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Windows 7 Feature Focus: Desktop, Taskbar and Start Menu

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:45:00 -0500

From a distance, the Windows 7 GUI resembles its predecessor, Windows Vista. However, the closer you look, the more you'll see that Windows 7's take on the GUI is a big improvement, adding more power, more customization, and better ways to open frequently-used programs and files. Keep reading to learn how you can tap into the power of the Windows 7 desktop, Taskbar, and Start menu.

Getting the Most out of Gadgets

Windows 7, like Windows Vista, includes a useful library of desktop gadgets, from customizable clocks to an RSS feed aggregator and a mini-Windows Media Player. However, Windows 7 no longer keeps desktop gadgets cooped up on one edge of your display: it sets them free. Here's how to place a gadget (we'll use the Clock in this example) wherever you want with the display options you need.

1. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and select Gadgets.

2. Double-click the Clock gadget.

3. Click Close to close Gadgets.

4. By default, the gadget appears in the upper right-hand corner of your primary display. Click and drag the gadget to the preferred location.

5. To choose options, click the wrench.

6. Use the arrow buttons to select from different display options.

7. Customize the gadget by entering settings as prompted.

8. Click OK when finished.

9. Right-click the gadget and select whether the gadget should always be on top and what opacity it should be. In this example, I've selected Always on Top and 60% opacity.

10. In this example, I configured the clock to display eBay time (US Pacific time zone), and I've dragged it near the top of the browser window.

Follow this same basic procedure to place and customize your preferred gadgets. You can place gadgets on either the primary or any additional displays you use.

Click the Get More Gadgets Online link shown in Steps 2 and 3 to see an assortment of additional gadgets you can download. To choose from over 3000 gadgets, click the Get More Desktop Gadgets link on the Personalize Your PC browser window that appears first.

Pinning Power

"Pinning" (the ability to keep shortcuts to programs and files on a list as long as you want them there) has reached new heights in Windows 7. You can pin programs to the newly-remodeled taskbar as well as the Start menu. And, with a little chicanery, you can use "pinning power" to make frequently-used files easy to find in both places from the new Jump List display of current and recent files.

If you've already opened a program, you're more than halfway to pinning it to the taskbar or the Start menu. To pin the program to the taskbar, right-click its taskbar icon and select Pin This Program to Taskbar.

To pin a program to the Start menu, right-click the program icon from either pane of the Start menu and select Pin to Start Menu. You can also pin the program to the Taskbar from this menu:

Pinning Power for Files

You can also use "pinning power" to make access to frequently-used files easier. Windows 7 supports the Jump List, which is a list of recently-opened files maintained by some programs. To see if you can pin the file to the program that hosts it, start the program and open the file, then close it. Then, right-click the program icon in the taskbar and see if the file is listed under Recent in the Jump List. If it is, move your mouse over the data file listing and click the push-pin icon.

The file is now pinned to the program's jump list

From the Taskbar, you can open the file by right-clicking on the program icon and selecting the file from the Pinned menu. Because the file has been pinned to the program's jump list, it will stay on the list no matter how many other files you have opened (and closed).

Pinned data files are also easy to open from the Start menu's left pane. Open the Start menu. Click the right pointer to display the program's jump list.

Click the right pointer to view a jump list of recent and pinned data files. If you need to pin a data file to the program, highlight the file and click the push pin icon. To open either a pinned or recent file, click the file.

Using Live Thumbnails

Because taskbar icons can represent both currently-running programs and pinned programs, there are two ways to tell which icons represent currently-running programs:

Currently-running programs are highlighted

When you hover your mouse over an icon, live thumbnails of each program window are displayed. If a program has two or more windows open, you will see a live thumbnail of each open window:

To see a full-size preview of a program window, hover your mouse over its thumbnail.

To open the program window, double-click its thumbnail.

Unpinning Programs and Files

To unpin a program from the Taskbar, right-click the program icon and select Unpin This Program from Taskbar:

To unpin a program from the Start menu, right-click the program icon and select Unpin from Start Menu:

To unpin a file from a program's Jump List, click the inserted push-pin icon.

Changing Start Menu and Taskbar Settings

As with previous Windows versions, Windows 7 provides many options for customizing the Start menu and Taskbar. To get started, right-click the Start button and select Properties. Click Customize (arrow) on the Start Menu tab to change its default settings:

The Start Menu tab's combination of checkboxes and radio buttons enables you to create your own combination of fast access to frequently-used features while hiding features you don't use very often.

In this example, I changed Control Panel to a menu and added Homegroup, Downloads, Recorded TV, Administrative Tools, and Run to the user's menu:

If you don't like these changes, click the Use Default Settings (previous figure) button to reset the Start menu.

Customizing the Taskbar

Click the Taskbar tab to customize taskbar location (1), icon size (2), locking (3), and auto-hiding (4).

By default, Windows 7 always combines taskbar icons and hides labels, relying on live thumbnails to show you the details. If you prefer a more Windows XP-style look, select Combine when Taskbar is Full or Never Combine (click Apply, then OK to use new settings).

Customizing Notification Icons

Notification Icons often seem to have a mind of their own. In earlier versions of Windows, you could sometimes enable or disable icons through a management interface provided by the program's developer. However, in Windows 7, you can now manage all notification icons. To get started, click Taskbar tab's Customize button. You can now decide to show icon and notifications, show notifications only, or hide both icon and notification on an individual basis:

Click the Turn System Icons On or Off link (highlighted) to select whether to display system icons such as Clock, Volume, Power, Network, and Action Center:

As with Start menu customizations, you have an escape hatch if your changes are not improvements. Click the Restore Default Icon Behaviors link (arrow) to reset notification area icons to their defaults.

Creating Widescreen Wallpaper

In a previous Windows 7 Feature Focus article on Displays and Projectors, we told you how to configure multiple displays and how to select your favorite wallpaper or wallpapers as part of a theme. But, what if you want to have a single wallpaper image that fits across multiple displays?

First, you must determine the total size of your desktop (horizontally and vertically): add up the width (in pixels) of your displays and use the largest height setting from the displays. For example, if you have two 1440 x 900 displays, your wallpaper needs to be 2880x900 (1440+1440).

Second, create your wallpaper from a single photo or a montage. If you have displays with different vertical sizes (in pixels), see our own Will Smith's article on creating multiple-display wallpaper.

Third, crop your wallpaper (if necessary) to the size you determined earlier.

Fourth, open the Personalization menu and select Change Desktop Background. Browse to your wallpaper file and select it. Choose Fill as the position type:

Click Save Changes. Save it as part of a new theme.

When you return to your desktop, you should now see your wallpaper across all of your displays.

Conclusion

Windows 7 offers plenty of desktop, start menu, task bar, and wallpaper customization options to help you work (and play) more efficiently than ever before.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Recovery Environment

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:30:08 -0500

Windows Vista introduced the Recovery Environment to the world of Windows, and Windows 7 has brought it back with even more improvements. Windows 7's Recovery Environment (also known as System Recovery Options) lives up to its predecessor, adding additional refinements and features. To learn how Recovery Environment makes fixing a balky Windows 7 installation easy, keep reading.

What is the Recovery Environment?

Windows 7's Recovery Environment enables users to perform a variety of system and data recovery tasks on a system that won't boot normally, including:

Fixing boot-level startup problems (Startup Repair)
Returning your system to a previous configuration (System Restore)
Recovering your computer with a previously-created system image (System Image Recovery)
Checking for defective memory (Windows Memory Diagnostic)
Running command-prompt programs (Command Prompt)

In the following sections, we'll help you use each of these options so if (let's be optimistic here) you ever are faced with a system that won't start, you'll be ready.

Starting the Recovery Environment: Two Methods

Unlike Windows Vista, which did not include an option to start the Recovery Environment (RE) from the Advanced Boot Options menu in standard installations, Windows 7 installs an option to launch RE on this menu. To see the Advanced Boot Options menu, press F8 after restarting your computer.

Note that Windows 7 places the Repair Your Computer option, which starts Recovery Environment, at the top of the list of options.

But, what if your computer has lost the Recovery Environment files? Are you out of luck? Thankfully, no. On page 2 of our Windows 7 Feature Focus article on Windows 7 Backup and Restore, you learned how to create a System Repair disc. You can use the System Repair disc to start Recovery Environment, and I strongly recommend that you make one. You need a blank CD or DVD. Update: Yes, you can also use your Windows 7 DVD as a System Repair disc (hat tip to reader Pentium 0 - see comments - for the reminder).

Starting Recovery Environment from the Advanced Boot Options (F8) Menu

After you select Repair Your Computer from the Advanced Boot Options menu, here's what happens next:

1. Confirm your keyboard input method (and language, if you have installed multiple-language support). Click Next to continue.

2. Log into your installation. To enable access to the command prompt, select your user name from the pulldown menu:

3. Enter your password.

4. Click OK to continue.

5. The Recovery Environment (aka System Recovery Options) menu opens.

Starting Recovery Environment from the Windows Repair Disc

1. Insert the Repair Disc and restart the system. When prompted, press any key to start the system from CD or DVD.

2. Confirm the keyboard layout and language. Click Next to continue.

3. Select the Windows 7 installation you need to repair. If you have installed multiple versions of Windows 7, be sure to choose the correct one.

4. Click Next to continue:

Note that you do not need to provide login credentials when you use the Repair Disc.

5. The System Recovery Options menu opens.

Using Startup Repair

Startup Repair is used to fix a system that won't start. A variety of reasons can cause a system to fail to start, including

Damage to the root folder
Corruption in startup files
Missing startup files

For this article, I renamed the Winload.exe file in \Windows\System32 as Winload.old; without this file, Windows 7 cannot start.

When you start your system with the Repair Your Computer option from the Advanced Boot Options menu, it checks to determine if you have startup problems. The same checks are performed after you select your Windows 7 installation when you start your system from the System Repair disc. In either case, if the Recovery Environment determines you have startup problems, it automatically runs the Startup Repair feature. You can also run Startup Repair from the System Recovery Options menu.

After completing repairs, Startup Repair displays a dialog similar to this one:

You can restart the system immediately by clicking Finish (1), or wait until the system restarts automatically (2). To see details of the repair, click the Click Here link (arrow).

When you click the link, a Startup Repair details dialog appears. Scroll down through the dialog to learn about the repair. In this example, the root cause was the boot manager's inability to find the OS loader, and a file repair was performed to solve the problem.

Click Close to close the dialog, and reboot the system as in the previous dialog.

Note: You can run Startup Repair multiple times if needed to solve startup problems.

Sending Your System "Back, Back in Time," with System Restore

System Restore has always been a useful way to solve system problems caused by faulty hardware or software installations. Windows Vista's Recovery Environment was the first to permit you to run System Restore without starting Windows first, and Windows 7 adds more refinements.

When you select System Restore from the System Recovery Options menu, click Next on the opening dialog (1) to continue.

By default, Windows 7 shows you only the most recent restore point, because in many cases, that's the one you'd use. If you've been having problems for awhile, you can see additional restore points by clicking the empty Show More Restore Points box. When this box is checked (2), you can scroll through the restore points to select the one you want to restore.

Windows 7 adds an important new feature to System Restore: the ability to see what will be changed on your system when you revert to a particular restore point. To see this information, select your preferred restore point and click the Scan for Affected Programs button (arrow).

The top pane of the dialog shows you the programs that will be removed, and the bottom pane shows you the programs that will be restored; usually programs that were replaced by newer versions. In this example, Microsoft Silverlight 3.x (top pane) would be removed, and the older Microsoft Silverlight 2.x version (bottom pane) would be restored. However, restored programs might not work. Use this dialog as a guide to determine what programs you might want to reinstall after reverting your system. Click Close to return to the main dialog. When you return to the main dialog (3, previous figure), click Next to continue.

Make sure the restore point you want to use is displayed (4), then click Finish (5). Note that you have one more chance to view affected programs (arrow).

When the system reboots, it will have been reverted to the restore point you selected.

Restoring Your System with System Image Recovery

To learn more about his option, see our Windows 7 Feature Focus article on Windows 7 Backup and Restore.

Testing System Memory with Windows Memory Diagnostic

Windows Memory Diagnostic, which is based on Microsoft's downloadable memory test, was also found in Windows Vista's Recovery Environment. When you select the Windows Memory Diagnostic link from the System Recovery Options menu, you can choose whether to restart your system and run diagnostics now (default) or test memory the next time the system is rebooted.

When the system restarts, the memory diagnostic tool runs. By default, it runs twice, then reboots the system and displays any detected problems after you log onto Windows. To change or review settings, press the F1 key (arrow).

The default test set is Standard (1); other options include Basic (fewer tests) and Extended (all tests). Some tests disable memory cache, while others enable it (see the description for each test set for details (2). To adjust the cache settings, tab to Cache (3): and select the settings desired. To adjust the number of test passes, tab to Pass Count (4): and enter the number desired. Press F10 to save changes.

Using the Command Prompt

If you've ever suffered through the limited command prompt available from Windows XP's Recovery Console, you will really appreciate the command prompt available from the Windows 7 Recovery Environment.

Unlike Recovery Console's command prompt, which by default can perform only a small subset of normal command-prompt functions, you can use Windows 7's command prompt in Recovery Environment with any command prompt program or internal command, including multiple file and folder-copy programs such as robocopy. Consequently, command prompt enables you to copy data from a crashed system to another drive, including external USB drives. You can even format CD and DVD media from Command Prompt and copy files to the media. As long as the drive is connected to the system before you start it (and is recognized by the system), you can use the drive.

The complete list of commands available from command prompt is a long one. For a list of commands and brief descriptions, enter Help after you open command prompt. You can obtain detailed help and syntax examples, by typing commandname /?, or by looking up the command in Windows 7's Help system. Here's a portion of the help for robocopy, which I displayed by typing robocopy /? at the command prompt:

When you start command prompt, the system defaults to X:\Windows\System32 (X: being the drive letter used by Recovery Environment). Note the drive letter listed on the System Recovery Options opening menu to determine your system drive letter, which might not match the designations you use in day-to-day use.

To switch to another drive letter in command prompt, type driveletter: and press Enter (for example, D:)

Useful System Recovery Commands

I have found the following commands particularly useful:

Bcdedit – displays and configures boot settings

Chkdsk – checks drive for errors and displays disk usage stats

Dir – Lists files and folders

Exit – closes command prompt session

Format – Erases and prepares blank media for use.

Net – network client configuration and logon tool

Robocopy – powerful file/folder copying utility

Command Prompt Tips and Tricks

If you're unfamiliar with these commands, here are some tips and tricks:

You can scroll the command prompt window up and down to see output that scrolled past you
Use bcdedit to display the drive identifiers in use by Recovery Environment
To format a blank CD or DVD for use in copying files and folders, use this syntax (assuming F: is your rewritable CD/DVD drive):
Format F: /fs:udf
Press Y to continue format when prompted

Using Robocopy to Retrieve User Data

In the days of MS-DOS, nothing beat Xcopy for copying files and folder structures. Today, Robocopy performs the same task while adding many new refinements to make it suitable for network copying and working with NTFS.

If you need to retrieve the files used by user John Jones, for example, to a John Jones folder on H: drive (an external hard disk), use the following syntax (assumes the system drive is C:):

C:\>robocopy "C:\users\John Jones\" "H:\John Jones" /mir /xa:SH /xd AppData /xjd /r:5 /w:15

This command copies everything (/mir) in the John Jones folder and subfolders on drive C: to the John Jones folder on H: except for the following: system and hidden files (/xa:SH), the AppData folder (/xd AppData), and junction points used to make folders in other locations appear in the user's folder (/xjd). In case of problems, robocopy will retry the command 5 times (/r:5) and will wait 15 seconds between retries (/w:15).

This command example is adapted from Greg Shultz's Create a custom backup tool with Vista's Robocopy article at Tech Republic (see the article for much more about Robocopy's syntax and other uses).

During the process, you will see screens similar to the following (in this example, I copied my user folder and added the /COPYALL switch to copy extended file atttributes; see arrow for options):

At the end of the robocopy process, you will see a dialog similar to this one:

Note the scroll bar in the last two figures. You can always scroll back through all of the commands and displays during the current command prompt session.

Conclusion

If you haven't tried Windows 7's Recovery Environment yet, give it a try – even if everything's OK with your system. It brings a great suite of troubleshooting tools to your assistance, and it never hurts to practice before a real problem takes place.

Windows 7 Feature Focus – Backup and Restore

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:30:00 -0500

Windows Vista replaced the antiquated, tape-oriented Windows NT Backup wizard with a new backup system optimized for external hard disks, and some editions also included true "bare metal" disaster recovery. However, Vista's Backup and Restore Center was missing some vital functionality: there was no way to create a Recovery Environment disc to boot your system (you were expected to use your Windows Vista DVD), file and folder backup and system image backup were performed with different programs, and Home Premium users who needed image backup had to purchase a third-party program. Windows 7 builds on the new features in Windows Vista's backup and fills in the missing functionality. To see how Windows Backup has been transformed from awkward adolescence into full maturity, keep reading.

Starting Backup and Restore for the First Time

To start Backup or Restore functions in Windows 7, open Control Panel and click Back Up Your Computer from the System and Security category:

Windows Backup and Restore has two panes. The right pane is used to configure and run backup and restore functions. This is the right pane for Windows 7 Home Premium (the focus of this article) before it is configured:

The right pane for Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate offers additional links for system recovery:

The left pane is used to launch backup-related tasks:

Setting Up Windows Backup

To set up Windows Backup, click the Set Up Backup link (1). Note that it is marked with a Windows Security shield, which indicates that users might see a User Account Control (UAC) prompt.

Setting Up a Scheduled Backup Job

Next, Windows Backup displays suitable locations for storing your backup: internal and external hard disks and DVD drives are listed. To save the backup on a network share in Business and Ultimate, click Save to Network (Home Premium users can't use network shares). In this example from Home Premium, I selected a Maxtor OneTouch 4 (2), which has over twice the free space of my system drive. After selecting your location, click Next to continue. If you didn't connect your backup drive until you reached this step, click Refresh (arrow).

When you use the default "Let Windows Choose" setting (3), Windows Backup creates two backup types in a single operation: a system image you can use for "bare metal" disaster recovery, and a backup of data files in libraries, the Windows desktop, and default Windows folders. Click Next to continue.

Customizing a Backup

To choose what to back up, click Let Me Choose (arrow) and click Next. By default, Windows Backup selects data files for the current user and for any newly-created users (4). To exclude or include particular locations, click the arrow icons (4a) to expand the file tree.

Then, click empty checkboxes to add locations, or clear checkboxes to exclude locations. Checked items are included in the backup (4b). To create a system image, click the Include a System Image... checkbox (arrow). Click Next to continue.

Review backup settings (5), and click Save Settings and Run Backup to start the backup (6). By default, Windows Backup runs weekly at 7:00PM on Sunday. To change the schedule, click the Change Schedule link (arrow).

During the backup, a progress screen (7) displays backup status (this example uses a different backup drive). Click View Details (arrow) to see detailed information.

At the end of the process, a completion dialog appears. Click Close (8) to close the dialog.

Creating a Repair Disc

One of the features proposed for Windows Vista that didn't make the cut was the ability to create a System Repair disc. Thankfully, this features is included in Windows 7. The System Repair disc is used to start a Windows system so you can use system recovery tools, including the restoration of a system image. If you are preparing to create a system image with Windows Backup and have not yet made a System Repair disc, you will be prompted to do so (arrow) before starting an image backup:

To start the System Repair disc creation process, click the link in the left pane. Insert a blank CD or DVD into the drive listed (1) and click Create Disc (2). The process takes only a couple of minutes. Label the disc as prompted and put it away when finished. If you have (or support) a mixture of 32-bit and 64-bit systems, note that you must start 32-bit Windows 7 systems with a recovery disc made on a 32-bit system, and 64-bit Windows 7 systems with a recovery disc made on a 64-bit system

Restoring Files from a Backup

When you make a backup using Windows Backup's defaults, you can restore a system image (used when you must rebuild a system or have replaced a hard disk) or selected files. To start the file restore process, click Restore My Files from Backup and Restore (1). To restore all users' files, or to select a backup from another system to restore files from, click the appropriate links (arrow).

Use the Search, Browse for Files, or Browse for Folders buttons (2) to choose files to restore.

In this example, I selected Browse for Folders. Click through the folder hierarchy to locate the folder you need. Select it (3) and click Add Folder (4) to select the folder and its contents for restoration.

Repeat steps 2-4 as needed, using the appropriate method in Step 2 until you have selected all of the files and folders you want to restore. Review the files and folders you have selected (6). Click Next (7) to continue.

By default, Windows Backup restores selections to the original locations (8). To select a different location (such as for testing a backup), click In the Following Location (arrow) and browse to the desired location. Click Restore (9) to restore files. At the end of the process, click Finish when prompted.

Restoring a Backup Image

The process of restoring a backup image is similar to the one used in Windows Vista. To restore a backup image, make sure the drive with the backup image is connected to your system. Restart the system with the System Repair disc or the Windows 7 DVD. Press the space bar to boot from the CD or DVD.

If you use the System Repair disc, Select Windows Setup [EMS Enabled] from the boot menu.
If you use the Windows 7 DVD, click Next on the opening Windows 7 screen, and click Repair Your Computer on the following screen.

A progress bar appears while Windows loads files. Click Next when the System Recovery Options dialog appears. Select the installation to repair (1), then click Next (2). In most cases (unlike this example), you will have only one installation. If you have replaced your hard disk with a blank disk, you will not see any installations to repair. Click Next anyway.

Select System Image Recovery (3).

After the system scans for drives containing system images, it displays the most recent (4). Click Next to continue (5).

If you are replacing a failed hard disk, click the Format and Repartition Disks checkbox (6). This formats the target drive to match the layout of the drives in the system image. Use the options buttons (arrows) to exclude disks, install drivers needed to make RAID arrays or SATA drives on host adapters visible, or to make other advanced settings. Click Next to continue (7).

Review settings (8), then click Finish to restore your system (9).

Your system will reboot after it is restored. If you have performed file backups after the most recent system image date, use the Restore Files option to restore any missing files.

Tech Notes

Use the following sections to help you understand technical issues with Windows Backup and Restore and troubleshoot some common problems.

Managing Backups

Windows Backup stores a backup image as a file identified by the Windows Backup icon (1). As far as standard file management features in Windows are concerned, a Windows Backup file is empty (2).

When you right-click the file and select Restore Options, you can restore your files, all files for all users, or manage space used by your backup (3).

The Manage Windows Backup Disk Space dialog includes a space usage summary (4). It lists the space used by file backups, image backups, other files on the drive, and free space on the drive. To see options for clearing space used by older file backups, click View Backups (5). To see options for clearing space used by older system images, click Change Settings (6). Click Close when done (7).

Tips and Tricks for Selecting the Best Backup Location

The largest external hard disk attached isn't always the most suitable choice for backups. In this example, I selected drive L: (WD_Backup), a half-terabyte external hard disk (1). At first glance, it would seem that this drive would be the perfect choice for a backup of a system drive of less than 120GB. However, when I selected it, Windows Backup displays two warnings (2): the drive cannot be used for a system image and is not secure.

When I clicked the more information link in the first warning, Windows Backup displayed the dialog shown here, which states that you cannot use a removable device for a scheduled backup of a system image (3). The only way to use this drive for a backup would be to use the Create a System Image option shown in the left pane (an option which is a one-time backup and does not back up data files).

Why would Windows Backup mistake a 500GB external hard disk for a removable device? The easiest way to find out is to open Computer, right-click the drive, and select Properties. Note that drive L: is formatted with the FAT32 file system (4).

NTFS versus FAT32 File Systems

The FAT32 file system is the standard file system used for most external hard disks; it is compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including both current and older versions of Windows. However, Windows Backup can only be used to back up drives formatted with NTFS, and similarly, it can perform scheduled backups only to NTFS-formatted backup drives. NTFS has security features not found in FAT32 (which explains the second warning seen earlier). As far as Windows Backup is concerned, a FAT32 hard disk is a removable drive.

Convert.exe – The Solution

By using Convert.exe, the command-line file system conversion utility included in Windows 7, you can convert a drive from the FAT32 file system to NTFS. To run Convert.exe on a hard disk, follow this procedure:

1. Click Start.

2. Enter Cmd in the desktop search window.

3. Double-click Cmd in the list of programs.

4. A command prompt window opens.

5. Enter the following command:

Convert x: /fs:ntfs (replace x: with the actual drive letter you are converting). In this example, I'm using Convert to convert the file system on drive L:

6. After the conversion process is over, enter Exit to close the command-prompt window.

You can now use the converted drive as a backup target (assuming it has enough disk space).

Note: In some cases, you might also need to change the Policies setting for the external hard disk from Quick Removal to Better Performance. To make this change, open Device Manager, expand the Disk Drives category, double-click the external hard disk to open its properties sheet, click the Policies tab, and click the Better Performance radio button. Click OK, and restart your computer as prompted [updated 8-4-2009 1:04PM CDT]

How Fast a Location Should You Use for Backup?

Backup locations vary in speed:

The slowest backup locations are network locations, such as those reached via 10Base-T Ethernet (10Mbps) or Wireless-B (11Mbps, but slower if WEP encryption is used).
Faster choices include Wireless-A or Wireless-G (54Mbps), Fast Ethernet (100Mbps), Wireless-N (up to 270Mbps)
The fastest network choice in a home or small-office environment is Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mpbs)
For external hard disks, USB 2.0 (480Mbps) and FireWire 400 (400Mbps) have broadly similar performance, although FireWire 400 can be faster than USB 2.0 on faster computers. The fastest external hard disk is eSATA (150MB/sec or 300MB/sec).

For convenience and ease of restoration, I recommend using an external hard disk.

How Much Backup Capacity Do You Need?

Ideally, a backup drive should have available space least twice the size of the hard disk capacity you are backing up. For example, if you are backing up a drive with 300GB of space used by the system drive and data files, use at least a 640GB hard disk as a backup drive. If you use a backup target drive that is less than double the capacity of your backup source, you will fill it up more quickly. Windows Backup will prompt you to discard older backups to make room for newer backups.

Conclusion

Although Windows Backup in Windows 7 has a somewhat similar look and feel to its Windows Vista predecessor, it offers much more capabilities, especially for Home Premium users, and better management. It's easy enough to use frequently, and it offers easy restoration of both data files and system images.

Mark Edward Soper has spent a lot of time with Windows 7, and his forthcoming book Easy Microsoft Windows 7 proves it.When he's not using Windows, he's spending time pursuing his favorite hobby, digital photography. Discover what your camera can do by reading his new book, The Shot Doctor: The Amateur's Guide to Great Digital Photos.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Libraries

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:30:00 -0500

Previous versions of Windows have included separate folders for documents, music, videos, and photos (such as Windows XP's My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos, and My Music folders). These folders made it convenient to organize and open different types of files - as long as they were stored in the appropriate folder. However, with the increasing popularity of using network shares and external hard disks for media storage, Windows users have faced challenges in file management.

Although shortcuts to additional media locations, symbolic links to other locations (introduced in Windows Vista), and changing the default location used by a user's media files have all been used to cope with the problem, the results for Windows users have been:

A lot of clicking to find media files
No easy way to see all of the media files of a particular type in different locations at the same time

Enter the "new" Windows 7 libraries feature. Although earlier versions of Windows Media Center have included a libraries function to make media access easier, it worked only within the WMC interface. Windows 7 is the first Windows version to bring libraries to the Windows Explorer.

What Is a Library?

A library is a logical folder that can display the contents of multiple physical locations at the same time: in other words, as if the contents were stored in the same physical folder. When you open Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos shortcuts from the Windows 7 Start menu, you are opening the current user's Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos libraries. Here's a portion of the Documents library on one of my Windows 7 systems:

At first glance, it looks about the same as the Windows Vista Documents folder. However, note that under the Documents library title that there are two locations in this library. That's two folders visible at the same time.

Accessing Your Personal Folders

If you prefer to view only the contents of your personal folders, open the Start menu and click your name. The folders in the main pane are your personal folders:

Default Library Locations

To find out which folders are included in a library, open the library and click the locations link, or hover your mouse over the locations link. For example, if you have the Documents library open, the link opens the Documents Library Locations dialog:

By default, Windows 7 uses the following locations for each user's libraries (assuming C:\drive is used as the system drive):

Documents library:

C:\Users\username\Documents* (My Documents)

C:\Users\Public\Documents (Public Documents)

Music library:

C:\Users\username\Music* (My Music)

C:\Users\Public\Music (Public Music)

Pictures library:

C:\Users\username\Pictures* (My Pictures)

C:\Users\Public\Pictures (Public Pictures)

Videos library:

C:\Users\username\Videos* (My Videos)

C:\Users\Public\Videos (Public Videos)

*The default save location - if you don't specify a different location, saving a new or edited file to the library will save the file to this location.

By placing the Public folders in each library by default, Windows 7 makes it easy to for users to see the files they're sharing with other users. By default, Windows 7 libraries use the By Folder view, which enables you to see at a glance the files in each shared folder. In this example, the Videos library includes four locations, and you can see some of the contents of two of the locations:

To view all of the folders in a library, you can also expand the library in the left pane of Windows Explorer:

Because libraries are displayed in the left pane of an Explorer window, you can access them the same way you'd access personal folders, local drives, mapped drives, and network folders.

Adding a Local Location to a Library

There are two methods you can use to add a local folder or drive to a library:

Method 1:

1. Open the library.
2. Click the Locations link. Current locations are listed.
3. Click Add:

4. Navigate to the location you want to add to the library.
5. Click Include Folder:

6. The folder is added to your locations.

Method 2:

1. Open Windows Explorer, Computer, etc.
2. Navigate to the location.
3. Select the location to use.
4. Click Include in Library:

5. Select the library to use.
6. The location (which can be a folder or a drive) is included in the library.

Library Limitations: No Removable Drives

Windows 7's library feature is designed to work with folders on local hard disks, either internal or external. It cannot be used with removable-media drives or USB flash drives, as this error message shows:

Workarounds for Network Library Errors

A different error message is displayed if you attempt to add a network share to one of your libraries:

If the library function doesn't work with network shares, this would be a big problem. If you're like me, you might have one or more network shares that contain files you'd like to access easily. So, what can you do? Note that Microsoft says that the problem is that the folder is not indexed.

When you click the "How Can This Folder Be Indexed?" link, for help, Microsoft suggests three solutions. Which one's the best for you, or are there even better ways to add network shares to your libraries? Let's find out.

Option Number 1: HomeGroup

Make sure your computer and the remote computer are in the same homegroup. This method works:

There's just one catch, though: You can use the HomeGroup technology in Windows 7 only with other Windows 7 PCs. Most of us need a method that also works with older Windows versions.

Option Number 2: Make sure the remote folder's contents are indexed

It would seem logical that if you're running Windows Search 4.0 on the remote computer that its index would be usable for this purpose. However, you'd be wrong. Unfortunately, the only way to make sure those files are indexed is to try the third option - if you're using a version of Windows 7 that supports it.

Option Number 3: Use the Offline Files feature in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions

To set up offline files, right-click the network share and select Always Available Offline:

Windows 7 uses Sync Center to make synchronized copies of the share's contents to your computer, and resynchronizes them when either the original or copy changes and the computers are connected. This method works (the green SyncCenter icon indicates an offline folder):

Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with this feature too: The first one is that if you're opting for Windows 7 Home Premium, you don't have Offline Files support. Secondly, this option is useful primarily for mobile users who are not always connected to the shared resource. It is not practical for full-time network access or for situations in which the resource has a lot of files, as the sync process could take a long time and uses up disk space on your local drive. Is there are better way?

Adding a Network Folder to a Library with Symbolic Links

Symbolic links (which enable you to access the contents of a drive letter or network location through an empty folder), a long-time Unix and Linux feature first introduced to Windows with Windows Vista, provide an easy way to add a network share to your library without the need to sync its files to your local hard disk - if you don't mind a bit of cheating.

Both Windows 7 and Windows Vista create symbolic links the same way by using the command-line mklink tool. Here's how to use Mklink and a little misdirection of the Libraries feature to make a symbolic link that your library can use:

1. Create an empty folder to store the link in your preferred location. In this example, I created an empty folder called Netlink in C:\Users\Marcus\:

2. Add the new folder to your library:

3. Open Windows Explorer and delete the folder.

4. The location remains in the libraries dialog:

5. To create a symbolic link, open a command prompt as administrator:

6. Enter a command with this syntax:

mklink /d locallink \\remotelink

If you see a message similar to this one, you've created the symbolic link:

Symbolic link created for locallink <<===>> \\remotelink

7. Type Exit and press Enter to close the command prompt session.

8. Open the library, and you should see your photos in the remote folder:

(I learned about this method from a posting on the Sevenfourums website and a free video (with registration) available at the Winstructors website)

Dealing with File and Folder Names with Spaces

One problem with the demonstrations of this method online showed up when I tried to use this method to link to a share called
\\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures:

C:\Users\Marcus>mklink /d c:\users\marcus\netlink \\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web A
rticles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures
The syntax of the command is incorrect.

What was wrong? After I tried this a few times, I realized what the problem was. Every example I'd seen online involved pathnames without spaces. However, the odds are good that either your local folder or remote path will have spaces. The solution? Use quote marks around the pathname that contains spaces:

C:\Users\Marcus>mklink /d c:\users\marcus\netlink "\\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web
Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures"

This time, I got the results I wanted:

symbolic link created for c:\users\marcus\netlink <<===>> \\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures

If the need to use quote marks seems puzzling to you, right-click on any desktop or start menu shortcut to a program or file with spaces in the name, and select Properties. Look at the target, and you'll see that the shortcut command line has quote marks around it, as in this example for Apple's QuickTime Player:

When you open the folder that contains the symbolic link you used for the library, you will note that the link uses the shortcut arrow icon. Right-click the icon and select Properties to view the properties for the link:

Removing a Folder from a Library

At some point, you might decide that you no longer need to view the contents of a particular location as part of a library. To remove the location, open the library, open the Locations dialog, select the location, and click Remove. The files in the location are not affected, but are no longer displayed in the library.

Note: If you delete the shortcut on your local system to the symbolic link, you will need to use the command-line mklink program to recreate the link.

Working with Libraries

You can perform about any file operation you need to with a library, as long as you have sufficient rights to the location. For example, you can delete a file from the library view if it's on your local system or you have read/write access to the shared location.

By changing views, you can see the files in each of your libraries in the most effective ways for your purposes. In this example, I selected the Month view for my Pictures library:

By (File) Type for my Documents library:

By Album for my Music library:

Creating a New Library

Although Windows 7 includes only four libraries by default, there's no reason not to have more. To create a new library:

1. Open the libraries view.

2. Click New Library:

3. Name the library. In this example, I'm creating a library for games:

Once you create a library, use the methods covered earlier in this article to add locations to the library. Remember, you can choose a particular folder, an entire non-removable local drive, or a network location.

Benefits of Libraries

If you're sick and tired of hopscotching around your system to find media or other types of files, Windows 7's Libraries feature will save your aching mouse finger.

If you're looking for an easy way to make frequently-used local or network locations accessible without constantly navigating to them, Libraries solves your problem. Virtually anything you can do with a folder you can do with libraries, and best of all, you can choose when to work at a folder level and when to work at a library level.

Hit Comment and tell us your favorite library tips and tricks!

Mark Edward Soper has spent a lot of time with Windows 7, and his forthcoming book Easy Microsoft Windows 7 proves it. He's also found time for his favorite hobby, digital photography, and his new book, The Shot Doctor: The Amateur's Guide to Great Digital Photos, will help you take better pictures this summer and throughout the year, whether you use a point-and-shoot or digital SLR camera.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Working with Displays and Projectors

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Windows 7's display configuration settings have gone through some of the biggest transformations from previous editions, including Windows Vista. And, the changes are more than skin-deep. With improved support for portrait displays, better ways to detect and manage multiple monitors, easy projector connections, and better theme controls, Windows 7 makes it easier than ever before to make the visual components of Windows work the way you want them to.

Accessing Display Settings

Windows 7 provides a variety of ways to access display settings. Right-click an empty location on the desktop to select from Screen Resolution, Gadgets, and Personalize menus:

From the Control Panel, you can access the Personalization category (shown here) and the Hardware and Sound category. Both categories include links to Display settings, and, on laptop computers, the Hardware and Sound category also includes a link to the Windows Mobility Center, which offers laptop-oriented display options.

This article focuses on the Screen Resolution and Personalization menus. A future article in this series will discuss Gadgets and other desktop features.

Using the New Screen Resolution Dialog

The new Screen Resolution dialog in Windows 7 is the nerve center for much more than adjusting screen resolution:

This dialog, as in previous versions of Windows, is also used to identify and configure multiple displays. However, it also provides new features and functionality:

Click Detect to detect a newly-installed display. This feature helps overcome one of the biggest problems with multiple display use – getting Windows to find the additional display(s).
Open the Orientation menu to switch between portrait and landscape modes, or to flip the display "upside down" to enable the display to be hung at different angles.
Click Make Text or Other Items Larger or Smaller to open the Appearance and Personalization Display text size selection dialog.

Selecting the Optimal Resolution for Your Display

According to a study of Windows Feedback Program data performed by the Engineering Windows 7 blog last fall , 55% of users with default monitor displays of 1280x1024 or higher did not use their displays' default resolution, but used a lower resolution. What happens if you don't use your LCD display's default (aka 'native' or 'recommended') resolution? Some of the problems cited by the Engineering Windows 7 blog include:

Blurry text resulting in eye fatigue
Reduced resolutions often use non-native aspect ratios, causing distorted text and graphics
Inability to tune LCD displays with ClearType
Inability to view 720p or higher HD video signals

Fortunately, it's easier than ever to choose the best resolution for your display in Windows 7. Select Screen Resolution or Adjust Screen Resolution to open the Change the Appearance of Your Display dialog shown in the previous figure. To change screen resolution, open the Resolution menu. The current setting is listed along with a pointer adjustment, along with the recommended setting:

Note that the recommended setting might not necessarily be the display's maximum setting. In this example, I needed to increase the display's resolution from 1280x768 to 1440x900. If you need to change your resolution, select the correct resolution, click Apply, then OK. Click Keep Changes on the confirming dialog that appears to save the new resolution setting. Here's the dialog after increasing the resolution as recommended:

Switching Display Orientations

While most LCD displays, like the CRT displays they've superseded, are used in landscape mode, there are many situations in which portrait mode is preferable, such as in page layout and heavy-duty word processing. If your LCD display uses a VESA standard mount, you can switch the standard mount for a variety of monitor mounts for swivel use.

In Windows 7, it is no longer necessary to open a proprietary display driver function to switch display orientations. Open the Orientation menu and select the orientation desired:

Note that the preview changes when you select Portrait:

How much more can you see when you use portrait mode instead of the default landscape mode when editing a document? Here's a document on a Windows 7 desktop in the default landscape mode:

Switch the display to portrait mode, and you can see much more of the document at one time:

Detecting and Configuring Multiple Displays

Windows 7 continues the multiple-display support features found in earlier Windows versions, but with a significant improvement: Windows 7 can now detect additional displays. After you connect an additional display to your system and turn it on, click the Detect button (1). After the display is detected, use the new Multiple Displays dialog to select how to use the additional display (2):

After enabling an additional display, you must click Apply before making other changes:

Note how easy it is to switch to only a single display in Windows 7: rather than needing to select the display and clear selection boxes as in Windows Vista and earlier versions, just select whether you want to use only display 1, or display 2, and so on.

Working with Projectors on Mobile Systems

If you are working with a projector on a mobile system, you have even more tools that can make your life easier. On notebook, table PC, and other mobile systems running Windows 7, the Hardware and Sound category features an additional category: Windows Mobility Center:

Click Adjust Commonly Used Mobility Settings to open the Windows Mobility Center dialog. Use the Connect/Disconnect button in the External Display function (top right) to add or remove an additional display. Click Turn On or Turn Off in the Presentation Settings to work with a projector:

The Presentation Settings dialog provides quick access to common options for projector use:

After you connect your projector, you can use the Display Settings dialogs shown earlier to fine-tune your connection.

Working with Themes

Themes, the combination of visual and audio features that personalize your desktop, have been around for awhile, but previous versions of Windows made working with themes difficult, to put it mildly. In Windows XP, creating a theme meant working with the multi-tabbed Display properties sheet, never seeing a list of current settings, and thus never being quite sure what was in your theme. Although Windows Vista provided easier ways to change theme elements, it was still a challenge to find out what you'd selected. Finally, Windows 7 makes selecting and creating a theme easy by showing you exactly what a theme includes (note that Windows 7 Starter edition doesn't support themes).

While you can go directly to menu choices for background, window glass colors, sound effects, and screen saver from the Personalization menu, it's just as easy to make these choices from the Themes submenu. To get started, click Change the Theme from the Appearance and Personalization category's Personalization menu:

The themes dialog shows you themes you've created (1); the current background, window color, sound scheme, and screen saver (2); a scrolling list of additional themes (3). The highlighted theme is the current theme:

Note that you can also download additional themes (click Get More Themes Online).

Selecting a Different Theme

To select from the themes built into Windows 7, scroll down and click the theme you prefer. Windows 7 includes seven themes built for Aero and six basic and high-contrast themes:

When you select a theme, the elements of the theme are automatically displayed at the bottom of the theme dialog. In this example, I selected the Aero Architecture theme:

Most themes included in Windows 7 do not specify a screen saver, so you will probably want to add one and save the modified theme. To modify an element in a theme, click the element (such as the setting for screen saver) in the bottom of the Themes dialog.

Selecting a Screen Saver

The Screen Saver dialog is virtually unchanged from previous Windows versions, and also lists screen savers from optional programs (this example shows entries installed by Picasa and Windows Live Photo Gallery):

After selecting a screen saver and choosing options such as wait time and whether to display the login (logon) screen, click Apply, then OK, to use your changes:

Selecting Backgrounds

To change the current desktop background, click the link at the bottom of the Themes dialog. The selected background - or backgrounds - are marked with checkboxes (see the Architecture category). You can select a different background category (1), browse to a specific location (2), select or clear all pictures in a category (3), select picture location (4), choose how often to change backgrounds if you have more than one selected (5), and optionally shuffle the order of background images (6).

To choose only one subcategory, click the title bar for that subcategory (such as Architecture).To select all of the photos in a category, click Select All. To use only one photo, click Clear All, then click the photo you want to use. To use more photos, use Ctrl-Click to select the photos you want. However, if you prefer Solid Colors, you can only choose one color at a time. Click Save Changes to save your selections.

Changing Window Color and Appearance

The Window Color button opens the Window Color and Appearance menu, which is virtually identical to the Windows Vista version. Click the Advanced Appearance Settings dialog to make changes in the Windows Basic or High Contrast color schemes:

Again, click Save Changes to use your new selections.

Selecting a Sound Scheme

The fourth element in a theme is the sound scheme. Click Sounds to open the Sound dialog shown here:

As with previous Windows versions, you can select an event and click Test to see if you like the sound choice. What can you expect when you select a new sound scheme? Here are three examples: Cityscape uses jazzy vibraphone sounds, while Afternoon uses acoustic guitar chords, and Sonata puts a string quartet at your disposal. Click Apply, then OK, to use your choice. If you add or modify sounds in the current scheme, use the Save As option to save your changes first.

Saving a Modified Theme

Whenever you modify a theme, a new Unsaved Theme is created. After reviewing your choices (1), click Save Theme (2):

Enter a name when prompted, and click Save. The new theme is listed in My Themes:

Conclusion

With few exceptions, Windows 7 has made the process of customizing your display and desktop much easier than with previous Windows editions. Hit Comment and share your favorite themes, tips, and tricks.

Mark is the author of the forthcoming book Easy Microsoft Windows 7, and is inspiring digital photographers everywhere with his new book The Shot Doctor: The Amateur's Guide to Taking Great Digital Photos.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Virtual Windows XP (AKA XP Mode)

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:30:00 -0500

Although Windows has included the Program Compatibility Wizard and Compatibility tab to help older programs to run properly under the current version of Windows since Windows XP, these features are not always able to help older applications to run. While Windows 7 continues to offer these features, some editions can also use a better way to run older Windows applications: XP Mode.

XP Mode at a Glance

XP Mode (also known as Virtual Windows XP) enables some editions of Windows 7 to run Windows XP in a virtualized window, and to run individual Windows XP-compatible apps in a virtualized environment directly from the Windows 7 Start menu.

XP Mode is supported by the following Windows 7 editions: Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise. The System properties sheet tells you what version you have:

By providing an actual Windows XP environment, as opposed to an emulation of Windows XP as provided by the Program Compatibility Wizard and Compatibility tab in a program's properties sheet, XP Mode enables business programs that require 100% Windows XP compatibility to run within Windows 7. Unlike Microsoft's previous virtualization environment, Virtual PC 2007, XP Mode enables Windows XP-compatible programs to be launched directly from the Windows 7 Start menu. You can also pin XP Mode programs to the Taskbar or Start menu in Windows 7.

XP Mode also enables you to use peripherals (such as older scanners and multifunction devices) that are not supported by Windows 7; you can run them in XP Mode and save the output to locations accessible to both XP Mode and Windows 7

To use older versions of Windows utilities such as Internet Explorer 6 supplied with Windows XP, launch a windowed or full-screen XP Mode virtual machine and run programs within it.

The FAQs About XP Mode

Since XP Mode was announced as an optional feature for Windows 7 Professional, a lot of erroneous information has been published about XP Mode. Here are the FAQs:

Q. What do I need to run XP Mode?

A. There are three requirements:

You must be running Windows 7 Ultimate, Professional, or Enterprise editions.

You must have a processor capable of supporting hardware virtualization (Intel refers to this feature as Intel Virtualization Technology; AMD refers to this feature as AMD-V).

3. Hardware virtualization must be enabled in the system BIOS.

Q. Do I need a copy of Windows XP to use XP Mode?

A. No. Microsoft provides Windows XP SP3 as a VHD file for use with XP Mode.

Q. What are the benefits of using XP Mode instead of running Virtual PC 2007 and installing Windows XP as a virtual machine?

A. There are several advantages to XP Mode over VPC 2007+Windows XP, including:

When you install programs into XP Mode, they are automatically published to the Windows 7 Start menu, so you can run them in separate windows on the Windows 7 desktop, or in full-screen, or within the Windows XP VM desktop. Virtual PC 2007 must run Windows XP programs within the Windows XP VM desktop.

You must manually configure Virtual PC 2007 to run Windows XP - this is not necessary with XP Mode.

You can move your mouse freely between XP Mode and the Windows 7 desktop - with Virtual PC 2007, you must click within the window to capture the mouse cursor, then press the right alt key to release your mouse to return to the Windows 7 desktop

VPC 2007 cannot use USB mass storage devices – XP Mode can use USB mass storage devices.

VPC 2007 runs Windows XP as a VM very poorly (slow CD-ROM access, etc.) unless you install VPC 2007 extensions. XP Mode does not require you to install extensions.

XP Mode automatically integrates the Windows clipboard, printers, drives and smartcards at startup, and you can also also selectively disable and select whether to enable at start up (default).

Q. Is XP Mode designed for 3D gaming?

A. No. XP Mode does not support 3D graphics APIs such as DirectX. If you need to play 3D games that will not run in Windows 7, set up a dual-boot environment.

Q. Can I run Virtual PC 2007 and XP Mode on the same PC?

A. No. You must uninstall Virtual PC 2007 before you can use Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode.

Q. How do I get XP Mode?

A. There are two files you need to make XP Mode a reality:

First, download the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Virtual PC (choose the same version as your edition of Windows 7 supports). Second, download Windows XP Mode.

Both are available from the Microsoft Virtual PC website.

Installing Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode

To get started with XP Mode, download Windows Virtual PC (WVPC). Then download Windows XP Mode (XPM). After installing WVPC, you must restart your computer before you install XPM.

During installation of XPM, you must configure Windows Update to provide automatic or manual updates, and you must enter a password. To save yourself frustration, click the checkbox to Remember Credentials, and you won't need to remember the password to start XPM.

During installation, you must also select the location for the VHD file used by XPM. By default, the location is C:\Program Files\Virtual Windows XP\, but you can browse to other locations as desired. The target drive must have about 1.6GB of free disk space.

Using XPM in Desktop Mode

XPM supports two modes. These modes, as described in Microsoft's "Running Windows XP Mode with Windows Virtual PC: A How-to Guide for Small Businesses" (PDF link) are Desktop Mode and Seamless Mode.

In Desktop mode, you start XPM from the Windows 7 Start menu:

In Desktop mode, all programs that use XPM run from within the Windows XP VM:

In Desktop Mode, XPM works about the way you'd expect a standard Windows XP installation to run. After you start XPM in Desktop mode, wait a few seconds after the desktop appears before the desktop fully initializes. During the startup process, progress bars inform you of what's going on:

Once XPM starts, you'll note that, because of its support for hardware virtualization, it's fairly peppy on a system with 4GB of RAM or more, even with the default XPM virtual machine (VM) memory size of 256MB.

However, there are some significant differences between XPM and a standard non-virtualized Windows XP installation. These include:

Autorun on CDs doesn't work - you must manually run the program referred to in Autorun.

AutoPlay on CDs, DVDs, and USB devices doesn't work. You can manually run the program you prefer to use with the media's contents, or open the media with Windows Explorer

Accessing drives connected to the host PC. XPM uses Remote Desktop Connection to work with these drives, which is why they're listed as network drives by XPM's My Computer.

Adjusting XPM's VM Memory Size and Other Settings

As with Windows Virtual PC's ancestor (Virtual PC 2007), you must shut down a VM before you can adjust its settings. However, closing the XPM window does not shut down the Virtual Windows XP VM. Instead, it hibernates the VM. To close the VM, click the Ctrl-Alt-Del button at the top of the XPM desktop window (1) and select Shut Down from the Windows Security dialog (2):

Note that XPM does not use Fast User Switching because Offline Files is enabled by default.

To adjust the settings used by XPM after closing it down:

1. Open the Virtual Machines folder in the Windows Virtual PC folder in Windows 7's Start menu:

2. Right-click the Virtual Windows XP VM and select Settings:

3. Select the setting you want to adjust (in this example, memory size assigned to the VM) and select or enter the appropriate option:

4. Repeat as needed with other settings, then click OK when finished to close the dialog and save changes.

Note: The settings you use for the XPM VM affect not only XPM in Desktop mode but also in Seamless mode.

Using XPM in Seamless Mode

Although XPM in Desktop mode is easier than working with Virtual PC 2007 + Windows XP, the real benefit for users comes in XPM's Seamless mode. In Seamless mode, you can launch one or more programs installed in XPM directly from the Windows 7 Start menu. Each program runs within its own XPM VM, and you can resize each window and drag it to a different display.

When you install programs in XPM's Desktop mode, start menu shortcuts are automatically added to both the Windows XP Start menu in XPM and to the Start menu for the Windows 7 host PC.

To start a program from Seamless mode, open the Virtual Windows XP Applications folder beneath the Windows Virtual PC folder on the Windows 7 host system and click the program you want to run:

To pin XPM or an XPM application to the Windows 7 Start menu, right-click the shortcut in Windows 7's Start menu and select Pin to Start Menu. To pin XPM or an or an XPM application to the Windows 7 Taskbar, right-click the shortcut and select Pin To Taskbar:

Networking in XPM

Normally, if your Windows 7 host PC is able to connect to the Internet, so can your XPM VM. However, if you want XPM to use the resources of other physical PCs on your network, you might need to tweak the normal network settings. If you are unable to view other network PCs from XPM's My Network Places menu, check the following:

1. Make sure the workgroup name in XPM matches the name of your existing workgroup. To see the current setting, right-click My Computer from the XPM Start menu, select Properties, and click Computer Name. If the workgroup name needs to be changed, click Change, click Workgroup, and enter the correct workgroup name. Click OK, and restart XPM to finish the process.

2. If you are still unable to "see" other PCs on the network from within XPM, click the Tools button at the top of the XPM window, click Settings, and look at the Networking setting. The default setting is Shared Networking (NAT). If this setting does not permit you to see workgroup computers, select the physical network adapter in your system:

You can still access the network and the Internet from the physical PC hosting Virtual Windows XP as well as from within XPM.

Working with USB Devices

XPM is way ahead of Virtual PC 2007 in its handling of USB devices such as printers, scanners, and mass storage devices (VPC 2007 didn't support USB mass storage at all). However, using USB devices in either XPM mode requires that you understand how to attach and release them as needed.

Open the USB menu to see the USB devices available to Virtual Windows XP. The devices are listed in two categories: Attach and Shared. Devices listed in the Shared category are supposed to be available automatically to both the Windows 7 host and XPM. However, in my tests, I found that both types of devices needed to be attached to XPM to make them available to XPM in either Desktop or Seamless modes.

Reminder: when a device is attached to XPM, it cannot be used by your host Windows 7 operating system.

Attaching/Releasing a Device

To attach a device, open XPM's USB menu and click a device with the status of Attach or Shared (if the device status is listed as Release, it is already attached to XPM):

XPM detects the device, and if you are attaching it for the first time, XPM will prompt you to search for drivers with the Found New Hardware Wizard, or you can install drivers manually. If the wizard is unable to install drivers automatically, download the latest Windows XP-compatible driver for your device within XPM and install it. You might be prompted to reboot XPM to complete driver installation.

Tip: if you are installing a multifunction device, do not reboot XPM until you have finished installing all of the drivers and utilities necessary.

After drivers are installed, you might need to open the USB menu again and attach the device before you can use it. In this example, we're using the Epson Scan feature of the Epson WorkForce 600:

When you are finished with the device, open the USB menu again and click the device to release it. The device can then be used by the host Windows 7 session.

Reminder: You must attach devices with XPM Desktop mode before they can be used by applications running in XPM Seamless mode.

So, is XP Mode for you?

If you're trying to run 3D games that don't get along with Windows 7, the answer is 'No'.

But, if you need to get more life out of peripherals or applications that don't run under Windows 7, or you need to run Windows XP without rebooting your Windows 7 PC, the answer might be 'Yes.'

XP Mode is free to try right now with Windows 7 RC, and if you want to use its final version after Windows 7 goes live, be sure to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions (it will be free for those editions, but will not work with Home Premium).

Tell us how you're doing with XP Mode - click Comment to get started.

Windows 7 Upgrade Guide: All Your Questions Answered

Justin Kerr — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:30:46 -0500

The amount of information pouring out of Redmond these days about Windows 7 is unprecedented, and so is the level of enthusiasm. In a frantic attempt to make sense of it all, Maximum PC has been releasing our ongoing Feature Focus series, which hopefully, has helped you determine wither upgrading to Windows 7 is worth it for you. Once you made that decision however, or buy a new PC that’s upgrade eligible, do you know exactly what you’re getting? Can I upgrade from Windows XP? Do I need to buy the same product edition when upgrading? Can I go from 32 bit to 64 bit? These are just a few of the many questions we seek to answer after the jump.

Check out our Windows 7 Buyers Guide here!

The Basics

Release Date: October 22nd 2009

Qualifying OS’s For Upgrade: Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Qualifying OS For In-Place Upgrade: Vista

Upgrade Editions: Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate

System Requirements:

•   1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
•   1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
•   16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20GB (64-bit)
•   DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Can I Buy the Windows 7 Upgrade Edition For Use With Windows XP or 2000?

Yes, but there’s a catch. Only Windows Vista users will be able to do an in-place upgrade. This means that Windows XP or 2000 users will be forced to do a clean install. Maximum PC readers are generally technical enough to know that this is a good idea anyway, but if your planning on upgrading PCs for friends and family, bring a USB hard drive and be prepared to stay awhile.

I Only See One Version of Each Edition. Am I Getting the 32 or 64 Bit Version?

All retail editions of Windows 7 will ship with both the 32 & 64 bit DVDs. This is a huge improvement over Vista where users would need to order additional disks manually from Microsoft. Users who purchase Windows 7 digitally through the Microsoft store will be allowed to choose which version they want prior to starting the download.

How will I know if my Processor Supports the 64 Bit Edition?

Download and run GRC’s SecurAble processor testing application. The download is only about 100k, and like everything from GRC, doesn’t require an install. SecurAble will quickly tell you if your processor supports 64 Bit instructions, and if you will be able to use the coveted XP Mode found in Windows 7 professional. Just make sure it says Yes in the Hardware Virtualization field, and your good to go!

Since I Get a 32 Bit & 64 Bit CD, Can I Install It On Two Machines?

No. Since you are only given one CD key, you can only activate a single version at a time. The good news here is that your CD Key is interchangeable. This means that you can start out with the 32 bit edition if that’s all you need, knowing that you can easily format and change over to 64 bit later on if your requirements change.

Some home users coming from XP might be hoping to cheat the system by calling Microsoft for manual activations on additional machines, but I’m afraid it won’t work this time. Windows is constantly checking in with Microsoft for various reasons (most of which you agreed to in the EULA), and as with Vista, multiple activations are often caught, kicking both copies into non genuine mode. Even though this isn’t as serious as it used to be, it’s still not a good idea, and it’s defiantly illegal.

I Am Running a 32 Bit Edition of Windows Vista. Can I Upgrade to the 64 Bit Version of Windows 7?

Your only option in this scenario will be to perform a clean install. Upgrading a 32 bit edition to 64 bit or downgrading a 64 bit install to 32 bit using the in-place approach is not supported.

I Am Currently Running Windows 7 RC. Can I Upgrade to Windows 7 Retail After Purchase?

If you're using Windows 7 RC right now (as many of us are), you'll have to back up all your personal data and perform a clean install of the retail version of Windows 7. After installation, you'll need to restore your data and reinstall your apps. As stated in the Windows 7 RC download page, Microsoft doesn't recommend that you install RC on a personal or "production" machine. Their stance has always been for users to update beta and RC builds by formatting and reinstalling.

How Does An Upgrade Edition “Clean Install” Differ From Retail Copies of Windows 7?

The full upgrade process still hasn’t been finalized, but here is what we do know. Windows XP upgrade editions were pretty painless. The installer would prompt you to insert a copy of a previous OS for disk verification, and that was pretty much it. Assuming you passed this stage, XP would then prompt you to drop the original install disk back in the tray, and it would push ahead with a clean install.

This approach changed with Windows Vista, and not necessarily for the better. If you followed the official Microsoft approach, you were stuck installing Windows XP each time you wanted to format your PC. Once it verified that a qualifying OS was installed, only then could then upgrade to Vista. This hokey double install process was a terrible waste of time, and seemed like a pointless exercise.

A known workaround now exists that will allow you to bypass this step, and it’s easier than you might think. Simply insert your upgrade DVD, boot into the installer, and when prompted to enter your product key, simply refuse to do so. After you click through all the warnings and pick the version you purchased, it would push ahead with the install. Your product key could then be easily entered later on once you were booted into the OS, and you could then activate using the normal process.

It is still unclear which of the two verification methods Microsoft will choose for Windows 7, but they haven’t given us indication that the newer Vista style approach would be changing. If that’s true, you might want to keep the workaround mentioned in the previous question in mind as it will most likely work in Windows 7 as well. It’s also worth noting that in Vista, the clean install work around also saved your Product Key, allowing thousands of users who were unhappy with Vista to downgrade back to XP.

What Happens to my old CD Key for Windows XP or Vista? Can I use it Somewhere Else?

Based on the terms as they are laid out in the EULA, no. Users who buy and install Windows 7 using the upgrade media should expect to lose access to the product key from their previous OS. While technically this has always been true with Windows upgrades, before XP, this worked on the honor system. With the debuted of product activations in XP, it is now a simple matter for Microsoft to enforce. During a Vista upgrade, the installer would collect your old product key, and send off a cancellation request to the activation server. Simply put, don’t bother upgrading a version of Windows that you will ever need to install somewhere else in the future (this includes dual boots). If you are hoping to make a multi-boot system, you will need to buy the full retail version of Windows 7, or find another spare copy to sacrifice to Redmond.

As mentioned in the previous step, many Vista users were able to use a workaround to get past this restriction by using the upgrade CD to perform a clean install without XP present. Legally you still aren’t allowed to use this version of Windows anymore, but if you ever chose to go back to the older OS instead, at least you would have that option. This is just one more reason (among many) to take the clean install approach.

Do Upgrades from OEM Editions Follow the OEM Activation Rules or Retail?

Online retailers will often sell heavily discounted versions of Windows bearing the OEM badge on the outside of the jewel case. What most people don’t realize, are the restrictions that come along with the discount. OEM editions are permanently tied to the first PC it is activated on, often using unique information gathered from the systems motherboard as an anchor.
Maximum PC readers who like to upgrade often will most likely find this restriction painful to live with, and in the long run, many end up finding it to be more of a hassle than it’s worth. Many Pulitzer Prize worthy stories have been spun in an attempt to get Microsoft to manually activate OEM editions on new hardware, but trust me, they’ve heard them all. In most cases if you simply reassure them it’s only installed on one PC, they will grant your request, but you shouldn’t count on that.

The good news here is that I’ve had no problem moving upgrade versions of Vista to new PCs when using Windows XP OEM product keys. Activations went through without a call to Microsoft, and if the same holds true for Windows 7, you might have finally found a use for an abandoned OEM edition.

As a Windows XP or Vista Home User, Do I Need to Buy Windows 7 Home Premium or can I Spring for Ultimate?

As long as you have a copy of Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, you can buy any upgrade edition you want. It’s important to note however that on the Vista side, this could impact your ability to perform in-place upgrades. For example, don’t expect to be able to do an in-place upgrade of Windows Vista Business to Home Premium, a clean install may be required. You can also upgrade a lower version such as XP Home to Windows 7 Ultimate. The price difference is covered in the upgrade cost.

If I Buy Windows 7 Home Premium, Am I Stuck With It?

Every copy of Windows 7 will have the ability to upgrade electronically to any higher edition. You could start with Home Premium for example, and move up to Professional or Ultimate at any point if you feel the need. The upgrade between versions doesn’t require any reinstall, and in many cases, is instantaneous.

Microsoft has not announced pricing yet on the upgrades, but you should expect to pay a premium on the retail price difference between the edition you purchased, and the one you wish to upgrade to.

With Windows 7 on the Way, Who Cares About Vista?

Windows Vista has matured into a very capable, and reliable OS that unfortunately, will not go down favorably in the history books. For those of you out there who resisted the urge to switch, but are at least a tiny bit curious, did you know if you plan on upgrading to Windows 7 anyway, you can try out the Vista Edition of your choice for around $10? This price tag assumes you missed out on the Windows 7 promotional pricing, which expires on July 11th. Between now and January 2009, any retail copy of Vista purchased from Microsoft will qualify for a free upgrade.

This is an excellent deal to consider if you are in need of a new copy of Windows, but aren’t comfortable with running a pre-release version of Windows 7. You might actually find it’s not all that bad, and the box will make for a great collector's item!

Will All of My Hardware be Compatible With Windows 7?

If it worked in Windows Vista, it will probably work in Windows 7. Many Beta and RC testers of Windows 7 have praised the new OS for its compatibility, but the truth is, if this were being released back in 2007 when Vista debuted, it would have the same problems. With almost 3 years of driver development behind us, Windows 7 will be born into a vastly improved driver ecosystem, and newer hardware will work just fine.

If you’re still not quite sure, feel free to run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. It will let you know if it detects any incompatible hardware or software that might be a problem in the future.

I Just bought 3 Copies of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and Now Family Packs Get Revealed? I Got Ripped Off!
If you managed to get in on the promotional pricing, three copies of Windows Home Premium would have only run you $147. The Family Pack license that will be offered by Microsoft will likely cost around $189 ($10 less than Apple), and as a result, you still came out ahead.

Which Version of Windows 7 is Right For Me?

Only you can decide on that one, but check out our handy Buyer’s Guide more information on which edition is right for you.

Here's an excerpt:

There are three Windows 7 editions that will be sold at retail in the US market:

Home Premium
Professional
Ultimate

If you tried out Windows 7 in its public Beta or RC versions, you used a pre-release of the Ultimate edition, although it's possible to tweak the installation process to install other editions. So, what are the major "core" features of these editions of Windows 7?

According to Microsoft's "Which One Is Right for You?" page, here are the common features (many of which we will cover in current or upcoming Feature Focus articles):

Improved GUI and desktop navigation
Windows Search
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Media Center
HomeGroup (Windows 7-specific networking)

Microsoft's list leaves out some significant core features, though, including:

32-bit and 64-bit editions provided in retail/upgrade versions
Windows Aero desktop (with supported graphics cards and drivers)
Improved wireless networking
Improved network management for mixed Windows 7/Vista/XP networks
Improved audio and video codec support
Improved digital TV support
Windows Backup for both files and system image
Devices and Printers management interface
Device Stage enhanced driver support for multifunction devices

Conclusion – In Place Upgrade vs. Clean Start

Hopefully this guide provided you all the information you will need when it comes to selecting a Windows 7 upgrade edition, but assuming you have a version of Vista capable of doing an in-place upgrade, should you? The answer to this is complicated, but it really depends on the user. Maximum PC readers will probably want to do a clean install for their top performing machines, but what about friends and family? The danger of doing a clean install here is that files, settings, applications, and even customizations they forgot they made are easily wiped out, leaving you to support them.

The good news here is that the upgrade process, based on my testing, works exactly as you would expect. Sidebar gadgets will still be on the desktop, applications and browsers will retain their settings, start menu icons will still be present, etc. You will also find that documents, pictures, and music will be properly tagged, and moved to the appropriate location. The only personalization settings you lose are the desktop wallpaper, quick launch settings, and in some cases, the odd application may need to be re-installed.

All things considered, the in-place upgrade works fairly well, but make sure you know the history of the machine before you proceed. If it was upgraded from Windows 98, to ME, to XP, to Vista, and now 7, your pushing your luck. Are you planning on upgrading? If so let us know what your setup is.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Networking and Homegroups

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:30:00 -0500

Networking in Windows 7 builds upon the drastic remodeling that occurred in Windows Vista. However, although some of the basic networking features in Windows 7 are similar to those in Windows Vista, many networking features have been improved in Microsoft's latest operating system. And, if you are moving up from Windows XP, you will find that Windows 7's network interface is a completely different animal than you've encountered before. Whether you're moving up from Windows Vista or Windows XP, keep reading to learn what's new and better in the main building blocks of Windows 7 networking.

Connecting to Wireless Networks

Windows 7 continues the automatic wireless network detection feature introduced in Windows XP and refined in Windows Vista. When one or more wireless networks are detected but you are not connected to any of them, the familiar five-bar icon appears in the notification area along with a starburst overlay. Click the icon to display a list of wireless networks. Unsecured networks are marked with the Windows security shield. Click a network to connect to it.

Connecting to an Unsecured Network

When you select an unsecured network, a warning message appears. If you want to connect automatically, click the checkbox. Click Connect to complete the connection.

On the next dialog, click Public Network to configure the Windows firewall to block access to your shared folders and resources.

Dealing with Login Requirements

Some locations with unsecured wireless access might require you to log in to the service provider's website and agree to terms of service before you can use the connection. Windows 7 prompts you if this is necessary. Click the prompt to open the browser and provide the necessary information.

Connecting to a Secured Network

When you connect to a secured network, all you need to do is enter the network security key (passphrase). You don't need to specify the encryption type (WEP, WPA, or WPA2) as with Windows XP.

Working with the Network Folder

The Network folder can be opened from the Start menu when this option is enabled in Start menu configuration or by clicking Network from any Explorer window. It displays the computers on the network and provides links to Network and Sharing Center (an improved version of Windows Vista's Network and Sharing Center), Add a Printer, and Add a Wireless Device. To view shared resources on a listed computer, double-click the computer icon.

Installing a Network Printer

To install a network printer, click the Add a Printer link in the Network folder. Select Add a Network, Wireless, or Bluetooth Printer when prompted, and click Next. Select the printer from the list of shared printers, and click Next.

If a printer driver suitable for use with Windows 7 is available, the printer is installed. If not, Windows uses Windows Update to search for a driver online. If Windows Update cannot locate a driver, download and install the driver manually. If a Windows 7 driver is not available, use a Windows Vista driver. Before canceling the Add Printer task, note the address of the network printer, as you might need to browse to it if you perform a manual printer installation.

Network and Sharing Center

The Network and Sharing Center, originally introduced in Windows Vista, has been streamlined in Windows 7. You can start it from a link in the Network folder, or from the Network category in Control Panel. As with Windows Vista, the top of the window provides a graphical representation of the connection.

Below the connection diagram, Network and Sharing Center displays the connection type and status. Windows 7 uses Home, Work, and Public to identify the network type instead of the Private and Public terms used by Windows Vista. Here's how a PC connected to a home network via HomeGroup and a PC connected to a work network display their configurations in Network and Sharing Center:

The bottom of the Windows 7 Network and Sharing Center provides links you can use to set up a new connection or network, connect to an existing network, set up a HomeGroup or manual resource sharing, and troubleshoot network problems. This is a cleaner interface than that used by Windows Vista, which listed all of the network options you could choose from, whether you needed to use them or not.

Sharing Folders and Printers

If you need to share folders and printers on your PC with other network users, click the Choose Homegroup and Sharing Options link. If you are not using Home as the Network type, you will see a reminder that you cannot connect to a Homegroup. Click Change Advanced Sharing Settings to see options for sharing, security and other options.

To enable Public folder and print sharing, select the following options:

Turn on Network Discovery

Turn on File and Printer Sharing

Turn on Sharing (for public folders)

If you keep the defaults for the remaining settings, you will need to set up user accounts for other users on the network to enable them to share your resources, or turn off password-protected sharing.

Tweaking Your Network Access

If other users are unable to access your network shares, especially if they are using older versions of Windows or old 802.11b wireless adapters, their systems might not support 128-bit encryption. Select Enable File Sharing for Devices that Use 40 or 56-bit encryption.

To simplify sharing, you can disable password protected file sharing. To do so, select Turn Off Password Protected Sharing.

Enabling and Configuring Media Streaming

To enable media streaming to other PCs running Windows Media Center 11 or greater, click Choose Media Streaming Options. Click Allow All on the Media Streaming Options dialog. By enabling media streaming, you can share media with other users, even if you don't share folders or printers, so you can leave file and print sharing turned off. In this example, media streaming has been enabled.

By default, all media on your system can be streamed. To control what can be streamed, click Customize, and clear the Use Default Settings checkbox in the . You can then select the minimum star ratings and the parental control ratings for the media you want to stream. Click OK on this dialog and the Media Streaming Options dialog to save changes. In this example, media streaming has been restricted to media with star ratings of 4 and higher and G or TV-PG rated recorded TV only.

HomeGroup and Homegroups

One concern of traditional home networking is security: if you enable security for a Home or Work network, you must configure each computer with shared resources with user accounts for other users on the network. It's not surprising, then, that many home networks disable password protection, and thus have have no security for network shares and printers. To help protect home networks and make security and setup simpler, Windows 7 includes the new HomeGroup feature (a descendent of the Longhorn 'Castles' feature that was planned for Windows Vista, but didn't make the final cut). Keep in mind that HomeGroup can be used only with PCs running Windows 7.

Creating a Homegroup

To set up a homegroup, select Home as the network type for each Windows 7 computer you want to add to the homegroup. On one computer, open the Network and Internet category in Control Panel and click HomeGroup. Click Create a Homegroup.

Select the file types you want to share with the homegroup. By default, pictures, videos, music, and printers are shared. You can uncheck any of these, and click Documents to customize sharing. Click Next to continue.

On the next screen, a random alphanumeric password is displayed. You can write it down or click the Print Password and Instructions link to print it. All other PCs joining the homegroup must use the same password. Click Finish.

Adding PCs to a Homegroup

To add another Windows 7 PC to the homegroup, make sure the network type is set to Home. Then, click the HomeGroup icon in Control Panel's Network and Internet category, and click Join Now. Select what you want to share (you can share a different combination of file types, or no files types at all, on different PCs in the homegroup) and click Next. Enter the HomeGroup password, click Next, and click Finish.

Using Homegroup Resources

To access the homegroup, click the homegroup icon in Windows Explorer. The HomeGroup library opens, showing shared resources. Double-click the library to open it and access its resources.

Diagnosing Network Problems

You can use the Network and Sharing Center to diagnose network problems in two ways. If you see an X over the connection between your computer and your network or an X over the connection between your network and the Internet in the Network and Sharing Center dialog, click the X to diagnose the problem.

To access other Windows 7 network troubleshooters, click the Troubleshoot Problems link in Network and Sharing Center. Then, select the category you want to troubleshoot: Internet Connections, Shared Folders, HomeGroup, Network Adapter, Incoming Connections, or Printer. In this example, I was unable to view HomeGroup resources after joining a homegroup, so I selected the HomeGroup troubleshooter.

Select a troubleshooter, and Windows performs a series of tests to find and fix the problem. Windows 7 troubleshooters do a better job of solving problems than those provided in earlier versions. After running the HomeGroup troubleshooter, I was able to connect to the HomeGroup.

However, if Windows 7 is unable to determine the problem, it offers additional options.

Other Networking Features

This feature focus has concentrated on new and improved features in Windows 7's networking. If you need to use familiar command-line utilities such as Tracert, Ping, Arp, IPconfig, and Net, rest assured they're still available for use. The network mapping feature introduced in Windows Vista's Network and Sharing Center is also available in Windows 7.

Conclusion

Windows Vista users will find Windows 7's network features a comfortable upgrade from those in Windows Vista, and Windows XP users will find a new world of network convenience. Both types of users can continue to use manual sharing, or can use as many of the automatic features as they prefer.