Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Problem Steps Recorder

Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) is a great tool that can be used to greatly assist in troubleshooting or ‘need help’ situations. As an end user, how many times have you encountered an error of some sort but can’t find the best way to describe the problem to someone if they are not sitting there with you? Or maybe you are learning a new program but run into an issue and the results are not what you expected? How about if there was a utility that could just record what you are doing and then allows you to email that recording to someone who can help you? PSR is that utility.

As a tech, how many times have you had someone call you asking for assistance but they can’t articulate the issue or clearly describe the steps that resulted in the error? End users are not usually up to speed all the computer lingo and proper naming so it can be hard for them to describe what they are doing and seeing on the screen so wouldn’t it be nice if they could just record it and send you the recording so you could see for yourself?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Snap

Snap is a new feature in Windows 7 that lets you “snap” your application windows to various parts of the screen. The best example of this is when you want to look at two windows side by side.

For Windows 7 - Snapexample, maybe you want a web browser on the left half of your screen and a Word document on the right half. Before Windows 7 you would accomplish this by moving the windows around and resizing them to fit but now with Windows 7 you can accomplish this easily and perfectly by dragging the windows to the left and right of your screen or by using some keyboard shortcuts.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Jump Lists

The more I use Windows 7, the more I like it. This time I’m going to tell you about the Jump List feature that I’ve come to love. Jump Lists are a feature that everyone will not only use, but use often.

Start menu Jump ListThe Jump List gives you quick and easy access to your most recently used files for various applications and also quick access to certain program commands.

Jump Lists appear when you hover your mouse over an item in the start menu or when you right-click on an item in the task bar. You can accelerate the fly-out of the Jump List for the Start menu items by clicking on the arrow that appears on the right of the items.