Whether you've just bought a new PC, upgraded to Windows 7, or reinstalled your OS, a just-installed system is a great opportunity to make some helpful changes and fixes. Here are the things we recommend anyone tackle on a minty fresh Windows.
We've previously rounded up the bulk of our Windows 7 advice, from first installation to fine detail tweaking, in our complete guide to Windows 7, as well as packaged our favorite little utilities and customization apps in a list of 10 booster apps. This guide, in contrast, doesn't include many downloads, and focuses on what one can do to fix up their system from the get-go, no separate app required.
Unlike its predecessors, Windows 7 offers a lot of non-hacker-ish ways in which you can change the entire look of your desktop, not just the wallpaper. We took an early tour of Windows 7's many free and legit themes, and noted that Microsoft checks in occasionally to provide more themes at its site. If you'd like to keep your wallpaper fresh, but don't want to hunt down the widescreen-friendly pics yourself, set up Bing's backgrounds as a auto-rotating wallpaper feed. (Original posts: more themes, Bing backgrounds)