After Installing Windows 7…

You’ve got a new Windows set up on your computer, starting fresh, but where to begin? Well this is a quick guide on getting you started.

1. Change your theme..

Make your windows 7 your own, you can find many different themes already ready to be used after a quick Google search. But if you want to get really personal, make your own. or if you'd like to keep your wallpaper fresh, but don't want to hunt down the widescreen-friendly pics yourself, set up Bing's backgrounds as a auto-rotating wallpaper feed.

2. Set up XP Mode..

If you’ve got old, unfortunately out-dated apps that just aren’t compatible with the latest Windows system, you’ll want to set up XP mode for free and learn how to use it. If Microsoft's own XP Mode doesn’t impress you, check out VirtualBox. A tutorial on how use it can be found here.

3. Integrate Your Dropbox..

As I have previously stated, Dropbox is a must have app. But you can link it in with your windows system rather than leaving it stand alone. You can sync folders outside your main Drop box and later change the location, along with having many other uses. Dropbox is an integral part of any computer.

4. Learn the Shortcuts..

Shortcuts make everything faster, and with Windows 7 there is no shortage of them. Read them, test them out, and learn them, it will make everything a lot easier on yourself. Windows 7 Shortcuts

5. Get Everything with Ninite...

I’ve discussed this before. Ninite is possibly one of easiest, simplest things to use on your computer, making that long installation process with every new system take half as long. Pick your programs, download, and the customized installer does thee rest. What apps you get is up to you but I will have a recommended list up soon.

Bonus. Dual booting your System...

This is normally reserved for those who have messed around with Linux or other Dual boots before but I will throw up proper instructions on this in the next few days.

What 7 Can do Over Vista…

1. Shake it Away

Do you have over a million programs open at once and find them cluttering your desktop? Want to clean them off the screen without actually closing them? Simply just grab the top of the window you want to keep open and shake it about on the screen to scare away all the other applications.

2. Jumplists

This simple yet innovative idea to come with 7 can save you a lot of hassle. Giving you a list of recently accessed files without the need to even open the application, all you have to do is click the arrow on the right hand side on the application in the taskbar and there it is. All your recently accessed information.

3. Snap into Place

This is surprisingly useful. Simply drag your window to the left or right edge of the desktop to snap and resize the window to one half of the screen. Drag the window to the top to maximise it, or use the simple Windows key plus any arrow key (depending on where you want to put it).

4. Homegroup Networking

Always wanted to share your folders and files wirelessly with other computers and networks with little hassle? Windows 7 finally does it, well with Windows 7 it does anyway, using the 'Homegroup' wizard, check the default folders you would like to share. This will give you a passcode that will have to be entered in another computer on the same network to share the files. Sounds too good to be true? There is a catch: only a Windows 7 computer can join a Homegroup.

5. The Taskbar

I don’t know what it is about the taskbar in 7 that makes it so great, it might be the fact that I don’t actually want to hide this one away, it has a use. Its large but so helpful allowing you to pin almost any program you want to it, giving you easy access right there in front of you rather than trawling through the start menu.

Bonus. XP mode

For those XP applications that do not work under Windows 7, you can download XP Mode free from the Microsoft website and run XP applications in an emulated XP environment in Windows 7. Imagine Parallels on Mac OS X without the need to fish out money on an extra OS.