Top 4 Windows 7 tips that you should know

Here I am listing some important tips and tricks that you should be knowing about windows 7.Lets start with some tips that will make your desktop more interesting and then move on to some tips that will improve your computers power efficiency.

1. How to use hidden international wall papers and themes?

When you first install a windows 7 you are asked to select your country and language. Suppose if you select English (United States), then windows will install themes and wallpapers of that region only. How ever other files (themes and wallpapers for other regions) will remain hidden in your storage disk. There is a way we can access them and use on our will. Here is the way:

Go to Search Box in start menu -> type-> C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT (If windows is in a separate drive write accordingly)

Windows explorer will now display a set of sub folders like MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each sub folder represents a specific country. Example: Au represent Australia. Now go to that folder an go to Themes. Now select any theme and double click it. This theme will now get installed as a shortcut to the personalization section in the control panel.

To activate this theme, you may just go to Personalization->and choose a background you wish.

2.How to get a power efficiency report?

A power efficiency report is well suited for a laptop. Windows 7 has a built in tool that analyses your power usages and will give recommendations on how to improve your battery life.

Here is the way:

Go to Search Box in Start menu -> type->cmd-> hit Enter-> In the window that appear ->right click->select Run as administrator.

At the command line type the following : powercfg -energy -output \Folder\Energy_Report.html

where \Folder represents the place/location where you want the report to be saved.

Now wait a minute. Windows 7 will analyse your system power usage and will save the report as an Html file in the location specified. This report will contain suggestions to improve your power efficiency i.e battery life.

3.How to search on Internet from Start menu?

Your start button “Search Box” can be used to search your PC as a whole. But it can be used to search the Internet as well. To do this type->GPEDIT.MSC and press ENTER to run Group Policy Editor.

Go to User Configuration->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Task Bar

Double click “Add search internet link to start menu” and from the screen that appears select enabled. Then click OK and close the Group policy editor.

From now on when you search on the start menu search box – a “search internet link” will appear. If you click the link then search results will appear in your default browser with default search engine.

4. How to Customize your shutdown button?

In some cases you may be restarting your system more often than shutting it down, or you may be hibernating frequently than performing a shut down. In such cases the default action of your “shut down button” can be changed.

Right click start button -> click properties ->on start menu tab click -> power button actions drop down menu and select which action you want to be default.

Thats all about it!