Windows 7

Ticks, tweaks, and hacks to make Windows 7 more usable and improve performance.

Tricks

Make taskbar usable

The new taskbar is great and new, but it's not as easy to use as you might expect. There is no names on the labels/icons. This turns on the application and window names.

1. Right-click tastbar, pick properties
2. Under 'Button grouping' to 'Group when taskbar is full'

Disable folder types

When a folder contains music, video, or pictures, Windows will automatically switch the view of the folder to show relevant meta-data. This can be an annoyance some times.

Create a new text-file and paste the following into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;This registry script has been made by Vishal Gupta - AskVG.com
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

Run it and the change will happen instantly. If the folder already has a hidden Desktop.ini file, this might not work (delete it first).