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Tips, Tricks and Tweaks
for
Mark Repp
Presentation for C.O.M.P.

The Tips & Tweaks
(Things I Wished I’d Known at the Beginning)
Ways to Improve Windows 7’s
• Stability
• Recoverability
• Make it Work Faster,
• Increase its Ease of Use and
• Maximize your On-Screen Real Estate

The Tips: Safety & Security
1. Create a System Repair Disc
• An Emergency Boot Disk lets you start your PC
and perform repairs,
• Even if the hard drive is trashed or the OS is
unbootable.
• Having an Emergency Boot Disk on hand can
allow you to do a quick repair and not have to
send it off to the repair shop.

The Tips
1. Create a System Repair Disc
• The built-in System Repair Disc tool creates
emergency boot disks.
• The process takes just a couple of minutes.
1. Click the Start button.
2. Type system repair into the Search box.
3. You see Create a System Repair Disc at the
top (under Programs)
4. Click it and follow the prompts. That’s it!

The Tips
1. Create a System Repair Disc
• It can be used to boot your computer.
• Contains Windows system recovery tools to help you
recover from a serious error or restore your
computer from a system image.
• Keep it in a safe place where you can grab it quickly if
needed.

The Tips:
2. Create a System Image
• The Create a System Image tool is new in 7.
• It creates a complete image backup of your setup.
• A compressed byte-for-byte Clone of your entire
hard drive’s contents.
• Restoring a saved image puts your hard drive back
into exactly the same state as when you made the
image.
• It's the only way to completely roll back a system to
a prior state: all programs, all settings, all files.

The Tips:
2. Create a System Image
1. Open the Control Panel. Go to System and Security
2. Click “Back Up Your Computer.”

The Tips:
2. Create a System Image
1. Open the Control Panel. Go to System and Security
2. Click “Back Up Your Computer.”
3. Select “Create System Image” and follow the steps.

The Tips:
2. Create a System Image
4. You can use an external hard drive, one or more
DVDs, a network location or if you have a 2nd hard
drive installed, use that.

The Tips:
Restoring a System Image
To restore your saved System Image, follow these steps:
1. Go to the Control Panel
2. Under System and Security, click “Back Up Your
Computer”
3. Click “Recover system settings or your computer”
4. Click “Advanced recovery methods”

The Tips:
Restoring a System Image

The Tips:
3. Automate Your Backups
• Image Backups are great for rolling back an entire
system, but
• File-by-file Backups are best for restoring one or more
individual documents, photos, or anything accidentally
deleted or corrupted.
1. Open the Control Panel
2. Click on the phrase System and Security
3. Click on the phrase Backup and Restore

The Tips:
3. Automate Your Backups
4. Click “Set up backup” at the far right, and follow the
steps.
5. Saving your backup to an External Hard Drive is
recommended.

The Tips:
3. Automate Your Backups
• At the end of the process, before clicking “Save
settings and run backup” you can change your backup
schedule by clicking “Change schedule.”
• Here is a video that shows more info on backup and
restore.
• This great Microsoft FAQ talks about Windows 7’s
built-in Restore previous versions feature and how it
works. It also explains how to turn on System
Protection.

The Tips:
4. Install Microsoft Security Essentials
• Most commercial security suites are bloatware that bog
down your system.
• To download MSE, go to http://www.microsoft.com/enus/security_essentials/default.aspx
• It is small, fast and free. Works well and quietly.
Protects you from malware.

The Tweaks: Make Windows 7
Run Faster & Work Better
5. Give Internet Explorer Better Speed
• Your Web Browser is probably your most important app.
• Windows 7 ships with Internet Explorer 8 and is preconfigured
with many unnecessary add-ons and
features that can slow it down.
• Slower than Firefox and Chrome.
• Turn off most default options. Here is how:

The Tweaks: Make Windows 7
Run Faster & Work Better
5. Give Internet Explorer Better Speed
• When you first launch IE8, you’ll be asked to choose
your settings. Select “Choose Custom Settings.”
• When asked whether you want to turn on IE8’s
“Suggested Sites,” select No, don’t turn on.
• When asked to choose the default search provider,
select “Show me a webpage after setup to choose
more search providers.” Type in Google and make it
your default search provider. Unless you actually prefer
Bing (the default).
• The Point: Avoid accepting the intial built-in defaults.

The Tweaks:Run Faster & Work Better
5. Give Internet Explorer Better Speed
• When asked to download Search Provider Updates,
select No.
• When offered a choice of Accelerators, select “Turn off
all Accelerators that are included with Internet
Explorer.” They don’t really accelerate anything.

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
5. Give Internet Explorer Better Speed
• When asked whether you want to use Compatibility
View updates, answer Yes. Compatibility View is useful
on older and non-standard websites. Having it enabled
doesn’t seem to slow down normal browsing.
• Later on, IE8 will ask if you ant to turn on AutoComplete.
Select Yes. It is a time saver.

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
6. Resize the Recycle Bin (Smaller)
• Internet Explorer and System Restore’s caches are reeled
in a bit in Windows 7. However, the Recycle Bin can still
be ridiculously large.
• Especially when Windows 7 is installed on a large hard
drive.
• A needlessly large Recycle Bin size creates an
unnecessary waste of disk space.
• Right-click the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, and set a
more reasonable Custom size – typically 250 mb to 500
mb.

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
7. Improve the Folder Options
• Windows tries to keep novices out of trouble by hiding
some system-related settings & features.
• Example: Windows normally hides System folders & files.
• Most experienced Windows users find these safety
features annoying.
• When setting up a new system (or upgrading an older
one), I make four changes to the default folder view
options:

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
7. Improve the Folder Options
1. Click STARTControl PanelAppearance and
Personalization
2. Click Folder Options.
3. Check (enable) two items that are normally un-checked:
Always show menus and Show hidden files, folders,
and drives.
4. The latter is under the “Hidden files and folders”
subsection.

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
7. Improve the Folder Options
• Uncheck (disable) two
items that are checked
by default:
1. Hide extensions for
known file types
2. Hide protected
operating system
files.
*Windows will ask “Are you sure”
Go ahead & take the training wheels off.

The Tweaks: Run Faster & Work Better
7. Improve the Folder Options
• Click the “Apply to
Folders” button at the
top, and these changes
will propagate throughout
your system.
• If you see a desktop.ini
file on your Desktop, it’s
OK to delete it.
--It occurs when you unhide
system files.

The Tweaks: Organize Your
Windows 7 Desktop
8. Put Frequently-Used Items
on the Desktop
• I like Frequently-used features like Shortcuts
to Computer, Network, Control Panel and
User’s files – instantly available on the
Desktop. It’s easy to do:
• Right-click any empty spot on the Desktop and
select Personalize.
• In top left corner, click Change Desktop Icons.
• I check them all.

The Tweaks: Organize Your
Windows 7 Desktop
8. Put Frequently-Used Items
on the Desktop

The Tweaks: What You Didn’t Know
9. Ultra-Customize Your Desktop Icon Size
• You can make your desktop icons almost any
size you want with your mouse’s scroll wheel.
• This trick also works on a Mac.
• Make sure the Desktop has the Focus (no
other window is selected). Then, press and
hold the Ctrl key while rolling the mouse
wheel up or down.
• The desktop icons will step through many
sizes, from huge to tiny. Smaller saves space.

The Tweaks: What You Didn’t Know
9. Ultra-Customize Your Desktop Icon Size
• A good site for tips & tricks is
www.addictivetips.com and
• This article is excellent on How to Resize
Desktop Icons in Windows 7 & Vista.
• It’s a good example of what you’ll find on the
AddictiveTips site.

The Tweaks: What You Didn’t Know
10. Adjust the Taskbar Properties
• Windows 7’s new Taskbar is one of its best
features. First, let’s tweak its basic behavior:
1. Right-click on any empty spot on the Taskbar
and choose Properties.
2. Under the Taskbar tab, un-check “Lock the
taskbar” and check “Use small icons.”

The Tweaks: What You Didn’t Know
10. Adjust the Taskbar Properties
2. Under the Taskbar tab, un-check Lock the
taskbar and check Use
small icons.
--This makes the Taskbar
smaller and less obtrusive,
yet keeps it visible, easily
accessible and fully
functional.
3. Right-click & drag any
program shortcut here.

The Tweaks: What You Didn’t Know
10. Adjust the Taskbar Properties
• For more Taskbar options, visit Microsoft’s
excellent “The Taskbar Overview” page for
Windows 7.
• This nice article covers Jump Lists, Aero Peek,
and ways to change how buttons appear on
the Taskbar. All of this is covered in one page.

The Tricks: What You Didn’t Know
11. How to Really Use the New Taskbar
• Once you get the hang of the new taskbar,
you’ll love it! It’s a major time-saver.
• Microsoft’s Video Tour of Windows 7’s Taskbar
shows you the basics.
• For more depth, see Lifehacker.com’s article:
“The Power User’s Guide to the Windows 7
Taskbar.”

The Tricks: Hidden Tools
12. Windows DVD Maker
• Windows DVD Maker has been around since Vista.
Remains one of its best hidden features.
• Click on the START button & type “DVD Maker”
• This article covers how to use DVD Maker.

The Tricks: Hidden Tools
13. Where’s Windows Movie Maker
• Windows Live Movie Maker is available for Windows 7
as a
download
• It is now
part of
the
Windows
Live
Essentials
package:
• Along with many
other goodies
for Windows 7.

Thanks for Joining Me for
Tips, Tricks and Tweaks
for
Mark Repp
Presentation for C.O.M.P.