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If you are influenced with the way Windows 7 looks, we suggest you not to buy Windows 7 applet at its face value. It has some powerful set of features hidden in the background that make it sure to blow your mind. Do explore each and every option in the Windows applets to make sure you don’t miss on anything. Follow the tips mentioned below to troubleshoot Windows 7 to make a difference in your PC:
Problem Step Recorder- There are times when users are not able to clearly describe what exactly the problem are they facing. It becomes frustrating for technicians as without knowing the reason behind the problem, they are not able to provide amicable solution. Understanding the need, Microsoft has introduced a brand new solution named Problem Steps Recorder that is included in Windows 7.
So whenever an application starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need to do is click Start, type PSR, press Enter and click on Start Record option. Now whatever they do, would be recorded, every click, key-press screen grabs will be packed into a zipped MHTML file which can be easily emailed. This is quick, easy and effective way to save hours of troubleshooting time.
Burn Images- Finally, Windows 7 has introduced a feature that other operating systems had for years, the capability to burn ISO images to CDs and DVDs. It couldn’t have been much easier to use, all you have to do is double click the ISO image and select the drive with blank disc, click Burn and wait as you get your disc produced.
Create and mount VHD files- Microsoft’s Virtual PC creates a virtual machine hard drive in VHD files and Windows 7 allows mounting these files directly so user can access them in the host system. Click Start, type, diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, click Action > Attach VHD and select the file that needs to be mounted. Later it will appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written similar to any other drive.
Click on Action > Create VHD and you can create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click, select Initialize Disk and after it’s all set, right-click the empty space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again you are left with a virtual drive behaving similar to any other one, where user can drag and drop file, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it’s actually just like VHD file on your real hard drive which can easily be backed up or shared with others. So you can right-click on the disk and select Detach VHD to remove it.
Moreover, the command line DISKPART utility has also been improved with tools to detach a VHD file and an EXPAND command to increase the maximum size of virtual disk. Also, don’t just play around with all this until and unless you know what is this going to land you up in as its quite easy to trash your system.
Troubleshoot problems- In case some part of Windows 7 is behaving inappropriately and you have no idea what’s happening, then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or ‘Troubleshooting’) to access the innovative and improved troubleshooting pack. With the set of simple wizards designed to resolve common problems, these help you check your settings, clean your system and more.
Startup Repair- Windows 7 is more reliable than one expects from beta, however, you might run into problems and the worst is the problems can stop the system from booting, even into Safe Mode. This can be a bad news for those who downloaded Windows 7 as they might not be having any CD or DVD which can be used for re-installation. So, you need to Start > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, right now and allows Windows 7 to build a bootable emergency disc. Therefore, in case the worst happens you have a way to get your PC running again.
Take Control- Tired of kids installing doubtful software or running applications, AppLocker is a new feature of Windows 7 that ascertains users can only run the programs you specify. Well, this feature is easier to set up than it usually sounds, you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a particular publisher, say Microsoft, so now this rule will allow the system to run only Microsoft applications. Open GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel of how it works.
Enhanced Calculator- The first glance of Windows 7 seems to be similar to Vista’s version, but as you explore the Mode menu, you will come across powerful new Statistics as well as Programmer views. However, if you find yourself confused with the bitwise management, then try the Options menu. This provides varied unit conversions (length, weight, volume etc), date calculations (how many days between two dates?) and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rate and more.
Switch to Projector- Windows 7 now offers a standard way to switch display from one monitor to another or a projector; all you have to do is press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe and select the preferred display.
Automatic PC clean-up- An inexperienced PC user can sometimes cause problems but Windows 7 includes PC Safeguard. This feature allows the less-technical user to log on, play games, user browser, chat on an instant messenger just as normal. However, when they log off, any settings they’ve changed are undone, and any files they’ve saved are deleted that means it’s now difficult to mess up the PC settings.
This is not a new technique, Microsoft have made their Shared Computer Toolkit (aka Windows SteadyState) freely available for years and this exactly does the thing it is configured to. For the first time, it’s been fully integrated with Windows thereby making it easier to use.
To give PC Safeguard a try, go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts > Manage other account > Create a new account. Enter an account name, click Create and click the account, select Set Up PC Safeguard > Turn on PC Safeguard > Apply. Log on as the user, try downloading and installing a program and then restart and log on again to ensure that the software you installed a while ago has gone.
Performing System Restore- Performing system restore in previous versions of Windows has been similar to a gamble as you can’t tell which application or driver it might affect, all you have to do is try and see. But as we told you, Windows 7 is different, right-click computer, select Properties > System Protection > System Restore > Next and select the restore point you’d like to perform. Click the new button to ‘Scan for affected programs’ and Windows will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be deleted or recovered by choosing the restore point.
Optimize Time Zone- System administrators will surely appreciate this command line tzutil.exe utility that enables you to set PC’s time zone from scripts. If you want to set PC to Greenwich Mean Time then use the command:
Tzutil /s “gmt standard time”
“tzutil /g” shows current time zone, “tzutil /l” lists all possible time zones and “tzutil /?” shows details on how the command works.




