Windows 7 News: Software, Virus Protection

TechNet Magazine is relaunching its popular Tip of the Day feature, starting with a look at the best tips and tricks for Windows 7. Now we want to hear from you. Have a special workaround, tweak, or fix you’d like to contribute to the TechNet Magazine tips library? Just visit
www.technetmagazinetips.com
to share your tips and tricks for Windows 7.

Tip 19: Lock Down Unauthorized Applications with the Built-In AppLocker Tool
Whether you’re dealing with users in your work environment or kids at home, being able to control what applications a user can use can prevent a lot of hassle and headaches. Windows 7 includes a new tool, called AppLocker, that lets you do just this by creating a policy to specify exactly what applications a user is allowed to run.
To access this feature, click start and enter Gpedit.msc. Then navigate to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings …

Tip 18: Perform Multithreaded File Copies with Robocopy in Windows 7
Windows included the popular Robocopy utility, which offers powerful file copy capabilities in a command line interface. Robocopy is included in Windows 7 and features a new multi-threaded copy option. To perform a multi-threaded copy, you use the new /MT[:n] switch, where n indicates the number of threads to be used. By default, n is 8 when you use the /MT option, and can be any value from 1 to 128.
Note that the multi-threaded option is not compatible with the …

Tip 17: Set Different Default Printers for Different Locations
If you use your system in multiple locations (for example, using your laptop at work and at home) you can set a different default printer for each location. You can default to the networked color laser printer when you’re in the New York office, the scanner/copier/laser printer when you’re in the Seattle office, and your personal printer when at home.
Simply click on the Start Menu and type “printers” in the search field, and choose “Devices and Printers.” Click on one of …

Tip 16: Troubleshoot Power Management Settings in Windows 7
Windows Vista includes a command line tool, Powercfg.Exe, that you can use to configure power management settings. Windows 7 introduces a new switch, /energy, to provide a comprehensive report of those settings. It also offers diagnostics that can indicate which applications or devices might be causing power management issues (such as a USB driver not entering suspend) and what power management settings you can configure differently for better results. At an elevated command prompt, simply enter: POWERCFG –ENERGY –OUTPUT <path\filename>
The …

Tip 15: Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7—Even on a Netbook
Putting the Windows 7 installation on a USB thumb drive has a few advantages—a small USB key is much more convenient for carrying around than a DVD, the OS will actually install much faster, and you can use a USB key to install Windows 7 on systems that do not have a DVD drive, such as a netbook. In fact, you can even install Windows 7 on netbooks that have fairly modest hardware. Dennis Chung, an IT Pro …

Tip 14: New Ways to Maintain your PC and Solve Common Problems on Windows
Windows 7 offers new ways to manage your system and troubleshoot common problems. Two key components are the new Action Center and the new Windows Troubleshooting Platform.
Action Center You can easily check the status of your PC by going to the new Action Center (Control Panel | System and Security | Action Center). Here you can check the status of your antivirus software, set up a backup schedule, check for updates, and view solutions …

Tip 13: Use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to Get Reliability Data from Remote PCs
Windows Vista introduced Reliability Monitor, which accessed system stability data from the Reliability Analysis Component (RAC) database in a graphical manner. This tool allows IT professionals to view the system stability trend and associated events that may have affected that stability. In Windows 7, RAC database is accessible via WMI, enabling IT pros to view and use this data more flexibly.
Windows 7 includes Windows PowerShell 2.0, which provides remote scripting capabilities, including access to WMI. Combining these technologies, …

Tip 12: Install Windows 7 Alongside Windows Vista for a Dual Boot System
It’s always a bit tricky to beta test a new operating system. Most of us don’t have an abundance of extra hardware just sitting around, and it can be both time consuming and risky to rebuild your production machine with a pre-release version of the next OS.
But with Windows 7, it’s pretty easy to beta test on the machine you’ve already got. Hard drives have gotten much larger and much less expensive, and if you’re running Windows …

Tip 11: Turn Off Security Messages and Other System Notifications in Windows 7
Windows Vista is constantly giving me security alerts that I don’t want to see. For instance, I intentionally have Automatic Updates and the Windows Firewall disabled on one of my systems, and every day Windows Vista finds it necessary to bring this to my attention. Fortunately, Windows 7 gives you more control over the Security Messages and other Notifications that you may or may not want to receive.
For starters, you can configure how notifications are handled …