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.

Regardless of the industry push towards cloud computing for new approaches to software distribution, backing up data and publishing media (music, videos, audio) many computers still come with optical drives to do a wide range of task and activities such as listening to music, backing up personal files and settings, installing programs or watching a movie there’s still a place for the CD and DVD.

Today, we are going to be looking at using the Optical Recording capabilities built into Windows 7.

Burning a CD or DVD in Windows 7 can mean many things, these include:

• Burning a movie created in Windows Live Movie Maker
• Burning an audio CD created in Windows Media Player
• Backing up personal files and settings using Backup and Restore
• Burning individual files using the Burning Wizard through Windows Explorer.

In this article, we are going to look at some of these task and how to accomplish them.

Burning individual files using the Burning wizard through Windows Explorer.

Before the popularity of thumb drives the most affordable and efficient way to backup files and shuttle them from computer to computer was to use a CD-RW (Compact Disc Re-writable). These days you see almost everybody with a thumb drive hanging around their neck or a key chain. If you still prefer optical media, here is how you can use it.

Using a blank CD-RW disk to backup files.

Preparing the Disc

To backup files to a CD or DVD, you will need a blank DVD-RW or a CD-RW (used or unused). You can use standard blank DVD or CD but understand it’s for one time use only. Insert the disk into your optical drive. Depending on how you configured your computer, the Auto Play dialog should automatically appear on screen with a list of Task you can accomplish. If not, proceed to click Start > Computer > and double click the optical drive in which the disk is inserted.

This will launch the Burn a Disc wizard which present a couple of options for how you can use the the disc. The first thing you need to do is give the disc a name.

You have two ways of using the disc, first Like a USB flash drive, which means, drag and drop files into the disk, you can open and edit files and click save in your favorite programs, whether it is Microsoft Word or Windows Media Player and it automatically writes the information to the disc. This is called a Live File System.

The second option, With a CD/DVD player means files will be burnt one time only to the disk and cannot be edited or removed. In my case, I plan to use my CD-RW to backup important files and use with different computers running different versions of Windows such as Windows XP and Vista.

After selecting Like a USB flash drive, click Next

The drive will prompt you to format the disk to prepare for use. Formatting can take some time depending on the type of media, especially if it’s a blank DVD. If you have any programs using the disk, please close them.

Formatting CD-RW disk.

Once you have done this, you will notice that the CD drive is now open and ready for you to drag files into it. The next step is to locate where your files are that you would like to add to the disc.

This is a good opportunity to take advantage of the window management capabilities built into Windows 7 by snapping both windows to the opposite sides of the screen so you can efficiently browse and drag files over to the disc burning window. Learn more here.

So we have located our files, the next step is to simply drag and drop the files into the window. Here you can see I am dragging and dropping a few photos, please note, I am not limited by the type of content. I can drag and drop a mixture of documents, audio files, videos and pictures.  If you do encounter problems trying to drag files into the disk, you can try the following:

Right click the Files or Folder, select Send to > and click the name of the disk listed in the submenu.

Files being coped to disk

That’s it, your files have been added to the disk. You can now use the disk on any computer running Windows XP or Vista view and copy files just the same. See below:

Backing up personal files and settings using Backup and Restore

In a previous Notebooks.com article we looked at using System Image to back up our Windows 7 installation to an external hard disk. In addition to this method of backing up your computer, Windows 7 includes standard backup which allows you to backup the contents of your User folder such as Documents, Music, Pictures Videos etc.

To start the backup, insert your CD or DVD blank disc.

If you have the Auto Play wizard enabled, you can click the Backup and Restore Center option.

or if you don’t…

Click Start, type: Backup

Hit Enter on your keyboard

If you don’t see the option to backup to optical media, click Change Settings. Follow the on screen wizard and select your optical drive, then click Next.

Once the backup wizard starts, select the destination, in this case, my optical drive is displayed DVD RW Drive (D:). Also displayed is information about how much Free Space is available and the total size of the disk. My disk has a reasonable amount of free space, so I will go with this destination since I won’t be backing up too many files to it. If you are backing up a lot of files, it’s recommended you use an external hard disk.

The next page in our wizard ask us what we would like to backup. Letting Windows choose might not be effective since it will be backing up a number of locations and folders which might actually exceed the size of our backup location. So, I will select ‘Let me choose’ option. I can individually choose libraries and folders.

In this section of the backup wizard, a folder tree of all my folders and libraries are displayed. My intention is not to backup everything, just the most important folders and locations since I am limited by the storage capacity of my CD.

As you can see, the Backup wizard conveniently displays hidden locations, which is just what I was looking for. This is good, since what I would like to backup is my Microsoft Outlook Personal Folder files.

So I have selected the locations I want to have backed up, click Next.

Review the Items you are backing up. If you would like to add additional folders or locations, click the Back button and make your changes. If everything is good to go, click Save settings and exit.

Backup in progress.

When you are ready to restore your backup, just reopen Backup and Restore and click the link under Restore to ‘Restore all users files’ and follow the on screen instructions.

Burning an audio CD created in Windows Media Player

Probably one of the most popular and prolific activities of the early to mid 2000’s. Rip and Burn as some would call it made a fun way to create your own mix CD’s with your favorite songs. There were some troubles involved with ripping and burning music CDs due to the popularity of online file sharing, but ripping your music to your hard disk had, and has, it’s legitimate purposes. Of course this was before the popularity of MP3 Players like iPod or Smart Phones with enough storage capacity or even affordability in comparison to a 1 cent CD Blank.

With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft built in CD Burning as a part of the operating system. One of the major beneficiaries was Windows Media Player which allows you to create and burn your own Music Playlist and we are going to take a look at doing that.

Burning a audio CD

First thing we need to is launch Windows Media Player.

Go to the Burn tab

In the Music Library, browse then drag drop into the Burn Playlist pane on the right and repeat the steps until you are satisfied with the amount of songs you have.

You can also use the progress bar in the Burn Pane to indicate how much space you have left to add songs to a typical 80 min CD.

I find the most convenient way to burn a CD in Windows Media Player is to simply create a Playlist. It’s quick and easy, just click the Create playlist button on the command bar and use the same method of dragging and dropping songs  in Play Pane. Once you are done click Save List.

Since I already have a playlist created of songs I would like to burn, all I need to do is, right click it, select Add to > Burn List

Automatically, my songs are added and are ready to be burned. I can edit the list if I want by dragging around tracks in any desired order.

I can click the Burn Options button and access additional options.

I suggest you check out the More burn options tab which displays settings for burning audio discs. I personally recommend you burn your CD’s at the lowest possible for best results. You can also adjust options whether you want volume leveling for consistency across tracks. You can also select if you want a short pause between your tracks too.

Once you are ready, just click the Start burn button to begin burning the audio disc.

You can monitor the progress of your CD while it burns or do something else in the mean time. Once the disc has been burnt, it will be automatically ejected.

Burning a movie created in Windows Live Movie Maker

So for we have explored three of the options available for working with optical media in Windows. The last one we are going to look at deals with video. With the release of Windows Live Wave 3 and Windows 7, Microsoft decoupled it’s free video editing software Windows Movie Maker and renamed it Windows Live Movie Maker in addition to bundling it with it’s free set of programs and services called Windows Live Essentials.

Windows Live Movie Maker makes convenient to create quick movies you can share with family and friends through differenet mediums, whether it’s by publishing to a online video service such as YouTube, by email using Windows Live Mail or traditional means such as a DVD or CD.

Here you can see a movie I have already edited and I am now ready to burn to DVD. To do this, click the Save Movie In in the Share group and click  Burn a DVD.

Give the file a name and this will prepare the video for burning using the Windows Media Video File format.

Saving Movie

After the Movie is saved, it will automatically launch Windows DVD Maker and the movie file to list of items to be burnt. If would like to add other media, click the Add Item button on the command bar.

If you click the Options link, you can make adjustments to how DVD is played back, the aspect ratio for how it will look on screen and the supported format. Just like media player, you can adjust the speed at which it is burnt. I also recommend burning at the lowest speed for best reliability. Click Next

Next you can customize the look of the DVD Menu. DVD Maker includes a number of themes to choose from. You can make further changes by clicking the Customize menu and Preview your changes.

Once you have made your adjustments, click the Burn button.

It’s 2010, the role of the optical drive is beginning to fade, but there is still a lot of life left in it. It remains a great way to backup files, share information and media. Why not explore some of these available options already built into Windows 7.

How to burn a CD or DVD in Windows 7 for Backing Up, Music CDs and Movies is a post by Andre 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.

The Windows 7 Desktop puts a lot of power in your view, for Windows XP users in particular, I would like to get you up to speed on some of the improvements. I hope to make this a series of post touring the changes that have been introduced in this release. Lets see what’s new.

Click HERE to enlarge and see a bigger view of the Windows 7 Desktop Tour

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Control Panel contains a collection of new items that help be more productive, keep your information and computer secure  and easily maintained.

As we approach the final release of Windows 7 coming this October, there is a lot to expect, these early previews are just glimpses of some of the powerful capabilities users will be able to immediately taking advantage of. Windows 7 promises to truly redefine how you work with your personal information and the view from the desktop has never been more fun.

A Tour: Windows 7 Desktop, Windows Explorer and Control Panel is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Windows Explorer has gone through some significant enhancements in Windows 7, featuring a more refreshing, cleaner design that focuses on simplicity and accessibility. In this article we take a look at some of the changes and improvements such as the new text only Command Bar buttons and Libraries which focuses on aggregating data from desperate locations shared between multiple PC’s within your home network. Windows Vista introduced changes to how you navigated Explorer. The Bread Crumb address bar introduced in Vista featured a great way to move between folders and different paths within a folder hierarchy, nothing has changed here but the Address bar is more customizable allowing users to resize the Search box or Address Bar region. The Navigation pane has been simplified into multiple categories such as Favorites, Libraries, Home Group, Local Computer and Network, while the details pane at the bottom of the window is much thinner in height.

The improved Windows Explorer shell in Windows 7

The Search Field in each Explorer shell now features the name of the area in which you’re searching, for e.g. Search Documents, Search Music, Search Pictures etc. Activating the Search form also reveals small improvements such as saved searches called Search Scopes criteria based filters for content in the different Explorer shells, such as Authors, Date Taken, delivering more accurate results.  Command bar in the shell folders seem radically different, over the years Microsoft has adopted a slightly improved look and feel with each release of Windows, Windows 98 introduced a web inspired Command Bar and Vista featured a more static less controlling change. Windows 7 is not much of an improvement; menus are now text only arranged on the left with buttons on the right for configuring icon previews and window layout.

More customizable, you can address the Address Bar/Search field region size

An even more simplified Command Bar with simplified layout for organization and customization.

Shell Folders

Common Shell folders such as Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos and Downloads are known as Libraries. Modifications have been made to how data that might be scattered across your hard disk and network locations are viewed and accessed. For instance, the old Shared Documents folder from XP or Vista’s Public folders are less prominent in Windows 7. They still exist and are critical when sharing data with multiple computers on a network. But what has happened is that Libraries makes accessing the data from these disparate locations much easier, a file added to the Public Document folder is automatically aggregated into the Documents Library. Of course, you might say, there are some things I don’t want to have mixed up with my Personal Data and prefer to keep them in separate locations. No worry, you still have access to your Personal Shell folders under your User folder. You can create your own Library too and add specific locations to them and data from those locations will be automatically aggregated from there. Only you can decide whether you want information from your personal Libraries to be shared and you change this setting even after setting up a HomeGroup. Libraries takes advantage of new technologies such as Home Groups and will be an asset especially if you are the type of user who has a laptop that connects to a Domain at work, but still want to access data on your home network without having to mess with your workgroup settings just to do so.

Common Library folders on their pedestals.

Inside of the Documents Library.

More about Libraries

Adding a networked folder to my Library Locations from another PC for easy access and searching.

Libraries are a new experience in Vista that streamlines the process of managing the array of information users have scattered across their PC. Organization was a key focus of Vista, but regardless you tried your best to keep your files in their appropriate locations photos in the Pictures directory, videos in the Videos directory, audio in Music directory, etc. You still ended up having a lot of files stored in folders you either create or parts of the system such as the desktop out of quick convenience. With Libraries, you don’t have to remember exactly where you stored a particular photo or search multiple places to find what you need. You don’t even have to keep multiple copies of the same file around. With Libraries, you can not only organize, but view and manage files that that are stored in more than once place. This reduces the need to view files even when they are stored in different folders. Libraries are so powerful that they even span different disk drives, PCs on your home network. There are a range of options for organizing and browsing, by type, date taken or genre depending on the file type. The power of Libraries grows when combined with rich capabilities of Home Groups, meaning; families can get in on the fun by accessing a shared library with the right permissions setup.

Search Explorer

Windows 7 Explorer Search features expanded search capabilities, options such as Saved Searches and Search Scopes make finding information even more accurate and detailed.

The Search Explorer is very minimalist in Windows 7, showing only a blank canvas with the Search box activated for a few seconds. It’s all about simplicity, previously in Vista, the Search Explorer displayed common criteria’s such as Documents, Pictures and Music. Because of the tight integration with Libraries, you can search beyond the PC right at the Start menu. When Searching across multiple PC’s in a corporate setting, Administrators can fine tune how a search is executed with the ability to define up to five search destinations. All of the search processing is handled on a remote server and results are presented to you within your comfort zone. This sounds complex and it is, but Windows 7 is subtracting the complexity out of it and presenting you only with ease of use part of the equation.

Search highlights – a wicked cool feature that makes criteria based searching a fun activity.

You can even search other locations on the fly while you are at it! Yes, I am a big 80′s fan so what?!?

The Search engine in 7 uses an improved algorithm to determine relevance and rank results. Within those results, words from the search query you make are highlighted with parts of a file or even a path to it to give you a clearer idea of what’s happening and if its meeting your expectation. Search operates multiple ways by offering results based on multiple Libraries if you search through the Start menu if you search specifically from Windows Explorer; it stays within that particular library. For persons who have data stored on multiple devices, Windows 7 Search is a dream come through, a new feature called Search Federation allows you easily add a location; these include multiple PCs, external hard drives, servers and even websites.

Network Explorer

An even more simplified Network and Sharing Center

Network Explorer in Windows 7 is even more organized. One of the things I didn’t like about Windows Vista’s Network and Sharing Center was the abundance of network related Task a user had to contend with. Windows 7 adds simplicity to this by consolidating Task in the Network and Sharing Center to a separate area called Change your network settings:, here you will find familiar options such as Connect to a network, Setup a new connection or network, Diagnose and repair (now ‘Fix a network problem). Sharing and Discovery now has its own dedicated Explorer shell, located under task called ‘Change advanced sharing settings’.

Conclusion

Windows 7 brings some very welcome changes to working in the Windows interface. Small, subtle changes to Search, navigation and even customization make Windows 7 a joy to work with on a daily basis. Users today have an overwhelming amount of information stored on their PCs and various devices, keeping it all organized and accessible can be a chore, Windows 7 takes the complexity out of that and I think its the gem of this release a lot of users will discover they could never do without.

Windows Explorer: What’s new in Windows 7? is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.