Customize Windows 7 HomeGroup with a new name and a new icon

In a recent blog post, “Remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7,” I showed you how to remove HomeGroup from the navigation pane in Windows Explorer by disabling the HomeGroup services. Before I did so, I provided you with links to several articles that I wrote extolling the HomeGroup feature in the hopes that after reading them you might begin to see that the HomeGroup feature is a valuable asset to the operating system from both a security and efficiency standpoint. For those of you who decided to keep or to reactivate the Windows 7 HomeGroup as well as for those of you who have always appreciated this new feature, I’ve discovered a few ways that you can customize the HomeGroup networking tool with a couple of registry edits — you can rename it and you can change its icon. Read more.

Remove Favorites from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

I recently showed you how to remove Libraries and HomeGroup from Windows 7’s Windows Explorer in the articles: “Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7” and “Remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7.” Soon after those articles were published, I was asked if there was a way to remove Favorites from Windows Explorer. Now personally, I can’t think of one good reason for removing such a timesaving feature from Windows Explorer, but some of you are adamant that you want to remove this feature. Therefore, I will acquiesce. Read more.

Remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

After last week’s blog post, “Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7,” several readers asked if there was a way to remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7. Read more.

Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

In the past, I covered eight techniques that you can use to get more out of Windows Explorer in Windows 7. One of the techniques that I shared was how to expand the navigation pane. A reader told me that while reconfiguring the navigation pane so that Libraries were not as prominent was a good trick, but what he really wanted to be able to do was to remove Libraries altogether. After a bit of investigation, I discovered that it is possible to remove Libraries from Windows Explorer with a couple of Registry tweaks. Read more.

Work around these Windows Live Messenger 2011 annoyances

If you are a Windows Live Messenger user, you know that Microsoft recently released the 2011 version of Messenger and that the product has been expanded beyond the Windows Live network to become a social networking portal. All these great new features aside, there are a couple of things that really annoy me about Windows Messenger in Windows 7. The first is that the Windows Live Messenger icon no longer appears in the Notification Area — instead it resides on the Taskbar, where it takes up valuable space even when you are not using it. The second is that by default Windows Live Messenger opens in an almost full-screen view. Read more.

Identify and get detailed information about processes in Windows 7

In my October 5 blog post, “Investigate Memory Usage with Windows 7 Resource Monitor,” I showed you how to use the detailed information displayed in Microsoft Windows 7 Resource Monitor to investigate memory usage. I went into quite a bit of detail while describing the Processes table on the Memory tab. Since that blog was published, I have received numerous questions from readers wanting to know how to go about identifying those processes with executable file names that are not as easy to identify. Fortunately, there is a way to learn a great deal about any and all processes in Windows 7. However, you have to switch over to Windows Task Manager to make it happen. Read more.

New troubleshooting features in the Windows 7 System Configuration tool

After reading my recent blog post, “Use Windows 7 Event Viewer to Track Down Issues That Cause Slower Boot Times, a friend who just recently made the move to Microsoft Windows 7 from Windows XP asked me whether the System Configuration Utility was still a viable tool to use in Windows 7. After I assured him that it was still a useful troubleshooting tool and described the modifications in the new version, I thought that a lot of people moving from XP to Windows 7 might have the same question. Read more.