Hiding the Windows Live Messenger icon in Windows 7

If you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, you'll have noticed that the icon now resides on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone. If you prefer to keep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray, where it's been for previous releases, just close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode.

Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows 7

If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment to restore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type "%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.

Now right-click the taskbar, clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look

Recover screen space in Windows 7

The new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does consume a little more screen real estate than we'd like. 

 

Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.

Desktop slideshow in Windows 7

Windows 7 comes with some very attractive new wallpapers, and it's not always easy to decide which one you like the best. So why not let choose a few, and let Windows display them all in a desktop slideshow? Right-click an empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, then hold down Ctrl as you click on the images you like. 

 

Choose how often you'd like the images to be changed (anything from daily to once every 10 seconds), select Shuffle if you'd like the backgrounds to appear in a random order, then click Save Changes and enjoy the show.

Right-click everything

At first glance Windows 7 bears a striking resemblance to Vista, but there's an easy way to begin spotting the differences - just right-click things.

Right-click an empty part of the desktop, for instance, and you'll find a menu entry to set your screen resolution. No need to go browsing through the display settings any more.

Right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar for speedy access to common system folders: Documents, Pictures, the Windows folder, and more.

And if you don't plan on using Internet Explorer then you probably won't want its icon permanently displayed on the taskbar. Right-click the icon, select 'Unpin this program from the taskbar', then go install Firefox, instead.

Automatically switch your default printer in Windows 7

Windows 7's location-aware printing allows the operating system to automatically switch your default printer as you move from one network to another.

To set this up, first click Start, type Devices, and click the Devices and Printers link.

Select a printer and click Manage Default Printers (this is only visible on a mobile device, like a laptop - you won't see it on a PC).

Choose the "Change my default printer when I change networks" option, select a network, the default printer you'd like to use, and click Add.

Repeat the process for other networks available, and pick a default printer for each one.

And now, as you connect to a new network, Windows 7 will check this list and set the default printer to the one that you've defined.

Adjusting Windows Task bar size In Windows 7

In Windows 7, the usual size of the Windows Taskbar is a bit larger than usual. This takes some extra space at the bottom of the computer screen. This makes selecting the applications easier as the buttons are bigger. However for those who are using smaller screens this may be a bit annoying as it takes more space on the screen. If you want you can make the size of the taskbar smaller by following the steps below.

1. In a blank space in the taskbar right click and select properties.
2. You will see the ‘Taskbar and Start Menu Properties’ dialog box with many tabs.
3. Here click ‘Use small icons’ and select it.
4. Now click OK and close the dialog box.

Now the task bar will occupy smaller space. If you want you can also hide the task bar when not required. If you want to hide the task bar, in step 2 above, select the ‘Taskbar’tab, and in ‘Taskbar appearance’, select ‘Autohide the taskbar’. If you choose this, if you bring the mouse to the bottom of the screen the taskbar will appear and if you move away from the task bar, it will be hidden.

Set the time zone in Windows 7

System administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility, which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command
tzutil /s "gmt standard time"

The command "tzutil /g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists all possible time zones, and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the command works.

Windows 7 Shortcut Keys

Here are some useful shortcut keys for Windows 7 users.
Windows key + Up Arrow = Active window will be maximized
Windows key + Down Arrow = Active window will be minimized
Windows key + Left Arrow = Active window will be moved to the left
Windows key + Right Arrow = Active window will be moved to the right
Windows key + Home Key = All windows will be minimized. If already minimized they will be opened.
Windows key + T = The first application in task bar will be given focus. If you press T continuously the focus will be switched to other applications in that order.
Windows key + Space bar = If you keep pressed, Windows Startup will be shown.
Windows key +  1-9 any number key = The respective application in the task bar will be given focus.
Windows key +  Plus key = Window will be zoomed in
Windows key + Minus key = Window will be zoomed out.

Two Ways To Upgrade From Windows XP To Windows 7

Windows 7 is till now the best Windows operating system released till date, as per the user feedback, sales numbers and experience it has got some very positive comments.

All those user who are still using XP and may want to upgrade to windows 7 are out of luck, as Microsoft does not allow to upgrade from XP to windows 7 as both are vastly different OS in terms of feature and their structure.

However there are 2 ways with which you can partially upgrade from XP to windows 7, but both of these method will require some input from your side.

The first method is to install windows 7 in dual boot, after running the setup from Windows XP so it will get added to the boot loader. But it will result in wastage of disk space and it will require a different partition also to get installed this way.

Another method would be to backup all user data and settings with windows easy settings transfer and do a clean install after removing Windows XP completely, in this case you will be requiring to install the old software which you used to use again in the new Windows 7 OS.

We would suggest you to use Windows 7 upgrade advisor to check for issues and problems with devices and software that might occur after installing windows 7, so that you can come to know whether your system can run windows 7 smoothly or not.