Tag Archives | Windows 7

Access Your Windows System Tray From Your Keyboard

By Matthew Guay on October 25, 2010 in Quick Tips

Have you ever wanted to quickly access an app in your Windows system tray but didn’t want to grab your mouse? Here’s how you can use anything in your system tray directly from your keyboard.

There are keyboard shortcuts for almost anything you want to do on your computer. Most of use know the shortcuts for copy, paste, and other common tasks, but there’s tons of useful ones that are slightly less known. Recently I was wanting a way to quickly access apps in my system tray directly from my keyboard. Low and behold, there is an easy shortcut to access your system tray from the keyboard. Here it is:

Simply press Win + B on your keyboard (the Windows key and B at the same time) to select your system tray.

Please Note: This trick only works in newer editions of Windows, including Windows Vista and 7, so it won’t work in Windows XP.

Here’s how it works. On Windows 7, I pressed Win + B, and it automatically selected the Show hidden icons button in the system tray.

Press enter to see your hidden icons. Then, move between your tray icons with your up and down arrows. When you’ve selected the icon for the app you want to open, just press the Enter key on your keyboard.

Pressing Enter on a system item, such as the Network icon, will open the preview window just like it would when you left-click it normally.

Or, to see the options for an item like you’d usually see by right-clicking, press the menu button on your keyboard (usually located beside the right Ctrl button, or press Shift + F10.

This works with the Windows tray elements such as the expand button and clock as well. Here we’ve pressed Win + B, then pressed the menu button to get the system tray menu, all without leaving the keyboard. Just press the up and down arrows to access the various options, and press Enter to select the highlighted option.

And, as we mentioned before, it works in Windows Vista as well. Here, though, it’ll just expand your tray since Vista doesn’t include the nice hidden icons popup.

Keyboard shortcuts are a great way to make your tech life simpler, and there’s tons of useful keyboard shortcuts in Windows 7. This shortcut is a welcome addition to our keyboard shortcut arsenal, and I regularly use it to view the time in other time zones or view my to-dos in GeeTeeDee without leaving the keyboard. Feel free to share your favorite keyboard shortcuts in the comments below!

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Add Administrative Tools to Your Windows Start Menu

By Matthew Guay on September 16, 2010 in Quick Tips

Did you just notice that the Administrative Tools folder is missing from your Start Menu, or can you not find crucial tools such as Event Viewer, Performance Monitor, or the Advance Firewall quickly from your start menu search? Here’s how to add it back in 10 seconds.

This demo was done on Windows 7 Professional, but it works the exact same in all versions of Vista and Windows 7, and is almost the exact same in Windows XP.

Get your Administrative Tools

Right click on your start menu, and select Properties.

Alternately, you can click any empty area of the start menu itself, and select Properties.

Now, select the Start Menu tab, and click Customize.

Scroll down to the System administrative tools section, and choose whether you want to display it on the All Programs menu or on the front of the Start Menu as well. I personally keep it in the All Programs menu, but the choice is yours! Click Ok to save your settings.

Now, when you open the All Programs part of your Start Menu, you’ll see the Administrative Tools folder you were looking for, with all of your missing tools! You can also now quickly find anything in this folder from the Start Menu search.

Alternately, if you chose to add it to your Start Menu directly, here’s how it will look.

Now you’ve got quick access to your administrative tools back in your Start Menu where it belongs. This should be the default setting in Windows, especially in the Professional and Ultimate editions, but for some reason, it’s hidden by default. At any rate, it’s easy to get it back the way it should be. Enjoy!

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Windows 7 Calculator features

By Matthew Guay on September 7, 2010 in Quick Tips

Want to check out some of the latest features in calculator in Windows 7? This quick video will help you get a quick overview of how it works and some of the new features it includes. Enjoy!

I made this video actually just to test out Camtasia Studio 7, but it worked so good that I hope to do more videos here in the near future. If you have any input or suggestions, please let me know!

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Discover if Your Computer is Running a 32 or 64 bit Edition of Windows

By Matthew Guay on August 9, 2010 in Quick Tips

64 bit editions of Windows are quickly becoming the standard on new computers as more computers are sold with 3Gb or more of ram. Almost all computers sold nowadays, including netbooks with Intel Atom N45x processors and newer, are 64 bit capable, and most programs work just as good on the 64 bit version of Windows as they do on the 32 bit editions. Many new programs, including Photoshop CS5, Office 2010, AutoCAD 2011, and more are available in 64 bit editions to take full advantage of your hardware. If you’re wondering if your computer is running the 64 bit version of Windows to see which programs to install, here’s how you can tell what your computer is running.

See What Edition of Windows 7 or Vista You’re running

64 bit versions of Windows 7 and Vista are fairly popular, so if you have a newer computer running either of these you have a fair chance of your computer running the 64 bit version. If your computer came with 3Gb ram or more, it most likely came with the 64 bit edition preinstalled; otherwise, you likely have the 32 bit edition.

To find out for sure, open the Start Menu, right-click on Computer, and select Properties.

Fun Fact: Windows Server 2008 R2 is only available in 64 bit, so if your system is running it you’ll know for sure you’re running a 64 bit edition without checking.

This dialog will show what version of Windows you’re running near the top; this computer is running Windows 7 Home Premium as you can see in the green circle. Then, under System on down, you’ll see what processor your computer is running, as well as how much Ram you have. Underneath that you’ll see if you’re using a 32 bit version of Windows beside System type. This computer includes 1Gb of ram and is running a 32 bit edition of Windows as you can see in the red circle.

And here’s what it looks like on a computer running a 64 bit edition:

See if Your Computer Could run a 64 bit Edition

If your computer is running a 32 bit edition of Windows 7 or Vista, you can quickly see if your computer is capable of running a 64 bit edition. To do this, click your Experience Score rating; if you haven’t updated the score in a while, the link may say that the score needs to be refreshed, but it will still work fine for this check.

Click View and print detailed performance and system information to get more info.

Now, under System, you’ll see if your computer 64 bit capable or not. Here we see that this netbook is 64 bit capable!

See if Your Running a 64 bit Version of XP

The 64 bit version of Windows XP was seldom used, as it had to be purchased as a separate version and was not included by default. If you’re still running XP, most likely you’re running the 32 bit version, but you can check to be sure if you’d like.

Fun Fact: XP Mode on Windows 7 uses a 32 bit version of XP even if you’re using it on a 64 bit edition of Windows 7. So if you’re wanting to install a program in XP Mode, you’ll need to use the 32 bit version. If you’re using a program that does have a 64 bit version, you’d likely be better off to run it directly in Windows 7 anyhow.

To check, right-click on My Computer in the start menu and select Properties. This window will show you your system properties, including the version of Windows. If you’re running the 64 bit version of XP, it will say Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Conclusion

As more programs are designed to take advantage of 64 bit computers, it’ll be increasingly needful to know what edition of Windows you’re using. I’ve been using the 64 bit edition of Windows 7 since the first beta in January 2009, and haven’t had problems with any standard programs in it. Plus, you can always run older, 32 bit programs in XP Mode if you have any that won’t work in the 64 bit edition of Windows 7.

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Remove the Clock, Volume, and More From the Windows 7 Taskbar

By Matthew Guay on August 6, 2010 in Quick Tips, Techinch

Are you tired of the default system icons and clock taking up precious space on your taskbar? Here’s how you can tweak the system tray to your liking and remove any or all of the default icons.

Windows 7 keeps the system tray much cleaner than previous versions of Windows, as it automatically hides new icons in the tray. However, it does usually have several default icons, including Action Center, power, network, sound, and the clock. While each of these can be useful, sometimes extra space in the taskbar can be more useful, especially if you’re using a small screen on a laptop or netbook.

One way to quickly reclaim some space is to drag the default icons such as network and power to the hidden icons section. Simply click and drag the icons to the end of the tray, and the hidden icon pane will open for you to place the icons where you want. We find that we seldom need to use these icons, as we’re more likely to use hotkeys on our laptop to turn volume up or down, or turn off WiFi. Now your icons are a click away, and your tray is cleaner.

However, that still left the clock in the tray. If you really want your tray to be as clean as possible, you can remove that, too. To remove the clock, right-click on it and select Customize notification icons.

This dialog will let you choose which icons to hide, though we find it easier to just manage the icons by dragging and dropping them to or from the hidden icons pane as above. There’s no option for the default system icons and the clock here, though, so click the Turn system icons on or off link near the bottom of the dialog.

Now you can choose to turn on or off the clock and any of the default system icons. Most of the icons are handy to keep around, so we’ve simply moved them to the hidden icons section in the tray, but this is the only place you can turn off the clock.

Once you’ve done this, your system tray will be fully empty, showing on the Show Desktop button and the up arrow to see the hidden icons.

You can still access the hidden icons as before, so you can still access the volume and network info easily.

Conclusion

Although it can be handy to quickly see the current date and time in the system tray, sometimes it can be best to have an uncluttered taskbar, especially on small screens. Windows 7 lets you pick exactly what you want to show in the system tray so the taskbar can work just like you want it to. Whether you prefer to use the clock desktop gadget or your trusty wrist watch, or still prefer to see the time in the system tray, you can tweak Windows to work like you want.

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