Microsoft focused on the right things with Windows 7. It addressed the annoyances in Vista that were the cause of myriad complaints, and it made the operating system more stable and easier to use in the process. But there are still plenty of areas in need of improvement, including desktop organization, disk management, file recovery, and file copying. The good news is that there are some very capable — and free — utilities that you can use to fill the void.
Organize Your Desktop
One thing Windows 7 hasn’t improved upon is the clutter that invariably overtakes Windows desktops. Sooner or later, you’ll probably find dozens of icons scattered on your screen, and locating the one you want ends up becoming a time-sapping chore.
Enter Stardock Fences. Free for personal use, this tool makes it easy to group your desktop icons into readily identifiable categories — or “fenced in areas,” to follow Stardock’s fences metaphor. Create a category for graphics, one for office applications, and another for Internet. Create a separate fenced in area for document files.
Within minutes, you can use this tool to create blissful organization out of chaos. And you’ll likely be impressed with how well Fences leverages Windows 7’s transparency effects to make your fenced in areas fun to roll over with your mouse cursor. You can move groups of icons around with ease, as well.
Partition Your Hard Drive
Disk partitions still make a lot of sense. Savvy PC users put their operating system and installed applications on their main (C) drive and create another partition for documents and other files. That way, backing up data on a regular basis is quick and easy — and the prospect of reinstalling an operating system isn’t the harrowing experience it otherwise might be. You’ll be certain that your vital document files won’t get…