33. Drag-and-Drop Notification Icons. The
redesigned notification area displays only a minimum number of icons;
all other notification icons are moved to a side window. Rather than
using the Customize option to select icons for the main display, you
can drag-and-drop icons from the side window to the notification area. 34. Add Unindexed Shared Folders to Library. You
can add UNC paths such as \\servername\sharename to a Library, but the
server must index the folder. If you want to add a UNC path to an
unindexed server, you can create a symbolic link to the UNC path, then
add the link or links to the library. Use the mklink command. For
example, mklink HomeFolder \\ServerName\Homefolder. 35. Simplify Cloned Machine Setups. You
can't run Sysinternals' newsid utility to change the identity of a
cloned Windows 7 machine (either a virtual machine or imaged PC).
Instead, create a template installation then run sysprep /oobe
/generalize /reboot /shutdown /unattend:scriptfile. Clone or copy this
virtual machine file. When it launches, it will get a new SID and you
can fill in the name. The reference for building unattended script
files is at tinyurl.com/winunattend. 36. Snap That Aero. The
Windows key is great for all your shortcuts. Now you can use it to work
with the new AeroSnap feature in Windows 7. Select a window, hit the
Windows key and a left or right arrow to snap the window to that half
of the screen, or use the up arrow to snap it to the top of the screen. 37. Shortcut the Taskbar. The
Windows key is great for shortcuts. You can select the Windows key and
a number to correspond to items on your taskbar. So, if IE (for
example) is the third icon on your taskbar (not counting the Start
button), you can hit the Windows key and the number three to launch or
open IE. 38. Manage Passwords. Control
Panel includes a new application called Credential Manager. This may
appear to be a completely new tool that allows you to save your
credentials (usernames and passwords) for Web sites you log into and
other resources you connect to (such as other systems). Those
credentials are saved in the Windows Vault, which can be backed up and
restored. However, you might see this as similar to a tool we have in
XP and Vista. From the Instant Search, type in control /userpasswords2
and you will be brought to the Advanced User Accounts Control Panel,
where you can also manage passwords for your account (see Figure 4). 
Figure 4 The Credential Manager provides a handy, secure place to store passwords. (Click the image for a larger view) 39. Trigger Actions. Event
Viewer is closely tied into Task Scheduler. You have the ability to
take an event (select it in Event Viewer) and then from the Actions
pane, select the option "Attach a Task" to have that event, when it
appears, trigger an action. That action can be: launch a program; send
an e-mail; or display a message. This feature may be very helpful in
troubleshooting a problem. 40. Browse InPrivate. A
new feature in IE8 is the ability to open the browser in an InPrivate
Browsing session that allows you to perform banking and so forth from a
public location without fear of leaving behind any residue. IE will not
retain anything you do in an In Private Browsing session. You can
perform this action if you are already within IE by selecting the
Safety button and then InPrivate Browsing. This will open another IE
window altogether. However, you can save a few steps by using the
shortcut. Right-click the desktop IE icon, click InPrivate and the
windows will open in an InPrivate session already. 41. Go Live. Many
applications installed on past versions of Windows have been removed.
Starting with Windows 7, these applications (and a few others not
typically installed with Windows) have been moved into the Live
Essentials downloadable applications, at download.live.com. These
applications include Messenger, Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie
Maker, Family Safety and a few others. 42. Remove Apps. Although
some applications have been moved off of Windows to become an optional
download, other apps, such as IE8, Media Player, Media Center and DVD
Maker are still included. In times past, especially when it came to IE,
the applications were tied into the OS. However, in Windows 7 you can
easily remove them if desired. Head to the Program and Features applet
in Control Panel and select the "Turn Windows features on or off" link
in the top left-hand corner. Then you can select the checkbox of the
features you want to lose or add for your system (see Figure 5). 
Figure 5 Windows 7 unbinds many applications from the OS, making it easy to add and remove them. (Click the image for a larger view) 43. Are You Windows 7 Experienced? System
properties has a rating called the Windows Experience Index (WEI). This
rating is a collection of five different ratings that are determined by
the Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT). The highest rating score
is 7.9 (compared to 5.9 in Vista), using the categories of Processor,
RAM, Graphics, Gaming Graphics and Primary Hard Disk. The final rating
is not an average of all the ratings, but the lowest of the
subcomponent scores. 44. Analyze Processes. One
of the coolest new features in the revamped Resource Monitor (resmon)
is the ability to see the "wait chain traversal." An unresponsive
process will be shown in red in the Resource Monitor; right-click the
process and choose Analyze Process. This will show the threads in the
process and see who holds the resources that are holding up the process
itself. You can then kill that part of the process if you like. 45. Create Virtual Worlds. Virtualization
capability has been added to the Disk Management tools. If you open
Computer Management, go to the Disk Manager tool and then click the
Action button at top, you will see the options Create VHD and/or Attach
VHD. This allows you to create and mount a virtual hard drive directly
from within the GUI. Note: With Windows 7 you even have the ability to
boot a Windows 7 VHD (see Figure 6). 
Figure 6 Windows
7 adds a great deal of virtualization support, including the ability to
create and attach virtual hard drives from the GUI. (Click the image for a larger view) 46. Encrypt USB Sticks. Use
BitLocker To Go. Maybe you've managed to never misplace or lose a USB
key, but for the rest of us mere mortals, it's a fact of life. Most of
the time it's no big deal, but what if it contains sensitive data?
BitLocker To Go enables you to encrypt data on removable storage
devices with a password or a digital certificate stored on a smart card. 47. Lock with Group Policy. Take
control through AppLocker application control. AppLocker intercepts
kernel calls that try to create new processes or load libraries and
ensures the code is allowed to execute. Practically, that means you can
eliminate unknown and unwanted software by implementing AppLocker
through Group Policy. 48. Be Our Guest. Guest
mode proves a convenient method to give a guest or child access to your
computer with limits on making system changes, installing software, or
writing to the disk outside the user profile. After the user is done
and logs off, data saved inside of the user profile is deleted.
49. Restore from Backed up Restore Points. You
can choose to include restore points in your backups and restore from
them when using System Restore. This is convenient if you want to
create a baseline of a working configuration and be able to restore to
it in the future without overwriting other data on the hard disk. 50. Benefit from BranchCache.BranchCache helps
you save on round trips for requested files in remote branch scenarios.
If one person requests a file over the WAN, it's cached locally and
either distributed across computers at the remote branch or stored on a
central server at the remote branch. 51. Disable Search Suggestion Popups. As
you type in the Search Box, Windows 7 makes suggestions based on past
queries by pulling past queries from the Registry. You can disable this
in the Local Group Policy by enabling User Configuration |
Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Windows Explorer | Turn
Off Display Of Recent Search Entries In the Windows Explorer. 52. Pin Control Panel to Taskbar. If
you use the Control Panel frequently, you may have noticed that you
cannot simply right-click the Control Panel and select Pin to Taskbar.
Instead, you must first Open Control Panel so its icon appears in the
taskbar. From there, you can right-click the icon in the taskbar and
select Pin this program to taskbar. 53. Leverage Search Connectors. You
can now search the Web using the search functionality. Windows 7
includes Federated Search to increase the search scope beyond the local
and network resources. Several search connectors are available, such as
for YouTube and Twitter, or you can create custom ones to fit your
needs. 54. Use Stickier Notes. Even
though this feature has existed in previous versions of Windows in one
form or another, it's much easier to use in Windows 7. You can stick a
note on your desktop for quick reminders. It's a snap to change the
font or note color. If you have a note selected, use Ctrl-N to create a
new one. 55. Try out Improved WordPad. You
probably haven't given much thought to WordPad lately, but the version
shipping with Windows 7 has undergone a major renovation. Think of it
as a lite version of Microsoft Word. WordPad sports a spiffy ribbon
interface, making it a snap to create well-formatted documents. Plus,
you are no longer relegated to saving them as .RTF files. WordPad now
supports the Office Open XML document (.DOCX) format. This makes it
even easier to open .DOCX files created in Word in WordPad. 56. Calculate. Another
basic utility that received a major overhaul is the venerable
calculator. In addition to standard and scientific views, there are now
programmer and statistic modes. You will also love the conversion and
calculation features. Want to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit but can
never remember the formula? Use the conversion panel. You'll also enjoy
the data calculation extension. Quickly find the difference between two
dates or calculate a new date by adding or subtracting years, months or
days. 57. Manage Services from Task Manager. The
Windows 7 Task Manager now includes a tab to manage services. You can
quickly see at a glance the status of all services on your machine.
Click a column heading to sort. You can even start and stop services
with a simple right-click. If you need full-blown service management,
use the Services button to launch the Services management console. You
may often have the Task Manager running in the system tray; now, having
service management access means one less window to have open. 58. Get Under the Hood. Windows
7 offers more ways to peek under the hood without adding third-party
solutions. A terrific example is the Resource Monitor. The performance
tab in Windows Task Manager is a good start, but sometimes you need
more information. Click the Resource Monitor button to get more
detailed information and performance graphs for key subsystems like CPU
and Disk. You can also find the Resource Monitor under Accessories |
System Tools. 59. Check Vital Signs. Another
new system tool you'll enjoy is the System Health report. In the Run
dialog box, type perfmon /report, which generates a system health
report. This report records details about your computer's performance,
resource usage and more. The report also includes diagnostic
information about things that aren't working as they should and
suggested steps to resolve. The reports are saved and can be accessed
with the Performance Monitor management console. You can also save as
an HTML file or send via e-mail. 60. Get More Windows PowerShell. Windows
PowerShell v2 promises to be a game-changer for many system
administrators. Many will prefer to use the graphical Windows
PowerShell console, also known as the Integrated Scripting Environment
(ISE). You'll find this in the Windows Power Shell folder under
Accessories. Add a keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Alt+I to quickly launch
it. Run any Windows PowerShell command in the lower panel and see the
results in the middle. Create or edit scripts in the top pane. Open
multiple Windows PowerShell sessions connected to remote computers. The
ISE makes Windows PowerShell v2 easy to use and fun (see Figure 7). 
Figure 7 Windows PowerShell has been much more tightly integrated with Windows 7, and adds the Integrated Scripting Environment. (Click the image for a larger view) 61. Put It on Old Stuff. One
perhaps-not-so-obvious Windows 7 tip is that you should attempt to
install it everywhere. One user has a 6-year-old laptop that originally
shipped with Windows XP. He could never get Windows Vista to install on
it. But Windows 7 installed without complaint and runs extremely
smooth. Granted, there are some Windows 7 features he can't take
advantage of because the processor lacks certain features, but these
are minor issues considering the laptop now has life again. 62. Improve Security. In
Vista it was difficult to manage system protection via restore points.
The System Protection tab in Windows 7 is a vast improvement. In one
spot you can configure how much space to devote to restore points,
delete and create restore points or even turn off system protection
altogether. This is very useful on older systems where disk space may
be at a premium. 63. Actually Use Help and Support. Much
of Vista's clutter has been reduced in Windows 7. For instance, the
Help and Support page has three links, a search window and a link back
to Microsoft's Windows site. It's much less intimidating for end users,
so make sure they know about it. Search is much improved as well,
making for a better, faster experience.
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