Windows 7 is, overall, a very fast OS. Much faster than than any of the previous Microsoft Operating Systems that have been released earlier. But some people still complain that they still want it to be more fast.

For that, you can try disabling the unwanted services that run in the Windows 7 background.

How to Enable or Disable Services in Windows 7

Open Start Menu, type services.msc and press Enter.

If you get prompted by the UAC prompt, click on Continue.

Now right-click on the service you want to enable or disable, and click on Properties.

First, stop the service and from Startup type, select Enable or Disable (whatever you want).

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

How to Enable or Disable Services in Windows 7

This trick is one of the easiest I know of and is a very common one too. But there are still people who have difficulty in finding from where and how to show hidden files and folders in Windows.

How To Show Hidden Files in Windows 7

• Click the Start button
• Open Control Panel
• Then go to Folder Options
• Click the View tab
• Check “Hidden files and folders: Show all files and folders”
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)”
• Click “Apply” and then “OK”

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

How To Show Hidden Files in Windows 7

Windows 7 and Vista removed the title bar text from Windows Explorer/My Computer window to make it look more clean.

But since other applications show the titlebar and you would like to have it My Computer too, follow the steps below.

How To Show Titlebar Text in Windows 7

1. Download AeroBar.exe
2. Run the EXE file.
3. You should now see the text in Windows 7 Explorer titlebar.

How To Remove Titlebar Text in Windows 7

Removing the text from the title bar is just as easy as enabling it. Simply kill the process AeroBar.exe from the Task Manager, and the text will be gone.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Show Titlebar Text in Windows 7

Windows 7 users enjoy a different look and feel of the Aero theme and its effects. Even though, Windows 7 is based on Vista, but still there is a lot of difference in its window colours and appearance options.

How To Get Windows 7 Colours and Appearance in Vista

If you would like to get Windows 7 appearance style in Windows Vista, follow the steps below.

1. Download the following ZIP file which contains Windows 7 “themecpl.dll” & “themecpl.dll.mui” files.
   Download Windows 7 “Color and Appearance” Tab for Vista
2. Now go to your “C:\Windows\System32” folder and locate “themecpl.dll”.
3. Then take ownership of each of themecpl.dll file (How to? Read: How To Take Ownership)
4. Rename “themecpl.mui” to “themecpl_old.mui”.
5. And now extract and copy themecpl.dll from the downloaded ZIP file and paste to your “C:\Windows\System32” folder.
6. Now go to “C:\Windows\System32\en-US” and locate themecpl.dll.mui
7. Take ownership of that file and rename to “themecpl_old.dll.mui”
8. Now copy themecpl.dll.mui from downloaded zip file and past to “C:\Windows\System32\en-US” folder.
9. At last, run the install.reg file present in downloaded ZIP archive.
10. Reboot for changes to take effect.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Windows 7 Colours and Appearance in Vista

A few minutes ago, I wrote how you can get RSS-feed based desktop slideshows in Windows 7. But if you’re interested in adding feeds of your own, you can follow the method given below.

How To Add Own RSS Feed for Desktop Slideshows

Unfortunately, there is no means to control what feeds to add and what to not. Currently, this has to be done manually only. To add your own RSS feed source, copy/paste the following text in your .theme file with the help of a text editor.

[Slideshow]
Interval=1800000
Shuffle=1
RssFeed=http://www.fabrikam.com/Feed

You will have to login/logout (user account) or toggle between two themes to force a manual refresh.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

How To Add Own RSS Feed for Desktop Slideshows

As days pass by, more and more Windows 7 tips and tricks are popping up, and they continue to amaze us how Windows 7 will be different and much more better than previous OS from Microsoft.

The latest trick found is that you can have wallpaper slideshows based on RSS feeds! The new Windows 7 themes manager can play slideshows directly from a RSS feed.

Download Windows 7 RSS Feed Desktop Slideshows

You can download these slideshows from here: Download Windows 7 Themes

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Desktop Slideshows from RSS Feeds

If you have have set the icon size on your dekstop to large, you must have noticed how ugly they look with the big shortcut arrow icon covering half of your application icon.

Here’s a cool trick by which you can get rid of that arrow icon from all your shortcuts.

Note: Since this trick requires registry changes, make sure you back it up before trying this trick.

How To Remove Shortcut Arrow Icon in Windows XP

Download the following file, and follow the instructions as given in the ReadMe.txt file in it.

RemoveArrow.zip

Now your shortcut arrow icon has been removed.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Remove Shortcut Arrow Icon in Windows 7

There are many tweaks that worked with Vista, as well as works with 7. Similarly, here’s a trick that Vista users used to remove the shortcut extension, and now you can use the same trick on Widnows7.

How To Remove Shortcut Extension in Windows 7

1. Click on Start and start Registry Editor by typing regedit in search bar.

2. Navigate to the following registry entry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

3. From the right pan, look for ‘link‘ key.

4. Right-click it, and select Modify.

5. Now change the value from 18 00 00 00 to 00 00 00 00

6. Press OK and exit Registry Editor.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Remove Shortcut Extension Text

An elevated Command Prompt gives you administrator rights in Command Prompt, and lets you make changes to your system files and folders.

On the other hand, a standard Command Prompt won’t give you administrator rights, and you won’t have access to change system files.

Open Elevated Command Prompt from Right-Click Context Menu

1. Download AddElevatedCMDtoFolder.reg registry file.

2. Accept UAC prompt and add the registry entry.

3. Now right-click on any folder, and you should now see “Open Command Prompt (Administrator)” option.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Elevated Command Prompt in Right-Click Context Menu

Windows 7 already comes with nice themes that you can use. But if you don’t like them and want to use third-party custom themes, then follow the guide below and you will be able to install more themes in no time!

Also See: Free Windows 7 Themes, Wallpapers & Gadgets by Microsoft

How to Use Custom Themes and MsStyles In Windows 7

Remember, in order to perform the procedure below, you will need administrator rights because a few system files will be replaced.

1. Download UxTheme Patcher (including UxTheme.dll) for Windows 7 and extract it anywhere in your computer

2. Now copy the three files to C:\Windows\system32 folder, replacing C: with your Windows 7 drive letter.

3. Restart your computer now.

You can now use any third party custom theme or MsStyle in your Windows 7. It is not necessary to have them digitally signed by Microsoft.

Also See: Free Windows 7 Themes, Wallpapers & Gadgets by Microsoft

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Custom Themes & MsStyles In Windows 7

Codecs are essential software pieces in your computer that help you to play any media format file. Windows Media Player 12, in Windows 7 natively supports some popular video formats i.e Xvid, DivX and MP4, which were not supported previously.

In case you get problems in running video files, I’d recommend you try out Win7Codecs. This codec pack contains all codecs that you will ever need to play videos. This package has been specially compiled for Windows 7.

The installer removes any previous codecs installed, and installs the new ones from this package. You don’t even have to make any configurations, tweaking, adjustments in your media players, and you can play your media files after installation.

Download Win7Codecs for Windows 7

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Download Codecs for Windows 7

People who have upgraded from Vista to Windows 7, have encountered a few problems like some of their old files and folders from Vista are not deletable and inaccessible in Windows 7.

To get over it, you will have to take control on your previous folders/drives. Follow the steps below to take control of folders/drives in Windows 7.

How to Delete Undeletable Files in Windows 7

These two command line syntax will instantly aenable you to take ownership of such files/folders.

For Files:

takeown /f file_name /d y
icacls file_name /grant administrators:F

For Folders:

takeown /f directory_name /r /d y
icacls directory_name /grant administrators:F /t

The above mentioned commands will give full rights to the adminitsrator to use these files and folders. Make sure you are in an administrator account before using them.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

How to Delete Inaccessible Files and Folders

I’m sure you must have already seen the cool theme packs that come with Windows 7 Beta, but the thirst to customize our desktop environment never ends.

Microsoft has launched a Personalize section in the Windows 7 Beta website where you can get more theme packs, wallpapers and gadgets, all for free!

Installing is very easy. After downloading, simple double-click the downloaded theme pack, and it will be installed right away!

Download them for free, from the link below:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Personalize

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Free Windows 7 Themes, Wallpapers & Gadgets

Windows Media Player 12, the beta version that came with Windows 7 Beta doesn’t seem to have an equalizer in it. I’ve have found a way by which you can also get it in WMP12.

How To Enable Equalizer in Windows Media Player 12

It is a bit tricky, but it is possible to get the equalizer in Windows Media Player 12. If you are also one of those looking for the equalizer in WMP 12, follow the steps below to get one.

1. Open Windows Media Player 12 in Library View (Default View).

2. Press Alt to get the menu, and navigate to View > Skin Chooser.

3. Select ‘Revert’ skin from the skins list (left side) and press the “Apply Button” button.

4. You can now see the “Graphic Equalizer” button at the bottom right of the skinned WMP12.

5. Set the default equalizer options to whatever you like.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any way to enable the SRS-WOW effects. May be they haven’t included them in the beta version.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

Enable Equalizer in Windows Media Player 12

The new taskbar in Windows 7 is called the ‘Superbar’. Instead of showing application names,  it now shows big icons of whatever program is running, or pinned on the taskbar. People have mixed reactions about this. Some like, and some don’t.

How To Get Vista-XP-Like Taskbar in Windows 7

If you also want to have the old taskbar back, follow the steps below.

1. Right click in an empty space on your taskbar.
2. Select Properties.
3. Now select the options like I have done below in the screenshot.

Post from: Windows 7 Mods

How To Get Vista-XP Taskbar in Windows 7