"Superbar" unlocked in PDC build of Windows 7

by Adam Maras Nov 3rd 2008

Certified reverse engineer and rather impressive hacker (in the good sort of way) Rafael Rivera, of Uxtheme patching fame, announced on TWiT that he discovered our sneaky friends over in Redmond actually did enable that cool new "superbar" version of the taskbar in the version of Windows 7 that was handed out to guests at PDC (you know, that one that Lee showed off). The superbar was demoed during the various Windows 7 presentations, but the general consensus was that the feature hadn't been completed by the time the PDC handout build was prepared.

However, Rafael simply couldn't take no for an answer, and dug down into the innards of the pre-release version of Windows 7 to find that some rather sneaky developers at Microsoft simply rigged it to only appear for certain users with computers on Microsoft domains. Upon flipping a bit, he discovered that the superbar (albeit a slightly lesser version than demoed) could be enabled on the pre-beta build. He posted a very simple walkthrough guide and helper application for those of you that are graced with the PDC build of Windows 7, but still longing the shiny bits shown off by Steven Sinofsky at the Windows 7 keynote.

Tags: pdc, pdc 2008, Pdc2008, superbar, windows 7, Windows7

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Killswitch On said 8:34AM on 11-03-2008

The only thing I can say about Windows 7 is this........ if I have anything over 100 bux to upgrade from Vista Ultimate, I am going to be pretty upset.

Those of us who, almost foolishly, fell into the Vista Ultimate trap, should not have to shell out $200 to $3xx bux after we did so on Vista Ultimate, which was a big disappointment as far as what set it apart from the other Vista versions.

I look at Windows 7 as a 'fixed/improved' version of Vista. Millions of us bought into the Vista hype. Sure I like it, but for MS to release yet another OS with in such a short amount of time, and expect Vista users to pay the same high price is a disgrace and slap in the face.

And please tell me, why the hell cant they just release 1 or 2 versions of it? Enough with this Home, Home Premium, Enterprise, Ultimate, etc. Yeah, yeah I know. They are in it to make a profit, but it's a little over board in my opinion, especially when there are minor differences between versions.

oneybm said 9:26AM on 11-03-2008

It could be like Apple and charge you 2 Benjamins for every point release of the OS.

bwyatt said 10:38AM on 11-03-2008

Bullshit, oneybm. You're just making numbers up. OS X has never ONCE cost more than $129 for one license. Ever.

There are plenty of things wrong with Apple that you could criticize, so why just make stuff up?

iampriteshdesai said 12:00PM on 11-03-2008

Apple sucs hard!
Go ubuntu!
FTW

Shan said 1:23PM on 11-03-2008

@bwyatt - that's the dumbest comment I have heard! Have you even used OSX? OSX may not be more than $130, but oneybm is totally correct. Apple DO charge for every point release so to go from 10.5.3 to 10.5.4 or higher - Apple will charge you. If you are somebody who wants all the improvements and new features and get all the point releases, Apples OSX will actually cost you quite a bit. Microsoft just charge you one time for the OS and then provide all the updates within that OS for free. Stop making Apple to be some sort of saviour when it comes to OS costs. Both Microsoft and Apple have their ways to get money for the OS - just different methods, but both are still costly.

Alex McKee said 4:41PM on 11-03-2008

I'd like to correct you here: With the apple model, you pay for the 10.X.0 release. Then, all of the subsequent releases under that 10.X are free. So, If you pay for 10.5.0, 10.5.6 is going to be free. 10.4, in fact, is up to 10.4.11 and they are still continuing to update it past that. Don't BS about 10.5.3-10.5.4 being paid, unless you have to pay for the bandwidth to download it.

Jash Sayani said 2:05PM on 11-03-2008

Wow!! Thanks Adam.

I just backed up my files and installed Windows 7 on my notebook, will try to unlock the Superbar...

BTW, Windows 7 cant install my printer "HP Laserjet P1007". DeviceManager says, USB Printing Support installed and Driver not installed and not needed. But my printer does not show up !!
Any ideas ?? Or do they have Windows 7 support to help me out ?
Thanks.

Josh said 11:26AM on 1-15-2009

I would try going to HP's website and downloading the Vista driver and try that. According to reports, anything that works on Vista will work on 7.
Before that, try and print something and see if it gives you an option for printing. Also, the driver may already be in Win7, so you can go to the add new printer, select HP and see if the driver is already there.

Barring that, that printer may not be supported by HP/Win7

vietnambookings said 4:47AM on 1-16-2009

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