"Windows 7 Tips and Tricks By The Technocrats Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7—Even on a Netbook
Putting the Windows 7 installation on a USB thumb drive has a few advantages—a small USB key is much more convenient for carrying around than a DVD, the OS will actually install much faster, and you can use a USB key to install Windows 7 on systems that do not have a DVD drive, such as a netbook. In fact, you can even install Windows 7 on netbooks that have fairly modest hardware. Here’s a quick look at the process: First, you’ll need the DiskPart utility on the system you will use to prep the thumb drive. This is a free disk partitioning utility that is likely already installed on your Windows system. If not, you can download DiskPart here. Launch the DiskPart utility by typing diskpart at the Start Menu. Then run the list disk command to check the status of your drive. Launch the DiskPart utility by typing diskpart at the Start Menu. Then run the list disk command to check the status of your drive. Now run select disk 1 where the "1" is actually the corresponding number of your USB drive. Run clean. Once the thumb drive is clean, you can run create partition primary. Now make the partition active by entering active Then you need to set up the file system as Fat32 by running format fs=fat32 quick (quick, of course, specifies that you want to perform a quick format to speed up the process). Entering the assign command gives the USB drive a drive letter, making it easy to access from Windows Explorer Then you can copy everything from the Windows 7 installation DVD onto the USB key (a simple drag and drop will do). Now you can insert the thumb drive into the system you want to install Windows 7 onto and boot the system. The installation will now proceed as usual—but faster.
Work Faster with New Hotkey Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 7 beta 1
Windows 7 beta 1 includes some handy new shortcut key combinations that allow you to navigate and manage the Windows workspace more efficiently. Here are 10 new Windows 7 shortcuts that will help you speed up your workflow (“Win” means the Windows Key): Win+Home: Clear all but the active window Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window Win+Down arrow: Minimize the active window or restore the window if it's maximized Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the active window to each side of the monitor Win+Shift+Left/Right arrows: If you've got dual monitors, this will move the active window to the adjacent monitor Win+T: Shift focus to and scroll through items on the taskbar Win+P: Adjust presentation settings for your display Win+(+/-): Zoom in/out Shift+Click a taskbar item: Open a new instance of that particular application
New Ways to Maintain your PC and Solve Common Problems on Windows
Windows 7 offers new ways to manage your system and troubleshoot common problems. Two key components are the new Action Center and the new Windows Troubleshooting Platform. Action Center You can easily check the status of your PC by going to the new Action Center (Control Panel | System and Security | Action Center).
Here you can check the status of your antivirus software, set up a backup schedule, check for updates, and view solutions to problems your PC has experienced. In addition, the Action Center provides direct access to the Windows Troubleshooting Packs.
Windows Troubleshooting Platform The Windows Troubleshooting Platform offers a variety of troubleshooting packs for solving a host of problems (issues connecting to the
Internet, hardware devices not working properly, poor system performance, and so on). These automated packs check for common issues—for instance, if you choose to “Troubleshoot audio playback,” the tool will check for common configuration settings that might be causing the problem, such as whether the device is disabled, if the volume is low or set to mute, whether the speakers are unplugged, and so on. Besides troubleshooting packs, this windows offers quick access to initiating the remote help and system restore tools. You can also access the troubleshooters by typing “fix” or “troubleshoot” in the Start Menu.
Turn Off Security Messages and Other System Notifications in Windows 7
Windows Vista is constantly giving me security alerts that I don’t want to see. For instance, I intentionally have Automatic Updates and the Windows Firewall disabled on one of my systems, and every day Windows Vista finds it necessary to bring this to my attention. Fortunately, Windows 7 gives you more control over the Security Messages and other Notifications that you may or may not want to receive. For starters, you can configure how notifications are handled on the Taskbar—choosing to hide certain types of notifications, such as Action Center messages, Network messages, Windows Update Automatic Updates messages, and so on.
For more granular control, you can go to the Action Center (by clicking Control Panel | System and Security | Action Center) and select to Change Action Center Settings. This allows you to disable specific types of messages, including messages about Windows Update, Internet security settings, User Account Control, Windows Backup, and more.
Use Windows 7 to Manage Windows Server 2008 R2 Servers
You can easily manage your Windows 2008 R2 servers from a PC running Windows 7 beta 1. But first you’ll need to download the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 7, which you can get here. Here’s an overview of the tools you’ll get in this download: Server Administration Tools Server Manager
Role Administration Tools
Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) Tools Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools DHCP Server Tools DNS Server Tools File Services Tools Hyper-V Tools Terminal Services Tools
Feature Administration Tools BitLocker Password Recovery Viewer Failover Clustering Tools Group Policy Management Tools Network Load Balancing Tools SMTP Server Tools Storage Explorer Tools Storage Manager for SANs Tools Windows System Resource Manager Tools
Encrypt Removable USB Drives with BitLocker To Go on Windows 7
Windows 7 BitLocker has been enhanced to provide a better experience for end users. Without having to navigate the Control Panel or configure any difficult settings, users can easily protect USB removable storage devices. The option is available by simply right-clicking on a drive in Windows Explorer to enable BitLocker protection. With BitLocker To Go, you can encrypt removable storage devices, such USB flash drives. All you need to do is right-click on the drive you want to protect, select the “Turn on BitLocker” menu option, and follow the basic wizard.
Easier Troubleshooting Support with Problem Step Recorder
Troubleshooting errors for a remote user can be very difficult since you can’t actually see what’s happening on the remote system. Often it comes down to a user saying he didn’t click a button, open a program, close a program, or so on. The new Problem Steps Recorder (PSR.exe) allows you to see exactly what’s going on, documenting every action that takes place on the system experiencing problems. The Problem Steps Recorder tool is a simple screen capture utility that grabs screenshots whenever a mouse move or click is made and documents all the data into a zipped MHTML report page that can be sent off directly to the help desk. Every step of the user’s actions is logged complete with a screenshot with the item highlighted, and it even allows the user to provide commentary on specific details. To launch the Problem Steps Recorder, just go to START and type PSR.exe and your off and running.
Shrink and Simplify OS Images with Dynamic Driver Provisioning
With Dynamic Driver Provisioning in Windows 7, IT professionals can reduce the size of their images and reduce the number of images they maintain. And IT pros don’t need to update images when they introduce new hardware into their environment. By storing drivers centrally on deployment servers, separate from images, IT professional can install drivers dynamically or assign sets of drivers based on information contained in the BIOS. If they choose to install drivers dynamically, Windows 7 enumerates Plug and Play devices during installation. Then, it chooses drivers based on the Plug and Play IDs of the actual devices on the PC. Reducing the number of drivers on individual PCs reduces the number of potential driver conflicts. This ultimately streamlines installation and setup times, as well as improves the reliability of the PC. For more of Dynamic Driver Provisioning, check out the Deployment Image Servicing and Management screencast available on the TechNet Springboard Series site.
Shake Windows off Your Desktop
This is a simple, but cool new feature. If you have too much clutter on your desktop and want to minimize everything but the application you’re working in, you can “shake” all the other Windows off your desktop. Shake simply minimizes all the windows leaving only the top window available. To clear the desktop: 1. Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the window you only want to show on the desktop. 2. Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right. 3. When the desktop clears, drop. To restore the desktop: 1. Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the same window. 2. Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right. 3. When the minimized windows return to the desktop, drop (release the left click) the window.
Pin Files, Folders, and Favorites to the Taskbar in Windows 7 beta 1
If you often open particular files, Web pages, or folder locations, you can give yourself easier access to these commonly used resources by “pinning” them to the Taskbar. Applications can be pinned to the Taskbar, similar to how you could place your favorite applications on the Quick Launch toolbar. With Windows 7 beta 1, when you drag a file onto the Taskbar, you are given the option to pin the file to its associated appl ication. So if you drag a Word document onto the Taskbar, you get the option to “Pin to Word”. If the application is already pinned to your Taskbar, the file is pinned to it and will appear in the app’s right-click menu. And no worries if the application isn’t already pinned to the Taskbar, that step is done automatically and the file pinned to the app.
You can also drag folders to the Taskbar to pin them to Windows Explorer, as well as Web pages to be pinned to Internet Explorer.
On the topic of the Taskbar, applications that are pinned to the Taskbar automatically have shortcut key combinations assigned to them. To launch the first application located on the left of your Taskbar, simply press Win+1 (where “Win” is the Windows key). Win+2 will activate the second app, Win+3 the third, and so on.
Burn a Disc Image from an ISO or IMG file in Windows 7
Windows 7 beta 1 introduces a built-in ability to burn discs directly from ISO and IMG files (this used to require a third-party tool). To burn a disc using an ISO or IMG file, simply do the following: Place a blank unformatted CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive. Right click on the ISO or IMG file you want to use to burn a disc. Click Burn disc image. Next to Disc burner, click on the drop down arrow and select the CD/DVD drive with the blank disc you want to burn to. Check the Verify disc after burning option if you want Windows to verify the disc image after burning the disc. Leave this option unchecked if you want to skip the verification. Note that you should skip verification if you are in a hurry, as this process requires additional time. When it finishes burning the disc image to disc, click the Close button. The DVD (or CD) is now ready to be used without your ever having to find, install, and use a third-party tool.
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