1. Hardware Management in Windows 7

2. Device Manager  Overview of device manager list of devices and status (example)example driver details and upgrade (example)example  Plug and Play and device drivers BIOS and OS see new device and assign resources, install drivers If Windows does not have a driver: asks for disk/CD  Managing unsigned drivers use Sigverif.exe for a list of unsigned driversSigverif.exe search windows\system32\drivers directory what drivers are safe to install? See this help note.help note

3. System Restore  How it works System Restore consists of two parts, file monitoring and restore point management. System Restore Restore points contains: snapshot of the registry and certain dynamic system files. an unsigned driver causes a restore point. automatic updates causes a restore point. monitors program/system files and user data (file types) if you set it do do so.file types you can turn on/off monitoring in specific drives containing only data (example)example More details in this MS articleMS article

4. Performance Management  Using the performance monitor :  Using task manager for a quick summary

5. Special tools  Process Explorer: get it here. Process Explorerhere  Blue screen viewer: get it here. Blue screenhere  Dog Mode: create a new file with the file name: DogMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} Dog Mode  Autoruns: get it here. Autorunshere  WinDirStat: get it here. WinDirStathere  HWINFO32: get it here. HWINFO32here  CCleaner: get it here. CCleanerhere  Defraggler: get it here. Defragglerhere

6. Web support  Basic sites Microsoft support: general, knowledge base, home PCs, Office, TechNet, Windows 7generalknowledge base home PCsOfficeTechNetWindows 7 Generic sites: Computing.net, Cnet, DriverGuide.com(members), Tom’s Hardware Guide Computing.netCnet DriverGuide.commembersTom’s Hardware Guide Linux support: Ubuntu, HOWTOs, Linux in Laptops, Linux System Admin Guide UbuntuHOWTOsLinux in LaptopsLinux System Admin Guide  Magazines PCWorld, PC Magazine, Cnet news, InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, Slashdot, Linux Journal PCWorldPC MagazineCnet newsInfoWorld ComputerWorldSlashdotLinux Journal