Windows 7 Interface

THE WINDOWS 7 DESKTOP  

The first item in the Start Menu is called Getting Started.  You can click on this to open it in it‘s own window or open its jumplist.
Here you can perform post-install duties such as personalising your desktop and adding more users.
There have been some changes made to the desktop with Windows 7.  Some of these changes may be familiar to you, especially if you‘ve been using Windows Vista, others are completely new.

THE TASKBAR  

Sometimes called the superbar this is completely redesigned in Windows 7.  You can read more about the new taskbar and how it works later in this chapter but it is now a place from which you can both launch and manage running and non- running programs and applications.  It is essentially a merging of the old taskbar and quick launch area.

THE NOTIFICATION AREA  

One of the criticisms in previous versions of Windows was how annoying the notification area became.  This is the area on the right side of the taskbar that filled up with icons and alert 

balloons, telling you about things happening on your PC. 

By default Windows 7 shows three icons in the notification area.  The flag is the new action centre, more on that in a bit.  Next is your network connection, either wired or wireless.  The icon for wi-fi connections will show connectivity and signal strength.  The final icon is for sound.  Clicking on it will bring up the volume control. 

THE START MENU  

The Start Menu hasn‘t changed much since Windows Vista but now includes jumplists which will pop out when you click the arrow on the right side of some Start Menu items.  

There is also a search box you can use to find programs and files. 

PINNING START MENU ITEMS  

You can pin programs to the Start Menu so they always appear there.  You can do this by right clicking with your mouse and selecting Pin to taskbar.  You can also pin items to the taskbar this way and unpin items. 

GETTING STARTED  

The first item in the Start Menu is called Getting Started.  You can click on this to open it in it‘s own window or open its jumplist. Here you can perform post-install duties such as personalising your desktop and adding more users.

USING THE TASKBAR  

The new taskbar is the main place from which to launch programs and manage running programs.  

You can pin programs to the taskbar in the same way as pinning them to the Start Menu 

SHOW DESKTOP      

At the very bottom right of your screen (the far right of the taskbar) is a small button which will show you your desktop. Rolling your mouse over this button will make all the windows on your desktop go transparent.  Clicking it will minimise every window.  If you click this button again every window will be restored to its full-size.

LIVE THUMBNAILS     

The live thumbnails have been improved since Windows Vista.  Rolling over an icon on the taskbar will show you thumbnails of the program.  In the case (above) there are two tabs open in Internet Explorer and it will show you both tabs.  

Rolling your mouse over a thumbnail will show you the Window full size, making all other windows transparent.  This will also work for minimized windows, it will restore them for you. 

TASKBAR JUMPLISTS  

The new Taskbar also has jumplists for many programs.  You can access these either by right clicking on the icon with your mouse or by left clicking with your mouse and pushing the mouse upwards, away from the icon.  

These jumplists can show you recent files and disk locations.  They can also contain features within a program you may want to access easily. 

PINNING ITEMS TO JUMPLISTS  

You may want to pin items to jumplists on the taskbar.  

You can do this by right clicking on the jumplist item and selecting pin / unpin to this list.  

This can be used to gain quick access to documents or disk locations you use regularly, such as a home finance spreadsheet. 

PINNING PROGRAMS TO THE TASKBAR  

If you want to pin a program to the new taskbar you can either right click on it in the Start Menu and select Pin to Taskbar or right click on it‘s icon when it is running and do the same.

THE ACTION CENTRE  

Clicking on the flag in the notification area will bring up the action centre.  This is where all the alert messages, informing you about things happening with your computer are to be found.  

If there is a message this flag with change from plain white to a flag with a red cross on it.  

The first alert you will see after installing Windows 7 is one advising you to install anti-virus software.  You can click on the message to find out more about it or click on open action centre to see the action centre full size. It‘s in the full action centre that you have control over what alerts you choose to see.  You can follow step- though guides to fix common problems and also view archived messages. 

The action centre is your first port of call to diagnose and fix problems with Windows 7.  

There are options here to Troubleshoot problems with Windows or use Recovery tools if Windows needs repairing.  

Alerts will be colour-coded red, yellow or green depending how serious Windows believes they are.

WINDOWS EXPLORER  

As with previous versions of Windows, Windows Explorer is the main way you access and organise your files and folders.  It‘s not changed much since Windows Vista, but there are important changes none the less.  

By default now, starting Windows Explorer will show you the new Libraries.  I‘ll write about these more later in this chapter.  The toolbar along the top of the screen now has handy text labels that will change depending on the content you‘re looking at.  These commands will allow you to do things from creating folders to burning files to CD or DVD.  

The Breadcrumb bar also still sits at the top of Windows Explorer and I‘ll talk about this more in a moment.  

The biggest change is the Navigation pane along the left side of the window. 

NAVIGATION PANE  

The new navigation pane on the left side of explorer windows allows quick access to Libraries, drives and your network.  

Each section is collapsible and folds out into a full tree.  In addition you can view your Homegroup (more on this in the chapter Connecting) There is also a new Favorites section into which you can drag and drop folders, drives and other locations for quick and easy access to them.  

It‘s well worth spending some time putting your most commonly used places into the Favorites section as it‘s an enormous time saver. 

THE BREADCRUMB BAR  

As with Windows Vista the breadcrumb bar is your main way of navigating Windows Explorer through the drives and folders on your PC.  

Each section (folder) is separated by an arrow.  Clicking this arrow will display a drop-down menu that will allow you to instantly move to any other branch in that point of the tree. 

For instance, in the image (above) you can see we‘re on the Windows 7 (C:) drive, in the Users folder and then in the Mike and Contacts folders, both sub-folders of that. 

CHOOSING HOW TO VIEW FILES  

The default way of viewing files and folders is by no means the only way of doing so.  

In the top right of explorer windows are two icons to change the view you can see. Clicking the first icon will bring up a slider control you can use to change the thumbnail and icon size for files and folders in that explorer view.  You can also select other views here including List, Details and my personal favorites, the very interesting and helpful Tiles and Content. 

SORTING AND GROUPING FILES  

By default the standard view of files and folders in Windows Explorer isn‘t very helpful, being just a simple alphabetical list.  You can change this as per previous versions of Windows easily though.  

Right clicking anywhere in a blank space in the explorer window will bring up a context menu that will allow you to sort and group files by different criteria such as when they were last modified, how big they are or, my personal favourite, what type of file they are. 

Sorting files by a criteria will keep them as one large list.  Grouping them will separate them into groups determined by the criteria you have set. 

COLLAPSING GROUPS  

When you are viewing files and folders organised by groups you can collapse some groups to make it easier to see and get access to the files you want.  

At the left side of each group is a small arrow you can click to collapse and restore the group. 

WORKING WITH FOLDERS  

While the Favourites in the Navigation Pane and the Breadcrumb bar make it easy to navigate through your files and folders, if you have lots of files sitting together in your documents folder, creating additional folders you can move some files into can help make things easier to find and organise.    

The New Folder button on the explorer toolbar will allow you to do this. 

PREVIEWING FILES     

Just next to the help button in the top right of explorer windows is a button to toggle the preview pane.  This will open up at the side of the window and will give you a large preview of many file types when you click on them. 

WORKING WITH FOLDERS  

While the Favorites in the Navigation Pane and the Breadcrumb bar make it easy to navigate through your files and folders, if you have lots of files sitting together in your documents folder, creating additional folders you can move some files into can help make things easier to find and organize.    

The New Folder button on the explorer toolbar will allow you to do this. 

THE DETAILS PANE  

Along the bottom of explorer windows sits the details pane.  Clicking on a file will bring up information about that file here.  This information could include the date the file was created, it‘s size, tags or ratings 

This can be especially useful with digital photographs where the details pane can show what camera the photo(s) were taken with, the resolution of the photograph and additional information. You can change the size of the details pane by right clicking in it when no file is selected and choosing how big you want from the size context menu that appears.  The bigger it is the more information it will display.  

THE MENU BAR  

Along the top of every explorer window is the menu bar.  The menu items will change depending on the content the window is displaying but can include options from sharing files to burning them to disc. 

HIDING PICTURE AND PHOTO NAMES  

With most photos from digital cameras named DSC123 we don‘t really need to know what the names of the photos are.  Fortunately we can turn this feature off when looking at a folder of pictures.  

Right click anywhere in a blank space and in the context menu that appears select View and then Hide file names.  You will now only see thumbnails of the pictures in that folder.

SWITCHING BETWEEN WINDOWS  

There are two ways to switch between open windows.  Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard while pressing the Tab key will bring up each window in a panel of thumbnails across the middle of your screen. 

FLIP 3D     

A more attractive way to switch between windows is to hold down the Windows key while also pressing the Tab key will bring up Flip 3D.  This will show all your windows in an attractive three- dimensional way. You can cycle through these by pressing the Windows key + Tab or by using the scroll wheel on your mouse.