The Haiku Review?

The Files Are In the Computer?? Part II: A Few More Nice Touches

Part II in a continuing series.

So I've shown you how to clean up your Taskbar and Start Menu. I have a few more useful tips for you to make your computing a bit less painful:

1) Run your monitor at a high resolution. This is done by right-clicking on your desktop > Properties > Settings, and adjusting the Screen Resolution slider bar. The higher you set your resolution, the smaller everything on your screen appears. Don't set it so high that you can't see what you are doing... make sure you can read your screen comfortably. But still, try running it as high as you can. This will give you more screen space to work with. Very useful if you multi-task while working.

2) Use "ClearType" if you have an LCD monitor. This can make a HUGE difference in how easily you can read text on your LCD monitor. To do this, right-click on your desktop > Properties > Appearance > click on Effects, and check the second box ("Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts") and choose ClearType. This doesn't do much for old school CRT monitors, but your eyes will thank you if you use a flat LCD monitor.

3) Try a new theme! Hey, we all get a little tired of the WindowsXP default blue and green look. Frankly, for a long time I switched everything back to the "Classic" look because it was less distracting. To do this, right-click on the desktop > Properties > Appearance > and choose Windows Classic style from the "Windows and buttons" drop down. If you like the look of Windows Media Center, try googling "windows royale theme." You can download and install this theme directly from Microsoft (so you don't have to do any hacking to get windows to run it). It is not that much different from the regular WindowsXP theme, but I personally like it better. If you really want to get creative, check out an OS hack like Window Blinds that allow you to use all kinds of new themes. But be warned, these themes can often suck up system resources and / or crash your computer.

4) Master these 2 shortcuts: ALT-TAB lets you rapidly toggle between programs that are currently running. This is a great trick if you work in an office and people can see your computer when they enter your cubicle or office. Once you have used this shortcut enough it will become second nature to switch from your web browser to some generic spreadsheet or Word document in the blink of an eye, so no one notices what a goof off you are. Also incredibly useful is the combination of the WindowsButton + the letter "m". This minimizes everything to the Taskbar and shows your desktop. Handy if you just want to clear everything from the screen.

posted by averagejoe @ 10:11 AM