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 mount. It will
then appear as 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, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up
right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set
this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just
like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs,
test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually
just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up
or share with others. Right-click the disk (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 an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's
maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know 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
simple wizards 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 repair 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
emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way
to get your PC running again.
6. Take control
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't worry, that's
easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow
everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say,
and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications.
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 and you'll see powerful new Statistics and
Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation,
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't miss anything
important.
CALCULATE MORE: The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality
8. Switch to a projector
Windows
7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor
to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe
and choose your preferred display. (This will have no effect if you'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 useful information about its power consumption.
Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains in terms of
battery life and performance. To do this you must open a command prompt
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, and Windows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to
improve power efficiency. It will then publish the results in an 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 no 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 > System Restore > Next, and choose the restore point
you'd like to use. Click the new button to 'Scan for affected programs'
and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be
deleted or recovered by selecting this restore point.
11. Set the time zone
System
administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility,
which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a
PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command
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 a digital photo you
think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else.
Fortunately Windows 7 now 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, type DCCW 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 Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes
other components that may be unnecessary, 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 search engine, and prevent other
programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just
decide you don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking
Start, typing msiexec /x and pressing [Enter].
Windows
Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files
to Windows Live SkyDrive, 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
with the 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 Registry tweak will change this. Run REGEDIT,
browse to HKEY_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
If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using
XP Mode,
a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop.
But there's a big potential problem, 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 option in 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 laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have
any unexpected side-effects. Gulp.
A safer approach might be to use
VirtualBox,
a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then
you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows
version your software 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 or laptop 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 share your internet connection.
This
will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and
not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've
installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.
Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you.
Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.
If
you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up
some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up
manually.
17. Explore God Mode
Windows
7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to
locate all the applets and options that you might need. God Mode,
however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer 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:
The
first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever
you want: "Super Control Panel", "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, and double-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 260 options in total.
18. Right-click everything
At
first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but
there's an easy way to begin spotting the differences - just right-click
things.
Right-click
an empty part of the desktop, for instance, and you'll find a menu
entry to set your screen 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 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 go install
Firefox, instead.
19. 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 be available.
Fortunately there's an easy way to get the old context menu back - just
hold down Ctrl and Shift as you right-click the taskbar button.
20. Desktop slideshow
Windows
7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always
easy to decide which one you like the best. So why not let choose a few,
and let Windows display them all in a desktop slideshow? Right-click an
empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background,
then hold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. Choose how
often you'd like the images to be changed (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 multiple background images and Windows will cycle through them
21. RSS-powered wallpaperAnd
if a slideshow based on your standard wallpaper isn't enough, then you
can always create a theme that extracts images from an RSS feed. For
example, Long Zheng has created a few sample themes to illustrate how it
works. Jamie Thompson takes this even further, with a theme that always
displays the latest BBC news and weather on your desktop. And
MakeUseOfhave a quick and easy tutorial showing how RSS can get you those gorgeous Bing photographs as your wallpaper.
22. Customise the log-on screen
Changing
the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and
potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it
easy.
First,
browse to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background
in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there?
Create it) and set its value to 1.
Now
find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than
256KB in size, and matches the 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 the info\backgrounds folders if they don't 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 a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will
look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple
images and will display a different one every time you log on.
23. Recover screen space
The
new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can
hold whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and
select Pin To Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does 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.
24. Enjoy a retro taskbar
Windows
7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also
makes it more difficult to tell at a glance whether an icon represents a
running application or a shortcut. If you prefer a more traditional
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.
25. Remove taskbar buttons
One
problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable
taskbar real estate, but you can reduce the impact of this by removing
their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, add a string called MinWidth, set it to
54, and reboot to see the results.
26. Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar
If
you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it
only takes a moment to restore the 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 the Folder 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 it takes
up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View >
Small Icons for the true retro look.
27. Custom power switch
By
default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the
Start menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to
something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then that
might 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.
28. 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 Windows will
automatically arrange its icons for you.
29. 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 find it
distracting then it's easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, set WindowArrangementActive to
0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as they always did.
30. 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 your arrow keys to
change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of every
window.
31. Display your drives
Click
Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but
don't panic, it's just Microsoft 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. Launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options >
View and clear 'Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.
32. See more detail
The
new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom
in on any area of the screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale
factor and docking position, and once activated it can track your
keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around a dialog
box, say, and it'll automatically zoom in on the currently active
control.
33. Hiding the Windows Live Messenger iconIf
you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, you'll have noticed that the icon
now resides on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and
quickly send an IM to someone. If you prefer to keep Windows Live
Messenger in the system tray, where it's been for previous releases,
just close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set
the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode.
34. Customise UAC
Windows
Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor
implementation put many people off - it raised far too many alerts.
Fortunately Windows 7 displays less warnings by default, and lets 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).
35. Use Sticky Notes
The
Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch
StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note
to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add
another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note
windows (your notes are automatically saved).
36. Open folder in new process
By
default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system
resources, but means one folder crash can bring down the entire shell.
If your system seems unstable, or you're doing something in Explorer
that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down
Shift, right-click on your drive and select Open in New Process. The
folder will now be launched in a separate process, and so a crash is
less likely to affect anything else.
37. Watch more videos
Windows
Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the
audio and video files you'll find 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.
38. Preview fonts
Open
the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names,
probably with icons to tell 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 how they're going to look.
The
tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like
Times New Roman, Times New Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and
so on, has finally ended. There's now just a single entry 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 a try the next time you need a
stylish document that stands out from the crowd.
39. Restore your gadgets
Windows
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 you've disabled UAC, miss your gadgets and are
happy to accept the security risk, though, there's an easy Registry way
to get everything back to normal. Run REGEDIT, go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings,
create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1.
Your gadgets should start working again right away.
40. New WordPad formats
By
default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as
before. But browse the Save As Format list and you'll see you can also
save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx or OpenDocument
.odt formats.
41. Protect your data
USB
flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a
problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately
Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of
Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password
will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn
on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.
PROTECT YOUR DATA: Your USB flash drives can easily be encrypted with BitLocker
42. Minimise quickly with shakeIf
you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things 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 minimise
everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title bar of
the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a
clear desktop area.
43. Configure your favourite music
The
Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your favourite
music, which by default creates a changing list of songs based on your
ratings, how often you play them, and when they were added (it's assumed
you'll prefer songs you've added in the last 30 days). If this doesn't
work then you can tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune
is- click Tasks > Settings > Music > Favourite Music and
configure the program to suit your needs.
44. Customise System Restore
There
was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but
Windows 7 improves the situation with a couple of useful setup options.
Click
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 don't need System Restore to save Windows settings then choose
the "Only restore previous versions of files" option. Windows 7 won't
back up your Registry, which means you'll squeeze more restore points
and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore is much
less likely to get an unbootable PC working again, though, so use this
trick at your own risk.
45. Run As
Hold
down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option
to run the program as a different user, handy if you're logged in to the
kids' limited account and need to run something with higher privileges.
This isn't really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that
did the same thing - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's
good to see it's had a change of heart.
46. Search privacy
By
default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the
most recent examples when searching in Windows Explorer. If you're
sharing a PC and don't want everyone to see your searches, then launch
GPEDIT.MSC, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display
of recent search entries..." and click Enabled > OK.
47. Tweak PC volume
By
default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's
sounds whenever it detects you're making or receiving PC-based phone
calls. If this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like it to turn off other
sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly.
Just right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds >
Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like it to do.
48. Rearrange the system tray
With
Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to
everything else on the taskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then
go right ahead, just drag and drop them into the order you like. You can
even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto the
desktop, then put them back when you no longer need to keep an eye on
them.
49. Extend your battery life
Windows
7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebook's
battery life. To see them, click Start, type Power Options and click the
Power Options link, then click Change Plan Settings for 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 than performance. Browse through
the other settings and ensure they're set up to suit your needs.
50. 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 can turn this feature off,
though: browse to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, create
a new DWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and the
crash dump file will now always be saved.
51. Find bottlenecks
From
what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than
Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to
uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to
launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network
tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the
most system resources.
The
CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more
powerful version of Task Manager. 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 for another process, perhaps - which could give
you the information you need to fix the problem.
FIND BOTTLENECKS: Resource monitor keeps a careful eye on exactly how your PC is being used
52. Keyboard shortcuts
Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.
Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane
Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows
Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate
Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate
Windows Logo+Up
Maximise the current window
Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window
Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window
53. Drag and drop to the command line
When
working at the command line you'll often need to access files, which
usually means typing lengthy paths and hoping you've got them right. But
Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag and drop the file onto your
command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and
ready to be used.
This
feature isn't entirely new: you could do this in Windows XP, too, but
drag and drop support disappeared in Vista. There does seem to be a new
Windows 7 complication, though, in that it only seems 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.
54. Customise your jumplists
Right-click
an icon on your taskbar, perhaps Notepad, and you'll see a jumplist
menu that provides easy access to the documents you've been working on
recently. But maybe there's another document that you'd like to be
always available? Then drag and drop it onto the taskbar icon, and it'll
be pinned to the top 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.
55. Faster program launches
If
you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another,
then don't work your way back through the Start menu. It's much quicker
to just hold down Shift and click on the program's icon (or middle-click
it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.
56. 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 as a
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.
57. Run web searchesThe
Windows 7 search tool can now be easily extended to search online
resources, just as long as someone creates an appropriate search
connector. To add Flickr support, say, visit
I Started Something,
click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as it's
downloaded (the file is tiny, it'll only take a moment). A "Flickr
Search" option will be added to your Searches folder, and you'll be able
to search images from your desktop.
58. Schedule Media Centre downloads
You
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
and stop times that you'd like it to use.
59. Multi-threaded Robocopies
Anyone
who's ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will
appreciate the new switches introduced with Windows 7. Our favourite,
/MT, can improve speed by carrying out multi-threaded copies with the
number of threads you specify (you can have up to 128, though that might
be going a little too far). Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the
full details.
60. 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
extensions are slowing you down.
61. An Alt+Tab alternative
You
want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but
there are so many other programs running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to
pick out what you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key while you
click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the
Explorer windows only, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And
of course this works with any application that has multiple windows
open.
62. Block annoying alerts
Just
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 no longer want to see warnings just because
you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, then click Control
Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action
Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.
63. Parallel defrags
The
standard Windows 7 defragger offers a little more control than we saw
in Vista, and the command line 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 switch runs the defrag at a higher than
normal priority, and the /u switch provides regular progress reports so
you can see exactly what's going on. Enter the command
defrag /c /h /u /r
in a command window to speedily defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? to view the new options for yourself.
64. Fix Explorer
The
Windows 7 Explorer has a couple of potential annoyances. Launching
Computer will no longer display system folders like Control Panel or
Recycle Bin, for instance. And if you're drilling down through a
complicated folder structure in the right-hand pane of Explorer, the
left-hand tree won't always expand to follow what you're doing, which
can make it more difficult to see exactly where you are. Fortunately
there's a quick fix: click Organize > Folder and Search Options,
check "Show all folders" and "Automatically expand to current folder",
and click OK.
65. Faster file handing
If
you hold down Shift while right-clicking a file in Explorer, then
you'll find the Send To file now includes all your main user folders:
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Music and more. Choose any of these and
your file will be moved there immediately.
66. Create folder favourites
If
you're 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. It'll then appear at the bottom of the
favourites list for easy one-click access later.
67. Disable hibernation
By
default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive
with its hibernation file, but if you never use sleep, and always turn
your PC off, then this will never actually be used. To disable
hibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT,
browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power,
then set both HibernateEnabled and HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.
