Windows 7

Released in October 2009 Windows 7 was the eagerly awaited successor to Windows Vista, and those that tried it weren’t disappointed.

The developemt team at Microsoft had completely re-written the heart of the Operating System to address many of the performance issue that blighted the launch of Vista, and in general they succeeded. Whilst the user interface for Windows 7 is very similar to that of Vista, the ‘under the hood’ changes have made the O.S. much quicker and less crash prone, which has lead to Windows 7 being described as having the speed and stability of XP with the look and feel of Vista.

As usual we have provided a selection of Windows 7 articles below, but if there’s something that’s not covered, let us know and we’ll write it up for you.

New Features

Burning ISO Images – This feature has now been finally added to Windows

Customisation / Tweaking

Moving Personal System Folders – Moving your ‘My Documents’ folders
Customise The Login Screen – Windows 7 makes this easy, here’s how.
Stop Windows Update Auto-Rebooting – How to stop this annoying ‘feature’.
Adding Checkboxes To Windows Explorer – A very useful customisation tip.
Starter Edition Desktop Background – How to change the background on Win7 SE.
Starter Edition Screen Saver – How to change the screen saver on Win7 SE.
Disable Aero Shake – Some love it, Some hate it, here’s how to disable it.
Changing the Registered Owner – How to rename the owner of a 2nd hand PC
Create a ‘New email’ shortcut – A quick tip to make better use of your email program
Set Recycle Bin To Permanently Delete – How to close of this potential security threat.
Add the Snipping Tool to the Taskbar – Get to this useful application really easily
Quicker Shutdowns – How to speed up the process of switching off your computer.
Windows 7 Legal Notice – Have Windows 7 display a Legal Notice at every boot up.
Fast Thumbnail Previews – Giving your PC a little bit of a speed boost
The Windows Registry Explained – It runs your system, you need to know what it does.
32-bit or 64-bit? – How to determine which version of Windows 7 is best for you.
Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report – How to squeeze every last ounce from your PC
Windows 7 Shortcut Keys – Speeding up how you work at the keyboard.

Security

Securing your USB ports – How to stop rogue USB devices from compromising security

Troubleshooting

Extend Activation Period – Need more time to evaluate Win7? Check this out
Clearing The Print Queue – How to get rid of a job stuck in the print queue
User Profile Loading Error – How to fix this commonly occurring error
Create A System Repair Disk – How to recover your PC in the event of disaster
Install With Upgrade Media – Perform a clean install if you only have upgrade disks
Switch Off Auto-Reboot For System Crashes – How make sure you see the BSOD information

Windows XP to Windows 7 Survival Guide

A series of articles aimed at those upgrading to a new Operating System.

Part 1 – Intro, System Requirements, and Windows Versions.
Part 2 – Software compatibility issues.