Win7 Tricks.docx

7/30/2019 Win7 Tricks.docx

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1. Problem Steps Recorder

As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computerproblems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feelsyour 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, typePSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then theProblem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and packageeverything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It'squick, 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 toburn 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 nowmount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc andpress Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appearas a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.

Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, selectInitialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume toset this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can dragand drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually justthis VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click thedisk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" 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 anEXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless youknow what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.

4. Troubleshoot problems

If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then click Control Panel >Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. These are simplewizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.

5. Startup repair

If you've downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you haven't) it's a good idea to create a system repairdisc 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 emergency disc. If the worst doeshappen then it could be the only way to get your PC running again.

6. Take control


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Tired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd rather they left alone?AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don'tworry, that's easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by aparticular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoftapplications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security

Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.

7. Calculate more

At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but explore the Mode menu andyou'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwisemanipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length,weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.

Don't take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new features

hidden in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to ensure you don'tmiss anything important.

CALCULATE MORE:The new Calculator ispacked with useful features and functionality

8. Switch to a projector

Windows 7 now provides a standard way toswitch your display from one monitor toanother, or a projector - just press Win+P orrun DisplaySwitch.exe and choose yourpreferred display. (This will have no effect ifyou've only one display connected.)

9. Get a power efficiency report

If you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows 7 to generate loads of usefulinformation about its power consumption. Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains interms of battery life and performance. To do this you must open a command prompt as an administratorby 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, and Windows7 will scan your system looking for ways to improve power efficiency. It will then publish the results inan HTML file, usually in the System32 folder. Just follow the path it gives you to find your report.

10. Understanding System Restore

Using System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a gamble. There's noway 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 > System Restore> Next, and choose the restore point you'd like to use. Click the new button to 'Scan for affected


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programs' and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered byselecting this restore point. (Read our fullWindows 7 System Restore tutorial.)

11. Set the time zone

System administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility, which lets you set a PC'stime zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use thecommand

tzutil /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 screen

The 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 means adigital photo you think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else. Fortunately Windows 7now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up your brightness,contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp and sharp. Click Start, typeDCCW and press Enter to give it a try.

13. Clean up Live Essentials

Installing Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Galleryand others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may be unnecessary, but if youlike 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 search engine, andprevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you don'tneed it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec /x {F0E12BBA-AD66-4022-A453-A1C8A0C4D570} and pressing [Enter].

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows LiveSkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch

between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need either then remove them withthe Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

14. Add network support

By default Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import files over a network, but a quick Registrytweak will change this. Run REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called

AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network support.

15. Activate XP mode
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If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try usingXPMode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. But there's a big potentialproblem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT)built-in and turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of enabling the optionin your BIOS set-up program, however some high profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the

setting for "security reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.

One solution has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to alter a byte in your laptopfirmware and hope this doesn't have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave thentake a look at theFeature Enable Blogfor the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.

A safer approach might be to useVirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardwaresupport, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows version yoursoftware requires) for its virtual machine.

16. Enable virtual Wi-Fi

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

This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with youradapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the bestchance.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtualWi-Fi for you.Virtual Router(below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internetconnection very quickly.

If you don't mind working with thecommand line, though, maybe setting upsome batch files or scripts, then it's notthat difficult to set this up manually. SeeTurn your Windows 7 laptop into awireless hotspotfor more.

17. Recover locked-up apps

If an application locks up under aprevious version of Windows then there

was nothing you could do about it. A new Windows 7 option, however, can not only explain theproblem, but may get your program working again without any loss of data.

When the lockup occurs, click Start, type RESMON and click the RESMON.EXE link to launch theResource Monitor.

Find your frozen process in the CPU pane (it should be highlighted in red), right-click it and select

Analyze Wait Chain.
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If you see at least two processes in the list, then the lowest, at the end of the tree, is the one holding upyour program. If it's not a vital Windows component, or anything else critical, then save any work inother open applications, check the box next to this process, click End Process, and your locked-upprogram will often spring back to life.

18. Fault-Tolerant Help

Windows 7 includes a new featurecalled the Fault Tolerant Help (FTH), aclever technology that looks out forunstable processes, detects those thatmay be crashing due to memoryissues, and applies several real-timefixes to try and help. If these work,that's fine - if not, the fixes will beundone and they won't be applied to

that process again.

While this is very good in theory, it canleave you confused as some

applications crash, then start working (sometimes) for no apparent reason. So if you'd like to check ifthe FTH is running on your PC, launch REGEDIT, and go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FTH - any program currently being protected by the FTHwill 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 Microsoft's Ask The Performance Team blog (bit.ly/d1JStu) explainswhat the various FTH Registry keys mean.

19. Automatically switch your default printer

Windows 7's location-aware printing allows the operating system to automatically switch your defaultprinter 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 a laptop -

you won't see it on a PC).

Choose the "Change my default printer when I change networks" option, select a network, the defaultprinter you'd like to use, and click Add.

Repeat 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 default printer tothe one that you've defined.

20. Explore God Mode


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Windows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets andoptions that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer aneasier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.

To try this out, create a new folder and rename it to:

The first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever you want: "Super ControlPanel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you prefer.

The extension, 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, anddouble-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the Action Centre, the Network and

Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260options in total.

21. Right-click everything

At first glance Windows 7 bears a strikingresemblance to Vista, but there's an easyway to begin spotting the differences - justright-click things.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop,

for instance, and you'll find a menu entryto set your screen resolution. No need togo browsing through the display settingsany more.

Right-click the Explorer icon on thetaskbar for speedy access to commonsystem folders: Documents, Pictures, the

Windows folder, and more.

And if you don't plan on using Internet Explorer then you probably won't want its icon permanently

displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from the taskbar', then goinstall Firefox, instead.

22. Display the old taskbar button context menu

Right-click a taskbar button, though, and you'll now see its jumplist menu. That's a useful new feature,but not much help if you want to access the minimize, maximize, or move options that used to beavailable. Fortunately there's an easy way to get the old context menu back - just hold down Ctrl andShift as you right-click the taskbar button.

23. Desktop slideshow


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Windows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always easy to decide whichone you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and let Windows display them all in a desktopslideshow? Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, thenhold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. Choose how often you'd like the images to bechanged (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle if you'd like the backgrounds to

appear in a random order, then click Save Changes and enjoy the show.

DESKTOP SLIDESHOW:Select multiplebackground images and Windows willcycle through them

24. RSS-powered wallpaper

And if a slideshow based on your standardwallpaper isn't enough, then you canalways create a theme that extracts

images from an RSS feed. For example,Long Zheng has createda few samplethemesto illustrate how it works. JamieThompsontakes this even further, with atheme that always displays the latest BBCnews and weather on your desktop. And

MakeUseOfhave a quick and easy tutorial showing how RSS can get you those gorgeous Bingphotographs as your wallpaper. Or you can watch ourcustom theme video tutorial.

25. Customise the log-on screen

Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangeroushacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and setits value to 1.

Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matchesthe aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.

Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create theinfo\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, andyou should now have a custom log-on image.

Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you.Logon Changerdisplays a previewso you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while theLogon Screen Rotatoraccepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

26. Recover screen space

The 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 that's fine, except it does
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consume a little more screen real estate than we'd like. Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.

27. Enjoy a retro taskbar

Windows 7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also makes it more difficult totell at a glance whether an icon represents a running application or a shortcut. If you prefer a moretraditional approach, then right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set Taskbar Buttons to"Combine when taskbar is full". You'll now get a clear and separate button for each running application,making them much easier to identify.

28. Remove taskbar buttons

One problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable taskbar real estate, but you canreduce the impact of this by removing their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, add a string called MinWidth, set it to

54, and reboot to see the results.

29. Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar

If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment to restorethe old Quick Launch Toolbar.

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type"%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into theFolder box and click Select Folder.

Now right-click the taskbar, clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar,probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space ittakes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retrolook.

30. Custom power switch

By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the Start menu, but it only takes amoment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then thatmight make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the

'Power boot action' to 'Restart' to make it happen.

31. Auto arrange your desktop

If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could right-click it and select View> Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a simpler solution is just to press and hold down F5, and Windowswill automatically arrange its icons for you.

32. Disable smart window arrangement

Windows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows, so that (for example) if

you drag a window to the top of the screen then it will maximise. We like the new system, but if you findit distracting then it's easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control


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Panel\Desktop, set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as theyalways did.

33. Browse your tasks

If you prefer the keyboard over the mouse, you will love browsing the taskbar using this nifty shortcut.Press Windows and T, and you move the focus to the left-most icon on the taskbar. Then use yourarrow keys to change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of every window.

34. Display your drives

Click Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but don't panic, it's justMicrosoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card readers are no longer displayed if they're empty.We think it's an improvement, but if you disagree then it's easy to get your empty drives back. LaunchExplorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear 'Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.

35. See more detail

The new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on any area of thescreen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and docking position, and once activated it cantrack your keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around a dialog box, say, and it'llautomatically zoom in on the currently active control.

36. Extend your jumplists

By default a jumplist will display up to 10 items, but it can often be useful to extend this and add a fewmore. Right-click Start, select Properties > Customize and set "Number of recent items to display inJump Lists" to the figure you need.

37. Disable Aero Peek

Hover your mouse cursor over the bottom right hand corner of the screen and Windows 7 will hide openwindows, showing you the desktop. Seems like a good idea to us, but if the feature gets in your waythen it's 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 taskbar

The taskbar isn't just for apps and documents. With just a few seconds work you can pin drive iconsthere, too.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select New > Text File, and rename the file to drive.exe. Dragand 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 theTarget and Start In boxes to point at the drive or

folder of your choice, perhaps click Change Iconto choose an appropriate drive icon, and you're


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done - that drive or folder is now available at a click.

39. Expand your taskbar previews

Move your mouse cursor over a Windows 7 taskbar button and you'll see a small preview of the

application window. To make this larger, launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband, right-clickin 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 tofine-tune the results, or delete it to return to the default thumbnail size.

40. Hiding the Windows Live Messenger icon

If you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, you'll havenoticed that the icon now resides on the taskbar, whereyou can easily change status and quickly send an IM to

someone. If you prefer to keep Windows LiveMessenger in the system tray, where it's been forprevious releases, just close Windows Live Messenger,edit the shortcut properties and set the application torun in Windows Vista compatibility mode.

41. Customise UAC

Windows Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor implementation put manypeople off - it raised far too many alerts. Fortunately Windows 7 displays less warnings by default, andlets you further fine-tune UAC to suit your preferred balance between security and a pop-up free life(Start > Control Panel > Change User Account Control Settings).

42. Use Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe and you cantype notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar toadd another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note windows (your notes areautomatically saved).

43. Open folder in new process

By default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system resources, but means onefolder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your system seems unstable, or you're doing somethingin Explorer that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down Shift, right-click onyour drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now be launched in a separate process, andso a crash is less likely to affect anything else.

44. Watch more videos

Windows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the audio and video files you'llfind online. Fortunately the first freeware Windows 7 codecs package [shark007.net/win7codecs.html]

has been released, and installing it could get your troublesome multimedia files playing again.


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45. Preview fonts

Open the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names, probably with icons totell you whether they're TrueType or OpenType, but that's about it. Windows 7 sees some useful font-related improvements.

Open the new fonts window and you'll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quick idea of howthey're going to look.

The tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, Times NewRoman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. There's now just a singleentry for each font (though you can still see all other members of the family).

And there's a new OpenType font, Gabriola, added to the mix. It's an attractive script font, well worth atry the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.

46. Restore your gadgets

Windows 7 has tightened up its security by refusing to run gadgets if UAC has been turned off, solimiting the damage malicious unsigned gadgets can do to your system. If you've disabled UAC, missyour gadgets and are happy to accept the security risk, though, there's an easy Registry way to geteverything back to normal. Run REGEDIT, go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings, create anew DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1. Your gadgets should start workingagain right away.

47. New WordPad formats

By default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But browse the Save AsFormat list and you'll see you can also save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx orOpenDocument .odt formats.

48. Protect your data

USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially ifthey're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents withan extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to

access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions toprotect your private files.

PROTECT YOUR DATA:Your USB flash drives caneasily be encrypted with BitLocker

49. Minimise quickly with shake

If you have multiple windows open on your desktop andthings are getting too cluttered, it used to be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows

7 you can use the Aero Shake feature to minimiseeverything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture.


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Grab the title bar of the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a cleardesktop area.

50. Configure your favourite music

The Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your favourite music, which by defaultcreates a changing list of songs based on your ratings, how often you play them, and when they wereadded (it's assumed you'll prefer songs you've added in the last 30 days). If this doesn't work then youcan tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune is- click Tasks > Settings > Music >Favourite Music and configure the program to suit your needs.

51. Customise System Restore

There was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but Windows 7 improves thesituation with a couple of useful setup options.

Click the Start orb, right-click Computer and select Properties > System Protection > Configure, and setthe Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (larger to hold more restore points, smaller to savedisk space).

And if you don't need System Restore to save Windows settings then choose the "Only restore previousversions of files" option. Windows 7 won't back up your Registry, which means you'll squeeze morerestore points and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore is much less likely to getan unbootable PC working again, though, so use this trick at your own risk.

52. Run As

Hold down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option to run the program as adifferent user, handy if you're logged in to the kids' limited account and need to run something withhigher privileges. This isn't really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that did the samething - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's good to see it's had a change of heart.

53. Search privacy

By default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most recent exampleswhen searching in Windows Explorer. If you're sharing a PC and don't want everyone to see yoursearches, then launch GPEDIT.MSC, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows

Components > Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries..." and clickEnabled > OK.

54. Tweak PC volume

By default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's sounds whenever itdetects you're making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like itto turn off other sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly. Just right-clickthe speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds > Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like itto do.

55. Rearrange the system tray


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With Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to everything else on thetaskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then go right ahead, just drag and drop them into the orderyou like. You can even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto the desktop, then putthem back when you no longer need to keep an eye on them.

56. Extend your battery life

Windows 7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebook's battery life. To seethem, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, then click Change Plan Settingsfor your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expand Multimedia Settings, for instance,and you'll see a new "playing video" setting that can be set to optimise power savings rather thanperformance. Browse through the other settings and ensure they're set up to suit your needs.

57. Write crash dump files

Windows 7 won't create memory.dmp crash files if you've less than 25GB of free hard drive space,

annoying if you've installed the Windows debugging tools and want to diagnose your crashes. You canturn this feature off, though: browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, create a new DWORDvalue called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and the crash dump file will now always be saved.

58. Protect your data

If you have confidential files in a particular folder or two, and would like to keep them away from othernetwork users, then right-click the folder, select Share With > Nobody, and they'll be made private, foryour eyes only (or your user account, anyway).

59. Reorganise the taskbar

Windows 7 taskbar buttons are now movable - feel free to drag, drop and otherwise reorganise them tosuit your needs. And then remember that each button can be launched by holding with the Windowskey and pressing 1 to activate the first, 2 the second and so on, up to 0 for the tenth.

60. Repair your PC

If Windows 7 won't 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 you see a

"Repair Your Computer" option, choose that to see the full range of Windows 7 recovery tools.

61. ReadyBoost revamped

If you were unimpressed by ReadyBoost inVista, it may be worth trying the technologyagain under Windows 7. The operating systemnow allows you to combine multiple USB drives,each with larger caches, to deliver an extraspeed boost.

62. Fixing Windows 7 N


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If you have Windows 7 N then this means you'll be missing key multimedia applications, like MediaPlayer, Media Centre, DVD Maker and more. But that's not all. You also won't have some of thesubsystems required by third-party apps like Nero MultiMedia Suite, which means that even if theyinstall, you could have problems getting them to work correctly.

Fortunately there's an easy fix, though, as the missing components are available in the form ofMicrosoft's Windows Media Pack. If you're currently having media-related issues on a Windows 7 Ninstallation, grab your copy fromsupport.microsoft.com/kb/968211.

63. Find bottlenecks

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

The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of TaskManager. If a program has locked up, 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 foranother process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

FIND BOTTLENECKS:Resource monitorkeeps a careful eye on exactly how yourPC is being used

64. Keyboard shortcuts

Windows 7 supports several useful newkeyboard shortcuts.

Alt+PDisplay/ hide the Explorer preview pane

Windows Logo+GDisplay gadgets in front of other windows

Windows Logo++ (plus key)

Zoom in, where appropriate

Windows Logo+- (minus key)Zoom out, where appropriate

Windows Logo+UpMaximise the current window

Windows Logo+DownMinimise the current window

Windows Logo+LeftSnap to the left hand side of the screen
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Windows Logo+RightSnap to the right hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+HomeMinimise/ restore everything except the current window

65. Drag and drop to the command line

When working at the command line you'll often need to access files, which usually means typinglengthy paths and hoping you've got them right. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag anddrop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and readyto be used.

This feature isn't 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 it onlyseems to work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe as an

administrator and, while it accepts dropped files, the path doesn't appear.

66. Customise your jumplists

Right-click an icon on your taskbar, perhaps Notepad, and you'll see a jumplist menu that provides easyaccess to the documents you've been working on recently. But maybe there's another document thatyou'd like to be always available? Then drag and drop it onto the taskbar icon, and it'll be pinned to thetop of the jumplist for easier access. Click the pin to the right of the file name, or right-click it and select"Unpin from this list" when you need to remove it.

67. Faster program launches

If you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then don't work your way backthrough the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the program's icon (ormiddle-click it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.

68. Speedy video access

Want faster access to your Videos folder? Windows 7 now lets you add it to the Start menu. Just right-click the Start orb, click Properties > Start Menu > Customize, and set the Videos option to "Display asa link". If you've a TV tuner that works with Windows 7 then you'll appreciate the new option to display

the Recorded TV folder on the Start menu, too.

69. Run web searches

The 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 StartedSomething, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as it's downloaded (thefile is tiny, it'll only take a moment). A "Flickr Search" option will be added to your Searches folder, andyou'll be able to search images from your desktop.

A multitude of other ready-made searches, such as Google and YouTube, can be downloaded from the

windowsclub.comwebsite.
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70. Schedule Media Centre downloads

You can now tell Windows Media Centre to download data at a specific time, perhaps overnight, auseful way to prevent it sapping your bandwidth for the rest of the day. Launch Media Centre, go toTasks > Settings > General > Automatic Download Options, and set the download start and stop times

that you'd like it to use.

71. Multi-threaded Robocopies

Anyone who's ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will appreciate the new switchesintroduced with Windows 7. Our favourite, /MT, can improve speed by carrying out multi-threadedcopies with the number of threads you specify (you can have up to 128, though that might be going alittle too far). Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the full details.

72. Load IE faster

Some Internet Explorer add-ons can take a while to start, dragging down the browser's performance,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 you'll immediately see which browser extensionsare slowing you down.

73. An Alt+Tab alternative

You 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? Hold down theCtrl key while you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the Explorer windowsonly, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And of course this works with any application that hasmultiple windows open.

74. Block annoying alerts

Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks your antivirus, firewall or othersecurity settings are incorrect.

But unlike Vista, if you disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no longerwant to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, then click ControlPanel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network

Firewall box and click OK.

75. Parallel defrags

The standard Windows 7 defragger offers a little more control than we saw in Vista, and the commandline version also has some interesting new features. The /r switch will defrag multiple drives in parallel,for instance (they'll obviously need to be physically separate drives for this to be useful). The /h switchruns the defrag at a higher than normal priority, and the /u switch provides regular progress reports soyou can see exactly what's going on. Enter the command

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in a command window to speedily defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? to view thenew options for yourself.

76. Fix Explorer

The Windows 7 Explorer has a couple of potential annoyances. Launching Computer will no longerdisplay system folders like Control Panel or Recycle Bin, for instance. And if you're drilling downthrough a complicated folder structure in the right-hand pane of Explorer, the left-hand tree won'talways expand to follow what you're doing, which can make it more difficult to see exactly where youare. Fortunately there's a quick fix: click Organize > Folder and Search Options, check "Show allfolders" and "Automatically expand to current folder", and click OK.

77. Faster file handing

If you hold down Shift while right-clicking a file in Explorer, then you'll find the Send To file now includesall 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 favourites

If you're regularly working on the same folder in Explorer then select it in the right-hand page, right-clickFavourites on the left-hand menu, and select Add to Favourites. It'll then appear at the bottom of thefavourites list for easy one-click access later.

79. Disable hibernation

By default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive with its hibernation file, butif you never use sleep, and always turn your PC off, then this will never actually be used. To disablehibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power, then set both HibernateEnabledand HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.

80. Create a new folder shortcut

When you need to create a new folder in Windows 7 Explorer,don't reach for the mouse. Just press Ctrl+Shift+N to create thefolder in the active Explorer window, then type its name as usual.

81. Open a jumplist

Most people right-click a Windows taskbar icon to view itsjumplist. You can also hold the left mouse 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 littlefaster.

82. Search quickly

If you'd like to search for something in an Explorer window then


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there's no need to use the mouse. Simply press [F3] to move the focus to the search box, enter yourkeyword and press [Enter] to run the search.

83. Search file contents

There's no obvious way in the Windows interface to search the contents of files that haven't 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 they're actually indexed or not) thatcontain the word Microsoft.

84. Close in a click

Hover your mouse cursor over a Windows taskbar button will display a preview thumbnail of thatapplication window. You don't need that app any more? Then middle-click the thumbnail to close itdown.

85. Leave the Homegroup

Homegroups are an easy way to network Windows 7 PCs, but if you don't use the feature then turning itoff can save you a few system resources.

Click Start, type Homegroup, and click "Choose homegroup and sharing options". Click Leave theHomegroup > 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, clicking Stopand setting Startup Type to Disabled in each case, and the services won't be launched when you needreboot.

22 Problems Solved

1. Vista upgrade hangs at 62%

Windows 7 can start causing problems before it's even installed, as many people report their upgradehangs forever at 62%. Which is annoying.

Reboot, and your PC should roll back to Windows Vista. You can then open the setup log file\$WINDOWS. BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log to view what happened. Microsoft say this is usuallycaused because the Iphlpsvc service has stopped responding, and just adding an environment variableto ignore it will fix the problem. Point your browser athttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/975253for the fix.

If this doesn't help (or your upgrade hangs at something other than 62%) then browse the setup log forother clues. And you might also try to boot and install from the Windows 7 disc, if possible, as thatreduces the chance of any conflict with your existing Vista (or XP) setup.
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INSTALL WINDOWS 7:Windows 7 upgrades are usuallyquick, but sometimes it doesn't install at all

2. DVD drive not found

In some cases your DVD drive may not be found byWindows 7, even if it's visible in the BIOS and using thestandard driver.

The standard solution here is to run REGEDIT, browseto

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, then delete both UpperFilters and LowerFilters in the right-hand pane(UpperFilters.bak and LowerFilters.bak entries can be ignored).

No change? Resetting the drive letter has worked for some. Click Start, type Disk Management and

choose the "Create and format hard disk partitions" link. If your optical drive is visible here then right-click it, select Change Drive Letter and Paths, click Change and choose a new letter. If the drive is nowvisible in Explorer, then repeat the process to change the drive letter back; if it's still not visible, rebootand it should appear.

3. Aero isn't running

If Windows 7 isn't looking its best - transparency has been turned off, say - then the Aero theme maynot have been fully enabled on your system. Click Start, type Aero, choose the "Find and fix problemswith transparency and other visual effects" link, and click Next to launch the Aero troubleshootingwizard. It'll try to identify and resolve and problems. And if it doesn't, then install the latest driver for yourgraphics hardware. That could be all your system needs.

Some Aero features may be disabled in the Registry, though. For example, if Aero Peek (the ability tomake open windows transparent to display your desktop underneath) doesn't work for you, then launchREGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM and make sureEnableAeroPeek is set to 1, rather than 0.

NO AERO:Windows 7's troubleshooting wizards will fixmany display problems while you watch

4. Aero Snap irritations

Windows 7's new ability to move and resize windows, all inone movement, can be a genuine productivity boost. But ifyou find windows moving around when you don't expect itthen Aero Snap is more of an annoyance than anythingelse, though at least it's one you can disable in just a few

seconds.

Launch Control Panel, click Ease of Access, and select either "Change how your mouse works" or"Change how your keyboard works". Then browse down to the "Make it easier to manage windows"

section, check "Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of thescreen", click OK, and program windows now won't go anywhere unless you specifically command it.


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5. iPhone won't sync in Windows 7

Irritated iPhone users arebeginning to reportmajor difficulties in getting their iPhone to sync withWindows 7 systems. Particularly 64-bit Windows 7 systems, based around the P55 chipset. The iPhoneis usually (though not always) recognised, but iTunes then complains that it can't connect to the unit

because of an "unknown error", usually (though again, not always) 0xE8000065.

Disabling USB power management appears to be one solution. Click Start, type DEVMGMT.MSC andpress [Enter] to launch Device Manager, then click View > Devices By Type. Expand the UniversalSerial Bus controllers section of the tree, right-click each USB Root Hub entry in turn, select Properties> Power Management, and clear "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

Reboot your PC after this tweak and try again. This works for some, but if you're out of luck then checkthe Apple Discussions thread for other ideas.

SYNCING FEELING:iTunes on Windows 7 won't always

see, or sync with, your iPod

6. Windows 7 themes change your custom icons

Windows 7 has some spectacular new themes - there's agreat selection at theMicrosoft site- but installing themcan have one annoying side-effect. If you've previouslychanged a system icon like Computer or the Recycle Binthen that could disappear, replaced by the equivalent iconfrom the theme pack.

To prevent this, right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalize > Change Desktop Icons,clear the "Allow themes to change desktop icons" box and click OK. Your icons will now be preserved,and the only way to change them will be manually, from the same Desktop Icons dialogue.

7. Taskbar problems

We like the new Windows 7 taskbar, but many people seem less than impressed with the newapproach to taskbar buttons, finding it difficult to tell at a glance whether an icon is a running applicationor a pinned shortcut. If this sounds like you then there's an easy way to restore more standard taskbarbuttons, though - right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set Taskbar Buttons to "Never combine"

or "Combine when taskbar is full".

You can even restore the old Quick Launch toolbar in just a few clicks. Simply right-click the taskbar,click Toolbars > New Toolbar, type %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\QuickLaunch in the folder box and click Select Folder. The Quick Launch toolbar should then reappear, andyou can move and resize it to suit your needs.

STANDARD TASKBAR:Just a few secondswork and your taskbar has that retro look

8. Missing Explorer folders
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Click Start > Computer in Windows 7 and you'll find system folders like Control Panel and the RecycleBin are no longer displayed in the left-hand Explore pane. This seems like a backward step to us, butthere's a quick solution. Click Tools > Folder Options, check "Show all folders", click OK and all yourtop-level system folders will reappear.

9. Missing applets

Windows 7 installs quickly and takes up less hard drive space than you might expect, but in part that'sdown to cheating - Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and other applets are no longer bundled with astandard Windows installation. Instead you must download the programs you need from theWindowsLive Essentials site.

Installing Live Essentials will also get you potentially unnecessary extras, though, like an ActiveXcontrol to help in uploading files to Windows Live SkyDrive. And the Windows Live Sign-In Assistant,which can be useful if you want to switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you have onlyone Windows Live account, and no plans to use Live SkyDrive, then these can safely be removed from

the Control Panel Uninstall A Program applet.

TAKE YOUR PICK:You can install as many, or as few ofthe Live Essentials programs as you like

10. Too many minidumps

By default Windows 7 now keeps the last 50 minidumpfiles (memory images saved when your PC crashes). Ifyou're keen on using dump files to troubleshoot crashesthen this is good news, but if you've no interest in thatkind of advanced debugging then minidumps are just awaste of your valuable hard drive space. In which caseyou should run REGEDIT, browse to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, and setMiniDumpsCount to 1. Windows will only now keep the last dump file and you'll free up a little harddrive space.

11. HP Multifunction Printer problems

If you've an HP multifunction printer with its "Full Feature Software solution" or "Basic Driver solution"

installed then, after upgrading to Windows 7, you may find the printer stops working. Press the buttonson the front of the printer and nothing will happen; launch the software manually and you'll see reportsthat it can't connect to your hardware.

The problem is that a few files and Registry entries have been lost in the migration to Windows Vista,and even reinstalling the original HP software won't help. Fortunately there's a new version of HPSolution Center that should get everything working again, though, and you can find out more about it attheHP support site.

12. Hidden extensions

Explorer's default settings in Windows 7 hide file extensions, as well as system files and folders.
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To fix this, launch Explorer and click Tools > Folder Options > View.

Clear the "Hide extensions for known file types" to show file extensions, reducing the likelihood thatyou'll accidentally double-click on virus.txt.exe in future.

And as long as there are no novice users on your system who might go poking around in Explorer, we'dalso choose to "Show hidden files and folders" as well as clear the "Hide protected operating systemfiles" box. It's often important to see these files when you're troubleshooting, or following problem-solving instructions from someone else.

13. DVD audio issues

Windows 7 runs well even on old notebooks, say reviewers, and in general they're right. But we haveseen reports of problems, for example with DVD audio, where movie sound is either completelyunintelligible or doesn't appear at all.

Should anything similar happen to you then head off to Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound >Sound, right-click your current default playback device (it'll have a green tick displayed) and selectProperties.

Then click Advanced, clear any settings in the Exclusive Mode box and click OK. You've now ensuredthat older or badly-behaved drivers can't take complete control of the speakers any more, and thisalone will often be enough to get your system working again. (But if it doesn't, installing new audiodrivers is your next best option.)

14. Windows Live MovieMaker

For some bizarre reason Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import network files by default. Okay,so they'll be large and may monopolise network traffic for a while, but shouldn't that be your choice?

Anyway, a quick Registry tweak will solve this annoying problem. Simply run REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called

AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1: job done.

IMPORT NETWORK FILES:Network access isonly a Registry tweak away

15. XP Mode doesn't work

If you've ancient software that won't work underWindows 7 then in theory you can use XP Mode,a virtual machine with an installation of WindowsXP that should be more successful. In practice,however, it doesn't always work out that way.

Problem 1 is XP Mode requires hardwaresupport from the CPU. TheMicrosoft Hardware-

Assisted Virtualization Detection Toolcan check your system to see if it's compatible.
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Problem 2 is the feature must be enabled in the BIOS.Microsoft has some instructions, but essentiallyyou just need to browse your BIOS setup program looking for an AMD-V, Intel VT or VIA VTvirtualisation setting and ensure it's turned on.

Unfortunately problem number 3 is that some laptop manufacturers have previously disabled this

setting for "security" reasons. Sony Vaios had the feature turned off for a while, for instance, promptingsome to recommend ways in which you canedit their firmware to restore the setting, although Sonyseems to have restored it recently. If hardware virtualisation is turned off on your system then checkwith the manufacturer - a BIOS upgrade may fix the problem.

And if all else fails, just use a package likeVirtualBoxthat doesn't insist on hardware support. You willneed to provide a licenced copy of XP (or whatever other version you want to use) to install on it,though.

WINDOWS 7 XP MODE:Good news - this CPU isup to the task of running XP Mode

16. Add Windows Media Center to AutoPlayoptions

Windows 7 includes Media Center, but for somestrange reason you can't choose it as an AutoPlayhandler. The only standard program that can belaunched to play DVD-Video discs, say, is MediaPlayer, which seems an odd limitation.

Fortunately there's no fundamental change that'spreventing this from working, it's just that Windows

7 doesn't contain the required Registry entries. If you've a Windows Vista PC to hand then you couldexport these yourself: just go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlersand save all the keys and values beginning with EHome.

Windows expert Ramesh Srinivasan has done the hard work already, though, so it's probably easier todownload the .REG file from him. Take a look at Srinivasan'sWinhelponlineto find out more.

17. Missing crash dump files

Impressive though Windows 7 is, it'll crash sometimes, and if you've installed diagnostic software likethe Windows debugging tools then you'll want the crash dump file to hand for further investigations. Andyet in some situations you'll find the memory.dmp file never appears. So what's going on?

First, click Start, right-click Computer and select Properties > Advanced System Settings > Startup andRecovery Settings. Make sure that "Write debugging information" is set to something other than "none",and that "Dump file" is the default "%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP".

If that's all correct then check your free hard drive space. If your system isn't on a domain, and has lessthan 25GB free, then Windows 7 will no longer keep a crash dump file. If you'd like to change that,

launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, create a new DWORD
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value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and in future the crash dump file will always bepreserved.

18. Can't disable hibernation

Windows 7 doesn't make it easy to turn off hibernation, annoying if you never use it as you'llpermanently have a "hiberfil.sys" file taking up a sizeable portion of your hard drive. To rectify thissituation, launch REGEDIT, browse toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power, and set HibernateEnabled tozero.

19. Poor video quality

The new Windows 7 power plan settings affect more of your software than ever before. If you noticevideo playback quality seems poor, for instance, then click Start, type Power Options and click thePower Options link. Click Change Plan Settings for your currently selected plan, click Change

Advanced Settings, expand the Multimedia Settings section and make sure "Playing video" is set to"Optimise performance".

Alternatively, if you often play video on a laptop, then change the new setting to "Optimiseperformance" and you may see an improvement in battery life.

20. Where's Software Explorer?

If you've ever played with Windows Defender on Vista then you'll have probably noticed the SoftwareExplorer feature, a very useful way to find out and control exactly what's launched on your PC whenWindows starts. So it's a little annoying to see this has disappeared in the latest version, leaving youwith only the aging MSCONFIG to control your startup programs.

We'd recommend you download and useAutoruns, then, instead. It's rather more technical thanSoftware Explorer, but nothing else provides quite as much useful detail on the add-ons and extensionsyou'll be loading when Windows, Explorer and your browser are launched.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx


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START UP:Autoruns shows all the programs that will load when your PC starts

21. Explorer navigation

The Windows 7 version of Explorer has partly disconnected its two panes, so if you're double-clicking

your way down a complex set of folders in the right-hand pane, the left hand tree won't always expandto follow you.

This may improve performance a little, but it also means that you won't always be able to see thecomplete folder structure unless you expand it manually, which on balance seems a bad idea. If youagree then click Organize > Folder and Search Options, check "Automatically expand to current folder",and click OK to restore normal operations.

22. Windows Live Messenger and the system tray

Close Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7 and it'll display its icon on the taskbar, chewing upuseful application space, rather than in the system tray where many believe it belongs.

Fortunately there's a very quick fix: right-click the shortcut to Windows Live Messenger, click Properties> Compatibility, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for" and choose "Windows XP (ServicePack 3)" from the list. Close Messenger and its icon should now appear in the system tray, just as you'dexpect.