Windows 7 Tips, Tweaks, and Secrets (21 - 30)

Unhide hidden non-U.S. Windows 7 wallpapers

When you install Windows 7 (or buy a PC based on it), you’ll find a set of wallpapers installed that correspond to the country that was specified at install time. Assuming you’re in the United States, you’ll get the U.S. great-outdoors treatment, replete with national-park eye candy and other scenic shots. All well and good, but you can uncover some international wallpapers in Windows, if you feel like dressing up your Windows with foreign flair.
The wallpaper files reside in a directory you can’t see unless you know where to look, however. Look in C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT, if the folder is visible in Windows Explorer. (It may not be; if not, skip ahead to the end of this tip to learn how to uncover it.) There, you should see several folders. On our install, the folders were labeled AU, CA, GB, US, and ZA, containing image sets for Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and South Africa. Inside each of these folders is a folder called “Theme”; to import one of these national theme sets, open the theme folder and double-click on the file inside ending in a “.theme” extension.

Doing so will make the theme available in the Personalization dialog box. To access it, right-click on an empty area of the Windows Desktop, and select Personalize from the pop-up menu; you should see the new theme under My Themes. Double-click on a theme to make it live. Note: You can right-click on the Windows Desktop and choose Next desktop background to cycle through different wallpapers in the theme set.
It’s possible, though, that you couldn’t see the MCT folder where we specified. If so, hit the Windows key + R key combination, which will bring up the Run box. In the box, type (or paste in) the following text, and then hit Enter:
%systemroot%/Globalization/MCT
This should launch the hidden folders in a new Explorer window. If still nothing appears, though, you need to, in the resulting window, hit the Organize button, select Folder and search options, and click on the View tab. In the ensuing list, you’ll need to do two things: uncheck the box next to Hide protected operating system files and click the radio button next to Show hidden files, folders, and drives. Hit Apply, then OK, and the folders should show up.
Incidentally, you can also download other themes at Microsoft’s Personalization Gallery. It was a bit scanty when we looked at it (just before Windows 7’s official release date), but the company says that it should offer more themes with the full release of the operating system.
And a bonus! You can go to the Microsoft Musings blog (not affiliated with Microsoft itself) to download a huge ZIP file of lots of other official Windows wallpapers, compiled by this blogger. A lot of genuinely striking sample backgrounds have come and gone through the various Windows 7 builds and release candidates, including some psychedelic ones and many, many more international themes.

Use Windows 7’s Compatibility mode to run a troublesome older app

It happens every time a new OS debuts—a few of your favorite programs get left behind in the shuffle, no longer compatible with the new OS. Windows 7 will likely be no different in that regard, but you may not need to abandon your apps or wait for a new, compatible version of the software to emerge. Microsoft claims that most Vista-compatible software should work without a hitch on Windows 7, but it remains to be seen how true that is.
If you didn’t use Vista, you may not be aware of Windows Compatibility mode, introduced with that OS. It’s back in Windows 7, and we suspect that it will get more attention in this release. A tool for dealing with balky older software, it lets you run a given app as if it were running under an earlier version of Windows.
To activate Compatibility mode, right-click on the affected program’s icon, then click on the Properties item in the menu that pops up. In the Properties window, you’ll see a set of tabs across the top; choose Compatibility. In the resulting dialog box, you’ll want to check off the box Run this program in compatibility mode, then select the latest version of Windows with which your app worked properly:

You can also try out several additional settings here that can eliminate problems, such as running at 256 colors or 640x480 resolution (unlikely to help unless your app is really old) or disabling themes (which can help with troubles displaying menus or buttons properly). Experimentation is the order of the day here, though Microsoft warns that you don’t want to use Compatibility mode with crucial system-level apps such as antivirus software or disk utilities. For obvious reasons, that can lead to bigger problems.

Easy external-monitor or projector setup for laptops

If you’re a businessperson who gives lots of presentations from your laptop, this one is for you. We bet that you have probably encountered more than your fair share of frustration with configuring external displays or projectors to work with your laptop in unfamiliar environments. Between negotiating HDMI, DVI, and VGA outputs (each with its own quirks), and figuring out a resolution amenable to both pieces of hardware, you likely wish there was an easier way.
Here’s a bit of help. If you’re running Windows 7 on a laptop, memorize this shortcut: Windows key + P.
 

Tap it with a monitor or projector attached to the laptop’s video output, and you’ll get a new selector box that helps you configure the external display device:

You’ll see four options, from left to right. Computer only lets you revert your video settings to using just the laptop’s LCD. Duplicate, predictably, lets you display the same image on your laptop’s screen and the external display. (That’s the one you’ll most likely use for presentations.) Extend lets you stretch your Windows Desktop across the laptop display and the external display (much like in a multiple-monitor desktop-PC arrangement). And Projector only shifts the video output strictly to the external display device, blanking the laptop screen.
You can still make these adjustments the old-fashioned way, through the Control Panel (check out the Display subcategory there), but this method makes at least the initial setup snap-simple.

Restore the main menu bar in Internet Explorer 8, Windows Live Mail

This malady is not new with Windows 7 (it first reared its head in places in Windows Vista), but in a few major Windows apps, the familiar old top menu bar has disappeared. (That is, the one containing the File, View, and such crucial menus.) This was especially noticeable in Internet Explorer 7; now we’re seeing it in Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Live Mail.
It’s no big deal if you’ve dealt with it before—you hit the Alt key, and the menu bar pops up temporarily—but we still find it disconcerting and prefer to revert to the old, always-visible menu bar in these programs when we can. And if you’re a new recruit to Windows 7 straight from XP, the missing menu bar might be outright unnerving.
To keep the menu bar always visible in Internet Explorer 8, first hit the Alt key to bring up the bar (comprising File, Edit, View, Favorites, and so on). Then, right-click on the menu bar itself. On the context menu that pops up, you’ll see that the Menu Bar entry (the topmost in the list) is not checked off. Left-click on Menu Bar to check it, and that should lock the old-school bar back in its familiar place:

In Windows Live Mail, the process is a little different. On the right side of the topmost icon bar, you’ll see an abstract “menu” icon. (It’s between the paint-brush and question-mark icons.) Left-click it once, and select the Show menu bar option with a left-click:

Your File menu and its menu friends will be back where they belong. (You can deactivate them in the same place.)

Drag around maximized windows without resizing them first

In Windows 7, Microsoft finally fixed a recent pet peeve of some Windows users: the need to first resize a maximized window before it could be dragged around. This was a speed bump encountered often by users of multiple monitors, who are often in the habit of dragging windows from one display to another.
In older versions of Windows, if a window was maximized, you needed to hit the resize button in the upper right corner of the window (the box between the minimize and close buttons) to “downsize” it before dragging. In Windows 7, it’s possible to simply grab the title bar of a maximized window, and drag it around right away, no fuss. Just grab the circled area and go:

It’s a subtle thing, but a welcome revision and one that you might not notice is possible for some time, because habit would keep most of us from even bothering to try. The ability to drag windows around more freely also relates to our next tip: Aero Snap, which also provides new window behaviors (auto-resizing, in its case) when dragging a window around.

Aero Snap: Use the Windows key and arrow buttons to rearrange windows

Much has been made of Windows 7’s Aero Snap feature, which automatically resizes and arranges program windows when you drag them to the top or sides of the screen. It’s a great feature, to be sure, and particularly handy for making use of larger and wide-screen displays while multitasking.
For example, if you drag two windows to opposite sides of the screen, you get an arrangement like this, with each window auto-arranged side by side:

But as easy as it is to drag windows around with a mouse and have them magically snap into place, many users, particularly the more keyboard-inclined, will find this simple set of keyboard shortcuts invaluable once they try it: Hold down the Windows key, and press any arrow key. The mouse method will soon seem so…antiquated? (If it's possible for a brand-new feature to be antiquated...)

Hitting the Windows key and the up arrow maximizes your currently selected window, down arrow minimizes it, and right or left arrow docks the window to the side of the screen, where it conveniently resizes to take up just half the width of the screen. Those using multiple monitors will also be able to shunt windows between screens by repeatedly arrowing over while holding down the Windows key. A few seconds using this shortcut can turn a jumbled mess of windows into an organized layout that will improve your productivity.

Document processes and (troubles) easily with the Problem Steps Recorder

If you’re the perpetual tech-savvy friend who’s always asked to troubleshoot, Windows 7’s Problem Steps Recorder will be your favorite Windows 7 feature when something goes wrong. It’s an exceedingly simple way to visually record the steps that lead to any problem within Windows 7.
Simply type PSR in the search bar on the Windows 7 Start menu, and hit Enter to launch the app. Click the Start Record button, then click away through whatever task it is that causes the problem. Problem Steps Recorder automatically takes screen captures of every step you take. At any point, you can click the Add Comment button to add your own notes to the process. When you’re finished documenting the problem, click Stop Record, and you’ll be asked to give a name to a ZIP file that will be saved to the desktop for easy e-mailing. The ZIP file contains an MHTML document like this one; it opens in Internet Explorer to reveal a neatly organized list of all of the steps you just recorded:

You can scroll through it like a Web page or view it as a slide show. Clicking on the Additional Details link reveals version numbers for whatever software was used in the problematic process, as well as other details—even whether you single- or double-clicked on a given window.
Master the simple Problems Steps Recorder, and you’ll never have to struggle to explain a Windows-based software problem again. The only Windows problem this app won’t help you with is the notorious Blue Screen of Death. But we haven’t seen one of those in Windows 7 since running the beta, anyway.

Dock the taskbar to the side of the screen

In earlier versions of Windows, it was possible to reorient the Windows taskbar vertically. But the way XP and Vista rendered the vertical taskbar (and sometimes sliced off the icons) made it feel like a half-finished, tacked-on feature. With Windows 7, all the taskbar icons and pinned programs cascade nicely if you turn the taskbar vertical.
If you have multiple instances of a program open (such as multiple Office documents), having the preview pane tile vertically makes finding the right window seem easier, at least to us. See the screen shot below for what we mean; we're displaying multiple open thumbnails of IE:
 

Docking the Taskbar on the side of the screen is also a great option for netbook users stuck with lower-resolution screens. On a netbook, gaining a bit more vertical space on the Windows Desktop can save a serious amount of scrolling on Web sites.
To move your taskbar to the side of the screen, simply right-click on any space on the bar that isn’t occupied by an icon and click Properties. In the Properties box that pops up, you’ll find a line labeled Taskbar location on screen. You can choose Bottom, Left, Right, or Top:

Give the Left dock a try. It definitely takes a day or two to get used to, but once you do, you just might like it enough to leave it there.

Do serious math with Windows 7’s advanced calculator

It may sound humdrum, but Windows 7 has really upped its game when it comes to its calculator functionality. Now, instead of just standard and scientific functions, you can also do programming and statistical functions, as well as make short work of real-life tasks such as juggling mortgage numbers, computing hourly wages, and figuring out gas mileage.
The Calculator resides in the Start menu. (If it got shunted off the first level of your Start menu by other items, check under Accessories.) Use the View menu to switch among Standard, Scientific, Statistics, and Programmer modes. (Only the first two were available in Windows XP and Vista.) Plus, investigate the options further down the menu to address everyday calculation scenarios, such as adding and subtracting time in terms of dates. You can figure out, for example, how many days there are between now and Christmas—not typical calculator fare:

The final option in the menu, Worksheets, unfolds to show some additional calculation templates (figuring out payments on a vehicle lease, for example).
We also love that the new calculator includes a converter for units of measurement. These tweaks won’t change your life (and some of them Google can do for you), but now that you know they’re there, you’ll get some use out of them.

Shift-click (or middle-click) to open another instance of a program

At times, you want to open a completely separate, second version of a program, as opposed to an additional document window or tab within a single instance of a program. You may do it for ease of window organization, or for one of a host of other reasons. You can, of course, simply hunt up the program in the Start menu and launch it a second time, but there’s a much easier way, new in Windows 7.
Simply hold down the Shift key and click on the app’s icon in the taskbar—a second instance of the program will pop up. Or, if your mouse has a middle button (that is, a clickable scroll wheel), pressing that accomplishes the same task. Anything that replaces a meandering jaunt through the branching Start menu with a simple click is a very good thing, in our book.
Note that in some apps, and depending on how you have your taskbar set up (especially if you tweak it with the help of some of our tips), telling the difference between a second copy of an app that’s open and merely a second open window within a single copy of an app can be tricky. If your taskbar is set up to group like windows together, you may not see a second, discrete icon for a second, open version of the program, even though it is open. So rest assured: If you Shift-click and only get another grouped window under the original icon, you didn’t do anything wrong.