Windows 7 System Maintenance Tool

Windows 7 System Maintenance Tool *Updated*

With Windows 7 Microsoft introduces a system maintenance tool. You are curious what it is doing, right?

It checks for:
- Broken shortcuts
- Unused desktop icons
Update:
- Troubleshooting history / Error reports taking up disk space
- System Timecorrection
- Disk Volume errors

And also collects system information:

Random Info: I took both screens with the new Windows 7 snipping tool, which will increase your productivity a lot. What I don’t like about it is the red border and it saves the file extension in uppercase-letters if you do not type them in.

Anyway, I think Microsoft should deliver all the tools we know from TuneUpUtilites. I do not want to buy additional software to do all the tweaks that are hidden in the registry.

They should include:

- Optimize performance / disable certain graphic elements

- Registry cleaner

- Cookie / Temp cleaner

- Clear History / Favorites / etc

- Advanced Defrag

What else would you like in there  if you could change the system maintenance tool ?

Update:

This is the latest system maintenance tool:

AVG

AVG Windows 7 Resident Shield *Fix*

This is a description how to fix the AVG (a very common security tool) resident shield when it’s disabled, inactive or not loaded.

Security is a hot topic. Windows 7 greatly reduced the UAC warnings, because beginners were completely clueless what to do about those “annoying” warnings. Because some paranoia is good when it comes to security, you should be aware of the best security tools for Windows 7 and how to run them properly.

AVG Resident Shield Disabled, Inactive or Not Loaded Error

The “AVG Internet Security Suite” includes a great security tool for Windows 7, the so called resident shield. Many people reported problems that they can’t activate this feature properly. In order to fix this “bug”, simply follow my instructions:

1. Go to “Tools” – “Advanced Settings”
2. Uncollapse “Resident Shield”
3. Uncheck “Enable Resident Shield”

4. Click on “Apply”.
5. Check “Enable Resident Shield”
6. Click on “Apply again”.
7. Now you should be able to enable it again. Simply go to the “AVG Security Overview” and double-click on “Resident Shield”

8. Enable the Shield:

Windows 7 Firewall

Actually it was quite a challenge to find a good Windows 7 firewall.
Most firewalls (ZoneAlarm, Agnitum Outpost) do not work yet and others (Comodo, ESET) are not working properly in Windows 7.

First I tried the ESET firewall which is currently in beta stage. Unfortunately this beta does not work at all. It seems to be a very professional firewall with lots of features and a very intuitive interface that looks good. On my PC it would automatically block the internet traffic after a while and wouldn’t let me browse any site at all.
However this is going to be a nice firewall in the future, therefore this firewall get 7/10 points.

Download beta here: http://beta.eset.com/

After that I tried to install Kaspersky and ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm won’t install at all (yet).
Kaspersky has a Technical Preview Firewall for Windows 7 which you can downloadhere.
But it will only let you install the firewall if you deinstall any other AntiVirus first.
Of course it makes sense to only install one antivirus to avoid conflicts, but I wouldn’t want to miss the best AntiVirus from Avira: www.avira.com

AVG – a security suite

I did not know AVG before, but it is really one of the best security packages out there.

What will you get?

• AntiVirus
• Anti Spyware
• Anti Spam
• Firewall
• Anti Rootkit
• E-Mail Scanner
• Link Scanner (scans links before you even visit them, hot!!)
• Web Shield
• etc.

The firewall works very similar to ZoneAlarm and is asking for your permission if an unknown application tries to establish a connection.

You know what’s funny? mIRC was the first application that the  built-inWindows firewall tried to block as well. As far as I heard there shouldn’t be a problem running the Windows Firewall and another 3rdparty firewall simultaneously. However you should never run two 3rd party firewalls at the same time.

Speed Up Windows 7 Taskbar

Speed Up Windows 7 Taskbar

I found a great Windows 7 tweak that allows you to speed up the Windows 7 taskbar. By default the taskbar menus have a delay of 0.4 ms. You can reduce this delay to zero and speed up your taskbar access.

This is a simple tweak, but I thought it’s well worth it.

The Start menu will appear instantly without any delay (default delay is 0.4 seconds). The same goes for any other menu on the taskbar, including the jumplists! So basically, you speed up the Windows 7 jumplist, the Start menu and aQuicklaunch menu that you might have added to your taskbar.

1. Open up the registry:

2. Uncollapse [HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop]

3. Double-click on the entry “MenuShowDely” and change the value from “400″ to “0″: