Preview files from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

One of the most useful and much improved feature in Windows 7 is the Preview pane in Windows Explorer. The Preview pane helps you to preview images, videos (all files types that Windows Media Player supports), webpage files, text files (created in Notepad, WordPad), PDF files (when Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed), Microsoft Office files (when Microsoft Office is installed) without opening the respective applications. You may view the Preview Pane by pressing Alt and P keys from the keyboard.

You may also view the Preview pane by:
Clicking Show the Preview pane button from the top right part of the window.
Or
Clicking Organize button, hovering the mouse over Layout and then clicking Preview pane.

Note:
You may not be able to edit the changes to text file's from the Preview pane. However, you can copy the text from the text files from the Preview pane.
You may resize the Preview pane.
You may show/hide the Preview pane.

Select items that are not next to each other in Windows 7

You may perform the following to select the items (files, folders) that are not next to each other:
1. Click to select the first item.
2. From the keyboard, press the Ctrl key.
3. Keeping the Ctrl key in pressed state, click to select other items.

Add or remove items such as Computer, Documents, Control Panel, Help and Support from Start menu in Windows 7

In Microsoft Windows 7, you can customize the Start menu by adding or removing items such as Computer, Connect To, Control Panel, Default Programs, Devices and Printers, Documents, Downloads, Favorites menu, Games, Help, Homegroup, Music, Network, Personal folder, Pictures, Recent Items, Recorded TV, Run command, System administrative tools, and Videos. To add or remove items, perform the following steps:

1. Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar and click on Properties.
2. From the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, click on the Start Menu tab. Click the Customize... button.
3. From the Customize Start Menu dialog box, you may:

• Click on Don't display this item radio button to remove the particular item from the Start menu.
• Click on Display as a link or Display as a menu radio button to add the particular item to the Start menu.
• For checkbox selection type, if a checkmark appears beside the item then it will appear when you click the Start button.

4. Click OK to close Customize Start Menu dialog box.
5. Click Apply and then click OK to close Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

Items such as Computer, Control Panel, Documents, Downloads, Games, Music, Personal folder, Pictures, Recorded TV, System administrative tools, and Videos have the radio button option to choose the appropriate selections.
Items such as Connect To, Default Programs, Devices and Printers, Favorites menu, Help, Homegroup, Network, Recent Items, Run command have the check box option. If these items have a check mark beside them then the particular item will be displayed in the Start menu. To remove the item, uncheck the check box.

Make the taskbar of Windows 7 appear like Windows Vista

By default, the icons on the taskbar in Windows 7 appear large and also the labels for the icons are hidden and if multiple instances of a program are opened, they are displayed as a single icon with the taskbar icon image changing when multiple instances appear. On the other hand, the icons on the taskbar are small and appear with labels and get combined when the taskbar is full in Windows Vista. You may make this setting in Windows 7. You may not get the appearance like Windows Vista but it has a closer resemblance. Perform the following steps to achieve this:

1. Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar and click on Properties.
2. From the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, under Taskbar appearance section, click to place a checkmark beside Use small icons. Click on the Taskbar buttons: drop-down box, select Always combine, hide labels.
3. Click Apply and then click OK.

The result of the above steps is shown in the figure below