Many people are playing with Windows 7 these days, and so new tips to make your work more efficient are popping up every day on the web. In this post, I will share the seven tips I found most useful for my work with Windows 7.

Drag and drop to the command prompt

Daniel Petri discovered that drag and drop to the command prompt is back in Windows 7. This allows you to copy a file’s path to the command prompt.

Pin files to a taskbar button

Paul Thurrott mentioned this tip. To associate a file with a certain application, you can drag and drop its icon to the corresponding taskbar button. You can then open this file from the app’s Jumplist.

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Free Registry Defrag is a simple tool that allows you to defragment a fragmented Registry database, which can significantly speed up a PC. Don’t mix up Registry defragmentation with Registry cleaning. The CCleaner tool, which I reviewed some days ago, can remove unnecessary Registry entries. In contrast, Free Registry Defrag just removes the gaps within the database.

Windows and third party applications constantly write to and remove data from the Registry database. This produces empty areas in the Registry and data become fragmented (scattered) within the Registry file. This process is comparable to disk fragmentation. However, running a disk defrag tool won’t help to reduce Registry defragmentation. Disk defrag tools don’t change the contents of files, while a Registry defrag tool alters the database. This is why Registry defragmentation usually compacts, i.e., reduces, the size of the Registry file.

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Did you ever wonder how your website looks in Internet Explorer 1? Then you should try Internet Explorer Collection. It allows you to run multiple IE versions at the same time. The collection comes with the following IE editions: 1.0, 1.5., 2.01, 3.0, 3.01, 3.03, 4.01, 5.01, 5.5, 6.0, 6.0 SP2, 7.0, and 8.0.

I tried Internet Explorer Collection on Vista and Windows XP. IE 1.0 only runs on Windows NT and Windows 95. Some of the older browser versions crashed every now and then under Vista. My impression is that the collection works better on an XP machine.

I think versions older than IE 6 don’t really play a noticeable role anymore. Last month, nine 4sysops visitors were using Internet Explorer 5.5 and two were running 5.01. That is good because 4sysops doesn’t really look good with those browsers.

According to Google Analytics, there were also 31 visitors who were using version 999.1. We now have the final proof that time travel is possible. Yeah, it appears some technology historians are accessing 4sysops from the far future. For the sake of completeness, among the IE users, 9.21% use IE6, 29.25.% IE7 and 61.48% IE8. Just in case you are an IE6 user, don’t you think, it is time for an update?

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The Active Directory Recycle Bin is a great new feature of Windows Server 2008 R2 that allows you to restore accidentally deleted Active Directory objects. If you want to have similar functionality for Windows Server 2008 with a free utility, then you should have a look at the Directory Service Comparison Tool (DSCT). But DSCT can do even more: It not only allows you to restore deleted objects, it also lets you undo attribute changes. The tool requires at least a Server 2008 domain controller, .NET 3.5, and (Microsoft Management Console) MMC 3.0.

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Many believe that Windows is a bloated operating system. However, the truth is that the Windows ecosystem is bloated, bloated like the shopping malls in western countries, allowing you to buy everything your heart desires. Of course, you can always use another operating system if you prefer a “political system” that gives you fewer choices and less freedom. Yet another option is to cleanse your “garage” every now and then from all the junk that you no longer need. And this is where CCleaner comes in.

CCleaner is a famous free optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. I should have added it long time ago to the list of free administration tools, because it is a valuable tool for admins who have to clean a user’s PC that has been cluttered with junk. This usually improves the performance of a Windows PC that has become slow because too many applications have been installed over time, often leaving traces even after they have been uninstalled. CCleaner can also help to free disk space. If you are planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 7, then it might make sense to get rid of all of the deadwood first—although I would always recommend that you perform a fresh install of a new Windows version.

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Unstoppable Copier is a small, free utility that allows you to recover physically corrupt files from a disk that has bad sectors or scratches. Other file copy programs usually just abort or even delete corrupted files, but Unstoppable Copier restores what is left of the damaged files.

You can copy entire directories or, using wildcards (*,?), particular files in a directory. You can also use the tool’s batch mode to configure multiple source and destination folders to copy their contents in one go. You can save this configuration so that the next time you have to perform the same copy operation you can do so with only a few mouse clicks. (This function is also useful for undamaged disks.)

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In my last post, I discussed the typical arguments when it comes to the question of whether it is justified to skip Windows 7. Today I will put forward three somewhat unusual arguments that are, in my view, even more decisive.

My last argument was that the new Windows 7 features will increase overall user productivity. However, the mere practical effect of the new features is only one side of the coin when it comes to productivity. On the other side is the often underestimated user motivation.

5 Motivation

It is true that some users are reluctant to learn new things and hope to keep their current OS as long as possible. But I’m guessing they’re not the most productive ones in your organization anyway. On the other hand, those users who are open to changes probably will have Windows 7 on their private PCs soon. It will certainly have a negative effect on their motivation, if you give them outdated equipment at work. Would you want to work in an office with furniture that hasn’t been replaced for the last 20 years?

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According to a recent survey, 60% of all businesses plan to deploy Windows 7. This is good news. It’s not just because of the positive press Windows 7 received; it probably is mostly because many organizations have skipped Vista and now have to purchase new PCs. However, I suppose if this survey were about Vista the result would have been that 40% of business already plan to skip Vista. Anyway, this article is for the “skippers” who try to get out of the way of new Windows versions the way captains try to avoid icebergs.

1. Security

The number one reason for deploying Vista was certainly security. Regular readers will probably start rolling their eyes, moaning “not again.” But when it comes to security, one can’t wag one’s finger too often. It is important to point out that according to new data from Security Essentials users, it is not just that XP is much more vulnerable than Vista; it appears that Vista is even more vulnerable compared to Windows 7. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, of all infected PCs, 52% were running Windows XP and only 32% Vista. But the fact that only 17% run Windows 7 seems to be surprising at first because Windows 7 and Vista are not that much different. One could object that this data is from Microsoft. Of course, they want to make their latest offspring look as good as possible. However, I think, this big difference can be partly explained by the fact that many of the Windows 7 machines were just installed and did not have enough time to get infected. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Windows 7 is the most secure Windows OS. I am positive that long-term data will prove this.

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