You’ve just installed Windows 7 or bought a new computer with it installed. Now, you need to customize Windows to fit your needs. What can you do with it? You can create a shortcut to the command prompt, put the Show Desktop Button on the Task bar and customize the quick launch bar.
Here’s a list of tips and tricks that shows you how to customize Windows 7:
Top 10 Things to Do with a New Windows 7 System Lifehacker shows you the top 10 things you can do with a newly installed Windows 7 system. For example, they give you a list of Windows 7 shortcuts and where to find themes so you can change it to one that doesn’t come with the OS.
Fixing When the Windows Task bar Refuses to Auto-Hide Correctly You may have a problem with the Windows task bar failing to auto-hide after you’ve selected the option in the Control Panel. Use these tips to diagnose your problem and to get Windows to work they way you want it to.
Remove File Type Associations in Windows 7 You may need to change or remove file type associations. In Windows XP, you used Folder Options to change this. Now, you must use the Default Programs tool in the Control Panel to do this in Windows 7.
Quick Tip Windows 7: Customize the command prompt There are times when you will need to use the command prompt. If you need to use the command prompt for specific tasks, you can create a shortcut for that task. Use the following tip to customize the command prompt.
By David Adkins, former PC ProSchools Student and Help Desk Professional
I received a call today from a student. He was running into a problem installing Windows XP Professional on a Virtual Machine. When the Install reached the ELUA It required the user to hit F8 to accept. The Student proceeded to hit the F8 key on the laptop he was working on only to be met with disappointment that the Virtual did not accept the keystroke. Perplexed the student once again hit the F8 key. Again he was met with the same result. He was not about to let a simple thing like hitting a simple key keep him from installing the Operating System. Just to make sure he hit the F8 one last time. Nothing! The other option was to hit the escape key to return to the last screen. He hit the key and the virtual machine responded by returning to the previous screen as it was meant to. “What the Heck?” he asked himself. Why would it be that the program would recognize all my keystrokes up to that point? He wondered. Well at risk of feeling disappointed again he returned to the ELUA screen and hit the F8 key one more time. Again nothing! Well I’ll call Helpdesk at PC ProSchools for assistance.
I received the message about his problem and called him back. After he went through his frustrating experience with this process, I began to wonder my self. “Was the machine in the active window? He promptly responded to my question with “yes I made sure it was active.” This was defiantly a new problem to me, so I went to my favorite IT Tool, Google. There I found others with the same problem. Their solution was to hit the Function Key along with the F8. Once I instructed the student to try this he was very excited to report that he could now continue with the installation.
One thing I have learned from this job is that Google is hands down the best place to start with research problems.
Virtualization was created to let you run multiple virtual computers on a one physical computer. The different virtual computers you add to the physical one can run any combination of differing operating systems along with multiple applications. The virtual computers you add all share the resources of the physical machine, so you will have limitations do to sharing processor power and RAM.
Many of you, as students at PC ProSchools, have gotten to see and use virtual computers in our labs. The ability to create your own network with multiple servers and client machines is beneficial in your training. In the real world virtual computers and networks are also being used to alleviate costs and create efficiency.
Microsoft uses Hyper-V to create and manage virtual machines and networks. Here is a link to an article that goes over some of the features of Hyper-V that are incorporated in Windows Server 2008 R2.
