7 Excellent Windows Tips and Tricks
Windows tips and tricks are often very easy to find, as there are number of blogs and websites which focus on this particular topic. Here in this post we have collected 7 short and sweet, easy to appl...
Windows 7
1. Quickly minimise inactive windows for a better overviewÂ
If you use multiple applications during work and often shift focus, the desktop tends to get completely covered. You can manually minimise all inactive applications but thereâs a quicker way. Simply press + to hide all but the currently active window. For this, you require administrator rights so must either be using an elevated account or provide the appropriate password when prompted. As soon as you reuse the button combination, all applications which were minimised appear again exactly as they were. You can also use + to hide or restore all windows including the current active one.
Windows Vista 7
2. Restrict user account space
If you and your family share a computer and you would like to prevent other users from filling the internal hard disk with downloads, you can easily do so with individual user accounts. With individual user accounts, every member is allocated an area to save his/her data. However, if you would like to provide a limited amount of space on the hard disk to every user account, Windows can manage memory allocations. To do this, start Windows Explorer, click with the right mouse button on the icon of the hard disk for which you would like to set up memory allocations. Then select the command âPropertiesâ in the context menu, activate the tab for âQuotaâ in the following dialogue and select âShow quota settingsâ.
For this, you require administrator rights so must either be using an elevated account or provide the appropriate password when prompted.
Put a tick in front of âEnable quota managementâ to limit storage space for user accounts. Also activate the option âDeny disk space to users exceeding quota limitâ. You can now define a standard limit for new users. To specify the memory location of existing user accounts, click âQuota entriesâ. Windows will present all user accounts in a list with their settings for storage limits as well as the location currently in use. You can see absolute values as well as proportional usage of the restricted memory amount. If an account is missing in the list, create a new entry for it with âQuotaâ | âNew quota entry...â. For confirmation, double click any user account. In the following dialogue, you can specify the maximum memory amount for the account as well as a warning threshold level. Exit the dialogue with âOKâ or by clicking the red cross icon in the title bar.
NOTE if the amount of data a user has reaches the warning level of the limit of the memory quota, Windows will show a notification on the taskbar.
3. Using the âAddressâ toolbar in the task bar
Usually, you start programs like the Registry Editor by typing its name in the Start menuâs search field, which also doubles as the âRun...â dialogue. However, Windows also gives you an option to integrate similar functionality directly in the taskbar. For this, click the bar with the right mouse button and select the option âToolbarsâ from the context menu and then click on âAddressâ. Now, an input field just like the one used for typing in websites in Internet Explorer appears. This comparison is appropriate since you can enter any website name here and open it with . Your default browser opens and loads the desired page. However, if you enter a program name like âregedit.exeâ or âcalc.exeâ, then the operating system will run the desired tool. The program file must be located in the default system folders or the system will ask you to specify the program's complete path.
NOTE: If desired, you can reposition the input field on the taskbar by clicking it with the right mouse button and removing the tick in front of the âLock toolbarâ option. Drag the checkered line on the left side of the field to resize or relocate it. You can lock the taskbar after you're done.
4. Getting a good idea of the energy consumption of a computer
For diagnosing energy consumption, type âcmdâ in the search field of the Start menu and then click the file âcmd.exeâ with the right mouse button and select the context command âRun as administratorâ. After confirming the User Account Control prompt with âYesâ, type the command âpowercfg/ energyâ in the window and press the key. Windows will now audit the system behaviour for 60 seconds. In the meantime, you can go on working. Subsequently, the result is saved by default as a file with the title âenergy report.htmlâ in the currently open folder which you see in the command prompt. Optionally, you can also define a custom target file with the parameter â-outputâ.
Windows 8
5. Save screen shots directly as an image file
Use the button combination + to save a screen shot of the current view on your monitor as a PNG file. PNG files can be opened and processed by image editing programs later. While doing so, the display will go dark for a short while as an indication. The file is saved in the folder âIndividual imagesâ of the current user profile. The name follows the sample âScreenshot (1).pngâ with a consecutive number in brackets. The other ways to do this known so far for screenshots as well as the snipping tool function the same.
6. Restarting Windows Surface quickly
From time to time, you would want to restart Windows Surface to make it function faster and for more responsiveness, but you do not need to go through the complete boot process to do so. This was so far possible by ending âexplorer.exeâ in the task manager and manually restarting it. This has been made simpler in Windows 8. For this, open the task manager with + + or the context menu on the toolbar. In the following dialogue, click left on âMore details.â In the apps list, mark the âWindows explorerâ in the windows processes section. You shall find the new command âNew startâ in the right side in the dialogue as well as in the context menu of the elements concerned. Without additional queries, let Windows Surface end automatically and restart.