Phenquestions
First of all I would like to congratulate all the lucky Windows 7 enthusiasts who have managed to grab a key from Microsoft & TechNet. If you haven't got the key yet, then stop reading this post and head to Windows 7 page.
If you have managed to grab a key then I would like to suggest few things that might help you to get better Windows 7 experience. There are many things that you can do when you install a fresh Windows but I will be listing only important factors that really help you.
Also read my “10 Things to remember before installing Windows 7” guide.
1. Activate Windows 7 by using the key that you have got from Microsoft. To activate Windows 7,right-click on Computer> Properties(Windows + Pause/Break key will also open system properties), scroll down the page to get Activate Windows now link. Click on the link and select Activate Windows Online option. You will be asked to enter the key and once you enter the key your Windows 7 BETA copy will be activated.
2. Install Windows 7 MP 3 Fix Update immediately. This is very important update as Windows 7 might corrupt your MP3 files. You can get the updates from the below page.
|Download Update|32-bit
|Download Update|64-bit
I have also blogged about this issue last week to warn all Windows 7 users.
3. Install antivirus software before you get into trouble. As Windows 7 is still in BETA stage there may be many security bugs and hackers may use this as the best opportunity.
4. Install all available updates via Windows Update and also keep the Windows 7 update to ensure that you will get all the updates.
5. Though most the drivers out there for Vista support Windows 7 you might get an compatibility error while installing the driver software. To install Windows Vista driver on Windows 7 follow the below steps:
*Right-click on the set-up file and select Properties.
*Switch to compatibility tab and check the box labeled “Run this program in compatibility mode for”.
*Next select Windows Vista from the drop down list and click Apply.
*Install the driver.
6. As you are using BETA version of Windows you might face many crashes and other performance related issues at any time. To get rid of these problems it's always better to create a restore point once you install updates, antivirus and other essential software.
7. Create a system recovery disc (CD) using the recovery disk option. Type Backup and Restore in Start menu search box and hit enter to open backup center. In the left pane, click on the link labeled Create a system recovery disk to create one.
8.Create a image backup of Windows 7 using the in-built image backup feature of Windows 7.This image backup lets you restore your system to the previous state if you system is not booting as well.
9. After making an image backup you need to change the actual location of Documents folder since you may use the image backup at any point time and may lose all your docents. You need to change the location of these two folders. Make a small change to save yourself from the big data loss by following the below steps:
*Right-click on Documents folder in the Start menu and select Properties.
*Here you need to change the Library locations. Click Include a folder button and select a folder on the other drive and click Apply.
*Now select the folder just you have added and then click Set save location option.
*Finally,remove the old location so that all files will be stored in new location.
10. Turn off unnecessary services and features of Windows 7 so that Windows 7 can run even faster.
Let me know if you do any other tweaks to your Windows 7 machine.
