Windows 7

Tips'n'Tricks

For now, this is just a list of applications and/or fixes I've used since I migrated my work laptop from Windows XP to Windows7.

Graphical Diff/Merge : On Windows XP, I just used vimdiff that came with vim. However, although vim runs under Windows 7, the diff functionality doesn't work correctly (I'm waiting for the 64bit version to be officially released). I found WinMerge is a cool replacement for the graphical diffs.

Edit With Vim : As I mentioned above, vim works, but there are a few issues; one is that the right-click "Edit with Vim" menu is no longer there, so you can do the following; either create a shortcut to the gvim executable in:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Or create a .reg file containing the following and run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Edit with Vim]
"icon"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Vim\\vim72\\gvim.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Edit with Vim\command]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Vim\\vim72\\gvim.exe \"%1\""
    

Changing fonts in Windows 7 : The default font setup under Windows 7 looks fuzzy on most monitors to me (laptops are typically fine). I used this and this to make most of the fonts clear and sharp.

Has Windows 7 lost your profile? : I would have thought they would have fixed this by now (this problem existed in Windows XP). Anyway, as long as your user has administrative privileges, you can do the following:

From a command window, run regedit
Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList"
Look for your profile key (it will have a identically copy except for a ".bak" extension)
Delete the non.bak key (you can export it first as a backup if you like)
Rename the ".bak" key to remove the ".bak" extension
Restart your machine
    

That's it for now.