Since getting the OS about a month ago I have been messing with it and I am seeing some truly awesome results. The OS as a whole is really solid and even though it has issues there are rather easy workarounds, and multiple workarounds to a lot of issues.
If any of you want to improve your overall performance of Windows 7 check this link and the related articles to the OS:
http://www.askvg.com/master-tutorial-to-make-your-windows-7-super-fast/

If you want an Activator for a copy of Windows 7 to "legitimize it" allowing you to run updates and other stuff this one is recommended:
https://isohunt.com/torrent_details/154878157/windows+7?tab=summary

If there's any tricks anyone has or anything of the sort by all means post em!

God Mode, great for anyone who doesn't like navigating over Narraxx's thighs to get to that far reaching and buried Bitlocker.

Side note, whatever resolution your monitors maximum is, take whatever picture you want if it's not already that resolution and copy it into Paint. Then click on resize and then click pixels. Type in the proper resolution appropriate to yours and then save as backgroundDefault.png and put it in the Backgrounds folder the dude in the video described.

More importantly is the fact that if you have updates turned on it will turn this off on restart, so to turn it back on open Notepad and drop this text inside it and put it somewhere you want, and save it as Background.reg so you can double click it, thus enabling it coming back in. By the way, you can just do this text instead of wading through regedit.exe lol.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background]
"OEMBackground"=dword:00000001

Side note as well, if you're running 64 bit Windows 7 do NOT, DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT download graphics drivers outside of Windows Updates! It shaves off a percentage of your RAM, piece of shit. I learned this the hard way. Stick with updating drivers through the Windows Updates.

ATI? Nvidia?

For me it was Nvidia but besides that there's some murky water in this area so to speak. Motherboards can cause a loss in RAM, and if that's the case you have to go into BIOS and Memory Remap it back to it's right amount. Or reformat. Or reinstall. Or some other bullshit that I was lucky enough to not deal with.
Regardless this hasn't been addressed completely from what I can tell and so it's just safe to stay the fuck away from cross updates. Also, don't fuck with Maximum Memory in BOOT Advanced Options unless you got the RAM to spare and want to increase your startup speed.
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/59743-ram-issue.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/2902-4gb-ram-installed-only-showing-3gb.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/11295-memory-hole-remapping-problems.html

Yeah for some reason Win 7 64-bit does not like my video driver: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2... windows update has nothing for it and I've tried ATI's site and still no good.

What's the problem?

I just get an error that it stops working properly which is strange because it's not like it caused my comp to freeze or crash.

From the way it looks it's either a compatibility issue with the game not supporting Crossfire or Windows 7 not supporting Catalyst. There is the option of dual booting, or moving to Vista or XP if that is the case. Or wait I guess.


This MAY help you since you obviously know more about the issue than me
http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/7875-ati-9250-pci-video-card-problem.html

Hope something here helps man!

I'm not sure when you last checked but a new driver (10.2) came out on the 17th of February so I would try first to install the latest driver if you have not already.

If not follow these steps.

1) Install driver without the CCC.

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=win7/windows-7-64bit

2) If that doesn't work, manually install the driver by opening 10-2_vista64_win7_64_dd.exe which can be downloaded from ATI's website aka first step. WIth 7-Zip, the file should open as an archive. Browse to 10-2_vista64_win7_64_dd.exe\$_OUTDIR\Packages\Drivers\Display\ and copy the W76A_INF folder out. From here just do this: Start > Right click Computer > Manage > Device Manager > Display Adapters > Right click Video Card > Update driver Software > Browse my computer for driver software > Let me pick from (etc) > Have Disk (make sure "Show compatible hardware" is checked) > Browse to the location of W76A_INF (prior step) and then choose the .Inf file and it should populate in the Update Driver Software listing, click Next and follow prompts to install the driver.

Hope this works. If not, downgrade to XP/Vista?

XD

Is it bad that this seems to solve every fucking one of Microsoft's problems?

Edit: I love my XP Professional, and I'm not upgrading until they get it right.

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing workarounds and tricks and what have you because I have improved my own understanding of the Windows OS as a whole this past month. On top of that with all the fine tuning I have provided here I have improved my performance of my computer at least 10% but realistically closer to 20%.

Believe me or not. I wouldn't be posting all these in more than just the TMDG forums if I didn't see CLEAR results.

Thanks didn't know they came out with a new driver so hopefully it'll solve the problem

Win7 is superior. Take it from someone who has been managing small-to-medium sized business Windows environments, for pay, since he was 9.



What tool are you measuring those gains with? There are a lot out there, wondering what your poison is.

Mark Vantage 06, I would post the numbers but it wasn't the exact one I was looking for (Wtb Jane Nash/Calico) and I uninstalled once I was done. Also, I took the switching services to manual part of the fine tuning a bit further. I googled alot of the services, and switched alot that I will never need.

On top of that the Nvidia driver thing that was withholding almost 1Gb RAM from me dropped the Windows Experience Index rating for RAM from 7.1 to 5.5. After fixing it the rating returned upon re-evaluating it.

Windows pop up so fast I almost want to set Superfetch on Manual to get a little more RAM freed up at the cost of what, like .1 ms of response time?

My feelings exactly. Shit just opens. Meanwhile on XP, Firefox takes a couple of seconds.

Yeah now it's the internet that holds me back in terms of speed now. Funny cuz for the last 3 years it was my shitty computer.
THIS IS ALL SO NEW I FEEL LIKE A VIRGIN!

Also this made me lol

I called it before even nVidia knew wtf their drivers were doing.

I love win7 but goddammit WHY WON'T YOU WORK STALKER????