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Category Archives: Windows 7

Software Review: Mouse Without Borders

Mouse Without Borders

Mouse Without Borders is a program recently released by Microsoft’s The Garage that allows your keyboard and mouse to travel between two networked computers. It’s a simple install process and once you enter the verification code and name of the computer you are connecting to, you simply setup what direction each of the computers are in relation to one another and you are all set. It also enables copy/paste and file transfer across computers.

There are a few downsides as it appears to be Windows only, highly persistent (you can’t kill the process unless you run task manager in administration mode), and completely incompatible with gaming because the program thinks you are trying to move your mouse off-screen even though you are in a full-screen application. Memory usage is fairly reasonable for a KVM program.

Overall, it’s a sweet app, and if you need to use multiple computers at a single desk regularly (and you don’t care about gaming) give it a shot or read more.

Software Review: HTC Home & Metro Home

HTC Home

HTC Home

As some of you may know, HTC built their own, custom, skin for Windows Mobile 6.5 called HTC Sense. The most prominent feature of this skin was the large clock & weather app on the default home screen. Although Windows Mobile 6.5 was never widely distributed, the HTC Sense skin was widely publicized and praised. Because of it’s popularity, HTC decided to port the clock and weather widget to Windows (desktop). It creates a nice, large clock with current weather and a 5 day forecast. On the downside, it uses a ridiculous amount of memory for such a simple widget, taking up roughly 3/4ths of a MB of ram. While not the end of the world for those of you using powerhouse computers, it could quickly become annoying for those of you with slower computers. Visit their website to download or learn more.

Metro Home

Metro Home

While looking for the download link for the HTC Home widget I discovered that HTC had quietly released a similar widget that copies the Windows Phone 7 Metro design styles. It’s a cool clock and weather app, similar to HTC home, but it’s more alive due to the live tiles. All of the tiles are constantly moving and updating, which could be distracting for some users, but I think most users will not mind. One feature HTC has included in this widget that is not available on Windows Phone 7 (yet) is the ability to choose any color for the tiles. Memory usage is more reasonable with this widget at 1/2 MB of ram (keep in mind this widget is doing a lot more movement than the HTC Home widget, so the standard of “reasonable” is slightly different). Visit their website to download or learn more.

AirPlay vs DNLA

My co-worker today demonstrated a iOS/Mac feature today called AirPlay. It allows you to play video from one device to another easily. To which I responded, “Windows has had that for a long time.” I didn’t know the exact release dates, so I looked them up. I did know for sure that it (DNLA) comes standard in Windows 7, which was released October 2009, and I think it was also included in Windows Vista. Turns out that AirPlay was released almost a year later in September 2010. This video is not perfectly clipped, but it demonstrates DNLA in Windows 7 well.   It’s also easy to do from Windows Phone 7 devices or other DNLA compatible devices.

 

* AirPlay – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPlay

* DNLA – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

End of XP Support

Don’t get me wrong, XP has been great. But with the release of Windows 7, it pales in comparison. It was released way back on August 24, 2001 – that was almost 10 years ago! Recently, Microsoft announced that it has sold over 350 Million copies of Windows 7(1) which is a pretty good indication that it is a solid operating system. I won’t go into a full review today, but maybe soon. In the United States, Windows 7 licenses outnumber XP licenses, which is good progress, but there are still some holdouts.

While some users have a good reason to stick with XP because of hardware insufficiency, most XP users could upgrade to Windows 7 easily and without breaking the bank. Microsoft will only support Windows XP SP3 for 1075 more days, or until April 7th, 2014(2), so now is as good a time as ever to upgrade.

Upgrading from Windows XP or Windows Vista can cost as little as $100 for one license, or $150 for three during limited Family Pack sales. (32 bit – 64 bit)

(1) Microsoft Passes 350 Million Windows 7 Licenses

(2) Date calculated using teststrtotime.com

Already have Windows 7? Count down the days until Windows XP support ends using this cool gadget from Microsoft.

Snipping Tool

Snipping Tool

Unbeknownst to most Window 7 users, there is an included handy tool for taking screenshots. This tool makes it quick and easy to capture whatever is happening on your screen without requiring you to remember keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl + Print Screen.

  • Click Start (or press the Windows key on your keyboard)
  • Type “Snipping Tool” into the search box (or go to “All Programs” > “Accessories” > “Snipping Tool”)
  • In the drop-down menu under New, select one of the following options
    • Free-form
    • Rectangular
    • Window
    • Full-screen
  • If you selected one of the first three options, select the area you desire to snip
  • In the simple image editor that shows up, you can either make small changes to the image, save it, or copy it into a more advanced image editor.

Connect to Network Projector

With Window 7 and Windows Vista, you can easily connect to a network projector.

First, you will need a network-ready projector. In other words, you’ll need a projector that has either a Ethernet port or a built-in wireless card. For example, this ViewSonic PJD6381 is Network ready.

Second, setup your projector as specified in the included documentation.

Once your projector is setup, it will display it’s Network Address, and password if applicable. You will need this information in order to connect.

On your Windows 7 or Windows Vista computer, click Start then search for “Connect to Network Projector.” Open the wizard and run through the 3-4 simple steps to connect.

Finally, open your presentation, or whatever other information you desire to share on the Network Projector.

Little Known Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 7

While talking with my co-workers, I discovered that they were unaware of some useful keyboard shortcuts that are new to Windows 7/Windows Vista.

Windows+Tab

Windows + Tab: While similar to the well known Alt + Tab, Windows + Tab is more useful for fast navigation when you have more than 5-10 windows open. Once you have switched to the Windows + Tab view, you can navigate by pressing tab/shift tab or the scroll-wheel on your mouse to go forwards and backwards. Alternatively, you can simply click on the window you desire to open. (Windows Aero only)

Windows + 1-0: With the new taskbar introduced in Windows 7, it’s more simple than ever to access your most frequently used programs. Press Win + 1 to open the first program pinned on your taskbar, press Win + 2 to open to the second program, and so-on. If there already is an instance of that program open, simply hold the Shift key to open a new window.

Windows+P Dialog

Windows + P: This shortcut will open a simple dialog that lets you control what your second display (usually a projector) shows. Your options are Computer Only, Duplicate (shows the same thing on both screens), Extend, and Projector Only.

Ctrl + Print Screen: This is an old keyboard shortcut, but people are always asking me to remind them what it is. This will copy an image of your entire desktop to the clipboard which you can paste into an image editor or Word Document.

Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen: You learn something new every day! I actually discovered this shortcut while writing this article. This shortcut will take a screenshot of just the active window. This is useful to cut down on cropping(pun) and memory usage.

Docked Zune

While we are on the topic of keyboard shortcuts,most people don’t know that you can easily define your own shortcuts. For example, I regularly want to open

Setting Custom Shortcut

my Zune software to play music, but because I always dock it on my taskbar (see image) it would waste space to pin the icon as well. To create a shortcut, right click the program (anywhere other than the taskbar) and choose Properties. In the middle of the window (under the shortcut tab which should be open by default) you will find a field labeled “Shortcut Key.” Simply click the field and start typing your keyboard shortcut. The Windows key is reserved for system shortcuts, but you should have plenty options between Ctrl + Shift, Ctrl + Alt, and Ctrl + Shift + Alt.