Setup Win7

    
As with all computer operating systems since the first caveman abacus, Windows 7 needs a number of small adjustments to make it work its best.  Some of these might have a semi-dramatic impact on your system (depending upon a number of factors), some might increase its performance slightly, and some, admittedly, just make it feel a bit snappier.

I'm using the Windows Home Premium version.  If you have a different edition and something doesn't quite match up, don't worry about it.

I'll divide this page into three areas:

  • Basic Setup Tips: Small adjustments that will make your system a bit easier to use but won't actually affect anything
     
  • Must-Do's: Items that should be done on every system
     
  • Dealer's Choice: Small individual functions you might want to alter or eliminate

    
BASIC SETUP TIPS
 
Open Control Panel.  Set the 'View' to one of the 'Icons' settings.
 

Personalization

Let's discuss the display size of your monitor first.  Do you find yourself squinting at the tiny text on the screen, or leaning forward to read a web page?  If so, your monitor's resolution is set too high.

To make things larger, open 'Display', 'Change display settings'.  Click in the 'Resolution' box and move the slider from 1280 down to 1024 x 768, OK, 'Keep changes'.  That's the standard setting for 17" and 19" monitors and is the size most web pages are designed for.

Since the Desktop icons will now appear gigantic, click on the Desktop with the right mouse button, 'View', select 'Small Icons'.  If the icons in folders now seem too large, set the folder's 'View' menu to 'Medium' or 'Small'.
 

Folder Options

Open 'Folder Options'.  Personally, I think the single-window routine Windows uses is awful.  While it's pesky having a bunch of windows open, it makes it much easier to keep track of things.  If you want to give it a spin, select the second option in the first area.

Click on the 'View' tab.  Most computer users want to know exactly what type of files they're dealing with, so uncheck "Hide file extensions…"  If you want access to all the files on the computer, check 'Show hidden files…' and uncheck 'Hide protected…'  Also uncheck "Show pop-up…"  If you have an "Automatically search for network printers" entry, uncheck it (unless you're using a network printer).
     

System

Open 'System', 'Remote settings', make sure the 'Allow' box is unchecked and the 'Don't…' box down below is checked.
      

User Accounts

If you want to get rid of those pesky 'Permission' boxes that pop up everywhere, open 'User Accounts', 'Change User Account Control settings', slide the control down to 'Never'.

To note is that this isn't an actual 'security system'.  It's exactly what it looks like; a small warning system to remind the user that the system's settings are about to be altered, nothing more.

Close the Control Panel.
          

Delete Box

Speaking of pesky boxes, if you want to get rid of that 'Are you sure?' box that pops up every time you delete something, go to the Desktop, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon, open 'Properties' and uncheck the 'Display…' box.
        

Task Bar & Start Menu

Click on the Task Bar with the right mouse button, open 'Properties'.  Once most people learn where the Task Bar is and what it does, it's common to check "Auto-hide the taskbar' so it'll get out of the way when it's not needed.  I check 'Use small icons', set the 'Taskbar buttons' to 'Never combine', and uncheck the 'Use Aero Peek…' at the bottom, although the stupid thing still doesn't shut off.

On the same panel, click on the 'Customize' button.  This area covers icons in the SysTray, the area to the right on the Task Bar.  For icons that you never use, select 'Hide'.  For ones you do, select 'Show'.  For things like firewall programs that you might want to receive a notification from, use 'Only'.

      
Window Clutter

Open 'Computer'.  Click on 'Organize', skip down to 'Layout' and turn on the 'Menu Bar', if it isn't already.  Skip back down to 'Layout' and deselect any icons that are highlighted.  The unnecessary box on the left should go away.

Go to the 'View' menu, select 'Status Bar' so it's on.  Personally, I like 'Sort By Name', 'Groups by' set to 'None', 'Medium Icons'.
       

MUST-DO'S

Our primary mission is to turn off a number of programs that Windows runs at boot-up.  We'll do this in a variety of ways.  If you can handle a computer but don't really know much about its inner workings, this should be an interesting experience.
 

Backing Things Up

You should back up the whole works before starting.  We won't be making any settings that can't be undone, but on the off-chance that your system doesn't run as well afterward, it would be easier to just restore the system and start over, this time checking things out before moving on to the next tweak, rather than backtracking and trying to figure out what went wrong.

For a backup program, I strongly recommend this.  That's how the pros do it.  If you don't want to go that route, go to Control Panel, open 'Backup and Restore Center', click on 'Back up computer'.  Be forewarned that this won't restore your system if it won't boot back up in the first place.  Seriously, spend a few bucks, go the pro route above.  And don't forget worms and viruses.
 

Background Programs

Between the persnickety way Win7 handles program memory and the fact that it uses a gi-normous amount of memory compared to older versions of Windows, keeping the background programs under control is paramount.  It is the single most important thing you can do.

Windows actually runs four types of background programs at boot-up: what it calls 'features', some background routines called 'services', some background routines run in Task Scheduler, and the pre-loaders that other programs have installed.  The last one will take a few minutes on your part to correct, but it's the most important of the three.
 

Features:

Go to Control Panel, 'Programs and Features'.  Over to the left, click on "Turn Windows features on or off".  In the small box that (eventually) pops open, uncheck:

  • Indexing Service (if it isn't already)
  • Remote Differential Compression
  • Tablet PC Optional Components (unless you use a tablet or the Snipping Tool)

Click OK to begin.  This process will take a while and it'll want a reboot when finished, although it can wait until the next legitimate reboot.

  
Task Scheduler:

Go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, open 'Task Scheduler'.  Click on 'Task Scheduler Library' over to the left.  You might see some oddly-named items at the top of the main window, and below you'll see update programs and the like.  Go ahead and delete them.  Any important update, like a virus update, will be taken care of by the main program, not Task Scheduler.
  

Pre-Loaders:

The reason Windows slows down over time has very little to do with Windows, itself.  It has to do with all of the programs that have been put in since Windows was installed.  In other words, the people out there blaming Windows for "slowing down" have no idea what they're talking about.

Many, if not most, programs install a "pre-loader" that runs during boot-up and pre-loads a couple of the program's libraries and such into memory.  This way the program opens a few seconds quicker when you run it.

Now, if just one program did this, it wouldn't be any big deal.  But when thirty programs do it, they've just sucked up half of your machine's memory and here comes the slow-down.

Want to see something sobering?  Open Control Panel, 'Administrative Tools', open 'System Configuration'.  Click on the 'Startup' tab.

This window is empty on a brand new Windows.

Every one of these pre-loaders has been installed since Windows, and every one of them is gobbling up memory and increasing the number of active programs Windows has to keep tabs on.

Obviously, the only ones that should be listed are programs that you actually want to run during boot-up, such as firewalls, anti-virus and -spyware programs, and whatever specific programs you want running after boot-up.

A few hardware devices might require a file to get going or work better.  My Logitech mouse has an entry so it'll perform more than the basic functions, and my Intel video card runs a few small programs to enhance the performance.  On the other hand, my Realtek audio card installs some daffy mixer panel, so not all programs associated with hardware devices are necessarily necessary.  I don't know if they still do it, but Hewlett-Packard printers used to pre-load a huge printer driver so that you wouldn't have to (gasp!) actually wait a whole two seconds before the printing started.

When it comes to software, very few programs will actually require a pre-loader.  I can only think of two that I've run over the years; Adobe Acrobat and Acronis True Image.  And you won't actually be deleting the entries at first, just unchecking them, so if something later doesn't work, just turn its pre-loader back on and reboot.

To help identify the entries, grab the little separator bar in between 'Command' and 'Location' and make the 'Command' box wider.  That will show you the path to the guilty program.  Unless it's something you know you want, uncheck it.
 

Note: In the following three processes, if you highlight the command and copy it to memory with Ctrl-C, you can paste it into the DOS box with the right mouse button.

Disable Hibernation

Unless you use this feature, it's gotta go.  It doesn't work very well and it's placing a gigantic 2.5 gig file on your hard drive.

The problem with turning it off via the Control Panel is that it doesn't delete the huge file, and it's "in use" so you can't delete it manually.  So do the following.

Go to Start Menu, 'All Programs', 'Accessories', skip down to 'Command Prompt', click on it with the right mouse button and "Run as administrator".

Type this in and hit Enter:

powercfg -h off

That'll turn off Hibernation and delete the humongous file.  Keep the DOS box open for the next step.
  

Dumping The Old Service Pack Files

A while back, Microsoft released a big 'Service Pack' for Windows 7, which replaced about every Windows file on the system.  The problem is, it kept the old files in case there was problem but never deleted them later.  Like the way getting rid of the Hibernation file sliced 2+ gigs off your C Drive, so will this.

In a DOS box, paste in the following and hit Enter:

c:\windows\system32\dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded      

It will take a little while.  It'll first do a long scan, then you'll see a percentage marker go up to 100%, then it'll spend a while deleting the unwanted files.  Your hard drive light should be blinking like crazy the whole time.
 

Disable TCP Autotuning

If you don't have the DOS window open from the previous step, go to Start Menu, 'Programs', 'Accessories', skip down to 'Command Prompt', click on it with the right mouse button and "Run as administrator".

Type this in and hit Enter:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

That'll turn off the TCP autotuning process, yet another needless background program gobbling up system resources.
 

Disable Disk Defragmenter

You definitely don't want this annoying thing running in the background.  With modern hard drive speeds, disk defragmentation is a thing of the past.  You can run it manually now and then if it makes you feel better.

To disable it, open 'Computer', right-click on the C Drive and open 'Properties'.  Click on the 'Tools' panel, then 'Defragment Now'.  Click on 'Configure schedule', uncheck the 'Run' box.

       
Disable Windows Defender

This is a Windows anti-spyware program.  Like Windows Firewall, it isn't a bad program, all in all, but it's still a freebie and a commercial program is always better.  It'll keep itself updated via Windows Update, and you're welcome to run it when doing some kind of maintenance routine, but we want to disable it from running in the background.

To disable Windows Defender, open Control Panel, 'Windows Defender'.  Click on 'Tools', then 'Options'.  Turn off "Automatically scan…", click 'Save'.
 

Disable Security Messages

If Windows Security is nagging you that this or that is turned off (because you're using a better program), open Control Panel, 'Action Center', click on 'Change Action Center settings' and shut the thing up.  Just disable the pertinent item(s), though, since we still want Windows to tell us if anything else is amiss.

     
Hard Drive Read/Write Speed

This is only for desktop computers with a backup power supply, not computers that might suddenly shut down from a loss of power, be it battery power or electrical outage.  It disables one of the copying safeguards which protects the hard drive if the power is suddenly shut off, but it also slows down the copy process and doesn't need to be on if the system has a backup power supply.

Open Control Panel, 'Device Manager'.  Open the 'Disk drives' area.  Right-click on your hard drive and open 'Properties'.  Click on the 'Policies' tab and check any unchecked boxes.  Do the same with any other hard drives you have, including any external USB drives.
 

Unwanted Programs

Open Control Panel, 'Programs and Features'.  If there's something listed that you know you're not using, like some trial demo, right-click on it and 'Uninstall'.  Some proggies want a reboot.  If you see 'Adobe Air', it's installed with Acrobat Reader and can go.
 

DEALER'S CHOICE

Note: For this first group, we're going to use a program called RegEdit.  It doesn't have an icon on the Start Menu or Control Panel.  If you'd like it for easy access in the future, it's in the 'Windows' folder.

To start RegEdit without an icon, open Start Menu, enter "regedit" in the 'Search' or 'Run' box, start it up.  Most of the changes will take place after a reboot.

Before you do anything else, right-click on 'Computer' at the top and 'Export'.  This'll make a master back-up file, just in case there's a problem.  Note that if you run the back-up file, it'll probably pop up with a message saying it couldn't completely rewrite the Registry because some files are 'in use'.  If so, reboot and hold the F8 key down right as the computer begins to start up.  Select 'Safe Mode', boot up, and the file will work then.
      

Getting Rid Of The '- Shortcut' Tag

In order to get rid of the unnecessary "- Shortcut" that Windows tags onto the name of a new shortcut icon, do this.

With steady hand and heart, navigate your way to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion

Click on 'Explorer' and you'll see a 'link' entry over to the right.  Double-click on it to open it, change the number to "00 00 00 00".  The "- Shortcut" will disappear after the next reboot.
 

Changing The Path To IE's Favorites

If you prefer keeping your Favorites off the C Drive so you don't lose anything in case of a meltdown, open RegEdit and navigate your way to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Explorer
Shell Folders

Double-click on 'Favorites' over to the right and put in the path to your Favorites folder.

Now look down the 'Explorer' list for "User Shell Folders".  Again, put the path in the 'Favorites' box on the right.  Close RegEdit and the change should take place immediately.
     

Changing IE's Tool Bar Icons Back To 'Large'

For some bizarre reason, Microsoft decided that we want small icons, goddamit, and that's all there is to it.  As such, we now have to do a Registry tweak:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Internet Explorer
CommandBar

In the right-side window, right-click and select 'New', 'DWORD' (use '32-bit' even if you have a 64-bit Windows).  Make the name of the entry "SmallIcons".  It should take effect immediately.
  

Disabling The Task Bar Pop-Outs

These incredibly annoying things can't actually be turned off, but we can delay the pop-out time so they don't bug us.

Open RegEdit and navigate your way to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Explorer
Advanced

In the right-hand box, right-click and select 'New', 'DWORD' (use '32-bit' even if you have a 64-bit Windows).  Make the name of the key "ExtendedUIHoverTime".  Double-click on it, set it to 'Decimal', put in a big number (these are milliseconds) like "1000000".  Reboot and you're good to go.
     

Go Directly To The 'Open With' Box

When you try to open a file that doesn't have a program associated with it, Windows first pops open a box that asks you if you'd rather go to the Internet or open a list of local tools.  If you want to bypass that box and have it open the tools list directly, do the following.

Open RedEdit.  Navigate your way to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion

Open the 'Policies' folder and look for an 'Explorer' entry.  If there isn't, right-click on 'Policies' and open 'New', 'Key'.  Call it "Explorer".

With 'Explorer' highlighted on the left, click in the right-hand window with the right mouse button and select 'New', then 'DWORD' (use '32-bit' even if you have a 64-bit Windows).  Make the name "NoInternetOpenWith".  Double-click on it and set the value to 1.  Reboot to take effect.
  

Getting Rid Of Items In The 'New' Menu

You can start with ShellMenuNew, but it probably won't eliminate everything.

For the leftovers, open the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder and skim down the long list and look for the file extension of the file the program in the 'New' menu is trying to make.  Open it and delete the 'ShellNew' entry.  It should take effect immediately.
   

Getting Rid Of Items In The 'Context' Menu

To eliminate most of the entries in the right-mouse-button 'context' menu, try FileMenu Tools.  Click on the 'Commands of other applications' tab, uncheck things, hit the 'Save' button, test it out.

To get rid of some of the others:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
*
shellex
ContextMenuHandlers

You'll first want to highlight 'ContextMenuHandles' with the right mouse button and 'Export' a backup file of the area, since most of this is hit-and-miss, and you'll want to restore everything after you find the pesky entry (if it's even there), then delete it singly.

To get rid of the blue arrow 'Backup' line, delete the entry that starts with "{C" (probably the third entry).
     

Getting Rid of the 'Libraries' and 'Homegroup' Icons

I have no idea what I did, but I did something and the next thing I knew, there were two icons on the Desktop, 'Libraries' and 'Homegroup', neither of which could be deleted.

To get rid of them, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Explorer
Desktop
NameSpace

You'll want to delete two keys.  One starts with "{031E4825", the other "{B4FB3F98".  Delete the keys, close the program, hit F5 to refresh the Desktop and the icons should be gone.
 

Getting Rid Of Icons In The Control Panel

If you have the 'Pro' or 'Ultimate' edition of Windows, well, this is one of the reasons why you spent the big bucks.  The other versions don't have a very handy little program called the Local Group Policy Editor.

If you have 'Pro' or 'Ultimate', do this:

  • Start Menu, Search or Run box, type in "gpedit.msc" and hit Enter.
     
  • In the 'User Configuration' area, expand 'Administrative Templates', then click on 'Control Panel'.
     
  • Double-click on the "Hide specified…" entry on the right.  Check the 'Enabled' gadget, then click 'Show'.  In the box at the top, type in the name of the icon exactly as it displays in Control Panel.
     
  • Close everything out and that should do it.

   
If you have any other edition of Windows, do this:

  • In RegEdit, navigate to:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER
    Software
    Microsoft
    Windows
    CurrentVersion
    Policies
    Explorer

  • Right-click in the right-side box and make a new DWORD (32-bit), even if you have a 64-bit system.  Label it "DisallowCPL" and give it a value of '1' (hexadecimal).
     
  • Right-mouse click on 'Explorer' and make a Key named the same as above.
     
  • Right-click on the new Key and add a new String.  Name it the exact name of the item in the Control Panel you want to remove.  Open it up and put the same thing in the 'Value Data' box.

Close RegEdit and reboot.  If an icon is still there, right-click on it and make a shortcut icon.  It'll put it on the Desktop.  Open the icon in Notepad.  This is a binary file and the spacing in Notepad will look a little weird, but you should be able to see the whole path starting with "C:\" to the .CPL file that's causing the problem.  Track it down and delete it.

When you get all of the Registry entries taken care of, highlight 'Explorer' and use the 'Export' feature to save the file in case you have to reinstall Windows in the future.  Double-clicking on the icon it makes will enter all of the info in the Registry.

That's it for RegEdit.


Quicker Boot-Up

If you have a dual-core computer, this might speed up your boot-up time.  It gained me about 10 seconds.  If you're unsure if you have a dual-core machine or not, click on the Task Bar with the right mouse button, open 'Task Manager', then click on the 'Performance' tab.  If you have dual processors, there will be two small windows in the top-right area.

Open Control Panel, 'Administrative Tools', 'System Configuration'.  Click on the 'Boot' tab.  Click on 'Advanced options', check the 'Number of…' box and select '2' in the drop-down menu.
  

Activating 'Link to Email' in Internet Explorer

Windows 7 doesn't have a default email program so they've eliminated the option on the 'Programs' panel of Internet Options.

Assuming you've installed an email program, do this:

  • Control Panel, 'Default Programs'
     
  • 'Set program access…'
     
  • Click on the 'Custom' line and select your email program
       

Increasing The Audio Level

If the audio level seems kind of low, open Control Panel, 'Sound', click on 'Speakers', then 'Properties'.  Check 'Bass Boost' and 'Loudness Equalization'.
   

ReadyBoost

If you have 2 gigs or less of memory, you'll want to use the ReadyBoost system.  If you're unsure how much you have, click on the 'Computer' icon with the right mouse button and open 'Properties'.  It'll say down below.

This will require a 4-gig memory stick.  When Windows runs out of memory, it'll write its temp files to the mem stick, rather than the hard drive, which is much faster.  Four gigs is the max it can utilize.

To enable ReadyBoost, just plug the mem stick into a USB slot and wait for the AutoPlay window to pop up.  Click on the 'ReadyBoost' tab, then 'Use this device'.
    

Misc Notes

  • The "Run as administrator" option can be invaluable.  For example, if the registration box for some program just won't go away, find the program's actual icon in its program folder (not the entry on the Start Menu), right-click on it and "Run as administrator".  Take care of the registration info and this time the box should stay away.  And some updates, bug fixes and patches might require the 'administrator' to run them, so keep it in mind if something's not working or installing correctly.
     
  • If a favorite program either won't install, or won't run correctly if it does install, try Compatibility Mode.  If the problem is with the installation, click on the Setup program with the right mouse button and open 'Properties'.  If the program's already installed, go to the program's folder and open the 'Properties' of the actual program (usually an .EXE file).  Click on the 'Compatibility' tab and try a few of the options.
     
  • On the subject, it's not unusual for Windows 7 to pop up with a 'program error' box after you shut an older program down.  As long as the program's working fine when it's up, just ignore it.  You can try a few of the Compatibility Modes, but if you still get the error message, don't worry about it.  These things always happen with a new operating system.  If the program is still being supported, check out their web site for a Win7 patch.
     
  • Speaking of which, you should take the time and visit the home sites of the makers of your video card/chip and your CPU's manufacturer.  Open Control Panel, 'Device Manager', 'Display adapters'.  Go to Google and type in the name and model number of the device.  The home site should pop up and maybe the actual driver downloads page.  See if there's an updated Win7 driver.  Then go back to Device Manager and do the same for 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'.  In some cases, like with Intel motherboards, both Win7 updates might be in the same program.
     
  • If your system seems to have something wrong with it, open Control Panel, 'Performance Information and Tools', click on 'Advanced tools'.  Any problems Windows sees will be listed at the top under 'Performance issues'.
     
  • If your hard drive is thrashing around and you're curious what's causing it, right-click on the Task Bar, open Task Manager.  Click on the 'Processes' tab.  Open the 'View' menu, 'Select Columns', add 'I/O Reads'.  Maybe widen the program a bit, then click on the I/O column to bring the most-used figures to the top.  The one with the changing numbers is probably the culprit, most likely an anti-virus or anti-spyware program updating itself.  If it's a program called "csrss.exe", that's a Windows program and needs to run.  If you don't recognize the name of the program, do a Google search.
     

Your Part

Your main responsibility lies in checking MSConfig after installing every new program, just to see if any pre-loaders were installed.  Those are the real memory-gobblers, and thus the main reason a system slows down over time.  Staying on top of the pre-loaders is the one single most important thing you can do to keep your computer healthy and happy.