How to Wake your PC On LAN ...

Well, What's Wake On Lan (WOL)?, sometimes you don't want to leave your other home PC or the computers on your Local Area Network open 24/7, so you put in into standby (sleep) mode to save energy, but at the same time you want to open it from another PC on the network to get a file or access the computer you want to which is in a sleep mode, don't worry you don't have to open it by yourself because that's why WOL is about, it simply sends a special packet (AKA Magic packet) to the remote computer you want to wake up, this packet is sent to your NIC (Network Interface computer) then if it's configured as following, it'll do what you want and allow you to access your computer, here's how to do that.

A. on the target computer (the computer you want to remotely wake up):




1. windows xp: click start > Run and type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotes) in the box and hit enter.

Windows vista or 7: click start and type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotes) in the search box and click enter.

2. Under "Network adapters" locate the Network card YOU USE TO CONNECT TO LAN.



3. Right click on it and choose properties.

4. Under the "advanced" tab make sure that "Wake on magic packet" property is enabled.



5. Under the "Power management" tab make sure that "allow this device to wake the computer" and "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer" is checked.



6. click ok.

7. On windows xp: click start >run > and type "cmd" (without quotes).

on windows vista or 7: Click start and type "cmd" (without quotes) in the search box.

8. the command prompt will open type: " ipconfig/all " (Without quotes :) and without spaces)

9. a list of all your network cards will appear, just scroll till you find your network card and check the Physical address (MAC address) write it down, we'll need it later.




10. close the command prompt and now we're done with the computer you want to wake remotely.

B. on the computer you want to use it to wake up the other:

1. Download and run this small program WOL by NYXbull

2. after extracting and running the following window will appear.



3. Just type EXACTLY the MAC address you acquired in step 9 above.

4. Simply click on the button after that and the program will send the magic packet to the remote p.c and It'll Wake up .

For any questions please type in the comments and I'll be in service, and coming up WOW (wake on Wan), where you can do it from the internet.

source from : Online for all

Windows 7 shortcuts 1: window management

Windows 7 provides a great variety of short cuts you can use, I’ll divide them here by categories as “windows management, taskbar ……etc”, these shortcuts will make the Computer easier to use, below some of them:

1. Win + space: Aero peek, where you can see the desktop by making other windows transparent.

2. Win + left/right arrow: moves or docks the active window to each side of the screen.

3. Shift + Win + left/right arrow: if you have more than one monitor, it’ll move the active window to the right or left monitor.

4. Win + down arrow: minimize the current active window.

5. Win + up arrow: maximize the current active window.

6. Shift + win + up arrow: maximize windows vertically.

7. Win + home key: minimize all windows except the current active window.

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Dragging with mouse:

1. Drag to the top: maximize window.

2. Drag to the left/right: fill half the screen left or right.

3. Shake window left and right: minimize all windows except the current active one (you’re shaking)

4. Double clicking any window title bar: maximize it

How to activate the old quick launch toolbar in windows 7:

Well, Lots of you might have missed the old windows xp and vista quick launch bar, some of you found that the pinning function isn’t a good replacement yet, Fortunately, the quick launch toolbar can be reactivated in a seconds just follow the following steps:

1. Right Click on any free empty area on your taskbar then choose toolbars > new toolbar

2. Type exactly the following into the folder box “ %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch “ and press enter.

3. Now it appeared, but to be exactly as u used to, right click on your taskbar again and uncheck lock the taskbar

put it in the position you want by dragging it to the extreme left side for example

4. Now right click on the divider and uncheck “show title” and “show text”

5. Now relock your taskbar.

6. You’re now done, enjoy the old quick launch bar!

Screen calibration on windows 7

Well, do you feel that the text on your p.c screen isn’t good enough? Do you think that the colors are awful? , some other times you see the brightness of your screen isn’t adequate?

Actually, the text or photos on one screen , may differ from another one, LCD may differ from a regular one, so Microsoft realized that and made it easier in windows 7 to calibrate your screen so it shows as perfect, they’ve included a screen calibration tool that is really awesome, so easy to use, and by few clicks you get superior text, photos and videos.

To access this tool, simply do the following:

1. Click on start menu

2. Type the following in the search box “dccw” and press enter.

3. Just follow the wizard which will cover each and everything you may need to view on your screen, have fun.

ReadyBoost function: speed up windows 7 by using your flash memory as a RAM!

Well, your P.C has a low memory and it’s slow, also you don’t have enough money to buy a new RAM, but you have a flash memory, well that’s it!

Windows 7 (and vista actually) has developed a new function, before when you don’t have enough RAM the windows used the paging file functions, where they use part of the hard drive as a virtual memory, well, this could be good, but the problem is the hard disk virtual memory is slow, So Microsoft recently developed a new function, It’s the ReadyBoost function, where you use your flash memory drive as a virtual memory, it’s away faster than hard drive and cheaper than RAM, well, here are the steps to follow:

1. You’d better format your flash memory as NTFS , this is much faster

2. You should have at least 256 MB of free memory

3. Insert your flash drive to your PC .

4. Open my computer, right click on your flash disk and choose properties.

5. Under the ReadyBoost tab, you have three functions :
* don’t use this device
* Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost: uses the entire free space of your flash drive as a virtual memory
*Use this device: on this scale you can determine the amount you want to use as a virtual memory

6. When you finish doing this click on ok, and enjoy a speedy PC.

Disable startup programs in windows 7

Today I want to show you something, some of you have noticed that your computer is becoming kinda slow when opening, or there’s lots of programs loaded into memory (RAM) when you open your p.c, here’s how you can disable unneeded programs from starting when windows starts , this will make windows loads away faster, and of course will enhance the computer performance, however , make sure that you know each and every program you disable , because disabling programs that’s necessary for windows or programs makes your computer unstable.

· Well, first click on the start button and in the search box type msconfig and press enter.

· The following window will appear, click on the startup tap.

· Here you’ll find a list of all programs that loads when your p.c boots (as shown above), uncheck the programs you’re sure you don’t need, be aware not to disable antivirus or other necessary programs, then click ok, a message will appear asking you to restart your computer, do it and you’re done !

Choosing what closing the lid does...

If you do have a laptop, you must have asked yourself a question like this, how can I control what closing the lid does?, here there is a detailed description .

Some noticed that closing the lid does one of the following:

1. Do nothing

2. Sleep (stand by)

3. Hibernate

4. Shuts down the p.c

Well, to access the window that allows you to choose what closing the lid does follow this steps:

· Right click on the battery icon in the taskbar (Tray ) and choose “Power Options” or click on start > control panel > and on the top right in the search pane type “Power Options” and double click to access.

· The following window will appear, on the left, click on “choose what closing the lid does “

· The following window will appear, beside “when I close the lid” you’ll find two drop down menus , the first if the laptop is on battery and the other if it’s plugged into power source.

· When we click on the drop down menu we’ll find the following options as before:

1. Do nothing : Ideal if you’re playing music, or any other activity that doesn’t require the display, so you save the battery by a significant amount.
2. Sleep: best option for a laptop, that automatically turns your computer to standby .
3. Hibernate: If you don’t use your laptop frequently but need it to save your session (more power reserve)
4.shutdown : shuts down your p.c.

When you finish click on “save changes” to apply your settings

combining buttons

Well, one of the most important and great functions in windows seven is combining buttons, when Microsoft designed windows 7, one of the most interactive points they focused on was making the screen less crowded, make it simple, so that for sure enhanced the efficiency and performance, this also developed a great appearance, first before we begin a detailed description on this function, we should know how they appear:

This is an active combined button:

And this is an inactive combined one:

And this of course is the regular one:

This buttons is on the taskbar of course, so we should get access to the taskbar properties:

First: right click on the taskbar and then properties as shown below:

The following window will appear

Under the taskbar tab you’ll find “taskbar buttons” option as shown above.

When you click the drop down menu, you’ll find three options as follows:

1.Always combine: this will make your buttons always combined.

Combine when taskbar is full: this makes the buttons uncombined and only combined when you open too many windows of the same program

2. which makes the taskbar looks like this way

3.Never combine : some people don’t prefer the combining functions as they want to view labels and Icons always so this is suitable for them , but will make the taskbar look crowded,

Just finish this, choose what suits you, and then click ok.

Add the Quick Launch Bar to the Taskbar in Windows 7

You should note that the new Windows 7 taskbar allows you to dock items to the taskbar, combining the features of both the normal taskbar as well as the Quick Launch. For more on this, be sure to read through our coverage of the Windows 7 beta if you haven’t already.

The above screenshot is the Windows 7 taskbar after changing back to XP/Vista mode, and adding the quick launch bar back. Looks just like Vista doesn’t it?

Adding the Quick Launch Bar Back to Windows 7

To add the toolbar back, you’ll want to right-click on an open area of the taskbar, and choose Toolbars \ New Toolbar from the menu. You should probably also unlock the taskbar at this point.

Now’s the slightly tricky part… you’ll want to paste the following path into the location bar:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Make sure that the location bar shows the full path, like the next screenshot, before you choose the “Select Folder” button.

You’ll immediately notice the Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar, but it’s all the way over on the right, so you’ll want to click on the dotted lines and then drag the toolbar all the way to the left (which is slightly tricky sometimes). Note that you’ll need to right-click and unlock the taskbar before you can move the toolbar.

There we go, it’s over on the left… but now you’ll want to adjust the regular taskbar toolbar to be closer to the left, so use the dotted lines to drag it over as well.

The normal Quick Launch that we’re used to doesn’t have text, so right-click on the dotted lines and uncheck “Show Text” as well as “Show Title” from the menu.

Once you’re sure it’s the way you want it, you should check the “Lock the taskbar” again.

And there you are, the quick launch bar has returned and there’s virtually no way anybody would know this is Windows 7.

Disable UAC on Windows 7

Disable UAC on Windows 7

Windows 7 makes it much easier to deal with UAC settings, and in fact you don’t have to completely disable UAC if you don’t want to. Just type UAC into the start menu or Control Panel search box.

You can simply drag the slider up or down, depending on how often you want to be alerted.



If you drag it all the way down to the bottom, you’ll have disabled it entirely.

How to Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to RTM (Final Release)

The final version of Windows 7 was released yesterday for MS Technet subscribers, but you can’t upgrade directly from a pre-release version—at least, not without a quick and easy workaround, and we’ve got you covered.

The Problem

Windows 7 checks whether or not the current version you are running is a pre-release copy, and prevents you from upgrading further. For reference purposes, this is the error you’ll see when you try and upgrade.

The Solution

The solution is to edit a file inside the Windows 7 DVD—which you’ll have to extract to the hard drive to proceed.

• If you are using an ISO image for the installation progress, you can use the awesome 7-Zip utility to extract the ISO to a folder on the drive.
  
• If you are using an actual DVD, you can simply copy all of the files from the DVD to a folder on your hard drive.

Once you’ve extract the files, browse down into the “sources” folder to find the cversion.ini file.

Once you’ve opened up the cversion.ini file, you’ll notice that the MinClient line has a value of 7233.0, and since the Windows 7 RC release is build 7100, you can understand why it’s not working.

All you need to do is change the MinClient value to something less than the current build you are using. For the RC release, you can change it to 7000.

Now you can simply launch the setup.exe file from within the folder, and do the upgrade directly from the hard drive. Once you’ve started the setup, click Install now.

Once you get to the type of installation screen, choose to Upgrade the existing install.

Once you reach the Compatibility Report screen (if it doesn’t show up at all, be happy about it), you’ll see the list of applications that probably won’t work once you upgrade. Realistically most of these apps will work just fine, but the important thing is that you’ll be able to upgrade.

Note: You could always smooth the upgrade process by removing any apps that have compatibility problems, before you do the upgrade.

At this point, the upgrade should start working, and will take a rather long time.

Important Notes

There are a few important things to keep in mind when you are upgrading to the final version:

• The Windows 7 beta or RC releases were Ultimate edition, so you’ll only be able to upgrade to the RTM (final) if you are installing Ultimate Edition.
  
• Whenever possible, you should really backup your files and do a clean install. There are less headaches this way, and you get the benefit of a nice clean profile.

Happy upgrading!

70 Windows 7 tips and tricks

Windows 7 is much better than the latest version of Windows Vista and it comes with a lot of new features. Unfortunately, some of them aren’t so easy to figure out, so I created a list of the most important tips and tricks and a step-by-step guide that will help you apply all of these great tips and tricks.

More info about windows 7 and more tutorialss at :

http://onlineforall.info/category/computer/win/

1. PC Safeguard

I rarely let anyone use my PC because I’m afraid he will mess it up, but it seems Microsoft has been thinking at me and came with a solution. The PC Safeguard doesn’t let anyone mess your PC settings, because after the user logs off, the configurations are reset back to normal. Of course it will not restore the configurations changed by you, but only the ones done by other users you define.

To use PC Safeguard, go to Control Panel -> User Accounts and create a new account, then select “Set Up Pc Safeguard” and switch it on. Then you can stay relaxed when others use your computer, because you won’t find anything changed, including configurations, downloaded software, installed programs.

2. Screen Calibration

Fortunately, Windows 7 comes with a display calibration wizard that lets you set up the screen brightness properly, so you won’t have any problems viewing photos or text. The problem was that on one PC a photo could look sharp and bright and on another it looks awful. Now the problem can be fixed by pressing the Windows logo key and then typing “DCCW”.

3. AppLocker

If you are usually sharing your computer with someone else, then you might want to restrict their access to your applications, files or documents. Using the AppLocker tool, you have a few options to do this by blocking other users to access Executables, Windows Installers, Scripts, a specific publisher or path.

You can simply do this by pressing the Windows key then typing Gpedit.msc. Then go toComputer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Application Control Policies -> AppLocker. Right click on one of the options (Executables, Installers, or Script) and create a new rule. That should save you from a lot of headaches.

4. Burn Images

We all had trouble with image burning in Windows, because it couldn’t do it itself, a standalone software being needed. With Windows 7 this will not be a problem anymore. All you have to do is double-click the ISO image and burn it on the CD or DVD that’s inserted in the drive.

5. Display Empty Removable Drives

Windows 7 will not show empty drives by default, so if you connect an empty drive to your PC, don’t worry, just go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View and uncheck “Hide empty drives in the computer folder”. This doesn’t seem like a good idea and it should not be default setting, because it will be hard for inexperienced users to figure it out. I bet a lot of users will return their newly bought drive thinking it’s broken.

6. Dock The Current Windows To The Left Side Of The Screen

This new feature seems useful because sometimes it’s disturbing that windows seems to float like crazy on the screen and it’s hard to attach them to one side of it. Now this can easily be done using a keyboard shortcut. Press the Windows key + Left key (arrow) to dock it to the left side of the screen.

6.1 Dock The Current Windows To The Right Side Of The Screen

Press the Windows key + Right key to dock it to the right side of the screen.

7. Display Or Hide The Explorer Preview Panel

Press ALT + P to hide it then once again to display it.

8. Display Gadgets On Top Of Other Windows

Press ALT + G

9. Background Photo Slideshow

If you are like me, lazy and bored, then you will want to change the background from time to time, wasting a lot of time. Now you don’t have to do this anymore, because you can set up a slideshow.

Right click on the desktop then go to Personalize -> Desktop Background and hold the CTRL key while choosing the images. Then you can choose the time intervals between images and opt to display them randomly or in a row.

10. Make The Taskbar Smaller

If you feel like the taskbar is using too much of your screen space, you can choose to make the icons smaller. To do this, right-click on the Start button, then go to Properties -> Taskbarand set it to “Use small icons”

11. Combine Taskbar Icons

When you have more windows or applications opened, the taskbar’s space might not be enough for them all, so you need to combine them, just like you would in Windows XP or Vista. To do this, right-click the Start button, then go to Properties -> Taskbar and check “Combine when taskbar is full”.

12. Multi-threaded File Copy

If you are a more advanced user, you’ve heard already about Robocopy. Now it’s included in Windows 7 and lets you perform multi-threaded copies from the command line. You can choose the number of threads like this “/MT[:n], which can be from 1 to 128.

13. Maximize Or Restore The Foreground Window

Press Windows Key + Up Key.

14. Minimize The Active Window

Press Windows Key + Down Key

15. Activate The Quick Launch Toolbar

The Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows XP and in Vista seems a very good idea that you might miss when using Windows 7. Fortunately though, you can get it back in a quick few steps.

Right click the taskbar, go to Toolbar -> New Toolbar and type “%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch” into the folder box, then click Select Folder.

To make it look like it would in Windows Vista, right click the taskbar, uncheck “Lock the Taskbar”, then right click the divider and uncheck “Show Title” and “Show Text”. Then right click the taskbar and check “Show Small Icons” and you should be done.

16. Preview Photos In Windows Explorer

While in Windows Explorer, Press ALT + P and a preview should appear on the right.

17. Desktop Magnifier

Press the Windows Key and the Plus Key to zoom in or Windows Key and the Minus Key to zoom out. You can zoom anywhere on the desktop and you can even configure your magnifier. You can choose to invert colors, follow the mouse pointer, follow the keyboard focus, or the text insertion point.

18. Minimize Everything Except The Current Window

Press the Windows Key + Home Key.

19. TroubleShoot Power Management

Windows 7 can tell you how much power your system uses or provide detailed information about the power usage and issues caused by each application and device. This way you can optimize the way your battery is used, making It last longer.

Press the Windows Key and type “POWERCFG –ENERGY –OUTPUT ”, and it will create a file called energy-report.html in the folder specified by you, after observing your PC for 60 seconds.

20. Web Searches From Your Desktop

Windows 7 lets you search for online resources, by adding a connector that be downloaded for free.

For instance, go to http://www.istartedsomething.com/flickrsearch/ and download the Flickr connector. After that, you should see the Flickr Search in your searches folder and you will be able to do it directly from your desktop, without needing to visit their website.

21. Add Videos To Your Start Menu

If you were looking for a faster way to access your videos, then Windows 7 has the right answer for you.

Right click the Start button, then go to Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize and set the Videos to “Display as a link” and you’re done, you will now find them in the Start Menu.

22. Shift The Window From One Monitor To Another

If you are using two or more monitors, then you might want to move the Windows from one to another. There is a very simple way to do it.

All you have to do is press the Windows Key + Shift Key + Left or Right Key, depending on what monitor you want to move it to.

23. Custom Power Button

There is an option to replace the “Shut Down” button with another action, if you rarely shut down the computer, but you more often restart it or put it on sleep.

Right click the Start Button, go to Properties and choose the ‘Power Boot Action” to do whatever you want, from the given options.

24. Easily Add A New Font

Adding a new font it’s now easier than ever. Just download the font you want, double click it and you should see the install button.

25. Stretch The Window Vertically

You can stretch the active window vertically to the maximum display height by pressing the Windows + Shift + Up (arrow) keys. Press Windows + Down Keys if you want to restore it.

26. Open Windows Explorer

Press the Windows logo key + E to open a new instance of Windows Explorer.

27. Create A New Instance Of The First Icon In The Taskbar

Press Windows + 1 Keys to open a new instance of the first icon in the taskbar. This could prove really useful in some circumstances.

28. Windows Action Center

Windows Action Center offers you important information about your PC, like the Antivirus Status, updates, troubleshooting and provides a backup scheduling feature.

To access it, go to Control Panel -> System And Security -> Action Center.

29. Windows Troubleshooting Platform

This platform can help you solve a lot of issues you may encounter, like the internet connection, hardware devices, poor system performance and more. You can choose what to troubleshoot and it will come with some possible explanations for the problem that might really help you.

There are a lot of options, guidance and information available there, so give it a try by typing “troubleshoot” or “fix” after pressing the Windows Key.

30. Turn Off System Notifications

System notifications are usually disturbing and aren’t always useful, so you might want to turn some of them off and.

This can be done in Windows 7 by double clicking the Notification Area Icons in Control panel. There you can change notifications and icons for the Action Center, Network, Volume, Windows Explorer, Media Center Tray Applet, Windows Update Automatic Updates.

31. Turn Off Security Messages

To turn off security messages you have to go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center -> Change Action Center Settings and you can turn off the following notifications: Windows Update, Internet Security Settings, Network Firewall, Spyware and related protection, User Account Control, Virus Protection, Windows Backup, Windows Troubleshooting, Check for updates.

32. Cycle Through The Open Programs Via The Taskbar’s Peek Menu

This works just like Alt + Tab, but opens the menu just above the sidebar, doesn’t seem very useful. Give it a try by pressing The Windows Key + T.

33. Run A Program As An Administrator

You can easily run a program as an administrator by pressing Ctrl + Shift while opening it.

34. Same Program Windows Switching

If you have more instances of a program running, simply hold Ctrl while clicking on its icon and it will cycle through all the instances.

35. Auto Arrange Desktop Icons

You can now forget about the Right Click -> Auto arrange. All you have to do is hold F5 pressed for a bit and the icons will auto arrange.

36. Encrypt Removable USB Drives

Encrypting an USB drive has never been easier. Now you can right click on the removable drive and then on the “Turn on Bitlocker”.

37. Turn Off Smart Window Arrangement

If you don’t like Windows 7’s new features that arrange your windows intelligently, there’s an easy way to turn it off.

Press the Windows Logo Key, type “regedit”, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and set WindowArrangementActive to 0. After you reboot your system the smart arrangements will be turned off.

38. Create A System Repair Disc

Windows 7 features a tool that lets you create a bootable System Repair Disc that includes some system tools and the command prompt. To create it, press the Windows Key and type “system repair disc”.

39. Hard-Link Migration Store

The Hard-Link Migration store is only available for new computers and can migrate files, settings, and user accounts. The new Hard-Link Migration Store uses more less disk space and takes less time.

40. Turn Off ‘Send Feedback’

If for some reason, you’re still using the Beta version of Windows 7 and if you feel disturbed by “Send Feedback button”, there is a way to turn it off. Press the Windows Key and type ‘regedit’, then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and setFeedbackToolEnabled to 0. After you restart the computer, it shouldn’t be there anymore. Also, if you want to turn it on again, set the FeedbackToolEnabled to 3.

41. Improved Calculator

Windows 7 features an improved calculator that can do unit conversion, date calculation, gas mileage, lease, and mortgage. Also you can choose between Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and Statistic calculator.

42. Open A Folder In A New Process

Windows 7 opens all folders in the same process in order to save resources, but this means if one folder crashes, they all crash. So if you feel like that’s a risk you don’t have to take, then you have to open them all in their own processes.

To do this, hold down Shift button, right-click the drive and “Open in New Process”. Now you will be safe.

43. Problem Step Recorder

The Problem Step Recorder is a great tool that can be used in many circumstances. You can turn it on by pressing the Windows Key, then typing “PSR.exe” and click Record. Now it will record all your moves and save them as a HTML document that you can view or write descriptions to it. This can help you with troubleshooting or when writing a guidance or tutorial.

44. Free Codecs Pack

Unfortunately, Windows Media Player still isn’t able to play many audio and video files, so you will still need some codecs. But with the free codecs pack you can download here you shouldn’t have any problems.

45. Start Windows Explorer From My Computer

Windows Explorer opens in the Libraries directory by default. Most of us are used to see the My Computer page instead.

To change it to My Computer, press the Windows Key, then type “explorer”, select Propertiesand in the Shortcut tab type “%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}”. Now you have to right-click the Explorer icon in the Taskbar and hit “Unpin this program from the taskbar” and then drag it back from the Start Menu.

46. Clear The Desktop

If there are too many windows on the desktop, you can clear it by shaking a window from left to right and all others will minimize. To restore the other windows you have to shake the active one again.

47. Use Gadgets With UAC Turned Off

Maybe you noticed that once you turn off UAC you can’t use the gadgets anymore, as a security measure. But if you want to risk using them, there a simple way to do it, even with UAC turned off.

Press the Windows Key, type ‘regedit’, go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settingsand create a DWORD value named AllowElevatedProcess and set its value to 1. Now you should be able to use your gadgets. If not, then reboot your PC and you should be done.

48. Fix The Media Player & Media Center MP3 Bug

If you have the final version of Windows 7, then go ahead and skip this one, since it applies only to Beta and RC versions.

Both Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center come with a bug that can damage your MP3s by filling missing metadata automatically on imported MP3 files. This can cut a few seconds from the beginning of the tracks and can prove really disturbing. This problem was fixed by Microsoft using the fix that you can download here.

49. Search Everything In Your Computer

Windows 7 offers the possibility to search all file types, including unknown ones and this could help you in some cases.

Though it is not recommended, because it’s much slower than normal search, you can give it a try by doing the following: Launch Windows Explorer, go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View and check “Try to search the content of unknown file types”. If you don’t need it anymore, don’t forget to clear it for an increase in speed.

50. Mouse Gestures

Windows 7 has not only brought gestures for those who use touchscreen devices, but for mouse users too. So, instead of right-clicking a Taskbar icon to access the jump list, you can hold left-click and drag upwards to smoothly call it up. In addition, clicking and dragging down the address bar in Internet Explorer will open the browsing history. There might be more gestures yet not discovered.

51. Configure Your Music Favorites

The Windows Media Center creates a list of favorite songs based on how often you play them, your ratings and date you’ve added them. If you aren’t comfortable with the way they thought it out, change the way it sorts your favorites by going to Tasks -> Settings -> Music -> Favorite Music.

52. Turn Off Recent Search Queries Display

Windows 7 holds and displays the recent search queries by default. This can often prove to be irritating. No need to stress though because it can be disabled.

Press the Windows Key, type “gpedit.msc”, then go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer and double click on “Turn off display of recent search entries”.

53. Advanced Disk Defragmentation

Fortunately, Windows 7 offers much better defragmentation than Vista and also lets you configure it a bit from the command line.

To do it, press the Windows Key and then type “CMD”.

You can defragment your hard disk from the command line by typing “defrag” and you have the following options: “/r” will defrag multiple drives simultaneously, “-a” performs a defrag analysis, “-v” prints the report, “-r” treats files with at least 64 Mb of fragments like are not fragmented, “-w” will defrag everything. An example is “defrag C: -v -w” to defrag the whole drive C.

54. How To Make Internet Explorer 8 Load Faster

If you want Internet Explorer 8 to load faster, you need to disable the add-ons that slow it down, so go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons and check the load time for each one. You can choose for yourself the ones you can live without and ones that would increase the load speed.

55. Media Center Automatic Download

Windows Media Center 12 allows you to schedule data downloads, so it can be done without disturbing you. To do it, go to Tasks -> Settings -> General -> Automatic Download Optionsand you can configure it to start and stop the download whenever you want.

56. Remove The Sidebar

Windows 7 doesn’t seem to feature the sidebar anymore, but it still exists and runs in the background, being launched automatically at startup. So if you want to get rid of it, there are two ways.

The easier one is to press the Windows Key, (or click Start), in the search box, type MSCONFIG.EXE, click the Startup tab and clear the Sidebar box. The hard way is to press the Windows key, type “regedit”, find and delete the registry key atHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This can save you some RAM consumed with no use.

57. Volume Tweaking

Don’t you like that Windows 7 automatically reduces the volume when it detects PC calls? You can turn off this feature by right-clicking the speaker icon in the taskbar, go to Sounds -> Communications and get rid of it.

58. Run A Program As Another User

Windows 7 comes with the possibility to run a program both as an administrator or another user, by right clicking on the executable or shortcut while holding down the Shift key. Then you have to select “Run as another user”.

59. How To Use Virtual Hard Disk Files

You can now create and manage virtual hard disks files in Windows 7 as if they were real disks. This can allow you to use a live Windows installation on the virtual disk without the need to boot the virtual Computer. To create a virtual disk you have to press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, then go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Create VHD. There you can specify the location and size of your virtual hard disk file.

To attach the virtual disk file, press the Windows Key, right-click Computer, then go toManage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD and you have to specify the location and if it’s read only or not.

To initialize a virtual hard disk, press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD, specify the location, click Ok, then right click on the virtual disk and click on Initialize Disk. Select the partition style you want to use and then right-click on the unallocated space and click “New Simple Volume” and follow the instructions wizard. Now, a new hard drive appears in Windows Explorer and you can use it as a real partition.

60. Remove The Windows Live Messenger Tab In The Taskbar

To get rid of the Windows Live Messenger Tab and put it back in the system tray, where it belongs, go to C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger, right-click msnmsdgr.exe and set its compatibility mode to Windows Vista.

61. Lock The Screen

There is no Lock Screen button in the Start Menu anymore, so you have to press the Windows Key + L to lock it, now. It seems easier, in case you don’t forget the shortkey.

62. Create A Screen Lock Shortcut

In case you don’t like shortkeys or you keep forgetting them, there’s another option for screen lock.

Simply create a new shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation and place it wherever you want.

63. Enable Run Command In Start Menu

If you miss the old Run Command button in XP, then there’s an option to get it back in Windows 7.

Right-click an open area in Start Menu, go to Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize and check “Run Command”. Now you should be done.

64. Improve Desktop Window Manager For Nvidia Graphics

Sometimes the animations for Desktop Window Manager don’t look very well and aren’t smooth enough and this is cause because Desktop Window Manager renders effects with no transparency and blurring, but you can turn off animations for more pleasant graphics.

Press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, go to Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance -> Settings and clear “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing”. Click OK to finnish.

65. Change Default Save Location For Files

Windows 7 is a bit different from Vista, because it saves Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music under the Public folder inside C:\Users. You might not want to save your documents, pictures, videos or music to this location, but create your own locations and you can do it quite easy.

Press the Windows Key, click your username and double-click on the folder you wish to change. Then you will see Includes: 2 library locations. Click on that text, right-click on the folder you wish to set like default and click “Set as default file location”, then click Ok.

66. Make 64bit Windows Media Player Default (only for X64 users)

Windows comes with the 32bit version of Media Player by default. If you are a x64 user, you can keep the system cleaner by only installing one set of codecs.

To do this, press the Windows Key, type “command”, right-click on Command Prompt and hit “Run as administrator”, then type “unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:64?”. After that, press the Windows Key, type “regedit”, go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\wmplayer.exe\, double click on value and change “%ProgramFiles(x86)” to “%ProgramFiles%”. Now you should be using the 64bit Windows Media Player.

67. Open Multiple Instances Of Windows Explorer Via The Taskbar

If you want to run more instances of the Windows Explorer just by hitting the startbar, you can do it by following these steps:

Unpin Windows Explorer from the Taskbar, then press the Windows Key, go to Accessories, right-click Windows Explorer, go to Properties and change the shortcut path to %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} ( if you want it to default to My Computer ) or %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5} ( if you want it to default to Libraries ). Now repin Windows Explorer to your Taskbar and you’re done.

All that is required for opening more instances of it is just a click of the middle mouse button. If you aren’t pleased with what you’ve done, change the shortcut path back to %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe.

68. Make The System Tray Clock Show The AM / PM Symbols

By default Windows 7 does show the time in 24 hour format, so if you want to get the AM / PM symbols, press the Windows Key, type “intl.cpl” to open Regional and Language Options, go to Additional Settings -> Time where Long Time is set to HH:mm and change it to HH:mm tt, for example, where tt is the AM or PM symbol ( 21:12 PM ). To change it to the 12 hour format, you need to type it like this hh::mm tt ( 9:12 PM ).

69. Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility Mode

If your websites don’t render correctly, you might need to enable Internet Explorer 8 display them in compatibility view. This issue is because of the updated rendering engine, which causes a lot of trouble. To do it, open Internet Explorer, go to Tools -> Compatibility View Settings and check “Display all websites in compatibility view”, then click Ok.

That’s it! There you go – 70 very useful tips and tricks for Microsoft Windows 7. Maybe you knew some of these but I’m sure there are some that you did not heard of. They can prove very useful and can save you a lot of time while using Windows 7.

I’m sure you’re asking yourself where’s the tip number 70? Ok, the tip or advice that will help you work faster and more efficiently, with less frustration is…

70. Just Don’t Use Windows Vista

Yes, this is very useful tip and it is strongly recommended. In fact, I should have put this one on the top of the list, so you better apply it… for your own good.