Thread: [Guide] Windows 7 Tips & Tricks

You have upgraded to Windows 7, love the new taskbar, and enjoy the power of using the cool Libraries feature. But now you want more. You want the cool tips and tricks that make Windows 7 fun!
So here are the best ones to help you get the most out of your new OS.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Using the mouse, you can drag-‘n-dock windows to either side of the screen, or drag it to the top to maximize it. These keyboard shortcuts are even faster:

• Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock the window to the left and right side of the screen
• Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximize and restore/minimize
• Win+M minimizes everything
• Alt+Up, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow navigate to parent folder, or browse Back and Forward through folders in Explorer
• Win+Home minimizes/restores all open windows except the active window
• Alt+Win+# accesses the Jump List of program number ‘#’ on the taskbar.

2. Access Jump Lists with the Left Mouse Button
Jump Lists usually show up when you right-click on a taskbar icon. However, they can also be accessed by holding the left mouse button and dragging upwards. If you’re using a laptop touchpad or a touch screen, this is convenient because you do not have to click any button to access a context menu.

3. Add Any Folder to Favorites

You can add any library or folder to the Favorites section in Windows Explorer. To add a folder, navigate to it in Explorer, right-click Favorites in the left navigation pane, and select Add current location to Favorites. Now you get quick access to your favorite folders in all File->Save As dialogs!

4. Pin Frequently Used Folders to the Taskbar
Right-click, drag, and pin your favorite folders to Windows Explorer on the taskbar. They will now show up in the Jump List when you right click on Explorer giving you quick access to your favorite folders.

5. Pin Control Panel to the Taskbar

You cannot pin the Control Panel to the taskbar via the Start Menu or by drag and drop. Open the Control Panel and right-click its taskbar icon to pin it to the taskbar. An advantage of this is that Control Panel’s Jump List allows quick access to recently used functions.

6. Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs
You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7. Right-click the program icon and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab, click in Shortcut key, to set the keyboard shortcut for that program.

7. Open Command Prompt in Any Folder
Like the command prompt? Miss the ‘Open Command Window Here’ Windows XP power toy? Press ‘Shift’ when right-clicking on a folder to get that option in the context menu. This also works on the desktop. No power toy required!

8. View Expanded ‘Send To’ Menu
Press Shift when right-clicking on a folder to get an expanded Send To menu.

9. Adjust Screen Text with Clear Type
Use Clear Type Tuner for the best look on your LCD monitor or laptop screen. Run ‘cttune.exe’ from the Start Menu search box, or go to the Control Panel Display applet, and select Adjust ClearType Text from the left.

10. Get Exact Colors On Your Screen
If you are an artist or you work with colors, use the Calibrate Color option in the Control Panel Display applet or run dccw.exe from the Start Menu search box. You can adjust gamma, brightness, contrast, and color balance, ensuring that colors are displayed correctly on your screen.

11. Customize the Power Button
If you restart your computer more often than you shut it down, change the default Shutdown power button to Restart. Right-click on Start, select Properties, and choose the Power button action that you use the most.

12. Customize Number of Items in Jump Lists & Start Menu
Right-click Start, select Properties, click Customize and choose the number of recent programs to be shown in the Start Menu and the number of items displayed in Jump Lists from the Start Menu Size section below.

13. Search Internet from the Start Menu

Enable Internet search from the Start Menu using your default browser. Run GPEDIT.MSC from the Start Menu search box to start the Group Policy Editor. In the left pane, go to User Configuration->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Taskbar. In the right pane, right-click to Edit and Enable Add Search Internet link to Start Menu.

14. Add Videos to Start Menu
Windows 7 does not place a link to your videos on the Start Menu by default. To add a link to your videos on the Start Menu, right-click Start, select Properties, click on Customize. In the Videos section at the bottom, choose Display as a link.

15. Single Click Screen Lock
You can lock your computer using the Win+L keyboard shortcut. Here’s another way to do it with a single mouse click. Right-click on your desktop, select New, Shortcut. In Type the location of the item, enter rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation. Click Next, name the shortcut ‘Quick Lock’, and Finish.

If you wish, you can make it look pretty by giving it a lock or keys icon: Right-click, select Properties, click Change Icon, enter shell32.dll, and select any icon you wish. Drag this shortcut and pin it to the taskbar, after which you can delete the desktop shortcut.

16. Customize Sticky Notes
You can format your Sticky Notes, by selecting text and using different keyboard shortcuts as shown in this screen capture:

17. Shortcut to Run Program as Administrator
You can Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar icon to run the application as an Administrator with full rights (provided your account has permissions). Simply Shift+Right-Click on any program shortcut to run it as a different user, if for example you need higher privileges when logged in with your child’s account.

18. Boost performance with ReadyBoost
ReadyBoost improves your system performance by using faster USB Flash Drives instead of slower hard disks for system operations. It works best using flash drives with at least 1 GB of storage. Simply insert your flash drive, and if it meets certain performance benchmarks, Windows 7 will ask you if you want to use it for ReadyBoost and recommend the size to reserve.

19. Secure USB Drives with BitLocker
Secure your USB flash drives using BitLocker encryption. Right-click on your USB drive in My Computer, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect sensitive data on your thumb drives.
The next time you use your USB drive on another computer, it will prompt you for the password before allowing you read-only access to your flash drive. You can even use the drive on older computers running Windows XP/Vista.

Follow the next tip only if you’re knowledgeable enough to edit the Windows registry. Before making any changes, make sure you back up your registry.

20. Faster Thumbnail Previews

The taskbar shows thumbnail previews of opened windows when you hover the mouse over the program icon. By default, it takes a little time for the preview to appear. Make the previews appear faster with this registry tweak:
Go to Start, enter and run regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse. On the right, open the MouseHoverTime key and reduce its value from the default 400 to around 150.
Be careful, as decreasing it further may cause problems.

Credit: makeuseof.com

Thanx for this. I truly love this OS. Not having the videos link in the start menu makes me crazy. that along with the keyboard shortcuts for minimizing windows and great to know

Amazing.. i learnt a ton of new things then.. just the other day i was using XP and wished i could split windows left and right!!!. (:S maybe u can do it on XP but smeh, using Win7 now)

Thanks.

Thanks a ton for this post. I am loving windows 7 so far. It feels faster than vista and I find it much more smooth to run. So far I havent really had any problems with it.

Do windows 7 ultimate edition really lack the calendar ? or is it just me who can't find it? Or have there been added any alternatives?
Also I seriosly HATE IE8 and their attempts to make "bling" your new favorite browsers, thoose data they put about it must be a lie. Like I searched for "favorite search engines" under Microsoft own choose page, and Google first came on page 4 and with bad ratings, while all the microsoft things ( including Bling) had best ratings. Seems like cheat in my eyes.

yea man, win 7 is unparalleled imo, I love it.

Thanks for taking the time to write this tuto!

Everyone should book mark this tut. I am sure majority will be moving toward 7.
Nice post!

what are the actual benefits of windows 7? can't think of any reason to drop xp imo.