How To Personalize Windows 7 Starter

Do you have Windows 7 Starter on your netbook? Friendly Computers think that this article will be very useful for you!

Microsoft removed many of the personalization options in Windows 7 Starter, the cheap edition for netbooks.  There is still a lot of stuff you can customize, though some of it is hidden, so here we’ll show you how to make your netbook your very own.

In all other editions of Windows 7, you can easily personalize your computer by simply right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize.  This gives you a wide range of options to change, including themes, background, sounds, screensaver, mouse pointers, and desktop icons.This Personalization panel not available Windows 7 Starter, however.  If you right-click on the desktop, all you will see are options to change your resolution and add Desktop Gadgets.With a few quick Start Menu searches, though, you can rediscover many of the personalization settings.  Here’s how to change your window theme, screensaver, sounds, and more in Windows 7 Starter.  All of these options are in the normal Personalization panel in other editions of Windows 7, but here we’ll show you how to find them in Starter.

Sounds

It can be both useful and enjoyable to change your default sounds.  Anyone who’s booted a laptop during a meeting knows how annoying computer sounds can be.  Or, if you just want to make your PC sound different than the default settings, Windows 7 includes several very nice sound schemes.

Simply enter “change sounds” in your start menu search, and then select “Change system sounds”.

Here you can change or remove any of the sounds or even turn on or off the Windows boot sound.You can even choose one of the other sound schemes; 7 Starter still includes all of the new sound schemes!

Screensaver

Most netbooks will have no screensaver enabled by default, and instead will have the screen turn off when idle to conserve power.  If you would like your netbook to have a screensaver, Windows 7 Starter does still include all the default Windows 7 screensavers.  Simply type “screensaver” in your start menu search, and choose “Change screen saver”.

This will open the same screensaver option dialog you’re used to.  Choose the screensaver and settings you want.

Theme

By default, Windows 7 Starter uses the Aero Classic theme.  This is similar to the default Aero Glass theme on other editions of Windows 7, but without the transparency.If you prefer the classic Windows look (from Windows 95/98/2000/ME), or need to use a high contrast theme, you can still revert to this.  Type “theme” in the start menu search, and click the “Change the color scheme” link.

This opens the classic theme selector.  Choose the them you want, and click OK.

Here’s the Windows Classic theme on Windows 7 Starter.You can change your theme options in the Windows Classic theme, including the desktop background color.  Simply click Advanced in the previous dialog, click on the background color in the picture, and then choose the color you want from the box.

Background Picture

Windows 7 Starter does not allow you to directly change the background.  One of the best ways around this is the Slide Show desktop gadget.  To add this, right-click on your desktop, and click Gadgets.

Now, double-click on the Slide Show gadget, or click and drag it to your desktop.By default the gadget is small.  To make it larger, hover your mouse over the right hand side of the gadget, and click on the middle button with the arrow.Now the gadget will show a 320×240 image.

This actually looks fairly nice for a background, especially on the standard 1024×600 resolution screens on netbooks. Desktop Icons

To change the icons for common items such as My Computer and the Recycle Bin, enter “icons” in the start menu search and select the “Show or hide common icons on the desktop” link.

Here you can show or hide icons, or can also change the icons for these items.Select the item you wish to change, and click Change Icon.  You can select from icons included with Windows, or others you may have on your computer.Mouse Pointers

If you’d like to customize your mouse pointers, enter “cursors” in the start menu search, and choose the “Change how the mouse pointer looks” link.

This will open the classic mouse properties dialog, where you can choose mouse pointer schemes and change individual cursors.

Conclusion

Windows 7 Starter still has a lot of customization options, but they’re not as apparent as they are in other editions of Windows 7.  With these tips, you should be able to customize your netbook more than you originally thought possible.  And these all work without installing any 3rd party software!

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11243/how-to-personalize-windows-7-starter/

Test Drive Windows 7

Friendly Computers found this article very useful for users who didn’t move to Windows 7 but thinking about it.

If you are reluctant to buy or work with Windows 7, because you are just not sure if that is the Operating System for you. Microsoft will allow you to test drive the program at their site.

When you try to run the test program, be sure you use Internet Explorer 8, version 6 or higher.

Located at the VLabcenter, you can exercise running windows 7 Professional.

Select one of the options on the menu to the right.

An start the build process.

Provide the NTLM Authentication

NTLM Authentication

This is what the TestDrive Windows looks like in operation:

Test Drive Window

Starting to Explore using the Start Icon.

Starting To Explore

Besides using the visual tools available to test Windows 7, there are other options available to look at as well. For example, you can test XP Mode.

XP Mode

You can also test Network and HomeGroup operations.

Home Group

Using the vLabcenter is a fast and inexpensive way to test drive Windows7, and see what all the hoopla is all about.

The only condtions are that it must be run on Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher and you must have XP, vista, or Windows7 as the platform.

To get the most of the windows 7 test drive experience, choose a topic on the right that you would like to try.

A quick system check will be made to make sure that your machine has all the requirements needed to run the test.

A short “start-up” period may take place. Remember that this is a fully functional copy of Windows7 Professional that you will be working with. This provide you with a lot of hands on experience that can help you decide whether to commit your resources to the Windows 7 engagement.

You can access the VLabcenter here.

Source: http://windows7news.com/2010/02/16/test-drive-windows-7/

Folder Takes Ages To Load? Try This Fix

Do your folders take a lot of time to load? Friendly Computers want to help you and share this useful article.

I have one folder on my hard drive where I put all the downloads from the Internet on; Videos, photos, documents, music, programs and basically anything that gets downloaded. I noticed lately that it took a long time to open that folder in Windows Explorer. Or, to be more precise, a long time before the contents where sorted correctly in the folder. Windows Explorer would show that loading animation in the location bar and it took a few seconds before the files and folders were sorted properly.

I first thought it was related to the size of the contents which now occupied 247 Gigabytes of space on that hard drive. the 35k files and 485 subfolders could also have been a problem. Deleting some old contents in that folder did not fix the problem. I also tried switching the layout but every view mode resulted in the same problems.

Then I thought about other programs that might cause the problem. Antivirus software or shell extensions but none of this was the reason for the lag that was experienced whenever I opened that folder. All other folders opened fine but none had the size or files of that one folder.

Then I discovered the customize tab in the folder properties dialog which finally allowed me to fix the issue that I had.

The “optimize this folder for” pulldown menu was set to Pictures although pictures did not make up the bulk of the data. I switched that to videos, enabled the “also apply this template to all subfolders” option and et voila, the folder contents where being displayed immediately afterwards. I double-checked, reverted the changes to end up with the same slow loading folder. Applied the fix again and it was once again fast and without lag.

Source: http://windows7news.com/2010/02/04/folder-takes-ages-to-load-try-this-fix/

Turn Your Windows 7 Laptop into a WiFi Hotspot with Connectify

Friendly Computers found this article useful for Windows 7 users.

In some computing situations, you might need to create a WiFi hotspot quickly so other wireless devices can use an Internet connection. Today we take a look at Connectify which easily turns your Windows 7 machine into an instant WiFi hotspot.

You might be at a location where there is only one Ethernet connection available (hotel room, office or meeting room etc.) and you need to share the Internet connection with other people or devices. Connectify is a free utility which is light on system resources and makes it easy for you to set up your Windows 7 machine as a secure WiFi hotspot.

Note: Connectify only works with Windows 7 Home and above, Starter is not supported.

Connectify

Installation is quick and easy, and once complete, you can access Connectify from the icon in the Taskbar.

Under settings, type in a name for the WiFi network, a password to access it, then decide the type of internet connection you want to share. It allows LAN, VirtualBox Host-Only, Wireless Network Connection, and no Internet sharing. When you’re ready, click on theStart Hotspot button.

Now you’ll see it running and can begin connecting your other wireless computers and/or devices.

Now that Connectify is running on the Windows 7 laptop, In this example we go over to an XP laptop and connect it. Open up Wireless Networks and you’ll see the new hotspot we just created that you can connect to.

You’ll be prompted to enter in the Network Key (password) you set in Connectify twice, then click on Connect.

Wait for a moment while a network address is acquired.

Here you can see the XP machine is connected to the Geek-fi network we created on the Windows 7 machine.

When you go back to the Windows 7 machine you can see the device(s) connected. It also keeps track of devices that were previously connected as well.

Right click on the Connectify icon in the tray to get different options for running it.

In our tests, the signal strength and connection speed was adequate, but may be a bit slower than your used to. Results will vary based on the type of hardware you have sending and receiving the signal. Overall though, if you need to create a Hotspot in a pinch, Connectify is more than capable. If you’re looking for an easy way to share your Windows 7 wireless connection with other devices, and want it to be secure, Connectify get’s the job done.

Download Connectify

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9739/turn-your-windows-7-laptop-into-a-wifi-hotspot-with-connectify/