The Essential Windows 7 Blog — Tips and guides for Microsoft's latest operating system from the team at PC Utilities magazine

How to: Clean up the hard drive in Windows 7

March 12, 2010

To prevent future issues with your PC and keep system performance as speedy as possible, it’s important that you take good care of the hard drive installed inside your Windows 7 computer. While some of this maintenance is handled for you automatically, there are a number of manual checks you can make to keep everything [...]

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Tips: download new Windows 7 content

March 9, 2010

Once your operating system is installed and configured, it’s easy to forget about new updates and features that will be released from time to time. The official Windows 7 portal on the Microsoft website is a great place to find new graphical themes, desktop gadgets, and other material – full previews of the downloads are [...]

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Tips: Adjust volume levels between programs

March 4, 2010

It can be useful to adjust the volume level of your PC on a program-by-program basis – you might want to make sure your listening in iTunes isn’t interrupted by streaming audio and advertising in your Web browser, for example. Windows 7 makes this possible in just a couple of mouse clicks – click the [...]

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News: Windows 7 sales hit 90m, says Microsoft

March 3, 2010

Microsoft has claimed that it has sold 90 million copies of its operating system since it launched to manufacturers in July 2009. The announcement was made by CFO Peter Klein at a technology conference, and the company also produced a blog post about the milestone. For more details, see the full story at The Register.

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How to: Customise the taskbar in Windows 7

March 2, 2010

If you’re upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista, then you’ll probably notice a number of changes made by Microsoft to the dependable taskbar. Bars are shorter, programs can be pinned into position as well as being rearranged as necessary. In fact, the Windows 7 taskbar offers more flexibility and customisation options than it did in [...]

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Tips: Create a wallpaper slideshow

February 25, 2010

As well as allowing you to load animated wallpapers, Windows 7 also enables you to create a slideshow of pictures that it will rotate through automatically. Right-click on a blank area of the desktop, choose Personalise and then click the Desktop Background link at the bottom. Ctrl+click or drag a box around the wallpapers that [...]

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Tips: Update device drivers in Windows 7

February 23, 2010

Device drivers are small bits of software that tell your Windows PC how to communicate with the hardware that’s installed – they make sure that you see an A on screen when you tap it on your keyboard, and ensure that a red colour in your image editing application appears red when it comes out [...]

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Troubleshoot problems in Windows 7

February 17, 2010

Even the most well-maintained PCs can run into problems, but thankfully Windows 7 includes a Help and Support section that can provide assistance in getting everything running smoothly again. You’ll find a link to the Help and Support section on the right of the Start menu, and once you’ve selected this you’ll be met with [...]

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Change network sharing settings in Windows 7

February 11, 2010

Windows 7 has been designed to use on a network at home or around the office, and comes complete with a broad range of features for sharing files, folders and devices with other users. Microsoft has tried to make these network features as straightforward as possible, and you can be up and running with a [...]

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Uninstalling programs in Windows 7

February 9, 2010

It’s important that you regularly uninstall programs that you’re no longer using with Windows 7 – you’ll find that as well as retrieving some hard disk space, the registry and other Windows system files have a better chance of staying free from clutter which could affect the performance of your PC.
There’s a link to the [...]

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