Tutorials

How to Run a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report in Windows 7 and Windows 8 The Power Efficiency Diagnostics will analyze your system for common energy efficiency and battery life problems, and report any errors, warnings, and informational details found. This tutorial will show you how to run a power efficiency diagnostics report of your computer in Windows 7 and Windows 8. You should run this report when your computer is idle and with no open programs or documents for the best results. Here's How: 1. Open an elevated command prompt in Windows 7 or Windows 8. 2. In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below) NOTE: This will take 60 seconds to run by default...

How to slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD, on your dual boot PC with Windows 7 or Vista When you install Win XP, setup can not find your Hard Drive. 1) Download & Install nLite nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation 2) Make a new folder for your Windows XP image. Note: for this example, I am using the name Win XP Sata. 3) Insert XP CD & start nLite 4) Click Next. 5) Choose your Windows XP image folder, & Click Next, than OK. Note: nLite will put the image into your folder. 6) Click Next. 7) Click Next. 8) Choose Integrate Drivers & Create Bootable ISO 9) Click Next. 10) Copy & Paste your Sata Driver to your image folder. Note: for this example, I am using...

How to Change, Add, or Remove Startup Programs in Windows 7 This will show you how to either add, remove, enable, or disable a startup program in Windows 7.You can also view the startup logs in Event Viewer (C:\Windows\system32\eventvwr.msc) under Applications and Services Logs, Microsoft, Windows, Diagnostics-Performance, and Operational. The logs will be in the middle to show you what ran at startup, how long it took, and more.User Account Control prevents programs that require elevated (run as administrator) permission or an administrator password from running automatically when Windows 7 starts. If a program is blocked, you'll see a message in the notification area that says some startup programs need permission to run. You can...

How to Change the Size of the hiberfil.sys File in Windows By default, the size of the hiberfil.sys file is 75% of the total amount of installed RAM (memory) when hibernate is enabled in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. This tutorial will show you how to change the size of the hiberfil.sys file to what percentage you want it to be. You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutoria. You can look at the hidden protected OS C:\hiberfil.sys file to see how large it currently is. 1 GB = 1024 MB or 1,048,576 KB or 10,73,741,824 Bytes 1 MB = 1024 KB 1 KB - 1024 Bytes While this can be used to reduce the size of the hiberfil.sys file to save HDD space when you have hibernate enabled, I...

How to Change the Default Fonts in Windows 7 This will show you how to change most or all of the default fonts in Windows 7 for Active Title Bar, Icon, Inactive Title Bar, Menu, Message Box, Palette Title, Selected Items, ToolTip, and various Dialog Box text and buttons. :warn:Changing a Windows 7 font doesn't change your program fonts. For a list of all default fonts that come supplied with Windows 7, see: Fonts supplied with Windows 7 Through Advanced Appearance Settings This will let you change the default font, font size, and font color for the Active Title Bar, Icon, Inactive Title Bar, Menu, Message Box, Palette Title, Selected Items, and ToolTip text. See this link under step 8 there for the default Advanced Appearance...

How to Disable Auto Arrange in Windows 7 Explorer to have Free Sorting In Windows 7, auto arrange is enabled by default so that all file and folder names in Windows Explorer are sorted alphabetically no matter what folder view you used. This is basically like having how you can arrange icons how you like on your desktop in every folder in Windows Explorer now. This will show you how to disable Auto Arrange in Windows 7 to be able to sort your files and folders in any random order and position you like in each opened folder in Windows Explorer and in the Pin to Start Menu area at the top of the Start Menu without it having to be sorted alphabetically by name. Windows 7 will also remember these random folder sortings (order and...

How to Create an Elevated Program Shortcut without a UAC Prompt in Windows This will show you how to create an elevated "Run as administrator" shortcut of any installed program using Task Scheduler so that it will not give you a UAC prompt for permission when you start it while still having UAC turned on in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. In the tutorial, you will first create a new task, then a new shortcut to run the task. Afterwards, how to change the icon of the shortcut. Special thanks to OEM for pointing this out, and the previous Vista version by DMEX. This shortcut and task can only be created and work while logged in as an administrator account. This shortcut will not work in a standard user account...

How to Convert a MBR Disk to a GPT Disk A disk is a separate physical hard drive. This will show you how to convert a MBR (Master Boot Record) disk to a GPT (GUID - Globally Unique Identifer) disk in Windows Disk Manager or in a command prompt. By default Windows uses MBR disks. While all Windows can boot from a MBR disk, you can only boot from a GPT disk if your motherboard has an enabled UEFI BIOS and you have an operating system (Windows 7 or Windows 8) that supports booting to GPT that is installed with UEFI. You can still have a separate GPT disk as a data disk if your operating system (see below) supports reading a GPT disk, even if your system disk that Windows is installed on is still a MBR disk. Differences Between...

How to Create an "Elevated Command Prompt" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8 This tutorial will show you how to create a shortcut that will open an elevated command prompt with administrator rights in Windows 7 and Windows 8. When you use the elevated command prompt shortcut, you may be prompted to click/tap on Yes or enter the administrator account's password depending on your UAC settings in Windows 7 or Windows 8. You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to use this shortcut. EXAMPLE: Elevated Command Prompt NOTE: Notice how the elevated command prompt opens to C:\Windows\System32 and not C:\Users\(user name) as the default command prompt without administrator rights. To Download an "Elevated Command Prompt"...

How to Extract Files from the Windows 7 Installation DVD This will show you how to extract original files from the retail Windows 7 installation DVD. You can then use these extracted files to replace missing or corrupted system files in your current Windows 7 installation.Normally you will find out that you have corrupted system files that cannot be repaired after your run a sfc /scannow command and look at it's log report.If you do not have a Windows 7 with SP1 installation disc, then you can download the latest official Windows 7 with SP1 ISO file at the link below, then create an installation DVD or USB with it. Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links Here's How: 1. Download and install the same free 32-bit or 64-bit...

How to Create, Customize, and Maintain Windows 7 Image in Audit Mode with Sysprep Tool There were two things that made me start writing this tutorial. First one was a very misleading article I read on the Internet and the second one was this response on another tutorial of mine: We have covered various Sysprep scenarios at the Seven Forums tutorials but it's true we have not had one telling what then when you have sysprepped, what about upgrading or maintaining the sysprepped system. I have been planning this for weeks now, finally it's ready. I hope you will enjoy reading it, maybe even learn a new trick or two. All feedback is welcome, post your comments and questions in this thread. Leipzig, February 4th, 2014 Kari...

How to Get and Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Introduction If you would like to burn your downloaded or converted .iso image to a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive, this free Microsoft utility is for you. In very little time this can be accomplished by even a novice, and in this tutorial I'm gonna show you how. I have seperated this tutorial into 2 sections: Part 1 covers how to burn a bootable DVD and Part 2 is on creating a bootable flash drive. This is primarily going to be useful to XP and Vista users who do not have .iso burning software installed on their current HDD and wish to perform a clean install.The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool does not support using Windows XP .iso files. If you do not have a...

How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation There are several methods to move user profiles to another disk or partition after you have installed Windows 7. The easiest way is to use Audit Mode and System Preparation Tool, both built-in Windows 7 features, to permanently move the location of the folder Users. This tutorial shows how to relocate both Users and ProgramData to another disk or partition when doing a new, fresh and clean install of Windows 7. If you have already installed Seven, and you'd like to move those folders away from their default location in C: drive, please read first post number 22 in this thread. Follow the steps told in that post, and continue then from beginning...

Shut Down Windows - Enable or Disable "Install Updates and Shut Down" How to Enable or Disable "Install Updates and Shut Down" Option in Windows 7 This will show you how to enable or disable the Install Updates and Shut Down shield on the Start Menu "Shut Down" power button and option in the ALT+F4 Shut Down Windows dialog box for users in Windows 7 when important or critical Windows Updates are available for installation. You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. If you disable 'Install Updates and Shut Down', it will not appear as a choice in the Shut Down Windows dialog box and Start Menu power button (alert shield on Shut Down button), even if important or critical Windows Updates...

How to Create a "Control Panel All Tasks List" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8 All Tasks (aka: GodMode) is a list of all Control Panel items. This will show you how to create or download a Control Panel All Tasks List "God Mode" shortcut. Credit belongs to our member Iggy for this tip.If pinned to the taskbar, be sure to keep the Control Panel All Tasks List icon positioned (dragged) to the right of the default pinned Windows Explorer icon location on the taskbar. If it's to the left of it, then all opened Windows Explorer windows will have their thumbnail previews show in the pinned Control Panel All Tasks List icon instead. EXAMPLE: Control Panel All Tasks List NOTE: This will show you every task available in the Control...

How to Avoid NVIDIA Driver Problems This tutorial will show you how to do a clean install of NVIDIA graphics drivers for those having problems with the drivers. Here's How: 1. Download the driver you want to install from your computer manufacturer or from NVIDIA.com. See also: http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/602-latest-nvidia-forceware-video-drivers-windows-7-a.html 2. The first thing to do is open Windows updates, in the left column click change settings, in the drop down box select check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them. The purpose of this is to keep Windows update from automatically installing a driver. We do not want conflicts with drivers. 3. Next go to your "C" dive and there...

How to Add "Eject/Close CD/DVD Tray" to the Context Menu in Windows This tutorial will show you how to add Eject/Close CD/DVD Tray to the folder background, drive, and desktop context menu, and file/folder context menu in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. When used by a user, it will toggle the default CD/DVD drive's tray to eject (open) or close. You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to add this to the desktop context menu, but all users on the computer will be able to use it after it has been added. If you need this to work for a specific CD/DVD drive letter instead, then please post and let me know. I'll be happy to modify the .bat and .reg files below for the drive letter you wanted instead. :) EXAMPLE...

Restore Point - Add "Create Restore Point" to Context Menu in Windows How to Add "Create Restore Point" to Context Menu in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 This tutorial will show you how to add "Create Restore Point" to the desktop and folder window context menu in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to add, remove, and use the Create Restore Point context menu. This can be handy to make it easy to quickly manually create a restore point whenever you like. When you right click or press and hold on your desktop on in an opened folder in File Explorer, and click/tap on the Create Restore Point context menu, you will see this dialog below pop-up to allow you to enter a...

How to Remove the Lock Icon from Files and Folders in Windows 7 In Windows 7, the padlock overlay icon on a file or folder indicates that the item is shared with nobody, which is to say, the item can only be accessed by a single user (with exceptions). Consequently, if you can access a folder that has a golden lock, you are likely the only user who may access that item on your PC. A more technical definition follows. Criteria determining whether an item features a golden lock icon overlay: The item must have zero or only a single allow Access Control Entry (ACE) specifying any user. Exceptions: allow ACEs that apply to “This folder only” or “Files only”. The item must not have any group allow ACEs. Exceptions: the ‘Administrators’...

How to Add or Remove "Always use selected program" in Open With This will show you how to add (default) or remove the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file option from in Open with for only the current user or all users on the Windows computer.This will include all Open with windows in Windows. For example, when you right click on a file and select Open with, or through Default Programs.When removed, this can be handy to prevent accidentally associating a program to always open a file extension type with that program when you only wanted to temporarily open the file with that program instead. EXAMPLE: Open with NOTE: This is with the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file option at default...