Windows
7 is a fairly cool operating system, but like most operating systems
it’s not perfect. Some Windows 7 problems are bugs others happen to be
features. Either way, they are annoying and all we care for is a quick
fix.
1. Windows 7 Seems Slow
Windows 7 is hungry for resources. It features many
visual effects that draw heavy on your graphics card and system memory.
If your system was slow out of the box, chances are you can easily fix
that by turning off superfluous effects.
Go to > Start and type ‘performance‘
in the search field. Select > ‘Adjust the appearance
and performance of Windows‘ from the results. The > Performance
Options window will open. Under > Visual
Effects select > Adjust for best
performance. If you would like to retain a nice interface,
select > Custom and check > ‘Use
visual styles on windows and buttons‘.
2. Windows Aero Not Working
I recently wrote an article on How
To Enable & Troubleshoot Aero Effects In Windows 7:
<http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/enable-troubleshoot-aero-effects-windows-7/>.
In addition to this article, you should make sure that
your graphics card supports Aero and that graphics driver is up to
date. However, if your computer came with Windows 7 this should not be
an issue.
Finally, Aero could be disabled in your registry. Before
I proceed to explain how to check and edit your registry, I must warn
you! Editing the registry can cause permanent damage to
your Windows installation. Please backup
your registry and know what you’re doing:
<http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4230-registry-backup-restore.html>.
Go to > Start and type
> ‘regedit‘ into the > search
option. Launch regedit and browse to > KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM.
The value of the entry > ‘EnableAeroPeek‘
should be set to 1, rather than 0.
3. Older Programs Not Compatible
Before upgrading to Windows 7, it is advisable to check
which of your programs will be compatible. The Windows 7 Upgrade
Advisor checks the most common programs. However, as I have outlined in
my article How
To Use Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor To Check PC Compatibility <http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-upgrade-advisor-check-pc-compatibility/>,
you may have to do a manual check at the Windows
7 Compatibility Center <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx> for many other programs. Now, if you
have already upgraded and if it turns out that a dear program of yours
is not compatible, there is a way out: Windows 7 Compatibility Mode.
To install a program in Compatibility Mode, right-click
its > installation file and select
> Properties. In its > Properties
windows switch to the > Compatibility tab,
check > ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for:‘
and from the > pull-down menu choose the
latest version of Windows of which you know that the program was
running on.
You may have to repeat this step with the program itself
once it is installed. Right-click the > program icon,
select > Properties, switch to > Compatibility
tab, check > ‘Run this program in compatibility mode
for:‘, and choose the respective Windows operating system.
Furthermore, you can change the settings for the
respective program and you should explore these, depending on the issue
you’re facing.
Finally, if you went with Windows 7 Professional or up,
you can use Windows 7′s XP Mode. It runs Windows XP as a virtual
machine and you can install all programs that worked on Windows XP in
this environment. Ars Technica has a very decent article on Windows
7′s XP Mode:
<http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/reviews/2010/01/windows-xp-mode.ars>.
4. DVD Drive Not Found
Windows 7 can not find your optical drive? This is
another issue that involves editing the registry. The warning from
point 2 applies!
Click > Start, search for
> ‘regedit‘ and launch it from the >
results. Navigate to > ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class‘.
In the > right-hand panel delete > ‘UpperFilters‘
and > ‘LowerFilters‘, restart Windows and
see if the problem was resolved.
If not, click > Start, type
> Disk Management, and select > ‘Create
and format hard disk partitions‘. In the > Disk
Management window right-click on the > optical
drive icon and select ‘Change Drive Letter and
Paths‘. In the > Change Drive Letter and
Paths window click the > Change…
button and choose a new drive letter. Restart Windows and hope the
issue was fixed.
5. New Themes Change Custom Icons
So you switched themes and found that some of your
custom icons where changed? That’s quite annoying, but it’s easy to
prevent. Right-click > desktop, select
> Personalize, in the control panel
windows that opens switch to > Change Desktop Icons,
and in the > Desktop Icon Settings window
uncheck > ‘Allow themes to change desktop icons‘.
Another common issue, which only seems to occur in older
laptops, is that Windows 7 falsely reports an empty battery and
subsequently shuts down. ITExpertVoice
<http://itexpertvoice.com/home/fixing-five-common-windows-7-annoyances/> provides a workaround, preventing Windows 7 from shutting down when it
thinks the battery is empty. Unfortunately, this may leave you with a
sudden laptop death when the battery really runs out.
Finally, many Windows 7 problems can be fixed in an
instant using handy tools. MakeUseOf has reviewed FixWin <http://fixwin.en.softonic.com/> in
the article How
To Fix Common Windows Problems In A Snap With FixWin:
<http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-windows-problems-in-a-snap-with-fixwin/>.
Another
option is QuickFix <http://leelusoft.blogspot.com/2009/12/7-quick-fix.html>,
which contains 21 common Windows 7 fixes. Since it is a portable app,
it could one day help you out of a virus attack or restore default
Windows 7 behavior.
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