Windows 7 Post Install Customization Checklist

Windows 7 is a great OS, but for people used to using Windows XP or even Windows Vista, there still are some things to get used to. For instance, the most noticeable new feature is the Windows 7 taskbar, which organizes program icons and taskbar windows differently than before.

Here’s the basic checklist of things I do immediately after an install to make Windows 7 look and act more like the previous versions.

DPI Settings

Depending on the hardware, your DPI settings may be set to 150%, causing everything on your screen to be overly large.

To correct this, go to Control Panel -> Display and set the option to “Smaller – 100% (default)”.

Disable ClearType

I don’t know about you guys, but in Vista, ClearType actually made the text blurry. In Windows 7, it’s not that bad, but still a little noticeable. To turn it off, go to “Control Panel” -> “Display” -> “Adjust ClearType text”.

Uncheck the “Turn on ClearType” checkbox, then click next.

Then, a wizard will start and ask you to select the text that looks the clearest. Run through the wizard and you’re done.

Desktop Icons

By default, the desktop icons are huge. I’m not blind for Christ sakes. To make them smaller and more “XP”ish, right click anywhere on the desktop, go to “View” and select “Small icons”.

Taskbar

By default, the taskbar is almost twice as thick as Windows XP/Vista taskbars, the icons are huge, open programs are displayed as icons only, and notification icons are hidden.

To get the normal XP/Vista taskbar behavior, right click on an empty space on the taskbar, then select “Properties”. Set the options according to the picture below, then click on “Customize” when you’re finished to customize the notification area.

In the Notification Area options, click the check box that says “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar”.

Now the taskbar should look a little bit more familiar:

According to my measurements, the stock taskbar is about 41 pixels tall and the slimmed down version (seen directly above) is 30 pixels tall. So, using the “small icons” option will thin down the taskbar by almost 30%, which works wonders for netbooks and their puny resolutions.

File and Folder View Settings

I’m very used to the “Details” folder view and I refuse to view my files and folders in any other way except by the details. Windows 7 uses the “Tiles” view by default. To change this, open up the “Computer” (Start -> Computer), click on the downward pointing arrow in the upper right hand corner, and select “Details”.

From here I like to enable other folder options, such as the ability to see file extensions and hidden files. To do this, click on the “Organize” arrow in the upper left hand corner, then choose “Folder and search options”.

Uncheck/select the following items:

• Show hidden files, folders, and drives
• Hide Empty drives int he Computer folder
• Hide extensions for known file types
• Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended) <- Only uncheck this if you’re familiar with Windows file shares

Control Panel View

The default control panel view is the “Category” view, grouping similar options together under individual headings. This is good for novice users, but makes accessing certain controls more difficult than it needs to be. I like to set my control panel view to the classic small icons view.

To do this, open up your control panel, click the “View by:” drop down menu, and select “Small icons”.

Disable UAC (user account control)

Depending on how comfortable you are with Windows, you may want to keep this checked. But if you’re a power user and don’t want to be nagged every time you run an .exe or change systems settings, feel free to disable it.

UAC is disabled by going to “Control Panel” -> “User Accounts” (in the small icon view) -> “Change User Account Control settings”. Slide the slider all the way down, select “OK”, and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

Disable AutoPlay

Don’t you get tired of the pop up window you get every time you insert a CD or plug in a flash drive? This feature is called “AutoPlay” and slows down your computer by scanning the new media for known file types in order to present a nice little menu to the user asking them what to do.

Well, if you know what you want to do with the stuff on your flash drive (or whatever), then this feature is worthless. Try connecting a somewhat full 1.5TB drive with AutoPlay enabled and see how long it takes to appear 8-O.

To disable AutoPlay, go to “Control Panel” -> “AutoPlay”. Uncheck the “Use AutoPlay for all media and devices”, then click “Save”.

Have any other tips to share? Leave a comment and let us know!

Tagged as: Windows 7