Sometimes the Recycle Bin in Windows 7 gets corrupted and becomes pretty much unusable – it just won’t let you empty it. Fortunately, there is a quick and easy fix, which will let you reset the Recycle bin.

First of all you’ll need to make hidden and protected files and folders visible. Here’s how:

1. Click Start and go to Computer
2. Then press Alt on your keyboard to open the Menu
3. Go to Tools - Folder Options - the View tab
4. There you’ll need to find Hidden files and folders and select Show hidden files and folders
5. You will also need to uncheck Hide protected operating system files
6. Click OK to save your settings

Now you are ready to reset the Recycle Bin.

1. Go to Computer and then go to the drive where Windows is installed (usually it’s C:/)
2. Locate $Recycle.Bin and delete it
3. Confirm and click Continue if UAC prompts you so
4. Now you should get a dialog box. There you’ll need to check Do this for all current items checkbox and then click Yes
5. Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

The Recycle Bin should be working normally now.

Pretty much everyone knows how bad it feels if you mess up your computer. But it’s even worse if your PC gets damaged by someone else, like a family member or a friend. They can be careless enough to load it with infected software and mess around with system settings and it was next to impossible for you to prevent it.  Trust me, I know how that feels!

That’s why I was very happy to learn about a fantastic Windows 7 feature that will help you protect your PC -  Guest Mode (not to be confused with Guest Account).

Guest Mode Explained

Guest Mode works on individual user accounts (an existing one, or on a new account created for this purpose). Basically, Guest Mode makes a snapshot of your system before the  Guest Mode user logs in. It prevents him/her from making any significant changes to the system – when the user logs out or the PC reboots, all the changes are discarded and everything returns to the original configuration.

Windows 7 Guest Mode:

• Makes it impossible for the user to change any system settings
• Doesn’t allow the user to install and software or change existing software settings
• Doesn’t allow the user to write to the disk outside his/her profile. All changes are temporary.
• Deletes all data saved during the session after the user logs off or the PC reboots

In short, it keeps your computer safe.

How to Enable Guest Mode

Windows 7 Guest Mode is well hidden, but is easy enough to enable. Here’s how:

1. Click Start and then go to Control Panel
2. Open User Accounts and Family Safety, then click on User Accounts
3. Click Manage another account. Now either select and existing one (not the Administrator account though), or create a new one
4. Click Set up Guest Mode. Click the Turn on Guest Mode radio button
5. Also you can choose which drives you want to lock by clicking on Lock drives (advanced). All local drives are locked by default, but you can also lock a removable drive, so that the user won’t be able to mess up your files.

WARNING: Microsoft says that in Windows 7 Beta using Guest Mode and doing the following could kill the Guest Mode account:

• Changing any HomeGroup settings
• Using CardSpace to create a personal InfoCard
• Installing Adobe Flash Player

And DON’T run Windows Media Center from Guest Mode, because it will just stop responding.

You have been warned! Always remember that Windows 7 is still in Beta and let’s all hope that Microsoft will fix these issues before the final release.

NB. Some information for the post has been taken from Lifehacker. Of course, I have personally tried using Guest Mode and it works as described above.

Here are some more  tips to optimize Windows 7. They will save you a lot of time and make using Windows 7 even more enjoyable.

Hidden Send To Menu

Personally I love right-clicking because it’s such a great way to get more options quickly. For example, the Send To option when you click on a folder in Windows Explorer can save you a lot of time.

By default the Windows 7 Send To menu contains only a few locations and doesn’t give you that much choice:

That doesn’t look too impressive. But luckily there is a trick to it – press Shift before right-clicking and the Send To menu will expand:

Now that looks a lot better, don’t you think?

Switch Between Windows Faster

The Minimize – Maximize window animation was first introduced in Windows Vista and made its way into Windows 7. While it does look cool, it also creates a delay and makes your PC slower. Disabling this effect is really easy. It will speed up your computer and make it more responsive.

• Go to Start, type in SystemPropertiesPerformance and hit Enter
• Go to the Visual Effects tab
• Uncheck Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Click OK

Enjoy a faster and more responsive PC.

Use Problems Step Recorder

Have you ever struggled when trying to describe a problem to a computer technician? I bet you have – after all some problems are almost impossible to describe with words.

Windows 7 offers an easy solution – a tool called Problems Step Recorder. Basically, it works like any screenshot software and also records everything you do with your mouse, etc. So now you can use it to monitor the system and create a report. Then you can send the report to your computer technician or any other user.

To test the tool, simply type psr.exe in the Start menu and hit Enter.

There are many other ways to optimize your Windows 7 and Auslogics BoostSpeed will help you make it even faster and customize it to your liking.

More Windows 7 tips here and here.

Windows 7 looks and feels a lot better than any previous Windows versions (though I still like XP a lot). Nevertheless, it still can be tweaked and made a lot faster. Like in any previous Windows versions, you can disable visual effects for maximum performance.

1. Go to System Properties (press Windows + Pause/Break keys)
2. Select Advanced
3. Then press the Settings button in the Performance section
4. A new window will open
5. Select the Adjust for best performance radio button

If you don’t like the minimalistic look, choose the Custom radio button, disable the effects you don’t need, and leave the effects you like.

Another thing you can do is customize folder and search options:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Go to Organize - Folder and Search Options
3. Disable the following:

• Hide extensions for known file types
• Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
• Display file size information in folder tips
• Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in colour

Another good thing to do would be running Auslogics Service Manager, which is part of BoostSpeed, and check out which services can be safely disabled. Running some services can take up a lot of hard drive space and it’s a shame, especially if you never use those services.

For more Windows 7 tips and tricks read my other post here.

Windows 7 Beta was made available for download a while ago and I’m sure a lot of you installed it. I guess some of you started looking for ways to tweak and optimize it.

First of all run Auslogics BoostSped 4.3 to get the most out of your new OS, as BoostSpeed now offers full Windows 7 support. And after that you can fine-tune it manually.

Back Up Your MP3 Files

Windows Media Player 12 has a feature that auto fills-in missing metadata on your music files, large albums included. It’s all good in theory, but the thing is that there is a nasty bug that can damage your music  – it can permanently cut off a few seconds at the beginning of the track. To fix it, read this Microsoft article and install the fix. But I would advise you to back up your music files in any case, just to keep them away from harm.

Control UAC

UAC in Windows 7 isn’t nearly as annoying as in Vista (don’t get me wrong, it’s a good feature in theory – just way too annoying in every-day life!). So, if you’d like to change something:

1. Type UAC in the start menu search field and hit Enter
2. Click the result and you will be taken to UAC settings
3. 
4. Now you can adjust the settings to your liking – I prefer having it just above Never notify, since it’s a good combination of not being constantly annoyed and security.

Feel Free to Right-click

One of the things I quite like about Windows 7 is that you can do a lot by simply right-clicking everything. For example, if you want to change your screen resolution, simply right-click an empty space on your desktop. You’ll find the relevant menu entry. So now there will be no need to spend time browsing through display settings.

If you want to have faster access to common folders, like Documents or Pictures, just right-click the Explorer button in the taskbar.

And if you don’t like the idea of using Internet Explorer, you don’t need the icon in the taskbar. Right-click it and click Unpin this program from the taskbar.

Get Back Your Familiar Taskbar

The Windows 7 taskbar is basically a big quick-launch toolbar. It can hold whatever program shortcuts you like. But if you have too many shortcuts, it will consume your desktop space. And, besides, a lot of people would be more comfortable with the traditional taskbar. To change it:

1. Click the Start button and go to Properties - Taskbar
2. Click Use small icons
3. Then set Taskbar buttons to Combine when taskbar is full

Burn CDs and DVDs

Another great Windows 7 feature is that now you don’t need third-party software to burn ISO images onto CDs and DVDs. Just double-click the ISO image file you want to burn, and a small program will open. Then all you have to do is select the disk burner drive and click Burn.

Keyboard Shortcuts

And here is a list of useful new keyboard shortcuts:

Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane

Windows key+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows

Windows key++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate

Windows key+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate

Windows key+Up
Maximise the current window

Windows key+Down
Minimise the current window

Windows key+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen

Windows key+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen

Windows key+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window

Sydney, Australia – January 31, 2009 – Auslogics Software announces that its computer optimization product Auslogics BoostSpeed now fully supports and optimizes the new operating system Microsoft Windows 7 (Beta).

While Windows 7 is faster than Vista, it still requires an ongoing maintenance, such as disk and registry clean-ups and defragmentation, to keep running fast and stable. Without frequent disk and registry clean-ups junk files start taking up disk space and registry errors compromise system stability. Auslogics BoostSpeed removes junk files and fixes registry errors, as well as defragments both hard disk drives and the system registry, placing the file fragments together for faster disk access.

Apart from fully supporting Windows 7, BoostSpeed 4.3 now supports the new Google Chrome browser, Internet Explorer 8 (Beta), FireFox 3, Opera, and Safari for Windows. Unlike other similar software, BoostSpeed checks hardware and Internet Connection specifications first and then applies changes tailored to the particular computer configuration.

The new version also introduces Service Manager. It’s a new tool from Auslogics that makes managing Windows services safe and easy even for novice users. This new utility contains services descriptions and rating, and most importantly, detailed recommendations written in plain English. Now there will be no need to spend hours researching what each service does.

Another welcome change is that Auslogics’ Disk Defrag, believed to be the fastest defragmenter on the market, can now be run from console with command line parameters, can defragment single file or folder, and can be scheduled to run unattended.