Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
Let's kick off with keyboard shortcuts, the first thing every power user must
memorize with working with a new operating system. In Windows 7, we've
uncovered several new sets of essential time-saving shortcuts that will make
your mouse jealous with neglect.
Alt + P
In Windows Explorer, activate an additional file preview pane to the right side
of the window with this new shortcut. This panel is great for previewing images
in your photos directory.
Windows + + (plus key)
Windows + - (minus key)
Pressing the Windows and plus or minus keys activates the Magnifier, which lets
you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom
in and out of parts of your screen. You can customize the Magnifier options to
follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor. Keep in mind that so far, the
Magnifier only works when Aero desktop is enabled.
Windows + Up
Windows + Down
If a window is not maximized, pressing Windows + Up will fill it to your
screen. Windows + Down will minimize that active window. Unfortunately,
pressing Windows + Up again while a window is minimized won't return it to its
former state.
Windows + Shift + Up
Similar to the shortcut above, hitting these three keys while a window is
active will stretch it vertically to the maximum desktop height. The width of
the window will however stay the same. Pressing Windows + Down will restore it
to its previous size.
Windows + Left
Windows + Right
One of the new features of Windows 7 is the ability to automatically make a
window fill up half of your screen by dragging to the left or right. This pair
of shortcuts performs the same function without your mouse. Once a window is
fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut to flip it to the
other side. This is useful if you’re extending a desktop across multiple
monitors, which prevents you from executing this trick with a mouse.
Windows + Home
This shortcut performs a similar function to hovering over a window’s peek menu
thumbnail in the Taskbar. The active window will stay on your desktop while
every other open application is minimized. Pressing this shortcut again will
restore all the other windows.
Windows + E
Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.
Windows + P
Manage your multiple-monitor more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows
+ P opens up a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or
projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either
mirror or extend desktop mode.
Windows + Shift + Left
Windows + Shift + Right
If you are using two or more displays (and who isn’t, these days?), memorize
this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window
retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which his useful when
working with multiple documents. Utilize that real estate!
Windows + [Number]
Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting
Windows and the number corresponding to its placement on the Taskbar. Windows +
1, for example, launches the first application, while Windows + 4 will launch
the fourth. We realize that this is actually one key-press more than just
clicking the icon with your mouse, but it saves your hand the trouble of
leaving the comfort of the keyboard.
Windows + T
Like Alt + Tab (still our all-time favorite Windows specific shortcut), Windows
+ T cycles through your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.
Windows + Space
This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right
of the Taskbar. It makes every active window transparent so you can view your desktop.
The windows only remain transparent as long as you’re holding down the Windows
key.
Ctrl + Shift + Click
Hold down Ctrl and Shift while launching an application from the Taskbar or
start menu to launch it with full administrative rights.
Ctrl + Click
Hold down Ctrl while repeatedly clicking a program icon in the Taskbar will
toggle between the instances of that application, like multiple Firefox windows
(though not browser tabs).
Calibrate Text Rendering and Color
The first thing you need to do after a clean install of Windows 7 on a laptop
is to tune and calibrate ClearType text and Display Color. Windows 7 includes
two built-in wizards that run you through the entire process, pain free.
Launch ClearType Text Tuning by typing “cttune” in the Start Menu search field
and opening the search result. You’ll go through a brief series of steps that
asks you to identify the best-looking text rendering method.
For Display Color Calibration, very useful if you’re using Windows 7 with a
projector or large-screen LCD search and launch “dccw” from the Start Menu. It’ll
run you through a series of pages where you can adjust the gamma, brightness,
contrast, and color of the screen to make images look their best.
Better
Font Management and a New Graceful Font
Font management is much improved in Windows 7. Gone is the “Add Fonts” dialog,
replaced with additional functionality in the Fonts folder. First, the folder
shows font previews in each font file’s icon (viewed with Large or Extra Large
icons). Fonts from a single set will no longer show up as different fonts and
are now combined as a single family (which can be expanded by double clicking
the icon). You can also toggle fonts on and off by right clicking a font icon
and selected the “hide” option. This will prevent applications from loading
the font (and therefore save memory), but keep the file retained in the Font
folder.
A new font called Gabriola also comes bundled with Windows 7, which takes advantage
of the new OpenType and DirectWrite (Direct2D) rendering.
The Gaming Grotto is a Less Ghetto
One of our biggest pet peeves of Windows Vista is the Games Folder, which we
not-so-affectionately refer to as the Gaming Grotto. Games for Windows titles
and other game shortcuts would automatically install to this directory, which
we could only access with a Start Menu shortcut. The concept wasn’t bad except
for the fact that it prevented us from starting a game up from the Start Menu
search bar. We could call up any other program by typing its name in the Start
Menu field except the games installed to the Games Folder. Fortunately, this
oversight is fixed in Windows 7.
Become more worldly with Hidden Wallpapers
Windows
7 Beta comes with the Betta fish as its default desktop wallpaper, but it also
includes six desktop backgrounds catered to your region (as identified when you
first installed the OS). US users, for example, get six 1900x1200 images
showing off famous National Parks and beaches. The available wallpapers for
other regions are still included in a hidden folder.
To access these international wallpapers, bring up the Start Menu search bar
and type “Globalization”. The only result should be a folder located in the
main Windows directory. You should only be able to see “ELS and “Sorting”
folders here so far. Next, search for “MCT” in the top right search bar. This
will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different
global region. Browse these folders for extra themes and wallpapers!
Take Control of UAC
Despite good intentions, User Account Control pop-ups were one of the most
annoying aspects of Vista, and a feature that most of us immediately disabled
after a clean install. UAC in Windows 7 displays fewer warnings, but you can
also fine-tune its notification habits by launching the UAC Settings from the
start menu. Just type “UAC” in the Start Menu search field and click the
result. We find that setting just above “Never notify” gives a comfortable
balance between mindful security and incessant nagging.
Calculate your Mortgage and Other Maths Tricks
Wordpad and Paint
aren’t the only upgraded programs in Windows 7. The reliable Calculator applet
has been beefed up to do more than just basic arithmetic. In Vista, the
Calculator had Standard and Scientific modes. Now, you can toggle between
Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and even Statistics modes.
In addition, the
Options menu lets you pull out many new automated conversation tools, such has
Unit Conversion (ie. Angles, Temperature, Velocity, or Volume) and Date
Calculation (calculate the difference between two dates). More templates give
you the ability to crunch Gas Mileage, Lease, and even Mortgage estimates based
on any variables you input.
Track Your Actions with Problem Steps Recorder
The primary reason
for releasing the Windows 7 Beta was for Microsoft’s developers to get feedback
from users. (Notice the glaring Send Feedback link at the top of every window?)
In addition, the devs have built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps
Recorder that combines screen captures with mouse tracking to record your
actions. You can launch this program from the Start Menu by typing “psr.exe”
in the search field.
Hit the Record
button and Problem Steps Recorder starts tracking your mouse and keyboard input
while taking screenshots that correspond with each new action. Stop recording
and your session is saved to an HTML slide show recreating your steps, in which
you can add comments and annotations. It’s particularly useful if you need to
create a tutorial for a computer-illiterate relative.
Explore from “My Computer”
Windows Explorer’s
default landing folder is the Libraries directory, but some of us are more
comfortable with using “My Computer” as the default node, especially if we use
multiple hard drives and external storage devices.
To change the
default node, find Windows Explorer in the Start Menu by typing “explorer” in
the Start Menu search field and right click the first result. Select “Properties”.
Under the Shortcut tab, the Target location should read:
%SystemRoot%
And the Target
should be:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
Paste the following in the Target field:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
New instances of Explorer will open up to “My Computer”. You’ll need to unpin
and replace the existing Explorer shortcut from the Taskbar to complete the
transition. Just rightclick on the icon, hit “Unpin this program from the
taskbar” to remove it, and then drag Explorer from the Start Menu back into
place.
Burn, Baby, Burn
No more messing
around with malware-infected free burning software Windows 7 comes loaded with
DVD and CD ISO burning software. Double-click your image file and Windows will
start a tiny program window to help burn your disc. It’s a barebones app, but
it works!
Reveal All of Your
Drives
If you use built-in
memory card readers in a 3.5” drive bay or on your Dell Monitor,
empty memory card slots will not show up as drives in My Computer. But that
doesn’t mean they’re not still there! To reveal hidden memory card slots, open
up My Computer. Press Alt to show the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go
to Folder Options under Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty
drives in the Computer folder” option.
Fix MP3 Bug
There’s a reason
this Windows 7 release is a Beta. The versions of Windows Media Center and
Windows Media Player that shipped with the OS have a nasty bug that may damage
your MP3 files. By default, Windows Media Player 12 enables a feature that auto
fills-in missing metadata on your imported music files, which includes large
album art. But filling in this metadata on files that already have large
headers will permanently cut away a few seconds of audio from the beginning of
the track. Microsoft offers a hotfix on this page: Click Here, in addition to a
workaround if you don’t want to install the fix:
Workarounds for the MP3 file corruption issue
If you do not apply
this update, the most effective workaround is to set the properties of all MP3
files to read-only on local hard disks, removable drives, and network shares
that can be accessed by Windows 7 Beta computers. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In Windows
Explorer, select and right-click your MP3 files, and then click Properties.
2. On the General tab, click to select the Read-only check box.
3. We recommend that you back up all the MP3 files before you use Windows Media
Player or Windows Media Center.
A simpler but less
complete workaround is to disable metadata automatic updates in Windows Media
Player by setting the Windows Media Player options. To do this, follow these
steps:
1. On the Tools
menu, click Options.
2. On the Library tab, click to clear the Retrieve additional information from
the Internet check box and the Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in
files check box.
3. Click OK.
A possible solution to the MP3 file corruption issue
If some of your MP3 files have already been affected, you might be able to
restore the corrupted MP3 files to their pre-edit status. To do this, follow
these steps:
1. In Windows
Explorer, right-click a corrupted MP3 file, and then click Properties.
2. On the Previous Version tab, select an earlier version in the File Versions
list, and then click Restore. If multiple edits were performed, you may have to
revert to the oldest version that is available.
A Welcome Gesture
Windows 7 natively
supports touchscreen devices and has incorporated a gesture-based system to
navigate the desktop with a stylus. Lucky for you, one of these gestures also
works with a mouse. Instead of right-clicking a Taskbar icon to access its Jump
List (the new program-specific menu that replaces the right-click context
menu), you can hold left-click and drag upwards to smoothly call it up.
Clicking and dragging down in the Internet Explorer address bar will also
unveil your browser history and related favorites bookmarks. Some of the staff
here found this especially useful when running Windows 7 on their MacBook Pros.
Ctrl + N
We’ve already shown
you a new way to open new instances of applications on the Taskbar by using the
Windows + [number] keyboard shortcut. There are two additional shortcuts to
popping open a new window too. You can click the Taskbar icon with your middle
mouse button (which also works to launch the app if it isn’t open already), or
hold down Shift while clicking the icon with the left mouse button.
Keep in mind that this only works with programs that allow multiple instances,
like web browsers. It won’t work with the default Explorer shortcut, since you
can only open another instance of Explorer when diving into a new folder (the
Explorer shortcut always points to Libraries).
Pin-Up Your
Favorites
Explorer’s Jump List shows your seven most frequently visited folders, but you
can manually bookmark some favorites to the top of the list by pinning folder
locations. Just hold right-click on any folder, either on your desktop or from
an open instance of Explorer, and drag that folder icon to the Explorer shortcut
on the Taskbar. You’ll see a message that reads “Pin to Windows Explorer”
before you release the mouse button. The folder will appear under a “Pinned”
section of the Jump List, and you can remove it by clicking the “Unpin from
this list” icon on the right side of the panel.
More Resources
Arrange Your Taskbar (System Tray Too)
The programs that
you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any order you want, whether
they’re just shortcut icons or actually active applications. We recommend
moving frequently used programs and folders to the front of the stack, so it’ll
be easily to launch them with the aforementioned Windows + [number] shortcut.
The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to the left, right, or
even top of your desktop. Windows 7 improves side-docked Taskbar support with
better gradient rendering and shortcut support. It really works well if you’re
using a widescreen monitor.
Just as the Taskbar
icons can be rearranged at will, the icons in the System Tray (actually called
Notification Area) can be dragged and set to any order as well. Hidden Icons
can be dragged back into view, and you can hide icons by dropping them into the
Hidden Icon well which is easier than working through the Notification Area
Customization menu.
Bring Quick Launch
Back from the Dead
The Quick Launch is
superfluous with the presence of the updated Taskbar, but you can still bring
it back with the following steps:
Right-click the
Taskbar, hovers over Toolbars, and select New Toolbar.
In the Folder selection field at the bottom, enter the following string:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Quick Launch
Turn off the “lock
the Taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider.
Disable “Show
Text” and “Show Title” and set the view option to “Small Icons”.
Drag the divider to rearrange the toolbar order to put Quick Launch where you
want it, and then right-click the Taskbar to lock it again.
Cling to Vista’s Taskbar
Let’s start with
the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use the classic grey Windows
2000-style Taskbar. You’re also committed to the modern version of the Start
Menu. But the good news is that you can still tweak the Taskbar to make it run
like it did in Windows Vista replacing the program icons with full names of
each open app.
Right-click the
Taskbar and hit properties. Check the “use small icons” box and select
“combine when Taskbar is full” from the dropdown menu under Taskbar buttons.
You still get the peek-view thumbnail feature of the Taskbar, and inactive
program remain as single icons, but opened programs will display their full
names. Combine this with the old-school Quick Launch toolbar to complete the
Vista illusion.
Banish Programs to the System Tray
All active programs
show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want them to or not. While this is
useful for web browsing or word processing, your taskbar can get cluttered up
with icons you would normally expect to be hidden away, like for Steam or a
chat client. You can keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the
System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts, navigating to
the Compatibility tab, and selecting “Windows Vista” under the Compatibility
Mode drop-down menu. This only works for programs that would previously hide
away from the Taskbar in Vista.
Accelerate your Start Menu
The Start Menu
hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The
default power button is thankfully changed to Shut Down the system, as opposed
to Hibernation, as it was in Vista. This can be changed to do other actions
from the Start Menu Properties menu.
