Just for you, I put together a video highlighting my favorite Windows 7 features. These are mostly consumer-oriented features; I’m skipping over many new IT-oriented improvements.

I tested a Wacom tablet on my computer a few months back, which prompted Windows Vista to automatically install the Tablet PC components. I got rid of the Wacom tablet after discovering that I’m better at using a mouse then a pen (a fact I should have realized after seeing my handwriting).

The Tablet PC Input Panel didn’t go away, though. It’s the panel that slides out from the left side of the screen to allow you to use handwriting to enter text.

To disable it, follow these steps:

(more…)

I wrote an article about this topic for Microsoft a while back, and got an e-mail from someone with some tips that are actually pretty useful (rare for one of these sales-type articles). Here ya go:

(more…)

Protected Mode is one of Windows Vista’s best new security features. With it, Internet Explorer (and anything that a bad website might do when you visit it with Internet Explorer) runs with very minimal rights to your computer. In fact, it can’t read your personal documents, install programs, or do anything that might damage your computer. This will stop a lot of spyware that automatically installed itself when the user visited a website.

If you do need to do something that Protected Mode would normally block, it’ll prompt you, as shown above. If this becomes annoying for a particular website, you can stop Protected Mode just for that website by adding it to your Trusted Sites zone. Just follow these steps:

(more…)

ActiveX is a technology for extending what Internet Explorer can do. Some Web pages use ActiveX controls to display animations, play games, verify the integrity of your Windows installation, or do other things that the browser couldn’t normally do.

Standard users can’t install most ActiveX controls–you need to be an administrator. If you only give your users a standard login, they might run into problems using ActiveX. To enable users to install specific ActiveX controls, you can use the ActiveX Installer Service.

The ActiveX Installer Service is disabled by default (well, it’s not even installed). To install it, follow these steps:
(more…)

First, congrats on upgrading to Windows Vista. You’ll have fun with it, and over the long term, the upgrade will make you more productive.

You’re officially an early adopter, though, and whether you’re buying a car in the first model year or installing a newly released operating system, problems are much more likely during the first year of production use. Here are some tips to make your first weeks with Vista as fun and productive as possible:

(more…)

Windows Vista automatically index the places that matter most: all user profiles (including Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, etc), your Start menu (so you can find applications by name), your e-mail (for Outlook, anyway), your notes (for OneNote), and any Offline Files you’ve configured.

So, if you play by the rules and store everything in Documents, Pictures, or the other standard folders, you’re all set. If you’re a stubborn old coot who insists on storing your files at C:MyFiles or something like that, well, it’s not being index. BTW, I’m a stubborn old coot.

To add a custom folder to the index, follow these steps:

(more…)