Windows 7 Desktop

If you've recently upgraded to a PC running Windows 7, or are considering it, there are some subtle changes to Desktop that you should be aware of.

This article takes a brief look the Windows 7 Desktop and the changes in the basic functions of it and how you can perform some customizations for personalization and ease of use.

Taking a New Look at the "Old" Desktop

When you first log in to the Windows Operating system, the first place you arrive once the machine completely starts is the desktop.

The default desktop will look (for the most part) as shown in the image below.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – You may notice I have a couple more items that are pinned to my Taskbar than what you might see on a standard installation.

With a standard installation you'd see just Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player.

The default Windows 7 wallpaper / desktop background is shown and unless you have a system that was installed and built by an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) then this is what you'd see.

You will find program icons on the desktop that are available to launch when you double click on them and by default on a clean install you'll have only the Recycle Bin there.

The Windows Taskbar will be at the bottom of the page in the locked position and you can unlock it by right clicking on it and clearing the Lock the Taskbar checkmark. Once you do that you can grab the Task bar and drag it to any side of the screen, top, left or right.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – The defaults have always been to set the taskbar on the bottom all the way back to Windows 95 if I am remembering the defaults correctly.

What I do know is I always move it from the bottom to the top of the screen. Just a personal preference of mine and you'll probably notice that fact from most of my screen shots.

Every application I use has the menu options and information along the top of the given window - word processor, Windows Explorer, web browser - you name it and yet for some reason the default for the Taskbar is the bottom of the screen.

I've never understood that...

At the far left of the Windows Taskbar is the old Start Menu. The word START was last seen in Windows XP; in Vista and now Windows 7 it is simply the Windows Logo.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – I do not know if the formal name for this is now "Windows Pearl" or "The Pearl" but if you take a look at the search results at you can see that the use of it is there.

The function is still the same as it was all the way back to Windows 95 and is currently most similar in use as it was recently in Windows Vista - to provide the quick and easy access to system tools and applications.

In a recent article Getting Familiar with the Windows 7 Start Menu I reviewed some additional details/changes of the Start Menu so I won't go into additional details here on it.

Focusing on the Notification Area

The Notification Area is on the right side of the taskbar by default near the time and date information. This part of the Taskbar contains icons for installed program that can provide status for things such as the existence (or lack) of network connectivity, volume control, action center notifications and so forth. When you install a new program it will sometimes add a program icon to the notification area.

You can customize how icons and notifications behave in the taskbar by changing their default behavior.

This is done by right-clicking an empty area on the taskbar, and then selecting Properties.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – You can also get there by going in to the Control Panel and going to All Control Panel Items and choosing Notification Area Icons.

To find that easier you may need to change the view from CATEGORY to the SMALL or LARGE ICON view

On the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties page you'll be on Taskbar tab by default and you would want to go to the Notification area section and click the Customize button.

Once you do this you'll be on the Notification Area Icons page and you can set all the icons to the same setting at the bottom of the options page by checking the Always show all icons and notifications on the Taskbar checkbox if that's what you want to do.

Otherwise you would leave that clear (or remove the check in the box if it is already there) and make the settings for each item from one of the three available settings:

Show icon and notifications. The icon always remains visible on the taskbar in the notification area and any notifications are displayed.

Hide icon and notifications. The icon is hidden and notifications aren't displayed.

Only show notifications. The icon is hidden, but if the program triggers a notification balloon, it's displayed on the taskbar.

Once you are done making your changes you'd click OK to close out the window.

Customizing the System Icons

You also have the option to customize the System icons, including Clock, Volume, Network, Power, and Solution.

These special icons are part of the Windows 7 operating system and you can change how the icons and notifications appear or whether they appear at all.

To do this you would right-click an empty area on the taskbar, and then selecting Properties.

On the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties page you'll be on Taskbar tab by default and you would want to go to the Notification area section and click the Customize button.

Once you do this you'll be on the Notification Area Icons page and you can choose the Turn system icons on or off option at the bottom left part of the window as shown below.

Once you do that you are in the System Icons area and you can change those default behaviors by toggling them ON or OFF.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – You can also get there by going in to the Control Panel and going to All Control Panel Items and choosing Notification Area Icons and from there choosing the Turn system icons on or off option at the bottom left part of the window; there is no other path right off the Control Panel to the option except through Notification Area Icons.

In this tutorial we reviewed the Windows 7 Desktop by taking a look at its basic make up and we took a look at the Notification Area and how we might customize some of those settings. We finished up with a review of how we can customize the System Icon settings.

Thanks for investing your time in my Getting Started with the Windows 7 Desktop article and I am always looking forward to any feedback you have on this or any of the articles I have written so feel free to offer your feedback.

Additionally, I would welcome any suggestions topics of interest that you would like to see and based on demand and column space I'll do what I can to deliver them to you.

Windows 7 Start Menu

As of today, Windows 7 has been officially released and while there are some subtle changes to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) from Vista it is a pretty big departure from what many people are used to seeing under Windows XP Professional or Home Editions.

Despite the inroads Windows Vista may have made into some homes and businesses, Windows XP is still the most widely used operating system so these changes are going to be a bit more of a change for most people.

This article will take a brief look the Windows 7 Start Menu and some of the changes in the basic functions of it and how you can perform some customizations for personalization and ease of use.

How is the Windows 7 Start Menu Different from Vista and XP

The Start Menu has a bit of a different look from what the average Windows XP user is used to working with.

Accessing it is still done pretty much the same ways as it was in the past - you'd either hit the Windows "pearl" (the replacement name for START - sometimes referred to as the Windows Logo) or the Windows Logo key on the keyboard to bring it up.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – The Start Menu is normally at the bottom of the screen; I always move it from that default location to the top of the screen on all my systems.

This is just a personal preference of mine and I've done this as far back as Windows 95. To me it just seems more logical - all of the menus I use in software, in web browsers, etc are across the top and the Windows Taskbar and Toolbars are all at the bottom by default.

Before getting into some of the things you can do with Windows 7 Start Menu I thought I'd walk through what you see in the default view of the Start Menu and some of the ways you can customize what you see in there.

What's new with Recently Opened Programs?

There are a number of different areas in the Start Menu to get to know.

There is the Recently Opened Programs area as shown below.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – If you take a look back at Image 1 you'll notice the Creative Audio Control Panel is a peach color rather than white in the Recently Opened Programs area.

This color difference is due to the fact that this is a newly installed program; once you access the program it will turn to white like the rest of the listed programs as shown below.

You can change the number of programs you see in the Recently Opened Programs area by either right clicking the Windows pearl and selecting PROPERTIES or by opening the Start Menu up and right clicking an open space and choosing PROPERTIES.

Once the Taskbar and properties page is open you'll see that you are already on the Start Menu tab by default.

Right from here if you needed to, you could make changes to the default power button action from the drop down menu if you wanted the action to be something other than "Shut Down."

The additional available options for this system I am working from include Switch User, Log off, Lock, Restart, and Sleep as shown below.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – What you have for available options here may differ depending on your system settings, whether your machine has the Sleep option enabled, which version of the operating system you are running (I am running Ultimate Edition), whether or not your system is a domain member and so on.

The default page of the Start Menu tab also allows you to make adjustments to the privacy settings with respect to the recently opened programs that are shown in the Start Menu and the Taskbar.

In order to actually change what we see in the Recently Opened Programs area we'd need to select CUSTOMIZE to continue.

Tweaking the Recently Opening Programs for your use

You'll notice there are many settings that you can make changes to from the Customize Start Menu window once it is open.

In order to accomplish what we've set out to do we'll just focus on those customizable options.

We can adjust both the number of recent programs to display as well as the number of recent items to display in the Jump Lists by changing the numbers in the Start Menu size section.

This will directly change the number of Recently Opened Programs shown to whatever we set it to.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – What you have for available viewing space as set by your monitor resolution is going to directly affect what you can see in the Recently Opened Programs view.

If you set the number higher than what can actually be view the system will let you know that all items may not be displayed.

I could not set this limit higher than 30 on my system.

By changing the setting from 10 to 20 you can see that there is now additional white space for new programs that I launch to fill in the area

Once enough programs have been opened the list area would be fully populated and older programs would cycle off.

Classic Start Menu in Windows 7

In Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 it is not possible easily revert to the original, Classic Start menu that was used since Windows NT 4.0 SP6a with IE 4 and the Active Desktop addition. The classic version was previously included in all MS operating systems, including Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008. While in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 we did get a new looking Start menu, it was still possible to right-click on it and in its Properties window, get it to use the Classic menu.

Here's how the default Start menu looks in Windows 7:

Why did Microsoft decide to remove the Classic Start menu option in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2? I don't know. Personally, I like the new way the new Windows 7 Start Menu works, and have gotten used to it a long time ago.

However, a lot of people still haven't gotten used to the newer version, so we thought it would be handy to explain a couple of ways to get the Classic Start menu back:

1. Classic Shell

Classic Shell is free and takes up very little memory. It changes the Windows 7 start menu to classic and it looks exactly the same like what you see in Windows XP. The nice thing about it, besides being totally free, is that when you type the first letter of a program or folder it brings you to the correct menu.

Get it from here:

Classic Shell Files on SourceForge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files

After installing, this is the way your Start menu will look like:

BTW, if you press SHIFT and click on the Start menu, you'll get to the original Start menu, so you can in fact use both, as the same time.

2. CSMenu

"CSMenu" is a small application for Windows 7 which can bring the Classic start menu back in Windows 7. You just need to install it and run the application. There is also a portable version available so you can run it without installing. Free to use, this is a cool tool. However, please make sure you read the following note.

Please note:

CSMenu will prompt you to install the ASK dot COM toolbar. While not an actual malware, I would never recommend ANYONE to install that toolbar unless you're looking for trouble. Therefore, while installing CSMenu, please make sure you select "Custom Installation" and that you manually remove the 2 check-boxes, unless you really really need the ASK dot COM toolbar.

Anyway, get it here:

CSMenu Official Site:
http://www.csmenu.com

After installing, this is the way your Start menu will look like:

Here too, if you press SHIFT and click on the Start menu, you'll get to the original Start menu, so you can in fact use both, as the same time.

3. Windows 7 Classic Start Menu with Aero

This is another software by the same author, that will get you to the Classic Start menu. It will also give you an "Aero" theme feeling, which is all nice. However, the software is NOT free, therefore, you will have to consider if you're ready to pay to get your Classic Start menu back. Well, at least this one doesn't include the ASK dot COM toolbar...

Get it from here:

Windows 7 Classic Start Menu with Aero
http://www.classicstartmenu.com

Once installed, you'll get a tray icon that will let you customize some settings in the program.

After installing, this is the way your Start menu will look like:

Here too, if you press SHIFT and click on the Start menu, you'll get to the original Start menu, so you can in fact use both, as the same time.

It's worth noting that during my testing I found 2 issues that cooled my enthusiasm: The first is that once enabled, and once you clicked on the Start menu and opened one of the Program folders, if you click away from the Start menu it will not go away, it'll stay opened on your desktop and will only close either after running a program (and program) from the menu, or by clicking on the Start menu icon.

The second issue I found is that one click on the "Programs" folder opens the folder in Windows Explorer instead of expanding the folder's contents.

That said, if you really need to get your Classic Start menu back on Windows 7 AND are willing to pay to get it, Windows 7 Classic Start Menu is a valid option. Personally, I would go for the first freeware option.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Core with SCONFIG

As you probably know by now, in Windows Server 2008, the Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles.

The Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 and R2 provides the following benefits:

• Reduced maintenance - Because the Server Core installation option installs only what is required to have a manageable server for the AD DS, AD LDS, AD CS, DHCP Server, DNS Server, File Services, Print Services, Web Server and Hyper-V server roles, less maintenance is required than on a full installation of Windows Server 2008.
• Reduced attack surface - Because Server Core installations are minimal, there are fewer applications running on the server, which decreases the attack surface.
• Reduced management - Because fewer applications and services are installed on a server running the Server Core installation, there is less to manage.
• Less disk space required - A Server Core installation requires only about 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of disk space to install and approximately 2 GB for operations after the installation.
• Lower risk of bugs - Reducing the amount of code can help reduce the amount of bugs.

While Server Core itself is, in my opinion, one of Microsoft's greatest positive investments in the past 3 years, one of the major implementing pains for Core is the lack of GUI-based management tools. For those that have never seen a Server Core, this is the way it looks:

Pretty scary, if you're not used to CLI tools.

BTW, it's not that Server Core cannot run GUI-based tools. In fact, there are a bunch of tools that still run fine on Core, such as Task Manager, Notepad, Regedit, and a couple of Control Panel Applets. In addition, you may be able to run many 3rd-party software such as Mozilla Firefox and others. In addition, the management tasks for Server Core can be performed remotely by using GUI-based MMC Snap-Ins, as long as you initially configure the machine with a proper IP address, add it to a domain (if needed) and open the correct Firewall rules and ports.

Luckily for us, most of this pain has been solved by usage of the either manually created scripts, 3rd-party graphical user interface tools, and lately in R2 - the SCONFIG tool.

SCONFIG was initially developed for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, a free virtualization platform that is based on Windows Server 2008 RTM Core and that has the Hyper-V role pre-installed. There have been clients who have gone ahead and copied the script onto their Core installations on other machines. Since then, SCONFIG was made a  part of the R2 release of Windows Server 2008.

With SCONFIG you can manage many aspects of the Server Core machine. SCONFIG dramatically eases server configuration for Windows Server 2008 R2 core deployments. With SCONFIG, you can easily set your system up, get it on the network so you can easily manage the server remotely.

Note that SCONFIG is also localized in almost 20 languages.

To run SCONFIG simply enter sconfig.cmd in the command prompt window, and press Enter.

Navigation through SCONFIG's options is done by typing a number or letter representing the correct configuration or information option. These tasks include:

1) Join a Domain/Workgroup
2) Change Computer Name
3) Add Local Administrator
4) Configure/disable Remote Management
5) Windows Update Settings
6) Download and Install Updates
7) Enable/disable Remote Desktop
8) View/change Network Settings
9) View/change Date and Time
10) Log Off User
11) Restart Server
12) Shut Down Server
13) Exit to Command Line

For example, to enable remote management of the machine, one would:

Press 2 to configure a computer name. Reboot.

Press 1 to join to a domain. Reboot.

Press 8, 0, 1 to set the computers IP address.

Press 4 and then configure remote management.

SCONFIG can  get up and running within a couple of minutes, and best of all, it's built-in so you do not need to download and install any 3rd-party tool. However, as with most tools, there are some things that you cannot do with SCONFIG, such as install server roles or features, or run DCPROMO and so on. For those, you need to either know the command line tool, or use a script or 3rd-party tool. For example, read my "Installing Active Directory on Windows 2008 Server Core" article.