Hardware and Sound

Hardware and Sound brings together all of the settings and tools pertinent to your system’s hardware setup. This screen enables you to add and remove devices, configure the way that peripherals work, change the settings on your monitor, and change the power plan employed by a laptop.

Devices and Printers - visit these screens to add and re-configure hardware devices. View the printers, input devices, displays and other peripherals hooked up to your machine, and troubleshoot or change the settings for each one. Some router and network settings are also available from here.

AutoPlay - control the way in which Windows deals with new media (such as DVDs) or devices (such as USB sticks) as they are plugged into the machine. You can have the operating system take a particular action, ask you to make a decision each time, or simply do nothing.

Sound - clicking here will launch the Sound configuration dialog. From here you can configure your speaker or headphone setup, change the playback and recording devices that are in use, update the relevant drivers, and more. There are also options to change the sound scheme being used by Windows.

Power Options - this screen will be of most use if you are using a laptop. Change the length of time the computer waits before it goes into sleep or hibernation mode, change the delay before the screen shuts off, and more. If you need to conserve battery power, then this is the place to do it.

Display - visit this area of Control Panel to access the more technical aspects of your monitor and graphics setup. The settings here enable you to change the screen resolution and text size, calibrate the colour options, and configure extra features such as ClearType.

Network and Internet

Network and Internet covers your PC’s connection to the Web and the other computers (and devices) around your home. This is the place to go for configuring your Internet access, and for sharing and streaming files across the local network, which is made easier with the new tools in Windows 7.

Network and Sharing Centre - packed with a wealth of options for getting online and configuring your network access, the Network and Sharing Centre lets you change how you connect to the Web, which files and folders you’re sharing with others, and much more. Visit the hub to make changes to your wired or wireless network adapter, and to troubleshoot problems with getting online or connecting to other machines.

HomeGroup - the HomeGroup functionality in Windows 7 is designed to make it easier to share photos, music and video across a home network. Any type of file can be shared, and you can share other resources too, such as a printer or an external hard drive. Access the HomeGroup screen to configure all of these options or to fix any problems you have sharing content with other PCs.

Internet Options - it can be tempting simply to leave the default Internet options in place, but there’s plenty to tweak and customise here. It’s possible to change your homepage, control how much information your browser can store about you, disable add-ons, and much more. The majority of these settings apply specifically to Internet Explorer – if you are running a different browser, consult the settings pages in that program instead.

Our latest bookazine is now on sale.

The latest version of our popular Windows 7 Handbook is now on sale – you can pick it up from many newsagents as well as on the Magnesium Media website.

As with previous editions, the bookazine covers every aspect of Microsoft’s latest operating system, from getting started and setting up user accounts to expert tricks and hacks. Much of the content has been refreshed and updated for this new release, which comes with a DVD of 500 Windows 7-compatible freeware programs.

System and Security

System and Security is one of the key areas of the Windows 7 Control Panel – it houses tools such as the Security Centre (for controlling your antivirus and firewall programs) and Device Manager, which can be used to monitor the hardware set up on your PC and download any relevant driver updates.

Action Centre - from here you can manage the security software installed on your PC. This includes antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware applications. Alerts will be displayed if there are any obvious holes in your PC’s protection, and you can manage the Windows 7 backup utility as well. In addition, you can manage user accounts and launch troubleshooting wizards to help fix problems with the system.

Windows Firewall - the built-in Windows Firewall software might be basic compared to some of the commercial offerings, but it does a decent job of keeping your machine protected against online threats. Follow the link to configure the firewall – it’s possible to set up exceptions and rules for particular programs that need elevated access to your home network or the Web.

System - open up the system screen to see information about your PC’s performance and the hardware that’s installed. You can run the Windows Experience Index to get an idea of how powerful the system is, configure advanced performance settings, and launch Device Manager, which lists all of the detected and installed hardware. Device Manager can be used to reconfigure peripherals and download driver updates.

Windows Update - keeping Windows updated is an important part in protecting your system and preventing problems with the operating system. From here you can ensure that updates are correctly configured and decide when and how they are applied. It’s also possible to roll back an update if it’s causing a problem.

Power Options - of particular interest to laptop owners, the Power Options page covers hibernation and sleep settings. You can reconfigure your system to conserve more battery life, and even change how the power switch on your PC works.

Backup and Restore - Windows comes with its own backup utility, which you can make use of if you wish to. From this screen you can configure future routines as well as view and restore backups that have already been created. For a more complete backup, you can create a system image or repair disc as well.

BitLocker Drive Encryption - if you’re running the Ultimate or Enterprise editions of Windows 7, then you’ll be able to access BitLocker Drive Encryption. This feature encrypts all of the content stored on your hard drive, making it inaccessible to anyone without the necessary authorisation.

Administrative Tools - a suite of programs for advanced users, covering Windows 7 event logs, computer performance, system errors and disk usage. You can also manage background services from this screen, which appears as a series of shortcuts to the relevant tools.

The 'God mode' folder offers easy access to many settings.

Windows 7 users have uncovered a so-called ‘God mode’ folder that you can place on your desktop – while it doesn’t actually enable you to perform miracles and command angels, it does provide easy access to all of the functions in Control Panel, some of which are not always readily available. To create the shortcut, right-click on the desktop and choose New/ Folder. Rename the folder as GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and you’re ready to go (you can actually use any text instead of “GodMode”). Double-click on the new folder to access the settings.

(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook 4th Edition, on sale now from newsagents and online.)

Windows 7 includes a number of options for changing the look of the operating system.

Through each edition, Windows has offered the user more and more customisation options for changing the look of the operating system and its interface. It’s now possible to take almost full control over the colours, graphics and sounds used by Windows, and each user can have his or her own desktop design associated with the relevant user account. If you’ve never modified the look of Windows before, it isn’t difficult to do, and your changes can be easily undone if required. Below we’ve looked at the three main customisations you can make; these can be saved together as themes if you want to be able to access them quickly again later on.

The desktop wallpaper can be changed in a couple of clicks.

Change the desktop wallpaper – You’ll be spending a lot of time staring at the desktop wallpaper, so it makes sense to have something that you’re comfortable with. Any image can be used as a background, and Windows will either tile or stretch it to fit the space – alternatively, you can resize and crop the picture using a photo editor to exactly fit the dimensions of your screen. New in Windows 7 is the ability to have a slideshow of photos that automatically change after a set interval of time. It is possible to change the logon and shutdown wallpapers too, but this requires some third-party software. Visit Control Panel/ Appearance and Personalisation/ Personalisation/ Desktop Background to make the changes.

Windows colour and transparency can be adjusted.

Adjust window colour and transparency - when you first install Windows 7, a blue ‘Sky’ colour will be assigned to the application and folder windows, which will be semi-transparent. This colour and transparency can be changed via Control Panel/ Appearance and Personalisation/ Personalisation/ Window Colour and Appearance – the advanced settings dialog gives you even more control over the design and colour of the Windows interface.

There is the option to set which icons appear on the desktop.

Change the icons on the desktop - If your Windows desktop is too cluttered, then you can hide some of the system icons that appear. Click the Change desktop icons link on the left of the Control Panel/ Appearance and Personalisation/ Personalisation screen and you can choose to show or conceal icons for Computer, the current user, Network, Recycle Bin and Control Panel. If you’d like to, you can stop any installed themes from overriding these settings.

(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook 4th Edition, on sale now from newsagents and online.)

Arranging programs on screen is easier in Windows 7.

In previous versions of Windows, if you wanted to have two documents open side-by-side on the desktop then you had to laboriously resize each window pixel-by-pixel using the mouse. With Windows 7, this can be done much more easily by dragging a window’s title bar to the left or right edge of the screen.

(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook 4th Edition, on sale now from newsagents and online.)

An all-new bookazine is now on sale.

We’re proud to announce that the latest edition of our best-selling bookazine is now on sale online and in newsagents. It features revised and updated content and a freshly compiled cover DVD that offers 400 freeware tools that are fully Windows 7-compatible. Covering a broad range of topics and guides, the handbook can help you:

• get the most out of Windows 7
• customise the desktop and your user account
• improve system security
• browse the Web with ease
• access hidden Windows 7 features
• manage music, photos and video
• set up a home network
• and much more!

The Essential Windows 7 Handbook 4th Edition is on sale now for £7.99 – check your local newsagent or order online.

Windows 7 can burn ISO files easily.

With Windows 7, the operating system now supports burning ISO files natively. The .iso format is used by many developers to distribute software and other content. Simply double-click on an ISO file to launch the Windows Disc Image Burner. If another program has associated itself with the format, you can use the Open With option on the right-click menu.

(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook 3rd Edition, on sale now from newsagents and online.)

Internet Explorer 9 beta is available now.

The next-generation Internet Explorer 9 is now available in beta form – you can download it from the official page created by Microsoft, which is looking to claw back some of the ground it’s lost to the likes of Firefox and Chrome. New features included in the beta of IE9 include a faster rendering engine, support for hardware acceleration, compatibility with the latest Web standards and a minimalist interface. Windows 7 users can also pin certain websites and online applications to the taskbar, and while the software will also run on Vista, the older XP is not supported. As this is a public beta release, you can expect a certain number of bug fixes and revisions to appear before Internet Explorer 9 is made officially available.

The ‘Beauty of the Web’ website put together by Microsoft showcases a number of the latest HTML5 technologies and related websites that show off the capabilities of Internet Explorer 9. You can read about some of the new features that have been introduced and stay up to date with incremental releases as and when they appear. There’s also information about how Internet Explorer 9 integrates more closely with Windows 7.

IE9 beta brings with it a new look and faster performance.

The first change you’ll notice is a stripped-down interface, with more emphasis given to the actual webpage being viewed. The search box and address bar have been combined and placed alongside the page tabs, with the forward and backward buttons displayed more prominently. To launch a search (using Bing, naturally), simply type your keywords into the address bar at the top of the screen.

Tab management is handled in a similar way to Internet Explorer 8. Open up the new tab page and you’ll see thumbnails of the sites you’ve visited most frequently. Other links can take you to tabs that have been recently closed, and you can activate IE9′s private browsing mode from here too. One of the key ways in which IE9 integrates with Windows 7 is by enabling you to pin particular websites (or Web apps) to the taskbar. If the site has been customised to support this functionality (Twitter is one example), then you should see quick links appear on the icon’s jump list.

(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook 3rd Edition, on sale now from newsagents and online.)