Category Archives: a+ certification

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

The Best 3D TVs

For all the hype they’ve received in the past year, 3D TVs aren’t exactly flying off store shelves. The biggest problem is that there’s still very little 3D content available. Also, when they started hitting the market last year, 3D sets were priced much higher than their 2D counterparts. Now, however, prices have come down a bit—probably because these models aren’t selling as quickly as manufacturers had hoped.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

If you’re in the market for a new HDTV anyway, it doesn’t hurt to get a 3D-ready set if you can find a deal. After all, all the 3D TVs listed below deliver excellent 2D performance too. One thing to keep in mind, though: 3D TV doesn’t always just mean paying for the set itself. Many manufacturers sell the required glasses separately for as much as $150 a pair. So if you want to be able to enjoy 3D with family and friends, tack on a few hundred dollars the price of your TV. (The only exception here is Vizio’s XVT3D650SV, which uses passive 3D, and four pairs of glasses are bundled with the set.) Also if you’re going to watch 3D Blu-ray discs, there’s also the cost of a 3D-enabled player. But the good news is that you don’t have to buy everything at once; you can get the set first and add the 3D accessories later.

If you’re ready to make the move to 3D, check out our list of the best 3D TVs below, along with current street prices, or compare these 3D-ready HDTVs side by side. For a top-rated 2D TV, check out The 10 Best HDTVs. And for general HDTV buying advice, read How to Buy an HDTV.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

Why Google’s tighter control over Android is a good thing

Limiting availability of Android 3.0 code and apparent tightening of Android smartphone standards means that Google finally gets it about the platform

I’ve argued before that Android’s fragmentation, encouraged by its open source model, was a mistake. Google should drive the platform forward and ride herd on those who use it in their devices. If it wants to make the OS available free to stmulate adoption, fine. But don’t let that approach devolve into the kind of crappy results that many device makers are so clueless (or eager — take your pick) to deliver.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

So far, Google’s been lucky in that the fragmentation has been largely in cosmetic UI areas, which doesn’t affect most Android apps and only annoys customers when they switch to a new device. The fragmentation of Android OS versions across devices is driving many Android developers away, as are fears over a fractured set of app stores. Along these lines, Google has to break the carriers’ update monopoly, as Apple did, so all Android devices can be on the same OS page.

It is true that HTC’s Eris brought some useful additions to the stock Android UI, serving as a model for future improvements. But the HTC example is the exception, and Google’s apparent new policy would allow such enhancements if Google judges them to be so.

More to the point is what the tablet makers such as ViewSonic, Dell, and Samsung did with their first Android tablets. Their half-baked products showed how comfortable they are soiling the Android platform. For them, Android is just another OS to throw on hardware designed for something else in a cynical attempt to capture a market wave. The consistently low sales should provide a clue that users aren’t buying the junk. But do they blame the hardware makers or Google? When so many Android devices are junk, it’ll be Google whose reputation suffers.

Let’s not forget Google’s competition, and why Google can’t patiently teach these companies about user experience: Apple, a company that knows how to nurture, defend, and evangelize a platform. Let’s also not forget the fate of Microsoft and Nokia, who let their Windows Mobile and Symbian OSes fragment into oblivion. And let’s remember that the one company that knows how the vanilla-PC game is played, Hewlett-Packard, has decided to move away from the plain-vanilla Windows OS and stake its future on its own platform, WebOS, for both PCs and mobile devices. In that world, a fragmented, confused, soiled Android platform would have no market at all.

If Google finally understands that Android is a platform to be nurtured and defended, it has a chance of remaining a strong presence in the mobile market for more than a few faddish years. If not, it’s just throwing its baby into the woods, where it will find cruel exploitation, not nurturing or defense.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

Why Google’s tighter control over Android is a good thing

Limiting availability of Android 3.0 code and apparent tightening of Android smartphone standards means that Google finally gets it about the platform

Last week, Google said it would not release the source for its Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” tablet to developers and would limit the OS to select hardware makers, at least initially. Now there are rumors reported by Bloomberg Businessweek that Google is requiring Android device makers to get UI changes approved by Google.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification – Microsoft MCITP Trainng at Certkingdom.com

 

As my colleague Savio Rodrigues has written, limiting the Honeycomb code is not going to hurt the Android market. I believe reining in the custom UIs imposed on Android is a good thing. Let’s be honest: They exist only so companies like Motorola, HTC, and Samsung can pretend to have any technology involvement in the Android products they sell and claim they have some differentiating feature that should make customers want their model of an Android smartphone versus the umpteenth otherwise-identical Android smartphones out there.

[ Compare mobile devices using your own criteria with InfoWorld’s smartphone calculator and tablet calculator. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights via Twitter and with the Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. ]

The reality of Android is that it is the new Windows: an operating system used by multiple hardware vendors to create essentially identical products, save for the company name printed on it. That of course is what the device makers fear — both those like Acer that already live in the race-to-the-bottom PC market and those like Motorola and HTC that don’t want to.

But these cosmetic UI differences cause confusion among users, sending the message that Android is a collection of devices, not a platform like Apple’s iOS. As Android’s image becomes fragmented, so does the excitement that powers adoption. Anyone who’s followed the cell phone industry has seen how that plays out: There are 1 billion Java-based cell phones out there, but no one knows it, and no one cares, as each works so differently that the Java underpinnings offer no value to anyone but Oracle, which licenses the technology.

Google initially seemed to want to play the same game as Oracle (and before it Sun), providing an under-the-hood platform for manufacturers to use as they saw fit. But a couple curious things happened:

* Vendors such as Best Buy started selling the Android brand, to help create a sense of a unified alternative to BlackBerry and iOS, as well as to help prevent customers from feeling overwhelmed by all the “different” phones available. Too much choice confuses people, and salespeople know that.
* Several mobile device makers shipped terrible tablets based on the Android 2.2 smartphone OS — despite Google’s warnings not to — because they were impatient with Google’s slow progress in releasing Honeycomb. These tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab, were terrible products and clear hack jobs that only demonstrated the iPad’s superiority. I believe they also finally got the kids at Google to understand that most device makers have no respect for the Android OS and will create the same banal products for it as they do for Windows. The kids at Google have a mission, and enabling white-box smartphones isn’t it.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter

8 radical ways to cut data center power costs Par I

Today’s data center managers are struggling to juggle the business demands of a more competitive marketplace with budget limitations imposed by a soft economy. They seek ways to reduce opex (operating expenses), and one of the fastest growing — and often biggest — data center operation expenses is power, consumed largely by servers and coolers.

 


Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

Alas, some of the most effective energy-saving techniques require considerable upfront investment, with paybacks measured in years. But some oft-overlooked techniques cost next to nothing — they’re bypassed because they seem impractical or too radical. The eight power savings approaches here have all been tried and tested in actual data center environments, with demonstrated effectiveness. Some you can put to work immediately with little investment; others may require capital expenditures but offer faster payback than traditional IT capex (capital expenses) ROI.

[ Unlearn the untrue and outdated data center practices in Logan G. Harbough’s “10 power-saving myths debunked.” | Use server virtualization to get highly reliable failover at a fraction of the usual cost. Find out how in InfoWorld’s High Availability Virtualization Deep Dive PDF special report. ]
Server Virtualization Deep Dive

The holy grail of data center energy efficiency metrics is the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUI) rating, in which lower numbers are better and 1.0 is an ideal objective. PUI compares total data center electrical consumption to the amount converted into useful computing tasks. A not-uncommon value of 2.0 means two watts coming into the data center falls to one watt by the time it reaches a server — the loss is power turned into heat, which in turn requires power to get rid of via traditional data center cooling systems.

As with all simple metrics, you must take PUI for what it is: a measure of electrical efficiency. It doesn’t consider other energy sources, such as ambient environmental, geothermal, or hydrogen fuel cells, many of which can be exploited to lower total power costs. The techniques that follow may or may not lower your measurable PUI, but you can evaluate their effectiveness more simply by checking your monthly utility bill. That’s where it’ll really matter anyhow.

You won’t find solar, wind, or hydrogen power in the bag of tricks presented here. These alternative energy sources require considerable investment in advanced technologies, which delays cost savings too much for the current financial crisis. By contrast, none of the following eight techniques requires any technology more complex than fans, ducts, and tubing.

The eight methods are:

1. Crank up the heat
2. Power down servers that aren’t in use
3. Use “free” outside-air cooling
4. Use data center heat to warm office spaces
5. Use SSDs for highly active read-only data sets
6. Use direct current in the data center
7. Bury heat in the earth
8. Move heat to the sea via pipes

Radical energy savings method 1: Crank up the heat
The simplest path to power savings is one you can implement this afternoon: Turn up the data center thermostat. Conventional wisdom calls for data center temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit or below, the logic being that these temperatures extend equipment life and give you more time to react in the event of a cooling system failure.

Experience does show that server component failures, particularly for hard disks, do increase with higher operating temperatures. But in recent years, IT economics crossed an important threshold: Server operating costs now generally exceed acquisition costs. This may make hardware preservation a lower priority than cutting operating costs.

At last year’s GreenNet conference, Google energy czar Bill Weihl cited Google’s experience with raising data center temperatures, stating that 80 degrees Fahrenheit can be safely used as a new setpoint, provided a simple prerequisite is met in your data center: separating hot- and cold-air flows as much as possible, using curtains or solid barriers if needed.

Although 80 degrees Fahrenheit is a “safe” temperature upgrade, Microsoft’s experience shows you could go higher. Its Dublin, Ireland, data center operates in “chiller-less” mode, using free outside-air cooling, with server inlet temperatures as high as 95 degrees Fahrenheit. But note there is a point of diminishing returns as you raise the temperature, owing to the higher server fan velocities needed that themselves increase power consumption.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

IBM: An Education Tourism Programme For IT Professionals And Students

lated to start in August 2009, the programme is for global students and IT professionals.

Here is an IT education tourism programme for IT professionals and students. Launched by IBM, the programme will enable IT professionals and students to come to India and receive IBM certified training in Bengaluru.
To avail of this offer, an individual needs to register for a course from the IBM Power and IBM System Storage curriculum.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Certification at Certkingdom.com

 

The IT Education Tourism programme, slated to start in August 2009, is an initiative where IBM has partnered with Stratom IT Solutions Pvt Ltd, India to introduce IT Education Tourism as a package for global students and IT professionals. IBM plans to target around 300 participants in India for a minimum of 30 days this year. According to the company, those participating will gain hassle-free world-class education and training, as well as exposure to India’s IT industry, which is one of the world’s fastest growing, diverse and most matured IT markets in the world.

As part of the programme, IBM will offer a portfolio of technical training and education services for systems designed for individuals, companies and public organisations to acquire, maintain and optimise their IT skills. The new initiative will enable students to be further equipped with IBM technologies like IBM Power and IBM System Storage.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

India Needs More Homegrown PhDs In Computer Science

India does not have an adequate number of PhDs in computer science. It’s an issue the country needs to address, if we want to invigorate India’s innovation drive.

The rate of innovation in any country depends a lot on its research capabilities. And to increase research activities, a country should have a good strength of researchers-a precondition that India has not fulfilled in the computer science domain. This is one big reason, cited repeatedly by industry leaders, for the lack of innovation in the country. In fact, both industry and government are well familiar with this fact. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp, and Kapil Sibal, Union Human Resource Development Minister, government of India, recently shared some insights on the subject.

Bill Gates expressed his concern over the lack of PhDs in computer science at an event held in New Delhi recently. According to him, research activities could bring fruitful results in different fields if India had a good number of homegrown PhDs in computer science. He said, “There is a shortage of homegrown PhDs in India in computer science. The ratio of PhDs compared with engineering graduates is very low. If 70,000 students enroll as engineering graduates, only 1500 go for higher programmes. But the irony is, out of those 1500, only 250 enroll for PhDs.”

 

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

Kapil Sibal listed comparative statistics about India and China in support of this. Sibal said, “For research activities, you need a good number of PhDs in India to allow you to move ahead as a country. During 1991-2001, the number of PhDs in India increased only by 20 percent, whereas in the same period, China had an 80 percent increase in its PhD researchers, which is unacceptable for us. Similarly, between 2001 to 2006, China’s GER (gross enrollment ratio) improved to 10-20 percent, whereas in the 11th Plan we have set a goal of achieving a GER of a mere 5 percent.” GER is the total enrollment of pupils in a grade or cycle or level of education, expressed as a percentage of the corresponding eligible age-group population in a given school year.

Sibal also urged corporates to come forward and help government set up world-class research institutions in India.

Most experts believe that if India could invest more into its research and development activities, it will be able to drive growth through innovation. But they also point at the low level of research infrastructure in the country and believe that the government needs to address this issue. So it remains to be seen as to how the government and industry collaborate and work together to increase the number of researchers and the research activities in the country. If and when it happens, it will surely give a huge push to India’s economic growth.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Twitter, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

Week in Tweets: Apple Trashtalk Week

This week, top execs at Dell, HP, and Microsoft took turns bashing the Apple iPad. Dell said it was doomed to fail in the enterprise world; HP said its channel partners couldn’t stand Apple’s arrogance; Microsoft called tablets a “fad.”

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com


Microsoft also took another shot at Apple’s increasingly unpopular attempt to trademark the phrase “app store.” Eric Goldman, an intellectual property lawyer, told me Apple’s case was weak and suggested the company divert all the money spent on its lawyers to re-establishing goodwill among its disgusted consumers.

It’s one thing for Apple’s rivals to bash Apple, that comes with the job, but it’s another thing entirely when the trashtalk derives from Apple’s own consumers.

This week on Twitter, we came across some pretty angry sentiments from Apple fans. Many originated from outside the U.S., which makes sense given that Apple apparently sold out of iPad 2s a day after launching overseas (and domestically, analysts estimate Apple sold around half a million tablets during launch weekend). Others came from recent iPad 2 owners who dissatisfied with their new tablet.

In the run-up to the iPad 2’s launch earlier this month, many in the tech community professed their love and anticipation over Apple’s “magic” and “genius” and guidance into a “post-PC” world. We gave it an Editor’s Choice award. We concluded you should get one. And based on the lines wrapping around Apple Stores that Friday, it looks like many of you did.

But this week, the gloves came off. Coincidence, or did we miss the memo about Apple Trashtalk Week?

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, MCTS, MCTS Certification, MCTS Training, Microsoft, Tech, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

Tech Heavyweight Showdown

We have an electronic scale in the PC Labs. We also have a lot of consumer electronics. Honestly, this whole thing was bound to happen, sooner or later. We asked the PCMag staff to bring in those pieces of obsolete technology that they just can’t let go of—for one reason or other (sometimes it pays to work with a bunch of tech hoarders)—to see how they stack up against today’s electronics.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

Sure, the trend in the industry seems to be perpetually headed in the direction of lighter and more portable gadgets, but the results of our extensive testing (i.e. sticking gadgets on an electronic scale and then reading the numbers) were sometimes surprising.

The game itself is fairly simple—we’ve got seven rounds, each pitting one gadget against another. The heaviest wins (this is the heavyweight championship, after all).

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, Microsoft, Tech, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

Dating in Color

Let’s start this tale of failure with a truth-filled declaration: I have no problem meeting the ladies. Whether combing the pristine floors of the Chelsea Apple Store, sipping Earl Gray at a local coffee shop, or cruising the aisles at Barnes & Noble, striking up engaging conversation with the fairer sex comes pretty naturally to me. That said, I’m not averse to using the marvels of the modern age to help form a love connection. Plenty of venues are available, ranging from online dating to tweetups. This weekend, however, I chose to experiment by using Color (3.5 stars, free), the new Android and iOS application. Given all the hype about the app (not least in PCMag.com), I assumed there would plenty of users nearby, wherever I went.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

Here’s a little background for the uninitiated. Color is a free location-aware app that lets people within 150 feet of one another access photos, video, and messages, simultaneously, from multiple smartphones in real time, using patent-pending Multi-lens technology. If you’ve read my Color review, you know that I was impressed with the ability to quickly exchange photo and video—and, most importantly for my weekend mission, to interact with other Color users by leaving messages. Color is a photosharing app, but it’s also a social networking app, in a way.

My goal was this: To find a female Color user, chat her up, and, hopefully, prove worthy enough to get a date. I planned to use Color by entering an area with a high density of people (a bar, park, or busy Manhattan street) and pick up a fellow user’s photostream. Then, I’d quickly scan for a female profile picture, compliment her on a well-snapped photo, and let the magic happen. Unfortunately, there were very slim pickings. Very slim.

More
Friday Night: Barhopping in Gramercy and the Lower East Side
After I finished clocking the day’s hours at PCMag.com, I made a straight shot for a local watering hole just a few blocks from the office. I waltzed into the bar, whipped out my iPhone, and launched Color. There were many women in my immediate vicinity, so I had high hopes (especially for the brunette in the purple sweater a few seats away). Five minutes passed…nothing. Then a half-hour. Then a full hour. None of the potential candidates made a blip on the Color radar. All that came out of this bar trip were photos of college-aged, collar-popping brahs who had no issue sharing their drunken photos. And a bit of disappointment.

I met some friends in a LES bar later that evening, and briefed them regarding the task at hand. One was fascinated by the app’s voyeuristic nature; the other not so much. After my demo, I began to get a bit antsy as I couldn’t find a female Color user in the area. I began to grow concerned—not so much for my dating life, but how I was going to pull these failed attempts into some semblance of a story.

Saturday Evening: Union Square Park, Nintendo 3DS NYC Launch Event
I decided to head downtown to Union Square Park, a central hub where you can find people from many walks of life relaxing, chatting, dancing, and thoroughly enjoying the small oasis amidst the speeding taxis and packed sidewalks. Surely, there would be at least one straight woman using Color that would find my mug acceptable to look at from across a dinner table, right? Wrong. Once again, Color—no, society!—failed me. There were a few ladies sitting alone in the park—women that I would normally approach in a non-Color situation—but, apparently, they weren’t hip to the app. I sat for a while accessing the situation.

The Union Square excursion wasn’t totally without merit. Nintendo was out in full force to celebrate the launch of its new 3D handheld gaming console, so Color users in the area—the male Color users, that is—amassed some interesting shots of people playing games, eating the Nintendo-sponsored tacos, and grooving to a DJ spinning the wheels of steel. As I left Union Square, I began to realize that finding a date using Color was going to be far more difficult than I initially imagined.

Sunday Afternoon: The Staten Island Mall
My final attempt to get a date using Color took place in the Staten Island Mall. I fired up the app and it populated with images from not one, but two, women. I perked up in the belief that this would be the moment that would make this experiment worth while. The shots of the life-size Lady Ga Ga cut-out and Twilight book covers should’ve given me a clue that the pair were high schoolers (which I confirmed by swiping through their photo streams). This would’ve been awesome 25 years ago, but as someone pushing 40, I figured it was in my (and PCMag.com’s) best interest that I keep moving.

Analyzing The Misadventures
I gave Color a fair chance; scenarios presented here are just the more interesting of the many tries I gave the app over the weekend. I made several other attempts to find a date using Color, but they amounted to nothing more than me sitting somewhere playing with my iPhone. My adventures in Color dating crashed and burned, not because I was overly stalker-ish in my pursuit, but rather because there simply weren’t any women of age using the app.

Considering the amount of ink that Color received last week, I expected greater gender diversity. There were plenty of men using Color—but where were the women? There is no shortage of tech savvy women living in New York City (I personally know more than a few), so I was a bit perplexed by the entire situation.

Color has been available for less than a week, so the adoption rate may not be there yet—which is the most likely scenario. But when you factor in the heavy coverage that the app has received, it makes the entire affair even more disappointing.

Maybe New York women are just particularly privacy-conscious, but right now Color seems like a boys’ club.

a+ certification, a+ certification exam, a+ certification training, a+ certifications, CCNA, CCNA Certification, ccna exam, ccna training, Cisco, comptia a+ certification, Dell, Google, MCITP, mcitp certification, MCITP Training, MCSE, MCSE Certification, MCSE Training, Microsoft, Tech, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Xbox

10 Tips That Make Windows 7 Simpler

Windows 7 features loads of improvements to streamline workflow and avert many of the headaches found in Windows Vista. But you can make Windows 7 even easier to use by taking advantage of a few enhancements you might not have heard about. We’ve already shown you 21 Ways to Customize Windows 7 to your personal taste, now we present ten tips that can save time, make navigating your system easier, and give you quick access to commonly used programs and actions.

 

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com

 

Tip #1
Handy Keyboard shortcuts
Windows 7 includes many new keyboard shortcuts that put frequently used actions at your fingertips. Learn these keystroke combinations and you’ll soon be saving a few seconds of mousing time here and there throughout the day. It adds up. Note: For those who don’t know, “Windows Logo” refers to the key with the Windows flag on it, generally located between the Ctrl and Alt keys, to the left of the space bar.

# Display or hide the Explorer preview pane: Alt-P
# Display gadgets in front of other windows: Windows Logo-G
# Zoom in: Windows Logo-+[plus sign]
# Zoom out: Windows Logo- –[minus sign]
# Maximize window: Windows Logo-Up Arrow
# Minimize window: Windows Logo-Down Arrow
# Snap to the left-hand side of the screen: Windows Logo-Left Arrow
# Snap to the right-hand side of the screen: Windows Logo-Right Arrow

Tip #2
Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs
In addition to using Windows 7’s default shortcuts, you can also create your own shortcuts to launch your favorite programs. First, right-click on the program icon, choose Properties to open the Properties dialog. Click on the dialog’s Shortcut tab, click in the Shortcut key text box, and press the key you want to use for that program. Your shortcut will use Alt-Ctrl plus your key—you can’t overrule standard system shortcuts. Also, you can’t use the Esc, Enter, Tab, Spacebar, PrtScn, Shift, or Backspace keys for obvious reasons.

Tip #3
Jump Lists
Windows 7’s new Jump Lists appear in the Start menu and Taskbar buttons for programs that support the feature. They give you instant access to frequently used commands such as opening recent files or performing program actions. To access Jump Lists you can either click on the right arrow in program’s Start menu entry, or right-click an icon in the task bar or left-click and drag the list open. If there’s a document you want always accessible from the jump list, you can just click on the pushpin icon in the right of the document’s entry.

Tip #4
Clean Up Your Screen
Focusing on one window when you have multiple windows open can be distracting. But instead of having to minimize every window one-by-one you can quickly unclutter your screen using Aero Shake. Simply click and hold the title bar of the window you want to leave open, give it a quick shake, and your screen will be cleared of all windows except the one you’re working in.

Tip #5
Aero Peek
Another option for navigating a screen cluttered with windows is Aero Peek. Hover the mouse over the lower-right corner of the screen. Click the button if you want to keep this view, showing only the desktop. This takes the place of previous Windows versions’ Show Desktop icon in the vanished Quick Launch toolbar. If you’ve moved your Taskbar to the top or sides of the screen, this button will be at the top right or bottom of the taskbar, respectively.

Tip #6
Search the Web from Your Desktop
You can use Windows 7’s built-in search as an online search tool without having to launch a Web browser, by using search connectors. For instance, if you wanted to search YouTube videos from your desktop, just download and install the YouTube search connector. This adds a “YouTube Search” option to your Searches folder, which lets you browse YouTube from your desktop.

Note the searches won’t be added to the Start menu’s search box. If you search on something in there first, and then click Enter, you’ll get to an Explorer window that now includes, for example, a YouTube search entry under Favorites. Click on this to get results at YouTube right in the Explorer window. Drag the icon with the right mouse button to create a desktop icon for the search provider.You can find search connectors at sevenforums.com, which also teaches you how to create your own.

Tip #7
Make Internet Explorer 8 Load Faster
You can make IE8 load faster by disabling add-ons that slow it down. To find which add-ons you need to eliminate go to Tools > Manage Add-ons, check the load time listed here for each, and delete accordingly.

Tip #8
Combine Taskbar Icons
When you have a ton of windows or apps opened at once, it can be hard to navigate among them all. Luckily, Windows 7 let you combine icons to keep your taskbar neat and organized. To combine taskbar icons, right-click the Start button, go to Properties > Taskbar, and under Taskbar Buttons and choose “Always Combine, Hide Labels” or “Combine when taskbar is full.” Alternatively, if you want to see everything with labels, you can choose Never combine.

Tip #9
Troubleshoot and Document System Problems
Windows 7’s new Problem Steps Recorder comes in handy when you’re looking to troubleshoot and document problems with your system. Typing psr into the Instant Search launches a recorder that can document what shows up on your screen as you recreate the problem step by step. You can even add comments. When you’re done, the recorder compiles the footage into a zip file you can then e-mail to a tech expert.

Tip #10
Add Videos to Your Start Menu
You can make your video library easy to access by adding it to your Start Menu. To do so, right-click the Start button, go to Properties > Start Menu > Customize and set the Videos to “Display as a link.” There are plenty more options for what you want displayed in the Start menu here, so browse through the list to see what would work for you. Choosing “Display as a Link” puts a text choice on the right side of the Start menu, and choosing “Display as a menu” will add a flyout menu to the link with subchoices. One particularly useful entry here is Recent Items, to help you quickly get to documents you’ve been working on.