Find bottlenecks

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.

The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

Resource monitor keeps a careful eye on exactly how your PC is being used

Reset and repair

Troubleshooting Windows problems can be complicated, since there are so many settings and options to consider. Windows 8 has simplified this with its own Repair and Refresh tool, but if you're not in the mood to upgrade just yet, there's always Tweaking.com's Windows Repair.

This compact program is able to resolve Registry and file permission problems, fix IE and the Windows firewall, repair icons, get Windows Update working again and a whole lot more. And in theory it's quite simple, too - just select the area you want to repair and it'll be fixed in a click or two.

Windows Repair has worked well for us in the past, but needs to be treated with care. Applying fixes you don't need can cause more problems than you solve. Select only options you're sure are appropriate, and don't run the program at all unless your PC has a full system backup available.

A helpful wizard walks you through every step of the repair process

Repair your PC

If Windows 7 won't start, you may not need an installation or repair disc any more, as the repair environment is now usually installed on your hard drive. Press [F8] as your PC starts, and if you see a Repair Your Computer option, choose that to see the full range of Windows 7 recovery tools.

Extend your battery life

Windows 7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebook's battery life. To see them, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, then click Change Plan Settings for your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expand Multimedia Settings, for instance, and you'll see a new Playing Video setting that can be set to optimise power savings rather than performance. Browse through the other settings and ensure they're set up to suit your needs.

Play To

Windows Media Player is great for accessing local music and videos, but that's just the start. You can also browse the media libraries on other PCs across your network, and the Play To feature means it's now even possible to 'push' media from one system, and have it automatically begin playing on another.

To set this up, first launch Media Player, click Stream > Turn on media streaming, then click Turn On Media Streaming in the Options dialog.

Click Stream, select Allow remote control of my player > Allow remote control on this network, then click Stream > Automatically allow devices to play my media.

Repeat this on any network PC which you'd like to include, then right-click any file within Media Player, and select the Play To menu. Choose a remote computer from the list, and the media file will be pushed across the network, automatically playing on the other system.

Pin a drive to the taskbar

The taskbar isn't just for apps and documents. With just a few seconds work you can pin drive icons there, too.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select New > Text File, and rename the file to drive.exe. Drag and drop this onto your taskbar, then delete the original file.

Right-click your new "drive.exe" taskbar button, then right-click its file name and select Properties. Change the contents of both the Target and Start In boxes to point at the drive or folder of your choice, perhaps click Change Icon to choose an appropriate drive icon, and you're done - that drive or folder is now available at a click.

Disable Windows Features

Windows 7 enables you to remove many more Windows features than ever before: Internet Explorer, Media Player, Windows Search, its indexing service, Windows Gadgets and more. This is something that you need to do cautiously, if at all (since removing something like Media Player will break many programs which rely on it), but can be useful if you're looking to create a very simple, slimmed-down system.

Click Start, type OptionalFeatures and press Enter to launch the Windows Features dialog. Clear the checkbox to the left of any features that are surplus to requirements, and click OK to remove them.

Customise the log-on screen

Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and set its value to 1.

Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matches the aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.

Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create the info\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.

Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

Enable virtual Wi-Fi

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will see you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.

This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.

If you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up manually. See Turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot for more.

Take control ur apps.

Tired of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd rather they left alone? AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say, and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications. Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker to get a feel for how this works.

Create and mount VHD files

Microsoft's Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied or written just like any other drive.
Click Action > Create VHD and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it, select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again, you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other, where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk 2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.
The command line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size. Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though - it's all too easy to trash your system.

Problem Steps Recorder

As the local PC guru you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.
When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.