Well folks, here we are again, another leak of Windows 7.  This time we have build 7057.winmain.090305-2000.  This build is a mere 6 days old as of this writing and brings forth a few changes since build 7048.  I will outline these changes here as well as over a few other things.

UAC Issue

As you all know, previous builds of Windows 7 allowed you to change the level of UAC without ever receiving a prompt from the system.  This could potentially allow a piece of malware to turn off UAC on your system and open it up to a much more lethal attack.  This issue was not fixed in 7048 which surprised me, but it IS fixed in 7057.  Hooray!

New Logon Screen

Upon first boot of this build you will notice the most obvious change over 7048.  The logon screen is new.  At first when I saw the screenshot I didn’t think I liked it, but after seeing it running it is pretty nice, although it might be a little too bright in some areas.  See the screenshot below to have a look at the logon screen:

New Wallpapers

This build contains some new wallpapers over 7048.  They seem to be centered around the “Characters” theme which is clearly geared towards little kids.  Can’t say I’ll be using these but I’m sure they will make the 4 year old from the Windows Live commercials very happy.  See screenshot below to see new wallpapers:

New User Pictures

This build features all new user pictures to be used for your account on the system.  Some of these are quite nice and there are more than double the number that were present in Vista and previous builds of Windows 7.  See the screenshot below:

Expiration Date Change

This build, in preparation for the RC, has an expiration date which is set to March 1, 2010.  I have already seen people reading into this WAY too much stating that this must mean Microsoft won’t release Windows 7 until early 2010.  I can assure you all that this expiration date is merely there to give people ample time to get retail bits before their RC  build expires.

Startup Bug, Desktop.ini Opens in Notepad on Every Boot – FIX

This is an odd bug, mostly due to the fact that some instances of desktop.ini are visible and not set to system and hidden.  Fortunately the fix for this is quite easy:

1. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
2. Delete desktop.ini
3. Navigate to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
4. Delete desktop.ini if present.

That pretty much covers it, a small overview of the changes in 7057.  Any questions or comments feel free to ask or discuss it in the forums.