If you share your computer with other family members, office colleagues or friends- you might want to restrict them from changing Windows wallpapers and screensavers. This is because you may want to keep a permanent wallpaper and screensaver on your desktop and prevent other users from installing their own wallpapers, which might be distracting at times.
In this article, we will learn
There’s little more frustrating to a computer user, than finding your icons scrambled all over the desktop. In addition, if your desktop is full of icons, you can imagine how annoying it would be to arrange them manually.
This problem usually occurs when you change your computer’s resolution. Changing the resolution, either manually or when installing drivers for your video card, can sometimes change the order and… Continue reading
Aaron from Scottsdale, AZ. asks:
Is there any way to get rid of that little information box that pops up every time I hover over something on my desktop?
Irritating sometimes, isn’t it, Aaron? Thanks for writing!
For those of you who don’t know what Aaron’s talking about, take a look at the example below:
When your mouse pointer “hovers” over (you… Continue reading
Robin from St. Paul, Minnesota writes:
The other day I was over at a friend’s house and when she started her computer it had a really pretty screen before the Windows screen – do you know what I’m talking about? Where can I get something like that?
Well, Robin, I do know what you’re talking about, and I can show you how to get it… Continue reading
Stuart from Wisconsin asks:
All of a sudden my Windows XP Taskbar has a weird double line on top of it. What gives?
I’m sure there are a lot of XP users out there who have seen this oddity while traveling in the wonderful world of Microsoft. Turns out, though, that it’s nothing serious and extremely easy to fix.… Continue reading
If you liked XP, Windows 7 offers many XP interface options. It also allows you to pick and choose from several individual options. For example, if you liked the XP taskbar, you can quickly adjust the Windows 7 taskbar to give it that XP appearance.
Just right click on an open space of the taskbar and select Properties.
Desktop gadgets first appeared on Windows computers with Vista, but they have been updated and improved for Windows 7. Here are some of the best ones for having fun, staying informed, or for increasing your productivity. All of them are available to download free from the Windows Live Gadget Gallery.
1. Ultimate Explorer – This multi-functional tool can help you bypass your… Continue reading
Google chrome has fast become the favorite browser of many internet users, mainly because of its speed and small size. Though it possesses countless useful features, there is one basic feature that it desperately lacks. It doesn’t let a user change the desktop wallpaper from within the browser. Gone are the days when a user would save an image to the hard drive, spend 15 minutes locating the image in… Continue reading
Bailey from El Mirage, California asks:
When I send a link as a shortcut to the desktop, I hate the way it says shortcut right after the name of the shortcut. Do you know what I mean? I had heard you can get rid of this. Can you? I have Windows Vista.
Bailey, I am assuming you mean this kind of shortcut name annoyance:… Continue reading
Windows 7 has all kinds of useful desktop gadgets to enhance your productivity, or just to have some fun. There are calendars, puzzles, currency converters, clocks, slideshows and more. If you’ve always wanted to try using gadgets, here’s how.
Start by right clicking on an empty area of your desktop and selecting Gadgets from the context menu.
This opens up… Continue reading
The taskbar preview feature in Windows 7 is extremely helpful in some situations and plain annoyance in others. Whenever we open a window, it comes up in the taskbar and has taskbar preview enabled by default. Taskbar preview shows us a miniscule preview version of the window. The window comes into view as we hover our mouse on the preview and gets active if we click the preview.… Continue reading
Pam from Ohio asks:
I recently went from XP to windows 7 -big big difference. Is there any way to make it act like classic view like you can do with XP? I got it to act like Vista which is better but would love the old way again.
Good question, Pam, and something that many people used to using XP would like to… Continue reading
Patsy from Winnsboro, Tx. Asks:
Several years ago, I found a tip in this newsletter about how to enlarge your entire emails. Since then I have a different computer and I am getting older and vision is worsening and I can hardly read the emails that I receive. Do you know how to change this?
It can be very frustrating when you have to strain… Continue reading
Gina asks:
I really like the look of a clean desktop. I don’t ever keep anything on it except the Internet Explorer icon, Recycle Bin, My Documents, and My Computer. It would be nice to not have any text under each icon. Can this even be done?
First of all, kudos to you, Gina, for having such a clean desktop! I have a terrible… Continue reading
Desktop wallpaper is a Windows element enjoyed by any computer user and there are many types of wallpapers available. However, video wallpaper may be a new experience for you, which makes it a pretty cool thing to try.
VLC Media Player is one of the most used free media players that allow you to play nearly any kind of media file types. We are going to need… Continue reading
Learn how to get back a lost internet connectivity icon. Continue reading
Tyler S. asks:
With all of the work that I do on my computer, a friend of mine says that I could benefit enormously if I used the Quick Launch toolbar. What is it and how do I use it? I have Windows XP.
A:
Tyler, I personally wouldn’t even like being on my computer without the Quick Launch Toolbar. It sounds like… Continue reading
Rachel asks:
I went to delete a file the other day and it just deleted the file without asking! Do you know why it would do this?
A:
Hi, Rachel! I had that happen to me once and I thought I had lost the file; I about had a heart attack.
Somehow your settings got changed (I never did find out how mine… Continue reading
Have you lost your little Internet connectivity icon? This tip will teach you how to get it back! Continue reading
Here is a short tutorial on how you can eject or close your CD ROM using desktop shortcuts. Opening or closing the CD tray using these shortcuts can help you out if you have a faulty eject button on your CD ROM drive. You will never need to open windows explorer and right-click the CD ROM drive and then press eject. These two shortcuts will make your tasks
Have you ever needed a special character? No, I’m not talking about phoning up Charlie Brown and asking him to referee your kid’s soccer game -I’m talking about a special text character! Sure, there’s a bunch of Alt codes you can use to get results, but if you’re like me, you need a more visual approach.
So, in Windows 7 or Vista hit Start and… Continue reading
Rachel asks:
I went to delete a file the other day and it just deleted the file without asking! Do you know why it would do this?
Hi, Rachel! I had that happen to me once and I thought I had lost the file; I about had a heart attack.
I like to keep a relatively clean desktop. I have my frequently used icons situated just where I need them and I try to limit my amount of desktop shortcuts, but sometimes that’s just not enough for me. I mean, when I first installed Windows 7, all I had was a recycle bin icon and not much else to speak of!
How can one get that level… Continue reading
Thomas J. says:
Sometimes when I’m browsing the internet, I like to do it in full screen mode. That’s great, but is there some way to get rid of the taskbar so that it can be completely full screen?
Say you’re having a problem with your PC and no matter what you do you can’t seem to get the point across to tech support as to what exactly is happening. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an all-encompassing screen capture/problem recorder you could use?
Wait. There is! It’s called the Problem Steps Recorder and it comes with Windows 7!
The Problem Steps Recorder was… Continue reading
The Windows sidebar is a wonderful little featured introduced in with Windows Vista. It has programs for it (called gadgets) that allow you to see the weather, check the stock market and see how much strain you’re putting your computer under. That’s just the beginning, though, because there are tons more gadgets you can download online, too!
In fact, before too long your list of… Continue reading
Burt from Naples asks:
Is there any way to hide my control panel? I don’t like other people messing with my settings!
A:
If you share your computer with others, you know everyone loves to personalize their workspace.
They change audio and video settings, add or remove programs and generally reconfigure the computer to better suit their taste.
This… Continue reading
