windows 7 tricks

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Windows 7 Tricks January 1, 2010 http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ Windows 7 Tricks Whether you've just bought a new PC running Windows 7 or you've been using it for a while, there are bound to be things you didn't know you could do. Whether it's tweaks to get the desktop the way you want it, tips for troubleshooting or ways to squeeze more performance from Windows 7, we've got it covered. We've updated our popular Windows 7 tips article with a load of new ones, including how to recover locked-up apps, how to extend your jumplists, leave a Windows 7 Homegroup, and more. Read on for 85 tips to help you get the best from Windows 7. 1. Problem Steps Recorder As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder. When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time. 2. Burn images Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn't be much easier to use. Just double- click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created. 3. Create and mount VHD files Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its 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 and choose the file you'd like to

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  • 1. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks2010 Windows 7 Tricks Whether youve just bought a new PC running Windows 7 or youve been using it for a while, there are bound to be things you didnt know you could do. Whether its tweaks to get the desktop the way you want it, tips for troubleshooting or ways to squeeze more performance from Windows 7, weve got it covered. Weve updated our popular Windows 7 tips article with a load of new ones, including how to recover locked-up apps, how to extend your jumplists, leave aWindows 7 Homegroup, and more. Read on for 85 tips to help you get the best from Windows 7.1. Problem Steps RecorderAs the local PC guru youre probably very used to friends and family asking for help with theircomputer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe whats going on. Its frustrating,but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in theProblem Steps Recorder.When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start,type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever theyredoing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs,and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when theyre finished, ready foremailing to you. Its quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.2. Burn imagesWindows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - theability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldnt be much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc iscreated.3. Create and mount VHD filesMicrosofts Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 cannow mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, typediskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file youd like tohttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/

2. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks2010mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or writtenjust like any other drive.Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-clickit, select Initialise Disk, and after its set up right-click the unallocated space and select NewSimple Volume to set this up). Again, youll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like anyother, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or dowhatever you like. But its actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you caneasily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (thats the left-hand label that says "Disk2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file,and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disks maximum size. Dont play around withthis unless you know what youre doing, though - its all too easy to trash your system.4. Troubleshoot problemsIf some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you dont know why, then click ControlPanel > Find and fix problems (or Troubleshooting) to access the new troubleshooting packs.These are simple wizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up yoursystem and more.5. Startup repairIf youve downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you havent) its a good idea to create a systemrepair disc straight away in case you run into problems booting the OS later on. Click Start >Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable emergencydisc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way to get your PC running again.6. Take controlTired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications youd rather they left alone?AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs youspecify. Dont worry, thats easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to alloweverything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will letyou run all signed Microsoft applications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to ComputerConfiguration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application Control Policies >AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.7. Calculate moreAt first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vistas version, but explore the Modemenu and youll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if youre clueless aboutbitwise manipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unitconversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between twohttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 3. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks2010dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage ratesand more.Dont take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new featureshidden in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to ensure youdont miss anything important.CALCULATE MORE: The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality8. Switch to a projectorWindows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, ora projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and choose your preferred display. (Thiswill have no effect if youve only one display connected.)9. Get a power efficiency reportIf you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows 7 to generate loads ofuseful information about its power consumption. Used in the right way, this can help you makehuge gains in terms of battery life and performance. To do this you must open a commandprompt as an administrator by typing cmd in Start Search, and when the cmd icon appears,right-click it and choose Run as administrator.Then at the command line, just type in powercfg -energy (without quotes) and hit Return, andWindows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to improve power efficiency. It will thenpublish the results in an HTML file, usually in the System32 folder. Just follow the path it givesyou to find your report.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 4. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 201010. Understanding System RestoreUsing System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a gamble. Theresno way of telling which applications or drivers it might affect - you just have to try it and see.Windows 7 is different. Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection > SystemRestore > Next, and choose the restore point youd like to use. Click the new button to Scan foraffected programs and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will bedeleted or recovered by selecting this restore point. (Read our full Windows 7 System Restoretutorial.)11. Set the time zoneSystem administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility, which lets you seta PCs time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance,youd use the commandtzutil /s "gmt standard time"The command "tzutil /g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists all possible time zones,and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the command works.12. Calibrate your screenThe colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor, graphics cards settings,lighting and more, yet most people use the same default Windows colour profile. And that meansa digital photo you think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else. FortunatelyWindows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set upyour brightness, contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp andsharp. Click Start, type DCCW and press Enter to give it a try.13. Clean up Live EssentialsInstalling Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, PhotoGallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may beunnecessary, but if you like to keep a clean system then these can be quickly removed.If you left 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 searchengine, and prevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or youjust decide you dont need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typingmsiexec /x and pressing [Enter].Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to WindowsLive SkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to managehttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 5. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks2010and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If youre sure youll never need either thenremove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.14. Add network supportBy default Windows Live MovieMaker wont let you import files over a network, but a quickRegistry tweak will change this. Run REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows LiveMovie Maker, add a DWORDvalue called AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network support.15. Activate XP modeIf youve old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could tryusing XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. Buttheres a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardwarevirtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and turned on. If youve a compatible CPU then thismay just be a matter of enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some highprofile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security reasons". And that blocksXP Mode from working, too.One solution has emerged, but its a little risky, as essentially youll have to alter a byte in yourlaptop firmware and hope this doesnt have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If youre feelingbrave then take a look at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but dont blame us if it goeswrong.A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesnt insist on hardwaresupport, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windowsversion your software requires) for its virtual machine.16. Enable virtual Wi-FiWindows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turnsyour PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - adesktop, 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 only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check withyour adapter manufacturer and make sure youve installed the very latest drivers to give you thebest chance.Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set upvirtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharingyour internet connection very quickly.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 6. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks2010If you dont mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up some batch files orscripts, then its not that difficult to set this up manually. See Turn your Windows 7 laptop into awireless hotspot for more.17. Recover locked-up appsIf an application locks up under a previous version of Windows then there was nothing you coulddo about it. A new Windows 7 option, however, can not only explain the problem, but may getyour program working again without any loss of data.When the lockup occurs, click Start, type RESMON and click the RESMON.EXE link to launchthe Resource Monitor.Find your frozen process in the CPU pane (it should be highlighted in red), right-click it andselect Analyze Wait Chain.If you see at least two processes in the list, then the lowest, at the end of the tree, is the oneholding up your program. If its not a vital Windows component, or anything else critical, thensave any work in other open applications, check the box next to this process, click End Process,and your locked-up program will often spring back to life.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 7. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks201018. Fault-Tolerant HelpWindows 7 includes a new feature called the Fault Tolerant Help (FTH), a clever technology thatlooks out for unstable processes, detects those that may be crashing due to memory issues, andapplies several real-time fixes to try and help. If these work, thats fine - if not, the fixes will beundone and they wont be applied to that process again.While this is very good in theory, it can leave you confused as some applications crash, then startworking (sometimes) for no apparent reason. So if youd like to check if the FTH is running onyour PC, launch REGEDIT, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftFTH -any program currently being protected by the FTH will be listed in the State key.Experienced users may also try tweaking the FTH settings to catch more problems, and perhapsimprove system stability. A post on Microsofts Ask The Performance Team blog (bit.ly/d1JStu)explains what the various FTH Registry keys mean.19. Automatically switch your default printerWindows 7s location-aware printing allows the operating system to automatically switch yourdefault printer as you move from one network to another.To set this up, first click Start, type Devices, and click the Devices and Printers link.Select a printer and click Manage Default Printers (this is only visible on a mobile device, like alaptop - you wont see it on a PC).Choose the "Change my default printer when I change networks" option, select a network, thedefault printer youd like to use, and click Add.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 8. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 2010Repeat the process for other networks available, and pick a default printer for each one.And now, as you connect to a new network, Windows 7 will check this list and set the defaultprinter to the one that youve defined.20. Explore God ModeWindows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but its still too difficult to locate all the appletsand options that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, doesoffer an easier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.To try this out, create a new folder and rename it to:Everything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}The first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever you want: "SuperControl Panel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you prefer.The extension, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entered exactly as it ishere, though, including the curly brackets. When you press [Enter] this part of the name willdisappear, and double-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the ActionCentre, the Network and Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts andothers - more than 260 options in total.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 9. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 201021. Right-click everythingAt first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but theres an easy way to beginspotting the differences - just right-click things.Right-click an empty part of the desktop, for instance, and youll find a menu entry to set yourscreen resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings any more.Right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar for speedy access to common system folders:Documents, Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.And if you dont plan on using Internet Explorer then you probably wont want its iconpermanently displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select Unpin this program from thetaskbar, then go install Firefox, instead.22. Display the old taskbar button context menuRight-click a taskbar button, though, and youll now see its jumplist menu. Thats a useful newfeature, but not much help if you want to access the minimize, maximize, or move options thatused to be available. Fortunately theres an easy way to get the old context menu back - just holddown Ctrl and Shift as you right-click the taskbar button.23. Desktop slideshowWindows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and its not always easy to decidewhich one you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and let Windows display them all in adesktop slideshow? Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > DesktopBackground, then hold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. Choose how often youdlike the images to be changed (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle ifyoud like the backgrounds to appear in a random order, then click Save Changes and enjoy theshow.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 10. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 2010 DESKTOP SLIDESHOW: Select multiple background images and Windows will cyclethrough them24. RSS-powered wallpaperAnd if a slideshow based on your standard wallpaper isnt enough, then you can always create atheme that extracts images from an RSS feed. For example, Long Zheng has created a fewsample themes to illustrate how it works. Jamie Thompson takes this even further, with a themethat always displays the latest BBC news and weather on your desktop. And MakeUseOf have aquick and easy tutorial showing how RSS can get you those gorgeous Bing photographs as yourwallpaper. Or you can watch our custom theme video tutorial.25. Customise the log-on screenChanging the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentiallydangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.First, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionAuthenticationLogonUIBackground in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (notthere? Create it) and set its value to 1.Now find a background image youd like to use. Make sure its less than 256KB in size, andmatches the aspect ratio of your screen as itll be stretched to fit.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 11. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 2010Next, copy that image into the %windir%system32oobeinfobackgrounds folder (create theinfobackgrounds folders if they dont exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg,reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays apreview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the LogonScreen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.26. Recover screen spaceThe new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold whatever programshortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To Taskbar). And thats fine, except it doesconsume a little more screen real estate than wed like. Shrink it to a more manageable size byright-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.27. Enjoy a retro taskbarWindows 7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also makes it moredifficult to tell at a glance whether an icon represents a running application or a shortcut. If youprefer a more traditional approach, then right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set TaskbarButtons to "Combine when taskbar is full". Youll now get a clear and separate button for eachrunning application, making them much easier to identify.28. Remove taskbar buttonsOne problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable taskbar real estate, butyou can reduce the impact of this by removing their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics, add a string calledMinWidth, set it to 54, and reboot to see the results.29. Restore the Quick Launch ToolbarIf youre unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment torestore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type"%UserProfile%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick Launch" (less thequotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.Now right-click the taskbar, clear Lock the taskbar, and you should see the Quick Launchtoolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title tominimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View >Small Icons for the true retro look.30. Custom power switchhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 12. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 2010By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text Shut down button on the Start menu, but it onlytakes a moment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times everyday then that might make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, selectProperties and set the Power boot action to Restart to make it happen.31. Auto arrange your desktopIf your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could right-click it andselect View > Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a simpler solution is just to press and hold downF5, and Windows will automatically arrange its icons for you.32. Disable smart window arrangementWindows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows, so that (forexample) if you drag a window to the top of the screen then it will maximise. We like the newsystem, but if you find it distracting then its easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go toHKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop, set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot,and your windows will behave just as they always did.33. Browse your tasksIf you prefer the keyboard over the mouse, you will love browsing the taskbar using this niftyshortcut. Press Windows and T, and you move the focus to the left-most icon on the taskbar.Then use your arrow keys to change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of everywindow.34. Display your drivesClick Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but dont panic, itsjust Microsoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card readers are no longer displayed iftheyre empty. We think its an improvement, but if you disagree then its easy to get your emptydrives back. Launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear Hide empty drivesin the computer folder.35. See more detailThe new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on any area ofthe screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and docking position, and onceactivated it can track your keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around adialog box, say, and itll automatically zoom in on the currently active control.36. Extend your jumplistsBy default a jumplist will display up to 10 items, but it can often be useful to extend this and adda few more. Right-click Start, select Properties > Customize and set "Number of recent items todisplay in Jump Lists" to the figure you need.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 13. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 201037. Disable Aero PeekHover your mouse cursor over the bottom right hand corner of the screen and Windows 7 willhide open windows, showing you the desktop. Seems like a good idea to us, but if the featuregets in your way then its easy to turn off. Simply right-click the Start orb, select Properties >Taskbar and clear the "Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop" box.38. Pin a drive to the taskbarThe taskbar isnt just for apps and documents. With just a few seconds work you can pin driveicons there, too.Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select New > Text File, and rename the file todrive.exe. Drag and drop this onto your taskbar, then delete the original file.Right-click your new "drive.exe" taskbar button, then right-click its file name and selectProperties. Change the contents of both the Target and Start In boxes to point at the drive orfolder of your choice, perhaps click Change Icon to choose an appropriate drive icon, and youredone - that drive or folder is now available at a click.39. Expand your taskbar previewsMove your mouse cursor over a Windows 7 taskbar button and youll see a small preview of theapplication window. To make this larger, launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerTaskband,right-click in the right hand pane and create a new DWORD value called MinThumbSizePx.Double-click this, choose the Decimal option, set the value to 350 and reboot to see the results.Tweak the value again to fine-tune the results, or delete it to return to the default thumbnail size.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 14. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 201040. Hiding the Windows Live Messenger iconIf you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, youll have noticed that the icon now resides on thetaskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone. If you prefer tokeep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray, where its been for previous releases, justclose Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run inWindows Vista compatibility mode.41. Customise UACWindows Vistas User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor implementation putmany people off - it raised far too many alerts. Fortunately Windows 7 displays less warnings bydefault, and lets you further fine-tune UAC to suit your preferred balance between security and apop-up free life (Start > Control Panel > Change User Account Control Settings).42. Use Sticky NotesThe Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe andyou can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on thenote title bar to add another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note windows(your notes are automatically saved).43. Open folder in new processBy default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system resources, butmeans one folder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your system seems unstable, or youredoing something in Explorer that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, holdhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 15. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks2010down Shift, right-click on your drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now belaunched in a separate process, and so a crash is less likely to affect anything else.44. Watch more videosWindows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still wont play all the audio and videofiles youll find online. Fortunately the first freeware Windows 7 codecs package[shark007.net/win7codecs.html] has been released, and installing it could get your troublesomemultimedia files playing again.45. Preview fontsOpen the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and youll see the font names, probably withicons to tell you whether theyre TrueType or OpenType, but thats about it. Windows 7 seessome useful font-related improvements.Open the new fonts window and youll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quickidea of how theyre going to look.The tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, TimesNew Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. Theres now justa single entry for each font (though you can still see all other members of the family).And theres a new OpenType font, Gabriola, added to the mix. Its an attractive script font, wellworth a try the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.46. Restore your gadgetsWindows 7 has tightened up its security by refusing to run gadgets if UAC has been turned off,so limiting the damage malicious unsigned gadgets can do to your system. If youve disabledUAC, miss your gadgets and are happy to accept the security risk, though, theres an easyRegistry way to get everything back to normal. Run REGEDIT, go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionSidebarSettings, create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1. Your gadgets shouldstart working again right away.47. New WordPad formatsBy default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But browse theSave As Format list and youll see you can also save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007.docx or OpenDocument .odt formats.48. Protect your dataUSB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especiallyif theyre carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt yourhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 16. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 2010documents with an extension of Microsofts BitLocker technology, and only someone with thepassword will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLockerand follow the instructions to protect your private files.PROTECT YOUR DATA: Your USB flash drives can easily be encrypted with BitLocker49. Minimise quickly with shakeIf you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things are getting too cluttered, it usedto be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows 7 you can use the AeroShake feature to minimise everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title barof the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a clear desktop area.50. Configure your favourite musicThe Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your favourite music, which bydefault creates a changing list of songs based on your ratings, how often you play them, andwhen they were added (its assumed youll prefer songs youve added in the last 30 days). If thisdoesnt work then you can tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune is- clickTasks > Settings > Music > Favourite Music and configure the program to suit your needs.51. Customise System RestoreThere was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but Windows 7improves the situation with a couple of useful setup options.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 17. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks2010Click the Start orb, right-click Computer and select Properties > System Protection > Configure,and set the Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (larger to hold more restore points,smaller to save disk space).And if you dont need System Restore to save Windows settings then choose the "Only restoreprevious versions of files" option. Windows 7 wont back up your Registry, which means youllsqueeze more restore points and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore ismuch less likely to get an unbootable PC working again, though, so use this trick at your ownrisk.52. Run AsHold down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and youll see an option to run the program asa different user, handy if youre logged in to the kids limited account and need to run somethingwith higher privileges. This isnt really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option thatdid the same thing - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so its good to see its had a change ofheart.53. Search privacyBy default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most recentexamples when searching in Windows Explorer. If youre sharing a PC and dont want everyoneto see your searches, then launch GPEDIT.MSC, go to User Configuration > AdministrativeTemplates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display ofrecent search entries..." and click Enabled > OK.54. Tweak PC volumeBy default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PCs sounds wheneverit detects youre making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If this proves annoying (or maybeyoud like it to turn off other sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settingsaccordingly. Just right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds > Communications,and tell Windows what youd like it to do.55. Rearrange the system trayWith Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to everything else onthe taskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then go right ahead, just drag and drop them intothe order you like. You can even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto thedesktop, then put them back when you no longer need to keep an eye on them.56. Extend your battery lifeWindows 7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebooks battery life.To see them, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, then clickChange Plan Settings for your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expandhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 18. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 2010Multimedia Settings, for instance, and youll see a new "playing video" setting that can be set tooptimise power savings rather than performance. Browse through the other settings and ensuretheyre set up to suit your needs.57. Write crash dump filesWindows 7 wont create memory.dmp crash files if youve less than 25GB of free hard drivespace, annoying if youve installed the Windows debugging tools and want to diagnose yourcrashes. You can turn this feature off, though: browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCrashControl, create a newDWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and the crash dump file will nowalways be saved.58. Protect your dataIf you have confidential files in a particular folder or two, and would like to keep them awayfrom other network users, then right-click the folder, select Share With > Nobody, and theyll bemade private, for your eyes only (or your user account, anyway).59. Reorganise the taskbarWindows 7 taskbar buttons are now movable - feel free to drag, drop and otherwise reorganisethem to suit your needs. And then remember that each button can be launched by holding withthe Windows key and pressing 1 to activate the first, 2 the second and so on, up to 0 for the tenth.60. Repair your PCIf Windows 7 wont start, you may not need an installation or repair disc any more, as the repairenvironment is now usually installed on your hard drive. Press [F8] as your PC starts, and if yousee a "Repair Your Computer" option, choose that to see the full range of Windows 7 recoverytools.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 19. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 201061. ReadyBoost revampedIf you were unimpressed by ReadyBoost in Vista, it may be worth trying the technology againunder Windows 7. The operating system now allows you to combine multiple USB drives, eachwith larger caches, to deliver an extra speed boost.62. Fixing Windows 7 NIf you have Windows 7 N then this means youll be missing key multimedia applications, likeMedia Player, Media Centre, DVD Maker and more. But thats not all. You also wont have someof the subsystems required by third-party apps like Nero MultiMedia Suite, which means thateven if they install, you could have problems getting them to work correctly.Fortunately theres an easy fix, though, as the missing components are available in the form ofMicrosofts Windows Media Pack. If youre currently having media-related issues on a Windows7 N installation, grab your copy from support.microsoft.com/kb/968211.63. Find bottlenecksFrom what weve seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PCseems sluggish then its now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMONand press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Networktabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version ofTask Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list andselect Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why its hanging - the program mighthttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 20. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks2010be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fixthe problem.FIND BOTTLENECKS: Resource monitor keeps a careful eye on exactly how your PC isbeing used64. Keyboard shortcutsWindows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.Alt+PDisplay/ hide the Explorer preview paneWindows Logo+GDisplay gadgets in front of other windowsWindows Logo++ (plus key)Zoom in, where appropriateWindows Logo+- (minus key)Zoom out, where appropriateWindows Logo+UpMaximise the current windowWindows Logo+DownMinimise the current windowhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 21. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks2010Windows Logo+LeftSnap to the left hand side of the screenWindows Logo+RightSnap to the right hand side of the screenWindows Logo+HomeMinimise/ restore everything except the current window65. Drag and drop to the command lineWhen working at the command line youll often need to access files, which usually means typinglengthy paths and hoping youve got them right. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simplydrag and drop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete withquotes and ready to be used.This feature isnt entirely new: you could do this in Windows XP, too, but drag and drop supportdisappeared in Vista. There does seem to be a new Windows 7 complication, though, in that itonly seems to work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe as anadministrator and, while it accepts dropped files, the path doesnt appear.66. Customise your jumplistsRight-click an icon on your taskbar, perhaps Notepad, and youll see a jumplist menu thatprovides easy access to the documents youve been working on recently. But maybe theresanother document that youd like to be always available? Then drag and drop it onto the taskbaricon, and itll be pinned to the top of the jumplist for easier access. Click the pin to the right ofthe file name, or right-click it and select "Unpin from this list" when you need to remove it.67. Faster program launchesIf youve launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then dont work your wayback through the Start menu. Its much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the programsicon (or middle-click it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.68. Speedy video accessWant faster access to your Videos folder? Windows 7 now lets you add it to the Start menu. Justright-click the Start orb, click Properties > Start Menu > Customize, and set the Videos option to"Display as a link". If youve a TV tuner that works with Windows 7 then youll appreciate thenew option to display the Recorded TV folder on the Start menu, too.69. Run web searchesThe Windows 7 search tool can now be easily extended to search online resources, just as long assomeone creates an appropriate search connector. To add Flickr support, say, visit I Startedhttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 22. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks2010Something, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as its downloaded(the file is tiny, itll only take a moment). A "Flickr Search" option will be added to yourSearches folder, and youll be able to search images from your desktop.A multitude of other ready-made searches, such as Google and YouTube, can be downloadedfrom the windowsclub.com website.70. Schedule Media Centre downloadsYou can now tell Windows Media Centre to download data at a specific time, perhaps overnight,a useful way to prevent it sapping your bandwidth for the rest of the day. Launch Media Centre,go to Tasks > Settings > General > Automatic Download Options, and set the download start andstop times that youd like it to use.71. Multi-threaded RobocopiesAnyone whos ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will appreciate the newswitches introduced with Windows 7. Our favourite, /MT, can improve speed by carrying outmulti-threaded copies with the number of threads you specify (you can have up to 128, thoughthat might be going a little too far). Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the full details.72. Load IE fasterSome Internet Explorer add-ons can take a while to start, dragging down the browsersperformance, but at least IE8 can now point a finger at the worst resource hogs. Click Tools >Manage Add-ons, check the Load Time in the right-hand column, and youll immediately seewhich browser extensions are slowing you down.73. An Alt+Tab alternativeYou want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there are so many otherprograms running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to pick out what you need. The solution? Holddown the Ctrl key while you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through theExplorer windows only, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And of course this workswith any application that has multiple windows open.74. Block annoying alertsJust like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks your antivirus,firewall or other security settings are incorrect.But unlike Vista, if you disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you nolonger want to see warnings just because youve dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, thenclick Control Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action Centre settings,clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 23. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 201075. Parallel defragsThe standard Windows 7 defragger offers a little more control than we saw in Vista, and thecommand line version also has some interesting new features. The /r switch will defrag multipledrives in parallel, for instance (theyll obviously need to be physically separate drives for this tobe useful). The /h switch runs the defrag at a higher than normal priority, and the /u switchprovides regular progress reports so you can see exactly whats going on. Enter the commanddefrag /c /h /u /rin a command window to speedily defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? toview the new options for yourself.76. Fix ExplorerThe Windows 7 Explorer has a couple of potential annoyances. Launching Computer will nolonger display system folders like Control Panel or Recycle Bin, for instance. And if youredrilling down through a complicated folder structure in the right-hand pane of Explorer, the left-hand tree wont always expand to follow what youre doing, which can make it more difficult tosee exactly where you are. Fortunately theres a quick fix: click Organize > Folder and SearchOptions, check "Show all folders" and "Automatically expand to current folder", and click OK.77. Faster file handingIf you hold down Shift while right-clicking a file in Explorer, then youll find the Send To filenow includes all your main user folders: Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Music and more.Choose any of these and your file will be moved there immediately.78. Create folder favouritesIf youre regularly working on the same folder in Explorer then select it in the right-hand page,right-click Favourites on the left-hand menu, and select Add to Favourites. Itll then appear at thebottom of the favourites list for easy one-click access later.79. Disable hibernationBy default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive with its hibernationfile, but if you never use sleep, and always turn your PC off, then this will never actually beused. To disable hibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPower, then set bothHibernateEnabled and HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.80. Create a new folder shortcuthttp://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 24. January 1,Windows 7 Tricks 2010When you need to create a new folder in Windows 7 Explorer, dont reach for the mouse. Justpress Ctrl+Shift+N to create the folder in the active Explorer window, then type its name asusual.81. Open a jumplistMost people right-click a Windows taskbar icon to view its jumplist. You can also hold the leftmouse button over the icon, though, then drag upwards to reveal the jumplist and choose theoption you need, a more natural action that should be just a little faster.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 25. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks 201082. Search quicklyIf youd like to search for something in an Explorer window then theres no need to use themouse. Simply press [F3] to move the focus to the search box, enter your keyword and press[Enter] to run the search.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/ 26. January 1, Windows 7 Tricks201083. Search file contentsTheres no obvious way in the Windows interface to search the contents of files that havent beenindexed, but all you need to do is start your search with the "content:" search filter. So enteringcontent:Microsoft , for instance, will find all documents (whether theyre actually indexed or not)that contain the word Microsoft.84. Close in a clickHover your mouse cursor over a Windows taskbar button will display a preview thumbnail ofthat application window. You dont need that app any more? Then middle-click the thumbnail toclose it down.85. Leave the HomegroupHomegroups are an easy way to network Windows 7 PCs, but if you dont use the feature thenturning it off can save you a few system resources.Click Start, type Homegroup, and click "Choose homegroup and sharing options". Click Leavethe Homegroup > Leave the Homegroup > Finish.Now click Start, type services.msc and press [Enter] to launch the Services Control Panel applet.Find and double-click both the HomeGroup Listener and HomeGroup Provider service, clickingStop and setting Startup Type to Disabled in each case, and the services wont be launched whenyou need reboot.http://remocutest.blogspot.com/