Two Microsoft employees have posted helpful Windows 7 tips, tricks and secrets this week.Tim Sneath has posted 30 secrets/tips on his blog. Some of the highlights include the following:
Get Quick Launch toolbar back
- Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars / New Toolbar
- In the folder selection dialog, enter the following string and hit OK:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch - Turn off the "lock the taskbar" setting, and right-click on the divider. Make sure that "Show text" and "Show title" are disabled and the view is set to "small icons".
- Use the dividers to rearrange the toolbar ordering to choice, and then lock the taskbar again.
Right-click on the taskbar and choose the properties dialog. Select the "small icons" checkbox and under the "taskbar buttons" setting, choose "combine when taskbar is full".
Starting explorer from "My Computer"
To do this, navigate to Windows Explorer in the Start Menu (it's in the Accessories folder). Then edit the properties and change the target to read:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Old behaviour for Windows Live Messenger
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\ and set the properties of msnmsgr.exe to Vista compatibility mode. This will place the Messenger icon back in your system tray and remove the 2 annoying tabs on the taskbar.
If you're wondering about the fish in the Windows 7 fish then it's a Betta Fish and also has 7 bubbles to signify Windows 7.
Brandon Paddock has posted a full list of the Winkey combinations for Windows 7 on his blog too.
Don't forget so far in our Windows 7 Overview series, we have published the following:
- Windows 7 beta quick review
- Windows 7: HomeGroup Overview
- Windows 7: BitLocker To Go & Biometric improvements overview
- Windows 7: Easy Connect
- Windows 7: Problem Steps Recorder
- Windows 7: Action Center Overview
- Windows 7: User Account Control (UAC) Overview
- Windows 7: Calibate Your Display
- Windows 7: Federated Search
- Windows 7: Device Stage
- Windows 7: Internet Explorer 8 Overview
Over the next few weeks we will be adding many more focus items on Windows 7 including Touch, Windows 7 networking and media enhancements. Stay tuned for the ultimate Windows 7 focus from Neowin.net.
I for one do.
+1
me too
i was bitchin about the loss of quicklaunch, but for the few days using win7, i realize i only used 5% of them, which can be pinned to the taskbar.
not sure if this is mentioned before, but for those people adverse to using right-clicks (or using a 1-button apple mouse for your PC), you can hold and drag a taskbar icon (in an upward motion) to show the jump-list.
to close the jump list, just hold and drag downwards.
EDIT: Got it....it was hidden...
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
The /root option is incorrect here and will cause unexpected behavior in the window that is launched.
Instead, just make the shortcut to:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
...and it will work much better.
The guy, whom is a Microsoft employee, has to use a third-party text editor. That's pretty sad, no?
The guy, whom is a Microsoft employee, has to use a third-party text editor. That's pretty sad, no?
Why is that sad? Notepad2 is awesome, I use it as well.
Pls submit this as a bug :-) its critical too...bcos grouppolicy is wat most of enterprise rely upon.
This OS will definitely be a success now!
you have sumed it up
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.