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These 10 videos from CNET TV cover a range of useful tips for Windows 7 users, including how to make a system repair disc, how to customize the Start menu, what some of the best hot keys for the operating system are, and more.
There's also advice on how to upgrade from either Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, how to fix Ethernet driver problems in VMWare, how to burn an ISO directly from the newly enhanced Windows Explorer, and how to get to the jump list from your left mouse button.
Windows 7's calculator is packed with features. Who knew?
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Some of my personal faves we haven't yet turned into videos. Desktop junkies will love that you can now set up a desktop wallpaper slideshow. From the desktop, right-click and choose Personalize, or go to Appearance and Personalization in the Control Panel. Click Desktop Background at the bottom, and change the picture location to the folder you want. Alternatively, you can choose images from across multiple photos. Unfortunately, the Aero Glass taskbar color won't change to complement each new slide, but you can set it to rotate images as often as every 10 seconds.
I can't vouch for its efficacy, but another trick is that Windows 7 includes a monitor color management tool which photographers and graphic designers are sure to appreciate. You can get to it either through the Screen Resolution window's Advanced options, then clicking Color Management, or going to Run and typing DCCW.
If you right-click on a program or a shortcut launcher, you can now pin it to either the Start menu or the Taskbar, which should save you from having to run the program to get it onto the taskbar. Another functional redo has been visited upon the Calculator. There are new views for Programmers and Statistics, and there are new features for quickly doing unit conversion, date differentials, and using templates to create customized finance calculations.
There are far more Windows 7 tips and tricks than these, of course. If you have a favorite, tell us in the comments below.
Rafe Needleman and Tom Merritt talk tips for fixing your own computers, as well as take live calls from the audience.
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Go to Settings, then General, then Keyboard and turn off autocorrection. You can turn off autocapitalization, too.
Also while you're there, you can turn on or off the option for a caps lock key and turn on or off the option to make double tapping the space bar type a period--good for typing Web addresses quickly.
You need to have an app installed, like BeeJiveIM, that uses notifications.
Then go to settings, then notifications, and turn on notifications.
For more precise control, under notifications, you can go into a particular apps settings and choose to have notifications by sound, text alert, or having a number badge show up on the app's icon.
Go to Tools and select Manage Add-ons.
Then select Search providers.
You'll see Microsoft Live Search and whichever options you chose during install. If that was Live Search, that's all you'll see.
Now click Find more search providers.
You'll get a list of various options. Press "Add to Internet Explorer" to add the providers you want. Each time you'll get the option to make it a default search provider, and include terms in the suggested search terms. If you don't see your favorite. Scroll to the bottom and click "Create your own search provider."
Now open a new tab, and enter the URL of the search engine you want to include. Search for the word TEST in all capital letters. Copy the URL of the search results page by highlighting it and pressing the "Windows" and "C" keys at the same time.
Now click back to the tab that says "crate your own search provider." Use the "Windows" and "V" keys to paste the URL you copied earlier into the box marked URL. Then give the search engine a name. And press Install Search Provider. If you want to make this your default search provider, check that box. Then press Add one more time.
Now when you type a keyword in the search box, icons for all the search engines you selected will show up. Just click on one with your mouse to search the keywords you typed in that engine.
No matter how good your pop-up blocker is, every so often one of these suckers slips through. No big deal, right? You just click on the 'X' to close it, right? WRONG!
Here's a quick tip for how to close pop-ups safely.
You don't want to click on that 'X' because some nasty pop-ups may deliver malicious software to your computer no matter where you click, even clicking the 'X' to close the pop-up window.
We know this because of the horror stories sent by users to Jessica Dolcourt at CNET Download.com.
Here's what to do to avoid the malicious software.
Step One: Read the Cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (I other words, Don't Panic!)
Step Two: Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to call up the Windows Task Manager.
Step Three: In the Applications tab, and look for the title of the pop-up. If you're not sure, click the pop-up in the taskbar, don't click the actual pop-up Window and then examine the title bar. You may need to close a few applications to narrow it down. Just remember not to click the pop-up!
Step four: Once you've identified the offending pop-up, select it in the Task Manager, and press End Task.
Hope that keeps you free of malicious software. Of course, you should always run antivirus and antispyware. Head to CNET Download.com to find and download our favorites.
I recently shot a video called "Another way to speed up Firefox," and a couple of you e-mailed me for a transcript of the steps! Without further ado, here they are:
First, open Firefox, and type "about:config" in the address bar. In the filter box here on the top, type "network" and scroll down to "network.http.pipelining".
Then, double-click the line to change the value from "false" to "true." You can also right-click and select "Toggle" to do the same thing.
Now, go to the next line (network.http.pipelining.maxrequests) and change the value from 4 to 10.
Finally, restart Firefox to apply the changes! You should notice a change in the speed right away.
Hope this helps!
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