TweakNow Power Pack 2009

Like EM7, TweakNow is much more than a tweaking tool. It also sports registry cleaning and tuning tools, a disk usage analyzer, history cleaner, startup manager, and more. The interface is well-organized, and if you can't find a setting you want to tweak with PowerPack it might not exist.

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Windows 7 Manager

As the name implies, this one boasts non-tweaking features as well. System cleanup, privacy tools, process monitoring, an uninstaller, a duplicate file finder, and a handy repair center are all included. On the tweaking side, everything from UI customization to network and IE settings is easy to monkey with. This one's available in 32 and 64-bit flavors as an installer only.

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XDN Tweaker

Features:

• Changes the number of Folder views Windows saves.
• Resets the folder views Windows has saved.
• Add/Remove classic Windows 2000 user control panel icon.
• Disable/Enable ATI Catalyst Control Center right click on Desktop
  (only for use if you have an ATI video card and have the Catalyst Control Center installed).
• Disable/Enable ‘SendTo’ right-click menu.
• Allows you to adjust and tweak TCP/IP settings.
• Disable/Enable ZipFolders.
• Disable/Enable the Outlook Express/Windows Mail splash screen.
• Put the File menu above the Back/Forward buttons in IE7.
• Remove or Replace the Search box in IE7.
• Disable/Enable User Account Control prompts under Vista.
• Disable/Enable the “- Shortcut” text under Vista.
• Attempt to force Vista to better save folder views.
• Disable/Enable Windows Media Player Explorer context menus.
• Add/Remove “Take Ownership” to right-click menus under Vista.
• Disable/Enable the Documents item on the Classic Start Menu.
• Changes “Delete” to “Search…” on Recycle Bin.
• Turn off the annoying full screen “black” UAC prompt.
• Add/Remove the Network Connections icon to Control Panel
• Enable Classic Search in Explorer and Internet Explorer.
• Disable/Enable Shutdown Reason dialog under Server 2003.
• Disable/Enable Windows scanning AVI files for thumbnails.
• Remove/Restore hidden ASPNET user that prevents auto login.
• Add “Tweak UI” icon to Control Panel (if installed).

…and more!





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Ultimate Windows Tweaker

It's impressive what the crew at WinVistaClub is able to cram into less than 200Kb. Ultimate was built for Vista, but it works just fine with Windows 7 as well. Loads of options cover everything from accounts and UAC to the taskbar and start menu and beyond. UWT is totally portable.

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Little Tweaker

A small and simple utility that let you easily activate a few useful extras for Windows 7

Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a small and simple to use utility that let you easily activate a few useful extras for Microsoft's new OS, Windows 7 Ultimate.
Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a Windows 7 only portable application and will not run on any other Windows versions.

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EnhanceMySe7en

Windows 7 is fast and it is quite satisfying in the role of replacing Windows XP and Vista, but you can make it much faster and responsible with EnhanceMySe7en.
EnhanceMySe7en helps users to control many aspects of the system with maximum convenience.
You will get everything needed for maintaining Windows 7 in a perfect condition. The program offers tools that take care of the registry, disk space and its defragmentation, installed software, HDD temperature and all sorts of things related to system's health. Also there are lots of other options helping to boost your system's performance.

With a clean and simple interface it brings you an All-in-One set of powerful and neatly classified tools, settings and tweaks.

As a bonus there are some unique and uncommon options too.

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Accelerate your Start Menu

The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The default power button is thankfully changed to Shut Down the system, as opposed to Hibernation, as it was in Vista. This can be changed to do other actions from the Start Menu Properties menu.

Additional customization brings Videos and Recorded TV as links or menus to the right side of the Start Menu, next to your Documents, Music, and Games. Feel free to mess around the Customization options since you can always return to the default Start Menu settings by clicking the “default” button at the bottom.

Reveal All of Your Drives

If you use built-in memory card readers in a 3.5” drive bay or on your Dell Monitor, empty memory card slots will not show up as drives in My Computer. But that doesn’t mean they’re not still there! To reveal hidden memory card slots, open up My Computer. Press Alt to show the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go to Folder Options under Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty drives in the Computer folder” option.

Explore from “My Computer”

Windows Explorer’s default landing folder is the Libraries directory, but some of us are more comfortable with using “My Computer” as the default node, especially if we use multiple hard drives and external storage devices.

To change the default node, find Windows Explorer in the Start Menu by typing “explorer” in the Start Menu search field and right click the first result. Select “Properties”. Under the Shortcut tab, the Target location should read: %SystemRoot% and the Target should be: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Paste the following in the Target field: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

New instances of Explorer will open up to “My Computer”. You’ll need to unpin and replace the existing Explorer shortcut from the Taskbar to complete the transition. Just right-click the icon, hit, “Unpin this program from the taskbar” to remove it, and then drag Explorer from the Start Menu back into place.

Unlock Hidden Windows 7 Wallpapers

To access these international wallpapers, bring up the Start Menu search bar and type “Globalization”. The only result should be a folder located in the main Windows directory. You should only be able to see “ELS and “Sorting” folders here so far. Next, search for “MCT” in the top right search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for extra themes and wallpapers!

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt + P

In Windows Explorer, activate an additional file preview pane to the right side of the window with this new shortcut. This panel is great for previewing images in your photos directory.

Windows + + (plus key) & Windows + - (minus key)

Pressing the Windows and plus or minus keys activates the Magnifier, which lets you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in and out of parts of your screen. You can customize the Magnifier options to follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor. Keep in mind that so far, the Magnifier only works when Aero desktop is enabled.

Windows + Up & Windows + Down

If a window is not maximized, pressing Windows + Up will fill it to your screen. Windows + Down will minimize that active window. Unfortunately, pressing Windows + Up again while a window is minimized won’t return it to its former state.

Windows + Shift + Up

Similar to the shortcut above, hitting these three keys while a window is active will stretch it vertically to the maximum desktop height. The width of the window will however stay the same. Pressing Windows + Down will restore it to its previous size.

Windows + Left & Windows + Right

One of the new features of Windows 7 is the ability to automatically make a window fill up half of your screen by dragging to the left or right. This pair of shortcuts performs the same function without your mouse. Once a window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut to flip it to the other side. This is useful if you’re extending a desktop across multiple monitors, which prevents you from executing this trick with a mouse.

Windows + Home

This shortcut performs a similar function to hovering over a window’s peek menu thumbnail in the Taskbar. The active window will stay on your desktop while every other open application is minimized. Pressing this shortcut again will restore all the other windows.

Windows + E

Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.

Windows + P

Manage your multiple-monitor more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows + P opens up a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either mirror or extend desktop mode.

Windows + Shift + Left & Windows + Shift + Right

If you are using two or more displays (and who isn’t, these days?), memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which his useful when working with multiple documents. Utilize that real estate!

Windows + [Number]

Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the number corresponding to its placement on the Taskbar. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth. We realize that this is actually one key-press more than just clicking the icon with your mouse, but it saves your hand the trouble of leaving the comfort of the keyboard.

Windows + T

Like Alt + Tab (still our all time favorite Windows specific shortcut), Windows + T cycles through your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.

Windows + Space

This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right of the Taskbar. It makes every active window transparent so you can view your desktop. The windows only remain transparent as long as you’re holding down the Windows key.

Ctrl + Shift + Click

Hold down Ctrl and Shift while launching an application from the Taskbar or start menu to launch it with full administrative rights.

Ctrl + Click

Hold down Ctrl while repeatedly clicking a program icon in the Taskbar will toggle between the instances of that application, like multiple Firefox windows (though not browser tabs).

Get Windows XP Styled Classic “Alt+Tab” Switcher Screen in Windows Vista and 7

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

3. In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value AltTabSettings and set its value to 1

4. That's it. Now whenever you'll press "Alt+Tab" keys together, it'll show Windows XP styled classic "Alt+Tab" Switcher screen instead of the new screen.

5. To restore default Aero enabled "Alt+Tab" Switcher screen, simply delete the AltTabSettings DWORD value created in step 3. Log off and login again to take effect.

“God Mode” Shortcut to Taskbar

1. First you'll need to create a new shortcut. To do this, right-click on Desktop and select "New -> Shortcut":

2. It'll launch "Create Shortcut" wizard. Now enter following string in location box:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

3. After entering the location, click on "Next" button. Now type God Mode in name box and click on "Finish" button. It'll create a new shortcut on Desktop.

4. Now its time to change the icon. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties". Click on "Change Icon" button. Type control.exe in text box and press Enter. Select the Control panel icon, click on OK button and then Apply the changes.

5. Now you just need to pin this new shortcut to Taskbar. You can either drag-n-drop the shortcut to Taskbar or right-click on the shortcut and select "Pin to Taskbar" option:

6. That's it. Now you can enjoy the "God Mode" shortcut in Taskbar:

“God Mode” Shortcut in My Computer Context Menu

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "Shell" key. Right-click on "Shell" key and select "New -> Key". Give the new key any desired name e.g. "GodMode" (without quotes).

4. Now in right-side pane, change value of "Default" to your desired name which you want to show in Desktop context menu. We have chosen God Mode in our example.

5. Now right-click on the new key which we created in step 3, e.g. GodMode and select "New -> Key". Give the new key name of command.

6. In right-side pane, change value of "Default" to:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

7. To set an icon for the shortcut, select the key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Icon". Set its value to your desired icon. We have set it to control.exe in our example to show Control panel icon for it.

8. That's it. Now you can have "God Mode" shortcut with an icon in My Computer context menu.

“God Mode” Shortcut in Desktop Context Menu

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "Shell" key. Right-click on "Shell" key and select "New -> Key". Give the new key any desired name e.g. "GodMode" (without quotes).

4. Now in right-side pane, change value of "Default" to your desired name which you want to show in Desktop context menu. We have chosen God Mode in our example.

5. Now right-click on the new key which we created in step 3, e.g. GodMode and select "New -> Key". Give the new key name of command.

6. In right-side pane, change value of "Default" to:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

7. To set an icon for the shortcut, select the key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Icon". Set its value to your desired icon. We have set it to control.exe in our example to show Control panel icon for it.

To set its position in the context menu, create a new String value "Position" and set its value to:

Top (To show it at top)
Bottom (To show it at bottom)

8. That's it. Now you can have "God Mode" shortcut with an icon in Desktop context menu.

Disable Autorun Functionality in Windows Using Registry Editor

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

If the above key doesn't exist, create it.

3. In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDriveTypeAutoRun and set its value to any of following according to your requirements:

FF - To disable AutoRun on all drives
20 - To disable AutoRun on CD-ROM drives
4 - To disable AutoRun on removable drives
8 - To disable AutoRun on fixed drives
10 - To disable AutoRun on network drives
40 - To disable AutoRun on RAM disks
1 - To disable AutoRun on unknown drives

4. If you want to disable Autorun on a combination of drives, you'll need to calculate sum of the values. For example, if you want to disable Autorun on CD-ROM drives and removable drives, you'll need to set the value to 20+4=24.

5. If you want to restore the Autorun functionality, simply delete the NoDriveTypeAutoRun DWORD value created in Step 3 Or you can set the default value which is given below:

Windows 7: 91

6. If you want to disable Autorun functionality for all users in your system, use the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" instead of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" mentioned in Step 2.

Prevent Themes to Change Desktop Icons & Mouse Pointers

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu Searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes

3. In right-side pane, create or modify following 2 DWORD values:

ThemeChangesDesktopIcons
ThemeChangesMousePointers

And set their values to 0

4. That's it. Now themes will not change Desktop icons and mouse cursors automatically.

Activate GodMode in Windows 7

Step 1: Right click.

Step 2: Click create folder.

Step 3: Name your sparkly, new folder this, "GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" and press enter.

Step 4: Blink as the folder changes form to look like the control panel.

Step 5: Open the folder and you have your GodMode in Windows 7

Remove Personal Information from Office Documents

Microsoft Office and other Windows Applications store all sorts of personal information when you save a file. Your name, computer name, company, date and time last edited are all examples of data included in a simple Word document file.

If you are concerned about your privacy there is an easy way to strip this information from a file.

1. Right click on the file and select Properties
2. Click on the Details Tab
3. Click Remove Properties and Personal Information on the bottom of the window
4. Select Remove the following properties from this file option and check all the items you want to remove. I suggest using the Select All button.
5. Hit OK and you are finished. All personal information is now removed.

Fine Tune User Account Control

Aside from being incredibly annoying in Windows Vista, User Account Control reduced the number of malware infections by more than 70% compared to Windows XP computers. The value and security UAC provides is well known but the way it was implemented drove users crazy. In Windows 7 UAC has been significantly improved. The amount of UAC prompts has been greatly reduced and a new control panel applet allows you to modify your protection level. For the first time Windows allows you to treat events caused by applications and user generated events differently.

Tuning User Account Control with the Action Center

All of the new UAC settings can be found in the Action Center. The best way to get directly to the settings through Control Panel and then search for Change User Account Control. Once there you will see a slider with four options:

• Always notify when programs try to install software or make changes to my computer and when I make changes to Windows settings.
• Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer and don’t notify me when I make changes to Windows settings. This is the new default setting.
• Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer and do not use secure desktop (do not dim my desktop). Also, do not notify me when I make changes to Windows settings.
• Never notify me when programs try to install software or make changes to my computer and when I make changes to Windows settings. This will turn UAC off.

You can change the level of UAC protection by using the slider and then clicking OK. The lower you go the less secure your computer will be.

If you want even more control over UAC you can use the local group policy editor.

Tuning User Account Control with Local Group Policy Editor

With the Local Group Policy editor you can adjust even more User Account Control settings. Click on the Start button and type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter. When the Local Group Policy editor is loaded, navigate through Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Local Policies and Security Options. On the bottom of the list you will find all of the User Account Control settings.

• User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account.
• User Account Control: Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop.
• User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode.
• User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users.
• User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation.
• User Account Control: Only elevate executables that are signed and validated.
• User Account Control: Run all users, including administrators, as standard users.
• User Account Control: Virtualizes file and registry write failures to per-user locations.

To modify a setting just right click on it and select Properties. Once you make your changes hit OK. Some settings may require a reboot.

Encrypt Removable USB Flash Drives with BitLocker

BitLocker was Microsofts first move into full disk encryption with support included in Windows Vista. Since then BitLocker has evolved and improved into a great software based full disk encryption solution. New for Windows 7 is support for removable disks. Using BitLocker on a removable USB flash drive provides a great way to protect your data in the event the drive was lost or stolen.

Not only will your data always be protected but it is possible to access your data on Windows XP and Vista through a read-only interface that is installed during the initial encryption. Now you are able to get your data anywhere, not just on your Windows 7 computer.

To get started you will need to plug in your USB flash drive and open Computer so you can view all your drives. Then, right click on your drive and select Turn on BitLocker.

Next, pick how you want to protect the drive. Set a password or use a smart card if your device has a smart card reader.

Click Next to continue.

It is a good idea to backup your recovery key so that you can always retrieve data in the event you forget your password.

Click Next to continue and then click Start Encrypting.

Encryption will now start. Depending on the size of your USB flash drive it can take a while. It took 14 minutes for my 2 GB drive.

When encryption is completed your drive is now protected.

Using BitLocker encrypted USB flash drive on another computer

When you plug your USB flash drive into a different computer it will still show up in Computer but the drive will have a different icon.

When you click on the drive it will ask you for the password.

Once authenticated, you will be see the special read-only interface where you can extract files off the encrypted USB flash drive.

Speed up web browsing with OpenDNS

When you type in a domain name such as wingeek.com in your browser the computer must resolve the friendly name into an IP address of the server to download the web page and supporting files. Windows uses a DNS (domain name system) server to lookup this information. By default, Windows uses your ISP’s DNS server. Depending on your provider, the performance of their DNS resolving server varies. Some large national providers are known to provide unreliable and slow DNS servers.

The performance of the DNS server you are using is one component that affects the speed of your internet browsing. Since each domain name you type in must be resolved into an IP address, the amount of time that takes will delay the loading of any web page. Some users with overloaded ISP DNS servers can see delays in multiple seconds before web pages start to load.

OpenDNS provides free alternative DNS servers that anyone can use with any internet provider. Unlike many national internet providers, OpenDNS’s DNS servers are very fast and reliable. Using OpenDNS servers instead of your ISP servers will help you speed up your internet browsing by cutting down on the delay between resolving a domain name and getting the IP address so your browser can start loading the web page.

Configuring your computer to use OpenDNS servers instead of your ISP’s is a simple change that works in both Windows XP and Windows Vista:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in ncpa.cpl and hit Enter. In Windows XP Click on the Start Button, click Run and then type in ncpa.cpl
2. Right click on your active network connection that you use to connect to the Internet and select Properties.
3. On the Networking / General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (version 4 on Windows Vista & 7) and hit Properties.
4. On the properties screen, select Use the following DNS server addresses and then type in 208.67.222.222 in the preferred and 208.67.220.220 in the alternate boxes.
   
   
   
5. Hit OK twice and you are finished.

Quick Aero Glass Speed Tip

The transparent glass effect in Windows 7 looks very nice but on some computers that have underpowered video adapters users will see a performance hit when running the transparent glass effect. Animations are slow and choppy and simple tasks like moving around windows on your screen is not very smooth. One way to speed up Windows 7 and keep the benefits of Aero, such as animations, flip 3D and taskbar thumbnails, is to disable glass transparency.This helps significantly on my Windows 7 netbook that does has a weak integrated graphics chip.

1. Click on the desktop and select Personalize.
2. Click Windows Color.
   
3. Uncheck Enable Transparency.
4. Click Save changes.

Optimize Solid State Drives in Windows 7

Windows 7 is designed to automatically turn off certain features such as Disk Defrag and Superfetch on drives it detects as solid state disks (SSD). To be sure I like to disable the components globally so I know I will not be putting extra stress on my SSD and decreasing its life. Many believe you should also disable the paging file but I don’t recommend that. I’ll get into more detail on why later.

Before we get started it is important to understand that if you have a mixture of SSD and traditional drives in your computer this tweak will disable Superfetch and Disk defragmenter for all hard drives.

Both Disk Defragmenter and Superfetch are system services that can be disabled to prevent them from running. Follow these steps to disable them on your computer:

1. Click on the Start Button, type in services.msc and hit Enter.
2. Scroll through the list and locate Disk Defragmenter, right click on it and select Properties.
   
   
   
3. Change the Startup type to Disabled.
   
   
   
4. Click Stop if the service is running.
   
   
   
5. Then, click OK to save the changes.
6. Next, scroll down to the Superfetch service, right click on it and select Properties.
7. Change the Startup type to Disabled.
   
   
   
8. Click Stop if the service is running.
   
   
   
9. Then, click OK to save the changes.

Many sites on the web also tell SSD users to disable the paging file because it allegedly wears down the disk too much. While the paging file is an active file on your computer it is not written to as much as you would suspect. According to Microsoft, reads to the paging file outnumber writes by about 40 to 1. Additionally, Microsoft recommends placing the paging file on a SSD claiming, “there are few files better than the pagefile to place on a SSD.”

Setting the SSD concerns aside, disabling the paging file on a computer with less than 3 or 4 GB of ram will result in poor performance. You may even create out of memory errors depending on what applications you use. Overall, it is just not worth disabling.

Improve Responsiveness by Disabling Min/Max Animations

The minimize and maximize window animations that first debuted in Windows Vista were an improvement over the effect in Windows XP. While this new effect had a high “cool factor” (especially with the slow motion key) it eventually wore off and created an unnecessary delay when switching between windows.

Disabling the effect will instantly make your computer feel more responsive and faster. Give it a try and see for yourself:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in SystemPropertiesPerformance and hit Enter.
2. On the Visual Effects tab locate and remove the check from Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing.
3. Click OK.

Improve old application disk performance

Let's get started:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab:
   
   Windows Vista: Check Enable advanced performance
   Windows 7: Check Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device.
   
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

Fix Broken and Slow Tab Issues in Internet Explorer 8

Some users that upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 experience issues with tabs not working properly or taking a very long time to load. It seems for most users the issue can be attributed to a problem with actxprxy.dll not installing properly during the upgrade. If you have a similar problem with IE8, fixing the issue is as simple as a running one command.

Just open up an administrative level command prompt and type in regsvr32 actxprxy.dll and hit Enter. Reboot your computer and your tab issue should be resolved.

Boost your performance with ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost helps your computer by giving it more high-speed memory. If your computer is running low on RAM then it has to kick a lot of applications out of high-speed physical memory to the paging file on your hard drive. This usually results in a big hit in performance and increased activity on your hard drive. ReadyBoost helps this situation by giving Windows an alternative to having to stick data into the slow paging file on your hard drive. Instead, ReadyBoost uses a USB storage device that is faster than a hard disk. This results in a performance boost because Windows will have a high speed alternative than using the slow paging file on your hard drive.

In order for ReadyBoost to work, it requires a USB storage device that meets minimum performance and space requirements:

• The device must be at least 64 MB
• The device must be USB 2.0
• It has to be able to read at 3.5 MB/s
• It has to be able to write at 2.5 MB/s

If you are unsure if your USB storage device meets these requirements, just give it a try anyways. To get started using ReadyBoost, follow these steps:

1. Plug in USB storage device.
2. Go to Computer and right click on the removable storage device and select Properties.
3. If your device is compatible, you will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on that.
4. Select Use this device and select the amount of space on it you want to dedicate for the ReadyBoost system file.
5. Click OK and you are finished.

Unlock Hidden Windows 7 Themes

Accessing all the themes is easy to do once you know where to find them. The trick is to navigate to the C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT directory. The MCT directory within the Globalization directory is super hidden so it will not display even if show hidden files and folders is enabled. Just click on the address bar of any folder and manually type in or copy and paste in C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and hit Enter.

Once you have reached the MCT folder you will see five directories as listed below:

• MCT-AU
• MCT-CA
• MCT-GB
• MCT-US
• MCT-ZA

To view and use the theme for each region just navigate into each MCT-Region directory, enter the Theme sub-directory and double click the theme file.

Start Explorer in Drive View

Many users like to start explorer in drive view to directly access their data instead of the document folders. This tweak will show you how to modify the Windows Explorer shortcuts to launch directly in drive view.

Update the Start Menu Shortcut

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Windows Explorer.
   
2. Right click on the shortcut when it appears in the search results and select Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, change the target to:
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
4. Click Ok to save the changes.

Update the TaskBar Shortcut

1. Right click on the Windows Explorer TaskBar icon.
2. Then Right click on the Windows Explorer shortcut in the Jump List and select Properties.
   
3. On the Shortcut tab, change the target to:
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
4. Click Ok to save the changes.

Restore Start Menu Internet Search

1. Click on the Start Button, type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
2. One the Local Group Policy Editor has loaded navigate through User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Start Menu and Taskbar, and locate Add Search Internet link to Start Menu near the top.
   
3. Right click on Add Search Internet link to Start Menu and select Edit.
4. On the edit screen select Enabled and click OK.
   
5. Close the Local Group Policy Editor. You should now see the link restored on the Start Menu.

Restore Quick Launch Toolbar

First, right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars and then New Toolbar.

Enter in the following folder location and then click Select Folder:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

The quick launch toolbar will now be displayed but you will need to move it to the correct location on the taskbar. Just click on the Quick Launch label and drag it all the way to the left.

After you adjusted the width of the quick launch bar the last step is to remove the Quick Launch label. Right click on the text and click on Show Title to remove the option.

You have now restored the classic Windows Quick Launch toolbar.

Remove Send Feedback Link from Window Title

With the help of a quick registry tweak it is possible to remove the titlebar Send Feedback link permanently:

1. Click on the start button and start up the Registry Editor by typing in regedit and hitting Enter.
2. Once RegEdit is open, navigate through HKEY_Current_User, Control Panel and Desktop.
3. Modify FeedbackToolEnable and set the value to 0.
4. Restart.

Pin Recycle Bin on the Taskbar

The secret is creating a special shortcut that you can pin to the taskbar that points to the recycle bin:

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop and select New and then shortcut.
   
2. In the location of the item box type in:
   
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder
   
3. Click Next.
4. For the name type in Recycle Bin.
   
5. Then click Finish.
6. Now your shortcut will be created but it will not have the right icon. Right click on the shortcut, select Properties. Then, click Change Icon
7. Change the icon file to:
   %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll
   
   Hit Enter and select the Recycle Bin Icon and click OK.
   
8. Finally, drag the new shortcut onto the taskbar and it will be pinned directly. Once the shortcut is pinned, you can delete the original on the desktop.

Hide Background Windows with Aero Shake

Aero Shake is one of the lesser known features included in Windows 7. It offers a unique way to minimize all the open windows on your screen while leaving one up that you want to work with.
All you need to do is shake a window with your mouse. Just like you are trying to move it but only shake it.

Hidden Send To Menu in Windows 7

When you right click on an file or folder in Windows Explorer the default Send To menu contains only a few locations.
What many users do not know is that it is possible to expand the Windows 7 Send To menu by pressing Shift before right-clicking on a file or folder. Pressing the Shift key before right-clicking will expand the Send To menu with more than ten new entries like My Documents folders, Downloads or Contacts.

Fix Aero Glass in Windows 7

If you want the full Windows 7 experience the Aero glass interface is a must. Without the slick glass interface a number of key features will be disabled such as taskbar thumbnails and Aero Peek. According to Microsoft the bare minimum requirements for Aero is a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0 or newer and a native WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) driver. In most cases when you install Windows 7 Aero will be enabled but on some configurations various issues prevent the feature from starting.

The most common issue I have seen is a lack of compatible WDDM drivers. When Windows 7 was installed compatible drivers were not found on the installation media. In this scenario Windows will search on Windows Update for compatible drivers once an internet connection is established. To make Windows search for new drivers manually just click on the Start Button and type in Windows Update. Then, click Check for updates.

If no WDDM compatible drivers are found for your video adapter on Windows update try looking on the manufacturers Web site.

After you have, or your system has automatically updated your video adpater drivers to compatible WDDM drivers it is best to refresh the Windows Experience Index. This will run the Windows Experience performance tool to benchmark your computer and identify what features should be turned on and off. Click on the Start Button and type in check the windows experience index and hit Enter. Next, click Refresh Now.

If you still have problems try running the Aero Troubleshooting utility by clicking on the Start Button and typing in Find an fix problems with transparency and then hit Enter.

As a last resort you can try the old Windows Vista registry hack to enable Aero glass on low end systems.

Fine Tune ClearType Font Smoothing

Everyone has a different idea of good font smoothing. What is nice and smooth to you may be blurry to someone else. That is why Microsoft included the ClearType Text Tuner in Windows 7.

Start the ClearType Text Tuner by clicking on the Start Button and typing in cttune and then hit Enter.

Then just follow the wizard and select the options that look best to you on your LCD monitor.

Click Finish to save your changes.

Enable Aero Glass in Windows Virtual PC

After you have installed Windows 7 in your virtual machine you need to install the integration components. Click on Tools and then Install Integration Components.
Click through the installation on your virtual machine. After the virtual machine reboots, the final step involves enabling the integration components. Click on the Tools again and select Enable Integration Features.
After you type in the user name and password for the virtual machine you should see the Aero Glass interface. If for some reason you do not simply select an Aero Glass theme by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize.

Disable Taskbar Jump Lists

To disable the jump lists right click on the Taskbar and select Properties.

Then, click on the Start Menu tab and uncheck Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar.

Click OK and you are finished.

Customizing the Windows 7 Taskbar

By default when you install Windows 7 you will see the Taskbar with big icons and with program combining enabled.
One easy way to save screen space is to turn on small Icons which will shrink the height of the taskbar but keep the new program combining features (no text displayed & program grouping) enabled.

1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties
2. Then, on the taskbar tab check Use small icons and hit OK.

Are you a fan of the classic Windows taskbar with the program labels? Microsoft did not forget about you. It is very easy to turn program labels back on in taskbar properties.

1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties.
2. Next to Taskbar Buttons, select Never Combine and hit OK.

For the true classic taskbar look enable small icons as well.

Create a Flip3D Taskbar Icon in Windows 7

1. Right click on the Desktop and select New and then Shortcut.
2. Type in RunDll32 DwmApi #105 in the location box and click Next.
3. Type in Flip3D as the Name and click Finish.
4. You will now have an shortcut on the desktop that will launch Flip3D but it has the wrong icon. Right click on the Flip3D shortcut and select Properties.
5. On the Shortcut tab click the Change Icon button.
6. Change the Look for icons in this file text box to C:\windows\explorer.exe and it Enter. The Flip3D icon will now be available. Select it and click OK.
7. Click OK to close out the shortcut properties window.
   
8. Finally, just drag and drop the new shortcut on the Windows 7 taskbar to pin it.

Calibrate your display

Windows 7 includes a new tool to help you calibrate the correct gamma, contrast, brightness and color settings for your specific display.

Just click on the Start Button and type in dccw and hit Enter.

Then follow the on screen directions and adjust the sliders.

Adjust Taskbar Preview Hover Delay

Here is how you can customize the hover time just for the taskbar:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Right click on Advanced and select New DWORD and name the new value "ExtendedUIHoverTime".
4. Right click on ExtendedUIHoverTime and select Modify.
5. Switch to Decimal base and enter in your new number. The default is 400 milliseconds. I like to set mine to 100 for a 100 millisecond delay.
6. Once changed click OK and restart the explorer process or restart your computer.

Alternatively you can customize the global system hover time that will adjust the hover delay for everything on your system including taskbar icons, start menu shortcuts, etc:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse.
3. Right click on MouseHoverTime and select Modify.
4. Set the new value. The default value is 400 milliseconds.
5. Once changed, click OK and restart your computer.

Adjust Live Preview Hover Delay

Here is how you can customize the Live Preview hover delay:

1. Click on the Start Button, type in regedit and hit Enter.


2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Right click on Advanced and select New DWORD and name the new value "ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime".


4. Right click on ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime and select Modify.


5. Switch to Decimal base and enter in your new number in milliseconds. 1000 = 1 second. Anything larger than 0 is a valid value.


6. Once changed click OK and restart the explorer process or restart your computer.