Windows 7 Tips
Tim Sneath on msdn.com has compiled a list of 30 Windows 7 secrets. Excellent for anyone who enjoys productivity.
The new keyboard shortcuts (and mouse gesture equivalents) for the new window management features allow you to dock windows to the sides, maximize/restore the window vertically (without changing window width), move a window to another monitor, hide all non-active windows, peek at the desktop (allowing you to see gadgets or icons without moving windows), set focus to the taskbar, or launch apps from the taskbar, all just with simple key combinations involving the Windows key.
Another useful tip is to Shift+Right-Click a folder to show the "Open Command Prompt Here" option in the context menu, which sets current working directory to that folder within the command shell.
Tim mentions there are wallpapers for various locales that are hidden in the system. I'm wondering if he was looking at a different build, because there aren't a whole lot of international wallpapers at C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT. If you want to check them out and you can't see them in explorer, you may need to set explorer to show protected operating system files temporarily. They do however have more Windows 7 theme packs online, including some from Japan (Tokyo Tower), and Germany. Unfortunately changing locale to ko-KR in that last link doesn't bring up a themes page for Korea ㅠ_ㅠ
He's got some other great tips, including how to boot Windows 7 from a USB stick, an alternate way to bring up Jump lists using a mouse gesture, and how to calibrate ClearType text and display colors.
I think the best one he's got on there, as simple as it is, is to dock the taskbar to the left side. In previous versions of Windows, this really wasn't a great option because the names of the apps looked horrible. But now the taskbar shows no text by default, so it looks like it was made for docking on the side. Most importantly, it gives you the extra vertical space on smaller displays. I've already docked my taskbar to the left on my laptop, and that's where it's gonna stay.
The Siamese fighting fish joke is kinda lame. Apparently, another name for a Siamese fighting fish is "betta". Please stick to the day job, MS devs -_-
The new keyboard shortcuts (and mouse gesture equivalents) for the new window management features allow you to dock windows to the sides, maximize/restore the window vertically (without changing window width), move a window to another monitor, hide all non-active windows, peek at the desktop (allowing you to see gadgets or icons without moving windows), set focus to the taskbar, or launch apps from the taskbar, all just with simple key combinations involving the Windows key.
Another useful tip is to Shift+Right-Click a folder to show the "Open Command Prompt Here" option in the context menu, which sets current working directory to that folder within the command shell.
Tim mentions there are wallpapers for various locales that are hidden in the system. I'm wondering if he was looking at a different build, because there aren't a whole lot of international wallpapers at C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT. If you want to check them out and you can't see them in explorer, you may need to set explorer to show protected operating system files temporarily. They do however have more Windows 7 theme packs online, including some from Japan (Tokyo Tower), and Germany. Unfortunately changing locale to ko-KR in that last link doesn't bring up a themes page for Korea ㅠ_ㅠ
He's got some other great tips, including how to boot Windows 7 from a USB stick, an alternate way to bring up Jump lists using a mouse gesture, and how to calibrate ClearType text and display colors.
I think the best one he's got on there, as simple as it is, is to dock the taskbar to the left side. In previous versions of Windows, this really wasn't a great option because the names of the apps looked horrible. But now the taskbar shows no text by default, so it looks like it was made for docking on the side. Most importantly, it gives you the extra vertical space on smaller displays. I've already docked my taskbar to the left on my laptop, and that's where it's gonna stay.
The Siamese fighting fish joke is kinda lame. Apparently, another name for a Siamese fighting fish is "betta". Please stick to the day job, MS devs -_-
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alphatrak
Bringing you the coding smackdown since '95
Bringing you the coding smackdown since '95
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