Windows 7 Tips and Tricks

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1. Problems Steps Recorder

As your local PC experts may be needed by friends and family to ask for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to explain or describe what happened. It's frustrating, but Microsoft will understand your predicament, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.

When any app starts stubborn or does not work in Windows 7 system then all you have to do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. Then the system will work to record every click of the mouse and keystrokes, screen changes, and all packets up to MHTML and will compress into a zip file when they're finished, ready to send the message to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save time for solving the problem

2. Burn images

Windows 7 introduces another operating system features after many years the ability to burn ISO images to CD or DVD. And very easy to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive by inserting a blank disc into your drive, click Burn and your disc will be made.

3. Create and mount VHD files

Microsoft Virtual PC creates a virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action> Attach VHD file and select the file you want to mount. This will bring up a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.

Click Action> Create VHD and for now you can create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click, select Initialise Disk, and after right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set up). Once again, you are given a virtual drive that functions just like another drive, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just the VHD file on your drive can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that label the left says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.

The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to separate VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Do not play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's too easy to be junk files on your system.

4. Solve the problem

If some part of Windows 7 behaving strangely, and you do not know why, do click Control Panel> Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. It's a simple process that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.

5. Startup repair

If you download Windows 7 (or buy a CD of Windows 7) is a good idea to create a system repair disc straight to boot your system when the system encountered a problem later. Click Start> Maintenance> Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable emergency disc. If the worst does happen then this emergency bootable CD can be the only way to get your PC running normally again.

6. Control

Tired of installing dubious software or running applications you and prefer to work alone systems? AppLocker is a new feature of Windows 7 that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Do not worry, you can create a rule to allow all of the security by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft software for example, and a rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications. Run gpedit.msc and select Computer ConfigurationWindows Settings> Security Settings> Application Control Policies> AppLocker to get a feel how this system works.

7. Switch to a projector

Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, or a projector - just press Win + P or run Switch.exe Display and select the desired view. (It will not matter if you connect only one screen.)

8. Get a power efficiency report

If you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows 7 a lot of useful information about its power consumption. Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains in terms of battery life and performance. To do this, you must open a command prompt on the administrator account by typing 'cmd' in Start Search, and when the cmd icon appears, right click and select Run as administrator.

Then at the command line, just type in 'powercfg-energy' (without the quotes) and hit Return, and Windows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to improve power efficiency. This will display the results in an HTML file, usually in the System32 folder. Simply follow the instructions to get the report.

9. Calibration Screen

The colors you see on your screen will vary, depending on your monitor, graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the default Windows color profile for the same. And that means a digital photo will look perfect might not look very less in the eyes of others. Fortunately Windows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up your photo brightness, contrast and color settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is clear.

10. Clean up Live Essentials


Installing Windows Live Essentials will get a new version of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and others. Unfortunately also includes other components that may not be necessary, but if you want to clean up the system components can be quickly removed.

If you set up the default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation, for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from changing system. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you do not need it anymore, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec / x and press Enter.

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, and Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you are sure you do not need it. you can remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

11. Additional network support

By default Windows Live MovieMaker will not let you import files over a network, but a quick Registry tweak will change. Run REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows Live \ Movie Maker, add a DWORD value named AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network support.

12. Enabling Virtual Wi-Fi

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range Others - desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.

This will work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check your adapter and make sure you have installed the latest drivers to work on Windows 7.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router is a free, easy to use and you are sharing your internet connection very quickly.

If you do not mind working with the command line, though, might make some batch files or scripts, then it is not difficult to set this manually. See Turn Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot for more details.

13. Cruising with God ModeWindows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets and options that you might need God Mode, does offer an easier way to access everything you want from a single folder.

To try this, create a new folder with the name:

Everything. {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

The first part, "Everything" will be the name of the folder, and get whatever you want: "Super Control Panel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you want.

Expansion, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entered exactly as it is here, though, including the curly brackets. When you press [Enter] this part of the name will disappear, and by double clicking on the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in a centralized action, the Network and Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260 options in total.

14. Everything with Right Click

At first glance Windows 7 be very similar to Vista, but there is an easy way to begin spotting the differences - ie right-click things.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, for example, and you'll find a menu entry to set your screen resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings again.

Right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar for quick access to common system folders: Documents, Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.

And if you do not wish to use Internet Explorer then you probably will not want to be permanently displayed on the taskbar icon. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from the taskbar', then install Firefox, instead.

15. Adjust the log on screen


Change the look of Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not anymore for Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, open the registry edit then browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Authentication \ LogonUI \ Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD called OEMBackground (no? You can make) and set? Its value to 1.

Now to put a background image you want to use. Make sure the size is less than 256KB, and in accordance with the aspect ratio to fit your screen.

Next, copy the image to the% windir% \ system32 \ oobe \ info \ backgrounds folder (create the background \ info folder if it does not exist). Change the name of the background image for Default.jpg, reboot, and you now have an image on your computer when you are logging.

Or, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images received some photos and will show different every time you log on.

16. Display Your Drive


Click on the Windows 7 computer and when you insert a memory card but it does not appear, do not panic, because Microsoft is trying to help: drive reads the memory card and will not be shown if the memory card is empty. it is an improvement, but if you do not like it then you can display empty drives back. Run Explorer, click Tools> Folder Options> View and clear 'option uncheck the Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.

17. Customize UAC

Windows Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but the implementation of the many people who do not use it - make warning messages or alerts too much. Fortunately Windows 7 by default is not much, and lets you further fine-tune UAC to suit your preferred balance between security and a pop-up-free (Start> Control Panel> Change User Account Control Settings).

18. Protecting Your Data

USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. That became a problem, especially if they carry sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click the USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.


19.  Customizing System Restore

Very little you can do to configure System Restore in Vista, but Windows 7 fix the situation with some useful setup options.

Click Start, right-click Computer and select Properties> System Protection> Configure, set d late Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (large capacity HDD can to save greater yrestore point, When the capacity of small hardis select a smaller to save disk space).

And if you do not need System Restore to save Windows settings then, select the "Only restore previous versions of files" option. Windows 7 will not restore the Registry, which means you will reduce the number of restore point storage and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore is much less likely to get an unbootable PC working again, so use this trick at your own risk.

20. Search privacy

By default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most recent examples when searching in Windows Explorer. If you share a PC and do not want everyone to see your searches, Run gpedit.msc, go to User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries ..." and click> Enabled> OK.

21. Extend your battery Durability
Windows 7 includes a new option that will help you to increase the battery life of your notebook. To see it, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, and then click Change Plan Settings for your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expand Multimedia Settings, for instance, and you'll see the video "video" setting that can be set to optimize power savings rather than performance. Browse through the other settings and make sure they are set up to meet your needs.

22. Write a crash dump file


Windows 7 will not create a crash Memory.dmp file if you are less than 25GB of free hard drive space, annoying if you've installed the Windows debugging tools and want to diagnose crashes. You can disable this feature, look for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ CrashControl to open the Registry Edit, create a new DWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set to 1, and the crash dump file will now always be saved.

23. Looking Congestion

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now easier to find bottlenecks. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes hogging system resources.

Checking the CPU is very useful, and give something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has been selected, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps this can give you the information you need to fix the problem.

24. Drag and drop to the command line


When working at the command line you will often need to access the file, which usually means typing long way and hoping your orders correctly. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag and drop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and ready for use.

This feature is not entirely new: you can do this in Windows XP as well, but the drag and drop support disappeared in Vista. There seems to be a new complication Windows 7, it seems to only work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe from administrators and despite receiving a command file, the path does not appear.

25. Running Faster Program

If you have run the sample program but want to start again, then do not work back through the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the program icon (or middle click), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.

26. Run a web search

Search tool in Windows 7 can now be easily extended to search online resources, such as when someone creates an appropriate search relationship. To add Flickr support, say, visit I Started Something, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as it's downloaded (small files, it will only take a moment). A "Flickr Search" option will be added to your Internet folder, and you will be able to search for images from your desktop.

27. An Alt + Tab alternative

You want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there are many other programs that are so much goes where by using the Alt + Tab makes it hard to choose what you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key when you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will only mensiklus through the Explorer window, a faster way to find the right one. And of course this works with any application that has multiple windows open.

28. Block annoying message

Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a warning if you use the same hardware antivirus, firewall or other security settings if found incorrect.

But unlike Vista, if you do not like it then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no longer want to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, click Control Panel> System and Security> Action Centre> Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.

29. Parallel defrags

Standard Defrags on Windows 7 offers a little more control than we saw in Vista, and the command line version also has some interesting new features. the r / will defragment multiple drives in parallel, for instance (will mendefrak a separate physical drive). Switch / h defrag runs at a higher priority than usual, and the switch is u / provide periodic progress reports so you can see what's going on. Enter the command

defrag / c / h / u / r

in the command window to quickly defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? to look at new options for yourself.

30. Improvement Explorer


Windows 7 Explorer has some potential for interference. Launch Computer will no longer display system folders like Control Panel or Recycle Bin. And if you browse through a complicated folder structure in the right panel of Explorer, the left tree will not necessarily evolve to follow what you are doing, which can make it difficult to see exactly where you are to find it. Fortunately there is a quick fix: click Organize> Folder and Search Options, check "Show all folders" and "Automatically expand to current folder", and click OK.

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