19 Tips Every Windows 7 User Needs to Know

Your OS drives your whole PC experience, so it's your job as an enthusiast to keep it in a high state of tune



Twist cap carefully. Only pour into Maximum PC-approved computer tanks.
After installing a new OS, most people just jump right in and start
driving it through all their favorite applications and games. Makes
sense, right? The operating system, after all, should be a background
player in the computing experience—a means to an end, with the end being
web surfing, content editing, and wanton destruction in the
first-person shooter of one’s choice.
The problem, however, is that most people, even a lot of
self-described power users, never take the time to really tune the new
OS, exploring its menus and setting up the interface for the fastest,
most convenient operation based on personal preferences. And as
operating systems offer more and more user controls, it’s the curious,
performance-minded enthusiast who has the most to gain from tuning an OS
to his or her liking.
It’s been about six months since Windows 7 hit the market, so we
figure most of our readers have made their upgrades. For those who’ve
made that jump, we present a bottle of our favorite Windows 7 tips, each
designed to help you extract the very last bits of convenience and
GUI-navigating performance from your own personal dream machine. And if
you haven’t yet upgraded to Win7, we trust you will after reading this
article, as its core features—let alone its actual Lab-benchmarked performance—kicks Vista and XP ass.
We close out our tuning session with a tip designed to supercharge the process of installing
the OS. By loading Windows 7 onto a USB key, and making that key a
bootable drive, you can do an end-run around slow optical-drive
technology and install your OS in (pardon the pun) a flash.
It’s time to get started. Park your computer, but don’t shut down.
This is one PC tune-up that can only be done with your engine running.
Keyboard Shortcuts for Committed Mouse Abolitionists


Let’s kick off this power-user party with keyboard shortcuts—tricks
every enthusiast should memorize when mastering a new OS. We’re
confident the following time-saving keystrokes will save you precious
neural processing cycles, and make your mouse jealous with neglect.
Alt + P
In Windows Explorer, this shortcut activates a preview pane of your
selected file, be it an image, sound, or video document. This panel is
great for previewing images in your photos directory, obviating the need
for fancier third-party software.
Windows + Up and Windows + Down
If a window isn’t maximized, pressing the Windows + Up arrow key will
make it fill your entire screen. Windows + Down arrow will minimize
that active window.
Windows + Shift + Up and Windows + Shift + Down
Hitting these three keys will vertically stretch an active window to
the maximum desktop height (the width of the window, however, will stay
the same). Pressing Windows + Shift+ Down will restore the window to its
previous dimensions.
Windows + + and Windows + -
Pressing the Windows button with either the plus or minus key
activates the Magnifier, letting you zoom in on the entire desktop or
open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in on (and out of) parts of
your screen. You can also customize the Magnifier to follow your mouse
pointer or keyboard cursor.
Windows + Left and Windows + Right
These two shortcuts will make your active window fill up exactly one
half of your screen—depending on which arrow key you use. And once a
window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut
with the same arrow key to flip it to the other side.
Windows + Home
This shortcut minimizes every open window on your desktop except the
active window. Pressing this shortcut again restores all the minimized
windows.
Windows + T
Like Alt + Tab (still our all-time-favorite Windows shortcut),
Windows + T cycles through thumbnails of your open programs via the
Taskbar’s peek menu.
Windows + E
Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.
Windows + P
Manage your multiple-monitor setup more efficiently with this handy
shortcut. Windows + P opens a small overlay that lets you configure a
second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to
dual-display in either mirror or extend-desktop mode.
Windows + Shift + Left and Windows + Shift + Right
If you’re using two or more displays—and you are, aren’t
you?—memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to
the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new
screen, which is useful when working with multiple documents.
Windows + [Number]
Programs (and new instances) 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.
Windows + Space
This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the
bottom right of the Taskbar: It makes every active window transparent
(save faint outlines) so you can view the desktop underneath.
Track Your Actions with Problem Step Recorder


To aid their development of Windows 7 beta versions, the Microsoft
engineers built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps Recorder that
combines screen captures with mouse tracking to record your actions. You
can launch this program from the Start Menu by typing psr.exe in the
search field. Hit the Record button and the applet tracks your mouse and
keyboard input while taking screenshots that correspond with each new
action. When you stop recording, your session is saved to an HTML slide
show recreating your steps, to which you can add comments and
annotations. This tool is insanely useful if you need to create a
tutorial for a computer-illiterate relative. Hi Mom, hi Dad!
Master Your New Font Manager


Font management is much improved in Windows 7. The Add Fonts dialog
is history, and in its place is new functionality within the Fonts
folder itself. First, the folder now shows font previews via each font
file’s icon (visible with Large or Extra Large icon views). Second,
fonts from a single set will no longer show up as different fonts;
they’re now combined as a single family, which can be expanded by
double-clicking the icon. Third, you can now toggle fonts on and off by
right-clicking a font icon and selecting the Hide option. This prevents
applications from loading the font (thus saving memory), but still keeps
the file retained in the Font folder. Finally, Windows 7 includes a new
fancy, free-flowing font called Gabriola that shows off the advanced
antialiasing, text rendering, and “stylistic alternate” font flourishes
afforded by DirectWrite (Microsoft’s API for 2D text rendering) and
OpenType.
Launch Games with Keystrokes



One of our biggest annoyances with Windows Vista was the Games
Folder, aka the Gaming Grotto, aka the Gaming Ghetto. In Vista, Games
for Windows titles and other game shortcuts automatically install to
this directory, which you can only access with a Start Menu shortcut.
This scheme prevents you from starting a game from the Start Menu search
bar (aka the power user, keyboard-only method). Indeed, while you can
launch any other application by mashing the Windows key, and typing its
name in the Start Menu field, this isn’t the case for games installed to
Vista’s Games Folder. Well, this oversight is fixed in Windows 7, and
the universe is now home to slightly less evil.
Burn a Spittin' Image


You can quit messing around with ostensibly free, malware-infected
burning software, because Windows 7 comes loaded with a DVD and CD ISO
burning application. Just double-click your image file and Windows will
start a tiny program window to help burn your disc. It’s a bare-bones
app, but it works!
Become More Wordly with Hidden Wallpapers


Besides its default desktop wallpaper, Win7 includes desktop
backgrounds catered to your region (which is identified when you first
install the OS). We Americans, for example, get six 1900x1200 images
showing off National Parks and beaches. However, if your tastes run more
international—don’t worry, we won’t hold that against you—you can grab
wallpapers for other regions from a hidden folder. Type globalization in
a search of your C: drive. The only result should be a folder located
in the main Windows directory, and you should only be able to see ELS
and Sorting folders nested here. Now search for MCT in the top-right
search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each
corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for
some extra themes and wallpapers specific to Australia, United Kingdom,
South Africa, and Canada.
Take Control of UAC


Despite good intentions, User Account Control pop-ups were one of the
most annoying aspects of Vista, and thus UAC became a feature that most
of us immediately disabled after a clean install. UAC in Windows 7
displays fewer warnings, but you can also fine-tune its notification
habits by launching the UAC Settings dialog from the Start Menu. Just
type UAC in the Start Menu search field and click the result. We find
that setting the bar to just one tick above “Never notify” provides a
comfortable balance between mindful security and incessant, Alice
Kramden–caliber nagging.
Calculate Your Mortgage and Other Math Tricks


The reliable Calculator applet has been beefed up to do more than
just basic arithmetic. You can now toggle between Standard, Scientific,
Programmer, and even Statistics modes. In addition, the Options menu
lets you pull out many new automated conversation tools, such as Unit
Conversion (e.g., Angles, Temperature, Velocity, and Volume) and Date
Calculation (e.g., calculate the difference between two dates). More
templates give you the ability to crunch gas mileage, lease tipping
points, and even mortgage estimates (yeah, right!) based on any
variables you input.
Reveal All of Your Drives


If you use built-in memory-card readers in a 3.5-inch drive bay or on
your desktop display, empty memory card slots will not show up as
drives in My Computer. But that doesn’t mean they’re not still there. To
reveal hidden memory card slots, open My Computer. Press Alt to show
the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go to Folder Options under
Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty drives in the
Computer folder” option.
Use Devices and Printers to Quickly Dig into Hardware


Tired of switching between Device Manager, Properties menus for your
devices, and the Start Menu to manage and use printers, digital cameras,
mice, and other peripherals? Windows 7 comes to your rescue with its
Devices and Printers dialog. Open Control Panel and select View Devices
and Printers from the Hardware and Sound category. Right-click a device
icon in Devices and Printers to configure the hardware, create
shortcuts, troubleshoot, view properties, and run programs. Devices and
Printers can save you a lot of effort. For example, when you use it to
manage your computer, you have one-touch access to 12 different Control
Panel and Explorer interfaces. And when you use a Windows 7–specific
driver that supports Device Stage, Devices and Printers uses thumbnail
art of the actual device, as shown.
Calibrate Your Notebook's Text and Color


After doing a clean install of Windows 7 on a notebook, the first
thing you should do is tune and calibrate ClearType text and Display
Color. Windows 7 includes two built-in wizards that run you through the
entire process, pain-free. Launch ClearType Text Tuning by typing cttune
in the Start Menu search field and opening the search result. You’ll go
through a brief series of steps that ask you to identify the
best-looking text-rendering method. For Display Color Calibration—useful
if you’re using Windows 7 with a projector or large-screen LCD—search
and launch dccw from the Start Menu. It’ll run you through a series of
pages where you can adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color of
the screen to make images look their best.
Control AutoPlay Settings Like a Megalomaniacal Tyrant


Windows 7’s version of AutoPlay, like its predecessors’, lets you
specify what to do with media types when you connect an external drive
or insert a disc. Sure, you may have hated AutoPlay in Windows XP, but
Win7 provides you with reasons to take a fresh look. As in Vista, Win7
lets you configure AutoPlay settings by media type, but you should poke
around for more tweaking options. Open Control Panel, select Hardware
and Sound, and then select AutoPlay. By default, Win7 uses AutoPlay for
all media and devices; this can be unchecked, and from there you can
personalize AutoPlay actions like a madman. Note that each type of
media—music CDs, DVDs, software and games, media files, blank media, and
video discs—offers you choices based on Windows utilities as well as
third-party programs. Choose your favorite app as an AutoPlay default,
or to keep the traditional pop-up AutoPlay menu, select Ask Me Every
Time.
Solve External Hard Drive Hassles with Convert.exe



Windows 7 prefers hard disk drives that use the NTFS file system: Its
integrated backup program cannot back up files from or to drives that
use the older FAT32 file system. So, if you select a drive that uses
FAT32 as the backup location, Windows 7 displays an error message.
FAT32, a leftover from the days of Windows 98, works with both MacOS and
Windows (which is why most external hard disks use this file system by
default), but it lacks the features needed to fully support Windows 7
backup. Use Convert.exe to solve this problem. Open a command-prompt
session and use the following command to change your external hard
disk’s file system: convert x: /fs:ntfs (replace x with
the actual drive letter of your external hard disk). Convert.exe will
check your external hard disk for errors, verify there’s enough space
for conversion, and then convert with abandon. While this theoretically
will not destroy your data, we recommend you back up your files first.
Convert WMC Recordings for Use with Vista and XP



Windows Media Center (WMC) improved in the jump from Vista to Windows
7—you’ll find better integration of cable, broadcast, and Internet TV
in the program guide, better support for widescreen displays, and a
refined user interface, among other changes. But if you want to share
your recordings with Windows XP or Vista users, or use the dozens of
recording and file-conversion utilities made for those versions of WMC,
you’re sort of screwed, as Windows 7 no longer uses the DVR-MS file
format for recording. Instead, it uses WTV (Windows TV), and WTV files
can’t be used by older versions of WMC or Windows Media Player.
You can, however, convert a TV recording from WTV to DVR-MS by using the conversion utility provided in Win7.
TV recordings are stored by default in the Public Recorded TV
library. Open the library, right-click the recording, and select Convert
to DVR-MS Format. At the end of the conversion process, the Recorded TV
library contains both your original .wtv file as well the .dvr-ms
conversion. The .dvr-ms file can be used with programs designed for
Windows XP and Windows Vista Windows Media Center, and can be played on
Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player in Windows XP and Windows
Vista.
Command Windows 7 to Generate an Energy Report


As a power user, you may be concerned with power consumption, making
the command-line utility powercfg.exe a must-see. To create a report on
your PC’s energy appetite, press the Windows key and type cmd in the
search box. Right-click cmd and select Run as Administrator. Now, select
the box and type powercfg –energy at the command-line
prompt, and hit Enter. Powercfg will run for about 60 seconds, then
generate a report called energy-report.html in C:\Windows\system32. This
report will notify you of anything in your computer that is keeping the
CPU cycling, thus burning power and sucking notebook batteries dry.
After you run the report, you’ll likely find that USB devices never
entered Suspend state. While you might think the power consumption of a
USB key is pretty insignificant, if it prevents the CPU from cycling
off, that device can really hit where it hurts—in your battery’s nards.
Cling (Desperately) to Vista's Taskbar


Let’s start with the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use
the classic grey Windows 2000–style Taskbar. You’re also committed to
the modern version of the Start Menu. But the good news is that you can
still tweak the Taskbar to make it run like it did in Windows Vista,
replacing the program icons with the names of each open app. Right-click
the Taskbar and hit Properties. Check the “Use small icons” box and
select “Combine when Taskbar is full” from the drop-down menu under
Taskbar buttons. You still get the peek-view thumbnail feature of the
Taskbar, and inactive programs remain as single icons, but open programs
will display their full names.
Exile Programs to the System Tray


All active programs show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want
them to or not. While this is useful for web browsing or word
processing, your taskbar can get cluttered with icons you would normally
expect to be hidden away, like those for Steam or a chat client. You
can, however, keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the
System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts,
navigating to the Compatibility tab, and selecting Windows Vista under
the Compatibility Mode drop-down menu. Just be aware that this only
works for programs that would previously hide away from the Taskbar in
Vista.
Manage Your Jump Lists



The Jump List, a list of shortcuts to files or tasks for a particular
Start Menu or Taskbar item, is one of the most significant improvements
in Windows 7. Each time you open a file or website, or run a task with a
program that supports Jump Lists, Windows 7 stores the shortcut to the
file, website, or task for reuse. Unlike Windows XP, however, Windows 7
doesn’t group these shortcuts into a single location. Instead, it stores
shortcuts for each program’s files, websites, or tasks in a separate
shortcut list—aka the Jump List. To see the Jump List for a program in
the Start Menu, simply click the right-arrow icon. To see the Jump List
for a program icon on the Taskbar, right-click the icon. Windows
eventually removes items from the Jump List when it runs out of space,
but you can override this. To make any Jump List item a permanent entry,
highlight it and click the pushpin icon (reverse this process to unpin
it). And if the idea of leaving an icon trail of all your recent history
disturbs you, you can disable Jump Lists entirely: Right-click the
Start Menu, choose Properties, and uncheck the two boxes under Privacy.
Organize Your Taskbar and System Tray


The programs that you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any
order you want, whether they’re just shortcut icons or currently active
applications. The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to
the left, right, or even top of your desktop. As shown below, Windows 7
improves side-docked Taskbar support with better gradient rendering and
shortcut support. It really works well if you’re using a widescreen
monitor. Just as the Taskbar icons can be rearranged at will, the icons
in the System Tray (actually called the Notification Area) can be
dragged and set to any order, as well. Hidden Icons can be dragged back
into view, and you can hide icons by dragging them over the white
triangle, and dropping them into the Hidden Icon well—much easier than
working through the Notification Area Customization menu.
Accelerate Your Start Menu


The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some
notable improvements. The behavior of the power button has been changed
to Shut Down, as opposed to Hibernate, which was the asinine default in
Vista. But you can also change the button default to do other actions.
Right-click the Start Menu, and choose Properties. From the Power Button
Action drop-down, you can choose a new default button behavior. If you
hit the Customize button, you’ll enter a world of opportunities that
help you control what the Start Menu displays. Most options are turned
off, but you may want some on, like the option to display recorded TV
files, a feature that’s new in Windows 7. Also be aware that Start Menu
items should be set to “Display as a link” if you want them to open up
Jump Lists.
Arrange Files by Type, Month, Artist, and Other Options


Windows Vista introduced the concept of using the Details folder view
to group files by criteria such as name, date modified, type, size, and
other options. These choices are still available in any folder by
right-clicking inside the folder and selecting them from the options
menu. But Window 7 does Vista one better with its new Libraries scheme,
which enables you to view the contents of multiple file locations in a
single logical folder. And as you’d expect, each Library comes correct
with contextual file-arrangement options that vary according to what’s
being viewed. For example, in the Pictures library, you can choose from
Day, Rating, Tag, and Month. For videos, maybe arranging by Length, as
in our screenshot, is most relevant. You get the point.
Pin Folders to Favorites and Start Menu


Explorer’s Jump List shows your seven most frequently visited
folders, but you can manually bookmark some favorites to the top of the
list by pinning folder locations. Just right-click any folder—either on
your desktop or from an open instance of Explorer—and drag that folder
icon to the Explorer shortcut on the Taskbar. You’ll see a message that
reads “Pin to Windows Explorer” before you release the mouse button. The
folder will appear under a Pinned section of the Jump List, and you can
remove it by clicking the “Unpin from this list” icon on the right side
of the panel. You can also right-click and drag a folder directly to
the Start button to pin that folder to the general Start list.
Put an OS in Your Pocket



How to load Windows 7 onto a bootable USB key
To complete your Windows 7 power-user experience, you may consider
dropping the whole darn OS onto a USB drive. Whether you carry it around
in your pocket or toss it in a desk drawer, it’s a perfect boot disk
for emergency installs—including those times when you’re working with a
netbook or some other computer that lacks an optical drive. Even better,
your install times will be significantly reduced, thanks to your key’s
flash memory—we shaved off minutes from our total install time.
Here’s how to create a schmancy-fancy boot key for either Windows 7
or Vista—but not for other OSes, so please don’t try! We’ve run a
truncated version of this article in the magazine before, but because it
was so incredibly popular—and so germane to this feature story—we’ve
decided to share it again, this time with more detail and screens.
1. Format Your USB Key


Plug in your USB key and back up any existing data stored on it.
You’ll need to format the key (thus erasing existing data) before you
can make it a bootable device. We used an 8GB key, but a 4GB key will
also work.
2. Partition that Key in CMD


Open up a command prompt as an Administrator. You can do this by
searching for cmd.exe in your Windows/System32 folder, right-clicking
the executable, and selecting “Run as administrator.” Alternatively,
type CMD in the Start Menu search field and activate the command prompt
using Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
You should now be under C:\Windows\system32 (assuming your Windows partition is the C drive). Type diskpart
in the command line to enter the Disk Partition command-line tool,
which lets you format and create partitions on active disks. Now type list disk
to reveal a list of all your active disks, each of which is associated
with a number. Make a note of which one is your USB key, based on the
capacity. In this screenshot, our USB drive is Disk 2.
3. Format Away (Command-Prompt Style)


It’s now time to enter a load of commands to properly partition the
key, and format for the NTFS (did you know this stands for “New
Technology File System”?). In succession, enter the following—and type
carefully, Jimbo!
Select Disk # (where # is the number of your USB disk. We typed Select Disk 2 for this job)
Clean (this removes any existing partitions from the USB disk, including any hidden sectors)
Create Partition Primary (creates a new primary partition with default parameters)
Select Partition 1 (focuses operation on the newly created partition)
Active (sets the partition to active, informing the disk firmware that this is a valid system partition)
Format FS=NTFS (formats the partition with the NTFS
file system. This may take several minutes to complete, depending on the
size of your USB key)
Assign (this gives the USB drive a Windows volume
and next available drive letter, which you should write down. In our
case, drive “L” was assigned)
Exit (quits the DiskPart tool)
4. Copy Windows DVD to a Desktop Folder


Insert the Windows 7 installation DVD into your drive, and view the
files that it contains. Copy all of the files to a folder on your
Desktop. We put the disc contents in a folder named Windows 7.
5. Turn Your Key into a Bootable Device


Now, go back to your command prompt, running it as an Administrator. Using the CD
command, navigate your way to the folder where you placed the Windows
disk ISO files. Your command line path should look something like C:\Users\USERNAMEHERE\Desktop\Windows 7\ if you followed our lead on folder placement. Now type the following commands:
CD Boot (this gets you into the boot directory)
Bootsect.exe /nt60 L: (this assumes L is the drive letter assigned to your USB key from the previous step)
In case you’re wondering, Bootsect infuses boot manager–compatible
code into your USB key to make it a bootable device. Also be aware that
if you’re currently running 32-bit Windows Vista or 7, Bootsect will
only work if you use the files from the 32-bit Windows 7 install disc.
The Bootsect executable from the 64-bit version will not run in 32-bit
Vista. Don’t forget it!
6. Load the USB Key with Your Install Files


Copy all of the extracted ISO files into the USB drive. You don’t
need to do this from the command prompt. Just drag and drop the files
from the Windows 7 folder into the USB drive using Windows Explorer. We
also recommend copying your hardware drivers onto the same key so the
installation wizard can find them.
Your USB key is now all ready to go! Plug it into your target system
and make sure you enter the BIOS (typically by hitting F2 or F12) to
temporarily change the boot order to allow booting from the USB key
before your primary hard drive or optical drive. Now, when you plug the
key into a machine, your system should automatically begin speedily
downloading setup files off of the USB key and entering Windows 7
installation.
Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/nix_friction_your_win7_system?page=0,0

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