Windows Tools, Help & Guides

The location sensors in Windows 7 enable your operating system and other software to adapt to your current geographical location. Of course, your computer must have a location sensor supporting hardware e.g., a GPS device, wireless WAN radios or other cellular triangulation technologies. Using these location sensors, your applications can know exactly where you are and provide you with relevant information and content. For example, some twitter clients in Windows can use the location sensors and can automatically post your geographical location along with your tweets.

Most of the modern laptops and desktops are coming with some sort of GPS device installed inside them to take advantage of this location sensor feature in Windows. But even if your computer does not have such a location sensor hardware device,  you can install a software emulation of such devices. Geosense for Windows is such a software based location sensor for Windows 7 which uses Google Location API to find your present location.

By default, Windows 7 does not enable the location sensors for any user. If you want to make use of location sensor feature in Windows, then you can enable them from the Control Panel in Windows 7. Here is how :

1. Click on the Start Menu button and then click on the Control Panel
2. In the Control Panel, type sensors in the search box on the top-right corner. In the search results that appear, click on the Location and Other Sensors as shown

   

3. In the next window that opens, you will be shown a list of all the installed sensors. These sensors may include non-location based sensors because Windows supports many other types of sensors too. To enable a location sensor, place a check mark in the checkbox shown next to a location sensor. Then click on the Apply button to save the changes

   

4. Similarly, if you want to disable a location sensor, just un-check the checkbox shown next to it and hit the Apply button.

When a program or service requests location information from these sensors, Windows 7 shows a small icon in the notification area (system tray) however, some programs can use the information from these sensors without your prior permission. This may cause a privacy issue. So if you are not using your location sensor regularly, then it is always a good idea to disable it.

About Sudesh

Sudesh has always been curious about computers and technology. Loves to play with both Windows and Linux. Likes to help people solve their computer problems. Has written technical articles and tutorials for some websites including MintyWhite.

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