Windows 7 Features Walkthrough

Recently, I’ve migrated to the latest version of Microsoft Windows operating system, the Windows 7. Truth be told, I’m enjoying it. Therefore I decided to write a post about some if not all of the features offered by this OS. For this time, I will write on the three features that I think is very useful; the Aero Snap, Stick Notes and the thumbnail previews. I will also show you how to make the most of them throughout this post.

Aero Snap

Windows 7 offers two new additions that make file management much more easy; #1 Windows Explorer new home on the taskbar and #2 the Aero Snap. By using the latter addition, all you have to do is open two instances of Explorer, then drag one to left edge of the screen and the other to the right edge. Aero Snap will dock them automatically on the left and right halves of the screen, each on its respective position. This enables you to have a side-by-side file manager. Whenever you’re in doubt as on how to open the second instance, just right-click on its icon on the taskbar and then click Windows Explorer.

Aero Snap

Create Sticky Notes

Ever pasted paper sticky notes to your monitor? I do. And I know just how messy it would be when there are so many of it, plus all the time some of it would fall off. With Windows 7, you don’t  have any need to do that same trick of “reminder-of- important-things” again, just run the new Sticky Notes app and you’re good. If you have had your hand on Vista, you might recognize this from the Vista Sidebar. In Windows 7, they have removed the Sidebar but keep the gadgets, allowing it to reside anywhere on the desktop. To run this app, just click Start, type sticky and hit Enter. The Sticky Notes will open and you can start typing whatever is your note.

Done with a note and need another? just click the plus (+) sign on the first one. Need to erase a note? all you have to do is click the x in the opposite corner of the plus sign and you’re done. The color doesn’t suits you? just right-click in the body of the note, there you can choose from six different colors for your note. A thing to remember though, the Sticky Notes is an app, therefore your note can only stay on the desktop only as long as the app is running. If you close the app by right-clicking the taksbar icon and choosing Close window, it will restore your note the next time it is run.

Sticky Notes

The thumbnail preview

Another feature in Windows 7 that I liked is the thumbnail previews, which appears when you mouse over any running program on the taskbar. The thumbnail even have a little red x in the upper-right corner, which enables you to close the program without having to maximize it first. Apple iTunes take this step further by adding player controls. Three little icons are added to the thumbnail; Previous Track, Play/Pause, and Next Track.

Thumbnail Preview

The buttons work just like the control in the normal iTunes, only it provides you with the ease of not having to switch to the program whenever you want to skip to another song or temporarily pausing the playback. Nice isn’t it?

Tips:

• Mouse over to the far right edge of the taskbar to momentarily view the desktop, click to minimize all the running program on the taskbar and show the desktop, click again to restore.

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