Windows 7 Tips & Tricks

Disable Sidebar/Desktop Gadgets

If you just can’t see the point of the desktop Gadgets included in Windows 7, or even the Sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily disable them with a simple configuration change.

To disable all gadgets, simply open up Control Panel and type 'features' into the search box then click on 'Turn Windows Features on or off' under 'Programs and Features'. Uncheck the 'Windows Gadget Platform' checkbox and click 'OK'. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Change The Taskbar To Vista Style

While many think the new taskbar feature in Windows 7 is a great improvement, others may not want to use it. The new Windows 7 taskbar does take some getting used to for sure. However, if you need to get things done on your new OS quickly, you don’t have time to learn how it works.

To get the Vista style taskbar back Right-click an open area on the Taskbar and select 'Properties'. Next, put a check in the checkbox labeled 'Use Small Icons' then select 'Combine when Taskbar is full' from the Taskbar Buttons dropdown menu.

Disable System Restore

If you need a way to save some hard drive space one trick is to decrease the size or completely disable the System Restore feature. To do this, Click on the Start button then right-click on 'Computer' and select 'Properties'. In the left pane, click on the 'System Protection' link. Select your your Local Disk in the 'Available Drives' section then click on the 'Configure' button. Select the 'Turn Off System Protection' radio button and click 'OK'. To delete any Restore Points Windows has already created, click on the 'Delete' button and select 'Continue'.

Disable User Account Control

Windows 7 makes it much easier to deal with UAC settings, and in fact you don’t have to completely disable UAC if you don’t want to. Just type UAC into the start menu or Control Panel search box. You can simply drag the slider up or down, depending on how often you want to be alerted. If you drag it all the way down to the bottom, you’ll have disabled it entirely.

Using Windows 7 Compatability Mode

Windows Vista or Windows 7 will have problems running some older versions of applications, just because so much has changed under the hood from Windows XP days. Thankfully there is a compatibility mode that can be easily set for each application.

To configure the compatibility mode for an application, locate the installation directory of the application and right-click on the program's .exe file then select 'Properties'. Now, select the 'Compatability' tab then select which version of Windows you want.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Win+G            Cycle between the Gadgets on the Desktop
Win+M            Minimizes all windows and programs
Win+P            Adjust presentation seetings for the display
Win+Home         Minimizes all windows except the active one
Win+Space        All windows become transparent
Win+Up Arrow     Maximize or restore a window
Win+Down Arrow   Minimize the current window
Win+Left arrow   Dock the current window on the left side of the scrren
Win+Right Arrow  Dock the current to the right side of the screen
Alt+P            Toggles the preview pane in Windows Explorer
Alt+Up           Navigate to the parent folder in the current window
Alt+Left Arrow   Go back one folder view
Alt+Right Arrow  Go forward one folder view
Ctrl+Shift+N     Creates a new window in Windows Explorer

Enable Control Panel God Mode

Windows 7 has changed the Control Panel a little, but it's still too difficult to locate all the applets and options that you might need. God Mode, however, while not being particularly godlike, does offer an easier way to access everything you could want from a single folder.

Double-clicking the new folder will display shortcuts to functions in the Action Center, the Network and Sharing Center, Power options, troubleshooting tools, user accounts and others - more than 260 options in total. To create the folder, siimply create a new folder in any folder (This will not work on the desktop) and name the new folder:
Everything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Hidden Themes for Windows 7

Windows 7 by default has only few themes  available for customization. People who are not satisfied with these in build themes can get few more themes for Windows 7 which are actually hidden. These themes are available for certain regional countries such as Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States and South Africa. These themes can be revealed and used by the following steps.


Hidden Themes for Windows 7

Published on 13 January 2009 by Nirmal in Windows 7
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Windows 7 by default has only few themes available for customization. People who are not satisfied with these in build themes can get few more themes for Windows 7 which are actually hidden. These themes are available for certain regional countries such as Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States and South Africa. These themes can be revealed and used by the following steps.

win7-themes

1. Open Windows Explorer and click Organize
2. Select Folder and Search Options and navigate to the View tab.
3. Select Show hidden files, folders and drivers and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). Click Yes, if prompted for confirmation.
4. Click OK and now browse to the folder: Windows\Globalization\MCT
5. There are five folders here with the name with format MCT-XX (where XX is AU, CA, GB, US, or ZA) which represents globalization settings for each region. Go into the folder that you want to activate its theme.
Note that AU, CA and ZA regions have the same themes.
6. Open the Theme folder inside the selected region folder.
7. Double click on the XX.theme file to apply the theme to the Windows 7 desktop system. Once a theme is executed and activated, the theme will be available and saved into Personalization options, so that user can select this theme directly from the personalization settings.
8. Now to go to Folder Options to reverse the first 5 steps to hide the hidden and protected system files and folders again.

If you have multiple monitors, this is a very useful shortcut:

Windows Key+Shift+Left = Move window to the left monitor
Windows Key+Shift+Right = Move window to the right monitor

Other tips and tricks:
If you have UAC enabled, holding ctrl and shift before executing a command prompt will run it in administrative privileges mode.
If you right click on a folder while holding shift, you can open a command prompt in that folder.

If you have multiple monitors, this is a very useful shortcut:

Windows Key+Shift+Left = Move window to the left monitor
Windows Key+Shift+Right = Move window to the right monitor

Other tips and tricks:
If you have UAC enabled, holding ctrl and shift before executing a command prompt will run it in administrative privileges mode.
If you right click on a folder while holding shift, you can open a command prompt in that folder.

Thanks for tips... 

If you have multiple monitors, this is a very useful shortcut:

Windows Key+Shift+Left = Move window to the left monitor
Windows Key+Shift+Right = Move window to the right monitor

Other tips and tricks:
If you have UAC enabled, holding ctrl and shift before executing a command prompt will run it in administrative privileges mode.
If you right click on a folder while holding shift, you can open a command prompt in that folder.

Thanks for tips... 

Anytime  Hope they helped