Windows 7 in a Box 1.0.0.0

Windows 7 in a Box is a compact, portable application which provides speedy access to more than 160 important Windows 7 applets, programs, system folders, internet settings and more.

The program's design is, well, a little on the basic side. There are no fancy graphics here, you don't get some recreation of Control Panel (only bigger): instead Windows 7 in a Box organises its functions into 6 entirely ordinary text menus, and you have to browse these to choose the option you need.

This can still be useful, though. If you need to access Windows 7's Data Execution Prevention settings, for instance, it's no use typing in Data Execution or DEP into the system or Control Panel search boxes: nothing relevant will appear. With Windows 7 in a Box, though, just click Tools > Data Execution Prevention and the relevant dialog will pop up.

And it's just as easy to, say, display the current Windows version, open the Administrative Tools folder, launch the Install a Program from the Network function, and carry out a host of other functions.

This isn't really for Windows beginners. There's no way to search for specific functions, and many of the menu options will mean little to the inexperienced, anyway. If you're a PC novice, for instance, you'll probably have no idea what clicking Internet Settings > Netstat will do: only the more knowledgeable will realise it's going to display currently open network connections.

The program can be useful as a handy way to access some of Windows 7's more obscure tools, though. So if you're more experienced, but still forget how to access items like the Data Execution Prevention settings occasionally, then Windows 7 in a Box just might be able to help.

Windows 7 in a Box makes it a little easier to track down some of the operating system's less well known tools. The presentation is basic, though, and not everyone will know what menu entries like "Authorization Manager" actually mean.