February 21, 2010 by
Jason
If you find yourself tripping over new Windows 7 features or missing favorite old ones, I’ve got some tips that will come to your rescue.
Lost in all the glowing Windows 7 reviews and marketing hype is the fact that not everything about Microsoft’s new OS is an unqualified success. You don’t have to use Win7 for very long before you notice one of your favorite features of earlier Windows versions is changed or missing.
But if you don’t like the default Win7 interface and the features that Microsoft prefers, no problem! A few simple tweaks can let you adjust Win7 to your own liking. Even better, some of the following tips also apply to Vista and XP.
The return of the Quick Launch toolbar
Annoyance: The latest Windows versions let you place the Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar. From there, you can launch your favorite applications, documents, or folder windows with a single click. In Windows 7, unfortunately, Quick Launch is MIA.
In Win7, a new Taskbar combines elements of the classic Taskbar and Quick Launch toolbars into one. To be sure, many people like the new Taskbar. Al Arnston is one of several readers who suggests that Win7’s “Pin to Taskbar” feature trumps Quick Launch. But you may disagree. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
November 24, 2009 by
Jason There’s no disputing over the fact that Windows 7 brings a consistent overhaul of the graphical user interface that has become synonymous with the Windows operating system. One critical aspect of the Windows 7 GUI redesign is the revamping of the Taskbar, which is now affectionately referred to in some circles as the Superbar. Microsoft aimed to deliver a more user-friendly design, less crowded, less redundant. In this regard, the Superbar comes with an evolved mechanism to deal with pinned items and opened programs, new functionality such as Thumbnail Previews and JumpList, with an upgraded Notifications Area, and without Quick Launch.
Now in all fairness, the Superbar has inherited all the functionality of the Quick Launch area. In this sense, users can now pin program icons right to the Taskbar, essentially making Quick Launch useless. However, there will always be users that enjoy a tad of redundancy. Especially for these types of customers, Microsoft has documented the steps necessary to bring back Quick Launch for the Windows 7 Taskbar.
Customers must understand that the disappearance of the Quick launch area from Windows 7 is default behavior and a part of the Windows GUI evolution. As far as I’m concerned, customers should first off all give the Superbar a chance, as they will notice they have no reasons at all to miss Quick Launch. But if the new Windows 7 Taskbar simply doesn’t cut it for them, then they will be able to bring back Quick Launch even in Windows 7 RTM, following the steps outlined below, courtesy of Microsoft. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
December 10, 2008 by
Jason Now that you have enjoyed the speed of Google Chrome, it’s time to dig deeper and get more out of it. Here are 10 tips/tricks to supercharge your chroming experience.
1) Install flash player in Google Chrome
After you have installed Chrome, some of you will find that you are not able to view Youtube video. This is especially true if you are installing Chrome under Ubuntu (or other Linux distro).
Here is what you can do to fix the problem:
- Download the flash player for windows xpi file.
- Change the xpi extension to zip
- Extract the content of the zip file into a folder
- Copy the files flashplayer.xpt and NPSWF32.dll to the directory /home/USERNAME/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/USERNAME/Local Settings/Application Data/Google/Chrome/Application/Plugins.
- For Vista, copy to the directory: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\Plugins
- For XP,copy to the directory C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\Plugins
- Create the Plugins folder if it does not exist.
Restart your Chrome. Your flash player should be working now. Read More»
Posted in Internet | 3 Comments »
Loading ...
