For Dummies Windows 7 All-in-One
Contents
1. If you go with a wide screen monitor you can put two spreadsheets on the monitor side by side or see at least half of two different pages in Word even at the lowest common resolution of 1440 x 900 Because of that wide screens make sense for most people who use a monitor all day long They re also good for watching movies but I digress Really big screens make an enormous difference if you have less than stellar eyesight suffer from eyestrain or commonly work with full pages in Word or big spreadsheets in Excel They re also quite handy if you want to let other people look at what you re doing You can also look into the possibility of running two monitors side by side doubling the amount of screen you can see at the expense of exercising some neck muscles Windows 7 makes setting up two monitors easy see the next section and most video cards these days will play along Book VIII Chapter 1 alo saz Bao GQ EE se s5 zao G D 2 182 Upgrading the Basic Stuff NEER Do you own a monitor but you don t know its native resolution As in so amp many other areas Google is your friend If you have a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW for example just run a Google search for SyncMaster 226BW native resolution Bingo PPY Coy I use a 27 inch Dell wide screen monitor on my production machine I love it Y My eyes love it I consider it to be one of the best computer investments I ve N 2 q ever made2. 2 794 Installing New Hardware Write down everything you do in case you need to undo it or ask for help This advice is particularly important if you re opening your com puter to install an internal device Ifthe device comes with a Windows 7 or Vista driver check the manufacturer s Web site to see whether you have the latest version A company usually keeps drivers on one or more Web pages that you can find by clicking a Drivers Downloads or Support link If you discover a version that s newer than the one packaged with the device download it and install it instead If you can t tell whether the version on the Web site is newer because you can t tell which version came with the device you have two choices e Download and install the Web site s version just in case It s unlikely to be older than the one that came with the device e Install the one that came with the device Then check its date and version number See the next section If the one on the Web site proves to be newer download the newer one and install it Read the instructions you may need to uninstall the original driver first Checking a driver s version To check the version number of a driver follow these steps 1 Click the Start button Right click Computer and choose Properties On the left click the Device Manager link Windows 7 opens the Device Manager window shown in Figure 1 10 2 Click the plus sign next to the heading that
3. Dealing with drivers Most types of devices raise the question of compatibility Will this gadget work with Windows 7 You can dissect that question a thousand different ways but the real acid test is a simple one Is a good driver available for the hardware A driver is a program that allows Windows 7 to interact with the hardware In most cases the answer is yes simply because Microsoft now hounds hardware manufacturers who have the temerity to dis tribute bad drivers Because Windows 7 is almost identical to Vista where the driver rubber meets the road almost any driver that works for Vista is good for Windows 7 too The same cannot be said for Windows XP drivers If you re looking at a piece of hardware that has Windows XP support but no Vista support pass it by Windows 7 won t like it A high level Softie know once told me that 50 percent of all the tech support calls Microsoft has to answer deal with bad drivers That s powerful incentive and the main reason why Windows 7 wants to phone home when it crashes Most Windows 7 crashes and a big part of the Microsoft Product Support team s workload stem from bad device drivers that Microsoft didn t write As hard as it may be to believe that new piece of hardware you just bought may require no driver because its interface to the computer is completely standardized so that Windows 7 can operate any device of the same type Most but not all k
4. E IMG_0790J G Windows Photo Viewer File Print E ms Bum Open gt P The earliest movies were shot at 4 3 but Hollywood quickly found that wider screens led to more spectacular films Over time the aspect ratio for movies changed but TV stayed the same and computer screens aped TV os gt Clx Taking a look at aspect ratio televisions and almost all computer screens used the 4 3 aspect ratio where the ratio of a screen s width to height is 4 to 3 In the follow ing figure you see a photo taken with a typical electronic camera It produces pictures in a 4 3 aspect ratio Nowadays Hollywood movies use several different aspect ratios but home theaters all over the world have mostly settled on the 16 9 aspect ratio shown in the following figure which has become the standard for high definition TV HDTV Upgrading the Basic Stuff 781 5 IMG_0790 16 to 9JPG Windows Photo Viewer File Print E mai Burn Open gt J mip 9 x Although you probably won t spend most of your time sweating over 25 000 cell spreadsheets this little comparison combined with a lot of experience leads me to a few simple generalizations Any modern monitor you buy can handle 1280 x 1024 resolution just fine If you re staring at a screen that has 1280 x 1024 resolution you can see most of a page in Word or Excel For most Windows users that s good enough
5. right up there with a good chair and an ancient keyboard See Upgrading keyboards later in this chapter You may not need that much real estate and yes it s hard to justify the expense But oh the views Changing resolutions and multiple monitors To change your screen resolution and set up a second monitor follow these steps 1 Right click in any blank place on the Windows desktop and choose Screen Resolution You see the Display Settings dialog box shown in Figure 1 3 where you can set up multiple monitors CJ A Display gt Screen Resolution 4 P Change the appearance of your displays Figure 1 3 Set up one or more monitors ay 2 Click the 1 box to set up your first monitor and 2 to set up the second If you can t figure out which monitor is which click the Identify Monitors button Windows 7 puts a big 7 on Monitor 1 and a big 2 on Monitor 2 Figure 1 4 Adjusting the reso lution ona correctly identified LCD monitor always results in fuzzy text NING RY Upgrading the Basic Stuff 183 If you have more than one monitor you can also choose where to show the desktop see Table 1 2 for details To change the resolution on either display click either the 1 moni tor or the 2 monitor and then adjust the resolution using the slider shown in Figure 1 4 lB Display Screen Resolutic lel p Change the appearance of your displays Display 2 Sy
6. PC style keyboards for less than half the price of the Northgate Most of them require only an AT to PS 2 adapter available at most computer stores to plug into a modern computer ultrajpg UPEG Image 780x289 pixels Mozilla Firefox S File Edit Wew History Bookmarks Tools Help lt lt Cc fey EF ptp noethgate keyooard repair com ultra jpg IG laser mouse sitemi 2 Figure 1 5 Refurbished Northgate OmniKey Ultra Choosing a mouse or alternatives Mice are probably available in more varieties than any other computer accessory You can find mice with special ergonomic profiles colored mice transparent mice special mice designed for kids and on and on Laser and optical mice now rule the roost An optical mouse uses a light Book VIII emitting diode LED light source and sensor to detect movement over a Chapter 1 flat surface It has no rolling ball to slip or stick and it rarely needs to be cleaned You may find this model particularly helpful if you have furry pets and your mouse tends to get clogged by their hair Laser mice use an infra red laser diode but otherwise function in much the same way They re sig nificantly more sensitive than optical mice y Guiyjeysuy pue Guipul4 RSN Coy Right now my favorite mouse is a Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse see Figure 1 6 I never thought I d convert to a wireless mouse but this funny looking critter fits my hand precis
7. extra bucks most stores can install what they sell This is the easy safe way Rather than mess around with unfamiliar gadgets which may be complicated and deli cate let somebody with experience do the work for you Different types of hardware present different levels of difficulty It may make plenty of sense for you to install one type of device but not another ASky ASky oP Cay oe On Installing New Hardware 793 At one end of the scale installing a new video card or hard drive can be rather difficult and is best done by an expert At the other end speakers don t need any installation you just plug them in and they work The store can show you where the connectors go but you have to plug them in your self when you get home Here are some guidelines to help you judge how difficult an installation is likely to be Any device that goes inside your computer is best left to the store unless you have experience with that specific kind of computer hardware A device with a USB interface is usually easy nine times out of ten you just plug it in and it works Most modern wireless networking systems are inserted with nary a hiccup A cable modem should be installed by the communication carrier s techni cian if at all possible Digital subscriber line DSL modems are easier to install but you have to know whether your phone line is ready The modem just plugs in but the telephone line or cable may re
8. stuff Dual core Pentium 1GB of memory 160GB hard drive inte grated Intel GMA 3100 video driver PCI Express slots Bravely pursuing Windows 7 enlightenment I tore open the case and installed a used video card that I had lying around the office It sports an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT chip with 256MB of memory You can buy the same card at many discount shops for 50 or less I installed Windows 7 on the machine and it proved positively snappy The Windows Experience Index see Book II Chapter 4 came in at 5 3 see Figure 1 1 That s a mighty good showing for a 300 PC A 5 3 score makes this discount Pavilion almost as fast as my ridiculously expensive two year old production machine If anything it feels faster Figure 1 1 The Windows Experience Index score for a super discounted 300 PC Upgrading the Basic Stuff 175 Moral of the story You don t need to spend a fortune to improve your PC s performance As you work through the nitty gritty details in this chapter keep that simple fact in mind G B lt All Control Panel Items Performance Information and Toots 2 Rate and improve your computer s performance The Windows Experience Index assesses key system components on s scale of 1 0 to 79 Adjust po Component Wha Open disk cleanup Processor Calculations per second 59 Advanced tools Memory RAM Memory operstions per second 59 ae G 5 Desktop performance for 59 Graphi Wi
9. won t do the rabbit any good and move to the head of the class For more details about Device Stage see Book VIII Chapter 2
10. 1050 16 10 23 2048 x 1152 16 9 24 1920 x 1080 high definition 16 9 TV resolution 24 1920 x 1200 16 10 27 1920 x 1200 16 10 30 2560 x 1600 16 10 y OA I think the easiest way to understand the effect of changing screen resolu RY 5 tion is to consider the effect of screen resolution on a plain vanilla Excel Var 2007 spreadsheet At 800 x 600 resolution you can see cells Al through L19 or 228 cells on a virgin spreadsheet At 1024 x 768 you can see cells Al through 027 or a total of 405 cells That s 78 percent more usable cells than the 800 x 600 resolution offers At 1280 x 1024 Excel 2007 shows cells Al through S40 for a grand total of 760 cells That s 88 percent more cells than at 1024 x 768 and more than three times as many as 800 x 600 offers Jump to 1920 x 1200 and you see Al through AC49 for a whopping 25 921 cells 33 times as many as with a 1280 x 1024 screen and very nearly 100 times as many as a spreadsheet at 800 x 600 Book VIII Chapter 1 pue Guipuly p N no aiempiepy ay Burjjezsu sont 780 Upgrading the Basic Stuff S TUp If you ve ever wondered why movies appear onscreen with a black band at the top and bottom or why your photos get cut off a little differently on 8 by 10 prints as opposed to 6 by 9s you ve bumped into the effects of the aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a picture is the ratio of the picture s width to its height For many years
11. NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Microsoft Corporation WDDM v1 1 Driver Provider NVIDIA Driver Date 2 26 2009 Driver Version 8 15 11 8171 Digital Signer Microsoft Windows Driver Details To view details about the driver files Update Driver To update the driver software for this device ra F the device falls after updating the driver roll Figure 1 11 back to the previously installed driver The driver Disable Disables the selected device d ate an d l all To uninstall the driver Advanced version are easy to see Se a Note that Windows does not automatically check the manufacturer s site for the latest drivers Instead it relies on the drivers that have been checked in to its driver database and many of those drivers are weeks months or years out of date If you continue to have driver problems go directly to the manufacturer s Web site and follow its instructions to download and install the latest Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no siempsey y Guiyjeysuy pue Guipul4 796 Installing New Hardware Knowing what to do if anything goes wrong If your driver installation goes belly up try these strategies in any order that makes sense to you Review the instructions Look for a section with a title such as Troubleshooting for suggestions on how to proceed Call or e mail the manufacturer s technical support service for help The manual or the Web site can tell you how Call the store or pack up ev
12. TON M 7 Always do this for software and games Install or run program from your media Run ACoolProgram exe 7 General options Open folder to view files be Speed up my system Set AutoPlay defaults in Control Panel 2 Click one of the AutoPlay options You re done Some parts of the AutoPlay notification refer to Figure 1 8 can be con trolled by settings in files sitting on the USB drive itself The Conficker worm for example takes advantage of AutoPlay programmability and tries to trick you into running the worm by using some clever wording Figure 1 9 shows the AutoPlay notification that appears when you stick a Conficker infected USB drive into a USB slot AutoPlay i KINGSTON M Always do this for software and games Install or run program from your media Open folder to view fies General options Open folder to view fies 5 Speed up my system Set AutoPlay defaults in Control Panel Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no siempiey ay Guryjeysuy pue Guipul4 792 Installing New Hardware ar If you look closely at Figure 1 9 you see how Conficker can paste a folder icon in the Install or Run Program area Conficker tries to trick you into run ning an infectious program by clicking the Open Folder to View Files link in the middle I have details on how Conficker jimmies Windows into show ing bogus AutoPlay entries in my Windows Secrets Newsletter article at tinyurl com dbgndc with furt
13. cally If you can t read the screen you chose a resolution that your monitor can t display 7 When yow re done click the OK button to close the Display Settings dialog box Table 1 2 Multiple Monitor Desktop Settings Setting Name Shown on Monitor 1 Shown on Monitor 2 Duplicate The usual Windows Exactly the same as Monitor 1 These Displays desktop Extend These The usual Windows A blank area where you can drag Displays desktop and drop anything you like behaves as though it s to the right of Monitor 1 Show Desktop The usual Windows Nothing Only on 1 desktop Show Desktop Nothing The usual Windows desktop Only on 2 Picking a video adapter Windows 7 places high demands on your video card Many people find that upgrading their video cards delivers more noticeable punch than almost any other hardware improvement The best way to judge whether you need a new video card Look at your Windows Experience Index see Book II Chapter 4 My score is shown at the beginning of this chapter refer to Figure 1 1 If you don t play many games and your Graphics score falls much more than a point below all the other scores or if you re a gamer and the Gaming Graphics score sits more than a point below the others you re a good candidate for a video card upgrade To check out the latest in video card technology offerings and prices I trust the reviews at Tom s Hardware tomshardware com When
14. contains the device you want to check In Figure 1 10 I click the heading Display Adapters and Windows shows me which display adapters are installed and recognized You may have to try several headings to find the right one If you guess wrong just click again to collapse the heading you expanded 3 Double click the device to open the Device Properties dialog box Click the Driver tab to display details about the driver as shown in Figure 1 11 You should be able to identify the latest driver by its date or version number or both 4 Click the Update Driver button When Windows asks click to Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software Windows goes out to the big Microsoft driver database in the sky and retrieves and installs the latest driver Installing New Hardware 195 ay Device Manager a File Action View Help 9 m amp 4 h PavilionWin JE Computer Sy Disk drives E Display adapters NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Microsoft Corporation WDDM v1 1 a DVD CD ROM drives 05 Human Interface Devices Ca IDE ATA ATAPI controllers Keyboards F Mice and other pointing devices E Monitors WP Network adapters Figure 1 10 E Portable Devices a Processors The D evice Sound video and game controllers Manager jE System devices Universal Serial Bus controllers window 4 NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Microsoft Corporation WDDM v1 1 EES General Driver Details Resources
15. ely and the laser tracking works remarkably well poen no dsempiey ASky 188 Upgrading the Basic Stuff Figure 1 6 My personal favorite the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Photo courtesy Microsoft Corporation Some folks prefer a trackball to a mouse A trackball is a stationary device with a large ball resting in a cup on the top You operate it by turning the ball with your palm or thumb I hate em Some folks like to use a graphics tablet rather than or in addition to a mouse You control software with a graphics tablet by touching its surface with a special stylus Unlike a mouse the graphics tablet detects position not motion so you can literally point at the item you want You can even write or draw with the stylus Graphics tablets are popular with serious users of photo editors and other graphics software and they re becoming more popular since Microsoft started producing digital ink programs such as OneNote which can read what you write to a first approximation anyway Many of these applications have special graphics tablet support and can detect the amount of pressure you re applying to the stylus Thus you can press hard to draw a wide line for example or lightly to draw a thin line Tablet PCs the kind that are designed to be used with a stylus and almost invariably OneNote aren t for everyone Some people love them Most people don t get used to them I count my
16. erything and take it in If you happen to have a 7 foot tall friend named Guido who drags his hairy knuckles on the ground take him along with you Moral support eh If your computer no longer works correctly restart Windows 7 with the last known good configuration See the instructions in the next section Restarting with the last known good configuration When you install a new device driver you change the Windows 7 configura tion The next time you restart your computer Windows 7 tries to use the new configuration If it succeeds it discards the old configuration and makes the new one current The whole process involves some smoke a few mirrors and the Windows Registry Sometimes you install a new device driver and everything goes to heck ina handbasket If that happens to you restart Windows 7 and tell it to use the last known good configuration which is to say Windows should ignore the changes you made that screwed everything up and return to the state it was in the last time it started That action effectively removes the new driver from Windows 7 To start Windows with the last known good configuration follow these steps 1 If your computer is working click the Start button click the right facing arrow to the right of the little lock and choose Restart Windows 7 restarts Skip to Step 3 2 If your computer isn t operating press the power button to turn it off Wait a minute or so Press the power but
17. eyboards monitors and mice work like that Any such device may have unique features that are available only with an appropriate driver though Choosing a new monitor Once upon a time cathode ray tube CRT screens ruled the roost They were hot enough to fry an egg and were prone to flicker and have wavy lines the big ones weighed as much as an elephant a big elephant Nowadays liquid crystal displays LCDs have taken over and even newer technology appears just around the corner Before you buy a new monitor make sure that you read an unbiased review or ten written by people who sit down in front of a bunch of monitors and compare them all side by side I tend to look at CNET Reviews reviews cnet com You might also want to use Google If you opt for an LCD monitor and most people do consider the follow ing information ar ar Upgrading the Basic Stuff 111 If you play games or work with fast moving images make sure that you can put up with a specific LCD s response time before you buy it LCDs are notorious for not keeping pace with some games turning crisp images of oh smashing taxi cabs into mushy blobs of smashing taxi cabs Come to think of it maybe there isn t all that much difference An LCD s response time is the amount of time it takes for a pixel to change from black to white and back to black although some manufac turers measure the much faster time necessary to change co
18. he other hand are all digital all the time Internally they control each dot on the screen with 1s and Os on and off just like your computer The video card was invented specifically because the bits inside your com puter needed to drive an analog monitor The video card translated 1s and Os inside the computer into varying intensity red green and blue dots on the screen In short video cards served as digital to analog converters feed ing signals to CRT monitors Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no siempiey ay Guljjeysuy pue Guipul4 1 8 Upgrading the Basic Stuff Figure 1 2 The ATI Radeon HD 4890 offers two DVI ports and occupies a PCle x16 slot od On ASky MBER RNS amp Times have changed It doesn t make any sense for the video card to trans late bits into an analog signal only to have an LCD monitor translate the analog signal back into bits That s the crux of the Digital Visual Interface DVI plugs Eliminate the video card middleman More and more LCD monitors come equipped with DVI plugs More and more video cards come equipped with DVI ports see Figure 1 2 Unlike the old D shaped VGA plugs which have 15 round pins arranged in 3 rows of 5 each the much larger and more rectangular DVI plugs have a single flat pin and usually 24 round ones in an asymmetrical pattern Photo courtesy AMD Corporation If you have a choice go with DVI It s faster and more reliable than the
19. her details at tinyurl com mck9ys When it comes to buying a USB drive the salespeople would have you believe that it s cool to have color coded sticks I just put a sticker on mine fancy encrypted memory so that if somebody steals the stick it takes him ten minutes rather than ten seconds to look at the data designer outsides and on and on Here s what I say Buy twice the amount of memory you think you need you ll use it someday Go for the lowest price If you need to read the other kinds of flash memory memory cards the kind normally used in cameras and MP3 players buy a cheap generic USB multiformat memory card reader It shouldn t set you back more than 10 and it can come in quite handy Installing New Hardware If you have a USB device a printer hard drive scanner camera flash memory card foot massager water desalination plant or demolition machine for a new intergalactic highway just plug the device into a USB port and you re ready to go Okay I exaggerated a little bit Two fundamentally different approaches to installing new hardware exist It amazes me that some people never even consider the possibility of doing it themselves whereas other people wouldn t have the store install new hard ware for them on a bet Having the store do it When you buy a new hard drive or video card or anything else that goes inside your computer why sweat the installation For a few
20. lors If you spend your working day uh working a 10 or even 12 millisecond ms response time suffices If you watch video or play games look for 5 ms or better Some people say that they can see a difference with 2 ms response times If you think you might want 2 ms make sure that you compare fast and relatively slow monitors side by side and see whether it s worth the difference in price The manufacturing process occasionally produces screens with dead pixels A dead pixel shows up as a black spot or some other nonmatch ing color in the image Most manufacturers consider an LCD display functional if it has no more than three dead pixels but a single dead pixel may drive you crazy especially if it sits near the middle of the screen If you look at a screen and immediately notice its dead pixel or pixels pass it by or return it Go to gdargaud net Hack DeadPixels html1 for a useful dead pixel detector An LCD can be difficult to read from certain angles particularly far from the screen s centerline This situation can be a problem if several people at a time have to watch the computer screen For more information on what to look for in a monitor read on Eliminating the video card middleman CRT monitors live in an analog world They re controlled by signals that vary in strength much as a television attached to a Nintendo gets driven by three cables controlling the red green and blue colors LCD monitors on t
21. mputer you re probably wondering why your fingers hurt and why you make so many mis takes typing There s a good reason That keyboard you re using probably cost a dollar Maybe less Getting a new one can make a big difference in how well you type and can speed your computing enormously You know so that you can get alife Several companies now make ergonomic keyboards which are contoured to let you type with your hands in a position that supposedly reduces the stress on them these keyboards take some getting used to but some users swear by them Personally I swear at them If you ve been using a straight keyboard make sure that you can adjust to a split ergonomic keyboard before you buy one I know a lot of people who have given up in disgust when their fingers couldn t adapt to the ergonomic split You can get a wireless keyboard Keep in mind though that wireless key boards have batteries that wear out And with regular wired keyboards you don t have to worry about interference or blocked sensors Sure cables are ugly but they re quite reliable You can also get a keyboard with a built in pointing device to replace the mouse Heck you can probably get one that looks like Mickey Mouse If you re serious about replacing your tin can keyboard keep these points in mind Look for a keyboard that feels right Some folks like quiet keys I like em loud Some people prefer keys with short throw
22. ncMaster 2268Wi Analog Resolution 11680 1050 recommended Orientation C 1680 1050 recommended Multiple displays 1440 900 This is curently you Advanced setting What display setting 1280 x 800 OK Cancel Apply 960 x 600 800 x 600 If Windows 7 properly identified your monitor and you have a suffi ciently powerful video card this dialog box should already show the monitor s native resolution Be intensely aware of the fact that lower ing the resolution of your LCD screen below its native resolution only makes the text look worse See the preceding section to find your monitor s native resolution If Windows doesn t let you set your monitor to its native resolution you need to get a better video card Some video cards can t support odd res olutions and very high resolutions require capable cards You re trying to pump 10 pounds of video from a 5 pound card Click the Apply button Windows 7 changes the display s resolution and opens a dialog box that asks whether you want to keep the new settings Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no sempiey ay Gulyjeysuy pue Guipul4 78 4 Upgrading the Basic Stuff ASky ov COn 6 Click the Keep Changes button to keep the new settings or click Revert to return to the old ones If the display disappears or becomes unreadable press Esc to return to the old settings Or if you wait 15 seconds Windows 7 returns to the old settings automati
23. ndows Aero Is 3D business and gaming graphics 53 performance Gaming graphics Determined by lowest subscore Primary hard disk Disk data transfer rate 58 Your scores are current BPRe run the ast update 4 7 2009 7 11 11 AM Action Center Upgrading the Basic Stuff You probably have a printer but it may not suit your needs heck photo quality printers are so good and cheap nowadays that I m frequently tempted to throw my old printer out the window Your monitor may have died or you might ve noticed that gorgeous 29 inch flat panel monitor winking at you across the aisle at your local Comput O Rama Perhaps that giant 120GB hard drive you bought two years ago doesn t look so gigantic any more particularly because the kids discovered how easy it is to trans fer pictures taken on digital cameras Be of good cheer For the most part basic upgrades under Windows 7 are as slick as can be A few popular upgrades such as adding a second or third hard drive and choosing a new printer are beyond the scope of this book You can find tips and basics for choosing and installing new hard drives both internal ones and external ones and printers at Dummies com Or check out Upgrading and Fixing PCs For Dummies 7th Edition by Andy Rathbone Wiley for more in depth coverage Book VIII Chapter 1 alo saz Sa OESS soe 5 zao G D 2 776 Upgrading the Basic Stuff ASky oP Cay
24. nting bracket For an example see driverheaven net guides videocooling In my experience the single greatest source of frustration with Windows since its inception has been lousy video drivers I ve seen it happen year in and year out in every version of Windows with every video card manufac turer Windows 7 is no exception Video card manufacturers take a long time to produce decent drivers for their wares and when they have stable driv ers the pressure to incorporate new features frequently leads to unstable newer versions If you buy a new video card make sure that you check the manufacturer s Web site for the latest Windows 7 driver before installing the card And always keep your old video card just in case the new one simply doesn t work You can take solace in the fact that video drivers these days are as big and complex as Windows 98 Hard to believe but true Upgrading keyboards Face it The keyboard that came with your computer wouldn t even make a decent boat anchor Don t get me wrong Those mushy squishy Tinkertoy keyboards would make fine Cracker Jack prizes and casual computer users can get by with them for years I wouldn t look down my nose at your flimsy somnambulant ludicrous excuse for a keyboard Sniff Book VIII Chapter 1 pue Guipuly poon no siempiepy y urjjezsu 786 Upgrading the Basic Stuff avr NING O ar Seriously if you spend more than a few hours a day at the co
25. old VGA interface and the pins are less likely to get crunched when your ham fisted cousin starts switching around monitors Choosing a screen resolution A flat screen monitor s native resolution is the number of image forming dots or pixels that the monitor can display horizontally and vertically Although you can adjust the resolution on CRT displays to infinitesimal sizes and squint with the consequences for the most part adjusting an LCD screen to any resolution other than its native resolution leaves your eyes begging for mercy The grid of dots in a flat panel display is fixed the modified screen resolution is a sleight of hand performed by interpolating among dots on the grid So it s important to choose a monitor with a native resolution you can live with Upgrading the Basic Stuff 779 Smaller and older screens conform to the 4 3 aspect ratio 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 resolutions are both 4 3 aspect ratios See the nearby sidebar Taking a look at aspect ratio for more on aspect ratios Typical standard format non wide screen 17 inch and 19 inch screens run at 1280 x 1024 which isn t exactly 4 3 it s actually 5 4 but you don t notice much distor tion when viewing material meant to be seen at 4 3 For wide screen mea surements see Table 1 1 Table 1 1 Typical Wide Screen Resolutions Diagonal Measurement Resolution Aspect Ratio Inches 19 1440 x 900 16 10 22 1680 x
26. oot massager appliances I also discuss Device Stage a feature that debuted in Windows 7 which may make using hardware less uh hard 114 Knowing What Windows 7 Wants Knowing What Windows 7 Wants NING Do you have an old PC sitting in a corner doing an uninspiring job of run ning Windows XP or worse Vista Does your friendly local computer store advertise a pile of unsold computers reduced in price because they re past their prime Not to worry mate That old hunk of iron may be usable yet In the course of writing this book I tried running Windows 7 on all sorts of odd pieces of hardware Here s what I found Many systems that run like slugs under Vista perform significantly noticeably better with Windows 7 Fairly recent Windows XP desktop systems when fed a little extra memory and a video card worthy of the name can handle Windows 7 quite well Old Windows XP laptops on the other hand don t do well with Windows 7 The primary culprit lack of oomph in the video department Almost any new system even one that s been discounted heavily runs Windows 7 very well Get the memory up to 1GB or more and install a better video card and you re done Let me tell you a story Last month I hopped down to my friendly local PC dealer looking for a dirt cheap PC to run Windows 7 I found a discontinued HP Pavilion dozens of them that the retailer had marked down to 225 Very basic
27. or COn Chapter 1 Finding and Installing the Hardware Vou Need In This Chapter Discovering what upgrades will improve your Windows 7 experience Making basic hardware upgrades Choosing a new monitor Troubleshooting new hardware installations f et s face facts You don t need all the fastest most expensive gadgets to get value out of your computer On the other hand equipment that fits your needs can help you do more and better work in less time You can spend a whole lot of money on toys and gewgaws that ultimately end up collecting dust You can spend a pittance on items that you ll use every day Unfortunately it s hard to tell in advance whether a specific fancy new WhipperSnapper II belongs to the former group or the latter This chapter reviews the common computer thingies now available to help you decide whether any of them would be valuable to you I take a special look at the hardware that s supposed to make Windows 7 work faster I ve had a great deal of luck in upgrading three or four year old Windows XP PCs to Windows 7 In many cases a little more memory goose it up to 1GB and a decent video card widely available for say 50 or less provide all the oomph necessary to get Windows 7 humming on hardware that s more than a little past its prime In subsequent chapters I take a specific look at hard drives and printers and multifunction devices you know copier scanner faxer coffee warmer f
28. ore it s used Prefetching doesn t help much if you don t have a lot of system memory The stuff that s prefetched has a nasty habit of turning stale and getting shuffled off to Buffalo er sent back to the hard drive thus negating any benefit of prefetching it Windows 7 lets you use a USB key drive as kind of a scratch pad for prefetching Rather than prefetch files from the hard drive and stick them in main memory before they re needed Windows 7 can retrieve the files and store them on a dedicated chunk of real estate on a key drive Because grabbing data from a key drive is about 10 or 20 times faster than pull ing it in off a rotating platter this ReadyBoost as it s called can make fetching work better ReadyBoost also works independently of SuperFetch as kind of a superfast cache The simple fact is that ReadyBoost doesn t help most PCs After playing with it a bit I ve come up with a simple rule of thumb If your computer has less than 512MB of memory and it would cost a fortune to add more memory use a 512MB or 1GB key drive for ReadyBoost Otherwise fuhgeddaboutit Getting more out of USB WY On Your Windows computer probably has two four or six USB ports but you can attach many more USB devices to it than that In theory you can attach 127 USB devices to one computer If you keep that many devices you prob ably have no space left to sit down To attach additional devices you need the USB equi
29. ower to keep going Flash memory is a special kind of computer memory that doesn t self destruct when the power goes out Technically a type of Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory EEPROM flash memory comes in many different kinds of packages If you spend any time using electronic cameras you probably know all about memory cards Secure Digital SD Compact Flash CF and Smart Media SM cards and if you ve been around Sony equipment you also know about memory sticks All of them rely on flash memory For us unrepentant computer types flash memory also comes in a little package frequently the size and shape of a pack of gum with a USB connector on the end You can call it a USB flash memory stick a key drive a USB drive a key chain drive people really use them as key chains I dunno my favorite key chain looks like Watto from Star Wars a pocket drive a pen drive a USB key or a USB stick that s what my cables do when they get old Figure 1 8 Your AutoRun options NG ot Figure 1 9 The entry marked Install or Run Program is bogus generated by Conficker Upgrading the Basic Stuff 791 Here s how hard it is to use a USB drive in Windows 7 1 Plug the USB drive into a USB slot If the USB drive you stick in a USB slot has an AutoRun autostarting program on it you see an AutoPlay notification like the one shown in Figure 1 8 AutoPlay KINGS
30. quire configuration or rewiring to deliver the signal properly If you re unsure whether to install something yourself ask the store which steps are involved If you decide to try it but the instructions confuse you or scare you when you read them don t be embarrassed to go back and ask for help I do Doing it yourself If you decide to install a device yourself the job is more likely to go smoothly if you observe these guidelines Don t just dive in read the instructions first Pay attention to any warnings they give Look for steps where you may have trouble Are any of the instructions unclear Does the procedure require any software or parts that appear to be missing Try to resolve these potential problems ahead of time Having said that I readily admit that I never install the software for a camera or a mobile phone I just use the built in Windows utilities in Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Media Player For my iPod I follow the advice in Book IV Chapter 2 and for other MP3 players I just use Windows Media Player Back up your system before you start It s unlikely that your attempt to install a new device will disturb your system if it fails but a backup is a good insurance policy in case something bad happens You need to back up your data files Windows 7 can create a system checkpoint and back up all the internal stuff Book VIII Chapter 1 lt ziS z277 S55 a sae s5 Zo m
31. s ones you don t have to push very far I like long throws Some prefer minimal tactile feedback when you push the key it doesn t push back I like lots of tactile feedback Most current keyboards have a row of function keys across the top I like mine on the left Everybody s different and the only way you re going to find a keyboard you like is to try dozens of them Expensive keyboards aren t necessarily better than cheap ones And big name keyboards aren t necessarily better than generics Heavy keyboards are better than light ones unless you re going to schlep your keyboard with you on your travels through Asia Heavy keyboards with rubber feet stay put Benj Edwards at PC World has an excellent review and slide show of the inner workings of the IBM Model M keyboard likely the best keyboard of all time at tinyurl com 6hj6e4 Upgrading the Basic Stuff 187 Which keyboard do I use An old Northgate OmniKey Ultra see Figure 1 5 which is surely the Sherman tank of the keyboard biz The beast weighs almost as much as a portable computer and it costs just under 200 You can t find new ones any more you have to buy them refurbished It s ugly it s retro and it s decidedly unhip But it keeps goin and goin It s available from northgate keyboard repair com one of the few places that sell the classics For the brave of heart eBay is full of good old clickity clack ancient AT IBM
32. self among the latter If you ever think about buying a Tablet PC specifically for its note taking capabilities try to borrow one for a day or two before you plunk down the cash You may find that the reality doesn t live up to the glitz Or you may find that you love it A touchpad is similar to a graphics tablet but you control it with your finger tip rather than a stylus Touchpads and belly buttons er pointer sticks are common on notebook computers You click by tapping the pad A touch pad is convenient for moving the pointer around the screen but because most people s fingers are less pointy than a stylus it s not useful for drawing or writing Touchpads usually are just a few inches long and wide and cost 20 to 50 whereas graphics tablets are larger and cost 100 or more All mice designed for Windows computers are compatible with Windows 7 Specialized devices such as graphics tablets may require special drivers make sure that the device you buy is Windows 7 compatible ASky Upgrading the Basic Stuff 189 Key drives and ReadyBoost Although Windows has been prefetching data going out to the hard drive and loading certain files that the system feels are likely to be needed since the days of Windows XP Vista brought a new capability to the table Windows 7 SuperFetch like the Vista version keeps track of the data and programs you com monly use on your machine and tries to load that data bef
33. ton again to turn the com puter back on If that doesn t work try pressing the button again and holding it in for several seconds If that doesn t work either pull the power cord out of the back of the computer wait a few seconds and then plug it in again If you re working with a laptop you may have to remove the battery Yes it happens ASky Rye On Installing New Hardware 197 As soon as the computer starts to come back to life press and hold down F Windows 7 displays a menu of special startup options you can choose Use the up arrow and down arrow keys to move the menu s highlight to the option Last Known Good Configuration Advanced and then press Enter 5 Finish the startup procedure as usual If this procedure restarts your computer successfully Windows 7 discards the new screwed up configuration and returns permanently to the last known good configuration Installing USB hardware Nine times out of ten when you install a new USB device in a Windows 7 computer that has all the latest fixes everything works easily The general procedure works this way 1 Read the manual Some hardware installs automatically Plug it in and it works Most hard ware needs a little help You have to put a CD in the CD drive shortly after you plug it in and let Windows pull the driver off the CD Some hardware though takes a little extra help and you have to run an instal lation program from the prod
34. uct s CD before you plug it in The only way to know for sure which approach works for the specific piece of hardware you bought is to read the furshlinger manual Look for the section with instructions on installing the hardware on a Windows 7 computer Failing that look for Vista support Follow the instructions After you read the manual and do what it says plug the USB device into any handy USB slot Windows realizes that you just installed a new USB device Most of the time Windows has a driver handy that will work and then installs it and notifies you that your new device is ready In some cases though it brings up the Found New Hardware Wizard Select the Yes This Time Only link to let Microsoft see whether it has a new driver for the hardware Follow the rest of the steps in the wizard and most times you ll end up with a functioning device If you can t make the device work check the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles for troubleshooting USB devices A good place to start the old Vista tips for solving problems with USB devices at tinyurl com 2vkuqv Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no sempiey ay Gulyjeysuy pue Guipul4 198 Installing New Hardware If you re extremely lucky and you re installing a newer piece of hardware you might have a gizmo that supports the Windows 7 standard known as Device Stage If that s the case pat yourself on the back rub your lucky rabbit s Using Device Stage foot it
35. valent of a power strip to turn one connector into several That device is a USB hub A USB hub has one USB connector to attach it to a computer and several connectors to attach it to devices Hubs most often have either four or seven device connectors If you run out of USB ports get a powered USB hub one that draws elec tricity from a wall plug like the one shown in Figure 1 7 That way you pro tect against power drains on your computer s motherboard If possible plug your USB hub into an uninterruptible power supply UPS so that a sudden loss of power doesn t cause a surge down the USB hub s power supply Book VIII Chapter 1 pean no siempiey ay urjjezsu pue Huipul4 790 Upgrading the Basic Stuff Figure 1 7 The Belkin In Desk USB Hub fits into the hole in your desk leaving room for cables ov R COn ASky Photo courtesy Belkin International You can plug one USB hub into another daisy chain them to attach more devices than a single hub can support You can string USB cable forever and a day but if you go much more than 16 feet 5 meters with a single cable you re stretching things thin If you daisy chain powered hubs you can probably get away with a total run of 80 feet 25 meters between the PC and the farthest out USB connected peripheral Understanding flash memory and USB key drives Regular computer memory random access memory RAM needs a constant supply of p
36. you choose a new video adapter consider these points Up E ASK w ar w oDY COn Upgrading the Basic Stuff 185 Superfast and superexpensive video cards don t do squat for most people Unless you re a fanatic gamer look for video cards in the 100 and under range If your monitor has a Digital Visual Interface get a video card with a DVI port It s worth paying extra Trust me For more on DVI check out the Eliminating the video card middleman section earlier in this chapter Buy a card with a good fan Video cards generate a lot of heat Dissipate dissipate dissipate Heat has become a major problem with video cards hot cards get reli ability problems The generated heat can swirl around inside your PC and mess up other components Some cards produce as much heat as the main computer chip on your motherboard Most Windows 7 class video cards come with a built in fan and heat sink which draws away heat from the processing unit and video memory and dumps it into your computer s main case If your computer is having heat problems random screen freezes for no apparent reason or spontaneous reboots for example consider buying a dual slot video card with an oversize fan that forces air from the case by way of openings in the second slot s mounting bracket If you re feeling handy you can also buy and install a video card cooler complete with its own heat sink fan and exhaust mou
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