Basic Windows 7 Tweaks: Part 1

This post presents some very basic and simple tweaks you can make to Windows 7.  Of course there are hundreds more, but for now, these will get you started.  We’ll be posting more later on.

Tweak 1: Make Internet Explorer 8 Faster and Smoother:

While the new IE 9 has replaces IE8, some of you may still like UE8.  It is still a great browser, however it’s bogged down by some features that Microsoft thought were cool in the beginning, but have ended up being useless for the most part.  Here’s how to make it smoother and faster.

First you’ll have to reset IE back to factory defaults.  Here’s how:

1. Go to the Control panel and select “Internet Options“.
2. Go to the “Advanced” tab to the far right of the window, then click the “Reset” button at the bottom.
3. In the next window, check the box next to “Delete personal settings“, then click OK.

You are now ready to set up IE8 without it’s unneeded default features.  Follow these steps:

1. When you first launch IE8, you’ll be asked to choose your settings. Select Choose custom settings.
2. When asked whether you want to turn on IE8′s suggested sites, select No, don’t turn on.
3. When asked to choose a default search provider, select Show me a webpage after setup to choose more search providers.
4. When asked to download search provider updates, select No.
5. When offered a choice of accelerators, select Turn off all Accelerators that are included with Internet Explorer.

Tweak 2:  Make the Recycle Bin Smaller:

Right-click the recycle bin, select Properties, and set a more reasonable Custom size.  Typically 250MB to 500MB is more than enough.  This will help reduce the clutter on your hard drive, as well as performance.

Tweak 3:  Improve Windows Explorer’s Folder Options:

This tweak makes Windows itself more usable, giving you more options and menus to use.  It also shows you more information about your files by showing the file extensions.  This way you know what type of file you are dealing with.  You may have read our post about virus threats, where we mentioned that a virus can hide it’s true identity if the file extensions are turned off.

• Go to the Control Panel, choose Appearance and Personalization, then Folder Options.
• Check (enable) two items that are normally unchecked: Always show menus and Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
• Uncheck (disable) one item that is checked by default: Hide extensions for known file types.

Tweak 4:  Change Your Desktop Icon Size:

Are you annoyed with the huge icons on the Windows 7 desktop, after getting used to having smaller ones in Windows XP?  I know I am!  What were they thinking?  Well, you can make your desktop icons almost any size you want with your mouse’s scroll wheel.  Here’s how.

First, close all open windows so the desktop has the focus, then press and hold the Ctrl key while scrolling the mouse wheel up or down. The desktop icons will step through many sizes, from huge to tiny.  Pretty cool, eh?

That’s it for this post.  Please explore other posts in our blog, as we’ve got more tips already posted.  Check back soon for even more tips and tweaks.

Also, please visit our website at www.saguaropc.com,  or our Facebook page to find out more about us, or to have us help you with your computer repair issues in Tucson.