Setting up Windows Desktop - Part 2: Configuration

A clean installation Windows in its factory-fresh state is broken. In this article we will fix a few things.
Prevent self-waking from Sleep/Hibernate
In the default configuration, Windows will wake the computer from sleep and hibernate on any network activity.

Right click on your “My Computer” then select Properties.

Click Device Manager on the left side of the Properties window.

Check your Network card on the Network Adapters (Click on the + sign to expand).

Right click on your network card and select properties.

Go to the Power Management tab and either:

• Untick the option to prevent your network card from waking up your Windows.  -OR -
• Tick the option to “Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer”.

Credit and more details about sleep management: http://www.cravingtech.com/fix-windows-vista7-sleep-mode-from-waking-up-by-itself.html
Tech Details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee617165%28WS.10%29.aspx

Start –> Folder Options –> View:

• CHECK Hidden files and folders: Show hidden file, folders, and drives
• UNcheck Hide extensions for known file types  
• CHECK Restore previous folder windows at logon
• CHECK Show drive letters
• CHECK Launch folder windows in a separate process

(I’d like to show System files as well, but Windows has a bunch of bogus Junctions (NetHood, Application Data, etc) that exist for compatibility with broken legacy software, and they really clutter up the Explorer.)
Hide non-Windows partitions
If you have an hard disk partition with ext (Linux) or HFS (Mac) format, Windows will map the partition to a drive letter automatically, and continually offer to format the partition to Windows format. top protect your data and yourself, hide these drives from windows:

1. Start –> “Disk Management” (which appears incorrectly as “Create and format hard disk partitions”)
2. Right-click on the partition entry (either table cell at top, or graphical view on bottom), and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths…” –> Remove
3. While you are here, feel free to re-map other drives/partitions to your liking. Do this as early as possible, before you start creating Libraries and shortcuts and scripts and such that refer to the old drive letters.

Credit: http://forums.techarena.in/tips-tweaks/1179239.htm

Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service has a habit of wasting CPU while doing nothing of value. It runs as a process called "wmpnetwk.exe”. Disable it: Start –> “Services” –> Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service  -> Startup Type : Manual and also click Stop. More info.

Remove some epileptic bling. Start –> “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows”. (This is subjective, but I recommend these settings to improve the usability of Aero desktop)
UN-check:

• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Enable Aero Peek     (Enable: Alt-Tab shows previews  Disable: Alt-Tab shows icons)
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Fade or slide ToolTips into view
• Fade out menu items after clicking
• Save taskbar thumbnail previews
• Show translucent selection rectangle

Thin down the huge window borders. Start –> “Change window color and and metrics”.

• Item: Active Window Border. Size: 2
• Item: Border Padding: Size: 2

Configuring Applications

If you had to install Adobe Reader, you might need to fix its broken default DPI setting in order to make document look good. Edit –> Preferences –> Resolution –> Use System Setting.