Microsoft Windows 7 Your Way: Speed Up and Customize Windows, Rough Cuts

Description

This is a working draft of a pre-release book. It is available before the published date as part of the Rough Cuts service.

Want to make Windows 7 run faster, smarter, easier, better? Want to personalize Windows to look and act the way you want it to? Want to get
more efficient and ditch all those Windows hassles? You don’t need
a Ph.D in computer science or expensive upgrades. All you need is this book!

Michael Miller makes it easy to tweak Windows so it works just like you
want it to–and runs smooth as silk for years to come. No extreme hacking required: These are simple, step-by-step techniques anyone can perform in minutes–even beginners!

     •    Customize Windows 7’s desktop for the way you work

     •    Strip out bloated, worthless software that slows your PC down

     •    Get your network running faster and more reliably

     •    Surf the Web more quickly and safely

     •    Improve performance and battery life on notebooks and netbooks

     •    Get more security with fewer annoyances

     •    Discover great free and cheap alternatives to Microsoft’s built-in software

     •    Fix Windows 7’s most aggravating problems

     •    And much more...

Michael Miller has written more than 100 non-fiction how-to books over the past 20 years, including Que’s Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, Speed It Up! A Non-Technical Guide for Speeding Up Slow Computers, and How Microsoft Windows Vista Works. His books have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. He has earned a reputation for clearly explaining technical topics to non-technical readers and for offering useful real-world advice about complex topics.

Sample Content

Table of Contents

I

    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

I PERSONALIZING WINDOWS–YOUR WAY

1 Configuring Basic Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    Using the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

        How the Control Panel Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

        Configuring the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

        Understanding the Configuration Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

        Configuring the Control Panel Start Menu Display . . . . . .12

    Other Ways to Configure Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

        Right-Click Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

        Windows Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

    Changing Your PC’s Time and Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

        Displaying the Date and Time Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

        Changing Date and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

        Changing Time Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

        Displaying Additional Clocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

        Synchronizing Time Over the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

    Changing Your Computer’s Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

    The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

2 Setting Default Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

    Changing Default Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

        Behind the Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

        What You Can Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

        Changing the Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

    Changing File Type

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