Windows 7 Articles - How-To Geek

How to Change the Icon for a Certain File Type in Windows

In the Windows XP days, changing the icon for a specific file type—such as TXT or PNG—was easy. But since Windows 7, you’ve actually had to do some Registry hacking to make it happen. Here’s a great ...

Walter Glenn Jan 12th, 2017

How to Repair Windows Bootloader Problems (If Your Computer Won’t Start)

If your Windows PC is throwing an error message at you before it even begins to load Windows, it’s possible that the boot sector on your system partition is damaged, corrupted, or has missing files. Here’s how to ...

How to Temporarily Disable Your Keyboard with a Keyboard Shortcut in Windows

If you’ve got a pet or small child, you know that an unguarded keyboard can spell disaster—or more likely, spell “dhjkhskauhkwuahjsdkja,mnsd”. We’ve got a tool for locking and unlocking your keyb...

Walter Glenn Jan 10th, 2017

The Complete Guide to Creating Symbolic Links (aka Symlinks) on Windows

Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista all support symbolic links—also known as symlinks—that point to a file or folder on your system. You can create them using the Command Prompt or a third-party tool called Link Shell Ex...

How to Copy a Folder’s File List with a Right-Click

Say you have a folder full of files, and you want to save or print a list of those files. With a couple of quick Registry edits, you can add a right-click command for copying a folder’s contents to the clipboard....

Walter Glenn Jan 6th, 2017

How to Tweak ClearType in Windows for Better Screen Readability

ClearType is font-smoothing technology built into Windows to help make text more readable on LCD monitors. If your text is looking a little blurry, tweaking your ClearType settings can definitely help....

Matthew Guay Jan 5th, 2017

How to Display a Message During Windows Startup

If you use a company-owned PC, you may have seen a legal notice displayed before you sign in to Windows. Here’s how you can do the same thing on your own PC and display a message with any text you want....

Walter Glenn Jan 4th, 2017

How to Disable Access to the Windows Registry

Messing around in the Windows Registry can cause all kinds of problems if you’re not careful. If you share your PC with others, you can prevent less experienced users from accessing and editing the Registry....

Walter Glenn Dec 27th, 2016

How to Modify the Icon of an EXE File

Let’s face it: some apps have really ugly icons. Sure, you could always create a shortcut to your EXE file and then change the icon for the shortcut, but what fun would that be? Here’s how to change the icon for the EXE f...

Walter Glenn Dec 19th, 2016

How to Customize Folder Views with Windows’ Five Templates

If you’re particular about how Windows displays the contents of your folders, you can cut your customization time down considerably by taking advantage of File Explorer’s five built-in folder templates....

Walter Glenn Dec 13th, 2016

Disable the Irritating Sticky / Filter Keys Popup Dialogs

Have you ever been doing something, like playing a game, and had that obnoxious Sticky Keys dialog pop up? You answer No and it goes away… and then shows up again the next day. Here’s how to make it go away for go...

Lowell Heddings Dec 13th, 2016

How to Add a Defragment Option to the Right-Click Menu for a Drive in Windows

Modern versions of Windows defragment drives during regular maintenance schedules. But if you defragment manually—maybe you keep your PC turned off when not in use—you might appreciate a faster way to access the c...

Walter Glenn Dec 6th, 2016

How to Connect to a VPN in Windows

We’ve covered virtual private networks and when you might want to use them before. Connecting to a VPN is easy, as Windows and most other operating systems offer built-in VPN support.

How to Mount an ISO image in Windows 7, 8, and 10

On Windows 8 and 10, Windows finally offers a built-in way to mount ISO disc image files. If you’re using Windows 7, you’ll need a third-party tool.

Lowell Heddings Dec 6th, 2016

How to Add the Control Panel to Windows’ File Explorer

If you use the Control Panel a lot, you may find it helpful to add it right to the “This PC” section of Windows’ File Explorer window. Here’s how to do it.

Walter Glenn Dec 5th, 2016

How to Remove the “Send To” Menu from Windows’ Context Menu

If you’ve ever wondered whether you can remove the “Send To” submenu from the Windows context menu, it turns out you can. You just have to make a quick Registry edit.

Walter Glenn Dec 1st, 2016

How to Add Recycle Bin to Windows’ File Explorer

If you’re in and out of the Recycle Bin often, you might like to know that there is a way to add the Recycle Bin to the “This PC” view in File Explorer—and from there to your Quick Access section. Here...

Walter Glenn Dec 1st, 2016

How to Disable the Search History in Windows File Explorer

The search feature in Windows’ File Explorer saves recent searches by default to make it easier to search for the same terms again. However, if you don’t like this feature, you can turn it off....

Brian Burgess Nov 30th, 2016

What Is the Windows Page File, and Should You Disable It?

Windows uses a page file to store data that can’t be held by your computer’s random-access memory when it fills up. While you can tweak the page file settings, Windows can manage the page file fine on its own....

How to Recover Software Product Keys From Any Computer, Even a Broken One

Product keys are becoming less and less common these days, but if you have a piece of software on your computer—and can’t find its product key—this simple program can help you extract it....

How to Delete a User Account in Windows 7, 8, or 10

If you have a bunch of user accounts on your Windows PC that you don’t need anymore, it may be time to clean them out. Today we’ll take a look at how to delete a user account in Windows.

Lori Kaufman Nov 10th, 2016

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