Solving The Most Common Windows 7 Problems

Windows 7 is a dramatic improvement over Windows Vista, and while it is the fastest Windows operating system, it seems to still be plagued by its own set of problems. Herein, I will help identify and show you how to fix common Microsoft Windows 7 problems I see.

When we say problem, it is truly hard to define if this is a bug of the Windows operating system, possibly a feature or function of the system that you enjoyed previously that is not working, or as in most cases, it is a function that was working and is no longer functioning properly.

The below set of problems and their respective solutions are associated with Windows 7 bugs and functions that are no longer working properly. The list is not in any specific sorting, nor are they alphabetized so you will need to scan the article to find a solution for your specific problem. Note, they are also specific network-related problems we have featured in another article.

In some cases, these Windows 7 tips may recommend you to modify registry settings. In such cases, please acknowledge the following warning:

1. Windows 7 Performance

Though it is true the Windows 7 operating system is a resources hog, quite often this occurs because your system was not fully compatible for Windows 7, or if you are noticing a decline in performance, then it may be due to the installation of new software, adding or reconfiguring PC hardware, such as how the system interacts with your hard drive, video card, or other component.

If the latter is your issue, you could be plagued by software that was not properly developed for Windows 7, or more than likely, there are a few preventive maintenance steps that most users neglect to perform on their computers. If you have not purged temporary files from your computer lately, may I suggest you read a couple of other articles here on pcsupporthub.com:

If you just upgraded to Windows 7 or purchased a new computer and find the performance lacking, you may wish to try adjusting the visual effects. To do this, follow these steps below:

1. Click the Start menu button
2. Type performance
3. From the resulting list, select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows
4. On the Visual Effects tab, you may select the pre-configured Adjust for best performance, or select Custom and disable any of the effects you wish to
5. When finished, simply click the OK button and you should notice a performance difference right away

2. DVD Drive Not Found

If for some particular reason, Windows 7 cannot locate your optical drive (DVD drive), the best way to resolve this problem is to modify a registry key.

1. Click your Start menu button
2. Type regedit and press the Enter or Return button on your keyboard
3. Navigate to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class‘
4. Before moving forward, it would be best to make a copy of this registry key by clicking File from the toolbar menu and selecting Export, and bookmark this page for reference
5. In the right-hand window pane, we want to delete both UpperFilters and LowerFilters by right clicking them and selecting delete
6. Restart your computer to see if the problem has been resolved

If Computer or Windows Explorer is still not able to present your DVD drive, let’s try Something else.

1. Click your Start menu button
2. Type Disk Management
3. From the resulting list, select Create and format hard disk partitions
4. In the lower section find the drive that is indicated with DVD
5. Right-click it and select Change Drive Letter and Paths…
6. Whichever is appropriate, click Add or Change button and select an appropriate drive letter for your DVD drive
7. Once again, reboot your computer and hopefully this will have fixed your issue

3. Audio Issues with DVD’s

Windows 7 has shown to run well on an array of computers, though one issue has been surfacing across the board…DVD audio.

The first, and best way to resolve this is to modify sound settings in from your Control Panel, as such…

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click on Hardware and Sound
3. Right-click on the active Playback device and select Properties (it will be the one with a green-colored checkmark)
4. Click on Advanced
5. Clear the checkbox for Exclusive Mode, and click the OK button

You may need to restart your computer to get DVD audio back, but that should do it

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