How to Fix “The Windows Logon Process Has Unexpectedly Terminated” Error in Windows

The Windows Logon Process (winlogon.exe) is “responsible for handling the secure attention sequence, loading the user profile on logon, and optionally locking the computer when a screensaver is running (requiring another authentication step). Wikipedia. ” Sometimes while working with your computer (XP, Vista, Windows 7) you might get the following error, unexpectedly: “The Windows Logon Process Has Unexpectedly Terminated”. This error is triggered when the winlogon.exe fails to work or run and, as a consequence, it crashes the system. Here is the procedure to fix it.

1. Restart your computer.
2. When the system starts to boot, type F8 repeatedly.
3. By pressing the button above, you should be able to gain access to Advanced Boot Options.
4. From the list, choose Last Good Known Configuration.
5. If this doesn’t work, restart the computer again, Press F8 and from the menu select Safe Mode (fist choice).
6. If this works then it means that you have recently installed a software or driver which is not working properly. Try to uninstall the software or driver which is giving you issues.

How to Fix MBR in Windows 7 (Operating System not found)

MBR in Windows 7 is the “master boot record (MBR), or partition sector, is the 512-byte boot sector that is the first sector (“LBA/absolute sector 0″) of a partitioned data storage device such as a hard disk”. The issue with such a partition is that it may become corrupted thus preventing you from booting up your computer. The most common error such a corrupted MBR returns is“Operating System not found”. Let’s see how to fix it with this quick tutorial. If this trick doesn’t work for you read this other tutorial of mine: Fix MBR.

1. Insert your Windows 7 DVD to your CD/DVD drive and reboot your computer.
2. The following message should appear on your screen: “Press any key to boot from CD”.
3. After pressing a key ( I usually press Enter) you should face a screen asking you to select your language, time and keyboard etc.
4. On the following scree you should see a link like this: “Repair Your Computer”. Click it.
5. At this point, Windows Recovery Option will start searching for Windows 7 installation files on your computer.
6. Once it finds all it needs, a small window will warn you to choose the operating system it found.
7. Select your operating system and press the Next button.
8. A new Windows Recovery Options window will appear on your screen. Select Command Prompt which should be the last option of the list.
9. On the Command Prompt, type bootrec.exe /fixmbr and press Enter.
10. Done!

How to Fix “Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer” Error in Windows

If you have your printer connected to a network, you might have got the following error, while trying to print a document: “Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer” or “Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer. Access is Denied”. There are different issues which trigger such an error but most of the time, it seems to be caused by firewalls which have been improperly set, antivirus infection or wrong configurations. Let’s see these three cases and how to fox this error in your Windows operating system (XP, Vista, Windows 7).

Firewall

The first thing to do after getting the error is to look at your Windows Firewall configuration. Make sure that File and Printer Sharing option is ticked (allowed). Also make sure that such option is enabled on the computer to which your printer is attached. Here is the procedure to turn on the option above.

1. Click Start.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Click Windows Firewall.
4. Click Exceptions.
5. Thick the File and Printer Sharing option.

Antivirus

Try to turn off the antivirus, antispyware etc. If your printer starts to work…well, you will have to add special exception to your antivirus.

Configuration

1. Try to add your network printer as a local printer. To do that, click Start.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Click the Printer icon.
4. Click Add a Printer.
5. Click Add a Local Printer.
6. Now, select Create a New Port and then type as Local Port. Click the Next button.
7. In the Port name field, type your network path for the printer you want to use and click Next.
8. At this point take your Printer CD containing your Printer drivers.
9. Follow your computer instruction. (it should ask you to install your printer drivers).
10. Done!

How to Lock a Microsoft Office Document in Office 2010

If you use Office 2010 a lot, you might wish to lock Microsoft a Office document with a password so that other users won’t be able to open or modify them in any way. Locking your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents is also useful when you send them via e-mail because in this way you will be sure that they won’t be stolen before reaching the recipient. This quick trick will show you how to protect your most important works!

1. Open your Word, Excel or PowerPoint document.
2. Now, go to File – Info – under Permission click the Protect Document icon.
3. A small window will appear, click the Encrypt with Password icon.
4. Set your password.
5. Confirm your password.
6. Click OK.
7. Save your document.
8. Done! Your document will be locked!

How to Delete/Hide Unread Mail Messages (emails) from the Welcome Screen in Windows XP/Vista/7

As you know right after you boot Windows 7 (as well as Windows XP and Windows Vista) the system greets you with the famous Logon Screen or Welcome Screen. Such screens, apart from displaying the User Accounts available on the machine, also show you a specific message telling you the number of mail messages you still have to read on your email client (such as Microsoft Outlook, for example). Let’s see how to delete and hide the “You have unread messages” notification from your Windows operating system!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field (Run…if you have XP) type regedit and press Enter.
3. Locate this registry folder for the actual logged on user: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ UnreadMail
4. Locate this registry folder for all the users available on the computer: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ UnreadMail.
5. On the right pane, locate and click the key named MessageExpiryDays
6. If such a key doesn’t exsit, right click any empty space and from the menu click: create new DWORD value data, name it MessageExpiryDays
7. Click the registry key and change its vale to 0 (zero).
8. Exit regedit.
9. Reboot your compute for the changes to take effect.

How to Fix “The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed” Error

Sometimes, if you try to install an application (software) on your Windows Operating System (XP, Vista or Windows 7), you could get the following error message “The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed”. If this is your case I have got a couple of solution which could solve this issue and let you install whatever program you wish!

First Method

1. Click Start.
2. Click Run…
3. In the Run field, type the following commands and make sure to press Enter after each of them:

cd %windir%\system32
attrib -r -s -h dllcache
ren msi.dll msi.old
ren msiexec.exe msiexec.old
ren msihnd.dll msihnd.old

4. Now, Download the latest Windows Installer here: Microsoft Download Center

Second Method

1. Log in to your Windows Operating system as Adninistrator.
2. Click Start.
3. Click Run…
4. In the Run field, type msiexec.exe /unregister and press Enter.
5. Now type this new command msiexec /regserver and press Enter. (if you run on a 64 bit system, type this command instead: %windir%\Syswow64\Msiexec /regserver)
6. Done!

How to Fix “Please Insert a Disk into Drive” Error

Sometimes, after inserting a CD/DVD to your CD/DVD drive your Windows Operating system (XP, Vista, Windows 7) may return you with the following error message: “Please Insert a Disk into Drive (name of your drive)”. Basically, it looks like the CD/DVD driver can not read the disk or the media anymore. Let’s see how to fix this issue.

1. Make sure to check the disk you are using is compatible with your CD/DVD drive. For example, you can not install a Blue-Ray disk to your CD drive! You will also have issues if you try to use a DVD- disk with a DVD- drive.
2. Update your CD/DVD drive driver.
3. Make sure there is not any floppy disk in your computer when you turn it on.

How to Forbid/Prevent Access to Windows 7 Registry

The System Registry in your Windows 7 allows you to customize your operating system in a lot of different ways, thanks to the hacks reported on a lot of articles and tutorials, here on Web Talk. However, as you know, a small error, a wrong number, a mistyped DWORD on the registry can cause irreversible damages on your computer. That’s why you might wish to forbid its access to other users. Let’s see how to prevent and disable the access to the system registry thanks to a simple trick.

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
3. Now, go to Select User Configuration – Administrative Templates – System.
4. Under Local Group Policy Editor, locate Prevent Access to Registry Editing Tools.
5. Double-click it and click Enabled to forbid the access to the system registry.
6. Click OK.

How to Set a Program to Automatically Run with Administrator Privileges in Windows 7

As you know, every time you open a program or an application on your Windows 7, you will run it without administrator privileges. However, you have to know that certain programs do need administrator rights in order to run properly. This small tutorial will teach you how to set a program to automatically run with administrator privileges, by default.

1. Right click the icon shortcut beloning to the program you want to open with admin rights.
2. From the menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Compatibility tab.
4. Under Privileges Level, click Run this program as an administrator.
5. Click OK.
6. Done!

How to Set a Program to Automatically Run with Administrator Privileges in Windows 7

As you know, every time you open a program or an application on your Windows 7, you will run it without administrator privileges. However, you have to know that certain programs do need administrator rights in order to run properly. This small tutorial will teach you how to set a program to automatically run with administrator privileges, by default.

1. Right click the icon shortcut beloning to the program you want to open with admin rights.
2. From the menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Compatibility tab.
4. Under Privileges Level, click Run this program as an administrator.
5. Click OK.
6. Done!

How to Set Disk Cleanup to Run Automatically in Windows 7

Disk Cleanup is a great tool which lets you clean your Windows 7 from all kind of computer junk such as: garbage from the Internet, document leftovers, deleted files etc. To run it you have to click Start and type in the Search field: cleanmgr.exe. This will open the utility. From there you will be able to select whatever folder you want and…clean it. The following tutorial will show you, in a very easy way, how to automate the whole procedure in order to set Disk Cleanup to Run on your computer, automatically!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search Field, type cmd and press Enter.
3. Now, type cleanmgr /sageset:1 in the Command Prompt and hit Enter.
4. Once you have gained access to the full Disk Cleanup utility, select the folder you wish to clean.
5. Click OK.
6. Let’s schedule the Disk Cleanup to run automatically at a certain time of day of the week, month etc.
7. Click Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Task Scheduler.
8. From the right-pane, click Task Scheduler.
9. Give a name to the new task and click the Next button.
10. Select how often you want to automatically run Disk Cleanup and click the Next button.
11. Go ahead and set other parameters (such as time frame etc.)
12. Select Start a Program and click Next.
13. Now, click the browse button and look for the program named cleanmgr, and double click it.
14. In the Add Argument (optional) box, type: /sagerun:1 and click Next.
15. Click Finish.

How to EASILY Uninstall Windows 7 SP1 RC Beta Version

Got the excitiment? Couldn’t wait to install Windows 7 Sp1 RC and Beta version on your machine? Are you in trouble because the SP you installed is buggy or worst, it contains a virus? Well, after the fuss is over you might wish to uninstallthese unstable Windows 7 SP1 RC and beta version from your computer to install the official public release which is supposed to be more stable and without bugs (hey! I said “it is supposed…”). This brief tutorial will teach you how to uninstall the bugged SP from your computer in a very simple way!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field, type CMD and don’t press Enter yet!
3. Right click the Command Prompt icon and from the menu, select Run as Administrator.
4. Press Enter.
5. You should now be able to see the familiar back Command Prompt window.
6. Type: wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:976932
7. Press Enter.
8. Select Yes if prompted.
9. Done!
10. This method will let you easily uninstall any previous SP1 beta version from your machine without fussing around settings and options on the Windows 7 User Interface!

How to Turn On and Restore the Command Prompt

So, why on earth should you turn on and restore the Command Prompt tool (DOS) on your computer when it is already ON by default? Despite this article might seem a little useless I can assure you that actually it is quite necessary, above all after a virus has disabled the Command Prompt to prevent you from typing special commands in order to fix the operating system!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field, type the following command:

REG add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System /v DisableCMD /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

3. Hit Enter.
4. The Command Prompt shoudl now work correctly!

How to update Group Policy without restarting your computer

As you know, very time you make any change in the Group Policy you will have to reboot your PC for the changes to take effect. Learn how to save changes in the group Policy without restarting your computer.

Click Start.
In the Search Box, type cmd.
Right click on the cmd icon and click Run as Administartor.
Now, in the black window, type gpupdate/force and hit Enter.

How to Create Empty Files in Windows Operating Systems

This trick is really one of a kind! If you wish to create a big, fake, empty file and place it to your USB key (or wherever you want) , I have got the right tutorial for you. Please, don’t ask me the use of it, but I know that a lot of users create these files for the most different reasons! Jokes, Internet speed tests etc. are just a couple of examples!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field type cmd and press Enter. (If you are notin Windows 7, look for run…)
3. Type the following command: fsutil file createnew
4. What follows is a simple example which will create a files on your desktop: fsutil file createnew C:\Desktop\test.jpeg 50000000

How to Remove Fake Anti Virus Action

After my previous post about how to remove Thinkpoint antivirus, a lot of things have changed. We have another new fake antivirus called Antivirus Action, a malware infecting computers which tricks users into thinking that it is a legit and free antivirus. Usually, you get it while surfing malicious websites which pop-up fake warning windows and scanners on the computer screen. At this point the fake antivirus window will warn that your computer is full of viruses and will prompt you to download the free Antivirus Action. So let’s see how to uninstall and remove it! Be Aware that most of the time your computer, after removing the fake antivirus, will become sluggish or unresponsive so that it might be necessary to reinstall the operating system completely.

As soon as you install Antivirus Action, it will start scanning your computer and will report you that your machine is full of threats and viruses. Of course it is not true because no scanning is performed at all. The whole purpose is to convince you to pay for the full version of the software. The malware will also automatically start every time you boot your Windows operating system and each time it will warn you about infections and viruses.

Antivirus Action is coded to prevent you from performing any kind of action while it fakely scans your computer and, as a consequence, you will be stuck in front of your screen waiting for the malware to finish its phony scanning. It will also report your the following security warning: “Windows Security Alert – Windows reports that computer is infected. Antivirus software helps to protect your computer against viruses and other security threats. Click here for the scan your computer. Your system might be at risk now.” Antivirus Action will also hack your Internet Explorer browser so that every time you open it you will get warning messages.

Here is the removal procedure and legit and free programs that will help you get rid of this pestware!

1) Reboot your computer and press the F8 key. This will let you access to the Windows Advanced Menu Option. Now, select the following option: Safe Mode with networking and press Enter. This option will let you reboot your PC in Safe Mode and at the same time you will be able to access the Internet. The goal of this is to temporary disable certain Antivirus Action features so that you will be able to remove the virus easily.

1.1 Run Internet Explorer.
1.2 Click Tools – Internet Options.
1.3 Now, click Connections Tab and click to Lan Settings button.
1.4 Untick the Use a proxy server check box.
1.5 Click OK .

2) Download rkill.com . This small software will let you get rid of of certain processes which could prevent you from removing Antivirus Action.

3) Now, download and run Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware . This software is not free. It is shareware but its “limited-mode” will let you get rid of certain files belonging to the fake antivirus. As soon as Malwarebytes starts you have to instruct the software to perform a full scan of your system. Please, be aware that this scanning may take quite along time but you can be certain that at the end other, new, dangerous files fill be removed from your machine.

4) Now, download and run Hostsperm.bat . You have to know that Antivirus Action, after being installed, it will automatically uninstalled your Windows HOSTS file. Hostsperm will replace it with a new one!

5) Now, get rid of C:\Windows\ System32\ Drivers\etc\ HOSTS. After you have deleted it, download all these files and put them in the following folder: C:\Windows\ System32\ Drivers\ etc:

Windows XP HOSTS File
Windows Vista HOSTS
Windows 2003 Server HOSTS File
Windows 2008 Server HOSTS File
Windows 7 HOSTS File

6) Reboot your computer.

7) Download and run Spybot Search&Destroy. This excellent software will scan your whole computer looking for malicious pestware and malware and it will also get rid of Antivirus Action leftovers.

8 ) If you want to completely clean your computer and give it its “old freshness” you could even try to remove the following registry keys. This will make your computer faster and more responsive.

Files and Registry keys to remove in Windows 7 registry

Delete these files:

• C:\Users\Username \AppData \Local\Temp\ [random characters of words and numbers]
• C:\Users\Username \AppData \Local\Temp\ [random characters of words and numbers]\[random characters of words and numbers]yhsn.exe

Delete these registry values:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ [random characters of words and numbers]
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\PhishingFilter “Enabled” = “0″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyOverride” = “”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyServer” = “http=127.0.0.1:33921″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion \Internet Settings “ProxyEnable” = “1″
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion \Run “[random characters of words and numbers]yhsn.exe”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Run “[random characters of words and numbers]yhsn.exe”

What follows is very good visual tutorial (video) which will guide you through the different steps to take to uninstall the pestware. Very good info and cleared explained!

Windows Restart Command in Windows 7/Vista/XP

If you need to turn off Windows OS but you cannot use the regular procedure, maybe you need a special Windows restart command (available in DOS) which, in a matter of a couple of seconds and without waiting for applications to close, will let you shutdown your computer in breeze. This solution is especially useful in those cases where your Windows User Interface (UI) is stuck and/or the turn off button located under the Start menu doesn’t work anymore while the DOS commands available in the Command Prompt window are still available. Other times instead you might wish to use such a procedure because, for example you have got a virus which has disabled certain Windows features. Whatever the reason, here is a quick trick which will let you put your computer at rest in two steps thanks to a simple Windows shutdown command!

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field, type cmd and press Enter (if you are on Windows Vista and XP, you’ll have to type this command under Run…).
3. Now, simply type Shutdown /r
4. This simple Windows command will let you restart the system after a 60 seconds countdown.
5. If you wish to tweak and customize such command, under the CMD, press the following command: shutdown/?
6. The above command will show you all the sub-commands available. Play with the different settings and find out which is the best solution to shutdown your system from the command prompt!

Help and advice for your Windows 7 PC

Whether you've just bought a new PC running Windows 7 or you've been using it for a while, there are bound to be things you didn't know you could do.

Whether it's tweaks to get the desktop the way you want it, tips for troubleshooting or ways to squeeze more performance from Windows 7, we've got it covered.

We've updated our popular Windows 7 tips article with a load of new ones, including how to recover locked-up apps, how to extend your jumplists, leave a Windows 7 Homegroup, and more. Read on for 85 tips to help you get the best from Windows 7.

• 22 common Windows 7 problems solved

1. Problem Steps Recorder

As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.

When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.

2. Burn images

Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn't be much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created.

3. Create and mount VHD files

Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.

Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.

The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.

4. Troubleshoot problems

If some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why, then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or 'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. These are simple wizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings, clean up your system and more.

5. Startup repair

If you've downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you haven't) it's a good idea to create a system repair disc straight away in case you run into problems booting the OS later on. Click Start > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way to get your PC running again.

6. Take control

Tired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd rather they left alone? AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.

7. Calculate more

At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.

Don't take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very powerful new features hidden in the background. Be sure to explore every option in all Windows applets to ensure you don't miss anything important.

CALCULATE MORE: The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality

8. Switch to a projector

Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and choose your preferred display. (This will have no effect if you've only one display connected.)

9. Get a power efficiency report

If you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows 7 to generate loads of useful information about its power consumption. Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains in terms of battery life and performance. To do this you must open a command prompt as an administrator by typing 'cmd' in Start Search, and when the cmd icon appears, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.

Then at the command line, just type in 'powercfg -energy' (without quotes) and hit Return, and Windows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to improve power efficiency. It will then publish the results in an HTML file, usually in the System32 folder. Just follow the path it gives you to find your report.

10. Understanding System Restore

Using System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a gamble. There's no way of telling which applications or drivers it might affect - you just have to try it and see.

Windows 7 is different. Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection > System Restore > Next, and choose the restore point you'd like to use. Click the new button to 'Scan for affected programs' and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered by selecting this restore point. (Read our full Windows 7 System Restore tutorial.)

11. Set the time zone

System administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility, which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command

tzutil /s "gmt standard time"

The command "tzutil /g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists all possible time zones, and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the command works.

12. Calibrate your screen

The colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor, graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the same default Windows colour profile. And that means a digital photo you think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else. Fortunately Windows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard that helps you properly set up your brightness, contrast and colour settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp and sharp. Click Start, type DCCW and press Enter to give it a try.

13. Clean up Live Essentials

Installing Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may be unnecessary, but if you like to keep a clean system then these can be quickly removed.

If you left the default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation, for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec /x and pressing [Enter].

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need either then remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

14. Add network support

By default Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import files over a network, but a quick Registry tweak will change this. Run REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network support.

15. Activate XP mode

If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. But there's a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some high profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.

One solution has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to alter a byte in your laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave then take a look at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.

A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows version your software requires) for its virtual machine.

16. Enable virtual Wi-Fi

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.

This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.

If you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up manually. See Turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot for more.

17. Recover locked-up apps

If an application locks up under a previous version of Windows then there was nothing you could do about it. A new Windows 7 option, however, can not only explain the problem, but may get your program working again without any loss of data.

When the lockup occurs, click Start, type RESMON and click the RESMON.EXE link to launch the Resource Monitor.

Find your frozen process in the CPU pane (it should be highlighted in red), right-click it and select Analyze Wait Chain.

If you see at least two processes in the list, then the lowest, at the end of the tree, is the one holding up your program. If it's not a vital Windows component, or anything else critical, then save any work in other open applications, check the box next to this process, click End Process, and your locked-up program will often spring back to life.

18. Fault-Tolerant Help

Windows 7 includes a new feature called the Fault Tolerant Help (FTH), a clever technology that looks out for unstable processes, detects those that may be crashing due to memory issues, and applies several real-time fixes to try and help. If these work, that's fine - if not, the fixes will be undone and they won't be applied to that process again.

While this is very good in theory, it can leave you confused as some applications crash, then start working (sometimes) for no apparent reason. So if you'd like to check if the FTH is running on your PC, launch REGEDIT, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FTH - any program currently being protected by the FTH will be listed in the State key.

Experienced users may also try tweaking the FTH settings to catch more problems, and perhaps improve system stability. A post on Microsoft's Ask The Performance Team blog (bit.ly/d1JStu) explains what the various FTH Registry keys mean.

19. Automatically switch your default printer

Windows 7's location-aware printing allows the operating system to automatically switch your default printer as you move from one network to another.

To set this up, first click Start, type Devices, and click the Devices and Printers link.

Select a printer and click Manage Default Printers (this is only visible on a mobile device, like a laptop - you won't see it on a PC).

Choose the "Change my default printer when I change networks" option, select a network, the default printer you'd like to use, and click Add.

Repeat the process for other networks available, and pick a default printer for each one.

And now, as you connect to a new network, Windows 7 will check this list and set the default printer to the one that you've defined.

20. Explore God Mode

Windows 7 has changed Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets and options that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer an easier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.

To try this out, create a new folder and rename it to:

The first part, "Everything" will be the folder name, and can be whatever you want: "Super Control Panel", "Advanced", "God Mode" if you prefer.

The extension, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entered exactly as it is here, though, including the curly brackets. When you press [Enter] this part of the name will disappear, and double-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the Action Centre, the Network and Sharing Centre, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260 options in total.

21. Right-click everything

At first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but there's an easy way to begin spotting the differences - just right-click things.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, for instance, and you'll find a menu entry to set your screen resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings any more.

Right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar for speedy access to common system folders: Documents, Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.

And if you don't plan on using Internet Explorer then you probably won't want its icon permanently displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from the taskbar', then go install Firefox, instead.

22. Display the old taskbar button context menu

Right-click a taskbar button, though, and you'll now see its jumplist menu. That's a useful new feature, but not much help if you want to access the minimize, maximize, or move options that used to be available. Fortunately there's an easy way to get the old context menu back - just hold down Ctrl and Shift as you right-click the taskbar button.

23. Desktop slideshow

Windows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always easy to decide which one you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and let Windows display them all in a desktop slideshow? Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, then hold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. Choose how often you'd like the images to be changed (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle if you'd like the backgrounds to appear in a random order, then click Save Changes and enjoy the show.

DESKTOP SLIDESHOW: Select multiple background images and Windows will cycle through them

24. RSS-powered wallpaper

And if a slideshow based on your standard wallpaper isn't enough, then you can always create a theme that extracts images from an RSS feed. For example, Long Zheng has created a few sample themes to illustrate how it works. Jamie Thompson takes this even further, with a theme that always displays the latest BBC news and weather on your desktop. And MakeUseOf have a quick and easy tutorial showing how RSS can get you those gorgeous Bing photographs as your wallpaper. Or you can watch our custom theme video tutorial.

25. Customise the log-on screen

Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and set its value to 1.

Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matches the aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.

Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create the info\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.

Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

26. Recover screen space

The new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does consume a little more screen real estate than we'd like. Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.

27. Enjoy a retro taskbar

Windows 7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also makes it more difficult to tell at a glance whether an icon represents a running application or a shortcut. If you prefer a more traditional approach, then right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set Taskbar Buttons to "Combine when taskbar is full". You'll now get a clear and separate button for each running application, making them much easier to identify.

28. Remove taskbar buttons

One problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable taskbar real estate, but you can reduce the impact of this by removing their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, add a string called MinWidth, set it to 54, and reboot to see the results.

29. Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar

If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment to restore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type "%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.

Now right-click the taskbar, clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look.

30. Custom power switch

By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the Start menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then that might make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the 'Power boot action' to 'Restart' to make it happen.

31. Auto arrange your desktop

If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could right-click it and select View > Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a simpler solution is just to press and hold down F5, and Windows will automatically arrange its icons for you.

32. Disable smart window arrangement

Windows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows, so that (for example) if you drag a window to the top of the screen then it will maximise. We like the new system, but if you find it distracting then it's easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as they always did.

33. Browse your tasks

If you prefer the keyboard over the mouse, you will love browsing the taskbar using this nifty shortcut. Press Windows and T, and you move the focus to the left-most icon on the taskbar. Then use your arrow keys to change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of every window.

34. Display your drives

Click Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but don't panic, it's just Microsoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card readers are no longer displayed if they're empty. We think it's an improvement, but if you disagree then it's easy to get your empty drives back. Launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear 'Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.

35. See more detail

The new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on any area of the screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and docking position, and once activated it can track your keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around a dialog box, say, and it'll automatically zoom in on the currently active control.

36. Extend your jumplists

By default a jumplist will display up to 10 items, but it can often be useful to extend this and add a few more. Right-click Start, select Properties > Customize and set "Number of recent items to display in Jump Lists" to the figure you need.

37. Disable Aero Peek

Hover your mouse cursor over the bottom right hand corner of the screen and Windows 7 will hide open windows, showing you the desktop. Seems like a good idea to us, but if the feature gets in your way then it's easy to turn off. Simply right-click the Start orb, select Properties > Taskbar and clear the "Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop" box.

38. Pin a drive to the taskbar

The taskbar isn't just for apps and documents. With just a few seconds work you can pin drive icons there, too.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select New > Text File, and rename the file to drive.exe. Drag and drop this onto your taskbar, then delete the original file.

Right-click your new "drive.exe" taskbar button, then right-click its file name and select Properties. Change the contents of both the Target and Start In boxes to point at the drive or folder of your choice, perhaps click Change Icon to choose an appropriate drive icon, and you're done - that drive or folder is now available at a click.

39. Expand your taskbar previews

Move your mouse cursor over a Windows 7 taskbar button and you'll see a small preview of the application window. To make this larger, launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband, right-click in the right hand pane and create a new DWORD value called MinThumbSizePx. Double-click this, choose the Decimal option, set the value to 350 and reboot to see the results. Tweak the value again to fine-tune the results, or delete it to return to the default thumbnail size.

40. Hiding the Windows Live Messenger icon

If you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, you'll have noticed that the icon now resides on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone. If you prefer to keep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray, where it's been for previous releases, just close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode.

41. Customise UAC

Windows Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor implementation put many people off - it raised far too many alerts. Fortunately Windows 7 displays less warnings by default, and lets you further fine-tune UAC to suit your preferred balance between security and a pop-up free life (Start > Control Panel > Change User Account Control Settings).

42. Use Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note windows (your notes are automatically saved).

43. Open folder in new process

By default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system resources, but means one folder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your system seems unstable, or you're doing something in Explorer that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down Shift, right-click on your drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now be launched in a separate process, and so a crash is less likely to affect anything else.

44. Watch more videos

Windows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the audio and video files you'll find online. Fortunately the first freeware Windows 7 codecs package [shark007.net/win7codecs.html] has been released, and installing it could get your troublesome multimedia files playing again.

45. Preview fonts

Open the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names, probably with icons to tell you whether they're TrueType or OpenType, but that's about it. Windows 7 sees some useful font-related improvements.

Open the new fonts window and you'll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quick idea of how they're going to look.

The tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, Times New Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. There's now just a single entry for each font (though you can still see all other members of the family).

And there's a new OpenType font, Gabriola, added to the mix. It's an attractive script font, well worth a try the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.

46. Restore your gadgets

Windows 7 has tightened up its security by refusing to run gadgets if UAC has been turned off, so limiting the damage malicious unsigned gadgets can do to your system. If you've disabled UAC, miss your gadgets and are happy to accept the security risk, though, there's an easy Registry way to get everything back to normal. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings, create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1. Your gadgets should start working again right away.

47. New WordPad formats

By default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But browse the Save As Format list and you'll see you can also save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx or OpenDocument .odt formats.

48. Protect your data

USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.

PROTECT YOUR DATA: Your USB flash drives can easily be encrypted with BitLocker

49. Minimise quickly with shake

If you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things are getting too cluttered, it used to be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows 7 you can use the Aero Shake feature to minimise everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title bar of the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a clear desktop area.

50. Configure your favourite music

The Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your favourite music, which by default creates a changing list of songs based on your ratings, how often you play them, and when they were added (it's assumed you'll prefer songs you've added in the last 30 days). If this doesn't work then you can tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune is- click Tasks > Settings > Music > Favourite Music and configure the program to suit your needs.

51. Customise System Restore

There was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but Windows 7 improves the situation with a couple of useful setup options.

Click the Start orb, right-click Computer and select Properties > System Protection > Configure, and set the Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (larger to hold more restore points, smaller to save disk space).

And if you don't need System Restore to save Windows settings then choose the "Only restore previous versions of files" option. Windows 7 won't back up your Registry, which means you'll squeeze more restore points and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore is much less likely to get an unbootable PC working again, though, so use this trick at your own risk.

52. Run As

Hold down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option to run the program as a different user, handy if you're logged in to the kids' limited account and need to run something with higher privileges. This isn't really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that did the same thing - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's good to see it's had a change of heart.

53. Search privacy

By default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most recent examples when searching in Windows Explorer. If you're sharing a PC and don't want everyone to see your searches, then launch GPEDIT.MSC, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries..." and click Enabled > OK.

54. Tweak PC volume

By default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's sounds whenever it detects you're making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like it to turn off other sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly. Just right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds > Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like it to do.

55. Rearrange the system tray

With Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to everything else on the taskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then go right ahead, just drag and drop them into the order you like. You can even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto the desktop, then put them back when you no longer need to keep an eye on them.

56. Extend your battery life

Windows 7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebook's battery life. To see them, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, then click Change Plan Settings for your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expand Multimedia Settings, for instance, and you'll see a new "playing video" setting that can be set to optimise power savings rather than performance. Browse through the other settings and ensure they're set up to suit your needs.

57. Write crash dump files

Windows 7 won't create memory.dmp crash files if you've less than 25GB of free hard drive space, annoying if you've installed the Windows debugging tools and want to diagnose your crashes. You can turn this feature off, though: browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, create a new DWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and the crash dump file will now always be saved.

58. Protect your data

If you have confidential files in a particular folder or two, and would like to keep them away from other network users, then right-click the folder, select Share With > Nobody, and they'll be made private, for your eyes only (or your user account, anyway).

59. Reorganise the taskbar

Windows 7 taskbar buttons are now movable - feel free to drag, drop and otherwise reorganise them to suit your needs. And then remember that each button can be launched by holding with the Windows key and pressing 1 to activate the first, 2 the second and so on, up to 0 for the tenth.

60. Repair your PC

If Windows 7 won't start, you may not need an installation or repair disc any more, as the repair environment is now usually installed on your hard drive. Press [F8] as your PC starts, and if you see a "Repair Your Computer" option, choose that to see the full range of Windows 7 recovery tools.

61. ReadyBoost revamped

If you were unimpressed by ReadyBoost in Vista, it may be worth trying the technology again under Windows 7. The operating system now allows you to combine multiple USB drives, each with larger caches, to deliver an extra speed boost.

62. Fixing Windows 7 N

If you have Windows 7 N then this means you'll be missing key multimedia applications, like Media Player, Media Centre, DVD Maker and more. But that's not all. You also won't have some of the subsystems required by third-party apps like Nero MultiMedia Suite, which means that even if they install, you could have problems getting them to work correctly.

Fortunately there's an easy fix, though, as the missing components are available in the form of Microsoft's Windows Media Pack. If you're currently having media-related issues on a Windows 7 N installation, grab your copy from support.microsoft.com/kb/968211.

63. Find bottlenecks

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.

The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

FIND BOTTLENECKS: Resource monitor keeps a careful eye on exactly how your PC is being used

64. Keyboard shortcuts

Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.

Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane

Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows

Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate

Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate

Windows Logo+Up
Maximise the current window

Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window

Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window

65. Drag and drop to the command line

When working at the command line you'll often need to access files, which usually means typing lengthy paths and hoping you've got them right. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag and drop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and ready to be used.

This feature isn't entirely new: you could do this in Windows XP, too, but drag and drop support disappeared in Vista. There does seem to be a new Windows 7 complication, though, in that it only seems to work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe as an administrator and, while it accepts dropped files, the path doesn't appear.

66. Customise your jumplists

Right-click an icon on your taskbar, perhaps Notepad, and you'll see a jumplist menu that provides easy access to the documents you've been working on recently. But maybe there's another document that you'd like to be always available? Then drag and drop it onto the taskbar icon, and it'll be pinned to the top of the jumplist for easier access. Click the pin to the right of the file name, or right-click it and select "Unpin from this list" when you need to remove it.

67. Faster program launches

If you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then don't work your way back through the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the program's icon (or middle-click it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.

68. Speedy video access

Want faster access to your Videos folder? Windows 7 now lets you add it to the Start menu. Just right-click the Start orb, click Properties > Start Menu > Customize, and set the Videos option to "Display as a link". If you've a TV tuner that works with Windows 7 then you'll appreciate the new option to display the Recorded TV folder on the Start menu, too.

69. Run web searches

The Windows 7 search tool can now be easily extended to search online resources, just as long as someone creates an appropriate search connector. To add Flickr support, say, visit I Started Something, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as it's downloaded (the file is tiny, it'll only take a moment). A "Flickr Search" option will be added to your Searches folder, and you'll be able to search images from your desktop.

A multitude of other ready-made searches, such as Google and YouTube, can be downloaded from the windowsclub.com website.

70. Schedule Media Centre downloads

You can now tell Windows Media Centre to download data at a specific time, perhaps overnight, a useful way to prevent it sapping your bandwidth for the rest of the day. Launch Media Centre, go to Tasks > Settings > General > Automatic Download Options, and set the download start and stop times that you'd like it to use.

71. Multi-threaded Robocopies

Anyone who's ever used the excellent command-line robocopy tool will appreciate the new switches introduced with Windows 7. Our favourite, /MT, can improve speed by carrying out multi-threaded copies with the number of threads you specify (you can have up to 128, though that might be going a little too far). Enter robocopy /? at a command line for the full details.

72. Load IE faster

Some Internet Explorer add-ons can take a while to start, dragging down the browser's performance, but at least IE8 can now point a finger at the worst resource hogs. Click Tools > Manage Add-ons, check the Load Time in the right-hand column, and you'll immediately see which browser extensions are slowing you down.

73. An Alt+Tab alternative

You want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there are so many other programs running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to pick out what you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key while you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the Explorer windows only, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And of course this works with any application that has multiple windows open.

74. Block annoying alerts

Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks your antivirus, firewall or other security settings are incorrect.

But unlike Vista, if you disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no longer want to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, then click Control Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.

75. Parallel defrags

The standard Windows 7 defragger offers a little more control than we saw in Vista, and the command line version also has some interesting new features. The /r switch will defrag multiple drives in parallel, for instance (they'll obviously need to be physically separate drives for this to be useful). The /h switch runs the defrag at a higher than normal priority, and the /u switch provides regular progress reports so you can see exactly what's going on. Enter the command

defrag /c /h /u /r

in a command window to speedily defrag a system with multiple drives, or enter defrag /? to view the new options for yourself.

76. Fix Explorer

The Windows 7 Explorer has a couple of potential annoyances. Launching Computer will no longer display system folders like Control Panel or Recycle Bin, for instance. And if you're drilling down through a complicated folder structure in the right-hand pane of Explorer, the left-hand tree won't always expand to follow what you're doing, which can make it more difficult to see exactly where you are. Fortunately there's a quick fix: click Organize > Folder and Search Options, check "Show all folders" and "Automatically expand to current folder", and click OK.

77. Faster file handing

If you hold down Shift while right-clicking a file in Explorer, then you'll find the Send To file now includes all your main user folders: Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Music and more. Choose any of these and your file will be moved there immediately.

78. Create folder favourites

If you're regularly working on the same folder in Explorer then select it in the right-hand page, right-click Favourites on the left-hand menu, and select Add to Favourites. It'll then appear at the bottom of the favourites list for easy one-click access later.

79. Disable hibernation

By default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive with its hibernation file, but if you never use sleep, and always turn your PC off, then this will never actually be used. To disable hibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power, then set both HibernateEnabled and HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.

80. Create a new folder shortcut

When you need to create a new folder in Windows 7 Explorer, don't reach for the mouse. Just press Ctrl+Shift+N to create the folder in the active Explorer window, then type its name as usual.

81. Open a jumplist

Most people right-click a Windows taskbar icon to view its jumplist. You can also hold the left mouse button over the icon, though, then drag upwards to reveal the jumplist and choose the option you need, a more natural action that should be just a little faster.

82. Search quickly

If you'd like to search for something in an Explorer window then there's no need to use the mouse. Simply press [F3] to move the focus to the search box, enter your keyword and press [Enter] to run the search.

83. Search file contents

There's no obvious way in the Windows interface to search the contents of files that haven't been indexed, but all you need to do is start your search with the "content:" search filter. So entering content:Microsoft , for instance, will find all documents (whether they're actually indexed or not) that contain the word Microsoft.

84. Close in a click

Hover your mouse cursor over a Windows taskbar button will display a preview thumbnail of that application window. You don't need that app any more? Then middle-click the thumbnail to close it down.

85. Leave the Homegroup

Homegroups are an easy way to network Windows 7 PCs, but if you don't use the feature then turning it off can save you a few system resources.

Click Start, type Homegroup, and click "Choose homegroup and sharing options". Click Leave the Homegroup > Leave the Homegroup > Finish.

Now click Start, type services.msc and press [Enter] to launch the Services Control Panel applet.

Find and double-click both the HomeGroup Listener and HomeGroup Provider service, clicking Stop and setting Startup Type to Disabled in each case, and the services won't be launched when you need reboot.