Category: Windows 7

If you are seeing mixed up or misplaced icons in your Windows Explorer – for example, Notepad icon for picture files, Internet Explorer icon for text files etc. – then it may be a case of corrupt icons cache. Sometimes Windows’ icons cache gets corrupted and you see mixed up icons in Windows Explorer for different kind of files. The icon cache can be rebuilt using the following process.

The recent items list is shown in the Start Menu and contains all the items (documents, files and programs etc.) you have recently accessed. You can clear this list in many ways.

When trying to start your Windows 7 based computer, if you get an error like : BOOTMGR is missing then you can use the Startup Repair to fix the problems. Startup Repair is one of the options in the Windows 7 Recovery Environment. There are two ways you can boot into the Windows 7 Recovery Environment.

In Windows 7 every user has a user name which is also called the account name. If you are tired of your username and want to change it, then you can do so easily in Windows 7. Changing the user account name will not change the user profile folder name.

When you press the Shift key on your keyboard continuously for 5 times, Windows 7 turns on the Sticky Keys feature. Sticky Keys is an accessibility feature which enables you to press a modifier key and keeps it active until you press another key. If you find this keyboard shortcut irritating, then you can disable it.

The Language bar is a toolbar that appears on your desktop automatically when you add text services, such as input languages, keyboard layouts or input method editors (IMEs). The Language bar provides a quick way to change the input language or keyboard layout from your desktop. If you think you can do without using the language bar then you can easily close or hide it.

If you have a desktop computer, you can use a tablet input device to get write directly into various applications as if you are writing with a pen. With Tablet PC Input Panel, you can use the writing pad to convert your handwriting into typed text. Once the Tablet PC Input Panel starts, it always stays on your screen and docks on the left edge of your screen side. You can disable Tablet PC Input Panel from staying on your computer screen.

Windows 7 has a sidebar feature which contains gadgets. Desktop gadgets are displayed in the right side of Desktop. These gadgets are small applets which display information or utilities. If you do not like gadgets, then you can turn them off using a group policy.

When you right-click on the Desktop and choose Gadgets from the right-click menu, a gadgets gallery window opens up. At the bottom-right of this gallery window, there is a website link labeled Get more gadgets online. If you click on it, a Microsoft gadgets website is opened in your web browser. But you can modify this link to open any website you want.

If you want to record your sound in Windows 7, then you would find the Windows Sound Recorder tool indispensable. The tool has come a long way since its Windows 98 days and now can record and save the sound in WMA (Windows Media Audio) format.