Secure Your Windows CD-Key (For Vista and 7)

As you know everytime you activate a Windows Installation your Product Key can be retrieved via Software means.
Don't believe me?
Download this and retrieve your Product Key in Clear Text.
So is there an alternative solution so people will not steal your Product Key from your computer when you are not looking?
Yes there is.
Open Command Prompt with Administrative Permission and Run the following commands.

slmgr /cpky

If you try to retrieve your Product Key again with the same software, you will get this.

The Registry Entry Containing the Product Key has been cleared and Windows remains activated!

nForce Drivers For Windows 7

New nForce Drivers 15.45 for Windows 7 is out

Download it here

Includes

• Ethernet Driver (v73.10) WHQL
• Network Management Tools (v73.13) "Sedona"
• SATAIDE Driver (v11.1.0.30) WHQL
• SATARAID Driver (v11.1.0.30) WHQL
• RAIDTOOL Application (v11.1.0.30)
• SMBUS Driver (v4.69) WHQL
• SMU Driver (v1.71) WHQL
• GPU Driver (v186.34) WHQL
• PhysX (v9.09.0428)
• Away Mode Driver (v6.0.6000.111) WHQL
• Installer (v7.53)

Only SMU Driver, SM BUS Driver and Away Mode Driver installs for Aspire 4530 as SATA Drivers have to force installed via Device Manager.

ACPI Problems in Windows 7

(Error1

: The embedded controller (EC) did not respond within the specified timeout period. This may indicate that there is an error in the EC hardware or firmware or that the BIOS is accessing the EC incorrectly. You should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS. In some situations, this error may cause the computer to function incorrectly.

Result of Error 1

The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 3 seconds since the last report.

What does this means?

It means ACPI has detected the temperature has exceeded the threshold in the PSVT method in the DSDT contained in the BIOS. Therefore ACPI will automatically throttle down the CPU to lower states so temperature will drop. Hopefully.

I revised the DSDT file need further testing to confirm if the newer DSDT fixes the issue(Note: For Aspire 4530 only other Computers need their own DSDT).

Checking Battery Capacity in Windows 7

A new feature in Windows 7 is the ability to check battery capacity.
Take a look at the following:

Open a Command Prompt Windows with Administrative Permission
Enter:
powercfg /Energy

It will create a report in
C:\Windows\system32\energy-report.html

There is one line like this

Battery:Battery Information

Battery ID	11121SANYOAS07A31
Manufacturer	SANYO
Serial Number	11121
Chemistry	LION
Long Term	1
Design Capacity	48840
Last Full Charge	41214

The amount of battery life left can be calculated by

41214/48840*100

Which equates to 84.38% meaning my laptop battery has only 84.38% of charge left (because I didn't take good care of it. There was a few times when the battery was almost fully drain)

So make sure you switch off the laptop or connect it to an AC outlet when battery life reaches 10% and do not expose it to high temperatures.

Alternatively you can download the new HWMonitor as it reports the charge capacity directly.

Things To Do in Windows 7

Firstly set Control Panel to "View By Small Icons" as more options will show up.

1) Set System Restore Space
Location:
Control Panel >> Advance System Settings >> System Protection >>Configure
Set the System Restore to use less Disk Space so it will not "eat up" additional Harddisk Space as time passes.
You can also use this to set/delete restore points.


2) Set Performance Visual Options
Location:
Control Panel >> Advance System Settings >> Advance >> Performance Options
Uncheck the Options as shown below while leaving the rest untouched:

3)Uninstall Unused Features
Location:
Control Panel >> Program & Features >> Turn Windows Features On or Off
Uncheck unused Programs like "Tablet PC Components" and "Windows Media Centre"


4)Disable Unused Devices
Location:
Device Manager
Right Click and Disable rarely used Devices to reduce System Device Polling and conserve power.


5)Set Advance Power Options
Location:
Control Panel >> Power Options >> Edit Plan Settings
Customise Power Plan settings according to your preference


6)Defragment and Disk Clean Up