If you're running the
Windows 7 RC, chances are good that you're the kind of user that likes to monkey around with settings and tweak your OS. While you can go the DIY route and hack your registry and run your mouse ragged clicking through various control panel screens, there are a number of good, free apps available designed to simplify tweaking.
Pro tip: if you run one of these apps, use their built-in checkpoint creator before committing changes or create a system restore point yourself - just in case something goes awry.
Here are five - go ahead and add your picks in the comments if you don't see your favorite listed!
EnhanceMySe7en (pictured above) - One strike against EM7 is that you must install it. On the plus side, it's 32 and 64-bit (native). On the minus side, it uses 65Mb memory when running. On the plus side, it comes with a free frogurt!
Joking aside, EM7 is absolutely packed with options. Apart from tweaks covering every nook and cranny in Windows 7, the program also includes CCleaner-like registry and disk cleaning tools, a shortcut creator, fast access to many built-in Windows utilities, and much, much more. It's a beast.
Little Tweaker - Lightweight, portable, and focused on common adjustments, Little Tweaker is a good option for those of you who want an uncomplicated way to manipulate the context menu, disk space warnings, and the like. it failed to run on x64, telling me that I needed to have Windows 7 Ultimate installed (which I do).
Ultimate Windows Tweaker [
post] - It's impressive what the crew at WinVistaClub is able to cram into less than 200Kb. Ultimate was built for Vista, but it works just fine with Windows 7 as well. Loads of options cover everything from accounts and UAC to the taskbar and start menu and beyond. UWT is totally portable.
XDN Tweaker [
post] - This one falls somewhere in between Little Tweaker and Ultimate. It's a good choice for the average user - not quite the overwhelming number of choices of EM7 or Ultimate, but more than just basic interface tweaks. XDn is available as both a portable and installable app.
Windows 7 Manager - As the name implies, this one boasts non-tweaking features as well. System cleanup, privacy tools, process monitoring, an uninstaller, a duplicate file finder, and a handy repair center are all included. On the tweaking side, everything from UI customization to network and IE settings is easy to monkey with. This one's available in 32 and 64-bit flavors as an installer only.
TweakNow Power Pack 2009 - Like EM7, TweakNow is much more than a tweaking tool. It also sports registry cleaning and tuning tools, a disk usage analyzer, history cleaner, startup manager, and more. The interface is well-organized, and if you can't find a setting you want to tweak with PowerPack it might not exist.
TweakNow is install-only, but it's worth doing for the additional built-in utilities (if you need them, of course). One big gripe: once I heard my fan spin up to tornado speed, I called up task manager. 48% CPU use. Ouch!
Tags: freeware, osupdates, performance, registry, tweak, tweaker, tweaking, windows-7
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Comments
11
Subscribe to commentsCosminMay 29th 2009 12:33PM
I've tried EnhanceMySe7en (on Windows 7RC x64). it installs fine, searches for what ever you ask, but when its time to clean.. just hung. (had to kill the process).
XdN Tweaker is not as complex, but works well
superhoboMay 29th 2009 1:09PM
Pfft. Might as well have titled it "7 utilities for Windows noobs"
Lee MathewsMay 29th 2009 1:09PM
Right...Because clearly, no one except a person with zero experience wants a tweaking app. Like all the WinVistaClub users that run Ultimate...?
iGateMay 29th 2009 8:15PM
don't wory, Lee. just excuse his behavior, after all he is a "super-hobo"
superhoboMay 30th 2009 6:21AM
Gah, okay, it was a stupid comment.
AlbinoAsianDudeMay 30th 2009 9:51AM
hmm ... had a bit of problem with enhancemyse7en.
After applying a few tweaks "my computer" doesn't work properly.
1) The "my computer" link has dissapeared from the start meny
2) When I open my computer from the desktop I get no drives showing up
3) My computer has is no longer in the left pane of explorer (libraries and network etc are still there)
I made a system restore point before I made the changes,
then when I tried to restore it back, it says there were no points available ...
Thats wierd coz I've made 3 restore points over the last 3 days as I've been changin stuff
Any clues how to get it back?
gunslingerz7Jul 4th 2009 1:09AM
hey dude if u can uninstall tweek and reboot ur sys then reinstall tweek.if ur crashed totally when u reinstall ur os reinstall tweek too gunslingerz7@yahoo.com
HHUKMay 30th 2009 5:27PM
I've had the same problem as AlbinoAsianDude, most of the EnhanceMySe7en tweaks cause some kind of upset.
Plus it seems to freeze quite often, I'll be giving it a miss and using a more lightweight tool.
AlbinoAsianDudeMay 31st 2009 12:52AM
yes I would recommend people steer clear of EnhanceMySe7en it did more harm than good.
It made my shutdown button disappear, as well locked me from editing my start menu. And all other random changes.
Thankfully most of them were fixed by using XDN Tweaker or Ultimate Windows Tweaker. I had no problem with those two apps. Little Tweaker works great too.
There's still some things I haven't been able to fix because of EnhanceMySe7en like the "My computer" issue
volkanMay 31st 2009 6:01PM
What's with the link to the youtube video for Little Tweaker? Grape Lady Fails? Was that intentional?
VoiDJul 5th 2009 10:54AM
there are 6 tweakers (not 7) :)