If you have the time, you can spend the better part of a day adjusting various features of your computer monitor’s display. How you adjust your monitor’s display depends on the type of monitor you have [more…]
Change your screen resolution to determine how much information fits on your screen. Changing the resolution either shrinks windows to pack more of them on-screen or it enlarges everything at the expense [more…]
If you want to start Microsoft Office Excel 2007 by clicking a single button, you can add the Excel icon to the Quick Launch toolbar. The Quick Launch toolbar resides to the immediate right of the Start [more…]
You can control the way Windows looks as well as how your laptop's monitor is configured. To do this, you need to visit the Personalization icon in the Windows Vista Control Panel or the Display icon in [more…]
Let your computer express your personality by changing the desktop background (also called the wallpaper) in Windows Vista. Windows Vista comes preloaded with a number of pictures and patterns that you [more…]
In the world of Windows, a desktop theme is a way to control many different aspects of your Windows environment. When you choose a desktop theme in Windows Vista, you can affect the desktop background, [more…]
You can personalize your Windows Vista workspace by changing the way the icons appear on the desktop. You can arrange icons on your desktop in Windows Vista using the desktop shortcut menu. To be able [more…]
You can improve the speed of your computer by removing the Aero Shell in Windows Vista. Microsoft spent a fortune tying Vista and Aero Glass together in the minds and pocketbooks of computer consumers. [more…]
Microsoft spent a fortune tying Vista and Aero Glass together in the minds and pocketbooks of computer consumers. In fact, a large percentage of all Vista Home Basic users upgraded to Home Premium because [more…]
In Vista, Glass refers to a transparent (more accurately a translucent) effect that allows you to see through the border around windows on your desktop and look at a blurry version of whatever lies beneath [more…]
If you aren’t terribly concerned about Windows Vista’s appearance, you can speed up the screen substantially, no matter what kind of video card you have. To maximize your display, you can turn off virtually [more…]
Although you want the programs you constantly use on the Quick Launch toolbar, you don’t want to put too many icons there. Other programs that you use frequently or regularly can be [more…]
To make the Windows Vista Start menu really work for you, you need to understand the All Programs submenu. This may come as a shock, but the All Programs submenu on your Start menu doesn't actually contain [more…]
If you know how to rearrange the All Programs submenu, you can untangle and organize the mess in your Start menu. Every time you choose Start→All Programs, Windows reaches into four folders and assembles [more…]
Windows Vista gives you the option to turn ten of the Start menu items into cascading fly-out menus: the User link, Documents, Pictures, Music, Games, Favorites, Recent Items [more…]
If you know how to change the color scheme in Windows Vista, you can control the colors that Windows uses when displaying dialog boxes, menus, and windows. Changing the color scheme is a great way to reflect [more…]
To help you work more efficiently, you'll want to know how to create a desktop shortcut in Windows Vista. Think of your Windows desktop like your physical workspace. To keep your workflow efficient, you'll [more…]
The Task Manager is a handy tool that lets you monitor the way applications are using your computer's resources and close "frozen" programs. You can place the Task Manager in the Windows Vista system tray [more…]
Windows XP had a program called the Desktop Cleanup Wizard that offered to clean the desktop for you, but it didn't work very well, so it was left out of Windows Vista. Never fear, you can still clean [more…]
Say you have to e-mail a status report to the same people every day. Instead of creating a new e-mail from scratch each time, you can generate and e-mail shortcut in Windows Vista that, when double-clicked [more…]
When you want to work with two files or programs, it's usually much more convenient to be able to see both files at the same time. You can arrange multiple windows side by side on your desktop in Windows [more…]
Windows Vista gives you a great deal of flexibility when it comes to creating keyboard shortcuts (also called hot keys). You can use hot keys to open programs, files, and even Web pages. Creating a hot [more…]
Are you tired of the Start→All Programs→Blah→Blah hunt-and-click routine in Vista? Do you have a small handful of programs you run every day? If so, learning to use Windows Vista's Quick Launch toolbar [more…]
There’s no need to settle for Windows’ bone-stock Quick Launch toolbar. Adding programs, files, or folders that you want to get at quickly is a great way to make the Quick Launch toolbar work for you. [more…]
Windows Explorer provides the lens by which you see all the files and folders on your computer. To get the most out of Windows Explorer, you need to make Windows Vista show you the filename extensions [more…]