Get a power efficiency report:
Windows 7 power efficiency reportA laptop's 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:
1. 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."
2. At the command line, type in the following:
powercfg -energy -output \Folder\Energy_Report.html
where \Folder represents the folder where you want the report to be placed.
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 minimize all the other windows -- in previous versions of Windows you had to minimize them individually.
1. 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."
2. At the command line, type in the following:
powercfg -energy -output \Folder\Energy_Report.html
where \Folder represents the folder where you want the report to be placed.
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 minimize all the other windows -- in previous versions of Windows you had to minimize them individually.
With Windows 7's "shake" feature, though, you can minimize 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 minimize 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.
You can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window key-Home key combination -- although doing that is not nearly as much fun.
Windows Management:
By now, you’ve probably seen that Windows 7 does a lot to make window management easier: you can “dock” a window to the left or right half of the screen by simply dragging it to the edge; similarly, you can drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it, and double-click the window top / bottom border to maximize it vertically with the same horizontal width. What you might not know is that all these actions are also available with keyboard shortcuts:
Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock;
Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximizes and restores / minimizes;
Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock;
Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximizes and restores / minimizes;
Win+Shift+Up Arrow and Win+Shift+Down Arrow maximizes and restores the vertical size.
This side-by-side docking feature is particularly invaluable on widescreen monitors – it makes the old Windows way of shift-clicking on two items in the taskbar and then using the context menu to arrange them feel really painful.
This side-by-side docking feature is particularly invaluable on widescreen monitors – it makes the old Windows way of shift-clicking on two items in the taskbar and then using the context menu to arrange them feel really painful.
Display Projection:
Had enough of messing around with weird and wonderful OEM display driver utilities to get your notebook display onto an external projector? In that case, you’ll be pleased to know that projection is really quick and simple with Windows 7. Just hit Win+P, and you’ll be rewarded by the following pop-up window:
The Win+P Projector Settings window allows you to quickly switch display settings.
Use the arrow keys (or keep hitting Win+P) to switch to “clone”, “extend” or “external only” display settings. You can also access the application as displayswitch.exe.
The Win+P Projector Settings window allows you to quickly switch display settings.
Use the arrow keys (or keep hitting Win+P) to switch to “clone”, “extend” or “external only” display settings. You can also access the application as displayswitch.exe.
If you want broader control over presentation settings, you can also press Win+X to open the Windows Mobility Center, which allows you to turn on a presentation “mode” that switches IM clients to do not disturb, disables screensavers, sets a neutral wallpaper etc. (Note that this feature is also available in Windows Vista.)
Opening multiple Instances of the same program
If you ever had to do phone support you know how hard it can be to understand what the user on the other end of the phone did and wants. The Problem Steps Recorder is a sweet little tool in Windows 7 that can be used by the user to record his steps.
psr.exe
All that the user needs to do is start the recorder by entering psr in the Start Menu box and click on Start Record in the program interface. Screenshots will be taken from user actions. It is possible to add comments at any time if the user feels so. The whole recording will be saved as a zip file containing a slideshow of the actions.
Want to add a favorite folders to Windows Explorer to be able to access them faster? Just drag and drop the folder to the favorites menu. It will remain there until you delete it with the delete key again.
Windows 7 introduces several new keyboard shortcuts for window management. Some useful ones are:
* [Windows Shift Left Arrow] or [Windows Shift Right Arrow] to move windows from one computer monitor to another.
* [Windows Left Arrow] or [Windows Right Arrow] to dock windows to the left or right side
* [Windows Up Arrow] to maximize a window
* [Windows Down Arrow] to restore or minimize windows
* [Windows Home] to minimize all windows but the active one
Pressing [Win Number] will start a new instance of a pinned taskbar item. You should also note that the items can be dragged and dropped into different positions easily.
Multiple open instances:
Want to open multiple instances of the same program? Maybe a second command prompt or another application that can be opened in multiple instances? Instead of opening the program again the usual way you can simply press the SHIFT key and left-click on the first instance in the Windows Taskbar to open a second one.Problem Steps Recorder:
If you ever had to do phone support you know how hard it can be to understand what the user on the other end of the phone did and wants. The Problem Steps Recorder is a sweet little tool in Windows 7 that can be used by the user to record his steps.
psr.exe
All that the user needs to do is start the recorder by entering psr in the Start Menu box and click on Start Record in the program interface. Screenshots will be taken from user actions. It is possible to add comments at any time if the user feels so. The whole recording will be saved as a zip file containing a slideshow of the actions.
Pin Favorite Folders:
Want to add a favorite folders to Windows Explorer to be able to access them faster? Just drag and drop the folder to the favorites menu. It will remain there until you delete it with the delete key again.
Moving Windows and such:
Windows 7 introduces several new keyboard shortcuts for window management. Some useful ones are:
* [Windows Shift Left Arrow] or [Windows Shift Right Arrow] to move windows from one computer monitor to another.
* [Windows Left Arrow] or [Windows Right Arrow] to dock windows to the left or right side
* [Windows Up Arrow] to maximize a window
* [Windows Down Arrow] to restore or minimize windows
* [Windows Home] to minimize all windows but the active one
Shortcuts to start pinned taskbar items:
Pressing [Win Number] will start a new instance of a pinned taskbar item. You should also note that the items can be dragged and dropped into different positions easily.
Use hidden international wallpapers and themes:
When you first install Windows 7, it asks for your language, time and currency. Based on your responses, it installs a set of wallpapers and themes. If you choose English (United States) for your time and currency format, for example, the available desktop backgrounds and themes will include a United States section with scenery from locations such as Maine, the Southwest and so on.
Hidden, though, are background scenery and themes from other English-speaking countries -- Australia, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Normally, you can't access those backgrounds or themes, but there is a simple way you can install and use them:
1. In the search box in the Start menu, type "C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT"
2. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders under C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU for Australia, CA for Canada, GB for Great Britain, US for the United States, and ZA for South Africa.
For any of the countries whose wallpaper and themes you want to use, go into its Theme folder, for example, "C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT\
Hidden, though, are background scenery and themes from other English-speaking countries -- Australia, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Normally, you can't access those backgrounds or themes, but there is a simple way you can install and use them:
1. In the search box in the Start menu, type "C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT"
2. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders under C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU for Australia, CA for Canada, GB for Great Britain, US for the United States, and ZA for South Africa.
For any of the countries whose wallpaper and themes you want to use, go into its Theme folder, for example, "C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT\
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