Welcome to the Complete Guide to Windows 7: Beta. This will take a look at a vast amount of features in Windows 7: Beta, now referred to as simply Windows 7. (This is a guide from Chacha102 at http://chacha102.com.)
Getting Started
Well, now you think you are pretty handy? You were able to install Windows 7 on your computer before anyone else, and get it working. You got to see the cool new Windows Start Up Logo, and the pretty nice login screen. Now you are sitting in front of a screen of a pretty blue fish, wondering what to do. You must have heard of my awesome guide and have decided to visit http://chacha102.com to check it out. Well, I’m here to tell you everything you need to know. So sit back, relax, and read The Complete Guide to Windows 7: Beta.
Taskbar
Where better to start, than the thing that gets you started? Windows has greatly improved the new Windows Taskbar to be more functional and pretty than both XP and Vista.
Pinned Taskbar Items
Right next to the Start Menu are Pinned Taskbar Programs. These are programs that you have decided to pin to your taskbar. When the programs aren’t running, they are shown as the icon.
But when you run the applications, the icon expands with the item replacing the single icon, and other windows using the same application are grouped with it.
Each item is transparent while not activated, and is glossy after being opened. Hovering over an item gives off a glow that is the color most prominent in the icon. The Chrome icon for example gives off a yellow glow, while Firefox gives off a orange glow.
Of course, you can re-arrange items on the taskbar, but only in groups. All the windows of a single application will move together.
Dialog Buttons
Given all this nice aesthetically pleasing interface, I did say that the taskbar is more functional. Every item on the taskbar when right clicked on gives a dialog menu that you can either choose between going to the actual program, pinning/unpinning the item from the taskbar, or closing the program. It also provides the ability for developers to offer their own menu options in the menu, making it easy to do actions with an application, without having it open.
The Preview
You can preview what a window looks like in a little box that pops up over the taskbar by hovering over a menu item. If this application has other windows running, all of the windows will show up in the preview box. What is cool though is that you can hover over each of the windows in the preview box, and everything else on your screens will fade out, revealing only that specific window.
You can also easily close the windows through this preview mode.
Start Menu
The next obvious place to go to is the Start Menu. Graced with the same great search menu, items are easily found. Just like with the Dialog buttons on the taskbar, if you highlight over an item, the side of the menu will give you actions that you can take.
Desktop Search
You can now search your entire computer with ease through the Start Menu search bar. One cool thing that Ed Bott noted in a ZDNet article, is that if you couldn’t find what you were looking for in Vista, you have to click the ‘Search Everywhere” button, and be given links to everywhere. Now with the new search menu, if the document is found in your ‘Music’ library, or your ‘Pictures’, or even, as in his picture, your ‘Microsoft Office One Note’ directory, you can simply click on the heading and it will take you to search results limited to just that area.
Shutdown Button
The Shutdown button you can see in this picture, says simply ‘Shut down’. And guess what? That is exactly what it does. You aren’t prompted, you can simply press that button and your computer begins shutting down. If you want to: Switch User, Log off, Lock, Restart, or Sleep, you simply press the arrow next to the button, and a nice menu shows up. You can configure the main button to be any of the operations through various menus that I will outline in my configuration section.
Explorer
The most important program probably running on any system is the ability to find your files. Microsoft has really made a nice way to browse your file, and is a big upgrade from XP.
The Sections
The first thing you will notice when you open up your computer is that on the sidebar, there are not mobs of folders like in Windows XP. Instead, each set of items is listed under one of four categories: Favorites, Libraries, Computer, and Network. I will mainly be covering Favorites, Libraries, and Computer.
Libraries
The Libraries that you are given in Windows 7 are : Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. Each library separates the top directory into sections. Lets say I have 3 photo galleries, E:Pictures, F:homemefamilypictures, and J:mynewfolderwithsomepictures. You can add each of these locations to a library, and they will show up as their own individual section. I can better describe this with a picture. So here’s one.
One of the best things behind this is now, you don’t have to have all of your folders in one place. I can simply set up a library that goes to location X, Y, and Z. I still get all of my files in the same place, but if all of those folders are still in whatever structure you decide to lay out.
You can also expand libraries to see the folders inside of them.
Any folder can be added to a library simply by right-clicking the folder, and pressing ‘Include this in Library > (Select Library Name from Dropdown).
Favorites
Just like in your browser, you have favorite places you want to go to. Now, Windows makes all of these locations readily available on your side bar. Anytime you are open in a location you’d like to save, simply go over to the Favorites heading and click ‘Add Location in Browser to Favorites’. As the button suggests, it will add your browser’s current location to the list.
Computer
The computer section simply lists all of your hard drives, devices, and allows you easily to get to managing your devices and other things like that. I’m not going to delve deeply into this, because it is mostly self-explanatory.
Sharing
What was before a daunting task, is now a click and a wizard away. You can easily click ‘Share with” on the top of any folder, and either select ‘Nobody’, ‘Share with (Network Group Here)(Read Only)’, or ‘Share with (Network Group Here)(Read and Write)’. Not only can you easily share this with your Network, you can share it with anyone else on the computer using the ‘Specific People’ option. There you can share it with everyone on the computer, specific person, so on.
This action for some reason takes an administrator password. It also takes a few minutes for it to completely share, especially when I’m sharing most of my hard drive with a drone user on my computer.
Because Burning kind of fits under ‘Sharing’, you can also easily burn something by simply clicking burn at the top.
Organization or View
Because the Tech Industry has more people with OCD than anyone else(from what I heard), there are more ways to sort your files than you can shake a stick at. Lets list the methods. You can change how you view the icons, you can Sort, Group, and Stack by Name, Date Modified, Size, and Type.
Sorting is the same as in other version of Windows. Grouping will give you the same affect as libraries, putting each set of data into its own little section based on what you choose. When sorting by name, it is broken into (0-9), (A-H) (I-P), (Q-Z).
Stacking puts things that fit criteria, like (0-9), (A-H), into individual imaginary folders. If you mess around with it, at least in the beta, you will come out with no files at all shown, and you have to sort, group, or stack them by a setting that works.
Other ‘View’ Topics.
By going to ‘Organize’ in the top, and going to layout, you can change what parts of the page are shown. The bottom is details, left is navigation, top is gallery, and side is details pane. You also can turn on the Menu bar with familiar things like File, Edit, View, etc.
Personalization
So now you know the basics of your operating system. You can navigate your files, and your open windows, your start menu, and now you really … really… hate that fish. You know, the one that is the default background. Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of that soon.
Getting Started
This will be the shortest section in my guide. Right click on the Desktop. Choose Personalize.
Choosing a Theme
Microsoft updated the old ‘Theme’ idea from Window XP, and made it the focus of visuals and sounds. You can now choose from a gallery of preconfigured theme, or create your own. Because we have all seen Microsofts choice in style, via the Windows Update site, back from XP, I think we can all say it is better to configure your own theme. Besides, I tried them all out, and you can do MUCH better.
If you really want to try one, simply click on one, and suddenly your computer will change. Joy.
Background
To change you desktop’s background, simply click on ‘Desktop Background’, choose the folder in which you want to get pictures from. And checkmark the ones you want. Then, select whether you want to Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, or Center your background, and if you selected multiple, you must select how often they change, and whether or not to shuffle them.
Fit will take your background, and shrink it to find the screen, while leaving your background color (chosen on the bottom of the screen, default black) will fill what it doesn’t. Fill will make your picture larger, so that it fills the screen. Both options only fill/fit the biggest screen (as I’ve seen), so smaller screens on setups with multiple displays will have some of the picture cut off.
Select Save Changes
Window Color
Your Window Color will control what is the tint of all your Aero glass borders. Go through them, find which one you like most. You can choose how intense it is, remove transparency completely, select custom colors, or go to the ‘Advanced appearance settings’ which is the same as ‘Appearance’ in XP.
Select Save Changes
Sounds
This one opens up the same Sounds menu all of you are familiar with coming from XP. Nothing has changed, nothing.
Screensaver
Windows 7 has a bunch of new screensavers, but the window is, say it with me: Just like XP.
Saving and Recalling
All of these themes can be saved into the ‘Installed Theme’s’ section, by clicking ‘Save Theme’ and giving it a name. All of these will change with selecting a new theme. And you can get more online.
Screen Resolution
Right Click > Screen Resolution. It is that easy. I think that button could better be used for something more frequently changed, but it is still that easy. Windows 7 does many of the actions like screen resolution and multiple screen detection natively, without needing a driver. You can choose all the basics, and you can also increase text and other objects’ size to make it easier to read.
On screen there is a link to your graphics card manager under ‘Advanced Settings’, and it is as simple as clicking OK.
Gadgets
Just like Vista, we have gadgets. Right Click > Gadgets, and drag them onto the screen. There you can drag them around by clicking the little box on the side, as well as close them, choose settings, etc. You can also get more gadgets online.
Parental Controls
Now I will proceed to limit myself. Why would I do so? To tell you about the Parental Controls. While I personally am very touchy on the subject on what should be limited for anyone over 10, I said I would write a “Complete” Guide to Windows 7, not a Complete Guide to Windows 7 without Parental Controls.
Getting Started
So, you have nasty little kids running around, looking up porn, staying up till 2am in the morning, and Skyping everyone in the world during dinner time. Maybe not all of those apply, but something has happened that you want to limit your child’s, guest’s, dare I say it, spouse’s ability to use the computer. Well, never fear, because Windows 7 is here!
To Start using Parental Controls, simply go to the User Accounts and Family Safety Tab in your Control Panel. Click on the “Set up parental controls for any user”, and type in your administrator password.
Now you can completely safeguard and destroy every single users view of how computing should work. (I said I would write a complete guide, not that I would be unbiased)
First off, there are some rules. Web Filtering and Activity Reporting requires additional controls. Why? It says so in a yellow box with a triangle housing an exclamation point. Also, you cannot put Parental Controls on a Computer Administrator, only a limited account.
Now lets get back to embracing your inner dictator….
Home Page
On the first page, you will see several helpful links that tell you what you can do with Parental Controls, and How to enable additional controls, and things like that. But the important part is the list of users you will see. Here is a shot:
You can see, I have 3 users. Chacha102, that is the one I am currently on. Then we have Chacha102-2, which is a Standard User. He will be the one we are limiting. Chacha102-3 was the administrator account I created to test if you can place Parental Controls on an administrator.
Set Up
The first thing you have to do is enable Parental Controls. This is a little radio button saying on or off, and it allows a quick switch if you need full access on that account. Once that it done, you have three options: Time Limits, Games, and Allow and block specific programs. You can quickly see what is on or off on the side under Current settings.
Time Limits
To set time limits, Windows 7 gives you a nice little graph that you highlight what hours of the day you want to block or allow. If you were like the dad on the commercial and wanted to stop your children from playing at 2am, and just for the heck of it, lets make it only school days and not after 11pm, your graph would look like this:
As you can see, the Hours go along the top, and the days go along the bottom. Although, this can get confusing because 11pm on Friday is marked, and Saturday 12am isn’t, so you have to realize exactly what you are saying to the computer, or your kids could just wait until midnight on Saturday to get on.
Just hit OK, and now the account will be blocked whenever you chose.
Games
Once you load up Game Controls, you can either select to block through rating, or through specific games.
Windows 7 provides a very wide variety of options to choose whether certain games can be played. First off, you choose what happens if a game has no rating, should be user be allowed to play it. Next, it gives you a set of the ESRB Ratings for Games: Early Childhood, Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, and Adults only, all with their descriptions. You can choose what level the user is able to play. If you choose Teen as your level, Everyone 10+, Everyone, and Early Childhood will all be included.
You can also block on 76 different types of content including Alcohol Reference, Crude Humor, Mature humor, and many more. Just a question? Why would you buy your child a game that you’ve blocked on the computer? Please tweet me with that one.
But, just like Time limits, Hit OK and now the account will be restricted on the types of games.
If you selected ‘Block via Specific Games’, you will come to the Game Overrides panel. Here you see a big table of games that Windows 7 found, along with there status (if they can be played or not), and the option to use the User Rating Setting, to Always Allow, or to Always Block. It is pretty straight forward, but if Windows 7 doesn’t detect something as a game, yet it is, there is no stopping what is allowed content wise.
Say it with me: Hit OK and now the account will be restricted on specific games.
Allow and block specific programs
Click on the link, and select your default. Either the user can use all program, or the user can, reversely, use only the ones you allow. If you keep it at the user can use all programs, nothing will happen. If Microsoft were smart, they would allow you to block certain games here, but remember, we are dealing with a giant company that has some of the greatest minds out there. You wouldn’t except them to think of something this menial now would you?
Once you select that the user can only use the programs you decide, you are given a box with all the programs on your system. Unfortunately, it also gives you ALL of their .exe’s. So you end up having a giant program that has mixed up characters and weird names. Oh, and did I mention? It is long.
So, to make this world easier for you, Microsoft has given you a Check all or Uncheck all button. If you want to only block something, hit Check All, and uncheck the forbidden program, or in reverse, if you want to only allow a few, Uncheck All, and check the program.
Control Panel
Possibly the biggest section in the entire Guide, but here we will go through the entire Control Panel, through all the different things you can configure. I will omit anything that was already covered above, because you can find Screen Resolution and other things inside the control panel.
Getting Started
So, you just got Windows 7, and now you want to configure the heck out of it. Where better to start than the Control Panel. First off, I advise you to be running as an Administrator, or be ready to type in your Administrator Password many times, because a lot of the control are blocked by the UAC. 
If you see this icon, it means that you must have a Admin Password, or be running on Administrator, in order to continue. So, to get started, simply go to the Start Menu> Control.
I am simply going to run down the list, System and Security, Network and Internet, Hardware and Sound, Programs, User Accounts and Family Safety, Appearance and Personalization, Clock Language and Region, Ease of Access. 
System and Security
The first heading on the control panel is about System and Security. Behind it are many things.
Action Center
The Action Center is what used to the annoying pop-up telling you that you didn’t have a Firewall, or a Virus Protection. Well, it still does that. Under ‘Review your computer’s status and resolve issues’, you can troubleshoot problems, do a system restore, and make sure you have Virus protection, Firewall, and Updates enabled. Most of this is self explanatory. The Troubleshoot lets you run various wizards and go to configuring areas in order to solve your computer’s problem.
The ‘Change User Account Controls’ is the heart of the UAC. It will configure when you will be notified by the UAC. (Ironically, it is protected by the UAC as well.) There are 4 different options, ranging from always notify, to never notify.
Under the ‘Find and Fix Problems’ you can select a wizard that fits your problem’s description, and Windows 7 will try to fix it. Just be careful in not doing anything dangerous. It could mess up your system.
The ‘Restore your computer to an earlier time’ section is System Restore, we have all seen it, been through it, and it is in Windows 7. It will not restore files, and other personal data. It will simply restore the operating system itself to a certain time. If you have malware and you do this, make sure that the malware file gets deleted immediately after. 
Windows Firewall
You can configure your Windows Firewall here. You can turn on/off your private and public network settings. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it is there if you need it. You can also change the notifications, like notifying you when Windows Firewall blocks a program from accessing the internet.
Further more, you can select ‘Advanced Settings’ on the side, once on the main Windows Firewall page, and you can further configure your firewall more closely to your needs. Mostly this means that you can configure it on a, per program/process/connection basis.
System
The system heading provides you all the knowledge about your hardware, as well as lets you change the name of your computer, allow remote access, and see you ‘Windows Experience Index base score’. Your Windows Experience Index base score is a score based on how you computer performs with Windows. I have a 5.2. It checks it on things like your processor, memory, graphics, gaming graphics, and primary hard disk transfer rate.
You can also find the Device Manager through here, as well as System Protection, which is suppose to make back up copies of revisions of your files. Not just your system files, your content. I haven’t tried this out, but now I think I should.
Windows Update
Windows Update is the thing that keeps you computer up and lively with the rest of the world, and away from nasty viruses. Here you can check for updates, install those updates, configure when you will install updates, etc. Unlike XP, the Windows Update doesn’t forward you to IE, making the number of times per month you use IE drop from 1 (to update) to 0.
Power Options
Windows 7 allows you to configure when your computer turns off the display, and when the hard drive sleeps. That is about it. Unless you go into the Advanced Power Options, where you can change everything for USB settings, Power Buttons, and various other features. I won’t delve into them, but they allow you 2 presets: High Performance, and Power Saver. These, like the names suggest, give you either High Performance, or Power Saving abilities. I’m not that interested… But, you can make your own Power Plan, and such.
Backup and Restore
Self-Explanatory. You can set up your Windows Backup, Create an image backup, create a system recovery disk, everything you would expect.
BitLocker Drive Encryption
If you know vista, you know this feature. And it is really simple. There is simply a On/Off switch for each of your drives. That’s it. It will encrypt your drives so they can only be read when you enter your Windows Password in your Login. (If you have anything worth stealing)
Device Manager
We already went over this, but I will make it simple. Device Manager allows you to upgrade drivers on the devices connected to your computer. It is like all the other versions of Device Manager. Windows comes with a large amount of preinstalled drivers for hardware, making it very easy to install and get running.
Administrative Tools
The name makes it sound so .. important. It should just be maintenance. You can schedule tasks, view event logs, create and format hard disk partitions, defrag, and ‘Free Up Disk Space’, which is the same Clean Up tool offered in every version of Windows. Nothing to see here.
Feedback
Because every single window has Feedback with it, I might as well add it here. You can send Feedback to Microsoft in the Beta Version. It is a Wizard, that lets you send a message to Microsoft. I don’t use it. (I’m a bad person)
Network and Internet
How do you connect to the world? Well, this basically defines it for you. Here is housed your methods for sharing and collaborating with people on the internet, or simply hording porn onto your computer. Whatever the outcome, it is all here under ‘Network and Sharing Center’, ‘HomeGroup’, and ‘Internet Options’
Network and Sharing Center
In order to connect to the internet, you have to connect to a Network. Here you can get set up with all of the options you require in order to connect to the internet. You can connect to a network, set up a new network and chance adapter settings.
HomeGroup
I guess Microsoft has decided that Homegroup needed another capital letter. HomeGroup is the same idea as your other groups. It can only be accessed if you tell you computer that the network you are connected to is at ‘Home’, which I guess is really important. Join a group and start sharing folders. You can share you ‘Pictures, Music, Videos, Documents, and Printers’ directly from the Control Panel, and share additional items through your explorer.
There are a few more options like setting the Homegroup password and such, which I am not going to delve into.
Internet Options
Say it with me: It is the same as XP, and other versions of Windows. I won’t go into it.
Hardware and Sound
The things that make your computer work. It is a glorious thing to have Hardware and Sound. Here is where you adjust them. Just a quick note, any sections covered in above sections will mysteriously be left out of this, and/or future sections.
Device and Printers
Here is the place where all of your devices come together. You can add devices, add printers, set their settings, all that great stuff. But, that is about it. Sorry to disappoint.
AutoPlay
When you pop in that USB drive, and that window pops up asking what you want to do, it is because of AutoPlay. If you hate that window, here you can set what they do automatically, or to not do anything. It is similar to earlier versions of Windows.
Sound
Accessible both through the system tray, and the control panel, you can adjust your system volume, system sounds, and manage your audio device. Windows has many drivers already natively installed, that way you deal with the Windows Software instead of 3rd Party Programs in order to get your things adjusted.
Windows 7 has a really great feature that allows you to control the sound of different programs, as well as the Windows Sounds themselves. This is really cool, especially if you want to turn off sound coming from annoying ads in a browser.
Display
I shouldn’t be including this, but just making a note that the display section is just like the Screen Resolution section.
Programs
What runs on top of your hardware? Your software of course! In order to manage your software, you go to the Programs section of the control panel.
Programs and Features
Here you can uninstall or change a program, just like old version of Windows. You can also control Windows Features. Ironically, the most used section of the Control Panel will be one of the shortest sections in this guide.
Default Programs
Here is the simple way to associate certain file types with programs. Unlike older versions of Windows, it is now fairly easy to click on ‘Set your default program’, and associate a specific file type with a program. You can also set a program’s access to certain areas of the computer. The only drawback is that it specifically says that the only way the program will actually respect your decision is if the program checks whether you have allowed access or not. Nope folks, no fancy blocking strategies here.
User Accounts and Family Safety
You want everyone to be happy and healthy, and here you can achieve, or prevent that. Here in lies the tools to make someone’s computer experience as happy or annoying as possible. No wait, that was just Parental Controls. Here in lies the tools to set up accounts and make sure everything is running smoothly.
User Accounts
Possibly the most important side to Windows, is being able to actually log into an account. Otherwise there is really no point. Well, here you can create, remove, and change everything you wish. It is very similar to the old ways of making accounts, so once again, will not delve into it much.
Windows CardSpace and Credential Manager
Both of these features I don’t completely get. They have something to do with managing your online/offline credentials. But, they work weird for me. Maybe someone else will get them.
Appearance and Personalization
Otherwise known as the things I have already gone over. If you really want to know what is in here, It is the Personalize menu button from the Desktop, the Screen Resolution menu button from the desktop, the Gadgets menu button from the desktop, the Folder Options found in the explorer, and fonts. Next.
Clock, Language, and Region
All the things you have had before in Windows have suddenly disappeared, no wait .. they reappeared, the same, as the time before. If you find something new, tell me. If not, keep reading.
Ease of Access
Now for everyone who needs special ways to access Windows, you get your own section in the control panel. It includes visual display settings and speech recognition. Interesting, but not right now.
Epilogue
And now I sit with you, hands hurting, and out of tea. So, I say to you, go download Windows 7, and tell me what I missed. Either comment, or send me an email at chacha@chacha102.com.