Your PSP7 setup is the heart of your working area for convenience and efficiency.  This is just a general description of how I set mine up for those who are new to Paint Shop Pro 7 and want to change the settings but don't know what they do.  This is how I set it up for me!  Everyone will suit themselves but it at least provides a look-see into the how.

Customization area 1
This is my work area.  You will notice that I cut out a lot of the buttons and rely on the menus for access to things - this is simpler for me than trying to remember what all those buttons are for and it get the buttons out of the way so there is room for the layers palette, preview window and tool options palette.  Those are the 3 I use the most and like to keep in front of me.  I like lots of work area space.  The buttons are customizable through the 'View' menu and then clicking on 'Toolbars'.

In the first window, you can select the toolbars you want to edit or keep closed.  If there is a check mark - it will be visible - the items below allow more customization preferences.  Clicking on the toolbar you want to edit (first pic) makes the 'customization button available.  The only one I edit is the Standard Toolbar.

The second window is where you add or remove buttons.  You can see in the right side that I have left only Print, Help and Capture and will probably be getting rid of 'capture' soon as I always access that through the menu anyway.  I just got rid the 'new' and 'save' buttons because I'm a creature of habit and always use the menu without even thinking about it.  This is a customization I would leave alone until YOU see what buttons YOU use the most.  I get rid of them right from the start because I have clutter on the screen and know from using other software what I might use and what I definitely won't!

The Layers palette is the hardest palette to position because it flies open full size when you click on it.  You have to position it using the left top corner as a guide and remembering that when it's open, you need to be able to see all of it - so you grab it by the left corner and drag it to where you want it to set.  You WILL use this one!  Should you prefer to keep it closed until you do, it's easy to call it up by hitting the 'L' on your keyboard.

The 'Tool Options' Palette is something you will use often and I like to keep it close to color palette because all of the tools that change the most are right there together.  I see the Preview pane right above it because I keep forgetting about that one and sometimes when going for the Tool Options, I get close enough to it for it to pop down and remind me it's there - give me a full view of the image I'm working on and verifies I'm getting the placement of objects that balance.  I don't bother with the rest of the palettes because I seldom use them and they are all available through the menus anyway.

Customization area 2

The path to the PSP preferences is through the 'File' menu.  File/Preferences/

First we'll take a look at the mother preferences of how your PSP works, General Program Preferences!

Browser tab

Now I don't recall which tab is activated when you open the general preferences, but you choose by clicking on the tab you want to check.  This is the browser tab this one is all set to default except that I took the check mark out of the 'Display flat style thumbnails'.  Flat thumbnails in the browser show only the images in rows;  I prefer each image to have a more pronounced view by putting each image in a little box like a 35 mm slide.

Dialogs and Palettes tab

In this one I get rid of all the icons I can for the sake of clutter - 'no check mark in the Display large text and icons on palettes' setting;  I don't want funky menus - I check 'Display flat style toolbars';  I unchecked 'Display menu icons';  I left the rest to default.

Viewing tab

Here's a goody!  If you have ever made an image and then uploaded it or emailed it only to find it was bigger than what you thought - here's that setting correction!  I remove the check mark in both the 'Auto size' in the 'New images' and the 'After changing size' so that the image is the size I'm looking at.  I can zoom in and zoom out through the 'View' menu if I need to change it - if I change it myself, then I'm aware the image is larger than what I see;  set on Auto size, I forget!  I leave all the rest check marked.

Undo/Redo tab

I have plenty of RAM, so I don't want a limit on the number of steps I'm able to undo - remove the check mark;   I set the Limit to disk usage for that to a generous 100 megabytes.  I want to be able to use the undo (where would I be without it?!), so it's checked;  I don't like compression and have plenty of RAM so it's unchecked;  I do want to be able to 'Redo' in case I undo too far - Enable 'redo' is checked.

Warnings tab

Of course some warnings are good as reminders.  When learning to use PSP7, I would leave these all checked.  Later when the warnings (reminders) are as familiar to you as de-ja-vu and become annoying, this is where you change them.  As you can see, I feel pretty familiar with PSP7 now and have disabled a lot of the warnings.
 

Transparency tab

I haven't changed any of the setting in this one.  This is the checkered background you see when you are working with the images in the psp format to show the area that is transparent.  I prefer pail colors and I leave it to the checkerboard because a solid color would confuse me.

Rulers and Units tab

I make changes in the guide line color now and then when I'm using the grid to make the lines easier to see;  but I set my display on the ruler to inches because I'm more familiar with that sizing and it benefits me when I'm working with photos.  I use the ruler markings for cropping photos more than anything else and I relate to photography sizing so this is best for me - it might not be for YOU.  I always change my grid units to inches and set the spacing to half inch grid lines for use in my calendar building;  I leave the default resolution as is because it's irrelevant to image building and it's the standard for internet usage.

Miscellaneous tab

I increase my 'Recently used list' to 10 - 4 just isn't enough for me.  This is the number of images listed at the bottom of the 'File' menu so you can call back an image you had open recently and since it sometimes takes several images to build one - I want more.  I would set it to more, but it would run the list off the screen causing it to roll.  I want to be reminded if I have RAM holding an image when I close, so I don't put a check mark in the 'Do not ask' box;  I leave the 'Force fill window re-draw' unchecked because it slows me down to have constant redraws;  I remove the check mark for 'Show splash screen' because I know what program I opened - don't need the splash screen to remind me;  I don't have any puck type pointing devices, so I leave it checked.

That's about it for setting up you program.  If you're comfortable with the way it feels with default settings, leave them alone.  The only one that has ever come back to bite me is the auto-sizing in the Viewing tab and it bit me a few times before I found the setting!  I hated that!  The settings are more of a convenience for the user and that's why you are able to change them.