I have started a series of articles here on my blog titled the 7 Windows 7 tips for week WW-YY… which (obviously) is a weekly installment. If anyone of you out there have any tips or tricks you want to see here, feel free to contact me through the comments section of this post..

In this second installment I have the following 7 Windows 7 tips;

Tip #1: Customize Your Windows Log-on Screen

Ever wanted to customize your Windows Welcome screen? There are many posts floating around the web describing the process of how to do this. Rafael Rivera explains it in this post, but the most elegant way of doing it is via the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer made by Julien Manici. After downloading and extracting the tool, you run it and are greeted with this interface;

You then change your background log-on wallpaper by selecting from the theme backgrounds depicted on top, or by navigating your preferred picture somewhere on your computer. After selecting your picture – hit Apply and you are done!

This tool has been made in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and is a gorgeous example of what can be made utilizing WPF. Highly recommended.

Tip #2: Make a System Image Backup

After having installed Windows 7 plus your applications and settings it is time to make a system image. With an image like this you can easily go back to the state your system was in at the time of the backup without doing all the hard work once more.

Hit the Start orb and type backup. Backup and Restore should be the first choice. Click and you will be greeted by this menu;

In the left pane click on Create a system image.

Then select your backup media – on a hard disk or on a network location is recommended.

You then select the drives you want to include in the backup before hitting next.

The last step is to confirm your setting before clicking on Start backup.¨

You can stop the process whenever you want (but why..?). After a while (depending on the size of your backup) you will be greeted with this;

At the end of the process you will be given the opportunity to create a system repair disc which you can use to boot the system in order to restore your computer from a system image. I recommend that you do this…

That’s it. You have now got a back-up of your system image and a repair disc – all set for the day when your system wont work any longer.

Tip #3: Encrypt your removable USB disk with Bitlocker To Go

One of the really nice features of Windows 7 Professional Enterprise or Ultimate is the Bitlocker encryption feature, and more particularly the Bitlocker To Go utility which allows you to encrypt your removable USB media for enhanced security.

After having inserted your removable USB disk, right click it in Explorer, and select Turn on Bitlocker

After the initial preparation of the media your are presented with these choices;

You then have to decide on how to save your recovery key;

Your drive is soon ready to be encrypted; hit Start Encrypting and the process starts.

There is of course a process indicator;

When the process is finished you will get this one;

In Windows Explorer the removable disk will have the Bitlocker icon added to it and it will look something like this;

Tip #4: Quickly Open The First 10 Applications On Your Taskbar

By hitting + any number between 1 and 0 you will open the application that occupies that position on your taskbar. 0 in this instance is actually 10.

On my taskbar holding down and hitting 8 will open Windows Live Writer.

Tip #5: Stream Your Media To A Remotely Connected Computer

Windows 7 and Windows Media Player 12 allows you to stream your media on one computer to any other Windows 7 computer as long as you are integrated with an online ID provider like Windows Live ID. The procedure for configuring Remote Media Streaming is the same on both the remote and local computer. The first thing you have to do is to start Windows Media Player. Then you click Stream and Allow Internet Access to home media.

Now you will need to link an online ID to your Windows account. Click on Link an online ID

As long as you have already set up an online ID like Windows Live ID you will be presented with this screen. Click on Link online ID (written in blue).

You are then provided with this Sign in to Windows Live ID screen;

Back in the previous screen you now hit OK.

After that is done you are once again back in this screen, and it is now time to choose Allow Internet access to home media.

You will get a UAC-prompt, select Yes and you will be rewarded with this dialog;

You are now finished with configuring Remote Media Streaming on one computer, repeat the above process on the other computer(s). Restart Windows Media Player on them all and you will see the shared media under Other libraries

Tip #6: Pin Your Favorite Folders To The Windows Explorer Jump List

Do you have particular folder that you access all the time? For easy access you can pin those folder to the Windows Explorer Jump List. Open Explorer and navigate your way to the folder you want to pin. Right click and hold and then drag it down to the taskbar;

The next time you right-click the Explorer icon in the taskbar you will find your folder at the top of the Jump list;

Tip #7: Do You Have Unanswered Questions Regarding Windows 7?

Ed Bott has written a great article on his Microsoft Report Blog at ZDNet with the answers to the questions he is getting most frequently. A great resource that can be found here.

That rounds up the second installment of my 7 Windows 7 Tips. Got any comments, suggestions or advice? Feel free to post them in the comments section of this post.

 

I am starting a series of articles here on my blog titled the 7 Windows 7 tips for week WW-YY… which (obviously) will be a weekly installment. If anyone of you out there have any tips or tricks you want to see here feel free to contact me through the comments section of this post..

In this first installment I have the following 7 Windows 7 tips;

Tip #1: Managing Your Windows

Windows 7 have made managing your windows much more easy than it ever was. You can dock your active window on the right or left side of the screen by clicking on and dragging the window to either side and then releasing it to see it fill up half the screen. You can also drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it (or by double-clicking the top of the window). If you want to maximize the window vertically while still keeping the same width, you double-click on the top or bottom edge of the window border.

The keyboard shortcuts for achieving the same thing are;

  + LEFT ARROW  and + RIGHT ARROW docks to half the screen

+ UP ARROW and + DOWN ARROW maximizes and minimizes the window

+ SHIFT + UP ARROW and + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW maximizes and restores the vertical size of the window.

 

 

Tip #2: Use Aero Peek To Gain Quick Access To Your Desktop

In order to gain quick access to your desktop in Windows 7 you can click on the rectangle in the lower right hand corner of your taskbar.

 

You can also use the keyboard shortcut   + SPACE to achieve the same thing.

 

 

Tip #3: Missing Applications in Windows 7? Download Windows Live Essentials Suite

Have you upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7? Then you are probably missing a lot of applications that you were used to like for instance Windows Photo Gallery or Windows Movie Maker. Do not worry. Microsoft decided to pull all of those applications out of the OS, but are offering them for free in the Windows Live Essentials. The easiest way to get them is to click then hover over GETTING STARTED before clicking on GET WINDOWS LIVE ESSENTIALS. You can also get to them by clicking here.

Once you have started the installer you will be greeted by a window like this one (similar) where you can make your choices. Click INSTALL and you should be done.

Windows Live Essentials are highly recommended!

 

Tip #4: Hide All Inactive Windows

Multitasking is nice, but having the computing power also means that you more often than not find yourself with too many windows open at the same time. Windows 7 was all about removing the clutter, so hit  + HOME to minimize all inactive windows, hit the same key combination again to restore the inactive windows again.

 

 

Tip #5: Want To Burn An ISO?

In Windows 7 it is finally possible to burn and .ISO image from within the OS itself, without the need to revert to any third party application. All you need to do is to double-click the .ISO file in question in order to open the Windows Disc Image Burner application;

 

 

Tip #6: Reopen Your Last Closed Tab in IE 8

Tabbed browsing was for many introduced in Internet Explorer 7 (I know Opera introduced this way back when, and that for instance Firefox have had it longer – but for most users I think IE 7 introduced this feature). It is very easy to close the wrong tab with too many of them open. Internet Explorer 8 has made it easy to reopen your last closed tabs as it stores the last 10 in memory. To open your last closed tab in IE 8 click CTRL + SHIFT + T. If you have closed more than one tab just hit that key combination again, and again until you have reached the limit of 10.

 

 

Tip #7: Double Up Your Open Window

Are you for instance running Windows Explorer? You want to run another instance of it? That is easy. Just hold down SHIFT and click the icon again. Voila!

 

 

There you have it, my first 7 Windows 7 tips. Stay tuned for 7 more next week. Comments and suggestions

can be left underneath this post.