If you’re one of the many who took the leap to try Windows 7 for free when it was in the RC stage, then you have found many things different between this OS and Vista. Many changes mean many new tweaking opportunities. Windows 7 Manager has come out on top for me, allowing me to tweak and customize Win7 in every way I could want.

If you’re an Asus laptop user like me, then you will find the customization of the OEM info necessary to install your Asus-specific software like DirectConsole and SmartLogon. There’s a screenshot where you enter that information below.

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Here’s the official description from YamicSoft’s site:

Why Should I use Windows 7 Manager?

Windows 7 is the newest Operating System for home users and professionals alike. Windows 7 brings clarity to your world, so you can more safely and easily accomplish everyday tasks and instantly find what you want on your PC.

Windows 7 Manager is the powerful software tool to tweak and optimize your Windows 7, it bundles more than 30 different utilities in one and help your system faster and more stable, secure and personal!
Features and Benefits of Windows 7 Manager

• Information
  Get detailed system and all hardware information on your system; show all detailed information of running processes and threads on your machine; Windows 7 Manager offers 1-clicking cleans your system automatically.




• Optimizer
  Tweak your system to improve windows startup and shutdown speed; tweak your hardware to increase system speed and performance; Optimize Task Schedule to turn off unnecessary system tasks.




• Cleaner
  Find out which files or folders engross your disk space and shown with chart; Find and clean junk files to increase Hard Disk space; Duplicate Files Finder can scan your computer for files with the same size, name and modification time; Registry Cleaner can easily checks your registry and repair incorrectly linked registry entries, automatically remove invalid entries; Registry Defrag rebuilds and re-indexs your registry to reduce application response time and registry access time.




• Customization
  Control what is started on Windows startup; tune up Windows 7 boot menu; edit context menus of mouse Right-Clicking; customize system desktop, menus, toolbar and notifications settings; automatically change your desktop wallpaper on background.




• Security
  You can improve desktop, menus, Windows logon securities, and enable numerous hidden performance options of system, disable system updates and error reports; hide and restrict to access drives, specify which applications are not allowed to be executed on your computer; encrypt/decrypt and shred files, change the location of system folders; Privacy Protector can maintain your personal privacy by eliminating the tracks that you leave behind; create lots of randomization password once.




• Network
  Optimize your Internet connection speed, manage all shares items; tweak your Internet Explorer easily.




• Misc. Utilities
  Show the collection of Windows utilities; help you find out the installation key of Windows, Office products; shutdown your PC or remind you automatically.

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Screenshots

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Downloads

*Since Windows 7 is officially still in the pre-release stage, Windows 7 Manager is also in it’s Beta stage. This means you can download it for free until Win7 becomes officially released to the public. After Win7 is released, expect to pay for this program.

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Tags: asus g50v and windows 7, Windows 7

If you are familiarizing yourself with Windows 7, then there are many things you’ve found that have changed even since Vista.

For me, I love to have my repetitive, mundane tasks be as short as possible. Emptying my recycle bin with the fewest clicks is probably the most important time saver for me. It’s crucial to me, because I never let me recycle bin get too full, as I am always deleting huge files and can’t afford the space.

Since I’ve taken the leap to Windows 7, Microsoft hasn’t made it easy to implement my favorite right-click context entry. I’ve searched and searched, but nobody seems to know what the string is to add it correctly to the registry.

I’ve found a work-around that is as close as I can get to emptying the recycle bin using my right-click menu. The download includes 2 files–an EXE file that runs a command to empty the recycle bin, and a REG file that adds a shortcut command to your right-click menu.

Installation Directions:

1. Extract the install files from the ZIP.
2. Copy “EmptyRecycleBin.exe” to the location of your choice. I’ve set the registry file to point to “C:\Windows\System32″, but if you want to change it, then you will have to edit the registry file too.
3. Double-click the .REG file to add it to your registry. Again, if you didn’t copy the .EXE file to the System32 directory, the you will need to edit the .REG file to reflect where you put it.

   *Note: This is merely a temporary work-around until someone finds a solution using only a .REG file without the need of an EXE.

   
   

   Tags: empty recycle bin context menu

*UPDATED: July 14, 2009 – The “unofficial” RTM build 7600 leaked yesterday and I jumped on that stuff. I installed it from a 8GB flash drive, and everything went perfectly. When you get to the part where it asks for a serial number, just click next to complete installation without a serial. If you want to crack the activation limit of 30 days, then you torrent freaks need to visit Demonoid for it. The activation patch will say Windows is activated without any time limit. As for the Asus apps for the G50, they all work the same as other Win7 RC builds before this one.*

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Since the Release Candidate (RC1) for Windows 7 was made public, I figured I’d test it myself on my Asus G50V. The build I tested was RC 7100.

The install was quick, much faster than the days of the 1-hour XP installation. When it was finished, it booted to the desktop with high speed. The first thing I had to do was see which drivers it didn’t install automatically. This is where I was surprised the most.

Looking at the Device Manager (Right-click on Computer, choose Manage, on left side of new window go to Device Manager), all I found was 7 missing drivers. Those missing were the Ricoh Memory Card drivers, ITE Infrared Receiver, nVidia High Def Audio, and of course the video card (nVidia GeForce 9700m GT).

Microsoft caused my jaw to drop at the discovery of my Wireless Card (Atheros AR 928x), even though the card is quite common. After the install finished, I was asked if I wanted to join my wireless network. No other Windows version did THAT! About time.

Here are the drivers you will need to fill those empty spaces in your Device Manager that are filled with exclamation points.

*Note: The Vista drivers that came on your G50V Driver Disc work just fine, except for the video card.

1. Ricoh Memory Card Reader – 3.4 MB
2. ITE Infrared Receiver – 5.1 MB
3a. nVidia GeForce 9700m GT – x64 64-bit – 63.2 MB
3b. nVidia GeForce 9700m GT – x86 32-bit – 53.9 MB

*Note: The video card drivers will also install the nVidia High Def Audio drivers.

Leave a comment if you need help with getting these installed properly. If there are more drivers you need, see this post: Asus G50 Driver Files

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Tags: asus g50 drivers, asus g50v and windows 7