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Aero Peek, which is also known as Desktop Preview, is a new feature in Windows 7 that allows you to quickly hide all the windows open and view your desktop. It can be activated by clicking the Show Desktop icon at the far right of the superbar or by holding the windows key and hitting space.

Desktop Preview is a new feature in Windows 7 which is otherwise also known as AeroPeak (Desktop Preview is a feature enabled by Aero Peek desktop enhancement function). Desktop Preview allows user to temporarily minimize all open windows and make open windows transparent in order to preview what is on desktop when user place the mouse pointer to mouse over the “Show Desktop” bar on the far right end of the taskbar.

Illustration above shows the effect of Desktop Preview, where user mouse over the Show Desktop (without actually clicking on it) on the far end of the Windows Taskbar.

• Right click on the Start button and click on Properties
• Select the Taskbar tab
• Uncheck the Use Desktop Preview checkbox
• Click OK

Desktop Preview is now disabled. If you would like to re-enable it, simply follow the same steps again making sure to check the Desktop Preview option this time.

Much like in previous versions of Windows you can enable an extra level of security by requiring the user to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL before they can enter their username and password. Whether or not this actually makes your system any more secure is up to debate, but if you are looking to enable this feature in Windows 7 by following these steps:

• Press the Windows Key and R at the same time to open the Run dialog
• Enter “control userpasswords2″ and hit OK
• In the dialog box select the Advanced tab
• Look to the bottom under Secure Logon and check the box beside “Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete”
• Click OK

Now when you boot your system users will be required to activate the logon screen by using the three finger solute.

Much like in Windows Vista you’ll find a graphical login screen for Windows 7. This has a much nicer look and feel to it than the old login prompts of Windows XP and its predecessors but it at the expense of security. Anyone attempting to infiltrate your system will have access to all the possible usernames and will merely have to guess the passwords. If the users are not using secure passwords then they will easily be compromised.

So how can one protect their system from this type of attack? Aside from using secure passwords you can also go a step further and enable the classic logon screen as used in the earlier versions of Windows. This will force the user to not only guess the password but the username as well.

• Press start
• Type: local security policy
• Press enter
• Expand local policies
• Click Security Options
• Double-click “Interactive Login: Do not display last user name”
• Check Enabled
• Click OK

Now close all open windows and restart the system. After it is done booting you will now be prompted to enter both the username and password, without being provided with a list of available users.