Make Windows 7 faster – Part 3

Before that the first and second part we continue to publish series of articles.

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.

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.

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. You cannot use Guest mode in an AD environment.

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 Power­Shell 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.

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.

Make Windows 7 faster – Part 1
Make Windows 7 faster – Part 2

Tags: application, bitlocker, boot, Computer, computer management, configuration, Diagnostic, difference, disk management, faster, functionality, GUI, help, IE8, keyboard, Microsoft, password, Performance, remote computer, Security, utility, Virtual, virtualization, Web, Windows, Windows 7, windows explore, windows powershell, windows task manager, windows vista, xperience

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 1:30 am and is filed under Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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