Reclaim Free Space After Installing Windows 7 SP1

 

After installing SP 1 in Windows 7 we will find that we have considerable less space in C drive.

This is because at the time of installation the system restore creates a restore point

and Windows 7 creates a backup of system files in case you want to uninstall the SP1 in case of any problem.

Now if your system is up and running after few days of installation of SP 1 then you may probably think of removing these backup files.

If you have no problem with extra space then let them be there. But if you want a sleek system without extra baggage then you can do the following:

1. Open the terminal(command prompt) as administrator. (Under subheading Accessories you will find command prompt. right click on it and select ‘Run as administrator)

2. Copy paste the following command

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

3.  Press enter and wait for some time. You will find that free space is C drive has increased.

 

 

 

 

You can see I gained almost 2 GB of free space.

The flip side is now you cannot uninstall SP1. So think twice and then decide.

How to Disable Aero Shake feature in Windows 7

 

One of the interesting new features in Windows 7 is the way you can grab a window by the title bar and “shake” it back and forth to minimize everything else. It’s a fun feature, but just in case you want to disable it we’ve got the solution for you.

BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.

Disable

1. Open Notepad and type the following

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Disable Aero Shake

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"NoWindowMinimizingShortcuts"=dword:00000001

2. Save it as Disable.reg

3.Double click on it, ignore the warning and you are done.

Re-enable

If you want it back then

1. Open Notepad and type the following

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Re-Enable Aero Shake

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"NoWindowMinimizingShortcuts"=-

2. Save it as reenable.reg

3. Double click on it, ignore the warning and you are done.

How to Customized Task Manager for Windows 7

 

The task manager in Windows 7 is one of the most used functions to see application activity running under Windows. But there are many functions which are not available in default task manager like highlighting processes, connecting to remote machine etc.

Customized Task Manager is a freeware tool which comes with additional features and also has all the functions of default task manager in Windows.

Features present in this Customized Task Manager:

• Displays all processes running in your system.
• Allows you to add and remove any process (task) on your local machine.
• Highlights current executing process.
• Ability to connect to any machine and display its process’s list.
• Ability to set or get priority of any process running on your local machine.
• Ability to monitor

.NET CLR Managed memory.

Customized Task Manager is a powerful, but yet simple portable task manager for Windows.

Download Customized Task Manager

How to Customize the Default Screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista

 

Windows 7 and Vista include a nice set of backgrounds, but unfortunately most of them aren’t configurable by default.  But with the help of a free app and some registry changes, we can make the default screensavers unique.

How to Customize the default screensavers

If press the Customize button on most of the default screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista, you will probably be greeted with this message:

But if you dig a little in the registry you will find that this isn’t fully correct.  The default screensavers in Vista and 7 do have options you can set, but they’re not obvious.  With the help of an app or some registry tips, you can easily customize the screensavers.

How to Customize Windows Screensavers with System Screensavers Tweaker

Download the System Screensavers Tweaker (link below), and unzip the folder.  Run nt6srccfg.exe in the folder to tweak your screensavers.  This application lets you tweak the screensavers’ registry settings graphically, and it works great in all editions of Windows Vista and 7, including x64 versions.

Change any of the settings you want in the screensaver tweaker, and click Apply.

To preview the changes to your screensaver, open the Screen Saver settings window as normal by right-clicking on the desktop, and selecting Personalize.

Click on the Screensaver button on the bottom right.

Now, select your modified screensaver, and click Preview to see your changes.

You can change a wide variety of settings for the Bubbles, Ribbons, and Mystify screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista, as well as the Aurora screensaver in Windows Vista.

And, by tweaking a little more, you get a screensaver that looks more like a screen full of marbles.

And, if you want to return your screensavers to their default settings, simply run the System Screensavers Tweaker and select Reset to defaults on any screensaver you wish to reset.

Customize Windows Screensavers in the Registry

If you prefer to tweak Windows registry, then here’s how you can customize the screensavers yourself in the Registry. 

Note : Back up your registry first. Create a restore point. (So many thing can go wrong accidently or not following correct procedure.)

1. Type regedit into the search box in the Start menu.

2. Browse to the key for each screensaver, and add or modify the DWORD values listed for that screensaver using the Decimal base.

Note: Tweaking the Registry can be difficult, so if you’re unsure, just use the tweaking application.

3. To edit the Bubbles screensaver, browse to the following in regedit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Screensavers\Bubbles

Now, add or modify the following DWORD values to tweak the screensaver:

• MaterialGlass – enter 0 for solid or 1 for transparent bubbles
• Radius – enter a number between 1090000000 and 1130000000; the larger the number, the larger the bubbles’ radius
• ShowBubbles – enter 0 to show a black background or 1 to show the current desktop behind the bubbles
• ShowShadows – enter 0 for no shadow or 1 for shadows behind the bubbles
• SphereDensity – enter a number from 1000000000 to 2100000000; the higher the number, the more bubbles on the screen.
• TurbulenceNumOctaves – enter a number from 1 to 255; the higher the number, the faster the bubble colors will change.

4. Ribbons

To edit the Ribbons screensaver, browse to the following in regedit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Screensavers\Ribbons

Now, add or modify the following DWORD values to tweak the screensaver:

• Blur – enter 0 to prevent ribbons from fading, or 1 to have them fade away after a few moments.
• Numribbons – enter a number from 1 to 100; the higher the number, the more ribbons on the screen.
• RibbonWidth – enter a number from 1000000000 to 1080000000; the higher the number, the thicker the ribbons.

5. Mystify

To edit the Mystify screensaver, browse to the following in regedit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Screensavers\Mystify

Now, add or modify the following DWORD values to tweak the screensaver:

• Blur – enter 0 to prevent lines from fading, or 1 to have them fade away after a few moments.
• LineWidth – enter a number from 1000000000 to 1080000000; the higher the number, the wider the lines.
• NumLines – enter a number from 1 to 100; the higher the value, the more lines on the screen.

6. Aurora – Windows Vista only

To edit the Aurora screensaver in Windows Vista, browse to the following in regedit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Screensavers\Aurora

Now, add or modify the following DWORD values to tweak the screensaver:

• Amplitude – enter a value from 500000000 to 2000000000; the higher the value, the slower the motion.
• Brightness – enter a value from 1000000000 to 1050000000; the higher the value, the brighter the affect.
• NumLayers – enter a value from 1 to 15; the higher the value, the more aurora layers displayed.
• Speed – enter a value from 1000000000 to 2100000000; the higher the value, the faster the cycling.

Link

Download the System Screensavers Tweaker

How to Cleanup everything when Disk Cleanup doesn’t Delete Everything from the Temp Folder?

 

We all cleanup our computer time to time. It’s the bane of Windows. (NO such hassles in Linux, or so they say). The routing is Virus scan of whole disk, emptying the recycle bin, defragging and cleaning up the temp folder. But the problem is when we run the disk cleanup it leaves behind files. Yeah.. it doesn’t clean everything. Something is still left.

Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete All Files?

The applications that you’re running create temporary files, not to litter your hard drive, but to store files while the application is working on them—whether it’s downloading files, storing files that you’re currently editing, or just caching files so the next time you open the application the files will be more quickly accessible.

The problem is that most applications don’t seem to clean up after themselves, or if they do, they definitely don’t do it very well. That’s why your temporary folder gets really huge over time, and needs to be cleaned out.

Since these files are often being used by applications, Windows doesn’t know whether a particular file can be deleted, so Disk Cleanup only cleans up files that are older than 7 days, which is a safe guess—most people probably don’t have an application open for more than a week, especially since Microsoft makes you reboot nearly every Tuesday, right?

You can even see in the screenshot that Disk Cleanup explains this to you, if you select the Temporary files option in the list.

Change Disk Cleanup to Delete Files Newer than 7 Days

If you reboots your PC every day, you can  change the Disk Cleanup value down to 2 days. If you don’t reboot but you rarely keep applications open, you could probably do fine with 2-3 days instead, though the value you choose is really up to you—just keep in mind applications need those temporary files if they are running.

Open up regedit.exe through the Start Menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
   CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary Files

There, you’ll see the LastAccess value on the right-hand side, which contains a value that specifies the number of days, which you can change to whatever you’d like.

You can see the results of your changes, you can open up your temporary folder by entering the following into the Windows Explorer location bar:

%temp%

If you want, you can delete these files manually.

For Safety, always backup your registry before playing around with it.  With best of intention, it is always possible that something will go wrong.

How to Disable Microsoft’s secret “Customer Experience Improvement Program” from Collecting Information in your Windows 7

 

Well you know Microsoft is notorious. They want control (but so does Steve Job and apple). So what’s new ?

Well they gave you this shiny new piece of OS called Windows 7 and you are all gaga over it. Yes it’s a very good OS. But privacy …? that’s another story. So they have this little program called “customer experience Improvement Program” and what it does besides hogging resources.

The program collects information about your computer hardware and how you use Windows without interrupting you?

And also periodically downloads a file to collect information about problems you might have with Windows.

In this way, the program helps Microsoft improve Windows.

You will be surprised to know that this program even counts how many times you have clicked on start menu, how many programs you have pinned to Taskbar, etc.

When you install Windows, it asks you to participate in Customer Experience Improvement Program.If you allowed this program to collect information or don't know whether the program is collecting information or not, here is the way to know or disallow it to collect information:

1. Open Start menu and type Customer Experience Improvement Program in search box.

2. It'll show the program in search results. Click on it to launch its Settings.

3. Now select "No, I don't want to participate in the program." option  and click on "Save Changes" button.

that’s it. It will stop bothering you.

How To Create a Restore Point for Windows 7 or Vista’s System Restore

 

System restore is a damn good application from Microsoft. Provided free with the operating system, its your first line of defence. If you installing a new unproven/unknown application and aren’t quite sure what it’s going to do to your computer, I would absolutely recommend creating a restore point before you install that application. Here is how to do it.

Most of big application automatically create a restore point before installation, but we can do this manually if required.

1. Open up the Start Menu and right-click on “Computer”, and then select “Properties”.

2. It will open Control Panel. Click on the “System Protection” link on the left hand side.

3. Select the “System Protection” tab to get to the System Restore section.

4. Click the “Create” button to create a new restore point. give it a useful name that can be easily identify later.

5. Click the Create button, and then the system will create the restore point.

 

6. When it’s all finished, there will be a message saying it’s completed successfully.

Now if your application is giving your Windows any trouble then you can restore your computer using System Restore.