The Ten Best Windows 7 Tips

If you've upgraded to Windows 7 you're probably enjoying the new features. The better taskbar, upgrades to Aero, and improved performance all result in a silky-smooth experience which is far better than what was available in Vista.

But perhaps you'd like more. Perhaps you want to trick out Windows 7 as much as possible and know all of the shortcuts for getting around the operating system. If so, this guide is for you. Here you will find the ten best tips for Windows 7. These tips will improve your productivity and make you look smarter to your friends.

The new Windows 7 taskbar provides the ability to "pin" programs to the task bar. This makes it easier to access those few programs which you open most frequently, such as web browsers. However, if actually moving your cursor to open those programs seems troublesome you can easily open them by pressing the Windows button on your keyboard and a number at the same time. Win+1 will open the program furthest to the left on your taskbar, Win+2 will open the next to the right, and so on.

 The jump list - a list of related options which can be accessed when you right click on an item pinned to your taskbar - is a useful way of quickly access an item's options. But did you know that right-clicking was the old fashioned way of doing things? Instead you can simply left click on a pinned item and then drag it upwards, as if you were going to drag it to your desktop. The jump list will open automatically!

Windows 7's Windows Explorer now has a favorites feature which is similar to that found in Internet Explorer. Simply right click on the Favorites icon in Windows Explorer and then click Add Current Location to Favorites. The folder you were exploring will be added under the Favorites column in the navigation pane on the left side of the window. This makes it much easier to navigate to folders you frequently use.

 You can't pin the Control Panel to the taskbar using the normal method of dragging and dropping. The only way to pin it to the taskbar is to have the Control Panel open and right-click on the icon on the taskbar, then click Pin this program to taskbar in the jump list. Once you have the Control Panel pinned you can use the jump list to access Control Panel functions without opening the Control Panel window.

If you are working on a lot of things at once it can become difficult to remember where all the Windows you are using are located. You can makes things clearer by pressing the Windows and Spacebar keys at the same time. This will turn all windows transparent, but their borders will still remain so that you can see where they located and their current size.