Our favourite tweaks for Microsoft's latest OS
Getting to know Windows 7? Here are 20 ways to get around the interface and make it act the way you want.
Shake your desktop free of clutter
If you frequently run multiple programs simultaneously, your desktop can get extremely cluttered.
This can get annoying if you're working on one program and want to minimise all the other windows - in previous versions of Windows you had to minimise them individually.
With Windows 7's 'shake' feature, though, you can minimise every window except the one in which you're currently working - in a single step.
Click and hold the title bar of the window you want to keep on the desktop; while still holding the title bar, shake it quickly back and forth until all of the other windows minimise to the taskbar. Then let go. To make them return, shake the title bar again.
You can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window key-Home key combination - although doing that is not nearly as much fun.
Get a power efficiency report
Have a laptop and want to get more battery life out of it? Windows 7 includes a hidden built-in tool that will examine your laptop's energy use and make recommendations on how to improve it.
To use it:
- Run a command prompt as an administrator. To do this, type cmd in the search box, and when the cmd icon appears, right-click it and choose ‘Run as administrator'.
- At the command line, type in the following: powercfg -energy -output \Folder\Energy_Report.html ( \Folder should represents the folder where you want the report to be placed).
- For about a minute, Windows 7 will examine the behaviour of your laptop. It will then analyse it and create a report in HTML format in the folder you specified.
- Double-click the file, and you'll get a report - follow its recommendations for ways to improve power performance.
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Comments
Lou Ayers said: HelloGreat article - but it glosses over a problem that Ive been having since I installed Win 7 I cannot get Hybernation Ive asked the Microsoft Forum but no one can help Can you
John said: Several of your tips involve using the Group Policy Editor gpeditmscMost of your readers will be using Home versions of Windows which dont come with gpeditmscTheyll just get an error message if they follow your instructions
Peter Stonebridge said: I experienced Windows 7 for all of 7 days and loved it Sadly my ailing computer gave up with a motherboard fault Opinion is divided as to whether Microsoft will allow me to reload Windows 7 into my new computer being despatched shortly or whether they will force me to buy a new copy If they do I will go back to XP3 it must be cheaper A good topical talking point for readers