Some utils I've found to be very useful in cleaning up, customizing, tweaking Windows 7.

Before you do any tinkering be sure you've fully backed up your system - I take no responsibility.

EnhanceMySe7en - freeware EnhanceMySe7en. Tweak Windows 7 with EnhanceMySe7ev - SeriousBit Free Tweaker For Winodws 7 Home Page 10.5 MB Tons of built in utilities, defrag, reg cleaner, optimizer ....... and on and on (hundreds of settings, tweaks). Just sometimes hangs - but for what it does is very good indeed.

Directory Opus - shareware, delete confusing Junction Points (be sure not to delete Symbolic Links) which can also cause certain programs not to work e.g. Users folders and Documents and Settings folders and also the infinitely nested Application Data folders. Doesn't yet have full Win7 support but still very good.

Site here - download, install, get rid of pesky junction points and then uninstall program after.

GPSoftware Main Index

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 2 freeware Windows Vista Magazine Forums - Ultimate Windows Tweaker v 2.0 for Windows 7 & Vista

Unlocker - freeware UNLOCKER 1.8.7 BY CEDRICK 'NITCH' COLLOMB

TakeOwnership.reg - reg file to import into Registry. Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista :: the How-To Geek

CrapCleaner - freeware CCleaner - Home

Win 7 Little Tweaker - freeware Leelu Soft: Windows 7 Little Tweaker 1.1

Filebox Extender - was shareware now freeware, adds favourites to file save / open dialog boxes FileBox eXtender - keep favorite folders at your fingertips

Direct Folders - easy access to fav folders etc from desktop or sysytray + resizes some dialog boxes Direct Folders - quick access to your favorite folders

Everything - faster search utility. Everything Search Engine

Speed tweaks - AutoMZ / VistaMZ Mz Ultimate Tools

Compact registry - MZRegistryOptimiser Mz Ultimate Tools

Sundry points -

NB Most Portable Apps do not work in Windows 7.

Cleaning up -

Delete System Restore points by turning Restore off

Delete unneeded Language folders e.g. RU-ru, CZ-cz

Delete unwanted samples of movies, pictures, music files by searching them out with disk analysis tools e.g.

SpaceMonger Freeware download and review - disk space analyzer from SnapFiles

TreeSize Freeware download and review - investigate disk space usage from SnapFiles

SpaceSniffer Freeware download and review - analyze disk space usage from SnapFiles

OverDisk Freeware download and review - visual disk space explorer from SnapFiles

Cool.

Some handy little utils there. I will definitely be making use of some of those

Phil

Does this mean that anonymouse has moved up from win Xp? :eek:

Does this mean that anonymouse has moved up from win Xp? :eek:

In 'testing' phase :P

Mostly pretty good but infuriated by always on 'Full Row Select' in Explorer windows in Details view - and no one has a remedy for it. Grrr.

I still find it a mite slower than my heavily tweaked XP - and TBH it takes me longer to do most things and does nothing more for me personally than XP with suitable add ons.

However, gotta move with the times / possibly prepare for 'end of XP support' days / get bored and on and on.........

But I'm still staggered they can spend multi-millions on this and still have lots of little irritating quirks that have to be addressed by third-party addons.

So, measurably better than Millenium / Vista but the verdict is they could have done so much better :P

A bit more ................

Dual (multi - not tried more than 2) booting Windows Operating systems

Easy way and it bypasses boot up selection screen -

IREBOOT..........iReboot sits in your taskbar at startup (only taking up 400KB of memory!) and lets you choose which operating system you want to reboot into.

Instead of pressing restart, waiting for Windows to shut down, waiting for your BIOS to post, then selecting the operating system you want to boot into (within the bootloader time-limit!); you just select that entry from iReboot and let it do the rest!

248KB. And don't forget to install it on both (or more) operating systems.

Works a treat !

Download iReboot 1.1.1 - NeoSmart Technologies

If you tick the 'Reboot on selection' option it will immediately boot into the selected operating system as soon as you click on one.

Take Ownership Of Folders (virtually full control)

To take ownership of the folder, right-click it, select Properties > Security Tab > Advanced at the bottom > Owner Tab > Edit > Highlight your username and put a tick in ‘Replace owner on sub containers…’ and Apply > OK. You will only have the ‘Replace owner on subcontainers…’ box for folders not files. Click Yes when you receive the Security pop-up window then click OK to the Close/Reopen message.

Now go back to the Properties > Security Tab. Click Edit > Add. Type in your User Account Name in the box under Enter the objects name to select. Click on Check Names > OK. Click on your User Account Name to highlight it. Check the box for Full Control > Apply and OK etc.

Check the boxes for child permissions in inherited permissions otherwise the settings don't go deep into all the files.

Now you should be able to dig deep and get rid of many unneeded duplicated files and much of the media samples MS choose to burden us with.