Windows 7 Initial Configuration Changes
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The following are some of the configuration changes I have using with
Windows7 .
They are by no means all of what you may want to do but act as a starting
point by noting some of what can be done. |
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Changing the Desktop Icon
Size |
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1. | By default, the icons on the
desktop are a little large |
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2. | Right click on an open area of
the desktop |
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3. | Select View |
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4. | Select Small Icons |
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Changing the Control Panel Icon Size |
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1. | By default, the icons on the
desktop are shown by Category. My preference is to View by Large or
Small icons. This way you can more easily see all the options |
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2. | Open the Control Panel |
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3. | On the top right, click on
View by: Category |
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4. | Change it to Large or Small
icons |
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5. | Now all the options show up
for you. |
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Windows Explorer Single
Click |
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1. | Open the Control Panel |
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2. | Go to Folder Options |
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3. | Check Single-click to open
an item |
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4. | Check Underline
icon titles only when I point at them |
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5. | Click Apply and OK |
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Always Show Menus |
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1. | While the Control Panel is
still open, click on Folder Options and the the View tab |
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2. | Check Always
show menus |
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Using Check
Boxes to Select Items |
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1. | While the Control Panel is
still open, click on Folder Options and the the View tab |
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2. | Scroll down and check
Use check boxes to select items |
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Changing the User Account Control |
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1. | Go to the Control Panel /
Action Center |
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2. | On the left side, click on
Change User Account Control settings |
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3. | The default setting for
User Account Control is to Notify me only when programs try to
make changes to my computer |
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4. | If you are careful with
what you do with your computer in regards to virus and spyware
risks, and want to lower this so you are not prompted so often when
changes are made to the computer, you can disable these warnings |
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5. | Simply slide the bar to the
bottom - Never notify |
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6. | Click on the OK button |
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7. | Reboot the computer |
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Changing
Power Options |
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1. | By default, Windows7 is
configured to turn off the display after 10 minutes and put the
computer to sleep after 30 minutes |
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2. | To change that, go to
Control Panel / Power Options |
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3. | Click on Change plan
settings |
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4. | From here you can change
them to whatever you like |
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Turn off
Windows Animation |
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1. | Normally I don't really care to
have the windows animate when they are opened or closed. It seems to
make things slower. |
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2. | To turn this off, right
click on My Computer |
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3. | On the left side, click on
Advanced system settings |
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4. | In the performance section,
click on the Settings button |
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5. | Uncheck Animate
windows when minimizing or maximizing |
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Speed up Boot Time |
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1. | By default, Windows7 waits 30
seconds to give you time to select a recovery option and write a logs
in case there is a problem |
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2. | To decrease this time, Right
click on My Computer |
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3. | Click on Advance System
Settings |
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5. | Under Startup and Recovery,
click on the Settings button |
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6. | Decrease the time from 30
seconds to something like 3 |
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7. | You can also change the
settings for what happens in case of a System failure |
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Turning off Hibernation |
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1. | If you have something like a
desktop and don't need hibernation enabled, you can turn this off |
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2. | Start / CMD |
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3. | This will open a command prompt |
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4. | Type in powercfg -h off |
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