Windows 7 Tips

Worthwhile Windows 7 improvements

Here is the list of some worthwhile Windows 7 improvements

1. Adapt path to include CYGWIN utilities Controlling path in windows 7
2. Prevent Microsoft from rebooting computer after applying patches
3. Prevent updated to win 10
4. Schedules the shutdown after backup your folder into tar or wip  archive.
5. Learn some useful Keyboard shortcuts
6. You can shrink harddrive partition "on the fly".
7. You can move windows from one display to another even if it is maximaized. 
8. Built in DVD and CD ISO burning application. Just double click on image file.
9. Built-in ClearType Text Tuning by typing cttune in the Start Menu search field and opening the search result
10. Built-in image based partition backup
11. Virtual folders aka libraries.
    • By default, each of the four Libraries that ship with Windows 7—Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos—collects, or aggregates, content from two physical locations on your hard drive and displays them in a single location. For example, the Documents library collects content from your My Documents folder (C:\Users\your username\My Documents) and the Public Documents folder (C:\Users\Public\Public Documents). You are free to add and remove the folders that a library monitors for content.
12. A better navigation between multiple windows.
    • Using the mouse, you can drag-”˜n-dock windows to either side of the screen, or drag it to the top to maximize it. These keyboard shortcuts are even faster:
      • Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock the window to the left and right side of the screen
      • Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximize and restore/minimize
      • Win+M minimizes everything
      • Alt+Up, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow navigate to parent folder, or browse Back and Forward through folders in Explorer
      • Win+Home minimizes/restores all open windows except the active window
      • Alt+Win+# accesses the Jump List of program number ‘#’ on the taskbar
    • Programs pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the appropriate number key. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application in the taskbar, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth.
    • The taskbar has full-sized previews—and you can pin programs to it for one-click access.
    • Jump Lists provide shortcuts to files, folders, and websites.
    • And Snap, Peek, and Shake give you easy (and fun) new ways to juggle all those open windows.
13. Problem Step Recorder. When you stop recording, your session is saved to an HTML slide show recreating your steps, to which you can add comments and annotations.
14. Smarter search.
    • Type in the Start menu search box, and you'll see results instantly, grouped by category—documents, pictures, music, e‑mail, and programs.
    • Search in a folder or library, and you can fine-tune your search with filters like date or file type—and use the preview pane to peek at the contents of your results.
15. Easy files and printer sharing with HomeGroup. Sharing files and printers on your home network should be simple. With HomeGroup, it finally is. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and with a minimum of fuss you can start sharing music, pictures, videos, and documents with other people in your home.
16. Built for speed. Windows 7 has key performance improvements to take up less memory and run background services only when you need them. It's designed to run your programs faster and to sleep, resume, and reconnect to wireless networks quicker. And with 64-bit support, you can take full advantage of the latest in powerful 64-bit PCs.
17. Better wireless networking. Connecting to wireless networks on your laptop—formerly a bit of a hassle—now takes just a couple of clicks. Choose from the list of available networks in the taskbar, click one, and then connect. Once you've connected to a network, Windows will remember it so you can connect again later automatically.
18. Plays well with devices. Device Stage, a new feature in Windows 7, works like a home page for things like portable music players, smartphones, and printers. When you plug a compatible device into your PC, you'll see a menu with information and popular tasks like battery life, how many photos are ready to be downloaded, and printing options.
19. Internet Explorer 10 and 11, has hardware-accelerated graphics. You'll also get the many possibilities of Windows Live, free: create photo albums and movies, and share your stuff. Nag-free notifications.
20. Action Center controls maintenance and security messages. You can turn notifications on or off for  Windows Defender or User Account Control. If Windows needs your attention, you'll see a notification on the far right of the taskbar. Click it, and you'll get suggested fixes for any problems.

Usability tips

• Alt-Tab -- provided switch of applications.

• Win-E opens drives menu which is not that easy to access otherwise.

• Ctrl-Shift_Esc-- task manager

• If you use Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard, then first items in you program taskbar can be invoked by pressing the number corresponding to their position in the list. For example, if you have Far manager pinned to taskbar as the first item it can be invoked by pressing 1.

• To enable telnet client (and telnet server)

  Go to control panel / Programs / Programs and Features / Turn Windows features on. There is an option for Telnet client. Reboot (yes, you really need to reboot for this to take effect) and you're good to go.

   
• How to turn off Welcome screen. Open User Accounts in Control Panel.  Click Change the way users log on or off.
• To quickly access the computer management console, right-click My Computer and choose Manage.
• Windows 2000 does not have the MSCONFIG program but you can "backport" the Windows XP  version of MSCONFIG. Copy the file msconfig.exe from the c:\windows\system folder to the Windows 2000 c:\winnt\system32 folder. 
• The Windows logo key is the shortcut anchor for several command:
• Windows: Display the Start menu Windows
  • + D: Minimize or restore all windows Windows
  • + E: Display Windows Explorer Windows
  • + F: Display Search for files Windows
  • + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer Windows
  • + F1: Display Help and Support Center Windows
  • + R: Display Run dialog box Windows
  • + break: Display System Properties dialog box
  • + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows Windows
  • + L: Lock the workstation Windows
  • + U: Open Utility Manager
• Looking for ways to improve your Windows 95 system? Don't overlook Power Toys for Windows. Although not part of Windows and not supported by Microsoft, Power Toys is a great collection of utilities you may find very useful. Some of the power toys will run on Windows NT 4.x as well.
• Quote Screen Saver v4.0.37b
• To stop Windows from automatically playing a music CD, hold the SHIFT key down while inserting a CD in the player.
• Quick Launch Bar and other Task Bar Properties. The Quick Launch bar makes it easy to access frequently used programs.

To display Quick Launch on the taskbar

•  If the Quick Launch bar is not displayed, right-click an empty area on the taskbar and click Properties.
•  On the Taskbar tab, under Taskbar appearance, select the Show Quick Launch check box and click OK.
• You can unclick Hide inactive icons to see all of them (I prefer this way)

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20150303 : Useful keyboard shortcuts ( Mar 03, 2015 )
• 20150303 : How to Force Windows 7 for a Faster Shutdown ( )
• 20150303 : ( )
• 20150303 : XP mode ( )
• 20120805 : by default, during the Windows 7 installation process two partitions are created: Backup and Windows volume. ( Aug 05, 2012 )
• 20120719 : Dynamic hot buttons for items pinned to the taskbar ( Jul 19, 2012 )
• 20120719 : To enable telnet client (and telnet server) ( Jul 19, 2012 )
• 20111220 : Top 20 Windows 7 Tips ( PCWorld )
• 20111118 : Mount an ISO image in Windows 7, Windows 8 or Vista ( Mount an ISO image in Windows 7, Windows 8 or Vista, Nov 18, 2011 )
• 20100314 : Where is the Windows 7 Classic Start Menu ( Where is the Windows 7 Classic Start Menu, Mar 14, 2010 )
• 20100314 : Console Get Console ( Console Get Console, Mar 14, 2010 )
• 20091114 : CodeSnippets Windows command prompt How to DEFINITELY change default codepage ( CodeSnippets Windows' command prompt How to DEFINITELY change default codepage , Nov 14, 2009 )
• 20091024 : A Tale of Two Windows 7s ( Slashdot )
• 20091024 : A Tale of Two Windows 7s ( Slashdot )

Old News ;-)

[Mar 03, 2015] Useful keyboard shortcuts

• Windows 7 - Tweak Useful Shortcuts from My Computer
• Top 10 keyboard shortcuts you didn't know about - YouTube
• hotkeys for windows 7 - YouTube
• Keyboard Shortcuts In Windows - YouTube
• What are the system recovery options in Windows 7-
• Tabbed browsing- frequently asked questions
• Sleep and hibernation- frequently asked questions
• Top 10 Windows Shortcut Keys! Whats Yours

How to Force Windows 7 for a Faster Shutdown

by Venkat eswarlu on July 27, 2010

in How to,tips and tricks

It is really annoying Windows 7 starts up so quickly but it does not shutdown as quickly as it should be.It needs to close all background programs and running processes and the shuts down the computer.Let us see how we can make Windows 7 to shutdown faster.

This happens to everyone after closing all programs you will click shutdown button and you go away from Computer thinking that Computer will be shutdown but that's not the case after some time when you see your Computer, it will be still powered on and Windows 7 showing background programs needs to close click Force Shutdown to shutdown your Computer.How much power lost due to this without user using Computer.

By default Windows 7 waits for 12 seconds to kill all the running processes while shutting down Windows.By lowering this time period to 5 seconds or less we can make Windows 7 to shutdown faster.

Forcing Windows 7 shutdown faster without waiting for background programs to close

1.Click start and type "regedit" and make sure you run registry editor as administrator.

2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control and double click WaitToKillServiceTimeout entry on the right side and enter its value as 5000 (5 seconds ) or to lower to that.

3.Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop , on the right pane create new string value named WaitToKillAppTimeout and give its value as 5000.If that string already exists then double click it and enter its value as 5000 or lower to that.

Don't enter too lower values you at least need to give some chance for programs to close.

Restart your Computer for changes to take affect and you will observe definite speed in Windows 7 shutdown next time.

You can also use command line switch shutdown /f /s /t 0 by creating shortcut for it and use to shutdown Windows 7 faster.

XP mode

Although Windows 7 has had few major compatibility problems reported it is still a big improvement comparing to its predecessor Widows Vista. This was confirmed throughout the whole research, where it worked faultlessly on many different hardware and software setups. However, Microsoft wanting to avoid the situation from early 2007 incorporated the Windows XP Mode to the new OS.

It is designed to overcome any possible incompatibility issues by running virtualized windows XP Operating System. The XP is highly embedded into the Windows 7, offering seamless operation (MICROSOFT VIRTUALISATION TEAM, 2009). While this feature is primarily designed for Enterprises where support for legacy software is required but everyday users can also benefit from it as it offers complete protection from spyware by running broser in a separate OS.

It comprises of the Microsoft Virtual PC and Windows XP SP3, free to download for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate owners.

[Aug 05, 2012] By default, during the Windows 7 installation process two partitions are created: Backup and Windows volume.

First is a hidden letter-less partition called System_Reserved, which is used for backup purposes but also BitLocker if enabled. Its size is 100MB, which was reduced from the 200MB in Windows 7 Beta version. Users cannot access it via the Windows Explorer because it has no drive letter assigned to it, therefore it is not even displayed. It is done on purpose to avoid curious users changing important files, which wascommon for Vista's 1.5GB partition. BitLocker uses this partition to store boot information that is executed during the authentication process. It is however possible not to create the partition, if user installs the Windows 7 on a drive where other partitions already exist, volume is not created.

Second partition is a C: drive system volume with the Windows 7 OS. Possibly due to the size of modern hard drives, Microsoft decided not to give an option to format with any other file system than NTFS. As a result it is standard file system on all Windows 7 volumes

[Jul 19, 2012] Dynamic hot buttons for items pinned to the taskbar

If you use Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard, then first items in you program taskbar can be invoked by pressing the number corresponding to their position in the list. For example, if you have Far manager pinned to taskbar as the first item it can be invoked by pressing 1.

[Jul 19, 2012] To enable telnet client (and telnet server)

Go to control panel / Programs / Programs and Features / Turn Windows features on. There is an option for Telnet client. Reboot (yes, you really need to reboot for this to take effect) and you're good to go.

[Dec 20, 2011] Top 20 Windows 7 Tips

PCWorld

Open a command prompt at any folder

Command prompt fans will welcome this tip. With it, when you're in Windows Explorer, you can open a command prompt to any folder. This tip does exactly what the Windows XP PowerToy "Open Command Window Here" does.

To use it, hold down the Shift key and right-click a folder, then choose "Open command window here" from the context menu that appears. (Note that this tip doesn't work in the Documents folder.)

The User Account Control security produces constant warning messages asking for permission to continue many operations. You can still tweak warning if you consider them overboard:

Here's how to turn UAC on or off, and make it less or more intrusive than the default:

1. Go to the Control Panel --> User Accounts and Family Safety.

2. Click User Accounts, then click Change User Account Control settings.

3. From the screen that appears, use the slider to select the level of protection you want. Here are the four levels and what they mean:

Always notify me. Think of this as UAC Classic. It works like Vista's UAC: When you make changes to your system, when software is installed or when a program tries to make a change to your system, an annoying prompt appears.

Default -- Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer. This is, obviously, the default; make a change yourself and UAC leaves you alone. When a program makes a change, a prompt appears and your desktop goes dark, just like it does in Vista. Otherwise, UAC sits there silently.

Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop). This setting is identical to the default setting, with one difference: It won't dim your desktop so that you only see the UAC prompt asking you to take action. This presents a slightly elevated security risk over the default setting, because theoretically a program could allow a malicious program to interfere with the UAC prompt.

Never notify me when: In this one, UAC is completely turned off. This is, of course, an insecure option and not recommended for most users.

After you make the selection, click OK. Depending on the selection you made, you may need to restart your system for it to take effect.

[Nov 18, 2011] Mount an ISO image in Windows 7, Windows 8 or Vista

The freeware utility from Microsoft to mount ISO Images doesn't work in Windows 7 or Vista. Thankfully there's another utility that does.

The utility that we will use is called Virtual Clone Drive. This utility will let you mount .ISO, .CCD, .DVD, .IMG, .UDF and .BIN files.

[Mar 14, 2010] Where is the Windows 7 Classic Start Menu

Classic Shell

Classic Shell is free and takes up very little memory. It changes the Windows 7 start menu to classic and it looks exactly the same like what you see in Windows XP. The nice thing about it, besides being totally free, is that when you type the first letter of a program or folder it brings you to the correct menu.

Get it from here:

Classic Shell Files on SourceForge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files

[Mar 14, 2010] Console Get Console

Great replacement for cmd.exe

SourceForge.net

Console is a Windows console window enhancement. Console features include: multiple tabs, text editor-like text selection, different background types, alpha and color-key transparency, configurable font, different window styles

[Nov 14, 2009] CodeSnippets Windows' command prompt How to DEFINITELY change default codepage

Want to use WinLatin1 (1252) instead of DOSLatin1 (850, default when cmd.exe is started) ?

You want to apply the new codepage to :
- the current opened command prompt

C:\> chcp 1252

- all the opened command prompt in the future

Start->Run->regedit
Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage]
And change the "OEMCP" value to "1252"

You need to restart your computer to see the changes.

So you'll be able to display extended characters (such as accents and so on)

==

Don't know how to check the command prompt's codepage ?

C:\> chcp

[Oct 24, 2009] A Tale of Two Windows 7s

Slashdot

Windows 7 improves things *just* enough for me to have little moments of 'ooh, that's nice', which is something missing from XP and Vista.

• USB device recognition: Fast. Very fast.
• Multi-monitor support: Slick. Unobtrusive. A no-brainer.
• UI interactions: Rapid. Responsive. Highly configurable. -- I tend to turn off all the animations / slide effects. Me click close gadget = window gone instantly. Thus my productivity goes up a small percentage.
• Hardware support: Inconspicuous. Works just like magic. -- My Nokia N97 (with or without installation of Nokia's Ovi application suite) works exactly as I need it to when I hook it up.
• Firewall: I will never need a 3rd-party firewall. Windows 7's firewall (once you get at its interface) is nothing short of perfect.
• Networking: Again, it just works. No need to faff about with it. Even recognised my nForce 4 based motherboard's
• Nvidia ethernet port. Not just recognised, but supports TCP offloading. Not that I needed to know this, but I went poking around ;)

For the first time ever in a new Windows installation I didn't feel compelled to immediately set up my video drivers. Everything worked smoothly enough. Of course, I did eventually load them up, but it didn't even require a reboot. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with Windows 7 so far.

[Oct 24, 2009] A Tale of Two Windows 7s

Slashdot

Windows 7 improves things *just* enough for me to have little moments of 'ooh, that's nice', which is something missing from XP and Vista.

• USB device recognition: Fast. Very fast.
• Multi-monitor support: Slick. Unobtrusive. A no-brainer.
• UI interactions: Rapid. Responsive. Highly configurable. -- I tend to turn off all the animations / slide effects. Me click close gadget = window gone instantly. Thus my productivity goes up a small percentage.
• Hardware support: Inconspicuous. Works just like magic. -- My Nokia N97 (with or without installation of Nokia's Ovi application suite) works exactly as I need it to when I hook it up.
• Firewall: I will never need a 3rd-party firewall. Windows 7's firewall (once you get at its interface) is nothing short of perfect.
• Networking: Again, it just works. No need to faff about with it. Even recognised my nForce 4 based motherboard's
• Nvidia ethernet port. Not just recognised, but supports TCP offloading. Not that I needed to know this, but I went poking around ;)

For the first time ever in a new Windows installation I didn't feel compelled to immediately set up my video drivers. Everything worked smoothly enough. Of course, I did eventually load them up, but it didn't even require a reboot. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with Windows 7 so far.

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Last modified: March 12, 2019