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Category: technical support

  • Search the Internet from the Start Menu

    The Start Menu’s search box is a convenient way to search through your PC — but you can also have it do double-duty and perform Internet searches as well. 

    To enable this feature you will need to follow these simple steps:
    1. In the Start Menu search box, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter to run the Group Policy Editor.
    2. Go to User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Start Menu and Taskbar.
    3. Double-click “Add Search Internet link to Start Menu,” and from the screen that appears, select Enabled. Then click OK and close the Group Policy Editor.
    4. From now on, when you type a search term in the Search box on the Start Menu, a “Search the Internet” link will appear. Click the link to launch the search in your default browser with your default search engine.

  • Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts Designed for Windows Media Center

    Although the Media Center interface was designed for use with a remote control, it also supports full access to Media Center functions using a keyboard. 

    Some keyboard commands are obvious: the Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, and Right Arrow keys work just like the navigation controls on the remote, and pressing Enter or Spacebar is the same as pushing OK. Page Up and Page Down map to the Channel Up/Down buttons. In search boxes, you can type search terms directly and use the Backspace key to clear the most recently typed character.
    Some other key combinations are useful but a bit less obvious. In particular, the numeric keypad on a full-size keyboard can fill in for a lot of tasks during Live TV and while viewing the guide.
    Here are some handy keyboard shortcuts designed for Media Center:
    Media Center Start page (start Media Center, if necessary): Windows logo key+Alt+Enter
    Recorded TV: Ctrl+O or Ctrl+Shift+T
    Guide: Ctrl+G
    Music Library: Ctrl+M
    Video Library: Ctrl+E
    Picture Library: Ctrl+I
    Movie Library: Ctrl+Shift+M
    Radio: Ctrl+A
    Go back to previous screen: Backspace
    Toggle full screen/window: Alt+Enter
    Go to channel number (Live TV or Guide): Enter number using the 0–9 keys
    Up one channel (while playing TV): Plus (+) or Equal (=)
    Down one channel (while playing TV): Minus (–)
    Record: Ctrl+R
    More Info/Display shortcut menu: Ctrl+D

  • Use Hidden International Wallpapers and Themes

    When you first install Windows 7, it asks for your language, time and currency. Based on your responses, it installs a set of wallpapers and themes. If you choose English (United States) for your time and currency format, for example, the available desktop backgrounds and themes will include a United States section with scenery from locations such as Maine, the Southwest and so on.

    Hidden, though, are background scenery and themes from other English-speaking countries — Australia, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Normally, you can’t access those backgrounds or themes, but there is a simple way you can install and use them
    This is what you will need to do:
    1. In the search box in the Start menu, type C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and press Enter. (Note: If Windows 7 is installed in a drive other than C:, use that letter instead.)
    2. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders under C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU for Australia, CA for Canada, GB for Great Britain, US for the United States, and ZA for South Africa.
    For any of the countries whose wallpaper and themes you want to use, go into its Theme folder, for example, C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT\MCT-ZA\Theme. Double-click the theme you see there (for example ZA).
    3. That will install a shortcut to the theme and wallpapers in the Personalization section of Control Panel.

    You can now use them as you would any other theme or background, by right-clicking the desktop, choosing Personalize, and choosing a background or theme. They will be listed in their own section.

  • Defrag from the Command-Line for More Complete Control

    For more complete control of defragmentation in Windows 7, you can use the command-line defrag¬mentation tool, Defrag.exe, from an elevated command prompt. 
    Defrag.exe has the following syntax (which is different than the syntax used for defrag in Windows Vista):
    Defrag | /C | /E [/A | /X | /T] [/H] [/M] [/U] [/V]
    The options for Defrag.exe are:
    The drive letter or mount point of the volume to defragment.
    /C  Defragment all local volumes on the computer.
    /E  Defragment all local volumes on the computer except those specified.
    /A  Display a fragmentation analysis report for the specified volume without defragmenting it.
    /X  Perform free-space consolidation. Free-space consolidation is useful if you need to shrink a volume, and it can reduce fragmentation of future files.
    /T  Track an operation already in progress on the specified volume.
    /H Run the operation at normal priority instead of the default low priority. Specify this option if a computer is not otherwise in use.
    /M Defragment multiple volumes simultaneously, in parallel. This is primarily useful for computers that can access multiple disks simultaneously, such as those using SCSI- or SATA-based disks rather than disks with an IDE interface.
    /U Print the progress of the operation on the screen.
    /V Verbose mode. Provides additional detail and statistics.