Enable or Disable OneDrive Integration using Group Policy (Windows 8.1 Pro & Windows 8.1 Enterprise)

NOTE: This option for using group policy is only available in the Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 8.1 Enterprise editions.

1. From your Start screen, start typing gpedit.msc, and press Enter when finished.
NOTE: You could also press + R to open the Run dialog, type gpedit.msc, and click/tap on OK.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In the left pane, click/tap on to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and open SkyDrive (Windows 8.1) or OneDrive (Windows 8.1 Update). (see screenshot below)

4. In the right pane of SkyDrive or OneDrive, double click/tap on Prevent the usage of SkyDrive/OneDrive for file storage. (see screenshot above)

5. Do step 6 or 7 below for what you would like to do.

6. To Enable OneDrive Integration
A) Select (dot) Disabled or Not Configured, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 7A)

NOTE: Not Configured is the default setting.

7. To Disable OneDrive Integration
A) Select (dot) Enabled, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

8. You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor window if you like.

9. If you did step 6 to enable OneDrive integration, then open the OneDrive app on your Start screen to have the OneDrive folder show in the navigation pane in File Explorer again.


Sources: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/29426-onedrive-integration-windows-8-1-enable-disable.html

How to remove an old OS from the boot menu using CMD

You need to manually edit the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) store. To do that, you will have to use a tool called bcdedit.

Export BCD settings for backup

Start by exporting your current BCD settings for backup.

1. Boot into Windows 7 

2. Log in with an administrator account 

3. Open up an elevated command prompt

4. Type bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup and press Enter

This will create a file named bcdbackup on your C disk. Note that there is no file extension in the file name. No file extension is needed here. You can change this location or the name of the file if you like, but having it stored on the root of C will make it easy to find if needed.

List all entries in BCD store

This will return a list of all the operating systems that the computer can boot from.

• Enter bcdedit and press Enter
• Enter bcdedit /v and press Enter

By using the V switch the list will give you the UUIDs. Here is an example of what it could look like if you only use bcdedit without the V (verbose) switch.

And here is an example with the V switch.

You need to use the V switch to see the UUIDs for the different operating systems.

Deleting the Windows XP entry

Do you see any entry for Windows XP on the right side of the description headline? If so, then you need to delete it. And to delete it, you need to know its identifier.

The identifier is the UUID number you see on the right side of the identifier headline, including the braces. Braces are the curly brackets at the start and the end of the number.

1. If you have not done so yet, type bcdedit /v and press Enter
2. Locate the identifier UUID for the entry that has "Windows XP" as description.
3. To delete the entry type bcdedit /delete {UUID} and press Enter.

Depending on how many operating systems you have installed, this could take anywhere from 4 minutes to 15 minutes. Just let it do its thing, you will see a confirmation message when it's done.

Warning! Make sure you type in the correct UUID! You need to type in the UUID for Windows XP. If you type in the UUID for Windows 7 then you will not be able to boot into Windows 7, at least not until you restore it using the backup file you created earlier.

When you see the confirmation message, type bcdedit /v again and press Enter. Make sure that there is no entry for Windows XP anymore. Reboot the computer to make sure that you can boot into Windows 7, and that the boot loader is no longer presenting the boot menu. If this is the case then you are all done now.

How to rebuild an existing BCD store using bootrec

If you still see the boot menu, or if you are unable to boot into Windows 7, then you will have to do one of two things.

• A: Restore the BCD using the backup file you created earlier (see instructions below).
• B: You can rebuild the BCD using a tool called Bootrec.

To do either one of these things you will need to enter the System Recovery Options.

 

1. Reboot the computer
   
2. Press and hold the F8 key right after the POST, until you see the Advanced Boot Optionsmenu. The POST is the power-on-self-test, this is the first screen that appears when you start the computer.
   
3. Select the Repair Your Computer option and press Enter. This should take you to the System Recovery Options, also known as WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment).

When you get to the System Recovery Options click on the Command Prompt link to open up a command prompt. To try to rebuild the existing BCD store as it is type bootrec /rebuildbcd and press Enter. Now it will scan hard disk drives for Windows installations.

If the bootrec finds any Windows installations it will ask you whether or not you want to add it to the boot list. To say yes press Y, to say no press N, and to say yes to all press A. If Windows 7 was previously removed from the boot list then this operation should add it back to the boot list.

How to rebuild a new BCD store using bootrec

If the bootrec does not find any Windows installations, then you will have to delete the BCD completely and then run the bootrec /rebuildbcd command again and bootrec will create a brand new working BCD store.

The BCD store is located in C:\Boot. But instead of deleting the BCD you can also rename it fromBCD to BCD.old. This has the same effect as deleting it - Windows will no longer use it, but the benefit is that you have one extra layer of backup of the BCD. To rename the BCD you will first have to change its attributes.

1. Type attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s and press Enter This will remove the attributes Hidden, Read-only and System.
2. Type ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old and press Enter
3. Type bootrec /rebuildbcd and press Enter To add found Windows installations to the boot list press Y or A for all. This should create a new BCD file inC:\Boot. This new file will be different from the old one that was previously renamed. 

Reboot the computer and see if you are able to boot into Windows 7, and if you get the boot menu. If you don't see the boot menu and you are able to boot into Windows 7 then everything is alright now.

Import BCD settings from backup

If you for some reason want to restore your BCD to the backup copy you created earlier you can use thebcdedit /import c:\bcdbackup command. You can use this command either from within Windows, or from the WinRE command prompt.

Reminder

For the future, make sure to remove the old Windows entry from the boot list before deleting the Windows folder. To do that, you can use the msconfig

tool, as I'm sure you're familiar with that. It is only after you have removed the boot list entry for the Windows version you plan on removing that you can delete its Windows folder.

I would personally prefer to completely format that disk partition. If you are concerned about your personal files that are still stored on the old disk then you should back them up or simply copy them over to the new disk. It's also a good practice to store personal files on a separate partition. That way you will be able to access them easily from other operating systems.


Sources: http://superuser.com/questions/465047/how-to-remove-an-old-os-from-the-boot-menu

Windows 7 Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media does not work

Solution:
Ensure Bluetooth Support Service is running (even you do not use Bluetooth!)

By default, the Bluetooth Support Service should be running. But I manually disabled it for optimization which caused the problems...

1. Open Start menu

2. Type services.msc -> Right click -> Run as administrator

3. Look for Bluetooth Support Service, double-click to open its Properties window

4. Make sure Startup type is NOT set to Disabled. I recommend setting it to Automatic (Delayed Start) so it does not slow down your computer at start up. Click Apply if you made any changes

5. Click Start to start the service

6. At this point, the safely remove hardware feature should be working again

7. Restart your computer and Devices and Printers should load correctly as well

Just sharing!

Sources: http://blog.notfaqs.com/2009/10/win7-safely-remove-hardware-and-eject.html

Speed up Windows 7 Aero Peek Thumbnail preview display

The default for the Tasbar Preview Hover Delay is 400 milliseconds. To set it follow these steps:

Here are the steps:
1. Click on the Start Button and type in Regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Right click on Advanced and select New DWORD and name the new value "ExtendedUIHoverTime".
4. Right click on ExtendedUIHoverTime and select Modify.
5. Switch to Decimal base and enter in your new number. The default is 400 milliseconds however I recommend 200 or 100.
6. Once changed click OK and restart the explorer process or restart your computer.

Additionally.... 

I found another site also that let's you set this globally for all hover system times (Tasbar Icons, start menu, shortcuts etc....

1. Click on the Start Button and type in regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse.
3. Right click on MouseHoverTime and select Modify.
4. Set the new value. The default value is 400 milliseconds.
5. Once changed, click OK and restart your computer.

Have Fun!

Sources: http://forum.groovypost.com/windows7/speed-up-windows-7-aero-peek-thumbnail-preview-display-t95662.html