Windows 7 Tweak Guide

WWW.TWEAKGUIDES.
COM

[ Version 1.0 ]

THE TWEAKGUIDES TWEAKING COMPANION

2
Copyright 2009 Koroush Ghazi

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents........................................................................................................................................................... 2
Copyright & Credits ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Before Using this Book .............................................................................................................................................. 15
Basic Requirements ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Different Versions of Windows ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Where are the Pictures? .................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Why is the Book So Long? ................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Where Do I Start? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Recommended Software ................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Problems with the Book ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Your Responsibilities .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Basic PC Terminology ................................................................................................................................................ 17
Bits & Bytes .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Data ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
PC .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
CPU ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Motherboard ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Memory ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Storage Drives ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Graphics Card ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Display Device ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Sound Card .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Speakers .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Power Supply Unit .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Cooling Devices .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Case ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Peripheral ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22
Operating System and Software ...................................................................................................................................................................... 22
New & Common Features .......................................................................................................................................... 23
Windows Aero ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Taskbar ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Windows Explorer ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Search Box ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
User Account Control ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Administrator Command Prompt ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Windows Mail ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Ribbon ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Drivers ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Compatibility Issues ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Windows Control Panel ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Keyboard and Mouse Substitutes .................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 29
System Specifications ................................................................................................................................................ 31
System Information Tools .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Windows Experience Index ............................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Windows System Information Tool .................................................................................................................................................................. 31
Device Manager .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
DirectX Diagnostics ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
3DMark ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
SIW ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Sandra................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
CPU-Z ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
GPU-Z ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
HD Tune ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Providing System Specifications ............................................................................................................................................................................... 34


3

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Backup & Recovery ..................................................................................................................................................... 35
Windows Backup and Restore .................................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Automated Backups ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 35
Manual Backups .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 38
Organizing Data .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 39
Managing Backups ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 40
Restoring Backups .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 40
System Protection ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 42
System Restore ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 42
Previous Versions ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 44
Resizing System Protection's Reserved Drive Space .................................................................................................................................. 45
Backing Up & Restoring Passwords ........................................................................................................................................................................ 46
Backing Up Login Password ............................................................................................................................................................................. 46
Restoring Login Password ................................................................................................................................................................................ 46
Recovering Login Password ............................................................................................................................................................................. 47
Storing Passwords .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 47
Recovering Other Passwords ........................................................................................................................................................................... 48
Other Backup Methods ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 48
Third Party Drive Imaging Software ................................................................................................................................................................. 48
Online Backup ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
Custom Backups ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Data Recovery ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Recovering Deleted Files .................................................................................................................................................................................. 51
Permanently Deleting Files ............................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Low Level Format & Zero Fill ............................................................................................................................................................................ 52
System Recovery ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 52
Basic Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 52
System File Checker .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Advanced Boot Options ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 55
Windows System Recovery Options ........................................................................................................................................................................ 57
Startup Repair ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58
System Restore ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58
System Image Recovery .................................................................................................................................................................................... 58
Windows Memory Diagnostic ........................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Command Prompt ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 59
BIOS & Hardware Management ................................................................................................................................ 60
The BIOS ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 60
Post Screen .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 60
BIOS Settings ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 60
BIOS Updates ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Firmware Updates ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Hardware Management .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 62
Handling Hardware ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 62
Thermal Compounds .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 63
Surge Protectors ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Power Supply Unit .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Cooling .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 64
Device Manager ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 67
Resource Allocation ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 68
Device Power Management .............................................................................................................................................................................. 69
Problematic Devices ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 69
Disabling or Removing Unused Devices ........................................................................................................................................................ 70
Devices and Printers ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 71
Device Stage ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 72
Windows Installation ................................................................................................................................................... 74
Prior to Installation ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 74
Check your Hardware and Software for Compatibility ................................................................................................................................. 74
Disable Unused Resources in the BIOS ......................................................................................................................................................... 74
Scan for Malware ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 75
Prepare Backups ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 75
Custom or Upgrade Install & Data Migration ................................................................................................................................................. 75
Modifying The Windows Installation Disc ....................................................................................................................................................... 78
Preparing the Drive ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 80
Formatting ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 80


4

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Partitioning ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82
RAID Configuration ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 84
Dual Boot or Multibooting .................................................................................................................................................................................. 85
32-bit vs. 64-bit ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 86
Installing Windows ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 88
Step 1 - Launch the Installer ............................................................................................................................................................................. 88
Step 2 - Install Now............................................................................................................................................................................................. 89
Step 3 - Get Important Updates for Installation ............................................................................................................................................. 90
Step 4 - Select Upgrade or Custom (Advanced) Install ............................................................................................................................... 90
Step 5 - Where Do You Want to Install Windows .......................................................................................................................................... 90
Step 6 - Automated Installation ........................................................................................................................................................................ 91
Step 7 - Set Up Windows .................................................................................................................................................................................. 91
Step 8 - Windows Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 93
Boot Configuration ...................................................................................................................................................... 95
Boot Files ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 95
Boot Configuration Data ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 95
BCDEdit ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 95
Startup and Recovery ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 96
MSConfig .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 96
EasyBCD .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 97
Custom Boot and Login Screens .............................................................................................................................................................................. 99
Bootdisks ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 99
Windows Activation .................................................................................................................................................. 100
Licensing Agreement ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 100
OEM vs. Upgrade vs. Retail Editions ............................................................................................................................................................ 100
General Conditions of Use .............................................................................................................................................................................. 101
Activation ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 102
Product Key ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 102
Activation Process ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 102
Failed Activation ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 103
Validation .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 104
Failed Validation ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 104
Windows Explorer ..................................................................................................................................................... 105
Basic Features ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 105
Search Box ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 105
Address Bar ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 105
Navigation Pane ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 106
Command Bar ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 109
Folder Views ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 110
Folder Options ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 113
General ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 113
View ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Search ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 116
Personal Folders ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 116
Libraries .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 117
Customizing Libraries ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 118
Disabling Libraries ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 119
Directory J unctions and Symbolic Links ................................................................................................................................................................ 120
Advanced Features ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 122
Set Windows Explorer Startup Folder ........................................................................................................................................................... 122
Manipulate Multiple Files ................................................................................................................................................................................. 122
Explorer Restart substitute for Reboot .......................................................................................................................................................... 123
Dual Window Explorer View ............................................................................................................................................................................ 123
Customize Folder Icons & Folder Pictures ................................................................................................................................................... 124
Expanded Context Menus ............................................................................................................................................................................... 125
Edit Context Menus .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 125
Edit 'Open With' Context Menu ....................................................................................................................................................................... 126
Edit 'Send To' Context Menu .......................................................................................................................................................................... 127
Add 'Copy To' and 'Move To' Context Menu Items ..................................................................................................................................... 127
Add 'Open with Notepad' Context Menu Item .............................................................................................................................................. 127
Increase Menu Display Speed ........................................................................................................................................................................ 128
Fix Changing Folder Views ............................................................................................................................................................................. 128


5

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Windows Drivers ........................................................................................................................................................ 130
Driver Compatibility ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 130
Finding Compatible Drivers ............................................................................................................................................................................. 130
Driver Installation Difficulties ........................................................................................................................................................................... 131
64-bit Compatibility ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 131
Driver Signature ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 132
Signature Warnings .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 132
Signature Verification ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 133
Driver Installation ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 133
Step 1 - Service Packs ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 133
Step 2 - DirectX ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 134
Step 3 - Windows Update ................................................................................................................................................................................ 134
Step 4 - Motherboard Drivers ......................................................................................................................................................................... 136
Step 5 - Graphics Drivers ................................................................................................................................................................................ 137
Step 6 - Sound Drivers ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 138
Step 7 - Peripheral Drivers .............................................................................................................................................................................. 139
Step 8 - Windows Update Revisited .............................................................................................................................................................. 139
Manually Updating or Uninstalling Drivers ............................................................................................................................................................ 140
Viewing Driver Details ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 140
Manually Updating Drivers .............................................................................................................................................................................. 140
Going Back to an Earlier Driver ...................................................................................................................................................................... 141
Selecting Another Installed Driver .................................................................................................................................................................. 142
Uninstalling Drivers ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 142
Removing Stored Drivers ................................................................................................................................................................................ 143
Driver Verifier ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 145
General Driver Tips ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 146
User Accounts ............................................................................................................................................................ 148
User Account Types .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 148
User Account Scenarios ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 149
Managing User Accounts ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 150
Parental Controls ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 151
Advanced Settings .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 154
User Profiles ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 154
Advanced User Accounts Control Panel ....................................................................................................................................................... 155
Hidden Administrator Account ........................................................................................................................................................................ 156
PC Security .................................................................................................................................................................. 158
Security Threats ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 158
Viruses & Worms .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 158
Trojan Horses .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 159
Spyware .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 159
Adware ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 159
Rootkits ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 159
Phishing .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 159
Windows Action Center ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 160
Security Categories .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 160
Disabling Action Center ................................................................................................................................................................................... 161
User Account Control ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 162
The UAC Process ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 162
Detecting Malware Using UAC ....................................................................................................................................................................... 163
File System and Registry Virtualization ........................................................................................................................................................ 165
Customizing UAC .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 166
UAC and the Language Bar ............................................................................................................................................................................ 170
Access Control and Permissions ............................................................................................................................................................................ 171
Taking Ownership ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 171
Altering Permissions ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 171
Windows Defender .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 173
Configuring Windows Defender ...................................................................................................................................................................... 174
Windows Defender Cache ............................................................................................................................................................................... 176
Disabling Windows Defender .......................................................................................................................................................................... 176
Windows Firewall ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 177
Basic Configuration........................................................................................................................................................................................... 177
Advanced Configuration .................................................................................................................................................................................. 178
Local Security Policy ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 179
Account Policies ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 180


6

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Local Policies ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 180
Data Execution Prevention ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 181
Address Space Load Randomization ..................................................................................................................................................................... 182
Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection .......................................................................................................................................... 182
Safe Unlinking ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 182
Kernel Patch Protection ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 183
Encrypting File System ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 183
Backup Encryption Key .................................................................................................................................................................................... 183
BitLocker Drive Encryption ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 184
Essential Additional Security ................................................................................................................................................................................... 185
Malicious Software Removal Tool .................................................................................................................................................................. 186
Microsoft Security Essentials .......................................................................................................................................................................... 186
A-Squared Free ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 189
Spybot Search & Destroy ................................................................................................................................................................................ 190
Phishing Protection ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 191
Firewalls .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 192
Important Security Tips ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 192
Malware Avoidance Methods .......................................................................................................................................................................... 192
Balancing Security vs. Convenience ............................................................................................................................................................. 196
Memory Optimization ................................................................................................................................................ 197
Memory Hardware ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 197
CPU Cache ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 197
Physical RAM .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 197
Video RAM ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 198
Windows Memory Management ............................................................................................................................................................................. 199
Maximum Supported RAM .............................................................................................................................................................................. 199
SuperFetch ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 200
Desktop Windows Manager ............................................................................................................................................................................ 201
Fault Tolerant Heap .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 202
ReadyBoost ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 202
ReadyBoot .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 203
Resource Exhaustion Prevention and Resolution ....................................................................................................................................... 204
Memory Dump ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 204
Virtual Memory .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 206
Upgrading Memory .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 209
Drive Optimization ..................................................................................................................................................... 210
Windows I/O Management ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 210
Hard Disk Drives ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 211
Optical Drives ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 211
Solid State Drives ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 211
Virtual Hard Disk ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 213
Multibooting Windows 7 ................................................................................................................................................................................... 213
Creating a VHD ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 214
Mounting and Detaching a VHD ..................................................................................................................................................................... 215
Accessing a System Image Backup VHD ..................................................................................................................................................... 215
Windows XP Mode ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 215
RAM Disk .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 216
Disk Management ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 217
Disk Diagnostics ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 218
Check Disk ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 218
Drive Controllers ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 219
AutoPlay ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 221
Master File Table ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 221
Windows Disk Defragmenter ................................................................................................................................................................................... 222
Advanced Defragmentation ............................................................................................................................................................................. 223
Windows Control Panel ............................................................................................................................................ 225
Customizing Windows Control Panel ..................................................................................................................................................................... 225
Action Center .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 226
Administrative Tools .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 226
Component Services ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 226
Computer Management ................................................................................................................................................................................... 226
Data Sources (ODBC) ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 226
Event Viewer ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 226
iSCSI Initiator ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 227


7

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Local Security Policy ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 227
Performance Monitor ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 227
Print Management ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 227
Services .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 227
System Configuration ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 227
Task Scheduler ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 227
Windows Firewall with Advanced Security ................................................................................................................................................... 227
Windows Memory Diagnostic ......................................................................................................................................................................... 227
Windows PowerShell Modules ....................................................................................................................................................................... 227
AutoPlay ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 228
Backup and Restore .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 228
BitLocker Drive Encryption ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 228
Color Management .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 228
Credential Manager ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 228
Date and Time ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 228
Date and Time ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 228
Additional Clocks ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 229
Internet Time ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 229
Default Programs ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 229
Set Your Default Programs ............................................................................................................................................................................. 229
Associate a File Type or Protocol with a Program ...................................................................................................................................... 229
Change AutoPlay Settings .............................................................................................................................................................................. 230
Set Program Access and Computer Defaults .............................................................................................................................................. 230
Desktop Gadgets ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 230
Device Manager ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 230
Devices and Printers ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 231
Display ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 231
Ease of Access Center ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 231
Folder Options ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 231
Fonts ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 231
Getting Started ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 231
HomeGroup ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 231
Indexing Options ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 232
Internet Options ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 232
Keyboard ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 232
Location and Other Sensors .................................................................................................................................................................................... 232
Mouse .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 232
Buttons ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 232
Pointer Options .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 233
Wheel .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 233
Network and Sharing Center ................................................................................................................................................................................... 233
Notification Area Icons .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 234
Parental Controls ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 234
Performance Information and Tools ....................................................................................................................................................................... 235
Personalization........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 235
Phone and Modem .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 235
Power Options ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 235
Programs and Features ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 239
Recovery ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 241
Region and Language .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 241
Formats ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 241
Location .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 241
Keyboards and Languages ............................................................................................................................................................................. 241
Administrative .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 242
RemoteApp and Desktop Connections ................................................................................................................................................................. 242
Sound ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 242
Speech Recognition .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 242
Sync Center ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 242
System .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 243
Computer Name ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 243
Hardware ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 243
Advanced ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 243
System Protection ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 244
Remote ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 244
Taskbar and Start Menu ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 244


8

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 244
User Accounts ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 244
Windows CardSpace ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 244
Windows Defender .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 244
Windows Firewall ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 245
Windows Update ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 245
Startup Programs....................................................................................................................................................... 246
Finding Startup Programs ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 246
Microsoft System Configuration Utility .......................................................................................................................................................... 246
Registry Editor ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 247
Autoruns ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 247
Identifying Startup Programs ................................................................................................................................................................................... 248
Removing Startup Programs ................................................................................................................................................................................... 249
Startup Problems ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 249
Regular Maintenance ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 250
Services ........................................................................................................................................................................ 251
Services Utility ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 251
Backing Up Services ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 252
Customizing Services ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 252
Non-Microsoft Services .................................................................................................................................................................................... 256
Change Service Status via Command Line ................................................................................................................................................. 256
Trigger Start Services ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 257
Permanently Deleting Services ...................................................................................................................................................................... 258
Background Tasks ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 259
Task Scheduler ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 259
Force Idle Task Processing ............................................................................................................................................................................. 260
Create a Task .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 260
Windows Registry ...................................................................................................................................................... 262
Backup and Restore the Registry ........................................................................................................................................................................... 262
Backing Up the Entire Registry ....................................................................................................................................................................... 262
Backing Up Portions of the Registry .............................................................................................................................................................. 263
Registry Editor ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 264
Registry Structure ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 264
Editing Registry Entries .................................................................................................................................................................................... 265
Creating and Deleting Registry Entries ......................................................................................................................................................... 266
Registry Permissions ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 267
Maintaining the Registry ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 267
Group Policy ............................................................................................................................................................... 269
Local Group Policy Editor ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 269
Hide Specific Control Panel Items ................................................................................................................................................................. 270
Prevent Access to a Specific Windows Feature .......................................................................................................................................... 270
Prevent Automatic Restore Point Creation................................................................................................................................................... 270
Modify CTRL+ALT+DEL Screen .................................................................................................................................................................... 270
Turn off Thumbnails .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 271
Hide Notification Area ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 271
Turn Off Aero Shake ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 271
Add Search Internet Link to Start Menu ........................................................................................................................................................ 271
Block Removable Storage Access ................................................................................................................................................................. 271
Prevent Windows Media DRM Access.......................................................................................................................................................... 271
Prevent Windows Media Player Codec Download...................................................................................................................................... 272
Handling of Windows Live Mail Attachments ............................................................................................................................................... 272
Windows Search ........................................................................................................................................................ 273
Search Methods ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 273
Search Box ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 273
Advanced Search .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 275
Federated Search ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 277
Search Configuration ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 277
Search Index .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 278
Performance Impact ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 279
Customizing the Index ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 280
Indexing and File Properties ........................................................................................................................................................................... 282
Disabling Windows Search.............................................................................................................................................................................. 282


9

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Internet Explorer ........................................................................................................................................................ 284
Basic Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 284
General ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 284
Security ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 286
Privacy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 287
Content ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 288
Connections ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 288
Programs ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 288
Advanced ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 289
InPrivate Browsing ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 292
InPrivate Filtering .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 292
Accelerators ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 293
Advanced Settings .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 294
Customize Internet Explorer 8's Appearance .............................................................................................................................................. 294
Change or Disable Click Sound ..................................................................................................................................................................... 294
Windows 7-Specific Features ......................................................................................................................................................................... 295
Use Internet Explorer 64-bit ............................................................................................................................................................................ 295
Start with InPrivate Browsing Mode Enabled ............................................................................................................................................... 295
Start with InPrivate Filtering Mode Enabled ................................................................................................................................................. 295
Customize IE Title Bar ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 296
Built-In Flash Blocking ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 296
FTP with Explorer-Based Windows ............................................................................................................................................................... 296
Fix Internet Explorer 8 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 297
Increase Maximum Simultaneous Connections .......................................................................................................................................... 297
DNS Cache Issues ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 297
Other Internet Browsers ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 298
Windows Live Mail ..................................................................................................................................................... 299
Customizing the Interface ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 299
Step 1 - Email Accounts .................................................................................................................................................................................. 300
Step 2 - Import Saved Mail .............................................................................................................................................................................. 300
Step 3 - Folder Pane & Unified Inbox ............................................................................................................................................................ 301
Step 4 - Customize Toolbars and Columns ................................................................................................................................................. 302
Step 5 - Add Color ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 302
Basic Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 303
General ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 303
Read .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 304
Receipts .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 304
Send .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 305
Compose ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 305
Signatures .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 305
Spelling ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 306
Connection ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 306
Advanced ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 306
Safety Options ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 307
Options ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 307
Safe Senders ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 308
Blocked Senders ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 308
International ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 309
Phishing .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 309
Security ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 309
Windows Contacts ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 310
Mail Rules ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 311
Backing Up ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 312
Backing Up Emails ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 312
Backing Up Accounts ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 312
Other EMail Clients ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 312
Windows Media Player ............................................................................................................................................. 313
Initial Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 313
Views ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 314
Library View ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 314
Now Playing View ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 316
Basic Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 317
Player .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 317
Rip Music ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 318


10

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Devices ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 319
Burn ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 319
Performance ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 320
Library ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 321
Plug-ins ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 322
Privacy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 322
Security ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 324
DVD ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 324
Network ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 324
Advanced Features ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 325
Enhancements ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 325
Skins .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 326
Taskbar Player Mode ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 326
Audio & Video Codecs .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 327
Viewing and Editing Codecs ........................................................................................................................................................................... 327
Obtaining Codecs ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 328
Digital Rights Management ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 329
Other Media Players ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 330
Graphics & Sound ..................................................................................................................................................... 331
Windows Aero ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 332
Requirements .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 332
Personalization........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 335
Change the Visuals and Sound on your Computer .................................................................................................................................... 335
Desktop Background ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 335
Windows Color .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 337
Sounds ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 338
Screen Saver ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 338
Saving Themes ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 339
Change Desktop Icons ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 339
Change Mouse Pointers .................................................................................................................................................................................. 339
Change Your Account Picture ........................................................................................................................................................................ 339
Visual Effects ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 340
Display Settings ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 340
Adjust Resolution .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 340
Calibrate Color ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 342
Adjust ClearType text ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 342
Multiple Monitors ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 342
Magnifier ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 343
Taskbar ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 343
Taskbar Icons & Effects ................................................................................................................................................................................... 343
Jump Lists .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 344
Thumbnail and Full Screen Previews ............................................................................................................................................................ 345
Taskbar Customization .................................................................................................................................................................................... 346
Toolbars .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 347
Additional Features ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 348
Start Menu .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 349
Customize Start Menu ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 349
Classic Start Menu ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 353
Notification Area......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 354
Gadgets ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 356
Add or Remove Gadgets ................................................................................................................................................................................. 356
Customize Gadgets .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 357
Image capture and manipulation ............................................................................................................................................................................ 357
Image Capture ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 358
Image Viewing & Editing .................................................................................................................................................................................. 358
Fonts ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 359
Font Clarity ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 359
Font Size ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 360
Font Management ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 360
Custom Fonts .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 360
Icons ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 361
Remove Text from Desktop Icons .................................................................................................................................................................. 362
Remove Shortcut Arrows from Icons ............................................................................................................................................................. 362
Remove '- Shortcut' from New Shortcuts ...................................................................................................................................................... 363
Repair Incorrectly Displayed Icons ................................................................................................................................................................ 363


11

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Save Desktop Icon Positions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 363
Set Spacing Between Icons ............................................................................................................................................................................ 363
Create Custom Shutdown, Restart, Sleep or Lock Icons .......................................................................................................................... 364
Icon Creation and Customization ................................................................................................................................................................... 365
Sound ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 366
Volume Control .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 366
Playback ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 367
Recording ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 368
Sounds ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 369
Gaming ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 370
DirectX 11 and Gaming .................................................................................................................................................................................... 370
Games Explorer ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 370
Older Games...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 374
Overclocking ............................................................................................................................................................... 375
Benefits and Drawbacks ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 375
Benefits ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 375
Drawbacks .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 376
Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 377
CPU Overclocking ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 377
RAM Overclocking ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 377
Graphics Card Overclocking ........................................................................................................................................................................... 378
Voltage Adjustment........................................................................................................................................................................................... 378
Stability ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 379
Power Supply Unit ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 380
Cooling ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 380
Comparing Overclocks ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 380
Researching Overclocking .............................................................................................................................................................................. 381
Performance Measurement & Troubleshooting ................................................................................................. 382
Windows Experience Index ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 382
Windows System Assessment Tool .............................................................................................................................................................. 384
Reliability Monitor ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 385
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 386
Problem Steps Recorder ................................................................................................................................................................................. 387
Windows Action Center ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 387
Event Viewer .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 389
Performance Monitor ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 391
System Health Report ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 392
Resource Monitor ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 392
Task Manager ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 394
Applications ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 394
Processes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 394
Services .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 395
Performance ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 395
Networking ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 397
Users ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 397
General Usage .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 397
Processor Affinity and Priority ......................................................................................................................................................................... 398
Process Explorer ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 399
Windows Memory Diagnostic .................................................................................................................................................................................. 400
Windows Errors .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 401
Third Party Tools ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 402
3DMark ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 402
Unigine Heaven ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 402
RTHDRIBL ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 402
Lightsmark .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 403
FurMark............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 403
Game Benchmarks ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 403
PCMark ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 403
Sandra................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 403
Prime95............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 404
Super PI .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 404
HD Tune ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 405
MemTest ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 405
Memtest86+ ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 405


12

T
a
b
l
e

o
f

C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s

Cleaning Windows ..................................................................................................................................................... 406
Recycle Bin ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 406
Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop ............................................................................................................................................................... 406
Disk Cleanup .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 407
Advanced Disk Cleanup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 408
CCleaner ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 409
Manual Cleaning ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 410
Deleting 'In Use' Files ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 411
Regular Maintenance ................................................................................................................................................ 413
Step 1 - Maintain Security ............................................................................................................................................................................... 413
Step 2 - Check Startup Programs & Services .............................................................................................................................................. 413
Step 3 - Backup ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 413
Step 4 - Clean Windows .................................................................................................................................................................................. 414
Step 5 - Check Disk .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 414
Step 6 - Defragment ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 414
Scheduled Maintenance .................................................................................................................................................................................. 414
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 415
Version History ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 415


13

C
o
p
y
r
i
g
h
t

&

C
r
e
d
i
t
s

COPYRIGHT & CREDITS

The contents of thi s book are Copyri ght Koroush Ghazi and protected under US, Australi an and
Internati onal Copyri ght laws. No unauthori zed reproducti on, al terati on or di stri buti on of the book, i n part
or i n whol e, in any language, i s permi tted. All Trademarks used in thi s publ icati on are the property of their
respecti ve owners.

HOSTING, DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSLATIONS OF THIS BOOK

Reproduci ng, al teri ng, hosti ng, or mass di stri buti ng thi s book i n any way i s not permi tted. The latest version
i s al ways avai labl e from TweakGui des.com.

Transl ati ons of thi s book are not permi tted, as I have absolutel y no way to determi ne the quali ty and
accuracy of any transl ati ons, parti cul arl y gi ven the somewhat compl ex and often del i cate procedures i n thi s
book. Professi onal translati ons of thi s 250,000 word book i nto the mul ti pl e l anguages requi red woul d cost a
great deal , and amateur translati ons are unacceptabl y shoddy.

If you wi sh to spread the word regarding the book, pl ease li nk to the TweakGui des Tweaking Compani on
downl oad page.

I've i nvested a huge amount of ti me and effort i nto creati ng thi s book, and I al so provide a free versi on of
thi s book which i s easil y accessi bl e so that the wi dest possi ble audience can benefi t from i ts contents. There
i s no reason for anyone to publ i cly reproduce or di stri bute thi s book when the l atest versi on i s al ways
avai labl e for free from my si te. Peopl e who host thi s book or porti ons of i t are usual l y doi ng so to generate
easy traffi c, income or credi t for themsel ves usi ng my hard work, whi ch is not acceptable. Appropriate
acti on wi ll be taken agai nst any such i ndi vi dual s who do not respect the concept of author ri ghts.

For those who do not understand the stri ctness of these condi ti ons, pl ease see the TweakGuides FAQ.

CREDITS

Thi s book i s a reference compi l ati on borne out of a great deal of testi ng, research, readi ng and personal
experi ence. I gi ve full credi t to any websi tes and authors l i nked i n this book, as wel l as al l the software
devel opers whose excell ent tool s I recommend i n this book, especi al l y those who provi de thei r software for
free. It i s amazi ng that they i nvest so much ti me and effort i nto devel opi ng and testi ng thei r software and
then provi de i t free to all PC users. I encourage you to support thei r work wi th donati ons and purchases
where rel evant, because givi ng is a two way street.

Thank you to my readers who, si nce TweakGuides began i n Apri l 2004, have provi ded a great deal of
support. From those who support the site by l i nki ng to i t on vari ous websi tes and forums, to those who take
the ti me to wri te to me wi th thoughtful and constructi ve contri buti ons, and i n parti cular to those who
donate to the si te or purchase the Del uxe Edi ti on of the TGTC - I trul y appreci ate i t. The only thi ng whi ch
moti vates me to keep wri ti ng gui des i s the fact that I know there are i ntell i gent peopl e out there who are
pati ent enough to take the ti me to read them, and to use the material i n the spi ri t i n whi ch it i s i ntended: to
l earn more about thei r PCs, and to thi nk for themsel ves and resol ve thei r own probl ems.

Special thanks to Mi crosoft, and i n particular Nestor Porti ll o, for generousl y provi di ng me wi th access to the
fi nal buil d of Wi ndows 7 pri or to i ts publ i c rel ease.


14

I
n
t
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

INTRODUCTION

After much anti ci pati on, Wi ndows 7 was offi cial l y rel eased to the publi c on 22
October 2009. For those of you upgradi ng from Windows XP, many of the
features and functi onal i ty in Wi ndows 7 may be new and confusi ng; for those
accustomed to Wi ndows Vista, they wi l l be much more fami li ar. Regardl ess,
I've made sure that the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for Windows 7 caters
equall y to both categories of users, as well as to those compl etel y new to
Wi ndows.

Wi ndows 7 is an evol uti on of Wi ndows Vista. This shoul d not be consi dered a
bad thi ng; Vista has been unfai rl y maligned. The i mportant thi ng to keep i n
mi nd i s that the jump from Wi ndows XP to Vista was qui te si gni fi cant,
i ntroduci ng a range of i mportant and necessary new technol ogies and
features. In goi ng from Vi sta to Wi ndows 7, Mi crosoft has attempted to refi ne
and buil d on these features - and has done so qui te successfull y i n my
opi ni on.

When examined cl osely, Wi ndows 7 has a large number of improvements over previous versi ons of
Wi ndows, both above and beneath the hood. However there are also some areas where you may fi nd the
changes undesi rabl e. The pri mary ai m of thi s book i s to objecti vel y expl ai n al l the features and functi onal i ty
i n Wi ndows 7 i n an easy to understand manner. The book then provi des detail s on how to customi ze
Wi ndows 7 to better sui t your parti cular tastes and needs, hel ping you to mini mize any negati ve i mpacts
whi ch may flow from the changes, and fi nd better ways of usi ng Wi ndows 7.

As wi th my earli er TweakGuides Tweaking Companions for Wi ndows XP and Windows Vista, fi rst rel eased i n
2005 and 2007 respecti vel y, I understand that the l ength of thi s book wil l no doubt frustrate peopl e who are
l ooki ng for a handful of qui ck fi xes to 'make Wi ndows faster'. Clearl y that is not the sol e ai m of thi s book.
My goal i s to expl ai n how thi ngs work i n si mple but suffi ci ent detai l so that readers can customi ze and
opti mi ze their machi nes appropri ately whi l e l earni ng more about them. Computers are now i ntegral to
many aspects of our l i ves, so i t i s si mply not possi bl e to pretend that i t i s not i mportant to know how they
work. The book i s l ong because I make sure that whether novi ce or advanced, you are gi ven enough details
to actual ly understand the l ogi c behi nd Windows functi onal i ty as wel l as any recommendati ons I provi de,
rather than bei ng treated l ike a small chil d who i s si mpl y tol d to do somethi ng wi thout a second thought.

I promi se you that i f you pati entl y work your way through thi s book over the course of several days, that
you wil l come out at the other end wi th not onl y a better performi ng, more stable and better customized PC,
you wi ll also be much more comfortabl e wi th usi ng Wi ndows 7 on a dai ly basis; the mystery wil l disappear.
More i mportantl y, you wi l l be abl e to better diagnose, i ndeed prevent, any probl ems on your PC i n the
future. In any case, the choice as to how best to use the book is l eft up to you.

In cl osi ng, i f you fi nd the book useful , I ask that you consi der maki ng a donati on or purchasi ng the
enhanced Del uxe Edi ti on of thi s book at www.TweakGui des.com. Thi s support wi l l al l ow me to conti nue
rel easi ng a free versi on of thi s book, and to al so conti nue creati ng new works i n the future.

Cheers,

Koroush Ghazi
Owner/Author
In honor of 2,500 years of Persi an Cul ture
TweakGui des.com
Dedi cated to the nobl e i deal s of Cyrus the Great


15

B
e
f
o
r
e

U
s
i
n
g

T
h
i
s

B
o
o
k

BEFORE USING THIS BOOK

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
There are three key requi rements you must meet to use thi s book successfull y:

You wi l l need access to an Admi ni strator l evel user account to make many of the changes i n thi s book.
The defaul t account created duri ng Windows i nstallati on is one such account. See the User Accounts
chapter for detai ls.
You shoul d prepare backups of all your i mportant data pri or to undertaki ng any of the changes detail ed
i n thi s book. See the Backup & Recovery chapter for detai ls.
You shoul d have a Wi ndows 7 DVD. Thi s i s recommended, as you may not be abl e to reverse certai n
changes wi thout i t. However under Windows 7, PCs wi thout a Wi ndows 7 DVD can access a bui l t-in
System Recovery parti ti on and/or create a System Repai r Disc pri or to proceedi ng, whi ch i s suffi ci ent for
repai ri ng Windows. See the Backup & Recovery chapter for detai l s.

I do not recommend applyi ng any of the changes covered i n this book unl ess you meet al l three of the
requi rements above, however the bare mi ni mum requi rement i s that you must have Admi nistrator access.

DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF WINDOWS
Thi s book i s designed only for Wi ndows 7 - there are separate TweakGui des Tweaki ng Compani on books
for Wi ndows Vi sta and Wi ndows XP, to whi ch users of those operati ng systems shoul d refer. The major
content di fferences between the vari ous edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7 are covered i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e and this
Wiki pedia Arti cl e, and are taken i nto consi derati on and noted throughout thi s book. However there are no
content di fferences between the OEM, Academi c, MSDN, TechNet, Upgrade and Retai l edi tions of Wi ndows
7 - these are all i denti cal in terms of performance and content. The actual di fference i s that certai n l i censing
and usage condi ti ons apply to each of them - see the Wi ndows Acti vati on chapter for detai ls.

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?
There is a di sti nct l ack of pi ctures i n thi s versi on of the book. The Del uxe Edi ti on of this book does contain
detail ed screenshots and il l ustrati ve i mages, as well as other useful features whi ch make usi ng thi s book
much more conveni ent, such as hi gh quali ty text resoluti on for better pri nt quali ty, full bookmarks for
qui cker chapter and secti on access, and the abi li ty to copy text whi ch i s handy for purposes such as correctl y
assi gni ng Regi stry val ues or enteri ng compl ex Command Prompt commands. If you want the book wi th
these features, and more i mportantl y want to show your support, pl ease consi der purchasi ng a Deluxe
Edi ti on from the l i nk above, the el ectroni c versi on of whi ch i s only a few dollars.

WHY IS THE BOOK SO LONG?
Thi s book is intended pri maril y as an educati onal and reference source. It i s not i ntended for peopl e seeki ng
qui ck fi xes. I provi de expl anati ons for a wi de range of features and procedures for a relati vel y broad
audi ence so that anyone can gai n a good understanding of what they're doi ng, and make up thei r own mi nd,
rather than just taki ng my word for i t. I fi rml y bel ieve i n the ol d sayi ng: Give a man a fish and he will eat for a
day; Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. To fi nd i nformati on on any topi c i n the book at any ti me,
you can use the Tabl e of Contents or press CTRL+F to bri ng up the PDF search functi onal i ty. I wil l not be
rel easi ng a cut-down versi on of this book; there are no '10 best tweaks' or a handful of changes which
magi cal l y speed up or fi x Wi ndows 7. It i s a complex i nterrel ationshi p of hardware and software settings
whi ch determi ne how fast and how stabl e your PC runs, and i t requi res understandi ng and thought to
correctl y optimi ze and customi ze a system.


16

B
e
f
o
r
e

U
s
i
n
g

T
h
i
s

B
o
o
k

WHERE DO I START?
Thi s book has been desi gned to cater to both those who are doi ng a new i nstallation of Wi ndows 7 and those
who are usi ng an existi ng i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7. The chapters foll ow a roughl y sequenti al order as to the
types of thi ngs I woul d personal l y configure before and after doi ng a new i nstal lati on. However any chapter
or even any secti on can be read i n any order you wi sh, because where any procedures or detai ls from other
chapters are requi red, they are referenced accordi ngl y. If you don't wi sh to read the book sequentially, I
strongl y recommend readi ng the Basi c PC Termi nol ogy and New & Common Features chapters before
readi ng anythi ng else. Then I suggest becomi ng famil iar wi th the contents of the Wi ndows Expl orer,
Wi ndows Drivers, PC Securi ty and Graphi cs & Sound chapters as soon as possi bl e, as these cover the most
i mportant i nterface, functionali ty and securi ty-rel ated topi cs.

RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE
Li sted throughout thi s book i s a range of software whi ch I recommend to enabl e you to carry out some of the
procedures in the book or to provi de addi ti onal functi onali ty i n Wi ndows. If you do not feel comfortable in
downl oadi ng or i nstal li ng thi s software for whatever reason, you shoul d i gnore those procedures whi ch rel y
upon i t, as none of them are cri ti cal to the functi oni ng of Wi ndows 7. Furthermore, at no poi nt do you have
to purchase any software. I am not pai d or sponsored by any software or hardware company, so I generally
recommend the best free software availabl e to do the job. In a few cases the software may requi re purchase,
but usual ly the tri al versi on of i t retai ns enough functi onal i ty to compl ete the job for whi ch I have
recommended i t. Of course i f you do find any of the software useful I encourage you to purchase i t or donate
to the software's author. Not everythi ng on the Internet i s free, nor should i t be.

PROBLEMS WITH THE BOOK
Whi le I have made every effort to ensure that thi s book i s as cl ear and accurate as i t can be, I hope you can
appreciate the fact that I cannot possi bly test the i nformati on and recommendati ons i n thi s book on every
potenti al combi nati on of PC hardware and software avail abl e. If there i s anythi ng i n the book whi ch you
bel i eve is genui nel y i naccurate or mi sleadi ng, or if you just want to report a broken l i nk, pl ease Emai l Me
wi th speci fi c detail s and i f appropriate I wi ll recti fy i t i n the next versi on of the book. You can also emai l me
i f you wi sh to share any general feedback or thoughts you have about the book.

However I must stress that the book i s provi ded 'as i s', and I cannot provi de techni cal support of any ki nd. It
si mpl y i sn't vi abl e or appropri ate for me to do so, so under no ci rcumstances wi ll I provide personal ized
opti mi zati on, customizati on or purchasing advi ce/feedback, or any other form of techni cal support rel ated to
the i nformation i n thi s book. The whole reason for wri ti ng this book i s to give each and every reader a
thorough rundown on all the steps necessary to customi ze and opti mi ze their system. As such, there are
suffi ci ent resources and l inks i n this book to hel p anyone learn more about thei r system and sol ve most any
probl em when combi ned wi th addi ti onal research and thought.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
The basi c theme throughout thi s book is that as l ong as you read and consi der the advi ce gi ven careful l y and
use common sense when appl yi ng any changes, you wi ll remai n probl em-free. I have made every reasonable
effort to ensure that the contents of thi s book are compl etel y accurate to the best of my knowl edge, and that
the si tes and uti li ti es li nked to i n the book are free from any malware or decepti ve practi ces at the ti me of
wri ti ng. In all respects the book is safe to use i f fol lowed correctl y, wi th careful consi derati on and taki ng
appropriate precautions. However for l egal reasons I cannot take any responsibi l i ty for any damage or l oss
i ncurred through the use of thi s book. It is a condition of use for this book that you agree to take full
responsibility for any of your actions resulting from reading this book. If you do not wish to take full
responsi bi li ty for usi ng thi s book and any resul ti ng impacts, then do not proceed any further - cl ose the book
i mmediatel y.


17

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

BASIC PC TERMINOLOGY

Thi s chapter expl ai ns i n layman's terms commonl y used techni cal termi nol ogy. Al l of the major hardware
components found i n a modern PC are also covered. Whi l e advanced users may want to skip thi s chapter,
everyone shoul d read the Bi ts & Bytes secti on bel ow to cl ari fy a common poi nt of confusi on.

BITS & BYTES
You wi ll often see the terms Bi ts, Bytes, Kil obytes, Megabytes and Gi gabytes (or thei r abbrevi ations) bei ng
thrown around. Understandi ng these is very i mportant to l earni ng more about PC usage. To start wi th, a Bi t
(Bi nary Digi t) i s the l owest form of computer i nformati on, and can take the value 0 or 1 (i.e. Off or On). Al l
computer functi onali ty i s deri ved from the behavi or of bi ts. For the purposes of thi s book, the most common
uni ts of measurement are:

8 bi ts (b) = 1 Byte (B)
1,024 Bytes = 1 Kil obyte (KB)
1,024 Ki l obytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
1,024 Megabytes = 1 Gi gabyte (GB)

Note that bi ts are shown as a smal l 'b', and Bytes are shown as a capi tal B - thi s is an i mportant di sti ncti on.
For exampl e 512kbps is 512 ki l obits per second, whi ch converts to 64KB/s (Ki l obytes per second).

For most users, knowi ng the above conversi on factors i s suffi ci ent for understandi ng the termi nol ogy used
i n thi s book and around the Internet, as wel l as for general PC usage. However stri ctl y speaki ng, the values
shown above are not correct, as explained i n thi s arti cl e. The discrepancy stems from the fact that the
commonl y used metri c prefi xes Kil o, Mega, Gi ga and so forth are based on the deci mal (base ten) system,
whi l e as noted, computers are based on the behavi or of bi ts, whi ch i s a bi nary (two di gi t) system. Therefore
whi l e 8 bi ts sti l l equals 1 Byte under ei ther system, the correct prefi xes to use i n other cases are:

1,024 Bytes = 1 Kibibyte (KiB) 1,000 Bytes = 1 Kil obyte (KB)
1,024 Ki bi bytes = 1 Mebibyte (Mi B) 1,000 Ki l obytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
1,024 Mebi bytes = 1 Gibibyte (Gi B) 1,000 Megabytes = 1 Gi gabyte (GB)

What's the di fference? Wel l one Kil obyte (KB) actuall y equal s 1,000 bytes, since 'ki l o' i s a deci mal prefi x
meani ng 'thousand'. Yet one Ki l obyte as i nterpreted by a computer i s actuall y 1,024 bytes, so 'kil o' i s not the
appropriate prefi x to use, Ki bi byte (Ki B) i s the correct term referri ng to mul ti ples of 1,024 bytes. Thi s
di screpancy may seem minor at fi rst - onl y 24 bytes di fference between 1KB and 1KiB - but as the values
grow, i t becomes more si gni ficant, so i t i s i mportant to understand the di fference. Thi s is parti cularly true
because hardware and software manufacturers often use these prefi xes differentl y, causi ng PC users a great
deal of confusi on.

The best practi cal example of thi s di screpancy is dri ve capaci ty. A dri ve adverti sed as havi ng 150GB of
storage space i s a techni cal l y correct use of the term Gi gabyte, because i t holds 150,000,000,000 Bytes of
storage. However purchasers of the drive soon become confused when they see that Wi ndows typi call y
reports the dri ve as havi ng onl y 139GB of usabl e space. Thi s i s because 150,000,000,000 Bytes translates to
139GiB i n the bi nary system the computer uses, as opposed to 150GB i n the deci mal system, but Wi ndows
i ncorrectly shows GB i nstead of Gi B. Thi s resul ts i n many users feel i ng ri pped off because thei r usabl e dri ve
space does not match the adverti sed storage capacity. As dri ve capaci ti es grow, the di screpancy between
advertised and reported space becomes much larger, causi ng even greater concern among consumers.


18

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

In any case, to avoid further confusi on, throughout thi s book I wil l conti nue to refer to val ues based on the
accepted (but techni call y inaccurate) common usage, i .e. the way i n whi ch hardware manufacturers report
them, and the way i n whi ch Wi ndows reports them, despi te the di screpancy. Eventuall y however
wi despread adopti on of the correct terms wil l be necessary to prevent growi ng consumer confusi on.

DATA
In the context of PCs and technol ogy, Data i s a general term referri ng to any amount or type of i nformation
whi ch is stored and used by a computer.

PC
A Personal Computer (PC), also referred to as a System, Machi ne, Ri g or Box, i s a coll ecti on of hardware
(el ectroni c components) whi ch functi on as a uni fi ed system through the use of software (programmed
i nstructi ons).

CPU
The Central Processi ng Unit (CPU), also referred to as the Processor, i s the si ngl e most i mportant component
of a PC. The CPU chi p i s typi cal ly a small thi n square chi p whi ch i s seated fi rml y on your Motherboard, and
usual l y covered by a large metal heatsi nk and fan to cool i t. The CPU control s and co-ordi nates the acti ons of
the enti re PC under i nstructi on from software. It has the rol e of determi ni ng whi ch hardware component
does what, assigni ng tasks and undertaki ng compl ex cal culati ons whi ch are then fed through the vari ous
rel evant components and back.

MOTHERBOARD
The Motherboard, also called a Mai nboard or Mobo, i s the l arge rectangul ar Pri nted Ci rcui t Board (PCB) i nto
whi ch all of the el ectroni c components are connected i n a PC. The motherboard is typi call y fi rml y attached
to the i nsi de of a PC Case. The motherboard provi des a network of pathways for the CPU to communi cate
wi th the various hardware components, and a range of ports for standard peri pheral s and other devi ces to
pl ug i nto the PC.

MEMORY
A PC uses several different types of Computer Memory to store data, whether temporaril y or permanently,
for the purposes of speeding up processi ng performance. Memory chi ps are fast because unl i ke other forms
of data storage, such as physi cal Hard Dri ves or Opti cal Dri ves, they have no movi ng parts. The mai n types
of PC memory are covered bel ow:

Random Access Memory (RAM), al so call ed System RAM or si mpl y just Memory, i s the most common form
of hardware used by a PC. RAM usually comes i n the form of a l ong thi n PCB sti ck (a DIMM) that plugs into
the motherboard and through i t provi des a place for the CPU and other components to temporaril y store
any data which the system needs to rapidl y access. RAM only holds data whi l e i t has a source of power; if a
PC i s rebooted or swi tched off, any data i n RAM i s i nstantl y l ost. For thi s reason, this type of memory i s
referred to as Volati le Memory.

Read Onl y Memory (ROM) i s a more permanent form of memory, and works si mi lar to RAM, however
unl ike RAM it can onl y be read from and not wri tten to under normal ci rcumstances. Furthermore i t wi l l not
cl ear when i t has no source of power; that i s, when the system i s rebooted or swi tched off i t does not l ose i ts
contents. For thi s reason, thi s type of memory i s referred to as Non-Vol atil e Memory. ROM is pri mari l y used
to hol d smaller amounts of i mportant data, such as the Basi c Input Output System (BIOS) - the program
whi ch tel ls the computer how to functi on when i t i s fi rst swi tched on - stored on the ROM chi p i n the
motherboard. Certai n ROMs can be wri tten to by use of a process call ed Fl ashing, such as when the BIOS is
flashed wi th a newer version of i ts programmi ng.


19

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

The CPU and other hardware such as hard dri ves often have small memory chips of thei r own call ed Caches
to temporari ly hol d data. Thi s memory i s typi call y a smal ler RAM chi p and is used as another poi nt of
temporary storage to further speed up data transfers.

STORAGE DRIVES
As noted under Memory above, RAM i s only a temporary form of storage, and whi l e able to store data
permanentl y i n the absence of power, ROM has typi call y been too small to store l arge volumes of data, and
i s al so not desi gned for bei ng frequently wri tten to. Therefore modern computers empl oy one or more of
several forms of storage dri ves desi gned to permanentl y hol d data i n l arge quanti ti es and wi th varyi ng
degrees of portabi li ty. Storage dri ves pl ug i nto one of four mai n types of drive control l ers found on the
motherboard, l isted from slowest to fastest bel ow:

Fl oppy Di sk Control l er (FDC);
Integrated Dri ve El ectroni cs (IDE) / Paral l el ATA (PATA);
Serial ATA (SATA); or
Smal l Computer System Interface (SCSI), i ncludi ng Seri al Attached SCSI (SAS).

The control l er avail abl e for any parti cular dri ve to use depends on both the dri ve type and the motherboard
type. Some storage dri ves can also plug i nto the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of a PC, however thi s i s a
mul ti-purpose port and not a dedi cated dri ve control ler, so i t i s not l i sted above.

The vari ous types of dri ve hardware are covered bel ow:

A Hard Disk Dri ve (HDD) i s a magnetic storage devi ce that acts li ke Memory, except i t i s semi -permanent,
sl ower and far larger i n capaci ty. The hard dri ve is a rectangul ar metal li c box i nside which i s a stack of
round pl atters and a read/wri te head. Whenever the PC requi res data, i t must fi rst be read from the hard
dri ve, usual ly i nto RAM, from where it i s then accessed by the CPU and other devi ces. Data wri tten to the
hard dri ve wi l l remai n on the dri ve regardl ess of whether the system i s rebooted or swi tched off. Because a
hard dri ve has movi ng physi cal components, such as the read/wri te head and a spi nni ng di sk, i t can never
be as fast as memory chi ps - whi ch have no movi ng parts - i n provi di ng data. As a resul t, a system may sl ow
down or stutter whi le wai ti ng for more data to be l oaded up from or wri tten to a hard dri ve. The amount of
data stored on the hard dri ve i tsel f usuall y has no signi fi cant i mpact on i ts performance, however if the data
on the dri ve becomes fragmented, thi s wi ll reduce performance.

A Sol id State Dri ve (SSD) is a memory-based storage devi ce whi ch combi nes the advantages of the speed of
computer memory wi th the more permanent nature and larger capaci ti es of hard di sk dri ves. By usi ng a
type of Non-Volati le memory call ed Fl ash Memory, whi ch i s si mil ar to ROM as covered under the Memory
secti on above, an SSD can store data even when the PC i s rebooted or swi tched off. Unl i ke a hard dri ve, an
SSD has no mechani cal movi ng parts, and as such i s much faster i n accessi ng i ts stored data. As SSDs
become cheaper, faster and more reli abl e, they are steadil y replaci ng hard di sk dri ves for consumer PC
usage. Wi ndows 7 is the fi rst versi on of Windows to provi de ful l support for SSDs.

An Opti cal Di sc Dri ve i s a di sc-based data storage devi ce that reads from and someti mes wri tes data onto
CD, DVD or Bl u-Ray discs vi a laser or other l ight-based methods, hence the use of the term 'opti cal '. These
portabl e discs permanently hol d thi s data unti l overwri tten or deleted. Opti cal dri ves usual ly come i n pl asti c
rectangular boxes wi th a loadi ng sl ot or extendabl e tray i n the front. Whi l e much sl ower than hard dri ves or
SSDs due to physi cal l i mi tati ons, the mai n advantage of opti cal dri ves i s the portabi li ty and relati vel y l ow
cost of their medi a, al ong wi th the fact that such medi a can al so be pl ayed on a variety of non-PC devi ces,
such as standal one DVD or Blu-Ray players. Note that the term disk usual ly refers to magneti c media, li ke a
fl oppy di sk, whi l e the term disc refers to opti cal medi a, such as a DVD di sc.


20

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

A Fl oppy Disk Dri ve (FDD) is a magneti c storage devi ce whi ch reads and writes data on thi n plasti c 3.5"
Fl oppy Di sks. The fl oppy dri ve comes i n a rectangul ar plasti c box wi th a l oadi ng sl ot at the front and a
manual ejection button. Floppy dri ves are extremely sl ow compared to any other form of dri ve, and al so
hol d very l i ttl e data (around 1.44MB), and hence are a l egacy devi ce no l onger used on most modern PCs.
Some PC users retai n a fl oppy dri ve for Wi ndows recovery purposes, or to flash the BIOS, however thi s is no
l onger necessary as most modern PCs now full y support the use of opti cal di scs or USB dri ves for these
purposes i nstead. In fact the onl y major advantage of fl oppy dri ves - the relati ve portabi li ty of thei r 3.5" disk
medi a - has been compl etel y superseded by USB dri ves whi ch are much smaller, faster, sturdi er and more
rel iabl e, and can hol d several GB of data as opposed to just 1.44MB.

A USB Flash Dri ve i s extremel y si mi lar to an SSD, i n that i t al so uses Non-Volati l e Flash memory to store
data. However USB dri ves are typi cally much smaller i n capaci ty and physi cal size, and offer much sl ower
performance and rel iabi li ty than an SSD. Thei r main advantage i s that of l ow cost and portabi li ty due to
thei r very small size, whi ch i s why they are also known as thumb or key dri ves. They pl ug i nto a standard
external USB port on a PC, maki ng them much easi er to use for connecti ng to and transferring data between
di fferent PCs, si nce unl ike a standard dri ve they do not need to be connected to a motherboard dri ve
control l er found i nsi de a PC.

GRAPHICS CARD
The Graphi cs Card, also call ed the Vi deo Card, GPU, Graphi cs Adapter or VGA Adapter, is a mi niature
computer of i ts own dedicated solel y to processi ng compl ex graphi cs-related data. It i s a thi n rectangular
pl astic PCB wi th a Graphi cs Processi ng Uni t (GPU), also known as the Core, and Vi deo RAM (VRAM), al so
known as Video Memory. The GPU and VRAM are the graphi cs-speci fi c equi val ents of the CPU and System
RAM on a PC, and the graphi cs card i tself has Pi peli nes for transferri ng data internall y, simi lar to the data
pathways on a motherboard. The graphi cs card pl ugs i nto the motherboard through one of the fol l owi ng
i nterfaces, sorted from sl owest to fastest:

Peri pheral Component Interconnect (PCI);
Accel erated Graphi cs Port (AGP); or
Peri pheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E).

Graphi cs cards typi call y come wi th some form of cool i ng encl osure bui l t around them, to ensure that the
GPU and the VRAM remain cool enough to operate correctl y. The graphi cs card undertakes the majori ty of
2D and 3D graphi cs cal culati ons under Wi ndows 7, and also sends data di rectl y to a Di splay Devi ce. Some
motherboards have bui l t-in graphi cs functi onali ty that works i n much the same way as a pl ug-i n graphi cs
card, but i s referred to as Onboard or Integrated Graphi cs. PCs wi th such graphi cs functionali ty typi cally
process graphi cs-related data far less qui ckly than those wi th pl ug-in graphi cs cards.

DISPLAY DEVICE
A Di splay Devi ce, more commonl y referred to as the Moni tor, is the devi ce through whi ch the PC's data
output i s di spl ayed graphi cal ly. Thi s graphi cal data typi cal ly comes di rectl y from the graphi cs card, and a
di splay device must be pl ugged i nto the graphi cs card to faci l i tate thi s. Some computers sti ll have a
tradi ti onal Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) moni tor as thei r pri mary di splay device, however most modern PC
moni tors now uti l ize Liqui d Crystal Di splay (LCD) technol ogy. Furthermore a modern PC can al so be
pl ugged i nto a tel evi si on set of any type, such as CRT, LCD, Pl asma, Rear or Front Projector, and other
si mil ar technol ogy sets if the user desi res, or even a combi nati on of mul ti pl e displ ays at once i f the graphi cs
card supports such functi onali ty.

Di splay devices have the abi li ty to di spl ay graphi cs at vari ous Di splay Resol uti ons, typi cally expressed in
number of Pixel s wi de by number of Pixel s hi gh (e.g. 1920 x 1200). A Pi xel i s the small est component of a
di gi tal i mage, thus the hi gher the resoluti on, the more pi xel s are displayed on the display devi ce and the


21

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

cl earer the i mage. At each resol uti on a di spl ay devi ce can al so redraw the i mage a number of ti mes per
second, referred to as the Refresh Rate whi ch is expressed i n hertz (Hz). Refresh rate i s not to be confused
wi th Frame Rate, whi ch is expressed in Frames Per Second (FPS). Refresh rate i s a physi cal li mi tati on of a
di splay devi ce i n refreshi ng the i mage on the screen a certai n number of ti mes per second. Frame rate on the
other hand is the number of ti mes per second that the software and graphi cs devi ce can provi de a whole
new frame of i magery.

SOUND CARD
The Sound Card, also call ed the Audi o Card or Audio Devi ce, i s a thi n PCB that acts as a dedi cated CPU for
cal culati on of audi o data. It typi cal ly pl ugs i nto the motherboard, and usual l y has no form of cooli ng
encl osure around i t. Some motherboards have buil t-in audi o functi onal i ty that works i n much the same way
as a sound card, but i s referred to as Onboard or Integrated Sound. PCs wi th such audi o functi onali ty may
process audio-related data l ess qui ckly or wi th l ess addi ti onal functi onali ty than those usi ng pl ug-i n sound
cards.

SPEAKERS
A PC usually comes wi th some form of sound output devi ce, typi cal ly a bui l t-i n PC speaker to provi de
audi bl e warni ngs i n the form of beeps or tones. Users wi th a Sound Card or Integrated Sound can attach
more functi onal sound output devi ces, such as Speakers or Headphones, directl y i nto the sound card or
i ntegrated sound devi ce through the back of the PC. The addi ti on of speakers or headphones all ows the user
to experi ence hi gher quali ty sound and also a potentiall y hi gher number of di screte Audi o Channels whi ch
can i ncrease the reali sm of sound reproducti on.

POWER SUPPLY UNIT
The Power Suppl y Uni t (PSU) i s a square metal box whi ch i s connected to mai ns power from the back of the
PC, and i nsi de the PC i s cabl ed to several major components, as wel l as to the motherboard whi ch regul ates
thi s power to the remai ni ng components. Thus the PSU i s the primary source of power which all ows the PC
to functi on; if the PSU cannot provi de suffi ci ent stabl e power to the hardware components of a PC, i t can
cause errati c behavi or or even a fail ure to start up.

COOLING DEVICES
El ectroni c components can generate a great deal of heat, especi all y when under heavy l oad. The hardware
components i n a PC most suscepti ble to heat buildup, such as the CPU and GPU, come wi th cool ing
sol uti ons designed to di ssipate the heat i nto the surroundi ng ai r. The two most common types of PC Cool ing
sol uti ons used are:

A Heatsi nk i s a square or rectangul ar sol id metal object typi cal ly wi th a perfectl y flat surface on one side,
and mul ti pl e spi nes, fi ns or rods on the other si de(s). The rol e of a heatsi nk is to si t on top of the component
to be cool ed, and draw out the heat from the component through conducti on. Thi s heat then travels al ong
the heatsi nk unti l cool er air and a large surface area hel p i n accel erati ng the dissi pati on of the heat.

A Fan i s designed to draw i n col d ai r or expel hot ai r. Fans can ei ther be empl oyed on thei r own, such as case
fans whi ch simpl y suck i n or bl ow out ai r from a PC case; or they can be mounted on or near heatsi nks to
assi st i n more rapi dly removi ng the heat drawn out from hardware components. The larger the fan and/or
the faster i t rotates, the greater the vol ume of ai r i t can move, hence the greater the potenti al cooli ng, at the
cost of addi tional noi se.

Other forms of cool i ng, such as Watercool i ng, are much l ess common due to thei r addi ti onal cost, risk and
compl exi ty.


22

B
a
s
i
c

P
C

T
e
r
m
i
n
o
l
o
g
y

CASE
The PC Case i s a hardened structure, usual l y made of thi n but strong metal and/or pl asti c, whi ch encl oses all
the PC components and onto whi ch the motherboard i s fi rml y attached. The case provi des the basic
framework requi red for holdi ng together and protecting al l the components of a modern PC. However a case
also i ncreases the potenti al for heat bui ldup around components, and can also trap dust whi ch can cause
hardware to overheat and malfuncti on if not cleaned out regularly.

PERIPHERAL
Peri pheral i s a general term referri ng to any devi ce attached or used external ly to a PC, such as a mouse,
keyboard or pri nter for exampl e. The term specifi cally i ndi cates that the devi ce tends to li e outsi de the cl ose
peri phery of the PC case. The onl y thi ng peri pheral s have i n common wi th each other i s that they provi de
addi ti onal i nput and output capabi li ti es to a PC.

OPERATING SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE
The Operati ng System (OS), such as Windows 7, i s a vi tal pi ece of software - a compi lati on of i nstructi ons
that tel l s all the hardware and software components i n a PC how to functi on to achi eve particular outcomes
i n a uni fi ed manner. An OS is a necessi ty on all modern PCs si nce wi thout an overarchi ng program to
provi de core functi onali ty, al l the computer components woul d not be abl e to functi on as a si ngl e machine.
The OS also provi des the mai n i nterface for users to i nteract wi th the PC hardware and software.

Software i s a more general term, referri ng to a col l ecti on of programmed i nstructi ons whi ch through
i nteracti on wi th hardware provi de vari ous functi onality on a PC. Whi le the OS i tself is part of the software
on a PC, and provi des a great deal of functi onali ty, addi ti onall y i nstall ed software provi des further
functi onali ty to perform more speci al ized tasks, such as word processi ng or gami ng.

Hopeful ly the i nformati on i n this chapter has hel ped you to better understand common techni cal
termi nol ogy used throughout thi s book. I encourage you to research further about any particular concept or
component whi ch may confuse or i ntri gue you, as i t i s i mportant to have a sol id groundi ng i n the basi c
concepts and terms before movi ng on to more advanced material. The better you understand the basi cs, the
more readil y you wi ll grasp the more compl ex topi cs covered i n this book.


23

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

NEW & COMMON FEATURES

Thi s chapter bri efl y covers the most i mportant and most commonl y used features of Wi ndows 7, some of
whi ch have exi sted i n one form or another i n previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, and some of whi ch are enti rely
new. Ful l detail s of all of these features are provi ded i n the rel evant chapters of thi s book as i ndi cated. Do
not ski p thi s chapter - i t i s a crash course i n the fundamental features referred to often throughout thi s book,
so you need to be famil iar wi th al l of them before del vi ng further i nto Wi ndows 7.

WINDOWS AERO
Wi ndows Aero i s the gl ass-l ike user i nterface fi rst i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista. It has had some
modi fi cati ons and new features added to i t as of Wi ndows 7. When Aero i s enabl ed, the Wi ndows Desktop
i s no l onger a si mpl e 2D envi ronment; i t can have both 2D and 3D el ements at the same ti me. To qui ckl y see
i f you are currentl y running full Aero, and to demonstrate i ts 3D capabil i ti es, press WINDOWS+TAB to
tri gger the Fl ip 3D task switchi ng function.

In Wi ndows 7 the performance of Aero and rel ated graphi cs i nterface functi onal i ty has been i mproved. For
those who do not l i ke Aero or do not have the graphi cs hardware to support i t runni ng smoothl y, the Aero
i nterface can be di sabl ed by ri ght-cl i cki ng on the Desktop, sel ecti ng Personali ze, and then sel ecti ng the
Wi ndows 7 Basi c theme. However the Aero i nterface i n Wi ndows 7 is desi rabl e because asi de from i ts
aestheti c appeal, i t al so al lows a range of useful functi ons, i ncl udi ng:

Thumbnail and Full Screen Previews - Movi ng your mouse poi nter over the i con for an acti ve program i n the
Taskbar bri ngs up l i ve Thumbnail Previ ew(s) of i ts current contents, as i t di d i n Vista. You can go to any
acti ve program or wi ndow by l eft-cl i cki ng i ts Thumbnai l Preview, and you can also cl ose i t by cl i cki ng the
red X i n the Thumbnail Previ ew. Addi ti onall y i n Wi ndows 7, i f you move your mouse poi nter over a specific
Thumbnail Previ ew, a Full Screen Previ ew suddenly appears. Move your mouse away from the Thumbnail
Previ ew and the Full Screen Preview di sappears.

Flip & Flip 3D - Wi ndows Fli p i s essenti all y the ALT+TAB task swi tchi ng functi on avai labl e i n previ ous
versi ons of Wi ndows. However under the Aero i nterface, accessi ng Fli p by usi ng ALT+TAB bri ngs up a set
of thumbnai l previ ews of all open wi ndows. Furthermore, by using WINDOWS+TAB for Fl i p 3D, you can
swi tch to an ani mated 3D representati on of all open wi ndows.

Aero Peek - New to Wi ndows 7, i f you want to qui ckl y glance at what is currentl y on your Windows Desktop,
you don't need to mi ni mize or cl ose your open windows. Move your mouse poi nter over the small glassy
rectangle at the far right of the Wi ndows Taskbar next to the cl ock i n the Notifi cati on Area to i nstantly make
everythi ng i n front of the Desktop transparent. Move i t away to agai n see your wi ndows as before. If i nstead
you cl i ck on the rectangl e, you wi ll i nstantl y swi tch to the Desktop, and cli cki ng i t agai n wi ll restore al l
mi ni mized wi ndows.

Aero Snap - Wi ndows 7 now provi des nati ve support for the use of basi c mouse gestures on the Wi ndows
Desktop. The two most common categori es of mouse gestures are call ed Aero Snap and Aero Shake. Aero
Snap al l ows you to qui ckly resize open wi ndows by draggi ng the wi ndow i n a parti cul ar di recti on. Drag an
open wi ndow to the far left or far ri ght edges of the screen and i t resizes, or 'snaps', to take up exactly half
the screen. Drag a wi ndow to the very top of the screen and i t becomes maxi mized. Drag a maxi mi zed
wi ndow downwards and it converts to its regular windowed mode.


24

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

Aero Shake - Based on the same pri nci pl e as Aero Snap, Aero Shake al lows you to qui ckl y mini mize al l open
wi ndows except one. Grab and rapi dl y shake the window of your choi ce l eft and right and/or up and down
repeatedl y to mi ni mize all other open wi ndows at once. Doi ng the same thing agai n wil l restore all the
wi ndows to thei r previ ous state.

Gadgets - Fi rst avai labl e i n Vi sta as part of the Windows Si debar, Windows 7 has removed the Si debar and
now onl y has free-fl oati ng Gadgets whi ch also use l ess resources. Gadgets are small graphi cal appli cati ons
whi ch si t on your Desktop and can provi de a range of useful i nformati on and functi onal i ty at a gl ance.

For detail s of how to use and customize these and other i nterface features see the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

TASKBAR
The Wi ndows Taskbar i s the bar whi ch l i es across the bottom of the screen. Windows 7 bri ngs a noticeable
change to the way the Taskbar is displ ayed and used, maki ng i t a uni fi ed l ocation for i nteracti ng wi th
programs i n a range of ways. By defaul t the Taskbar is now full y transparent and sli ghtly larger, wi th bi gger
i cons representi ng both those programs whi ch are permanentl y pinned to the Taskbar, as wel l as programs
currentl y open i n Wi ndows. The i cons are now freel y rearrangeable on the Taskbar, whether pi nned or not.
Addi ti onal l y, under the Aero i nterface the Taskbar provi des extra functi onal i ty i n the form of thumbnail
previ ews. The other key features of the Taskbar i nclude:

Jump Lists - When a Taskbar i con i s right-cl icked, or if the i con i s dragged upwards, a context menu of
vari ous opti ons known as a Jump Li st appears. Commonl y the Jump Li st wil l show any recentl y opened fi l es
or fol ders for the program, all ow the user to pi n/unpi n the program to the taskbar, and also provi de the
abi li ty to open new i nstances of the program, as wel l as cl ose any exi sti ng instances of i t. Other features
avai labl e on the Jump Li st depend on the l evel of support the appl i cati on has for thi s new functi onal i ty in
Wi ndows 7.

Notification Area - Al so referred to as the System Tray in previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, the Noti fi cati on Area
i s the smal l secti on of the Taskbar whi ch by defaul t shows the ti me and date, as wel l as the small Volume,
Network and Acti on Center i cons. Addi ti onal i cons may appear in thi s area dependi ng on how i ndi vi dual
programs are set up to noti fy the user. In Wi ndows 7 the Noti fi cati on Area has had some changes,
parti cul arl y wi th the addi ti on of the Aero Peek i tem, and the fact that by defaul t i t hi des most i cons unti l
otherwi se customi zed by the user - these hi dden i tems can be accessed by cli cki ng the small whi te tri angl e to
the l eft of the Noti fi cati on Area. You may also noti ce that the Network i con i s no l onger animated to show
Internet traffic acti vi ty.

Start Menu - The Start Menu i s accessed vi a the Start button at the far l eft of the Taskbar. The Start Menu
all ows users to pi n a range of shortcuts on the l eft side, as wel l as access documents and several commonl y-
used Wi ndows features on the ri ght side of i t, i n one easi ly accessi bl e l ocati on. It al so contains a Search Box
at the bottom whi ch provides easy access to the Wi ndows Search functi onali ty. The Start Menu has not been
si gni fi cantl y changed si nce Vista, however i t i s notabl y different from that used i n XP. The most noti ceabl e
change for all users i s that the l i nks to personal fol ders are now to the rel evant Li brary, and not di rectl y to
the fol der i tsel f. Jump l ists are now al so avai labl e for di spl ayi ng recentl y opened fil es for certai n programs
that are pi nned to the Start Menu, denoted by a small black arrow to the ri ght of the pi nned item. Note that
Cl assi c Vi ew i s no l onger avail able for the Start Menu.

More detai ls of the Taskbar and Start Menu can be found i n the Graphi cs & Sound chapter; the Search Box is
covered i n the Wi ndows Search chapter.


25

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

WINDOWS EXPLORER
Wi ndows Expl orer is the mai n i nterface used to mani pulate fi l es and fol ders in Windows. It can be opened
vi a the Computer i tem on the Start Menu, by pressi ng WINDOWS+E, or by cli cki ng the yellow fol der i con
found on the Taskbar. Many of the i nterfaces i n Wi ndows are based on Wi ndows Expl orer. Whi le Wi ndows
Expl orer shoul d be famil iar to users of previ ous Wi ndows versi ons, the major changes and features of
Wi ndows Expl orer i n Wi ndows 7 i ncl ude:

Libraries - The most noti ceabl e change in Wi ndows Expl orer, Li brari es are vi rtual fol ders not to be confused
wi th the tradi ti onal My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos user-specifi c personal fol ders.
Al though the defaul t Li braries have simi lar names to these user di rectories, Li brari es are a user-defi ned
vi rtual col l ecti on of content, not an actual directory or storage l ocation i n thei r own ri ght. Li brary fol ders are
all hel d under the Li brari es category i n Wi ndows Expl orer, whereas your personal fol ders are l ocated under
the \Users\[Username] di rectory by defaul t. The key di fference i s that Li brari es can provi de a uni fi ed di splay
of the contents of vari ous di rectories. For exampl e, you can add all the vari ous fol ders under whi ch you
store pi ctures and photographs across your dri ve(s) to the Pi ctures l i brary, and it wi ll then displ ay all these
fi les i n a si ngl e vi ew, sorted to sui t your taste. Your ori gi nal fil es and fol ders remai n where they are, but the
Li brary all ows you to manipul ate and view these fil es i n a si ngl e l ocati on.

Li brari es are ti ghtl y i ntegrated i nto Windows 7. For exampl e, the Documents, Pi ctures, Musi c and Videos
i tems on the Start Menu al l poi nt to the Li brari es of the same name, not your personal folders; when you
open Wi ndows Expl orer, by defaul t the Li brari es folders are exposed, even if you l i nk di rectl y to a parti cular
user di rectory; and some appl icati ons such as Windows Media Pl ayer 12 incorporate the media-related
Li brari es for use i n media di splay and sel ecti on.

Details Pane - The Detai ls Pane is the small area at the bottom of Wi ndows Expl orer whi ch, when a fil e is
sel ected, i nstantl y displays basi c detai l s about that fi le at a glance.

Preview Pane - The Previ ew Pane i s a larger area to the ri ght of Wi ndows Expl orer whi ch, when a fil e i s
sel ected, al l ows you to previ ew i ts contents i n real -ti me. It can be toggl ed on or off at any ti me usi ng the
'Show/Hide the previ ew pane' button at the top ri ght of the Expl orer wi ndow. The Previ ew Pane has been
i mproved si nce i ts i mplementati on i n Windows Vista. For exampl e, if you hi ghli ght a vi deo fi le wi th the
Previ ew Pane open, you can pl ay the video i f you wish; i f you hi ghl i ght an audi o fil e, you can l i sten to i t i n
the Previ ew Pane, and so forth.

Content View - New to Windows 7, Content vi ew i s a combi nati on of several other vi ew types, providi ng a
range of i nformati on and a Li ve Icon previ ew of the file as wel l if avail abl e, al l owi ng you to better determi ne
i ts contents at a glance. Content vi ew i s best sui ted to browsi ng mul ti medi a fi les - if i t isn't al ready in
Content vi ew, right-cli ck i n your Musi c Li brary and sel ect Content for exampl e to see how i t looks.

Live Icons - First i ntroduced i n Vi sta, Live Icons di spl ay content from the fi l es on whi ch they're based. The
most promi nent exampl e of Li ve Icons are pi cture and vi deo thumbnail s, whi ch when vi ewed i n Icon,
Content or Ti l e vi ew i n wi ndows expl orer, change from generi c thumbnai l i cons to i cons wi th i mages
deri ved from the fi l e's actual content. These i cons are al so ful l y scalabl e ei ther by ri ght-cli cki ng i n the folder
and selecti ng a rel evant i con si ze under the Vi ew menu, or by hol di ng down the CTRL key and usi ng your
mousewheel to resize the icons when i n Icon vi ew.

More detail s of all Wi ndows Expl orer-rel ated functi onali ty can be found i n the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.


26

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

SEARCH BOX
Fi rst i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vi sta and refi ned i n Wi ndows 7, the mai n Search Box can be found at the
bottom of the Start Menu, however versi ons of i t also appear throughout the Windows i nterface, typi cal ly at
the top ri ght of any Expl orer-based wi ndows. The aim of the Start Menu Search Box i n parti cular i s not onl y
to fi nd l ost fi les, i t i s pri mari l y for al l owing fast access to any program, fil e or Windows feature - si mpl y type
the fi rst few l etters of i t to bri ng i t up for sel ecti on. As such, throughout thi s book I frequentl y refer to
Start>Search Box as a pl ace to l aunch programs or access Windows features. Stri ctl y speaki ng i t is not a
command l i ne i nterface l ike the Wi ndows Run box - whi ch you can access by pressi ng WINDOWS+R or
usi ng the Run i tem on the Start Menu. However i t i s much qui cker to use than goi ng through menus to find
the rel evant shortcut, or typi ng an exact executable or command name i n the run box.

More detail s of the search functi onali ty can be found i n the Wi ndows Search chapter.

USER ACCOUNT CONTROL
User Account Control (UAC) was i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista, and to understand the rati onal e behi nd it,
you need basi c understandi ng of User Accounts. In Wi ndows the two mai n l evel s of User Accounts are
Admi nistrators and Standard users. When User Account Control is di sabl ed, Admi ni strator l evel users -
such as the account created when you fi rst i nstal l Windows 7 - have the greatest freedom, abl e to make any
system change and i nstal l any software, however thi s also bri ngs wi th i t potenti al securi ty and conveni ence
i ssues. A Standard User Account on the other hand i s deli beratel y designed to restri ct users from maki ng
certai n changes whi ch coul d al ter system setti ngs i n undesi rable ways, and also all ows the conveni ence of
havi ng mul tipl e users on the same PC in i sol ati on from each other.

When enabl ed, UAC ensures that whether an Admini strator or Standard user, your account actual ly runs
wi th onl y Standard l evel pri vil eges regardl ess. Then whenever you attempt to make certai n system-i ntrusi ve
changes, you may see an el evation prompt known as a UAC Prompt appear. If you're runni ng a Standard
user account, the prompt wi ll ask for an Admi ni strator password; if you're runni ng an Admi ni strator
account, you can si mpl y cl i ck Yes to the prompt i f you wish to proceed. Importantl y, this UAC prompt
contai ns a range of detai ls regardi ng the program name, al l of whi ch can be used to ascertain whether you
actuall y want to all ow the program i n questi on to make system-i ntrusi ve changes.

Note that programs or Wi ndows opti ons whi ch may tri gger a UAC prompt when launched are usual ly
denoted wi th a smal l shield symbol i n thei r shortcut.

UAC has been i mproved i n Wi ndows 7, fi rstl y to al low Standard users to undertake several common and
non-i ntrusi ve tasks wi thout bei ng prompted. The number of redundant UAC prompts has also been
reduced, and by defaul t many Wi ndows appli cati ons wi ll not raise a UAC prompt, maki ng changes to
common Wi ndows setti ngs much easier to perform. Furthermore, Wi ndows 7 adds user-customi zabl e UAC
noti fi cati on level s, accessi ble under the User Accounts component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , by cli cki ng
the 'Change User Account Control Setti ngs' l i nk.

Some ol der programs not designed speci fi cal ly for Wi ndows Vista or Wi ndows 7 may not l aunch properl y
or have ful l functi onali ty when UAC is enabl ed, because they don't ask for admi ni strati ve access to the
system even when i t i s requi red. In such cases, launch the program by right-cl i cki ng on i ts executabl e or
l aunch i con and sel ect 'Run as Admi ni strator' to ensure i t wil l have correct functi onali ty.

Don't al ter your UAC settings unti l you have a greater understanding of both User Accounts and UAC.
More detail s of UAC can be found i n the User Account Control secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter, and more
detail s on User Accounts can be found in the User Accounts chapter.


27

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

ADMINISTRATOR COMMAND PROMPT
One i mportant UAC-related i ssue i s that of the MS DOS-based Command Prompt. You wi l l sometimes
requi re what i s known as an Admi nistrator Command Prompt to successfully use certai n command-l ine
commands. If ever a parti cular command l i ne opti on i s not executing properl y or appears to have no i mpact,
i t i s most li kel y because you need to use i t i n an Admi ni strator Command Prompt. There are several ways to
l aunch one:

Go to Start>Search Box, type cmd, then ri ght-cl i ck on the cmd.exe item whi ch appears i n the Start Menu
and sel ect 'Run as Admi ni strator'.
Go to Start>Search Box, type cmd, then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.
Go to Start>Search Box, type cmd, then ri ght-cl i ck on the cmd.exe i tem, sel ect Send To>Desktop to create a
shortcut on your Desktop. Ri ght-cl i ck on thi s shortcut, select Properti es, cli ck the Advanced button
under the Shortcut tab and ti ck 'Run as Admi ni strator'. You can now use thi s shortcut to always launch
an Admi nistrator Command Prompt as requi red.

Note that when an Admi ni strator Command Prompt i s correctl y l aunched, you wil l see the word
Administrator at the top l eft of i ts ti tl e bar. You can also launch any program or Wi ndows feature di rectl y
from an Admi ni strator Command Prompt wi thout requi ri ng a re-confi rmation through UAC, because i t
al ready has elevated pri vi leges.

WINDOWS MAIL
One of the most noti ceabl e di fferences between Wi ndows 7 and previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows i s the absence
of a mail program. Wi ndows XP had Outl ook Express, Wi ndows Vista had Windows Mai l , but Wi ndows 7
has no emai l cl i ent whatsoever by defaul t. It's al so worth noti ng that Wi ndows 7 sees the exclusi on of not
onl y Wi ndows Mai l, but Wi ndows Movie Maker has al so been removed, the Windows Photo Vi ewer bui l t-i n
i mage vi ewi ng program now has no i mage edi ti ng capabi li ti es, and Parental Control s no l onger i ncludes any
web fil teri ng features.

If you type Windows Mail or Movie Maker i n the Start>Search Box for example, you wi ll see that Mi crosoft
encourages you to obtai n these, and other components, from the free Wi ndows Li ve Essentials sui te
avai labl e onl ine. You can however i nstall any thi rd party versi on of these appl i cati ons i nstead if you wi sh.
Thi s book provi des appropri ate li nks and i nstructi ons, gi vi ng you enough i nformati on to make the choi ce
whi ch sui ts you best. In parti cular there i s a detail ed chapter on how to confi gure Wi ndows Li ve Mai l to
more cl osel y match the l ook and behavior of previ ous Wi ndows mail cl i ents.

More detai ls can be found i n the Wi ndows Li ve Mai l chapter, as wel l as the Parental Controls secti on of the
User Accounts chapter and the Wi ndows Media Pl ayer chapter.

RIBBON
The Ri bbon user i nterface came to promi nence i n Mi crosoft Offi ce 2007, and i s i dentified by a seri es of
overl appi ng tool bars sel ected via tabs. Wi ndows 7 introduces nati ve support for the ri bbon framework, and
has i ncorporated the ri bbon i nterface, most notabl y i n the new versi ons of the Pai nt and Wordpad uti li ti es. If
you're not fami l iar wi th the ri bbon i nterface, note that asi de from the mai n opti ons on the ri bbon whi ch are
sorted under tabs, you can cl i ck the small button at the top l eft of the screen to see a drop-down box wi th
further opti ons, and for easy access you can pi n any ri bbon opti ons to the smal l tool bar at the top l eft of the
wi ndow by right-cl icki ng on them and sel ecti ng 'Add to Qui ck Access Tool bar'.


28

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

DRIVERS
A dri ver is software specifi call y designed to l et Wi ndows communi cate wi th your hardware. Wi ndows 7
empl oys the same dri ver archi tecture as Wi ndows Vista, whi ch i tsel f was a major departure from Wi ndows
XP - thi s means that whi le dri vers speci fi cal ly designed for Windows 7 are the best choi ce for opti mal
performance and functi onali ty, dri vers ori gi nal l y desi gned for Vi sta can also be used i n Windows 7, though
thi s can resul t i n the l oss of some benefi ci al performance and functi onal i ty. Fortunatel y, major hardware
manufacturers such as ATI/AMD, Nvi dia, Intel and Creati ve Labs have already prepared stabl e and
functi onal Wi ndows 7 drivers. Gi ven the popul ar appeal of Windows 7, dri ver support wi l l conti nue to
i mprove. Fortunatel y for owners of older hardware who may not have access to appropri ate dri vers,
Wi ndows 7 improves generi c support for a range of common devi ces, and si mpl y connecti ng them i n most
cases wil l see the i nstal lati on of the appropri ate dri ver.

32-bit vs. 64-bit Support - As wi th previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, software designed for Wi ndows 7 32-bit
should function wi thout any i ssues under the 64-bi t versi on of the OS. Windows 7 64-bi t users shoul d also
note that under normal circumstances you cannot run dri vers which are unsi gned, or whi ch are desi gned for
32-bi t Wi ndows, under 64-bi t Wi ndows.

Device Stage - A new feature of Wi ndows 7 desi gned as a central l ocati on for accessi ng the common features
of your connected devi ce(s), Devi ce Stage opens automati cal l y when a supported devi ce i s detected, and
all ows access to a range of useful functi ons for the devi ce wi thout the need to i nstall addi ti onal software.

Devices and Printers - While Devi ce Stage i s for i ndivi dual devi ces, Devi ces and Pri nters is another new
feature of Windows 7 which provi des a central l ocation for maki ng i t easi er to access and confi gure a range
of devi ces on your system. It al so replaces the Pri nters fol der as the locati on to access pri nt-rel ated functi ons.

See the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for more detail s, as well as the 32-bi t vs. 64-bi t secti on of the Wi ndows
Install ati on chapter; the Devi ce Stage secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter; and fi nall y the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter for i mportant detail s on graphi cs and sound dri ver-rel ated i ssues.

COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
Wi ndows 7 is based heavil y on Wi ndows Vista, and because software devel opers have had three years or
more to make thei r software compati ble wi th Vi sta, the good news is that recent versi ons of most promi nent
software al ready provi de decent support for Wi ndows 7. Make sure to check for newer versi ons of your
favori te software regul arl y and upgrade or update as necessary. For most systems, compati bi li ty i ssues
should be almost non-existent, especial l y i f your system ran fi ne under Wi ndows Vi sta. However Wi ndows
7 provi des vari ous solutions if you experi ence what you believe are genui ne compatibi l i ty probl ems,
parti cul arl y wi th ol der software whi ch i s no l onger bei ng updated:

Run as Administrator - As noted i n the User Account Control section above, i f UAC is enabled and you are
havi ng problems wi th a program, manuall y l aunch i t i n Admi nistrator mode to see i f thi s resol ves the i ssue.

Compatibility Mode - If probl ems persi st, run the program i n Compati bi li ty Mode. Thi s option i s found by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on the fi l e or shortcut, selecti ng Properti es, then under the Compati bi li ty tab ti cki ng the 'Run
thi s program i n compati bi l i ty mode for' box and selecti ng the previ ous versi on of Wi ndows best sui ted to
the program. For more recent programs si mply runni ng a program i n 'Wi ndows Vi sta' compati bi li ty mode
wi ll fi x any qui rks. For ol der programs try 'Wi ndows XP Servi ce Pack 2' mode i nstead, as i t i s the most
common Wi ndows OS confi gurati on.

Compatibility Wizard - Found under the new Troubleshooti ng component of the Wi ndows Control Panel ,
cl i ck the Programs i tem then sel ect the Program Compati bi li ty troubl eshooter to start a wi zard whi ch wi ll
guide you through a process that can automati cal l y resol ve certai n compati bi li ty i ssues.


29

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

Windows XP Mode - For programs whi ch onl y function under a true Wi ndows XP envi ronment, Wi ndows 7
users can access a new feature call ed Wi ndows XP Mode. Not install ed by defaul t, but avail abl e as a free
downl oad to owners of Wi ndows 7 Professi onal , Ul ti mate, and Enterpri se edi ti ons, XP Mode i s a ful ly
l i censed copy of Wi ndows XP SP3 running under the Wi ndows Vi rtual PC envi ronment i n Windows 7.

See the Wi ndows Instal lation, Wi ndows Dri vers and Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapters
for detail s on sorti ng out compati bi li ty issues; see the Vi rtual Hard Di sk secti on of the Dri ve Opti mi zation
chapter for detai ls of Wi ndows XP Mode.

WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL
Thi s book assumes that you are viewing the Wi ndows Control Panel i n ei ther Large Icons or Smal l Icons
vi ew, not Category vi ew, as ei ther of these vi ews provi des the greatest l evel of detail . You can change the
vi ew usi ng the 'Vi ew by' l ink at the top ri ght of the Wi ndows Control Panel. I recommend swi tchi ng to this
vi ew now before proceedi ng.

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE SUBSTITUTES
If you're having probl ems usi ng your keyboard or mouse, ei ther because one or the other i s broken, or you
are differently abl ed, there are two substi tute methods you can use i n Wi ndows:

Microsoft Onscreen Keyboard: Thi s util i ty can be accessed by going to the Ease of Access Center i n the
Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ecti ng it, or go to Start>Search Box, typi ng osk and pressi ng Enter. A vi rtual
keyboard wi ll be di splayed, all owi ng you to use your mouse to cl i ck on vi rtual keys as though you were
usi ng a keyboard. To make thi ngs easi er, i t al ways remai ns on top of other wi ndows. Next, cl ick the Opti ons
button at the bottom ri ght of the onscreen keyboard. Here you can sel ect the 'Hover over keys' opti on i f you
can't cli ck the l eft mouse button to sel ect keys, or just want a qui cker way of selecti ng keys. Set the l ength of
ti me needed to hover over a key before i t regi sters as an entry, and now you can rapi dly move your mouse
cursor over keys on the Onscreen Keyboard and it wi l l register as a keystroke. You can al so enabl e text
predi cti on via the 'Use Text Predi cti on' opti on, whi ch can assist i n increasi ng typi ng speed.

Mouse Keys: If i nstead of your keyboard you're havi ng probl ems usi ng the mouse, you can enable the
Wi ndows MouseKeys functi onali ty by goi ng to the Ease of Access Center component i n the Wi ndows
Control Panel and sel ecti ng 'Make the mouse easi er to use', then ti cki ng the 'Turn on Mouse Keys' option.
MouseKeys al l ows you to use the Numpad keys - the numeri cal keys on the far ri ght of your keyboard - to
move the mouse cursor around on screen. You can confi gure these keys further by cl i cki ng the 'Set up
Mouse Keys' l i nk.

There are a range of features desi gned to make usi ng the Wi ndows 7 i nterface conveni ent for a range of
tastes - see the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for more detail s.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
The standard usage for keyboard shortcuts i n thi s book is to refer to the pressi ng of two or more keys
si mul taneousl y by usi ng the '+' si gn. For exampl e, when referri ng to ALT+TAB, thi s means you shoul d press
both the ALT key and the TAB key on your keyboard. Si mil arl y, CTRL+ALT+DEL means pressi ng the
Control (CTRL), ALT and Del ete (DEL) keys together, and so forth. Also note that any references to the
WINDOWS key are to the key found on most PC keyboards between CTRL and ALT, and l abel ed wi th a
Wi ndows Logo.

On the next page is a consol idated table of the major common keyboard shortcuts you can use to qui ckly
access useful functi ons i n Wi ndows 7:


30

N
e
w

&

C
o
m
m
o
n

F
e
a
t
u
r
e
s

Keyboard Combination Function

CTRL + C Copy sel ected item(s)
CTRL + X Cut sel ected i tem(s)
CTRL + V Paste copi ed/cut i tem(s)
CTRL + Z Undo l ast acti on
CTRL + Y Redo l ast acti on
CTRL+ + Force all col umns to be shown i n Expl orer i nterfaces
SHIFT + DEL Del ete hi ghl i ghted item, bypassi ng Recycl e Bin
WINDOWS Open Start Menu. You can also use the arrow keys to sel ect an i tem and
press Enter
WINDOWS + Number Open pi nned i tems on Taskbar. The number used corresponds wi th the
order of the i tem on the Taskbar
WINDOWS + Spacebar Aero Peek. Temporari l y makes all open wi ndows transparent to di spl ay
the Desktop
WINDOWS + D Mi ni mi ze/Restore all Windows
WINDOWS + E Open Windows Expl orer
WINDOWS + F Open Windows Search
WINDOWS + L Lock Workstation
WINDOWS + M Mi ni mi ze open wi ndows
WINDOWS + SHIFT + M Restore open wi ndows
WINDOWS + P Open qui ck select menu for mul ti -displ ay output
WINDOWS + R Open Windows Run box
WINDOWS + T Cycl e through all Taskbar i cons, press Enter to sel ect any one
WINDOWS + F1 Open Hel p & Support
WINDOWS + TAB Swi tch between acti ve programs i n 3D Fli p mode -
CTRL + WINDOWS + TAB opens 3D Fl i p permanentl y,
TAB or Arrow Keys to cycl e elements, ESC to exi t
WINDOWS + Arrow Key WINDOWS + Up Arrow - Maxi mi zes wi ndow
WINDOWS + Down Arrow - Mi ni mi zes wi ndow
WINDOWS + Left Arrow/Ri ght Arrow - Cycl e through Aero Snap
ALT + TAB Swi tch between acti ve programs i n 2D Task Swi tcher -
CTRL + ALT + TAB opens Task Swi tcher permanentl y,
TAB or Arrow Keys to cycl e elements, ESC to exi t
CTRL + SHIFT + ESC Open Task Manager
ALT + F4 Cl ose hi ghl i ghted program
Show PC Shutdown opti ons if on Wi ndows Desktop
SHIFT + LEFT CLICK Sel ect mul ti pl e i tems wi thi n a range
CTRL + LEFT CLICK Sel ect mul ti pl e non-sequenti al i tems i ndivi duall y
TAB Step forward through screen el ements
SHIFT + TAB Step backward through screen el ements
F2 Rename/Enter text for i tem
F5 Refresh active wi ndow
SHIFT + RIGHT CLICK Open Expanded Context Menu for hi ghl i ghted i tem

Thi s chapter has briefl y highl ighted some of the more noti ceable changes and commonl y used features i n
Wi ndows 7. There are however a l arge number of changes, some l arge and some smal l , for whi ch you must
steadi l y read through thi s enti re book to l earn more about. Addi tionall y, most any Wi ndows feature can be
customized, so i f there are features you don't li ke or fi nd annoyi ng, the book wi ll show you how to al ter
thei r behavi or to better suit your needs. From this poi nt you can read the book sequentiall y, or jump to any
chapter you wi sh, though I recommend becomi ng fami li ar wi th the contents of the Wi ndows Expl orer,
Wi ndows Drivers, PC Securi ty and Graphi cs & Sound chapters as soon as possi bl e.


31

S
y
s
t
e
m

S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

The fi rst step i n opti mizi ng or customizing your PC is to fi nd out preci sel y what hardware components you
have, and what thei r various capabil i ties are. Thi s is known as your System Speci fi cati ons, and to fi nd out
the speci fi c detai ls of your hardware you wil l require an appropri ate set of tool s. Information about your
system specifi cati ons i s vital both for usi ng thi s book and for general PC usage and maintenance i n the
future. For exampl e you must know the model and chi pset type of your motherboard before you can
upgrade your BIOS or i nstal l the correct motherboard dri vers; you must know the full capabi li ti es of your
graphi cs card i f you want to know if i t can run Aero, to update i ts dri vers, or to see whether i t can run the
l atest games; or you may have a compl ex probl em whi ch you wish to resol ve yoursel f, or provi de detai ls of
to a Techni cal Support person. Thi s chapter covers the tool s you need and the methods you can use to obtain
all the rel evant system i nformati on.

< SYSTEM INFORMATION TOOLS
There are a range of good free system informati on uti l i ti es to choose from, i ncl udi ng some comprehensive
ones bui l t i nto Windows 7. A combi nati on of these programs wi ll tel l you everythi ng you need to know
about your system specifi cati ons and capabi li ti es:

WINDOWS EXPERIENCE INDEX
Found under the Performance Information and Tools component of Wi ndows Control Panel, or by goi ng to
Start>Search Box, typi ng performance information and pressi ng Enter, the Wi ndows Experi ence Index (WEI) is
a bui l t-i n benchmark data designed to rate the performance of your system i n five separate categories. It is
covered i n detail under the Wi ndows Experi ence Index secti on of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter, and if you haven't run the WEI yet I recommend doing so now. For the purposes of
system i nformati on, cli ck the 'Vi ew and pri nt detailed performance and system i nformati on' li nk. This will
open a new screen wi th more detai led informati on on your system specifi cati ons. The i nformati on provided
i s certai nl y useful as a starti ng poi nt, however i t i s not detai l ed enough for our purposes, as i mportant
i nformati on such as the make and model of your motherboard are not provi ded for exampl e.

WINDOWS SYSTEM INFORMATION TOOL
You can access the Wi ndows System Informati on Tool by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng msinfo32 and
pressi ng Enter. The Wi ndows System Informati on Tool presents a range of basi c i nformati on about your
system. Some of i ts more useful functi onali ty i ncl udes:

A li sti ng of your hardware components by type under the Components secti on.
Al l the system dri ver fi l es and thei r current status under Software Envi ronment>System Dri vers.
IRQ all ocati ons under Hardware Resources>IRQs.
Check for shared IRQs and other potenti al confl i cts under Hardware Resources>Confl i cts/Shari ng.
Recent Wi ndows errors are found under Software Envi ronment>Wi ndows Error Reporti ng.

In general the System Informati on Tool is best used by medium to advanced users who can comprehend the
more compl ex i nterface and detail ed i nformati on much more easi ly than a beginner. Its main advantage is
that i t is a free buil t-i n util ity that anyone can easil y access.


32

S
y
s
t
e
m

S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s

DEVICE MANAGER
You can access Devi ce Manager under the Wi ndows Control Panel , or by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
device manager and then pressi ng Enter. As a buil t-in Windows uti li ty you can gai n a great deal of useful
i nformati on about your hardware and associated drivers from this tool . Your major devi ces are di splayed
under vari ous categori es, and you can even choose to update i ndivi dual devi ce dri vers or uni nstal l a devi ce
al together shoul d you wi sh. The Devi ce Manager has several i mportant rol es and is covered i n more detail
under the Devi ce Manager secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.

DIRECTX DIAGNOSTICS
You can access the Di rectX Di agnosti c Uti li ty (DXDi ag) by going to Start>Search Box, typi ng dxdiag and
pressi ng Enter. DXDi ag is another buil t-i n Wi ndows Di agnosti c/System Informati on tool that i s part of the
Di rectX 11 - see the Graphics & Sound chapter for more i nformati on on Di rectX 11. The mai n tab of DXDiag,
call ed System, displays basi c i nformati on about your system such as your Processor (CPU) type and speed,
amount of Memory (physical RAM) and the Pagefi l e (Vi rtual Memory) usage among other thi ngs. Under the
Di splay, Sound and Input tabs you can fi nd more i nformati on about the parti cul ar hardware you are
runni ng for each of these functi ons. Any probl ems found by DXDiag i ndi cate that there may be an i ssue wi th
your hardware or dri vers - see the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

The most useful functi on for DXDi ag i s i ts abil i ty to generate a detai l ed text fi le wi th all your major system
i nformati on, incl udi ng your mai n hardware speci fi cations, dri ver fi les, and envi ronmental setti ngs. To create
thi s text fi l e cl i ck the 'Save Al l Information' button found at the bottom of the mai n DXDiag screen. You wil l
be prompted to save thi s report somewhere, and the defaul t of the Wi ndows Desktop i s fine. You can now
doubl e-cli ck thi s DXDiag.txt fi l e to read through i ts contents. It can also be attached to an email you can send
to a techni cal support person, or i ts contents can be copi ed and pasted onto an onl i ne forum to all ow others
to hel p you wi th any probl ems you may be experi enci ng. It doesn't contai n any i nformation such as serial
numbers or passwords, so i t i s safe to post publ i cl y.

3DMARK
You can downl oad the l atest versi on of 3DMark from the Futuremark Websi te, and you can read more about
i ts mai n functi onali ty under the Thi rd Party Tool s secti on of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter. 3DMark i s primaril y designed as a graphi cs benchmarki ng uti li ty, however i t has a
system i nformati on section that gi ves you a bri ef snapshot of major system i nformati on. Make sure to sel ect
the Custom i nstall ation opti on and unti ck all unnecessary components except the 'Shortcut on Desktop'
opti on. You wi ll al so need to obtai n a free registration key via email to use thi s program. Start 3DMark and
on the mai n screen cli ck the System Info tab, then cl i ck the 'Vi ew System Info' button and a browser wi ndow
wi ll open wi th a range of informati on about your system. General l y i t i s best to go to the troubl e of setting
up 3DMark if you are al so consi deri ng usi ng i t as a 3D benchmark - as covered i n the Thi rd Party Tools
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

SIW
SIW is the System Informati on for Windows tool whi ch can be downl oaded from the SIW Websi te. Once
you've downl oaded the standal one versi on of the program, you can si mpl y run i t from the fi le - there's no
need to i nstall anythi ng. The i nterface is i ntui ti ve; click i tems i n the l eft pane to see more detail s about them.
For exampl e, to fi nd out more about your motherboard, cl i ck the Motherboard i tem under the Hardware
secti on, and the detai ls will be shown i n the right pane. Al ternati vel y, you can access each i tem by goi ng to
the Software or Hardware menus at the top of the screen. Note that SIW also has a range of other tool s buil t
i nto i t, but I don't recommendi ng changi ng anything usi ng them - the best use for thi s uti l i ty i s si mply for
vi ewi ng system i nformati on.


33

S
y
s
t
e
m

S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s

SANDRA
Sandra stands for System ANal yser, Diagnosti c and Reporti ng Assi stant. You can downl oad Sandra from the
SiSoftware Websi te - the Li te versi on i s free, and once i nstall ed, you wi ll see a wi de sel ecti on of i nformati on
and benchmarki ng modules to choose from. Note that duri ng i nstall ation of Sandra, you can disabl e the
Remote Network Servi ces, Pri ce Engines and Rank Engi nes as they are not cri ti cal, however the Rank
Engi nes opti on does all ow Sandra to di splay a compari son of your score wi th others who have run the
benchmark, whi ch can be useful. If you've enabl ed the Rank Engi ne, after i nstall ati on you can customize i t
so that your resul ts aren't made publi c for exampl e. Note that Sandra i nstall s a new Servi ce for i tself call ed
the 'SiSoftware Depl oyment Agent Service' whi ch you shoul d l eave at i ts defaul t of Manual .

Sandra Li te has many i nacti ve (grayed out) modul es, however the mai n ones we need have suffi cient
functi onali ty for our purposes. For exampl e, i f you want to know more about your system, doubl e-cli ck the
Hardware i con (or sel ect the Hardware tab) and then doubl e-cl ick on the Computer Overvi ew modul e. It
wi ll di spl ay a range of useful i nformati on about your system, such as the CPU speed and type, your
motherboard Chi pset, and your Memory Modul e brand and speed. If you then want to know more about
your motherboard i n parti cul ar for exampl e, open the Mai nboard modul e, and i t wi ll di splay more detai l ed
i nformati on. Sandra al so has several useful benchmarki ng and stress testi ng features that are covered in
more detai l in the Thi rd Party Tool s secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

CPU-Z
A hi ghly recommended tool , you can downl oad CPU-Z from the CPU-Z Websi te. Run the program and i t
wi ll provi de you wi th al l the major i nformati on you requi re about your hardware. It has hi ghl y detailed
i nformati on about your processor under the CPU and Caches tabs, such as the CPU brand, socket type,
speeds and vol tage, and the vari ous cache sizes. It al so provi des key motherboard detai ls under the
Mai nboard tab, and your RAM's complete detai ls under the Memory and SPD tabs, al though note that for
i nformati on to appear under the SPD tab you must first sel ect the sl ot(s) on the motherboard that your RAM
sti ck(s) occupy. CPU-Z even provi des detail s about your graphics card under the Graphi cs tab, as wel l as
PCI-E l i nk speeds under the Graphi cs Interface secti on of the Mai nboard tab.

GPU-Z
Another hi ghl y recommended tool , you can downl oad GPU-Z from the GPU-Z Websi te. Note that GPU-Z i s
di sti nct from the CPU-Z uti l i ty covered above; i t relates to your GPU (Graphi cs Processi ng Uni t), whi ch i s
typi call y your graphi cs card. Run the GPU-Z.exe fi le, and much l i ke CPU-Z, it wi l l provi de you wi th all the
i nformati on you need to know about your graphi cs card. Under the mai n Graphi cs Card tab you wi ll see all
the speci fi cati ons for your graphi cs hardware, i ncl udi ng the amount and type of Vi deo RAM, the l evel of
Di rect X support, the BIOS versi on and the cl ock speeds. Under the Sensors tab you wil l find your current
cl ock speeds, temperatures, fan speed and so forth. Fi nal l y, note that the Vali dati on tab i s there onl y if you
want to submi t your specs to the GPU-Z Statisti cs Database, whi ch i s not essential.

HD TUNE
HD Tune i s a tool for quickl y gai ni ng an i nsi ght i nto your dri ve detail s and current capabil i ti es. The free
(non-Pro) versi on has suffici ent functi onali ty to provide i mportant dri ve detail s incl udi ng a l ist of supported
features, the dri ve standard, fi rmware versi on, serial number, as wel l as the current temperature of the drive
and the heal th of the dri ve. It even i ncl udes a benchmark, whi ch i s covered under the Thi rd Party Tool s
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

There are many other system i nformation tool s whi ch are avai lable, some of whi ch are not free. However a
combi nati on of the tools in thi s secti on shoul d be more than enough to gi ve you all the detail s you need for
every aspect of the hardware that i s i n your PC. I strongl y encourage you to make sure that you are ful ly


34

S
y
s
t
e
m

S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s

aware of your hardware speci fi cati ons and capabil i ti es, as i ncorrect knowl edge can cause major probl ems
when you try to i nstal l drivers or make changes i n software or the BIOS for exampl e. Also make sure you are
fami li ar wi th the contents of the Basi c PC Termi nol ogy chapter i n thi s book.

< PROVIDING SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
If you ever requi re techni cal assistance for a computer-rel ated probl em, you wil l i nevi tabl y have to provide
your system speci fi cati ons. Whether to a qual ifi ed techni cal support person, or for computer enthusiasts on
an onl i ne forum, you shoul d provide your speci fi cations i n an appropri ate format. Si mply copyi ng the enti re
contents of a DXDiag text fil e for exampl e might be qui ck and easy, but few peopl e have the patience to
wade through i t, so I recommend usi ng the format shown bel ow unl ess i nstructed otherwi se.

Al so bear i n mi nd that no-one can magi cal l y sol ve a probl em si mpl y by l ooki ng at your system
speci fi cati ons, no matter how detai l ed. There i s no real substi tute for becomi ng extremel y fami l iar wi th your
own system, for a range of reasons beyond si mpl y troubl eshooti ng probl ems.

Use several of the system informati on tool s covered above to fil l in the appropri ate detai ls in the categories
shown bel ow. The more detai l you can provi de, the better - the bare mi ni mum i s the brand and model
number of your major components, but you should add i n detai l s li ke whether any of the components are
overcl ocked or physi cal l y modi fi ed i n any way. I have fi ll ed i n some sample i nformati on from my own
system i n i tali cs:

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 CPU @ 2.66GHz, stock speed, stock cooling
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe X58
Graphics card: Leadtek Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 1GB, stock speed
Monitor: 24" Samsung 2443BW LCD
Sound Card: Onboard ADI AD2000B HD Audio Chipset
RAM: 6GB (3 x 2GB) G.Skill 1333MHz DDR3
Storage Drive(s): Western Digital 150GB VelociRaptor SATA2
Western Digital 74GB Raptor SATA
Optical Drive(s): Pioneer DVD-RW 216BK SATA
Power Supply: Seasonic 700W M12
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, including latest Windows Updates
Other Details: 195.55 Nvidia Forceware graphics driver
6.10.0002.6585 SoundMax HD Audio sound driver
System not overclocked, not physically modified

You can al so provi de detail s of your other hardware, such as the keyboard, mouse, speakers/headphones
and case, however these are usuall y not cri ti cal to solvi ng most PC probl ems, at l east not i n the fi rst i nstance.

I must stress agai n that i t is an extremely i mportant el ement of PC opti mi zati on and customizati on that you
have more than just a passi ng acquai ntance wi th your hardware components. Becomi ng fami li ar wi th
hardware speci fi cati ons and what they mean not only all ows you to di scover areas of potenti al opti mization
on your system and assist wi th troubleshooti ng probl ems, i t also gi ves you the abil i ty to make better
purchasi ng deci si ons when buyi ng a system or upgradi ng any hardware components i n the future.


35

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

BACKUP & RECOVERY

Computers can store a great deal of valuabl e i nformati on. Over ti me your PC may come to hol d a l ot of
i mportant, pri vate, i rreplaceabl e data such as digi tal photographs, home movi es, fi nanci al documents,
email s, bookmarks and l ogi n detail s. It i s of cri ti cal importance that you establish an appropri ate method for
regul arl y backi ng up this i nformati on, so that i f your PC i s stolen, damaged, or i ts data is corrupted or
acci dentall y overwri tten, that you do not l ose all thi s valuabl e data permanentl y. Hence backing up is a vi tal
and unavoi dabl e part of sensi bl e computi ng.

Thi s chapter not onl y covers vari ous backup strategi es and tool s, i t also detai ls a range of useful data
recovery methods you can use to regai n valuabl e i nformati on whi ch has been l ost through forgetting
passwords, acci dental del eti on of fi l es, data corrupti on or damage to your Wi ndows i nstall ation. You shoul d
have at l east one backup copy of all your i mportant and i rreplaceabl e data proceedi ng any further wi th thi s
book. If you al ready have a recent backup of all your i mportant data, you can ski p to the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter and return to thi s chapter at a later poi nt.

< WINDOWS BACKUP AND RESTORE
Wi ndows 7 comes wi th an automated Backup and Restore feature that al l ows you to create both backups of
speci fi c folders, and al so an exact copy of an enti re dri ve, to a l ocati on of your choi ce. To access Backup and
Restore, open the Backup and Restore component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , or go to Start>Search Box,
backup and press Enter. Unl i ke Windows Vista, al l the major features of Backup and Restore i n Wi ndows 7
are availabl e to owners of any edi tion, except savi ng to a network l ocati on whi ch i s only possi ble i n the
Professi onal , Ul ti mate or Enterpri se edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7.

The process for backi ng up and restoring data usi ng thi s uti li ty is covered below, both for full y automated
backups and for manuall y i ni tiated backups:

AUTOMATED BACKUPS
Before bei ng abl e to automati cal ly backup your data on a regular schedule, Wi ndows needs to know the
l ocati on to whi ch your backups wi ll be saved, the type of backup you wi sh to make, and the frequency wi th
whi ch thi s occurs. This i s al l done vi a the 'Set up backup' l i nk shown i n the Backup and Restore wi ndow, or
i n the Acti on Center noti ficati on i n your Notifi cati on Area. Once opened, run through these seri es of
deci si ons:

Backup Destination: The backup desti nation can be any l ocati on detected by the system - except for the l ogi cal
dri ve contai ni ng your exi sti ng i nstal lation of Wi ndows 7, or the logi cal dri ve used to boot up the system.
You can backup to another parti ti on on the same drive, though thi s i s strongly di scouraged. You can al so
backup to a USB flash drive or external dri ve - if the relevant drive(s) are currentl y not connected to your
system, connect them and cl i ck the Refresh button to have them show up on the li st of desti nati on dri ves.
Importantl y, the dri ve must be i n NTFS format for i t to be avai lable i n the l i st of dri ves. Note further that thi s
backup process does not reformat, al ter or erase any of your exi sting data on the desti nati on dri ve, al though
i t wi ll replace any existi ng system i mages created by Wi ndows on that dri ve.

Type of Backup: Once a desti nati on is chosen, you wi ll have to sel ect the type of backup Wi ndows will be
maki ng. There are two main choi ces:

Let Wi ndows Choose - If thi s opti on i s sel ected, Wi ndows wil l automati cal l y choose the fol lowi ng data to
backup wi thout any i nput from you:


36

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

Fi l es i n the Li brari es, however thi s excludes any fil es l ocated on the Internet, on another computer i n a
network, on a non-NTFS dri ve, or on the dri ve on whi ch the backup i s bei ng made.
Any fil es on the Wi ndows Desktop.
Al l fil es and fol ders under the \AppData, \Contacts, \Desktop, \Downloads, \Favorites, \Links, \Saved
Games, and \Searches di rectori es for every user on the system.

Thi s typi call y means that every defaul t fol der under the \Users directory wi ll be backed up. Thi s i s one of
the reasons why you shoul d get i nto the habi t of stori ng al l your data under these defaul t Wi ndows
di rectories and/or i n a local Li brary - see the Personal Fol ders and Li braries secti ons of the Wi ndows
Expl orer chapter for details.

Furthermore, i f there is suffi ci ent space on your destinati on dri ve, Wi ndows will al so create a System Image,
whi ch is an exact copy of the enti re contents of your system dri ve(s), whi ch are the dri ve(s) requi red to run
Wi ndows. A system i mage contai ns al l the data necessary to recreate your enti re i nstal lati on of Windows,
i ncludi ng al l i nstal l ed programs and setti ngs, and all your user data, to exactly the state i t was i n when the
system i mage was created. Thi s means i t can be extremel y l arge as a resul t.

Let Me Choose - If you wish to have greater control over whi ch parti cular fol ders are backed up, sel ect thi s
opti on and you can then manuall y select whi ch folders you wi sh to i ncl ude. The 'Back up data for newly
created users' i s a generi c opti on whi ch, i f ti cked, ensures that for automated backups, i f any new user
accounts are created i n the future, Windows wi ll automati cal ly i nclude thei r Li brari es and personal data in
the backup. The '[username] Li brari es' opti on, whi ch i s ti cked by defaul t, i ncl udes all of the defaul t fol ders
under the \Users\[username]\ di rectory, but you also can manuall y sel ect any folders you wish i nstead of, or
i n addi ti on to these, by expandi ng the fol der li st under the Computer i tem. Regardl ess of which fol ders you
choose however, Wi ndows wil l not save the fol l owi ng data as part of the backup:

Fi l es whi ch are defaul t components of i nstal l ed programs - thi s excl udes saved games and thi ngs l ike
custom setti ng/confi guration fil es, whi ch can be backed up.
Fi l es that are i n the Recycl e Bi n.
Temporary files on dri ves less than 1GB i n si ze.
Fi l es on non-NTFS dri ves.

If the 'Incl ude a system image of dri ves' box at the bottom of the wi ndow is al so ti cked, Windows wi l l
i nclude an addi ti onal ful l system i mage of your system dri ve(s) as part of your backup, space permi tti ng.

Frequency of Backup: The fi nal step before the backup i s created is to revi ew your setti ngs and i n parti cul ar
confi rm the schedule for backi ng up. Thi s opti on appears towards the bottom of the 'Revi ew your backup
setti ngs' wi ndow, and can be easy to mi ss, al though i f i t can't be sel ected, thi s is because your chosen
desti nati on dri ve does not support scheduled backups. By default the automated backup is set to run at
7:00pm every Sunday night, however you can cl i ck the 'Change schedul e' link to bri ng up a new box,
all owi ng you to choose whether to run the backup dail y, weekl y or monthl y, the parti cul ar ti me and date,
and most i mportantl y, whether you want to di sable schedul ed backups al together. You can also turn off an
exi sti ng schedul e at any time by cli cki ng the 'Turn Off Schedul e' link i n the l eft pane of the mai n Backup and
Restore wi ndow.

Once done cli ck OK, then to commence backup cli ck the 'Save setti ngs and exit' button and Wi ndows wil l
begi n backi ng up your selected data to the desti nati on dri ve. The process may take qui te a whi l e dependi ng
on the destinati on dri ve's speed and the vol ume of data i nvolved. Once thi s process i s compl eted, the
desti nati on dri ve wi ll contai n one or both of the foll owi ng:


37

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

A WindowsImageBackup folder - Thi s contai ns a ful l system i mage, and under normal ci rcumstances, you
cannot vi ew or extract i ndi vi dual fil es or fol ders from thi s fol der because i t stores your system i mage i n
a si ngl e Vi rtual Hard Dri ve (.VHD) fi l e. However see the Vi rtual Hard Disk secti on of the Dri ve
Opti mi zati on chapter for detail s of how to manual ly extract i ndivi dual fi l es or fol ders from a system
i mage fi le wi thout overwri ti ng your exi sti ng data.
A [Computername] folder - Thi s contai ns i ndi vi dual fil es and fol ders not i n a system i mage. By defaul t
thi s fol der i s named after your computer name, which for standard home users i s typi cal ly '[username]-
PC'. Under thi s mai n folder there are subfol der(s) wi th the name(s) Backup Set [date of backup], and under
that a si mi lar fol der Backup Files [date of backup], and ul ti matel y, a seri es of .ZIP archives whi ch
col l ecti vel y hol d all the i ndi vi dual fil es and folders that were backed up to that parti cul ar set. These can
be manual l y vi ewed and extracted if desi red, but that i s not the recommended method for doi ng so.

Both of these fol der types are desi gned to be used by the Wi ndows Restore feature to restore your data - see
Restori ng Backups further bel ow.

Incremental Backups: Note that when these backups are updated by Wi ndows, whether on a scheduled basi s,
or i f you manual l y i ni ti ate another backup run through the Windows Backup functi on at any ti me, Wi ndows
wi ll onl y add any new or changed data to the backup set, i t won't create an enti rel y new backup. This
appl i es equall y to system i mage or i ndi vi dual fi l e backup methods. Thi s saves space and means that
subsequent backup runs are not as l engthy as the fi rst ti me. If you want to manage al l the previ ous versi ons
of your backed up data, see the Managi ng Backups secti on further bel ow.

Optimal Backup Strategy: Gi ven the wealth of choi ce avail able as to how you backup your data, and what to
i nclude i n the backups, here are some important thi ngs to consi der whi ch wil l hel p you deci de on the best
backup strategy for you:

To begi n wi th, the benefi ts of backi ng up i ndi vi dual fol ders i n combi nati on with a ful l system i mage need to
be expl ai ned further. A system i mage is i deal i f you experi ence a si gni fi cant probl em, such as major drive
corrupti on or damage, or a serious malware i nfecti on, and l ose the abi li ty to boot i nto Wi ndows or have
massi ve data l oss of some ki nd - i t all ows you to restore your system to exactl y the way i t was when the
i mage was made, even to another dri ve of the same type. A system i mage is not i deal on the other hand i f
you just want to restore a fi le or fol der whi ch you acci dental ly l ost or del eted for exampl e, because i t does
not al l ow the restorati on of i ndi vi dual fi l es or fol ders under normal ci rcumstances - thi s i s what the backi ng
up of i ndi vi dual user fol ders is meant to address.

By havi ng a combi nati on of both a system i mage and all your i mportant folders i ndi vi dual l y backed up by
Wi ndows, you are covered for any eventuali ty, whether i t i s a total rebui l d of your system after catastrophi c
fai lure, or quickl y restori ng a copy of a singl e fi l e. Thi s i s why i t i s strongl y recommended that you choose to
create both types of backups on a regular basis. If dri ve space i s preventi ng you from doi ng both however,
you should al ways choose to back up your i mportant personal folders, as these are much easi er to restore
i ndi vi duall y when requi red i n a range of scenari os.

Another i mportant consi derati on i s the portabi li ty of the backup. If your pri mary concern is the abil i ty to
move your backups around, whether from system to system, or for the sake of stori ng i n a secure l ocation
l i ke a safe, then I recommend usi ng a USB flash dri ve, or ideall y a l arge capaci ty external dri ve for your
backups. These dri ves are hi ghly portabl e, easy to store and protect, and can be pl ugged i nto any PC via an
external port for qui ck and easy access.

If you don't have the opti on of a large external storage or separate i nternal dri ve for thi s purpose, then I
recommend manuall y selecti ng only your most important personal fol ders or Li brari es for backup to
rewri teabl e DVDs. Thi s i s the l east costly method and wi ll use the l east amount of space, typi cal ly spanning


38

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

onl y a few DVDs, and provi des excell ent portabi l i ty and ease of access on any PC. However make sure to
use good qual i ty DVD medi a and remember to update the backups on a regul ar basi s.

If you are a Wi ndows user who experi ments a great deal , often i nstall i ng potenti all y unsafe or unstable
software, or overcl ocki ng your hardware for exampl e, then ideall y you shoul d create a system i mage
i mmediatel y pri or to commenci ng any hardware or software experi mentati on. Thi s wil l ul timatel y save you
a great deal of ti me and effort, because at the fi rst si gn of system corrupti on or i nfecti on, you can si mply
reformat your system dri ve - or swap i t for a si mi lar dri ve - and i nstall the system i mage on i t i n far l ess time
than i t woul d take to try to undo the damage, or rei nstall Wi ndows and all your software from scratch.

Fi nal ly, I strongl y recommend agai nst simpl y backi ng up to another parti ti on on your system dri ve, because
whether through physi cal dri ve fail ure or data corrupti on, you may need to reformat/reparti ti on the enti re
dri ve, or fi nd that the dri ve i s unusabl e, and you wi ll l ose both your ori gi nal data and the backups. Dri ves
can often fail or become corrupt wi th li ttl e or no warni ng, and thi s can affect all parti ti ons on a dri ve.
Parti ti oni ng may be a useful data storage strategy but i t is not an appropri ate data backup strategy.

MANUAL BACKUPS
The Backup and Restore functi onal ity i n Wi ndows 7 i s desi gned pri mari l y so that Wi ndows can
automati cal ly backup on a fi xed schedule. Thi s i s because a backup i s most useful when i t i s as up-to-date as
possi ble. Unfortunately peopl e tend to be forgetful when i t comes to backi ng up on a regular basi s, thus the
automated method covered above i s the most fool proof opti on. However there are ti mes when you may
wi sh to manuall y create backups on an irregul ar basis, especi al ly for use i n case of emergency. Furthermore,
you may wish to create a system i mage whi ch contains more than just the data on your system dri ve(s) for
exampl e. In such cases you can use the Create a System Image and/or Create a System Repai r Disc features
i n Backup and Restore as covered bel ow:

Create a System Image: By defaul t a system i mage created by Wi ndows i s an exact copy of the contents of your
system dri ve(s). Once created, i t can be used at any time to restore your system to exactl y the state i t was in
when the i mage was made. When the 'Create a System Image' opti on i s cl i cked i n the l eft pane of Backup
and Restore, as wi th the automated backup method, you must first choose your desti nati on dri ve. Then,
unl ike the automated system i mage method, here you can speci fy addi tional avail able dri ve(s) to be
i ncluded i n the system i mage i f you wish. Remember that you can't i nclude dri ves whi ch aren't connected,
or the dri ve onto whi ch the backup is bei ng made. Al so keep i n mi nd that the desti nati on dri ve's exi sting
contents wi ll not be overwri tten by the system i mage, so take thi s i nto account i n terms of avai labl e free
space. Once sel ected, cl i ck Next, review your backup setti ngs, and cl i ck the 'Start Backup' button to begi n the
backup process.

Create a System Repair Disc: A System Repai r Di sc is used i n cases where you can't boot up i nto Wi ndows for
some reason. It can be used to boot your PC i nto the System Recovery Opti ons menu, al l owing you to repai r
Wi ndows or restore a system i mage you created earli er. Your Wi ndows 7 install ation DVD is one such
system repair di sc, however by cl i cki ng the 'Create a System Repai r Di sc' opti on i n the l eft pane of Backup
and Restore, you wil l be prompted to enter a bl ank CD or DVD whi ch Wi ndows wi ll then turn i nto another
system repai r disc. See the System Recovery secti on in thi s chapter for full detail s of how to use a system
repai r di sc and the associ ated system recovery opti ons i t provi des.

If you've set up an automati c backup, you can al so update that backup at any ti me, regardl ess of the
schedul e, by goi ng to the mai n Backup and Restore wi ndow and cl i cki ng the 'Back up Now' button - thi s wi ll
i mmediatel y i ni tiate an i ncremental backup run, whereby Wi ndows wil l add any new or changed fi les to the
exi sti ng backups.


39

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

ORGANIZING DATA
Thi s secti on provi des detail s on how best to organi ze the data on your dri ve, pri mari l y to ensure that all
your i mportant data i s backed up correctl y usi ng the Wi ndows Backup method, but to al so take maxi mum
advantage of Wi ndows 7's other features whi ch are covered i n more detai l later in thi s book.

Libraries: Your defaul t personal fol ders are found under the \Users\[username] di rectory, and much l i ke
previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, there are several cl earl y-named subfol ders designed for speci fic content such
as musi c or pi ctures. However Wi ndows 7 has also i ntroduced Li brari es, whi ch go beyond your defaul t
personal fol ders, al l owi ng you to access and mani pulate fi l es of di fferent types across a range of l ocati ons in
a si ngle vi rtual folder. Of rel evance here i s that the Wi ndows Backup feature i ncorporates full support for
thi s new Li brari es functionali ty. The 'Let Wi ndows Choose' opti on i n Wi ndows Backup for exampl e
automati cal ly ensures that all the data stored i n your Li brari es i s backed up; simi larly, the 'Let Me Choose'
opti on has a si ngl e ti ck-box enti tl ed '[username]'s Li braries', whi ch i s ti cked by defaul t, maki ng i t qui ck and
easy to backup your i mportant fil es wi th confidence.

The poi nt i s that - asi de from any other benefi ts - by setti ng up your Li brari es so that they i ncl ude all your
i mportant personal fol ders across all your storage locati ons, i t makes sure that all your data i s backed up
wi thout having to manuall y fi nd and sel ect each and every fol der on each and every dri ve, and thus possibl y
forgetti ng to i nclude i mportant fol ders. Remember that you can create new Li brary fol ders at any ti me i f
some of your personal fi les or fol ders don't fi t i nto any exi sti ng category. For exampl e, create a
Mi scel laneous Li brary and you can then add fol ders for data you don't want to store i n the other fol ders.
Note that you shoul d not store any personal fil es on the desti nati on dri ve sel ected for Wi ndows Backup, nor
on a network, because by defaul t Wi ndows Backup wi ll automaticall y excl ude any such fi l es when backi ng
up a Li brary.

The Li braries feature i s covered i n detail i n the Li braries secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.

Settings and Bookmarks: Some of your important data may not be i n a readi ly accessi ble form, or might be
contai ned i n a fol der whi ch also has a large number of unnecessary fil es or program fil es you don't wish to
backup. I'm referri ng here to thi ngs l ike your bookmarks for thi rd party web browsers l i ke Fi refox, or
setti ngs and saves for certai n games, parti cularl y older games, which are hel d in a vari ety of fol ders spread
throughout your Wi ndows i nstallati on. An easy opti on i s to manual l y fi nd and add all such fol ders to your
Li brari es. A better opti on i f you want to save space and al so make i t easi er to restore these setti ngs i n the
future i s to sort out onl y the rel evant fil es and back them up i ndi vi duall y to a Li brary. Each browser shoul d
provi de the abi li ty to i mport/export bookmarks, so use thi s feature to export a copy of your bookmarks
regul arl y to a Li brary of your choi ce. For games, check the documentati on or go to the onl i ne support forum
and fi nd the defaul t l ocations for stori ng saved game and confi gurati on fi les. You may then wi sh to copy
and archi ve these fi l es, and store thi s archi ved copy i n a Li brary - al though bear i n mi nd that i f you are
havi ng problems wi th a game, or change your hardware before restori ng a backup, that i t is not
recommended that you use your saved confi guration fi l es; only backed-up saved games are fi ne i n such
ci rcumstances.

Programs: An i mportant note regardi ng i nstall ed programs - don't attempt to backup an enti re program
di rectory, or all the components of an i nstal l ed program, as you cannot restore most programs i n thi s
manner; they wi l l not run properl y if they are copi ed back onto another i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7 due to the
l ack of appropri ate Registry entri es and rel ated fi l es spread throughout vari ous other di rectori es. You must
use the original i nstal lati on di sc or fi l es to rei nstall a game or program correctly. Wi ndows 7 also purposely
ski ps addi ng program fil es and fol ders as part of the Wi ndows Backup functi onali ty for thi s reason.

Usernames/Passwords: You can store all your usernames and passwords securel y electronicall y - see the
Backi ng Up & Restori ng System Passwords secti on further below. If you have no fai th i n el ectroni c storage
systems then compi l e a wri tten l ist or pri ntout of the major usernames and passwords on your system.


40

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

However you must then store thi s li st safel y i n a physi call y secure pl ace li ke a safe, and keep i n mi nd that
any ti me you wri te down or store your passwords in unencrypted format i n any l ocati on you are faci ng a
securi ty ri sk if i t fal ls i nto the wrong hands, parti cularl y i f you share your PC wi th other users.

In any case organi zi ng your data correctl y i n Wi ndows 7 has a range of benefi ts, parti cul arly i f you become
accustomed to usi ng the Li brari es. Whi l e i t may be unfamil iar or counter-i ntui ti ve at fi rst, the l ong term
advantages are numerous and worthwhi l e, not just for backup purposes, as we wi ll see later in thi s book.

MANAGING BACKUPS
Once you've created your backups usi ng Windows Backup, you can manage them to ensure opti mal use of
space on your desti nati on dri ve. To do thi s, go to Backup and Restore, and cl ick the 'Manage Space' li nk
found beneath the Locati on secti on. Al ternati vel y, go to the dri ve whi ch hol ds the backup, right-cl ick on the
rel evant fol der (typi cal ly [username]-PC), and then sel ect Restore Opti ons>Manage Space Used by thi s
Backup. Thi s opens a new wi ndow, provi di ng you wi th a summary of the space taken up by vari ous backup
fi les. You wi ll then be able to access separate features to manage any i ndi vi dual fol der backups as well as
any system images:

Data File Backup: When you cli ck the 'Vi ew backups' button, you wil l see any data fil e backups that are
currentl y avai labl e. These are backups of personal fol ders and/or any i ndi vidual fol ders you sel ected. Thi s
does not i nclude a system i mage or any part of i t. You can del ete any ol der backups i f you wi sh, as thi s wi ll
hel p save space, but bear in mi nd that because Wi ndows usuall y backs up on an i ncremental basis, i t al ready
saves space by not dupl i cati ng the same data each time; onl y new or changed data is backed up. Thi s is why
the Backup Peri od shown wi ll span several days for a si ngl e backup. However peri odi call y, Wi ndows wil l
create an entirel y new ful l-sized backup and hence begi n a new backup peri od. If you have no need for older
versi ons of fil es and fol ders, you can del ete any previ ous backup peri ods shown here, whi ch wil l hel p
reclai m dri ve space wi thout l osi ng the l atest copy of your backed up fol ders. If only one backup peri od is
shown, del eting i t wi ll delete al l your backed up folders, so that is obvi ously not recommended unl ess you
speci fi call y want to remove your backup al together.

System Image: If you've created a system i mage, you can cli ck the 'Change setti ngs' button here to access
opti ons whi ch all ow you to control how backups of system i mages are managed. When the defaul t 'Let
Wi ndows manage the space used for backup hi story' opti on i s sel ected, Wi ndows keep as many copi es of
system i mages as i t can - except on network l ocations where onl y one system i mage can be kept. If the
desti nati on dri ve's free space fal ls bel ow 30% of i ts total si ze, Wi ndows wi ll begi n del eti ng ol der system
i mages to prevent the dri ve runni ng out of space. If you wish to onl y keep a si ngl e system image (the latest)
i nstead, you can sel ect the 'Keep onl y the latest system i mage and mi ni mi ze space used by backup', freei ng
up the amount of space i ndi cated through removal of older system i mage(s).

Both opti ons are real l y onl y desi gned to reduce the amount of space taken up by backups. If you're not
concerned about the si ze of your backups, and want the conveni ence of havi ng mul ti pl e backups i n case you
need to restore di fferent versi ons of the same fil e for exampl e, then the defaul t setti ngs are fine. However if
space i s li mi ted, I recommend frequently checki ng and removi ng al l but the latest backups.

RESTORING BACKUPS
If at any ti me you want to restore or simpl y vi ew any fil es and fol ders backed up vi a the Wi ndows Backup
feature, then you should go to the Backup and Restore wi ndow and cl i ck the 'Restore my fil es' button.
Al ternati vel y, go to the drive whi ch holds the backup, and for the relevant folder (typi cal ly [username]-PC),
ei ther doubl e-cli ck i t or right-cl ick and then sel ect Restore Options and sel ect one of the Restore opti ons
avai labl e. This opens a Restore Fil es wi ndow whi ch all ows you to browse to any parti cular dri ve whi ch
hol ds an appropri ate Wi ndows Backup di rectory, and fi nd a specifi c fil e or fol der to restore.


41

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

If you have a good i dea as to where the backup fi le or fol der resi des, cl i ck the 'Browse for fi l es' or 'Browse for
fol ders' button - dependi ng on whether you want to restore a speci fi c fil e or an enti re folder - and once
you've found the appropri ate fil e or folder on the backup dri ve, doubl e-cli ck on i t or hi ghlight i t and cl ick
the 'Add...' button, and i t wi ll be added to a li st of fil es and/or fol ders to be restored. If you don't know
where the fi le resi des, cli ck the Search button, and enter some or al l of the filename and cli ck the Search
button to have Wi ndows search through your backups to see i f i t exi sts. You wi l l be presented wi th a li st of
found fi l es whi ch you can ti ck and then cl i ck OK to add to your l ist of fil es to be restored. You can repeat the
above process as often as necessary until you have added all the files and/or fol ders you want to restore.

Note that by defaul t Wi ndows wi ll restore the l atest versi on of the fi le(s) or fol der(s) you've sel ected. To alter
thi s, cli ck the 'Choose a di fferent date' l ink at the top of the Restore Fi les wi ndow and sel ect a previ ous date
(if avai labl e).

Once you've sel ected the fi l es or fol ders to be restored, cl i ck the Next button and you wil l be prompted to
ei ther have the fi le/fol der restored to i ts ori gi nal l ocation i n each i nstance, or you can specify a new l ocati on.
I strongl y recommend sel ecti ng the second opti on and speci fyi ng an empty directory of your choi ce. Thi s
prevents the backup versi on from overwri ti ng the exi sti ng version of the file or fol der, whi ch may be
undesi rabl e especiall y i f the backup wi nds up bei ng the wrong versi on or is somehow corrupt or i nfected. In
any case fortunately Wi ndows 7 doesn't automati call y overwri te existi ng versi ons even if you choose the
fi rst opti on - you wi ll be prompted i n the event of any confl i cts and asked to choose whether to overwri te or
rename the fi l e or fol der, or cancel the transfer al together. However restori ng your backup fil e(s) and/or
fol der(s) to an empty l ocati on i s best as i t al l ows you to properl y check to ensure they are the versi on you
desi re and are worki ng correctl y and remai n free from mal ware. You can then del ete your current versi on of
the fi l e(s) and/or fol der(s) to the Recycl e Bi n as an added safety precaution, and move the backup to its
ori gi nal l ocati on manual l y. Note that i t i s fi ne to l eave the 'Restore the fi l es to thei r ori ginal subfol ders'
opti on ti cked, as i t wil l si mpl y create the appropri ate subfol ders under the new di rectory you speci fy, whi ch
can be hel pful i n sorti ng restored fi les.

If you wi sh to restore an enti re system image rather than i ndi vi dual fi les or folders, you can do so by booti ng
up your system usi ng a startup repair di sc or the Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on DVD and usi ng the System
Recovery Opti ons covered i n detai l under the System Recovery secti on of thi s chapter. Al ternati vely you can
restore a system i mage by goi ng to Control Panel>Recovery and then cl i cking the 'Advanced recovery
methods' li nk i n the Recovery wi ndow. Thi s wi ll al low you to sel ect the opti on 'Use a system i mage you
create earl i er to recover your computer'. Because restori ng a system i mage wil l overwri te all of the exi sti ng
content on your system dri ve, if you want to retain any of the exi sti ng data on the dri ve, copy i t to a non
system dri ve to ensure i t i s not l ost when the dri ve i s overwri tten wi th the system i mage. You can then
conti nue, fol lowi ng the prompts to restore your system i mage.

If for some reason you must attempt to restore i ndi vidual fi les or fol ders from a system i mage, i t is possi ble
to do so but i t requi res a more compl ex set of steps, and i s onl y avai lable to Windows 7 Ul ti mate or
Enterpri se users:

1. Open Admi nistrati ve Tool s i n the Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ect Computer Management.
2. In Computer Management, select the Disk Management component.
3. Under the Acti on menu i n Di sk Management sel ect 'Attach VHD'
4. Browse to the l ocati on of the .VHD system i mage fi le. I recommend ti cki ng the 'Read-onl y' box before
cl i cki ng OK, as any changes to thi s .VHD fil e can make the Backup corrupt.
5. The VHD fi l e wi ll be mounted as the type of dri ve the VHD fil e i mage was ori gi nall y saved as.

Thi s dri ve wil l now appear as an identical copy of your system dri ve usi ng a new dri ve l etter, and you can
browse i t i n Wi ndows Expl orer just as wi th any other dri ve. Once fi nished, make sure you detach the VHD


42

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

dri ve under the Acti on menu i n Disk Management. See the Vi rtual Hard Di sk secti on of the Drive
Opti mi zati on chapter for more detai ls.

Some more thi ngs to note regardi ng restorati on of backups:

Wi ndows 7 is abl e to restore fil es from a backup made usi ng the Wi ndows Vista Backup and Restore
Center.
System i mages can also be used to as part of the System Restore feature to provi de additi onal restore
poi nts you can use - see the System Protecti on secti on bel ow.
If you si mpl y want to restore an earl i er versi on of a fi le, due to acci dental del eti on or recent uni ntended
changes for exampl e, then i t i s best to fi rst try usi ng the Previous Versi ons functi onali ty as covered
under the System Protecti on secti on bel ow.

< SYSTEM PROTECTION
Wi ndows 7's System Protecti on features, enabled by defaul t on your system dri ve, are a set of basic
safeguards put i n place to ensure that you don't uni ntenti onall y al ter your fi les wi thout some form of
backup to fall back on, and that any changes to i mportant system fi les and setti ngs can be easi l y reversed if
necessary. To access the mai n confi gurati on opti ons for System Protecti on, open the System component of
the Wi ndows Control Panel and cl ick the System Protecti on l i nk i n the l eft pane, or go to Start>Search Box,
type systempropertiesprotection and press Enter.

Under the mai n System Protecti on properti es wi ndow you wil l see the i ndi vidual dri ves on your system for
whi ch system protecti on i s currentl y enabl ed. By defaul t your mai n system dri ve wil l have system
protecti on shown as bei ng On; any addi ti onal drives wil l not have i t enabled by default. Al so note that
system protecti on can onl y be enabled on NTFS dri ves.

To al ter system protecti on on any dri ve, fi rst sel ect the dri ve from the l i st shown, then cl ick the Confi gure
button. In the wi ndow which opens, you can select the foll owi ng:

Restore system setti ngs and previ ous versi ons of fi l es - Sel ecti ng thi s opti on enabl es both System Restore
and Previ ous Versi ons on the dri ve;
Onl y restore previ ous versi ons of fil es - Thi s opti on di sabl es System Restore and l eaves Previ ous Versi on
functi onali ty enabl ed;
Turn off system protecti on - Di sabl es all system protecti on functi onali ty and del etes al l restore poi nts
and previ ous versi ons.

You can al so determi ne the maxi mum amount of space all ocated to potenti al use by system protecti on
features here.

To understand how best to configure these opti ons for your system, read the foll owi ng:

SYSTEM RESTORE
System Restore is not a general backup and restore uti l i ty, and shoul d not be mistaken as one - i t is a system
state backup and recovery tool . System Restore does not back up or mai ntai n any copi es of your personal
fi les, such as your emai ls, pi ctures, documents or musi c; i nstead it creates periodi c Restore Poi nts whi ch are
a snapshot of your system state at a poi nt i n ti me. Thi s restore poi nt saves i nformati on rel ated to key
Wi ndows system-related fil es and programs, as wel l as the Wi ndows Registry.

Creating Restore Points: Typi cal ly a restore poi nt i s automati cal ly created before any si gni fi cant changes to the
system, such as when i nstal li ng a program, a dri ver, or a Windows update. Windows also automati call y
creates a restore poi nt once every seven days, if no other restore poi nts were created wi thi n that peri od. You


43

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

can also manual l y create a new restore poi nt at any ti me. Go to the mai n System Protecti on properties
wi ndow and cl i ck the Create button. In the box whi ch appears, enter a descri ptive name for the restore point
- note that Wi ndows automati cal ly appends the ti me and date to each restore poi nt so you don't need to
manuall y enter these - and then cl i ck Create agai n. A new restore poi nt wi ll be created for all the dri ve(s) on
whi ch you have enabled system protecti on.

Restoring Restore Point: At any ti me if you wi sh to use an exi sti ng restore poi nt to return your system state to
the way i t was when that poi nt was created, fol l ow these steps:

1. Open System Restore - thi s can done i n a range of ways, i ncludi ng: Goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
rstrui and pressi ng Enter; goi ng to the Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ecti ng Recovery, then cli cki ng the
'Open System Restore' button; and under the Backup and Restore component of the Wi ndows Control
cl i cki ng the 'Recover system setti ngs or your computer' li nk and then cl i cki ng the 'Open System Restore'
button.
2. Cl i ck the Next button i n the System Restore box whi ch appears, and you wi ll be abl e vi ew all of the
avai labl e restore poi nts, sorted by the date they were created. Restore poi nts are l abeled cl earl y under
both the descri pti on and type col umns, maki ng i t easi er to differenti ate when and how each restore
poi nt was made.
3. If you have made any system i mage backups usi ng the Wi ndows Backup feature covered earl i er i n this
chapter, then you can ti ck the 'Show more restore poi nts' box, and each system i mage wil l provi de at
l east one addi ti onal poi nt whi ch can be restored. Note that even though a system i mage contai ns both
system and personal fi les, usi ng a system i mage as a restore poi nt source wi ll not restore or overwri te
personal fil es, onl y system fi les.
4. To restore a speci fi c restore poi nt, hi ghli ght that restore poi nt. It i s recommended that you then cl i ck the
'Scan for affected programs' l i nk, and Windows wi ll provi de a li st of programs, dri vers or updates whi ch
wi ll ei ther be del eted or restored (i n part or i n ful l) as a resul t of the changes brought about by restori ng
that parti cular poi nt. Cli ck Next if you sti ll wish to conti nue - on the next screen you wil l be abl e to
revi ew your choi ces before proceedi ng wi th the actual restorati on.
5. To compl ete the process, cli ck the Fi ni sh button. Your system wil l need to restart so your system fi les can
be reverted to the way they were at the ti me of the restore poi nt. You wi ll be noti fi ed if the restore was
successful.
6. If you fi nd that usi ng the restore poi nt was no hel p at all , or made thi ngs even worse, you can undo the
use of that restore poi nt by openi ng System Restore agai n, cli cki ng 'Undo System Restore' and then
cl i cki ng Next. Note that the abil i ty to undo a restore i s not avai labl e if you use System Restore i n Safe
Mode.

Disabling Restore Points: If you wi sh to turn off System Restore, go to the mai n System Protecti on properti es
wi ndow and hi ghli ght a dri ve of your choi ce. Cl i ck the Confi gure button and to turn off onl y the System
Restore functi onali ty of System Protecti on, sel ect the 'Onl y restore previ ous versi ons of fi l es' option.
Al ternati vel y you can sel ect the 'Turn off system protecti on' opti on i f you also wi sh to disabl e the Previ ous
Versi ons functi on, effecti vel y disabl i ng System Protecti on al together. Importantl y, doi ng thi s removes all
exi sti ng restore poi nts and previ ous versi ons.

Di sabl i ng System Restore i s not recommended, as i t can be i nvaluable i n recoveri ng from unforeseeabl e
probl ems whi ch can affl i ct even the most advanced user. For exampl e i f you install a beta dri ver whi ch i s
unstable or makes an undesi rable change to the Windows Regi stry, and i n turn prevents you from booti ng
i nto Wi ndows, thi s can be di ffi cul t and ti me consuming to resol ve manuall y. With System Restore enabl ed,
you can si mpl y boot i nto Safe Mode, open System Restore, sel ect the restore poi nt Wi ndows automati cally
made just before the dri ver was i nstall ed, reboot, and the changes are i nstantl y undone.

System Restore has no performance penal ty; the onl y possi bl e di sadvantage to l eavi ng i t enabl ed i s the
amount of dri ve space i t can take up - by defaul t System Restore i s al l owed to use up to 5% of your drive


44

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

space. It requi res at least 300MB of free space on each dri ve to work properl y, and only works on drives
l arger than 1GB. Over ti me System Restore wi ll del ete ol der restore poi nts automati cal ly so as not to exceed
i ts size li mi t. Fortunately Wi ndows 7 has al so added the abi li ty to readil y select exactl y how much drive
space to al l ocate to System Protecti on features - see further bel ow for detai ls.

Deleting Restore Points: Wi ndows automati call y del etes ol der restore poi nts once System Restore hi ts i ts space
l i mi t on your dri ve. However i f you want to save disk space, you can manual l y del ete all ol der restore poi nts
except the very l atest one at any ti me by usi ng the Di sk Cl eanup uti li ty - see the Di sk Cl eanup secti on of the
Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter. If you want to del ete all restore poi nts, i ncl udi ng the l atest one, open the System
Protecti on properti es wi ndow, cli ck the Configure button, and then cl ick the Del ete button. Whil e thi s wi ll
remove all restore poi nts as wel l as al l previ ous versi ons of fi l es, it doesn't prevent Wi ndows from creating
new ones agai n i n the future - that wil l onl y occur i f you choose to turn off system protecti on al together.

PREVIOUS VERSIONS
Al though System Restore does not restore copi es of your personal fil es as part of a restore poi nt, the System
Protecti on feature ensures that Shadow Copi es, al so known as the Volume Shadow Copy Servi ce (VSS), or
more commonl y known as Previ ous Versi ons, are automati cal ly created for most non-system fi les duri ng the
creati on of restore poi nts. As l ong as you keep System Protecti on enabl ed on a parti cul ar drive, then shadow
copi es wi ll al so be made of rel evant fi les whenever they are al tered. While shadow copi es are not a
substi tute for taki ng proper backups of your i mportant fi l es, thi s is an added safety feature i n Wi ndows 7
whi ch remains much the same as when i t was i ntroduced i n Vista. Its aim i s to make recovery from
acci dental del eti on or al terati on of important fi l es much easier, and is yet another reason why it i s
recommended that you do not di sable System Protecti on.

Just to be cl ear: the mai n di fference between System Restore and Previ ous Versi ons i s that System Restore is
used for restori ng system-related fi l es and setti ngs, whi l e Previ ous Versions is for restori ng personal and
other non-system fi l es; Previ ous Versi ons of Wi ndows system fi l es, such those under the \Windows
di rectory, are not kept.

To vi ew and/or restore any exi sti ng Previ ous Versi ons of a fil e, do the fol l owi ng:

1. Open Wi ndows Expl orer and browse to the sel ected fi l e, whether under i ts ori gi nal l ocati on or i n the
appropriate Li brary.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on the fi l e and sel ect 'Restore previ ous versi ons', or al ternati vel y right-cl i ck on the fi le, sel ect
Properti es and cli ck on the 'Previ ous Versi ons' tab.
3. Under the Previ ous Versi ons tab you wi l l see all avai labl e previ ous versi ons l isted i n order of the date
upon whi ch the fi l e was last modi fi ed, not the date it was saved. If the fi l e was not modifi ed si nce the
l ast restore poi nt or Wi ndows Backup was taken, there wil l be no previ ous versi ons available. Note al so
that i f you want to restore a fi le whi ch has been del eted, and thus i s not availabl e for you to sel ect and
exami ne i ts Previ ous Versions tab, then you can l ook at the Previ ous Versi ons tab of the folder i n whi ch
i t ori gi nall y resi ded i nstead and restore a previ ous versi on of the enti re fol der.
4. To previ ew the contents of a previ ous versi on before restori ng it, hi ghl ight the versi on you wi sh to
restore and cli ck the Open button.
5. Once you have found the versi on of the fil e or fol der you wish to restore, you can ei ther cli ck the Restore
button whi ch wi l l overwri te your exi sti ng versi on of that fil e wi th the previ ous versi on, or you can cl i ck
the Copy button whi ch al l ows you to copy the previ ous versi on to another directory. The Copy opti on is
recommended, especiall y i f you are restori ng an enti re fol der, because thi s all ows you to keep and
compare both versi ons of the fi l e or fol der, and then di scard whi chever fi l es you no l onger need.
6. If you sel ect the Copy opti on you wil l be prompted to choose a directory i n whi ch to pl ace the previ ous
versi on - I recommend an empty di rectory. If you choose the Restore opti on and a current versi on of the
fi le or fol der al ready exist, you wi ll be prompted to confi rm the choi ce and i f you cl i ck Restore agai n, i t
wi ll overwri te any exi sti ng versi on on your dri ve. Note that shadow copi es as part of a restore poi nt are


45

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

stored on your mai n Wi ndows dri ve and wi ll be restored i mmedi atel y, whereas shadow copi es whi ch
are part of a Wi ndows Backup wi ll be stored on another dri ve and requi re that you to have that
parti cul ar drive connected before you can restore the fi l e.

How recent your previ ous versi ons are depends on how frequentl y you use the Wi ndows Backup and
System Restore functi ons, so thi s i s not a fool proof method of restori ng a fil e to preci sel y the desi red version,
especiall y for fi les whi ch you change very often. Also, dependi ng on the amount of dri ve space you have
made avail abl e to System Protecti on and the number of fil es on your system, over ti me you wi ll l ose older
previ ous versi ons. Note al so that if you access your mai n Wi ndows 7 dri ve with a versi on of Wi ndows pri or
to Vi sta, because of the di fferences in NTFS, the ol der versi on of Wi ndows wi l l automati call y del ete all
shadow copies, whi ch means the del etion of Previ ous Versi ons as well - keep thi s i n mi nd if you are dual -
booti ng Wi ndows 7 wi th Wi ndows XP for exampl e.

Previ ous Versi ons i s a very useful functi on, and makes a very strong case for not di sabl i ng System
Protecti on, especi al ly as i t has no performance i mpact. It i s certai nly much qui cker and easi er to use Previ ous
Versi ons for undoi ng accidental del eti ons and uni ntended changes to fil es than any other method. However
I must stress that i t i s not a substi tute for taki ng proper backups, because shadow copi es are stored on your
system dri ve, and i n the event of dri ve corrupti on or compl ete fai l ure, you wi ll l ose both the ori gi nal s and
the Previ ous Versi ons at the same ti me.

RESIZING SYSTEM PROTECTION'S RESERVED DRIVE SPACE
As noted under System Restore, for ful l functi onali ty the System Protecti on features requi re a 1GB or larger
dri ve, at l east 300MB of free dri ve space, and can use up to 5% of your total dri ve space on your mai n
Wi ndows drive by default. In Wi ndows Vista you were onl y abl e to al ter these setti ngs by usi ng the
vssadmi n command wi th appropriate parameters in an Admi nistrator Command Prompt. Whil e you can
sti ll use this command i n Wi ndows 7, i t i s no l onger necessary because al l the rel evant informati on and
resizi ng capabi l i ties are provi ded i n a graphi cal user i nterface. Go to the mai n System Protecti on properti es
wi ndow, found by cl i cki ng the 'System Protecti on' link i n the System component of the Wi ndows Control
Panel . Then hi ghli ght the rel evant dri ve and cl i ck the Confi gure button. Under the Di sk Space Usage section
of the wi ndow you can see the amount of space currentl y used by System Protecti on. To l i mit the maxi mum
amount of space avai labl e to System Protecti on, move the sli der to the appropriate percentage of your drive
space and then cl i ck the Appl y button.

By reduci ng the maxi mum amount of space usabl e by System Protecti on, you may l ose ol der restore poi nts
and previ ous versi ons, and i f set too l ow thi s may make System Protecti on effecti vel y usel ess by not bei ng
abl e to protect all of your fil es, fol ders and setti ngs. I recommend that you set at least 2GB of dri ve space,
preferabl y more if you have more fi les on the dri ve, parti cul arl y if they are l arge fi l es. If i n doubt, do not
al ter thi s setting from i ts defaul t.

Remember that you can manuall y remove ol der restore poi nts at any ti me to reduce di sk space usage
wi thout compl etel y l osi ng the protecti on afforded by these features - see the Disk Cl eanup secti on of the
Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter. In the end if you trul y resent any space bei ng taken up by System Protecti on
features, or just don't have the space to spare on your dri ve, then i t may be best to si mply di sabl e System
Protecti on for that dri ve al together rather than cri ppl e i t and hence have a fal se sense of security.

Regardl ess of whi ch opti on you choose, I strongly recommend that you make sure to regularly back up all
your i mportant and i rreplaceabl e fi l es often and to mul ti ple l ocati ons, i n case of acci dental deleti on, mal ware
i nfecti on, drive fail ure, theft, or fi re. System Protecti on i s onl y one component of an appropriate backup
strategy.


46

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

< BACKING UP & RESTORING PASSWORDS
Backi ng up and restori ng l ogi n passwords i s a unique case worth consi deri ng on i ts own. Thi s i s because
Windows does not automati call y backup usernames and passwords as part of any of i ts usual Backup
features, nor i s i t general l y recommended that you simpl y wri te down or type up a li st of your usernames
and passwords and save them as a standard document or text fi le for example - thi s i s a bi g securi ty risk.
Thi s secti on provi des several al ternates whi ch al l ow you to make sure your i mportant passwords are
accessi ble if you forget them.

The fi rst and most i mportant password to consi der is the l ogi n password you use for the mai n Protected
Admi nistrator account i n Wi ndows, i.e. the first User Account you create when Wi ndows 7 is i nstal l ed. If
thi s User Account i s password protected - and note that thi s i s not necessary in certai n scenari os as covered
i n the User Accounts chapter - then forgetti ng the password is a major headache. With the NTFS fi l e system
i t i s qui te diffi cul t to access the data on your dri ve wi thout the correct l ogi n password. Clearl y the best thi ng
to do i s backup your password now before anythi ng happens, so that i f necessary you can restore i t wi thout
any di ffi cul ties. The recommended way to securely back i t up is as fol l ows, though note you wil l requi re a
fl oppy di sk or preferably a USB fl ash drive for thi s procedure:

BACKING UP LOGIN PASSWORD
1. Open the User Accounts component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli ck on your User Account.
2. Connect your USB fl ash drive or i nsert a fl oppy di sk as appl i cabl e.
3. Cl i ck on 'Create a Password Reset Di sk' i n the l eft pane. The Forgotten Password Wizard wil l open up,
cl i ck Next.
4. Sel ect the appropri ate drive when prompted. Note that i f you need to format the USB drive or fl oppy
di sk fi rst, open Wi ndows Expl orer, ri ght-cli ck on the dri ve and select Format.
5. You wi ll be prompted to enter the current User Account password (or leave bl ank i f i t has none). Do so
and cl i ck Next.
6. Once the password reset di sk has been created, select Fi nish. Store thi s di sk/sti ck somewhere safe, as
anyone can now use i t to effecti vel y access your account.

I encourage you to purchase a smal l USB fl ash dri ve just for thi s purpose. The added securi ty and protecti on
agai nst l oss of your l ogi n password i s wel l worth thi s ti ny i nvestment.

RESTORING LOGIN PASSWORD
If you ever need to restore your password from the backup created above, foll ow these steps:

1. Boot your PC as normal , and on the Windows Logi n screen sel ect your User Name.
2. Try enteri ng your password (or just press Enter), and if i t's i ncorrect you'll get a message sayi ng the
Username or Password i s incorrect. Cli ck OK and then sel ect 'Reset Password', inserti ng the password
reset di sk or USB flash drive you created earli er.
3. Fol l ow the Password Reset Wizard to set a new password and l og back i nto your system.

The password reset disk needs to be wri te-enabl ed so that Windows can update i t wi th the new password
automati cal ly duri ng thi s procedure. When done, you shoul d once agai n put i t away i n a physi call y secure
pl ace.

Note that the mai n Admi nistrator account on a PC can l og i n at any ti me and change the password for other
accounts, i n case they are forgotten. However doi ng so wi ll prevent those users from accessi ng any exi sting
encrypted fi les or fol ders for that account, so the best method to prevent password l oss and hence potenti al
data l oss is to use the password reset disk method above, regardl ess of whether you are an Admi ni strator or
a Standard user of the PC.


47

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

RECOVERING LOGIN PASSWORD
If you've compl etel y l ost your l ogi n password, you don't have a password reset di sk, and you don't have any
other Admi nistrator who can reset i t for you then general l y you're i n a l ot of troubl e. Usual ly you wil l have
to si mpl y reformat and reinstall Wi ndows.

However i f you are reall y desperate to regai n access to your user account and you have the ti me, you can try
the Offli ne NT Password & Regi stry Edi tor for cracki ng your Windows account password. I am provi ding
thi s i nformation i n good fai th for users who want to restore thei r own account, not to attempt to hack other
accounts. If you are al armed at the existence of cracking tool s and methods for getti ng account passwords in
Wi ndows then I strongl y recommend that fi rstly you set your user account password to somethi ng strong
such as a 12 character (or more) base64 or base95 random password. For exampl e, you can use thi s onl i ne
Password Generator to generate one. These compl ex passwords are extremely di ffi cul t to crack, especi ally
the more characters you use. Secondl y and most i mportantl y, I recommend that you restri ct physi cal access
to your machi ne to onl y those peopl e you absolutely trust, and i f i n doubt, make sure to observe the use of
your PC by others to ensure they don't use a tool l ike the one above to compromi se your account's securi ty.

STORING PASSWORDS
Rememberi ng username and passwords for vari ous websi tes and software soon becomes extremel y di ffi cul t
to do. Most users wi nd up usi ng si mpl e passwords, such as a common word or name al ong wi th a number
or two at the end of i t. Thi s i s not opti mal for securi ty purposes, and whi l e most peopl e are now aware that i t
i s best to have compl ex passwords consi sti ng of a combi nati on of random l etters (both uppercase and
l owercase) and numbers, and even some symbols thrown i n for good measure, vi rtual l y no-one can
remember these passwords. Web browsers make the process easi er by al l owing storage of usernames and
passwords for automati c entry i nto rel evant prompts on websi tes, however thi s sti l l doesn't sol ve the
probl em of potenti all y l osing your passwords i n the event of an emergency, such as dri ve corrupti on, or if
you want to transfer the passwords to another machine, or if you si mpl y don't wi sh to trust your browser to
store your passwords.

Credenti al Manager i s a new feature i n Wi ndows 7 based on a very si milar feature found in Wi ndows XP
and Vista under an advanced User Account confi gurati on screen accessed by running the control
userpasswords2 command. Credenti al Manager can now be accessed di rectly under the Control Panel , or by
goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng credential manager and pressi ng Enter.

The mai n purpose for Credenti al Manager is to store logi n credentials for accessing other computers, servers
or si tes whi ch support this feature. You can add the rel evant credenti al details by cl i cki ng the Add l i nk on
the ri ght si de of the three mai n categories: Wi ndows Credenti al s, Certi fi cate-Based Credentials, or Generic
Credenti al s. Wi ndows credenti al s are pri maril y for si gni ng into other computers and Wi ndows-based
resources; Certi ficate-Based credentials are for resources whi ch requi re a vali d certifi cate; and Generi c
credential s are for standard web-based servi ces. However the resource requesti ng the username and
password must be desi gned to i nteract wi th Credenti al Manager (or the previ ous versi ons of the same
feature) i n Wi ndows, otherwi se your entered data wi ll not have any i mpact. Thi s means that Credenti al
Manager is not as useful for the average PC user.

Importantl y, the i nformation you enter here i s stored as part of the Wi ndows Vaul t, whi ch i s an encrypted
fi le you can backup to any l ocati on - preferabl y a removabl e source such as a USB flash dri ve - and then use
on other machi nes as requi red. If any data has been entered i n Credenti al Manager i t wi ll displ ay a 'Back up
vaul t' l i nk at the top whi ch al l ows you to do preci sely thi s, and the 'Restore vaul t' li nk can si mi larl y be used
to restore a previ ousl y backed up vaul t.


48

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

If i nstead you si mply want to hol d al l your usernames and passwords i n a relati vel y strai ghtforward central
database protected by hi gh l evel encrypti on, whi ch also provi des the abi li ty to securel y export and store the
database for backup purposes, use the free KeePass Password Safe uti li ty. There i s both a Cl assi c Edi ti on and
a newer version avai labl e to downl oad. The di fferences i n features are spell ed out i n thi s table, but for the
most part all the functi onal i ty requi red, i n addi ti on to portabi li ty and smal ler footpri nt, can be found i n the
Cl assi c Edi ti on (ZIP Package) versi on of thi s software, whi ch i s the one I recommend and descri be bel ow.

To use KeePass, launch KeePass.exe and sel ect New under the Fi l e menu, then enter a Master Password
and/or sel ect a Key Fil e. These measures are used to secure the password l ist, and whi le the key fi le is not
essential, make sure to enter a master password whi ch has a hi gh bi t-rate by usi ng a combi nati on of l etters
both l owercase and uppercase, as wel l as numbers, and not just a common word or name. Thi s master
password is a cri ti cal component - if you forget i t, there is no way to unl ock your password li st. Once the
database is created, you can populate it. The database i s sorted by groups, whi ch are si mply categori es of
passwords. You can ri ght-cl i ck i n the l eft pane and add new groups, or add sub-groups under the existi ng
groups, or remove any group or sub-group as you wi sh. Hi ghli ght the group whi ch you beli eve your
username/password combi nati on is best stored under, and i n the ri ght pane ri ght-cli ck and select 'Add
Entry' to create a new entry contai ni ng your username and password combi nati on for a parti cular Wi ndows
feature, other software, or a websi te. Do thi s as many ti mes as requi red to populate the database wi th al l the
username and password combi nati ons you wi sh to store.

You can backup thi s password database to any l ocati on you wi sh by usi ng the 'Export To' feature under the
Fi l e menu. I strongl y recommend exporti ng the database as a KeePass Database .KDB fil e. Thi s database can
then be stored or backed up wherever you wish, and i ts contents can only be successfull y vi ewed by usi ng
KeePass to open the fi l e and enteri ng the correct master password. Because the database is encrypted, it i s
vi rtual ly i mpossi bl e to access the database contents wi thout the right password/key fi l e.

RECOVERING OTHER PASSWORDS
If you haven't properl y stored your passwords and you've managed to forget or l ose an i mportant password
whi ch you can't si mpl y reset, such as your Windows l ogi n password, there are util i ties you can use to
recover or crack these passwords. The best free tool whi ch works i n Wi ndows 7 is Ophcrack, though you can
also try the free Cai n & Abel. However I cannot go i nto detai l regardi ng these tool s, as i t i s beyond the scope
of thi s book. The presence of these types of tool s shoul d agai n l et you see that nothi ng i s compl etel y safe on
your machi ne, so i t i s very i mportant to al ways restri ct physi cal access to your machi ne onl y to those people
you trust, and al ways follow the ti ps provi ded i n the PC Securi ty chapter.

< OTHER BACKUP METHODS
The bui l t-i n backup and system protecti on methods i n Wi ndows 7 are extremel y useful and shoul d not be
i gnored. In general they are more than suffi ci ent for you to come up wi th a reasonabl e strategy for
protecti ng your data from l oss. However there are several other ways you can create and maintai n backups,
whether because the Wi ndows functi onali ty i s not suffi ci ent for your needs, or si mpl y because you want
other al ternati ves to suppl ement the Wi ndows features. This secti on provi des such al ternati ves.

THIRD PARTY DRIVE IMAGING SOFTWARE
There are thi rd party programs avai labl e whi ch can provi de features simi lar to the system i mage
functi onali ty i n Wi ndows Backup. The two major software packages for i maging dri ves quickl y and easily
are Norton Ghost and Acroni s TrueImage. However nei ther is free, so they wi ll not be covered here i n any
detail - refer to the rel evant Norton Ghost Manual or the Acronis TrueImage User Gui de for more detai l s.
The mai n benefi t of thi rd party i magi ng uti li ti es over Wi ndows 7's bui l t-i n system i mage option i s that they
all ow a wi der choi ce of opti ons, but i n practi ce they are not essenti al as the Windows Backup system i mage
feature should meet the majori ty of your needs.


49

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

ONLINE BACKUP
Onl i ne backup servi ces allow you to back up data to a secure l ocati on, typi cal ly a remote data center. Thi s
ensures that your data is encrypted and stored safely, but thi s not a free servi ce, so i t i s only recommended i f
you genui nely need that level of protecti on agai nst data l oss or theft. This form of backup i s not absol utel y
necessary for the average user, but i t provi des addi ti onal securi ty and peace of mi nd, particularly i n the
event of fi re or theft, whereby your PC and your onsi te backups may all be destroyed or stol en, l eavi ng you
wi th nothi ng to rel y on for restori ng your data. For the average user however there are several ways of using
free onl i ne servi ces to provi de added securi ty agai nst such data l oss:

ISP Storage: Many Internet Servi ce Provi ders (ISPs) provi de thei r customers with a basi c web space to whi ch
you can upl oad personal data. This i s a relati vely secure and typi cal l y free method of stori ng your data
offsi te - check your ISP's websi te or contact them di rectl y for further detail s. Even i f a small fee i s i nvol ved i n
obtai ni ng such a facil i ty, i t can be worthwhi l e gi ven the added protecti on i t provi des you as another l ocation
to store your backups.

Email Storage: Free emai l servi ces such as Gmai l provi de extremely l arge amounts of storage space - i n the
order of several Gi gabytes. Whi l e I do not recommend upl oadi ng/emai ling any sensiti ve data to these
l ocati ons, as they are not compl etel y secure, they do serve as good hol di ng spots for addi tional backups of
di gi tal photos and other i mportant i rrepl aceabl e fi les. In fact you can use free uti l i ties such as GSpace or
Gmai l Dri ve to make storage of data on a Gmai l account much easi er to manage, though bear i n mi nd that
Gmai l and other free email provi ders may take steps to prevent thi s practi ce i f i t becomes wi despread.

Photo Storage: There are a range of free photo al bum provi ders whi ch wil l all ow you to upload and keep a
l arge li brary of di gi tal photos, whi ch i s extremel y useful agai n as yet another pl ace to store photos whi ch are
otherwi se i rrepl aceabl e i n case your ori gi nals are ever l ost. The most popul ar free photo gall ery provi ders
are Fl i ckr, Photobucket and Pi casa. Make sure to read the i nstructi ons for the gal l ery and enable al l the
pri vacy features so that members of the publ i c cannot vi ew your gall ery contents wi thout your permissi on.
Regardl ess of such features, a di rect li nk to a parti cul ar photo can often be publ i cl y di scovered, so I do not
recommend upl oadi ng sensi ti ve photos to such galleri es.

Ul ti matel y, if you beli eve your data i s worth preservi ng agai nst all eventual i ties, or you need to store i t wi th
maxi mum securi ty, i t i s necessary that you consi der a professi onal remote data storage service to hol d your
backups. The free opti ons whi l e conveni ent do not provi de sufficient securi ty agai nst unauthori zed access.
Of course most Wi ndows users do not requi re this level of protecti on; regularl y taki ng both system i mage
and personal fol der backups and also keepi ng a copy of your backups i n a fi reproof safe for exampl e is
suffi ci ent protecti on.

CUSTOM BACKUPS
The Wi ndows Backup functi onali ty i n Wi ndows 7 now all ows any user the abil i ty to not onl y select
i ndi vi dual folders for backup, but to al so create a ful l system i mage backup as wel l, and do so on a schedul e.
As such I strongl y recommend that you take advantage of this functi onali ty. However I al so recommend that
you create addi ti onal custom backups of your data for one very i mportant reason: any automated backup
uti li ty you use, whether the Windows uti l i ty or a thi rd party one, may i nevi tably backup probl emati c or sub-
opti mal settings or conditi ons. Thi s means that any ti me you restore such backups, even after a clean
reformat and rei nstall of Windows, you may al so be restori ng the probl emati c fil es or setti ngs as wel l. It i s
common for fi les and settings to become i nfected, corrupted or contai n i ncorrect i nformati on (e.g. after a
change of i nstal l ed hardware). These probl ems may not be easi ly detectabl e or reversi bl e, and wi ll work
thei r way i nto your schedul ed backups, maki ng them much l ess useful when the ti me comes to use them.
There's al so the added i ssue of not being abl e to readil y use backups made usi ng the Windows 7 Backup
uti li ty on ol der versi ons of Wi ndows, such as Wi ndows XP, or on other machi nes.


50

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

So i n addi ti on to taki ng regular system i mage and personal fol der backups usi ng Wi ndows Backup, I
strongl y recommend that you create a custom 'clean' backup copy of al l your i mportant fil es whi ch is hi ghl y
portabl e and stored separatel y to your PC. The qui ckest way to do thi s i s:

1. Manual ly scan your enti re system thoroughly for mal ware usi ng the mal ware scanners covered i n the
PC Securi ty chapter.
2. Fi nd a good qual i ty USB flash dri ve or several rewri teabl e CD, DVD or Bl u-Ray di scs. For the USB dri ve,
make sure to format i t fi rst i n FAT32 format by connecti ng i t your PC, and under Wi ndows Expl orer,
ri ght-cl i ck on the dri ve, sel ect Format, then sel ect FAT32 under the Fi l e System box and cl i ck Start.
FAT32 i s the most compatibl e fi l e system, whi ch i s why i t i s recommended for a USB fl ash dri ve.
3. Open Wi ndows Expl orer and manual ly copy across every si ngle fi l e and folder whi ch you consi der
i rreplaceabl e and you wi sh to backup. Al so remember to generate a new backup of your bookmarks
usi ng the bookmark management options i n your browser, copy across any saved games (but not
setti ngs) you wi sh to keep, and also export your stored email s to an empty fol der and then store the
enti re exported fol der(s) in an archi val format li ke .ZIP for easi er handli ng - see the Backi ng Up secti on
of the Wi ndows Li ve Mail chapter of thi s book for more detail s of how to do thi s. Si nce you are onl y
copyi ng across the most important personal data, there shoul dn't be a large vol ume of data; certai nl y i t
should all fi t on an 8 - 16GB USB dri ve, or at most a box of CDs/DVDs or a si ngl e Bl u-Ray disc.
4. Once compl eted, store thi s backup i n a secure l ocati on - at the very l east i n a l ockabl e drawer of some
ki nd.

Whi le the above procedure may seem excessi ve, i t reall y does provi de both addi ti onal safeguards against
l osi ng your valuabl e data, and i mportantl y, al l ows you to do a clean reformat and rei nstall of any versi on of
Wi ndows and si mpl y copy your i mportant fi l es back across for instant use, secure i n the knowl edge that no
probl emati c or i nfected fi les, regi stry setti ngs or settings of any other ki nd are bei ng restored as well . It al so
provi des the portabi li ty necessary to make secure storage of your most i mportant fil es easi er, or i f you wish
to qui ckly view or restore them on another machi ne at any ti me.

In general , the Wi ndows Backup features i n Wi ndows 7 are an excell ent method of generati ng and
mai ntai ni ng up-to-date backups of your system, and I strongl y encourage you to use them. Remember that
the System Protecti on features also provi de an i mportant l evel of protecti on agai nst acci dental del eti on or
modi fi cati on of your personal and system fi l es, whi ch even advanced users shoul d use to thei r advantage. In
combi nati on wi th custom backups, appropri ate data storage practices and some common sense, you wi ll be
protected agai nst l osi ng your i mportant data i n virtuall y any scenari o. It may seem extremel y tedi ous at
fi rst, but once you get i nto the habi t of backi ng up the ri ght way, the peace of mi nd i t offers far outweighs
the i nconvenience.

< DATA RECOVERY
Acci dental del eti on of fil es is one of the most common ways i n whi ch fi les are l ost. By defaul t Wi ndows 7
provi des protecti on agai nst thi s wi th i ts bui l t-i n Backup and System Protecti on features as covered earl i er i n
thi s chapter. You shoul d al so l eave the Recycl e Bi n enabl ed and confi gure i t appropri ately to make sure that
del eted fil es are moved to the Recycl e Bin - see the Recycl e Bi n secti on of the Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter.

However i n the end for one reason or another you may sti ll wi nd up permanentl y del eti ng a necessary fi le,
and have no previ ous backup, restore poi nt or previ ous versi on avai labl e. Fortunatel y, when you del ete a
fi le from your system the fi le i s removed from vi ew and you regai n the space on your dri ve, however i t i s
not actuall y permanentl y del eted from your dri ve. In fact, nothi ng on your drive i s permanentl y removed
when you del ete i t. Whenever you del ete a fi l e Wi ndows si mpl y marks i t for del eti on. The enti re fi le i s sti ll
si tti ng on your dri ve, but i s not vi si ble. Wi ndows then all ows other fi l es to wri te over the space where i t
resi des i f requi red, but the fi l e is not compl etel y gone from your dri ve unti l i t i s full y overwri tten at some


51

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

poi nt. Thi s means that you can someti mes recover fi les that have been 'permanentl y' del eted, but you need
to act qui ckl y and wil l requi re speci al software to do so.

RECOVERING DELETED FILES
There are several tool s I recommend that you use to potenti all y recover your deleted fi l es:

Recuva: To use Recuva, after i nstal li ng it you can si mpl y foll ow the wizard which appears. For more opti ons,
cl i ck the 'Switch to advanced mode' button i n the mai n Recuva wi ndow, or di sabl e and exi t the wi zard at
startup. Essenti all y once you specify the parti cular dri ve to scan, or all avai labl e dri ves i f you so wi sh, you
then speci fy the fil e type you're l ooki ng for - whether by usi ng the drop-down l ist, or entering a porti on of
the fil ename (or leave the box bl ank for al l fil es), and then cl i ck the Scan button. One of the benefi ts of
Recuva is that i t provi des a previ ew of the recovered fi les wherever possi bl e, maki ng i t easi er to determine
whi ch may be the sui tabl e one to restore. Another benefi t is that Recuva can fi nd and restore del eted email s.
If nothi ng is found after a basi c scan, you can opt for an i n-depth scan if prompted, or cl ick the Opti ons
button and under the Actions tab ti ck the 'Deep Scan' box and scan agai n, but bear i n mi nd thi s could take
qui te a whil e.

Restoration: To use Restorati on fi rst downl oad the fil e and run i t to extract the contents to an empty di rectory,
preferabl y on a USB flash dri ve or another dri ve. Then run the Restoration.exe fil e as an Admi ni strator and
ei ther enter a fil ename i n the search box, or a fi l e extensi on (e.g. JPG, DOC, TXT), or l eave the box bl ank (to
fi nd all recoverabl e del eted fi les) and cli ck the 'Search Del eted Fi les' button. Restorati on wil l scan your dri ve
for fi l es whi ch can be restored and l ist them. Once done, you can hi ghli ght a fil e and cli ck 'Restore by
Copyi ng' to recover i t.

IsoBuster: If you want to recover del eted or damaged fi les on a CD or DVD disc, you wil l have to use a more
speciali zed uti li ty such as IsoBuster. Whi le i t can be downloaded for free, IsoBuster requi res pai d
registrati on for ful l functionali ty. However you can use the free versi on to fi rst check to see i f there is any
recoverabl e data on your parti cular di sc. There i s no guarantee that any usabl e data can be recovered from a
damaged or del eted di sc - parti cul arl y if i t has been overwri tten.

Regardl ess of whi ch tool you use, the more acti vi ty there i s on the medi um where the del eted fi les resi de, the
l ess chance you can ful ly recover them, si nce porti ons of i t may have been overwri tten by new data. This i s
why the fi l es recovered by any tool are often not compl ete si nce porti ons of them have al ready been
overwri tten, so there i s no guarantee you can recover a usabl e fi le thi s way. For thi s reason, i f you have
acci dentall y del eted an i mportant fi l e, try and mi nimi ze any further acti vi ty before runni ng a data recovery
uti li ty. If you can't run a recovery uti li ty straight away i t i s best to shut down Wi ndows immedi atel y to
prevent a background task from commenci ng (e.g. a schedul ed defragmentati on) as these wi l l potenti al ly
overwri te the areas where del eted fil e porti ons are si tti ng. Furthermore i t i s best to i nstal l on and run a
recovery uti lity from another dri ve, agai n to prevent overwri ti ng data on the dri ve where the del eted files
resi de.

PERMANENTLY DELETING FILES
As you may have noti ced, i t i s enti rel y possi ble to recover some or all of a fi l e after i t has been 'permanentl y'
del eted i n Windows. If you ever want to trul y permanentl y del ete a fil e so that others can't recover i t i n any
practi cal sense, you can use the Recuva, Restorati on or CCl eaner programs to do thi s - see the CCl eaner
secti on of the Cl eani ng Windows chapter for detai l s of thi s functi onal i ty i n CCl eaner.

To securely permanentl y del ete a fi l e, fi rst del ete the fi l e as normal i n Windows - i .e. hi ghl ight i t i n Wi ndows
Expl orer, press Del ete, then empty the Recycl e Bi n.


52

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

Next, i f usi ng Recuva, l aunch i t and do a scan for that fi lename (or al l fi l es) as normal , and i t shoul d show up
i n the l i st of recoverabl e fi l es. Ri ght-cl ick on the fi l e and select 'Secure Overwri te Hi ghl ighted'. Thi s wi ll
overwri te all areas of that fi l e wi th data such that i t can't be recovered. If you want to adjust how secure the
overwri ti ng is, cl i ck the Opti ons button and under the General tab, select the desi red l evel of overwri ti ng for
the 'Secure overwri ti ng' opti on; the more passes the more secure i t wi ll be.

If usi ng Restorati on, then launch i t and enter the name of the fi le (or l eave blank for all fi l es) and cl i ck 'Search
Del eted Fi les'. When Restorati on fi nds the fil e and l ists i t, highli ght the fi le and go to the Others fi le menu i n
Restorati on and sel ect 'Delete Compl etely'.

These methods wi ll permanentl y del ete a fi le so that i t i s effecti vel y unrecoverabl e by vi rtuall y any program
or method. However there al ways remai ns the possi bi li ty that the fi l e may sti ll be recoverabl e by l aw
enforcement agenci es usi ng speciali zed methods, al though i t is hi ghly unl i kely that anyone coul d recover
the bul k of thi s data regardl ess of the methods used.

LOW LEVEL FORMAT & ZERO FILL
Peopl e might suggest that you Low Level Format your dri ve to permanentl y remove data or fi x a dri ve
probl em. This is not recommended unl ess you are experi enci ng severe hard drive probl ems, and even then i t
i s not possi ble on most modern hard dri ves due to the compl exi ty i nvol ved. Modern hard dri ves are l ow-
l evel formatted at the factory to create tracks and sectors and do not need to have i t done agai n. The correct
course of action i s to Zero Fi l l your drive, whi ch peopl e often confuse for a l ow-l evel format. Thi s method
overwri tes the enti re hard dri ve wi th bl ank data, ensuri ng that everythi ng i s del eted permanentl y for most
i ntents and purposes, but it i s not as i ntensi ve or potenti all y di sk-damagi ng as a l ow-l evel format. A zero fill
i s your best bet i n getti ng back to a 'good as new' hard dri ve.

A qui ck and easy way to zero fil l a hard dri ve and error check i t at the same ti me i s to use the bui l t-in
formatti ng functi onali ty of Wi ndows i tsel f to do a ful l format - see the Preparing the Dri ve secti on of the
Windows Instal lati on chapter for more detail s. If however you i nsi st on l ow l evel formatti ng a hard dri ve
and/or usi ng a custom diagnosti c program to error check i t and ensure that i t is wi ped absolutel y cl ean, then
check your hard dri ve make and model and consul t your manufacturer's websi te for an appropri ate utili ty
such as: Seagate Di skWizard & SeaTool s for both Seagate and Maxtor dri ves, Western Di gi tal Data
Li feGuard, or Hi tachi Dri ve Fi tness.

If you are using an SSD, you wi ll need to use a custom uti l i ty to secure erase a dri ve - see the Sol id State
Dri ves secti on of the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter for more detai ls.

< SYSTEM RECOVERY
Thi s secti on covers the main methods and i mportant Wi ndows tool s whi ch can assi st you i n attempti ng data
recovery and/or regai ni ng the abil i ty to boot i nto Wi ndows after experi enci ng major system i ssues.

BASIC TROUBLESHOOTING
The most li kel y cause of a major system probl em i s one or more of the foll owi ng:

Overheati ng and/or Overcl ocki ng - See the Overcl ocki ng and BIOS & Hardware Management chapters
for detail s. An overheati ng and/or overcl ocked component can malfuncti on in unusual ways, or cause
other components near i t to overheat and mal functi on.
Bad shutdown - If your system suddenly reboots i tsel f or you see a Wi ndows Bl ue Screen error message,
or i f the power i s l ost to your PC whi l e i t i s on, thi s prevents Wi ndows from closi ng down properl y, and
can resul t i n data corrupti on l eadi ng to vari ous probl ems. See the Wi ndows Errors secti on of the
Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng secti on for more detai ls.


53

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

Faul ty software - Install ati on of a faul ty dri ver or program can cause data corrupti on or harm to
i mportant Windows setti ngs or fil e. This al so i ncludes the i nstall ati on of mal ware as covered under the
Faul ty hardware - If a component i s physi call y defecti ve or damaged, i t can corrupt your Wi ndows
i nstal lati on or process data i ncorrectl y, causi ng a range of problems. Thi s i ncl udes an i nsuffi ci ent or
unstable suppl y of power from your PC's Power Suppl y Uni t. See the Hardware Management secti on of
the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.

There are three mai n scenari os whi ch determi ne the basi c procedures you should fol l ow:

If you can't switch on your PC or the problem occurs immediately after the PC is switched on: If your probl em i s
wi th a PC that won't turn on properl y, or whi ch crashes or shows screen corrupti on i mmedi atel y after you
swi tch the PC on, or at any ti me pri or to the Wi ndows startup procedure, then i t can be stated wi th absolute
certai nty that the i ssue is wi th your hardware confi gurati on, not Wi ndows or your i nstal led programs,
dri vers, or software setti ngs. This i s parti cularl y true i f you can't enter Safe Mode - see the Advanced Boot
Opti ons section bel ow. Thi s i s an i ndi cati on of probl ems such as a bad BIOS setti ng, faul ty or missi ng
hardware connecti ons, unstabl e power suppl y, overcl ocki ng, overheati ng, or faul ty hardware - see the BIOS
& Hardware Management chapter for detai ls of thi ngs to check for.

If you can't boot into Windows: If your system appears to start correctl y and runs wi thout probl ems or vi sible
screen corrupti on up to Wi ndows startup, but you can't boot successfull y i nto Wi ndows, then you wi ll have
to use the Advanced Boot Opti ons at Wi ndows startup to attempt to fi x the issue, such as runni ng System
Restore i n Safe Mode, or runni ng the automated Startup Repair functi on. See the Advanced Boot Opti ons
secti on bel ow, as well as the Wi ndows System Recovery secti on further bel ow for detai ls of these
procedures.

If you can boot into Windows: If you can boot i nto Wi ndows but experi ence major probl ems once i n the
Wi ndows envi ronment, try these steps:

1. Run a range of mal ware scanners to make sure your system i s free of any mal ware whi ch may be the
cause of the probl ems - see the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s. You may need to run these mal ware
scanners i n Safe Mode if they don't launch under the normal Wi ndows environment.
2. Run System Restore and revert to the most recent Restore Poi nt avail able - see System Restore earl ier i n
thi s chapter. Thi s i s the qui ckest method for undoi ng potenti all y harmful changes to system fi les wi thout
affecti ng your personal fi l es.
3. If you don't have any recent restore poi nts, try to restore a recent full Registry backup, as corrupti on or
bad setti ngs in the Wi ndows Regi stry are a major source of problems. See the Backi ng Up and Restori ng
the Regi stry secti on of the Wi ndows Regi stry chapter.
4. If you don't have any recent backups or restore poi nts of any ki nd, try uni nstal li ng any recently i nstall ed
software and/or dri vers - see the Manual l y Updating or Uni nstall i ng secti on of the Wi ndows Dri vers
chapter i n parti cular for ways of cl eani ng out badly install ed dri vers whi ch do not uni nstal l correctl y.
5. Use the System Fil e Checker as detail ed bel ow to scan for any changes to your Wi ndows system fil es.

If these methods don't work, refer to the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more
advanced tool s and methods, though bear i n mi nd that major probl ems can someti mes only be sol ved by
reformatti ng and rei nstall ing Wi ndows.

The rest of this secti on covers the mai n Wi ndows tool s used for system recovery.


54

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

SYSTEM FILE CHECKER
The System Fi l e Checker i s a bui l t-i n functi on of Wi ndows that al l ows the system to go through and check all
protected Windows system fi les to ensure they have not been corrupted or al tered i n any way. This i s
extremel y handy i f you suspect that corrupted/tampered system fi les are leadi ng to unusual Wi ndows
behavi or. To access the System Fi l e Checker foll ow this procedure:

1. Open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt.
2. To scan for and automati call y fi x any errors type sf c / scannow then press Enter to start an i mmediate
scan of your system fil es. Al ternati vely, if you just want to scan for errors/mi smatches but not have
Wi ndows fi x them (e.g. i f you have deli berately al tered certai n system fil es), then type sf c
/ ver i f yonl y and press Enter.
3. The System Fi l e Checker wi l l check al l of your i mportant system files and make sure they have not been
al tered i n any way. If the / scannow opti on i s used, where major system fi l es are corrupted or shown to
be different from the ori gi nal, they wi ll be replaced with cached origi nal s or from your Wi ndows 7 DVD.
4. Reboot your PC if requi red, as this may be necessary to compl ete any repai rs.

If your system i s fi ne, you shoul d see the message 'Wi ndows Resource Protecti on di d not fi nd any i ntegri ty
vi olati ons'. If you fi nd that certai n fi les coul d not be repaired, or i f you used the / ver i f yonl y opti on, you
can view the detail s of which system fil es Wi ndows has flagged as probl emati c by doi ng the fol l owi ng:

2. The ori gi nal SFC l og data i s hel d wi thi n the CBS.log fil e found under your \Windows\Logs\CBS\
di rectory, however i t can't be opened directl y. To fi l ter the relevant contents and vi ew them, you need to
type the foll owi ng at the Admi ni strator Command Prompt:

f i ndst r / c: " [ SR] " %wi ndi r %\ l ogs\ cbs\ cbs. l og >%user pr of i l e%\ Deskt op\ sf cdet ai l s. t xt

Note that the / c: above shoul d be changed to the drive on whi ch you ran SFC if i t i s not C: dri ve.
3. The resul ti ng sfcdetails.txt fi le wi ll appear on your desktop by defaul t, and can be opened wi th a text
edi tor l i ke Notepad to reveal the process SFC ran through. Check for any errors or unrepairabl e fil es.

You can al so use System Fi l e Checker to check the i ntegri ty of i ndi vi dual system fi l es i f you don't wi sh to
run a ful l scan. To do so, do the fol l owing:

2. Type the fol lowi ng and press Enter:

sf c / ver i f yf i l e=[ f i l ename]

Where the [filename] must incl ude the full path to the fi l e, as wel l as the fil ename itsel f - e.g.:

sf c / ver i f yf i l e=C: \ Wi ndows\ Syst em32\ i mager es. dl l

3. If the fil e is unchanged, you wi ll be tol d there are no i ntegri ty vi olati ons. Otherwi se i f the fi le has been
changed i n some way, you wil l need to refer to the CBS.log fil e found under your \Windows\Logs\CBS\
di rectory.

Full usage opti ons for the System Fil e Checker can found i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. The System Fi l e Checker
does not repai r general system i ssues such as Regi stry corrupti on for exampl e, however i t does ensure that
i mportant system fi l es are unal tered, whi ch removes one vari abl e from the equati on when troubl eshooti ng a
probl em.


55

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

ADVANCED BOOT OPTIONS
To access a range of more advanced startup opti ons for Wi ndows 7, reboot your PC and keep pressi ng the F8
key duri ng startup. You wi l l come to a screen wi th the headi ng Advanced Boot Opti ons, provi di ng a range
of opti ons, i ncl udi ng some or all of the fol l owi ng:

Repai r your Computer
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networki ng
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Enabl e Boot Loggi ng
Enabl e l ow-resoluti on video
Last Known Good Configurati on
Di rectory Servi ces Restore Mode
Debuggi ng Mode
Di sabl e automati c restart on system failure
Di sabl e Dri ver Si gnature Enforcement
Start Wi ndows Normall y

The most useful of these are covered below i n more detai l:

Repair your Computer: Sel ecti ng thi s opti on l eads to the System Recovery Opti ons menu - see the Wi ndows
System Recovery Opti ons secti on further bel ow for detai ls.

Safe Mode: Safe Mode i s an i mportant Wi ndows mode whi ch only l oads up the bare essentials required for
Wi ndows to functi on. Thi rd party dri vers, graphi cal enhancements, startup programs, unnecessary
processes etc. are all ski pped and onl y the mi ni mum requi red to di splay and use Wi ndows and access your
pri mary hardware devi ces i s provi ded. Safe Mode i s provi ded preci sel y for troubl eshooti ng purposes and
not for general usage. The i dea is that by reducing the number of software vari abl es i nvol ved i n the
Wi ndows envi ronment, i t becomes easier to i denti fy the true cause of a probl em. You can read the detai ls of
the specifi c devi ces, dri vers and servi ces whi ch are l oaded up i n Safe Mode i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

There are three types of Safe Mode you can l aunch:

Safe Mode - Thi s i s the basic Safe Mode and i s usuall y the opti on you shoul d sel ect.
Safe Mode wi th Networking - Loads up Safe Mode wi th network dri vers, al l owi ng Internet access. You
should not sel ect thi s mode to start wi th i f your i ssue i s potenti al ly connected wi th networki ng devi ce
dri vers or a mal ware i nfestati on.
Safe Mode with Command Prompt - Loads up Safe Mode wi th a Command Prompt i nterface i nstead of
a graphi cal user i nterface - use this if you have probl ems enteri ng normal Safe Mode. Note this i s not the
same as DOS mode.

When you enter Safe Mode you wil l see the Wi ndows Desktop, typi call y shown at l ower resoluti on, and
wi th no graphi cal enhancements such as Aero or even the background wal l paper. The words 'Safe Mode'
appear around the edges of the screen to i nform you that you are runni ng a cut-down versi on of the
Wi ndows 7 envi ronment. The mai n use for Safe Mode i s to determi ne whether your devi ce dri vers or
recentl y i nstal l ed software are the source of a problem you are currentl y experi enci ng, and all ow you to
uni nstall them or al ter your system as necessary to be abl e to restart normall y. Because Safe Mode does not
l oad any of your i nstall ed thi rd party devi ce dri vers - i nstead usi ng the defaul t versi ons buil t i nto Windows -
and because Safe Mode does not load up any startup programs or non-essenti al servi ces i nto the
background, thi s gi ves you the opportuni ty to determi ne whether your software or startup programs are
causi ng problems.


56

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

If you coul dn't boot i nto Wi ndows normall y, but you can boot into Safe Mode for example, that i s a clear
si gn that one of your recentl y i nstall ed dri vers or programs is the l ikely cause of the probl em. You can
choose to permanentl y remove/rol l back or temporaril y di sabl e the rel evant programs or dri vers by usi ng
Devi ce Manager or MSConfi g for exampl e. Furthermore i f you made a change to a system setti ng or the
Wi ndows Regi stry that may have caused the probl em, you can undo the setti ng i n Safe Mode, or use System
Restore to revert to an earl ier restore point, or restore a Regi stry backup here.

Fi nal ly, a major use for Safe Mode i s the removal of mali ci ous software such as vi ruses, trojans or spyware.
Many of these can l oad i nto memory areas of Wi ndows that cannot be unl oaded duri ng normal Wi ndows
operati on, preventi ng proper removal . However i n Safe Mode there are no such protected memory areas,
and no startup programs or servi ces are l oaded wi th Wi ndows, so thi s i s the best way to remove such
troubl esome software. Enter Safe Mode and fi nd and del ete the probl emati c fi le(s), edi t your startup i tems or
Servi ces to remove unusual or harmful entri es (See the Startup Programs and Servi ces chapters), or run a
sui tabl e scanner i n Safe Mode to fi nd and remove any mal i ci ous software (See the PC Securi ty chapter).

In extreme cases where you cannot resol ve your probl em usi ng Safe Mode, then at the very l east Safe Mode
provi des you wi th the opportuni ty to access and backup your important personal fi les before rei nstall ing
Wi ndows or restori ng a system i mage for exampl e

Note that i f you cannot boot i nto Safe Mode usi ng the F8 method duri ng bootup, another method (i f you can
boot i nto Windows) i s to use the MSConfi g util i ty to select Safe Mode - see the Boot Confi gurati on Data
secti on of the Boot Confi gurati on chapter for detail s of how to do thi s. Importantl y, once you have entered
Safe Mode usi ng thi s al ternate method, you need to run MSConfig agai n and di sabl e the 'Safe Boot' opti on
under the Boot tab of MSConfi g so you can reboot i nto the normal Wi ndows envi ronment agai n.

If you fi nd that you cannot boot i nto Safe Mode, or are havi ng si mil ar probl ems i n Safe Mode as you are i n
normal Wi ndows - for exampl e your graphi cs are garbled or show gl i tches - then the probl em i s li kely
hardware-based one such as overclocki ng, excess heat, permanent damage to a component/faulty
component(s), or a bad BIOS setti ng or i ncompati bi li ty - see the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.

Enable low-resolution video (640480): This opti on starts Wi ndows usi ng a l ow resol uti on of 640x480 pi xel s and
a l ow refresh rate supported by all moni tors. This is useful i f you've sel ected di splay setti ngs whi ch are
unsupported by your monitor and your screen goes bl ank for exampl e - hol d down your PC's power button
for up to fi ve seconds to force Wi ndows to shut down and sel ect thi s opti on i n the Advanced Boot Opti ons
upon restart.

Enable Boot Logging: Thi s opti on l ogs al l the dri vers whi ch are l oaded at startup to a fi l e call ed ntbtlog.txt i n
your \Windows di rectory. Thi s can be useful for more advanced users troubl eshooti ng startup probl ems.

Last Known Good Configuration: You shoul d sel ect this opti on i f trying to resol ve probl ems wi th Wi ndows not
booti ng up or acti ng strangel y. Thi s mode uses the driver and Registry setti ngs whi ch were i n effect the last
ti me you successfull y managed to boot i nto Wi ndows. It wil l not al ter or revert your personal fi les to an
earl i er state, onl y system-rel ated fi l es/setti ngs and the Wi ndows Regi stry.

Disable automatic restart on system failure: This opti on disabl es the automati c restart whi ch occurs when
Wi ndows experi ences a major error such as a Bl ue Screen of Death. I recommend you permanentl y disable
thi s functi on wi thi n Wi ndows, as i t all ows you to have enough time to read and record the detail s of an error
- see the Wi ndows Errors secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for detail s.
However this opti on exi sts to al l ow you to temporaril y di sabl e thi s functi on at any ti me, parti cul arl y i f
you're stuck in a l oop whereby Wi ndows attempts to boot, experi ences an error, then restarts and attempts
to boot, hi ts the error again, restarts and so on.


57

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

Disable Driver Signature Enforcement: Thi s i s an opti on referri ng to an i mportant securi ty feature of 64-bi t
versi ons of Wi ndows whi ch i s detai l ed in thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. By defaul t, the 64-bi t versi on of Wi ndows 7 -
and Vi sta before i t - onl y load up a Kernel -mode driver i f Wi ndows can veri fy the di gi tal signature of the
dri ver. Unsi gned dri vers therefore wil l not be l oaded by 64-bi t Windows - see the Dri ver Signature secti on of
the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for detail s. You can press F8 duri ng bootup and select thi s opti on to
temporaril y di sabl e dri ver si gnature enforcement by Wi ndows, all owi ng you to boot i nto Wi ndows and use
the unsi gned dri ver for that sessi on only, however the next reboot wi l l requi re the same procedure agai n.
One al ternative i s to use the Sl eep or Hi bernate feature i n Windows to cl ose down Windows wi thout
restarti ng, and hence keepi ng thi s setti ng i n effect - see the Power Opti ons secti on of the Windows Control
Panel chapter. The permanent sol uti on is to use a signed dri ver downl oaded from a trusted source, however
some manufacturers wil l not rel ease such dri vers on a frequent basi s, nor wi ll they rel ease such dri vers for
ol der hardware. For more detail s of the key differences between 32-bi t and 64-bi t Windows, see the 32-bi t vs.
64-bi t secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

Start Windows Normally: Thi s mode i s the fi rst one you shoul d sel ect i f you encounter the Advanced Boot
Opti ons unexpectedl y. Wi ndows typi call y di splays these opti ons automati call y after a bad shutdown of
Wi ndows, and i n most cases, si mply restarti ng Wi ndows normall y wi ll resul t i n booti ng up i nto Wi ndows
wi thout any i ssues. If you can boot i nto Wi ndows you wil l have to determi ne what caused the bad
shutdown i f it wasn't an obvi ous one-off (such as l oss of power).

< WINDOWS SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS
The Wi ndows Recovery Envi ronment was i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista, and whi l e remai ni ng much the
same, has been some refi nements added i n Wi ndows 7. More commonl y referred to as the System Recovery
Opti ons, this feature of Wi ndows attempts as much as possi ble to si mpl ify and automate the process of
recoveri ng from any major system i ssues preventi ng you from booti ng up successfull y i nto Windows. There
are several ways to access the System Recovery Options menu:

Automatic Access: If Wi ndows detects that i t i s having a probl em booti ng up normall y, i t may automati cally
prompt you to l aunch a component of the System Recovery Opti ons such as Startup Repai r - whi ch you
should do - or automati call y l oad up the Advanced Boot Opti ons menu, at whi ch you can sel ect the 'Repair
your Computer' l i nk to launch i nto the System Recovery Opti ons.

System Reserved Partition: By defaul t Windows 7 wil l i nstal l a smal l 100MB System Reserved Parti ti on, al so
known as a Recovery Parti ti on, as part of normal Wi ndows i nstal lati on under certai n ci rcumstances. This
parti ti on contai ns your Wi ndows boot fil es, the requi red tool s to run System Recovery Opti ons, and is
requi red for the Bi tLocker Dri ver Encrypti on feature. Al ternati vely, if you purchased your PC wi th
Wi ndows 7 al ready i nstalled, this parti ti on may have been created by the manufacturer. Note that i n some
scenari os Windows 7 wi ll not create thi s parti ti on duri ng i ts i nstall ati on, or i f you speci fy that you do not
want i ts creati on duri ng Wi ndows i nstal lati on. In these cases, the contents of the Recovery Parti ti on wi ll
i nstead be created under a hi dden and protected \Recovery di rectory found on your main Wi ndows dri ve.
More detai l s regardi ng this System Reserved Parti ti on can be found i n the Instal l i ng Wi ndows secti on of the
Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

Regardl ess of where thi s recovery data si ts, if you keep pressi ng F8 to enter the Advanced Boot Opti ons
screen at Wi ndows startup - see Advanced Boot Options earli er i n thi s chapter - then you shoul d be abl e to
sel ect the 'Repai r your Computer' li nk to launch System Recovery Opti ons.

Booting Off the Windows 7 DVD: All Windows 7 i nstall ati on DVDs come wi th the Wi ndows System Recovery
tool s. To access these tool s i n case you can't access them usi ng any other method, i nsert your ori ginal
Wi ndows 7 DVD and restart your PC. Your computer shoul d boot from thi s DVD, but if it doesn't, go into
your BIOS and set your DVD dri ve as the fi rst boot devi ce then reboot, and if prompted, press any key to
boot from the DVD. Once you reach the mai n Windows i nstall ati on screen, select your l anguage and


58

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

keyboard layout, then cli ck Next. On the next screen cl i ck the 'Repai r your computer' li nk at the bottom l eft
of the box.

System Repair Disc: In the event that you cannot access the bui l t-i n Wi ndows System Recovery tool s and you
don't have a Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on DVD, you can use a custom System Repai r Disc to l aunch System
Restore. Thi s di sc must fi rst be created i n advance under the Backup and Restore component of the
Wi ndows Control Panel by cli cki ng the 'Create a system repai r di sc' li nk i n the l eft pane and i nserti ng a
formatted DVD - see the Backup and Restore section of thi s chapter for detail s. Once created, you can boot
up from i t using the same instructi ons as those provi ded for booti ng off the Wi ndows 7 DVD just above.

Once you have l aunched the System Recovery Opti ons usi ng one of the methods above, you wi ll be
presented with prompts to fi rstl y sel ect the rel evant OS, then select your keyboard i nput method, and to
then l og i n to your User Account - note that i f your User Account has no password, l eave the Password box
bl ank and cl ick Next. Fi nal l y, you wil l see the mai n System Recovery Opti ons menu, whi ch i s covered i n
more detai l bel ow:

STARTUP REPAIR
Startup Repai r i s the most i mportant feature of Wi ndows 7's recovery opti ons. It i s the pri mary tool that
anyone can uti li ze to diagnose and automati call y fi x i ssues whi ch are preventi ng you from booti ng up
properl y i nto Wi ndows. It i s al so the fi rst opti on whi ch shoul d be tri ed i n the event of boot fai l ure. Cli ck thi s
opti on and al l ow i t to scan your system for any potenti al problems. If i t can resol ve the i ssue, such as a
damaged or mi ssi ng system or boot fi l e, i t wi ll do so automati cal ly, rebooti ng as often as requi red, and wi ll
provi de li nks at the end of the process whi ch you can cl i ck to see preci sel y what i ssues have been found and
resol ved. Note that Startup Repair cannot fi x certain i ssues resul ti ng from any type of hardware fai lure,
certai n types of mal ware, or if your system dri ve i s not bei ng correctl y detected for exampl e. If Startup
Repai r cannot detect or repai r the probl em, then i t tends to i ndi cate the probl em is more compl ex and
requi res more attenti on to both potenti al hardware-based i ssues such as a physi cal faul t, overcl ocki ng or
overheati ng, or perhaps the resul t of harmful software on your system.

SYSTEM RESTORE
Thi s util i ty has been covered i n detail under the System Restore secti on earl i er i n thi s chapter. Thi s opti on
all ows you to l aunch System Restore and use any avail able restore poi nts i n case you can't access System
Restore from wi thi n Wi ndows or Safe Mode. Obvi ously thi s requi res that a suitabl e restore poi nt be present
and abl e to be used. Thi s is yet another reason why you shoul d keep System Restore enabl ed. Note that if
usi ng System Restore sti ll doesn't resolve the probl em, then thi s tends to i ndi cate the probl em i s more l i kel y
to be hardware-rel ated.

SYSTEM IMAGE RECOVERY
Thi s uti li ty has been covered i n detai l under the Wi ndows Backup and Restore secti on of thi s chapter. If your
Wi ndows i s not recoverable, thi s opti on i s a last resort, all owi ng you to restore your system to the way i t was
when you took a ful l system i mage backup at an earl i er date. By defaul t you wi ll be prompted to restore the
l atest avai labl e system i mage. Look at the date and ti me shown - i f you don't bel i eve i t i s the l atest i mage
you have made, attach any other devi ce or di sc whi ch hol ds a more recent system i mage, choose the 'Sel ect a
System Image' opti on, then ei ther sel ect from the li st of system i mages shown, or cl i ck the Advanced button
to all ow you i nstal l any necessary devi ce dri vers which wi ll al l ow System Recovery to properl y detect any
unl isted attached devi ces. Obvi ousl y i f you haven't made any system i mage backups then thi s opti on i s not
very useful, as i t cannot operate on partial backups of fil es for exampl e. Note that restori ng a system i mage
means that i t overwri tes al l your existi ng data wi th that contai ned in the backed up i mage of your system at
the ti me i t was taken. Thi s is why i t i s i mportant to take a full system i mage and regul arl y backup to i t using
the Wi ndows Backup tool, so that i t doesn't get too far out of date.


59

B
a
c
k
u
p

&

R
e
c
o
v
e
r
y

WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC
Thi s opti on al l ows you to run the Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c tool i mmedi atel y by cl i cking the 'Restart
now and check for probl ems' l i nk, or 'Check for problems the next time I start my computer'. The fi rst opti on
i s fi ne unl ess you have other thi ngs you sti ll wish to do i n the System Recovery Opti ons fi rst, i n whi ch case
choose the second opti on. If the tool detects any errors wi th your memory i t wil l l et you know, though thi s
doesn't automati cal ly mean your RAM i s physi call y faul ty - other aspects of your memory subset coul d be at
faul t, i ncluding memory-rel ated BIOS setti ngs for exampl e. See the Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c section
under the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detail s.

COMMAND PROMPT
Thi s opti on all ows you to open a MS DOS Command Prompt wi ndow to enter a range of commands. Thi s is
useful if you want to access specifi c DOS commands for advanced repai r functi onali ty, or attempt to browse
for parti cular fil es or di rectori es on the stri cken dri ves and try to copy them to another dri ve. It i s also useful
for parti ti oning and formatti ng a dri ve i n preparati on for i nstall ati on of Wi ndows, to prevent automati c
creati on of the System Reserved Parti ti on duri ng Wi ndows Setup - see the Installi ng Wi ndows secti on of the
Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

The System Recovery Opti ons replaces the Wi ndows XP Recovery Consol e, however al most all of the most
useful Recovery Consol e commands from XP can sti ll be used i n Wi ndows 7. There i s a full l i st of l egacy XP
Recovery Consol e Commands at the bottom of thi s Mi crosoft Arti cle, and when combi ned wi th a li st of those
whi ch have changed or no l onger work i n Wi ndows 7, you have a range of commands you can try for
advanced recovery purposes. Note that you can enter any command wi th the / ? parameter to see the help
descri pti on (e.g. BOOTREC / ?).

In parti cular, the foll owi ng commands may be useful :

Use the CHKDSK / R command to do a dri ve check and fi x any errors if possi bl e.
Use the BOOTREC command to rebui ld or repai r the boot-rel ated aspects of the dri ve (e.g. BOOTREC
/ FI XBOOT or BOOTREC / FI XMBR). More detail s on how to use BOOTREC are i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e.
Use the CD [ di r ect or y pat h] command to go to a speci fi c directory, then use the COPY [ f i l ename]
[ dest i nat i on dr i ve] command to copy a fil e.

If none of the System Recovery Opti ons hel p you i n repai ri ng or restori ng your Wi ndows i nstall ation, then
your probl em i s more compl ex than simpl e Wi ndows system file corrupti on, and l ikely a hardware-related
i ssue of some ki nd. Furthermore, unl ess any such issues are correctl y di agnosed and resolved properl y, i t
may be a waste of ti me to devote too much ti me and energy i nto repai ri ng or rei nstall i ng Wi ndows, as the
same issues wi ll reappear agai n i n due course. Read the rest of this book, parti cularly the BIOS & Hardware
Management and Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapters for more detai l s of how to ensure
that your hardware i s set up and functioni ng correctl y. If necessary, seek addi tional techni cal support from
your hardware manufacturer if you bel ieve your hardware may be faul ty.

Ul ti matel y the best course of acti on if you can't recover Wi ndows i s to reformat your dri ve and ei ther
rei nstall Wi ndows 7 on i t, or restore a fai rly recent system i mage whi ch you bel i eve was taken when the
system was stabl e and free from mal ware. Then run further di agnosti cs wi thi n Wi ndows as necessary.

The most i mportant poi nt throughout thi s enti re chapter i s that i t i s absolutel y cri ti cal that you become
fami li ar wi th all of Windows 7's backup and recovery features, and get i nto the habi t of regularly backi ng up
your i rreplaceabl e fil es and doi ng so to a range of places, and using a range of methods preci sel y so that i n
the event of any ki nd of issue, you have peace of mi nd knowi ng that you're not goi ng to l ose i mportant data.


60

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

BIOS & HARDWARE MANAGEMENT

Before del vi ng any further i nto Wi ndows opti mi zation or customi zati on, i t i s very i mportant to fi rst ensure
that your hardware and connected devices are correctl y confi gured for opti mal operati on. Regardl ess of any
changes you make i n Wi ndows or your software, i f your hardware i s not configured properly i ts capabi li ti es
wi ll not be correctl y uti li zed, i ndeed serious probl ems such as random crashes or data corruption may occur.
Whether you've bui l t a PC or purchased a pre-buil t machi ne, you shoul d make certai n that all of the setti ngs
i n the BIOS are correct, that the hardware i s properly cool ed, and that al l of your devi ces are confi gured to
functi on optimall y i n Wi ndows. Thi s chapter covers all of these topi cs i n detail .

Note that thi s chapter does not provi de informati on on how to sel ect and purchase a PC from new, however
i f you are i nterested i n that type of i nformati on, see my Hardware Confusi on arti cl e for general gui dance.

< THE BIOS
The BIOS (Basi c Input/Output System) i s a program hel d on a small ROM chi p on your motherboard. It
provi des the i nstructi ons for what your PC should do as soon as i t turns on. Your BIOS i s independent of
your Operating System, whi ch means i t i s not di rectly affected by the operati ng system you use, or whi ch
dri ver versi on you've i nstall ed, or what your setti ngs are i n Wi ndows for exampl e. The BIOS supersedes all
of that, and your dri vers and operati ng system wi ll load after the BIOS has l oaded up. The BIOS controls a
range of hardware-related features and is the mi ddl e-man between your CPU and other devi ces.

If there i s an i ncorrect setti ng i n your BIOS - that is a setti ng whi ch is not opti mal or correct for your
hardware confi gurati on - then you wil l have probl ems regardl ess of what setti ng you change in Wi ndows, or
whi ch dri ver versi ons you i nstal l . Importantl y, the BIOS i s best configured correctl y before i nstal li ng
Wi ndows, as thi s reduces the number of unnecessary servi ces and dri vers whi ch Wi ndows may i nstal l, and
hel ps reduce the potenti al for devi ce confl icts.

POST SCREEN
As your BIOS starts to l oad, the first thi ng i t does is the Power-On Self Test (POST), a di agnosti c program
whi ch qui ckly checks your components and makes sure everything i s present and worki ng OK. The POST
sequence is usuall y extremel y fast; you wi ll onl y reall y noti ce i t if it stops when encounteri ng an error. POST
error messages can be a bit obscure, but usuall y gi ve you a l ead as to where to l ook i n your BIOS setti ngs. A
qui ck general gui de to what the startup error beeps may mean i s thi s POST Error Codes, but a more accurate
descri pti on speci fi c to your hardware is usual ly found i n your motherboard's manual.

If you have no i ni ti al POST errors you wi ll then see your PC's startup screen, whi ch shows such i nformati on
as your BIOS type (e.g. Ameri can Megatrends), the key to press to access your BIOS setti ngs (e.g. DEL, F1 or
ESC), the type of processor and i ts speed, RAM amount and RAM test resul ts, dri ve i nformati on, and so
forth. Note that i f any of thi s i nformation i s i ncorrect, i t may be that your hardware i s extremel y new and
hence not recogni zed correctl y by the current BIOS versi on; you've overcl ocked your PC too far; or you have
bad hardware or i ncorrect BIOS setti ngs.

BIOS SETTINGS
To access the detail ed settings i n your BIOS, you typicall y need to press a parti cular key (e.g. the Del ete key)
repeatedl y as your system i s booti ng up - check your motherboard manual. If your BIOS al so has a password
then you'll need to enter i t fi rst to access your BIOS setti ngs; i f you've forgotten the password, then try thi s
BIOS Password Si te. Once i n your BIOS screen you wi ll see a mul ti tude of setti ngs. The l ayout of the BIOS,


61

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

and the names of the vari ous setti ngs vary greatl y dependi ng on the parti cul ar motherboard brand and
model you own, so I cannot possi bly cover them al l here. The best reference source i s thi s Defi ni ti ve BIOS
Opti mi zati on Gui de - scrol l down that page to fi nd the 'Free Access' li nk to the gui de. It covers all the
common BIOS setti ngs, and combi ned wi th your motherboard's manual and Googl e, you can understand
what all of your BIOS setti ngs do and thus undertake the very i mportant task of opti mizi ng your BIOS
before doi ng any Wi ndows tweaki ng.

I cannot stress the i mportance of maki ng sure al l the major setti ngs i n your BIOS are correct for your
parti cul ar hardware setup and i mportantl y that you've di sabl ed all unnecessary devi ces and opti ons. It may
take some time and some research, but i t ensures maxi mum performance and stabil i ty. No amount of
Wi ndows customi zati on can overcome a badl y set up BIOS.

BIOS UPDATES
The BIOS is wri tten on a rewri teabl e ROM chi p, whi ch means that i t can be updated (or 'flashed') wi th new
i nformati on. Motherboard manufacturers rel ease new BIOS versions that can improve performance, stabil ity
and compatibi l i ty, add new features or modi fy exi sti ng features, and fi x known bugs. These new BIOS
versi ons are avai labl e for downl oad on the manufacturer's websi te. I can't li st all the manufacturer websites
here, as there are far too many, however i f you have a l ook through your motherboard manual you should
see a li nk to the appropri ate websi te. Downl oad the l atest BIOS for your exact motherboard brand and
model number and foll ow the i nstructi ons on the si te to Fl ash (reprogram) the BIOS chi p on your
motherboard wi th thi s new BIOS versi on. A word of warni ng: flashi ng the BIOS i s not to be taken li ghtly. If
somethi ng does go wrong then your PC may not boot up and you may have to take your motherboard to a
deal er to have the BIOS chi p repl aced or reprogrammed. Whi le thi s i s rare, when updati ng your BIOS make
sure you fol l ow the i nstructi ons provi ded to the l etter.

Note that most modern motherboards all ow flashi ng the BIOS from a CD/DVD or USB fl ash dri ve, so
i nstal li ng a floppy di sk drive on your PC i s no l onger necessary.

FIRMWARE UPDATES
Your motherboard i s not the onl y devi ce whi ch has a BIOS. Many components, i ndeed most major el ectroni c
equi pment l ike TVs, DVD pl ayers and mobi l e phones have thei r own i nbui l t BIOS chi ps. The software on
these chi ps is typi call y referred to as Fi rmware, and all fi rmware can be updated usi ng the correct
equi pment and software. For consumer el ectroni c equi pment this i s usuall y done by a quali fied techni cian,
but for PC components, i t can be upgraded i n much the same way as fl ashi ng your BIOS. You wil l need to
check your manufacturer's websi te for more recent versi ons of the BIOS/fi rmware you requi re, and any
speci fi c i nstructi ons or software necessary. The most common fi rmware updates are for opti cal dri ves. If you
want to fi nd out more about these updates, check your hardware manufacturer's websi te, and see thi s
Fi rmware Database i n parti cular for opti cal dri ves. A fi rmware upgrade can hel p resol ve probl ems like
di ffi cul ties readi ng from a parti cular disc type, 'di sc not detected' errors, and other i ssues. Just l i ke BIOS
flashi ng i t i nvol ves an el ement of ri sk, so pl ease read any i nstructi ons carefull y before proceedi ng.

The motherboard BIOS i s a cri ti cal component of the PC whi ch i s often overl ooked, so I urge you to take the
ti me to become more fami l iar wi th your own BIOS, and to configure i t correctl y. Of course i f you are not
sure what a setti ng i n the BIOS does, do not change i t from i ts defaul t. If necessary check your hardware
manufacturer's websi te for more detai ls, or do a thorough search on Googl e. It mi ght be tedi ous at fi rst, but
i t's typi call y a once-onl y job - once you've done i t, you don't need to go back and customize the BIOS setti ngs
agai n, you can reap the benefi ts of an opti mal BIOS from that poi nt onward.


62

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

< HARDWARE MANAGEMENT
It i s i mportant to properl y mai ntai n your hardware, to ensure i t remai ns i n good operati on. The i nformation
i n thi s secti on wi ll hel p you understand how to keep your components operati ng smoothl y.

HANDLING HARDWARE
If you have to physi call y handle the hardware components i n your system at any ti me, such as removi ng or
i nstal li ng a component, checki ng component connecti ons, or cl eani ng components, you shoul d make sure to
foll ow these ti ps to prevent any permanent damage to the components through mi shandli ng:

Before opening your case and/or handling any of your components, al ways shut down your PC and turn
off the power di rectl y at the wall socket - the el ectri ci ty i n your PC can kil l or i njure you, especi al ly the
dangerous vol tages contained i n your Power Supply. Even when swi tched off at the wal l, the PSU can
retai n a l ethal charge for qui te some ti me, so on no account shoul d you ever open your PSU or i nsert any
metal objects i nto i ts casi ng.
Once you've turned off your system at the wal l, press and hol d the PC power button for several seconds
to di scharge any resi dual charge i n the motherboard's capaci tors.
Whi le handling computer components, make sure you regularl y di scharge any stati c el ectri city i n your
body by touchi ng any 'earthed' object - that i s any object that can harmlessl y di ssi pate stati c el ectri ci ty.
Typi cal ly i f you l eave your Power Suppl y Uni t plugged i nto the wall socket (but swi tched off) then
peri odi cal l y touchi ng the si de of the metal PSU case wi ll harml essl y discharge any stati c el ectri ci ty. You
can also purchase an anti-stati c wrist strap if you handle components regularly. If you are goi ng to
handle components try to mi ni mize how much arti fici al fabri cs and material s you are weari ng as these
can hel p to bui ld up a signi ficant el ectrostati c charge i n your body. An el ectrostati c di scharge from your
body can damage or ki ll an el ectroni c component, so do not take thi s l ightl y as i t can actual ly happen.
Do not use a vacuum cl eaner to cl ean the i nsi de of your computer and i ts components, preci sel y because
vacuum cl eaner nozzl es can discharge stati c el ectrici ty and zap your components. Use a cl ean barely
damp li nt-free cl oth or barel y damp q-ti ps to wi pe dust from most surfaces, maki ng sure you don't
scrape the Pri nted Ci rcuit Board (PCB). Don't use any detergents and most certai nly don't spray
anythi ng onto the components. Ideall y i f i t i s avai labl e to you, use a can of compressed air (or an ai r
compressor) to bl ow dust from hard-to-reach or sensi ti ve surfaces as thi s is much safer and far more
effecti ve.
If bl owi ng dust from a fan, especiall y if usi ng a high pressure source l i ke compressed air, i nsert and hol d
somethi ng l i ke a pen i n the fan's spokes to prevent i t from suddenly spi nni ng rapi dl y as thi s can damage
the fan's beari ngs
Do not force any plugs, cabl es or components i nto sockets that do not appear to be accepti ng them. Even
i f the two ends appear to be matched, the pi n arrangements may be sl i ghtl y different or out of al i gnment
and hence forci ng a fi t may actuall y bend or break some of the pi ns and make the connecti on usel ess or
permanentl y damaged. Computer hardware i nterfaces are desi gned to fi t together wi th firm but not
excessi ve force. Thi s i ncludes components l i ke the CPU chi p whi ch fi ts i nto the appropri ate socket on the
motherboard - al ign al l the pi ns perfectl y and press evenl y but not too hard and they wi l l mate safely.
Force the fi t and you may just end up maki ng your CPU unusable.
Most devi ces i n your PC requi re a source of power, however the vol tage they requi re i s very speci fi c. If
you connect the wrong plug to the component (whi ch is hard to do), or forget to attach a necessary
power connector (whi ch i s qui te common), then the component wi l l appear to be dead or may
malfuncti on. You wi ll have to check your component documentati on and especi al ly the motherboard
manual to ensure that al l components are pl ugged i n correctl y and fi rml y to recei ve suffi ci ent power.
Most hardware components are sensi tive to physi cal i mpact and strong vi brati ons. Avoid si tuati ons
whi ch resul t in the bumpi ng or bangi ng of these components, or for exampl e mounti ng heavy fans onto
them i nsecurel y whi ch can pass vi brati ons to these components or warp them under the wei ght.
Do not handl e l iqui ds around el ectroni c components. Any spil lage can resul t i n di sastrous short-
ci rcui ti ng.


63

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

Do not pl ace excessi ve wei ghts on PCBs as this can crack or warp them such that they wil l be
permanentl y damaged. Don't even rest a l arge object temporaril y on the motherboard or a component
for exampl e, put them on another surface until you need to use them.

El ectroni c components these days are qui te hardy, and can wi thstand some abuse, but gi ven how valuabl e
they are I suggest that you don't take any risks when handli ng them and i n thei r general usage, so the ti ps
above are best observed i f you want to mai ntai n your PC and your el ectroni c components i n good condi tion.

THERMAL COMPOUNDS
Thermal compounds of vari ous types are used to provi de greater conducti vi ty between two surfaces, such as
the heat spreader on a CPU chi p and the base of a CPU heatsink. Thermal compounds are essential to
ensuri ng optimal mati ng between the two surfaces, fi ll i ng i n any ti ny surface imperfecti ons. If they are not
used, thi s usual l y resul ts in severe overheati ng or hot spots on a component whi ch can shorten i ts l i fespan
consi derably and/or cause i t to mal functi on or shut down wi thi n moments. Whi le most users who bui ld
thei r own PC are famil iar wi th the use of thermal compounds, especiall y for the mounti ng of CPUs,
unfortunately most peopl e do not fol l ow the i nstructi ons whi ch come wi th these compounds and appl y
ei ther too much or too l i ttl e. Fol l ow the i nstructi ons exactl y as shown, as extensi ve testi ng has shown these
to be the best method. Attempti ng to evenl y spread the thermal compound manuall y for exampl e is not
recommended. Whether you put too l i ttl e or too much compound on your component, the end resul t wil l be
the same: the component wi ll overheat, as i t wil l ei ther have i nsuffi ci ent compound to provi de optimal
conducti vi ty, or too much compound whi ch actual ly prevents proper conducti vi ty and bui l ds up heat.

Al so keep i n mi nd duri ng the appl i cati on of any thermal or adhesi ve compounds of any type that most of
these can conduct el ectri ci ty and hence cause a short-ci rcui t - apply them cautiously and don't just assume
that any excess wil l dry up and disappear; remove al l excess thermal compounds thoroughl y wi th a cl oth or
appropriate cl eaner. The best way to prevent such probl ems i s to make sure you don't use excessi ve amounts
and that you don't place any thermal compound too cl ose to the edge of a component, as under pressure
they wi ll spi ll over the edge.

SURGE PROTECTORS
Make sure you i nvest i n a good qual i ty Surge Protector for your PC and all your other sensi ti ve el ectroni c
devi ces. Asi de from typi cal l y l etti ng you pl ug i n mul ti pl e devi ces i nto one outlet, surge protectors serve an
i mportant functi on: they prevent spi kes i n vol tage - whi ch can occur for a range of reasons - from harming
your components. Vol tage surges needn't be sudden or catastrophi c; even mi nor i ncreases i n vol tage can
reduce your component's l i fespan over a peri od of ti me. Note that most surge protectors wi ll not protect
your equi pment from the surge generated by a di rect l i ghtni ng stri ke on or near your house, so during
heavy thunderstorms i t is recommended that you turn off your PC and any other expensi ve el ectronic
equi pment and di sconnect thei r power pl ugs from the wall socket to provi de fool proof protecti on against
any surge. Thi s also i ncludes any phone l i nes used for DSL for exampl e.

POWER SUPPLY UNIT
Your Power Suppl y Uni t (PSU) i s an essenti al part of your system, and one that i s often i gnored. It i s cri ti cal
to system stabi l i ty, and i f after readi ng the i nformation bel ow you feel that there may be cause for doubting
the qual i ty or capabil i ty of your exi sti ng PSU to service your PC properl y, you may wish to purchase a new
and more adequate uni t before i nvesti ng too much ti me i nto opti mi zi ng your Wi ndows i nstal lati on. This i s
because no amount of customi zati on or opti mi zati on can overcome the probl ems caused by a poor quali ty
PSU, and i t al so jeopardizes your other components, potenti al ly damagi ng them over ti me. A more effi cient
PSU can al so save you money by usi ng l ess electri ci ty.

For basi c detail s regardi ng PSUs see thi s PSU FAQ whi ch tal ks about the common output speci fi cati ons for
PSUs and what they mean. In parti cular you should consi der three key factors when determi ni ng the quali ty


64

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

and adequacy of a PSU for your system: Wattage, PSU effi ci ency, and total amps deli vered on the +12V rail .
These fi gures shoul d be readil y avail able from the PSU's specifi cations.

Wattage: To work out a rough esti mate of the PSU Wattage which i s suffi ci ent for a particular system, use
thi s Interacti ve PSU Cal culator. It i s fai rl y strai ghtforward to use, however note that there are some traps
you can easi ly fal l i nto whi ch wi ll resul t i n overesti mati ng your power usage. For exampl e under the 'System
Type' box, you shoul d al ways sel ect 'Singl e Socket' unl ess you actuall y have mul ti ple CPU sockets on your
motherboard. A Core i 7 CPU for exampl e has four cores, but i t i s stil l a si ngl e socket CPU; vi rtuall y no
desktop system has more than one CPU socket on the motherboard, so pay careful attenti on to the
descri pti ons whi l e goi ng through the cal cul ator.

Efficiency: This doesn't represent how much of a PSU's power i s usabl e - all good PSUs should provi de up to
thei r maxi mum rated wattage wi th stabi l i ty i f requi red. Furthermore, contrary to popul ar bel i ef, whether a
hi gh or l ow wattage PSU, the PSU only provi des the amount of power the system needs, so buyi ng a l arger
PSU than you requi re won't resul t i n extra power usage al l by i tsel f. PSU effi ciency i s the proporti on of the
power the PSU draws from your power socket that is relayed to your system. For example a PSU wi th 80%
effi ci ency provi di ng 400W of power to your system wi l l actual ly draw 500W from the power socket on your
wall whi l e doi ng so. In practi ce effi ci ency wil l di ffer at different l evel s of l oad on different PSUs, and i t's an
i mportant fi gure to l ook out for. Ideal ly you want 80% effi ci ency or hi gher at your expected load l evel on the
PSU - the hi gher the effici ency, the more money you save i n el ectri ci ty bil l s.

Amperage: The Amperage on the +12V rail, a key factor i n system stabi l i ty. For exampl e if you l ook at the
speci fi cati ons of some graphi cs cards, they wil l say that they requi re a current of a certai n number of amps
on the +12V rail (e.g. 40A on +12V for an Nvi dia GeForce GTX 285). You shoul d refer to the speci fi cati ons of
the PSU to see i f the +12V rail (s) provi de that much amperage i n total. Note that some PSUs may have
mul ti ple 12V rail s - this i s techni cal ly a safety requi rement to prevent potenti al overl oad on a si ngle 12V rai l,
but i s not a necessi ty, and some even consi der i t undesi rabl e. In practi ce as l ong as the amps and total
wattage suppl i ed al ong the 12V rail (s) are sol id and suffi ci ent for the job requi red, i t shoul dn't make a huge
di fference whether you have si ngl e or mul ti ple 12V rai l s.

The probl em i s that beyond tryi ng to take note of the key factors above, an accurate revi ew i s requi red to tel l
you whether a PSU i s genui nel y good quali ty or not. As thi s arti cl e poi nts out, specialized measurement
i nstruments are necessary to determi ne thi s, not just measuri ng vol tages wi th a mul ti meter. Hence most PSU
revi ews are i naccurate and effecti vel y usel ess. Accurate PSU revi ews can be found at si tes l i ke
Sil entPCReview and JonnyGuru, so start there if you want to know more about a parti cular PSU.

As a fi nal note, i f you li ve i n an area where the mains power suppl y i s not stabl e or you can suffer peri odi c
outages, I strongl y recommend i nvesting i n a good quali ty Uni nterrupti bl e Power Supply. Thi s wil l i ncrease
the l ife of your components, and i s i mportant i n preventi ng potenti al data l oss resul ti ng from a power
outage, such as when you enabl e the performance features covered under the Dri ve Control l ers secti on of
the Dri ve Opti mizati on chapter.

COOLING
One of the most common reasons for a range of probl ems i n Wi ndows has nothi ng to do wi th Wi ndows or
software; i t i s actual l y the hardware-related phenomenon of overheati ng. Overheati ng hardware can cause
all sorts of strange errors, crashes and probl ems, and i s often misdiagnosed as bei ng a software or dri ver
probl em. Most computer hardware generates heat due to the power i t consumes, and this heat needs to be
di ssi pated somewhere. A typi cal computer case i s desi gned such that i t traps heat, and hence as heat builds
up i n a PC case, i t wil l cause components to malfuncti on and even become permanentl y damaged over ti me.
Overheati ng can occur i n both stock systems and overcl ocked systems; i t al l depends on a range of factors
we l ook at bel ow. Before spendi ng ti me opti mi zi ng your Windows, you must make sure your system i s
properl y cooled.


65

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

Measuring Temperatures: The fi rst step in determi ni ng whether a component i s runni ng too hot i s to measure
i ts temperature. On modern PCs the CPU, graphics card and motherboard al l have buil t-i n di odes that
measure the temperature for these components. The CPU temperature moni tor is a reasonably accurate
measure of the temperature at or near the core of the CPU; the graphi cs card temperature moni tor provi des
an i ndi cati on of the temperature near the GPU core; whi l e the motherboard temperature moni tor i s a good
measure of the general temperature wi thi n the PC case, otherwi se known as the ambi ent temperature. Some
other hardware components such as power suppl y uni ts and hard dri ves may also come with temperature
measurement devi ces you can access.

To actuall y see the temperature readi ngs from your components, you can check the key readi ngs i n your
BIOS setti ngs screens, typicall y under a Hardware Moni tor section or si mil ar. Thi s gi ves you the CPU and
motherboard temperatures, perhaps al so the PSU temperatures as wel l. Cl earl y you need a more conveni ent
method of checki ng temperatures under Wi ndows, especiall y when runni ng system i ntensi ve appl i cati ons
or games. Most motherboards already come wi th such software, so check your motherboard manual and
dri ver CD, or the motherboard manufacturer's websi te for an appropri ate moni tori ng uti li ty. However for
the most accurate and consi stent temperature readi ngs I recommend one of the fol l owi ng free uti l i ties whi ch
work on al most any system:

Real Temp - Pri maril y for measuri ng CPU temperatures, parti cularly across the i ndi vi dual cores of a mul ti -
core CPU. Also provi des a basi c GPU temperature readi ng.
Core Temp - Si milar to Real Temp, is desi gned to measure CPU temperatures.
GPU-Z - Covered under the System Specifi cati ons chapter, GPU-Z has a range of GPU temperature
moni tori ng capabil i ti es found under i ts Sensors tab. It also has basi c CPU and motherboard temperature
moni tori ng.
HWMoni tor - Can moni tor a range of system temperatures as wel l as system vol tages and fan speeds.
HD Tune - Covered under the System Specifi cations chapter, the free versi on of HD Tune provi des a
temperature readout towards the top of the HD Tune wi ndow, showi ng the current temperature of the
sel ected dri ve.
SpeedFan - A more general temperature moni tori ng uti li ty whi ch can provide CPU, motherboard and hard
dri ve temperature readouts, as well as al l owi ng manual fan speed adjustment.

Once you have the appropri ate uti li ti es, moni tor your component temperatures at both i dl e and when your
system is under heavy l oad. If parti cul ar components reach what appear to be very hi gh temperatures when
under l oad, then those components may mal functi on whi l e undertaki ng strenuous acti vi ti es on your PC for
a sustai ned peri od of time, such as pl ayi ng games. However even when i dl e, your PC may begi n to
malfuncti on if heat steadily buil ds up in your PC case and is not cleared fast enough.

Safe Temperatures: Most peopl e wil l want to know what the 'safe' temperature is for a parti cular component
i n thei r system. Unfortunatel y there i s no easy answer - safe temperatures di ffer based on different hardware
archi tectures, as some are desi gned to run hotter than others. However you can ascertai n a reasonabl y
normal temperature range for your component by searchi ng Googl e usi ng the specifi c brand and model of
the component al ong wi th the word 'temperature' to see if any user feedback or revi ews of your hardware
states what temperature ranges are normal . As a very general rule of thumb, at the ti me of wri ti ng, both the
current generati on of CPUs and GPUs shoul d not exceed 90-100C under 100% load; and for hard dri ves, no
more than 50-60C i s normal when under maxi mum sustai ned l oad.

The best way to tel l i f your component i s overheati ng is to watch for potenti al symptoms:

CPUs - An overheati ng CPU wi ll usual l y throttl e down i ts speed when under i ncreasi ngly heavi er l oads,
resul ti ng i n noti ceably reduced performance. Use a uti l i ty li ke CPU-Z (See the System Specifi cati ons chapter)
to moni tor your CPU frequenci es and run a CPU-i ntensi ve program such as Pri me95 (See the Performance


66

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter). If under 90 - 100% l oad you fi nd that the CPU i s not reachi ng i ts
full advertised frequency then there i s a strong l i kel i hood i t i s overheati ng, especiall y i f temperature
moni tori ng also reveals a very high temperature under full l oad.

GPUs - An overheati ng GPU wil l result i n graphi cal corrupti on and/or crashes, whether on the Wi ndows
Desktop or wi thi n graphi call y i ntensi ve appl i cati ons l i ke 3D games. Usi ng GPU-Z, under the Sensors tab tick
the 'Conti nue refreshi ng thi s screen whi l e GPU-Z is i n the background', then l aunch a modern game or
stressful 3D appl i cati on - see the Thi rd Party Tool s section of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter for some free ones you can obtai n. Watch for any noti ceabl e anomali es i n the
graphi cs, such as fl i ckeri ng textures, dots, or strange col ors, and then after a few mi nutes qui t the game and
cl i ck the 'GPU temperature' l i ne of GPU-Z, sel ect 'Show Hi ghest Readi ng' to see what the hi ghest
temperature was. A moderatel y hi gh temperature combi ned wi th si gns of graphi cal anomal ies or corruption
i s al most al ways a cl ear sign of an overheati ng graphics card.

HDDs - An overheati ng hard dri ve i s l ess common, and al so harder to spot, however any strange noises
from the dri ve, any signs of data corrupti on, or any probl ems or l ong delays in accessi ng the dri ve tend to
i ndi cate a probl em whi ch may be caused by overheati ng. Note that SSDs are not the same as HDDs and are
unl ikely to suffer from heat-related i ssues because they have no movi ng parts.

If you beli eve you're experienci ng any heat-rel ated issues i n your system, see the ti ps bel ow.

Cooling Tips: If you are experi enci ng probl ems wi th heat i n your system, or more i mportantl y i f you want to
prevent any heat-rel ated probl ems from occurri ng in your system, the fol l owi ng basi c cooli ng ti ps should be
observed. This appl i es equall y to overclocked and non-overcl ocked systems:

Remove any obstructi ons from around your case. For exampl e don't obscure any of your case gril l s/ai r
hol es, such as havi ng them pressed agai nst a wall , bl ocked by dust etc. Insuffi ci ent fl ow of ai r i nto and
out of the case i s the number one cause of heat bui l dup and heat-rel ated probl ems. No matter how much
cool i ng you have i nside a case, i f ai r can't easi l y get i nto and out of the case then your system wi ll
overheat.
If you have few or no major case fans drawi ng i n cool ai r and expell i ng hot ai r, remove the sides of your
case so that the fans on the CPU, graphi cs card and Power Supply can get a fresh suppl y of cool er air,
and can expel hot air outside the case.
If you do have several case fans, arrange them so that some are to the front and low i n the case, sucki ng
ai r i nto the case (as the air near the fl oor i s cool er) and some are to the rear and/or the top of the case,
bl owi ng hot ai r out of the case (where the hot ai r expel l ed wi ll rise away from the case). In thi s si tuation
make sure to keep the si des of your case cl osed so that the fans have more pressure to suck/bl ow air
through the case's contents l ike a wi nd tunnel .
Don't posi ti on a sucki ng and a bl owi ng fan too cl ose together as they wi ll 'short ci rcui t' each other - that
i s they wil l pass ai r through the shortest l i ne between the two, bypassi ng your components and hence
not cool i ng them as effi ci entl y. Agai n, fans sucki ng ai r i nto your case shoul d be l ow and on the furthest
si de of the case from the blowi ng fans that expel heat from the case.
If one component i s sheddi ng a l ot of heat, pay extra attenti on to perhaps provi di ng greater cool i ng to
the components i mmediatel y around i t. Often the excess heat from one component can cause another
nearby component to overheat.
Ti dy the i nternal components of your case. Thi s means al l ri bbon cabl es, power cabl es, etc. shoul d be
cl i pped or twi sty-tied to be as neatl y arranged as possi bl e, pri mari l y to avoi d bl ocki ng the flow of free
ai r around components, especiall y near the CPU and graphics card which are the two hottest
components i n most cases. Secured cabl i ng and snug pl ug connecti ons also means you can be sure
nothi ng becomes accidentall y unplugged or short-ci rcui ted over ti me and hence cause mysteri ous
hardware-based errors that wi ll confuse you i n the future.


67

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

If usi ng addi ti onal i nternal cool i ng li ke larger heatsi nks or fans, make sure they are not too heavy for the
surface they are mounted on. For exampl e, usi ng extremel y l arge heatsi nks on a graphi cs card can resul t
i n the card actuall y bendi ng under the wei ght and hence becomi ng permanently damaged. Even a large
heatsi nk mounted on a motherboard can cause i t to warp or crack, once agai n damagi ng the
motherboard PCB beyond repai r. If you feel you requi re such hefty cool i ng you should consider i nstead
buyi ng a larger case that has better airflow properti es.
Make sure your dri ve(s) are not smothered by cabli ng or crammed i nto a stuffy area of the case wi th no
nearby cool i ng or fresh ai r. Hi gher speed hard dri ves i n parti cular (i .e. 10,000 RPM or faster) can heat up
qui te a bi t. Hard dri ves are often overlooked i n cooli ng, and yet they are a vi tal system component, and
as such you shoul d make sure they aren't confi ned to an extremel y hot secti on of your case.
Make sure that any heatsinks or heatpipes on the motherboard i tself are not covered or bl ocked by other
components or cables, or covered i n dust. There is a reason why these heatsinks are there: because the
chi ps on a motherboard often require cool i ng otherwi se they can mal functi on due to excessi ve heat just
l i ke any other major component. Don't assume a heatsi nk or heatpi pe without a fan i mpl i es the
component requi res mi nimal cool i ng, as someti mes manufacturers ski mp on putti ng a fan on these
components, whi ch si mpl y means the heatsi nks have to do more work, so keep them well exposed to
cool ai r. You may even consi der posi ti oni ng a fan near them i f you wi sh to aid i n system stabili ty.

Whi le non-overcl ocked components can overheat, overcl ocked components heat up much faster and are a
very common cause of system i nstabi lity and a range of probl ems. If experi encing probl ems on your system
make absolutel y certai n that as part of your i ni tial troubl eshooti ng you return all your components to thei r
defaul t setti ngs to see i f thi s removes or reduces the severi ty of the probl em - see the Overclocki ng chapter
for more detai l s.

Thermal compounds are covered i n more detai l earlier i n thi s chapter, however i t shoul d be noted that a
common cause for component overheating i s the i ncorrect appl i cation of thermal compound by the user. Too
much or too li ttl e thermal compound can cause a component to overheat dramati call y, so always foll ow the
appl i cati on instructi ons to the l etter and don't i mprovi se unl ess you are highl y experi enced. You may also
wi sh to consider purchasing better qual i ty thermal compound for use on your components.

The most si mpl e of al l of these ti ps which anyone can undertake is to provi de greater access to fresh cool air
for the case's contents and regularly clean the case to remove dust buil dup. Dust i n parti cul ar can reduce
ai rfl ow si gnifi cantly, so keep your case and your components dust-free usi ng a barely damp cl oth, q-ti p or
compressed ai r. Furthermore the next time you go to upgrade your PC, consider buyi ng a larger case wi th
pl enty of venti l ati on as the si ngl e best i nvestment i n cool i ng and hence general system stabi li ty.

< DEVICE MANAGER
Once you have confi gured your BIOS opti mall y and made sure that your hardware i s correctl y connected
and cool ed, the Devi ce Manager i n Wi ndows i s the central l ocati on you shoul d use for appropri ate software
confi gurati on of all the hardware on your system. You can al so use the Devi ces and Pri nters component
under the Windows Control Panel to access a range of hardware functi onal i ty and confi gurati on opti ons for
connected devi ces, however thi s i s covered i n more detai l under the Devi ces and Pri nters secti on i n this
chapter.

To access Devi ce Manager, go to the Windows Control Panel, or go to Start>Search Box, type device manager
and press Enter. The mai n Devi ce Manager wi ndow l i sts al l your detected hardware grouped by category,
and you can expand parti cular categories to see i ndi vi dual devi ces. Doubl e-cli ck on any particular devi ce to
see more detai l s on i t.


68

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

RESOURCE ALLOCATION
ACPI is the Advanced Confi gurati on and Power Interface standard, and i s an i mportant part of the way
Wi ndows and dri vers communi cate wi th your hardware. In versi ons of Wi ndows pri or to Wi ndows 7 and
Vista you coul d run hardware whi ch di dn't support ACPI, or even di sabl e ACPI i f you wanted to attempt
manual resource all ocati on. However thi s i s no l onger possi bl e as of Wi ndows Vi sta - Vista and 7 requi re
ACPI for hardware to functi on. That means that you cannot di sabl e ACPI, and ol der hardware whi ch i s not
properl y ACPI-Compl iant wi l l not run on Wi ndows 7. Only systems based on motherboards whose BIOS i s
ACPI Compli ant and dated 1 January 1999 or newer can be used. If you're runni ng ol der hardware thi s
means you shoul d update to the l atest avai labl e BIOS for your motherboard and also ensure that any ACPI
opti ons are enabl ed for Windows to i nstall and run wi thout probl ems.

Wi ndows 7 does not fundamental ly change the way resources are handled compared to previ ous versi ons of
Wi ndows. Since Wi ndows 7 onl y accepts ACPI-compl i ant systems, and because most recent hardware
supports Plug and Play functi onali ty, resource all ocati on i s handl ed automati call y and qui te effi ci entl y and
should not be a major i ssue. However one practi cal aspect of ACPI i s covered below.

Interrupt Requests (IRQs) are the way in whi ch al l of your major system devi ces get the CPU's attenti on for
i nstructi ons/interacti on as often as necessary. There are usuall y 16 - 24 mai n hardware IRQs avai labl e i n a
modern PC, and these are usual l y assigned to i ndi vidual components or hardware functi ons. To vi ew your
current IRQ all ocati on open Devi ce Manager and under the Vi ew menu sel ect 'Resources by Type', then
expand the 'Interrupt Request (IRQ)' i tem. You wil l see al l the devi ces currently acti ve on your PC, wi th the
IRQ number showi ng as the number i n brackets, e.g. IRQ 0 i s shown as (ISA) 0x00000000 (00) System Timer.
Whi le you may see IRQs numbered up to 190 or more, all of the IRQ numbers above 24 are for l egacy
Industry Standard Archi tecture (ISA) or non-Pl ug and Pl ay devi ces, not for your mai n system hardware, so
the key IRQs to exami ne are those numbered up to 24.

For an easi er method of vi ewi ng IRQs and checking for potenti al IRQ confl i cts, use the bui l t-i n System
Informati on tool (see the System Specifi cati ons chapter). To access i t go to Start>Search Box, type system
information and press Enter. Expand the 'Hardware Resources' i tem i n the l eft pane, and click the IRQs i tem
to see IRQs l isted i n order from 0 upwards. Cli ck the 'Confli cts/Shari ng' i tem to see a summary of sharing
confli cts. Don't pani c if you see confl i cts, thi s doesn't mean your system i s unstabl e or confi gured i ncorrectly.
In many cases some hardware wi ll be shari ng a si ngl e IRQ or resource and there's not much you can do to
prevent or al ter thi s, i t i s normal behavior.

Wi ndow al l ows several devi ces to share an IRQ wi thout any major i ssues, and in general thi s shoul d be fi ne.
However i n cases where two or more hi gh-performance components, such as your graphi cs card, sound
card, or Ethernet control l er are shari ng a si ngl e IRQ, thi s may be a source of potenti al probl ems. High
performance hardware is best on i ts own IRQ, but unfortunately you can't al ter the IRQ all ocati ons from
wi thi n Wi ndows, as they are automaticall y handl ed by ACPI. Onl y l egacy devi ces wil l have the opti on to
attempt manual al terati on of thei r resources under the Resources tab of the rel evant devi ce Properti es in
Devi ce Manager; most other devi ces do not al l ow the 'Use automati c setti ngs' opti on to be unti cked. The
onl y ways to prevent or mini mize the i mpact of IRQ shari ng are:

Di sabl e unused devi ces - Covered i n more detail further bel ow, di sabl i ng unused devi ces i n the BIOS
and i n Devi ce Manager i s a way of reduci ng unnecessary resource usage and speedi ng up boot ti me, and
also preventing IRQ sharing-rel ated probl ems. This i s best done fi rst i n the BIOS pri or to i nstal li ng
Wi ndows.
Move Confli cti ng Devi ces - On an exi sti ng i nstallation of Windows 7 you can attempt to reduce IRQ
shari ng by movi ng a device. Physi cal ly move one of the i tems to another l ocati on on your system if
possi ble, such as shi fti ng a sound card from one PCI/PCI-E sl ot to another, or i f a USB Host Control l er i s
shari ng wi th a major device, avoi d pl uggi ng any USB devi ce i nto the speci fi c USB hub that control l er


69

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

relates to. If nei ther of the shared devi ces can be physi call y moved then you wi l l have to accept the
si tuati on. Remember that Wi ndows can share IRQs wi thout major probl ems i n most cases.

If after the above procedures you sti l l have difficul ti es or reduced performance whi ch you feel are
attri butabl e to IRQ shari ng, the fi nal opti on i s to reformat and rei nstal l Wi ndows 7, fi rst maki ng sure of
course to fi rst correctl y confi gure your BIOS and di sabl e al l unnecessary devi ces. Even then there i s no
guarantee that major devi ces won't wi nd up bei ng shared agai n. Unl ike previous versi ons of Wi ndows, you
cannot disable ACPI to force manual IRQ all ocati on, as Wi ndows 7 must have ACPI enabl ed to work
properl y.

DEVICE POWER MANAGEMENT
Asi de from the gl obal Power Opti ons avai labl e under the Wi ndows Control Panel and covered under the
Power Opti ons secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter, you can access i ndi vi dual devi ce-specifi c
power management setti ngs i n Devi ce Manager for certai n types of devi ces (e.g. Keyboards, Mi ce, HID and
USB devi ces). To do so, open the Properti es of any speci fi c devi ce and if there is a Power Management tab,
cl i ck on i t and you wil l typi cal l y see two opti ons, one or both of whi ch are avai labl e:

Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power: Thi s opti on l ets Wi ndows power management di sabl e a
devi ce if i t consi ders i t i dl e. However unfortunately USB devices i n parti cular seem to have performance
i ssues if thi s opti on i s ti cked, so I recommend unti cki ng i t.

Allow this device to wake up the computer: If sel ected, thi s al l ows the devi ce to wake the computer up from
Sl eep mode i f i t is used. It shoul d be only enabled i f you want that to occur, otherwi se unti ck i t.

In most cases both boxes shoul d be unticked i f you want to mi ni mi ze probl ems wi th a devi ce, parti cularly
USB devi ces.

PROBLEMATIC DEVICES
Devi ces wi th a questi on mark or exclamati on mark next to them i n Devi ce Manager wil l need further
troubl eshooting to correctl y i dentify and i nstal l , as by defaul t Windows i s unabl e to use the Pl ug and Play
system to i denti fy what they are. Until Wi ndows can i dentify a devi ce properl y, i t cannot be used even i f it i s
correctl y connected to your system and i dentifi ed by your BIOS for exampl e. The key to Windows detecti ng
the devi ce properl y i s the i nstal lati on of an appropriate dri ver - see the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for full
detail s.

The fi rst thi ng you shoul d try i s usi ng the new Hardware and Sound Troubl eshooter function found under
the Troubl eshooti ng component of the Wi ndows Control Panel - thi s is covered i n more detail under the
Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

However if after foll owi ng the advi ce i n the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter and usi ng the Troubl eshooter you sti ll
can't get your devi ce to work, you can use the 'Add Legacy Hardware' opti on of Devi ce Manager, found
under the Acti on menu, to manual l y add a devi ce. Once thi s opti on i s sel ected, a wizard wil l open, gui di ng
you through the process.

The fi rst step i s to sel ect the 'Search for and i nstal l the hardware automaticall y opti on'. Thi s wi l l force
Wi ndows to attempt to redetect any newl y connected hardware and i nstall i t usi ng any existi ng dri vers. If
thi s opti on fai l s, you need to sel ect the second 'Instal l the hardware that I manuall y sel ect from a li st opti on'.
You wil l be taken to a l i st of hardware categori es, and you shoul d then sel ect the category whi ch you believe
i s the cl osest for your device, then cl i ck Next. A l i st of several Brands and Model s of that parti cular device
category wil l then be shown, and you can sel ect the one whi ch you bel i eve is cl osest i n functi onal i ty and
compati bi li ty to your device. If you fi nd none of the opti ons is appropri ate, and you have another dri ve you


70

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

want to manual l y i nstall , cl i ck the 'Have Di sk' button and di rect Wi ndows to the dri ve/di rectory where the
dri ver fil es are hel d.

Ul ti matel y i f you cannot fi nd any appropri ate driver for the devi ce, i t wil l be diffi cult to resol ve the
probl emati c devi ce and hence use i t wi th ful l functi onali ty.

DISABLING OR REMOVING UNUSED DEVICES
One of the best ways to reduce startup ti mes i n Wi ndows, reduce resource usage, and prevent potenti al
hardware confl icts i s to di sabl e or remove unused devi ces. The recommended way to do thi s i s to fi rst
di sabl e any unused devi ces i n the BIOS before i nstal ling Wi ndows 7. However i f thi s i s not possi bl e, i t is still
useful to disabl e devi ces i n the BIOS on an existi ng i nstall ation of Wi ndows - see the BIOS secti on earl ier in
thi s chapter.

Some examples of common devi ces that can be disabled - if you're not goi ng to use them - are:

Unused IDE Channels
Unused SATA Channel s
RAID opti ons
Onboard Audi o
Onboard Video
Game Port
Mi di Port

Once these have been di sabl ed i n the BIOS, boot i nto Wi ndows and make sure that all your normal
functi onali ty i s unaffected. You can al ways re-enable any devi ce in the BIOS at any ti me, so thi s i s by no
means a permanent di sabl i ng of parti cular devi ces. However you shoul d only di sable devi ces i n the BIOS
that you are certai n wil l not be used duri ng your normal Wi ndows usage; di sabl i ng a necessary devi ce may
see you unable to boot i nto Wi ndows.

Di sabl i ng unused devi ces not onl y frees up unreserved IRQs and reduces the chances of resource shari ng, i t
speed up bootup ti me noticeabl y because fi rstl y your BIOS wil l not spend ti me tryi ng to detect and enabl e
these functi ons, and secondl y, Wi ndows won't l oad up dri vers for these devi ces at startup. Once you've
di sabl ed a devi ce i n the BIOS and are certai n that there has been no l oss of functi onali ty, you can then move
on to di sabli ng or removi ng relevant components i n Devi ce Manager, as covered bel ow.

If you aren't usi ng certai n devi ces whi ch appear i n Devi ce Manager, you can safely disabl e them by ri ght-
cl i cki ng on the devi ce and sel ecti ng Disabl e. Thi s i s general ly only recommended for more advanced users,
as di sabli ng necessary devi ces can cause a l ot of probl ems. In parti cular I don't recommend di sabli ng any
devi ce found under the Computer, Processors or System Devi ces categori es as these are all needed. If in
doubt, do not di sable anythi ng.

Furthermore, for each devi ce that has ever been connected to your system, Devi ce Manager wi ll retai n a
range of entri es i n the Windows Regi stry relati ng to the devi ce type, and the dri vers and setti ngs i t used.
That way if it i s ever reconnected i t can be qui ckly recognized agai n. However there are ti mes when you
have permanentl y discontinued the use of a devi ce, or through a change i n the BIOS, the devi ce no l onger
uses those parti cular resources. To vi ew and remove unused devices i n Devi ce Manager, fi rst use System
Restore to create a restore poi nt as a precauti on, then do the fol l owi ng:


71

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

1. Open an Admi ni strati ve Command Prompt.
2. Type the fol lowi ng l i nes, pressi ng Enter after each one:

Set devmgr _show_nonpr esent _devi ces=1

Devmgmt . msc

3. In the Devi ce Manager wi ndow that opens go to the Vi ew menu and sel ect 'Show Hi dden Devi ces'. Now
expand al l the categories and start l ooki ng through al l the devi ces. Devi ces i n gray are usual l y for
ol d/unused/di sconnected devi ces and safe to remove by ri ght cl i cki ng on each one and sel ecti ng
'Uni nstall '. However don't uni nstall a devi ce you know you wil l be reconnecti ng to Wi ndows soon.
4. In parti cular, you mi ght find several entri es under the Moni tors and Di spl ay Adapters secti ons from
previ ous graphi cs dri ver or graphi cs card i nstal lati ons. You should del ete al l of these grayed out entri es,
but at l east one un-grayed entry should remai n. You may al so fi nd grayed entri es for dri ve control l ers
you no l onger use, and these shoul d be safe to remove.
5. Do not remove any Mi crosoft devi ces such as those under the 'Sound, video and game control l ers', or
those under 'Storage volume shadow copi es'. If i n doubt, do not remove an i tem, gray or otherwi se.
6. Once done, you can cl ose Devi ce Manager the usual way and the next ti me you open i t up i t wi l l not
show unused devi ces unti l you agai n use thi s method to do so.

Use thi s method wi th cauti on. In many cases if you acci dentall y uni nstal l a hardware devi ce whi ch i s
currentl y connected to or requi red by your system, you can si mply di sconnect and reconnect the devi ce, or
reboot Wi ndows, and i t wi l l be redetected by Wi ndows and the appropri ate dri vers i nstal l ed agai n - so this
method doesn't permanentl y remove any devi ce such that i t prevents i t from bei ng detected or used agai n i n
the future usage. In some cases however removi ng important devi ces may prevent Wi ndows from booti ng
up, whi ch is where an appropri ate restore poi nt comes i n handy to undo the damage.

< DEVICES AND PRINTERS
A new component i n Wi ndows 7, Devi ces and Pri nters i s desi gned to consolidate a range of functi onal ity
related to devi ce management and usage i n one easy-to-use l ocati on. You can access Devices and Pri nters
from under the Wi ndows Control Panel , or by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng Devices and Printers and
pressi ng Enter, or typi cal ly by attachi ng a rel evant devi ce. Aside from l isti ng your PC and moni tor, the types
of devi ces whi ch are li kely to appear in Devi ces and Pri nters i ncl ude any portabl e devi ces whi ch you have
connected to the PC, USB devi ces, wireless devi ces, pri nters and any detected network-based devi ces.

Unl ike Devi ce Manager, Devi ces and Pri nters i s not designed to be a l i sti ng of all the hardware and devi ces
on your PC, such as your CPU, hard dri ve or graphics card - i t i s pri mari ly aimed at provi di ng qui ck access
through a graphi cal i nterface to common functi onali ty for connected peri pherals such as cameras, phones
and pri nters.

To confi gure the general setti ngs for Devi ces and Pri nters, ri ght-cl i ck on your PC devi ce - the devi ce wi th
your computer name i .e. [username]-PC, and sel ect 'Devi ce Install ati on Settings'. This opens the setti ngs,
all owi ng you to choose whether you all ow Wi ndows to automaticall y downl oad dri vers and real i sti c i cons
for your devices. There are essenti al ly two di fferent functi ons to whi ch this questi on relates - the first is
whether you all ow Wi ndows to automati call y detect, downl oad and i nstall what i t consi ders opti mal dri vers
for your hardware. The second i s whether Wi ndows downl oads any custom icons and devi ce i nformation
whi ch your hardware manufacturer has provi ded to Mi crosoft. Thi s does not affect the devi ce's functi onali ty
at al l , but i t does make the devi ce easi er to i denti fy i n the Devices and Pri nters wi ndow, as i ts i con will
change to an exact i mage of the devi ce you have connected rather than a generi c Wi ndows devi ce i con.

If you sel ect the 'Yes, do thi s automati cal l y' opti on, Wi ndows wi ll connect to the Internet and automati cally
downl oad any dri vers i t consi ders best for your connected devi ce(s) from Wi ndows Update wi thout
prompti ng you, and wil l also update your generi c devi ce i cons wi th any custom ones whi ch have been


72

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

provi ded by the manufacturer. This i s the best opti on i f you are a rel ati vel y new user, and wi ll al l ow you to
qui ckly use your devi ces.

For more advanced users I recommend the second opti on 'No, always l et me choose what to do' - thi s gives
you abil i ty to ensure that outdated or undesi rabl e dri ver versi ons are not automati cal ly i nstall ed over more
recent or custom dri vers you have i nstal l ed yoursel f. Then I recommend sel ecti ng 'Instal l dri ver software
from Wi ndows Update i f i t i s not found on my computer', as thi s means onl y devi ces for whi ch you have not
al ready i nstall ed a dri ver wi ll be updated. Whether you ti ck the 'Replace generi c device i cons wi th enhanced
i cons' opti on i s up to you; as noted i t does not affect functi onality as such, i t si mply repl aces the generi c
i cons wi th more real istic ones and can provi de more i nformati on about the devi ce, whi ch i s generally
desi rable.

Now connect your devi ce(s) to the PC and all ow Wi ndows to detect them one by one. If a devi ce i s not
detected, cl i ck the 'Add a devi ce' button at the top of them Devi ces and Pri nters wi ndow to force Wi ndows
to search for all attached devi ces and l ist them. Each devi ce should appear i n Devi ces and Pri nters, even i f i t
i s not i dentifi ed correctly or does not have ful l functi onali ty. If i t sti ll does not appear, see the
Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

Once a devi ce appears i n Devi ces and Pri nters, probl emati c devices wi ll be i denti fi ed wi th an exclamation
mark - right-cl i ck on these and sel ect Troubl eshoot to all ow Wi ndows to attempt to fi nd the best solution.
Typi cal ly this i nvol ves Wi ndows fi nding appropriate dri vers, whether on your system or on Wi ndows
Update, or both, depending on your setti ngs. You can then apply the fi x and i f successful the devi ce will be
i nstal l ed properl y and the excl amati on mark wi ll be removed. If unsuccessful, you can expl ore further
opti ons as prompted by Wi ndows, but usual l y thi s si mpl y means you wi ll have to manual ly fi nd and i nstall
rel evant dri vers - see the Devi ce Manager secti on further above as well as the Wi ndows Drivers chapter.

Once a devi ce i s correctl y i nstal l ed, you can ri ght-cl i ck on i t for a menu of avail able functi ons and setti ngs,
dependi ng on the devi ce. Whi le all of these functi ons and setti ngs can be accessed i n vari ous other areas of
Wi ndows, the ai m of Devices and Setti ngs i s to all ow qui cker access i n one l ocati on. The most useful uni que
setti ngs relate to pri nter functi onal i ty, because Devices and Pri nters replaces the ol d Pri nters fol der which
was used i n previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows. Ri ght-cli cki ng on a pri nter i n Devices and Pri nters bri ngs up a
range of printer-related opti ons, l etting you access pri nter preferences, see what's pri nti ng and set the
defaul t pri nter.

Note that the i con for any devi ce i n Devi ces and Printers can al so be sent to the Desktop as a shortcut by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t and sel ecti ng 'create shortcut'; or you can simpl y drag and drop the i con to another
l ocati on to place a shortcut there, such as on the Start Menu. This shortcut retai ns all the functi onal i ty it
woul d normal l y have wi thin Devi ces and Pri nters, i ncl udi ng the useful ri ght-click context menu i tems.

< DEVICE STAGE
Devi ce Stage i s si mi lar i n intent to the Devi ces and Pri nters functi on - i t i s desi gned to be a central l ocation
provi di ng relati vely strai ghtforward access to the major functi ons of a parti cular devi ce wi th an easy-to-use
graphi cal i nterface. If you connect a compati bl e devi ce to your PC, Devi ce Stage wil l automati cal ly open,
however you can also open Devi ce Stage by doubl e-cl i cki ng on a supported devi ce i n Devi ces and Pri nters.
When opened, a l arge pi cture of your devi ce al ong wi th i ts full name wi ll appear at the top of the Devi ce
Stage wi ndow. At the bottom of the window are a range of opti ons as rel evant to your parti cul ar devi ce. A
new i con of the devi ce wi l l al so appear i n your Taskbar, and ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t wi ll provi de a range of
custom tasks i n the Jump Li st.

Devi ce Stage i s mai nly i ntended for mobi l e phones, di gi tal cameras, portabl e musi c pl ayers and vari ous
pri nters. A devi ce's compati bi l i ty wi th Devi ce Stage i s determi ned by the support provi ded by the hardware
manufacturer. Thi s means that certai n devi ces, particular older devi ces, may not do anythi ng more than


73

B
I
O
S

&

H
a
r
d
w
a
r
e

M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

open the normal AutoPlay prompt when connected - see the AutoPl ay secti on of the Dri ve Opti mi zation
chapter. Other devi ces may open a basi c Devi ce Stage wi ndow wi thout much customi zati on or speci fi c
brandi ng. Ful l y supported devi ces open a Devi ce Stage wi ndow wi th feature-ri ch content and devi ce-
speci fi c pi ctures and Taskbar i con.

For the most part Devi ce Stage i s very conveni ent, and al though most of i ts functi onali ty i s avail abl e through
a range of other Wi ndows setti ngs and appli cati ons, the fact that i t al l exists in one l ocati on makes thi ngs
much easi er for both novice and advanced users. Mi ni mi zed to your Taskbar, a parti cular Devi ce Stage
wi ndow i s very handy for qui ck access. Note that when you di sconnect a devi ce, any Devi ce Stage wi ndows
for i t al so automati cal ly close, whi ch means i t doesn't unnecessari ly add to Desktop cl utter.

Thi s chapter has attempted to hi ghlight the i mportance of maki ng sure that your BIOS i s correctl y
confi gured, that your hardware is appropri atel y connected, maintai ned and cool ed, and that your devi ces
are al l detected and availabl e for use i n Wi ndows. No amount of software tweaki ng wi l l resol ve odd
probl ems i n Wi ndows i f they are hardware-based, so i f there are any areas of doubt or confusi on relati ng to
your hardware, I strongl y suggest cl ari fyi ng them wi th further research, perhaps even contacti ng your
hardware manufacturer for more i nformati on, before movi ng on wi th Wi ndows opti mi zati on or
customizati on.


74

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

WINDOWS INSTALLATION

Wi ndows 7 uses an i mage-based i nstall ati on method whi ch i s covered i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Your
Wi ndows 7 install ation DVD actual l y contai ns all the di fferent consumer edi tions of Wi ndows 7, however at
the start of i nstall ation, a small confi gurati on fil e on the disc identifi es the speci fi c edi ti on you've purchased
and wi ll be abl e to i nstall . As i nstal lation begi ns, i nstead of sel ecti vel y copyi ng across a large number of
i ndi vi dual fi les, a compl ete compressed 'hardware neutral ' i mage of a standard Wi ndows 7 i nstallati on is
copi ed across to the target dri ve, is uncompressed and overwri tes the dri ve contents. As the i nstallation
conti nues, Wi ndows then i denti fi es your hardware and reconfi gures i tself accordi ngly. Thi s i nstallati on
method has a range of practi cal i mpacts whi ch are di scussed further bel ow.

Thi s chapter covers a seri es of i mportant thi ngs you should consider pri or to i nstall ation, as wel l as al l the
steps i nvol ved duri ng the actual i nstall ati on of Wi ndows 7, and i mmediatel y afterwards. Even i f you've
al ready i nstall ed Wi ndows 7, some of the i nformati on i n this chapter is stil l appli cable and worth readi ng.

< PRIOR TO INSTALLATION
Before we move onto the Wi ndows i nstal lati on process, we first look at the vari ous preparati ons you should
make and the i ssues you shoul d consider pri or to starting Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on.

CHECK YOUR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR COMPATIBILITY
Ideall y before i nstal li ng or even purchasi ng Wi ndows 7, you shoul d make sure that al l your hardware
components are compati ble wi th Wi ndows 7 and wil l run on i t reasonably wel l. You shoul d al so check to see
i f your current software will run under Windows 7. Use the foll owi ng resources to do both:

Wi ndows 7 System Requi rements - Li sts the mi ni mum hardware requi red to run Wi ndows 7.
Wi ndows 7 Upgrade Advi sor - Scans your PC and connected devi ces and tel ls you if you wi ll have any
potenti al i ssues under Wi ndows 7. It also tel ls you whi ch Wi ndows 7 edi ti on you can upgrade to.
Wi ndows 7 Compati bi li ty Center - Lists al l the software which i s compati bl e wi th Wi ndows 7. Note that
there i s a 32-bi t and 64-bi t li st i n each category.
Wi ndows 7 Hardware Compati bi li ty Li st - Lists all the hardware certifi ed to be Wi ndows 7 compati bl e.
However if your hardware i s not on the l ist, that doesn't necessari l y mean i t's not Wi ndows 7 compati bl e.
Check your hardware manufacturer's websi te for Windows 7 support detail s.

Keep i n mi nd that Wi ndows 7 is usi ng the same basi c archi tecture as Vista, and is desi gned to be compati ble
wi th Windows Vi sta products, so if your system and software was abl e to run under Vi sta, i t i s hi ghly l i kely
to work wi th Wi ndows 7.

DISABLE UNUSED RESOURCES IN THE BIOS
As covered i n the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter, i t i s important to turn off any opti ons and devi ces
i n the BIOS whi ch you wi l l not be using pri or to i nstall i ng Wi ndows 7. This wi ll ensure that you speed up
Wi ndows startup, mi ni mize any shared resources or potenti al confli cts i n Wi ndows, and prevent the
i nstal lati on of unnecessary dri vers and services. Al so see the Prepari ng the Dri ve secti on further bel ow as
some BIOS opti ons need to be changed pri or to Wi ndows i nstal lati on for opti mal performance. Don't i gnore
thi s step.


75

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

SCAN FOR MALWARE
If you are going to transfer any data or personal fil es from an exi sti ng i nstal lation of Wi ndows to your new
i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7, it i s strongl y recommended that you do a compl ete mal ware scan of your exi sting
Wi ndows i nstal lati on. This ensures that you don't wi nd up copyi ng across infected fil es whi ch rui n your
new i nstal lation of Wi ndows. See the PC Securi ty chapter of this book for full detail s. Importantl y, i f you
pl an to run the Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on DVD from wi thi n your current i nstall of Wi ndows, make sure to
compl etel y di sabl e any anti -mal ware program(s) after your scan, as they can i nterfere wi th the proper
i nstal lati on of Wi ndows.

PREPARE BACKUPS
Once you're sure that your fil es are cl ear of any mal ware, the next step i s to prepare compl ete backups of all
your i mportant i nformati on. Thi s i s covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter of thi s book. Regardless
of whi ch type of i nstal l you're goi ng to undertake, even i f you choose an Upgrade i nstall for exampl e, I still
strongl y recommend having backups of your i rreplaceabl e data on di sc or another dri ve prior to i nstall ati on
of Wi ndows, just i n case anythi ng goes wrong and you l ose al l the exi sti ng data on your dri ve. It i s
genui nel y much better to be safe than sorry.

I al so recommend prepari ng a separate di sc or USB fl ash dri ve wi th a copy of the latest appropriate
Wi ndows 7 devi ce dri vers for all your key hardware. Instal li ng the correct dri vers as soon as possi ble after
i nstal li ng Windows 7 ensures opti mal stabil i ty, compati bi li ty and performance, and can prevent major
probl ems. You may even need certai n dri vers - especi al ly SATA, RAID or other dri ve-related dri vers - for
correct detecti on of your dri ves duri ng the Wi ndows i nstal lati on process. Prepare these i n advance and store
them on a CD/DVD, USB flash dri ve or external dri ve so that you can l oad them i f necessary duri ng the step
where you choose the target dri ve for Wi ndows i nstal lati on. Check the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for more
detail s of where to obtai n these dri vers.

If you have any games i nstal l ed, after backi ng up the rel evant saved games and maki ng note of any custom
setti ngs or savi ng any custom confi gurati on fi les, uninstall your games i n your current version of Wi ndows
before i nstal li ng Wi ndows 7. Thi s i s necessary for any games whi ch are protected by onl i ne acti vation
protecti on mechanisms. For such games, uni nstal li ng the game, or i n some cases usi ng a speci al revoke tool ,
wi ll ensure that you do not run out of vali d acti vations when you next attempt to i nstal l or use the game. If
you are unsure i f your game i s protected i n thi s manner, I recommend uni nstall i ng i t anyway and then
checki ng the game's documentati on and websi te for more detail s of any addi tional procedures necessary i n
relati on to i ts copy protecti on mechani sm. This may al so appl y to certai n general software protected by
onl i ne acti vati on technol ogy.

CUSTOM OR UPGRADE INSTALL & DATA MIGRATION
An i mportant deci si on you wi l l have to make is how you want to install Windows 7. Thi s deci si on pri mari l y
affects the way i n whi ch your existi ng user data, programs and setti ngs are transferred to Wi ndows 7.
Dependi ng on whi ch versi on and edi tion of Wi ndows you are currentl y using, there are two di fferent
methods for install i ng Wi ndows 7:

Custom Install

Thi s i nvol ves i nstal li ng Wi ndows 7 onto a new blank dri ve, or onto a dri ve wi th exi sti ng data, but not
all owi ng Wi ndows 7 to attempt to upgrade any previ ous versi on of Wi ndows - a fresh new defaul t copy of
Wi ndows 7 wi ll be i nstalled. This i s call ed a Custom Install , also known as a Clean Instal l, and all ows you to
choose the parti ti on of the dri ve to whi ch Wi ndows 7 wi ll be i nstall ed. You can also choose to reformat the
dri ve or reparti ti on i t i n preparati on for i nstal li ng Windows 7, though note that i f you repartiti on your drive
i n Wi ndows Setup, this resul ts i n the creati on of a small addi ti onal System Reserved Parti ti on whi ch may not
be desi rabl e - see the Prepari ng the Dri ve secti on further bel ow for detai l s.


76

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

A Custom i nstall is the recommended method for ensuri ng that Wi ndows 7 i s i nstal l ed as 'cl eanly' as
possi ble, devoi d of any potenti al setting or software confli cts or residue from previ ous install ations of
Wi ndows. However i t al so means that you wi ll have to manual ly backup any exi sti ng data you wish to keep
before commenci ng i nstallati on si nce i t wi ll be l ost, parti cularly i f the dri ve i s reformatted or the parti ti on is
del eted. You wi ll then have to manual ly restore thi s data once Wi ndows 7 is install ed. See the Backup &
Recovery chapter for appropri ate backup and restorati on strategi es.

Note that i f custom i nstal ling Wi ndows 7 to a parti ti on wi th an existi ng i nstal lati on of a version of Wi ndows
wi thout reformatti ng, fi l es under your user fol ders wi ll automaticall y be saved to a \Windows.old di rectory
on that parti ti on, but thi s i s not recommended nor a substi tute for taki ng a proper backup pri or to
commenci ng.

Upgrade Install

Thi s i nvol ves all owi ng Windows 7 to i nstall i tsel f through an exi sti ng acti vated i nstal lati on of Wi ndows and
sel ecti ng the Upgrade option, al so known as an In-Place Upgrade. Wi ndows 7 wi ll attempt to keep all your
fi les, setti ngs and programs i nstead of si mpl y replaci ng everythi ng wi th a fresh new defaul t Wi ndows 7
i nstal lati on. An i n-place upgrade can onl y occur from qual ifyi ng versi ons and edi ti ons of Wi ndows - detai l s
are provi ded i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e, and displayed graphi call y i n thi s Mi crosoft Chart.

Essentiall y, you cannot choose to do an i n-place upgrade to Wi ndows 7 from:

Any versi ons of Wi ndows pri or to Wi ndows Vi sta SP1.
A 32-bi t version of Wi ndows to 64-bi t, and vi ce versa.
Di fferent languages.

Note however that i t is possi bl e, but not recommended, to attempt an i n-place upgrade from a pre-release
versi on (e.g. Beta or RC) of Wi ndows 7 i f you modify the cversion.ini fil e as detail ed i n this Microsoft Arti cle.

Al l edi ti ons of Windows Vi sta SP1 or SP2, excl udi ng Enterpri se, can i n-place upgrade to Wi ndows 7
Ul ti mate. However aside from Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate, Vista Home Basi c and Home Premi um users can onl y
i n-place upgrade to Wi ndows 7 Home Premium; Wi ndows Vista Busi ness can only i n-pl ace upgrade to
Wi ndows 7 Professi onal or Enterpri se; and Wi ndows Vista Ul timate users can onl y i n-place upgrade to
Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate.

The mai n reason for thi s poli cy is that Mi crosoft cannot guarantee sati sfactory performance and
compati bi li ty i f ol der or different versi ons of Wi ndows are i n-place upgraded.

Upgrade Edition

An Upgrade Edi ti on is a di scounted versi on of Wi ndows 7 whi ch requi res that a qual ifyi ng ful l versi on of
Wi ndows 2000, XP or Vista al ready be i nstall ed on your system. Importantl y, an Upgrade Edi ti on i s not the
same as an i n-pl ace upgrade; i f you quali fy to use an Upgrade Edi ti on, you can al ways do a custom (clean)
i nstal l, however whether you al so qual i fy to undertake an i n-place upgrade i s another issue, as covered
further above. Basi cal l y:

Full versi on Wi ndows 2000 and Wi ndows XP owners can purchase and use any Upgrade Edi ti on of
Wi ndows 7. However no Wi ndows 2000 or XP user can do an i n-pl ace upgrade; Wi ndows wil l detect the
presence of a l egi ti mate Wi ndows 2000 or XP i nstall necessary to all ow the use of an Upgrade Edi ti on,
but then onl y provi de a Custom Instal l (i.e. Cl ean Install ) opti on for Wi ndows 7. There i s no way around


77

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

thi s, nor woul d i t be recommended even i f i t were possi bl e, due to the major differences between the OS
archi tectures.
Full versi on Wi ndows Vi sta owners can purchase and use any Upgrade Edi ti on of Wi ndows 7, however
you can onl y do an i n-place upgrade to an equi valent or hi gher editi on of Wi ndows 7 as covered further
above.
Any full versi on 32-bi t Windows 2000, XP or Vi sta owner can use a 64-bi t Wi ndows 7 Upgrade Edi ti on,
but thi s precludes the abi lity to do an i n-pl ace upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bi t Windows or vi ce versa; onl y
a custom (cl ean) i nstal l i s possi ble, again due to key underlyi ng di fferences between the two types of
archi tectures.

If you are i n any doubt as to whether you qual ify to use an upgrade edi ti on of Wi ndows 7, use the Wi ndows
7 Upgrade Advi sor covered earli er i n thi s secti on to check. Also note that at any ti me wi thi n Wi ndows 7 you
can use Wi ndows Anytime Upgrade to purchase a new li cense and upgrade your current edi ti on of
Wi ndows 7 to a hi gher versi on automaticall y - see the thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for detai ls.

If supported, an i n-pl ace upgrade should provi de a reasonably good foundati on for Wi ndows users movi ng
to Wi ndows 7 and not wanti ng to go through havi ng to rei nstal l and reconfigure all thei r i nstall ed
appl i cati ons and ri sk l osing user data. However this method is not advised for users who want to be sure
they start wi th the cl eanest and most opti mal configurati on for Wi ndows 7 - onl y a Custom Install can do
that.

Windows Easy Transfer

If you can't or don't want to do an i n-place upgrade install ation of Wi ndows 7, another opti on for mi grati ng
your user data and setti ngs across i n a rel ati vel y automated manner i s to use the Windows Easy Transfer
uti li ty. This all ows you to transfer your user data and certain setti ngs between previ ous versi ons of
Wi ndows (i ncl udi ng pre-final versi ons of Wi ndows 7) and Wi ndows 7. To access Wi ndows Easy Transfer i n
Wi ndows 7, go to Start>Search Box, type windows easy transfer and press Enter. If you are not al ready usi ng
Wi ndows 7, you can launch the Wi ndows Easy Transfer uti li ty under another versi on of Wi ndows by
i nserti ng the Wi ndows 7 DVD, exi ti ng the Wi ndows setup util i ty if i t appears, goi ng to the \Support\Migwiz
di rectory of the DVD and runni ng the migsetup.exe fil e there.

Once Wi ndows Easy Transfer i s launched, you wi ll enter a mi gration wi zard whi ch wi ll take you through all
the steps requi red to carry out the migrati on. For ful l detai ls of how best to handle the mi grati on, see thi s
Mi crosoft Arti cl e. To successfull y mi grate the data you wil l need a removabl e dri ve or USB flash dri ve, a
special USB Easy Transfer Cabl e, or be connected to a network. Note that the Windows Easy Transfer uti li ty
has been i mproved over previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, such that you have a l ot more opti ons and thus
greater fl exi bi l i ty i n choosi ng preci sel y what to transfer to Wi ndows 7. In general any type of user-based
data can be transferred, but thi s does not i ncl ude i nstall ed programs.

Unl ess you are a begi nner, I recommend agai nst doing an i n-pl ace upgrade i nstall of Wi ndows 7, or even
usi ng Wi ndows Easy Transfer to mi grate data and setti ngs. Whi l e nei ther method i s l i kel y to cause you any
seri ous problems, to ensure that you have a perfectl y cl ean slate to begi n wi th, I recommend that you backup
your data, reformat your dri ve and start wi th a ful l clean Custom Install of Wi ndows 7, and then manual ly
copy back onl y your personal data. Any programs or games whi ch requi re configurati on i n Wi ndows 7 can
be done so wi th reference to the ori gi nal confi gurati on fil es you backed up, but not just by simpl y copyi ng
and pasti ng confi gurati on or setti ngs files i nto Windows 7. Thi s may take a whi l e l onger to do, but i t i s most
defi ni tel y worth the added effort i n the l ong run as i t provi des the most troubl e-free and performance-
maxi mizi ng method of i nstal li ng Wi ndows 7.


78

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

MODIFYING THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION DISC
Wi ndows 7's i mage-based i nstal lati on system all ows easi er creation of a modifi ed i nstal lation di sc. All the
tool s you need to do thi s are i n the Wi ndows Automated Install ati on Ki t (WAIK). Combi ned wi th these
ImageX commands and the new Depl oyment Image Servi ci ng and Management (DISM) tool whi ch al lows
you to add or remove dri vers, updates and features, you can generate a new customized Wi ndows 7
i nstal lati on image for any edi ti on.

However for the average user, there are si mpl er al ternati ves to usi ng the tool s above. There are three
common scenari os for whi ch a user may wi sh to l egi ti mately al ter or transfer thei r Wi ndows 7 i mage, and
some rel ati vel y straightforward methods of doi ng so:

Changing Product Editions: Al l consumer edi ti ons of Windows 7 - excl udi ng Enterpri se - are i ncludi ng on the
si ngl e Wi ndows 7 DVD. Thi s means that even a Windows 7 Home Basi c DVD has Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate on
the same di sc for example. Thi s i s the same as Windows Vista, however unl i ke Vista, the way i n whi ch
Wi ndows 7 determi nes the parti cular product edi tion to use duri ng i nstall ati on i s not through the Product
Key entered, but through the use of the data i n a small ei.cfg fi le found under the \Sources di rectory of the
Wi ndows 7 DVD. Thi s fil e can be opened wi th a text uti l i ty like Notepad, and the contents show whi ch
edi ti on of Windows 7 the di sc is designed to i nstal l. You can make a custom Wi ndows 7 DVD for any editi on
of Wi ndows 7, or i ndeed confi gure Wi ndows so i t prompts you to choose an edi ti on from a menu duri ng i ts
i nstal lati on.

Thi s method requi res that you ei ther edi t ei.cfg to change the text under the [EditionID] secti on to the desi red
edi ti on, i.e. Ultimate, Professional, HomePremium, HomeBasic or Starter as required; or remove the ei.cfg fi l e
al together to force Wi ndows to present a choi ce of edi ti ons duri ng i nstal l. To modi fy or remove ei.cfg and
successfull y create a working Wi ndows 7 DVD containi ng thi s or any other change, you wil l need to use a
tool whi ch allows you to make a bootable .ISO i mage. Thi s i s i mportant, because i f the ISO i s not bootabl e i t
won't work as a proper Windows 7 i nstal lati on DVD. There are several methods for attempti ng thi s, whether
you have a Wi ndows 7 .ISO i mage, or onl y the Wi ndows 7 DVD:

You can use Ul traISO to edi t or remove ei.cfg and subsequently create a new .ISO i mage. Thi s i s the
si mpl est method, however Ul traISO i s not free.
If you al ready have a Windows 7 .ISO i mage, you can use the free Edi ti on Swi tcher uti l i ty to al ter or
remove the ei.cfg fil e from the i mage wi thout al teri ng i t i n any other way, then burn the .ISO as normal .
Import the fi les from the Wi ndows 7 DVD or .ISO i mage to a temporary di rectory, make the relevant
changes to ei.cfg, then l aunch the free vLi te uti li ty (see bel ow) to create a bootable .ISO i mage from these
fi les.

Note the fol l owi ng:

For the purposes of viewi ng or extracti ng contents from an .ISO fil e, you can use the free 7-Zi p uti li ty.
Once a bootabl e .ISO has been created, you can use the burn opti ons i n vLi te to create the DVD, use the
free ImgBurn uti li ty to burn an .ISO to DVD, or use the Wi ndows Di sc Image Burner.
If you sti ll can't successfull y create a bootabl e .ISO for a worki ng Windows 7 DVD, the al ternati ve i s to
use a USB fl ash dri ve, as covered bel ow.

Remember that al teri ng the product edi ti on does not mean you can acti vate that edi ti on of Wi ndows 7
unl ess you have a vali d product key for that edi ti on. The mai n use for thi s method woul d be i f you have l ost
your Wi ndows 7 DVD for exampl e and usi ng another person's Windows 7 DVD you can create a new i nstall
DVD to sui t your product versi on.


79

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

USB Drive Windows 7 Installation: If you wish to make a worki ng Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on disc - whether
modi fi ed or unmodi fi ed - one of the si mpl est methods i s to copy all the Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on fi les to a USB
flash dri ve and boot from there whenever you wi sh to i nstal l Windows 7. This i s much more portabl e and
typi call y much faster than i nstal li ng from a DVD. Fi rst, I recommend maki ng sure the USB dri ve i s bootabl e
by foll owi ng these i nstructi ons:

1. Insert your USB flash dri ve, and backup any exi sti ng data on i t as it wi l l al l be erased i n Step 4 bel ow.
2. Open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and type the foll owi ng, pressi ng Enter after each command:

Di skpar t

l i st di sk

3. Determi ne the disk number for your USB dri ve based on i ts size, then type the fol l owi ng and press
Enter:

sel ect di sk [ di sk number ]

4. Type the fol lowi ng to cl ean the exi sti ng contents of the dri ve, create a si ngl e Primary parti ti on, and sel ect
that parti ti on and make i t acti ve. Press Enter after each command:

cl ean

cr eat e par t i t i on pr i mar y

sel ect par t i t i on 1

act i ve

5. Type the fol lowi ng to format the dri ve and press Enter. Note that ei ther NTFS or FAT32 can be used
after the f s= command, but FAT32 i s the most compati bl e for a USB devi ce and hence is recommended,
as some procedures (e.g. flashi ng a motherboard BIOS) require a FAT32 formatted USB dri ve to be
correctl y detected:

f or mat f s=FAT32

6. Once the format procedure i s compl ete, type the fol l owi ng and press Enter to assi gn a dri ve letter to
your USB fl ash dri ve i n Windows - note that you can change thi s dri ve l etter by usi ng the Di sk
Management uti li ty as covered under the Di sk Management secti on of the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter.

assi gn

7. You can now type Exi t to cl ose Di skpart and then cl ose the Command Prompt.

At thi s stage, you cannot si mpl y attach the USB devi ce and boot i nto Wi ndows or DOS mode from i t. It
requi res a boot i mage of some ki nd to be trul y bootabl e. See the Boot Di sks secti on of the Boot Confi gurati on
chapter for more detai ls. If you just want to create a Wi ndows 7 i nstall ati on i mage, you can si mply foll ow
the steps bel ow:

8. Copy the enti re fil e contents of your Wi ndows 7 DVD or .ISO across to a temporary fol der on another
dri ve, make any modifi cations if requi red, then copy all these fi l es to the USB fl ash dri ve.
9. Set your BIOS to boot from a 'Removabl e Devi ce', USB dri ve or si milar, dependi ng on the opti ons you
are presented i n your BIOS. You may need to al ter other BIOS setti ngs i n conjuncti on wi th thi s for your
USB devi ce to be bootabl e - check your motherboard documentati on.
10. Connect the USB dri ve and reboot, and Wi ndows 7 setup shoul d automati call y boot from the USB dri ve
and begi n as normal.


80

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

vLite: For any general al terati ons or customi zati ons to your Wi ndows 7 i nstal lation i mage, the easi est method
i s to use vLi te. It i s a free automated uti li ty for creati ng a custom Wi ndows 7 di sc image for use i n
i nstal lati on. It al l ows you to sel ect the components you wi sh to remove from Wi ndows, as wel l as thi ngs you
mi ght l ike to add, such as parti cular Wi ndows Updates, the latest dri vers and so on. Once you have
i ntegrated the rel evant components and removed the components you don't need, vLi te generates an ISO fi le
whi ch you can burn onto CD or DVD and use as your Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on di sc. Note that vLi te was
ori gi nal l y desi gned for Windows Vista, but also works for Windows 7. Al so note that i t requi res the
wimgapi.dll fi le from WAIK to work correctl y, see the i nstructi ons here.

Importantl y, i t has been demonstrated i n the past that peopl e who used vLi te or any other method to
remove Wi ndows components coul d not i nstall new Servi ce Packs for that OS properl y. Therefore I strongl y
recommend agai nst removi ng anythi ng from the Wi ndows 7 install ation image si mpl y because you thi nk
that i t somehow 'speeds up' your PC or 'removes bloat'. Removing most components si mpl y reduces disk
space, i t doesn't i ncrease speed i n the vast majori ty of cases. Don't fall i nto the trap of thi nking that i t i s cool
to stri p out vi rtual ly every component of Wi ndows and replace it wi th a thi rd-party al ternati ve - you are
more li kel y to i nadvertentl y cri ppl e desi red functi onali ty or cause other probl ems for yoursel f down the
track whi ch onl y a rei nstall of Wi ndows 7 can fi x. Thi s i s parti cul arl y true as vLi te is not speci fi cally
designed for Wi ndows 7, so onl y advanced users shoul d remove components usi ng vLi te.

For most users I recommend usi ng vLite to add useful components to the Windows 7 i nstall ati on i mage,
such as dri vers and offi cial updates, as thi s i s a relativel y safe process. Once Wi ndows is i nstal l ed, you can
then remove a range of Windows components usi ng the 'Turn Windows features on or off' opti on under the
Programs and Features component of Wi ndows Control Panel - see the Programs and Features secti on of the
Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. Wi ndows 7 has i ncreased the number of i ntegral components you can
uni nstall i n thi s way, i ncludi ng Internet Expl orer 8, Wi ndows Search, Wi ndows Medi a Player, Wi ndows
Media Center, etc. That way i f you need to restore any component or turn any feature or resources back on
at any ti me, you can si mply re-enabl e them qui te easi ly from wi thi n Wi ndows, whereas removi ng somethi ng
from the Wi ndows 7 i nstall ati on i mage can make i t next to i mpossi bl e to fi x certai n i ssues wi thout havi ng to
rei nstall Wi ndows 7 agai n.

Fi nal ly, be aware that Windows 7's i mage-based i nstal lati on system means that you are potenti all y exposed
to mal ware if you use a downl oaded Windows 7 i nstall ati on i mage whi ch you yourself have not created. Do
not downl oad or use any untrusted i nstall ation i mages as asi de from l egal i ssues, you could be i nstall i ng
undetectabl e mal ware or bui l t-i n securi ty vul nerabi li ti es and expl oi ts on your system i n the process,
bypassi ng al l Wi ndows securi ty features and renderi ng them usel ess.

< PREPARING THE DRIVE
Before you can i nstall Windows, you need to thi nk about how best to confi gure your target dri ve(s) for
opti mal functi onali ty to properl y meet your needs. Thi s i ncludes consi deri ng whether you want to
(re)format or (re)parti tion any of the dri ves, whether you want to use a RAID confi gurati on, and whether
you want to dual boot Windows 7 wi th an earl i er versi on of Wi ndows or another OS. It i s al so much better
to parti ti on and format dri ves pri or to Wi ndows i nstal lati on, though i t i s sti ll possi bl e to do so after you
i nstal l Wi ndows. Make absolutel y certai n to read the fol l owi ng i nformati on before proceedi ng with
Wi ndows i nstal lati on.

FORMATTING
A dri ve needs to be Formatted before i t can be used to store data. As covered under the Backup & Recovery
chapter, hard dri ves i n parti cular are 'l ow-l evel ' formatted at the factory, and thi s does not need to be done
agai n. However a 'high-l evel ' format i s usual l y required on any type of dri ve to set up a fi l e system on i t and
create an appropri ate boot sector, and thi s i s most commonl y what the term format refers to. In Wi ndows 7


81

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

and Vi sta the format command has changed from that of XP, as detail ed i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Formatting
a dri ve i n Windows 7 automati cal ly deletes al l of the dri ve's contents and zero-fi ll s i t. Furthermore, you wi ll
usual l y have the opti on of formatti ng the dri ve usi ng a Qui ck format method. Choose the quick opti on i f you
want a fast zero fi ll wi th no real error checki ng, otherwi se use the defaul t full format opti on to both zero fi l l
and error check the dri ve to ensure optimal data i ntegri ty.

There are several ways to format a dri ve i n Wi ndows:

Open Wi ndows Expl orer, ri ght-cl i ck on the dri ve of your choi ce and sel ect Format.
For more detail ed control over formatti ng, parti ti oni ng, vol ume l abel s, dri ve l etters and so on go to
Start>Search Box, type computer management and press Enter. In the Computer Management wi ndow
sel ect the Disk Management i tem i n the l eft pane. See the Di sk Management secti on of the Dri ve
Opti mi zati on chapter as wel l as further bel ow for more detai ls of thi s functi onali ty.
From any Command Prompt, use the Format command. Type For mat / ? for hel p.
Boot up your PC from the Wi ndows 7 DVD, begi n the i nstal lati on of Windows 7, sel ect a Custom Instal l,
then hi ghli ght a dri ve or parti ti on i n the selecti on wi ndow and cli ck the Format opti on.

Whi chever method you choose, I strongl y recommend doi ng a full format of the dri ve before i nstal ling
Wi ndows - thi s wi ll ensure that data i s onl y wri tten to error-free porti ons of the dri ve. However if the dri ve
i s not parti ti oned yet, you wi ll not be abl e to do a format, so see the Parti ti oni ng secti on bel ow.

File System

If you choose to format a dri ve, you may be presented wi th the opti on of choosi ng the Fil e System to use.
The common choi ce i n Windows 7 is either the NTFS (NT Fi le System) or FAT (Fil e Al l ocation Tabl e) fil e
system. The fi l e system used on a dri ve determi nes how the dri ve wi ll store and organi ze data, so i t i s an
i mportant choi ce. You can see a compari son of the two fil e systems i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Wi ndows 7
actuall y uses an enhanced versi on of NTFS cal l ed Transacti onal NTFS whi ch al lows i t to perform si ngle and
mul ti ple fil e operati ons more securel y and wi th greater data i ntegri ty. Thi s newer versi on of NTFS was
i ntroduced i n Vi sta, and al lows other changes, such as Directory Juncti ons and improved searchi ng - see the
Wi ndows Expl orer and Wi ndows Search chapters for detai ls. A range of functi onal i ty in Wi ndows 7 wi l l
onl y work on dri ves wi th the NTFS format, such as Wi ndows Backup.

Thus for your non-removabl e dri ves I strongly recommend choosi ng the NTFS format. Thi s ensures full
support for all of Wi ndows 7's features and opti mal performance and securi ty. The onl y reason for usi ng the
earl i er FAT32 fi l e system on a dri ve or parti ti on woul d be for compati bi li ty purposes i f you wi sh to i nstall
another OS or a much ol der versi on of Wi ndows, such as Wi ndows 98, on that dri ve or parti ti on.

Wi ndows 7 al so sees the i ntroducti on of ful l support for exFAT (Extended FAT Fi l e System), desi gned for
flash dri ves and portabl e devi ces. However because i t i s a recent propri etary format, i t does not have the
same l evel of compati bil i ty that NTFS and FAT have wi th previous versi ons of Wi ndows, and thi s may
cause probl ems i f you wish to use your devi ce on non-Windows systems. For thi s reason I recommend
formatti ng USB flash dri ves i n FAT32, parti cul arl y as thi s ensures that you can use them for fl ashi ng the
BIOS and transferri ng data between vari ous systems.

If you want to convert an exi sti ng FAT32 dri ve or parti ti on to NTFS, i t i s strongl y recommended that you
reformat the dri ve i n NTFS for opti mal performance. However if that i s not possi bl e or not desi rable, you
can convert the FAT32 dri ve/parti ti on to NTFS without reformatti ng by using the i nstructi ons i n this
Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Conversel y, if for any reason you want to convert an NTFS dri ve/parti ti on to FAT32, see
thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.


82

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

PARTITIONING
Before formatti ng a dri ve you must fi rst Parti ti on i t. Parti ti ons are fenced-off porti ons of a dri ve, and there
must be at l east one on a dri ve before it can be used. You can i nstead create mul ti ple parti tions, effecti vel y
di vi di ng a singl e dri ve i nto several small er l ogi cal dri ves of varyi ng size, each wi th thei r own dri ve l etter.
There are vari ous advantages and di sadvantages to parti ti oni ng a dri ve, but it i s i mportant to understand
that you shoul d never create mul ti pl e parti ti ons under the false impressi on that thi s i mproves performance.
On a hard dri ve, the fi rst (Pri mary) parti ti on is al ways the fastest, and subsequent parti ti ons are not as fast.
On an SSD, parti ti oni ng makes no di fference to performance as al l parti ti ons can be sought out wi th equal
speed.

In any case, whether SSD or HDD, parti ti oni ng does not repl icate the performance benefi ts of having
mul ti ple separate dri ves, such as i n a RAID configurati on (see further bel ow). On a si ngle hard dri ve i n
parti cul ar, performance i s sti ll l i mi ted by how fast the si ngl e dri ve head can seek (move around to read or
wri te) i nformati on. It can't be i n two pl aces at once, whereas wi th two physi call y separate hard dri ves, each
hard dri ve's head can seek i nformati on i ndependentl y, such as one dri ve readi ng game i nformati on whi l e
the other concurrentl y reads/wri tes Virtual Memory i nformati on i n the Pagefile. Therefore parti ti oni ng is
most useful as an organizati onal tool , not an opti mizati on procedure.

The mai n reason you may wi sh to create mul ti pl e parti ti ons on your dri ve is so that you can install Wi ndows
7 on one parti ti on, have your user fi les and fol ders on another partiti on, and use other parti ti ons for stori ng
other data or other operating systems. Thi s way you can reformat one parti tion for exampl e and the others
wi ll be unaffected. Importantl y though, parti ti oni ng on the same dri ve is not recommended as part of a valid
backup strategy, because dri ve fail ure can affect all parti ti ons on a dri ve - see the Backup & Recovery

If you're stil l not certai n of how many parti ti ons you wi sh to use, it i s useful to know that Windows 7 all ows
you to create, del ete and resize parti ti ons from wi thi n Wi ndows at any ti me, so you are not l ocked i nto a
parti cul ar parti ti on configurati on on your dri ve once you've formatted i t and install ed Wi ndows. Therefore
i f i n doubt, start wi th one parti ti on and you can always change thi s wi thi n Wi ndows 7 at a later poi nt i n
ti me.

Creating Partitions

Before i nstal li ng Wi ndows, you must make sure your dri ve is parti ti oned. You can do thi s duri ng the
Wi ndows Setup procedure, as covered later i n thi s chapter, however i t i s recommended that you parti tion
and format your dri ve prior to enteri ng the Wi ndows Setup. The reason for thi s i s that a dri ve parti ti oned
and formatted wi thi n Windows Setup wi ll resul t in the creati on of a separate 100MB System Reserved
Parti ti on, necessary for the Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on util i ty, and whi ch al so contai ns Recovery and boot
data.

To prevent the creati on of thi s extra parti ti on, I recommend using the Di skpart command. Boot up your
system wi th the Wi ndows 7 DVD, then at the mai n Wi ndows i nstal lati on screen sel ect your l anguage and
keyboard l ayout, then cl i ck Next. On the next screen cl i ck the 'Repai r your computer' l i nk at the bottom l eft.
In the System Recovery Opti ons menu, sel ect the Command Prompt opti on. At the prompt, type the
foll owi ng, pressi ng Enter after each li ne:


83

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Di skpar t

l i st di sk

sel ect di sk [ di sk no. ]

The commands above start the Di skpart uti li ty, l ist the avail abl e di sks, you can then specify the parti cular
di sk you wi sh to parti ti on (e.g. sel ect di sk 0). If there are exi sting parti ti on(s) on the dri ve, you can delete
them as foll ows:

l i st par t i t i on

sel ect par t i t i on [ par t i t i on no. ]

del et e par t i t i on

The foll owi ng command creates a pri mary parti ti on of any size (e.g. cr eat e par t i t i on pr i mar y
si ze=51200 to create a 50GB parti ti on), or i f you leave the si ze parameter out, it uses the enti re dri ve for the
pri mary partiti on - that i s, just enter cr eat e par t i t i on pr i mar y to parti ti on the enti re drive as a si ngle
pri mary partiti on:

cr eat e par t i t i on pr i mar y [ si ze=MB]

Once the parti ti on has been created, you can then format i t:

f or mat f s=NTFS

The f s val ue above can be =FAT32 i f you wi sh rather than NTFS, though thi s i s not recommended. If you
created more than one parti ti on, you will need to use the foll owi ng commands instead:

sel ect par t i t i on [ par t i t i on number ]

act i ve

f or mat f s=NTFS

Once compl eted, you can exi t the Di skpart util i ty and the Command Prompt by typi ng:

exi t

exi t

Then restart your PC and commence i nstall ation of Wi ndows as normal.

Altering Partitions Within Windows

You can reparti ti on a dri ve on an exi sting i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7 at any ti me usi ng the bui l t-i n Computer
Management features. To add or resize parti ti ons i n Wi ndows 7 follow these i nstructi ons:

1. Open the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ect Computer
Management, or go to Start>Search Box, type computer management, then press Enter.
2. In the Computer Management box, cli ck the 'Di sk Management' i tem i n the l eft pane.
3. Sel ect the drive for whi ch you want to al ter a parti ti on from the l ist at the top of the screen.
4. If there i s no unal l ocated space avail able, ri ght-cl i ck on the dri ve and sel ect 'Shri nk Vol ume' - thi s wi ll
reduce the si ze of the existing parti ti on, freei ng up space for a new parti ti on(s) to be made.
5. In the next di al og box enter the amount i n MB you want to use for the new parti ti on; the maxi mum
amount avai labl e i s the amount of free space l eft on the dri ve.
6. When done, cl i ck the Shrink button and the exi sti ng parti ti on will be reduced by the amount you chose
above.


84

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

You can now create a new parti ti on in thi s freed up space. There are a range of other functi ons possi bl e
under Di sk Management, but these are covered i n more detai l under Di sk Management secti on of the Dri ve
Opti mi zati on Chapter.

GParted

If you want to undertake more compl ex parti ti oni ng of your dri ve, you can use the free GParted tool i nstead.
It i s not a Windows-speci fi c tool , however i t supports al l Wi ndows fi l e systems and works wi th Wi ndows 7.
It won't be documented here as i t is qui te detail ed i n functi onal ity, and recommended for more advanced
users, however refer to these i nstructi ons if you wi sh to l earn more.

Short Stroking

It i s worth noti ng that there is a parti tioni ng procedure whi ch may i mprove performance on a hard dri ve
(but not an SSD). It i s referred to as Short Stroki ng, and essentiall y invol ves restricti ng the dri ve such that the
head movements on the hard dri ve are kept only to the outer sectors of each platter i n the dri ve, whi ch are
the qui ckest to access. The probl em wi th short stroki ng is that it si gnifi cantl y reduces the usabl e storage
capaci ty of the hard dri ve, al though gi ven the l ower cost of large hard dri ves, and when combi ned i n a RAID
confi gurati on (see bel ow), you can stil l generate a reasonabl y large amount of storage usi ng mul ti pl e short-
stroked hard dri ves, al bei t at a hi gher cost. Short stroki ng can also reduce the li fespan of the hard dri ve.

In any case, the easi est way to achi eve the short stroke effect on a hard dri ve i s to create only a si ngl e small
parti ti on (i .e. around 10% of the total dri ve capaci ty or l ess i n si ze), whi ch i s automati cally pl aced at the
outer edge of the dri ve, and thi s may i mprove performance for the drive. Note that the real -worl d
performance benefi ts of short stroki ng are somewhat dubi ous, because the benefi ts are mostl y seen i n
syntheti c benchmarks. On balance thi s is not a procedure I woul d recommend for most peopl e - i f you value
performance over dri ve space, then consi der purchasi ng an SSD i nstead as they wi ll provi de a range of
benefi ts i ncl udi ng much greater real -worl d performance gai ns than any short stroki ng ever coul d, as well as
qui eter operati on and l ower heat, at a cost that i s rapidl y decli ni ng.

In general I recommend havi ng a si ngle pri mary parti ti on for Wi ndows 7 and your data, as thi s keeps things
si mpl e and performance wi ll be opti mal. For proper data securi ty and genui nel y i mproved performance I
recommend usi ng two or more physi cal dri ves i nstead - this may be more expensi ve but i t noti ceably
i mproves performance, especiall y duri ng mul ti -taski ng, and allows the use of a much more fool proof
backup and recovery strategy. As noted, by defaul t Wi ndows 7 may create an addi ti onal 100MB System
Reserved Parti ti on automati call y duri ng i nstall ati on of Wi ndows pri mari ly for Bi tLocker Drive Encrypti on,
as wel l as for stori ng the Recovery Environment and boot fi l es - for more details see later i n thi s chapter as
wel l as the Wi ndows System Recovery Opti ons section of the Backup & Recovery chapter.

RAID CONFIGURATION
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Di sks) is a common method of confi guri ng mul ti ple dri ves to
perform better and/or provi de protecti on agai nst data l oss. The vari ous RAID l evels are best demonstrated
i n thi s RAID Arti cl e - cl ick the numbers at the top ri ght of the arti cl e to see the vari ous RAID levels
demonstrated graphi cal ly, i ncludi ng the common RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and RAID 0+1
confi gurati ons.

To set up a RAID array you need two or more dri ves, whether HDD or SSD, preferabl y of the same size and
speed, and a motherboard wi th RAID support. You wil l then need to i nstal l the dri ves as normal and
confi gure the appropriate RAID opti ons i n your motherboard's BIOS - see your motherboard manual for
i nstructi ons. If your motherboard supports RAID, and most motherboards do, then there is no addi ti onal


85

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

hardware requi red, i t i s al l dri ven by Wi ndows and the motherboard. Once confi gured correctl y, the RAID
confi gurati on of mul ti pl e dri ves wi ll be seen as a si ngle dri ve by Windows, and treated as such.

To determi ne whi ch RAID confi gurati on best sui ts your needs if any, you wi l l need to read the arti cles
l i nked above and consi der your most common PC tasks. For the average user the most commonl y used
RAID array i s a pai r of si mil ar dri ves i n RAID 0 formati on, whi ch provi des the best al l-round performance at
mi ni mal cost. RAID 0 usual l y beats a si ngl e dri ve confi gurati on i n terms of speed, parti cularly for large fi le
movements, due to there bei ng two i ndependent dri ves seeki ng data i n pl ace of one. However RAID 0 al so
provi des absol utely no faul t tol erance at all , and i n fact doubl es the chance for data l oss. If one of the drives
suffers a serious error or i s damaged, you l ose all the data on both dri ves since the data i s spl i t evenly
('stri ped') across both dri ves. Therefore i f you require proper protecti on against data l oss, combi ned wi th
good desktop performance, you should consi der a RAID 5 or RAID 10 configurati on whi ch i s more costly,
but far safer.

Whi le setti ng up stri ped RAID arrays - that i s, RAID arrays which spli t data evenl y across two or more
dri ves (such as RAID 0 or RAID 5), you wil l need to determi ne a Stri pe Size - the small est uni t of data
all ocati on - to be used i n your RAID BIOS. In general , i f you are uncertai n of the size to choose, use the Auto
setti ng (if avai labl e) or a 64kb stri pe. If you use the drives pri mari ly for gami ng I suggest a small er stri pe size
such as 16kb, as thi s can assi st i n reducing stutteri ng i n games.

In any case once you have connected your dri ves and set up your RAID array usi ng the opti ons i n the
motherboard's BIOS, you may need to have a di sc or USB flash dri ve handy wi th the correct RAID dri vers
pri or to starti ng the Wi ndows 7 i nstal lati on procedure. Then duri ng Wi ndows i nstal lati on, on the screen
where you sel ect whi ch drive to i nstal l Wi ndows onto, i f your RAID dri ves are not shown as a si ngl e l ogi cal
dri ve wi th the correct si ze and vol ume name, you wi l l need to cl i ck the 'Load dri ver' li nk, insert a di sc or
connect a devi ce wi th the appropri ate SATA/RAID dri ver, l oad up the rel evant dri vers, then cl i ck Refresh on
the dri ve sel ecti on screen. If you mi ss thi s step, the RAID dri ves may not be correctl y detected by Wi ndows
as one large dri ve, and you wil l not be abl e to i nstal l Wi ndows on them properly or you wil l break the RAID
array and l ose the benefi ts of RAID.

Once Windows 7 i s successful ly i nstal l ed on your RAID dri ves, from that poi nt onwards there are no special
consi derati ons as such; the dri ves are treated as one large normal dri ve for all intents and purposes, though
remember that under certai n RAID confi gurati ons such as RAID 0, a si ngle faul ty dri ve can see the l oss of al l
your data on the RAID drives.

DUAL BOOT OR MULTIBOOTING
For those who want to consi der i nstal l i ng Wi ndows 7 al ongside another operati ng system on the same
machi ne, dual booti ng or mul ti booti ng al l ows thi s. A Boot Menu wi l l l et you sel ect whi ch OS to boot i nto
each ti me your PC starts up. Such a confi gurati on does not provi de any performance benefi ts, i t i s si mpl y
designed to al l ow two or more di fferent operati ng systems to resi de on the same machi ne, total l y i sol ated
from each other.

Note that Windows 7 whil e relati vel y new al ready has excel l ent compati bi li ty, parti cularly wi th software
and dri vers created for Vista, and al so i ncl udes Wi ndows XP Mode functi onali ty for runni ng older
appl i cati ons that onl y run correctl y under Wi ndows XP - see the Virtual Hard Di sk section of the Drive
Opti mi zati on chapter for detail s. As such, there i s no real reason for anyone to dual boot Wi ndows 7 wi th
Wi ndows XP or Vi sta.

The i nstructions for creating a dual boot/mul ti boot system i n Wi ndows 7 are i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e, and i n
more detai l in thi s Mul ti boot Confi gurati on arti cl e whi ch appl ies equall y to Wi ndows 7 in conjuncti on wi th
these added notes. To begi n wi th you need to have at l east two or more parti tions on a dri ve (excl udi ng the
hi dden System Reserved Parti ti on) and/or have two or more dri ves. You shoul d then boot up i nto your


86

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

exi sti ng version of Wi ndows and i nsert the Wi ndows 7 DVD and run Wi ndows setup from there. This
ensures that Wi ndows 7 wi ll see your exi sti ng Wi ndows i nstall ati on and confi gure the boot menu properl y
to gi ve you the choi ce of booti ng i nto ei ther OS - see the Boot Confi gurati on chapter. Importantl y, for
Wi ndows to correctl y i denti fy all of your dri ves prior to i nstall ati on, and correctl y confi gure the dual boot,
you may requi re appropriate SATA/RAID dri vers on a di sc or USB fl ash dri ve and i nsert them duri ng the
dri ve l isti ng stage of Wi ndows Setup.

In general I recommend havi ng Wi ndows 7 and any other OS on compl etel y separate dri ves, as thi s causes
the l east number of probl ems, parti cularl y i f you want to remove an ol der versi on of Wi ndows eventually.
Performance i s al so i mproved i f each OS resides on the fi rst pri mary parti ti on of a different dri ve - except on
SSDs where i t makes no di fference - so for opti mal performance i n Wi ndows 7, do not i nstall i t on a
secondary parti ti on of any hard dri ve. Some i mportant thi ngs to note about dual boot setups:

It i s strongly recommended that you i nstall the ol der versi on of Wi ndows fi rst (or i t must al ready exist)
before i nstal ling Wi ndows 7. It is possi bl e to i nstall Wi ndows 7 first and then install an ol der versi on of
Windows afterwards, but thi s requi res boot confi gurati on edi ti ng - see the Boot Confi gurati on chapter.
If your older versi on of Wi ndows i s the acti ve parti ti on on the fi rst boot dri ve (the dri ve or parti ti on
whi ch i s fi rst booted up by your BIOS), then i t wi l l be al tered to i nclude Wi ndows 7's boot manager fil es.
If you del ete or damage these boot fil es, or you remove the ol der OS or reformat that parti tion, then you
wi ll need to boot from the Wi ndows 7 DVD or access the System Recovery Opti ons i n another way and
run Startup Repai r to fi x Wi ndows 7's boot confi guration, otherwi se i t wi ll not bootup properly - see the
Backup & Recovery and Boot Confi gurati on chapters.
If you want to remove Windows 7 from a dual boot arrangement and return the boot record of your
earl i er versi on of Wi ndows to i ts normal state, see the Boot Configurati on chapter for detai ls.

For more detail ed i nstructi ons on how to manage dual booti ng wi th different versi ons of Wi ndows as wel l
as Li nux, see thi s Dual Booti ng Gui de.

< 32-BIT VS. 64-BIT
The fi nal choice to make is whether you i nstal l Windows 7 32-bi t (al so call ed x86) or Wi ndows 7 64-bi t (also
call ed x64). Every retai l edi ti on of Windows 7 - except for Home Basi c - comes wi th both 32-bi t and 64-bit
i nstal l DVDs, so this is a choi ce al most every Wi ndows 7 user must make, and i t is very i mportant.

The fi rst step i s to understand the di fference between 32-bi t and 64-bi t systems. On a system whi ch supports
64-bi t processi ng, a 64-bi t operati ng system al l ows the handli ng of l arger amounts of system memory more
effi ci entl y; the computer can store more data i n i ts temporary worki ng area, whi ch can potenti all y i mprove
performance under certai n scenari os, parti cul arl y when usi ng data-i ntensi ve programs. Whil e 64-bi t
computi ng is not a necessi ty yet, there i s no doubt that the move from 32-bi t to 64-bi t computi ng i s
i nevi tabl e, and adopti on of 64-bi t systems i s growi ng at a rapi d pace. For ful l detai ls of 64-bit computi ng see
thi s Wiki pedia Arti cl e and also see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

Next you must determi ne i f your PC supports 64-bit processi ng. Wi ndows 7 64-bi t onl y runs on a 64-bit
capable CPU. Fortunatel y all recent CPUs are 64-bi t, but speci fi cal l y al l Intel Penti um D, Xeon, Core 2, Core
i 5, i7, i9 and Extreme Editi on based CPUs or newer, and all AMD Turi on, Opteron, Athl on64, X2 and
Phenom or newer CPUs support 64-bi t computi ng. See the System Speci fi cations chapter for detail s of how
to determi ne your CPU's speci fi cati ons and abi li ti es. For example, usi ng CPU-Z and checki ng under the
Instructi ons secti on of the mai n CPU tab, you should see a 64-bi t related i nstructi on set such as EM64T or
AMD64 li sted i f your CPU supports 64-bi t. A qui cker way to check i s to use the free SecurAbl e uti li ty whi ch
does not requi re i nstall ati on - si mpl y downl oad and run the small fi le and you wi ll see i n the 'Maxi mum Bi t
Length' fi el d whether your CPU supports 32 or 64 bi ts.


87

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Thi rdly, i t i s strongl y recommended that you use 64-bi t Wi ndows i f you have 4GB or more of system RAM
i nstal l ed. This i s because a 32-bi t OS cannot properl y make use of 4GB or more of RAM. As such, for peopl e
wi th 4GB or more of RAM, you should al most al ways choose 64-bi t Wi ndows by defaul t. If for some reason
you sti ll choose to i nstall a 32-bi t OS on a system wi th 4GB or more of RAM, you must use the Physi cal
Address Extensi on (PAE) opti on as covered under the Boot Confi gurati on Data section of the Boot
Confi gurati on chapter.

Fourthl y, keep i n mi nd that you cannot perform an in-pl ace upgrade from 32-bi t to 64-bi t of any versi on of
Wi ndows (or vi ce versa). Thi s does not mean that you can't use the 64-bi t Upgrade edi ti on of Wi ndows 7 if
you currently have 32-bi t Wi ndows, i t means you wi ll have to do a custom (cl ean) i nstall i f you want to
upgrade an exi sti ng Wi ndows 32-bi t to Wi ndows 7 64-bi t. Furthermore, even though you may have both a
32-bi t and 64-bi t Windows 7 DVD, you are onl y l i censed to use one versi on of Wi ndows 7 at a ti me - ei ther
32-bi t or 64-bit - not both separatel y on di fferent dri ves/parti ti ons or di fferent systems. Your product key will
work for ei ther versi on.

Fi nal ly, consider the foll owi ng poi nts:

Wi ndows 7 64-bi t requi res that al l device dri vers be desi gned speci fi cal ly for 64-bi t and that they be
di gi tall y si gned. Wi ndows 7 64-bi t cannot use 32-bi t dri vers, and can only use unsigned drivers wi th a
tedi ous workaround at each bootup (pressi ng F8 at each startup and sel ecti ng 'Di sabl e Dri ver Si gnature
Enforcement'). For most recent and popular hardware thi s shoul dn't be a probl em, as your manufacturer
wi ll usuall y have a si gned 64-bi t dri ver availabl e. However some ol der or less popular hardware may
never recei ve 64-bi t dri vers and/or si gned dri vers. Check your hardware manufacturer's websi te to
ensure that an appropriate si gned 64-bi t Wi ndows 7 or Vi sta dri ver is avail abl e for all of your major
hardware components - see the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for more detai ls.
Wi ndows 7 64-bi t does not support 16-bi t programs, so i f you use very ol d 16-bi t programs thi s is worth
noti ng.
Wi ndows 7 64-bi t can use al most all 32-bi t programs, usuall y wi th no probl ems or performance
degradati on, nor any need to customize anythi ng. A few 32-bi t programs may experi ence compati bi li ty
i ssues or have i mpai red functi onali ty under Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, or requi re speci fic customi zati on, but this
i s rare and rapi dl y becoming a non-i ssue.
The 64-bi t versi on of a program may provi de i mproved performance under Windows 64-bi t compared
to i ts 32-bi t counterpart.
Wi ndows 7 64-bi t has added securi ty - see the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s.

In general , i t i s recommended that anyone wi th a modern PC choose Wi ndows 7 64-bi t. Unl ess you have
speci fi c hardware for which appropriate 64-bi t dri vers are not avail able, or you use programs whi ch you
know are not supported under 64-bi t, the choi ce of 64-bi t Windows i s opti mal. In fact i f you have 4GB of
RAM or more, there i s no reason to use Wi ndows 7 32-bi t, si nce doi ng so wi ll resul t i n much of the memory
effecti vel y bei ng wasted. The l evel of support for 64-bi t Wi ndows has grown dramati cally i n the past few
years, and thi s i s pri maril y because of the fact that 64-bi t computing i s a l ogi cal and i nevi tabl e evol uti on of
32-bi t computi ng, and must occur as programs become i ncreasi ngl y more compl ex and data-i ntensive,
especiall y games. Rapid adopti on of 64-bi t Wi ndows starti ng wi th Wi ndows Vista has ensured that dri ver
and program support is now excell ent.

If you choose to i nstall Windows 7 64-bi t, there wi ll be few i f any noti ceabl e differences between i t and the
32-bi t version on the surface. Most of the di fferences are not obvi ous to users; the most promi nent
di fferences users wi ll noti ce are:

In Wi ndows Expl orer you wil l see both the \Program Files di rectory and a new \Program Files (x86)
di rectory. The mai n Program Fil es directory i s for nati ve 64-bi t programs, whil e the (x86) versi on of the
di rectory i s for 32-bi t programs - Wi ndows 7 wi ll usuall y determi ne whi ch di rectory to i nstal l a program


88

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

i n automati cal l y. In fact i t makes no practi cal difference whi ch di rectory a program is i nstall ed to, i t wil l
work regardless, so i f gi ven the choi ce, and you're not cl ear on whether a program i s a nati ve 64-bi t
appl i cati on, si mpl y choose the \Program Files (x86) di rectory.
In Wi ndows Expl orer you wi l l see a \Windows\SysWOW64 directory under the \Windows di rectory.
WOW64 stands for Wi ndows 32-bi t on Wi ndows 64-bi t, and i t handl es the emul ati on of a 32-bi t
envi ronment for non-64-bi t appli cati ons. You do not need to manual l y i nstall anythi ng i n thi s di rectory
nor do anything for thi s emulati on to functi on correctl y.
If you use the Wi ndows Regi stry Edi tor, you wil l see an opti on to create QWORD ( 64- bi t ) keys. In
practi ce i t is not necessary to use thi s feature unless speci fi cal ly i nstructed to.
In the Wi ndows Control Panel you wi ll see that certai n i tems have the (32-bi t) suffi x. Thi s has no
practi cal i mpact on the functi onali ty of these i tems.

For all i ntents and purposes 64-bi t Wi ndows 7 l ooks and feels preci sel y the same as 32-bi t Wi ndows 7, so
you shoul d not be concerned about any major changes i n functi onal i ty or usabi lity i f you are swi tchi ng to 64-
bi t Windows for the fi rst ti me. The most i mportant changes are under the hood, and provide the potenti al
for greater performance, securi ty and stabi l i ty. Onl y very ol d or l ow-end systems shoul d use Wi ndows 7 32-
bi t.

< INSTALLING WINDOWS
At thi s poi nt you shoul d have made the appropriate choi ces to be ready to begi n the actual i nstall ation
process for Wi ndows 7. Thi s secti on detail s the procedures requi red to i nstal l Wi ndows, but i t assumes you
have read the rest of thi s chapter, as wel l as the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter. If you haven't done
so yet, pl ease put some ti me asi de to research and make the necessary changes pri or to i nstal li ng Wi ndows 7
- there's no poi nt rushi ng the i nstal lati on of Windows onl y to have to go through i t agai n because you
overl ooked somethi ng or made the wrong choi ce.

The i nstall ation opti ons are covered briefl y i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cle, and i n more detai l step by step bel ow,
noti ng the vari ous opti ons avai labl e and i ncludi ng any recommendati ons:

STEP 1 - LAUNCH THE INSTALLER
There are two mai n ways to commence Wi ndows 7 install ation dependi ng on the type of i nstal l you want -
an Upgrade Install or a Custom (Cl ean) Install . The di fferences between these two are di scussed i n detai l
earl i er i n thi s chapter. Dependi ng on whi ch you've chosen, foll ow the i nstructi ons bel ow:

Upgrade Install or Dual Boot

An Upgrade Install or Dual Boot i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7 requi res that you fi rst boot up i nto your existi ng
versi on of Wi ndows and then i nsert your Wi ndows 7 DVD. Thi s shoul d automati cal ly begi n the Setup
appl i cati on, however if i t doesn't, open Windows Expl orer, go to the Wi ndows 7 DVD and launch the
setup.exe fil e on i t. Setti ng up from wi thin a vali d exi sti ng versi on of Wi ndows i s necessary for Wi ndows 7 to:

Correctl y i denti fy your eligi bil i ty for usi ng an Upgrade edi ti on of Wi ndows 7.
Determi ne i f you can perform an i n-pl ace upgrade from thi s versi on of Windows.
Identi fy your exi sti ng versi on of Wi ndows and set up the correct boot fi l es for Wi ndows 7 if you want to
create a dual boot.

You can do a Custom (clean) Install of Wi ndows 7 usi ng an Upgrade edi ti on, i ncl udi ng the abi li ty to
reformat and reparti ti on the dri ve if you wi sh. All you need to do i s boot up and l aunch the Wi ndows 7
i nstal lati on process from wi thi n an existi ng qual ifying i nstal l of Wi ndows, and then sel ect the Custom Install
opti on to do a cl ean i nstall.


89

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

However i t is al so possi ble to do a Custom (cl ean) Install of Windows 7 wi thout booti ng up i nto another
versi on of Windows fi rst. Thi s i s parti cularly useful i f you wan to parti ti on and format your dri ve outsi de of
Windows Setup. The detail s are provi ded here and i nvol ve si mpl y booti ng up from the Wi ndows 7 Upgrade
DVD, and sel ecti ng the Custom (cl ean) Install option duri ng i nstall ation. Once i nstal l ed, you can try to
Acti vate as normal. If thi s fai ls, you can then try the fol l owi ng method to Acti vate:

1. Open Regi stry Edi tor and go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Set up\ OOBE]

Medi aBoot I nst al l =0

Change the value of the DWORD above from 1 to 0.

2. Open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and type the foll owi ng then press Enter:

sl mgr / r ear m

3. Reboot your system and you shoul d now be abl e to enter your product key and acti vate normall y via
Wi ndows Acti vati on.

If thi s method doesn't work, i nsert the Wi ndows 7 Upgrade DVD, l aunch Windows Setup from wi thi n thi s
new i nstall of Wi ndows 7, rei nstall Wi ndows 7 by choosi ng the Upgrade opti on thi s ti me duri ng i nstallati on,
and once rei nstall ed, Acti vate Wi ndows 7 as normal . Thi s i s effectivel y the same as a cl ean i nstal l.

Bear i n mi nd that these workaround methods for i nstall i ng an Upgrade edi ti on on a bl ank or newl y
parti ti oned and/or formatted dri ve are onl y l egal i f you actuall y own a quali fying val id ful l previ ous versi on
of Wi ndows, though at no poi nt does Wi ndows 7 check to confi rm thi s.

Custom Install

A Custom or Cl ean Install of Wi ndows 7 wil l erase any data on the target dri ve/parti ti on - i t wi ll not transfer
any existi ng fi l es or setti ngs on that dri ve. Make sure you have backed up any data on the drive whi ch you
wi sh to keep. To start a Custom Install , go i nto your BIOS and set your DVD dri ve as the fi rst boot devi ce,
and make sure al l your drives are correctl y connected, confi gured and detected i n the BIOS. Then i nsert your
Wi ndows 7 DVD and reboot your system, pressi ng any key when prompted on the screen to boot up vi a the
DVD dri ve.

STEP 2 - INSTALL NOW
On the fi rst Wi ndows 7 Install ation screen, if you booted from the Wi ndows 7 DVD you wi ll be asked to
sel ect your Language, Ti me & Currency Format and Keyboard method. Set these correctly and cli ck Next.

Once you've done thi s, or if you started Wi ndows 7 install ation from wi thi n an exi sti ng versi on of Wi ndows,
the screen you wil l now see shoul d have a large 'Install Now' button. Cl i ck thi s i f you want to start
i nstal lati on of Wi ndows 7.

Repair your Computer: Thi s functi onal ity i s covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter and i s onl y
necessary if you are troubleshooti ng a probl em.

If launchi ng Wi ndows 7 install ation from wi thi n an exi sti ng versi on of Wi ndows, you wi l l al so see the
foll owi ng opti on:


90

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Check Compatibility Online: If you aren't certai n of your hardware compati bi li ty wi th Wi ndows 7 then cl ick
the 'Check compati bi li ty onl i ne' button and you wi ll be taken through the Wi ndows 7 Upgrade Advi sor,
whi ch is covered earli er i n thi s chapter.

STEP 3 - GET IMPORTANT UPDATES FOR INSTALLATION
You wi ll be prompted to check for i mportant updates pri or to install ation. These i ncl ude securi ty updates
and any necessary dri ver updates. If you can connect to the Internet, i t i s recommended that you do so and
sel ect the fi rst opti on to get the l atest updates now, as i t wi ll make Wi ndows 7 install ation much si mpl er and
more secure. However i f you don't have an Internet connecti on or wi sh to ski p thi s step, i t i s not cri ti cal and
can be done later via Wi ndows Update.

At the next screen you wil l see the End User Li cense Agreement (EULA) - read thi s and tick the 'I accept
l i cense terms' box i f you wi sh to conti nue i nstall i ng Wi ndows 7, then cl i ck Next. To downl oad a full copy of
thi s li cense and read i t at your l ei sure, and to understand the key practi cal aspects of the li cense see the
Wi ndows Acti vati on chapter - you may wi sh to read that chapter now before you agree to the l i cense.

STEP 4 - SELECT UPGRADE OR CUSTOM (ADVANCED) INSTALL
At thi s poi nt, you wi ll get the choi ce to do an Upgrade i nstal l or a Custom (Advanced) i nstal l whi ch
translates to a clean i nstallati on. The Upgrade i nstallati on opti on shoul d onl y be chosen i f you want to do an
i n-place upgrade i nstal l; i t has nothi ng to do wi th whether you are usi ng an Upgrade Edi ti on of Wi ndows 7
or not. Otherwi se select the Custom (Advanced) i nstall opti on to begi n a cl ean i nstal lati on.

If the Upgrade i nstal l opti on i s avai labl e and you choose i t, your system wil l be scanned and you wil l be
presented with a Compatibi l i ty Report i ndi cati ng whi ch of your currentl y i nstall ed programs and dri vers
may be problemati c under Wi ndows 7, as wel l as any other i ssues whi ch need to be resol ved before you can
successfull y conti nue wi th Windows 7 i nstal lati on. You can stop i nstal lati on at thi s point wi thout any
probl ems or changes to your exi sti ng Wi ndows i nstall if you feel there are too many i ssues identi fi ed. If you
choose to proceed wi th the Upgrade i nstal lati on, ski p to Step 6 bel ow, since by necessi ty the target
dri ve/parti ti on automati call y has to be the one on whi ch your current i nstal l of Wi ndows is si tti ng.

Agai n, I general l y recommend agai nst an Upgrade i nstal lati on unl ess you are a relati vely new Wi ndows
user, or you are absol utely certai n you do not have the ti me to rei nstal l and reconfigure Wi ndows 7 from
scratch.

STEP 5 - WHERE DO YOU WANT TO INSTALL WINDOWS
Thi s screen all ows you to choose the l ogi cal dri ve where Wi ndows 7 wil l be i nstall ed. You shoul d see a l ist of
all the detected dri ve(s) currentl y connected to your system. They are di splayed i n the format: [Disk #]
[Partition #] [volumename] [driveletter]. If the dri ve(s) are not correctl y identi fi ed, or are
unparti ti oned/unformatted, then you wi l l see something l i ke Disk 0 Unallocated Space under the dri ve Name.
Al so check the Total Size and Free Space columns to make sure the si ze is correctl y i denti fied. Remember
though that adverti sed drive space i s different to the way Wi ndows displays i t due to a di screpancy between
Gi gabytes (GB) and Gi bi bytes (Gi B) - see the Bytes and Bi ts secti on of the Basi c PC Termi nology chapter for
more detai ls.

Load Drivers: If mul ti pl e dri ves i n RAID formati on are not displayi ng as a singl e dri ve, or any dri ves are
showi ng i ncorrect si zes, or formatted and parti ti oned dri ves are showi ng up as unformatted and/or
unparti ti oned, then your dri ve(s) are not bei ng correctl y detected. You wi ll need to cl i ck the 'Load dri ver'
l i nk at the bottom of thi s box, and then insert or attach an appropri ate di sc or dri ve contai ni ng the necessary
dri vers (e.g. RAID dri vers) and l oad all the rel evant control l er drivers needed. Once done, cli ck the Refresh
l i nk at the bottom of the screen and your dri ves shoul d now be di splayed correctl y. If they sti ll aren't then
you may have to abort i nstal lati on (cl i ck the red X button at the top ri ght of the box) and either downl oad


91

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

appropriate dri vers from your motherboard manufacturer's websi te and/or check your BIOS to see i f the
dri ves are detected and confi gured correctl y there. The bottom l i ne i s that if Wi ndows 7 does not detect your
dri ves properl y at this stage you wil l ei ther be unabl e to i nstall Windows, or the i nstal lati on wi ll not work as
i ntended especi al ly i f you are attempti ng to use a dual boot or RAID configurati on.

Format, New, Delete, Extend: If you booted up wi th the Wi ndows 7 DVD to do a Custom i nstal l , you wil l also
see these addi ti onal options here; if you started the setup from wi thi n Windows you wi ll not see these
opti ons. Format all ows you to (re)format the sel ected dri ve. This i s recommended for any dri ve wi th exi sti ng
data. A full format usi ng the NTFS fil e system is strongl y recommended for ensuri ng opti mal compati bil i ty,
performance and data i ntegri ty. You can also use the New, Delete, and Extend opti ons to (re)parti ti on a
dri ve i f you wi sh, whi ch i s necessary for a new drive. See the Prepari ng the Dri ve secti on earli er i n this
chapter for ful l detai l s of important consi derati ons i n relati on to formatti ng and parti ti oni ng.

System Reserved Partition: Importantl y, if i nstal li ng Wi ndows on a bl ank new dri ve, or if you manuall y delete
all the parti tions on an existi ng dri ve and reparti ti on i t wi thi n Windows setup, Windows wi l l i nform you
that 'To ensure that all Windows features work correctl y, Wi ndows mi ght create addi ti onal parti ti ons for
system fi les'. Thi s prompt i ndi cates the automati c creati on of an addi ti onal 100MB System Reserved
Parti ti on, a hi dden parti tion wi th no dri ve l etter, created specifi call y for the Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on
feature to hol d unencrypted boot fi l es and al so stores the System Recovery Opti ons. There i s no harm i n
l etti ng thi s parti ti on be created, however i f you don't wi sh to have mul ti ple parti ti ons on your system dri ve,
and you are certai n you wi ll not use the Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on feature, then i t is best to prevent thi s
System Reserved Parti ti on from bei ng created. This wi l l pl ace the boot fi l es and Recovery Opti ons i n hi dden
fol ders i n the base di rectory of your system dri ve.

The way to prevent creati on of the System Reserved Parti ti on i s to cancel out of any prompts and exit
Wi ndows Setup. Then (re)parti ti on and (re)format the dri ve before l aunchi ng Wi ndows Setup. Wi ndows 7
wi ll not create a System Recovery Parti ti on on a dri ve wi th parti ti ons whi ch are al ready defi ned before
enteri ng Wi ndows Setup, onl y on a drive where parti ti ons are not defi ned (i .e. a new bl ank dri ve), or drives
where the user del etes al l parti ti ons and creates new parti ti on(s) duri ng Wi ndows Setup. See the Parti ti on
secti on earli er i n thi s chapter for detai ls of how to create a parti tioned and formatted dri ve i n Wi ndows 7
before entering Wi ndows Setup.

Once your dri ve(s) are parti ti oned and formatted the way you want them and are detected correctly,
hi ghli ght the rel evant l ogi cal dri ve to whi ch you want to i nstal l Wi ndows 7 and cl i ck the Next button. The
exi sti ng contents of the target l ogi cal dri ve wil l be lost as Wi ndows 7 i nstal ls over i t, however i f i nstall ing
Windows 7 over an exi sti ng i nstall ati on of Windows wi thout first formatti ng that parti ti on, Windows 7 wi ll
attempt to save user-related fi l es and move them i nto a \Windows.old di rectory once Wi ndows 7 i s i nstalled.
Thi s i s not a substi tute for havi ng prepared a proper backup, and i n general I strongl y recommend that you
format a partiti on first before i nstall i ng Wi ndows 7 to prevent residue from previ ous Wi ndows i nstall s.

STEP 6 - AUTOMATED INSTALLATION
From thi s poi nt on, no user i nteracti on i s requi red for some ti me as Wi ndows 7 begi ns to copy across the
compressed image of i tsel f to your target dri ve, expands i t and confi gures the requi red features and updates.
Your PC wi ll then restart several ti mes to compl ete i nstall ation.

STEP 7 - SET UP WINDOWS
Wi ndows 7 wi ll then commence the fi nal phase of the i nstall ati on whi ch requi res your input. Note that at
thi s poi nt you can remove the Wi ndows 7 DVD from your dri ve and put i t away if you wi sh, as i nstallati on
i s now occurri ng from your pri mary system dri ve. Also remember to reset your pri mary system dri ve as the
fi rst boot devi ce i n your BIOS when your system next reboots.


92

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Wi ndows 7 wi ll run through some addi ti onal configurati on and performance checks, before arri vi ng at the
user i nput stage, each section of whi ch is covered below:

Username & Computer Name: Thi s i s an i mportant step. You wi ll be asked to enter your preferred Username
for the fi rst User Account on thi s system. Thi s fi rst user account wi ll have the Admi ni strator-l evel pri vil eges,
and i s call ed the Protected Admi ni strator account. The User Account username wi l l al so be used to l abel the
root di rectory of your personal fol der under the \Users directory, so choose somethi ng relati vel y si mple but
descri pti ve, like your fi rst name. Once you've entered a username, Wi ndows 7 wi ll automaticall y generate a
Computer Name for the system - thi s is reall y onl y used to i denti fy thi s parti cular machi ne i n a network of
computers. For most home users who don't connect to a network of other PCs, the Wi ndows 7 default of
[Username]-PC i s perfectly fi ne, otherwi se i f you do want to run thi s PC on a network then choose a
descri pti ve name. Cl i ck Next when done.

Password: Here you wil l be prompted to enter a password for the user account whose username you entered
i n the previ ous screen. If you share this PC wi th others, parti cularly if you want to have mul ti pl e User
Accounts on the one PC, or i f the PC i s physi call y accessi bl e by others you don't ful l y trust, or you si mply
want a very hi gh l evel of securi ty, then enter an appropri ate password. If these scenari os do not appl y to
you, then for conveni ence's sake I recommend not enteri ng a password - l eave the Password fiel ds blank and
cl i ck Next. You can al ways add a password to your user account later if you wi sh.

See the User Accounts chapter as well as the User Account Control secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for ful l
detail s of how User Accounts work i n Wi ndows 7.

Product Key: You wi ll be prompted to enter your Windows Product Key i n the format XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX-
XXXXX- XXXXX. Dashes are entered automati cal ly, and case i s not i mportant. Importantl y, you don't have to
enter your product key if you don't wi sh; you can cli ck Next to conti nue Wi ndows i nstal lati on wi thout i t. As
noted earl i er i n thi s chapter, unl i ke Wi ndows Vi sta, the product key i s not what Windows 7 uses to i dentify
whi ch edi ti on of Wi ndows to i nstal l - that i s determi ned by the confi gurati on data al ready hel d on your
Wi ndows 7 install ation DVD. However i t i s strongly recommended that you enter your product key now,
because i t i s best to determi ne at thi s poi nt i f your product key i s val i d for your current edi ti on of Wi ndows.
For exampl e, i f you ski p enteri ng the key now and at a later date wi thi n Wi ndows you enter a perfectl y val id
product key but one whi ch i s i ncorrect for your i nstal l ed edi ti on of Wi ndows (e.g. i f you used someone else's
Wi ndows 7 DVD) then Wi ndows wi ll not accept the key and wi ll not be abl e to acti vate, necessi tating a
rei nstall of Wi ndows 7 usi ng the correct DVD. Mi crosoft does not encourage or support the tri al use of
Wi ndows 7 by ski ppi ng entry of the product key.

Al so note that the 'Automati call y acti vate Wi ndows when I'm onl i ne' box, i f ti cked, wil l begi n Acti vation
shortl y after you have l oaded up Wi ndows 7 for the fi rst ti me and an acti ve Internet connecti on i s detected. I
recommend unti cki ng thi s opti on for the moment and manual ly acti vati ng when you are ready - see the end
of thi s chapter for the reasons, and refer to the Wi ndows Acti vati on chapter for more detai ls.

Help Protect Your Computer and Improve Windows Automatically: You wil l be asked how you wi sh to configure
Wi ndows 7's securi ty and onl i ne update setti ngs. Speci fi cal ly, these setti ngs rel ate to the foll owi ng features:

Wi ndows Update - Automati c securi ty updates and dri ver updates downl oading and i nstall ati on. See
the Dri ver Instal lati on section of the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for detai ls.
Detai led Devi ce Information - Downl oads detai led i nformati on for any devi ces you have connected. See
the Devi ces and Pri nters secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for detai ls.
Wi ndows Defender - Enabl es full Defender anti-mal ware functionali ty. See the Wi ndows Defender
secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s.


93

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Wi ndows Probl em Reporti ng - Enables Wi ndows to report any probl ems to Mi crosoft for better
i dentifi cati on of potenti al sol uti ons. See the Wi ndows Acti on Center secti on of the Performance
Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for detai ls.
Wi ndows Customer Experi ence Improvement Program - Thi s program coll ects informati on whi ch is not
personal ly i denti fiabl e about your hardware and the way i n whi ch you use Wi ndows. It sends thi s
i nformati on to Mi crosoft to all ow i mprovement of Wi ndows functi onali ty as detail ed i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e. You can al ter thi s setti ng at any ti me i n Acti on Center - go to Start>Search Box, type Action
Center, press Enter and in the l eft pane cl i ck the 'Change Action Center setti ngs' li nk, then cl i ck the
'Customer Experi ence Improvement Program setti ngs' li nk at the bottom of the box whi ch opens.
Wi ndows Onl i ne Hel p & Support - Al lows the Wi ndows Hel p feature to downl oad newer content for
Hel p & Support functi onali ty. You can al ter thi s setting at any ti me by openi ng Hel p & Support - press
F1 whi l e on the Wi ndows Desktop, or go to Start>Search Box, type Help and Support and press Enter. In
the Hel p and Support box, cl i ck the Opti ons button at the top l eft and sel ect Setti ngs, then ti ck or unti ck
the 'Improve my search resul ts by usi ng onl i ne Hel p' box.
Wi ndows Hel p Experience Improvement Program - Thi s program col l ects any words or phrases you
enter i nto the Hel p and Support feature and sends i t to Mi crosoft to al l ow MS to i mprove the Hel p
functi onali ty. You can al ter thi s setti ng at any ti me by openi ng Hel p & Support - press F1 whi l e on the
Wi ndows Desktop, or go to Start>Search Box, type Help and Support and press Enter. In the Hel p and
Support box, cl i ck the Options button at the top l eft and sel ect Setti ngs, then ti ck or unti ck the 'Joi n the
Hel p Experi ence Improvement program' box.

If you sel ect 'Use recommended setti ngs', all of the above features wi ll automaticall y be enabled. If you select
'Install i mportant updates onl y' then only the Wi ndows Update-rel ated setti ngs wi ll be enabled. If you select
'Ask me later' then none of these features wil l enabl ed unless you choose to al ter them manuall y i n
Wi ndows. If you have privacy concerns see this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. I recommend the 'Ask me l ater' opti on, as
we wil l be modi fyi ng al l of the rel evant opti ons above later i n the book anyway.

Review Your Time and Date Settings: Set your correct ti me zone, ti me and date, and al so I recommend ti cking
the 'Automaticall y adjust clock for Daylight Savi ng Time' box.

Select Your Computer's Current Location: Thi s screen asks you to set your l ocation for networki ng/Internet
connecti vi ty purposes. The opti ons are Home network, Work network or Publi c network. Ironi cal ly, for the
average standal one home PC connected to the Internet the best choi ce i s actually 'Publ i c Locati on' not Home,
as thi s al l ows you to connect to the Internet wi th full functi onali ty but mai ntai ns ti ghter securi ty. The other
opti ons are onl y rel evant i f you are actuall y connected to a network of other computers (excludi ng the
Internet), such a col l ecti on of networked PCs i n your home, or when connected to your empl oyer's network.
See the Network & Shari ng Center section of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for more detail s.

STEP 8 - WINDOWS STARTUP
Wi ndows 7 then l aunches i nto i ts fi nal setup phase, whi ch may take a whi l e - you wi ll see the prompt
'Prepari ng your desktop' and you wi ll eventuall y reach the Wi ndows 7 Desktop. From thi s poi nt onward
Windows i nstal lati on i s compl ete and you can begi n usi ng Wi ndows 7 as normal, conti nui ng wi th the rest of
thi s book.

A few thi ngs to keep i n mind i mmedi atel y after i nstal l i ng Wi ndows:

Make sure to remove the Wi ndows 7 DVD and/or any removabl e devi ces i f you haven't al ready before
rebooti ng Windows.
Make sure to go i nto your BIOS and reset your mai n system dri ve as the fi rst boot devi ce i f you had set
your DVD dri ve or a removabl e devi ce as the fi rst boot devi ce for Wi ndows i nstal lati on purposes.
Li mi t any general Internet browsi ng or other onl i ne acti vi ti es unti l after you've compl eted the PC
Securi ty chapter.


94

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

I
n
s
t
a
l
l
a
t
i
o
n

Don't Acti vate your Wi ndows strai ght away i f possi bl e. If you pl an on maki ng any major physi cal
changes to the hardware confi gurati on of your PC, or if you wi ll be experi menti ng heavil y, or i f you
si mpl y aren't sure i f your system is functi oni ng properl y and/or i f you are pl anni ng on rei nstall i ng
Wi ndows agai n wi thi n the next 30 days then wai t unti l you've bedded down your configurati on before
acti vati ng. Thi s i s because mul ti pl e acti vations wi thi n a short peri od of ti me may be vi ewed as
suspi ci ous by Mi crosoft. See the Wi ndows Acti vati on chapter for detail s.

At thi s poi nt, you can conti nue readi ng thi s book sequenti al ly, or you can ski p to any chapter whi ch takes
your fancy. However I strongl y recommend readi ng the Wi ndows Expl orer, Wi ndows Drivers, PC Securi ty
and Graphi cs & Sound chapters as soon as possi bl e to cover the key functi onali ty, stabi li ty and securi ty-
related topi cs.


95

B
o
o
t

C
o
n
f
i
g
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

BOOT CONFIGURATION

Wi ndows 7 and Wi ndows Vi sta have a substantiall y di fferent boot confi gurati on than earli er versi ons of
Windows. Instead of using a si mpl e Boot.ini fi l e as i n Windows XP, Windows 7 has a special Boot
Confi gurati on Data (BCD) database to hol d all the rel evant bootup parameters, and to al l ow compati bili ty
wi th newer bootup methods. However thi s al so makes boot confi gurati on and edi ti ng much tri cki er.

For the most part, edi ti ng boot confi gurati on i s for more advanced users. You shoul d not need to edi t or alter
the Wi ndows 7 boot confi gurati on unl ess you're troubl eshooti ng a more compl i cated bootup-related
probl em, attempti ng to use 4GB or more of system RAM on 32-bi t Wi ndows, or modifyi ng or repairi ng a
mul ti boot setup. For basic boot-rel ated probl ems, the automated Startup Repai r uti li ty in the System
Recovery Opti ons is recommended, as covered under the Wi ndows System Recovery Opti ons secti on of the
Backup & Recovery chapter.

< BOOT FILES
The Wi ndows 7 boot configurati on are hel d i n a hidden \Boot folder, and the bootmgr and BOOTSECT.BAK
fi les, al l required for starti ng up Wi ndows. If your dri ve has a smal l 100MB System Reserved Parti ti on whi ch
was created when i nstal ling Wi ndows 7, then these fi les wi ll be located there. Thi s is part of the requi rement
for Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on, si nce the boot fi les cannot be encrypted i f they are to be read properly at
startup, so they must be stored as unencrypted fil es i n a separate parti ti on. Thi s parti tion i s hi dden by
defaul t and i s not assi gned a dri ve l etter, however you can prevent i ts creati on - see the Instal li ng Wi ndows
secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter for more detai ls.

You can vi ew the presence or otherwise of thi s System Reserved Parti ti on on your dri ve by goi ng to the
Wi ndows Control Panel, openi ng the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component, l aunchi ng the Computer
Management tool and cli cki ng the 'Di sk Management' i tem i n the l eft pane. It wi ll be shown as a separate
100MB System Reserved parti ti on wi th no dri ve l etter.

If you don't use Bi tLocker, and have successful ly prevented thi s parti ti on from bei ng created duri ng
i nstal lati on, then the boot fi les and fol der wil l be l ocated i n the base directory on the pri mary parti ti on of
your system dri ve, whi ch i s recommended. However if the System Reserved Parti ti on has al ready been
created on your dri ve, then you shoul d not attempt to remove i t, as thi s can render your system unbootable,
and wi ll then requi re you to use the Startup Repai r method to fi x your boot confi gurati on.

< BOOT CONFIGURATION DATA
There are several ways you can vi ew and modify your Wi ndows 7 boot confi gurati on data, and each i s
covered i n more detai l below.

BCDEDIT
BCDEdi t i s a bui l t-i n command l i ne tool for al teri ng the boot confi gurati on i n Wi ndows 7. To use i t, open an
Admi nistrator Command Prompt and type bcdedi t / ? for a ful l l i st of commands, or refer to thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e for a command li st. One exampl e of usi ng BCDEdi t is provi ded bel ow, as i t al so assi sts i n fi xing
common boot probl ems.

If you fi nd that your Windows 7 boot screen has changed to a Wi ndows Vista boot animati on, due to a
probl em wi th the boot l oader, then you can fi x i t usi ng a si mple BCDEdi t command as fol l ows:


96

B
o
o
t

C
o
n
f
i
g
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

2. Enter the fol lowi ng and press Enter:

bcdedi t / set {cur r ent } l ocal e en- US

3. Note that if your l ocal e i s di fferent from Engli sh US, then enter i t i n place of en- US above.

Gi ven i t i s a compl ex tool to use, BCDEdi t cannot be covered i n detai l here. I strongl y suggest usi ng the
EasyBCD tool bel ow to edit your boot confi gurati on instead, at l east to start wi th, and onl y turn to BCDEdi t
i f you have no other opti ons, and only after appropri ate research, as i t i s very ri sky to edi t your boot
confi gurati on wi thout proper knowledge.

STARTUP AND RECOVERY
The easi est method to al ter your basi c Wi ndows bootup-related opti ons i s to go to open the System
component of Wi ndows Control Panel, cl i ck the 'Advanced system setti ngs' link, or go to Start>Search Box,
type systempropertiesadvanced and press Enter. Then cl i ck the Setti ngs button under the 'Startup and
Recovery' secti on of the Advanced tab.

In the Startup and Recovery wi ndow, under System Startup i f you want a Boot Menu to be shown when
your PC fi rst l oads wi th a l i st of al l i nstal l ed Operati ng Systems, ti ck the 'Ti me to di spl ay li st of operating
systems' box and i n the box next to i t choose how many seconds you want the Boot Menu to remai n on
screen before i t automati cal l y l oads up the defaul t OS. If you onl y have a si ngle operati ng system l i sted (i.e.
Wi ndows 7), then thi s boot menu has no i mpact, so unti ck the box.

The 'Ti me to di splay recovery opti ons when needed' box shoul d be ti cked. Enter a reasonabl e amount of
ti me, such as 15 or 30 seconds. The Recovery Opti ons menu wil l onl y appear i f you run i nto probl ems wi th
Wi ndows, and i ts features are covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter.

For detai ls about the System Fail ure setti ngs, see the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the Memory
Opti mi zati on chapter.

MSCONFIG
A relati vel y strai ghtforward way to al ter the boot confi gurati on i s to use the Mi crosoft System Confi gurati on
uti li ty (MSConfi g). Go to Start>Search Box, type msconfig then press Enter. Go to the Boot tab of MSConfig
and you wi ll see under the 'Boot Options' secti on there are several opti ons for al teri ng the way your PC
boots up. These are pri maril y used for troubl eshooti ng purposes. Hi ghli ght the i nstal l of Wi ndows 7 you
wi sh to al ter, then you can sel ect one of these opti ons to appl y to i t:

Safe Boot: If sel ected, the next boot wi l l be i nto Safe Mode, as detail ed under the System Recovery secti on of
the Backup & Recovery chapter. Defaul t Safe Mode i s call ed Mi ni mal ; 'Al ternate Shell ' i s Safe Mode wi th
Command Prompt i nstead of GUI; 'Acti ve Di rectory repair' is Safe Mode wi th GUI and Acti ve Di rectory;
Network i s Safe Mode wi th GUI and Networki ng features enabl ed.

No GUI boot: Removes the defaul t Windows 7 animated Wi ndows l ogo startup screen when booti ng up,
repl aces i t with a bl ack screen until you reach the Wi ndows wel come screen. See further bel ow for more
detail s of customi zi ng the Wi ndows boot and l ogi n screens.

Boot log: Records all the dri vers whi ch Wi ndows di d or di d not successful ly l oad up duri ng bootup and
saves i t i n a logfil e stored under your \Windows di rectory as ntbtlog.txt.


97

B
o
o
t

C
o
n
f
i
g
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

Base video: Boots up Wi ndows usi ng the defaul t Windows graphi cs dri ver rather than the speci fi c graphi cs
dri ver for your graphi cs hardware. Useful i f a recent graphi cs dri ver i nstal lati on i s preventi ng you from
booti ng up.

OS boot information: Shows the names of all the dri vers on screen as they're bei ng l oaded during bootup.

The Ti meout value i n the box on the ri ght is the same as the 'Time to di spl ay a li st of operati ng systems'
setti ng covered under 'Startup and Recovery' further above - i t control s how l ong the boot menu for
operati ng system sel ecti on i s shown and hence is irrelevant i f you onl y have one operati ng system i nstal l ed.

If you cli ck the 'Advanced Opti ons' button you wil l see more advanced bootup opti ons for troubl eshooti ng:

Number of processors: If you have a mul ti-core CPU, ticki ng thi s opti on all ows you to manual ly force some or
onl y one of the processors (cores) on the CPU be detected and used by Wi ndows duri ng bootup. However,
thi s i s not a performance opti on, i t i s onl y rel ated to troubl eshooti ng by arti fi ciall y li mi ti ng the number of
cores on your CPU bei ng used to determi ne if there is a faul t wi th one of them. The defaul t setti ng of havi ng
thi s box unti cked i s opti mal and resul ts in the best bootup ti me.

Maximum Memory: Al l ows you to manual l y force Wi ndows to onl y use a certai n amount of RAM on your
system, up to and i ncludi ng your ful l physi cal RAM amount, for troubl eshooting purposes. Amount entered
i s i n Ki l obytes (KB).

PCI Lock: Stops Wi ndows from dynamicall y assigni ng system resources to PCI devi ces. The devi ces wil l use
the BIOS confi gurati on i nstead. Of no practi cal use to most users.

Debug: Starts Wi ndows i n debuggi ng mode. Ti cki ng thi s opti on ungrays a range of addi ti onal opti ons as to
where to wri te the debug output. Agai n, of no practi cal use to most users.

Once done sel ecti ng whi ch bootup opti ons you wish to appl y to the boot confi gurati on, cl i ck the Apply
button i n the MSConfi g Boot tab and these opti on(s) wi ll come i nto effect on next boot. Shoul d you wi sh to
appl y any permanentl y, you can ti ck the 'Make all boot setti ngs permanent' box. If you wish to undo these
changes at any ti me, the qui ckest way i s to go to the General tab under MSConfi g and select the 'Normal
startup' opti on.

Use MSConfig onl y to test a boot opti on, or for troubl eshooti ng purposes. Use BCDEdi t bel ow to make any
desi red changes to the boot confi gurati on permanent.

EASYBCD
There i s a tool you can use to make changes to your boot configurati on i n a much more user-fri endly
manner. The most up-to-date free uti li ty for edi ti ng the Wi ndows 7 boot configurati on i s EasyBCD, though
note that at the ti me of thi s wri ti ng you must regi ster on the NeoSmart forums to downl oad the beta versi on
of EasyBCD 2.0 whi ch works properly i n Wi ndows 7. The other popul ar BCD edi ti ng uti li ty VistaBootPro
sti ll works i n Wi ndows 7, however i t i s not free. There i s an older free versi on you can use whi ch appears to
work wi th Wi ndows 7, but i t may be probl emati c.

I recommend before you do anythi ng else i n EasyBCD that you backup your exi sti ng Bootloader setti ngs so
they can be easi ly restored if requi red. Cl i ck the 'Manage Bootl oader' button and under the 'Backup and
Restore Bootloader Setti ngs' secti on, select a desti nati on di rectory and cli ck the 'Backup Setti ngs' button to
create the backup .BCD fi l e. If your system i s currentl y probl em-free then I al so strongl y recommend
creati ng a full backup of your system, as detail ed i n the Backup & Recovery chapter, before conti nui ng wi th
the use of EasyBCD or any other BCD edi ti ng uti li ty.


98

B
o
o
t

C
o
n
f
i
g
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

EasyBCD has a range of functi ons, but we'l l cover onl y the major ones here. On the mai n 'Vi ew Settings'
screen you can see a summary of the data hel d i n the BCD. You can vi ew thi s i n si mpl e (Overvi ew) mode, or
i f you prefer the raw data, sel ect the Detail ed opti on. The i nformation here i s useful for troubleshooti ng, and
also gi ves you an idea of the ki nd of data held i n the BCD.

If you want to al ter these entri es, cl i ck the 'Change Setti ngs' button. Here you can set the Defaul t OS and the
ti meout, though these are best al tered usi ng the normal Wi ndows Startup and Recovery opti ons as covered
earl i er i n thi s chapter. Of use for mul tibooters, you can rename the OS entri es whi ch show up i n the Boot
Menu. To hel p prevent confusi on and make thi ngs neater, cli ck on each OS l i sted and ti ck the 'Rename
sel ected operati ng system' checkbox - new opti ons wi ll appear al l owi ng you to provi de a new name and also
change the dri ve l etter i f necessary. When done, cl ick the 'Save Setti ngs' opti on i n each secti on to save your
changes.

The 'Add/Remove Entri es' button takes you to a screen where you can add or remove other operating
systems as part of a mul ti boot system. You can even boot up i nto newl y supported Wi ndows 7 Virtual Hard
Di sk (VHD) images here, speci fi ed under the Virtual Di sk tab. The l i sti ng also al l ows you to rearrange the
order i n whi ch the OS entries are presented if you wi sh.

The 'Advanced Opti ons' incl ude vari ous advanced features whi ch the MSConfi g uti li ty and other Wi ndows
uti li ti es can accompl i sh. Most of these features are descri bed elsewhere i n thi s book and i n general shoul d be
al tered usi ng the rel evant Wi ndows setti ngs. The speci fi c features whi ch you can and should use EasyBCD
to more easily al ter are:

DEP/NoExecute: Data Executi on Preventi on (DEP) is covered i n the Data Execution Preventi on secti on of the
PC Securi ty chapter. You can al ter i ts basi c setti ngs wi thi n Windows, however the full range of opti ons i s
provi ded here:

OptIn - The same as the Wi ndows 'Turn on DEP for essential Wi ndows programs and servi ces onl y' DEP
setti ng.
OptOut - The same as the Wi ndows 'Turn on DEP for all programs and servi ces except those I sel ect'
DEP setti ng.
Al waysOn - Forces DEP to be enabled wi thout any excepti ons.
Al waysOff - Compl etel y di sabl es DEP, agai n wi thout any exceptions.

PAE Support: Thi s opti on provi des control over Physical Address Extensi on (PAE) i n Windows. Thi s i s onl y
necessary for correct memory detecti on and usage i f you have 4GB or more of RAM i n the 32-bi t versi on of
Wi ndows 7, in whi ch case you can Force Enabl e i t here. Note that thi s does not si mul ate the benefi ts of a 64-
bi t envi ronment - see the 32-bi t vs. 64-bi t secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter for detail s of the
di fference between the two archi tectures.

Under the 'Manage Bootl oader' secti on of EasyBCD, asi de from creati ng a backup of your setti ngs as covered
earl i er, you can also rei nstall or uni nstal l the bootl oader. Thi s all ows you to repai r any probl ems caused by
uni nstall i ng or formatti ng an OS i n a mul ti boot confi gurati on, or due to some other form of probl em. Sel ect
the rel evant opti on and cli ck 'Wri te MBR' to complete the change. You can also use the 'Diagnosti cs Center'
for further troubl eshooti ng assi stance as a last resort.

EasyBCD is a very useful tool for easy BCD edi ti ng as the name suggests, however i t al so carri es some ri sk,
so i f i n doubt do not al ter any setti ngs, and if you wi nd up seriously damagi ng your BCD or any other
Wi ndows boot fil es, try to restore the Bootl oader backup from wi thi n EasyBCD, or al ternati vely use the
Startup Repair functi onal i ty of Wi ndows to fi x the probl em.


99

B
o
o
t

C
o
n
f
i
g
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

< CUSTOM BOOT AND LOGIN SCREENS
Thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e i ndi cates cl earl y that unli ke previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, Wi ndows 7 does not all ow
customizati on of the boot screen. Thi s i s a del i berate design deci si on i ntended to prevent any arbi trary
el ements being l oaded i nto memory at boot ti me, because thi s i s a cri ti cal peri od duri ng whi ch certai n
securi ty checks are not yet possi bl e. As such, I strongl y recommend agai nst using any tool whi ch purports to
provi de thi s functi onal i ty, as i t may cause probl ems and/or i ncrease boot ti me at best, or si mpl y mal i ci ous at
worst. At present there are no such uti li ti es whi ch can successful l y al ter the boot screen i n Wi ndows 7.

Note that i f you fi nd your boot screen has reverted back to the Vi sta boot l ogo, thi s i s due to damage to the
boot l oader - see the Boot Confi gurati on Data secti on further above for a fi x.

If you si mpl y want to repl ace the defaul t Wi ndows 7 ani mated boot screen wi th a bl ank boot screen, you can
do so usi ng the No GUI Boot opti on, avail able under the Boot tab of the MSConfi g util i ty, covered further
above.

Customi zi ng the Wi ndows Logi n Screen - which onl y appears by defaul t if you have more than one User
Account, or if your User Account has a password - i s much easi er to do. To use an automated tool to change
the background i mage on the Logi n screen use this free Logon Changer. It can use any i mage you wish for
the Logi n screen background, automaticall y resizi ng and compressi ng the i mage to meet the 245KB limi t
i mposed by Wi ndows.

< BOOTDISKS
The ori gi nal Wi ndows 7 DVD is effecti vel y a boot di sc, however you can now also create a System Repai r
Di sc for the same purpose i f you don't have an ori ginal Wi ndows 7 DVD, or simpl y as a backup. If you're
havi ng problems booti ng up i nto Wi ndows, you can then boot up usi ng one of these discs, use Startup
Repai r to automati cal ly detect and repai r any issue preventi ng proper Wi ndows startup. Detai ls of these
functi ons are covered i n the Backup & Recovery chapter.

If you want to start up your PC i n very basi c DOS mode, then bear i n mi nd that Command Prompt mode of
the Wi ndows 7 System Recovery Opti ons i s onl y appropri ate for certai n purposes. Wi ndows does not have a
pure DOS envi ronment, i t onl y provi des an emulated DOS-li ke Command Prompt i nterface. You can run a
range of DOS commands from thi s prompt, but i t i s not the same as a DOS envi ronment, whi ch some
programs requi re for correct functi onali ty.

So i f you wish to boot i nto DOS to flash a hardware component for exampl e, then you must use the
i nstructi ons and tool s provi ded at BootDi sks or the Ul ti mate Boot CD uti l i ty to create a bootabl e fl oppy or
CD. Al ternativel y, you can use the i nstructi ons provided here to make your USB flash dri ve bootabl e i nto
DOS mode, but bear i n mind that you al so need to alter your BIOS opti ons to all ow correct bootup from a
removabl e devi ce li ke a USB fl ash dri ve.

On bal ance there aren't many reasons to manual l y al ter your boot confi guration under normal
ci rcumstances, so approach the use of the tool s and methods i n thi s chapter wi th cauti on rather than any
desi re to experi ment. If you run i nto boot-related probl ems, al ways turn to the bui l t-i n Wi ndows tool s first,
parti cul arl y the automated Startup Repai r, before delvi ng i nto more compl ex boot edi ti ng.


100

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

A
c
t
i
v
a
t
i
o
n

WINDOWS ACTIVATION

To confi rm that you are runni ng a l egiti matel y purchased copy of Wi ndows 7 i n accordance wi th the terms
of the End User Li cense Agreement (EULA), Mi crosoft rel i es on Wi ndows Product Acti vati on, better known
as si mply Acti vati on, whi ch verifi es your Product Key and hardware configurati on onli ne or over the phone.
Thi s i s combined wi th Vali dati on, a process whereby your Wi ndows i s peri odi call y checked to ensure i t is
genui ne. Whi l e acti vati on and vali dation have been used i n Wi ndows XP and subsequent versi ons of
Wi ndows, these measures have been ti ghtened and i mproved i n recent years. In Wi ndows 7, Mi crosoft
bui l ds on the Mi crosoft Software Protecti on Platform first bui l t i nto Wi ndows Vista. Col lecti vel y, product
acti vation and vali dati on are now referred to as Windows Acti vati on Technol ogi es (WAT) i n Wi ndows 7,
and are very si mil ar to the protecti on methods empl oyed as of Wi ndows Vi sta Servi ce Pack 1 (SP1).

Thi s chapter looks at the practi cal aspects of how your l i cense to use Wi ndows works, al ong wi th exami ning
the way i n whi ch acti vati on and val i dati on operate i n Wi ndows 7.

< LICENSING AGREEMENT
The End User Li cense Agreement (EULA) for Wi ndows 7 contai ns the terms and condi ti ons of acceptabl e
usage. Thi s secti on attempts to provi de the most i mportant practi cal consi derati ons whi ch arise from the
standard user l i cense i n pl ai n Engl ish. Importantl y however, what fol l ow are my i nterpretati ons of the
l i cense terms based on research, but for l egal reasons thi s shoul d not be consi dered a repl acement for
actuall y reading the li cense yourself, as your l i cense terms and condi ti ons may differ for a range of reasons.

The reason you requi re a li cense for Windows 7 i s that, as wi th previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, and i ndeed
most modern software, you do not actual l y own the software outri ght. Mi crosoft gi ves you permi ssi on (a
l i cense) to use a copy of thei r software as l ong as you operate i t i n accordance wi th certai n terms and
condi ti ons, to whi ch you expl i ci tly agree duri ng the i nstal lati on of Wi ndows. The key poi nts are expl ai ned
bel ow.

OEM VS. UPGRADE VS. RETAIL EDITIONS
Whi le thei r contents do not di ffer, there are some notabl e differences between the l i cense condi ti ons for OEM
(Ori gi nal Equi pment Manufacturer) or 'System Bui l der' edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7, versus the Upgrade and
Retai l edi tions:

OEM: An OEM edi ti on of Wi ndows 7 usual l y comes pre-i nstall ed on, or accompanyi ng, a new PC or the
purchase of one or more major hardware components. The l i cense i s bound speci fi cal ly to the fi rst PC on
whi ch i t i s i nstall ed. If you substantially al ter that PC's hardware, or you attempt to rei nstall the OEM copy
on a different PC, you may fai l acti vati on si nce you have techni cal ly breached the l icensi ng condi ti ons. There
are other li mi tati ons applyi ng to OEM versi ons, i ncl udi ng l i mi ted or no techni cal support from Mi crosoft.
Thi s i s why OEM copi es are the cheapest edi ti ons to purchase. OEM versi ons can onl y be used to do a
Custom (cl ean) i nstal l .

Upgrade: An Upgrade Edi ti on of Wi ndows 7 requi res that you al ready own a ful l Retail or OEM edi ti on of a
quali fyi ng previ ous versi on of Wi ndows. In the case of Wi ndows 7 thi s means you must own and have
i nstal l ed a ful l Retail or OEM edi ti on of Wi ndows 2000, XP or Vi sta. When usi ng an Upgrade Edi ti on of
Windows 7, you must fi rst boot up your existi ng quali fyi ng previ ous versi on of Wi ndows, then you can
choose to do ei ther a Custom (cl ean) i nstall , or an In-Place Upgrade onl y from Windows Vista SP1 or newer,
to an equi valent or higher versi on of Wi ndows 7. There is a workaround to thi s method covered i n the
Install i ng Windows secti on of the Wi ndows Install ati on chapter, all owi ng you to i nstall an Upgrade Edi ti on


101

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

A
c
t
i
v
a
t
i
o
n

on a brand new or freshl y formatted dri ve, however thi s method i s not supported by Mi crosoft, and i s not
consi dered l egal i f you do not own a full Retail or OEM edi ti on of a quali fyi ng previ ous versi on of Wi ndows.
In terms of upgradi ng your PC hardware or transferri ng Wi ndows 7 to a new PC, there are no speci fic
l i mi tati ons on the number of ti mes you can do thi s.

Retail: The full Retail Edi ti on does not requi re the ownershi p or i nstal lati on of any other versi on of Wi ndows,
and can be i nstall ed on any PC. You can choose to do ei ther a Custom (cl ean) install , or an In-Place Upgrade
onl y from Windows Vista SP1 or newer, to an equi valent or hi gher versi on of Wi ndows 7. The Retail Edi ti on
all ows unl i mited upgrades or moves to another PC. It i s the most fl exi ble edi ti on, whi ch is why i t i s also the
most expensive edi ti on.

For detail s of eli gi bi li ty for i n-pl ace upgrades, and related upgrade i nformati on, see the Pri or to Install ati on
secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF USE
Asi de from the specifi c l i censi ng condi ti ons covered above, all editi ons of Wi ndows 7 must also adhere to
some general condi ti ons of use. These are spell ed out bel ow:

The OS i s li censed to one speci fi c devi ce at any ti me, namel y the PC on whi ch i t i s currently i nstall ed.
You can't i nstal l the same copy of Wi ndows 7 on mul ti ple PCs unl ess you have speci fi cally purchased
mul ti ple li censes - one for each PC.
If the edi ti on i ncludes both the 32-bi t and 64-bi t versions of Wi ndows 7, you can use one or the other, but
not both at the same ti me, whether on the same machi ne or on separate machines.
The same product key can be used to i nstall ei ther the 32-bi t or 64-bi t versi on of your current edi ti on of
Wi ndows 7.
If you i nstal l an Upgrade Edi ti on of Wi ndows 7, you l ose the l i cense for the previ ous ful l versi on of
Wi ndows. For exampl e i f you use an upgrade edi ti on to i nstall Wi ndows 7 from your retail edi ti on of
Wi ndows XP, you l ose your XP l i cense.
Except for the OEM version, you can upgrade or al ter the hardware i n the PC on whi ch Wi ndows 7 is
i nstal l ed as often as you wish.
Except for the OEM versi on, you can transfer Wi ndows 7 from one PC to another as many times as you
want, as l ong as i t is not i nstal l ed on more than one machi ne at a time.
The OEM versi on can onl y be transferred wi th the origi nal computer on whi ch i t i s i nstall ed.
You must Acti vate your copy of Wi ndows wi thi n 30 days of install ation, and you must all ow i t to
peri odi cal l y connect to the Internet to val i date - see further bel ow for full detail s. Some OEM versi ons of
Wi ndows 7 come pre-i nstal l ed and al ready acti vated, so manual acti vati on i s not requi red.
You are permi tted to make one backup copy of the Wi ndows 7 DVD, or transfer one copy on di sc or
other media if you purchased the software as a di gi tal downl oad.

The above has been provided for i nformati on purposes only and cannot be the sol e basi s for any acti ons you
take - you must read the speci fi c EULA whi ch accompani es your parti cul ar editi on of Wi ndows carefull y to
ensure you understand all the l i censi ng terms and condi ti ons as appl i cabl e to you i n your country and based
on your particular circumstances. For exampl e, i f you have purchased a PC with Wi ndows 7 pre-i nstall ed
from a certain hardware manufacturer, your OEM copy of Wi ndows 7 may have different or addi ti onal
terms and condi ti ons than those speci fied here or el sewhere.


102

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

A
c
t
i
v
a
t
i
o
n

< ACTIVATION
Thi s secti on goes through the procedure for Wi ndows Product Acti vati on, simpl y referred to as acti vati on,
and any associ ated i ssues.

PRODUCT KEY
When you first i nstal l Windows 7, you wil l be prompted to enter your Product Key, which appears as a
seri es of 25 l etters or numbers separated by dashes i n the format: XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXXX. Thi s
key can be found on a sti cker on your computer i f you purchased the PC wi th Wi ndows 7 pre-i nstal l ed, on
the i nstall ati on di sc hol der of your Wi ndows 7 package, or on the Wi ndows 7 manual . The product key i s
very i mportant because i t i s i ntegral to vali dati ng and acti vati ng your copy of Wi ndows 7. If the key i s used
by anyone else at the same ti me as you, or on another one of your PCs, thi s wil l breach your li cense terms
and can i nvali date your key for use on any PC. Make sure you keep your product key i n a safe pl ace, do not
share i t wi th anyone el se and i f your PC or copy of Wi ndows 7 di d not come wi th a product key then contact
your retai l er or the person from whom you purchased the Wi ndows 7 DVD and ask them to gi ve you one as
i t i s absolutely necessary - unl ess you are i n a corporate or busi ness envi ronment.

In Wi ndows 7 you can legi ti matel y ski p the entry of the product key when prompted duri ng Wi ndows
i nstal lati on. However unli ke Vista thi s does not al l ow you to choose the edi ti on of Wi ndows 7 you wi sh to
use, as by defaul t the specifi c edi ti on whi ch i s i nstal led i s embedded i n the parti cul ar Wi ndows 7 DVD you
use. It i s recommended that you enter your product key duri ng i nstal lati on to confi rm that i t i s correct,
rather than findi ng out after i nstallati on that i t does not match the product versi on you i nstall ed and hence
can't be acti vated. Detai ls on customi zing your Wi ndows 7 i nstall ati on DVD to another editi on are provided
i n the Pri or to Installati on secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

If you have lost your ori ginal product key and wi sh to extract i t from your current i nstallati on of Wi ndows,
you can use the free Magi cal Jell y Bean Keyfi nder or ProduKey util i ties. Note that some anti-mal ware
programs fl ag them as suspi ci ous, but they are perfectl y safe to use. However i f i n doubt, the safest way to
obtai n your product key i s to contact your hardware vendor or Microsoft. If you wi sh to al ter your product
key from wi thi n Wi ndows 7, you can do so at any time by goi ng to the System component of the Wi ndows
Control Pane and cli cki ng the 'Change product key' l ink. Enteri ng a new key wil l requi re you to reacti vate. If
you want to look at opti ons for purchasing addi ti onal Product Key(s) onl i ne from Mi crosoft see here.

ACTIVATION PROCESS
Acti vati on i s designed to joi n your product key to your speci fi c hardware speci ficati ons, checki ng to make
sure that your key i s val i d and not i n use on more systems than the l i censi ng terms all ow, whi ch i s usuall y
onl y one system for a standard home l icense. Once you have i nstal l ed Wi ndows 7, you wi ll have exactl y 30
days wi thi n whi ch to activate Wi ndows. Duri ng thi s ti me you can use Wi ndows 7 as normal , but you wi ll be
prompted on a dail y basi s to acti vate, culmi nati ng i n prompts every four hours i n the fi nal 3 days before the
deadl i ne for acti vation, and every hour on the day of the deadl ine. To see how many days you have left
before your acti vati on grace peri od runs out, ei ther click the prompt whi ch appears i n the Noti ficati on Area,
or go to the System component i n the Wi ndows Control Panel and cl i ck the acti vati on li nk at the bottom of
the wi ndow, or go to the Start>Search Box, type slui and press Enter.

If you are aware that your PC may undergo some further changes shortl y, such as the i nstal lati on or removal
of key pi eces of hardware, i t i s recommended that you do not acti vate Wi ndows ri ght away. You have 30
days wi thi n whi ch to bed down your fi nal hardware confi gurati on and I suggest you use i t. Acti vating
before your hardware setup i s fi nalized coul d see you havi ng to re-acti vate repeatedly, i ncludi ng havi ng to
call Mi crosoft to compl ete acti vati on or runni ng into other potenti al compli cati ons. Mi crosoft general l y
vi ews mul ti ple acti vati ons in a short space of ti me as suspi ci ous.


103

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

A
c
t
i
v
a
t
i
o
n

If you need l onger than 30 days to bed down your hardware, there is a bui l t-i n tool you can use to extend the
grace peri od before acti vati on i s mandatory by another 30 days each ti me, up to a maxi mum of 120 days i n
total , before you must acti vate. Fol low these steps to do so:

2. In the Command Prompt type the fol l owi ng and press Enter:

sl mgr / r ear m

3. Reboot your PC and you shoul d now have an addi tional 30 days before acti vati on.
4. You can repeat Steps 1 - 3 above to gi ve you a total of 120 days maxi mum before acti vati on i s requi red.

Note that the sl mgr command has a range of other opti ons whi ch you can see by si mpl y typing sl mgr i n the
Command Prompt and pressi ng Enter.

In any case bear i n mi nd that at some poi nt you must acti vate your copy of Windows 7 for it to be l egal , as
Mi crosoft does not vi ew the use of Wi ndows wi thout acti vati on as a l egi ti mate method of 'triali ng' Wi ndows
7 - the 30 day grace peri od offered by acti vation i s si mpl y to allow ampl e l eeway for peopl e to acti vate
Wi ndows when i t i s conveni ent. It shoul d not be consi dered a tri al peri od. If you genui nel y wi sh to try out
Wi ndows 7 you can download the free Wi ndows 7 Enterpri se Trial Versi on and run i t for 90 days.

Once you are ready to acti vate Wi ndows, go to Start>Search Box, type sl ui and press Enter. Cl i ck the
'Acti vate Windows onl i ne now' button. When activati on commences, you wi l l automati call y connect to a
Mi crosoft server and send several pi eces of i nformati on specifi c to your system i ncl udi ng:

The versi on of the OS and the versi on of the acti vati on software.
Your language.
Your Product Key.
The Internet Protocol (IP) address of your PC.
A set of non-unique hardware hashes generated based on your hardware confi gurati on. These hashes
don't have any personal i nformati on, nor can they be used to determi ne the make/model of your PC.

The enti re process shoul d take l ess than a mi nute. If automati c acti vati on fail s or you are not connected to
the Internet, you wi ll be gi ven i nstructions on how to acti vate Windows by contacti ng Mi crosoft over the
phone. If activati on succeeds you wi ll not be requi red to reacti vate Wi ndows 7 agai n unless:

You substanti al l y al ter the PC's mai n hardware components, or possi bl y i f a dri ver update makes your
key hardware component(s) appear to be different.
Your product key i s found to be i n use by another system or turns out to be an ill egal l y obtai ned one.
There are si gns of tampering wi th Wi ndows to circumvent the Windows Acti vati on Technologi es.

For more detail s of exactl y what Acti vati on entai l s, and under what ci rcumstances you may need to do i t, see
thi s Acti vati on FAQ.

FAILED ACTIVATION
If you have not acti vated Wi ndows successfull y wi thi n 30 days, or i f you do not reacti vate wi thi n 3 days
after any major hardware changes, or you are found to be runni ng a non-genuine versi on of Wi ndows at any
ti me, you wi ll enter a reduced functi onality state i n whi ch you wi ll experi ence the foll owi ng:

A message from the system tray once every hour remi ndi ng you to 'Acti vate Windows Now'.
A desktop message i ndi cati ng that Wi ndows is non-genui ne.
A non-genuine message that appears when the Windows Control Panel is l aunched.


104

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

A
c
t
i
v
a
t
i
o
n

The Desktop Wal l paper wil l turn bl ack. Even i f you reset the wal lpaper to somethi ng el se, i t wi l l agai n
turn black withi n an hour.
You wil l not be abl e to recei ve opti onal updates from Wi ndows Update.

You wil l need to successful ly acti vate your copy of Wi ndows 7 wi th a vali d product key to remove these
effects and get back to normal. If you were lead to bel i eve your copy of Wi ndows was genui ne when you
purchased i t, contact Mi crosoft and report the detai ls of where and how you purchased thi s copy. If you
knowi ngl y used an i ll egal product key or use the key i n breach of l i censi ng condi ti ons (e.g. the same key on
mul ti ple machi nes), then you can stil l obtai n a l egi timate key and return Wi ndows to normal as covered in

< VALIDATION
Al ongsi de product acti vation, Mi crosoft has buil t additi onal anti-pi racy features into Wi ndows 7 cal l ed
Val idati on, previ ousl y known as Wi ndows Genui ne Advantage (WGA). Whi l e acti vati on veri fi es your
product key, vali dati on is an ongoi ng process that peri odi cal l y checks your Wi ndows to ensure that no
tamperi ng has taken place to bypass activati on, and that your product key is stil l l egi ti mate and not i n use i n
breach of l i censi ng condi tions. When val i dati on occurs, Wi ndows wi ll connect to Mi crosoft servers to send
i nformati on si mi lar to that descri bed under the acti vati on procedures further above. Thi s val i dati on may
also occur when you connect to Wi ndows Update or downl oad certai n Mi crosoft updates. If val i dati on fail s,
you wi ll not be abl e to downl oad updates from Mi crosoft, and can onl y download cri ti cal securi ty updates
through the Mi crosoft Downl oad Center or through Wi ndows Update if set to automati cally update. You
may also drop down i nto the reduced functi onali ty mode descri bed further above.

FAILED VALIDATION
If you are havi ng problems wi th vali dati on when using a l egi ti mate product key, vi si t the Windows Genuine
Advantage Di agnosti c Si te. To manual l y val i date your Windows at any ti me, use thi s offi cial Val idate Now.
If you fail vali dati on but sti l l bel i eve your product key i s l egi timate, check to see i f your Certi fi cate of
Authenti ci ty (COA) sti cker on your PC or copy of Wi ndows 7 i s genui ne usi ng the i nformati on i n thi s
Mi crosoft Arti cl e. If you are hesi tant to all ow val i dati on and have concerns about your pri vacy and the
i nformati on bei ng transmi tted to Mi crosoft, read the Microsoft Pri vacy Statement Hi ghl ights for
summarized detail s i n pl ain Engli sh.

If you conti nue to have probl ems wi th acti vation or vali dati on, the onl y correct course of acti on i s to contact
Mi crosoft Techni cal Support for your parti cular country.


105

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

WINDOWS EXPLORER

Wi ndows 7 uses the Explorer-based i nterface as the pri mary means for manipul ati ng fil es and fol ders i n
Windows. Thi s i nterface i s used by Wi ndows Expl orer as wel l as by many appl icati ons. It shoul d be fami liar
to all Wi ndows users, however there have been some notabl e changes i n Wi ndows 7, bui l di ng on the
changes whi ch Wi ndows Vi sta i ntroduced.

Wi ndows Expl orer can be accessed i n several ways, i ncludi ng by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng windows
explorer and pressi ng Enter, by usi ng the Computer li nk i n the Start Menu, by cl i cki ng the fol der i con i n the
Taskbar, or by pressi ng WINDOWS+E. Thi s chapter covers al l of the i mportant new and existi ng features of
Wi ndows Expl orer and Expl orer-based i nterfaces i n Wi ndows 7, all owi ng you to make better use of thi s
frequently-accessed tool and customize i t to sui t your needs.

Note that the other common Wi ndows graphi cal user i nterfaces often used i n conjuncti on wi th Expl orer-
based i nterfaces, such as Wi ndows Aero, the Taskbar, Start Menu, and Wi ndows Desktop, are all covered i n
detail i n the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< BASIC FEATURES
Thi s secti on covers the basic features of Wi ndows Expl orer i n detai l .

SEARCH BOX
The Search box i s present i n al l Expl orer-based i nterfaces, i ncl udi ng Wi ndows Expl orer and most open
wi ndows, shown at the top ri ght of the wi ndow. This is a very useful feature whi ch all ows you to qui ckl y
refi ne what is di spl ayed in the current wi ndow or fol der by typi ng i n a search term or even partial
characters. For exampl e, to qui ckly show any executabl e fi les i n a l arge folder, open that folder i n Wi ndows
Expl orer, type *.exe i n the Search Box to fil ter out other fi l es and show onl y .exe fi l es.

In Wi ndows 7 any previ ously entered fi l ters are now di spl ayed i n a drop down box for qui ck sel ecti on, as
wel l as a range of suggested fil ters. You can al so use advanced fil ters based on the vari ous fi le properti es and
Wi ndows wi ll show common val ues in the drop box. For exampl e type bitrate: i nto the Search Box and
Wi ndows displ ays common values for you to sel ect such as Near CD Quality (over 128 Kbps), or you can enter
your own value.

The Search Box and associated search functi onal i ty is covered i n ful l detail i n the Wi ndows Search chapter.

ADDRESS BAR
At the top of each Expl orer-based wi ndow i s a web browser-l ike Address Bar whi ch has back and forward
arrows at the far l eft, a refresh button at the far right, and the path to the currentl y displayed di rectory or
wi ndow i n the address box. Useful aspects of the Address Bar i ncl ude:

You can jump to any avail able subdi rectori es under each branch of the di spl ayed path by cl i cki ng the
small bl ack arrow next to that parti cular di rectory branch.
You can go to a specifi c directory or path by l eft-cl i cki ng on an empty space i n the navi gati on pane and
enteri ng the ful l path or the di rectory name. If the directory doesn't exi st, Wi ndows wil l l aunch a web
search on your defaul t browser usi ng the search stri ng entered.
You can vi ew and select recentl y opened di rectori es by cl i cki ng on the smal l Recent Pages down arrow
found between the Address Bar and the ri ght arrow on the l eft side of the wi ndow.


106

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

You can vi ew and sel ect previ ousl y opened l ocati ons by cl i cki ng the smal l Previ ous Locati ons down
arrow found to the l eft of the Refresh button at the far ri ght of the Address Bar.
You can copy the current di rectory path, or a porti on of i t, by right-cli cki ng on the appropriate di rectory
and sel ecti ng 'Copy address as text'.

Note that to cl ear the stored hi story of recentl y vi ewed and previously opened l ocati ons at any ti me, right-
cl i ck i n the Address Bar and sel ect 'Delete Hi story'. Then cl ose and reopen Windows Expl orer and you wi ll
see that the Recent Pages arrow is grayed out, and the Previ ous Locati ons drop-down box is empty.

NAVIGATION PANE
Thi s i s the area i n the l eft pane of Wi ndows Expl orer wi th l i nks to vari ous folders. Thi s secti on detai ls the
i ndi vi dual components of the navi gati on pane, and how to customize the navigati on pane vi ew.

Favorites

Thi s feature is not rel ated to the Favorites functi on of Internet Expl orer or any web browser. Shortcuts to
commonl y visi ted fol ders can be stored under the Favori tes folder at the top of the navi gati on pane for qui ck
access - by defaul t Desktop, Downl oads and Recent Places are shown. You can remove any shortcut here by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t and selecti ng Remove; thi s removes the shortcut onl y, not the ori gi nal di rectory. To add a
new shortcut to Favori tes, fi rst navi gate to any di rectory i n Windows Expl orer, then ri ght-cl i ck on the
Favori tes fol der and sel ect 'Add current locati on to Favori tes', or simpl y drag the di rectory fol der and drop i t
on Favori tes.

The Favori tes fol der i s actual l y an extensi on of the \Links fol der found under your user di rectory, so i f you
del ete the Links folder, i t wi ll remove all the saved shortcuts under Favori tes, l eavi ng the Favori tes folder
i ntact wi th no vi si bl e subdi rectories. If you wi sh to regai n ful l Favori tes functi onali ty you can manual ly
create a new fol der call ed Li nks under your user di rectory (i .e. \Users\[username]), however addi ng fol ders
to Favori tes wi ll resul t i n the -shortcut extensi on al so bei ng added for each folder shortcut. Instead of thi s, go
to the \Users\Default\Links di rectory and copy that fol der across to si t under your mai n user di rectory, and
thi s wil l re-enabl e the normal Favori tes functi onal i ty exactl y as before.

You can't del ete the Favori tes fol der, however i f you wi sh to rename i t you can do so by goi ng to the
foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSI D\ {323CA680- C24D- 4099- B94D- 446DD2D7249E}\ Shel l Fol der ]

Ri ght-cli ck on the key above, and if necessary change the permi ssi on to all ow you to edi t i t - see the
Wi ndows Regi stry chapter for detail s on how to edit the Registry correctl y, and see the Access Controls and
Permi ssi ons secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s on permissi ons.

At t r i but es=a0900100

Change the DWORD value above to a0900130 i n Hexadeci mal vi ew.

Restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon and you wi ll now be abl e to access Rename and Del ete opti ons when
you ri ght-cl i ck on the Favori tes category. Whil e deleti ng Favori tes wi ll not work permanentl y, you can
rename i t if you wish.

Libraries

The Li brari es feature i s covered i n full detail later i n thi s chapter. However if you si mply wish to remove the
Li brari es category from the Navi gati on Pane, go to the foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:


107

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSI D\ {031E4825- 7B94- 4dc3- B131- E946B44C8DD5}\ Shel l Fol der ]

Ri ght-cli ck on the key above, and if necessary change the permissi on to all ow you to edi t i t.

At t r i but es=b080010d

Change the DWORD above to b090010d i n Hexadecimal vi ew.

Restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon and the Li braries category wil l no l onger be shown i n Wi ndows
Expl orer, however the Li brari es functionali ty has not been di sabl ed - you can sti ll access the l i braries
through supporti ng appli cations, and the origi nal Li braries sti ll si t under the
\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries di rectory.

To restore Li brari es i n the navi gati on pane, si mpl y fol l ow the steps above and change the At t r i but es
value back to b080010d.

Homegroup

If you have enabl ed the HomeGroup feature, typi call y by setti ng your Network Locati on to Home duri ng
Wi ndows i nstal lati on or at a later date, then you wi ll see thi s category i n the Navi gati on Pane. For users who
are not part of a network of computers (excl udi ng the Internet), and are not using network resources i n any
way, thi s i s an unnecessary feature which can be safel y di sabl ed, removi ng this i tem i n the Navi gati on Pane.

To remove the HomeGroup i tem, right-cl i ck on the Homegroup category, sel ect 'Change HomeGroup
setti ngs', or go to the HomeGroup component i n Windows Control Panel . Cl i ck the 'Leave the homegroup'
l i nk, then select 'Leave the homegroup' to confi rm. You may al so have to di sable the two HomeGroup-
related servi ces whi ch are currentl y runni ng by openi ng the Services util i ty and setti ng both 'HomeGroup
Li stener' and 'HomeGroup Provi der' servi ces to Di sabl ed - see the Servi ces chapter for more detail s of how
to do thi s.

See the HomeGroup secti on of the Control Panel chapter for more detail s of this functi onal i ty.

User Folder

Dependi ng on the opti ons you've enabl ed under Fol der Opti ons (See Fol der Opti ons further bel ow), a
category which may appear on the navi gati on pane is your user fol der whi ch has your [username] as i ts ti tl e.
To see your user folder and subfol ders as a separate category on i ts own, you need to go to Fol der Opti ons i n
the Wi ndows Control Panel and under the General tab, ti ck the 'Show al l fol ders' box and cl i ck Apply.
Al ternati vel y you can ri ght-cl i ck i n an empty area of the Navi gati on Pane and ti ck the 'Show all fol ders'
opti on. Thi s wi ll display your mai n user fol der al ong wi th the standard subfol ders such as My Documents,
Downloads, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos etc.

You may al so see a range of addi ti onal fol ders - marked wi th shortcut arrows - whi ch are actual l y Di rectory
Juncti ons, not real fol ders - see the Di rectory Juncti ons and Symboli c Li nks section bel ow for more detail s. It
i s not necessary for you to see these addi ti onal i tems i n the Navi gati on Pane as they are not desi gned to be
di rectly accessed by users, and onl y end up cl uttering your vi ew i n Wi ndows Expl orer. You can remove
them from view by goi ng to the Vi ew tab i n Fol der Opti ons, ti cking the 'Hi de protected operati ng system
fi les', then cl icki ng Appl y, and cl osi ng and re-openi ng Wi ndows Expl orer.

More detail s regardi ng your user fol der are under the Personal Fol ders secti on later i n thi s chapter.


108

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Computer

Al l your connected dri ves wi ll be li sted under the Computer category. Note that i f the 'Show all fol ders' box
i s not ti cked in Fol der Options, then drives whi ch are currently empty, such as DVD dri ves whi ch contain no
di scs, wi ll not be displayed as a separate i tem under the Computer category i n the Navi gati on Pane,
however they wi ll be shown i n the ri ght pane when the Computer category i s highl i ghted.

Network

The Network category appears i n al l versi ons of Wi ndows 7, even i f you are not on a home or work network.
To remove the Network i tem from the Navi gati on Pane, go to the fol l owi ng l ocation i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSI D\ {F02C1A0D- BE21- 4350- 88B0- 7367FC96EF3C}\ Shel l Fol der ]

Ri ght-cli ck on the subfol der above, and i f necessary change the permi ssi on to allow you to edit i t.

Pi nToNameSpaceTr ee

Ri ght-cli ck on the val ue shown above and del ete i t. Restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon and the Network
category wi ll no l onger be vi si bl e i n the Navi gati on Pane. To undo thi s change at any ti me, simpl y go to the
subfol der above, ri ght-cl ick i n the ri ght pane, create a new STRING wi th no val ue data and name i t
Pi nToNameSpaceTr ee then restart Windows or l ogoff and l ogon.

Customizing Navigation Pane Views

If you do not l ike the contents of any of the mai n Navi gati on Pane folders such as Favori tes, Li brari es or
Computer clutteri ng the Navi gati on Pane, asi de from removi ng certai n components as covered above, you
can al so customi ze them i n a relati vely si mple manner from wi thi n Wi ndows wi thout resorti ng to any
advanced methods, or i n conjuncti on with the advanced methods.

To start wi th, you can mi nimi ze any major category by si mply doubl e-cli cki ng on the fol der, or ri ght-cl i cking
on i t and sel ecti ng Coll apse to cl ose the fol der, reducing i ts presence. Then to make thi s setting sti ck so that
each ti me you open Wi ndows Expl orer the mi ni mized fol ders remai n as such, go to Folder Opti ons i n the
Wi ndows Control Panel and under the General tab, unti ck the 'Automati call y expand to current fol der' item
and cli ck Appl y. If you wish, you can also unti ck the 'Show al l fol ders' opti on so that Windows mi ni mizes al l
fol ders except Li brari es and Favori tes, and you can then choose whether to mi ni mize Librari es and/or
Favori tes as wel l, creati ng an extremel y compact Navi gati on Pane.

For example, unti ck both the boxes under the Navigati on Pane opti ons i n Fol der Opti ons as covered above,
manuall y add al l your commonl y used di rectori es to Favori tes, then mi ni mize Li brari es, Computer and
Network, l eavi ng onl y the Favori tes folder maxi mized. Then each ti me you open Wi ndows Expl orer you
wi ll have a very clean layout wi th qui ck and easy access to your commonl y used folders under Favori tes.

Al ternati vel y, i f you make use of the Li brari es feature, then do the same as above, however mi ni mize every
other folder except your Librari es, and you can now qui ckl y access all your fil es in that manner.

Fi nal ly, if you onl y want your user folders showi ng as expanded, then under the Navigati on Pane opti ons i n
Fol der Opti ons l eave only the 'Show all fol ders' box ti cked, then i n Expl orer mi ni mi ze all other fol ders
except your user fol der.

Obvi ousl y you can experiment wi th a combi nati on of these opti ons to obtai n the layout whi ch sui ts you best.
Note that regardl ess of how you customi ze the Navi gati on Pane, by defaul t Wi ndows Expl orer selects the


109

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Li brari es category whenever Expl orer i s opened. You can al ter the defaul t fol der chosen i n Wi ndows
Expl orer when opened by usi ng the ti ps under the Advanced Features secti on later i n thi s chapter.

COMMAND BAR
Beneath the Address Bar and the Menu Bar (i f showi ng) at the top of Wi ndows Expl orer and some Explorer-
based wi ndows i s the Command Bar whi ch contains a range of buttons. These buttons are context-sensi ti ve
and wi ll i nstantl y change dependi ng on the fol der or fi l e type you are viewi ng or have hi ghli ghted. For
exampl e if you highli ght an .MP3 music fil e, the command bar wi ll change to di spl ay a Pl ay button. Other
buttons you may see i ncl ude but are not l i mi ted to: Open, Incl ude i n Li brary, Share With, Burn, New Folder,
E-mai l, New Contact, Pri nt, and Sl ide show.

You wil l al ways see the Organi ze button on the command bar; thi s all ows you to access a range of useful
functi ons that l et you customi ze the Expl orer i nterface. Under this button, asi de from common tasks such as
Copy, Paste, Rename and Properti es are the fol l owi ng useful features:

Menu Bar

Under the Layout i tem you can sel ect whether to displ ay the Menu bar at the top of the screen - i f selected
the Menu Bar wi ll be enabl ed permanentl y i n Explorer and Expl orer-based interfaces, whi ch i ncl udes most
normal wi ndows. If you don't wi sh for i t to be permanentl y displayed, unti ck the opti on here. Al ternati vel y,
you can al so choose to enabl e or disabl e the Menu Bar's permanent di spl ay by usi ng the 'Al ways show
menus' opti on i n Fol der Opti ons - see the Folder Opti ons secti on later i n thi s chapter.

Note that even i f the Menu Bar i s not displ ayed i n a wi ndow, you can toggl e i t on or off temporaril y at any
ti me by pressi ng the ALT key whil e i n an Expl orer-based wi ndow.

Details Pane

Under the Layout i tem you can select whether to displ ay the Detail s Pane. The Detail s Pane i f enabl ed si ts at
the bottom of the Expl orer wi ndow, and di spl ays rel evant detai l s about any hi ghli ghted fi le or fol der,
i ncludi ng i nformati on from i ts Properti es tab, as wel l as an i con or thumbnai l previ ew of i ts contents. Note
that you can also qui ckl y edi t the properti es for a fil e by cl i cki ng on any of the customi zabl e fi el ds i n the
Detai ls Pane and enteri ng new i nformati on, as l ong as the fi l e is not read-onl y. Leavi ng thi s opti on enabl ed
should have mi ni mal performance i mpact when browsi ng fil es, however browsi ng more compl ex fil es,
especiall y picture and video fi l es, may be sl ower, especiall y i f Wi ndows has to generate a new live
thumbnai l for the fil e's content.

Note that you can resize the Detai l s Pane by ri ght-cli cki ng i n an empty area i n the Detai l s Pane and sel ecting
Smal l , Medi um or Large from the Size menu.

Preview Pane

Under the Layout i tem you can sel ect whether to displ ay the Previ ew Pane. The Previ ew Pane i f enabl ed si ts
at the ri ght side of the Expl orer wi ndow, and i s usuall y empty if no fi le i s hi ghl ighted. Once you highli ght a
parti cul ar fil e, a previ ew of the contents wi ll be di splayed where possi bl e. Thi s previ ew can be i n the form of
text or mul ti medi a. Thi s can i ncrease fil e browsi ng ti me, so di sabl e i t if you don't need this functi onal i ty,
especiall y when browsi ng through a l ot of fi les for exampl e.

Note that the Preview Pane can be toggl ed on or off at any ti me usi ng the separate Previ ew Pane button
found at the far ri ght of the Command Bar, next to the ci rcular Hel p and Support button. Thi s means you
can qui ckl y enabl e or disabl e thi s functionali ty as desi red. Note further that i f the 'Show preview handl ers in


110

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

previ ew pane' opti on i s disabl ed i n Fol der Opti ons, mul ti medi a fil es wil l not have playback capabil i ty, and
many fil es wil l not even show a previ ew of their contents - see the Fol der Opti ons secti on further bel ow.

Navigation Pane

Under the Layout i tem you can sel ect whether to di splay the Navi gati on Pane. The Navi gati on Pane i s
covered further above. Unti cki ng thi s opti on removes the whol e Navigati on Pane, leavi ng Wi ndows
Expl orer i n a si ngl e pane view, whi ch is general ly not recommended.

Folder and Search Options

Sel ecti ng this i tem opens up Folder Opti ons, whi ch i s al so accessi bl e from the Wi ndows Control Panel .
Fol der Opti ons is an i mportant component and i s covered i n more detail i n i ts own secti on further bel ow.

Views

Thi s functi onali ty is covered i n more detail i n the Fol der Vi ews section just bel ow.

FOLDER VIEWS
Every di rectory i n Wi ndows Expl orer and Expl orer-based i nterfaces can di splay i ts contents usi ng one of a
vari ety of pre-defi ned vi ews. The avail abl e views can be accessed in three mai n ways:

Cl i ck the 'Change your vi ew' button at the ri ght si de of the Command Bar. Ei ther cl i ck the button unti l a
vi ew you l i ke appears, or cl i ck the small down arrow next to the button to sel ect the desired view.
Ri ght-cli ck i n an empty area of a fol der, then sel ect the View i tem and the desi red vi ew.
Hol d down the CTRL Key and scrol l the mousewheel to acti vel y cycl e through all the avai labl e vi ews.

The standard Wi ndows vi ew types are descri bed bel ow:

Icon - You can sel ect Small Icons, Medium Icons, Large Icons and Extra Large Icons vi ews. Icon vi ew
shows al l files as i cons, sorted by the fi lename by defaul t. These i cons are typi cal l y the standard
Wi ndows i cons for each file type, however mul ti medi a fil es such as musi c, pi ctures and video fil es, and
even document fi l es, wi ll di splay as Live Icons i n Icon vi ew by defaul t, provi di ng a snapshot of the
actual contents of the fi l e, and are covered i n more detai l under Live Icons further bel ow. The i con si ze
can al so be dynami cal l y scal ed to sui t your taste by hol di ng down your CTRL key and scrol l i ng up or
down wi th the mousewheel .
List - This view i s the most basi c, and si mpl y li sts al l the fi l es with thei r fi lename and a small generi c
i con, wi th no other detai l s shown. By defaul t the fil es are sorted by fil ename down as many col umns as
can fi t wi thi n the pane. No Li ve Icons are shown i n List vi ew.
Details - Thi s vi ew provi des much greater potenti al for di splayi ng and sorti ng items based on a range of
fi le properti es. Fil es are li sted by name, wi th addi ti onal col umns such as Size, Type, Date Modi fi ed and
so forth avai labl e to be added, resized or removed as desi red. To add or remove a col umn and change
sort order see the Sorti ng secti on further bel ow. No Live Icons are shown i n Detai l s vi ew.
Tiles - In thi s vi ew, fil es are displayed as a range of 'ti l es', wi th each ti l e contai ning the fi lename, fi l e type
and fil e size, al ong wi th a medi um-sized i con. Li ve Icons are shown i n Ti l es view by defaul t.
Content - New to Wi ndows 7, Content vi ew i s a combi nati on of vari ous other vi ews, pri mari l y used for
more convenient browsi ng of mul ti medi a fi l es. Each fi le i s l isted al ong a si ngl e row, wi th a small Li ve
Icon and a range of i nformati on such as fi le size and date modi fi ed. It al so i ncludes detai ls such as pl ay
l ength for musi c or movies, pi cture or vi deo di mensi ons, and other useful metadata from mul ti media
fi les, al l availabl e at a glance.


111

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Live Icons

When i n Icon vi ew, but al so when usi ng Content or Ti l es view, the i cons for certai n fi l es wi ll be shown as
Li ve Icons, not generi c Windows appli cati on i cons. Li ve Icons provi de a sample of the fi l e's contents as a
thumbnai l image. For exampl e, wi th Li ve Icons enabl ed, a .JPG i mage fi le wi ll have a thumbnail of that
i mage shown as i ts i con; an .AVI or .WMV video fi le wi ll have a sampl e scene from the video shown as a
thumbnai l i nstead of a generi c i con; and .DOCX or .PDF documents wi ll have a page of thei r contents shown
as the thumbnail - dependi ng on certai n factors covered bel ow.

Icon View i s enabl ed by defaul t when usi ng the vi ew types menti oned above and i n combi nati on wi th an
Aero-enabled desktop - see the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for more detai ls. However you can di sabl e i t at
any ti me by goi ng to Folder Opti ons in the Wi ndows Control Panel, and under the Vi ew tab ti cki ng the
'Al ways show i cons, never thumbnai ls' box, then cl icki ng Appl y. Doi ng thi s wil l repl ace all Li ve Icons with
generi c Wi ndows i cons for that parti cular fi l e type. Di sabl i ng Li ve Icons can speed up fi l e browsi ng ti me,
especiall y on systems wi th very sl ow graphi cs capabil iti es, and also on any system when vi ewi ng a di rectory
wi th fil es whi ch have not yet had a Li ve Icon thumbnail generated by Wi ndows. However once the i con i s
generated, i t i s stored i n a Wi ndows thumbnai l database, and on a moderate to fast system i t then takes not
much l onger than normal to vi ew a folder wi th Li ve Icons as opposed to generi c i cons, and consi deration
should be gi ven to i ts useful ness i n assisti ng i n the rapi d vi sual i dentifi cati on of fi l e contents i n certain
fol ders.

If you've enabl ed Li ve Icons but they are not bei ng di splayed correctl y, then you need to consi der several
thi ngs. Under Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, even though 32-bi t appl i cati ons can run wi thout any issues, when i t comes
to Wi ndows Expl orer, i t runs as a 64-bi t appli cati on by defaul t, and requi res that al l the shel l extensi ons
(extra i nterface features) i t uses are also compi l ed as nati ve 64-bi t appl i cati ons for full functionali ty. In pl ai n
Engli sh this means under Wi ndows 7 64-bi t the defaul t program/codec/pl ugi n associ ated wi th vi ewi ng
parti cul ar content needs to al so be a 64-bi t appl i cation or the Li ve Icon wil l not be correctl y generated.

Thi s shoul dn't be a probl em i f you associ ate the standard Wi ndows programs wi th pl ayback of audi o and
vi deo and the vi ewi ng of pi ctures for exampl e. However if these are changed, or for fil e types whi ch are
bei ng handled by 32-bi t appl i cations, you need to i nstal l and/or associate a 64-bi t appl i cati on or medi a
handler wi th that fil e type. See the Codec secti on of Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer for further detail s i n relati on to
common multi media codecs and plugi ns.

Note that i n the case of documents saved usi ng Mi crosoft Offi ce 2007, i t i s a 32-bi t-onl y appl icati on, so Li ve
Icons for documents won't be shown i n 64-bi t Wi ndows 7. However there i s a way around thi s: when savi ng
a document in Offi ce 2007, sel ect the 'Save As' opti on and the ti ck the 'Save Thumbnail ' box, then save the
document. It wi ll now be saved wi th the equi val ent of a Li ve Icon thumbnail previ ew, whi ch can be seen i n
Icon View i n Wi ndows Expl orer for exampl e.

Whether you are runni ng Wi ndows 7 64-bi t or not, you may sti ll fi nd the Li ve Icons not di spl ayi ng properly
or displayi ng ol d content for an updated fi l e. You wi l l need to clear the Icon Cache and al l ow Wi ndows to
rebuil d i t agai n, whi ch shoul d restore or create al l Li ve Icons as desi red - see the Icons secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter for more detail s of how to do thi s properl y.

Sorting

The contents of any fol der di splayed can be sorted by a range of properti es. By defaul t the contents are
automati cal ly sorted i n Ascendi ng order by Name (fi l e name), and the sorti ng i s dynami c; that i s, there is no
need to refresh the screen whenever new fi l es are added, Wi ndows 7 shoul d automati cal l y resort everything
i nstantly to mai ntai n appropri ate order.


112

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Sort By: To sort by somethi ng other than fil e name, ri ght-cli ck on a bl ank spot i n the fol der and sel ect 'Sort
By', and you wi ll see the common properti es such as Date Modified, Type and Size on whi ch you can sort
the contents, ei ther i n Ascendi ng or Descendi ng order. You can cl ick the More opti on and select any one of a
l arger range of properti es upon whi ch to sort the current vi ew of contents.

Group By: You can create subcategori es wi thi n a content vi ew by ri ght-cli cki ng on an empty area i n a fol der
and sel ecti ng 'Group By', then sel ecti ng the parti cular property by whi ch you wi sh to group the contents.
Thi s wi ll arrange the contents under headi ngs for each subcategory. Once agai n you can sel ect the More i tem
to see addi ti onal properti es for use i n groupi ng contents. If you wi sh to remove grouped vi ew, right-click,
sel ect 'Group By' then choose the (none) i tem.

Filter By: If you onl y want to vi ew a certai n subset of the contents i n a fol der, aside from usi ng the Search box
you can swi tch to Detail s vi ew, move your mouse over a column header and cl i ck on the small black arrow
whi ch appears at the ri ght si de of the header. You wi ll then be abl e to sel ect a check box to fi l ter the contents
by one or more of the speci fi c categori es di splayed. If the category you wi sh to use for fil teri ng isn't
avai labl e, you can add more column types by ri ght-cl i cki ng on a col umn header, sel ecti ng the More i tem and
sel ecti ng which addi ti onal col umns to add.

Note that the 'Stack By' sorti ng opti on avail abl e i n Windows Vi sta has been removed i n Wi ndows 7.

Changing Folder Views

Wi ndows deci des the defaul t vi ew for a parti cular fol der based on the type of fol der i nvolved and/or the
types of fi l es wi thi n a fol der. Wi ndows 7 assi gns a folder type based on fi ve di fferent categories:

General Items
Documents
Pi ctures
Musi c
Vi deos

You can see the defaul t vi ews for each of these types by goi ng to your personal folders under the
\Users\[username] directory and sel ecting the My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, and My Videos fol ders
whi ch each take on the fol der type of the same name; also see a fol der li ke Downloads or \Windows for an
exampl e of the General Items fol der type.

To vi ew a parti cular fol der's fol der type, right-cli ck on that folder and sel ect Properti es, then under the
Customi ze tab l ook under 'Opti mi ze this fol der for'. If you wish to change thi s fol der's type, you can do so
here, and note that you shoul d ti ck the 'Also appl y thi s templ ate to al l subfol ders' box i f you want al l of the
sub-di rectories under thi s fol der to al so be set to the same fol der type. Cl i ck the Appl y button when done to
i mpl ement the change.

You can al ter the vi ew for a speci fi c fol der, or all fol ders of a parti cular type, and make thi s change
permanent so that each time you open that fol der or fol der type, the vi ew remai ns the same. However thi s
requi res that you foll ow a speci fi c set of procedures, otherwi se Windows may automati call y al ter the fol der
type and/or the vi ew type used whenever the fol der's contents change, whi ch can be qui te annoyi ng. Foll ow
the steps bel ow to ensure your vi ew selecti ons are made permanent unti l you choose to manuall y al ter them
agai n:

To begi n wi th, for every fol der type, you wil l have to go to at l east one fol der of that type and set the view
preferences. I recommend that you open Wi ndows Expl orer and go to your My Documents, My Pictures, My
Music, My Videos and Downloads fol ders found under \Users\[username] and then do the foll owi ng for each:


113

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

1. Adjust the view to sui t your preferences usi ng the methods covered earli er. Add or remove and/or resi ze
any col umns i f appli cabl e, resize any i cons shown i f requi red, and choose your sort order for fi l es.
2. Once done, then you must cl i ck on the Organize button i n the Command Bar and sel ect 'Fol der and
search opti ons' to open Fol der Opti ons - don't open Fol der Opti ons vi a Wi ndows Control Panel or any
other method, do i t from the Organize button.
3. Wi th Fol der Opti ons open, go to the Vi ew tab and cli ck the 'Appl y to Fol ders' opti on, and cl i ck Yes when
prompted. Thi s forces Windows to recogni ze that the changes you have made to the vi ew i n thi s fol der
appl y to al l fol ders of the same fol der type. So for exampl e usi ng thi s method, the changes you make to
the vi ew i n your \Users\[username]\My Pictures folder wi ll apply to al l fol ders currently fl agged wi th
the Pi ctures fol der type.
4. Cl i ck OK to cl ose Fol der Opti ons.
5. Repeat Steps 1 - 4 above for each of the fi ve mai n fol der types.

Once done, close Wi ndows Expl orer, then open i t again and check a range of fol ders to see i f the vi ews have
stuck. For any fol ders which don't appear to be sti cki ng, check and sel ect the correct fol der type and then
manuall y al ter the vi ew to sui t your taste if requi red, and they shoul d al so sti ck.

Note that setti ng the views i n thi s manner does not appl y them to your Li brari es, as they need to be set
separatel y - see the Li braries secti on below. Note further that some system fol ders wil l not have a Customize
tab; thi s i s normal and their defaul t view shoul d correspond to the General Items fol der type.

Some fol der customizati ons and setti ngs are stored i n a fil e cal l ed Desktop.ini i n each fol der. These fil es are
hi dden by defaul t unl ess you disabl e the 'Hi de protected operati ng system fil es' opti on under the Vi ew tab
i n Fol der Opti ons, whi ch is not recommended. Do not del ete or move these fi l es, they need to remai n where
they are to mai ntai n specifi c custom folder setti ngs in Wi ndows 7.

Despi te foll owi ng these procedures, you may someti mes fi nd that Wi ndows sti l l changes the fol der vi ews,
for a range of reasons i ncl udi ng Regi stry corrupti on and/or the fol der type setti ng bei ng overri dden by
another applicati on or when Wi ndows detects mul timedi a fil es i n that fol der. To resol ve i ssues wi th fol der
vi ews not remai ni ng the way you want them, see the Fi x Changi ng Fol der Vi ews ti p under the Advanced
Features section later i n this chapter.

To al ter other vi ew-related aspects of folders, you wil l need to refer to the Fol der Opti ons section bel ow.

< FOLDER OPTIONS
Fol der Opti ons can be found as a separate component under the Wi ndows Control Panel , under the Tool s
menu i n the Menu Bar, or by pressi ng the Organi ze button i n the Command Bar of Wi ndows Expl orer and
sel ecti ng 'Folder and search opti ons'. As the name suggests, Fol der Opti ons has a range of opti ons whi ch
affect the way fol ders are vi ewed, as wel l as the appearance of Wi ndows Expl orer. It also has i mportant
Search-related opti ons. Each tab of the Fol der Opti ons box is covered separately bel ow:

GENERAL
Browse folders: If 'Open each fol der i n the same wi ndow' i s chosen, then l aunchi ng a Wi ndows opti on or
uti li ty from a wi ndow wi l l mean that i t opens i n the exi sti ng wi ndow. If 'Open each fol der i n i ts own
wi ndow' is chosen, a new wi ndow wi ll open for each uti l i ty or opti on l aunched from wi thi n an existing
wi ndow. I recommend the fi rst opti on, as this reduces the number of open wi ndows whi ch in turn reduces
resource usage and Desktop cl utter.


114

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Click items as follows: The 'Doubl e-cli ck to open an i tem (si ngl e-cl ick to sel ect)' opti on i s the defaul t behavi or
most Wi ndows users are fami li ar wi th, and the one whi ch i s assumed when provi di ng descri pti ons i n this,
and most other books. If you prefer a more web-li ke behavi or, you can sel ect the 'Si ngl e-cli ck to open an i tem
(poi nt to select)', and further choose whether to have selectabl e i tems and i cons underli ned all the ti me, or
onl y when you hover your mouse over them. In general the doubl e-cli ck method i s most famil iar and
prevents accidental launchi ng of programs or opti ons from wayward mouse cli cks, so i t i s recommended.

Navigation pane: These opti ons are covered usi ng practi cal exampl es under the Navi gati on Pane section
further above. Basical l y the 'Show all fol ders' opti on i f ti cked shows al l the possi bl e fol der categori es i n the
navi gati on pane, i ncludi ng your [username] fol der and i ts mai n subdi rectori es. The 'Automati cal ly expand to
current fol der opti on if ti cked expands and shows all the level s of the di rectory tree leadi ng to the fol der
you've currentl y chosen, whi ch can overri de any mi nimi zati ons i n the Navi gati on Pane you wi sh to keep.

VIEW
Folder views: When you change the l ook and layout of a parti cul ar folder i n Windows Explorer, such as the
number and size of any col umns, the si ze of i cons, or the type of vi ew that fol der type has, to appl y your
changes to al l other fol ders of the same fol der type, cli ck the 'Apply to Fol ders' button. Conversely, to undo
your changes, cli ck the 'Reset Fol ders' button. More detail s on how to correctly set fol der vi ews for various
fol der types is covered further above.

Advanced Settings: Most of the opti ons i n thi s secti on of Folder Opti ons are dependent on your own
parti cul ar tastes i n functi onali ty and appearance. Below I bri efly cover all of these features, noti ng where
there may be performance or other i mpacts - these all have fai rl y si gni fi cant i mpacts on the way Wi ndows
Expl orer l ooks and i ts functi onali ty, so make sure you go through each opti on careful l y:

Al ways show i cons, never thumbnai ls - If ti cked, Li ve Icon thumbnai ls wi ll be di sabl ed and repl aced
wi th generi c associated appl i cati on i cons; see the Li ve Icons secti on above.
Al ways show menus - If ticked, al ways shows the Menu Bar whi ch resi des at the top of most wi ndows.
If unti cked, the Menu Bar i s hi dden unti l you press the ALT key to bri ng i t up temporaril y.
Di splay fi l e icon on thumbnai ls - If ti cked, di spl ays a smal l i con at the bottom corner of Li ve Icons
representi ng the defaul t appl i cati on associ ated wi th that fi l e.
Di splay fi l e si ze i nformation i n fol der ti ps - If ti cked, whenever you hover your mouse cursor over a
di rectory i n the right pane of an Expl orer-based i nterface, a smal l popup appears provi di ng detai ls on
the si ze of the di rectory and some of the fil es i t contai ns. Note thi s opti on only works i f the 'Show pop-
up descri pti on for fol der and desktop i tems' setti ng is al so ti cked (see bel ow). Thi s opti on i s general ly
unnecessary as i t may cause sl ight pauses when hoveri ng over fol ders i n the ri ght pane.
Di splay the ful l path i n the ti tl e bar - If ti cked, and onl y when using the Wi ndows Cl assi c theme, the full
di rectory path to the currentl y sel ected fol der wil l be shown as the ti tl e for Wi ndows Expl orer. For
exampl e, by defaul t i n Windows Cl assic theme, i f you're i n your Downl oads personal fol der on C: dri ve,
onl y Downloads i s shown in the ti tl e. Wi th thi s opti on enabled, C:\Users\[username]\Downloads wi ll be
shown i nstead. Has no i mpact on Aero or Wi ndows 7 Basi c Themes and hence can usual l y be disabl ed.
Hi dden fi l es and folders - If ti cked, shows all hidden system fil es, fol ders and dri ves, excludi ng
protected fil es and fol ders (see bel ow). It i s i mportant to have thi s opti on ti cked i f you want to see all the
i mportant files and folders on your system, especial l y when using thi s book, but al so for any future
tweaki ng.
Hi de empty dri ves i n the Computer fol der - If ti cked, wil l hi de any removabl e medi a drives, such as
card readers, whi ch do not hol d any medi a at the moment.
Hi de extensions for known fil e types - If ti cked, wi ll hide the extensi ons (e.g. the .exe porti on of a
setup.exe fi le) for al l known fi l e types. It i s strongl y recommended that you do not ti ck thi s opti on, as it
wi ll make file edi ti ng and tweaki ng diffi cul t and confusi ng. For exampl e if you are asked to create a
bl ank text file and rename i t to ei.cfg, wi th thi s opti on enabled, you wil l actuall y be renami ng the fil e


115

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

ei.cfg.txt, which i s i ncorrect. You need to be abl e to clearl y see the ful l fi lename, incl udi ng any extensi ons,
so unti ck this opti on.
Hi de protected operati ng system fil es - Shows a range of additi onal hi dden system fil es and fol ders
whi ch under normal ci rcumstances shoul d be not be changed or del eted, such as Di rectory Juncti ons
(see bel ow), log fil es, desktop.ini fi les, and the Pagefil e. If unti cked, you wil l see these fi les and fol ders,
but thi s adds to cl utter and also resul ts in the temptati on to purposel y (or accidental ly) del ete i mportant
system fi l es. Unti cki ng thi s opti on is generall y onl y necessary as part of advanced tweaki ng or
troubl eshooting, and i s usual l y only a temporary measure, as i t shoul d be left ticked by defaul t.
Launch fol der wi ndows in a separate process - If ti cked, thi s opti on i ncreases stabi li ty at the cost of
performance by openi ng each wi ndow i n a separate process, i n effect isol ati ng that wi ndow and
preventi ng a crash i n one wi ndow from shutti ng down others. Generall y not recommended that thi s
i tem be ti cked - i f you are havi ng stabi li ty i ssues you shoul d check applicati on compati bil i ty and
undertake general system troubl eshooting to fi nd the root cause; i t i s not normal for a wi ndows to crash.
Restore previous fol der windows at l ogon - If ti cked, makes sure that Wi ndows remembers your speci fi c
fol der setti ngs for each open fol der when you l ast shut down Wi ndows, and restores them to the same
state the next ti me you boot back i nto Wi ndows. Thi s setti ng is a sessi on restore feature and does not
relate to saving different fol der vi ews in Expl orer, whi ch is covered further above.
Show dri ve letters - If ti cked, shows the dri ve l etter for every drive (e.g. C:, E:, G:, etc.). Whil e the dri ve
name wil l stil l be di spl ayed, I don't recommend unti cki ng thi s opti on as i t i s general ly i mportant that
you know the dri ve letter of specifi c drives for a range of purposes, such as runni ng certai n Command
Prompt commands.
Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files i n col or - If ti cked, hi ghlights fi l es which have been encrypted
or compressed i n a different col or. Can be useful if ti cked to hi ghl i ght whi ch fi les are compressed or
encrypted if you woul d otherwi se be unaware. If annoyi ng, can be disabl ed with no negati ve i mpact.
Show pop-up descri pti on for fol der and desktop i tems - If ti cked, thi s opti on wi ll rai se a small pop-up
whenever you hover your mouse cursor over a fil e or folder i n Expl orer-based wi ndows, or on any i tem
on the desktop. The pop-up usual ly contai ns a descri pti on of the fil e, fol der or desktop i tem, and i n
general this i s unnecessary and may sl ow down browsi ng if enabl ed.
Show previ ew handl ers in previ ew pane - If the Previ ew Pane i s enabl ed, as covered further above, and
i f this opti on i s unti cked, wherever possi bl e a previ ew i s provi ded of the fil e's contents and you can also
sel ect to pl ay the content of mul ti media fil es. If thi s opti on i s ti cked, mul ti medi a playback i s di sabled,
certai n fil es wi ll only demonstrate a stati c pi cture of thei r content, and some fil es wi ll have no previ ew at
all . This can speed up the sel ecti on of fi l es while the Previ ew Pane i s open, however i t i s not
recommended that you unti ck thi s opti on - i nstead i f you fi nd the Previ ew Pane annoyi ng or sl owi ng
thi ngs down, si mpl y toggle i t on or off as requi red using the button at the top ri ght of the Command Bar.
Use check boxes to sel ect items - If ti cked, thi s opti on al l ows a check box to appear next to every fil e and
fol der i n the ri ght pane of Wi ndows Expl orer whenever you hover your mouse cursor over that
fi le/folder. Thi s can make the sel ecti on of mul ti pl e objects much easi er, but i n general the easiest method
i s to si mply hol d down the CTRL key to sel ect mul ti ple i ndi vi dual fi l es, or sel ect the fi rst fi l e/fol der, hold
down SHIFT and cl i ck at the end of your sel ecti on to sel ect a continuous range of fi les/fol ders.
Use Shari ng Wizard - If ticked, thi s opti on pl aces a 'Share wi th' i tem i n the context menu whi ch appears
whenever you right-cli ck on a fil e or fol der. Thi s al lows you to more easil y share fil es and fol ders wi th
other users on your PC or network. If you do not wi sh to share anythi ng wi th anyone el se, parti cularly if
you are a singl e PC user on a non-networked machi ne, then you shoul d unti ck this opti on. See the
HomeGroups secti on i n the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for more detai ls
When typi ng i nto l i st view - When a fol der i s sel ected, thi s opti on determi nes what happens when you
begi n typi ng. If the 'Automati cal ly type i nto the Search Box' opti on i s sel ected, then any text you enter
wi ll automaticall y be i n the Search Box at the top ri ght of the wi ndow. Note that one of the drawbacks of
sel ecti ng this opti on is that if you choose to create a new fil e or folder i n a di rectory, the cursor wil l
suddenl y jump to the Search Box if you attempt to type a name for that fil e or fol der. If the 'Sel ect the
typed i tem i n the vi ew' opti on i s sel ected, then the text you type won't appear on screen; the fi l e whi ch
most cl osel y matches what you are typing wil l be highl i ghted i nstead.


116

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Remember that as you ti ck or unti ck each i tem, you must cl i ck the Appl y button i f you want to i mpl ement a
change and see the i mpact straight away. When fi ni shed, cl i ck the Appl y button to i mpl ement all changes.

SEARCH
These setti ngs and rel ated features are al l covered i n detail i n the Wi ndows Search chapter.

< PERSONAL FOLDERS
Every User Account has a set of Personal Folders created for that account. They can be found under the
\Users\[username] di rectory, where the username matches your User Account name. Each user directory
contai ns speci fic subfol ders i ncludi ng: My Documents, My Pictures, My Music and My Videos. Note that i f you
choose to unti ck the 'Hi de protected operati ng system fil es' option i n Fol der Opti ons, you wi ll al so see a
range of l egacy personal fol ders whi ch used to exi st under Wi ndows XP (such as Cookies, Local Settings and
PrintHood) - these are Di rectory Juncti ons not actual fol ders, and are covered i n the Di rectory Juncti ons and
Symboli c Li nks secti on further bel ow.

Whi le you may be tempted to i gnore your personal fol ders or even del ete them and create your own ones
i nstead, I strongl y recommend agai nst doi ng so. Asi de from al ready bei ng qui te conveni ent for holdi ng
vari ous fi l e types, these fol ders are li nked to a range of i mportant features i n Wi ndows, such as Li brari es,
Search Indexing and of course your User Account. Furthermore, Windows security-related features take i nto
account that these personal folders are owned by you, and hence gi ve you the greatest freedom i n al tering
thei r contents wi thout bei ng potenti al ly faced wi th UAC prompts or needi ng to manual ly change ownershi p
of a fi le or folder.

Rename Personal Folders

To start wi th, i f you don't fi nd the names of some of your personal folders appeali ng, you can change them.
For exampl e you can safely rename the My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos fol ders to
drop the 'My' porti on of the name wi thout affecti ng thei r functi onali ty - just ri ght-cl i ck on the fol der, sel ect
Rename and edi t the name as normal .

You can rename other personal folders, such as Links or Desktop, and thei r functi onali ty will remai n i ntact,
however thi s i s not necessary nor i s it recommended, as asi de from causing confusi on when reading
references to these fol ders (e.g. such as those i n this book), i t may resul t i n appl i cati on errors and other
uni ntended consequences.

Relocate Personal Folders

You can safely move your personal folders to another l ocati on, whether on the same dri ve, or another dri ve,
wi thout affecti ng thei r l i nk to key Windows features. However to do so properl y, you need to foll ow the
steps bel ow:

1. Go to the rel evant fol der under your personal fol ders.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect Properti es, then go to the Locati on tab.
3. Cl i ck the Move button and speci fy a new fol der and/or dri ve to move the current fol der to. Al ternati vel y
you can just type the new path i n the Target box. Note that I don't recommend enteri ng just a dri ve
l etter by i tself as thi s may cause problems. That i s, don't just enter D: or F: i n the l ocation box for
exampl e - enter a full di rectory path and cl i ck the Appl y button.
4. The folder and al l of i ts fil es wil l be moved to the new l ocati on.


117

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

When you're done, Windows wi ll now recognize the new l ocati on as the home of thi s parti cular personal
fol der, and al l references to i t throughout Windows 7, i ncludi ng i n your Librari es and Search Indexing,
should poi nt correctl y to thi s new l ocation automati call y. If necessary cl ose and reopen Wi ndows Expl orer to
see the updated references to the new folder.

Customize Personal Folders

You can create as many subfolders under your personal folders as you wish - thi s i s useful i f you want to
organi ze your data i n various ways under the exi sting personal fol ders wi thout affecti ng thei r functi onali ty
wi thi n Wi ndows. In fact when combi ned wi th the abi l i ty to vi ew all your fi l es across vari ous directori es and
l ocati ons i n a uni fi ed view usi ng the new Li brari es feature i n Wi ndows 7, there i s no real drawback to
creati ng mul ti pl e subfol ders under the personal fol ders i f you wi sh to do so.

You can al so customize the i con used to represent any of your personal fol ders, i n fact al most any folder, by
foll owi ng the steps i n the Customi ze Fol der Pi ctures & Icons ti p under the Advanced Features secti on later
i n thi s chapter.

As a fi nal note, before undertaki ng any al terati ons to your personal fol ders, because of the el evated ri sk of
l osi ng personal data, I strongl y recommend creati ng both fresh backup of your personal data - see the

< LIBRARIES
One of the most promi nent changes i n Wi ndows 7 that users of previ ous versions of Wi ndows wi ll noti ce are
Li brari es. Ti ghtl y i ntegrated i nto Wi ndows 7, Li braries are not a new set of fol ders i ntended to repl ace the
tradi ti onal personal fol ders such as My Documents and My Pictures. Instead Li brari es are vi rtual fol ders
designed as a compl ementary tool to assi st users i n more readi ly fi ndi ng and managi ng thei r content across
vari ous folders and/or dri ves from a si ngl e l ocati on.

A Li brary is a contai ner provi di ng a singl e l ocati on from whi ch you can access and mani pulate al l the fi les
and fol ders whi ch have been l i nked to that Li brary. At least one exi sti ng fol der must be assi gned to any
Li brary - the specifi c fol der(s) i ncluded i n a Li brary are vi si bl e when that Library i s expanded i n the left
pane, or by ri ght-cl i cki ng on a Li brary and sel ecting Properti es. These fol der(s) determine the content
di splayed i n a Li brary, however none of them has moved from i ts ori gi nal locati on, nor has the Li brary
created a copy of, or a shortcut to, these fi les or fol ders.

Any fi l e or fol der on a l ocal dri ve or on an external , removabl e, or network dri ve, can be l i nked to a Li brary.
However removabl e discs such as DVDs are not i ncl uded, nor are any dri ves or network l ocati ons whi ch are
currentl y di sconnected from the system.

Importantl y, even though a Li brary i s a vi rtual fol der, any changes you make to fil es and fol ders wi thi n a
Li brary wil l affect the contents of those actual fil es and fol ders. If you delete or rename a fi l e wi thi n a Li brary
for example, the ori gi nal fi l e or fol der wi ll be del eted or renamed. Del eti ng an enti re Li brary on the other
hand wi ll not del ete the fi les or folders it contai ns.

Si nce a Li brary i s a vi rtual fol der, when savi ng, copying or movi ng a fi le to a Li brary, by defaul t the fi l e will
actuall y be saved/copi ed/moved to the fi rst fol der l inked to the Li brary. Ri ght-cl i ck on the Li brary and select
Properti es to see the defaul t save l ocati on, i ndi cated by a small ti ck next to the fol der under the Li brary
Locati ons box. You can change the defaul t save l ocati on by hi ghlighti ng any fol der i n the Library Locati ons
box and cl i cking the 'Set save l ocati on' button - the ti ck mark should appear next to your sel ected folder.

Even though Li brari es are vi rtual fol ders, they exi st as separate physi cal fi l es wi th the fi l ename
[libraryname].library-ms under the \Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries


118

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

di rectory. Li brari es are stored here as .XML defi ni tion fil es whose structure is expl ai ned i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e. You can edi t these fi les usi ng a text edi tor - see the Customi zi ng Li brari es secti on bel ow. The ori gi nal
l ocati on of the Li brary defi ni ti ons i s useful to know, because asi de from customi zati on, i t all ows you to
access them even i f you di sabl e Li brari es from being shown i n Wi ndows Expl orer, as covered under the
Navi gati on Pane secti on earl i er i n thi s chapter.

Wi ndows 7 ensures that Li brari es are tied i n to a range of key features, both to encourage thei r use, and to
make Li braries more useful . Li brari es are i ntegrated i nto the fol l owi ng promi nent Wi ndows features:

Start Menu - The Documents, Pi ctures, Musi c and Videos components on the Start Menu all l i nk to the
defaul t Wi ndows Li brari es of the same name, not di rectly to the personal fol ders whi ch hol d thi s
content. See the Start Menu secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for more detail s.
Wi ndows Expl orer - Asi de from havi ng a separate Li brari es category whi ch cannot be removed usi ng
normal methods, Wi ndows Expl orer also opens i n the Li brari es whenever i t i s launched usi ng a default
i con such as the one on the Taskbar. Both of these features can be customi zed - see the Di sabl i ng
Li brari es secti on bel ow, as wel l as the Advanced Features secti on in thi s chapter.
Wi ndows Search - Wi ndows Search i s synchronized wi th Li braries, automati call y addi ng al l fil es and
fol ders i n your Li brari es to the Search Index for fast access. See the Wi ndows Search chapter for detai l s.
Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer - The buil t-i n Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer 12 uti li ty works cl osely wi th the Musi c
Li brary, not your My Music personal folder. See the Windows Media Player chapter for more detai ls.

Many users wi ll i ni ti al ly fi nd Li brari es to be confusi ng, annoyi ng or redundant, and wil l want to remove
them or di sabl e thei r i ntegrati on i nto Windows. Whi le attempti ng to do thi s i s not advi sed given the i ntegral
nature of Librari es, methods of reduci ng the presence of Li braries i s covered further bel ow. I strongly
recommend that you attempt to work wi th the Li braries, customi zi ng them and addi ng new Li brari es for
vari ous content as you desi re. After a whi l e you shoul d fi nd that you become accustomed to them, and
actuall y fi nd them hel pful , the same way you may have become accustomed to the defaul t Wi ndows
personal fol ders.

CUSTOMIZING LIBRARIES
Just as wi th a regular fol der, you can adjust the fol der vi ew and the sorti ng method used to sui t your needs -
see the Fol der Vi ews section further above. Note that the vi ews you appl i ed to other fol ders and fol der types
do not automati call y apply to Li brari es, or vi ce versa. You wi l l need to set the vi ews you wi sh wi thi n each
Li brary, and then at any time i f you wish to return to the defaul t view for a Li brary, l eft-cl ick on the 'Arrange
by' li nk at the top ri ght and select 'Cl ear changes'.

By defaul t under the main Li braries category there are four existi ng Li brari es: Documents, Musi c, Pi ctures
and Vi deos. The content i n these corresponds to the content i n your My Documents, My Music, My Pictures
and My Videos fol ders respecti vel y. It also i ncl udes the contents of the non-user-specifi c Public Documents,
Public Music, Public Pictures and Public Videos fol ders as relevant, each found under the \Users\Public
di rectory. I don't recommend del eti ng these Li braries, as they are l i nked to Start Menu i tems of the same
name - for exampl e, del eting the Documents Li brary wil l make the Documents component i n the Start Menu
i noperati ve.

Fortunatel y you are not confi ned to these Li brari es or thei r defaul t contents. You can modify Li brari es as you
wi sh by openi ng Wi ndows Expl orer and foll owi ng these steps:

Add or Delete Library

To add a Li brary, ri ght-cli ck on the main Li brari es category heading and sel ect New>Li brary. You can name
thi s Li brary whatever you wish, though obvi ously the content it wi ll reference shoul d help determi ne i ts


119

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

name for the sake of clarity. Once you've created a new Li brary, you must then tel l Wi ndows the speci fic
fol ders whi ch thi s Li brary wi ll reference for gatheri ng i ts content. To add or remove folders from a Li brary:

Add Fol ders - Sel ect the new Li brary and ei ther ri ght-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Properti es then cl i ck the
'Incl ude a folder' button, or cl i ck the 'Incl ude a folder' button i n the ri ght pane. Navi gate to the fol der
you wish to incl ude i n this Li brary and sel ect i t, cl i ck the 'Incl ude fol der' button and then cl i ck Appl y.
Bear i n mi nd that all the subdi rectori es of that fol der wi ll al so automati cal ly be incl uded.
Remove Fol ders - Thi s is an i mportant step whi ch needs to be done correctly. If you si mpl y want to
remove a folder from being referenced i n a Li brary, do not del ete i t - thi s wi ll del ete the ori gi nal fol der
and al l of i ts contents. To properl y remove a folder from a Li brary, ri ght-cli ck on that fol der and sel ect
'Remove l ocati on from l i brary'. Al ternati vel y, ri ght-cli ck on the Library, sel ect Properti es, highl ight the
fol der at the top of the box and cl i ck the Remove button, then cli ck Appl y.

To del ete an enti re Li brary, right-cli ck on a Li brary name under the mai n Li brari es category and select
Del ete. Thi s del etes the Li brary, but does not delete i ts contents - they are stil l stored i n thei r ori gi nal fol ders.
Al l you have done is del ete the vi rtual contai ner whi ch col lecti vely references those fi les and fol ders.

Changing Library Icons

The i cons used to represent vari ous Li braries can't be changed by defaul t. However you can change them if
you manually edi t the .XML defi ni ti on fil e for a Li brary. To do so, foll ow these steps:

1. Navi gate to the Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries di rectory.
2. In the ri ght pane, ri ght-cli ck on the Li brary whose properti es you wi sh to edi t and sel ect 'Open Wi th'.
3. If ei ther Notepad or Wordpad are availabl e, sel ect them here. Otherwi se sel ect 'Choose defaul t program'
and/or cli ck the Browse button and select Notepad or Wordpad i n the avail abl e li st. If none of these
methods work, see the Add Open wi th Notepad Context Menu Item ti p under the Advanced Features
secti on bel ow, and use that method.
4. Once open i n a text edi tor, l ook for the l i ne wi th the tags. If thi s li ne exists, the text
between these tags poi nts to the l ocati on of the i con to be used. In
most cases i t wi ll be a reference a l ocati on i n a defaul t Wi ndows i con storage fi le, l ike imageres.dll. Make a
note of i ts existi ng contents i n case you wi sh to undo thi s change.
5. If you can't find an l i ne, then manual l y i nsert one at the bottom of the fil e, one li ne
above the last </ l i br ar yDescr i pt i on> tag. Whether i t exi sts or not, the l i ne must l ook l i ke the
foll owi ng for thi s to work:

[ pat h t o val i d . i co f i l e] 

Where the path to the valid .ICO fi le shoul d be a full reference to where a custom i con defi niti on fil e
exi sts, e.g.:

C: \ user s\ user 1\ pi ct ur es\ f avi con. i co

6. Save the fi l e and the change wil l be i mplemented i mmedi atel y. To undo thi s change, si mpl y del ete the
 l i ne, or revert i t back to the content i t previ ousl y hel d.

To fi nd or create a val id i con fil e see the Icons secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for detai l s.

DISABLING LIBRARIES
In actual i ty there i s no proper user-based method to compl etel y di sabl e every el ement of Li brari es as they
are full y i ntegrated i nto the Wi ndows shell . However there i s a method whi ch si mpl y removes Li brari es
from vi ew i n the Navigati on Pane of Windows Expl orer, and i s covered under the Navigati on Pane secti on


120

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

earl i er i n thi s chapter. Whi l e not recommended, i t is relati vely safe to use because i t is easi ly undone, and
doesn't actuall y attempt to di sabl e Li brari es; i t si mpl y removes them from vi ew i n Wi ndows Expl orer, which
for most peopl e who di sl ike Li braries shoul d be suffi ci ent. They can stil l be accessed from the rel evant Start
Menu i tems and al so be found under the \Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
di rectory.

If you fi nd the defaul t Windows Expl orer behavi or of openi ng at the Li brari es category annoyi ng, you can
also customize thi s easi l y usi ng the Set Wi ndows Expl orer Startup Fol der ti p under the Advanced Features
secti on bel ow.

There i s however a method whi ch attempts to remove the i ntegrati on of Li brari es i nto Wi ndows through a
l arge number of Wi ndows Regi stry changes. Thi s i s a very risky method and does not take i nto account the
i mpact of future updates or changes i n Wi ndows whi ch wil l require the presence of such Regi stry entri es or
the Li brary functi onal i ty. Purel y for the sake of compl eteness I am i ncl udi ng thi s ti p, however gi ven the
l ength and compl exi ty of the procedure i nvol ved, parti cularly to undo the changes, this i s one of the few
i nstances i n thi s book where I provide downl oad l i nks to pre-made Registry fil es whi ch you can execute to
automati cal ly make the rel evant changes to your Regi stry and al so undo them i f needed:
Di sabl eLi brari es.zi p. I strongl y advi se agai nst performi ng thi s change. If you do proceed, at the very l east
use System Restore to create a new restore poi nt, and preferabl y also make a ful l system i mage backup as
wel l - see the Backup & Recovery chapter. Note that I do not support automated changes to the Regi stry
because they encourage peopl e to remai n i gnorant about how the Regi stry works, and gi ven the cri tical
i mportance of the Wi ndows Registry, i t is not wise to make changes to i t whi ch you do not understand.

One l ast point regardi ng Li brari es: whether desi rabl e or not, Microsoft has made i t cl ear that i t wants to
promote the use of Li braries by users and software devel opers al i ke. This means that many future
appl i cati ons designed for Wi ndows 7 are l ikely to l ink to the Li braries functi onali ty i n some way, such as by
savi ng fil es to the rel evant Li brary by defaul t i nstead of to a speci fic user fol der. As such, i t i s best to l earn to
l i ve wi th Li braries and take advantage of them. You don't have to acti vel y use them however, and you can
mi ni mize thei r presence, but I recommend agai nst mangli ng Wi ndows i n an attempt to remove thi s core
pi ece of Wi ndows 7 functi onal i ty, at the very l east because of the future software and Wi ndows update
compati bi li ty i mpli cati ons.

< DIRECTORY JUNCTIONS AND SYMBOLIC LINKS
If you di sable (unti ck) the 'Hide protected operating system files' opti on under the Vi ew tab i n Fol der
Opti ons as covered i n the Fol der Options secti on, you wi ll notice that a range of new directori es become
vi si bl e among your personal folders. That i s, under the \Users\[username]\ di rectory you wil l see addi ti onal
sub-di rectories such as \Application Data, \Cookies, \Local Settings, \NetHood and \Recent. Yet when you cl i ck
on them, you wil l get an access error. Thi s i s because they are not actual di rectori es and don't contain
anythi ng, they are Di rectory Juncti ons, al so cal l ed Juncti on Poi nts. These are redi recti on li nks whi ch poi nt to
another di rectory, and this i s also why they are denoted wi th a small shortcut arrow i n thei r i con.

Di rectory Juncti ons exi st pri mari ly for compati bi li ty purposes, so that when an appl i cati on not desi gned for
Wi ndows 7 attempts to put fi l es or folders under a non-existent di rectory under your personal fol ders, such
as the \Application Data directory for exampl e, the \Application Data juncti on automati call y sends the data to
the correct \AppData\Roaming directory i n Wi ndows 7. This all ows the appl i cati on's requi rements to be
satisfi ed, maintai ni ng i ts functi onal i ty wi thout any errors or user i nterventi on, whi l e placi ng the data i n the
correct l ocation for Wi ndows 7. To test a Di rectory Junction's functi onal i ty for yourself, ri ght-cli ck on an
exi sti ng fi l e anywhere on your system and sel ect copy, then ri ght-cl i ck on a Di rectory Juncti on and select
Paste - a copy of the fil e wi ll i nstantl y be pl aced i n the di rectory to whi ch the Juncti on poi nts to.

Under Wi ndows 7 the juncti ons under your personal fol ders poi nt to the fol l owing real di rectori es:


121

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Junction / Windows XP Directory Corresponding Windows 7 Directory

Appl i cati on Data \AppData\Roami ng
Cooki es \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Cooki es
Local Setti ngs \AppData\Local
My Documents \My Documents
My Documents\My Musi c \My Musi c
My Documents\My Pictures \My Pictures
My Documents\My Vi deos \My Vi deos
NetHood \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Network Shortcuts
Pri ntHood \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Pri nter Shortcuts
Recent \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Recent Items
SendTo \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\SendTo
Start Menu \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Start Menu
Templ ates \AppData\Roami ng\Mi crosoft\Wi ndows\Templ ates

The tabl e above i s parti cularly useful for Wi ndows XP users who may be confused as to where data
previ ousl y hel d under the personal folders i n XP now exi sts i n Wi ndows 7. For Vista users, the di rectori es
remai n the same, except you shoul d note that the Recent fol der has been renamed Recent Items i n Wi ndows 7.

A Di rectory Juncti on is actual l y part of a feature fi rst i ntroduced in Wi ndows Vista call ed Symbol i c Li nks. A
Symboli c Li nk i s li ke a shortcut, except a shortcut i s actuall y a type of fi le (.LNK), whereas a Symbol i c Li nk i s
not a fi le; i t i s a redi rection whi ch exists at the fi le system l evel i n the NTFS fi l e system. It can poi nt to
anywhere, whether a fil e, a di rectory, or even another dri ve.

You can rename or del ete Di rectory Juncti ons and other Symbol i c Li nks just l i ke any other fil e or fol der, but
to undertake advanced mani pulati on them, parti cularl y i f you wi sh to create a Symboli c Li nk of your own,
you must use the MKLi nk command. Open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and type MKLi nk / ? for a
full l ist of parameters.

For example to create a l i nk si mply cal led ReadMe i n your current di rectory li nki ng to the file Text.doc under
C:\Users\User1\Downloads\, open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and use the foll owi ng command:

MKLi nk ReadMe C: \ User s\ User 1\ Downl oads\ Text . doc

The Symboli c Li nk ReadMe wi ll be created under the exi sti ng directory i n whi ch the Command Prompt i s
poi nti ng to, denoted wi th a shortcut i con when vi ewed i n Wi ndows Expl orer. If you want to see where this
l i nk poi nts to, ri ght-cli ck on i t, sel ect Properti es and under the Shortcut tab cl i ck the 'Open fol der l ocati on'
button. You can also use the / J swi tch for the MKLi nk command to create a Directory Junction to l i nk to a
di rectory i nstead, e.g.:

MKLi nk Downl oads C: \ User s\ User 1\ Downl oads\ / J

Note that you can del ete a Symboli c Li nk and i t wi ll not del ete the fil e or fol der i t i s li nked to.

These features are not designed for the average user, they are more an i nternal mechanism for Wi ndows to
automati cal ly mai ntai n compati bi li ty wi th ol der appli cati ons and games, and general l y speaki ng you shoul d
not need to create or al ter Di rectory Juncti ons or Symbol i c Li nks unl ess troubleshooti ng a rel ated probl em.


122

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

< ADVANCED FEATURES
The foll owi ng are some sl ightl y more advanced features of Wi ndows Expl orer whi ch go beyond the
common functi onali ty, i ncludi ng ti ps and tweaks for maki ng Explorer easi er to use.

SET WINDOWS EXPLORER STARTUP FOLDER
If you usual ly open Wi ndows Expl orer from a shortcut, thi s procedure all ows you to set whi ch di rectory it
wi ll open i n when l aunched from that shortcut. By defaul t the exi sti ng shortcuts to Wi ndows Expl orer, such
as the folder icon i n the Taskbar, open Wi ndows Expl orer i n the Li brari es category. To al ter thi s behavi or for
Wi ndows Expl orer, do the foll owi ng:

1. To customize any existi ng Wi ndows Expl orer shortcut, ri ght-cl i ck on the shortcut and sel ect Properti es.
For the fol der i con i n the Taskbar, right-cl i ck on the i con, then right-cli ck agai n on the Wi ndows Expl orer
i tem i n the bottom secti on of the Jump Li st whi ch opens and sel ect Properti es.
2. To create a new custom shortcut to Wi ndows Expl orer Ri ght-cl i ck on an empty area of the Desktop and
sel ect New>Shortcut.
3. In ei ther case, i n the Location or Target box use the fol l owi ng:

%wi ndi r %\ expl or er . exe / e, [ pat h]

In pl ace of [ pat h] above you shoul d enter the actual path to the directory you want open by defaul t, e.g.
C:\User\User1\Downloads. The path does not requi re quote marks around i t, however make sure not to
forget the comma and si ngl e bl ank space after the / e swi tch and before the path. E.g.:

%wi ndi r %\ expl or er . exe / e, C: \ User s\ User 1\ Downl oads

If you omi t the path (i .e. no text i s entered after the / e, ), thi s wil l simpl y open Wi ndows Expl orer i n the
Computer category i nstead.
4. For exi sti ng shortcuts, cl ick the Appl y button; for a new shortcut, cl i ck Next, then name the shortcut
somethi ng appropri ate, li ke Wi ndows Expl orer, and cl i ck Fi ni sh.
5. Thi s shortcut can now be used to al ways open a Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow i n the di rectory speci fi ed.

Note however that i f the Taskbar i con i s al tered as above, other i nstances of Wi ndows Expl orer launched
from normal shortcuts wi ll be shown separatel y i n the Taskbar.

If at any ti me you quickly want to open Wi ndows Expl orer at any parti cular fol der on your system, go to
Start>Search Box and type (or paste) ei ther a parti al or full path of the fol der (wi thout quotes), then press
sel ect i t from the l i st shown i n the Start Menu. In the case of your defaul t Li brari es, si mpl y enter thei r name
i n Start>Search Box and press Enter - Windows Expl orer wil l open i n that Li brary.

MANIPULATE MULTIPLE FILES
If you have a range of fi l es you want to mani pulate together - e.g. move, copy, rename, change the properti es
of all of them - you can do so rapi dl y i n Wi ndows Expl orer by doing the fol l owi ng:

Hi ghl i ght the group of fil es you want to mani pulate in one of three ways:

Hol d down the SHIFT key and cli ck on the fi rst fi le in the group, then whi l e stil l hol di ng down SHIFT,
cl i ck on the l ast fil e i n the group and everythi ng i n between wil l al so be hi ghl ighted.
Hol d down the CTRL key and cli ck on any i ndi vi dual fi les you want to sel ect unti l all the fil es you want
to sel ect are hi ghli ghted.


123

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Under the Fol der Opti ons component of Wi ndows Control Panel enabl e the 'Use check boxes to sel ect
i tems' opti on under the View tab, then sel ect fi l es usi ng the check boxes whi ch appear when you hover
your mouse cursor over them, or all fil es i n a column by ti cki ng the check box at the top of the column.

You can al so combi ne these methods, e.g. SHIFT sel ect a large range of fil es, then use CTRL or the check box
method to add or remove indi vi dual fil es to or from the al ready highl ighted ones.

Wi thout cl i cki ng anywhere el se, you can now:

Drag and drop these fi les to move them.
Hol d down CTRL whi l e draggi ng and droppi ng to copy them.
Hol d down ALT whi le draggi ng and droppi ng to create shortcut links to them.
Ri ght-cli ck on the fi rst fi l e you want to mani pulate and sel ect Rename, Copy, Del ete, Properti es or any
other avail able opti ons.

If you choose to rename the fi l es, al l the hi ghl ighted fi l es wil l be renamed wi th the same name you gave the
fi rst fil e, however they wil l also be automati cal ly assigned a number i n brackets at the end of thei r fi l ename.
For example, i f you rename the fi rst in a seri es of hi ghli ghted photo fi l es SummerHoliday.jpg, the remaini ng
hi ghli ghted fil es wi ll automati cal ly be renamed SummerHoliday (1).jpg, SummerHoliday (2).jpg, and so on.

EXPLORER RESTART SUBSTITUTE FOR REBOOT
There i s a method of doi ng a reboot of the Expl orer process as a substi tute for havi ng to do a full restart of
Windows under certai n ci rcumstances. Thi s i s done as fol l ows:

1. Cl ose all open i nstances of Wi ndows Expl orer.
2. Open Task Manager - see the Task Manager secti on of Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng
chapter.
3. Under the Processes tab right-cl ick on the Explorer.exe process and sel ect 'End Process' - do thi s for every
i nstance. Confi rm the End Process prompt. Parts of the Taskbar and screen wil l go blank.
4. Sti ll i n Task Manager, go to the Fil e menu and sel ect 'New Task (Run...)'.
5. Type expl orer i n the box whi ch opens and press Enter. Expl orer wi l l be reloaded and the i nterface
should return to normal .

Thi s method can hel p resolve probl ems wi th the Wi ndows i nterface showi ng glitches or bei ng unresponsive,
or if a parti cular fil e or program i s not respondi ng. Furthermore i f you've i mpl emented a Regi stry change
then restarti ng Expl orer wil l often i mplement the change wi thout havi ng to reboot or l ogoff and l ogon agai n.
However thi s method does not repl ace the need to reboot i n most other ci rcumstances such as duri ng the
i nstal lati on of dri vers, or after seri ous errors. Furthermore i f your i nterface is constantl y showi ng gli tches,
thi s is a si gn of a probl em that you shoul d resol ve, as i t i s not normal.

DUAL WINDOW EXPLORER VIEW
If you want to undertake more compl ex fil e copyi ng/movi ng between vari ous fol ders/dri ves on your system,
Wi ndows Expl orer can be combi ned with Wi ndows 7's new Aero Snap feature - covered i n detail under the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter - to provi de a more effi cient method of util izi ng the Expl orer i nterface. Foll ow
these steps:

1. Fi rst open two separate i nstances of Windows Expl orer. A qui ck way to do thi s is to l eft-cli ck on the
fol der i con i n Taskbar once to open the first i nstance, then mi ddl e-cli ck on the folder i con again.
2. Now drag one Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow to the far l eft of the screen until Aero Snap automati call y
resizes i t to fil l exactly half the screen.


124

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

3. Drag the second Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow to the far ri ght of the screen unti l Aero Snap resizes i t to fi ll
half of the ri ght si de of the screen.
4. A qui cker way of doi ng Steps 2 - 3 above i s to onl y have two Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndows open on your
Desktop, then ri ght-cl ick on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect 'Show wi ndows si de by si de'.
5. You now have two separate Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndows, i n effect si mulating a dual-window fil e
manager i nterface. You can choose the source di rectory i n the l eft wi ndow, and i n the ri ght wi ndow you
can sel ect a desti nation di rectory.
6. To qui ckl y move fi l es between the Expl orer wi ndows, select the rel evant fi l e(s) and drag and drop
between the open wi ndows. To copy fi les i nstead of movi ng them, hol d down the CTRL key while
draggi ng and droppi ng.

When you're done, cl ose one Expl orer wi ndow, then grab and flick the other one back towards the center of
the screen - it wi l l resi ze to i ts defaul t size and l ocati on. Al ternati vely you can just cl ose both Expl orer
wi ndows and the next ti me you open Windows Expl orer i t wi ll open wi th i ts defaul t si ze and l ocati on i ntact.

CUSTOMIZE FOLDER ICONS & FOLDER PICTURES
By defaul t, most fol ders i n Wi ndows use an i mage of an open yellow fol der as thei r i con - thi s is cal l ed the
Fol der Icon. Often another smal l er i mage i s also di spl ayed wi thin the Fol der Icon, representi ng the type of
data stored in that fol der - thi s i s call ed the Fol der Pi cture. Both of these can be customi zed by fol l owing
these steps:

1. Open Wi ndows Expl orer and navi gate to the fol der you wi sh to customize. Go to the full path found
under the Computer category i n the Navi gati on Pane, parti cularly if customi zi ng a personal fol der,
because the shortcuts to the personal folders found under i n the user category of the Navi gation Pane do
not di splay all the customizati on opti ons we need.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on the folder in questi on and sel ect Properti es.
3. Under the Customi ze tab, you can choose to change the Folder Pi cture and/or Fol der Icon.
4. To change a Fol der Pi cture - whi ch i s the pi cture that appears withi n the Fol der Icon i mage of an open
yel l ow folder - cl i ck the 'Choose Fil e' button and navigate to a val id fil e. Most standard pi cture and i con
formats are supported. Highl ight the appropri ate file and cl i ck Open to sel ect i t, then cl i ck the Appl y
button. To undo thi s change at any ti me, come back here and cli ck the 'Restore Defaul t' button, then cl i ck
Appl y.
5. To change the Fol der Icon - whi ch i s the actual i con used to represent the enti re fol der (and whi ch can
overri de the Fol der Pi cture) - cl i ck the 'Change Icon' button and either sel ect another standard Wi ndows
i con, or Browse to another l ocati on wi th a val i d i con stored i n a .DLL, .EXE or .ICO fi l e format. To undo
thi s change at any ti me, come back here, cli ck the 'Change Icon' button, then cl i ck the 'Restore Defaul ts'
button, and cli ck Appl y.

The i con or pi cture you've sel ected shoul d be appli ed i mmediately and vi si bl e in Wi ndows Expl orer. If the
fol der i s al so l i nked to the Start Menu, your new Folder Icon wi l l also appear at the top of the Start Menu
when the rel evant Start Menu i tem i s highl ighted - e.g. if you change the Fol der Icon for the \My Documents
personal folder, then i t wi l l appear whenever you select Documents from the Start Menu. Indeed wherever
your folder i s referenced wi th an i con, the i con shoul d have changed. Note that if you del ete an ori gi nal .ICO
i con fil e you poi nted to i n Step 5 above, the customi zati on wil l be lost. Al so, i t i s recommended that you use
proper scalabl e i cons so that the Folder Icon does not appear pi xelated at hi gher resol uti ons and sizes - for
exampl e there are a range of proper Windows i cons you can vi ew and use i n the Imageres.dll and Shell32.dll
fi les found under the \Windows\System32 di rectory.

Note that i f the i cons you've appl i ed don't appear to be worki ng, fi rst cl ose and reopen Wi ndows Explorer
and check agai n, then use the Repai r Incorrectl y Displ ayed Icons ti p found under the Icons secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter to rebuil d the Icon cache.


125

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

For full detail s of Wi ndows i con creati on and customi zati on, see the Icons section of the Graphi cs & Sound
chapter.

EXPANDED CONTEXT MENUS
A context menu is the smal l menu whi ch pops up when you right-cl i ck on vari ous components, such as a
fi le, fol der or i con, whether i n Expl orer-based views or on your Desktop. If you want to vi ew an 'expanded'
context menu for a parti cular i tem, hol d down the SHIFT key whil e ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t. You'll see addi tional
opti ons such as 'Pi n to Start Menu' and 'Copy as Path', or other opti ons dependi ng on the parti cul ar fil e,
fol der or desktop i con. Interesti ngl y, the 'Send To' context menu i tem al so has a range of addi ti onal options
when usi ng the SHIFT ri ght-cl i ck method - typi call y your personal fol ders wi ll be shown al ong wi th the
standard i tems i n Send To.

EDIT CONTEXT MENUS
When you ri ght-cl i ck your mouse button on any l ocation you wil l see a range of context menu entri es. As the
name i mpli es, the entri es are dependent on the context i n whi ch the ri ght-cl i ck was used, whether i t was on
a fi l e, fol der, an empty l ocati on on the Desktop, and so forth. Unfortunately some of the entri es i n the context
menu have been unnecessaril y i nserted by programs you have i nstall ed, and you may wi sh to remove these.

The first step i n getti ng rid of any unwanted entries i nvol ves openi ng the programs to whi ch the entri es
relate and l ooki ng through the program's opti ons to see if you can unsel ect any 'shell i ntegration' or 'context
menu' setti ngs they have. If that doesn't work or i s not possi bl e, you can use several other methods to fi nd
and remove these entri es. Before making any changes to your context menus, make sure to use System
Restore to create a new restore poi nt, as some of these changes cannot be easil y undone.

Autoruns

The free Autoruns startup i denti fi cation uti li ty can be used in a rel ati vely strai ghtforward manner to
temporaril y di sabl e or permanentl y remove context menu entri es. For our purposes l ook under the Expl orer
tab of Autoruns - the majori ty of the entri es wil l be context menu entri es of one type or another. The
Descri pti on, Publi sher and Image Path col umns shoul d provide suffi ci ent informati on to i denti fy whi ch
Autorun entri es relate to whi ch parti cular context menu i tems. Unti ck any you wish to temporaril y di sabl e,
then cl ose Autoruns, reboot and check to see i f the undesi rabl e context menu entries are gone. To
permanentl y remove an i tem, right-cli ck on i t and select Del ete. For full detail s of how to use Autoruns, see
the Startup Programs chapter.

ShellMenuView

The free Shel lMenuVi ew uti l i ty is an automated tool whi ch di splays all stati c context menu i tems. Downl oad
and run the shmnview.exe fi l e to launch the uti l i ty - no i nstal lati on i s required. The i nterface i s confusi ng at
fi rst, but keep i n mi nd that most standard Wi ndows entri es are not bei ng di splayed as l ong as the 'Hi de
standard menu i tems' opti on i s ti cked under the Opti ons menu, so the bul k of these entri es relate to thi rd
party programs.

Each entry under the 'Menu Name' column i s preci sel y that, the name of a menu entry i n one of the context
menus on your system. To determi ne whi ch entries appl y to whi ch parti cular appli cati ons, expand the
col umns and l ook under the 'Fil e Type' col umn - the associated appl i cati ons for each menu entry are shown.
Hi ghl i ght the entri es you bel i eve you wi sh to remove, ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect 'Di sabl e sel ected i tems', and
check to see if thi s removes the rel evant entri es from your context menu. If not, you can easily undo thi s by
hi ghli ghti ng the same entries, ri ght-cli cki ng and sel ecti ng 'Enabl e sel ected i tems'. Note al so that i f you can't
di sabl e an i tem properl y, cl ose the program, right-cl i ck on the shmnview.exe fi le and sel ect 'Run as
Admi nistrator' to launch i t agai n wi th ful l Admi ni strator pri vi leges.


126

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

ShellExView

Some context menu entri es are not stati c, they enabl e addi ti onal functi onal i ty whi ch makes them a shell
extensi on. You can use the free Shel l ExVi ew util i ty, whi ch is si mil ar to Shel lMenuVi ew, to vi ew and adjust
these. Download and run the shexview.exe fi le to launch the uti li ty - no i nstal lation i s requi red. The i nterface
i s once agai n sli ghtl y confusi ng at fi rst, however non-Wi ndows shel l extensi ons are highlighted i n pi nk by
defaul t, as l ong as the 'Mark non-Mi crosoft extensi ons' opti on i s ti cked under the Opti ons menu. Ri ght-click
on any extensi on you wi sh to disabl e and sel ect 'Di sabl e sel ected i tems'. Test to see if thi s di sabl es the i tem,
however you wi ll li kel y have to reboot to see the i mpact of the changes. Note also that if you can't disabl e an
i tem properl y, cl ose the program, ri ght-cl i ck on the shexview.exe fi l e and select 'Run as Admi ni strator' to
l aunch i t again wi th full Admi ni strator pri vi leges.

Windows Registry

The uti l i ti es above are recommended for most users as they are automated and provi de safeguards to more
easi ly undo changes. However if you wi sh to manual l y (and hence permanentl y) remove context menu
entri es vi a the Wi ndows Regi stry, l ook under the fol lowi ng l ocati ons usi ng the Regi stry Edi tor:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Al l Fi l esyst emObj ect s\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ Backgr ound\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Dr i ve\ shel l ]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Dr i ve\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Fol der \ shel l ]
[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Fol der \ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]

The subfol ders above are l ocati ons which hol d most context menu entri es i n Wi ndows. Under each, asi de
from standard Wi ndows items such as Shar i ng or Of f l i ne Fi l es, you may fi nd keys or val ues whi ch
relate to parti cul ar thi rd party programs. Right-cli cking on the relevant program key and sel ecti ng Delete
wi ll remove its context menu entries. In most cases as you remove unwanted program entries, you can test
the effects i mmedi atel y by checki ng to see if the rel evant entry was removed from the context menu. In some
cases - mai nly wi th shell extensi ons - you may need to reboot to see the effects. There i s no Undo functi on in
Regi stry Edi tor, so make sure to back up the rel evant branch before edi ti ng i t. See the Wi ndows Regi stry
chapter for ful l detai l s of Regi stry edi ti ng i nstructi ons.

EDIT 'OPEN WITH' CONTEXT MENU
Whenever you open a parti cular type of fil e wi th a program, i t wi ll usual ly be added to the 'Open With'
context menu for that file type. To edi t the programs whi ch are i ncluded in thi s l i st for a parti cular fi le
extensi on, fi rst open the fol l owi ng l ocation i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er \ Fi l eExt s]

Here you can sel ect the relevant fil e extensi on from the l ist of subfol ders shown. For exampl e to edi t the .AVI
vi deo fi l e extensi on, go to the . avi key here, then sel ect the OpenWi t hLi st key under i t, and i n the ri ght
pane you wi ll see a l ist of STRING entri es such as the ones bel ow:

a=wmpl ayer . exe
b=Vi r t ual Dub. exe

Each val ue corresponds wi th a parti cular program whi ch i s shown as an entry i n the 'Open Wi th' context
menu for that parti cular fil e extensi on. Ri ght-cli ck on val ues for the program(s) you wish to remove and
sel ect Del ete, and they wil l be i mmediatel y removed from the rel evant 'Open Wi th' context menu.


127

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

EDIT 'SEND TO' CONTEXT MENU
When you right-cl ick on most fil es or i cons, you wil l see a 'Send To' context menu i tem whi ch has further
opti ons to sel ect. Typi cally you wi ll see opti ons li ke sendi ng the fil e to the Desktop (as a shortcut), or a
Compressed fol der, or to a Li brary. You can edi t the opti ons whi ch appear i n the 'Send To' context menu by
goi ng to the fol l owi ng fol der:

\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

To remove any i tem from the 'Send To' context menu, si mpl y delete i t from this fol der, or preferably move it
to another folder to keep as a backup. To add a new 'Send To' i tem, such as a new fol der or program, si mpl y
copy i ts shortcut i nto thi s fol der.

ADD 'COPY TO' AND 'MOVE TO' CONTEXT MENU ITEMS
If you want to add two useful commands to your context menus - namel y 'Copy To' and 'Move To', then go
to the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Al l Fi l eSyst emObj ect s\ shel l ex\ Cont ext MenuHandl er s]

Copy To= {C2FBB630- 2971- 11d1- A18C- 00C04FD75D13}
Move To= {C2FBB631- 2971- 11d1- A18C- 00C04FD75D13}

To add one or both of these i tems to your context menu, create a new key under the
Cont ext MenuHandl er s fol der - that i s, ri ght-cl ick on the Cont ext MenuHandl er s subfol der, sel ect
New>Key, and name i t Copy To or Move To as desi red. Then left-cl i ck once on thi s new key, go to the right
pane i n Regi stry Edi tor and doubl e-cli ck on the ( Def aul t ) entry and assi gn the appropri ate val ue data as
shown above, i ncl udi ng the parentheses around the numbers. This wi ll create a new context menu entry that
all ows you to sel ect ei ther 'Copy To Folder...' or 'Move To Fol der...' i n the context menu for a parti cul ar fil e
or fol der and then speci fy the l ocati on to copy or move them to. Repeat these steps to create the other entry if
you wi sh to have both on your context menu. To remove ei ther of these entries si mply delete the rel evant
subfol der i n Regi stry Edi tor.

ADD 'OPEN WITH NOTEPAD' CONTEXT MENU ITEM
If you want to qui ckl y open any fi l e using Notepad, you can add a new 'Open wi th Notepad' context menu
i tem by goi ng to the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ ]

Ri ght-cli ck on the subfol der above, select New>Key and cal l i t Open wi t h Not epad. Then ri ght-cli ck on
thi s new key, select New>Key agai n to create a new key under i t cal l ed command, wi th the fi nal resul t
l ooki ng li ke thi s:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ Open wi t h Not epad\ command]

Sel ect the command subfol der and i n the ri ght pane, doubl e-cli ck on the ( Def aul t ) entry and enter the
foll owi ng value data exactly as shown:

not epad. exe %1

Now whenever you ri ght-cl i ck on any file i t wil l have a new context menu entry call ed 'Open wi th Notepad',
whi ch when sel ected opens that fil e i nstantl y i n Notepad. To remove thi s context menu entry si mpl y delete
the Open wi t h Not epad subfol der.


128

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

INCREASE MENU DISPLAY SPEED
You may wi sh to al ter the speed wi th whi ch certai n menus open i n Wi ndows, such as sub-menus under
context menus, or the All Programs i tem on the Start Menu. By defaul t Wi ndows wai ts just under hal f a
second before openi ng a menu, to prevent acci dental openi ng of menus. You can adjust thi s del ay by goi ng
to the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Cont r ol Panel \ Deskt op]

MenuShowDel ay=400

The defaul t delay i s 400 mi l li seconds (1000 mi ll iseconds = 1 second). You can l ower this value to i ncrease
menu responsi veness. You wi ll need to restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon to see the i mpact of thi s change.

Note that the speed wi th whi ch many menu-l i ke features are opened, such as Thumbnail Previ ew wi ndows
i n the Taskbar, are based on other setti ngs - see the Taskbar secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for a
method of alteri ng this. Al so see the Personal izati on secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for Visual
Effects setti ngs whi ch can di sabl e vari ous ani mati on effects and thus further i ncrease responsi veness.
Fi nal ly, al so refer to the Wi ndows Aero secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for detai ls of how to
customize the Aero Peek responsi veness speed.

FIX CHANGING FOLDER VIEWS
Thi s i s an i ssue which fi rst came to promi nence i n Windows Vi sta, but can stil l occur i n Windows 7, al bei t it
i s l ess li kel y to occur i f you set your fol der vi ews correctl y as covered under the Fol der Views secti on earl ier
i n thi s chapter. If your fol der vi ews i n Expl orer-based i nterfaces are constantl y bei ng changed or shown
i ncorrectly, even after you have foll owed the i nstructi ons i n the Folder Views secti on of thi s book, then
foll ow these instructi ons to fi x thi s i ssue permanentl y. Go to the fol lowi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Cl asses\ Local Set t i ngs\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \
Wi ndows\ Shel l \ Bags]

Wi ndows\ Shel l \ BagMRU]

Ri ght-cli ck on the Bags subfolder i n the l eft pane and sel ect Del ete, then do the same thi ng for BagMRU. Thi s
wi ll remove most exi sti ng customizati ons for thi ngs li ke wi ndow si zes, posi ti ons and vi ews. Whi le stil l i n the
same pl ace i n the Regi stry Edi tor, you wi ll need to manuall y recreate one of these keys wi th a new setting.
Ri ght-cli ck on the foll owing subfolder i n the left pane:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Cl asses\ Local
Set t i ngs\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Shel l ]

Create a new key call ed Bags to repl ace the one you just del eted. Ri ght-cli ck on Bags, sel ect New>Key and
name thi s new key Al l Fol der s. Right-cl i ck on Al l Fol der s, sel ect New>Key and name thi s new key
Shel l . The end resul t shoul d l ook li ke thi s i n Regi stry Edi tor:

Wi ndows\ Shel l \ Bags\ Al l Fol der s\ Shel l ]

Now l eft-cli ck on the l ast Shel l key and i n the ri ght pane ri ght-cl i ck i n an empty area and select
New>Stri ng Val ue. Name thi s new val ue Fol der Type and once created, doubl e-cl i ck on i t and i n the Val ue
Data box enter Not Speci f i ed.

These steps wi ll reset your fol der vi ews such that they can be customi zed again usi ng the i nstructi ons under
the Fol der Views secti on of thi s chapter, thi s ti me wi thout bei ng changed once you've adjusted them.


129

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

There i s one l ast step whi ch can help ensure these setti ngs remai n fi xed: i ncreasi ng the number of
customized fol der vi ews Wi ndows can hol d. To do thi s, go to the foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

Set t i ngs\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Shel l ]

Left-cl i ck on the Shel l key and i n the ri ght pane, if you can see BagMRU Si ze then there i s no need to
undertake this step. If i t i sn't there however, ri ght-click and sel ect New>DWORD 32-bi t Value and name it
BagMRU Si ze. Now set thi s value to 10000 i n Deci mal vi ew.

The above steps shoul d ensure that your fol der views don't change agai n wi thout you changi ng them
manuall y. However i f you sti ll fi nd your fol der vi ews resetti ng or changi ng every once i n a whi l e even after
foll owi ng the steps above, i t i ndi cates that you may have data corrupti on issues (e.g. faul ty or overcl ocked
RAM or CPU), or a parti cul ar program you have i nstal l ed i s constantl y i nterferi ng wi th Expl orer-based
vi ews i n the Wi ndows i nterface.

Wi ndows Expl orer is an important component of Wi ndows, not onl y because i t i s used so often, but also
because i t i s the basi s for many Wi ndows and non-Wi ndows utili ti es. I recommend exercisi ng great cauti on
when customi zi ng or al teri ng Wi ndows Expl orer beyond the detai ls provi ded i n thi s chapter. Addi ng a
range of thi rd party enhancements to Expl orer, or install i ng programs whi ch automati cal ly do the same, can
make Wi ndows Expl orer more prone to crashi ng, freezi ng and general l y bei ng l ess conveni ent to use.


130

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

WINDOWS DRIVERS

Devi ce dri vers are the software that i s necessary to give i nstructi ons to your hardware. Graphi cs dri vers for
exampl e tel l your graphi cs hardware what to do in vari ous si tuati ons, such as duri ng 3D games or when
di splayi ng the Wi ndows Desktop. Windows 7 comes wi th buil t-i n dri ver support for virtuall y any type of
common computer hardware, and hence most of your hardware wi ll operate i n Wi ndows even wi thout
i nstal li ng addi ti onal dri vers. However the bui l t-i n Wi ndows drivers are not opti mal and do not guarantee
that you wi ll get full effi ci ent functi onali ty out of your hardware. Thus wherever possi ble you need to
downl oad, i nstall and confi gure the latest avai lable Wi ndows 7-speci fi c device dri vers for your hardware to
make sure your enti re system performs opti mall y, with full functi onali ty and maxi mum stabil ity.

Wi ndows 7 is based on much the same dri ver model used i n Windows Vista, whi ch attempts to make the
i nstal lati on and usage of devi ce dri vers much si mpler, more secure and l ess l ikel y to cause cri ti cal system-
wi de i nstabi lity. Thi s is because much of the dri ver i s not i nvol ved wi th the Kernel - the core software of
Wi ndow - and thus i f a devi ce or driver mal functions then usuall y the system state can be restored by
restarti ng the dri ver rather than rebooti ng the enti re system. Thi s model also all ows for better shari ng of
resources, maki ng i t easi er to genui nel y mul ti task wi thout runni ng i nto seri ous probl ems.

Wi ndows 7 also i mproves dri ver compati bi l i ty, whi ch makes fi nding the ri ght dri vers for your devi ces much
easi er. However there are a range of i mportant considerati ons when i nstall i ng and configuring dri vers, and
thi s chapter runs through these i n detail .

< DRIVER COMPATIBILITY
Wi ndows 7 provi des i mproved dri ver compati bi li ty because i t i s based on the same dri ver archi tecture as
Wi ndows Vista. Thi s means that any hardware whi ch ran under Wi ndows Vista i s extremel y l ikely to
functi on correctl y under Wi ndows 7. Even i f the hardware manufacturer does not provi de Wi ndows 7
dri vers for a devi ce, you can use a dri ver desi gned for Vi sta under Wi ndows 7. For some devi ces, such as
pri nters for exampl e, you may even be abl e to use Wi ndows XP dri vers under Wi ndows 7.

For a range of reasons you may have diffi cul ty i n fi ndi ng and i nstall i ng compati bl e dri vers for your devi ce
i n Wi ndows 7. See the i nformati on bel ow for assistance.

FINDING COMPATIBLE DRIVERS
Ideall y before i nstall i ng Windows 7 you should have checked your hardware's compati bi li ty wi th Windows
7 - see the start of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter for l i nks to appropri ate resources to do so. Whi le
Wi ndows 7 supports a wide range of hardware, certai n hardware that i s ol der or l ess common may not be
compl etel y compati bl e with Wi ndows 7. You should also check your hardware manufacturer's websi te for
the l atest compati bi li ty detai ls. The Dri ver Instal lation secti on further bel ow provi des l i nks to some of the
manufacturer support si tes for your major hardware components, but you can al so fi nd your device
manufacturer's si te by checki ng the packagi ng or i nstructi on manual s for the devi ce, or searchi ng Googl e
usi ng the model name and number. Check to see i f there are any Wi ndows 7 drivers for your devi ce, or if the
manufacturer has made any announcements regardi ng provi di ng support for Wi ndows 7. Some
manufacturers have made it cl ear that they wil l not be provi di ng up-to-date support for older or superseded
hardware, i n whi ch case you need to l ook for rel evant Wi ndows Vista dri vers to use i n Wi ndows 7. If you
sti ll can't fi nd a sui tabl e dri ver there, check any di scs whi ch came wi th the devi ce to see i f they hol d
appropriate Wi ndows 7 or Vi sta dri vers you can attempt to use.


131

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

If no Vista or Wi ndows 7 dri ver i s avail abl e for your devi ce, then you can use Windows Update to search for
any new or updated Wi ndows 7-compati bl e dri vers for your devi ce. See the Wi ndows Update secti on
further bel ow for detail s. You can al so manuall y search for dri vers usi ng the Mi crosoft Update Catal og. Once
at the Catal og si te, you can type i n part or al l of your hardware's brand and model number to see a ful l l i st of
Mi crosoft certi fi ed dri vers avai lable for i t. Note that you can sort by vari ous col umns; e.g. cl i ck the 'Last
Updated' column to sort the l i st so that the most recent dri vers are shown fi rst. Add any drivers you wi sh to
downl oad, then cli ck the 'Vi ew Basket' l i nk at the top ri ght and then cli ck the Downl oad button to obtai n the
dri ver for free.

If no appropri ate dri ver is avai labl e at all , then you can attempt to force Wi ndows to use a generi c Wi ndows
dri ver for a si mi lar devi ce, as covered under the Devi ce Manager secti on of the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter. If that fail s, then you must si mpl y wai t for one to become avail able, whether from
your manufacturer, or from Mi crosoft vi a Wi ndows Update. Wi thout a sui table dri ver, most devi ces si mpl y
wi ll not functi on correctl y - i t is a necessary pi ece of software for whi ch there i s no substi tute.

DRIVER INSTALLATION DIFFICULTIES
If you fi nd what you beli eve i s an appropri ate dri ver for the device, and i t is from a trusted source, you may
sti ll have diffi cul ti es i nstal l i ng i t due to general compati bi li ty i ssues. If thi s i s the case, try al l of the
foll owi ng:

Ri ght-cli ck on the dri ver package and sel ect 'Run as admi ni strator' to ensure i t i s properly assigned full
Admi nistrator ri ghts.
Ri ght-cli ck on the dri ver package, sel ect Properti es, and at the bottom of the General tab cl i ck the
Unbl ock button (if i t exi sts) and cl i ck Appl y to overri de any potenti al securi ty bl ocks Windows has
pl aced on the fil e due to i t comi ng from an outsi de source.
Ri ght-cli ck on the dri ver package, select Properti es, and check under the Di gi tal Si gnatures tab for more
detail s of whether i t is a signed dri ver - see the Dri ver Si gnature secti on further bel ow for detail s.
Ri ght-cli ck on the dri ver package, sel ect Properti es, and under the Compati bi l i ty tab ti ck the 'Run thi s
program i n compati bi li ty mode for' box and set i t for 'Wi ndows Vi sta' - this i s parti cularly useful for
attempti ng to i nstal l Vi sta dri vers on Wi ndows 7. You may al so need to then l aunch the dri ver
i nstal lati on usi ng 'Run as Admi nistrator' to ensure proper i nstallati on i n compati bi l i ty mode.

If none these steps resol ve the probl em, check the i nformati on i n the rest of this chapter for other methods of
manuall y i nstal li ng a dri ver. Al so check the BIOS & Hardware Management as wel l as the Performance
Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapters for detail s of how to troubl eshoot a probl emati c devi ce.

64-BIT COMPATIBILITY
A cri ti cal compati bi li ty i ssue for any Wi ndows 7 user i s the fact that you cannot i nstall drivers desi gned for
the 32-bi t versi on of Wi ndows 7 or Vi sta on a 64-bi t install ation of Wi ndows 7, or vi ce versa. Thi s means that
i f you i ntend to use Windows 7 64-bi t, then you shoul d check to make sure that there are appropri ate 64-bi t
dri vers for al l of your key hardware components. There is no way to get around thi s requi rement.

In the absence of proper 64-bi t dri vers for your devi ce, you can use the bui l t-i n Wi ndows drivers and hope
that a si gned 64-bi t dri ver i s rel eased for your devi ce vi a Wi ndows Update. This may be fi ne as l ong as the
devi ce i s not a key hardware component l i ke your graphi cs card for example, otherwi se i t may not function
correctl y. Be aware that i n some cases the hardware manufacturer may deci de to never rel ease 64-bi t
compati bl e dri vers for ol der, superseded or l ess popular hardware, so I strongl y recommend checki ng the
avai labil i ty of 64-bi t dri vers for your hardware usi ng the procedures further above before deci di ng to use
Wi ndows 7 64-bi t.


132

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

< DRIVER SIGNATURE
When a device dri ver is install ed, i t effecti vel y becomes a part of the operati ng system and has unrestri cted
access to much of the computer. Thi s means i t's i mportant to onl y i nstall dri vers you are famil iar wi th and
whi ch are from a reputabl e source, such as di rectl y from the company whi ch manufactured the hardware for
whi ch the driver i s i ntended. To ensure that the dri vers you are i nstal li ng are l egi ti mate and have not been
tampered wi th to i ncl ude mal ware for exampl e, Windows 7 prefers the i nstall ati on of Signed Dri vers. A
si gned dri ver has a val id di gi tal si gnature whi ch i ndicates that the publ isher of the dri ver is who they cl aim
to be, and that the contents of the dri ver package has not been al tered i n any way after the dri vers were
si gned.

Most si gned dri vers carry Wi ndows Hardware Qual ity Labs (WHQL) certi fi cati on, meani ng they have been
tested and digi tal l y signed by Mi crosoft. A Wi ndows 7 WHQL certi fi ed dri ver i s desirabl e, as i t i ndi cates
that the dri ver has been tested to be both secure and compati bl e wi th Wi ndows 7, and shoul d be rel ati vely
probl em-free. However WHQL certificati on does not necessaril y guarantee flawl ess operati on. Furthermore,
a dri ver does not have to be WHQL certi fi ed to be di gi tall y si gned, nor does a lack of WHQL certi fi cation
i ndi cate that the dri ver is probl emati c or i nsecure. It is si mply preferabl e that a dri ver be WHQL certifi ed.

SIGNATURE WARNINGS
If a dri ver has a val i d di gital si gnature then Windows wil l i nstall i t wi thout any warni ngs. However i f you
attempt to i nstall a dri ver whi ch is unsigned or appears to have been al tered after bei ng si gned, Wi ndows 7
wi ll hal t i nstal lati on and prompt you i n one of the fol lowi ng ways:

Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software: Thi s means the dri ver is unsigned or the si gnature
cannot be veri fied. You shoul d onl y i nstal l such dri vers i f you have obtai ned them for a trusted source. In
most cases thi s shoul d be di rect from the hardware manufacturer's si te. If you are not compl etel y sure of the
trustworthi ness of the source, do further research before i nstall i ng the dri ver.

This driver hasn't been signed: This means the dri ver hasn't been digital ly si gned by a veri fi ed publ isher, or the
dri ver package has been al tered after bei ng si gned. It could be a custom modi fied dri ver, in whi ch case i f
you are aware of the ri sks and are downl oadi ng i t from a si te you trust, you can proceed. If you downl oaded
i t from an untrusted or unfami li ar source, such as through peer to peer or a generi c fil e hosti ng si te, then I
recommend agai nst i nstall ing the dri ver as there's a reasonabl e chance that i t contai ns mal ware or coul d be
probl emati c. If you downloaded i t from a hardware manufacturer, i t shoul d be safe to i nstal l but i t i s sti l l
wi se to do further research and seek user feedback before i nstall i ng thi s dri ver, as i t coul d be probl emati c.

Windows requires a digitally signed driver: In Wi ndows 7 64-bi t if you see this message you will not be all owed
to i nstall the dri ver, as i t does not have a val i d di gi tal si gnature. Thi s is because 64-bi t versi ons of Wi ndows 7
contai n a feature cal l ed Kernel Patch Protecti on (also known as PatchGuard), fi rst i ntroduced i n Wi ndows
Vista. PatchGuard is designed to protect the system Kernel even further - see the Kernel Patch Protecti on
secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s. However there i s a way around thi s l i mi tati on if you absolutely
must i nstal l an unsigned dri ver. Detail ed i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e, i t i nvol ves restarti ng your PC and duri ng
bootup conti nual l y pressing the F8 key unti l you come to the Advanced Boot Opti ons screen, where you can
sel ect the 'Disabl e Dri ver Signature Enforcement' option to prevent signature checks throughout the current
sessi on. You wi ll need to do thi s at every restart though, otherwise any unsigned dri ver(s) wi ll not l oad up
wi th Wi ndows. Note that Mi crosoft consi stently patches Wi ndows to disable or prevent other methods of
ci rcumventi ng thi s signature check on 64-bi t Windows, because they are consi dered securi ty hol es.


133

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

SIGNATURE VERIFICATION
If your system i s sufferi ng from problems and general i nstabi li ty, i t mi ght be a good i dea to check to see
preci sel y how many unsigned dri vers you have on your system, and perhaps uni nstall the ones whi ch are
l east trustworthy for troubl eshooti ng purposes. The Fi l e Si gnature Veri fi cation uti l i ty is a si mple built-i n
Wi ndows tool for qui ckly checki ng the status of dri vers. Go to Start>Search Box, type sigverif and press
Enter. In the di al og box whi ch opens, cli ck the Start button and i t wi ll scan your system and display all the
unsigned drivers. You can cl i ck the Advanced button i n the uti li ty and al so tell i t to save the resul ts as a l og
fi le, as well as bei ng able to vi ew the current l og fil e.

You can al so check the WHQL certifi ed digi tal signature status of your dri vers by runni ng Di rectX
Di agnosti cs wi th the 'Check for WHQL di gi tal signatures' box ti cked. To run Di rectX Di agnosti cs, go to
Start>Search Box, type dxdiag and press Enter. See the System Informati on Tool s secti on of the System
Specifi cati ons chapter for more detai ls of DirectX Diagnosti cs.

Agai n, i nstal li ng unsi gned dri vers i s general l y not recommended unl ess you are absolutely certai n of the
trustworthi ness and reputati on of the source of the dri vers. Thi s usuall y means they should be di rect from
the rel evant hardware manufacturer's websi te. Some hardware manufacturers release unsigned drivers
whi ch are perfectl y safe and functi onal, typi call y i n the form of offi cial Beta dri vers, but you shoul d stil l try
to mi ni mi ze the number of unsi gned drivers on your system. Just because a dri ver package appears to be the
same as one your hardware manufacturer, doesn't mean i t hasn't been modifi ed by someone el se afterwards,
so by i nstall ing unsigned dri vers you are defeati ng a securi ty feature of Wi ndows, and potenti all y al l owing
mali ci ous or probl emati c software di rect access to your system.

< DRIVER INSTALLATION
Al l of your major hardware devi ces requi re the latest avail abl e Wi ndows 7-compati bl e drivers and related
updates to functi on at peak performance and wi th stabi li ty and ful l functi onal i ty. Indeed many probl ems i n
appl i cati ons and games often resul t from not usi ng the latest dri vers. It i s i mportant therefore to check for
and i nstal l al l the l atest rel evant dri vers for your key hardware components as soon as possi bl e after
i nstal li ng Windows.

A dri ver typicall y comes in the form of an executable (.EXE) package, whi ch you si mpl y need to launch by
doubl e-cli cking on the fi le, or by extracti ng the contents and runni ng Setup.exe for exampl e. Some dri vers
may come i n a form whi ch requires manual i nstal lation, or other procedures, and thi s i s covered under the
Manual ly Updati ng or Uninstall i ng Dri vers secti on further bel ow.

Duri ng the install ation of a dri ver, i f you are prompted to reboot at any time, you shoul d do so to all ow
proper dri ver i nstall ati on. Wi ndows 7 has a Restart Manager which i s desi gned to automaticall y attempt to
cl ose down al l non-cri ti cal processes and hence al l ow them to be updated wi thout a full system reboot, so
the i nstallati on of some dri vers may not requi re rebooti ng. However some devi ce dri vers may stil l need a
reboot i n order to compl ete ful l i nstal lati on, so reboot as often as requi red and not do anything el se on your
system unti l dri ver i nstallati on i s compl ete.

The speci fi c updates and dri vers you shoul d i nstal l, and thei r preferred order, i s provided bel ow i n a seri es
of recommended steps you shoul d fol low bel ow:

STEP 1 - SERVICE PACKS
A Servi ce Pack i s a compil ati on of i mportant securi ty, stabil i ty and performance updates for Windows. At
the ti me of wri ti ng there are no avai labl e Servi ce Packs for Wi ndows 7. When avai labl e, Servi ce Packs shoul d
al ways be i nstal l ed fi rst and foremost after a fresh i nstal lati on of Wi ndows.


134

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

STEP 2 - DIRECTX
Install the l atest versi on of Mi crosoft DirectX. As covered under the Graphi cs & Sound chapter, Di rectX i s an
i mportant component of Wi ndows whi ch al l ows advanced mul timedi a functionali ty. Wi ndows 7 al ready
comes wi th Di rectX 11 i nstall ed, whi ch i s the l atest versi on of DirectX, however from ti me to ti me Mi crosoft
rel eases updates for Di rectX, and the l atest of these shoul d al ways be i nstal l ed to ensure the best
performance, compati bi li ty and stabi li ty.

STEP 3 - WINDOWS UPDATE
Wi ndows Update i s the mai n tool used to obtai n securi ty patches, as wel l as dri ver and feature updates in
Wi ndows 7. It i s covered at thi s stage because i t i s very i mportant to confi gure Wi ndows Update correctl y as
soon as possibl e after i nstal l i ng Wi ndows 7, both so you can downl oad and i nstal l rel evant securi ty updates
before doi ng anythi ng else, and al so to prevent Wi ndows Update from i nstall i ng any outdated device
dri vers until you fi rst get the chance to manuall y update all the important devi ces as per the fol l owi ng steps.
In Step 8 you wi ll revi si t Wi ndows Update to then change the setti ngs such that any newer or mi ssi ng
dri vers can also be found and i nstall ed.

By defaul t Wi ndows Update i s set to run a schedul ed check of the Mi crosoft Update si te for updates every
day, and to downl oad and i nstal l them automati cal ly as requi red. The i nformati on Wi ndows Update sends
to the Mi crosoft si te duri ng any update i s as fol l ows:

Computer make and model .
Versi on i nformati on for the operati ng system, browser, and any other Mi crosoft software for whi ch
updates mi ght be avai lable.
Pl ug and Play ID numbers of hardware devi ces.
Regi on and l anguage setti ng.
Gl oball y unique i dentifi er (GUID).
Product ID and product key.
BIOS name, revi si on number, and revi sion date.
Your Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Full detail s of what i nformati on i s col lected and how it i s used are in thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

To customize the Wi ndows Update setti ngs, open Wi ndows Update from the Wi ndows Control Panel and
cl i ck the 'Change setti ngs' li nk i n the l eft pane. Each secti on i s covered as foll ows:

Important Updates: These updates are securi ty and reli abil i ty-rel ated updates whi ch are i mportant i n keeping
your system operati ng properl y. The 'Check for updates but l et me choose whether to downl oad and i nstal l
them' opti on i s recommended, as i t will al l ow Wi ndows Update to regul arl y check for updates and l et you
know if any are found vi a a prompt i n the Notifi cati on Area, but i t wi ll not downl oad or install anything
wi thout your expl i ci t consent. Thi s lets you check the i ndi vidual updates to ensure nothi ng that i s
undesi rabl e or unnecessary wi ll be downl oaded or i nstall ed.

Recommended Updates: These updates address non-cri ti cal probl ems and provide addi ti onal features. If you
have foll owed the recommendati on for the Important Updates setti ng above, I recommend ti cki ng the 'Gi ve
me recommended updates the same way I recei ve i mportant updates' box so that once agai n Wi ndows will
check and list such updates i n Wi ndows Update, but wi l l not downl oad or i nstall them unl ess you
speci fi call y i ni ti ate the process.

Note that driver updates are usual l y presented as Opti onal i n Wi ndows Update. Opti onal updates are not
downl oaded or i nstall ed automati call y regardl ess of your setti ngs here.


135

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

Who Can Install Updates: Thi s determi nes whether Standard level User Accounts can i nstall updates or not. If
the box i s ti cked, al l such accounts can i nstal l updates via Wi ndows Update; if unti cked, only Admi nistrator
l evel User Accounts can i nstall from Windows Updates.

The fol l owi ng opti ons only become avai labl e if you cl i ck the 'Fi nd out more' l i nk next to the 'Get updates for
other Mi crosoft products' secti on on the mai n Wi ndows Update screen. You wi ll be taken to the Mi crosoft
Updates websi te where you wil l have to agree to the Terms of Use for this service before bei ng able to access
thi s servi ce. Ti ck the box, cli ck Next, and sel ect 'Use current setti ngs' and cli ck Install to enabl e these opti ons:

Microsoft Update: If ti cked, the 'Gi ve me updates for Microsoft products and check for new optional Mi crosoft
software when I update Wi ndows' opti on all ows Wi ndows Update to also check for opti onal Microsoft
product updates, such as Office updates and add-ins, updates for any i nstalled Wi ndows Li ve programs,
and so forth. Thi s i s not an essenti al opti on to enabl e, but is useful i f you have vari ous Microsoft products
i nstal l ed. Nothi ng wi ll be install ed automati cal ly as long as the 'Important Updates' setti ng above i s set as
recommended.

Software Notifications: If the 'Show me detai l ed noti fi cati ons when new Mi crosoft software i s avail able' option
i s ti cked, you may recei ve regular noti ficati ons when new Mi crosoft products are released. Thi s i s not a
necessary opti on unl ess you l i ke to be i nformed of new Mi crosoft products. Note that i f you unti ck thi s
opti on, a 'Fi nd about more about free software from Mi crosoft Update' box wil l be shown at the bottom of
the mai n Wi ndows Update screen, whi ch you can i gnore.

Once you have changed al l the setti ngs, cli ck the OK button and Wi ndows Update wil l automati cal ly check
for updates - i f not, cli ck the 'Check for updates' l i nk in the l eft pane. If any updates are found, you wi ll see a
summary of the number and types of updates avai labl e i n the main Wi ndows Update wi ndow. Cl i ck one of
the l i nks to be taken to the 'Sel ect the updates you want to i nstal l screen'. You shoul d noti ce that there may
be tabs avai labl e at the l eft si de of the wi ndow, showi ng Important and Opti onal updates under each tab
respecti vely. Cl i ck each tab and unti ck any updates you do not wi sh to i nstall . To see more detai ls for any
update, highli ght i t and check the ri ght pane. If you are certai n the update i s not necessary for your PC,
ri ght-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Hi de to remove i t, though note i t i s not permanentl y removed; i t can be restored at
any ti me by cl i cki ng the 'Restore hi dden updates' li nk i n the l eft pane of Windows Updates, ti cki ng the
rel evant updates and cl i cki ng the Restore button.

Importantl y, if you've just install ed Windows, at thi s stage you shoul d make sure al l Opti onal updates which
appear to be related to drivers are unticked. You shoul d not i nstall any dri vers at thi s point unti l you can
fi rst i nstall the latest version of the rel evant dri vers as detai l ed i n the fol l owi ng steps of this chapter. Once
done, cl i ck OK and then cl i ck the 'Instal l updates' button on the mai n Wi ndows Update wi ndow. We wi ll
revi si t these Opti onal updates i n Step 8 bel ow.

I strongly recommend al lowi ng Wi ndows Updates to check for updates regularly. Do not set Wi ndows
Update to 'Never check for updates' as this opens your system up to recent security expl oi ts and
vul nerabil i ti es, whi ch nowadays can qui ckly ci rculate around the Internet wi thi n days or even hours. For
maxi mum securi ty you must al ways i nstall the latest i mportant updates as soon as they become avai lable -
see the PC Securi ty chapter for more detail s.

If you are recei vi ng an error when usi ng Wi ndows Update, check thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for a l i st of errors
and soluti ons. If you cannot get Wi ndows Update to work for some reason then i n the i nteri m you must
manuall y check the updates li sted on the Wi ndows Securi ty Updates si te - cli ck the Released col umn to sort
by latest date first. Downl oad and i nstall any i mportant updates for Wi ndows 7 as often as necessary so that
the securi ty and stabil i ty of your machi ne i s not compromi sed whi l e you try to resol ve your parti cular
probl em wi th Wi ndows Update. The above si te i s also useful i f for some reason you want to downl oad
speci fi c updates and store or transfer them to another machi ne. I do not recommend any other method of


136

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

getti ng security updates for Wi ndows, as there i s no guarantee of how secure they genui nely are, or what
i nformati on about your system you are provi di ng to a thi rd party - e.g. letti ng a thi rd party know all about
your unsecured vul nerabi li ti es.

Fi nal ly, by defaul t Wi ndows Update creates a restore poi nt pri or to i nstal li ng new updates, whi ch provi des
an extra l ayer of protecti on i n case an update goes wrong and you want to put your system back to the way
i t was before i t. I strongly recommend l eavi ng System Restore enabl ed to al l ow thi s to happen - see the
System Protecti on secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter.

There's one more step to prevent Wi ndows from automati call y i nstal li ng outdated dri vers for any devices
you connect to your PC. Open the Devi ces and Printers component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , then
ri ght-cl i ck on the i mage of your PC - typi cal l y wi th the name [username]-PC, and sel ect 'Devi ce Install ation
Setti ngs'. Sel ect the 'No, l et me choose what to do' opti on and then sel ect 'Never i nstal l dri ver software from
Wi ndows Update', and click the 'Save Changes' button. See the Devi ces and Pri nters section of the BIOS &
Hardware Management secti on for more detai ls.

These measures prevent Wi ndows 7 from automati cal ly i nstall ing any devi ce dri vers for your hardware
components and peri pherals whi ch may be out of date, si nce devi ce dri vers found through on Wi ndows
Updates are often ol der than those on the manufacturer's websi te. It al so prevents i nstall ati on of other
software updates whi ch are not yet necessary. This is not a permanent set of opti ons - Devices and Pri nters
can be reconfigured appropri atel y under Step 7 bel ow, and Wi ndows Update i n Step 8 bel ow.

Note that i f for some reason you ski pped Steps 1 and 2 i n thi s chapter, Windows Update wi l l also i dentify
and provi de the opti on for i nstal lati on of any avai labl e Servi ce Pack(s) and DirectX updates. I recommend
i nstal li ng these separately as detai l ed in Steps 1 and 2, parti cul arl y as they can someti mes take a whi l e to
appear on Wi ndows Update. However they can also be i nstall ed vi a Windows Update wi thout any
probl ems i f that is your preferred method.

Once you are certai n that all i mportant securi ty and stabil i ty rel ated updates have been i nstall ed on your
system, rebooti ng as often as required to compl ete thei r i nstal lati on, you can then proceed to the next step.

STEP 4 - MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS
Install your motherboard dri vers. The motherboard i s the hardware foundati on of your enti re system, so
usi ng the l atest dri vers for i t i s i mportant i n achi evi ng opti mal, troubl e-free performance for your entire
system, as wel l as provi ding addi ti onal motherboard-specifi c functi onali ty such as onboard audi o, onboard
network adapter, RAID, and so forth.

Fi ndi ng all the correct motherboard dri vers i s not necessaril y a strai ghtforward task. To start wi th, i t's
i mportant to understand that the motherboard chi pset type i s not the same as the motherboard brand or
model number. The chi pset type i s based on the company that manufactures the actual chi pset archi tecture
used i n the motherboard. The motherboard's brand is based on the company that buys thi s chipset, packages
i t wi th certain features and sell s i t under i ts own brand name wi th a specifi c model number. For exampl e, an
ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard is manufactured by a company call ed ASUS, i t uses an Intel X58 Express
chi pset and i t has the specifi c model name P6T Del uxe. Al l of these detail s are i mportant when determi ni ng
the correct dri ver to use. A combi nati on of the uti l i ti es covered in the System Speci fi cati ons chapter, al ong
wi th your motherboard manual and Googl e wi ll gi ve you all of these detail s about your motherboard.

Your motherboard usually comes wi th a dri ver di sc whi ch contains the rel evant dri vers, however these are
usual l y wel l out of date. The fi rst pl ace you shoul d l ook for the l atest versi on of these dri vers i s on your
motherboard manufacturer's websi te - there are too many to l ist here, so check your motherboard manual
for a li nk. Once at the si te, under the Support or Downl oads section you wi ll usuall y fi nd several different
types of updates for your parti cular motherboard model . These are broken down by category bel ow:


137

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

BIOS - These are not dri vers, they are BIOS updates for which you shoul d refer to the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter for more detai ls.
Chipset - These are the core dri vers whi ch control your motherboard's key functionali ty. All systems require
these for optimal performance and functi onal i ty.
IDE, SATA, RAID - These dri vers are requi red for correct operati on of your motherboard's dri ve controll ers.
You may al so requi re these dri vers for correct detecti on of your dri ves duri ng the i nstal lati on of Wi ndows -
see the Prepari ng the Dri ve secti on of the Wi ndows Install ation chapter.
Video - If you are usi ng your motherboard's onboard or i ntegrated graphi cs capabil i ti es, then these dri vers
are necessary. If you are usi ng a separate graphi cs card, these are not necessary. Refer to Step 5 bel ow.
Audio - If you are usi ng your motherboard's onboard or i ntegrated audi o capabili ti es, then these dri vers are
necessary. If you are usi ng a separate sound card, these are not necessary. Refer to Step 6 bel ow.
USB - If you are usi ng the USB ports on your motherboard, you may requi re separate USB drivers for correct
functi onali ty, al though typi cal ly thi s feature i s al ready i ncorporated i nto the Chi pset dri ver.
LAN - If you are usi ng your motherboard's onboard network/Ethernet control l er, whether for an Internet
connecti on or a connecti on to a network of computers, then these dri vers are necessary.

There may be addi ti onal dri vers for other speci fi c functi onali ty on your motherboard, but the ones above are
the most i mportant, parti cularly the Chipset and IDE/SATA/RAID dri vers.

If you're not usi ng a particular functi on on your motherboard, I strongl y recommend di sabl i ng i t i n your
BIOS as detail ed i n the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter. Thi s wi ll prevent Wi ndows from
automati cal ly detecti ng them and i nstall ing dri vers for them as part of Step 8 further bel ow, and i n turn thi s
can reduces resource usage and speed up Wi ndows startup.

If there are no appropriate dri vers on your motherboard manufacturer's si te, or they appear to be fai rly ol d,
you can downl oad the latest dri vers di rectl y from one of the major chi pset manufacturers:

For Intel motherboards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest Intel Chi pset Software.
If you al so have a RAID dri ve or AHCI setup i nstall the Intel Matri x Storage Manager.
For Nvidia motherboards, downl oad and i nstall the latest nForce Dri vers.
For VIA motherboards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest VIA Hyperi on Dri vers.
For SiS motherboards, downl oad and install the l atest SiS Chi pset Software.

Note that some of these dri vers may contai n a mi x of dri ver components, i ncl udi ng chi pset, SATA/RAID and
LAN dri vers all i n one package. Read the dri ver notes on the si te for more detail s.

STEP 5 - GRAPHICS DRIVERS
Install your graphi cs card vi deo dri vers. Just as wi th motherboards, graphi cs chi psets are devel oped by one
company and then sol d to different manufacturers who then package them together wi th certai n features
and capabi li ti es and market them under thei r own brand name. The i mportant thi ng to know is the
manufacturer of the chi pset on whi ch your graphi cs card i s based - for most graphi cs cards thi s wi ll be ei ther
Nvi di a or ATI. For exampl e, an EVGA GeForce GTX 285 graphics card uses an Nvidia GeForce 200 seri es
chi pset, packaged and sold by the company EVGA under i ts own brand. The chi pset i s the determi nant of
whi ch dri ver to use, not the company sell i ng the card. Determi ne your chi pset and model name usi ng the
uti li ti es i n the System Specifi cati ons chapter, then downl oad and i nstal l the rel evant package:


138

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

For Nvidia graphi cs cards, downl oad and i nstall the latest Forceware Graphi cs Dri vers.
For detail s on how to i nstall and set these up correctl y read the Nvidi a Forceware Tweak Guide.
For ATI graphi cs cards, downl oad and install the l atest ATI Catal yst Dri vers.
For detail s on how to i nstall and set these up correctl y read the ATI Catalyst Tweak Gui de.
For Intel graphi cs cards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest Intel Graphi cs Dri vers.
For SiS graphi cs cards, downl oad and install the l atest SiS Graphics Dri vers.
For S3 graphics cards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest S3 Graphics Dri vers.
For Matrox graphi cs cards, downl oad and i nstall the latest Matrox Graphi cs Drivers.
For motherboards wi th onboard graphi cs, check your motherboard manufacturer's websi te fi rst (See
Step 4), then check one of the si tes above for Integrated or Onboard Graphics dri vers.

Note that unli ke motherboards, you do not need to downl oad your graphi cs dri vers from your hardware
manufacturer's websi te. Install i ng the latest 'reference' chi pset dri vers shown above is the best method as
they are typi call y much newer.

Importantl y, under Wi ndows 7 graphi cs functi onal i ty has i mproved over the way i t was impl emented i n
Wi ndows Vi sta, whi ch i n turn was a major change over the way it was i mpl emented i n Wi ndows XP. In
short the main changes i nvol ve the use of a new version 1.1 of the Wi ndows Di spl ay Dri ver Model (WDDM)
as opposed to version 1.0 used i n Vi sta. In versi on 1.0 a large number of i mprovements and changes were
i ntroduced, such as all owing the Desktop Wi ndow Manager (DWM) to use both 2D and 3D effects as part of
the Aero i nterface. WDDM 1.1 bri ngs wi th i t addi tional i mprovements that i ncrease the effici ency of desktop
renderi ng, use l ess memory and provi de hardware-accel erated 2D graphi cs. To take advantage of these new
graphi cs features i n Wi ndows 7, you requi re graphics hardware wi th support for Di rectX 10 or hi gher, as
wel l as a WDDM 1.1-compati bl e graphi cs dri ver. You can sti ll use ol der Vi sta graphics dri vers as well as
ol der graphi cs cards i f necessary, but thi s wi ll not provi de the full benefi ts of the graphi cs improvements i n
Wi ndows 7. For full detail s see the start of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

STEP 6 - SOUND DRIVERS
Install your Sound card audi o dri vers. These vary dependi ng on the brand of the sound card you are
runni ng. Only the major brands are covered bel ow:

For Creative sound cards, downl oad and i nstall the latest Creati ve Audi o Dri vers.
For ASUS sound cards, downl oad and install the l atest ASUS Audio Dri vers.
For Auzentech sound cards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest Auzentech Dri vers.
For Turtle Beach sound cards, downl oad and i nstall the latest Turtl e Beach Audio Dri vers.
For Hercules sound cards, downl oad and i nstall the latest Hercul es Audi o Dri vers.
For AOpen sound cards, downl oad and i nstal l the latest AOpen Audi o Dri vers.
For motherboards wi th onboard audi o, check your motherboard manufacturer's websi te fi rst (See Step
4), then check your onboard audi o chi pset manufacturer's websi te such as Real tek.

Wi ndows 7 does not change a great deal i n the way i n whi ch audi o was i mplemented under Wi ndows Vista,
however Wi ndows Vista was a si gni fi cant departure from the way audi o was impl emented i n Wi ndows XP.
The mai n difference Wi ndows 7 and Vista audi o exhi bi t compared to Wi ndows XP is that sound cards no
l onger have as much i mportance i n Wi ndows. Wi ndows 7 uses the new Uni versal Audi o Archi tecture
(UAA) to provi de good quali ty audi o functi onal i ty, i ncl udi ng a range of enhancements, for al most any
sound devi ce wi thout the need for thi rd party dri vers. However a proper audi o dri ver from the
manufacturer's si te as l isted above i s strongl y recommended for ful l functi onali ty and opti mal performance.
For full details see the Sound secti on under the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

If you are using a separate sound card, and if, after updati ng to the l atest Wi ndows 7 audi o dri vers you find
you are having strange performance issues i n games, or audi o probl ems such as crackl i ng, distorti on or
di sconnected sound, then I recommend that pendi ng newer dri vers for your sound card, you consi der


139

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

di sabli ng or physi call y removi ng the sound card and tryi ng out the High Defi ni ti on onboard sound
functi onali ty whi ch most recent motherboards have. Onboard audi o i s speci ficall y desi gned for software-
dri ven audi o whi ch is what Wi ndows 7 excel s at, and hence i t is l ess l i kel y to be probl emati c, and for al l but
hi gh-end speaker setups, wi ll offer excel l ent audi o qual i ty wi thout any si gni fi cant performance difference.

STEP 7 - PERIPHERAL DRIVERS
Before i nstalli ng any dri vers or addi tional software for your peri pherals and portabl e devi ces, such as a
mouse, pri nter, or digi tal camera, fi rst connect these devi ces to your system one by one. Wi ndows 7 provides
i mproved bui l t-i n support for peri pherals and portabl e devi ces through a new feature call ed Devi ce Stage
whi ch handl es most common tasks for supported devi ces wi thout the need to install thi rd party dri vers or
software. If your devi ce appears to work fi ne and all the major functi ons you need are avai labl e then do not
i nstal l a dri ver for them. See the Device Stage and Pri nters and Devi ces sections of the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter for more detai ls of thi s functi onal i ty.

The reason for thi s i s that such dri vers typi call y need to l oad i nto the background at Wi ndows startup and
usual l y add to overall resource usage, i ncrease startup ti mes, and qui te often don't add anythi ng of real
value to the devi ce's functi on beyond that al ready avai labl e i n Devi ce Stage. Furthermore many software
packages for peri pheral s install a range of unnecessary add-ons and programs whi ch once agai n i ncrease
background resource usage, i ncrease Windows startup ti mes, and can cause potenti al confl i cts.

Obvi ousl y shoul d your devi ce not functi on correctl y, or a feature that you want appears to be disabl ed, then
ul ti matel y you wi ll need to i nstal l a new dri ver for that devi ce as wel l as any necessary additi onal software.
In these cases I recommend you fi rst go to the devi ce manufacturer's website and downl oad the latest
avai labl e drivers rather than usi ng any dri vers that come on the di sc wi th the devi ce, as they are typi cally
ol der.

In any case there are far too many devi ce manufacturers to l i st here, but the websi te address i s usuall y li sted
on the devi ce's box and/or i n the manual. Where possi bl e fol l ow the devi ce i nstall ation i nstructi ons i n the
devi ce's manual (or on i ts websi te) for the best method of i nstall ati on.

If your devi ce i sn't bei ng detected correctl y, or you can't fi nd an appropriate dri ver for i t, or i f you si mpl y
want to search for any newer dri vers, go to the Devi ces and Printers component of the Wi ndows Control
Panel , ri ght-cl i ck on your computer i con wi th the name [username]-PC, sel ect 'Devi ce i nstallati on setti ngs',
then sel ect the 'Yes, do thi s automaticall y' opti on to all ow Wi ndows to automati cal ly search for and i f
necessary i nstal l newer drivers for your devi ce from Wi ndows Update. If thi s sti l l fail s, see the i nstructi ons
at the start of thi s chapter, as well as those further bel ow for more detai ls of how to fi nd and if necessary,
manuall y i nstall a devi ce dri ver under Wi ndows 7.

STEP 8 - WINDOWS UPDATE REVISITED
Now that you've i nstall ed al l the latest rel evant Windows 7-compati bl e drivers for your hardware, you
should run Wi ndows Update agai n to see i f any newer dri vers can be found for your devi ces, as wel l as any
dri vers for devi ces for whi ch you coul d not fi nd a dri ver.

Open Wi ndows Update and cli ck the 'Check for Updates' li nk i n the l eft pane. If Wi ndows Update fi nds any
new dri vers then cl i ck the li nk to vi ew the l ist of dri ver updates found and ti ck any you wish to i nstall . Cl ick
OK and then cl i ck the 'Install updates' button to i nstal l these dri vers. Any dri vers found usi ng thi s method
should be compl etel y safe to i nstall as they've been tested and WHQL certi fi ed by Mi crosoft before bei ng
i ncluded i n Wi ndows Update, and wi ll onl y be detected and shown i f they are appropri ate for your
hardware and newer than the current dri ver versi ons you are usi ng. If you have any doubts or don't wi sh to
i nstal l a particular dri ver, unti ck the dri ver, ri ght-cl ick on i t and Hi de i t i n Windows Update so i t doesn't
appear agai n.


140

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

Once you've compl eted all the steps above, Wi ndows wi ll be up to date and your major devi ces shoul d all
have appropri ate dri vers to al l ow ful l functi onal i ty and opti mal performance. If there are any devi ces which
are not bei ng detected correctl y, or whi ch have i mpaired or probl emati c functi onali ty, then you may have to
wai t for updated dri vers to be released by your hardware manufacturer.

As the last step after i nstall i ng al l your dri vers, do a run of the Wi ndows Experi ence Index. Open the
Wi ndows Control Panel , go to the System component and cli ck on the Wi ndows Experience Index l i nk, then
run (or re-run) the assessment. Thi s all ows Wi ndows to correctl y detect your hardware performance
capabil i ti es, and enabl e or di sabl e certain features dependent on thi s. You can also compare your score to
any previ ous score to see i f the numbers have i mproved, or run other benchmarks to test and compare your
performance wi th others. See the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detail s on
the Wi ndows Experi ence Index and a range of performance measurement tool s.

< MANUALLY UPDATING OR UNINSTALLING DRIVERS
To vi ew the current version of a dri ver for a parti cular hardware component, or to update or uni nstal l a
dri ver, you can use Devi ce Manager. You can access Devi ce Manager i n the Windows Control Panel, or go to
Start>Search Box, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. Note that the general functi onali ty of Devi ce Manager
i s covered under the Devi ce Manager secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter, so i n thi s
secti on we l ook at dri ver-rel ated features.

VIEWING DRIVER DETAILS
To vi ew the current versi on of the dri vers i nstal l ed for a parti cul ar hardware component i n detai l fol l ow the
steps bel ow:

1. Open Devi ce Manager and expand the category under whi ch your parti cul ar hardware devi ce i s pl aced.
For exampl e to vi ew your moni tor dri vers, expand the Moni tors category and your moni tor(s) wil l be
l i sted underneath.
2. Doubl e-cli ck on the devi ce or ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect Properti es.
3. Under the Dri ver tab you wi ll see the speci fi c dri ver versi on, date and provi der. If the devi ce i s usi ng a
defaul t Wi ndows dri ver the Dri ver Provi der wi ll usual l y be li sted as Mi crosoft.
4. Cl i ck the 'Driver Detail s' button and you wi ll see the speci fi c dri ver fil es associated wi th that devi ce. You
can then cl ick on each i ndi vi dual fil e shown, and the provi der and versi on of that fil e wi ll also be
di splayed just bel ow i t.

For a more user-friendly di splay of dri ver detai l for your major components, use the tool s under the System
Specifi cati ons chapter.

MANUALLY UPDATING DRIVERS
Normal ly, when you wi sh to update a devi ce dri ver, the best course of acti on i s to downl oad the new dri ver
package and run i t. It shoul d automati cal l y execute and wal k you through the steps necessary to update the
devi ce. However i n some cases you may need to manual l y update a dri ver - for exampl e i f a dri ver does not
come i n an executabl e (.EXE) package, but rather as a set of fil es, perhaps withi n a .ZIP or .RAR archive.
Fol l ow the steps bel ow to manuall y search for and i nstall a new devi ce dri ver:

1. Open Devi ce Manager and expand the category under whi ch your parti cul ar hardware devi ce i s pl aced,
then doubl e-cl i ck on the devi ce or ri ght-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Properti es.
2. Under the Dri ver tab cl ick the 'Update Dri ver' button.
3. You wi ll have two opti ons; you can ei ther all ow Windows to 'Search automati cal ly for updated dri ver
software', or i f you know where the dri ver fi les are stored cli ck the 'Browse my computer for dri ver
software' option. The fi rst opti on i s recommended onl y if you do not al ready have the new dri ver fil es,


141

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

or i f you are a novi ce user - i f you choose thi s option see Steps 4 - 5 bel ow. If you have the rel evant
dri ver fil es, or if you feel you are more advanced, choose the second opti on and go directl y to Step 6.
4. If you search automati cally, Wi ndows wi ll determi ne where to search based on the devi ce i nstal lati on
setti ngs you've chosen i n Devi ces and Pri nters - If you have selected 'Never i nstall dri ver software from
Wi ndows Update' i n Devices and Pri nters, then Windows wil l onl y search your computer; if you've
chosen 'Install dri ver software from Wi ndows Update i f i t i s not found on my computer' then Wi ndows
wi ll search your computer for dri ver fil es fi rst before checki ng Wi ndows Update; on the other hand if
you've chosen 'Al ways i nstall the best dri ver software from Wi ndows Update' under the Devi ces and
Pri nters settings, Wi ndows wi ll al ways search the Wi ndows Update dri ver catal og to see i f a newer
dri ver exi sts.
5. Once Wi ndows has searched i t wi l l i nstall any newl y found dri vers, or tel l you that your current versi on
i s the latest. Note however that Wi ndows onl y detects and i nstall s i ndi vidual dri ver fil es, and does not
l ook i nside dri ver packages. So i f the dri ver fi les are archi ved or in a sel f-executi ng dri ver package on
your system, Wi ndows will not detect these as containi ng a newer dri ver even if they does. If you know
there are newer dri ver files on your system and they're not bei ng detected, go back to Step 3 and sel ect
'Browse my computer for dri ver software' then foll ow Step 6 onwards.
6. Dependi ng on where the newer dri ver fil es are hel d, if necessary i nsert the appropri ate di sc, USB flash
dri ve or external dri ve and browse to a speci fi c directory where you know the newer dri ver fil es are held
- make sure the 'Incl ude subfol ders' opti on i s ti cked. Remember that Wi ndows onl y sees i ndi vi dual
dri ver fil es, not dri ver packages, so you may need to manuall y extract the contents of a dri ve package to
an empty di rectory usi ng an archi val uti l i ty l ike WinZi p or 7-Zi p before continui ng. Once at the correct
di rectory, click Next and Wi ndows shoul d detect the newer driver fil es i n that di rectory and i nstal l
them.
7. If the above steps fai l and you are certain you have newer dri ver fil es for the devi ce, then fol low Steps 1 -
3, sel ecti ng 'Browse my computer for dri ver software', then sel ect 'Let me pick from a li st of device
dri vers on my computer'. Thi s provi des a li st of all the dri vers which have been i nstal l ed on your system
to date and whose fi les sti ll resi de on your system.
8. In most cases you wi ll not want to rei nstal l an exi sti ng dri ver, so cl i ck the 'Have disk' button and
i nsert/attach or browse to the dri ve and di rectory where the newer dri ver fi les resi de. If an appropri ate
.INF fi l e i s found, cli ck on i t and cl i ck Open. If your hardware i s supported by that dri ver fil e you can
sel ect the speci fi c dri ver to i nstall .
9. If nothi ng el se works and you wi sh to install another dri ver for a devi ce si mi lar to yours, then fol l ow
Steps 1 - 3 above, then Step 7. Then unti ck the 'Show compati bl e hardware' box and you wi ll see a much
wi der range of dri vers. Sel ect one whi ch you beli eve would be most compati bl e wi th your devi ce,
though cl early i f you sel ect a dri ver not meant for your specifi c devi ce, you may not be al l owed to i nstall
i t, or i t may resul t i n a lack of correct functi onali ty or major probl ems. This is a last resort option.

GOING BACK TO AN EARLIER DRIVER
If you have recentl y i nstall ed a dri ver set whi ch you bel i eve i s causi ng you probl ems, then you may wish to
go back to the previ ous dri vers you were usi ng. To do thi s foll ow these steps:

2. Under the Dri ver tab cl i ck the 'Roll Back Dri ver' button. If i t i s not availabl e then you do not have any
earl i er dri ver versi ons i nstal l ed, or they may not be detected - see the manual i nstructi ons further bel ow.
3. Confi rm whether you want to do thi s, and your current dri vers wi ll be replaced wi th the previ ously
i nstal l ed versi on.


142

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

SELECTING ANOTHER INSTALLED DRIVER
If you wi sh to i nstal l a speci fi c versi on of a dri ver, and you bel ieve i t al ready exi sts on your system (e.g. i t
was i nstal led i n the past and not uni nstall ed), you can choose to install i t manual l y. This also al l ows you to
revert to one of the standard Wi ndows dri vers for a devi ce for troubl eshooti ng purposes for exampl e. Foll ow
these steps:

2. Under the Dri ver tab cl ick the 'Update Dri ver' button.
3. Cl i ck the 'Browse my computer for dri ver software' opti on.
4. Sel ect 'Let me pi ck from a l ist of devi ce dri vers on my computer'.
5. Make sure the 'Show compati bl e hardware' box i s ti cked, and you wil l see al l the versi ons of compati ble
dri vers whi ch are avail abl e on your system for thi s devi ce. It may be di ffi cul t to determi ne the dri ver
versi ons from thi s l i st, in whi ch case hi ghli ght the rel evant dri ver and untick the 'Show compati bl e
hardware' box to show you the dri ver's manufacturer. This wil l at l east let you know whi ch dri ver i s a
standard Mi crosoft dri ver.
6. Sel ect the driver you want to i nstal l and cl i ck Next to install i t.

Note that if you see more than 2 - 3 i nstal l ed dri vers under Step 5 above, then thi s i ndi cates that you have
not properl y removed previ ous versions of dri vers from your system. Thi s dri ver resi due can cause
probl ems. If you beli eve a dri ver i s the cause of any i ssues on your system then I recommend cl eani ng out
your dri vers and i nstall i ng onl y the l atest versi on or the versi on whi ch you know works best on your system
- see the detail s bel ow.

UNINSTALLING DRIVERS
It i s strongly recommended that you do not mai ntain mul ti ple versi ons of a dri ver for any devi ce on your
system, as these leave various bi ts and pi eces - known as 'dri ver resi due' - on your system. Thi s i ncreases the
potenti al for dri ver-related probl ems, especiall y i f you ever go backwards i n dri ver versi on, si nce different
versi ons of dri ver-related fil es may i nadvertentl y be used together by Wi ndows and cause potential
probl ems.

To correctl y uni nstall a dri ver package through Wi ndows you shoul d first go to the Programs and Features
component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and on the mai n screen you wil l see most of the programs,
updates and dri vers currentl y i nstall ed on your system. Look for the dri ver manufacturer or rel evant device
name i n the l ist, and if found hi ghl ight the i tem (or ri ght-cl i ck on i t) and sel ect Uni nstal l, thus removi ng i t.

However i f a dri ver i s not li sted i n the Programs and Features l i st, you can uni nstall i t manual ly:

2. Under the Dri ver tab cl ick the Uni nstall button.
3. Make sure to ti ck the 'Del ete the dri ver software for thi s devi ce' check box i f avail able. If thi s opti on is
not avail abl e, i t means you are al ready usi ng a defaul t Wi ndows driver for the devi ce, i n whi ch case you
should not conti nue attempti ng to uni nstal l the devi ce unless you want the defaul t dri ver to rei nstall
i tself for some reason.
4. Cl i ck OK and the devi ce wi ll be uni nstal l ed from your system, and i ts currentl y-used dri ver fi l es wi ll
also be removed from your system, whi ch is desi rabl e. Restart your PC as prompted to compl ete the
process. Note that i f uni nstal li ng certain devi ces such as your graphi cs card or moni tor, your system
di splay may go bl ack. If after a peri od of ti me no i mage reappears, press the power or restart button on
your PC to tell Wi ndows to shut down and/or restart the PC.


143

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

5. Once your system restarts, your devi ce wi ll be automati cal ly redetected by Wi ndows and the next
avai labl e dri ver or the defaul t Wi ndows dri ver wi ll be i nstall ed.

REMOVING STORED DRIVERS
Whenever you upgrade your dri vers or i nstal l a new dri ver i n Wi ndows, unless you uni nstall the previ ous
versi on, i t may be stored by Wi ndows and/or i ts fil es and Regi stry entri es may remai n on your system.
Someti mes even a ful l uni nstal l of a dri ver or program may leave dri ver residue throughout your system
because of a faul ty uni nstal l er or even as a deli beratel y measure by the devi ce manufacturer. The upshot of
all thi s i s that over ti me, parti cularly for users who frequentl y update and downgrade their dri vers, vari ous
versi ons of dri ver fil es wi ll come to be stored on your system. There are several methods you can use to
remove the bul k of these.

Driver Sweeper

If after usi ng the above methods you feel there i s stil l some dri ver resi due l eft on your system, you can use
the free Dri ver Sweeper uti l i ty to attempt to remove any remaini ng traces of the more common dri vers.
Fol l ow these steps:

1. Launch Dri ver Sweeper and make sure it has Admi nistrator pri vi leges.
2. Ti ck the dri ver(s) you wish to remove from the li st provi ded, and cl i ck the Anal yze button fi rst to see
what wil l be removed. You can manuall y unti ck any components you wish to keep.
3. If you wi sh to conti nue, cl i ck the Clean button and reboot your PC to make sure all dri ver fil es and
related Regi stry entri es are removed.
4. If you fi nd certai n dri ver el ements are sti l l not bei ng removed, reboot i nto Safe Mode and foll ow Steps 1
- 3 above again. Under Safe Mode no third party dri vers are i n use by Wi ndows, so none of them shoul d
be l ocked agai nst del eti on as l ong as you have Admi ni strator access to the system. See the System
Recovery secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter for detai ls of usi ng Safe Mode.

Dri ver Sweeper onl y all ows the removal of the speci fi c dri vers i n the l i st i t provi des. Furthermore newer
versi ons of these dri vers may i nstall addi ti onal fi l es and Regi stry entri es whi ch an exi sti ng versi on of Driver
Sweeper cannot fi nd, so check for updates to Dri ver Sweeper and remember that no automated method i s
fool proof i n findi ng al l aspects of dri ver resi due, si nce dri vers are constantl y changi ng.

Autoruns

You can use the free Autoruns util i ty covered under the Startup Programs chapter to i denti fy, di sabl e or
permanentl y remove any dri ver fil es whi ch are l oadi ng up wi th Windows. Foll ow these steps:

1. Uni nstall any programs or dri vers you do not wi sh to use from the Programs and Features component of
the Wi ndows Control Panel . Reboot your system when fi ni shed.
2. Launch Autoruns and go to the Dri vers tab. Under the Opti ons menu, unti ck 'Hi de Mi crosoft and
Wi ndows Entri es' and 'Hi de Wi ndows Entri es', but make sure the 'Verify Code Si gnatures' i tem i s ti cked.
Press F5 or sel ect Refresh under the Fi l e menu.
3. In the l i st whi ch appears, most of the entri es are Mi crosoft drivers for Wi ndows and shoul d not be
unti cked or del eted. However under the Publ isher col umn you shoul d check every entry for whi ch the
provi der i s not 'Mi crosoft Corporati on', as most of these are third party dri vers i nstal l ed on your system
- though note that some are stil l generi c Wi ndows dri vers provi ded by other compani es. Check the
Descri pti on col umn to see whi ch appl i cati on or devi ce the dri ver rel ates to. Highl i ght the fi l e and l ook at
the detail s pane at the bottom of Autoruns to see the date and versi on number for the dri ver fi le.
4. For any dri vers you wish to remove, fi rst unti ck entry i n Autoruns, and when fi nished cl ose Autoruns
and reboot Wi ndows. After a peri od of time i f you believe there are no adverse impacts on your system,


144

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

and requi red functi onali ty i s not affected, you can repeat Steps 1 - 3 above, but thi s ti me right-cl i ck on a
dri ver and select Del ete to remove i t.
5. Reboot Wi ndows and the dri ver fil e wi ll no l onger be l oaded or resi dent on your system.

The Autoruns method only removes speci fi c dri ver fi l es, usual l y .SYS fil es, and not enti re dri ver packages,
nor a range of Registry entri es whi ch a dri ver may have created, so thi s method does not remove all dri ver
resi due, onl y the fi les whi ch l oad up wi th Windows. See the Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter for tool s whi ch can
assi st i n cl eani ng out unnecessary fi l es, and check the Mai ntai ning the Regi stry secti on of the Wi ndows
Regi stry chapter for a Registry cleani ng tool .

Windows Driver Store Repository

If you are still unabl e to find and remove certai n drivers, or you just want to see the contents of the dri ver
packages Window has i nstal l ed, then you shoul d note that si mi lar to Vi sta, Windows 7 holds al l the driver
packages i t uses for standard i nstall ati on under the \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository
di rectory. These are not the actual dri ver fil es i n use by the system, those are hel d under the
\Windows\System32\drivers di rectory. Each separate dri ver package i s a subdirectory wi th the name of the
.INF fil e for the package. For exampl e the Nvi di a graphi cs dri vers can be found i n a subdi rectory starti ng
wi th nv_disp.inf and endi ng wi th a string of numbers. In parti cul ar you can use the dri ver reposi tory for
three thi ngs:

Manual ly di rect Wi ndows to a parti cular dri ver package if i t does not detect it automati call y. Do thi s
under Step 6 of the Manual l y Updati ng Dri vers secti on further above.
Remove traces of a faul ty or undesi rable dri ver - see the method below.
Fi nd and manual l y modify the dri ver package so that when Windows detects your devi ce i t uses the
modi fi ed contents to i nstall the dri ver - see the method bel ow.

In each case you must fi rst i dentify whi ch fol der under the \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository
di rectory relates to the driver package you are seeking. The qui ckest way to do thi s i s to use the pnputi l
command. Use the foll owing steps:

2. Type pnput i l / ? for a full li st of commands. In this case we want to use the fol lowi ng command:

pnput i l - e

Thi s wi ll di spl ay al l the third party dri ver packages whi ch are held i n the dri ver store. Take parti cul ar
note of the Publ ished name (e.g. oem0.inf) as wel l as the dri ver date, versi on and package provi der - use
these to i denti fy the dri ver.
3. To remove a dri ver package from the dri ver store use the fol l owi ng command:

pnput i l - d [ Publ i shed name]

Where [ Publ i shed name] i s the name you di scovered under Step 2 above, e.g.:

pnput i l - d oem0. i nf

You wil l fi nd that the majori ty of the drivers stored under the Dri ver Store are defaul t Mi crosoft dri vers, and
hence you shoul d not attempt to manuall y al ter or del ete them. However i f you fi nd an i nstall ed dri ver
package that you are certai n you no l onger need then you can safel y del ete i t and hence prevent Wi ndows
from ever reinstall i ng i t.


145

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

Al ternati vel y, i f you are an advanced user and you wi sh to modi fy a dri ver, you can modi fy the fol der
contents of the parti cular package as desi red, uni nstall the current dri vers for your device, and Wi ndows
wi ll then attempt to i nstal l thi s modi fi ed dri ver package when i t redetects your devi ce. Or you can si mply
poi nt Wi ndows to thi s folder when manual l y updating dri vers as detail ed further above.

The onl y foolproof method to successfull y remove driver resi due i s to manual ly fi nd and del ete every si ngle
fi le, fol der and Regi stry entry for a dri ver i n Wi ndows 7, and unfortunately thi s i s too compl ex a method to
detail here as i t rel i es on a great deal of research and of course every dri ver and program i nstall s i ts fi l es and
Regi stry entries i n different l ocati ons, and thi s changes over ti me wi th newer versi ons of dri vers. Automated
uti li ti es can onl y do so much preci sel y because they must be programmed to know where to l ook for every
di fferent type of dri ver. If you trul y bel i eve your system i s bogged down wi th dri ver resi due and hence your
probl ems relate to thi s factor, i t may be best si mpl y to backup all your personal fil es, reformat and rei nstall
Wi ndows 7 afresh, then restore onl y your personal fi l es and fol ders, and then i nstal l the latest versi on of
each of your dri vers. That i s the onl y guaranteed way of removi ng faul ty, mi smatched or undesi rabl e dri ver
fi les. It al so serves as a warni ng not to experi ment too much wi th l ots of different dri vers, as constantl y
i nstal li ng various dri ver versi ons can qui ckly make a mess of your system.

< DRIVER VERIFIER
If you bel i eve you're having dri ver-related problems, you can use an advanced tool whi ch comes wi th
Wi ndows call ed the Dri ver Verifier. To run i t, go to Start>Search Box, type verifier and press Enter. It i s a
compl ex tool , so read the detail ed i nstructi ons for i ts usage i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Its basic usage detail s
are provi ded bel ow.

1. Once Verifi er starts, after a moment you wi ll see a di al og box open - l eave the opti ons at thei r default
and cl i ck Next.
2. On the next screen, you can ei ther choose to l et the Verifier test onl y unsi gned dri ver; dri vers bui l t for
ol der versi ons of Wi ndows; all dri vers; or sel ect from a l ist. I recommend the 'Select dri ver names from a
l i st' opti on to pi ck speci fi c dri vers you suspect to be probl emati c, and cli ck Next.
3. Place a ti ck agai nst all the dri ver fil es you bel i eve need to be checked. To make thi ngs si mpler, cl i ck the
Provi der column header so that the l i st i s sorted by the provi ding company, that way i f you want to
choose your graphi cs dri vers for exampl e you can ti ck al l the boxes for the files provi ded by Nvi dia or
ATI. Note that onl y dri vers whi ch are currentl y l oaded up by Wi ndows are shown. If for some reason
you want to add dri vers whi ch are not currently l oaded, cli ck the 'Add currentl y not l oaded dri ver(s) to
the l ist' button and sel ect the addi ti onal fi les. Once all the rel evant boxes are ti cked, cl i ck Fi ni sh.
4. You wi ll have to reboot your system, at whi ch poi nt duri ng or soon after your PC starts up agai n you
may see a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error if the dri ver fi l e(s) you chose are potenti all y probl emati c. If
Wi ndows starts up normal l y and you see no BSOD after a whil e then the fi l e(s) have been veri fi ed as
bei ng fi ne.
5. If you can't find a probl em wi th the dri ver(s) you've sel ected, repeat the process above but thi s ti me at
Step 2 sel ect the 'Automaticall y select al l dri vers i nstall ed on thi s computer' opti on i nstead.

Importantl y, you wil l need to di sabl e Verifier once you've fi ni shed wi th i t, otherwi se i t wi ll conti nue to
veri fy the fil es at each Wi ndows startup. To do thi s, open Veri fi er agai n and sel ect 'Del ete exi sti ng setti ngs'
then cl i ck Fini sh. If you cannot access the Veri fi er user i nterface to turn it off, open an Admi nistrator
Command Prompt, or use the System Recovery Options Command Prompt and type ver i f i er / r eset and
press Enter. You can al so uni nstal l any dri ver which i s causi ng probl ems i n Safe Mode - see the System
Recovery secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter.

Havi ng an error i n Dri ver Veri fi er i s not i ndi cati ve that a dri ver i s the pri mary source of your probl ems.
However i t is one more way of seei ng i f i t i s i ndeed a dri ver fi le whi ch may be contri buti ng to a probl em or
the source of a problem, or somethi ng else al together. Bear i n mi nd that the majori ty of system i ssues are the


146

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

resul t of factors compl etel y unrelated to dri vers, such as overheati ng, overcl ocking, bad BIOS setti ngs, faul ty
hardware, one or more i nstal l ed programs causi ng confli cts, etc. Just because an error poi nts to a dri ver fi l e
i n i ts message, that doesn't mean the fil e i tself i s the cause of the probl em - dri vers often crash when a system
i s unstabl e for a range of reasons, and not because they are buggy or unstabl e themsel ves. See the
Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more ways of troubl eshooti ng a system i ssue,
i ncludi ng the use of Event Vi ewer to see specifi c error l ogs.

< GENERAL DRIVER TIPS
The foll owi ng is some general i nformation and advi ce regardi ng all devi ce dri vers:

Source of Drivers - Onl y downl oad and use dri vers di rectly from your hardware manufacturer's websi te,
Wi ndows Update, or from a reputabl e and wel l establ i shed thi rd-party source whi ch you know and trust.
Thi s does not guarantee thei r stabi li ty, but i t does help ensure that they do not contai n mal ware. Whil e many
peopl e thi nk nothi ng of downl oadi ng dri vers from file shari ng si tes for example, you are essenti all y putti ng
your trust i n peopl e you don't know, and who may even be i nfected wi th mal ware wi thout knowi ng i t. Then
of course there are peopl e who are del iberatel y mal ici ous and will use any opportuni ty to spread mal ware
through dri vers. The hardware manufacturer's si te shoul d al ways be your fi rst choi ce for obtai ni ng dri vers.

User Feedback - Be wary of general user feedback on dri vers on pl aces li ke publ i c forums and i n bl og
comments. In recent years more and more users have turned to bl ami ng dri vers (or Wi ndows i tself) for
vari ous problems on thei r system, when the probl ems are often actuall y the resul t of factors resul ti ng from
general user i gnorance or lack of system mai ntenance, such as overcl ocking, overheating, confli cti ng
software, or excessi ve dri ver residue. Thi s is parti cularl y true for graphi cs and audi o dri vers, wi th any audi o
or graphi cs-rel ated problem automati cal l y bei ng attributed to the dri vers by the average user, when i ndeed
many other factors can cause these i ssues. User feedback i s useful , but should not be the sol e or even the
pri mary basis for determi ning whi ch driver to i nstall .

Beta Drivers - Beta dri vers are pre-fi nal dri vers whi ch carry the risk of causi ng addi ti onal system probl ems
because they have not necessaril y undergone thorough testi ng, thus the hardware manufacturer provi des no
support to users of beta dri vers. Generall y speaki ng though, beta dri vers downl oaded di rectl y from your
hardware manufacturer shoul d be relativel y stabl e and safe to use, but best i nstall ed onl y if you are having
probl ems wi th your current dri ver and/or onl y if the rel ease notes and the consensus of user feedback cl earl y
i ndi cate that they provi de some signifi cant benefi t.

Alpha Drivers - Al pha drivers are even l ess poli shed than beta dri vers and thei r use can l ead to seri ous
probl ems such as major i nstabi li ty and even data l oss. They are onl y recommended for advanced users who
wi sh to experi ment, or for users who have absol utel y no other avai labl e opti on for obtaini ng a working
dri ver for thei r hardware. Make certai n you prepare a ful l backup before i nstal ling an al pha dri ver.

Leaked Drivers - Leaked drivers may be al pha, beta or fi nal versi ons, but they have been unoffi ciall y rel eased
to the publ i c, often agai nst the wi shes of the hardware manufacturer. They may be modi fied and/or not
di gi tall y signed, whi ch onl y i ncreases the risk that they contai n mal ware and/or may not provi de stable
functi onali ty for your device and resul t i n data l oss. As wi th al pha dri vers, I do not recommend usi ng l eaked
dri vers unl ess you have absol utely no other opti on, and onl y after maki ng proper backups beforehand.
Asi de from putti ng your data at ri sk of bei ng l ost, you are also putti ng your securi ty at ri sk.

Modified ('modded') Drivers - Current modi fi ed dri vers do not provi de any genuine benefi t over the standard
dri vers from your hardware manufacturer. Don't be fool ed by promi ses of large performance gai ns or magi c
fi xes - these are al most always unfounded or exaggerated clai ms desi gned to enti ce peopl e i nto usi ng the
dri ver. The onl y ti me I woul d recommend a modified dri ver i s if they have been .INF modi fi ed to al l ow
them to be i nstall ed and used on hardware they were not ori ginall y i ntended for. Thi s i s a si mpl e text fi le
modi fi cati on done pri maril y to provi de dri vers for hardware whi ch may otherwi se not have frequent driver


147

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

D
r
i
v
e
r
s

support, such as laptop graphi cs chi psets. Obvi ously .INF modi fi cati on can resul t i n unexpected behavior
because the dri ver i s bei ng used on hardware i t was not desi gned for, but i t may be the onl y opti on available
to peopl e wi th certai n hardware. In al l other cases I recommend agai nst usi ng modi fi ed drivers for safety
and stabil i ty reasons. If a manufacturer has disabl ed a parti cular feature i n a dri ver, i t is for a good reason.

Dri vers are a cri ti cal component of the way your hardware i nteracts wi th Wi ndows, and have a signifi cant
i mpact on performance and stabil i ty, so i t i s best to make sure they are kept up to date, and that you do not
experi ment unnecessaril y wi th them. Regularl y refer to the front page of TweakGui des.com for the l atest
news on offi ci al dri ver updates.


148

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

USER ACCOUNTS

User Accounts are a way of al l owi ng more than one person to use the same PC i n relati ve i sol ati on from one
another. These users can each have a different background wall paper, different setti ngs, and different
personal fol ders al l stored separatel y and wi thout i mpact on or access to each other. However User Accounts
are not sol el y designed for shari ng purposes; even i f there i s onl y ever one user of the machi ne, you wi ll still
need to know about User Accounts for securi ty reasons.

When you fi rst i nstall Windows 7, a defaul t User Account wi th Admi ni strator pri vil eges i s created usi ng the
username and opti onal password you choose just pri or to fi nali zi ng i nstall ati on - see the Wi ndows
Install ati on chapter. Every ti me you start usi ng Wi ndows from that poi nt onward, you are logged i nto thi s
User Account by defaul t, unl ess you create others and swi tch to them. Thi s first User Account i s actual l y
call ed the Protected Admi ni strator, and to understand the si gnifi cance of this and other aspects of User
Accounts, you need to read thi s chapter.

< USER ACCOUNT TYPES
There are different l evel s of pri vi l eges given to User Accounts, dependi ng on thei r type. In Wi ndows 7 there
are three main types of User Accounts: Guest, Standard and Admini strator. Each has different pri vi l eges:

Administrator: Thi s User Account type can undertake the ful l range of acti ons i n Wi ndows, from i nstall i ng or
uni nstall i ng any software or hardware, maki ng system-l evel changes, to viewi ng the fi l es and folders of
other User Accounts on the system (i f they are not password-protected accounts). Admi ni strators can also
create, change or del ete new or exi sti ng User Accounts. There must al ways be at l east one Admi nistrator
User Account on the system to be abl e to manage i t - whi ch i s why Wi ndows forces you to create one duri ng
the Wi ndows Installati on process.

Protected Administrator: The defaul t Admi nistrator l evel account i s actuall y known as a Protected
Admi nistrator (PA), and the key reason for thi s name i s because User Account Control (UAC) restri cti ons
appl y to the PA. If UAC is enabled, then the PA i s set to defaul t to Standard l evel pri vi leges, and can onl y
undertake Admi ni strator l evel tasks by confi rmi ng UAC prompts - see the User Account Control secti on of
the PC Security chapter for ful l detai ls.

Full Administrator: Whil e UAC can be di sabl ed, there i s actuall y a Full Admi nistrator account, known as the
Admi nistrator Account, whi ch is hi dden and disabl ed by defaul t, and i s not affected by UAC setti ngs, does
not have a password, and has full Admi ni strati ve pri vi leges at all ti mes. To enabl e thi s account, see the
Advanced secti on further bel ow. I must stress that you should not use thi s account regularly as i t i s a major
securi ty ri sk, si nce i t i s not protected by a password, nor i s i t affected by UAC. A user loggi ng i n under thi s
defaul t Admini strator account i s leavi ng a major securi ty hol e open. The pri mary use for thi s account would
be for troubleshooti ng purposes, such as resetti ng a forgotten password on the Protected Admi ni strator
account.

Standard: This User Account type l ets the user access most of the normal functi ons of Wi ndows. The main
restri cti ons are on i nstal ling or uni nstall certai n types of software and hardware, changing any Wi ndows
setti ngs whi ch affect other users, vi ewi ng other User Account fil es and folders, and del eting or al teri ng
cri ti cal system fil es. If User Account Control is enabl ed, you can remove these restri cti ons at any ti me by
enter the password for an Admi ni strator l evel account when prompted by UAC. In practi ce a normal
Protected Admi ni strator and Standard account both run wi th the same type of pri vi leges, the onl y di fference


149

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

i s that the Admi ni strator does not need to enter a password to confirm a UAC prompt, whereas the Standard
user does.

Guest: This User Account type i s disabled by defaul t and i s onl y i ntended for all owi ng peopl e temporary
access to your machi ne. Any user who l ogs i n wi th a Guest l evel account can't i nstal l any software or
hardware, can't change setti ngs, nor set up passwords. Once they l ogoff the Guest account, all data i n the
profil e i s al so del eted. Thi s means that there i s mi nimum potenti al for them to do any harm to your system,
al though i t i s not recommended that you grant an untrusted user even thi s l evel of access to your machine.
To turn the Guest account on, cli ck the 'Manage another account' l i nk i n the mai n User Accounts wi ndow,
then cl i ck the Guest i con and sel ect the 'Turn On' button. Unl ess you are goi ng to acti vel y use thi s account
type, i t i s strongl y recommended that you leave the Guest account di sabl ed.

The reason there are different types of User Accounts i s to mi ni mi ze securi ty risks and the risk of i ntended
or uni ntended harmful changes to i mportant system setti ngs and software, as wel l as preventi ng di fferent
users on the same machi ne from automati cal ly being abl e to view and al ter each others' fi l es and fol ders.
Wi th the advent of UAC, Wi ndows has evol ved such that there i s greatly reduced risk in runni ng an
Admi nistrator l evel account as your normal account (i .e. the Protected Admi ni strator), si nce by defaul t you
onl y have Standard user pri vi l eges unti l you cli ck a UAC prompt to escal ate those pri vi l eges to
Admi nistrator l evel when requi red.

So whi l e many peopl e hate UAC and i ts i ncessant prompti ng, the benefits of UAC - and I strongl y
recommend you keep i t enabl ed - are that you don't need to expose yourself to the major securi ty ri sks of
runni ng a ful l unprotected Admi ni strator account on a regul ar basi s as has been the case i n previ ous
versi ons of Wi ndows such as XP; you can now run an Admini strator account as your mai n account for
conveni ence, and use UAC to have tighter securi ty as wel l.

< USER ACCOUNT SCENARIOS
Thi s secti on contai ns my advi ce on how to set up User Accounts on your system based on four common
scenari os. When you are setti ng up User Accounts i n Wi ndows, you must fi rst deci de on how many peopl e
you want to provi de access to your machi ne, and al so consi der whether the PC i s readil y accessi bl e by others
or i s relati vel y isolated from physi cal access. The number of users is an obvi ous factor, but the second
variabl e has to do wi th the fact that a PC whi ch can be physicall y accessed by other peopl e you don't
necessaril y trust requi res much ti ghter securi ty than one whi ch i s physi cally isolated. Bel ow are my
recommendati ons for the mai n general scenari os whi ch are possi bl e and the best way to confi gure one or
more User Accounts to sui t:

Single user, isolated machine: If the PC onl y has one mai n user and i s not physi call y accessi ble by untrusted
i ndi vi duals then the defaul t Protected Admi nistrator User Account created by Wi ndows duri ng i nstal lation
i s suffi ci ent. For maxi mum conveni ence you may also wi sh to l eave thi s Admi nistrator l evel account wi thout
a password, whi ch provi des the fastest startup i nto Wi ndows as you won't see a l ogi n screen.

Single user, accessible machine: If the PC has onl y one mai n user but other peopl e who are not necessari ly
trustworthy can physi call y access i t, or you are worried about sensi ti ve i nformati on and potenti al theft, then
the defaul t User Account created by Wi ndows i s sti ll suffi cient, but you must assi gn a strong password to
the account - see the Backi ng Up & Restori ng Passwords secti on of the Backup & Recovery Chapter for
detail s of how to generate a strong password and back i t up safel y to prevent l oss. Thi s password wil l need
to be entered at the l ogi n screen each ti me you start up Wi ndows, and as l ong as the password i s qui te
strong, wi ll prevent anyone el se from gai ni ng access to your machi ne. However there are ways of cracki ng
such passwords i f a person has physical access to the machi ne, so you may al so wish to al so use EFS
Encrypti on and/or Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on if the data i s very val uabl e and/or the threat of physi cal
access or theft i s qui te hi gh - see Encrypti ng Fi l e System and Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on secti ons of the PC
Securi ty chapter.


150

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

Multiple users, isolated machine: If the PC has more than one user but i s only physi call y accessed by trusted
peopl e such as cl ose fami ly members then I recommend creati ng a Standard User Account for each of the
addi ti onal peopl e who wi ll be usi ng the machi ne, and keepi ng the defaul t Protected Admi nistrator account
for yoursel f to use. However i mportantly you must now use a password for your Admi ni strator account and
you must al so enabl e UAC. Asi de from mal ware ri sks, a password and UAC are requi red to prevent the
other User Accounts from maki ng system-wi de changes whi ch may destabil ize or harm the PC, and i t also
all ows you to use the Parental Control features detail ed further bel ow. Note that the Standard accounts
themsel ves don't have to have passwords, but i t is recommended that they do i n case one user acci dentally
or purposel y l ogs i n under another user's account and accesses sensi ti ve data or makes undesi red changes.
Furthermore Standard accounts whi ch don't have passwords can have the contents of thei r personal folders
vi ewed by Admi ni strators; if password protected, personal fol ders cannot be vi ewed by anyone else. By
vi rtue of having more than one User Account on the machi ne, you wi ll see a l ogi n page each ti me you start
Wi ndows, al lowi ng anyone to choose whi ch user to logi n as, as l ong as they enter the appropri ate password
i f requi red.

Multiple users, accessible machine: If the PC has more than one user, and i s al so physi call y accessi bl e by a range
of peopl e some of whom you may not compl etel y trust, or there is greater ri sk of theft, then I recommend the
same procedures as the scenari o above, however the Admi nistrator password must be made very strong,
and the Standard account passwords shoul d also be made qui te strong. Indi vidual users may al so wi sh to
use EFS encrypti on for thei r sensi ti ve fi l es or fol ders. In addi ti on, i f you want to all ow an untrusted person
l i mi ted access to your machi ne (e.g. for basi c web browsi ng), then turn the Guest account on as wel l and ask
them to use that. UAC must be enabl ed at all times i n thi s scenari o for maxi mum protecti on against
unauthorized changes and to prevent mal ware. It i s al so recommended that you supervi se the use of the PC
by any untrusted i ndi vi dual(s), as there i s stil l a possi bi li ty that they can crack the Admi nistrator password
and hence have unrestri cted access to your machi ne.

Note that on a PC wi th mul ti ple user accounts, you can qui ckly swi tch between accounts wi thout restarti ng
the machi ne by pressi ng CTRL+ALT+DEL and sel ecti ng 'Swi tch user', or by cl i cki ng the Start button, cl i cking
the small arrow next to the Shutdown opti on and sel ecti ng 'Swi tch user'. You can al so go back to the mai n
l ogon screen by selecti ng 'Log off' i nstead of rebooting.

For more detail s of how UAC works, and for detail s of addi ti onal ways to customize UAC to sui t your
speci fi c needs, see the User Account Control and Local Securi ty Pol i cy secti ons of the PC Securi ty chapter. I
also urge you to check the Backi ng Up and Restori ng Passwords secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter
for detai l s of how to create, backup and protect agai nst password l oss or theft. There are a range of
techni ques whi ch peopl e can use to crack your system i f they have physi cal access to i t, so the si ngl e most
i mportant thing you can do to prevent a breach of your securi ty and pri vacy is to restri ct physi cal access to
your PC only to trusted indi vi dual s. On the other hand, the use of separate User Accounts and enabl i ng
UAC for scenari os where onl y trusted fami l y members have physi cal access to the PC i s more than suffi ci ent
to ensure securi ty and privacy i f al l accounts are i mpl emented wi th passwords.

< MANAGING USER ACCOUNTS
Once you've deci ded on the best strategy, you wil l need to create, del ete or modi fy existi ng User Accounts to
sui t your needs. Thi s is done by fi rst l oggi ng i n as the defaul t Protected Admi ni strator account, then goi ng to
the mai n User Accounts screen. Here you can ei ther edi t your own account, or by cl i cking the 'Manage
another account' l i nk you can edi t the detai ls of any other accounts on the system. Bel ow are the typi cal
range of opti ons shown when managi ng another account:

Create a new account: Thi s al l ows an Admi ni strator to create a new account, assi gni ng i t a name and an
account type. I strongl y suggest onl y creati ng as many addi ti onal Standard accounts as you actuall y need.
Each new account you create wi ll automati cal ly have a full set of personal folders created under the \Users


151

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

di rectory the fi rst ti me that user l ogs on to that account, so unused accounts will si mply take up dri ve space
for no purpose. Note that an Admi nistrator can vi ew the fi l es and fol ders of other users who don't use a
password by goi ng to the \Users di rectory i n Wi ndows Expl orer and l ooki ng for the subfol der wi th that
User's account name. Remember al so that the more Admi nistrator l evel accounts you have, the more
l i kel i hood there is that a user can cause uni ntended harm to the system, or breach another user's pri vacy, or
i nadvertentl y all ow mal ware onto the system. For that reason i t i s best not to have more than one active
Admi nistrator account on the system - the Protected Admi nistrator account. Be sure to also di sabl e the Guest
account unl ess you actual ly need i t.

Change the account name: You can change an account name at any time i f you are an Admi nistrator, i ncluding
your own. However asi de from causi ng confusi on at l ogi n ti me, i t also causes further confusi on because the
actual name of the personal fol der for the user found at \Users\[username] wil l not be changed; i t wil l remai n
as origi nall y set. Do not manual ly change the name of the \Users\[username] fol der as thi s wil l cause
addi ti onal probl ems, si nce that User Account wi ll no l onger be using thei r personal folder i f i t i s renamed. If
you wi sh to rename the user's personal fol der you need to fol l ow the relevant procedure under the
Advanced Setti ngs section l ater i n this chapter.

Delete the account: You can del ete any account except your own by hi ghli ghting i t and selecti ng 'Del ete the
account'. Thi s i s obvi ously somethi ng that shoul d done wi th cauti on, si nce del eti ng an account not only
del etes al l that account's saved preferences, i t can al so del ete al l thei r personal fi l es and fol ders. For thi s
reason Wi ndows wi ll ask you whether you wish to save the account's personal fi les to a new di rectory before
del eti on, but note that you wi ll not be abl e to save thei r email s and personal setti ngs. You shoul d delete all
unused User Accounts on your system if you are sure they wil l not be needed agai n.

Create a password: If an account doesn't have a password and you need to create one then sel ect the account,
cl i ck this li nk, and enter an appropriate password. Any User Account wi th a password cannot have thei r
fi les and folders accessed by other users. Importantl y, if you l ose or forget the password for an
Admi nistrator account you wil l need another Admini strator on the same machi ne to hel p you - i f another
Admi nistrator doesn't exist you wi ll be i n seri ous troubl e - see the Backup & Recovery Chapter for recovery
opti ons. If a Standard user forgets their password, an Admi ni strator can cl i ck the 'Change the password' or
'Remove the password' l i nks as appropri ate to fi x thi s. However removi ng a password al so removes access
to password-protected resources for that account, such as EFS encrypted fi les. To change your own account
password at any ti me press CTRL+ALT+DEL and select 'Change a password'.

Change the picture: By defaul t each User Account has a smal l pi cture attached to i t to make identi fi cati on of
di fferent accounts easi er on the l ogi n screen and at the top of the Start Menu among other pl aces. Sel ect one
from the l i st shown, or to use your own custom pi cture cl i ck the 'Browse for more pi ctures' li nk at the
bottom of the i mages and fi nd an appropri ate i mage on your dri ve(s) to use - i t must be i n .BMP, .PNG, .GIF
or .JPG format. Note that you can qui ckl y open the User Account properti es by goi ng to Start Menu and
cl i cki ng thi s pi cture at the top of the menu.

Change the account type: An account can be changed from Admini strator to Standard user and vi ce versa,
though thi s is obvi ously somethi ng whi ch should be done wi th some consi derati on. In parti cular I don't
recommend changi ng the fi rst defaul t Protected Admi nistrator account created under Wi ndows to a
Standard user.

< PARENTAL CONTROLS
Parental Control s can be accessed di rectl y through the Wi ndows Control Panel , or via the 'Set up Parental
Control s' opti on under the 'Manage another account' secti on of User Accounts. One of the most common
uses of User Accounts i s by parents who want to restri ct thei r chi l dren from maki ng a mess of the fami ly
computer, or accessi ng undesi rable material on the Internet. Parental Control s was i ntroduced i n Vi sta and


152

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

conti nues to be a handy tool i n Wi ndows 7 for addressi ng these si tuati ons. However Parental Control s i s not
just for control li ng chi l dren; i t all ows you to lay down addi ti onal li mi tati ons on any Standard User.

On the mai n Parental Control s screen you wil l see al l avai labl e User Accounts on the system i ncludi ng your
own. To customi ze Parental Controls for a user, you must fi rst sel ect thei r User Account, and i mportantl y,
your Admi nistrator l evel User Account must have a password for Parental Control restri cti ons to be
enforceabl e. When you select the user to whi ch you want to apply the restri ctions, you shoul d select the 'On,
enforce current setti ngs' opti on to enabl e Parental Control s for thi s user. Then adjust the vari ous setti ngs as
descri bed below:

Time Limits: Al l ows you to set the hours wi thi n whi ch the sel ected User Account can use the PC. On the
schedul e shown, areas shaded i n blue represent hours duri ng whi ch use is bl ocked. Areas i n whi te are
all owed usage peri ods. To appl y any time restri cti ons sel ect any peri ods you wi sh to bl ock and cl i ck OK.
When the user attempts to l og i n during these periods they wi ll see a message explai ni ng that due to ti me
restri cti ons they cannot l og on and should try agai n later.

Games: This area l ets you sel ect fi rstl y whether the user can play any games at all , and then you can block
games wi th parti cular rati ngs - these shoul d be set to match your local regi on's rati ng scheme. You can also
choose ei ther to all ow or bl ock unrated games, si nce some (mai nl y ol der) games may be unrated regardl ess
of thei r content type. Furthermore you can then manual l y speci fy whi ch of the exi sti ng games i nstal l ed on
the system you wish to bl ock or all ow.

If enabl ed, the user's acti vi ty wil l be l ogged. You can vi ew these l ogs here by cl i cki ng the 'View acti vi ty
reports' l i nk at the ri ght of the screen. You can see more detai ls by browsi ng the l og categori es i n the left
pane.

Allow and block specific programs: If you wi sh to bl ock the user from bei ng able to run particular programs,
cl i ck the '[user] can onl y use the programs I al l ow' opti on and then sel ect from the l ist of all i nstal l ed
programs shown. If a program fi le is missi ng from the l ist, cl i ck Browse and go to i ts di rectory then sel ect i t.

Importantl y, Mi crosoft has removed the web fil teri ng and acti vi ty reports features of Parental Controls,
previ ousl y avail abl e under Windows Vista. You must i nstal l addi tional software to enabl e this functi onal i ty
as detai led i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. I recommend the free Mi crosoft Fami l y Safety software whi ch provi des
web fi l teri ng and detai l ed acti vi ty reports functi onal ity - see the Mi crosoft Arti cl e above for feature details.
Note however that unl i ke Wi ndows Li ve Mai l or other Wi ndows Li ve software recommended i n this book,
Wi ndows Li ve Fami ly Safety requi res that you l og i n wi th a vali d Wi ndows Li ve ID before you can use the
software, because i t i s an onl i ne-oriented tool . If you do not have such an account, you can create one for free
here.

To i nstall Windows Li ve Famil y Safety, downl oad from the l i nk provi ded above and run the i nstall er. In the
wi ndow which appears sel ect onl y the 'Famil y Safety' component and cli ck Install . Once compl eted, untick
the boxes at the end of i nstal lati on to prevent your defaul t search provider or homepage from bei ng
changed, then cl i ck Continue. Note that i f you are prompted to Si gn Up wi th a Wi ndows Li ve ID and you
al ready have a Li ve ID, you can ski p this step and cl ick Cl ose; otherwi se sign up for one as i t is necessary.

To open and use Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety go to Parental Control s and cli ck 'Sel ect a Provi der' box and
make sure 'Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety' i s chosen. When you then sel ect a user i n Parental Control s, you
wi ll be prompted to l ogi n to Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety. Enter your Wi ndows Li ve ID detai l s to conti nue,
or i f you don't wi sh to use the addi ti onal features, cli ck the red X at the top ri ght of the l ogi n wi ndow to
access the normal Parental Control s options. You can also access Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety di rectl y at any
ti me by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng Family Safety and pressi ng Enter.


153

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

Fol l ow these steps to configure the additi onal setti ngs:

1. There i s only one account requi red to logi n to Family Safety, and thi s account i s considered to be the
Parent. Other Wi ndows Live IDs may be required, for example to manage your chi l dren's email access
through the Contact Management setti ng.
2. Once you l og i n, you wil l be prompted to sel ect whi ch accounts are bei ng moni tored - select all rel evant
accounts by pl aci ng a ti ck i n the Moni tor account box next to each one. I don't recommend ti cki ng your
own Admi ni strator account.
3. Cl i ck Save when done.
4. To configure the actual setti ngs for the account(s) being moni tored, you wi ll need to cli ck the l i nk shown
under 'Customi ze setti ngs for your fami l y' secti on. Thi s wi ll open a browser window and automati cal l y
l og you i nto the Fami ly Safety onl i ne setti ngs area of the Windows Li ve Famil y Setti ngs si te.
5. Cl i ck the 'Edi t Setti ngs' l ink next to the User Accounts you are moni tori ng, and for each one you can
confi gure Web Fi l teri ng, Acti vi ty Reporti ng and Contact Management - al l of whi ch are covered further
bel ow.
6. If you wish to remove a user from bei ng moni tored, cli ck the Remove l i nk at the bottom of thi s screen.

Web Filtering: If enabl ed, there are two preset level s of Internet fil teri ng avai labl e here - Basi c and Stri ct. Strict
i s i ntended for very young chi l dren as onl y a very small number of ki ds-onl y si tes are all owed. Basi c is more
appropriate for ol der chi ldren. Al ternati vel y you can sel ect Custom and determi ne the categori es of web
content you wi sh to al l ow or bl ock. Regardl ess of whi ch opti on you choose, you can al so manual l y enter web
addresses for parti cular sites you wi sh to all ow or bl ock, and thi s l i st al ways overri de any other fi l tering
measures currentl y bei ng appl i ed. You can al so ti ck or unti ck the 'All ow [user] to downl oad fi les onl i ne' to
control whether fil e downl oads are all owed from any si te. Cl ick the Save button when done to save and
appl y these setti ngs for this user.

Activity Reporting: If enabl ed, Acti vi ty Reporti ng al lows you to record and displ ay the onli ne and offl ine
acti vi ty for thi s user. The categori es of acti vi ty recorded are: Web acti vi ty whi ch is browser-based acti vity;
Other Internet acti vi ty covers other types of web access, such as vi a the buil t-i n updati ng uti li ti es of a
program; and Computer Acti vi ty, which records general acti vi ty on the current computer, such as the
l aunchi ng of any games or programs.

Contact Management: If enabl ed, thi s setti ng determi nes the peopl e (Contacts) wi th which the chi l d can
exchange email s or have chat sessi ons. Your chi ld wi ll need to use a Wi ndows Li ve Hotmail account for
email , and Wi ndows Li ve Messenger for chat, for these features to be supported.

Requests: The Requests secti on all ows your chil dren to make requests for particular content they want to
vi ew, or contacts they wi sh to add, whi ch are currentl y bei ng blocked. You can approve or deny requests
l i sted here and they wil l automati cal l y be bl ocked or all owed as appropri ate.

Once you have compl eted setti ng up and savi ng all rel evant setti ngs, you can close the browser wi ndow. To
access Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety i n the future, you can cli ck the 'Wi ndows Li ve Famil y Safety' l i nk which
appears i n the Parental Control s opti ons when a user i s sel ected, or the rel evant Acti on Center noti fi cation
whi ch appears i n the Notificati on Area.

When the chi l d goes to access the Internet or undertake any other restri cted activi ty, they wi ll be presented
wi th a bl ocked message, givi ng them the opti on to Email you wi th a request whi ch wi ll appear under your
Requests secti on i n Fami ly Safety, or sel ect the 'Ask i n person' opti on whi ch raises a Parent Approval
prompt. To i nstantl y all ow access to the bl ocked resource, the Parent must then enter thei r Wi ndows Li ve ID
password and cli ck the Approve button, or they can si mply cl i ck Deny to conti nue bl ocking the requested
resource.


154

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

It i s unfortunate that the web fi l teri ng and acti vi ty reporti ng features have been removed from Wi ndows
and repl aced wi th web-based components. Whil e not a major concern i n terms of pri vacy and safety, gi ven
Mi crosoft has al ways shown a strong commi tment to mai ntai ni ng both of these aspects for all users, the web
i nterface and need for Windows Li ve ID and Wi ndows Li ve-based appl i cati ons to support al l of these
features is annoyi ng. You can turn to a thi rd party sol uti on to provi de you with web fi l tering and acti vity
reporti ng functi onali ty, however the best of these are not free, and certai nl y don't provi de any better pri vacy
guarantees. I suggest you exami ne the fol l owi ng Windows 7-compati bl e software packages if you don't wi sh
to use Windows Li ve Famil y Safety:

Net Nanny
Safe Eyes

There is no other way of easil y restri cti ng or compl etel y disabl ing Internet access on a per-user basi s in
Wi ndows 7, parti cul arl y as many methods can be bypassed wi th the appropriate knowl edge. You must use
one of the software packages i n this secti on if you wish to restri ct Internet access to a parti cular User
Account.

The bui l t-i n Parental Control s are useful not just for chi l dren but to al so prevent certai n users from running
speci fi c programs for exampl e i f you know that such programs may potenti all y be harmful or i ntrusive.
Keep i n mi nd that as l ong as UAC is enabl ed at the defaul t l evel , even i f you don't bl ock harmful or i ntrusi ve
programs, Standard users cannot successful ly run programs whi ch make i ntrusive changes.

< ADVANCED SETTINGS
Thi s secti on covers some of the more advanced ways you can access and mani pulate User Account-rel ated
setti ngs.

USER PROFILES
Your User Profil e is the sum of everythi ng for your User Account, i ncl udi ng all the data you keep under
your personal fol ders - that i s, al l the files and fol ders under your \Users\[Username] di rectory - as wel l as
your user-speci fi c Wi ndows Registry setti ngs - that is, those i n the [ HKEY_CURRENT_USER] hi ve - stored in
the ntuser.dat system fil e under the root di rectory of your personal folders. Each User Account on your
computer has a User Profi le stored, and you can access a li st of these and change them by cli cki ng the
'Configure Advanced User Profil e Properti es' li nk in the l eft pane of the mai n User Accounts wi ndow.
However thi s onl y gi ves you access to your own User Profil e. To access all User Profil es open the System
component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli ck the 'Advanced System Setti ngs' l i nk, then under the
Advanced tab cl i ck the Setti ngs button under 'User Profil es'.

There shoul d be a Defaul t Profi l e here, as wel l as at least one User Profi l e wi th your username, and one for
every other User Account. You can Del ete or Copy other profil es i f you wish, though del eti ng a User
Account i s best done fi rst through the normal User Account management i nterface. Of greatest use here i s
the abil i ty to cl i ck the 'Change Type' button, l etti ng you swi tch a User Profil e between a Roami ng and Local
profil e i f you are on a network. A Roaming profil e al lows the user to mai ntai n a si ngle User Account on the
network's central server whi ch can be accessed on any machi ne on that network, and which remai ns up to
date; a Local profil e on the other hand i s si mpl y a l ocall y stored copy of your User Account and associated
User Profi l e data, any changes to whi ch are not accessi bl e on other machi nes i n a network. For standalone
home PC users thi s functi onali ty is i rrel evant as all profil es are l ocal l y stored.

One of the changes i n Wi ndows 7 i s the abi li ty to undertake peri odi c background upl oadi ng of the ntuser.dat
fi le to the network server to ensure that thi s data doesn't become outdated i n case of a probl em. The setti ng
whi ch control s thi s peri odi c updati ng is the 'Background upl oad of a roami ng user profi les registry file


155

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

whi l e user i s l ogged on' setti ng avail able i n Group Pol i cy Edi tor - see this Mi crosoft Arti cl e for more detail s,
as network-rel ated functi onali ty is not covered i n detail i n thi s book.

If you wi sh to change or rename the personal fol der to whi ch a parti cular User Profil e is li nked, whi ch can be
useful if you have changed your account's username for exampl e, you can do so by foll owi ng these steps:

1. You must be logged i n as an Admi ni strator.
2. Make sure the User Account you are about to change i s l ogged off compl etel y.
3. Open Wi ndows Expl orer and go to the \Users directory and rename the personal fol der you wi sh to
change.
4. Go to the followi ng l ocati on i n Regi stry Edi tor:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Pr of i l eLi st ]

Thi s l ocati on hol ds all the separate User Profi l es. One of the subfolders here contai ns the User Profi l e data
for the account you wi sh to change - find i t by cl i cki ng each one and l ooki ng at the Pr of i l eI magePat h
value unti l you fi nd the one whi ch matches the name of the User Profil e you're changi ng.

Pr of i l eI magePat h=C: \ User s\ [ user name]

Once found, edi t the path above to point to the folder you recentl y renamed. When that user next l ogs in
they wi ll be usi ng thi s personal fol der. Note that renami ng the personal fol der does not change the name of
the User Account and vi ce versa - see earl i er i n thi s chapter for the correct way to rename a User Account.

ADVANCED USER ACCOUNTS CONTROL PANEL
To access a second, more advanced User Accounts Control Panel , go to Start>Run, type netplwiz and press
Enter. The opti ons provi ded here requi re caution and are for more advanced users - i f i n doubt do not al ter
anythi ng. Below are the descri pti ons for these setti ngs:

Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer: If your system i s onl y usi ng one account - the
defaul t one created duri ng Wi ndows i nstal lati on - and you have not set a password, then i n effect you won't
see a l ogi n screen and won't have to enter a password at any ti me. However i f you have set a password for
your account, and/or have two or more User Accounts, you wi ll see a l ogi n screen at Wi ndows bootup, and
you may also be prompted for a password. To override thi s defaul t behavi or simpl y sel ect the account you
wi sh to have automati cal ly l oggi ng i n to Wi ndows from the l i st shown, unti ck the 'Users must enter a name
and password to use thi s computer' box, cl i ck Appl y, and enter any password i f appl i cabl e. Thi s account wi ll
then automati cal ly l ogi n each ti me you start Wi ndows. Thi s i s a major securi ty ri sk and i s not recommended
unl ess you are the sol e user of the machine and the machi ne is i n a physi call y secure envi ronment.

Users for this computer: Thi s area li sts al l the User Accounts on thi s PC. You can add or remove accounts here,
though i t is not recommended; you shoul d use the normal User Accounts wi ndow i nstead wherever
possi ble. Hi ghl i ght an account and cl i ck Properti es; asi de from l etti ng you change the name and descri ption
of the account, under the 'Group Membershi p' tab not onl y can you sel ect whether to set thi s as an
Admi nistrator or Standard account, you can al so sel ect one of the other more speci al i zed groups whi ch have
speci fi c l i mi tati ons. For exampl e you can sel ect the 'Backup Operators' group for a user whi ch all ows them to
perform a range of backup and restore-related tasks whi ch a Standard user woul d not otherwi se be abl e to
do. However you wi ll need to understand what each of the groups can do - see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for
more detail s. You can al so use the Local Users and Groups Manager to see descri pti ons for each group - see
the Advanced User Management secti on bel ow for more detail s. For the most part groups are designed for
network admi ni strators not home users.


156

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

Reset Password: All ows you to set a new password for the hi ghlighted User Account (i f i t has one). This is
useful if that user has forgotten thei r password. To change your own password press CTRL+ALT+DEL and
sel ect 'Change a password'.

The foll owi ng opti ons are under the Advanced tab:

Manage Passwords: Thi s opti on al l ows you store and backup vari ous passwords in the Credenti al Manager -
see the Backing UP and Restori ng Passwords secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter for more detai ls.

Advanced user management: Cl i cki ng the Advanced button opens the Local Users and Groups Manager
wi ndow. You can also access the Local Users and Groups manager di rectl y at any time by goi ng to
Start>Run, typi ng lusrmgr.msc and pressi ng Enter. Here you can see and admi ni ster i ndi vi dual users on thi s
PC by cli cki ng the Users i tem i n the l eft pane, and then doubl e-cl icki ng on the parti cul ar user you wish to
vi ew/al ter. Importantl y, see the Hi dden Admi ni strator Account secti on bel ow for one useful functi on of thi s
uti li ty. Si milarl y, you can cl i ck the Groups i tem i n the l eft pane to vi ew al l the avai labl e groups to whi ch a
User Account can be assigned. There are descri ptions of the pri vi lege l evel s for each group. Agai n, thi s
functi onali ty i s pri maril y intended for network admini strators. For home users, even those runni ng a home
network, the normal Standard and Admi nistrator l evel accounts are suffici ent, gi ven a Standard level
account can now perform a range of addi ti onal non-i ntrusi ve tasks under Wi ndows 7.

Secure Logon: If you wi sh to have added securi ty, you can ti ck the 'Require users to press Ctrl +Al t+Del ete'
box, and thus whenever anyone tri es to l ogon on thi s PC, they fi rst have to press the CTRL, ALT and DEL
keys together to bri ng up the l ogon screen; i t wil l not di spl ay automati cal ly. This i ncreases securi ty because
i t pl aces the logon screen in Secure Desktop mode - as covered i n the User Account Control secti on of the PC
Securi ty Chapter - meani ng the l ogon screen cannot be faked by mal ware to capture your logi n detail s for
exampl e. This l evel of securi ty is generall y not necessary for the average home PC user.

HIDDEN ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT
Wi ndows 7 has a hi dden bui l t-i n Admi ni strator account whi ch is disabled by defaul t. The User Account you
create when you first i nstall Wi ndows 7 i s an Admini strator l evel account, however i t i s cal l ed a Protected
Admi nistrator because i t i s bound by the l i mi ts i mposed by User Account Control . The hi dden
Admi nistrator account has the hi ghest level of pri vi leges i n Wi ndows, and i s not bound by UAC, whether
enabl ed or not. It i s al so an Owner of all the fi l es and fol ders on the system, so it does not requi re addi ti onal
permi ssi on to al ter or del ete any such files and fol ders - see the Access Control and Permi ssions secti on of
the PC Security chapter. Thi s makes i t an extremel y powerful account, but also an extremel y dangerous one.

To vi ew thi s Admi nistrator account, open the Local Users and Groups manager as covered i n the secti on
above. Then cl i ck the Users i tem i n the left pane, and you wil l see an account wi th the name Admi nistrator.
Doubl e-cli ck on thi s account and under i ts properti es you can see that the 'Account i s disabl ed' box i s ti cked,
whi ch i s why i t i s not normall y accessibl e. If you wish to make thi s account accessi bl e, unti ck thi s box and
cl i ck Apply. If you go to the mai n User Accounts window under the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli ck the
'Manage another account' li nk, you can now see the Admi nistrator account showi ng. When next you start up
Wi ndows, if you l ogoff your current sessi on, or go to the Start button, cl i ck the arrow next to the Shutdown
button, and cli ck the 'Swi tch User' opti on, thi s account wi l l appear on the l ogi n screen and can be l ogged i nto
just li ke any other account.

Thi s account i s desi gned for troubl eshooti ng purposes, and for very advanced users who have need of this
functi onali ty to perform a range of system-i ntensi ve tasks wi thout bei ng repeatedl y prompted by UAC or
havi ng to constantl y al ter fil e permi ssions for exampl e. However i t i s not desi gned for dail y use by the
average home PC user as it i s i ncredi bl y powerful and does not have much protecti on agai nst abuse. If your
computer i s i nfil trated by mal ware whi l e you are usi ng thi s account, the hacker wi ll have compl ete
unrestri cted access to everythi ng on your PC. Even if your system i s total ly secure, you can uni ntenti onally


157

U
s
e
r

A
c
c
o
u
n
t
s

make harmful changes to your system by acci dentall y del eti ng or al teri ng cri tical system fi les and setti ngs,
because no prompts wi ll appear to warn you.

For all these reasons you shoul d not enabl e thi s account permanentl y, and most defi ni tel y shoul d not use i t
as your dai l y account. The mai n reason you shoul d be aware of i ts exi stence i s as noted, for temporary use
duri ng system confi gurati on or for troubl eshooting purposes where you need the hi ghest l evel of
unrestri cted access to your system.

Li mi t the number of accounts you make to those you absolutel y need, have onl y one mai n Protected
Admi nistrator account on your system - do not use the hi dden Admi ni strator account - and encourage any
other users on your system to use passwords to protect thei r accounts and prevent accidental del eti on. If you
conti nual ly experi ence issues wi th a parti cular User Account and nothi ng el se works, the best sol uti on i s to
backup the important data from that account, del ete the User Account and create an entirel y new one and
copy back the data i nto the new personal folders for the account.


158

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

PC SECURITY

Over the past few years PC securi ty has become a major i ssue of concern due to the i ncrease i n the number
of ways i n whi ch the securi ty of the average home PC user can be compromised. Accordingl y, Wi ndows
Vista saw a marked i mprovement i n securi ty features over Wi ndows XP, and Wi ndows 7 bui l ds on and
refi nes these features as covered i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. You may fi nd some of these features annoyi ng or
confusi ng, however I strongl y advi se you not to take the topi c of PC securi ty l ightl y or i gnore i t. It i s
extremel y i mportant that you become acquai nted wi th both the types of threats to the i ntegri ty and privacy
of your PC, as well as how the Wi ndows securi ty-related features actuall y work to counter them.

It i s i ncorrect to suggest that onl y the very carel ess or novi ce user wi ll succumb to a securi ty-related probl em
or Mal ware (mali ci ous software) i nfestati on. Even if you consi der yourself an advanced user, you need to
bear i n mi nd that mal ware threats these days are becomi ng i ncreasingl y compl ex and dangerous. In the past
a mal ware i nfestation woul d usuall y resul t i n l i ttl e to no real harm; you'd have to delete a few fil es or at
worst rei nstall Wi ndows or restore a backup. Now however, mal ware devel opment and di stributi on is often
coordi nated by organized cri me groups for fi nanci al gai n, so even a si ngl e i nci dence of malware i nfestation
can potenti all y resul t i n the l oss of money, software serial numbers, emai l account detail s, and other
sensi ti ve personal i nformati on. Havi ng a carefree atti tude towards PC securi ty i s a thi ng of the past.

However I do not advocate boggi ng your system down wi th securi ty software that runs i n the background,
sl owi ng thi ngs down, triggeri ng software confl i cts and crashes. Instead, thi s chapter expl ai ns the vari ous
types of threats to PC securi ty and provi des a range of i mportant ti ps for mai ntai ni ng a secure PC, because
educati on and awareness are the best defense agai nst mal ware. We exami ne the bui l t-i n tool s and features i n
Wi ndows 7 whi ch deal wi th these threats, and I al so recommend a set of thi rd party software to suppl ement
Wi ndows securi ty measures i n a non-i ntrusi ve manner wi th virtual l y no performance i mpact.

< SECURITY THREATS
There are a wi de range of securi ty threats whi ch Wi ndows users face, parti cul arl y from vari ous types of
mali ci ous software. Mal ware can enter your system and cause probl ems ranging from the very mi nor to the
very seri ous. Mal ware can remai n hi dden for l ong peri ods and have subtl e effects, or i ts i mpact can be
i mmediate and blatant. However i t i s i mportant to understand that malware does not damage your
computer hardware di rectly nor does i t actuall y physi cal ly 'i nfect' the hardware. Mal ware i s software-based,
and i ts threat i s to the i ntegri ty of your data, your pri vacy and your fi nances.

There are different types of mal ware and securi ty threats, and the major categori es of these are covered
bel ow:

VIRUSES & WORMS
Vi ruses are small programs that l oad onto your computer wi thout your permi ssi on and wi thout your
knowl edge of thei r real functi on. They are call ed vi ruses because just l ike a human vi rus they are desi gned
to sel f-repl i cate, attachi ng themsel ves to normal programs and fil es and spreadi ng to other computers
through exchange of these i nfected fi l es, where they repeat the same process once on the new computer.
Vi ruses range from the mi schi evous to the trul y harmful, destroyi ng val uabl e i nformation through data
corrupti on and causi ng a range of strange system behavi ors.

Worms are si mil ar to viruses, however they general l y do not attach to other fil es, they can spread
i ndependently.


159

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

TROJAN HORSES
A Trojan, short for Trojan Horse, i s a mal i ci ous program that is often i nstal led on your system under the
guise of bei ng another, often useful, program. Trojans di ffer from vi ruses i n that they are used to provi de an
outsi de attacker wi th access to your system. Thi s may be for the purposes of steal i ng val uabl e i nformation,
i nstal li ng other forms of mal ware, or using your system as part of an i ll egal network such as a botnet.

SPYWARE
Spyware i s simi lar to a Trojan, i n that it i s software that i s usual ly i nstal l ed on your system purporti ng to
have di fferent functi onali ty, or as a component of a useful program. Spyware does not al l ow an outside
attacker to take control of your system, but i t does transmi t i nformati on about you and your system, such as
your passwords, keystrokes or Internet usage behavior to the distri butor of the spyware.

ADWARE
Adware i s simi lar to spyware, but is not necessari l y mal i ci ous, as i t i s mai nl y used to target onl ine
advertisi ng or create popup ads or redi rect/force your browser to vi ew pages wi th adverti si ng. However
agai n i t is usual l y i nstal led wi thout your ful l knowledge or permi ssi on. Despi te i t's relati vely l ess mali ci ous
nature, thi s software is usual l y undesi rabl e, breaches your pri vacy and uses system resources and
bandwi dth for no genui nely useful purpose.

ROOTKITS
A Rootki t i s a form of mal ware del iberatel y designed to mask the fact that your machi ne has been
compromi sed and i s now open to unauthori zed usage by an outside attacker. The rootki t wi ll prevent traces
of i tself or any associated mali ci ous activi ty from being detected by usual detecti on methods such as running
an anti-vi rus program or exami ni ng the Wi ndows Task Manager for unusual processes. At the same ti me, a
remote attacker can take advantage of the rootki t to access your machi ne for malici ous purposes.

PHISHING
Whi le not a form of mali cious software, Phi shi ng i s fast becomi ng a common and signifi cant securi ty threat.
Typi cal ly i t invol ves fool ing unsuspecti ng users i nto reveali ng i mportant personal i nformation such as credi t
card numbers or passwords. For exampl e a phi shi ng attempt may i nvol ve getti ng you to cl ick a l ogi n l i nk i n
a fake email from your bank, whi ch then takes you to a fraudul ent i mi tati on of the user's bank l ogi n page,
whereupon you enter your l ogi n detail s, gi vi ng the perpetrator al l the detail s they need to then l ogi n to your
real bank account and rob i t. Phi shi ng i s not mal ware as such, since i t does not usual l y i nvol ve software
i nfecti on, i t uses social engi neeri ng techni ques i nstead to tri ck and defraud i ts targets.

The categories above are i n no way conclusi ve or all -encompassi ng. There are many variants and
combi nati ons of the above securi ty threat categories, and more are emergi ng every day. Over the past few
years these types of threats have become ever-more sophi sti cated, i ntrusi ve and mali ci ous. Even relati vel y
tech-savvy users face the risk of pi cki ng up a seri ous pi ece of malware or even acci dentall y fal li ng prey to
phi shi ng. It may not happen often, but i t onl y takes one seri ous securi ty breach to resul t i n fi nancial l oss or
data l oss and the subsequent major hassl es of havi ng to obtai n new credi t cards, provi ng your case to a bank
or fi nancial insti tuti on, changi ng all your passwords, contacti ng software manufacturers for new seri al
numbers, and so forth. The peopl e behi nd the creati on of these securi ty threats are making large sums of
money from doi ng this, so they have the resources and the i ncentive to constantl y adapt to exi sti ng mal ware
defenses and i nnovate new and ever-more-i ntrusi ve forms of mal ware and onli ne scams.

Protecti ng yoursel f agai nst these securi ty threats i s not as si mple as i nstal l i ng lots of mal ware scanners and
turni ng them all on. Asi de from drai ni ng performance, causi ng software confl i cts and other system i ssues,
mal ware scanners often lag behi nd i n the detecti on of new securi ty vul nerabi l i ties and expl oi ts. The best


160

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

defense agai nst mal ware i s a combi nati on of correctl y configuri ng bui l t-i n Wi ndows securi ty features, usi ng
appropriate thi rd party securi ty software, and most i mportantl y, bei ng educated and vi gil ant, and
understandi ng your own system. This is one of the reasons I urge users to l earn about how Wi ndows and
thei r PC works, because peopl e who gai n an i ntuiti ve understandi ng of the fundamental s stand a much
greater chance of avoidi ng a securi ty breach.

The rest of thi s chapter contai ns the tool s and methods you can use to counter a wi de range of securi ty
threats, starting wi th the securi ty features bui l t i nto Wi ndows 7.

< WINDOWS ACTION CENTER
The Wi ndows Acti on Center i s the repl acement for the Wi ndows Securi ty Center i n Wi ndows XP and Vi sta.
Acti on Center i s a central l ocati on for Wi ndows to provi de a range of al erts, and for users to qui ckly access
several Wi ndows features. Unl ike the Securi ty Center i n previ ous versi ons of Windows, Acti on Center i s not
restri cted to securi ty-related features - warni ngs on a range of general system mai ntenance i ssues are also
provi ded. Acti on Center is covered i n thi s chapter because i ts most i mportant functi on for the average user
i s stil l to provi de securi ty-related alerts; the other types of al erts are not as i mportant i f not acted upon and
can be accessed i n other ways.

Acti on Center can be opened through the Wi ndows Control Panel , by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
action center and pressi ng Enter, or by cl i cki ng the Acti on Center fl ag i con whi ch appears i n the Noti fi cation
Area and selecti ng the 'Open Acti on Center' l i nk. Once opened, Acti on Center can displ ay two major
categori es of i ssues - Securi ty and Mai ntenance. The Mai ntenance category i s covered under the Wi ndows
Acti on Center secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter

Acti on Center moni tors a range of securi ty features and setti ngs in Wi ndows. To see a ful l li st of these, cli ck
the smal l down arrow at the ri ght of the Securi ty category headi ng, and you wi ll see the speci fi c features
bei ng moni tored. These i nclude: Wi ndows Fi rewall , Wi ndows Update, Wi ndows Defender, Internet
Expl orer securi ty setti ngs, User Account Control and Network Access Protecti on - these Wi ndows features
are al l covered i n detai l under separate secti ons throughout thi s book. The status of each of these features is
di splayed here, e.g. On, Off, OK or Not Found. Where Wi ndows consi ders any of your setti ngs for these
features to less secure than i t recommends, speci fi c warni ngs wi ll be shown i n l arge yel l ow or red boxes at
the top of the secti on. Thi s is not necessari l y a cause for al arm.

SECURITY CATEGORIES
Asi de from Wi ndows Update, whi ch is a specifi c Wi ndows feature, the other categori es Acti on Center
moni tors are broader than may fi rst appear:

Network Firewall: Thi s category moni tors whether a software fi rewall i s i nstal l ed and enabl ed. I strongl y
advise agai nst runni ng wi thout an acti ve software fi rewal l i n Wi ndows. Si nce Wi ndows comes wi th the
bui l t-i n Wi ndows Fi rewall , as l ong as that is enabl ed then you wi ll not recei ve any warni ng here, and i ndeed
for securi ty purposes, the Windows Fi rewall i s perfectl y adequate - see the Wi ndows Fi rewall secti on i n this
chapter for detai ls. If you have i nstal led and confi gured a trusted thi rd party fi rewall package, but i t i s not
bei ng detected by Wi ndows, you can turn off the warni ng here. In any case, do not enabl e a thi rd party
software fi rewall i n conjuncti on wi th the Wi ndows Fi rewall , turn one of them off.

Windows Update: This category moni tors onl y the bui l t-i n Wi ndows Updates feature of Windows. As noted
under the Wi ndows Updates secti on of the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter, I recommend agai nst automati c
updati ng for i mportant updates, and i nstead advise the sel ecti on of the 'Check for updates but l et me choose
whether to downl oad and i nstall them' opti on to gi ve you maxi mum control over what i s downl oaded and
i nstal l ed on your system and when. Unfortunatel y, Acti on Center considers anythi ng other than automati c
updati ng by Windows Update to be l ess than ideal , and wi ll raise a warni ng here. You can safel y di sabl e thi s


161

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

warni ng by cli cki ng the 'Turn off messages about Wi ndows Update', as l ong as you don't compl etel y di sable
Wi ndows Update at any poi nt, whi ch is defi ni tel y not recommended.

Virus Protection: Wi ndows uses the term Vi rus i n a general sense, as people have come to know the term to
not onl y apply to actual viruses, but simi lar types of malware such as worms or trojans. So vi rus protecti on
general ly means any of the recognized anti -vi rus scanners, whi ch can usual ly detect a range of mal ware as
wel l as just vi ruses. Windows does not have a bui l t-i n anti vi rus program, and unfortunatel y, even i f you
i nstal l the Microsoft Security Essentials anti -mal ware scanner as covered later i n thi s chapter, i f i t i s not set to
the maxi mum possi bl e setti ngs then a warni ng wil l appear here. If you've foll owed the advice i n thi s chapter
and i nstal l ed the appropriate anti -mal ware software, confi guri ng i t as recommended, and this warni ng sti ll
appears, you can di sabl e i t by cl icki ng the 'Turn off messages about vi rus protecti on' l i nk.

Spyware and Unwanted Software Protection: Thi s category moni tors any general anti-spyware package is
i nstal l ed and enabl ed. This i ncludes any anti-vi rus packages whi ch also contai n thi s functi onal i ty. However
because Wi ndows has the bui l t-i n Wi ndows Defender anti-spyware software, as l ong as you enabl e i ts real-
ti me protecti on feature, Wi ndows wil l consi der you adequately protected agai nst spyware and si mil ar
unwanted software. Wi ndows Defender i s covered i n detail later on i n thi s chapter, and there I recommend
di sabli ng the real -ti me protecti on feature. If you fol l ow the recommendati on i n thi s chapter and i nstall
Mi crosoft Securi ty Essential s, i t wi ll replace Wi ndows Defender and wi ll stil l adequately protect you agai nst
spyware. In ei ther case, you can safel y disabl e thi s warni ng by cl i cki ng the 'Turn off messages about
spyware and related protecti on'.

Internet Security Settings: Thi s category moni tors Internet Explorer's securi ty setti ngs, such as Protected
Mode, the Phi shi ng Fil ter and general Securi ty Level . If these are not at recommended l evels, Wi ndows 7
wi ll warn you and al low you to reset them to secure l evels again - see the Internet Expl orer chapter for
detail s of these features.

User Account Control: This category moni tors the buil t-i n User Account Control (UAC) feature i n Wi ndows.
UAC is covered i n full detail i n the next secti on bel ow, and I strongl y advi se agai nst disabl i ng UAC.

Network Access Protection: Thi s category relates to Network Access Protecti on (NAP), whi ch i s a feature
Network Admi ni strators can use to make sure that any computer connected to a network of computers
meets the mini mum security requi rements for that network. It serves no purpose for the standard home user
and shoul d be disabl ed, whi ch i t usual ly is by default.

DISABLING ACTION CENTER
Acti on Center can be useful as an i ni ti al remi nder to check various securi ty-related setti ngs and i nstall
rel evant software soon after i nstal li ng Wi ndows 7. However over ti me, once you have bedded down your
software confi gurati on and are comfortabl e wi th the l evel of security you have chosen, then for the most part
you can di sabl e the prompti ng behavior of Acti on Center as i t can become qui te annoyi ng. You can disable
i ndi vi dual prompts from wi thi n the Acti on Center, al l the way to removi ng the Acti on Center from the
Noti fi cation Area al together.

The qui ckest way to di sable the categories for whi ch you don't wish Acti on Center to al ert you i s to open
Acti on Center and i n the left pane cl ick the 'Change Acti on Center Setti ngs' l i nk. Here you can unti ck the
speci fi c categori es for which you do not want Acti on Center to al ert you, then cl i ck OK. There are also
mai ntenance and troubl eshooti ng message setti ngs you can al ter, and these rel ate to the Wi ndows Backup
feature whi ch i s covered in the Backup & Recovery chapter, as wel l as the Troubl eshooti ng feature covered
under the Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.


162

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

To control the way i n which Acti on Center prompts appear i n the Noti fi cati on Area, go to the Wi ndows
Control Panel and sel ect the Noti fi cati on Area Icons component. Under the Icons col umn, l ook for the Acti on
Center and under the Behavi ors col umn you can sel ect from the followi ng opti ons:

Show i con and noti fi cati on - All ows Action Center to both noti fy you of any al erts, and shows the Acti on
Center's flag icon i n the Noti fi cati on Area.
Hi de i con and noti fi cations - Removes the Acti on Center flag i con from the Noti fi cati on Area and also
prevents any alerts from poppi ng up. You can sti ll access the Acti on Center icon by cli cking the small
whi te triangle i n the Notificati on Area, or through the Control Panel.
Onl y show noti fi cati ons - Thi s hi des the Acti on Center flag i con, however al erts wi l l sti ll pop up i n the
Noti fi cation Area peri odi call y.

So to effectivel y di sabl e the Acti on Center prompti ng behavi or compl etel y, sel ect 'Hi de i con and
noti fi cati ons' above. Fi nally, you can also prevent i t from acti vely moni tori ng securi ty-related setti ngs by
di sabli ng the 'Securi ty Center' Service - see the Servi ces chapter for detai ls. Thi s is onl y recommended i f
other methods of disabl i ng Acti on Center noti fi cations don't work and you are an advanced user.

< USER ACCOUNT CONTROL
A fundamental change i n securi ty for Wi ndows, fi rst i ntroduced i n Vi sta, is the restri cti on of Admi nistrator
pri vi leges for any User Account. Wi ndows 7 conti nues wi th thi s concept, known as User Account Control
(UAC), and now provi des users wi th greater control over the way i n whi ch i t i s i mpl emented.

The reason Admi ni strator access to a system may need to be restri cted i s that a user l ogged i n wi th a ful l
Admi nistrator User Account can do pretty much anythi ng to the system, from al teri ng or del eti ng system
fi les to i nstall i ng any software to creati ng or deleting other User Accounts. Thi s provi des a user wi th the
greatest power and fl exi bil i ty, and hence i s the preferred choi ce for most users, as opposed to a Standard
User Account. Detai ls of User Accounts are i n the User Accounts chapter.

The probl em i s that mal ware capi talizes on the fact that most peopl e run Admi ni strator User Accounts. It
uses vari ous tri cks to get i tsel f i nstall ed, often qui etly i n the background, whi le you are unaware of what's
happened, and hence gai ns unrestri cted access to your system. Malware asi de, runni ng as an Admi nistrator
also means you may i nadvertentl y make vari ous undesi rable system changes wi thout bei ng aware of thei r
potenti al ly disrupti ve nature. Thus runni ng an Admini strator User Account as your day-to-day account has
a great deal of ri sk attached to i t, both in terms of securi ty and system i ntegri ty.

In an attempt to bal ance these ri sks with user conveni ence, Wi ndows manages User Account access with
UAC, whi ch is enabl ed by defaul t. It turns an Admi nistrator account i nto a Protected Admi nistrator account.

THE UAC PROCESS
A si mpl e walkthrough of the User Account Control process at the defaul t UAC setti ngs i n Wi ndows 7 is
provi ded below, and i n more detail i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. If you al ter your UAC setti ngs you may not see
some of the steps bel ow - see Customizing UAC further bel ow for detai l s.:

Step 1 - To begi n wi th, regardl ess of whether you're l ogged i n wi th a Standard or Admi ni strator User
Account, you are restri cted to onl y making changes to the fil es and fol ders you own, i nstall i ng non-i ntrusi ve
software and other basi c functi onali ty. Essentiall y you have Standard user pri vil eges even i f logged i n as an
Admi nistrator. This is a Protected Admini strator.


163

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Step 2 - As soon as you try to make a system-level change such as i nstal li ng a dri ver, edi ti ng the Regi stry,
l aunchi ng a system-i ntrusi ve tool or alteri ng or deleti ng another user's fil es, Wi ndows may requi re that
Admi nistrator credential s be provi ded before proceedi ng. If thi s is the case, a UAC El evation Prompt wi l l
appear.

Step 3 - When a UAC prompt i s di splayed, the i mportant aspects of the prompt you shoul d note are:

Secure Desktop Mode: your Wi ndows background may di m sl ightl y as you are placed i n a sort of 'l i mbo',
whereby no other program can execute i tsel f except for i mportant System processes. Thi s Secure
Desktop is an i mportant layer of protecti on and can hel p prevent mal ware from doi ng thi ngs li ke faki ng
the fil e details on a UAC prompt or automati cal ly accepti ng a UAC prompt.
Prompt Background Color: The UAC prompt wi l l have a background col or correspondi ng to the potenti al
l evel of ri sk invol ved, whether Blue (safe), Yel l ow (warni ng) or Red (bl ocked).
Administrator Password box: If you are not currentl y l ogged i n as an Admi nistrator, you wil l be prompted
to enter the password for an Admi ni strator account on the system before you can conti nue. If you are
al ready l ogged i n wi th an Admi nistrator-l evel account, you can si mpl y press Yes to conti nue wi thout
needi ng to enter a password.
Yes and No Buttons: You can't just press Enter to conti nue because by defaul t the UAC prompt's focus i s
on the No button. Thi s hel ps ensure that you don't just get i nto the habi t of qui ckl y pressi ng Enter
whenever you see a UAC prompt wi thout payi ng attenti on.
Program Details: The detai ls of the program to be l aunched i s displ ayed, wi th the program or fi lename,
publ i sher, and the l ocati on from whi ch i t was l aunched al l shown cl early i n the prompt. In some cases
the publ i sher may be unknown or untrusted. To fi nd out more, cl i ck the 'Show detai ls' down arrow and
you can then see the path to the program fi l e bei ng launched, and cl i ck a l i nk to get more detai ls about
the publ isher.

Step 4 - If you have any doubts about the program bei ng l aunched, cl i ck No. If you cli ck Yes to conti nue and
have the appropri ate credenti als - i .e. you are l ogged in as an Admini strator, or a Standard user who enters a
correct Admini strator password - the program wi ll then i nstal l or launch as normal wi th ful l system access
and ful l functi onali ty. Programs whi ch do not get Admi nistrator l evel access may sti ll i nstall or l aunch,
however they may have al tered or reduced functionali ty - see the Fi l e System and Regi stry Vi rtual izati on
secti on further bel ow for detai ls.

DETECTING MALWARE USING UAC
Mi crosoft has made i t cl ear that al though UAC can be used to prevent certai n securi ty vul nerabil i ti es which
exi sted pri or to i ts i mpl ementati on, UAC by i tself i s not a fool proof protecti on method agai nst mal ware. Thi s
i s because there are known ways of expl oi ti ng UAC prompts or bypassi ng UAC whi ch even the most
advanced user cannot detect. However the presence of UAC has been shown to have i ncreased the securi ty
and resi li ence to mal ware i n Wi ndows Vi sta, and conti nues to do so i n Wi ndows 7 as well. Obvi ously less
advanced users are sti ll l ikel y to disabl e UAC, or cl i ck Yes to any and every UAC prompt (indeed any type
of prompt) whi ch appears before them. However more advanced can uti li ze UAC to thei r advantage, and
educate l ess advanced users to do the same.

When combined wi th appropri ate user vi gil ance, and a range of bui l t-i n Wi ndows securi ty features such as
Data Execution Preventi on (DEP) and Address Space Load Randomi zati on (ASLR) - both covered l ater i n
thi s chapter - UAC i s yet one more barri er agai nst mal ware, and can sti ll be qui te effective agai nst many
types of malware and expl oi ts if used properl y. Bel ow are some ti ps for determi ni ng whether software i s
potenti al ly risky by examini ng the UAC prompt more cl osely:

A UAC Prompt Appears - Thi s i n i tsel f i s confi rmation that a program you are about to l aunch, or a fil e or
document you are about to open, requires access to restri cted areas of the system. For a document, thi s is
al most al ways a warni ng si gn, as openi ng a standard.DOCX or .PDF fi l e for exampl e shoul d not require


164

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Admi nistrator pri vil eges. For a program, there shoul d be no need for somethi ng rel ativel y si mpl e or
purportedl y non-i ntrusi ve to requi re unrestri cted access to your system. Thi s does not mean that a program
or fil e whi ch does is mal i cious, but i t i s certai nl y the fi rst warni ng si gn of a potenti al i ssue, or an i ndi cati on
of poor programmi ng, both of whi ch warrant further i nvesti gati on before i nstal lati on. Thi s i s also true i f you
di d not expect a UAC prompt and one suddenl y appears.

Even i f a program or fil e has no mali ci ous i ntenti ons whatsoever, you are stil l gi vi ng i t unrestri cted access to
your system should you accept the UAC prompt. Thi s means the program may make system-i ntrusive
al terati ons whi ch can destabi lize your system or make undesi rabl e changes to i t. Consi der whether you
real l y need to i nstal l or launch the program, as the more of these types of programs you have on your
system, the greater the potenti al for probl ems regardless of securi ty concerns.

The UAC Prompt Color: Look at the UAC prompt's col or. If the UAC el evati on prompt i s:

Bl ue - A bl ue background combi ned with a bl ue and gol d shiel d icon at the top l eft i ndi cates that the
program i s di gi tall y si gned and recogni zed as a defaul t Windows 7 appli cati on, and can be trusted. A
bl ue background combi ned wi th a bl ue questi on mark shi el d i con, means the program i s a non-
Wi ndows appl i cati on but the publ i sher i s known and can be trusted. In both cases thi s is not a guarantee
of securi ty, as some mali cious software can fi nd ways to attach i tsel f to a trusted program, however i t i s
certai nl y a good sign.
Yel l ow - A yel l ow background shows that the publ isher i s not known. Some cauti on needs to be taken in
determi ni ng whether thi s i s a safe appli cati on. In practi ce i n most cases i t wil l be safe, i t's simpl y a case
of a l ack of veri fi ed digi tal si gnature on the appl i cation, but i t sti l l bears i nvestigati ng if you have any
doubts at al l.
Red - The program i s from a known untrusted publ isher and is bl ocked. It cannot and shoul d not be run.

The general rul e is that a standard bl ue background on a UAC prompt, especi al ly when usi ng what you
woul d expect to be a safe and trusted appl i cati on, such as a bui l t-i n Windows uti li ty, i s suffi cient
reassurance that the appl i cati on i s hi ghly l i kel y to be preci sel y what i t says i t is. A yell ow background which
appears on a newl y downl oaded or exi sti ng appl icati on i s cause for undertaki ng further research and
ensuri ng that (a) you have downl oaded the appl i cation or fi l e from a trusted source, and (b) that you scan
the downl oad wi th at l east one of the mal ware scanners covered later i n this chapter. You shoul d never see a
red background when l aunchi ng an appl i cati on or fil e; thi s i s a major warni ng si gn and the program and i ts
fi les are best del eted, fol l owed by a ful l system mal ware scan.

The Program Details: The UAC prompt cl early shows the program or fi lename, publ i sher and l ocati on of the
program/fi l e. These should obvi ousl y be qui ckly l ooked at and if anythi ng out of pl ace i s noted, the UAC
prompt should be cancel l ed and more research done before launchi ng wi th ful l Admi nistrative ri ghts. More
i mportant i s the 'Show Detail s' button, whi ch takes you to the exact fi l ename and ful l path for the program.
If you have any doubts about the program, e.g. the UAC prompt has a yell ow background, then exami ne the
path very cl osel y. One tri ck mal ware can use i n a UAC prompt to fool even advanced users is to show a path
si mil ar to a real l ocati on on your dri ve, but actuall y different. For exampl e, l ook cl osel y at these two paths:

C:\Program Files\Recuva\Recuva64.exe

C:\ProgramFiles\Recuva\Recuva64.exe

At a glance they may appear i denti cal , especi al ly i f seen i n isolati on, but when exami ned cl osel y, i t soon
becomes apparent that the second path i s referri ng to a non-system l ocati on whi ch doesn't exi st by defaul t,
i .e. C:\ProgramFiles. The correct and genui ne protected system l ocati on is C:\Program Files - note the space
between the two words. So i f i n doubt, cl ick the 'Show Detail s' button, note the exact path as shown, then
i nvesti gate further. For exampl e, do a ful l system search on the fil ename (see the Wi ndows Search chapter),


165

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

and where you fi nd duplicates of the exact same fil e, check to see where and why thi s i s the case, combined
wi th some Googl e research - most programs should not have dupl i cate pri mary executables wi th i denti cal
names, especi al l y i f one has a verified di gi tal certi fi cate and the other doesn't, or one exi sts i n a secure
di rectory l ocati on and the other doesn't.

Digital Signature: Digi tal signatures are covered i n detai l under the Dri ver Si gnature secti on of the Wi ndows
Dri vers chapter. A verifi ed di gi tal si gnature val i dates that the publ i sher of a fil e is who they say they are. A
certi fi cate testi fi es to thi s fact, and is avail abl e to be vi ewed when you cl i ck the 'Show Details' button i n the
UAC prompt and cl i ck the 'Show i nformati on about thi s publ isher's certi fi cate' li nk. However a l ack of a
veri fi ed digi tal si gnature i s not necessaril y cause for alarm, as not al l publ ishers go to the troubl e and
expense of getti ng one. Sti ll , i t i s a feature of a reputabl e program that i t i s si gned and the publ isher is known
and properl y veri fi ed, and therefore trusted by Wi ndows. If you see a yel l ow UAC prompt, the publ i sher
cannot be confi rmed and you shoul d investi gate further. If you see a red UAC prompt the publi sher i s
untrusted and the program shoul d not be i nstall ed. In all cases, if i n doubt, run a mal ware scan over the fil e
or your enti re system.

UAC is not a repl acement for common sense and i t i s not an automated barri er agai nst mal ware. Many of the
tool s and ti ps covered later i n thi s chapter must be used i n conjuncti on wi th UAC for i t to be effecti ve.
Contrary to popul ar beli ef, whi l e UAC can hel p begi nners i n preventi ng some mal ware, i t is actual ly best
used by advanced users to not onl y flag potenti al ly suspi ci ous software or behavi or for further i nvesti gation,
but to also warn you that what you are about to do, even i f not mali ci ous i n nature, wi ll be system-i ntrusive
and thus maybe you shoul d reconsi der, or backup your system and use System Restore to create a restore
poi nt before proceedi ng for exampl e. There shoul d be no reason for any user, no matter how advanced they
bel i eve themsel ves to be, to di sable UAC - however you can customi ze i t as covered further below.

FILE SYSTEM AND REGISTRY VIRTUALIZATION
In order to provi de compati bil i ty wi th appli cati ons not buil t with UAC i n mi nd, UAC incorporates Fi le
System and Regi stry Vi rtual izati on. When UAC i s enabl ed, i t comes i nto effect i f a program requires but
does not request and/or is not gi ven ful l Admi nistrator pri vi l eges whil e attempti ng to i nstal l i tself or make
changes to the fol l owi ng protected system fol ders and system-wi de Registry l ocati ons:

\Program Files
\Program Files (x86)\
\Windows
\Windows\System32
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ ]

Any fi l es, folders or Regi stry changes the program needs to make are automati cal l y redi rected to l ocal copi es
whi ch are stored under the current user's profi l e l ocati ons:

\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\
[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Cl asses\ Vi r t ual St or e]

Thi s prevents Standard users wi th i nsuffi ci ent pri vi l eges from potenti al ly harmi ng the system, but still
all ows them to i nstall and use many types of software.

However thi s i s not a foolproof sol uti on. Some ol der appli cati ons and games can only functi on if they have
full Admi nistrator access, but may not ask for such pri vi leges, and hence there wi l l be no UAC prompt to
escal ate their pri vi l eges duri ng i nstall ati on or at launch ti me. Vi rtuali zati on wi l l al l ow them to i nstall , but
they wi ll not i nstal l properl y and/or wi ll fail to launch or functi on properl y.


166

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

The best way to address the i ssue of certai n trusted appl i cati ons fail i ng to i nstall or l aunch properl y when
UAC i s enabled i s to go to the mai n setup executable or l aunch icon for the program, ri ght cl i ck on i t and
sel ect 'Run as Admi nistrator'. This wil l raise a UAC prompt to el evate pri vil eges each ti me the program i s
l aunched, whi ch you wi ll need to successfull y accept to conti nue. The program wi ll then l aunch or i nstal l as
normal, having been gi ven full Admi ni strator access. To set thi s behavi or permanentl y, right-cl ick on the
mai n executabl e or launch i con, select Properti es and under the Compati bi li ty tab ti ck the 'Run thi s program
as an admi nistrator' box and cl i ck OK. Al ternati vel y i f that opti on i s not avai labl e, go to the mai n Shortcut
tab for the program's launch i con and under the Shortcut tab cl i ck the Advanced button, then pl ace a ti ck i n
the 'Run as Admi nistrator' box. Onl y do thi s if you know and compl etel y trust the appli cati on, having
obtai ned i t from a reputabl e and trusted source.

Importantl y, because of Fi l e System and Regi stry Vi rtual izati on, if you i nstal l an applicati on under a
Standard User Account and/or don't accept an elevati on prompt from UAC, your setti ngs for parti cular
appl i cati ons may be stored under your l ocal profi l e. If you then swi tch to another User Account, or run that
same appl i cati on wi th full Admi nistrator pri vil eges later on, your setti ngs may be appear to have reset to the
defaul ts as the program swi tches to usi ng another set of fol ders or another area of the Registry for i ts saved
setti ngs. In simpl e terms thi s means that i t is not wi se to enabl e or di sable UAC constantly. For common
sol uti ons to Vi rtual izati on issues, see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

CUSTOMIZING UAC
In Wi ndows Vista, the only User Account Control opti ons presented to al l users was whether to di sabl e or
enabl e UAC. There were advanced methods of customizi ng UAC beyond thi s, however they requi red
edi ti ng the Regi stry or havi ng access to the Local Securi ty Pol i cy uti li ty which onl y exi sted i n the more
expensi ve editi ons of Wi ndows Vista. In Wi ndows 7, al l users now have the abi lity to easi l y customize UAC
to better sui t thei r needs wi th a graphi cal user i nterface. However i t shoul d be understood that changing
UAC setti ngs can al so reduce the protecti on provi ded by thi s feature. In fact disabli ng certain UAC setti ngs
i s i n some ways worse than just turni ng i t off because i t can gi ve you a fal se sense of securi ty.

To customi ze UAC setti ngs, go to the User Accounts component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli ck the
'Change User Account Control setti ngs' l i nk, or when a UAC prompt appears, cl i ck the 'Change when these
noti fi cati ons appear' li nk. There are four preset level s for UAC, and each i s covered i n more detail below
from the top of the sl ider to the bottom:

Always Notify Me - Thi s setti ng i s the maxi mum possi bl e, and equates wi th the defaul t UAC setti ng i n
Wi ndows Vi sta when UAC was enabl ed; namel y UAC wil l prompt you whenever any software attempts to
make system-i ntrusi ve changes, as well as whenever you attempt to change Wi ndows setti ngs. Thi s provi des
the best securi ty but can be annoyi ng, especi al ly when you fi rst i nstall Wi ndows 7 and have to make a l ot of
changes to Wi ndows setti ngs.

Notify Me Only (Default) - Thi s i s si mi lar to the 'Al ways Noti fy Me' setti ng, wi th the i mportant excepti on that
you wil l not be prompted whenever changi ng common Wi ndows setti ngs. Thi s i s because certai n buil t-in
Wi ndows software is digi tall y si gned and verifi ed i n such a way that Wi ndows recognizes i t as a trusted and
secure nati ve Wi ndows appl i cation, and automati call y provi des i t wi th full Admi nistrative access. This
i ntroduces some i ncreased ri sk, because mal ware may attach i tsel f to, or launch under cover of, trusted
Wi ndows appl i cati ons - i n practi ce the ri sk i s l ow. As l ong as you use the tools and practi ce the ti ps provided
throughout thi s chapter, the difference i n securi ty between the Al ways Notify Me l evel and thi s l evel of
UAC i s relativel y mi nor and i s outwei ghed by the conveni ence of bei ng abl e to carry out common Wi ndows
tasks wi thout constantl y bei ng prompted. This is confi rmed by the fact that i t i s the defaul t l evel for UAC in
Wi ndows 7.

Notify Me Only (Do not dim my desktop) - Thi s setti ng i s i denti cal to the Defaul t setti ng above, wi th the
excepti on that you wil l not enter Secure Desktop mode whenever a UAC prompt appears. That i s, the screen


167

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

background wi ll not di m when a UAC El evati on Prompt i s shown. As discussed earli er, the Secure Desktop
feature is actual l y another i mportant barri er agai nst havi ng a UAC prompt faked or mani pul ated i n such a
way as to decei ve you i nto wi ll i ngl y launchi ng a potenti all y harmful program. Thi s UAC setti ng shoul d onl y
be used if your system has major probl ems wi th enteri ng Secure Desktop mode, such as l ong delays or some
other type of gl i tch. Sel ecti ng thi s opti on reduces your securi ty further, and given the relativel y i nfrequent
appearances of the UAC prompt when the Defaul t opti on i s chosen, even a sl ight delay i n showi ng the
Secure Desktop i s hardl y a major i nconveni ence.

Never Notify - This opti on effecti vely di sabl es UAC. It also automati cal l y di sabl es addi tional Windows
protecti on features related to UAC, whi ch means Internet Expl orer's Protected Mode wi ll also be disabl ed,
whi ch i s a major reducti on i n securi ty for Internet Expl orer users. UAC prompts wi l l not appear under any
ci rcumstances, all programs wi l l have unrestri cted access to your system. It i s the l east secure opti on and i t i s
strongl y recommended that no user - whether novi ce or advanced - sel ect this opti on.

I recommend the defaul t opti on for UAC i n Wi ndows 7 as a good bal ance of securi ty and conveni ence.
However i t must be used i n conjuncti on wi th a range of other PC securi ty steps as covered in thi s chapter.
On i ts own UAC i s not and does not purport to be an i nvul nerabl e barri er to mal ware, especi al ly because
much of the defense provided by UAC rel ies on user vi gil ance and educati on. It i s defi ni tely not desi gned to
be a set-and-forget anti-mal ware feature.

Local Security Policy

In addi ti on to the standard UAC options avail abl e to all users, Admi ni strators usi ng the Professi onal ,
Ul ti mate or Enterpri se edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7 have access to the UAC-rel ated Local Securi ty Pol i cy setti ngs,
whi ch all ow further customi zati on of UAC. To change these setti ngs, you can use the Local Securi ty Poli cy
Edi tor. To open Local Securi ty Poli cy Edi tor di rectl y, open the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component of the
Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ect i t from there, or go to Start>Search Box, type secpol.msc and press Enter.
The opti ons we want to l ook at resi de under the Local Pol i ci es>Securi ty Opti ons fol der. These are shown i n
the ri ght pane, all of them begi n wi th the words 'User Account Control ', and are detail ed bel ow:

Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account: This setti ng determi nes whether the bui l t-i n
Admi nistrator account i n Wi ndows i s affected by UAC - by defaul t i t i s not. Thi s account i s not the same as
the Admi nistrator account you create when i nstal ling Wi ndows, thi s setti ng refers to a hi dden bui l t-i n
Admi nistrator account - see the Advanced Setti ngs secti on of the User Accounts chapter for detai ls.

Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop: Thi s setti ng determi nes
whether User Interface Accessi bil i ty (UIAccess) programs, such as Wi ndows Remote Assistance, can
automati cal ly di sabl e the Secure Desktop feature when provi di ng UAC el evation prompts. Di sabl ed i s fine
for most peopl e, unl ess you are i n an envi ronment where you're l i kel y to need remote assistance and are
usi ng a Standard User Account.

Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval mode: By defaul t the UAC prompt wi l l ask
Admi nistrators to si mpl y cl i ck Yes to proceed for non-Wi ndows programs. This i s equi val ent to the 'Prompt
for consent for non-Wi ndows bi naries' opti on and i s recommended. You can however sel ect:
El evate wi thout prompti ng - Removes prompts al together for Admini strator accounts.
Prompt for credential s on the secure desktop - Prompts for full Admi nistrator credenti al s, i ncl udi ng a
Password, usi ng the Secure Desktop.
Prompt for consent on the secure desktop - Same as above, except does not prompt for the Password.
Prompt for credenti al s - Prompts for a Password wi thout usi ng Secure Desktop.
Prompt for consent - Si mply asks Yes or No to proceed.


168

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users: Thi s opti on i s si mil ar to the one above, however i t controls
the behavi or of UAC for Standard Users not Admi ni strators. The opti ons are 'Prompt for Credenti al s', which
asks the user to enter an Admi ni strator password, but you can i ncrease this to 'Prompt for credenti al s on the
secure desktop' to do the same thing usi ng the Secure Desktop mode as wel l, or you can sel ect
'Automati cal ly deny elevati on requests' i f you want ti ght securi ty, so that Standard Users won't see a UAC
prompt and won't be abl e to undertake any task whi ch tri ggers a UAC prompt.

Detect application installations and prompt for elevation: If Enabl ed, Wi ndows wi ll attempt to detect an
appl i cati on install ation and UAC wil l ki ck i n to ensure the appl i cati on gets Admi nistrati ve access if i t
requests i t; i f Di sabl ed, any program can be i nstall ed wi thout a UAC prompt, but thi s i s not wi se for a home
user as programs whi ch need Admi nistrator access but don't request i t don't get i t and won't i nstall
properl y.

Only elevate executables that are signed and validated: If Enabled forces Publ i c Key Infrastructure (PKI)
certi fi cate vali dati on before an executabl e can be run. In other words onl y si gned, vali dated and therefore
trusted executabl es can be gi ven ful l Admi ni strator access to the system. Di sabled is recommended for home
users unl ess you requi re absol ute maximum securi ty; some l egi timate programs wil l fail thi s test.

Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations: If Enabl ed onl y UIAccess appl i cations
whi ch resi de i n a secure l ocati on, namely under the \Program Files, \Program Files (x86) or
\Windows\System32 di rectori es wil l run wi th UIAccess l evel i ntegri ty; i f Disabl ed any UIAccess program
can run wi th UIAccess i ntegri ty from any l ocati on. There i s no reason to Di sabl e thi s as i t provi des an extra
l ayer of securi ty agai nst mal ware.

Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode: Thi s opti on provi des the core functi onali ty of UAC. If Enabl ed
all Admi ni strator User Accounts wi ll operate as descri bed further above i n thi s secti on. If Di sabl ed then
UAC i s effecti vel y disabl ed for Admi nistrator User Accounts, so i t i s not recommended unl ess you perhaps
want to disabl e UAC for Admi ni strators and l eave i t functi onal for Standard Users for some reason.

Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation: Secure Desktop mode has been descri bed further
above and is a cri ti cal component of UAC. It prevents tamperi ng or executi on of programs i n the
background when UAC i s runni ng. You can Disabl e i t here but i t i s not recommended, especi al ly as i t can be
di sabl ed via the standard UAC setti ngs.

Virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations: As di scussed under the Fi le System and Regi stry
Vi rtual izati on secti on above, when Enabl ed (by defaul t), thi s opti on ensures that Standard User Accounts
can stil l i nstal l appl i cati ons whi ch require tradi ti onal full Admi nistrator access; the system l ocati ons usually
wri tten to by the program wi l l be 'virtual ized' by redi recti ng them to l ocati ons wi thi n the Standard user's
personal fol ders.

You shoul d ensure that you do not change any of the above opti ons unless you have good reason to do so.
Most of the opti ons above are necessary for UAC to work effecti vel y, and are designed for Network
Admi nistrators operati ng under vari ous envi ronments where UAC may hi nder specifi c functi onal i ty.

If you run Wi ndows 7 Starter, Home Basi c or Home Premi um, there i s no Local Securi ty Pol i cy Edi tor or
Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor, so you wil l instead need to access the Wi ndows Regi stry di rectly if you want to
customize UAC as covered above. Remember that thi s i s not necessary, si nce under Wi ndows 7 the mai n
UAC setti ngs are avai labl e for everyone to change, but detai ls are provi ded here for compl eteness. All the
mai n UAC setti ngs are held under the fol l owi ng l ocati on when using Registry Edi tor:


169

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Pol i ci es\ Syst em]

The fol l owi ng setti ngs may not exi st, so you wi l l have to create each of them as a new DWORD as requi red.
The names of the setti ngs descri bed further above are reproduced bel ow al ong wi th the rel evant regi stry
entri es and the val i d val ues that can be assigned to them - note that enteri ng the value usi ng Hexadeci mal or
Deci mal makes no di fference as all the possi bl e values are bel ow 10:

Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account:

Fi l t er Admi ni st r at or Token=0

Set to 1 to enabl e, 0 to di sabl e.

Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop:

Enabl eUI ADeskt opToggl e=0


Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval mode:

Consent Pr ompt Behavi or Admi n=5

Set to 0 to el evate wi thout prompti ng, 1 to prompt for credential s on secure desktop, 2 to prompt for consent
on secure desktop, 3 to prompt for credenti als, 4 to prompt for consent, and 5 to prompt for consent for non-
Wi ndows bi naries.

Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users:

Consent Pr ompt Behavi or User =3

Set to 0 to automati call y deny el evati on requests, 1 to prompt for credential s on secure desktop, and 3 to
prompt for credenti al s.

Detect application installations and prompt for elevation:

Enabl eI nst al l er Det ect i on=1


Only elevate executables that are signed and validated:

Val i dat eAdmi nCodeSi gnat ur es=0


Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations:

Enabl eSecur eUI APat hs=1


Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode:


170

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Enabl eLUA=1


Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation:

Pr ompt OnSecur eDeskt op=1


Virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations:

Enabl eVi r t ual i zat i on=1


UAC AND THE LANGUAGE BAR
In some i nstances when a UAC prompt appears, the Language Bar wi l l al so appear at the top of the screen
for no apparent reason. If you do not need to swi tch l anguages, thi s is an unnecessary additi on, and can be
di sabl ed by goi ng to the fol l owi ng l ocation i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_USERS\ . DEFAULT\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ CTF\ LangBar ]

ShowSt at us=3

The LangBar key and/or ShowSt at us entry may not exi st, so right-cl ick on the CTF key shown above and
sel ect New>Key then name i t LangBar . Left-cl i ck on LangBar and i n the ri ght pane create a new DWORD
call ed ShowSt at us and set i t to a val ue of 3 to prevent the l anguage bar from appeari ng whenever a UAC
prompt appears. If for any reason you want to reverse thi s, set the above entry to a value of 0.

Some fi nal thoughts on User Account Control :

UAC has no performance i mpact, compared to the performance i mpact that background mal ware
scanners have i n sl owi ng down reads and wri tes to your dri ve.
UAC tri es to provi de a compromi se between the conveni ence of runni ng an Admi nistrator account all
the ti me and the securi ty of runni ng a Standard Account.
UAC i s perfect for peopl e wanti ng to have mul ti pl e accounts on the same PC. By setti ng these accounts
as Standard Users and enabl i ng UAC, they each cannot i nstal l harmful software or change system
setti ngs, but due to Virtuali zati on can sti l l i nstal l and use most non-i ntrusi ve software normall y and
wi thout i mpact on the other users. In fact the defaul t UAC setting i n Wi ndows 7 now al l ows a wi der
range of Wi ndows setti ngs to be al tered wi thout an Admi ni strator or Standard user experi encing a UAC
prompt.

On balance there is no reason for users, especiall y advanced users, to di sabl e UAC. The defaul t UAC setting
i n Wi ndows 7 has reduced the annoyance of UAC whi l e stil l mai ntai ni ng i ts abi l i ty to provi de some extra
protecti on from mal ware, and i mportantl y, prompt you to consider whether the software you are about to
i nstal l or run may be suspici ous or undul y system i ntrusi ve and worth i nvesti gati ng further.

Make sure to also read the User Accounts chapter for rel evant detail s.


171

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

< ACCESS CONTROL AND PERMISSIONS
Wi ndows assi gns every i tem on the system a securi ty descri ptor whi ch descri bes whi ch users or groups are
all owed access to them, and what that l evel of access is. Thi s i s desi gned to prevent unauthori zed access or
harmful changes by users wi th i nsuffi cient pri vil eges. To view these Permi ssi ons for any fil e or fol der, ri ght-
cl i ck on i t and sel ect Properti es, then under the Securi ty tab you can see the groups or usernames currentl y
assi gned to that object. Left-cli ck on a parti cular group or username and you wil l see i n the box bel ow i t the
types of thi ngs they are al l owed to do to that fil e.

Al l the fil es and fol ders under your personal fol ders should bel ong to you, and are free for you to al ter as
you wish. Furthermore any fil es or fol ders you create are automati cal ly assi gned to you as the owner.
However if you wi sh to al ter fil es, folders or Regi stry setti ngs i n other areas of your system, you may need to
fi rst take ownershi p of them, and this i n turn then al l ows you to change the permi ssions for what a
parti cul ar user or group - i ncl udi ng yoursel f - can do to them. There are essentiall y two aspects to the
process:

TAKING OWNERSHIP
If you are an Admi nistrator you can take ownershi p of any fil e, folder or Regi stry key as foll ows:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on the fi l e or fol der and select Properti es; i n the Registry, right-click on the key and sel ect
Permi ssi ons.
2. Under the Securi ty tab, cl ick the Advanced button.
3. Under the Owner tab of the Advanced Securi ty Settings box cl i ck the Edi t button i f available, if not ski p
to the next step.
4. Check to see i f your User Account, usuall y denoted by [Username]-PC, i s li sted and can be sel ected - i f so,
ski p to Step 6. If not see the next step.
5. Cl i ck the 'Other users or groups' button and enter your username i n the box shown, and cli ck the 'Check
Names' button to provi de the correct username format, then cli ck Ok.
6. Hi ghl i ght your User Account, and ti ck the 'Repl ace owner on subcontai ners and objects' box i f you wish
to al so take ownershi p of any subfol ders and objects wi thi n a fol der, then cli ck the Apply button to
change ownershi p and cl i ck OK.

To then make changes, you wi ll then need to al ter the permi ssi ons for the fi l e, folder or Regi stry entry.

ALTERING PERMISSIONS
Once you have ownershi p, you can vi ew and al ter permi ssi ons for all the users of that fi l e, fol der or Registry
key. To do so, foll ow these steps:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on the fi l e or fol der and sel ect Properti es; i n the Registry Edi tor, ri ght-cli ck on a key and
sel ect Permissi ons.
2. Under the Securi ty tab, i n the top box you can highlight i ndi vi dual users or groups and i n the bottom
box you wi ll see ti ck marks corresponding to the various permi ssions granted to that user.
3. To al ter a permi ssi on, for exampl e to give yourself ful l permissi on to al ter a file as you wi sh, you must
fi rst be the owner - see the secti on above. Once you are the owner, cl i ck the Edi t button for a fi l e or
fol der, or skip to the next step for a Regi stry entry.
4. In the Permi ssi ons box whi ch appears, you can hi ghl i ght any group or user, and i f you are the owner,
you can ti ck or unti ck parti cul ar permissi on categori es.
5. To gi ve yoursel f compl ete access to read, wri te and execute a fi le, hi ghli ght your username, ti ck the 'Ful l
Control ' box under the Allow col umn, cl i ck the Apply button and cl i ck OK.


172

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

You now have full control over the fi le, folder or Regi stry key as though you created i t yoursel f, and can
al ter or del ete i t as you wi sh, though obvi ousl y thi s bri ngs wi th i t a range of risks, whi ch is preci sel y why
you were restri cted from easi l y accessi ng i t i n the fi rst pl ace.

Note that gi ven the system has to check permi ssi ons for every fi le and fol der, i t i s better for system
performance purposes to assign permissi ons to groups rather than speci fi c users wherever possi bl e, and for
securi ty purposes, do not gi ve yoursel f ownershi p and ful l permissi on over general system fol ders such as
\Windows and i ts subdi rectori es, and defi ni tel y not on a system-wide basi s.

Instead of usi ng the above method, you can use the Takeown command to recl ai m ownershi p of an i tem.
Open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt, type t akeown / ? and press Enter for detail s of how to use the
command. Thi s command al so all ows advanced users to wri te more compl ex scri pts whi ch can take
ownershi p of a range of fi l es rather than havi ng to do i t manual l y.

There i s a way to i ntegrate the Takeown command i nto the Wi ndows shell , so that you can right-cl ick on any
fi le or fol der and sel ect a 'Take Ownershi p' context menu i tem to do the above automati cally. This should be
used wi th cauti on, and i s onl y recommended for advanced users who know the consequences and potenti al
securi ty risks of taki ng ownershi p of a fi l e or fol der they don't origi nal ly own. Thi s procedure i s relati vely
compl ex. Start by goi ng to the foll owi ng l ocati ons i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l ]

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l ]

Ri ght-cli ck on each of the subfol ders above, select New>Key and create a key cal l ed r unas - then, right-
cl i ck each of these new keys, sel ect New>Key agai n and create a key cal l ed Command - the end resul t shoul d
l ook l i ke this:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ r unas\ command]

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l \ r unas\ command]

Now go back to the foll owing subfolders and l eft-cli ck on each one:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ r unas]

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l \ r unas]

In each case, in the ri ght pane, doubl e-click on the Def aul t value and enter the fol l owi ng value data:

Take Owner shi p

Then ri ght-click i n the right pane, select New>Stri ng and create the foll owi ng string wi th no val ue data:

NoWor ki ngDi r ect or y

Once done, go to the fol l owi ng key:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ r unas\ command]

Left-cl i ck on the above key, and i n the right pane doubl e-cli ck on the Def aul t value and enter the fol l owing
data, exactl y as shown, i ncl udi ng al l quotes and symbol s:

cmd. exe / c t akeown / f " %1" && i cacl s " %1" / gr ant admi ni st r at or s: F


173

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Whi le sti ll i n the ri ght pane, ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect New>Stri ng, call i t I sol at edCommand and enter the
foll owi ng value data (whi ch i s the same as the data entered above):

cmd. exe / c t akeown / f " %1" && i cacl s " %1" / gr ant admi ni st r at or s: F

Once done, go to the fol l owi ng key:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l \ r unas\ command]

Left-cl i ck on the above key, and i n the right pane doubl e-cli ck on the Def aul t value and enter the fol l owing
data, exactly as shown, i ncl udi ng al l quotes and symbol s - note i t i s not the same as the value data used
further above:

cmd. exe / c t akeown / f " %1" / r / d y && i cacl s " %1" / gr ant admi ni st r at or s: F / t

Whi le sti ll i n the ri ght pane, ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect New>Stri ng, call i t I sol at edCommand and enter the
foll owi ng value data - this i s the same as the value data entered above:

cmd. exe / c t akeown / f " %1" / r / d y && i cacl s " %1" / gr ant admi ni st r at or s: F / t

When complete, you can now ri ght-click on any fi l e or fol der, and a 'Take Ownershi p' context menu opti on
wi ll appear, al l owi ng you to more easi ly take ownershi p of a fi le or fol der. To undo thi s feature at any time,
del ete the followi ng keys - go to each key, ri ght-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Del ete:

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ *\ shel l \ r unas]

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Di r ect or y\ shel l \ r unas]

Whi le taki ng ownershi p and changi ng permissi ons may be necessary for maki ng certai n changes in
Wi ndows, if you absolutely must operate wi thout any restri cti ons for maki ng a large number of changes,
rather than taki ng ownershi p of a l arge number of fi l es, fol ders and Regi stry setti ngs with your regul ar
Admi nistrator account - whi ch is a securi ty risk - you shoul d consi der temporaril y usi ng the hi dden
unrestri cted Admi nistrator account as covered i n the Advanced Setti ngs section of the User Account chapter.

< WINDOWS DEFENDER
Another l ayer of protecti on i ncl uded i n Wi ndows is Wi ndows Defender. The pri mary ai m of thi s program i s
to provi de basi c protecti on agai nst spyware, as thi s i s one of the most common types of mal ware found on
the average PC, and can compromi se i mportant personal i nformati on such as onli ne banki ng l ogi n
passwords and credi t card numbers. Wi ndows Defender can also fi nd other common forms of mal ware
i ncludi ng adware and rootki ts, but i t i s not compl etel y effecti ve i n fi ndi ng all types of mal ware so i t should
defi ni tel y not be reli ed upon as the sol e anti -mal ware scanner on your system.

Wi ndows Defender i s on and runni ng in the background by defaul t i n Wi ndows 7, but to access i ts full user
i nterface, go to the Wi ndows Defender component of the Wi ndows Control Panel. I recommend that you
l eave Wi ndows Defender enabl ed, but confi gure i t to be l ess i ntrusi ve as detail ed bel ow.

Note that i f you are goi ng to i nstall Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti al s as recommended later i n this chapter, then
you can ski p the enti re Windows Defender secti on because Wi ndows Defender i s automati cal l y disabled and
repl aced by Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti al s. Onl y fol l ow the i nstructi ons bel ow if you wi sh to l eave Defender
enabl ed al ongsi de other thi rd party malware scanners:


174

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

CONFIGURING WINDOWS DEFENDER
Bel ow are detail s on the range of opti ons and features i n Wi ndows Defender, i ncl udi ng recommendati ons:

Home: Takes you to the mai n Wi ndows Defender screen where you can see the current status of your
machi ne, whether any scan i s runni ng, whether Real -ti me protecti on i s enabl ed, and when the l ast and next
scans are scheduled to be undertaken. Note the Anti spyware defini ti on versi on i s i mportant - do not allow
the Wi ndows Defender defi ni ti on fi le to be too ol d, regularly update the defini ti on fi le through Wi ndows
Update.

Scan: When cli cked, thi s opti on starts a Qui ck Scan of your system by defaul t, goi ng through your i mportant
system fil es, fol ders and the Wi ndows Regi stry to look for traces of spyware. By cl i cki ng the small down
arrow next to the Scan button, you can manuall y choose to do a Qui ck Scan, Ful l Scan or Custom Scan. As
noted, a Qui ck Scan focuses on your system fi l es and fol ders, taking the l east amount of ti me to compl ete,
but also provi di ng the l east securi ty. A Full Scan goes through your entire PC to l ook for mal ware, whi ch is
more secure but can take qui te a bi t l onger. A Custom Scan all ows you to select the speci fic dri ve(s) and/or
fol der(s) you wi sh to scan. You should run a Full Scan of Wi ndows Defender i n conjuncti on wi th other
scanners every week or so, and al so i f you suspect you've actuall y been i nfected. A custom scan of any
downl oaded fi les i s al so recommended as required.

History: This secti on di splays a history of any recent acti ons you've taken i n response to Wi ndows Defender
noti fi cati ons. Cl i ck the Vi ew button to see the li st, and cli ck on any i tem di splayed to see more detai ls of the
exact fi l e(s) i nvol ved.

Tools: Thi s secti on contai ns several i mportant setti ngs and tools:

Options: Al l ows you to confi gure how Wi ndows Defender works, and contai ns a range of secti ons:

Automati c Scanni ng - I recommend disabli ng Defender's automati c scans of your PC. If you wish to
l eave thi s enabl ed, a Qui ck Scan shoul d be suffi ci ent as this usually onl y takes a few mi nutes at most and
i s useful i f you forget to manuall y run any mal ware scanners often. If you wi sh to l eave automati c
scanni ng enabl ed, then I recommend ticki ng the 'Check for updated defi ni ti ons before scanni ng' so that
i t uses the latest defi ni ti on fil e, as wi thout the l atest defi ni ti on fi le i t's poi ntless to scan your system
regul arl y; I al so recommend ti cki ng the 'Run a scan onl y when the system is i dl e' box to ensure that
Defender doesn't begin a schedul ed scan whi l e you're undertaki ng another task.

Defaul t Acti ons - The defaul t acti ons l i sted all ow you to specify what you want Wi ndows Defender to
do when i t fi nds potenti ally mal i ci ous software i n vari ous categories of ri sk. There are four categories of
ri sk: Severe, Hi gh, Medi um and Low. A Severe or Hi gh ri sk is for mal ware whi ch may col l ect your
personal i nformati on and/or damage your Wi ndows i nstal lati on; a Medium risk i s for programs whi ch
general ly breach your privacy and may al ter your Wi ndows setti ngs; a Low ri sk i s for potenti al ly
unwanted software whi ch may be harmful but is a l ow-l evel threat. The defaul t acti on for each of these
categori es i s 'Recommended acti on based on defi ni ti ons' whi ch means that i f found, Windows will
recommend a parti cul ar acti on based on the i nformati on i n i ts defi ni ti on fil e. For Severe or Hi gh risk
mal ware, Windows recommends i ts i mmedi ate removal ; for Medi um or Low ri sk mal ware, Wi ndows
wi ll gi ve you the opti on to remove or bl ock i t. Thi s defaul t is fi ne to use, because Defender wi ll not do
anythi ng wi thout fi rst getti ng your consent. However i f you ti ck the 'Appl y recommended acti ons' box,
Wi ndows Defender wil l automati call y appl y i ts recommended acti ons to your software - I strongl y
recommend agai nst ti cking thi s box to avoi d seeing your software removed wi thout your consent.

Real-ti me Protecti on - These opti ons all ow you to determi ne whi ch types of acti vi ties and areas
Wi ndows Defender constantl y moni tors i n the background to prevent spyware from install i ng or
executi ng on your system. The performance i mpact of havi ng real -ti me protecti on i s mi ni mal , and hence


175

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

all these options are best left enabl ed for novi ce users. Intermediate and advanced users can choose to
enabl e real-time protecti on but unti ck the 'Scan programs that run on my computer' box, l eavi ng the
'Scan downl oaded fil es and attachments' box ti cked. Thi s shoul d have vi rtual ly no performance i mpact,
si nce Defender wil l onl y scan a fi l e or attachment whi ch is downloaded, and not constantl y scan i n the
background duri ng normal system usage, which coul d have an adverse performance i mpact.

Excl uded Fi les and Folders, Excl uded Fi l e Types - These two secti ons al l ow you to speci fy parti cular
fi les, fol ders or fi l e types whi ch you don't want Wi ndows Defender to i ncl ude as part of i ts scans. It i s
not recommended that you exclude anythi ng from Defender's scans, as thi s may all ow mal ware to sl ip
past Defender. However i f you know for certai n that a parti cular fi le, folder or fil e type is goi ng to be
pi cked up as a false posi ti ve (i .e. fal sel y detected as mal ware when i t i s not), then you can i nclude i t here.

Advanced - There several opti ons here to further customi ze Defender's behavior. 'Scan archi ve fil es' i f
ti cked all ows Defender to scan i nside archi ved fil es such as .ZIP, .CAB and .RAR archi ves - I recommend
ti cki ng thi s as mal ware can easil y hi de i nside such fil es. 'Scan e-mail ' i f ti cked scans for any attachments
to emai l s which may be mali ci ous - I recommend ti cki ng thi s as thi s i s a common form of di stri buti on for
mal ware. 'Scan removabl e dri ves', if ti cked, scans any removabl e dri ves such as USB flash drives when
they are attached to the system - an extra form of protecti on, however ti cki ng thi s may cause addi ti onal
delays when you attach such dri ves, so unti ck i t i f this bothers you. 'Use heuri stics' if ti cked attempts to
use addi ti onal but less preci se methods to attempt to detect mal ware which may not otherwi se be
detected usi ng the Defender defi ni ti ons fil e - I recommend ti cki ng thi s to i mprove the chance of catchi ng
new mal ware, but bear i n mi nd i t can al so resul t i n more fal se posi ti ves. 'Create restore poi nt' i f ti cked
does preci sely what i t says: creates a new restore poi nt for System Restore (i f enabl ed) before taki ng any
acti on agai nst detected mal ware - I strongl y recommend ti cking thi s for added protecti on agai nst
uni ntended system changes by Defender; they can easil y be undone usi ng System Restore.

Admi nistrator - If you are usi ng an Admi ni strator User Account, you can choose to compl etel y turn off
Wi ndows Defender - whi ch i s not recommended - by unti cki ng the 'Use thi s program' box. Thi s wil l
prevent al l Wi ndows Defender functionali ty from runni ng, i t wi ll also set the 'Wi ndows Defender'
servi ce to Manual and stop i t (the defaul t i s Automati c (Delayed Start)) - see the Servi ces chapter for
more detail s. The onl y time I woul d recommend di sabli ng Defender is if you know i t is causi ng a
confli ct wi th your other software and you al so have at l east one other anti -spyware scanner i nstal led. As
noted at the start of thi s secti on, Wi ndows Defender is al so automati cal ly disabl ed i f you i nstall
Mi crosoft Securi ty Essentials, whi ch i s fi ne. You can di spl ay the History, Allowed and Quaranti ned
i tems for al l users under the Hi story secti on of Defender i f you tick the 'Di splay i tems from al l users of
thi s computer' box - whi ch I recommend, as i t saves you havi ng to cl i ck the Vi ew button on the Hi story
secti on of Defender. Cl i ck the Save button when fi nished here, and you wil l be taken back to the main
Tool s and Setti ngs screen for Defender.

Quarantined Items: Shows any i tems whi ch have been caught as suspected spyware and all ows you to
determi ne what to do wi th them.
Allowed Items: Li sts the i tems whi ch have been flagged by Wi ndows Defender as potenti al mal ware but
you have manual l y chosen to all ow to keep on your system.

The remai ning i tems provi de li nks to Mi crosoft servi ces and resources rel ated Wi ndows Defender and
mal ware i n general . Importantl y, note that the Software Explorer functi on whi ch used to exi st wi thin
Wi ndows Defender i n Windows Vi sta has been removed i n Wi ndows 7, and i s not avail able here nor
anywhere else. See the Startup Programs chapter for al ternati ve tool s you can use for the same functi onal i ty.


176

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

WINDOWS DEFENDER CACHE
The fi rst ti me Wi ndows Defender i s updated wi th defi ni ti on fi les and runs i tself after i nstal lati on of
Windows, i t wi ll perform a scan of your system to identi fy system fi l es that don't requi re scanni ng i n the
future. It creates a system fi le cache call ed MpSfc.bin under the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Scans\History\CacheManager di rectory. Thi s cache i s necessary for Windows Defender to perform
opti mall y. If the cache doesn't exi st for some reason do the fol l owing:

2. Type the fol lowi ng command exactly as shown and press Enter:

" %pr ogr amf i l es%\ Wi ndows Def ender \ MpCmdRun. exe Bui l dSFC

In general you shoul d not need to manuall y create or access the Defender cache.

DISABLING WINDOWS DEFENDER
If you are absol utel y certai n that you do not want Wi ndows Defender running on your system, you can
di sabl e i t as fol l ows:

1. Open Wi ndows Defender as an Admi nistrator.
2. Cl i ck the Tool s button, cl ick the Opti ons l i nk, and cli ck the Admi nistrator i tem.
3. Unti ck the 'Use thi s program' l i nk and cli ck Save - thi s wi l l cl ose down the Wi ndows Defender i nterface,
stop the Wi ndows Defender servi ce, and set the servi ce to Manual so i t doesn't l aunch agai n at next
reboot.
4. Go to the Servi ces component and set the Wi ndows Defender servi ce to Disabl ed i f you want to make
absolutel y sure i t doesn't enabl e i tself i n the future. See the Servi ces chapter for more details of how to
change a servi ce.

If at any ti me you want to re-enabl e Wi ndows Defender, set the Wi ndows Defender servi ce to 'Automati c
(Delayed Start)', then go to the Wi ndows Defender component i n the Wi ndows Control Panel and cl i ck the
'cl i ck here to turn i t on' l i nk.

Note once agai n that if you i nstal l Mi crosoft Securi ty Essential s as recommended later i n thi s chapter, it
automati cal ly di sables Windows Defender. In this case i t i s absol utel y fi ne to l eave Defender di sabl ed, si nce
Defender's functi onali ty i s i ncorporated i nto Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti als.

Wi ndows Defender must be vi ewed i n the context that i t i s a bui l t-i n tool desi gned to provi de basi c
protecti on agai nst the most common form of mal ware, one whi ch has a substanti al ri sk of causi ng harm to
the user through i nvasi on of pri vacy, l oss of personal data, and undesi rable system behavi or. Many users of
Windows wi ll never be ful l y aware of the danger of mal ware nor use appropri ate precautions, so having
Wi ndows Defender buil t i nto Wi ndows 7 and enabl ed by defaul t provi des a good l evel of protecti on wi th no
di scernable performance impact. For advanced users I recommend l eavi ng Defender enabl ed i f you don't
i nstal l Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti al s, but scal e back i ts presence as covered further above, rel egate i ts
background functi onali ty to scanni ng onl y when i t detects that you have downl oaded a fi le or email
attachment, as well as using i t for manual scans of your system i f you suspect i t may be i nfected with
mal ware. Of course thi s must be suppl emented by all the other measures covered i n thi s chapter, as
Defender by itsel f i s completel y i nsuffi cient as the only form of defense agai nst mal ware.


177

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

< WINDOWS FIREWALL
To hel p protect your system agai nst intrusi ons through your network connecti on - typi call y from the
Internet - Windows 7 provi des a buil t-i n Wi ndows Fi rewall. The major rol e for a fi rewal l i s to prevent
unauthorized or mal i ci ous network traffi c i nto or out of your system. For exampl e i f spyware or a trojan
i nstal ls on your system, i t needs to send your data out of your machi ne back to i ts ori ginator to fulfill i ts
purpose. A fi rewall can bl ock thi s type of unauthori zed data transfer, thwarti ng the mai n ai m of the
mal ware which i s to steal your sensi ti ve i nformati on. Hackers also run automated programs l ooki ng al l over
the Internet for entry poi nts (call ed Ports) i nto unprotected PCs, and thi s type of unauthorized entry can
agai n be bl ocked through the use of a fi rewal l . At the same ti me, the firewal l i s designed to al l ow your
normal network traffi c through wi thout any probl ems.

There are actual l y two forms of fi rewall - software and hardware. Wi ndows Firewal l , and other thi rd party
fi rewal l s you can i nstall in Windows, are software-based. However if you are usi ng Cable/DSL router
hardware, i t often has i ts own bui l t-i n hardware-based fi rewal l sol uti on. You shoul d enabl e both hardware
and software firewall s together for maxi mum protecti on. The hardware fi rewall i n your router wil l be
enabl ed by defaul t, but you can check your hardware documentation to fi nd out more about thi s feature.

To access the Wi ndows Firewal l go to the Wi ndows Fi rewall component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , or
go to Start>Search Box, type windows firewall and you can ei ther choose the basi c Wi ndows Fi rewal l or the
Wi ndows Fi rewall wi th Advanced Securi ty. Confi guri ng the Wi ndows Firewal l, i ndeed any fi rewall , can be
qui te compl ex dependi ng on your particular needs, especiall y if you are on a network of computers. The
i nformati on bel ow rel ates pri mari ly to confi guri ng the opti ons to best sui t most home users connected to the
Internet.

BASIC CONFIGURATION
On the mai n Wi ndows Firewall screen you wil l see the status of the fi rewal l . The fi rst thi ng to note i s that
there are at least two network l ocati on categori es shown: 'Home or work (pri vate) networks' and 'Public
networks'. These network locati ons relate to the choi ce of l ocati on you made when fi rst i nstall i ng Windows
7, and subsequently any changes you've made to i n the Network and Shari ng Center, whi ch i s covered i n
more detai l in the Network and Shari ng Center section of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter.

Regardl ess of whi ch l ocation(s) you are usi ng, the Wi ndows Fi rewall i n Wi ndows 7 now all ows mul tipl e
acti ve fi rewall confi gurati ons, one for each separate locati on. For exampl e you can be connected to a home
network and use one set of Wi ndows Fi rewall setti ngs for that network connecti on, whi l e browsi ng the web
from your machi ne usi ng another set of fi rewall rul es for the Internet connecti on. For most home users who
are not on more than one l ocati on at any ti me, the network l ocation you are currentl y usi ng wi ll be the one
for whi ch the Windows Fi rewall wi ll show the full detai l s, covered bel ow:

Windows Firewall state: Windows Firewall is on by defaul t, but you can swi tch i t on or off at any ti me by
cl i cki ng the 'Turn Windows Fi rewall on or off' li nk i n the l eft pane whi ch takes you to the 'Customize
Setti ngs' screen for Wi ndows Fi rewall . Here you can selecti ng the 'Turn off Windows Fi rewall ' or 'Turn on
Wi ndows Firewal l ' opti on under your network l ocati on as rel evant and cl i ck OK. It i s strongly
recommended that you do not di sable Wi ndows Firewal l unl ess you have a reputabl e third party fi rewall
i nstal l ed and acti ve, at which poi nt i t i s then recommended that you onl y keep one software firewal l enabl ed
at any ti me, not both at the same ti me, because two software fi rewall s wi ll cause probl ems.

The status of the Wi ndows Fi rewall can be seen at a gl ance, by l ooki ng at the col or of the category for your
network l ocati on, as well as any i cons shown. If the col or is green, the Wi ndows Fi rewal l is enabl ed, whi l e
red means the Wi ndows Fi rewall i s disabl ed. Choosing to bl ock connecti ons beyond the defaul t setti ngs will
also di splay an appropriate 'bl ocked' i con.


178

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Incoming Connections: Cli ck the 'Change noti fi cati on setti ngs' li nk i n the l eft pane of the mai n Wi ndows
Fi rewall wi ndow, and under the 'Customi ze Setti ngs' screen you can also choose to 'Bl ock all i ncoming
connecti ons, i ncludi ng those i n the li st of all owed programs'. This is not recommended unl ess you want
maxi mum securi ty, because i t bri ngs wi th i t the potenti al for impai red functi onali ty. To see the l i st of
all owed programs, also known as Excepti ons, cli ck the 'Al l ow a program or feature through Wi ndows
Fi rewall ' l i nk i n the mai n Windows Firewal l wi ndow. Thi s provi des a ful l list of the defaul t Windows
programs and features all owed to communi cate freel y through the Wi ndows Fi rewall , as well as any
programs whi ch you have all owed to be added to the l ist - note that many programs automati call y add an
excepti on for themsel ves in thi s l ist, as i t i s necessary for thei r normal functi onali ty. However at any ti me
you can sel ect a program or feature here and unti ck the rel evant box under your network l ocati on col umn to
prevent i t gaini ng automati c access through the Wi ndows Fi rewall . By defaul t i f a program is not provi ded
access through the firewal l when i t needs i t, Wi ndows wi ll raise a prompt aski ng whether you wi sh to 'Keep
Bl ocki ng' i t, or Unbl ock that program - i f i n doubt, sel ect 'Keep Bl ocking' and i nvesti gate further.
Furthermore, i f you al ready see suspi ci ous or undesi rabl e programs on thi s li st, temporaril y disabl e them
and do some research. For exampl e, highl i ght the program, cli ck Detai ls to check the fi l ename and path, then
research i t on Googl e. You can permanentl y remove any program by hi ghli ghti ng i t and cl i cki ng the Remove
button.

The more programs you al low through the Wi ndows Fi rewall , the greater the securi ty ri sk you face, so make
sure to fi rst unti ck and then eventuall y remove all unnecessary programs from the l ist. Fortunatel y the
programs on thi s l ist onl y open a hol e through the Wi ndows Fi rewall whenever they need to use i t - they do
not permanentl y open a Port, whi ch woul d create much greater ri sk of unauthori zed access.

Notification State: Under the 'Customi ze Setti ngs' screen, the 'Noti fy me when Wi ndows Firewal l bl ocks a
new program' box i f ti cked wi l l enabl e the behavi or descri bed above - namel y Wi ndows wi ll prompt you i f a
program attempts to communi cate over the network and i s bl ocked, and you wi ll be gi ven the opti on to
Unbl ock i t or 'Keep Bl ocking'. If thi s box i sn't ticked, you wi ll recei ve no warni ng that a new program you
are attempti ng to run i s bei ng bl ocked by the Firewall and hence i t may not functi on properly, so make sure
you l eave this box ti cked.

ADVANCED CONFIGURATION
For most users the mai n Wi ndows Fi rewall wi ndow provi des al l the setti ngs they need to access. However
for more advanced users who have need of greater control over the fi rewall , you can access the Wi ndows
Fi rewall wi th Advanced Securi ty i nterface i n one of two ways: go to Start>Search Box, type windows firewall
and sel ect the 'Windows Fi rewall wi th Advanced Securi ty' i tem; or i n the normal Windows Firewall
wi ndow, cl i ck the 'Advanced Setti ngs' l i nk i n the l eft pane. A new wi ndow wi l l open whi ch all ows much
greater customi zati on and moni tori ng of the Wi ndows Fi rewall , i ncludi ng allowi ng you to confi gure the
bl ocki ng of outgoi ng network traffi c, somethi ng that was not availabl e i n the Windows XP firewall .

Coveri ng all the functi onal i ty of the Advanced Wi ndows Fi rewal l setti ngs i s beyond the scope of thi s book,
as i t i s qui te detail ed - for full detail s see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Bel ow we wi ll onl y l ook at how to enabl e the
bl ocki ng of outbound network traffi c, whi ch i s general l y not requi red i n most cases, but might be desi rabl e
for some home users who want ti ght securi ty.

In the mai n Overvi ew box, you wi ll see three profi l es: Domai n Profi l e, Pri vate Profi le and Publ ic Profi l e.
These profil e types correspond wi th network l ocations, and are covered i n more detail under the Network &
Shari ng Center secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. The network l ocati on you are currentl y usi ng
wi ll determi ne whi ch of these three profi l es i s i n effect - the words 'i s Acti ve' wil l be shown after the rel evant
profil e. You wi ll see whether the Wi ndows Fi rewall status, as well as the status of Inbound and Outbound
connecti ons. Note that the defaul t setti ngs are that all outbound connecti ons are all owed, even i f they do not
match any rul es, whil e inbound connecti ons that do not match a rul e (i .e. are not made by all owed
programs) are bl ocked.


179

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

For basi c confi gurati on of the Advanced Wi ndows Fi rewall , cl i ck the 'Windows Firewal l Properti es' l i nk. A
new wi ndow wi ll open with four tabs: one for each type of profi le, and the l ast for IPsec Settings. Go to the
tab for your acti ve profi le, and there are two setti ngs of parti cul ar i nterest to us whi ch are not availabl e i n
the normal Wi ndows Fi rewall setti ngs:

Outbound Connections: The Wi ndows Fi rewall bl ocks i nbound connecti ons by defaul t, onl y al l owi ng
programs on the Excepti ons l i st to go through. However all outbound connections are al l owed by defaul t.
Here you can sel ect to also bl ock all outbound connecti ons whi ch do not have a rul e (see further bel ow) by
sel ecti ng Bl ock from the drop down l i st and cli cki ng the Appl y button. I don't recommend doi ng thi s unl ess
you are aware of the consequences and have al ready set up relevant rul es, as by defaul t i t can prevent you
from accessi ng the Internet for example.

Logging: By defaul t the Windows Fi rewall does not keep a l og of successful or deni ed connecti on attempts
through the firewal l . If you wi sh to enabl e l oggi ng, for exampl e to troubl eshoot a probl em or to see if there is
any suspi ci ous network acti vi ty on your system, then cl i ck the Customize button next to the Loggi ng option
and set the detai ls of where and what to record i n the l og.

In the l eft pane of the Wi ndows Fi rewall wi th Advanced Setti ngs wi ndow you can sel ect the 'Inbound Rules'
or 'Outbound Rul es' component and vi ew al l the exi sti ng rul es for each of these. Note that the exi sti ng rules
under Inbound Rul es are si mpl y the li st of al l the al lowed programs (Excepti ons) di scussed further above.
You can select any i tem under ei ther Inbound Rul es or Outbound Rul es and i n the ri ght pane select from a
l i st of avai labl e acti ons. You can al so create a New Rul e for a program, port, a predefi ned component or even
a custom rul e.

The setti ngs in the Wi ndows Fi rewal l wi th Advanced Securi ty uti l i ty can be confi gured i n such a way that,
for exampl e, you can bl ock all outbound connecti ons from your PC except those comi ng from your browser
software. Thi s provi des you wi th Internet access whi l e at the same ti me preventi ng any suspi ci ous
appl i cati ons on your machi ne from communi cati ng wi th the outside worl d. However general l y speaki ng it is
not necessary to go to these l engths for the average user, and rul es-based determi nati ons of i ngoi ng and
outgoi ng connecti ons through the Wi ndows Fi rewall woul d become qui te tedious for most home users. Thi s
i s why Wi ndows does not have outbound connecti on bl ocki ng on by defaul t. I onl y recommend al teri ng the
setti ngs here once you have done appropri ate research and feel you have the need for i t. The normal
Wi ndows Firewal l setti ngs as expl ained earl i er are more than suffi ci ent to provi de defense agai nst
unauthorized network activi ty on your system, when combi ned wi th the rest of the advi ce i n thi s chapter.

< LOCAL SECURITY POLICY
One of the Admi nistrative Tool s provi ded to further customize Wi ndows securi ty setti ngs is the Local
Securi ty Pol icy tool . Thi s can be accessed by goi ng to the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component of Wi ndows
Control Panel, or go to Start>Search Box, type secpol.msc and press Enter. Note however that thi s tool is only
avai labl e on the Professi onal, Ul ti mate and Enterpri se edi ti ons of Windows 7. Thi s i s because i t i s a tool
pri mari ly desi gned to al l ow Network Admi nistrators to be abl e to i mpose certai n l i mi tati ons on other users
of a network, so many of the setti ngs are not rel evant to the average home PC user and won't be covered
here. Furthermore some opti ons have al ready been covered - namel y the Advanced Firewal l setti ngs and the
User Account Control -related setti ngs under the rel evant secti ons earl i er i n thi s chapter.

For our purposes, the Account Pol i ci es and Local Poli ci es categories i n Local Securi ty Pol i cy contai n several
setti ngs whi ch are useful in customizi ng the l evel of securi ty on your system. To access and change a setting,
cl i ck on the rel evant category i n the l eft pane, then find the setti ng i n the right pane and doubl e-cl i ck on i t to
al ter i t, or to see a more detai led explanati on. Bel ow are a range of useful setti ngs you can al ter, but pl ease
exerci se caution and do not change anythi ng if i n doubt. To see the defaul t opti on for each setti ng, cli ck the
Expl ai n tab:


180

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

ACCOUNT POLICIES
Password Policy settings: These setti ngs all ow you to force passwords for User Accounts to be a certai n l ength,
age and compl exi ty. In general you shoul d not al ter these setti ngs unl ess you want ti ghter securi ty, as they
wi ll create extra requi rements for User Account passwords. For exampl e by enabl i ng the 'Passwords must
meet compl exi ty requi rements' opti on, you wi ll force al l user passwords to meet the requirements detai l ed
under the Expl ai n tab whenever they change or create a password. Thi s can cause problems wi th users
rememberi ng thei r own passwords, forci ng them to wri te these passwords down, whi ch creates a bigger
securi ty ri sk for example. Importantly, you should not enabl e the 'Store passwords usi ng reversi bl e
encrypti on' as i t makes passwords easy to fi nd si nce they wil l not be encrypted.

Account Lockout Policy settings: These setti ngs control what happens when a user i s l ocked out of thei r User
Account for fail i ng to enter a correct password. By defaul t they can't be l ocked out, but i f you wi sh you can
set the number of ti mes a user can try to l ogi n and fail before being l ocked out for a certai n durati on from
usi ng the account. Thi s provi des ti ghter securi ty agai nst other users attempting to crack a User Account
through repeated l ogi n attempts, and these setti ngs should onl y be changed i f you are i n a l ess physi call y
secure envi ronment and/or suspect someone i s constantl y tryi ng to guess an account password.

LOCAL POLICIES
Audit Policy settings: These setti ngs allow you to enabl e a range of opti ons for l oggi ng vari ous events,
vi ewable under Event Vi ewer - see the Event Vi ewer secti on of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter. For exampl e you can l og the number of successful and fai l ed l ogon attempts. These
are useful for both troubl eshooti ng purposes, and also i f you suspect any unauthori zed or unusual acti vi ty
on your system.

User Rights Assignment settings: These setti ngs determi ne the defaul t user ri ghts for a wi de range of system
tasks such as creati ng a Pagefil e, changing the system ti me, or backi ng up fi l es and di rectories. These shoul d
not be al tered unl ess you have an expl ici t need, as in every case there i s a reason why parti cul ar users are
all owed to or restri cted from conducti ng these tasks, namel y to provi de a balance between suffici ent
functi onali ty and securi ty.

Security Options settings: These setti ngs are the most useful i n customi zi ng Wi ndows securi ty for the average
home user. We've al ready l ooked at the User Account Control -rel ated setti ngs i n the User Account Control
secti on further above, so we wil l l ook at the rest of the more useful setti ngs bel ow:

Accounts: Administrator account status: If Enabled, thi s opti on turns on the bui l t-i n Admini strator
account i n Wi ndows. Thi s i s the unrestri cted gl obal Admi ni strator account wi th the username
'Admi ni strator' whi ch i s not obstructed by UAC, and i s not the same as the Admi ni strator l evel User
Account you created when fi rst i nstal ling Wi ndows (al so known as the Protected Admi nistrator).
For more detail s see the Advanced Settings secti on of the User Accounts chapter.
Accounts: Guest account status: All ows you to enable or di sabl e the Guest account. For securi ty
reasons the Guest account shoul d be kept di sabled unl ess expli citl y needed - see the User Account
Types secti on of the User Accounts chapter.
Interactive Logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL: If you disabl e this opti on i t wil l requi re that a user
press CTRL+ALT+DEL before bei ng abl e to l ogon. Thi s can i ncrease securi ty because i t wi l l mean
users are enteri ng thei r password i n Secure Desktop mode, where i t i s much more di ffi cul t for
mal ware to i nterfere wi th or l og your keystrokes.
Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile: If enabled this opti on cl ears the Pagefi l e, whi ch is the storage
l ocati on for Vi rtual Memory, each and every ti me you shut down the PC. Whi le thi s can i ncrease
securi ty, si nce the Pagefi le may contain fragments of i nformati on from the l atest sessi ons, i t also


181

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

sl ows down shutdown ti me and i s generall y not recommended unl ess you requi re such a hi gh l evel
of securi ty. See the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the Memory Optimi zati on chapter.

As noted, be very careful in what you change here, as the defaul ts are perfectl y fi ne for most any home user,
and some of the setti ngs can cause probl ems for yoursel f or other users of the system if changed. Think
careful l y about the bal ance of securi ty vs. convenience before enabl i ng or di sabl i ng a setti ng.

< DATA EXECUTION PREVENTION
Data Execution Preventi on (DEP) i s a Wi ndows securi ty feature that uses software and (where supported)
hardware methods to detect programs that try to access and run code from designated non-executable
memory areas. In practi ce DEP protects agai nst mal ware that has become resi dent on the system and whi ch
then tri es to runni ng malici ous code from such memory areas. When i t detects an attempt to l aunch an
executable from a non-executabl e memory area i t wi ll shut the program down and provi de a noti fi cati on
that i t has done so.

You can access the DEP setti ngs by goi ng to the System component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and
cl i cki ng the 'Advanced system setti ngs' l i nk i n the l eft pane, or by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
systempropertiesadvanced and pressi ng Enter. Then under the Advanced tab cli ck the Setti ngs button under
the Performance secti on, and go to the 'Data Execution Preventi on' tab.

When 'Turn on DEP for essential Wi ndows programs and servi ces onl y' i s sel ected, DEP protecti on i s only
enabl ed for programs that choose to work wi th DEP, al ong wi th Wi ndows system fi les. This is the defaul t
and mi ni mum form of DEP protecti on and the one I recommend. For greater protecti on you can choose to
extend DEP to al l programs by sel ecting 'Turn on DEP for al l programs and servi ces except those I sel ect'
and then i f necessary, choose whi ch programs to manuall y exclude from DEP by usi ng the Add or Remove
buttons.

DEP i s a hi ghl y val uabl e form of addi ti onal protecti on agai nst mal ware, and the defaul t setti ng provi des a
balance of good securi ty and compati bil i ty. However you may wish to try the more secure form of DEP by
extendi ng i t to all programs. Then if you fi nd certai n programs not functi oni ng correctl y wi th DEP enabl ed,
and you are absolutel y certai n they are not i nfected wi th mal ware, then you can add them to the excepti ons
l i st i n DEP.

If for some reason you wi sh to compl etel y disabl e DEP, such as to temporaril y troubl eshoot a probl em to see
i f i t is DEP-rel ated, you can force DEP off i n your boot opti ons by usi ng the BCDEdi t command as fol l ows:

2. Type the fol lowi ng and press Enter:

bcdedi t / set {cur r ent } nx Al waysOf f

3. You shoul d see a confi rmati on that the operati on was successful .
4. Reboot your system to i mpl ement the change.

Al ternati vel y you can use EasyBCD to turn DEP off - see the EasyBCD secti on of the Boot Confi gurati on
chapter for more detai ls.

It i s strongl y recommended that you do not di sable DEP.


182

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

< ADDRESS SPACE LOAD RANDOMIZATION
Address Space Load Randomi zati on (ASLR) is not a user-customizabl e feature of Windows 7, however i t i s
an i mportant bui l t-i n securi ty feature and i s covered here for the sake of i nformi ng you of i ts role. First
i ntroduced i n Vi sta, ASLR essentiall y randomi zes the l ocati on i n whi ch a Wi ndows system program si ts i n
memory each ti me i t is l oaded up. Thi rd party developers can al so take advantage of ASLR to randomi ze the
l ocati on of thei r key program fi les. The end resul t i s that due to this randomization, i t i s much more di ffi cult
for mal ware to fi nd the correct l ocati on to expl oi t a system i nterface for accessi ng Wi ndows features and
data on your system. Thi s securi ty feature has been enhanced i n Wi ndows 7 wi th an i ncreased number of
random l oad l ocati ons, and i s further enhanced on 64-bi t systems. It is always enabl ed, defeati ng some
mal ware and sl owi ng or cri ppl i ng the functi onali ty of others, whi l e havi ng no di scernabl e performance
i mpact on the system.

< STRUCTURED EXCEPTION HANDLING OVERWRITE PROTECTION
Structured Excepti on Handl i ng Overwri te Protecti on (SEHOP) i s a feature fi rst i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vi sta
SP1, and simi lar to ASLR, i t is desi gned to protect appl i cati ons from bei ng exposed to memory-based
expl oi ts. However by defaul t thi s feature i s disabl ed, because i t can cause potenti al i ncompati bi li ti es wi th
software that i s based on Cygwi n, Armadil l o, or Skype - though i n practi ce i t won't cause any probl ems on
most systems.

If you wish to enable SEHOP for enhanced securi ty, go to the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SYSTEM\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Cont r ol \ Sessi on Manager \ ker nel ]

Di sabl eExcept i onChai nVal i dat i on=0

The DWORD above control s whether this feature i s enabl ed or not. If i t doesn't exi st, create i t, and set i t =0 to
enabl e SEHOP. If at any time you want to di sabl e SEHOP agai n, you can set this val ue to =1.

Enabli ng SEHOP shoul d have a negli gi bl e i mpact on performance. However i f you beli eve you are having a
confli ct between SEHOP and any software on your system, di sabl e SEHOP, reboot and check your
appl i cati on agai n to confi rm whether SEHOP i s the cause.

Wi ndows 7 provi des an addi ti onal use for SEHOP: enabli ng i t to provi de addi ti onal protecti on i n Internet
Expl orer, as detai led i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ I mage Fi l e
Execut i on Opt i ons\ i expl or e. exe]

If the i expl or e. exe key above doesn't exi st, ri ght-cl i ck on the I mage Fi l e Execut i on Opt i ons key,
sel ect New>Key and name i t i expl or e. exe

Di sabl eExcept i onChai nVal i dat i on=0

Left-cl i ck on the i expl or e. exe key and i n the ri ght pane, create a new DWORD as shown above and set i t
=0 to enabl e SEHOP just for Internet Expl orer. To di sabl e i t, set i t to =1.

< SAFE UNLINKING
A securi ty feature new to Wi ndows 7 is Safe Unl i nki ng. Enabl ed by defaul t and not designed to be
customized by the user, once agai n i t is desi gned to prevent memory-based expl oi ts, by runni ng a seri es of
checks duri ng memory allocati on. Thi s does not provi de fool proof protecti on, but i t can defeat a range of
common expl oi ts used by mal ware, and should be taken i nto consi derati on as part of a sui te of security
features and techni ques used to prevent mal ware from causi ng harm to your system i n Wi ndows 7.


183

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

< KERNEL PATCH PROTECTION
Kernel Patch Protecti on, also known as PatchGuard, i s a feature unique to 64-bi t versi ons of Wi ndows,
i ncludi ng Windows 7 64-bi t. Basi cal ly thi s feature protects the system Kernel - the core of the operati ng
system - such that onl y Mi crosoft-certi fi ed changes can di rectl y be made to memory l ocati ons holdi ng the
Kernel . This provi des excel l ent protecti on agai nst mal ware or legi ti mate software maki ng unauthorized
changes to the Kernel whi ch can destabi li ze or compromi se Wi ndows.

You cannot di sabl e PatchGuard, however you can manuall y overri de one of i ts key components - the check
for digi tal ly si gned dri vers duri ng Wi ndows bootup. A method to temporaril y di sabl e this check i s covered
under the Dri ver Si gnature secti on of the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter, but there is no permanent way to
di sabl e i t, as that woul d be a securi ty hol e and Mi crosoft frequentl y patches Wi ndows to prevent any
appl i cati ons from doi ng so.

< ENCRYPTING FILE SYSTEM
The Encrypting Fil e System (EFS) i s a bui l t-i n fi le encrypti on protecti on method for Wi ndows. It all ows you
to encrypt a fi le or folder such that i t cannot be opened by anyone el se unl ess they have the appropriate
encrypti on key. To encrypt an enti re dri ve, see the Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on secti on further bel ow.

To enable EFS encrypti on on a parti cular fi l e or fol der, fol l ow these steps:

1. Open Wi ndows Expl orer and go to the fi l e or fol der you wish to encrypt.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect Properti es, and under the General tab cli ck the Advanced button.
3. Ti ck the 'Encrypt contents to secure data' box and cli ck OK, then cl i ck Appl y.
4. You wil l be prompted firstl y whether you want to appl y the encrypti on to the fi le i tself, or to i ts parent
fol der. It i s best to encrypt an enti re folder, so i f necessary move al l the fi les you wi sh to encrypt to a new
fol der and encrypt both the fi l es and folders; otherwise just encrypt the fil e i f you don't wi sh to move i t.
5. The fi le wil l be shown i n green text by defaul t i n Expl orer to i ndicate that i t i s encrypted. You can al ter
whether Wi ndows shows encrypted fi les i n a different col or under Fol der Options - see Folder Opti ons
secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.
6. You can remove encryption for your own fi les at any ti me by fol l owi ng the steps above and unti cki ng
the 'Encrypt contents to secure data' box i nstead, then cl i cki ng OK and Appl y.

Now whenever you aren't usi ng the fi l e, i t wi l l automati cal l y be encrypted and thus much more secure
agai nst unauthori zed access.

Note that ful l EFS functi onali ty is not supported on the Starter, Home Basi c or Home Premium edi ti ons of
Wi ndows 7. In these edi ti ons you can modi fy or copy encrypted fil es, but only if you have the encryption
key for the fi le or fol der. You can al so decrypt an encrypted fil e, agai n onl y if you have the encrypti on key,
and only through the use of the Ci pher command i n a Command Prompt. Type ci pher / ? i n a Command
Prompt to see more detail s of thi s command.

BACKUP ENCRYPTION KEY
Once you encrypt a fi l e, Windows wi ll prompt you to back up your encrypti on key, as thi s i s the onl y way i n
whi ch you can decrypt the fi l e i f you move the fi l e to another system, upgrade Wi ndows, or your current
Wi ndows i nstal lati on becomes corrupted for example. Losi ng your encrypti on key can effecti vel y make your
encrypted fi l es i naccessi ble i n the future, so thi s i s an important step you shoul d not i gnore - back up the key
to a secure l ocati on as soon as possi bl e. If you choose not to do so, you wil l be prompted to back up the key
each and every ti me you log on, until you ei ther choose to permanentl y i gnore the request, or actuall y back
up your key.


184

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

To vi ew detail s of the encrypti on, and/or al l ow other users to use the fi l e/fol der, and/or to backup the
encrypti on key for thi s fi l e/fol der, foll ow Steps 1 - 2 further above, then cli ck the Detai ls button.

To access the EFS Key Wizard whi ch makes the process of managing and backing up an EFS encrypti on key
much easier, go to Start>Search Box, type rekeywiz and press Enter, then foll ow the prompts.

You can al so vi ew your EFS certifi cate in the foll owing manner:

1. Go to Start>Run, type certmgr.msc and press Enter.
2. In the l eft pane, go to Personal>Certifi cates.
3. Your EFS certi ficate shoul d be l isted i n the mi ddl e of the Wi ndow - check the Intended Purposes col umn
to ensure i t has 'Encrypted Fil e System' li sted for that certi fi cate.
4. You can right-cli ck on the certi ficate and sel ect Export to tri gger the EFS Key Wizard.
Fi nal ly, note that i f you l ose your account password and i t has to be reset, you can l ose access to al l your
encrypted fi les.

EFS encryption i s not a fool proof securi ty method; if someone gains access to your User Account for exampl e
they can then access all encrypted material normal ly, so i t i s only one extra layer of protecti on. You can
however combi ne EFS fi l e or fol der encrypti on wi th Bi tLocker whol e-of-dri ve encrypti on to provi de greater
securi ty from unauthorized access - see bel ow.

< BITLOCKER DRIVE ENCRYPTION
Bi tLocker i s a whol e-of-dri ve encrypti on feature fi rst i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista as part of the Ul ti mate
Extras for Wi ndows Vista Ul ti mate. It i s now a standard bui l t-i n feature of Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate and
Enterpri se, but i s not avail able for other Wi ndows 7 edi ti ons. Windows 7 extends Bi tLocker's functi onali ty
by al so al l owing removabl e dri ves to be encrypted, referred to as BitLocker To Go.

Bi tLocker Drive Encrypti on technol ogy secures an enti re dri ve agai nst unauthori zed access, as opposed to
the Encrypti ng Fil e System whi ch i s used on speci fi c fi les and fol ders, and onl y works on a per-user basis.
However Bi tLocker can be used i n conjuncti on wi th EFS, so the two are not mutual ly exclusi ve. To access
Bi tLocker, go to the Bi tLocker component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , or go Start>Run, type bitlocker and
press Enter. Here you can sel ect to turn on Bi tLocker for any of your detected dri ves. If you have a
removabl e dri ve such as a USB flash dri ve, i nsert i t and i t wi l l al so be di splayed here, and the opti on to
enabl e Bi tLocker wil l be provi ded. Note that you can al so enabl e Bi tLocker on any dri ve by openi ng
Wi ndows Expl orer, goi ng to the Computer category, ri ght-cl i cki ng on the rel evant dri ve and sel ecti ng 'Turn
on Bi tLocker'.

Importantl y, for Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on to work, you must have at l east two NTFS parti ti ons. One of
these is your normal Wi ndows 7 partiti on whi ch wi ll be encrypted, and the other is a small er parti ti on
designed to hol d your boot fil es i n unencrypted format so that the system can start normall y. Thi s i s one of
the reasons why by defaul t Wi ndows 7 attempts to create a System Reserved Parti ti on duri ng i nstall ati on -
covered under the Instal li ng Wi ndows secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter. In practi ce thi s System
Reserved Parti ti on is not essential even i f you wish to use Bi tLocker, because Bi tLocker wi ll create a separate
parti ti on if needed for i ts purposes. However i f you know you wi sh to use Bi tLocker, you shoul d l et
Wi ndows create the System Reserved Parti ti on during Wi ndows i nstal lati on - you can ensure thi s happens
by del eti ng any exi sti ng parti ti ons and then parti ti oni ng and formatti ng your dri ve al l withi n Wi ndows
Setup.

The other requi rement for Bi tLocker is a BIOS compati bl e wi th the Trusted Pl atform Modul e (TPM)
standard, or supports a USB fl ash dri ve i f you don't have TPM hardware compati bi li ty. To check for TPM
hardware compati bi li ty, open the Bi tLocker component of the Windows Control Panel and i n the l eft pane


185

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

cl i ck the 'TPM Admi ni strati on' l i nk. If your system does not have hardware TPM support, then you will
need a USB flash dri ve to hol d the Bi tLocker startup key requi red whenever you start your PC.

Once your dri ve has been encrypted, BitLocker protecti on on a drive can be (re)confi gured by goi ng to the
Bi tLocker component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli cki ng the 'Manage Bi tLocker' l i nk for a dri ve, or
by ri ght-cli cki ng on that dri ve i n Wi ndows Expl orer and sel ecti ng 'Manage Bi tLocker'. For the sake of
conveni ence, you can choose to have a dri ve automati call y unl ock on a parti cul ar computer, whi ch saves
havi ng to enter a password each ti me you use i t. However thi s obvi ousl y makes the dri ve l ess secure, so it i s
recommended that you onl y do thi s if you have a password-protected User Account.

You can use a Bi tLocker protected dri ve on an older versi on of Wi ndows such as Vi sta or XP, however you
need to use the Bi tLocker To Go Reader. Thi s appl i cati on is stored as bitlockertogo.exe i n the root di rectory of
your Bi tLocker encrypted dri ve, and you wil l ei ther be prompted to i nstall i t or need to run i t manuall y
before you can access your dri ve on another system. Importantl y, a Bi tLocker encrypted removabl e dri ve
must be formatted usi ng the FAT fil e system for i t to be able to be used on Vi sta or XP.

Bi tLocker is ai med pri mari l y at provi di ng protecti on i n an envi ronment where the PC i s not physi call y
secure from unauthorized access. A Bi tLocker encrypted removabl e dri ve i s parti cularly useful if you store
sensi ti ve data on a USB fl ash dri ve whi ch you carry around wi th you for exampl e, or you can encrypt a
l aptop dri ve wi th Bi tLocker to protect agai nst unauthori zed access i n the event of acci dental loss or theft. For
the average home desktop PC user I do not bel i eve i t i s necessary to enabl e thi s feature. Protecting
i ndi vi dual files and fol ders usi ng EFS encrypti on shoul d be suffi ci ent i f you just wi sh to prevent other users
on your system from exami ni ng thei r contents. Onl y i f your PC i s i n a l ocati on where i t is physi call y
accessi ble and/or susceptibl e to theft by untrusted peopl e shoul d you consider also usi ng Bi tLocker for
added protecti on.

Note that if your versi on of Wi ndows 7 doesn't all ow you to access Bi tLocker, then you mi ght consi der using
TrueCrypt whi ch is a free uti li ty wi th simi lar features.

< ESSENTIAL ADDITIONAL SECURITY
Havi ng exami ned the major Wi ndows securi ty features, i t shoul d be obvi ous that securi ty i s very i mportant
i n Wi ndows 7. However these bui l t-i n securi ty features are not suffi ci ent on thei r own to protect you against
all mal ware, nor do they pretend to be. They are i mportant l ayers of defense agai nst most of the common
securi ty threats, and provide the average user wi th a good starti ng poi nt i n preventi ng harm to thei r system.
Yet there i s more that needs to be done to provi de genui nel y good securi ty. It i s i mportant to have addi ti onal
l ayers of different types of protecti on so that even i f several defenses are defeated, other layers exist to
prevent or detect the mal ware before i t does any serious harm. That's where the use of sel ected thi rd party
anti -mal ware scanners i s absol utely cri tical to ensuri ng that your system i s clean of mal ware and remai ns so,
but I urge you to use them i n conjuncti on wi th Wi ndows securi ty features, not instead of them, or vi ce versa.

The programs bel ow are desi gned for all systems, and the ones I speci fi cal ly recommend are full y tested and
compati bl e wi th Wi ndows 7. In thi s secti on I provi de detail ed confi gurati on advi ce for the recommended
mal ware scanners whi ch I personal ly use on my system. Thi s wil l hel p gi ve you a bal ance between security
and conveni ence, wi th mi ni mal performance i mpact. You may noti ce that I recommend di sabl i ng certai n
real -ti me protecti on and/or background functi onali ty - thi s may seem ri sky at fi rst glance, however there are
two very i mportant reasons for thi s:

Background functi onali ty typi call y i nvol ves constantl y scanning your data i n an attempt to detect
patterns whi ch may i ndi cate the presence of mal ware. This not onl y uses system resources such as CPU
and memory, of greater signi ficance is the fact that i t can i nduce stutteri ng and reduce performance i n a
range of scenari os, parti cularly duri ng gami ng or when runni ng dri ve-i ntensi ve appli cations.


186

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Havi ng background scanni ng/real -ti me protecti on functi onal i ty acti ve on mal ware scanners can cause
software confl i cts whi ch can resul t i n the i ncorrect install ation of software, as well as general system
i nstabil i ty and crashes whi l e runni ng software. Thi s i s a known issue whi ch many software devel opers
speci fi call y warn agai nst i n the documentati on for their programs.

I strongly beli eve that there i s no reason to sl ow down a system wi th i ntrusi ve mal ware scanni ng features
when the best protecti on comes from a combi nati on of a range of bui l t-i n Wi ndows securi ty features, user
vi gil ance, and regular manual scans of your system. See the advice throughout thi s chapter, and the ti ps at
the end of this chapter for more detai ls.

If you disagree wi th my securi ty phi losophy, particularly i f you are a user who feel s that the trade-off
between securi ty and performance shoul d favor securi ty i n your own ci rcumstances then ignore my advice
and use the defaul t setti ngs for each of these software packages. Just keep i n mi nd that i nstall i ng and
enabli ng any mal ware scanni ng package on your system does not automati cal ly mean that you are protected
agai nst mal ware. There i s no si mpl e automated fi x to the probl em of mal ware, otherwi se i t woul d have been
defeated by now; i nstead mal ware i s a bi gger probl em than ever. Thi s is because preventi on i s al ways better
than any potenti al cure, and that comes from user educati on and awareness, not a rel iance on a range of
automated tool s. Unfortunatel y user educati on requires user effort, whereas the rel ati vel y ignorance of total
rel iance on automated tool s requi res mini mal user effort, so obvi ousl y most users opt for the easy way out. I
encourage you not to be such a user if you genui nel y value your securi ty.

Bel ow is the essential free securi ty software I recommend that you i nstal l and use i n conjuncti on wi th the
Wi ndows features and advi ce covered i n thi s chapter:

MALICIOUS SOFTWARE REMOVAL TOOL
To start wi th, regul arl y downl oad and use the Mali ci ous Software Removal Tool. Thi s i s a free Mi crosoft tool
provi ded monthl y through Wi ndows Update, so as l ong as you keep up to date wi th Wi ndows Update, i t
wi ll automaticall y i nstall and run i tself when a new versi on is avail abl e. You can al so downl oad i t from the
l i nk above and run i t manual l y at any ti me, if you suspect an i nfecti on for exampl e. Once i t i s downl oaded
and i nstal l ed you can choose to do a Quick Scan or a Ful l Scan of your system for the most common vi ruses -
a Qui ck Scan i s suffi ci ent if you al so use another vi rus scanner. Note that the Mal i ci ous Software Removal
Tool does not i nstall i tsel f permanentl y on your system and does not stay resi dent on your system, i t si mply
runs a si ngl e scan each ti me i t i s downloaded from Wi ndows Update, or i f you manuall y downl oad i t and
use i t.

The tool i s desi gned to detect the most common malware threats, but as the tool i tself recommends, you wi ll
need dedi cated anti-mal ware scanni ng software which can perform regular full scans of your system for a
wi de range of vi ruses, worms and other types of malware.

MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS
I personal ly use and recommend Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti al s (MSE) as a dedi cated all-purpose anti -
mal ware scanner. It i s a free and l i ghtwei ght mal ware scanner whi ch i s very simi lar to Wi ndows Defender,
however i t contai ns a much more powerful engi ne desi gned to scan for viruses, worms, trojans, adware and
spyware, as wel l are other types of securi ty threats. After you i nstal l MSE, i t i s recommended that you allow
i t to downl oad the l atest defi ni ti ons through the Mi crosoft Update Center. One of the benefi ts of MSE i s that
i t i ntegrates neatl y i nto Wi ndows 7 and upon i nstall ation, Wi ndows Defender wi ll automati cal l y be
compl etel y disabled, so there is no duplicati on of functi onali ty i nvol ved.

There are four mai n tabs under the main MSE wi ndow, and each is covered below:


187

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Home: Di spl ays your current securi ty status:

Green - Everythi ng is fi ne, and MSE i s usi ng i ts recommended settings.
Yel l ow - There may be a probl em, usuall y due to outdated defini ti on fil e, so you should go to the
Update tab and al l ow MSE to update over the Internet.
Red - A potenti al threat has been detected, or you have disabled one or more of the real -time protecti on
components.

Seei ng a red status i ndi cator si mpl y because you have di sabl ed one of the real -time protecti on components
can be mi sl eadi ng, si nce thi s does not mean you are at any si gni fi cant risk as l ong as you follow the rest of
the advi ce i n thi s chapter. However l ook cl osely, because i f the red status i ndi cator is accompani ed by detail s
of a potenti al threat bei ng found, and the red button on the home page says 'Clean computer', then mal ware
has been detected. Cli ck the 'Cl ean computer' button to have MSE undertake the defaul t action for that risk
type. Remember that the defaul t acti on for severe and hi gh risk l evel s i s deleti on of the suspected i nfected
fi le, so check fi rst before clicki ng 'Cl ean computer' - see Defaul t Acti ons bel ow.

Al so avail able here are the manual scanni ng opti ons. You can sel ect from a Qui ck scan, a Full scan, or a
Custom scan. The Qui ck scan i s the fastest, goi ng through your i mportant system fi les, fol ders and the
Wi ndows Regi stry to l ook for traces of mal ware. A Ful l scan goes through all your fil es and fol ders l ooking
for mal ware, and hence takes l onger and provi des greater securi ty. A Custom Scan all ows you to sel ect the
speci fi c dri ve(s) and/or folder(s) you wi sh to scan. I recommend runni ng a Custom scan on any fil e you
downl oad or consi der suspi ci ous at any ti me. I al so recommend runni ng a Ful l scan at l east once a week -
whether schedul ed or not is up to you - to ensure your system remains free from mal ware.

Update: Shows the current versi on and date for defi ni ti on fi l es. These fil es are what al l ow MSE to more
accurately detect new malware, so you must keep MSE up to date by regul arl y cl i cki ng the Update button
here, or by checki ng Wi ndows Update for updates to MSE. I strongl y recommend updati ng the defi ni ti ons
pri or to l aunchi ng a manual scan.

History: Shows any malware detected by MSE, as wel l as any programs or fi l e types you have manuall y
excl uded from scanni ng in MSE. Note that i f the 'Al low al l users to vi ew the ful l Hi story resul ts' i s not ti cked
i n the Advanced secti on of the Setti ngs tab, each user wi ll not be abl e to see results from other users, whi ch
can protect pri vacy. The Admi ni strator can cl i ck the 'Vi ew detai ls' button to see all detail s regardl ess.

Settings: MSE comes wi th a good defaul t confi guration, so begi nner users i n parti cular do not need to al ter
anythi ng here. However I provi de my recommendations for parti cular opti ons bel ow:

Schedul ed Scan - The defaul t is a Qui ck scan 2:00am every Sunday, but I recommend changi ng this to a
Full scan i nstead for greater securi ty. Al so make sure the 'Start the scheduled scan onl y when my
computer i s on but not i n use' and the 'Check for the l atest vi rus and spyware defi ni ti ons before runni ng
a schedul ed scan' boxes are both ti cked.
Defaul t Actions - The defaul t acti ons l isted are essentiall y i denti cal to those li sted for Wi ndows
Defender, and are al so descri bed i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. In short the 'Recommended Action' opti on is
fi ne for each of these. However i f the 'Appl y recommended acti ons' box i s ti cked, MSE will
automati cal ly appl y i ts recommended acti ons to your software - I strongl y recommend agai nst ti cki ng
thi s box to avoi d seei ng your software removed wi thout your consent. For exampl e, shoul d a fal se
posi ti ve occur and i t i s rated as a Severe ri sk, MSE wil l automati cal ly delete the particular fi le(s).
Al ternati vel y, you can l eave thi s box ti cked, but for the Severe and Hi gh al ert level s, you can change the
defaul t acti on to Quaranti ne to ensure there is no automati c fil e/program del eti on.
Real-ti me Protecti on - The opti ons here all ow you to determi ne whi ch types of acti vi ti es and areas MSE
constantl y moni tors i n the background to prevent mal ware from install i ng or executi ng on your system.
The performance i mpact of havi ng full real -ti me protecti on i n MSE is mi nimal , and hence for novi ce


188

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

users al l these opti ons are best l eft enabl ed. However for i ntermedi ate and advanced users I recommend
l eavi ng real-ti me protecti on enabl ed, but unti cki ng the 'Scan programs that run on my computer' box,
l eavi ng the 'Scan downl oaded fi l es and attachments' box ti cked. Thi s should mi ni mize the potenti al for
performance i ssues and confl icts, because MSE wi ll onl y scan a fil e or attachment whi ch is downl oaded,
and wil l not constantl y scan i n the background during normal system usage. Note however that thi s
setti ng wil l cause the MSE status to go red, as wel l as raise an al ert i n the Alert Center - both are no cause
for alarm.
Excl uded Fi les and Folders, Excl uded Fi l e Types - These two secti ons al l ow you to speci fy parti cular
fi les, fol ders or fi l e types whi ch you don't want MSE to i ncl ude as part of i ts scans. It i s not
recommended that you excl ude anythi ng from MSE's scans, as thi s may all ow mal ware to sli p past.
However if you know for certai n that a parti cul ar fi le, folder or fil e type i s going to be pi cked up as a
fal se posi ti ve (i .e. fal sel y detected as malware when i t i s not), then you can i ncl ude i t here.
Advanced - There several opti ons here to further customi ze MSE's behavi or. 'Scan archi ve fi les' if ti cked
all ows MSE to scan i nsi de archi ved fi l es such as .ZIP, .CAB and .RAR archi ves - I recommend ti cki ng
thi s as mal ware can easil y hi de i nside such fi l es. 'Scan removabl e dri ves', i f ti cked, scans any removabl e
dri ves such as USB fl ash dri ves when they are attached to the system - an extra form of protecti on,
however ti cki ng thi s may cause addi tional delays when you attach such drives, so unti ck i t if this
bothers you, but l eave i t ti cked i f you often connect removabl e dri ves from dubi ous sources. 'Create a
system restore poi nt' i f ti cked does precisel y what i t says: creates a new restore poi nt for System Restore
(if enabl ed) before taki ng any acti on agai nst detected mal ware - I strongly recommend ti cki ng this
because i t allows you to easi l y undo any system changes MSE makes whi ch are undesi rable. 'All ow all
users to vi ew the ful l History resul ts' - I recommend ti cki ng thi s, as i t saves you havi ng to cli ck the 'Vi ew
Detai ls' button i n the Hi story secti on of MSE to see full detai l s. You can untick thi s box i f there are
mul ti ple users and you wish to protect each user's pri vacy, si nce infected fil enames shown here may be
somethi ng a user doesn't wi sh to have reveal ed.
Mi crosoft SpyNet - MSE uses anonymous i nformation col l ected from your machi ne as part of the Basi c
Membershi p status for Microsoft SpyNet. If you have concerns, see the Pri vacy Statement for more
detail s. It i s preci sel y because of thi s i nformati on from such a large user base that MSE can provi de such
powerful mal ware detection functi onal i ty wi thout resorti ng to more i ntrusive measures that other
scanners do. An exampl e of the type of i nformati on col l ected can be found i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. If
you wish to provi de more advanced informati on, incl udi ng some potenti ally personall y i dentifiable
i nformati on, sel ect the 'Advanced Membershi p'. Mi crosoft has proven i n the past that it takes the
protecti on of user i nformati on very seri ously, so the risk to users is not great, but ul ti mately if pri vacy is
a concern, the Basi c Membershi p opti on i s fi ne. If you sti ll have pri vacy concerns, then you may wi sh to
use another anti -mal ware package al together.

Cl i ck the 'Save changes' button when fi ni shed here.

Note that MSE al so i nstall s a new servi ce cal l ed 'Mi crosoft Anti malware Servi ce' (MsMpEng.exe) whi ch i s set
to Automati c, and needs to remai n that way for MSE to work properl y. MSE al so i nstal ls a new startup
program 'Mi crosoft Securi ty Essential s Interface' (msseces.exe) whi ch tri ggers the launch of MSE at startup.
You can di sabl e thi s i tem however i t wi l l disabl e al l real -ti me protecti on features unti l you manuall y l aunch
MSE i n a sessi on, so i t is best l eft to l oad at startup. Once runni ng, MSE also pl aces an i con i n your
Noti fi cation Area, though you wi ll need to cl i ck the small whi te tri angl e to see i t as i t i s set to 'Onl y show
noti fi cati ons' by defaul t and hence i s hi dden.

MSE System Files Cache: To speed up scans of system fi l es, si mil ar to Wi ndows Defender, MSE creates a cache
on these fi les, stored i n the MpSfc.bin fil e under the \ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft
Antimalware\Scans\History\CacheManager di rectory. Do not al ter or del ete thi s fi le as i t i s necessary for MSE
to perform opti mall y. However i f the cache does not exi st for some reason, it can be created by doi ng the
foll owi ng:


189

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

2. Type the fol lowi ng command exactly as shown and press Enter:

" %pr ogr amf i l es%\ Mi cr osof t Secur i t y Essent i al s\ MpCmdRun. exe Bui l dSFC

In general you do not need to manual l y create or del ete the MSE cache unless i t is for troubl eshooting
purposes.

Mi crosoft Securi ty Essential s is a powerful anti -mal ware package whi ch detects a range of mal ware, not just
vi ruses. It provi des a good balance between securi ty and conveni ence, and i ntegrates seaml essl y i nto
Wi ndows 7. It i s extremel y tempti ng to all ow MSE to repl ace al l the other anti -mal ware packages on your
system. However thi s is not recommended for a si ngl e reason: shoul d MSE not detect a pi ece of mal ware, or
provi de what mi ght be a suspected fal se posi ti ve, the onl y way you can be certai n i s to run a scan usi ng one
or more other anti-mal ware package(s). For thi s reason, I recommend i nstall i ng at l east one dedi cated trojan
scanner, as wel l as a dedi cated spyware scanner on your system, though the background functi onali ty of
nei ther should be enabl ed. See further bel ow for details.

In any case MSE i s not the onl y decent all -round anti -mal ware package. There is no consensus of opini on
among securi ty experts as to whi ch parti cular package is the absol ute best, but there are several other
reputabl e scanners whi ch are compati ble wi th Wi ndows 7 and whi ch you can use i nstead, though some of
them are onl y free for a trial period, or may take qui te a bi t of work i n rei ni ng i n thei r i ntrusi veness:

AVG
Avast
Kaspersky
NOD32
Trend Mi cro AV

A-SQUARED FREE
Trojans differ from vi ruses i n many ways, and are i ncreasi ngly becomi ng more of a threat than vi ruses.
Some trojans are not detected by all -purpose vi rus scanners, so you need a dedicated trojan scanner as well ,
i f onl y to provi de a second opi ni on. The bui l t-i n Wi ndows Defender i n Wi ndows 7 does pi ck up some of the
more common trojans, and Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti als provi des even greater defense agai nst trojans.
However I strongl y advi se i nstal li ng a dedi cated trojan scanner. I personal ly use and recommend A-Squared
Free - i t i s one of the best free trojan scanners whi l e al so bei ng the l east i ntrusi ve. The foll owi ng is
i nformati on on how to set up the recommended A-Squared Free trojan scanner.

After i nstallati on of A-Squared Free, as l ong as you're runni ng i t under an Admi ni strator account wi th ful l
access pri vil eges, you can set the new 'A-Squared Free Servi ce' i t i nstal ls to Di sabled as i t i s not needed. If
you then have any probl ems, you can set i t to Manual if necessary.

On the mai n Securi ty Status screen, cl i ck the 'Update Now' button to al l ow the program to downl oad al l the
l atest updates i t requi res - I recommend doi ng thi s each ti me before you do a manual scan. Fortunately the
more i ntrusi ve aspects of A-Squared, such as 'Background Guard' background scanni ng, are not avai labl e in
the free edi tion, so we do not need to confi gure/di sabl e them. To set the depth of scanni ng used, cli ck the
'Scan PC' opti on on the l eft of the mai n screen, and for normal usage sel ect ei ther Smart Scan or Deep Scan - I
recommend Deep Scan whi ch is l onger but much more thorough. For more control over the scanni ng, select
Custom Scan and cli ck the Scan button - you wi ll be taken to a screen whi ch all ows you to confi gure
i ndi vi dual scanni ng opti ons. I recommend all opti ons be ti cked, wi th the excepti on of 'use extensi on fil ter' -
unl ess you wi sh to manual l y excl ude or i ncl ude certai n fi le types. Once you've set your chosen scanni ng
method, whenever you want to run a scan usi ng A-Squared, you need onl y cl ick the 'Scan Now' button on
the program's mai n screen.


190

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Note that from ti me to ti me A-Squared may fi nd software whi ch i t cl assifies as Riskware, but i s not actuall y
mal ware. Such software is not necessari l y mali ci ous, i t just carries greater risk i n usage if your system i s
compromi sed by mali ci ous software. I recommend i nvesti gati ng cases of Riskware by scanni ng wi th other
mal ware scanners fi rst, then doi ng some research on Googl e. To disabl e detecti on of Ri skware, go to the
Scan PC screen, sel ect 'Custom Scan' and you can unti ck the 'Al ert Ri skware that i s often used by Mal ware'
opti on.

A-Squared i s best used as fol l ows:

To run a ful l scan of your system at l east once a week.
To run a quick Custom Scan of a parti cul ar fol der whenever you downl oad a fil e or save an email
attachment.
To run a ful l system scan i f another mal ware scanner shows possi bl e i nfecti on - thi s hel ps provi de a
valuable second opi ni on.

In most respects A-Squared i s i deal because i t doesn't use any system resources or need to run i n the
background, so you can launch i t whenever i t i s requi red and conduct scans when necessary.

SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY
A spyware/adware scanner wi l l fi nd and remove thi s common type of mal ware from your system. Wi ndows
Defender i s the basi c bui lt-i n Wi ndows spyware scanner, and i t wi ll protect you agai nst most forms of
common spyware. If you've i nstal led Mi crosoft Securi ty Essentials, that takes over the rol e of Wi ndows
Defender to a greater extent. However for even greater securi ty you can install and use at l east one
addi ti onal thi rd party spyware/adware scanner. There are two mai n al ternati ves: Ad-Aware and Spybot
Search & Destroy. Both are powerful , and both are nomi nal l y free. However Spybot i s compl etel y free and
does not contai n any prompts to upgrade to a pai d versi on. Furthermore whi l e both requi re some
modi fi cati on to reduce thei r i ntrusi veness, Spybot i s much easi er to confi gure to remove i ts i ntrusi ve aspects,
so on balance I recommend Spybot. The fol l owi ng are my recommended setti ngs for Spybot:

The most i mportant configurati on options for Spybot actual ly occur duri ng the i nstall ati on process. During
i nstal lati on of Spybot, you wi ll be gi ven the opti on to sel ect the components i t install s. I strongl y recommend
unti cki ng everythi ng that is availabl e. If you wi sh to customize Spybot's appearance, the 'Ski ns to change
appearance' opti on can also be ti cked, and if you requi re mul tipl e languages, the 'Addi tional l anguages'
opti on should al so be ti cked. Otherwise everythi ng el se i s unnecessary to the core functi onali ty of Spybot,
and wi ll onl y i ncrease i ts resource usage i f selected.

Furthermore, a few steps l ater i n the install ation procedure you wi ll be asked to sel ect common tasks for
Spybot. Under the 'permanent protecti on' secti on I strongl y recommend unti cking the 'Use Internet Expl orer
protecti on (SDHel per)' opti on, whi ch is a form of addi ti onal protecti on Spybot i ntegrates i nto Internet
Expl orer and hence a l evel of undesi rabl e i ntrusi veness and a background process whi ch i s unnecessary.
Si milarly, the 'Use system setti ngs protecti on (Tea Ti mer)' opti on i s a real -time protecti on functi onal ity
whi ch al ways runs i n the background if enabl ed, and as di scussed earl i er, i s not desi rable.

As l ong as you fol l ow al l of the steps above, Spybot wi ll not i nstall any addi ti onal servi ces or startup i tems.

Once Spybot commences, you wi ll be gi ven a message regardi ng adverti sement robots - thi s i s si mpl y a
warni ng that i f you use Spybot to remove certai n adverti si ng features from speci fi c programs, the programs
may not functi on correctl y. You wil l then be prompted to backup your Regi stry. You can do thi s i f you wi sh,
but i t i s not necessary and best done l ater as covered i n the Wi ndows Regi stry chapter. Cl i ck the green next
arrow to ski p thi s step, and cli ck the 'Start usi ng thi s program' button.


191

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

To start wi th, cl i ck the Update button, sel ect an update server cl osest to you, then I recommend maki ng sure
that you desel ect any updates rel ati ng to di sabl ed functi onali ty, l i ke the TeaTi mer. Cli ck Downl oad and
Spybot wi ll update i ts defini ti ons, then Exi t the update box when done. Make sure to update Spybot before
every manual scan.

To run a ful l manual scan, cl i ck the 'Search & Destroy' button i n the l eft pane, and i n the ri ght pane select the
'Check for probl ems' button - i f necessary cli ck the 'Hi de permanentl y' button to remove the ti ps box and
all ow you to see the l ist of potenti al probl ems found. If probl em(s) are found and li sted, you can hi ghli ght a
parti cul ar i tem and sel ect the 'Fi x sel ected probl em' button - red entri es are rel ati vel y i mportant spyware
i ssues that shoul d be fi xed, whil e green probl ems are l ess harmful , al though they can be fi xed i f desi red.
Check the addi ti onal i nformati on and/or search Googl e if you aren't certai n. If anythi ng i s removed and l ater
you wi sh to undo the change, you can cli ck the Recovery i tem i n the l eft pane.

To access the advanced and more detailed setti ngs i n Spybot, under the Mode menu sel ect 'Advanced mode',
however there are too many setti ngs to cover here, and for most users there i s no need to al ter them unless
you have speci fi c requi rements. Furthermore, I do not recommend the Immuni ze functi on, whi ch attempts
to bl ock certai n si tes usi ng your Hosts fi l e. Thi s functi on has caused confl i cts and fal se posi tives i n the past,
and i s unnecessary.

Spybot i s best used as foll ows:

To run a ful l scan of your system at l east once a week.
To run a ful l system scan i f another mal ware scanner shows possi bl e i nfecti on - thi s hel ps provi de a
valuable second opi ni on.
Conversel y, make sure to run another mal ware scanner i f Spybot detects a probl em, because spyware
and adware detecti on can often exaggerate or mi sreport the l evel of potenti al threat.

Importantl y there are a wi de range of spyware, adware and other mal ware scanners whi ch purport to
remove malici ous software, but i ronicall y contai n mal ware themsel ves, or are bad knock-offs of good
scanners. Consul t the l ists bel ow i f you plan on install i ng any mal ware scanners other than the ones
recommended i n thi s book:

Spyware Warri or Suspect Li st
2-Spyware Corrupt List

Al so conduct a thorough Googl e search to read user feedback and as many revi ews as you can fi nd on your
chosen anti -mal ware package, as there are far too many new packages comi ng onto the market whi ch are not
just usel ess and i ntrusi ve, but del i beratel y mal i ci ous or desi gned to hol d your system hostage wi th dubious
reports of mal ware i nfecti on and then constantl y prompt you to purchase the pai d versi on to remove such
non-existent infecti ons. In other words a great deal of all eged anti -mal ware software i s now bei ng created
wi th exactly the same ai ms as mal ware itsel f: for fi nanci al gai n through mali ci ous or fraudulent means.

PHISHING PROTECTION
Phi shi ng i s a form of decepti on whi ch does not necessaril y rely on any mal ici ous software. Si mpl y by
tri cki ng unsuspecti ng users i nto enteri ng personal i nformati on i nto fake websi tes and falsifi ed l ogi n screens,
the ori gi nators of thi s form of onli ne fraud obtai n exactl y the i nformati on they need to steal your money
wi thout having to go through any of the defenses bui l t i nto Windows. Phi shi ng i s the age-ol d method of
conni ng peopl e taken to a new level through the use of technol ogy. The mai n method for combati ng
phi shi ng i s user vi gi lance. Fortunatel y there i s some assi stance, as the most popul ar Internet browsers -
Internet Explorer, Mozi lla Fi refox, Chrome and Opera - all have some form of phi shi ng protecti on bui l t into
them, detecting reported phi shi ng si tes and warni ng users of the potenti al dangers of visi ti ng such si tes.


192

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

In Internet Expl orer the Phi shi ng Fi l ter i s enabl ed by defaul t and wi ll warn you if i t suspects that a si te you
are about to vi si t i s fraudul ent. I do not recommend di sabl i ng i t - see the Internet Expl orer chapter for more
detail s. The Phi shi ng Protecti on feature i n Fi refox i s covered i n more detail i n the Fi refox Tweak Guide, and
once agai n i t i s strongly recommended that you do not di sable thi s functi onal i ty. Chrome's anti -Phishing
features are detail ed i n Chrome Hel p, and protect agai nst phi shi ng and mal ware, thus shoul d be kept
enabl ed. More detai l s of Opera's Fraud Protecti on features are in thi s Opera FAQ and i t too i s best kept
enabl ed.

Even the most advanced user can fal l prey to phi shi ng, ei ther due to l azi ness or si mply because some
fraudul ent sites and techni ques are becomi ng so reali sti c that they can fool al most anyone. For vari ous
practi ces designed to prevent fall i ng vi cti m to phi shing and mal ware see the Important Securi ty Ti ps secti on
at the end of thi s chapter.

FIREWALLS
The buil t-i n Windows Fi rewall i s compl etel y suffi cient i n protecti ng agai nst network i ntrusi on. By defaul t i t
prevents external i ntruders from accessi ng your system, as l ong as you do not manuall y open l ots of Ports
and/or have lots of program Excepti ons. It can al so be configured further i f requi red, but this functi onal i ty i s
best sui ted to more advanced users. In short the Wi ndows Fi rewall provi des a good balance of securi ty and
conveni ence, whi l e stil l provi di ng full customizati on opti ons for advanced purposes should they be needed.

However you do have other opti ons if you want greater securi ty. There are several commerci al Fi rewall
packages you can turn to. For free alternati ves, ZoneAlarm and Comodo provi de two popular software
fi rewal l s for those who want to use a third party package. Note that your network devi ce, such as a router or
modem, may come wi th a hardware fi rewall whi ch you can confi gure - see your manufacturer's si te or your
product's packagi ng for documentati on. A combi nati on of a software fi rewall l i ke Wi ndows Fi rewal l , and
the hardware fi rewall capabi l i ties of most routers and modems, i s total ly suffi ci ent to prevent the majori ty of
unauthorized i ntrusi ons i nto your system, wi thout cri ppl i ng normal functi onal ity on your system.

< IMPORTANT SECURITY TIPS
Al l of Wi ndows 7's buil t-in securi ty features, and al l the mal ware scanners and phi shi ng protecti on i n the
worl d are no substi tute for l earni ng how to prevent mal ware i nfestati on, and how to detect and avoi d
phi shi ng and other forms of onli ne fraud. Preventi on i s i ndeed much better than the cure, especiall y i n the
case of mal ware, because once your system i s i nfected, and once your credi t card detai ls, logi n passwords,
software serial numbers, personal documents and so forth have been compromi sed, then i t i s usual ly too
l ate. Often times the i nfecti on may quietl y spread to your backups as well , renderi ng them usel ess, so a
si mpl e reformat and rei nstall of Wi ndows may not ri d you of the mal ware. Furthermore certai n mal ware
and expl oi ts are so new that no mal ware scanner or known method can detect or bl ock them, at l east for a
peri od of ti me, so you must l earn other ways of preventi ng thei r entry i nto your system, and detecti ng thei r
possi ble presence.

Thi s i s why i t i s so i mportant that you read and understand the i nformati on i n thi s chapter, and throughout
thi s book. In parti cul ar, the ti ps I provide bel ow are l engthy, but can be just as valuable as any anti-mal ware
feature or software. Thi s advi ce has stood me i n good stead for many years, steeri ng me cl ear of mal ware
i nfecti on and the l oss of personal data or money, whi le at the same ti me all owi ng me to enjoy all the features
of my PC and ful l use of the Internet wi thout reduci ng my system performance i n any way.

MALWARE AVOIDANCE METHODS
Bel ow are a range of general rul es for hel pi ng you avoi d becomi ng vi cti m to mal ware and onl i ne fraud. Of
course I could wri te a thousand rul es, and none of them coul d cover every si ngl e type of circumstance. But
the rul es below do provide a strong basis for wardi ng off the bul k of malware, and set you on the ri ght
course for comi ng to i ntui ti vel y understand how malware works:


193

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Address Book/Contacts: Don't keep any contacts i n your emai l address book/contacts l ist. If you are i nfected
wi th mal ware, thi s is one of the fi rst methods i t wi ll use to di stribute i tsel f to all of your contacts, and since
the email comes from someone they know, they are more li kel y to cl i ck a li nk or open an i nfected
attachment. Instead save at l east one email you recei ve from peopl e you wish to contact regularl y i n a
separate mai l fol der. Then whenever you want to email someone, open thi s fol der and repl y to thei r last
email , cl eari ng the existi ng contents and subject l i ne before enteri ng your text.

Stay Up to Date: Regularly keep your system up-to-date i n terms of Wi ndows patches and securi ty updates,
defi ni ti on fi les for mal ware scanners, and the l atest versi ons of your i nstall ed programs. These updates often
contai n fi xes for known securi ty expl oi ts and vul nerabi li ti es, and are a si mpl e but effecti ve way to prevent
i nfecti on. Don't wai t unti l you suspect i nfecti on before updati ng your system, as by then i t may be too l ate,
si nce some mal ware deli beratel y bl ocks the use of certai n updati ng features.

Attachments and Downloads: A common methods for spreading mal ware i s through i nfected email
attachments and fil e downl oads. Different fil e types can hol d or tri gger mal ware on your system depending
on your settings. Any email attachment or download l i nk shoul d be vi ewed as a potenti al source of
mal ware, even i f i t i s from a known source, because even if the sender/host is not deli beratel y mal i ci ous,
they coul d be i nfected themsel ves and hence acci dental ly spreadi ng i nfected fi l es. Only save attachments
from trusted peopl e, and al ways scan any saved attachments wi th mal ware scanners.

Patches & Security Updates: If you recei ve an emai l with an update or securi ty patch for a software package or
Wi ndows attached, do not use i t. Furthermore any l i nks to such updates or patches are l i kel y also
fraudul ent. No reputable software company publicl y distri butes updates or patches vi a email , they are
al ways hosted on the company's si te. If unsure, use a bookmark or manual l y type the l egi timate company's
web address into your browser and check for any updates or patches that way.

Unknown Sender: If you recei ve an emai l or message from someone you don't know, thi s is i nstant cause for
suspi ci on. The vast majori ty of message from unknown i ndi vi dual s are spam, mali ci ous and/or fraudul ent.

Too Good to be True: If you recei ve a message or see an onl i ne offer whi ch seems too good to be true, then
al most wi thout excepti on, i t i s l ikely to be a scam or a form of mal ware. It may not be mali ci ous, i t mi ght
si mpl y be a hoax or a chain l etter, but in vi rtual l y every case, i t i s worth del eti ng.

Spelling and Grammar Oddities: A dead giveaway that somethi ng i s potenti al ly mali ci ous or spam/scam is the
presence of bad spel li ng/grammar. Thi s is not necessaril y due to the author bei ng foreign; the use of
mi sspel li ngs of common words, or symbol s and other characters i n place of standard letters, i s a tacti c
designed to circumvent keywords i n spam fil ters.

Replying or Unsubscribing: There is a l arge onl i ne market for email l i sts used by spammers and mal ware
di stri butors. These peopl e pl ace a parti cularly hi gh value on email addresses where the reci pi ent i s known to
sti ll check thei r email , as opposed to a fal se or l ong-dead email account. One way they veri fy an email
address is with a phony 'Cl i ck here to unsubscri be' or si mil ar li nk. Worse sti ll , some of these l i nks take you
to a phi shi ng si te or downl oad mal ware when cli cked. For si mi lar reasons never repl y to any such emai ls -
spammers know ful l-wel l that they cause annoyance, so abusi ng them i s poi ntl ess; repl yi ng simpl y lets them
know your account i s acti ve.

IP Addresses: Any li nk starti ng wi th a seri es of numbers i nstead of a domai n name shoul d be vi ewed wi th
extreme suspi ci on. For exampl e http://74.125.45.100/ tel l s you absol utely nothing about the si te (actuall y i t's
Googl e). In most cases the IP address is used i nstead of a domain name precisel y to hi de the true nature of
the si te.


194

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Backups: The need for regular backups has been covered i n detai l i n the Backup & Recovery chapter.
However mal ware also provi des another i mportant aspect to consi der - you shoul d always do a ful l
mal ware scan of your system before creati ng any backups, and never backup if you suspect you are i nfected,
otherwi se you may wi nd up i nfecti ng your backups and renderi ng them usel ess.

File Sharing: One of the bi ggest sources of mal ware i nfestati on in recent ti mes i s fi l e sharing, such as via
torrents, usenet, FTP, IRC or web-based fi l e shari ng servi ces. Many shared fil es are fakes contai ning
mal ware, but equall y, genui ne fil es can al so contai n mal ware, especi al l y i n any 'key generators' or associated
uti li ti es or li nks al l egedly designed to unl ock the shared fi les. Legali ty asi de, fi l e shari ng i s very ri sky and
one of the easi est ways of bei ng i nfected wi th mal ware. Mal ware di stri butors are i ncreasi ngl y i nnovati ng i n
thi s area due to the surgi ng populari ty of fi le shari ng.

Address Check: If a parti cular emai l or websi te appears suspi ci ous, check the address cl osely. Often ti mes the
address of an apparently wel l-known si te can be easil y spotted as fal se i f you pay attenti on. For example the
addresses http://www.amazon.shop.com and http://webstore.us/amazon.com/ have nothi ng to do wi th the
reputabl e onli ne store http://www.amazon.com. Si mil arl y, the address http://www.facebook.com.users.org
has no relati onshi p wi th the social networki ng si te http://www.facebook.com A domai n name i s al ways read
from ri ght to l eft before the fi rst si ngle sl ash (/) mark. The fi rst component of an address when read from
ri ght to left is the Top Level Domai n (TLD) found in the mai n site name, such as .com, .net, .co.uk and so
forth. The real si te name always appears just after the fi rst i nci dence of a TLD when read from ri ght to l eft.
So i n the exampl e http://www.amazon.shop.com, the amazon portion of the address is just a sub-l ocati on of
the websi te Shop.com. Scammers and even adverti sers are very i nventi ve, and create al l sorts of variati ons
on l egi ti mate si te names, someti mes wi th onl y a l etter or two out of place, so in real i ty the onl y true way to
be compl etely sure you are goi ng to a correct si te is to open a new tab or wi ndow i n your browser and
manuall y enter a known and trusted si te address. You can also use your bookmarks, but always check the
address of the si te whi ch opens.

Browser Security Check: For any secure transacti on, the l i nk whi ch appears i n your address bar must contain
https:// at the start, not just http://

- note the addi ti on of the 's' i n the fi rst l i nk, whi ch i ndi cates i t i s a secure
web l i nk. Do not enter any fi nancial i nformati on on a si te whi ch doesn't start wi th https://. However the l evel
of securi ty provi ded by a secure https:// l i nk can vary, so by i tself thi s i s not a guarantee that your
transacti on i s compl etel y secure. Your browser wil l usuall y gi ve you some i ndicati on or warni ng about the
l evel of security, and thi s shoul d be combi ned wi th research on the si te i n questi on.
Link Check: Even i f a li nk on a web page or email appears compl etel y l egi ti mate and correct, spoofi ng li nks i s
extremel y easy. For exampl e thi s l i nk: http://www.google.com/ actuall y goes to my websi te
www.tweakgui des.com, not Googl e. The onl y way to safel y tell where a l i nk actuall y goes to, whether it i s
provi ded i n an emai l or on a websi te, i s to ri ght-cl i ck on the l i nk and sel ect 'Copy shortcut' (or si mil ar), and
then paste i t somewhere harml ess (i .e. not i n your browser address bar). For exampl e you can paste i t i nto a
pl ai n text document, or the search box of a web search engi ne li ke Googl e. Then look cl osely at the l i nk to (a)
see i f i t matches the ori ginal di splayed text for the l i nk - if i t doesn't thi s i nstantl y proves that the l i nk was
attempti ng to be decepti ve and hence is untrustworthy; and (b) to see the actual si te i t l i nks to, whi ch you
can research further as covered bel ow. Wi th the ri se of servi ces such as Twi tter, i t has become fashi onabl e for
peopl e to use short l i nk servi ces to generate URLs which are short but compl etel y non-descri pti ve and hence
potenti al ly unsafe. For exampl e thi s link http://bi t.l y/dxdpT shoul d poi nt to www.tweakgui des.com, but
there i s no possi bl e way to determi ne that usi ng any of the methods above. The onl y way to check such l inks
i s to use a servi ce such as ExpandMyURL whi ch al l ows you to paste i n a short link and see where i t goes.

Domain Check: If you bel i eve a parti cular websi te may be untrustworthy, you can check to see who owns i t
and where they are l ocated. A Googl e search on the si te name is a start, but for more detai ls, enter the
domai n name i n a WHOIS l ookup box at a domai n registrar, such as the one provi ded here. In most cases
thi s wi ll provi de suffi ci ent detai l s regardi ng the owner of the domai n to hel p determine whether i t i s


195

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

reputabl e or possi bly malici ous. Any site where the owner and/or admi nistrator detail s are del i berately
protected tends to greatly reduce i ts trustworthi ness.

Financial Statement Check: If mal ware perpetrators gain access to your fi nances, they can someti mes be very
cauti ous not to tri gger any preset alarm poi nts. Instead of wi thdrawi ng large sums of money whi ch can
arouse suspi ci on on both your part and the bank's, they can i nstead wi thdraw small er i rregular sums, or
purchase normal goods and servi ces onl i ne i n an unpredi ctable and thus seemi ngl y normal manner. The
onl y way to detect thi s is i f you regularly check your fi nancial statements cl osel y, maki ng sure you can
account for every transaction.

Browser Tools: If an untrusted websi te prompts you to i nstal l a parti cul ar pl ugi n, program or tool bar to vi ew
or downl oad thei r content, chances are thi s i s malici ous or at the very least undesi rabl e. Cancel al l such
attempts. The most common software you require for ful l Internet mul ti medi a functi onal ity are the Flash,
Shockwave and Sil verli ght pl ayers, as wel l as Java. You can i nstall these safely by downl oadi ng the l atest
versi ons di rectl y from their respecti ve websi tes: ShockWave Player, Fl ash Pl ayer, Si l verLight and Java. Onl y
i f a compl etel y trusted and reputabl e websi te, such as Mi crosoft.com for exampl e, asks you to i nstal l a
browser pl ugi n or downl oad manager should you consi der accepti ng, and if i n any doubt, cancel and
research further.

Intimate System Knowledge: One of the many benefi ts of becomi ng cl osel y acquai nted wi th your PC and the
worki ngs of Wi ndows 7 is that i t al l ows you to spot odd behavi or and unusual fi l es and processes whi ch
most other users dismiss as normal . When properl y confi gured and mai ntai ned, contrary to popul ar belief,
Wi ndows does not behave i n an unpredi ctabl e manner, and your programs and games wi l l not randomly
crash. Therefore when strange thi ngs do begi n to happen, such as unexpected program crashes or changes,
your browser redi recti ng in odd ways, the system slowi ng down at ti mes, or other unusual acti vi ty, you can
spot i t al most straight away and i nvesti gate. Usi ng a range of tool s, such as those covered i n the Startup
Programs and Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapters, you can then determi ne whi ch
processes and fi l es are not normal for your system, and hence detect mal ware whi ch may otherwi se elude
l ess knowl edgeable users. Unfortunately there i s no si mpl e way to gai n such knowl edge, i t takes ti me and
pati ence, but there are many rewards for bei ng fami liar wi th the fundamental s of Wi ndows and PCs.

Block Internet Access: If you strongly suspect a malware i nfecti on on your system, disable your Internet
connecti on as soon as possi bl e - if necessary update your malware scanner defi ni ti on fi les fi rst and run
Wi ndows Update before doi ng thi s. To di sabl e your Internet connecti on, go to the Network and Shari ng
Center i n the Wi ndows Control Panel , cl i ck the 'Change adapter setti ngs' li nk i n the l eft pane, then right-
cl i ck on your acti ve network adapter and select Di sabl e. Of course the qui ckest and most foolproof way is to
turn off your router/modem and/or unpl ug your cabl e or DSL l ine. The mai n reasons to do thi s i s (a) to
prevent the mal ware from spreadi ng; (b) to prevent i t from sendi ng out any of your personal i nformati on;
and (c) to prevent any hacker from accessi ng your system usi ng any newl y opened expl oi ts or
vul nerabil i ti es. You can then use the Scan and Research methods bel ow to track down the mal ware and
remove i t, and once you're confident your system i s mal ware-free, reconnect to the Internet.

Scan for Malware: Thi s is a somewhat obvi ous but necessary step. If you suspect a downl oaded fi le or
attachment of contai ni ng mal ware, or you beli eve your system i s al ready i nfected wi th mal ware, then you
must run a ful l manual scan usi ng the scanners recommended earl i er i n thi s chapter. Thi s i s one of the
reasons why I recommend several separate scanners, as running each one, one after the other, greatl y
i ncreases your chances of successful ly findi ng a vari ety of di fferent mal ware types. Importantl y, if you find
your mal ware scanners are not launching or behaving oddl y, or can't remove detected malware, then thi s i s
a sure sign that mal ware i s resi dent on your system and bl ocki ng attempts to remove i t. Reboot your system
i nto Safe Mode and run your scans from there - see the System Recovery section of the Backup & Recovery


196

P
C

S
e
c
u
r
i
t
y

Common Sense: The si mpl e appl i cati on of common sense can provi de an excell ent method for detecti ng the
vali di ty of many forms of fraud or malware. For exampl e if you recei ve an offer from a foreign ki ng to place
$18m i nto your bank account, but he needs your detail s fi rst, then common sense woul d tell you i t i s
ri di cul ous and hi ghly ri sky. Si mi larl y, a beauti ful woman you don't know contacts you out of the bl ue to
become fri ends wi th you. Or a cl ose friend sends you an odd emai l wi th an uncharacteri sti c request and/or a
suspi ci ous attachment. Al l of these threats can be easi ly countered wi th the appli cati on of common sense, as
none of them remotel y pass even a si mpl e sani ty check. Yet every year, thousands of peopl e fall vi cti m to
these scams. Don't al l ow your curi osi ty or base desi res to overwhelm your common sense. At the same time,
you cannot live i n a constant state of compl ete paranoi a - there are reputable si tes and i ndivi duals whom
you know you can trust, and cases where a qui ck rudi mentary check is suffi ci ent. Sti ll , the adage If there is
doubt, there is no doubt ri ngs true: i f you have even the sl ightest bi t of suspi cion, act on i t by conducti ng
further checks; don't take si l ly ri sks.

Research, Research, Research: Thi s is the Gol den Rul e. You are not the onl y person i n the worl d usi ng the
Internet or recei vi ng emai ls, thus i t i s highl y l i kel y that you are not the fi rst person to encounter a parti cul ar
form of malware, fraud or related probl em. Thi s means that somewhere someone is quite l ikely to have
posted about your probl em, or si milar symptoms, and furthermore, detail ed sources of knowl edge may
al ready exi st to hel p you determi ne the best course of acti on in an al most l i mi tl ess range of scenarios.
Everythi ng from researching whether a parti cul ar websi te i s potenti all y mal icious, to the true nature and
purpose of strange fi l es on your system, to worki ng out i f a parti cular browser pl ugi n i s safe and actual ly
necessary for certai n functi onal i ty - the i nformati on is al ready there, you si mply to make use of i t. Al most
wi thout fai l I have al ways found suffi ci ent i nformati on to determi ne vi rtually anythi ng I need to know
si mpl y by using Googl e. Remember that knowl edge is power.

BALANCING SECURITY VS. CONVENIENCE
In the past the balanci ng act between adequate securi ty and conveni ence tended more towards conveni ence,
si nce securi ty threats were not as promi nent, and even i f you caught a vi rus, it was often just a harml ess
prank or at worst i t rui ned a few of your fi les. Unfortunatel y i n the past few years there has been a
si gni fi cant ri se i n genui nely mali ci ous software; namel y software designed sol el y to do harm to your system
and/or compromi se your personal i nformati on. Thi s coi nci des wi th the ri se i n the number of peopl e who are
usi ng the Internet to pay bil l s, do thei r banki ng and go onl i ne shoppi ng.

The stakes are much hi gher now, so no matter how advanced a user you bel i eve yoursel f to be, i t is
i ncredi bl y i mportant to pay attenti on to the securi ty of your PC, and i t wil l conti nue to become even more
i mportant i n years to come as the malware creators and onli ne fraudsters fi nd i ncreasi ngly more compl ex
and i ntrusi ve ways of getting i nto your system. They make mi ll i ons of dol lars from undertaki ng thi s sort of
acti vi ty, so they have every i ncenti ve to i nnovate. Thi s i s why Windows 7's securi ty features, whi ch at fi rst
appear to be annoyi ng - especiall y User Account Control - are actuall y very necessary and shoul d not be
di sabl ed wi thout careful consi derati on. You wi ll most defi ni tel y need to do more than just i nstall and enable
a few anti -mal ware packages on your system to keep it secure.

The balanci ng act between securi ty and conveni ence has now swung more towards securi ty than purel y
conveni ence, so you must make some effort to keep your system secure, even if thi s can be a bi t of a pain at
ti mes; i t's simpl y unavoidabl e now. In thi s chapter I've provi ded what a good bal ance, especiall y for more
performance-mi nded users. Rather than just suggest the use of background mal ware scanners whi ch can
hurt performance, I have recommended a combi nati on of Wi ndows own buil t-in features and several trusted
free thi rd party tool s used i n mi ni mali st but effecti ve manner to create an excellent l ayer of defense wi th no
real performance i mpact. Of course the most i mportant theme throughout thi s enti re chapter has been the
need for user educati on and research, whi ch as I've repeatedl y stated, is the onl y genui ne defense against
mal ware and onl i ne fraud.


197

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

MEMORY OPTIMIZATION

Thi s chapter looks at the confi gurati on and opti mi zati on of memory-rel ated functi onali ty on your system. It
i s very i mportant to understand the basics of how your computer uses the vari ous forms of memory on your
system, i ncludi ng the way the Wi ndows Memory Management system works. Memory-related hardware
and software setti ngs have a si gni fi cant i nfluence on your system's responsi veness and stabi li ty, not to
menti on your data i ntegri ty. A system wi th poorl y confi gured memory-rel ated setti ngs ri sks sl owi ng down,
stutteri ng, becomi ng unstabl e, experienci ng errors and sudden reboots, and ul ti matel y causes data
corrupti on.

< MEMORY HARDWARE
The foll owi ng are the common forms of memory hardware used on most modern PCs:

CPU CACHE
The CPU Caches are small fast memory chi ps that cache (buffer) informati on for faster usage by the CPU,
si nce the CPU is the central component of your system. They assi st i n temporari l y stori ng the i nformati on in
anti ci pati on of readi ng/wri ti ng by the CPU, preventi ng any bottl enecks or sl owdowns. There are usually
several l evel s of CPU caches, Level 1 (L1), Level 2 (L2), Level 3 (L3) and so forth. The cache chi ps themselves
vary i n storage capaci ty dependi ng on your CPU, but essentiall y they are physi cal chi ps that you shoul d not
have to worry about. Wi ndows and your associ ated hardware are designed to automati cal ly detect the si ze
of these caches and use them opti mall y as l ong as you have them enabl ed i n your BIOS. That i s, if opti ons
relati ng to the use of CPU L1/L2/L3 Cache(s) are present i n your BIOS, never disabl e them unless
troubl eshooting. Asi de from BIOS setti ngs, there i s a SecondLevel Dat aCache Registry setti ng for
attempti ng to manuall y adjusti ng your CPU's L2 Cache setti ng. However as wi th Wi ndows XP and Vi sta,
al teri ng thi s setti ng i s not necessary, as the defaul t value of 0 al ready all ows Wi ndows 7 to automati call y
i dentify and use the correct L2 Cache size from the Hardware Abstracti on Layer (HAL). Thi s setti ng is
therefore for ol der CPUs, such as pre-Penti um II model s, whi ch use di rect-mapped L2 caches.

In general si nce the user has no control over the CPU's caches asi de from ensuring that they are enabl ed in
the BIOS, this i s one area of the memory subset you shoul d not worry about unl ess you are troubl eshooti ng a
memory-rel ated probl em. For exampl e, a CPU wi th a faul ty cache may exhibi t strange behavi or such as
constantl y returni ng data errors and CRC errors. In these cases you can try temporaril y disabl i ng the caches
i n the BIOS to see i f thi s reduces or resol ves errors.

PHYSICAL RAM
Thi s i s probabl y the most wel l-known and most i mportant form of memory. RAM (Random Access
Memory) is a temporary data storage area covered under the Memory secti on of the Basi c PC Termi nol ogy
chapter. The pri mary advantage of RAM over other forms of storage such as your hard dri ve is that i t i s
much, much faster to access, so opti mal RAM usage means smoother performance for your system. There
are three main factors affecti ng RAM performance: RAM size, RAM speed and RAM ti mi ngs, each covered
bel ow.

RAM Size: Thi s i s the actual storage capaci ty of the RAM i n Megabytes (MB) or Gi gabytes (GB). The mai n
i mpact of havi ng more RAM i s that - when combi ned wi th appropri ate Windows Memory Management
setti ngs - your system wil l perform more smoothl y. Thi s i s because data has to be l oaded l ess often from
your dri ve, as more of i t is stored i n RAM, maki ng i t easi er to access rapi dl y by your CPU and the rest of
your system when requi red. RAM size i s i mportant in Wi ndows because of the way i t can uti l ize physi cal


198

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

memory to speed up your system. However vari ous improvements i n Wi ndows 7 have actuall y reduced the
memory requi rements for smooth operati on such that i t can sti ll perform qui te well on systems wi th l ower
amounts of memory. Windows 7 32-bi t has a mi nimum requi rement of 1GB of RAM, and Wi ndows 7 64-bit
has a mi ni mum requi rement of 2GB of RAM. If you are i nto heavy mul ti -taski ng or play games, I strongly
recommend more than 2GB of RAM to all ow reasonabl y smooth performance wi thout stutteri ng or frequent
l oadi ng pauses. There are no RAM size tweaks; if you have a l ow l evel of RAM then i t i s strongly
recommended that you consi der buying and i nstal l i ng more RAM i n your system - see the Upgrading
Memory section at the end of this chapter. Bear i n mi nd however that Wi ndows 7 32-bi t cannot practi cal ly
use more than 4GB of RAM; onl y the 64-bi t versi on can do that, so any more than 4GB of RAM i s effectivel y
wasted i n Windows 7 32-bi t.

RAM Speed: Thi s i s the frequency at whi ch RAM operates (i n MHz), much like the speed at whi ch a CPU
operates. The hi gher the RAM's speed, the faster i t can undertake the operati ons i t needs to perform. Each
sti ck of RAM has a speed rati ng, whi ch is the speed up to whi ch a sti ck of RAM i s certified to safely operate.
However the actual speed a RAM modul e is currentl y runni ng at on a parti cul ar system vari es dependi ng on
how fast i t is set to operate i n the BIOS. It i s possi bl e to adjust your BIOS such that the RAM can operate at a
hi gher or l ower speed i n practi ce. The bottom l i ne i s, the faster the RAM's actual speed i n MHz, the faster i t
reads and wri tes i nformation and the better your performance. Remember though that the more the RAM's
actual speed surpasses i ts advertised speed rati ng, the greater the chance for i nstabil i ty, so i deal ly you
should keep the RAM at or bel ow i ts rated speed for maxi mum stabi l i ty and data i ntegri ty.

RAM Timings: These are composed of several variables, set i n your BIOS, whi ch determi ne not the frequency
of the RAM modul e (i .e. the RAM speed), but the Latency of the RAM - that i s, the amount of ti me i t waits
between updati ng vari ous si gnals. For exampl e the RAS (Row Access Strobe) and CAS (Col umn Access
Strobe) latency setti ngs measure i n cl ock cycl es the del ay i n sending signal s whi ch specify fi rstl y the row i n
whi ch a particular memory cel l is l ocated, and then the col umn. The l ower the RAM ti mi ngs, the l ess ti me
the RAM rests between these operati ons, and hence the faster i t performs, but the greater the chance for
errors and instabi li ty. Just l i ke speed rati ngs, RAM modul es come wi th recommended ti mi ngs already
encoded i n thei r Serial Presence Detect (SPD) on a speci al chi p. These SPD setti ngs are used by defaul t by
your system unl ess manuall y changed i n the BIOS, and when used wi th the recommended speed rati ng (see
above) ensure maxi mum stabi li ty.

To vi ew all the detai ls of your RAM, i ncl udi ng current and maxi mum rated speeds and ti mi ngs, use a uti lity
l i ke CPU-Z and check under i ts Memory and SPD tabs - see the System Specifi cati ons chapter for detail s.
Al so see the Overcl ocki ng chapter for more detail s on adjusti ng RAM speed and/or ti mi ngs and the i mpacts
thi s has. If you want to test your RAM for stabi li ty, see the Windows Memory Diagnosti c secti on of the
Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

VIDEO RAM
Vi deo RAM (VRAM) i s the physi cal memory bui l t i nto a graphi cs card, and the size of thi s i s usual l y quoted
i n MB or GB as part of the graphi cs card's specifi cati ons (e.g. GeForce GTX 285 1GB). This RAM acts as a
temporary storage l ocati on to hol d graphi cs data for faster access by your graphi cs card, much the same as
system RAM does for general data. For thi s reason the VRAM i s also cal l ed the Frame Buffer, i n that i t holds
(buffers) i ndivi dual graphi cs 'frames' ready to send to your moni tor one by one. Just l ike physi cal RAM,
VRAM has a speed i n MHz, and l atency i n cl ock cycl es, wi th the hi gher the speed and the l ower the l atency
the better the graphi cs performance. Unl i ke physi cal RAM, al teri ng the l atency of your VRAM i s tri cky and
not recommended, though sti l l possi bl e. The speed i n MHz can be easil y al tered up or down usi ng an
overcl ocki ng uti li ty, wi th the faster the speed the higher the performance, but once agai n the greater the
chance of graphi cal gl i tches and freezes. See the Overcl ocki ng chapter for more detai ls.


199

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

If you're i nterested i n a plai n Engli sh step-by-step overvi ew of how the memory features of your system are
uti li zed for a system-i ntensi ve task l ike gami ng, check the Graphi cs Process secti on of the Gamer's Graphics
& Display Setti ngs Gui de for detai ls.

< WINDOWS MEMORY MANAGEMENT
Wi ndows 7 has i mpl emented a sli ghtl y i mproved form of the memory management system used i n
Windows Vista, whi ch i n turn i s notabl y i mproved over that used i n Wi ndows XP. We have al ready
exami ned the memory-related securi ty features i n the PC Securi ty chapter, so thi s secti on exami nes other
Wi ndows memory management features rel ati ng to general system usage. These can be summarized as
foll ows:

SuperFetch whi ch anal yzes common usage patterns on a system and attempts to anti ci pate and prel oad
(cache) key i nformati on for qui ck access.
ReadyBoost whi ch uses connected USB flash dri ve(s) to provide addi ti onal memory resources to speed
up system access.
Desktop Wi ndows Manager (DWM) graphi cs i mprovements which greatl y reduce the memory footpri nt
of Wi ndows.
Faul t Tolerant Heap to resol ve many common memory management i ssues.
Potenti all y improved performance on 64-bi t and multi -core CPUs.
Increased securi ty to maintai n data i ntegri ty and prevent memory expl oi ts - see the Data Executi on
Preventi on (DEP), Address Space Load Randomi zati on (ASLR), Structured Exception Handl i ng
Overwri te Protecti on (SEHOP) and Safe Unl i nki ng secti ons i n the PC Securi ty chapter.
General performance i mprovements through opti mi zati ons i n the way the memory management
al gori thms work dependi ng on vari ous ci rcumstances.

Bel ow we l ook at the most i mportant aspects of Wi ndows 7's Memory Management system i n more detail :

MAXIMUM SUPPORTED RAM
There are key di fferences in the way memory i s util ized between the 32-bi t and 64-bi t versi ons of Wi ndows
7. This i s covered i n more detail under the 32-bi t vs. 64-bi t secti on of the Wi ndows Installation chapter, but
of rel evance here i s the fact that under Wi ndows 7 32-bi t, a PC can normal ly onl y use a maxi mum of 4GB of
RAM - any hi gher won't be detected or used by defaul t. Even wi th 4GB of RAM you may onl y see around
3GB of that avail able, someti mes even less, because some of the memory address space wi ll be reserved by
the system for certai n hardware requi rements, whi ch i n turn li mits how much system RAM can be used at
any ti me by a parti cular process. The 4GB memory barri er i s a normal li mi tati on of the 32-bi t archi tecture,
whi ch i s the major reason why the 64-bi t archi tecture i s requi red and wi l l soon become standard as more
peopl e expand beyond 4GB of RAM on thei r PCs.

To all ow Windows 7 32-bi t to access 4GB or more of RAM, you need to enabl e a feature call ed Physi cal
Address Extensi on (PAE), whi ch can be done by openi ng an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and typing
the foll owi ng:

BCDEdi t / set PAE For ceEnabl e

Al ternati vel y you can enabl e PAE using a uti li ty li ke EasyBCD - see the EasyBCD secti on of the Boot
Confi gurati on chapter. There are other benefi ts to enabl i ng PAE incl udi ng enabl i ng support for hardware-
enabl ed DEP - see the Data Executi on Preventi on section of the PC Securi ty chapter.


200

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

In general under the 32-bi t pl atform there i s not much to be gai ned by havi ng more than 4GB of RAM, as i t
cannot be used as effi ci entl y. Any si ngl e appl i cati on or process under a 32-bi t envi ronment can't address
more than 3GB, so for gami ng purposes for example, more than 4GB is a waste. If you use or requi re larger
amounts of RAM then the correct course of acti on i s to i nstall the 64-bi t version of Wi ndows 7.

The offi cial physi cal memory l i mi tations for Wi ndows 7 are l i sted i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e, and are
summarized bel ow:

Wi ndows 7 Starter - 2GB (both 32-bi t and 64-bi t)
Wi ndows 7 Home Basi c - 4GB (32-bi t), 8GB (64-bi t)
Wi ndows 7 Home Premium - 4GB (32-bi t), 16GB (64-bi t)
Wi ndows 7 Professi onal, Ul ti mate and Enterpri se - 4GB (32-bi t), 192GB (64-bi t)

Wi ndows 7 Home Premium 64-bi t or above provi des you wi th a sui tabl e degree of future-proofi ng shoul d
you deci de to i nstall more RAM i n your system at a later date.

SUPERFETCH
SuperFetch is a feature fi rst i ntroduced i n Windows Vi sta, and now used wi th some modi fi cati on i n
Wi ndows 7. It i s si mil ar to i n several ways, but much more effi ci ent and useful than, the Wi ndows XP
prefetchi ng impl ementation. SuperFetch uses an i ntel li gent pri ori ti zati on scheme whi ch over ti me anal yzes
your system usage patterns and places porti ons of your most commonl y used programs i nto memory in
advance, maki ng the system feel more responsi ve and all owi ng appl i cati ons to l oad up more qui ckl y. In
effect thi s turns your otherwi se i dl e RAM i nto a Wi ndows cache desi gned to i mprove speed and
responsi veness.

There was a mi staken bel ief regardi ng Vista's SuperFetch that using RAM as a cache meant Wi ndows was
'hoggi ng memory'. This i s compl etel y false - cached memory can be al most i nstantl y freed up when needed
by any program. On the other hand, if your RAM i s si tti ng i dle and unfi ll ed, i t i s servi ng absolutel y no
useful purpose whatsoever; free RAM is wasted RAM. Unfortunatel y i n Wi ndows Vi sta the impl ementation
of SuperFetch was somewhat aggressi ve. Al most i mmediatel y after reachi ng the Wi ndows Desktop, i t
woul d begi n to cache large amounts of data from the dri ve i n an attempt to fil l as much avai lable free
memory as possi bl e. The end resul t was a l engthy peri od of noti ceabl e dri ve churn at the beginni ng of a user
sessi on, and thi s annoyed many users.

Wi ndows 7 refi nes and tones down the use of SuperFetch i n several i mportant ways. Even though the
SuperFetch servi ce i s not set on a delayed start and hence begi ns i mmediately duri ng bootup, the caching
functi onali ty of SuperFetch onl y begins at approxi mately 6 minutes after system start, and at a more
l eisurel y pace of around 10MB/s. Furthermore SuperFetch does not automati cal l y try to fil l all availabl e free
RAM, i t onl y caches the most i mportant data based on usage hi story, and this often equates to around 500 -
800MB of cached data on an average system to begi n wi th. Part of thi s reduced cachi ng is also due to the fact
that Wi ndows 7 uses l ess resources by way of background Servi ces and desktop memory usage for exampl e,
and hence there i s l ess data to cache. Typi call y at the normal rate at whi ch SuperFetch caches data i n
Windows 7, in l ess than a mi nute of subdued dri ve usage the cache i s suffi ci entl y full . Over ti me the cache
may then conti nue to grow as necessary, as Wi ndows tri es to retai n hi gh pri ori ty i nformati on in the cache as
l ong as possibl e. As expl ained above however, any time your system requi res the use of the cache RAM, it i s
al most i nstantaneousl y gi ven up as free RAM for system usage, so there i s no real drawback to thi s process.

You can see how much RAM is bei ng used as a cache by SuperFetch at any time by opening Task Manager
and under the Performance tab l ooki ng under the Physi cal Memory secti on. There you can see the Total
amount of system RAM i nstall ed on your system, the Cached memory used pri mari ly by SuperFetch, and
the Availabl e memory whi ch is roughly the sum of Free memory plus Cached Memory. See the Task
Manager secti on under the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detail s.


201

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

SuperFetch can noti ceabl y i mprove appl i cati on launch ti mes, and as such I strongl y recommend agai nst
di sabli ng i t. Remember that i t needs time to analyze your usage patterns and pri ori ti ze data accordi ngly.
Performance wi ll conti nue to i mprove over ti me as SuperFetch refi nes i ts anal ysis, so l eave SuperFetch
enabl ed for at l east two weeks of dail y usage before judgi ng i ts i mpact.

Importantl y, on faster dri ves whi ch score 6.5 or above i n the Pri mary Hard Disk component of the Wi ndows
Experi ence Index (WEI), Windows automati cal ly di sabl es SuperFetch, as wel l as boot and appl i cation l aunch
prefetchi ng. Typi cal ly only faster SSD dri ves can obtai n such a score - see the Wi ndows Experi ence Index
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for detail s. The reason SuperFetch i s
di sabl ed on such dri ves i s because on balance they are consi dered fast enough in terms of thei r random read
performance to make SuperFetch unnecessary. As l ong as the SSD i s not a model whi ch has rel ati vel y slow
random wri te performance - as many earl y generati on and budget SSDs do, then SuperFetch can remain
di sabl ed. If your SSD scores well above 6.5 i n the WEI, and you feel your dri ve i s fast enough to do wi thout
SuperFetch, then see the i nformati on below on how to di sabl e SuperFetch manuall y i f i t i s not automati cal ly
di sabl ed by Wi ndows.

Modifying SuperFetch

If you want to customize SuperFetch's behavi or you can do so i n the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SYSTEM\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Cont r ol \ Sessi on Manager \
Memor y Management \ Pr ef et chPar amet er s]

Enabl ePr ef et cher =3
Enabl eSuper f et ch=3

These DWORD value can be changed to a val ue of 0 to di sabl e; 1 to onl y prefetch appli cati on processes, 2 to
onl y prefetch boot fi l es, and 3 for boot and appl i cati on processes. The default of 3 i s recommended and
general ly shoul d not be changed, but i f you wish to experi ment, change them both to the desi red value,
move the exi sti ng contents of your \Windows\Prefetch fol der to a backup l ocati on, and see i f after a peri od of
several days you prefer the new setti ngs. If not, reset them both to the defaul ts, del ete the contents of the
Prefetch folder and move back your backed up Prefetch fol der contents.

Disabling SuperFetch

If you want to compl etel y di sabl e SuperFetch and prefetchi ng acti vi ty on any drive, open the Servi ces util i ty,
doubl e-cli ck on the SuperFetch servi ce and sel ect Di sabl ed - see the Servi ces chapter for more detail s. You
should al so set both Regi stry entri es above to 0. Then you shoul d del ete the fil es under the
\Windows\Prefetch directory. After a reboot SuperFetch wi ll no l onger be i n use.

Di sabl i ng SuperFetch is not recommended for any system unl ess ei ther Wi ndows automaticall y disables i t
for you, or you have an SSD and a score of around 7.0 and above i n the disk component of the Wi ndows
Experi ence Index. Note that if you do di sabl e i t, and then want to re-enabl e i t, remember that i t wil l take
SuperFetch a whi l e to get back up to speed i n analyzing your usage patterns.

Importantl y, don't regularly cl ean out the \Windows\Prefetch fol der as thi s reduces SuperFetch and
prefetchi ng performance. Wi ndows mai ntai ns the folder automaticall y by regularly removi ng l ower pri ori ty
and l ess-used i tems.

DESKTOP WINDOWS MANAGER
The Desktop Wi ndow Manager (DWM) i s covered in detail under the Graphi cs & Sound chapter, as i t relates
pri mari ly to graphi cs functi onali ty i n Windows 7. However i t is di scussed bri efl y here because one of the


202

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

major i mprovements i n Wi ndows 7 memory management resul ts from the way i n whi ch DWM has been
redesi gned to reduce the memory util izati on of Desktop rendering. In Wi ndows Vi sta, for every wi ndow
that i s opened on the Desktop, DWM woul d all ocate two copi es of the data to memory - one to the system
RAM for fast access by the CPU, and the other to the Vi deo RAM for fast access by the graphi cs card. In
Wi ndows 7, thi s has been refi ned so that onl y one copy of the data i s hel d i n Vi deo RAM. Then through the
use of hardware accel eration, the performance i mpact of the lack of a copy i n system RAM for the CPU to
access is mi nimi zed.

The end result i s that whi l e i n Wi ndows Vista, the system memory consumed woul d scale upwards i n di rect
proporti on to the number of wi ndows open as wel l as the screen resol uti on, under Windows 7 system
memory usage remai ns consi stentl y l ow regardl ess of the number of open wi ndows and/or resoluti on, since
these are al l stored i n Vi deo RAM. The benefi ts i nclude a reducti on i n dri ve acti vi ty through reduced paging
and SuperFetch cachi ng, and i ncreased system responsi veness, parti cularl y duri ng Desktop mul ti -taski ng.

Note however that to take benefi t of thi s i mprovement i n Wi ndows 7 memory management, you must use a
Wi ndows 7-speci fi c WDDM 1.1 graphics dri ver; WDDM 1.0 drivers, whil e supported, do not provi de these
benefi ts. See the Wi ndows Dri vers and Graphi cs & Sound chapters for rel evant detail s.

FAULT TOLERANT HEAP
Wi ndows uses dynami c memory all ocati on to al l ocate memory resources to processes when they l aunch.
Thi s i s al so known as heap-based memory all ocati on. There are ti mes when corrupti on of the data i n heap
can occur due to one program overwri ti ng the memory l ocati on all ocated to another program, and i n turn
eventuall y causi ng a crash when that l ocati on i s accessed. The Faul t Tol erant Heap feature i ntroduced i n
Wi ndows 7 attempts to i denti fy, anal yze and mi ti gate agai nst such memory management issues i n the event
of a crash. The ai m i s for Wi ndows to automati cal ly detect and recti fy crashes whi ch are caused by heap
corrupti on, wi thout the need for the user to get i nvol ved. Of course thi s does not mean that programs wi l l
no l onger crash, i t si mpl y reduces the potenti al for crashes related to thi s parti cular i ssue.

READYBOOST
ReadyBoost was i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vi sta and i nvol ves the use of external memory devi ces to speed up
your PC through cachi ng data i n conjuncti on wi th SuperFetch. You wi ll requi re a USB flash dri ve or
si mil arl y fast removabl e media such as a flash memory card, ideall y wi th at l east 1GB of free space or more.
Any data al ready on the ReadyBoost devi ce wil l not be del eted, but i t cannot be used for normal fi l e storage
purposes whil e bei ng used for ReadyBoost. Wi ndows 7 bri ngs two i mprovements to ReadyBoost: you can
now use devices l arger than 4GB wi th ReadyBoost, and you can also use mul ti pl e devi ces at once - up to
ei ght separate devi ces for a maxi mum of 256GB of memory.

Connecti ng a ReadyBoost-compati bl e devi ce to your system wil l bri ng up a prompt aski ng i f you want to
'Speed up my system'. Note that the prompt wi ll not come up if you've di sabl ed AutoPl ay for thi s type of
devi ce - see AutoPlay under the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. If you sel ect thi s opti on, the device wi ll
now be configured for use by SuperFetch to hol d i nformati on whi ch woul d otherwi se be cached out to your
hard dri ve; by pl aci ng i t on a flash memory-based dri ve, your system can access i t faster, thus potenti all y
i mprovi ng system performance. The l ess RAM you have, the more you wil l see a benefi t from ReadyBoost;
however ReadyBoost i s not a di rect replacement for RAM, and any i mprovements may not be si gni fi cant.

In the ReadyBoost di al og box whi ch opens - or whi ch can be accessed by goi ng to Wi ndows Expl orer, right-
cl i cki ng on the devi ce, sel ecti ng Properti es and then cl i cki ng the ReadyBoost tab - you can confi gure
ReadyBoost. If you sel ect 'Dedi cate thi s devi ce to ReadyBoost', Windows wi ll automati call y use al l avai labl e
free space for ReadyBoost; i f you sel ect 'Use thi s devi ce', you can manual ly set the amount of the devi ce's
storage space ReadyBoost uses under the 'Space to reserve for system speed' - Wi ndows wi ll provi de a
recommendati on of how much you shoul d use as a mi ni mum, and around twi ce your system RAM i s


203

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

opti mal . Note that any data stored temporaril y on the ReadyBoost devi ce is compressed and encrypted
usi ng 128-bi t AES encryption, so i f you mi splace the devi ce or i t i s stol en, others wi l l not be abl e to access
your data.

If you don't wi sh to use the devi ce for ReadyBoost at any ti me, sel ect 'Do not use thi s devi ce' i n the
ReadyBoost box. Furthermore if you di sabl e SuperFetch then ReadyBoost wil l automati call y have no i mpact.

Note that i f you are usi ng a suffi ci entl y fast SSD as your mai n dri ve, Wi ndows wil l not al l ow you to use
ReadyBoost - i nstead you wi ll see the message 'ReadyBoost is not enabl ed on thi s computer because the
system di sk is fast enough that ReadyBoost i s unli kel y to provi de any addi ti onal benefi t'. There i s not much
poi nt to usi ng ReadyBoost on a system whi ch al ready has a fast SSD, as i t wi ll be faster for Wi ndows to
di rectly access your SSD dri ve for data than to use the cached data on a sl ower attached flash memory
devi ce.

ReadyBoost cannot be normall y be disabl ed because unl ike Wi ndows Vista, there i s no ReadyBoost service
i n Wi ndows 7, onl y the rdyboost.sys dri ver. It i s not recommended that you attempt to di sable thi s driver
from l oadi ng, as the ReadyBoot feature also rel i es on i t (see bel ow). If you sti ll wi sh to do thi s, you can use
Autoruns to unti ck the ReadyBoost driver from l oadi ng at startup by unti cki ng i t under the Dri ver tab - see
the Startup Programs chapter for more detai ls on Autoruns.

In general ReadyBoost i s mai nl y useful i f you have a l ow amount of system RAM and are unabl e to upgrade
i t for some reason and/or i f you are runni ng a rel ati vely sl ow hard dri ve. Otherwise the performance benefits
of ReadyBoost may be margi nal at best, al though obvi ousl y i t does no harm to experi ment. If you are unsure
of whether you shoul d use ReadyBoost or not, you can moni tor the performance of ReadyBoost usi ng the
Performance Moni tor uti li ty, covered i n the Performance Moni tor secti on of the Performance Measurement
& Troubl eshooti ng chapter. There is a specifi c 'ReadyBoost Cache' moni toring category i n Performance
Moni tor whi ch can show you how wel l ReadyBoost is util ized on your system.

One fi nal note: i f you are goi ng to purchase a USB flash dri ve for ReadyBoost purposes, make sure to
research i ts random read and wri te speeds i n vari ous revi ews. A very cheap USB flash dri ve may ei ther be
rejected by Wi ndows as too sl ow for ReadyBoost or wi ll provide poor performance, maki ng ReadyBoost
poi ntl ess. Ul ti mately i t may be best to simpl y i nvest the money i n more RAM rather than a qual i ty USB flash
dri ve.

READYBOOT
Not to be confused wi th ReadyBoost, al though related to i t, ReadyBoot is another feature desi gned to use
memory to opti mi ze the boot process. However ReadyBoot can use normal system RAM to do thi s, as well
as any external devi ce. After every bootup, ReadyBoot cal culates a cachi ng pl an for the next boot and stores
part of thi s informati on under the \Windows\Prefetch\ReadyBoot fol der, and part i n the Regi stry. The end
resul t is that each ti me you boot up Windows, ReadyBoot can i mprove boot times through use of thi s cache.
After bootup the memory used for cachi ng i s automati call y freed up after 90 seconds, or sooner if requi red.

Though i t i s not recommended that you do so, if you wi sh to disabl e ReadyBoot (e.g. on a system wi th a fast
SSD as the pri mary dri ve), then foll ow these steps:

1. Open Performance Moni tor by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng perfmon and pressi ng Enter.
2. In Performance Moni tor, doubl e-cli ck on the 'Data Col l ector Sets' item i n the left pane.
3. Left-cl i ck on the 'Startup Event Trace Sessi ons'.
4. Doubl e-cli ck on the ReadyBoot i tem in the right pane and under the 'Trace Sessi on' tab unti ck the
Enabl ed box, then cl i ck Appl y and OK.
5. Go to the \Windows\Prefetch\ and del ete the ReadyBoot fol der.
6. You shoul d then disabl e the ReadyBoost dri ver - see ReadyBoost above for detail s.


204

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

7. Reboot your system and ReadyBoot shoul d no l onger perform i ts anal ysis and cachi ng routi nes.

Thi s is not recommended, however if you have an SSD whi ch you beli eve i s fast enough (e.g. a di sk score
above 7.0 i n the Wi ndows Experi ence Index) then you might wi sh to experi ment and see if di sabl i ng
ReadyBoot can i mprove your boot ti me and post-bootup responsi veness.

RESOURCE EXHAUSTION PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION
Wi ndows automati cal ly detects i f any parti cular processes are consumi ng most of your memory resources
through the Resource Exhausti on Detecti on and Resol uti on (RADAR) feature. As memory resources such as
Vi rtual Memory come close to bei ng depl eted Wi ndows may present a warning to the user i ndi cati ng the
parti cul ar program that is usi ng too much memory, and provi de the user wi th an opti on to cl ose the
program to prevent data l oss through abnormal terminati on of processes.

The prompt usual l y appears when a program has a memory leak - that is, i t i s usi ng ever-i ncreasing
amounts of memory resources as part of a faul t wi thi n the program. Mi crosoft uses the i nformati on
provi ded by RADAR to fi x bugs i n Wi ndows code and may potenti al ly i nform thi rd party software
devel opers of such bugs so that they too can fi x any i ssues rel ating to thei r software. As such, you should
check for an update to the program i n questi on whi ch may fi x thi s bug. Furthermore you should also
consi der i ncreasi ng your Vi rtual Memory li mi ts i f you have manual l y al tered them, as they may be set too
l ow - see bel ow.

MEMORY DUMP
When Wi ndows experiences a major crash due to a faul t wi th the core of the operati ng system, known as the
Kernel , then the contents of the memory are dumped i nto a fi l e for use i n debuggi ng the cause of the
probl em. A Bl ue Screen of Death (BSOD) error i s one such crash whi ch generates a memory dump - see the
Wi ndows Errors secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detai ls.

Wi ndows 7 creates a Memory Dump fi le after a major crash, and by defaul t i t i s a Kernel Memory Dump
stored under the %systemroot% (\Windows) directory i n the fi l e MEMORY.DMP. Thi s fil e can be qui te large,
typi call y around 200MB or more. The mai n use for these dump fi l es i s for techni cal support personnel to
attempt to resol ve a faul t. They are not desi gned for the average home user, as they require speciali zed
techni ques to debug. Fortunately you can confi gure both the type of memory dump fil e whi ch gets made
after a crash, and how Windows stores these dump fi les, usi ng the opti ons below. Importantl y, thi s choi ce
also i mpacts on the size of the Pagefi l e you wil l need to set, covered i n the next secti on.

If you wish to change the memory dump behavi or, go to the System component of the Windows Control
Panel and cl i ck the 'Advanced system setti ngs' l i nk. Al ternati vely go to Start>Search Box, type
systempropertiesadvanced and press Enter. Under the Advanced tab, cl i ck the Setti ngs button under the
'Startup and Recovery' secti on at the bottom of the window.

I recommend ti cki ng the 'Wri te an event to the system l og' box to assist i n troubl eshooti ng i n the event of a
crash or error. However you shoul d untick the 'Automati cal ly restart' box, as thi s opti on forces Wi ndows to
restart each time a major crash or error occurs, such as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The probl em wi th thi s
i s that i t doesn't all ow you enough time to read the actual error message and/or make a note of i t, so by
di sabli ng thi s opti on you can note the error and then manuall y reboot when ready. The other setti ngs here
are covered in more detai l under the Boot Confi gurati on Data section of the Boot Confi guration chapter. Of
parti cul ar relevance to thi s topi c i s the 'Wri te debuggi ng i nformati on' setting where you can sel ect the
foll owi ng:


205

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

Complete Memory Dump - Al l ows Wi ndows to create a memory dump contai ning the enti re contents of
your system RAM at the time of the crash. Hence the dump fi le is the same si ze as your system RAM. On
systems wi th more than 2GB of memory thi s opti on i s not avai labl e, but you can enabl e i t through the
Regi stry - see further bel ow.
Kernel Memory Dump - Al lows Wi ndows to create a full Kernel Memory Dump after each crash at the
speci fi ed l ocati on.
Small Memory Dump - Forces Wi ndows to onl y store a smal l memory dump fi le of up to 256KB i n size
(the maxi mum for 64-bi t systems) whi ch has the most i mportant i nformati on. Thi s dump fil e is stored
under the \Windows\Minidump subdi rectory by defaul t.
None - Does not all ow Wi ndows to save any memory dump fi l es after a crash.

If you ti ck the 'Overwri te any exi sti ng fi l e' opti on, Wi ndows wi ll automati call y overwri te any exi sti ng dump
fi le al ready at the stored l ocati on, whi ch i s recommended to prevent excessi ve dri ve space bei ng wasted
through storage of ol d dump fi les. Note however that even wi thout thi s opti on bei ng ti cked, i f free space on
the specifi ed dri ve i s bel ow 25GB, Wi ndows 7 wi ll automati call y prevent the savi ng of the dump fi l e to the
dri ve, so that the dri ve doesn't fi ll up with l ots of dump fi l es most users don't need. If dump fi les are cri ti cal
to your needs, ensure there i s much more than 25GB of free space on the specified dri ve l ocati on, or see the
setti ngs bel ow. For most home users the Kernel Memory Dump opti on i s fi ne, as i s ti cki ng the 'Overwri te
any exi sti ng fi l e' opti on.

For advanced configurati on of these opti ons, go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SYSTEM\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Cont r ol \ Cr ashCont r ol ]

Cr ashDumpEnabl ed=1

The DWORD above corresponds wi th the 'Wri te debuggi ng i nformati on' opti on avai labl e wi thi n Wi ndows.
The vali d data for this value are: 0 = None; 1 = Compl ete Memory Dump; 2 = Kernel Memory Dump; and 3 =
Smal l Memory Dump. You can set the desi red opti on usi ng the normal Wi ndows i nterface covered above,
however because Wi ndows does not all ow a Compl ete Memory Dump for systems wi th more than 2GB of
RAM, you can force enable thi s opti on here by setti ng thi s value to =1, though note that i t won't show up as
bei ng sel ected i n the regular Wi ndows interface for thi s opti on.

Al waysKeepMemor yDump=1

The DWORD above does not exi st by defaul t, so create i t and set i t =1 if you want Wi ndows to i gnore space
l i mi ts and always save a memory dump fil e to di sk. Thi s is onl y recommended for advanced users who must
ensure that each and every dump fil e i s saved, even on a dri ve with l ess than 25GB of free space.

Mi ni dumpsCount =50

The DWORD above determi nes the number of previous small memory dump fi l es kept. The defaul t val ue is
50 such fil es (i n Deci mal view), because they are relati vel y smal l i n size. However you can al ter thi s val ue to
reduce or i ncrease the maxi mum number stored.

Dependi ng on the memory dump opti on you choose i n Wi ndows, thi s wil l affect the recommended
mi ni mum Pagefil e size, as covered i n more detai l i n the next secti on. In short:

For the Compl ete Memory Dump option you require a Pagefil e whi ch is at l east the same size as your
system RAM + 1MB.
For the Smal l Memory Dump opti on, a 2MB Pagefil e as required as mi ni mum.
If you have enabl ed Kernel Memory Dump, you wi ll requi re a mi ni mum Pagefile si ze of 150MB - 2GB
dependi ng on your RAM size.


206

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

If you choose to have no memory dump fi le, there is no set mi ni mum Pagefi l e, though keep i n mi nd that
a zero Pagefi le i s not recommended, so 1MB is the absol ute mi nimum.

See this Mi crosoft Arti cl e for detai ls of the exact size requi red for the different memory dump opti ons.

VIRTUAL MEMORY
Vi rtual Memory refers to a memory management techni que used i n several generati ons of Wi ndows. Duri ng
normal operati on, system RAM is the best pl ace to store i nformation for fast access by your CPU and other
components, si nce i t has no movi ng parts and i nformati on i n i t can be accessed at many ti mes the speed of
any dri ve. So i deall y Wi ndows li kes to keep a porti on of al l of your most commonl y used programs i n RAM,
as well as most of your currentl y used appli cati on(s). There are al so other memory requi rements for the
hardware and software on your system whi ch all requi re some porti on of memory resources.

When RAM starts to run l ow, or i f Windows determi nes that a parti cul ar appl i cati on i s no l onger a high
enough pri ori ty, i t breaks up some of the porti ons of memory (cal l ed 'pages') and temporaril y swaps them
out from your RAM to your dri ve. The 'swap fi l e' where the memory pages are hel d on your dri ve i s cal l ed
pagefile.sys, and resi des i n the base directory on your dri ve. That's why you will often see the terms Virtual
Memory, Pagefil e and Swapfi l e bei ng used i nterchangeabl y to refer to the same thi ng. Note you can only see
the pagefile.sys fil e if the 'Hi de Protected Operati ng System Fil es' opti on i s unti cked under Fol der Opti ons -
see the Fol der Opti ons secti on i n the Windows Expl orer chapter.

Under Wi ndows 7, the improved Di sk and Memory Management techni ques try to mi nimi ze rel iance on
your physi cal dri ve, si nce usi ng i t can cause stutteri ng or smal l delays and hence reduce responsi veness.
However a Pagefil e is stil l very i mportant to Wi ndows Memory Management and even wi th a great deal of
RAM, i s not somethi ng you shoul d disabl e or consi der redundant, as pagi ng porti ons of processes to Vi rtual
Memory i s a necessary part of normal memory management. In the absence of Vi rtual Memory, your system
may use more system RAM than i s necessary.

To access your Virtual Memory setti ngs, go to the System component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and
cl i ck the 'Advanced system setti ngs' l ink, or go to Start>Search Box, type systempropertiesadvanced and press
Enter. Under the Advanced tab cl i ck the Setti ngs button under Performance, and sel ect the Advanced tab i n
the new box whi ch opens. Here you can see the amount of drive space al l ocati on to the Pagefi l e at the
bottom of the wi ndow. For l ess advanced users, a System Managed Pagefil e i s perfectl y fi ne and wi ll prevent
your system from runni ng out of memory resources, si nce Wi ndows wil l automati call y resize the Pagefi l e as
requi red. However more advanced users can manual l y adjust the Pagefil e si ze after taking i nto account
appropriate consi derati ons.

Adjusting the Pagefile

To al ter the Pagefil e settings, access the setti ngs as covered above, then unti ck the 'Automati cal ly manage
pagi ng fil e size for all drives' and you can now al ter the physi cal l ocati on and si ze l i mi ts for the Pagefi l e.
Read all of the advi ce bel ow before maki ng any changes:

Clearing the Pagefile: Before setti ng a new Pagefi le size or l ocati on, you need to fi rst cl ear your existi ng
Pagefil e. To do thi s sel ect each rel evant dri ve, choose the 'No pagi ng fi l e' opti on and cl i ck the Set button,
then you need to reboot your system. Thi s step does two thi ngs: fi rst i t clears the Pagefil e, fi xi ng any
potenti al Pagefil e corruption whi ch can occur after a bad shutdown; and secondl y i t ensures that any new
Pagefil e you create wi ll start off as a si ngl e unfragmented conti guous bl ock on your dri ve for optimal
performance, and shoul d remai n unfragmented i n the future. Note that if you have any probl ems booting
back up i nto Wi ndows due to a l ack of a Pagefil e duri ng this step, enter Wi ndows i n Safe Mode and continue
the setup procedures for Vi rtual Memory from there - see the System Recovery secti on of the Backup &
Recovery chapter.


207

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

Location of the Pagefile: Hi ghl i ght the l ogi cal dri ve where you want the pagefi le to be pl aced under the Drive
wi ndow. Whi ch dri ve(s) or parti ti on(s) the pagefi l e shoul d be l ocated on i s based l oosel y on the fol l owi ng
scenari os:

1 Dri ve wi th 1 Parti ti on - The pagefi le can onl y be located on the fi rst pri mary parti ti on of your dri ve,
whi ch provi des opti mal performance. Do not create a new parti ti on for the Pagefi l e.
1 Dri ve wi th 2 or more Parti ti ons - Make sure the Pagefil e i s pl aced on the first pri mary partiti on as thi s
i s the fastest parti ti on on hard dri ves; on SSDs i t makes no di fference whi ch parti ti on is chosen. Pl aci ng
the Pagefi l e on another parti ti on of the same dri ve does not provi de any performance benefits.
2 Dri ves or more (si mi lar speeds) - If all your dri ves are si mil ar i n terms of thei r rated speed, you should
put the mai n porti on of the Pagefil e on the dri ve that doesn't contai n your Wi ndows i nstal lati on and
appl i cati ons/games, e.g. put i t on a general data dri ve. If you've al ready separated your Wi ndows
i nstal lati on from your appl i cati ons/games, then place the Pagefi le on the dri ve whi ch doesn't contai n
your appl i cati ons/games, even i f thi s is the Windows dri ve. Alternati vely you can experi ment wi th
spl i tti ng the Pagefil e evenl y by creati ng mul ti pl e smal l er Pagefil es, one on each dri ve - up to a l i mi t of 16
- and this may i mprove overal l performance.
2 Dri ves or more (different speeds) - If one dri ve is notabl y faster than the others (e.g. an SSD), you
should put the mai n Pagefil e on that dri ve, regardl ess of whether i t i s the system dri ve or not. Thi s i s
parti cul arl y important i f you have l ow system RAM, si nce the Pagefil e wi ll be accessed more often, and
thus needs to be on the fastest dri ve. Note that for the purposes of creati ng a memory dump, you may
need to retai n a smal l Pagefi l e on your system dri ve regardl ess of where the mai n Pagefi l e is l ocated.
RAID Confi gurati on - For stri ped RAID confi gurati ons such as RAID 0 or RAID 5, Wi ndows sees these
as a si ngl e large dri ve, hence you cannot actuall y choose whi ch dri ve to pl ace the Pagefil e on; i t wi ll be
spl i t evenl y across the dri ves, whi ch is opti mal . If you have a separate faster dri ve outsi de the RAID
confi gurati on, such as an SSD vs. a pai r of RAID hard dri ves, you may choose to shift the Pagefil e there.

Mi crosoft does not recommend disabl ing the Pagefil e i f you have an SSD, i ndeed i t i s recommended that if
you have the choi ce, you shoul d place the pagefi l e on an SSD i f avail able. Pagefil e access pri mari ly consi sts
of reads, whi ch wi ll not have a si gni fi cant detri mental i mpact on SSD li fespan, and the same rul es to
determi ni ng the Pagefi le size as covered bel ow appl y to SSDs.

Pagefile Size: After sel ecti ng the l ocati on for the Pagefi l e, you can then determi ne i ts total si ze i n MB. In the
Vi rtual Memory setti ngs screen sel ect the 'Custom size' opti on. Although there are many di fferi ng opi ni ons
as to how bi g the Pagefile should be, i t i s i mportant not to di sabl e your Pagefil e regardless of how much
RAM you have. Wi ndows need a Pagefil e i n order to operate correctl y and effi cientl y. Setti ng the Pagefi l e to
zero resul ts in l ess effi ci ent use of System RAM, and i t al so restri cts the amount of memory resources your
system can all ocate shoul d a program requi re more memory than you have i n the form of avai labl e RAM. It
also prevents memory dumps bei ng created for debuggi ng purposes after a crash.

By defaul t Wi ndows 7 sets your Pagefil e wi th a mi ni mum si ze equal to your system RAM, and the
maxi mum size at 3 ti mes your system RAM. So if you have 2GB of RAM for exampl e, Wi ndows wil l set a
dynami c Pagefil e whi ch starts off at 2GB and can go up to a maximum of 6GB. Thi s defaul t Pagefil e si ze i s
reasonable but not opti mal. The correct si ze of the Pagefil e is often debated, and there are many confli cti ng
accounts of the opti mal size. In the past I have provi ded what I have personall y tested and found to be
compl etel y safe recommendati ons for the Pagefil e size. However to remove all doubt and provi de a concrete
recommendati on for thi s important system fi le, I now rel y on the advi ce of the person best posi ti oned on thi s
topi c wi th both practi cal and theoreti cal experience on the matter: Mi crosoft techni cal guru Mark
Russi novi ch, as covered i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.


208

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

Essentiall y, the correct method to determi ne the opti mal Pagefi l e size for your parti cular system is to
exami ne the maxi mum Commi t Charge value for the combi nation of programs you frequentl y run at the
same ti me. The Commi t Charge is the amount of Vi rtual Memory reserved for a parti cul ar process. Compare
thi s val ue to the current Commi t Li mi t on your system, whi ch is the sum of your system RAM + Pagefi l e. If
the sum of Commi t Charge for all your processes attempts to exceed the Commi t Li mi t, then there wi l l be
memory al l ocati on probl ems, potenti al ly l eadi ng to crashes and even system fail ure. So the ai m i s to ensure
that the peak val ue achi eved for Commi t Charge never exceeds the Commi t Li mi t, whi ch i n turn tel l s us
how bi g the Pagefil e must be.

The way to determi ne your Peak Commi t Charge and al so see the Commi t Li mit i s as fol l ows:

1. Downl oad and launch the free Process Expl orer uti li ty and keep i t runni ng i n the background.
2. Use your system normal ly for a l engthy peri od, i ncl udi ng l oadi ng up any and al l programs you would
normall y use i n a sessi on, as wel l as any addi ti onal data. For exampl e, l oad up your most strenuous
games one by one and pl ay them for a whi l e. Or l oad up your largest appl i cati ons and l oad any custom
data you may be worki ng on wi thi n those appli cati ons. The aim i s to see the maxi mum amount of
memory resources you might potenti ally use i n any sessi on i n the future. Don't artifi ciall y l oad up a
dozen appli cati ons at once i f that's not what you woul d normal ly do.
3. Wi thout restarti ng your system, after a peri od of time go to the Vi ew menu i n Process Expl orer and
sel ect System Informati on - a new wi ndow wi ll open.
4. In the System Informati on wi ndow, exami ne the Commi t Charge secti on - the Peak Commit Charge is
shown, as wel l as the Commi t Charge Li mi t. The Peak/Li mi t secti on al so shows you how l arge a
proporti on of the Commi t Li mi t the Peak Commi t Charge came to bei ng.

Usi ng thi s data, you should then set the pagefil e mi nimum size accordi ng to thi s formula:

Pagefile Minimum Size = Peak Commi t Charge - Total System RAM

If the value for thi s is negati ve (i .e. you have more RAM than the Peak Commi t Charge), thi s does not mean
you shoul d set a 0 Pagefile mi ni mum si ze. Remember that you requi re a Pagefil e of a parti cular si ze as a
mi ni mum due to your Memory Dump setti ngs, covered i n the relevant secti on above. For the defaul t 'Kernel
Memory Dump' setti ng in Wi ndows 7, thi s means anywhere from 50MB - 800MB or more based on your
system RAM size. As such, as a safe value for the Pagefil e Mi ni mum Size I recommend at l east 1GB or the
resul t of the formula above, whi chever is hi gher.

The pagefil e maxi mum size i s then cal culated as:

Pagefile Maximum Size = Up to 2 x Pagefil e Mi ni mum Size

Gi ven your Commi t Li mi t has al ready been set such that i t meets your most strenuous requi rements as per
the Pagefil e mi ni mum, you shoul d already have plenty of headroom even i f you set your Pagefil e Maxi mum
Size to equal that of the Pagefil e Mi ni mum Si ze. However I recommend bei ng safe and setti ng the maximum
up to twi ce the mi ni mum to provi de even greater headroom, especi al ly i n case of unforeseen usage patterns,
and to future-proof agai nst upcomi ng appl i cations and games whi ch may use more memory. Note that there
i s a 4GB l i mit for maxi mum Pagefi l e size i f runni ng a 32-bi t versi on of Wi ndows 7. You need to enabl e
Physi cal Address Extensi on to remove thi s li mi t - see the Maxi mum Supported RAM secti on earli er i n thi s
chapter.

If you've spread the Pagefile over mul ti pl e dri ves, ensure that the sum of the Pagefil e sizes equal s the val ues
above, or that the mai n Pagefil e foll ows the above rul es, and the other Pagefil es are al l very small .

Once you've adjusted your Virtual Memory si ze setti ngs cl i ck the Set button and reboot i f requi red.


209

M
e
m
o
r
y

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

If you sti ll i nsi st on setti ng an extremel y smal l or zero Pagefil e, at l east make sure you set your Memory
Dump setti ngs to ei ther the None or 'Smal l Memory Dump' opti on to ensure there isn't a probl em i f the
system tri es to save a memory dump after a crash. Al so keep i n mi nd that i n some ci rcumstances you may
l ose any unsaved work i f Wi ndows runs out of memory and does not have access to suffi ci ent Vi rtual
Memory.

If you want to moni tor the usage of your memory and the Pagefi l e, there are several methods to do so. These
i nclude the use of the Task Manager, the Process Expl orer uti li ty, and the Performance Moni tor - all covered
i n detail under the Task Manager secti on of Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooting secti on, where
the vari ous memory-rel ated setti ngs are expl ai ned. In parti cul ar, a common poi nt of confusi on regarding
Pagefil e usage i s the Paged and Nonpaged memory i tems i n Kernel Memory secti on under the Performance
tab of the Task Manager - these do not moni tor Pagefi le usage, they moni tor areas of core Windows memory
usage whi ch can be paged i f necessary or must remai n unpaged. Thi s i s not the same as actual data i n the
Pagefil e, and once agai n the secti on referred to above covers this i n more detail .

The method for determi ni ng the Pagefi l e si ze i n thi s secti on may seem tedi ous or confusi ng at fi rst, i n whi ch
case I strongly advise that you use the 'System managed si ze' option unti l you have the ti me to get a better
understandi ng of i t by readi ng the associ ated arti cl es. As noted, the recommendati on is fai rly broad but it
comes from one of the most reputabl e Mi crosoft experts avai lable, so any other recommendati ons you fi nd
are unli kel y to be as accurate. However keep i n mind that the recommendation hi nges solel y on proper
anal ysi s of your Peak Commi t Charge at a poi nt i n ti me. If over ti me you i nstall and l aunch new programs
and games whi ch use much greater amounts of memory and/or you mul ti task wi th more programs than you
ori gi nal l y envi si oned, or l oad up data for your programs whi ch are very large, then obvi ousl y there i s
greater li kel ihood that your Peak Commi t Charge wi l l ri se, and you must therefore revisi t your Pagefi l e si ze
and go through the steps above agai n wi th more recent data.

If at any ti me the Resource Exhausti on Preventi on prompt comes up, you shoul d consi der i ncreasi ng your
maxi mum Pagefil e size. Havi ng a l arger Pagefi l e size does not hurt performance as such; i t mai nl y takes up
addi ti onal drive space, so if i n doubt play i t safe, or just revert back to the System Managed setti ng.

Note that you can set the Pagefil e to be automati cally erased each ti me you shutdown Wi ndows i f you have
securi ty concerns regarding the fragments of user i nformati on whi ch may be stored there. This is an
unnecessary measure for most users as i t can sl ow down shutdown ti mes noti ceabl y, but if you requi re thi s
l evel of security, see the Local Securi ty Pol i cy secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s.

< UPGRADING MEMORY
There i s no real substi tute for havi ng a decent amount of physi cal RAM i nstal l ed on your system. Al l the
advanced memory management features i n Wi ndows 7 ul ti matel y can't truly compensate for havi ng too
l i ttl e RAM for the programs you choose to run. This is parti cul arl y true for gamers, as compl ex 3D games
someti mes requi re large amounts of RAM to operate smoothl y. Fortunatel y RAM i s relati vel y cheap. A
combi nati on of purchasi ng more RAM and swi tchi ng to usi ng the 64-bi t versi on of Wi ndows 7 provides the
si mpl est method of attai ning smooth and responsi ve performance on your system. Wi th i ncreasi ng support
from devel opers for 64-bi t Wi ndows, with SuperFetch havi ng been tamed, and the vari ous other Wi ndows
Memory Management features al l havi ng been refi ned to reduce the potenti al for memory-rel ated errors, the
RAM wil l be used effi ci entl y to i mprove your Wi ndows experi ence noti ceabl y.

In Wi ndows 7, even though the mi ni mum requi rement i s 1GB, I suggest a more practi cal mini mum of 2GB if
you want reduced stutteri ng, and 4GB of RAM or more i s opti mal for genui nel y smooth performance. If
however you are restri cted i n how much RAM you can upgrade to, consi der either upgrading your dri ve to
a fast SSD or uti li zi ng one or more fast USB flash devi ce(s) as part of the ReadyBoost feature.


210

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

DRIVE OPTIMIZATION

Wi ndows Memory Management i s i ntimatel y rel ated to the way your dri ve(s) are used i n Wi ndows. Your
dri ve is one of the relati vely sl ower components of your system - even the fastest Hard Di sk Dri ve (HDD) or
Soli d State Dri ve (SDD) cannot access, read or wri te data as qui ckl y as RAM. So when one of your
components such as the CPU or graphi cs card needs i nformati on, to prevent pauses, stutteri ng or
sl owdowns, Wi ndows attempts to hol d as much of the i nformati on as possi bl e i n RAM for fast access.
However regardl ess of how much RAM you have, or how efficient Wi ndows i s wi th memory management,
at the end of the day RAM i s onl y a temporary form of storage whi ch i s cl eared each ti me your PC shuts
down. Therefore i t i s the physi cal dri ve(s) where all your i nformation i s permanentl y hel d, and your system
must regularly access the dri ve for data. This chapter l ooks at how the how dri ves are used i n Wi ndows,
i ncludi ng the new Vi rtual Hard Di sk feature i n Wi ndows 7. It also exami nes how you can make sure that
thi s usage i s opti mal for your parti cular hardware confi gurati on.

< WINDOWS I/O MANAGEMENT
To deal wi th the potenti al bottl eneck that the dri ve represents on modern systems, especially i n l ight of the
rapi dl y expandi ng processi ng speeds of CPUs and other key system components, as wel l as user desi res to
undertake greater mul ti-taski ng, Wi ndows Vi sta introduced a markedly improved Input/Output (I/O)
System. Wi ndows 7 continues the use of thi s system, al ong wi th a range of refinements.

Wi ndows priori ti zes the all ocati on of dri ve read and wri te tasks by your vari ous programs. Mul tiple
appl i cati ons runni ng on a system at the same ti me can put great demands on your drive, whi ch may
struggl e to smoothl y suppl y al l the data requi red. For exampl e you may be usi ng Wi ndows Media Pl ayer to
l i sten to music or watch a movi e whi l e a mal ware scanner is doi ng a full scan; or you may be pl ayi ng a game
whi l e a di sk defragmenter attempts to run a schedul ed job i n the background; or you may be downl oadi ng a
fi le from the Internet whi le your system i s encodi ng a large video fi l e. If mul ti pl e tasks l ike these are not
handled properl y by Wi ndows, the end resul t i s signifi cant stuttering, l ong pauses or freezes and even data
errors.

In Wi ndows 7, when you run mul ti pl e appl i cati ons at once - call ed mul ti taski ng - Wi ndows fi rst pri ori tizes
appl i cati ons based on how much CPU ti me they need. This i s not I/O pri ori tizati on, thi s i s the management
of separate process threads whi ch are competi ng to get access to the CPU so they can compl ete thei r tasks.
Wi ndows then pri ori tizes these threads such that the i mportant ones recei ve more overal l CPU ti me i f they
requi re i t. The si x broad pri ori ty categori es for CPU Pri ori ty from hi ghest to l owest are: Real Ti me, Hi gh,
Above Normal, Normal , Bel ow Normal and Low. They can be vi ewed and manuall y al tered usi ng Task
Manager - see the Task Manager secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for
detail s. Mul titaski ng is where havi ng a mul ti -core CPU i s of most benefi t, as any ti me you run mul tipl e
programs at once, the separate threads can be automati cal ly split across your CPU cores, run concurrentl y
and thus compl eted faster.

Havi ng al l ocated a priori ty for CPU time, Wi ndows then determi nes the relati ve pri ori ty of appl icati ons for
dri ve ti me, or i n other words I/O priori ti zati on. Wi ndows bases I/O Priori ty on four broad categori es:
Cri ti cal , Hi gh, Normal and Low. You cannot manual ly al ter these, as they are determi ned by the appl i cation
i tself combi ned wi th Wi ndows and how you are currentl y usi ng the system. The bottom l i ne i s that certai n
tasks wi ll run at reduced speed or even cease al together i f the I/O resources are requi red by more i mportant
tasks; thi s i s parti cul arl y important for gamers si nce games requi re total control of I/O resources for smooth
gami ng.


211

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

The practi cal i mpacts of thi s I/O pri oriti zati on scheme are that fi rstl y l ess cri ti cal tasks such as scheduled
Wi ndows Defender scans, the Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter or SuperFetch wi ll not cause the system to
become unresponsi ve. In fact Wi ndows wi ll suspend certai n tasks al together i f a more important task i s
bei ng undertaken, l ike runni ng a system-i ntensi ve program. Windows al so reserves dri ve bandwi dth for
certai n tasks whi ch speci ficall y need a consi stent fl ow of data, especi al ly mul ti media applicati ons, so that
these are not vi si bl y disrupted. Thus i t i s possi bl e to run a dri ve-intensi ve task whi l e al so l i steni ng to music
on Wi ndows Media Player wi thout audio gli tches occurri ng for exampl e.

However the actual i mpact of mul ti pl e tasks runni ng at once on your system wi ll vary dependi ng on a range
of factors, parti cularl y your dri ve speed and the amount of RAM you have. The slower your dri ve and/or the
l ess RAM you have and/or the more appl i cations you try to run at once, the greater the l ikel i hood that no
matter how hard Wi ndows tri es, i t won't be abl e to prevent some sl owdowns or stuttering. In that case
cl earl y you shoul d try to reduce the number of things you're doi ng at once. Wi ndows I/O pri ori ti zation
cannot work mi racl es, so to mi ni mize stutteri ng i ssues when runni ng system-intensi ve programs such as
games, I recommend that you sti ll cl ose down all other open appl icati ons.

< HARD DISK DRIVES
A major reason why Wi ndows requi res a range of compl ex I/O management features i s primaril y because of
the rel ati vel y sl ow nature of modern Hard Di sk Drives (HDD). The probl em wi th hard drives i s that even
the fastest hard dri ve i s stil l sl owed down by the mechani cal nature of i ts operati on: a spi nning pl atter and a
movi ng dri ve head are used to seek out pi eces of data, and these mechanisms can onl y move so fast. The
hard dri ve i s typi call y the sl owest component i n any system.

Hard dri ves sti l l serve a useful purpose, and wi ll continue to do so for a whi l e, as they are qui te reli abl e, and
provi de tremendous amounts of storage space at a rel ati vel y l ow pri ce. The vast majori ty of Wi ndows 7
users are li kel y to be using a hard dri ve, and thi s i s both taken i nto account by Mi crosoft when they
devel oped Wi ndows 7, and i s al so a primary consi derati on i n this book. Ul ti matel y however, the hard dri ve
i s a technol ogy whi ch i s sl owl y dyi ng out, to be steadil y replaced by storage based on memory chi ps such as
SSDs.

< OPTICAL DRIVES
Opti cal dri ves such as CD, DVD and Blu-Ray dri ves are even sl ower than hard dri ves, agai n due to i nherent
physi cal constrai nts, so they have never been consi dered as a vi abl e repl acement for the hard dri ve on
desktop systems. Si nce they onl y serve as secondary storage media, and gi ven the portabi l i ty of opti cal
medi a, the speed of opti cal dri ves is not cri ti cal to Windows performance.

Fortunatel y, Wi ndows 7 al l evi ates one of the major annoyances in previ ous versi ons of Windows, whereby
i nserti ng a disc i nto an opti cal dri ve coul d see certain system functi ons freeze unti l the di sc was correctly
detected. This coul d take anywhere up to 10 seconds or more dependi ng on the opti cal drive and the media
i nvol ved. In Wi ndows 7 whi l e you obvi ousl y cannot access the contents of the opti cal dri ve i tself when i t i s
busy spi nni ng up di sc, you can usuall y undertake normal functi onali ty i n Wi ndows Expl orer on other dri ves
wi thout i nterrupti on. Also refer to the AutoPlay secti on further bel ow to configure how Windows 7 behaves
when you i nsert different types of opti cal media.

< SOLID STATE DRIVES
A Sol id State Dri ve (SSD) i s a fl ash memory-based storage dri ve whi ch has no physi cal movi ng parts. SSD
technol ogy has been around for a whil e, but i t has onl y been rel ati vel y recentl y that they have ri sen i n
storage capaci ty and fall en i n pri ce suffici entl y, whil e also attai ni ng good all -round performance, to become
a good al ternati ve to traditi onal hard di sk dri ves. The key benefits to SSDs i s thei r very fast read speeds,
wi th a random read speed roughly a hundred ti mes faster than a hard dri ve, and sequential read and wri te


212

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

speeds whi ch can vary dependi ng on the quali ty of the dri ve, but whi ch can usuall y exceed those of a fast
hard dri ve, often by a large margi n. There are sti ll vari ous potenti al drawbacks to usi ng an SSD aside from
i ts pri ce, however these are steadil y bei ng i roned out wi th newer and hi gher quali ty versi ons of these dri ves.
Thi s means that for those who do not own an SSD yet, there i s no hurry to purchase one as they wi l l
conti nue to improve i n terms of performance, storage space and pri ce. There is no doubt however that SSDs
wi ll become the mai nstream form of storage i n comi ng years, provi di ng greatl y i mproved overall system
performance as a resul t by removi ng the si gni fi cant bottl eneck which mechani cal hard dri ves have placed on
systems.

Wi ndows 7 is the fi rst versi on of Wi ndows to be bui l t wi th SSDs i n mi nd, and to nati vel y support SSDs
through a range of bui l t-in opti mi zati ons and features. The key features of Windows 7 which SSD owners
should consider are covered bel ow:

Trim Support: Wi ndows 7 automati cal ly enabl es support for the Tri m command i n NTFS to ensure that
del eted bl ocks are erased and that the SSD is aware of whi ch bl ocks have been del eted. Thi s hel ps mai ntain
better performance and a l onger l ifespan. This can be confi rmed by openi ng an Admi nistrator Command
Prompt and typi ng the followi ng:

f sut i l behavi or quer y Di sabl eDel et eNot i f y

If the resul t i s shown as Di sabl eDel et eNot i f y=0 then Tri m i s enabl ed. Thi s is the defaul t setti ng for
Wi ndows 7 on all dri ves, SSD or otherwi se. To change this setti ng for any reason, use the foll owing
command:

f sut i l behavi or set Di sabl eDel et eNot i f y 1

Where a value of 1 di sables Tri m, and a value of 0 enabl es i t.

There may be reasons to disable Trim, for exampl e if the manufacturer recommends thi s to prevent
probl ems on certai n dri ves. The pri mary i ssue however i s that whether Tri m i s actual ly being used by your
SSD i s determi ned by i ts firmware and the parti cul ar motherboard storage control l er dri vers bei ng used.
Unti l your SSD manufacturer updates the fi rmware to enabl e ful l Tri m support - i f i t i sn't al ready li sted as
bei ng supported i n the drive speci fi cations - and unti l the controller dri vers are al so sui tably updated, i t may
be best to disabl e Tri m. Check your SSD manufacturer's support si te for updates and more detail s.

Wi thout proper Tri m support your SSD performance may noti ceabl y decl i ne over ti me. Thi s can only be
recti fi ed by usi ng a custom erase uti li ty, as a regular format wil l have no i mpact. You should check your SSD
manufacturer's websi te for such a util i ty, or use thi s free Secure Erase uti l i ty to do a full erase of your SSD if
you feel your performance has been signi ficantly degraded over ti me. It is not cri ti cal to do thi s regularly,
but i t i s best to do so whenever you are ready to (re)i nstal l Windows 7 on your SSD, even i f your dri ve
supports Trim. Note that you wil l l ikely have to set your SSD's control l er to IDE/l egacy/compati bi li ty mode
i n your BIOS fi rst, and then boot up i nto a Command Prompt or boot up usi ng a USB fl ash dri ve to run such
a uti li ty. Once the process i s compl eted, reset your dri ve controll er to i ts ori gi nal mode i n the BIOS, reboot
and i nstal l Wi ndows 7 as normal.

For Intel SSD owners there i s a speci fi c Intel SSD Tool box uti li ty to Tri m support and hel p mai ntai n drive
i ntegri ty and performance. Other SSD manufacturers may provi de simi lar tool s, so check your
manufacturer's si te.

Defragmentation: Windows 7 wi ll automati cal ly disabl e schedul ed defragmentati on vi a the Wi ndows Di sk
Defragmenter on any detected dri ves whi ch exceed random read speeds of 8MB/s - basi cal l y for all SSDs.
Fast dri ves like SSDs don't benefi t suffi ci ently from defragmentati on, certai nly not enough to offset the
negati ve i mpacts of the addi ti onal wri ting i nvol ved in defragmentati on and hence the potenti al reducti on i n


213

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

SSD li fespan. You shoul d al so avoi d manual l y defragmenti ng SSDs by any means, and i f you al ready have a
thi rd party defragmentation uti li ty i nstall ed on your system before i nstall i ng an SSD, make sure to di sable i t
for the SSD. If you fi nd Wi ndows has not disabl ed Wi ndows Di sk Defragmenter on your system despi te
usi ng an SSD as your primary dri ve, you should manuall y di sabl e i t from runni ng on a schedul e - see the
Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter secti on later i n this chapter.

Pagefile: Mi crosoft does not recommend di sabl i ng the Pagefil e on a system wi th an SSD as the pri mary dri ve.
Pagefil e access pri maril y consi sts of reads whi ch wi l l not have a si gni fi cant detri mental impact on SSD
l i fespan, and the same rul es to determi ni ng the Pagefi l e size as those for tradi ti onal hard dri ves appl y. See
the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the Memory Opti mi zati on chapter for more detai ls.

Search Indexing: You should not di sabl e the Search Indexer if you have an SSD, si nce Indexing sti ll makes a
noti ceabl e di fference to the speed and comprehensi veness of search resul ts on all types of dri ves. Thi s i s why
Wi ndows 7 does not automati cal ly disable the Search Index when an SSD i s detected, and i t is not
recommended that you do so ei ther. You shoul d however refine your Search Index as covered i n the
Wi ndows Search chapter to reduce i ts overal l si ze and hence reduce the frequency wi th whi ch i t i s wri tten to
- the rest of the ti me, the Index is pri mari l y used for readi ng data.

SuperFetch and ReadyBoost: Windows 7 wi ll automaticall y di sabl e SuperFetch and ReadyBoost on dri ves wi th
suffi ci ently fast random read, random wri te and fl ush performance. Thi s occurs on any drive whi ch scores
6.5 or above i n the dri ve performance category of the Wi ndows Experi ence Index. This means your SSD
must perform suffi ci ently wel l i n al l respects to warrant Windows di sabli ng these features. Many ol der or
cheaper SSDs do not perform wel l enough i n some areas, and thi s is refl ected i n a Wi ndows Experience
Index whi ch may not be above 6.5. Indeed the enti re 6.0 - 7.9 score range i n the dri ve component of the WEI
was created for SSDs - see the Wi ndows Experi ence Index secti on of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detail s. However if you have a hi gh di sk score and stil l find these feature
enabl ed, you can manual l y di sabl e them as covered under the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the
Memory Optimi zati on chapter.

In al l other respects, SSD users shoul d fol l ow the same advi ce provi ded for tradi ti onal hard dri ve owners in
thi s book, as they appl y equall y to SSDs. If there are any special consi derati ons for SSDs, they are noted
where rel evant. An SSD i s a fast dri ve to be sure, but fl ash-based SSDs are not as fast as system RAM and
hence some aspects of Wi ndows Memory Management are sti ll benefi ci al and/or necessary on systems using
SSDs.

< VIRTUAL HARD DISK
A feature new to Wi ndows 7 is nati ve support for the Vi rtual Hard Disk (VHD) format. As the name i mpli es,
a VHD fi le is designed to be i denti cal in structure to a physi cal dri ve, and i s general l y treated as a physi cal
dri ve by Wi ndows. Note that thi s function i s onl y avail abl e on Ul ti mate or Enterpri se edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7.
For more detail s of VHD functi onal i ty in Wi ndows 7, see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

VHD fil es have a range of useful purposes i n Wi ndows, many of whi ch are real l y onl y rel evant to Network
Admi nistrators, software devel opers and testers. However we l ook at the most useful of the VHD features
for home PC users:

MULTIBOOTING WINDOWS 7
Wi ndows 7 supports nativel y booti ng up from a VHD fi l e. Thi s al l ows you to run mul ti ple copi es of
Wi ndows 7 on a si ngle PC for exampl e wi thout the need for separate parti ti ons or dri ves devoted to each
one, because each separate OS environment can be stored as a .VHD fi l e and sel ected via the Wi ndows boot
menu. The mai n benefi ts for a home user of doi ng somethi ng li ke thi s woul d be to all ow you to test software
or dri vers on an i denti cal .VHD copy of your Wi ndows 7 wi thout worryi ng about any harm bei ng done to


214

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

your origi nal i nstallati on of Wi ndows 7. You cannot boot up from .VHDs of other operati ng systems,
however - i n parti cul ar i f you wi sh to use the Wi ndows XP envi ronment wi thi n Wi ndows 7, see Wi ndows
XP Mode further bel ow.

To mul ti boot Wi ndows 7, the fi rst thing you require is a Wi ndows 7 .VHD fil e. To create one from an
exi sti ng i nstall of Wi ndows 7 or from a Wi ndows 7 DVD, you can use the Mi crosoft WIM2VHD Converter or
the free Di sk2VHD uti li ty. The procedure for booti ng up a Wi ndows 7 .VHD i s detail ed i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e, however the easi est method i s to use an automated boot confi gurati on tool such as EasyBCD whi ch
i s covered i n the EasyBCD secti on of the Boot Confi gurati on chapter. Fol l ow these steps:

1. Open EasyBCD, cli ck the 'Add/Remove Entri es' button, then sel ect the 'Vi rtual Di sk' tab.
2. Cl i ck the '...' button to browse to the l ocati on of your VHD fil e and select i t.
3. Gi ve i t a rel evant name (e.g. Wi ndows 7 Virtual ) and cl i ck the 'Add Entry' button to add i t as an entry to
the Wi ndows 7 boot menu. Thi s all ows you to select whether to boot i nto the real Wi ndows 7 or the
vi rtual Wi ndows 7 at each startup.
4. You can ti ck the 'Force boot devi ce' box to make Wi ndows boot up into the vi rtual Wi ndows 7 at startup.
5. Reboot and the Vi rtual Windows 7 shoul d be avai labl e i n the boot menu wi th the name you gave i t.

Be aware that i n the VHD version of Wi ndows 7, certai n features may not functi on correctl y, such as
Bi tLocker, Hibernati on and the Wi ndows Experience Index. Al so keep i n mi nd that dependi ng on how you
took the Wi ndows 7 .VHD i mage, i t may be hardware-dependant; that i s, i t captured the hardware state of
your system and hence this .VHD may not be bootabl e or operati ve when mounted on a physi cal ly different
PC.

CREATING A VHD
You can create an empty new VHD for use as a new vi rtual dri ve or parti ti on by doi ng the fol l owi ng:

3. Go to the Acti on menu i n Di sk Management and sel ect 'Create VHD'.
4. You wil l then be asked where to place the .VHD fi le and what to call i t, the total size to all ocate to thi s
new 'dri ve', and whether i t is Fi xed or Dynami cally Expandi ng - Fi xed i s recommended for opti mal
performance and safety.
5. Once created you wi ll see a new unformatted dri ve appear i n the bottom pane of Disk Management.
6. You can prepare this new di sk for use by right-cli cking on i t and sel ecti ng 'Ini tiali ze Disk'.
7. You can partiti on and format the di sk and assign a dri ve l etter as normal by ri ght-cli cki ng on the di sk
and sel ecti ng 'New Si mpl e Volume' and foll owi ng the prompts.

Thi s new VHD i s now seen as a separate dri ve on your system for most i ntents and purposes, wi th i ts own
dri ve l etter and fi le format. It can be reformatted as desi red, and can store fil es and folders l ike a normal
dri ve or partiti on. However i f you l ook at the l ocati on where you set up the VHD, you can see that i t is a
separate fi le wi th the extensi on .VHD. Thi s means that unl i ke a parti ti on, i t i s portabl e, and can also be easi ly
dupli cated and di stri buted for other computers to mount as a vi rtual dri ve. However make sure you detach
a VHD before performi ng any copyi ng or move operati ons on i t - see further below.

To create a new VHD i mage of an exi sti ng dri ve, use the Di sk2VHD util i ty menti oned above. To create a
VHD from the Vi rtual Machi ne Di sk (VMDK) format use the free V2V Converter. Note that whi l e computers
runni ng Wi ndows 7 have nati ve support for the .VHD format, PCs runni ng Wi ndows XP or Vi sta can use
the Mi crosoft Vi rtual PC software to mount .VHD fil es.


215

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

MOUNTING AND DETACHING A VHD
If you use the steps above to create a new .VHD fi le, i t wil l automati cal ly be mounted, whi ch means i t i s
automati cal ly detected as a connected dri ve by Wi ndows. You can however detach i t at any ti me, si mul ati ng
the removal of the dri ve from the system, by right-cl i cki ng on the di sk and sel ecti ng 'Detach VHD' then
foll owi ng the prompts. Just as wi th the removal of a physi cal dri ve, i t wi ll no l onger be detected by
Wi ndows, however unl ess you chose the 'Delete the vi rtual hard di sk fi l e after removi ng the di sk' box, the
.VHD fi l e i tsel f wil l remai n where i t was created, ready to be backed up, moved to another l ocati on or
reattached at any ti me.

To reattach or 'mount' an exi sti ng .VHD fi le, do the foll owi ng:

3. Under the Acti on menu i n Di sk Management sel ect 'Attach VHD'
4. Browse to the l ocati on of the .VHD fil e and cli ck OK.
5. The .VHD file wil l be mounted as the type of dri ve the .VHD fil e image was origi nal ly saved as.

ACCESSING A SYSTEM IMAGE BACKUP VHD
One of the most useful ways to use the VHD support i n Wi ndows 7 i s to mount a ful l system i mage backup
created usi ng the Wi ndows Backup util ity. As covered i n the Backup & Recovery chapter, normall y when a
system i mage backup of your enti re dri ve is created, i t cannot be accessed to restore i ndi vi dual fi les or
fol ders; i t must be restored i n i ts entirety on a physi cal dri ve, overwri ti ng al l exi sti ng i nformati on on that
dri ve. However because the system i mage backup i s actuall y created as a .VHD fil e, i t can be mounted as a
separate dri ve usi ng the steps above, al lowi ng you to access the contents of your system i mage and browse
and copy i ndi vi dual fi les and fol ders through Wi ndows Expl orer wi thout del eti ng the existi ng contents of
your dri ve.

Mount the system i mage backup usi ng the same procedures to mount a VHD as covered further above.
However I strongl y recommend that under Step 4 of the process, you ti ck the 'Read-onl y' box before
mounti ng your system i mage backup, because any modi fi cati on to thi s system i mage can prevent you from
usi ng i t i n the future as part of the Windows Backup feature. Al so, when you are fi ni shed usi ng the system
i mage VHD, make sure to ri ght-cli ck on the di sk and detach i t wi thout del eti ng the fi l e as covered further
above.

WINDOWS XP MODE
Wi ndows XP Mode i s a vi rtual i nstall ation of a full y li censed copy of Wi ndows XP SP3. The mai n purpose is
to all ow users who have appl i cations whi ch can onl y operate properl y under the Wi ndows XP envi ronment
to run such an envi ronment on thei r Wi ndows 7 desktop, wi thout the need for a dual boot scenari o. It i s
avai labl e as a free downl oad, but only for Wi ndows 7 Professional , Enterpri se and Ul ti mate edi ti on owners.
Note also that to run Wi ndows XP Mode, your PC needs to have Intel VT or AMD-V hardware vi rtual izati on
features availabl e and enabl ed i n the BIOS.

In practi ce, most users do not requi re Wi ndows XP Mode, because Wi ndows 7 already provi des excell ent
support for appl i cati ons and games whi ch ran under Wi ndows XP. In most cases an appl i cati on works
wi thout any need for user i nterventi on. In some cases you may need to manuall y assi gn Admi ni strator
pri vi leges to the software, whether duri ng i nstall ation and/or l aunch, and you mi ght also need to set the
compati bi li ty mode for the software to 'Wi ndows XP' - these procedures are covered under the
Compati bi li ty Issues section of the New & Common Features chapter, as well as the User Account Control
secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.


216

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

Wi ndows XP Mode i s targeted towards corporate users who have custom appl i cati ons whi ch have onl y been
tested to work under Wi ndows XP. Thus usi ng Wi ndows XP Mode provi des substantial conveni ence and
reduces costs for these busi nesses as i t guarantees 100% compati bi li ty wi th Wi ndows XP-based appl icati ons
i n every scenari o. It won't be covered i n detai l here because as noted, i t i s not requi red nor recommended for
most desktop PC users, and al l relevant i nstructi ons are provi ded at the l i nk above.

< RAM DISK
A RAM Di sk i s a not a physi cal dri ve, it i s a porti on of your system RAM whi ch has been converted i nto a
vi rtual disk dri ve. The primary benefi t of a RAM di sk i s that i t is as fast as your system memory i n terms of
data access, whi ch i s faster than any normal hard drive or fl ash-based SSDs. However the down si de i s that a
RAM di sk can onl y function when the system i s on; when i t i s off, the contents of the RAM di sk wil l ei ther
be l ost, or must be saved to your dri ve before shutdown and rel oaded at startup, whi ch can sl ow down
startup and shutdown ti mes noti ceably.

To set up a RAM disk on your system, use a program designed to perform thi s task, such as the free
DataRAM RAMDisk. Once i nstall ed, run the RAMDisk Confi gurati on Uti li ty and under the Setti ngs tab you
can select how much RAM to al l ocate to the RAM di sk - remember that the amount you set asi de for the
RAM di sk cannot be used by your system for other purposes whil e the RAM di sk is i n operati on, so don't
assi gn a large porti on of your RAM. For the formatting of the di sk, select Unformatted as i t wi ll need to be
formatted i n NTFS as covered further bel ow.

Under the Load and Save tab you can make the data stored i n the RAM disk permanent by ti cki ng the 'Load
Di sk Image at Startup' box, as well as the 'Save Disk Image at Shutdown' box. These are necessary i f you are
goi ng to i nstal l a program to the RAM di sk for exampl e, however note that thi s wi ll i ncrease shutdown and
startup ti mes accordi ngl y, especi al ly i f there i s a large amount of data to be saved. The actual i mage fi les
saved duri ng shutdown and startup are shown i n the boxes bel ow these opti ons - change thei r names and/or
l ocati ons i f you wish.

If you onl y want a RAM disk for usi ng as a temporary cache by other programs in each Wi ndows sessi on on
the other hand, unti ck the Load and Save opti ons above and i nstead ti ck the 'Create Temp directory' box.

When ready, cl i ck the 'Start RAMDisk' button, accept the prompt to i nstall the devi ce dri ver necessary for
thi s functi onali ty, and ei ther the i mage fil es or a temporary RAM disk wi ll be created dependi ng on your
opti ons. However the RAM di sk is not ready to be used yet, i t needs to be mounted and formatted in
Wi ndows. Close the RAMDi sk Configurati on Uti li ty, and fol l ow these steps:

3. You wi ll fi nd a new di sk here whi ch i s equi val ent i n size to the amount of memory you allocated to the
RAM disk. Right-cl ick on i t and sel ect 'New si mpl e vol ume', then cli ck Next i n the wizard.
4. Make sure the 'Assi gn the foll owi ng drive l etter' opti on i s chosen, and change the dri ve l etter i f desi red,
then cl i ck Next.
5. Format the dri ve i n NTFS, wi th a Defaul t all ocati on size, gi ve i t appropriate label (e.g. RAM Disk), and
ti ck the 'Perform a qui ck format' box, then cl i ck Next.
6. Cl i ck Fi ni sh to commence the format.

When complete, Wi ndows wil l detect a new dri ve wi th the volume name and l etter you have assi gned i t,
and i t can now be used l ike a normal physi cal dri ve. You wi ll see i t under the Computer category i n the
Navi gati on Pane i n Wi ndows Expl orer, and dependi ng on whether i t is a temporary or permanent RAM
di sk, you can use i t accordingl y. Anything stored here wil l be extremel y fast to l oad.


217

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

To remove thi s RAM di sk at any ti me, open the RAMDi sk Confi gurati on Uti li ty and cl i ck the 'Stop
RAMDi sk' button. The dri ve wi ll di sappear from Windows. Uni nstal l the RAMDisk and manual ly del ete
any .IMG fil es you have created to permanentl y remove the RAM di sk.

< DISK MANAGEMENT
Di sk Management i s a sub-component of the Computer Management component of the Admi nistrati ve
Tool s, whi ch can be accessed i n the Wi ndows Control Panel . However you can di rectly access Di sk
Management by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng diskmgmt.msc and pressi ng Enter.

Once open, you wi ll see all your connected and detected l ogi cal dri ve(s) l isted i n the top pane of Di sk
Management, wi th more detai ls on each avai labl e drive l i sted i n the bottom pane. Some common tasks you
can do wi th Di sk Management i nclude:

Changing Drive Letters: If you want to change any of the dri ve l etters on your system - for exampl e if you
want to al ter your DVD ROM dri ve from bei ng cal l ed D: to F: or i f you wish to change a hard dri ve l etter
from E: to Z: you can do so here by ri ght-cl i cki ng on the dri ve l etter i n the bottom ri ght pane and sel ecti ng
'Change Dri ve Letter and Paths', then hi ghli ght the dri ve l etter whi ch appears, cl i ck the Change button and
assi gn a new dri ve l etter. Note that you cannot change system drive l etters under certai n ci rcumstances.

Partitioning: A Parti ti on is a l ogi cal subdi vi si on of your dri ve. To create a new parti ti on on any dri ve, you
wi ll fi rst need to have some Unal l ocated Space - whi ch is not the same as free dri ve space. In most cases
there wi l l not be any unal l ocated space si nce your exi sti ng partiti on(s) are likel y taki ng up all avail able
space, whi ch i s normal . You can however create unal l ocated space by using the Shri nk functi on whi ch
reduces one of your parti tions and i n return creates an equal amount of unal l ocated space. Right-cl ick on the
dri ve and select 'Shri nk Vol ume' i f you wi sh to do thi s. Once you have some unal l ocated space, you can
ri ght-cl i ck on i t and select 'New Si mpl e Volume' to create a new parti ti on, and fol l ow the Wizard to choose a
size for i t. You can also format an existing parti ti on, whi ch destroys all data currentl y on i t and prepares i t
for use. If you want to create more than three parti ti ons, you wi ll have to create an Extended parti ti on wi thi n
an existi ng parti ti on. For more detail s on parti tions see the Parti ti oni ng secti on under the Wi ndows
Install ati on chapter.

System Reserved Partition: If you see a 100MB System Reserved parti ti on here, thi s i s a hidden parti ti on wi th
no assi gned dri ve letter created automati call y by Wi ndows 7 duri ng i nstall ati on of Windows. I do not
recommend attempti ng to remove or al ter thi s parti ti on, as aside from bei ng requi red for Bi tLocker and
System Recovery features, i t al so contai ns al l your boot fi l es, and removi ng i t can make Wi ndows 7
unbootabl e, necessi tati ng the use of the Startup Repair feature. It does no harm to l eave i t be if i t has al ready
been created. See the Installi ng Wi ndows secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter for more detai ls.

Basic and Dynamic Disks: Al l your drives are formatted as a Basi c di sk wi th parti ti on(s) as necessary.
However if you wi sh, you can format them as a Dynami c Di sk by ri ght-cl i cking on the relevant dri ve and
sel ecti ng 'Convert to Dynami c Di sk'. Dynami c disks can emulate a RAID array - that is they can span
mul ti ple dri ves as though they are one large dri ve, and they do not use parti tions. The features of Dynami c
Di sks are di scussed i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. It i s not recommended that you convert your disk from Basi c to
Dynami c for the average home PC user, and note that you cannot reverse the process wi thout l osi ng all your
data, so i t i s not worth experi menti ng wi th. You shoul d only use thi s opti on i f you have specific needs whi ch
you know wil l requi re a Dynami c Disk, such as for hol di ng very l arge databases. Furthermore you shoul d
onl y do so i f you are an advanced user. Note that thi s functi on i s onl y avai labl e on Ul ti mate or Enterpri se
edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7.

Virtual Hard Disk: There are a range of features for VHDs now avai labl e i n the Di sk Management component
- see the Vi rtual Hard Disk secti on above for detai l s.


218

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

< DISK DIAGNOSTICS
By hourly checki ng data from a dri ve's Sel f Moni tori ng, Analysis, Reporti ng Technol ogy (SMART) feature,
the Wi ndows bui l t-i n Di sk Di agnosti cs can detect if there are going to be potenti al dri ve errors or a dri ve
fai lure i n the near future, and ei ther take steps to recti fy i t or warn the user i n advance, al so provi di ng a
prompt to begi n backup of your data before i t i s potenti all y l ost. For thi s feature to work, SMART must be
enabl ed i n your BIOS and supported by your dri ve, otherwise Wi ndows won't be able to check for dri ve
probl ems automati cal ly i n thi s manner. Note that certai n dri ve setups such as RAID confi gurati ons or USB
connected drives may not al l ow SMART functi onali ty.

If you want to manual l y check the SMART i nformati on yoursel f at any ti me to see your dri ve's heal th, use
one of the methods bel ow:

HD Tune: The free versi on of HD Tune has a Heal th tab under whi ch you can see whether your dri ve has
any probl ems.

PassMark: The free PassMark Di sk Checkup uti l i ty shows SMART i nformati on for a dri ve by sel ecti ng that
dri ve under the Physi cal Devi ces li st i n the tool , then checki ng under the SMART Info tab and l ooki ng at the
Status column where everythi ng should read OK.

If you wi sh to di sabl e thi s functi onali ty, you wi ll need to access i t through the Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor i f i t
i s avai lable to you - see the Group Pol i cy chapter for detai ls. Thi s feature i s found under the Computer
Confi gurati on>Admi ni strati ve Templates>System>Troubl eshooting and Diagnosti cs secti on. Sel ect the Di sk
Di agnosti c component i n the l eft pane and i n the right pane doubl e-cl i ck on the 'Disk Diagnosti c: Confi gure
Executi on Level ' i tem. By defaul t i t i s set to Not Confi gured, whi ch enabl es thi s functi onal i ty. You can set i t
to Di sabl ed whi ch wi ll remove the prompti ng behavi or and onl y l og detected errors, whi ch i s not
recommended.

Thi s feature is extremel y useful , however you may not get suffici ent warni ng of dri ve fail ure and/or the
fai lure may be catastrophi c enough to render some of your data unreadabl e when i t fi rst occurs, so Disk
Di agnosti cs is not a replacement for maki ng regul ar backups as covered i n the Backup & Recovery chapter.

CHECK DISK
To check your dri ve for errors, such as bad sectors or corrupted indexes, you can run the Wi ndows Check
Di sk util i ty. To access i t fol low these steps:

1. Go to the Computer category i n Wi ndows Expl orer, or open on the Computer i tem i n Start Menu.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on your dri ve name and select Properti es.
3. Under the Tool s tab, cl i ck the 'Check Now' button to launch Wi ndows Check Di sk.
4. To run a qui ck and basi c error scan wi th Wi ndows, unti ck both boxes and cl i ck the Start button.
5. To run a l onger scan of the dri ve to find any bad sectors wi thi n Wi ndows, tick onl y the 'Scan for and
attempt recovery of bad sectors' box and cl i ck Start. Thi s can take a whi l e.
6. To run a thorough check and automati c repai r procedure whi ch requi res restarti ng Wi ndows, ti ck both
boxes and cl ick Start. Cli ck the 'Schedul e di sk check' button and the next ti me you reboot Check Disk
wi ll run at startup. If i t fi nds any probl ems i t wi ll try to fi x them automati cal l y.

I recommend you do a thorough check whenever you suspect drive-related probl ems as per Step 6, but even
i f you don't suspect any major probl ems, a peri odi c run of Check Di sk usi ng onl y the 'Automati cal ly fi x fi le
system errors' opti on is rel ati vel y qui ck and detects and fi xes any smal l errors before they develop into
anythi ng more seri ous.


219

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

< DRIVE CONTROLLERS
One of the key determi nants of your drive performance i s the type of dri ve control l er i t i s using. The most
common dri ve control lers are for the IDE and SATA i nterfaces, i ncl udi ng the newer SATA II standard - see
the Basi c PC Termi nol ogy chapter for more detai ls. To ensure that your controll ers are set up correctl y and
confi gured for opti mal performance i n Wi ndows, foll ow the steps bel ow:

Make sure that you have i nstall ed the latest and correct motherboard dri vers for your parti cul ar
motherboard, as the dri ve control l ers on your motherboard requi re these for opti mal operati on, as well as
special functions l i ke RAID - see the Dri ver Installati on secti on of the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter for more
detail s. Open Devi ce Manager i n the Wi ndows Control Panel , and expand the Di sk Dri ves secti on. Your
dri ve(s) shoul d all be l i sted here and correctl y i denti fi ed. If they are not, check your BIOS to ensure that you
have enabl ed the relevant control l ers and that the dri ves are being detected in the BIOS - see the BIOS &
Hardware Management chapter. Now ri ght-cl i ck on each dri ve and sel ect Properti es. Under the Pol i ci es tab,
you wi ll see some or all of the fol l owi ng opti ons:

Removal Policy: The 'Better performance' opti on shoul d be selected for maxi mum performance, unless you
actuall y need to remove thi s dri ve frequently. However i f the 'Better Performance' opti on i s sel ected, you
wi ll need to cl i ck the 'Safel y Remove Hardware' i con i n your Noti fi cation Area before di sconnecti ng the
dri ve to ensure you don't experi ence any data corrupti on or l oss. If the dri ve is a removabl e devi ce such as a
USB flash drive whi ch you frequentl y connect to the PC then select 'Qui ck Removal ' so you can qui ckly and
easi ly remove i t when desi red wi thout any addi ti onal steps or risks to the data i t contai ns.

Enable Write Caching on the Device: Wri te cachi ng temporaril y uses the dri ve cache memory to store wri tes to
your dri ve before they are actual ly wri tten permanentl y to the dri ve. This all ows the dri ve to wri te faster,
si nce wri ti ng to cache is qui cker than wri ti ng di rectl y to the drive. However i f there's a power fail ure, any
data i n the cache i s l ost before bei ng commi tted to the dri ve. The ri sks are qui te l ow, so thi s opti on shoul d be
ti cked for maxi mum performance.

Turn Off Windows Write-Cache Buffer Flushing On the Device: By defaul t Wi ndows flushes (empti es) the wri te
cache buffer peri odi call y. If thi s option i s ti cked, that feature i s disabl ed, whi ch can further i ncrease
performance. Agai n the ri sk is that i f any there i s any i nterrupti on to the power suppl y to your dri ve, or any
other hardware issues, you may l ose or corrupt your data.

I recommend ti cki ng both of the above opti ons to ensure maxi mum performance from your dri ve, however
i f you don't have a reliabl e suppl y of power i n your area, or you don't want to ri sk potenti al data l oss under
any ci rcumstances, unti ck these to be safe at the cost of some performance. Al ternati vely, i nvest i n an
Uni nterrupti bl e Power Suppl y (UPS), as covered i n the Hardware Management secti on of the BIOS &
Hardware Management chapter.

Next, go to the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Control l ers' or 'SCSI and RAID Control l ers' secti on i n Devi ce Manager and
expand i t. Right-cl ick on any sub-control l ers li sted, sel ect Properti es for each and see the rel evant section
bel ow where appl i cabl e. The i nformati on bel ow covers the most common opti ons, however what you see on
your system may vary dependi ng on your motherboard dri vers and hardware confi gurati on - i n some cases
some of the opti ons bel ow may not be avail able:

IDE Channel / ATA Channel: Thi s control l er affects al l PATA dri ves whi ch use the IDE i nterface - typi cal ly
thi s is older hard dri ves and opti cal dri ves, or SATA dri ves speci fi cal ly configured to run i n 'l egacy' IDE
emulati on mode i n the BIOS. Go to the 'Advanced Setti ngs' tab and at the bottom make sure 'Enabl e DMA' i s
ti cked for opti mal performance. In the Devi ces box you wil l al so see what mode any attached IDE dri ve(s)
are runni ng under. The maxi mum speeds whi ch can be shown here are Ul tra DMA Mode 4 for optical
dri ves, and Ul tra DMA Mode 6 for IDE dri ves. However your actual speeds may be even hi gher due to
newer technol ogy, so use a tool li ke HD Tune to check your actual dri ve mode under i ts Info tab.


220

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

You cannot al ter the dri ve speed under the controll er secti on here, but i f i t i s bel ow the maxi mum then i t
may be due to one or more of the fol l owi ng factors whi ch you shoul d troubl eshoot:

Check your motherboard manual for the vari ous dri ve confi gurati on detai ls, and al so make sure you
have i nstal l ed the correct dri vers for this motherboard - see the Windows Dri vers chapter.
Your BIOS is not confi gured correctly to enabl e the hi ghest speed - see the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter.
You are shari ng a hard dri ve or SSD wi th an opti cal dri ve on the same channel - move any opti cal
dri ve(s) to a separate channel of thei r own.
Your hardware doesn't physi call y support the hi ghest transfer mode avail abl e. Thi s shoul d onl y be the
case if the motherboard and/or the drive are qui te ol d.
No dri ve shoul d be running i n PIO or Mul ti -word DMA mode as these provide poor performance, so if
thi s is the case, check your BIOS and any swi tches on the back of the dri ve(s).

Serial ATA Controller: This affects all drives connected to the SATA control lers on your motherboard. Ri ght-
cl i ck on this control l er, select Properti es, then go to the 'Pri mary Channel' and 'Secondary Channel' (or 'Port
0' and 'Port 1') tabs. If a dri ve i s connected to these channels, the 'Transfer Mode' shoul d show the correct
maxi mum speed for the dri ve - 1.5GB/s for SATA I, or 3.0GB/s for SATA II. Al ternati vel y cl i ck the 'Speed
Test' button to do an actual qui ck benchmark of the dri ve's speed and see the speed rati ng. The 'Let BIOS
sel ect transfer mode' box should be ticked unl ess you are troubleshooti ng, or you see 'PIO Mode' for your
hard dri ve, whi ch is sub-opti mal ; i n that case untick the box and manual ly attempt to swi tch to 'DMA
Mode'.

Sel ecti ng IDE mode under the dri ve confi gurati on i n your BIOS i s general ly the best choi ce for most users, as
i t i s the most compati bl e mode for SATA hard dri ves and SSDs whi l e al so provi di ng excel lent performance.
However AHCI mode i s nati ve to SATA dri ves, and i s covered bel ow:

AHCI Mode: If you run a SATA-based dri ve, you can try enabl i ng Advanced Host Control l er Interface
(AHCI) mode on your SATA controll er in your BIOS. Thi s mode has a range of benefi ts, especi al l y on SATA
II hard dri ves wi th NCQ support - this i ncl udes qui eter operati on and better mul ti -taski ng capabi li ties.
However i t may or may not resul t i n a speed boost. Furthermore i t requi res appropriate dri vers from your
motherboard manufacturer to functi on properl y. Most i mportantly, i f you do not enabl e thi s mode i n your
BIOS pri or to i nstal li ng Windows, you may experi ence an error and may not be abl e to boot back i nto your
system i f you swi tch to AHCI from IDE mode or vi ce versa on an existi ng install of Windows - see thi s
Mi crosoft Arti cl e for detai ls.

Note that some SSDs may not properl y support AHCI, and indeed some SSD manufacturers do not
recommend usi ng AHCI mode due to potenti al performance i ssues, si nce NCQ i s designed for dri ves with a
physi cal dri ve head, not SSDs whi ch are memory-based. However some users report i ncreased speeds wi th
AHCI enabl ed on thei r SSD, so i t can sti l l provi de performance benefi ts if you are wil li ng to experi ment.

You can also sel ect RAID mode i n the BIOS, but thi s i s onl y necessary i f you have a RAID dri ve
confi gurati on - see the Prepari ng the Dri ve secti on under the Wi ndows Install ati on chapter for more detail s
on RAID.

To test your dri ve's actual speeds at any ti me, you can run a dri ve benchmark such as HD Tune, or the dri ve
benchmarki ng component of Sandra, or si mpl y the bui l t-i n Wi ndows Experi ence Index. Drive benchmarks
can be qui te arti fi ci al and not necessari ly i ndi cati ve of real -worl d performance, so they are best used si mpl y
to determi ne i f your performance has improved or degraded, or to compare wi th other users of the same
dri ve to check i n case your performance i s si gni fi cantl y l ower and hence i ndi cati ve of a potenti al probl em.
See the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detai ls.


221

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

< AUTOPLAY
Whenever you i nsert a parti cular type of media such as an audi o CD or a movi e DVD, or connect a device
such as a USB fl ash dri ve, Wi ndows detects the type of devi ce or medi a and can automati call y take a speci fic
acti on, such as openi ng any mul ti media fi l es i n Windows Media Player. Thi s functi onal i ty i s call ed
AutoPlay, and whil e i t can be very handy i n some i nstances, i t can al so be a nui sance at ti mes.

For certai n portabl e devi ces, i nstead of AutoPl ay, Wi ndows wi ll open Devi ce Stage, which provi des greater
detail s and functi onal i ty for common devi ces such as portabl e musi c pl ayers, cameras and phones - see the
Devi ce Stage secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for more detai l s.

There is also an associ ated feature i n Wi ndows call ed AutoRun (not to be confused wi th the Autoruns
uti li ty) whi ch onl y relates to the automati c launchi ng of programs on i nserted or attached medi a. The key
di fference i s that AutoRun presents a potenti al securi ty ri sk, si nce the automatic l aunchi ng of any malware
programs contai ned on an external storage devi ce for exampl e is obvi ousl y not desi rabl e. For thi s reason,
Wi ndows 7 has changed the AutoPlay behavi or such that AutoRun wi ll not work for non-opti cal removabl e
medi a. Thi s means if you attach a USB flash dri ve, i t wi l l provide you wi th an AutoPlay prompt as normal
aski ng whether you want to browse fi l es and fol ders, or use the devi ce for ReadyBoost, but i t wil l not
automati cal ly launch any program on that dri ve, nor wil l there be any opti on to l aunch a program on that
devi ce from the AutoPlay prompt.

If you i nsert a CD or DVD, Wi ndows wi ll open AutoPl ay as normal , and i n the case of discs desi gned to
i nstal l a program, you wi l l see a prompt requesting the launchi ng of a program. However Wi ndows 7
provi des text above thi s opti on stati ng that the program i s bei ng run from your medi a, i ndicati ng that the
software could potenti all y be mali ci ous. Of course i f you are usi ng a l egi ti matel y purchased manufactured
di sc, or a di sc you created from a trusted i mage, then the risk of malware shoul d be mi ni mal.

In any case, you can customi ze al l AutoPlay and AutoRun behavior by goi ng to the AutoPlay component of
the Wi ndows Control Panel and adjusti ng Wi ndows 7's defaul t behavi or for each and every type of media or
devi ce whi ch can be attached to your system. For exampl e you can set the 'Software and games' component
to 'Open fol der to vi ew fi les usi ng Wi ndows Expl orer', provi di ng greater protecti on agai nst automati call y
i nstal li ng malware - then when a software DVD i s inserted, Wi ndows wi ll simpl y open Wi ndows Expl orer
wi th a focus on the opti cal dri ve where the software di sc resi des wi thout prompti ng you, and you can then
manuall y fi nd and launch the setup executabl e. This i s recommended for greater securi ty.

I recommend goi ng through and setti ng your desi red AutoPlay action for each and every type of fi le, media,
or devi ce, and if i n doubt, sel ect the 'Take no acti on' setti ng to prevent an AutoPl ay or AutoRun prompt
from appearing i n that i nstance. If you wi sh to di sabl e AutoPlay functi onal i ty across the board, unti ck the
'Use AutoPlay for al l media and devi ces' box at the top of the AutoPlay wi ndow and cli ck Save.

< MASTER FILE TABLE
The Master Fi l e Tabl e i s a system area of Wi ndows whi ch contains an entry for every fil e and di rectory on
your dri ve with i nformati on on i ts size, attri butes, permi ssi ons, timestamps and so forth. In a way, i t is like a
tabl e of contents for your dri ve, and as such serves a very i mportant functi on. By defaul t Windows reserves
around 12.5% of your total dri ve space to all ow the MFT to grow wi thout becomi ng fragmented. Thi s space
cannot be reduced, but over ti me i t may need to be i ncreased - especiall y after creati ng l ots of new fil es or
i nstal li ng numerous appl icati ons and games. Fortunatel y Wi ndows wi ll automati cal ly manage the MFT,
i ncreasi ng i ts size as necessary.

However if your dri ve has a relati vel y large number of fil es, over ti me the MFT may become fragmented as
i t grows beyond the i ni ti al space all ocated to i t by Windows, and thi s can affect performance on hard dri ves.


222

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

You can use ei ther the bui l t-i n Wi ndows Di sk Defragmenter, or a thi rd party defragmentati on util i ty, to
defragment the MFT and thus keep i t opti mal .

If for some reason you want to manual ly i ncrease the amount of space Wi ndows reserves for the MFT you
can do so by goi ng to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ Syst em\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Cont r ol \ Fi l eSyst em]

Nt f sMf t ZoneReser vat i on=0

The DWORD above i s set to 0 by defaul t, whi ch means i t i s automati cal ly managed and wi ll i ncrease as
requi red. This i s the recommended val ue. However you can gi ve i t a val ue of between 1 and 4 i nclusive,
wi th values hi gher than 0 reservi ng speci fic porti ons of the dri ve for the MFT in 12.5% i ncrements, ranging
from 12.5% - 50%. Thi s is not recommended, as you shoul d all ow the MFT to be automati cally managed and
hence to grow as requi red.

In Wi ndows 7 and Wi ndows Vi sta the MFT i s automati cal ly managed and never reall y needs any user input
or adjustment. However i t i s i mportant to regularly defragment hard dri ves (not SSDs) to ensure the MFT
doesn't become fragmented over ti me and thus degrade dri ve performance.

< WINDOWS DISK DEFRAGMENTER
As data i s wri tten to or del eted from your dri ve, porti ons of i ndivi dual fil es wi ll become fragmented and
physi call y spread out al l over the dri ve. Thi s happens because as Wi ndows starts wri ti ng the data for a fil e
onto the dri ve, when i t reaches an occupi ed porti on of the dri ve i t jumps to the next avai labl e empty spot
and conti nues wri ti ng from there. So a si ngl e large fil e may actuall y be i n several separate chunks i n vari ous
l ocati ons on your dri ve. The more the fi l es on your system are fragmented, and i n parti cular the smal ler the
fragments, the more ti me your dri ve takes to fi nd al l these fragments and access all the i nformati on i t needs
at any ti me. It's l ike tryi ng to read a book wi th the pages out of order. This can cl earl y reduce dri ve
performance and i ncrease the potenti al for stutteri ng and l oadi ng pauses on hard dri ves.

Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter (Defrag) i s a bui l t-i n util ity that performs a very i mportant function: i t fi nds al l
of these fi le fragments and attempts to put as many of them back together agai n as i s necessary to prevent
the degradati on of your dri ve's performance. To access the Di sk Defragmenter uti l i ty, open Wi ndows
Expl orer, go the Computer category, right-cl ick on the rel evant hard dri ve and sel ect Properti es, then l ook
under the Tool s tab. Al ternati vely, go to the Start>Search Box, type dfrgui and press Enter.

In Wi ndows 7 the Di sk Defragmenter has changed i n both functi on and appearance from i ts previ ous
counterparts i n Vista and XP. It expands on the types of fil es whi ch can be defragmented over those possibl e
i n Vista, and much more than what i s capable i n XP, defragmenting system files l i ke the Master Fil e Tabl e
and NTFS metadata, and consol idati ng free space much better than any previ ous versi on. In Wi ndows 7 you
can now also defragment mul ti ple dri ves at the same ti me, and can cancel defragmentati on at any time
wi thout causi ng any probl ems. As wi th Vi sta's Defrag, there is sti ll no graphi cal progress i ndi cator to
provi de you wi th a vi sual representati on of how fragmented your dri ve i s or how l ong the process may take.
Instead you are provi ded wi th two i ndi cators: the fi rst shows the percentage of fragmentati on on each drive,
whi ch you can refresh by hi ghli ghti ng the dri ve and cl i cki ng the 'Anal yze di sk' button. The second i s a new
Progress i ndicator whi ch shows the pass the defragmenter i s currentl y on, and the proporti on of that pass
compl eted. Dependi ng on the amount and type of fragmentation, Disk Defragmenter may do up to 11
passes, and some may take qui te a whi le to compl ete, so i n practi ce i t doesn't tel l you a great deal about the
relati ve progress of defragmentati on.

Importantl y, i f Wi ndows detects that you are usi ng an SSD, i t di sabl es Disk Defragmenter, si nce SSD
random read ti mes are extremel y fast, counteracti ng any performance decreases due to fragmentati on, not to


223

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

menti on that the act of defragmenti ng an SSD can reduce the li fespan of the dri ve. Do not run a scheduled or
manual defrag of any type on an SSD, and if necessary, manuall y check and di sabl e scheduled
defragmentati on i n case it i s not automati cal ly di sabl ed by Windows. You can al so disable the Disk
Defragmenter servi ce i f desi red, though thi s i s not necessary - see the Servi ces chapter for detail s.

Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter i s designed pri marily to be automated and by defaul t runs on a weekl y
schedul e at 1:00am every Wednesday morni ng, defragmenti ng your dri ve i n the background at a low
pri ori ty when i dle hence causi ng mi nimal di srupti on to system responsi veness. If you wi sh to change the
schedul ed times or frequency wi th whi ch the automati c defragmentati on occurs, or to turn off the scheduled
scanni ng al together, open Defrag and cli ck the 'Configure schedule' button. You can specify how often, on
whi ch parti cular day and at what ti me the process i s i ni ti ated, and al so choose whi ch dri ve(s) to run i t on -
remember that Defrag can now defragment mul tipl e dri ves at the same time. If you wi sh to disable thi s
schedul ed defragmentati on al together then unti ck the 'Run on a schedule' box. In general I suggest l eaving
the automated defragmentati on schedule to run once a week, at a time when you know the PC wi l l be on but
you wi ll not be doi ng anythi ng wi th i t.

In practi ce however, defragmentati on i s best done i mmediatel y after you make major fil e changes to the
dri ve, so I strongl y recommend that you al so do a manual defrag i mmediately after any of the foll owing
events:

Install ati on of any program, especi al ly games or any dri ve-i ntensive appli cati ons such as benchmarks.
Patchi ng any program or runni ng Wi ndows Update.
Install ati on of any dri vers.
Addi ng or del eti ng large fil e(s) or fol der(s) of any type.

Defragmentati on is particul arl y necessary for gamers, si nce games are al ready qui te prone to stutteri ng and
l onger l oading ti mes due to thei r data-i ntensi ve nature, so by defragmenti ng your dri ve after a game
i nstal lati on or after patchi ng a game, you can si gni fi cantl y reduce any stutteri ng whil e playing the game.

To i ni ti ate a manual disk defragmentati on at any time, open Defrag, hi ghli ght the desi red dri ve(s) and cl i ck
the 'Defragment now' button for every dri ve you want to defragment. Once defragmentati on starts, you wi l l
see the pass on whi ch i t i s currentl y operati ng, and as noted earl ier, i t may do as many as 11 passes, each of
varyi ng ti mes, wi th the ti me taken for each pass dependi ng on how fragmented your dri ve i s, how l arge the
fragments are, and whether you are doi ng anythi ng else at the same ti me. If you run any other program
duri ng thi s process, Wi ndows wi ll further reduce the pri ori ty gi ven to Defrag, whi ch i n turn can i ncrease the
ti me taken for process to compl ete, so whi l e there i s no danger to your data, try not to do anythi ng too dri ve
i ntensi ve whi l e Defrag is runni ng. Note that for defragmentation to work, you must have a reasonabl e
amount of free space on the dri ve, preferabl y 15% or more.

ADVANCED DEFRAGMENTATION
If you want greater control and feedback from the Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter, you can use the Defrag
command l i ne opti on. Start an Admi nistrator Command Prompt and then type Def r ag / ? for a l i st of
commands. Note that Windows 7 adds several new commands to the Defrag command, i ncludi ng the / M
swi tch to run the operati on on each vol ume i n parall el; the / X swi tch to perform free space consol idati on; the
/ H swi tch to force normal pri ori ty i nstead of the defaul t l ow pri ori ty; and the / U swi tch to provi de detail s of
the progress.

For exampl e, to run a defragmentati on on two avai labl e dri ves C: and D: si multaneousl y at normal pri ority
and wi th free space consol idati on, type:

Def r ag C: D: / M / X / H


224

D
r
i
v
e

O
p
t
i
m
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter provi des a comprehensi ve tool for addressi ng fi l e fragmentati on on your
system. However i f you have speciali zed needs, or i n parti cular i f you desi re a graphi cal representati on of
fragmentati on as part of your defragmentati on uti l i ty, then there are several advanced defragmentati on
uti li ti es you can use i n Wi ndows 7. For uti l i ti es whi ch are free, I recommend the foll owi ng:

MyDefrag
Ausl ogi cs Di sk Defrag

There are several commerci al defragmentati on packages whi ch all have a free tri al versi on you can use for a
l i mi ted peri od, but ul ti matel y requi re purchase for use beyond this peri od. Of these, I recommend:

Di skeeper
PerfectDi sk
O&O Defrag

In general I don't see a pressi ng need to use a thi rd party defragmentati on tool i n Wi ndows 7. The third
party defragmentati on packages above may provide margi nal ly improved drive performance as a resul t of
more advanced defragmentati on or addi ti onal features, but thi s has to be balanced wi th the fact that the
Wi ndows 7 Di sk Defragmenter i s free, ful ly i ntegrated i nto Wi ndows, and gi ves you the majori ty of the
benefi ts of defragmentation, i ncludi ng a range of advanced features not avail able i n previous versi ons of
Wi ndows Disk Defragmenter.

Furthermore, as tradi ti onal hard dri ves are bei ng phased out i n favor of much faster soluti ons l ike SSDs
whi ch don't requi re the use of a defragmentati on util i ty, I don't bel i eve i t is a wi se i nvestment to purchase a
thi rd party defragmentation tool now. The money i s better put towards eventuall y upgradi ng to an SSD
i nstead.

In any case, regardl ess of whether you use the buil t-i n defragmenter or a thi rd party uti li ty, make sure to
defragment your hard dri ves regul arl y as i t i s essenti al to smooth hard dri ve performance.


225

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL

Thi s secti on runs through all the general opti ons avail able under the default Wi ndows 7 Control Panel ,
whi ch is an important central l ocati on for accessi ng most of the Wi ndows setti ngs on your system. The
Wi ndows Control Panel can be accessed by cl i cki ng the Control Panel i tem i n the Start Menu, or by goi ng to
Start>Search Box, control panel and pressi ng Enter.

Al l the i mportant setti ngs whi ch are rel evant to the average home PC user can be accessed through the
Wi ndows Control Panel , but the vast majori ty of these setti ngs and features are al ready covered i n detai l in
the vari ous chapters throughout thi s book, so thi s chapter pri maril y contai ns references to other chapters.
There are however a range of features and setti ngs whi ch do not neatl y fi t i nto any other chapter, and hence
are covered here. By maki ng sure that you systemati cal ly go through al l the components of Wi ndows
Control Panel one by one you wil l i n effect have configured al l the i mportant Windows setti ngs.

Importantl y, i t i s assumed throughout thi s book that Wi ndows Control Panel i s bei ng vi ewed usi ng the
Icons vi ew opti on, as this provi des di rect access to all of the i ndi vi dual components avai labl e. To swi tch to
thi s vi ew i f you haven't al ready, open Wi ndows Control Panel and in the top ri ght corner select ei ther 'Large
i cons' or 'Small i cons' i n the 'Vi ew by' l ist. Onl y the defaul t Windows 7 Control Panel components are
covered i n thi s chapter, though some edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7 may not have al l the Control Panel i tems
because particular features are not avai labl e i n certain edi ti ons, and thi s is noted where rel evant throughout
thi s book.

< CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL
Thi rd party appl i cations can i nstal l Wi ndows Control Panel i tems whi ch may be undesi rabl e, parti cularly as
they can add cl utter to the Wi ndows Control Panel . Thi s secti on provi des methods for fi ndi ng and removi ng
these components. These methods do not uni nstal l or otherwi se harm the functi onali ty associ ated wi th the
components, they si mpl y prevent the relevant components from bei ng di spl ayed i n Wi ndows Control Panel.

The easi est method to hi de any Wi ndows Control Panel i tem, whether a defaul t Wi ndows component or one
i nstal l ed by a thi rd party program, is to use the Local Group Policy Edi tor - see the Hi de Speci fi c Control
Panel Items tip i n the Group Poli cy chapter.

However Local Group Policy Edi tor is onl y availabl e i n the Ul ti mate and Enterpri se edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7,
so i f you do not have access to i t, there are other methods for removi ng Wi ndows Control Panel i tems. Many
thi rd party appl i cations install .CPL fil es whi ch are small applicati ons designed to run i n the Wi ndows
Control Panel . Removi ng the rel evant .CPL fil e wil l remove that component from Wi ndows Control Panel.
You can see a li st of common thi rd party .CPL fi l es i n thi s Wi kipedi a Arti cle. You can fi nd these .CPL fil es
typi call y stored under the \Windows\System32 fol der, or i n the program's own di rectories, or you can
i ni tiate a system-wi de search for all .CPL fil es. Once the fi l e i s found, cl ose the Wi ndows Control Panel,
temporaril y del ete the suspected .CPL fil e to the Recycl e Bi n, reopen Wi ndows Control Panel and i f you
removed the correct fi l e the component should no l onger be vi si bl e.


226

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

You can also check the Wi ndows Regi stry for Windows Control Panel components. Go to the fol l owi ng
l ocati ons i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Cont r ol
Panel \ Cpl s]

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er \ Cont r ol Pa
nel \ NameSpace]

The keys and values l ocated beneath the subfol ders above contai n entri es whi ch relate to Wi ndows Control
Panel components, both thi rd party and defaul t Windows components. However remember that del eting a
Regi stry entry cannot be undone, so make sure you create a backup of the rel evant branch and/or the enti re
Regi stry as covered i n the Wi ndows Regi stry chapter before del eti ng anythi ng. You may have to restart
Wi ndows or logoff and l ogon to see the changes made i n the Registry i n the Windows Control Panel .

The remai nder of thi s chapter covers the i ndi vi dual defaul t Wi ndows Control Panel components.

< ACTION CENTER
The Wi ndows Acti on Center i s a central l ocati on for Wi ndows to provi de a range of al erts, and for users to
qui ckly access a range of important features. The Securi ty secti on of the Acti on Center i s covered i n the PC
Securi ty chapter, and the Mai ntenance secti on of Acti on Center i s covered i n the Performance Measurement
& Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

< ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS
The Admi ni strati ve Tools are a range of util i ti es for access to advanced confi gurati on and moni tori ng
features of Wi ndows. They are pri marily designed for System Admi ni strators, so some of the uti l i ties and
functi ons are not useful to normal home PC users. However I provi de detail s of the main Admi ni strati ve
Tool s and point out thei r most useful aspects for the average user bel ow:

COMPONENT SERVICES
Thi s uti li ty all ows you to confi gure and admi ni ster Component Object Model (COM) components. The tool
i s designed for software devel opers and network admi ni strators, and i s not covered i n thi s book.

COMPUTER MANAGEMENT
Thi s uti li ty provi des access to a combinati on of several admi nistrati ve and system tool s i ncl udi ng Disk
Management, Event Vi ewer, Task Schedul er, Devi ce Manager, Performance Moni tor and Servi ces - see the
rel evant sections of thi s book for more detai ls on each of these.

DATA SOURCES (ODBC)
Thi s tool lets you add and confi gure drivers for managi ng access to data on vari ous database management
systems. Unless you use databases extensi vely on your machi ne, you can i gnore thi s tool as i t i s not rel evant
to the average home PC user, and won't be covered i n thi s book.

EVENT VIEWER
The Event Viewer i s a useful troubl eshooti ng tool whi ch shows a l og of system events. These events are
recorded by Wi ndows over ti me, and reflect i nformati on al erts, warni ngs and errors that have occurred to
date. See the Event Vi ewer secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.


227

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

ISCSI INITIATOR
The i SCSI Initi ator i s a management i nterface for i SCSI devi ces. These devi ces can be di sks, tapes or other
storage components which are connected to a network. The iSCSI Ini ti ator i ni tiates the connecti on and
control of these target devices, thus i t i s not relevant to the average home PC user as i t i s mai nl y used for
remote storage over a network, and won't be covered in thi s book.

LOCAL SECURITY POLICY
Thi s tool allows you to establi sh and al ter securi ty-rel ated setti ngs. The mai n purpose i s to al l ow an
Admi nistrator to l i mi t or control the usage ri ghts of other user accounts on the system or a network. For
more detai ls see the Local Securi ty Poli cy secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.

PERFORMANCE MONITOR
Thi s tool allows you to moni tor the usage of major system resources. It is covered i n detail under the
Performance Moni tor section of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooting chapter.

PRINT MANAGEMENT
Thi s tool all ows you to manager pri nt servers and pri nters connected to the PC. Detail s of i ts usage are i n

SERVICES
Thi s tool is extremel y useful i n configuri ng service usage under Wi ndows. See the Servi ces chapter for full
detail s of this feature.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
The Mi crosoft System Confi gurati on tool , also known as MSConfi g, is covered i n detai l under rel evant
secti ons of the Boot Confi gurati on, Startup Programs and Servi ces chapters.

TASK SCHEDULER
Task Scheduler functi onality i s covered under the Background Tasks secti on of the Servi ces chapter.

WINDOWS FIREWALL WITH ADVANCED SECURITY
Thi s feature is covered i n the Wi ndows Fi rewall section of the PC Securi ty chapter.

WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC
The Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c tool i s a system memory (RAM) troubleshooti ng util i ty. Its functi onal i ty
i s covered i n detai l under the Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c section of the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

WINDOWS POWERSHELL MODULES
The Windows PowerShel l i s a command l i ne i nterface combi ned wi th a powerful scri pti ng language, and is
designed for use by system admi ni strators and very advanced home users who want to wri te scri pts for
automati ng parti cular tasks i n Windows. PowerShel l is beyond the scope of thi s book, however you can refer
to thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for a general overvi ew of usi ng PowerShell , this Microsoft Arti cle for changes i n
PowerShel l under Wi ndows 7, thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for more detai l s of scri pti ng wi th PowerShell , as well as
the PowerShel l Pack for addi ti onal scri pts to downl oad.


228

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< AUTOPLAY
AutoPlay functi onali ty i s covered under the AutoPlay secti on of the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter.

< BACKUP AND RESTORE
Backup and Restore provides access to a range of functi onali ty whi ch is covered i n ful l detail i n the Backup
& Recovery chapter.

< BITLOCKER DRIVE ENCRYPTION
Bi tLocker Drive Encrypti on i s a securi ty feature avai labl e onl y i n Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate and Enterpri se. It i s
covered i n more detai l under the Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on section of the PC Securi ty chapter.

< COLOR MANAGEMENT
Wi ndows Col or Management i s a tool whi ch all ows you to ensure that the col ors di spl ayed on your screen
are accurate and wi ll be reproduced fai thfull y across a range of devi ces. For accurate col or reproducti on i t i s
very i mportant that your moni tor have proper dri vers l oaded i n Wi ndows - these shoul d be avai labl e from
your moni tor manufacturer's si te. Al so see the Wi ndows Dri ver chapter for detai ls of how to check and
update devi ce dri vers as necessary.

Note that there i s a known bug whereby i nstal li ng a moni tor dri ver wi l l make the background of Wi ndows
Photo Gal l ery take on a yel l ow ti nge instead of being whi te. To fi x thi s remove the new col or profil e from
Col or Management and use the defaul t Wi ndows profi le as covered i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

The average home PC user shoul d not change these setti ngs as they requi re speci al ist knowl edge. However
you can cali brate your di spl ay col or more easil y using the buil t-in Di splay Color Cali brati on uti li ty whi ch is
covered under the Display Setti ngs section of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< CREDENTIAL MANAGER
Credenti al Manager is a central l ocati on for holdi ng usernames and passwords for qui cker access to
protected resources. It i s covered i n more detail under the Backi ng Up & Restori ng Passwords secti on of the

< DATE AND TIME
It i s i mportant that you have the correct system date and ti me. Some software wi l l not functi on properly
unl ess these are set and mai ntai ned correctl y. There are also addi ti onal features you may wish to confi gure
here to customi ze the displ ay of date and ti me on your system.

DATE AND TIME
Make sure the date and time are set correctl y here. Cl i ck the 'Change date and ti me' button i f necessary and
set the current date and time. Note that cl i cki ng the 'Change cal endar setti ngs' li nk takes you to a Customize
format screen whi ch i s covered i n more detail under the Regi on and Language secti on later i n thi s chapter.

Make sure to set the correct Ti me Zone for your regi on as wel l by cl i cki ng the 'Change Ti me Zone' button, as
thi s wil l affect the way changes li ke Dayli ght Savings wil l i mpact on your system. I strongl y recommend
ti cki ng the 'Automati cally adjust cl ock for Dayli ght Savi ngs Ti me' so that your cl ock is automati cal ly
adjusted back or forward when Daylight Savi ngs occurs i n your area. If necessary al so ti ck the Noti fy me
when the cl ock changes' box on the mai n screen so that Wi ndows can provi de i nformati on i n advance
regardi ng any scheduled ti me changes such as Daylight Savi ngs.


229

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

ADDITIONAL CLOCKS
Under Wi ndows 7 you can show up to two addi ti onal cl ocks i n different ti me zones from your mai n system
cl ock. Cli ck the 'Show thi s cl ock' box above each of the cl ocks you wi sh to show, set the ti me zone for the
cl ock(s), and I recommend nami ng the cl ock(s) wi th sui tabl e names such as the name of a ci ty or the ti me
zone you have chosen. The cl ock name(s) and the ti me for each cl ock wi ll then appear whenever you hover
your mouse cursor over the ti me di splay i n the Notifi cati on Area on the l ower ri ght corner of the Taskbar.

INTERNET TIME
By defaul t Wi ndows updates your system cl ock over the Internet once a week to ensure i ts accuracy. If you
wi sh to di sabl e thi s opti on or manuall y update your cl ock at any ti me, cli ck the 'Change setti ngs' button. To
update manuall y i mmediatel y, cli ck the 'Update now' button. To di sabl e the automati c update functi onali ty,
unti ck the 'Synchronize wi th an Internet ti me server' opti on. If for some reason the system ti me i s not
updati ng or is i naccurate, cl i ck the drop down box and sel ect another ti me server for Wi ndows to connect to
for thi s purpose. I recommend all owi ng Wi ndows to update the cl ock automati cal ly, as i t has no
performance i mpact and hel ps prevent the cl ock from sl owl y becomi ng more and more i naccurate over time
for a vari ety of reasons.

< DEFAULT PROGRAMS
Thi s component al l ows you to set the defaul t programs and fil e associati ons Windows uses. These determi ne
whi ch program opens a parti cular type of fi l e by defaul t. Each of the sub-opti ons i s covered i n more detail
bel ow:

SET YOUR DEFAULT PROGRAMS
Thi s opti on provi des a l ist of programs whi ch are the defaul t handl ers for the common Wi ndows file
associati ons such as i mage fi l es, mul ti media fil es, email s and web pages. Sel ect a l isted program, and i n the
ri ght pane you wi ll see that you can ei ther 'Set thi s program as defaul t' whi ch basi cal l y sets the program as
the defaul t one for al l the fi le types i t can open; or you can manuall y choose whi ch fi l e types i t can open by
cl i cki ng the 'Choose defaul ts for thi s program'. For exampl e i f you sel ect Wi ndows Media Player, you can
ei ther let i t automati call y become the defaul t for all the rel evant media types i t can support, or see detai ls of
the specifi c file types and choose from them manual ly.

In general I recommend that you do not al ter these setti ngs unless you have speci fi c strong preferences, or
you know a certai n program i s probl emati c wi th certai n fil e types. If you do want to manuall y assi gn a
defaul t program to a particular fil e type, i t i s qui cker and more thorough to use the 'Associate a fi le type or
protocol wi th a program' opti on bel ow. Changi ng the setti ngs usi ng the more thorough fi l e associ ation
method wi ll al so add your programs to the Programs l i st here.

ASSOCIATE A FILE TYPE OR PROTOCOL WITH A PROGRAM
Thi s opti on al l ows you to manuall y vi ew and set the defaul t program to be used when openi ng a fil e wi th a
parti cul ar type of extensi on. For exampl e you can choose the program whi ch wi l l open all .MP3 audi o fi les,
or all .PDF document fil es on your system by default. It doesn't prevent other programs from openi ng these
fi les, i t si mply chooses the program whi ch Wi ndows wil l automati cal ly use when a fil e of that type i s
l aunched. Note, i f you can't see fil e extensi ons for your fi l es then make sure the 'Hi de extensi ons for known
fi le types' opti on i s unti cked i n Fol der Opti ons - see the Folder Opti ons section of the Windows Expl orer
chapter.

When you fi rst open thi s tool , i t may take a moment for i t to popul ate the l ist of all fil e types on your system
and thei r associ ated defaul t programs. You can then scroll down the l i st to vi ew the associati ons, and note
that where 'Unknown appl i cati on' is l isted, that means there i s no defaul t for that fi l e type. To change the


230

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

associati on for a parti cular fi le extensi on, hi ghl ight i t and cl i ck the 'Change program' button at the top ri ght
of the wi ndow. If i t al ready has a defaul t program, i t wi l l be shown and recommended. To vi ew addi ti onal
programs whi ch can handl e thi s fil e type, cli ck the smal l down arrow to expand the 'Other Programs'
category. To add a new program to the l i st, cl i ck the Browse button and go to the mai n executabl e for the
speci fi c program you wi sh to use.

If you have probl ems wi th an associati on constantl y changi ng back to an undesi rabl e program after having
set i t here, remember that when i nstal ling certai n programs, they may automati call y make themsel ves the
defaul t program for parti cul ar fi l e types, often wi thout aski ng your permissi on. Some programs al so
reassociate themsel ves wi th thei r fi l e types each ti me you l aunch them. You shoul d therefore go i nto the
opti ons for the parti cular program whi ch i s currentl y associated wi th a fil e and check for any setti ngs or file
associati ons there, and al ter or di sabl e them fi rst before coming here and changi ng fil e associ ati ons
manuall y, otherwi se the program may overri de the associati on agai n.

You can even associate common protocol s such as HTTP (web pages) and MAILTO (emai l) wi th a parti cular
program here at the bottom of the l i st under the Protocol s category. For exampl e i f you change the MAILTO
protocol handl er, thi s wi ll affect the defaul t program used when you l aunch email l i nks i n web pages. Note
that Wi ndows al so al l ows you to change the SEARCH protocol , al l owi ng you to associate some of the buil t-
i n Wi ndows Search functionali ty wi th a thi rd-party search provi der - see the Windows Search chapter.

CHANGE AUTOPLAY SETTINGS
The AutoPl ay setti ngs here are al ready covered i n ful l detai l under the AutoPlay secti on of the Dri ve
Opti mi zati on chapter.

SET PROGRAM ACCESS AND COMPUTER DEFAULTS
Thi s secti on al l ows you to qui ckly set the defaul ts for key functi ons i n Wi ndows: Internet browsi ng, Email ,
Media playback, Instant messagi ng, and Java vi rtual machi ne. Importantl y, i t al so al l ows you to block
parti cul ar buil t-i n Wi ndows programs, effecti vel y di sabl i ng them. The mai n reason for these opti ons existing
i s that Mi crosoft has been charged wi th monopol i sti c behavi or and as part of the terms of settl ement of a
case agai nst them, they are requi red to provi de users wi th the opti on to disable certai n bui lt-i n programs
such as Internet Expl orer and Wi ndows Media Player whi ch cannot otherwi se be uni nstalled. Thi s i s also
part of the reason why there is no l onger a bui l t-i n Wi ndows Mai l cl ient, as covered i n the Wi ndows Live
Mai l chapter.

I recommend that you select the Custom opti on, whi ch wil l expand to all ow you to customi ze programs
under several categori es. Choose your defaul t programs, and I strongl y recommend that you do not untick
the 'Enabl e access to thi s program' opti on for Internet Expl orer or Wi ndows Media Player, as both of these
may be required to vi ew certai n web pages or play certai n medi a sources. If you wi sh to safel y remove
certai n bui l t-in Wi ndows features al together, such as Internet Expl orer or Windows Media Player, see the
Programs and Features secti on later i n thi s chapter.

< DESKTOP GADGETS
Desktop Gadgets can di spl ay a range of useful i nformati on on the Wi ndows Desktop. This functi onal i ty i s
covered i n more detai l under the Gadgets secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< DEVICE MANAGER
The Devi ce Manager i s an i mportant hardware management tool whose functi onali ty is covered i n detail
under the System Specifi cati ons, BIOS & Hardware Management and Dri ve Opti mizati on chapters.


231

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< DEVICES AND PRINTERS
Devi ces and Pri nters i s a new Wi ndows 7 feature covered i n detail under the Devi ces and Printers secti on of
the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.

< DISPLAY
The Di spl ay functi ons are all covered i n the Di spl ay Setti ngs secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< EASE OF ACCESS CENTER
There are a range of features here that can be used to accommodate different keyboard usage styl es, make
Wi ndows easi er to see on screen, or provi de audi ble noti fi cati on of events for exampl e. The setti ngs you
choose wi ll depend on your i ndi vidual requi rements. If you want to fi nd out more about these opti ons go to
the Windows 7 Accessi bi lity Page. The majori ty of users wil l not need to enable or use these setti ngs, and
should leave them at thei r defaul ts.

Some functi onali ty found here may be desi rable for any user, so if i n doubt, go through al l the setti ngs and
experi ment to see i f somethi ng sui ts you. For exampl e, you can sel ect the 'Make the mouse easi er to use'
opti on and then change both the col or and si ze of the mouse poi nter. Al ternati vel y, you may wi sh to disabl e
the Aero Snap feature by ti cki ng the 'Prevent wi ndows from bei ng automati call y arranged when moved to
the edge of the screen' option. See the Graphi cs & Sound chapter for coverage of general features i n thi s area
whi ch potentiall y relate to all users.

< FOLDER OPTIONS
Thi s feature is covered i n ful l detail under the Fol der Opti ons section of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.

< FONTS
Thi s feature is covered i n full detail , along wi th other font-related functi onal i ty, i n the Fonts secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< GETTING STARTED
Thi s feature si mpl y provi des a range of l i nks to common Wi ndows features whi ch Mi crosoft beli eves users
woul d wi sh to vi si t shortl y after i nstall i ng Wi ndows 7. All of the functi ons li nked to here are covered i n their
respecti ve chapters throughout thi s book, and by i tsel f thi s i s not a parti cularly useful component of the
Wi ndows Control Panel.

< HOMEGROUP
HomeGroup i s a new Wi ndows 7 feature desi gned for maki ng the shari ng of fi l es and pri nters much easier
on a home network. To create or joi n a HomeGroup, your network l ocati on type must be set to 'Home
Network' - see the Network and Shari ng Center section i n thi s chapter for more detail s. When thi s network
l ocati on is chosen - whether duri ng Wi ndows install ation or at any poi nt afterwards - Wi ndows
automati cal ly enabl es the HomeGroup feature, the most obvi ous component of whi ch i s a new category
call ed HomeGroup vi si bl e i n the Navi gati on Pane of Wi ndows Expl orer.

To create a HomeGroup, cli ck the 'Create a homegroup' button i n the mai n HomeGroup wi ndow and fol l ow
the prompts. When you enabl e the HomeGroup feature, a new opti on also appears i n the Command Bar in
Wi ndows Expl orer, cal l ed 'Share wi th'. Thi s all ows you to sel ect a parti cular file, fol der or Library, cli ck the
'Share wi th' button and choose how to share i t wi th others on the home network. Thi s feature won't be
covered i n this book i n greater detail .


232

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

If you do not wi sh to use thi s feature, to di sable HomeGroup and remove the HomeGroup category i n the
Navi gati on Pane of Wi ndows Expl orer, cli ck the 'Leave the homegroup' l i nk i n the main HomeGroup
wi ndow, then select 'Leave the homegroup' agai n i n the prompt. Fi nal ly, set the 'HomeGroup Li stener' and
'HomeGroup Provi der' servi ces to di sabl ed i f you wi sh to permanentl y prevent thi s feature from restarti ng -
see the Servi ces chapter for more detail s.

< INDEXING OPTIONS
Thi s tool control s the i ndexi ng of fi les and fol ders used as part of the Wi ndows Search functi onali ty. Thi s
functi on i s covered i n more detai l under the Search Index secti on of the Wi ndows Search chapter.

< INTERNET OPTIONS
Thi s component bri ngs up the Internet Expl orer 'Internet Properti es' box. There i s no di fference between
accessi ng i t here and accessi ng from withi n Internet Expl orer, so see the Internet Expl orer chapter for ful l
detail s of how to confi gure these options. Note if you are usi ng another browser as the system defaul t
browser then cl i cki ng thi s i tem wi l l stil l bri ng up the Internet Expl orer 'Internet Properti es' box - thi s i s
normal and cannot be changed.

< KEYBOARD
Thi s component provi des access to keyboard-related setti ngs i n Wi ndows. Under the Speed tab, I
recommend you set the 'Repeat Del ay' sli der to the far ri ght (Short) and al so set the 'Repeat Rate' sl i der to the
far ri ght (Fast). This wil l provi de maxi mum responsi veness for your keyboard, wi th the l east delay between
keystrokes. You can test these setti ngs by typi ng or hol di ng down a key i n the small test box provi ded. Note
that there may also be keyboard-related opti ons i n your BIOS that affect the speed wi th which the keyboard
responds, so check there if you fi nd your keyboard sti l l feel s sl uggi sh. You can also adjust the 'Cursor Bli nk
Rate' to your taste, and then cl i ck OK to appl y.

< LOCATION AND OTHER SENSORS
New to Wi ndows 7, Locati ons and Other Sensors al l ows your PC and i ts programs to adapt thei r behavi or
based on detected geographi cal l ocati on and envi ronmental changes. For exampl e, if equipped wi th a li ght
sensor, the PC can automati call y di m or bri ghten the di splay dependi ng on the l evel of ambient l i ght around
the PC. Si milarly, wi th a GPS devi ce the PC coul d determi ne your geographical l ocati on and automati call y
customize l ocali zati on and provi de i nformati on that i s more rel evant to your ci rcumstances. When you open
thi s component, any appropri ate sensors i nstal l ed on your PC wil l be shown. Wi thout rel evant sensors, thi s
functi onali ty i s not possi ble. Any sensor can be enabl ed or di sabled if desired, and noti fi cati ons regardi ng
sensor usage are show i n the Notifi cati on Area.

Si nce thi s feature i s dependent on appropri ate hardware bei ng i nstall ed on a PC, and si nce many PCs do not
currentl y have such hardware, i t won't be covered i n detail i n thi s book.

< MOUSE
Thi s component al l ows you to confi gure your mouse-related setti ngs. If you've install ed a thi rd party mouse
dri ver for your mouse, you may see different setti ngs avai labl e under thi s screen, however the basi c setti ngs
descri bed below should stil l be available on most systems. Any opti ons not covered can be set to sui t your
taste as they have no i mpact on performance.

BUTTONS
Adjust the doubl e-cli ck speed to the rate whi ch suits your usage patterns, and test i t on the i mage of the
fol der provi ded. I general ly recommend setti ng a slower double-cl i ck speed so that you can open fi les and
fol ders more comfortably.


233

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

POINTER OPTIONS
Adjust the mouse cursor movement speed usi ng the Moti on sl i der. However I recommend ti cki ng the
'Enhance pointer preci si on' opti on before you adjust your poi nter speed. Thi s opti on enhances the
accelerati on/decel erati on of your mouse to al l ow for larger movements when you move the mouse fast, and
fi ner movements when you move the mouse more sl owly, gi vi ng you greater preci si on when needed whi l e
also provi di ng faster coverage of your Desktop.

WHEEL
If your mouse has a mousewheel , you can i ncrease or decrease the wheel 's responsi veness by al teri ng the
number of l i nes i t wil l scroll on each turn of the wheel under the Verti cal Scrol li ng opti on. For exampl e, even
an i ncrease from the defaul t of 3 to 4 wi ll make a subtl e but noti ceabl e di fference i f you previ ously found the
mousewheel relati vel y unresponsi ve. The same goes for Horizontal Scroll i ng, whi ch determi nes how fast the
screen scroll s l eft or right when you use a ti l t wheel on a supported mouse.

< NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER
The Network and Shari ng Center provi des a vi sual representati on of your current network setup and all ows
you to further customize and troubl eshoot your connecti on setti ngs. Note that detai l ed network setting
confi gurati on advi ce i s beyond the scope of thi s book, as i t i s a very compl ex topi c whi ch vari es greatl y
based on the type of connecti on and hardware i nvol ved. Furthermore Wi ndows detects and sets up your
network/Internet connecti on automaticall y and does a good job of i t, as l ong as you have correct devi ce
dri vers for your hardware, so generall y speaki ng there i s no need to al ter these setti ngs beyond the
functi onali ty covered bel ow:

Network Location: When you fi rst i nstall Wi ndows 7 you are prompted to choose your current l ocati on which
i n turn determi nes your network type. The avai labl e choi ces for network l ocation are Home Network, Work
Network and Publ i c Network. You can vi ew your current network l ocati on at any ti me by cli cki ng the
network i con i n your Notifi cati on Area, and you can change i t by cl i cki ng the current network l ocati on link
under the 'View your acti ve networks' secti on of Network and Shari ng Center.

The di fference between the network l ocati ons are descri bed i n this Mi crosoft Arti cl e. For the average home
user wi th a standal one PC and a connecti on to the Internet, I strongl y recommend Publi c Network, as thi s is
the most pri vate and secure setti ng. Choose the Work Network opti on onl y i f you're connected to a trusted
network of other work PCs. Si mil arl y, onl y choose the Home Network l ocation i f you are connected to a
network of trusted and secure PCs wi thin your own home.

Importantl y, remember that the network l ocati on affects whether the HomeGroup setti ng i s enabl ed - see the
HomeGroup secti on earl ier i n thi s chapter. Furthermore the network l ocati on you choose al so affects the
profil e used in the Wi ndows Fi rewall , so see the Wi ndows Fi rewall secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter to
ensure that your setti ngs for your profi le are appropri ate.

Connections: The connecti ons secti on shows the types of connecti on(s) currentl y enabl ed on your system.
Thi s is usually set automati call y based on the type of network devi ce you have connected or i nstal led on
your PC. Cl i ck the connecti on li nk to see more details on the device, and cl i ck the Detai l s button to see even
more detail s. If you're havi ng probl ems wi th your connecti on, cl i ck the Diagnose button and fol l ow the
prompts. If no probl em i s found but your devi ce i s sti l l not working correctl y, go to the main Network and
Shari ng Center wi ndow and sel ect the 'Troubl eshoot probl ems' l ink at the bottom. Thi s provi des access to
tool s for troubl eshooti ng any network-rel ated issues, covered further i n the Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the


234

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

For advanced configuration of your network devi ce, cli ck the connecti on l i nk on the main Network and
Shari ng Center wi ndow, then cli ck the Properti es button. Here you can see the vari ous cli ents, servi ces and
protocol s this connecti on uses, whi ch agai n should not be al tered unl ess you know what you are doing
and/or you are referri ng to your devi ce documentati on or detail ed instructi ons.

Bel ow are my recommendati ons for a standard Internet connecti on vi a a modem or router on a home PC not
connected to a network of other PCs:

You can safely unti ck the fol l owi ng i tems:

Cl i ent for Mi crosoft Networks
QoS Packet Scheduler
Fi l e and Pri nter Shari ng for Mi crosoft Networks

The above features are i ntended pri mari l y for PCs connected to a network of other PCs, and hence are not
needed by the average non-networked home PC for normal Internet access. They are compl etel y safe to
di sabl e, however if at any poi nt you experi ence reduced functi onal i ty or problems, re-enabl e them al l agai n.

Importantl y, if you are concerned or curi ous about the newer IPv6 protocol enabl ed by defaul t i n Wi ndows 7
and Vista before i t, see this Mi crosoft Arti cl e for more detail s. I do not recommend di sabli ng IPv6 or IPv4, as
there i s no real performance benefi t, and i ndeed certai n Wi ndows features such as HomeGroup are wholl y
rel iant on IPv6 and wi ll not functi on correctl y wi thout i t. Unless you are an advanced user wi th detail ed
experi ence i n thi s area, do not al ter any setti ngs here.

Sharing: Cli ck the 'Change advanced shari ng setti ngs' l i nk i n the left pane to access fi l e and fol der shari ng
opti ons for each type of network l ocation profil e. Your currentl y used profi l e wi ll be denoted by '(current
profil e)' at the top, so confi gure i t first and foremost. For standal one home PC users, you can turn off
network di scovery, fi l e and pri nter shari ng, and Publi c fol der shari ng. Conversely, you shoul d turn on
password protected shari ng for greater securi ty, even though there i s nothi ng to be shared, as the al ternati ve
i s to have unprotected shari ng. If you are on a home or work network, then you wi ll have to go through
these opti ons more carefully and only enabl e the features whi ch suit your needs.

Note that to test your Internet speed and compare with others, you can use the free Speedtest onl i ne servi ce.

Once agai n, I strongl y suggest l eavi ng the setti ngs here at thei r defaul ts i f you are not sure of what to
change. There i s far more potenti al to do harm than good by changi ng these setti ngs, especial l y i f you wi nd
up di sconnecti ng yourself from the Internet for exampl e and hence have no easy way to seek outside
assi stance and i nformati on to recti fy the probl em. The defaul t Wi ndows setti ngs here are al ready qui te
opti mal and don't need any tweaki ng in most ci rcumstances to provi de excel lent performance and stabil i ty.
Indi vi dual devi ces may have speci fi c probl ems whi ch can be resol ved by checki ng your hardware
manufacturer's websi te.

< NOTIFICATION AREA ICONS
The Noti fi cati on Area i s the area at the far ri ght of the Taskbar, and is covered i n more detail i n the
Noti fi cation Area secti on of the Graphics & Sound chapter.

< PARENTAL CONTROLS
The Parental Control s feature i s designed to l et an Admi nistrator set parti cular l i mi tati ons on specifi c User
Accounts. See the Parental Control s section of the User Accounts chapter for more detai ls.


235

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< PERFORMANCE INFORMATION AND TOOLS
Thi s component takes you to a range of tools whi ch are useful i n measuri ng and adjusti ng performance-
related features on your system. Full detai ls of al l of these tool s can be found i n vari ous chapters i ncludi ng
the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng, Graphi cs & Sound and Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapters.

< PERSONALIZATION
Thi s component provi des a range of features desi gned to all ow you to al ter the appearance and sound of
Wi ndows 7. They are covered i n more detai l i n the Personal izati on secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< PHONE AND MODEM
Thi s opti on l ets you configure any connected phone or modem devi ces. Thi s i s general ly a legacy opti on and
won't be covered i n detai l in thi s book.

< POWER OPTIONS
The Power Opti ons all ow you to appl y or change a power pl an. These i mpact on the power consumpti on
and i dle behavi or of Wi ndow, and i mportantl y, can also have an impact on overall performance.

There are three preset level s of power pl ans: Balanced, Power Saver and Hi gh Performance. These are
descri bed further i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. I strongly recommend that rather than usi ng a preset l evel , you
create an entirel y new custom power plan and i ndi vidual ly customi ze each of the setti ngs, si nce none of the
presets i s exactl y right for any system. To customize your own settings, foll ow these steps:

1. Cl i ck the 'Create a power pl an' li nk i n the l eft pane.
2. I suggest choosi ng 'Hi gh Performance' as the basi s for your changes, as the other schemes can resul t in
reduced performance.
3. You can gi ve the pl an a descri pti ve name, or use the defaul t whi ch is fi ne.
4. I recommend turni ng off the di splay after a set peri od of system i nacti vi ty, as thi s has no performance
i mpact and does no harm to the moni tor, but prevents energy waste and potenti al i mage retenti on on
LCD or Pl asma di splays. The defaul t of 20 mi nutes is reasonabl e.
5. I don't recommend enabl i ng the Sl eep functi onali ty (sel ect Never), see further bel ow for details.
6. Cl i ck the Create button to create the new power plan.
7. In the mai n Power Opti ons wi ndow, you must then cl i ck the 'Change plan setti ngs' l i nk next to the name
of the new plan you have created.
8. Cl i ck the 'Change advanced power setti ng' li nk.
9. A new 'Advanced setti ngs' wi ndow wi ll open wi th a range of detai led setti ngs.
10. Cl i ck the small plus sign next to each and every setting to full y expand them one by one, changi ng them
i ndi vi duall y as covered bel ow. Note that you shoul d cl i ck the 'Change setti ngs that are currentl y
unavail abl e' li nk at the top of the wi ndow to ensure al l setti ngs are avai labl e to you.

The advanced power settings are explai ned i ndi viduall y bel ow. Note that i f you have a mobi l e PC, you can
access the Power Opti ons by cl i cki ng your battery i con i n the Noti ficati on Area. You may also see addi ti onal
opti ons rel ating to battery use here - my recommendati ons bel ow are for a standard desktop home PC:

Require a password on wakeup: When waking up from sleep mode, if set to Yes thi s opti on forces you to reenter
the password (if one exists) for the current User Account to unl ock the PC. Set to sui t your securi ty needs.

Hard Disk - Turn off hard disk after: Set thi s to the number of mi nutes of i nactivi ty before your hard drive i s
turned off. I recommend sel ecti ng Never to mai ntain maxi mum responsi veness; hard dri ves are best not
swi tched on and off constantl y.


236

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

Desktop background settings - Slide show: Determi nes whether the Sl i de Show feature for Desktop Backgrounds
i s Avai lable, or i s Paused by defaul t. Set to sui t your taste, and has no i mpact i f you haven't enabl ed the Sl ide
Show (i.e. you have only sel ected a si ngl e Desktop wal l paper) - see the Personal izati on secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

Wireless Adapter Settings - Power Saving Mode: If you have a wi rel ess network adapter connected to your
system, select a power saving mode. For maxi mum responsi veness sel ect 'Maxi mum Performance'.

The fol l owi ng secti ons all ow you to use Sl eep, Hybri d Sl eep and Hi bernate modes whi ch replace the
Standby mode i n Wi ndows XP. These modes are covered i n more detai l bel ow, as well as i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e.

Sleep - Sleep after: This opti on l ets you choose how l ong a peri od of i nacti vi ty i s requi red before your system
goes to Sl eep. Sl eep is a power-savi ng mode desi gned as a compromi se between total l y switchi ng off your
PC and leaving i t runni ng at ful l functionali ty. It i s pri mari ly i ntended for mobi l e PC users who need to
conserve power but also mai ntai n responsi veness. In Sl eep mode your PC turns off most of i ts components
and saves your documents to RAM. Thus i t uses mini mal power (l ess than 3W) and appears to be i nacti ve,
but i t can be 'woken up' almost i nstantly by pressi ng the Power button or openi ng the li d. The probl em i s
that whi l e data i s stored in RAM, i t i s suscepti bl e to data l oss through sudden l oss of power for exampl e -
Hybri d Sl eep mi ti gates agai nst thi s risk.

Sleep - Allow Hybrid Sleep: In this section you can choose whether to enabl e Hybri d Sl eep mode or not.
Hybri d Sleep mode i s the same as Sleep mode covered above, however i nstead of saving your open
documents, programs and system state to RAM, it saves them to a Hiberfil.sys fi l e i n your dri ve's base
di rectory, provi di ng added securi ty against potenti al data l oss. This fil e is exactly the same size as your used
system RAM and the act of wri ti ng to i t when enteri ng Hybri d Sl eep and reading from i t duri ng waki ng up
may bri efl y make the system l ess responsi ve. Note that sel ecti ng the Sl eep option from the shutdown menu
when Hybri d Sleep is enabl ed wi ll put your system i nto Hybri d Sl eep not normal Sl eep.

Sleep - Hibernate after: This opti on al l ows you to configure Hi bernati on, whi ch i s the same as Hybri d Sl eep i n
that i t wi ll wri te your open documents, programs and system state to the Hiberfil.sys fi l e after a peri od of
i nacti vi ty as speci fi ed here. However unl ike Sl eep or Hybrid Sleep, rather than putti ng your system into a
power-savi ng mode, i t al l ows you to turn off the enti re PC and l eave i t that way for as l ong as you l ike. You
can then turn the system back on i n the future to fi nd that your previ ous sessi on wi l l be restored as you left
i t. It both saves power and protects against data l oss, but takes sl i ghtl y l onger to get back to your Desktop.

For a mobil e PC, Hybri d Sl eep or Hi bernati on are good opti ons. However I recommend agai nst usi ng any of
the Sl eep-related modes on a desktop PC i f you val ue system stabi lity and performance. A fresh reboot every
day or two uses more power and requi res more ti me at startup, but provi des the most stabl e and opti mal
Wi ndows envi ronment by cl eani ng out the contents of your system and vi deo memory, resetti ng all
program states, and del eting and recreati ng al l temporary fil es. If you do choose to use a Sl eep mode of any
ki nd, or l eave your PC on for l ong periods at a ti me, at the very least make sure to do a full shutdown and
restart once a week, as recommended i n the Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

Importantl y, whether for Hybri d Sl eep or Hi bernate, if you have di sabl ed these opti ons and do not pl an on
usi ng them, you shoul d al so delete the Hiberfil.sys fil e i f i t exists as i t can be qui te large. However you can't
just del ete i t in Wi ndows Expl orer. You must open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt, then type:


237

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

Power cf g - h of f

Thi s wi ll remove Hiberfil.sys, but wi ll al so remove the Hi bernate and Hybri d Sl eep opti ons from your Power
Opti ons as wel l. These opti ons can be restored at any ti me usi ng the fol l owi ng command i n an
Admi nistrator Command Prompt:

Power cf g - h on

Sleep - Allow wake timers: If you have enabl ed any of the Sl eep-rel ated opti ons above, you can enabl e wake
ti mers, whi ch al l ows the PC to be automati cal ly woken up by scheduled tasks and events, and then return to
i ts sleepi ng state once compl eted. For exampl e you can set the Wi ndows Di sk Defragmenter to wake up your
PC and run a full defrag at 1:00am every Wednesday. See the Background Tasks secti on of the Servi ces
chapter for more detail s of how to confi gure tasks i n thi s manner. If you don't want any task or event to
wake up your PC under any ci rcumstances, set thi s opti on to di sabl ed.

USB settings - USB selective suspend setting: Thi s opti on control s whether the system wi ll sel ecti vel y suspend
i ndi vi dual USB devi ces whi ch do not requi re power. Thi s shoul d be l eft at Di sabl ed to prevent USB devices
becomi ng non-functi onal duri ng a sessi on, unl ess you run a mobi l e PC where power savi ngs are more
i mportant.

Power buttons and lid - Power button action: Thi s is actual l y qui te an i mportant setti ng as i t determi nes what
happens when you press the Power button on your PC. I strongl y recommend setti ng thi s to 'Shut Down'
whi ch is the normal expected behavi or for a power button. However if you've enabled one of the sl eep-
related modes and don't have a dedi cated Sl eep button on your PC, you can change thi s option to Sleep.

Power buttons and lid - Sleep button action: Thi s setti ng determi nes what happens when you press the Sl eep
button - if one exists - on your PC. Set to sui t your taste, though general ly i t woul d make sense to set the
Sl eep button to match the Sl eep functi on.

PCI Express - Link state power management: Thi s setti ng wi l l all ow an i dl e PCI-E connecti on to reduce power
consumpti on dependi ng on the opti on chosen here. Since PCI-E i s most commonl y used for pl ug-i n graphi cs
cards, I strongl y recommend agai nst anythi ng other than Off for thi s setti ng to prevent sl owdowns or
probl ems.

Search and Indexing - Power savings mode: If search i ndexi ng i s enabl ed (See the Search Index secti on of the
Wi ndows Search chapter), thi s opti on determi nes whether to all ow background di sk i ndexi ng to use more or
l ess power by updati ng the i ndex more or l ess frequentl y. For the average home PC user there i s no reason
to attempt to save a small amount of power by setti ng thi s opti on to anythi ng other than 'High Performance'.
Any power savi ngs you mi ght make by l oweri ng thi s setti ng wil l mean that your i ndex wi l l be l ess up to
date and hence l ess useful i n return.

The fol l owi ng setti ngs control any power management features supported by your CPU. Thi s al l ows
Wi ndows to di rect your CPU to throttl e down i ts speed when i t i s not requi red to reduce power
consumpti on, however when greater processi ng speed i s requi red the CPU can i nstantl y jump back to i ts
rated speed to perform the desi red task. These settings work i n conjuncti on wi th your BIOS and hardware's
power management setti ngs, so check your motherboard manual and the BIOS & Hardware Management

Processor power management - Minimum processor state: Thi s setti ng control s the mi ni mum percentage of CPU
performance Wi ndows wi l l throttl e the CPU down to i n order to save power. If you don't want any
throttl i ng, set thi s to 100%. Usuall y a CPU can't throttl e down beyond a certai n poi nt - typi cal l y no l ess than
50% of i ts speed - regardless of how l ow thi s setti ng i s. I recommend setti ng thi s opti on to 50% to al l ow your
CPU to throttl e as far as i t can when i t i s not i n use; thi s wi ll reduce power usage and keep the CPU cool er


238

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

when i ts full power i s not needed, but anyti me an appl i cati on or game requi res i t, the CPU wi l l throttl e back
up to full power i nstantl y.

Processor power management - System cooling policy: Thi s setti ng determi nes how the CPU is control l ed when
i ts temperature ri ses. The Acti ve setti ng wi ll attempt to rai se the fan speed before throttli ng down CPU
speed, whi le the Passi ve setti ng wil l do the reverse. In ei ther case your CPU, fan and motherboard need to
support thi s feature for i t to take effect. I recommend the Acti ve setti ng so that your system fi rst attempts to
i ncrease cool ing to the CPU before reduci ng i ts speed. In practi ce thi s setti ng shoul d not ki ck i n very often i f
you keep your CPU properl y cool ed - see the Hardware Management section of the BIOS & Hardware
Management chapter.

Processor power management - Maximum processor state: Thi s setti ng control s the maxi mum percentage of CPU
performance Wi ndows wi ll al l ow when CPU resources are i n demand. There should be no reason for a
desktop PC to set thi s bel ow 100%, as otherwi se your CPU may have l ower performance preci sel y when you
need the processi ng power.

Display - Turn off display after: This setti ng lets you sel ect the amount of i nacti vi ty before your moni tor i s
swi tched off. It wi l l i nstantl y swi tch on agai n as soon as you press a key or move the mouse. Si nce di splays
use qui te a bi t of power, and si nce LCD and Plasma di splays can suffer from i mage retenti on when
di splayi ng a stati c i mage for too l ong, i t i s wi se to enabl e thi s option and set i t to somethi ng l i ke the defaul t
20 mi nutes of i nacti vi ty. That way when you're away from your PC for l onger peri ods your moni tor goes
i nto standby mode, protecti ng the di spl ay, reduci ng your power usage, and havi ng no impact on your
hardware's performance or stabil i ty si nce moni tors are desi gned to turn off and on frequently.

Multimedia settings - When sharing media: Determi nes your PC's behavi or when your PC i s shari ng or playing
back media from your PC vi a a connected devi ce or to other computer(s). I recommend sel ecti ng 'Prevent
i dli ng to sl eep' so that your PC doesn't enter Sl eep mode, disrupting the medi a stream, unl ess you manuall y
sel ect to put it to Sl eep.

Multimedia settings - When playing video: Thi s setti ng al l ows Wi ndows Media Player to determi ne whether to
opti mi ze for quali ty or power savi ngs when playi ng a vi deo. Unl ess you need to save power on a portabl e
devi ce, on a desktop PC this shoul d be set to 'Opti mi ze vi deo qual i ty' for the best vi deo qual i ty.

There may be addi ti onal setti ngs, or options mi ssi ng, compared to those l isted above. Thi s depends on your
actual hardware and i ts capabi li ti es. Once done wi th these setti ngs cl i ck the Appl y button and then OK and
your scheme wi ll now be confi gured and put i nto effect. You can see thi s under the mai n Power Opti ons
screen - your custom power pl an wil l be sel ected.

In general whi l e there are vali d concerns about Gl obal Warmi ng and the wasteful use of energy and
resources, I bel i eve i t i s fal se economy to enabl e too many power savi ng features as you may reduce the
functi onali ty of your PC, increase i nstabi l i ty and al so potenti al l y resul t i n data l oss if you go overboard. For
gamers and other hi gh-performance users I certai nly don't recommend that most power savi ng opti ons be
used asi de from those recommended above. For mobi l e PC and casual desktop PC users however the
opti ons require some thought based on i ndi vidual usage patterns and the desire to save power or battery
l i fe. Regardless, if you experi ence any system instabi li ty or strange system behavi or, I recommend
temporaril y sel ecti ng the standard 'High performance' preset for troubl eshooting purposes to see i f power-
based setti ngs are the cause of your probl ems.


239

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< PROGRAMS AND FEATURES
Programs and Features i s the pri mari ly tool used to vi ew, modify or uni nstal l the programs and dri vers
currentl y i nstal l ed on your system. It al so all ows you to add or remove a range of i nstal l ed Wi ndows
features.

The mai n Programs and Features wi ndow provi des useful detai l s such as when a program was i nstalled
under the 'Install ed On' col umn, the total size of the program on di sk under the Size column, and even the
versi on number i n some cases i n the Versi on col umn. If you sel ect a parti cular i tem you may even see
addi ti onal resources such as comments and li nks to the software manufacturer's support si te i n the Detail s
Pane at the bottom of the wi ndow.

Unfortunately some programs and dri vers i nstall ed on your system wil l not appear i n thi s l ist, ei ther
because they are standal one programs whi ch don't requi re i nstallati on, they have probl emati c i nstall ers, or
they are manual l y i nstall ed dri vers which di d not come i n an i nstall ati on package. See the Wi ndows Drivers
chapter for informati on on how to manual l y fi nd and remove i nstall ed dri vers whi ch don't appear on thi s
l i st.

Conversel y, if you uni nstal l a program or dri ver and i ts entry remai ns i n thi s l ist, you can use the Uni nstall
functi on of the CCl eaner uti li ty to remove al l such unnecessary entri es. Open CCl eaner, cl i ck the Tools
button, then sel ect the Uni nstal l opti on. In the li st of Programs and Features entri es, you can highli ght a
faul ty entry and cli ck 'Del ete Entry' to remove i t, though make sure that you have al ready uni nstall ed the
rel evant program from your system beforehand. See the CCl eaner secti on of the Cl eani ng Windows chapter
for more detai l s.

The mai n functi onali ty for Programs and Features is covered bel ow:

Uninstalling Programs: Highl ight the program or dri ver you wish to uni nstall , ri ght-cl i ck on i t and select
Uni nstall to commence removal of i t. If the program all ows you to al ter i ts i nstal lati on, a Change and/or
Repai r opti on wi l l al so be avail able, or you may see Uni nstal l /Change. In al l cases thi s process should i ni ti ate
a seri es of prompts or an automated wizard whi ch wi l l take you through the process.

Turn Windows Features On or Off: Thi s opti on i s shown i n the l eft pane, and when selected opens a new
wi ndows displ ayi ng a li st of al l the buil t-i n Wi ndows features whi ch you can choose to i nstall or uni nstal l .
Thi s al l ows you to onl y have the features you need i n Wi ndows, savi ng you di sk space and di sabling
associated drivers and servi ces. However i mportantl y, i t al so all ows you to qui ckl y and easi ly re-enabl e any
such features i n the future. For thi s reason, thi s i s preferred over other methods whi ch permanentl y remove
a feature from your Wi ndows i nstal lation disk, such as those covered under the Pri or to Install ation secti on
of the Wi ndows Instal lati on chapter.

You wi ll need to take your ti me goi ng through these features and careful l y decide i f you need to access them
at some poi nt i n the future. If i n doubt, do not remove or al ter a feature as i t i s not a major performance-
enhanci ng step and could provi de more probl ems than any percei ved benefi ts. Bel ow are my bri ef
descri pti ons and recommendati ons, i ntended for a standard home PC connected to the Internet but not to a
network of other PCs. Certai n edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7 may not contai n all of these features. Note al so that the
defaul ts provi ded are for a standal one non-networked system usi ng Windows 7 Ul ti mate 64-bi t; other
systems may vary:


240

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

Feature Default Recommend Details

Games Al l Ti cked Ti ck/Unti ck Uni nstal l any bui l t-i n Wi ndows games you're certai n you
won't pl ay. You can unti ck 'More Games' here to remove the
'More Games from Mi crosoft' i con i n Games Expl orer.
Indexi ng Servi ce Unti cked Unti ck Thi s i s not the same as the Wi ndows search i ndexi ng servi ce;
i t's for l egacy appl i cati ons and may cause i ssues i f enabl ed.
Internet Expl orer 8 Ti cked Ti ck Al l ows you to di sabl e Internet Expl orer 8. I recommend
keepi ng i t enabl ed just i n case i t's requi red by a certai n si te.
Internet Informati on Servi ces,
Internet Informati on Servi ces
Hostabl e Core
Al l Unti cked Unti ck These servi ces are al l desi gned for users runni ng a Web or FTP
server, and are unnecessary for home users.
Medi a Features Al l Ti cked Ti ck Al l ows you to uni nstal l Wi ndows medi a-rel ated programs. I
recommend keepi ng at l east Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer.
Mi crosoft .NET Framework
3.5.1
Mai n box
Ti cked,
Components
Unti cked
Ti ck Requi red for appl i cati ons programmed usi ng .NET. The
Wi ndows Communi cati on Foundati on components are
unnecessary.
Mi crosoft Message Queue
(MSMQ) Server
Unti cked Unti ck Not necessary unl ess you speci fi cal l y want run an MSMQ
server.
Pri nt and Document Servi ces Mai n box
Ti cked, Internet
Pri nti ng Cl i ent,
Wi ndows Fax &
Scan Ti cked
Ti ck/Unti ck Internet Pri nti ng Cl i ent, LPD Pri nt Servi ce, LPR Port Moni tor
and Scan Management i tems al l network-rel ated and
unnecessary for home PCs.
Remote Di fferenti al
Compressi on
Ti cked Unti ck Onl y ti ck i f connected to a network at any ti me.
RIP Li stener Unti cked Unti ck Onl y ti ck i f on a network whi ch uses the RIPv1 protocol .
Servi ces for NFS Al l Unti cked Unti ck Not requi red, NFS Protocol i s for networks.
Si mpl e Network Management
Protocol (SNMP)
Al l Unti cked Unti ck Protocol onl y for network-based devi ces.
Si mpl e TCPIP Servi ces Unti cked Unti ck Not requi red, i nstal l s unnecessary servi ces.
Subsystem for UNIX-based
Appl i cati ons
Unti cked Unti ck Onl y ti ck i f runni ng Uni x-based appl i cati ons; not appl i cabl e to
most home users.
Tabl et PC Opti onal
Components
Ti cked Unti ck/Ti ck Component i s requi red for access to the Sni ppi ng Tool covered
i n the Graphi cs & Sound chapter. Ti ck i f you want to use that
tool , unti ck i f you don't.
Tel net Cl i ent Unti cked Unti ck Onl y ti ck i f you pl an to use Tel net features to connect to a
server.
Tel net Server Unti cked Unti ck Lets others connect to your machi ne vi a Tel net, whi ch i s a
securi ty ri sk unl ess you need thi s functi onal i ty.
TFTP Cl i ent Unti cked Unti ck Onl y ti ck i f you want to use Tri vi al Fi l e Transfer Protocol to
connect to TFTP server. Unnecessary for home users.
Wi ndows Gadget Pl atform Ti cked Ti ck Necessary for di spl ay of Wi ndows Gadgets on the Desktop.
Wi ndows Process Acti vati on
Servi ce
Al l Unti cked Unti ck Not rel ated to Product Acti vati on, thi s i s requi red for certai n
appl i cati ons to transfer i nformati on. Not normal l y needed.
Wi ndows Search Ti cked Ti ck Enabl es the Window Search functi onal i ty covered i n the
Wi ndows Search chapter. Do not unti ck; i f you want to di sabl e
Wi ndows Search then set the Wi ndows Search servi ce to
Di sabl ed i nstead.
Wi ndows TIFF IFi l ter Unti cked Unti ck/Ti ck Al l ows Wi ndows Search to i ndex the contents of .TIFF fi l es.
Can be ti cked i f you have any TIFF fi l es you wi sh to i ndex.
XPS Servi ces Ti cked Unti ck/Ti ck Al l ows you to create documents i n the Wi ndows XPS format.
Can be di sabl ed i f you don't wi sh to use XPS.
XPS Vi ewer Ti cked Ti ck Al l ows you to vi ew documents i n the Wi ndows XP format.
Best l eft ti cked i n case you need to vi ew an XPS document.

After changi ng these setti ngs and cl i cking OK you may need to reboot and/or i nsert your origi nal Wi ndows
7 DVD i f requi red. If you experi ence any odd behavior, reduced functi onal i ty or other probl ems then come
back here and reset the features back to thei r defaults. That i s one of the key benefi ts of removi ng Wi ndows
features from wi thi n Wi ndows 7 i n this manner - i t all ows you to easi l y undo the change, as opposed to
more permanent methods li ke removi ng the component from the Wi ndows 7 install ation i mage.


241

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< RECOVERY
The Recovery wi ndow i s simpl y a central l ocati on for accessi ng recovery-related features i n Wi ndows. These
i nclude System Restore and Wi ndows Backup, both covered i n more detai l i n the Backup & Recovery
chapter, and Programs and Features whi ch is covered further above.

< REGION AND LANGUAGE
The basi c regi on and language opti ons shoul d have al ready been chosen duri ng the Wi ndows i nstal lation
process, however here you can change or refi ne these setti ngs. It's i mportant to sel ect your correct
geographi cal l ocati on i n parti cular, as thi s determi nes thi ngs li ke dayli ght savi ngs adjustments to the system
cl ock.

FORMATS
Sel ect the language format that sui ts your parti cular regi on of the worl d. Thi s is i mportant for maki ng sure
that tool s such as spell checkers can operate correctl y, and that your currency and ti me are appropri ately
di splayed. You can also manuall y al ter the date and ti me di spl ay format. For more detail ed adjustments of
numeri cal, time, date and currency formats cli ck the 'Addi ti onal setti ngs' button.

LOCATION
Sel ect your current physi cal l ocati on from the l ist.

KEYBOARDS AND LANGUAGES
Cl i ck the 'Change keyboards' button to access the advanced setti ngs here. Each tab i s covered bel ow:

General: The defaul t i nput language used for your keyboard shoul d be chosen correctly based on your
l ocati on and hardware. In many countri es usi ng the western alphabet the keyboard used i s a standard
QWERTY US keyboard. However if you have a di fferent type of keyboard and/or you want to set a di fferent
l anguage from the l ocati on you are i n, cl i ck the Add button, sel ect the l anguage you wi sh to use, then ti ck
the box for the actual keyboard hardware you're usi ng. To see a graphical representation of what the
keyboard layout l ooks li ke, hi ghl ight the keyboard type and cli ck the Preview button. On the other hand, if
you are not goi ng to use a parti cul ar l ocati on or keyboard layout, then hi ghl ight i t on the main l ist and cl i ck
Remove. Note, i f your keyboard hardware is not being detected correctl y you may have to i nstal l specific
dri vers for i t.

Language Bar: The Language Bar is a small i con or fl oati ng bar whi ch only appears i f you have two or more
keyboard l anguages i nstall ed. It i s used to provi de easy access for swi tchi ng between l anguages. To al ter
where the Language Bar is shown, select whether to have i t as a floati ng rectangular box on the desktop or
whether i t wil l si t i n the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. I f you want to get ri d of the Language Bar then
sel ect Hi dden and al so make sure you del ete all addi ti onal l anguages from under the General tab above. To
al ter the appearance of the l anguage bar use the three checkboxes on thi s page to sui t your tastes. To stop the
Language Bar appeari ng when a UAC prompt i s shown, see the User Account Control secti on of the PC
Securi ty chapter.

Advanced Key Settings: Here you can set the keyboard shortcut method to swi tch between languages. The
defaul t for swi tchi ng between i nput languages is Left ALT+SHIFT to swi tch l anguage, and CTRL+SHIFT to
swi tch keyboard layouts. You can change thi s sequence by hi ghlighti ng the 'Between i nput l anguages' i tem
and cli ck the 'Change key sequence' button, and you can al so assign a key shortcut combi nati on to swi tch
di rectly to a speci fi c l anguage by hi ghl i ghti ng the language i n the l ist and once agai n cl i cki ng the 'Change
key sequence' button.


242

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

ADMINISTRATIVE
Welcome screen and new user accounts: You have the opti on of copying your Regional and Language setti ngs to
the defaul t templ ate used to create new User Accounts i n the future. To do thi s, cl i ck the 'Copy setti ng'
button and tick the 'New user accounts' box. If you al so want to make them the defaul t for the system (aside
from exi sti ng User Accounts), then ti ck the 'Wel come screen and system accounts' opti on. Cli ck OK and then
cl i ck Apply to i mpl ement the change.

Language for non-Unicode programs: The Uni code system basi cal ly all ows most modern programs to adapt
thei r menus and di al ogs to your system's defaul t language, so thi s setti ng onl y appl i es to ol der non-uni code
programs. For these ol der (non-uni code) programs you can set the l ocale which they wi l l use i n case the
program's text i s not bei ng di splayed correctl y. In most cases the system l ocal e and non-Uni code l ocal e
should be the same.

< REMOTEAPP AND DESKTOP CONNECTIONS
RemoteApp and Desktop Connecti ons i s a feature desi gned to al low users to access remote programs and
desktops on a network of machi nes, as though they were l ocated on your own PC. Thi s i s a network-rel ated
feature onl y avai labl e i n Wi ndows 7 Professi onal, Enterpri se and Ul ti mate editi ons, and i s not covered i n
detail i n thi s book.

< SOUND
Al l Wi ndows audi o-rel ated features are covered i n the Sound section of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< SPEECH RECOGNITION
Thi s component all ows you to confi gure the Speech Recogni ti on functi onal i ty of Wi ndows, whi ch wi ll let
you control the computer usi ng voice commands. To use speech recogni ti on, you wil l require a mi crophone
connected to your system, preferabl y a good qual i ty one. The Speech Recogni tion feature is qui te specialized
and not used by most home PC users, so i t won't be detail ed here. Fortunately Mi crosoft has provided a l ot
of resources to both confi gure and l earn more about thi s functi onali ty i n the Speech Recogni ti on wi ndow.
Cl i ck the 'Take Speech Tutori al ' li nk to learn more. Most probl ems experi enced wi th Speech Recogni ti on are
due to usi ng a poor qual i ty mi crophone and/or bei ng i n a noi sy envi ronment.

For those who don't use Speech Recogni ti on functi onali ty, cl i ck the 'Advanced speech opti ons' li nk i n the l eft
pane and make sure the 'Run Speech Recogni ti on at startup' box i s unti cked.

< SYNC CENTER
The Sync Center i s a feature for people worki ng on two or more copi es of the same fi le across di fferent
devi ces or a network. Note that synchroni zi ng across network folders is onl y possi ble under Wi ndows 7
Ul ti mate or Enterpri se Edi ti ons. When a compati bl e devi ce i s detected, Wi ndows wi ll show i t under the l i st
of avai lable Sync Partnershi ps you can use i n the Sync Center. Then when a file i s stored on both your PC
and the devi ce wi th whi ch you have a partnershi p, if one versi on of the fi l e i s changed, Sync Center al l ows
you to synchroni ze the files, such that the newest versi on i s al ways mai ntai ned i n both l ocati ons. If there is
any doubt - for exampl e i f both fi l e l ocati ons show a changed versi on, then Wi ndows will ask you whi ch
versi on to keep. I won't go i nto more detail ed descri pti on of the Sync Center functi onali ty here as i t is
pri mari ly network-related. For si mpl e synci ng between your PC and a portabl e devi ce, i t i s best to use the
functi onali ty i n Devi ce Stage - see the Devi ce Stage secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.


243

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< SYSTEM
The System component of the Wi ndows Control Panel provi des central access to a range of system
confi gurati on functi onali ty, as well as di splayi ng an overview of your system speci fi cati ons and
performance. The actual functi ons found here are covered i n full detail under other chapters. In particular
see the Devi ce Manager secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter, the System Protecti on section
of the Backup & Recovery chapter, the Wi ndows Acti vati on chapter, and the Wi ndows Experi ence Index
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detail s.

The mai n uni que functi onali ty for System i s the Advanced System Setti ngs component whi ch contai ns a
range of i mportant opti ons. You can access these opti ons by cli cki ng the 'Advanced system setti ngs' l i nk i n
the l eft pane of the System component i n Wi ndows Control Panel , or by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
systempropertiesadvanced and pressi ng Enter. Bel ow are the detai ls of each tab of thi s wi ndow:

COMPUTER NAME
The Computer Name tab i s pri mari ly used for i dentifyi ng PCs connected to a network. For the average home
PC user you can ski p thi s tab; do not alter any of these detai ls - the defaul t computer name of [username]-PC
i s perfectl y fine. If for some reason you wi sh to change thi s, cli ck the Change button. If your PC i s part of a
network of computers, cl i ck the 'Network ID' button and fol l ow the prompts.

HARDWARE
You can access Devi ce Manager here, as well as the Devi ce Instal lati on Setti ngs. Both of these features are
covered i n detai l respectivel y under the Devi ce Manager and Devi ces and Pri nters sections of the BIOS &
Hardware Management chapter.

ADVANCED
Thi s secti on has four mai n sub-secti ons, covered bel ow:

Performance Settings: Cl i cking thi s button takes you to a separate wi ndow contai ni ng three tabs - Visual
Effects is covered under the Personal izati on secti on of the Graphics & Sound chapter, the Vi rtual Memory
component of the Advanced tab i s covered under the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the
Memory Opti mizati on chapter, the Processor Scheduli ng component i s covered under the Task Manager
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter, and the Data Executi on Preventi on tab
i s covered under the Data Executi on Preventi on secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.

User Profiles Settings: Thi s area al l ows you to vi ew and if necessary change User Profil es, i .e. the profil es
whi ch hol d al l the Wi ndows Desktop and User Account-rel ated setti ngs for each user. See the Advanced
Setti ngs section of the User Accounts chapter for more detai ls.

Startup and Recovery Settings: The setti ngs under the System Startup secti on are covered under the Boot
Confi gurati on Data section of the Boot Confi gurati on chapter, and the System Fai lure functi onal i ty is
covered under the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the Memory Optimi zati on chapter.

Environment Variables: This button displays a set of variabl es whi ch are al l configured by Windows 7 when i t
fi rst i nstall s, and for the most part are al ways set appropri ately. You shoul d not change these unl ess you
have speci fi c knowl edge of what i t is you are about to change, as most of them are necessary for Wi ndows
and vari ous programs to functi on correctl y. Many of them can be changed usi ng the MSConfi g util i ty - see
the Boot Confi gurati on Data secti on of the Boot Confi gurati on chapter for more detai ls on MSConfi g.


244

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

SYSTEM PROTECTION
The features here are covered under the System Protecti on secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter.

REMOTE
Thi s tab all ows you to confi gure how a remote (outsi de) connecti on to your PC i s controll ed. The main
purpose for remote connecti ons i s when someone i n another l ocation on the same network wants to control
your PC, for the purpose of troubleshooti ng a problem you're havi ng for exampl e, or to access resources on
your machi ne di rectl y as though they were si tti ng i n front of your machi ne. Whil e thi s i s an extremel y useful
feature when you're on a trusted network (e.g. your work network), i t i s a securi ty ri sk for home PC users or
when you are on an untrusted network. I strongl y recommend that you disable (unti ck) the 'Al l ow Remote
Assi stance connecti ons to thi s computer' box and only enabl e i t i f prompted by a trusted techni cal support
person. I al so recommend setti ng the Remote Desktop opti on to 'Don't al l ow connecti ons to thi s computer',
and onl y manual l y confi gure thi s to al low parti cular users - cli ck the 'Sel ect Users' button - i f once agai n you
are deal i ng wi th a trusted indi vi dual . Leavi ng these features enabled when you don't use them i s a security
ri sk, so disabl e them whenever they're not i n use. There are al so relevant servi ces you may wish to di sable,
so see the Servi ces chapter.

< TASKBAR AND START MENU
Thi s component accesses Taskbar and Start Menu-rel ated setti ngs whi ch are al l covered i n the Taskbar and
Start Menu secti ons of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

< TROUBLESHOOTING
The Troubl eshooti ng wi ndow i s a central l ocation to access Wi ndows troubl eshooti ng resources. There are a
range of wizards here whi ch automate the process of troubl eshooti ng common probl ems. Thi s functi onali ty
i s covered i n detai l i n the Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooting
chapter.

< USER ACCOUNTS
User Accounts are covered i n detail i n the User Accounts chapter.

< WINDOWS CARDSPACE
Wi ndows CardSpace i s form of di gi tal i denti ty verifi cati on 'Card' whi ch you can use onl i ne rather than a
username and password combi nati on. You can create a Personal Card or a Managed Card, wi th Personal
Cards bei ng for personal use, but l ess rel iabl e and l ess l i kel y to be accepted for important transacti ons si nce
they rel y on you to enter and store all the detai ls on your own PC (though the data i s encrypted); Managed
Cards are desi gned pri mari l y for busi ness use and are created by a thi rd-party provi der who manages the
card for you, thus i ndependentl y veri fying who you are. Whether you use CardSpace i s up to you. To start
wi th you shoul d have no need to set thi s system up unti l you run i nto a si te whi ch uses it; you can then
deci de whether to proceed, and whether to onl y use Personal Cards or set up a Managed Card as well .

< WINDOWS DEFENDER
Wi ndows Defender is a securi ty feature of Wi ndows covered i n detai l i n Wi ndows Defender secti on of the


245

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

C
o
n
t
r
o
l

P
a
n
e
l

< WINDOWS FIREWALL
The Wi ndows Firewal l is a securi ty feature whi ch is covered i n detai l i n Wi ndows Firewal l secti on of the PC
Securi ty chapter.

< WINDOWS UPDATE
Wi ndows Update i s covered i n more detail i n the Dri ver Instal lati on secti on of the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter.

As noted i n the i ntroduction, whi l e thi s chapter i s primaril y a set of references to other chapters i n thi s book,
i t i s useful for runni ng through to ensure you haven't mi ssed any parti cular Wi ndows setti ng or feature.
Al so make sure to keep an eye on your Wi ndows Control Panel and remove any unnecessary components
i nstal l ed there by thi rd party software on a regular basi s.


246

S
t
a
r
t
u
p

P
r
o
g
r
a
m
s

STARTUP PROGRAMS

Wi ndows needs to l oad up a range of programs i nto memory duri ng i ts startup procedure, i ncluding
dri vers, appl icati ons and servi ces required to provide the mai n functi onali ty i n Wi ndows. Wi ndows 7 has
noti ceably i mproved the time i t takes to get to the Wi ndows Desktop by refini ng technologi es desi gned to
speed up boot ti me i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista. Improvements to ReadyBoot and SuperFetch, as well as
l oadi ng certain programs, scri pts and servi ces i n the background wi th a l ower pri ori ty and/or l oadi ng them
after the Wi ndows Desktop has appeared al l contri bute to Wi ndows 7's decreased boot ti me.

Regardl ess of the i mprovements i n Wi ndows 7's boot ti me, removi ng unnecessary startup programs,
servi ces and tasks is sti ll strongl y recommended, as i t hel ps to further reduce excessi ve l oading both during
and i mmediatel y after Wi ndows startup, and more i mportantl y, wil l reduce unnecessary background
resource usage, whi ch i n turn i mproves overall responsi veness, reduces stutteri ng, and prevents program
confli cts and crashes.

In thi s chapter we l ook at the correct way to fi nd, i dentify and properl y remove unnecessary startup
programs. Detai ls of how Windows 7's startup behavi or i s opti mized, as wel l as i nformati on on post-startup
processes, are provi ded i n the Memory Opti mi zati on, Dri ve Opti mi zati on and Servi ces chapters.

< FINDING STARTUP PROGRAMS
The fi rst step i n the process i s to fi nd the names of all the programs and fi l es which are runni ng at startup on
your system. To do thi s you wil l need to use one or more of the tool s covered below:

MICROSOFT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTILITY
The Software Expl orer util i ty provi ded i n Wi ndows Vista has been removed in Wi ndows 7, but another
valuable bui lt-i n Wi ndows util i ty for identi fyi ng startup programs is the Microsoft System Configurati on
Uti li ty (MSConfi g). To access i t, go to Start>Search Box, type msconfig and press Enter. Its mai n use is to
provi de a brief snapshot of key system variabl es, and provi de a means for troubl eshooti ng Wi ndows boot
and startup probl ems. The opti ons under the Boot tabs of MSConfi g are covered i n more detai l i n the Boot
Confi gurati on chapter, the opti ons under the Servi ces tab are covered i n more detai l i n the Servi ces chapter,
and the opti ons under the Tool s tab are merel y shortcuts to other features and uti l i ti es i n Wi ndows covered
throughout thi s book. So bel ow we exami ne the General and Startup tabs of this util i ty.

General: By defaul t MSConfi g wi ll di spl ay the 'Normal startup' item as bei ng sel ected under thi s tab. Thi s
means that no programs, dri vers or features have been di sabl ed by MSConfi g, and that Wi ndows i s booting
up as normal . If you wi sh to boot up i nto Safe Mode instead you can sel ect the 'Di agnosti c startup' i tem - see
the System Recovery section of the Backup & Recovery chapter. Of parti cular rel evance to thi s chapter, to
perform a qui ck temporary check to see the i mpact on functi onali ty and performance of al l of your startup
i tems, you can enabl e the 'Sel ecti ve Startup' opti on and unti ck the 'Load startup i tems' box then cli ck Appl y.
When you next reboot your system, Windows wi ll start up wi thout l oadi ng any of the addi ti onal programs
i t woul d usuall y l oad at startup; these can be seen under the startup tab. You wi l l then be abl e to observe
fi rstl y how much of an i mpact your startup programs are havi ng on startup time and on post-startup dri ve
usage. Then you can try to use al l your common programs and features, and you wi ll soon be abl e to see the
types of functi onal i ty whi ch i s no l onger avail abl e as a resul t of these startup i tems bei ng disabled. Thi s can
range from not bei ng abl e to open certai n programs, to not bei ng abl e to use certai n features of vari ous
programs, or your devi ce dri vers not worki ng correctly.


247

S
t
a
r
t
u
p

P
r
o
g
r
a
m
s

Make sure to run MSConfig agai n and reset i t back to 'Normal startup' under the General tab, then exami ne
the detail s i n the next section to see how to correctl y identi fy the i ndi vi dual startup i tems usi ng MSConfig.

Startup: This tab under MSConfig shows al l the current programs whi ch l oad i nto memory at Wi ndows
startup. A few of these may relate to Wi ndows functi onali ty, such as the Desktop Gadgets. Most of them are
for thi rd party programs, whether from Mi crosoft or other manufacturers. You shoul d note the detai ls under
the Manufacturer column, as well as fil e path and fi l ename shown under the Command col umn, as thi s
i nformati on wi ll hel p you determi ne the program or feature to whi ch thi s startup i tem relates. The Location
col umn shows where i n the Wi ndows Registry the command to run thi s parti cular fi l e resi des, whi ch i s
useful for permanent removal . Any i tem here can be temporari l y di sabled by unti cki ng the box next to its
name, whi ch i s a good way of testi ng to see whi ch startup i tems relate to whi ch functi onal i ty before deciding
to permanentl y remove them. However MSConfi g is not the correct pl ace to permanentl y disabl e or remove
a startup program - see the two methods bel ow for that purpose.

REGISTRY EDITOR
The Regi stry Edi tor i s a Windows tool detai led under the Wi ndows Registry chapter. To l aunch the Regi stry
Edi tor go to Start>Search Box, type regedit and press Enter. Below i s a bri ef run-down of the pri mary
l ocati ons where startup i tems are hel d in the Registry, and how to permanently remove them. The Wi ndows
Regi stry hol ds a record of the programs to l aunch at startup i n four separate areas:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Run]
[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ RunOnce]
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Run]
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ RunOnce]

If you fi nd any i tems li sted under any of these subfol ders, i t means they are set to run at Wi ndows startup,
wi th those under the Run keys bei ng permanent i tems whi ch run at every startup, and those under
RunOnce being temporary i tems whi ch onl y run for the next bootup. You cannot temporari l y disabl e a
startup i tem here, however if you have determi ned wi th certainty that a parti cular startup i tem is not
necessary, you can permanentl y del ete i t here by right-cl icki ng on the correct val ue i n the ri ght pane and
sel ecti ng Delete. Si nce there i s no undo functi onali ty i n Regi stry Edi tor, you shoul d consi der doi ng a backup
of the Registry i n part or i n ful l, as detailed under the Backup & Restore the Registry secti on of the Wi ndows
Regi stry chapter before deleti ng any i tems.

AUTORUNS
Autoruns i s an advanced and highl y useful free startup fil e i denti fi cati on and removal uti li ty wi th unique
features not avai labl e i n the uti li ti es covered above. It also serves a range of other purposes covered
throughout thi s book, so it i s a hi ghl y recommended program. Downl oad i t, extract i ts contents to an empty
fol der and run the Autoruns.exe fil e. Under the 'Everythi ng' tab you wi ll see a l arge number of i tems whi ch
are l oaded up wi th Wi ndows - far more than most other uti l iti es wi ll ever show; thi s is what makes
Autoruns so valuable for a range of purposes. Most of the entri es shown are requi red for vari ous programs
to run, and the vast majori ty are Mi crosoft i tems whi ch Wi ndows 7 absolutel y needs to functi on correctl y.

Correctl y identi fyi ng and removi ng the trul y unnecessary i tems usi ng Autoruns i s more compl ex preci sel y
because i t shows so much detail . To narrow down the l i st to remove core Wi ndows i tems, go to the Opti ons
menu and ti ck the 'Hi de Wi ndows Entri es' i tem, and also make sure there i s a ti ck agai nst the 'Verify Code
Si gnatures' i tem. Then cl ick the Refresh i con on the taskbar or press F5 to update the l i st under the
Everythi ng tab. The l i st of i tems shown wi l l be reduced, wi th only i tems pri maril y rel ati ng to thi rd party
programs showi ng, maki ng i t easi er to spot unnecessary i tems.

One of the key benefi ts of Autoruns is that i t all ows you to temporari l y disabl e any i tem, as wel l as choosi ng
to permanentl y remove i t. Thi s means that si mi lar to MSConfi g, you can temporaril y di sable speci fi c i tems to


248

S
t
a
r
t
u
p

P
r
o
g
r
a
m
s

see what i mpact thi s has on the functi onali ty for that parti cular program, as wel l as on Wi ndows i n general.
Remember however that Autoruns i s listi ng not onl y startup programs, but also vari ous components rel ated
to a range of programs, incl udi ng context menu entri es, Servi ces, and thi rd party Gadgets. Cl i ck on each
suspi ci ous i tem and l ook in the Detai l s Pane at the bottom of the program for more i nformati on, then ri ght-
cl i ck on i t and sel ect Properti es and l ook under the Detai ls tab for yet more detai ls. If sti ll uncl ear, right-cl i ck
on the i tem and sel ect 'Search Onli ne' to i ni ti ate a Googl e search on the i tem's name i n your defaul t browser.
A combi nati on of the di spl ayed i nformati on plus any addi ti onal informati on on the Internet shoul d all ow
you to accuratel y identi fy what functi onali ty the component rel ates to.

You can then disable any suspected unnecessary i tem temporaril y by unti cki ng i ts entry, and Autoruns wil l
prevent that i tem from l oadi ng up the next ti me Wi ndows starts up. Reboot and test to see the i mpacts of
di sabli ng such i tems.

< IDENTIFYING STARTUP PROGRAMS
Once you have noted the names of al l the startup programs and fil es usi ng one or more of the uti li ti es above,
and you have a reasonabl e suspi ci on as to whi ch are unnecessary, the next step is to make sure you correctly
i dentify thei r functi onali ty and determine whether they are trul y necessary. Some features requi re that a
program or certai n component(s) l oad into memory at Wi ndows startup otherwi se they may not functi on
correctl y or at al l . Other times a startup component i s not necessary for a program to function properl y, or
provi des optional functi onali ty for particular features you may not use. Some startup i tems may even be part
of mal ware or other undesi rabl e software and hence must be removed.

Fol l ow the steps bel ow to try to correctly i denti fy al l of your startup programs:

1. Some fi lenames wil l tell you qui te cl early what the startup program relates to. If i n doubt, al so check the
di rectory path of the fil e and see if there are any other i ndi cati ons as to whi ch program i t relates to. It's
i mportant to know the actual program the fi l e i s for, fi rstl y so you can tell what functi onali ty may be
affected for testi ng purposes, and secondl y for the purpose covered i n the next step bel ow.
2. Launch the program whi ch the fil e relates to and l ook through i ts opti ons for setti ngs li ke 'Load wi th
Windows', 'Load at startup', 'Enabl e System Tray', 'Enabl e Shel l Integrati on', and so on. In many cases
you wi ll be given the opti on to di sable any such setti ngs, and you may also see text or a warni ng whi ch
expl ai ns whether doi ng so wi ll affect the program's functi onali ty i n any major way. Typical l y di sabl i ng
a program component from l oadi ng at startup means i t won't be runni ng i n the background after
Wi ndows l oads; you wi ll have to manual l y open i t yoursel f. For some programs thi s i s not an i ssue, and
i n fact i s desirabl e; for others i t can prevent them from worki ng automati call y in the background or even
from bei ng abl e to be l aunched. For our purposes, we want to mi nimi ze the number of programs and
components runni ng i n the background at al l ti mes, but not damage the functi onali ty for necessary
programs.
3. If the fi l ename stil l i sn't cl ear, and you can't determi ne from i ts di rectory path whi ch program i t rel ates
to (e.g. i t resides i n the \Windows\System32 di rectory) then you wil l have to do some onli ne research to
fi nd out more detai l s. Start by searchi ng one of the fol lowi ng onl i ne resources using the exact fi l ename:

Googl e
SysInfo Defi ni ti ve Startup Li st
ProcessLi brary
Securi ty Task Manager Li st

Some of the more obscure or new Wi ndows 7 system fil es may not be li sted i n the sources above, or
typi call y have ambiguous or even fal se informati on regardi ng potenti al mal ware, so readi ng through a
l arge number of Googl e search resul ts i s the best method for fi nding the truth.


249

S
t
a
r
t
u
p

P
r
o
g
r
a
m
s

4. Run the malware scanners recommended i n the PC Securi ty chapter to ensure that none of the startup
fi les relate to mali ci ous software. If any such fi l es are flagged as mal ware by your scanner, you can
usual l y cli ck on thei r names or a provi ded li nk to fi nd out more detai ls from the scanner's own database.
5. Use MSConfig or Autoruns to temporari l y di sabl e the startup i tem(s) i n questi on - that is, unti ck i t i n
Autoruns or MSConfi g - then reboot Wi ndows and test to see over a peri od of several days whether any
of your regular program or Wi ndows functi onal i ty is i mpaired. If stil l in doubt, l eave the i tem
temporaril y di sabl ed for an even l onger peri od, and you shoul d be abl e to categori call y determi ne after
a few weeks whether i t is trul y necessary.

< REMOVING STARTUP PROGRAMS
Once you've fol l owed all the steps above, and you're confi dent that you've found a truly unnecessary startup
i tem, the fi nal step i nvol ves permanent removal . You can do thi s i n several ways:

Go to the program i n questi on and make sure there are no opti ons to disable i t from runni ng at
Wi ndows startup. As noted further above, i f any opti ons such as 'Load wi th Wi ndows', 'Load at startup'
or si mil ar exist, di sabl e them otherwi se i f you just manuall y del ete the i tem i t may si mpl y be recreated
each ti me you boot i nto Wi ndows or start that program.
Go to Autoruns, ri ght-cl i ck on the i tem and sel ect Delete.
Go to the Regi stry Edi tor, fi nd the i tem under the rel evant key, highl ight i t i n the ri ght pane and sel ect
Del ete. Regi stry Edi tor does not have any undo capabi li ti es, so i t i s best used as a l ast resort, or onl y if
you are compl etel y certai n.

Once the i tem i s removed from your startup, you should reboot Wi ndows and re-check to see i f i t is indeed
gone. In a worst case scenari o, i f at any poi nt any of your programs start to behave strangel y or do not
functi on at al l , then uni nstal l and rei nstal l that particular program and i ts relevant startup i tems wi l l be
recreated. In general i t's also wise not to permanently remove any Mi crosoft startup programs unl ess you're
compl etel y certai n you wi ll never use such functi onal ity.

Havi ng removed unnecessary startup programs make sure to run through the Servi ces chapter and di sable
any unnecessary servi ces as well , parti cularly thi rd party servi ces.

< STARTUP PROBLEMS
As noted at the start of thi s chapter, Windows 7 i s desi gned to pri ori ti ze boot programs, servi ces and dri vers
such that the system reaches the Desktop as qui ckl y as possibl e, and if necessary conti nues l oadi ng
programs as requi red. This means that the removal of startup programs may not noti ceably i mprove system
startup ti me. The best way to measure bootup ti me i s not to use some arbi trary measure, but to ei ther ti me i t
from the moment you press the power button, or better yet, for a compl etely objecti ve measure of your
startup ti me and/or i f you bel i eve you are havi ng startup probl ems then you can see speci fi c stati sti cs on thi s
i n Event Vi ewer.

To vi ew your startup and shutdown ti mes and any associated probl ems foll ow these steps:

1. Go to Start>Search Box, type event viewer then press Enter to open Event Vi ewer.
2. In the l eft pane go to Appli cati ons and Servi ces Logs>Mi crosoft>Windows>Di agnosti cs-Performance.
3. Cl i ck on the Operati onal log i tem shown, and i n the mi ddl e pane you wi ll see a range of events.
4. Typi cal ly there wil l be i tems wi th the Task Category 'Boot Performance Moni tori ng' or 'Shutdown
Performance Moni tori ng' (Event IDs of 100, 200 or si mil ar). Cli ck on the more recent of these to see
detail s - you can cl i ck the 'Date and Ti me' column to sort by date if necessary.
5. In the bottom pane the preci se startup ti me (Boot Durati on) or shutdown ti me (Shutdown Duration) i s
shown i n mill i seconds (ms), whi ch you can di vi de by 1000 to get seconds. You can doubl e-cli ck on any


250

S
t
a
r
t
u
p

P
r
o
g
r
a
m
s

event to get more details, and to see i f any parti cular program or dri ver may be sl owi ng down
performance.

To qui ckly determi ne if the removal or di sabli ng of any startup i tems i s causing an error, you can use the
Reliabi li ty Moni tor as foll ows:

1. Go to Start>Search Box, type reliability and press Enter to open the Reliabi li ty Moni tor.
2. In the mai n chart l ook for any yel l ow excl amati on marks or red crosses, as these i ndi cate warni ngs and
errors respecti vel y.
3. Cl i ck on any parti cul ar warni ng or error and more detai ls wi ll appear i n the bottom pane. Doubl e-cli ck
on the detail s shown to see the crash report, noti ng the fil e whi ch is i nvol ved - if i t is a fi l e you disabl ed
i t may be necessary, but by the same token i t may be unnecessary and si mpl y throwi ng up a warni ng
each ti me the program l ooks for i t, so this is not a defini ti ve si gn that you need to re-enabl e i t.
4. Do addi ti onal research i n the case of each error (red cross).

For more detail s about Event Viewer and Rel iabil i ty Moni tor usage see the Event Vi ewer and Rel iabil i ty
Moni tor sections of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter.

< REGULAR MAINTENANCE
Removi ng startup i tems is far more i mportant than most peopl e bel i eve. It i s not a case of si mpl y boosting
your startup ti me, though i t can hel p to do that. It i s actual ly a cri ti cal step i n ensuri ng overall system
responsi veness, preventi ng stutteri ng and sl owdowns, and al so preventi ng potenti al crashes and confl icts
whi ch can otherwi se be very di ffi cul t to resol ve and are often i ncorrectl y bl amed on Wi ndows, dri vers or the
program which i s crashi ng.

It i s perfectl y normal for al most al l systems to have at l east a few startup i tems whi ch need to be kept
enabl ed and serve a useful purpose. However any system whi ch has a l ong l ist of startup i tems is at risk of
experi enci ng performance and stabil i ty issues. Remember that the software you use on your system may not
have been tested i n combi nati on wi th al l the vari ous other background programs you are currentl y usi ng, so
the resul ts can be unexpected. Certai nly peopl e using system-i ntensi ve appli cati ons and games wil l be the
fi rst to tri gger any potenti al confl i cts or performance issues i n such scenarios, so i f you bel ong i n this
category, then make absolutel y sure you foll ow the procedures in thi s chapter and remove all unnecessary
startup i tems and mi ni mize what runs at startup.

Importantl y, i n the future as you i nstall new programs you shoul d conti nue to regul arly exami ne and
i dentify new startup i tems whi ch are bei ng added and remove those whi ch are not needed. I generall y
recommend that after each i nstal lati on of any new program you open MSConfig and qui ckl y l ook under the
Startup and Servi ces tabs to see whether new i tem(s) have been added, and take the time to determi ne
whether these are reall y needed or not. Though tedious, thi s i s an essenti al part of regul ar mai ntenance on a
PC.


251

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

SERVICES

Servi ces are customi zable programs that run i n the background and support speci fi c system-wi de
functi onali ty. They can be i ni tiated by Wi ndows i tsel f, or they can be i nstall ed and i ni tiated by thi rd party
programs. They may start automati call y duri ng or i mmedi atel y after Windows startup, they may be
tri ggered to start or stop at any ti me duri ng Wi ndows usage by the l aunchi ng of certai n programs, the use of
parti cul ar functi onali ty or under certai n ci rcumstances, or they can be bl ocked from runni ng al together.

Wi ndows 7 contai ns several changes to the way i n whi ch servi ces are handl ed from previous versi ons of
Wi ndows. It conti nues the abil i ty, i ntroduced i n Vi sta, to set a servi ce to 'Automati c (Delayed Start)' which
means i t wi ll onl y l oad after the Wi ndows startup process has compl eted. However Wi ndows 7 adds to that
the abi l i ty to Tri gger Start or Stop a servi ce, whi ch means such servi ces wil l begin or end onl y when a certai n
event i s tri ggered, further reduci ng background resource usage. Wi ndows 7 also carri es over Vi sta's securi ty
and stabi li ty enhancements to i solate servi ces such that they cannot be as easi l y compromised by outside
attackers, nor can they be as easil y destabil ized by runni ng programs. The end resul t i s that servi ces in
Wi ndows 7 are al ready qui te opti mized and thi s is one of the mai n contri butors to Wi ndows 7's i mproved
startup ti me and reduced resource usage.

Servi ces are user-confi gurabl e under Wi ndows 7, just as they were i n Wi ndows Vista and XP. As such there
i s scope to improve system resource usage and startup ti me by changi ng your servi ces configurati on.
However i n Wi ndows 7 most unnecessary core Wi ndows services have already been set up as Manual,
whi ch means they wil l not run i n the background nor use any resources if they are not requi red. Therefore
the focus of thi s chapter i s on i denti fyi ng and reconfi guri ng thi rd party servi ces i nserted by i nstalled
programs, as these can have a noti ceabl e i mpact on the stabil i ty and performance of Wi ndows.

< SERVICES UTILITY
The bui l t-i n Servi ces uti li ty gi ves you the abi li ty to view and edi t your Servi ce confi gurati on. To access the
Servi ces Util ity, you can ei ther fi nd i t under the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component of the Wi ndows Control
Panel , or go to Start>Search Box, type services.msc and press Enter. Thi s opens the Servi ces uti l i ty, displayi ng
all i nstal l ed servi ces by name, showi ng you whether they are currentl y running or not under the Status
col umn, whether they are set for Automati c, Automati c (Delayed Start), Manual or Disabl ed under the
'Startup type' col umn, al ong wi th a brief descri pti on. You can see the detai l s of each servi ce by l eft-cl i cki ng
on i t and the defaul t Extended vi ew will show the descri pti on to the l eft of the servi ce. To see more details
and confi gure a servi ce, either doubl e-cl i ck on the servi ce, or ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect Properti es. Here you
can see where the actual program fi l e resi des for the servi ce under the 'Path to executabl e' i tem, and you can
also manually Start, Stop or Pause/Resume a servi ce as appl i cabl e. Importantl y, you can change i ts startup
type here - the startup type of a servi ce is defi ned as fol l ows:

Automatic - Thi s servi ce is l oaded up duri ng the Windows boot process and automati cal ly started as
soon as Wi ndows starts.
Automatic (Delayed Start) - Thi s servi ce begi ns l oadi ng automati call y approxi mately 2 mi nutes after
Wi ndows has reached the Desktop.
Manual - This servi ce must be started manuall y by the user, or typi cal ly as requested by a program or
feature when needed. In Wi ndows 7 i t can al so be started wi th a speci fi c trigger event. It does not resi de
i n memory nor l oad at startup otherwi se.
Disabled - This servi ce i s bl ocked from runni ng and does not l oad up at any poi nt, even i f a program
requi res i t. It can onl y be started by manual l y setti ng it one of the above startup types fi rst, then cli cking
the Start button.


252

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

BACKING UP SERVICES
Before we move on to exami ni ng servi ce customizati on, i t i s important to backup your current servi ce
confi gurati on i n Wi ndows 7 i n case you have any probl ems and need to return any of your servi ces to their
i ni tial state. Servi ces may be confi gured di fferently on various machi nes based on the parti cular features and
programs you are usi ng, as wel l as your speci fi c hardware configurati on, so the best thi ng to do i s save a
snapshot of your current servi ce confi gurati on. To do thi s, open the Servi ces uti l i ty, then right-cl ick on the
'Servi ces (Local)' i tem i n the l eft pane and sel ect 'Export Li st'. In the box whi ch opens, enter a name for the
l i st and save it as the defaul t 'Text (tab del i mi ted) (*.txt)' opti on. This fi le wi ll then save wi th al l the detai ls of
your servi ces as they currentl y stand, and can then be vi ewed wi th correct formatti ng i n a program li ke
Mi crosoft Excel .

For conveni ence sake, I have al so li sted my defaul t Windows 7 Ul ti mate servi ce confi gurati on i n the tabl e
l ater i n this chapter under the col umn label ed 'Startup Type (Defaul t)', but again, remember that these can
vary from system to system so as a precauti on take the steps above before al tering your own servi ces.

CUSTOMIZING SERVICES
The Wi ndows 7 Servi ce Control l er has al ready been refi ned to confi gure your servi ces such that you have
full functi onali ty for all the features you use in Wi ndows 7, whil e also di sabl i ng those whi ch are
unnecessary. For our purposes, the main reason we woul d want to change the servi ce setti ngs i s to:

Hel p speed up Wi ndows startup ti me especi al ly on systems wi th slower hard drives.
Hel p reduce post-startup dri ve acti vi ty si nce Wi ndows rel egates some servi ces and programs to l oadi ng
i n the background wel l after startup.
Reduce RAM and CPU usage by preventi ng unwanted servi ces from runni ng i n the background.
Prevent program confli cts, i nstabi li ty and even security ri sks by removi ng unwanted servi ces.

Fortunatel y the majori ty of the defaul t Wi ndows 7 servi ces are confi gured as Manual , and hence do not l oad
at startup or run i n the background unl ess actuall y requi red. Thi s means that the bul k of the benefi ts
previ ousl y i nferred through servi ce customizati on i n other versi ons of Wi ndows are al ready evident i n
Wi ndows 7 by defaul t. Servi ces configurati on shoul d no l onger be consi dered a si gni fi cant performance
tweak. In fact I warn against setti ng any servi ce to Di sabl ed unl ess part of a speci fi c step to del i beratel y
di sabl e an unnecessary functi on i n Wi ndows. There i s no other benefi t to di sabl i ng a servi ce - a servi ce set to
Manual usuall y takes up no resources, yet provi des a safeguard because i f i t is trul y needed i t can usual l y be
automati cal ly restarted by Wi ndows or a program. For exampl e the Bl uetooth Support Servi ce i s set to
Manual and onl y starts runni ng if a Bl uetooth devi ce i s connected to your PC, so setti ng i t to Di sabl ed
provi des no benefi t whatsoever. Onl y di sabl e a servi ce if you are absol utel y certai n that i ts functi onali ty i s
not needed or i s undesi rabl e on your system, and more i mportantl y, i f i t woul d otherwi se start running i n
the background if set to Manual. In practi ce there are few Wi ndows servi ces which do thi s.

Furthermore, some servi ces can be very mi sl eadi ng as to the i mpact any changes to thei r configurati on mi ght
have. For exampl e, di sabling the Server servi ce results i n the disabl i ng of the di splay of Previ ous Versi ons
for any fi l es or fol ders, despi te no i ndi cati on that i t wil l do so from i ts name or descri pti on. I stress agai n that
you shoul d not consi der the di sabl i ng of servi ces as some sort of major performance tweak. In parti cular, i f
you change several servi ces at once, i t can someti mes be extremel y di ffi cul t to track back your probl ems to a
parti cul ar servi ce change. Indeed i f you are not an advanced user, I recommend l eavi ng al l of the Wi ndows
servi ces at thei r defaul ts, and focusi ng on onl y adjusti ng any servi ces i nstal l ed by thi rd party programs, as
covered i n the next secti on.

Wi th al l of the above i n mind, what follows i s a l ist of the servi ces i n Wi ndows 7, the defaul ts as found on
my Wi ndows 7 Ul ti mate 64-bi t system, and suggesti ons for potential servi ce changes on a home PC.


253

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

Service Name
Startup Type
(Default)
Potential
Change
Notes

Acti veX Instal l er (AxInstSV) Manual
Adapti ve Bri ghtness Manual
Appl i cati on Experi ence Manual
Appl i cati on Identi ty Manual
Appl i cati on Informati on Manual
Appl i cati on Layer Gateway Servi ce Manual
Appl i cati on Management Manual
Background Intel l i gent Transfer Servi ce
Automati c
(Del ayed Start)
Base Fi l teri ng Engi ne Automati c
Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on Servi ce Manual
Bl ock Level Backup Engi ne Servi ce Manual
Bl uetooth Support Servi ce Manual
BranchCache Manual
Certi fi cate Propagati on Manual
CNG Key Isol ati on Manual
COM+ Event System Automati c
COM+ System Appl i cati on Manual
Computer Browser Manual
Credenti al Manager Manual
Cryptographi c Servi ces Automati c
DCOM Server Process Launcher Automati c
Desktop Window Manager Sessi on Manager Automati c
DHCP Cl i ent Automati c
Di agnosti c Pol i cy Servi ce Automati c
Di agnosti c Servi ce Host Manual
Di agnosti c System Host Manual
Di sk Defragmenter Manual Di sabl ed
Can be di sabl ed on systems
where onl y SSDs are used.
Di stri buted Li nk Tracki ng Cl i ent Automati c
Di stri buted Transacti on Coordi nator Manual
DNS Cl i ent Automati c
Encrypti ng Fi l e System (EFS) Automati c
Extensi bl e Authenti cati on Protocol Manual
Fax Manual
Functi on Di scovery Provi der Host Manual
Functi on Di scovery Resource Publ i cati on Automati c
Group Pol i cy Cl i ent Automati c
Heal th Key and Certi fi cate Management Manual
HomeGroup Li stener Manual
HomeGroup Provi der Manual
Human Interface Devi ce Access Manual
IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keyi ng Modul es Manual
Interacti ve Servi ces Detecti on Manual
Internet Connecti on Shari ng (ICS) Di sabl ed
IP Hel per Automati c
IPsec Pol i cy Agent Manual
KtmRm for Di stri buted Transacti on Coordi nator Manual
Li nk-Layer Topol ogy Di scovery Mapper Manual
Medi a Center Extender Servi ce Di sabl ed
Mi crosoft .NET Framework NGEN
v2.0.50727_X64 Manual
Mi crosoft .NET Framework NGEN
v2.0.50727_X86
Manual
Mi crosoft i SCSI Ini ti ator Servi ce Manual
Mi crosoft Software Shadow Copy Provi der Manual


254

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

Service Name
Startup Type
(Default)
Potential
Change
Notes

Continued...

Mul ti medi a Cl ass Schedul er Automati c
Net.Tcp Port Shari ng Servi ce Di sabl ed
Netl ogon Manual
Network Access Protecti on Agent Manual
Network Connecti ons Manual
Network Li st Servi ce Manual
Network Locati on Awareness Automati c
Network Store Interface Servi ce Automati c
Offl i ne Fi l es Automati c Manual Not useful for PCs whi ch do not
synchroni ze wi th other
computers.
Parental Control s Manual
Peer Name Resol uti on Protocol Manual
Peer Networki ng Groupi ng Manual
Peer Networki ng Identi ty Manager Manual
Performance Counter DLL Host Manual
Performance Logs & Al erts Manual
Pl ug and Pl ay Automati c
PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator Manual
PNRP Machi ne Name Publ i cati on Servi ce Manual
Portabl e Devi ce Enumerator Servi ce Manual
Power Automati c
Pri nt Spool er Automati c Manual Not useful for PCs whi ch don't
use a pri nter or vi rtual pri nter
(e.g. PDF makers).
Probl em Reports and Sol uti ons Control Panel
Support
Manual
Program Compati bi l i ty Assi stant Servi ce Automati c
Protected Storage Manual
Qual i ty Windows Audi o Vi deo Experi ence Manual
Remote Access Auto Connecti on Manager Manual
Remote Access Connecti on Manager Manual
Remote Desktop Confi gurati on Manual
Remote Desktop Servi ces Manual
Remote Desktop Servi ces UserMode Port
Redi rector
Manual
Remote Procedure Cal l (RPC) Automati c
Remote Procedure Cal l (RPC) Locator Manual
Remote Regi stry Manual Di sabl ed Poses a securi ty ri sk - onl y
enabl e i f requested by a trusted
tech support person.
Routi ng and Remote Access Di sabl ed
RPC Endpoi nt Mapper Automati c
Secondary Logon Manual
Secure Socket Tunnel i ng Protocol Servi ce Manual
Securi ty Accounts Manager Automati c
Securi ty Center Automati c
(Del ayed Start)
Di sabl ed Can be di sabl ed i f you want to
compl etel y di sabl e Acti on
Center.
Server Automati c
Shel l Hardware Detecti on Automati c
Smart Card Manual
Smart Card Removal Pol i cy Manual
SNMP Trap Manual
Software Protecti on Automati c
(Del ayed Start)


255

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

Service Name
Startup Type
(Default)
Potential
Change
Notes

Continued...

SSDP Di scovery Manual
Superfetch Automati c Di sabl ed Can be di sabl ed on systems
usi ng an SSD as pri mary dri ve.
System Event Noti fi cati on Servi ce Automati c
Tabl et PC Input Servi ce Manual
Task Schedul er Automati c
TCP/IP NetBIOS Hel per Automati c
Tel ephony Manual
Themes Automati c
Thread Orderi ng Server Manual
TPM Base Servi ces Manual
UPnP Devi ce Host Manual
User Profi l e Servi ce Automati c
Vi rtual Di sk Manual
Vol ume Shadow Copy Manual
WebCl i ent Manual
Wi ndows Audi o Automati c
Wi ndows Audi o Endpoi nt Bui l der Automati c
Wi ndows Backup Manual
Windows Bi ometri c Servi ce Manual
Wi ndows CardSpace Manual
Wi ndows Col or System Manual
Wi ndows Connect Now - Confi g Regi strar Manual
Wi ndows Defender Automati c
(Del ayed Start)
Manual Can be set to Manual i f usi ng
Mi crosoft Securi ty Essenti al s.
Wi ndows Dri ver Foundati on - User-mode Dri ver
Framework
Automati c
Windows Error Reporti ng Servi ce Manual
Windows Event Col l ector Manual
Wi ndows Event Log Automati c
Windows Fi rewal l Automati c
Wi ndows Font Cache Servi ce Manual
Wi ndows Image Acqui si ti on (WI A) Automati c
Wi ndows Instal l er Manual
Wi ndows Management Instrumentati on Manual
Windows Medi a Center Recei ver Servi ce Manual
Windows Medi a Center Schedul er Servi ce Manual
Windows Medi a Pl ayer Network Shari ng Servi ce Manual
Windows Modul es Instal l er Manual
Wi ndows Presentati on Foundati on Font Cache
3.0.0.0
Manual
Wi ndows Remote Management (WS-
Management)
Manual
Wi ndows Search Automati c
(Del ayed Start)
Di sabl ed Can be di sabl ed i f you want to
di sabl e al l Windows Search
functi onal i ty.
Wi ndows Ti me Manual
Wi ndows Update Automati c
(Del ayed Start)

WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Di scovery Servi ce Manual
Wired AutoConfi g Manual
WLAN AutoConfi g Manual
WMI Performance Adapter Manual
Workstati on Automati c
WWAN AutoConfi g Manual


256

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

NON-MICROSOFT SERVICES
You may noti ce that your servi ces l ist has several addi ti onal services that are not i n the l i st above. Thi s is
because particular programs and dri vers, such as graphi cs dri vers, mal ware scanners and system uti li ties,
can i nstal l thei r own unique servi ces. These servi ces are not part of Wi ndows by defaul t, but may be
requi red for some of the speci al ized functi onali ty of the programs you have i nstal l ed. However often due to
poor programmi ng practices, the software devel oper may set a servi ce to run automati cal l y at launch and
hence al ways be runni ng in the background, when thi s i s nei ther requi red nor desi rable. As such, i n many
cases these thi rd party servi ces can be set to Manual or even Disabled to speed up startup ti me, reduce
background resource usage and prevent confl i cts wi thout affecti ng the program's functionali ty i n any
si gni fi cant way.

The qui ckest and easi est method of displ ayi ng al l thi rd party servi ces i s to run MSConfig (See the Startup
Programs chapter), go to the Servi ces tab and ti ck the 'Hi de All Mi crosoft Servi ces' box at the bottom. The
onl y servi ces whi ch wi l l then be shown are those that have been i nstal l ed by thi rd party software. To
determi ne whi ch of these are trul y unnecessary, you wil l have to work out whi ch software package has
i nstal l ed the servi ce - i n most cases i t is fai rly obvi ous because of the servi ce name, however some servi ces
are not cl ear, or may even be part of mal ware and hence diffi cul t to i dentify.

To correctl y identi fy whi ch program a servi ce relates to, and i n parti cular which fil e is launchi ng i t, fol l ow
these steps:

1. In MSConfig, havi ng ti cked the 'Hi de Al l Mi crosoft Servi ces' box, wri te down the exact name of each
non-Mi crosoft servi ce.
2. Open the Servi ces uti li ty and fi nd the same servi ce name i n the l isting.
3. Doubl e-cli ck the servi ce and under the General tab for that service, l ook under the 'Path to executable'
i tem, noti ng both the fi lename and i ts di rectory path.
4. If the step above doesn't hel p you identi fy the program l aunchi ng the servi ce, and if the servi ce i s
currentl y runni ng, press CTRL+ALT+Del ete and sel ect 'Start Task Manager', cl i ck the 'Show Processes
from all users' button, then under the Servi ces tab see if you can fi nd the fil ename for the servi ce you're
exami ni ng. Right-cl ick on thi s fil ename and sel ect 'Go to Process'. Thi s may show you the program
whi ch is runni ng i t, though often i t's just the generi c Servi ce Host process svchost.exe.
5. Search Google or one of the databases shown under the Startup Programs chapter for thi s parti cular
fi lename. This shoul d gi ve you an i ndi cati on of what its functi onal i ty is rel ated to. If necessary you can
temporaril y Stop the servi ce, or set i t to Di sabl ed and reboot to see what functi onali ty i t i mpacts on.

Wi th appropri ate research and testi ng you should be abl e to ei ther set to Manual , or if al l el se fail s, set to
Di sabl e a range of these thi rd-party servi ces. In a few cases particular programs wi l l not functi on correctl y
unl ess thei r servi ce i s l eft at Automati c. If i n doubt, l eave them at thei r defaul t setti ngs.

CHANGE SERVICE STATUS VIA COMMAND LINE
If you wi sh to change the status of a servi ce wi thout openi ng the Servi ces Util ity, you can do so by usi ng a
Command Prompt. Thi s i s useful i f you have changed a cri ti cal servi ce such that you cannot successful ly
boot back i nto Wi ndows to change i t back, or i f you want to compi l e a batch fi l e to start or stop a range of
servi ces at any ti me.

To al ter a servi ce vi a the command l i ne you wi ll need to know the name of the servi ce, ei ther i ts short name
or ful l name. For exampl e the ful l name for the Wi ndows Defender service is 'Wi ndows Defender', whi l e i ts
short name i s WinDefend. You can fi nd these detail s i n the Servi ces uti li ty by doubl e-cli cking on a service
and l ooki ng at the 'Servi ce Name' fi eld, or by l ooki ng at the subfolders under the fol l owi ng key i n the
Regi stry:


257

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SYSTEM\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Ser vi ces]

To start or stop a servi ce via command line, open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and use the form:

Net [ St ar t / St op] " ser vi cename"

Note, if usi ng the short name for a servi ce, quotes are not necessary, but if usi ng the servi ce's ful l name,
quotes must be used around the name. For exampl e to start the Appl i cati on Layer Gateway Servi ce, you can
use ei ther command bel ow to achi eve the same result:

Net st ar t al g
Net st ar t " appl i cat i on l ayer gat eway ser vi ce"

You wil l receive a confirmati on that the servi ce has been started or stopped i f successful.

TRIGGER START SERVICES
Servi ce Tri gger Events are new to Wi ndows 7, and are one of the opti mi zations whi ch hel p reduce the
number of acti ve servi ces actual l y runni ng at any ti me. Instead of constantl y needi ng to run i n the
background to be ready for usage, tri gger-start servi ces onl y start or stop when a speci fi c event occurs. The
speci fi c events whi ch can tri gger such servi ces are:

Devi ce i nterface arri val - When a devi ce i s connected or removed from the system.
Domai n joi n or l eave - When a person joi ns or l eaves a parti cular domai n i n a network.
Fi rewall port opened or cl osed - When a parti cul ar port i s opened or cl osed i n the Fi rewall .
Group pol icy updates - When a parti cular Group Poli cy condi ti on occurs.
IP address - When an IP address is acqui red or l ost; typi call y upon accessi ng to the Internet.
Custom ETW event - When a custom Event Traci ng for Wi ndows (ETW) event occurs.

Thi s means that a servi ce whi ch l ooks for the connecti on of a parti cular devi ce for exampl e wil l not
constantl y run i n the background, i t wil l onl y start up when that type of devi ce i s connected, and wi ll stop
when the devi ce is disconnected. Servi ces need to be wri tten to take advantage of these new features, so
many thi rd party programs wi ll be unl ikely to use them and hence the recommendati on to disabl e
unnecessary thi rd party servi ces sti ll stands.

You cannot vi ew these aspects of tri gger-start servi ces i n the normal Servi ces uti l i ty i n Wi ndows - you wil l
need to use the Command Li ne method and the SC command to vi ew and al ter tri ggers. Type SC / ? i n a
Command Prompt to see a ful l l ist of opti ons for thi s command. For our purposes, we can vi ew trigger
condi ti ons on any servi ce as fol l ows:

2. Determi ne the correct name of the service for whi ch you wish to see a tri gger event - see the previ ous
secti on above for i nstructi ons on how to do thi s.
3. Type the fol lowi ng:

sc qt r i gger i nf o ser vi cename

For exampl e:

sc qt r i gger i nf o t abl et i nput ser vi ce

Thi s wi ll show that the Tabl et PC Input Servi ce whi ch i s set to Manual by defaul t i s set to start for the
tri gger event Devi ce Interface Arri val, meani ng i t i s tri ggered by the connecti on of a tabl et PC devi ce.


258

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

Most servi ces are not configured for triggers, as they are call ed by parti cul ar programs or features and hence
are tri ggered i n that manner. Furthermore a service that has i ts own dependent servi ces runni ng can't be
stopped i n response to a tri gger event, so thi s is not sui tabl e for servi ces wi th dependenci es. However if you
want to attempt to add a tri gger to a parti cular servi ce, then use the SC t r i gger i nf o command to see a li st
of possi ble opti ons. For most purposes there is no need or use i n attempti ng to do thi s as i t i s quite
speciali zed. Servi ces are best configured correctl y by the software devel oper to be tri gger-aware.

PERMANENTLY DELETING SERVICES
There are ti mes when a parti cular thi rd party program or mal ware i nstal ls a custom servi ce and then does
not compl etely remove i t upon bei ng uni nstal l ed or forci bl y removed. If you wi sh to del ete a servi ce from
your system - and obvi ousl y thi s must onl y be done i f you are certai n the servi ce i s unnecessary and not
related to defaul t Wi ndows functi onali ty - then fol l ow the steps bel ow:

2. Determi ne the correct name of the servi ce whi ch you wi sh to remove - see earl i er secti ons above for
i nstructi ons on how to do thi s.
3. Type the fol lowi ng:

sc del et e ser vi cename

4. You wil l see a message i ndi cati ng that the process i s successful , and you wil l no l onger see that servi ce
di splayed i n the Servi ces uti l i ty.

Note that if you do not feel comfortabl e usi ng the command li ne method, then you can use the free Total
Servi ce and Dri ver Control (TDSC) utili ty. Run the program, let i t enumerate your dri vers and servi ces, then
cl i ck OK. Sel ect the servi ce you wi sh to del ete from the l ist and cli ck Remove, then reboot.

Once agai n, use cauti on permanentl y del eti ng a servi ce. Del eting a necessary servi ce can cause major
probl ems and wi l l usual ly requi re the rei nstal lati on of the program to get i t back. The si tuati on wi l l be made
even worse i f you manage to del ete a defaul t Wi ndows servi ce, so at the very l east onl y attempt del eti on of
known thi rd party servi ces.

Servi ce edi ti ng used to be an area of ongoi ng debate, wi th some peopl e suggest that al teri ng servi ces from
thei r defaul t was compl etel y poi ntl ess and unnecessary and shoul d not be done due to the potenti al
probl ems i t can cause; others argued that many servi ces should be di sabl ed to i ncrease performance. Wi th
the comi ng of Wi ndows 7, the debate has all but been settl ed: there i s now not much of a case to be made i n
di sabli ng the core Wi ndows servi ces, as Wi ndows 7 has already been opti mi zed i n thi s regard by Microsoft,
and any changes are more li kel y to see probl ems rather than benefi ts ensui ng. In a sel ect few cases, there
may be l egi timate need to di sabl e a parti cul ar servi ce as part of forci ng certai n functi onali ty to be di sabled in
Wi ndows, such as required for SSD users, but onl y under certai n ci rcumstances, and mai nly for advanced
users to consider.

However just as we removed unnecessary startup i tems under the Startup Programs chapter, there i s sti ll a
genui ne need for al l users to i denti fy and if necessary al ter the configurati on of unnecessary services
i nstal l ed by thi rd party programs. Due to poor and someti mes deli beratel y decepti ve programmi ng practices
these servi ces often launch when they are not required and si t i n the background, addi ng to startup ti me and
background resource usage, i ncreasi ng the securi ty ri sk and greatl y i ncreasi ng the potenti al for system
i nstabil i ty or confli cts on your system. Remember that not al l software devel opers are parti cularly i nterested
i n fast Wi ndows performance, nor do they care about i nsti gati ng i nconveni ence or addi ti onal resource usage
on your system as l ong as i t benefi ts them. Thi s is why edi ti ng servi ces is stil l essential - for removi ng these
unnecessary thi rd party i mposi ti ons.


259

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

< BACKGROUND TASKS
There i s one more type of background program which i s si mi lar to a servi ce, in that i t i nvolves the running
of background processes: schedul ed tasks. These tasks are schedul ed to run i n the background when
Wi ndows i s idl e, or at parti cul ar ti mes of the day, and i s one of the reasons why you may see dri ve acti vity
when your system i s otherwi se i dle for exampl e. However just like core Wi ndows servi ces, these tasks are
not meant to be di rectl y al tered by the user, and i n most cases shoul d onl y be confi gured through the normal
Wi ndows i nterface for vari ous uti li ti es. Thi s secti on l ooks at the cases where manual i nterventi on may be
requi red for background tasks.

TASK SCHEDULER
A task wi ll onl y begi n runni ng when a parti cular tri gger event occurs, and even then, onl y under certai n
condi ti ons. These can be vi ewed and al tered wi thin the mai n uti l i ty for managi ng tasks in Wi ndows, the
Task Scheduler. You can access the Task Schedul er at any ti me by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng
taskschd.msc and pressi ng Enter.

In the l eft pane of Task Scheduler i s a library of tasks, whi ch you can expand to see i n more detai l. Under the
Task Scheduler Li brary>Mi crosoft>Wi ndows folder are a series of subfol ders rel ati ng to a wi de range of
features i n Wi ndows. Each of these sub-fol ders can contai n one or more tasks rel evant to that feature. For
exampl e, under the Defrag subfol der i s the ScheduledDefrag task, as shown i n the mi ddle pane.
Importantl y, the current status of the task is shown next to i ts name i n the mi ddle pane:

Ready - The task i s ready to be run, but no i nstances of i t are queued or runni ng.
Queued - One or more i nstances of the task are queued to be run.
Running - One or more i nstances of the task are currentl y runni ng.
Disabled - No i nstances of the task are queued or runni ng, and the task cannot be run until enabl ed.

You can vi ew more detail s on the task, as well as customi ze i ts parameters, i n the secti on at the bottom of the
mi ddl e pane when a task i s hi ghl i ghted. Or you can doubl e-cl i ck on i t, or ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect
Properti es to open a new wi ndow for thi s purpose. Each tab of the Task Properti es i s covered bel ow:

General: Descri bes the task, and all ows an Admi nistrator to confi gure the pri vil ege l evel , sel ect the User
Account under whi ch the task wi ll i ni tiate, and whether the user needs to be logged on or not for the task to
run.

Triggers: This wi ndow contai ns the trigger event which runs the task. This can be on a schedul e, at l og on, at
Wi ndows startup, on i dle, on connecti on/di sconnection to a user, or workstati on l ock or unlock for exampl e.
Cl i ck the Edit button to open the Edi t Tri gger wi ndow, and sel ect the event type from the 'Begi n the task'
drop down box. Under 'Advanced Settings' you can adjust addi ti onal parameters such as stoppi ng a task if i t
runs l onger than a certai n l ength of ti me. Note that you can add mul ti ple tri gger events to a si ngl e task. Bear
i n mi nd however that the task wil l onl y successful ly run i n conjuncti on wi th the parameters under the
Condi ti ons tab.

Actions: Thi s wi ndow contai ns the acti on whi ch i s i ni ti ated when the task runs. Thi s can be l aunchi ng of a
program or scri pt, the sendi ng of an email , or the di spl ay of a parti cul ar message.

Conditions: If the tri gger event occurs, then the Task Scheduler wi ll check for any condi ti ons whi ch prevent a
task from runni ng, as determi ned by the opti ons i n thi s wi ndow. For exampl e i f the 'Start the task onl y if the
computer i s idl e for' box i s ti cked, then the task wil l wai t until the computer has been i dl e for the l ength of
ti me speci fi ed before actuall y commenci ng. These condi ti ons ensure that certai n tasks don't si mpl y launch


260

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

regardl ess of current system condi ti ons, such as runni ng a defragmentati on duri ng the use of strenuous
program or game.

Settings: The setti ngs under thi s tab al l ow addi ti onal control over the way i n whi ch the task runs, especi ally
i f i t fail s, takes too l ong and/or hi ts another runni ng instance of i tsel f.

History: Thi s tab l ists a hi story of the task, however thi s feature i s di sabl ed by defaul t. To enabl e task hi story,
cl i ck the 'Enabl e al l task history' l i nk i n the ri ght pane of Task Schedul er.

To vi ew all currentl y runni ng tasks, first go to the Vi ew opti on i n the ri ght pane, cli ck i t and make sure
'Show Hi dden Tasks' i s ti cked. Then cl ick the 'Di spl ay all runni ng tasks' l i nk i n the ri ght pane, and a box wi l l
open wi th the tasks l isted - you can manuall y force any of these to end if you wi sh, though this i s not
recommended unl ess you are troubl eshooti ng.

You can manual l y change any task's status by sel ecting the task i n the mi ddle pane, then cl i cki ng on the Run,
End or Di sable li nks i n the ri ght pane.

FORCE IDLE TASK PROCESSING
To force al l tasks currentl y schedul ed to run at i dl e to run i mmediatel y, do the foll owi ng:

2. Type the fol lowi ng i n the command prompt and press Enter:

Cmd. exe / c st ar t / wai t Rundl l 32. exe advapi 32. dl l , Pr ocessI dl eTasks

3. Do not do anythi ng on your system, incl udi ng movi ng the mouse, unti l the prompt appears agai n,
i ndi cati ng the successful compl eti on of al l i dl e tasks. Thi s may take a whi l e.

Thi s method can be useful both to test a task you have customi zed to run at idl e, and also i f you want to
ensure an i dle task doesn't run i n the background duri ng a cri ti cal peri od, such as duri ng a firmware update
i n Wi ndows for exampl e.

CREATE A TASK
Task Scheduler not onl y al l ows you to edi t existi ng tasks, i t also l ets you add your own tasks. To add a
custom task, cl i ck the 'Create Basi c Task' li nk i n the ri ght pane, and you wi ll be presented wi th an automated
Wizard whi ch wi ll step you through the process. For example, if you leave your computer on at home all
day l ong, you can create a custom task whi ch emai l s you if your system experi ences any parti cul ar error.
Thi s woul d be done as fol lows:

1. Hi ghl i ght a category i n the l eft pane i n whi ch to l ocate the new task, or create an entirely new category
for i t by sel ecti ng the 'Task Schedul er Li brary' category and then cl i cki ng the 'New Fol der' li nk i n the
ri ght pane.
2. Start the Create Basi c Task wi zard.
3. Enter an appropri ate name for the task, e.g. Emai l Al ert.
4. On the Tri gger page, under 'When do you want the task to start', sel ect When a speci fi c event i s l ogged'
and cl i ck Next.
5. The opti ons here ti e i n with the Event Vi ewer, whi ch i s covered under the Event Vi ewer secti on of the
Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter. Thi s means that you have to sel ect a parti cul ar
Log category and Source from the Event Vi ewer l ogs, and enter a speci fi c Event ID. Then when thi s
Event ID i s recorded by Windows, i t wil l tri gger your task to commence. Cli ck Next.
6. Under the 'What action do you want the task to perform', sel ect 'Send an e-mail ' and cli ck Next.


261

S
e
r
v
i
c
e
s

7. Enter your email detai l s and the subject and body of the message, plus any attachments you wish to
send.
8. Cl i ck Fi ni sh to i mpl ement the task.

Note that i nstead of Steps 1 - 5 above, you can open Event Vi ewer, ri ght-cl i ck on a parti cular event and sel ect
'Attach Task to thi s Event' - see the Event Viewer secti on of the Performance Measurement &

Havi ng been created, the custom task i s now i n Ready state, and wi ll run when i t hi ts the appropriate
tri gger, sending you an email . Thi s al lows you to moni tor your PC's state from anywhere at any ti me. Once
created, you can edi t the task further just l ike any other task, for exampl e setti ng i t to run only when you are
l ogged off but the machi ne i s stil l on.

The pri mary use for Task Schedul er shoul d be for more advanced users to either remove unnecessary tasks
i nserted by thi rd party programs, to add new tasks, or customize an exi sti ng Wi ndows task more thoroughly
to all ow i t to run under a parti cul ar set of condi ti ons whi ch better meet your needs. You shoul d not disabl e
normal Wi ndows tasks, as thi s can make Wi ndows l ess secure and unabl e to di agnose and mai ntai n i tsel f
properl y.

Task Scheduler can be turned off al together by forcing the 'Task Schedul er' servi ce i n the Servi ces util i ty to
Di sabl ed. This i s not recommended at all , as Task Schedul er i s an i mportant component and di sabli ng i t
prevents any schedul ed tasks from runni ng, some of which have i mportant di agnosti c or system
mai ntenance functi ons.

As thi s chapter has explained, configuri ng any service or background task must be done wi th thought and
research. These are not major performance opti mizati on steps, the mai n purpose of edi ting servi ces and
background tasks i s to ei ther remove the unnecessary i ntrusi ons of thi rd party programs, or fine tune certain
features if you are an advanced users. If you are not confi dent i n what you are doi ng, or don't have the ti me
or pati ence to do proper research and sort out your own needs, then do not alter your services or tasks in
any way. And most i mportantl y, do not consi der the di sabli ng of a range of Wi ndows servi ces to be some
sort of opti mizati on procedure - they are al ready hi ghly opti mized by defaul t i n Wi ndows 7.


262

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

WINDOWS REGISTRY

The Wi ndows Regi stry i s a central database for holdi ng a range of i mportant system and program-rel ated
data. Whenever you change certai n Windows setti ngs, i nstall new programs, or even move or resize open
wi ndows for exampl e, the Regi stry wi ll be updated wi th key pi eces of i nformati on recordi ng these changes.

The Wi ndows Registry remai ns much the same i n Wi ndows 7 as i t has been i n previ ous versi ons of
Wi ndows. As of Wi ndows Vi sta, some i mprovements were made to decrease the possi bil ity of Regi stry
corrupti on. Furthermore Vi rtual izati on support was added to the Regi stry as part of the User Account
Control feature, all owi ng the redi recti on and successful i nstal lati on of appli cations whi ch otherwi se require
full Admi nistrator access to wri te to protected porti ons of the Registry - see the User Account Control section
of the PC Securi ty chapter for more detai l s.

The most si gni ficant change to the Regi stry i n Wi ndows 7 i s the removal of Regi stry Reflecti on for 64-bit
operati ng systems. In previ ous versions of Wi ndows 64-bi t, the Wi ndows 32-bi t on Wi ndows 64-bi t
(WOW64) emulati on provi ded a special al ternate vi ew of the Regi stry for 32-bi t appl i cati ons, and Regi stry
reflecti on copi ed keys for 32-bi t and 64-bi t appl i cati ons back and forward between these two vi ews to keep
them synchroni zed. Thi s feature caused some i nconsistenci es and has been removed i n Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, as
detail ed i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. In practi ce there is no real i mpact on users from thi s change.

Thi s chapter exami nes the Wi ndows Regi stry i n detai l , both i n terms of i ts structure and how i t operates, as
wel l as the way i n whi ch users can change Regi stry setti ngs to i mpl ement a range of customizati ons i n
Wi ndows 7. Knowl edge of the Wi ndows Regi stry is also essential i n troubl eshooti ng and system recovery
al ong wi th fine tuni ng system performance and functi onal i ty.

< BACKUP AND RESTORE THE REGISTRY
The Wi ndows Regi stry is a cri ti call y i mportant component of Wi ndows 7. By defaul t, any changes made to
the Registry can't be easil y reversed, so it i s vi tal to regularl y back up both the enti re Regi stry, and sel ected
porti ons of i t i n one or more of several ways before consi deri ng maki ng any changes to i t.

BACKING UP THE ENTIRE REGISTRY
If your Regi stry becomes damaged or corrupted, whether through data corrupti on from overcl ocki ng or
hardware fail ure, or through mal ware i nfestati on or user-i ni ti ated changes vi a the Registry Edi tor for
exampl e, you wi ll experi ence seri ous probl ems i n Wi ndows 7 whi ch ul ti matel y only the rei nstall ati on of
Wi ndows can resol ve. To avoi d thi s, you shoul d regularly back up the enti re Registry.

Fortunatel y Wi ndows has a bui l t-i n tool for qui ckl y taki ng a snapshot of the Regi stry and other i mportant
system fi l es and setti ngs: the System Restore feature - see the System Protecti on secti on of the Backup &
Recovery chapter for detail s. I strongly recommend that you l eave System Restore enabl ed, and manually
create a restore poi nt before edi ti ng the Regi stry or undertaking any other ri sky procedures. Thi s wi ll
suppl ement the restore poi nts whi ch Wi ndows automati cal ly creates whenever you i nstall dri vers or i nstall
updates via Wi ndows Update for exampl e. Then if you experience what you bel i eve is a Registry-related
probl em, you can use System Restore to qui ckl y and easil y undo any changes made to the Regi stry wi thout
any i mpact on your personal fi l es or folders or your other program setti ngs.

Note that i f you experi ence probl ems booti ng i nto Wi ndows after a change to the Regi stry, you can also
attempt to use the 'Last known good confi gurati on' opti on avai labl e i n the Advanced Boot Opti ons menu,


263

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

accessi ble by repeatedly pressi ng F8 duri ng Wi ndows startup - see the System Recovery secti on of the

If you experiment qui te frequentl y wi th the Wi ndows Registry and want to take a full i ndependent backup
of your enti re Regi stry, you can use the free ERUNT tool to make such a backup. Downl oad thi s program
and i nstall i t wi th full Admi ni strati ve pri vi leges (or di sabl e UAC). Note that duri ng the i nstall ati on of Erunt
you shoul d answer 'No' i f asked whether you want Erunt to be pl aced i n the startup fol der, as this i s
unnecessary. To make a backup of the Wi ndows Regi stry usi ng Erunt, l aunch the program agai n wi th ful l
Admi nistrative pri vi l eges or wi th UAC di sabl ed. You wi ll be prompted to backup your regi stry to a fol der,
whi ch you shoul d accept by cl i cki ng Ok unti l the backup has been made. If you want to restore thi s backup
at any poi nt, si mpl y go to the di rectory where the backup was made, typi call y \Windows\ERDNT\[Date of
backup]\, and l aunch the ERDNT.exe fi l e there to restore that backup. Note that on systems wi th a separate
System Reserved Parti ti on - as covered under the Install i ng Wi ndows secti on of the Wi ndows Instal lati on
chapter - you may recei ve an error when runni ng thi s tool . Thi s i s normal and can be safel y ignored. For
most users Erunt i s unnecessary, as l ong as System Restore is enabled and restore poi nts regularly taken.

BACKING UP PORTIONS OF THE REGISTRY
Restori ng a ful l Regi stry backup or using a previ ous restore poi nt can be consi dered overki ll i f you simply
want to undo a si ngl e change to the Regi stry. Si nce most users typi cal l y make a range of minor i ndi vi dual
changes to the Regi stry, a more practi cal precauti on i s to make a backup of the parti cular branch of the
Regi stry you are about to edi t, especial l y i f you don't feel confi dent about maki ng the change, or aren't sure
how the change wi ll i mpact on your system. That way i f anythi ng goes wrong you don't have to go through
a l engthy recovery process whi ch may also undo other changes you wi sh to keep - you can si mply restore
the i ndi vi dual branch that you have changed qui ckl y and easi ly.

The steps to backi ng up a speci fi c regi stry branch or key are as fol l ows:

1. Open the Regi stry Edi tor.
2. In the l eft pane of the Regi stry Edi tor wi ndow, ri ght-cl i ck on the name of the key that hol ds the setti ngs
you wi sh to edi t.
3. Sel ect the Export opti on, and choose a sui tably descri pti ve name and appropri ate l ocati on for the fi l e.
Make sure that the 'Sel ected Branch' opti on i s ti cked at the very bottom of the box, so that onl y that
parti cul ar branch and al l i ts sub-components are saved, not the enti re Regi stry. Cl i ck the Save button
and the fil e wi l l be saved wi th a .REG extensi on.
4. Once the relevant secti on of the Registry has been saved, you can go ahead and make the desi red
changes to this branch of the Registry.

If you experience any undesi rabl e behavi or after your Registry changes - and remember that some Registry
changes requi re a reboot or l ogoff and l ogon before thei r effects can be seen - then you can restore thi s
backup of your Registry by goi ng to the pl ace where you saved the .REG fi l e and doubl e-cl i cki ng on i t to
upl oad i t to your Registry. Thi s wil l overwri te the exi sti ng secti ons of the Regi stry wi th the backed up
versi on, effecti vel y undoi ng your changes qui ckly and easil y. Reboot or l ogoff and l ogon agai n if necessary
to i mpl ement the change.

Whi le you can use the Export functi on of the Registry Edi tor to take a ful l snapshot of the Windows Registry
by sel ecti ng the All opti on when prompted, any Regi stry backup made i n thi s manner cannot be restored
properl y and i s not a substitute for taki ng full Regi stry backups as covered further above.


264

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

< REGISTRY EDITOR
The Wi ndows Regi stry Edi tor i s the pri mary buil t-in Wi ndows tool used to vi ew and edit the Wi ndows
Regi stry. To access i t go to Start>Search Box, type regedit then press Enter. The structure of the Regi stry i s
expl ai ned further bel ow, but essenti al ly the Registry Edi tor displays a Wi ndows Expl orer-li ke vi ew of the
database as a range of folders and subfol ders whi ch can be navi gated just like any other Expl orer-based
i nterface.

The mai n reason for edi ti ng the Regi stry is to al ter setti ngs and features that cannot otherwi se be changed
usi ng the normal Wi ndows i nterface. Learni ng to use the Regi stry Edi tor is i mportant because i t is a
powerful tool, and i s the most di rect method of al teri ng the Regi stry. Usi ng Registry Edi tor ensures that you
are aware of preci sel y what has been changed and where i n the Regi stry it resi des shoul d you need to
change i t back. For this reason I strongl y recommend against usi ng any thi rd party tool s whi ch
automati cal ly 'opti mi ze' or make changes to the Regi stry, and i n parti cular I discourage the use of pre-made
.REG Regi stry scri pts which you can downl oad. Whi le very conveni ent, i n both cases the use of these
methods, aside from bei ng a securi ty ri sk, can result i n a range of probl ems whi ch you wi l l not be able to
resol ve. If you feel you are not advanced enough to l earn about the Registry Edi tor, then by the same token
you are not advanced enough to deal wi th any potenti al problems thi rd party tool s or .REG fi l es may wreak
on your system, and you shoul d steer clear of them unti l you l earn how to use the Registry Edi tor.

REGISTRY STRUCTURE
When you fi rst open the Regi stry Edi tor, you can see that the Wi ndows Regi stry i s broken down i nto a five
mai n folders, also known as Hi ves or Root Keys. Each i s descri bed bel ow:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - Thi s secti on of the Registry hol ds i nformati on related to the functi onali ty of
i nstal l ed appli cati ons, such as fil e associati ons. The data here i s actual l y a combinati on of that hel d under the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ SOFTWARE\ Cl asses and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Cl asses keys - in
other words it contai ns relevant user-speci fi c setti ngs as wel l as system-wi de setti ngs respecti vel y. If there
are any dupl icated values, those stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ SOFTAWRE\ Cl asses are used.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER - Thi s secti on of the Regi stry hol ds i nformati on for the user who i s currentl y l ogged
on. Thi s folder i s actuall y a sub-key of HKEY_USERS. The current user's fol der, di splay setti ngs and Control
Panel setti ngs are stored here, and saved i n the ntuser.dat system fi l e found under the root directory of each
user's \Users\[username] di rectory.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE - Thi s secti on of the Regi stry stores settings that are speci fi c to the enti re computer
and affect any user. Thi s incl udes data on system drivers, hardware devi ces, servi ces, vari ous software and
Wi ndows setti ngs whi ch appl y to the enti re PC and not just an i ndivi dual User Account are hel d here.

HKEY_USERS - Thi s secti on of the Registry holds al l the acti vel y l oaded user profil es on the PC. Each user
profil e folder has a uni que Securi ty Identi fi er. You can match the fol ders to parti cular user profil es by going
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Pr of i l eLi st ,
cl i cki ng on each of the sub-keys there and l ooki ng at the val ue for Pr of i l eI magePat h.

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFI G - Thi s secti on of the Regi stry hol d i nformati on about the hardware profil e that i s
used by the computer at system startup. The data here i s not permanentl y stored on di sk, i t is regenerated at
boot ti me and i s l i nked to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ Syst em\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Har dwar e
Pr of i l es\ Cur r ent .

Asi de from HKEY_CURRENT_USER whose data i s saved l ocall y under the root di rectory of the current user's
personal folders as noted above, the remai ni ng Registry l ocati ons have a range of data saved under the
\Windows\System32\config di rectory.


265

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

The way i n whi ch parti cul ar l ocati ons i n the Regi stry are referenced throughout thi s book and i n most other
pl aces typi call y i nvol ves the fol l owi ng format:

[ Hi ve Name\ Key Name\ Sub- Key 1\ Sub- Key 2 ( et c. ) \ ]

Val ue Name = Val ue Dat a

In other words, under the fi ve mai n HKEY_ hi ves, subfol ders are usual l y referred to i nterchangeably as keys,
sub-keys or subfolders, and when you l eft-cli ck on any one of those keys, the i tems di splayed i n the ri ght
pane are cal led values. Square brackets are often used to contai n the full path to the desi red subfol der,
preventi ng confusi on as to where a key name ends a value name begi ns. Each value has a name, type and
some data:

Value Name - A val ue can have any name, as these are assigned by the software devel oper. The names are
usual l y descri pti ve i n some way, but at other ti mes they may just be a stri ng of numbers and/or l etters.

Value Type - A val ue entry i s al ways one of the fol l owi ng general types:

STRING - A Stri ng val ue is any combi nati on of l etters and numbers, such as common words, di rectory
paths, etc.
BINARY - A Bi nary val ue i s raw data di spl ayed as a table i n hexadeci mal vi ew. Note that the
hexadeci mal system vi ew uses the normal numbers 0 - 9, but for 10 - 15 i t uses the l etters a - f (i .e. a = 10,
b = 11, etc.). Thi s then al l ows the di splay of vari ous byte values i n bi nary code as si ngle characters.
DWORD - A Dword val ue i s a seri es of whol e numbers whi ch can be di splayed i n ei ther hexadeci mal or
deci mal vi ew.
QWORD - A Qword value i s si mi lar to a Dword, however i t can be l onger because i t i s a 64-bi t i nteger as
opposed to a Dword whi ch i s a 32-bi t integer. It can be di spl ayed i n ei ther hexadeci mal or deci mal vi ew.

Value Data - The val ue data wil l di ffer dependi ng on the val ue type. It can be words, numbers, or a
combi nati on of both. The restri cti ons of each val ue type determi ne what can be entered as data for a value,
pl us of course the actual use that parti cular val ue has. For example i f a val ue i s designed to tel l a program
the path to a parti cul ar executabl e fi le, then enteri ng a stri ng of numbers i s meani ngl ess, because a properl y
formatted di rectory path i s requi red.

In summary, i f the Registry Edi tor is viewed as bei ng si milar to Wi ndows Expl orer, then we can consider the
root keys or hi ves to be l i ke parent folders i n a directory tree; each sub-key under them i s a subfol der; and
the val ues stored under them are li ke fil es contai ni ng speci fi c data. Just l ike the Wi ndows Expl orer i nterface,
you can also edi t, create or del ete Registry entri es.

EDITING REGISTRY ENTRIES
To edi t an existi ng Regi stry entry fol l ow the exampl e bel ow to see the correct procedure:


Cur sor Bl i nkRat e=530

The text above i ndi cates that to make this Registry change, you shoul d open Regi stry Edi tor and then:

1. Doubl e-cli ck on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER root key or cl i ck the small whi te arrow next to it i n the l eft
pane of the Regi stry Edi tor wi ndow. This wil l show every subfol der si tti ng directl y under i t.
2. Next, you must double-cl i ck on the Cont r ol Panel sub-key.
3. Left-cl i ck once on the Deskt op sub-key to sel ect i t.


266

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

4. In the ri ght pane of the Regi stry Edi tor wi ndow, l ook for a value call ed Cur sor Bl i nkRat e.
5. Doubl e-cli ck on thi s i tem and i n the box that opens, cli ck i n the Value Data box, note that i t says 600.
6. You can edi t thi s value data by enteri ng a new val ue if you wi sh.
7. As soon as you cli ck OK the change has automati cal ly been saved to the Registry.
8. You can cl ose Regi stry Edi tor if you wi sh.

In the exampl e above, I did not provi de any explanati on as to what i mpact edi ti ng this val ue woul d have.
However even wi thout instructi ons you can deduce the l i kel y i mpact because the l ocati on poi nts to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER hi ve, whi ch as di scussed earl i er, relates to user-specific setti ngs. Furthermore the
sub-keys Cont r ol Panel and Deskt op hi nt at the fact that thi s setti ng i s li kel y normall y set i n the
Wi ndows Control Panel and affects the normal Wi ndows Desktop. Fi nal ly, the val ue name
Cur sor Bl i nkRat e tends to poi nt qui te cl earl y to the l i kel i hood that al teri ng this value control s the rate at
whi ch the cursor bli nks when displayed i n normal Desktop i nterfaces.

Unfortunately, many Registry setti ngs are not so simpl e to deduce, or more i mportantl y, do not have the
i ntended i mpact i f changed. Whi le you can experi ment to fi nd out what a setti ng does, most commonl y you
need to have speci fi c i nstructi ons which expl ai n what a setti ng does, the val i d val ues for i t, and actual
i mpact of changi ng these values, plus whether you need to reboot or l ogoff and l ogon for the i mpact of the
change to come i nto effect. Sti ll , as the exampl e above demonstrates, by understandi ng the basi cs of how the
Regi stry structure works, you wi ll be better equi pped to expl ore the Registry on your own and deduce what
vari ous entri es mean.

Thi s chapter does not contai n any speci fic Regi stry customizati ons you can use, however a wi de range of
such tweaks are spread throughout thi s book i n thei r rel evant chapters.

I strongl y suggest usi ng one or more of the backup methods covered earl i er i n thi s chapter to make an
appropriate backup of the enti re Registry and/or the branch you are edi ti ng before maki ng any change to the
Regi stry. The Regi stry Edi tor does not have an undo functi on of any ki nd.

CREATING AND DELETING REGISTRY ENTRIES
At vari ous times you may need to create a new key or value if i t does not exi st by defaul t in your Registry.
To create a new entry from scratch correctl y, foll ow this procedure:

1. Go to the parti cul ar subfolder under which you need to create a new key.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on the rel evant sub-key and select New>Key to create a new subfol der beneath i t;
al ternati vely, sel ect New> and the correct value type to create a new value (entry in the ri ght pane).
3. Enter the name for the new key or value and press Enter.
4. To confi rm that the new key or val ue i s i n the correct l ocati on, left-cli ck on i t and l ook at the bottom of
Regi stry to see if the full path matches that whi ch you desi re.

Note that Regi stry Edi tor does not gi ve any confi rmati on or si gn that you've entered a val id key or val ue, so
there i s no way to know i f what you have created i s correct, asi de from checking the i nstructi ons you were
foll owi ng and then testi ng to see i f i t has the i ntended i mpact. Remember, you may need to reboot or l ogoff
and l ogon agai n to i mpl ement the Regi stry change.

To del ete a key or val ue, si mpl y go to the parti cular key or value you wish to remove, ri ght-cl i ck on i t and
sel ect Delete. Take al l possi bl e care to make sure that what you're del eti ng i s the correct key or value, and
that you trust the source whi ch has i nstructed you to do so, otherwi se you may be doi ng irreparabl e damage
to the Regi stry.


267

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

REGISTRY PERMISSIONS
In certai n cases i f you attempt to edi t an entry i n the Registry, you may see an error or be tol d that you do
not have permi ssi on to do so. Thi s i s normal, as some l ocati ons i n the Regi stry are protected agai nst changes
by anyone who i s not an owner of i t - see the Access Control and Permi ssi ons secti on of the PC Security
chapter for ways of taking ownership and thus gi vi ng yourself full permi ssi on to make changes to these
areas.

As a fi nal note, you may need to reboot for the i mpact of any edi ted, created or del eted Regi stry entri es to
come i nto effect. However you can si mpl y l ogoff - even i f you onl y have one User Account - by cli cki ng the
Start button, then cl i cki ng the arrow next to the Shutdown button and sel ecting 'Log off'. Once l ogged off,
cl i ck your account name to l og back in agai n and the Registry change wil l be l oaded. You can al so try
restarti ng the explorer.exe process i nstead as covered under the Advanced Setti ngs secti on of the Wi ndows
Expl orer chapter.

< MAINTAINING THE REGISTRY
The Wi ndows Regi stry has thousands of entri es, and just l i ke any l arge database, over ti me some of these
entri es can become obsol ete due to changes i n hardware and software, and some entri es can even become
corrupted due to bad shutdowns, overcl ocki ng or faul ty software or hardware for example. For the most
part the Windows Regi stry i s sel f-mai ntai ni ng, and gi ven the i mprovements to the Regi stry made i n
Wi ndows 7, on balance I recommend that you do not attempt to run any util i ties whi ch attempt to opti mi ze
the Registry by cl eani ng i t. There are more ri sks i nvol ved and more l i kel i hood of uni ntended consequences
than any margi nal benefi ts.

However for the sake of compl eteness, and al so for more advanced users who feel ready to accept the ri sks,
and want to use a Regi stry cl eaner to assi st i n removi ng debri s l eft over from bad driver or program
uni nstall s, then thi s secti on bri efl y covers thi s topi c.

The programs you can use for thi s functi onal i ty are the free CCl eaner uti li ty, whi ch has a Regi stry cl eani ng
abi li ty, or the JV16 PowerTool s uti l i ty whi ch requi res purchase after a tri al peri od. I recommend and cover
the CCl eaner Regi stry-related functi onality bel ow, as i t i s more than suffi ci ent for our purposes:

1. Open CCl eaner and cli ck the Opti ons button on the left si de.
2. Cl i ck the Advanced button and make sure there is a ti ck agai nst the 'Show prompt to backup registry
i ssues' box.
3. Cl i ck the Regi stry button on the l eft side.
4. I recommend ti cki ng everythi ng under the Regi stry Integri ty secti on except 'Unused Fil e Extensi ons',
'Start Menu Orderi ng' and 'MUI Cache'.
5. Cl i ck the 'Scan for Issues' button and wai t for the scan to compl ete - nothi ng wi ll be al tered.
6. Exami ne the l i st carefull y, focusi ng on any entri es rel ated to programs or drivers whi ch are no l onger
i nstal l ed on your system - leave a ti ck next to these entri es.
7. Unti ck any others unl ess you are absol utel y sure they are safe to remove.
8. Cl i ck the 'Fi x sel ected i ssues' button to commence removal of the ti cked Registry entri es.
9. When prompted, cli ck Yes to backup Regi stry changes and save the backup to an appropriate l ocati on.
10. Cl i ck the 'Fi x Al l Sel ected Issues' button then cl i ck OK to remove all ti cked i tems from the Registry.

Over a peri od of several days, if Wi ndows features or any of your programs start acti ng strangel y, you can
undo the changes caused by Regi stry cleani ng by doubl e-cl icki ng the backed-up .REG fil e you saved i n Step
9 above and rebooti ng. Note that CCl eaner's pri mary functi onal i ty is covered under the CCl eaner secti on of
the Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter.


268

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

R
e
g
i
s
t
r
y

The NTRegOpt uti li ty, by the same author as the Erunt util i ty covered earli er i n thi s chapter, does not clean
or al ter the Regi stry, but instead can compress i t to take up l ess space. Si mil ar to Erunt, i t requi res that you
i nstal l and launch i t wi th ful l Admi ni strator pri vi l eges, or di sabl e UAC, for i t to work properl y. Furthermore
i t wi ll show an error if you have a System Reserved Parti ti on on your dri ve, whi ch can be i gnored. Regi stry
compressi on i s not of major i mportance anymore, gi ven the saving of a few Megabytes of memory are ti ny
i n proporti on to the total i nstall ed RAM on most modern systems.

Once agai n, for general users I recommend agai nst usi ng any Registry cl eani ng tool s due to the substantial
ri sks compared wi th the margi nal benefi ts whi ch come from usi ng these uti l i ties i n Windows 7. Any form of
automated change to the Regi stry can resul t i n a range of probl ems and unusual behavi or i n Wi ndows.

The Windows Regi stry is a vi tal ly i mportant component of Windows, a central database hol di ng a range of
cri ti cal i nformati on. If i t is damaged or i f parts of it are al tered or removed wi thout adequate knowl edge,
you may run i nto major probl ems, which i n the worst case scenari o coul d requi re the full rei nstal lati on of
Wi ndows. For thi s reason I urge you to become famil iar wi th the Regi stry as covered i n this chapter, and
i mportantl y, check the Backup & Recovery chapter both to read detai ls of how to protect yoursel f agai nst,
and i f necessary recover from, any catastrophi c changes to the Registry.

Fi nal ly, i t i s strongl y recommended that if you have doubts about al teri ng the Regi stry i n any way, i t is best
to l eave i t alone. None of the Regi stry changes li sted throughout thi s book can be considered absol utel y
necessary, and i f you don't feel comfortabl e edi ti ng the Registry at the moment, ski p al l Regi stry-rel ated
steps, and come back to them when you feel more confi dent and have more knowl edge about the Regi stry.


269

G
r
o
u
p

P
o
l
i
c
y

GROUP POLICY

Group Poli cy i s desi gned pri mari ly for Admi nistrators to al ter the way i n whi ch Wi ndows behaves for
di fferent user groups on a network or on a parti cular machi ne. When a Group Pol i cy i s i n place, i t effecti vel y
tel l s Wi ndows to overri de the normal setti ngs and use those speci fied by the pol i cy. Group Pol i cy remains
much the same i n Wi ndows 7 as i t was i n previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, however there are a range of new
setti ngs and some i nterface changes. Because Group Pol i cy is actuall y desi gned for network admi ni strators,
and al so because of i ts compl exi ty, i t won't be covered i n great detai l i n thi s book. Thi s chapter i s mainl y
about Group Pol i cy-related features whi ch the average home PC user woul d find handy.

You can al so use the Wi ndows PowerShell or the Wi ndows Regi stry to change many of these setti ngs.
However aside from bei ng covered briefl y under the Admi nistrati ve Tool s secti on of the Wi ndows Control
Panel chapter, detail i ng PowerShel l usage i s beyond the scope of thi s book. Editi ng the Registry to change
Group Poli cy i tems si mi larl y requi res lengthy and detai led descripti ons, as almost all of the Group Policy
setti ngs do not exi st i n the Wi ndows Regi stry by defaul t and need to be created, and their vari ous values
documented. However if you wish to attempt to i mpl ement these setti ngs usi ng the Registry method, see
thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e for a spreadsheet l isti ng the rel evant Registry keys and values.

< LOCAL GROUP POLICY EDITOR
Confi guri ng Group Poli cy i s done via the Local Group Poli cy Edi tor, whi ch is only avai labl e i n the
Professi onal , Ul ti mate and Enterpri se edi ti ons of Windows 7. To access the Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor go to
Start>Search Box, type gpedit.msc and press Enter. The Local Group Poli cy Edi tor has two mai n branches:
'Computer Confi gurati on' and 'User Confi gurati on'. Changes made under the 'User Confi gurati on' sections
affect a particular user regardl ess of whi ch machine they are on; changes made under the 'Computer
Confi gurati on' secti on appl y only to the current machi ne and hence affect all users on that machi ne. Note
that the Securi ty Setti ngs found under the Computer Confi gurati on branch are the same as those covered i n
detail under the Local Securi ty Pol i cy secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter and won't be covered agai n here.

The Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor can be useful i n l etting you change parti cul ar setti ngs and features beyond
the abi li ty provi ded wi thin the normal Wi ndows i nterface. For exampl e, i f you wi sh to prevent users on
your system from accessi ng specifi c features, a change vi a Group Pol i cy al l ows you to easi ly remove access
to vi rtual ly any component of Wi ndows for users on your PC or home network.

To change a setti ng, go to a speci fi ed subfol der and doubl e-cl ick on the setti ng i n the ri ght pane, then choose
Enabl ed, Di sabl ed or 'Not Confi gured' as required and cli ck Appl y. The defaul t for each setti ng i s usuall y
'Not Confi gured' unl ess otherwi se noted, whi ch means the normal Wi ndows defaul ts appl y because the
Group Pol i cy i s not confi gured to overri de them. Before changi ng a setti ng make sure to read the Hel p text
provi ded. If i n doubt, do not al ter a setti ng; none of the changes provi ded bel ow are necessari ly
recommended.


270

G
r
o
u
p

P
o
l
i
c
y

HIDE SPECIFIC CONTROL PANEL ITEMS
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Control Panel
Setting: Hi de speci fi ed Control Panel i tems

If Enabl ed, all ows you to choose whi ch components of the Wi ndows Control Panel you wi sh to hi de. Click
the Show button, then cl i ck the Add button i n the box whi ch opens. You wil l have to manual l y type i n the
full correct name of the Wi ndows Control Panel component - for exampl e to hi de the 'Phone and Modem'
component i n Wi ndows Control Panel , cli ck the Show button, type Phone and Modem i n the Val ue box, and
cl i ck OK. When fi ni shed addi ng components to the li st, cl i ck OK and then cl i ck Apply, and when you next
open the Windows Control Panel the rel evant component(s) wil l be mi ssi ng. Set thi s pol i cy to Di sabl ed or
Not Confi gured or remove the i tems from the l i st to show the rel evant i tems i n Wi ndows Control Panel
agai n.

PREVENT ACCESS TO A SPECIFIC WINDOWS FEATURE
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates
Setting: Vari ous

Under this branch of the Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor you can fi nd many subfolders wi th a range of Wi ndows
features and functi ons to di sable. For exampl e, under the User Windows Components\Desktop Gadgets
subfol der here, the 'Turn off desktop gadgets' setti ng does preci sely that i f Enabl ed. Si mil arl y, i f you wi sh to
di sabl e the Fli p 3D ani mated 3D desktop task swi tcher, you can do so under the Windows
Components\Desktop Windows Manager subfol der, using the 'Do not all ow Fli p3D i nvocati on' setti ng. Browse
through al l the subfol ders and setti ngs here to see if any of them sui t your purposes. However as noted
earl i er i n thi s chapter, i t i s not wi se to use Group Policy to di sabl e setti ngs or features through whi ch can be
adjusted usi ng normal Windows opti ons - this makes i t much harder to track a probl em back to a change
you made here, unless you take the ti me to note down whi ch parti cular Group Pol i cy setti ngs you have
changed for future reference.

PREVENT AUTOMATIC RESTORE POINT CREATION
Folder: Computer Confi gurati on\Admi ni strati ve Templ ates\System\Devi ce Instal lati on
Setting: Prevent creati on of a system restore poi nt duri ng device acti vi ty that woul d normall y prompt
creati on of a restore poi nt

If Enabl ed prevents Wi ndows from automati cal l y creati ng a restore poi nt for the System Restore feature
duri ng vari ous acti vi ti es whi ch woul d normal ly resul t i n this, such as i nstal lati on of new dri vers. Thi s can
speed up driver i nstal lati on for example, but obvi ousl y provides less protecti on agai nst potenti al probl ems
and i s not recommended.

MODIFY CTRL+ALT+DEL SCREEN
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\System\CTRL+ALT+Del Opti ons
Setting: Remove...

Here you can speci fy whi ch components to remove from the screen whi ch appears when you press
CTRL+ALT+Del ete. Change the setti ng(s) the speci fic component(s) you want to remove to Enabl ed.


271

G
r
o
u
p

P
o
l
i
c
y

TURN OFF THUMBNAILS
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Wi ndows Components\Wi ndows Expl orer\
Setting: Turn off the display of thumbnai l s and only di splay i cons

If Enabl ed prevents any fol der from displ ayi ng Thumbnai l vi ew, repl aci ng them wi th standard i cons. Thi s
setti ng requi res a Wi ndows restart, or l oggi ng off and l oggi ng back on to i mplement.

HIDE NOTIFICATION AREA
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar
Setting: Hi de the noti fi cati on area

If Enabl ed removes the enti re Notification Area, l eavi ng onl y the system cl ock showi ng. You can then also
di sabl e the Cl ock by ri ght-cli cki ng on i t, sel ecti ng Properti es and setti ng i t to Off. This setti ng requires a
Wi ndows restart, or l oggi ng off and l oggi ng back on to i mpl ement.

TURN OFF AERO SHAKE
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Desktop
Setting: Turn off Aero Shake wi ndow mini mizi ng mouse gesture

If Enabl ed, disables the Aero Shake feature, but does not affect Aero Snap functionali ty.

ADD SEARCH INTERNET LINK TO START MENU
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar
Setting: Add Search Internet l i nk to Start Menu

If Enabl ed, adds a 'Search the Internet' l i nk to the Start Menu, whi ch appears whenever you enter a search
term i n the Start>Search Box. Cl i cki ng thi s li nk opens your defaul t web browser and searches on the entered
term usi ng your defaul t search engi ne provi der.

BLOCK REMOVABLE STORAGE ACCESS
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\System\Removabl e Storage Access
Setting: Vari ous

If Enabl ed, the rel evant setti ngs under thi s fol der can be used to prevent a user from read and/or wri ti ng to
removabl e storage devi ces such as CDs, DVDs and external dri ves. Thi s can be used to prevent a user from
attachi ng such a devi ce and transferri ng undesi rabl e software such as mal ware to the system for exampl e.

PREVENT WINDOWS MEDIA DRM ACCESS
Folder: Computer Configurati on\Admi ni strati ve Templ ates\Wi ndows Components\Wi ndows Media
Di gi tal Ri ghts Management
Setting: Prevent Wi ndows Media DRM Internet Access

If Enabl ed prevents Wi ndows Medi a-rel ated Di gi tal Ri ghts Management (DRM) features from accessi ng the
Internet for license acquisi ti on and securi ty upgrades. Thi s may cause probl ems wi th DRM-protected media.


272

G
r
o
u
p

P
o
l
i
c
y

PREVENT WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER CODEC DOWNLOAD
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi ni strati ve Templ ates\Wi ndows Components\Wi ndows Media
Player\Playback
Setting: Prevent Codec Downl oad

If Enabl ed prevents Wi ndows Media Pl ayer from automati cal ly downl oadi ng any codecs i t requi res.

HANDLING OF WINDOWS LIVE MAIL ATTACHMENTS
Folder: User Confi gurati on\Admi nistrati ve Templates\Wi ndows Components\Attachment Manager
Setting: Inclusi on li st for ...

Here you can speci fy precisel y what fi le types (entered as a l ist of extensi ons, such as .EXE) the Attachment
Manager determi nes to be Hi gh, Medi um and Low ri sk attachments. By moving certai n file types i nto the
Medium or Low category you can access them more easi ly i n Wi ndows Li ve Mail for exampl e, however thi s
also creates a major securi ty risk.

There are a large number of setti ngs and features you can configure usi ng Group Pol i cy, and you can browse
through the Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor to see all of these at your l ei sure. However bear i n mind that many of
the most useful changes made usi ng Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor are al ready possi bl e using the normal
Wi ndows setti ngs. It i s not wi se to change thi ngs via Group Pol icy if you can change them i n Wi ndows
normall y, especi al ly those under the 'Computer Confi gurati on' branch, because i n the future i f you or
another user forgets about the changes you made here, i t wi l l cause confusi on when you fi nd you can't re-
enabl e or use certai n functi onali ty - remember, Group Pol i cy overri des the abi li ty to adjust the features
wi thi n the normal Wi ndows i nterface, so use i t onl y when there is no other option.


273

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

WINDOWS SEARCH

Wi ndows Search i s a feature whi ch underwent a dramati c change as of Wi ndows Vi sta, and has been further
i mproved i n Wi ndows 7. The i ntegrated Wi ndows Desktop Search engi ne i n Wi ndows allows you to qui ckly
fi nd specifi c fi les, fol ders, email s and even programs and Wi ndows features. Searchi ng is no l onger about
knowi ng speci fi c detail s li ke fi l ename, creati on date, l ocati on or fi l e extensi on. By typi ng i n a parti al or
whol e word or sentence, the Wi ndows search engi ne can di spl ay the most li kely targets al most i nstantl y.

However Windows Search i s more than a search tool . People may clai m that they al ready know where all
the fi les on thei r PC are, and so search i sn't necessary. Thi s i s not true - Wi ndows Search functi onali ty speeds
up access to all programs, fi les and features. For exampl e to open a parti cular pi cture or song qui ckly,
i nstead of navi gati ng to i t i n Wi ndows Expl orer you can cl i ck the Start button, type part of i ts name or
related i nformati on i n the Search Box, and i t wi ll be i nstantl y di spl ayed in the Start Menu, ready for
l aunchi ng. You can al so remove many of your Desktop, Start Menu and Taskbar i cons because you can now
rapi dl y access those same programs by si mpl y entering thei r name i n the Search Box i nstead.

The changes to Wi ndows Search i n Windows 7 i nvol ve the di splay of Wi ndows Control Panel i tems as part
of search resul ts, automati cal ly i ndexi ng al l i tems l inked i n your Li brari es, and the new Federated Search,
whi ch i ncorporates search functi onal i ty that goes beyond l ooking for resources on your l ocal PC. The
di splay of detail ed search resul ts al so benefi ts from the new Content Vi ew i ntroduced i n Wi ndows 7.

In thi s chapter we examine the vari ous ways i n whi ch searchi ng i s possi ble i n Wi ndows 7, and how to
opti mi ze and customize this behavi or.

< SEARCH METHODS
Wi ndows allows you to search for fi les, fol ders and programs from a range of l ocati ons, dependi ng on your
needs. Whil e you can al ways put l i nks to your most commonl y-accessed fi l es and programs as i cons on the
Wi ndows Desktop or pi n them to the Start Menu or Taskbar for exampl e, there are sti ll many more fi les and
programs on your system whi ch you might want to access as qui ckly as possi bl e, and the search
functi onali ty can hel p i n that regard.

SEARCH BOX
The pri mary search l ocati on i n Wi ndows 7 i s the Search Box found at the bottom of the Start Menu, accessed
when you cli ck the Start button. Extensi ve use of thi s Start>Search Box functi onali ty i s al ready made
throughout thi s book to qui ckl y fi nd and launch parti cular Wi ndows programs, such as typi ng services.msc
and pressi ng Enter to qui ckl y launch the Servi ces Util i ty i n l ess time than i t woul d take to open the Wi ndows
Control Panel , double-cl i ck on the Admi ni strati ve Tool s component then doubl e-cl ick on the Servi ces item
for example. Or i f you want to l aunch the Wi ndows Cal cul ator uti l i ty, you can si mpl y type calc and press
Enter i n l ess ti me than i t woul d take to cl i ck All Programs, then Accessori es then Cal culator on the Start
Menu. Or if you want to l aunch a web l i nk, type a search starti ng wi th http:// and press Enter, and your
defaul t web browser wi ll automati cally open at the l i nk you have entered. There are many uses for the
Search Box beyond merel y searchi ng for l ost fi les.


274

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

When you conduct a search, the resul ts of any search i n the Start Menu Search Box are di splayed under one
or more of the preset search resul t categori es:

Programs - Lists any search resul ts which match i nstall ed programs on your system, i ncludi ng buil t-i n
Wi ndows programs and associated hel p fi les.
Control Panel - Li sts any search resul ts whi ch match Wi ndows Control Panel components, i ncl udi ng
associated hel p fi l es and wi zards.
Libraries - Li sts any search resul ts whi ch match fi les or fol ders i n any of your Li brari es, wi th the name of
the rel evant Li brari es di splayi ng as category headi ngs. Thi s i ncludes any custom Li brari es you may have
created.
Files - Li sts mi scel laneous indexed fil es whi ch don't fall i nto the above categori es, and i ncludes email s.

By defaul t the top matches from each category are di splayed i ni tiall y, but you can see the total number of
matches i n brackets next to the category headi ng. Programs used most frequentl y are di splayed fi rst on the
l i st, and then more resul ts are added over ti me for each category wi ll have more resul ts di spl ayed i n i t. To
see the ful l li st of resul ts i n a parti cular category, cl i ck the category header and a Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow
wi ll open di spl ayi ng all the resul ts i n Contents vi ew. You can al so cli ck the 'See more resul ts' l i nk at the
bottom of the search resul ts i n Start Menu to open a new Wi ndows Expl orer window whi ch shows all the
fi le search resul ts (excl udi ng any programs or Wi ndows Control Panel i tems) across all categori es.

Once search resul ts are di spl ayed, you can open the rel evant fi l e or l aunch the rel evant program si mply by
l eft-cl i cki ng on i t i n the Start Menu, or doubl e-cli cki ng on i t i n the Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow.

The Search Box i s al so found at the top of most Expl orer-based wi ndows, such as i n Windows Expl orer i tsel f,
or the Wi ndows Control Panel wi ndow. The di fference i s that any searches from these l ocati ons by defaul t
onl y focus on the contents of the particular wi ndow you are searchi ng i n. For exampl e, if you i ni tiate a
search from the Search Box at the top ri ght of a Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow, i t wi l l onl y show resul ts from
the currentl y open fol der and any subfol ders, not across al l i ndexed l ocati ons on your PC. However, when
the search resul ts are shown, you wil l be presented with the opti on of searchi ng in vari ous other l ocati ons as
wel l - at the bottom of the search resul ts there i s a 'Search agai n i n' secti on wi th l inks to Li braries, Computer,
Custom or Internet:

Libraries - If sel ected, a search i s automati cal ly launched wi thi n your Li braries for the current search
term. Si nce all fi les l i nked to Li braries are automati call y i ndexed, the search shoul d be extremel y fast.
Computer - If sel ected, a search is automati cal ly launched across your enti re PC for the current search
term. Thi s may take a while si nce the search i s extended to non-i ndexed l ocati ons of your dri ve(s).
Internet - If sel ected, a search i s automati cal ly l aunched i n your defaul t web browser usi ng your defaul t
search engi ne on the current search term.
Custom - If sel ected, you wi ll be presented wi th a li st of l ocati ons whi ch Windows wil l search wi thin.
Thi s i ncl udes al l avai lable dri ve(s) and folder(s) on your system, any network l ocati ons, and the
Wi ndows Control Panel . Ti ck the rel evant boxes and they wi l l be added to the l i st, then cl i ck OK to
begi n a full search through those l ocati ons on the current search term. The search ti me wi l l vary
dependi ng on whether any fol ders you have sel ected are not i ndexed.
File Contents - Thi s addi tional i tem appears i f any of the other search types above are unsuccessful . If
sel ected, Wi ndows wil l go through the contents of all avail abl e fi les on the system attempti ng to match
your search terms wi th the contents of any fi l es. Thi s may take a very l ong ti me to compl ete.

You can see the progress for a search in an Expl orer-based wi ndow by examini ng the green progress bar
shown i n the Address Bar at the top of the wi ndow. Any found i tems wi ll be di splayed as they are
di scovered i n the mai n wi ndow. You can stop a search at any ti me by cl i cki ng the red X at the far ri ght of the
Address Bar.


275

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

ADVANCED SEARCH
A vi tal considerati on for getti ng the most out of the Search functionali ty i n Windows i s how you form your
search queries. By defaul t Wi ndows wi ll i mmedi ately begi n to match l etters or parti al ly entered words with
i ndexed fi l es, programs and Wi ndows Control Panel i tems, al most i nstantly showi ng the resul ts. Thi s means
you can li terall y conduct a search l etter by l etter, exami ni ng the resul ts each ti me you type a new l etter.
Because Wi ndows search i ndexi ng stores a range i nformati on about each fil e, you can search for parti cular
attri butes of the fi le beyond just i ts fil ename - for exampl e parti cular words or phrases i n its contents, the
name of the user, author or artist who created i t, the date i t was created, etc.

The advanced functi onali ty i n Wi ndows Search can be full y harnessed by using Advanced Query Syntax
(AQS). Thi s type of search fi l teri ng all ows you to devel op very preci se searches whi ch fi nd what you are
l ooki ng for much faster, plus you can also save these searches for future use - see further bel ow. The full l i st
of AQS search query fil ters i s provi ded i n the l i nk above, but bel ow i s a tabl e contai ni ng common fi l ter terms
you can use in any Wi ndows Search Box:

Filter Description Example
NOT Fi nds onl y i nci dences where the fi rst search term appears
wi thout the second search term after the NOT. Note: NOT
must be i n al l uppercase l etters.
help NOT me
Fi nds onl y i nci dences where the word hel p appears
wi thout the word me.
OR Fi nds any i nci dences of ei ther or al l of the terms speci fi ed.
Note: OR must be i n al l uppercase l etters.
help OR me
Fi nds any i nci dences where ei ther the word hel p or the
word me appear, or both.
AND Fi nds onl y i nci dences where al l of the search terms appear
together and not i n i sol ati on. Note: AND must be i n al l
uppercase l etters.
help AND me
Fi nds onl y i nci dences where both the words hel p and
me appear together.
" " Fi nds the exact search terms surrounded by the quotes, and
no other vari ati ons of them.
"help me"
Fi nds onl y the phrase hel p me, not vari ati ons based on
the words hel p or me.
( ) Fi nds the search terms surrounded by the parenthesi s i n any
order
(help me)
Fi nds any i nci dences of the phrases hel p me or me hel p.
+ Operates the same way as the AND fi l ter above. help + me
- Operates the same way as the NOT fi l ter above. help - me
> <
>= <=
Greater than or Less than si gns.
Greater than or equal to, Less than or equal to.
size:>=50KB
Fi nds any fi l e wi th a si ze greater than or equal to 50KB.
Author: Fi nds any fi l e wi th the speci fi ed text i n i ts Author property. author:brian
After: Fi nds any fi l e wi th i ts pri mary date after the speci fi ed date. After:10/10/07
Fi nds any fi l e created after 10 October 2007.
Before: Si mi l ar to After above, except the pri mary date must be
before the speci fi ed date.
Before:10/10/07
Fi nds any fi l e created before 10 October 2007.
Date: Al l ows you to search for a fi l e created on a speci fi c date, or
wi thi n a parti cul ar date range.
Date:>10/10/07<10/10/08
Fi nds any fi l e created between 10 October 2007 and 10
October 2008.
Si ze: Fi nds a fi l e wi th the speci fi ed si ze. size:>100MB<200MB
Fi nds any fi l e l arger than 100MB i n si ze but smal l er than
200MB.
Ki nd: Fi nds a fi l e of a parti cul ar type, wi th common types bei ng:
contacts, emai l , docs, musi c, pi ctures, vi deos, fol ders
kind:email
Fi nds onl y emai l messages whi ch contai n the speci fi ed
search term.
Ext: Fi nds a fi l e wi th the speci fi ed fi l e extensi on. Can be entered
wi thout the . before the extensi on name.
ext:AVI
Fi nds any fi l e of the type .AVI.
To: Fi nds a fi l e wi th the search term contai ned i n the To
property.
to:brian
Fi nds onl y fi l es (typi cal l y emai l s) wi th a To: fi el d
i ndi cati ng the i ntended reci pi ent i s bri an.
From: Si mi l ar to the To: fi l ter above, except l ooks for the search
term i n any From: fi el ds for the fi l e.
from:brian
Fi nds onl y fi l es (typi cal l y emai l s) wi th a From: fi el d
i ndi cati ng i t i s from bri an.
Bi trate: Fi nds a song wi th the speci fi ed data bi trate i n the fi l e
properti es.
bitrate:>260kbps
Fi nds any musi c wi th 260kbps or hi gher bi trate.
Tag: Fi nds any fi l e wi th the speci fi ed text i n a custom tag for the
fi l e.
tag:amazing
Fi nds any fi l e tagged wi th the word amazi ng.


276

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

For exampl e, to i ni tiate a search i n the Start>Search Box for any PDF fi l e created, modi fi ed or accessed some
ti me after 1 January 2009, type the fol l owi ng:

after:>1/1/09 ext:PDF

There are a range of ways you can use avail abl e fi l ters - I encourage you to experiment wi th them to di scover
the most useful way to utili ze them i n your searches.

Search Builder: If you don't wi sh to remember thi s Advanced Query Syntax yourself, fortunatel y Wi ndows 7
comes equi pped to all ow you to sel ect the most useful fil ters i t determi nes are rel evant to your search, as
part of the Search Bui l der. To access Search Bui l der, see the drop down box whi ch appears beneath the
Search Box i n any Expl orer-based wi ndow once you've entered a search term. Basi c fi l ters are provi ded for
you to cli ck on, and a range of commonl y used parameters appear for each one when cli cked. For exampl e,
i ni tiate a search on the term doc, and then cl i ck the 'Date Modifi ed' fi l ter whi ch appears - you wi ll be
presented with a cal endar and an additi onal li st of choi ces for sel ecti ng a speci fic date, such as Yesterday.
Sel ecti ng one of these fi l ters i nserts the appropriately formatted AQS fi l ter i nto the Search Box al ong with
your search term, hel pi ng you to refi ne your search.

Every ti me you use a parti cular fi l ter i n Search Bui l der, addi ti onal fil ters wil l appear for you to use in
conjuncti on wi th the ones you are al ready usi ng. The Search Bui l der al so records your recent search terms
and presents them i n the drop down box for you to sel ect agai n i f you wi sh.

Content View: As noted earl i er, search resul ts i n Explorer-based wi ndows are presented i n the new Content
vi ew type, whi ch i s covered i n more detai l i n the Basi c Features secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.
Content vi ew i s a combi nati on of vari ous other view types, and provi des a range of i nformation and a Li ve
Icon previ ew of the fi le as wel l i f availabl e, all owi ng you to better determi ne i ts contents at a gl ance. You can
sti ll change the vi ew to one whi ch may sui t you better as normal , by ri ght-cl icki ng and choosi ng another
opti on from the Vi ew menu. Content vi ew i s recommended though, parti cularl y as Wi ndows automati cally
hi ghli ghts i n yel l ow rel evant fi le detail s or contents matchi ng your search terms.

In terms of the order i n whi ch search resul ts appear, Windows uses a speci al algori thm to wei gh up a range
of fil e detai ls whi ch may be rel evant to your search, i ncludi ng fi lename, metadata, content, etc. Wi ndows
assi gns each search resul t a score between 0 and 1000, wi th 1000 indi cati ng an exact match. It then di spl ays
the resul ts ranked by thi s score, from highest to l owest.

Dedicated Search Window: If for some reason you don't want to use the Start>Search Box or a Search Box i n an
Expl orer-based wi ndow, you can launch a dedi cated search wi ndow at any time by pressing WINDOWS+F,
or the F3 key whi l e on the Desktop. This Search Explorer i nterface has no details to begi n with, and awai ts
i nput of a search term i n the Search Box at the top ri ght. It then turns i nto a normal Expl orer wi ndow once a
search i s i ni tiated, and displ ays resul ts i n Content vi ew as normal, wi th addi ti onal search opti ons di spl ayed
at the bottom of the search l i sti ng.

Saved Searches: If you wi sh to save a parti cular search for future use, ei ther go to the Fil e menu i n the search
resul ts wi ndow and sel ect 'Save search', or ri ght-cl i ck on the search resul ts and sel ect 'Save search'. You will
be prompted to save the search as a .SEARCH-MS fi le under the \Users\[username]\Searches di rectory by
defaul t, however you can change the directory i f you wi sh. To use a saved search, si mply go to the di rectory
above and click on the name of your saved search to vi ew i ts resul ts i mmediatel y. To del ete a saved search
si mpl y right-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Delete.


277

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

FEDERATED SEARCH
Federated Search i s a new feature of Windows Search i n Wi ndows 7. Federated Search provi des support for
the OpenSearch protocol , whi ch i s an open source format for sharing search resul ts. In effect thi s means that
Wi ndows 7 all ows you to search a range of resources outsi de your PC vi a Wi ndows Expl orer. Thi s
functi onali ty i s faci li tated by the use of Search Connectors, whi ch are si mil ar to pl ugi ns. Wi ndows Federated
Search connects to servers that recei ve OpenSearch queri es, and returns resul ts i n ei ther the RSS or Atom
XML format. Look for the avail abi li ty of a Search Connector on your favori te si te, downl oad the rel evant
.OSDX fil e, and once i nstall ed, open Wi ndows Expl orer and check under your Favori tes category i n the
Navi gati on Pane for a l i nk to that connector.

You can create a basi c Search Connector for any si te yoursel f. All you need to do i s create an XML document
coded to run the correct query vi a Bi ng. To make things si mpl e, I have prepared a template whi ch provi des
you wi th the basi c code to do thi s, but i t requi res some customization:

1. Downl oad the fol l owi ng templ ate: SearchConnector.zi p
2. Extract the .TXT fil e and open i t wi th a normal text edi tor li ke Windows Notepad.
3. Fi ll i n the correct detail s where prompted throughout the fi l e - enter the normal si te name where
prompted for SITE NAME (e.g. Googl e), and enter the normal web address i n pl ace of the SITENAME
i nci dences (e.g. Googl e.com).
4. Rename the fi l e wi th the name of the si te for whi ch you are customi zi ng i t, and gi ve i t an extensi on of
.OSDX so that Wi ndows 7 can recognize i t as a Search Connector (e.g. Googl e.osdx, not
Googl e.osdx.txt).
5. Doubl e-cli ck on thi s fil e to i nstal l i t, and cl i ck the Add button when prompted.
6. When i nstalled, Wi ndows wi ll automati call y open a Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndow wi th your Search
Connector highl ighted i n the Favori tes category of the Navi gati on Pane.
7. Enter a search term i n the Search Box at the top ri ght, and a search of the si te wi ll be i ni tiated, wi th
resul ts shown i n Expl orer just li ke any other Wi ndows search.
8. Doubl e-cli ck on any resul t to l aunch i t i n your defaul t web browser.
9. To remove a Connector at any ti me, ri ght-cl i ck on i t in Wi ndows Expl orer and sel ect Remove.

Thi s i s a very handy feature, and hopeful l y more major si tes wi ll come to support i t wi th proper full -
featured Search Connectors you can downl oad and install .

SEARCH CONFIGURATION
You can customi ze Wi ndows Search behavi or by goi ng to the Search tab under the Fol der Opti ons
component of the Wi ndows Control Panel . Here you can adjust the foll owi ng setti ngs:

In indexed locations, search file names and contents. In non-indexed locations, search file names only: If sel ected, thi s
opti on provi des the fastest but not necessaril y the best resul ts. Any terms you enter i n a Search Box wi ll be
matched against both the fil enames and contents of i ndexed fi les, but onl y the fi lenames of non-i ndexed fi les
wi ll be checked. Thi s opti on i s recommended as a balance between speed and qual i ty of search resul ts, as for
most basi c searches i t fi nds suffi ci entl y useful matches.

Always search file names and contents: Thi s opti on i s the most thorough, searching for your entered terms i n
fi lenames and i n all rel evant fi l e contents across the dri ve, but thi s can take qui te a whi l e, parti cularl y i f large
porti ons of your dri ve contents are not indexed.

Include subfolders in search results when searching in file folders: If ti cked, any ti me you search wi thi n a parti cular
fol der i n Expl orer-based interfaces, all subfol ders wi l l automati call y be i ncl uded i n the search. Unti ck thi s
box i f you onl y want to search wi thin the currentl y vi ewed fol der and not go any deeper. Thi s makes
searches qui cker but l ess thorough.


278

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

Find partial matches: If ti cked, wi ll l ook for your search term anywhere wi thi n a word. For exampl e entering
the term an wi ll al so resul t i n matches where the word and i s used, because i t contai ns the word an i n i t. I
recommend leavi ng thi s enabl ed and onl y di sabl i ng i t i f you fi nd i t regularly assi sts i n provi di ng i ncorrect
resul ts.

Use natural language search: If ti cked, al l ows the use of natural search queri es. For exampl e enteri ng document
by brian wil l resul t i n a search for any fi l es wi th document extensi ons authored by Brian. You can experi ment
wi th thi s feature, however i t i s more sui tabl e to l ess advanced users, as i t removes much of the preci si on
from searchi ng whi ch i s better achi eved through custom AQS fil ters - see further above.

Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files: If ti cked, thi s option forces Windows to i gnore
the i ndex and do a full search when searchi ng for fil es wi thi n a fol der. Provides the most thorough but the
sl owest resul ts, and i s generall y unnecessary.

Include system directories: If ti cked, thi s opti on i ncludes al l system di rectori es as part of any search you i ni ti ate
outsi de i ndexed l ocati ons. Thi s shoul d not be necessary unl ess you often l ook for fi les whi ch you bel i eve
resi de i n system fol ders, as system di rectori es are protected i n Windows and hence normal user fi les won't
acci dentall y be saved there for exampl e.

Include compressed files: If ti cked, Wi ndows wi ll al so search wi thi n compressed fi les such as .ZIP, .CAB and
.RAR archi ve formats when searchi ng i n non-i ndexed l ocati ons. This i s recommended i f you have a
mul ti tude of fi l es stored i n archi ves, but i t wi ll sl ow down searchi ng.

There are addi ti onal Start Menu Search Box-rel ated opti ons found under the Start Menu confi guration
setti ngs. Ri ght-cl i ck on the Start button, sel ect Properti es, and cl i ck the Customi ze button under the Start
Menu tab. See the fol l owi ng opti ons i n thi s secti on:

Search other files and libraries: Thi s opti on determi nes the behavi or of the Search Box i n the Start Menu. If
'Don't Search' i s sel ected, search resul ts i n the Search Box wi l l excl ude fil es and fol ders, and onl y i nclude
programs and Wi ndows Control Panel items i n the resul ts. If 'Search wi th publ i c fol ders' i s selected, fil es and
Li brari es i n publ i c fol ders wi ll be i ncl uded i n the search al ong wi th those i n your personal folders. If 'Search
wi thout publi c fol ders' is sel ected, onl y fil es and Li brari es i n your personal folders wil l be incl uded i n the
search.

Search programs and Control Panel: If ti cked, this opti on al l ows searches i ni tiated i n the Start Menu Search Box
to al so display programs and Wi ndows Control Panel i tems i n the resul ts. If unti cked, only Li brari es and
fi les wi ll be incl uded i n search resul ts.

You can further refi ne search behavi or by edi ti ng the 'Add Search Internet Li nk to Start Menu' pol icy i n
Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor - see the Group Pol i cy chapter for details.

< SEARCH INDEX
The key to the Wi ndows Search functi onali ty's performance and useful ness i s the Search Index. This i ndex is
a pre-buil t fi le si mi lar to the i ndex of a book, and i t stores a range of detai ls about fi les on your system,
updated regul arl y by Wi ndows whenever a fi le changes. Then when you l aunch a search in Wi ndows, by
defaul t i t wil l l ook at the index fi rst rather than searchi ng across your enti re dri ve(s), wi th the resul t bei ng a
more thorough search done al most i nstantaneousl y.

However the search i ndexer does not i ndex your enti re dri ve, nor all the detail s or contents of all of your
fi les as thi s woul d take a l ong ti me to regularly update, and noti ceably reduce search performance. By
defaul t the i ndexer onl y i ndexes the followi ng i nformati on:


279

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

Al l fol ders i n your Li brari es, i ncludi ng any custom ones.
Al l emai l.
Offli ne Fil es.
Al l commonly-used fi le types have their properti es indexed, but some content-ri ch fi l e types have both
thei r properties and thei r contents i ndexed. For exampl e, .DOCX and .PDF fi les have thei r properti es
and contents i ndexed; .EXE and .BIN fi les only have thei r properties i ndexed.
If there are mul ti ple User Accounts on the PC, then for pri vacy reasons onl y your own fil es are added to
the i ndex you use, so Wi ndows won't show any search resul ts from the data whi ch other users have on
the PC.

The actual i ndex fi l e whi ch hol ds all this i nformati on i s stored under the
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Projects\SystemIndex di rectory whi ch is usual ly
hi dden. The index fil es don't take up a great deal of dri ve space, and you should not del ete them manual ly.
Furthermore, for i ndexed searchi ng to work properly the Wi ndows Search servi ce must be runni ng, and
i ndexi ng must be enabl ed under your dri ve properti es - that i s go to Wi ndows Expl orer, ri ght-cli ck on your
dri ve and sel ect Properties; the 'Al low fi l es on thi s dri ve to have contents i ndexed i n addi ti on to fi le
properti es' box must be ticked.

Furthermore, certai n fol ders are automati call y excluded from havi ng thei r fi le contents i ndexed to ensure
that searches do not get bogged down wi th a great deal of irrel evant content - program and system fi le
fol ders are excl uded. For exampl e, go to the \Users\[username]\AppData fol der, ri ght-cl i ck on the fol der and
sel ect Properti es. Under the General tab, cli ck the Advanced button and you can see that the 'Al l ow fil es on
thi s dri ve to have contents i ndexed i n addi ti on to fil e properti es' box i s unti cked. This is because by defaul t
AppData stores a great many temporary, confi gurati on and mi scel laneous program-related fi les whi ch most
users woul d not wi sh to find. If you wish to customize i ndexi ng behavi or, see further bel ow for detai ls.

PERFORMANCE IMPACT
Wi ndows Search i s a very useful feature gi ven the si gni ficant i ntegrati on of search functi onal ity i n Wi ndows
7. It provi des extremel y fast search resul ts, and al l ows you to access commonl y used fil es and fol ders much
more qui ckl y than havi ng to fi ll your Desktop or Taskbar wi th icons for example. Wi ndows 7 has i mproved
the way i t i ndexes content, as wel l as the types of content i t i ndexes. Search resul ts are al so refi ned to be of
greater rel evance, and there are many advanced fi lteri ng opti ons avail abl e to users i n the way they can
conduct a search. Furthermore Wi ndows Search works seaml essl y wi th the Li brari es feature, meani ng you
don't have to worry about manual ly addi ng or removi ng any content for the i ndexer if i t i s stored i n a
Li brary; the index is automati cal ly updated as soon as you change Li brary contents.

However Windows Search reall y onl y works well if the Search Index i s constantl y kept up to date, otherwi se
your searches may excl ude more recentl y added fi les/content, or show resul ts for fi l es/content whi ch has
si nce been del eted or al tered. By defaul t Wi ndows 7 runs the search i ndexer i n the background as a low
pri ori ty process whenever it needs to update i tself. Thi s means that onl y duri ng peri ods when your system is
relati vel y i dle does the i ndexer actual ly operate, and the i mpact i s al l but unnoti ceabl e on most systems.
Furthermore, the i ndexer does not start functi oni ng immedi atel y after Wi ndows bootup - i t usuall y wai ts a
few mi nutes before i t comes i nto effect, so i t does not contri bute to post-startup dri ve acti vity. You can see
thi s for yoursel f by the fact that the 'Windows Search' servi ce i s set to 'Automati c (Delayed Start)' - see the
Servi ces chapter for detail s of what thi s si gni fi es. If at any ti me you start usi ng your system even moderatel y
whi l e the i ndexer i s runni ng, i t wil l throttl e i tsel f back or stop compl etel y to provi de the necessary
responsi veness i n your primary task.

To see the progress of the i ndexer when i t i s runni ng, you can go to the Indexi ng Opti ons component of the
Wi ndows Control Panel and at the top of the mai n wi ndow you wi ll see how many fil es i t has i ndexed so
far, and you may see somethi ng li ke 'Indexi ng speed i s reduced due to user acti vi ty', which means i t is


280

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

taki ng a back seat to some other task, even i f i t's somethi ng as simpl e as you openi ng a Windows Control
Panel component. Agai n, the i ndexer i s not goi ng to impact on system responsi veness i n any noti ceabl e way.
For thi s reason, and gi ven how useful the Wi ndows Search features can be, I strongl y recommend agai nst
di sabli ng Windows Search, even i f you have an SSD for exampl e. However i f you stil l wi sh to di sabl e
Search, see the end of this chapter for detail s on how to do so.

CUSTOMIZING THE INDEX
If you wish to i mprove the speed and accuracy of your search resul ts and streamli ne the i ndexer's resource
usage, you can customize preci sel y what Wi ndows i ncl udes i n the Search Index. Go to the Wi ndows Control
Panel and sel ect the Indexi ng Opti ons component. Here you can see an overvi ew of all of the currently
i ndexed l ocati ons.

To vi ew the fol ders currentl y i ndexed, and to confi gure i ndexi ng i n Wi ndows, go to the Windows Control
Panel and open the Indexing Opti ons component. The mai n screen shows the fol ders whose contents are
acti vely bei ng i ndexed, and at the top of the wi ndow you can see how many actual i tems are currently i n the
i ndex. To add or remove i ndexed l ocati ons, cl i ck the Modi fy button, then cl i ck the 'Show al l l ocati ons'
button. Expand the di rectory l i sti ng for the dri ve(s) you wi sh to i ndex. By defaul t Wi ndows al ready i ndexes
a range of speci fi c fol ders, i ncludi ng most of the contents of the \Users fol der and subfol ders.

To opti mi ze the i ndex, unsel ect any subfol ders whose contents you are certai n do not contai n fil es whi ch you
woul d normall y search for. Conversely, add any subfol ders whose contents you wi sh to i ncl ude i n search
resul ts. Remember that Windows automati cal ly i ncludes any folder l i nked to a Li brary i n the i ndexer, so
i deall y, i nstead of manual l y addi ng i ndexed folders here, i t woul d be best to modi fy your Li braries to
i nclude all your desi red folders and they wi ll be automati cal ly i ncluded i n the index.

Importantl y, you should not expand the i ndex to cover most of the fil es and folders on your dri ve(s), as thi s
defeats the purpose of i ndexi ng. Indexi ng most of your dri ves wi ll si mpl y sl ow down searches and also
potenti al ly provi de more i rrel evant results.

When you are fi ni shed adjusti ng the i ndex, cl i ck OK and Wi ndows wil l update the i ndex accordi ngl y.

To further customi ze the search i ndex, cl i ck the Advanced button. There are some i mportant functi ons here,
and these are covered bel ow:

Index encrypted files: If thi s opti on i s ti cked, EFS encrypted fi l es wi ll be i ncluded i n the i ndex. However thi s
can be a securi ty risk, because your i ndex coul d potenti all y hol d text from encrypted fi les which can be read
by anyone who gai ns access to the i ndex fil es. Hence thi s opti on is best l eft unti cked; onl y enabl e i t if you
have a l ot of encrypted files, and only if you use Bi tLocker Dri ve Encrypti on to protect the dri ve on whi ch
the i ndex resides. Note that the enti re i ndex wi ll rebuil d i tsel f if you sel ect thi s opti on, and thi s can take qui te
some ti me.

Treat similar words with diacritics as different words: Di acri ti cs are accent marks used i n di fferent l anguages and
even for certai n words i n Engli sh, such as touch vs. touche. Ti cki ng thi s opti on tel l s the i ndexer to treat the
words as different i f there i s a difference i n accent marks. Thi s is best l eft unti cked unl ess you speci fi call y
remember to i nclude diacriti cs when searchi ng.

Delete and rebuild index: You can del ete and rebuild the enti re Search Index at any ti me by cl i cki ng the
Rebui l d button. The process can be qui te l engthy, especiall y i f you have a l ot of fil es and fol ders i ndexed,
however thi s may be necessary if you experi ence probl ems wi th search resul ts not fi ndi ng i ndexed fi l es. The
speed wi th whi ch the i ndexer rebui l ds the fi l e depends on whether the system is i dl e or not.


281

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

Index location: As covered further above, the actual fi les for the index are held i n a parti cular l ocati on by
defaul t, usual l y \ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Projects\SystemIndex on your
pri mary system dri ve. If you wish to move these fil es to another di rectory and/or dri ve you can do so by
cl i cki ng the 'Sel ect new' button and browsi ng to the new l ocati on. Make sure to sel ect a non-removabl e dri ve
whi ch uses the NTFS fi l e system. The mai n reason you woul d want to change thi s i s i f you wish to move the
i ndex contents to a faster dri ve for exampl e, as thi s hel ps speed up both use of the i ndex in searches, and
more i mportantl y all ows faster updating/rebuil di ng of the i ndex by Wi ndows. In practi ce thi s isn't real ly
necessary as havi ng the i ndex on the defaul t dri ve usual l y doesn't i mpact noti ceably on performance, and
the i ndex doesn't take up much space.

File Types: Under the 'Fil e Types' tab of the Advanced Indexi ng Opti ons you can see the types of fi l es the
i ndexer can currentl y i nclude i n the i ndex, li sted by fil e extension. Any extensi ons whi ch are ti cked are
i ncluded i n the search i ndex, and you can ti ck or unti ck any of these extensi ons as you wi sh. By defaul t al l
the major and i ndeed many l ess common fi l e extensi ons are already i ndexed so you shoul d not need to
change the i ndexed fi l e types. If you wi sh to add a parti cular fi le extensi on which i s not l i sted, you can do so
by cli cki ng i n the text area at the bottom l eft of the window, typi ng the extensi on and pressi ng the 'Add new
extensi on' button whi ch wil l become ungrayed.

Importantl y, you can change whether a parti cul ar fi le type onl y has the contents of i ts Properti es tab i ndexed
('Index Properti es Only') - whi ch i s the defaul t for most extensi ons l isted here - or whether al l of that fil e's
contents are also i ndexed ('Index Properti es and Fil e Contents'). For exampl e hi ghli ght the .TXT extensi on
and you wi ll see that the opti on hi ghl ighted i s 'Index Properti es and Fil e Contents', meani ng that for any
pl ai n text fil e, the contents of i ts Properti es tab as wel l as the contents of the actual text document wi ll be
i ncluded i n the i ndex. This means that i f you enter a word or phrase i n a Search Box, if i t exists wi thi n one of
your i ndexed text fil es, the document wil l be i ncl uded i n the search resul ts shown. It i s general l y poi ntl ess to
i ndex the contents of fil es whi ch only have computer code as their content, so for many fil e types such as
.EXE or .JPG fi les, the contents are not i ndexed and shoul d not be; they don't have useful Engli sh text i n
them.

Certai n types of fil es need to have thei r contents translated i nto somethi ng i ntel li gi bl e by Wi ndows Search
wi th the use of special IFilters. Most i f not all rel evant IFil ters are i nstall ed al ong wi th the appli cati on for that
fi le type, and can be seen l i sted under the 'Fi l ter Descri pti on' fi el d. However certai n content, such as .TIFF
i mage fi les, wi ll not have such fi l ters install ed by defaul t. To i nstal l a content fi l ter for .TIFF fi l es, you must
go to the Programs and Features component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cl i ck the 'Turn Wi ndows
features on or off' l i nk i n the l eft pane, then ti ck the 'Windows TIFF IFi l ter' feature to enabl e i t - see the
Programs and Features secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. The reason this feature i s opti onal is
because .TIFF fil es are usual l y i mage fi l es, but can also contai n content i f they are scanned documents -
enabli ng thi s feature can reduce search speed if you have l ots of scanned TIFF documents, so onl y enable i t i f
you requi re thi s functi onali ty.

Whether a file type onl y has i ts properti es i ndexed, or both properti es and content i ndexed, can have a
noti ceabl e i mpact on the i ndex. The more fil es wi th compl ex contents are indexed, the more work the
i ndexer has to do to mai ntai n the i ndex i f these contents change regularl y, and the l onger search resul ts may
take to di splay. I recommend onl y i ndexi ng the contents of fi l e types for whi ch you actual l y do wish to
i ni tiate a content search.

If you've changed any of the i ndex settings, I strongly recommend that when fi ni shed you cl i ck the Rebui l d
button to do a total rebuild of the i ndex data i mmediatel y usi ng the latest setti ngs, though note that thi s may
take qui te some ti me to compl ete. Thi s wi ll ensure that all your search resul ts wi ll be compl etel y up-to-date
and accurate.


282

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

INDEXING AND FILE PROPERTIES
As di scussed above, the search i ndexer wi l l i ndex most fi l es by what i s i n thei r Properti es, as wel l as their
content i n some i nstances. So one of the ways i n whi ch you can further improve search i ndexi ng is by
appropriatel y confi guri ng the Detail s tab of a fil e. Right-cl ick on any fi l e, sel ect Properti es, and l ook under
the Detai ls tab - you wi ll noti ce there are a range of fiel ds here that are ei ther empty or al ready fil led i n wi th
certai n details about the fi le, such as i ts Size, Date Created, Ti tl e, and so forth. Thi s is referred to as Metadata
and provi des addi ti onal i nformati on whi ch the i ndexer can use to i dentify the fil e. If you want to make i t
easi er to fi nd or access parti cular fil e(s) i n the future, i t i s wi se to add some rel evant metadata to i t. For
exampl e you may wi sh to tag al l of your Jazz songs wi th the word 'Jazz' i n the Genre fi el d under the Details
tab. Then when you type the word Jazz i n the Start Menu Search Box all these songs wil l be i nstantl y li sted
for you to choose from.

To edi t a fil e's detail s, first ri ght-cli ck on i t i n Wi ndows Expl orer and sel ect Properti es. Make sure i t is not
wri te protected (i f i t i s, unti ck the 'Read Onl y' box, click Apply then reopen the fi le), and i t is not currently in
use. Then cli ck the Detail s tab and move your mouse cursor over the fiel ds under that tab, and you wi ll see
that many of these fi el ds can be edi ted. Edi t the fiel d(s) appropri atel y and when you cl i ck OK, that
i nformati on is saved al ong wi th the file. You can now search for that fi le using any one of the pieces of
metadata entered i nto the Detail s tab of the fi l e's properti es. This i s parti cularl y effecti ve if you use that
parti cul ar property i n an AQS fi l ter-based search - see the Search Methods secti on further above.

There is another useful functi on you can perform when i n the fi le properti es. Ri ght-cli ck on a fi l e, select
Properti es and under the General tab, cl i ck the Advanced button. In the box whi ch opens you can ti ck or
unti ck the 'Al l ow this fi l e to have contents i ndexed i n addi ti on to properti es' box, and thi s determi nes
whether thi s parti cul ar fil e wi ll have i ts contents i ndexed. In this way you can add or remove an i ndi vi dual
fi le's contents from the i ndexer wi thout havi ng to add or remove an enti re fi le type from the i ndexer.

In any case, if you make sure that your fi l es are mai ntai ned wi th as much descripti ve metadata has possi ble,
you wi ll be abl e to access them much more qui ckly when needed.

DISABLING WINDOWS SEARCH
The search indexer does not have a noti ceabl e performance i mpact because i t uses idl e resources whi ch
woul d otherwi se go wasted, and does not l oad at startup. The benefi ts of Wi ndows Search are numerous, as
i t i s an i ntegral part of the way Wi ndows 7 operates. The i ndex i s al so useful even i f you have a fast SSD,
whi ch is why Wi ndows doesn't automati cal ly di sabl e the Indexer on SSDs.

However i f after readi ng thi s chapter you sti ll feel that you want to di sabl e i ndexi ng or remove Wi ndows
Search al together, fol l ow these steps:

If you si mpl y want to di sabl e the Search Index-related functi onal i ty, then foll ow these steps:

1. Open the Servi ces util i ty and set the 'Wi ndows Search' servi ce to Di sabl ed, then Stop the servi ce - see the
Servi ces chapter for detai l s of how to do thi s.
2. Thi s wil l not remove Search Boxes, and i t wi l l not prevent exi sti ng programs and features or Wi ndows
Control Panel i tems from appeari ng i n search resul ts. The Search Index wi ll be disabled, as wi tnessed by
goi ng to the Wi ndows Control Panel and openi ng the Indexi ng Opti ons component.
3. Go to the Folder Opti ons component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and under the Search tab, sel ect the
'Al ways search fil e names and contents' opti on, as wel l as the 'Don't use the i ndex when searchi ng i n file
fol ders for system fil es' opti on. Thi s ensures that Wi ndows doesn't attempt to use the i ndex when
searchi ng.


283

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

S
e
a
r
c
h

These steps wi ll resul t i n often i ncompl ete and very sl ow searches, but the Search Index and related
processes will not run at any ti me.

If you wi sh to go further by di sabli ng and effectivel y removi ng al l Wi ndows Search-rel ated fi l es and
functi onali ty from Wi ndows 7, do the fol l owi ng:

1. Go to the Indexi ng Opti ons component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and manual l y remove all i ndexed
fol ders from the i ndexer.
2. Go to Wi ndows Expl orer, ri ght-cl i ck on each of your dri ve(s), select Properti es and unti ck the 'Al l ow
fi les on thi s dri ve to have contents i ndexed i n addi ti on to fi l e properti es' box, then cl i ck Apply. Choose
to appl y thi s to the dri ve and al l subfol ders, and click 'Ignore all ' to i gnore any errors for system fi les
whi ch can't have thei r properti es changed.
3. Go to the Programs and Features component under the Wi ndows Control Panel and cli ck the 'Turn
Windows features on or off' l i nk i n the left pane.
4. Unti ck the 'Wi ndows Search' box and cl ick OK.
5. Restart your PC as requi red.

Thi s wi ll remove all i ntegrated Search Boxes from Windows, and di sabl e the Search Index. You can enable
i ndexi ng again by reversi ng the steps above. Nei ther of the procedures above i s recommended.

Note also that i f you i nstal l third party Desktop search software, i t wil l repl ace the Windows Search
functi onali ty wi th i ts own, so i f you don't l i ke Windows Search but fi nd an al ternati ve that sui ts you, i t wi ll
not cl ash wi th the Wi ndows Search functi onali ty.

The search functi onal i ty introduced i n Wi ndows Vi sta was qui te advanced, and Wi ndows 7 has made
refi nements to i mprove i ts functi onali ty and performance. The primary i ssue i s that Wi ndows Search i s not
real l y about searchi ng for l ost fil es, i t i s about maki ng access to your fi l es, fol ders, emails and programs
much qui cker and easi er, regardl ess of where you store them or what you name them. By usi ng a range of
metadata, i ncl udi ng actual fi le contents, Wi ndows Search - wi th the assi stance of the Search Index - can fi nd
and di spl ay any commonly used i tem al most i nstantly, ready to be l aunched wi th one cli ck. There is no real
benefi t to di sabl i ng Wi ndow Search, but there is substanti al benefi t to l earni ng to use i t properl y.


284

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

INTERNET EXPLORER

Internet Expl orer (IE) i s the most used Internet browser i n the worl d, and most Wi ndows users are
comfortabl e and fami liar wi th i t. Whi l e I recommend that you begi n tri al i ng al ternati ves to Internet Expl orer
to see i f they can provi de you wi th addi ti onal functi onali ty you may li ke, Internet Expl orer i s a fast,
functi onal browser, and has a range of securi ty benefi ts due - you shoul d not feel you have to use another
browser i f you are happy wi th i t. Wi ndows 7 comes wi th Internet Expl orer 8, whi ch i s the l atest versi on,
al ready bui l t-i n and ready to use.

Thi s chapter covers all the i nformati on you need to know to be abl e to confi gure and opti mize IE to sui t your
needs.

< BASIC SETTINGS
To confi gure Internet Expl orer, open the browser, go to the Tool s menu and select 'Internet Opti ons' - note
thi s is the same as if you go to the Wi ndows Control Panel and open the Internet Opti ons component. Below
are the descripti ons and my recommendati ons for the i mportant setti ngs under each tab of Internet Opti ons:

GENERAL
Home Page: Here you can set the web page that opens by defaul t whenever you start Internet Expl orer. If you
don't want any homepage to l oad when IE i s opened, cli ck the 'Use blank' button; i f you want to set the
websi te you are currentl y vi ewi ng as your homepage, cl i ck the 'Use current' button; cl i cking 'Use defaul t'
wi ll restore IE's defaul t homepage which i s a Mi crosoft si te such as MSN (dependi ng on your l ocati on). If
you are usi ng tabbed browsi ng (see further bel ow), then you can enter mul ti pl e websi te addresses i n the box,
one on each l ine. Then whenever you open IE, all of these pages will open at the same ti me, as separate tabs.

Browsing History: As you browse the Internet, certai n fi les and settings are stored (cached) on your dri ve by
IE to make your browsi ng faster i n the future. Cli ck the Setti ngs button and you can sel ect how IE uses thi s
cache to speed up your browsi ng. Under the 'Check for newer versi ons of stored pages' you can tel l IE how
often to check to see i f a web page has been updated; any parts of a si te which don't appear to have been
updated si nce you l ast vi si ted wi ll be l oaded from your cache rather than si te, and thi s can i ncrease page
l oad ti mes especi al ly for si tes whi ch have a l ot of unchanged i tems to l oad up, such as large i mages. I
recommend sel ecti ng 'Automati cal ly' as thi s all ows IE to detect updated content and rel oad from the site
onl y when i t bel i eves i t i s necessary. However this does not guarantee that you wi ll always see the very
l atest content on the si tes you vi si t, so if you want to see the absolute latest versi on of every page you visi t
sel ect 'Every ti me I vi si t a webpage', though this will i ncrease page l oadi ng times. Note that you can force
any web page to update i ts contents by pressi ng CTRL + F5 when on that page - thi s forces IE to rel oad the
enti re page from the si te rather than from i ts own cache. Importantl y, do not select the Never opti on here as
that wi ll mean IE wi ll not update web pages you commonl y vi ew; i t wil l al ways rely on the cached versi on
whi ch al ways resul ts i n out-of-date web pages.

If for pri vacy purposes you wi sh at any poi nt to del ete any components of your browsi ng hi story from the
cache, see the Del ete Browsi ng History secti on bel ow. If you want to browse pri vately wi thout stori ng any
cached i tems at any ti me, see the InPri vate Browsi ng secti on further bel ow.

Disk space to use: You speci fy the maximum amount of space IE uses for i ts Temporary Internet Fi l es cache i n
Megabytes i n the box provi ded. If the cache i s too small , i t wi ll general l y resul t in l onger page l oadi ng ti mes;
i f the cache is too l arge then dependi ng on your Internet connecti on speed and your dri ve speed, you may
sti ll get l onger page l oadi ng ti mes as IE has to search i ts cache to find the components of a web page to l oad,


285

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

when i t may actuall y be faster just to rel oad them from the ori gi nal si te. Therefore I recommend 150MB of
di sk space for the cache as a bal ance of si ze and speed. If you have a faster dri ve and view more compl ex
si tes wi th l ots of l arge i mages or scri pts you may wi sh to i ncrease this cache to 300MB or even larger i f
desi red. The maxi mum i s 1024MB (1GB).

Current Location: Internet Expl orer l i sts the current l ocati on of i ts cache - thi s i s where al l of IE's cached
content i s actual l y stored on your dri ve. You can view the fi l es al ready there by cl i cki ng the 'View fil es'
button, and you can vi ew any downl oaded programs or confi gurati on fil es necessary for certai n si tes to run
by cl i cki ng the 'View objects' button. If you wi sh to move the cache, to a faster dri ve for exampl e, cl i ck the
'Move folder' button. To del ete cache contents, i t i s recommended that you fol l ow the i nstructi ons further
bel ow rather than manual ly del eti ng any fi l es here.

History: Internet Expl orer can keep a record of the addresses of al l the websi tes you have vi ewed for a certain
number of days. Here you can sel ect how many days worth of recentl y vi ewed websi tes IE keeps. If you
don't want a hi story of vi si ted si tes to be kept at al l enter 0 i n the box. Al ternati vely, see the InPri vate
Browsi ng secti on i f you just want to disabl e the storage of browsi ng hi story at parti cular ti mes.

Delete Browsing History: Back under the mai n General tab, by cl i cking the Del ete button under the Browsi ng
Hi story section, you wil l open a new box whi ch contai ns a range of opti ons. These opti ons li st the i ndi vidual
components of your browsi ng hi story, gi vi ng you greater control over the specifi c el ements you can del ete. If
you don't wish to l eave any trace of your browsi ng history for a parti cular sessi on, you can use the InPri vate
Browsi ng feature of IE, whi ch i s covered l ater i n thi s chapter. In general i t i s compl etel y safe to ti ck al l of
these boxes and cli ck the Del ete button to remove all traces of browsi ng, however doi ng so too often wi ll al so
decrease the effi ci ency of your browsing. For thi s reason, there i s an opti on enti tl ed 'Preserve Favori tes
websi te data' whi ch i f ti cked (recommended) wil l keep your preferences and cached fi l es for any si tes you
have i n your Favori tes. Thi s mai ntai ns conveni ence and speed when accessing your favori te si tes, whi l e
cl eani ng out the rel evant data from any other si tes. However if you want to remove all stored content then
unti ck thi s box as wel l . In any case once you've sel ected whi ch components you want to remove, cl i ck the
Del ete button at the bottom and they'll be removed immedi atel y.

Search: The Search Box at the top ri ght of Internet Expl orer al l ows you to quickly i ni tiate a web search usi ng
the search engi ne of your choi ce, the resul ts of whi ch are di splayed on the main IE screen. By defaul t i t i s set
to use Bi ng, however i f you wi sh to set i t to another engi ne such as Googl e, cl i ck the Settings button and
sel ect a new engi ne under the Search Provi ders section. If you want to use a search engi ne not l i sted here,
cl i ck the 'Fi nd more search provi ders' li nk at the bottom of the wi ndow. If you don't want si tes or programs
to suggest changes to your defaul t search provi der, then ti ck the rel evant box at the bottom of the wi ndow as
wel l. If you want to use a di fferent provi der for parti cul ar searches, then i n the mai n IE wi ndow cl i ck on the
small arrow to the ri ght of the Search box, sel ect a provi der from the l i st, enter your search query and press
Enter - that search provi der wi ll be used onl y for that search, i t wil l not change your defaul t provi der.

Tabs: Tabbed browsi ng means that new web pages l aunched from cl i cked li nks or vi a other methods wi ll be
opened as tabbed pages wi thi n the current browser wi ndow by defaul t, rather than openi ng an enti rel y new
browser wi ndow. This hel ps reduce resource usage and i t is also much easi er to manage mul ti ple open
pages thi s way. To confi gure tabbed browser, cl i ck the Setti ngs button. In the box whi ch opens you can select
whether to enabl e or di sabl e tabbed browsi ng al together, and set the behavi or of i t if enabl ed. Bri efly, I
recommend ti cki ng the followi ng setti ngs:


286

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Enable Tabbed Browsing - As menti oned above, tabbed browsi ng reduces resource usage by onl y keeping
one IE wi ndow open; each new tab takes up far l ess memory than addi ti onal entirel y new IE wi ndows.
Enable Quick Tabs - Qui ck Tabs places a small box at the far l eft of your tabs when you have mul ti pl e
open tabs. Cl icki ng i t opens a page whi ch contai ns previ ews of the content of every open tab.
Enable Tab Groups - Tab Groups al l ows IE to group together tabs whi ch are related. Tabs ori ginati ng from
the same source page are grouped next to each other and use the same col or.
When a pop-up is encountered - Always open popups in a new tab - Thi s prevents popup wi ndows from
attempti ng to hi de by forcing them to open i n a new tab i nstead of a new wi ndow.
Open links from other programs in - A new tab in the current window - When a program l aunches a web page,
thi s opti on forces i t to open a tab i n any exi sti ng IE wi ndow rather than open a new IE wi ndow, again
conservi ng resources.

You can sel ect any other opti ons if you wish, but the mai n ai m of tabbed browsi ng i s to make vi ewi ng
mul ti ple web pages more manageabl e and prevent havi ng l ots of separate open IE wi ndows whi ch can use
resources and space for no good reason. Some ti ps you can use to make tabbed browsi ng easier i n IE i ncl ude:

Cl i cki ng on any hyperl i nk wi th the mi ddl e mouse button opens that li nk i n a new tab.
Cl i cki ng on any tab wi th the mi ddl e mouse button cl oses that tab.
Hol di ng down SHIFT and l eft-cl i cki ng on any li nk forces i t to open i n a new IE wi ndow.
Hol di ng down CTRL and left-cli cki ng on any li nk forces i t to open i n a new tab.
Use CTRL+TAB to qui ckly swi tch from tab to tab.
You can reopen a recentl y cl osed tab by pressi ng CTRL+SHIFT+T.
Left-cl i ck and hol d on any tab and you can then drag and drop i t to rearrange tab order.
Ri ght-cli ck on any tab to bri ng up a tab-speci fi c context menu.
If you want to save a set of tabs as a singl e bookmark fol der, cli ck the 'Add to Favori tes' i con (the star
wi th a green pl us si gn under the mai n Favori tes star), sel ect 'Add to Favori tes' and sel ect 'Add Current
Tabs to Favori tes'.
To open the contents of an enti re Favori tes fol der in a seri es of tabs, ri ght-cl ick on the folder under
Favori tes and select 'Open in Tab Group'.
To manage Tab Groups, right-cl ick on a tab wi thi n the group and you can close the enti re group for
exampl e by sel ecti ng 'Cl ose Thi s Group'.

Appearance: These opti ons all ow you to change the appearance of web pages, customizi ng col ors, fonts and
even forci ng parti cul ar styl e sheets. You shoul dn't al ter these opti ons unl ess you have specifi c needs.

SECURITY
Security level for this zone: You can set the l evel of securi ty Internet Expl orer uses on the mai n sl ider here,
from Medium to Medi um-High, to Hi gh. I recommend the defaul t Medium-Hi gh l evel of securi ty as i t
designed to all ow most normal Internet functi onal i ty wi thout bei ng overl y restri cti ve nor too rel axed.
However if you constantl y browse unsafe or untrusted websi tes, you may wi sh i nstead to set the Hi gh
securi ty l evel, though thi s wi ll i mpact on Internet functi onali ty. If you want to be even more sel ecti ve, cli ck
the 'Custom l evel ' button and manuall y select each securi ty functi on; cl earl y though thi s i s for more
advanced users - the preset l evel s are fi ne for most users.

Enable Protected Mode: One of the most i mportant securi ty features i n Internet Expl orer - and thi s i s only
avai labl e i n the Wi ndows 7 and Vi sta versi ons of IE - i s Protected Mode. Thi s feature works for browsi ng
much l i ke User Account Control does for general system usage: by defaul t i t restri cts websi tes and onl ine
programs from accessi ng system areas and launching or i nstal li ng mal i ci ous or undesi rabl e software.
Protected Mode has been further i mproved i n IE8. Whi le i t i s not fool proof, i t is an i mportant l evel of
protecti on and I strongl y recommend that i t be l eft enabl ed.


287

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

PRIVACY
Settings: The sl ider here control s the l evel of pri vacy in IE, whi ch for the most part pertai ns to Cooki es - small
fi les stored on your machi ne desi gned to hol d your preferences for parti cul ar websi tes. Cooki es are not
usual l y mal i ci ous or dangerous, as they cannot read or del ete data on your computer, and can be very
useful . Some cooki es may attempt to track your onl ine behavi or for adverti si ng purposes for exampl e, and
for thi s reason, the 'Medi um Hi gh' l evel i s recommended as it provi des the best security/functi onal ity
compromi se and shoul d not prevent l egi ti mate cooki es from bei ng placed on your machi ne whil e sti ll
protecti ng your pri vacy. However to be even more sel ecti ve, you can cli ck the Advanced button and ti ck
'Overri de automati c cooki e handli ng'. Thi rd-party Cooki es can usuall y be Bl ocked wi thout any major i ssues,
as these are mai nl y from advertisers. Fi rst-party Cooki es on the other hand are often useful (e.g. for hol di ng
your l ogi n detai ls for forums, or recordi ng vi sual setti ngs for particular si tes), and bl ocki ng them can i mpair
a si te's functionali ty. If you do decide to bl ock al l fi rst party cooki es, and/or if you sel ect a hi gher Pri vacy
setti ng on the sl i der, cli ck the Si tes button and here you can manuall y al low or bl ock speci fi c website's
cooki es. I recommend addi ng your trusted favori te si tes to thi s l i st and al lowi ng them to prevent any
probl ems wi th functi onali ty. For exampl e, if you set a High or Very High privacy setti ng thi s wi ll bl ock
al most al l cooki es, maki ng some si tes non-functi onal , but you can sti l l all ow speci fic si tes' cooki es by maki ng
sure they're in the l i st of all owed si tes. For broader blocki ng of thi rd party content see the InPri vate Fil tering
secti on further bel ow.

Pop-up Blocker: A 'popup' is a new wi ndow or tab whi ch opens when you vi si t parti cular si tes and/or cl i ck on
parti cul ar li nks or areas of a si te. They are most commonl y used for advertisi ng, and hence the opti on here to
bl ock them. I recommend ti cki ng the 'Turn on Pop-up Bl ocker' box, but you shoul d al so cli ck the Setti ngs
button and manuall y add the names of websi tes you trust whi ch have l egi ti mate popups that woul d
otherwi se be bl ocked. For exampl e you may wi sh to add your Internet banki ng si te to the l i st, or
Mi crosoft.com, as these are trusted si tes whi ch may launch l egi ti mate popups that woul d otherwi se be
bl ocked. By defaul t when a popup i s bl ocked by IE, a small yel l ow warni ng bar wi ll appear at the top of the
page to i nform you of this, and you may al so hear a sound. If you want to di sabl e ei ther or both of these
vi sual warni ngs, unti ck the rel evant boxes here. Bear i n mi nd that thi s may mean you wi ll not be aware that
a l egi ti mate si te is tryi ng to open a necessary popup box, and thus you may run i nto probl ems on some si tes
- agai n make sure to add trusted si tes to the l i st i f you want them to functi on properl y. Fi nal l y, you can
choose the blocki ng l evel as ei ther Low, Medi um or Hi gh. The defaul t of Medium is recommended as i t
captures most i l legi ti mate popups wi thout bl ocki ng l egi ti mate ones, however you can choose Hi gh to block
most popups - once agai n I strongl y recommend manual l y addi ng desi rable si tes to the al l owed l ist i f you do
thi s, as otherwi se l egi ti mate popups will al so be bl ocked.

InPrivate: InPri vate Browsing i s a new feature of IE whi ch al l ows you to surf the web wi thout l eavi ng any
trace of your acti vi ti es on the PC. Thi s i s covered i n more detai l i n the InPri vate Browsi ng secti on further
bel ow. The opti ons here rel ate to the way i n whi ch the InPri vate Browsi ng and InPri vate Fi l teri ng features
operate when enabl ed. By defaul t IE keeps a record of the si tes you visi t for the purposes of determi ni ng
what data to automati cal ly bl ock from thi rd party provi ders. If you ti ck the 'Do not col l ect data for use by
InPri vate Fil teri ng' box, IE wi ll not record any such data. This wi ll i mpact on how effecti ve InPri vate
Fi l teri ng i s at automati cal ly bl ocki ng thi rd party content, but start off by ti cking thi s box and i f you fi nd
probl ems on parti cul ar sites, make manual adjustments i n the InPri vate Fil teri ng setti ngs box - see the
InPri vate Fil teri ng secti on further bel ow.

When usi ng InPri vate Browsi ng, ti cki ng the 'Di sabl e tool bars and extensi ons when InPri vate Browsi ng starts'
box wi l l di sabl e all such tool bars and extensi ons to prevent them from savi ng any pri vate data duri ng an
InPri vate sessi on. This i s recommended for maximum pri vacy, however if you absol utel y requi re thei r
functi onali ty duri ng InPri vate Browsing then untick thi s box, but make sure to research your i nstall ed
tool bars and extensi ons to ensure they do not breach your pri vacy, as otherwi se i t wil l defeat much of the
purpose of usi ng InPri vate Browsi ng in the first place. Note that i n general I strongly recommend agai nst


288

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

i nstal li ng many (if any) tool bars and extensi ons wherever possi bl e, for both securi ty, stabi li ty and
performance reasons, regardl ess of whether you use InPri vate Browsi ng or not.

CONTENT
Parental Controls: Cli cki ng the 'Parental Control s' button opens the Parental Control s secti on of the User
Accounts screen, all owi ng you to set specifi c parameters for Internet surfing for parti cular accounts,
provi ded addi ti onal software i s i nstal l ed. Thi s is covered i n detai l under the Parental Controls secti on of the
User Accounts chapter.

Content Advisor: If enabled, the Content Advisor all ows you to attempt to fi l ter out and control access to
websi tes that contai n offensi ve or i nappropri ate materi al . Go through each category of content and use the
sl ider bel ow the box to set the restri cti ons on that category. Once done, cli ck OK and you wi l l be prompted
to set a Password, as well as a Hi nt i n case you forget that password. IE wil l now attempt to restri ct content
based on content advi ce from ICRA (Internet Content Rati ng Associati on), so thi s i s not a fool -proof method.

Certificates: Certi ficates are a form of el ectroni c authenti cati on method to veri fy that a parti cular websi te or
i ndi vi dual i s what/who i t/they cl ai m to be. Certi fi cates are descri bed i n more detail i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e,
and are beyond the scope of thi s book i n detail i ng thei r functi ons. I don't recommend al teri ng any of the
setti ngs i n this secti on unl ess you are acti ng under advi ce from a trusted tech support person. If a parti cul ar
si te displays a certi fi cate error or warni ng, I recommend pursui ng this further wi th the si te owner or
researchi ng vi a Googl e before conducti ng any financial transacti ons wi th the si te, as advised i n thi s
Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

AutoComplete: AutoComplete can save any websi te address you have typed into the address bar (or have
al ready stored i n your History), any text you've entered i nto onl i ne forms, and any usernames and/or
passwords you've entered on a web page. The ai m is that next ti me you start to type a URL, or vi si t a si te,
AutoCompl ete wil l automati call y compl ete or restore your typed text, speedi ng up l oggi ng i n or fi ll i ng out
detail s, or typi ng URLs i nto the address bar. Cli ck the Setti ngs button to confi gure which parti cular aspects
of a web page AutoCompl ete wi ll functi on for, but i n general for securi ty purposes I don't recommend
enabli ng any of these opti ons unless you have strong protecti on on your User Account and the PC i s
physi call y i sol ated from anyone el se.

Note that ti cki ng the 'Use Wi ndows Search for better resul ts' box wi l l mean that an i tem call ed 'Internet
Expl orer History' wi ll automati cal ly be added to the Search Index used by Wi ndows Search. Thi s i tem can be
removed from wi thi n the Indexi ng Opti ons - see the Search Index secti on of the Wi ndows Search chapter for
detail s. However you can al so di sabl e i t here by unti cki ng thi s option and cli cking OK.

Feeds and Web Slices: If a websi te you're vi ewi ng has RSS or Web Sl ice capabi li ty, you wil l see the orange RSS
or green Web Sli ce icon. You can then cl i ck the rel evant i con to vi ew the feed or to preview rel evant sl i ce
i nformati on. Cl i cki ng the Setti ngs button here al l ows you to confi gure how often such feeds and sl i ces are
updated, how they're read, and how IE warns you about capable websi tes. If you don't use these features,
unti ck all the boxes on the Setti ngs page.

CONNECTIONS
You shoul d set up and customi ze the detai ls of your Internet connecti on i n the Network and Shari ng Center
- see the Network and Shari ng Center secti on under the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter.

PROGRAMS
Default web browser: If you have i nstall ed any other browsers, you can choose to set or reset IE as your defaul t
browser by cl i cki ng the 'Make defaul t' button. Unless you are worri ed about another browser taki ng over
thi s defaul t associati on, you needn't ti ck the 'Tel l me if Internet Expl orer is not the defaul t web browser' box


289

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

for opti mal startup speed. If you wi sh to make another web browser your defaul t, see the Defaul t Programs
secti on under the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for detail s.

Manage Add-ons: Cl i cki ng thi s button allows you to confi gure Add-ons i n IE. Any smal l program i nstall ed for
use wi thi n Internet Expl orer i s an add-on, and general l y you wil l be aware that a si te is i nstall i ng an IE add-
on through prompts. However you can vi ew all the mai n add-ons here by selecti ng the relevant category
and maki ng sure that the Show drop down box under the Tool bars and Extensions category says 'All add-
ons'. For exampl e Adobe Fl ash Player is a common add-on whi ch all ows fl ash-based content to pl ay on web
pages, such as YouTube videos. When you fi rst vi si t a web page wi th a fl ash ani mati on, IE wi ll prompt you
wi th a yel l ow warni ng bar that 'Thi s websi te wants to i nstall the fol l owi ng add-on:' and menti ons the name
of the add-on, i n thi s case 'Adobe Flash Player from Adobe Systems Incorporated'. If you wi sh to conti nue
then cl i ck the warni ng bar and foll ow the prompts.

For the most part some add-ons are l egiti mate, such as all owi ng you to vi ew PDF fil es from wi thi n Internet
Expl orer, or runni ng free browser games. You can also downl oad a Range of Add-Ons whi ch provi de useful
addi ti onal functi onali ty for Internet Expl orer, such as spel l checki ng. Many of these add-ons are free and
operate si milar to Extensi ons for Fi refox, maki ng Internet Expl orer more functi onal and customi zabl e.

The probl em i s that some si tes try to i nstall add-ons whi ch contain potenti al l y harmful or i ntrusi ve scri pts
designed to al ter Internet Expl orer's setti ngs to sui t thei r purposes. Furthermore some si tes and programs
wi ll i nsi st on i nstall i ng usel ess tool bars i n IE whi ch take up space, col l ect data on your browsi ng behavior,
and add to resource usage unnecessary. For thi s reason i t's extremel y i mportant that you don't just
automati cal ly accept the i nstall ation of any add-on; onl y i nstall add-ons from trusted websites and onl y i f
absolutel y necessary. In general the l ess add-ons the better, both for securi ty and performance purposes.
Even l egi ti mate add-ons can potenti al ly sl ow down the l aunch and browsi ng speeds of Internet Expl orer.
Regularly check the l ist of add-ons i n thi s secti on and di sabl e those you don't trust; do a Googl e search i f the
name does not seem famil iar.

The Search Provi ders category i n the Manage Add-ons box i s covered under the General secti on further
above; the Accel erators category i s covered under the Accel erators secti on l ater on i n thi s chapter, as is the
InPri vate Fil teri ng category.

HTML Editing: Here you can set the program IE uses for edi ti ng the HTML code of web pages when you
sel ect the 'Edit wi th [program name]' option under the Page menu.

Internet Programs: Cl i cki ng the 'Set Programs' button here si mpl y opens the Defaul t Programs component of
the Wi ndows Control Panel , covered in full detail under the Defaul t Programs secti on of the Wi ndows
Control Panel chapter.

ADVANCED
Thi s secti on contai ns i mportant setti ngs for Internet Expl orer's functi onali ty, securi ty and general behavior.
There are too many setti ngs to be abl e to descri be each one of them i n full detai l here, however I want to
di scuss a few i mportant opti ons i n more detail before goi ng i nto the recommended setti ngs:

Security - SmartScreen Filter: As covered under the PC Securi ty chapter, Phi shi ng i s a form of deception
designed to obtai n your personal detai l s, such as logon, password and credi t card numbers. It is usuall y
done for fi nanci al gai n, and i s becomi ng an i ncreasingl y si gni fi cant threat. Internet Expl orer 7 i ntroduced a
bui l t-i n Phishi ng Fil ter whi ch warned you i f a parti cular si te seemed to be decepti ve or a known phi shi ng
perpetrator. Internet Expl orer 8 has changed the name of this opti on to the SmartScreen Fi l ter. More than just
a name change, the way i n whi ch the fi l ter works has al so changed. The fi l ter now works much more
effi ci entl y, has new features to detect and bl ock potenti al mal ware downl oads, and i n general i t is strongl y
recommended that you leave the 'Enabl e SmartScreen Fil ter' box ti cked under the Securi ty secti on of the


290

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Advanced tab. If you visi t a potentiall y unsafe si te, the prompts you wil l receive are qui te intui ti ve. If you
sti ll wish to conti nue visi ting the reported si te, cli ck the 'More Informati on' l i nk at the bottom of the warning,
or cl i ck 'Disregard and downl oad unsafe fi l e' to conti nue downl oadi ng an all egedl y unsafe fi le downl oad.
Obvi ousl y i n both cases this i s not recommended unl ess you are certai n the report i s fal se - remember that
even trusted websi tes can uni ntenti onall y host mal ware wi thout thei r owner's knowl edge.

To manual ly check a parti cul ar si te usi ng the SmartScreen Fil ter, go to the Safety menu in IE, sel ect the
'SmartScreen Fi l ter' menu and cl i ck 'Check thi s Websi te'. To report a websi te as bei ng unsafe, go to the same
menu and this ti me sel ect 'Report Unsafe Websi te' - however bear in mi nd thi s doesn't automati call y add the
si te to the l i st of unsafe websi tes, i t only reports i t for further exami nati on by Mi crosoft. Finall y, you can
di sabl e SmartScreen Fi l ter by sel ecti ng the 'Turn Off SmartScreen Fil ter' opti on here, but thi s i s not
recommended.

Zoom: Di fferent web pages have different si zed text and pi ctures. Internet Expl orer al l ows you to zoom
i n/out of any page at any time si mpl y by sel ecti ng the zoom l evel usi ng the Zoom box at the bottom ri ght of
the screen - cl i ck on i t and sel ect the desi red zoom level . However a qui cker method i s to hol d down the
CTRL button and scroll up or down wi th your mousewheel . Al ternati vely you can use CTRL + (pl us key) or
CTRL - (mi nus key) to zoom i n and out respecti vely, and to reset the page to its defaul t si ze, press CTRL 0
(zero). Under the Accessi bil i ty secti on of the Advanced opti ons tab you can al ter how thi s behavi or works -
i f you ti ck the 'Reset zoom l evel for new wi ndows and tabs', regardl ess of how zoomed i n or out you are on
your current tab, openi ng a new tab wi ll mean the page wi ll open at the defaul t zoom l evel ; if unti cked, the
new tab wil l open at the same zoom l evel as your current page. You can also experi ment wi th the 'Reset text
size to medi um whi l e zoomi ng' opti on to see i f i t sui ts your tastes.

Compatibility View: Internet Expl orer 8 i ntroduces Compati bi li ty Vi ew whi ch hel ps correctl y render web
pages that use code designed for ol der browsers. You can swi tch to Compati bi l i ty Vi ew at any ti me by
sel ecti ng the opti on under the Page menu, or by cl icki ng the small 'broken page' i con to the ri ght of the
Address Bar. Thi s essentiall y changes IE8 i nto IE7 for the purposes of renderi ng the page. You should only
use this opti on i f you beli eve a web page i s bei ng shown i ncorrectly, typi call y when el ements on the page are
out of al ignment, obscured by other el ements, or mi ssi ng objects/text i s vi si bl e, and so forth. Most si tes will
render correctl y i n IE8, so thi s i s not a common probl em. To manuall y force any page to permanentl y show
i tself i n Compati bi li ty Vi ew, sel ect the 'Compati bi li ty View Setti ngs' opti on under the Page menu and add
the si te to the l i st. You can also ti ck the 'Incl ude updated websi tes lists from Mi crosoft' to use a pre-compi l ed
l i st hel d by Mi crosoft whi ch determi nes whi ch si tes requi re Compati bi li ty Vi ew to automati cal ly be enabl ed
- more detail s can be found i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Of relevance to thi s secti on, under the Browsi ng section
of the Advanced tab i n the Opti ons, there i s an opti on enti tl ed 'Automati cally recover from page layout
errors wi th Compati bi li ty Vi ew' - i f ti cked, as the opti on i mpli es, any page layout renderi ng errors wi ll result
i n the page bei ng shown in Compati bi li ty Vi ew. You can l eave thi s opti on ti cked, however i f you noti ce a
si te you regularly visi t tri ggeri ng thi s opti on, i t i s better to add i t to the list under Compati bi li ty Vi ew
Setti ngs for faster renderi ng.

The rest of my recommendati ons for the more i mportant Advanced setti ngs i n IE are provi ded bel ow.

I recommend that the foll owi ng opti ons be ti cked for maxi mum performance, stabi li ty and conveni ence:

Di sabl e scri pt debuggi ng (Internet Expl orer)
Di sabl e scri pt debuggi ng (Other)
Enabl e automati c crash recovery
Enabl e thi rd-party browser extensi ons
Enabl e vi sual styl es on buttons and control s i n webpages
Show fri endly HTTP error messages
Use Passi ve FTP


291

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

Use smooth scrol li ng
Use HTTP 1.1
Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connecti ons
Al ways use Cl earType for HTML
Enabl e automati c i mage resi zi ng
Show pi ctures
Smart i mage di theri ng
Check for publ i sher's certifi cate revocati on
Check for server certifi cate revocati on
Check for si gnatures on downl oaded programs
Do not save encrypted pages to di sk
Enabl e DOM storage
Enabl e Integrated Wi ndows Authenti cati on
Enabl e nati ve XMLHTTP support
Enabl e SmartScreen Fil ter
Use SSL 3.0
Use TLS 1.0
Warn about certi ficate address mi smatch
Warn if POST submi ttal i s redi rected to a zone that does not permi t posts

I recommend the foll owi ng be unti cked, agai n for maxi mum performance, stabil ity and conveni ence:

Di splay a noti ficati on about every scri pt error
Enabl e Suggested Si tes
Al l ow acti ve content to run i n fil es on My Computer
Al l ow software to run or i nstall even if the signature is i nvali d

Setti ngs for whi ch I have no specifi c recommendati on, but whi ch are noteworthy:

Display Accelerator Button on selection: Accel erators are covered in more detail i n the Accel erators section
further bel ow. If ti cked, thi s opti on bri ngs up the bl ue Accelerators button whenever you highl ight a
sel ecti on on a page for exampl e. Thi s may be annoying for some peopl e, especi al l y i f they keep acci dental ly
cl i cki ng the button. Unti cki ng this opti on removes the button.

Do not submit unknown addresses to your auto-search provider: If sel ected, thi s opti on prevents the search
functi onali ty of the Address Bar. Gi ven IE already provi des a Search Box at the top ri ght of the screen, thi s
functi onali ty appears superfluous. If you wi sh to retai n i t, sel ect 'Just displ ay the resul ts i n the mai n
wi ndow', then whenever you enter some plai n text i n the Address Bar i t will i ni tiate a search usi ng the
defaul t search engi ne used for the Instant Search box.

Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed: As covered under the Basi c Setti ngs secti on i n this
chapter, the use of the browser cache speeds up browsi ng i n IE. However i f for pri vacy and/or securi ty
purposes you want the cache cleared every ti me you cl ose IE, ti ck thi s opti on. Thi s may resul t i n sl ower
browsi ng each ti me you start a new sessi on of IE. A better al ternati ve mi ght be to browse wi th InPri vate
Browsi ng automati cal ly enabl ed - see further bel ow for detai ls.

Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks: To be abl e to change thi s opti on you will need to start
Internet Expl orer by ri ght-cl i cki ng on the IE8 i con and sel ecti ng 'Run as Admi nistrator'. If ti cked, this option
enabl es Data Executi on Preventi on (DEP) specifi cal l y for IE, whi ch al though more secure may cause
probl ems wi th some ol der IE pl ugi ns and add-ons. I recommend l eavi ng i t enabl ed, however i f i t causes
probl ems you may wi sh to ei ther uni nstal l certai n add-ons, or di sabl e DEP for IE, whi ch i s not
recommended - see the Data Executi on Preventi on secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for more detai ls.


292

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

The remai ni ng setti ngs not covered above can be set to sui t your taste, or preferably l eft at thei r defaul t. If
any setti ng is grayed out then make sure to l aunch IE wi th full Admi ni strator pri vi leges; i .e. ri ght-cl i ck on
the IE l aunch i con and selecti ng 'Run as Admi ni strator'. Some setti ngs may onl y work after bei ng changed
by cl osi ng al l i nstances of Internet Expl orer and reopeni ng i t agai n - these are marked wi th an asteri sk.

INPRIVATE BROWSING
InPri vate Browsi ng i s a feature of Internet Expl orer 8 desi gned to all ow you to surf the Internet wi thout
l eavi ng any trace on the PC you are usi ng. To access thi s feature, sel ect the 'InPrivate Browsi ng' opti on under
the Safety menu, or press CTRL+SHIFT+P - a new browser wi ndow wi ll open, cl earl y marked as 'InPri vate'.
Any browsi ng done usi ng thi s InPri vate sessi on wi ll not store data on your drive. Thi s i s i deal for people
who browse the Internet usi ng publi cly shared machi nes, but i t is also useful i f you si mpl y want to ensure
that there is no potenti all y embarrassi ng Internet-related materi al stored on your PC via normal browsi ng.

Whi le usi ng an InPri vate sessi on, IE wi ll generate and store several temporary pi eces of i nformati on, mainl y
to ensure that websi te functi onal i ty i s mai ntai ned. Cooki es and cached internet fil es wi ll be stored
temporaril y for example, but as soon as you close the InPri vate browser wi ndow, these are all automati cal ly
removed. Importantl y however, there are a range of caveats to keep i n mi nd when usi ng InPri vate Browsing:

If you add any Favori tes, RSS Feeds or Web Sl i ces whi l e usi ng InPri vate, or you i nstal l any software, or
add a new home page, then such changes wil l be saved and kept permanentl y even after you cl ose i t.
If you don't cl ose the InPri vate wi ndow then others may be able to vi ew your browsi ng hi story and
temporary files on the same PC.
InPri vate functi onali ty does not extend to protecti ng your anonymi ty when surfi ng - your IP address for
exampl e wil l sti ll be visi bl e and stored on vari ous si tes as you browse the Internet.
An InPri vate sessi on does not offer any greater securi ty than usi ng the standard IE mode. Do not
mi stake InPrivate as a form of protection agai nst mal ware or phishi ng for exampl e.

Note also that i f you have i nstall ed any thi rd party tool bars or extensi ons i n IE, then unl ess you ti ck the
'Di sabl e tool bars and extensi ons when InPri vate Browsi ng starts' box as covered under the Pri vacy section
further above, these tool bars and extensions may be savi ng and transmi tti ng private data regardl ess. For that
reason, I recommend ti cking thi s box, but more i mportantl y, resi sti ng the urge to i nstall additi onal software
for IE as much as possi bl e unl ess absol utel y necessary.

Whi le InPri vate Browsi ng i s a useful feature, especi al ly for those usi ng shared machi nes, i t is not a substi tute
for correctly confi guri ng al l of IE's opti ons (see the rest of thi s chapter), and also exerci si ng common sense as
to general browsi ng. InPrivate does not guarantee that others wil l not fi nd out about your browsi ng habits
through other techni ques, so mi ni mi ze the extent to whi ch you undertake potenti all y embarrassi ng or secure
browsi ng on shared PCs for exampl e.

You can confi gure Internet Expl orer to always open i n InPri vate Browsi ng mode by defaul t - see the
Advanced Setti ngs section l ater i n this chapter.

INPRIVATE FILTERING
InPri vate Fi l teri ng i s an addi ti onal Internet Expl orer 8 feature whi ch goes hand-i n-hand wi th InPri vate
Browsi ng. As noted above, InPri vate Browsi ng i s desi gned to remove traces of your acti vi ty from the PC, but
i t does not protect your pri vacy when onl i ne. InPrivate Fi l teri ng attempts to do just that, to a reasonable
extent, by preventi ng your pri vate data from bei ng broadcast unnecessaril y to thi rd party si tes whi ch are
di splayi ng content on the page you are vi ewi ng. For exampl e, when you vi si t a trusted si te, i t may have
content such as an i nteracti ve map or adverti si ng whi ch i s drawn from another provi der. You may wi sh to


293

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

bl ock data regardi ng your current acti ons on the trusted si te from bei ng transmi tted to these thi rd party
provi ders.

To turn on InPri vate Fil tering, go to the Safety menu in IE and sel ect the 'InPri vate Fi l teri ng' opti on to enabl e
i t; thi s must be done each ti me you start IE, al though there i s a advanced tweak to overcome thi s covered
l ater i n thi s chapter. Once enabl ed, you can then refine the way i n whi ch i t works by sel ecti ng the 'InPri vate
Fi l teri ng Settings' opti on under the Safety menu. Al ternati vel y, you can access these opti ons by cl i cki ng the
small l ock i con i n the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.

You have three mai n opti ons for InPri vate Fi l teri ng: Automati call y Bl ock; Choose Content to Bl ock or Al l ow;
or Off. When 'Automati call y Bl ock' i s chosen, i f the same thi rd party content appears frequentl y across a
range of si tes i t wi ll be tracked and eventuall y bl ocked by IE to protect your pri vacy. However you can
manuall y choose to bl ock or al l ow content yoursel f if you're not sati sfi ed wi th the automated resul ts. At the
bottom of the Setti ngs box there i s a small box whi ch all ows you to change how many websi tes need to be
vi si ted wi th the same thi rd party content before i t appears on the l ist of Content Provi ders i n the Setti ngs
screen at the bottom of the screen. The defaul t i s 10, but you can lower i t to 3 or rai se i t to 30; the l ower the
number the more thi rd content wi l l be bl ocked and hence also appear for you to choose to bl ock or all ow i n
the l ist.

Al ternati vel y, cl i ck the 'Advanced Setti ngs' li nk at the bottom of the Setti ngs box and you wil l be taken to the
Manage Add-Ons box which then al l ows you to i mport pre-made fi l ters for InPri vate Fil teri ng. One exampl e
i s thi s l ist whi ch a user has compi l ed, mi mi cki ng the fi l ter li st from Adbl ock pl us, a popular ad-bl ocki ng
extensi on for Fi refox. Save the l i st and use the Import feature i n the InPri vate Fil teri ng category of Manage
Add-Ons to appl y i t to IE.

Remember however that InPri vate Fi l teri ng i s not speci fi cal ly designed to bl ock adverti si ng as such, i t i s a
general tool to l i mi t the amount of data you send to thi rd party provi ders. Enabl i ng InPri vate Fi l teri ng can
resul t i n some si tes not di splayi ng correctl y, or mi ssi ng i mportantl y functi onali ty. However more
i mportantl y, constantl y usi ng InPri vate Fi l teri ng to bl ock advertisi ng can and wi ll affect the vi abi li ty of
many si tes on the Internet whi ch rel y on thi rd party advertisi ng income to remai n free to vi ew. If you bl ock
the ads on si tes you enjoy, consi der donati ng to them di rectl y i f you wish to see them remai n open and free.

ACCELERATORS
Accel erators are browser-based tools whi ch provi de addi ti onal functi onali ty for a si te. You can access an
Accel erator by hi ghli ghti ng a porti on of a si te and cli cki ng the bl ue Accel erators button whi ch appears. To
access a li st of Accel erators currentl y i nstal led on your IE, ri ght-cl i ck the bl ue button and sel ect 'All
Accel erators', or go to the Tool s menu i n IE, select 'Manage Add-Ons' and then sel ect the Accel erators
category. There are a range of addi ti onal free Accel erators you can downl oad, you can vi ew the full l ist by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on the Accel erators button and sel ecti ng 'All Accel erators'>'Find More Accel erators', or by
cl i cki ng the 'Fi nd More Accel erators' l i nk i n the 'Manage Add-Ons' screen. Whi l e they provi de useful
functi onali ty, I recommend exerci si ng constrai nt i n how many you add to IE and keep acti ve at any ti me to
reduce resource usage.

If you fi nd the Accel erators functi onal i ty unnecessary, then disabl e all the avai labl e Accel erators i n the
'Manage Add-Ons' box, and al so di sabl e the bl ue Accel erators button - see the Advanced settings secti on just
bel ow for detail s.


294

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

< ADVANCED SETTINGS
The foll owi ng are some more advanced customizati ons to make IE easi er to use:

CUSTOMIZE INTERNET EXPLORER 8'S APPEARANCE
Internet Expl orer 8 does al l ow customizati on of i ts interface, al though i n practi ce there i sn't a great deal of
scope for changi ng the way IE8 l ooks. To streaml i ne IE8's appearance, try the fol l owi ng changes:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the mai n IE tool bar (e.g. i n the blank area to the ri ght of any open tabs)
to access the customizati on opti ons.
2. Unti ck any components you do not wi sh to vi ew. For exampl e the Favori tes Bar, Menu Bar and the
Compati bi li ty Vi ew button are pri me candidates for removal, as they are not frequently used by most
peopl e and thei r functi onali ty is dupli cated i n a range of other pl aces.
3. Sel ect the 'Lock All Tool bars' opti on to turn i t off, and you can now move the Command Bar - the icon
bar on the ri ght si de of the screen hol di ng your main IE opti ons. Grab the dotted l i ne to the l eft of the
Command Bar and you can move i t up sl i ghtl y to si t on a new l i ne above your Favori tes button and tabs
for example; thi s mi ght make access to i t qui cker for some peopl e. Regardl ess of whether you do move
the Command Bar, make sure the 'Lock Al l Tool bars' opti on i s ti cked at thi s point to prevent acci dental
movement of any tool bars.
4. Sel ect the Customi ze opti on and ti ck or unti ck the 'Use Large Icons' opti on to toggl e the size of the i cons
to sui t your taste, and al so ti ck or unti ck the 'Show Stop and Refresh Buttons Before Address Bar' opti on
i f you wi sh to move the l ocati on of the Stop and Refresh buttons accordi ngl y.
5. Sel ect the Customi ze opti on and then sel ect whether you wi sh to di splay any text next to i cons or not -
sel ecti ng 'Show Onl y Icons' wi ll reduce the space they take up and is recommended.
6. Sel ect the Customi ze opti on and then sel ect 'Add or Remove Commands'.
7. Hi ghl i ght the commands you wish to add or remove to/from the Command Bar and use the Add and
Remove arrows to make the appropriate changes i n the box on the ri ght. For exampl e you may wish to
remove the Read Mai l and Hel p buttons, and i nstead add a 'Del ete Browsing History' button to the
Command Bar. Once done, cl i ck Cl ose to see the changes.

Unfortunately there isn't much more that can be done to trul y customi ze IE8's appearance. Fortunatel y, for
the most part IE8's i nterface i s reasonably streamli ned.

CHANGE OR DISABLE CLICK SOUND
Every ti me you navigate anywhere usi ng Internet Expl orer, or for that matter i n Wi ndows Expl orer, you wi ll
hear a 'cli ck' sound. To disabl e thi s cli cking sound, or to change i t to another sound fol l ow these steps:

1. Open the Sound component i n the Wi ndows Control Panel .
2. Go to the Sounds tab.
3. Scroll down the l i st of event sounds and under the Wi ndows Expl orer category l eft-cli ck on 'Start
Navi gati on' to hi ghl i ght i t.
4. To di sabl e the sound compl etel y go to the Sounds drop down li st bel ow i t and sel ect (None) at the very
top of the li st, then cli ck Appl y; or
5. To change the sound, which i s Windows Navigation Start.wav by defaul t, pi ck another more sui table
sound from the l ist, or click the Browse button to find another sound fi l e on your dri ve to use. Cl i ck
Appl y when done.

Note that changi ng or di sabl i ng thi s sound wil l affect both Internet Expl orer and Wi ndows Expl orer equal ly.


295

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

WINDOWS 7-SPECIFIC FEATURES
Internet Expl orer 8 i s a nati ve Wi ndows 7 appl i cati on, and as such provi des some addi ti onal features not yet
supported by some other browsers. In parti cular, Internet Expl orer's Jump List contai ns specifi c i tems whi ch
can be useful, such as 'Start InPri vate Browsi ng' and 'Open new tab'. See the Taskbar secti on of the Graphi cs
& Sound chapter for more detail s.

USE INTERNET EXPLORER 64-BIT
If you are runni ng Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, by defaul t whenever you l aunch Internet Expl orer from the defaul t
Taskbar i con or the normal Internet Expl orer i tem in the Start Menu, the 32-bit versi on of Internet Expl orer
wi ll open. You can launch the 64-bi t versi on of Internet Expl orer i nstead, by goi ng to Start>Search Box,
typi ng Internet Explorer, then sel ecti ng the 'Internet Expl orer (64-bi t)' i tem whi ch appears i n the search
resul ts. You can al so ri ght-cl i ck on this item and select Send to>Desktop to create a permanent i con to use for
l aunchi ng IE 64-bi t.

However as thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e expl ai ns, whil e Internet Expl orer 64-bi t can be more stabl e and may be
faster, i t al so has some i ssues, whi ch i s why i t was never made the defaul t browser versi on i n Wi ndows 7 64-
bi t. The bi ggest i ssue stems from the fact that all add-ons for IE need to match the bi t versi on of IE being
used, so 32-bi t add-ons wil l not functi on correctl y on IE 64-bi t. Si nce most of the useful add-ons, such as
Fl ash player, are currentl y onl y avail able i n 32-bi t form, thi s makes IE8 64-bi t l ess functi onal than i ts regular
32-bi t versi on. If you don't use any add-ons at all in IE on the other hand, you shoul d make IE 64-bi t the
defaul t versi on to use due to i ts potential benefi ts.

START WITH INPRIVATE BROWSING MODE ENABLED
By defaul t the InPri vate Browsi ng mode i n IE8 requi res that you start up IE normall y, then sel ect the
'InPri vate Browsi ng' opti on under the Safety menu (or press CTRL+SHIFT+P) to open a new browser
wi ndow whi ch speci fi call y uses InPri vate. To avoid all thi s, you can create a shortcut whi ch opens IE already
i n InPri vate Browsi ng mode, ready to go at the start of every sessi on. To do thi s, foll ow these instructi ons:

1. Go to Start>Search Box and type Internet Explorer.
2. Ri ght-cli ck on the Internet Expl orer i tem whi ch appears and sel ect Send to>Desktop.
3. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s new i con and sel ect Properti es.
4. In the Target box, go to the very end of the exi sti ng text, i nsert one bl ank space and then add the -private
swi tch, and cli ck Appl y then OK to cl ose the box.

Now whenever IE i s l aunched from thi s modi fi ed i con, i t wi ll automati cal ly open wi th InPri vate Browsi ng
mode al ready acti vated every ti me.

START WITH INPRIVATE FILTERING MODE ENABLED
By defaul t InPri vate Fi l tering needs to be enabl ed each and every ti me you start a new sessi on of IE i f you
wi sh to use it. If you want InPri vate Fil teri ng to be on by default all the ti me, then go to the foll owing
l ocati on i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ I nt er net Expl or er \ Saf et y\ Pr i vacI E]

St ar t Mode=1

The DWORD above needs to be created. When set =1 i t forces IE8 to automati call y begi n wi th InPri vate
Fi l teri ng mode enabl ed wi th each sessi on. Delete i t i f you wi sh to undo thi s option.


296

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

CUSTOMIZE IE TITLE BAR
If you want to customize what i s displ ayed at the top of each Internet Expl orer wi ndow (typi cal ly the name
of the si te followed by Windows Internet Explorer), go to the fol l owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ I nt er net Expl or er \ Mai n]

Wi ndow Ti t l e=Wi ndows I nt er net Expl or er

Create a new STRING cal led Wi ndow Ti t l e and assi gn whatever text you wi sh to use as i ts value data. The
next ti me you launch a new Internet Expl orer wi ndow thi s text wil l be di splayed at the top of IE. Del ete the
entry if you wi sh to return to the defaul t ti tl e.

BUILT-IN FLASH BLOCKING
If you want to bl ock Flash-based content on any web page, you can use the functi onali ty i n the 'Manage
Add-Ons' screen i n IE8 whi ch al l ows greater control of Acti veX content, as descri bed i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e. Fol l ow these steps to customize how Flash content i s all owed/bl ocked on a per-si te basi s:

1. Go to the Tool s menu i n IE, select 'Manage Add-Ons'.
2. Hi ghl i ght the 'Tool bars and Extensi ons' category and make sure the 'Al l add-ons' opti on i s sel ected
under the Show drop-down box.
3. Left-cl i ck on the Flash-related entry (e.g. Shockwave Fl ash Object), and at the bottom of the screen sel ect
the 'More Informati on' li nk, or si mpl y doubl e-cli ck on the entry.
4. In the box whi ch opens, at the very bottom you wi l l see a secti on where you can manually enter the
names of si tes whi ch are al l owed to use Fl ash-based content. By defaul t i t says * (asterisk) whi ch means
all si tes. Remove the *, or cl i ck the 'Remove All Si tes' button and cl i ck Cl ose to di sal l ow al l Flash-based
content on al l si tes. Al ternati vel y, remove the * and then manual l y enter onl y the names of speci fi c si tes
for whi ch you wish to all ow Flash functi onal i ty.
5. With Fl ash functi onal i ty di sabl ed for si tes, you wi ll see a yell ow i nformati on bar when a si te requi res
flash for ful l functi onal i ty. You can ei ther i gnore thi s bar, or if you wi sh to add the si te to your all ow l ist,
cl i ck on the bar and select the 'Run Add-On' opti on and fol l ow the prompts.

As noted earli er, be aware that bl ocki ng flash-based content not onl y affects the functi onali ty on certai n si tes,
but i t may al so affect thei r vi abil i ty if you bl ock al l thei r advertisi ng as wel l.

FTP WITH EXPLORER-BASED WINDOWS
Internet Expl orer 8 al l ows you to access fil es stored on web servers usi ng FTP, a protocol desi gned
speci fi call y for fil e transfers over the Internet. Cl i ck a vali d FTP:// address on a web page, or enter the
address i n IE's Address Bar and the server's contents can be vi ewed i n Internet Expl orer. If the FTP server
requi res l ogin authenti cati on, you wil l be prompted accordi ngly. Thi s feature is al ready possi ble on most
web browsers.

However an i nteresti ng added feature of Internet Expl orer 8 is the abi l i ty to subsequentl y open the FTP
server i n Wi ndows Expl orer, all owi ng you to manage fi l e transfer to and from the FTP server easil y. To do
thi s, whi l e at an FTP address, open the Page menu i n Internet Expl orer and sel ect 'Open FTP Si te in
Wi ndows Expl orer'. A Windows Expl orer wi ndow wi ll open, and you may be prompted to re-enter your
l ogi n detai ls for the FTP si te. Once l ogged i n, you can now transfer fi les back and forth to the FTP server just
l i ke any l ocal or network fol der. You can use the Dual Wi ndow Expl orer Vi ew ti p under the Advanced
Features section of the Windows Expl orer chapter to open two Wi ndows Expl orer wi ndows and posi ti on
them si de by si de for easi er fi l e transfer operati ons.


297

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

If you want a more advanced FTP manager however, I recommend the free Fil ezi lla FTP util i ty which
provi des a range of features i n a convenient and customi zabl e i nterface.

FIX INTERNET EXPLORER 8
Many users have reported that thi s tweak has i mproved IE8's speed and/or stabi l i ty, and i n general i t shoul d
be qui te harml ess ei ther way, so i t i s incl uded here for the sake of compl eteness. If you bel i eve IE8 i s runni ng
sl owly on your machi ne, or you are experi enci ng probl ems wi th the browser, open an Admi ni strator
Command Prompt, type the fol l owi ng and press Enter:

r egsvr 32 act xpr xy. dl l

Reboot your system and open IE8 to see i f there i s any difference.

If you are havi ng probl ems wi th Internet Expl orer, you can browse through thi s Mi crosoft Fi xi t Si te. In
parti cul ar, to attempt to automati cal l y di agnose and repai r an Internet Expl orer i ssue, you can run through
thi s Mi crosoft Interacti ve Support Wizard.

Furthermore, you can fi rst attempt to reset al l of Internet Expl orer 8's setti ngs to thei r defaul ts by opening
Internet Opti ons - vi a the Wi ndows Control Panel if you can't access i t from withi n Internet Expl orer i tself -
then under the Advanced tab, cl i ck the Reset button and foll ow the prompts. If that fail s, try uni nstal li ng and
rei nstall i ng IE8 from the li st of features avail abl e when you cl i ck the 'Turn Wi ndows features on or off' l ink
under the Program and Features component of the Windows Control Panel .

INCREASE MAXIMUM SIMULTANEOUS CONNECTIONS
By defaul t Internet Expl orer onl y all ows two i tems to be downl oaded at a ti me from a server, whi ch can be
sl ow for si tes whi ch have mul ti ple i tems that need to be downl oaded before the page can be di splayed. Thi s
l i mi t i s the Internet Standard for maxi mum number of si mul taneous connections to a server, however you
can i ncrease the val ue beyond 2 by goi ng to the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ I nt er net Set t i ngs]

MaxConnect i onsPer 1_0Ser ver =10

MaxConnect i onsPer Ser ver =10

Create two new DWORD keys wi th the names shown above. Doubl e-cli ck on each one and in Deci mal view
enter the maxi mum number of si mul taneous connections you want i n the Value data box (e.g. 10), then cl i ck
OK. Restart Wi ndows or logoff and l ogon to see if Internet Expl orer is faster as a resul t. You can experi ment
wi th even higher val ues i f you wi sh, but note that i ncreasi ng the maxi mum number of si mul taneous
connecti ons to a server is techni cal ly a breach of Internet Standards, so if you experi ence any probl ems reset
these val ues to 2 or si mpl y del ete these keys al together.

DNS CACHE ISSUES
Whenever your browser tri es to l oad up a page on the Internet, i t has to access a Domai n Name System
(DNS) server to resol ve or transl ate the text address you use (e.g. www.googl e.com) i nto the actual IP
address for the websi te (e.g.: 74.125.67.100). Si nce your browser needs to check DNS addresses each ti me i t
l oads any web pages, the browser speeds up this process by l ocall y stori ng the DNS addresses you use for a
peri od of ti me so that next ti me you try to go to the same address i t uses the IP address i t has cached rather
than l ooki ng i t up agai n on a DNS Server. Unfortunatel y i f a site i s down temporaril y, or has recently
moved, then your DNS cache may store the si te as bei ng i naccessibl e for a whi le even i f i t comes back onl ine
shortl y afterwards, and therefore every ti me you try to connect to it for a whi l e you wil l get an error.


298

I
n
t
e
r
n
e
t

E
x
p
l
o
r
e
r

To resol ve any DNS probl ems wi th web pages not l oadi ng up at al l or l oadi ng up wi th outdated
i nformati on, open an Admi ni strator Command Prompt and type i pconf i g / f l ushdns and press Enter.
Thi s wil l cl ear your DNS cache. Furthermore, to make sure that your browser never stores a negati ve DNS
cache entry - i .e. one whi ch says a si te i s i naccessi bl e - then go to the foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SYSTEM\ Cur r ent Cont r ol Set \ Ser vi ces\ Dnscache\ Par amet er s]

MaxNegat i veCacheTt l =0

If the value above doesn't exi st, create i t as a new DWORD and assign i t a value data of 0 so that no negati ve
DNS entri es can be kept in the DNS cache. You can also set the l ength of ti me i n Ti me To Li ve (TTL) for a
posi ti ve (or worki ng) DNS cache entry to remai n acti ve before bei ng updated. To do thi s, add the foll owi ng
DWORD i n the same l ocati on:

MaxCacheTt l =10800

Assi gn i t a val ue whi ch measures (i n seconds) the total Ti me To Li ve for the positi ve cache entry. Make sure
to enter the amount of seconds i n Deci mal vi ew. Do not set thi s val ue too l ow as your DNS cache wi ll
effecti vel y become usel ess and browsi ng wi ll take l onger. A value of between 3 and 6 hours (10800 - 21600
seconds) shoul d be fi ne.

< OTHER INTERNET BROWSERS
You may be wonderi ng i f there are other reputabl e browsers you can try i f you are not happy wi th Internet
Expl orer. Fortunatel y there are at l east three other major free browsers whi ch are a viabl e and secure
al ternati ve to IE: Mozil la Firefox, Googl e Chrome and Opera.

My personal preference i s for Fi refox. It i s an excell ent browser whi ch i s free and wel l -supported and runs
wi thout any probl ems alongsi de Internet Expl orer, gi vi ng you the opportuni ty to try i t out to see i f you
prefer i t. The mai n advantage of Fi refox over Internet Expl orer and many other browsers is that Firefox i s
much more customizabl e through a range of Extensions and Themes. If you want to fi nd out more about
Fi refox I recommend you read my Fi refox Tweak Gui de whi ch covers al l aspects of Fi refox from the basi c to
the advanced.

You have nothi ng to l ose by tryi ng other browsers out. Al l of the major browsers, i ncludi ng Internet
Expl orer, have the essential features requi red for fast, secure browsi ng. It all depends on whi ch browser best
meets your needs, as there i s no outri ght best browser.


299

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

WINDOWS LIVE MAIL

Wi ndows XP had Outl ook Express, and Wi ndows Vista had Wi ndows Mail , but Wi ndows 7 does not come
wi th any mai l cl i ent. Instead i f you search for mail i n the Start>Search Box, you wi ll see a li nk referri ng you to
'Go onli ne to get Wi ndows Li ve Essenti al s'. Mi crosoft cl earl y wants to decoupl e a range of key features from
bei ng i ncluded i n Wi ndows; not onl y Wi ndows Mai l, but also Wi ndows Photo Gal lery and Wi ndows Movi e
Maker are absent i n Wi ndows 7, as are certai n features, such as the web fi l teri ng portion of Parental
Control s. Instead you must i nstall Mi crosoft's free Windows Li ve equi val ents of thi s software.

Fortunatel y Wi ndows Li ve Mai l is a reasonabl e replacement for Wi ndows Mai l and Outl ook Express, and
unl ess you are al ready using Offi ce Outl ook, or another speci fi c thi rd party mail cl i ent, I recommend that
you downl oad and i nstall Wi ndows Li ve Mail . For the most part, Wi ndows Live Mai l functi ons much the
same as Vista's Wi ndows Mai l . Even though i t i s part of the Windows Li ve Essentials suite, thi s does not
mean that your email s are stored onl i ne or that you must l ogi n to i t usi ng a Wi ndows Li ve ID. However it
does requi re a fair bi t of customizati on to get i t to look and functi on l ike previ ous Windows mai l cl i ents,
whi ch is preci sel y what we cover i n thi s chapter.

< CUSTOMIZING THE INTERFACE
Downl oad the Wi ndows Li ve Essentials Install er, launch i t and duri ng the i nstal lati on process make sure
onl y the Mail component i s ti cked. You can rerun the i nstall er and sel ect other Wi ndows Li ve Essenti al
components after readi ng the other chapters i n thi s gui de if requi red. Once i nstall ed, the defaul t appearance
and functi onali ty of Wi ndows Li ve Mai l wil l be extremel y confusi ng and qui te l i kel y undesi rabl e to most
users of previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows Mai l . In thi s secti on we cover the i ni tial customizati on of Wi ndows
Li ve Mai l .

Sign In: After i nstal li ng Windows Li ve Mai l , you will be prompted to 'Si gn In', and there is also a 'Si gn In'
button at the top ri ght of the Wi ndows Li ve Mai l window. Furthermore there is a Sync button. These may
i ndi cate that Wi ndows Li ve Mail needs to synchroni ze wi th some onl i ne account for full functi onali ty, or
stores your email s onl i ne, but thi s i s not the case - you do not need to si gn i n or synchronize wi th anything.
Si gni ng i n i s onl y necessary if you have a Wi ndows Li ve ID and you wish to synchroni ze your contacts
across Li ve-enabl ed Hotmail or Messenger accounts. As such, most peopl e can si mpl y i gnore the 'Si gn In'
prompts. If you're not signed i n, the Sync button becomes equi val ent to the 'Send and Recei ve' button i n
previ ous email cl i ents; i t si mpl y checks for any new mail and sends any outstandi ng mail when cli cked.
Windows Li ve Mail wil l behave just li ke previ ous Wi ndows mai l clients.

Menu Bar: It i s absol utely necessary for the Menu Bar to be vi si bl e i n Wi ndows Li ve Mail, as many of the
opti ons we wi ll use are onl y avail able from there. The Menu Bar contai ns the Fi l e, Edi t, Vi ew, Go, Tool s,
Acti ons and Hel p menus. If you can't see these menu i tems at the top of Wi ndows Li ve Mail , you can see the
Menu Bar temporaril y at any ti me by pressi ng the ALT key, or you can enabl e i t permanentl y by pressi ng
ALT+M i n Windows Li ve Mai l and sel ecti ng 'Show menu bar' i n the menu which appears.

The i nstructions that fol l ow are pri mari l y ai med at bri ngi ng Windows Li ve Mail 's l ook and functi onali ty as
cl ose as possibl e to that under previ ous mail cli ents such as Wi ndows Mai l and Outl ook Express. You may
wi sh to adjust the way Windows Li ve Mai l l ooks and operates di fferently i n some areas, so thi s i s only a
suggested approach to customi zati on. Note that on a system with mul ti pl e User Accounts, each user wi ll
have to configure Wi ndows Li ve Mail, as customizati ons and accounts for Wi ndows Li ve Mai l are stored
separatel y for each User Account - whi ch i s desi rabl e.


300

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

STEP 1 - EMAIL ACCOUNTS
After i nstall ing Wi ndows Li ve Mai l, open i t and you wi l l fi rst need to recreate or i mport al l of your email
accounts. On a mul ti -user PC, each user shoul d add or create their account whil e l ogged i n under thei r own
User Account, as this provides proper separati on and pri vacy for each account.

Importing Email Accounts

1. If you have any saved emai l accounts as .IAF fil es, go to the Tool s menu and select Accounts.
2. Cl i ck the Import button and browse to the di rectory where your .IAF fil es resi de.
3. Sel ect the accounts and i mport them one by one; each account wi ll be added as a separate category i n the
l eft pane of Wi ndows Li ve Mail .
4. If you wish to change any of the account detai l s, highl ight the account and cli ck the Properti es button,
then edi t the detail s as appropri ate.
5. Hi ghl i ght the emai l account you wi sh to use as your pri mary defaul t account and cl i ck the 'Set as
Defaul t' button.

Creating Email Accounts

1. If you don't have any saved .IAF fi l es, go to the Tool s menu and sel ect Accounts.
2. Cl i ck the Add button, sel ect 'Emai l Account' and follow the prompts.

An i mportant note about email accounts i n Wi ndows Li ve Mail - under the Tool s>Accounts wi ndow, make
sure that you sel ect each email account and i n i ts Properti es, under the Advanced tab, you unti ck the 'Leave
a copy of the message on server' box. If thi s box remai ns ti cked, i t means every email you recei ve wil l al so be
stored on your emai l server, i ncreasi ng the potenti al for your mai l server to run out of room at any ti me, and
hence reject al l i ncomi ng email s.

STEP 2 - IMPORT SAVED MAIL
The next step i s to restore any saved email s you may have exported from Wi ndows Mai l or Outl ook Express.
Do thi s by foll owi ng these steps:

Importing Saved Emails

1. Go to the Fil e menu and sel ect Import>Messages.
2. If i mporti ng messages saved i n Wi ndows XP, sel ect 'Mi crosoft Outl ook Express 6'; if i mporting messages
saved i n Windows Vi sta sel ect 'Wi ndows Mail '.
3. Browse to the l ocati on where your saved emai l s are stored, select the fi le or fol ders and foll ow the
prompts.
4. Your emai ls should be restored i n an 'Imported Folder' under the 'Storage Folders' category i n the l eft
pane, and you can manuall y move these fol ders to a new l ocati on i f you wish. For exampl e, drag one of
your folders from underneath the 'Imported Folders' category to the 'Storage Folders' headi ng to make i t
a subfol der alongsi de the other mai n folders.
5. To create any new folders for stori ng saved emai ls, ri ght-cli ck on the 'Storage Folders' category and
sel ect 'New fol der', then enter the folder name and the l ocati on where you wi sh to pl ace i t.
6. You can del ete any custom fol ders by right-cl icki ng on them and sel ecti ng Del ete, except for the defaul t
Drafts, Sent Items, Del eted Items and Outbox fol ders.


301

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

STEP 3 - FOLDER PANE & UNIFIED INBOX
By defaul t Wi ndows Live Mail provi des a central l ocati on for di splayi ng new emai ls from all of your
accounts i n the form of the 'Unread email ' subfol der of the 'Qui ck Views' category. However thi s l ocation
actuall y di splays all unread emai ls from al l of your emai l accounts, whi ch means even old unread email s
wi ll be di spl ayed here, excludi ng any unread emai ls in the Del eted Items or Junk Mail fol ders.

To customi ze the fol ders whi ch appear under Qui ck Vi ews, ri ght-cl i ck on the Qui ck Vi ews category header
and sel ect 'Sel ect Qui ck Vi ews'. In the wi ndow whi ch opens, you can add or remove relevant fol ders by
ti cki ng or unti cki ng the desi red boxes. For exampl e you can add the 'Al l e-mail ' category to Qui ck Vi ews,
whi ch di splays all your exi sti ng emai ls, both read and unread, across all your accounts, i n a si ngl e l ocati on.

If you have Qui ck Vi ews enabl ed and have set up the subfol ders appropriatel y so that you can see both new
and saved email s i n the rel evant subfol ders of Qui ck Vi ews, you can remove the 'Storage Fol ders' category i f
you wi sh by goi ng to the Vi ew Menu, sel ecti ng Layout, and under the 'Fol der Pane' i tem unti cki ng 'Show
Storage Fol ders'. You can al so mi ni mize your i ndi vidual emai l accounts by cl i cki ng on the small arrow next
to each account headi ng, further reducing clutter i n the Folder Pane. This provides a very streamli ned vi ew.

However some users may prefer a uni fied Inbox and a folder structure i n the Fol der Pane si mi lar to previ ous
versi ons of Windows Mai l /Outl ook Express, rather than the new Qui ck Vi ews category, especi al ly as Qui ck
Vi ews and i ts subfol ders can't be renamed. The fi rst step towards a more tradi tional appearance i s to fol low
these steps:

1. Go to the View menu and sel ect Layout.
2. Sel ect the 'Fol der Pane' i tem, unti ck the 'Show Qui ck Vi ews' box and the 'Use compact vi ew for folder
pane' box. I recommend ti cki ng the 'Use compact shortcuts' box to reduce the Mai l , Calendar, Contacts,
Newsgroups and Feeds i tems shown at the bottom of Fol der Pane to just i cons wi th no text. You shoul d
also l eave the 'Show Storage Fol ders' box ti cked, as thi s category wi ll become the mai n fol der structure
shown i n the Fol der Pane. Cl i ck Appl y and then OK.
3. Go to each of your i ndi vi dual email account category headi ngs and cl i ck the small arrow next to them to
col lapse al l the subfol ders underneath them.

The next set of steps create a uni fi ed Inbox for all of your accounts, si mi lar to that i n previous versi ons of
Windows mai l cl ients:

4. Ri ght-cli ck on the 'Storage Fol ders' category heading and sel ect 'New Fol der', and name thi s fol der
Inbox.
5. Go to the Tool s menu and sel ect Message Rul es>Mai l.
6. Cl i ck New and i n the wi ndow whi ch appears, ti ck the 'For all messages' opti on i n the fi rst fiel d, and ti ck
'Move i t to the specified folder' i n the second fi el d.
7. Cl i ck the blue underli ned specified l i nk, scroll down the li st and sel ect the Inbox fol der you recently
created under the 'Storage Fol ders' category, then cl i ck OK.
8. Call thi s new rul e 'Inbox Rul e' i n the name box, and cl i ck the 'Save rul e' button.
9. Make sure this rul e al ways stays at the top of the rul e li st.

The steps above effecti vely take every new emai l whi ch arri ves i n the i nboxes for your vari ous email
accounts, and automati cal l y moves them to the si ngl e Inbox under 'Storage Fol ders'. Thi s means you can
l eave all your email account categori es col lapsed and taki ng up mi ni mal space, whi l e the 'Storage Fol ders'
category can be l eft expanded to show your new email s arri vi ng in the Inbox. The key benefi t of thi s method
versus the exi sti ng Qui ck Vi ews i s that thi s Inbox fol der wi ll onl y show new email s, not al l unread emails
across your accounts - i n other words you can stil l move unread email s to any other subfol der wi thout them
appeari ng i n the Inbox as wel l.


302

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

STEP 4 - CUSTOMIZE TOOLBARS AND COLUMNS
The Wi ndows Li ve Mail tool bar - the bar wi th buttons such as Sync, New and Del ete - is very pl ai n, and
l acks the i cons found i n previ ous versi ons of Mail . There i sn't much that can be done about thi s, however
you can customi ze whi ch buttons appear here, and the order i n which they appear on the toolbar. Right-click
on an empty area i n the tool bar and select 'Customi ze tool bar', or al ternati vely press ALT+M and sel ect the
same opti on.

In the wi ndow whi ch appears, you can add or remove tool bar i tems and al so hi ghli ght any menu i tem and
use the up and down arrows to reorder the l i st i n the ri ght pane unti l the i tems and thei r order are just the
way you want them. Remember that the Sync button i s the new versi on of the 'Send and Recei ve' button in
previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows mail cl i ents. Cl i ck OK when done and exami ne the al tered tool bar to see if i t
sui ts your tastes.

Now open any email , and i n the emai l wi ndow select the Vi ew menu and then 'Customi ze tool bar'. Repeat
the process above to customi ze the buttons displayed i n the emai l's tool bar menu. Create a new emai l and do
the same thi ng agai n, as some of the buttons i n new emai ls are di fferent from those di splayed in
recei ved/saved emai ls.

Fi nal ly, to al ter the amount of detai l displ ayed for email s i n the mai n wi ndow, fi rst sel ect a fol der i n the
Fol der Pane whi ch contains one or more emai ls, then go to the Vi ew menu and select Col umns. Here you
can sel ect or unsel ect the col umns whi ch are displayed, and also set thei r order and wi dth.

STEP 5 - ADD COLOR
You can change the col or used for the Wi ndows Li ve Mai l i nterface by cl i cki ng the small paintbrush i con i n
the ri ght hand corner of the tool bar. Sel ect from the pal ette provided or cli ck 'More Col ors' to use a custom
col or. The color you sel ect wi ll repl ace the pastel blue col or as the background tint for the entire i nterface.

You can also gi ve any fol der or category headi ng i n the Fol der Pane a di fferent col or if this hel ps you better
di fferentiate between them at a glance. Right-cli ck on the rel evant fol der or headi ng and sel ect 'Set color',
then choose one of the preset col ors availabl e i n the l ist.

There are of course a range of other setti ngs you can go through to further fi ne tune the i nterface of
Wi ndows Live Mai l. However the steps above shoul d make Wi ndows Li ve Mail more li ke previous
Windows mai l cl ients, especi al ly wi th the addi ti on of a proper unifi ed Inbox.

Some fi nal things to note:

Wi ndows Li ve Mail opens up on the folder last open when i t was cl osed - i t does not automati cal ly go to
your Inbox when opened. So you may wi sh to get i nto the habi t of cl osi ng Wi ndows Li ve Mail wi th your
Inbox open.
When 'Synci ng' - that i s, sendi ng and recei vi ng emails - Wi ndows Li ve Mai l does not show the detail ed
progress i ndicator avai lable i n previ ous mail versi ons; all you can see i s the noti fi cati ons gi ven i n the
status bar. To see the full progress i ndi cator you need to double-cl ick the Sync button.
By defaul t Windows Li ve Mai l also updates your Calendar, RSS Feeds and any Newsgroups each ti me i t
syncs. I recommend that you go through these features one by one and remove unnecessary accounts or
entri es to prevent Wi ndows Li ve Mai l updati ng features you don't use. Cl i ck the Cal endar, Contacts,
Feeds and Newsgroup i cons at the bottom of the Fol der Pane. In parti cular, unti ck the Pri mary Cal endar
i f not usi ng i t (i t can't be del eted); under the RSS Feeds, expand the 'Your Feeds' category and del ete any
or al l of the 'Mi crosoft Feeds' folders, subfolders or i ndi vi dual feeds you don't want; fi nally, go to the
Tool s menu and sel ect Account, and hi ghl i ght and click the Remove button to del ete every account you
don't need.


303

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

It i s unfortunate that Wi ndows Li ve Mail requi res so much customi zati on to make i ts i nterface l ess cluttered
and i ts functionali ty more fami l i ar for the average user. However bear i n mi nd that Wi ndows Li ve Mail wi ll
conti nue to change over time as Mi crosoft recei ves feedback and the Li ve sui te evol ves further. As such,
some or all of the i nstructi ons above may become i rrelevant i n the future.

The next section l ooks at the actual setti ngs whi ch control Wi ndows Li ve Mai l 's core functi onality.

< BASIC SETTINGS
In thi s secti on we examine al l of Windows Li ve Mai l 's mai n setti ngs. These are very si mil ar to those
contai ned i n Wi ndows Mail under Vi sta, because Wi ndows Mail and Wi ndows Li ve Mai l share similar
underpi nni ngs. To confi gure Wi ndows Li ve Mai l, open the program, go to the Tool s menu and sel ect
Opti ons. Each tab under the Opti ons wi ndow i s covered bel ow:

GENERAL
Notify me if there are any new newsgroups: If ti cked, Windows will prompt you when new newsgroups are
di scovered. If you do not use newsgroups or don't wish to be notified, unti ck this box.

Automatically display folders with unread messages: If ti cked, folders whi ch contai n unread messages wi ll be
automati cal ly di spl ayed, i ncl udi ng any col lapsed folders not normall y visi bl e bei ng expanded to make them
vi si bl e. If you've customi zed Windows Li ve Mail as covered further above, I recommend unti cki ng thi s box.

Use Newsgroup Communities feature: If ticked, enabl es a range of addi ti onal features i n newsgroups, such as
bei ng abl e to provi de extra feedback on messages and users. If you don't use newsgroups then you should
unti ck this box.

Help us improve Windows Live programs: Al l ows Mi crosoft to col l ect i nformati on on your usage of Wi ndows
Li ve Mai l as part of the Customer Experi ence Improvement Program. Whether you parti cipate i n thi s or not
i s up to you, but i t is not necessary.

Play sound when new messages arrive: Whenever new email i s recei ved, Wi ndows wi ll play back a short sound.
If you don't like thi s occurri ng, unti ck thi s box. If you want to change the sound, go to the Sound component
of the Wi ndows Control Panel and under the Sounds tab, scrol l down to the 'New Mail Noti fi cati on' i tem
and sel ect a new sound in the drop down box at the bottom of the wi ndow. See the Sound secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter for more detail s.

Send and receive messages at startup: If ti cked, forces Wi ndows Li ve Mai l to send and recei ve messages (Sync)
each ti me i t is opened. This is general ly desi rabl e, as i t al l ows you to see new messages more qui ckl y when
you l aunch Wi ndows Li ve Mail .

Check for new messages every X minutes: If ti cked, whenever i t is open, Wi ndows Li ve Mail wi ll automati cally
check all your emai l accounts for new messages at the set mi nute i nterval s whi ch you specify.

Note, i f you wi sh to excl ude any account from bei ng automati cal l y checked vi a ei ther of the two opti ons
above, or whenever you cl i ck the Sync button, go to the Tool s menu, sel ect Accounts, select the rel evant
account and cl i ck the Properti es button, then under the General tab unti ck the 'Include thi s account when
recei vi ng mail or synchronizi ng' box.

Default Messaging Programs: Thi s area tel ls you i f Wi ndows Li ve Mai l is your defaul t mail or newsgroups
handler. Cl i ck the 'Make Defaul t' button to make Wi ndows Li ve Mail the defaul t handl er. If you want to use


304

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

another appli cati on to handl e your mail and/or newsgroups, see the Defaul t Programs secti on of the
Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for detai l s.

READ
Mark messages read after displaying for X seconds: If ti cked, whenever an emai l i s hi ghli ghted with the Readi ng
Pane open, i t wi ll be marked as read wi thi n the time determi ned by thi s setti ng. If an email is opened
normall y thi s setti ng has no i mpact, i t i s automati call y marked as read as soon as you open i t. You can
manuall y mark any read email as unread agai n at any ti me by ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t and selecti ng 'Mark as
unread'.

Automatically expand grouped messages: If you have the 'Vi ew by conversati on' opti on ti cked under the View
menu, email s wi l l be organi zed i nto conversati on threads, wi th the ori gi nal email as the thread category and
all subsequent emai ls li sted underneath. If thi s opti on i s ti cked, all such threads wi ll be expanded to show
every email underneath the thread, otherwi se you wi ll have to manual l y expand each thread by cli cki ng the
small arrow next to i t.

Automatically download message when viewing in the Preview Pane: If ti cked, Windows Li ve Mai l wi ll
automati cal ly downl oad and show the enti re contents of the currentl y sel ected email i n the Readi ng Pane. If
the Readi ng Pane i s disabled, this opti on i s i rrel evant.

Read all messages in plain text: If ti cked, al l emai ls wi ll be opened i n pl ai n text format regardl ess of thei r
ori gi nal format. Thi s wi ll prevent font formatti ng and i mages from appeari ng i n any email . If unti cked,
email s wil l appear i n the format i n whi ch they were origi nall y sent. Note that you can further adjust if
i mages appear i n HTML formatted email s under the Safety Opti ons secti on further bel ow.

Show ToolTips in the message list for clipped items: If ti cked, thi s option wi l l enable a small popup box whi ch
provi des the ful l subject li ne of an emai l i f that subject has been cut short due to col umn wi dth.

Highlight watched messages: Thi s opti on determi nes the col or for any messages marked as bei ng watched via
the 'Watch conversati on' opti on under the Acti ons menu.

Get X headers at a time: If ti cked, determines how many headers to downl oad from an open newsgroup at any
ti me. If you don't use newsgroups then thi s setti ng i s irrel evant and can be unti cked.

Mark all messages read when exiting a newsgroup: If ticked, marks all messages as read i n a newsgroup when
you exi t that newsgroup. If you don't use newsgroups then thi s setti ng is irrelevant and can be unti cked.

Fonts: The opti ons here allow you to change the fonts used to di splay email content by defaul t. You can
i ncrease the standard font si ze from Medium to Large for exampl e, and al l emai l s you open wi ll
automati cal ly di spl ay i n a larger si zed font.

RECEIPTS
Requesting read receipts: Read recei pts tell the sender of a message whether a message has been opened by the
reci pi ent. If you want to use them for al l email s you send, ti ck the 'Request a read recei pt for all sent
messages' box, however keep i n mi nd that most peopl e fi nd them annoyi ng, as each ti me such an emai l you
send is opened, an automated email is sent back to you from the reci pi ent si mpl y stati ng that the emai l was
opened - or the reader i s prompted to send such an email depending on thei r setti ngs.

Returning Read Receipts: For the reasons covered above, I recommend sel ecting 'Notify me for each read
recei pt request'. That way you know when someone has sent an email to you wi th a recei pt request, and you
can choose whether to accept or deny the request to send a recei pt when you open the emai l - you may not


305

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

wi sh them to know if or when you have read that email . If you frequently get email s wi th read recei pts, you
may want to ti ck one of the two other opti ons here i nstead, as otherwi se you wi l l face a large number of
prompts as you go through your emai ls.

Secure Receipts: Secure recei pts are useful i f you are sendi ng a very i mportant message and you want to make
sure that the reci pi ent has opened the message and/or that the message arri ved at the other end unal tered.
Otherwi se the same recommendati ons as those for Read Recei pts above appl y here when you cli ck the
'Secure Receipts' button.

SEND
Save copy of sent messages in the Sent Items folder: If ti cked, a copy of every emai l you send wi ll also be stored
i n your 'Sent Items' fol der. Ti cki ng this opti on i s up to each i ndi vidual , but i t can greatl y i ncrease the storage
space required for Wi ndows Li ve Mail .

Send messages immediately: If ti cked, email s you send wi ll be sent out i mmedi atel y after you cl i ck the Send
button on the email . If unticked, the email wil l si t i n your Outbox after you cli ck Send, and wi ll onl y be sent
when Synchroni zati on i s ini ti ated.

Automatically put people I reply to in my address book after the third reply: If ti cked, after your thi rd repl y to a
parti cul ar email address, that address wi ll be saved as a Contact. I recommend unti cki ng thi s opti on for
potenti al securi ty reasons covered under the Important Securi ty Ti ps secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.
Instead I recommend savi ng at l east the l ast emai l from parti cular indi vi dual s whose addresses you wish to
keep. See the Contacts section further below for more detail s.

Include message in reply: If ti cked, when you reply to an emai l the ori gi nal message wil l also be shown i n the
email , usually at the bottom. Thi s i s part of normal ly accepted emai l etiquette, as i t al l ows the reci pi ent to see
and i nstantl y recal l what they ori gi nall y sai d to you.

Reply to messages using the format in which they were sent: If ti cked, the format of your email repl y wi ll be
determi ned by the format of the email you recei ve. If the emai l you recei ve is i n pl ai n text wi th no formatting
or pi ctures, then your reply wi ll automati call y be i n pl ai n text as wel l. Si mil arly, HTML formatted emai l wi ll
i ni tiate an HTML formatted repl y from you. If you wi sh to maintai n the formatti ng, ti ck thi s box, otherwi se
unti ck i t. General l y speaki ng i t i s good eti quette to repl y to peopl e i n the same format they used to send a
message to you, parti cularl y i f they send you a plai n text message.

Note that whenever you send a message i n HTML format, typi ng a standard emoti con such as a smi li e face
wi ll resul t i n Windows Li ve Mai l automati call y replaci ng i t wi th a small pi cture i con. You can't di sabl e this
behavi or i n HTML emai l s, however by pressi ng CTRL+Z i mmediatel y after Wi ndows converts a pi ece of text
to an icon, you can reverse the change and force the text to remai n unal tered.

COMPOSE
Here you can customi ze the appearance of your email s, by changi ng the font format and background
stati onery used. However these setti ngs wi ll onl y be vi si bl e to readers of the email i f they are vi ewi ng the
email i n HTML format, and don't have the 'Read all messages i n plai n text' setti ng enabl ed as covered
further above. You can al so adjust the format of messages you post i n newsgroups by changi ng the News-
related entri es.

SIGNATURES
A si gnature is the text appended to the bottom of each emai l you send out. If you ti ck the 'Add si gnatures to
all outgoi ng messages' opti on, you can automati cally i nsert a si gnature to all sent email s. If the 'Don't add
si gnatures to Repli es and Forwards' box i s also ti cked, then a new si gnature wi ll not be appended when you


306

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

repl y to or forward an exi sti ng emai l. To create a si gnature, cl ick the New button, and in the box at the
bottom of the wi ndow, enter your si gnature text, and i f necessary, cl i ck the Advanced button to attach that
si gnature to a parti cular email account.

SPELLING
Always check spelling before sending: If ti cked, when you cl i ck the Send button on an email , Wi ndows Li ve Mail
wi ll fi rst pause and prompt you to correct al l the potenti al spel ling mi stakes it has found in the emai l . Once
you have compl eted thi s process, the email wil l be sent out as normal .

Automatically correct common capitalizations and spelling mistakes: If ti cked, Windows Li ve Mai l wi ll attempt to
fi x common mi stakes such as capi tal izing the fi rst two l etters of a word, or misspell i ng common words.

Check my spelling as I type: If ti cked, any potenti al spell i ng mistakes i n your email wil l be hi ghl i ghted wi th a
wavy red underli ne whi l e you type. You can ri ght-cl i ck on red underl i ned words to see the suggested
al ternate spell i ng, and sel ect from the l i st of words to correct the word if you wish.

Check spelling in current input language: If ti cked, this setti ng al l ows Windows Li ve Mai l to automati cal ly
change the i nput l anguage i t uses for spel l checki ng to match your Wi ndows i nput language, whi ch is useful
i f you often change the Windows i nput l anguage.

When checking spelling, always ignore: The three opti ons here all ow you to l et Wi ndows Li ve Mail know that i t
shouldn't check the spel ling of words wri tten i n al l uppercase l etters, words whi ch contains numbers in
them, and/or the ori gi nal text to whi ch you are repl yi ng or forwardi ng.

Custom dictionary: Cl i ck the Edi t button and you can add or remove any custom words from the di cti onary
used for spell checki ng. You can also add any word to the custom di cti onary from wi thi n an emai l at any
ti me by ri ght-cl i cki ng on the wavy red underli ne and sel ecti ng 'Add to di cti onary'.

Languages: Lets you i nstal l or change the current i nput l anguages avail able i n Wi ndows Li ve Mai l , as well as
setti ng whi ch defaul t language is used.

CONNECTION
The fi rst set of opti ons here appl y to di al up users onl y. When you cl i ck the Change button i t wi l l open the
Internet Expl orer Connections tab - see the Internet Expl orer chapter for detail s. The 'Si gn in' button at the
bottom of the wi ndow i s rel ated to signing i n wi th a Wi ndows Li ve ID, and as di scussed at the begi nni ng of
thi s chapter, i s only necessary i f you wi sh to synchroni ze any other Wi ndows Li ve servi ces wi th Wi ndows
Li ve Mai l .

ADVANCED
Use the Deleted Items folder for IMAP accounts: If this opti on i s ticked, when usi ng an IMAP-based email
account, i f you del ete a message i t al so removes the message from your message l ist at the same ti me. Most
email accounts use the POP protocol , however i f you know you are usi ng IMAP then decide whether you
want thi s opti on ti cked or not.

Mark Message Threads I start as Watched: If the 'Vi ew by conversati on' opti on under the Vi ews menu i s
enabl ed, and i f this opti on i s ti cked, any message threads whi ch you start wil l automati cal ly be marked as
watched and hence be i n a di fferent col or.

Reply on the bottom of a message: If ti cked, when you repl y to a message your reply wil l begi n at the bottom of
the ori gi nal message text, as opposed to the defaul t and generall y accepted method of the top.


307

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

Signature on the bottom of a message: If ti cked thi s option automati call y i nserts the defaul t signature you have
created under the Signature tab at the bottom of every emai l, beneath any original text you may be repl yi ng
to or forward. This can create some confusi on, as the signature may appear part of the original message to
whi ch you are repl yi ng.

When you cl ick the Mai ntenance button you wi ll see addi ti onal options. The most si gni fi cant of these are:

Empty messages from the Deleted Items folder on exit: If ti cked, al l messages i n the Del eted Items fol ders wi ll be
permanentl y del eted when you cl ose Wi ndows Live Mail . Thi s i s generall y recommended as i t reduces
storage space used.

Purge deleted messages when leaving IMAP folders: Thi s opti on i s si mil ar to the opti on above, but affects IMAP-
based emai l accounts.

Purge newsgroup messages in the background: If ti cked, you can select how often to cl ear stored newsgroup
messages. If you don't use newsgroups then these setti ngs are i rrelevant and can be unti cked.

Clean Up Now: Cli cki ng thi s button takes you to a new wi ndow whi ch l ets you ei ther Remove Messages for
l ocal ly stored newsgroup message bodies, or Del ete all l ocal l y stored newsgroup messages. The Reset button
does the same as Del ete, but wi ll re-downl oad al l messages when you reconnect to the newsgroup. These
opti ons have no i mpact on regul ar email, they are only related to newsgroups.

Store Folder: Cl i cki ng thi s button shows you where your email s are actual ly stored. By defaul t i t i s normall y
under the \Users\[username]\AppData\Local/Microsoft\Windows Live Mail di rectory, however you can
change the l ocati on i f you wi sh. If you're after a method of exporting or backi ng up your messages i nstead of
just movi ng the stored l ocati on of them, see further bel ow for details.

Troubleshooting: Thi s secti on al l ows a range of l ogs to be kept i n case of any probl ems. To begi n wi th you
should ti ck al l the avai labl e l og types, and they wi ll be saved under your main Wi ndows Li ve Mai l store
fol der l ocati on - see above.

Once you've changed all the setti ngs you wi sh to change here, cl ick the Appl y button and then cl i ck OK. You
may need to cl ose and reopen Wi ndows Li ve Mail for some of the setti ngs to come i nto effect.

< SAFETY OPTIONS
Securi ty i s an i mportant consi derati on in Wi ndows Mai l , si nce a great many mal ware and phi shi ng attacks
are i ni ti ated vi a emai l . As such, you can access a separate range of securi ty-rel ated setti ngs by goi ng to the
Tool s menu and sel ecti ng 'Safety Opti ons'. These are covered bel ow:

OPTIONS
Choose the level of junk email protection you want: Thi s opti on determi nes the way i n whi ch the automati c junk
email fi l ter works. Junk email is unsol i ci ted emai l whi ch is usuall y annoyi ng and/or mali ci ous. The Low
opti on provides basi c protecti on agai nst the most obvi ous junk email , but can l et others through. The High
provi des more aggressi ve protecti on agai nst junk email , but l egi timate email s may al so get caught up i n the
fi l teri ng. 'Safe Li st Onl y' onl y al l ows emai l s from senders who are on your Safe Senders l i st - see bel ow. Wi th
'No Automati c Fi l teri ng', no email s wil l be bl ocked as junk emai l s, unl ess the sender i s on the Bl ocked
Senders li st - see bel ow. On balance I recommend the Low opti on for most peopl e, as i t has the l east ri sk of
di verti ng l egiti mate emai ls to your Junk Email s fol der, whi le stil l catchi ng the bul k of obvi ous junk email s. If
you are absolutel y certai n that you wil l not recei ve email s from anyone other than people you know, then
sel ect the Safe Senders l ist opti on and add all your fri ends and contacts to the Safe Senders l i st. Regardl ess of


308

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

whi ch opti on you choose, regularl y check the Junk Email folders to ensure that no l egi timate email s are
bei ng trapped.

You can also flag i ndi vi dual emai ls as junk emai l or unbl ock/unmark l egi ti mate mai l by right-cli cki ng on the
message and sel ecti ng the 'Junk emai l' i tem, then choosi ng the appropri ate opti on.

Note that Windows Li ve Mai l appli es the Junk Email fi l ter to your emai ls before any other custom rul es can
be i mpl emented. Thi s means that i f an email i s flagged as junk email , i t wi ll be moved to the junk mai l folder
(or del eted) before any of your rul es have a chance of bei ng applied to i t. Keep thi s i n mi nd before creati ng
custom rul es.

Permanently delete suspected junk email instead of moving it to the Junk Email folder: If this opti on i s ti cked,
suspected junk email s wil l be deleted i nstead of moved to the Junk Emai l fol der. I strongl y recommend
agai nst thi s opti on, as there i s the very real possi bi li ty that l egi ti mate email s sent to you may be fl agged as
junk email s and subsequentl y del eted. By al l owi ng them to be di verted to the Junk Email s fol der fi rst, you at
l east have a chance to routi nel y i nspect and determi ne whether any such email s are bei ng caught thi s way,
and perhaps adjust your junk emai l protecti on setti ngs accordi ngl y.

Report junk email to Microsoft and its partners: If ti cked, al l ows Mi crosoft and its partners to gai n val uable
i nsight i nto the types of junk email users are recei vi ng and hence rel ease updates to the junk emai l fil ter
whi ch better fi l ter out junk mail whil e l eavi ng l egi ti mate email untouched.

SAFE SENDERS
Thi s secti on all ows you to enter the addresses of indi vi dual s from whom al l email s wil l be consi dered
l egi ti mate, regardl ess of your junk email setti ngs. Thi s hel ps prevent i mportant email s from acci dentally
bei ng tagged as junk emai l and hence potenti all y deleted before you see or read them. It i s wi se to add the
addresses of peopl e whom you trust to thi s l i st. You can add i ndi vidual emai l addresses (e.g.
user1@tweakguides.com), or enti re domains (e.g. tweakguides.com).

Also trust email from my Contacts: If ti cked, any peopl e li sted i n your Contacts are automati call y part of the
Safe Senders li st, and hence thei r email s to you won't be fl agged as junk.

Automatically add people I email to the Safe Senders list: If ti cked, any address you send email s to wi ll
automati cal ly be added to the Safe Senders l ist. Thi s is recommended as i t hel ps prevent email s from people
you know from bei ng caught i n the Junk Emai l folder.

BLOCKED SENDERS
Thi s secti on works i n the exact opposi te way to the Safe Senders l i st. Any emai l s from the addresses added
here are automati cal ly fl agged as junk email regardl ess of your junk email setti ngs. Only add addresses here
from peopl e whose emai ls you do not wi sh to read, and more importantl y, remember that spammers who
send out junk email s usuall y do not use l egi ti mate emai l accounts, or use di sposabl e accounts. Bl ocking
addresses i n thi s manner wi l l not have a di scernable impact on spam, so thi s opti on i s pri maril y for blocki ng
annoyi ng email s from regular i ndi vi duals, not professi onal spammers.

The two opti ons bel ow onl y have an i mpact i f you click the 'Del ete and Bl ock' button whi ch appears i n some
email s:

Bounce the blocked message back to the sender: If ti cked, thi s opti on sends the email back to the sender wi th
message i ndicati ng that the emai l was undeli verabl e. This i s not parti cul arl y effecti ve for the reasons noted
above, and i s not recommended as i t simpl y uses more resources on your mai l server to send back the email
to what is most l ikely the wrong email address anyway. I strongly recommend unti cki ng this opti on.


309

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

If the email is a newsletter, Unsubscribe me from the mailing list: If ti cked, thi s opti on attempts to unsubscri be you
from a newsletter you have recei ved. Simi lar to the opti ons above, i n practi ce thi s is not a parti cularl y useful
feature. Most unsol i ci ted newsl etters wi ll conti nue bei ng sent regardl ess of any unsubscri be messages sent
back. Indeed sendi ng back an unsubscribe message may actuall y resul t i n you recei vi ng more spam, as the
spammers have now verified that your email address i s not a dead account, and hence worth more money to
them as part of the email l ists they sell to other spammers. I strongl y recommend unti cki ng thi s opti on.

INTERNATIONAL
One of the ways i n whi ch you can successfull y bl ock spam and mal ware emai l s i s to bl ock enti re country
domai ns which are known to send out large amounts of spam. For exampl e the Russian Federati on (.RU) is a
known source of a great many spam and mal i ci ous email s. If you are absolutel y certai n that you are not
goi ng to recei ve l egi ti mate email s from parti cul ar countri es, you can cli ck the 'Bl ocked Top Level Domain
Li st' button and ti ck al l the country extensi ons whi ch you wi sh to have bl ocked. See thi s l i st of TLDs to hel p
you i nput the ri ght ones. Bear i n mi nd that as noted earl ier, many spammers do not use legi ti mate email
accounts, or can use accounts whi ch are from a range of countries, so this method may not necessari l y be
compl etel y effecti ve. The method bel ow has a greater chance of success.

If you cl i ck the 'Bl ocked Encodi ng List' button, you can si milarl y bl ock certai n types of character sets known
to be used in spam email s. Thi s i s a more effecti ve anti-spam and anti -malware method, because many
unsoli ci ted email s have Russi an or Chinese characters, and i n most western countri es people woul d not be
recei vi ng l egiti mate email s contai ni ng such character sets. So you can ti ck vi rtual l y all of the boxes here
except 'Western European' for exampl e, and ri d yoursel f of a large proporti on of generi c spam.

Make sure you check your Junk Emai l fol der regul arl y to see what types of emai ls are bei ng caught because
of these two rul es, and adjust them if you fi nd l egi ti mate email s being trapped.

PHISHING
Protect my inbox from messages with potential Phishing links: If ti cked, thi s opti on all ows Windows Li ve Mail to
bl ock the contents and hi ghl i ght parti cul ar emai ls whi ch i t consi ders to have phishi ng l i nks and content. You
should enable setti ng, parti cularl y if you are less famil iar wi th the appearance of phishi ng emai ls, as an
added layer of protecti on. Al though bear i n mi nd that just because an email gets through thi s fi l ter, doesn't
mean i t's safe to cl i ck the l i nks i n i t; conversel y just because an emai l is fl agged as suspi ci ous doesn't
necessaril y mean i t's a phi shi ng emai l . See the Important Securi ty Ti ps secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter for
vari ous methods of detecting phi shi ng and mal ware in emai l s.

Move Phishing email to the Junk Email folder: If ti cked, any emai ls detected as havi ng phi shi ng content are
automati cal ly moved to the Junk Email fol der. Thi s opti on should be safe to enabl e, however as al ways
regul arl y check your Junk Email fol der and do not del ete i ts contents before maki ng sure that no l egi ti mate
email s have been captured i n there as wel l .

SECURITY
Virus Protection: Here you can sel ect ei ther the 'Internet zone' or 'Restri cted si tes zone' for your defaul t email
behavi or. When i n 'Internet zone' mode, HTML-based emai l s wi th acti ve content wi ll display their content
just l i ke a web page i n Internet Expl orer. In fact the securi ty setti ngs you choose for the Internet zone under
the Securi ty tab i n Internet Expl orer Opti ons al so appl y here. When i n 'Restricted si tes zone' mode on the
other hand, Wi ndows Li ve Mail wi ll disable acti ve content from HTML-based emai ls, whi ch i s much more
secure, but may reduce email functi onali ty for HTML formatted emai ls. I strongl y recommend runni ng i n
'Restri cted si tes zone' mode, as many HTML-based email s are spam or mal i ci ous, and most acti ve content i s
ei ther annoying and/or mal i ci ous. For the most part l egi ti mate email s come wi th pl ai n text or regular HTML
formatti ng, so thi s shoul d have l i ttl e vi si bl e i mpact on everyday email usage for most peopl e.


310

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

Warn me when other applications try to send email as me: I recommend ti cki ng thi s opti on as i t provides a
warni ng when an appli cati on i ni tiates an emai l wi th your emai l address as the sender. Thi s hel ps prevent
any unauthori zed email s goi ng out under your name, though thi s setti ng does not stop most mal ware which
sends out email such as spam from your account, as that works di fferentl y.

Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus: Thi s opti on wi ll attempt to protect
you from mal ware i n emai l attachments. When thi s opti on i s enabl ed, Wi ndows Li ve Mail's Attachment
Manager wi ll anal yze the attachment and the email i t i s part of to determi ne whether the attachment i s li kely
to contai n mal ware. By defaul t i f this opti on i s ti cked you wi ll not be abl e to downl oad attachments whi ch
are fl agged as mal ware. Note however that fi rstly just because an attachment i s not bl ocked, doesn't mean
that i t i s safe to open - you shoul d stil l consi der the source of the email as to whether i t i s trustworthy, and
then save i t to an empty fol der and scan i t for malware. However i f an attachment you trust i s bl ocked,
unti ck thi s opti on temporaril y, vi ew the email agai n, save the attachment then reti ck thi s opti on. Regardless
of whether you trust the sender of an email or not, I strongl y recommend scanni ng attachments you recei ve
just i n case the person sendi ng i t to you i s unknowi ngly i nfected wi th malware themselves. See the PC
Securi ty chapter for detai l s. For detail s on how to adjust the Attachment Manager's behavi or, see the
Handl i ng of Wi ndows Li ve Mail Attachments ti p i n the Group Poli cy chapter.

Block images and other external content in HTML email: If ti cked, thi s opti on bl ocks certai n i mages and content
i n HTML email whi ch may be expl oi ted by mal ware. I recommend ti cki ng this opti on as general l y speaki ng
most l egi ti mate email s do not contai n any cri ti cal images wi thi n them, and if they do, you can choose to
all ow the i mage on a case by case basi s by cli cki ng the rel evant button presented wi thi n the email .

Show images and external content sent from email addresses in my Safe Senders list: If ti cked, thi s opti on wi l l
di splay i mages i n HTML formatted email s from any emai l addresses whi ch are i n your Safe Senders l ist.
Ti cki ng thi s opti on shoul d be fi ne, as l ong as you onl y add trusted indi vi dual s to your Safe Senders l ist.

Secure Mail: The opti ons i n thi s secti on rel ate to di gi tal i denti fi cati on, whi ch ensures that al l email s sent from
your account are encrypted such that they can be veri fi ed to be from you. Simi larly, when you recei ve a
di gi tall y si gned message, you can be qui te certai n i t i s from the person i t i s supposed to be. However these
features require that you be i ssued wi th a vali d Digi tal ID - cli ck the 'Get Di gi tal ID' button to fi nd out more.
Bear i n mi nd that most peopl e do not use Di gi tal IDs and cannot obtai n one easil y, hence wil l have probl ems
respondi ng to your emai ls i f they are digi tal l y si gned and encrypted.

Once you've changed all the setti ngs you wi sh to change here, cl ick the Appl y button and then cl i ck OK. You
may need to cl ose and reopen Wi ndows Li ve Mail for some of the setti ngs to come i nto effect.

< WINDOWS CONTACTS
Wi ndows Contacts i s the repl acement for the Address Book in Wi ndows XP. Thi s feature i s not just
restri cted to Wi ndows Li ve Mai l, you can access your stored Contacts at any ti me by goi ng to Start>Search
Box, typi ng contacts and pressi ng Enter. You can access a more detai led Wi ndows Li ve Contacts manager
i nterface by cl i cki ng the Contacts i con at the bottom of the Fol der Pane i n Wi ndows Li ve Mail .

Contacts are .XML fi l es whi ch can store the names, addresses, personal detai ls and photo of an i ndi vi dual .
To add a contact to your l i st, you can do so i n four mai n ways:

If you ti cked the 'Automati cal ly put peopl e I repl y to i n my address book after the thi rd repl y' option
under the Send secti on of Wi ndows Live Mai l opti ons, then the thi rd ti me you repl y to an emai l from
someone, they wil l automati call y be added to your Contacts.


311

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

You can right-cli ck on any email address i n any email message and sel ect 'Add to contacts'; you can cli ck
the 'Add to contacts' li nk whi ch appears i n the email header; or alternati vely you can just right-cl ick on
an email message and sel ect 'Add sender to contacts'
You can cli ck the 'New Contact' button i n Wi ndows Live Contacts to create a new contact.
You can cl i ck the Import button i n Wi ndows Li ve Contacts to i mport an exi sti ng fi le wi th contact detai ls,
such as your Wi ndows Address Book from Outl ook Express.

In any case once a Contact i s added to the l i st, they are stored under your \Users\[username]\Contacts
di rectory, and you can vi ew and edi t thei r detail s by doubl e-cli cking on thei r Contact i tem. Thi s all ows you
to enter a range of personal and/or professi onal detai ls as necessary. You can even add photos of these
peopl e to be the defaul t di splay pi cture for each Contact, maki ng them easier to i denti fy. You can export
Contacts to any appli cati on whi ch supports the .CONTACT fi l e format.

In general whi l e thi s is a handy util i ty, parti cularl y for corporate users on a network, for the average home
PC user on balance I consider i t a ri sk to hol d detail ed i nformati on about yourself and/or other peopl e here.
To start wi th, i f your PC becomes i nfected wi th mal ware, i t may attempt to use the Contacts l ist to send i tself
out to al l the other peopl e you know, prol iferati ng the mal ware. If someone compromi ses your account then
they can see personal detai l s of not only you, but all your fri ends and acquai ntances as well , and thi s can be
very useful in successful ly undertaki ng i denti ty theft. Instead I recommend keepi ng email s from all the
peopl e you wi sh to regularl y contact under a custom storage fol der i n Wi ndows Li ve Mail . That way i f you
want to contact someone you can si mpl y do a reply to thei r l ast emai l. Malware cannot use these stored
email s to send i tself out, and i f someone compromi ses your machi ne i t wil l take much more effort to work
out al l the personal detail s and the rel ationshi p between you and the senders of al l the emai ls you've stored.

< MAIL RULES
An i mportant feature of Windows Li ve Mai l i s the abi l i ty to appl y a range of rules to i ncomi ng or exi sti ng
email s, fi l tering them to sui t your needs. Note that these mai l rul es onl y appl y to POP emai l accounts, not
IMAP or web-based HTTP email accounts.

To configure mail fi l teri ng, go to the Tool s menu i n Wi ndows Li ve Mai l , sel ect the 'Message rul es' i tem, then
sel ect Mai l. In the wi ndow whi ch opens, do the fol l owi ng:

1. Cl i ck the New button.
2. Sel ect a conditi on i n the first box (e.g. 'Where the message has an attachment').
3. Sel ect an action to appl y to thi s type of message (e.g. 'Do not downl oad i t from the server').
4. If your condi ti on or acti on requi res further parameters, such as a word or phrase, or a parti cular fol der,
cl i ck the blue underl i ned link i n the descri pti on box and set the parameter.
5. Enter a descripti ve name for the rul e (e.g. 'Attachment bl ocker').
6. Cl i ck the 'Save rul e' button.

Repeat the steps above as many ti mes as you li ke, si nce the rul es are cascadi ng. That means once the fi rst
rul e i n the li st has compl eted i ts acti ons, the second rule i n the l ist wi l l then appl y, and so forth. Thi s al l ows
you to create compl ex rul e combi nati ons whi ch can cater to a range of si tuati ons. You shoul d use the 'Move
up' and 'Move down' buttons to rearrange your rul es accordi ngly, as the rul e order is i mportant. If you click
the 'Appl y now' button your rul e(s) wi ll be appli ed to al l folders, not just your Inbox, so be aware that any
saved emai ls wi ll get caught i n the fi l teri ng. If you wish to temporari l y di sabl e a rul e, cl i ck the box next to i t
to remove the ti ck mark and i t wi ll no l onger be applied.

Importantl y, be aware that Windows Live Mai l wil l appl y i ts junk email fil teri ng - covered under the Safety
Opti ons section above - before any custom mail rul es are appli ed.


312

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

L
i
v
e

M
a
i
l

< BACKING UP
Thi s secti on contai ns i mportant detai l s on how to backup your stored emai ls and email accounts, whi ch I
recommend doi ng on a regular basi s:

BACKING UP EMAILS
If you want to back up the emai l s you've saved i n Windows Li ve Mai l , fol l ow these procedures:

1. Open Wi ndows Li ve Mail , go to Fi l e>Export and sel ect Messages.
2. Sel ect the format for the email s to be saved i n - Mi crosoft Wi ndows Li ve Mai l i s recommended. Cli ck
Next.
3. Cl i ck Browse and specify the fol der l ocati on to export these email s. The fol der must be empty, so if
necessary create an empty fol der i n Wi ndows Expl orer before proceedi ng, sel ect i t here, and cl i ck Next.
4. Choose the speci fi c email fol ders you wi sh to export. Sel ect All Folders i f i n doubt. Cl i ck Next.
5. Your messages wil l be saved to your speci fi ed l ocati on as a seri es of folders whi ch contai n al l the
i ndi vi dual messages as .EML fi les.
6. I recommend usi ng an archi val util i ty such as Wi nZip, 7-Zi p or Wi nRAR to back these folders up i n a
si ngl e archi ved fi l e for easier storage.

To restore these email s back i nto Wi ndows Li ve Mai l at any poi nt, si mpl y go to Fi l e>Import>Messages, select
'Wi ndows Live Mai l' and fol l ow the prompts.

BACKING UP ACCOUNTS
To back up your i ndi vi dual email accounts, fol l ow these steps:

1. Open Wi ndows Li ve Mail , go to Tools>Accounts.
2. Hi ghl i ght the account you wi sh to export and cl i ck the Export button.
3. Choose a l ocati on for the .IAF fil e and cli ck Save.
4. The account and al l i ts rel evant detai ls wi ll be saved wi th your account emai l address as the fil ename.

To restore your email accounts, open Wi ndows Li ve Mail , go to Tool s>Accounts, cli ck the Import button,
navi gate to the .IAF fi l e, select i t and cli ck OK.

< OTHER EMAIL CLIENTS
Wi ndows Live Mail shoul d be more than adequate for the average PC user. It does requi re some
customizati on to become easi er to use, parti cularly for Wi ndows Mai l or Outlook Express users, however
after some i ni ti al tweaks to the i nterface, i t performs i n much the same way as previ ous Wi ndows email
cl i ents. If you're not happy wi th Wi ndows Li ve Mail for any reason, there are a range of viabl e al ternati ves.
The most full-featured of these i s Mi crosoft Outl ook, whi ch i s i ncl uded wi th Office 2003 and Offi ce 2007.
Thi s i s an email cl ient whi ch i s hi ghl y customizabl e and has a range of addi ti onal features. If you own a copy
of Mi crosoft Office then Outl ook i s avail able to you - perhaps you can i nstall and use i t for a peri od of time
to see i f you prefer i t.

If you want a free email cl i ent, you can try Mozi lla Thunderbi rd. For a range of other opti ons see this
Wiki pedia Arti cl e whi ch l ists and compares a range of email cl i ents, provi di ng feature details and rel evant
downl oad li nks. Or you can si mply use an onli ne web cl i ent, such as Yahoo, Hotmai l or GMail. These si tes
not onl y provi de free email accounts and comprehensi ve web-based i nterfaces, they al so provi de pl enty of
storage space. However obvi ousl y they cannot be accessed in offl i ne mode, and i n general I don't
recommend rel yi ng sol el y on an onl i ne provi der, because i f your email account i s hi jacked for exampl e, you
l ose access to both your account and any stored email s.


313

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER

Wi ndows Medi a Player (WMP) i s the bui l t-i n Wi ndows util i ty for playi ng mul ti medi a fi l es. It has many
useful features and is actuall y a very effi ci ent, feature-packed media player, but i s often mi stakenl y
di smissed as bei ng bl oated. If confi gured correctly, WMP provi des excel l ent audi o qual i ty and al l the
functi onali ty that most users requi re for pl ayi ng movies and musi c.

Wi ndows 7 i ntroduces Wi ndows Media Player 12 whi ch has been sl i ghtl y redesi gned over previous
versi ons. As part of the integrati on of Li brari es i nto Wi ndows 7, WMP 12 now has a Li brary vi ew as its
pri mary medi a management area. The al ternate view i s the Now Playi ng vi ew, whi ch has taken on a
mi ni mal ist appearance. WMP 12 al so adds buil t-in support for some of the most popular medi a formats
currentl y i n use, i ncl udi ng Di vX, Xvi d, H.264 and AAC. In most other respects, the core functi onali ty of
Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer i s much the same as before.

Thi s chapter contai ns confi gurati on advi ce and details on all of WMP's features. If you don't l ike Wi ndows
Media Pl ayer, al ternati ve free media players are covered at the end of thi s chapter, as well as a discussi on of
a range of medi a-rel ated issues rel evant to all medi a pl ayers, i ncl udi ng Codecs and DRM.

Note that I do not cover Wi ndows Medi a Center confi gurati on as i t i s too speci al ized and too vari ed based
on di fferent home theatre setups to be expl ai ned adequatel y i n this book. However some of the i nformation
i n thi s chapter al so appli es to Wi ndows Media Center and many other media pl ayers.

< INITIAL SETTINGS
The fi rst ti me you launch Wi ndows Media Pl ayer, you wi ll be prompted to configure a range of i ni tial
setti ngs. I recommend that you select 'Custom setti ngs' i n the fi rst prompt shown, then take into
consi derati on the foll owi ng i nformati on regardi ng each page that fol l ows:

Select Privacy Options: These setti ngs are covered i n detail under the Pri vacy secti on below. If you are
concerned about pri vacy you can unti ck them now, and consi der whether to re-enabl e them when you read
the rest of this chapter.

Select the Default Music and Video Player: Here you can sel ect whether to automati cal ly al l ow Wi ndows Medi a
Player to become the defaul t player for all non-propri etary types of musi c and vi deo fi les on your system, or
to sel ect the second opti on whi ch al l ows you to speci fy the fi l e types associ ated wi th Wi ndows Media Pl ayer.
At thi s stage the fi rst opti on i s recommended. You can al ways change whether WMP is your defaul t pl ayer,
and i ts fil e associati ons, at any ti me - see the Defaul t Programs secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel
chapter.

Choose an Online Store: The avai labl e opti ons here wil l vary dependi ng on your regi on, however i f you wi sh
you can set up access to an onli ne medi a store from wi thi n Windows Media Pl ayer here. I recommend
sel ecti ng the 'Don't set up store now' opti on, and once you've read the i nformati on i n this chapter, you can
browse and sel ect a store by goi ng to the View menu and sel ecti ng 'Onl i ne Stores'.

Maki ng the correct choi ces regardi ng these opti ons requi res further i nformati on as covered throughout thi s
chapter, and all of the above setti ngs can be confi gured properly wi thi n Wi ndows Media Player at any poi nt,
so don't be overl y concerned about the ini ti al setti ngs.


314

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

< VIEWS
To access Windows Media Player, go to Start>Search Box, type windows media player and press Enter, or
si mpl y cl i ck the Wi ndows Media Player i con i n your Taskbar. You can al so l aunch Wi ndows Media Player
by goi ng to Start>Search Box and typi ng the name of a song or movi e stored in one of your Li brari es, then
sel ecti ng i t.

There are two mai n views possi ble i n Wi ndows Medi a Player - Li brary vi ew and Now Pl ayi ng vi ew. Li brary
vi ew i s used pri mari ly for fi le management wi thi n WMP, whil e Now Pl ayi ng is the mai n pl ayback vi ew. To
swi tch between the two views, i n Li brary vi ew cl i ck the button at the l ower ri ght corner to swi tch to Now
Playi ng vi ew, and i n Now Playi ng vi ew cl i ck the si mi lar button shown at the top ri ght corner, or cli ck the
'Go to Li brary' l i nk i n the mi ddl e of the screen. These vi ews, and a range of related features, are covered in
more detai l bel ow:

LIBRARY VIEW
Explorer-Based Interface: The Li brary vi ew i s very si mi lar to the standard Wi ndows Expl orer interface i n most
respects. There i s a Navi gati on Pane to the l eft, which has vari ous categories of media, all of whi ch are
l i nked to your defaul t medi a-rel ated Librari es i n Windows 7; there i s a Detai ls Pane i n the mi ddl e whi ch
di splays fi l es i n the currentl y highli ghted fol der/category; and there i s an Address Bar-li ke secti on at the top,
contai ni ng back and forward arrows and your current l ocati on wi thi n the Li brary structure. Furthermore,
dependi ng on the category chosen, the medi a fi l es wi l l be di spl ayed i n Icons, Ti l es or Detail s vi ew.

You can al ter the vi ew i n most cases by cl i cki ng the Vi ews button i mmediately to the l eft of the Search box.
Note that i n some categori es, certai n vi ews are unavai labl e - for example i f you cl i ck the mai n Musi c
category i n the Navi gati on Pane, you can't swi tch the Detail s Pane to Icon View. You can customize the
col umns shown i n the Detai ls Pane by cl i cki ng the Organi ze button, sel ecti ng Layout then cl i cki ng 'Choose
col umns'. Simi larly, you can choose whi ch i tems to di splay i n the Navi gati on Pane by ri ght-cli cki ng on one
of the i tems i n the Navi gati on Pane and sel ecti ng 'Customi ze Navi gati on Pane', then unsel ecting undesi rable
i tems. You can sort by any col umn si mpl y by cl i cki ng i ts header, and you can search for any fi l e usi ng the
Search Box.

Managing Libraries: By defaul t, WMP i ncl udes al l your media-related Li brari es i n the Navi gati on Pane. These
i nclude your user-speci fi c Musi c, Pi ctures and Vi deos Li braries. It al so i ncludes the Recorded TV Li brary
whi ch is actuall y not user-dependent, and i s stored in \Users\Public\Recorded TV by default. If you add or
remove any fi les i nto these Li brari es, Wi ndows Media Pl ayer wi ll automaticall y update the i nformation
stored i n i ts Li brary vi ew, whi ch i s one of the many benefi ts of Library i ntegrati on i nto Wi ndows 7 - see the
Li brari es secti on of the Windows Expl orer chapter for more detail s.

Whi le you can manage a Li brary wi thin Wi ndows Expl orer, you can al so manage i t here by cl i cki ng the
Organi ze button, sel ecti ng 'Manage Li brari es', then sel ecti ng the rel evant Li brary to manage. You can then
choose whether to add or remove any fol ders from thi s Li brary, but i mportantl y, thi s change affects the
Li brary for all purposes, not just WMP usage.

To remove a fi l e from the WMP Li brary, ri ght-cl i ck on that fi l e i n WMP's Details Pane and sel ect Del ete - you
wi ll be prompted as to whether you wi sh to 'Del ete from l i brary onl y', which removes that fil e from the
WMP-specific Li brary but doesn't remove i t from your normal Library nor from your dri ve; or you can sel ect
'Del ete from li brary and my computer', whi ch deletes the fi le permanentl y from the Li brary and from your
dri ve.

If you wish to re-add a file to your WMP-specifi c Li brary, or rebui ld the WMP-speci fi c Li brari es al together,
go to the Tool s menu and sel ect Advanced. Here you can choose whether to 'Restore medi a Li brary', which
rebuil ds your enti re WMP-speci fi c Li brary based on the current contents of your media-related Li brari es in


315

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

Wi ndows 7. Thi s wi ll restore any deleted i tems, however i f you si mpl y wish to restore a few del eted fil es to
the WMP-speci fi c Li brary l isti ng wi thout rebui l di ng the full l i st, sel ect the 'Restore deleted li brary i tems'
opti on i nstead, whi ch only adds fi les whi ch exi st in your Wi ndows 7 media-related Li brari es but whi ch are
not present i n the WMP-speci fi c l i sti ng of these Li brari es.

More i mportantl y, i f you wi sh to control whether medi a fil es you play are automati cal ly added to the
rel evant Li brary, see the 'Add l ocal media fi l es to li brary when pl ayed' and 'Add remove media fi l es to
l i brary when pl ayed' opti ons under the Basi c Setti ngs secti on bel ow.

Playlists: The Li brary categori es all ow you to access any fi l es stored i n your rel evant Li braries, and you can
also sort the vi ew usi ng preset categories such as Arti st, Al bum and Genre. Whenever you pl ay back a fil e i n
one of the categori es, when i t reaches the end, the next fi l e i n the l i st automati call y starts pl ayi ng, dependi ng
on how you've sorted the current category. However i n most cases you wil l want to arrange your fi l es i n
groups correspondi ng to your moods, or certai n genres, or even by peri od. To do thi s, you can create a
Playli st.

To create a new Playl ist, cl i ck the 'Create Playl i st' button and gi ve the Pl ayli st an appropriate name - i t wi ll
now be di splayed under the Playl ist category i n the Navi gati on Pane. You can now add medi a to the Playl ist
by draggi ng it from a Li brary category and droppi ng i t on the l i st. These Playl ists are stati c, and thei r content
wi ll not change to refl ect changes to your Li brari es or the fi l es on your dri ve.

A much qui cker way to create a Pl ayli st i s to use the Auto Pl ayli st feature. Cl i ck the smal l arrow to the ri ght
of the 'Create pl ayl ist' button, and sel ect 'Create auto pl ayl ist'. A new wi ndow wi ll open, all owi ng you to
enter a ti tl e for thi s Playli st, then create a set of fil ters whi ch wi ll all ow Wi ndows to go through your
Li brari es and automati cal ly add al l rel evant media to the l i st. For exampl e, cli ck the fi rst green pl us symbol,
and sel ect 'Al bum Arti st', then cl i ck the 'Contai ns' and 'Cli ck to set' l i nks whi ch appear to determine
preci sel y what text to use for fi ndi ng musi c by the rel evant arti st(s). You can then cl i ck the next green plus
symbol to determi ne which Li brari es to search, and then cl i ck the fi nal green pl us symbol to set the
appl i cabl e restri cti ons to the Pl ayl ist, to prevent i t becomi ng too l arge for exampl e. Note that an Auto
Playli st i s dynami c, and automati call y updates i tself dependi ng on changes to your Li brari es, so for exampl e
i f you add or remove a fil e i n your Li brary, i t wi ll al so be refl ected in the rel evant Auto Pl ayli st based on the
fi l ter condi ti ons.

Any Playl ists created are saved as .WPL fi les under the \Users\[username]\Music fol der, and al so added to
your Wi ndows 7 Musi c Li brary by defaul t. To del ete a Playl i st permanentl y you need to right-cl ick on i t and
sel ect 'Del ete from li brary and my computer' - thi s will not del ete the media fil es wi thi n a Pl ayl i st.

List Pane: To make i t more conveni ent to create a Playl ist, you can enabl e the List Pane. To do thi s, cli ck the
Organi ze button, sel ect Layout then select the 'Show l i st' opti ons; you can al so cl ose the Li st Pane by doing
the same thi ng. Wi th the Li st Pane open, you can now drag and drop i tems from the Detai l s Pane i nto the
Li st Pane to create a new Pl ayl ist, and then save thi s list by cl i cki ng the 'Save li st' button at the top of the Li st
Pane, enteri ng a name for the Playl ist, and pressi ng Enter.

You can al so sel ect different types of l ists i n the Li st Pane by cli cki ng the Play, Burn or Sync buttons. The
Play button is for Playli sts, as covered further above. The Burn button al l ows you to create a l i st for burning
to a CD or DVD, si mply by draggi ng the rel evant medi a fi l es i nto the Burn List, then cl i cki ng the 'Start Burn'
button when ready to commence burni ng. The Sync button al lows you to create a li st of medi a fi l es for
synci ng wi th a connected devi ce whi ch supports the upl oad of such medi a, such as a portable musi c pl ayer,
and then cl i cki ng the 'Start Sync' button to commence synci ng of fi les to the devi ce.


316

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

NOW PLAYING VIEW
The Now Pl ayi ng vi ew is the defaul t vi ew used when pl ayi ng back a vi deo or i mage fi l e i n Wi ndows Media
Player. You can also swi tch to Now Pl ayi ng vi ew when l i steni ng to audi o by cl i cki ng the 'Swi tch to Now
Playi ng' button at the bottom ri ght of Li brary vi ew. Now Playi ng vi ew has a rel ati vel y si mpl e layout, wi th
the medi a i nformati on shown at the top l eft of WMP, a 'Swi tch to Li brary' button at the top ri ght, and a set of
pl ayer control s at the bottom. Depending on the size of the WMP wi ndow, you may also see a 'Vi ew ful l
screen' button at the bottom ri ght. The center of the vi ew displays the vi deo or image chosen for playback, or
the al bum art (if avail abl e) for any audio fil e. To access a range of features i n Now Playi ng vi ew, ri ght-cl i ck
anywhere i n the vi ew. These are covered separatel y below:

Show list/Hide list: The Li st functi onal i ty covered i n the Li brary View secti on above i s al so accessi ble here,
and depending on the size of the WMP wi ndow, may take up part or al l of the vi ew.

Full Screen: Thi s opti on i s the same as clicki ng the 'Vi ew ful l screen' button - i t expands WMP to fil l the entire
screen, and i s avai labl e for vi deo and i mage fil es. In ful l screen mode, WMP di spl ays only the mai n i mage or
vi deo wi th a set of playback controls at the bottom. You can configure whether these control s are hi dden by
referri ng to the 'All ow autohi de of playback control s' setti ng covered i n the next secti on. Note that there i s a
di fference between ful l screen mode and si mpl y maxi mizi ng WMP - when maxi mized, WMP stil l displ ays
the Taskbar and Ti tl e Bar; in ful l screen mode these are hi dden as wel l.

Shuffle, Repeat: These opti ons al l ow you to ei ther Shuffl e i tems to be pl ayed i n random order, or Repeat the
currentl y playi ng fil e over and over. You can al so toggl e these functi ons by cl i cki ng the crossed arrows
symbol i n the pl ayback control s for Shuffl e, or the ci rcular arrow symbol next to it i n the playback control s.

Visualizations: Thi s menu all ows you to determi ne the graphi cs displ ayed duri ng the pl ayback of audi o fi l es.
By defaul t, no graphi cs are shown, whi ch corresponds to the 'No Vi sual izati ons' opti on. If you want any
avai labl e al bum cover art to be shown for the audi o fi l e bei ng played, sel ect 'Album art' i nstead. If you want
a random visuali zati on, sel ect i t from the sub-categori es of visuali zati ons avai labl e. Note that some
vi sualizati ons may add to CPU l oad, and thi s can reduce performance on l ower-end computers. You can also
sel ect an 'Info Center vi ew', whi ch wil l di spl ay addi ti onal i nformati on on the currentl y pl ayi ng audio fi le,
however thi s wi ll onl y work i f you right-cli ck and select 'More options', then under the Pri vacy tab you have
ti cked the 'Displ ay medi a informati on from the Internet' box. See the next secti on for more detail s.

Video: If a video fi le i s l oaded, you can choose whether to all ow WMP to automati cal ly resize the vi deo to
match the si ze of the current WMP playback wi ndow, by selecti ng the 'Fi t vi deo to Pl ayer on resize opti on';
or you can choose to have the WMP pl ayback wi ndow automati cal l y resized to match the vi deo's size when
l aunched by sel ecti ng 'Fi t Pl ayer to vi deo'. In ei ther case you can sti ll freel y resize the WMP window after the
vi deo has started pl ayi ng and the vi deo wi ll al so change size to match. You can al so sel ect the defaul t vi deo
pl ayback size of ei ther 50% (half ori gi nal size), 100% (ori gi nal size) or 200% (doubl e origi nal size).

Enhancements: Thi s al l ows you to open a separate wi ndow whi ch provi des access to a range of more
advanced features. These features are covered i n more detai l under the Advanced Features secti on l ater in
thi s chapter.

Lyrics, Captions and Subtitles: Thi s opti on al l ows you to enabl e the di splay of any song l yri cs, vi deo or audi o
fi le capti ons, or movi e subti tl es where rel evant, and if avai labl e.

Shop for more music: Thi s opti on i s the same as the 'Onl i ne Stores' opti on covered i n the next secti on.

Always show Now Playing on top: If sel ected, when i n Now Playi ng vi ew, Wi ndows Medi a Player wil l al ways
di splay i tsel f i n front of any other open wi ndows. This can be useful i n preventing any other appl i cati ons or
prompts from obscuri ng vi deo playback for example.


317

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

More Options: Thi s takes you to the full range of WMP opti ons, as covered i n the Basi c Setti ngs secti on bel ow.

< BASIC SETTINGS
To access the ful l set of menus i n WMP, i n Li brary mode cl i ck the Organize button, sel ect Layout and then
sel ect 'Show menu bar'. To configure Wi ndows Medi a Player as covered below, ei ther click the Organi ze
button and sel ect Opti ons, or go to the Tool s menu and sel ect Opti ons. Each tab of the Opti ons i s covered
bel ow:

PLAYER
Automatic Updates: WMP wi ll automaticall y check for availabl e updates to i tself at set i ntervals. The onl y
i nformati on sent out duri ng such update checks i s your current Wi ndows Medi a Player versi on number.
Si nce WMP i s not updated all that often, the 'Once a month' or 'Once a week' opti ons shoul d be fi ne; 'Once a
day' is excessi ve.

Keep Now Playing on top of other windows: If ti cked, this opti on forces WMP to remai n i n front of all other open
wi ndows when i n Now Playi ng view.

Allow screen saver during playback: If ti cked, any screen savers you have set wi ll be al l owed to come i nto effect
as normal when WMP i s open; i f unti cked, no screen saver wil l start when WMP i s open, even if i t i s
mi ni mized to the Taskbar.

Add local media files to library when played: If ti cked, this opti on automati cal ly adds any fil es you play to your
WMP-specific Li brary. This onl y appli es to medi a fil es on l ocal storage devi ces, excl udi ng removabl e devi ces
such as CD or DVD media.

Add remote media files to library when played: If ti cked, thi s opti on behaves the same as the setti ng above,
however i t onl y relates to medi a fi l es stored i n remote l ocati ons outsi de of your PC, such as over a network.

Connect to the Internet: This opti on determi nes if Wi ndows Medi a Player i s all owed to connect to the Internet
to update vari ous i nformati on. If selected, i t can overri de your other Internet-related setti ngs as covered
further bel ow, so I recommend unti cki ng i t and manuall y confi guri ng each i ndi vi dual opti on separatel y,
then onl y comi ng back and ti cki ng thi s opti on shoul d you need to ensure Internet connecti vi ty for a
parti cul ar onli ne-based feature that i s otherwi se not worki ng properl y.

Stop playback when switching to a different user: If ti cked, this opti on stops playback when you go swi tch to
another User Account, otherwi se WMP wi ll conti nue pl ayi ng. It i s recommended that thi s be ti cked.

Allow autohide of playback controls: If ticked, whenever you are playing back a medi a fil e i n Now Pl ayi ng vi ew,
after a moment the pl ayback control s at the bottom wi ll fade out of vi ew. If you move your mouse over the
WMP wi ndow they wi ll reappear. Thi s i s recommended as i t provi des a l ess cl uttered i nterface i n the Now
Playi ng wi ndow.

Save recently used to the Jumplist instead of frequently used: If ti cked, thi s opti on wi l l only save your recently
used media fi l es to be displ ayed i n the Jump Li st for Windows Media Player on the Taskbar. If unti cked,
your frequentl y used media fil es wi ll be di splayed i nstead. See the Taskbar section of the Graphi cs & Sound


318

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

RIP MUSIC
Rip music to this location: Rippi ng musi c is the process of copyi ng i t from an audio CD to a medi a fi l e on your
computer. Cl ick the Change button and sel ect the di rectory where any ri pped musi c or medi a is pl aced; by
defaul t i t wi ll be pl aced under the \Users\[username]\My Music fol der. Cl ick the 'Fi l e Name' button to
speci fy the parti cular attri butes of the CD whi ch wil l be used to compose a ripped musi c track's fi lename.
Note that you can change the name for any ri pped musi c i n the future automati cal l y by changi ng the
setti ngs here and then ticki ng the 'Rename musi c fi les usi ng ri p musi c setti ngs' opti on under the Li brary tab
covered further bel ow. Check the previ ew at the bottom of the box to see an exampl e of how thi s wi ll l ook.

Rip Settings: Here you can sel ect the output format for ri pped audio fi les, i ncludi ng .WMA, .MP3 and .WAV.
MP3 provides a good compromi se between quali ty and si ze, and you can adjust the bi trate (qual i ty) of the
MP3 fi l e usi ng the sl i der further below. If you want an exact copy of the audio fil e, sel ect .WAV, however
thi s wi ll result i n a l arge file. If you sel ect one of the Windows Medi a Audi o (.WMA) formats, then I strongl y
recommend you unti ck the 'Copy protect music' opti on i f avail abl e, otherwi se each track you ri p wil l become
DRM protected and thi s cannot be changed - see the DRM secti on further below. I don't recommend ti cki ng
the 'Ri p CD automati call y' box, as i t wi ll automati cal ly i ni tiate a rip on any i nserted audi o CD, whi ch may
not be desi red.

On the Audio qual i ty sl ider, choose the audio quali ty you prefer for ri pped musi c - a bi trate of 192 Kbps or
above i s recommended for good quali ty audi o i n the .MP3 or .WMA formats, however the l ossl ess formats
such as .WAV and .WMA l ossl ess don't all ow quali ty change, because they record at 100% of the qual i ty
avai labl e. The hi gher the qual i ty, the larger the resul ting ri pped fi l e.

To use WMP to ri p any audi o tracks you want from an Audi o CD at any ti me, do the fol l owi ng:

1. Insert the Audi o CD i n your dri ve.
2. Dependi ng on your AutoPl ay setti ngs, Wi ndows Medi a Player may open automati cal l y wi th the Ri p l i st
showi ng; if not, open WMP manual ly.
3. Place a ti ck mark next to the tracks you wi sh to ri p, and unti ck those you don't want.
4. If you want WMP to automati cal ly downl oad media i nformati on for the ri pped fil e(s), such as rel evant
arti st detail s and al bum art, you wi ll need to be connected to the Internet and have the 'Update musi c
fi les by retri evi ng medi a info from the Internet' setting ti cked under the Pri vacy tab of WMP opti ons -
see further bel ow for details. Note that you can appl y thi s i nformation to the fil e at a later poi nt i nstead if
you wi sh.
5. You can al ter the ri p parameters at any ti me by cl i cki ng the 'Ri p setti ngs' button - these opti ons are all
the same as those covered further above.
6. Cl i ck the 'Ri p CD' button at the top of the WMP wi ndow.
7. I strongl y recommend sel ecti ng the 'Do not add copy protecti on to your musi c' opti on whi ch appears,
and ti ck the 'I understand...' box underneath, then cli ck OK. If you add copy protecti on to your ri ps, then
you wil l have to update the DRM ri ghts regul arl y, and wil l al so have a mi grati on l i mi t i mposed on the
fi les, preventi ng you from movi ng them to new machi nes or devi ces after a certai n number of
mi grati ons, whi ch is not desi rabl e. See the Pri vacy secti on further bel ow for more i nformati on.
8. WMP wil l rip musi c from your CD to the di rectory speci fi ed i n your setti ngs earli er - by defaul t thi s is
part of your Musi c Li brary.

There are vari ous thi rd party ri ppi ng tool s avai labl e, however Wi ndows Medi a Player i s free, qui ck and easy
to use, and the audi o tracks i t produces wi ll not contai n any copy protecti on as long as you use the rel evant
opti ons covered above, so it i s wel l worth usi ng.


319

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

DEVICES
The devi ces listed under thi s tab are those capabl e of medi a playback, whether vi deo or audi o or both. Sel ect
each playback devi ce and cl i ck the Properti es button. Adjust setti ngs as appropri ate, and if i n doubt l eave at
thei r defaul ts whi ch are fine for most purposes. Note that for your Di spl ay properti es, you can al ter the
aspect rati o for vi deo/DVD pl ayback i f i t appears to be too wi de or too narrow; the ci rcl e shown should be
perfectl y round on your screen - if not, fi rst check your setti ngs as covered under the Di splay Setti ngs section
of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter, then return here and move the sl ider to make the appropri ate changes i f
necessary.

When deleting playlists from devices, also remove their contents: If ti cked, this opti on forces the del eti on of the
ori gi nal fi les stored on a devi ce contai ned i n a deleted Playl ist.

Cl i ck the Advanced button to al ter the setti ngs for audi o and vi deo fil e conversi ons when bei ng transferred
to/from mul timedi a devi ces and set to sui t your tastes.

BURN
Wi ndows Medi a Player al lows you to also burn music or media fi les to a CD or DVD by sel ecti ng the Burn
tab i n Li brary vi ew. Fil es can be dragged and dropped i nto the l ist under the Burn tab, ready to be burned to
di sc once the 'Start burn' button i s pressed. Musi c wi ll be burnt as an audi o CD, but other medi a can only be
burnt to CD or DVD as data fil es. If you want to burn pi ctures or movi es to DVD for pl ayback as a video
DVD, you need to use the Wi ndows DVD Maker i nstead, whi ch i s covered further bel ow.

Burn Speed: Sel ect the burni ng speed, keepi ng i n mind that i f you are conti nuall y havi ng errors wi th burnt
di scs, you shoul d reduce the speed to Medium or even Low to ensure accurate burni ng. If you want the di sc
automati cal ly ejected after the burn is compl ete, ti ck the box.

Apply volume leveling across tracks on the CD: If burni ng an audi o CD, you can tick thi s opti on to have WMP
set a common vol ume level for all audio tracks. Thi s can hel p prevent some tracks from bei ng overly l oud or
soft rel ati ve to others.

Burn CD without gaps: If ti cked, thi s option burns an audi o CD wi thout the enforced 2 second gaps between
each track. Note that your CD/DVD burner needs to support gapless burni ng for thi s opti on to work; you
may have to upgrade i ts firmware - see the BIOS & Hardware Management section.

Add a list of burned files to the disc in this format: If ti cked, this opti on burns a Pl ayl ist of the fi les on a data di sc
al ong wi th the fi les themsel ves. If you insert thi s di sc i nto a devi ce whi ch supports .WPL or .M3U Playl ists,
the devi ce wil l then pl ay the fi l es back in the order i n whi ch they appear i n the Playli st.

Use media information to arrange files in folders on the disk: If you are burni ng a data di sc and thi s opti on i s
ti cked, WMP wi ll sort your medi a i nto separate fol ders, such as \Music\Artist\Album, \TV, \Video, and
\Picture. If unti cked, WMP wil l burn all tracks to the base directory of the disc wi thout sorting.

Windows DVD Maker: If you want to create a DVD Vi deo di sc that can be used i n a standalone DVD or Bl u-
Ray player for exampl e, then you need to use Wi ndows DVD Maker for that purpose. Wi ndows DVD Maker
can be opened by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng dvd maker and pressi ng Enter. Usage of Wi ndows DVD
Maker i s rel ati vel y strai ghtforward - the mai n wi ndow provi des a fil e li st to whi ch you can add vi deo and
i mage fil es by cl i cki ng the 'Add i tems' button. Once added, you can rearrange the order i n whi ch the i tems
wi ll be played back usi ng the up and down arrows. Cl i ck the Opti ons li nk at the bottom ri ght corner to
confi gure the DVD root menu, aspect rati o, output vi deo format and burni ng speed, then cl i ck OK. If you
sel ected to displ ay a menu, Wi ndows DVD Maker wil l prompt you to customi ze the DVD menus, and then
to fi nall y cl i ck the Burn button to burn to a DVD di sc.


320

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

Remember that you can also burn any di sc usi ng the buil t-i n Burn features of Windows Expl orer. Insert a
bl ank or rewri tabl e DVD or CD i nto your dri ve, then drag any fi le or folder to your CD/DVD dri ve in
Wi ndows Expl orer, and i t wi ll be added to a l ist of fi l es to burn to di sc. When ready, cl i ck the 'Burn to disc'
button i n the Command Bar of Expl orer and the fi l es wil l be burned. However thi s onl y creates data discs.
To create proper audi o or vi deo di scs usi ng thi s method, you must fi rst have prepared the data i n the
appropriate format before burni ng to disc. For exampl e, to create a DVD vi deo you must have the data in
correct \AUDIO_TS and \VIDEO_TS fol ders wi th the necessary .VOB, .IFO and .BUP fil es so that even if
burned as a data di sc by Wi ndows Expl orer i t can be pl ayed back as a DVD vi deo di sc.

If you're after a di sc burning program for more advanced purposes there are a range of ful l -featured thi rd
party burni ng programs avail able. Promi nent among these i s Nero Burni ng ROM, of whi ch there i s al so a
free basi c versi on avai lable. For most purposes, the bui l t-i n burning functi onali ty of Wi ndows 7 shoul d be
suffi ci ent for most users, as i t covers the full spectrum of audi o CD, vi deo DVD and data di sc burning
requi rements.

Windows Movie Maker: On a related note, i f you wi sh to make your own movi es, the Wi ndows Movi e Maker
has been removed from Wi ndows 7. However i f you requi re this functi onal i ty, you can i nstal l the sli ghtl y
ol der standalone Wi ndows Movi e Maker 2.6 or the more recent Wi ndows Li ve Movi e Maker - I recommend
the standal one versi on.

PERFORMANCE
Connection Speed: This setti ng control s the speed wi th whi ch Wi ndows Media Pl ayer can download
streami ng media. I recommend the 'Detect connecti on speed' opti on, however i f WMP consi stently has
probl ems detecti ng your connecti on speed and i t seems to be too low, then set it manuall y here.

Network Buffering: Thi s setti ng control s the amount of data to be buffered (stored i n advance of pl ayi ng), to
hel p prevent stutters and ski ppi ng i n streami ng medi a playback. The 'Use defaul t bufferi ng' opti on i s
usual l y fi ne to use, but if you fi nd streami ng vi deos are constantl y di sjoi nted, then experi ment wi th
i ncreasi ng the buffer size.

DVD and video playback: These opti ons affect al l DVD and vi deo playback, and can be used to hel p resol ve
i ssues wi th parti cular vi deos or DVDs. If your vi deo goes out of sync - sometimes due to lack of suffi cient
bandwi dth - ti ck the 'Drop frames to keep audi o and vi deo synchroni zed' opti on. Ti ck the 'Use vi deo
smoothi ng' opti on i f playing back vi deo wi th l ow framerate, as WMP wi ll try to i nterpolate frames (fil l in the
bl anks) to provi de the appearance of smoother vi deo pl ayback.

When playi ng full screen vi deo, if the 'Di splay full -screen controls' opti on i s ti cked, the pl ayback control s wi ll
be at the bottom of the screen; they may become autohi dden after a short peri od dependi ng on whether you
ti cked the 'All ow autohide of pl ayback control s' option covered above. However if you want these playback
control s removed compl etel y i n full screen mode, unti ck thi s box. You can then control pl ayback usi ng your
mouse and the fol l owi ng keyboard/mouse commands:

Play or Pause - Left-cl i ck.
Change Volume - Use the mouse wheel to i ncrease or decrease volume.
Mute Volume - Press the mi ddle mouse button.
Fast Forward/Rewi nd - Press and hol d the front and back mouse thumb buttons (if any) for Fast
Forward/Rewi nd.
Ski p Forward/Back - Cli ck the front or back mouse thumb buttons to Ski p Forward/Ski p Back.
Command Menu - Ri ght-cli ck.
Return to Full Mode - Press ESC.


321

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

If you have a pl ug-i n graphi cs card, ti ck the 'Turn on Di rectX Video Accel erati on for WMV Fi l es' opti on to
all ow your graphi cs hardware to provide better vi deo pl ayback performance for .WMV vi deos. Wi ndows 7
has added support for the new DXVA-HD hardware-accel erated HD vi deo processi ng API.

Fi nal ly, for videos whi ch don't fi ll the enti re screen due to thei r aspect rati o being di fferent to your moni tor
shape - such as vi deo fil es i n the ol d 4:3 Standard TV format - you can set the col or used to di spl ay the
surroundi ng area. For exampl e for playback on a Pl asma TV, to prevent burn-i n or uneven phosphor agi ng,
you can set a whi te background by cli cki ng the Change button.

LIBRARY
Add video files found in the Pictures Library: If ti cked, adds any video fi l es resident i n your Pi ctures Li brary.
However they wil l be added under the Vi deos l i brary i n WMP, not Pi ctures.

Add volume leveling information values for new files: If ti cked, data for use wi th the Auto Vol ume Leveling
enhancement feature of WMP wi ll be added to each new fi l e. Thi s i s onl y recommended i f you have speci fi c
need for thi s feature - see the Advanced Features section further below for detai l s of Auto Volume Leveli ng.

Delete files from computer when deleted from library: If ticked, this opti on makes the 'Delete from l i brary and my
computer' opti on the defaul t sel ecti on when you ri ght-cl i ck on a fi l e and sel ect Del ete - see the Vi ews secti on
further above for more detail s. Thi s is not recommended.

Automatically preview songs on track title hover: If ti cked, whenever you hover your mouse cursor over a
parti cul ar track ti tl e, an automati c previ ew of the song wil l begin, and end the moment you move your
mouse away. If unti cked, when you hover your mouse over a track ti tl e, the Previ ew box wi ll appear and
you wi ll need to cl i ck the Previ ew l i nk wi thi n i t to commence a previ ew of the song.

Retrieve additional information from the Internet: If you want WMP to retri eve i nformati on about the parti cul ar
medi a you are playi ng - such as the name of the al bum or artist for a track, then ti ck the 'Retri eve addi ti onal
i nformati on from the Internet box'; you can then choose to have i t fi ll i n the gaps or overwri te all exi sti ng
i nformati on for the media. Be aware that choosi ng 'Overwri te all media i nformati on' can repl ace any
customizati ons you've made to the tags on your medi a fi l es. You can al so manual l y force Wi ndows Media
Player to fil l i n mi ssi ng i nformati on for parti cular files at any ti me by right-clicki ng on a parti cular track i n
Li brary vi ew and sel ecti ng the 'Fi nd Album Info' opti on - a new box wi l l open whi ch l oads up the possi ble
matches for thi s track and you can sel ect the appropri ate one, then cl i ck Next. You can then cl i ck the Edit
button here to enter the medi a or al ter the i nformati on manuall y. Cl i ck Fini sh when done to appl y thi s
i nformati on to the fi le. Note that i f you ti ck thi s option, i t wil l also automati call y enabl e the 'Update music
fi les by retrievi ng medi a i nfo from the Internet' opti on under the Privacy tab - see further bel ow for detai l s.

If you have pri vacy concerns, see the Pri vacy secti on bel ow for more i nformati on. By addi ng addi tional
al bum i nformati on, you can make the Wi ndows Search functionali ty much more useful, si nce the more
detail s there are about a parti cular fil e, the more ways there are for you to search for and categorize that fi le -
see the Wi ndows Search chapter. You can also i mprove your abi li ty to fi nd musi c i n the WMP Li brary and in
Wi ndows Expl orer, because i n Content or Icon vi ew the presence of al bum art makes song identi fi cati on at a
gl ance much easi er. So on balance enabli ng this opti on i s recommended.

Rename music files using rip music settings: If thi s opti on is ti cked, all musi c files you have ri pped wil l be
renamed usi ng the setti ngs you've specified i n 'Fi l e Name' under i n the Ri p secti on of the pl ayer opti ons.

Rearrange music in rip music folder, using rip music settings: Si mi lar to the opti on above, i f ti cked thi s option
changes the arrangement of musi c i n ri pped fol ders based on any changes you've made under the Ri p
secti on of the pl ayer opti ons.


322

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

Changes resul ti ng from enabl i ng ei ther of the two setti ngs above wi ll onl y be impl emented the next ti me
medi a i nformati on i s updated for ri pped fi les.

Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files: If thi s opti on i s ti cked, your star rati ngs for medi a fi l es wil l be
stored as part of the media fi les. This prevents other User Accounts from overwriti ng your ratings, as l ong as
other users al so don't have thi s opti on ti cked i n Windows Media Player under thei r own account. Other
users wil l still be abl e to rate fil es, but those rati ngs wi ll be stored i n thei r WMP-specifi c Li brary and onl y
vi ewable by and appli cabl e to thei r User Account.

PLUG-INS
Pl ug-i ns are vari ous modul es whi ch add functi onali ty to Wi ndows Media Player such as Visuali zati ons or
Di gi tal Signal Processi ng (DSP) effects. These can be added, removed or confi gured here. You can al so
downl oad new pl ugi ns and vi suali zati ons from Mi crosoft by cl i cki ng the rel evant l i nks at the bottom of the
wi ndow. You can remove any added pl ugi n by highlighti ng i t and sel ecti ng the Remove button, and you can
confi gure any setti ngs they may have by sel ecti ng the Properti es button. Bear i n mi nd that the more pl ugins
you use i n WMP, the more resources the pl ayer may take up, and al so the greater the chance for potenti al
probl ems, so onl y i nstal l plugi ns you feel are genui nely necessary.

PRIVACY
Thi s i s an important aspect of Wi ndows Media Player whi ch causes users a l ot of concern. There i s a
common fear that by usi ng Wi ndows Media Player, Mi crosoft i s spyi ng on your medi a usage behavi ors for
underhanded purposes. To clarify precisel y what WMP does report back to Mi crosoft refer to thi s Wi ndows
Media Player 12 Pri vacy Statement. Essenti all y, the fol l owi ng basic computer i nformati on wi ll typi cal l y be
sent by WMP to Mi crosoft al ong wi th vari ous i nformati on requests:

IP address.
Operati ng system and versi on.
Internet browser and version.
Regi on and l anguage setti ngs.
Hardware ID.
Cooki es for Mi crosoft's Wi ndowsMedi a.com si te, whi ch i s the pri mary l ocati on WMP contacts for
obtai ni ng medi a i nformation.

Dependi ng on the parti cular opti ons and features you enabl e, addi ti onal i nformati on may be transmi tted to
Mi crosoft. Thi s i s covered under the relevant setti ngs bel ow:

Display media information from the Internet: If this opti on i s ti cked, any CDs or DVDs you pl ay or ri p wi th
Wi ndows Media Player wi ll send a request to Wi ndowsMedi a.com to provi de any mi ssi ng media
i nformati on. Thi s request i ncludes the basi c computer i nformati on, al ong wi th an i denti fi er for the CD or
DVD, and the i nformati on recei ved wil l be stored by WMP i n the Li brary. This feature i s parti cularl y useful
when ri ppi ng CDs, as i t adds a l ot of useful i nformati on and al bum art to the ri pped tracks wi thout
requi ri ng manual i nput. For thi s reason I recommend that i t be ti cked. Note that you can cl ear the stored
i nformati on on your CDs or DVDs at any ti me by cl i cki ng the 'Cl ear Caches' button at the bottom of the
Pri vacy tab.

Update music files by retrieving media info from the Internet: If ti cked, thi s opti on all ows WMP to download
addi ti onal i nformati on and al bum art for your musi c fi les. Thi s will occur when you use your Li brary after
openi ng WMP for the fi rst ti me, or whenever you add fi l es to your Li brary, or add new locati ons to the
Li brary. You can al so force i t to occur at any ti me by goi ng to the Tool s menu, sel ecti ng Advanced and then
sel ecti ng the 'Restore medi a li brary' opti on. WMP wi l l transmi t your basi c computer i nformation to
Wi ndowsMedi a.com, al ong wi th a ful l range of data on the musi c fil es, incl udi ng any data you have


323

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

manuall y entered for them, for the purposes of i denti fyi ng the tracks. If i nformati on i s found, i t wil l be
downl oaded and stored in the Li brary. Thi s i s a useful feature, because as di scussed earli er, i t makes
searchi ng for and i dentifying musi c at a gl ance much easi er. For this reason I recommend that i t be ti cked.

Note that you can control whether to downl oad onl y mi ssi ng i nformati on for a fil e, or repl ace all exi sting
i nformati on wi th new i nformati on, based on your choi ce for the 'Retri eve addi ti onal i nformati on from the
Internet' setti ng under the Li brary tab, covered further above. If you do replace all i nformati on, bear i n mind
that under Wi ndows Media Player 12, the Advanced Tag Edi tor feature has been removed, so you may have
to manual ly edi t the fil e properti es for each medi a fi le to correct any tags. You can do this wi thi n Li brary
vi ew by ri ght-cli cki ng on any tag and sel ecti ng Edi t. You can al so use the free MP3Tag util i ty i nstead.

Download usage rights automatically when I play or sync a file: As part of the Di gi tal Rights Management (DRM)
protecti on features of Wi ndows Medi a Player, i f thi s opti on i s ti cked, i t wi ll automati cal ly check and update
the ri ghts status of any DRM-protected fi l es you wish to pl ay or sync vi a WMP. It wi l l automati cal ly connect
to the appropri ate ri ghts server to obtai n the rel evant updates and ri ghts as requi red. It wil l transmi t your
basi c computer i nformati on, an ID for the media fil e, the type of acti on you wish to perform on the fi l e (e.g.
pl ay or burn i t), and the DRM components on your computer. You can unti ck thi s opti on, however if you
have DRM protected content and i t i s not pl ayi ng back properly, then you may have to enabl e i t to all ow you
to conti nue to use those medi a fi l es. Thi s opti on doesn't affect media fi l es whi ch are not protected wi th
DRM. You can check to see i f any media fil e is protected by DRM by right-cl i cki ng on i t wi thi n WMP,
sel ecti ng Properti es and l ooki ng under the Medi a Usage Ri ghts tab.

Automatically check if protected files need to be refreshed: If thi s opti on i s ti cked, WMP wil l regul arl y scan your
Li brary for the status of DRM-protected fi l es, and if they have expi red ri ghts or requi re a software upgrade,
such as a new versi on of Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer, then these wi ll be i nstal led as requi red. The same type of
i nformati on as i n the opti on above i s transmi tted to Mi crosoft servers for the purpose of ensuri ng that DRM-
protected medi a can be played back properl y. Thi s opti on does not appl y to unprotected media fil es.

Al so make sure to unti ck the 'Connect to the Internet' opti on under the Player tab, as covered further above,
and see the Prevent Wi ndows Media DRM Access secti on under the Group Pol i cy chapter and enabl e i t if
you want to prevent WMP from accessi ng the Internet i n any way to check or update any DRM-rel ated
features. See the Di gi tal Ri ghts Management secti on further bel ow for more detail s.

Set clock on devices automatically: As part of DRM protecti on, some portabl e media devi ces have an i nternal
cl ock used to vali date media usage ri ghts. If thi s opti on i s ti cked, WMP can automati cal ly set the cl ock on the
portabl e medi a devi ce whenever i t i s synced. Thi s is recommended to ensure proper pl ayback capabi li ties
for DRM-protected content on your devi ce, otherwise the devi ce may have i ts rights revoked and you won't
be abl e to play new DRM protected content on i t.

Send unique Player ID to content providers: If ti cked, thi s opti on provi des onl i ne medi a content provi ders the
abi li ty to i denti fy your parti cular connecti on to their servi ce over ti me. Thi s provi des you wi th no benefit
whatsoever, so thi s opti on should remain unti cked.

Windows Media Player Customer Experience Improvement Program: If ti cked, this opti on collects a range of
i nformati on, i ncludi ng your basi c computer i nformati on, hardware i nformation, errors, performance i ssues
and how you use Wi ndows Media Player and related servi ces. This i s sent to Mi crosoft to hel p them
i mprove the devel opment of future versi ons of Wi ndows Media Pl ayer among other thi ngs. It i s not
necessary for you to ti ck thi s opti on i f you don't wi sh to be i nvol ved i n the Customer Experi ence
Improvement Program.

History: Thi s secti on all ows you to sel ect the specifi c categori es for whi ch WMP wi ll mai ntai n a hi story. One
of the benefi ts of thi s hi story i s that i t provi des WMP wi th the abi lity to di spl ay frequentl y or recentl y played


324

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

fi les i n i ts Jump Li st on the Taskbar, as wel l as usage-based Playl ists. If you don't wi sh to keep thi s hi story,
unti ck these boxes and click the 'Clear Hi story' button.

Clear Caches: As noted further above, WMP mai ntai ns a cache of the medi a i nformati on i t has downl oaded
from the Internet, so that i t doesn't have to redownl oad thi s i nformati on each ti me. It al so keeps a cache of
the relati onshi ps i t has wi th synchroni zed devi ces, improvi ng i ts abi li ty to quickl y sync wi th such devi ces.
You can cl ear thi s i nformati on at any ti me by cli cki ng the 'Cl ear caches' button.

Ul ti matel y, whi l e Wi ndows Media Pl ayer may send a wi de range of i nformati on to Mi crosoft regardi ng your
medi a fi l es and usage patterns, there are no real pri vacy risks; Mi crosoft is not tryi ng to 'spy' on you.
Mi crosoft may use the data to determi ne the rate and type of musi c pi racy around the world for example,
however i n practi ce i t woul d be extremel y detri mental to Mi crosoft's reputati on and customer trust i f i t were
to use thi s i nformati on to take acti on agai nst i ndi vi dual s for any such detected pi racy. See the Di gi tal Rights
Management secti on further bel ow for more discussi on on thi s i ssue.

SECURITY
Run script commands when present: If ti cked, thi s option all ows WMP to pl ay any scri pt commands associated
wi th medi a fi l es. Thi s i s not recommended as scripts are a common method used to ini ti ate mali cious
acti vi ty on your PC.

Run script commands and rich media streams when the Player is in a web page: If ti cked, this opti on al l ows scripts
and ri ch medi a, such as movi es or sli de shows, to play i n i nci dences of WMP whi ch are embedded i nto web
pages. I recommend unti cki ng thi s option, and then onl y ti cki ng it i f a trusted si te wi th embedded media
content requires i t enabl ed for normal playback.

Play enhanced content that uses Web pages without prompting: If ti cked, if you vi si t any web page whi ch has
enhanced content, i t wil l be pl ayed wi thout any warni ng. I recommend unti cking thi s and onl y pl ayi ng back
enhanced content when prompted on trusted websi tes.

Show local captions when present: If ti cked, thi s opti on all ows Synchroni zed Accessi bl e Medi a Interchange
capti ons to be di splayed duri ng media playback. I recommend unti cki ng this opti on unti l you run trusted
content whi ch requi res i t.

Security Zone: Your Internet Expl orer securi ty setti ngs wi ll be used when Wi ndows Media Player i s browsing
any web content, so see the Internet Expl orer chapter for detail s. Note that if you choose too a hi gh a setti ng,
i t may prevent you from downl oadi ng addi ti onal medi a i nformation or codecs under certai n ci rcumstances.

DVD
If you use Wi ndows Media Player to pl ay DVD movi es, you can adjust the setti ngs i n thi s secti on to sui t
your particular tastes and needs. Cli ck the Change button to i mpl ement any content restri cti ons you want
based on movi e rati ngs, and cl i ck the Defaul ts button to set the defaul t l anguages used for audi o, captions
and menus i n DVDs.

NETWORK
Confi gure thi s secti on accordi ng to your needs - the defaul ts should be fine unl ess you have specific
requi rements, such as streami ng medi a whi ch does not appear to be worki ng correctl y.

When done wi th the WMP opti ons, cli ck the Apply button and cl i ck OK to exi t them.


325

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

< ADVANCED FEATURES
There are a range of more advanced features i n Windows Media Player. These can hel p you i mprove the
audi o and video quali ty of WMP, as wel l as i ts usabili ty. They are covered bel ow:

ENHANCEMENTS
To access the enhanced features of Wi ndows Media Player, swi tch to Now Pl ayi ng vi ew then ri ght-cli ck on
the pl ayer and sel ect Enhancements. The avail abl e opti ons are:

Crossfading and Auto Volume Leveling: These are actuall y two separate features, and can be enabl ed or
di sabl ed separatel y. Crossfadi ng provide the abil i ty to sl owly fade out one song whi l e the next song is
overl apped and sl owly faded i n at the same ti me. Cli ck the 'Turn on Crossfading' l i nk, then use the sli der to
determi ne how many seconds of overlap there wi ll be duri ng whi ch the fi rst song fades away and the
second song fades i n. Auto Vol ume Level i ng can be enabl ed by cli cki ng the 'Turn on Auto Vol ume Level i ng'
l i nk i n the same wi ndow, and i f enabl ed, thi s feature attempts to normali ze the vol ume level across various
songs so that they do not vary greatl y in overal l volume. However Auto Volume Level i ng onl y works for
.WMA or .MP3 fi l es whi ch have vol ume l evel i ng data added to them. You can add such data to any newl y
added fil es by ti cki ng the 'Add vol ume l eveli ng i nformati on values for new fil es' opti on as found under the
Li brary secti on, covered further above.

Graphic Equalizer: Wi ndows Media Player comes wi th a graphi c equalizer whi ch can noti ceabl y enhance
audi o quali ty i f set up correctl y. To enabl e the graphi c equal izer, cl i ck the 'Turn on' l i nk at the top l eft of the
wi ndow. You can pl ay back some music whi l e adjusti ng the equal izer, and the changes wil l be appl i ed in
real -ti me. You can use a range of presets for the equali zer by cl i cki ng the Defaul t li nk at the top ri ght of the
wi ndow, however I recommend adjusti ng the equali zer bars yourself for the best resul ts. To start wi th select
the i ndi vidual sli der movement opti on - the fi rst of the opti ons at the far l eft just bel ow the 'Turn off' li nk -
thi s al l ows you to move each sl ider on the equal izer wi thout changi ng the other sli ders. Then sl owly
customize the equali zer usi ng your favori te pi ece of musi c to determi ne when i t sounds correct. Keep i n
mi nd that movi ng from l eft to ri ght, the sl iders progressi vel y go from l ow to hi gh frequenci es, i .e. from Bass
to mi d-range to Trebl e. Setti ngs wil l vary from system to system based on the quali ty of your speakers or
headphones, your sound hardware, and i mportantl y, any adjustments you may have made to the Wi ndows
Sound setti ngs for your playback devi ce - see the Sound secti on of the Graphi cs & Sound chapter.

Play Speed Settings: This opti on al lows you to sl ow down or speed up the pl ayback of medi a. Any values
bel ow 1.0 on the sl i der will progressi vely sl ow down pl ayback, whi l e values above 1.0 wil l speed i t up. You
can use the Sl ow, Normal or Fast preset l i nks at the top of the wi ndow for quick adjustment i f you wish.
There i s al so the capabi li ty to vi ew a vi deo frame by frame by using the arrow buttons at the bottom of the
wi ndow.

Quiet Mode: If enabl ed by cli cki ng the 'Turn on' l i nk, thi s feature al l ows you to reduce the difference between
l oud and quiet porti ons wi thi n an audi o or vi deo fil e. You can choose the l evel of difference usi ng the
opti ons presented, wi th 'Littl e di fference' eveni ng out audi o much more than 'Medium di fference'. This i s
not the same as the Auto Volume Level i ng feature, as that equal izes vol ume across audi o tracks, whereas
thi s opti on attempts to equali ze the range of vol ume wi thi n a track.

SRS WOW Effects: If turned on, thi s opti on enabl es SRS WOW effects whi ch effecti vel y i ncrease the
percei ved size (not volume) of the audio. First sel ect the type of audi o output you have on your system by
cl i cki ng the 'Normal Speakers' li nk at the top l eft to cycl e through the avai labl e opti ons. Next you can adjust
the Trubass sl i der to i ncrease the bass response, whi ch can hel p weaker speakers sound ful ler and more
powerful . The SRS WOW sl i der affects mi d-range and hi gher frequenci es, affecti ng the sharpness and
posi ti oni ng of the audi o. In practi ce these affects may or may not i mprove your audi o dependi ng on your


326

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

tastes, so experi ment wi th them whil e pl ayi ng back your favori te musi c, as the effects are appli ed i n real -
ti me. SRS WOW effects do not appl y when pl ayi ng back a DVD.

Video Settings: These enhancements affect the appearance of any videos played back through WMP. You can
adjust the Brightness, whi ch affects how l i ght or dark the overal l pi cture is; the Contrast, which determi nes
the l evel of di fference between l i ght and dark areas; the Hue whi ch affects the overall col or tone of the
i mage; and the Saturati on, whi ch controls the ri chness of col ors. You can test these i n real -ti me by runni ng a
vi deo whil e you adjust them, and you can reset them to defaul t val ues by cli cking the Reset li nk at any time.
Cl i cki ng the 'Sel ect vi deo zoom setti ngs' l i nk access the same settings avail abl e under the Video menu when
you ri ght-cl i ck i n the Now Playi ng wi ndow, and i s covered i n more detai l under the Vi ews secti on at the
start of thi s chapter.

Dolby Digital Settings: Windows 7 i ntroduces Dol by Di gi tal Pl us support i n Wi ndows Medi a Player. The
setti ngs here affect all medi a encoded wi th Dol by Di gi tal surround sound, and affect the dynami c range of
audi o playback. You can choose from three presets: Normal is best sui ted to qual i ty desktop speakers; Ni ght
i s better sui ted to laptop or l ow-end speakers; and Theater i s sui tabl e for home theater setups.

Note that you can adjust any sl ider i n these Enhancement features wi th greater preci si on by cl i cki ng once on
the sl i der and then usi ng your arrow keys for fi ner control . You can see the exact numeri cal value for any
sl ider by hoveri ng your mouse over i t, whi ch is useful i f you wish to record the setti ngs for future reference.
Fi nal ly, you can cl ose the Enhancements box at any ti me by cli cking the small red 'x' at the top ri ght of the
wi ndow.

SKINS
Whi le the defaul t Wi ndows Media Player 12 wi ndow can be resized, and you can turn on or hi de vari ous
el ements through the opti ons covered i n thi s chapter, for the most part that i s about as far as you can go in
terms of changi ng how WMP l ooks and acts. To trul y customi ze the way Windows Media Player behaves,
you can use Ski ns, whi ch al ter both the appearance and visi bl e functi onal i ty of WMP. There are two ski ns
whi ch al ready come wi th the pl ayer, and you can vi ew them by openi ng Wi ndows Media Player i n Li brary
vi ew, and under the Vi ew menu sel ect 'Ski n Chooser'. Here you can select a ski n i n the l eft pane to see a
previ ew of i t, and then cl i ck the 'Apply Ski n' button to i mpl ement i t i n WMP. To swi tch back to the default
WMP appearance, go to the Vi ew menu and select Li brary, or find a 'Swi tch to Li brary' or 'Swi tch to Full
Mode' button or si mil ar and cli ck i t.

To get more free ski ns for use wi th WMP, cli ck the 'More Ski ns' button, or go to a si te such as The Skins
Factory and downl oad the ski n of your choi ce. Some ski ns wi ll install automati call y when you doubl e-cl ick
on them, but i f that doesn't work, put the .WMZ fi l e i nto your \Program Files (Program Files (x86) in 64-bit
Windows)\Windows Media Player\Skins di rectory. Note that usi ng more compl ex and elaborate ski ns can take
up more memory and CPU resources when you run Wi ndows Media Pl ayer, so if you want to ensure the
fastest performance and l east resource usage si mpl y use the defaul t WMP appearance - that is, under the
Vi ew Menu sel ect 'Ful l Mode'. To remove a ski n from Wi ndows Media Player, hi ghli ght i t i n Ski n Chooser
and cl i ck the red X button.

TASKBAR PLAYER MODE
One of the neat features of previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows Media Player was the abi li ty to shrink i t down i nto
a Mi ni Pl ayer i nterface whi ch sat i n the Wi ndows Taskbar. Unfortunately this feature has been removed in
Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer 12, replaced by a Taskbar previ ew mode whi ch onl y contai ns back, forward, and
pause/pl ay buttons - hover your mouse over the WMP i con i n your Taskbar to see thi s mode at any ti me.

There are vari ous opti ons to attai n somethi ng si mil ar to the Mini Player mode, though none of them are
perfect:


327

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

Swi tch to Now Playi ng mode, and left-cl i ck and drag one of the corners of the WMP wi ndow such that
the wi ndow becomes as small as possibl e. Make sure the 'All ow autohide of pl ayback control s' opti on i s
ti cked, as covered under the Basi c Settings secti on above. Thi s provi des the small est and most mi ni mal
i nterface for WMP, whi l e sti ll gi vi ng you ful l functionali ty when you hover or ri ght-cl i ck your mouse
over the WMP wi ndow.
You can downl oad and i nstall thi s free Media Pl ayer Gadget whi ch ti es i nto Windows Medi a Pl ayer 12
functi onali ty, provi di ng a smal l er i nterface si mi lar to previ ous versi ons of WMP. It all ows for most
requi red functi onali ty, i ncludi ng a seek bar, pl ayer control s, vol ume adjustment and Li brary access.
You can attempt to downgrade Wi ndows Media Player 12 to the previ ous Versi on 11, whi ch wi l l then l et
you use Mi ni Pl ayer mode. The appropri ate downl oad i s avai labl e here and contai ns i nstructions wi thin
the downl oaded archi ve. However I have not tested thi s method, nor do I recommend i t. There i s a very
real ri sk of damagi ng your Wi ndows 7 i nstallati on to the poi nt where nei ther versi on of WMP wil l
functi on correctl y, so at the very l east create a full backup pri or to i mpl ementi ng thi s, preferabl y a
system i mage as covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter.

For the most part the vari ous i mprovements and features i n Wi ndows Media Player 12 outwei gh the
potenti al l oss of ameni ti es in terms of the Mi ni Player and Advanced Tag Edi tor.

Fi nal ly, i f you are havi ng probl ems runni ng Wi ndows Media Pl ayer, or any other media-related features i n
Wi ndows 7, check the Wi ndows Media Knowl edge Center for hel p i n resol vi ng it.

< AUDIO & VIDEO CODECS
A Codec (Compressor Decompressor) i s a program whi ch all ows audi o or video to be compressed and
decompressed to or from i ts ori gi nal format. Compressed fi l es use speci al algori thms to achi eve their size
reducti ons, and i t i s the codec whi ch can encode/decode these al gori thms. Note that a Codec i s not the same
as a fil e format - a fi le format i s si mpl y a contai ner type, whi le a Codec relates to the actual encodi ng of the
medi a hel d i n the contai ner. For the most part you don't need to worry about thi s, because i f you can play or
record audi o/vi deo i n a parti cul ar format, you have a Codec for that format al ready i nstall ed on your
system. More detai l s about Codecs i n WMP can be found i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cle.

VIEWING AND EDITING CODECS
To vi ew the Codecs al ready i nstal l ed on your system, do the followi ng:

1. Open Wi ndows Media Pl ayer and swi tch to Li brary vi ew.
2. Go to the Help menu and sel ect 'About Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer'.
3. Cl i ck the 'Techni cal Support Informati on' li nk at the bottom of the box.
4. A new browser wi ndow wi l l open and towards the bottom i s a l ist of all the audi o and vi deo Codecs
i nstal l ed on your system, the fi l es whi ch relate to these Codecs, and thei r versi on numbers.

To vi ew Codec i nformati on for any fi l e or your system i n more detail , and to also attempt to adjust the
pri ori ti es Windows assi gns to i ndi vi dual Codecs - for example to force Wi ndows to use one codec of the
same type over another - you can use the free GSpot uti l i ty. Install GSpot and launch i t, then under the
System menu sel ect the 'Li st Codecs and Other Fi l ters' opti on. In the box whi ch appears, you can sort Codecs
by general type, name, driver fil ename, etc. - I recommend sorting by the fi rst Type col umn to start wi th.
Doubl e-cli ck on any parti cular codec for more i nformati on. To set the pri ori ty for a Codec, ri ght-cli ck on the
rel evant Codec and select 'Set Fi l ter Meri t'. Rai si ng the sli der wi ll gi ve this Codec hi gher pri ori ty over other
Codecs of i ts type; l owering the sli der wi ll l essen the possi bi li ty that i t wil l be used. Use thi s feature wi th
great care, and be sure to note the ori gi nal meri t value for any codec you change.


328

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

If you want to uni nstall a non-standard or probl emati c codec, the best way to remove i t i s to go to the
Programs and Features component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and l ook for the codec name i n the list
shown. If i t's not l i sted there, then you can use GSpot to manuall y remove i t. Fol l ow the i nstructi ons above
to get to the compl ete li st of Codecs on your system, and then right-cli ck on the rel evant one and sel ect 'Un-
Regi ster Fi l ter', then you can try to manuall y del ete the relevant fil e(s), usuall y found under your
\Windows\System32 di rectory.

OBTAINING CODECS
Wi ndows Medi a Player 12 can play the foll owi ng fi le formats by defaul t: MP4, AVI, MOV, 3GP, AVCHD,
ADTS, M4A, DVR-MS, MPEG-2 TS, and WTV. It has buil t-i n support for the fol l owi ng Codecs: H.264,
MPEG4-SP, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, DIVX, XVID, 3IVX, MJPEG, DV, AAC-LC, AAC-HE, MP3, MS ADPC, Dol by
Di gi tal , and LPCM. Thi s means that you wi ll be able to pl ay back all common audi o and vi deo fil es.

If you need to downl oad a new Codec because a parti cular medi a fil e i s not pl ayi ng back correctl y, fi rst
determi ne what Codec(s) a parti cular fil e uses. Use GSpot to l oad the fi l e and the rel evant Codec i nformati on
wi ll be di splayed on the mai n page. If you then want to then manuall y fi nd the requi red Codec, search
Googl e for the Codec name to fi nd the ori gi nal author's si te. The most common thi rd party codec requi red to
pl ay back vi deo found on the web i s Di vX, however remember that WMP 12 al ready has built-i n support for
Di vX. You can al so downl oad FFDShow whi ch i s a fil ter that decodes most common vi deo and audi o
formats, i ncludi ng Di vX, Xvi D, AC3, FLAC and OGG. If you si mpl y want FLAC and OGG support, i nstal l
the Xi ph Di rectshow Fil ters. For FLAC onl y, i nstall the FLAC codec.

There are al so certai n types of media whi ch may not pl ay back on Wi ndows Media Player or other media
pl ayers due to propri etary i ssues. The RealPlayer .RM format for exampl e is one such format whi ch requi re a
special Codec and i s usual l y onl y vi ewabl e usi ng RealPlayer. However you can i nstal l Real Al ternati ve to
all ow WMP 12 to play back Real Pl ayer format fil es. In other cases there may not be an appropri ate Codec to
all ow you to pl ay a parti cular format, in whi ch case you may need to i nstall the propri etary pl ayer for that
format, though thi s shoul d be qui te rare.

Codec Packs: I strongl y advi se agai nst i nstall i ng any general Codec Packs. These packs are tempti ng as they
typi call y adverti se themselves as containi ng al l the Codecs you'l l ever need i n one si mpl e package. However
they are known to cause confli cts which resul t i n a range of probl ems, from reduced performance, gli tches
and crashes in games and mul ti medi a pl ayback, to the compl ete l oss of audi o i n certai n appl icati ons. Even
Mi crosoft warns agai nst the i nstall ati on of Codec Packs, so this i s not a warni ng to be taken l i ghtly,
especiall y as the thorough removal of Codecs can be extremel y diffi cul t, and i n some cases, a full rei nstall of
Wi ndows 7 may be required to undo the damage caused by a Codec Pack.

64-bit Codecs: Under Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, normal 32-bi t Codecs wil l work, however some nati ve 64-bi t software
and some Wi ndows features may exhibi t mi nor i ssues. For exampl e, vi deos may not correctl y display a
content thumbnai l i n Icon vi ew i n Wi ndows Expl orer. You can resol ve thi s by install i ng the 64-bi t versi on of
the Codec i nstead. Thi s shoul dn't be necessary gi ven Wi ndows Medi a Player 12 runs as a nati ve 64-bi t
appl i cati on and now supports a wi der range of audi o and vi deo Codecs.

Some 64-bi t appl i cati ons may not detect 32-bi t Codecs; for exampl e the 64-bi t versi on of the free video
edi ti ng software Vi rtual Dub works perfectl y well on Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, but i t may require 64-bi t Codecs l ike
Lame64 for ful l MP3 encodi ng support. You wil l have to check and resol ve these i ssues for any thi rd party
medi a players and encoders. This is one of the reasons why Wi ndows Medi a Pl ayer 12 i s recommended as
the defaul t media player, because i t i s desi gned to be most compati bl e wi th Wi ndows 7, both 32-bi t and 64-
bi t versi ons.


329

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

If you are going to experiment wi th Codecs, I strongl y recommend creati ng a ful l system image backup just
pri or to commenci ng, because as noted earl i er, the uni nstal lati on and cl eanup requi red after usi ng
probl emati c Codecs can be extremel y di ffi cul t, and the qui ckest route may just be a ful l rei nstal l usi ng the
l atest system i mage - see the Backup & Recovery chapter. Codecs are one of the bi ggest cul pri ts in
probl emati c behavi or for gamers i n parti cul ar, so don't i nstal l more Codecs than absolutel y requi red, and do
not i nstal l any Codec Packs no matter how tempti ng they seem.

< DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
A major i ssue of concern for peopl e pl ayi ng back medi a i n Wi ndows i s Di gi tal Ri ghts Management (DRM).
Thi s is a form of protection appli ed to media content to prevent i t from bei ng copi ed or used beyond the
scope of i ts ori gi nal l i censing terms, si mi lar to the way Acti vati on is used i n Windows 7 - see the Acti vati on

To see if a medi a fi l e you are tryi ng to pl ay back i s protected by DRM, open Wi ndows Media Player i n
Li brary vi ew, ri ght-cli ck on the Ti tl e of the medi a fil e and sel ect Properti es. Under the 'Media Usage Rights'
tab you wil l see i f the fi le has any protecti on, and what condi tions if any there are to i ts usage, such as
number of times you can move i t to another machine or device, or when the fil e usage rights expi re. In
general you cannot l egall y remove or al ter DRM, so i t wi l l not be covered here. If you have a fi l e protected
by DRM, compl y wi th the terms i t requi res, whi ch may i nclude upgradi ng Wi ndows Media Player 12 to the
l atest versi on, and enabli ng a range of DRM-related opti ons as covered earli er i n this chapter. Al so see
further bel ow i f you wish to l egal l y avoid DRM protected musi c.

An addi ti onal form of DRM was i ntegrated i nto Wi ndows Vista, and carri es over to Wi ndows 7. It i s
designed to provi de protecti on for High Defi ni ti on (HD) vi deo content, such as that provi ded on the Bl u-Ray
di sc format. Thi s format al l ow resolutions of 720p and 1080p (i .e. 720 or 1080 verti cal l i nes i n Progressi ve
format), whereas standard DVD for exampl e i s 480p (NTSC) or 576p (PAL). To ensure that content from an
HD format i s not bei ng copi ed, al tered, or comi ng from an unauthori zed copy, Wi ndows 7 requi res that all
of the foll owing condi ti ons be sati sfi ed for protected HD content:

The TV or moni tor is connected vi a a pure digi tal DVI or HDMI cable.
The TV or moni tor supports the Hi gh Bandwi dth Digital Content Protecti on (HDCP) format.
An origi nal HD-DVD or Bl u-Ray disc is bei ng used.
An acti vated and vali d copy of Wi ndows 7 is bei ng used.
A si gned WDDM graphi cs dri ver i s bei ng used.

Wi ndows will check at startup to ensure that your hardware and system drivers support the condi ti ons
above, and i f sati sfi ed wi ll enter Protected Envi ronment such that you can play back any HD-DVD or Blu-
Ray content wi thout any probl ems. Note that any standal one HD-DVD/Bl u-Ray pl ayback devi ce requires
the fi rst three condi ti ons above to be met as wel l for the pl ayback of commerci al content, so thi s i s not a
Wi ndows-speci fi c requi rement. More detail s of the specifi c requi rements and i mpacts are i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e.

If you don't meet any of the requirements above, and thus don't enter Protected Envi ronment, the content
provi der, that i s the company whi ch produced the actual HD materi al you are tryi ng to vi ew, can i mpl ement
a degradati on i n the qual ity of the vi deo to that of a regul ar 480p DVD, or prevent pl ayback al together. Thi s
i s l eft up to the provi der to deci de; Windows has no i nvol vement i n thi s process, i t si mply tel ls the media
that i t is not runni ng on a Protected Medi a Path.

There is al so the Protected User Mode Audi o functi on, whi ch was i ntroduced i n Vi sta and has been
i mproved i n Wi ndows 7. It provi des the abi li ty to protect audi o content from bei ng unlawfull y copied,
si mil ar to the protecti on provi ded to HD vi deo content.


330

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

M
e
d
i
a

P
l
a
y
e
r

A key poi nt to note is that none of the above i nformati on appli es to HD content or audi o which i s not DRM
protected. Furthermore even DRM protected content may not enforce any or al l of the possibl e restri cti ons,
thi s i s l eft up to each content provi der to determi ne. So i n practi ce, for the average user, the DRM present i n
Wi ndows 7 and Wi ndows Medi a Player has no noti ceabl e i mpact si nce i t i s al l bei ng handl ed behi nd the
scenes by Windows wi thout any need for user i nput, and typi call y has no practical i mpact.

However i f you want to mi ni mize the impact of DRM protecti on on your system I recommend purchasi ng
your media and games on physi cal CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, rather than through di gi tal channels. The
physi cal versions of thi s media have the foll owi ng benefi ts:

Fewer restri cti ons - You can ri p an audi o CD as often as you l ike for exampl e, and to any parti cular
quali ty you prefer, whereas digi tal copies are l ocked at a parti cular bi trate and have transfer restri cti ons.
Greater securi ty agai nst acci dental del eti on - If you acci dental ly del ete a di gi tal copy, you may not be
abl e to si mply redownl oad i t from the onl i ne store where you purchased i t. A physi cal copy i s generally
more secure agai nst acci dental l oss and hence rarely needs to be repurchased.
Potenti al resal e val ue - In most cases, digi tal copi es of musi c, movies and games cannot be l egall y resold;
l egi ti mate physi cal copi es can be resol d whenever and however you wish.
Protecti on agai nst DRM changes - Some DRM protection systems may be phased out or al tered i n such a
way as to cause probl ems wi th exi sti ng protected content, even l ocki ng you out of such content. Physi cal
copi es are effecti vely i mmune from changes i n DRM, si nce they don't requi re updates to conti nue
worki ng, and most standalone players and software are backward compati bl e.

Whi le somewhat ol d-fashi oned, l egi timate physi cal media copies provi de a reasonabl e balance of cost,
conveni ence, protecti on, the abi li ty to transfer the medi a between machi nes, as wel l as rewardi ng the
creators of the content. Di gi tal downl oads may be cheaper and more conveni ent, but they carry more
restri cti ons and risks.

< OTHER MEDIA PLAYERS
If you don't wi sh to use Wi ndows Medi a Player to vi ew mul ti media content, there are a range of al ternati ves
i ncludi ng the foll owi ng popul ar free pl ayers:

VLC
Wi nAmp
Di vX Player
Qui ckTi me Player
i Tunes

I can't go i nto detai l about each of these pl ayers in thi s chapter, however they are each good pl ayers,
dependi ng on your personal preference and specifi c needs. One speci fi c media pl ayer worth noti ng further
however i s Media Player Cl assi c. There i s a free generi c media pl ayer whi ch can pl ay back most formats,
i ncludi ng propri etary formats, and i s also both easy to use and util izes very li ttl e system resources.
Downl oad and launch the mplayerc package - i t requi res no i nstall ati on because i t i s i n a si ngl e .EXE fi le
whi ch contains the pl ayer. It al so requi res no reconfi gurati on as such, i t i s ready to be used i mmediately
wi thout any issues.


331

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

GRAPHICS & SOUND

Some of the most obvi ous enhancements to Wi ndows 7 come i n the form of graphi cs-rel ated changes,
parti cul arl y to the Wi ndows i nterface. For Wi ndows Vi sta users, the most promi nent graphi cal change i n
Wi ndows 7 i s the new Taskbar; for Wi ndows XP users, the enti re gl ass-l ike 2D/3D Aero i nterface is
compl etel y new. Si mil arl y, Wi ndows 7 i ntroduces mi nor enhancements to audi o compared wi th Wi ndows
Vista, but the audi o changes between Windows 7 and Wi ndows XP are much more dramati c.

Asi de from the more obvi ous changes, there are a range of changes beneath the hood whi ch make Wi ndows
7 much more effi cient i n i ts handl i ng of resources when provi di ng graphics and audio functi onality
compared to any previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows. Si nce many of the changes are not obvi ous, a basi c
understandi ng of these techni cal changes i n Wi ndows 7 is requi red, and is covered i n thi s i ntroducti on
before we go any further i n thi s chapter.

Wi ndows 7's graphi cs capabi li ti es are powered by the Wi ndows Di splay Dri ver Model (WDDM) whi ch has
been upgraded from the ini ti al Versi on 1.0 i n Vi sta to Versi on 1.1 i n Wi ndows 7. Under WDDM 1.0, the
Desktop Wi ndows Manager (DWM) was i ntroduced, and enabled the combi nati on of 2D and 3D effects
whi ch form the transparent Aero i nterface. In Windows 7, the new WDDM 1.1 adds Graphi cs Devi ce
Interface (GDI) hardware accel erati on for 2D graphi cs, whi ch i n turn all ows the DWM to use vi deo memory
as opposed to system memory for renderi ng the Desktop, i ncreasi ng overal l performance and resul ti ng in
much l ess system memory usage.

Di rectX i s the Appl i cati on Programmi ng Interface (API) for handl ing mul ti media i n Windows. It has vari ous
components, i ncludi ng Di rect3D for 3D graphi cs, Di rectSound3D for 3D audi o, and Di rectDraw (now
Di rect2D) for 2D graphi cs. Wi ndows Vista i ntroduced a major revi si on of Di rectX cal l ed Di rectX 10, whi ch
was subsequentl y updated to Di rectX 10.1 when Vista Servi ce Pack 1 was rel eased. DirectX 10 actually
contai ned three versi ons of Di rect3D for 3D graphi cs (pri mari ly gami ng) compati bi l i ty purposes: Di rect3D 9,
whi ch i s si mil ar to the Di rectX versi on used i n Wi ndows XP; Di rect3D 9Ex which was a hybri d of Di rect3D 9
for use wi th Vista's new WDDM 1.0; and Di rect3D 10, l ater 10.1. Windows 7 bui l ds upon Di rectX 10.1 by
i ncorporati ng Di rectX 11, whi ch adds a range of new features to DirectX 10.1.

The key changes resul ti ng from the i mpl ementati on of DirectX 11 in Wi ndows 7 i s that Di rect3D 11 provi des
new graphi cs capabi li ti es such as Tessel lati on to i ncrease object compl exi ty, Mul ti threaded renderi ng to
i mprove graphi cs card uti l izati on, and Compute shader support for processing general data on graphi cs
cards. Di rect2D i s al so i ntroduced to eventuall y repl ace Di rectDraw for renderi ng 2D graphi cs. Di rect2D
provi des hardware accel erated 2D graphi cs, though note that both the GDI menti oned above and Di rect2D
are i nvol ved i n hardware-accel erated 2D graphi cs renderi ng i n Wi ndows 7, as covered in thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e. When renderi ng the Wi ndows Desktop for exampl e, GDI draws any sol i d objects and straight l i nes,
i ncludi ng text, whi l e Direct2D is used for the transparency effects and anti -ali asing for exampl e.

As touched upon i n the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter, WDDM 1.0 graphi cs dri vers - essentiall y Vista-
compati bl e dri vers - stil l work under Wi ndows 7, however to enabl e all the benefi ts descri bed above, you
need to use Wi ndows 7-speci fi c WDDM 1.1 graphi cs dri vers.

More detai ls of the graphics and audi o changes are provi ded throughout this chapter, as we exami ne the
enti re range of graphi cs and audi o-rel ated functi onality i n Wi ndows 7.


332

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

< WINDOWS AERO
Wi ndows Aero i s the Graphi cal User Interface (GUI) i ntroduced i n Wi ndows Vista and i mpl emented wi th
refi nements in Wi ndows 7. It i s a departure from previ ous Wi ndows i nterfaces, because i t provi des a mi x of
two di mensional (2D) and three di mensi onal (3D) components. Some of the promi nent features of Aero
i nclude:

Gl ass-l ike transparenci es on wi ndow borders and buttons and Desktop el ements li ke Gadgets.
Thumbnail previ ews of the contents of currentl y runni ng appl i cati ons by hoveri ng your mouse over
thei r Taskbar button or when accessi ng Task Swi tcher by pressi ng ALT+TAB.
Ani mated 3D previ ews of runni ng appl icati ons whil e usi ng the Windows 3D Flip task swi tcher accessed
by pressi ng WINDOWS+TAB.
Ani mated 3D transi ti on and ani mati on effects, such as when mi ni mi zi ng or maximi zi ng wi ndows.

Wi ndows 7 adds the foll owi ng refi nements to Aero:

A redesigned and more functi onal Taskbar, whi ch i s sl ightl y thi cker and full y transparent, and al l ows a
range of useful new features as covered under the Taskbar secti on further bel ow.
Transparency effects remain vi si bl e even when a wi ndow i s maxi mized.
Aero Peek, Aero Shake, and Aero Snap features for i nstantl y changi ng the di splay of windows wi th
vari ous mouse gestures - each covered separatel y i n thi s secti on bel ow.
A touch-capabl e i nterface, whi ch when combi ned wi th a touch-sensi ti ve screen, all ows you to sel ect and
mani pulate objects by pressi ng your fingers agai nst the screen. Thi s i s part of the reason why the
Taskbar has been sl i ghtly increased i n thi ckness.
A range of i mproved ani mati on and l ighti ng effects whi ch are quite subtl e but are often useful .

REQUIREMENTS
To be abl e to enabl e Aero on your system, you must meet all of the fol l owi ng condi ti ons:

You must have Wi ndows 7 Home Premi um, Professi onal , Ul ti mate or Enterpri se edi ti ons. You cannot
access Wi ndows Aero mode i n Home Basi c or Starter edi ti ons of Wi ndows 7.
You must have a supported DX9-capabl e graphi cs card wi th 128MB of Vi deo RAM or higher, and the
card must have hardware support for Pi xel Shader 2.0 or above. Some i ntegrated/onboard graphi cs
sol uti ons wi ll not meet these requi rements even if they have access to 128MB of memory.
You must be usi ng a proper WDDM 1.0 or 1.1 graphi cs dri ver.
You must have a 1GHz or faster CPU.
You must have more than 1GB of System RAM.
Your di splay must have a refresh rate of more than 10Hz.

To make sure Aero is enabled, you must also have the appropriate setti ngs i n Windows. Under the Wi ndows
Control Panel open Personali zati on. Sel ect one of the themes shown under the 'Aero Themes' secti on. If these
are not avai labl e, cli ck the Di spl ay l i nk i n the l eft pane, then cli ck 'Change di splay setti ngs', then sel ect
'Advanced Setti ngs'. Under the Moni tor tab, make sure the Col ors opti on is set to 'True Color (32 bi t)' and
cl i ck Apply. Go back and agai n try to sel ect an Aero Theme. If i t remai ns unavai labl e, then you do not
presentl y meet all the requi rements above, and you cannot run the Aero i nterface.


333

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Addi ti onal poi nts to consider when attempti ng to use Aero:

You wi l l need a Wi ndows Experi ence Index score of 3.0 or above on the Graphi cs component for Aero to
be enabl ed automati call y. If you've i nstall ed a new graphi cs card or dri vers and you l ose Aero, or i t sti ll
doesn't show up despi te havi ng appropri ate hardware, dri vers and setti ngs as above, see the Wi ndows
Experi ence Index secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for more detai ls.
If you are runni ng a very hi gh resoluti on and/or mul ti ple moni tors the mini mum requirements for
graphi cs card memory wi ll ri se. For exampl e a si ngl e moni tor runni ng at 2560x1600 resol ution requi res
256MB of Vi deo RAM for decent performance i n Aero.
If you are using a Mobi l e PC set to a Power Saver power pl an, Windows may automati call y exi t the Aero
i nterface and swi tch to the basi c i nterface at any ti me to save power. If you want to prevent thi s, go to
the Power Opti ons component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and change the pl an from Power Saver to
one of the other presets, or customize it - see the Power Opti ons secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel
chapter.

If Aero i s sti ll not worki ng for you and you have appropri ate hardware, go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the
Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ DWM]

Composi t i on=1
Composi t i onPol i cy=2

Change the DWORDs above to the val ues shown then restart Wi ndows. Aero should now be avai labl e to
choose and enabl e under the Themes in Personali zati on. If i t is not then your graphi cs hardware and/or
dri vers do not meet the mi ni mum requi rements for Aero. You can attempt to run the Aero-specific
troubl eshooter, as covered under the Troubl eshooti ng secti on of the Performance Measurement &

There are a range of Aero-related features whi ch you can only use when Wi ndows Aero is enabled. These
are covered bel ow:

Thumbnail Previews: This feature provides a small thumbnail i mage of the current contents of a parti cul ar
appl i cati on when you hover over a Taskbar i tem, or when usi ng ALT+TAB task swi tchi ng. However i ts
functi onali ty i s covered i n more detai l in the Taskbar secti on further bel ow.

Flip & Flip 3D: Windows Fl i p i s the ALT+TAB task swi tchi ng functi on avai labl e i n previ ous versi ons of
Wi ndows such as XP. However under the Aero i nterface, accessing Fl i p by usi ng ALT+TAB bri ngs up a set
of thumbnai l previ ews of open wi ndows. Furthermore, by using WINDOWS+TAB for Fl i p 3D, you can
swi tch to an ani mated 3D representation of all open wi ndows. If you want to have Fl i p 3D remai n i n 3D
mode wi thout havi ng to hol d down WINDOWS+TAB, use CTRL+WINDOWS+TAB i nstead; now Fl i p 3D
wi ll remai n in 3D mode when you l et go, and you can use the TAB key or the arrow keys to cycl e through
open wi ndows, and press ESC to return to normal 2D mode.

If you want to di sable the 3D Fl i p functionali ty al together, go to the fol l ow l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Pol i ci es\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ DWM]

Di sal l owFl i p3d=1

Ri ght-cli ck on the Wi ndows key i n the l eft pane and create a new key call ed DWM under i t. Then cli ck on
DWM, and in the ri ght pane create a new DWORD as shown above and assi gn i t a value of 1. Reboot or
l ogoff and l ogon, and Fl i p 3D wi ll no l onger work. If you want to regai n thi s functi onali ty, simpl y del ete the
key above.


334

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Aero Peek: New to Windows 7, if you qui ckl y want to see what is currentl y on your Wi ndows Desktop, you
don't need to mi ni mize or cl ose your open wi ndows. Move your mouse cursor over the small glassy
rectangle at the far ri ght of the Wi ndows Taskbar next to the Noti fi cati on Area to i nstantl y see through all
open wi ndows. Move i t away to again see your wi ndows as before. Cl i ck on the Aero Peek button i nstead
and you wi ll be taken to the Desktop, wi th al l other wi ndows mi ni mized; cl i ck on i t agai n to restore the
wi ndows to thei r previ ous posi ti ons. You can al so tri gger Aero Peek by pressi ng the WINDOWS key
together wi th the Spacebar, and Peek will remai n i n effect as l ong as you hold down the WINDOWS key.

If you wish to al ter the speed wi th whi ch Aero Peek works, go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er \ Advanced]

Deskt opLi vePr evi ewHover Ti me=400

Create the DWORD above and gi ve i t a value i n mi ll iseconds (1000 mi l l iseconds = 1 second) i n Deci mal vi ew
to determi ne how l ong i t takes for Aero Peek to fade to the Desktop once you hover your mouse over the
Aero Peek rectangl e. For exampl e to make i t effecti vel y i nstantaneous, set thi s to =1. Restart Wi ndows or
l ogoff and l ogon to see the i mpact of this change.

If you wish to di sabl e Aero Peek, do the fol l owi ng: go to the Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ect Taskbar and
Start Menu, and under the Taskbar tab, unti ck the 'Use Aero Peek to previ ew the desktop' box, then cl i ck
Appl y. This wi ll di sable the abi li ty to temporaril y 'peek' at the Desktop, and onl y al l ow the Aero Peek button
to be used a toggl e for swi tchi ng i nstantly to your Desktop, and back agai n to your open wi ndows. Note that
you can also achi eve the same functi on by ri ght-cli cki ng on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ecti ng the
'Show the desktop' or 'Show open wi ndows' opti ons.

Aero Snap: Wi ndows 7 now provi des nati ve support for the use of basi c mouse gestures on the Wi ndows
Desktop. The two most common categori es of mouse gestures are call ed Aero Snap and Aero Shake. Aero
Snap al l ows you to qui ckly resize open wi ndows by draggi ng the wi ndow i n a parti cul ar di recti on. Drag an
open wi ndow to the far left or far ri ght edge of the screen and i t automati cal ly resi zes to take up exactly half
the screen. Drag an open wi ndow to the very top of the screen and i t i nstantl y becomes maxi mized. Drag a
maxi mized wi ndow downwards and i t converts to i ts regular wi ndowed mode. Thi s can be very useful in
parti cul ar i f you want to have two wi ndows arranged exactly si de by side on a wi descreen moni tor, because
you can drag one wi ndow to the far ri ght, and the other to the far l eft, and they wi ll be resized to si t next to
each other. You can achi eve the same functi onali ty for two open wi ndows by right-cl icki ng on an empty area
of the Taskbar and sel ecti ng the 'Show wi ndows si de by si de'.

If for some reason you wish to di sabl e Aero Snap, go to the Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ect Ease of Access
Center, then sel ect 'Make the mouse easi er to use'. Ti ck the 'Prevent wi ndows from being automati cally
arranged when moved to the edge of the screen' box, then cl i ck the Appl y button.

Aero Shake: Based on the same pri nci ple as Aero Snap, Aero Shake al l ows you to qui ckly mini mize all open
wi ndows except one. Left cl i ck on the ti tl e bar of the wi ndow of your choi ce, and wi thout l etti ng go of the
mouse button, rapi dl y shake i t l eft and ri ght and/or up and down repeatedly to mi ni mi ze al l other open
wi ndows at once. Doi ng the same thi ng agai n wi ll restore all the windows to their previ ous state.

If for some reason you wi sh to di sabl e Aero Shake, you can do so by goi ng to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the
Regi stry:


335

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Pol i ci es\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows]

Ri ght-cli ck on the subfol der above and create a New>Key cal l ed Expl or er - i t should l ook l ike thi s:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Pol i ci es\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Expl or er ]

NoWi ndowMi ni mi zi ngShor t cut s=1

Create the DWORD above under the new l ocati on, and set i t =1 to di sabl e Aero Shake. Restart Wi ndows for
the change to take effect. If you want to undo this change, simpl y del ete the value above and restart
Wi ndows.

The i mproved performance and functionali ty of Windows Aero, combi ned wi th i ts aestheti call y pl easing
appearance and reduced system resource usage means that for any system whi ch supports i t, there is no
reason to di sabl e i t. However if you don't l ike Windows Aero and i ts related functi onal i ty, you can di sabl e i t
by goi ng to the Personal izati on component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ecti ng one of the themes
under the 'Basi c and High Contrast Themes' category, such as the Wi ndows 7 Basi c theme.

< PERSONALIZATION
Thi s component i s the central l ocati on for customizi ng a range of graphi cs and sound features whi ch have a
noti ceabl e i mpact on the general appearance of the Wi ndows Desktop. To access thi s component, ei ther go to
the Wi ndows Control Panel and select Personali zation, or ri ght-cl i ck on an empty area of the Desktop and
sel ect Personali ze. Bel ow are the vari ous setti ngs for thi s feature.

CHANGE THE VISUALS AND SOUND ON YOUR COMPUTER
Here you can sel ect a parti cular theme for the Windows Desktop, whi ch i ncl udes a combi nati on of four
components: Desktop Background, Wi ndow Col or, Sounds and Screen Saver. To begi n wi th there are a l ist
of preset themes di splayed under two mai n categori es i n the mai n pane of Personal izati on - Aero Themes
and Basi c and Hi gh Contrast Themes. Aero Themes, as covered in the Wi ndows Aero section above, are onl y
avai labl e to be sel ected if your system supports Wi ndows Aero. The Basi c and Hi gh Contrast Themes on the
other hand are supported by al l hardware, however choosi ng these themes di sabl es Wi ndows Aero and any
Aero-related features, i ncludi ng Fl i p 3D, Thumbnail Previ ews, Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake.

You are not restri cted to the preset themes di splayed here, as you can downl oad an additi onal range of
offi cial Wi ndows 7 themes by cli cki ng the Get more themes onl i ne l i nk, or by checki ng the user-made
themes avai labl e at various si tes such as Devi antart. Most themes shoul d come i n the form of a
.THEMEPACK fil e whi ch you can si mpl y doubl e-cli ck to automaticall y i nstall and apply.

Any custom themes you create or downl oad wil l appear under the 'My Themes' category at the top of the
Themes pane, and you can swi tch between any theme at any ti me si mpl y by sel ecti ng i t, and the appropriate
changes wil l be i mpl emented strai ght away.

You don't need to use preset themes or downl oaded theme packs i f you want to customize your Desktop.
You can al ter each of the four basi c components of a theme by cl i cki ng the rel evant l i nks at the bottom of the
Personali zation wi ndow. These are covered i n separate secti ons bel ow:

DESKTOP BACKGROUND
You can set an i mage for your Desktop background by goi ng to the Wi ndows Control Panel , opening
Personali zation and cl i cking the 'Desktop Background' li nk. By defaul t you wi ll see a range of Wi ndows
backgrounds, al so known as Wal l papers, whi ch come wi th al l versi ons of Wi ndows 7. These are stored


336

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

under the \Windows\Web\Wallpaper di rectory under vari ous theme-based categories. You can sel ect a new
l ocati on from whi ch to sel ect a Wall paper by cl i cki ng the Pi cture Locati on box. Note that here you can also
choose the 'Sol i d Col ors' category to set a pl ai n sol i d col or Desktop background, or sel ect the 'Pi ctures
Li brary' option to l ist al l the i mages stored i n your Pi ctures Li brary, or si mpl y cl i ck the Browse button and
go to a specifi c directory whi ch hol ds the i mage fi le you wi sh to set as a background. Note that you can
change the size of the i mage i cons di spl ayed here the same as i n Icon vi ew i n Wi ndows Expl orer - by
hol di ng down the CTRL key and scroll ing your mousewheel up or down.

The common i mage formats can all be used for Desktop backgrounds, i ncl udi ng .BMP, .PNG, .GIF and .JPG.
However dependi ng on the method you use to appl y a wal l paper, Windows may automati call y convert
other formats to .JPG before usi ng the image as a wall paper. This i s because the i mage actual l y bei ng used
by Wi ndows as the current wal l paper i s a copy of the i mage you have selected, and can be found under the
\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes di rectory wi th the name
Transcodedwallpaper.jpg - if you sel ect an i mage format other than .JPG to set as a wall paper, Windows will
pause momentari ly as i t converts i t to .JPG for use. Thi s may resul t i n a degradati on of qual i ty if you select a
hi gh qual i ty i mage i n a l ossl ess format such as .PNG. You can ci rcumvent thi s automati c reformatti ng by
usi ng the Web Browser method of appl yi ng a wall paper as covered further bel ow.

You can select one or mul ti ple wall papers. If you sel ect more than one wall paper, Wi ndows wi ll
automati cal ly begi n the Desktop Sli deshow feature, whi ch cycl es your sel ected wall papers one at a time
based on the ti me you enter under the 'Change pi cture every' box. If you onl y sel ect a si ngl e wall paper, thi s
feature has no i mpact. Importantl y, under the 'Picture posi ti on' secti on, you can sel ect how to scale a
wall paper to fi t onto your screen. Some of these opti ons wi ll change the i mage's aspect rati o, that i s, the ratio
of i ts height to i ts wi dth, whi ch can make the i mage seem distorted. The avai lable opti ons are:

Fi ll - Al ters the i mage size to fi l l the enti re screen wi thout changi ng the i mage's aspect rati o. Porti ons of
the i mage may be cut off.
Fi t - Al ters the i mage si ze so that the enti re i mage fi ts wi thi n the screen wi thout changi ng the i mage's
aspect rati o. No porti ons of the i mage wi ll be cut off, but there may be porti ons of the screen wi th no
i mage. Cli ck the 'Change background col or' l i nk whi ch becomes avail abl e to set the col or for these empty
porti ons.
Stretch - Al ters the i mage size so that the i mage fi ll s the enti re screen wi th no empty areas vi si bl e. The
i mage's aspect rati o may be al tered, resulti ng i n a noti ceabl e distortion of the i mage.
Ti l e - Mai ntains the i mage's size and aspect rati o, and repeats the same i mage in a ti l e pattern to fi l l the
enti re screen. If the i mage is larger than the screen si ze, the same effect as Fil l is achi eved.
Center - Maintai ns the i mage's size and aspect ratio, and displays only one copy of the image i n the
center of the screen. You must cl i ck the 'Change background color' li nk whi ch becomes avail abl e to set
the col or for otherwi se empty porti ons of the screen.

For i mages whi ch exactly match your moni tor's current resol uti on, all of the opti ons above wi l l have no
i mpact - the image wil l be di splayed wi thout changi ng i ts si ze or aspect ratio. Cli ck the 'Save changes' button
when done to save your desktop background preferences to your theme.

There are several addi ti onal ways to i nstantl y appl y a Desktop background:

Windows Explorer: Any image fil e can be right-cli cked i n Windows Expl orer and most Expl orer-based
i nterfaces and the opti on to 'Set as desktop background' sel ected to i nstantl y appl y that i mage as the current
wall paper.

Windows Photo Viewer/Gallery: Whil e l ooki ng at any image wi th the buil t-i n Windows Photo Vi ewer, or the
opti onall y i nstal l ed Wi ndows Li ve Photo Gall ery, then you can ri ght-cl i ck anywhere on the image and select
'Set as desktop background' and i t wil l instantl y become the current Desktop wall paper.


337

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Web Browser: When vi ewi ng an i mage in your browser, such as Internet Expl orer, ri ght-cl i ck on the i mage
and sel ect 'Set as background' (or si mi lar). Importantly, thi s method also all ows the i mage to remai n i n i ts
ori gi nal format, wi thout bei ng automati call y converted to .JPG by Wi ndows. Thi s means i t retai ns maxi mum
quali ty if i t is i n a l ossl ess format such as .PNG. Note that the wall paper bei ng used i n thi s method wi ll
actuall y be stored under the \Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer di rectory
i nstead of the normal Wi ndows wall paper di rectory.

In terms of resource usage and performance, gi ven the i mprovements i n Desktop graphi cs resource
management i n Wi ndows 7, you should not be overl y concerned about the type of wall paper you choose
and should base the decision on what you fi nd most pl easi ng. Whil e moni tori ng overal l memory usage and
the Desktop Wi ndows Manager process i n parti cular (dwm.exe), I ran a range of tests and found that when
swi tchi ng between usi ng a non-converted .BMP or .PNG wall paper i mage of roughly 6MB size (usi ng the
Web Browser method above to prevent automati c conversi on), and the same image i n 350KB .JPG format,
the .BMP and .PNG versi ons of the i mage actual ly resul ted i n much l ess overall system memory usage. The
dwm.exe process would drop from 23MB to 14MB when the non-converted .BMP and .PNG i mages were
used, and overal l Avai lable memory woul d al so ri se by a si mi lar amount. So if your system i s l ow on RAM
you mi ght consi der usi ng an uncompressed i mage, but i n any case the difference is margi nal at best, and the
pri mary i mpact is on your vi deo RAM, whi ch when usi ng the Desktop is typi cal l y underuti li zed anyway.
The bottom l i ne is you shoul d sel ect a wal l paper whi ch best sui ts your tastes, not your performance
concerns.

If you wish to fi nd a new Desktop background i mage, you can downl oad a wi de range of free user-made
wall papers in a sel ecti on of resol uti ons at InterfaceLi ft and a range of ori gi nal Wi ndows wall papers here.
Another method to fi nd wall papers of a specifi c size i s to use Googl e Image Search, enter a search term for
your generally desi red wall paper i mage (e.g. sky), then cl ick the 'Show Opti ons' l i nk at the top l eft, cli ck the
Exactl y li nk, and enter a Wi dth and Hei ght i n pi xels to match your current screen resoluti on (e.g. Wi dth 1920
Hei ght 1200) then cl i ck Search.

One feature that Wi ndows Vi sta Ul timate owners coul d access for free was the Wi ndows DreamScene
ani mated desktop, al l owing the pl ayback of vi deo l oops as wall papers on the Wi ndows Desktop as
demonstrated here. Thi s feature i s no longer offi ciall y avai labl e in any versi on of Wi ndows 7, and has been
repl aced by the stati c Desktop Sl i deshow feature. If you wi sh to enabl e a DreamScene-l ike ani mated
desktop, you wi ll need to use thi rd party software such as Deskscapes. There are al so vari ous hacks which
can all ow the i nstal lati on of DreamScene on Wi ndows 7, but these are not l egal and wil l not be covered here.

WINDOWS COLOR
Thi s area al lows you to confi gure the general col or of the Wi ndows Desktop components, as wel l as the
transparency effect used i n Wi ndows Aero. Any changes are refl ected i n real -time, so sel ect vari ous col ors
and judge thei r vi sual i mpact on your current Desktop. You can use the 'Col or i ntensi ty' sl ider to make the
col ors more or l ess saturated. If you wish to set a custom col or scheme, cli ck the 'Show color mi xer' button
and a set of addi ti onal opti ons wil l be di splayed. The Hue sli der control s the overal l color ti nt used, as
i ndi cated by the col ors shown on the sl i der i tself. The Saturati on slider control s the ri chness of col or, and the
Bri ghtness sl ider controls how l ight or dark the col or appears.

If you unti ck the 'Enabl e transparency' box, thi s removes al l transparency (glass-li ke) effects from the Aero
i nterface. It does not di sabl e Wi ndows Aero, as Aero effects such as Aero Peek, Thumbnail Previ ews and so
forth are stil l i n effect. You can also determi ne how blurry the transparency effect i s i n the Aero i nterface by
usi ng the Color i ntensi ty sl i der - the further to the ri ght the sl ider i s taken, the more bl urry and hence the
'thi cker' the gl ass areas seem to be. For exampl e if you want to make the Aero transparenci es appear al most
l i ke glass, click the whi te col or box, ensure the 'Enabl e transparency' box i s ticked, then move the 'Col or
i ntensi ty' sl i der al l the way to the l eft.


338

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Cl i ck the 'Advanced appearance setti ngs' li nk to open a new wi ndow whi ch all ows the customi zati on of all
the common Wi ndows displ ay el ements. Under the Item box you can select each el ement, and then i n any
other boxes you can al ter parameters rangi ng from font styl es, sizes and col ors to the thi ckness of borders
and background col ors used. Most of these opti ons onl y apply if you are using a non-Aero Basi c Theme,
however some of them appl y to Wi ndows Aero as wel l. For exampl e, to change the font styl e and size of the
text used for Icon names, as well as i n the Start Menu, sel ect the Icon i tem i n the Item box, then under the
Font box sel ect a new font (defaul t i s Segoe UI) and under the Si ze box sel ect a new si ze (Defaul t is 9), then
cl i ck the Appl y button - the change can i nstantl y be seen when you open the Start Menu, or l ook at any
Desktop i cons. If you have the ti me and pati ence, you can customize your Wi ndows i nterface qui te
thoroughl y usi ng the options avail abl e here. Note that any changes made here are part of your theme, and
can be undone by sel ecti ng another theme or set to defaul t by sel ecti ng the standard Wi ndows 7 theme.

SOUNDS
Here you can customi ze the sounds played duri ng vari ous Wi ndows events. These opti ons are covered in
detail under the Sound secti on of thi s chapter.

SCREEN SAVER
Here you can set whether a screen saver becomes enabl ed after a peri od of i nacti vi ty. A screen saver i s an
ani mated screen whi ch comes i nto effect after a period of i nacti vity, and is desi gned to prevent the screen
from havi ng any stati c i mages i mpri nted due to displ ayi ng the same i mage for a l engthy peri od of ti me. It's
not absolutely necessary, because your Power Options shoul d be set to turn off your di spl ay after a set
peri od of i nacti vi ty, preferabl y the defaul t of 20 mi nutes or l ess - see the Power Opti ons secti on under the
Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for detai ls, and note that you can al so access these opti ons here by cl i cki ng
the 'Change power setti ngs' l i nk.

However i n practi ce i t can be useful to set a screen saver whi ch ki cks i n after a peri od of perhaps 5 - 10
mi nutes of i nacti vi ty, to further safeguard agai nst temporary i mage retenti on on LCD or Plasma di splays. It
can al so be useful i n i mprovi ng securi ty by preventing others from seei ng what i s on your screen when you
are away from the PC, and prevent attempts to access your machi ne i n your absence.

Go through and Previ ew the availabl e screen savers, then sel ect one. I recommend the Bl ank screen saver as
thi s wi ll use less energy, provi de the most securi ty and pri vacy, and prevent any potenti al image retention.
Note that some screen savers can be confi gured further by clicki ng the Setti ngs button; e.g. the Photos
screensaver requi res you to tel l i t where your desired photos are stored. Choose how l ong a period of
i nacti vi ty i s requi red before the screensaver commences by enteri ng an amount i n mi nutes i n the Wai t box. I
recommend an i dl e peri od of 5 mi nutes. Note that the screen saver wi ll not launch i tself whil e i dl e duri ng
gami ng and other full -screen 3D appli cati ons, and you can al so prevent the screen saver from starti ng when
pl ayi ng back medi a i n Wi ndows Media Player by unti cki ng the 'All ow screen saver duri ng playback' opti on
as covered i n the Basi c Settings secti on of the Wi ndows Media Pl ayer chapter.

If you want greater security, ti ck the 'On resume, displ ay l ogon screen' box. If ti cked, whenever you move
your mouse or press a key to come out of screen saver mode, you wil l see the l ogon screen. However thi s
onl y works to actuall y secure your system if your User Account has a password. Thi s i s strongl y
recommended i f you work i n an envi ronment where the PC i s accessi bl e by other peopl e, as i t all ows you to
l eave your machi ne for extended peri ods wi thout manuall y loggi ng out or swi tchi ng off, secure i n the
knowl edge that someone else can't access your account.


339

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

SAVING THEMES
Once you've customized the four theme el ements covered i n the four secti ons above, your new theme wil l be
i n effect and wi ll be shown wi th the ti tl e 'Unsaved theme' i n the My Themes secti on of the Personali zation
wi ndow. To gi ve the theme a name, and to save it and hence prevent your customi zati ons for thi s theme
bei ng l ost, cl i ck the 'Save theme' li nk. Each user's themes are saved to thei r
\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes directory as a fi le wi th the extensi on
.THEME. Any i nstall ed .THEMEPACK fil es may create separate di rectories under thi s fol der to hold
rel evant resources, such as mul ti pl e custom wall papers, sounds and l ogos.

If you wish to save your theme i n .THEMEPACK format for backi ng up purposes, or to share i t wi th other
users, ri ght-cl i ck on your theme i n the My Theme secti on of Personal izati on and sel ect 'Save theme for
shari ng', then sel ect a name and a sui tabl e l ocati on to same thi s theme. To del ete any of your themes and
hence remove them from My Themes, you can right-cli ck on i t and sel ect Del ete - however you can't delete
your currently used theme.

CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS
When the 'Change desktop i cons' li nk i s cl i cked i n the l eft pane of Personali zati on, a new wi ndow opens
all ow you to sel ect whi ch common system i cons appear on the Wi ndows Desktop. By defaul t only the
Recycl e Bi n wi ll appear on your Desktop, however you can remove thi s if you wi sh - whi ch i s not
recommended - by unti cki ng the 'Recycl e Bi n' box and cli cki ng the Appl y button. You can al so add or
remove a Control Panel icon whi ch opens the Wi ndows Control Panel ; a Computer i con whi ch opens
Wi ndows Expl orer at the Computer category; a User's Fil es i con whi ch opens Wi ndows Expl orer at the
current user's \Users\[username]\ folder; and a Network i con whi ch opens Wi ndows Expl orer at the
Network category. You can change the appearance of any of these i cons, i ncl udi ng the Recycl e Bi n, by
sel ecti ng the rel evant i con i n the mai n pane, then cl i cki ng the 'Change i con' button and ei ther sel ecti ng a new
i con from the l i st shown, or cl i cki ng the Browse button to sel ect a custom .ICO fil e - see the Icons section
l ater i n this chapter for detail s of how to create a custom i con fil e.

If the 'All ow themes to change desktop icons' box i s ticked, any .THEMEPACK fi les you i nstall may al ter the
appearance of these Desktop i cons, such as a custom Recycle Bi n. Thi s shoul d be fi ne, as any customizati ons
are usual l y done to mai ntai n a consistent appearance i n a custom theme, and as al ways you can easil y undo
a theme si mpl y by sel ecti ng another one or creati ng your own.

CHANGE MOUSE POINTERS
When the 'Change mouse poi nters' li nk is cl i cked in the l eft pane of Personali zati on, the Mouse options
wi ndow wil l open at the Poi nter tab. These opti ons are covered i n more detai l under the Mouse secti on of
the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. Thi s secti on all ows you to ei ther sel ect a preset mouse poi nter theme
from the Scheme box, or you can hi ghl i ght the i ndivi dual aspects of mouse poi nter appearance, cl i ck the
Browse button, and apply a new appearance for that parti cul ar acti on. When done you can cl ick the 'Save As'
button to save your new poi nter theme as a custom Scheme.

You can al so sel ect to di sabl e the shadow di splayed under the mouse cursor by unti cki ng the 'Enabl e poi nter
shadow' box, and whether themes can change the appearance of the mouse cursor by ti cki ng the 'Al low
themes to change mouse poi nters', whi ch shoul d be fine.

CHANGE YOUR ACCOUNT PICTURE
Cl i cki ng the 'Change your account pi cture' li nk i n the l eft pane of Personali zation l ets you sel ect an i mage to
use for your User Account. These opti ons are covered i n detai l under the Managi ng User Accounts secti on of
the User Accounts chapter.


340

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

VISUAL EFFECTS
You can adjust a range of addi ti onal setti ngs whi ch hel p to personali ze your Windows Desktop by goi ng to
the Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ecti ng the System component, cl i cki ng the 'Advanced system setti ngs' link,
and under the Advanced tab of the wi ndow whi ch opens, cli ck the Setti ngs button under the Performance
secti on. These setti ngs are found here rather than under Personalizati on because they have some i mpact on
the overall performance and responsi veness of the Wi ndows i nterface. Of relevance to this chapter i s the
contents of the Visual Effects tab - the Advanced tab i s covered under the Windows Memory Management
secti on of the Memory Opti mizati on chapter, whi le the Data Executi on Prevention tab is covered under the
Data Execution Preventi on secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.

Under the Visual Effects tab you can sel ect a range of graphi cal effects to enable or di sable wi thi n Wi ndows.
Many of these can already be adjusted under di fferent secti ons of Wi ndows, such as 'Show shadows under
mouse poi nter' whi ch i s under the Mouse Opti ons i n the Wi ndows Control Panel , or 'Enabl e Aero Peek'
whi ch i s also availabl e under the Taskbar and Start Menu component of Wi ndows Control Panel . Thi s i s
why you may fi nd some of these opti ons are already ti cked/unti cked, because you may have adjusted them
el sewhere. However there are a range of unique i tems here, such as 'Ani mations i n the taskbar and Start
Menu', whi ch i f unti cked, removes al l ani mated effects from the Taskbar and Start Menu. For exampl e wi th
thi s opti on unti cked, Taskbar Thumbnai l Previ ews and Jump Li sts may feel more responsi ve because there is
no ani mated popup effect appl i ed.

Adjust these setti ngs to suit your taste, and if you are runni ng a sl ow PC, you may wi sh to disable a range of
these features to i ncrease responsi veness when usi ng the Aero i nterface. Di sabli ng some of these opti ons can
be a good compromi se on sl ower machi nes, all owing you to keep Wi ndows Aero enabl ed al ong wi th i ts
many useful features, wi thout havi ng to swi tch to a Wi ndows Basi c scheme to mai ntai n responsi veness. On
faster machines, most i f not al l of these effects can be kept enabl ed wi th mi ni mal performance i mpact
because of the i mprovements i n Desktop renderi ng resource usage i mpl emented i n Wi ndows 7.

< DISPLAY SETTINGS
Thi s opti on all ows you to confi gure the setti ngs related to the way i n whi ch Wi ndows di spl ays i ts output on
your moni tor, i ncludi ng resol uti on, orientati on, col or, text si ze and cl ari ty. To access these setti ngs, go to the
Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ect the Di spl ay component. Note that you will need appropri ate graphics
and moni tor dri vers for al l of the features i n thi s section to be displayed - see the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter.

On the mai n Di splay wi ndow, you can sel ect the overall size of the Wi ndows interface. The defaul t i s 100%,
however you can choose Medium (125% of ori gi nal size) or Larger (150% of origi nal si ze), whi ch wil l make
the i nterface - i ncl udi ng text and i mages - larger. Thi s method i s recommended over reduci ng your
resoluti on i f you wi sh to increase the text si ze on an LCD screen, because you should al ways be runni ng at
your nati ve resoluti on as covered bel ow. If you only wi sh to peri odi cal l y i ncrease parti cular parts of the
screen, see the Magnifi er secti on bel ow. If you wish to set a custom size for the text used in the i nterface
and/or al ter the font si ze and styl e for indi vi dual Windows i nterface el ements wi thout al tering the size of the
enti re i nterface, see the Fonts secti on i n thi s chapter.

ADJUST RESOLUTION
If you cli ck the 'Adjust resol uti on' li nk i n the mai n Di spl ays wi ndow, you wi ll be shown settings whi ch affect
the way the image i s di splayed on your moni tor. You can al so access thi s screen di rectly at any ti me by ri ght-
cl i cki ng on an empty area of the Desktop and selecti ng 'Screen resol uti on'.

Display: The Di splay drop down box shoul d automati call y show your current di splay. If the di splay i s not
detected properl y and/or the other setti ngs i n this secti on appear i ncorrect for your display type, then you
wi ll need to ensure that the di splay i s connected fi rmly to your PC, preferabl y usi ng the hi ghest quali ty cabl e
type, whi ch is the pure di gi tal DVI or HDMI.


341

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

If your monitor i s not being detected correctl y then cl i ck the Detect button agai n to force detecti on. Your
pri mary moni tor shoul d be shown wi th a 1 i n the middl e of i t i n the graphi c displ ay, and numbered 1 under
the Di splay drop-down box. Cl i cki ng the 'Identi fy Moni tors' button wi l l bri efl y di splay a large white
numeral on the screen to show whi ch i s the pri mary moni tor (again, denoted by the number 1) and whi ch is
the secondary (number 2), and so forth. The mai n reason for probl emati c detecti on of moni tors i s due to a
l ack of appropri ate dri vers, or i ncorrect dri ver setti ngs - refer to the Wi ndows Dri vers chapter.

Resolution: Resoluti on is the l evel of image detail shown on the screen, based on the number of i mage
sampl es shown as pi xels in the format Width x Height (e.g. 1920 pixel s x 1200 pixel s). The resol uti on selected
pri mari ly i mpacts on the Wi ndows Desktop and any appli cati ons whi ch run as wi ndows on the Desktop. It
does not appl y to programs whi ch run i n separate full screen mode and hence have their own resoluti on
setti ngs, such as games. When sel ecti ng your Desktop Resoluti on, i f you have an LCD or Plasma moni tor
then try to match the Desktop resol uti on wi th the moni tor's 'nati ve' resoluti on - thi s i s usually the maxi mum
possi ble resol uti on on the sl i der, and shoul d be tagged as '(recommended)' by Wi ndows. Selecti ng a
resoluti on bel ow your nati ve resoluti on wi ll resul t i n blurry graphi cs and text; onl y the nati ve resolution
provi des the sharpest and most accurate di splay output. More detai ls can be found under the Resol ution
secti on of the Gamer's Graphi cs & Di splay Setti ngs gui de. Note that if you fi nd the nati ve resol uti on results
i n an i nterface or text whi ch is too small , you can adjust the i nterface size as covered further above by
cl i cki ng the 'Make text and other i tems l arger or small er', or you can i ndependentl y adjust onl y the text size
as covered under the Fonts secti on i n thi s chapter.

Orientation: Thi s opti on determi nes the di recti on i n whi ch the Windows Desktop i s displayed. Landscape i s
the defaul t for most moni tors, where the wi dth of the i mage i s greater than i ts hei ght, whi ch matches the
di mensi ons and ori entati on of a normal di splay. Portrai t turns the i mage 90 degrees anti -cl ockwi se, so that
i ts hei ght i s greater than its wi dth. Landscape (fli pped) and Portrai t (fl i pped) are the same as thei r normal
counterparts, except the image i s the reverse of how i t woul d normall y appear, i .e. i n Landscape (fli pped),
text runs backwards from ri ght to l eft, and the i mage i s upsi de down. The primary use for thi s opti on i s to
provi de the appropri ate output for monitors whose panels can be rotated on their stands.

If you cl i ck the 'Advanced setti ngs' l i nk, a new wi ndow opens whi ch contai ns a range of addi ti onal setti ngs.
Some of these wi l l di ffer from system to system based on your graphi cs hardware. The common el ements
are covered bel ow:

Adapter: Provi des more detail ed i nformati on about your graphi cs hardware, typi cal ly a graphi cs card,
i ncludi ng i ts name, chi pset type, and avail able memory. See the System Specifi cati ons chapter for uti li ti es
whi ch provi de much greater i nformati on than li sted here.

Monitor: Thi s tab provi des detail s of your moni tor, and has two i mportant moni tor-specifi c setti ngs - Screen
refresh rate, and Col ors. The screen refresh rate is the number of ti mes per second (measured i n Hertz)
whi ch your di splay refreshes the currentl y di splayed i mage. Thi s i s cal l ed Refresh Rate, and i s a compl ex
setti ng whi ch requi res detail ed knowl edge before adjusti ng - see the Refresh Rate secti on of the Gamer's
Graphi cs & Di splay Setti ngs gui de for more i nformati on. The Col or opti on determi nes the detail i n which
col or i s reproduced on your moni tor. The 'True Col or (32-bi t)' opti on i s recommended for most users; the
'Hi gh Col or (16-bi t)' opti on wi l l reduce col or compl exi ty and hence not l ook as good. Note that Wi ndows
Aero wi ll not be avai lable unl ess you set 32-bi t here col or depth here.

Troubleshoot: You can cl i ck the 'Change setti ngs' button (i f avai labl e) to access the 'Graphi cs Hardware
Accel erati on' sl ider. Normall y thi s sl ider shoul d be at the far ri ght for ful l graphi cs functi onali ty. However i f
you are troubl eshooti ng a graphi cs-related i ssue, l ower thi s sl i der and test to see i f this resolves the probl em.
If the probl em i s resol ved when the sl ider is at None or Basi c, then the i ssue is li kel y wi th your graphi cs


342

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

dri vers as these control the more advanced graphi cs functi onali ty. If the button i s grayed out, your current
di splay dri ver does not support thi s functi onali ty, hence i t can be ignored.

Color Management: These setti ngs are covered under the Col or Management secti on i n the Wi ndows Control
Panel chapter, but you shoul d refer to the Cali brate Col or secti on bel ow for a more user-friendl y method of
managi ng color output on your system.

Graphics Card Name: The tab beari ng your graphi cs card name contai ns the means by whi ch you can access
further graphi cs-card specifi c setti ngs. It i s i mportant that you set these up correctl y as they control the bulk
of your graphi cs card's advanced 3D functi onali ty, parti cularly i n games. See the Nvi di a Forceware Tweak
Gui de or ATI Catal yst Tweak Gui de as rel evant for more detai ls.

If you have made any changes i n thi s wi ndow, cli ck Appl y then cl i ck OK to cl ose i t, and do the same i n the
mai n Screen Resol uti on window as wel l.

CALIBRATE COLOR
When you cl ick the 'Cali brate Col or' l i nk i n the l eft pane of the Displ ay wi ndow, you wi ll open the Di splay
Col or Cal i brati on feature, whi ch i s new to Wi ndows 7. You can access this feature di rectl y at any ti me by
goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng dccw.exe and pressi ng Enter. Thi s feature i s important i n ensuri ng that
your moni tor di splays i ts output as accuratel y as possi bl e, si mil ar to the way i n whi ch the content creators
i ntended i t. When launched, i t opens a new wi zard whi ch runs through a series of steps, wi th full
i nstructi ons provi ded, al lowi ng you to adjust various setti ngs on your moni tor, such as contrast and
bri ghtness, whi ch determine display accuracy. When the cal i brati on process i s compl eted, the util i ty al l ows
you to qui ckly compare your previ ous setti ngs wi th your current setti ngs, to see the difference. If you don't
wi sh to keep the new settings, you can si mpl y Cancel out of the cal i brati on at any ti me, even at the end, and
the setti ngs wi ll not be saved or appli ed. It is strongl y recommended that you run through thi s cali brati on
routi ne, as asi de from i mprovi ng i mage and col or reproducti on qual i ty, i t can also prevent damage to your
eyes through overl y bri ght and/or hi gh-contrast di splay setti ngs.

ADJUST CLEARTYPE TEXT
Cl i cki ng the 'Adjust Cl earType text' li nk i n the l eft pane of the Di spl ay wi ndow wi ll open the Cl earType Text
Tuner util i ty, whi ch i s an automated utili ty for adjusting the l egi bil ity of fonts on LCD moni tors. Thi s feature
i s covered i n more detai l under the Fonts secti on i n thi s chapter.

The 'Change di splay setti ngs' li nk takes you to the same setti ngs as the 'Adjust resoluti on' l i nk covered i n the
secti on above. The 'Set custom text si ze (DPI)' li nk i s covered i n more detai l under the Fonts secti on of this
chapter.

MULTIPLE MONITORS
Mul ti pl e moni tor setups are not covered i n any detai l i n this book, however i f you run a dual or mul ti -
moni tor confi gurati on i n Wi ndows 7, there are a range of additi onal features you can access usi ng the
Ul traMon uti li ty. The tool is free for a trial peri od if you wish to see if i t provi des any features you need.

Note that i f you are connecti ng Wi ndows 7 to mul tipl e di spl ays, press WINDOWS+P to open a qui ck menu
for sel ecti ng whi ch di splay(s) to send output to at any ti me.


343

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

MAGNIFIER
Instead of i ncreasi ng your i nterface size or l owering your resol uti on, i f you si mpl y want to zoom i n on
parti cul ar aspects of the screen from ti me to ti me, a qui ck sol uti on i s to use the Magni fi er utili ty. To open thi s
uti li ty, go to Start>Search Box, type magnifier and press Enter, or press WINDOWS + + (the pl us key twi ce) to
i ni tiate Magni fier. There are three modes for the Magni fier tool whi ch can be selected under the Vi ews menu
of the uti li ty:

Full screen mode - Thi s mode makes the enti re screen l arger or small er by using the + and - buttons on
the uti li ty, or pressi ng the WINDOWS key and ei ther the + or - key at the same ti me. Move your mouse
around to the edges of the screen to move the Magnifi er's focus.
Lens mode - In thi s mode a set l ens area is provided, and pressi ng the same keys as in Full mode
faci li tates showi ng a zoomed porti on of the screen only i n the l ens area.
Docked mode - In thi s mode a small window opens at the top of the screen, and zoomi ng i n or out will
di splay the contents of the area near your mouse cursor as bei ng zoomed i n thi s docked porti on of the
screen.

Note that Full mode and Lens mode are onl y avai lable if Wi ndows Aero i s enabled.

< TASKBAR
The Taskbar i s the l ong bar whi ch si ts at the bottom of the screen on the Windows Desktop. It has been
si gni fi cantl y redesi gned for Wi ndows 7. Dubbed the Superbar by some, the new Taskbar i s designed
speci fi call y to merge the Qui ck Launch functi onal i ty of the Taskbar i n previ ous Wi ndows versi ons wi th task
swi tchi ng, thumbnail previ ews and program status informati on, al l i n one l ocati on. The Taskbar i s al so more
transparent, and sl i ghtl y larger than previ ous versi ons, to i ncrease the vi si bil i ty of the i cons hel d there, and
to al l ow easi er sel ecti on by both mouse and human fi nger as part of Wi ndows 7's new touch capabi li ti es. The
new Taskbar all ows for a wi de range of useful features, whi ch are detail ed below. Note that for full Taskbar
functi onali ty as covered bel ow, you must be usi ng the Wi ndows Aero i nterface, otherwi se most of these
features wi ll not functi on in the manner descri bed. See the Wi ndows Aero section of thi s chapter for more
detail s.

TASKBAR ICONS & EFFECTS
The i cons i n the Taskbar now have a range of addi tional features and effects. They act as a launchi ng point
for programs, or to swi tch to an open wi ndow as before, but these two functi ons are merged i n Wi ndows 7.
You can pi n a program permanentl y to the Taskbar, but i f you open a program, i t wil l al so be temporarily
added to the Taskbar as an i con, not a tab. Mul ti pl e i nstances or mul ti pl e wi ndows of the same program will
also be represented by a si ngl e Taskbar i con. The way Wi ndows 7 prevents confusi on is by usi ng vari ous
effects to differenti ate the status of the vari ous i cons i n the Taskbar.

An open program or wi ndow's i con wi l l appear i n the Taskbar wi th a transparent pane surroundi ng i t. If a
program has mul ti ple i nstances or wi ndows open, then there wi ll be mul ti pl e l ayers of gl ass panes shown
under that program's Taskbar i con. The currentl y hi ghli ghted or sel ected program/wi ndow wi l l have a
col or-ti nted pane surroundi ng i t, wi th the col or of the pane determi ned by the domi nant col or of the
program's i con. For exampl e the yel l ow Wi ndows Expl orer fol der i con wil l have a yel l ow-ti nged Aero glass
pane around i t when Windows Expl orer is bei ng used, or i f you highli ght i ts open wi ndow i con i n the
Taskbar. Inacti ve programs, such as pi nned i tems whi ch are not open, wi l l have no pane surroundi ng them,
but i f you move your mouse over them, a sl ight hi ghl ight appears under them.

When a program or wi ndow needs attenti on, rather than i n previ ous Wi ndows versi ons where the Taskbar
tab woul d fl ash several times, i n Windows 7 the Taskbar i con now pul ses gentl y i n a soft col or, requesting
that focus be shi fted to i t.


344

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Addi ti onal l y, when a program is acti ve and i s runni ng a process whi ch di splays a standard progress bar,
Wi ndows will overlay a green fi ll effect over that program's Taskbar i con pane. For exampl e, i f you perform
a fi l e copy i n Windows Expl orer, even if the Expl orer wi ndow i s not vi si bl e or mi ni mized, a green progress
bar-l i ke fil l effect wi l l start movi ng across the Wi ndows Expl orer fol der i con pane i n the Taskbar, i ndi cating
the actual progress of the task. Thi s al l ows you to moni tor l engthi er tasks wi thout having to keep the
progress bar wi ndow open i n the foreground.

Program i cons can be pl aced permanentl y on the Taskbar, just as they coul d in the previ ous Qui ck Launch
Bar. By defaul t Internet Expl orer, Wi ndows Expl orer and Wi ndows Media Pl ayer come already pi nned to
the Taskbar, next to the Start button. You can pi n almost any program to the Taskbar by ri ght-cl i cki ng on i ts
i con and sel ecti ng 'Pi n to Taskbar' or 'Pi n thi s program to taskbar', dependi ng on where the i con currentl y
resi des. Or you can si mply drag and drop i ts i con into the Taskbar area. You can unpi n any program by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on the i con to open i ts Jump List - covered bel ow - and sel ecting 'Unpi n this program from
taskbar'. Note however that i f you attempt to drag a pi nned i tem off the Taskbar, you wi l l onl y open i ts
Jump List, not remove i t from the Taskbar. You can however freely move both pi nned and unpi nned i cons
around i n the Taskbar, rearrangi ng thei r order at any ti me - thi s does not requi re you to unl ock the Taskbar.

JUMP LISTS
Jump Lists are a new feature of Taskbar i cons i n Wi ndows 7. A Jump Li st for any i con i n the Taskbar can be
opened by right-cl icki ng on that i con, or by draggi ng the i con upwards. Dependi ng on a program's l evel of
support for thi s new feature, a Jump List can provide several categori es of options. The most basi c of these
are supported by all programs, and shown i n the bottom area of the Jump List. These features i nclude the
'Cl ose wi ndow' i tem to cl ose any open wi ndows for that program; the 'Pi n thi s program to taskbar'/'unpi n
thi s program from taskbar' i tem, covered further above; and an i tem wi th the name of the program, desi gned
to al l ow you to l aunch a new i nci dence of that program. Thi s last i tem requires some expl anati on - i f a
program i s al ready open, cl i cki ng i ts i con i n the Taskbar doesn't l aunch the program agai n, i t si mpl y
swi tches you to i ts exi sti ng open wi ndow. So if you want to open another enti rel y new inci dence of that
program, you can use this i tem i n the Jump Li st to do so. Al ternati vely, you can si mpl y click your mi ddl e
mouse button on an open Taskbar i con to launch a new i ncidence of i t.

The real benefi t of Jump Li sts comes from addi ti onal categori es whi ch appear i n the Jump Li st, such as
Recent, whi ch shows any recentl y opened fil es or folders. It should be noted that the Recent functi onali ty of
Jump Li sts is al so avail able on the Start Menu for vari ous programs pi nned there as well . If a smal l black
arrow appears to the far right of a program i n the Start Menu, cl ick i t and a Recent secti on wi ll expand to
show recently opened fi l es for that program. You can cl i ck these to open the program wi th that fil e. If you
want to permanentl y keep a parti cular Recent i tem i n the Start Menu, right-cli ck on i t and select 'Pi n to thi s
l i st', preventing i t from bei ng bumped down and eventuall y moved off the Recent l ist. Conversely, ri ght-
cl i ck on an i tem here and sel ect 'Remove from this l ist' to remove i t i mmedi ately from the Recent l isti ng for
that program.

The number of i tems shown i n Recent can be al tered by ri ght-clicki ng on an empty area of the Taskbar and
sel ecti ng Properti es. Under the Start Menu tab, if the 'Store and di splay recentl y opened i tems i n the Start
menu and the taskbar' box is ti cked, then the Recent category wi ll appear i n Jump Li sts where rel evant.

If you want to di sabl e the Recent feature, unti ck the box and cl i ck Appl y. If you want to temporaril y cl ear
your Recent categories across all Jump Li sts wi thout di sabli ng this feature permanentl y, unti ck the box, cl i ck
Appl y, then ti ck i t agai n and cli ck Appl y once more. You can set how many i tems appear i n the Recent
category for Jump Li sts by cl i cki ng the Customi ze button under the Start Menu tab of the Taskbar and Start
Menu properti es. At the bottom of the Customi ze Start Menu window, al ter the 'Number of recent i tems to
di splay i n Jump Li sts' opti on accordi ngl y, then cli ck OK and Apply. Thi s appl i es to both Taskbar and Start
Menu Jump Li st recent i tems.


345

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Programs whi ch provi de ful l support for Jump Li sts wil l have other avai labl e opti ons and categori es
dependi ng on the program. Programs wi th ful l Jump Li st support i nclude Wi ndows Media Player 12,
Internet Expl orer 8, and Wi ndows Explorer, al l nati ve Wi ndows 7 programs. For exampl e, right-cl ick on the
Wi ndows Medi a Player i con i n the Taskbar, and you wi ll fi nd a Tasks category whi ch all ows you to 'Pl ay all
musi c'. There are addi ti onal Jump Li st-related features avai labl e in WMP - see the Wi ndows Media Player
chapter for detai ls. Si mi larl y, Internet Expl orer 8's Jump Li st can show frequentl y visi ted websi tes. Wi ndows
Expl orer's i con all ows multi pl e pi nned instances of Wi ndows Expl orer to be shown as a singl e i con on the
Taskbar, and each l ocati on i s then shown under the Pi nned category for Wi ndows Expl orer's Jump Li st. See
the Advanced Features secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter for ways i n whi ch you can customi ze thi s
i con.

THUMBNAIL AND FULL SCREEN PREVIEWS
Fi rst i ncorporated i nto Wi ndows Vi sta, Thumbnail Previ ews all ow you to see a l i ve thumbnail -si zed previ ew
of the actual contents of an open wi ndow when hoveri ng your mouse cursor over that program's Taskbar
i con. When a Thumbnai l Previ ew i s clicked, i t wil l take you to that wi ndow. You can al so see a full screen
previ ew of any wi ndow by hol di ng your mouse over i ts thumbnail previ ew - si mil ar to Aero Peek, i t fades
all other wi ndows away to show the currentl y highl i ghted wi ndow i n i ts actual size. You can cl ose any open
wi ndow by cl i cki ng the red 'X' at the top ri ght of i ts thumbnai l previ ew, or ri ght-cl i cki ng on the thumbnail
previ ew and sel ecti ng Cl ose.

Wi ndows 7 provi des addi ti onal functionali ty for thumbnail previ ews. In keepi ng wi th the subtl e visual
refi nements that the rest of the Taskbar features recei ve, moving your focus between vari ous thumbnail
previ ews sees a smooth transi ti on ani mati on between di fferent-sized previ ew wi ndows. More i mportantl y,
programs can now display mul ti pl e thumbnail previ ew wi ndows under a si ngl e i con i n the Taskbar. This
depends on appropriate program support, but one exampl e can be seen when openi ng mul ti pl e tabs i n
Internet Expl orer 8 - go to the IE8 i con i n the Taskbar and each tab wi l l have i ts own thumbnail previ ew,
all owi ng you to qui ckly swi tch to the appropri ate tab based on sel ecti on of i ts previ ew.

Thumbnail previ ews are also 'l i ve' i n the sense that i n most cases they refl ect the current contents of a
wi ndow, not just a snapshot at a parti cular poi nt i n ti me. To see an exampl e of thi s, pl ay a YouTube vi deo i n
your browser and hi de the browser window behi nd another wi ndow (don't mi ni mize i t). When you can
cl i ck to vi ew the thumbnail preview for your browser, the vi deo wi ll be shown pl ayi ng in the thumbnail
previ ew. However whether the thumbnai l preview conti nues to remai n l i ve when your wi ndow is
mi ni mized depends upon the program - most mi ni mized programs wi ll only displ ay the state of the wi ndow
when i t was last maxi mized, not i ts current state. Wi ndows Media Player 12 on the other hand wi ll conti nue
to pl ay a vi deo i n i ts thumbnai l preview, even when i t i s mi nimi zed. In fact Wi ndows Media Player 12 also
provi des a set of play/pause, back and forward control s i n i ts thumbnail previ ew, as covered i n the
Advanced Features secti on of the Wi ndows Media Player chapter. Thi s demonstrates that a thumbnail
previ ew can be programmed to provi de a range of i nteracti ve features.

If you fi nd that the thumbnail previ ew comes up too sl owl y or too qui ckly, or you don't li ke the ani mation
effect, or you even want to prevent the previ ew from bei ng di spl ayed al together, you can do so as covered
bel ow:

To di sabl e the Thumbnai l Previ ew animati on effects, whi ch can hel p make thumbnail previ ews feel more
responsi ve, go to the Wi ndows Control Panel, sel ect System, cli ck the 'Advanced system setti ngs' li nk i n the
l eft pane, then under the Advanced tab cli ck the Setti ngs button under Performance. Under the Visual
Effects tab unti ck the 'Animati ons i n the taskbar and Start Menu' and cl i ck Appl y to disabl e all ani mati ons
used i n the Start Menu and on the Taskbar. Note that there i s al so a setti ng here cal l ed 'Save taskbar
thumbnai l previ ews' - i n my experi mentati on thi s appears to have no visi ble or functi onal i mpact on
thumbnai l previ ews. It corresponds with the Al waysHi ber nat eThumbnai l s=1 entry i n the Wi ndows
Regi stry, l ikely relati ng to the cachi ng of Thumbnail Previ ews for some purpose. When Visual Effects are set


346

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

to 'best performance', thi s opti on i s disabl ed, and when set to 'Best appearance' thi s opti on i s enabl ed, so tick
or unti ck i t accordi ngl y.

To i ncrease or decrease the speed wi th whi ch thumbnail previews appear when hoveri ng your mouse over a
Taskbar i con, you must al ter your mouse hover ti me. Go to the followi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er \ Advanced]

Ext endedUI Hover Ti me=400

The DWORD val ue above must be created, and the value data (i n Deci mal vi ew) determi nes the number of
mi l li seconds (1000 mil li seconds = 1 second) for whi ch the mouse cursor must be hovered over an i tem before
i t tri ggers any rel evant acti ons - the defaul t i s just under hal f a second (400 mi l li seconds). Assi gn a higher
value to make i t l onger before a thumbnail preview appears when hoveri ng over a Taskbar i con, and a l ower
value to make the thumbnail previ ew appear faster. To remove thi s customizati on you can del ete the value
above. You wi l l need to restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon for this setti ng to take effect.

Fi nal ly, if you wi sh to di sabl e thumbnail previ ews al together, unfortunatel y Wi ndows 7 has removed the
abi li ty to easil y di sabl e this functi on. Methods whi ch worked wi th previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, and with
pre-release bui lds of Wi ndows 7, no longer work on the retai l versi on of Windows 7. The best method for
preventi ng thumbnail previ ews from appeari ng is to create the Ext endedUI Hover Ti me Regi stry val ue as
covered above and gi ve i t very hi gh value data (e.g. =60000 whi ch i s equi valent to 1 mi nute), so that unl ess
you hol d your mouse over a Taskbar i con for an extended peri od, Taskbar thumbnail previews wi ll never be
seen. Of course if you effecti vel y di sable thumbnail previ ews i n thi s way, then they al so won't di spl ay for
useful purposes such as the Wi ndows Media Player Thumbnai l Pl ayer mode either.

TASKBAR CUSTOMIZATION
There are several ways to further customi ze the appearance and functi onal i ty of the Taskbar. In parti cular, if
you prefer to return your Taskbar to somethi ng si mil ar to that avail abl e i n previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows,
thi s i s possi ble to a certai n extent. To access the Taskbar customizati on opti ons, ri ght-cli ck i n an empty area
of the Taskbar and sel ect Properti es. Under the Taskbar tab there are several opti ons rel evant to customizi ng
the Taskbar's appearance and functi ons:

Lock the taskbar: If ti cked, thi s opti on prevents acci dental movement or resi zi ng of the Taskbar. If unti cked,
you can drag the Taskbar to any corner of the screen to rel ocate i t permanentl y - see the Taskbar l ocati on
setti ng bel ow. Furthermore, if unti cked, thi s opti on all ows you to i ncrease the hei ght of the Taskbar by
draggi ng the edge of the Taskbar outward. Note that l ocki ng the Taskbar does not prevent you from
reorganizi ng the exi sti ng pi nned and unpi nned Taskbar i cons on the Taskbar.

Auto-hide the taskbar: If thi s opti on i s ti cked, the Taskbar wi ll automati call y hi de unti l you move your mouse
cursor over the area where the Taskbar normal ly resi des, whereupon i t wi l l temporaril y reappear. Thi s can
i ncrease the amount of viewabl e space al l otted to programs, and provi de a cl eaner l ook to your Desktop, but
can sl ightl y reduce the speed wi th whi ch you can access Taskbar i cons and the Start button.

Use small icons: If ti cked, thi s opti on forces the Taskbar to go back to a more tradi ti onal si ze, and reduces the
size of program i cons on the Taskbar, as wel l as cutti ng off the date porti on of the cl ock i n the Noti fi cati on
Area.

Taskbar location on screen: The Taskbar can be l ocated on any edge of the screen, whether the defaul t of the
bottom edge, or the l eft, ri ght or top edges of the screen. Sel ect the appropri ate l ocati on from the drop box
here, or si mpl y ri ght-cl i ck on the Taskbar and make sure the 'Lock the Taskbar' i tem i s unti cked, then drag i t
to the desired l ocati on, then ri ght-cl ick on the Taskbar agai n and select 'Lock the Taskbar' to l ock i t i n place.


347

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Taskbar buttons: There are three avail able setti ngs for thi s opti on. The defaul t i s 'Al ways combi ne, hide label s'
whi ch makes each program have a si ngl e Taskbar i con. By sel ecting 'Combi ne when taskbar i s ful l ' or 'Never
combi ne', this provi des a more si mi lar appearance for the Taskbar to that under previ ous versi ons of
Wi ndows - indi vi dual i nstances of each program wi l l each display a separate tab i n the Taskbar, complete
wi th a small icon and descri pti ve text wi thi n each tab. The onl y difference between these two setti ngs i s that
when 'Combi ne when taskbar i s full ' is sel ected, mul ti ple tabs for the same program wil l merge i nto an
i ndi vi dual tab for that program i f the Taskbar becomes full , whereas sel ecti ng the 'Never combi ne' setti ng
means that as di splayed tabs i ncrease, each tab shrinks i n size. Regardl ess of thi s setti ng, programs which
are pi nned to the Taskbar wi ll remai n as i cons.

In other words, i f you want the Taskbar to l ook more li ke previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows, then ti ck the 'Use
small i cons' box here, then sel ect 'Never combi ne' for the Taskbar buttons opti on, and you wi l l have much
the same appearance. Even the Qui ck Launch bar wi ll be rei nstated i n a manner of speaki ng, because pi nned
programs wil l al ways be di splayed at the far l eft of the Taskbar as smal l i cons, di sti nct from the acti ve
program/wi ndow tabs on the rest of the Taskbar.

TOOLBARS
Asi de from di splayi ng program i cons (or tabs) on the Taskbar, you can also i nsert additi onal i tems to
provi de extra functi onal i ty i n the form of Tool bars. To vi ew the currentl y avai labl e Tool bars, ri ght-cl i ck on
an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect Tool bars - there are several choi ces:

Address: If sel ected thi s places an Internet address box on the Taskbar, and any text you enter wi l l be
l aunched as a URL i n your defaul t web browser.

Windows Media Player: There i s no l onger a Wi ndows Media Pl ayer Tool bar to hol d the Mi ni Player mode i n
Wi ndows 7. See the Advanced Features secti on of the Wi ndows Media Player chapter for more detai ls and
vi abl e al ternati ves.

Links: This i tem pl aces a Links box on the Taskbar i f ticked, all owi ng you to select any custom Internet l i nks
pl aced there - these correspond wi th the l i nks show i n the Favori tes Bar of Internet Expl orer. You can drag
and drop any websi te l i nk from your bookmarks onto the Li nks Tool bar to add i t to the l i st, and you can
ri ght-cl i ck on and sel ect Del ete to remove any l ink here. Any l i nks you sel ect wi l l be launched i n your
defaul t web browser.

Tablet PC Input Panel: Thi s i tem pl aces an i con on the Taskbar whi ch when cli cked opens the Tabl et PC Input
Panel . For anyone wi thout a Tabl et PC, it i s si mply a novel ty and is not needed.

Desktop: If selected, thi s i tem pl aces a Desktop Tool bar on the Taskbar, whi ch when cl i cked opens a l ist of
categori es whi ch you can sel ect, correspondi ng to the mai n categori es i n the Navi gati on Pane of Wi ndows
Expl orer. These can provi de qui cker access to common resources incl udi ng the Wi ndows Control Panel and
your personal fol ders and Li brari es.

New Toolbar: If sel ected, you wi ll be prompted to choose a folder. The fol der you sel ect wi ll be added as a
Tool bar to the Taskbar, and when cl i cked, wil l open all i ts i mmediate subfol ders i n a menu, all owi ng you to
navi gate to any fi l e or fol der underneath your chosen folder.

Quick Launch: Thi s i tem is not availabl e by defaul t i n Wi ndows 7, because the new unifi ed Taskbar i cons can
be pi nned. There is al so a way to have somethi ng si mi lar to the tradi ti onal Taskbar arrangement, i ncludi ng a
Qui ck Launch-l ike area, as covered i n the secti on above. However i f you stil l wish to enabl e an actual Qui ck
Launch tool bar, then fol l ow these i nstructi ons:


348

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

1. Ri ght-cli ck on the Taskbar and sel ect Tool bars>New Tool bar.
2. In the prompt whi ch fol l ows, navi gate to the fol l owing directory:

\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

3. Sel ect the Quick Launch folder found here, and cl i ck the 'Sel ect Fol der' button.

Thi s wi ll add the Qui ck Launch Tool bar to the Taskbar, however it i s not i n i ts ori gi nal l ocation or format. To
move i t back to i ts standard l ocati on next to the Start button on the Taskbar, foll ow on wi th these steps:

4. Ri ght-cli ck on any pi nned i cons on the Taskbar and sel ect 'Unpi n thi s program from taskbar' to remove
them all .
5. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect 'Lock the taskbar' to unl ock i t.
6. Drag the new Qui ck Launch Tool bar to the far l eft of the Taskbar.
7. To remove the text labels from the Qui ck Launch i cons, ri ght-cl ick on the words 'Qui ck Launch' and
sel ect both the 'Show Text' and 'Show Ti tl e' opti ons to remove the ti tl es from each i con and the 'Qui ck
Launch' text itsel f.
8. You can now drag any program i cons or li nks from Wi ndows Expl orer, the Desktop, or the Start Menu
i nto the Qui ck Launch area and i t wil l be added to the li st of i tems shown.
9. When you have compl eted customizi ng the new Qui ck Launch Tool bar, and moved i t i nto pl ace, ri ght-
cl i ck on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect 'Lock the taskbar' to l ock i t agai n.

Note that steps 5 - 9 above al so appl y to the Li nks, Desktop and Custom Toolbars as well . However unli ke
previ ous versi ons of Wi ndows you cannot drag Tool bars off the Taskbar and posi ti on them freely on the
Desktop. If you want thi s type of functi onali ty, see the thi rd party uti l i ti es at the end of the next secti on.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The Taskbar provi des several addi ti onal mi scel laneous features whi ch some users wil l val ue. One of the
most useful of these i s the abi li ty to l aunch or swi tch to any i con on the Taskbar by usi ng the WINDOWS key
combi ned with a number correspondi ng wi th the order i n whi ch the i cons are presented. For exampl e, to
l aunch Wi ndows Media Pl ayer whi ch is the thi rd i tem by defaul t on the Taskbar, press WINDOWS+3, that
i s, the WINDOWS key and the 3 key at the same ti me. If a program bei ng sel ected i n thi s manner i s al ready
open, thi s method wi ll switch to that program wi ndow.

There are addi ti onal i nteresti ng ti ps to consi der. Right-cl ick on an empty area of the Taskbar to access the
foll owi ng:

Cascade windows: Cl i cki ng thi s i mmediatel y forces al l open wi ndows to be rearranged i n a cascade, wi th the
fi rst wi ndow ali gned to the top l eft of the screen, the second wi ndow overlapping i t, sl ightl y bel ow i t on the
di agonal axis, and so forth.

Show windows stacked: Cli cki ng thi s option forces all open wi ndows to be resized i nto rectangular wi ndows
whi ch are stacked one on top of each other, fil li ng the enti re screen wi th no overl ap.

Show windows side by side: Cl i cki ng thi s opti on forces al l open wi ndows to be resized i nto rectangul ar
wi ndows and arranged next to each other, fi ll i ng the enti re screen wi th no overl ap. If there are onl y two
wi ndows open, thi s resul ts i n a si mi lar arrangement to usi ng Aero Snap to arrange two windows next to
each other.

Note that i f you don't li ke the changes brought about by any of the opti ons above, cl i ck on a wi ndow then
ri ght-cl i ck on the Taskbar and an Undo opti on wi ll appear. For exampl e i f you sel ect Cascade Wi ndows and


349

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

deci de you don't l ike the resul t, cl i ck on a wi ndow, right-cli ck on the Taskbar and sel ect 'Undo cascade
wi ndows' to revert all open wi ndows back to thei r ori gi nal size and locati on.

Show the desktop: Cli cki ng thi s opti on automati cal l y closes all open wi ndows and shows the Desktop. Ri ght-
cl i ck on the Taskbar agai n and the opti on to 'Show open wi ndows' wi ll be di splayed i nstead, al l owi ng you to
i nstantly restore al l mi nimi zed wi ndows. Thi s i s simi lar to usi ng the Aero Peek button at the end of the
Taskbar.

Start Task Manager: This opti on all ows you to qui ckly open the Task Manager uti li ty. See the Task Manager
secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter for detai ls.

Fi nal ly, if you are not compl etel y happy wi th the Taskbar, there are software al ternati ves whi ch provi de a
di fferent i nterface and addi ti onal functions. RocketDock and ObjectDock are the two most popular Taskbar-
l i ke uti li ti es for Windows, wi th both bei ng free, al though ObjectDock requi res purchase for access to more
advanced features.

< START MENU
The Start Menu i s an important component of Wi ndows whi ch not onl y contai ns links to your most
commonl y used programs and Wi ndows features, i t is al so i ntegral for qui ck access to the Wi ndows Search
functi onali ty, as well as system Shutdown-related features.

As of Wi ndows Vi sta, the defaul t Start Menu was al tered away from the Classi c View i n XP to one which
provi des a l ist of i ndi vi dual programs on the l eft side, al ong wi th a l ist of common Wi ndows features and
l ocati ons on the ri ght. An 'Al l Programs' fol der at the bottom of the Start Menu provi des an addi ti onal li st of
most of the programs and uti li ti es i nstall ed on your system. Most noti ceabl e for XP users is the Search Box at
the very bottom of the Start Menu. Wi ndows 7 does not vi si bl y alter the Start Menu greatly from what was
i ntroduced i n Vista, wi th the excepti on of removi ng the abil i ty to swi tch to Classi c View.

The Start Menu i n Wi ndows 7 does provi de several new features. In parti cul ar, Jump Li sts are i ncorporated
i nto the Start Menu, al l owi ng recentl y opened fil es to be di splayed for programs, denoted by a small black
arrow next to the program - see the Taskbar secti on i n thi s chapter for more detail s. The vari ous l i nks to
personal fol ders, such as the Documents, Pi ctures, Musi c and Vi deos l i nks which can be placed at the ri ght
si de of the Start Menu are now l i nked to the Li braries of the same name, rather than di rectl y to your personal
fol ders - see the Li braries secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter. The Search Box has al so al tered sl i ghtly
i n i ts opti ons, as covered under the Wi ndows Search chapter.

CUSTOMIZE START MENU
To customi ze the Start Menu, ri ght-cli ck on the Start button and sel ect Properti es, or go to the Wi ndows
Control Panel , sel ect the Taskbar and Start Menu component, then cl i ck the 'Start Menu' tab. Cl i ck the
Customi ze button to access detai led customi zati on opti ons, each covered bel ow. Note that any changes you
make wi ll only come i nto effect i f you click OK then cli ck Appl y:

Link vs. Menu: Where appl i cabl e, if the opti on to 'Di splay as a l i nk' appears for a parti cul ar setti ng i n thi s
wi ndow, thi s makes the rel evant component appear on the Start Menu as an i tem whi ch launches that
parti cul ar l ocati on or feature when cli cked. If the 'Di splay as a menu' opti on i s sel ected i nstead, the
component appears on the Start Menu but when hovered over or cl i cked, i t opens a menu list i nstead. You
can stil l launch a component set to di splay as a menu by ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t and sel ecti ng Open. As expected,
sel ecti ng the 'Don't di spl ay thi s i tem' removes the component from the Start Menu al together.

Computer: This opti on control s whether the Computer i tem appears on the Start Menu. The Computer i tem
corresponds to the Computer category shown i n Wi ndows Expl orer, and di splays al l your avai labl e dri ve(s).


350

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Connect To: If ti cked this opti on pl aces a 'Connect To' li nk on the Start Menu whi ch when cl i cked opens the
Network Locati on box, whi ch can al so be accessed by cl i cki ng the Network i con i n the Noti fi cati on Area. If
you're not connected to a network of PCs, and don't swi tch your Network Locati on often, unti ck thi s option.

Control Panel: Thi s i tem al lows qui ck access to the Wi ndows Control Panel . I recommend selecti ng 'Di spl ay
as a l i nk', si nce the menu versi on can be qui te large.

Default Programs: If ti cked pl aces a 'Defaul t Programs' l i nk on the Start Menu, whi ch accesses the Default
Programs opti ons, covered under the Defaul t Programs secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. This
i s not necessary for dai l y usage, and i s al so readi ly avai labl e under the Windows Control Panel , so I
recommend unti cki ng this opti on.

Devices and Printers: If ti cked, pl aces a 'Devi ces and Pri nters' l i nk on the Start Menu, whi ch opens the Devi ces
and Pri nters wi ndow. See the Devi ces and Pri nters secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for
detail s.

Documents: Thi s opti on places a Documents i tem on the Start Menu which li nks to your Documents Li brary,
not your \Users\[username]\Documents fol der. Thi s means that if chosen to be di splayed as a l i nk, cl i cki ng i t
wi ll take you to the Documents Li brary, and i f chosen as a menu, i t wi ll l ist al l the fol ders currentl y li nked to
your Documents Li brary. The onl y way to di sable thi s behavi or is to attempt to di sabl e Li brari es al together,
whi ch i s covered under the Li brari es secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter. To access your personal
fol ders di rectl y, you can enabl e the 'Personal fol der' component covered further bel ow.

Downloads: Thi s opti on places a Downl oads i tem on the Start Menu. In this i nstance, the Downl oads
component l i nks di rectl y to the \Users\[username]\Downloads di rectory, not a Li brary, even if thi s fol der is
i ncluded as part of a Li brary.

Enable context menus and dragging and dropping: If ti cked, al l ows you to move, add or remove i tems i n the
Start Menu just as you woul d i n Windows Expl orer. It al so al l ows you to use the ri ght-cli ck context menu on
the Start Menu i tems, whi ch i s i mportant i f you want to rename program i cons, pi n/unpin i tems or run a
program as Admi ni strator from the Start Menu easil y for exampl e.

Favorites Menu: If thi s option i s ti cked, the Internet Expl orer Favori tes menu wi ll be di splayed on the Start
Menu as a menu. It is not possi ble to swi tch thi s folder to poi nt to your bookmarks i n other web browsers, so
i f you don't use Internet Expl orer as your defaul t browser you may want to unti ck thi s. For more advanced
users, you can attempt to use XMarks to synchroni ze your other browser's bookmarks wi th Internet
Expl orer's Favori tes, and hence make this feature more useful .

Games: This opti on pl aces a Games component on the Start Menu, whi ch is l i nked to the Games Explorer
feature of Windows - see the Gami ng secti on of thi s chapter for more detai ls.

Help: If ti cked, the 'Hel p and Support' component i s shown on the Start Menu, al l owi ng you to access the
Wi ndows Hel p functi onality Al ternati vel y you can di sabl e this and bri ng up Hel p and Support at any time
by pressi ng F1 when usi ng a parti cular Wi ndows feature to get context-sensi ti ve hel p.

Highlight newly installed programs: If ti cked thi s opti on wi l l highli ght i n orange the l aunch i con and/or fol der
for any recentl y i nstal l ed program(s) on the Start Menu. This general ly i sn't necessary unl ess you i nstall
mul ti ple programs at a ti me and subsequentl y forget about them.

Music: Thi s opti on pl aces a Musi c component on the Start Menu, linked to the Musi c Li brary.


351

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Network: If ti cked, thi s option pl aces a Network component on the Start Menu whi ch when clicked takes you
to the Network category i n Wi ndows Expl orer. Unti ck unl ess you are on a network.

Open submenus when I pause on them with the mouse pointer: If ti cked, thi s opti on all ows you to open rel evant
fol ders or menus on the Start Menu si mpl y by hoveri ng your mouse over them. Thi s incl udes the All
Programs menu at the bottom of the Start Menu, as wel l as any components set to 'Di spl ay as a menu'. If
di sabl ed, you can onl y open these i tems by cl icki ng on them.

Personal Folder: Thi s opti on di splays a component on the Start Menu wi th your username as i ts ti tl e. When
cl i cked on or hovered over, i t di spl ays the subfol ders of your \Users\[username] di rectory. Thi s can be useful
i nstead of or al ong wi th the other Start Menu components whi ch li nk to your Li braries, because thi s
component gives you di rect access to the personal fol ders rather than bei ng l i nked to a Li brary. I recommend
sel ecti ng 'Di spl ay as menu' for this purpose.

Pictures: This opti on di spl ays a Pi ctures component on the Start Menu whi ch li nks to your Pi ctures Li brary.

Recent Items: If ti cked, thi s opti on pl aces a Recent Items component on the Start Menu, whi ch when cl i cked
shows a l isting of your recentl y opened fi l es. You can cl ear this li st at any ti me by ri ght-cli cki ng on the
Recent Items component i n Start Menu and sel ecti ng 'Cl ear recent i tems l i st'. You can di sabl e i t at any ti me
by unti cki ng thi s opti on, or by unti cki ng the 'Store and display recentl y opened i tems i n the Start menu and
the taskbar' opti on under the Start Menu tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properti es wi ndow, al though
thi s al so disabl es the di splay of recent i tems i n Jump Li sts.

Recorded TV: Thi s opti on di splays a Recorded TV component on the Start Menu, l i nked to the Recorded TV
Li brary whi ch actuall y resi des under the \Users\Public di rectory, not your personal fol ders.

Run Command: If ti cked this places a 'Run...' i tem on the Start Menu, whi ch when cl i cked opens a Run box for
enteri ng command li ne commands. Al ternati vely you can open a Run box at any ti me by pressing
WINDOWS+R. Note further that the Search Box i n the Start Menu can al so execute most commands i n much
the same way as a Run box.

Search other files and libraries: Thi s opti on determi nes the behavi or of the Search Box i n the Start Menu.
Dependi ng on the opti on chosen here, you can exclude some or all fil es and Li brari es from bei ng di spl ayed
as part of search resul ts. It i s covered i n more detai l under the Search Methods secti on of the Wi ndows
Search chapter. It i s recommended that 'Don't Search' not be ti cked, as thi s wi ll greatl y reduce the useful ness
of the Search Box i n accessing your own fi les and fol ders.

Search programs and Control Panel: If ti cked, thi s option determi nes whether searches i ni tiated i n the Search
Box also di spl ay programs and Wi ndows Control Panel i tems i n the resul ts. See the Search Methods secti on
of the Wi ndows Search chapter for more detai l s. It i s recommended that this opti on be ti cked to all ow
qui cker access to i nstall ed programs and Wi ndows features via the Search Box.

Sort All Programs menu by name: If ti cked, your Al l Programs menu i n the Start Menu wi ll have all the i tems i t
contai ns automati cal ly arranged i n al phabeti cal order. Thi s i s recommended, however you may wi sh to
rearrange things manuall y, i n whi ch case unti ck thi s opti on. Note that when this opti on i s selected, the 'Sort
by name' context menu i tem wi l l not appear when you ri ght-click on any i tem i n Al l Programs; wi th i t
di sabl ed, the context menu entry wi ll reappear, al l owi ng you to manuall y force an al phabeti cal sort by name
on any fol der of All Programs whenever you wi sh.

System Administrative Tools: The Admi nistrati ve Tool s are covered in the Admi nistrati ve Tool s secti on of the
Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. This opti on all ows you to choose whether to di splay them on the Start


352

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Menu. They can also be accessed via the Wi ndows Control Panel , and under Al l Programs>Admi ni strati ve
Tool s as well .

Use large icons: If ti cked, the mai n i tems i n the Start Menu wi ll use the default l arger i cons. If you want a
more compact Start Menu, unti ck this opti on.

Videos: Thi s opti on all ows you to display a Vi deos component on the Start Menu whi ch l i nks to your Vi deos
Li brary.

Number of recent programs to display: Thi s setti ng control s the maximum number of recentl y used programs to
di splay i n the Start Menu i f the 'Store and display recentl y opened programs i n the Start Menu' setti ng i s
ti cked - see further bel ow for more detail s.

Number of recent items to display in Jump Lists: Thi s setti ng control s the maxi mum number of recent i tems to
show i n Jump Li sts, both i n the Start Menu and on the Taskbar. Thi s opti on i s onl y avail able i f the 'Store and
di splay recentl y opened i tems i n the Start menu and the taskbar' setti ng i s al so ticked - see further bel ow for
more detai ls.

Once you've made al l your appl i cabl e changes, cl i ck OK then make sure to cl ick the Appl y button on the
mai n Start Menu tab otherwi se you wi ll not see your changes appl i ed. Note that you can manual ly
reorganize or change the shortcuts and fol ders shown i n the Start Menu by goi ng to the fol l owi ng
di rectories:

\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu - Contai ns your user-specifi c Start
Menu entri es.
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\ - Contai ns the system-wide programs and fol ders under
the 'All Programs' i tem i n Start Menu.

Fi nal ly, at the bottom of the mai n Start Menu tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties wi ndow, you can
al ter several opti ons:

Power button action: This setti ng control s what the power button shown i n the bottom ri ght of the Start Menu
does. By defaul t i t di spl ays the Shutdown opti on and hence i s set to shut down your PC when you cl i ck this
button. However you can change the defaul t acti on by al teri ng thi s opti on to sel ect another acti on to take
when the button i s cl i cked. The button's text wi l l change accordi ngl y. Note that you can al ways access
addi ti onal shutdown-rel ated opti ons by cl i cki ng the small whi te arrow to the ri ght of the button on the Start
Menu. Al ternati vely, you can bri ng up a Shutdown menu by pressing ALT+F4 on the Desktop. You can also
add custom shutdown, restart and si mi lar i cons di rectl y to your Desktop or Taskbar as covered under the
Icons secti on l ater i n this chapter.

Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu: If thi s opti on i s ti cked, then recentl y opened
programs wi ll be shown in the Start Menu, the number of whi ch i s determi ned by the 'Number of recent
programs to di splay' opti on covered further above.

Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and taskbar: If thi s opti on is ti cked, then i f you have the
'Recent Items' component showi ng i n the Start Menu, i t wi ll displ ay a l ist of your recently opened fi les.
Furthermore, thi s i tem control s the displ ay of recent items i n Jump Li sts, both on the Start Menu and on the
Taskbar. The number of recent i tems di splayed for Jump Li sts i s determi ned by the value set for the
'Number of recent i tems to di spl ay i n Jump Li sts' option covered further above.


353

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

CLASSIC START MENU
If you prefer to have the Cl assi c Vi ew for the Start Menu, si mi lar to the way the Start Menu appears i n
Wi ndows XP, then there are two ways of doi ng thi s. The best method i nvol ves usi ng the SevenCl assi cStart
uti li ty, whi ch i s not free. The second method i s compl etel y free but requires more work, and i sn't qui te as
good. It doesn't actuall y al ter the mai n Start button, i t creates a second Start button ri ght next to i t whi ch
opens a menu si mil ar to the Classi c Start Menu. Fol low these i nstructi ons:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the Taskbar, sel ect Tool bars, then sel ect New Tool bar.
2. Navi gate to \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\ and cli ck the 'Sel ect Fol der' button.

Thi s i tem al lows you to access a Cl assi c Start Menu of sorts, however you can customi ze thi s further as
foll ows:

3. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect 'Lock the taskbar' to unl ock the Taskbar.
4. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s Start Menu Tool bar, and under the View menu sel ect 'Large Icons', and al so unti ck
the 'Show Text' and 'Show Ti tl e' opti ons i n the mai n menu, reverting thi s Tool bar to a l arge fol der i con.
5. To change the i con for thi s Tool bar to somethi ng more appropriate, ri ght-cl i ck on one of the other i cons
i n the menu for thi s Tool bar (e.g. the Defaul t Programs i con) and sel ect Properties.
6. Cl i ck the 'Change Icon' button and browse to the fi le ehres.dll under \Windows\ehome\ - thi s fi l e contai ns
a green Start button i con whi ch you shoul d sel ect and cl i ck Appl y.
7. Now on the Tool bar, drag and drop thi s green Start button i con to the very left of the Tool bar i cons.
8. Grab the dotted gray handl e next to the normal blue Start button, and drag i t to the far ri ght of the
Taskbar unti l the green Start button jumps to the far l eft of the Taskbar.
9. Now drag the same dotted gray handle for the i cons at the ri ght si de of the Taskbar to the left, until onl y
the green Start button i s visi bl e al ong wi th your normal Taskbar i cons.
10. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the Taskbar and sel ect 'Lock the taskbar' to l ock the Taskbar agai n.

You can now cl i ck on the small doubl e arrows next to the green Start button to open a Cl assi c-li ke Start
Menu. There i s one last step:

11. If you wish to add your user-specifi c Start Menu i tems to thi s general Start Menu l isti ng, you wi ll need
to copy al l of the shortcuts from the entri es from your
\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu di rectory to the
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu directory.

If you wi sh to remove thi s second Start Menu at any ti me, ri ght-cl ick on an empty area of the Taskbar, sel ect
Tool bars and sel ect 'Start Menu'.

Whi le thi s is a somewhat messy way of i mpl ementi ng a Classi c Start Menu, i t is the onl y way short of using
a util i ty to reconfi gure your normal Start Menu, as Wi ndows 7 has del i berately phased out the Cl assi c Start
Menu to encourage users to become accustomed to the new Start Menu. Remember that usi ng the newer
Start Menu, you can access any program i nstantl y, ei ther by pi nni ng i t to your Start Menu or your Taskbar,
or si mply enteri ng i ts name or any custom tags or uni que attri butes i n the Search Box on the Start Menu.
And of course you can always drag and drop any program l i nk to the All Programs secti on of the Start
Menu, should you wish to access i t qui ckl y from there.


354

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

< NOTIFICATION AREA
The Noti fi cati on Area was previ ousl y known as the System Tray i n Wi ndows XP, and is the area on the far
ri ght of the Taskbar by defaul t. It i s techni cal ly a part of the Taskbar and can't be separated, however i t i s
covered i n a separate secti on from the Taskbar i n thi s book because for the most part i ts functi ons and
customizati on are different to that of the rest of the Taskbar.

The Noti fi cati on Area contai ns several key components, i ncludi ng the Cl ock, Vol ume, Network, Power and
Acti on Center i cons by defaul t. Any addi ti onal program i cons may appear i n the Noti fi cation Area, or can be
accessed by cl i cki ng the small whi te arrow to the l eft of the Noti fi cati on Area. As the name i mpl i es, the
Noti fi cation Area provides vari ous noti ficati ons, such as when Wi ndows i nstall s new dri vers, or di scovers
new Wi ndows Updates. These prompts can provi de val uabl e i nformati on, but may also be annoyi ng, so
fortunatel y the Noti fi cation Area can be customized to better meet your needs. To configure Noti fi cation
Area, ri ght-cli ck on the Cl ock and sel ect Properti es:

Turn system icons on or off: Thi s secti on al l ows you to i ndi vi duall y enabl e (On) or disabl e (Off) the fi ve main
system i cons di spl ayed i n Noti fi cati on Area. These have been changed sli ghtly from previous versi ons of
Wi ndows, and are covered i ndi vi dual ly bel ow:

Cl ock - The system cl ock di splays the current ti me and date when enabl ed. Hoveri ng your mouse over
the Cl ock area shows more detai ls, i ncludi ng any addi ti onal cl ocks you have enabl ed - see the Date and
Ti me secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter. Cl i cki ng on the cl ock area wi ll open the l arger Date
and Ti me di spl ay, and note that by cl i cki ng the month header you can swi tch to a cal endar showi ng only
months; then by cl i cki ng the year header you can swi tch to a cal endar displayi ng onl y years; and then by
cl i cki ng the decade header, you can swi tch to a cal endar di spl ayi ng groups of decades.
Volume - The Vol ume i con al l ows access to the system-wi de volume sli der, a mute functi on when the
'Mute speakers' i con i s cl icked underneath the sl i der, and has l i nks to the Volume Mi xer and Speaker
Properti es windows by clicki ng the Mixer l i nk or the Speaker icon respecti vel y. These functi ons are
covered i n more detai l i n the Sounds secti on of thi s chapter.
Network - When cl i cked, the Network i con displ ays the current Network Locati on, and al so all ows
access to the Network and Shari ng Center - see the Network and Shari ng Center secti on of the Wi ndows
Control Panel chapter for more detai ls. Unli ke previous versi ons of Wi ndows, the Network i con does
not provi de an ani mated di spl ay of incomi ng/outgoi ng traffi c on your network connecti on. To get
si mpl e i nformati on about the l evel of Network activi ty, open Task Manager and vi ew the Networki ng
tab. Another opti on i s to i nstal l thi s Network Meter Gadget, whi ch di spl ays upl oad and downl oad
acti vi ty and speeds at a gl ance. Or you can i nstall the free Lan Li ghts uti li ty, however i t can be
probl emati c and i s only recommended for more advanced users.
Power - This opti on appears i f you are usi ng a computer whi ch can be battery powered. Cl i cki ng the
Power i con provi des the current power l evel , and a l i nk to the current power pl an i n effect - see the
Power Opti ons secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for more detai l s. Thi s i con i s not avai labl e
for desktop PCs whi ch use regul ar AC power.
Acti on Center - Thi s i con li nks to the Acti on Center, and i s covered i n detail under the Wi ndows Acti on
Center secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter, as wel l as the Windows Acti on Center secti on of the

You can confi gure addi ti onal Notifi cation Area opti ons by cl i cking the 'Customi ze noti fi cati on i cons' l ink
here, or by goi ng to Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ecti ng the Notifi cati on Area Icons component.

In the Noti ficati on Area Icons wi ndow, you are presented with a l i st of all program i cons whi ch are
currentl y, or have previ ously been, opened i n the Noti fi cati on Area. For each program you have three
opti ons:


355

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Show icon and notifications: Thi s setti ng al l ows the program to both di splay an i con i n the Noti ficati on Area,
and show any program noti fi cati ons as popup ball oons or i cons.

Hide icon and notifications: Thi s setti ng removes the program i con from the Noti ficati on Area and prevents
any notifications bei ng shown.

Only show notifications: Thi s setti ng removes the program i con from the Noti fi cation Area, but al lows
noti fi cati ons to be shown i f necessary, i ncludi ng vari ous i cons whi ch can al ert you about the status of a
program.

For most programs the 'Onl y show notifi cati ons' opti on i s recommended, as thi s hi des the i con and prevents
i t cl utteri ng your Taskbar, but sti ll al lows programs to prompt you i f there i s anythi ng worth noti ng.
However simpl y hi di ng Noti fi cati on Area i cons is not a substi tute for going through and removi ng all
unnecessary startup programs from bei ng l oaded on your system. For many programs you can safel y
di sabl e startup functi onal i ty, whi ch both removes the i con from the Noti fi cati on Area, and more
i mportantl y, reduces background resource usage and prevents confli cts and crashes - see the Startup
Programs chapter for more detail s.

By defaul t a whi te arrow wi ll be added to the l eft side of the Noti ficati on Area as you i nstall new programs,
or i f you sel ect ei ther the 'Hi de i con and noti fi cati ons' or 'Onl y show noti fi cations' opti ons for a program.
When cl i cked, this arrow opens a small Noti fi cation Area Overfl ow box contai ni ng any hi dden i cons or
noti fi cati ons, and these can be cl i cked to access the rel evant program or noti fi cati on. You can also drag and
drop i cons from the Noti ficati on Area and i nto thi s Noti fi cation Area Overfl ow box, or vi ce versa. Thi s box i s
designed to reduce cl utter i n the mai n Noti fi cation Area, but agai n, i s not a substi tute for acti vel y removing
unnecessary startup programs and confi guri ng rel evant opti ons in your vari ous programs to prevent them
l oadi ng at startup or providi ng unnecessary prompts.

The programs l isted i n the Noti fi cati on Area Icons customizati on wi ndow can i nclude i nacti ve or even no
l onger i nstal led programs. Over ti me thi s can make the wi ndow qui te cluttered, so if you wi sh to remove the
Noti fi cation Area entri es for programs whi ch are no l onger i nstal led then go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the
Regi stry:

Set t i ngs\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Tr ayNot i f y]

I conSt r eams

Past I consSt r eam

Del ete both DWORDs above, then restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon again. Thi s wil l remove all stored
Noti fi cation Area i con entri es and regenerate them. Note that some i cons may be mi ssi ng for i nacti ve
programs unti l that parti cul ar program is l aunched agai n and detected by Wi ndows i n the Noti ficati on Area.
There is al so an automated free Tray Cl eaner uti li ty whi ch attempts to do the same thi ng, however i t may
not remove all old entries.

You can overri de your normal choi ces in thi s Notifi cati on Area Icons customizati on wi ndow at any ti me by
ti cki ng the 'Al ways show al l i cons and noti fi cati ons i n the taskbar' box to force al l programs and noti fi cati ons
to be seen i n the Noti fi cation Area, and none wi l l be hi dden. This i s useful if you qui ckl y want to check for
any new or hi dden programs whi ch have qui etly added themsel ves to your startup programs for exampl e,
or if you can't fi nd a notifi cati on or program i con for a newl y i nstal l ed program.

If you wi sh to compl etel y remove the Noti fi cati on Area from the Taskbar - though thi s is not recommended -
you can do so by usi ng the 'Hi de Noti ficati on Area' pol i cy i n Local Group Pol i cy Edi tor - see the Group
Pol i cy chapter. In practice thi s i s unnecessary, as si mply by turni ng off al l system i cons under the


356

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Noti fi cation Area opti ons, as covered under the 'Turn system i cons on or off' setti ng further above, you can
remove al most every trace of the Notificati on Area. Al l that wi ll remai n i s a small whi te arrow whi ch when
cl i cked opens up the Noti ficati on Area Overfl ow box.

< GADGETS
Introduced i n Vista, the Windows Si debar was a l ocati on whi ch hel d i ndi vidual Si debar Gadgets. Wi ndows
7 removes the Si debar but l eaves the Gadgets functi onali ty i ntact. Gadgets are small programs whi ch display
a range of useful i nformation and can also provi de features whi ch can be more conveni entl y accessed on the
Desktop. Unli ke Windows Vista, Wi ndow 7's Gadgets can only fl oat on the Desktop, however they can snap
neatl y i nto posi ti on when cl ose to each other, or when cl ose to the edges of the Desktop.

Wi ndow 7 also reduces the performance i mpact of the Gadgets, by removing mul ti pl e instances of the
Sidebar.exe process. Furthermore thi s process onl y starts when you add a Gadget to the Desktop, otherwi se i t
remai ns disabl ed. In fact if you wish to di sabl e Gadget functi onal i ty at any time, you can ri ght-cl i ck on an
empty area of the Desktop, cl ick the Vi ew menu and sel ect 'Show Desktop Gadgets' to unselect i t and thus
di sabl e al l Gadget-rel ated resource usage at once. You can do the same thi ng to regai n al l your Gadgets and
recommence the Sidebar.exe process.

ADD OR REMOVE GADGETS
To add a Gadget to the Desktop, ei ther ri ght-cli ck on an existi ng Gadget and sel ect 'Add gadgets', or go to
Wi ndows Control Panel and sel ect Desktop Gadgets. Wi ndows 7 comes wi th several defaul t Gadgets such as
Cal endar, Cl ock, Weather and CPU Meter. Whil e these are handy, the true power of Gadgets comes from the
abi li ty to downl oad and install a wide range of user-made Gadgets, avai labl e when you cl ick the 'Get more
gadgets onl i ne' l i nk at the bottom of the Add Gadgets wi ndow, or you can browse the l i st here. To fi nd a
parti cul ar functi on, enter a rel evant search term i n the Search box at the top of the Gadget Gal l ery si te, or
browse by the categori es in the l eft pane.

To i nstal l a Gadget, ei ther downl oad the .GADGET fil e and doubl e-cli ck i t to i nstall i t, or cli ck the
Downl oad/Install button on the Gadget si te to i ni ti ate i nstal lati on. It shoul d be added to your Desktop, but i t
wi ll al so be added to your Add Gadgets wi ndow, from where you can right-cli ck on i t and sel ect Add to add
i t to your Desktop i f needed. To remove a Gadget from the Desktop, hover your mouse cursor over the
Gadget and cl i ck the X whi ch appears at the top ri ght of the Gadget. To uni nstal l a Gadget, ri ght-cli ck on it
i n the Add Gadgets wi ndow and sel ect Uni nstall .

There are a wi de range of Gadgets whi ch you can use, some of whi ch I have recommended throughout thi s
book to add desi red functi onal i ty to Wi ndows, and several of whi ch I menti on bel ow as good exampl es of
the types of free Gadgets avail able which you mi ght li ke to try:

i Stat CPU - Thi s CPU meter shows the CPU usage for every core of your CPU, up to 16 cores, i n a clean
and si mpl e interface. Al ternati vely you can try thi s mCPU Meter whi ch al so provi des a memory usage
bar al ong wi th CPU usage.
i Stat Wi reless - Di splays the si gnal strength for wi reless connecti ons. For notebook PCs you can use this
NoteBook Info Gadget which provi des si mi lar functi onali ty but also has features such as battery charge.
Googl e Gadget - This Gadget al l ows you to launch any Googl e search from your Desktop, openi ng the
search resul ts i n your defaul t browser.
NASA TV - Provi des a feed from NASA TV on your Desktop. Al so see Ful l Sun and Full Moon for
i nteresti ng space-related Gadgets.
BarCode Cl ock - Thi s Gadget i s one of the many vari ati ons of the cl ock-based Gadgets avai labl e, al ong
wi th other i nteresti ng cl ocks such as Sonar Cl ock, Metall i c Fli p Cl ock and thi s Rolex Cl ock.
BBC News Gadget - Provides a range of feeds from BBC News. Requi res Mi crosoft Sil verl ight 3 to be
i nstal l ed.


357

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

There are thousands of avail abl e Gadgets for Wi ndows 7, si nce most Wi ndows Vista Si debar Gadgets also
work on Wi ndows 7. You can al so downl oad and use the free Amnesty Generator to allow you to make
custom Gadgets out of a range of existing smal l programs cal l ed wi dgets from around the web. Just bear i n
mi nd that not all Gadgets may be useful , effi cient or safe to i nstal l. If possi bl e, downl oad the Gadget fi rst
and scan i t wi th a mal ware scanner before i nstall i ng, and onl y after readi ng any user revi ews i ndi cati ng the
useful ness of i t. Al so use Task Manager to bri efl y check your CPU and Memory usage, as some user-made
Gadgets mi ght be resource i ntensi ve, outwei ghi ng thei r useful ness.

CUSTOMIZE GADGETS
You can customi ze any Gadget usi ng a range of options avail abl e when you ri ght-cl i ck on a Gadget i tself, or
move your mouse over the Gadget and cli ck one of the i cons whi ch appear next to i t. These opti ons are
covered bel ow:

Add Gadgets: As covered above, this opens the Add Gadgets wi ndow all owing you to place addi ti onal
Gadgets on the Desktop.

Move: Al l ows you to move a Gadget al ong the Desktop, however the qui ckest method i s to move your
mouse over the Gadget, then drag the gray dotted 'Drag Gadget' area to move the Gadget around.

Always on Top: Thi s opti on forces a Gadget to al ways remai n on top of other wi ndows.

Opacity: Determi nes how transparent a Gadget i s, with 100% bei ng compl etely opaque (non-transparent).
Even at 20%, whi ch is the greatest transparency l evel possi bl e, the Gadget turns compl etely sol id whenever
you hover your mouse over i t.

Options: This opens up any avai labl e opti ons for the Gadget, all owing you to further customi ze the Gadget's
appearance and functi onal i ty i f appli cabl e. Some Gadgets have few i f any opti ons, i t depends on the
Gadget's creator as to how customizabl e i t i s. You can also access the Gadget opti ons by cl i cki ng the spanner
i con when you hover your mouse over the Gadget.

Close Gadget: Removes the Gadget from the Desktop. You can al so cl ose the Gadget by cl i cking the X i con
when you hover your mouse over the Gadget.

Remember that if you want to qui ckl y get a glance at any of your Desktop Gadgets, you can use Aero Peek
to do so - see the Wi ndows Aero secti on of thi s chapter.

Gadgets usual l y have a relati vely i nsi gni ficant i mpact on normal Desktop performance and responsi veness
unl ess you have very l ow system memory. Check the Task Manager to observe how much memory the
sidebar.exe process i s consumi ng. Gadgets have no i mpact on gami ng performance si nce everythi ng on the
Desktop i s suspended when a ful l screen appli cation i s l aunched. Far from bei ng just a gimmi ck they can
actuall y become very useful as i nformati onal tools and even hel p i n troubl eshooti ng probl ems - for exampl e
you can use a CPU Meter Gadget to readi l y display and moni tor real-ti me CPU or memory usage whi l e
usi ng certai n programs. I recommend spendi ng the ti me to fi nd Gadgets to sui t your needs, but of course
don't just l oad up your Desktop wi th l ots of them.

< IMAGE CAPTURE AND MANIPULATION
Wi ndows 7 comes wi th several basi c tool s for capturi ng, viewi ng and edi ti ng images. These functi ons are
covered i n this secti on, al ong wi th several tool s whi ch can do a better job than the buil t-i n Windows uti li ties.


358

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

IMAGE CAPTURE
If you wi sh to capture an image, whether from a game or on the Desktop, you can use press the PRTSCN key
to pl ace a snapshot of the currentl y screen i nto memory. You can then open an i mage edi ti ng util i ty as
covered bel ow, and paste thi s i mage for edi ti ng or savi ng. To capture onl y a porti on of the screen, such as an
open wi ndow and not the enti re Desktop, make sure the component i s selected, then press ALT+PRTSCN.

An even easier way to capture a screenshot of any porti on of the screen is to use the Wi ndows Sni pping
Tool . When you're ready to capture a screenshot, go to the Start>Search Box, type Snipping and press Enter.
The Sni ppi ng Tool wil l open and the screen wi ll be slightl y grayed out. You can drag your cursor around the
porti on of the screen to be captured and when fi nished, l et go - the Sni ppi ng tool wi l l show the captured
porti on i n a new wi ndow. In thi s new wi ndow you can ei ther edit the pi cture usi ng the pen, hi ghl ighter or
eraser tool , send i t or copy i t, or cl i ck the di sk i con to save the sni pped porti on i n l ossl ess .PNG, or .GIF, .JPG
or .MHT formats. You can cl i ck the New button to ini ti ate a new sni p i f you wish.

If you want to capture a screenshot duri ng a game or 3D appl i cati on, you can typi cal l y press the PRTSCN
key to put a snapshot of the current frame i nto memory, however onl y a si ngl e frame can be kept thi s way
unti l you exi t the game or 3D appl i cati on and paste it somewhere. Instead, I recommend using the FRAPS
uti li ty to capture mul ti pl e screenshots duri ng a game. It al so all ows for video capture and benchmarki ng
functi onali ty as well , al though these requi re purchase for more advanced functi onali ty.

IMAGE VIEWING & EDITING
To vi ew any i mage, doubl e-cli ck on it and i t wi ll open i n the Wi ndows Photo Vi ewer by defaul t. The
Windows Photo Vi ewer is fai rl y strai ghtforward to use, as i t all ows you to browse photos and pi ctures i n
vari ous formats, and i ni ti ate a sl ideshow, pri nt, burn or open the pi cture i n another uti l i ty such as Wi ndows
Pai nt. However there i s a free enhanced versi on of i t whi ch I recommend that you i nstall , call ed Wi ndows
Li ve Photo Gall ery. Thi s versi on takes over from Wi ndows Photo Vi ewer when i nstall ed and i ntegrates i nto
Windows 7 seaml essl y, provi di ng si mi lar functi onality wi th addi tional features, i ncl udi ng the abil i ty to edi t
an i mage i n a range of ways when the Fix button i s cl icked.

Note that when you edi t an i mage wi th Wi ndows Live Photo Gall ery, the ori gi nal i mage is backed up to
your \Users\[username] \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Photo Gallery\Original Images di rectory. You can
swi tch back to the ori gi nal i mage by cl i cki ng the Revert button when edi ti ng that i mage.

If you want to edi t an i mage i n more detai l, you can open i t i n Windows Pai nt, whi ch can be accessed ei ther
by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng Windows Paint and pressi ng Enter, or by ri ght-cli cki ng on the i mage i n
ei ther Wi ndows Photo Vi ewer or Wi ndows Li ve Photo Gal l ery and sel ecti ng Open Wi th>Pai nt. Wi ndows
Pai nt has been redesigned for Wi ndows 7, and uses the new Ri bbon i nterface whi ch i s al so used by
Wi ndows Wordpad, as wel l as the latest Mi crosoft Office Sui te. Wi ndows Paint all ows you to use a variety
of tool s to al ter the i mage, add text to i t, resize i t and so forth. You can also save the i mage i n a range of
formats i ncl udi ng .BMP, .PNG, .JPG, .GIF, and .TIFF.

If you require a more advanced form of these i mage edi ti ng tool s, then Adobe PhotoShop i s the recognized
l eader i n thi s fi eld, but i s extremel y expensi ve, al though PhotoShop El ements i s an i nexpensi ve and more
basi c versi on. Viabl e free al ternati ves to PhotoShop, whi ch can al so read PhotoShop format fi l es i ncl ude
GIMP as wel l as Pai nt.NET when used wi th the PhotoShop Plugi n. All of these programs are qui te advanced
and are only recommended for peopl e who need to undertake more compl ex i mage mani pulati on or
creati on - for everyday needs the Wi ndows tool s above are perfectly adequate.


359

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

< FONTS
Fonts are sets of characters i n a parti cular styl e, and form the basi s of all computer text. Wi ndows Vi sta
i ntroduced several new fonts, i ncluding Segoe UI, Constanti a, Cambria, Corbel , Candara, Cali bri , and
Consol as. Windows 7 expands thi s font col l ecti on wi th several addi ti onal fonts, incl udi ng Gabri ola, Segoe UI
Li ght, Segoe UI Semi bold, and Segoe UI Symbol. Wi ndows 7 also i ntroduces the Di rectWri te API for
i mproved text di spl ay. A range of parameters rel ating to the di spl ay of fonts i n Wi ndows 7 can be adjusted
and are covered i n thi s secti on.

FONT CLARITY
The most i mportant aspect of font di splay i s i ts clari ty on your screen. Introduced as an option i n Wi ndows
XP, and then the defaul t renderi ng mode i n Vi sta and subsequently Windows 7, Cl earType i s the technol ogy
used to make fonts smoother and clearer on LCD displ ays. It i s enabl ed by defaul t i n Wi ndows 7, however
you can customi ze Cl earType to better sui t your needs, or disabl e al l font smoothi ng i f you wi sh.

To access the Cl earType tuner, open Di splay under the Wi ndows Control Panel , then cl i ck the 'Adjust
Cl earType text' l i nk i n the l eft pane. Alternati vely simpl y type ClearType i n the Start>Search Box and press
Enter. Make sure the 'Turn on Cl earType' box is ti cked, then cli ck the Next button and foll ow the prompts to
customize how Cl earType i s appli ed.

If you fi nd that font smoothi ng of any type i s annoyi ng you, as i t can make some fonts appear sl i ghtl y more
bl urry to some peopl e, then you can di sabl e al l font smoothi ng by goi ng to the Wi ndows Control Panel ,
openi ng the System component, cl i cki ng the 'Advanced system settings' li nk i n the l eft pane, or al ternati vely
typi ng systempropertiesadvanced i n the Start>Search Box and pressing Enter. Click the Setti ngs button under
Performance, and under the Vi sual Effects tab, unti ck the 'Smooth edges of screen fonts' box and cl i ck Apply
to see the change. Note that thi s wil l automati cal ly disable Cl earType as well .

If i nstead of usi ng Cl earType you want to manually fi ne-tune Cl earType text appearance then go to the
foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:


Font Smoot hi ngGamma=0
Font Smoot hi ngOr i ent at i on=1

The fi rst DWORD above determi nes how bri ght or dark the text wi l l be. The val ue i s set through the
Cl earType util i ty, however you can manual l y adjust i t i n Deci mal Vi ew up to a maxi mum of 2200; the hi gher
the val ue, the l ighter and thi nner text wi ll be. The second DWORD val ue above determines the type of
di splay used, wi th 0=CRT, 1=Standard fi xed-pi xel RGB di splay, and 2=fi xed pi xel displ ay usi ng non-
standard BGR arrangement. The defaul t of 1 shoul d be used for most LCD panel s.

If i nstead you prefer a more Mac OSX-l ike rendering system for Wi ndows fonts, you can attempt to use
GDI++ for font smoothi ng. A more user-fri endl y method i s to downl oad thi s fi l e, extract the contents to a
new fol der such as \Program Files\GDI, then l aunch the gditray.exe fi le. Ri ght-cl ick on the new G i con i n your
Noti fi cation Area and select Enabl e, then sel ect 'Redraw desktop' to see the i mpact. Note that usi ng GDI++
can i ncrease system resource usage and cause i nstabi l i ty, si nce i t i s replaci ng a core Wi ndows fi l e, so i t i s
general ly not recommended unl ess you trul y feel you cannot stand the defaul t Wi ndows text renderi ng, and
have tri ed to adjust i t usi ng Cl earType and the other methods i n thi s secti on to no avail .

Bear i n mi nd that some appl i cations, such as Adobe Reader, al so have thei r own text renderi ng opti ons
whi ch may overri de or enhance the general Wi ndows di spl ay setti ngs for fonts. In Adobe Reader for
exampl e, go to the Edi t menu, sel ect Preferences, and under the Page Di splay category, there i s a Renderi ng
secti on wi th opti ons to smooth and enhance text for PDF documents.


360

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Furthermore, i n some cases, even i f you di sabl e Cl earType, Windows wi ll retai n Cl earType for certai n fonts
such as Segoe UI - whi ch as noted earli er, is the primary font used for much of Wi ndow 7's i nterface - to
ensure that al l prompts, di al og boxes, warni ngs and so forth displ ay text preci sel y as i ntended, wi th no
mi ssi ng words for exampl e. You can however manuall y change the font used for vari ous i nterface
components, and this i s covered further bel ow.

FONT SIZE
If you fi nd that the Wi ndows screen fonts are generall y too small , especi all y at hi gher resoluti ons, then you
can go to the Di splay component under Wi ndows Control Panel and i n the mai n screen select an i nterface
size larger than 100% to i ncrease the enti re i nterface. However thi s i ncreases both text and i mages, maki ng
everythi ng l ook bi gger. If you just want to al ter the text si ze used i n the i nterface, you can cl i ck the 'Set
custom text size' li nk i n the l eft pane of the Di spl ay component.

In the wi ndow whi ch opens, you can adjust the Dots Per Inch (DPI) font scaling to a di fferent size from the
defaul t of 96 pi xel s per i nch, whi ch i s consi dered 100% by Wi ndows. Sel ect a new percentage from the drop
down box shown, or grab the rul er displ ayed and drag i t to the ri ght. The text at the bottom of the wi ndow
wi ll change to refl ect your sel ecti on, and when you are comfortabl e wi th the new text si ze, cl i ck OK. Note
that the 'Use Wi ndows XP styl e DPI Scali ng' box shoul d be ti cked to prevent ol der programs whi ch were not
ori gi nal l y desi gned to work wi th Wi ndows 7's DPI scali ng from showi ng blurry fonts. Once done, cl i ck OK
then cl i ck Appl y. Your custom sel ecti on wi ll be shown and sel ected i n the mai n Di splay wi ndow, and you
wi ll need to logoff and l ogon, or restart Wi ndows for the changes to come i nto effect.

FONT MANAGEMENT
Accessi bl e under Wi ndows Control Panel , the Font component al lows you to manage al l the fonts currentl y
i nstal l ed i n Windows 7. These fonts are stored i n the \Windows\Fonts fol der, whi ch when cl i cked al so opens
thi s Font management i nterface. You can previ ew any i nstall ed font by double-cli cki ng on i ts i con i n the
Font folder.

You can i nstall a new font i n Windows si mpl y by draggi ng i ts .FON or .TTF fil e i nto the Fonts folder; by
doubl e-cli cking the fi l e for a previ ew and then cl i cki ng the Install button at the top of the wi ndow; or by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on the fi l e and sel ecti ng Install . Note that .TTF denotes a TrueType font, a technol ogy that
ensures good scal i ng and that what i s di splayed on your screen shoul d come out exactl y the same on your
pri nter - other types of fonts may l ook sli ghtl y different i n different appli cati ons and/or when pri nted and/or
when usi ng di fferent si zes. To fi nd out more about fonts, go to the Mi crosoft Typography Websi te. If you
wi sh to downl oad and i nstall addi ti onal free fonts, go to Si mply The Best Fonts.

Cl i ck the 'Font setti ngs' l ink i n the l eft pane for general font-related setti ngs. Here you can ti ck the 'Hi de
fonts based on l anguage setti ngs' box to hi de any fonts whi ch are not designed for your defaul t i nput
l anguage. You can also ti ck the 'All ow fonts to be i nstal l ed usi ng a shortcut' box whi ch wi ll i nstall a shortcut
to the ori gi nal font fil e in the \Windows\Fonts folder, rather than copyi ng the fi l e there. Thi s can cause
probl ems i f the ori gi nal font fi le is del eted from i ts exi sti ng l ocati on i n Wi ndows, so is not recommended.

CUSTOM FONTS
To create your own custom fonts, Wi ndows has a bui l t-i n font edi ti ng uti li ty call ed Pri vate Character Edi tor
whi ch you can access by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng eudcedit then pressi ng Enter. It all ows you to
create custom fonts whi ch you can then i nsert i nto documents usi ng the Character Map util i ty, whi ch can be
opened by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng charmap and pressi ng Enter.

If you wi sh to change the actual fonts and font sizes used for parti cul ar Wi ndows i nterface el ements, open
Personali zation i n the Windows Control Panel, cli ck the Wi ndows Col or l i nk at the bottom of the wi ndow,


361

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

then cl i ck the 'Advanced appearance setti ngs' li nk. You can now select a parti cular component of the
i nterface i n the Item box, and not only customize i ts size and color, but for relevant el ements, you can also
change the font and font size used. To see the i mpact of your changes, you can ei ther vi ew the changes i n the
previ ew wi ndow provi ded, or cl i ck the Appl y button and the changes wi ll be impl emented to the Wi ndows
Desktop i mmediatel y. See the Personal izati on secti on of thi s chapter for more detail s.

If you don't want to change fonts for indi vi dual Windows el ements i n thi s way, you can appl y a gl obal
change to all the fonts used for the i nterface by remappi ng exi sti ng Wi ndows font fami li es stored under the
foll owi ng l ocati ons i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Font s]

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\
Font Subst i t ut es]

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows
NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Font Mapper \ Fami l yDef aul t s]

[ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Local Set t i ngs\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Shel l \ Mui Cache]

By speci fyi ng different font names and fi l enames i n the relevant keys above, you can change the fonts which
Wi ndows 7 uses. For exampl e if you change the fol l owi ng l i ne i n the Registry under the foll owi ng key:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows NT\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Font s]

Segoe UI ( Tr ueType) =segoeui . t t f

to

Segoe UI ( Tr ueType) =ar i al . t t f

Thi s wi ll tel l Wi ndows to use the Arial TrueType font i n al l places where Segoe UI woul d normall y be used
i n the Wi ndows i nterface. Restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon for the change to be i mpl emented. Al l the
font names can be found under the Fonts component i n the Wi ndows Control Panel - right cl i ck on a font
there, sel ect Properti es and you wi ll see its real fil ename. Make sure to set a Restore Poi nt fi rst before maki ng
these changes. Note further that thi s change appl ies to all users on your machi ne, not just your User
Account.

< ICONS
Icons are the i mages used to represent programs, fil es and folders i n Wi ndows. Wi ndows 7 uses an icon
system i ntroduced i n Vi sta, desi gned to al l ow smoothl y scalable i cons. As a resul t, al l system i cons i n
Wi ndows 7 can be smoothl y resized from very small to very large, wi thout l osing any si gni ficant amount of
quali ty. To demonstrate thi s, i n Wi ndows Expl orer go to any di rectory wi th a range of fil es, ri ght-cli ck and
sel ect Vi ew>Extra Large Icons, then ei ther by cl i cki ng on the Vi ew button i n the Command Bar and usi ng the
sl ider there, or by hol di ng down the CTRL key and usi ng you mouse scrol l wheel , resize the i cons and noti ce
that they scale up and down smoothl y. Furthermore, certai n content wi ll di splay as Li ve Icons - thumbnails
of the actual contents of a fi le - and these also scal e smoothl y. Onl y i cons whi ch have not been created for
Vista or Windows 7's i con renderi ng engi ne wi ll exhibi t si gns of qual i ty degradati on as they as scal ed up or
down. See the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter for more detai ls on these features.

Icons on the Wi ndows Desktop can be adjusted i n much the same way as those i n Wi ndows Expl orer, able to
be resized by ri ght-cl i cking on the Desktop and usi ng the Vi ew menu, or usi ng the CTRL+Mousewheel
method. Under the Vi ew menu you can al so sel ect whether to l et Wi ndows 'Auto Arrange' the i con layout,
or 'Al ign to Gri d' to place an i nvi si bl e grid on the Desktop that i cons wil l 'snap' to when moved. You can
even disabl e Desktop i cons if you so wish, though thi s i s not normall y recommended.


362

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Fortunatel y there is much more that can be done to customize i cons i n Wi ndows, and these are covered in
thi s secti on.

REMOVE TEXT FROM DESKTOP ICONS
To remove the text beneath any i con on your Desktop, fol l ow these steps:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on the i con whose ti tl e you want to remove and sel ect Rename.
2. Instead of enteri ng any characters i n the text box, hol d down the ALT key and type 255 (ALT + 2 + 5 + 5).
Note that you need to use the NUMPAD number keys for this to work, that is the numbers to the ri ght
of your arrow keys, not the ones at the top of the keyboard.
3. When you release the ALT key the ti tl e wi ll be bl ank, and you can press Enter to accept this. Bl ank ti tles
are usual ly deni ed under Wi ndows, but not when done thi s way as i t i nserts a special bl ank character.
4. For every i con whose ti tl e you wish to remove, do the same as above. However si nce no two i cons can
have the same name, for each subsequent i con you'll have to add an addi ti onal ALT 255 to the end of the
stri ng you enter. E.g. to bl ank a second i con name you'll need to hol d down ALT and type 255, rel ease,
then hol d ALT and type 255 agai n, then rel ease and press Enter. For a thi rd, you'l l have to type ALT 255,
ALT 255, ALT 255, Enter and so on.

If you want to regai n the icon names you wil l have to manual l y edit each i con's name.

REMOVE SHORTCUT ARROWS FROM ICONS
By defaul t Wi ndows adds a smal l arrow to the bottom l eft of any i con whi ch represents a Shortcut l ink
rather than a normal fi l e, fol der or program. Thi s i s to differenti ate l i nks - whi ch are usuall y safe to del ete -
from actual fil es or programs. However i f you want to remove thi s Shortcut arrow, you can add an entry in
the Regi stry to make thi s change. Go to the foll owi ng l ocati on i n the Registry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er ]

Ri ght-cli ck on the Expl orer subfol der and sel ect New>Key, and name this Shel l I cons - note there is a
si ngl e space between the two words. It should l ook l ike thi s:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er \ Shel l
I cons]

Now select the Shell Icons key and i n the ri ght pane, create the fol l owi ng new STRING wi th the val ue data
exactl y as shown:

29=%Syst emRoot %\ Syst em32\ bl ank. i co

Note that the val ue name is i ndeed the number 29, and the val ue data shown after the = si gn i s the path to
the fol l owi ng small fi l e: Bl ank Icon (mi rror). Downl oad the fi l e, extract the blank.ico fil e from the archi ve and
move i t to your \Windows\System32 di rectory. Restart Wi ndows or l ogoff and l ogon, and al l Shortcut arrows
wi ll be removed. You can undo thi s change by del eti ng the above value and restarti ng Wi ndows.

If you prefer an automated way of appl yi ng thi s change, you can use Mi croangel o on Di splay, whi ch i s not
free but the free tri al versi on i s suffi ci ent to remove Shortcut arrows permanentl y. Al ternati vely, you can use
the ol d free versi on of the FXVisor program - downl oad ei ther the FXVisor 32-bit or FXVi sor 64-bi t version as
rel evant.


363

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

REMOVE '- SHORTCUT' FROM NEW SHORTCUTS
Whenever you create a new Shortcut, the words '- Shortcut' appear at the end of the Shortcut's name. To
remove thi s defaul t prefi x for new Shortcuts, go to the fol l owi ng l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Sof t war e\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ Expl or er ]

Li nk=1E 00 00 00

Change the BINARY val ue above to 00 00 00 00 - that i s, doubl e-cli ck the 1E part of the val ue and type a pair
of zeroes, then press Enter. Thi s wi ll remove the '- Shortcut' suffix on new Shortcuts. Restart Wi ndows or
l ogoff and l ogon to i mplement the change.

REPAIR INCORRECTLY DISPLAYED ICONS
By defaul t Wi ndows stores a range of commonl y used i cons i n a cache to speed up their di splay on the
Wi ndows Desktop and i n Wi ndows Expl orer for exampl e. If you are experi enci ng problems wi th your icons
di splayi ng i ncorrectl y, go to the \Users\[username]\AppData\Local di rectory under your personal fol ders
and del ete the fil e IconCache.db. Reboot Wi ndows and thi s fi l e wi ll be recreated, refreshi ng any out of date or
i ncorrectly displ ayed i cons.

SAVE DESKTOP ICON POSITIONS
Thi s tweak all ows you to save the current posi ti ons of your desktop i cons so that i f the i cons are rearranged
or moved you can qui ckly restore them back to thei r saved posi ti ons at any ti me. To gi ve you thi s added
functi onali ty do the fol l owi ng on Wi ndows 7 32-bi t:

1. Downl oad the fi l e Layout.zi p (mi rror) and extract the contents to an empty di rectory.
2. Copy the Layout.dll fi l e to your \Windows\System32 di rectory.
3. Doubl e-cli ck on the Layout.reg fil e to automati cal ly make the appropri ate changes to your Registry.
4. Go to your Desktop and arrange al l your i cons as you would li ke them to be saved.
5. Once done, ri ght-cli ck on the Recycl e Bi n and sel ect the new 'Save Desktop Icon Layout' opti on. The
posi ti ons of al l the i cons are now saved.
6. You can move the i cons around freel y and whenever you want them restored to thei r ori gi nal saved
posi ti ons, ri ght-cl i ck on Recycl e Bi n again and sel ect 'Restore Desktop Icon Layout'.

If you're usi ng Wi ndows 7 64-bi t, the above method won't work. You must use the Di ps64 uti li ty i nstead.
Install Di ps64, then to save or restore the desktop i con posi ti on at any ti me, left-cli ck on an empty area of
your Desktop to make sure no i con i s hi ghl i ghted. Now hol d down the SHIFT key whil e ri ght-cl i cki ng on the
empty spot to access the relevant 'Save i con posi ti ons' and 'Restore icon posi ti ons' context menu i tems.

SET SPACING BETWEEN ICONS
To adjust the spaces between your desktop i cons, you can manuall y move them. However i f you've chosen
automati c spaci ng - that is, ri ght-cli ck on the Desktop and sel ect Vi ew>Al i gn i cons to gri d - then you can
adjust the fi xed verti cal and horizontal spaces pl aced between each i con by doi ng the fol l owing:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on the Desktop and choose Personali ze.
2. Sel ect the Window Col ors l i nk at the bottom of the window.
3. Cl i ck the 'Advanced appearance setti ngs' li nk.
4. Under Items sel ect 'Icon Spaci ng (Horizontal)' and 'Icon Spaci ng (Verti cal )' one at a ti me, and edi t thei r
values to determi ne how many pi xels are pl aced between the i cons. The defaul ts are 43 pi xel s between
i cons. Small er val ues squeeze them cl oser together, hi gher values spread them further apart.
5. Cl i ck Appl y after each change and the impact shoul d i mmediately be vi si bl e on your Desktop i cons.


364

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Note however that by changi ng these i con spaci ng values, you wi ll also change the spaci ng between al l i cons
i n wi ndows, such as those i n the Wi ndows Control Panel wi ndow for exampl e.

CREATE CUSTOM SHUTDOWN, RESTART, SLEEP OR LOCK ICONS
Instead of usi ng the Shutdown, Restart, Sleep or Lock opti ons avail abl e from the Shutdown button on the
Start Menu, you can create i cons whi ch automati call y perform the same functions wi th just a doubl e-cl i ck.
These i cons can then be pl aced on the Desktop for your conveni ence, or pi nned to the Start Menu or Taskbar
for qui ck access. Foll ow these i nstructi ons

Shutdown Icon:

1. Ri ght cl ick on an empty area on your desktop.
2. Sel ect New>Shortcut.
3. In the fi rst box of the Create Shortcut Wizard, type the foll owi ng and cli ck Next:

shut down / s / t 00

4. Call the shortcut somethi ng descri pti ve l i ke Shutdown and cli ck Fi nish. Al ternati vely you can remove
i ts name al together usi ng the Remove Text from Desktop Icons ti p further above.
5. Ri ght cl i ck on thi s new i con, sel ect Properti es, cl i ck the Change Icon button and select an appropriate
i con and cl i ck Appl y.

Reboot Icon:

To create a Reboot i con, fol l ow the same steps as above, but substi tute the fol l owi ng steps i n pl ace of the
correspondi ng ones above:


shut down / r / t 00

4. Call the shortcut somethi ng descri pti ve l i ke Restart and cli ck Fi ni sh.

Lock Icon:

To create an icon whi ch automati cal l y l ocks the workstati on until you l og back i n, fol l ow the same steps for
the Sl eep Icon above, but substi tute the foll owi ng steps i n pl ace of the correspondi ng ones further above:


r undl l 32. exe User 32. dl l , LockWor kSt at i on

4. Call the shortcut somethi ng descri pti ve l i ke Lock.


365

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Sleep Icon:

To create a Sleep i con, fol low these steps:

1. Ri ght cl ick on an empty area on your desktop.
2. Sel ect New>Shortcut.

r undl l 32. exe powr pr of . dl l , Set SuspendSt at e 0, 1, 0

4. Call the shortcut somethi ng descri pti ve l i ke Sl eep.
5. Ri ght cl i ck on thi s new i con, sel ect Properti es, cl i ck the Change Icon button and select an appropriate
i con and cl i ck Appl y.

Note that by defaul t thi s sends the computer i nto hibernati on, unl ess you di sabl e the hi bernati on feature as
covered under the Power Opti ons section of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter.

Doubl e-cli cking any of these i cons wi ll commence shutdown, restart, sl eep or l ock strai ght away wi thout any
warni ng. If you want a countdown before shutdown or restart, substi tute an amount of time i n seconds i n
pl ace of the '00' entri es i n the shortcut properti es above (e.g. shut down / s / t 10 gi ves 10 seconds warni ng
before shutti ng down). Also note that once these processes begi n they can't be aborted. If you want more
command li ne swi tches whi ch can be used wi th the shutdown command, open a command prompt and type
shut down / ? and press Enter.

If you don't want to create custom i cons for these functi ons, use thi s Shutdown Control Gadget i nstead.

ICON CREATION AND CUSTOMIZATION
Wi ndows 7 uses scalabl e icons whi ch can be up to 256x256 pi xel s i n si ze, and these hi gher resoluti on i cons
are stored i n compressed .PNG format to mai ntai n thei r quali ty at a reduced fi le size. Wi ndows 7 i cons are
full y compatibl e wi th Vi sta, and vi ce versa, si nce Vista i ntroduced thi s new i con system, but they are also
backward compati bl e wi th Wi ndows XP - however onl y l ower resoluti on versi ons of the icon (16x16, 32x32
and 48x48) wi l l be shown in XP.

If you wish to create or edi t Wi ndows 7 scalabl e i cons, you can use the free Pai nt.NET program covered
under the Image Capture and Mani pulati on secti on of thi s chapter, combi ned wi th thi s free Icon/Cursor
Pl ugi n. Al ternati vely, you can use the Real Worl d Icon Edi tor, though i t i s only free for a tri al peri od. Usi ng
ori gi nal .PNG i mages for best resul ts, you wi ll be abl e to create a hi gh qual i ty .ICO fi l e for use as a
repl acement for any program or fol der icon. To change any program fil e i con, si mpl y ri ght-cl i ck on i t, select
Properti es, cl ick the 'Change i con' button and browse to your custom .ICO fi l e and sel ect i t, then cl i ck Appl y.
Or you can browse to the Imageres.dll or Shell32.dll fil es, both found under the \Windows\System32 di rectory,
to vi ew a range of bui l t-i n Wi ndows i cons. For folder i con customizati on see the Advanced Features secti on
of the Wi ndows Expl orer chapter.


366

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

< SOUND
One of the major changes whi ch has occurred to Wi ndows as of Wi ndows Vista is the way i n whi ch the
audi o system works. It was a si gni fi cant change over the way audio had been handled i n Windows XP, and
Wi ndows 7 conti nues wi th the use of this new audi o model wi th some mi nor techni cal refi nements.

The Windows audi o stack (software sub-system) was compl etel y re-wri tten as of Vista, based on the
Uni versal Audi o Archi tecture (UAA), to provi de more accurate and faster audi o renderi ng, and higher
quali ty digi tal si gnal processi ng. The audi o stack no longer entangl es i tself wi th the Kernel - the core of the
operati ng system - whi ch resul ts i n much greater stabi l i ty. Furthermore, the enti re audi o system i s desi gned
such that audi o dri vers are not absolutely necessary for an audi o devi ce to work, and al so al lows a range of
enhanced functi ons wi thout the need for a dri ver. Of course the l atest audi o drivers are stil l important and
recommended for ful l functi onali ty and opti mal performance, as covered under the Wi ndows Dri vers
chapter.

One of the most noti ceable changes due to thi s audi o stack i s that the Di rectSound3D API, used extensi vely
pri or to Wi ndows Vista for provi di ng enhanced hardware-accel erated 3D audi o effects, such as through the
use of EAX i n games, i s now emul ated i n software under Windows 7, and thus cannot access these
hardware-accel erated effects. Thi s i s not a major i ssue, as i t pri mari l y affects older games and appli cati ons
whi ch use DirectSound to provi de advanced audi o effects. Al l recent games use the OpenAL API or their
own custom audi o sol utions desi gned for the new Wi ndows audi o stack, and hence are not affected.
However for ol der games whi ch onl y support Di rectSound audio, i f you own a Creati ve Audi gy or X-Fi -
based sound card use the Creati ve ALchemy uti li ty as a workaround to regai n the addi ti onal audi o effects; i f
you have a Real tek-based onboard sound chi pset, you can use the Real tek 3D SoundBack util i ty.

Wi ndows 7 adds several techni cal refi nements to the audi o model , as covered i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cle. In
short, these incl ude i mproved stream management and devi ce detecti on, al lowi ng Wi ndows to determi ne
the type of devi ce(s) connected and stream audi o to or from i t/them more appropri ately and seaml essl y;
i mproved HDMI audi o support; i mproved support for communi cati on devices, such as Voi ce Over IP
(VOIP); and refi nements to the Vol ume Mi xer i nterface.

The qui ckest way to access audi o-related functi onali ty i n Wi ndows is to cl i ck on the Volume i con i n the
Noti fi cation Area, and i s di scussed i n more detai l bel ow:

VOLUME CONTROL
Shown as a small speaker i con i n the Noti fi cati on Area at the bottom ri ght corner of the screen by default,
the Volume Control wi ndow whi ch opens when i t is cl i cked all ows you to adjust the master vol ume l evel for
the current sound output devi ce, which i s usuall y your speaker or headphones. When you hover your
mouse over it, i t wi ll show the name of the current sound output devi ce, and the current master volume
l evel as a percentage. If you cl i ck once on i t you can adjust the master vol ume l evel for the devi ce usi ng the
sl ider. If you want to mute or unmute all sound, cli ck the small blue speaker i con at the bottom of the sl i der.
To access your output devi ce's setti ngs, cli ck the i con above the sl ider - these opti ons are covered further
bel ow.

Under the new Wi ndows audi o stack, it i s possi bl e to set di fferent vol ume l evel s for each acti ve appl i cation
as wel l as the normal Wi ndows sounds. To do this, cl i ck the Mi xer li nk i n the Volume Control wi ndow, or
you can si mpl y ri ght-cl i ck on the Vol ume i con and sel ect 'Open Volume Mi xer', and the full Volume Mixer
wi ll open. Just l i ke the master vol ume sl i der, the Volume Mi xer all ows you to set the vol ume l evel for each
appl i cati on, and to mute/unmute each speci fi c appli cati on's sounds. Importantly, there i s a 'System Sounds'
sl ider here whi ch controls the l evel for general Wi ndows sounds. You can also access the Sounds tab of the
Sound component - whi ch i s covered further bel ow - by cl i cki ng the i con at the top of the 'System Sounds'
sl ider.


367

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Note that Windows wil l onl y display an appl i cati on i n the Volume Mi xer i f they have been used to pl ay back
audi o at any poi nt. Furthermore, Wi ndows remembers the vol ume l evel you set i n the Mi xer for a parti cular
appl i cati on, even i f i t i s not acti ve.

You can also access a new opti on i n Windows 7 whi ch affects the di splay of vol ume sl i ders. Ri ght-cli ck on
the Vol ume icon i n the Noti fi cati on Area and select 'Volume control opti ons'. The Volume Control Opti ons
wi ndow all ows you to di splay i ndi vidual Devi ce vol ume sli ders for each separate audi o device (not
program) being used for audi o output. For exampl e if you're usi ng the Speakers devi ce as wel l as the SPDIF
sound devi ce, ti cki ng both devi ces under the 'Sound devi ce' box i n the Vol ume Control Opti ons wi ndow wi ll
di splay two vol ume sli ders when the Vol ume i con i s cl i cked, one for each devi ce.

To access the audi o confi gurati on opti ons i n Wi ndows 7, go to the Wi ndows Control Panel and open the
Sound component, or ri ght-cl i ck on the Vol ume i con i n the Notifi cati on Area and sel ect 'Playback devi ces'.
The opti ons in thi s secti on are covered bel ow:

PLAYBACK
Thi s tab l ists al l the avail able sound pl ayback devi ces on your system. Thi s i ncl udes devi ces such as
speakers, headphones, and vari ous output channels supported by your sound devi ce, such as SPDIF. To
sel ect whi ch wi ll be the defaul t playback devi ce (denoted by a small green ti ck next to i ts i con), hi ghli ght the
devi ce and cl i ck the 'Set Defaul t' button. Note that you can al so choose to set a separate 'Defaul t
Communi cation Devi ce', whi ch i s the devi ce used for VOIP and the l ike. For exampl e, you can set external
speakers as the defaul t devi ce for normal audi o, and set headphones as the defaul t communicati ons devi ce.

I recommend ri ght-cl i cki ng on audi o pl ayback devices whi ch you are certai n you wil l not use, and sel ect
Di sabl e. This removes cl utter and al so prevents accidental ly sel ecting an unused output i n any appl i cati on,
or havi ng i t show up i n the Vol ume Control sl i ders for exampl e. You can ri ght-cli ck i n an empty area of the
Playback wi ndow and sel ect or unsel ect the 'Show disabled devi ces' and 'Show di sconnected devi ces' i tems
to further refine the display of relevant items i n this wi ndow at any ti me.

Certai n devices al l ow addi ti onal confi gurati on, so hi ghli ght the devi ce and i f the Configure button i s
avai labl e, cli ck i t and fol l ow the Wi zard to correctly configure the devi ce. Most commonl y thi s i nvol ves
confi guri ng a set of speakers for the correct number and type of speakers used, and testi ng the output.

Each sound pl ayback devi ce can also have a range of addi ti onal opti ons. Highli ght the devi ce and cl ick the
Properti es button, or si mpl y doubl e-cl i ck on the devi ce. Whi l e I can't detai l every feature for all types of
pl ayback devi ces, bel ow are the common features for the Speakers devi ce. Importantl y, the presence or
absence of features i n thi s area depends on the type of hardware and/or dri vers you are usi ng, but bel ow are
the most common ones:

General: This tab provi des general detai ls about your audi o hardware and connecti ons. You can also change
the i con used for thi s device by cl i cki ng the 'Change i con' button - thi s i con appears at the top of the master
vol ume sli der i n the Noti fi cati on Area among other pl aces.

Levels: The sliders under thi s secti on all ow you to adjust the volume l evels for each of your vari ous audi o
output and input types, such as CD Player, mi crophone, Li ne In, etc. I recommend muti ng (cli cki ng on the
bl ue speaker i con) each input/output type you don't use, as thi s hel ps reduce any potenti al background
noi se. You can al so set the Balance for each one by cl icki ng i ts Balance button, where you can set the rel ati ve
vol ume l evel for every i ndivi dual channel possi ble on that output type.

Enhancements: Thi s i s an important set of defaul t Wi ndows features designed to al l ow almost all types of
sound hardware to access enhance audio pl ayback features covered i n detai l i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e. Note


368

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

that thi s tab may have been removed and/or al tered when you i nstall ed dri vers for your audi o devi ce. The
full set of basi c enhancements are summarized bel ow:

Bass Management - Control s Bass for home theater parti cularly when a subwoofer i s mi ssi ng.
Speaker Phantomi ng - When usi ng a mul ti-channel source, fi ll s i n any gaps i n an i ncompl ete mul ti -
channel speaker setup.
Speaker Fi ll - The reverse of Speaker Phantomi ng, takes a two-channel source and spreads it over more
channels.
Vi rtual Surround - Converts mul ti-channel sound to two-channel , and back again i f requi red.
Loudness Equal izati on - Attempts to mai ntai n a more constant sound l evel across a range of sources.
Room Correcti on - Through the use of a mi crophone Wi ndows can automati cal ly cali brate a mul ti-
channel home theater setup.
Headphone Vi rtual izati on - Creates a 3D sound envi ronment for headphones.
Bass Boost - Boosts the Bass response on small er speakers such as mobi l e PC speakers.

If you are experi enci ng audi o-rel ated probl ems, you can ti ck the 'Di sabl e all enhancements' box to di sabl e
these effects for troubl eshooti ng purposes.

The avai labi lity of any of these Enhancement opti ons i s dependent on the sound hardware and dri vers you
are usi ng, as wel l as the playback devi ce chosen. If your audi o devi ce has replaced thi s tab wi th a custom tab
or has a custom uti l i ty for adjusti ng enhancements, those shoul d provi de better quali ty audi o enhancements
as they are tai l ored to your sound devi ce's capabi l i ti es. If you wish to experi ment wi th the above
enhancements however and they are unavail abl e to you, uni nstal l your sound devi ce's dri vers - see the
Wi ndows Drivers chapter. In any case, regardl ess of whether you use these enhancements or those which
come wi th your audi o dri ver, adjusti ng them properl y i s an i mportant part of getti ng opti mal audi o quali ty
from your hardware.

Advanced: The 'Defaul t Format' opti on shown here is the number of channels, the sample rate and the bi t
depth general l y used to play back all audi o i n Shared Mode, which i s the normal mode used i n Wi ndows.
Thi s all ows pl ayback of audi o from multi pl e appl i cations at the same ti me. Al l audi o output i n Shared Mode
i s remi xed by Wi ndows to match the quali ty chosen in thi s drop-down box. I recommend that you sel ect at
l east the 16-bit 48,000Hz opti on, as thi s i s equi val ent to DVD audi o, and means playi ng back CDs and DVDs
should resul t i n no noti ceabl e qual i ty l oss. You can set i t even hi gher i f you wish, and thi s may be benefi cial
i n some ci rcumstances, al though bear in mi nd that thi s wil l not make audi o sound better than i ts ori gi nal
encoded quali ty.

The 'All ow appl i cations to take exclusi ve control of thi s devi ce' and 'Gi ve excl usi ve mode appl icati ons
pri ori ty' relate to Excl usi ve Mode, the mode i n which Wi ndows all ows an appl i cation to take control of
audi o processi ng, bl ocki ng al l other audi o sources and preventi ng audi o from bei ng resampl ed by the
Wi ndows mixer. However Excl usi ve Mode i s onl y possi bl e i f supported by an appli cati on. Ti cki ng both
these boxes all ows appl i cati ons whi ch support Excl usi ve Mode to gai n access to thi s mode, whi ch is
recommended. If you experi ence audi o probl ems then you might want to unti ck the fi rst opti on for
troubl eshooting purposes.

RECORDING
Thi s tab li sts all the avail abl e sound recordi ng devi ces on your system. The descri pti ons for opti ons i n this
secti on are much the same as those under the Playback tab above. Note that in Wi ndows 7, you can now
l i sten to a portabl e musi c pl ayer plugged i n through the port for a recordi ng devi ce - thi s functi onal i ty i s
avai labl e under the Li sten tab for the rel evant i nput devi ce.


369

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

SOUNDS
You can assign di fferent sounds to particular system and appli cation events i n thi s secti on. Each sound event
i s l isted under the mai n 'Program Events' box, and to hear the current sound assi gned to an event (if i t has a
speaker i con next to i t), hi ghl ight the i tem and cl i ck the Test button. To assign another sound to the event,
hi ghli ght an event, choose from the l i st avai labl e under the Sounds box, or cl i ck the Browse button and fi nd
a sound fil e in .WAV format to use i nstead, then cli ck the Appl y button.

Whi le system sounds are i mportant i n warni ng you about vari ous occurrences, they take up memory
because they are loaded i nto RAM at Wi ndows startup and stay there most of the ti me. This i s not a major
i ssue as they don't take up much memory on modern systems. I sti ll recommend di sabl i ng unnecessary
sounds where possi bl e - hi ghli ght relevant events and sel ect None under the Sounds li st then cl i ck Apply
when done. Unnecessary sounds can incl ude sound prompts for features you don't have or don't use, such
as the Battery-rel ated, Fax-related or Wi ndows Speech Recogniti on-related events on PCs whi ch don't use
these features. You can even di sabl e the Wi ndows Startup sound by unti cki ng the 'Pl ay Windows Startup
sound' box, and disabl e the sound for the Wi ndows Exi t event to speed up startup and exi ting.

Furthermore, for the sound events you do wi sh to keep, you can assi gn the same sound to several types of
warni ngs to reduce resource usage. For exampl e, you can assi gn the Windows Exclamation.wav sound to al l
general system warni ng sounds i ncl udi ng Asteri sk, Cri ti cal Stop, Defaul t Beep, System Noti fi cati on, and
Wi ndows User Account Control . By assi gni ng the same sound to mul ti ple events you wil l sti ll get audibl e
al erts of certai n events, but you save memory si nce onl y one sound has to be l oaded i nto memory, regardless
of how many uses i t may have. Of course thi s reduces the descri pti ve power of the sound, but i n most cases
the average user woul d be unable to tell whi ch sound i ndi cated which type of event regardl ess.

More i mportantl y, as you i nstal l new programs or features they may add new system events and sounds, so
make sure to go through thi s l ist every once i n a whi le to refi ne i t and remove unnecessary sounds.

Once you've set up the Windows sounds the way you li ke them, cl i ck the 'Save As' button at the top of the
wi ndow and save your new sound scheme under a sui tabl e name; any changes you make i n the future wil l
be saved automati cal ly to thi s scheme. If you just want to qui ckl y di sabl e al l system event sounds sel ect the
'No Sounds' opti on under the sound scheme area; thi s doesn't turn off all sound on your system, i t si mply
removes sounds effects from all the system events.

Fi nal ly, there may be addi ti onal audi o confi gurati on opti ons avail abl e for your sound hardware i n
Wi ndows, parti cularly after you i nstall the l atest dri vers for i t. These can usual ly be found as new
components in the Wi ndows Control Panel, or by typi ng audio, or the name of your sound hardware, i n the
Start>Search Box. These vary from devi ce to devi ce and are not covered i n thi s chapter, however these
addi ti onal confi gurati on opti ons are very i mportant as they can have a major impact on performance and
audi o qual i ty i n Windows 7 - see your sound devi ce manufacturer's websi te for more i nformati on.

As a fi nal note, if you are usi ng a pl ugi n sound card, and are havi ng audi o-rel ated diffi cul ti es, then consider
removi ng the sound card and reverti ng to onboard sound functi onal i ty, especi al ly if you have a recent
motherboard. Recent onboard audi o chi psets, parti cularl y those on hi gh-end motherboards, provi de
advanced high qual i ty audi o, and are actual l y more li kel y to work wi thout any probl ems wi th the new
Wi ndows audi o stack, si nce thi s is preci sel y the type of hardware i t was designed for. As l ong as you fi nd
relati vel y recent Wi ndows 7 dri vers for the onboard audi o chi pset, usi ng onboard audi o can be the best
sol uti on i n terms of performance and stabi li ty, even for gami ng.


370

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

< GAMING
Thi s book has al ready been wri tten wi th gamers in mi nd, so there are no speci fi c performance ti ps or
changes i n thi s secti on for gamers - fol l ow the recommendati ons throughout thi s book to get i mproved
performance i n both games and general Wi ndows usage. However I do cover specifi c game-related
Wi ndows features bel ow:

DIRECTX 11 AND GAMING
Gami ng on Wi ndows 7 is very si mil ar to gami ng under Vista, both i n terms of performance and general
functi onali ty. The key change i s that Wi ndows 7 provides ful l support for Di rectX 11, whi ch is covered i n the
i ntroducti on to thi s chapter, al l owi ng for addi ti onal graphi cs capabi li ti es such as Tessell ati on to i ncrease
object compl exi ty, Mul ti threaded renderi ng to i mprove graphics card uti lizati on, and Compute Shader
support as part of Shader Model 5.0 for processi ng general data on graphi cs cards.

Unl ike the transi ti on from Di rectX 9 to Di rectX 10, Di rectX 11 is an extensi on of the features of Di rectX 10,
not a re-write, and as such, some of the features of DirectX 11, such as mul ti threaded renderi ng
i mprovements, can also be util ized on exi sti ng Di rectX 10-capabl e graphi cs cards. Tessel lati on and other
Shader Model 5.0 features on the other hand require dedi cated Di rectX 11-capabl e graphi cs cards, whi ch at
the ti me of thi s wri ti ng is restri cted to the ATI HD 5000 seri es graphi cs cards.

To take advantage of the benefi ts of DirectX 11, you need a WDDM 1.1 graphi cs dri ver, as covered i n the
Wi ndows Drivers, Memory Opti mi zation and at the start of thi s chapter; a Di rectX 11-capable graphi cs card;
and a game or appl i cati on wri tten to take advantage of Di rectX 11 features. Whi l e WDDM 1.1 graphi cs
dri vers are now wi del y avail abl e, and Di rectX 11 hardware is avai labl e and wi ll expand i n the comi ng year,
the number of games wi th Di rectX 11 support i s somewhat li mi ted as li sted i n thi s Wiki pedi a Arti cl e. Part of
the reason for thi s is that most PC games are new designed for consol e hardware, and such hardware i s
l i mi ted to DirectX 9.0. This means that even i f i mpl emented i n a PC game, Di rectX 11 features may not be
extensi ve or provi de much vi sual or performance di fference over Di rectX 10 or 9.

If you have Di rectX 11-capabl e hardware, you can vi ew the changes possi bl e wi th Di rectX 11 by usi ng the
free Uni gi ne Heaven util i ty as covered under the Third Party Tools secti on of the Performance Measurement
& Troubl eshooti ng chapter, or by using thi s free ATI Di rectX 11 Demo. If you don't own Di rectX 11
hardware you can see a Di rectX 10 vs. Di rectX 11 performance and graphi cs comparison i n the game
STALKER: Call of Pri pyat i n thi s arti cl e.

GAMES EXPLORER
Games Expl orer i s a central l ocation for games i n Wi ndows 7, both for the games bui l t i nto Windows such as
Hearts and Sol i tai re, as wel l as any games you i nstall . You can access i t by cl i cki ng the Games i tem on the
Start Menu, or by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng games and pressi ng Enter. Games Expl orer i s designed to
repl ace the need for havi ng mul ti pl e Desktop i cons for games. To make access to Games Expl orer easi er,
drag and drop the Games i tem from your Start Menu onto your Desktop or the Taskbar - though note that i f
added to the Taskbar i t becomes a l ocati on under the Wi ndows Expl orer fol der; to al ter this behavi or, see
further bel ow.

Games Expl orer i s based on Wi ndows Expl orer, and as such most of the basi c features i n the Games Expl orer
wi ndow are the same as those covered i n more detail i n the Windows Expl orer chapter. Thi s i ncl udes the
abi li ty to change the way i n whi ch i ndivi dual games are displayed by al teri ng the Vi ew setti ngs; a Detail s
Pane whi ch appears at the bottom of the wi ndow when a game i s hi ghli ghted, providi ng addi ti onal
i nformati on on the game; and a Previ ew Pane which whi l e not contai ni ng a previ ew, does contai n box cover
art, content rati ng and performance i nformati on for the sel ected game. For more detai ls on the performance
i nformati on aspect, see the Wi ndows Experi ence Index secti on of the Performance Measurement &


371

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

By defaul t Games Expl orer contai ns a range of Wi ndows games, and i ncl udes several Internet-based games,
some of which were not avai labl e i n previ ous versi ons of Windows: Internet Backgammon, Internet
Checkers, and Internet Spades. You can uni nstall any of these games by usi ng the 'Turn Wi ndows Features
On or Off' link under the Programs and Features component of the Wi ndows Control Panel . You can also
remove the 'More Games from Mi crosoft' i con - whi ch si mpl y points to thi s Microsoft Games Si te where you
can downl oad addi ti onal free and non-free games - by unti cki ng the 'More Games' component under the
Features selecti on li st. See the Programs and Features secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter for
more detail s. For the most part, there is no need to uni nstal l these games, as there i s no performance benefit
i n doi ng so, and you can easi l y remove them from view i n Games Expl orer by ri ght-cli cki ng on the rel evant
game and selecti ng 'Hi de thi s game' - see further bel ow for more detai ls of hi di ng and unhi ding a game.

Install i ng any game on your system shoul d add an i con for that game i nto Games Expl orer. Thi s wil l depend
on how recent the game i s, and where i t attempts to i nstall i tsel f, or whether you are usi ng a central game
servi ce l ike Steam. If a game i con i s mi ssi ng from Games Expl orer, you can drag and drop i ts launch icon
from the Start Menu, Desktop, or from the game's mai n di rectory i n Wi ndows Expl orer, i nto the Games
Expl orer wi ndow.

To configure general Games Expl orer opti ons, cli ck the Opti ons button i n the Command Bar area. The
opti ons are covered bel ow:

Game updates and news: This opti on determi nes whether Wi ndows wi ll send game i dentifi cati on numbers and
game versi on detail s to Microsoft i n order to check for updates and news related to any games you currentl y
have i nstall ed, and provide you wi th an i ndi cati on that these updates are avail abl e. You can then choose to
downl oad and i nstall them di rectly through Games Expl orer. The i nformati on sent i s not used by Mi crosoft
to i dentify or contact you, as detai l ed i n thi s Pri vacy Statement. However i f you don't wi sh for Wi ndows to
check for updates, you can sel ect the 'Never check onl i ne for updates or news; I'll do thi s manuall y opti on'.
You can then check for updates for i ndi vidual games by right-cli cking a game and sel ecti ng 'Check onli ne for
updates', or al ternati vely, you can check for game patches and updates from the game manufacturer's
websi te, the li nk to whi ch is shown at the bottom of the Games Expl orer wi ndow when the game i s selected,
or by searching on the Internet for yourself. You current game versi on number i s al so shown i n the Detai l s
Pane at the bottom; thi s wi l l hel p you determi ne whether you have the l atest versi on i nstall ed. Install i ng the
l atest updates can resol ve bugs and probl ems, enabl e addi ti onal features and even remove DRM protecti on
from games, so i t i s al ways i mportant to keep your games updated usi ng one of these methods. Note that I
provi de dail y updates on newl y rel eased game patches on the front page of TweakGui des.com.

Games folder options: There are two opti ons here. The fi rst i s 'Downl oad art and i nformati on about i nstall ed
games', whi ch i f ti cked, attempts to downl oad box cover art and any addi ti onal i nformati on for games you
have i nstall ed. By defaul t i t wi ll check the game i tself for an Internet address whi ch i t can use to obtai n more
i nformati on about the game. Thi s i s useful i n all owi ng your i nstall ed games to have the correct i con and
detail ed i nformati on avai labl e. The second opti on is 'Col l ect most recentl y pl ayed game i nformati on', which
col l ects i nformati on about how recently you have played each game. Thi s i nformati on i s not sent from your
machi ne, i t i s stored l ocal ly and used for features such when ri ght-cl i cki ng i n an empty area of the Desktop,
sel ecti ng Sort By>Last Played. You can cl ear the stored recentl y played i nformati on at any ti me by cl i cki ng
the 'Cl ear i nformati on' button.

Unhide All Items: Thi s button wi l l become avail abl e i f you have chosen to hi de any games. You can hi de any
game i n Games Expl orer by ri ght-cl i cking on i ts i con and sel ecti ng 'Hi de this game' - the game wi l l only be
removed from vi ew i n Games Expl orer, i t wil l not be uni nstall ed or hi dden from other areas of Wi ndows,
such as the Search Box.


372

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

In addi ti on to these opti ons, there are other features and customi zati on options worth noti ng i n Games
Expl orer:

Tools and Parental Controls Buttons: In the Command Bar area of Games Expl orer you can cli ck on the Tool s
button and you wi ll see shortcuts to games-related functi onal i ty i n Wi ndows. These are al l covered
throughout vari ous chapters i n thi s book, there are no new opti ons here. The same goes for the Parental
Control s button whi ch takes you to the Parental Control s screen, covered i n more detai l under the Parental
Control s section of the User Accounts chapter.

Layout: If you want to streaml i ne the appearance of Games Expl orer, cli ck the Organi ze button, sel ect Layout
and you can choose to enabl e/di sabl e the Menu Bar just above the Organize button, the Detai l s Pane at the
bottom of the Games Expl orer, or the Previ ew Pane at the ri ght.

Pin to Taskbar / Pin to Start Menu: If a game i s ri ght-cl i cked, these opti ons can be sel ected to pi n a specific
game i con to your Taskbar or Start Menu, al l owi ng you to launch that game di rectly from the Taskbar or
Start Menu wi thout having to open Games Expl orer. You can al so do the same thi ng by draggi ng and
droppi ng games from Games Expl orer i nto the Taskbar or Start Menu.

To customize Games Expl orer even further, foll ow the ti ps bel ow:

Adding Missing Games: If an i nstal l ed game on your system i s mi ssi ng from Games Expl orer, such as for very
ol d games or for games purchased and install ed via Steam, you can sti l l add them to Games Expl orer. Drag
and drop the game's Desktop i con or mai n game .EXE fil e i nto the Games Expl orer wi ndow, or i n Steam,
under the My Games tab right-cl ick on the game and send a shortcut to the Desktop, then drag and drop this
shortcut i nto Games Expl orer. However thi s doesn't necessaril y create the full detail s Games Expl orer needs
to defi ne thi ngs l i ke box art, support li nks and so forth.

Add Box art and Details: For any game in Games Expl orer, you can add box art and vari ous other detai ls by
fi rstl y ensuring that the 'Downl oad art and i nformati on about install ed games' setti ng i s ti cked under the
mai n Opti ons wi ndow for Games Expl orer. However ol der games and Steam games may sti ll not update
wi th box art and other detail s, so you must add these i n manual ly. The best method i s to use the free Game
Expl orer Edi tor util i ty. This util i ty provides a graphi cal i nterface for properly edi ti ng and confi guri ng games
i n Games Expl orer. Its usage is relati vel y strai ghtforward, however i f you want more i nstructi ons cli ck the
Tutori al l i nk on the l eft si de of the si te. To fi nd box art for a game, fi nd the game's l isti ng on Al l Game and
use the box art di spl ayed there. Note that you cannot edi t the Rati ngs for games, as these must be di gi tall y
si gned to work.

If you wish to manual l y edit the detail s for a game, these are hel d in the foll owing l ocati on i n the Regi stry:

[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI NE\ SOFTWARE\ Mi cr osof t \ Wi ndows\ Cur r ent Ver si on\ GameUX\ Games]

Under thi s l ocati on are a range of subfol ders wi th a stri ng of numbers and l etters - each rel ates to a different
game. Left-cli ck on each fol der and i n the ri ght pane the Ti t l e value wil l have the name of the game to
whi ch the folder relates. You can edi t thi s value i f you wish to change the name displayed for the game in
Games Expl orer. The other parameters are best edited usi ng the Game Explorer Edi tor, as they require
parti cul ar custom fi les to operate properl y.

Customize: One of the most noti ceabl e changes made to Wi ndows 7's Games Expl orer is the removal of the
Customi ze right-cl ick option for a game. In Vi sta this provi ded users wi th the abi l i ty to edi t a game shortcut,
all owi ng for tweaks and customizati ons to be added di rectl y to the shortcut. Thi s has been del i beratel y
removed i n Wi ndows 7, as explai ned by a Mi crosoft empl oyee in the comments i n thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e,
because i t i s bel i eved that removi ng this opti on si mplifi es Games Expl orer for the majori ty of customers.


373

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

Fortunatel y i t i s stil l possi bl e to customize a game shortcut i n Games Expl orer i n two ways. The fi rst method
i nvol ves ei ther modi fyi ng a game's existi ng Desktop i con, or openi ng Wi ndows Expl orer, navi gati ng to the
game's di rectory, fi ndi ng the mai n game executabl e, ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t and sel ecti ng Send To>Desktop, then
ri ght-cl i cki ng on the Desktop shortcut and edi ti ng the Target l i ne of the shortcut, and fi nal ly draggi ng and
droppi ng i t into the Games Expl orer window. If there i s an existing i con for that game i n Games Expl orer,
you can ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect 'Hi de thi s game', then edi t thi s new shortcut you have created to add box
art and other i nformati on usi ng the util i ty further above.

The second method i s the most comprehensi ve, and i nvol ves goi ng to the locati on where al l the Games
Expl orer shortcuts are actuall y stored i n Wi ndows. Thi s i s \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer
and Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer - I recommend goi ng to the fi rst
fol der above as i t i s system-wi de rather than user-speci fi c. Each i nstal l ed game wi l l have a subfol der i n thi s
l ocati on; open the \PlayTasks\0 subfol der i n Wi ndows Expl orer and the game i con wi l l be shown i n the right
pane, i dentifyi ng the game. Ri ght-cli ck on the relevant i con and sel ect Properties, then edi t the Target box as
requi red, cli ck Appl y and OK to fi nish. The next ti me you launch that game from Games Expl orer, i t should
i mpl ement these changes.

You can also add or remove menu opti ons to Games Expl orer icons usi ng the method above. Under the
\PlayTasks directory, there are several subfolders numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. As noted above, the 0 subfol der
contai ns the launch i con for the default Pl ay command. The other fol ders contai n vari ous other right-cl i ck
menu functi ons, such as l inks to Support or Readme.txt fi l es. You can edi t, rearrange or delete any of these
shortcuts, or you can create new ones. To add an entirel y new ri ght-cl i ck menu entry, create a new subfolder
under the relevant \PlayTasks fol der, name i t wi th the next hi ghest number avail abl e, and pl ace a shortcut
under that fol der, wi th an appropriate name. This shortcut wi l l then appear as an extra ri ght-cl i ck menu
entry for that parti cul ar game.

Pin Games Explorer to Taskbar: If you move the Games Expl orer shortcut to the Taskbar - such as draggi ng
and droppi ng the Games i tem from the Start Menu to the Taskbar - then thi s wi ll only pin an addi ti onal
Games l ocation to the exi sti ng Wi ndows Expl orer folder i con's Jump Li st. Fortunately you can drag and drop
i ndi vi dual game i cons from wi thi n Games Expl orer to the Taskbar, and these wi l l be created as separate
i cons. However to create a separate Games Expl orer i con for pi nni ng to the Taskbar, do the fol l owi ng:

1. On the Wi ndows Desktop, i n an empty locati on ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect New>Shortcut.
2. For the l ocation, enter the fol l owi ng, exactl y as shown:

%Syst emRoot %\ expl or er . exe / E, : : {ED228FDF- 9EA8- 4870- 83b1- 96b02CFE0D52}

3. Name the Shortcut appropri atel y, such as Games.
4. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s new Shortcut, sel ect Properti es and cli ck the 'Change i con' button.
5. Browse to the \Windows\System32 fol der, sel ect imageres.dll, fi nd the Games Expl orer i con, sel ect i t and
cl i ck OK, then cl i ck Appl y and OK again to cl ose the Properti es box.
6. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s shortcut and sel ect 'Pi n to taskbar'.


374

G
r
a
p
h
i
c
s

&

S
o
u
n
d

OLDER GAMES
If you are havi ng probl ems launchi ng or runni ng ol der games under Wi ndows 7, keep i n mind the fol l owi ng
poi nts:

Any game desi gned for Wi ndows Vista should operate wi thout any problems i n Wi ndows 7. Most
Wi ndows XP games should also be fi ne. However if you aren't sure, and you've tri ed the ti ps bel ow
wi thout any success, ri ght-cli ck on the game's Desktop shortcut or the ori gi nal game executabl e, sel ect
Properti es, and under the Compati bil i ty tab select 'Run thi s program i n compati bi li ty mode for' and
sel ect fi rst 'Wi ndows Vi sta', then 'Wi ndows XP (Servi ce Pack 2)' to see if this resolves the issue.
If UAC i s enabl ed, make sure the game i s bei ng run i n Admi nistrator mode. Ol der games wi ll not
request Admini strator l evel pri vi l eges even i f they requi re i t, and hence may not i nstal l or run properl y.
Ri ght-cli ck on the game's l aunch icon and sel ect 'Run as Admi ni strator', or right-cl ick on the game's
executable, sel ect Properti es and under the Compati bi li ty tab sel ect 'Run thi s program as an
admi ni strator', or cl i ck Advanced under the Shortcut tab and ti ck the 'Run as Admi ni strator' box. See the
User Account Control section under the PC Securi ty chapter for detail s.
If the game was made around 2005 or pri or, and you are runni ng a mul ti -core CPU, then thi s may affect
the smoothness or runni ng speed of the game, si nce i t was onl y in 2005 that desktop mul ti -core CPUs
became avai labl e to average PC users. In that case you can manuall y adjust the affi ni ty for a game so
that i t only runs on one core of the CPU - see the Task Manager secti on of the Performance Measurement
& Troubl eshooti ng chapter for i nstructi ons on how to do thi s.
For very ol d DOS-based games, you wil l requi re a DOS PC emulator such as the free DOSBox. Runni ng
DOS games from a Command Prompt wi ll usuall y not work, as modern versions of Wi ndows do not
contai n a true DOS envi ronment.

For probl ems wi th any game, ol d or new, see the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter. The
vast majori ty of gami ng probl ems are due to general system i ssues such as overheati ng hardware,
overcl ocki ng, i ncorrect BIOS setti ngs, outdated or badl y i nstall ed dri vers, confli cti ng background programs,
and mi sconfigurati on of game and graphi cs control panel setti ngs to name just a few causes. PC gami ng is
not as strai ghtforward as console gami ng because there are a large number of variables i nvol ved. No
operati ng system can overcome thi s, so i t i s up to the user to understand the fundamentals of how their
system works and thus opti mize and troubl eshoot i t properl y - which i s precisely what this book is about.


375

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

OVERCLOCKING

When peopl e want addi tional performance from thei r machi nes, they may undertake a procedure cal led
Overcl ocki ng. Thi s is the process of i ncreasi ng the cl ock speed of a component in your PC above i ts normal
speci fi cati ons, hence the term 'over cl ocki ng'. The cl ock referred to i s a special ized osci llator pul si ng wi th a
frequency that determi nes the rate at whi ch a data processor can perform i nstructi ons. The theory of
overcl ocki ng i s si mpl e: i ncrease thi s cl ock speed and you wil l i ncrease the rate at whi ch i nstructi ons are
performed, l eadi ng to a faster PC. Overcl ocki ng is possi bl e on a range of hardware components i ncluding
CPUs, Graphi cs cards, Motherboards and RAM.

Another method of overcl ocki ng whi ch doesn't i nvol ve i ncreasing the cl ock rate i s by al teri ng ti mi ngs.
Memory-based components such as system RAM and Vi deo RAM have l atency ti mi ngs - rest peri ods
between operati ons measured i n cl ock cycl es. By decreasi ng the l atency ti me, a memory component can be
made to wai t l ess between compl eti ng speci fi c operati ons and hence functi on faster.

So why are these methods possi bl e? Why aren't the hardware components you buy not al ready performi ng
to thei r peak potenti al ? The reason for thi s i s that hardware components are expected to work i n di verse
envi ronmental condi ti ons and be put to vastl y di fferent tasks. Hardware manufacturers ensure safe
headroom i s provi ded so that i n adverse condi ti ons the component can stil l operate safel y and wi th stabi lity.
Overcl ocki ng takes up thi s slack by pushi ng the component beyond manufacturers' specifi cations.

Of course when you push a component beyond i ts recommended speci fi cations the component requires
i deal condi tions to continue operati ng wi th stabili ty. That usuall y means more cooli ng on/around the
component, si nce any cooling devi ce i t al ready uses i s onl y reall y desi gned to deal wi th stock operati on. The
component al so requi res stabl e vol tage from the Power Supply ei ther di rectly or through the motherboard.
Often to achieve a stabl e overcl ock the component may al so requi re addi ti onal vol tage, whi ch i n turn can
add to heat and hence rai se the cooli ng requirements even further. Furthermore, the addi tional heat being
di ssi pated from one component may cause other nearby components to overheat. As you can see
overcl ocki ng i s not as si mpl e as i t fi rst appears, and there are often compl ex i nteracti ons i nvolved both at the
hardware and software l evel whi ch must be taken i nto account to achi eve proper stabi li ty. Thi s chapter
exami nes the general theory and operati on of overclocki ng, and is a starti ng poi nt for peopl e i nterested i n
thi s topi c.

< BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS
Before goi ng i nto any more detail about overcl ocki ng i t i s important to discuss the advantages and
di sadvantages of overcl ocki ng objecti vel y, so you don't undertake i t wi thout knowi ng what you're getti ng
yourself i nto:

BENEFITS
Increased performance - thi s i s of course the pri mary reason why peopl e overcl ock. The degree to whi ch
performance i mproves depends on the component(s) bei ng overcl ocked, how far they are overcl ocked,
and whether they are the hardware most rel i ed upon by parti cular games and appl i cati ons. The
performance di fference can be anywhere from negli gi bl e to qui te si gnifi cant.
Braggi ng ri ghts or 'cool ness factor' attached to overcl ocki ng - some peopl e gai n a great deal of
satisfacti on and prestige in havi ng the fastest machi ne, or the highest overcl ocked component, or the
hi ghest benchmark score. Or they may si mpl y feel they are extracti ng the most out of thei r hardware by
overcl ocki ng i t. Some peopl e al so enjoy the ti nkeri ng and hobbyist aspect of overcl ocki ng and hardware
modi fi cati on.


376

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

DRAWBACKS
There wi ll be costs i n provi di ng i mproved cool i ng - in al most al l cases you wi ll have to purchase more
effecti ve and/or addi ti onal cool i ng for your system in the form of more effi cient heatsi nks and/or more
fans, a case wi th more space or better ai rfl ow, or speci al ized equi pment l ike a water cooli ng setup. Of
course if you start out by pl anni ng your system purchase carefull y, you can mi ni mize the addi ti onal
costs to some extent by begi nni ng wi th the ri ght components.
The overcl ocked component, and therefore your enti re system, may become unstable and crash
randomly - wi thout a doubt the number one cause of problems i n games and appli cati ons is
overcl ocki ng. Peopl e often refuse to acknowl edge that thei r overcl ocki ng i s the cause of the probl em,
and mi stakenl y blame Windows, thei r dri vers or the game or appl i cati on i nstead. Di fferent programs
react differentl y to overcl ocki ng. Some can tol erate much hi gher l evel s of overcl ocki ng on parti cul ar
components, some cannot tol erate any overcl ocki ng at all ; i t al l depends on how stressful the game or
program i s, and how stable or unstable the overcl ock actuall y i s i n your parti cular setup.
Potenti al data corrupti on i f certai n components are pushed beyond thei r li mi ts - pushi ng components
l i ke the CPU or RAM beyond thei r limi ts on your system can resul t i n i nstabi li ty l eadi ng to data
corrupti on, up to and i ncl udi ng the l oss of all your data. Often thi s data corruption can occur subtl y over
ti me wi thout any i ndi cati on or warni ng.
Excessi ve heat can damage or permanentl y kil l a component - si nce computer hardware i s based on
sensi ti ve el ectroni c equi pment, i f a hardware component i s not kept adequatel y cool (and even i n some
cases i f i t is) it can be permanentl y damaged or destroyed through overcl ocki ng. It happens qui te often,
especiall y wi th graphi cs cards, so i t i s not as rare as might be thought.
Overcl ocki ng automati cal ly voi ds the warranty on the component - most hardware manufacturers make
i t cl ear that overcl ocki ng beyond recommended cl ock speeds or ti mi ngs wi ll i nstantly voi d your
warranty. Thi s also goes for any physical modifi cations to the hardware such as changi ng its cooli ng.
Unl ess expl i ci tl y stated otherwi se, a warranty i s onl y designed to cover unmodi fied hardware operati ng
wi thi n speci ficati ons.
Overcl ocki ng reduces the l i fe span of the component - si nce the component i s worki ng beyond
speci fi cati on and worki ng hotter and faster than i t was designed to handl e, most components wi ll have
reduced l ife spans. Thi s can reduce the useful l ife of a component someti mes negli gi bl y or someti mes
noti ceably, dependi ng on the extremi ty of the overcl ock, the quality of the components, and how wel l
the components are kept cool and powered. A mil d overcl ock typi cal ly has l i ttle or no practical i mpact
on the l i fe expectancy of a component; an extreme overcl ock can drasti cal l y reduce the error-free l ife of a
component.

So far the disadvantages appear to far outwei gh the advantages of overcl ocki ng. Thi s i s not stri ctl y true, i t all
depends on how far you overcl ock a component and how much performance you can gai n in return, as wel l
as the qual i ty of the hardware i tsel f. It's i mportant to poi nt out that i t overcl ocki ng is not a si mpl e or even
benefi ci al procedure at al l ti mes. Despi te everyone urgi ng you to overcl ock your system you shoul d weigh
up the opti ons rati onal l y and ei ther choose to avoid overcl ocking due to the addi ti onal expense and the
potenti al ly modest performance gai ns and/or the strong l ikeli hood of i nstabili ty/damage; or al ternati vel y
research the topi c thoroughl y and i nvest the ti me and money required to achi eve a good bal ance of
performance and stabil i ty.

The bottom l i ne i s i f you don't have much ti me or pati ence, or you can't afford to repl ace a vi tal system
component shoul d i t get damaged, do not overcl ock. If your CPU or graphi cs card di es for exampl e and you
can't replace i t, your entire computer becomes unusabl e, so i t i s not somethi ng to be taken l i ghtly si mply
because peopl e fli ppantl y encourage you to do i t.


377

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

< METHODOLOGY
The preci se detai ls of how to overcl ock vary depending on your parti cular hardware confi gurati on and BIOS
opti ons. The informati on bel ow i s only indi cati ve and desi gned to gi ve you a broad i dea of the types of steps
i nvol ved i n overcl ocki ng; for more detail ed i nformation see the gui des l i nked to at the end of thi s chapter.
Importantl y, before commenci ng any type of overcl ocki ng you must make sure you are total l y fami li ar wi th
the exact brand, model and defaul t speci fi cati ons of your major hardware components. If necessary refer to
any packaging or manuals whi ch came wi th your system, and more i mportantl y see the System
Specifi cati ons chapter for l i nks to tool s whi ch can hel p you identi fy your components and thei r precise
capabil i ti es i n detai l .

Al so make sure that before changi ng any BIOS setti ngs for the purposes of overcl ocki ng that you record
your existi ng BIOS setti ngs. Thi s is because i n some cases when overcl ocki ng beyond the poi nt of stabil ity,
you wil l have to reset your BIOS (or i t may reset automati cal ly) back to i ts factory defaul t setti ngs, l osi ng any
customized setti ngs you've put i n. So make sure you document what the major BIOS setti ngs are which
you've al tered through any general BIOS customi zation.

CPU OVERCLOCKING
Overcl ocki ng a CPU on most systems invol ves enteri ng the BIOS and i ncreasi ng the speed of the Front Side
Bus (FSB) or Qui ckPath Interconnect (QPI) for Intel CPUs, or HyperTransport (HTT) for AMD CPUs. The
FSB/QPI/HTT i s the mai n pathway (Bus or Interconnect) between your major system components, and as i ts
speed i ncreases, i nformati on i s transferred back and forth more rapi dl y between al l your major components
worki ng off thi s bus speed. There are vari ous setti ngs i n the BIOS whi ch al ter the speed of these buses or
i nterconnects, however dependi ng on the setti ng used, you may al so be increasi ng the speed of other
components, such as your system RAM. Check the relevant setti ngs i n your motherboard manual .

Your CPU also has a Mul ti pl ier, whi ch as the name suggests sets the overall CPU speed i n MHz as a
mul ti ple of the mai n Bus/Interconnect speed. For exampl e on a system wi th an effecti ve Bus of 200MHz and
a CPU that has a mul ti pl ier of 20 gi ves you a CPU speed of 20x200 = 4000MHz = 4GHz. Note that some CPUs
have thei r mul ti pli er l ocked at the hardware l evel , whi ch means you can't actual l y change i t.

RAM OVERCLOCKING
Increasi ng the speed of your RAM i s dependent on a number of factors. Overclocki ng refers to the process of
i ncreasi ng the cl ock speed of a component; i n the case of system RAM thi s i nvol ves raisi ng the mai n system
Bus/Interconnect frequency and/or si mpl y rai si ng the RAM's Frequency di rectly to al ter the RAM's speed i n
MHz - dependi ng on your avail able BIOS opti ons. However you can al so al ter the Ti mi ngs (Latency) of a
memory chi p such that i t refreshes faster between operati ons, meani ng l ess wai ti ng ti me between each
operati on and hence faster performance.

Whether i ncreasi ng RAM speed or l oweri ng l atency i s the better opti on i s not clear. There i s no set answer -
i t al l depends on your parti cular hardware and the appli cati ons you most commonl y run as to the preci se
combi nati on of RAM speed and RAM latency which wi ll perform best and wi th greatest stabil i ty, so you wi ll
have to experi ment. Generall y speaki ng, appl i cati ons or games whi ch have large amounts of non-graphi cs
i nformati on to transfer to the CPU and back wil l benefi t more from greater RAM speed, whi ch provi des
more bandwi dth. On the other hand appl i cati ons and parti cularl y games whi ch pri mari ly requi re very
compl ex cal culati ons wi th repeated access to i nformati on i n memory wi l l benefi t more from l ower RAM
l atency. Obviously some appl i cations and games requi re both, so agai n, there is no cl ear-cut answer.

RAM overcl ocki ng also depends a great deal on how many sti cks of RAM you have, their qual i ty, and how
si mil ar they are. Because your RAM DIMMs (Dual Inl i ne Memory Modul es, also referred to as 'sti cks') have
to work together i n your system, i f you have two or more sti cks of RAM i n your system, you must try and
ensure that firstl y they are all equall y matched i n terms of rated speed and timi ngs, and secondl y that they


378

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

should i deal ly be from the same brand and model of RAM. RAM chi ps can vary i n quali ty and performance,
so havi ng mixed brands or types of RAM can l ead to a vari ety of probl ems - even when runni ng at defaul t
speeds.

GRAPHICS CARD OVERCLOCKING
The foll owi ng i s a modi fied summary from the overcl ocki ng secti on of the ATI Catalyst Tweak Gui de and
Nvi di a Forceware Tweak Gui de. It appl i es to al l graphi cs cards regardl ess of brand, however i f you are an
ATI or Nvi dia graphics card user please read through the rel evant gui de above for ful l detail s.

The modern graphi cs card i s a l ot li ke a smal l computer by i tself. It has a Graphi cs Processi ng Uni t (GPU)
whi ch is the graphi cs equival ent of the CPU, i t si ts on a motherboard-li ke Pri nted Ci rcui t Board (PCB), and
has i ts own Vi deo RAM (VRAM). And just l i ke a computer system, the components on a vi deo card can be
overcl ocked to i ncrease performance. Overcl ocki ng a graphi cs card i nvol ves i ncreasi ng the frequency of the
GPU (also call ed the Engi ne or Core) and/or the Vi deo RAM (al so call ed VRAM or Graphi cs Memory). You
can overcl ock one or both of these components, wi th varyi ng resul ts based on a number of factors, but
general ly resul ti ng i n an increase i n performance the hi gher you overcl ock each component. To overcl ock
your vi deo card, i deall y you'll need a tool whi ch al l ows you to change the cl ock speeds of the Core and the
VRAM - you can use Ri vaTuner or ATI Tray Tool s for these purposes.

Overcl ocki ng your vi deo card is si mi lar to CPU overcl ocki ng and RAM overcl ocki ng combi ned - simpl y
i ncrease the cl ock speed of the Core/Engi ne, and/or the cl ock speed of the Graphi cs Memory, both of whi ch
are measured i n MHz. The Core generates graphi cs data, and dependi ng on your CPU and the rest of your
system specifi cati ons, i ncreasi ng the core speed can resul t in a small or l arge overall performance
i mprovement. The Vi deo Memory transfers i nformati on to/from the Core, and i ncreasi ng i ts speed can once
agai n i mprove performance ei ther sli ghtl y or si gni ficantl y, i n conjuncti on wi th your Core speed and the
speed of the rest of your system.

Al l other things bei ng equal , the hi gher the resol uti on bei ng used for a 3D appl i cati on or game and the
hi gher the graphi cs setti ngs, and the more recent the game, the greater the potenti al for graphi cs card
overcl ocki ng to yi el d bi gger i mprovements i n performance. This i s because newer and more graphi call y
i ntensi ve games runni ng at hi gher resol uti ons rel y heavil y on the GPU for thei r performance.

Remember however that i f you have an ol d or l ow-end graphi cs card then overcl ocki ng i s unl i kel y to
i mprove performance dramati cal ly. The reason for thi s i s that l ower end graphi cs cards simpl y do not have
hardware support for the advanced functi onal i ty demanded by recent games, such as the l atest Pi xel
Shaders and Vertex Shaders. If your card does not have hardware support for a requi red advanced functi on,
such as a new Di rectX 11 feature for exampl e, then overcl ocki ng cannot surmount thi s handi cap.

VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT
As components are pushed outsi de specifi cati ons wi th overcl ocki ng, they wi ll do more work. Often they can
accommodate thi s extra work wi thi n thei r current vol tage, however someti mes to gai n stabi l i ty and/or to
push a component further, you wil l have to i ncrease the vol tage to these components. The three main
components that can benefi t from vol tage tweaki ng are the CPU, the graphi cs card and RAM. The two main
vol tage adjustments you wi ll fi nd i n al most any BIOS are CPU Vol tage and RAM Vol tage, and these are
expl ai ned below.

CPU Voltage: Thi s is the amount of vol tage appli ed to the CPU. The base vol tage wil l vary dependi ng on the
CPU archi tecture, however make sure to note what your CPU's defaul t vol tage i s before raisi ng i t. The onl y
reason to al ter the CPU voltage from i ts defaul t i s that when overclocki ng your CPU you may noti ce that you
cannot overclock i t beyond a certai n point, or that you experi ence a l ot of i nstabi l i ty at hi gher cl ock speeds.
Rai si ng the CPU vol tage by a small i ncrement i n your BIOS may all ow the CPU to regai n stabi li ty and/or


379

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

all ow you to push the CPU further. The theory behi nd rai si ng the CPU vol tage i s more compl ex than just
suppl yi ng more jui ce to the CPU, and you can read about i t i n thi s Wiki pedia Arti cl e. The most i mportant
thi ng to understand i s that uppi ng the vol tage beyond a certai n poi nt can resul t i n permanent damage to
your CPU, and stri ctl y speaki ng any increase i n the vol tage can further shorten the l i fe span of a CPU.
However for the most part a smal l bump i n vol tage can hel p stabi lize an overcl ocked CPU that i s acting
sl ightl y unstabl e. Just remember that more vol tage always equal s more heat, whi ch requi res greater cooling
to mai ntai n safe temperatures.

RAM Voltage: Someti mes call ed DRAM Vol tage, thi s i s the amount of vol tage for the RAM DIMMs. Just l ike
CPU vol tage, i ncreasi ng RAM vol tage can i mprove stabi li ty at hi gher cl ock speeds. This i s parti cularly true if
you're experienci ng random reboots or sudden crashes to desktop, as these are al most al ways RAM rel ated
i n some way. Once agai n, i ncreasi ng the vol tage to your RAM can resul t i n permanent damage so do not
overvol t by a substanti al amount wi thout first consul ti ng wi th your motherboard manual to determi ne the
maxi mum safe vol tage l evel . Impl ement any i ncrease in RAM vol tage i n very small i ncrements, and provi de
addi ti onal cool i ng to prevent heat bui l di ng i n the area surroundi ng the RAM.

You can vi ew your exi sting system vol tages i n the BIOS, however i f you want a uti l i ty to moni tor system
vol tages from wi thi n Windows, use the free CPU-Z or HWMoni tor util i ti es. See the System Specifi cati ons
and BIOS & Hardware Management chapters for other util i ties whi ch may be useful .

There may be addi ti onal vol tage setti ngs i n your BIOS, and unl ess you have ful l knowl edge of what they do,
and what a safe adjustment i s, do not al ter them as you can permanentl y damage your components thi s way.

< STABILITY
Overcl ocki ng i s poi ntl ess i f i t l eads to i nstabi li ty or other probl ems. The Gol den Rul e for troubleshooti ng any
probl em on an overcl ocked system i s:

Al ways start by assumi ng your overcl ock is the pri mary source of any probl em

Begi n the i nvesti gati on of any problem or strange behavi or on your PC by suspecti ng your overcl ock as the
source of that probl em. Reset your enti re system to i ts defaul t speeds and see i f the probl em persi sts or i s as
severe. If the probl em goes away, or doesn't happen as often, you can be certai n your overcl ocki ng i s
contri buti ng in some way to i t, or is the sol e cause of i t. You will have to l ower or remove your overcl ock
and/or i ncrease your cool ing. Detail s on how to correctl y test your system for stabil i ty are covered i n the
Thi rd Party Tool s secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooting chapter, but bear i n mind
that even i f your system can run every arti fi cial test and benchmark there i s for hours on end wi thout a
probl em, the real test i s havi ng compl ete stabil i ty day-i n, day-out, even when runni ng stressful games and
programs duri ng hot summer days for exampl e. If your system starts behavi ng strangely, or you are having
crashes and probl ems, don't persi st i n mai ntai ni ng your overcl ock.

El ectroni c hardware components are highl y accurate devi ces, and forci ng them to run outside thei r normal
operati ng speeds can i ncrease the potenti al for smal l errors to creep i nto thei r operati on. Manufacturers often
push a particular component cl ose to i ts l i mi ts by defaul t from the factory, so even a small amount of
overcl ocki ng can be enough to cause probl ems. If you're goi ng to overcl ock, don't do i t at the cost of system
stabi li ty. At the fi rst si gn of strange behavi or, don't be qui ck to bl ame everythi ng el se - suspect your
overcl ock fi rst and foremost. Make sure you have opti mi zed and mai ntai ned your enti re system as covered
i n thi s book. Then, and onl y then, if the probl em persi sts to the same degree, and even after further onli ne
research, you sti l l fi nd no sol uti on, you can consi der the actual program or game to be buggy i n some way.
Unfortunately many people start this process the other way around.


380

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

POWER SUPPLY UNIT
See the Hardware Management secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for detai ls on how to
determi ne i f your Power Suppl y Uni t (PSU) i s appropri ate, and whether you need to purchase a new one to
ensure stabl e and opti mal performance. Successful overcl ocki ng requi res a stabl e source of power, and a
poor qual i ty PSU wil l mean that you experi ence i nstabi li ty regardl ess of any other setti ngs you al ter. Invest
i n a good PSU before consi deri ng overcl ocki ng your system.

COOLING
If you are overcl ocki ng, you need to know what the safe temperature range i s for all of your major
components. There i s no si ngl e answer, as each different component, i ndeed di fferent archi tectures and
brands of components, have di fferent safe temperature ranges. Some components such as the CPU and
graphi cs card have buil t-i n thermal throttl i ng whi ch automati cal ly reduces the speed of the hardware i f it
reaches a preset temperature, however the temperature l i mi ts are di fferent for vari ous hardware, and i n any
case you shoul d never l et your component become hot enough to get cl ose to these l i mi ts, since prol onged
operati on at such temperatures reduces the l i fespan and i ncreases potenti al i nstabi li ty. See the Hardware
Management secti on of the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for more detai ls. Just li ke a good PSU, if
your system does not have decent cooli ng, then overcl ocki ng is a waste of ti me as i t wi ll simpl y resul t in
system i nstabi l i ty and eventual damage to your components.

COMPARING OVERCLOCKS
One of the most common statements heard when peopl e compare overcl ocks or are tol d that thei r overcl ock
i s unstabl e i s: "But someone else who has the exact same system can overcl ock i t much hi gher than me and
thei r games don't crash - i t must be a game bug!". A comment l i ke that demonstrates a compl ete l ack of
understandi ng of some fundamental princi pl es of overcl ocki ng:

No two components are exactl y the same. Even i f the two components bei ng compared are an i denti cal
brand, model and speed, they may have very di fferent tol erances to overcl ocking dependi ng on whi ch
factory they were produced i n and whi ch revisi on they are; that i s, how earl y/l ate i nto the producti on
run they were produced - for CPUs this i s cal l ed Steppi ng.
No two peopl e have the exact same condi ti ons for thei r overclocki ng. Your computer room may be
hotter or cooler, your case may provi de better or worse cooli ng, your combi nati on of components may
i nclude a di fferent PSU or di fferent brand or speed of RAM, your system may be cl ogged wi th more
dust, etc.
Your Wi ndows setti ngs and software envi ronment wi ll not be i denti cal to anyone el se's. You may have
sub-opti mal software setti ngs, background programs that are the source of confli cts, or mal ware causi ng
probl ems, or you may even have data corrupti on.
No two games are i denti cal i n the way they use resources and stress components on your machi ne, and
hence if all of your other games work absol utely fi ne at a certai n level of overclock, i t may wel l be that
the l atest game you are pl ayi ng has a compl etel y di fferent tol erance to your overcl ock and wi ll crash
most of the time.


381

O
v
e
r
c
l
o
c
k
i
n
g

RESEARCHING OVERCLOCKING
Havi ng stressed the i mportance of researchi ng overcl ocki ng before you di ve i nto i t, I recommend that you
start by referri ng to the followi ng gui des as rel evant for more detail s. Thi s is obvi ousl y not a defi ni ti ve li st of
pl aces to research, nor have I personally tested out all the procedures i n these gui des - they are si mply a
good starti ng poi nt, and provi de an i ndi cati on of the types of practi cal procedures i nvol ved in overcl ocki ng
parti cul ar hardware:

General Overcl ocki ng Guide 1
General Overcl ocki ng Guide 2
Core2Duo Overcl ocki ng Gui de
Core i7 Overcl ocki ng Gui de
Core i5 Overcl ocki ng Gui de
AMD CPU Overcl ocki ng Gui de
Official AMD Overcl ocki ng Guide
GeForce GTX 275 Overcl ocki ng Gui de
AMD HD 5750 Overcl ocki ng Guide

Thi s chapter has been just a taste of the i nformati on avail able on overcl ocki ng. Don't rush i nto overcl ocking,
do i t sl owly and methodicall y, and take the ti me to search Googl e and vari ous tech forums for peoples'
experi ences wi th overcl ocki ng hardware si milar to your own. More often than not you wil l fi nd someone
who has a si mi lar setup and who has overcl ocked i t wi th reasonabl e success, so l ook out for such
i nformati on as i t can save you some ti me i n your own experi mentati on. However be aware that peopl e often
have di fferent defi ni ti ons of 'stabl e' when i t comes to overcl ocki ng, or may even outright l ie when asked if
thei r system is stabl e. Al so as noted further above, no two systems are i denti cal so don't just automati cal ly
assume you can reach the same resul ts as someone el se usi ng si mi lar hardware. Take the time to research,
read and thi nk about overcl ocki ng and make sure you have the right tool s and knowl edge to undertake i t
properl y, and if i n doubt, don't overclock. It is not a necessary procedure and i n my opi nion, carri es more
ri sks than benefi ts, especiall y i f you value genui ne stabi li ty and data i ntegri ty.


382

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT &
TROUBLESHOOTING

Whenever you change vari ous setti ngs on your PC, or i nstall and use parti cul ar programs, or al ter your
hardware i n some way, i t i s di ffi cul t to tel l whether your overall performance or system stabi li ty has
i mproved or decreased. Whi l e you can get a general feel for whether thi ngs have i mproved, i t i s often best to
gauge performance and stabi li ty changes objecti vely by usi ng a range of performance measurement tool s. By
the same token, you may be tryi ng to resol ve a probl em whi ch i s showi ng up i n the form of poor
performance, strange behavi or or an error message. Through the use of appropri ate di agnosti c tool s and
troubl eshooting methodology, you can resol ve a probl em more effi ci entl y.

Fortunatel y Wi ndows 7 comes wi th a range of bui lt-i n tool s desi gned to provi de you wi th performance
i nformati on, and assi st you i n diagnosing common probl ems. The central locati on for many of the Wi ndows
performance and diagnosti c tool s is the Performance Informati on and Tool s and Troubl eshooti ng
components of the Wi ndows Control Panel.

In addi ti on to Wi ndow 7's bui l t-i n tools there are a range of thi rd party programs whi ch wi ll further hel p
you i n benchmarki ng your performance and tracki ng down the cause of a probl em.

In thi s chapter we l ook at the vari ous tool s and methods for measuri ng performance and troubl eshooti ng
system problems.

< WINDOWS EXPERIENCE INDEX
One of the first thi ngs Windows 7 does after you have i nstal l ed i t i s to exami ne your system wi th the
Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT), running a seri es of tests to cal cul ate the Wi ndows Experi ence
Index (WEI) score for your system. This i s an i mportant process, all owi ng you to measure your system's
performance and detect any weak or probl emati c areas.

The resul ts of the WEI are shown as a seri es of fi ve sub-scores, culmi nati ng i n a si ngl e base score shown as
the l arge number at the ri ght of the sub-scores. The base score i s determi ned by the l owest of your five
i ndi vi dual sub-scores; i t is not an average or cumul ative score. You can access your WEI score, and rerun the
tests at any ti me, by going to the System component of the Wi ndows Control Panel and cl i cki ng the
'Wi ndows Experi ence Index' li nk.

Wi ndows 7 conti nues with the WEI model i ntroduced i n Vista, however the score ranges have been
expanded from a maxi mum of 5.9 to a new maxi mum of 7.9 to take account of new hardware, such as SSDs
and the l atest graphi cs cards. Wi ndows uses the base score and sub-scores to determi ne a range of thi ngs,
such as whether your system can di splay Wi ndows Aero, or whether to di sable SuperFetch for exampl e, so
thi s score is qui te i mportant and you shoul d i nvesti gate further i nto areas where you score rel ati vel y l owl y.

Bel ow i s a summary of how Wi nSAT cal cul ates your Wi ndows Experi ence Index number for each sub-score:


383

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

Processor: The resul ts of this score are calculated as a wei ghted average of the foll owi ng types of tests:

Compressi on and decompressi on usi ng the LZW compressi on al gori thm.
Compressi on and decompressi on usi ng the Wi ndows compressi on algori thm used for hi bernati on fil es,
ReadyBoost and other features.
Encrypti on and decrypti on assessment.
Computi ng hashes.
Encodi ng of vi deo.

The new score ranges above 5.9 i n the Processor tests are for quad-core CPUs, and onl y eight core CPUs can
reach the maxi mum 7.9 score.

Memory (RAM): The results of thi s score are cal culated based on the amount of bandwi dth (in MB/s) that the
system memory can move wi thi n a certai n peri od. However the hi ghest score attai nabl e is constrai ned by
the actual amount of system RAM (mi nus any memory reserved for graphi cs). For exampl e, any system wi th
l ess than 1.5 GB of avai labl e system RAM can only score a maxi mum of 4.5.

Graphics: Thi s score i s mai nl y used to determi ne how your system wi l l run Wi ndows Aero and pl ay back
Wi ndows Media Video. It measures vi deo memory bandwi dth (i n MB/s), however note the fol l owing
restri cti ons:

If your graphi cs card does not support DX9 then i t can onl y score a maxi mum of 1.0.
If the system supports DX9 or hi gher, but does not have a proper WDDM 1.0 or 1.1 dri ver than i t can
onl y score a maxi mum of 1.9.

Gaming Graphics: Thi s score i s cal cul ated based on how many Frames Per Second (FPS) your graphi cs card
can di splay for vari ous D3D tests, i n Di rectX 9 and/or Di rectX 10 modes. However note the foll owi ng:

If the graphi cs card does not support DirectX 9 then it can onl y score a maxi mum of 1.0.
If the system supports Di rectX 9 and has a WDDM 1.0 dri ver, i t wi ll score at l east 2.0.
If the graphi cs card doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 or higher then the maxi mum score possi bl e is 4.9.
If the graphi cs card i s onl y runni ng a WDDM 1.0 dri ver, the maxi mum score possi bl e is 5.9.
If the graphi cs card supports Di rectX 10, i s usi ng a WDDM 1.1 driver, and can achi eve around 40FPS or
more at normal resol uti ons (e.g. 1280x1024), i t can score i n the 6.0 - 6.9 range.
If the graphi cs card supports Di rectX 10, i s usi ng a WDDM 1.1 dri ver, and can achi eve hi gher framerates
at hi gher resol uti ons, i t can score i n the 7.0 - 7.9 range.

In both the Graphi cs and Gami ng Graphi cs components above, scores above 5.9 are only achi evabl e by
newer more powerful graphi cs cards.

Primary Hard Disk: Thi s score i s cal culated based on your pri mary dri ve's bandwi dth measured i n MB/s. All
modern hard dri ves wil l score a 2.0 or above, though tradi ti onal hard dri ves are restri cted to a maxi mum
score of 5.9. Addi ti onal tests focusi ng on random read, random wri te, and fl ush assessments have been
added to determi ne the presence of Sol id State Dri ves, and SSDs whi ch perform wel l i n both sequenti al and
random I/O scenari os obtai n a score hi gher than 6.0. In parti cular, a score of 6.5 or higher i ndi cates the
presence of a fast SSD and i n turn Wi ndows wil l automati cal ly di sabl e certai n dri ve-related features such as
SuperFetch. However si mpl y havi ng an SSD does not guarantee a high dri ve score, as some ol der SSDs are
not suffi ci ently fast i n all respects to warrant getti ng above 6.0.


384

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

Looki ng at the overal l base score, which i s determined by the lowest sub-score resul ti ng from the above
tests, the breakdown of the type of overal l system performance to expect i n Wi ndows 7 is as fol l ows:

Base Score 1.0 - Thi s i s the absol ute mini mum specifi cati ons needed to run Wi ndows 7, but wi thout
Wi ndows Aero and wi th a range of general performance probl ems. Best used onl y for thi ngs l ike email,
Internet browsi ng, and Solitai re.
Base Score 2.0 - Thi s i s the recommended mi ni mum speci fi cati on to run Wi ndows 7, and may be abl e to
run Wi ndows Aero but wi th some performance i ssues. Si mi lar usage scenari o as above, but wi th sl i ghtl y
more responsi veness.
Base Score 3.0 - Thi s i s the average Wi ndows 7 system whi ch can run Windows Aero and perform
reasonably wel l i n normal appl i cati ons, and provi de basi c performance i n games.
Base Score 4.0 - Thi s machine wil l run Wi ndows 7 wel l and be qui te responsi ve, even i n mul ti taski ng.
Runs most appl i cati ons and games reasonabl y well .
Base Score 5.0 - 7.9 - Thi s machi ne i s a hi gh-end machi ne sui table for excell ent performance i n gami ng,
mul ti medi a and mul ti tasking. The actual tasks i n which thi s machine excel s depend on whi ch parti cular
components have the hi ghest score.

The Wi ndows Experi ence Index i s not the ul ti mate test of what a machi ne i s capabl e of, as cl earl y different
appl i cati ons and games wi l l rely more on di fferent components. However because of the way the base score
i s shown not as an average - whi ch woul d be mi sl eadi ng - but as the l owest of your i ndi vi dual sub-scores, i t
i s very useful for gaugi ng the general performance l evel of a PC, and i ts existi ng weaknesses. The i dea i s that
i t hi ghl ights the weakest l ink of the main hardware components of your system, and there i s good reason for
thi s; your system i s onl y as fast as i ts weakest l i nk.

For i nstance on a PC which scores a 7.0 on i ts Gami ng Graphics sub-score, you would expect excel lent
gami ng performance, but thi s i s not necessaril y so. If the same system scores l owl y on other areas then i t i s
l i kel y you wil l run i nto probl ems wi th gami ng. For exampl e if the Memory or Pri mary Hard Di sk score of
the same machi ne i s bel ow 3.0, thi s means that whi l e your graphi cs card can easil y handle i ntensi ve 3D
renderi ng for a game, your hard dri ve and/or memory may si mply not be fast enough to conti nual ly suppl y
the graphi cs card wi th the i nformati on i t needs, and the end resul t wi ll be major stutteri ng or frequent
l oadi ng pauses, or i ndeed you may not be abl e to run some games at al l due to insuffi ci ent RAM. To achi eve
a balanced machi ne, i deally al l your sub-scores shoul d be si mi lar to each other, and i f you are l ooki ng to
upgrade your system, then i t woul d be wi se to pay attenti on to whi ch components are scoring l owl y. If you
want to vi ew other peopl es' scores, check on your favori te onli ne forum, or at a si te l i ke ShareYourScore.

If you're buying a pre-buil t system then make sure i t has a good base score, and don't accept any statements
that the Wi ndows Experience Index is not i mportant. A l ow WEI is an indi cati on of potenti al ly low
performance and can also resul t i n certain features being disabl ed in Wi ndows.

WINDOWS SYSTEM ASSESSMENT TOOL
Wi ndows takes the performance i nformati on i t obtai ns from the Wi ndows System Assessment Tool
(WinSAT), used to cal culate the Wi ndows Experi ence Index, qui te seri ousl y. For exampl e i f you don't score
3.0 or hi gher i n the Graphi cs component, then Windows 7 wil l not enabl e the Wi ndows Aero i nterface. If
you have an SSD but i t is a sl ower model , then Wi ndows wil l not di sabl e SSD-related features. Games can
use Wi nSAT's performance i nformati on to automati call y customi ze reduce or di sabl e certai n game setti ngs
based on your score, al though note that your score wi l l not prevent you from playi ng any game, even i f you
don't meet i ts requi rements - see the Gami ng secti on of the Graphics & Sound chapter.

In short the WEI score i s i mportant, and not just haphazardl y put together. Therefore one of the fi rst things
you shoul d do i s to make sure that you keep the WEI up to date. Whenever you change your hardware,
update your dri vers, al ter performance-related BIOS setti ngs, or overcl ock your system you may need to
update the WEI, and I strongl y recommend that you do so as soon as possi bl e. You can manual l y update the


385

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

WEI at any time by goi ng to the Performance Informati on and Tool s component of the Wi ndows Control
Panel and cl icki ng the 'Re-run the assessment' l i nk at the bottom ri ght on the mai n wi ndow. Make sure that
you do not use your system or have any programs currentl y acti ve whi le your score is bei ng updated for
best resul ts.

To update i ndi vi dual scores for a parti cular component, and to also see more detai ls of the actual tests being
undertaken and the detai led resul ts, you can access Wi nSAT di rectly through a command li ne i nterface:

2. Type the fol lowi ng and press Enter to get a rundown of your system i nformati on:

Wi nSAT f eat ur es

3. To do a full test and update your scores, type the fol l owi ng and press Enter:

Wi nSAT f or mal

4. To run speci fi c tests on i ndi vi dual components, wi th the resul ts bei ng shown i n more detail - see this
Wi nSAT Command Li st or type Wi nSAT / ? for a full l ist of commands. For example, you can type
Wi nSAT CPU to run the Processor test, or Wi nSAT MEMto run the memory test.

Each ti me a ful l WEI test i s run, the resul ts from Wi nSAT are stored i n your
\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore di rectory in an .XML fi le whi ch you can open and vi ew to see the
detail s i f you wi sh. If you are havi ng probl ems wi th WEI or Wi nSAT, you can del ete or move these fil es to
another l ocation to cl ear the resul ts and then rerun the WEI tests. Thi s i s not recommended; the best method
to cl ear WEI and re-run the tests i s to cl i ck the 'Advanced tool s' l i nk i n the l eft pane of Performance
Informati on and Tool s, then cl i ck 'Cl ear all Wi ndows Experi ence Index scores and re-rate the system'.

< RELIABILITY MONITOR
Reliabi li ty Moni tor i s a tool whi ch provi des an overall vi ew of your system's stabi li ty and probl em hi story.
You can launch i t by going to Start>Search Box, typi ng reliability then pressing Enter, or by openi ng the
Acti on Center from the Noti fi cation Area, cli cki ng the Mai ntenance heading, then cl i cki ng the 'View
rel iabil i ty hi story' l i nk.

The mai n feature of the Reli abi li ty Moni tor is a System Stabi l i ty chart whi ch provides a graphi cal
representati on of your system stabil i ty over ti me. The cl oser you are to 10 on the System Stabil i ty Index scal e
of 1 - 10, the more stabl e your system is deemed to be. Rel iabil i ty Moni tor begins graphi ng your system in
the fi rst 24 hours after you i nstall Windows, and conti nues to do so on a dai ly basi s - use the arrows on
ei ther si de of the graph to scrol l across the full length of the graph.

Each col umn on the graph i s an i ndi vidual day, and at the bottom of the graph you can see several rows
whi ch may contai n Errors (red X), Warni ngs (yell ow excl amati on) or Information (whi te i ) events i n the fi ve
categori es of Appl i cati on fai lures, Windows fail ures, Mi scel laneous fai lures, Warni ngs and Information.
Cl i ck on a parti cular day (col umn) to see the detail s of the events on that day, al ong wi th detail s for each
event. These events are al l li nked to the Event Vi ewer functi onali ty, covered i n the next secti on of this
chapter, however Rel iabil ity Moni tor provi des a more conveni ent and user-fri endl y way of vi ewi ng events
than Event Viewer, whi ch is why i t is recommended for most users i n the i ni tial identi fi cati on of probl ems.

To i nvesti gate any event, cl i ck the 'Vi ew techni cal detail s' li nk next to i t, or doubl e-cli ck i t and a descri pti on
of the probl em i s provi ded. To vi ew addi ti onal i nformati on on the probl em, cl ick the 'View al l probl em
reports' l i nk at the bottom of the Rel i abil i ty Monitor, whi ch opens the Acti on Center Probl em Reports
wi ndow and di splays al l queued probl em reports - see bel ow for more detail s on Acti on Center. For more


386

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

advanced users, you can i nvesti gate the error l ogs i n Event Vi ewer to fi nd more detail s of any probl ems - see
the Event Viewer secti on bel ow.

Reliabi li ty Moni tor hel ps provi de you wi th an overvi ew of how many errors and probl ems your system i s
experi enci ng - a stabl e Windows 7 i nstall ati on should have very few i f any errors or warnings, and hence
should al ways be cl ose to the 10 i ndex score.

< TROUBLESHOOTING
Whether you are havi ng an i mmediate probl em wi th a parti cul ar devi ce, program or Wi ndows feature, or if
you want to troubl eshoot a potenti al probl em i dentifi ed by the Wi ndows Experi ence Index or Reli abi li ty
Moni tor, the si mpl est method of doi ng so is to start by usi ng the buil t-i n Troubl eshooters i ntroduced in
Wi ndows 7. These are col l ecti vel y held i n the Troubl eshooti ng component under the Wi ndows Control
Panel , and there are a range of categori es for whi ch you can l aunch a troubl eshooti ng uti lity, i ncludi ng:
Programs, Hardware and Sound, Network and Internet, Appearance and Personali zati on, and System and
Securi ty.

You can obtai n addi ti onal troubl eshooters by cl i cki ng Yes to the 'Do you want the most up to date content
avai labl e for troubl eshooting' box at the top of the Troubl eshooti ng wi ndow. Thi s wi ll downl oad addi ti onal
troubl eshooters i f avai labl e when you sel ect any category, and this i s recommended to make sure you have
access to the l atest troubl eshooti ng util iti es i n Wi ndows 7. You can al ter the setti ngs for the troubl eshooter
functi onali ty by cl icki ng the 'Change setti ngs' l i nk i n the l eft pane:

Computer Maintenance: If Wi ndows detects the presence of broken shortcuts, unused fi les and unused
Desktop i cons, and a range of other general i ssues, i t may prompt you to resol ve them by runni ng the
System Mai ntenance troubleshooter. If you don't wi sh to be prompted i n thi s way, sel ect the Off opti on here.
You can al ways manual ly run System Mai ntenance at any ti me by cl i cki ng the 'Run mai ntenance tasks' li nk
i n the mai n Troubl eshooting wi ndow.

Allow users to browse for troubleshooters available from Windows Online Troubleshooting service: If ti cked, thi s
all ows al l users on you PC to downl oad addi ti onal avail abl e troubleshooti ng uti li ti es.

Allow troubleshooting to begin immediately when started: If ti cked, can al l ow a troubl eshooter to begi n
i mmediate detecti on of i ssues.

To i ni ti ate troubl eshooti ng, cl i ck one of the mai n category headi ngs i n the Troubl eshooti ng wi ndow and you
wi ll be taken to a separate wi ndow contai ni ng a range of rel evant tasks whi ch each run speci fi c
troubl eshooting wizards designed to resol ve a parti cular problem. Sel ect the one whi ch best sui ts your
parti cul ar issue.

When launched, the rel evant troubl eshooti ng wizard i s automated by defaul t and wi ll appl y a seri es of tests
to detect the probl em and then change vari ous setti ngs as relevant to resol ve i t, however you can change this
behavi or. Cl ick the Advanced l i nk on the fi rst page of a troubleshooter, and you can unti ck the 'Appl y
repai rs automati cal ly' i f you don't want automated repai r. You can al so cl i ck the 'Vi ew detai led i nformati on'
l i nk whi ch then appears to fi nd out more about the parti cular probl ems detected and repai rs suggested. This
must be done for every troubl eshooter separately, and these steps wi l l ensure that the troubl eshooter
provi des you wi th detai ls on the actual tests run, the types of i ssues detected, and a l ist of suggested repai rs
that you can choose from if you wish to conti nue wi th the troubl eshooter - thi s is strongl y recommended for
i ntermediate to advanced users, as i t gives you greater i nformati on and control over the changes bei ng made
to your system.

There are addi ti onal resources avai labl e here to assi st begi nners, such as the 'Get hel p from a fri end' l ink,
whi ch al l ows you to i nvi te a fri end to fix your probl em vi a the Remote Assistance feature. You shoul d onl y


387

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

use thi s feature to connect to a trusted indi vi dual . There is also a link to the Probl em Steps Recorder, whi ch
i s covered further bel ow.

The Troubl eshooti ng wi ndow i s of greatest benefi t to begi nner users who have common probl ems that
Wi ndows can readi l y detect and resol ve, or provi de simpl e l i nks or i nstructi ons for users to resol ve the i ssue
themsel ves. However because of the automated nature of these tool s, and the fact that they wi l l not resol ve
more compl ex probl ems, it i s strongly advised that you become fami li ar wi th the rest of the tool s i n thi s
chapter, as wel l as the i nformati on throughout thi s book, for the purposes of learni ng how to troubl eshoot
and resol ve such issues on your own.

PROBLEM STEPS RECORDER
The Probl em Steps Recorder uti li ty is new to Wi ndows 7, and can be found under the 'Get hel p from a
fri end' l i nk i n the Troubl eshooti ng wi ndow, or by going to Start>Search Box, typi ng psr and pressi ng Enter.
It i s an offl i ne tool whi ch, when you click the 'Start Record' button, wil l record every keystroke and mouse
movement you make, al ong wi th i ndi vidual screenshots at every stage. This i s not done as full moti on vi deo,
i t i s a text and screenshot i mage record of your sessi on, and you can also add comments at any stage by
cl i cki ng the 'Add comment' button and enteri ng descri pti ve text. When you cl i ck the 'Stop record' button,
you wil l be prompted to save the output fi le i n a .ZIP fil e to a parti cular location. Thi s archi ve contai ns an
.MHT fi le whi ch can be vi ewed i n Internet Expl orer, and can also be sent to a tech support person who can
then vi ew preci sel y what steps you undertook and what i mages you saw on the screen when experi encing
the probl em.

To al ter the setti ngs for Probl em Steps Recorder, cli ck the smal l arrow at the ri ght side of the uti li ty, and
sel ect Setti ngs. Here you can choose the defaul t l ocation for savi ng the output fi l e, whether to enabl e screen
captures, and the total number of screen captures whi ch the fil e can hol d, whi ch i s 25 by defaul t.

Probl em Steps Recorder can be very useful i n sharing what you see and do on your PC wi th a trusted
person, such as a more techni cal ly experi enced fami ly member or a Mi crosoft tech support person. However
make sure that you do not have any embarrassi ng or pri vate i nformati on vi si ble on screen when you launch
the uti li ty, and if your probl em i nvol ves enteri ng secure i nformati on, then consi der other troubl eshooti ng
methods fi rst.

Note that i f you prefer a uti l i ty whi ch records your steps as ful l moti on vi deo, then you can use the
Screenrecorder uti li ty i nstead. It can record a parti cular wi ndow or the enti re screen, and captures
everythi ng you do as a .WMV vi deo fil e.

< WINDOWS ACTION CENTER
The Acti on Center's securi ty rel ated functi onal i ty has al ready been covered under the Wi ndows Acti on
Center secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter. In thi s secti on we examine the other half of the Acti on Center - the
Mai ntenance category. Open Acti on Center from the Wi ndows Control Panel , or by cl i cki ng on the Action
Center i con i n the Noti fi cati on Area and sel ecti ng 'Open Acti on Center'. Cl i ck the Mai ntenance category
headi ng to expand that secti on of the Acti on Center. Most of the setti ngs and links i n thi s area of the Action
Center area are covered i n other secti ons throughout thi s book. The pri mary unique feature under
Mai ntenance i s Probl em Reports, whi ch is covered i n thi s secti on.

As part of Wi ndows Error Reporti ng functi onal i ty, Wi ndows 7 wi ll record any probl ems you experi ence
wi th appli cati ons or Wi ndows. These probl em reports can be vi ewed and sent to Mi crosoft for check for
avai labl e soluti ons. To view al l unsent probl em reports, cli ck the 'Vi ew probl ems to report' li nk i n the
Mai ntenance area of Acti on Center; to vi ew all probl em reports, both sent and unsent, cl i ck the 'Vi ew all
probl em reports' li nk at the bottom of the Rel iabil i ty Moni tor, or go to Start>Search Box, type view all problem
and press Enter.


388

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

To see ful l detai ls of the probl em, cl i ck the 'View techni cal detai l s' l i nk next to the rel evant probl em. In
parti cul ar, note the speci fi c fi l e or feature whi ch has tri ggered the probl em report. Use the tool s i n this
chapter as wel l as onli ne research to attempt to resol ve any recurring probl ems.

To assist you i n resol vi ng a problem, as well as to make Microsoft aware of i t, you can send the report to
Mi crosoft by maki ng sure there i s a ti ck i n the box next to the rel evant probl em report(s), and then cl i cking
the 'Check for sol uti ons' button or l i nk. If avai labl e, you can also sel ect the 'Check agai n for sol uti ons to other
probl ems' box to re-report earl i er probl ems and see if there i s a revised sol uti on avail able.

When checking wi th Mi crosoft for a sol uti on, the i nformati on sent to Mi crosoft i s detai l ed i n thi s Mi crosoft
Arti cl e, and invol ves the fol l owi ng detai l s:

A randoml y generated Global ly Unique Identi fi er (GUID) to identi fy your machi ne.
Where the probl em happened i n the software or hardware.
The type or severi ty of the probl em.
Fi l es that help descri be the probl em.
Basi c software and hardware i nformati on.
Possi bl e software performance and compati bi li ty probl ems.

If an error report potenti al l y contai ns personal i nformati on, you wi ll be prompted to confirm sendi ng this
i nformati on, though Mi crosoft wi ll not use thi s i nformati on to i denti fy or contact you. You can revi ew the
i nformati on bei ng sent before confi rming thi s request. If Mi crosoft requi res more i nformation regardi ng a
probl em you reported, you wi ll be prompted to send the addi ti onal i nformation. Addi ti onal i nformati on
may i ncl ude personal ly i denti fiabl e i nformati on you can choose to enter, such as your phone number or
email address. You can revi ew the probl em reports for whi ch Microsoft requi res more i nformati on before
choosi ng to send the addi ti onal i nformati on or not, and you can deny any such requests, as this i s not
compul sory for any probl em report.

If you have any doubts, you can unti ck, or ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect delete, any problem(s) for which you do not
wi sh to send a report to Mi crosoft before cl i cki ng the 'Check for soluti ons' button. Furthermore, to customi ze
thi s behavi or, cli ck the Setti ngs li nk under the 'Check for soluti ons to probl em reports' area of the
Mai ntenance secti on of Acti on Center. Here you can sel ect whether to automati call y check for soluti ons,
i ncludi ng whether to automati cal ly submi t addi ti onal data i f requi red; have Windows ask you each time
before checki ng for a sol uti on to a probl em; or di sable the probl em reporti ng feature al together. I
recommend the 'Each ti me a probl em occurs, ask me before checki ng for a sol uti on' to provi de you wi th
maxi mum control over the process.

If you are certai n you wil l never use this functi onali ty, you can disable i t. This method of checki ng for and
resol vi ng probl ems i s by no means ideal, but i t does provi de a rel ati vel y easy to understand i nterface for
vi ewi ng and attempti ng to resol ve appl i cation and Wi ndows-related probl ems i n the first i nstance,
parti cul arl y for l ess advanced users. Most of the ti me though you wi ll have to do further i nvesti gati on on
your own to work out the source of a probl em. Even if you fi nd no sol uti on, by reporti ng a probl em at l east
you wi ll be maki ng Mi crosoft aware of i t, and if i t is due to a genui ne software bug for exampl e, they can
work to resolve i t i n a patch or update, or i nform the rel evant devel oper of the i ssue.


389

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

< EVENT VIEWER
In the mai n Performance Informati on and Tool s wi ndow, cli ck the 'Advanced tool s' l i nk i n the l eft pane, then
cl i ck the 'Vi ew performance detail s i n Event l og'. Thi s wil l open the Event Vi ewer, though i t can also be
accessed directl y by goi ng to Start>Search Box, typi ng eventvwr and pressi ng Enter. Event Vi ewer is the
central l ocation for hol ding vari ous Wi ndows event l ogs. Each event is categori zed as ei ther an Error,
Warni ng or Informati onal . An Error is a si gni fi cant probl em; a Warni ng i sn't necessaril y major but may
cause probl ems i n the future; an Informati onal event si mpl y descri bes a successful operati on, such as a
dri ver i nstallati on.

Event Vi ewer i s a tool best sui ted to i ntermediate and advanced users, however l earning to use i t can
i mprove your chances of findi ng out about probl ems or performance i ssues. For a more user-fri endl y di spl ay
of the more important events recorded in Event Vi ewer, see the Reli abil i ty Moni tor secti on i n thi s chapter.

If you are trying to i mprove performance, then to access the performance-specific l ogs i n Event Vi ewer go to
the Performance Information and Tool s component of the Wi ndows Control Panel , cli ck the 'Advanced tool s'
l i nk i n the l eft pane, then cl i ck 'Vi ew performance detai ls i n Event l og'. Thi s wi ll take you to the Operati on
l og under the Appl i cati ons and Services Logs>Mi crosoft>Wi ndows>Di agnostics-Performance>Operati onal
fol der of Event Vi ewer. Here you can see the i ndi vi dual events whi ch descri be potenti al performance i ssues,
as i dentifi ed by the Wi ndows Diagnosti c Infrastructure whi ch automati call y moni tors a range of events,
i ncludi ng Windows startup, shutdown, Desktop performance and a range of other system events. For
exampl e i f you have a 'Boot Performance Moni tori ng' warni ng here, i t i s because Wi ndows thi nks your boot
ti me may be too l ong. Hi ghl i ght the relevant event and you can see detai l s such as how many seconds boot
ti me i s taki ng i n mi ll iseconds (1000ms = 1 second). Go through these warni ngs or errors, and where specific
devi ces or programs are named as bei ng responsi ble, i nvestigate those parti cular aspects further.

Wi ndows al so reports the most si gni fi cant of these performance i ssues i n more i ntel li gi bl e form - when you
open the Advanced Tool s area of the Performance Informati on and Tool s wi ndow, you may see l isted at the
very top of the wi ndow under 'Performance i ssues' one or more l i nks, whi ch are the results of Wi ndow's
di agnosti c anal ysis. For exampl e you may see a 'Performance can be i mproved by changi ng vi sual setti ngs'
l i nk, whi ch when cli cked provi des more i nformation, i n some cases even speci fyi ng a fil e or setti ng you
should i nvesti gate. Unfortunately i t i s not as si mpl e as removi ng or di sabli ng the component(s) Wi ndows
thi nks is the probl em, as some of them may be necessary. Furthermore Wi ndows may i denti fy somethi ng as
a probl em, when i n fact i t is not parti cularl y si gni ficant. Regardl ess, this form of automated di agnosti c
provi des i nformati on whi ch i s much easi er to understand than the raw Event Viewer l ogs, and shoul d not be
i gnored.

For general troubl eshooti ng purposes, cl i ck the 'Event Vi ewer (Local)' l i nk at the very top of the l eft pane of
Event Vi ewer. Thi s bri ngs up the Overvi ew and Summary screen, showi ng the major events and warni ngs
summarized and ranked, from Cri ti cal events, Errors, Warni ngs, and Informati on, down to Audi t Success
and Audi t Fai l ure. Each category can be expanded to show the speci fi c event log i tems for that category of
error or warni ng, as the exampl e bel ow demonstrates:

1. Cl i ck on the '+' sign next to Error under Summary of Admi nistrative Events.
2. You wil l see all Errors l isted i n order of Event ID number, wi th the number of errors i n the last hour, 24
hours, 7 days and Total shown to the ri ght (expand the Event Vi ewer box if necessary to see these).
3. Doubl e-cli ck on the Event ID whi ch has had the most number of errors i n the l ast 24 hours. You wil l see
a l i sti ng of all the i ndi vi dual event l ogs, sort from latest to ol dest.
4. Look at the bottom of the mi ddl e pane under the General tab. You wil l see a general descripti on of the
error. The i nformati on under the Detail s tab is usual l y not easy to comprehend, but you can vi ew that
also if you wish.
5. Under the General tab, cli ck the 'Event Log Onl i ne Hel p' li nk and cli ck Yes. A new browser window wi ll
open and you may be abl e to see addi ti onal i nformation on the error.


390

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

Be aware that if you undertake Step 5 above, for errors wi th Wi ndows programs and features, details
regardi ng the error wil l be sent to Mi crosoft and are not used to i dentify or contact you. However if you
report an error for a third party program, such reports are such to the devel oper or manufacturer of the third
party software, and they may be used for different purposes based on that company's pri vacy pol i cies.

Often ti mes you won't be abl e to fi nd much hel pful advi ce about a parti cular Event ID, so i nstead you can
fi rstl y try searchi ng the offi cial Mi crosoft Error Message Center, or try thi s Event ID Si te or Googl e for more
detail s.

If i nstead of vi ewi ng the logs by type, you wi sh to vi ew all l ogs for a specific category or component of
Wi ndows, go to the l eft pane of Event Vi ewer and browse the avail able fol ders. For exampl e to vi ew al l User
Account Control -rel ated l ogs, go to Appl i cati ons and Servi ces Logs>Mi crosoft>Wi ndows>UAC and cli ck the
l og fil e(s) under i t to see the detai ls.

Some i mportant thi ngs to note i n general about event l ogs:

To troubl eshoot a probl em, focus on any Cri ti cal events to start wi th, fol l owed by all Errors i n the
Overvi ew and Summary. Warni ng and Informati on events are useful mai nl y for performance
opti mi zati on rather than troubl eshooting an i mmedi ate probl em. See further bel ow for a method of
fi l teri ng l og fil es to onl y see those you want.
Look at how recent the event was. It may be that i t occurred a whil e ago and i s no l onger occurri ng, so i t
coul d be a one-off or has been resol ved through some other acti on, such as uninstall i ng the probl emati c
program or patchi ng i t wi th an update. Focus on i ssues whi ch occur often and more recentl y. If the error
i s very recent, such as during your latest sessi on, consi der what you have done recentl y that may have
tri ggered i t. For exampl e i f you recentl y di sabl ed a parti cular Service.
Remember that a l og showi ng many events may just be the same i ssue whi ch has occurred repeatedly
every ti me you start your PC. That i s, seei ng 100 errors may just mean that you had the same error twi ce
a day over the past 50 days, not 100 different errors. You can sort events by the Event ID col umn to see
how many uni que events there are.

If you want to fil ter the type of event logs whi ch are presented to you i n Event Vi ewer, cl ick the 'Create a
custom vi ew' l i nk i n the ri ght pane, and then speci fy the types of event l evel s to be shown and the ti me
peri od over whi ch they have been l ogged among other thi ngs. You can then exami ne this new fil tered view
by selecti ng i t under the 'Custom Vi ews' folder i n the l eft pane.

You can even configure Wi ndows to al ert you i mmedi atel y for a specifi c event by right-cl i cki ng on i t and
sel ecti ng 'Attach Task to thi s Event'. Thi s opens the Create a Basic Task wizard for Task Scheduler, whi ch i s
covered i n the Background Tasks secti on of the Servi ces chapter.

The Event Viewer has a weal th of i nformati on whi ch can hel p you refi ne where a probl em is occurri ng if you
take some time to go through i t. Fortunately Wi ndows provi des the most i mportant events i n easier to
understand formats through tool s such as the Reli abi l i ty Moni tor, as wel l as at the top of the Advanced
Tool s wi ndow of the Performance Informati on and Tool s component, both covered above.


391

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

< PERFORMANCE MONITOR
The Performance Moni tor can be accessed i n a number of ways, ei ther under the 'Advanced Tool s' li nk i n the
Performance Informati on and Tool s component of Wi ndows Control Panel by cl icki ng the 'Open
Performance Moni tor' li nk, or by going to Start>Search Box, typi ng perfmon and pressi ng Enter. The
Performance Moni tor i s an i mportant tool for moni tori ng system performance and resource usage in
Wi ndows.

One of the ways to fi gure out how to i mprove your performance i s to moni tor your system resources and
determi ne fi rstl y if any programs are usi ng too many resources when they shoul dn't be; and secondl y to
observe and see just what type of resources your more resource-hungry appl icati ons and games need - this
can hel p identi fy any bottl enecks.

To begi n moni tori ng resource usage, open the Performance Monitor, and i n the System Summary wi ndow
you can see a snapshot of vari ous system parameters in real -ti me. Thi s type of i nformati on i s covered further
under the Resource Moni tor secti on later i n this chapter.

Sel ect the 'Performance Moni tor' i tem i n the l eft pane, and you wil l see a graph whi ch i mmediately
commences charti ng your CPU usage. You can now add components for thi s graph to map over ti me by
cl i cki ng the green '+' button at the top, or ri ght-cl i cking on the graph i tsel f and sel ecti ng 'Add Counters'. For
exampl e to add a counter measuri ng dri ve usage, doubl e-cli ck on the Physi cal Di sk i tem i n the l ist, then
sel ect a specifi c variabl e you wish to measure (e.g. Disk Wri te Bytes/Sec) and click the Add button. You can
add as many components as you l ike, though obvi ously i t i s wi se to l i mi t thi s to make the graph readable.
Cl i ck OK when done.

The graph wil l now update to start mappi ng all the variabl es you've added, and you can see i n the l egend at
the bottom of the graph the components bei ng mapped, the col or for each component and you can ti ck or
unti ck parti cular ones i f you wi sh to temporaril y show or hi de them. Remember that si nce the Y (verti cal)
axis scal e i s fi xed, some components wi l l not display i n any meani ngful way when usi ng a common scal e.
However you can change the type of data di splay used i n two ways:

The si mpl e method i nvolves cl i cki ng the 'Change graph type' button at the top and sel ecti ng ei ther
Hi stogram, or Report vi ew i n parti cular whi ch may be much more meani ngful .
The more detail ed method i nvol ves ri ght-cl i cki ng on the graph and sel ecti ng Properti es. Then under the
Graph tab you can adjust the verti cal scal e manuall y by enteri ng a maxi mum and mi ni mum, and under
the Vi ew box you can sel ect Hi stogram or Report vi ew i nstead of Li ne for exampl e. Under the
Appearance and General tabs you can also further customi ze the displ ay appearance and sampl e rate as
wel l, and i mportantl y you can set the sampl e rate and durati on for the graph - the defaul t i s a sampl e
once every second, and the normal visi ble span of the graph i s 100 seconds.

Data Coll ector Sets can be created to al low you to schedule performance moni tori ng. To begi n thi s process,
ri ght-cl i ck on the 'Performance Moni tor' i tem i n the left pane and sel ect New>Data Col l ector Set. Thi s wil l
open the Create New Data Coll ector Set Wi zard. Fol l ow the prompts to defi ne where the set wi l l be held -
typi call y under the \PerfLogs directory. You can start the col l ecti on strai ght away, and to stop i t, ri ght-cl i ck
on the name of the new Col l ector Set you've created i n the l eft pane and sel ect Stop. To vi ew the resul ts at
any ti me, go to where the l og i s stored and doubl e-click on i t to open i t i n the Performance Moni tor, or fi nd i t
under the Reports>User Defi ned area in the l eft pane of Performance Moni tor. To schedul e performance
moni tori ng usi ng a Data Col l ector Set, ri ght-cl i ck on i t and sel ect Properti es. Then under the Schedul e tab
cl i ck the Add button and you can set the ti me and day the task wi ll begi n, and over what peri od of ti me i t
wi ll run.

These functi ons are most useful for more advanced users. When set to track key performance-related system
variabl es over ti me, you can conduct normal acti vi ty on your system such as usi ng a range of appl i cati ons


392

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

and games, and then come back and read through the l ogs to determi ne which resources seem to be in
greatest demand on your system and hence may be potenti all y bottlenecki ng your performance.
Al ternati vel y you can l og performance duri ng i dl e peri ods and see if any mal ici ous programs are qui etly
runni ng i n the background, communi cati ng wi th the Internet for exampl e. There are a range of uses, but as
noted, thi s i s best sui ted to someone wi th appropriate knowl edge of the vari ous parameters i nvol ved.

< SYSTEM HEALTH REPORT
A useful Windows buil t-i n di agnosti c routi ne i s the System Heal th Report, whi ch i s actual ly a preset Data
Col l ector Set that runs using Performance Moni tor, and provi des i ts output i n a user-friendl y i nterface. To
access the System Heal th Report, go to Performance Informati on and Tools under the Windows Control
Panel , cli ck the 'Advanced Tool s' l i nk i n the l eft pane and then sel ect the 'Generate a system heal th report'
l i nk. Al ternati vel y, go to Start>Search Box, type perfmon /report and press Enter.

As soon as it l aunches, the System Heal th Report starts gatheri ng i nformati on for 60 seconds. When
compl ete, the report hi ghl ights any Errors, Warni ngs or Cri ti cal i ssues at the top of the report, wi th detai l s of
possi ble methods for recti fyi ng them. Note that some errors and warni ngs are completel y normal; for
exampl e if you have purposel y di sabl ed a hardware devi ce on your system, or knowi ngly di sabl ed certain
Wi ndows securi ty features, the report wi l l highli ght these.

Ideall y you shoul d run several System Heal th Reports, fi rstly under normal (rel ati vel y i dl e) condi ti ons, and
then subsequentl y i f you wi sh to troubl eshoot a parti cular appl i cati on, start the report then l aunch the
rel evant program and exi t it after a mi nute to see what the System Heal th Report says.

Under the Basi c System Checks secti on of the report, you can see the areas i n whi ch there may be potenti al
i ssues, though agai n these are usuall y hi ghli ghted in the secti on above, so you can browse them for more
detail ed i nformati on. The Resource Overvi ew secti on shows the status of system resources duri ng the 60-
second peri od the report was run. Thi s i s why i t's useful to run a System Heal th Report several ti mes under
vari ous system condi ti ons, so you can better see what type of constrai nts your system may be faci ng under
parti cul ar ci rcumstances.

You can see detail ed i nformati on under the vari ous categories at the bottom of the report by cl i cki ng the
small triangl e at the far ri ght of a particular category, or you can jump di rectl y to speci fi c areas of the report
by l eft-cl i cki ng once on the report i con i n the mi ddl e of any of the category toolbars, then choosi ng the sub-
category li nk to i nvesti gate.

You can save any report by goi ng to the Fil e menu and sel ecti ng 'Save As', and the report wi l l be saved in
.HTML format, vi ewabl e in your browser. You can also email the report by sel ecti ng the 'Send To' l i nk under
the Fi le menu.

< RESOURCE MONITOR
Resource Moni tor i s util i ty designed to provi de a real-ti me displ ay of various key system resources,
i ncludi ng CPU, Memory, Di sk and Network-related data. You can access Resource Moni tor under the
'Advanced Tool s' l i nk i n the Performance Informati on and Tools component of Wi ndows Control Panel , or
by cl i cki ng the 'Resource Moni tor' button under the Performance tab of Task Manager, or by goi ng to
Start>Search Box, typi ng resmon and pressi ng Enter.

Under the mai n Overview tab, you can see the four categori es of CPU, Di sk, Network and Memory - cli cki ng
on any one of these categori es expands that section, showi ng i ts components. However even wi thout
expandi ng each category, you can see a summary of the current resource usage courtesy of a two small
graphs embedded i n each category header. Under the separate CPU, Memory, Disk and Network tabs of
Resource Moni tor are further detai ls for each resource type.


393

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

In the ri ght pane you can see vari ous graphs - the number and type of these graphs changes dependi ng on
whi ch tab of the Resource Moni tor wi ndow you are vi ewi ng. You can also al ter the size of these graphs by
cl i cki ng the Vi ews button just above them and sel ecting Large, Medi um or Small , or you can cl ose the graphs
al together by cl i cki ng the small arrow to the l eft of the Views button.

Throughout Resource Moni tor you wil l see a l isti ng of some or all of the foll owi ng i tems i n tabl es:

Image - This is the name of an executable i mage fil e runni ng as part of a process.
PID - Thi s i s a Process Identi fi er number, i t uniquel y i dentifi es a process.
File - The ful l path and fi l ename of the actual fi l e bei ng used by a parti cular process.
Description - A general descri pti on for the process.
Status - The current status of the process, whether i t i s runni ng or stopped for exampl e.
Threads - The number of acti ve threads for a process; more threads can be benefici al on mul ti-core CPUs.
CPU - The current percentage of total CPU resources bei ng used by a process.
Average CPU - The average amount of total CPU resources used by a process i n the last mi nute.
Read - The average number of Bytes per second read by the process i n the last mi nute.
Write - The average number of Bytes per second wri tten by the process i n the l ast mi nute.
Total - The average combi nati on of read and wri tes i n Bytes per second for a process i n the l ast mi nute.
I/O Priority - The pri ori ty of the Input/Output requests for a process; determi nes whi ch request gets a
hi gher pri ori ty. Normal i s the defaul t but i t can al so be Very Low, Low, Hi gh and Cri ti cal .
Response Time - The di sk response ti me i n mi ll i seconds. The hi gher the val ue the l onger a di sk acti on
takes.
Hard Faults - The average number of hard page faul ts per second for thi s process i n the last mi nute. A
hard page faul t occurs when Wi ndows seeks data and fi nds i t is not i n memory, and needs to l oad i t
from di sk.
Commit - The proporti on of the vi rtual memory i n Kil obytes reserved by Wi ndows for the process.
Working Set - The amount of physi cal memory i n Kil obytes currently i n use by the process.
Shareable - The amount of physi cal memory i n Ki l obytes currentl y i n use by the process whi ch can be
shared wi th other processes.
Private - The amount of physi cal memory i n Kil obytes currentl y i n use by the process which can't be
shared wi th other processes.

Many of the above i tems are covered i n more detail in the Task Manager and Process Expl orer secti ons later
i n thi s chapter.

To moni tor resources, go to the rel evant tab, and cli ck on one of the col umns to sort by that col umn. For
exampl e, to see al l the resources use by a parti cular process, cli ck the Image column; to see all resources used
by a parti cular fi l e, cli ck the Fi le col umn; to see the process currentl y wri ti ng or readi ng the most to di sk,
cl i ck the Wri te or Read column respectivel y. You can ri ght-cl i ck on any column and sel ect Hide to remove i t,
and choose 'Sel ect col umns' to restore i t agai n. Once configured the way you want i t, you can save your
Resource Moni tor confi gurati on by goi ng to the Fi l e menu and selecti ng 'Save setti ngs as'.

You can refine the tracking of resource usage by fi l teri ng the di splay for parti cular processes. Ti ck the
box(es) next to specifi c process(es) you wi sh to track, and the graphs to the ri ght wi ll di splay a new orange
l i ne tracki ng your sel ecti on. Expandi ng the sub-categori es under any tab wi ll also show onl y your sel ected
processes, with an orange prompt at the top of the tabl e i ndi cati ng thi s.

If any parti cular process name i s not cl ear to you, ri ght-cli ck on i t and sel ect 'Search onl i ne' to l aunch a
Googl e search on i ts name. You can also right-cli ck and sel ect 'Anal yze Wai t Chai n' - thi s opens a wi ndow
di splayi ng Wai t Chai n Traversal i nformati on, whi ch i n si mpl e terms al l ows you to see if a particular
unresponsi ve process is wai ti ng for another process. This lets you sel ect and end the process bl ocki ng


394

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

compl eti on of a task. Note that stuck processes are hi ghli ghted i n red under the Overvi ew and CPU tabs,
maki ng i t easi er to fi nd them i n Resource Moni tor.

Resource Moni tor i s extremel y useful, because i t al lows you to see preci sel y what i s occurri ng under the
hood i n Wi ndows at any ti me. Asi de from l etti ng you see whi ch parti cular programs are usi ng the most
resources, if you have suspi ci ons about the behavi or of a parti cular program - whether i t i s communi cating
wi th the Internet when i t shoul dn't be, or not util izi ng CPU, memory or disk resources effi ci ently, then
runni ng the program wi th Resource Moni tor open l ets you analyze the program's behavi or i n detai l i n real -
ti me. Si mi lar to Task Manager, you can al so start, stop, unfreeze or research any process wi thi n Resource
Moni tor as wel l. It i s cl early for more advanced users, but i f you learn to use i t, i t i s extremely powerful for
both troubl eshooti ng and performance measurement purposes.

< TASK MANAGER
The Task Manager i s a key Wi ndows uti li ty that all ows you to vi ew real -ti me i nformati on about whi ch
appl i cati ons, processes and servi ces are runni ng on your system, as wel l as a range of performance and
system i nformati on. It i s desi gned for both novi ce and advanced users, and al l users need to have
knowl edge of i ts functi onali ty, because i t i s someti mes requi red for essential purposes, such as cl osing
frozen programs. There are several ways of accessi ng Task Manager, some qui cker than others:

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL together and then sel ect 'Start Task Manager'.
Go to Start>Search Box, type taskmgr and press Enter.
Ri ght-cli ck on the Taskbar and sel ect the 'Start Task Manager' i tem.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to bri ng up Task Manager.

By defaul t Task Manager onl y shows the runni ng processes for your parti cul ar User Account. To see all
runni ng processes, i ncl uding System and Network processes, cli ck the 'Show processes from all users' button
under the Processes tab. Thi s wi ll provi de the most detai l ed vi ew of what i s runni ng on your PC at the
moment, and i s al ways the recommended vi ew. Task Manager has a range of uses, and we l ook at the most
i mportant of these i n thi s secti on. Each tab is covered i n i ts own secti on:

APPLICATIONS
Thi s tab of Task Manager contai ns a l i st of any runni ng programs, but does not i ncl ude those runni ng i n the
background, such as Wi ndows servi ces and uti li ti es, dri ver-related programs, programs i n the Noti fi cation
Area and so forth. As such i t is not a compl ete l ist of programs runni ng on your system. However you can
use i t to highl i ght a parti cular program on the li st, and if i t i s frozen and unresponsi ve, cli ck the 'End Task'
button to force Wi ndows to cl ose the program. You can al so see the processes associated wi th a program by
ri ght-cl i cki ng on i t here and sel ecti ng 'Go to Process', whi ch takes you to the rel evant processes under the
Processes tab.

PROCESSES
Thi s tab l ists all processes runni ng on your PC, as long as you have cli cked the 'Show processes from al l
users' button. You can view a range of real -ti me detai ls about each process by goi ng to the Vi ew menu,
cl i cki ng the 'Sel ect Col umns' i tem, and then ti cki ng the appropriate columns to have these detai ls di splay
under rel evant col umns in Task Manager. The full l i st of col umn i tems i s covered i n more detai l i n this
Mi crosoft Arti cl e. I recommend that you at l east have the CPU Usage, Memory - Pri vate Worki ng Set,
Memory - Commi t Si ze, and Descri pti on col umns acti ve to moni tor CPU and memory resource usage. You
can cl ick on a col umn header to sort by that col umn, al l owi ng you for exampl e to sort al l processes by those
usi ng the most CPU resources.

You can vi ew the actual file associ ated wi th a process by ri ght-cli cki ng the process and sel ecti ng Properti es,
or sel ecti ng 'Open Fi l e Locati on' to go to that fi l e i n Wi ndows Expl orer. You can also ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect


395

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

'End Process' to cl ose i t, or 'End Process Tree' to cl ose the process and al l associ ated processes. Ri ght-cl i cking
and sel ecti ng 'Go to Servi ce(s)' wil l take you to the Services tab, highli ghti ng the particular Servi ces
associated with a process i f any. The 'Set Pri ori ty' and 'Set Affi nity' opti ons control the allocati on of CPU
resources, and are covered i n more detail further bel ow.

SERVICES
Thi s tab li sts all Manual and Automatic Servi ces on the system, whether they are currentl y runni ng or not -
see the Servi ces chapter for more detail s. You can ri ght-cl i ck on any Servi ce and sel ect 'Go to Process' to see
whi ch process i s associ ated wi th i t. In most cases i t wi ll be the general svchost.exe (Servi ce Host) Wi ndows
process, of whi ch there are mul ti pl e i nstances. You can al so start or stop a servi ce here by right-cl i cki ng on it.

PERFORMANCE
Thi s tab is simi lar to the Resource Moni tor util i ty, and i ndeed a 'Resource Moni tor' button i s availabl e here
for more advanced users. However thi s area i s suffi ci ent for basi c moni tori ng of resource usage, as l ong as
you understand the data bei ng di splayed - the memory i nformati on i n parti cular can be confusi ng, so i t wi ll
all be clarifi ed i n detai l below.

Graphs

Thi s secti on at the top of the Performance tab i n Task Manager di splays several graphs for easy
i nterpretati on of current resource usage i nformati on at a gl ance. Note that i f you double-cl i ck on the graph
di splay, i t will maxi mize to onl y show the CPU-related graphs.

CPU Usage - Thi s bar graph shows the total proporti on of al l avai labl e CPU resources currentl y bei ng
used. If you have a mul ti -core CPU, the percentage shown here is an average across al l cores, not the
sum. For exampl e on a dual core CPU, if one core is at 100% and the other i s at 0%, the bar graph shows
a total CPU usage of 50%. Thi s graph corresponds with the 'CPU Usage' percentage shown at the bottom
of the Task Manager wi ndow.
CPU Usage Hi story - This secti on di spl ays li ne graph(s) showing your CPU usage hi story for each
i ndi vi dual core on your CPU. There i s a separate graph for every core, and i n the case of
HyperThreadi ng CPUs, a separate graph for each vi rtual core as wel l. You can al ter this by goi ng to the
Vi ew menu and under the 'CPU History' i tem sel ecti ng 'One Graph, Al l CPUs' to di splay a si ngl e hi story
graph for all cores. Thi s is not recommended, as bei ng able to see whi ch cores are worki ng the most i s a
useful feature. Under the Vi ew menu you can al so ti ck the 'Show Kernel Times' i tem to di splay the
amount of CPU resources used by the Kernel (core Windows software) as a red li ne.
Memory - Thi s bar graph shows the amount of physi cal RAM currentl y i n use by the system. It i s
approxi mately equi valent to Total RAM mi nus Avai labl e RAM.
Physi cal Memory Usage Hi story - Displ ays a hi story of the physical RAM usage, si mil ar to the hi story of
CPU usage above i t.


396

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

Physical Memory (MB)

Thi s secti on provi des a breakdown of the usage of your physi cal memory, which i s your system RAM, in
Megabytes (MB). The components shown are:

Total - This is the total amount of RAM install ed i n your system.
Cached - This i s the amount of memory currently used by the system for hol di ng a range of commonl y
used data i n RAM for qui ck access. This i s associated wi th the SuperFetch feature.
Availabl e - Thi s i s the amount of memory avai labl e for use by any process i f requi red. It i s
approxi mately the sum of Free RAM plus Cached RAM.
Free - This i s the unused porti on of RAM; i t does not contai n any useful data.

For more detail s of physi cal memory usage i n Wi ndows, see this Mi crosoft Arti cl e.

Kernel Memory (MB)

Thi s secti on provi des detai l s on two i mportant resources used by the core of Wi ndows to store vari ous key
data. The Nonpaged memory pool stores the porti on of thi s core Wi ndows data whi ch can't be paged out to
di sk as thi s mi ght cause probl ems under certai n circumstances, hence i t i s always stored in RAM; the Paged
memory pool stores the porti on of the data whi ch can be safely paged out to di sk at any ti me. Importantl y,
these val ues are not a measure of the size of the Pagefil e - thi s i s shown i n the Commi t i tem under the
System area, covered bel ow.

For more detail s of Paged and Nonpaged Pool memory, see this Mi crosoft Arti cle.

System

Thi s area provi des several di fferent pi eces of i nformati on on vari ous aspects of runni ng processes, as well as
system upti me, as covered bel ow:

Handl es - The total number of unique objects i n use by al l processes, such as fi les and Regi stry keys.
Threads - The total number of threads bei ng run by al l acti ve processes on the system.
Processes - The total number of i ndi vidual processes runni ng on your system, as i ndi vidual ly li sted
under the Processes tab. Thi s figure is al so di spl ayed at the bottom of the Task Manager wi ndow.
Up Ti me - The l ength of time si nce the PC was last started, i n days:hours:mi nutes:seconds format.
Commi t (GB) - Thi s i s di spl ayed i n the form Commi t Charge / Commi t Limi t. The Commi t Charge
shows i n Gigabytes the memory currentl y requi red by al l runni ng processes - that i s, commi tted
memory, both physi cal and vi rtual . The Commi t Limi t i s also i n Gi gabytes, and i s approximatel y the
sum of physical RAM plus your Pagefi l e. Thi s i s the maxi mum amount of memory the system can
commi t to processes if needed. The Commi t Charge can never exceed the Commi t Li mi t, and should
al ways be much l ower than the l i mi t. If i t gets cl ose to the l i mi t, Windows will i ncrease the Pagefil e size
i f i t's not fi xed; if i t hi ts the l i mi t you wi l l run out of memory resources and will experi ence data l oss or
other probl ems. See the Wi ndows Memory Management secti on of the Memory Opti mizati on chapter
for detail s of how to correctl y set the Pagefil e and hence have an appropri ate Commi t Li mi t.

For more detail s of processes and threads, see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e; for more detail s of handl es, see this
Mi crosoft Arti cl e; and for more detai ls of commi tted memory, see thi s Mi crosoft Arti cl e.


397

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

NETWORKING
Thi s tab graphs your network adapter's util izati on as a proporti on of i ts maxi mum possibl e throughput.
Under the View>Network Adapter History menu i tem you can choose to also graph 'Bytes Sent' and 'Bytes
Recei ved', along wi th or i nstead of the defaul t, whi ch i s a combi nati on of both. If you cl i ck the 'Sel ect
Col umns' i tem under the Vi ew menu, you can al so add vari ous data col umns to the tabl e underneath the
graph, al l owing you to see preci se stati sti cs on vari ous communi cati on parameters. Thi s can hel p you track
the type and amount of communi cati on a parti cular appl i cation is undertaki ng at any ti me for exampl e.

USERS
Di splays al l users who can access the system i n the current sessi on. It all ows you to vi ew a range of detai l s,
as well as l ogoff or di sconnect any user if requi red.

GENERAL USAGE
The most common use for Task Manager i s to all ow you to cl ose a probl emati c program/process whi ch i s
otherwi se unresponsi ve, or has apparentl y frozen the system i n some way. Whenever a program stops
respondi ng, Wi ndows shoul d prompt you to cl ose the program, however i n some cases this does not occur
because the program hasn't techni call y stopped respondi ng, i t si mpl y i sn't al l owi ng you to see i ts output or
i nteract wi th i t di rectl y. In these cases pressi ng CTRL+ALT+DEL shoul d return responsi veness to the system
and al l ow you to open Task Manager, and ei ther under the Appl i cati ons tab or under the Processes tab,
sel ect the relevant program and choose 'End Task' or 'End Process' as appl i cabl e. Gi ven Wi ndows 7 does a
good job of i solati ng the core of Wi ndows and thus mai ntai ni ng some l evel of system responsi veness, this
method tends to work most of the ti me. If you can't access Task Manager, and if after a peri od of wai ti ng you
do not gai n responsi veness, you can force your PC to shutdown by hol di ng down the power button for 5
seconds.

Another common use for Task Manager i s to detect whether a parti cular program i s usi ng unnecessari ly
hi gh l evel s of system resources. Open Task Manager whi l e the suspected program is acti ve, and under the
Processes tab make sure to cl i ck the 'Show processes from all users' button, then cl i ck the CPU col umn such
that the hi ghest numbers are shown at the top. When your system i s relati vely i dl e, the l argest proportion of
CPU usage shoul d go to the 'System Idl e Process', typi cal l y around 95-99% of CPU usage. Thi s i s actual l y not
CPU usage, as the System Idl e Process is forci ng al l avail able cores of the CPU into power savi ng mode. So
thi s is normal and desi rabl e, not somethi ng to worry about. At other ti mes whi l e your system i s i dl e, there
may be peri ods when the Wi ndows Di sk Defragmenter or Search Indexer are runni ng, and thus wil l show
up as usi ng resources. However no background Wi ndows task wil l use large amounts of CPU resources if
Wi ndows detects that you are tryi ng to undertake another task whi ch requi res those resources.

In some cases a thi rd party program can become caught i n a l oop or have some other ki nd of error whi ch
causes i t to use up al l avail able CPU resources. You can manuall y end the process, restart the program and
see i f i t happens agai n - i f so then the program bears further i nvestigati on.

Yet another common usage for Task Manager i s to detect background processes or servi ces whi ch a recently
i nstal l ed program may be runni ng wi thout your knowl edge. An exami nati on of al l runni ng processes may
mean that you spot a new process, which you can ei ther ri ght-cl ick and sel ect 'Open Fi l e Locati on' to see
where i t resides on your system, and/or ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect 'Search Onl ine' to fi nd out more about.
Si milarly, any new servi ces bear i nvestigati on, by ri ght-cl i cki ng on them and selecti ng 'Go to Process'. This i s
also a very useful way of detecti ng potenti al mal ware on your system, as most mal ware can't hi de from the
l i st of runni ng processes in Task Manager. Once you have found an unnecessary new process or servi ce, you
can remove i t as covered i n the Startup Programs, Servi ces or PC Securi ty chapters as rel evant.

If you can't easi l y resol ve a process-related i ssue, then you can create a special fi l e whi ch contai ns debugging
i nformati on for use by yourself or a trusted techni cal support person. Right-cli ck on the rel evant process you


398

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

bel i eve to be probl emati c or suspi ci ous and select 'Create Dump Fi le'. A .DMP fi le wi th the name of the
process wil l be created under your \Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\ di rectory. The fi le may be
qui te l arge, and you can't open thi s fi le and vi ew its contents normall y, however you or someone wi th
rel evant experti se can use the Wi ndows Debuggi ng Tool s to vi ew and troubl eshoot the contents.

PROCESSOR AFFINITY AND PRIORITY
Task Manager al l ows you to set the pri ori ty and affi ni ty for each process. These functi ons and related
Wi ndows setti ngs requi re more detai l ed expl anati on:

Set Priority: Ri ght-cli ck on a process under the Processes tab, and you can sel ect 'Set Pri ori ty' to determi ne the
pri ori ty wi th whi ch the threads for a process are run. The defaul t i s Normal, but the availabl e opti ons are
Low, Bel ow Normal , Normal , Above Normal , High and Real time. Al teri ng the pri ori ty can change the order
i n whi ch threads are processed by your CPU, maki ng a parti cular process more responsi ve for exampl e i f i t
i s gi ven a hi gher pri ori ty. However thi s can al so destabi lize the system, and i n practi ce, Wi ndows 7 al ready
has an excellent pri ori ti zati on system. If you're runni ng a program i n the foreground and i t needs more
resources, i t wi ll get them - see the Processor Scheduli ng setti ng bel ow. Furthermore, i f you di sabl e
unnecessary background programs as recommended i n thi s book, then your pri mary program wil l be the
major focus of processi ng regardl ess. As such, i t i s not recommended that you al ter pri ori ty for any process
i n thi s way, unl ess you frequentl y multi -task and want to ensure a parti cul ar program al ways gets more
resources.

If processi ng pri ori ty is set i n Task Manager i n thi s manner, thi s new pri ori ty l evel only l asts as l ong as the
process i s runni ng i n the current sessi on, so i f you insi st on experi menti ng wi th thi s opti on then the effect i s
not permanent. If however you wi sh to permanentl y i mpl ement a pri ori ty change for a particular program,
you can do so by goi ng to the program's l aunch i con, right-cli cki ng on i t and sel ecti ng Properti es. In the
Target box enter the text bel ow exactl y as shown i n front of the text al ready there, maki ng sure there i s one
bl ank space between the end of /hi gh and the existi ng text i n the Target box:

%wi ndi r %\ syst em32\ cmd. exe / c st ar t " " / hi gh

Processor Scheduling: There i s an addi ti onal setti ng i n Wi ndows that affects processor schedul i ng. Go to the
Wi ndows Control Panel , open the System component, cl i ck the 'Advanced system setti ngs' link, and cli ck the
Setti ngs button under the Performance secti on of the Advanced tab. In the wi ndow whi ch opens, under the
Advanced tab you can choose the way i n whi ch Windows all ocates processor resources i n the Processor
Schedul i ng area. The Programs opti on all ocates more resources to the program runni ng i n the foreground,
and is strongly recommended. The 'Background services' opti on al locates CPU resources more evenl y across
all runni ng processes, and i s desi gned for systems runni ng mul ti pl e and equally i mportant tasks at the same
ti me, such as web servers. Sel ecti ng 'Background servi ces' here can resul t i n decreased performance when
usi ng system-i ntensi ve appl i cati ons and games, whi ch i s why i t is not recommended.

Set Affinity: Processor affi ni ty i s a property whi ch makes a parti cular thread or process run on a parti cular
core of a multi -core CPU. Thi s can resul t i n i mproved performance, but has to be wei ghed agai nst the fact
that i t can al so work to reduce l oad balanci ng across all cores of a CPU. You can manuall y al ter the affi nity
for a parti cular process by ri ght-cli cki ng on i t under the Processes tab of Task Manager and sel ecti ng Set
Affi ni ty. A wi ndow wi ll open al l owi ng you to sel ecti ng whi ch core(s) of your CPU are all owed to run thi s
parti cul ar process.

The mai n reason for manuall y al teri ng the affi ni ty for any process woul d be for troubl eshooti ng purposes,
such as i n the case of an ol d program not desi gned for mul ti -core CPUs whi ch i s di splayi ng odd behavi or.
By restri cti ng such a program to a si ngle core of your CPU, you can emulate a si ngl e-core CPU envi ronment
for that particular program, and thus resol ve potenti al problems. For the most part, there is no other reason


399

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

to al ter affi nity manual l y. In any case, setti ng affi ni ty i n the Task Manager is temporary, as it l asts onl y for
the current sessi on. To permanentl y set affi ni ty for any program, you can use the fol l owi ng i nstructi ons.

1. Downl oad the ImageCFG uti li ty (mi rror) and place it i nto your \Windows\System32 di rectory. The fil e
was ori gi nally a Wi ndows NT system fi le.
2. Identi fy the probl emati c program's mai n executable. To do thi s go to the program's l aunch i con, right-
cl i ck on i t, select Properti es and hi ghl ight and copy the text i n the Target box.
3. Make a backup copy of thi s program executable fi rst and put i t somewhere safe, because ImageCFG
permanentl y al ters an executabl e.
5. In the command prompt wi ndow type I mageCFG / ? for a li st of vali d commands. As an exampl e, to set
the affi ni ty for a program to Core 1 on your CPU, type the fol l owi ng and press Enter:

I mageCFG - a 0x1 " [ pr ogr ampat h/ pr ogr amname] "

6. Whenever thi s executabl e fi l e is launched, Wi ndows wi ll now onl y all ow that program to use the
speci fi ed CPU core. You must restore your backed-up executable to undo thi s change, and i mportantl y,
never al ter affi ni ty on a Windows system fil e i n this manner.

As you can see, the Task Manager has a range of useful functi ons for all l evels of users. Frequentl y checking
the ful l l ist of runni ng processes under the Processes tab, parti cularly after i nstall i ng a new program, i s an
excel lent way of moni tori ng any changes to your system and detecti ng any undesi rabl e or mali ci ous
programs whi ch may be qui etly runni ng i n the background.

PROCESS EXPLORER
Si milar to the Resource Moni tor uti li ty covered above, and al so like Task Manager i n many ways, Process
Expl orer i s a free util i ty whi ch provi des far greater abil i ty to anal yze system resource usage. It is far too
comprehensive to be covered here i n detail , however several features are worth noti ng.

For exampl e, i f you ri ght-cli ck on a particular process and select the Properti es i tem, i t opens a wi ndow with
a range of tabs provi di ng detai led i nformati on, such as the i ndi vi dual performance, securi ty and thread data
for thi s process. Under the mai n Image tab of the properti es, you can cl i ck the Verify button to determi ne
whether the fi l e i s a verified signature.

In the mai n Process Expl orer wi ndow, under the Vi ew menu you can sel ect 'System Informati on' to open a
new wi ndow wi th a data di splay si mi lar to that under the Performance tab of Task Manager. However here
you can see a range of addi ti onal data i n more detail , such as the actual Commi t Li mi t and Peak Commi t
Charge - both cri ti cal for determi ni ng the correct Pagefil e size, as covered under the Windows Memory
Management secti on of the Memory Opti mizati on chapter. Importantl y, you can also see actual Pagefil e and
dri ve behavior here, under the Pagi ng secti on. Page Faul t Del ta for example di spl ays dri ve usage when
Wi ndows can't fi nd the requi red i nformati on i n memory, whil e the Pagi ng Fi l e Wri te Del ta shows how
much is bei ng wri tten to the Pagefi le at the moment. These are real -ti me di spl ays, so to actuall y track these
values over ti me and get an i ndicati on of how much i s bei ng wri tten to the Pagefil e and how often, you
woul d need to use Performance Moni tor to l og these types of variabl es over ti me - add the 'Pagi ng Fil e
Usage %' i tem to the counters i n Performance Moni tor for example.


400

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

< WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC
Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c i s a bui l t-i n troubl eshooti ng util i ty that i s usuall y triggered when Wi ndows
detects that a probl em may be caused by your physi cal memory (RAM). It needs to run at startup because
that i s the opti mal ti me when your RAM i s free of any operating system or other software components
resi di ng i n i t. You can also opt to manuall y run the tool at any time i f you suspect memory-related problems
wi th your RAM or CPU memory caches, by openi ng the Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ecti ng the
Admi nistrative Tool s component, then sel ecti ng Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c, or by goi ng to Start>Search
Box, typi ng memory and pressi ng Enter.

The tool must be run at the next reboot, but you can choose to 'Restart now and check for probl ems', or you
can schedule i t to run the next ti me you restart by sel ecti ng 'Check for probl ems the next ti me I start my
computer'. If Wi ndows has rai sed thi s prompt and/or you suspect memory probl ems i t i s strongly
recommended that you run the test as soon as possi bl e to prevent any data corrupti on or l oss due to faul ty
or unstabl e memory.

When Wi ndows Memory Di agnosti c runs, i t conducts a seri es of tests to determi ne whether your memory
subset i s faulty. Advanced users can choose whi ch tests i t run by pressi ng F1 as soon as the tool starts, and
sel ecti ng from the foll owing opti ons, pressi ng TAB to move between opti on categori es:

Test mi x - Sel ect the type of test you want to run, whether Basic, Standard or Extended. Standard is
recommended to begi n with, and Extended i s recommended if you want to do more strenuous testi ng of
your RAM but i s very l engthy.
Cache - Sel ect whether to have the CPU caches On or Off, or the Defaul t, whi ch adjusts the cache
dependi ng on the test. I recommend Defaul t to begi n wi th, and then rerun the test wi th i t Off i f you wish
to i solate whether i t is a RAM-rel ated error, or a CPU cache-related error.
Pass count - The number of ti mes you want to repeat the test, wi th 0 bei ng i nfi ni te. I recommend 2
passes to start wi th, more if you real l y want to stress test your memory.

Press F10 to confi rm your choi ces and start the test, progress wil l be shown both for each test and the overal l
progress for all tests. Thi s may take some ti me to compl ete dependi ng on the opti ons you've chosen. If you
suspect a memory-rel ated probl em, the l onger and more strenuous the testing, the better (e.g. 2 hours of
testi ng). This wi ll bri ng out any l atent i nstabi li ty i n your RAM or CPU caches. You wi ll be tol d i f an error is
found, and what i t may be rel ated to, however i f your memory subset i s clear of probl ems then no i ssues
should occur. If errors are found you can try the fol l owi ng:

Reduce or remove any overcl ocki ng on your motherboard, RAM or CPU, i ncludi ng any RAM ti mi ng
changes, then rerun the tests. If no problems occur then cl early the i ssue i s wi th your components bei ng
pushed too far by overcl ocki ng or reduci ng the RAM l atenci es too much. See the Overcl ocki ng chapter.
Rerun the tests wi th onl y one sti ck of RAM. Wi ndows may even tel l you whi ch parti cul ar memory sti ck
i s faul ty, so remove i t and rerun the tests.
Increase cool ing i n your case and make sure to remove any clutter or dust around your CPU and RAM
i n parti cular, and anythi ng bl ocki ng the free fl ow of ai r i nto and out of your case. If runni ng i n a hotter
envi ronment, such as duri ng Summer, you may need addi ti onal case cool i ng. See the Hardware
Management secti on under the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter for more detai ls.

The Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c tool whi l e thorough can only detect hardware-related memory errors, so
see the other tool s i n thi s chapter for detecti ng errors related to your Wi ndows or software confi gurati on.
However keep i n mi nd that i f the tool does detect a probl em i t i s very l i kel y that your RAM i s physi cally
faul ty or mi s-confi gured in your BIOS, and if ignored wi ll lead to further probl ems and potenti al data
corrupti on or l oss.


401

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

< WINDOWS ERRORS
Regardl ess of how many troubl eshooting uti li ti es and bui l t-i n sel f di agnosti c routi nes Windows contains,
you may still experi ence a range of error messages or probl ems whi ch cannot easil y be resol ved. Some
probl ems are caused by faul ty hardware or adverse condi ti ons (e.g. overheati ng), or by i ncompati ble
software or probl emati c dri vers, and these are vi rtuall y i mpossi bl e for Wi ndows to sel f-diagnose. However
you can i nvesti gate these issues further yoursel f to work out what the probl em may be related to.

For most major errors you wi l l recei ve a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error, often l i sti ng an error message
and an error code. By defaul t Wi ndows i s set to automati cal ly reboot when i t experi ences a seri ous error, so
you wi ll have to open Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ect the System component and cl i ck the 'Advanced System
Setti ngs' l i nk i n the l eft pane, or go to Start>Search Box, type systempropertiesadvanced and press Enter. Then
under the Advanced tab, cl i ck the Settings button under the 'Startup and Recovery' secti on, and untick the
'Automati cal ly restart' box. Now when a major error occurs your system wi ll freeze and show detail s of the
error, and I recommend you make a note of the exact error message and any error number(s) provi ded.

If the probl em you're experi enci ng doesn't have a speci fi c error message or number, such as a sudden reboot
of your system, or an unexpected exi t from a program to the Desktop, then note down the appl i cati on or
procedure i nvol ved when you tri ggered the error, or use Probl em Steps Recorder to record thi s i nformation -
see further above i n this chapter.

To resol ve any type of Wi ndows error, search through the foll owing offi ci al Microsoft resources:

Mi crosoft Fi x It Sol uti on Center
Mi crosoft Knowl edgebase
Mi crosoft TechNet
Wi ndows 7 Sol uti on Center
Mi crosoft Events & Errors Message Center

If nothi ng i s found i n the resources above, search Googl e usi ng the error number or exact error phrase, or
keywords from a layman's descri pti on of the error. Thi s often provi des excel lent l eads for findi ng out more
i nformati on from others wi th the same probl em, and what they've attempted to do to resol ve i t, at the very
l east savi ng you ti me and effort i n otherwi se chasi ng fal se soluti ons.

Most any probl em can be resol ved if researched usi ng the l i nks above as wel l as the tool s i n thi s chapter. It
may not be qui ck or easy, but often i t i s the onl y way.


402

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

< THIRD PARTY TOOLS
Al though Windows contai ns a range of performance measurement and troubl eshooti ng tool s, there are
several thi rd party tool s whi ch can be just as val uabl e i n hel pi ng you to measure the performance of vari ous
aspects of your PC, and also assist you further i n troubl eshooti ng probl ems. These are covered i n this
secti on.

3DMARK
3DMark i s a 3D graphi cs benchmarki ng util i ty whi ch pri mari ly uti l izes your graphi cs card, and to a l esser
extent the CPU and memory. 3DMark provides you wi th a good i ndi cation of advanced 3D gaming
performance on your machi ne. It also all ows you to compare your system's gami ng graphi cs performance
wi th other systems, and broadly speaki ng the system wi th a higher 3DMark score i s general l y better for
gami ng purposes.

The l atest versi on of 3DMark i s call ed 3DMark Vantage, and runs onl y on Di rectX 10-capabl e or newer
hardware. The Tri al versi on i s free, but can onl y be run once. When you start 3DMark and run the
benchmark, you wil l see a seri es of tests runni ng. These use vari ous graphi cal techniques, some of whi ch
may not be supported by your graphi cs card, and some of whi ch are onl y avai labl e i n the purchased version
of 3DMark. At the end of the run the benchmark wi ll present a fi nal score. You can then use thi s score to
compare wi th other peopl e who have run the benchmark and thi s wil l tell you whether your system i s
relati vel y faster or sl ower, and i f compared wi th others who have very si mil ar system speci ficati ons, i t will
also tel l you whether you have room to i mprove on your parti cul ar system. Note however that some systems
wi th the same specifi cati ons may be heavi l y overcl ocked just to get a hi gh 3DMark score and are not
parti cul arl y stabl e for day-to-day use.

UNIGINE HEAVEN
Heaven i s a free Di rectX 11 benchmark whi ch al so supports Di rectX 9, Di rectX 10 and OpenGL graphi cs
functi onali ty. To run the benchmark, l aunch Heaven and adjust the setti ngs as desi red, then cl i ck the Run
button. The Heaven demo wi l l begi n, but to commence an actual benchmark run you wi ll need to press the
F9 key. Once compl eted you wil l see a resul t i n both FPS and numeri cal Score - compare thi s wi th others
who have run Heaven wi th the same setti ngs as you to gauge your rel ati ve performance. Note there are also
Tropi cs and a Sanctuary benchmarks avai labl e from the l i nk above, whi ch both support Di rectX 10 and
Di rectX 9 as wel l as OpenGL.

RTHDRIBL
RTHDri bl (Real Ti me Hi gh Dynami c Range Image-Based Li ghti ng) i s an ol der Di rectX 9 tech demo and not
speci fi call y desi gned as a benchmark or stress tester. It does not have a series of tests to run, so si mply start
up the program and observe your framerates i n the top l eft corner. You can turn off the text shown on the
screen at any ti me by pressi ng F1 and F3. You can also cycle through a range of object shown (Press O), the
materials used on thei r surfaces (Press M), and the backgrounds used (Press L). You can change the di splay
resoluti on or i ncrease the size of the program's window, ei ther of whi ch wil l i ncrease the l oad on your
graphi cs card.

To use i t as a stress tester, go to the Fil e menu and sel ect 'Confi g Di splay'. In the Di rect3D Setti ngs wi ndow
whi ch opens, sel ect the 'Ful lscreen' opti on, then sel ect the hi ghest avai lable resol uti on. You don't need to
al ter any of the other opti ons on thi s screen unless you know what you're doing. Cl i ck Ok and the changes
wi ll be i mpl emented. Now start the Auto Demo mode by pressi ng F5, or sel ect Enter Planet Demo' under the
Demo menu, and l et the program run for a whi l e. Any graphi cs i nstabi li ti es wi l l soon become apparent
through crashes, arti facts or gli tches. You can put further stress on the graphi cs card by changi ng the
Mul ti sampl e setti ng under the Opti ons menu to progressi vel y higher val ues.


403

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

LIGHTSMARK
Many graphical benchmarki ng uti li ti es are based on Di rect3D, because thi s is the most common API used for
devel opi ng games for Windows. However Li ghtsmark i s an advanced OpenGL-based util i ty whi ch i s free
and easy to use. Si mpl y l aunch the program, select your screen resoluti on and then cl i ck the 'Start
Benchmark' button to begi n an automated benchmark sequence. At the end of the run you wi ll be gi ven an
average framerate for the run whi ch you can compare to other machi nes running Li ghtsmark at the same
resoluti on.

FURMARK
FurMark i s an i ntensi ve OpenGL-based benchmark, whi ch al so doubl es as a stress tester. As wi th most
benchmarks, i nstal li ng and runni ng the program resul ts i n a run through a seri es of tests, wi th resul ts
provi ded at the end. You can upl oad and compare these resul ts onl i ne wi th other FurMark users. If you
experi ence any graphi cal gli tches or probl ems whil e runni ng FurMark, thi s is a si gn that your graphi cs card
i s not bei ng cool ed suffi ci entl y and/or is overcl ocked too far.

GAME BENCHMARKS
The graphi cal benchmarks above are all very useful , however they are al l enti rel y syntheti c. The most
real i sti c form of graphi cal benchmarki ng and stress testi ng is through the use of the benchmarki ng features
recent games. Modern PC games are the most system i ntensi ve benchmarks you can use, because they stress
al most all areas of your system - the CPU, the graphi cs card, your memory and your drive(s), as wel l as
general Wi ndows stabi li ty.

If you can't find an automated or bui l t-in benchmarking feature for a game, si mpl y sel ect the most strenuous
game you have - that i s, the one wi th the most graphi cal detail , best artifi cial intel l igence and physi cs, and
preferabl y the most recent - and use the FRAPS uti li ty to measure performance over a set period of ti me. You
can assign a key whi ch starts and stops the benchmarki ng process i n FRAPS, or you can tel l FRAPS to stop
benchmarki ng automati call y after a period of ti me. You can specify the benchmarki ng stats to save, such as
mi ni mum, maxi mum and average frames per second. These resul ts can then be compared wi th others to
gi ve you a general idea of your overal l performance.

To use any strenuous game as a stress tester, play i t conti nuousl y for a sustai ned peri od of time at very high
setti ngs, such as two or three hours. If the game crashes at any poi nt then thi s is usuall y a very good
i ndi cati on that your system i s not compl etel y stabl e. Contrary to popul ar beli ef, i t i s not normal for games to
crash regularl y, and you shoul d not fall i nto the trap of bl ami ng everythi ng but your own system and i ts
confi gurati on for any probl ems. The vast majori ty of game-related probl ems are due to i ndivi dual systems,
not the game.

PCMARK
PCMark i s a general benchmarki ng utili ty from the makers of 3DMark. It runs a seri es of tests based on such
thi ngs as fi l e encodi ng, disk reads/wri tes and basi c graphi cs display. To use PCMark run the program and
cl i ck the 'Run PCMark' button on the mai n screen. After several tests i t arri ves at a score you can compare
wi th others. Note that PCMark resul ts are recorded separatel y from 3DMark resul ts and are not comparabl e.

SANDRA
Sandra i s discussed under the System Speci fi cati ons chapter, however i n thi s chapter we l ook at the modules
designed to test certai n components of your system, such as the CPU, RAM, or dri ves. The free version of
Sandra is l i mi ted i n the parti cular modul es you can access and hence the tests you can run, however there
are suffi ci ent benchmarks for our purposes i n the free versi on.


404

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

To see the modul es of Sandra whi ch have benchmarki ng functionali ty, cli ck the Benchmarks tab and you
wi ll see modul es such as Processor Arithmeti c, Physi cal Disks and Cache and Memory. To run a benchmark,
open the appropri ate modul e and press F5 or cli ck the blue arrows (Refresh) i con at the bottom of the
modul e. Thi s wi ll begi n a benchmarki ng run, after which you wi ll eventuall y see the resul ts displ ayed at the
top of the modul e. You might want to record the score(s) somewhere. You can put the benchmarki ng resul ts
i n context by l ooki ng at the resul ts for other reference systems also provi ded. You can al so change the
reference data to reflect a vari ety of hardware to compare agai nst, by cl icki ng the relevant drop down boxes.

Sandra al so has a rol e as a di agnosti c tool . To use i t as a stress tester of specifi c components on your system,
use the rel evant modul es under the Benchmarki ng tab. However i nstead of simpl y runni ng them once, i f
you want to stress test the rel evant component si mpl y refresh the benchmark repeatedl y (by pressi ng F5)
whenever i t compl etes each run. Al ternati vely, if you want to automate the process, Sandra has a Burn-in
Computer modul e under the Tool s tab whi ch wi ll undertake more thorough stress testi ng of your machine.
Start the wizard, ti ck the components you want to conti nual ly stress test, set the number of times for them to
l oop, or the peri od over whi ch you want to perform these test, make sure the 'Moni tor your computer's
heal th' and 'Termi nate on overheat/fai lure' boxes are ticked to be safe, and then commence the stress testi ng.

PRIME95
Pri me95 i s a small mathemati cs program whi ch wi ll effecti vely stress test onl y your CPU and memory. Once
you've downl oaded the appl i cation, run Prime95.exe and cl i ck the 'Just Stress Testi ng' button. Next, you
should automati cal ly be prompted to sel ect a test, but i f not, under the Opti ons menu sel ect 'Torture Test' to
start stress testi ng. Sel ect the test type based on the parti cular components you want to focus on testi ng:

Smal l FFTs - Sel ect i f you want to pri maril y test your CPU.
In-pl ace Large FFTs - Sel ect i f you want to test your CPU for stabil ity under hi gh heat and vol tage usage.
Bl end - Select i f you want a more general 'real word' test whi ch tests both the CPU and pl enty of RAM.

Once you cl ick OK the testi ng wi ll begi n and Pri me95 wil l open mul ti pl e threads to ensure al l your CPU
cores are bei ng full y uti lized. If at any poi nt you want to stop the test, go to the Test menu and sel ect Stop. If
the program aborts wi th an error at any ti me, thi s i ndi cates system i nstabil i ty. In general if your PC can run
the test for over one or two conti nuous hours i t shows that the CPU and memory subset are qui te stabl e.
However Prime95 i s stil l just a synthetic test whi ch onl y stresses your CPU and RAM, and regardl ess of how
l ong you can run i t wi thout errors, i t i s not i ndicati ve of a compl etel y stabl e system. Onl y real-world
appl i cati ons and games runni ng wi thout probl ems i ndi cate thi s.

SUPER PI
Super PI i s a smal l util i ty si mil ar to Pri me95, i n that i t stress tests your CPU and memory subset by
cal culati ng the mathemati cal number PI to a certai n number of pl aces. Downl oad i t and run the
super_pi_mod.exe fi l e. Cl i ck the Cal culate menu i tem at the top, and sel ect the number of pl aces to cal culate PI
to, ranki ng from 16 thousand (16k) to 32 mil li on (32M) pl aces - the larger the number of places, the l onger i t
wi ll take.

For a speed test of your CPU, select the 1M opti on and once the cal culati on i s done, note the ti me i n seconds
taken. You can then compare thi s fi gure to other peopl e to see how fast your CPU i s i n raw cal culati on
power rel ati ve to thei rs. If you want to stress test your CPU, run the ful l 32M cal culati on whi ch wi l l take
l onger, and hence i s a better stress test of your CPU. Once agai n you can al so compare the ti me taken to
compl ete thi s wi th other users.


405

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t

&

T
r
o
u
b
l
e
s
h
o
o
t
i
n
g

HD TUNE
HD Tune i s a dri ve i nformati on and benchmarki ng utili ty whi ch has been covered i n vari ous chapters of this
book, i ncluding the System Speci fi cations and Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapters. You can run a dri ve benchmark
i n HD Tune by cl i cki ng the Start button on the mai n Benchmark tab. The test wi l l run, provi di ng a real -ti me
mappi ng of dri ve performance, and the fi nal resul ts wi l l be di spl ayed for use i n onl i ne compari sons.

MEMTEST
MemTest i s a Wi ndows-based memory test whi ch wi l l hel p in stress testing your Windows memory
confi gurati on and RAM to detect any potenti al probl ems. Memory-related errors are one of the pri mary
causes of system i nstabi li ty and data corrupti on, so a system memory tester is a necessi ty. To use MemTest
si mpl y launch the program, and I recommend manual l y enteri ng the amount of RAM you wi sh to test - e.g.
enter 512 to test 512MB of RAM, 1024 for 1GB of RAM or 2048 to test 2GB of RAM. You may need to run
mul ti ple i nstances of MemTest to use up all your system RAM. Cl i ck the 'Start Testi ng' button to begi n RAM
testi ng and all ow the test to run until i t has reached 100%. Ideall y you shoul d run the test for at l east an hour
or more. If runni ng the test tri ggers any errors, Wi ndows-related warni ngs or prompts, then you have
potenti al ly faul ty RAM and/or mi s-confi gured BIOS or Wi ndows memory settings, whi ch can l ead to many
types of system probl ems. To refi ne the test sol ely to your physi cal RAM, run the Windows Memory
Di agnosti c as covered earl ier i n thi s chapter.

MEMTEST86+
Memtest86+ is si mi lar to the Wi ndows Memory Diagnosti c tool in that i t tests your memory before Wi ndows
l oads i nto memory. Thi s i s a much more accurate way to test your physi cal RAM and memory subset free of
any memory spaces taken up by the operati ng system. The versi on of Memtest86+ you downl oad i s based on
whi ch devi ce you use at bootup, whether CD, Fl oppy or USB flash dri ve. Once booted on thi s devi ce, your
system wi ll launch Memtest86+ and test your RAM. Any errors i ndicate BIOS or physi cal RAM probl ems.

That covers the mai n performance measurement and troubl eshooti ng tool s you can use to sol ve probl ems
and opti mize your system. There are many other programs whi ch can be used for thi s purpose, but the ones
above should be the most rel iabl e and the most easy to use under Wi ndows 7. In fact the bui l t-i n util i ties in
Wi ndows 7 shoul d be suffi ci ent for most needs, as they are desi gned for both novi ce and advanced users,
and between them provi de a wi de spectrum of useful informati on.

Importantl y, despi te promi ses you may read to the contrary, there are no tool s whi ch automati call y diagnose
and fi x al l your probl ems. Many tool s are advertised as bei ng abl e to do thi s, but no such tool actual ly exists.
The causes of PC probl ems are often very compl ex and i nter-related, and can be a combi nati on of hardware
probl ems al ong wi th i ncorrect setti ngs and/or dri ver probl ems. Furthermore every system is unique i n terms
of the hardware i t contai ns, the software i nstalled on i t, the confi guration of that software and the
i nteracti ons between the software, and even the physi cal envi ronment i n whi ch your PC sits. All of these
variabl es can i ndi viduall y or col l ecti vely have a tangi bl e i mpact on system stabi li ty and performance. The
best way to di agnose any issue and optimi ze your system correctl y i s to understand how your system works
combi ned with research and thought. If there really was an easi er way or automated uti l i ty to resolve
probl ems, everyone would be usi ng i t by now, and si mil arl y Mi crosoft would have purchased the ri ghts to i t
and i ncorporated i t i nto Wi ndows 7, rather than provi di ng so many different di agnosti c and performance
measurement tool s.


406

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

CLEANING WINDOWS

As you use your system i n day-to-day acti vi ti es, a range of unnecessary temporary, backup and l og fi les can
bui l d up on your dri ve. Many of these fi l es are automati cal ly deleted whenever you cl ose an appli cati on, or
whenever you shut down Wi ndows. Unfortunatel y some of them aren't, and over ti me they can buil d up,
taki ng up di sk space and cl utteri ng your di rectori es. Thi s chapter looks at the tool s and methods requi red to
safely clean out unnecessary fi l es from Wi ndows.

< RECYCLE BIN
The Recycl e Bi n provides a storage area for del eted fi les and acts as an addi ti onal layer of protecti on against
permanentl y del eti ng desi rabl e fil es on your system. It physi cal ly exists as a hi dden fol der cal l ed
\$Recycle.bin on every drive of your system. Any fi le or fol der you highli ght and press the Del ete key, or
ri ght-cl i ck and sel ect Delete, wi ll be moved to the Recycl e Bi n by defaul t. If the fi l e or folder i s permanently
del eted from the Recycl e Bi n, i t is not actuall y del eted at al l - the fi l e i s removed from vi ew, and the area i t
resi des i n on the dri ve i s si mpl y marked as avai labl e space, but you can sti ll recover these del eted fi l es i n
some cases - see the Data Recovery section of the Backup & Recovery chapter for relevant methods.

To access the Recycl e Bin confi guration opti ons, ri ght-cli ck on the Recycl e Bi n i con on your Wi ndows
Desktop and sel ect Properti es. If you can't see the Recycl e Bi n on the Desktop, see further bel ow.

Custom Size: Thi s opti on sets the maxi mum amount of dri ve space al l ocated to the Recycl e Bi n should i t need
i t. Hi ghli ght the dri ve you wi sh to set the space for, and then enter an amount in Megabytes (MB), wi th the
mi ni mum amount bei ng 1MB. I strongl y recommend all ocati ng a decent amount of space here, at l east as
l arge as the largest fil es you are l i kel y to del ete from the sel ected dri ve, otherwi se i f the Recycl e Bi n i s not
l arge enough, your onl y avail abl e opti on wi ll be to permanentl y del ete fi l es i nstead. On dri ves where this is
not i mportant, you can set the Recycl e Bi n to i ts mi ni mum size of 1MB, but on the pri mary system drive I
recommend a reasonabl y large Recycl e Bi n to prevent acci dental permanent del eti on of desi rabl e fi l es.

Don't move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted: If this opti on i s ti cked, any fi l e or
fol der chosen to be del eted wi l l bypass the Recycl e Bi n and wil l instead be deleted permanentl y. I strongly
recommend agai nst ti cking thi s opti on, as the Recycl e Bi n gives an added l evel of protecti on agai nst
acci dental del eti on of i mportant fil es. If you wish to permanentl y del ete i ndi vidual fi les on a case by case
basis i nstead, hol d down the SHIFT button at the same ti me as pressi ng the Del ete key to bypass the Recycl e
Bi n.

Display delete confirmation dialog: If ti cked, every ti me you choose to del ete a fi l e, you wil l be asked i f you
wi sh to conti nue. As l ong as you have the Recycl e Bin enabl ed, then I recommend unti cki ng thi s opti on as i t
can qui ckl y become an unnecessary annoyance.

REMOVE RECYCLE BIN FROM DESKTOP
If you wi sh to remove the Recycl e Bi n from your Desktop, go to the Wi ndows Control Panel , sel ect the
Personali zation component, then cli ck the 'Change desktop i cons' l i nk i n the l eft pane. Here you can ti ck or
unti ck the 'Recycl e Bi n' i tem to show or hi de this component on the Desktop. You can al so change the i con
used for the Recycl e Bi n if you wi sh - hi ghli ght the Recycl e Bi n (ful l ) and/or Recycl e Bi n (empty) i cons here,
cl i ck the 'Change i con' box, then sel ect a new i con to use, or cli ck Browse to fi nd and sel ect addi ti onal i cons.

If you wi sh to have a Desktop compl etel y cl ear of i cons, but sti l l wi sh to retain the Recycl e Bi n - whi ch i s
strongl y recommended - you can pi n i t to your Taskbar or to the Start Menu. If pi nned to the Start Menu, it


407

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

wi ll act just l i ke the Desktop Recycl e Bi n, i ndicating whether i t i s full or empty. However because the
Recycl e Bi n is an Expl orer-based i nterface, if pi nned to the Taskbar through normal means i t wi ll become a
pi nned l ocation under the Wi ndows Expl orer i con. To create a separate Recycl e Bi n Taskbar i con, do the
foll owi ng:

1. Ri ght-cli ck on an empty area of the Desktop and select New>Shortcut.
2. Type the fol lowi ng i n the locati on box and cli ck Next:

%Syst emRoot %\ expl or er . exe shel l : Recycl eBi nFol der

3. Name the shortcut Recycl e Bi n and cl i ck Fi nish.
4. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s new shortcut, sel ect Properti es.
5. Cl i ck the 'Change i con' button under the shortcut tab and browse to the fol l owi ng fil e and cl i ck Open:

\Windows\system32\imageres.dll

6. Sel ect the Recycl e Bi n i con from the l i st presented and cli ck Appl y.
7. Ri ght-cli ck on thi s shortcut and sel ect 'Pi n to Taskbar'.

If pi nned to the Taskbar thi s i con wil l not di spl ay a dynami c full or empty i con to i ndi cate whether i t i s
hol di ng any del eted fi l es li ke the real Recycl e Bi n, so you may prefer to pi n i t to your Start Menu i f you wish
to retai n that functi onali ty.

< DISK CLEANUP
The buil t-i n Di sk Cl eanup uti li ty provi des the abil i ty to automati call y fi nd and safel y remove a range of
unnecessary fi l es. To access the Disk Cleanup util i ty, open Wi ndows Expl orer, ri ght-cl i ck on the dri ve you
wi sh to cl ean, sel ect Properti es and under the General tab cl i ck the 'Di sk Cl eanup' button. Al ternati vely go to
Start>Search Box, type cleanup, press Enter and sel ect the dri ve to cl ean. To access al l the cl eani ng opti ons
cl i ck the 'Cl ean up system fi l es' button, and if prompted resel ect the dri ve you want to cl ean.

There are two mai n tabs in the Di sk Cleanup wi ndow, though note the 'More Opti ons' tab is onl y visi bl e i f
you have cl i cked the 'Cl ean up system fi l es' button:

Disk Cleanup: There are a range of components you can choose to cl ean out. Highli ght each one and a
descri pti on wi l l appear i n the box bel ow. All of these categori es are safe to remove, as none are necessary for
Wi ndows to functi on correctl y. If i n doubt, hi ghl ight a category and cl i ck the 'Vi ew fi l es' button i f available
to see preci sel y whi ch files and fol ders wi ll be deleted. Note that categori es are only shown i f there are
rel evant fil es to be cl eaned out, so the same categori es may not be di splayed each ti me you run thi s uti li ty.

Keep i n mi nd the foll owi ng when sel ecti ng components to cl ean out:

Downl oaded Program Fil es - Del eti ng these may simpl y mean you have to redownl oad them the next
ti me you vi si t your favori te websi tes, so onl y cl ean them out peri odi cal ly.
Temporary Internet Fi l es - If you use Internet Expl orer, del eting these cached fil es can sl ow down
browsi ng speed. See the Basi c Setti ngs secti on of the Internet Expl orer chapter.
Thumbnail s - These are stored thumbnail s for any fi l es you have vi ewed i n Icon or Content vi ew i n
Wi ndows Expl orer. Del eting these fil es means they wi ll have to be regenerated the next time you vi ew
such folders, whi ch can slow down browsi ng. See the Basi c Features secti on of the Wi ndows Expl orer
chapter.
Wi ndows Error Reports - These components store your Wi ndows error reports, as covered under the
Wi ndows Acti on Center secti on of the Performance Measurement & Troubl eshooti ng chapter. Before
del eti ng any of these you shoul d send any probl em reports to Mi crosoft for which you want a sol uti on.


408

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

Once the relevant components have been selected, cl ick OK to remove the fi l es.

More options: Under thi s tab you wi ll be able to access the Programs and Features area of Wi ndows by
cl i cki ng the 'Cl ean up' button under the Programs and Features area - see the Programs and Features section
under the Windows Control Panel chapter for more detai ls.

The second opti on here i s more i mportant, as cl i cki ng the 'Cl ean up' button under the 'System Restore and
Shadow Copies' area wi ll bri ng up a prompt aski ng you if you wi sh to del ete al l of your System Restore
restore poi nts except for the most recent, al so removi ng any older Shadow Copi es as part of thi s process.
These features are covered i n more detail under the System Protecti on secti on of the Backup & Recovery
chapter. If your system i s performi ng wi thout any probl ems and you don't bel i eve you wil l need to restore
any Previ ous Versi ons of a fi le then i t i s usual l y fi ne to cl i ck thi s opti on, as ol der Restore Poi nts and Previ ous
Versi ons can often take up a substantial amount of disk space.

ADVANCED DISK CLEANUP
There i s a more advanced form of the Di sk Cl eanup uti l i ty whi ch provi des addi ti onal opti ons you can sel ect
for cl eanup al ong wi th the ori gi nal opti ons covered above. To acti vate i t, you must type the foll owi ng in a
Command Prompt or at the Start>Search Box:

Cl eanmgr / sageset : 1

The number after the / sageset swi tch can be anythi ng from 0 to 65535, i t i s simpl y the speci fi c pl ace i n the
Regi stry that your opti ons wi ll be saved. Note further that you cannot speci fy a parti cular dri ve to cl ean fi les
for, thi s applies to all dri ves and parti tions, so use cauti ousl y if you have other users and/or dri ves on the
machi ne. Make sure to cli ck the 'Clean up system fil es' button to see al l possi bl e categori es here. Al l
categori es have descri pti ons provi ded when hi ghli ghted, but it i s i mportant to note i n parti cul ar the
foll owi ng:

Previ ous Wi ndows i nstallati on(s) - If Windows 7 found any fi l es or folders whi ch were not compati bl e
when doi ng an i n-place upgrade i nstal l over a previ ous versi on of Wi ndows, i t wi ll store them i n a series
of folders called Windows.old. You can view thei r contents i n Wi ndows Expl orer to see i f there's anythi ng
you want to keep, otherwise they are best del eted.
Setup Log Fi les - Ti cki ng thi s opti on removes any l og fi l es created duri ng Wi ndows Setup. These are not
normall y needed, and best removed i f your system i s not showi ng any probl ems.
Temporary Wi ndows i nstal lati on fil es - Ti cki ng this opti on removes a range of temporary i nstall ati on
fi les created duri ng Wi ndows i nstallation. These fi l es can be removed wi thout any probl ems.
Fi l es discarded by Wi ndows Upgrade - Duri ng an Upgrade Install of Wi ndows 7, any non-system fil es
whi ch Wi ndows cannot move across are backed up just i n case. If none of your personal fil es are mi ssi ng
after an i n-place upgrade install , you can ti ck this opti on to remove these fil es.
Wi ndows upgrade l og files - Log fi l es created during i nstal lati on of Wi ndows, and can be used for
troubl eshooting purposes. If your i nstal lati on process was troubl e-free, these can safel y be deleted.

Once you have sel ected the rel evant opti ons, cl i ck OK. However nothi ng wi ll be del eted just yet - your
setti ngs are saved and you can now run advanced Disk Cl eanup with these opti ons at any ti me by typi ng the
foll owi ng i n a Command Prompt or i n Start>Search Box:

Cl eanmgr / sager un: 1

Press Enter and the cleanup process wi ll begi n immedi atel y. Note that the number after / sager un must
match the number used i n the / sageset swi tch further above for the same opti ons to execute. In general thi s
advanced method need not be used very often; once after you have i nstall ed Windows and then i nfrequentl y


409

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

after that is suffi ci ent. The regular Di sk Cl eanup method further above i s safer and more configurable,
maki ng sure it doesn't have i nadvertent impacts on other users and/or other dri ves on your system.

< CCLEANER
CCl eaner is a free util i ty whi ch can automati cal ly fi nd and remove a wi de variety of potentiall y usel ess fil es
from your system. CCl eaner automates a task that you can perform manual l y to some extent (see further
bel ow), but whi ch takes longer to do by hand; CCleaner fi nds and removes a range of files wi th common
extensi ons or l ocati ons whi ch can i ndi cate that they are unnecessary. If used wi th cauti on i t i s usual ly qui te
safe i n removi ng onl y unnecessary fi l es.

Run the program and cl i ck the Opti ons button, and adjust the foll owi ng setti ngs:

1. Under the Setti ngs secti on, al l avail able boxes can be unti cked if desi red, as none are vi tal to runni ng
CCl eaner correctl y. Sel ecting the 'Normal fi le del eti on' opti on i s recommended, as secure del eti on can
make i t vi rtuall y i mpossi bl e to recover acci dentall y del eted fil es.
2. Under the Cooki es secti on, i n the l eft pane are a l i st of cooki es CCleaner wil l automati cal l y del ete i f the
Cooki es option(s) are ti cked under the mai n Cl eaner porti on of the program. If you have ti cked any of
the Cooki es boxes i n the Cleaner porti on, sel ect any cooki es you woul d li ke to keep from the l ist.
3. Under the Incl ude and Excl ude secti ons you can manuall y add parti cul ar fi les or folders whi ch you
woul d specifi call y l ike CCl eaner to scan for del eti on or excl ude from del eti on. Thi s i s only
recommended if you know categori call y that the contents of these fi l es or folders are safe to del ete.
4. Under the Advanced section I recommend ti cki ng the 'Show prompt to backup regi stry i ssues' box as a
safety mechani sm i f you use the Regi stry cl eani ng functi onali ty; and the 'Onl y del ete fil es i n Windows
Temp fol ders ol der than 24 hours' to prevent del etion of temporary fil es which are requi red for the
current sessi on.

To start the cleani ng process, fi rst make sure you cl ose al l open appl i cations to prevent confl i cts i f CCl eaner
tri es to del ete acti vel y used fi l es. Then l aunch CCl eaner and under the Wi ndows tab of the Cl eaner functi on,
take the ti me to go through and sel ect or unsel ect parti cular options. As a general bal ance between safety
and removi ng al l unnecessary fi les, I recommend the foll owi ng confi gurati on for each category:

Internet Expl orer - If you don't use Internet Expl orer as your mai n browser, all opti ons here can be
ti cked. If you do use Internet Expl orer, I don't recommend ti cki ng any options here as it can reduce
performance and functi onali ty i n IE. Proper configurati on of IE i s covered under the Internet Expl orer
chapter wil l ensure the necessary fil es are kept or removed by IE i tsel f duri ng normal operati on.
Wi ndows Expl orer - All opti ons can be ti cked, however I recommend unti cki ng the 'Thumbnail Cache'
opti on as i t means any fol ders i n whi ch you use Icon vi ews wi ll need to regenerate thei r thumbnai ls,
sl owi ng down browsi ng of those fol ders. I al so recommend unti cki ng the 'Taskbar Jump Lists' functi ons
unl ess you don't use the Recent functionali ty of Jump Li sts. See the Taskbar secti on of the Graphi cs &
Sound chapter for detai ls.
System - Al l opti ons can be ti cked, but bear i n mi nd that ti cki ng i tems li ke 'Wi ndows Log Files', 'Memory
Dumps' and 'Wi ndows Error Reporti ng' can make troubl eshooti ng much more di ffi cul t, so onl y sel ect
these i f you are havi ng no probl ems on your system. See the Performance Measurement &
Troubl eshooti ng chapter for detail s. I also don't recommend ti cking the 'Empty Recycl e Bi n' opti on here
for the reason covered at the end of this chapter.
Advanced - I recommend agai nst ti cki ng any of the opti ons here, as most of the opti ons here wi ll result
i n del etion of fil es whi ch are sel f-mai ntai ned by Wi ndows. For example, 'Ol d Prefetch data' i s
unnecessary, as Wi ndows automati cal ly purges the Prefetch fol der peri odi cal l y to mai ntai n a l i st of the
most commonl y used programs based on i ts analysis. Vari ous caches are al so necessary to speed up
normal Wi ndows functi onali ty, so regularl y del eti ng them simpl y works agai nst thi s. For securi ty
purposes you can ti ck the 'Wipe Free Space' opti on, but I recommend agai nst thi s, as i t prevents you
from recovering any acci dental ly del eted fil es and al so makes cl eaning very l engthy.


410

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

Under the Appl i cations tab I recommend unti cki ng all availabl e opti ons. Thi s i s because i n the vast majori ty
of cases removi ng appli cati on-specifi c fi les i n this manner can remove desirabl e functi onali ty from such
appl i cati ons and i ntroduce unexpected behavi or - del eti on of appl i cati on-speci fi c fil es can resul t i n the l oss
certai n custom preferences for exampl e. Al so be aware that CCl eaner may add and automati call y ti ck new
opti ons here when you i nstal l new appl icati ons, so check under this tab regul arly.

Once you have ti cked al l the rel evant opti ons, cli ck the Anal yze button and after a whil e CCl eaner wi ll come
up wi th a l ist of fil es i t wants to delete. However the resul ts are shown i n summary form, whi ch can make it
di ffi cul t to determi ne what wi ll be del eted. Right-cl i ck i n the anal ysis wi ndow and sel ect 'Vi ew detail ed
resul ts' to see preci sel y whi ch fil es are goi ng to be del eted, and scrol l through the l i st to make sure no
desi rable fi les are here. If i n doubt, go back and unti ck any opti ons, then cl i ck the Anal yze button agai n.

When you are sati sfi ed that the fi l es to be del eted are trul y unnecessary, cli ck the 'Run Cl eaner' button and
the fil es wil l all be permanentl y del eted.

There are two more useful functi ons of CCl eaner covered i n thi s book:

Registry: The Regi stry functi on i n CCl eaner attempts to fi nd redundant Regi stry entri es, and is rel ati vel y safe
to use if configured correctl y. Thi s functi onal i ty i s covered under the Mai ntai ning the Regi stry secti on of the
Wi ndows Regi stry chapter.

Uninstall: The Uni nstall functi on found under the Tool s secti on of CCl eaner can be used to remove faul ty
entri es from the Programs and Features l i st. This functi onali ty i s covered under the Programs and Features
secti on of the Wi ndows Control Panel chapter.

CCl eaner i s a useful tool in removi ng a range of unnecessary fil es, but cauti on is requi red, as Wi ndows 7 is
al ready qui te good at mai ntai ni ng i tsel f and thus does not need to have a range of fi l es del eted by thi s or any
other uti l i ty. Many fi les wil l si mpl y recreate themsel ves the next ti me you start Wi ndows or use a program,
so i n many ways all you are doi ng by del eti ng them wi th CCl eaner is actuall y sl owi ng down normal
Wi ndows and appli cati on functi onal i ty. The recommendati ons i n this section try to limi t CCl eaner to
del eti on of genui nel y unnecessary fil es.

< MANUAL CLEANING
Bel ow i s a basi c method for manuall y fi ndi ng and removi ng the more obvious redundant fi les i n your
system. If you don't trust an automated cl eaner, or just want to be certai n of what i t is you are del eti ng, read
the foll owi ng. However thi s method i s not recommended for beginners as i t requi res a reasonabl e l evel of
knowl edge and personal judgment i n determi ni ng whi ch fi les to del ete and which to keep.

Before manuall y cl eani ng out any fil es, fi rst cl ose al l open appl i cati ons and games as some of these may have
created temporary fil es that cannot be del eted because they are i n use, and woul d be pointl ess to del ete.
Then restart your system just to be certai n, as Wi ndows wi ll remove many unnecessary temporary fi les upon
shutdown. Now make sure that the opti on to move fi l es to the Recycl e Bi n is enabl ed. Thi s wi ll provi de
protecti on agai nst acci dentall y del eti ng a necessary fil e.

To begi n wi th, i t is safe to del ete any fi les or fol ders beneath the \Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp
di rectory. These are temporary fi l es speci fic to your User Account.

Next, go to the Programs and Features component under the Wi ndows Control Panel and uni nstal l any
programs you do not wi sh to keep. Then go to the fol l owi ng fol ders and manuall y del ete any subfol ders for
programs you are certai n you have uninstall ed from your system:


411

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

\Program Files
\Program Files\Common Files
\Program Files (x86) - for 64-bi t users
\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
\ProgramData
\Users\[username]\AppData\Local
\Users\[username]\AppData\LocalLow
\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming

In some cases the fol ders may be named after the company whi ch has created the software rather than the
software i tself - a qui ck check on Google shoul d hel p you remember whi ch programs the folders relate to if
i n doubt. Certai n programs may have fi l es whi ch are 'i n use' and can't be del eted - see the secti on further
bel ow for detail s.

Next, if you have no major i ssues on your system and you are not tryi ng to troubl eshoot a probl em or
recover any fi les, i t i s possi bl e to del ete a range of fi l es wi th parti cular extensi ons i dentifyi ng them as
potenti al ly redundant. Press WINDOWS+F to open the advanced Wi ndows Search functi onal i ty, then type
the fol l owi ng i n the Search Box and click the Computer opti on at the bottom to conduct a full search for
these fi l e types:

ext:dmp - .DMP fil es are Dump Fil es created by Windows after crashes and errors.
ext:ol d - .OLD fil es are general l y backup copi es of files.
ext:bak - .BAK fil es are general l y backup copi es of files.
ext:l og - .LOG fil es are fi les contai ni ng logged data, ei ther by Wi ndows or a program.
ext:wer - .WER i s for fil es rel ated to the Wi ndows Error Reporti ng functi on.
ext:l nk - .LNK i s for shortcut fi l es, i ncludi ng li nks to recentl y opened fi les i n programs.

Note that I do not recommend si mpl y del eti ng all the resul ts you di scover for each of the searches above.
You must exerci se your judgment i n most cases - for exampl e the ext:l nk search wi ll di scover a l arge number
of vali d and necessary shortcuts and l i nks; you must onl y fi nd and remove l i nks to programs or fi l es whi ch
you know no l onger exist on your system.

As noted i n the CCl eaner secti on, do not regularl y cl ean out the contents of Wi ndows di rectori es such as
\Windows\Prefetch. These di rectories are sel f-mai ntaini ng and there i s greater potenti al for harm than good
i n removi ng these fil es unless you are a very advanced user.

The key thi ng to understand i s that, asi de from deleti ng certai n Wi ndows or program fil es or fol ders for
troubl eshooting purposes - such as del eti ng the Icon Cache as covered under the Icons secti on of the
Graphi cs & Sound chapter - there are no performance benefi ts to be had by del eting unnecessary fil es. Thi s is
onl y done pri mari ly to reduce clutter and free up di sk space. Gi ven most of these potenti all y unnecessary
fi les are very small , and often hi dden from vi ew, there i s no need to ri sk a l oss i n functi onal i ty or
performance by del eti ng l ots of 'unnecessary' fil es as some sort of opti mi zati on procedure.

DELETING 'IN USE' FILES
Duri ng the removal of a fi le or fol der you may fi nd that Wi ndows prevents you from del eti ng i t because i t is
'i n use' by another person or program. Thi s means that Wi ndows needs this program for some reason. There
are several reasons for thi s:

The most obvi ous reason i s that the fil e is actual ly i n use by an i nstal l ed program. Cl ose all open programs,
reboot and try agai n. If the probl em persi sts, then i t i s l ikel y a background program or driver i s usi ng thi s
fi le, l oadi ng it i nto memory at Wi ndows startup. See the Startup Programs and Services chapters to i denti fy
all your background programs, and you can temporari l y disabl e any parti cular fil e or folder from being


412

C
l
e
a
n
i
n
g

W
i
n
d
o
w
s

l oaded i nto memory by Wi ndows and hence marked as 'i n use' by temporarily disabl i ng i t wi th a uti li ty l i ke
MSConfi g or Autoruns, then reboot and try agai n.

Certai n fi l es can't be del eted because you need to be the owner of the fil e - see the Access Control and
Permi ssi ons secti on of the PC Securi ty chapter.

If a fil e continues to refuse to be probl emati c i n removi ng, you should attempt to remove i t i n Safe Mode -
see the System Recovery secti on of the Backup & Recovery chapter. You should also run a ful l mal ware scan
of your system, as i t i s primaril y mal ware-related files whi ch requi re such measures to remove.

After del eti ng all fi l es you consi der unnecessary via any of the methods above, i mportantl y you shoul d not
empty your Recycl e Bi n. Reboot your system and use i t normal ly for a few days just to be sure the fil es you
have del eted are genui nely no l onger needed. In general the use of CCl eaner - i f enabl ed wi th sensibl e
opti ons - is the safest method for conducti ng regular cl eani ng of your system, however manual cl eani ng is
also necessary at ti mes, parti cul arl y after uni nstal l i ng a program whi ch does not correctl y remove all
porti ons of i tself from your system. Agai n, cl eani ng Wi ndows i s not a performance boosting method, it is
pri mari ly for reduci ng clutter and freeing up disk space, and even then i t i s not to be done wi thout some
thought as to what precisely i t i s you are removi ng.


413

R
e
g
u
l
a
r

M
a
i
n
t
e
n
a
n
c
e

REGULAR MAINTENANCE

Keepi ng Wi ndows and your PC i n opti mal working order requi res regul ar system maintenance. Any
operati ng system wi l l degrade over ti me i f not properl y mai ntai ned, parti cularly as you i nstall and uni nstall
a range of programs and dri vers. Even though Wi ndows 7 has improved i ts self-mai ntenance procedures,
and by defaul t schedul es a range of important tasks to run on a weekl y basi s, such as defragmenti ng the
system and scanni ng i t for mal ware, this is not a replacement for proper system mai ntenance.

The best method of conducti ng system mai ntenance i s to get i nto a routi ne, so that i t becomes a matter of
habi t. This prevents you from forgetti ng to conduct system mai ntenance. However i t cannot be done on a
compl etel y rigi d schedul e; certai n mai ntenance tasks shoul d onl y be done under certai n circumstances, thei r
frequency dependi ng on how you are usi ng your PC.

For the reasons above, I can't provi de an all -encompassi ng mai ntenance schedul e which everyone shoul d
foll ow. Thi s enti re book contai ns a weal th of i nformati on and recommendati ons desi gned to hel p you
understand how best to mai ntai n your PC. By havi ng appropriate knowl edge of the vari ous functi ons i n
Wi ndows, you wil l come to know how to confi gure Wi ndows automated mai ntenance tool s, and when to
manuall y i ntervene as necessary. For the purposes of provi di ng some basi c guidel i nes however, I provide a
l i st of mai ntenance tasks I regul arl y perform on my own PC to maintai n i t i n peak condi ti on. Thi s is only an
exampl e and should not be fol l owed bl i ndly - for exampl e the Defragment step doesn't appl y to peopl e
usi ng SSDs, as explai ned under the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter.

STEP 1 - MAINTAIN SECURITY
Action: Run Wi ndows Update, then update mal ware scanners and run a ful l manual scan of al l dri ves.
Frequency: Once a week at least, and al so scan i ndi vi dual downl oaded fi les before use wi th MSE.

See the PC Securi ty chapter for detai ls.

STEP 2 - CHECK STARTUP PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Action: Use MSConfi g to qui ckly check under the Startup and Servi ces tabs for any newly install ed startup
programs or non-Mi crosoft servi ces. Identi fy any new or unfami liar entri es and di sabl e unnecessary ones as
requi red, fi rst by checki ng the program's own opti ons, then usi ng Regi stry Edi tor or Autoruns as necessary.
Frequency: After every new program or game i nstal l.

See the Startup Programs and Servi ces chapters for detai ls.

STEP 3 - BACKUP
Action: Create a new restore poi nt using System Restore, and then run the automated Backup uti li ty to
create/update a full system i mage backup stored on a separate drive. Also make a separate manual backup
of i mportant personal fil es to DVDs for secure and portabl e storage.
Frequency: Once a week at least.

See the Backup & Recovery chapter.


414

R
e
g
u
l
a
r

M
a
i
n
t
e
n
a
n
c
e

STEP 4 - CLEAN WINDOWS
Action: Run the Di sk Cl eanup uti li ty, then CCl eaner. Do a manual cl ean out of remai ni ng unnecessary fi les.
Frequency: Once a week at least, and al so after major updates or program uni nstal l s.

See the Cl eani ng Wi ndows chapter for detai ls.

STEP 5 - CHECK DISK
Action: Use the Check Di sk uti li ty to do a ful l disk scan and automati c repai r of the pri mary system dri ve.
Frequency: Once every month at l east.

See the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter for detai ls.

STEP 6 - DEFRAGMENT
Action: Use the Wi ndows Di sk Defragmenter to run a ful l defragmentati on of the dri ve.
Frequency: Once a week at l east. Al so after every major program or game install /uni nstal l , or any manual
game or Wi ndows patchi ng, such as after Wi ndows Update or driver i nstall ation.

See the Dri ve Opti mi zati on chapter for detai ls.

Some of the steps above may seem somewhat tedi ous to run through on a frequent basi s, but i n practi ce i t i s
preci sel y what has ensured that my system al ways remai ns probl em-free. Proper mai ntenance i s i mportant
i n ensuri ng that your data remai ns secure, your system remai ns as responsi ve as when you fi rst i nstal led
Wi ndows 7, and you don't keep running i nto 'mysteri ous' crashes and probl ems. Of course proper system
knowl edge and preventi on are al so two key aspects of system mai ntenance.

SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Wi ndows 7's Task Scheduler all ows you to create and customi ze a range of automated tasks for mai ntai ni ng
your PC. For example i f you leave your machi ne on overni ght, you can schedul e certai n uti l i ti es to run at
that ti me, especi al ly for lengthi er tasks such as full manual mal ware scans or di sk defragmenti ng. Even
wi thout appropri ate opti ons i n a program, you can use Task Scheduler to launch tasks at parti cular ti mes in
case you forget to do so manuall y. See the Background Tasks secti on of the Services chapter.

A cri ti cal part of proper mai ntenance is preventi on, and thi s i nvol ves maki ng sure that you do not constantly
i nstal l a range of unnecessary programs on your system. Codec packs, vari ous dubi ous tweaki ng util i ties,
pi racy tool s and pi rated software, constant upgrades/downgrades of l eaked drivers, etc. are one of the major
reasons why many systems are so unstabl e and i nsecure, beyond Wi ndows 7's capabil i ti es of managi ng the
mess of program confli cts and detri tus that such systems have accumulated. Treat your PC as a compl ex and
fi nel y-tuned el ectroni c machi ne, not a dumpi ng ground for everythi ng you fi nd on the Internet, and you will
fi nd that i t remai ns stabl e and performs well for a very l ong ti me.


415

C
o
n
c
l
u
s
i
o
n

CONCLUSION

That bri ngs The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for Windows 7 to a cl ose. I hope you've found the
i nformati on in thi s book useful .

Cheers,
Koroush

< VERSION HISTORY
The tabl e below shows any major revisions made to thi s book si nce fi rst rel eased.

Version Release Date Pages Revised

1.0 27 November 2009 Nil - First Release.

Windows 7 Tweak Guide

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Windows 7 Tweak Guide

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

WWW.TWEAKGUIDES.

S-ar putea să vă placă și