Windows 7 Tips & Tricks?

By Elessar
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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Grand Master

_neutrino Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
you can drag Notification Area Icons with the left mouse button UP to hide them and drag them DOWN the same way to show them - quickest and easiest way :cool:

wow i did not know you could do that. that one is actually rather cool.

Enthusiast

genuine555

Posted
Posted
there should be, when i first installed 7 i was able to fit 3 icons below eachother on my quicklaunch

but then suddenly it would only display 2. idk why

rightclick desktop

personalization

below, click "window colors"

click "advanced..."

now, in the "items" dropdownlist

choose "spacing between icons"

and set the size of the spacing.

you can set both horizontal, and vertical spacing

EDIT : lol, that's for desktop icons, sorry...

Grand Master

+Anarkii Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted
you can drag Notification Area Icons with the left mouse button UP to hide them and drag them DOWN the same way to show them - quickest and easiest way :cool:

Awesome tip dude! Thanks!

Veteran

yxz

Posted
Posted

disable explorer navigation pane

reg.exe add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer /v PageSpaceControlSizer /t reg_binary /d 00000000000000000000000000000000 /f

disable explorer details pane

reg.exe add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer /v PreviewPaneSizer /t reg_binary /d 00000000000000000000000000000000 /f

Collaborator

StarLion

Posted
Posted (edited)

Contributing to the thread:

Windows Vista and Windows 7 both have a system folder specifically for games. Unfortunately, Microsoft removed a great deal of functionality from the game explorer in Windows 7, making it impossible to customize from the GUI.

This is where Vista Game Explorer Editor comes to the rescue. While the tool was designed to lend additional custimization options to Vista's game explorer, it works just as well with Windows 7, giving back the ability to customize to your hearts content.

If you want to customize the game explorer further by adding additional shortcuts to the menus, browse to:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer

Each folder here corresponds to an icon in the game explorer. The names are hashed, so you'll have to do a little digging to find the one you want. You can add additional shortcuts to any game icon's right-click menu from here (mod shortcuts, FOV fixes, whatever).

If you want to customize things EVEN FURTHER you can dig through the game explorer registry keys manually here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX

Just make sure to keep backups of these registry keys so you can restore them if something doesn't work right.

Edit: Screenshot of a well customized games explorer, just for good measure:

48499343.jpg

I think the main issue is that he is spreading misinformation about how "beneficial" these ill-advised tweaks are. In the best-case scenario, you'll end up with no difference. In most scenarios, you can end up with some degraded performance. In the worst-case scenarios, the user will end up with data loss.

Bingo!

Edited by StarLion
Grand Master

Denis W. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

^ I've split the debate into its separate thread here.

Please keep this thread to tips and tricks only. I know there are some tips and tricks in the new thread above; please feel free to repost them here in this thread. Thanks :)

Collaborator

StarLion

Posted
Posted

Thanks for giving the thread a good enema, I wasn't sure that was even going to be possible with how forgone it was.

Reposting the tweaks that got nuked in the cleanup:

Tip #1: Creativelement power tools suite:

Now, if I may contribute something genuinely useful to the thread. Creativelement power tools work with Windows 7 about as well as they work with Vista, offering some interesting tweaks and powerful management interfaces (like a powerful file type editor). It's a 45 day trial, but it doesn't nag you and the tweaks will stay applied after, so as long as you get everything set the way you want it in the first 45 days, you simply don't have to purchase it.

Tip #2: Kallout system-wide accelerators:

During the early experimental stages of Windows 7 (before build 6801) they had integrated a feature that provided system-wide accelerators to all applications on Windows. Previously, accelerators had been a feature exclusive to internet explorer, allowing you to highlight some text and instantly be provided with actions such as search, blog, write in a journal, etc. You can probibly imagine how useful that would be if it worked in every application, document editors for example.

Well, that feature got cut from Windows 7, but that's where Kallout comes in. It's a small application that runs in your system tray and provides functionality similar to accelerators for a wide range of applications. Link to Kallout home page.

Tip #3: Connectify:

Microsoft has added a great deal of functionality to wifi adapters in Windows 7. Unfortunately, a lot of these goodies are hidden, and only accessible via the command line. One such feature is the ability to turn your PC into an access point/hot spot without interrupting any already active connections. This allows an easy way of setting up a small impromptu centralized network (without using ad-hoc mode, which not all devices support).

Now, while it is possible to expose this functionality through the command line, there's an easier way. A little bit of software called Connectify adds a frontend, making these new capabilities easy to configure and manage.

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
Posted
disable explorer navigation pane

reg.exe add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer /v PageSpaceControlSizer /t reg_binary /d 00000000000000000000000000000000 /f

disable explorer details pane

reg.exe add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer /v PreviewPaneSizer /t reg_binary /d 00000000000000000000000000000000 /f

Who would ever want to disable the Navigation pane? Who wants to just double click their brains out in the left pane?

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
Posted
disable pagefile(s)

reg.exe add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v PagingFiles /t reg_multi_sz /d "" /f

Ah that's a good one! While you're at it, you should also disable SuperFetch, PreFetch, Automatic Updates, Scheduled Disk Defragmenting and any of those other completely useless features that are 'supposedly' designed to make Windows run better, but that any good computer nerd knows are just a bunch of scam services that really make your PC run slower!

What a nut. Here's a real tip:

Want to see your Drive Letters before the Volume name in Explorer? (Personally, I think it just looks neater, especially if you have a nice fixed-width font for your icons). Here's how to do it:

Start Registry Editor (Start Menu, type regedit in the Search box)

Navigate to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\ShowDriveLetters

Double the DWord Value labeled 'UncheckedValue' and change the number to 4. Then log off and log back on to see the difference (make sure you have the option 'Show Drive Letters' enabled in your Folder View dialog.

It'll look like this:

post-427-1260651348.png

Enthusiast

genuine555

Posted
Posted
Ah that's a good one! While you're at it, you should also disable SuperFetch, PreFetch, Automatic Updates, Scheduled Disk Defragmenting and any of those other completely useless features that are 'supposedly' designed to make Windows run better, but that any good computer nerd knows are just a bunch of scam services that really make your PC run slower!

What a nut. Here's a real tip:

Want to see your Drive Letters before the Volume name in Explorer? (Personally, I think it just looks neater, especially if you have a nice fixed-width font for your icons). Here's how to do it:

Start Registry Editor (Start Menu, type regedit in the Search box)

Navigate to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\ShowDriveLetters

Double the DWord Value labeled 'UncheckedValue' and change the number to 4. Then log off and log back on to see the difference (make sure you have the option 'Show Drive Letters' enabled in your Folder View dialog.

It'll look like this:

post-427-1260651348.png

Just add this to a regfile, and merge in registry :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
 "ShowDriveLettersFirst"=dword:00000004

a little cleaner...

Enthusiast

genuine555

Posted
Posted
Ah that's a good one! While you're at it, you should also disable SuperFetch, PreFetch, Automatic Updates, Scheduled Disk Defragmenting and any of those other completely useless features that are 'supposedly' designed to make Windows run better, but that any good computer nerd knows are just a bunch of scam services that really make your PC run slower!

As for auto updates and defragmenting, I could agree with that to some extend.

As for Prefetch and superfetch, pls do not compare it with the same features in Vista.

In Vista, these features were very aggressive. That's not true anymore in win7, it runs very smooth.

So for Vista -> yes, disabling can boost performance.

For win7 -> no way !

In win7, it is not recommended at all to disable superfetch, and ESPECIALLY prefetch.

These two features do make windows run faster, and memory arrangement will benefit if these stay enabled.

The misinformation in this thread just continues on and on.

If you post a claim that prefetch and superfetch make a pc slower, then do post some proof with it.

In fact, do some googling, you will find the exact opposite !

http://www.osnews.com/story/21471/SuperFet..._it_Works_Myths

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums...b1-1cc5f14c52cc

http://www.oldblivion.com/sm/index.php?topic=6253.0

What can be said is that for really FAST machines, there is not much difference in superfetch enabled or disabled.

But that's where it ends.

Enthusiast

genuine555

Posted
Posted

Contribution to the thread :

Some regtweaks to speed up the desktop and shutdown :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime"=dword:000000c8

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"

Every tweak explained :

NoLowDiskSpaceChecks = Low Disk Notification 
deactivated

LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo = Determines whether Windows traces shortcuts back 
to their sources when it cannot find the target on the user's system.

NoResolveSearch = Prevents the system from conducting a comprehensive search 
of the target drive to resolve a shortcut.

NoResolveTrack = Prevents the system from using NTFS tracking features to
resolve a shortcut.

NoInternetOpenWith = Specifies whether to use the Microsoft Web service
for finding an application to open a file with an unhandled file association.

DeskTopLivePreviewHoverTime = AeroPeek SpeedUp to 200ms 

AutoEndTasks = Specifies whether user processes end automatically when 
the user either logs off or shuts down Windows .

HungAppTimeout = Specifies how long the system waits for user 
processes to end after the user clicks the End Task command button in 
Task Manager. 

MenuShowDelay = Specifies the interval from the time the cursor is 
pointed at a menu until the menu items are displayed.

WaitToKillAppTimeout = Specifies how long the system waits for user 
processes to end after the user attempts to log off or to shut down 
Windows. When the time specified in this entry expires, the End 
Task dialog box appears, stating that the process did not respond. 
If the value of AutoEndTasks is 1, the system ends the process
automatically.

LowLevelHooksTimeout = This tweak changes the time to wait to kill 
a service, which is not responding

WaitToKillServiceTimeout = Determines how long the system waits 
for services to stop after notifying the service that the system is 
shutting down.

You can add the first text in a reg file, and merge with registry, or use any of the tweaks seperately...

Cheers

Collaborator

mike45

Posted
Posted
Ah that's a good one! While you're at it, you should also disable SuperFetch, PreFetch, Automatic Updates, Scheduled Disk Defragmenting and any of those other completely useless features that are 'supposedly' designed to make Windows run better, but that any good computer nerd knows are just a bunch of scam services that really make your PC run slower!

What a nut. Here's a real tip:

Want to see your Drive Letters before the Volume name in Explorer? (Personally, I think it just looks neater, especially if you have a nice fixed-width font for your icons). Here's how to do it:

Start Registry Editor (Start Menu, type regedit in the Search box)

Navigate to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\ShowDriveLetters

Double the DWord Value labeled 'UncheckedValue' and change the number to 4. Then log off and log back on to see the difference (make sure you have the option 'Show Drive Letters' enabled in your Folder View dialog.

It'll look like this:

post-427-1260651348.png

I couldn't get your 'Drive Letters before the Volume name in Explorer' option to work in 64bit...tried several times

I even tried 'genuine555' registry entry but still no joy.

am I missing something?....besides a brain...;)

Enthusiast

genuine555

Posted
Posted
Your values are to low..

I've been using those values for months without issues. But to please you :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime"=dword:00000320

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="0"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"

and again explanations :

NoLowDiskSpaceChecks = Low Disk Notification 
deactivated

LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo = Determines whether Windows traces shortcuts back 
to their sources when it cannot find the target on the user's system.

NoResolveSearch = Prevents the system from conducting a comprehensive search 
of the target drive to resolve a shortcut.

NoResolveTrack = Prevents the system from using NTFS tracking features to
resolve a shortcut.

NoInternetOpenWith = Specifies whether to use the Microsoft Web service
for finding an application to open a file with an unhandled file association.

DeskTopLivePreviewHoverTime = AeroPeek SpeedUp to 800 miliseconds

AutoEndTasks = Specifies whether user processes end automatically when 
the user either logs off or shuts down Windows .

HungAppTimeout = Specifies how long the system waits for user 
processes to end after the user clicks the End Task command button in 
Task Manager. 

MenuShowDelay = Specifies the interval from the time the cursor is 
pointed at a menu until the menu items are displayed.

WaitToKillAppTimeout = Specifies how long the system waits for user 
processes to end after the user attempts to log off or to shut down 
Windows. When the time specified in this entry expires, the End 
Task dialog box appears, stating that the process did not respond. 
If the value of AutoEndTasks is 1, the system ends the process
automatically.

LowLevelHooksTimeout = This tweak changes the time to wait to kill 
a service, which is not responding

WaitToKillServiceTimeout = Determines how long the system waits 
for services to stop after notifying the service that the system is 
shutting down.

Proficient

MagicAndre1981

Posted
Posted

How to speed up the boot process under Windows 7:

Do you remember BootVis from the XP days? You were able trace to boot process and optimize the Boot. With the Windows Performance Tookit, you can optimize the boot process under Windows 7 too.

Read the whole topic here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/speed-up-boot-pr...-7-t140262.html

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