Windows 7 Performance and Productivity Tips

1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Really remove the sidebar

At first glance you might think Windows 7 has got rid of the sidebar, but don’t be fooled. Gadgets are still hosted by the Sidebar.exe process, it’s just that this is now launched automatically when Windows boots. If you don’t plan on ever using gadgets then you could delete the Sidebar Registry entry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, and recover a small amount of RAM. That might be a little risky, though, as we’re not quite sure what else the sidebar process does in Windows 7. The safest approach is to disable it temporarily by launching MSCONFIG.EXE, clicking the Startup tab and clearing the box next to the Startup entry. Now reboot and test Windows 7 for a day or two to confirm everything is still working, before finally deleting the sidebar Registry entry.

9. 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.

10. 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.)

11. 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.

12. 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. (Read more inside ..)

How to make your loptop battery life long

Defrag your Hard Disk

A big part of computer users regularly combine HDD does. Regular intervals with the computer slows down and the system’s HDD may reduce performance. To prevent this, especially laptop users do not create periodically combined with the hard disk is. And it will be more tired when you try HDDniz So your battery will be reflected in a positive way.

Resources unnecessary applications that use the last

Reduce the performance of the computer system one of the most important factors are background applications running. Some may be required, although some users of the application running in the background that has no benefits. Use of system resources is much lower not only the system performance, but also the serious laptoplarda at a rate which reduces battery life. Therefore, a vital importance for you to close applications that are not favorable to your battery life will reflect. To turn off this application and before determining the Start / Run by entering ‘Msconfig’ command from the window, and then ‘Startup’ tab. Here are the selected ones by removing unnecessary programs unnecessary applications to get rid of the exploitation of system resources. CTRL + ALT + DEL key combination by using the resources of the system can determine which applications consume excessively.

Stop running the tools

Applications on your computer you are currently using the direct impact your battery life. Therefore, the HDD assembly process such as virus scanning or laptop is connected to electricity to perform.

Remove the external device

Connect notebook to external devices (such as external HDD and bluetooth and the external speaker) a negative impact on battery life will be found. Therefore the external devices do not need to connect the notebook.

CD / DVD drive and hold the blank

Laptops CD / DVD drive in a CD or DVD drive for PCs usually are left, despite use. Therefore, drivers do not need, do not leave full.

Do not use the DVDs do not need external

Use your battery when using external DVD drive to stop. Rather, Microsoft’s Virtual CD ROM Control Panel, or a virtual drive so you can use Pismo File Mount.

Reduce the brightness

Monitor the battery life of Laptops severely affected is one of the hardware components. However, by request, to monitor the load of the battery can be reduced. For this, go to Control Panel Display Settings of the screen’s brightness value (brigtness) can decrease.

Audio Close

Applications always have the obligation not to use it as a voice, closing the speaker’larını Laptops also have the chance to extend your battery life.

Do not use a screensaver

Usually recommended for protection of the monitor screensaver, work came to use the same batteries in parallel will not be assessed because the screen saver or power consumption and thus battery usage is among the factors directly affecting.

Take a look at the power settings

Desktop computer users are not familiar with too much power settings, a separate important for laptop users. As a result of the settings affect the battery life of a large one is located here. Control Panel access to power settings of your own, you can identify the most appropriate setting and thus may have contributed to your battery life.

Visual close

Microsoft’s new operating system with Windows Vista Aero Glass feature enters our lives together, although if the eye appeal, the system resources it uses as many as you. This function in the closure (in the case of Windows, switch to classic view) that a positive way will affect your battery life.

Use Hibernate instead of Sleep mode

Stand-by or hibernate or sleep mode and that the Hibernate mode is different from each other. Hard disk and display sleep mode on computers that are being closed, the system memory and the processor remains active. This laptop battery life, even when not in use to reduce the causes. Hibernate mode turns off the system itself and thus completely when not in use Laptops problems such as low battery life does not.

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