Downgrading Windows 7 Ultimate RC to Premium or Professional 
Many users are running Windows 7 Ultimate RC and would like to throw caution to the wind and simply install Home Premium or Professional right over their current install.
1. Changing two registry keys in Windows 7 Ultimate RC:
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Format the text in sticky notes
Format the text in Sticky Notes
Another new feature in Windows 7 is the built-in Sticky Notes application. You’ll find it on the Start menu. You’ve probably already discovered that you can change the color of notes by right-clicking and selecting a new color. You may also have figured out that you can use the Ctrl + B and Ctrl + I shortcuts to format the text as bold or italic. But did you know that you can make bulleted and numbered lists in your sticky notes, and increase or decrease the text size? Here are some more handy keyboard shortcuts that work within sticky notes:
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Windows 7 Taskbar reg tweaks
Tags: Microsoft Windows 7 Super bar taskbar tweaks registry settings
1. AeroPeek
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime: Sets the time in milliseconds that the Desktop will appear when you hover over the area right of the
taskbar. Set at 40 for fast and 1000 for slow.
DisablePreviewDesktop: Disable AeroPeek when set to 1.
Restart explorer or reboot the computer for the changes to take effect.
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Change Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail to List View Threshold
Microsoft has set the maxium to 16 or less depending on your resolution. This might be to high for many users. To lower it a quick registry edit is in order:
Open regedit and go to key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband
add new DWORD (32-bit) Value “NumThumbnails” and choose the number you would prefer like 3 or 4.
Now close regedit and click the start button, hold down the ctrl and shift key and right click an empty area to get an exit explorer entry.
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How to clean Install from Windows 7 Upgrade Media
The retail upgrade media is bootable and can perform a clean install but it won’t activate with the
upgrade key unless you perform one of the methods below.
METHOD 1:
Double Install Trick:
1. Boot from the DVD, choose “Custom (Advanced)”, do not enter the key at this time.
2. After it has installed, boot into it, you will have 30 days to activate it will inform you.
3. Place the DVD back in and launch setup again and choose “Upgrade” this time, it will install over itself.
4. After it’s installed for the second time, the upgrade key will now be accepted and will activate.
Tag: Double Install Trick, Upgrade Media, Windows Activation,
METHOD 2:
Use SLMGR Commands to Insert Product Key and Activate:
- Open an elevated command prompt as administrator.
- Use the following command to install product key:
slmgr -ipk <upgrade product key>
- Activate Windows 7 with the following command:
slmgr -ato
To check acti vation status from command line, use slmgr -dlv or slmgr -dli.
METHOD 3:
Clean Install and Activate Windows 7 with MediaBootInstall Registry Hack:
- After booting up, ensure that no Windows Updates pending task which requires a system reboot to finish installing.
- Run Registry Editor (RegEdit).
- Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE
- In the right pane, change the value data for MediaBootInstall from 1 to 0.
- Open an elevated command prompt as administrator.
- Run the command below to reset Windows 7 activation status:
slmgr –rearm
- Reboot the computer.
- Run the Activate Windows utility (type Activate Windows into Start Search), type in the upgrade product key and activate Windows.
