Re: Windows 7 Hints and Tips.
One handy little user interface improvement that Microsoft has added to the mix allows you to drag windows to the edges of your screen to anchor them there, or to the top to maximise something. However, there's another neat little trick in a similar vein that you can use.
If you grab a title bar of a window and shake it around with the mouse, you'll find that everything flies out of the way and leaves you with a pristine desktop and the window you were holding. Much more Zen, no?
Problem Steps Recorder
Once you've convinced your parents that they need to upgrade to Windows 7, and they've bought it and you popped round to install it for them, they'll invariably find something that doesn't work - something that you can't fix over the phone and have to actually be there to sort out.
Well, instead of trying to talk them through installing a remote desktop viewer like VNC, you can now just ask them to press the Windows key, tap in "PSR", hit enter, and then hit record before trying to do whatever it is they're trying to do. Once they're done, the recording is saved as a zipped MHTML file that they can email to you so you can see exactly where they're going wrong.
Resource Monitor
Seasoned Windows fans will know that when the system locks up, the first thing you want to check is the Task Manager. You can still do that, but there's now a better option instead, called the Resource Monitor. This lets you take a look in considerably more detail about exactly what's going on with your CPU, RAM, disk and network.
To access it, just hit the Windows key and type "resmon" before hitting enter. It'll bring up an overview of all the processes that are currently active on your computer, and exactly what they're doing. You can then do something about that irritating program that won't stop crashing.
So what do you do? Well, you can force quit something like you would in Task Manager, but you can also right-click a process and hit "Analyze Wait Chain" to see more info about why it isn't doing anything - it could be waiting for a response from another process, for example. With Resource Monitor you'll hopefully be able to track down the issue more quickly.
Desktop slideshows
So you've seen that most of the default themes that comes with Windows have auto-changing backgrounds, and you'd like to get in on that action. How do you do it? Well, it's actually pretty simple. All you have to do is right-click an empty part of the desktop and hit "personalize". From there, hit "desktop background" near the bottom and pick a folder full of pictures that you'd like to rotate through, and select how often you'd like to rotate.
How would you like a desktop wallpaper that automatically updates from an RSS feed? That functionality appeared in the beta, though it was buggy and seemed to have been removed from the final version. However - there's a way round the limitation.
Visit the feed you want to get pictures from in Internet Explorer, and then subscribe to it. On the right-hand-side you should have a "View feed properties..." option. Hit that and then enable the "Automatically download attached files" option. Close the window, and re-open it, then hit "View files" and use that folder as your rotating background folder as above. Voila!
Colour and ClearType Calibration
Lastly, if you view a lot of images, movies or play games a lot on your computer - and doesn't everyone? - then you might want to make sure that your monitor is calibrated to display colours correctly. You can do this very easily with a wizard included in Windows 7 called the Display Colour Calibration Wizard.
To access it, all you have to do is hit the Windows key, type DCCW and hit enter, and the wizard will appear and take you through all the steps necessary to make sure your display has its gamma, brightness and contrast set correctly. After that, you'll have the option to view the ClearType calibration wizard.
10. Bring back the "classic" Start menu
Windows 7's Start menu is a powerful thing, offering program and file launching as you type and allowing for smart pinning of whatever you frequently access. If you're really attached to the Windows 2000/XP-style Start system, though, CSMenu restores a "classic" look to Windows 7 by installing a companion Start menu on your taskbar. Want to eliminate that new-fangled Start menu and use only your classic model? Grab StartKiller and wipe away all signs of progress—er, change. We meant change. (Original post)9. Logon changer customizes password screens
You can customize a lot of your system's look in Windows 7, but the login/password screen remains fairly opaque and unchangeable. Tweaks.com offers a Logon Changer for Windows 7 that simply takes a JPG file (256K or less, so be sure to re-size and compress) and applies it to your background. If you don't mind doing a little registry hacking, there's a manual work-around for logon changing, but the Logon Changer is worth the install/uninstall if you know what you want to keep as your logon screen. (Original post)8. Create recovery discs for pre-installed Windows 7
If you moved up to Windows 7 by way of a new computer purchase, you may have found that getting a full Windows 7 disc, or even a system recovery disc, was an "option" that cost a good bit of extra cash. If you'd like to ensure you can save your system from common boot-up and system errors in the future, NeoSmart offers its own Windows 7 System Recovery Discs that can repair damaged files, restore System Restore points, and even pull in full backups for restoration. If you upgraded to 7 from a student discount package that only delivered a single .exe file, Download Squad explains how to make a DVD upgrade disc from student discount files. (Original post)7. Pull up incoming Gmail from the taskbar
If Gmail is your primary inbox, Gmail Notifier Plus not only subtly informs of you of new mail by changing its taskbar icon, but provides a subject line preview of new messages when you hover over its icon. You also get shortcuts to compose a new message and pop open your inbox in your browser, and head to any of your messages individually. Neat stuff, especially if you'd rather have a more firm control over when your inbox can have your attention—just close down Gmail Notifier Plus when it's time to get cranking. (Original post)6. WinFox makes Firefox work with Jump Lists
Support for Windows 7's helpful jump lists won't show up in Firefox until version 3.7. In the meantime, those who want to access their current tabs and most frequently visited sites can do so with WinFox, a helpful little add-on that you pin to your taskbar to access Firefox from. Copy Winfox to your Firefox program directory, install it, and pin the "Winfox" application to your taskbar. Now you can pin favorite pages to your jump list by dragging their tabs down, see the favicons of the sites you've got open, and get a read on how many tabs you're running in the Firefox icon. (Original post)5. Hulu Desktop adds streaming TV to Windows Media Center
Windows 7's Media Center was impressive enough for Adam to bust out his Buster Poindexter headline, and the only thing you might say it's missing is access to streaming television. Since Media Center just added CBS, the one big hold-out is Hulu—which Hulu Desktop Integration brings in with a clever little app. Launch the Hulu app from Media Center, and Media Center shuts down, opens the full-screen Hulu Desktop app, and then switches back to Media Center when you're done in Hulu. That's a nice thing, because since it uses the official channel to get at Hulu, the chances of it being locked out by Hulu are slim. (Original post)4. Add stacks to your desktop
Windows 7's taskbar is getting a lot of notice, and some say it's more useful than Mac OS X's Dock—except it's missing the very neat "Stacks" feature. Missing, that is, until you grab StandaloneStack or 7stacks, which both do a great job of creating blow-up menus of folders and apps from single icons on your taskbar. Add a storage folder or custom collection of shortcuts to your taskbar, and you'll never have to hunt down that "Computer" link in the Start menu again just to get to the right file. (Original posts: StandaloneStack, 7Stacks)3. Tweak hard-to-find settings
It's always a good idea to see what kind of settings you can change from your new OS' Control Panel, but Microsoft only lets you play with so many check boxes and sliders. Apps like Ultimate Windows Tweaker, along with XdN Tweaker, have been digging deep into the guts of Windows since Vista first arrived (and sometimes before XP showed up), and they let you seriously fine-tun your system. Want only certain Aero 3D effects on your desktop? Need to change Windows 7's window-snapping behavior? These apps have you covered. The hardest part is knowing when to say when on a settings-changing binge. (Original post)2. Make Alt+Tab switching more intuitive
The familiar Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut gained a little visual overhaul in Windows 7, but it still offers just basic window switching. VistaSwitcher, a more powerful app and window switcher, improves on it in just the right ways. Besides an intriguingly different look, the app supports keyboard shortcuts that let you minimize or tile windows from your Alt+Tab screen, close down programs or file windows in bulk, and, with a Ctrl+Alt+Tab press, switch only between the open windows of the particular program you're using, like a browser or image editor. Despite the name, VistaSwitcher works perfectly well on Windows 7. (Original post)1. Install all your necessary apps at once
The first few times you re-installed an operating system, it probably felt like an adventure, something fun, a test of your tech prowess. At this point, though, you might just want to skip the part where you spend an hour grabbing Firefox, Picasa, an anti-virus app, WinAmp, uTorrent, and other must-have apps from the net. Ninite is your ticket out of redundant installations. Head to the web site, click off the apps you need from a huge range of good, free software, and download the customized installer app that results. Double-click, hit start, and do something constructive while Ninite installs everything you asked for, with very few, if any, questions or promp
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