The World of Windows

Microsoft’s hot new feature that never was. If you paid any attention to the launch of Windows Vista, you might remember Microsoft hyping a fabulous new feature in the newest and greatest version of Windows yet — the Windows we’d all been waiting for to replace XP. It was a magical new technology known as the Windows Sidebar, a place where you could put really cool mini-apps — gadgets — such as stock tickers, clocks (shown in Figure 1), simple games, and weather guides. (If none of this sounds familiar, you’re easily forgiven.) As an MS Windows Sidebar and gadgets how to states, gadgets “offer information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. For example, you can use gadgets to display a picture slide show, view continuously updated headlines, or look up contacts.” Figure 1. A handful of common Windows gadgets: Clock, Stock Ticker, and System Monitor Microsoft made it sound as if gadgets were something totally new and different — a feature that would driv...

A Firewall is a Software/Hardware which checks every information coming from the internet or a network and depending upon the Firewall settings, it either blocks or allow the information to pass through to your computer. It prevents the hackers and malicious software from getting access to your computer from the internet or a network. You can let the intended data to get in and out by setting some exceptions. Some exceptions are set up automatically by Windows 7, others have to be configured manually. let's see how. 1. Click the Start button to view the Start Menu and then choose the Control Panel option. 2. The Control Panel window opens up. Now click the System and Security link from this window. 3. The System and Security section of Control Panel opens up and you can see the direct link for the Windows Firewall . 4. Click on the Windows Firewall and a new window opens up. On the left pane , you can see various links like, Change notification settings, Tu...

The Windows Experience Index is a hardware scoring system (on a scale of 1.0 to 7.9), first introduced in Windows Vista. This unique value is calculated by performing various tests benchmarking CPU, Memory, Graphics, Harddisk data transfer rate etc. The base score is determined by the least of the sub scores received for each hardware component. Quote: The Windows Experience Index measures the capability of your computer's hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks. Each hardware component receives an individual subscore. Your computer's base score is determined by the lowest subscore. For example, if the lowest subscore of an individual hardware component is 2.6, then the base score is 2.6. The base score is not an ave...

Device Manager provides you the facility to graphically view the hardware that is installed on your computer. You can use Device Manager to manage devices only on a local computer. Using Device Manager you can: Determine whether the hardware on your computer is working properly. Change hardware configuration settings. Identify the device drivers that are loaded for each device, and obtain information about each device driver. Change advanced settings and properties for devices. Install updated device drivers. Enable, disable, and uninstall devices. Roll back to the previous version of a driver. View the devices based on their type, by their connection to the computer, or by the resources they use. Show or hide hidden devices that are not critical to view but might be necessary for advanced troubleshooting To check these options: 1. Click the Start button to view the Start Menu and then choose the Control Panel option. 2. The Control Panel window opens up. Now...

Display in Windows 7 allows you to make the text and other items, such as icons, on your screen easier to see by making them larger. You can do this without changing the screen resolution of your display. This allows you to increase or decrease the size of text and other items on your screen while keeping your display set to its optimal resolution. Let's see how to change Display in Windows 7: 1. Click the Start and then choose the Control Panel option . 2. Control Panel window opens up. Click Display . 3. Choose one of the following: Smaller - 100% . This keeps text and other items at normal size . Medium - 125%. This sets text and other items to 125% of normal size . Larger - 150%. This sets text and other items to 150% of normal size . This option appears only if your monitor supports a resolution of at least 1200 x 900 pixels. Choose Larger - 150% and Click Apply . To see the change, Click Log off now and then Login again. As you can see in ...