Windows 7 Tips and Tricks.

[Jelly Bean]

Shake Windows off your Desktop:

 

To clear the desktop:

 

Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the window you only want to show on the desktop.

 

Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right.

 

When the desktop clears, drop.

 

To restore the desktop:

 

Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the same window.

 

Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right.

 

When the minimized windows return to the desktop, drop (release the left click) the window.

 

 

Try this Secret:

 

When you right click on a file/icon you see the usal items in the list,Open/Send to and so on.

 

Hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on the icon, and then try the Send To menu.

 

Wow loads of things in the list of send to.

 

If you want any of those to show up normally without holding down the Shift key, you can create shortcuts in the Send To folder. Just type the following into the location bar:

 

shell:sendto

 

And then drag shortcuts to your preferred folders into this folder.

 

To open command prompt:

 

Just hold down the Shift Key and right click on the desktop.

 

And then you can choose Open Command Window Here from the menu.

 

But then again just right click on a folder and choose Open command prompt window here.

 

 

 

Stretch out on extra displays:

 

It’s now far easier to extend the Windows desktop on to secondary displays. Simply press Windows +P and you’ll be presented with options to extend, duplicate or show your desktop only on the secondary display.

 

 

Sort out the System Tray:

 

The System Tray now has an overspill area, allowing you to relegate attention-hungry applications to a hidden sin bin. Click on the little up arrow on the left-hand side of the System Tray and click Customize to pick and choose which System Tray icons you want to see, and how much you want them to bother you with alerts.

 

 

Boost the text size:

 

The huge screens and high resolutions of today’s flat panel monitors can make it difficult to read on-screen text, particularly if you use your PC as a Media Center on the main living room television. Windows 7 allows you to boost the size of text on screen to up to 150% of its normal size to make it more readable. Right click on the desktop, choose Screen Resolution and select the Make Text And Other Items Larger or Smaller.

 

 

Unpin the default apps:

 

Microsoft has cheekily pinned Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Windows Explorer to the Taskbar, ensuring they remain a constant presence on your desktop. If you want to get shot of them, right click on the app’s Taskbar icon and select Unpin This Program From Taskbar. If you want to replace them with your favourite software, open the application of your choice, right click on its Taskbar icon and select Pin This Program To Taskbar.

 

 

Reverting back to Vista:

 

If you used the upgrade to Windows 7 then you decide ewwwww I do not like that?

 

If you find issues trying to uninstall the upgrade or revert back to Vista and find it impossible.

 

Or you find it impossible to reinstall Vista.

 

Pop in the Vista disk and run a repair.

 

This will get you back up and running with Vista.

 

However you may find Vista a little buggy,if you do then I am afraid it is reinstall Vista.

 

 

ISO burner:

 

Double-click on any DVD or CD .ISO image and a little box popsup.You can now burn an ISO.

 

 

Windows 7 install from USB pen drive:

 

Take a 4GB USB 2.0 thumbdrive, reformat it as FAT32, and simply copy the contents of the Windows 7 Beta ISO image to the memory stick using xcopy e:\ f:\ /e /f (where e: was the DVD drive and f: was the removable drive location).

 

 

Vista looking Task Bar:

 

Right-click on the taskbar and choose the properties dialog. Select the small icons checkbox and under the taskbar buttons setting, choose combine when taskbar is full.

 

 

 

Add-ons:

 

Add-ons can cause slow loading pages.

 

Open IE8/Tools/Manage Add-ons/scroll right in the list view o see which add-on is taking the most time to load.

 

 

Quick Launch is missing:

 

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars / New Toolbar.

 

In the folder selection dialog, enter the following string and hit OK:

 

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

 

Turn off the lock the taskbar setting, and right-click on the divider. Make sure that Show text and Show title are disabled and the view is set to small icons.

 

Use the dividers to rearrange the toolbar ordering to choice, and then lock the taskbar again.

 

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts:

 

Win+Up Maximise

 

Win+Down Restore/Maximise

 

Win+Left Snap to Left

 

Win+Right Snap to Right

 

Win+Shift+Left Jump to Left Monitor

 

Win+Shift+Right Jump to Right Monitor

 

Win+Home Minimise/Restore all other Windows

 

Win+T Focus the first taskbar entry/Pressing again will cycle through them, you can can arrow around.Win+Shift+T cycles backwards.

 

Win+Space Peek at the desktop

 

Win+G Bring gadgets to the top of the Z-order

 

Win+P External display options (mirror, extend desktop, etc)

 

Win+X Mobility Center (same as Vista, but still handy!)

 

Win+#

(# = a number key) Launches a new instance of the application in the Nth slot on the taskbar.

 

Example: Win+1 launches first pinned app, Win+2 launches second, etc.

 

Win + +

Win + -

(plus or minus key) Zoom in or out.

 

 

 

Windows Explorer:

 

Alt+P Show/hide Preview Pane

 

 

 

Taskbar modifiers:

 

Shift + Click on icon Open a new instance

 

Middle click on icon Open a new instance

 

Ctrl + Shift + Click on icon Open a new instance with Admin privileges

 

Shift + Right-click on icon Show window menu (Restore / Minimize / Move / etc)

 

Note: Normally you can just right-click on the window thumbnail to get this menu

 

Shift + Right-click on grouped icon Menu with Restore All / Minimize All / Close All, etc.

 

Ctrl + Click on grouped icon Cycle between the windows (or tabs) in the group

 

 

Please feel free to add your own ideas to the list.

Edited June 1, 2009 by Jelly Bean

[Tootech]

Nice on JB, some useful tips in there.

 

Not sure about this bit though

 

upgrade to Windows 7 then you decide ewwwww I do not like that?

 

:D:D:D

[RandyL]

Looking through it I see some changes in Windows 7 that look like an improvement.

 

Nice tips Jelly Bean.

[wellies]

Some good tips there. I like the idea of giving a Window a good shaking! Just what Windows needs sometimes. :)

[Tootech]

Windows 7 - How To Enable Hibernate

 

Open Command Prompt with Admin rights

 

Click the Start button, type CMD and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter

 

At the command prompt type powercfg /hibernate on and press Enter

 

Close the command prompt

 

You may need to alter your power settings to see Hibernate on the Shutdown menu

 

Do it like this

 

Click the Start button, type Power Options and press Enter

 

Click Change When Computer Sleeps

 

Click Change Advanced Power Settings

 

Expand Sleep Options

 

Change Allow Hybrid Sleep to Off

[Jelly Bean]

XP Mode

This time, you do not have to slap your head that same way when Vista would not run an XP application. For those XP applications that do not work under Windows 7, you can download XP Mode free from the Microsoft website and run XP applications in an emulated XP environment in Windows 7. Imagine Parallels on Mac OS X without the need to fish out money on an extra OS.

 

An easier and quicker way to adjust multiple displays

Do you constantly connect your computer to different external monitors or projectors, especially at work? Try Win + P, and duplicating or extending your display to the other monitor takes just a second. Win + P presents you with an Alt + Tab style menu, which is ideal if you give a lot of presentations at work on your laptop.

 

Shake 'em away

Ever had 10 Notepad, two Powerpoint and 50 Outlook windows open? Want to minimise all of them except the most important one? In Windows 7, you can grab the top of the window and shake it about to scare away all of the other open windows. Simple.

[Match]

On the subject there also is the Snap Feature, To use Snap, drag the title bar of an open window to either side of the desktop to align it there, or drag it to the top of the desktop to maximize the window. To expand a window vertically using Snap, drag the top edge of the window to the top of the desktop. For more information, search for "Snap" in Help and Support.

[Jelly Bean]

Gadgets:

 

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Gadget - Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Windows 7 Gadget Review - Wireless Network Gadget

 

System Monitor Gadget - System Monitor Windows 7 Gadget Review - System Monitor Vista

 

margu-NotebookInfo2 Gadget - margu-NotebookInfo2 Windows 7 Gadget Review - Multifunction Windows Gadget

 

Windows Live Gallery

[Plastic Nev]

I have recently been made aware of this excelent and free, downloadable guide to Windows 7. It is in PDF format and written by Mike Halsey.

Starting at the basic level of how to get started in Windows 7, including installing it to a new empty computer, right through to near computer guru level, it is a must have even for a seasoned user like myself, there are quite a few odd bits I have learned from it.

Download the PDF file from here (24.2MB)

 

Windows 7 Power Users Guide

[neill10]

Thanks Nev, realy good intel. there.