Weed out duplicate files and some tips for Windows 7

Seven up
The Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 is available for public download. Having installed RC1 I have found there are a few details you should know.

The good news is that it’s the top-of-the-range Ultimate edition, and that it will last until June 2010. You will, however, start getting not-so-subtle reminders on 1 March of next year when Windows 7 will shut down every two hours.

You are advised to not install RC1 on your main PC and to back up your data first. There are several useful links on the download page including ‘Installing Windows’ which tells you how to create a DVD from the downloaded 2.4GB file – I used the free Active@ ISO Burner 1.1.

It’s also worth checking out the ‘Things to know’ link. A lot of people seem to be having trouble with older Nvidia chipset display adapters, myself included. Windows 7 reported that I had a ‘standard VGA adapter’ driving a ‘non-PNP monitor’ and would only allow a painfully slow and flickery refresh rate.

I managed to force the issue by downloading and installing the XP Nvidia drivers, to get a respectable 75Hz, but at the cost of a Blue Screen of Death every time I tried something graphically challenging, such as running a screensaver.

Cranking down hardware acceleration seems to have cured the BSOD, but makes the screensavers unavailable and game playing near-impossible. But enough moaning – it is, after all, a low-specced and old PC and I feel quite pleased at getting it work at all.

So on to more important matters. Windows 7 comes with some impressive desktop backgrounds, which can be slide-shown via a theme. The Characters and Scenes wallpapers both seem pretty strange to me, but then I’m over 21 and I gather they have gained the ‘awesome dude!!!!!!’ accolade among aficionados of that genre.

My favourites are in the Architecture theme – but there is no information to identify the buildings. So I had the bright idea of doing a search for JPG files in the Windows folder and subfolders. This showed that the Wallpaper files were stored – as in previous versions – in Windows\Web\Wallpaper.

But the file properties, although they have an ‘author’ credited still give no clue as to location. So, what are they? My guess is that the first is the Seattle Tower, on the grounds of being local to Microsoft and obvious. The second, and possibly the fourth look like the work of Frank Gehry – but where? I’m fairly sure that number five is the wonderful Selfridges in our very own Birmingham, but as for the rest – please deluge my inbox with answers.

But there are more backgrounds – themed by country – hidden away elsewhere, as my JPG search revealed. You’ll need to turn on ‘Show hidden files’ from folder options to see these, then you’ll find them at Windows\Globalization\MCT.

Here you’ll find five folders, themed for Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States and South Africa. To use these as your desktop background you can browse to them by right-clicking on the Desktop, then choosing Personalization, Desktop Background, then hitting the Browse Button. You’ll still need to have ‘Show hidden files’ ticked to get at them. These do come with a full description, just in case you don’t know what an elephant looks like.

Genuine Advantage?
Reader John Fannon complained that each time he started his XP Pro PC a Windows Genuine Advantage Wizard appeared and invited him to install it. WGA is a piece of Microsoft software that checks that your copy of Windows is legitimate. John was certain his was, didn’t want to install it and wanted rid of the wizard.

I sympathise with John. The assurance that ‘the innocent have nothing to fear’ has always been a poor excuse for draconian or intrusive measures in all aspects of society.

But to take a dispassionate view, Microsoft started this method of delivery – via Windows Update – at the end of March for XP Pro. Many optional downloads from Microsoft require you to first jump through the WGA hoop. Microsoft also states that users will be able to ‘choose whether to install the update’ but if you already have a recent version you won’t get the wizard – just a ‘silent’ update. Once WGA is installed it cannot be uninstalled.

Should the worst happen, and WGA detects that your copy of Windows is not genuine, don’t panic. Your wallpaper will turn black and you will get ‘persistent desktop notification, as well as messages from the system tray offering additional information and ways that the customer can report the piracy or obtain a genuine copy of Windows.’

Apart from that Windows will continue to function normally, according to Microsoft.

Others disagree. According to Windowssecrets.com, should your PC fail WGA, then you will find that Automatic Updates only installs ‘Critical’ patches. Those that are merely ‘Important’ or lesser-rated will not be installed. WGA has also been accused of returning ‘false positives’ and, as far back as January 2007, Microsoft implicitly admitted that as many as five million users could have been mistakenly accused of software piracy.

Let me say now that neither PCW nor this writer endorses pirated software. But we are concerned with the invasiveness – not to mention the false positives – inherent in WGA.