Windows 7 works for the official Windows 7. I would very much like to see Lenovo has the ThinkVatange power manager available as soon as possible.
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
You guys know about the shortcut win+p in Windows 7, right? Because with that you can go from clone to extended to single display. And I am using my Laptop in a Dock with 2 external Displays. But Windows will remember my setting and automatically switch when docking and undocking.
I don’t miss Presentation Director in Win7.
August 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I can no longer use dual monitors when at a docking station with my T61 now that I have windows 7. Any tricks to this? For Vista I had to install Presentation Director, but this is not compatible with 7.
August 24th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hi need the Presentation Director
August 24th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Ning – None of the thinkpad driver posted for Beta Windows 7 works for the official Windows 7.
The only driver I am having issue with is the wireless driver, it flakes out occasionally. On my X41T the other things are working properly.
August 28th, 2009 at 4:48 am
[...] over what comes with Windows, as it’s invariably crap. Lenovos’s network manager tool is called Access Connections and I would later discover my intuition would turn out to be well [...]
August 28th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I own x40 and x200, presentation manager is one of the most used ThinkVantage Technology that i use. So, of course i vote Presentation Manager on Windows 7.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I don’t understand why you think Presentation Director should be cut. Can you make a Linux version of it? can you open source it?
September 10th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I don’t understand the reasoning to reject certain TV utilities because either i) recent hardware does not require them, or ii) the new OS has similar features in some other part of the OS user interface.
Not everyone is always using the latest hardware: e.g. people are still going to want to eject USB or firewire drives by a convenient keyboard shortcut that lists all the currently attached devices (e. g. EasyEject).
As for apparent duplication of OS features, most of the TV utilities conveniently centralize options (and make them accessible with a keyboard shortcut and collectable in named profiles) that are otherwise scattered in multiple tabbed OS option sheets (e.g. Display Director).
As for the keyboard magnifier shortcut, sure, most screen drivers have a similar feature, but does it have the consistent behavior and shortcut key of the TV version?
As others have mentioned above, it is features like the TV utilities that provide part the the distinctive identity, features and function of the ThinkPad line of notebooks. Cut those–in the name of misguided managerial efforts to rationalize costs–and you are cutting down the attractive features of ThinkPads! Why would Lenovo shoot itself in the foot like this?!?
September 12th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Please dont remove Easy Eject and Presenation Director. They are one of my favourite tools
I got used to them so much. I usually have a lot of thing attached my USB and Easy Eject is doing great.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
[...] many were likely disappointed over the final list of what ThinkVantage Technology software would be carried over into Windows 7 (I will miss [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Please, please, I’m sorely missing Thinkvantage on my T500. Can somebody at least suggest an ETA.
September 21st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Is there any chance of being able to use the password manager in chrome instead of firefox or IE?
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I love my T400. I am running Windows Vista Ultimate (why i didn’t stick with Professional, i don’t know). If I upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, will i still have my great ThinkVantage tools (except for the ones you mention)
September 24th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Keep the presentation director en drop the fingerprint reader instead (doesn’t work properly half of the time anyway with such tender hands like mine
).
The overal idea to discontinue some of the TVtools is good though. A lot of stuff (or the way it’s preinstall is done….) drags the system down en people eliminate it anyway as soon as they can and do a clean install.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Presentation director is very useful, pitty that this will be discontinued in Win7.
).
As well as easy eject, pitty.
Personally I’d rather dismiss the fingerprintreader/software and css which slow the system down, on the other hand you don’t have to install those (which I don’t
October 11th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
So all keyboards with a magnification icon on the space bar will be outdated if your using Win7…
October 12th, 2009 at 6:55 am
As Dan (post #38) pointed out, I too rely on Presentation director on a daily basis. Having Windows 7 already installed, I don’t see how its features can make up for missing Presentation Director.
I hope Lenovo change their mind and continue their support of PD on Windows 7!!!
October 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
So, should we uninstall the Thinkvantage progams that will not be supported under Windows 7 before upgrading to Windows 7?
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 am
I’m on Windows 7. Where do I download Lenovo System Updater?
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 am
Please bring back Presentation Director. Since we are moving to Windows 7 we constantly have problems with docking stations and multiple monitors. You SHOULD continue supporting this application as Windows 7 docking station features are very bad!!!
Thanks,
Alejandro.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Try as I might, after a lenovo system update ‘presentation director’ refused to work. Tried reinstalling it twice; no good. I haven’t re-imaged the laptop [v.last resort]; instead i dual booted into windows 7 and voila! I can now use multiple monitors again. In other words, the built in functionality of windows 7 made a fantastic ‘workaround’ for the ‘presentation director’ problem.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I’ve used the Keyboard Mapper utility to customize my external keyboard (e.g. mapping the right control key to the Windows Application key that is absent on most Logitech keyboards) and found it extremely useful on Vista – really miss it on Windows 7.
Please do not discontinue the Keyboard Mapper utility.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Can you please, please comment on Windows Server 2008 R2 64bit support? The deafening silence on this subject by Lenovo is frustrating to myself and many of my colleagues who for development or other purposes run the server SKU. We can mostly get by with Windows 7 drivers and much of the software Lenovo supplies does as well. There are just enough that do not to ruin the experience.
On a separate note, I wish there was an easier way to submit bug reports for driver and software issues. Posting to the support forums seems to go nowhere.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:05 am
hi,
just want to know what will the blue thinkvantage would be of use of now. i just installed windows 7 on my t400 and used the thinkvantage system update to get my drivers. everything is working perfectly except for that button. any help would be greatly appreciated. i just want to put that button to good use
Thanks!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:40 am
One more vote for Presentation Director, please…
I know the argument is that Win+P is replacing it. That’s fine, as long as you’re running Aero. My wife’s X41T can’t run Aero (thanks for that GMA900…) and if you don’t have Aero, you don’t get Win+P.
And with no Presentation Director she’s got no way to quickly switch to and from the projector at school. This is a big enough deal to where she may have to go back to XP.
Please, please bring back Presentation Director. It can be a stripped down version that replicates Win+P functionality, but I do need the functionality.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I appreciate having Windows 7 versions of System Update, Rescue and Recovery, and Power Manager. How do I get these to install after I do a clean install of Windows 7 Pro on my Thinkpad T400 2764-CTO (from Vista Business) ?
I also would appreciate pointers on how to save copies of factory-installed software like InterVideo WinDVD and Roxio Media Creator so I can re-install after I have Windows 7 running. Any help appreciated – Kathleen