Windows 7 is the most powerful and feature-packed version of the operating system we've seen so far, but you won't necessarily see that straight away.
Dubious default settings mean most Windows 7 installations aren't properly optimised, and if you want your system to have the best performance, usability, security and battery life then you'll need to apply a few extra tweaks. Here's what you need to know.
1. Get Windows 7 anti-virus
It's a dangerous world out there, so the very first step you should take on any Windows 7 system is to get yourself protected with an anti-virus tool. AVG Anti-Virus is a good free choice, but the betas of Panda Antivirus Pro 2009, F-Secure Internet Security and McAfee Total Protection are also worth a look.
FREE AV: The latest F-Secure beta provides free all-round PC protection for six months
2. Tweak the Windows 7 taskbar
Next you'll want to get your Windows 7 system feeling a little more like home. Are you a little confused by the way application buttons are combined on the new taskbar, for instance? Then get things back to normal by right-clicking the taskbar, selecting Properties and selecting "Combine when taskbar is full" from the "Taskbar buttons" list.
And while you're there, try checking the "Use small icons" box to save a little screen real estate.
3. Customise Explorer
Windows 7 adds many useful improvements, but the default Explorer settings are still as dubious as ever and you'll want to tweak them right away. Click Start, type Folder and choose Folder Options from the list to get started.
The new Explorer navigation pane shows disconcertingly few drives and folders when you start. This makes for faster loading, but also means reaching your destination often requires extra clicks.
If you prefer the Vista style of navigation then click the General tab, and check both "Show all folders" and "Automatically expand to current folder".
Windows 7 also hides drives that are empty, which means the contents of the Computer folder can change in unexpected ways. We find that distracting, but it's easy to change: just click the View tab and clear the "Hide empty drives..." box.
And it's generally a good idea to set up Explorer to display file extensions and hidden files, unless very inexperienced users have access to your PC. Click the View tab, select "Show hidden files, folders and drives", clear the "Hide extensions for known file types" and "Hide protected operating system files" boxes and click OK to finish the job.
4. Uncover secret wallpaper
Right-click the desktop, select Personalise and you'll be able to set your desktop background to some impressive new wallpapers, including a set for the United Kingdom (or wherever in the world you are).
But Microsoft has also provided more regional wallpapers for you to try. Click Desktop Background > Browse, navigate to \Windows\Globalization\MCT, choose a region you like - MCT-AU\Australia, say - and click OK to see the new images.
(You don't see the MCT folder? Windows must be configured to display hidden folders - see step 3, "Customise Explorer".)
CHANGE OF SCENERY: The South African folder has some spectacular wallpaper photos
5. Speed up Windows 7
By default Windows 7 puts you on its "balanced" power plan, which saves energy but might also cut performance.
If you're using a desktop and are interested in speed above all else then click Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Create a Power Plan, choose the High Performance option and give your plan a name. Click Next > Create, choose the "Change plan settings" link next to your custom power plan, and tweak it to suit your needs.
Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
gandharva81
May 18th 2009
3. This is the Excellent advise. I am really enjoying with Windows 7 since 5th may 2009 to till. this is the highly well developed newly launched Operating System from Microsoft.
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adeling
May 17th 2009
2. What ogerrard said. He's quite right.
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ogerrard
May 17th 2009
1. Thanks for the article, but I disagree totally with points 2 and 3. Allow me to elaborate.
2) I believe the new taskbar paradigm is one of the immediately great things about 7. It's a brilliant and unlikely convergence of OS X's Dock and Windows' Taskbar, and (unexpectedly) it's more usable and useful than either one.
MS have obviously put a lot of thought into usability for this. Consider: previously, icons represented apps in your quicklaunch and taskbar tabs represented windows that may have been launched from one of those apps but they were distinctly separated. Tab grouping was a nice idea but never felt right to me. Now though, applications and windows are firmly tethered together and accessing open windows now utilises an intuitive and consistent "funnel" approach. (I want my Firefox window, well it's there behind the icon I used to open it in the first place). Coupled with AeroPeek, the whole process is now contextual, logical, uncluttered and consistent. I never thought I'd say this of a MS product.
MS are generous to a fault at providing ways for users to keep working like they always have - just try double clicking on the empty top left corner of any aero explorer window - that behaviour has been with us since Windows 3.1, and I'm very glad that we have the choice to revert or maintain learned behaviours for those that dislike change, but we should be highlighting and discussing the merits of these improvements, not just casting them aside as nonsense.
3) Should we really tell users to immediately turn on all those myriad confusing hidden and out of context icons?
3a. Windows 7 is the first time that Windows has behaved in a mature and sensible way with disks. Not showing all those empty drives is the only sane thing to do. How can you find the lack of empty drives "distracting"? If a drive becomes available because you insert a disc, say, then you want to see the icon for that disc represented. This is consistent with plugging in a USB memory stick. What use is an empty drive icon to you until a disc is present? Previous behaviour made no sense, especially for people with multi-card readers in their PCs who had to live with a useless device icon for each slot in their readers at all times. Hiding all those temporarily useless device icons is a great move. Now you simply have all the icons for stuff you're able (or wanting) to use right now. Apple's Mac OS had this nailed as far back as I remember in 1992 (System 7), when you inserted a floppy it appeared on your desktop. 17 years later might be a bit late for MS to get with the program, but it's great to see this finally happened in Windows!
3b. Showing hidden files and folders is a questionable practice for general machine use. Most of the time you will not need or want to see all these hidden files (which are hidden not by accident or for fun, after all). When the need arises, it's great that you can reveal them, but showing them all the time makes no sense if you're using your PC to actually do anything other than just rooting around the OS or bug-hunting. To use a (probably flawed) car analogy: yes you *could* remove your bonnet ("hood" in the US) and drive around town, but surely you only need to see the radiator cap when you're checking the coolant? Most other times the simplicity of a painted metal sheet makes the workings of your car far less distracting.
3c. I do agree, however, with showing extensions for known file types. Windows relies on extensions for application/filetype associations, so to hide them - especially in a world where we consistently refer to and understand files by their extensions ("Word doc", "mp3 file", "jpeg image", "gif image", "html page", "xml file", "zip file") - makes little sense.
Thanks,
twitter.com/ogerrard
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