Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Windows Live Wave 4 is hitting the streets soon and it looks to be a significant improvement over the
previous version.

The new(ish) “ribbon interface” makes life much easier, heightens productivity and gives the UI a general, cleaner and logical feel while not being too intrusive or overbearing (OneNote is a culprit of this).  And the Windows Phone 7 Series look and feel popping up in some places is also a refreshing change too.

This is just going to be a quick overview of the new Beta as I’m sure many things will change between now and the final release.  When the suite has been a little more finalized I’m sure we’ll go into more detail of the applications then.

Installation

Lets start the screenshots with the installation.  The installation wizard is much cleaner and nicer looking that it’s predecessor.

We have a couple of new additions to the installation in Wave 4.  Notably; Companion and Bing Bar.  We’ll talk more about those later . Read the rest of this entry »

One of the better improvements to the Windows 7 taskbar is the thumbnail preview – at least that’s my opinion. I also like the group function and that I can close a running application directly from the thumbnail view. However, should you for any reason want to disable the Thumbnails, here is how to do so.

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Are you still running the good-old Windows XP and being just a tad envious on the Taskbar Thumbnail Preview? Wishing you could have that on your XP taskbar?

I have found two freeware applications for you that will do the trick. One plain and simple and one with a few more options.

This is also for those of you who desperately miss your MAC taskbar, but have to use XP at work or whatever. Curious? Read on!

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In the Old days I used to place my most used folders as menu items in my Window Taskbar. And I recently re-discovered this function and fell in love with the idea all over again. If you have one folder that you constantly access it can be annoying to always “go look” for it or to have it waste space as an open folder in your taskbar – so why not add it as a taskbar item.

As I’m spending a lot of time here on mintywhite, writing, there is one folder I am constantly saving images and other useful items into, now I can access that folder without leaving what ever it is that I’m working on.

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This solution I owe to my brother – who made me figure this one out for him. My brother is one of you Laptop users that, when home (or the office), hooks up his computer to an external monitor, extending his desktop. This works fine – unless you forget to move every application window back to your main desktop before disconnecting the extra monitor. Then what do you do ?

If you’re still at home (or the office) then it’s no “biggy”, but if you’re on the road somewhere, suddenly realize that your PowerPoint presentation is showing on the “other” monitor… What then ?

Don’t worry – Read on

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Joseph Moran and Kevin Otnes are both writers who have a long history in technical documentation and other tech-related endeavours. In this interview, we get to know Kevin and Joseph and then I’ll share a little about their book “Getting StartED Windows 7″ (Amazon)

Interview with Joseph Moran & Kevin Otnes

RICH: Joe, you say you like to play Tennis; what else do you like to do outside of the world of computers?

JOE: I’m a big movie fan, though considering the way I watch most of them– on Blu-Ray disc or via digital download– I guess that barely qualifies as outside the realm of computers. Considering how much time I spend seated in front of glowing screens, I do try to get outdoors as often as possible– biking is another activity I’ve recently rediscovered (though with a GPS mounted to the handlebars, even that isn’t quite computer-free!).

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