Windows 7 tricks: 20 top tips and tweaks
Getting to know Windows 7? Here are 20 ways to get around the interface and make it act the way you want.
Computerworld - Editor's note: An earlier version of this story was written when Windows 7 was still in beta. Now that the final version has been released, we've overhauled the story, updating some tips, eliminating others that are no longer relevant, and adding seven new tips. Look for the
icon to find the new tips.
Just got your hands on Windows 7 and want to bend it to your will? No problem. We've got plenty of tips, hacks and secrets to keep you busy for a long time, including automatically opening Windows Explorer to a folder of your choice, speeding up taskbar thumbnails, finding hidden desktop themes, forcing User Account Control to act the way you'd like, keeping your Explorer searches secret from others, and more.
So check out these tips. If you like them, we'll keep more coming.
General tips
We'll start with a few nifty tips that can make your desktop more interesting, make it easier to get around and increase your computer's power efficiency.
Use hidden international wallpapers and themes
When you first install Windows 7, it asks for your language, time and currency. Based on your responses, it installs a set of wallpapers and themes. If you choose English (United States) for your time and currency format, for example, the available desktop backgrounds and themes will include a United States section with scenery from locations such as Maine, the Southwest and so on.
Hidden, though, are background scenery and themes from other English-speaking countries -- Australia, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Normally, you can't access those backgrounds or themes, but there is a simple way you can install and use them:
1. In the search box in the Start menu, type C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and press Enter. (Note: If Windows 7 is installed in a drive other than C:, use that letter instead.)
2. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders under C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU for Australia, CA for Canada, GB for Great Britain, US for the United States, and ZA for South Africa.
For any of the countries whose wallpaper and themes you want to use, go into its Theme folder, for example, C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT\MCT-ZA\Theme. Double-click the theme you see there (for example ZA).
3. That will install a shortcut to the theme and wallpapers in the Personalization section of Control Panel.
You can now use them as you would any other theme or background, by right-clicking the desktop, choosing Personalize, and choosing a background or theme. They will be listed in their own section.
Shake your desktop free of clutter
If you frequently run multiple programs simultaneously, your desktop can get extremely cluttered. This can get annoying if you're working on one program and want to minimize all the other windows -- in previous versions of Windows you had to minimize them individually.
With Windows 7's "shake" feature, though, you can minimize every window except the one in which you're currently working -- in a single step. Click and hold the title bar of the window you want to keep on the desktop; while still holding the title bar, shake it quickly back and forth until all of the other windows minimize to the taskbar. Then let go. To make them return, shake the title bar again.
You can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window key-Home key combination -- although doing that is not nearly as much fun.
Windows 7
- Microsoft doubles support lifespan for consumer Windows 7, Vista
- At CES, Microsoft sets stage for lower Windows revenue
- Windows 7 to crack 40% share by year's end
- Microsoft TV ads to target old PCs with anti-'good enough' angle
- Windows 7 share tops XP for first time in U.S.
- Windows 7 breaks 20% share barrier
- Microsoft to wind down Windows 7 Family Pack sales by year's end
- Microsoft delivers Windows 7 SP1 blocking tools
- Enterprises: We'll run Windows XP even after retirement
- Microsoft may face resistance to Windows 8


- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Ready Your Enterprise for the Next Generation of Client Computing
- Data is now accessed via physical and virtual desktops, laptops and mobile devices. IT organizations struggle to control and manage the widening pool...
- Consolidating Lotus Domino x86 Workloads on IBM Power Systems
- Read the white paper to learn how moving up to Lotus Domino 8.5 and consolidating with IBM Power Servers can help you boost...
- A Comparison of PowerVM and VMware vSphere (4.1 & 5.0) Virtualization Performance
- This technical white paper presents benchmark results showing greater VM consolidation ratios than demonstrated in previous benchmarks and demonstrating the extent of the...
- How Nimsoft Service Desk Speeds Deployment and Time to Value
- For years, many support teams have been hamstrung by their traditional service desk platforms, which require complex, time-consuming coding for virtually every aspect...
- Practice Management: Double Billing Rate and Improve Patient Services
- Would you like to double your billing rate and achieve faster payment for services?
Download this customer success story to see how One Health...
All Operating Systems White Papers
- Best Practices in Monitoring VMware
- The benefits of virtualization are unassailable: increased agility, scale, and cost savings to name a few. However, so too are the monitoring challenges...
- Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
- View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
- InfoSphere Warehouse Packs Demo
- These flash modules make warehousing more tangible and relevant to business users through detailed explanations of the InfoSphere Warehouse Packs.
- Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
- Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT
Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,... - Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
- Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT
Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific...
All Operating Systems Webcasts

