Full Windows 7 Customization

[Cabalo]

i have enough resource to blow...... i7 930.... doesn't mater how much it sucks juice....

Who cares? Did it contribute with anything to this thread?

[Joecamelme]

I have programs that do most of this, but this seems to integrate them all into one program. Very cool!
I'll be checking this out. My only concern is possible registry errors. Either way, thanks for the link.

[anon]

I got a netbook with Windows 7 some days ago, and can't format the hard disk and install MicroXP on it yet, so after some testing I'd like to recommend two tweaking apps - Yamicsoft's Windows 7 Manager, and SMART 1.2a. The former is an all-in-one suit to tweak the OS, remove useless files, customize the way things appear, and so on. It's shareware, but that's not a problem for us.

The latter is a tiny service tweaker. It'll let you easily disable and re-enable services, and offers different presets you can try to turn useless ones off and gain some RAM. I used the advanced one, and despite all the warnings about not doing it if I wasn't familiar with all services, I haven't had any issues.

[Cabalo]

Why can't you format the HDD?
It was the first thing I did to mine. Ubuntu since then, happy as a puppy.

[anon]

Reasons that are beyond revelance. (I got it as part of some government plan, and reformatting will trigger the hardware-based theft deterrent, which disables the computer entirely as it starts itself before the BIOS even does...)

[Cabalo]

Reasons that are beyond revelance. (I got it as part of some government plan, and reformatting will trigger the hardware-based theft deterrent, which disables the computer entirely as it starts itself before the BIOS even does...)

It's the first time I ever heard about that.
No workarounds yet? As in flashing that chip or some modded bios ?

[anon]

The theft deterrent is supposed to be able to tell when people have tried to tamper with the chip, or at least so they say. If there's a modded BIOS to bypass the check, then I don't know about it yet, but they passworded the current one, so that may mean there are some interesting settings hidden there.

All I know is what I've posted, plus that certificates are somehow involved. For obvious reasons, they don't want to tell too much about the system. It does have a Windows app to control it, though - here's a screenie:


Anyway, it's not a big issue for me. In a couple of months, I'll be able to request a full unlock, and so gain the ability to do whatever I want with the machine.

[Cabalo]

I suppose a CMOS reset wouldn't clear the password and give you BIOS access?

[anon]

I've researched a bit, and CMOS resetting here is far from being as easy as in desktop PCs. You had to flash the EEPROM or something, and I don't want to risk losing the whole netbook for that. I couldn't get any CMOS password reader to work, either.