20 Windows 7 Tweaks & Tips – Every Secret Uncovered to Date | Maximum PC
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/20_windows_7_tweaks_tips_%E2%80%93_every_secret_uncovered_date

Windows 7 shortcuts

Booting Windows7 from a virtual hard disk OS file .vhd

The Windows 7 beta or RC releases were Ultimate edition, so you’ll only be able to upgrade to the RTM (final) if you are installing Ultimate Edition.

This is not about a virtual machine. Only the hard drive is virtual.

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Step-By-Step

18 cool things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn't The stuff that makes the upgrade worthwhile : TechRadar UK

Cool stuff! Didn't know about the shake and a couple of other things. via stocktickr

Squeeze the very best performance out of your PC with these Windows 7 optimization tricks.

So you're thinking about going to Windows 7, eh? Chances are your head is swimming in a sea of TLAs and confusing charts -- enough to have the most adamant Microsoft defender reaching for a something with an Option key. Fear not, noble purchaser of legal software. Though XP users have been punished for skipping Vista by not being able to directly upgrade now, the process of backing up your data, formatting and installing Windows, and then restoring your goods again has never been easier -- even if you're on a netbook with less storage than your smartphone. Vista users have even less to worry about. We'll have our full impressions of the finally finalized OS later this week, but for now let's journey hand in hand down the gently sloped path of the upgrade process.

Will need to look this up in October

Windows: If you're upgrading to Windows 7 from XP, you'll spend a lot of time grabbing installers and Next-Next-Next-clicking through setup wizards. Unless you use Ninite to check off the best free software and install it all at once.

Windows 7 boasts a lot of great new shortcuts

20 essential free apps for your new Windows 7 PC Just got Win 7? Here are the programs you should download : TechRadar UK

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD. Awesome

The Windows 7 ISO Image Edition Switcher. removes the "ei.cfg" file which allows to install any edition of win7

The Windows 7 ISO Image Edition Switcher is a set of small binary patches that will convert an official Windows 7 ISO disc image into an official Windows 7 ISO disc image of another edition. The resulting ISO images are bit-for-bit identical with those posted on MSDN or TechNet, and their SHA-1 hashes should match the official hashes posted by Microsoft. The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple tool that will remove the ei.cfg from any Windows 7 ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a "universal disc" that will prompt the user to select an edition during setup. This tool works by toggling the deletion bit in the UDF file table, eliminating the need for unpacking and rebuilding the ISO, which means that this is extremely fast (the process of patching the ISO to remove ei.cfg takes only a fraction of a second), and the process is easily reversible (running the utility on a disc image patched by this utility will restore the disc image to its original state)

ISO images are bit-for-bit identical with those posted on MSDN or TechNet, and their SHA-1 hashes should match the official hashes posted by Microsoft. The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple tool that will remove the ei.cfg from any Windows 7 ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a "universal disc" that will prompt the user to select an edition during setup. This tool works by toggling

a folder packed with shortcuts to just about every settings change and administrative function in Windows 7. Everything you'll find in the Action Center, Backup and Restore, Autorun, Desktop Gadgets, Devices and Printers -- it's all there. All dumped in one central location for easy access.

Whether you run Windows 7, Vista, or XP, these 25 tricks will make your PC faster, safer, and even more fun to work with.

http://smallvoid.com/article/windows-special-folders.htm

The changes to the Windows 7 interface have gotten a lot of play, but some of the new built-in tools are just as compelling. Deb Shinder runs through some of the most impressive enhancements, from the ISO burner to the Biometric Framework to PowerShell v2. Windows 7 has received plenty of attention from the tech press, but much of the focus has been on interface changes, such as the redesigned taskbar, and new file management features, such as libraries. Some improvements are less obvious — like the new or enhanced tools that are included with the OS. Here we discuss 10 of these cool tools that make the computing experience easier. Note: This article is also available as a PDF download and as a photo gallery.

Computer Help from your Friendly How-To Geek

One of the neatest new features in Windows 7 Professional and above is XP Mode, but not all machines are capable of running it. Today we show you how to use VMware to run XP Mode on machines without Hardware Virtualization. How does this work? Even if your computer doesn’t have hardware virtualization, you can still install XP Mode but just cannot run it as you can’t run Virtual PC. Enter VMware Player. This free program lets you create and run virtual machines, whether or not you have hardware virtualization. And, it can directly import XP Mode so you can use that copy of XP for free. A couple features are different, but it’s still a great replacement since you otherwise couldn’t use it at all. Note: XP Mode does not work on Home Versions of Windows 7 and you’ll need VMware Player 3.0 Getting Started First, download and install XP Mode (link below). There is no need to download Virtual PC if your computer cannot run it, so just download the XP Mode from the link on the left.

virtualizar programas con vmware en el escritorio del anfitrion

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We’ve been quite busy for the past two months or so working through all the feedback we’ve received on Windows 7. It should be no surprise but the Release Candidate for Windows 7 will have quite a few changes, many under the hood so to speak but also

All of the new features of Windows 7.

ialog is history

19 Tips Every Windows 7 User Needs To Know - windows 7 - Gizmodo http://bit.ly/d1WfsR

The challenge of learning a totally new Windows behavior is the cost of getting this huge step forward in UI. The superbar makes Windows way more conducive to running tons of applications, since it's actually possible to find apps and precisely the window you want in a second, no matter how bad the shitstorm on your desktop is. In this sense, it's a better application manager than the Dock, from which, generally speaking, you can't do much more than jump to open applications or close them.

If the Windows 7 Taskbar is a sign of things to come, Microsoft might be dangerously close to building the first operating system since MS-DOS 6 that doesn't make me want to punch my computer screen. I'm still not convinced that Windows 7 won't be a colossal screw-up (these are, after all, the folks who brought you the Red Ring of Death, the new crappy XBox Live user interface, and Windows Vista), but at least it looks like they managed to get *something* right.

You might recognize a few of these tips (we've covered most of them here before), but chances are good there's something new in the list for just about everybody. And if you know all of them already? Pat yourself on the back for your masterful geek skills.

You might already know these, but they're useful none the less.