Windows Tools, Help & Guides

I recently wrote a guest post for TuneUp’s blog about how to set up an automatic wallpaper slideshow in Windows 7:

Changing your desktop wallpaper is one of the easiest ways to customize your desktop. Windows 7 comes with a great new feature that lets you rotate your wallpapers in a slideshow. In this blog post, you will learn how to create a slideshow with your favorite desktop wallpapers in Windows 7. We’ll cover the following:

1. Where to find free, high-quality wallpapers online
2. How to set a desktop background
3. How to set a wallpaper slideshow

Continued: Set an Automatic Wallpaper Slideshow in Windows 7

Yesterday, I shared some steps I take to set up a Windows 7 machine the right way. Windows Guides reader, Gene, recently sent me this really useful guide on how to set up a computer and I’d like to share it with you.

Here’s an excerpt from the guide:

I have had many questions and times when I had to set up a new computer that someone had just bought either from a store or a website and it arrived on their doorstep. The following is the procedure that I use to make sure that the system is ready to put online and available for the internet to start trying to be used in a botnet or hit with all the virus’s that are out there looking for new systems that someone has not set up to stop them. I am not by anyway the expert as this is just the way I do it and there are probably other ways and systems to do it also but I don’t have access to them.

How to Set Up a New Computer (PDF 311 KB)

(Right click and Save as…)

When you first set up a Windows 7 machine, there are a few key things you should do. Whether you just installed a clean version of Windows 7 or bought a brand-name PC from the store with Windows 7 preinstalled, this guide will help you configure your PC for optimal use. Please note: even if you don’t have a “fresh” installation of Windows 7, most of these steps will apply.

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The Windows 7 Enterprise is designed specifically for IT Professionals interested in experiencing the Windows 7 Enterprise on behalf of their organization, for both software and hardware testing purposes of the final version of the product. In addition, it provides the opportunity to become more familiar with the key improvements over previous versions of the Windows operating system.

This 90-day trial of Windows 7 Enterprise can be downloaded absolutely free until the end of the year (December 31, 2010). It will not require a product key; it is embedded with the download. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available and five languages are supported: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. After the 90-day Trial expires, if you wish to continue to use the Windows 7 Enterprise, you will be required to purchase and perform a clean installation of Windows 7, including drivers and applications; Windows 7 Enterprise is not available through retail channels.

Official Guidelines by Microsoft:

Protect your PC by backing up your data first.

Don’t test Windows 7 on your primary home or business PC.

You have 10 days to activate the product. If not activated within 10 days, the system will shut down once every hour until activated.

The 90-day Trial will shut down once every hour when you have reached the end of the 90-day evaluation period.

Minimum System Requirements:

1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

1 GB of RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)

DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

DVD-compatible drive

Internet access

Download here (bottom of the page)

New to using the command prompt? Check out the Windows Command Prompt Beginner’s Guide

Windows Guides subscriber, Engineer, submitted the following guide and shows us how to change file associations using the command prompt:

Dear colleagues, many of us get problems when your registry gets corrupted or settings get changed and you have mixed up extensions associated with the wrong programs. Well, don’t panic–everything is easy, we are here to raise and offer up solution to make your life easy. I will explain how to disassociate a file that has been wrongly associated with the wrong program:

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What Are Jump Lists?

According to Microsoft, a jump list:

take[s] you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you turn to each day

In this guide, I’ll show you how to get the most out of this new Windows 7 feature.

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