Windows 7 has been a massive improvement over its predecessors.  My personal favourite is the speed – suddenly, my almost 4-year old laptop has a new lease on life with a new snappy, speedy attitude.

Here are a few little things you can do to save clicks / keystrokes in every day tasks:

1. Windows Explorer:Add a location to Favourites

You will notice that the left pane of the file explorer window has some folders listed under Favourites.  You can add your own location to that list for folders that you use often.

Simply navigate to it as usual until it shows up on the the right panel, right click on Favourites on the left panel, and select “Add Current Location To Favourites”.

2. Windows Explorer: Toggle Folder Views

Depending on what I’m working on, I use different folder views.  For example, when I’m working with site images, I like the large icon view; when working with code, I prefer the details view so I can see last modification dates.

You can quickly toggle between the different modes by holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling with the mouse wheel.

Another fun toggling thing to do (warning: dizzy tip ahead) is to hold down the Win and Tab keys at same time.  It will whizz through all your open windows.  Not recommended after a large meal.

3. Magnifier

Many browsers and some programs support Ctrl and +/- to increase / decrease zoom level. Windows 7 has a built-in magnifier that you can use on anything that is currently on the screen.

To activate the magnifier, use Win key and +/-.  When the zoomer first loads, it defaults to 200%.  You can easily customize that.  Use Win and Esc to stop it running.

If you often do presentations of anything with a relatively small print, such as Excel sheets or code, the magnifier feature is great for zooming in on a column or portion of the screen.  Or use it instead of getting up to get your reading glasses.

4. Task Bar: Mouse Gesture

You must known by know that mousing over an icon in the task bar brings up small previews of all windows open in that program, and clicking on the icon bring us the jump list in a vertical format.

You can also use a mouse gesture, ie., a touch gesture, except you gesture using the mouse.  Holding down the left button and slightly flicking upwards, the jump list appears.  Geeky cool

5. Use Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes are great.  They can hang out on your desktop, annoying reminders of all the great things you decided to do.

You can find Sticky Notes under Programs from the Start Menu.  You can change their colour, move them around at will, and add new notes directly from an exiting one by just clicking the + in top left.

I like the cute font and ice-cream colours – they make my desktop look like a fun, happening collage.  Until I actually read the content.

So there you have it – five of my favourite tricks to use when I’m slaving over a hot keyboard and a dizzy mouse.