Upgrade to Windows 7

After a complete computer melt-down last month, I bit the bullet and upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on my HP Laptop as part of the repair plan. Luckily for me, I had followed my own advice from the January 2010 article and had been maintaining good backup schedules, had recently signed up for a hosted Microsoft Exchange plan (mostly so that I could sync my BlackBerry to my Outlook program over-the-air). That meant my emails were all restored in about 5 minutes of contacting the provider http://www.exchangemymail.com/.

In any case, after the upgrade I found some super tricks that had me almost happy my laptop decided to mess up (well not really…but still great tricks).

Here is a list of things to look out for or try if you are upgrading to Windows 7:

• Start Button - now a fancy icon in the lower left corner instead of text. No longer “folds out” into sub-menus and sub-sub-menus, but stays at same size for submenus showing the current contents.

• Removal of “My” before Documents, Pictures, Computer etc – and removal of many icons from Desktop – right click on Computer in Start menu to display Computer on Desktop. Create shortcuts on Desktop to add other items.

• Powerful Search – just start typing into the Search bar at the bottom of the Start button menu to have a super-fast way of locating documents, programs, websites and more that contain your search terms.

• Window Tricks:
  • Aero Peek - hovering over a taskbar icon shows the thumbnail of that program. Hovering over the thumbnail shows a preview of that program in full view. Aero Peek also refers to the 'Show desktop' button to the far right of the new taskbar.
  • Aero Shake - Shaking (quickly dragging back and forth) a window minimizes all other windows. Shaking it again brings them back.
  • Aero Snap - Clicking and dragging a window to the right or left side of the desktop causes the window to fill the respective half of the screen. Snapping a window to the top of the desktop maximizes it. Resizing a window to touch the top or bottom edge of the screen maximizes the window to full height, whilst retaining its width; these windows will then slide horizontally if moved by the title bar, or can be pulled off, which returns the window to its original height.
  • Type ALT key – to see window menu bar

• Jump Lists - take you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you turn to each day. To open a Jump List, just right-click a program icon on the Windows 7 taskbar. (You'll also find them on the Start menu.)

• Snipping Tool  built in tool to capture screen areas to be pasted into other programs

Sticky Notes  a handy part of the Windows 7 Accessories. To find them go to Start>Accessories>Sticky Notes. After creating Notes, use CTRL Tab to flip through notes, right click to change colour, drag lower right corner to resize/reshape

• Gadgets – an infinite number of helpful tools. Browse the offerings by right-clicking the desktop and selecting Gadgets.

I hope that you find the additions and improvements helpful and interesting. I can’t help but look back to Windows 3.1 and be amazed at all the benefits we enjoy now!

Donna Mills is a Certified Microsoft Office Specialist and Certified BlackBerry Support Specialist. She offers training to Toronto and area companies to make employees more comfortable and more efficient using the tools they use everyday. To arrange for Donna to come to your office to train you on your Microsoft Office Software or BlackBerry Smartphone email mills.donna@advancecomputertraining or call 416.917.7754.