Some Tips on -Windows Vista

Some Tips -Windows Vista

Search for a file in Windows Vista

One of the ways to search for a file on Windows is the Search box available in every folder. You can type in any word associated with the file you’re looking for; Windows will look for that word in the file names, file contents, and file properties of all the files in the current view. To filter your search, say by files modified on a particular date, you can type ‘modified: ’ in the Search box. Similarly, to search only by file name, type ‘name: ’.

Now launch programs by searching for them

Starting up an application was never easier or quicker. No need to go through the Start menu and then several sub-menus. Just start typing the name of the program into the bar at the bottom and have Vista bring up the name of the program you need instantly!

A quicker way to launch your programs

Windows Vista assigns shortcuts to all the items in your Quick Launch toolbar, on its own, depending on the icons’ positions in the sequence. So if you want to open the program whose icon is the fourth in your Quick Launch bar, just press the Windows key + 4.

Clear up your Windows Sidebar

Is your Sidebar cluttering up your life? To get in a little breathing room, right-click gadgets that you don’t use frequently and change their opacity settings to 40 percent. These gadgets will now fade out of view when you are not using them.

Set a new theme for your PC

To change your Windows Vista theme, right-click your desktop and select Personalise. Next, click Themes; in the dropdown menu, choose the theme you want, and click Apply.

Clean up your temporary files

If you’ve recently been doing something with your computer that generates a lot of temporary files, you may want to make sure all those files are cleaned out of your system to free up precious space. To do this, just enter %TEMP% into your Start menu search box and press Enter. The temporary files folder will open, allowing you to delete files and prevent unnecessary clutter.

Speed up your system

Is your PC running slowly? Go to your Power Options control panel and look for the Power Saver setting that is set at 50 percent (default setting in Vista). Change this setting to High Performance and let your PC run faster.

Check for memory issues with your PC

Worried about memory defects in your PC? You can use Vista’s in-built tool to diagnose issues. Enter the word “memory” into your Start menu search box, and you will be taken to the Memory Diagnostics Tool. A dialog box will open and ask you whether you want to reboot your PC immediately or later. Vista will then run the Memory Diagnostic Tool while starting up.

Resize icons on the fly

If you want to resize the icons quickly in Windows Vista Explorer, press and hold the Ctrl key, and scroll up or down with the mouse wheel.

Faster shortcuts in Vista

Go to the Control Panel and search for the term “underline”. In your search results, you’ll get a link for Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys. Click this, and in the next screen, go to the checkbox for Make it easier to use keyboard shortcuts. Select this. Now, whenever you go to any menu, the access keys for each function will be underlined. Pressing Alt with this key would enable the function.