Top 10 Windows 7 Tricks, Tips and Secrets

Microsoft’s seventh version of operating system - Windows 7 is waiting to hit the store shelves.  Well, the PDC attendees are already using Windows 7, rest of the Windows buffs might be working on the leaks through torrents. With so much hype, expectations from Windows 7 must be sky high, especially, after the visaster. Already the sites and blogs are flodded with tips, and tricks on Windows 7. We did our part with the coolest hacks for Windows 7. Now that there are heaps of fundas on Windows 7 on the web it’s a wild-goose chase filtering the most useful tips. We worked extensively to bring you the top 10 Windows 7 tricks, tips and secret.

1. System Requirements

Well, we include this on the top of our list as most people know about the Winddows 7 system requirements, but there’s a lot of fuss surrounding it. We got the genuine details of the minimum requirements for Windows 7 if you are still in a fix.

CPU: 1 GHz+ 32 or 64-Bit processor
RAM: 1 GB for 32-Bit, 2 GB for 64-Bit
GPU: 128 MB DirectX 9, WDDM 1.0 Compatible Video Card
HDD: 15 GB for 32-Bit, 20 GB for 64-Bit

Others:
DX9 Capable sound card
1024×768 or better capable screen
Keyboard + Mouse
DVD Drive
An internet connection for updates and activation.

Above all, Windows 7 is far less of a resource hungry than its predecessor Windows Vista.

2. A Welcome Gesture

Most innovative part of the latest Microsoft OS is that it supports touchscreen devices. Windows 7 incorporates a gesture-based system that allows you to navigate the desktop with a stylus or even your finger. Voila! A gesture also works with a mouse. Let me tell you in the new system a new program-specific menu that replaces the right-click context menu. Instead of using right-clicking the Taskbar icon to access the Jump List you can hold the left-click and drag upwards to smoothly get it. For more you can also click and drag down in the Internet Explorer address bar to view the browsing history and related favorite bookmarks. Is it real touchy, well can wait and watch. By the time you can also refer to our article on WIndows 7 Touch Pack.

3. Dreamscenes for Windows 7

In order to use DreamScenes you need to use this hack. The DreamScene installation hack is an executable file, which copies the needed DreamScene files and fuses  them with the right registry keys and posts. Here are are the steps you need to follow

Step1: Download and unpack Windows7-DreamScene

Step2: Run Windows7-DreamScene.exe as administrator. Install and activate Windows DreamScene for Windows 7. The program willl automaticly restart explorer.

Step3: This will create a new Windows DreamScene folder in : % Windir% \ Web \ folder. Place the video file that you would like as a DreamScene background

Now for using the videoclips (in. WMV or. MPG) as DreamScenes animated background, you need to right click on the video media file that you wanna select and pick “Use as desktop background”

4. Understanding System Restore

Well, playing with System Restore was a like a trial and error test in the earlier versions of Windows. Now way can you tell which application or driver it might affect.

With Windows 7 its not the same, as it informs you about all the programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered by selecting this restore point. To do that you need to follow this

Step 1: Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection > System Restore > Next. Finally select the restore point you’d wanna use.

Step 2: Click the new button to Scan for affected programs and Windows will tell you about the programs and drivers that would be deleted or recovered by selecting this restore point.

5. Get a power efficiency report

This one’s especially for the laptop users gasping for their battery life. Well, WIndows 7 is equipped to provide you comprehensive information about the power consumption. You can use this feature to increase your laptop’s battery life as well as performance. Here’s how to get to it

Step 1: Type cmd in the Start search to open the command prompt
Step 2: When it opens right-click it and choose Run as administrator
Step 3: Type in powercfg -energy in the command line and hit Enter

Windows 7 will scan your system suggesting ways to improve power efficiency. To find the results you must follow the path. Typically its in the System32 folder.

6. Track Your Actions with Problem Steps Recorder

A major part of upgrades in Windows 7 has been implemented based on user feedback. For more the developers have built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps Recorder. The recorder has been designed to combine screen capture with mouse tracking to record the users actions.

To launch this program- in the Start Menu, type psr.exe in the search field

Once launched, hit the Record Button and the application will start tracking your mouse and keyboard activities taking corresponding screenshots for each new action. The session gets saved as a HTML slide show that can be played to recreate the steps. The exciting part of it is that you can add comments and annotations.
This could be a great piece of tool to create tutorials, especially for novice users.

7.  Using Virtual Hard disk files

Windows 7  allows you to create and manage virtual hard disks files as as if they were real. Using this feature you’ll be able to use a live Windows installation on the virtual disk without the need to boot the virtual Computer.

In order to create a virtual disk follow these steps

Step 1: Press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer. Go to Manage > Disk Management > Action > Create VHD. Specify the location and size of your virtual hard disk file.

Step 2: Now to attach the virtual disk files. Press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer. Go to Manage > Disk Management > Action > Attach VHD. Specify the location and whether it’s read only or not.

Step 3: Again to initialize a virtual hard disk, follow the step 2 and specify the location, then click Ok. Next right click on the virtual disk and click on Initialize Disk.

Step 4: Choose the partition style that you wanna use and then right-click on the unallocated space. Next click the  New Simple Volume and follow the rest of instructions in the wizard.

You would see a new drive appear in the Windows Explorer that you can use as a real partition.

8. Disable smart window arrangement

Windows 7 uses its own intelligence to arrange your windows. For an example, when you drag a window to the top of the screen it automatically maximizes. But if your wanna master  Windows 7 at your behest, you need to disable this arrangement. Let’s see how to go about it

Step 1: In the Start Search type regedit to edit the registry

Step 2: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Step 3: Set WindowArrangementActive value to 0, and reboot

Now your windows will behave as in the earlier versions.

9 . Burning Disk in a jiffy

This is probably the most hyped feature that adds to your ease of using Windows 7. Windows 7 now features a DVD and CD ISO burning software. Just with a double click on an image file you will see Windows burn the image to a blank DVD or CD. Although a barebone application but it’s quite handy.

10. Create a System Repair Disc

At times it gets worse when your really on the bad spot - no way you can boot. When everything fails you might ask for something that gets you to the command prompt so that you can troubleshoot. Windows 7 features a tool that lets you create a bootable System Repair Disc. This is essentially a CD-bootable version of Windows that just includes the command prompt and a suite of system tools. To access the utility type system repair disc in the Start Menu search box.