Windows 7′s taskbar is undoubtedly a great addition to Windows, but if you’ve got more than one application window open, you’ve got to either click twice or patiently hover to navigate to an open window. Reader Richard details how he fixed this: More »
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I frequently download big files to my computer and walk away. How do I stop my computer from going into standby while downloading something from the internet? I’m using Firefox on Windows 7. More »
Windows 7: Hailing from the camp of “software that does exactly what its name implies”, Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer fine-tunes the size, spacing, and margins of your Windows 7 Superbar previews. More »
Windows 7 only: If you’ve been itching to use the new XP Mode feature in Windows 7, but you aren’t too keen on using Virtual PC or just prefer VirtualBox, here’s how to use XP Mode in VirtualBox.
We’ve already covered how to set up and use XP Mode in Windows 7, how to use it on a machine without hardware virtualization, and then how to create your own XP Mode for any version of Windows with the freeware VMWare Player software, but if VirtualBox is your virtualization platform of choice, writer Matthew from How-To Geek (my home away from Lifehacker) has you covered with a guide to setting up XP Mode under Windows 7 using VirtualBox instead of Virtual PC.
The basic principle is pretty simple, requiring you to just install XP Mode from Microsoft without the additional Virtual PC component, creating a copy of the XP Mode virtual hard drive, and then using it as an existing hard drive in a new VirtualBox VM. Because you can only legally install XP Mode for Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate PCs, if you’re using a different version you should probably create your own XP Mode that works anywhere.
Update: Several readers have pointed out that XP Mode doesn’t properly activate when used under VirtualBox, so the author is researching whether there is a workaround. Until then, be sure to check out how to create your own XP Mode that works anywhere.
Whether you want to run XP mode on your Windows 7 machine and you can’t for lack of a chip that supports virtualization, or you just don’t want to use Microsoft’s virtualization software, you can run XP mode sans virtualization.
Over at How-To Geek they’ve put together a guide to running XP mode without jumping through all the Microsoft-approved hoops. You’ll need to download XP Mode from Microsoft (but skip the part where you download Virtual PC) and grab a copy of the free VMware Player. XP Mode can be imported directly into VMware Player and can even be linked into your main operating system (for sharing files and internet access) through VMware Tools.
The guide at How-To Geek provides picture-heavy step-by-step instructions, so even if you’ve never used a virtual machine application before, you shouldn’t have any problems getting started with VMware player.
Have a favorite virtual machine tip or trick to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Ed. note: If you’ve tried moving the Windows Users directory to a location other than the default, you know it can be quite an undertaking. Reader Roobs wrote in detailing how he moved his Windows 7 Users directory without nasty registry hacks.
(Every day we keep a close eye on our #tips page to see what readers have to offer. Sometimes we get links, other times quick suggestions, and sometimes we get full-fledged how-to guides. Here’s one of them.)
When scouring the net for hours on a method of relocating the entire Users directory (in Windows 7) on another partition, most of the methods were not good. They mostly involved nasty registry editing and dummy accounts, and had quirks that could cause potential issues further down the line.
Eventually, I came across a brilliant method on tuts4tech by a user named “ohdannyboy”. It’s utterly flawless, and makes use of symlinks. It’s simple, and you can just forget about it after it’s done. Everything takes care of itself. The only quirk is that accessing the Users folder from the C: drive (for example) appears as “C:” when it’s actually on “D:”. But this appears to be the intentional behaviour of symlinks. Several months on for me, and it’s like nothing was ever changed.
Unfortunately, that post no longer seems to be there (the site crashed shortly after, and I think they had to resort to backups or something). It’s too good a method to let it disappear. Just remember that this is THIS user’s method and NOT mine.
It’s also best to do this on a clean install of Windows, unless you don’t mind waiting awhile…
To most easily move all user files and user program files off your boot drive (an SSD in my case), follow these instructions.
FIRST, Create a restore point (they’re better in Windows 7 than you might remember):
1. Open System by clicking the Start button, right-clicking Computer, and then clicking Properties.
2. In the left pane, click System protection. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Click the System Protection tab, and then click Create.
4. In the System Protection dialog box, type a description, and then click Create.
THEN: Go to System Recovery/Command Prompt:
1. Boot with the Win7 Install DVD, choose language, currency and keyboard, and hit Next.
2. At the screen with the “Install Now” choose “Repair your computer”
3. You will be asked if you want to “Repair and Restart” by the System Recovery options, choose “No”.
4. Then Make sure that Windows 7 is listed as one of the installed OS’s available for recovery, and that it’s selected and then press next. You will be given a list of recovery tools.
5. Choose “Command Prompt”.
Find your virtual Windows drive loaded from the Win7 media (probably either C or X), find your actual Windows/SSD drive (D or E) and find your HDD (regular hard drive) (D or E).
In my system normally, C=SSD with Windows on it, D=HDD data drive
Using Win7 Update media, the drives in Recovery mode were set up differently, thusly:
X: virtual/temp Windows drive,
E: actual Windows/SSD drive,
D: HDD, hard drive I wanted to put Users on.
Some report that System Recovery mode will set up their drives like this:
C: virtual/temp Windows drive
D: Actual Windows/SSD drive
E: HDD, they want to put Users on.
In the command prompt you will be using Robocopy (NOT xcopy!) to copy c:Users to d:Users, then delete the old c:Users, then make a symlink from c:Users to D:Users. Note that you must do these things in order, and you must not have a d:Users dir before you do this.
NOTE: in the System Recovery command prompt window, your drives are not the same as they will be after you leave recovery mode! So adjust the commands below for how the drives are in Recovery Mode, and then they’ll turn out correct later.
I used:
robocopy /mir /xj E:Users D:Users
To move Users from Windows/SSD to HDD.
/mir tells robocopy to mirror the directories, this will copy all files and permissions.
/xj is very important, this tells robocopy not to follow junction points. If you forget this, you will have a lot of trouble.
Make sure no files failed to copy (FAILED column = 0).
Then you must remove the old Users Folder from the Windows/SSD (c:) drive, before you can create the symlink:
I used:
rmdir /S /Q E:Users
Create a NTFS Junction/symlink that points to the new Users folder:
I used:
mklink /J E:Users D:Users
Use the /J switch to create a junction that’s a hard symlink. (If you use the /D switch, you’ll also have to edit the registry, cuz it won’t be a hard link.) Using /J, when Windows looks for the C:Users dir, it will find it! But it will be on the HDD instead of the SSD. Tricky!
To see the proof of what you’ve created, still in the command prompt window, go into the actual Windows/SSD and do the “dir” command, and you’ll see:
” Users [D:Users]“
Now restart and you’ll see Users on your HDD, and there you go. No further configuration or fiddling required. New user profiles will all be stored on the D: drive, as will any user specific data. And it is achievable without any messing about in the registry, searching and replacing values, or having to mess with new profiles in any way. Totally set and forget.
If you give the method above a try, make sure you set your System Restore point just in case something goes wrong. If you’ve tried this or other methods, let’s hear about it in the comments. Thanks Roobs!
If you can’t get used to the new search feature in Windows 7, or you just prefer using Everything, Google Desktop, or Launchy, you might be interested to know you can disable it.
While we’re not recommending to average users to disable the built-in search functionality, if you really don’t use it, you could save yourself some CPU cycles by getting rid of it. Over at How-To Geek (my home away from Lifehacker), we’ve got a guide to the quick steps to disabling the built-in Windows Search feature, but you can do it easily by simply heading into the Control Panel, searching for “Turn Windows features on or off”, and then unchecking Windows Search from the list.
Once you’ve restarted your PC, you’ll notice that the search box is gone from the start menu, and there will no longer be a search box in Windows Explorer when you’re browsing through the file system. You should also note that Microsoft Outlook’s “Instant Search” feature depends on Windows Search, so that will use the slower Outlook search instead.
It's definitely not a setting for everybody—and frankly this writer loves the Windows 7 search box, but if you never use it, at least now you know how to disable it. If you prefer your instructions in step-by-step format, click the link for the full guide.
The new Libraries feature in Windows 7 makes it easier to manage your files and folders. Today we take a comprehensive look at everything you can do with Windows 7 Libraries.
The Libraries feature in Windows 7 provides a central place to manage files that are located in multiple locations throughout your computer. Instead of clicking through a bunch of directories to find the files you need, including them in a library makes for quicker access.
Access Libraries
To access the libraries in Windows 7, type libraries into the search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
The default libraries in Windows 7 will open up in Explorer which are Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos.
Anytime you’re in Windows Explorer, you’ll be able to access libraries from the Navigation Pane.
Using Libraries
In these examples we’ll take a look at the Documents Library, but the procedures will work for any library you want to add locations to. If you’ve been working in Windows 7 for a while and storing documents to the My Documents folder, when you open the Documents Library, you’ll see those documents. Some applications install folders in the My Documents folder by default and you’ll see those as well.
What if you have documents stored in a folder other than My Documents? You need to add it to the Documents Library. There are a couple of ways you can go about it. Right-click on a folder and select Include in library from the context menu, then choose the Documents Library. Keep in mind that when you add a folder to a library, that folder is still in its original location.
Or when you have the folder containing your documents open, select Include in library and choose the library to put them in from the dropdown.
Here we take a look at the Documents library that contains files that are located in different places throughout the hard drive, including some on another partition.
You can also remove items from libraries as well. When you’re in a library, click on the locations link.
The Documents Library Locations window opens up and from here you can add or remove locations.
Create New Libraries
The default libraries are all well and good, but if you really want to take advantage of this feature, you’ll want to create your own. While in the libraries directory click on the New library button and give it a name.
In this example we made a new library called Work Projects. The first time you open it you’ll be prompted to include a folder.
Browse to the location with the files you want to add then click Include folder.
Now the files included in that folder will show up in the new library.
After you’ve created some libraries they’ll be added to the list to select from.
Add Network Locations
While libraries are a handy new feature, it’s not perfect. Not all folders can be added to libraries as Microsoft has stuck some rules on them. You can pretty much add anything from a local drive, including other volumes or partitions. External USB drives formatted as NTFS or Fat32 can be added as well. Things get kind of weird when you’re trying to add network and non-indexed locations.
Thankfully there’s a handy free utility you can use that makes adding network locations a lot easier. Win7 Library Tool is small and straight forward to use. Just click on the Create a new library button.
Then add the network location you want included in the library. Notice this tool will also allow you to easily change the library icon which is a neat additional feature.
In this example we’ve added a home network share that contains music files to a library named MP3 library.
Conclusion
This should help get you started using Libraries in Windows 7, which at first might take some getting used to. Once you understand how they work and start creating your own, you’ll find they’re actually pretty useful. Once you get going, you’ll find the Win7 Library Tool makes adding network locations a snap. How about you? Do you use libraries in Windows 7? Leave a comment and let us know what you like or don’t like about the feature.
Windows: Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 has no option for remembering the position of individual windows. If you miss having Windows remember how you arrange things, ShellFolderFx can help.
It's a small thing, certainly, but if you'd grown used to Windows keeping track of the size and position of your windows—especially important for multi-monitor users!—then the removal of that feature in Windows 7 was more than a minor annoyance.
ShellFolderFix is a small application that allows you to enable folder and size position saving as well as maintaining folder browsing history between sessions. Once you set the options you want and send the application to the system tray you never need to bother with it again, it runs in the background keeping track of the folders and restoring them to their respective positions.
For another way to get a piece of Windows history back in Windows 7 check out how to get the classic network activity indicator back in Windows 7. ShellFolderFix is freeware, Windows only. Have a trick or application for restoring functionality from past versions of Windows to Windows 7? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
If you’ve settled into Windows 7 but find the change in the functionality of the backspace key while browsing files to be too much to bear, use this simple hack to turn the backspace key back to its XP state.
For the unfamiliar: in Windows XP pressing the backspace key while browsing files in Windows Explorer would navigate you up one folder level. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 however, the same keystroke doesn’t move you up a folder level but back one stop in the history. It’s a small thing but if you’ve coded the backspace into your muscle memory as a quick way to navigate up the folder hierarchy it can be a very annoying small thing to deal with.
Over at How-To Geek they've put together a guide to using AutoHotkey to resolve the backspace issue. You can either add their script to your AutoHotkey installation or download a stand alone executable—both are provided. Throw a link to the application in your Startup folder and you'll never have to deal with the backspace key not navigating the way you want. Check out the link below for full details and the files.
