Hello Guys ,these are some tips for Windows 7 users ..
Windows
7 may be Microsoft’s most anticipated product ever. It builds on
Windows Vista’s positives, and eliminates many of that OS’s negatives.
It adds new functionality, too—all in a package that is less
resource-hungry than its predecessor.
And whether or not you’re upgrading from Vista or skipping it altogether and moving up from Windows XP, you’ll need to knowhow to make the most of it in your environment. Here are 77 tips and tricks to get you there.
1. Pick Your Edition. Most business users do not need the more expensive Ultimate Edition; stick with Professional unless you specifically need BitLocker.
2. Upgrading? Go 64-bit. As
the second major Windows release to fully support 64-bit, the x64
architecture has definitely arrived on the desktop. Don’t buy new 32-bit
hardware unless it’s anetbook.
3. Use Windows XP Mode. Yes,
it’s only an embedded Virtual PC with a full copy of WinXP—but it’s an
embedded Virtual PC with a full copy of Windows XP! This is the first
profoundly intelligent use of desktop virtualization we’ve seen—and a great way to move to Windows 7 without giving up full Windows XP compatibility.
4. Use Windows PowerShell v2. More
than just a shell, this is the administration tool you’ve always
wanted: Parallel, distributed processing for administrative tasks!
Manage 100 machines literally as easily as you manage one with the new
Remoting feature. Windows PowerShell v2 ships for the first time in Windows 7, and within six months will be available for older versions of Windows.
5. Use AppLocker. We’ve been fans of Software Restriction
Policies since Windows XP, and AppLocker finally makes application
whitelisting possible. Use it to enhance or even replace your
anti-virus software, ensuring that only the software you want to run
will run.
6. Shift to and from Explorer and CommandPrompt. The
classic Windows power toy Open Command Prompt Here is now an integral
part of Windows 7 Explorer. Hold down the shift key then right-click a
folder to add this option to the property menu. While you’re in a
command prompt, if you want to open an Explorer window with the focus of
the window on the current directory, enter start.
7. Record Problems. The Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) is a great new feature that helps in troubleshooting a system (see Figure 1).
At times, Remote Assistance may not be possible. However, if a person
types psr in their Instant Search, it will launch the recorder. Now they
can perform the actions needed to recreate the problem and each click
will record the screen and the step. They can even add comments. Once
complete, the PSR compiles the whole thing into an MHTML file and zips
it up so that it can be e-mailed for analysis to the network admin (or
family problem solver, depending on how it’s being used).
Figure 1 The Problem Steps Recorder dramatically speeds up troubleshooting. (Click the image for a larger view)
8. Make Training Videos. Use
a tool like Camtasia to record short, two to three minute video
tutorials to help your users find relocated features, operate the new
Taskbar and so forth. Get them excited about Windows 7—and prepared for
it.
9. Start Thinking About Windows Server 2008 R2. Some
of Windows 7′s more compelling features, like BranchCache, work in
conjunction with the new server OS. The R2 upgrade path is pretty
straightforward, so there’s little reason not to take advantage of the
synergies if you can afford upgrade licenses.
10. Prepare Those XP Machines. There’s
no in-place upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, so start planning to
migrate user data now, in advance of a Windows 7 upgrade deployment.
11. Consider Clean Installs. Even
when upgrading Windows Vista machines, consider a clean install rather
than an in-place upgrade. Yes, it’s more hassle, but it’ll produce a
more trouble-free computer in the long run.
12. Consider Upgrade Assurance. Even
if you’ve never bought it before, consider it for your new Windows 7
licenses. Access to the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP),
which includes App-V, MED-V and other cool technologies, is worth the
premium.
13. Find New Tools. Within
Control Panel is a single Troubleshooting link that leads you to all of
your diagnostic tools on the system. There are additional tools,
however, not installed by default. Selecting the “View all” link in the
top left-hand corner will help you to see which troubleshooting packs
are local and which ones are online. If you find a tool that you don’t
have, you can grab it from here.
14. Understand Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Windows 7 plays an important role in Microsoft’s VDI strategy, where virtualized Windows 7 machines are hosted on a central virtualization server using
a special blanket “Enterprise Centralized Desktop” license. Read up and
figure out if you can take advantage of this new strategy.
15. Prepare for DirectAccess. DirectAccess
makes it easier for users to remotely access their office-based
resources, without a VPN. DirectAccess also opens up remote computers
more fully to Group Policy—but it requires Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2.
16. Employ Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM). If
you quickly want to list or manage Windows packages, features or
drivers, use the command-line utility DISM. The “image” in the name may
fool you into thinking that this is solely a deployment tool. An online
command-line switch lets you manage the features in the currently loaded
OS. To get a list of the loaded Windows features, enter dism /online
/get-features /format:table. To enable a feature, enter dism /online
/enable-feature /featurename:.
17. Embrace Troubleshooting Packs. Designed
to help users troubleshoot and solve problems on their own, you need to
update your support procedures to acknowledge these Packs. For example,
don’t force users to repeat steps the Pack already walked them through,
and consider developing your own Packs (in Windows PowerShell) to
support in-house systems.
18. Check Reliability. The
Reliability Monitor was introduced in Windows Vista as ‘The Reliability
and Performance Monitor.” In Windows 7 it has been separated from
Performance Monitor and moved to a new location under the Action Center.
You open the Action Center in Control Panel and then look under the
Maintenance options for the “View reliability history” link. You can
also just type in Reliability Monitor from the Instant Search (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 The Reliability Monitor has been broken out separately from Performance Monitor. (Click the image for a larger view)
19. Accept Diversity. Not
every organization will be ready to move entirely to Windows 7 right
away. That’s fine—but that shouldn’t mean the entire organization stays
on Windows XP, either. The myths of the cost savings of having on
ly one OS have been largely disproven or downplayed, so use Windows 7 where it makes sense to do so.
20. Get Snippy. The
snipping tool has also been around in various incarnations but it’s
even easier to use in Windows 7. Launch the tool, then drag and drop any
part of your screen. The tool will snip the selection. You can save it
as a graphic file or annotate with basic drawing tools. Teach your end
users how to use this tool so they can grab the snapshots of their
problems and send them to the help desk. Or create your own library of visual notes.
21. Presentation Nirvana. Press Windows+P to access the new Presentation mode, and easily turn on your projector and
laptop screen at the same time. No more messing with vendor-specific
utilities and arcane keystrokes. (Windows+X accesses the Mobility
Center, with additional presentation options.)
22. Cut the Clutter. Press
Windows+Home to minimize all but the current window, removing
background clutter and letting you focus on that report your boss has
been bugging you about.
23. Be a Mouse-Click Administrator. Windows
7 makes it easy to gain admin rights with a keyboard shortcut. Click on
Ctrl+Shift on a taskbar-locked icon, and voila! You’ve launched it with
appropriate admin rights.
24. Faster Installations. If
your computer is capable of booting from USB, try this: XCopy the
Windows 7 installation DVD to a sufficiently large USB drive, boot from
that drive, and install Windows from there. It’s faster than a spinning
platter.
25. Burn Discs with a Click. Or two; double-click an ISO file to burn it to your CD or DVD writer.
26. Restore Point Previews Many
of us used to shut off System Restore because we were terrified to
actually use it; under Windows 7, we can be much calmer. After selecting
a Restore Point, Windows will now offer to show you which files and
folders will be affected by restoring to that point.
27. Sync Time Zones. If
you work with offices in different time zones and frequently find
yourself missing meeting times because you are not in sync with their
time zone, try the “Additional Clocks” feature that was first introduced
in Vista. Within your Date and Time settings is a tab called Additional
Clocks, where you can add two or more clocks to your taskbar time, and
set them to provide different time zones from your current time zone.
28. Configure User Account Control (UAC). Even
if you’re a UAC hater, give it another try. Go to the Control Panel to
configure its behavior to something slightly less obnoxious than what
Windows Vista had, and see if you can’t live with the extra protection
it offers (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 User Account Control, the bane of administrators, has been revamped and improved. (Click the image for a larger view)
29. RoboCopyCopyCopy. The
always-useful Robocopy.exe can now run multi-threaded; run Robocopy /?
to review its new parameters (like /MT for multithreading) and make your
copies go faster.
30. Remote Desktop Console. Windows
7 Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) does not include a
console-based remote desktop utility. And even if it did, the standard
remote desktop console has some nagging limitations: It can’t move
connections around in the list; it can’t sort by folders and so forth.
If you manage lots of servers from your Windows 7 workstation, try
downloading a copy of mRemote from mremote.org. This donation-requested
utility allows you to mix together a variety of remote control
applications, including Citrix Independent Computing Architecture (ICA),
Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing
(VNC), Secure Shell (SSH) and rlogin. All host names are displayed in a
standard tree control that can be divided into folders, sorted
alphabetically, and allow you to assign different logon accounts and
secure passwords to each connection.
31. Multiple Monitors.32. Windows PowerShell Scripting. If you want to make the most of Windows PowerShell on Windows 7, you’ll need a quick way to build and debug scripts. Windows 7 comes with an interactive editor that allows you to try out cmdlets and test functions on the fly.
33. Drag-and-Drop Notification Icons. The
redesigned notification area displays only a minimum number of icons;
all other notification icons are moved to a side window. Rather than
using the Customize option to select icons for the main display, you can
drag-and-drop icons from the side window to the notification area.
34. Add Unindexed Shared Folders to Library. You
can add UNC paths such as \\servername\sharename to a Library, but the
server must index the folder. If you want to add a UNC path to an
unindexed server, you can create a symbolic link to the UNC path, then
add the link or links to the library. Use the mklink command. For
example, mklink HomeFolder \\ServerName\Homefolder.
35. Simplify Cloned Machine Setups. You
can’t run Sysinternals’ newsid utility to change the identity of a
cloned Windows 7 machine (either a virtual machine or imaged PC).
Instead, create a template installation then run sysprep /oobe
/generalize /reboot /shutdown /unattend:scriptfile. Clone or copy this
virtual machine file. When it launches, it will get a new SID and you
can fill in the name. The reference for building unattended script files
is at tinyurl.com/winunattend.
36. Snap That Aero. The
Windows key is great for all your shortcuts. Now you can use it to work
with the new AeroSnap feature in Windows 7. Select a window, hit the
Windows key and a left or right arrow to snap the window to that half of
the screen, or use the up arrow to snap it to the top of the screen.
37. Shortcut the Taskbar. The
Windows key is great for shortcuts. You can select the Windows key and a
number to correspond to items on your taskbar. So, if IE (for example)
is the third icon on your taskbar (not counting the Start button), you
can hit the Windows key and the number three to launch or open IE.
38. Manage Passwords. Control
Panel includes a new application called Credential Manager. This may
appear to be a completely new tool that allows you to save your
credentials (usernames and passwords) for Web sites you log into and
other resources you connect to (such as other systems). Those
credentials are saved in the Windows Vault, which can be backed up and
restored. However, you might see this as similar to a tool we have in XP
and Vista. From the Instant Search, type in control /userpasswords2 and
you will be brought to the Advanced User Accounts Control P
anel, where you can also manage passwords for your account (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 The Credential Manager provides a handy, secure place to store passwords. (Click the image for a larger view)
39. Trigger Actions. Event
Viewer is closely tied into Task Scheduler. You have the ability to
take an event (select it in Event Viewer) and then from the Actions
pane, select the option “Attach a Task” to have that event, when it
appears, trigger an action. That action can be: launch a program; send
an e-mail; or display a message. This feature may be very helpful in
troubleshooting a problem.
40. Browse InPrivate. A
new feature in IE8 is the ability to open the browser in an InPrivate
Browsing session that allows you to perform banking and so forth from a
public location without fear of leaving behind any residue. IE will not
retain anything you do in an In Private Browsing session. You can
perform this action if you are already within IE by selecting the Safety
button and then InPrivate Browsing. This will open another IE window
altogether. However, you can save a few steps by using the shortcut.
Right-click the desktop IE icon, click InPrivate and the windows will
open in an InPrivate session already.
41. Go Live. Many
applications installed on past versions of Windows have been removed.
Starting with Windows 7, these applications (and a few others not
typically installed with Windows) have been moved into the Live
Essentials downloadable applications, at download.live.com. These
applications include Messenger, Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie
Maker, Family Safety and a few others.
42. Remove Apps. Although
some applications have been moved off of Windows to become an optional
download, other apps, such as IE8, Media Player, Media Center and DVD
Maker are still included. In times past, especially when it came to IE,
the applications were tied into the OS. However, in Windows 7 you can
easily remove them if desired. Head to the Program and Features applet
in Control Panel and select the “Turn Windows features on or off” link
in the top left-hand corner. Then you can select the checkbox of the
features you want to lose or add for your system (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 Windows 7 unbinds many applications from the OS, making it easy to add and remove them. (Click the image for a larger view)
43. Are You Windows 7 Experienced? > System
properties has a rating called the Windows Experience Index (WEI). This
rating is a collection of five different ratings that are determined by
the Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT). The highest rating score
is 7.9 (compared to 5.9 in Vista), using the categories of Processor,
RAM, Graphics, Gaming Graphics and Primary Hard Disk. The final rating
is not an average of all the ratings, but the lowest of the subcomponent
scores.
44. Analyze Processes. One
of the coolest new features in the revamped Resource Monitor (resmon)
is the ability to see the “wait chain traversal.” An unresponsive
process will be shown in red in the Resource Monitor; right-click the
process and choose Analyze Process. This will show the threads in the
process and see who holds the resources that are holding up the process
itself. You can then kill that part of the process if you like.
45. Create Virtual Worlds. Virtualization
capability has been added to the Disk Management tools. If you open
Computer Management, go to the Disk Manager tool and then click the
Action button at top, you will see the options Create VHD and/or Attach
VHD. This allows you to create and mount a virtual hard drive directly
from within the GUI. Note: With Windows 7 you even have the ability to
boot a Windows 7 VHD (see Figure 6).
Figure 6 Windows
7 adds a great deal of virtualization support, including the ability to
create and attach virtual hard drives from the GUI. (Click the image for a larger view)
46. Encrypt USB Sticks. Use
BitLocker To Go. Maybe you’ve managed to never misplace or lose a USB
key, but for the rest of us mere mortals, it’s a fact of life. Most of
the time it’s no big deal, but what if it contains sensitive data?
BitLocker To Go enables you to encrypt data on removable storage devices
with a password or a digital certificate stored on a smart card.
47. Lock with Group Policy. Take
control through AppLocker application control. AppLocker intercepts
kernel calls that try to create new processes or load libraries and
ensures the code is allowed to execute. Practically, that means you can
eliminate unknown and unwanted software by implementing AppLocker
through Group Policy.
48. Be Our Guest. Guest
mode proves a convenient method to give a guest or child access to your
computer with limits on making system changes, installing software, or
writing to the disk outside the user profile. After the user is done and
logs off, data saved inside of the user profile is deleted.
49. Restore from Backed up Restore Points. You
can choose to include restore points in your backups and restore from
them when using System Restore. This is convenient if you want to create
a baseline of a working configuration and be able to restore to it in
the future without overwriting other data on the hard disk.
50. Benefit from BranchCache.BranchCache helps you save on round trips for requested files in remote branch scenarios. If one person requests a
file over the WAN, it’s cached locally and either distributed across
computers at the remote branch or stored on a central server at the
remote branch.
51. Disable Search Suggestion Popups. As
you type in the Search Box, Windows 7 makes suggestions based on past
queries by pulling past queries from the Registry. You can disable this
in the Local Group Policy by enabling User Configuration |
Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Windows Explorer | Turn
Off Display Of Recent Search Entries In the Windows Explorer.
52. Pin Control Panel to Taskbar. If
you use the Control Panel frequently, you may have noticed that you
cannot simply right-click the Control Panel and select Pin to Taskbar.
Instead, you must first Open Control Panel so its icon appears in the
taskbar. From there, you can right-click the icon in the taskbar and
select Pin this program to taskbar.
53. Leverage Search Connectors. You
can now search the Web using the search functionality. Windows 7
includes Federated Search to increase the search scope beyond the local
and network resources. Several search connectors are available, such as
for YouTube and Twitter, or you can create custom ones to fit your
needs.
54. Use Stickier Notes. Even
though this feature has existed in previous versions of Windows in one
form or another, it’s much easier to use in Windows 7. You can stick a
note on your desktop for quick reminders. It’s a snap to change the font
or note color. If you have a note selected, use Ctrl-N to create a new
one.
55. Try out Improved WordPad. You
probably haven’t given much thought to WordPad lately, but the version
shipping with Windows 7 has undergone a major renovation. Think of it as
a lite version of Microsoft Word. WordPad sports a spiffy ribbon
interface, making it a snap to create well-formatted documents. Plus,
you are no longer relegated to saving them as .RTF files. WordPad now
supports the Office Open XML document (.DOCX) format. This makes it even
easier to open .DOCX files created in Word in WordPad.
56. Calculate. Another
basic utility that received a major overhaul is the venerable
calculator. In addition to standard and scientific views, there are now
programmer and statistic modes. You will also love the conversion and
calculation features. Want to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit but can
never remember the formula? Use the conversion panel. You’ll also enjoy
the data calculation extension. Quickly find the difference between two
dates or calculate a new date by adding or subtracting years, months or
days.
57. Manage Services from Task Manager. The
Windows 7 Task Manager now includes a tab to manage services. You can
quickly see at a glance the status of all services on your machine.
Click a column heading to sort. You can even start and stop services
with a simple right-click. If you need full-blown service management,
use the Services button to launch the Services management console. You
may often have the Task Manager running in the system tray; now, having
service management access means one less window to have open.
58. Get Under the Hood. Windows
7 offers more ways to peek under the hood without adding third-party
solutions. A terrific example is the Resource Monitor. The performance
tab in Windows Task Manager is a good start, but sometimes you need more
information. Click the Resource Monitor button to get more detailed
information and performance graphs for key subsystems like CPU and Disk.
You can also find the Resource Monitor under Accessories | System
Tools.
59. Check Vital Signs. Another
new system tool you’ll enjoy is the System Health report. In the Run
dialog box, type perfmon /report, which generates a system health
report. This report records details about your computer’s performance,
resource usage and more. The report also includes diagnostic information
about things that aren’t working as they should and suggested steps to
resolve. The reports are saved and can be accessed with the Performance
Monitor management console. You can also save as an HTML file or send
via e-mail.
60. Get More Windows PowerShell. Windows
PowerShell v2 promises to be a game-changer for many system
administrators. Many will prefer to use the graphical Windows PowerShell
console, also known as the Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE).
You’ll find this in the Windows Power Shell folder under Accessories.
Add a keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Alt+I to quickly launch it. Run any
Windows PowerShell command in the lower panel and see the results in the
middle. Create or edit scripts in the top pane. Open multiple Windows
PowerShell sessions connected to remote computers. The ISE makes Windows
PowerShell v2 easy to use and fun (see Figure 7).
Figure 7 Windows PowerShell has been much more tightly integrated with Windows 7, and adds the Integrated Scripting Environment. (Click the image for a larger view)
61. Put It on Old Stuff. One
perhaps-not-so-obvious Windows 7 tip is that you should attempt to
install it everywhere. One user has a 6-year-old laptop that originally
shipped with Windows XP. He could never get Windows Vista to install on
it. But Windows 7 installed without complaint and runs extremely smooth.
Granted, there are some Windows 7 features he can’t take advantage of
because the processor lacks certain features, but these are minor issues
considering the laptop now has life again.
62. Improve Security. In
Vista it was difficult to manage system protection via restore points.
The System Protection tab in Windows 7 is a vast improvement. In one
spot you can configure how much space to devote to restore points,
delete and create restore points or even turn off system protection
altogether. This is very useful on older systems where disk space may be
at a premium.
63. Actually Use Help and Support. Much
of Vista’s clutter has been reduced in Windows 7. For instance, the
Help and Support page has three links, a search window and a link back
to Microsoft’s Windows site. It’s much less intimidating for end users,
so make sure they know about it. Search is much improved as well, making
for a better, faster experience.
