In Windows 7 the Taskbar Notification Area, or System Tray, displays a collection of items used for alerting and quickly adjusting basic system settings such as volume, network, battery power, computer issues, date and time. In this tutorial, we show you how to display and hide items that appear in the Notification Area.

Click the Show hidden icons button then click Customize.

This will open the Control Panel Notification Area Icons item. If you would like to change the behavior of an icon, simply click in the list box beside it and choose the desired behavior.

For example, if I want to have the Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries icon always displayed in the Notification Area, click in the list box beside it and click Show icon and notifications. See below.

Before

After

If you want to hide a notification, repeat the same step, but choose Hide icon and notifications.

If you want to change the behavior for system icons displayed in the Notification Area such as Clock, Volume, Network, Power and Action Center, click the Turn system icons on or off link at the bottom of the window.

In the above example, I have changed the Taskbar Notification behavior to hide the Clock, see the before and after inset.

How to change Taskbar Notification Area behavior (Quick Tip) is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Microsoft announced an update to Skydrive, the company’s cloud storage service that lets you store 25GB of documents, photos and even music for free. Although similar to other cloud storage services such as Dropbox and Apple’s new iCloud, Skydrive delivers much more storage for free.

I’ve been using Skydrive for quite a while now and it has gradually improved over the years. It is still not where I want it to be, though, with one of my complaints being file size limitation (although that has been improved a bit in this new update).

I have always liked Skydrive’ collaboration capabilities: you can share your files easily with friends and colleagues, also. When you upload an attachment, whether it is Microsoft Office files or photos, you can choose to have them stored on Skydrive for easy access and quick editing if necessary.

The new Skydrive takes on a familiar Windows Explorer look which should be more attractive and welcoming for first time users of the service. Files are displayed in a default details layout along with the default ‘My Files’ location, which displays all file types.

There are some limited customization capabilities built in: you can change the default view from details to Thumbnail preview.

If you want to see more information about your files or folders, just hover over the file and click the blue i that appears. A TaskPane will appear on the right side of the screen with attributes about the file. This will have options that will let you add information, edit in Word Web App, Open in Microsoft Word or download to your hard disk. You can also see version history and edit the document’s permissions.

The new Skydrive features greatly improved search with a new suggested results feature. Just start typing a few words and the most relevant results will appear as you type. You can also see that you have quick access to other options beneath the document, such editing in the browser or view properties information.

The new Skydrive strongly focuses on quicker access to tools. The toolbar, for instance, displays quick links to creating a new Office file such as a Word document, spreadsheet, presentation or notebook. You can also create a new folder, add files or view synced files. Because you are using the browser instead of Windows Explorer to manage and create files, such improvements are welcome.

You can quickly organize and view common file types using the new Skydrive. For example: the Navigation Pane has a Documents and Photos link so you can quickly view all related files. In the above screenshot, I am in the Documents view where I view a combination of folders and Word documents. I have similar organization tools I can find in Explorer, such as columns, for viewing files. A nice feature is viewing the size of a folder.

You can also use the Quick Views capability first introduced in Hotmail to quickly access recently added documents or documents shared with you. The Groups feature allows you to easily collaborate with groups you might have set up on Windows Live Messenger. A very well integrated experience across core Windows Live services.

Photos

The new Photos view is nicely done in Windows Live Skydrive. By default, photos are displayed in Thumbnail Preview. One of the nice features I noticed include a faint watermark on the bottom right of the total number of photos in a folder. See below:

Another nice thing I discovered is that each thumbnail preview is an actual mini slideshow, see below:

Mini slideshows dynamically changing

Overall, these improvements are welcome and will make Windows Live Skydrive a more attractive option to use. However, the file size limitation still remains a big deal. Individual file sizes have moved from 50 to 100 MBs, but that is still not enough for what most people would like to use the service for. Especially for video and photos that can balloon in size. It’s something Dropbox still beats Skydrive on.

The other thing would be synchronization. Although Windows Live Sync is easy to use, there is a set it and forget it approach to Dropbox: just install the free client, type in your account information and files are automatically synced up. That seamless experience is still something Skydrive lacks.

That said, if you like Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9 integration, just like Hotmail, you can drag and pin the Windows Live Skydrive web icon to your Windows 7 taskbar for quick access with built in Jump List. It’s a good effort focused on making the service easier and more accessible. And in the end, it’s a free service, so its definitely worth a try. There’s nothing to lose.

How to use the new Windows Live Skydrive is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

A number of people have told me they are interested in giving Windows XP the boot, but at the same time, they are afraid of letting go of some of Windows XP’s familiarity. This is understandable, you have been using the same operating system for almost 10 years now and to jump into a modern version of the same operating system, is like fast forwarding 10 years into the future.

Thankfully, Windows 7 is a very customizable and convenient operating system to use and you can make it work the way you like. Of course, you are not going to be able to have it look exactly like Windows XP, or work exactly like it either, so you will have to still familiarize yourself with some of the great improvements the new version of Windows has to offer. I suggest you check out our Notebooks.com article for Windows XP users moving to Windows 7.

How to Make Windows 7 Look Like Windows XP

Taskbar – the Windows Taskbar has been greatly improved in Windows 7, featuring powerful features such as Jump List, Thumbnail previews of open applications, Aero Peek for previewing the desktop and the ability to move around shortcuts or open applications on the Taskbar. Some people prefer the Classic Taskbar which was first introduced in Windows 95, if you would like that appearance, here is how you do it.

Right click an empty spot on the Taskbar and click Properties

Under the Taskbar tab, check Use small icons under Taskbar appearance, click in the Taskbar buttons: list box and select ‘Never combine. To confirm the changes, click Apply and OK.

If you also want to disable the Taskbar Aero Peek Thumbnail Previews (these are the small windows that are composed when you hover the mouse pointer over an open application icon on the Taskbar), you can do it a couple ways.

Before doing this, please make sure you backup your Windows Registry, since this option will work best for users running Windows 7 Home Premium edition:

• Click Start, type regedit then right click it and click Run as administrator
• Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced
  
• Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named ExtendedUIHoverTime
• Double-click ExtendedUIHoverTime and click Decimal
• To increase the hover delay to 5 seconds, type 5000. Type 10000 for 10 seconds…
• Restart the computer to confirm changes.

OR if you are running Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate editions, you can use the Group Policy Editor to change this behavior.

• Click Start, type: gpedit.msc
• Hit Enter on your keyboard
• Under User Configuration
• Expand Administrative Templates
• Select Start Menu And Taskbar
  
• Select Turn off tasbar thumbnails
• Right click it and click Edit
• Select the Enabled radio button click Apply and OK

Start menu – the Windows 7 Start menu have so many key benefits, I honestly don’t know why you would want to change this. For example, the convenient Power Options button, powerful search capabilities, and a more clean and elegant design that gets out of your way, no cascading menus filling up your screen and running wild. If you still want to maintain that ‘familiar’ look here is how you do it.

Please note, this will not work exactly like the Classic Start menu of old and requires a bit of configuration.

* Right click on the taskbar then click Toolbars then click New toolbar…

* Browse to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu then click Select Folder

* You will now see a Programs menu on the Taskbar, right click the taskbar and click unlock taskbar

* A separator will now appear on the Taskbar, right click the separator and uncheck both “Show text” and “Show title”

* Hold down on the separator and drag it the extreme left until it appears at the extreme of left the Taskbar shortcuts, see above (it will look a bit messy initially).

* Resize the taskbar shortcuts by dragging them to the extreme left, continue dragging the separator to the left until only one icon remains

* It should look like the following

* Right click the Taskbar and click Lock the taskbar to keep it in its current position.

You can add folders such as Accessories, by browsing to C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Here are some third party alternative Classic Start menu options you can also try:

• Vista Classic Start Menu –  Vista Start Menu – Convenient alternative to Start menu
• MenuApp – another “classic start menu” solution

Enable Drop down menu bar in Windows Explorer

If you like using the Drop Down menu bar instead of the Command bar in Windows Explorer, you can enable it by doing the following:

What about the Blue Luna, Olive and Luna themes?

This one should be very easy. Windows XP came preloaded with three themes Blue, Olive and Silver. You can achieve a similar experience using Windows 7’s built in Personalize Explorer. Right click the Desktop and click Personalize then click Color.

Select one of the desired colors familiar to Windows XP users and click Save changes.

The only thing you have to do is add the Bliss Windows XP wallpaper and you should feel a bit more at home. You can do a quick web search using your favorite search engine. Just type ‘Windows XP Bliss Wallpaper’

Its not exactly Windows XP, but there are familiar element’s you can still enjoy even while running Windows 7.

How To Make Windows 7 Look and Act Like Windows XP is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

One of the major improvements in Windows 7 is the Taskbar. It introduces a new approach to using it with more flexibility and power built in while remaining familiar and easy to use. In this article, we take a look at one of the unique benefits of using the improved Taskbar.

What is Jump List?

A Jump List is a contextual menu built into applications pinned on to the Start menu or the Taskbar when you right click on a program or folder or hover a recent item on the Start menu. Jump List functionality varies across programs, some might include standard functionality while others might include unique functionality specific to that application. Common functionality includes recently accessed files, some Jump Lists will include a Task you can actually ‘Jump into’ when you start the program.

How to access a Jump List for a program on the Taskbar?

For this example, I am going to be using Microsoft Word pinned to the Taskbar. Say I have a document I would like to access that I was recently working on? All I need to do is right click the Microsoft Word shortcut and it will display a list of the most recently accessed documents, see below:

Another lovely feature of Jump list items with a program such as Microsoft Word is that when you hover over the item itself, it provides a description of its location.

Windows 7 Quick Tip: How to Show More Recent Documents on a Jump List

How to access a Jump List for a program on the Start Menu?

Again we are going to be using Microsoft Word. In this case, I have Microsoft Word as a recent program item on the Start menu, if I want to access a document, all I have to do is hover its icon and the menu will expand to reveal the most recently accessed documents. See below:

Jump List Unique Functionality

Programs such as Internet Explorer 8 offers unique Jump List capabilities, in addition to accessing my recently visited websites, I can even Start a private mode session which will provide a secure browsing site that does not leave any cached information behind when you end your web browsing session.

Unique Jump List benefits in Internet Explorer

With the recent release of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft is introducing greater synergy between the desktop and web. One of the great ways of doing that is by building app centric functionality into Internet Explorer 9 ready websites. When You pin a shortcut to one of your favorite websites on the Windows 7 Taskbar, you will be able to access Jump List functionality too. Take a look at just a couple websites that support it:

Windows Live Hotmail and Twitter Jump Lists

How to Pin Hotmail To Your Windows 7 Taskbar

Windows Media Player

Media Player also provides some basic Jump List functionality for accessing recent media such as videos or audio. You can even access your recent Play Lists or your last Play Lists you listened to.

How to Pin an item to your Jump List

You will notice that the Jump List share similar functionality with the ‘Recent Items’ menu. They do, but it’s the personalized experience you are able to have with each application to gain better and quicker access to capabilities built into the program. Another highlight is pinning items to your Jump List. For instance, I work on a lot of drafts in Windows Live Writer that I do not immediately publish. Often times, there is a file in that Jump List I would like to have immediate access to, but the more documents I create, this will push the older documents off the Jump List. A quick work around for that is to Pin the documents I consider my favorites I can always have access to.

To pin a file, just right click the application, hover over the item, and click the thumb tack next to the file name. You will now notice a new category called Pinned with your file listed.

If you would like to remove an unwanted Item on one of your Jump List, just right click it and click ‘Remove from this list’

Power User tips:

You can keep the contents of your Jump List private if you often work with sensitive information, especially on shared or public computers.

To clear lists

1. Click to open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. (Or right click on your Taskbar and select properties.)
2. Click the Start Menu tab.
   • To prevent recently opened programs from appearing in the Start menu, clear the Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu check box.
   • To clear recently opened files in the Jump Lists on the taskbar and Start menu, clear the Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar check box.
3. Click OK.

You can also drag files from a Jump List into another program. For example, suppose I am authoring an email message and I would like to attach a document I have listed on my Microsoft Word Jump List?

To do this, right click the Jump List, select the Item on the Jump List, hold down your left mouse button, then drag and release into the body of the email message.

The document will be automatically attached.

These are some of the powerful ways you can start using Windows 7 efficiently and take advantage of its productive capabilities.

How to use Windows 7 Jump Lists is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

By default, the Windows 7 Taskbar is situated at the bottom of the screen, but if you would prefer to have it at the side or the top of the screen, you can do that too.

Click Start, type: Taskbar

The hit Enter on your Keyboard

This will open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.

Click in the Taskbar location on screen: list box

Select the position you want, the click Apply and OK

An even quicker way to reposition the Taskbar is by using the mouse and a drag and drop action. To do this, first you must make sure the Taskbar is unlocked.

Right click the Taskbar, click the ‘Lock the taskbar’ menu if its checked. Then using the mouse hold down on an empty point and use the left mouse button the drag to the desired location on screen then release.

How to Change Taskbar Size or Position is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

One of the things I love about Windows 7 is the ability to quickly access features and functionality. Particularly access to your information is one of the great benefits of the OS, Instant Search is one example, but there is another significant improvement, its called a Jump List.

Jump Lists are contextual menus built into Taskbar and Start Menu list displaying your most recently accessed files along with common Task in some apps you can quickly start (jump into). In Windows XP, your only option was either the Recent Items menu (which still exist in Windows 7), the application File menu recent list or searching for the in a folder.

Jump List in Windows 7

There are several applications I use day in day out, Microsoft Word, Windows Live Writer and Paint are a few examples. There are either articles I am currently working on or would like to reference. As I write more articles, the oldest ones will be removed from the list. If you want to keep more items in the list you can change that easily, here is how you do it.

1. Right click your Taskbar (or click Start, type Taskbar, hit enter on your keyboard).

2. Click Properties > Start menu (tab) > Customize

3. Under Start menu size, enter the number for the amount recent items you would like to see displayed in your Jump Lists

4. Click OK > then Apply and OK

Increased Jump List size

The Jump List will now display more recent items for you to access.

Windows 7 Quick Tip: How to Show More Recent Documents on a Jump List is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Last month Microsoft launched the innovative next generation version of its popular browser, Internet Explorer 9. One of the major highlights is the app centric experience IE 9 introduces. This makes it easy to access your favorite websites in Windows much easier while also providing unique co-branded experiences. The Windows Live Team are updating their various web properties and services to take advantage of all of Internet Explorer 9′s cool features.

Windows Live Hotmail wave 4 now lets you not only pin to the Taskbar, but quickly access aspects of the service through a Windows 7 Jumplist. Tasks you can access include your Windows Live Home Page, Inbox, Calendar, Contacts and Send Mail.

Just as a reminder, if you don’t know how to create a pin icon, simply hold down your left mouse button the icon for the URL in the Address Bar. Then drag it to the Windows 7 Taskbar.

…and release, voila! Its that simple

When you click the shortcut, you will now see a lovely Co-branded Windows Live Hotmail wave 4 experience:

Windows Live Hotmail and Internet Explorer 9 integration

Resources

Download Internet Explorer 9 here

Enjoying the Beauty of the Web with Internet Explorer 9

Windows Live Hotmail

How to Pin Hotmail To Your Windows 7 Taskbar is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

The new taskbar in Windows 7 is arguably one of the best improvements from a user interface standpoint. Not only has it given users the ability to better organize their running programs, but it is easier than ever to control what it shows and add extras to it. In previous versions of Windows changing the default appearance in a meaningful way meant installing a hacked .dll file or other relatively easy, yet intimidating, tactics.

Thankfully in Windows 7 tweaking, hacking and personalizing your taskbar isn’t just simple it’s incredibly useful! We gathered a collection of Windows 7 taskbar additions and hacks that will make your computer easier to use and hopefully make you more productive.

Windows 7 taskbar hack #1 – Add Volume, Battery life, Memory Use and more to your Windows 7 Taskbar

This is my favorite Windows 7 Taskbar hack because it adds important information to your taskbar without being gaudy or intruding. It’s great to be able to see how much battery life I have left, or ensure that speakers are turned down without squinting at the bottom right corner of my netbook. To add battery life and more to your Windows 7 Taskbar just install SuperbarMonitor. Via DownloadSquad.

Windows 7 taskbar hack #2 – Add the Quick Launch bar to the Windows 7 Taskbar

Many users have found that pinning items to the Windows 7 Taskbar is more than enough to replace the Quick Launch bar found in previous versions of Windows, but if you can’t live without the Quick Launch bar, don’t worry. Adding Quick Launch to the Windows 7 Taskbar is a 3 step process outlined by the Simple Thoughts site where they thoughtfully include how to change its location and how to remove it if you get sick of it.

Windows 7 taskbar hack #3 – Put a Functional Recycle Bin in the Windows 7 Taskbar

If you constantly need access to your recycle bin and don’t want to leave it on your desktop, you may want to add a completely functional Recycle Bin to your Windows 7 Taskbar. If you read the previous tweak to put the Quick Launch toolbar on your Windows 7 Taskbar then you’re halfway done with this hack; which amounts to dragging your recycle bin onto the Quick Launch bar. Seriously, that’s all it takes to add the Recycle Bin and you’re ready to delete and restore to your heart’s content.

Windows 7 taskbar hack #4 – Tweak your Windows 7 Taskbar with Windows 7 TaskBar Tweaker

If you want to completely control how your Windows 7 Taskbar behaves than you need to install the Windows 7 Taskbar Tweaker. This small program is a portable application so you don’t need to install it to use and it provides you with an impressive amount of control over the Windows 7 Taskbar from one menu. Windows 7 Taskbar Tweaker allows you to control grouping behavior, disable thumbnail preview and more.

Windows 7 taskbar hack #5 – Master the Windows 7 Taskbar with Keyboard Shortcuts, Pinning and more

Now that you’ve added everything you could want to the Windows 7 Taskbar, you should learn some tips to help you use shortcuts to get around the Taskbar. Whether you want to launch a program with Win+1 (or any number up to 9) to launch a pinned program or to assign a specific keyboard shortcut to launch your favorite app; you can do it with the Windows 7 Taskbar. Make Use Of also shows you how to turn on cleartype, add the control panel to your Windows 7 Taskbar, run a command prompt from anywhere and customize the power button in Windows 7.

The Best Windows 7 Taskbar Hacks is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

For the past month Andre, one of our knowledgeable bloggers, has been working to introduce readers to Windows 7. His very detailed and easy to follow guides cover everything from choosing what version of Windows 7 fits your needs to a guided tour of the new operating system. This post brings all of his guides to one central location so that you can learn how to do practically anything in Windows 7.

Andre’s Windows 7 posts on Notebooks.com:

A Look at the Windows 7 Editions: If you’re trying to figure out which version of Windows 7 is right for you this is a great place to start. This guide covers everything from editions and versions to pricing and upgrade paths.

How to Install Windows 7: This guide walks you through the installation process highlighting important steps and providing pictures to guide you through installing Windows 7.

How to Upgrade to Windows 7: If you aren’t installing from scratch then this guide is for you. It contains a walkthrough of an “in-place” upgrade and information about how to fix compatibility issues.

How to Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7: Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 brings many improvements but it’s not as easy as an upgrade from Vista. This guide will provide you with tips to make it easier.

Using Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7: Windows Easy Transfer makes moving your files and settings from an old computer to a new one easy. This guide walks you through how to use Windows Easy Transfer to get your files to your windows 7 computer.

A Guided Tour of Windows 7 for New Users: If this is your first time looking at Windows 7 than this walk through is a must. Andre highlights the changes and helps you find out where things have moved to in the new operating system.

Using the Improved Taskbar and Start Menu in Windows 7: Some of the biggest changes users will notice in Windows 7 are on the Taskbar and in the Start Menu. Check out all of the changes and how to use them to your advantage.

Using the Windows 7 Desktop – Fun Time Savers: This guide explores the additional time savers and “pizzazz” that the Windows 7 Desktop brings to your new computer.

Windows Explorer – What’s new in Windows 7: Another area in Windows 7 that has changed significantly is Windows Explorer. Explorer is what you see when you click on My Computer and is generally how you interact with files on your computer. Come learn about the refreshing cleaner look it has in Windows 7.

A Tour: Windows 7 Desktop, Windows Explorer and Control Panel: This tour will quickly get you up to speed on some of the improvements found in Windows 7 and give you a better understanding of how to navigate the new operating system.

Improved Windows 7 Applets: Come learn how the included productivity apps in Word can be used. This guide includes a look at; the Scenic Ribbon, WordPad, Paint, Calculator, XPS Viewer and Sticky Notes in Windows 7.

Networking Made Easy with HomeGroups in Windows 7: In past versions of Windows setting up a home network to share files, printers and more was an involved process. Now, with HomeGroups in Windows 7, networking your computers is easier than ever and this guide shows you how it’s done.

Improved Recovery Options in Windows 7: Past versions of Windows have included the ability to use a Recovery Console to fix some computer problems but most of the time it didn’t work well. Windows 7 has an improved Recovery Console that can help you repair startup, do a System Restore, recover from backup backup and more. Come look at these repair options in more detail.

How To Do Practically Anything in Windows 7 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Two critical elements that have been revamped for the better are the Taskbar and Start Menu. Some persons I have had conversations with about Windows 7 think it’s a minor release and it’s just Windows Vista reloaded. Yes, it is built on Vista and that’s a very good thing, which means, your investments in that version of Windows will be brought forward in areas of application and device driver compatibility. Apart from that, what new user experiences does Windows 7 introduce? What about the learning curve? Office 2007, Microsoft’s desktop productivity suite revamped the user interface in applications such as Word and Excel, there was a small learning curve, but there were huge benefits because of what the new Office Fluent UI did for the Standard and Formatting toolbars by exposing more features that some end users didn’t even know exist in the suite. Windows 7 is pretty much based on some of those principles, exposing more benefits in the Windows interface.

Taskbar

What is the Taskbar? First introduced in Windows 95 as a replacement for Program Manager that was a part of previous Windows releases, it houses your running applications as buttons that you can use to switch between windows on screen. Releases of Windows over the years have added new features and functionality such as the ‘Quick Launch’ desk band in Windows 98, ‘Taskbar Grouping’ in Windows XP and ‘Taskbar Thumbnail previews’ in Windows Vista. Windows 7 combines all those innovations and made them even better. When you load the Windows 7 Desktop for the first time, everything might seem familiar except for the Taskbar which has grown a few inches in size. Shortcuts for applications such as Internet Explorer and the User Folder might look like enlarged Quick Launch icons; well it’s a combination of both. By default, application shortcuts, running applications and non-running applications are not labelled. In previous versions of Windows, a running program would display an icon along with the name of the button on the Taskbar. The Windows Team have changed this based on the probability of users experience identifying programs by clear pictorial representations, the Internet Explorer ‘e’ for web browser, a blue ‘w’ for Microsoft Word, the stacked CD icon with the play identifier for Windows Media Player.

Taskbar with interactive Thumbnail Previews

Improved ways of controlling Notification Behaviour

Of course, if you don’t recognize a program shortcut on your Taskbar, you can hover over its icon which displays a floating balloon describing its purpose. One of the immediate benefits I discovered using the improved Taskbar with applications is a feature called Jump List. What it does is combine the ‘Recent Items’ menu from past versions of Windows and allows each application to have an individual Recent Items menu or Task list right click contextual menu with common activities that you might often associate with the program. Not all applications currently support the new feature, but I have discovered a handful that take advantage of it immediately, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Windows Media Player, Windows Live Messenger, Live Writer, Windows Programs such as WordPad, Paint and Notepad to name a few. Not all programs will reveal radical features in Jump List, as programs are updated, third party developers I am sure will add functionality to programs to harness the benefits of Jump List.

Preview your windows without distractions (left), get a glance at your desktop and Gadgets (right)

Right now, users will mostly see ‘Recent files’ for some applications or your browser History for Internet Explorer, you will discover unique functionality in programs such as Windows Media Player which displays a list of Frequent activity such as your recently played media, search queries, artiste played and Task for playing your library of music in shuffle mode. Windows Live Messenger which is available as a part of Windows Live Essentials includes Task such as changing your status, signing in/out, going to your home page, viewing your Windows Live Profile or check your email. Jump List on the Taskbar is not only restricted to applications, Folders also support it too; users can appreciate seeing a list of the most frequently accessed folders within a directory. If you want to add your favourite application, you can do so by clicking Start, right click a program from the recent programs list or all programs and click the ‘Pin to Taskbar’ link.

Color Hot tracking

Appearances Thumbnail Previews

The Taskbar for some persons might seem radical at first, but I have adjusted to it just fine, beyond Jump List, you will discover some cool effects and features when working with your applications. Thumbnail previews have become interactive. Internet Explorer for example which supports tabbed based browsing benefits from it immediately by displaying previews when you hover over its button on the Taskbar without the need to activate the window. You will be able to see a thumbnail preview of all open tab windows along with the ability see a full size preview when you hover the mouse pointer over each thumbnail. It’s a beautiful effect that saves time and makes working in Windows much faster. Applications and folders that are consolidated into groups automatically compose a group of thumbnails. Windows Media Player 12 Thumbnail supports unique functionality such as Previous, Pause and Next controls when playing an album. In addition to Thumbnail Previews, users can benefit from another significant productivity effect; the enhanced ‘Show Desktop’ button called ‘Desktop Preview’ allows you to get a glance at your Desktop or Gadgets by simply hovering the mouse pointer in the right hand corner of the screen. Your windows will immediately become transparent frames revealing the contents of the desktop. Another key feature is the progress bar which has been integrated into folder activities. For instance, when you are copying files from folder to folder or a network location or downloading a program in Internet Explorer, a progress indicator is displayed on the Taskbar button for that activity.

Various Jump List Activities by supported applications.

New Capabilities and Settings

Notification Area or System Tray features new options, in addition to showing full time and date, users can gain more real estate by controlling notification icon behaviours. A ‘Show hidden icons’ button reveals a floating balloon with a small gallery of icons and option for customizing the behaviour. This leads to a new Notification Area Icons Control Panel item. What I like in particular about this new setting is the clear organization of your notifications and ease of controlling the behaviours, from here you can choose to hide or show an icon at all times or show just the notification. To further clarify things, a link to a separate area available just for Windows 7 System Icons such as Clock, Volume, Network, Power and the new Action Center allows you to turn these settings on or off. If you mess something up or get confused, you can simply click the Restore default icon behaviours. The new ‘Eject’ device contextual is more informative too, displaying the name of the device instead of just the drive letter. Safely ejecting a device can be done more confidently too, in prior versions of Windows, you always closed all open programs and windows launched from a USB device before ejecting yet Windows kept insisting that you need to close all activities before removing the device. Now you can ignore that and force a device close and eject without any concern.

Default appearance Always Combine, hide Labels

Combine when Taskbar is full

Never combine

Never combine with small icons 

One of the most requested functionality for the Taskbar over the years has been the ability rearrange your Taskbar buttons just the way you want. Sometimes we have programs setup up a certain way and would like to set a priority over which is closest to the Start button, now you can with a simple drag and drop action rearrange shortcuts and running applications on the fly. The Taskbar adapts the most predominate RGB value of an icon, making each program use a distinguishing colour effect when hovered over. Taskbar Properties appearance includes options for controlling how and where it is displayed on screen. For novices, you can have your Taskbar positioned on the right, top or left of the screen power users can still use the familiar dragging capabilities that you have known since prior releases. Taskbar button behaviour can also be controlled here too, the default layout in Windows 7 is ‘Always combine, hide labels’, in addition to this, there is a more classic look called ‘Combine when taskbar is full’ which simply enables labels with the large pictorial representations. If you want an even more classical yet familiar Vista style layout the third option ‘Never Combine’ along with ‘Use Small icons’ restores this behaviour.

Improved Start menu supports Jump List, along with new Power Option Settings

Start Menu

The Start menu has been through a few changes throughout the years, also introduced for the first time in Windows 95, the most radical update since was Windows XP which featured a two pane menu with links to recent applications along with common locations such as My Documents, Music, Pictures and default applications for common programs such as Web Browsing and Email and the ability to set default programs for common activities such as Email, Music and Web browsing. Windows Vista introduced additional functionality such as built in Search, a Connect to link for all your network connections and a simplified Power Options area. A major departure in Vista was the cascading Programs menu which was replaced by a hierarchical listing of programs and application groups. Windows 7′s Start menu is more about refining these features. The Start menu integrates Jump List functionality similar to the Taskbar.

Detailed Search Results Windows 7 Start menu (above), comparison in Windows Vista (below) click to enlarge

Search is more detailed displaying more categorized results with total listings within each category. New Categories include Documents, Music, Control Panel Items, Pictures and Videos. Appearances have also changed, instead of utilizing just the recently used application pane for search results; the entire pane is utilized for results. An even more simplified Power Options allows users to set the default setting whether you want it to be Shutdown, Hibernate or Sleep, you can still choose another option from a pop out menu. Searching from the Start menu features a new option; you can search for Task Pane links along with the ability to use natural language queries. New Search areas include Public Folder along with the option to display links and menus for Recorded TV and Videos. Old links that have been turned off include ‘Recent Items’ which makes sense since applications carry their own recent activities and the ‘Connect To’ link now replaced by the more convenient Network notification icon which reveals available wireless Networks, Dial up and VPN connections.

So this was a look at using the new Taskbar and Start menu and realizing its new benefits. It’s radical for the better. It makes application switching less of a puzzle while also enhancing the general user experience of working with your programs in a more convenient way. The Taskbar has come a long way since its days of ‘it works just like switching channels’. Users expect a rich experience and the compelling aesthetics such as interactive thumbnail previews and enhanced search functionality provide a cohesive application experience for end users.

Using the Improved Taskbar and Start Menu in Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.