Comment Feed for Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing (Going Deep on Channel 9)

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

JM Powell — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:09:30 GMT

We have several appz written using .net's ServiceController class. Thus far we have been unable to get any of them to work with Windows 7. Calls to an instance of ServiceController's Start() or Stop() methods immediately throw an "InvalidOperationException". This was not the case with Windows XP or even Windows Vista. The problem persists when running as an administrator or even when User Account Control is turned off.

Can anyone advise on how to make the .net ServiceController class work with Windows 7?

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Outbacker — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:54:47 GMT

I am a little confused about the IP Address trigger. With a NIC in a machine, there is always an IP address, right? Even if it is the APIPA address. Is Win7 able to distinguish between APIPA and DHCP/static addresses, such that the trigger only occurs when a non-APIPA address is received? Thank you!

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Avitar.Net — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:32:26 GMT

Running less code is the way to go and why my company decided to not use vista period .. vista is a hog without much to show for it other then a fancy GUI. GUI is nice when you don't care about burning resources, but most people want features they use as opposed to ones which they disable for performance reasons after a month.

I am glad windows 7 is going back to fundamentals.. now they need to remove the registry and provide a simple configuration switch for CIS level modes for big business to save us time from having to clean up the security holes and they will be a contender again.

My hopes for Microsoft lay in W7, otherwise we are dumping them and converting to a *nix shop, which is a ton of work when looking at 20K+ workstations. Concentrate on automation on what is under the hood, not the gloss on the paint job;

Form Follows Function.

Re: Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

NMStoker — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:02:50 GMT

Firstly, Charles & Chittur - thank you for a really interesting video.

It's great to see this sort of thing is being worked on - from my experience (I've got the Win7 beta on my laptop) it appears to be helping and I'm pretty impressed with the speed improvements (things are not 100% but that's par for the course with something like this).

Also, do you think now this more mature design is available, you (Microsoft) might be able to try some "tough love" with those hardware/software manufacturers who aren't doing a good job. I'm thinking of the sort of scenario where you have some gadget that's incredibly useful, poor quality code probably won't make me stop using it (unless it's seriously flawed) but it drags down my whole machine to some extent... and all because they've got some lame service running permanently that needn't be.

Typically speaking, even if you are able to pinpoint the performance on the item (which isn't always the case unless you're more technical than I am, but you can get a fair sense that it's negatively affecting things) you will get ZERO response from the software writer's / manufacturer's support - they already have your money, the guy dealing with support might not understand the issue or he might be jaded since there are countless false problems so he's going to ignore your legitimate problem. Maybe sometimes they'll be dealing with it internally, but you won't ever get any acknowledgement.

It would be great if you got onto their case either discretely "having a polite word" or (preferably to my mind, since it's more open) by publishing lists of widely used services where design could be improved by simple adjustments (i.e. run as a task under task host).

Two particular cases that spring to mind, which must affect huge swathes of PCs:
Sun's Java update check service
Adobe's Acrobat Reader update check service

These two things run always - they have a legitimate purpose (yes, it's good to get updates on these bits of software) but it doesn't merit their own schedulers starting every single time I boot Windows! Also, if they used Task Scheduler, you could tweak the frequency of checking yourself (and there's no need to learn a new UI - Task Scheduler exists!)

Anyway, just putting my two cents in... :-)

Cheers,
Neil

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Allan Lindqvist — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:04:49 GMT

im actually running forefront :) its centrally managed though so that might have something to do with it.. the links works fine in ff though..

ive been able to open wmv files from ie before in win7 and also with forefront installed so im a bit puzzeld O_o there should'nt be any diffrent with the server side config (gpo's and such) either..

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Yochay Kiriaty — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:50:48 GMT

You can find more contetn in the PDC sessio: Designing Efficient Background Services --> http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/PC19/

Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Charles — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:20:21 GMT

Thanks! Windows 7 runs less code than Windows Vista. There's a marketing slogan for you :) Run less code!

Seriously, the work the kernel team has done (and the graphics team, the desktop search team, etc) really has surfaced in Windows 7 to bring us a more performant, reliable and usable OS. You will see more of these interviews. Next up is a dive into user mode scheduling with Windows kernel architect Dave Probert. Stay tuned.

C

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Bent Rasmussen — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:46:42 GMT

Definitely a great video Charles. It gives a nice insight into how services and service management is becomming smarter in Windows 7.

Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Charles — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:37:20 GMT

Not any more... :) Thanks for the heads up.
C

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

davidheffernan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:29:51 GMT

maight?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

radekg — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:56:14 GMT

Are you using kaspersky anti-virus software with your win7? I noticed it is little bit dodgy. If yes you should configure your anti-spy and web av or change to avg :) i had trouble with internet connection on win7 as well but once i configured kaspersy it worked fine.

Re: Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Allan Lindqvist — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:57:25 GMT

oh, nevermind, tried on another box (vista64 ie8b2) and it works fine :) i still get nothing win this (win7 32bit ie8b2) though..
im gonna look through the security settings and see if i find anything

Re: Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Allan Lindqvist — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:46:08 GMT

on this and most c9 posts in the last few days i get a 'cant dispplay page' on the wmv-high and a never ending page load for the vmv version. the SL player seems to work most of the time though :) sometimes it appears to be linking to the wmv version though O_o

Re: Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Charles — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:43:57 GMT

I get the Open/Save prompt when clicking on them. What's happening for you?
C

Re: Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 - Service Controller and Background Processing

Allan Lindqvist — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:42:12 GMT

both wmv and wmv-high links are dead :/