Tweak Windows 7 through Local Group Policy Editor

There are several desktop, start menu, taskbar, system tweaks you can apply using the Group Policy Editor in Windows 7.

To do so, type gpedit.msc in Start Search and hit Enter. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.

In the left pane, expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop.
In the right pane, you will see a lot of settings you can modify. Most will be Not Configured. Right click on any and select Edit. From the dialog box which is presented, you can Enable the setting.

Similarly, under each category like Start Menu and Taskbar, etc, you get plenty of setting which you can tweak to your requirement in Windows 7.

Should you again wish to disable any of the tweaked setting you have to simply set it at Not Configured or Disabled again.

Visit here for a full list of available settings in Windows 7 Group Policy editor!

You can open Group Policy in several ways, depending on the action that you want to perform and the object to which you want to apply it. The ways in which you can open Group Policy are described here at Microsoft.

Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions for Windows Vista SP1.

Your Windows Updates would be showing a new update KB943729. It however, appears under the Optional Updates, and should be installed only if you need it. Vista SP1 has changed the tools that Administrators use to manage Group. SP1 uninstall's the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and GPEdit.msc will edit local Group Policy by default.

Multiple Group Policy Preferences have been added to the Windows Server 2008 Group Policy Management Console, which are also available through the Remote Server Administration Toolset (RSAT) for Windows Vista SP1. Group Policy Preferences enable information technology professionals to configure, deploy, and manage operating system and application settings they previously were not able to manage using Group Policy.

Group Policy preferences are made up of more than 20 new Group Policy client-side extensions (CSEs) that expand the range of configurable settings in a Group Policy object (GPO). These new preferences are included in the Group Policy Management Editor window of the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). The extensions are listed under each new preference item. Examples of the new Group Policy preference extensions include the following: • Folder options • Mapped drives • Printers • Scheduled tasks • Services • Start menu settings The packages that are listed in the "More Information" section include the CSEs for the new Group Policy preference functionality. These CSEs are required in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and in Windows Vista to process the new preference items.

This installer does not provide any user interface for configuring Group Policy preferences. This new functionality can only be configured under the new preferences node in the User or Computer configurations of the Group Policy Management Editor window on the following computers: • Windows Vista SP1-based computers that have Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) installed • Windows Server 2008-based computers

More at KB943729. Download. 32bit Editions. 64bit Editions.

Fix: Power options not enforcing 60 second limit in Windows 7

This article details a known power options issue with Windows 7 where the kernel does not adhere to the minimum allowed time that is set by the user in the Group Policy Management Console for hibernation and sleep timeouts.

When a user creates a power policy setting by using the Group Policy Management Console (gpedit.msc), which establishes a sleep or hibernation timeout of less than 60 seconds, the kernel does not accept this change, and it sets the timeout to 60 seconds.

This is a known issue that exists, which allows the power policy settings to be changed by the user to values below the 60 second threshold even though these setting will not be used by the kernel. The kernel has a fixed minimum values of 60 seconds for sleep and hibernation timeouts.

To resolve this known issue, ensure that sleep and hibernation timeouts are set at the minimum 60 seconds.