Microsoft Puts Signature on Its Stores' PCs

To ensure customers purchasing a Windows-based computer have a positive first impression, Microsoft’s “Signature” program installs the OS using a specification designed and optimized by Microsoft and the Microsoft Store team and the OEM. All computers sold in Microsoft’s retail and online stores include Signature, offering streamlined initial configuration and functioning antimalware software, and the computers are free from trial software. These changes create a computer with good performance that is usable, reliable, and easy to support. However, the current limited scope of the program means few customers will likely benefit from it.

The Signature Experience

In the Signature PC program, Microsoft and the OEM partner to design a Windows image for preinstallation on the computer that improves the following:

Performance. The initial configuration and subsequent booting of the Windows OS is streamlined and the resources available for users are maximized by reducing the amount of software started automatically when the computer boots. Microsoft’s tests show that initial configuration of a Signature PC takes less than five minutes (down from 10 to 30 minutes for some OEM PCs), and that a Signature PC boots, goes to sleep, and resumes from sleep significantly faster. (See the illustration “Signature PC Performance“.)