They said Windows 7 was
just a cosmetic upgrade, a more polished version of Vista with little to offer
beyond the new wallpaper.
They couldn't have been
more wrong.
Look beyond the headlines
about interface tweaks and you'll find Windows 7 is crammed with lesser known,
but still important, new and enhanced features, which taken together deliver
improved performance and productivity, better troubleshooting, stronger security
and a whole lot more.
Read on for 50 ways in
which Windows 7 will make a real difference to your PC.
1. Problem Steps
Recorder
As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for
help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe
what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7
will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.
When any app starts
misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type
PSR and press [Enter], then click Start Record. If they then work through
whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click
and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped
MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy
and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.
2. Burn images
Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had
for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn't be
much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the
blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created.
3. Create and mount
VHD files
Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files,
and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host
system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press [Enter], then click Action
> Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as
a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like
any other drive.
Click Action > Create
VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it,
select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space
and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a
virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop
files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like.
But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can
easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand
label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove
it.
The command line DISKPART
utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND
command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this
unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your
system.
4. Troubleshoot
problems
If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then
click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access
the new troubleshooting packs. These are simple wizards that will resolve
common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.
5. Startup repair
Windows 7 is more reliable than we'd expect from a beta, but you still might
run into problems, and the worst might stop it from booting. Even into Safe
Mode. And that's very bad news if you downloaded Windows 7, as you've no CD or
DVD to use for re-installation. Which is why you need to click Start >
Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, right now, and let Windows 7
build a bootable emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the
only way to get your PC running again.
6. Take control
Tired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd
rather they left alone? AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users
can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's easier to set up
than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a
particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you
run all signed Microsoft applications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer
Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application
Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.
7. Calculate more
At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but
explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer
views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation, then try the Options
menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight,
volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and
spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage
rates and more.
Don't take any Windows 7
applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new features hidden
in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to
ensure you don't miss anything important.
8. Switch to a
projector
Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor
to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and
choose your preferred display. (This will have no effect if you've only one
display connected.)
9. Automatic PC
clean up
If inexperienced PC users sometimes access your system then you'll know that,
well, this can cause problems. Leave them alone for too long and they'll mess
up your settings, install dubious programs, delete important files and cause
all kinds of havoc. But Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include a
possible solution: PC Safeguard. This lets your less technical users log on,
play games, use the browser or chat on an instant messenger, say, just as
normal. But when they log off, any settings they've changed are undone, and any
files they've saved are deleted. Which means it's much more difficult to mess up
your PC.
This isn't a new
technology. Microsoft have made their Shared Computer Toolkit (aka Windows
SteadyState) freely available for years, and this does exactly the same thing
(it's more configurable, too). This is the first time it's been fully integrated
with Windows, though, which makes it much easier to use.
To give PC Safeguard a try,
go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts
> Manage another account > Create a new account. Enter an account name,
click Create, then click the account, select Set Up PC Safeguard > Turn on
PC Safeguard > Apply. Log on as that user, try downloading and installing a
program, then restart and log on again to confirm that the software has gone.
10. Understanding
System Restore
Using System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a
gamble. There's no way of telling which applications or drivers it might affect
- you just have to try it and see.
Windows 7 is different.
Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection > System
Restore > Next, and choose the restore point you'd like to use. Click the
new button to 'Scan for affected programs' and Windows will tell you which (if
any) programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered by selecting this
restore point.
11. Set the time
zone
System administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility,
which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to
Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command
tzutil /s "gmt
standard time"
The command "tzutil
/g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists all
possible time zones, and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the
command works.
12. Calibrate your
screen
The colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor,
graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the same
default Windows colour profile. And that means a digital photo you think looks
perfect might appear very poor to everybody else. Fortunately Windows 7 now
provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up
your brightness, contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure
text is crisp and sharp. Click Start, type DCCW and press [Enter] to give it a
try.
13. Right-click
everything
At first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but there's an
easy way to begin spotting the differences - just right-click things.
Right-click an empty part
of the desktop, for instance, and you'll find a menu entry to set your screen
resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings any more.
Right-click the Explorer
icon on the taskbar for speedy access to common system folders: Documents,
Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.
And if you don't plan on
using Internet Explorer then you probably won't want its icon permanently
displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from
the taskbar', then go install Firefox, instead.
14. Desktop
slideshow
Windows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always
easy to decide which one you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and
let Windows display them all in a desktop slideshow? Right-click an empty part
of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, then hold down Ctrl
as you click on the images you like. Choose how often you'd like the images to
be changed (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle if
you'd like the backgrounds to appear in a random order, then click Save Changes
and enjoy the show.
15. RSS-powered
wallpaper
And if a slideshow based on your standard wallpaper isn't enough, then you can
always create a theme that extracts images from an RSS feed. This isn't fully
implemented in the beta yet, but Long Zheng has created a few sample themes to illustrate how it
works. And Jamie Thompson takes this even
further, with a theme that always displays the latest BBC news and weather
on your desktop.
16. Recover screen
space
The new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold
whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To
Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does consume a little more screen real
estate than we'd like. Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking
the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.
17. Restore the
Quick Launch Toolbar
If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only
takes a moment to restore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.
Right-click the taskbar,
choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type
"%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick
Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.
Now right-click the taskbar,
clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably
to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to
minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and
selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look.
18. Custom power
switch
By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the Start
menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to something else. If
you reboot your PC a few times every day then that might make more sense as a
default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the 'Power
boot action' to 'Restart' to make it happen.
19. Auto arrange
your desktop
If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could
right-click it and select View > Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a
simpler solution is just to press and hold down [F5], and Windows will
automatically arrange its icons for you.
20. Disable smart
window arrangement
Windows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows,
so that (for example) if you drag a window to the top of the screen then it
will maximise. We like the new system, but if you find it distracting then it's
easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop,
set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as
they always did.
21. Remove 'Send
Feedback'
Microsoft has released Windows 7 to get feedback from the public, so it's
important to take advantage of that. If you don't like something, or have a
good idea, then click Send Feedback and tell them what's on your mind. You
really could make a difference. But once you've done all that then you might
want to get rid of the Send Feedback links on your windows, and this is very
easy to do. Just launch REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop,
set the FeedbackToolEnabled value to zero and restart your PC. (Set it to 3 if
you'd like the Send Feedback links back again.)
22. Display your
drives
Click Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but
don't panic, it's just Microsoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card
readers are no longer displayed if they're empty. We think it's an improvement,
but if you disagree then it's easy to get your empty drives back. Launch
Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear 'Hide empty
drives in the computer folder'.
23. See more detail
The new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on
any area of the screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and
docking position, and once activated it can track your keyboard focus around
the screen. Press [Tab] as you move around a dialog box, say, and it'll
automatically zoom in on the currently active control.
24. Protect your
MP3 files
Along with many good new features, the Windows 7 beta also includes a nasty
bug. Its version of Windows Media Player 12 will automatically add missing
metadata, including album art, and this can overwrite the first few seconds of
the file. Oops. Installing an update may fix this (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961367)
but it would probably be a very good idea to back up your MP3 files, too.
25. Customise UAC
Windows Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor
implementation put many people off - it raised far too many alerts. Fortunately
Windows 7 displays less warnings by default, and lets you further fine-tune UAC
to suit your preferred balance between security and a pop-up free life (Start
> Control Panel > Change User Account Control Settings).
26. Use Sticky
Notes
The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch
StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to
change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add another note;
and click a note and press [Alt]+[4] to close the note windows (your notes will
automatically be saved).
27. Open folder in
new process
By default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system
resources, but means one folder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your
system seems unstable, or you're doing something in Explorer that regularly
seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down shift, right-click on
your drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now be launched in a
separate process, and so a crash is less likely to affect anything else.
28. Watch more
videos
Windows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the
audio and video files you'll find online. Fortunately the first freeware
Windows 7 codecs package [shark007.net/win7codecs.html] has just been released,
and installing it could get your troublesome multimedia files playing again.
29. Preview fonts
Open the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names,
probably with icons to tell you whether they're TrueType or OpenType, but
that's about it. Feeble, really, but Windows 7 sees some useful font-related improvement.
Open the new fonts window
and you'll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quick idea of how
they're going to look.
The tedium of scrolling
through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, Times New Roman
Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. There's now
just a single entry for each font (though you can still see all other members
of the family).
And there's a new OpenType
font, Gabriola, added to the mix. It's an attractive script font, well worth a
try the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.
30. Restore your
gadgets
Windows 7 has tightened up its security by refusing to run gadgets if UAC has
been turned off, so limiting the damage malicious unsigned gadgets can do to
your system. If you've disabled UAC, miss your gadgets and are happy to accept
the security risk, though, there's an easy Registry way to get everything back
to normal. Run REGEDIT, go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings,
create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1. Your
gadgets should start working again right away.
31. New WordPad
formats
By default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But
browse the Save As Format list and you'll see you can also save (or open,
actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx or OpenDocument .odt formats.
32. Protect your
data
USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a
problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7
has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's
BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access
it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the
instructions to protect your private files.
33. Search
everything
Windows 7 can now try to search the contents of just about any file type,
useful if it's not currently finding the data you need. The problem? Searches
can be much, much slower. If you'd like to try it anyway, then launch Explorer,
click Tools > Folder Options > View and check "Try to search the
content of unknown file types".
34. Configure your
favourite music
The Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your
"favourite music", which by default creates a changing list of songs
based on your ratings, how often you play them, and when they were added (it's
assumed you'll prefer songs you've added in the last 30 days). If this doesn't work
then you can tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune
is- click Tasks > Settings > Music > Favourite Music and configure the
program to suit your needs.
35. Customise
System Restore
There was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but
Windows 7 improves the situation with a couple of useful setup options.
Click the Start orb,
right-click Computer and select Properties > System Protection >
Configure, and set the Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (larger
to hold more restore points, smaller to save disk space).
And if you don't need
System Restore to save Windows settings then choose the "Only restore
previous versions of files" option. Windows 7 won't back up your Registry,
which means you'll squeeze more restore points and file backups into the
available disk space. System Restore is much less likely to get an unbootable
PC working again, though, so use this trick at your own risk.
36. Run As
Hold down shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option to
run the program as a different user, handy if you're logged in to the kids'
limited account and need to run something with higher privileges. This isn't
really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that did the same thing -
but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's good to see they've had a
change of heart.
37. Search privacy
By default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most
recent examples when searching in Windows Explorer. If you're sharing a PC and
don't want everyone to see your searches, then launch GPEDIT.MSC, go to User
Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components >
Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display of recent search
entries..." and click Enabled > OK.
38. Tweak PC volume
By default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's
sounds whenever it detects you're making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If
this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like it to turn off other sounds
altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly. Just
right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds >
Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like it to do.
39. Find
bottlenecks
From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista,
but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the
bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press [Enter] to launch the Resource
Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will
immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.
The CPU view is
particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of
Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its
name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you
why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps -
which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.
40. Keyboard
shortcuts
Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.
Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane
Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows
Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate
Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate
Windows Logo+Up
Maximise the current window
Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window
Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen
Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window
41. Faster program
launches
If you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then
don't work your way back through the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold
down Shift and click on the program's icon (or middle-click it), and Windows 7 will
start a new instance for you.
42. Speedy video
access
Want faster access to your Videos folder? Windows 7 now lets you add it to the
Start menu. Just right-click the Start orb, click Properties > Start Menu
> Customize, and set the Videos option to "Display as a link". If
you've a TV tuner that works with Windows 7 then you'll appreciate the new
option to display the Recorded TV folder on the Start menu, too.
43. Run web
searches
The Windows 7 search tool can now be easily extended to search online resources,
just as long as someone creates an appropriate search connector. To add Flickr
support, say, visit I
Started Something, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and
watch as it's downloaded (the file is tiny, it'll only take a moment). A
"Flickr Search" option will be added to your Searches folder, and
you'll be able to search images from your desktop.
44. Schedule Media
Centre downloads
You can now tell Windows Media Centre to download data at a specific time,
perhaps overnight, a useful way to prevent it sapping your bandwidth for the
rest of the day. Launch Media Centre, go to Tasks > Settings > General
> Automatic Download Options, and set the download start and stop times that
you'd like it to use.
45. Multi-threaded
Robocopies
Anyone who's ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will appreciate
the new switches introduced with Windows 7. Our favourite, /MT, can improve
speed by carrying out multi-threaded copies with the number of threads you
specify (you can have up to 128, though that might be going a little too far).
Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the full details.
46. Really remove
the sidebar
At first glance you might think Windows 7 has got rid of the sidebar, but don't
be fooled. Gadgets are still hosted by the Sidebar.exe process, it's just that
this is now launched automatically when Windows boots. If you don't plan on
ever using gadgets then you could delete the Sidebar Registry entry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run,
and recover a small amount of RAM. That might be a little risky, though, as
we're not quite sure what else the sidebar process does in Windows 7. The
safest approach is to disable it temporarily by launching MSCONFIG.EXE,
clicking the Startup tab and clearing the box next to the Startup entry. Now
reboot and test Windows 7 for a day or two to confirm everything is still
working, before finally deleting the sidebar Registry entry.
47. Load IE faster
Some Internet Explorer add-ons can take a while to start, dragging down the
browser's performance, but at least IE8 can now point a finger at the worst
resource hogs. Click Tools > Manage Add-ons, check the Load Time in the
right-hand column, and you'll immediately see which browser extensions are
slowing you down.
48. An Alt+Tab
alternative
You want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there
are so many other programs running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to pick out what
you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key while you click on the Explorer
icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the Explorer windows only, a much
quicker way to locate the right one. (And of course this works with any
application that has multiple windows open.)
49. Block annoying
alerts
Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks
your antivirus, firewall or other security settings are incorrect.
But unlike Vista, if you
disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no
longer want to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows
firewall, say, then click Control Panel > System and Security > Action
Centre > Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and
click OK.
50. Parallel
defrags
The standard Windows 7 defragger offers a little more control than we saw in
Vista, and the command line version also has some interesting new features. The
/r switch will defrag multiple drives in parallel, for instance (they'll
obviously need to be physically separate drives for this to be useful). The /h
switch runs the defrag at a higher than normal priority, and the /u switch
provides regular progress reports so you can see exactly what's going on. Enter
the command
defrag /c /h /u /r
in a command window to
speedily defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? to view the
new options for yourself.